We HAVE to do better...

This is NOT the time to coddle Congress, Move-On, nor activists here. I do not subscribe to the thought that it is our American right to have everything 'easy', 'comfortable', 'no sacrifice'!

Some say to me they are concerned that their personal lives will not survive if this war doesn’t end soon.

Thru my travels around this country the past few years I have come to realize that we need to separate our "life style" from "life" - very, very, very few of us in the country are struggling to survive. What we are struggling to do is to maintain our "life styles".

The cost of maintaining these life styles is Iraqi blood. The only reason we are allowed our personal lives right now and for the past 4 years is because we've been killing Iraqis, Afghanistan folks, Somalians- and the list goes on and on.

It is tragic that we have been sold this hogwash of goods called the American dream. I believe we cannot continue our lives as usual once we realize the legacy that has been heaped upon our shoulders - a legacy that needs and depends on our prioritizing our daily quest for our lifestyles over the health & well-being, the actual breath of another human being.

I understand how some would feel beat up upon - there is no easy or nice way to face the consequences of knowing that we consume up to 60% of the world's resources and yet have 4% of the world's population. Most of us who are in reality VERY privileged justify our 'struggles' by being busy trying to be part of the underprivileged, the ones who have a hard life, the ones who are struggling, the ‘working class’ as in not the poor nor the middle (altho striving hard to be the middle).

I ask us to compare our lives, our incomes, our neighborhoods, our jobs, our homes to that of the very poorest in our country or even the most affluent in those countries colonized by Europe or the USA.

I know we, including you & I, are doing what we can. Sadly, it is not enough. We have to do more. Call me whatever you want, a cold cruel bitch, whatever, but we are talking about WAR here - not improving health care or building a dam - everything that is also so important. But to me, WAR trumps everything.

We have allowed the ruin of the personal lives of over 25 million Iraqis, not to mention the 3233 U.S. soldiers & their families, and every single soldier who has ‘served’ in this immoral, illegal war.

It is only up to us. I do not appreciate what everyone does - from the womon who lives on the street who handed me 56 cents once, to the southern white womon who shyly beeped her horn in solidarity when passing the banner I was holding on the street, to the womon who quit her job, left her family, her home, her state to move to D,D. until the war is over - EVERYONE's contribution is so very valuable and essential. And we ALL still have to do MORE!

In criticizing the MOVE-ON survey & then the alert to pressure progressives to be moderate, I intend no reflection on the work of individuals but on the leadership who came up with the biased & limited survey. I do not expect anyone to defend their survey but I do expect us to think about it, analyze it, and offer constructive criticism and comment for the future.

I ask people I meet on the street who are familiar with the survey: did you get that the 'Iraq Accountability Act' is the supplemental that bush is asking for to escalate the war? Did you know that $125 billion in funding the escalation was included in this bill? And that the bill calls for 1/2 the troops to be returned by 8/2008 IF bush wants?

It is a horrific bill - but that is my opinion. Move-on leadership should have trusted us enough to print the contents of the bill & let us make up our mind - not to mention printing the contents of Barbara Lee's bill.