"The time is always right to do what is right"~~ Martin Luther King, Jr

It was leftist outsiders -- not reasonable, accommodating liberals -- who were right about the disastrous consequences that would befall an invasion of Iraq; as we were and remain right in our revulsion to the fascistic fraud that is the Patriot Act and the War on Terror.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act".  
--George Orwell

"I don't want to be part of your revolution if I can't dance."
--Emma Goldman

Rumsfeld is gone. Mehlman is gone. Delay is gone. Yet -- let's not have our progressives' version of a strutting on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier moment. Because mission has not been accomplished.

For those who haven't noticed: While we were busy with other concerns, many of our rights and liberties went missing. Moreover, along with them, have went or are going fast: our planet's polar ice caps; accountability of the corporate sector (our nation's true power brokers); as well as, a sense of place, history, and even a cursory understanding, among a large percent of the populace of the US, of the precepts of civilization and of democratic discourse.

 It was leftist outsiders -- not reasonable, accommodating centrists -- who were right about the disastrous consequences that would befall an invasion of Iraq; as we were and remain right in our revulsion to the fascistic fraud that is the Patriot Act and the War on Terror.

This was history in the making. Don't anyone downplay it. As pointed out by Michael Bouldin at Daily Gotham, "for the first time in American history, a political party lost no seats it was defending. Ain't never happened in 230 years, folks." This was historic.

But there is one very key lesson to be learned by us...by Democrats and by the left in general. This was won big because we worked together. When we are united, Democrats win. When we let the Republicans divide and conquor us, we lose. It is up to us to maintain that unity. Unity does not mean conformity. Mostly it means mutual respect even when we disagree. More below.

John Edwards and Bernie Sanders are about the only politicians discussing it, but what could be the hottest issue in this election is the death of the middle class caused by the "flat-earthers."  So-called "conservatives" and "flat world" globalists have bankrupted our nation's middle class for their own bag of silver, and in the process are selling off America. Through a combination of the "Fast Track" authority pushed for by Reagan and GHW Bush, sweetheart trade deals involving "most favored nation status" for dictatorships like China, and Clinton pushing us into NAFTA and the WTO (via GATT), we've abandoned the principles of tariff-based trade that built American industry and kept us strong for over 200 years.

The diary below was originally posted in my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal on Sunday, August 20th.

It was autumn 1992 and I was out of college for a year. Like many undergraduates from liberal art schools I was well educated but didn't possess any skills for the "real world." So I telemarketed for a hideous company that sold overpriced latex gloves to nursing homes while living in the East Village.

The market value for these gloves was approximately $30 per case (10 boxes per case) and we sold them for $400. I earned either $8 an hour or 5% per sale if commissions exceeded my base salary. The company provided us with names of nursing homes nationwide on index cards and we read from a script.

Most Americans now agree that Bush and his Administration's policies have been a disaster for the nation.  Nevertheless, the tired refrain from the majority of Republicans continues to fault Democrats for the current mess.  That's chutzpah.  When your party controls the White House, both Houses of Congress, the courts, the electoral system, the Justice Department, the agencies responsible for administering the nation's business, the mechanisms for any oversight capability, as well as the procedures for correcting the overreaching efforts of all of the above, it's difficult, to say the least, to blame the other party for the current state of the Union.  To say the most, it's irresponsible, disingenuous, and desperate.

Even as I write, the BBC is reporting President Bush's insistence that Iraq is not, in fact, in a civil war.  Moreover, it's a problem HE won't have to deal with:

Mr Bush hinted to reporters that US troops would remain in Iraq beyond the end of his presidency in January 2009.
Asked about a timetable for the full withdrawal of US troops, President Bush said: "That of course is an objective and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

How's that for a "rosy outlook"?