Prairie Fire Journal

The great wave of change so many Americans hoped for when Barack Obama was elected president has slammed up against the rocky shore of Republican opposition, and the Republicans are succeeding in turning the Democratic tsunami into an irrelevant ripple.

Some examples:

* Health care reform has turned into a debate on how best to protect the insurance companies. So much for change in that department. Try again in 16 years.

* Obama's stimulus package is a joke. The economy is still hemorrhaging over 500,000 jobs a month. Obama's claim that the package would save or create 3 million jobs is really kind of ridiculous considering that since the legislation was signed in February the U.S. has lost more jobs than that.

* The banks continue to hoard TARP money and stick it to credit card holders with loan-shark interest rates.

* Home foreclosures are still running at historically high levels. More Americans now call tents or homeless shelters home than at any time in the history of the nation.

* The Iraq War of Lies continues merrily getting funded. Gitmo closure is being stalled by Democrats who have succumbed to Republican fearmongering.

* Obama wants to raise taxes on workers while putting an axe to deficit spending, all during a time of continued economic meltdown. This DEPRESSION ain't over by a long way.

But the Republicans don't get all the credit for derailing CHANGE. America has a scam artist for a president and a congress made up mostly of corporate shills. Change isn't coming, baby. Not today, not tomorrow, not until we get rid of the two-party system and create a true democracy.