November 9th, 2006

1. Begin to move the troops from Iraq to nearby bases in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, rotate the troops who have been deployed the longest back home.

2. Bolster the UN forces in Afghanistan and finish the job going after Osama bin Laden.

3. Pass a federal election bill that mandates that all elections in the US meet certain criteria in terms of machine reliability and rules for counting and recounting votes.

4. Pass lobbying reform that opens all meetings between lobbyists and US Representatives at any level of government to the press and public.

5. Pass a new fairness doctrine for public airwaves media behavior that is immune to Supreme Court intervention - strengthen laws against government funded propaganda.

6. Restore habeas corpus and eliminate military tribunals. All US detainees must go through the US court system. Outlaw all forms of detainee mistreatment with very stiff criminal penalties for those who break the law.

7. Legislate against war profiteering with severe penalties including jail time.

8. Eliminate the Homeland Security Department and restore FEMA to its previous cabinet position. Restore the FISA court to mandatory status and shut down the secret spying programs implemented by the Bush administration.

9. Raise the minimum wage to at least $7.50 an hour.

10. Pass legislation that provides public funding for all US elections and eliminates all private donations. It's time to stop legislator "dialing for dollars". Our representatives need to be doing their jobs, not schmoozing on the phone.

11. Pass new House and Senate ethics rules with severe criminal penalties

12. Pass laws that prevent gerrymandering of congressional districts and legislate new rules for how boundaries can be drawn and redrawn.

This is just the beginning of getting our country back on track. Additional moves will be required including a much fairer tax system, and a reduced commitment to obscene military expenditures. We need to pay down the national debt while also increasing funding for biomedical research. We need strong "sunshine laws" for the Federal Government - no more secrets from the American people. We need to improve international relations. We need a single-payer national healthcare system. And finally, we need to make sure that Social Security is fully funded, and yes those funds need to be locked away so they can't be squandered on government projects that they were not intended for. It's going to take a long time, and it's going to be a very hard fight against the corporatists. Now that we've taken the Congress back we need to start taking the media back and redirecting our national priorities to benefit all of the American people, not just those at the top.