I've been a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party but in this day and age, how many times do you ask yourself, why am I still supporting this party?

Many of them authorized a blank check to invade Afghanistan (Name one Dem who stood with Barbara Lee? Times up!).
Many of them authorized the Patriot Act.
Many of them authorized the invasion of Iraq.
Many of them won't call for investigations into impeachment, despite the grevious and obvious abuses of power by the Bush Administration.

As a Dem, I wonder why we continue to bury these harsh realities of our party and make excuses for their policy decisions? Where had the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party gone? Will it ever come back? Not for a long long time if we, the Democratic base continue to enable them instead of fighting them.

Here's the latest example of the Democratic Party's absurdity. According to an article in Truthout.org, our party is about to approve the largest military budget in history and the Dems are likely to go with it. In fact, there are little or no alternatives to stop the funding. Maya Schenwar writes the following:

" In the next few days, a Congressional conference committee will likely pass the largest defense spending bill in the history of the United States. Despite Democratic lawmakers' promises to stop issuing blank checks for war, the bill does not call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq or Afghanistan, nor does it prevent military action against Iran.

Though the current version of the defense budget does not contain funding specifically for the war, money could easily be drawn from the budget and funneled into war costs unless the language of the bill is changed to specifically prohibit that usage, which it currently does not.

"A bridge fund is always possible," said OMB Watch policy analyst Adam Hughes, referring to a measure that would cordon off funds in the defense bill to be used only for war. "But even without it, they would have enough in the budget to sustain what's currently happening."

Moreover, even if no baseline budget money is used for war costs, Congress plans to continue financing the war at the current rate, House Defense Appropriations Chairman John Murtha told the Congressional Quarterly on Wednesday night."

Schenwar continues:

Congress is currently operating on a "continuing resolution," or CR, which allows the war to be funded at the same levels it was funded last year. According to Murtha, Congress plans to renew the CR in mid-November, allowing war spending to continue unabated into the new year.

No proposals to impose restrictions on CR funds have been announced. Last month, a group of Congress members pledged to add provisions for withdrawing all troops from Iraq to any future war funding legislation, but that plan will not apply to the CR, according to a spokesman for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, one of the crafters of the plan. "We're really waiting for the debate on the supplemental to bring that up," the spokesman said in an interview, adding that Lee will probably not vote for the upcoming CR if it includes more funds for war.

Without a specific resolution barring all war funding, it would be virtually impossible for Congress to end the war by the power of the purse alone, according to Larry Korb, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former assistant secretary of defense.

"You've already got the planes, the bombs, the people on the payroll," Korb said in an interview. "Congress can't stop the war unless they pass a bill saying that no more money can be spent in Iraq."

Do you really think the Dems are willing to do that? It's hard for me to conjure.

IMO, this article is 100% accurate of the state of affairs in Washington and in the Democraitc Party and it's depressing. It's not a matter of whether or not the Dems have the votes. the question is do they really want to end it? Are they afraid of being called cowards? Are they afraid of being called unpatriotic? Do they fear it will hurt their reelection chances? Why?

Amidst all the information we now know about the lead up to the war in Iraq, how the siutation in Iraq has ensued, and how this war has mde us look in the international community, why wouldn't the Dems take bold moves to end this occupation? If the Dems go along with this latest war funding this will be yet another slap in the face of the anti-war movement, the Iraq Veterans Against the War, Gold Star Mothers for Peace, and many more of us who are trying to restore the integrity this country's lost among other nations. It's gotten to a point where I wonder why do we put our faith in elected leaders when we should all put our faith, trust, and support to end it ourselves.

This is why I feel the anti-war movement has its heart and minds in the right place (not the Democrats) and when this occupation comes to an end, we'll look back and realize it was citizens that stopped this occupation, not our elected leaders, and especially not the next elected president of the United States!

"When a social movement adopts the compromises of legislators, it has forgotten its role, which is to push and challenge the politicians, not to fall in meekly behind them...Whatever politicians may do, let them first feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not for what is winnable, in a shamefully timorous Congress." ~Howard Zinn, scholar and bestselling author of The People's History of the United States