LETTERS: WAR AID INCLUDES LOTS OF PORK

To the editor:

The United States is again involved in war, a war that was none of our business, a conflict that can only be solved by the individuals living in that country.

When you take it upon yourself to solve a problem for someone else, as our government has done with everything from education, smoking cigarettes, having children out of wedlock to drug abuse, the problem is never solved, and many more different problems erupt. We are seeing a multitude of problems from our interference and, of course, no solution to the original concern.

Our Congress, in its need to pass bigger and more costly legislation, cant just say no to funding this war. Congress not only is going to fund it, but it is going to appropriate additional money for all kinds of things. After all, it's not their money they are giving away, it's money stolen from individual wage earners in private enterprises. Why should they show restraint in spending, it doesn't cost them anything, because every penny was tax money taken from a wage earner to start with.

Some of the add-ons requested by our leaders consist of $1 billion in guaranteed loans to benefit three steel companies by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), $500 million to oil and gas interests in the Southwest by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), removal of the Alabama sturgeon from the endangered species list by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), $4.3 billion for midwestern farmers' crop subsidies and loan guarantees from Sens. Kent Contrad (D-N.D.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and from President Clinton a push for $1 billion in aid for Central American victims of Hurricane Mitch and another $100 million in foreign aid for Jordan.

Last, but not least, Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) are trying to ensure that states can spend the $246 billion extorted from tobacco companies on whatever they want instead of on anti-smoking campaigns for young people, as originally promised.

It is time for all Americans to start paying attention to where their money is being spent. Look at your paycheck. See how much of your money goes for someone else to spend. Realize that you can figure at least 30 percent of the purchase price for any product is also going to pay taxes. Are you getting your money's worth? We can only stop this unlimited spending by eliminating federal tax on income, paying off the national debt and limiting our federal government to protecting us from foreign invasion and protecting our individual liberty.

MARY NALL

Marble Hill