How U.S. marks World Peace Day

To the editor:

Sept. 21 was World Peace Day. In over 100 countries millions of people and their governments participated in programs to celebrate the occasion.

Meanwhile, the greatest country on Earth has become a nation of women talking on cell phones while driving vehicles designed to carry an entire construction crew; and good Christian men who stand by as Haliburton steals billions of taxpayer dollars and worry about whether a poor black woman raising her grandchildren might be getting more than her fair share of welfare.

As a misguided, inept government fritters away a surplus of trillions of dollars fighting an unnecessary and unpopular war, redistributes billions in tax cuts for the wealthy, saddles our children and grandchildren with record debt and erodes our constitutionally protected rights, we listen to a self-indulgent radio talk-show host regaling us with tales of how Reagan and the Bushes have gotten government off our backs.

The latest tragedy on our Gulf Coast is just the most recent example of how 25 years of discrediting government, draining resources from humanitarian programs and appointing cronies to important government positions have left our country without the necessary resources to deal with basic needs in a disaster.

Our government has caused the deaths of over 1 million human beings in the Middle East and close to 2,000 of our brave fighting men and women.

At this year's holiday season, let's send greeting cards extolling peace on Earth and look for another defenseless Third World country to attack.

DON GREENWOOD, Cape Girardeau