For several years I have been troubled by the buckling of the sidewalk in front of our home. At first, the cause seemed obvious: the roots of a rapidly-growing Japanese Red Maple were pushing the concrete slabs upward, making the area treacherous. But last year Dick Cheney was in town (they love the Old Scowler here in Grand Rapids, Michigan) and I had him take a look. It took him less that thirty-seconds to pin the blame, not on Japanese tree roots but on Iranian terrorists. I just hope I can hold off an invasion for the next 11 months.

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I have spent the past 3 or 4 years in BsAs during the winter months and frankly the people on the street give all this stuff almost no creedence or attention. There is a fairly large semetic (arabic and jew) population in the Iguazu falls area but with the exception of a few radicals the area is fairly stable and intermarriages have mellowed things. (This is where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay come together) Most people feel that the whole incident is of a local nature and has nothing to do with international politics.

Crazy Carlos

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After enough lies have been fabricated and strung together to manufacture a rationale for an attack of Iran,the attack will commence. It will matter not one whit that the lies were uncovered and invalidated beforehand ,or that Congress and most, if not all Americans are against such lunacy, THE BUSHIES WILL GO RIGHT AHEAD AND DO IT ANYWAY. There are many definitions of INSANITY; this is but one of them.

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You fail it.

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Ron Paul is a Republican and Dennis Kucinich is a Democrat who go beyond any Democratic candidate in repudiating war as a tool to implement foreign policy. Why? Because imperial war is the only way to steal oil and other natural resources from weak countries. THAT IS WHAT THIS WAR III IS ABOUT. The Democratic front runners, including Edwards, have been careful not to repudiate war itself.

This article is misleading in its smug confidence in the Democratic contenders are distinct from the Republicans on the Iraq/terrorist front.

But HIillary Clinton stands alone in her extremism and endorsement of invasion of Iran as a means to corporatist ends.

For people hungry for peace, there is no more urgent issue than this concerning the Primaries, because Israel provides the emotional excuse for war:

Hillary addressing AIPAC (3 min.):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVWagtd8uwM&mode=related&search=

Hillary's "No options left on the table..." nuclear threat.

Then consider the company she keeps at AIPAC:
Rev. Hagee the self-described Christian Zionist. rapture cultist: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDRxmqOn7x4&mode=related&search=

"The Israel Lobby (excerpt from Tikkun newsletter)
"In this Issue Tikkun Editor Rabbi Michael Lerner responds to the recent publication of The Israel Lobby by John Walt and Stephen Mearsheimer by giving an in-depth analysis of one of the most important issues in U.S. politics today: The power of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to control the relationship between the United States and Israel.

"He comes to one conclusion: AIPAC is bad for the Jews, bad for the U.S., and bad for the world and he tells why.
This is not only a Jewish issue. Lerner presents ideas for how the Network of Spiritual Progressives can become the interfaith alternative to the Israel Lobby and shows that it can only do so with the help of non-Jews as well as Jews.

"Walt and Mearsheimer will be speaking at a series of Tikkun forums. The first will be held September 19th in Berkeley, California at 2345 Channing Way at 7:00 p.m. (reservations through Cody's bookstore)."

Editorial comment: Will US foreign policy continue to be directed by AIPAC under Hillary Clinton? All the candidates need to be asked if they have accepted donations from foreign agencies and lobbies like AIPAC. It is time to join with the Jewish peace activists here and in Israel, and not fear the Lukid zionist backlash of AIPAC. Israelis are deeply divided over war and peace issues; we simply don't get their news past the US corporate media censors. Hillary Clinton represents a travesty of an added 4 to 8 years of the same world hegemony as Bush Jr. Let us not forget her perfect Bush agenda voting record up until the day her campaign began! There should be no options left on the table to defeat Hillary Clinton in the Primaries. We certainly must remember the Republican media campaign to declare all candidates as "unelectable" with the exception of Kerry (Yale, Skull and Bones, Wall St.) in 2004. This article seems to be cast in that mold that we see being cast in the TV "debates"; downplaying the most progressive candidates while focusing on the least threatening to the status quo. What do Carl Rove, Dick Cheney and Hillary Clinton have in common? Invasion of Iran fixation.
John Edwards may provide the best hope for an open nominationg convention this Fall. He deserves our support for this reason alone. Certainly, Latinos need to be challenged on their unquestioning endorsement of Hillary Clinton. She is simply not the same person she was 8 or 16 years ago. Obama and Edwards are a men of the people of a quantum difference above the sold out Clinton's ticket may be facing her old friend and compatriot Lieberman as a vice-presidential rival in the general elections. God forbid!

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Government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Direct Democracy

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You can bet if the Repubs. take the election the troops will be lining up for the Invasion. McCain was a big supporter of more troops in Iraq and the endless military build-up. America will have a choice, sure, Hillary is all AIPAC, Obama a little better. But McCain and the Republicans are all war!

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Darth Vader was the puppet whiny kid used and turned to the dark side by mastermind Darth Sidious.

George W is more like Vader and Cheney is more like Sidious.

Get it right people.

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He'd have 'em kill two birds with one stone: make the hot on US soil and plant evidence of it having been Iran who did it. Declare a National Emergency, declare martial law, and George Bush is King of Amerika.

Sorry - no elections for the duration...

Ian

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Don't you know the Iranians killed Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart..?

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He was possibly the nicest guy in the business in the whole Chicago area. I'm not against Muslims cuz most of the guys in this business are either Muslims or from Eastern Europe or both (think Albanians). I probably live with more diversity than a lot of the folks on the Alternet.

But tell me this. AIPAC sucks. Fair enough. But AIPAC is not driving the policy. It is American oil interests and nationalist hegemonists like Cheney and Bush. Tell me. How could a little country like Israel, which is wholly dependant on the US for its very existance, simultaneously control the US. It makes no logical sense. Except of course if you believe the world is controlled by...da Jooooz.

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