I wish I didn't have to... Travis Hodges

I wish I didn't have to turn on the news every morning to be enlightened by a perpetually worsening inventory of the events of our civilized world's current catastrophic plight. In fact, I wish I could watch the news and witness, just once, a report of mankind's benevolence rather than the wickedness that fills the daily headlines.

I haven't been able to watch an entire broadcast in ages without hearing about the faltering economy, threats of terrorism, or the war in Iraq and its current death toll of over two thousand needlessly slaughtered soldiers. There's always some mention of the incessant turmoil and saber-rattling within the Middle East, whether it's an act of terrorism by al-Zarqawi and Al Qaeda, or the relentless "holy" warfare between Israel and Palestine. Further hostilities have recently been highlighted in the news of the world's most dangerous dictator, Kim Jong Il of North Korea, who is allegedly counterfeiting hundred-dollar bills to finance his nuclear weapons program, which apparently could serve as the opening shots of World War III.

But these atrocities do not merely occur outside of our borders. Our nation is presently afflicted by Delay's money laundering and...