John Edwards Apperance on Tavis Smiley

John Edwards Appearance
on Tavis Smiley

John Edwards appeared as a guest on Tavis Smiley's PBS show on October 3rd. He spoke about the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and about his work at the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Transcript here
Listen here

Sen. Edwards on Harriet Miers nomination:

I think it will be important to get some of the information and writings that she has done, whether in the White House or in other jobs that she has held in the past, so that we can get some sense about where she stands. Because right now, she is very much a blank slate. And I think it is also going to be really critical for the Senate, particularly the members of, my former colleagues on the Judiciary Committee..to be really vigorous in their questioning of her and make sure that she answers the questions.

Sen. Edwards Talks About the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:

When I ran for President of the United States, myself, I made it a significant part of my campaign. You remember me talking about the two different Americas and one America for the privileged and one for everybody else. And a big part of that was the issue of poverty. And then when the election was over, you know, I had a choice like people always do, about what you want to spend your time doing.

And among all the choices, this was the thing I felt most strongly about. So I have helped start a poverty center, Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We have got some very good people, two terrific women right now who are working for me there. We are working together on this poverty center.

We have brought in scholars from the university campus. We are bringing in some of the best experts in the country to talk about their views on what the causes of poverty are, the root causes, what can be done to eliminate poverty, looking at it in a very practical, 21st century, forward-looking way. And – as I'm sure we are going to talk about, you know, we are doing lots of practical things. We're having summits to bring in some of the great experts in the country.

I'm going have a panel in November of some of the leading journalists whose have written about poverty, columnists and press reporters to talk about why the press has covered poverty the way it has in the past. Has that changed as a result of Katrina? How will it change in the future, what is the likelihood - the impact that will have on the psyche of the American people? But the real issue - I think, is this window of opportunity, post-hurricane Katrina, is open. The American people are paying attention. The question is, will that window stay open, or is it gonna close?

Left Behind - Bush Press Con

Left Behind - Bush Press Con
Featured today at Blogcritics.org

Presscon Transcript - Wa Po

As usual, I felt left out of George W. Bush's America this morning. Tuning in to his press conference (the first in four long months), I heard him kowtowing to Conservatives. It was all " don't worry - Harriet's good " all the time. We all know that Bush can push his agenda down our throats without the assistance of one Democrat, but he cannot get a lot done without the support of the Conservatives of whom he's tried to convince that he is one (while he spends like a drunken sailor). He publically swore to David Gregory that he's still proudly a conservative. He flatly refused to talk about the Valerie Plame leak or who he'd remove from office if/when the indictments came down from Patrick Fitzgerald.

When he had an opportunity to state that which he personally felt he could have done better in his response to Hurricane Katrina, his very first reaction was to point fingers toward State and Local governments. He boasted about the good job he did "getting $2000 to people" after the hurricane, and waxed endlessly about people taking in strangers (which has nothing to do with his own policies which seem to concentrate on rebuilding stuctures and have little to do with rebuilding actual lives.)

Bush took down the "beer-ah-cracy" a few pegs by highlighting the private sector as the "true engine for hope and opportunity." He proclaimed a resurgence in employment of construction workers (while he suspends Davis-Bacon; the rule which would have allowed/ensured those construction workers a decent wage). Local firms are being left behind as a result of no-bid contract crony-ism.

On Harriet Miers, Bush said "I know her heart and what she believes." That's good. The question is - why should we trust the guy who lied us into an unnecessary and disastrous war - and will we ever get to know anything substantial about Harriet before she's confirmed? We certainly didn't learn much about John Roberts. The crafty Roberts avoided every opportunity to look America directly in the eye and speak in a non-legalese fashion to answer the questions that truly matter. When Bush was asked if he would release documents that might help us get to know Harriet (without Bush claiming Executive privelege), Bush's first response was "Ah-heh!," the annoying guffaw that is code for "you've got to be f--king kidding."

Speaking about an unnecessary and disastrous war, Bush has gone back to the use of the term "global struggle" to accompany discussion of the "war on terror". As you may recall, he avoided the use of the term "global struggle" this past July, and now he's revisiting the phrase. Once again attempting to convince a doubting public, Bush insisted that Iraq was part of the war on terror, or what Gen John Abizaid referred to as a "larger global struggle." If you've recently become confused about the mixed-message headlines regarding when we'll start pulling troops out of Iraq, Bush wants you to know "WE'RE NOT LEAVING IRAQ" - a direct quote. I hope that clarifies the matter. (Ah-heh).

On Poverty and Race, Bush's presecription is Ownership and the private sector. He said that Ownership is "empowerfully healing." He substitutes policies that rebuild meaningful lives with policies that promote greed, competition, and materialism. In the same breath, he'll heap mighty praise upon faith-based groups for all they do. In other words, there is no room in government bureaucracy for social safety nets. As Paul Krugman said yesterday in his NYT column, Bush's mission in office is "to dismantle or at least shrink the federal social safety net, yet he must, as a matter of political necessity, provide aid to Katrina's victims. His problem is how to do that without legitimizing the very role of government he opposes."

Personally, one of the richest parts of the Press con was hearing Bush admit that he used his very own style of Affirmative Action in choosing the members of his own cabinet. Saying it was his "responsibility to reach out" and "elevate people," he waxed on and on about the worthiness of his choosing black folks to be on his team.

Bush showed a "joking" disdain for public polls, and if he pays no attention to the polls, as he says he doesn't, he may wish to do so now. He is so out of touch with the American public that it has hampered his ability to forward his agenda without his right-wing cronies in the House and Senate bullying it through.

When asked how much "political capital" he figured he had left, his first reponse was a loud "Heh -heh-heh," sounding more like Beavis and Butthead than Bountiful Bush.

He caused me to zone out and daydream about the good old days when he tediously droned on and on about the H51N virus. Zzzzzzzz.... I guess that's what you do when you're trying to kill time and avoid the hot topics. (And there are plenty of hot topics).

For any reader who thinks I am overly critical of this President, I'd like to conclude by telling you that I am looking at him without blinders. I have realized, for a long time now, that I have been politically left behind. Millions of good Americans realize they stand without hope for representation or successful promotion of policies that reflect one united America. President Bush is the figurehead of an extremely divided and ugly America, and I'm speaking to you today from the other side of a perfectly polarized country. Bush said nothing today to make me believe anything else.

Headlines

Headlines

Paul Hackett to run for Senate
Paul Hackett, the Iraq War veteran from Cincinnati who was hailed by national Democrats for his narrow loss this summer in a heavily Republican House district, has decided to challenge Mike DeWine for U.S. Senate in 2006.


DeLay Is Indicted Again in Texas; Money Laundering Is Charge
A grand jury in Texas issued a second indictment on Monday against Representative Tom DeLay, accusing the Texas Republican and two aides of money laundering in a $190,000 transaction that prosecutors have described as a violation of the state's ban on the use of corporate money in local election campaigns.
*Well, he's just an indictable boy...


Spitzer Leads in NYS Governor Race - Latest Poll
Battleground States Polls are out [Zogby]. Spitzer beats Pataki by 33.8 points.


Harry Reid suggested Harriet Miers as good pick for Supreme Court - would like to see someone who has not had judicial experience.
See the Raw Story report:

In a conference call held with liberal bloggers last week, Reid declared that he had told Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card that Miers was a good choice for the Court.

Times to Run Full Story on Judith Miller this week
The New York Times will carry what executive editor Bill Keller calls a full account of Judith Miller's involvement in the Plame case as early as this weekend, according to an article in the paper Tuesday. [Editor & Publisher]
* Recommended read: Outing Valerie Plame is the tape on the Watergate doors [Corrente]

Melancholy Abe

Melancholy Abe


photo credit: www.nationmaster.com

Abe Lincoln is looked at through the lens of his melancholy.
[Book Review, Lincoln's Melancholy, Wa Po]

"Spitzerism"

"Spitzerism"

Norm Scheiber (of TNR) has an interesting piece on 'the Spitz' - Eliot Spitzer - in the New York Times today. The term "spiterism" describes Spitzer's GOP-infuriating approach to prosecuting corporate wrongdoers. (Grover Norquist hates Spitzer's tactics, so he must be doing something right.) Sheiber suggests that Democrats could benefit, in a political sense, from watching Spitzer's tenacious toughness against the moral evils which surface on the dark side of business and fearlessly defending the social compact between ordinary people and large institutions like government and business.

Gene Sperling, the chief economic adviser in the Clinton White House, says that Spitzer grasps this distinction: "The key in the Spitzer message is. . .it's not a populist bashing for the sake of it.".........

"His advocacy on behalf of a growing and new class of investors could have wide applicability," says Howard Wolfson, a former Democratic Congressional strategist and an adviser to Hillary Clinton.........

"I think that if Spitzer is able to translate the particular work he did around risk associated with investment in the stock market. . .into a larger narrative for Democrats about risk in the 21st century" - not just stock-market risk but risk associated with pensions, health care, employment - that "could help forge the bond with the middle class that we've lost."

With the middle class feeling that their financial situation is less stable than ever before, Spitzer's emphasis on making companies more accountable makes them feel more secure. No one wants to see their life savings wiped out as a result of corporate greed and wrongdoing.

See Spitzer for New York 2006 - which is another blog which I write and maintain.
spitzer4ny2006.blogspot.com

Lake George Accident

Lake George Accident

The boat that capsized on Lake George (in the Adirondack region of NY State) today, drowning 21 elderly passengers, is here.

Playboy Features Political Bloggers

Playboy Features Political Bloggers

No sexy pictures - sorry! ;)

Judith Miller Updates

Judith Miller Updates

Jay Rosen on Judith Miller:
At the Huffington Post, Press Think's Jay Rosen says that "civil disobedience succeeds when there is clarity in purpose, cogency in argument, and transparency in action. None of which has been apparent in [NYT reporter Judith Miller's] decisons..."

_____________

WHIG may see a RICO charge per Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (and WaPo).

At Talk Left:

[Newsweek's] Michael Isikoff reports that Joseph Tate, Libby's lawyer, says Libby did not speak to Novak. Also, the call between Libby and Miller in jail was a four-way conference call with both their lawyers on the call.

Kos talks about some questions asked and comments made by George Stephanopoulos on today's ABC This Week. A source close to this told Stephanopoulos this week that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these White House discussions related to the Plame case. Did Bush and/or Cheney play a direct role?

Arianna Huffington recommends the exchange of letters between Scooter Libby, Judith Miller, their lawyers and Patrick Fitzgerald, available on this New York Times site.

Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?

Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?

[Yale Global] Associate professor F. Gregory Gause III of the University of Vermont explores the question of "Can Democracy Stop Terrorism?"

Gause analyses available data on terror incidence and regime types and concludes that "the data available do not show a strong relationship between democracy and an absence of or a reduction in terrorism ... there is no relationship between the incidence of terrorism in a given country and the degree of freedom enjoyed by its citizens."

He also quotes numerous surveys and other evidence showing that Arabs favor democracy, but are cynical of American attempts to promote democracy in the Arab world (such as through the Iraq war). He concludes that American policy to push democratic reforms in the Arab world will probably result in Islamist-led governments that are critical of the United States, and "is unlikely to have much effect on anti-American terrorism emanating from there."

A better approach, he suggests, would be for Washington to "focus on pushing Arab governments to make political space for liberal, secular, leftist, nationalist and other non-Islamist parties to set down roots and mobilize voters." He also sees the US focus on elections as the centerpiece of its democracy promotion strategy as "troubling," along with the "unjustified" confidence that Washington has in its ability to predict, and even direct, the course of politics in other countries, noting that its "hubris should have been crushed in Iraq."

Full text available at Yale Global online.

Karen Armstrong on Myth

Karen Armstrong on Myth

There is an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth avialable at The Australian.

Poverty In the News

Poverty In the News

Clarence Page is glad to hear people jawboning about poverty again. He says,

"We who have succeeded in life need to be divinely dissatisfied with tax breaks and other government policies that widen our rich-poor divide to a canyon resembling that of a Third World country."

The Center For American Progress has a brief compilation of excerpts from the Opinion pages of American newspapers about the issue of Poverty.


Bill Stamps of the Long Beach Press-Telegram is convinced that of the hundreds of bodies found in the aftermath of the Katrina flood, not one was a rich person - white or black.


Star Tribune Washington Bureau Chief David Westphal has a feature about Poverty today which begins by reminding us that the "searing images of New Orleans residents who were stranded by floodwaters because they had no means to flee Hurricane Katrina exposed an abiding truth about poverty in America." Although the recent rise in poverty occurred on Bush's watch, it's unclear to Westphal how much responsibility Bush will bear.

Economists say poverty's resurgence was almost certain to follow the economic recession that began two months after Bush took office, just as poverty rates rose after the recessions of the early 1980s and early 1990s...Further, the U.S. poverty picture remains well below historic averages because of dramatic gains during the 1990s.

Newsday's Martin C. Evans continues the discussion about the hurricanes which have pushed the plight of the poor into the nation's consciousness.

The poor are far less likely to own their own home, have access to credit or have property insurance, [said Carla Prater, associate director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center.] Tens of thousands of people in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama have lost furniture, clothes, cars and other belongings, and will have to start over from nothing, she said...."They don't have savings in the bank to fall back on. They don't have money to stay in a motel or rent an apartment until they get a job, so they end up in a shelter," Prater said. "They don't have health care so their teeth don't look so good when they go to get a job. It goes on and on and on."..Many of the victims of Katrina and Rita had virtually nothing even before the storms.

An excerpt from a letter to the editor of the Binghamton, NY Press & Sun Bulletin by Endicott, NY citizen Anton Wolfe:

The poor are becoming stronger in number, but weaker in power. The rich are becoming smaller in number, but greater in power. The poor are taught division, racial tension, rivalry among themselves. The rich know only of unity in their struggle to maintain their wealth....Destitution and despair do not discriminate based on religion or color. The rich discriminate only by the monetary line. War always divides the common people, always benefits the rich, always takes its greatest toll on the poor......Fight not the war of the rich; rather, fight the war of the poor. Overcome all differences to find the common ground of having nothing...

Tom Ashcraft of the Charlotte Observer wonders why the poor are still with us and is suggesting that we abandon some of our old thinking and consider new solutions. He recommends socially engineering Welfare to reward those who respond to government's encouragement of work and marriage. He leans toward increased dependence upon churches, synagogues, charitable and nonprofit organizations, individuals and corporations as a "voluntary charity" alternative to welfare. [My comment: Slippery slope/slippery slope/slippery slope.]

In Pensacola, Florida, citizens will soon conduct workshops, discussion panels and brainstorming sessions focusing on three areas -- faith, family and finances -- to try to come up with their own solutions to massive racial disparities in poverty, education, health care and quality of life.

In an appeal for support for the United Way, UW/Rhode Island President and CEO Anthony Mainone says,

The cost of housing has already outstripped the income of many in our state. Add to that dramatic increases in heating and transportation costs and you have a storm that will force more and more families into shelters. And we don't have enough shelters to provide safe haven to all of those needing it..... for an increasing number of our people the rain is falling in buckets and the wind is blowing hard. There are people right here in Rhode Island who live Katrina everyday. Their hope dwindles the longer we wait. The need is urgent and the time is now. We must be their hope. The cost of heat and housing will be front and center on United Way of Rhode Island's agenda this year and for years to come..."

The Fair

From the annual Buckwheat Harvest Festival in Penn Yan NY
These and all photos shown by Jude Nagurney Camwell

The Fair

I love the New York State Fair. The sights, the sounds, and the smells. Comedian Tom Kenny (who is the creator of Sponge Bob Squarepants) is from my own hometown of East Syracuse, N.Y. I saw him perform here at the Landmark Theater a few years back, and I recall a great joke he told about feeling like the most handsome man in the world when he walked the fairgrounds of another local fair, the East Syracuse Field Days. He looked around at his fellow fair-kind and realized he wasn't so bad after all. You certainly see a lot of ego-free characters at fairs. Odd folks - and I'm talking about the ones going to see the freak show, not the ones who are in it. Freak shows. There's a whole 'nother story altogether. Otis the Frog Boy had no arms to speak of, yet he could light a cigarette and flip it into his mouth and out again with it being still lit. How cool is that? Kids, don't try that at home.


This is me and Charlie Daniels at the New York State Fair

When I think of the New York State Fair, I think of the smell of fried dough and the wonderful scent of saugage, onions and peppers floating in the air from the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que stand. The Dinosaur is a favorite of Bill and Hillary Clinton, who visit the NY State fair every year without fail. After his first NY State Fair visit, then-President Bill Clinton said, "I come from a place where barbecue is not food; it is a way of life. It is a philosophy of human nature. I have rarely had any as good as this." (September 1, 2000).



I took this photo of a pair of feet and legs, and took home the Red ribbon at the New York State Fair a number of years ago.

Songwriter Chris Trapper of the Push Stars (Boston) wrote a song about fairs. Growing up in Buffalo, NY, I can't help but wonder if he wasn't inspired by the same New York state carnival scenes....

I've got cotton candy lips
Salt water taffy smile
I'm blowing all my money
But I'm going out in style
I start skipping down the street
'Cause I smell it in the air
Yeah I was, and I am, and I will always be a square
Meet me at the Fair..

The Shifting Ground

The Shifting Ground

There is an analogous relationship which can be derived from a view of the physical ground that shifted beneath the levees of New Orleans and the political ground which has shifted beneath the Republican party.

The Gulf coast was far more vulnerable than most people realized. The Republican party was far more vulnerable than cocky politicians thought when they believed that they would never collide with the consequences stemming from their perverted policies and practices.

Juan Cole on Dems and Iraq

Juan Cole on Dems and Iraq

I think you will be interested to read Professor Juan Cole's analysis and opinion about Democrats and the Iraq war.

Quotes from the article (Full text can be seen HERE [truthout.org]):

...The Democrats on the Hill may in some instances be anxious about criticizing the war because they had voted for it, and fear being tagged as inconsistent. But they have other options than silence. They could point out that they were misled by the Bush administration, which menaced them with visions of mushroom clouds from Iraqi nukes, visions that now seem likely to have been outright lies....

.....The potential of a strong antiwar stance striking a chord with the public has already been demonstrated by Paul Hackett. A Marine who recently served in Iraq, Hackett became a civilian and ran in August as a Democrat for Congress in Ohio's 2nd District, traditionally heavily Republican. He lambasted George W. Bush as a chicken hawk and said he should never have begun the Iraq war. Yet Hackett is no peacenik. He says, "I love the Marine Corps. I happen to think it's being misused in Iraq." He only narrowly lost the election, and the Democratic leadership is seriously thinking of putting him up for an Ohio Senate seat, according to the Hill.

Even Democrats who are not veterans of Iraq need to find the courage to speak out on the war if they are effectively to challenge the Republicans. Simply waiting around for things to get worse in Baghdad is a dangerous strategy, not so much because the situation is likely to improve any time soon but because the American people want real leadership on this issue and they know they are not getting it from Bush.

I couldn't agree more. Nothing turns me off, in a political sense, any more than when I hear prominent Democrats talking about purchasing more American blood and spending more American treasure for a failing venture of which we citizens were conned into. It's a poisoned war. The mission was never accomplished. If you ask any American what the mission was, I gurantee that you would get fifty different answers from each respective citizen. It's become the deadliest flip-flop in American history, and our President has led us into it. It is pathetic and unnerving to think that a Democrat would perpetuate this disaster, thinking that they're keeping themselves "electable." (Count the number of years now that they have lost American elections).

Americans need leaders who are brave enough to stick with convictions that fall in line with reality - and who can communicate the reasons for those convictions so the average citizen can understand, hope, and trust.

Listen to the Generals (courtesy of Mark Mazetti/LA Times). "The 149,000 U.S. troops currently in Iraq are increasingly part of the problem." That is not what we've heard from Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton.

Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Larry Franklin to plead guilty in AIPAC Case

Neocon Michael Ledden is furious with whoever leaked the information about his friend Larry Franklin. Franklin is the former Pentagon Iran analyst who is expected to plead guilty to three charges of mishandling government secrets next week in a deal his lawyers hope will guarantee his wife at least half of his civil service pension. [NY Sun]

Jim Larson has given a thorough overview of the neocons who've worked directly with the Bush administration, and in that examination of neocons and how their tight ship has become a traitorous ship of fools, Larson says:

When Mr. Franklin approached Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee with classified information, they were already under surveillance by the FBI. Caught red-handed, Mr. Franklin began to cooperate with the FBI.

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Poverty: You Must See It to Fix It

Recognizing poverty in our own nation is an important step to fixing it, says anthropology student Meg Burd at the Rocky Mountain Collegian [Colorado State U]

Poverty often seems to be an issue swept under the rug...Poverty is present throughout the nation, and is not something we should ever let fade from our view.

See:
Winter Crisis Looms for the Poor in Iowa

Near-record-high gasoline prices, inevitable spikes in energy costs and out-of-state disasters pulling regular donations away from Iowa — these are the "indicators of doom" for the poor this winter, said Jerry McKim, who oversees the state's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. [Des Moines Register]

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

NOLA Poverty Changes Philly Doctor's Outlook

A doctor from Philadelphia who assisted in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina says:

"How can you spend a week helping a destitute father find shelter for his family, or a poor elderly woman manage her diabetes, and not come away with a feeling of urgency that things have to change? [..] And since it took Hurricane Katrina for many of us to realize that crushing poverty is alive and well in America - because we've stopped seeing the poverty in our own communities - maybe first-person volunteering in Louisiana would keep that realization fresh enough that we'd agitate for change back home....

If the problem is bad in New Orleans, you know it's probably just as bad in Philadelphia..." - Philadelphia Daily News

Judith Miller Sprung From Calaboose

Judith Miller Sprung
From Calaboose

NY Times reporter Judith Miller was released from jail today. She was allegedly convinced that Scooter Libby's legal waiver was not "coerced." She'll testify later today. How many indictments will follow?

Arianna Huffington says:

"..there is no way that the New York Times editorial claiming “it should be clear…that Ms. Miller is not going to change her mind” can be squared with Ms. Miller changing her mind. And there is no way to accept at face value Miller’s grandstanding about “fighting for the cause of the free flow of information.” Who is she still trying to convince? Herself?"

After Miller answers Patrick Fitzgerald’s questions today, Huffington says she'd like to see Miller start answering some "obvious questions raised by her head-scratching stance." (link)

Edwards Launches "College for Everyone" Initiative

Edwards Launches "College for Everyone" Initiative
Pilot Program Will Benefit Students in Greene County, N.C.

Former Sen. John Edwards promised 140 high school seniors in one of the state's poorest counties that they could get free college tuition through a new program that will require them to work while they study. [Greensboro News and Record]

Edwards says the program would be funded by donations from individuals, companies and charitable foundations. Students could attend North Carolina State, East Carolina, Fayetteville State, North Carolina A&T and UNC-Wilmington. They could also go to two nearby community colleges. [WFMY News, Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem]

See the story by guest blogger Jon at the One America website.

See today's feature on John Edwards at The Daily Tar Heel by Erin Gibson -
A man with many hats

Also, Edwards appeared on News and Notes with Ed Gordon (NPR) today:

Former V.P. Candidate Edwards: Class and Katrina: News & Notes with Ed Gordon, September 29, 2005 · Former North Carolina senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards talks about America's class crossroads and what can be learned from Hurricane Katrina.

*Audio for this story will be available here at approx. 1:00 p.m. ET

Keep It Real, David Brooks

Keep It Real, David Brooks
We'll respect you a lot more if you stop repeating what we know to be false

David Brooks really needs to get over himself and the patently false point he keeps trying to drive home, which is that Democrats are divided between those who are bitter partisans and those who are less so.

The Democrats have drawn the 10-years-out-of-date conclusion that in order to win, they need to be just like Tom DeLay. They need to rigidly hew to orthodoxy. They need Deaniac hyperpartisanship. They need to organize their hatreds around Bush the way the Republicans did around Clinton.- [NYT Select]

It just isn't true, no matter how many times Brooks says it. Perhaps this is what some pundits hope will become CW ("conventional wisdom,") if it is repeated enough. Democrats will have to show David Brooks that he is wrong. George Bush has become an unpopular president, and it has stunned those of us who have paid attention all along that he has gotten away with so much and has fooled so many Americans, with the help of pliant and intentionally tilted (Fox News) media.

Partisanship is a natural political tendency. To see the Bush administration getting away with lies and the systematic destruction of social democracy has never seemed natural. To see Fox News intentionally tilting the news to the right has never seemed natural. To see the Republican majority virtually shutting the Democrats out from the participatory process in Congress at every opportunity has never seemed fair, natural, or democratic.

If Howard Dean takes the time to remind Americans that it was a vile (and sometimes criminal) kind of partisanship that has allowed us to be in the weakened position our country is in today and to allow the evils of poverty and inequality to flourish, then I say more power to him. At the same time, I look to potential presidential candidates who can offer positive ideas to pull our nation out of the rot to which the Bush administration has led us. Americans aren't so stupid that they're going to continue falling for the line about how Democrats hate Bush. We don't have to hate him anymore - he's a proven abuser of the public trust, and so are many who played vile games thinking the media would continue to cover for them. Drunk with power, Republicans got much too cocky. As Bush and his Republican cronies (in Congress, his administration, and beyond) continue to screw up royally, and as each wrongdoer falls in shame, it will be less likely that Democrats will be forced to convince Americans of what's been true all along.

Bill Bennett Helps GOP to Lose More Minority Votes

Bill Bennett Helps GOP to Lose More Minority Votes
..This idiotic run-of-the-mouth may lose the GOP as many minority votes as the Hurricane Katrina federal response failures

A titan among moral titans. Virtuous spokesman of the virtuous Republican party. Distinguished Fellow of the Heritage Foundation. Bill Bennett says...

"You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down"
[See Steve Gilliard]

A commenter at Gilliard's News Blog says, in response:

We could come up with some stats that prove that if we aborted the offspring of conservative whites about 50-60 years ago, we would have less white collar crime, federal cronyism and government incompetance.

The Public's Changing Mood

The Public's Changing Mood

David Michael Green on the changing mood of the public toward American politics:

Even conservative columnists like David Brooks (though not Novak) are writing articles nowadays accurately describing the changed mood of the American public. Where those powerful currents are heading is unclear, but given the radical right experiment of the present as their point of departure, there would seem to be only two choices. We can either go completely off the deep-end and finally constitute the Fascist Republic of Cheney, or we can turn to the left, toward some semblance of rational policymaking. The latter seems far more likely, especially as America increasingly regains its senses after a long bout of temporary insanity. These are bad bits of news for poor George, but worse yet is that they are only the first signs of the coming apocalypse. The real fun stuff is just around the corner.

Rall on Iraq War: Polarization, Apathy, and Silence

Rall on Iraq War: Polarization, Apathy, and Silence

Ted Rall has some interesting thoughts on the Iraq war.

A year ago, [certain developments] would have sparked accusations, counterarguments and fierce debates in the U.S. over what to do next. Now, no one cares.

Rall claims that political polarization has contributed to citizen apathy and silence.

The Iraq war, validated by neither constitutional legality nor (unlike Vietnam) international endorsement via the U.N., prompted millions to protest before it even began. So when the reality of Iraq belied the Bush Administration's promises--no WMDs, no body armor, no rose petals, no mission accomplished--we clammed up like a bickering couple whose positions are intractable and diametrically opposed. After 9/11, only a fool would have let Saddam remain in power, say the Bushian 44 percent. And 56 percent reply: only a fool would have attacked Saddam while 9/11 remained unavenged. But they keep their opinions to themselves and the occasional pollster.

How do you stop a war that you believe is unjust and immoral when most Americans could give a hoot?

"..the war has become institutionalized. It is background noise. It is hard to imagine what could happen in Iraq that would make pay attention and talk, even argue, about the war. A bomb that killed a thousand civilians? Probably not even that ... Right or wrong? Essential or idiotic? When it comes to the war against Iraq, Americans only agree about one thing: It is no longer interesting. And so, pro or con, it is lost all the same."

Republican Scandals Abound

Republican Scandals Abound

Catherine Dodge and Laura Litvan [Bloomberg] report that U.S. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist will cooperate with all probes and "denies having any non-public information when he directed the sale of his HCA Inc. stock a month before the company said quarterly profit would miss analysts estimates."

Otis Bilodeau [Bloomberg] follows up his own story about the probability of an SEC probe from yesterday with today's Frist Faces Heat as SEC Orders Formal Inquiry Into Stock Sale

The SEC authorized a formal order of investigation of Frist's sale in June of HCA Inc. shares, people with direct knowledge of the inquiry said yesterday. The order allows the agency's enforcement unit to subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the order hasn't been made public...``This turns the flame up under the kettle and keeps the water boiling,'' said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the independent Rothenberg Poltical Report in Washington.

At the WaPo, Terry M. Neal asks:

Is it 1994 all over again? .. Dark and ominous clouds are gathering over the Republican Party these days, with a series of ethical and legal scandals that threaten to further damage a White House and Congress already reeling from a sharp drop in public approval ratings...Rep. Tom Delay (Tex.), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and a top administration official (David Safavian, the White House's top procurement officer) have all been ensnared in highly embarrassing ethics scandals recently.

Catherine Dodge [Bloomberg] reports that U.S. House Representative Roy Blunt will replace Tom Delay as U.S. House Majority leader. (Blunt info)

When will we hear about what U.S. federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald discovered over the summer about traitors/CIA outers Karl Rove and Scooter Libby?

The "I-word" (impeachment) is seriously discussed by Dr. Bernard Weiner.

Citizens/Media Speak Out on Posse Comitatus

Citizens/Media Speak Out on Posse Comitatus

- Farewell Posse Comitatus [watchblog.com]

- The Mother of All Bad Ideas [scalzi.com]

- The War on Posse Comitatus [mutualist blog]

- Posse Comitatus Problems
[qando.net]

- Using the Military at Home [PBS]

- Repealing Posse Comitatus Means Iraq in the US. Do We Really Want This? [ilcaonline.org]

- If Posse Comitatus is chucked, time to reconsider federalism
[PalmBeachPost.com]

- Hands off Posse Comitatus [newsleader.com]

- Leave things that don't need fixing alone [baxterbulletin.com]

- Should the military handle natural disasters? - Posse antiqus [mtulode.com]

- The Danger of Standing Armies [lewrockwell.com]

- Pentagon begins review of law on military's domestic role [govexec.com]

- Proposal for military to take lead in disasters raises concerns [Knight Ridder]

- Bush Wants to Consider Broadening of Military's Powers During Natural Disasters [NYT]

Poverty in America

Poverty in America

It's plain to see that Poverty is in the forefront of American minds today, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the reality of which Katrina exposed as she literally blew the curtain away. There is a reawakening in this country, after 30-40 years of virtual political silence.

Sandra Price says the key to stopping the cycle of poverty is Education:

I watch every Governor’s convention on CSPAN and hear them pat each other on the back for some stupid bridge or street and they know damn well the children in their own states are failing academically in every district...We must pull these kids up to a higher standard and allow them to set goals and learn their own strengths and help fix their weaknesses.

Published originally at EtherZone.com

Others have ideas about the state of American education and the poverty problem:

1. Paul Nyhan - College divide threatens to keep the poor in poverty [Seattle Intelligencer]

2. David Brooks - The Education Gap [NYT Select]


Marc H. Morial lays out the National Urban League's ideas regarding post-Katrina protection for those who have lived for too long in poverty:

"...the National Urban League has proposed a Victims Bill of Rights which recommends guidelines Congress should take to protect the victims and ease their burdens—including a victims compensation fund (as was done for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks) for the hundreds of thousands of citizens injured, killed and displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

Congress should also provide meaningful federal disaster unemployment assistance to every worker—estimated to be at least half a million—left jobless by this tragedy. And it must ensure that the hundreds of thousands of displaced Gulf citizens continue to have full voting rights in their home states and districts, so that they can have a proper voice in the rebuilding of their communities."

The poverty rate in Santa Clara county, California, has shocked many people. Of the nearly 400,000 families living in Santa Clara County, almost a quarter, or approximately 93,000 families, earn annual incomes less than the local family threshold of $45,000.


Jim Cresson of the Cape Gazette (Cape region, Delaware) staff reports that Derrick Span, national president of the Community Action Partnership, urged people of Sussex County to call on their elected representatives to support a renewed anti-poverty plan for America. Hurricane Katrina shed new light on old problems, said Span, speaking Sept. 17 to more than 125 members and guests at the Lower Sussex Branch of the NAACP's annual Freedom Fund Banquet at Grace United Methodist Church.

“Katrina was a sociological exclamation point, a political question mark, a moral indictment and a theological statement,” he said. “Why in a nation committed to family values, was so little done to protect those displaced families in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane? Why did it take so long to rescue them? Every human being has dignity, and all humans deserve to be rescued.”....Span said it became obvious that the hurricane revealed a need for a new national anti-poverty law. He said the Congressional Black Caucus recently laid out an eight-point plan to fight poverty and presented it to the Bush administration. But he also said more needs to be done.

“There are more than 37 million Americans living in poverty,” Span said. “That is 1 million more people than were living in poverty in 2004. There are 47 million people, many of them working poor, who do not have health insurance for themselves or their families.”

Span said that poverty is not just a black or white issue; it is a multicultural issue. He said it is not just an inner-city issue; it is also a rural issue. And he said it is not just a regional issue; it is an American issue, one that must be solved soon.

“There is no coherent policy for the poor, and that amounts to economic terrorism,” he said. “The weapons of mass destruction related to poverty are poor health, poor housing and no housing. People who work must be paid more. There is no such thing as a menial job, because every job has dignity. There is just menial pay, and that can be corrected.”

Full text available at Cape Gazette.com


In a Hartford Courant article about an upcoming Mahavir Ahimsa (non-violence) Seminar at the University of Connecticut's Storrs campus featuring Sri Lankan speaker Jeyanthy Siva, Susan Campbell says:

"Substitute "New Orleans" or "Gulf Coast" for "Sri Lanka" and you can ask the same questions. But Siva pushes the discussion just a little further: How can we continue to ignore U.S. poverty?"Whether a 20-meter wall of water works to clear the minds of a populace horrified by poverty and devastation, a discussion of inequity and fairness must be ongoing. And it must not fall into the us vs. them category...Katrina ripped off a psychic lid...If a wall of water did not cleanse the land, it can at least serve to clear perceptions.

Voice of America (Jim Malone) has a feature on the ways in which the "Hurricane aftermath" has sparked a debate over Poverty.
Malone report - Download 674k
- Listen to Malone report
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real broadband
- watch Hurricane Poverty report /Real broadband
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real dialup
- watch Hurricane Poverty report / Real dialup

____________

Jack Kemp, the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former U.S. Housing secretary, wrote last week that conservatives could turn Katrina into an opportunity just as presidents Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt did during other periods of crisis.

In an essay in the online conservative journal Human Events, Kemp wrote: "In the wake of this national catastrophe we should all be imagining the unimaginable."

- From a report at BlackAmericaweb.com, which is site with Republican-based views. See Rep. Elijah Cummings'(D-MD) comments, also.


OTHER ARTICLES:

Poverty: The Crisis Katrina Revealed BusinessWeek

Politicians' ignorance of poverty helps foster climate of cynicism Decatur Daily Democrat

Katrina highlighted the problem of poverty Fort Worth Star Telegram

Bringing Up Mommy Portsmouth Herald, NH

Realities of Poverty Atmore Advance, AL

Poverty exposed: Winds of Katrina swept away cloak that hides America's poor Martha Mendoza | Associated Press

Empowering the poor by David T. Ellwood Boston Globe

New Orleans flooding flushes poverty back into fashion Tom Teepen/SaltLakeTribune

Poverty and Racism in America Kevin Agnese/Manhattan College Quadrangle

"....now, in the aftermath of one of the greatest natural disasters the country has ever faced, with his approval ratings slipping down the tubes because thousands of poor residents didn't have any means to escape certain death, the nation is expected to believe Bush cares about the poor. Sorry Mr. President, not a chance."
[State of the Legacy - The Daily Campus - UConn]

John Edwards on Jon Stewart's Daily Show Oct 5th

John Edwards on Jon Stewart's Daily Show Oct 5th

Sen John Edwards will appear on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart on October 5th (next Wednesday).

Recent Speeches Available Online:

Center for American Progress Speech
Video & Transcript
• Intro: Video
• Speech: Video
• Q&A Session: Video
• Transcript: Full text (PDF)

Sen Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) Steak Fry,
Warren County Fairgrounds, Indianola, Iowa (CSPAN)

Modern Real Estate Practice in North Carolina

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the union, and one of the reasons is the astonishingly rich variety of homes available to the discerning shopper. One Carolina company, Smart Choice Realty, for example, offers unique opportunities such as cash back at closing and zero money down.
For more on real estate in North Carolina, a good place to start is by reading Modern Real Estate Practice in North Carolina, but perhaps a better way would be to have a look yourself. A combination of the two, plus copious surfing of the net, will always yield fruit.

In a few weeks, North Carolina will play host to bloggers from all over America, and I think it would be nice if some of them decided to relocate here. One can never have too many bloggers!

So after attending the ConvergeSouth conference, take a drive around and see if you find something that jumps out at you.

- Mr Beckwith (anonyMoses) has performed internet related services for a variety of companies, like Automated Directions, Inc. -- a full service system integrator and distributor for many of today's leading manufacturers of material handling equipment -- WebKorner -- Web and Internet solutions for homes and businesses in the Charlotte area -- Casual Furniture World where comfort CAN be beautiful...and affordable -- The Leonardo Store -- which was introduced from Germany, but whose accolades include the Oprah magazine's "O" list, and stints on the Today Show and Redbook. Some of these companies will be sending representatives to the conference and may soon be entering the exotic world of bizblogging.

Tar Heel Tavern 31

Tar Heel Tavern 31

Don't miss this week's Tar Heel Tavern at Pratie Place.

WaPo Rips Iraq Constitution

WaPo Rips Iraq Constitution

Faced with sinking domestic support, the Bush administration seems driven by an unwise zeal to produce visible results in Iraq -- such as a ratified constitution -- however problematic they may be. [WaPo editorial]

The Iraq war has been based upon deceiving the public with the most vile form of politics I have ever witnessed in my time. I search history for something that rivals the low level of planning and respect for the American citizens' collective sense of intelligence. Someone recently called this moment in time Bush's "Lincoln moment." This is not to say he is a uniter who leads a nation, even when it means war. Instead, it means war based on lies and fake benchmarks for political gain - and through it all, he has not fooled all the people all the time. As a matter of fact, he has fooled only a few - some so blindly partisan that they would fall off a cliff if Bush led them...and Bush is leading them.

If the protesters visiting Washington this weekend succeeded in forcing a quick U.S. troop withdrawal, the bloodshed in Iraq, and the damage to the United States, would grow far worse.

I see the logic in this statement. Emotions tell a different story. Only President Bush and his administration can rectify this problem of public perception. Only they can turn this around to make the war a global effort to bring Iraqis to the table and to convince them it's a sincere effort for the peace - and not a race for control of their energy resources or some kind of an imperial stampede or holy war. I have no confidence that they will ever change the course to make the Iraq war a success. If you think that doesn't concern (and perhaps frighten) millions of Americans, I'd have to say you aren't paying close attention. Who wants to wind up with an Iraq that no one will have an interest in defending?

Political Correctness Will Not Serve Progressives Well

Political Correctness Will Not Serve Progressives Well

Ruth Rosen fears that liberals are accepting a Conservative reframing of the problem of poverty - namely the National Review's Rich Lowry's naming of the root cause of the poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina as "the breakdown of the family." She says:

With amazing gall, conservatives have shredded the safety net and then blamed unmarried mothers for their own neglect-the-poor policies.

Ms. Rosen includes NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof and former Sen John Edwards in this analysis, and I'll tell you where I think she's not being fair.

We progressives tend to cling to the belief that the Bush domestic policy (which has shredded the domestic safety net) is such an obvious perversion that it, on its own, it is a strength and a surefire strategy for the electability of Progressives in 2006 and 2008. We've been proven wrong on that belief before, and we could very well be proven wrong again. We cannot rely on mere disgust for the Bush agenda for political success. We need ideas - good ideas - ideas that work in the reality-based community.

Stating the fact that more teen pregnancies can be prevented by advocating for new economically healthy/federally-funded social programs is surely not a turn toward conservatism. It speaks of a reality that anyone can clearly understand and it supports social democracy by creating ideas for programs that work when properly funded and administered.

Ms. Rosen quotes New York Times reporter Jason DeParle, who concluded in his book "American Dream" that "it is poverty itself — not a lack of personal responsibility—that is the main reason for single-parent families."

If that is true, and it well may be, I would hope that Ms. Rosen and other progressives would embrace the hard truth that it's still wrong to bring into the world a child for whom the parents are not ready to take responsibility. We need to continue to pull young girls out of their abject poverty by strengthening them with education and opportunity. I don't believe it's a liberal sin to speak about the reality that is right before our eyes.

That is not to say that a single woman cannot be responsible for a child when she makes a conscious decision to bear one. Responsibility is the key word.

In a speech last week at CAP (The Center for American Progress), I heard Sen Edwards say that if given the opportunity, he'd lead many young men who've fathered children (and have abandoned them) to more responsibility by creating welfare-reform opportunity for them and mandating them to pay child-support in the participatory process. That is part of what could be a new democratic society by federal design, and it isn't a conservative idea. It's progressive - and it's realistic.

CSPAN - Road to the White House

CSPAN - Road to the White House

Be sure to tune in on Sunday at 6:30 pm as C-SPAN's "Road to the White House 2008" continues. This week's installment will feature former Sen. John Edwards' Sept. 18 speech to the 28th Annual Harkin Steak Fry at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Indianola, IA.

Aldon Hynes on Washington DC March

Aldon Hynes on Washington DC March

My Idea Consultants colleague Aldon Hynes has written a blog for Howard Dean's Blog for America website. It begins..

Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans gathered in Washington to express their displeasure with the current administration, it's policies in Iraq and the horrible effect those policies are having on people across America....

Aldon says that we'll hear soundbytes about the March, but they will not reflect what is really happening out there in D.C. and on other American street corners.

It wasn't just the national politics that united us. Several of us talked about the importance of races further down the ticket, such as Melissa Berger's campaign for House of Delegates in Maryland. We talked about the importance of reaching out to people in rural America such as Rob at turningblue has been doing in Georgia.

At the end of the day, I spoke with Kim who is up in Burlington and about the importance of campaigns around the country. I write this post sitting in Hypatia's kitchen as numerous bloggers eat, laugh and take pictures.

The way we are going to take this country back is through the friendships that we all share on this blog, when we get together for fun and when we work together on campaigns.

There were 100,000 people who protested the war in D.C. yesterday...and there were a couple hundred anti-peace types who were apparently unaware that there already was no peace in Iraq...

Broussard says: "Get Out of My Face"

Broussard says: "Get Out of My Face"

Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana sent out the message to all ideologues - including rightwing bloggers who Broussard believes have an agenda when accusing him of politicizing Katrina.

"Get out of my face."

On Meet the Press today, Broussard entertained direct challenges regarding the now-clarified details of an emotional story which he'd told Tim Russert about the abandonment of New Orleans by the federal government in the aftermath of Katrina.

Bill Frist's Very Bad Week

Bill Frist's Very Bad Week

Adam Zagorin of Time Magazine, reports that the U.S. Army has launched a criminal investigation into new allegations of serious prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan made by a decorated former Captain in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

Senate sources tell TIME that the Captain has also reported his charges to three senior Republican senators: Majority Leader Bill Frist, Armed Services Committee chairman John Warner and John McCain, a former torture victim in Vietnam. A Senate Republican staffer familiar with both the Captain and his allegations told TIME he appeared "extremely credible."..The new allegations [Human Rigts Watch] center around systematic abuse of Iraqi detainees by men of the 82nd Airborne at Camp Mercury, a forward operating base located near Fallujah, the scene of a major uprising against the U.S. occupation in April 2004.

At Think Progress:

On July 27, the same month the Captain came forward, Sen. Frist single-handedly derailed a bipartisan effort — led by Sen. McCain — to clarify rules for the treatment of enemy prisoners at U.S. prison camps. In what news reports at the time described as an “unusual move,” Frist “simply pulled the bill from consideration” before it could be debated.

A suggestion is made that Bill Frist should "come clean: Was his office told of the “systematic abuse” in the 82nd Airborne before he torpedoed the new detainee laws?"

Bill Frist is having a rough week. At the Progressive Zone, David has a thorough blogpost about the questions surrounding Frist's possible insider stock trading.

First Peak Oil Conference in NYC

First Peak Oil Conference in NYC
October 5 9 A.M. - 5 P.M

The first Peak Oil Conference will take place in in New York City On October 5th www.petrocollapse.org. Oil experts and scientists will speak on the local and global consequences of Peak Oil. Speakers include James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency; Dr. John Darnell, Science and Energy Advisor to Congressman Roscoe Bartlett; Jan Lundberg of Culturechange.org, former publisher of the Lundberg Survey; Mike Ruppert, author: Crossing the Rubicon, Fromthewilderness.com; David Pimental, Cornell University, and David Room, Post Carbon Institute. The Moderator is Jenna Orkin, co-founder of the World Trade Center Environmental Organization. The event is sponsored by Culturechange.org and by Continuing Education & Public Programs, The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY).

It takes place at the Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist 40 E. 35th Street, New York, NY 10016

The Petrocollapse Conference the participants will ask:

1. What are we facing now as the economy prepares to hit the wall known as resource limits? Will growth suddenly implode?

2. What will be the effects of Peak Oil (a geological phenomenon) and petrocollapse (an economic and social phenomenon) on food supply and other services we depend on?

3. What is the role of the market in determining how severe will be the effect of shortage stemming from geological depletion?

4. Upon upheaval, deprivation, and a restructuring of social relations in a "new" local economics system, will we choose to create a sustainable culture?

5. Is there a "Plan B" to ease a transition to sustainable living in a world without plentiful energy and petroleum's materials? "It is up to us to find solutions that involve everyone in a spirit of solidarity," said Lundberg

Source: PRWeb.com

Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good

Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good

According to Mark J. Green, Air America is organizing a colloquium Tuesday evening, September 27, at CUNY Graduate Center in New York City entitled “Katrina’s Wake: Our Government and the Common Good” to begin a conversation that will next culminate in November ’06 or November ’08. For information about the guest speakers, please visit their websites : Katrina vanden Heuvel; Billy Sothern; Mark Green; National Priorities Project; ACORN.


SEE: If Poverty is the Question by the late Paul Wellstone:

I will be the first to say that adults in our society need to take responsibility for themselves if they possibly can. But until we come to a real understanding of the structural problems in our economy and society that are getting in our way, we will continue to legislate by bumper stickers and slogans. We need to have an honest national conversation, and an honest conversation in every community, about what is really going on, why we face the unacceptable level of poverty and near-poverty, and what we are going to do about it.

Obama Appreciated for Eloquence of Argument

Obama Appreciated for Eloquence of Argument

David Schraub (Moderate Voice) talks positively about Barack Obama, who has decided to vote against John Roberts.

Quote of the Day: Oliver Willis

Quote of the Day: Oliver Willis

"The left needs to realize that they are no longer fighting George Bush. "

- Oliver Willis, reminding progressive democrats that they aren’t running and advocating against Bush anymore - but against the "perverted movement" that he stands for.

Abandoning the Misplaced/Hiding the Poor

Abandoning the Misplaced/Hiding the Poor

Using an LA Times excerpt, Josh Marshall (with tongue placed firmly in cheek) says that "sometimes it's hard to appreciate the sort of tireless, behind-the-scenes efforts that the White House puts into into screwing the middle class and abandoning those displaced and uprooted by Katrina." It seems that rather than culturally integrating misplaced people, the White House believes in building trailer parks in which the poor can be crammed (and kept from the rest of America). That is morally wrong and socially unjust. What makes it unethical is the fact that the government would be putting these high-risk trailers on land which we know is vulnerable to natural disaster.

John Edwards coined* the moniker "Bushvilles" to represent the idea of concentrated numbers of poor Americans packed and hidden away in stacks of virtual tin cans on federal land in Edwards' speech on Poverty this week at the Center for American Progress. It's morally, ethically, and socially wrong, and I believe that most Americans would acknowledge that it's wrong for a democratic and multicultural society to function well when certain citizens are purposely isolated from others. It perpetuates "identity politics," which the Right will accuse the Left of opportunistically tapping into, when the Right have been the ones initiating the core problem and opening the doors wide open to vaild social injustice complaints.

*Note: NCDem at the One America website has advised me that Sen. Edwards hadn't actually "coined" the term, because it's been used for quite some time now. He simply brought it into the public consciousness.

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan



I am looking forward to Martin Scorcese's "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan," which will appear this week on PBS's "American Masters" series. It's sequel to Bob Dylan's book, "Chronicles: Volume One," which is one of the most interesting memoirs I've read. According to Richard Harrington (WaPo), there will be "rare film and recordings, as well as something even rarer: an extended interview with the famously private artist.." Scorcese did not actually meet Dylan while making the film, but he says that Dylan gave him free rein to shape the story and complete control over the final cut. Dylan admits that back in high school, "two girls in particular brought out the poet" in him. I'd like to shake their hands. When this quiet, intelligent boy from the mundane town of Hibbing, Minnesota found himself, he helped a nation's young generation to find itself.

David Brooks on John Edwards

David Brooks on John Edwards

David Brooks has written a column in today's NYT (NYT Select) about the contrast that he clearly sees between John Edwards and John Kerry in light of the Democratic voters and what they are looking for in leadership. In my opinion, Mr. Brooks gives the first honest mainstream view of the two speeches, rather than lumping them together and calling them "withering attacks" on Bush, as so many newspapers unfairly did this week. He begins his piece this way:

John Kerry and John Edwards ran for office together and they lost together, and they both gave major speeches about Katrina this week, but there the similarity ends. The two men might as well live in different worlds.

He goes on to explain how he believes the Kerry-Edwards contrast is characteristic of the argument that now causes division within the Democratic Party.

On one side are those who believe that the party's essential problem is with its political style. On the other side are those who believe that the Democratic defeats flow from policy problems, not from campaign style or message framing. They don't believe that Democrats can win wrapped in their own rage, or kowtowing endlessly to their psychologically aggrieved donor base. For them, the crucial challenge is to come up with policies more in tune with voters...Kerry speaks for the first group, which believes in more partisanship, and Edwards for the second, which believes in less.

Mr. Brooks does not believe the Democratic party will snap back to the centrism of Bill Clinton, and neither do I. If Democrats are going to come back and succeed, they need to do it with a leader who is not a Bill Clinton-clone. Clinton did an excellent job as President in his time, but that time will have been "eight years gone" by the next Presidential election. I think most people would agree with me when I say that the world has drastically changed since President Clinton presided over this nation.

John Edwards's speech had a different feel. Edwards took some hard shots at Bush, some of them deserved, but having left Washington after the election, Edwards is not so obsessed with power struggles. In his talk he roamed outward and spoke about the complexities of actual life.

Democrats need a liberal populist with solid and innovative ideas; who is not afraid to be himself (or herself); an eloquent-yet-straight-shooting communicator; someone who will stick by his (or her) own convictions without hesitation or equivocation. If you ask me, that leader is John Edwards. When he says he believes in one America for all of us, I believe him because I can hear it in his tone and in his ideas. I think he's a natural. I'll bet that he'll convince many others as days go on.

____________

Update: At Daily Kos, davidkc says that he believes that David Brooks incorrectly concluded that Dems must choose one side or the other as it decides where it wants to go in the future, and this is a false choice...Dems need to do both. I don't think it's so much of a "false choice" as it is good, plainspoken advice. We do need to move ahead with creativity and innovative ideas about how we can govern better, while not being intimidated by criticizing the obvious shortcomings of the Bush administration.

See this related Daily Kos entry, too. A commenter named "briannowhere" says we need a candidate who has a clear and inventive message:

The Democrats are suffering from a lack of imagination. Nothing more. They way to win the hearts and minds of Americans is to buck the status quo and start thinking outside the box. I think Edwards has the best potential to be the candidate who comes closest to that (while also being realistcally electable). I truly get the sense from him that he actually cares about the issue of poverty and it's effects and does not seem to be simply playing lip service to the notion of helping communities change.

Related:
See - The Return of John Edwards [TPM Cafe]

What will Edwards bring? Edwards will bring the progressive ideology to heal the nations wounds. He has liberalism diplomatic skills that would enhance our standing in the world. He would appoint competent Secretary of Defense that would end the War in Iraq. We would finally see a domestic approach aimed at reducing the levels of poverty, protecting minority rights, expanding healthcare, more funding for education, reform Social Security, ending tax and corporate loopholes benefitting the rich, more jobs, and a national security aimed at protecting it’s citizens. He would work to unite the country and end the constant bickering between our nations top parties.

Quote of the Day - Arianna on Blogs

Quote of the Day - Arianna on Blogs

"When bloggers decide that something matters, they chomp down hard and refuse to let go. They're the true pit bulls of reporting. The only way to get them off a story is to cut off their heads (and even then you'll need to pry their jaws open). They almost all work alone, but, ironically, it's their collective effort that makes them so effective. They share their work freely, feed off one another's work, argue with each other, and add to the story dialectically. All of which has made the blogosphere the most vital news source in our country -- and led me to take a flying leap into it with The Huffington Post."

- - Arianna Huffington in an interview with Wired News

* A tip o'the hat to the Gawker, whose big story today is a National Enquirer story about George W. Bush - believe it or not. Justin Frank is quoted in the NE article - see my August 2004 review of Dr. Frank's book here or at DKosopedia.

In the GOP, It's Suddenly Every Man for Himself

The Threat - gulp!

In the GOP, It's Suddenly
Every Man for Himself

I looked at Dana Milbank's latest WaPo article, and I could just imagine what another Category 5 hurricane, fast approaching the Texas coast, might do to the GOP and their hideous scrambling jumble of political self-preservation.

This week, I think I've heard it all. President Bush says we'll spend like [wise and honest] drunken sailors to rebuild New Orleans, with Karl Rove at the helm. Halliburton will profiteer. New Orleans workers will have their wages slashed while millionaire cronies walk away with their pockets full. Not one fat-cat will be left behind - every tax-cut promise to the richest will be kept.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? Treasury Secretary John W. Snow says that hurricane recovery spending will push the GOP's plans to extend the tax cuts to the back burner for this year.

But what's THIS I'm hearing!?! The Washington Post reported Sept. 9 that Treasury Secretary John Snow is once again being shown the door. His rumored replacement is White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, who would then be replaced either by Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove or Office of Management and Budget Director Josh Bolten. [Washington Times]

Dick Cheney said he sees no need for a "czar" to oversee the Katrina response.

But what's THIS I'm hearing? Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said after meeting with administration figures yesterday: "I feel we need a czar, an administrator."

Tom Delay (R-Tex.) asserted last week that the GOP majority had "pared... down" federal spending so well that there was no more fat to be found. There ain't no pork. As DeLay said about the budget, "After 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good."

But what's THIS I'm hearing? The weeping hypocrite Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is telling us that the evil Washington Times made up these Tom Delay quotes. [see Atrios]

But what's THIS I'm hearing!? The chickenhawks of Congress have come up with a tough-guy sounding "Operation Offset" to balance Hurricane Katrina recovery costs with other federal spending reductions. The brave and brawny National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has reported "ready for duty," armed with budget restraints to make any social Democrat's bleeding heart stop beating.

_________
Don't take my pork!.................Pork? What pork?

I thought that Speaker of the House Denny Hastert looked like he was going to toss his cookies today when he was put on the spot about House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's challenge to him - daring him to commit to giving up his precious pork.

The messages are swirling. We feel like we're spinning in hurricane-induced whirlpools. How can we be one America when it's every man for himself?

I agree with what Jonathan Chait has said about the GOP - "the usual guideline in these kinds of circumstances is craziest man wins."

> 1,900

> 1,900
The war in Iraq passed a sobering milepost Tuesday when U.S. officials reported 12 more Americans were killed — eight of them members of the armed forces, raising to more than 1,900 the number of U.S. service members who have died in the country since the invasion. [Houston Chronicle]