Candidate for
United States Representative; District 29

Our nation is in a crisis. During the nearly 5 years since George Bush has unleashed his war on terrorism, the policies of this administration has assumed an increasingly and shockingly unconstitutional, illegal, and even criminal dimension. The tragedy of 9/11 has been used as a pretext for asserting global military domination and a cynical contempt for humanity.

This nation, founded by visionaries who suffered under the broad search warrants of King George, is now under the control of a President who asserts he is above the law and has imposed a program of wholesale and illegal spying against American citizens and manifest contempt for international law through his defense of the use of torture.

. Although the majority of Americans oppose the occupation of Iraq and the domestic policies of the Bush administration, the Democratic Party is incapable of serious political opposition to the ultra-right Republican administration and functions rather as a cowardly accomplice. The war in Iraq must stop.

The critical issues that confront us now are the war in Iraq and the preparations by the Bush administration for even more overseas military actions and the further assault on our constitutional rights.

It is an undeniable fact that the invasion of Iraq was based upon lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein was not collaborating with Al Qaeda. The war was not launched to fight terrorism but rather to secure the strategic oil resources of Iraq. Those responsible for this illegal and unprovoked war must be held accountable. The families of those brave American soldiers and Marines who have lost their lives and the men and women who have been wounded must be well cared for and fairly compensated.

This war, supposedly designed to foster democracy and the rule of law overseas, has been used instead to justify bypassing the rule of law in America, building the framework for a very real police state. The Bush administration is assuming military and police powers that no previous administration has ever claimed, not even during World War II. They have repudiated international law and asserted the right to attack and occupy any country they choose; established a network worldwide of prisons where people can be kidnapped and tortured; and they have begun illegal domestic surveillance.

The Democratic Party offers no real opposition to Bush's contempt for the Constitution. For too long the Republicans have run roughshod over American values, bringing us shame in the international community and embarrassment in the criminal courts.

For too long the Democrats and our own Democrat Congressman have sat impotently on the sidelines as the Bush administration laid waste to Iraq and American laws simultaneously.

Certainly a very few Democrats have overcome their fear of vigorously confronting the machinations of this President + but only a few, and only too late, and not our Congressman. A few weak expressions of "concern" by our representative simply highlight how completely the incumbent has failed us.

Make no mistake; our Democrat congressman is a nice guy, and probably a fine neighbor. But whether he is unwilling or unable to do what we need him to do + to take the risk of losing his "safe" Democratic seat in order to tell this president "no more" hardly matters. Congressman Schiff has let us down.

I am running in order to give voters a choice, for a change; to give voters a Congressman who will tell the President, his henchmen and cronies, "No More!"

No More: Americans caught in the middle of an Iraqi civil war. No More: Thousands of American military dead and crippled over lies about WMD No More: Torture, and pretending that America doesn't torture by twisting definitions. No More: Spying on thousands of domestic calls and emails in violation of the constitution. No More: Bribery and corruption as the ordinary way to do business in Congress No More: Illegal leaks for political reasons, or cover ups.