I recently received a number of similarly-themed emails-the common thread "...Louie, where's your optimism...we're in a presidential election year...a time of hope...looking forward...*optimism*...." *OPTIMISM* ? Ok, so I thought, maybe it's me, as I am in the midst of some very difficult , personal struggles, so maybe I am letting my personal struggles taint my *macro-cosmic* views .-Well, writing that last sentence took longer than my pondering the REALITY of my *macro-cosmic* views.

President Bush's prepared to halt any troop with drawls, Congress' No Child Left Behind is failing, bankruptcy filings are rising while the stock market's falling, what used to be unacceptable inner-city poverty and crime is no longer *just* an inner-city problem, too many U.S. businesses leave us,US or fail( and , btw, as I write this, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India is arriving in Beijing to "...establish a broader spirit of co-operation...")and too many families crumble, *AND*, " The increases in 2006 in the number,rate and proportion of births to unmarried women were the largest single-year increases reported in these measures since 1988-1989." Between 2005 and '06 the proportion of births to unmarried women climbed from 36.9% of ALL births to 38.5% ! Want more percentages? :

80% of ALL teenagers giving birth are not married.

Regardless of age:


26.6 % of non-Hispanic whites

70.7% of non-Hispanic blacks

49.9% of Hispanic births are, as we used to say: "out of wedlock".

Sure, we can all cite *some* amazing outcomes for *some* children of *some* amazing single mom's as we can cite some horrible outcomes of some children of dual parent households. Folks, we all know the reality here: the struggles for these little ones increase w/ single parenthood.

Oh, and did I mention the petroleum problem???

-and the war, ah, yes, we are STILL fighting a war....



Our returning war vets are not *just* plagued with physical and mental/emotional problems.

Today's Akron Beacon Journal front-paged a story about a "Soldier of the Year", Akron's Sean Brown, who found out recently that he owes the U.S. Dept of Veterans Affairs about $2,500-the VA says that Sean was not entitled to enhanced GI Bill benefits last semester when he attended the University of Akron.

Today's New York Times front-paged a story "At least 121 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after returning home from war. In many cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment appeared to play a role." The same newspaper(NYTimes), buried on page six: Todd Davis,Jonathan Dozier,Sean Gaul,David hart,Zachary McBride,Ivan Merlo, Phillip Pannier,Mathew Pionk and Christopher-the names of those, whom, so recently made the "ultimate sacrifice in the war on terror".

Ah, and the presidential candidate "front-runners" ? They've buried them too.

So, tell me, which presidential "front runner" has a REAL plan to right the wrongs in these United States ??? Hey, which presidential "front runner" is even *talking* about REAL issues??
Dennis Kucinich ,Mike Gravel and Ron Paul have tried, but they've been marginalized, back-doored, and all but eliminated from any real debate (example: *1/12/2008 8:43:10 AM Long shot Democratic presidential contender Rep. Dennis Kucinich is criticizing NBC for dis-inviting him from an upcoming presidential debate in Nevada, scheduled ahead of the Silver State's Jan. 19 caucuses.*) The *All the Samers* substance-less campaigns continue-they are all winners and we, the people, are the losers.