Speakout 4/1

Friday, April 1, 2005

I'm calling about the spanking that was in today's Speakout. I totally agree with this grandmother. This government has taken away the parents' right to spank a child but yet the schools are allowed to spank them and leave marks - that is morally wrong.

I have recently moved to Sikeston and I would like to know if the cars here in Sikeston have turn signals on them. So many of them try to turn right in front of you, you almost hit them in the back because they have not had a turn signal on and they are going down the road. When you try to turn on a street you don't know if they are going to turn or go straight.

I want to know why the Sheriff Walters doesn't have the prisoners out of the jail and let them clean up roads instead of the highway department. It is really frustrating to see them sitting in the jails doing nothing.

I didn't know there was so much wrong with skateboarding. Lots of people make a good living at it on TV. And I think that if the kids want to wear there hair long then let them as long as it is clean.

Just because they are children doesn't mean they don't have feelings or don't know what they want. Maybe they would like to have long hair and be in a rock-n-roll band. But oh my gosh that would be a down right sin now wouldn't it? But I bet you would like it if they were in a rock band and were making very good money and bought you a very nice car now wouldn't you. There are lots of kids these days in school with long hair and good grades.

I have been following with some interest the controversy surrounding the pregnant teens cover story on our local high school paper, the Bulldog Barker. It was disappointing to see such a story in that paper and especially disappointing to see it as a cover story. I recently read a rebuttal response from who I presume is the high school student editor. It was a well worded and thoughtful response. It was also terribly naive to think that just because this was an issue in the school it was worthy of coverage in the high school paper. Let me hasten to add that I did read the articles and am not just reacting to the pregnant profile photo on the front of the Barker. There are certainly many other issues of involvement, interest, or concern to the student body, but that is not reason enough to make them a feature article. I recently saw a headline which I think applies here. It was Dangers: Brains Under Construction and subtitled "Teens need adult help in decision-

making." Many of the teens with whom I have talked think they are grown, think they are as smart as anyone, and consider their opinions to be fact. However, this article underscores once again the need to provide adult help in their decision-making.

In the film, "Bowling for Columbine," Michael Moore shows how the American government and the media breed fear in the American people. The Standard Democrat proved this point by printing a front page story on a Hayti man missing, and then a tiny, hard to miss, page three story about finding him unharmed.

It seem there is no limit to the Republican actions when campaigning for their quest for super power in all avenues of government - local, state and federal. Most, if not all, community service clubs are forbidden to be involved in political or religious campaigns; but still some of our Republican candidates will send a two-page letter to those same community service clubs, gloating about their success in dominating politics in their power struggle to run rough-shod over the middle to lower-class citizens of our country. These actions are very unethical and in very poor taste for any candidate, Democrat or Republican. In previous elections, I have gone on three different occasions to one of the larger churches in southern Missouri, only to be disappointed to find a politician behind the pulpit. In these situations, I must conclude that the pastor has little or no respect for God, the sacred office of the church or the congregation. On the flip side of this, I find politicians who have no respect for themselves or for God, his place of worship or of the ministry of his holy word. Again I ask: How far will they go?