I am an American citizen and it is my home now. I like the U.S.A. which is not a place too many people have liked since Bush. The U.S. has a young population and everything can change within a year.

The American dream seems to be thriving in Europe not at home.

In Afghanistan there is a plan to build democracy hundreds of thousands of troops are protecting it. There is a plan to rebuild and reconstruct there. But many thousands of Americans die from violence and poverty every year and we don't have a plan for reconstruction at home.

Most of American life consists of driving somewhere and then returning home wondering why the hell you went.

What the New Yorker calls home would seem like a couple of closets to most Americans yet he manages not only to live there but also to grow trees and cockroaches right on the premises.

Yes Americans can still get credit for cars and trucks and refrigerators and those businesses are doing well. But just try to get a home loan now.

Here at home when Americans were standing in long lines to give blood after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon we squandered an obvious opportunity to make service a noble cause again and rekindle an American spirit of community.

I am not suggesting that all those missionary organizations working in Haiti should pack up and go home but I am urging them to understand that Haiti does not need clever Americans with newly contrived schemes for saving their country.

The penalty for getting mugged in an American city and losing your ID is that you can't fly home.

There are more than 300 000 families in the Gulf region that lost their homes and are waiting for peace of mind. The hurricane exposed the sad reality of poverty in America. We saw in all its horrific detail the vulnerabilities of living in inadequate housing and the heartbreak of losing one's home.