Seven years of Bush, five years of war, 19 months of greed, idiocy and mayhem to go (unless martial law extends the Bush-Cheney regime indefinitely).

Stem-cell research was dealt another blow this month. The number of Iraqi dead is unknown but possibly 100 times that of American soldiers and contractors. Any pre-election withdrawal stunt will result in a dramatic rise in civilian deaths.

Remember Nixon's 1972 withdrawal while bombing escalated in North Vietnam? The 14 American soldiers who died in one day last week would have been big news four years ago. As constant violence inures us to this tragedy, the Middle East-Mesopotamia debacle spirals into a bloodbath.

The Democrats lack all conviction -- they will wait on 2008.

Howard Zinn calls for people's impeachment hearings to "bypass Congress and restore power and sanity to our government." Zinn quotes from the Declaration of Independence: "Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness), it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government."

There will be a people's impeachment hearing in Greensboro on July 15.

James Quinn
Greensboro