LIVING IN SHAMBLES

The Dalai Lama was honored by Congress as a "Man of Peace" and given a medal by President Bush. This was the "Man of War" honoring the "Man of Peace," like evil heralding good, like the shadows of night hailing the bright rays of the sun.

Evidently China is objecting to the whole affair, saying the United States is meddling in their country's affairs. It's all concerning Tibet, that land of snow-capped mountains, Sherpas, Abominable Snowmen, and magnificent scenery. The Dalai Lama is in exile from his home because he supposedly helped the Tibetans rebel against the austere and cruel government. Now, he travels the world, speaking of his message of peace.

Well, he picked the right place. The United States could use a little peace, in order to have the money and time to solve some domestic problems.....as well as save the lives of many American soldiers and a whole lot more Iraqi lives. Iraq, returning veterans have said, is a Shambles. If you study some of the problems in America these days, we are a Shambles, too!

Millions of people are losing their homes, unable to pay their mortgages. Where do these people go? They are our modern refugees, seeking new lives, new jobs, new homes. Where do they go? Are they stuck with relatives, living day-to-day, praying for jobs, for places to raise their kids? Are they on the streets, sleeping in cars, in cardboard cartons? Where do they go?

Now we have the baby-boomers reaching the age of retirement. We all know how Bush hates Social Security, considering it a giveaway program. These funds have been depleted by Congressional Grabbers, who have dipped into it constantly to use for other interests. As a result, this program is going broke.....along with our country, which has a National Debt that would stagger Bill Gates. So, one of these months, one of these years, those Social Security checks won't arrive. Then our refugee crisis will multiply, and millions of the Elderly will find themselves destitute.

Speaking of China and its indignation over the Dalai Lama, one has to grope to find any sympathy for them at all! Today, Huffy bikes were recalled. Yesterday, it was baby cribs. Every day, a new toy is taken off the market. We are giving our children poison, the same children President Bush doesn't want to give medical care. What a dilemma! Thousands of kids with potential lead poisoning and our President cuts off their Health Care! Talk about refugees, our kids might fit the description!

What do the FDA employees do all day, dawdle around, twiddling thumbs? Do they go out to lunch after arriving at the office and stay there until it is time to go home? Yesterday, several children's cough syrups were recalled. A few months ago, our dogs were poisoned and now it's our kids. Where will it end? We have shiploads of Chinese products arriving daily at our ports, the same ports owned by Arabs. Our department stores are filled with Chinese junk. Our grocery stores carry food that is made in China or shipped from South America or from every other country around the globe.

I can remember when our FDA was a well-run, cautious agency. It was their reluctance to approve anything new that saved the country from thousands of Thalidomide babies, babies born with no arms or with twisted, deformed arms. Those days seem to have been gone with the wind that swept in with the Bush Administration.

Yesterday, I ate an apple that came from New Zealand. I live in Michigan, the apple state, and I am eating an apple from New Zealand. What do I know about New Zealand? The answer is...nothing! Whatever happened to Old Zealand? What spray do they use on their apples? What pestilence can they send over with their apples? Who knows?

Doctors are alarmed because a Superbug is killing Americans. It is drug resistant, which is worrisome in itself. If they'd stop shooting animals with antibiotics to make them grow, we might not be so drug-resistant. We have unknowingly gobbled down antibiotics with our eggs, our chickens, our meat and, suddenly, we're drug-resistant. Somehow, we have spent millions on the War on Drugs and have aimed it in the wrong direction. We should have allowed folks to enjoy a puff of pot and declared war on the misuse of antibiotics.

We haven't fed the fish supply antibiotics, but they probably could have used some, to cure the ailments the polluted waters have caused them. The oceans are dangerously polluted and anyone who doesn't believe it should wade through the Florida beaches covered with the "Red Tide." No, folks, it isn't Communistic, it's an algae that causes you to have the symptoms of the flu.

They were trucking this Red Tide away in huge carriers when I visited the beaches. There were warning signs all over the place. We should tack those warning signs in our grocery stores, our toy stores, our pet supply stores. In fact, huge warning signs should flash in the sky above us at all times, Amber Alerts for a lost and endangered civilization.

If the rains do not fall, Georgia and other Southern States will face a crisis. Their rivers are running dry. They may very well soon lack water for the huge cities where water is a necessary commodity. For the first time, they may realize what the Iraqi people are going through....no potable water, no electricity, no amenities. Cholera is a problem in Iraq. Funny thing about that disease. It is caused by contaminated water, but it can be cured by drinking fresh, clean water replacing the bodily fluids you have lost. Not so easy if there is no fresh, clean water to be found.

In other states, there have been too many rains. Tornado warnings have been a regular event. There have been mudslides and, where the rain has not arrived, there have been forest fires. Twelve million Latinos want drivers licenses and hardly anyone can make it to work as it is, with the traffic jams that take place on every major highway. Plus, we have an election coming up, and we'll have to listen to those infernal ads, calling war heroes cowards and cowards heroes.

You think it isn't a Shambles? I haven't even touched on all the problems. The Dalai Lama could busy himself here for at least a century. It would take him forty years to tend to Florida alone. I won't mention Las Vegas, because what happens there, stays there. I hope they can contain that Staph infection. We don't need it anywhere else.

Vladimir Putin traveled to Iran and doled out a lot of sympathy there, angering President Bush, because Vladimir doesn't want war. No one in Congress suggested giving Vladimir a reward for being a man of peace, probably because of his government's suspected role in killing that British spy. A deadly poison there, too. Or maybe it was because of the recently heated up "Cold War." That may be the best kind, after all, because those Hot Wars are deadly.

So, here I am, just trying to stay alive in a Shambles, mulling over the problems, trying to find solutions. Perhaps if we gave Bush a conical hat like the Dalai Lama wears, he would change into a Man of Peace. On the other hand, it would just look like a Dunce Cap, wouldn't it?