New Declaration of Independence

The subject quote of this thread is very very old( written before 100 years)
But still valid because the society change with snails speed.
Election of the next President withall the fanfare is not far off. Instead of vitiating our time and energy in flippant small talk let us concentrate the basic issue which will make the society happy.
Change is the mission and hope is the vision.
Let us strive hard to change and let us hope a better future.
Here is one local problem that needs quick attention from the newly baked power- potatoe

But the system is aging, and it needs a new champion, a role which our next president must play. The Department of Transportation estimates that congestion costs Americans $200 billion per year. In the 10 most congested areas in the U.S., each rush hour commuter spends the equivalent of almost eight work days per year stuck in traffic, wasting more than two billion gallons of fuel. Roughly one-third of the nation’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.

There are more than 590,000 bridges in the U.S., and the Federal Highway Administration reported in 2006 that 25 percent of them are either obsolete or deteriorating. A recent study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials reports, “Within the next 15 years almost half of the nation’s bridges will exceed 50 years of age, exceeding the life span for which they were designed. … With age comes decay. One in four of our bridges are rated as deficient, either in need of repair or in need of widening to handle today’s traffic.” To protect the public, states that cannot afford needed improvements will be forced to close or put weight limits on some bridges " impacting commuters, families, and commerce.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12766.html
Our nation’s transportation infrastructure is increasingly antiquated. Not only are roads and bridges falling apart, but this infrastructure was designed for another time when fuel was cheap, the U.S. population was far smaller and there was no knowledge of human-induced climate change.

In the aftermath of last year’s bridge collapse in Minneapolis, much attention is now focused on the need for repairs. And this need is indeed great. More than 70,000 bridges nationwide are “structurally deficient,” and substandard road conditions contribute to 30 percent of all highway accidents
As repairs are made, however, there also needs to be more careful thought given to our transportation needs for the future. Many Americans are now struggling to fill up their gas tanks. But over the long run, gas prices are expected to soar even higher as demand continues to rise in developing countries such as China and India.
Policy makers, unfortunately, have not yet made the necessary commitment for this transition. And in some ways, we’re actually headed in reverse.
Our next president must have a vision for transportation infrastructure beyond road repairs and maintenance.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12765.html

Tsunami victims were almost rehabilitated both in war-torn Srilanka and
poverty-affliced SOUTH India.

How about the innocent victims of Katrina?

Three Years After Hurricane Katrina, Homelessness Looms
Where are Katrina evacuee families supposed to go once FEMA kicks them out? A trailer park tale continues.
by Deepa Fernandes

"That's President Bush hugging me. See how tightly he's hugging me?" It was the chilly end of 2006 in Baker, Louisiana, when Lena Beard asked me this, proudly waving a newspaper clipping my direction as we talked in her still-temporary home. The fading photo, taken the same day the mother of two took refuge on a mattress in a church after Hurricane Katrina, had served as proof after the levees burst that she was going to be okay. "I'm a veteran who has served my country and put my life on the line. I believed my country would take care of me and my family," she said.

But three years after natural disaster stripped Beard and her sons of their house in New Orleans, she is still not okay. Unable to find a place she can afford after being evicted this summer from Renaissance Village, the largest FEMA trailer park in the country, the Beard family is contemplating a move next month into a homeless shelter
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/08/29-1
When will stop our adoration of the leader's charm and beauty and start to find some sollutions?

America’s Families Demand Action
by Luz A. Vega-Marquis

In McAllen, Texas, Martha Sanchez doesn't dare drink the water that runs out of the tap, for fear of getting sick. In Augusta, Georgia, Sunny Johnson, a single mother of two, thinks that working full-time as a certified nursing assistant should earn her a wage that puts her above the poverty line. (It doesn't.) In San Francisco, California, Cathleen Muhammad wants justice and good health for her children, who appear to have been made seriously ill by exposure to asbestos from a nearby construction site.

These three stories exemplify the different struggles families are facing in America today; meanwhile we have 37 million people -- 7.7 million families -- living in poverty.

As the country prepares to elect the next president of the United States pundits and politicians will certainly talk about 'working families' -- 'middle class families' -- and 'poor families.' Isn't it time we address the needs of America's families collectively?

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/08/29-2
I feel so sorry because, I live far off and still try to show my humanfeelings.
The TRIBAL dance and music of two convention is nothing to do with real problems of the innocents.
Think deeply and act quickly.

"It's certainly true that the purpose of these Conventions are principally political, and it thus makes perfect sense that Democrats are choosing to focus on the issues they think will help win them the election. The desire that they do anything else is both unrealistic and misguided. During the television show known as the Convention, they should devote the bulk of their efforts to the concerns most voters have, and all polls demonstrate that those concerns are chiefly grounded in economic insecurity.

But even while acknowledging those realities, the Democrats, as a result of these omissions, are largely guilty of doing what they typically do: appearing listless and amorphous by standing for nothing other than safe and uncontroversial platitudes. The loudest reaction Bill Clinton provoked last night was when he proclaimed, in passing and without elaboration, that Obama is "ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." So much of the case against the Bush administration -- much of what has fueled high-level Democratic energy to remove the GOP from power -- has been driven by the GOP's radical transformation of the core political values of the country, trampling on the Constitution and overtly embracing policies that are completely anathema to how Americans perceived of their country.

So how are conditions wherever you hail from?

You are the only one who had participated in this thread.
All the above posts are from me.
In one post I put this as an answer.
"Tsunami victims were almost rehabilitated both in war-torn Srilanka and
poverty-affliced SOUTH India.

How about the innocent victims of Katrina?
Three years after Hurricane Katrina, a more glamorous image of black America is presenting itself to the world in the person of Barack Obama. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, America's story of black urban poverty is still unfolding, largely beneath the radar of the global media.


( This subject Katrina is a sensitive one to expose the callous indiffference of the regime underwhich many decent citizens are surviving.)

" Obama has been a vocal critic of the Bush administration's recovery and reconstruction programme, and his restoration plan for the region includes housing displaced residents who wish to return to the city. This time last year, Obama expressed concern that New Orleans would once again become the scene of the nation's broken promises, and told residents, "I can promise you this: I will be a president who wakes up every morning and goes to bed every night with the future of this city on my mind." He said:

... racial discord, poverty, the old divisions of black and white, rich and poor, it's time to leave that to yesterday.

But as the presidential campaign intensifies, Obama is increasingly under pressure to "transcend race". If this insidious demand should persist into an Obama presidency, it could seriously hinder a sustained focus on so racially charged an event as Katrina and its disastrous aftermath. What's certain is that the longer the world looks away, the more likely it is that a Disneyfied "new" New Orleans will mean the loss of a city that boasts one of the most complex cultural heritages in the world.

Three years on from the storm, during an election year that has focused attention on a spectacular symbol of African American success, it seems that once again, no one is looking in the direction of a black America that has experienced only the rough end of the American dream.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20650.htm
Back to your question. The country i was born is India and today the Indian Government is trying to help the victims of rainfall disaster.
The country where i live is Germany where this kind of natural disaster seldom occurs , but quick relief is normal.
In this A2K forum why the hell a person who had never set his feet in USA should show sympathy for those citizens?

The verbal vomitations in A2K is too much which drive the people away.

don't you feel ashamedas a decent cultured rational humanbeing to enjoy a show for a few hours which costed 5 million bugs?
What kind of FUTURE you wish to shape?
Enough.
Stop this nonsense.

A person like me will surely hurt your conscience.
USA needs a new constitution and the amercan people should read some literature to get motivated..
I beg you all not so be proud that you are the only IDIOTS or INTELLECTUALS in the world.