Sikeston Standard Democrat: Opinion

Cap-and-trade bill will only boost our utility rates (02/07/10)
If you liked your utility bill this month just wait until the feds approve new cap and trade legislation. You ain't seen nothing yet! Utility customers throughout the region are shaking their collective heads this week with the arrival of January electric bills. A combination of higher rates and a prolonged cold spell is forcing many consumers to dig deep just to pay their utility bill...

Big budget hard to comprehend (02/03/10)
If the new Obama administration federal budget unveiled this week has accomplished anything, it is this - school children will soon know how many zeroes are in a trillion. Just like your household budget, the federal government each year charts income and expenses. To put it mildly, it ain't pretty this year. And it won't improve to any great extent until at least 2020...

Drug testing bill is a good idea (01/31/10)
If I were a politician - and thankfully I am not - I would jump on the bandwagon to drug test welfare recipients. The possibility of drug testing welfare recipients has boiled under the surface for quite some time but, in Missouri, the movement is gaining momentum...

Our good deeds bring no thanks (01/27/10)
The Italians are blaming the United States for a "poor" response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti. The French are accusing the United States of using the earthquake as an "excuse to occupy" Haiti. Venezuela is blaming the United States of...well it's Venezuela so they blame us for everything...

Our world needs more prayers (01/10/10)
St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Adam Wainwright was in the news this week but it wasn't on the sports pages. Wainwright was the featured speaker at the annual Governor's Prayer Breakfast in Jefferson City where he told the crowd about the power of prayer...

Profiling makes common sense (01/06/10)
Well, it took us long enough but in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack in Detroit, we have finally begun profiling. The federal government announced this week that airline passengers from a handful of unfriendly countries would be subjected to "enhanced screening" when entering the United States...

Join Sikeston's big celebration (01/03/10)
The calendar has turned to 2010 and that means a year-long Sesquicentennial celebration for Sikeston residents. Our proud community turns 150 this year and from the look of things, there will be ample to celebrate throughout the entire year. For those of us who remember the centennial celebration in 1960, we vividly recall the pageantry of that massive undertaking. It will be hard to match that celebration but it won't stop Sikeston residents from trying...