Vigilante enforcers of the so- called “culture war” will be targeting the city of Columbus this summer. Operation Save America, the organization that once called itself Operation Rescue and was infamous for its actions targeting abortion clinics, has named Columbus as the target of its week-long national event beginning July 17.

Led by Flip Benham, his loosely-organized band of a few hundred Christian activists from all over the country, who ultimately believe that their version of “God’s law” trumps over 200 years of American secular legal tradition, brought its yearly national event to Dayton seven years ago. Teaming up with local anti-abortion activists there, they attempted to disrupt operations at three women’s clinics there and in Cincinnati, resulting in four arrests, the ire of residents living in nearby neighborhoods, and ultimately, a stalemated Federal civil case against the organizers. They also held a theatrical performance in the middle of downtown Dayton that they called a “memorial service” for what they alleged were fetal remains.

According to Israeli sources (Arutz news), Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated that the Israeli court's decision to ask for rerouting segments of the wall near Jerusalem "strengthens Israel's position ahead of the expected verdict by the International Court of Justice in The Hague which will be announcing its verdict regarding Israel's right to construct the fence. " When taken with the attempts at distraction by talk of future withdrawal from Gaza and combined with the court's earlier ruling that Israel has a right to confiscate Palestinian lands and create hardships for them as long as Israeli military commanders indicate it is related to security, this statement from Sharon uggests that Israel will proceed with its apartheid wall since it now has the stamp of approval from both George Bush, John Kerry, and congress. This monstrous project to impoverish and isolate the Palestinians in several Ghettos is a war crime and a crime against humanity. All people of conscience must protest and raise their voice. Pericles (430 B.C.) observed that "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. " Indeed

AUSTIN, Texas -- Happy birthday, America! Ye Olde Fourth of July rolls around again and finds the Great Nation in, frankly, a somewhat pissy mood. Lots of blame game, name-slinging and general unpleasantness. But there's always an upside. The vice president reports that if you go ahead and let fly with the f-word, it makes you feel better. Anything to get that fun Dick Cheney back to his usual sunny self, I always say.

        True, we seem to have had more halcyon national natal days, but if we ignore I--q for the day, we should be able to celebrate our national heritage without punching each other in the eye.

The Green Party of the United States recognizes that our greatest contribution to peace in the Middle East will come through our impact on U.S. policy in the region. Our commitments to ecological wisdom, social justice, grass-roots democracy, and non-violence compel us to oppose U.S. government support for "friendly" regimes, both in Israel and in the Arab world, whenever those regimes violate human rights, international law, and existing treaties. Those same values compel us to support popular movements for peace and demilitarization, especially those which reach across the lines of conflict to engage both Palestinians and Israelis of good will.

1. We reaffirm the right of self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis, whichprecludes the self-determination of one at the expense of the other. We recognize the historical and contemporary cultural diversity of Israeli-Palestinian society, including the religious heritage of Jews, Christians, Muslims and others. This is a significant part of the rich cultural legacy of all these peoples and must be respected. To ensure this, we supportequality before