SPEAKOUT

I'M AN ELDERLY lady and I wanted to say thank you to a very nice and polite young lady that works for Trans World Express at the airport. She was so kind and helpful to me when my flight was canceled. If more young people would smile as she does, the city of Cape would be a whole lot nicer place to live. I just wanted to tell her. God bless you child.

I'D LIKE TO know why all the Iraqi people believe they're doing right by stealing Kuwait people's property and stuff when they're their own brothers. What kind of religion do they teach them over there? We are taught not to steal from thy brother. Thank you.

I WOULD just like to say I think that all the people who are griping about the war need to really open their eyes and take a look around. They seem to be griping about the wrong thing. They gripe about protesters and everything. It seems like all they have to do is gripe. Thank you.

THANK GOODNESS SOMEONE knows the true colors we ought to be tying on trees and cars to honor the troops. It has always been our colors in the USA: red, white, and blue. I don't know who came up with the yellow-ribbon bit, but when I was a kid and you got in a fight, the kid would yell you're yellow if you were the one they wanted to beat up on. So, I don't know who came up with the yellow-ribbon bit but it disgusts me. Red, white, and blue is the good-ole USA. Thank you.

THIS WAR IS a terrible thing with our boys all the way over there. But it's a good thing for the Republican Party to hide behind during this recession we've been having and the hard times. And they won't want to change drivers in the middle of the stream on election day. Thank you.

CONGRATULATIONS, GEORGE, WE'RE in war and a recession at the same time. How did you manage to do that? Thank you.

I'M TIRED OF hearing these people in Speak Out pretending to be patriots. The true meaning of patriotism is not that you're pro-government; it's that you're for this country. If people in this country believe that something is bad for this country, they not only have the right to protest, they have an obligation to protest. Thank you.

I WOULD LIKE to thank those who were responsible for the pictures of our boys in the gulf being in the window at the mall. My grandson is one of those boys and I'd just like to thank whoever had anything to do with putting them up and thank you for caring. Thank you so much.

I'D JUST LIKE to thank the SEMO students who put on the yellow ribbon rally Tuesday evening at SEMO University. As a Vietnam veteran I was very touched by the words spoken by the speakers and by the attitude that the students showed for support for the people in the Persian Gulf. I was privileged to carry the American flag during the ceremony. I love our country very much. Again, I want to thank students for their very touching ceremony. May God bless all of them. Thank you.

THIS IS TO the sub-moronic twits who dump their trash at Cape Rock. I picked up your garbage, and didn't mind at all that much because doing it made me feel good. But how I feel about you is another story. In fact, in my book, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this, you're no better than the Saddam Husseins of this world. This may make you feel uncomfortable, but we are the parasites of Mother Earth, for without her we have nothing. We are at her mercy and don't need people like you making things worse than they are now. P.S. How did you feel when you went around that little curve and saw the trash container about 50 feet from where you dumped your garbage?

I THINK SPEAK Out missed the caller's intention regarding LifeBeat assisting in the search of a fugitive in the city of Cape. We'd like to know who is going to bear the cost of this. Evidently it is going to be the people who pay for health care. And no, we people were not aware our health-care costs were being used to search for fugitives in the city of Cape Girardeau or anywhere else. As a citizen, I do not approve of this and I think we should have the right to decide what our money is being spent on. Thank you.

THANK YOU, THORNGATE.

TO THE editor of the Missourian: I wish you would keep Peter Kinder confined to his column and not mess up Speak Out with his idiotic remarks. Thank you.

When a Speak Out caller challenges Peter Kinder on his facts, he will respond, either offering more information, or when he is shown to be wrong, admitting the error. Far from "messing up" Speak Out, this is part of the two-way communication Speak Out is designed to foster. We think a restriction of it would be a mistake. We also welcome Letters to the Editor and Be Our Guest columns from those with differing viewpoints.

I READ ABOUT people complaining about the four-cent postage increase in February. It is kind of ridiculous. I am an automobile driver with 50 years of accident-free driving, and yesterday I received a notice from my insurance company that my insurance was going to be raised $60 for one year. I was just wondering if that kind of tells the readers something. Thank you a lot.

THIS NEWSPAPER BRAGGED on how great it is that the public high school offers drivers education. As a teacher who taught in another state, I know the trend was to get all of drivers education out of schools. Drivers-ed classes were offered by private business persons who opened up a storefront and earned their livelihoods that way. I also think we need to rethink why schools offer drivers-ed in the first place. It really has nothing to do with school. Schools have to stretch their dollars as it is. If we can't eliminate this course from schools then it should be paid for totally by those who take the courses. Also it should be scheduled after the school day. Thank you.

I JUST WANT to say this in regards to the condition of our country. We should have stayed out of this war. It's going to be disastrous for this country. When Ronald Reagan went to the White House he started getting into countries we had no business in. He appointed people who think just like he did and his own party. Some people prospered, but, on the whole, our country suffers. I have said before, Reagan and Bush have really hurt this country. If we can't put someone in the White House who is concerned for all the people, then there's no hope for better times. I think the people have lost faith and trust in our own government. I don't believe one word that comes from this administration.

COME ON, PEOPLE, don't you think it's time to take your Christmas decorations down? Its been a month since Christmas. Some of you can't wait to get them up on Thanksgiving Day, but you never know when to take them down.

I THINK CNN newsman Peter Arnett should be ordered home. All he is doing is reporting Iraq's propaganda. Also, let's work the terrorist to our own advantage. Put such a price on Saddam Hussein's head that they can't resist killing him. Thank you.

REGARDING A PERSON making fun of the way Dan Rather looks. I thought they were rather insulting. It's sure easy to judge a book by its cover. Maybe this person needs to take a look in the mirror and find out if he's so beautiful himself. Don't judge others unless you've walked a mile in their shoes.

CAN'T WE HERE at home do anymore for our people in Saudi Arabia than tie a stupid ribbon or bow on a tree? Big deal. I'm sure those people whose lives are in jeopardy appreciate the time we took. Surely we can come up with something that would be helpful to the cause. During World War II we saved gum wrappers, foil, gasoline, contributed our time, food, and clothing. It seems to me that our little towns are interested more in being cute and being in the news than the actual good they do. If I'm fighting for your life and safety, don't tie a ribbon on a tree in my name to show that you care. That can't compare with the sacrifice I make for you. My life is worth more than a stupid ribbon on a tree or a name on a wall. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT IS so excited about the way Saddam is treating our prisoners. Our prisoners have always been treated that way. Nobody was meaner to the American prisoners than the Japanese. I know. And then in Vietnam they did the same thing. So, what did he expect when he started this war?

TALKING ABOUT THE demonstrators here at home, there are two ways to look at this. The demonstrators are speaking out for the men and women who were called up, and they can't say they don't want to go over there and fight on foreign soil, and most of them don't want to do this. They know this is not against them; it's against the policy of Bush and our government. The demonstrators are only speaking for the people fighting in this war. They should not be called names like some of the people are doing. They're not against our troops.

PLEASE, GRADE-SCHOOL teachers, don't use school time talking about the war to your class unless it pertains to social studies or geography. Map study is good, but discussing the war like it is a video game or Uncle Sam is Rambo in the name of peace, is disturbing to many children. Innocent people suffer in all wars. Remember, we are all God's children.

WHY DO PEOPLE get irritated when they see the young people march on TV or otherwise? Isn't that what we are fighting for: freedom of speech? We didn't listen to them during the Vietnam war. Too bad young men fight old men's wars. That's how it has always been.

BECAUSE MY 26-year-old daughter is gullible and wants to be good, those day-in, day-out church-going people with whom she comes into contact with daily have blinded her to the other side of the story. Some children, even though they're grown, rebel against the very ones that love them the most. How can I stop the brainwashing of my child by narrow-minded, unforgiving, sinning church-goers who see the sin in others but who cannot see the sin in themselves? Thank you.

WHETHER A PERSON is for the right of a female to determine what goes on inside her body, her own body, or against her right to have an abortion, when you get down to the nitty-gritty there is no greater sin in tying the female's tubes or rendering the male sterile than aborting an unwanted pregnancy. Just keep on protesting and causing a scene until you back yourselves into a corner, and our laws will go on and on and on. Like Ted Koeppel says, Don't we have anything better to do? Thank you.

WHAT THE HELL do these people who joined or elected to stay in our armed forces expect? A free ride? Fun and games? They've been taking our money year in and year out to belong to our armed forces, but now that they are having to earn their pay they and their families are crying in their beer. I'm sick of it and I'm sick of the media's coverage of it. Thank you.

I HAVE A double hernia because I lifted rocks, stones, furniture, and machinery to make this life a better one, and nobody, no company, no government, paid me one red cent to do it. But the little town we live in is better off for it. So, does that make me an unsung hero? Some people don't turn a hand to either improve their own lives or their community's. Yet, when they are called on to earn the money they have already received, they cry, and we call them heroes. Every person I know is in his own way an unsung hero except those people. Thank you.

I THINK THE news reporters in this country should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. They are a disgrace to themselves and to this country. They should only report the news, not create the news, and that is exactly what they're concerned with. Their only purpose they feel is to be the first on the air or in the newspapers to report what is going on in this country and Israel, and that's their only concern. Also, to the war protesters, I'd like to ask, What do you think of Hussein now spilling all of that oil out in the water? What do you think of the great man now? Thank you.

THE NEWS MEDIA and the Defense Department of the United States have both been going on at great length about how great the Republican Guard of the Iraqi Army is. In World War II, in the South Pacific, we ordinary dog-faced soldiers encountered the Japanese Imperial Marines, the best in the Japanese army. They were wiped out by ordinary soldiers. Why don't we quit trying to build up the Republican Guard into such an elite force? A bullet will kill the best of men and that's the way it is. Thank you.