Like that day four Septembers ago, we once again find ourselves asking, 'How could this have happened? ... The answer is painful, but it must be acknowledged: we simply were unprepared.

Rather than squander the surplus on tax breaks for the rich, we should add a prescription drug benefit to the Medicare program, shore up Social Security, fortify our defense, provide a quality public education and offer economic assistance to rural areas.

Finger pointing does not provide answers to grieving relatives,

History suggests that attempts to privatize Medicare by relying on private companies to offer Medicare benefits in rural America simply will not work.

While I agree that homegrown terrorism and the jihadist threat deserve continuing attention, a single-minded approach ignores all other threats.

Even President Bush has cited the need to outlaw the practice of corporations making loans to their officers. Strangely enough, when the President was a corporate officer, he took out several loans from the company.