Dexter Daily Statesman: Opinion

Elsie James (08/06/08)
Elsie James, daughter of the late Charles Dozier and Minnie Hampton Dozier, was born on Oct. 13, 1921, at Benton and died in the Missouri Southern Healthcare at Dexter on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, at the age of 86. Mrs. James was a member of Essex First Baptist Church, a homemaker and resident of rural Dexter...

Capitol Report (12/14/05)
Many of you have contacted me with concern over the Supreme Court's decision in June that I consider an assault on property rights of individuals. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution was designed to protect our right to own property. ...

Making enemies (12/09/05)
Since the 64th anniversary of Pearl Harbor was Wednesday, the event has gotten me thinking about the state of thinking about war in today's America: Specifically, what if the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor today? What would we hear from Ted Kennedy, or Howard Dean, or Cindy Sheehan? From MoveOn.org? From the various media outlets?...

It finally happened (12/07/05)
Well, this year was the magic year. It finally happened. My husband killed his first deer during the November firearms deer season. I know what you are thinking. We live in Southeast Missouri. Is it really such a big deal that he got a dear? My husband is 30 years old. He has been a religious deer hunter right here in Southeast Missouri for the past decade (probably longer, that's just how long I've known him). In all that time, he hasn't even hit a deer with a vehicle...

Is it all a mirage? (12/02/05)
One of my favorite movies is The Flying Deuces, with the legendary comedy team Laurel and Hardy. The basic premise of the film is that the two, to escape real and/or imagined troubles with the opposite sex, decide to join the French Foreign Legion. And in the course of the film, some of their more senior fellows explain desert mirages to the pair: "A mirage is something you see that's not there, or something you don't see that is there." Through subsequent pantomime, the old hands attempt to convince Stan and Ollie of the existence of totally imaginary objects, and despite being quite dated (1939) it's great fun.. ...

A last resort (12/01/05)
By CHARLES KRUSE In June the U.S. Supreme Court decision Kelo v. the City of New London sounded an alarm heard nationwide by citizens concerned about private property rights. Legislative action at the state and federal levels is taking shape in response to the public's shock and dismay over the Court's finding in support of the use of eminent domain to condemn homes and businesses for economic development projects...

Wagging the dog (11/29/05)
Just a few hundred years ago, leading scientific minds believed that the planet was flat. Since that time -- and even well before then -- scientists have disputed one set of claims after another. What we have been left with in many cases is nothing more than really sophisticated storytelling because, in many cases, there just isn't a whole lot of "science" to it...

Is democracy racist? (11/25/05)
Who should benefit from democracy? I have to wonder, given objections I keep hearing to our efforts to bring democracy to Iraq. What I keep hearing is that we don't need to be there, that we need a timetable for withdrawal, that it has turned into Vietnam, too many of our boys and girls have died, that we should never have gone to war, that our aims keep changing...

Giving away your rights (11/23/05)
I have given much thought as to how I should start this column. I entertained the notion of starting with a quote from one of our founding fathers; but, there are just too many to choose from. So, I decided to consult the Magic 8-Ball. I asked; "Will this country ever return to its original design?" My response: "Outlook not good."...

Doing what must be done (11/22/05)
You may have heard recently about a mother in Edmond, Okla., who made her daughter stand on a busy street corner holding a sign. Here's a little background in case you didn't. Meet Tasha Henderson. She has a 14-year-old daughter who is a freshman at Edmond Memorial High, one of the top high schools in Oklahoma...

War and global warming (11/18/05)
Do this experiment: Get a glass, put a few pieces of ice in it and then fill it with water. Draw a line with a magic marker at the water line. Now walk off and forget about it for an hour. When you come back, look to see where the water level is compared to the line you drew...

Time to pay up (11/16/05)
I am going to jump on an issue here that I have recently done stories on and that I have heard talked about for nearly a year (since my first Stoddard County 911 Board meeting). I want to talk about the 911 services cell phone tax … or better yet, the lack of one thereof...

Because of you … (11/09/05)
With Veterans Day only a few days away, I find thoughts of my grandfather running through my head. He has been dead several years, but each year at this time I always take time to stop and remember him. I take the time to drive out to his grave and put out fresh flowers and a small American flag...

Cheese and whine: Lessons from the French (11/08/05)
Cheese: 1 a: a food consisting of the coagulated, compressed, and usually ripened curd of milk separated from the whey. Not being one to shy away from shining the light on a piece of irony, I just happen to find it amusing that France is a country largely celebrated for a product that is basically the result of a bacterial process...

Abotion and Justice (11/04/05)
Yes, I know the title sounds like an oxymoron. But that's intentional. That's because the whole state of American jurisprudence has become laughable with respect to a woman's right to choose. Ditto the states of mind of pro-choicers. Consider, for example, the recent case of that state prison inmate who the US Supreme Court ruled has the right to obtain an abortion at state expense, notwithstanding the state law that prohibits the use of public funds to facilitate an abortion. ...

News and Notes (11/03/05)
Big Business Thanks to the folks at Lemons Waste for a very informative tour of their landfill facility. We sure generate a lot of trash and it takes a lot to get rid of it. In case you missed it, disposing of our waste has gone high tech. The landfill on Highway 25 has radiation detection monitors that incoming waste has to pass through before being deposited in the landfill. According to Harold Lemons, the monitors have actually gone off twice that he could recall...

It'll be your turn next (11/02/05)
Discrimination -- 1. An act or instance of discriminating. 2. Action or policies based on prejudice or partiality. Discriminate -- 1. To make a distinction in favor of or against a person on the basis of the group or class to which the person belongs, rather than according to merit, show partiality...

Whence the gas price spike? (11/01/05)
I struggled with different column ideas before settling on writing this one. Suffice to say, I feel there are any number of topics worth delving into; but I just couldn't seem to let this one go. It would appear most American's cannot, either. Last week, it was reported to the nation that all the oil companies posted large profits. Exxon - the largest, posted the largest profit in U.S. corporate history. Got that? The largest...

Our tax dollars at … uh … (10/28/05)
Back when I was in the Air Force, politicking on the job was a capital crime. In fact, I had to laugh at a comment made by our unit voting officer during the 1984 election season during a daily staff meeting with our general. He had just reminded us to be sure to register, and that he had applications for absentee ballots for anyone that needed them...

Don't we have enough to worry about? (10/26/05)
This past weekend, my husband and I decided that we wanted to do something a little different. Something that we hadn't done in a while. So, the family got together and went out to Black River to have a bonfire. We thought, what the heck? It's almost Halloween and the weather is cooling off so there aren't any bugs out to bother anyone...

Mailing list

Enter your email address to join our daily headline mailing list: