Sound Off for Oct. 10

No apology needed
I'm responding to "Apologies needed." I don't care how many times Congressman Wilson apologized. The fact is he said it. Obama, being the gracious person he is, accepted the apology. I'm sure he has heard a lot worse in a political gathering where the mentality never rose above first grade. Any remarks that the Democrats might have made were true, I'm sure, and no apologies were in order. The fans of the Bush Administration look pretty silly defending the father-son duo, especially after the train wreck our country has become during their years in office, and yet the arrogant young Bush junior feels free to say Obama doesn't have a clue. Furthermore, this country was racist during the Jimmy Carter presidency and still is somewhat, and the Boston tea party protesters were unAmerican as any real American would agree.

Sorry, Chicago
I'm sorry Chicago didn't get the Olympics. I was able to go to Atlanta when the games were there and it was the best experience of my life. I think Mayor Daley and President Obama did right to try to put the best face on the U.S. proposal but, from what I've read, our international reputation has become so pathetic over the last 10 years, thanks George, that we won't have a chance of getting an Olympics for decades to come.

Unbelievable salaries
I'm calling about the salaries in St. Charles. Since we moved here, we cannot believe the low pay that these employers pay their employees. How they expect a family of three or four to live on this? My husband works two part-time jobs and we carry our own health insurance because nobody wants to hire us full-time. Yes, guess what? We are professionals and we are working for what, $11, $12 an hour? In [one grocery story], the highest you can get paid is $10 and pay union dues. That's nothing. I think everybody should go on strike, all the retail people, any of those other places, just go on strike and see how the managers handle it.

Happy now?
I hope our teachers are happy now. The parents of their students are taking cut after cut and realize the necessity of doing it in order to feed those very children. But do our teachers have to? Hardly. If I recall the numbers correctly, it's more than 3 percent a year for three years, or 10 percent over the term of the contract. Pretty good deal, except for those of us who have to pay those salaries. I haven't seen a raise in four years but I've sure seen pay cuts, benefit cuts, hour cuts. Quite a deal they got for themselves, and our school board just blithely went along.

Boisterous trains
To all train men who roll through our town/city, be advised. You proceeded to become too loud, too rattly, too boisterous, too ratty. I know. Kind of pushy for an out-of-state railroad, huh? Just so you know, you are on our radar and sonar. OK, railroad apologists, have your way. Boring. Disturbing the peace is still a terrible behavior.

Assisted success
There aren't too many people who consider dependence upon government entitlement programs as achieving success. Would you tell someone that you were doing great because your family are on welfare and Medicaid? That is the problem that our president is taking health care reform. He believes that a growing number of people receiving some form of government assistance demonstrates our country's compassion. Condemning people to an addiction to government assistance is not something to celebrate. We should be trying to figure out how to shrink the amount on Medicaid and welfare and how to create an economy that offers enough opportunity for people so they are able to rid themselves of government. An astounding 20 percent of our population is now on Medicaid and our president believes that number needs to go higher. The opposite is true, as are the real solutions to our problems compared to the direction that our president would like to take us.

Poop distinctions
I am not a professional when it comes to identifying poop, but there is no way that deer poop, dog poop or Canada geese poop can be mistaken one for the other. They are all distinctly different.

See you at Scarecrow
Hope to see you all at Scarecrow Fest this weekend. It's going to be one of those wonderfully crisp fall weekends that are perfect for being outside with family and friends. Make a date with the wife, bring the kids and the grandkids. Have a bite to eat and meet new friends and see some of the funniest, scariest and just plain oddest scarecrows ever.