"We're Safe."

"Ah, " said Arthur, "this is obviously some strange usage of the word safe that
I wasn't previously aware of." - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Bushies still maintain that we are safer now with him than we were before September 11th. I beg to differ.

The most recent examples of our new-found safety come in the form of expanding, and now proven, North Korean nuclear arms, and of course the mounting threat from Iran. More established examples come in the form of the presumed still living Osama bin Laden (there is no reliable evidence to suggest otherwise), the failure to keep Afghanistan stable, and the complete collapse of Iraq which continues to approach full civil war on a daily basis.

But we're more stable now.

I honestly ask you, how much of this can we truly stand? Fortunately, even if it's coming off of bogus issues such as the Foley case, the Democrats are slowly continuing to gain support, approaching the feverish level. Oh, and Republicans are losing said support fast. Even if they paint a rosy picture, at this point, that still puts the Republicans losing by just a few points instead of a gap putting the Grand Canyon to shame.

And speaking of shame, don't think I don't think that Mark Foley is a disgusting example of what's horribly wrong with the Republican Party; He is. The Republicans are so out of touch with the American people that they are now trying to become above the laws that they themselves helped to make. Hastert on the other hand is merely guilty of aiding and abetting. There's nothing wrong with that, according to Republicans. It's only a problem with the pages that Mr. Hastert could've helped to keep secure from this pervert if he had the honor within him to speak up and risk political damage.

Between us, I think that it's a very admirable move to sink a member of your own camp when they are guilty of a horrendous crime. Not that I'd vote for him, but at least I'd have less to fault him for. At this point, the only thing voters are left to think is that this is now a problem endemic to the Republican Party, and who, aside from Republicans, are there to suggest they're wrong?

But back to the point... We're not safer now. Americans here at home are not safer from the risk of terrorist attack, regardless of size or scale. American travelers are still at significant risk when leaving our country, even to areas once thought safe, such as Europe. American soldiers are at risk every day they live outside of bases within this country, many of them for a war that is simply not worth dying for, let alone ever being started.

Worse yet, our former allies within the world are now also at significant risk. I am not saying that foreign lives are more or less valuable than American lives. All lives are equal. Yet day after day, America puts them all at risk.

I vote for change.