Better promotion

THIS IS in regards to the article in the paper about ticket sales being down at the Show Me Center. Maybe if they did some promotions and let people know about the concerts in the surrounding small towns and in Cape Girardeau, they might have a better turnout. I am a resident of Cape Girardeau and did a little survey and asked a few people. Nobody even knew the Smash Mouth concert was coming.

No representation

NOW IT'S clear why the townies voted for Jay Knudtson. It's apparent with this commuter tax as to what the idea was all along. I live just outside the city limits. I would have to pay this new commuter tax. I didn't get the chance to vote against Knudtson when he was running for mayor. Someone should remind him that we fought a war once about taxation without representation.

Priorities have changed

THIS IS in response to the comment that lack of personal initiative is the reason that the poor are getting poorer. The actual reason is that companies used to practice social responsibility and funnel a fair portion of the profit toward the workers. Now the policy is to maximize shareholder benefits and executive salaries at the expense of the workers. Thirty years ago or more, a person could get out of high school and, with a strong work ethic, go to work at a local factory and make what would be, at today's dollars, $40,000 a year. These types of jobs do not exist anymore. Quit blaming the poor for being lazy when there is a complete shift in social structure and the types of jobs that the non-college graduate has available. Many of these are hardworking people and do not have the mindset to obtain a college degree.

Godly values

REJECTING ALL polling data findings as lies, it seems if you state a fact about unwed mothers, fatherless children and the destructive results, most liberals will attack with the same rhetoric: Don't force your values on me or you're a racist bigot trying to degrade others. Parents and civic moral leadership can help reverse the decline of the family, not an anything-goes and nothing-matters attitude. When Godly values are rejected, this is the result.

Unfair practice

LET ME see if I have this right. I understand that insurance companies are going to start charging people based on their credit records. As far as I'm concerned, this is unconstitutional. For someone to have bad credit does not mean he's a bad driver. Anyone who is fortunate to be able to work and save and buy stuff and pay for it with cash, I guess we'll be in the same boat as the other people. My wife and I worked and saved our money. When we want something, we go buy it and pay cash. I don't guess we will have a credit rating. Who's more responsible? This is totally unfair. Insurance companies have no business checking people's credit rating for car insurance.

It never happened

I WAS just reading this morning's Speak Out. One comment said President Bush was behind the coup in Venezuela. It just astounds me where people can come up with this stuff. They can't have any proof of anything like this, because it never happened.

Money choice

THIS IS regarding the commuter tax that the mayor of Cape is proposing. We already pay a restaurant tax to eat in Cape. I work in Cape, but I bring the service to Cape that most Cape Girardeans do not have. If you can tax me because I work in Cape, then I will take my money somewhere else.

Bad treatment

I'D LIKE to know where all the dog catchers are in this town. I recently witnessed three dogs in one pen with only one bowl of food, and it wasn't pretty. I'd like the dog catcher to come and take care of a lot of these neighbors who do these things.