LETTERS: BUYING FOREIGN GOODWILL

To the editor:

Just what is the Department of Commerce? Did you know that you, the taxpayer, pay for McDonald's, Coca-Cola, drug companies and many more corporations to advertise and set up office in Europe and Far Eastern countries? And why is it that the front man finds his work rewarding beyond that of pride in achievement? Opening trade means exchange of dollars between governments. However, there are dollars that never reach the U.S. treasury. The Commerce Department is likened to a theatrical production where the stars and the stagehands get paid, leaving very little except credit for the treasury of the country that started it all.

The demand for investigations into the source of foreign money that went into the campaign coffers of recent elections is loud and clear but will never come off. Nor do those who demand the investigations expect it to happen Both political parties are guilty of breaking laws.

In the court of equity, the maxim, "He who enters must do so with clean hands," is the same high standard demanded of his accusers by Jesus: "He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone."

Corporate welfare? The GOP and the Democrats alike have sacred cows: advertising for the Gallo wine family, grants to IBM, Westinghouse, Boeing and other business subsidies.

Defund partisan lobbies -- what does that mean? Well, it means to kill grants to various political organization, labor unions, the NAACP, pro-abortion groups, leftwing activists, the National Endowment for the Arts, the AARP and others. It simply means to axe money for organization that engage in partisan political campaigns or lobby on issues.

And what of foreign aid? Don't ever forget that money controls, and foreign aid is really a form of bribery. I read, "Never underestimate the power of bribery in world affairs, and it's cheaper than war."

My source of information comes from The Wall Street Journal.

GWEN N. WINNINGHAM

Jackson