Speakout 1/25

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

I wonder if anyone else has been getting calls. I have been bombarded with calls from people who supposedly from Medicare. And, they harangue you for 15 minutes trying to make you give up the prescription insurance you already have and go for theirs. Well, I have news for them. My prescription insurance is based in Missouri and I have a lot more confidence in them than I have in the federal government. One way or another, they are going to end up screwing it up. Already, I understand, that the companies have been having trouble getting their money. Well, they're not going to stand still for that. You just can't let the federal government do too much or they will mess up everything. George W. has already messed up our social security and now he's trying to do it with the prescription program. The people that called me that was supposed to be from Medicare, demanded my social security number, my monthly income, where my insurance was based out of and how many times I used it. I told them there was only one answer to all of those questions, that it was absolutely none of their business. I will not be pressured in to taking something I don't want when I already have something that works. I think it's ridiculous that they harass people over the phone.

I see where the mayor of Sikeston and his assistant is against the trains coming through town. The rivers are practically dried up now and they can't haul anything south to get it away and now Sikeston is trying to stop the trains from coming through. When they put that track in there, they bought the land and they didn't say how many trains would be coming through. We need this grain moved out of here, whether it's a dozen trains a day or 20. That's what that line is for. Shut down progress, that's what Sikeston's good for. That's why they don't have any good places to work. All we've got is service stations and banks, no place to work.

With Iran blustering about interrupting world oil flow, gas and diesel prices over $2 per gallon, and home heating fuel prices higher than they have been in years, I wonder why Rep. Jo Ann Emerson is trying to squash increased rail use. One train can easily haul over 60 tractor trailer loads of cargo. They not only will save fuel, they will also save enormous traffic (approximately 1440 trucks per day) on Missouri's already pathetic highways. I am also confident that the train tracks were there before Sikeston built all those vital roads and services without appropriate planning for proper under or overpasses. If you don't like trains, don't live near the tracks.

I have a comment on all the car lots, grocery stores and all the banks they keep building when there's nothing here for the young people to do. If they would like to keep the young people off the streets in Sikeston they need to build more recreational centers for our youth. That includes some kind of dance club, skating rink. Something for kids 16 and older, maybe 18 and older too. There's nothing here except for J.D.'s, the movies and going out to eat. And the banks, why more banks? We don't have money to put in them and we don't have money to buy the cars in the car lots. We need something for us to do or we will be running the streets.

There was something said about President Bush having unsolicited wire taps. Well that goes to say about these cameras they have around here, too. That's all wrong. They gonna wind up in everybody's house and everybody's gonna go to jail for something. That is an invasion of privacy. What is America coming to, a dictatorship? And the police sending tickets in the mail, what are we paying them for? Our roads ain't fit. They ride around in their cars and send us a ticket in the mail. And another thing, nobody told me my tax dollars were gonna go for cameras. What kind of crap is that? My tax dollars and your tax dollars. I think everybody ought to get together and fight this because it is an invasion of privacy. We know it's to see if people are speeding and committing a crime and stuff. That maybe all good, but the point of it is, they are not going to be using that for just that. We got by without the cameras and we'll get by without them again. Too much stuff is going on in Sikeston, but yet, not enough is going on. You want us to act good in Sikeston, but you give us nothing to reward us to have our own pleasure. You set up cameras so when we want to go do something, we feel like we are restricted because we are watched. We want someplace to go and we want our privacy to do it.