Recent events cause concern

As a veteran and U.S. citizen, a couple of recent events have me concerned. While we were celebrating our independence on the Fourth of July, our fearless leader, President Obama, was in Russia. What kind of message are we sending to the rest of the world when our leader is out of the country during the celebration of one of the most important events in our nation's history?

If that wasn't bad enough, the major news event on the front pages of the Internet, television, newspapers and magazines was the death of Michael Jackson. Did anyone even notice that we had seven soldiers die in Afghanistan or that the story about these brave, selfless troops was on Page 7 of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch? I'm not sure if any of the other national newspapers even covered the loss of our soldiers.

We have a dead musician on the front pages of news media while the story of America's true heroes is buried or barely mentioned. On a most historically important day of the year for Americans, President Obama leaves our country to work out a deal with the Russians to curtail our military strength in case of attack. I hope U.S. citizens stop and think about what is happening in our country.

ROGER RILEY, Jackson