WT queries: "Has anyone else noticed that Hillary has been saying some interestingly astute things about foreign policy lately?"

"Bill Clinton was an ideal Establishment candidate, but if she is to win the Dem nomination, Hillary will perforce adopt the anti-establishment, populist positions and even Mark Penn is smart-enough to figure out that playing safe and searching for a non-existent middle isn't going to work." Anonymous

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In a political environment where our current MEDIA can be counted on to spin every statement/action/philosophy in its worst possible light for a Democrat, perhaps Hillary has wisely kept her "play book" for 2009 a well-guarded secret until after the primaries? "Playing safe and searching for a non-existent middle" may have been her pre-primary game plan.

This could back-fire, however, as we have seen her losing ground (even in my little populist mind and heart) for her lack of spark and too much safe game play. No wonder John Edwards has "caught fire" -- he is strongly speaking out on hot button topics -- well ahead of the other Dem front-runners.

Hillary's timing may be about a week off for Iowa -- she has needed desperately (IMHO) to present more of herself "sounding like a statesman" as she did in regard to Bhutto's death, and "saying some interestingly astute things about foreign policy" before Christmas. Otherwise, she is asking too much of Democratic voters to trust that she WILL work to restore what some of us fondly remember as the Clinton Era...just because she is a Clinton.

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For many, the New Year begins with a bit of nostalgia for better times - I retain a hope in the face of ALL that we discuss here that there are solutions. Remember, Bill Clinton was able to overcome a huge deficit and leave office with a surplus in the coffers. Is it completely naive to believe it could be done, again?

Most voters are simple people and tend to vote by how their candidate makes them feel. George Bush prevailed on a simple platform in 2004 -- "I will keep you safe". I allow the rest of you to hammer out the details here in this great forum, but it is likely that 85% of voters are most concerned about their homes, families and jobs because that is what they are concerned about 99% of the time. Those aspects of life ARE their world.

Being "safe" in 2008 now means keeping your home, trying to pay your bills, organizing trips and thermostats to save on gas and energy costs, and keeping money back for emergencies left uncovered by the lack of affordable health care insurance. And in my neck of the woods, this includes finding ways to pay for the ever-rising property taxes and property hazard insurance which have far out-stripped increases in earnings.

All this in the face of decreasing home values and lack-luster home sales that have created an inability for some homeowners to get out from under the burden of their mortgage or to sell and move to a state with a lower cost of living. End result is that foreclosures are at record highs and working class people are losing their homes and their life savings. Voters in Central Florida (and throughout the state) are in DESPERATE financial straits.

We want our lives back -- to have the words "discretionary spending" and "disposable income" as part of our vocabulary, again. We need to envision imminent change so our thought processes can enter into brighter prospects for our futures. BushCo has taken much from us over the past seven years; for the majority, they have gone so deep into our pockets that we have lost the ability and means to plan for our futures.

Americans need a strong message of HOPE for 2008 and beyond -- we really do. Hillary and the other Dems need to create for us a lasting sense of their strong vision for our brighter future and SOON!! Obama wrote about it in "The Audacity of Hope", Hillary lived in the White House when the middle class had a future, and John Edwards has amassed his wealth fighting for those whose right to a bright future has been lessened through greed .

All of the candidates need to find a forum where the masses hear ALL OF THIS -- if only after the primaries...

And, @ all my "chicken-little" friends, (if only naively) I still believe there IS a better future for us out there IF by our choices, we are willing to help create it!

Happy New Year 2008!

Isn't this a start?

Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support

Obama will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.

Eliminate Sentencing Disparities

Obama believes the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

Expand Use of Drug Courts

Obama will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.

Record of Advocacy: Obama has worked to promote civil rights and fairness in the criminal justice system throughout his career. As a community organizer, Obama helped 150,000 African Americans register to vote. As a civil rights lawyer, Obama litigated employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and voting rights cases. As a State Senator, Obama passed one of the country's first racial profiling law and helped reform a broken death penalty system. And in the U.S. Senate, Obama has been a leading advocate for protecting the right to vote, helping to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act and leading the opposition against discriminatory barriers to voting.

I have a loved one doing a lengthy prison term for a nonviolent "drug crime" right now.

If and when he gets out he will never be able to get a job beyond laborer, if that.

A felony drug conviction makes you into an untouchable in today's society.