Dr. Mario Giorgianni posts a letter to President Barack Obama

Healthcare in America is easily one of our nation's thorniest and most pressing problems. Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award+ goes to Mario Giorgianni, M.D. for his creative and generous concept of how health care providers can contribute to addressing this obstacle to the health and well-gbeing of the nation as a whole. Dr. Giorgiaanni's earnest offer of mobilizing fellow doctors and other health care practitioners to weigh in on solving our health crisis is commendable in every way. It is through community partership such as Dr. Giorgianni suggests where our common good can be realized and experienced best.

Dr. Giorgiann, Rehabilitation Physician, has been providing care in the South Bay to patients with the most serious and long term health consequences of very grave health conditions. He has already demonstrated an ability to organize the best kind of quality care for his patients and to assemble topnotch health care teams on their behalf. President Obama, listen to this wise physician, Dr. Giorgianni. He has much to offer your administration and our collective community. His expert voice should be heard. KH

Letter from Mario Giorgianni, M.D. to President Barack Obama
Thu, Feb 26, 2009 6:24 am (Notice the time of Dr. Giorgianni's letter. Impressive, isn't it? KH)

President Obama

I greatly appreciated your speech to Congress. I found it moving and inspirational. Fortunately I DVR'ed it and my wife and 2 of her friends got to watch it (they were similarly inspired). I especially liked your focus on 3 main areas: energy, health care and education. I can't imagine the difficulty of trying to get us out of the current economic mess, navigating in unchartered waters. I honestly do not know if what you plan to do will work out best for the country; I do know, however, that you will evaluate progress and change the plan as needed. That is very comforting to me.

As a physician I feel that we can do more to help lessen the burden of the cost of health care. I would like to see you encourage physicians and nurses to donate a day per month for free service to those in need, who cannot afford insurance, or who do not have the means to pay for care. This could be done in a physician's office or in a clinic setting (space also donated by a hospital or other health care facility). Patients going to the clinic would receive basic health care services with dignity, compassion and a minimum of hassle (it would not be a burdensome waiting game). Much attention would be focused on preventative care, as it might be difficult to provide more comprehensive services in this setting. As an incentive to have physicians and nurses participate, some tax credit might be offered to them. I think it would be an honor for physicians and nurses to contribute to the health and well being those in this country in need of good
quality health care. It's good for all of us.

Please note that I would love to be a part of those physicians who have an ear with you in helping shape a health care policy that is effective, efficient and responsive to the needs of our citizens.

Respectfully,

Mario G. Giorgianni, M.D.
Campbell, CA




* Sunday, September 16, 2007
What is Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award?

http://passionateprogressivepatriot.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-is-karita-hummers-silver-pen-award.html





Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award is my own personal accolade for good writing that advances the progressive vision for America.

I had a fellow blogger ask, what is the meaning of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award and this is what I answered.

I share it here, reprinted from the John Edwards blog.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/9/16/201/09966

"Just my own way of spreading the good word." (none / 0)

When I get excited about a piece I see, I think it deserves a silver pen award, as we have seen in our local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. (I first got the idea when I liked some of the writings I found on the John Edwards' Campaign web-site blog. I always thought it might be a good thing for the blog to have such an award, but, then I thought it would not really have been good for the Campaign to do such choosing.)

So, I invented my own, when I felt especially moved or impressed. It's just a personal accolade I like to give to our great citizen journalists in this blog community. When people accept the award, I repost their piece in my own blog site at Blogspot, http://passionateprogressivepatriot.blog spot.com/.

I hope it doesn't seem too presumptuous or that I am taking myself too seriously. It's poking a little fun at myself, but I do mean my praise very sincerely.

I will not limit my Silver Pen Award to blogs only found on the JRE blog, but will inlcude blogs and writings from other sites, as appropriate to the mission of my blogspot site which is to advance progressive thought.

Karita Hummer
San Jose, CA

OKlahoma Voter receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for "For want of truth in the media"

Oklahoma Voter receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for her incisive piece on the lack of truth in current day mainstream media. Hers is an exemplary piece of citizen journalism which I think is our best hope for journalistic truth today. Media wasn't always so lacking in truth and investigation as it is today. What a loss for our country! KH, Passionate Progressive Patriot

Cross-posted from Progressive Blue: http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3559

For want of truth in the media

by: OklahomaVoter

Wed Feb 18, 2009 at 14:15:45 PM EST

(so true - promoted by edgery)

For want of truth in the media, grass roots will was lost.
For want of grassroots will, political will was lost.
For want of political will, a stronger alternative energy package was lost.
For want of a stronger energy package, alternative sources of energy were lost.
For want of alternative sources, tools for limiting carbon dioxide production were lost.
For want of carbon dioxide limits, forest fires flared and mountaintops melted.
For want of stopping fires and melts, lands overheated and farmlands were lost.
For want of farmlands, most of an inhabitable planet was lost.
And all for the want of truth in the corporate-owned media.

BruceMcF receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for Transport Stimulus: You're Doing It Wrong

Transport Stimulus: You're Doing It Wrong (+) by: BruceMcF, Repeat Recipient of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award Kudos to BruceMcF for this article of such great import at this juncture in our land, when we need jobs, fair commerce, and environmental value in all things economic! Bruce, as always is thorough with his guidance and advice on infrastructure. Thank you, Bruce! cross-posted from Progressive Blue: http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3406 Sat Jan 17, 2009 at 20:53:58 PM EST [subscribe]

(on transportation and the economy... - promoted by poligirl) Burning the Midnight Oil for Energy Independence (crosspost links at the blog) There is this big emphasis on "shovel ready projects" in the Stimulus Bill ... but now that the details are coming out, we can see that in transport, its just a load of horseshit used as an excuse for supporting business as usual. The headline numbers are $30b highway spending, $10b for public transport and rail: Transit Capital Assistance, $15.9b in shovel ready projects, $6b in funding Amtrak, more than $10b in capital backlog, $0.8b in funding Fixed Guideway Infrastructure Investment, $50b capital backlog, $2b in funding Capital Investment Grants, $2.4b in already approved projects, $1b in funding I got a "shovel-ready" project for you ... shoveling out the bullshit from the Bush Administration Department of Transport and replacing the pandering to the oil companies with a concern for America's Economic Future.

BruceMcF :: Transport Stimulus: You're Doing It Wrong

The Details, Wherein The Devil Lies Take the following details, wherein the devil always lies. Under the summary description, "$10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption" ... which is fishy right there, since everybody knows there are more than $10b in deferred maintenance to get passenger and freight rail in this country, and more than $10b in freight bottlenecks, many of which have been "studied" to death (since Yet Another Study is much cheaper than funding capital works) ... and we see the following specifics (emphases added): Capital Assistance to States-Intercity Passenger Rail Service Recovery Funding: $300 million The Capital Assistance to States-Intercity Passenger Rail Service program provides grants on a discretionary basis to states to fund necessary capital improvements to improve intercity passenger rail service. Over the last 10 years, ridership on intercity routes that benefit from state support has grown by 73 percent. Grants under this program are awarded to the most meritorious projects as measured against statutory criteria. The FY 2008 grants demonstrated the demand of this program. Applications were greatly oversubscribed even though applications were required within 90 days of the start of this new program. AASHTO has estimated intercity passenger rail corridor investment needs during the 2007-2012 timeframe as totaling $18.502 billion. No detail on the number of "shovel ready" projects, but AASHTO annual investment needs estimated at roughly $3b annually, allocation of 10% of that. Amtrak Capital Grants Recovery Funding: $800 million The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) provides intercity passenger rail service over a system of approximately 20,000 miles in 46 states. It also owns and maintains the most intensively used segment of railroad in the U.S., the Washington, D.C. - New York City - Boston, Northeast Corridor (NEC), which is an integral part of the intercity passenger transportation system in the most densely populated section of the U.S. The NEC carries a majority of air/ rail trips between Washington and NYC. The NEC also hosts commuter and freight rail systems serving the major cities of the Northeast. Amtrak has been consistently undercapitalized during its 37 year existence, and its infrastructure is aging. Recent estimates by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General of Amtrak's capital backlog, just on the NEC, exceeded $10 billion. As a result of aging infrastructure both the speed and capacity of NEC rail passenger operations are limited. A backlog in excess of $10b, funding of under 8% of that. Transit Capital Assistance Recovery Funding: $6.000 billion These funds will be used to purchase buses and equipment needed to provide additional public transportation service and to make improvements to intermodal and transit facilities. The Department of Transportation's 2006 Conditions and Performance Report indicated there is an annual investment gap of $3.2 billion to maintain our transit systems and an annual gap of $9.2 billion to begin to improve our transit systems. In addition, a January 2009 survey of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) identified 787 ready-to-go transit projects totaling $15.9 billion. Funds will be distributed through the existing urban and rural transit formulas. $5.4 billion will be distributed to urban communities and $600 million will be distributed to transit agencies that serve rural communities. It is estimated that over 165,000 jobs will be created by this investment. $15.9b ready to go projects, funding at 38% of that. Fixed Guideway Infrastructure Investment Recovery Funding: $2.000 billion These funds will be used for capital projects to modernize or improve existing fixed guideway systems, including purchase and rehabilitation of rolling stock, track, line equipment, structures, signals and communications, power equipment and substations, passenger stations and terminals, security equipment and systems, maintenance facilities and equipment, operational support equipment including computer hardware and software, system extensions, and preventive maintenance. Funds will be distributed through the existing fixed guideway formula. It is estimated that the state-of-good-repair capital backlog for existing fixed guideway systems is nearly $50 billion. Capital backlog of $50b, funding at 4% of that. Capital Investment Grants Recovery Funding: $1.000 billion These funds will be used for light rail lines, rapid rail (heavy rail), commuter rail, automated fixed guideway system, or bus-way/high occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities. These projects help relieve congestion in major metropolitan areas and reduce the carbon footprint caused by automobile travel. Funds will be distributed on a discretionary basis and will assist the advancement of full funding grant agreement projects that are already in construction as well as final design projects that are nearly ready to begin construction. The Federal Transit Administration has documented more than $2.4 billion in pre-approved funding that could be advanced to 19 projects across the country to construct New Starts and Small Starts projects. It is estimated that this investment will create nearly 35,000 new jobs. $2.4b in pre-approved projects (but, it would seem, not yet funded), funding at 42% of that ... and that's just what the Bush Dept. of Transport has identified. "More Asphalt" Sure Is The Change Someone Can Believe In Now, for comparison, what is the ratio of funding to "shovel ready" projects for highways? Highway Infrastructure Investment Recovery Funding: $30 billion The Department of Transportation's 2006 Conditions and Performance Report indicated there is an annual investment gap of $8.5 billion to maintain our current systems and an annual gap of $61.4 billion to improve highway and bridges. ... Twice last year, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) surveyed State transportation departments and reported on the number and dollar value of additional highway projects that each State could undertake quickly if supplemental Federal funds were made available. The results of AASHTO's December 2008 survey showed that all 50 States combined had over 5,100 projects totaling more than $64 billion that could be under contract within 180 days after enactment of Federal economic recovery legislation. These projects would include resurfacing and pavement preservation projects, traffic signal system upgrades, bridge projects, and intelligent transportation systems. In other words, roughly 42% of the annual funding gap and roughly 50% of identified shovel ready projects. (Appropriations Committee Report on Recovery Bill (pdf), pp. 69-71) The Appropriations Committee can natter on all it wants about the glories of roadworks, but this country passed our peak oil production about forty years ago and is now addicted to petroleum imports for more than half of our petroleum needs, while a much larger part of the operating costs of the rail and bus transport system are the wages of the people working on the system. Those non-highway appropriations have a strategic defense imperative, and a long term economic development imperative, in addition to transport benefits that outweigh the benefits of yet another roadwork project, and yet are underfunded compared to highway construction. We are spending $2.4b on the chimera of "clean coal", just to buy protective cover for the real sustainable energy spending ... and there is just $1.1b on regional rail transport. Even worse, there is $0.0b on improvements in regional freight rail transport. And the 100% federal funding allowed under the stimulus plan would allow us to make short term investments with long-term benefits all across the country ... this is not just a matter of the Northeast Corridor and California. For example, there is a massive freight logjam in Chicago. As the Metropolitan Planning Council notes: A new state capital plan would mean new investments in metropolitan Chicago 's freight rail system. Trains currently crawl through the region at average speeds of 12 mph and frequently block traffic at hundreds of intersections in the south and southwest suburbs alone. Modernizing our freight rail network not only would reduce delays for train commuters, drivers and transporters but also would accommodate commuter rail and spur economic opportunities in adjacent communities. The entire region would benefit from much-needed freight capital expenditures. Investing in freight rail throughways in Chicago is an investment in the productivity of our national economy. And there are "shovel ready" projects. And Stimulus Funding? $0.0b, because we rely on State Departments of Transport with their heavy highway bias to come up with projects, so urgent national transport priorities are set on the back burner to pander to entrenched constituencies to entrenched state bureaucracies. What in the Hell Happened to Changed We Can Believe In? I want to stress that this is not a general whinge about the stimulus. The Energy Infrastructure part of the stimulus is excellent and the sustainable energy production part of the stimulus is OK ... far too much to the chimeras of clean coal and liquid biofuels, but on the balance, from what little I can tell, OK. But for the Transport part of the stimulus ... WTF? Well, its no surprise ... this is one last "surprise in the punchbowl" from the Bush Department of Transportation. From the California HSR blog: Rep. Jim Oberstar, chair of the House Transportation Committee and passionate rail advocate, has been rather outspoken in his anger about the underfunding of transit in the proposal. He explains what may have happened to make the stimulus plan so weak: Basically CBO got numbers from the Bush administration DOT that said it was not possible to spend money on these projects within 90 days, meaning they're not "shovel ready". Oberstar explains that's BS and it's ridiculous to be taking numbers from the Bush folks at DOT that are getting ready to high-tail it out of town. He's really mad about this and I know he's going to fight to get more spending on infrastructure. Take this fight to your Congressperson ... phone, mail ... you known the drill. We can't afford let the Bush Department of Transport get away with one last act of sabotage against our nation's Energy Independence and, of course, the global climate as a whole.

TJ Colatrella, Winner of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for "Solution to Sub Prime Mortgages Peg them at 2-3% Above Prime..!"

TJ Colatrella, Winner of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award



Cross-posted from Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/27/13355/3932/687/485457

"Solution to Sub Prime Mortgages Peg them at 2-3% Above Prime..!"
by TJ Colatrella
Thu Mar 27, 2008 at 11:19:33 AM PDT

I have the solution to the Sub Prime Mortgage Crisis...

It's a simple fair real solution which will avert many millions of American families from losing their homes causing an even greater housing crisis and devastating negative downward pressure on the rental market, which is already limited and badly inflated..

It also saves the American Tax Payer from bailing out either the banks and lending institutions and or the borrowers who are subjected, I feel unfairly to a very mean spirited negative group who care more to see these folks homeless and traumatized through eviction than what's best for not only these poor folks our fellow Americans, but also our nation in this crisis..

* TJ Colatrella's diary :: ::
*

As you see in the title the plan and what is undeniably the solution is to simply Peg these Sub Prime Mortgages at 2 to 3% above Prime the Prime Lending rate that is..and forgive all penalties these home owners are subjected to to date 1/2 of which are illegal as has been widely reported..and is record..

We are facing a true financial and housing crisis due to the unbridled greed and dishonest lending practices that were so common and proliferated in the real estate market which rewarded Realtors and Mortgage brokers for directing and enticing many of these would be home owners into these unscrupulous Mortgages which were predestined to cause these folks to not be able to meet it's ridiculous escalating interest rates after a short period..these are what are referred to as unconscionable or to contain "Unconscionable Clauses.."

Implementation of this simple fair not just plan but solution must still be worked out but one big factor and part of it is to not give these lending institutions or banks a huge multi-billion dollar bail out and this could be eventually nearly 1/2 a Trillion dollars before it's all sorted out I have read and heard as much as $480 Billion or more just due to the Sub Prime part of our current economic crisis which will prove to be a depression for 60-80% of Americas before if it ever runs it's course..

As many of the economic indicators are no longer really applicable to the national or personal prosperity the statistics will not reflect as you may realize they all ready do not to your personal economic reality...

Now all this plan takes to save millions from 20-30 million Americans from the potential 8.8 homes which may be foreclosed upon from creating a sea of homeless wanderers displaced persons refuges within America reminiscent of the depression of the 1930's and the dust bowl days of Woody Guthrie and Tom Joad and Joe Hill..

It may take an act of Congress or even a process of court decisions let's remember the FBI is already investigating 13-23 brokers of these mortgages..lenders etc..as I have heard and has been reported..

So if there was as is more than likely actual real criminality to many even most of these Sub Prime Mortgages this bad paper which is being used to bury these folks beat them down to their knees with interest rates now from 11-14% even higher with penalties that are nothing less than medieval..as have so many of our economic policies become as McCain professes pure Calvinism in all it's worse aspects if not the law of the sea or Deuteronomy..economics..

So remember as you hear all this talk and wringing of hands over all these foreclosures and it is a potential 8.8 million of them we are talking about not just the 2.4 million this year or 4 million they talk about but in the end as these other mortgages accrue blossom into the lethal flowers that they were designed to become it is 8.8 million households million of families 20-30 million American who will be effected if not more..

That these is a Simple Fair Solution that would not cost any Tax Payer ant money but would do the right and fair thing for our nations good and in our nations best interest..and that is...

Peg the Sub Prime Mortgages at 2-3% Above Prime and forgive all Penalties to Date..!

Simple as that..!

"Where to now St. Peter?" by DonVila receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award

DonVila is winner of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award


"Where to now St. Peter?" cont.

Cross-posted from John Edwards 08 blog

DonVila in Diaries Feed of DonVila's Diary
2/08/2008 at 8:48 PM EST

Many leftie commentators are assuring me (somewhat worriedly it seems to me) that the natural home for John Edwards supporters is the Obama camp. My sense is that by a small margin, it will go the other way.

There are serious problems with each candidate if you are an Edwards Democrat, and eventually we each will have to decide which of the two has the least injurious problems. These break in very different directions

Mr. Obama - in demeanor and rhetoric seems more in concert. He also is not taking lobbyist contributions in this election cycle after being challenged by John. Ms. Clinton has not agreed to do this (or to not do it, I guess). But his (Obama's) policy proposals are timid, and he has not shown leadership in the Illinois General Assembly or in Congress. It's quite telling that his explanation for all his "present" votes in the Illinois G.A. is that it was a strategic decision coordinated with the body's leadership. It tends to make one wonder if his "different sort of politics" is anything other than a soundbyte. It also doesn't give one much confidence that he's willing to "Challenge The System" as JedReport (http://jedreport.com) described what John Edwards was trying to do.

Ms. Clinton is a tough sell to us as well. She seems strong in leadership skills, but didn't seem to accept Edwards' analysis that (referring to lobbyists) "You can't be with these people, take their money, and then challenge them. It doesn't work!" So she appears to be with the entrenched interests that we all wanted to stand up to.

But she has more aggressive policy proposals, and seems to have been motivated to achieve them sooner in her administration than she said originally. And I'm persuaded that she can accomplish things. I'm not, however, confident that all the things she'd accomplish will turn out to be to my liking.

I'm also troubled by a nagging sense that the Obama candidacy is something of a cult of personality. Too many of his supporters seem to like the image he portrays and have little sense of the positions he takes or his background. It almost seems as though an Obama lobotomy has been performed on these folks. I see these Obamalobs on Daily Kos and even invading the John Edwards blog.

I have the luxury of knowing my vote for President won't count, still... I'd like Barrack Obama to close me that he's the guy.

Don Wheeler
South Bend, IN

Recommended by...
"Where to now St. Peter?" cont. :: 52 Comments :: Post a Comment
Other blogs commenting on this entry

Display Comments: [ Flat | Nested ] [ Oldest First | Newest First ]

Neither seems to fit the bill for me. (none / 0)

I won't vote for Clinton for several reasons. First, from everything I've read, heard, and discussed with right leaning friends, NOTHING will motivate them to vote Republican as will an opportunity to vote against HRC.

She promotes the idea that she is the candidate who will be bring some meaningful change to our country by changing things in Washington, but I see her as more of the same. She has been a part -- in one capacity or another -- of old school politics for many, many years. I believe that she is part of the problem, so how could she possibly have the solutions our country so desperately needs?

I can't get behind anyone who can't say that voting for the war in Iraq wasn't a mistake. In fact, I'd really like it if she apologized to those families who have lost someone or those who have been injured. She makes half hearted efforts to appeal to folks by showing her "softer side," but how about just a little remorse for her role -- I know it wasn't just her -- in the Iraq disaster.

Maybe I'm in left field, but I think it would be hard to put together a solid cabinet and find a VP
that had some backbone if your husband was Bill Clinton. Remember what Joe Biden said about the possibility of being her VP?

Anyway, I guess no one measure up to the hopes I had for our country under Edwards' leadership.

by clicker107 (clicker107@sbcglobal.net)
on 2/08/2008 at 10:16 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

As usual, Quite well done (none / 0)

Very good analysis and commentary. May I nominate for my Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award.

I voted for John Edwards for Super Tuesday and am happy I did so.

What a horrible dilemma, though. Anyway you slice it, such a distant second or third.

Karita Hummer

by Karita Hummer (KaritaHummer@therapyplus.us, Therapy Plus)
on 2/08/2008 at 10:22 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This ]

[new] Thanks Karita, (none / 0)

Please feel free to post.

If John made it onto our ballot I'll certainly vote for him. Neither Obama or Clinton are going to beat McCain in Indiana - which is what I meant when I said my vote won't count for anything.

I think I have a horse to ride in the Governor's race, so I'm getting my saddle ready : > )

Take care. Hope you and Paul are well.

Don

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 9:22 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

Hillary (none / 0)

Last time I was an ardent Edwards supporter. I felt you had a much better chance than Kerry. I was greatly saddened when it was Kerry as President and you as VP. This time I really studied the Democratic candidates and felt I had to support Hillary. If you review the resumes of the candidates even grudgingly you have to admit Hillary has the qualifications. She has also been a long time fighter for the middle class and children. It makes me sick to see the way her record has been twisted. Now that you have dropped out of the race I am greatly disappointed that you have not endorsed Hillary. How can you stand by and not influence the outcome. Obama has absolutely no experience. Haven't we learned our lesson there? Jimmy Carter, George Bush.

by mamamoog
on 2/09/2008 at 12:03 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

CHAIN LETTER (none / 0)

Maybe you should be thinking about Nov. instead of us EDWARDS DEMOCRATS....maybe "grudgingly" you can take your message to the Huckabee Democrats..

http://democratsforhuckabee.blogspot.com /2008/01/for-democrat-

by IBEW 124
on 2/09/2008 at 12:37 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] phony (none / 0)

Never! HRC=phony

by nj4jre
on 2/09/2008 at 1:28 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

I guess it depends on the Republican (none / 0)

A Northern Republican is quite different from say a Southern one. This I know from living in a Southern state that was VERY Republican. In recent years we have had a massive immigration from the North bring with it Democrats (YAY!) along with Northern Republicans and I can notice a marked difference. With that said, I was somewhat surprised when many of them stated that they would vote for Clinton before Obama. With him being voted THE most liberal Senator recently it only clinched the deal. The DIE hard Republicans are usually that way because of their religion or their stance on the war. I have found that the ones to claim the hate Clinton with such a passion, when asked why, they can't even really answer you, they only repeat the mantra they have heard repeatedly. It is as if, they LOVE to hate her with no clear reason as to why. Obama has not been vetted yet, trust me, they will hate him as much as her soon.

by average jane
on 2/09/2008 at 12:17 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Yup... (none / 0)

I can't get by the slime my gut still feels they are. Neither has stood up and embraced the issues John Edwards left for them. Aside from words. And what are words with out the power of conviction and example behind them. I become angry thinking on this too much.

It seems my hope at this point lay in Denver come August. I'm feeling a brokered (or broken, as I like to call it, poking fun at the DNC and DLC) convention is the only hope for the populist issues that the good Senator Edwards expressed.

And in that is the crusade I feel we should all take up. Becoming part of a united progressive force to make John Edwards message a reality for the hopeless that need it so much. With this, I feel, we will have served being Edwards Democrats well. With the success we'd have our peoples president in the heart of millions more. Whether he wins the nomination or not.

Proud to have caucused in Iowa for Edwards!
by 24hrlib (go24hrgirl@yahoo.com)
on 2/09/2008 at 3:07 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] The rumblings I hear is that (none / 0)

John may head One Corps as a private citizen. For the next four years through One Corps, Edwards Democrats may want to be an independent group and show the D Party the way to go.

Seems intriguing to me.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 9:13 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] One Corps (none / 0)

Keeping One Corps does sound like a good idea. He probably wouldn't want it affiliated with any party, independent or not. large Corportion America would not like One Corps.

by rotundo (jsc9@verizon.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 9:45 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Excellent idea! (none / 0)

How can we tell him that?

by lataet
on 2/09/2008 at 10:04 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Well... (none / 0)

I'm mailing john@johnedwards right now. I think One Corps lead by the good Senator would take over where MoveOn left off, before selling out to corporate America. Perhaps, I should call Chapel Hill too? Any other ideas from anyone. Spill it...I want a piece of this action.

Proud to have caucused in Iowa for Edwards!
by 24hrlib (go24hrgirl@yahoo.com)
on 2/09/2008 at 2:28 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] southern Repubs will hate Obama more. (none / 0)

Southern republicans are synonomous with KKK. They will hate Obama more, hands down. In fact, the CCA (softer name for KKK) had handwritten notes to Gov of Missouri before he was appointed AG where, Ashcroft wrote back "Thanks for the heads up."

by Coolafella
on 2/09/2008 at 1:09 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Unfortunately, race is still a big factor, (none / 0)

and comments like Obama made in his speech after Super Tuesday will not be wasted on the South, "...there is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final results to know. Our time has come. Our time has come. Our movement is real. And change is coming to America."

Do I have to tell you how that soundbyte will play in the South? I can see the Rep. tv ads already.

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/09/2008 at 1:29 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Using training principles... (none / 0)

What Hillary has to get the electorate to unlearn: That she isn't the monster that the Republicans have made her out to be over the course of 15 years.

What Obama has to get the electorate to learn: That he is as good as the media have made him out to be. The challenge for Republicans and the corporate media is to make people unlearn their positive image and then relearn a negative image.

Hillary was able to retrain upstate New Yorkers, though upstate New Yorkers are mainly moderate purple types--NOT heavy duty red conservatives like you find in the south. Women who have been in the work world will be skeptical of a new negative slant. After all, you don't hear complaints about her personality from her fellow Senators--far fewer complaints than you hear regarding McCain's temper.

Obama has a very disciplined vocabulary. He tries to bracket the discussion by walling off the emotional hot buttons that each side uses and abuses. But will independents swallow the rhetoric and think of him as the Tiger Woods of politics? Or, will voters continue to let their buttons get pressed by attack ads?

Unlearning is the most difficult form of learning. I'd give Obama the edge in terms of the ease of the task at hand. If the media reverse themselves too dramatically or make discoveries too late, they will undermine their own credibility.

Both have elbows and use them. Edwards does not use elbows and commands my respect for that--but still figures out how to attack effectively. Each is tough in a different way--Hillary withstands abuse, Obama stays objective, Edwards takes the moral high ground; only Edwards is truly brave.

In terms of issues, Obama is stronger on the war, Hillary is stronger on health care. Hillary is stronger on kids and families; Obama is stronger on communities and urban issues. Hillary sucks up to big agriculture and defense industry; Obama sucks up to coal, nuclear and medical insurance industries. Edwards does not suck up to anyone, which is why I still voted for him.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T. Washington
by OklahomaVoter (chang@cableone.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 3:36 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] I like your analysis (none / 0)

As usual!

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 9:17 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Great Diary Don (none / 0)

Edwards supporters certainly do not have much of a choice between C & O. I cannot support either of them and cannot vote for either of them.

Too much to dislike about both, and neither of them ever had an original voice when it came to the issues people wanted to hear and know about it. Both took JRE's words and added a little salt here, some pepper over here, and called it their own. I don't think so. Anyone who has followed JRE throughout his quest for the Presidency knows what is important to him and where C & O words came from.

I would love to see a third party emerge from all of this crap, and take away some of the power that both parties have in selecting and choosing our President for us.

Thanks Don for a well written and thought out diary.


Im4JRE!
by Im4JRE
on 2/09/2008 at 8:35 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Thanks for your kind words (none / 0)

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 9:16 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Edwards challenged Obama's claim about 'no donors' (none / 0)

being corporate lobbyists. In fact, Obama's state organizer in NH was a state drug company lobbyist. The Donorpedia site run by Center for Public Integrity shows the 'bundlers' or people who put together HUGE contributions. Many of them work for the same people the lobbyists do--either directly or indirectly. Very clever move on Senator Obama's part. This is difficult for me, I"m very saddened by it all.
*Obama has a representative from 'clean coal' at each of his events. These people went back into the coal mines after busting the unions. Their safety records is abysmal. In southern Illinois and elsewhere, they are now going back in and mining around the pillars holding up the mines. to get that extra coal. They never would have been allowed to do that before.
*Worse, Obama's 'clean coal' benefactors are mainly getting coal from strip mining. Strip mining has destroyed 800 square miles worth of mountain tops (they remove the top 600 to 1000 feet) in West Virginia. This is a problem for a variety of reasons:
*non union, temporary workers
*all that soil ruins streams
*there are ponds with dams no one will supervise, filled with highly toxic water sitting above towns--these will be superfund sites at some point, no doubt
*Opening up the seam of coal releases carbon even before the coal gets burned. It gets into the atmosphere that way too.
*The very towns threatened by this type of 'clean coal' burning were built by people who used to mine coal. They were put out of work by the companies during the Reagan Administration --a guy Obama has used to get votes from repugs in the Super Tuesday match up. 'Clean coal' no longer uses people. The thing they use to get the coal is so big it just plugs right into the electric grid. Sounds like a net loss of energy to me!
No, unfortunately, Obama is dirty in a reckless way.
I'd back away from the candidate that Oprah built.
*

by BigMediaFearsJohn
on 2/09/2008 at 9:44 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Obama is Our Bush. Tough to Expose Him. (none / 0)

No support can be given to Obama.

He is a candidate for the next impeachment.

Very susceptible to corruption.

Integrity2008 - Political experience collected on four continents.
by Integrity2008
on 2/09/2008 at 1:19 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Why has this JRE site turned into bash Obama site? (none / 0)

This makes no sense.

This is a John Edwards site. Why are so many using it as a bash Obama site?

And particularly when it is very possible that John Edwards could take a job position in an Obama administration?

Why continually bash a candidate for whom JRE might work?

It is even possible Obama could ask JRE to be his Vice-President.

Susan in Washington DC
by Matisse (susanra@cpinternet.com)
on 2/09/2008 at 1:32 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] The Obama Trolls (none / 0)

have been pestering us like so many mosquitos since John suspended that we tend to feel peeved at them and unfortunately it spills over into feeling prickly about their leader. I wish the aforementioned trolls would realize this and could see that their peskiness and insulting behavior reflects badly on their candidate of choice.

by Rosy Baldwin
on 2/09/2008 at 10:45 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] the Candidate that Oprah built (none / 0)

perhaps she just likes that his last name starts with "O".

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/09/2008 at 2:03 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Don - (none / 0)

Interesting that you describe Obama's policy proposals as "timid". He has said his timidity is his weakness, or something he'd like to change, or however he put it.

Timidity in the face of bin Laden. Won't the Reps have a field day with that one.

by tapster
on 2/09/2008 at 10:00 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] I don't recall Obama saying "timidity" (none / 0)

as being his downfall. I do remember he said that he is so disorganized that he needs someone to keep his desk (and presumably his mind!) straight for him. Hmmmm! I can just see it now -

Mr. President, that is the RED PHONE RINGING!

Prez Obama: THE PHONE, WHERE IN TARNATION IS THAT BLANKETY-BLANK PHONE??? HANG ON - I KNOW ITS HERE SOMEWHERE!

Geesh!

*TEXAS FOR EDWARDS*
by Mardee
on 2/09/2008 at 11:30 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Mean, but fun! (none / 0)

: > )

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 11:45 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Mardee - (none / 0)

What I heard was that when the candidates were asked about what their New Year's resolution would be, Obama's response was that he would like to be "less timid". I also heard about the disorganization remark. That bothers me less; it's what people have secretaries (and wives) for.

by tapster
on 2/09/2008 at 12:57 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Not mean - but true (none / 0)

Obama was asked in a debate to name his weakness.

His answer - being too timid, having trouble speaking up for what he thinks is right.

paraphrased - don't remember his wording verbadim

by coots (Mark.Cutelli@yahoo.com)
on 2/09/2008 at 1:01 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] coots, true? (none / 0)

Huh? That's not what Obama said. Obama said he had trouble managing large quantities of paper and that his desk is messy, in response to the 'What is your weakness?' question.

Susan in Washington DC
by Matisse (susanra@cpinternet.com)
on 2/09/2008 at 1:09 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] correction of venue (none / 0)

It was at a debate in DesMoine in December, and the question was to each candidate about their New Year's Resolution.

Obama's answer, after the be-a-better-father-and-husband part was, "...if somehow my participation in public life is having a broader impact on their lives and the lives of children all across the country. And so I have to constantly remind myself NOT TO BE TIMID (emphasis mine), not to be distorted by the fears of losing in order to make a real difference in the lives of the American people."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/NEWS09/7121 3047/1001/NEWS

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/09/2008 at 2:24 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] The Red Phone (none / 0)

I can't stop thinking about Bush in the classroom after being told that a plane had just flown into the TWC tower... sitting there biting his lip and wondering what to do.

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/09/2008 at 1:12 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Oh come on now... nothing can beat My Pet Goat (none / 0)

Out to Lunch...... They did what??? Now what do I do? Oh yes, I keep reading a book.

by Coolafella
on 2/09/2008 at 1:41 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] We've been forced to take a lower grade (none / 0)

of leadership.
I totally agree about the "phenomenon" of Obama being nothing more than tantamount to a lobotomy.
It's like their drunk on the Obama Elixir.
Even if they sober up, the damage has been done. The true choice for the best is gone, thanks to the manuevering of the DNC and corporate media. So, for me, despite whatever the pros and cons are of either Obama or Clinton, we have to have one of them now.

Unless we have a miracle happen at the convention and John Edwards becomes the nominee.

No matter who it is, the Democrats will HAVE TO have John and Elizabeth Edwards out there campaigning for the ticket. That will be the only way to make it past the republican machine and get to the White House.
When we finally rescue the White House, and I truly believe it won't happen without J&E influence, then it will be up to the citizens, like the Edwards Democrats, to keep the President honest and do what has to be done to restore our Constitutional government to the People.
I have a hard time believing the Clinton's will stand by Obama as much as the Obama's will stand by Clinton.
I know this might seem shallow, but maybe Clinton heads the ticket, Obama is her running mate and they do everything they can to get the Edwards' to support and campaign and win this thing for the Democrats.
We cannot afford to have Democrats voting for McCain just because they can't vote for Clinton...what a mess the DNC and corporate media have created.
I guess that's just the way corporate greed would like to have it.

by Sharron Williams (sawart@bellsouth.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 10:15 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Don (none / 0)

My daughter lives in Indianapolis and she said that Indiana votes Repub same as someone else said. She also said Indiana is thought as the bible belt or some such expression. I would think Indiana would vote for Huckabee as opposed to McCain. McCain has clearly stated he is for keeping our troops in Iraq...what do you think?


Im4JRE!
by Im4JRE
on 2/09/2008 at 10:31 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Jackie, (none / 0)

Your daughter and I each live in modestly blue islands (my island is probably a bit bluer) in a red state. But state-wide stuff is most markedly red in the Presidential races (i.e. last Dem winner here was Johnson).

Because we vote so late (May) Indiana tends to affirm the winners. Last time around, had the contest been in doubt, I'm sure Edwards would have beaten Kerry soundly. But the contest had been decided so Kerry won easily. (Edwards still did pretty well).

So Indiana will go by landslide to McCain in the primary and more narrowly in the general election vs. O or C. Edwards has a lot of crossover appeal (I'm thinking or rural Republicans), and was pretty much the only chance for a Dem win here.

That's how it looks to me.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.
by DonVila (DonVila@aol.com, Progressives, South Bend)
on 2/09/2008 at 10:59 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Regarding the Bible Belt (none / 0)

for those who read their Bibles seriously, there's a gazillion lines in it about poverty.

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. Booker T. Washington
by OklahomaVoter (chang@cableone.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 11:21 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Amen! (none / 0)

Preach it, brother.

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/09/2008 at 1:53 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] James Dodson (none / 0)

endorsed Huckabee, yesterday, this will have an influence on the "Christian" voters of the Republican party. Also, lets not forget that in recent years there has been the Gay Marriage issue along with that open Supreme Court spot looming. If Indiana is truly a "Bible Belt" state Huckabee has a seriously fighting chance. Also, McCain MAY have done well in SC despite it being in the Bible Belt because there are large military installations there. I don't know if Indiana has this or not, anyone else?

by average jane
on 2/09/2008 at 11:38 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Dodson is scary, the whole religious (none / 0)

element of Huckabee's campaign is scary. Haven't we had enough after 8 years of a guy driven by his allegedly religious principals.


by destiny (harmonydestiny@sbcglobal.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 11:46 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Dobson was (none / 0)

an arrogant jerk when my husband worked with him at Los Angeles Children's Hospital in the 1970's. He hasn't changed.

by tapster
on 2/09/2008 at 1:00 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] My sister is a "Christian Conservative" (none / 0)

Republican (makes for interesting family gatherings, eh?) and she has changed her support to Huckabee now. She used to have Dodson's monthly magazine "Focus on the Family" sent to me. I read ONE issue, after that all the rest went straight into the trash....lol The arrogance, the bigotry simply amazed me. Not ALL "Christian Conservatives" are judgemental drones, some truly want to stick to their faith and walk the walk and not just talk the talk....but many in my opinion take The Good Book and twist it beyond recognition to fit their own agenda.

by average jane
on 2/09/2008 at 1:37 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] I know some of these people (none / 0)

personally. They organize in their churches and are fanatical about the elections. I say there is NO WAY they are just going to let the more moderate side of the GOP take over without a fight. They are JUST LIKE Bush...the honestly believe that it is they are fighting with the Devil. There is just no way they are going to want someone on THEIR side be someone that isn't fanatical like them. I laughed when all the pundits seemed so shocked that Huckabee did so well. I wasn't surprised at all. They see all the other candidates as getting us out of the war to one degree or another but they only see HUCKABEE as the one representing their "values". They are like the Christian version of Obamabots and they are scarey because being like sheeple and George Bush at the same time...yikes!

by average jane
on 2/09/2008 at 11:59 AM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Lobbyists (none / 0)

Actually she can take lobbyist money and then turn on them. She has done it many times. She has taken Tyson money in the past and she is lobbying right now to eliminate any company-owned meat packing plant. Now for most city dwellers that means nothing... but for us Okie farmers, it is well known that the big companies are manipulating the market on pigs by requiring contracts with them. Tyson is the largest offender.

On the other hand, Obama took 227,000 from Exelon and when asked to write a bill REQUIRING them to report toxic spills (after they already had gone 6 years without reporting the prior radioactive spill), he responded by writing REQUIRED... I mean STRONGLY ADVISED TO... I mean ADVISED to.

So the bill starts out strong... Exelon objects and the bill is weakened and still not passed, even though it was 3 years since the bill was introduced.

Now as far as who he would help more...
He would help Obama more, because he could get the southern white vote. His base is pretty similar to Hillary's, so what help could he give her.

On principles and good of the country I would like to see a Clinton/Edwards ticket rather than a Clinton/Obama ticket. That would also keep Edwards in the limelight and set him up for his own run.

If it were Obama/Edwards, I think even if Obama were elected, the backlash and fury of the consistent conservative pounding that goes on when a democrat is president will probably set him up not to be re-elected.

If it were Clinton/Obama I think the bad publicity they are planning for Obama (adverse film that they are releasing as soon as the convention is over) will drag down the campaign.

If it were Obama/Clinton, ditto.

Obama the uniter ... no fighting in politics. No way. The fighting is done by the constant bashing of right wing media and there is no end in sight.

I say JRE on the ticket (VP) anyway because his only hope to get any media attention now is by being on the ticket. The long and the short of it is media does matter and the fact that he was overlooked by media severely messed up his campaign.

by Coolafella
on 2/09/2008 at 12:33 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Everybody has done something wrong... (none / 0)

but if UHC is your issue, you have to back Clinton and hope JRE does too.

My take is that he will - for health care - and may even be her AG. He will not run as VP again. It requires too much kow-towing and it wasn't right for him with Kerry.

Also, he and Bill go way back and the three of them could do a lot of good - and set JRE up for a run for the white house in the future.

I have a feeling the AG is going to have his work cut out for him. Check this out:

http://www.progressive.org/mag_rothschil d0308

The people who support me are fearless. - John Edwards
by Julia02110 (juliabruno@earthlink.net, Boston for Edwards)
on 2/09/2008 at 1:03 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Hillary and Romney's plan (none / 0)

I won't back any plan that will force people in to the plan and garnish their wages if they don't pay up. (Clinton on ABC as to how she would enforce her plan)

People who suggest this kind of plan may have good intentions, but they haven't lived with the kind of decisions the poor must live with.

We should never take money away from those who desparately need it for so many things. In our country people should have freedom to choose where to put the money they have earned.

I have worked in healthcare on the ground for nearly 40 years. I know you can pronounce 'healthcare ' without looking at the whole circumstances in which so many Americans live.

I thought this campaign was the one that understood that........

I live in Massachusetts where former Gov Romney left us with a 'mandated universal plan' similar to what Hillary is proposing. No, people are not all insured here (as of last week only 1/2 of those we hoped would be insured even with a year to prepare) and the poor are feeling the weight of the penalties in addition to the burdens they already bear. (adults losing their tax exemption if they fail to join a qualified plan).

Hillary like Romney doen't struggle paycheck to payckeck. She can't comprehend she is simply increasing their daily struggle and pain.

She can't fathom that health care should be offered and available to everyone, but never forced on someone under threat of economic or criminal penalty.

The poor often have little dignity afforded to them Now we're going to tell them how they have to spend what little money they have.

But's it's a great way to assure the insurance lobby funding her campaign gets their fair share.
And a great way to feel good about 'what we are doing for the less fortunate'. Many of those folks affected see her plan and Romney's as 'doing it to them'.

I wish John would speak out on this. His plan isn't Hillary's plan. She would only have us believe that.

by MargaretW
on 2/09/2008 at 1:22 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Garnish wages (none / 0)

You must have completely missed the part where if you were poor, you would receive a tax credit to cover the entire cost of the insurance.

by Coolafella
on 2/09/2008 at 1:42 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Who decides who is poor? (none / 0)

Right now, the people who are considered to be "poor" by our government's standards have Medicaid.

It's the income level(s) above the Medicaid recipients, the working poor, that are without coverage. Not "poor" enough to qualify for Medicaid, but still too poor to afford health insurance, they slip through the cracks.

The biggest problem with the government deciding who can or cannot afford to have health insurance premiums deducted from someone's paycheck is the government is OUT OF TOUCH with what poverty or the ability to pay is.

by PoliticallyCynical
on 2/10/2008 at 4:37 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] Can't be a Clinton/Obama ticket..it will never run (none / 0)

The country is ready for change....but not that much change. May be ready for a minority - but a double minority ticket? It's not. McCain would be set to win easily then.

Edwards and either candidate - would be nice. Dont see it happening.

There is a lot of speculation and rumor right now. Let's just keep up the fight and see where it goes. At minimum being part of an activist group that keeps the important issues alive and in the forefront for those without voices is key here. Any way we can send a message to the country that these issues need to remain visible is necessary...voting, bucking the system, email campaigns, news, ads, radio promos, etc....

We're working hard to keep these issues alive. I've been blessed with meeting a lot of great, hard working people on this blog site. It's amazing the fire that Mr. Edwards lit..the fire is still burning for so many who are willing to take action rather than sit back and give up.

I commend them! You know who you are!

...Lataet

by lataet
on 2/09/2008 at 1:21 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Obama has aready turned his nose in the air (none / 0)

at the suggestion of a VP position on Hillary's ticket.... So, a Clinton/Edwards could happen.

by Coolafella
on 2/09/2008 at 1:44 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Parent | Reply to This | ]

[new] a comment on electabilty. (none / 0)

I'm a life long democratic from Boston. After moving to NJ several years ago, I live in a community where I am surrounded by Republicans. Many of them have expressed to me that they disliked all of the republicans candidates. Some of them even said they would vote for Obama especially if McCain was the nominee. But they would never ever vote for Hillary. Many of the former reagan democrats returning to the democratic fold after so many years in the republican wilderness feel the same way. While Obama has so many deficiences as a democratic candidate(per many posts on this site), I feel that the only candidate that could be defeated by a republican is Hillary. And despite eveything else, we cannot afford to have a republican in the white house as the country slides in recession. I'll hold my nose and vote for the democratic nominee. I just hope against hope that something truly amazing could happen at the convention to put John Edwards back on top.

by Rmaccorm (rmaccorm@verizon.net)
on 2/09/2008 at 3:39 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Republicans have had their way (none / 0)

far to long, anyone who even suggests working with them while running for the Democratic nomination, in my books, is not to be trusted. I once, many years ago, thought Hillary would be a good President, but I think she forgot about the little people on her road to fame and glory.
Don't get me wrong, both would maybe be a good President, at least they'd fill the office with good Democratic thinking people but I don't think either one has given thought to the problems we face. I believe they are giving lip service in order to get the job.
There was one man who I would hire as my President and for now he's with drawn his application. He knew the problems and had a plan. I still what to hold the job open for him if he changes his mind. Thats why I'm voting for him.

Can Obamer swing a hammer? John Edwards can!

Change is the only constant we can rely on...
by Acebass (Veterans for John Edwards)
on 2/09/2008 at 4:29 PM EST [Flag this Post]
[ Reply to This | ]

[new] Machine politics vs corporatism (none / 0)

We are left with a bad choice. Neither one is the candidate that John Edwards was and could be. i say that we wait it out and see how it breaks. I voted for Edwards in the IL primary. So far, neither Hillary nor Obama seem to care much about the middle class or the poor. We don't need to be beaten up by chanting hordes. We can think and will do what we think is right.

by cleo (pennydachshund@yahoo.com)

dmortell's "John Edwards Supporters Are Going Nowhere" gets Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award

Winner of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award



John Edwards Supporters Are Going Nowhere

Cross-posted from John Edwards08 Blog

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2008/2/3/01852/65284#65

Diaries Feed of dmortell's Diary
2/03/2008 at 12:18 AM EST

I just sent the following email to Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews (ha!), Brian Williams, another NBC email address, and CNN.... since the media all want to know where John Edwards' supporters are going, I thought I'd let them know.

The media continue to speculate about which of the two remaining Democratic candidates will receive support from John Edwards' supporters. The answer is neither.

Considering that John Edwards has only "suspended" his campaign and did not outright quit, and given that he has already won delegates and that he can retain those delegates until the convention, and knowing that John Edwards' name is still on the ballots in primaries and caucuses across the country, John Edwards' supporters are choosing John Edwards.

As those of you who bothered to cover John Edwards already know, he has incredibly loyal supporters who believe that John Edwards is the heart and soul of the Democratic Party. To hear the two remaining "American Idol" candidates attempt to mimick him is laughable, although complimentary, as they know Edwards was right about what needs to be fixed in this country. But their hearts are not in the right place in this race and it shows: they sound as phony as they are. Furthermore, we know the remaining two are just saying what they think Edwards' supporters want to hear in their futile attempt to sway us to their camp. It's not working.

Throughout this campaign both Obama and Clinton have stolen Edwards' ideas and policies and tried to claim them as their own because of their lack of vision for their own positions. Edwards' stance on issue after issue was copied by them and subsequently perpetuated by the mainstream media as if the rock stars were the originators. You all know that Edwards was the first with a healthcare plan, first with the best ideas to combat global warming, first to even discuss poverty in America, pushed first to raise the minimum wage and fight for the middle class .... the list goes on.

John Edwards had the intestinal fortitude to speak the truth and stand up for the average person, something neither Obama nor Clinton can relate to. Because of his honesty, he alienated the powerful and the greedy and was largely blacked out by the mainstream media.

We know, you all have bosses to answer to. But your blatant lack of coverage was a disservice to the American voter. From the start, you portrayed the Democratic race as a "two-person" race simply to force your viewers to only look at Obama and Clinton.

John Edwards is a once in a lifetime candidate. It is shameful that the media's lack of coverage of Edwards means that the American people, en masse, were deprived of hearing his message. His message is our message. As I have stated, John Edwards is the heart and soul of the Democratic party.

So, where are John Edwards supporters going? They are going nowhere. They are voting for John Edwards.

Thank you.

Why We Fight for the Constitution by rjluczakII receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award

Winner of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award

Why We Fight for the Constitution

user icon in Diaries Feed of rjluczakII's Diary
11/01/2007 at 1:32 PM EST

We fight for democracy and the constitution with our words, arguments, and voices; and our nation's service members fight with their lives; not merely because of the freedoms it provides and protects for ourselves- but because of the freedoms it provides and protects for those we love. Because we want freedom for those we love.

Keep fighting for the issues and campaign of John Edwards. The election of a new President such as Senator Edwards will bring a restoration of the Constitution and bring a better level of freedom back to the ordinary citizens of the United States- to those we love

What is Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award?

Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award is my own personal accolade for good writing that advances the progressive vision for America.

I had a fellow blogger ask, what is the meaning of Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award and this is what I answered.

I share it here, reprinted from the John Edwards blog.

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/9/16/201/09966

Just my own way of spreading the good word. (none / 0)

When I get excited about a piece I see, I think it deserves a silver pen award, as we have seen in our local newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News. (I always thought it might be a good thing for the blog tohave such an award, but, then I thought it would not really have been good for the Campaign to do such choosing.)

So, I invented my own, when I felt especially moved or impressed. It's just a personal accolade I like to give to our great citizen journalists in this blog community. When people accept the award, I repost their piece in my own blog site at Blogspot, http://passionateprogressivepatriot.blog spot.com/.

I hope it doesn't seem too presumptuous or that I am taking myself too seriously. It's poking a little fun at myself, but I do mean my praise very sincerely.

I will not limit my Silver Pen Award to blogs only found on the JRE blog, but will inlcude blogs and writings from other sites, as appropriate to the mission of my blogspot site which is to advance progressive thought.

Karita Hummer
San Jose, CA

An American Hero by joblo receives Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award

Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award




Reposted from JohnEdwards.com

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/8/26/4325/47893#6

An American Hero....

user icon joblo in Arguments & Analyses Feed of
8/26/2007 at 10:26 AM EST

In a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars The President made a comparison of Iraq and Vietnam, not in the sense of both being a quagmire, but what was an obvious move to reframe the argument and lay the blame elsewhere. In the game of Bourree' ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourr%C3%A9 ) it's what we call a setup play. When you know that your opponent is holding a better hand than yourself, you play a card that will intice them to play the wrong card so you can take advantage and claim the hand. As we have seen some have taken the bait, they have fallen right into the trap and are letting him control the dialogue.

Max Cleland a disabled veteran of the war in vietnam,a former Senator from Georgia and the current director of the Veterans Administration has taken umbrage of the fact that this president would make comparisons in such an outright dishonest fashion, and in his radio address said, "I know something about the Vietnam War, I know something about the price that was paid for continuing that war long after it was clear we could not succeed."

There was also a press release in response to The Presidents speech, that addressed the comments made and facts on the ground which this president refuses to acknowledge.

This is the text of Max Cleland's response: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politi cs/blog/2007/08/bush_vs_cleland_iraq_vs_ vietna.html#more

"My fellow Americans, this is Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator from Georgia. This week, President Bush gave a speech comparing the ongoing war in Iraq to the Vietnam War. He used this analogy in his latest plea to the American people for yet more time to continue his war.

I know something about the Vietnam War.

I know something about the price that was paid for continuing that war long after it was clear we could not succeed. I know something about years of war failing to produce a stable, secure, and democratic country. I know something about enemy attacks increasing and taking an ever higher toll on our troops. Fifty-eight thousand young Americans were killed in Vietnam. Three hundred and fifty thousand were wounded.

I was one of them.

There are similarities between the war in Iraq and the war in Vietnam. One of the lessons to be learned from Vietnam is that the commitment of American military strength alone cannot solve another country's political weakness. This should be a somber warning to us all to responsibly end the war in Iraq and the additional loss of precious American lives. Congress has required the president to issue a report soon on the state of the war. This assessment gives him yet another opportunity to do the right thing and change course in Iraq.

Unfortunately, it appears he will continue to argue that if the American people and the U.S. Congress will just be patient things will work out. He is likely to say that given more time victory is just around the corner. He is likely to argue that there is light at the end of the tunnel. But like political leaders during the Vietnam era, this President has a "credibility gap."

The majority of Americans see a profound difference between President Bush's optimistic rhetoric and the grim reality which lies beneath. Our history in Vietnam and the facts on the ground in Iraq today prove the American people are right. How do I know? Because I've seen this movie before. I know how it ends. I know that all the PR in the world didn't change the truth on the ground in Vietnam and won't change the truth on the ground today in Iraq.

What is this truth? The truth is that more than 3,700 Americans have already lost their lives, more than 20,000 have been wounded, and nearly $500 billion in American taxpayer funds have been expended. The truth is that despite this enormous sacrifice, we find ourselves mired in a civil war with no end in sight and Iraqis unable or unwilling to make the political decisions necessary to end this conflict.

And the truth is President Bush's decision to go to war and stay at war has actually encouraged thousands of new recruits for Al-Qaida in Iraq and around the world, has made the Middle East and other parts of the globe less safe, has alienated the Muslim world and allowed Al-Qaida - the enemy that attacked this nation six years ago - a chance to rebuild and restore its terror network.

These are the facts. But the facts will not stop the President and his fellow Republicans from trying once again to sell the American people a bill of goods on the Iraq War.

The failures in Iraq are not the fault of our troops or their courage in battle. They have done everything asked of them and more. The conflict in Iraq is an Iraqi political problem, not a U.S. military problem. We can't continue to sacrifice American lives, deplete our treasury and weaken our national security. We can't expect our soldiers to continue to risk their lives especially when the Iraqi leaders themselves show no interest in achieving a peaceful political solution.

President Bush's report to Congress will attempt to show that his escalation has produced improved security in certain parts of Iraq. But it will ignore the stark truth in Iraq - - that his overall strategy to buy time for Iraqis to make the needed political decisions has failed and, just like Vietnam, we are enmeshed now in an open-ended war for which our troops and our country will pay the price for decades to come.

That's why we must act now. This fall, Democrats in Congress will continue to stand with our troops - and with the American people - - to remember the lessons of history - - and end the Iraq War.

This is Max Cleland. ''

And that Mr. President is a hero, and an American, who supports the troops.

Silver Pen Award for rjluczakII on Liberty

Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award


Cross-posted from the blog at JohnEdwards.com

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/8/20/21535/6568

The Basis of the `Spirit of Liberty' & the Task of Our Times- Restoration of Liberty

user icon rjluczakII in Arguments & Analyses Feed of
8/20/2007 at 9:59 PM EST

"The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right".
Judge Learned Hand states in his famous speech `The Spirit of Liberty' :

"What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, nearly two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest".

What Judge Hand refers to in the first answer- that the "spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right"- is the very basis of the need for law, which is based in the fundamental character of the human condition, which is human fallibility. The human body of a single man is fallible, the power of a single man is fallible, and human judgment is fallible, and because of these basic human fallibilities there arises the need for community, for the help and power of others to protect us, and to join us and make us greater. There arises the need for community and the help and power of others to help us determine the truth.

By myself, I am weak, but with others together, there is a strength and power accessible to the individual that is non-existent for merely oneself. That strength is the pronouncement and enforcement of common imperatives derived from the common fallibilities, fears, and hopes that reside in each man, woman and child. These common characteristics derived from the `sensus communis', the `common sense' we all possess, form the basis of a collective wisdom that dictates what is allowable and what is not in our common quest to be free from each other, while at the same time being free with each other.

The fallibility of judgment present in the spirit which is "not too sure", forms the basis of the necessity for a common objective process for determining whether someone has indeed violated one of the common strictures that construct our freedom. Since I am fallible, others are fallible by themselves as well, and with this basic distrust in the judgment of authority of a single man or woman, let us then put down a set of procedures to follow that we all agree upon that allow all of us to come to a more objective judgment that someone is guilty of violating a stricture.

This objective method, this `due process' is thus integral to the spirit of liberty, because it forms a more objective basis for judgment, a common judgment, where the truth of the facts, as WE discover them and as WE agree on them together, determine guilt in the matter separate from the authority and musings of one man or woman. So we rely on each other and our commonly derived process to come to this judgment of the violation of strictures we agree upon, and impose upon each other.

Because of these fallibilities we must seek to understand the minds of other men and women, which provide knowledge and wisdom other than our own, and because we live with others, liberty is found not only in the rebellious ability to act on one's own, for oneself, but is found within the order and freedom created from our common strictures. Freedom from oppression, freedom from want, freedom from violence, and in these ordered freedoms I am free from the tyrannies that would be imposed by others, and they are free from those that would be imposed by me.

Because of this common fallibility, this `common sense', we are like to each other, and in this common truth exists the basis for equality under the law- that we should weigh the interest of others alongside his own without bias, because the basis upon which we are free relies upon the common shared dignity of personhood, the truth of the facts of the case, and not the assertion of power of those in authority.

Both the `great' and the `least' share the quality of human fallibility, as all men share the traits of our common humanity. No man is superhuman, infallible, and thus above the rest. And so we should be heard the same, and judged the same, with regard to the truth of the facts, derived from our commonly derived process, our `due process', as equal under the law. So there is no liberty by oneself, but only in the order among men, in and through community.

It is a liberty of order- an `ordered liberty' that balances individual freedoms with the freedom of the community. The spirit of such a liberty is thus never authoritarian, but democratic and thus autonomous, with a faith in the common goodness of other citizens and a faith in their voices to say the truth of the facts as they see it, about the law that we give to ourselves.

John Edwards' campaign to create One America implicitly refers to the greater liberty that is to be found in the unity of our common citizenship. The unfettered desires of wealthy special interests have facilitated the creation of Two America's, and has created an economic inequality that has severely limited the real liberty of ordinary citizens for the benefit of a few. So citizens must now take steps to restore the liberty promised by our constitution, and through elections and law bring the special interests and elite back within the fold of what is best for all our community.

The 'Spirit which is not too sure that it is right', based in our fallibility, also denotes that because we are fallible, the attempt to achieve the highest liberty for our society is an ongoing process of striving, or self-improvement. We must constantly strive to achieve greater liberty through our laws, and through our society, and thus continuously restore in law the spirit that resides in our hearts.

The spirit of liberty, as described so eloquently by Judge Hand, is found in the spirit of community, formed from the respect of others, from the Spirit that lies in the heart of each man, woman, and child, and created from the strength of our mutually fallible nature and our mutually empowering reliance on each other.

Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award for "The New Guilded Age and the New Citizenship- Response to Kevin Horrigan" by rjluczakII

Karita Hummer's Silver Pen Award




That Government of The People, By the People, and For the People Shall Not Perish From the Earth

Cross-posted from the blog at JohnEdwards.com

The New Guilded Age and the New Citizenship- Response to Kevin Horrigan
r
user icon rjluczakII in Arguments & Analyses Feed of
8/19/2007 at 6:43 PM EST

http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/8/19/171114/981



In his sunday 8/19/2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch commentary, 'The New Guilded Age', Post-Dispatch Columnist Kevin Horrigan writes straight to the point and 'right on the money'-

"We are living, we are told, in a "new Gilded Age" in which income inequality is at near record highs, in which labor is taking it on the chin in its battle with capital, in which conspicuous consumption is celebrated and in which corporations, in league with government, have rigged the game like nothing since the Credit Mobilier scandal of the Grant Administration".

He later writes:

"The first Gilded Age began to come apart when the Recession of 1893 ushered in the Progressive Era. Still, it wasn't until the Great Depression brought Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal that the scales began tipping in favor of the great majority of Americans. Is it possible 2008 will bring that kind of change"?"Probably not. The presidential election is going to cost $1 billion, and whoever pays for it will call the tune. What Henry D. Lloyd wrote of the first Gilded Age remains true of the second: 'We have government by campaign contribution.'"

I agree with Horrigan about the small probability of change any time soon. Change to this will only come about through an overall change in public attitude and increased level of involvement of today's citizen in issues and elections. We need a new level of active citizenship for the 21st century to regain control of government and reform it to be 'of the people, by the people, and for the people.'

With information technology the conditions are present- the easy availability of information and the low cost of communication resources- for citizens to mobilize to change votes, change laws, and 'unrig the game' and make it more fair.

However currently there are two factors that weigh heavily against the likelihood of mobilization- 1) the average citizen is not convinced that it is in their interest to mobilize, because they like to identify themselves with the rich, because rich is what they want to be. and 2) it is against their independent nature and history to do so.

The tools are there though, and if the right political leader came along- you never know. That leader just might be John Edwards. With his campaign of 'two americas', John Edwards gives us the best chance at such a change.

The time is right for such a new level of citizenship- a 'New Citizenship' that is demanded by the material conditions of our time, in order to preserve the freedoms guaranteed by our constitution.