Things to think about...

Paving the Way to War with Iran

But devilish, diabolical Iran has become the new bipartisan whipping boy. Take the "debate" between Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) and challenger Ned Lamont in the New York Times yesterday. Lieberman says that he sees Iranian danger in U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with Iran moving in. "We've got to wake up to this. It is the test, unfortunately, of not just this generation of American leaders, but of the next generation as well, because this enemy ain't going away."

Lamont's response? "The invasion of Iraq has had one big winner and that’s Iran," he argues. Iran is the real threat, Lamont says, and the war in Iraq has made the United States weaker in dealing with the new devil.

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Hey, Bush and Lamont agree. I don't know about you, but that make me very nervous.

By simply returning to their homes Lebanese civilians played a key role thwarting Israel's plans in its most recent war in Lebanon. As the Associated Press reported on August 14, immediately upon the start of the UN sponsored cease fire tens of thousands of Lebanese families defied orders from Israeli commanders, took to the roads, and returned to their villages in southern Lebanon . Their courageous action stifled any hope the Israeli government may have had for accomplishing its grand vision for southern Lebanon with this war.

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Perhaps it was the inspiring ability of Hezbollah to withstand the bombing and continue to resist. Perhaps tens of thousands of civilians just knew that if they hesitated after the cease fire, like the Palestinians, they would become long term refugees. Whatever the reason, despite the pulverizing bombardment for 33 days, amazingly the civilian population was not so shocked and awed that they were immobilized. By the tens of thousands a flood of Lebanese civilians boldly took to the roads in an enormous act of civil disobedience to the occupying Israeli troops.

The contradictions on the Left, however, are no less glaring.

We criticize the mainstream press because it is biased, unwilling to tell full, true stories and unresponsive to anyone except its corporate advertisers... and then we urge our compatriots to write letters to the editors as though this same mainstream press will pay any heed to what we write.

We complain that the courts are slow and stacked with right-wing enforcers of the status quo... and then we expect the courts to solve our problems.

We consider ourselves “activists” and “radicals”... but then we routinely seek change within the confines of the very system we abhor; and we seek “funding”, as NGOs, as 501C-3s, as community organizations that lap up government grant money or corporate funds or tax-exempt status to sustain our “radicalism.”

We moan that the Constitution is dying and the Bill of Rights ignored, that the Congress is in cahoots with an autocratic, fascistic administration... and then we expect that our letters and constitutional appeals to the Congress and the Bushkovites will, somehow, persuade them of the rectitude of our cause.

We argue that the elections are rigged, the voting machines' software contrived, and that the Democrats and Republicans are but two faces of the same party... and then we get dragged into two-party politics and demand that we vote -- time and time again -- at these same rigged ballot boxes for the same old tired candidates of the same old tired parties.

This Saturday, C-Span will premiere an exciting 75-minute program featuring the Center for Constitutional Rights' Deputy Legal Director Barbara Olshansky and journalist Dave Lindorff discussing their book "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office." The show was taped by C-Span at Robin's Books in Philadelphia in July. It will begin airing nationally on C-Span2's "Book TV" program this Saturday, August 26, at 11pm Eastern (8pm Pacific) and again on Sunday, August 27, at 8:15am Eastern (5:15am Pacific).