San Rafael couple's 'Mines to Vines' is on the climb

Is this a commercial?

Thank you IJ for a beautiful and inspirational story. We need more of these types of articles showing the good that people do. It makes one stop and think about what is really important on this earth; helping people.

We are not at war with Afganistan. We are theur ally. We are at war the the Talliban and al Qaeda. How did you get a job at a paper and can your editor proof read. what a bunch of crap..........
This is probably a pretty good article but your biased sucks.

It is so typical of rich Marin liberals to be condescending towards Starbucks and McDonalds, as if they are so superior by visiting a Third word country.

By the way, is this like a paid PR ad for the Non-Profit of Gary and Heid Kuhn, or just another vanity award?

Sounds good but I' bet the local drug cartel doesn't like it, and for that matter what ever mob in the US...(and it doesn't have to be Italian). I pray for those farmers that are willing to make the switch. I find this story telling very IRONIC to say the least, but then again what do I know?

It is very true that we are NOT at war with Afghanistan. Shame on the IJ and Mr. Welte for letting such an incendiary sentence into the opening of an otherwise good article.(Maybe it *IS* a PR piece for Mines to Vines, but come ON people, we have better things to do than get upset about PR for a good organization doing good work!) One of those better things is to attempt to get the IJ to issue a retraction on such an offensive concept as saying we are "at war with Afghanistan." This only adds to the confusion so many Americans have about the situation.

First let me say that I do not necessarily even support U.S. military presence there. More Mines to Vines, more Three Cups of Tea, more non-military support of the populations in that part of the world (which are increasingly composed of people under 18) is what will turn around the hatred many of these people feel for us and stem the tide of violent terrorist and terrorism-like actions. Military presence by the U.S. in ANY mid-east region is most likely to engender more hatred of the U.S., not less.

In any case, the U.S. is an ally to Afghanistan's first democratically elected government since 1973. Yes, you may question how valid an election during what is essentially an occupation condition can be, but the new government is undeniably more representative of the Afghani population than the Taliban was. The fact is, whether I like it or not (I don't), that the U.S. military is conducting military operations as an ally in support of Afghanistan's counter-insurgent operations against what is believed to be Al-Qaeda and hold-out Taliban-sponsored elements. And it would be childish to argue that "a country with which the U.S. has been at war since 2001" is just another way of saying that. Of all people, journalists and editors are (or *should* be) the MOST aware of the impact of subtle differences in word and idea formation. The U.S. is NOT at war with Afghanistan. Please!

BGHOZ wrote:

Sounds good but I' bet the local drug cartel doesn't like it, and for that matter what ever mob in the US...(and it doesn't have to be Italian). I pray for those farmers that are willing to make the switch. I find this story telling very IRONIC to say the least, but then again what do I know?

I'm pretty sure that I
was commenting on another article when I posted the previous comment....nothing surprises me.If you are reading my previous post disregard it as far as it relates to this particular article...it's not the one I originally posted on.