Obama Condemns Rev Wright Anti-American Statements

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright situation isn't breaking news to many progressive Christian bloggers, myself included. Some have warned of the danger of Sen Obama being too slow to take a pre-emptive defense on the issue. In January I posted this comment in response to a diary at the Daily Kos website:

There is a good blogpost by progressive Christian A-lister Chuck Currie explaining the swift-boating of Trinity UCC.

Last March [2007], Mr. Currie said:

If Obama is going to let right-wing blogs define for the world the theology of his church and dictate who is and isn't aboard his campaign he might as well pack-up now. The right is "Swift Boating" his church. How he ultimately responds will offer voters insight into how principled his presidency might be.

link

Barack Obama, after all these months, has spoken. At a Huffington Post blog today, he says,

"I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue."

Better late than never.

Anti-War Rally/March in Syracuse Tomorrow

See this diary at Daily Kos for the details.

There will also be a panel discussion at 7:30 pm Saturday evening at Hendricks Chapel on the Syracuse University campus titled "The Peoples’ Response to the Petreaus Report".

Excerpt:


“Soldiers and Civilians Speak Out in Syracuse, New York”
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

New York State Regional Anti-War March & Rally
Saturday, September 29, 2007
1pm Rally – (2:30pm March to Syracuse University – 3:30pm Rally at Walnut Park)
Everson Museum Plaza, 401 Harrison Street, Syracuse, New York

Not since Viet Nam, has such a broad-based, grassroots coalition been formed in New York State to oppose war. Over 59 organizations state-wide have endorsed this action which was initiated by (IVAW) Iraq Veterans Against the War, NY and will be hosted by the Syracuse Peace Council (SPC), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -1199 and Syracuse University’s Student Peace Action Network (SPAN).

As the Bush Administration seeks to extend the war indefinitely and appease citizen opposition with meaningless troop withdrawals, people from throughout Upstate New York—veterans and retirees, workers and students, people from all walks of life—will converge on Syracuse for a mass demonstration against the war,” notes one of the demonstration organizers, Rose Viviano, of the Syracuse Peace Council.

The participants, coming from New York City to Buffalo and all points in between, are united by four demands:
° Bring the troops home now (including private contractors)
° Full health benefits for returning veterans
° Money for jobs, education and healthcare - not occupation
° Reparations to the Iraqi people





~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`



“The Peoples’ Response to the Petreaus Report”

Panel Discussion to be held Saturday, September 29, 2007, 7:30 pm
at Hendricks Chapel, Syracuse University Campus, Syracuse, New York
The panelists will be Scott Ritter, Dr. Dahlia Wafsi, and Jimmy Massey The moderator will be Rev. Dr. Tom Wolfe.


Panelists Bios:

Scott Ritter is noted for his role as a chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and later for his criticism of United States foreign policy in the Middle East. Prior to the US invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, Ritter publicly argued that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). He became a popular anti-war figure and talk show commentator as a result of his stance.


Dr. Dahlia Wasfi was born of a Jewish mother and Iraqi father. She spent her early childhood in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, until she returned with her family to the United States in 1977. In 2004 and 2006 Wasfi visited Iraq to see her family in Basrah and Baghdad. Based on her experiences, she is speaking out against the negative impact of the U.S. invasion on the Iraqi people and the need to end the occupation.

Jimmy Massey is a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the Marines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. After witnessing the brutality of the US military’s retaliation against the growing resistance of the Iraqi people and participating in the unlawful shooting of unarmed protestors he became one of the first non-commissioned officers to report widespread human rights abuses in Iraq. He is a leading pro-soldier, anti-war activist and one of the founding members of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Two Soldier-NYT-OpEd-Authors Dead in Iraq

It is being reported at the group blog Daily Kos that two of the seven soldiers who wrote the August 19, 2007 New York Times op-ed piece criticizing the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy have been killed in Iraq.

Daily Kos writer Brandon Friedman reports:

Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora died Monday in a vehicle accident in Baghdad. The AP has reported on Yance Gray here, and KHOU, a Houston-area TV station has reported on Omar Mora here. Their families have been notified.

I have confirmed through a source in Iraq that these are indeed the same soldiers who penned the op-ed piece.

Gray and Mora, along with five others serving in Iraq, had written these words last August:

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are - an army of occupation - and force our withdrawal.

Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.

To show you an example of how much the right-wing values the opinions of their own brave fellow military personnel, see this August comment from the Free Republic about the New York Times op-ed by a former U.S. infantryman, MNJohnnie:

"Curious, what was the political orientation of these “Soldiers” before they went to Iraq? Who is paying the bills for them to go out and propagandize like this? Could it be they are just the latest in a long line of Democrat Party propaganda stooges?
Amazing how the same people who are so cynical about commerical marketing fall hook line and sinker for this short of political marketing.

But even if they are sincere, which I doubt, they have an ego centric view based on their tiny slice of the battle field. Nothing surprising here that they happened to be in a crappy part of Iraq. However, to look out your window and claim you now understand how the whole world works is absurd and childish. Yet that is what these clowns do.

Interesting isn’t it that these clowns get coverage from the NY Times, yet these guys don’t. Curious, what was the political orientation of these “Soldiers” before they went to Iraq. Who is paying?

I'd assure this bitterly partisan commentator that these troops who he considered to be "absurd childish egocentric clowns" will never be paid enough to get their lives back...lives they sacrificed for our nation in this war that they dared to criticize.

Daily Kos Has Arrived

Markos Moulitsas and Susan Gardner of Daily Kos explain, in an op-ed at the Washington Post, how the mainstream acceptance of the group blog and its many citizen-activist/journalists has occurred and how the DLC, who I believed were advising Democrats wrongly in 2003, has consistently been off the center-mark for which they've represented themselves to be shooting. After seeing regular posters like Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry, and then having seen Governor Eliot Spitzer at Daily Kos last week coming out to support our online community, these words ring true:

A new day is dawning for the progressive movement. The distrust between Net-roots activists and more traditional progressive players in the party establishment and issue groups has given way to respectful cooperation as we all adjust to new technologies and the promise they hold for institutional change.

I've met many of these leaders face to face. They know who I am. They know I'm not a crazy lady who sits in a dark basement with my pajamas on 24 hours a day (well - at least I don't do that every day ;) I've blogged for JohnEdwards.com, I've blogged for my city's online newspaper website, I've blogged for the Clinton Global Initiative Meeting alongside mainstream journalists. The leaders in our Democratic party have welcomed many of us into the center of their professional world and they understand how powerful citizen-activists can be.

A lot of our success, in blogging, has come from the simple fact that we are informed. We commit ourselves to being informed and that, alone, is a powerful tool because it allows us, individually and on a daily basis, to challenge the rhetoric that once slid past the ears of most people and left the discussion concerning the political realities to political junkies and concerned citizens on isolated barstools, street corners, and sitting rooms.

Not so anymore. We now have a home.

Most of us, including myself, aren't paid a thin dime for what we do. Why do we do it? Because we care. When we found one another and committed ourselves to this new community at Daily Kos, we became a force that is just now beginning to be seen for what it's been for the past five years. Under the radar, the idea for a new Democratic citizen superpower was fostered. The new creation has taken on a life of its own.

I'm Iddybud, User # 4869 on Daily Kos. I hear there are well over 100,000 users now, and I'm sure there will be more to follow.

Don't miss Markos Moulitsas on Meet the Press tomorrow morning on NBC.

Mrs. Hamner - I'm So Sorry

"This explosion, I believe, was preventable. And I don't call this an accident. I call this a disaster."

- Debbie Hamner, wife of Sago miner George Hamner.

Something happened in last night's AFL-CIO debate that struck me to my core. As a woman who lost my own Grandfather as a result of too many years and too little worker protections in the coal mines, in spirit, I am with the families of all miners in their sadness and in their quest for the truth. I found immediate empathy for and agreement with the concerns of Debbie Hamner. [See my 2006 posting]. Mrs. Hamner, who lost her husband George in the heart-wrenching Sago Mine disaster in January 2006, was the first to ask a question of the Democratic panel last night at the debate.

Joe Biden was the recipient of Mrs. Hamner's question. I was shocked and disappointed in him when he offered her a brief message of sympathy and then went on to blast out a retort about foreign policy to the other candidates standing with him onstage....as if Mrs. Hamner no longer existed. He never answered her question.

I felt awful for her.

It was a stark symbol of how removed some of these people are from citizens like you and me.

Mrs. Hamner - I'm so sorry.

There have been 26 mining deaths this year, twice the pace of last year in a booming industry. The lone survivor's report told of the despairing men reciting a "sinner's prayer" and penning farewell notes. Do bureaucrats need to hear more before doing their jobs and protecting miners' lives?

- [From May, 2006 NY Times editorial]

UPDATE - SEN. BIDEN ANSWERS MRS HAMNER:

From Daily Kos:

Biden felt bad about not being able to spend more time on the answer, and Keith Olbermann himself admitted some culpability in setting up the whole uncomfortable situation. Check out the video from Wednesday night's Countdown below:

What we've lost in the course of two generations

From a post where Open Left's Chris Bowers worries because he says that the Clinton camp has "twice, in the last week, inaccurately gauged public opinion on a topic as being further to the right than it actually is":

Perhaps I would feel differently if I was from a different generation, but my formative political experiences have largely been about the failure of Democratic and progressive elites in stopping the conservative movement from continuing to rise. We never seem to win, even when we are in elected office. As such, one of the things I am looking for in the Democratic primaries is not only a candidate who can win, but who can reverse that pattern of defeat in governance.

I am from a generation that saw the rise of prominent social figures and political luminaries such as JFK, Rev.MLK Jr., and Bobby Kennedy. And I saw what happened to them and how far their idealism carried them in a hateful, divided nation. Later, I watched my mother as she exuberantly supported Hubert H. Humphrey and how she cried when he lost to Nixon. Still too young to join them, I saw the intelligence, the heart, and the nerve of the flower children in their generation's cause to end another unjust war. I saw college students at Kent State gunned down by our own countrymen for their idealism. I remember the awful images of Vietnam in black and white on my parents' television screen. I remember watching the Watergate hearings with my grandfather during the summer I was about to become a senior in high school and how he, while disgusted yet too intrigued to turn his head away, took the time to explain what was happening to me. In 1976, at the age of 18, I voted for Jimmy Carter in my first election. I saw Ronald Reagan come to power with a new Conservative movement with misled neo-idealists and their leaders who kissed, corrupted, and co-opted Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority.

Where Bobby Kennedy and MLK Jr. were remembered for their risk-filled fight for equality and civil rights of all Men and Women, Ronald Reagan is remembered for smaller government... being at the helm at the end of crumbling communism (with JFK, Carter, and others who set up the whole fall getting little to no credit). Sitting in the Oval Office on a Sunday morning, October 23, 1983 when 241 Americans, most of them U.S. Marines, were killed by a terrorist truck bomb. Still President when Pan Am flight 103 went down because of a terrorist's bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 35 Syracuse University students whose families never saw justice for the deaths of their children - and later were horrified to see George W. Bush make nice with devious Lybian leader Moammer Gahdafhi.


For all of this they wanted to put Reagan's likeness on the American dime.
Go figure.


You know the story from the post-Reagan years. Not too many brilliant profiles in courage-in-leadership, especially not from the Right. I think idealism and vision - the kind of vision that brings real, lasting, and necessary progress and not the kind lobbyists prefer to make - began to die off when they (whoever they may have been if you're a conspiracy theorist) began to literally kill off our most promising visionaries in this nation.


What passed for greatness after that was far from the vision of inspired men and women of the 60s Liberal era. What happened to the vision? Did it die with the murder-tainted innocence of a hopeful era? Do we teach our children to assimilate and not rock the boat because we're afraid for their well-being - - perhaps their very lives?

We think division in this country's something new, but it's not. I just think it's a lot more apparent today because of the expanded news media and the blogosphere.

What I think is particularly damaging is the people who complain about partisanship and label it as the disease that ails America. I believe the pattern of defeat in the Democratic party (pre 2006) was the tendency of Democrats to fall into the false framing of bipartisanship, traditional collegiality, and MSM-pleasing "centrism" (in parentheses because the media hasn't been shooting toward true American center on Iraq if you believe the polls). I use Senator Joe Lieberman's rise, thanks to being voted in by a majority of Connecticut Republicans and who now pushes the Iraq surge and gives lip service to a war in Iran that the majority of Americans say they do not want, as an example of how bipartisanship, by name alone, can be assigned a totally false value over common sense. I regret to see that our leaders (and the MSM who cover the horserace) seem to be regressing after winning a promising 2006 election. They have been far less than visionary and generally get a poor grade on action on ways they've chosen to try to end the Iraq war. "Going right", the direction that Glen Greenwald has caught Hillary Clinton's camp going (and they're not the only ones), is not going to help us bloggers, when MSM gets a hold of it, to convince anyone that our position is not heading toward the left fringe. This gives mouthpieces for the Right like Bill O'Reilly an opportunity to take so many undue potshots at us.

Hunter at Daily Kos can hardly wrap his mind around the audacity of O'Reilly and Fox News calling themselves a news network. I believe that the failure of our own Democrats to be strong in their vision these past five years have emboldened the owners of this new breed of media to think they can "destroy" real people out here on the blogs (like me):

Can you imagine any other news network mounting a multi-pundit jihad against a group of grassroots Americans, merely because they have the audacity to not support the Republicans? Can you imagine any other news network getting themselves into a bitter televised fight with a political community website?

Of course not. Because Fox News isn't "news" at all, and this is yet another example of why they should not be considered a legitimate news network, or even an "opinionated" news network. Actual news networks do not fabricate stories -- Fox News does. Actual news networks do not send pundits out in attempts to punish and/or sabotage grassroots political events of the opposing party -- it would be absurd. Only at Fox News, where a spectacular lack of ethics is after all the cornerstone of the efforts to manipulate the very news itself in order to prop up Republicans, would such things not get you immediately fired.

- Hunter

Nothing will change until our leaders change the tone and stop worrying about MSM's version of "partisanship" and "division".

In this country, it seems that we've always been divided on the things that matter. We're supposed to be a country that can withstand division and diversity of opinion and, out of it, create something that's actually healthy for our democracy. All we've seen these past twenty years are toxic results, a decided lack of vision, and unsatisfactory progress.

I came from a different generation, the one just before Chris Bowers' generation. After all I've seen, I have to ask many of our leaders: Why are we afraid of idealism and leading with bold vision these days? Why is our media money-jaded and controlled by private owners to the point where investigation is cut off in the editors' service of political bedfellows? Why are we made to see so often that they're working against us bloggers? Why do our leaders seem to be afraid? Who are they afraid of? What are they afraid of losing? An election? For all my eyes have seen, I'm afraid the country's losing its very soul.



The man in this video, John Edwards, has the kind of courage and vision I saw in JFK's time and the media is being complicit in framing him as a rich phony with only power in mind.

He says he won't let them shut him up.

I say good!

It's time for courage again.

Is this a returning breed?

Have we finally seen enough of the worthlessness from the empty promise of new conservatism from fat-faced hate-talk radio blatherers..and are we so sick of its vacuous political nature that we are returning to leaders who are looking well past the trees to see what could be possible beyond the forest?

This week at Daily Kos, my Idea Consultant colleague and fellow Spiritual Progressive David Beckwith said it well:

John Edwards is not promising you the world...he is delivering it. What needs being done...he is doing it. People in need cannot wait for him to be president, they need his help right now. And he is getting it to them.

I know of no one who is more deserving of the presidency, since we know he is not serving up empty promises. He is doing the heavy uplifting, and getting many other good and caring souls to help with this Herculean task.

We need an exemplar...especially after punishing the world with Bushworld Inc. Obama and Hillary are great and good people, but John is leading by example, and should be commended, not pejorated and smeared.

It has been said that when someone cares for another person, God cares for them too. Both of them. The caregiver and the recipient. I think most Americans realize that something of the sort is at play, and that caritas is indeed one of the sweetest and noblest acts a person can do.

There are people suffering today...this minute. We cannot wait for an election. Help us help John help people who need it.

Edwards: Atlantic Editor Exposes Media Bias

There have been recent (disturbing) indications that members of the national press corps have employed direct bias against John Edwards in their paid public appearances.

Now blogger/associate editor Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic Online is indicating (through various edited versions of his blogpost) that a good number of the national press corps are predispositioned to be lined up to form a firing squad against John Edwards:

...fairly or unfairly, a healthy chunk of the national political press corps doesn't like John Edwards...

- from the virgin edition of the blogpost by Mr. Ambinder

What I found to be disappointing is that Mr. Ambinder doesn't seem to care to fight against the false (and apparently deliberate) framing of Mr. Edwards and his campaign. (read the entirety of the Daily Kos diary that exposes (even with each revision of the virgin blogpost) Mr. Ambinder's apparent justification for the false framing.

I commented to Mr. Ambinder at the Atlantic website.

Marc wrote:

[Edwards] advances himself as the champion of regular people. His surrogates tout his ability to identify with the concerns of regular people. He goes out of his way to present himself as a regular guy.

This is a tired and misleading concept. The mainstream media needs to get real in their reporting rather than playing in to false frames. There is no such thing in America as a "regular guy" becoming President. It takes a lot of dough...and the same national press corps that rips Edwards apart for seeking to alleviate poverty ignores him for not raising as much money as others. Who are the intellectually dishonest hypocrites, really - Edwards or the press corps who allegedly hate him?

Edwards makes no pretense when he tells the story of coming up from an average (less than affluent) American family and working his way - the hard and honest way - to becoming economically successful. If he wants the same opportunity for others and will govern accordingly, it doesn't make him a liar or a hypocrite about who he is. He has nothing to hide.

The fact (per Marc, who I believe needs to come clean with names) that the national press corps hates Edwards' guts is a real Fourth Estate problem of ethics and fairness.

This could be a key to a much bigger story. Marc, perhaps you could expand on the real story here - which is blatant press corps bias. We all know that the media fancies themselves as Kingmakers. In this case, they appear to be deliberate Kingslayers. They have no right to employ bias in order to set up an American election in a society that we know is so media-saturated. No right.

The first comment under the oft-edited Ambinder Atlantic blogpost says it best:

YOU are the media. If you believe the press is being unfair to John Edwards, do something about it. Don't mask it in "fairly or unfairly" language like you did in your original post.

Who do you know that doesn't like John Edwards and reflects it in their coverage? Out them.


Posted by Anonymous | July 20, 2007 3:55 PM

UPDATE - Jamison Foser has further commentary on media bias vs. Edwards.

...Now, if reporters dislike a candidate, that's their business. But when they wage a relentless and petty campaign to "bury" that candidate, that's our business. All of us.....

Ambinder tells us:

"If you're in politics and you talk about poverty, extra attention will be paid to the manner in which you display your personal wealth"

But why? Why will extra attention be paid to the wealth of the candidate who talks about poverty rather than to the wealth of the candidate who wants to lower taxes for the wealthy? There is no logical reason; nor is there a legitimate emotional reason. Ambinder has already acknowledged there is no hypocrisy at play in the former case. In the latter, there is arguably self-serving greed. So why will "extra attention" be paid? Ambinder doesn't tell us -- he doesn't even seem to think the question needs an answer. Extra attention will be paid because it will be paid. .....

SEE MEDIA MATTERS

John Denver Remembered at Daily Kos

I appreciated "feduphoosier's" diary [link] about John Denver today at the Daily Kos blog, as did many more bloggers at the website. Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times may have panned a theatre production about the 70s-singer called "Almost Heaven", but while employing a tone that was decidedly elitist and condescending toward them, he didn't omit the fact that Denver had many, many fans. As a young girl, John Denver increased my awareness of the good and gracious green of the earth....not the kind of "dollar-green" that is at the center of the intense ideological focus on capitalism that has brought our environment to such dire straits. Seeing what he believed was too much of an apathetic generation of young people, John Denver believed in and worked creatively - in his time and timelessly - to promote the idea that each of us can (and should) participate as individuals to work toward the common goal of a sustainable future, appreciating and safeguarding a healthy environemnt.

"No one person has to do it all but if each one of us follow our heart and our own inclinations we will find the small things that we can do to create a sustainable future and a healthy environment."

John Denver

US Soldier in Iraq: "Just get me out of here."

Spencer Ackerman is implying that, after four disastrous years, most troops on the ground in Iraq still "want to stay and fight". He says that he's found that those "who clearly have a vivid sense of day-to-day rhythms in the conflict continue to keep faith with the war". He asks,

....can we trust civilians in Washington who favor withdrawal to know better?

I'm afraid that Mr. Ackermman is giving us a false choice from what I'm hearing from troops who are actually out there in the blogosphere speaking their mind.

A soldier serving in Iraq who calls himself "Soldier Boy" tugs strongly at our conscience by making this appeal tonight:

I don't even wake up during mortar attacks anymore. I'm tired of the heat, of carrying an M16 everywhere, of listening to the local Iraqi government rep explain why he needs more money to advance a project that's a year behind. I'm tired because I just came off of one shift at the battalion TOC, and have just a few hours downtime until the next one. So I send out this diary, this first post on DailyKos and ask everyone back home, and the people who just voted to keep me here for months more; bring me home.

Hell, just listen to my story from the whole last tour: All Quiet On The Southwest Asian Front One warblog, all yours.


Just get me out of here.

Now, I'm not saying that, on their public face, those in the military may be the last people to believe or want to admit that a war is lost. What I'm saying is that the way they feel, as individual human beings is, "Get us out of here."

Mr. Ackerman says,

The uncomfortable reality is this: nothing in Iraq worth fighting for remains achievable, and nothing achievable in Iraq remains worth fighting for. Democrats have made the decision—rightly, I think—that withdrawing from Iraq is the least bad of many bad options. But they shouldn’t kid themselves into thinking that a majority of the troops doing the fighting agree with them.

I'm saying that, knowing how much these troops are stretched and want to come home, I think this is likely the least of our worries.

Mental Illness: U.S.Needs to Wake Up

A few posts about the Virginia Tech tragedy have grabbed my attention and stayed with me since I first read them.

One is from a professor at Virginia Tech who posted at Daily Kos shortly after the shootings. He was justifiably upset about the way conserative writer Dinesh D'Souza had smacked down the people in our society (and at Virginia Tech) who do not profess a belief in God. The professor's response is a must-read. It was eloquently written and not at all offensive to his fellow citizens who are believers. All he asks is understanding.

D'Souza had written that according to atheists,

..the main characteristic of the universe is pitiless indifference … What this tells me is that if it's difficult to know where God is when bad things happen, it is even more difficult for atheism to deal with the problem of evil. The reason is that in a purely materialist universe, immaterial things like good and evil simply do not exist … Cho’s shooting of all those people can be understood in this way: molecules acting upon molecules.

In his response to such unfair judgment, the professor, who is an atheist, said,

I believe this young man was both sick and vicious, that his actions were both heinous and the result of a phenomenon that we must try to understand precisely so that we can prevent it in future. I have no sympathy for him. Given what he has done, I am not particularly sorry he has spared the world his continued existence; there was no possibility of redemption for him. You think we atheists have difficulty with the concept of evil. Quite the contrary. We can accept a description of this man as evil. We just don’t think that is an explanation. That is why we are exasperated at your mindless demonology.

I responded as follows:

Allow me to add something about D'Souza's "evil" (14+ / 0-)

There is a mental health issue that I believe should arise front and center here and replace the religion-loaded word "evil." Too often, a troubled person's deep psychological scars may seem to have healed over, but the root of a that person's torturous inner life remains living and boiling underneath. Without regular and easily-accessible professional intervention, we can expect anything to happen - from an individual's withdrawl from society to the lashing out with violence that some people - like Dinesh D'Souza - would all too easily classify as "evil" and put away on a shelf.

We can't put this on a shelf.

This will happen again.
No matter how much we pray.

We all have a responsibility to the community in which we live, study, and work. Sometimes we just don't feel that we have time to care, but we must understand that there are people living in our communities who are not faring psychologically well. There are signs that might easily tell you someone's troubled - yet with others it may be only the person's family and closest friends (if they have any) who may know.

In the richest nation on this earth, there is no excuse for having a mental health treatment system that is not easily accessible and affordable to all citizens, and one of which all citizens are encouraged and educated to seek help rather than to be stigmatized for it.

I work in a program in which the curriculum teaches nonviolent conflict resolution skills and emotional literacy to our children in grades 2-8. If this type of program cound be implemented in all schools, I'm not saying that a tragedy such as this one could have been prevented, but it can only help our society to give all of its children the tools they need to be self-aware and to make sound and healthy decisions towards others. I've never met an "evil" child, but I surely have seen some who need psychological help desperately.

____________________________


The other diary was written by poster named poligirl at the John Edwards 2008 blog. She was brave, in my opinion, to share some very private and personal information in order to drive home the point that America needs to wake up and realize that doing more as a society to understand mental illness will help prevent many tragedies that take place today.

We need to do more as a society to understand mental illness. We need to do more as a society to give treatment for mental illness parity with regular health care. We need to pour more research into this treatment; one of the biggest complaints is that some of the medications have such unbearable side effects that many times, people quit taking them and go back to whatever substance had become their crutch. We need to not treat mental illness as something shameful; that shame alone prevents so many people from seeking help as well as stops possibly concerned friends and family members, co-workers, fellow students and teachers from broaching the subject with the person or their family. We need to learn the signs so we can be a source of support for those we know who might be going through it; they need to know that it's ok, they're not alone, there is help. We need to stop using words such as "psycho" and "deranged" about people suffering with mental illness - they only serve to feed the stigma. Mental illness is not crazy; it's just another illness like all the rest. We need to wake up America, and realize that there is something we can do to help prevent many tragedies that take place today.

_________________________


There is one more op-ed that I read in my local paper (Syracuse Post Standard) titled 'Evil' or mental illness? by Joyce Gramza that makes a similar point about the words we (and the media) use to distance ourselves from the reality of mental illness:

I'm yelling whenever the talking heads call the gunman angry, hostile, cold-blooded, evil. Or a strange, weird loner who "snapped."

These words are so easy to confuse with mental illness, but be advised, they are most likely useless for describing the world, emotions or experience of the delusional gunman.

I agree with my spouse that these words are distancers, and that when the media uses them, it contributes to society's fear and collective distancing of ourselves from the insanity that can strike any of us, so we prefer to ignore it in our midst until and unless it can't be ignored.

I hope you will take some time out of your busy day and read these op-eds and diaries. The writers, in my opinion, have something very important to tell us.

Thank You, Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman has reassured my faith in sanity today by admitting that he sees something I've also been seeing for quite some time.

..a funny thing has happened on the Democratic side: the party’s base seems to be more in touch with the mood of the country than many of the party’s leaders.

Let me ask you, why should it be, as Mr. Krugman puts it, that "reluctant Democratic politicians are being dragged by their base into taking highly popular positions?"

It seems as if we're living in a society (and a political atmosphere) where the flow of public information made most easily available over the airwaves (by leaders and media)and the information that we get from the carefully-edited newspapers is set up to be off-base and misleading first - and the challenge is left to the least powerful (least corporate-sponsored) voices to fight the misleadings with what most of us have naturally (and long ago) come to a consensus as seeing as "true."

That is so twisted.

It's hard to believe that "Beltway insiders .. still don’t seem to realize how overwhelmingly the public has turned against President Bush." Yet, Mr. Krugman gives solid examples of those who are still lost in the alabaster castle-world of Washington D.C.

Mr. Krugman is correct. We were (and should have been) infuriated when Barack Obama (the "rock star") seemed to say that he would support an Iraq war funding bill without a timeline while only the few Freeper-type supporters of the Bush war say they believe Congress should allow war funding without a time limit. For someone who's bragging that he didn't support the Iraq war, I'm not bowled over by Senator Obama's hesitancy to put an end to the farce now that he has great power in his hands.

Mr. Krugman is coreect in saying that John Edwards is the only Democratic candidate who's offered a real-world, solid plan and path for universal healthcare. Where are the others? (nyceve asked the question today at Daily Kos).

Krugman ends his column is advising against the odd (anti-center) caution being displayed by Democrats in the halls of Congress.

Republicans will, for a while at least, be trapped in unpopular positions by a base that’s living in the past. Rudy Giuliani’s surge into front-runner status for the Republican nomination says more about the party than about the candidate. As The Onion put it with deadly accuracy, Mr. Giuliani is running for “President of 9/11.”

Democrats don’t have the same problem. There’s no conflict between catering to the Democratic base and staking out positions that can win in the 2008 election, because the things the base wants — an end to the Iraq war, a guarantee of health insurance for all — are also things that the country as a whole supports. The only risk the party now faces is excessive caution on the part of its politicians. Or, to coin a phrase, the only thing Democrats have to fear is fear itself.

I want to thank Mr. Krugman for causing me to feel - what is the word - Justified? Vindicated? Correct? ... for simply stating on a daily basis what my conscience has told me is the right thing to do and say.

John Edwards Proposes Changes Toward Good Government

Good Government Should Help Economic System So Good Times Benefit Everyone

John Edwards believes that markets should serve people, not the other way around.

Senator Edwards expects that, in a Working Society, Americans who receive any form of assistance from the government should be willing to work and should be given the opportunity to work. Building on that idea, Edwards believes that the "other America" - the one that reaps the rewards off the backs of those who work so hard for a halfway decent lifestyle - is Bushworld, is unjust, and must be changed.

Corporate social responsibility is key to the new Working Society. Rather than existing in a bitter political atmosphere where corporations are distrusted, CEOs of corporations MUST be leaned on, by a leader who understands that a corporation EXISTS to survive and in truth, cares little for society, to be accountable, through regulation if necessary, to become a SOLUTION to the problems of the Working Society rather than the chief and central PROBLEM. The rigid political rhetoric of the past - no new taxes; no corporate regulation, etc - must change if a healthy democracy and a successful Working Society will be able to emerge. We have to find a better way of talking about the issues focusing on corporate America having to be part of the solution - or face more regulation. (Especially when it comes to environmental issues).

Alleviating Poverty is not Charity

As a new kind of populist, Edwards makes the all-important point that alleviating poverty is not a charity issue. The Bush administration has beaten the drums of faith-based charity being a more effective poverty-crusher than "the bureaucracy." Faith-based charity is a very good thing for this country, but it should certainly not be the primary pathway to poverty alleviation. Why? Because alleviating global poverty is key to so many other issues - especially national security in the current fear-stained era of what the right wing has unjustly capitalized upon as "global terror". All along, the Bush administration has silenced those who could put two and two together, acknowledging that poverty and economic injustice were factors in the Middle East and eventually brought 911 to our doorstep. Anyone who dared mention the fact after 911 was told to shut up and watch what they say. There were many truths we turned our knowing heads away from in those days.

Alleviating poverty is not a charity issue.

Related discussion by David Mizner at Daily Kos

NH Voters Call For Audacity of Action on Healthcare

Dr. Alfred Adler said:

"Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement."

Big words from our Presidential candidates must accompany a map to certify, for the sake of our trust, the promise of creative action that is meant NOT to fix, but to destroy the current healthcare system that is so badly broken. No more filling pot holes that multiply and become deeper by the day.

nyceve at Daily Kos writes about New Hampshire voters. They're demanding 'audacity of action' on healthcare.


Note: The Photo above, translated, says: Actions Speak Louder Than Words.

NY25: Dan Maffei Announces 2008 Run

According to Cuse Dem at Daily Kos:

Dan Maffei, who last November came within 3,000 votes of upsetting 18-year incumbent James Walsh in NY-25, announced his candidacy for the Syracuse-area Congressional seat today in a letter to supporters and friends.

Dan did a great job with little DCCC support for most of the campaign, surprising all prognosticators who saw Walsh, who ran unopposed in '04, as unbeatable. Maffei is a great, energetic guy who is a strong progressive, and with our help can pick off another Northeast swing seat.

Check out his website at http://www.DanMaffei.com , read his blog and get involved with the campaign. He's got the experience (staffer for Senators Bill Bradley and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, House Appropriations Committee) and the fresh, new ideas that the people of Central New York are craving after over nine terms of Rep. Walsh.

Friends,


I want to first thank you for all the support and well wishes you have offered me both before last year's election and over the last few months. Our collective efforts certainly changed the political landscape here in New York's 25th Congressional District! Upstate New York is ready for a new direction. That's why I have decided to finish our hard work and am seeking to be our next Congressman in 2008!


To begin the process, I have filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission so that we can start to gather the support and resources necessary to run and win. While this filing is but the very first small step toward victory, it follows the huge leap that we made in 2006 thanks to your help. Thanks to generous contributions and efforts from so many of you, we were able to come out of political nowhere, and, with a message of change and new leadership, to nearly unseat an entrenched 18-year incumbent who had no major party opposition in 2004!


Together, we shook the political establishment by coming within 1½ percent of defeating Congressman Walsh. That's an impressive accomplishment, but there is still much to do. This area of Upstate New York is still exporting too many jobs and young people and not enough goods and services. Congressman Walsh wants to start his third decade in Congress without offering any new ideas or leadership to help change the direction of this area for the better. Furthermore, in an attempt to keep what was once an unchallenged stranglehold on what he sees as "his seat" in Congress, he has played both sides of many issues.


For example, he voted FOR and than AGAINST limits on U.S. military involvement in Iraq, AGAINST and than FOR new rights for workers, and FOR and then AGAINST raising the minimum wage. Flip-flopping is not the same thing as being more moderate. And changing one's image to match public opinion polls is not real leadership.


It's clear we still need change, and the opportunity for change couldn't be better in the presidential election year of 2008 in a district where the Democratic candidate for president won in both 2000 and 2004. After long discussions with Abby and my family and close advisors, I am committed to working hard to earn your support and the support of the voters for 2008.


I will need your help again. Please consider contributing early. I learned in the last campaign that every dollar contributed early (and the earlier the better) helps bring about many more dollars later on. Your generosity helped make my candidacy so competitive in 2006 and I thank you. I hope I can count on you once again.


Thank you very much!


Sincerely,
Dan Maffei


DanMaffei.com

Related Posts:




From Dan Maffei's Community Blog:

Questioning the Proposed Jamesville Coal Plant - March 5, 2007

Senator Clinton pointed this out last week in Volney where the old Miller Brewery is being turned into an ethanol facility starting by converting corn kernels but reportedly with the capacity to develop into the more energy efficient cellulosic ethanol manufacturing. In addition, we have Auburn Biofuels developing a biodiesel plant in Cayuga County, Siemens developing a willow gasification plan in Onondaga County, and we have windmill farms in Madison County and on the Tug Hill plateau with perhaps more on the way.

However, not every new high-tech energy project is necessarily a good thing for our environment or our economy. All of the above projects will be subject to public scrutiny and their developers need to be prepared to answer questions. But the most troubling questions involve a proposal by Empire Synfuel (not to be confused with Empire Biofuels) to build a “coal gasification” facility in Jamesville - literally a stone’s throw from the grounds of Jamesville Elementary School.

Time for a ‘Binding’ Debate on Iraq - Feb 9, 2007

In a world where the tragic death of a model gets more news coverage than a debate over war and America’s place in the world, we are in danger of allowing the debate on the troop surge to eclipse the real issue about when to bring home our 130,000 plus troops in Iraq. We citizens have to keep the pressure on. If we let our elected representatives claim they agree with us and then do not look at their actions, our representatives – Republican and Democrat – might try to avoid taking any true action to bring our brave soldiers home.

Closing Canandaigua VA is Disservice to Veterans - Feb 28, 2007

..as the new Congress started, my opponent, re-elected by just about a 1½ percent margin, chose to leave the VA subcommittee for a different subcommittee (and the change in congressional leadership means he is no longer chairman of anything). So much for his commitment to Upstate New York Vets or our VA facilities. And now, despite his indications during the 2006 campaign that his supposed clout would help, the Bush Administration is shutting down the acute psychiatric unit at the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Veterans in Central and Western New York are upset and with good reason.

Will Katie Ever Ask Gingrich About His Choices?

Suzie Madrak has a great column at Huffington Post about those who choose to either judge the Edwards or put them in a position, a la Katie Couric where they were made to feel as if they are in need of defending themselves against a barrage of ignorance. What could have been a shining moment for Ms. Couric was dulled by undue cynicism.

I left a comment at the New York Daily News today, only to be dismayed to see it had been scrubbed from the website for unknown reasons. No one wrote to me to tell me why they erased or lost the comment that had taken me so much time and thought to post. I was responding to a person who was passing shame-judgment upon the Edwards' personal choices and decision:

To the 'retired teacher' - your judgment of "shame" upon the Edwards is totally off-base and I'll tell you why. Mrs. Edwards means what she says when she says she wants her husband to be in the White House where he belongs. What good is a life not lived to the fullest? This is what she wants! We are gifted with one life, and Elizabeth's life is shining and full. She is not enamoured with the thought of languishing. You say "some people don't have a choice at a time like this"....and that makes no sense. Of course they have a choice - and they have made it with love and devotion to one another, with their eye on the fulfillment of their vision and their hearts filled with commitment to our nation. In the novel "Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther, there is a line that says, "I have so much to do! And there's so little time!" We can all relate to this, but there's no one who can relate better than a person who knows their time is precious. Elizabeth's time is precious and she's determined to do what she wants with the rest of her beautiful life. Who are any of you to place your own assumptions and values onto her choices? You can either respect her choice or not..but you have no right to shame the husband who adores her and shares a vision with his beloved partner.

Lydia Cornell causes me to wonder if Newt Gingrich will ever be asked about his personal and conscious choice to abandon his wife when she was faced with a battle against cancer. Now there's question I'll bet Katie won't be asking anytime soon! The corporate taskmasters likely wouldn't allow it. Jerry Falwell praises the character of the louse. Don't you just love double standards?


Benny is reporting about South Carolina leaders who are getting on the Edwards train.

UPDATE: Sen. and Mrs. Edwards Say Couric "Tough But Fair"

John Edwards for President Statement on the Edwardses' Interview with Katie Couric:

Chapel Hill, North Carolina - John Edwards for President Deputy Campaign Manager Jonathan Prince released the following statement today following criticism of Katie Couric for her interview with Senator and Mrs. Edwards. The interview, which took place on Saturday and lasted 90 minutes, aired last night on 60 Minutes.

"The Edwardses appreciated the opportunity 60 Minutes afforded them to respond to tough questions which have been raised in response to last week's diagnosis that Mrs. Edwards' cancer had returned. Mrs. Edwards also called Ms. Couric today to thank her for the interview and to say that she and Senator Edwards thought theinterview was both thorough and fair."

During a roundtable today in San Francisco to discuss his plan to halt global warming, Senator Edwards was asked about the matter and said: "My reaction was that Katie Couric asked questions that the American people are asking themselves, and I think they were completely legitimate questions. And I think the American people deserve answers from me and from Elizabeth to those questions. I mean, I'm asking America to support me and vote for me as their next president, and I think part of the evaluation of a candidate for president is a personal evaluation of the character and integrity and honesty of a candidate. So, no, I thought the questions were fair. Tough. I thought they were tough, but they were fair."

I had a very different view from "out here," but the Edwardses have responded with grace, as always. Ms. Couric was markedly "kinder" on the CBS News this evening, [someone at Daily Kos referred to it as "pooper scooper" coverage indicating the need for salvage]. Couric devoted much more careful coverage to the Edwards campaign, although today's Cleveland stop by Elizabeth was still not handled with a fair journalistic hand in my opinion. According to MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, CBS has received at least 12,000 e-mails complaining about Sunday night's Couric interview.

Headlines - Libby Trial Juror Dismissed, Mistrial Averted

Libby Trial- Juror Dismissed

Aldon Hynes is covering the Scooter Libby trial in D.C. this week. You can read the blow by blow at his Orient Lodge.

People are already talking about mistrial. How many jurors were tainted? Is it enough to make a fair verdict unlikely?

Another comment, I don’t know why they didn’t sequester these guys.

Current court room chatter is that someone heard a joke on late night TV and repeated it to the other jurors.

Meanwhile, a reporter asks me about my blog and wishes for the freedom that we bloggers have.

Update/Daily Kos: Potential Mistrial In Libby Trial Averted


Iraq

Kevin Hayden - Why Al Sadr? - The NY Times provided a multi-author overview of Moqtada Al-Sadr today that describes his efforts at the current juncture in this long war that I consider a must-read. [..] While friendly to Iran, he’s known to be a nationalist that doesn’t want Iraq’s government to be Iran’s puppet. Nor does he want it to be America’s puppet. [..] considering that Al-Sadr had no past of anti-American animosity and the circumstances he’s had to contend with since, defending a population where unemployment rates have ranged from 33% to 60%, I have to admit he’s impressed me greatly. He’s navigated amid sharks, he’s had SCIRI, the Sunnis, Al Qaeda, the US military and Bush aiming at him. And he’s survived. As one of the two most popular figures in the country. [..] I still think, if he’s negotiated with without betrayal, he may hold some keys that can unlock progress towards a functional country...



John Edwards, 2008 Candidates

Quote of the Day:

Whoever blogged for Edwards was signing up for a lot of bad hair days, and it wasn't going to be me.

Lindsay Beyerstein of Majikthise, from a Salon.com article titled Why I Refused to Blog for John Edwards

At Daily Kos, David Mizner is saying that John Edwards is doing something important. "It’s so important that it’s eluded the attention of the political press. While pundits handicap the horserace and assess hairstyles, Edwards is quietly yet thoroughly rejecting the economic philosophy that’s dominated the Democratic Party for the last fifteen years."

My comment:

We cannot forget that this is a time when the percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, with millions of working Americans falling closer to the poverty line. This is a time when the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen. The plight of the severely poor in this country is a truth that cannot be discounted, especially given the most recent economic expansion.

Ask yourself what's wrong with the picture. Sound economic theory would lead you to believe that governments should run a surplus in good times and a deficit in bad times. Game-playing with politics has warped sound economic theory. An overwhelming deficit has been run up in recent years, disproportionate to the "comeback" rate of economic expansion. Overall, in the past 15 years of continuous economic growth in this country, we've had too few years of government surpluses to show for it. It's time for new thinking and some moral leadership on the issue of how we should deal with the economy. Rubin and the entire Clinton administration worked hard to balance the budget and should be commended for what they did in their time. We can't depend on the shaky economic structures that once brought us stock market bubbles and Enrons to solve the problem of millions of Americans who've sunk into deep poverty. If that is what we are leaning upon because we have a fetish about balancing our budget, we're missing an opportunity for finding a lasting solution that keeps us on solid ground while we raise others up - n a way that raises all of us up.

American health care spending is nearly twice what other developed countries spend as a percentage of GDP. Edwards is laying it on the line for us. We can keep playing political games that provide a temporary and pretty frame for budget-balancing "success" or we can make meaningful change in the way we approach justice, equality, and opportunity when we consider our approach to the budgets. This is a new day.

Books

In The Shadows: Unknown Craftsmen of Bengal - For her new book, In The Shadows: Unknown Craftsmen of Bengal, Payal Mohanka chose six villages which made products like wigs, lights, polo-balls, boats, shuttlecocks and jeans. Each of the villages featured in the book were involved in making one of the products. The craftsmen, she says, have been passing on their skills to the next generation, trying to keep alive a family tradition despite their abject poverty. It is these products that give these villages an identity. [..]“Most people associate poverty with lack of skill, yet the villagers are so skillful. There is such a contrast between what they make and resemble," said Nobel Laureate, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who recently helped to launch the book. [link]


Former Child Soldier Haunted by Past - Sierra Leone emerged from the 11-year war in 2002. Beah visited the country last year, and was dispirited to see how little had changed. There's still a great deal to rebuild and tremendous poverty. Beah says the political corruption worries him most, because it's often a prelude to more conflict.


Other

AP: Scholars Criticize New Jesus Documentary -
Archaeologists and clergymen in the Holy Land derided claims in a new documentary produced by James Cameron that contradict major Christian tenets, but the Oscar-winning director said the evidence was based on sound statistics.[..] "The Lost Tomb of Christ," which the Discovery Channel will run on March 4, argues that 10 ancient ossuaries -- small caskets used to store bones -- discovered in a suburb of Jerusalem in 1980 may have contained the bones of Jesus and his family, according to a press release issued by the Discovery Channel.[..] One of the caskets even bears the title, ''Judah, son of Jesus,'' hinting that Jesus may have had a son. And the very fact that Jesus had an ossuary would contradict the Christian belief that he was resurrected and ascended to heaven.

to be cont'd

Edwards Supports Blogosphere on CNN

2008 presidential candidate John Edwards appeared on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and talked about the Iraq war. His comprehensive proposal to enact a plan that will bring an end to the war can be read here.

At the 5-minute mark, Wolf Blitzer asks Senator Edwards about the "blogger saga" - the non-scandal the right-wing has tried so hard to malleate into a bullet to be shot to the heart Edwards campaign. If you listen to Senator Edwards speak supportively of and impressively about the blogosphere and its strong role in the future of American politics, you'll see that the right-wing missed whatever target they had in mind.

You may wish to see a discussion that I generated at JohnEdwards.com if you wish to see my take on the whole deal. (Several people have asked me about this.)



Senator Edwards also has made a recent statement on trade negotiations with South Korea.

Benny has the latest news from the Edwards campaign.

'The House' at Daily Kos really liked what Senator Edwards had to say (and how he said it) on Bill Maher's show last night. 'The House' says:

Listening to John Edwards makes me feel good about paying attention to politics.

Libby Trial Reveals Likely Conscious Effort to Out CIA

Update on the Scooter Libby trial. It appears that Patrick Fitzgerald did an adept job of developing his case against Scooter Libby in the context that Libby was covering for others in what is getting harder each day to believe, in light of testimony being presented, that there wasn't a conscious and likely malicious group effort to out a covert CIA employee (Valerie Plame, wife of Joseph R. Wilson IV). Libby's defenses are systematically being laid to waste.

Today, former WH Press Secretary Ari Fleischer became the first Bush administration official to have testified under oath to have known Valerie Wilson's maiden name -- the name under which she worked as a covert agent -- before Robert Novak announced it to the world in his Chicago Sun-Times column.

Former State department deputy Richard Armitage says he told Novak about Plame's identity on July 8. Armitage wasn't charged, allegedly because he didn't know Plame was covert. He said that he learned about Plame from a classified memo that did not mention that she was undercover.

Ari Fleischer will admit that he knew Plame's last name on July 7, the day before.

Worse, a commentator at Daily Kos today reveals this nugget:

This meeting with Libby was the FIRST TIME EVER that Libby had asked to [have lunch] with Ari. Not very good for Scooter's "this Plame thing was so insignificant that I honestly just forgot about where I heard her name" defense.

Hmmmm.....and Michael Isikoff is reporting that

Libby told him not just that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, but that she worked at the counter-proliferations division. That was a particular detail that is significant to people who know about the CIA. The counter-proliferations division is in the Director of Operations. That's the secret arm of the CIA. It's the most sensitive arm of the CIA. Something that Libby and his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, very well knew. They knew the CIA like the back of their hands.

While Novak has defensively claimed that he committed no 'great crime' by outing the CIA employee's full name, he has also averred that he was not the recipient of a planned leak, and I'm certainly not convinced, when looking at the big picture, that there is a fullness of truth to Mr. Novak's latter comment. He could not possibly be an authoritative witness to "intent." I don't have a clue how he could be an authority on that statement at all.

Marcy Wheeler has live coverage of the Fleischer testimony at Firedoglake.

Kevin Aylward has some more on the trial today.
*Warning - the comments below his posting from blog participants have amazingly little to actually do with the facts - or even the trial itself.

Quote from Fleischer, regarding some information he passed to the press while they waited on the side of a road in Uganda - about who sent Ambassador Wilson to Niger (naming his wife and the fact that she worked for CIA):

I never would have thought this was classified. never in my wildest dreams believed this involved, as I've read since, this involved a covert officer.

...If you think about it, Ari Fleischer wasn't initimately involved in National Security issues (including making visits to the CIA as a particular VICE PRESIDENT and his staff did). In my opinion, there's no reason Ari would necessarily be charged with possessing the same level of knowledge about the fine distinctions about the CPD [Counterproliferation Division] in terms of what constituted "classified" employment. Yet, it seems he was anxious to get that information out to the press....feeling pressured, perhaps?

Bring The Troops Home Legislation Unveiled

Jonathan Tasini is reporting some breaking news at Daily Kos about brand new Bring The Troops Home legislation coming from the House.

At 2 p.m. Eastern today, Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee (co-chairs of Progressive caucus, which has roughly 64 members) and Maxine Waters (chair of Out of Iraq Caucus, roughly 74 members) are introducing comprehensive End the War legislation, answering Bush's challenge that Democrats provide alternative proposals (the announcement will come in the House Radio/TV Gallery). It's called The Bring the Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act.

It's important to note the caucuses that are supporting the legislation. The sheer number of those caucus members who are already backing the legislation is impressive.

UPDATE: Congresswoman Lynne Woolsey's diary is now up at Daily Kos:
This bill's for you: "The Bring Our Troops Home and Sovereignty of Iraq Restoration Act of 2007"

The Congress has already appropriated funding that will support our troops and keep this occupation going for at least another six months. That funding instead should be used to finance an aggressive withdrawal plan that brings our troops home to their families. Our bill would do exactly that.

Our plan will also...

1 Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq within six months from date of enactment.

2 Prohibit any further funding to deploy, or continue to deploy U.S. troops in Iraq. The bill does, however, allow for funding to be used, as needed, to ensure a safe withdrawal of all US military personnel and contractors, diplomatic consultations. Funding may also be used for the increased training and equipping of Iraqi and international security forces.

3 Accelerate, during the six month transition, training of a permanent Iraqi security force.

4 Authorize, if requested by the Iraqi government, U.S. support for an international stabilization force. Such a force would be funded for no longer than two years, and be combined with economic and humanitarian assistance.

5 Guarantee full health care funding, including mental health, for U.S. veterans of military operations in Iraq and other conflicts.


In addition the bill would:

6 Rescind the Congressional Authorization for the War in Iraq.

7 Prohibit the construction of permanent US military bases in the country.

8 Finally, we believe that Iraqi oil belongs to the Iraqis. Once the oil is in the international market, the U.S. will certainly have access to our share. That’s why our bill ensures that the U.S. has no long-term control over Iraqi oil.

Our plan, with the exception of Veterans’ benefits, will cost the American people pennies on the dollar as compared to continuing the occupation for two more years. It will save lives, bodies, and minds, and it will give Iraq back to the Iraqis. It is an important step in regaining our credibility in the region and throughout the world, and provides the President, and this Congress, with a comprehensive way to respond to the majority of Americans who want our troops to come home.

I will update this diary thoughout the day when we have a bill number, as well as when we are able to get the text of the bill online. You have remained at the forefront of opposing this war from the beginning, and you have held those in Washington accountable. Thank you for all that you have done, and thank you for helping me to get this bill approved.

In solidarity,

-Lynn

John Edwards: The Campaign to Change America

Preparing to officially announce his intention to run for President in 2008 from New Orleans, Louisiana this morning, [NOLA live blogging] Senator John Edwards spoke to about 20 online supporters last night on a teleconference call. He thanked them for their online participation, web coverage and support over the past year and appealed to them to help motivate others in what he promised to be a grassroots campaign. His message to them and to all concerned, motivated, and interested Americans is shown on the following YouTube video.



In an email sent this evening, Senator Edwards outlines his goals and hopes for his 2008 campaign:

I'm announcing here because no place better demonstrates the two Americas I've talked about for a long time. But even more important, no place better demonstrates the power people have when they -- not Washington -- take responsibility and take action to build the America we believe in.

I'm running to ask millions of Americans to take responsibility and take action to change our country and ensure America's greatness in the 21st century.

And I'm asking you to play a crucial role in this campaign.

Last week I asked if you were ready to take our effort to change America to the next level. Thousands of letters have come in, and the answer was an overwhelming yes -- we're in this together.

That's why I'm asking you to help spread the word in your area by holding your own local "Citizens' Launch" event tomorrow. It just takes a few minutes to set up, and anyone can do it.

Click here to download a step-by-step guide and everything you need to hold your own Citizens' Launch this week.

We know what we need to do. Changing our country means:

Providing moral leadership in the world -- starting with Iraq, where we should begin drawing down troops, not escalating the war
Strengthening our middle class and ending the shame of poverty
Guaranteeing health care for every single American Leading the fight against global warming
Getting America and the world to break our addiction to oil

That's not just my vision –- it's our vision. And we can't wait for the next president to take office to begin fundamentally changing our country.

And the truth is, we don't have to wait. Since I left Washington, I've seen firsthand the power that ordinary people have when we work together.

We worked with thousands of volunteers to raise the minimum wage in six states – and we got it done. We're making the first year of college free for young people in Greene County, North Carolina. And we've been working from the grassroots up to organize workers so they can stand up for their rights and earn a decent living.

And this week in New Orleans, I've been working with young people who gave up part of their Christmas vacation to work on rebuilding and helping those in need -- just like the hundreds of college students who came here to work with me during their Spring Break earlier this year.

This is the kind of commitment to solving our problems that I've seen time and time again over the last two years – and it reaffirms one of the great lessons of my whole life. The power of America doesn't lie in Washington; the true power of America is in the people of America.

That's why we're getting ready to launch a campaign that says to everyone who wants to take responsibility for our future: we can't wait until tomorrow. We must act now.

Tomorrow begins today.

The Next President Will Be A Podcaster
Podcasting News
December 27, 2006

Podtech’s Robert Scoble is on his way to New Orleans to cover John Edward’s Thursday announcement that he will be running for President. The Edwards event is significant, not only for Edward’s announcement, but for Edward’s understanding of the increasing importance of Internet media.

Edwards is arguably the most Net-savvy of likely candidates. He has been actively courting the interest of bloggers and podcasters. Earlier in this year, Edwards attended Gnomedex, a conference that focuses on technology and independent publishing, seeking attendees’ input on how politicians should use Internet media. Edwards was also one of the first politicians to have his own podcast.

Democrat jumps gun in announcing presidential ambition
Guardian Unlimited, UK - 58 minutes ago
John Edwards, the Democratic party's candidate for vice-president in the 2004 elections, will make a second run at the White House, his campaign said yesterday ...

The secret Scoble mission revealed
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - 20 hours ago
Tech Chronicles has confirmed with Robert Scoble that he's embarking on an out-of-state trip into the world of politics: He's been invited to help former ...

Edwards Announces and a Birthday Present
by WeDemocrats
Daily Kos
December 28, 2006

Well John, here is one Democrat who welcomes you with open arms, who thinks its time this country woke up to the fact that we need a regular guy in the Whitehouse.

While I won’t speak for the membership of the WeDemocrats.org group, they will decide that at our Annual Meeting in June, I will as of this moment give you my personal endorsement for what its worth.

Thanks for the birthday present!

Ron McBride
Founder & Chairman
www.WeDemocrats.org

Bloggers enter the political sphere
San Francisco Chronicle, USA - 6 hours ago
Some of the blogosphere's movers and shakers are leading the charge to support the candidacy of John Edwards, who took the unusual step of pre-announcing his ...

Edwards Joins Presidential Race
ABC News - 6 hours ago
Former US Sen. John Edwards works in the yard of a home that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Bill Haber). ...

John Edwards’ YouTube Candidacy
NewTeeVee, CA - 7 hours ago
As blogosphere watchers already knew, John Edwards is making no small plans to conduct a lot of his expected 2008 campaign for President online. ...

At a glance: Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
Kansas City Star, MO - 1 hour ago
AP. FAMILY: Wife, Elizabeth Anania Edwards (married 1977); daughters Cate, 24, and Emma Claire, 8; son Jack, 6. Edwards' 16-year-old ...

Edwards to launch presidency bid
BBC News, UK - 3 hours ago
John Edwards, the vice-presidential running mate to Democrat candidate John Kerry in 2004, is to announce a new run for the White House on Thursday. ...

John Edwards Version 2.008
The Nation., NY - 7 hours ago
The John Edwards who today announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination is a very different contender from the fresh-faced young senator ...

Edwards plans to toss hat in ring
Los Angeles Daily News, CA - 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON - On Thursday, John Edwards is planning to announce what has been clear to much of the world since the end of the last presidential election: He is ...

Edwards launches new...
Boston Globe, United States - 5 hours ago
Senator John Edwards will indeed announce a second presidential bid in New Orleans, a spokeswoman confirmed to the Associated Press Wednesday afternoon. ...

Edwards' Web site jumps gun on presidential run
CNN - 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) -- His campaign says Democrat John Edwards plans to make another run for the White House. John Kerry's former running ...

Edwards campaign accidentally reveals '08 bid early
USA Today - 5 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for US president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday. ...

Democrat John Edwards to Announce 2008 US Presidential Bid
Bloomberg - 5 hours ago
By Nicholas Johnston. Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, ...

John Edwards' campaign says he's running for president: AP
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
By Gabriel Madway. SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- John Edwards is running for president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday ...

Edwards Likely to Try for Democratic Presidential Nomination
New York Times, United States - 6 hours ago
By CQ Staff. By Marie Horrigan and Bob Benenson, CQ Staff. John Edwards is expected to announce his second try for a Democratic presidential ...

Edwards to try fresh run for president in 2008
The West Australian, Australia - 51 minutes ago
Former US senator and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards is expected to today announce a new bid for the White House in 2008, his ...

Edwards Throws Hat in 2008 Ring
Prensa Latina, Cuba - 3 hours ago
Washington, Dec 27 (Prensa Latina) Former Democratic Senator John Edwards (North Carolina) announced his intention to be the US Democratic presidential ...

Campaign: Democrat John Edwards Will Run For President Again
WCSH-TV, ME - 4 hours ago
His campaign says Democrat John Edwards plans to make another run for the White House. John Kerry's former running mate had planned ...

Edwards to run for president
Hattiesburg American, MS - 4 hours ago
AP. WASHINGTON – Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time, his campaign said Wednesday. ...

John Edwards' Website Lets The Campaign Out Of The Bag
All Headline News - 4 hours ago
Washington, DC (AHN) - Even though it's been a pretty poorly kept secret, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards' website has spilled the beans about his ...

John Edwards to Enter Presidential Race
TransWorldNews (press release), GA - 4 hours ago
Advisors from John Edwards’ campaign revealed that the former Senator from North Carolina would be entering the 2008 presidential race. ...

It's Official: John Edwards Is Definitely Running For President
TPMCafe, NY - 5 hours ago
By Greg Sargent | bio. You knew this was coming, but still, it's now official: John Edwards is definitely running for President. ...

It's official: Edwards to run for president
News 14 Carolina, NC - 5 hours ago
By: AP. WASHINGTON -- WASHINGTON -- Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards' campaign says he's running for president for a second time. ...

On eve of expected campaign launch, Edwards shovels in NO
KATC, LA - 5 hours ago
NEW ORLEANS -- John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee, turned back questions about his expected run for the ...

BREAKING NEWS: John Edwards will Run for President
Christian Broadcasting Network, VA - 6 hours ago
AP. CBNNews.com -- WASHINGTON -- Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time ...

On eve of expected campaign launch, Edwards shovels in Orleans
KATC, LA - 6 hours ago
NEW ORLEANS -- John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee, helped student volunteers landscape a yard in Katrina ...

Edwards Expected To Formally Announce For President
All Headline News - 11 hours ago
Washington, DC (AHN) - Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is expected Thursday to formally announce his plan to seek the Democratic ...

John Edwards Kick's Off His Campaign Tour
abc11tv.com, NC - Dec 26, 2006
(12/26/06 -- CHAPEL HILL) - John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator, will make a White House run and the announcement will come in just two days. ...

Katrina victims look for a champion
Sauk Valley Newspapers, IL - Dec 26, 2006
Before the end of this year, former North Carolina senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards is set to announce his plans for 2008, in my ...

John Edwards Joins Presidential Race
CBS News, NY - 1 hour ago
By NEDRA PICKLER AP Writer. (AP) Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday ...

Edwards joins Democratic presidential race
San Jose Mercury News, USA - 2 hours ago
AP. NEW ORLEANS - Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race Wednesday a day earlier ...

Edwards Joins Presidential Race
Wall Street Journal (subscription), NY - 3 hours ago
AP. WASHINGTON -- Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president, his campaign said Wednesday. ...