AMERICA STICKING NOSE IN OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS

In America, Vietnam vets are eating out of garbage cans. Children are lost
by the people assigned to care for them. Department and grocery stores
throw away or destroy enough food and goods each month to feed and clothe a
small city.

Our resources are raped and left useless to the tune of thousands of acres
per year. Enough money is wasted on an unwanted drug war each month to fund
free health care for every child in West Virginia. We hide our elderly in
care facilities seemingly designed for abuse. The list goes on and on.

Yet somehow we deem ourselves worthy to force our brand of democracy on the
rest of the world.

Our arrogance has mutated beyond anything the Taliban can conceive. Our
blind devotion to fast food and talk shows has given us the belief that
life is all about these things. And like missionaries wanting to save the
ignorant savages, we have started our own crusade: To save the world,
whether they want to be saved or not.

Why is America hated in most other countries? Maybe it's because we're
always sticking our noses in other people's business.

Now we're going to war with Iraq. Why? Is Iraq a personal insult to G.W.
Bush? Payback for his father's failure? Is he power mad? Unfortunately, the
true reasons are unclear and the propaganda being spouted is making the
truth even muckier.

The Iraqi people are not exactly clamoring for our aid. They know that in
America, animals are often put ahead of people. Pot smokers get more time
in prison than murderers. Child molesters are allowed parole. And God is
being erased from every aspect of our lives, replaced with sports figures
and movie stars.

In America, our attention span lasts only as long as the last commercial break.

Rick Warden

Beckley