Why Iran isn't a global threat

Ray Takeyh (csmonitor.com) reports:

"...the notion that Iran's foreign policy is entering a new radical state is yet another misreading of the Islamic Republic and its many paradoxes."

Don't Go Away Mad -- Just Go Away

Eugene Robinson reports:

"...Tom DeLay doesnt have to go to jail -- he can just go back to killing bugs in Houston. Just as long as he goes...."

Blood on Their Hands

Bob Herbert (The New York Times) writes:

"...Make no mistake: government officials have blood on their hands. Men, women and children - some of them handicapped, some of them elderly or already desperately ill - were condemned to horrible suffering and, in many cases, agonizing deaths. Human beings were left to drown in their flooded homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes and in the street. The American people deserve to know why...."

Our Imploding President

"Katrina will be Bush's Monica."

Tom Engelhardt (TomDispatch.com) Interviews Cindy Sheehan:

"As Sheehan approaches, she's mobbed. She hugs some of her greeters, poses for photos with others, listens briefly while people tell her they came all the way from California or Colorado just to see her, and accepts the literal T-shirt off the back of a man, possibly a vet, with a bandana around his forehead, who wants to give her "the shirt off my back." She is brief and utterly patient. She offers a word to everyone and anyone...."

Why I Was Smiling

Cindy Sheehan writes:

"I had a huge grin on my face when I was getting arrested. I have received a lot of flak for smiling. Apparently I am not supposed to smile, but I had some really good reasons for doing so...."

Manipulating the Public Mind

Charles Sullivan reports:

"No one is more effectively enslaved by the power brokers in government than those who wear the chains of servitude but think they are free. Unfortunately, the average American has no conception of how effectively their perceptions are shaped and manipulated by the media propaganda they unwittingly feed into their unsuspecting minds...."

Trial By Bush

"Constitution-Shredding in the Jose Padilla Case"

By Doug Ireland

"WHY IS THE PADILLA CASE SO IMPORTANT? Because the right to freedom from arbitrary detention and to a jury trial is one of the fundamental rights for which the American Revolution was fought — it is enshrined in our Bill of Rights...."

"Suppose...": Arguments for an Impeachment Resolution

Bernard Weiner (The Crisis Papers) writes:

"...Introducing a resolution calling for impeachment hearings is the first serious step along that road back to political sanity and moral accountability for our country. Let's demand that our Representatives in Congress do it, and if they won't, we will elect those who will."

The Anti-War Speech Everyone Is Talking About

Here is the transcript.

Read and pass it along – it has the power to topple tyrants.

After the Love Is Gone

Nora Ephron (New York Times) writes of her on and off love affair with Bill Clinton. Enjoy.

Troubled Year Gets Worse for the GOP

Dan Balz (Washington Post) reports:

"Bad news often comes in bunches, but for a Republican Party that not long ago looked ahead to an unfettered period of growth and expansion, yesterday's indictment of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) represented one of the most significant blows the party has suffered in a year replete with problems...."

The Undersecretary's Dangerous Trip

Sidney Blumenthal (Salon.com) writes:

"Karen Hughes takes her "Innocents Abroad" tour to the Middle East -- and plays into the hands of Osama bin Laden...."

Compassion Litmus Test

For any president, senator or member of Congress who proclaimed moral outrage at the poverty exposed by Katrina, here's a chance to show you really care.

Iraq War Veterans' Presence in DC Unreported

Eric Herter (Common Dreams) reports:

"The New York Times (Sept. 25, 2005) and much of the other news coverage of Saturday's anti-war demonstration in Washington, D.C. failed to note the presence of a particularly knowledgeable group of protestors - recently-returned veterans of the war in Iraq...."

Peace and Justice Campaigns and Educational Programs

This is a "Must Listen."

Audio: George Galloway and Friends in Washington, D.C.:

"We have to raise our demands. We don't want Bush out of the Whitehouse, we want Bush in prison with Blair and all the other war criminals who have brought us to this pass."

Confessions Of A Hit Man

Charley Reese reports:

"John Perkins' book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" explains American foreign policy better than any of the academic tomes you might read on the subject...."

The News Media and the Anti-War Movement

Norman Solomon reports:

"Over the weekend, many TV news watchers saw little or nothing about the anti-war protests. What's crucial is that the movement not allow its momentum to be interrupted by media treatment...."

Good News From Crawford

TomPaine.com:

"Women's health advocates are cheering the quiet resignation late Friday afternoon of a Bush official...."

Why can't we be more like Finland?

The Seattle Times:

"Democrats are asking big questions about how America can be a more just society. Finland has already figured it out...."

Tool Kit for Stopping a War

AfterDowningStreet.org has provided everything you need to do your part in ending the Iraq war. Check it out and take action HERE.

Antiwar Rallies in Washington and Other Cities

The New York Times:

"Vast numbers of protesters from around the country poured onto the lawns behind the White House on Saturday to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq, pointedly directing their anger at President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney...."

Antiwar Fervor Fills the Streets

The Washington Post reports on the largest demonstration in the Capitol since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

WATCH: "We Mean Business"

To watch Cindy Sheehan in action, CLICK HERE.

We Don't Exist

Cindy Sheehan writes:

"Last weekend, Karl Rove said that I was a clown and the anti-war movement was "non-existent." I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of people who showed up today to protest this war and George's failed policies know that they don't exist. It is also so incredible to me that Karl thinks that he can wish us away by saying we aren't real. Well, Karl and Co., we are real, we do exist and we are not going away until this illegal and immoral occupation of Iraq is over and you are sent back to the depths of whatever slimy, dark, and loathsome place you came from. I may be a clown, Karl, but you are about to be indicted. You also preside over one of the biggest three-ring, malevolent circuses of all time: the Bush administration...."

School for Scandal

MUST READ: Stirling Newberry | School for Scandal

The Big Uneasy

Paul Krugman (The New York Times) reports:

"The war in Iraq is rapidly becoming impossible to spin positively: the purple fingers have come and gone, and there are no more corners to turn. As a result, views that people like Howard Dean were once derided for are becoming the majority opinion....."

Most Disappointing Vote for John Roberts

The Nation reports:

"Of all the votes by Democratic senators in favor of the nomination of John Roberts to serve as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, none is likely to be more disappointing to progressives than that of Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold...."

Commandos in the Streets?

This is a MUST READ:

The Washington Post reports:

"Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow 'demonstration.'

[...]

Operation Granite Shadow posits domestic military operations, including intelligence collection and surveillance, unique rules of engagement regarding the use of lethal force, the use of experimental non-lethal weapons, and federal and military control of incident locations that are highly controversial and might border on the illegal...."

American Mother Has Iraqi Audience

The L.A. Times reports:

"Sheehan, the antiwar mom who is due to lead thousands of demonstrators converging on Washington on Saturday to protest the U.S.-led war, has become a minor celebrity in Iraq as well...."

Report attacks 'myth' of foreign fighters

The Guardian reports:

"The US and the Iraqi government have overstated the number of foreign fighters in Iraq, "feeding the myth" that they are the backbone of the insurgency, an American thinktank says in a new report...."

Will Bush's Tax Cuts Will Cause Some to Pay More?

The New York Times reports:

"Over the next 10 years, Americans will not receive nearly $750 billion in tax cuts sponsored by President Bush because the cuts will be offset by the alternative minimum tax, a new report by Congressional tax specialists shows...."

Running on the Right to Vote

William Rivers Pitt cautions:"

There are two kinds of people in American politics today: those who know our basic right to vote and have every vote counted is imperiled, and those who have no idea such a basic right is at risk...."

Pay attention to this one, folks.

From Gulf to Shining Gulf

Sidney Blumenthal notes:

"Bush's responses to the crisis in Iraq and the aftermath of Katrina are jarringly repetitive. Are his speechwriters using a computer's copy-and-paste function? ..."

Cindy Sheehan Goes to Washington

Sarah Ferguson of The Village Voice reports on Cindy Sheehan as she bravely takes her message to "the President, Congress, and a lot of television crews."

Why Immediate Withdrawal Makes Sense

Michael Schwartz (TomDispatch) writes

"...American withdrawal would undoubtedly leave a riven, impoverished Iraq, awash in a sea of weaponry, with problems galore, and numerous possibilities for future violence. The either/or of this situation may not be pretty, but on a grim landscape, a single reality stands out clearly: Not only is the American presence the main source of civilian casualties, it is also the primary contributor to the threat of civil war in Iraq. The longer we wait to withdraw, the worse the situation is likely to get -- for the U.S. and for the Iraqis."

Read the whole article.

Senator Ted Kennedy: "Roberts Is the Wrong Choice"

Read Kennedy's floor statement on his decision to vote against the nomination of Judge John Roberts HERE.

Plamegate: The John Bolton Connection

MUST READ: Arianna Huffington: Plamegate: The John Bolton Connection | The Huffington Post

Message: I Can't

Maureen Dowd (The New York Times) writes:"

Mr. Bush's "Who's Your Daddy?" bravura - blowing off the world on global warming and the allies on the Iraq invasion - has been slapped back by Mother Nature, which refuses to be fooled by spin...."

President Bush "Fool me once?"

Have a good laugh at your President's expense. Watch the video.

Markets, Climate And Katrina

Joseph Stiglitz (TomPaine.com) reports:

"Last January, after the tsunami, in response to widespread calls for an early warning system, I observed that the world had been given an early warning on global warming. The rest of the world has begun to take heed, but Bush, having ignored warnings about Al Qaeda’s plans prior to 9/11, and having not only ignored the warnings about New Orleans levees, but actually gutted funding to shore them, has not led America to do likewise...."

Bill Clinton Launches Withering Attack on Bush

Agence France Presse:

"Former US President Bill Clinton sharply criticized George W. Bush for the Iraq War and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and voiced alarm at the swelling US budget deficit.

Breaking with tradition under which US presidents mute criticisms of their successors, Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction...."

Read more.

Wake Up!

Cindy Sheehan calls for all citizens to come to the aid of their country:

"It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted: to show the media, Congress, and this inept, corrupt, and criminal administration that we mean business. It is time to get off of our collective behinds to show the people who are running our country into oblivion that we will stand for it no longer...."

Is anyone listening out there in blogsville? Are you?

The Presidency Shines (for Twenty-Six Minutes)

Tom Engelhardt (Tomdispatch) writes:

"Don't say they can't. They can - and they did. Despite every calumny, it turns out that the Bush administration can put together an effective, well-coordinated rescue team and get crucial supplies to militarily occupied, devastated New Orleans on demand, in time, and just where they are most needed. Last Thursday, in a spectacular rescue operation, the administration team delivered just such supplies without a hitch to one of the city's neediest visitors, who had been trapped in hell-hole surroundings for almost three weeks by Hurricane Katrina. I'm speaking, of course, of George W. Bush...."

What Noble Cause?

Cindy Sheehan demands an answer:

"It has been one month, one week, and 4 days since I sat in a ditch in Crawford, Texas. My request was very simple: I wanted to speak to the man who has sent over a million of our young people over to fight, kill, and die in a country that was absolutely no threat to the United States of America. I wanted to ask him: "What is the Noble Cause that you keep talking about? ..."

Continue Reading.

Corruption Hobbles the Rebuilding of Iraq

Craig S. Smith (The New York Times) reports:

"In April, Najaf's main maternity hospital received rare good news: an $8 million refurbishment program financed by the United States would begin immediately. But five months and millions of dollars later, the hospital administrators say they have little but frustration to show for it...."

Continue Reading.

Not the New Deal

Paul Krugman (The New York Times) writes:

"Now it begins: America's biggest relief and recovery program since the New Deal. And the omens aren't good...."

Read more.

Help Hurricane Victims find Housing

A Broader Role for Armed Forces?

William M. Arkin reports for washingtonpost.com:

"The President has hit upon a seemingly no-brainer solution: Rely more on the one institution in our society that is most respected and competent. The President's plan is both wrong-headed and dangerous...."

Read more.

Asshole :: Film Strip International

CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

Contains language that some may find objectionable. But then again, Bush and Company is even more objectionable.

Molly Ivins: Follow the Money for the Real Story

Molly Ivins writes:

"Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two that the trouble with George W. is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations. We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people like that in charge of government is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina...."

Power Grab Alert: Bush Says He May Need More Power in Disasters

Amazingly, the man most responsible for the Katrina fiasco, the man who appointed cronies with no experience to crucial positions, this man, George W. Bush, now wants MORE power.

And wait until you see just what powers he wants....

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

See:

The State | 09/13/2005 | Bush says he may need more power in disasters

F.A.A. Alerted on Qaeda in '98, 9/11 Panel Said

The New York Times reports:

"American aviation officials were warned as early as 1998 that Al Qaeda could "seek to hijack a commercial jet and slam it into a U.S. landmark," according to previously secret portions of a report prepared last year by the Sept. 11 commission. The officials also realized months before the Sept. 11 attacks that two of the three airports used in the hijackings had suffered repeated security lapses...."

Continue Reading.

Conyers Statement on CIA Leak Case

SEE:

Statement of Rep. John Conyers, Jr.
Committee on the Judiciary

H. Res. 420, Resolution of Inquiry to Attorney General Regarding CIA Leak

It's Time For An Independent Katrina Commission

TomPaine.com:

"Two weeks after Katrina, the president is supposedly trying to move away from the blame game (he's not playing it because he knows he'd lose). He's focusing on a rebuilding strategy in his address to the nation tomorrow night, which might appoint one person to oversee recovery; call on the nation to rally around victims; or lay out a comprehensive relocation plan. One thing the speech won't do, however, is demand an investigation into why his administration failed New Orleans citizens so terribly. That's up to us—"

Continue Reading.

Iraq: No Exit?

Robert Dreyfuss reports (TomPaine.com):

"Some bold legislators from both parties are holding hearings today on exit strategies for Iraq. Will the centrists and their think tanks catch up? ...

Continue Reading.

Early Warning

William M. Arkin reports for washingtonpost.com:

"Michael Brown Was Set Up: It's All in the Numbers

It's so easy to blame Michael Brown, but he got his marching orders from someone else. Weapons of mass destruction, not waves of mass destruction, are the president's priorities. Want to get on the White House Varsity team? Get with the program.

The same obsession that led the Bush administration to see weapons of mass destruction and terrorism in every tea leaf and go to war in Iraq now guides the entire federal government disaster response effort.

How do I prove the point? I've got the goods...."

Continue Reading.

All the President's Friends

All the President's Friends | Paul Krugman | New York Times

"The lethally inept response to Hurricane Katrina revealed to everyone that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which earned universal praise during the Clinton years, is a shell of its former self. The hapless Michael Brown - who is no longer overseeing relief efforts but still heads the agency - has become a symbol of cronyism...."

James Carroll: The Mosquito and the Hammer

Tomdispatch interviews James Carroll on our Post-9/11 World. James Carroll is the son of a lieutenant-general who was the founding director of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, a former Catholic priest and antiwar activist in the Vietnam era. Within days of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Carroll, Tomdispatch suggests, became perhaps our most passionate - and prophetic - columnist in the mainstream media.

"Incredible" Shrinking Presidency

By Mel Goodman
US Tour of Duty

Friday 09 September 2005

Over the past three years, we have been watching the gradual unraveling of the integrity and credibility of President Bush and his entire administration. In the winter of 2002-2003, there was the calculated misuse of intelligence collection and analysis to justify the invasion of Iraq, the first preemptive war in the history of the United State. Then, there was the war itself with President Bush donning a flight suit on the USS Abraham Lincoln to make a premature declaration of "mission accomplished." The post-war period revealed the absence of any coherent plan, let alone strategy, for U.S. forces in Iraq. Finally, we have the tragic events of the past two weeks on America?s Gulf Coast, marked by the loss of a great American city and thousands of lives in the poorest and most powerless reaches of New Orleans. The president actually defended the government?s response to Hurricane Katrina, and his mother declared it a success for the evacuees who "were underprivileged anyway, so this is working well for them."

Over the past three years, we have witnessed the results of the libertarian policies of the Bush administration, which includes reduced spending on social programs and even medical programs for U.S. veterans and exploiting the tragedy and terror of 9/11 to provide huge sums of money to the richest and most powerful bureaucracies in the American system of government. The Pentagon?s budget is climbing toward $450 billion, which does not include the $5 billion monthly stipend for Iraq and Afghanistan. The intelligence community has a budget of nearly $45 billion, which is more than the rest of the world spends on intelligence activities. And the gargantuan Department of Homeland Security, which was unprepared for the devastation of a major American city, has a budget of nearly $40 billion for its 180,000 personnel.

These three agencies have conducted themselves in an inept and even wanton fashion in the past three years. The Pentagon is not up to the task of the post-war period and the war itself was marked by the greatest stain ever inflicted on the American military, the terrible tortures of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. military facilities in Guantanamo and Afghanistan. We have been spared the worst of the pictures and films from those places. The intelligence community provided no strategic warning of the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and no strategic assessment of the decrepit Iraqi society, which would have anticipated the post-war chaos that enveloped Iraq after the U.S. invasion. The politicization of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War marked the greatest intelligence scandal in American history, which didn't stand in the way of giving CIA director George Tenet the nation's highest award for civilians, the Presidential Freedom Medal. Amtrak and the nation's airlines canceled service to New Orleans three days before the anticipated arrival of Hurricane Katrina, but the Department of Homeland Security couldn't get its decision-making command up-to-speed until three days after.

Typically the Bush administration has summoned Karl Rove to blame the consequences of the hurricane on the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans, while the president himself is posturing that he wants no part of any blame game. Actually, there is much blame to go around, but Governor Kathleen Blanco declared a state of emergency before the hurricane, which should have triggered the government's National Response Plan to coordinate all federal capabilities and resources. At least Rove's maneuverings are out in the open, unlike his behind-the-scenes role in outing the CIA's clandestine operative Valerie Plame because her husband had exposed the president's fabrications regarding Iraq's nuclear capabilities in his state-of-the-union speech prior to the war.

The president also looked beyond his tight decision-making circle to find responsibility for the Iraqi decisions that went awry. He blamed his decision to go to war on faulty intelligence from the CIA and charged that the post-war chaos in Iraq was due to the appearance of foreign forces from neighboring countries, which actually represent a very small part of the insurgency. In fact, much of the chaos in Iraq was assured by the inadequate numbers of American forces in Iraq, due to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's arrogant and even brutal disregard for the opinions of his professional military advisers regarding troop strength. Inadequate troop strength is forcing the same young servicemen and women to perform two and even three tours of duty in Iraq.

Thus far, the American people, along with the Congress and the American media, have been incredibly complacent in responding to the brutalities of Abu Ghraib, the horrors of the war in Iraq, and even the criminal negligence in New Orleans. There is still no anti-war movement in this country and the few attempts to rally opponents of the war have been disappointing. Such voices of conscience as Cindy Sheehan in Crawford and Senator Robert C. Byrd in the Congress have been largely ignored or marginalized. Fortunately, we the people have one more chance to demonstrate our opposition to the policies of the Bush administration. On September 24, 2005, there will be a series of anti-war rallies in Washington, D.C. and other American cities. If we cannot assemble hundreds of thousands of citizens on that day, then our silence will have established that the American people have the government that they want and even deserve. For the sake of the nearly 1,900 lives that have been lost in Iraq and the untold thousands that have died on the Gulf Coast, it is time for the American people to speak with the only voice left to tell truth to power.

--------

Mel Goodman, a fomer CIA analyst is a co-author of Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives Are Putting the World at Risk, and is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy.

Where Is Osama bin Laden? Day 1,461 and Counting

By Michael Tomasky
The American Prospect

It's the fourth anniversary of September 11 - and Osama bin Laden is still at large.

Thursday 08 September 2005

This September 11 will mark the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. The media will focus on the ceremonies at the former World Trade Center site, the Pentagon, and other cities and towns around the country that will honor the dead. The Bush administration, meanwhile, will do its best to remind Americans that today's George W. Bush - except for the Watergate-era Richard Nixon, the most unpopular two-term president, at this point in his tenure, since scientific polling began in the 1940s - is the same man who led the country through tragedy.

In truth, the anniversary should be the occasion for a thoroughgoing discussion of how America has combated terrorism in the last four years. And on that front, even the disaster Bush has created in Iraq takes a back seat to one overwhelming fact: By the time night falls on September 11, Osama bin Laden will have been at large for 1,461 days.

America vanquished world fascism in less time: We obtained Germany's surrender in 1,243 days, Japan's in 1,365. Even the third Punic War, in which Carthage was burned to the ground and emptied of citizens who were taken en masse into Roman slavery, lasted around 1,100 days (and troops needed a little longer to get into position back in 149 B.C.).

Yes, yes: It can be harder to find one stateless man than to defeat an army whose troop movements can be tracked. And that would be a good excuse - if the Bush administration had bothered to make capturing bin Laden a priority.

John Kerry can't be accused, alas, of having offered a coherent foreign policy in last year's campaign, but he was dead right when he said the administration had "outsourced" the job of finding the man responsible for the most deadly attacks ever on American soil. As the journalist Peter Bergen wrote in The Atlantic last October, we were closing in on al-Qaeda leadership in December 2001. But the United States decided to leave the crucial two-week battle of Tora Bora chiefiy to local Afghan fighters. It was, Bergen wrote, "a blunder that allowed many members of al-Qaeda, including Osama bin Laden himself, to slip away."

And, of course, we know why that battle was left to locals - and why, relatedly, we never had more than about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan in 2001. (How's Afghanistan going today? We now have 18,000 troops there, and 2005 has been the deadliest year for U.S. forces since the fighting began.)

The Bush administration had already decided, at the very least, to find an excuse to invade Iraq. We know from Richard Clarke's testimony and other sources that administration officials, including Bush himself, started asking the counterterrorism chief to find an Iraqi link to 9-11 from the day following the attacks. On December 11, 2001 - right around the time bin Laden began his escape, possibly the very day - Vice President Dick Cheney told FOX News, "If I were Saddam Hussein, I'd be thinking very carefully about the future, and I'd be looking very closely to see what happened to the Taliban in Afghanistan."

Whatever the apologists say, the truth is simple: The administration held back troops from Afghanistan so that it could send 150,000 to Iraq. That, and nothing else, is the reason bin Laden is still at large.

But listen closely to the silence: Outside of magazines like this one and a handful of liberal Web sites, the subject is rarely discussed.

Just imagine bin Laden having been at large this long in President Al Gore's administration. In fact, it's impossible to imagine, because President Gore, under such circumstances, wouldn't have lasted this long. You probably didn't know, until you read this column, the number of days bin Laden has been at large. But I assure you that if Gore had been president, you and every American would have known, because the right would have seen to it that you knew, asking every day, "Where's Osama?" If Gore hadn't been impeached, it's doubtful he'd have survived a re-election campaign, with Americans aghast at how weak and immoral a president had to be to permit those 2,700 deaths to go unavenged this long.

To be sure, the difference is partly a Democratic failure - they're afraid of the right-wing noise machine, pure and simple. That's a failure of nerve, and it's an appalling one.

But the moral failure belongs to Bush and his subordinates and their amen chorus of slatternly propagandists and so-called intellectuals, who made great political advantage of 9-11 but spit on the grieving families by pretending that there is no imperative in seeing justice done for their losses. They may be able to control the dialogue, but they can't control the facts - and the facts condemn them all.

-------

Michael Tomasky is the Prospect's executive editor.

Who am I?

I am a non-party-affiliated, progressive independent. I have concealed my identity to focus attention on my message rather than my media appeal. My sole goal is to take back our country from the cabal in the White House and build a government (that really IS) of the people, by the people, and for the people... a government committed to taking care of its most vulnerable people and ending war as a way to solve world problems.

I am a dreamer.

I dream of:

• A United America, where the leadership works for the benefit of ALL Americans, not just the elite.

• An America with character. A country with morals and ethics and actions that inspire the rest of the world to emulate us, not hate us.

• An America that unites the world against terror, rather than alienating the world with aggressive, unilateral actions.

• An America that puts the needs of the American people first, with priority attention to the most vulnerable among us.

• An America where humanitarian causes are a-political, leading all of us to make the world a better, safer place for
humanity.

• An America that is fiscally responsible. An America that uses our money wisely, in our best interests.

• An America that is honest. Honest with the American people. Honest with the world community. Honest and open to
criticism -- good or bad -- of our actions at home and abroad.

• An America that rejects "fear" tactics and safeguards our freedoms at all costs.

• A United America. An America that serves ALL of her people. An America that brings people together through respect and honest debate and compromise for the good of all.

• An America that embraces American Values in more than just rhetoric, but, rather, lives her values – justice, freedom, opportunity for all, peace – in every action she takes at home or abroad.

• An America that spurns secrecy, and secret deals, and Presidential privileges and opens it’s arms to every single citizen in this country and says, we, the government, work for YOU. We are RESPONSIBLE to you. To each and every one of you.

• An America where you have the inalienable right to know the truth about what your government is or isn’t doing for you in your name.

• An America where you are the auditors of this country. You are America’s conscience. You are the keepers of America’s Flame.

• An America where truth prevails, and candidates are judged honestly and fairly by an open debate on the issues.

• A new America, where it is not only immoral, but illegal, for our leaders to slander others, to bend the truth, to mislead and misrepresent either their own records or the records of their opponents.

• A new America where dissent is encouraged, where difference of opinion is sought out, where voicing heart-felt objections is considered as patriotic and essential to a free society, as a stamp of approval.

• A new America, where a president who dares to take this country to war under false pretenses, or otherwise, bears the full responsibility of his actions to his troops, to the American people, and to the world community.

• A new America that respects the world community and their beliefs, that values building bridges over building walls, that values diplomacy over ultimatums and bullying, that knows the difference between strength and abuse of power.

• A new America where our ethical and moral conduct, domestically and internationally, set the example that inspires the rest of the world.

• A new America where the media holds itself to the highest standards and reports the news without bias rather than creating the news and spinning it to their own agenda.

• An America where no one is elected to office until every single vote has been counted, and even the Supreme Court cannot take away this basic right of every citizen.

• A new America, without labels, without hatred, without dirty tricks, but rather, an America that pulls together, as one, with
one single purpose: the good of all.

• A new America where those who can, reach out to help those who can’t.

• A new America where peace is not equated with war, where we work feverously to find peaceful solutions to all problems, with war only as a last, last resort.

• A new America that values a Department of Peace more than a Department of War.

• A new America where every citizen would gladly sacrifice in some way for the good of the whole country, because they recognize that it is that sacrifice and generousity of spirit which has made this country great.

• A new America that is not divided by our differences: by race, or gender, or religion, or politics, but, rather, is united in it’s respect for and honor of those different from ourselves.

• A new America where democrats listen to republicans with respect, and republicans listen to democrats with respect,
and issues are debated and policies made with one goal: to make America a better place to live for all of her citizens.

• A new America where there are enough good jobs for every American who wants to work.

• A Revolutionary America, where the right to first rate health care is every American’s right.

• A Revolutionary America where corporations value their people above their products or services, and treat them as fairly, and respectfully, as they would like to be treated.

• A Revolutionary America where workers are so valued by their companies, and employees so proud of their work,
that the phrase “Made in America” is viewed as the benchmark for quality and innovation throughout the world.

• A Revolutionary America where a first rate college education is affordable and available to every person who wishes one,
where quality pre-schools are affordable and available to all working parents, where the best possible schools are available to every child, because insuring their future is insuring America’s future, something we are unwilling to compromise.

• A new America where the environment is protected and nurtured, where every citizen and every business willingly does his part to ensure that our planet and our air will be healthy, beautiful, and hospitable for generations to come.

• A Revolutionary America where women’s rights, and civil rights, and gay rights are no longer devisive issues, because we have finally realized our constitution: All men – and all women – are created equal and are treated equally—and never separately, under the law.

• A Revolutionary America where the best America has to offer run for public office and participate in our government eagerly, without hesitating due of a lack of money, because we finally instituted campaign finance reform that removes all private money from any political campaign.

• A Revolutionary America where “politician” is no longer a dirty word, where constituents can trust that what their representatives pledge, will be honored, because in this new America, politicians are soley focused on their constitutional duty of serving their constituents and not special interests.

I dream of a Revolutionary America.

There’s only one way to make that dream a reality:

Make it your own.

Follow your heart and vote to make this country live up to the bold, new, American dream we all grew up believing in.