This time the protests are coming from the heartland

I was so surprised to see big rallies (1000+) in places like NC. I think that plenty of rural democrats are waking up and it is a wonderful thing.

Keep up the good work folks, we can't let up for a minute.

That is army stuff centers. Maybe we should look at map of where the men come from who have been killed? This is just some thing I read once and it may be of interest. At one time in WW2 the govt (someone in it) did not think the pop where gun ho enough about the war so the DOD started letting them publish pictures of Americans dead, and it worked. The first were on beaches on the Islands. But that war was felt as a just war and now the DOD does not even let people see the coffins. Interesting. Also I think it maybe why so many reporters are killed in Iraq by our side. Those pictures are not to get out. To many think this is not a just war, I guess.

and I hope there's enough time for it to flower.

I feel a certain deja-vu from back in the 60's. The difference now is that back then we didn't have just the war, but the civil rights struggles and the newly realized environmental movement, along with a few other things.

Back then, we didn't just fight against things, but we had a vision of a better future. A strange vision, perhaps, but it was a vision and a hope that kept us going.

We know what we are fighting against, but just what are we fighting FOR now? Do we really believe it will get better, or just not get any worse?

Do you need to be told how to think? If the things you supposedly fought for in the sixties were worth it then why aren't they worth it now. Check out what is happening with the environment under Bush* and see if you would like some changes made. Are there no Civil rights issues to be addressed? I'm sorry you are unable to visualize a better future. The entire Democratic Platform is about a better future. :shrug: Sometimes I just shake my head in wonder.

as they were back then. To get a movement going, you need clear definitions. Call them sound bites if you will, but you still need them.

I don't need to be told what to look for, but what I would like seems now to be an impossibility. Quite frankly, unlike back then, I don't see solutions for the many problems out there.

Sustainable development and growth in tune with natural forces, population control, restorative justice, peace as not just an absence of war...

Not much of these or other concerns of mine are on the table right now.

As an example, on could look at environmental concerns and see that what is on the table is simply undoing Shrub's devastation. There are very few actual visions of how things should be out there. The visionaries are being given rather short shrift in the immediate battle.

And, even that immediate battle is seen by many as not so urgent. After all, we have dolphin safe nets and the EPA, so what more should we do? Problem solved, isn't it?

This sounds more dismal and depressing than I actually feel about it, but it's late, and it is really at least a little dismal and depressing.

The real protests will begin when the troops who are there now rotate home - and its just now starting.

By mid summer there will be be over 100,000 people back in our communitys who know how utterly ineffective we have been and what a waste of our most precious resource Bu$h's war has been.

By the way, if you get to see some of the news coverage of the protests in New York City yesterday just keep in mind that this is just a hint of what it will look like during the Republican Convention.