SPEAKOUT

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It's no wonder a factory in Sikeston is wanting workers. If they would change a few of their rules, they could keep good working people. They call you in and you don't know for sure how long you're going to get to work. You have to work there for a month and then you get laid off. Then if they do call you back, you may get hired in full time and in the meantime you work overtime with no benefits. Who wants to waste all this time waiting for benefits when you can work at any other place full time with benefits in 60-90 days? No wonder they can't keep workers. They should in 60-90 days if you're a good worker. That's the reason I don't apply for a job there. I'm sure that's the opinion of many others.

I am very irritated. When I go to the grocery store I see couples paying for their groceries with a food stamp card and have one or two kids. I know kids need to be taken care of, but what I'm getting at is that many parents sit at home watching TV and have a medical card. I'm middle aged and have to work every day. I have to buy groceries and I have to work for the insurance. I don't have a medical card - I can't get one. I can't get WIC or any of the other things these young people get. These kids getting kids, these 17- or 18-year-old girls that keep having one kid after another and I think they should cut this out. There are a lot of elderly people who can't get anything to help them with costs of food, utilities and medicine. I feel very sorry for the elderly. The young girls even get their rent free. What is wrong with our great American system? It seems like the elderly are pushed aside, and hope they die and get out of our way. I think we should take care of our elderly.

We certainly hope that next week Judge Tony Heckemeyer will be a little more objective in his radio talk show. Maybe next Friday he can rant and worry about County Councilman Robert Young Jr., a Democrat in St. Louis, pleading guilty taking a bribe. He will be sentenced in April. After talking about Mr. Young, maybe he can talk about the two Democratic speakers, Richard Rabbit and Bob Griffin, who went to prison for illegal acts as speaker of the house. Then he can talk about Judy Moriarty, the only office holder in the history of the state of Missouri who was impeached, who was a Democrat. Just remember, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

My wife and I are newlyweds and have lived in the same small house in Sikeston for several years without any problems. Since we've gotten married we've become cramped and need a bigger house. So we did the logical thing and applied for a bigger house on the same street but were declined because we have a dog and a cat. The dog and cat are both adult pets and neither of them have yet to be the cause of property damage of any sort. Instead, the house was rented to a woman with a whole litter of kids. I work two jobs and average 70 hours a week, my wife works 45 hours a week at her job and that's what it takes for us to be able to afford a house like this. How can a single woman with four kids afford a house like this? Well, with government assistance, of course, through Section 8, food stamps and earned income credit on her taxes for any income she has. Can you see the irony here? My wife, my dog, my cat and I aren't able to live in this house but we still help pay the rent on it through our tax dollars. You see, my friends, I'm the one thing you don't want to be in America today. I'm a white Christian heterosexual proud-to-be-an American male. Why is that so bad, you ask? Because we're always the first ones to give and the very last ones to receive.

You have hit the nail on the head my friend!