Greetings All

   I apologize for bringing politics into my mental health forums but I need to reach more people. Actually though, it is very hard to separate politics from mental health. It is our government that has slashed mental health budgets. It is our government that has put more people with a mental illness behind bars than are in treatment.

     For many people that I have spoken with, contentment and complacency seem to be the next order of business as the result of the midterm sweep of both houses of congress by the Democrats. Think again folks. Think about the message that we, the citizens of The United States Of America, will be sending out to the rest of the world if this administration is not held accountable for their actions. If these people are allowed to get away with what they have done to the reputation of this nation, the whole world will see that as our condoning the ruthlessness of this administration. If these people are not held accountable it will mean that we are OK with what has happened in the middle east. We are OK with what has happened to our constitutional rights. We are OK with the buildup to war with Iran. If the members of this administration were so certain that what they were doing was legal and humane, why are they so busy changing the laws that define such things as war crimes. Abuse of power. Crimes against humanity and even the Geneva Convention.

    Having attempted to right the wrongs committed by our government by electing what we hope will be a new and better leadership is just not enough. There must be accountability. Without it there is no law. There is no order and most importantly, there is no justice.

   Please read the entire article below. The link for the rest is at the bottom. This article is full of other links that will take you to documentation of the facts about how this administration got us to where we are now. It is our duty now to use this information to bring accountability and integrity back into our government. Tell Nancy Pelosi that we didn't elect her to forgive and forget. We elected her to do what is fair and just and that is to hold this administration accountable.

            http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/111106a.html

Hello Bill,

I apologize for taking so long to get here.  This is an extremely important issue.  Our present administratation is full of bullsh*t, and they keep feeding it to the American people and the rest of the world...Seems that everyone has been swallowing it 'hook line and sinker' and there is NO way out because there is no one person, group, faction, political party, etc that will stand up and say that enough is enough.  So, my question is....Where do we go from here???

Hi Jo

   Where do we go from here. This is the question of the century. I doubt that anyone truly has an answer for that question that we can rely on but I do have a couple of ideas.

   There is no question that the American People sent a strong message to our leaders this election. The message was, we demand that honesty and integrity be restored to our government. We demand that there is accountability and consequences for not being accountable. We no longer want America being run by big business and backdoor deals. Along with accountability comes transparency. We went to the polls this year with the intentions of forcing change on those who would not otherwise change. We have most certainly not gotten rid of every crook that holds an office yet but we are on the right track." We The People" have shown that we will no longer accept politics as usual.

    So, here are a few things that I think we need to do from this point forward. The two year period between now and 2,008 should be used for something other than positioning candidates for the Presidential election year. I would like to see some serious investigations going on. I would start with those responsible for leading us into this so called war on terrorism. The war was illconceived at best from the very beginning. You can fight a war any time and any where but you cannot ever win a war unless you secure that which is what you are protecting. Our borders are STILL WIDE OPEN. CLOSE THE BORDERS COMPLETELY AND BEGIN DEPORTING ILLEGAL ALEINS. Once we do this, only then can we begin to develope a sound immigration policy.

   Investigate all of the no bid contracts awarded to Haliburton and othr companies that have ties to our political leaders. Once the investigations are over, then do something with the results of those investigations. If we find that Haliburton has obtained money under false pretenses then make them pay it back. Punish those responsible. Even George Bush said that the best way to defeat the enemy is by cutting off their funding. Only he was referring to the Taliban and not to his own constituants.

   We must restore the constitution. No man, including the President, should have the power to single handedly decide to go to war, when to wiretap, who to imprison and for how long. Also, the power of the presidential pardon should be abolished. What point is there in investigating crimes, then prosecuting those responsible for those crimes only to have the President pardon all of his buddies at the end of his term. Accountability is equality and equality is what this country was founded on. No man should ever be above the law.

  These are just a few of the things that I think we need to do now but, how do we go about doing them? Very simple. We The People, must take more responsibility for how this nation is governed. It is not just a priveledge to vote. It is a responsibility. To have 40 or 50 percent of the entire population showing up at the polls is just simply a disgrace. Our fighting men and women who have risked, and in many, many cases, lost their lives, didn't do it so half of us could be FREE AMERICANS. They did it for all Americans. If you are eligible to vote and you don't, as far as I am concerned you are slapping everyone in the face who has ever done anything to help make this country safe and free. How can we justify putting a man in the White House who refused to defend his own country by not fullfilling his own military obligation. He is the commander and chief of the armed forces. He has led us into war and has then turned his back on our military people by cutting health benefits for those who actually do make it back home. There are at least 300,000 homeless veterans living on the streets of America on any given night. I don't care what it takes to fix this problem, there is no excuse for not doing so. If you would take all of the money being spent in the middle east " protecting us from the Boogeyman" and put it to better use right here in America, there wouldn't be any homeless people, let alone homeless veterans.

   Bottom line is this. If you enjoy the rights and the freedoms that have been earned by the few, for the many, then get off of your ass and do something to help protect The American Way Of Life. At least go out and cast a vote now and then. Nobody is asking you to tote a gun or sleep in a foxhole. We are just asking you to help us protect what has already been earned.

Hello Billy,

I agree with your post.  Other than urging Americans to vote and to stay on top of what is going on in Washington, I don't know what to do.

I know that Cheney is making a killing and profiting from the war.  And now Pelosi has changed her tune and the Lord only knows what will result from her new attitude.  We the people are still in a world of hurt.

Keep up the great work you do.

Hello Jo

    You mention two names in your post that I have been paying close attention to. Pelosi and Cheney. I have always been against anything that Cheney has ever stood for and Pelosi is fast becomming another monster in the making

    I had a feeling that just because there appeared to a major change in Washington as the result of the elections, ther may be much more going on than we thought. Pelosi, although running as a democrat, has surely proved herself to be very much from the far right. For her to say that the impeachments of Bush and Cheney were " off the table " tells me that she is just a red wolf dressed in blue sheeps clothing. The truth of the matter is, we can no longer vote along party lines. There are more right winged democrats these days than you can shake a club at and I am afraid that the power and the policies of the mighty right will prevail in Washington for years to come. It is business as usual so far. Pelosi is assuming much more power than she is entitled to by her job description. Who is she to say what can or cannot be with regard to impeaching two of the biggest crooks to ever hold an office in the U.S government. The fact that she is trying so desparately to protect this pack of pundits tells me that she is not one of us. It also tells me that she may very well have some bonesmen in her closet that she may need to call on later to help her recover from a shady past full of lies and mistakes. She has already betrayed the trust that was placed in her by the American Voters. Nancy, what have you done for me lately? iF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE OF BEING RE-ELECTED AGAIN, YOU ARE BADLY MISTAKEN. Remember, It was Bush and his dictatorship type government that we were trying to get rid of in the midterm elections. It is obvious that we have a long way to go. Perhaps we need to vote out every single incumbent and start all over. It is just like what our soldiers are facing n Iraq. The enemy is blending in so well with the population, we can't tell them apart. Nancy Pelosi must be first on the next list of " things that leave a bad taste in our mouths and must be spit back into the bowl ".  She is vey dangerous to our free society because of her obvious dislike for the concept of accountability. She has pretty much already sealed her fate as a politician so she will try to be as destructive as she can be for the little time she has left. She will side with those whom she thinks will have the power to save her and with any luck at all, she will sink with the ship.