Despite popular belief, recognizing a terrorist is easier than what you might think. Terrorists are not all Muslim. Terrorists are not all "shady characters". In fact, some terrorists are generally nice people. For instance, one of the terrorists who participated in the 9/11 attacks used to babysit for his neighbors' children, and the neighbors never had a problem with him. They even labeled him as a "nice, trustworthy" man.

I will let you in on a little secret in finding out who might be a terrorist and who might not be. Often times, terrorists aren't necessarily intelligent, but they seem to know a lot about topics such as government, politics, and world issues. Terrorists are usually someone who people actually know very little about: they are usually trying to cover-up or hide their past. Also, terrorists often times are very charismatic people who can get others to quickly believe in what they believe in. Above all, terrorists are people who will do underhanded actions to get what they want.

This topic of terrorism is deeply rooted in U.S. politics today: I'm going to give a little overview about our politicians. Our politicians aren't necessarily all intelligent, but many of them are quite knowledgeable in government, politics, and world issues. It also seems as though our politicians are constantly trying to hide their past. Even though we all say we don't trust politicians, many people give into their charisma and believe what they're saying. On top of all that, politicians often times commit underhanded actions to put down opposing candidates, to make themselves look better, or to obtain more money and power.

Hmm...did I just? No...of course not. But maybe...well, let's just say it's some food for thought.

Why are we looking at the fact that the United States has the most millionaires as a good thing? While I agree it's great that the American Dream is alive and well, shouldn't we be worried about what makes this country work? It's not the rich millionaires that make this country go. It's not the super-powerful investors that make this country go. It's not even the rich politicians sitting in their fancy offices that make this country go. What actually makes this country go?

The middle class.

We seen to forget that our country's Democracy works as a result of our large middle class. Look at countries where Democracy does not work: Egypt, Iraq, and China. Do you know why Democracy doesn't work in these countries? Democracy in these countries does not work because there is a lack of a middle class. Our middle class here in America still prospers...for now.

Tax cuts for the rich are supposed spur on business and trade. Tax cuts for major corporations are supposed to be incentives for those businesses to stay in America rather than outsourcing to other countries where it's cheaper to do business. Our general population is becoming more specialized in its education, jobs, and consuming of products. These occurrences are great at first overview, but let's take a look at what effect this has on the rest of the country and primarily the middle class.

Tax cuts for the rich that spur on business and trade are putting more of a burden on the middle class. The upper class now has to pay less on their taxes, and this means that the middle class is left to pick up the rest of the tab. Major corporations now have to pay less on their taxes, and, once again, the middle class is left to pick up the rest of the tab. More and more people are earning advanced degrees, getting more specialized jobs, and purchasing more personalized products and services, and, once again, the middle class is left in the dust as a result.

The gap between rich and poor continues to widen, and the middle class continues to get stretched thin to try and fill that gap. When you take something and stretch it far enough, eventually it will break.

Works Cited:

More Millionaires than China and Russia Put Together

Balanced budget is forecast, but not with Bush tax cuts

How many times is President Bush going to repackage the same ideas and strategies about the War in Iraq and try to sell it to the American people? I read the title to an article on the website for the BBC, and my jaw nearly hit the floor. "US chief seeks new tack on Iraq", the title said. I almost jumped up and danced about the room. I thought that President Bush had finally admitted to being wrong about Iraq, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, he was going to change his policy.

No such luck, however. The article goes on to read: "President George W Bush's nominee to be the new commander of US military forces in the Middle East has called for a 'new and different' approach in Iraq." Basically, President Bush is merely renovating an old car that was a terrible piece of machinery before it even left the factory.

Admiral William Fallon, Bush's nominee to take control in Iraq, didn't actually say what was going to change under his command. He merely pointed out the obvious that has been pointed out time after repetitious time: "What we have been doing has not been working."

According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whom just returned from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, there isn't any sign of U.S. progress in either region, and there doesn't seem to be any kind of resolution in sight. With statements like this floating around, why does President Bush insist that the War in Iraq is the answer?

Obviously, straight-up physical confrontation and man power aren't accomplishing anything on their own. What needs to be done now is a combination of political healing of peace/religious talks along with the brute force of the most advanced military in the world. There are several strategies out there for the resolution of Iraq that are very workable. Barack Obama is at the center of one of them.

Obama's idea is that there should be a forcing, by law, of redeployment of the troops into three key areas: home back to the United States, countries around Iraq, and to Afghanistan. Obama didn't, however, want to put a cap on spending. In his reasoning, all that will happen if funding is cut is that the same number of troops will go but with poor equipment.

Whether it be Barack, Hillary, or any other person, the plan in Iraq needs a more drastic change than a change of commander. Nice try, Bush. Better luck next time.

When you have a cold, you go to the doctor. The doctor, in turn, gives you antibiotics and tells you to take all of them because, if you don't, you'll just get sick with the same bug again. So, you begin to take the antibiotics, and you begin to feel better. After you start to feel better, you stop taking the antibiotics figuring that you'll use them the next time you get sick. As a result, you start to get sick again, and you find yourself back in the doctor's office.

The doctor in this example is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The cold is racism. As for you, you're America, and you're starting to get sick with the racism bug yet again. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream once, and he is still dreaming. Here in the 21st century, we are still discriminating, and something tells me that Dr. King would be disgusted.

This all stems from this article that I found on Yahoo! News this morning. A long story short: the northern part of Fulton County in Georgia wants to separate from the southern part on basis that "it is a quest for more responsive government in a county with a population greater than that of six states." Geographically, this split makes sense. (Refer to this map. Fulton County is near 84 degrees west and 34 degrees north) There is always more to a story than what is presented, however. Conveniently, the northern half of this county just happens to be predominately white, and the southern half happens to be predominately minority.

Racism is not the only problem with this, however. Economics come into play, as well. Our middle class is disappearing. That is no secret. Though, by the speeches of our government officials, you'd think that it was just as strong as ever. This split is also becoming a battle for the middle class. Even though there's not much middle class involved in this dispute, it has everything to do with the middle class. If this county stays whole, the lower-class citizens have a chance to use tax dollars from the upper class to become middle class. Also, if the upper class continues to be taxed more because of the lack of tax dollars coming from the lower class, they'll be brought closer to the middle class.

America is sick right now, and someone needs to come forth and be the doctor to give out a new prescription of antibiotics.