My name is Jamie Tyroler - I'm a transgender writer from Kansas City, MO. I don't consider myself a Democrat, because most Democrats are too conservative for me - which is why AT&T will never face any criminal charges for listening to your phone calls or reading your email (they're only checking for certain words, like "terror", "Islam", or "freedom".

Part of the reason the United States became a free nation was taxes on many common goods - our Founding Fathers and Mothers fought the most powerful nation on Earth at the time so they would have a government that listened to them (as long as you were white and owned property).  Meanwhile, we have this Chinese-financed war in Iraq destroying our economy, people losing their homes, people unable to buy groceries or health-care, and about the best we seem to be able to come up with is, "Damn, gas is expensive!" or "Did you catch that couple on [fill-in the blank reality show]?"