My Bumper Sticker

I was in Austin a few months ago. I saw one of those old style "head" shops where hippies and ne'er-do-wells go for pipes and rolling papers and assorted drug paraphenalia. I had my mission too, and though I was euphoric, it had nothing to do with drugs. I was going to buy a bumper sticker.

These folks probably offer up five hundred different wacked-out bumper stickers. Speaking of which, if you find yourself wanting to make a statement this place has some great ones. But back to my story...this head shop in Austin has probably five hundred, three-quarters of which are political, nine-tenths of which could be called liberal.

I probably spent 45 minutes or more looking for just the right one to stick on the back on my pickup...and what did I end up with:
WHY IS THERE ALWAYS MONEY FOR WAR,
BUT NOT EDUCATION?
Is that not a fine question? We've borrowed almost 200 billion dollars to fight a totally unnecessary war in Iraq, but our kids' futures--besides being on loan because we had to borrow for war--aren't worth investing in by way of their education. There's never enough money for education, is there? They put students in trailers because they can't afford the school we ought to build them. Their books are old because we can't afford new books. Teachers are under-paid, so the best ones tend to find careers that pay enough to live on.

But somehow, some way we find money enough to send our boys and girls to the other end of the world to fight and die. And at very great expense. Methinks our priorities are screwed up. And methinks this education president isn't one.