Two Worthy Petition Drives
I'm not typically a fan of petition drives and don't normally participate in them, but two petition drives were launched today that seem worth supporting.
The first, launched by General Wesley Clark, is intended to halt the slide toward war with Iran. Here's General Clark, in his own words:
The second significant petition drive was launched this afternoon by Barack Obama. Obama is attempting to demonstrate just how much grassroots support there is for the Iraq War De-Escalation Act, a bill he has sponsored along with Iraq War veteran Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Vietnam veteran Mike Thompson (D-CA) in the House.
Obama promises to keep a running tally of Americans supporting the De-Escalation Act on his website. You can sign the petition here.
As with all petition drives, the primary purpose here is to generate publicity and thereby to influence the public debate on these issues. The amount of publicity these efforts receive will be directly proportional to the number of Americans who sign the petitions. It's a small thing, but it's a way of going on record with your opinion. And it's hard to argue that these aren't the two most imporant issues America faces at the moment. So if you have a moment (and you agree with Clark and Obama) take a second to sign their petitions. It can't hurt.
The first, launched by General Wesley Clark, is intended to halt the slide toward war with Iran. Here's General Clark, in his own words:
All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq.At the website, you can sign the petition and send a personalized email to the White House.
Yet, President Bush's continued saber rattling gives the US little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this.
Whatever the pace of Iran's nuclear efforts, in the give and take of the Administration's rhetoric and accusations, we are approaching the last moments to head off looming conflict. Surely, it is past time to urge President Bush to exercise leadership and start to work now to avoid a widening of the conflict in the Middle East.
That's why today, I'm joining Jon Soltz, Chairman of VoteVets.org, the preeminent organization representing Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, to launch StopIranWar.com.
The second significant petition drive was launched this afternoon by Barack Obama. Obama is attempting to demonstrate just how much grassroots support there is for the Iraq War De-Escalation Act, a bill he has sponsored along with Iraq War veteran Patrick Murphy (D-PA) and Vietnam veteran Mike Thompson (D-CA) in the House.
Obama promises to keep a running tally of Americans supporting the De-Escalation Act on his website. You can sign the petition here.
As with all petition drives, the primary purpose here is to generate publicity and thereby to influence the public debate on these issues. The amount of publicity these efforts receive will be directly proportional to the number of Americans who sign the petitions. It's a small thing, but it's a way of going on record with your opinion. And it's hard to argue that these aren't the two most imporant issues America faces at the moment. So if you have a moment (and you agree with Clark and Obama) take a second to sign their petitions. It can't hurt.
posted by A.L. at 6:22 PM
4 Comments:
The Lindbergh spirit lives on! Somebody explain to me how eliminating the "saber rattling" actually increases our leverage against Iran. Forget about threatening force, if we just ask them really, really, nicely I'm sure they will discard their nuke program.
Somebody explain to me how eliminating the "saber rattling" actually increases our leverage against Iran.
If I had any confidence in this administration's judgment, the saber rattling wouldn't bother me so much. I'd view it as an attempt to increase leverage for negotiations. But that's not how this administration thinks. They aren't interested in negotiations. And they certainly look like they are actually trying to provoke a conflict with Iran. That's scary. I don't think these guys realize how disastrous that would be. These are not normal times. We have two more years of the most incompetent and reckless administration this country has seen.
A nuclear Iran is also scary.
A nuclear Iran is also scary.
It is, but there are scarier things. I pray we don't find that out the hard way, as we did in Iraq.
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