Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the United States. It is the largest retailer in the world.

Its revenue in 2007 was $351.1 billion dollars. That exceeds the GDP (gross domestic product) of at least 155 of the world’s countries. 70% of Wal-Mart’s sales are of items manufactured in China.

Wal-Mart has resisted providing adequate and meaningful health care coverage for its workers and has prevented its U.S. employees from forming unions. Wal-Mart pays most of its workers less than the amount needed to live on. (Starting pay for a cashier is less than $8 per hour. That’s less than $16,000.00 a year. The federal poverty level for a family of four in 2006 was $20,444.)

Democrats believe that the most effective way to increase opportunity for our families is a high quality, good paying job. The Democratic Party supports fair trade agreements that raise standards for all workers here and abroad, while making American businesses more competitive, and we don’t believe in tax giveaways that reward companies for moving American jobs overseas.

We will create jobs that stay in America and restore opportunity for all Americans, starting with raising the minimum wage, expanding Pell grants and making college tuition tax deductible.

There is no known cure for breast cancer or AIDS.

The Bush administration has been more interested in promoting AIDS treatment in Africa (for the benefit of American pharmaceutical companies) than in assisting American citizens who have AIDS. The administration has also withheld money from organizations in Africa that distribute condoms in attempts to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Thoughts: Developing a cure for breast cancer is less important to some white males than creating medical solutions for male impotence. (With a revitalized penis they can always find a new wife.)
Most medical research is financed by private corporations who have no interest in finding a cure for disease. That would be to their disadvantage. They are very interested in finding expensive patentable treatments.

American criminal law makes it difficult to prosecute pharmaceutical executives who either intentionally or negligently gamble with the lives of patients when introducing new drugs.

The average size of an elementary school class is more than 20 students. Speaking from experience, there is no way anyone can do an adequate job of teaching that many students at the same time. Insanity rules. The ideal ratio for the best results is eight students per instructor. Teachers are not well-paid. 25% of elementary school teachers make less than $35,000 a year. (Did you know that in some states, California for one, teachers often cannot afford to live in the district where they teach?) The federal government could do a lot more to help. Some of that 12 billion (yeah, $12,000,000,000.00) per month spent on the Iraq war could help.

…we will offer high quality early learning opportunities, smaller classes, more after school activities, and more individualized attention for our students, particularly students with special needs, gifts, and talents.

We need to do more to attract and retain teachers, more to encourage their excellence, and more to ensure that all teachers are offering high-quality teaching. We must raise pay for teachers, especially in the schools and subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply.

A woman’s right to choose whether to terminate her pregnancy is controlled by state law as limited by the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. If and when Roe v. Wade is overturned by the current Republican-appointed majority of Supreme Court Justices, abortion will be outlawed in some states. The pregnant daughters of the well-to-do lawmakers in those states will be flown by their mothers to states where abortion is still legal; the poor in those states will return to using coat hangers.

Democrats stand solidly in support of women and their right to make important life decisions about their health care.

It’s critical that abortion remain a personal decision. If Roe was overturned, women and their doctors would be treated like criminals, jeopardizing women’s health and safety. We can all agree that reducing the number of abortions in our country is an important goal, and in fact abortions have decreased. We will continue to work towards common-ground solutions to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, while allowing women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families.

We don’t have cars that are as fuel efficient as they could be because the Republicans have kept the government from encouraging car manufacturers to make such cars. Our continuing disproportionate use of oil benefits the president’s friends and supporters.

As America’s corporations continue to have the ear of the Republican administrative branch, protection of America’s national wildlands has decreased. Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park have been under attack. Whether it’s oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or uranium at the edge of the Grand Canyon, if there’s money to be made for a corporation, no loss is too great.

We will create a cleaner, greener and stronger America by reducing our dependence on foreign oil, eliminating billions in subsidies for oil and gas companies and use the savings to provide consumer relief and develop energy alternatives, and investing in energy independent technology.
Energy independence puts America in the driver’s seat to pursue affordable and efficient energy solutions that will benefit all Americans, improve America’s security, reduce the burden on American families, and help clean our environment.

American families should not have to pay the price for a failed national energy policy. They deserve an energy policy that creates a cleaner and stronger America that reduces our dependence on foreign oil and also creates new jobs for American workers. By clearing the pathways to innovation, investing in our workers and infrastructure, and providing American consumers with broader, more responsible choices, the Democratic plan will provide the tools to help move America forward, toward real energy security for the 21st century.

Despite advances in social equality in the last 50 years, whites and blacks are all too often separated in this country, and the government’s unwillingness to recognize the spirit of inequality causing this separation prevents progress.

In many ways America is a segregated nation. Most whites and blacks live in separate neighborhoods, go to separate schools, and seldom make friends. The Supreme Court, rarely a leader and never courageous, has eviscerated any ongoing attempts to achieve diversity in institutions of higher education and has undone the efforts to desegregate public schools following the 1954 decision in Brown v. The Board of Education, that held that “separate but equal” schools were inherently unequal.

Democrats are unwavering in our support of equal opportunity for all Americans. That’s why we’ve worked to pass every one of our nation’s Civil Rights laws, and every law that protects workers. Most recently, Democrats stood together to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.

On every civil rights issue, Democrats have led the fight. We support vigorous enforcement of existing laws, and remain committed to protecting fundamental civil rights in America.

From the Democratic Party Agenda regarding the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (holding that it is impermissible to consider race to maintain racial diversity in school districts):

Across the country, people expressed dismay at yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that turned back the clock on 53 years of work by schools around the country to provide all children with a quality education. Editorial boards echoed the sentiment saying that the Court “repudiated the last half-century of race-conscious efforts to overcome that tortured racial legacy,” “will accelerate the trend toward school resegregation in many parts of the country,” and that in the “name of abiding by the letter of Brown, the court has dishonored its spirit.”

“Saving the worst for last for last, the Supreme Court ended its 2006-07 term Thursday by rebuking two school districts that had made good-faith efforts to realize the vision of the court’s landmark 1954 decision in Brown vs. Board of Education — an America in which children of different races share the same classroom…In the name of abiding by the letter of Brown, the court has dishonored its spirit.” L.A. Times 6/29/0

It just kills some straight people that two men or two women might love each other enough to want to join themselves together as one, and ask that the world recognize that union. As Republicans in Arizona, which already has a law excluding same-sex unions from marriage, try to put a similar provision in their constitution, the message reverberates: “we don’t just hate you, we really, really, really hate you.” Denial of equal recognition and status by the government encourages hatred and persecution. An Oklahoma State Representative, Sally Kern, recently said homosexuality is the biggest threat our nation has, more so than terrorism. As recently as February, 2008, in California, a 15 year-old boy was killed at school for being gay.

Governor Dean and Rick Stafford, chair of the DNC’s GLBT Caucus, issued the following statement for National Coming Out Day:

“Today, in celebrating National Coming Out Day, we honor the courage and dignity of the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans who have made the decision to live openly in our society. Coming out is an act of personal courage that truly empowers people to stand up for their values. As Democrats, one of those values is our commitment to equal rights and protections under the law for every single American.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to help investigate and enforce regulations keeping America’s environment clean and healthy. Republicans have seen to it that the EPA doesn’t. It was too expensive for corporations. Under the Republicans, the federal law that deals with investigating and cleaning up toxic waste sites (The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act - known as Superfund) has been gutted and efforts have been made to shift costs from the responsible parties (corporations) to consumers. Our groundwater supplies are in danger of contamination from toxic waste sites. Now pharmaceutical waste is everywhere in our surface water. Why does our government fail to protect us? Because we’ve let the government come under the control of corporations.

The Democratic Party believes that it is our responsibility to protect America’s extraordinary natural resources. The health of our families and the strength of our economy depend on our stewardship of the environment.
We reject the false choice between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. Farming, fishing, tourism, and other industries require a healthy environment. New technologies that protect the environment will create new high-paying jobs. A cleaner environment means a stronger economy.

Far too many Americans live with unhealthy air or water quality. Democrats will fight to strengthen the laws that ensure we have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. And Democrats will make sure these laws are enforced.

Corporations aren’t interested in letting you know what goes into your food. If they did, you wouldn’t eat it. The government isn’t interested in keeping you safe; that would be bad for business. So you eat meat that is full of hormones, dairy products that are full of hormones, grain products that have been genetically-modified, and produce covered with pesticide residue. The Food and Drug Administration fails to regularly inspect the food industry, and when it finds violations, does little or nothing to enforce regulations. Many facilities get inspected less than once a year. Truth in labeling is constantly resisted.

About 70 percent of grocery store food in the U.S. and Canada contain genetically engineered ingredients, and there is no mention of this on the labels.

The Republicans have worked hard to deregulate many industries, claiming that it would result in more competition and said competition would be good for the consumer. The opposite has been true. Deregulation has led to less competition and consumers having to pay rates that the government allows to rise and rise and rise.

Five years ago, the average American family spent $3,300 on gasoline, home heating, and electricity. This year, the average American family will spend over $5,100 on gasoline, home heating, and electricity. This is an increase of nearly $2,000 per family. The indirect costs of higher energy prices in the form of higher prices for consumer goods and services are likely to cost families another $1,400 per year.

Democrats know that a sensible energy policy is key to a strong economy, our national security, and a clean environment. Democrats are committed to the next generation of affordable and renewable energy for the 21st century and to conservation measures that will immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

From the 2004 Democratic Platform:
We will work to create new technology for producing electricity in a better, more efficient manner. Coal accounts for more than one-half of America’s electric power generation capacity today. We believe coal must continue its important role in a new energy economy, while achieving high environmental standards. Working with the coal industry, we will invest billions to develop and implement new, cleaner coal technology and to produce electric and hydrogen power. We will also work to make sure that our people have access to an affordable, secure, and reliable supply of electricity at all times. We support mandatory, enforceable reliability standards. We also support public-private partnerships to make our power systems more flexible, resilient, and self-healing—and more environmentally friendly than ever before.

While black men make up less than 12% of the general population, they account for almost 50% of the prison population. One third of all black males are on some sort of criminal justice supervision. One third of all black males are not dangerous and evil.

Until this year possession of crack cocaine and powder cocaine were punished differently. Crack cocaine (commonly possessed by black defendants) was punished 100 times more severely than powder cocaine (the preferred form used by whites.) Improved education, housing, and health care and meaningful job opportunities would do more to stop crime than increasing incarceration. It would also be much less expensive in the long run.

Not really. Actually, they suck less of our natural resources from us. And with increased innovation they will allow people not just to get around, but to transport their stuff, and express their persona.

Creating the energy-efficient vehicles of tomorrow. We support creating more energy-efficient vehicles, from today’s hybrid cars to tomorrow’s hydrogen cars. We support the American people’s freedom to choose whatever cars, SUVs, minivans, and trucks they choose, but we also believe American ingenuity is equal to the task of improving efficiency. We support improving fuel standards, and because of the challenges this poses, we will offer needed incentives for consumers to buy efficient vehicles, and for manufacturers to build them. We are also committed to developing hydrogen as a clean, reliable domestic source of energy. Our economy cannot convert to hydrogen overnight, so we will fund research to overcome the obstacles to hydrogen fuel and continue our other efforts to achieve energy independence.

Most health insurance used to be provided by employers as a benefit for the employee and the employer (healthy workers are more productive). Now health insurance is provided by private insurance companies with employees covering some or all of the cost. Health insurance companies also increase their profits by denying claims. In 2007 health insurance companies made profits measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. People who can’t afford health insurance live in fear of getting ill or losing their job. A national health insurance program would allow part of the money currently counted as profit to help cover everyone else.

In the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth, no one should have to choose between taking their child to a doctor and paying the rent. Democrats are committed to making sure every single American has access to affordable, effective health care coverage.

Not! Many of them have profited from good old boy deals with the Republicans – from oil and mineral rights to non-competitive sub-contracting for the Iraq war.

Today, ExxonMobil announced that “its third-quarter earnings rose to $10.49 billion, the second-largest quarterly profit ever recorded by a publicly traded U.S. company.” Royal Dutch Shell also “beat all forecasts with a 21 percent rise in underlying third-quarter profit.” These earnings reports come “as high crude prices this year have fueled record profits in the oil industry” which has triggered “an outcry from consumers who were being asked to pay about $3 a gallon for gasoline in early August.” [AP, 10/26/06; Reuters, 10/26/06]

“These record profits for oil companies while Americans still face sky-high gas prices, is one more example of the consequences of President Bush’s decision to let his friends in big oil write our nation’s energy policy,” said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. “While oil companies have received tax breaks, the pocketbooks of America’s working families have been squeezed by a combination of rising energy costs and declining incomes. Americans are ready for a new direction. Democrats remain committed to reducing our dependency on foreign oil, and creating a robust domestic industry for alternative energy sources that will create jobs.”

Our Constitution is, in the end, what America is. It is through adherence to and respect for our unique governing document, with its wise checks and balances, that we maintain liberty and the rule of law. America is not a certain race, or religion, or even a geographical area – (the America that was comprised of the original 13 states in 1789, or of 48 states in 1940, was no less America than the 50 United States of today). America is, rather, a system of governance that vouchsafes, through the constitution, our individual and collective freedoms. If we stray from it, America ceases to have meaning.

The Constitution encourages color-blindness and equality. But judges (and Supreme Court justices) don’t really “interpret” the constitution. Judges decide the result of the case, based on their political beliefs, and then write their opinion, claiming to have “found” the answer in the Constitution. As long as we have judges who aren’t black, Hispanic, gay, female, or poor, we’re going to go on getting law that is unfriendly to blacks, Hispanics, gays, women, and the poor.

Our commitment to civil rights is ironclad. We will restore vigorous federal enforcement of our civil rights laws for all our people, from fair housing to equal employment opportunity, from Title IX to the Americans with Disabilities Act. We support affirmative action to redress discrimination and to achieve the diversity from which all Americans benefit. We believe a day’s work is worth a day’s pay, and at a time when women still earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, we need stronger equal pay laws and stronger enforcement of them. We will enact the bipartisan legislation barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. We are committed to equal treatment of all service members and believe all patriotic Americans should be allowed to serve our country without discrimination, persecution, or violence. We support the appointment of judges who will uphold our laws and constitutional rights, not their own narrow agendas.

When that happens, we will all be slaves. America’s strength comes from the ability of its citizens to engage in free enterprise, to compete, to innovate, and to create jobs for themselves and other Americans.

The United States has a history of interfering in other countries when politics in those countries are adverse to American corporations’ business interests. We also like to sell weapons, so wars are good for business, and therefore are encouraged by weapons manufacturers.
To date more than 4,000 Americans and countless Iraqis have lost their lives because President Bush and his advisors decided to go to war based on faulty information.

Death is final, mysterious, and a terrible unknown. I can see nothing about the present war that justifies the ongoing loss of life and waste of resources. As mentioned earlier, we are also spending 12 billion dollars a month on the war. $12,000,000,000.00. Each month. Do the math.