Speakout 5/15

This is for "Help Wanted." First of all, your granddaughter is not a good girl. She has been in trouble since age 13. You do not have a child accidentally. You know when you start having sex that a pregnancy is a possibility and you protect yourself. Now that she is a mother she needs to be in school to get an education so she can provide for her child or does she expect the taxpayers to raise the child. If you cannot keep her in school, she needs to be removed from your home along with the child and placed somewhere that she can be supervised. People who have children and don't expect to have to work and care for them are like a rock tied around the taxpayer's neck. I, for one as a taxpayer, am tired of the government taking my money to pay for your grandchildren's mistakes.

I'm calling in regards to the "Cute kid" Speakout from last week. I just want to say thank you. That was my little boy in the paper and there was no way to get a hold to find out who called in but I wanted to send them a thank you card. Since I couldn't get in contact with anyone I just wanted to say thank you to the paper. Thank you.

I am very unhappy with the Standard Democrat sports section. On Mondays I like to see what the major league standings and the scoreboard that is printed in there sometimes. I didn't have it in there yesterday on May 2, Monday, so I waited until today and it wasn't in Tuesday's sports section. I don't understand why we can't have the major league standings and the different NBA standings and scores in the newspaper on Monday and Tuesday. I'm very displeased that I had to go buy a St. Louis papers to get what I wanted.

Let's be fair when we talk about poor people and programs like welfare and Medicaid. Let's talk about the wealthy who lie on income tax returns, insurance companies that won't pay claims, large corporations that pay top executives outrageously large salaries while failing to provide insurance to faithful subordinates, and pharmaceutical companies that charge inconceivable sums of money for medication while funneling millions of dollars to doctors just to smooze them. Let's talk about politicians who abuse taxpayer money by traveling first class and dining in the finest restaurants that the average American cannot afford. When people start addressing the abuses of the wealthy then maybe I'll start listening to all the rhetoric about Medicaid abuse.

A newspaper headline should reflect the content of the article it heads! Basic journalism, true; but it appears to be an ever elusive trait. Once again our local newspaper contained an article about Social Security, and that is certainly a newsworthy subject. However, once again the headline called it SSI not Social Security. SSI is Supplemental Security Income, an often misused government program. A program that provides benefits to many people well below the retirement age, and often to people who have made no significant contribution to Social Security. SSI is often the refuge for those who are no longer able to milk the welfare system otherwise. Social Security is not SSI. Social Security is a program designed to provide some level of support to working Americans when they reach retirement age. Please keep them straight in the future.