Progressives

Obama, don't follow McCain into the mud

mr_twist — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:02:14 -0400

Please help unite
Obama supporters in rejecting McCain’s
negative campaign style. We must clean up politics if things are ever to get
better. We have a chance to be so much more than the same old attack politics,
but Obama must hear the voices of his supporters on this.

Please read the message to Obama on the following blog and
help spread it to others.

http://manyhands.blogspot.com/

Senator Barack Obama,

I realize that you have already endured
much since the start of your campaign for the presidency. Along with
the grueling schedules, lack of sleep, and time away from your family,
you have had to deal with being the target of racial slurs, hateful jokes, untrue attacks on your faith, and even slander against your loved ones. All of us who support your bid for president and many of those who do not condemn such unethical political trash.

I call upon you to recognize in these difficult times that the Obama campaign belongs to its supporters. It belongs to all of us. We want to support what we have seen in you. Maybe it was something we read in one of your books, a rousing speech
you made at a huge rally, or a small commitment you expressed in a more
personal setting. Regardless, we all found something to believe in that
we share. We found a hope for something better in the potential that
you contain and in what we have seen from your best moments. Do not
forget this. Even when you falter you must still be committed to the
steady course of something new, something positive, and something which
makes you capable of inspiring and leading millions.

This needs
to be said in light of McCain deciding recently that there is only one
way for him to defeat you: by drawing you into his mud. Unable to rally
the enthusiasm and hope that you stir in people McCain has decided
instead to take the low road and lash out
at you for inspiring so many to believe in and work for change in their
country. These are McCain's politics, do not let them become yours. Our
country does not need a second McCain campaign, we need something
different, something new, and something better.

I am not asking you to be soft and avoid holding people accountable, asking tough questions, or defending yourself from lies.
I am asking you to not be drawn into the negative campaigning that your
opponent so wishes to see you engage in. There is a difference between
hard politics and dirty politics. Do not become a mudslinger instead of
a "hope monger". Many of us want something different and you are our
best hope for that. Please Sen. Obama, do not walk into the politics of
anger and spite.

--- One of your inspired supporters

Check Out Alan Grayson's new ad! (D-FL CD08)

ddeclue — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:59:04 -0400

Fellow Democrats:

Just in case you haven’t seen Alan’s new ad on TV yet, you can check it out on-line at the DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/25/155020/561/340/556978

I actually saw it for the first time on TV the other night and I thought it was really an eye-catching ad in which Alan talks about just how much money has gone missing in Iraq and how he has been working to recover tax dollars through his whistleblower lawsuits for waste fraud and abuse. I thought the ad had a lot of energy and avoided the usual political clichés that voters tune out.

Please be sure to leave a comment and please be sure to tell your friends.

Thanks,

Doug D.

Support a Progressive Candidate!

ghost122 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:19:18 -0400

Born in 1963 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Rebecca Schneider grew up in rural western Pennsylvania in a middle class neighborhood. Rebecca graduated from Mars High School in 1982 and Slippery Rock University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. During the course of attending College and working two, sometimes three jobs to pay her way, she set the course of her career when she began working in the library and currently works as a Library Supervisor for Arizona State University.

Rebecca has a long history of working within and with government entities to achieve success for the organizations and communities by which she has been employed. She has experience managing budgets as well as personnel as part of her management of a Maricopa County Branch Library in addition to her current supervisory position at ASU. Schneider brought together business, government and private foundation groups to raise the funds necessary to build a new library building in Sun Lakes, Arizona. She will use those same skills to bridge the aisle in Congress and foster relationships that will enact legislation that doesn't undermine our Constitutional rights while providing true security to our nation.

In her own words:

Our government has been broken by those who have been in power these past eight years. We have lost many of our constitutional rights and we have lost our way in the world. This is completely unacceptable, and it is my passion and my calling to restore what has been stolen. WE, the people, should be watching our government. They should NOT be watching us. While they were watching us, they were not watching our economy, our infrastructure, our security, our children's health and education, our ports and chemical plants, our energy production and certainly not our environment. They’ve neglected our internal welfare while they were pretending to be concerned about our nation.

Mr. Flake has gone unopposed in his past two elections. With your help, we can make sure that this time around he has a run for his money! Let's at least be able to offer District #6, and by extension, all of Arizona and the United States, a choice. A progressive choice!!

We must demand a strong America that offers broad prosperity to all its citizens, a better future for YOU and all of us. We require a more effective government without all the waste and terrible planning. We must have mutual responsibility between government, the people and business for the betterment of this nation. I want to encourage an economy that doesn't neglect the worker and focus solely on big gains for the CEOs and shareholders. We need a strong voice in Congress that will stand up to partisan bullying and do what is right. I will be that voice.

I am dedicated to improving all our lives by creating an environment of hope and unity. I promise to work tirelessly to affect positive change in the world around us and to work with the citizens of Congressional District #6...YOU...to create a community, a state, a nation that serves us all. I will not waiver in the conviction that we can create a better world for all citizens now and for the future.

I pledge to do everything in my power to return our government and our nation to the people; to restore our rights as promised by our Constitution; to renew our standing in the world by demonstrating the strength and goodness America has always stood for; to LISTEN to the people and enlist everyone’s help in transforming the country into one we can be proud of again. I will endeavor to bring dignity and fiscal responsibility back to Washington. We will have a healthy, vibrant nation once again where there are opportunities to achieve the American Dream for all instead of the few.

Help build that dream for yourselves by electing me to be your Representative in Congress. The time for the old way of doing things is past. It is time we, the people, took charge of our government, instead of special interests and big corporations remaining in control. Now is the time for the power of the people to shout from the rooftops, “WE are in charge!”. Permitting me to be your voice is a great step towards that freedom! We CAN bring back our dignity, our prosperity, our innovation and our American Dream. Join me, won’t you, in making it a reality. Truly, the time is NOW!!

Please check out my website at: www.schneider2008.com Then, make a donation of $20, $50, $100 or more to help me defeat Mr. Flake: the same Mr. Flake who never brings our fair share of our tax monies back to our district; the same Mr. Flake who has voted over and over again to undermine or take away our Constitutional rights; the same Mr. Flake who has supported George Bush for 8 years, yet has voted against helping our troops and our children.

If the status quo of borrow and spend, war and rising healthcare costs isn’t what you want anymore, please give your support NOW so that we have a true choice for change in November.

Thank you!!

Rebecca

Breakfast @ Bill's Restaurant 4/12 10 AM -12 PM (BYOB buy your own breakfast)

aa0697 — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 16:53:42 -0400

Some folks are getting together on Saturday 4/12 for breakfast/lunch at Bill's Restaurant in Montgomery, Illinois on the corner of Montgomery Rd & Union to meet other Democrats in Aurora Township, catch up on local political news, opportunities and friendly discussions. Come and meet other Democrats that are concerned about the war, healthcare, immigration and the economy. We have a lot of races coming up in November and we can't count on taking Congress and the White House with out getting to know each other and sharing a meal. Very causal and informal, no commitment to be there at the very beginning and stay to the end. You should come and bring a friend!! (byob - buy your own breakfast)

Breakfast at Bill's (byob)
702 Montgomery Road
Montgomery, IL
630-898-5264
4/12 from 10 AM- 12 PM

I hope to see you over eggs and hashbrowns!!!!

Obama and Progressive Change

dlindorff — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:57:07 -0500

By Dave Lindorff

I don’t want to overstate the case for Barack Obama, who has been fairly circumspect about his intentions if elected. While saying he is against the Iraq War, he has not acted very forcefully to help bring it to an end. And he certainly has not called for any downsizing of America’s bloated military budget or any end to its imperialist foreign policy—absolutely essential if there is to be any progressive change of consequence in the US.

That said, those who believe that the Democratic Party is firmly in the hands of a malignant and self-serving corporate and political elite have to explain why “their” candidate, Hillary Clinton, seems to be sinking.

Meanwhile, it must be acknowledged that the Obama phenomenon is a real thing. That is to say, whatever his personal politics, his candidacy is genuinely igniting a wave of passionate support across the nation among people—particularly the young, and more recently African Americans—who had for years been ignored by, and consequently disinterested in the political process.

It might be that this is all the result of the magic of charisma, a winning smile and a good turn of phrase. But even so, it would be a mistake for the jaded left, myself included, to dismiss this phenomenon as meaningless, and to ignore it or its potential.

Indeed, I want to suggest here that Obama may at this point have the proverbial tiger by the tail, in that his clarion calls for “hope” and for “change” may be stirring up hopes and expectations for those very things in a way that will not easily be denied should he succeed. (In this he does resemble Jack Kennedy, whose own politics tended to be conservative and Establishment, but whose rhetoric helped stir a generation to political idealism, and may have contributed to the era of '60s activism.)

I would also suggest that while Sen. Obama may well be part of the party Establishment—with a record as a safe backer of the status quo—if he succeeds in winning the nomination, and especially if he goes on and wins the White House, it will be because he has aroused a huge pool of voters in this country who had until now been cynically staying away from politics. It will be because he has transcended the racial divide that has stymied real political change for so long.

And the forces that are propelling him toward the nomination, and toward the White House, are forces that will not easily be denied if they succeed.

That is to say, a President Barack Obama, whatever his own political beliefs (and we don’t really know much about the man), could well find himself, thanks to the movement that puts him in power, freed from the shackles of the Democratic Leadership Council and the army of advisors of stasis and corporatism that cling to most Democratic political figures like barnacles to a rotting pier.

For this to happen, Obama will first have to reach out beyond his current base of support, to rank-and-rile workers—both unionized and non-union--to Latinos and other minority groups, and to older Americans. He’ll have to reach out, that is, to the groups that have thus far still been backing Hillary Clinton and the party Establishment. He need not win all those groups over to his side—in fact it would be better if he didn’t. He needs only to win over the disaffected within those groups—the people who recognize that they have been betrayed by the two parties and by the System.

Should this happen—and it probably will have to happen for this first serious black candidate for the presidency to successfully beat back the Clintonians and the DLC, who will try to kill off his candidacy before the convention—Obama will have been, perhaps in spite of himself, or perhaps because there is in him still some spark of insurgency, transformed into a real agent of progressive change.

None of this means that a President Obama would be a new Franklin Roosevelt. The pressures on any president to “cool it” and play the game of supporting the big moneyed interests that have been undermining and hollowing out America for decades are enormous. But certainly an alternative reality is also possible—namely that an aroused and newly empowered bloc of voters, in bringing a black politician to the pinnacle of power in America, could tip the balance and free that new president from outside of the White Establishment to follow his better instincts. (Franklin Roosevelt himself, remember, was no Franklin Roosevelt when he ran for office; the movement that installed him in office made him into the transformative New Deal figure he became.)

Progressives cannot be naive about this. Even if I’m right, for a Barack Obama administration to become the dawn of a genuine progressive era, it would demand tremendous organizing and continuous political campaigning after Election Day. There will surely be a serious effort by the political Establishment—both on Wall Street and inside the Beltway—to rein in both a new president and the forces that put him there. And Obama himself—clearly no visceral radical--will need to be convinced that the path to a second term lies through heeding his populist base, not through reaching accommodation with the sclerotic old guard.

That is a call-to-arms, though, not a reason to ignore this possibility.

What I’m suggesting here is that Barack Obama’s campaign, by its very rhetoric of change, may be creating something bigger than Barack Obama, and that Barack Obama may never have intended: a powerful constituency for real change.
________________________

DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006, and now available in paperback edition). His work can be found at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Who Says College Students Shouldn't Vote Where They Live?

dlindorff — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:33:35 -0500

Excuse me, but I have to vent here.

Having grown up in a college town (Storrs, CT, home of UConn), and then having attended college in two cities that were not my hometown, in both of which places I voted in local elections (Middletown, CT and New York City), I want to take issue with the candidates, like Hillary Clinton, and the people in the Democratic Party leadership in Iowa, who are claiming it's somehow untoward for a candidate, like Barak Obama in this case, to urge students who are from out of town or , god forbid, out of state to vote in the Iowa caucuses. Officials in other states have made the same kind of complaint.

Students, in case these people haven't noticed, are full-fledged citizens with full rights.

If they are attending university, they are residing in that state and that community where their school is for at least nine months, and in many cases, if they get summer jobs there, for the full 12 months. They're there as long as many non-student residents, many of whom leave for vacations in the summer too (and many of whom may work out of state much of the year). As in-state residents, theses students have many of the same concerns as any other resident: decent funding for education, good roads, public safety, environmental protection, etc.

They also have specific issues related to their being students at the university, especially when it's a state school like, say, the University of Iowa--for example the out-of-state tuition rate, the amount of money provided by the state to support higher education in the state, the level of faculty salaries, etc.--and they have every reason, and every right, to be politically active in defending those things.

Historically, communities have fought against letting students register to vote locally, claiming that they are "outsiders." Fortunately the courts have upheld the right of everyone to vote where they live, including students. To criticize Obama for urging students to register and participate in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses is the height of hypocrisy.

What Democratic leaders and local people in university communities don't like about students is that they tend to be more liberal and more independent than the average voter, and to be smarter about seeing through hype and tripe.

That's why the Clinton campaign, at least behind the scenes, has been encouraging criticism of Obama's get-out-the-out-of-state-student vote effort, and why the state's party establishment, which is aligned with Clinton, is also grumbling about it (Obama has proved particularly popular among students).

Let me say that I'm not an Obama supporter myself; I think Dennis Kucinich is clearly the best candidate in this race. But I do smell a rat in this attack on student voters. (Students, by the way, have also been big backers Kucinich in the Democratic, and Ron Paul in the Republican presidential campaigns nationally.)

The truth is, students, regardless of whether they are from in-state or out-of-state, should be encouraged not just to vote in the Iowa caucuses, but to take control of the communities where they are in the majority. In communities where they have done so--Berkeley, CA, Boulder, CO, Ithaca, NY, Burlington, VT, Santa Cruz, CA and Madison, WI, come to mind--they have helped local progressive forces to offer creative new models of local government, and to develop innovative ideas with regard to transportation, environmental protection, and public education, that typical communities have typically shied away from.

We need more, not less, of this kind of community activism.

So don't take any crap, students! You have the right to vote where you live. Use it, and make something of it.

How to Get On the Ballot as a Kucinich Delegate

Trainer12 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 05:58:07 -0500

How to Get on the Ballot as a Kucinich Delegate in PA

Get a permission form from PADEMS.com fill it out and send to Dennis Kucinich’s Campaign Headquarters in Cleveland to get his permission to run. The State Committee in Harrisburg, PA needs to have this by Jan. 8, 2008 in order for you to run.
Obtain the Nomination Petition and start gathering the minimum of 250 registered Democratic Party voters in your Congressional District starting Jan. 24, 2008 and ending on Feb. 12, 2008. Each nomination petition contains 50 signatures. You must print on both sides of the 8 ½ by 14 sheet of paper. This will be available at the Bureau of Elections (Department of State) Website. http://www.dos.state.pa.us/elections/site/default.asp. You may also request a hard copy via snail mail from them. The State Dem Organizer at the meeting on Sept. 7th told us to gather 500 to survive any challenges. Be sure you have a voter file list to be sure that the person signing puts in their voter precinct address and not their postal address, that they are a registered Democrat and that they sign it the way they signed it when they registered to vote. Voter files are available from the Party, the County and the State. I learned this the hard way when circulating nomination petitions for Chuck Pennacchio to get him on the ballot.
Each Nomination Petition must be notarized by Notary Public. This costs anywhere from $8.00 to $15.00 a sheet. I found a notary public at work who does it for $5.00. My insurance agent did my nomination petition for committee person for free. He is a Democrat and it was only one sheet. I needed 15 and I had 50 signatures.
Submit you 250 + notarized petitions in Harrisburg, PA to the Bureau of Elections in the North Office Building at the Capitol Complex Second Floor on Feb. 13, 2008 and pay a $25.00 fee to get on the ballot. This fee can be waived if you get special permission from the PA Dems in Harrisburg, PA http://www.dos.state.pa.us/elections/site/default.asp
On April 22, 2008 the tentative date for the Primary, you must receive at least 15% of registered Democratic voters, voting in the Democratic Primary voting for you for the candidate that you are pledged to in order to go to Denver, CO August 24-28, 2008.
If you win, don’t make your own reservations for hotel or airfare. The DNC does that. They get a group rate and want all the Delegates herded and their whereabouts known at all times.

2008 DNC Convention Delegate Selection is here!PA DEMOCRATIC PARTY ANNOUNCES DELEGATE SELECTION TRAININGS IN ANTICIPATION OF 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

DISTRICT	DATE/TIME	LOCATION	ADDRESS
6	12/1, 10 a.m.	IBEW Local 743	20 Morgan Dr., Reading
17	12/5, 7 p.m.	AFSCME Council 13	4031 Executive Park Dr., Harrisburg
12	12/8, 10 a.m.	Blair/Bedford Central Labor	302 Wopsononick Ave., Altoona
9	12/8, 1:30 p.m.	USWA Local 2635	422 Main St., Johnstown
8	12/8, 2 p.m.	Bucks County Free Library	150 S. Pine St., Doylestown
3	12/10, 6:30 p.m.	Meadville City Hall	984 Water St., Meadville
10	12/11, 6:30 p.m.	Holiday Inn	100 Pine St., Williamsport
15	12/11, 7 p.m.	Van A. Bittner Hall	53 E. Lehigh St., Bethlehem
13	12/12, 6:30 p.m.	AFSCME Council 88	3031 Walton Rd., Plymouth Meeting
18	12/12, 6:30 p.m.	Canonsburg Boro Building	68 East Pike St., Canonsburg
4	12/13, 6:30 p.m.	IBEW Local 712	217 Sassafras Lane, Beaver
5	12/13, 6:30 p.m.	Schlow Centre Region Library	211 S. Allen St., State College
1	12/14, 5 p.m.	Philadelphia City Committee	1421 Walnut St., Philadelphia
16	12/16, 7 p.m.	Lancaster Democratic Committee	53 N. Duke St., Lancaster
14	12/17, 6:30 p.m.	IBEW Local 5	5 Hot Metal St., Pittsubrgh
11	12/20, 7 p.m.	McEntee Keller Labor Center	1258 O'Neill Highway, Dunmore

How Can the Netroots Hold Democrats Accountable?

Bob Fertik — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 20:44:30 -0400

MoveonGate has hit the Netroots like a hard kick in the gut. As well it should - we poured out our hearts and wallets to elect Democrats in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. We watched two presidential races stolen and our war heroes trashed without a peep from the Democrats. These losses were deeply painful but we mourned, analyzed, and vowed to work harder the next time. And in 2006 there was (finally!) a miracle, and we won the Senate and the House without losing a single seat.

So what have the Democrats done for us since we gave them the long-sought keys to the Congressional kingdom? Not much besides raising the minimum wage slowly over many years and holding a lot of hearings that have exposed just a few of the infinite number of White House scandals.

And what have they done to us? Fully funded Bush's endless occupation of Iraq, given Bush unlimited authority to tap our phones and emails, failed to restore habeas corpus, kept impeachment and subpoena enforcement off the table - and condemned our most powerful group, Moveon, for an completely legitimate ad.

Houston, we have a problem.

Congressional Democrats don't listen to us. Worse, they really don't like us.

Why? Because we won't take "we don't have the votes" for an answer.

We know how Washington works. On the one hand, we know Republican leaders can always line up the votes they need, no matter how evil the bill. We know Republican leaders always give their "base" everything they possibly can, from $2 trillion tax cuts for the wealthiest to midnight legislation to force Terry Schiavo to stay on a feeding tube.

On the other hand, we know Democratic leaders can never line up the votes they need, no matter how urgent the bill. And we know they won't lift a finger for their "base."

Can anyone imagine a Senate run by Mitch McConnell or Bill First allowing a vote to censure the NRA or the Christian Coalition or the Minutemen?

Houston, we have a problem. So what's the solution?

I love Tristero, but I have to disagree completely with his proposal:

Money talks, people. And direct donations to Democrats won't cut it, except to the best of the best. When a truly large portion of a Democratic candidate's funding comes from MoveOn - more importantly, when a truly large portion of the Democratic Party's war chest comes from MoveOn and similar groups... well, no guarantees.

Well no guarantees is exactly right. Moveon already spent millions in 2002, 2004, and 2006, and what did they get for their trouble? An official censure on a vote that never should have come to the floor and never should have received a single Democratic vote.

Giving more money to Moveon will help us elect "more and better Democrats," but it does not solve our fundamental problem.

Our problem, in a single word, is Accountability.

The Republican base - which includes the Corporate wing, the religious wing, and the gun wing, has made a science of accountability.

They watch Republicans like hawks. They get the inside scoop on pending actions and they make sure the most conservative person or policy has the edge. If a Republican steps out of line, they get punished - hard.

It works for conservatives because it's all controlled from the top. When Clinton was President, GOP power was controlled by Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. Then Karl Rove came along and united the Republican right behind George Bush. And when Bush stole the White House, Rove rewarded his base by appointing them to every position in the Executive Branch. And on those rare occasions when Bush strayed - like Harriet Miers - Dick Cheney was there to set him straight.

There is no Democratic Karl Rove - someone to unite all the progressive groups behind a Presidential candidate. Nor is there a Democratic George Bush - a presidential candidate who wants the support of all the progressive groups and is willing to reward them for their support.

So we have to form a broad progressive coalition ourselves, and make Democratic leaders deal with us.

I don't know how to do this, because a broad progressive coalition doesn't exist, and I don't see anyone offering the leadership to create it.

But it needs to be done, and if the Netroots wants to hold Democrats accountable, we're going to have to find a way to do it.

Sen. Feingold Seeks Citizen Sponsors for Censure Resolutions

Chip — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:01:01 -0400

Just in from Senator Feingold:

Over the last week, I've held Listening Sessions across Wisconsin and heard the same sort of comments that thousands of people like you have emailed my way over the last week - it's time to hold the President, and his administration, accountable.

Become A Citizen Co-Sponsor of Censure

The President and Vice President led our nation into an unwise war, under false pretenses, without adequate planning, and have mismanaged the situation that continues today. The President and Attorney General have time and time again thumbed their noses at the Constitution and the rule of law - on everything from warrantless wiretapping to undermining Congress' role to conduct adequate oversight.

If Congress stands by and does nothing to hold this administration responsible, we open the door for this President, and future presidents, to continue to undermine the very foundation of our government whenever they see fit. The President, Vice President and Attorney General must be held accountable.

Become A Citizen Co-Sponsor of Censure

The President has taken our country down the wrong path for far too long and it is up to each and every one of us to get America moving back in the right direction. As I mentioned above, thousands of you have joined our effort and signed on as Citizen Co-Sponsors of Censure. By showing your support today, Congressman Hinchey - the lead sponsor of both censure resolutions in the House - and I can show our colleagues in Congress that the American people demand accountability.

Sincerely,

Senator Russ Feingold

###

Let me be crystal clear here: I support impeachment. Do I think that censure should be in lieu of impeachment? NO. But do I think that censure may heighten the public's push for impeachment, for the constitutional restoration of our republic with its democratic traditions? Do I think it's at least a minimal effort toward our national restoration? Could be...

It's another opportunity to tell Congress that the Bush administration cabal is the anti-thesis of authentic American values and the rule of law. Please join me in signing.

Be The Participatory DEMOCRACY That Brings Our Troops Home

thepen — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 17:03:01 -0400

Tell The Senate To Go FURTHER Than The House In Stopping the Iraq Occupation/War

Call your members of Congress now toll free at 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

If there is any good news to come out of the House last week, it is that the headlines read that the Democrats are standing up to Bush, even though they still aren't doing so nearly sufficiently. And for his own part Bush painted himself further into the rapidly shrinking corner with an another angry veto threat. Barbara Lee, the sponsor of a TRUE "end the war" amendment was pragmatic afterwards, recognizing that she might have only gotten 100 votes for her measure, even if that vote had been allowed by Pelosi. Why? The answer is self-evident. They need to hear from MORE of us.

Now as debate shifts to the Senate the difference between how many votes we can get to support a proposed 120 day start for withdrawal, or not, is how many of us will pick up the phone right now, call our senators at one of these toll-free numbers, 800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803, and then follow that up with a message in writing. Indeed, we could have had the Lee amendment passed already if only more of us were ringing those phones. Polls show that 90% of Democrats say they want the war to end. But it is not enough to only say it to pollsters. Are 90% or us calling on the phone? Why not? The call is free!

We made OUR calls last week. How about you? Are you calling all of your members of Congress on an ongoing basis, once a week as part of your regular activist routine, to tell them again, and again, that is time to end the horrific madness in Iraq? We know that Bush is not going to stop trying to use his bully pulpit to make a least one statement a week, to try to bully us all in the other direction. Where Harry Truman once said, "The buck stops here," Bush keeps demanding, "Just give me the war bucks."

We can't just hold our breaths waiting for our elected politicians to show "leadership". For the vast majority it's never going to happen without our voices continuously prodding them. In fact, we don't even need any leaders. All we need are REPRESENTATIVES, and we have enough of those right now, who will respond to their constituents' calls, and vote accordingly. But unless we ARE calling, and incessantly, we cannot expect the result to happen on its own.

The aspiring presidential candidates we hear talking on the stump so early, do they actually want to END the Iraq war, or do they just want to CAMPAIGN on ending the war? There's a pretty big difference. For truly, those who are senators have the power this very instant to end the war. They must stand up to Bush NOW, not just let him play defiantly loose cannon for another two years. But they aren't going to really do it without constant pressure from we the people.

ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/troops_home_now.php

And if matters were not urgent enough, while all this is going on there has already been a serious border incident with Iran. 15 British soldiers were captured by the Iranians, after venturing into a DISPUTED border area of open water. Leaving aside the issue of what they thought they were doing in known questionable waters, if they had been American soldiers the bombs might be raining down on Tehran right now, blowing the gates of hell entirely off their hinges in Iraq. We are that dangerously close to total Armageddon.

The wackos in Iran want war because they have evidence from Iraq that they no longer have anything to fear from American military power. The wackos in the White House want war because they are too high on the fumes of their own arrogant belligerence to know better. Only we the people can stop them by bombarding our representatives with our messages, by speaking out now to bring the troops home immediately, if not sooner.

Our military in Iraq has become nothing but a provocation, the greatest obstacle to achieving any kind of political settlement there, and the greatest threat to our own national security. Every day the risk grows of another incident that Bush will try to use as an excuse to unleash whatever dogs of war remain. That's what he wants, his deliberate plan, what he likely sees as his only remaining personal salvation, at the expense of own utter destruction as a country.

Please make your calls and send your emails today. Talk to all your friends and neighbors. Forward them this email. Encourage them to do the same. Our lives and our future depend on the number of messages we can generate every week from now on.