I deeply regret any upset or annoyance that I and those other sub-par Americans may have caused Sen. Gramm and his conservative cohorts by wondering what happened to America. I appreciate how hard it must be to govern, even without meddlesome citizens wondering how to gas-up the car so they can get to work and continue to pay Gramm's pension.

Fortunately, the neo-cons of the Cheney/Bush administration and others of their stripe are convicted Christians brimming with conservative compassion. Phew - for a minute there I thought we were in trouble.

It's a good thing we've been led to the brink by our best and our brightest, otherwise we'd be up the creek without a paddle, and without that boat that rises when the rich five percent prosper. What a country.

Thanks Sarge, for your service. It's a shame you regret that service, for which you signed-up, because you say you feel unappreciated. I was one of many drafted in '69 - most of us still don't feel appreciated.

Sounds there, Mad, like you are going into politics, or maybe finance or law enforcement. You have the attitude and lingo down, and would make an especially good social Darwinist - you know, survival of the strong and wealthy over the struggling masses, that weak, unproductive herd that naively thinks the Constitution is the law.

All this whining is hurting the American brand, here and abroad. Maybe rationing would work, as long as we could spin it that the terrorists haven't really won, and that the "greatest nation on Earth" isn't cowed by a band of ragtops hiding in the Hindu Kush.

Recommendation: Reflect on the nature of your service, who and why you serve, and Mad, be a little kinder to your countrymen - they're not Iraqis. Semper Fi.

Economics is a system, not a science. Smart people way back when learned how to convince enough of the other people that paper could be as valued as gold. Back then they were called alchemists. The rest is a sad march through history by the rich and strong, plundering their way through the decent folks, justifying it as "God's" will, the divine right of kings, the white man's burden.

When these well-heeled finaciers and bankers start spouting theories and formulas, cover your ears. There is no free market and everything is basiically the controlled ebb and flow of "shortages" and "surpluses." People aren't starving because there's no food - it's because distribution costs are too high. No money, no eat. Capitalism is a very unevolved system by which to live.

Please relax about the Constitution - it's like the Bible, you can pick and choose to suit your own version of the way to heaven. And, leave McCain alone, he's getting funnier lately and with a campaign manager like Phil Gramm, the oddsmakers here have made it worthwhile to put something down on this longshot. The Founders

would have liked him.

Overlooking the Constitutional presidential requirements also lets McCain name Gov. Arnold as VP. Things will be absurd in November, and after a third of the country's voting machines don't work, the Supreme Court will name T. Boone Pickens as Pres., who gets us off oil with his secret plan, and America enters a Golden Age of prosperity.

In the '20s, John Rockefeller commented on the idea of "creating" public education: "I don't want intellects, I want workers." Indoctrination into the modern American system had begun.

Politics has screwed-uo education like it has everything else in America, since politics is always the battle between the wealthy, agressive minority and the rest.

Administrative bloat is the disease of all of our institutions, and in education this is no different. Teaching has gotten so bad that teachers strive mightily to get out of the classroom and into an office of their own, where they can counsel, specialize or become a vice-principal. The classroom ain't where the money and perks are, and who can fault teachers for gravitating to the money like the rest of us?

Las Vegas has the fifth largest school district in the country, and it is so full of fat bureaucrats at the top that it's become a communtiy joke. The fattest of the cats reside in their opulent office center known affectionately as the "Taj Majal." The head cat earns $300,000 annually. The students have often no textbooks, blamed on lack of funds, and the teachers, whose salaries barely afford them an apartment in the city, spend their own money on basic school supplies, while Spanish-speaking immigrant children come and go periodically. Some volunteer groups help out, mostly these are concerned and disillusioned parents who cannot afford private schooling.

Shrinking the fat at the top by putting all available educators back in the classroom is the obvious and logical place to begin, which is why it won't happen. The fat cats at the top sucking up the most revenue will never agree to their expendability, and the NEA and the local unions will not surrender hard-won teacher rights. We need a new priority to fix education, but that's true about life in America in general. What should we expect from a system of unlimited, competitive greed?