"Where have all the good men gone

And where are all the gods?

Where's the street-wise Hercules

To fight the rising odds?

Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?"

Lyrics from "I Need A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler

Those lyrics ran through my head today when I saw the headline on CNN "Salmonella found on Jalapeno; Warning Issued". Except remove "Hero" and insert "Uncle Sam". I am a proud American and I still think it is the best place to live on earth, period. However, how long it remains that way however, is slowly shortening in my mind with each disaster the government botches.

They've finally found a culprit, jalapenos. Great. In fact fabulous. However, now that we focus onto jalapeno farmers, who's left o focus on the poor tomato farmers who've lost millions of dollars due to the governments misguidance? One would hope that some subsidy would come along to help them out but that will probably be misappropriated to the corporate world and never reach the small family farmers. If they can't even get essential goods into the hands of Katrina victims how are they going to be trusted to justly reimburse tomato farmers.

Cans someone say "Stop the Madness" already? I know many government employees and they seem like good enough folk. So is it poor management? It would seem easy to point the finger at the President and Congress but lets face it they hardly have time to look up from their afternoon tea and The Washington Post much less micro manage. I think the core issue is a lack of common sense and caring about the well-being of your neighbor. Instead of writing a policy or procedure about to handle the next disaster can we just roll our sleeves up and get something done? Do something wrong, do something right but for heaven's sake please do SOMETHING.

I know this is turning into a rant but I can't be alone in feeling like I want to shake someone until their common sense returns. I'd also like some good investigative reporting. Something more than a writer in New York pulled off Google or the government branch web site.

Comment if you feel the same....or don't.