In the elections of 2006, the American electorate spoke loud and clear in rejecting the Bush Iraq War policies and the lapdog GOP-controlled Congress, and then installed the Democrats as the majority with the very specific mandate to bring our troops home. This election was a message from the American people to this Congress that they were completely fed up with the disastrous direction that this administration was pursuing and that they wanted change -- and they wanted it now! That did not happen and the American people have been betrayed by the leaders of that new majority, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

In a very short time, Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, and Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, have proven that they are not up to the job and are completely out of step with the desires of the American people. They came into power boastfully promising swift and sure change but, in a very short time, it became quite apparent that they had a completely different agenda than the specific mandate given them by the electorate. And by their inaction and lack of courage they have completely failed America.

America badly needs congressional leadership that can and will step forward to lead America in the critical need to stop this Bush administration in its imperialistic actions that are threatening to divide America as it has not been divided since the Civil War. But Pelosi and Reid have now shown without a shadow of a doubt that they no longer represent the American people in this great need. Pelosi took impeachment of Bush and/or Cheney off the table right after she was crowned as speaker. Reid, the majority leader of the Senate, dances to the tune that Bush and the GOP Senate minority play in every confrontation.

The answer to the question of why impeachment was taken off the table so very quickly may just be emerging. The Washington Post reported December 9, 2007 that key members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, including Pelosi, were briefed regarding CIA torture methods (including waterboarding) in 2002 and thereafter made no objections. This could be a developing bombshell and may be the reason, or one of the reasons, why Pelosi cannot bring impeachment proceedings without incriminating herself. Stay tuned because these revelations are just the tip of this iceberg and this could result in a situation whereby she may have no choice but to step down.

With regard to constant war funding requests by Bush & Co. (never-ending, always increasing) the response by Pelosi and Reid has been nothing less than the antithesis of courageous; it's actually shameful and just plain evidence of total incompetence. They clearly have the power to stop Bush in his tracks, to end this insane war and occupation, to bring our troops home, and to stop innocent Iraqi citizens from being killed for no good reason.

They have the power to stop the outlay of billions upon billions of dollars into this war with no end in sight, when those funds could be used for universal healthcare, education, veterans' benefits, infrastructure repairs and scores of other necessary areas of need in our nation. They can stop the funding any time they wish, but they keep formulating weak bills that they know that will be killed by the GOP lemmings in Congress as they follow Bush and continue to defy the people of this nation.

Yes, it is very clear that Pelosi and Reid will not stop the funding because they fear the GOP and George Bush more than they fear the wrath of the American people. And this is a very grave mistake. This current Democratic Party, especially these very weak so-called leaders, has not one iota of the courage and resolve of our founding fathers that struck down the occupation and suppression of our country by King George III in our revolutionary rebellion. If they continue to fail in the mission that they were given, they may well be in for the shock of their lives when in the upcoming elections of 2008 it is quite possible that the mandate that they were given goes up in flames and their party again become the minority doormat in Congress.

How in the world can such so-called leaders loudly proclaim over and over that they are against the war in Iraq, that our troops must come home, that there will be "no more blank checks" for Bush, and then completely cave in and totally roll over for Bush each and every time? Why can't they devise a plan to set up a series of appropriations over, say a one-year period, with each succeeding appropriation being reduced to the point that the funding for combat operations would run out within that year's time? That would force Bush & Co. to reduce the forces in proportion to the funding allotment. That would work as long as the House and Senate leadership stood their ground, made it clear to the American people just how this would work, and absolutely refused to roll over and give in. When Bush clearly understood that the American people were totally supportive of this action to finally follow their desires, and I am confident that they would do just that, Bush would have no choice and would finally have to accept reality.

Yes, there would be some real tension and Democrats would be accused of treasonous action and such, but if they showed that kind of courage and patriotic strength, the American people would stand by them and we would see the beginning of the end of this debacle. This is the kind of action that America wants, what poll after poll has been indicating. Now is the time to turn this nation's foreign policy around and put it on a sane course.

The multi-billions of dollars that Pelosi and Reid continue to channel into Bush's war of destruction are, pure and simple, "blood money." The more of this blood money that we pour into Iraq, the more of our troops will die, more and more innocent Iraqi's will either die or enter the gigantic stream of refugees that have no choice but to leave that now dying nation.

Let's stop the flow of this blood money now! Stop this insane war, spare thousands upon thousands of lives that will die needlessly when they could have been allowed to live normal lives. Let's put that money to use in constructive, positive ways. In whatever ways we can devise, we must use those billions to help rebuild the nation of Iraq, now torn apart. We have to spend billions upon billions of dollars to fund the critical problem of global warming, to fund national healthcare, improved education, infrastructure, veterans' benefits and a host of other national needs in America.

In short, we must transform America before it is too late -- we are on the wrong course, time is running out. This nation is on the road to bankruptcy and this must be reversed. To do so, Pelosi and Reid must stop being George Bush's lackeys. Pelosi and Reid were given a golden opportunity by the American people. They could have become true American patriots, modern-day disciples of Thomas Paine. They could have gone down in history as the leaders who were given a clear mandate, clearly understood the gravity of the situation and the need to act decisively and with a sense of urgency. They stubbornly and adamantly have refused to follow through on this great, critical mandate and now will go down in history as failures of the highest magnitude.