Our voices must get louder and louder and....LOUDER!

This is not the time for nuanced positioning or compromising handshakes with "our friends across the aisle." If the base of the Democratic Party doesn`t stake claim to a microphone real soon, it may find itself having to settle for umpteen permanent bases in Iraq, a New Surge-Lite plan and a nominee so beholden to political machinery that the idea of leaving Iraq will end up in the Quaint-But-Dead column.

George W. Bush doesn`t believe in personal sacrifice. In George`s World, guys don`t give up their guitar lessons just because people are drowning in their attics and they don`t stop riding their bikes just because Iraq is littered with body parts. There`s always time for an adolescent King-of-the-Hill contest or a devil-may-care joke about not finding WMDs under the living room couch. In George`s World, sacrifice is a three-day weekend instead of a four.

Sacrifice is exactly what is needed right now. The higher the Iraq Invasion death toll climbs, http://icasualties.org/oif/ the more useless the polls seem and the more relevant the memories of the Vietnam War resistance. Perhaps it`s time to turn it up a notch face the fact that we`ve been too easy on ourselves. Too much time out, too much wait and see. Unlike during the Vietnam War, examples of civil disobedience and mass marches are rare. We`ve been too quiet for too long.

If you haven`t done it yet, hook up with a local peace group. March with Veterans for Peace. Put a sign on your lawn, in your apartment window. Tape something to your car...your bike...your horse...your dog. Wear an armband, an anti-Iraq War button. Write a letter to your editor. Call your local radio station. Stand on a corner with a sign. Be heard.

As Maggie Kuhn once said, "Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes."

besides our forces and the Iraqis, that is.

Not anymore.