We've gone from a nation with a small surplus to one with a huge deficit in a few short years, mostly due to our military excursions in Afghanistan and Iraq. We went into Iraq with no idea how to stay there, our troops that would have possessed those skills having been allowed to leave the military as their units were rendered redundant by fiat from above.

I can't speak to which country or countries own the most of the US, or what they might do, for lack of specific knowledge on that subject.

We are bringing our wounded and maimed troops home to be treated in a Veterans Administation hospital system that doesn't have enough funds to treat the disabled and medically retired veterans of former wars, let along the new casualties of the middle east. In spite of lobbying on the part of veterans and their representative groups, funding for the VA's medical hospitals is still on an optional rather than a mandatory basis, which means that Congress MAY fund these facilities at their desire or whim, as opposed to having to meet the expanding costs of caring for the current disabled veterans as well as the seriously wounded veterans returning from the war.

BUT, we're coming into an election in less than a month, one that could allow for most of our elected officials in Washington to be replaced by irate voters, if there are enough unhappy folks in the US these days. Although the gas prices have dropped almost a dollar in the last month or so, there should be enough of us who still remember $ 3.00 prices that we could make a real difference, if we can get motivated enough to vote.

And herein lies our biggest problem. So many people are so disillusioned with our election procedures that they don't even take the time to try to make their voices heard by filling out and submitting a ballot. As a result, most elections have been decided with much less than 50% of the registered voters even bothering to come to the polls. On the other hand in a recent primary, the Republican[think Tory] candidate for our governor, who was running unopposed, only received 40% of the votes cast. The rest of those voting in the Republican primary cast their votes for candidates in the Democratic [think Labor] race, as write in votes. Since there was no opponent running in the Republican race, there was little else they could do.

This gives me some hope that we could elect a solidly Democratic Congress, one that could block any of Bush's pipe dreams, and run through legislation that could amass enough votes to override a presidential veto. This would give the Democrats enough standing that they could field a viable candidate in 2008, who might start pulling us out of the hole into which we have allowed ourselves to be dug. And while it may be an impossible job, remember that it was a Democratic president that left Bush an economy with a small surplus.

Dave