Yesterday, I encouraged my fellow DUers to dig out their copies of Fahrenheit 9/11 and watch it once again as a reminder of what the Bush administration has managed to unleash on America in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. But, as most of you are quite aware by now, it all started way before the first plane hit the Twin Towers - and Michael Moore did a great job of connecting the dots.

But I also watching part of the memorial service today, with Bush and Obama delivering their speeches behind thick panes of bullet-proof Plexiglass and the bells signalling silence in memory of the thousands killed on that fateful day. The memorial garden with the twin pools is very beautiful, and the pain of those leaning against the pools and pouring out their grief seemed as fresh as it did 10 years ago.

And yet, I could not help but feel that too many people are treating 9/11 as some sort of force majeure or act of God, as though there was nothing that could have been done to prevent the attacks. A little perspective is in order.

Hurricanes such as Katrina and Andrew could not have been prevented. Neither could the drought that is currently sucking Texas dry and aggravating the wildfires ravaging Bastrop County and other locals throughout the state. Same goes for the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands in Indonesia and southeast Asia in December 2004, and the violent eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo and Mt. Saint Helens.

But the decision to fly those planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania were made by human beings. And the plans to inflict such carnage on America could have been thwarted had there been the vigilance and the will to do so. All of this brings us back to the stolen Presidential election of 2000. The Republicans pulled out every dirty trick in the book. The Democrats, for the most part, did nothing to stop the shenanigans.

America knew, and America did nothing.

Oh, sure, once Bush was installed, we hid behind the hedges and we cracked our little jokes and made our catty little remarks, but all to no avail. But how to stop what we all knew was the coming avalanche that eventually hit on 9/11/01? I can't offer any easy answers except for one: When in exile, plan for the time when you return from exile. There was so much that could have been done to cement the Democratic victory in 2008, to build a firm foundation for wise and even-handed leadership and legislation for the next 40 years. And that meant, in no small part, defusing this Tea Party nonsense before it even got started, depriving the movement of oxygen. Try holding your breath after exhaling and see how long you can stand it.

And our own President Obama finds himself in the crosshairs of a Congress who wants nothing more from him except his swift departure from the White House. Perhaps he chose to seek friends on the other side of the aisle, and it's costing him dearly. Obama needs another four years, but more importantly, he needs a new Congress that will inspire him to seek bold initiatives or at least give his own ideas all due consideration.

You probably know the old saying, "Politics is like driving; put it in D to go forward and in R to reverse." But the automobile of politics also has cruise control, which all too many of us make frequent use of at the worst possible time. I'm sitting this election out; let the other guy handle this Herculean labor. My vote doesn't county anymore, anyway. Screw it.

Or how about this as an alternative? Never forget. If there was no installment of Bush, there may never have been a 9/11. Never forget. Because Bush, bad as he was, is only the overture - if we fall asleep at the switch again, we're going to get even worse than what we had. Never forget. Because this opera is only getting started, so forget looking for the fat lady. Never forget.

And John Kerry's "Help is on the way" pitch? Screw that. We are the only help on the horizon. We have to rely on each other, support each other, inspire each other. The ghosts of JFK, FDR, and Thomas Jefferson are not riding to our rescue. We are the proverbial "it."

Never forget.

Never forget.

For the love of all you hold dear, never forget.

Now, kick ass.

It would take too long to explain all the factors, so I'll just state that what was true for Bush, Sr. is also true for Obama: It's The Economy, Stupid!

Obama has ended DADT. Obama and SEAL Team Six get credit for the death of bin Laden. Obama prevented the Big Three automakers from going under and turning Detroit into the nation's largest ghost town. But the economy is still stuck in the mud, gas prices are still abominable, and nobody seems to be hiring. These factors are all working against Obama and must be dealth with now.

About a dozen supporters of the former president gathered briefly around midnight Sunday outside his Dallas home. As a thunderstorm that brought hail overnight lasted into the morning, American flags remained planted Tuesday morning in the flower beds surrounding the gate on the road that leads to the house.

A handful of red, white and blue balloons were outside the gate, which was adorned with a sign that had tiny letters that read, "President Obama forgot to say ..." and then large letters that could be read from the road saying, "Thank you President Bush." A sign left on the rain-soaked road read: "Winning! Obama 1, Bush 0."

http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/05/02/303...

One of the most important lessons I learned about progressive politics was learned when I tried my hand at baking a pumpkin pie.

I had all of the ingredients lined up, had my pie crust ready, mixed up everything in the mixing bowl, baked it up good, and delivered my pumpkin pie to a local Democratic picnic where I hoped everyone would enjoy it.

The food at the picnic was good, and as I sampled my friends' entrees and desserts, I noticed that my pumpkin pie had gone almost untouched. Since I was in the mood for pie after a good meal, I cut of a slice of my own pie and took a bite. It tasted, well, earthy. This isn't right, I told myself. I've had plenty of pumpkin pies over the years, probably too many, but that's another story. My pie didn't taste nearly as good as any of the other pumpkin pies I've eaten. When I finally came home, I realized why.

There on the kitchen counter was a bag of organic, fair trade cane sugar that was supposed to be used in the creation of my beloved pumpkin pie. Unopened. Patiently waiting for me to do something with it. Boy, I felt like a tool.

But therein lies the lesson: if you're going to cook or bake something to eat, you have to make sure that all of the ingredients are in the mix, or the end product will probably taste less than satisfactory.

And it's the same with progressive politics. There are a lot of factors that go into crafting a new social or political institution that is designed to help as many Americans as possible while advancing personal freedom on one hand and general welfare on the other. It's a delicate balance sometimes, but you have to find that balance or the whole thing is going to blow up in your face - let alone fail to earn the monicker of "progressive."

What President Obama calls "healthcare reform" came up far short of being progressive. It kept the insurance companies firmly in charge of whatever reform processes were instituted, and it also made it illegal not to support these corrupt institutions with our hard-earned paychecks as of 2014. The only thing that could have kept these insurance companies honest - a public health insurance option - died a lingering death on the Senate floor with Obama making no reasonable attempt to preserve it. Without "sugar," the whole deal tasted less than satisfactory. Without that one remaining ingredient, the reform bill was as much of a failure as my pumpkin pie.

Then there was Obama lecturing progressive Democrats at a hastily-called press conference where he announced a deal to abandon his campaign pledge to end the Bush tax cuts for the richest 1-2% of Americans. He cobbled together this deal after conferring with Republicans, but not with Democrats. "Yes, We Can" had somehow morphed into "You'll eat what I serve you, you don't appreciate what I've done for you, and the Republicans are being mean to me so I have to do what they say."

In the end, it doesn't matter if Obama ran for office as a centrist. What matters is whether he is willing to listen to those who put him in the White House. That's what George W. Bush did - Big Business was all too happy that the Supreme Court ruled the "right" way. But Obama wasn't supposed to be the candidate of Big Business. He was supposed to be our President. The People's President. Change you can believe in and all that. Which is all the more tragic that Obama's term in office has turned into The Great Disappointment.

Will Obama take a step back from the podium to listen to his constituents at long last? Or will he continue his quixoitc quest for bipartisanship with politicians who want nothing more than to make Obama their flunkie before handing him his hat in 2012, provided he isn't defeated by a Democratic primary challenger first? Perhaps Obama should stop patting himself on the back long enough to take a long, hard look at the political scoreboard. And the American people, despite Republican victories in November, are clearly expecting Obama to do something - well, progressive.

You may remember that Quitter forced the word "refudiate" into American culture, giving the excuse: ""Refudiate," "misunderestimate," "wee-wee'd up." English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"

Well, she's at it again. Check this out:



http://twitter.com/sarahpalinusa (If you dare...)

Virginia Read Barnett
September 27, 1953 - May 12, 2010

Ginny was my wife, my best friend, and my true love.

An announcement will be made concerning funeral arrangements in the next day or so.

Your long journey is finally over, Ginny. When my turn comes, my spirit will not rest until I find you in the afterlife, and I will love you and treasure you forever.

Here's a little geography lesson you probably didn't get in high school...

In eastern Europe, there's a little nation called Transnistria. It occupies just over 1,600 square miles stretched in a slender ribbon between Moldova to the west and Ukraine to the eart, both of which used to be part of the Soviet Union. The capitol of Transnistria is Tiraspol, which is home to roughly 160,000 of Transnistria's 537,000 citizens (as of 2007). Igor Smirnov has served as Transnistria's head of state since September 2, 1990, when the region declared its independence from Moldova, which still claims Transnistria as part of its territory.

Here's a very brief synopsis. When the Soviet Union began to disintegrate following the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic was subjected to various ethnic tensions and hostilities, especially when the Supreme Soviet (Council) of the Moldavian SSR adopted Moldovan as its sole official language instead of Russian and began using the Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic. An ad hoc committee, composed mainly of ethnic minorities who felt threatened by the linguistic and cultural changes sweeping through their land, declared the formation of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic on September 2, 1990 and tried to remain part of the Soviet Union while the rest of the Moldavian SSR, now known as Moldova, pushed for full independence from Moscow. War broke out between the Moldovans and the separatists, whose region is now known in English as Transnistria, and the war raged from November 1990 until a ceasefire in July 1992.

Today, Transnistria is recognized as an independent nation only by itself and by two other disputed regions in the former Soviet Union - Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Moldova claims Transnistria for its own, naturally, and while Russia provided military support for the Transnistrian separatists even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has yet to recognize Transnistria as an independent nation, either, although it does maintain a consulate in Tiraspol. Not a single member of the United Nations has granted official recognition to Transnistria. Even so, Transnistria still issues its own passports, mints its own currency, and maintains its own postal service.

Human rights in Transnistria, from what I've gathered, are not looking so good. Transnistria is officially a multi-party nation despite its pro-Russia stance and its frequent use of Soviet symbols and artwork (including the hammer and sickle), but a US State Department report for 2006 indicates that freedom of the press and of speech are restricted, arbitrary arrest and even torture are allegedly employed against political dissidents, and homosexuality is illegal in Transnistria, which means that any uncloseted GLBT Transnistrians are subject to social and legal discrimination.

You can learn more here, for starters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria

What do you think so far about Transnistria's 20-year struggle for its own identity?

Yes, I am a fan of FarmVille. Yes, I am a progressive Democrat. Yes, I would love to find other DUers on Facebook who could use me as a neighbor.

And yes, I have a sense of humor about FarmVille as well. I find this commercial hilarious (thanks, ChickMagic and redqueen):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odBDAcOEKuI

If you're a DU FarmViller on Facebook and need a neighbor, PM me. Let me romp amongst your blackberries and forget-me-nots with a few bags of fertilizer. It can't hurt.

Source: Wall Street Journal

During arguments in a campaign-finance case, the court's majority conservatives seemed persuaded that corporations have broad First Amendment rights and that recent precedents upholding limits on corporate political spending should be overruled.

But Justice Sotomayor suggested the majority might have it all wrong -- and that instead the court should reconsider the 19th century rulings that first afforded corporations the same rights flesh-and-blood people have.

Judges "created corporations as persons, gave birth to corporations as persons," she said. "There could be an argument made that that was the court's error to start with...{imbuing} a creature of state law with human characteristics."

After a confirmation process that revealed little of her legal philosophy, the remark offered an early hint of the direction Justice Sotomayor might want to take the court.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1253140882...

Just learned that the White House is extending contracts to Blackwater and other mercenary units. Meanwhile, Halliburton and KBR are still making money hand over fist doing the jobs that our military is supposed to do - and our soliders continue to suffer for it.

I know this whole concept of privatizing the military started in the mid 90s. Maybe we can't kill this policy immediately, but it's time to start sharpening the knives.

It's time to insist that our military sustain itself once again. For starters, no more private security contractors being deployed on missions that our soldiers are supposed to handle. If the Pentagon needs to solicit advice from retired Special Forces and SEALs, that's fine, but that shouldn't mean allowing mercenaries to play soldier under the US flag without accountability to anyone, especially if their CEO has delusions of holy war or some other damn fool idealistic crusade.

Basic food and drink are another sensitive issue. I know the military relies on the private sector for MREs to nourish soldiers in combat zones, but do you mean to tell me there isn't anyone in the US military who is capable of making a pizza? Why outsource this to corporations in the form of lucrative contracts that you and I have to pony up the money for in taxes?

Then there's armor and weapons for our troops. Private-sector companies like VLTOR, Pinnacle Armor, Propper, Blackhawk, Lewis Machine & Tool, EoTech, Aimpont - God bless 'em for trying to keep our soldiers safe, but there have been too many instances where soldiers received gear not because it's the best for their needs, but rather because of who knows who at the Pentagon or the White House. And again, as a result, our troops have occasionally suffered because of inferior gear.

I could go on, but I think my fellow DUers see where I'm going with all this. We want our military to be strong, but it will be its strongest when it is self-sufficient, when its commanders are able to meet the needs of the enlisted men and women on the front lines without lobbyists, corporate reps, or corrupt politicians tying their hands.

We need to insist on a military that can fend for itself. A national platform plank in 2012 might be a good way to get that message across.

What say you?

Physicists at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, operating on a grant from the Republican National Committee, have discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, dubbed sarahpalinium (Sp), exhibits a nucleus with properties that have yet to be discovered in any other atomic nucleus, including the presence of two new hadrons: youbetchatrons, which are made up primarily of charm quarks; and nordstrons, which appear to be made up of strange quarks which constantly interact with campaign funds. These hadrons, which have not yet been counted, are buffered in the nucleus by one neutron, one lieutenant neutron, 20 deputy lieutenant neutrons, 40 assistant deputy lieutenant neutrons, and 15,000 employee neutrons, giving sarahpalinium an atomic mass of no less than 15,062. These hadrons are held together by elementary forces called morons which occasionally emit radiation in the form of alpha, beta, and inwhatrespectcharlie particles.

Sarahpalinium is orbited by an indeterminate number of lepton-like particles called peons, with only one peon occupying the innermost shell (the "Todd shell") and exercising an unusual influence over the sarahpalinuium nucleus. Beyond the Todd shell is a shell with five peons (the "Track/Bristol/Willow/Piper/Trig shell"), and a third shell with 9,780 peons (the "Wasilla shell").

Sarahpalinium impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of sarahpalinium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take as long as four years to complete.

Sarahpalinium is inherently unstable, possessing a half-life that will expire on July 26, 2009. At this point, sarahpalinium will either wink out of existence or develop a controversial fourth peon shell that some physicists claim may contain all remaining matter in four-dimensional spacetime, which means that the very universe may indeed revolve around sarahpalinium.

Link to follow...

The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may become persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated that the time for fixing every essential right, on a legal basis, is while our rulers are honest, ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going downhill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will be heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion...

Societies exist under three forms, sufficiently distinguishable. 1. Without government, as among our Indians. 2. Under government wherein the will of every one has a just influence; as is the case in England in a slight degree, and in our States in a great one. 3. Under government of force, as is the case in all other monarchies, and in most of the other republics. To have an idea of the curse of existence in these last, they must be seen. It is a government of wolves over sheep. It is a problem not clear in my mind that the first condition is not the best. But I believe it to be inconsistent with any great degree of population. The second state has a great deal of good in it...It has its evils too, the principal of which is the turbulence to which it is subject...But even this evil is productive of good. It prevents the degeneracy of government, and nourishes a general attention to public affairs. I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing...

What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that the people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take up arms...The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Thomas Jefferson

*sigh*

I'm gonna say it again...

GET OFF YOUR ASS.

This exhortation may seem harsh, but my challenge to you as disaffected Democrats is actually not that hard to do.

I believe the only way to retake the party from the forces of compromise is from the ground up. This is what I've been saying since early 2006. We started in 2003-2004, but the effort got bogged down when the party establishment stepped in and started dictating terms. Then came November 2006, and the Democratic Party actually retook the House and Senate. They even made inroads across the nation in what were once considered solid Republican strongholds.

Now we've got Barack Obama in the White House, which is a definite improvement over John McLame and his sidekick, Slappy the Dodo Bird. But we still have a list of demands. And if you're not satisfied with what Obama, Pelosi, and Reid and doing in terms of policy, you've gotta get off your ass. Just like I did.

I want every disaffected Democrat who is thinking of leaving the party to instead run for some sort of Democratic office within the next two years. Precinct, city, county, state, Federal, I don't give a damn. Following my own advice, I became a precinct chair and an election judge. I'm organizing a caucus in our state party. I've been writing county and state resolutions as though I was afraid of losing the ability to use my hands. Where I go from here is anyone's guess.

But I'm only here because I got off my ass.

This is where you come in. Stack your county and state party organizations with progressive grassroots activists. If you have a chance to get in the national structure, do it.

In short, I'm calling upon you to DU the Democratic Party itself.

It's not that hard to do. I promise. Check your county party HQ and learn what forms you need to officially file to run for whatever office you seek.

There is so much energy and potential here on DU. Over on "that other site," it seems like all they know how to do is bitch and complain. I know we do a lot of that, too. But I want to see DU transform into something more than just a left-wing version of "those guys." I want us to grow the next crop of Democrats who will chart our party's course from the White House to the court house to the school house to the dog house. This is doable. Take a look at how many members we have, all the energy we possess, all the passion, all the outrage, all the drive to make this nation a better place.

Who's with me? Together, we can send shockwaves through the Democratic Party establishment. We can become the party itself.

The mid-terms will be here before you know it. Get busy. Let's seal the deal once and for all and make the Republicans a permanent minority.

Put simply, we got our asses kicked last night. Instead of capitalizing on the gains we made statewide with the election of Nick Lampson, Ciro Rodriguez, and a slew of new local Democrats in Dallas County and Hays County, Republicans have staged a massive counterattack and blunted our momentum.

No Larry Joe Doherty. No Eric Roberson. No Rick Noriega. And, worst of all, no more Nick Lampson. His district is back in Republican hands ever after suffering from years of DeLayism.

The good new for North Texas is that Carol Kent managed to unseat Tony Goolsby, Chris Turner defeated Bill Zedler, and Robert Miklos beat Mike Anderson by only 527 votes. We have at least three new Democrats in the state house, and now there's talking of trying to unseat Tom Craddick as Speaker of the House. If the state legislature remains majority Republican, however, three new House seats may not be enough.

We still remember what happened with the 2003 redistricting debacle. Texas Democrats are still reeling from this injustice, but our state party has been unable to sustain their momentum from 2006. What this means is that as of this morning, Texas Democrats are in big trouble - and the 2010 census is just around the corner. If we want to avoid a replay of 2003, we need to figure out what our major malfunction is, and fast.

On a happier note, however, let me take you back to a hotel bar in Dallas back in 2004. ginbarn and I were at a Kerry rally, and ginbarn struck up a conversation over drinks with Ken Molberg, who was then co-chair of SD16. Ken inspired ginbarn to seek election as a state delegate and gave her a quick tutorial on the whole process, from the precinct convention to the state convention. It worked. ginbarn wound up at the 2004 state convention in Houston as an alternate, but got promoted to full delegate status in short order. The same Ken Molberg who helped inspire my wife to become a full-fledged Democratic activist has just been elected as judge of the 95th Civil District Court.

Hearty congratulations and thanks to Ken!

From what I've seen of the draft platform for 2008, Barack Obama deserves better than to be represented by such a piece-of-shit platform. I'm sorry if that grates against some DUers' sensibilities, but I thought the objective was to win in November.

It all starts with the Preamble, weakly stating that "It is time for a change" and "We can do better" while bleating how America "defeated fascism," blissfully unaware that a fascist has been occupying the Oval Office for around eight years now, with an even bigger fascist is destroying our energy policy and serving as the PNAC's mouthpiece for Bush's delicate ears. And the platform calls the occupation of Iraq "ill-considered." Somewhere in the corridors of power of the Democratic Party, the balls never dropped like they should. (Lest you think that comment sexist, may I remind you that Cindy Sheehan has always spoken about Iraq with more conviction and forthrightness than most elected Democrats ever have?)

Okay, here we go. Right into Chapter I, "Renewing the American Dream:"

For months the state of our economy has dominated the headlines–and the news has not been good. The sub-prime lending debacle has sent the housing market into a tailspin, and many Americans have lost their homes. By early August, the economy had shed 463,000 jobs over seven straight months of job loss. Health, gas and food prices are rising dramatically.

But the problem goes deeper than the current crisis. Families have seen their incomes go down even as they have been working longer hours and as productivity has grown. At the same time, health costs have risen while companies have shed health insurance coverage and pensions. Worse yet, too many Americans have lost confidence in the fundamental American promise that our children will have a better life than we do.

We are living through an age of fundamental economic transformation. Technology has changed the way we live and the way the world does business. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the advance of capitalism have vanquished old challenges to America’s global leadership, but new challenges have emerged. Today, jobs and industries can move to any country with an Internet connection and willing workers.

Leadership on these issues has been sorely lacking these past eight years. In the 1990s, under Bill Clinton’s leadership, employment and incomes grew and we built up a budget surplus. However, our current President pursued misguided policies, missed opportunities, and maintained a rigid, ideological adherence to discredited ideas...blah, blah, blah...will the Platform Committee PLEASE get to the fucking point, already?! Don't they realize how little time we have to effect any real change in how America does things? Enough with the spiel of telling the party faithful what every single American who isn't a moron already knows, people. Give us the plan so we can get on with our lives.

Now we come to the statement on "Affordable, Quality Health Care Coverage for All Americans." Paragraph after paragraph dealing with health insurance, and only a pittance of support for medical research that might actually cure diseases and disorders so we don't have to keep paying more and more co-pays into our health insurance plans. Ritalin is not a cure for ADHD, nor is insulin a cure for diabetes. Could the Platform Committee please see the forest for the trees, here...?

And here we have the energy policy. 25% of our electricity from renewable sources by when? 2025? Sorry, that's too long. The Chinese will already have a moon base by then. Speaking of the Chinese, while they try in their own ham-handed way to deal with their own greenhouse emissions, let alone clearing Beijing of smog so our Olympic athletes don't start coughing and wheezing, our government needs to start taking the lead on global warming and pollution and making corporations fall in line instead of dictating policy. And I don't want to see any mention of cellulosic ethanol when we're starting to see food riots in some corners of the globe because impoverished moms can't buy corn to feed their babies due to the corn being converted into ethanol to go into some Republican soccer mom's Ford Excursion for $3.80 a gallon. At least the platform mentions a desire to "crack down" on energy speculators, but it stops short of outlawing the practice. You cannot kill the Hydra by merely chopping off a couple of heads and crossing your fingers.

Looks like firearms have their own paragraph. Have Democrats on Capitol Hill learned their lesson since DC v. Heller? Let's find out: We can work together to enact and enforce common-sense laws and improvements, like closing the gun show loophole, improving our background check system and reinstating the assault weapons ban, so that guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists or criminals... Say goodbye to all those electoral votes in the southern and western states, Platform Committee - you've just branded as a criminal or a terrorist any law-abiding American who owns a semi-automatic rifle or pistol that holds 11 shots instead of 10. Great job! Ever hear of the PUMA acronym? You've just introduced us to SAMA - Second Amendment, My Ass!

The paragraph on "Faith" makes no explicit mention of preserving separation of church and state. Enough said on this topic.

Immigration. Okay, here we go: For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and we can help them become full tax paying, law-abiding, productive members of society. So now we're buying into the "English as our official language" meme that the Republicans have been harping on for so many years? Sure, I want to see illegal immigration reduced, but the Founding Fathers never mentioned anything about making all Americans learn one common language.

I think my rant has gone on long enough for now. This platform, as it currently stands, is repeating the mistakes of the past while making too many concessions to the Republicans. Is it too much for me to ask that the Democratic Party produce a DEMOCRATIC platform?!? I want Obama to win in November - and this draft platform is nothing but an impediment for him.