Speak Out A 10/26//01

Employment service

HATS OFF to the 58-year-old Speak Out caller who claimed age discrimination is keeping him from getting a job. I also agree with his implicit point that the best way to secure gainful employment is to complain about it in Speak Out.

Big understatement

IT'S STILL very early, but your editorial headline, "City could better coordinate its street work," might win first place for this millennium's understatement.

Keep on course

I HAD always thought of columnist Jack Stapleton as the ultimate secularist and hard-headed realist. However, in light of the heinous and horrible terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Stapleton seems to have lapsed into otherworldly piety, almost to the point of positing that faith and faith alone will sustain us. Religious faith is an important component of coping with and fighting against the terrorist threat. But, as Edward Gibbon, author of "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," correctly claimed, excessive piety provided a crack in the pillar of the mighty Roman Empire and contributed to its ignominious extinction in the 5th century as a result of conquest by barbarian hordes. Maybe Stapleton will regain his steady sensibility. Otherwise, I feel our country will steer seriously, perhaps fatally, off course.

He's doing his duty

It irks me to see these Democrats criticizing Matt Blunt while he does his duty to his country in the military. I wonder how many of them would have gone if they had been called. If I weren't disabled I would definitely be there. I also wonder if these people would have been saying the same thing if Blunt had been a Democrat instead of being the only Republican in a state office in Missouri right now. I don't see any of the Democrats in state offices going to fight for our country.

Student profiling

The problem with our police is selective enforcement. I've noticed who they go after. It's usually the younger crowd. If you're 20 and in college, you are at risk. If you're 80 and can only see out of one eye, you're all right. I can't tell you how many times I've seen the police watch someone bust a red light who probably wasn't even able to pass their driver's test. Then a young person runs a yellow light legally, and he gets pulled over.

Real patriots

I would like to comment about the naive, flag-waving American cowards who brag about their patriotism and how America will exact revenge for the wrongs that have been inflicted. Where were you when you had the opportunity to serve your country? Did you enlist? Or did you cower like our ex-president? Were you smoking dope and scoffing at American foreign policy? If you were, then take that flag you're waving and give it to your neighbor whose son or uncle died fighting for your rights. Others will continue to fight to preserve our way of life, and you will continue to benefit from it.

City's business

Since when does the president of a union for city workers and that union decide that we need new equipment and more employees? I don't think it is the union's job to decide what we need or how to fund this new equipment and employees. That is why we elect council members and a mayor and hire a city manager. Furthermore, how dare the union president do that in front of a new fire chief who is trying to learn what is going on in his department? Give the man a chance to do his job.

Learning accountability

Let's face facts, both the Cape and Jackson school districts have excellent academic programs and outstanding teachers. Much of the responsibility for the success of a student rests with the student and parents. Too much emphasis is put on standardized tests that measure nothing. When we hold students accountable for learning what is being taught, any deficiency can be addressed. Too many parents want to blame a school system for their child's failure instead of looking in the mirror first.

Misplaced emphasis

I feel that the article on the Southeast symphony orchestra and wind ensemble wasn't at all geared toward promoting the concerts of the week as the headline suggests. The story highlighted the life and times of Liesl Schoenberger. While Liesl is a fabulous person and a great player, I feel more emphasis should have been made to promote the wind ensemble's first compact disc and the orchestra concert.

Shady donations

Isn't it kind of shady that our president is asking for cash donations from children? I don't care how honest he is, anytime a politician is asking for and receiving large sums of cash, we citizens should take notice. Who is held accountable for making sure every dollar that arrives at the White House actually makes it to the Red Cross and Afghanistan?

Fundamentalist thinking

What would a fundamentalist Christian think of the terrorist attacks and the fact that Rush Limbaugh is battling hearing loss? inquired a Speak Out caller. I think fundamentalist Christians would correctly think that the terrorist attacks require a holy war against false pretenders to the faith of Islam. I think they would see the hearing impairment affecting Limbaugh as a God-ordained challenge to Rush to try to overcome so that he can continue communicating with his listeners in the way in which he is accustomed to doing. Fundamentalist Christians are also accurate in their firm belief that Limbaugh will pass this test. In all his omniscience, God also knows Limbaugh will triumph.

Let players play

MY HAT'S off to Coach Brookins of the Central High School football team. His team, which has struggled all season, really came together and was playing a great game against Sikeston in the first round of district play. And here they were, holding them to no points, and then in the last quarter Coach Brookins put a second string in. It didn't seem to bother him at all that they scored. The point was getting them in to play. I wish all coaches felt that way.

Acts of terrorism

I CAN'T believe the caller who compared a car accident to anthrax. Usually you make a choice to get into a car and risk an accident. But opening a piece of mail shouldn't be a potential death sentence. An accident is an accident. These anthrax-laced letters are acts of terrorism aimed at some of our society's institutions.

Upside-down society

I WANT to share something written by Ward Connelly, chairman of the Civil Rights Institute: "Freedom is such a precious commodity. Yet sometimes the freest of people devalue it the most. Let me explain. We live in an upside-down society. By that I mean nothing seems sacred. When I graduated from college in 1962, there were absolutes. Self-evident truths. Things you were taught to embrace without question. When former President Clinton testified that it is a matter of opinion what the meaning of the word "is" is, he spoke volumes about the times in which we live. If you want to believe that wrong is right, that east is west, that north is south, or that up is down, all that is required is for someone to say that such is the case. Words and principles have ceased to have universal meanings and acceptance in our nation."

Political bribery

SOCIAL SECURITY payments will be increased by 2.6 percent next year because the government said inflation is low. At the same time, the cost of Medicare that is deducted will increase 8 percent. This means that the medical industry is getting over three times the increase those of us on Social Security will get. It sure seems to me the doctors in Cape who kicked in $100,000 to Bush's campaign are being paid back for their investment. And those of us on Social Security are paying for their largesse -- or as I prefer to call it, their bribery of a political candidate who's looking out for the welfare of his wealthy doctor friends.