Pubdate: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 Source: Register-Herald, The (WV) Copyright: 2002 The Register-Herald Contact: http://www.register-herald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1441 Author: Rick Warden 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 - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom