Annie's Corner
Headline Confusion
By Anne O. Stout 

Has anyone ever seen a time when the United States is so unpopular with the world as we are right now? Maybe during the Vietnam conflict, and most Americans wondered what we were doing there.

 The US is one of the youngest countries yet we are a major world power and if another country needs help it is the US they turn to, yet other countries are always very quick to ridicule and point fingers at us as well. Maybe the aide we give to many of these countries should be cut down, and use some of those funds to try and help some of the problems here in our own country and with our own citizens. 

 The whole Iraq issue, why are we there? Everyone has their own ideas of course, but one concept that is confusing me is the whole issue of weapons. Those that have served over there and returned tell stories about finding store houses of weapons, and have seen pictures on the Internet of fighter planes being dug up in the desert and etc.: aren't these weapons? One fellow I talked with told about finding weapons for chemical warfare; don't these count as weapons? And where are all the other stories, I know people still in Afghanistan and Korea, where are those stories in the news? Why can't we find Bin Laden? The more news I watch the more questions I have. 

 Right now the President's ratings are dropping due to our involvement in Iraq, yet his opponent is bragging on the fact he served in the military during Vietnam; and why does that matter to the voters? What about his accomplishments since then? What does the president plan to do about Iraq? Let's hear some real answers to some real questions, like what they plan to do about the constantly rising taxes, health care costs that are soaring, and education getting less and less money for our children's educations to just name a few. 

 How about those members of our military who were torturing the Iraqi prisoners, we are all shocked and don't know how the individuals sleep at night. They should be punished and maybe the officers over them, but I have heard an outcry for the resignation of the secretary of defense, did he know about these individuals? Did he do the acts himself? Isn't that asking a lot for him to keep track of every single person in the military? Does the CEO of a big corporation keep track of everyone of his/or her employees? It's a lot to ask to be sure.

 What about the American that was beheaded, just what was that suppose to accomplish? I mean it really makes no sense, was his only crime being an American? More needless killing, which is what sparks even more senseless killing, and the vicious circle, continues but is helping no one. 

 I have just hit on a few headlines that are making no sense to me; my column is not long enough to mention them all.