We should save ourselves first, then rest of the world

We should save ourselves first, then rest of the world
EDITOR:
Our politicians can approve billions of dollars a month to fight a war 7,000 miles from our homeland for reasons that seem to change as circumstances warrant and rebuild foreign cities we've decimated with our bombs. We are being asked for monetary donations to aid citizens in their time of need in the aftermath of a hurricane. Shouldn't our hard-earned tax money be spent first in our own country and adequate for the task at hand?
This Republican administration was re-elected for the most part because they said they were the ones to keep us safe. They spent billions of dollars more on Homeland Security and FEMA to guarantee our safety. With more than three days advance notice of the arrival of Katrina, it appears the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were forgotten and were not safe. If the government cannot respond adequately with notice, how safe would we be during and after another catastrophe with no notice?
Is Hurricane Katrina a wake-up call to Americans? President Bush responded to the events on the Gulf Coast with a detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation enduring a war, a natural disaster and economic uncertainty. Our nation's poor, not indigenous to the south, made headlines all over the world. A country such as ours should be ashamed that such economic conditions exist in our "land of plenty." Hurricane Katrina was not the first time these people, and people like them, have been overlooked. Poverty knows no race or religion or geographic location. Our current administration is only worried about the haves and have mores and not the have nothings. There will be those who will blame the state and local governments for the catastrophe. But anyone who sees the deprivation and devastation should realize this is of national proportion and the buck stops with Bush.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I never went to bed worried about Saddam Hussein and what he could do to me. I do go to bed worried about President Bush and what is next on his agenda or, even more frightful, what is glaringly absent from it for the good of our citizens and the future of our country.
We, who the world always turned to for help, now appear to be the helpless and in need of aid from foreign countries. Mexican troops are on our soil for the first time in 150 years. How can we "save" the world if we cannot save ourselves?
DAVID P. GAIBIS Sr.
New Castle
Roberts showed class
EDITOR:
If class is grace under pressure, then John Roberts, during his recent Senate Judiciary Committee meetings, simply exudes class. He and his answers were erudite, to the point and not strident in nature. His questioners were often using the occasion as an opportunity to give a political stump speech.
With all the problems in this country and abroad, the Senate has a great deal of work to do. Vote and get back to some practical work for a change.
DAVID READY
Warren
Use lottery money to help
EDITOR:
To all governors, local officials and any other politicians: What would be wrong with the lottery commission in every state donating one week of lottery jackpots to the Katrina relief fund?
Mega Millions was at a record high of $250 million recently in Ohio and other states that participate in that lottery.
Perhaps the states should make winners sign a document donating half of the winnings to the Katrina relief fund. Imagine with all the states donating, what a relief this would be. Imagine if Uncle Sam donated the tax part of lottery winnings.
LAURA DAVIS
Diamond