Are you surprised?

I'm not. The Dems left their spines home once again:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.

Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.

...

At this point, I can't find a political party in America that represents me or my values*. Listen to me:

We want Hillary Clinton to have an 'imperial Presidency' as much as we want George W. Bush to have one.

A Dem with that much power is just as bad as a Rethug with that much power.

I want the balance of power between the White House, Congress, and SCOTUS restored. I don't want anyone to have the power the Chimp and Cheney have grabbed for themselves. I want a Congress to be able to put the brakes on a Presidency run amok. I want SCOTUS justices who are not ideologues.

I will not vote for a Democrat who hedges on the subject of Iraq. I want one who says "the troops will come home on January 21st 2009". I will not vote for a Dem who envisions a U.S. presence there in 2013. I will not cast a vote for the Presidency if the Dem candidate is equivocal on this illegal war.

I'm just about fed up with the lot of 'em. The running of this country has degenerated to the point it is no better than a high school student council (and some of them are run better) or a playground pecking order.

Good God! Did we send all of you to Congress just to piss me off or put me over the edge? Wake the fuck up before we don't have an America left. At least not one we recognize.

Update:

*I am a progressive. I am not a 'centrist' and I am certainly not a conservative. I do not believe in compromise with people who think the answer is to return to a Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best world that never really existed in the first place and never will exist in the future. I will not compromise with people who want a return to the 'Gilded Age' that brought about the Great Depression. I will not compromise with people who are scared of everything not familiar.

I believe there are some universal constants: The U.S. Constitution and real moral values, practiced without hypocrisy. I do not believe in looking backward aside from learning from our mistakes (we aren't too successful in that department, are we?).

The Future is coming, whether we bury our heads in the sand or not, and I want this nation to be prepared for it, I want this nation to be successful in it and have a leadership role shaping it. This world is overcrowded, poverty runs rampant over a good part of it, our climate is out of whack, and our future will be bleak if we don't address these problems now. Not ignore them, not put them off for a future generation to deal with. Restoring the integrity and credibility of this nation is my first concern and the only way to do that is to extend a hand of friendship across our borders and help those less fortunate enjoy what we have here. I want Americans to have so much more than they do now.

I believe in Humanity.