Ed's Thread

As we enter a new year I want to wish you and yours a happy prosperous New year. I would like take time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new things coming in 2007.

In 2006 we saw a continuing escalation of empire building by the Neocons and the Bush administration. Our economy is failing and our national debt has grown to new heights. We can not even know how far in debt the nation is without an accounting by Congress because the administration has used the shadow budget to fund the war in Iraq. The housing industry which has kept the economy afloat is showing signs of weakening ad the realestate bubble looks like it is going to burst taking the economy with it.

We have seen abuses of power in Iraq and here at home. The execution and trial of Saddam Hussein is just the latest example of the administration run wild in Iraq. Here at home we have wire tapping without court orders, the suspension of habeas corpus in the "War tribunal act", the situation and continuing abuses in Guantanamo Bay as the administration continues to sow panic in our nation to justify their quest for power.

All of this could leave one to wonder what do we have to be optimistic about. I see a few and they can lead to others. The first is the shift of leadership in the congress. Hopefully we no longer have a congress ready to rubber stamp anything the administration wants. we are beginning to see evidence of this already in the letter to the administration requesting that war funding become a part on the annual budget and not be funded by emergency funding measures. We also see the main stream media asking some hard question and beginning to inform us of some of the abuses carried out by this administration. Any time we can bring what is in the shadows into full light we can begin to take back some of the control and rights so ruthlessly stolen from us.

We do have things we need to do to continue this trend. We need to demand the information about war funding, the criminal abuses of the people of Iraq, and so much more. We need to find out what is happening in Afghanistan the supposed seat of the attack on 9/11. We need to demand that congressional oversight be brought back to the budget process so that some control of this nations foreign policy is taken from the administration. We need to see investigations into war profiteering to see how closely the administration is tied to these criminals. e need to continue to bring light into the shadows that this administration and the Neocon so covet . This is the only way to bring some honor and decency back.

Yes we can still be optimistic. It will take effort from all of us as we head towards the next presidential election and continue to recover from the folly of the past. We stand at a threshold and must continue to press forward to come though this with as little lasting damage as possible. But this is something we can and must do.