Written by a friend of a friend.....

JUST A BAD DREAM

I remember it as if it were yesterday.

A little over a year ago, I heard this awful rumor that the Government was going to take my tax money and spend it on things like health care and education.

I was outraged. "How can they do this?" I screamed. "There are hospitals in Iraq -- the country that I, and virtually everyone I know, had always cared about more than any other -- that are as bad as some of the ones in our town. And we're doing nothing about it."

"Poverty, schmoverty," I said. "Those people in the South and in the so-called 'ghettos' who go to sleep hungry would probably have eaten fast foods anyway, so we're actually doing them a favor by keeping them poor. So let's get a few hundred billion over to Iraq. I mean, what are our priorities, anyway?"

And what bigger mistake could we make than improving our school systems? If all our kids got a decent education, they'd probably qualify for college -- and for a family that can't afford grade school supplies, think of what a nightmare those college tuitions would be.

So for God's sake, let's get English textbooks for those children in Iraq -- before they attack us again.

Lost jobs, increased personal bankruptcies? Give me a break. Those are problems-come-lately. Saddam Hussein was killing his own people more than twelve years ago.

But then I woke up and realized that this awful rumor was just a bad dream. Thank God for President Bush.