"I'm mad as Hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!” (From the movie NETWORK)

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 person's beliefs and attitudes. I present them as a reference and a starting point for discussion.

How come TV shows can now use swear words? Does it give our children the right to use them in school and at home since it's presented as acceptable language? Is the media being irresponsible? And why does the media show premarital and extramarital sex to our children (and adults) as if it's the norm? Why do they force our children to view perfect bodies, which leads to anorexia, bulimia, depression, and unrealistic images of women? Is killing in TV, movies, music, and video games desensitizing our children (and adults) to the point where it is no longer frightening and repulsive? Why are the entertainment businesses and game manufacturers promoting products in which death and destruction is the main objective? Worse, why do parents buy these horrific and mind-altering games for their children? Is this a reason why we live in such an aggressive and violent society?

Why are our children still studying medieval literature and mythology, rather than modern novels that will turn them on to reading, not turn them away? Why do we have the same curriculum decade after decade when new courses that deal with our ever-changing world would be better suited for our children's future? Where are courses such as money management, interpersonal communications, parenthood, comparative religions, cultures, and races, colleges and college life? Shouldn't the Department of Education be doing something to bring America's school curriculum up-to-date, become preparatory and be proactive? Although our schools are crumbling, can we afford to ignore or forget the inside? If America can teach other countries so many wonderful things, why doesn't America learn from the best in the world, such as in education?

Where does it say that any job an American has is for life? If that be the case, then why do teachers have tenure? Shouldn't teachers be held accountable, like every other job, so we can weed out the bad ones (like in any other job) and keep only the teachers who are making a difference? Wouldn't this help improve our children's education and love of learning?

Why do we pay our athletes, actors, celebrities, et al, tens of millions of dollars (Howard Stern $100 million plus per year) and our teachers, police, fire fighters, and nurses only about $50,000 a year? What is more important: entertaining our children, or educating them and saving their lives? Have our priorities gone the way of the media? And what are our children learning from this convoluted idolization? Why are

the arts the first to be eliminated from our schools, but never sports? Are we teaching our children the wrong values, to make heroes out of non-heroes, to go after jobs that pay the most, rather than ones in which they can be productive and proud of their contribution to humankind?

Why does the meat industry continue to add hormones to their livestock feed to grow them larger and make more profits when they know it's being digested by the public and causing physiological changes in children's growth? Do you ever wonder why 9-year old girls have breasts today? Shouldn't the FDA force these farmers to stop adding chemicals to all our foods? Aren't the preservatives and flavor enhancers bad enough?

Can America survive without taxes? Will we ever understand that taxes are essential to a strong, modern country? Without taxes, how will America pay for its schools, teachers, libraries, postal services, fire fighters, police, highways, courts, governments, etc? So, when our president gives Americans a tax rebate (which averaged $400 per person) and says it is helping the economy by spending it, wouldn't it make far more sense to use that small amount instead to lower our country's deficit and interest payment? Wouldn't that make America less reliant and much stronger as a nation? Wouldn't that help our economy more? How about our president eliminating his tax rebate to pay for fighting someone else's civil war, and to pay for the rebuilding, rather the building of Afghanistan and Iraq, which was mercilessly destroyed? Is everyone aware that the war has cost America half a trillion dollars so far, or, on a personal level, it has cost every man, woman, and child in America $1,724 and rising everyday? Besides that, how much is it going to cost us to rebuild New Orleans, and for all the other disasters nationwide, not to mention the rebuilding and repairing of the country's infrastructure, which has become a death trap? Is a national tax rebate in the best interest of our financially-strapped country?

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.

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