He blames outsiders for the problems and notes that many of his customers and several of his employees are black.

When they get in trouble, they try to blame outsiders.

"It's about time the government wakes up and stops blaming outsiders for problems happening here," he said.

They blame outsiders - in the Middle East, that is the seemingly all-powerful United States - who seem to have everything.

Whatever the truth, it is always convenient to blame outsiders for creating trouble.

Mr. Young often blamed racism and outsiders for Detroit's problems.

Many here blame outsiders in general, Texans in particular, for chronic water shortages, cultural erosion and soaring housing costs that have only recently leveled off.

"We need to make sure the Iraqis have ownership," he said, "so when something goes wrong, they'll fix it themselves instead of blaming outsiders."

Unfortunately, opponents of the holiday seized upon the Super Bowl in an effort to blame "outsiders" for the pro-holiday proposals.