" Withdrawal of our troops from Iraq (Almost 2500 sons and daughters of American families killed and thousands maimed and wounded). " War profiteering by companies like Halliburton. " Our Reserve and National Guard Units being redeployed to Iraq 3 and 4 times and the disastrous effect that this has on their families and their readiness to fight disasters here at home. " The decimation of our military by the inept leadership in the Defense Department and in the Bush Administration. " No bid contracts for favored corporations (i.e. Halliburton). " The illegal Warrantless Domestic Spying by the NSA. " The issuing of a huge number of Bill Signing Statements by President Bush that are being attached to the laws passed by Congress that say that he's above the law. (i.e. He isn't bound by the ban on torture passed by a bipartisan vote by both Houses of Congress). " The suspension of Habeas Corpus for detained American citizens. " Torture of detainees. " The suspension of part of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners (In the military manual). " Rendition of detainees by the CIA. " Spying on American Citizens by the FBI and the Defense Department. " Data mining of American Citizen's phone calls and emails by the NSA. " Lack of oversight of the Administration by Congress and the Judiciary. " Cronyism and the "Culture of Corruption" in Washington. " Clean Money Legislation for public campaign financing. " Election Reform. " The Medicare Part D debacle. " A health care crisis in this country (45 million Americans without health care). " The 41 million Americans living in poverty (And and the number is still growing). " The relentless attack on the American poor and middle classes by our corporate controlled Representatives in Congress (i.e. H1B Visas, the proposed "guest" (NOT!!) worker program and the Free [unfair] US Trade Agreements). " The corporate written (by cheap labor advocates) and disastrous Senate "Comprehensive" Immigration Bill. " The absolutely disgracefully low minimum wage. " Lack of Border Security (North, South and the East and West Ports). " The redistribution of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the rich which is being called the "Reverse Robin Hood Effect" (i.e. the elimination of the Estate or so called "Paris Hilton" Tax). " The collapse of the American auto industry (i.e. Delphi) and the outsourcing of millions of good paying American jobs to cheap overseas labor that are forced to work in shameful sweatshop conditions. " Employers hiring illegal aliens and paying a lot less than the prevailing wage. " The selling off of American Industry to foreign firms (i.e. The Dubai Ports Deal and 80% of the defense industry is owned by foreign companies). We are losing our once mighty Industrial capacity. " Obscene compensation and retirement packages for corporate executives who promote a greedy, self serving, exploitative, unethical and sometimes criminal corporate culture in American corporate business dealings. " The loss of fixed pension benefits and employer paid health plans by millions of retirees. " The formation of oligopolies and monopolies in key industries like oil, energy and computer software that restrict competition and free market price fluctuations and result in price gouging (i.e. ExxonMobil). " Union busting by corporations using favorable bankruptcy laws and Republican appointed judges. " The attack on our environment by ignoring global warming, drilling in ANWR and the Continental Shelf, the building of roads for oil, gas and mineral exploration in our National Forests, the gutting of the endangered species act, the relaxation of the air quality standards and on and on. " Skyrocketing housing costs. " The untenable rise in energy costs (gasoline at $3.20 per gallon and heading to $5.00). " The Prohibitive cost of higher education for our youth. " The failure of our public education system and the No Child Left Behind Act (60% of Hispanic students and 50% of black students don't graduate from high school). " Fixing the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. " The 400,000 displaced Katrina and Rita survivors. " Record Trade Deficits. Over $800 Billion last year. (China has almost $1 Trillion in their current account that we owe them). " A record budget deficit. Heading for $9 Trillion. This is over $25,000 for every man, woman and child in the US. So the share of this debt for the typical American family of 4 is over $100,000. (China alone is lending us upwards of $2 Billion per day to finance this debt). " The Chinese military buildup is really threatening American interests. They are now not only a threat to Taiwan but of all of Asia and possibly the Western United States (Why are we trading with this totalitarian Communist Government as a "Most Favored Nation" and allowing them to use the billions of dollars in the trade surplus with us to rapidly build up their military power?). " Failure of this county's funding for first responders and the failure of FEMA and the Administration in the Gulf Coast disasters. " The nuclear trade deal with India (Our state of the art nuclear technology for mangoes) and the resulting nuclear proliferation that will follow.To my concerned or even uninformed friends and family:
In case you didn't realize it, these are "moral" and real "family" problems that are found right here in the USA and not the problems of some South American Banana Republic (Dictatorship). But maybe that's the kind of America the Bush Administration, the Republican Congress, the Republican clone DLC Democrats, the conservative activists, the Right Wing radio talk show hosts, the corporate America lobby, most of the political pundits and the Haves and Have Mores ("Bush's Base" as is his claim) want to lead us into. Maybe we'll all be surfs and peons working for poverty wages and serving these corporate elitists enshrined in their plush living compounds. And they call the liberals, "elitists"!! These guys are nothing but chicken hawk, greedy, criminal, unethical, immoral, hypocritical and self serving elitists pretending that they are NASCAR loving, redneck, good Christian, bible thumping, flag waving, good 'ole boys while they are screwing the American public. We need to get our Liberal, Progressive, Union Member, Moderate Republican and Independent friends and neighbors to wake up to this insidious attack on the American people and on our Democracy. We all need to pressure our Congressional Reps to address the "real" problems in this country, by representing the good of their constituents and push for what is an actual "moral" and common good solution to what is happening to the American people, the American Dream and the American family. We need to have our Representatives, especially the Democrats, stand up and be heard on these issues. They need to be honest with the American people about where they stand on these issues and propose solutions that may or may not be politically correct, but will serve the common good. If our Congressional Reps don't deliver the goods for the American people and they keep pandering to the corporate lobby and the wealthy, they need to be "fired";.. That is, voted out of the positions of trust that they were elected to fill. I suggest that if you aren't really "mad as hell" like me, that you soon take a really hard look at this dysfunctional government of ours and start writing, emailing, faxing and calling these corporate shills and demand results. We need to urge them to stop playing political games and start solving the really critical problems confronting us. They need to stop enriching the "Haves and Have Mores" as they have been doing since the Reagan Administration (And that includes Bill Clinton and the DLC when they passed NAFTA and the Chinese Trade Agreement) by using their immoral Reverse Robin Hood agenda. To accomplish this progressive turn around, organization and money is the name of the game. So we need to give until it hurts to progressive and religious left organizations like Moveon.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the Progressive States Organization, Democracy for America, the PACS for progressives like Russ Feingold, John Edwards, and Barbara Boxer, Sojourners, the Christian Alliance for Progress, the Interfaith Alliance, etc. Give what you can to the DNC if the Democratic Leadership keeps their hands off Howard Dean's 50 State organization plan. We need to help build an infrastructure and progressive grassroots organizational network that will outperform the Repugs and beat them at their own game. So please volunteer to get involved with these organizations and work your butt off until we have a government "For the People". And please don't give one red cent or one drop of sweat to turncoat Democrats and their organizations that claim that they are centrists but in reality are nothing but corporate owned Republican clones.Shayne Munger 5184 Merrill Ave. Riverside, CA 92504 951-637-3910 "We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace; business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob." ~FDR