Letter: Do we believe president or our own eyes?

Thursday, July 13, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

In the classic Marx Brothers movie "Duck Soup," all three brothers dress up as Groucho in order to steal war plans from Margaret Dumont. After Groucho leaves Margaret's bedroom, Chico sneaks in, startling Margaret. She states, "I saw you leave with my own eyes," to which Chico replies, "Well, who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

We have been told that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" and that the insurgency is in its "last throes." Our own eyes see no end in sight to the Iraq occupation while scores of our fighting troops are coming home in body bags every month with many others returning with life-altering injuries. We are told that we are making progress in the war on terror. Our own eyes see the horror pictures coming out of India as the death toll rises.

We are told that our economy is in a growth period. Our own eyes see our take-home pay's buying power dwindling every day as we pay record prices for fuel and housing. We are told that tax cuts work while our own eyes see a record national debt and a current budget (that) has the fourth-largest deficit in history. We are told that an increase in the minimum wage would be catastrophic to the nation's economy while our own eyes see a Congress that has no problem giving themselves annual raises with little concern about their fiscal impact. We are told that democracy is being protected while our own eyes see unauthorized wiretaps and illegal spying into millions of Americans' bank and telephone records.

As we enter into the midterm election year, the reigning party will tell us a lot of things. Just remember Chico's line, "Well, who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

Randall Buie, Henderson