page 2 The Fourth Wall Announcements: Currently seeking writers - The Fourth Wall is seeking writers for all sections, including sports and arts & entertainment. We also need general writers on assignment and general article writers. There are openings for columns, such as a political column, humor column, advice column, and cartoons. All students are welcome regardless of major. Writers are not required to submit articles on a regular basis. To make this paper successful, we need you to participate by writing in your opinions, concerns, and comments. Interested parties should send emails to jmz5027@psu.edu. Students wishing to place advertisements can submit them . to: Jmz5027@psu.edu for consideration. This is a free service for students. Reflection from page 1 democracy in the cradle of Islam where we have upset not only so- called “Islamic fundamentalists” (a categorically tiny minority) but the population at large who would, regardless of creed, rather not have to attend mosque, church or an armed enclave of desert camo- clad commandos. More should also be spent on homeland prosperity: our opportunistic healthcare system, depraved educational system, and laughable income tax system being primary concerns in this category. Itis time that we stop allowing poverty- stricken and “expensively” sick individuals to fade into ailing obscurity; stop enabling the laziness and incompetence of both student and teacher in our primary and secondary education system; and, if the U.S. is going to persist in being one of the hardest (or rather most frequently) working and least playing nations, it is time we stop returning so cheaply for it. This nation has made it a habit under the Bush administration to concentrate so heavily on war in all parts of the globe that it forgets the struggling population that desires peace and life within the confines of American borders. How is a nation like this supposed to succeed when surrounded by military juggernauts that are equally as capable of sending the world into apocalyptic conflagration as itself? It isn’t—at least it won’t when nations like China and Russia begin cozying up to each other and nations like Iran benefit from altruistic Russian sales of nuclear material. As has already been insinuated, the social decadence of America is rampant as well. Fundamentally, we are producing the dumbest, poorest, and fattest children in the history of the nation, and we’ve no one to blame for our immoral complacency but—you guessed it—ourselves. Dumbest because we’ve allowed our education systems to degrade in a bad way: most schools are pitifully understaffed by poorly paid and under-qualified individuals who have no more desire to teach the ABC’s than George Bush does to buy a hybrid. Poorest because our nation (a la one Reagan and two Bushes) is and will be paying off budget deficits—via taxes that are unfairly distributed down the income pyramid—that are unprecedented in U.S. and maybe even world history. Fattest because we have allowed our society to deteriorate to a daily diet of McDonald’s, television, and torpid lethargy consisting of no more exercise than it takes to kick off one’s shoes, perform the occasional roll on the couch, and push the channel changer with a sausage-like digit. Along with our tremendous rates of obesity come chronic diseases unprecedented in most of the developed world—and almost unheard of in the self-induced heart attack, stroke, or bout of lung cancer emerges, we find our hospitals choked with traffic after allowing these chronic sufferers to mingle with those who have been genuinely and spontaneously afflicted. And it really doesn’t matter anyway because if you’re lucky enough to make it out alive you’ve probably sold your soul to the devil for the price of open-heart surgery or radiation treatment. Is this making you quite uncomfortable? Good...and the more so the better. I will conclude this article by stating that I am perfectly patriotic in the literal sense of the word but sit on the other end of the spectrum in the contemporary connotation (adulteration?) of the word. I am patriotic in the sense that I see problems—Ilots—that I would like to fix and am perfectly willing were I to assemble any substantial support. I should probably be a presidential advisor, if for no other reason than to soberly remind the commander-in- chief that he (or soon maybe she) has over 300 million constituents that happen to have some stake in the decisions he (or she) may be making at any given moment. Iam unpatriotic in the sense that I will not advocate some lobotomized, enabling, submissive deference to the “inner workings” of our government. The fact that “there are many things we will never know” is no comfort to me. To expand on the idea of a friend, our president should be like our neighbor. We don’t need to know what’s going on his personal life, but if ‘he sets off dynamite in his yard and the shockwave breaks our windows, we should probably go say something to him about it. So it goes with the current fractured theory of government we now entertain, and so it will go for years to come if we don’t become proactive, demand that we stop playing cowboys and Indians (an appropriate reference if you know the history), and work on taking care of living, breathing Americans, rather than sending dozens out to die on a monthly basis. Editor-in-Chief......................... Sisripertrasniiansrenens i iiss tit hae etteeeeserregins Julia Ritchey Gers 121 psi edu) Supervising Editor........... Sesetssirestitterrineasresss cisssesnerarrsecneneens tesvtsrsmenrinsrecraaes sreesssesesnnenineJUSHN Zickar (jmz5027@psu.edu) News/Sports Editors............................. Corssestsunetsarnstertinuesssien an reine ..... Tony Amold (tja5022@psu.edu) Fedtures Editor.......... tr rsssrresaesaencines ala reared seeresmnans iene GCE Reed (gir 1 37@psu.edu) Editorial Division Editor. riesenns eben etter sararsiies eivinssariaers srerenes reeesene ......Jordan Martin (jkm241@psu.edu) Layout Editor................. Sttsssrentacsiensinsessisnistutesst issn inners aesnrisarsbnacn trertaeatiestate testes ens ..Ashley Rowe (anr5065@psu.edu) Staff Photographer....... an eresreir cesses sincera tenses eines reasnteniaririssnens ersicesistnenntinns Sey Rootes-Murdy (kar5231@psu.edu) APHIS. cies — eertirensrsesrthctens ee irtirmeaneienes sZt Monty Gomi 0imon et) Staff Writers: : LE _ EdBrown Levi iSiyder : (elbS Ip ei (Ids169@psu.edu) - Andrew Lynn . sigma