The Navy recently commissioned the $2.6 billion submarine, the USS North Carolina, in Wilmington. How many new schools, roads, sewer systems, libraries and bridges would this have built? How much health-care insurance for the poor would this have bought? How many hungry would this money have fed? How many computers would this have bought for needy students? How many fire trucks would this have paid for? How many fans could we have purchased for destitute people this summer? How many solar collectors could we have obtained to put on public buildings? How many scholarships could have been funded, allowing young people to go to college? How much research and development for alternative energy projects would this have funded?

If our country doesn't wake up soon and rethink its priorities, we are going to have the world's best military and a Third World standard of living. Is this what we want for our children?

David Scott

Lake Waccamaw