Sad

[L Verge]

Sorry, Rob, but the conservative in me must disagree with your assessments of the situation once again. I have spent a very miserable past year dealing with several grown-ups who act just like hooligans because they did not get their own way. These are people entering into their senior years with a lack of civility and decency -- so don't blame it all on our youth. Our youth are taking their lessons from grown-ups such as these. They are taught that evil is okay as long as YOU benefit from it. You may be on food stamps, but it's okay to buy that $150 pair of shoes. No problem walking around with half your under drawers showing or your upper body falling out of your top.

Parents don't enforce rules because they are happier having their children out of their houses and running the streets. Everyone who is a parent on this forum knows that children are a 24/7 job. They are not wild birds that you kick out of the nest and expect them to survive by any means. Schools fail because they are not attracting -nor even hiring - qualified teachers. When administrators and teachers try to set rules, the parents (who dropped out of school themselves at 16), come storming in to protest. Churches are spending all their money building huge temples of worship instead of spending on the improvement of their congregants.

And don't even get me started on the politicians that we are breeding today. Mighty, anti-American forces are working behind the scenes to pull candidates from out of nowhere and get them elected to serve the backers' needs as well as the candidates'. Heaven help America when laziness, greed, and abominable behavior are the new norms.

P.S. Rob, the Memorial has yet to be completely cleaned. They are having a very difficult time removing the green paint because marble is very porous. Work will resume again tomorrow, but they finally had to cordon off the work area and reopen to the public. Comments from the visitors have been very interesting -- many of them echoing the sentiments of Herb, Gene, Joe, and Bill.