From Judy

Dear Judith,



Urge your family and friends to sign the Stop Iran War petition today!

Yesterday, the AP reported that the Bush-Cheney Administration has instituted "sweeping new sanctions against Iran Thursday -- the harshest since the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in 1979 -- charging anew that Tehran supports terrorism in the Middle East, exports missiles and is engaging in a nuclear build up."

There are 3 choices in dealing with Iran. You can engage them. You can isolate them. Or you can attack them.

These sanctions could be part of any of the 3 strategies. The sanctions themselves can only be evaluated within the context of the overall policy. Currently, the administration has chosen a path of isolation with the threat of an attack.

This is the wrong strategy. The Bush-Cheney Administration's failure to use diplomacy in conjunction with these sanctions is unlikely to change Iran's behavior.

Send a message to everyone you know. Urge them to join our effort to stop war with Iran.

The AP reported that Condoleezza Rice says Washington remains committed to "a diplomatic solution" and open to negotiations with Iran. Yet the Bush Administration refuses to speak with Iran unless the Iranians pre-emptively surrender their interests. This is not likely to happen, and the Administration will be left with two options: a nuclear Iran or war.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) stated yesterday:

"Unilateral sanctions rarely, ever work...I just don't think the unilateral approach and giving war speeches helps the situation. It will just drive the Iranians closer together...It escalates the danger of a military confrontation."

Diplomacy is about carrots and sticks. Unfortunately, the Administration seems to believe it only has sticks. They have continued their saber-rattling, and without diplomacy, the announced sanctions only serve to escalate the tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

It is time to begin direct dialogue without conditions. War with Iran is not the answer.

Click here and recruit 5 people to join our effort to stop war with Iran.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,



Wes Clark

StopIranWar.com | Contribute to WesPAC!







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From Judy in NY,Select a candidate:

Interesting .. try it

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

From Hank! Letter to Editor

Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 7:57 AM
To: 'letters@nytimes.com'
Subject: To The Editor

“Trash Talking World War III” – Editorial – October 29, 2007

Yogi Berra once said, “It’s like Deja vu all over again.” Make no mistake, this is not trash talking. This is regime change all over again. The Bush attack dogs, headed by Vice, have already set the stage for a prolonged bombing attack of Iran’s known nuclear sites. The President and Mr. Cheney have rattled their sabers and the democrat’s, headed by Ms. Clinton, are falling in line again just as they did with their disastrous war authorization vote in 2002.

The voices of reason in the administration, Mr. Gates and Hank Paulson, have almost nothing to say regarding the President’s war policy, and Ms. Rice, who you call “the other great hope”, is a toady who is at the complete bidding of her boss. The die is cast and we will be at war with Iran within the next twelve months. I can only hope that it does not set off the powder keg called the Middle East.

From note received by Sunny

i think Hilary is devoted to her causes but that she is not politically
palatable to people that have beliefs in honesty, marriage, and
diplomacy. She is an intellectual and perhaps has compromised herself
with Bill (who sailed politically becasue of his ability t o charm even
in tough waters- this must seem sooo unfair to hilary), and is
motivated by her deep personal goals maybe to accomplish rather than t
o lead, or maybe just revenge!. I think she is not politically savvy
enough to do much right now. I do not like her either. What has she
done after all?
Obama is an idealist, loves people, is an intellectual but with much
broader international vision than Hilary will ever achieve. Hialry is
very smart, but I think her tough talk, her politically shaped
dialogue, and her fears of whatever (losing, being open) make her lack
diplomacy. It is not enough for right now. Right now we need an artist.
Someone that can really reinspire people to love the world rather than
fear it, remind people of our need to respect differences, and to
create policy domestically that fixes what a capitalist system does not
naturally generate.

I keep thinking about the man that negotiated the N. Korean policy- He
appeared to be "friendly, relaxed, persistent, diplomatic...) and yet
he accomplished so much. Hilary likes to use that tough talk but I
think it is a sign of lack of power. Reagan, Kennedy, etc- no matter
what people thinkabout them, led the country through positive idealism.
I think Obama can as well. I hope he is not dragged down by the
exisiting structure. He must think "out of the box" to really do well
and make change. Why not have Obama get Bill Gates to devise a medical
ins proposal and present it as legislation- noone wants to crticise
him!!!!! And Obama stays clean and out of the debate..you know....etc
etc..

Sunny i love hearing from you - you have so much energy! I wish i knew
moreabout politics...but how can we? too much noise

Stephen Colbert website outruns Hillary, Obama

This is sad, but indicative of the distrust young Americans have of our political system, a fallout of the disastrous Bush presidency. There is a group on the social website Facebook for Stephen Colbert. I(n case you don't know, Stephen Colbert is a comedian who satires Bill O'Reilly and has declared his candidacy for President.) Sure it's a joke, but here are the results after a week:

"One Million Strong for Barack" created 9 months ago currently sits at 381,000 members. "One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary" started 8 months ago currently sits at 488,000+ users. "1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert" created Oct 17th at 5PM currently at 796,819 users. Passed Barack in 5 days and Hilary yesterday.

Jump in Feb.2008

Dear President Gore,

You won the first time but somehow chickened-out and turned the country over to a veiled, subtle and repressive government which behaves more like an autocratic banana republic than the watershed of freedom, equality and truth. In fact, those terms seem hollow in the face of the turmoil and degradation we have loosened on the world. Whatever you may feel personally about your new mission and its effectiveness, you are the ONLY person who has the intelligence, priorities and popularity to bring the Party together and win the presidential election in 2008. It is your moral duty. The Country must make an effort to make right the thousand wounds it has inflicted on the planet and the species that inhabit it. Choose your moment, perhaps when the others are breathing hard from counter-punching in the 12th round.

Ed Sherin

From Justy

Here is one:
Pete Stark and Bill Shakespeare
Congressman Pete Stark should never have had to apologize to anyone for what he said about George Bush having soldiers killed for his "amusement." He was following in a long tradition of people who eventually understood what happens when power becomes perverse. Shakespeare put the following epigram into King Lear:

As flies to wanton boys
Are we to the gods;
They kill us for their sport.


Thanks to information about President Bush's childhood we see a through line from his joy at blowing up frogs when he was 10 to branding pledges when he was 21 to smirking at executions when he was 50 to outsourcing terror when he was 56.

If Shakespeare were alive today he'd just transpose the speakers to soldiers in Baghdad:

As frogs to wanton George
Are we to his God;
He kills us for his sport.