The following questions are questions that need answering. Are there answers to them? We must remain optimistic and vigilant if there are to be. These are just a few topics. There are many more, some more important and some less, based on a persons beliefs and attitudes. I present them, as a reference and a starting point for discussion.

Has our government yet realized that poverty begets crime? Why havent they concluded that society flourishes when all people are treated equally? Why are the poorest and most destitute in society mostly minorities? If we are our brothers keeper, then shouldnt our government be doing something more proactive and productive than just doling out patronizing entitlements? Creating jobs for people is a win-win-situation, isnt it?

If the gaming industry preys on the people who are desperate, then why are more and more states changing their laws to accept gambling? Did this all start with the lotteries so our state governments could make more money to cover up their mismanagement of funds? How much more gaming will it take to separate the classes even further? And if gambling is a terrible addiction, why does our government condone it?

If drugs are illegal, and people go to jail for either possessing or selling them, then why is tobacco a legal crop when it is a highly addictive and destructible drug that costs the government so much money in health care and kills millions of people? Why is alcohol legal when so many people die from its addictive powers, so many innocent people are killed on the roads? Even more insane is why are bars and restaurants allowed to serve liquor when so many of its patrons leave intoxicated and drive home?

It is illegal to kill, so why is our government not following the law when it comes to the death penalty? Shouldnt our government be held up to the same standards as the people it represents? Wouldnt being caged like an animal for the rest of your life, in the most frightening of conditions, be more hellacious than the easy way out of dying? Wouldnt it cost the government a lot less than it would in death penalty appeals, which most of these convicted criminals cannot afford, causing the innocent their life? Should Stanley Tookie Williams have been executed by Governor Schwarzenegger when there wasnt irrefutable proof he was guilty? After sixteen years of writing about the evils of gangs, teaching children to do the right thing, saving countless lives in the process, and being nominated for the Nobel Prize in Peace, shouldnt his life have been spared? With more than 1000 people murdered by the United States in the last 29 years, what does it say about Texas which has killed more than one-third of them (355)? And what does it say about our president, when in his five years as governor of Texas he executed 131 of those people, or, on average, one person every other week? What does revenge offer except pain and suffering for so many other families? Is the death penalty a deterrent? If you believe it is, then why has every reputable academic study proven that the death penalty does not provide any deterrent value? Do Americans realize that murder rates in death penalty states are higher than they are in states without the death penalty? And what about the 119 people who were on death row that have since been exonerated because it was finally proven they were innocent, not to mention the 23 cases where innocent people were executed since 1900? Do Americans know that our country has the distinction of joining China, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia as the only nations that execute their citizens? How then can two- thirds of Americans support the death penalty, when the rest of the free world considers it barbaric, inhumane, and uncivilized? How many other people will be murdered for a crime they never committed if America continues this reign of terror?

If right-to-life advocates condemn the killing of an unborn fetus, then why do they blow up abortion clinics, killing so many people? Isnt this contradictory? If pro- choicers believe abortion is not killing, then why cant they decide on this in the first trimester? As this question has never been answered, isnt compromise better than decades of debate, division, and death?

Whatever happened to freedom? Is it legal for our president to be spying on Americans in our own country without us knowing about it? Is it legal for our president to have secret detention camps in Eastern Europe where prisoners (or those we think may be terrorists) are sent to be interrogated through whatever means (torture?) possible? How many years must the detainees be held at Guantanamo Bay without being charged with a crime? How can any country respect us, or believe in our system, or want to be our ally, or embrace democracy, when the American way of living is being bastardized by our present political leadership? What has America turned into these last five years? And how do we become the country we once were, a free country, which most of the world depended upon, admired, and respected?

To survive in the best of all possible worlds we must all work together as one family. If we want to change and be a better people, a far better world, we must first be willing to change and act upon it.

If you have questions or topics that you feel should be addressed, please email the author, Bruce Schwartz, at www.parkavenuepress@hotmail.com. The publisher has the discretion whether to print your comments.