Luverne is my hometown. I always expected to be "home" by now. It’s been 22 years since I left 209 North Estey Street. Canada has done well for this dual-citizen. While I no longer walk down the streets of Dad’s and my "hometown," I continue to be "my father’s daughter." Which means I remain strong to the values and ideals he had when he ran to be the DFL’s U.S. Congressional candidate in 1972. I will never believe in trickle-down anything except tears of shame. We currently do not live in the forest. We know it well, but looking at it from a distance, ex-patriot Americans know, better than others, how we citizens of other countries feel about the Bush Administration and have begun to transfer that wrath to individual Americans. There is very little respect for the current administration and even less trust in the truth of any documentation released. The "You are with us or against us (that is, with "them!") pogrom is contemptible. Do Americans know what their status is? Are you an "Us?" or a "Them?" How do you know? Did you check out a book on the Homeland Security Watch List? Does your kid at college have foreign-born friends? Do you know someone with money that comes from "somewhere?"Who makes the rules for who is "Us" and who is "Them?" Have you noticed that you become "Them" quickly if you aren’t parroting the re-election spin of the current administration? No?"Don’t ask. Don’t tell," that might keep you in the "Us" column. A donation to Bush/Cheney ’04 will not guarantee it. Vice-President Chaney’s family values include the unconditional love of allowing his lesbian daughter, Mary, to campaign for the team, but stop at allowing her to appear with the family on-stage at the Republican National Convention. How fast will you fall into the "Them" column, when, despite your donations, strong church affiliations and family values, it is found out that your cousin organizes bus trips for seniors to purchase their prescription medications in Canada at 60 percent less than American prices? What about electing a government that will control your drug costs instead of putting American pharmacists out of work? Do you know how many jobs you personally are "outsourcing" due to purchasing your medications in Canada or Europe? Who will fill your child’s medication at midnight if you have been ordering your medications online from Canada or the European Economic Union? The wages for Canadian pharmacists have increased 38 percent thanks to Americans chasing the cheapest price available. Their average salary is now more than $47 an hour and because the economy of the U.S.A. is a disaster, even the Canadian dollar is almost at par ($10 U.S. = $12.50 CDN).My uncle, James Welch, (also a Luverne native), has worked very hard to EARN the "American Dream" of owning a pharmacy and seeing his children work with him. You continue to elect representatives that would rather negotiate contracts with Canadian pharmacies than fix your medication prices. Your voting patterns may end up making my relatives’ dream a nightmare when they have to close the doors and 50 plus employees are "outsourced." Their former customers won’t be able to get prescriptions from a local pharmacy. There won’t be one. Maybe it isn’t always the big corporations responsible for "outsourcing" but the consumer. If the Bush regime is returned, we will wait another four years and hope that the current damage is not made worse at an escalating rate. We will also hope that it won’t be America’s shame at its inability to have healthy working relationships with the global community who may require or demand years of "trust/truth-tests" before any country enters into any American treaty, agreement, etc. And we will hope that each and every one of our families doesn’t lose. Mary Jo WelchBrandon, Manitoba, Canada