It seems quite apparent to me that crime is rising, not only in numbers, but also in th types of crime which is occuring. I believe that there is a complete breakdown in our society. There are several reasons for it, but I would say very strongly that the biggest reason is the breakdown of education in this country.

When I think of the billions upon billions of dollars that are spent tin the war, I see red. No child left behind? Ha. All our children are being left behind. At one time, education was rated as the most important issue to make our country great. Now, schools have been stripped of all the subjects and teachers that would produce a superior, and well-rounded citizen. Gone are the arts. Some schools no longer have a librarian to assist students in making reading a life-long practice.

Other schools have no nurse! What is wrong with us? School is one place where germs have a perfect breeding ground. Students also have a tendency to get injured often. I would say that it doesn't take much thinking to see the lack of the school nurse is sheer idiocy.

Then there are the people who blindly assume that all public schools are providing equal opportunities and quality of education in all the schools. These people prefer to remain in deluded because it is more comfortable.

There is an extremely high correlation between lack of education and crime. And where do so many of these people end up? Jail and prisons. As people become more uneducated, our prisons are dangerously overloaded. Our brainy solution? Build more prisons. It would be much cheaper to educate our people, than it is to maintain them in prison, or to build more prisons.

While in jail or prison, there is no rehabilitation so that they don't keep returning to prison. We cannot warehouse people who have violated the laws, and ignore the cause behind their behavior. Because at some point, many will return to society. A high number of them will repeat their crime, often within a very short time after their release. So, everybody loses out over and over.

Then there are the gifted among us who will never learn that they were meant to be a musician, an artist, a writer, or any of the special categories of gifted people that are the yeast of our country.
We have become stale and flat. We have no heros to emulate. All the attention given to the likes of Paris Hilton is nauseating. It so well demonstrates how low we have sunk and the hollowness of our culture.

Meanwhile, crime is rising and with the our massive drug problem, crimes have become bizarre, and shocking. Married couples have forgotten that divorce is the way to end their relationship. Instead, murder of the spouse is all the rage; or hiring a hitman. Can it be that the reason is money, money, money? Never mind that the murdering parent has now left children without either parent. Selfish to the core.

When asked the reason for their crime, criminals offer astounding and souless answers. They stabbed someone for $5.00. They kidnapped a child, well, because they can't help themselves. The pervasive materialism in this country presents many of the so-called "reason" why they did what they did.

Of course, our white-collar criminals, while dressed so snazzy and smart; are even worse than the poor criminals. They know better, oh, so much better. So clever they are at bilking the public to the tune of huge amounts of other people's money and property.

Things will not change in this country until each and every one of us stands up for what is right. Check out your community. What can you do? Most importantly, what goes on in your home is the first plase to look and and make wise decisions that will your hourse a real home for your family. Here is where it all starts. And a big hurray for those who already involved, or becoming involved. Learning is a lifetime endeavor. It is learning not only of particular subjects, but especially about life. Learning is about making informed choices and navigating our lives. For the sake of having a future, we can do it.

I have always been an admirer of people of convictions, and those whose words matched their actions. Now when the president framed the phrase, "Stay the Course", and others like it, he seemed to state it from firm moral convictions. However, with the war in it's fifth year, the unbelievable degree of moral turpitude which has resulted in astronomical number of deaths, horrible injuries, troops returning for up to four tours, and billions upon billions of dollars spent and unaccounted for: the words, "Stay the Course" have revealed a person incapable or unwilling of seeing the inescapable truth. A time comes to reevaluate one's thinking and actions.

The excessive and increasing numbers of deaths on both sides, the huge number of Iraqis who have become refugees in their own country, the hideous injuries incurred by our troops, and the overall wretched state of this war leads me to now understand that we are dealing with a leader incapable of leading. His words have become empty and deceiving. He has even taken to ignore the counsel of those closest to him. In recent days, he actually told Congress to worry about funding the war, and leaving him to lead the war!

With the National Guard troop (who were never to be used in wartime), now returning over and over again for more tours of duty, they are incurring a high rate of death, with the type of injuries not even seen in Vietnam. Worse, when they return, they are finding the most severe lack of services and help. We are already seeing homeless, injured soldiers. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. This is the result of "staying the course", instead of having a leader unwilling to admit mistakes, as well as incapable of reconfiguring his thinking to fit reality.

When did the Iraqis ask us to enforce democracy on them? How did the attack of September 11 have anything to do with Iraq, when we knew that the majority of those who were the criminals were from Saudi Arabia? All that was accomplished was to incite a hornet's nest that is only growing in size and strength. They want their own form of law back, and it is not democracy.

Just this morning, the leader of Iraq has said that the Americans can leave at any time. He says that they can manage on their own. Perhaps what he is really alluding to is the fear of total annihilation by the insurgents. Something to think about. No more American blood should be shed. I am extremely patriotic; which is why I say what I do. I also honor our troops, but I feel they are more valuable to us and especially their families alive and well. We owe them truth, honesty, and a promise of real help. In that, we can stay the course.

Terrorism--the big, ugly bad word. We still haven't figured how to fight against those who all too willing to lace explosives arounds themselves like the funereal flowers brought out for their victims.

It's not that we in the West, or our soldiers lack the understanding and willingness to lay down their lives for their brothers. Brothers; that's the operational word. But how do we fight those who are so willing to use themselves as deadly weapon's in increasingly deadly effectiveness?

Then, there are the reports of the taking of boys from their homes to be taught the hatred as well as the desire to imitate others who have already immolated their bodies to achieve their deadly ends. This is a perversion of the meaning of heroism, the call to holiness, and patriotism. How will we ever know the true numbers of those who have used this method?

I do not believe this is the teaching of the Koran, or any other religious belief. Yet, what can our soldiers, as well as the rest of us. protect ourselves against such rabid fanaticism? There are answers and we must work tenaciously on those answers. The number of deaths and horrible injuries, not only to our soldiers, but also innocent civilians requires our optimal application of workable ideas. Evil cannot, and will not supercede the values of good and justice. This I strongly believe.

Greetings to all! As my daughter and I were driving around today, we couldn't help but notice the numerous cameras posted high above traffic, solely for the purpose of recording speeders, people driving under the influence, and whatever other offenses known only to certain officials.

Does this help the situation, or inhibit bad behavior of certain drivers? I would have to conclude that the answer is no, simply because while money has been obtained from these violators, the behavior goes on. Those guilty of DUI continue to drive under the influence. Maybe we need the help of a profiler. What we are doing is not working.

I conclude that the reason the cameras are not working is because an ingrained part of the behavior of those living and acting under the influence of alcohol and other drugs, is the element of them not caring. If they did care, they would not endanger their families and other innocent people by driving the way they do. As for speeders, they don't care either. Taking money away from them doesn't scare them either. They deprive their families of money needed to live on very day, so if the police take it, it's just one more group of people taking it away. Their friends will tide them over with the drugs.

What we need is for Patriot Act to quit snooping on citizens and for the police to be given the authority to escort those people breaking the law to jail and let the law work once and for all. We need to save people's lives and protect them from bodily injury. NO ONE has the right to use drugs (and alcohol is a drug) and then enter roadways where the likelihood of tragedy taking place is so high. I submit that in this case, photography has simply become another game in the life of drug users, and speeders. We can do better.