<HTML><BODY STYLE="font:10pt verdana; border:none;color:#000000; "><DIV>Pat writes:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>>I gotta tell ya that I think that this is one of those programs that needs<BR>>to fail. Paying them to stay in school proves nothing because they are<BR>>passed through the grades without really learning anything. If they have a<BR>>real desire to stay in school they can without being paid for it. I know<BR>>that you all will have lots of comments and complaints about my attitude but<BR>>I stayed in school even with bad circumstances and made it out on my own. I<BR>>know they can do it and appreciate their education even more. I am also<BR>>tired of paying ingrates to go to schools that are only keeping them in to<BR>>pad their funds and not really teaching them anything.<BR>>Oh, here it comes!<BR></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Here it comes indeed, since, like Kim Basinger in <EM>9 1/2 Weeks</EM>, you seem to want it. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>From Charles Dickens' <EM>A Christmas Carol</EM>:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessities; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Both very busy, sir."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course," said Scrooge. "I'm very glad to hear it."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude," returned the gentleman, "a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Nothing!" Scrooge replied.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"You wish to be anonymous?"</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"I wish to be left alone," said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentleman, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned: they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I doubt that Pat grew up any poorer than I did. My single mother raised three daughters on $13,000 a year. Having grown up with little, I can't understand Pat's failure to sympathise with those who have even less. As unkind as it may seem, I hope that the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future will be paying Pat a nocturnal visit this coming December. While I myself am terrified by the specters of Ignorance and Want when they come crawling out from beneath the skirts of Christmas Past, I'm even more sorry to see them out on this list.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment </DIV></BODY></HTML><br clear=all><hr>Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : <a href='http://explorer.msn.com'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></p>