Let's see if I understand the state of personal responsibility in the America of the 1990s.

• If a woman burns her thighs on the hot coffee she was holding in her lap while driving, she blames the restaurant.
• If your teen-age son kills himself, you blame the rock 'n' roll musician he liked.
• If you smoke three packs a day for 40 years and die of lung cancer your family blames the tobacco company.
• If your daughter gets pregnant by the football captain you blame the school for poor sex education.
• If your neighbor crashes into a tree while driving home drunk, you blame the bartender.
• If your cousin gets AIDS because the needle he used to shoot heroin was dirty, you blame the government for not providing clean ones.
• If your grandchildren are brats without manners, you blame television.
• And, if your friend is shot by a deranged madman, you blame the gun manufacturer.

God bless America, land of the free, home of the blame.