Frank: I'm confident if one "visited" every state in the union, one could find parts of the state in need of more health care services. I doubt that Texas stands alone in that area. I'm not convinced, howeverl tha just visiting a state gives one a true perspective of what is needed in a state. For example, I have visited Texas three or four times in the past month, and I have no idea what you are talking about.

Your comments about the wealthy, and the tax breaks they receive, etc. just isn't clear to me at all. I'm sure you are aware that the wealthy in our country pay by far the largest percentage of taxes paid by anyone. Therefore, it seems logical to me that the people who pay the largest amount of tax would receive that larger number of tax breaks. Providing tax breaks for people who pay little or no taxes are meaningless.

I also believe that there is less "paying off" of politicians than many people believe. If you are refering to campaign contributions as a "method" of payoff, that is a different matter. I do think large contributors to a candidate's campaign could possibly influence a politician to vote the way the donor favors. The best way to prevent this would be to ban soft money from political campaigns. I doubt soft money is going away though, because both the democrats and the republicans do not want to give up their own pet "cash cows"; corporate donations to the republicans and labor union donations to the democrats.

Wealthy Americans are among the most generous people in the country. Not all of them, of course, but a very large number are. Just think of the private foundations in the U. S. and all that they do for America's nonprofit organizations. There are literally thousands of them throughout the U. S. They are not all as large as the Ford and Rockefellow Foundations, which were established by wealthy families but they provide millions of dollars to the needy and to organizations that benefit the citizens of most communities.

I realize it is a popular sport to beat up on the rich, but I don't do it. I have no problem with someone being wealthy, whether they earned it by working for it, or by inheriting it. I just think they are very fortunate.

DougR