We've got ourselves into a fine mess

Americans think we're so clever.

The "Straight Talk Express" has adopted the Rove-Bush playbook. Political spin. Falsified balance sheets. Smear campaigns. "If we don't do it and they win, they'll ruin the country" mentality.

"If religion is the cloth from which a culture is cut," then the tattered and frayed fabric of our society says something about the ragged condition of those core beliefs our great grandparents passed on to us.

Why did we toss these rules aside?

A number of years back the Moody Bible Institute surveyed college students and found that 70 to 80 percent cheated on exams to ensure their grade point averages - and they surveyed Christian colleges.

The voice on the radio warned, "these are the people that will soon run our country." So are our schools really improving? And if so, is it knowledge at the price of wisdom?

Last year, Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" ranted about the Fed, "They know nothing!" People thought he was nuts. Now Bill Clinton says we have to write Paulson his check. Cramer agrees. Clinton signed a monstrous check over to Mexico in the '90s and it was returned early, with interest. Bush thinks Paulson's bill should be passed. But Paulson's a multimillionaire former CEO.

Nobody's listening. Our fascination with "false witness", "covetousness" and dishonor of the rules of our forefathers have brought us to this great financial abyss. Nobody trusts anybody.

God help America.

Frank Kowynia

Schaumburg