America is broken. Even if we pull through the current economic crisis, recovery won't last absent an overhaul of our primary institutions.

• One out of ten Americans is now unemployed and the recovery is expected to be jobless.
  
• Fifty million Americans have no health insurance; two million, no home.
  
• Two million Americans are in jail.
  
• Our public schools have fallen behind those of most developed nations.
  
• Higher education is priced out of reach of the middle class.
  
• Our infrastructure is in an advanced state of disrepair.
  
• We rank first in greenhouse gas emissions.
  
• Immigration, once our pride, is now our shame.
  
• We're living on credit and leaving the debt to our children.
  

America is broken. Even if we pull through the current economic crisis, recovery won't last absent an overhaul of our primary institutions.

• One out of ten Americans is now unemployed and the recovery is expected to be jobless.
  
• Fifty million Americans have no health insurance; two million, no home.
  
• Two million Americans are in jail.
  
• Our public schools have fallen behind those of most developed nations.
  
• Higher education is priced out of reach of the middle class.
  
• Our infrastructure is in an advanced state of disrepair.
  
• We rank first in greenhouse gas emissions.
  
• Immigration, once our pride, is now our shame.
  
• We're living on credit and leaving the debt to our children.
  

"Here There Be Monsters"

Essay by Jason Miller

"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy."

--John Quincy Adams

While it certainly was not his intent, Adams' assertion serves to remind us of a truth revealed by vast oceans of tears, torrential rivers of blood, and formidable piles of human remains. Leaving murder, mayhem, and misery in its wake, America does "go abroad," but not, as Adams noted, "in search of monsters to destroy." What Adams failed to perceive, despite living in the midst of the Native American genocide and the abject evil of chattel slavery, is that America is the monster.

Bush redefining "The American Dream" for a group of conservative Irvine businessmen and women

Irvine, CA (APE) - President Bush on Monday spoke to a largely conservative Republican group of 450 members of the Orange County business Council and in a "lemonade out of lemons" fashion seemed to back away from the hard stances on immigration put forth by some in his own party and link immigration to "The American Dream". He urged Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would put illegal immigrants "in the back of the bus" as they worked through a daunting process to become a citizen of the United States.