SpeakOut 8/26

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Call 471-6636

These rural post offices remind of the Maytag service man, they have nothing to do. That may be one reason the postal rates are so high. If you send an item in the mail these days, it may cost more than the item itself. They should get rid of all the small post offices because the rural mail carrier runs through most of them anyway. It might hold the cost down. It's something to think about, anyway.

To the person who said Mrs. Bush brought beer and alcohol back to the White House, I think that is a flat lie. Give me proof.

If a man pays child support for his son since the day he was born, the child should have his father's name. But the way it's set up now, he either pays child support or goes to jail. He has hardly any rights at all. The girl says her son isn't getting his father's name, but she wants his money for child support. The way it is set up now, they don't have to do anything but collect. If the child doesn't have the father's name, then the father shouldn't have to pay child support.

The government gives away $456 billion a year in tax breaks, more than double what it spends on welfare and other entitlement programs for the poor. A labor-funded research organization says, "Eliminating even half of these so-called tax expenditures (most of which to go affluent individuals and corporations) would help eliminate the budget deficit," said Citizens for Tax Justice in a report on hidden entitlements.

This is in response to "Note to landlords." I firmly agree that $280 profit is a substantial profit every month on $300 a month rent, but there are other factors involved, like taxes, insurance, repair and maintenance. When an air conditioner goes out, the landlord has to pay $2,000 or $3,000 to replace an air conditioner, not to count when tenants move out owing rent and tear the property up. Whoever said this has probably rented and never learned the implications involved in earning rental property. If they save their money, some day they might own property and can see what gold mines owning apartments are.

Obviously the person blaming the board of the Scott County Health Department for building the building north of Sikeston keeps forgetting that the health department is not just for Sikeston, but all of Scott County. I live in Blodgett and I like the new location. I don't care how much the new building costs. It is going to be much more convenient for me and my family and it should be for all of us, not just the Sikeston residents.

I kind of agree with the caller about the rice fields causing the mosquito problem. If you can take a clear jar out there and fill it with stagnant water, there are millions of mosquito larvae in it. But then I think if all the farmers in this area who work hard and spend money in our businesses. They raise our food and we need all those jobs in this area. I do wish the federal government could try to help us control the mosquitoes and maybe invent something to kill them or trap them. Does rice really need all that water? The quality of life in this area is bad. We have to stay in all winter, and then we have to stay in all summer because of the mosquitoes. I wish there was an easy answer.

I don't think anyone who was born outside the U.S. should be allowed to run for any kind of government office. I would not vote for them. If I lived in California, I would not vote for the governor who is running for office. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a foreigner and I don't think he should be allowed to run for any government office.

I wish the news media would keep Holden and Bush off TV. I get sick at my stomach every time I see them. Don't you? What kind of people would vote for either one of them for public office? They make me sick. Never vote for an oil man for president of the United States, because when you do you've done wrong, because he is going to raise all the oil prices on all the oil.