Bush Pulls Rug Out From Under Great Lakes RestorationFolks living in the Great Lakes region (myself included) are disappointed to learn that President Bush's proposed budget cuts will likely sink his administration's master plan for restoring the Great Lakes region - less than two months after it was adopted! Talk about the punch-to-the stomach feeling upon learning that you were lied to. Bush has proposed to cut $200 million more from the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Water State Revolving Fund during the 2007 fiscal year. Here in New York State, $175.9 million in new State and Federal funds had been earmarked in the 2004-05 budget for the State Revolving Fund low-interest loan program to build and rehabilitate municipal sewage treatment facilities. The purpose of this program was to provide grants to states for long-term financing for construction of wastewater treatment facilities and implementation of state management plans. In the Great Lakes basin, funds from CWSRF programs have been used to implement agricultural best management practices (BMPs). Here in New York state, the state government used program funds to purchase land and easements to protect our sourcewater.The White House, in its online analysis posted on its Web site, said the President's budget "continues to support state and tribal efforts to improve water quality through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund," even with less money budgeted.
It's a hollow statement. Those who expected good faith from the White House now feel betrayed.
In New York State, I'm sure that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer will get a boost in his already-high popularity ratings by speaking out about this betrayal of the public trust.
Quote of the DayToday's quote is from Alternet's "Russert Watch" - it's about the March 5th show, with the appearance of former Democratic Senator John Edwards and Republican Jack Kemp:"..the crowning moment of the show was Tim's last line, "It's nice to have a Democrat and a Republican sit here together." Yes - isn't that just lovely? Maybe, and here's just a little suggestion, Tim, try it again next week."
Beneath the surface of Friedman's flat EarthBe careful of conventional wisdom you hear at the water cooler about Thomas Friedman's "Flat Earth" theory, popularized by his best-selling book. Richard Daughty, who is frequently quoted in Barron's, looks at the truth behind this commonspeak about the glorious benefits of unregulated globalization. If you're asking me to be patriotic and if you're holding the lable of isolationist over my thinking head, think about logic when you ask me to swallow the lines about free trade and expect me to ignore the loss of bargaining power for so many of my fellow American workers. From an article at The Daily Reckoning:In America, low-level earners can't get ahead because they have no bargaining power. They are competing with a billion workers in Asia willing to do the same work for less than one-tenth the cost. And in China, there is also growing income inequality between those who have joined the global economy and those who have not. Some 500 million people live in coastal cities in China and participate in modern commerce, but there are another 700 million who still live in the countryside. While
the cities grow richer, the poor in China are left behind, like America's industrial workers.
In short, the world is not getting flatter at all. It is getting flatter in some areas, and steeper in others. There is less difference between China's industrial workers and those in America, but the difference between the globalized wage slave and the capitalists who employ them is growing.
Beneath the surface of Friedman's flat Earth, the pressure is growing - either in China or in America and sooner or later, it is bound to explode.
Social justice for people living right here in my United States is going to be an important moral, political, and patriotic issue in years to come. There will be much debate. As American low-wage earners are hurt further, there will be some realization about the ways that our nation's Monetary policy has effected our Foreign policy. Americans will see that elective (pre-emptive) wars were made necessary because of a systematic and voluntary succumbing to a new world order. The hypocrisy is clear when someone like the current President gives me moral lessons on loving the world and being a 'good patriot' through my support of free trade and selling out my nation's security to foreign nations while at the same time, he's calling me an unpatriotic isolationist when I see that American low-wage workers are suffering and social programs to support them are being drowned a Norquistian bathtub - or when I point out the reality of what his administration has done in Iraq and the many lies that were told to get us there.
We have to ask ourselves - what does it mean to be an intelligent patriot? I certainly wouldn't suggest that we acknowledge the Bush administration's definition.
On a related note, Lew Rockwell connects the usually politically-separated issues of Foreign Policy and Monetary Policy:Richard Nixon enacted, by imperial decree, a purely fiat dollar, repudiating solemn promises to redeem in gold. After that, with the printing presses running 24/7, the pax Americana could be “financed.” To understand the connection requires that we understand two fields of study that are usually kept separate: foreign-policy analytics and monetary economics. It is in understanding this relationship that our authors excel. Alan Greenspan had pretended to be against it all, but given the chance for power, he happily repudiated his restrictionist gold-standard views and supplied the credit for the expensive wars, the expensive bread, and the expensive circuses that have wrecked empires from Rome to London. His successor promises even more of the same..[..]There is no inherent reason that a plumber with a U.S. flag pin should earn more than one with a crescent moon. In India, real incomes have doubled in the last 10 years. In the U.S. they have been stagnant or worse. The inequitable draining of the world’s resources into America, made possible by the military empire and its financial structure since Bretton Woods, is also coming to an end.
What do we do when a good education loses its value?
Jane Hamsher Unfairly Criticizes Senator EdwardsJane Hamsher of FireDogLake has made some caustic and unfair comments about Senator John Edwards at the Huffington Post based upon his brief appearance on Meet The Press, and it pains me to see the Democratic party so disunified that there is no room for one of its leaders to say something that is fundamentally true without being publically crucified for it. We've lost many elections because we are not standing together on so many issues. Teenage pregnancy and the effect it has on Poverty is a reality that we cannot turn our heads away from. After quoting John Edwards' comments about teenage pregnancy on Meet the Press, Ms. Hamsher says: There's really nothing quite like a panel full of white male millionaires scolding poor African American women about their reproductive irresponsibility, particularly in a conversation about the victims of Hurricane Katrina and in a week where South Dakota has passed a bill guaranteeing every rapist the right to have his fetus carried to term because women just really need to learn to keep their legs together. Who knew the bigot vote was even in play?
There is absolutely nothing bigoted about speaking publically about supporting social programs geared to curb unwanted pregnancies which produce babies that will not be raised with the love and/or caring of a planned-for and wanted child. Poverty begets poverty - it's a vicious cycle. Ms. Hamsher points unwarranted blame toward Senator Edwards for issues that he has never supported, such as the attempted killing of teh legal right to choose issue in South Dakota. Senator Edwards has had absolutely nothing to do with South Dakota's new law, and we know it. The fact is that Senator Edwards supports a woman's right to choose. This intellectually dishonest melding of issue upon issue, accompanied with unfair finger-pointing, causes me to lose trust that the Democratic party can "keep it real." Some are disappointed that Senator Edwards failed to take major swings with his public bashing-bat at the Bush administration while he had a few rare moments of NBC's time. We tend to forget that our leaders are speaking to all of America when they are on these Sunday morning talk shows, and given what we know about the right-tilt of these awful Sunday morning talk shows, the mission for any Democrat would seem to be to send out a rational and hopeful message straight to the heart of the center of America. Face it. Most people are fucking sick of all the negativity and want to hear something hopeful, positive, and progressive from their Democratic leaders.
Just One Set of Facts in a Nation of Many Communities: I recently worked for an African American woman here in my own community who has taken on a different job in our nonprofit organization. She looks at the photos on her office wall of faces that remind her of herself. She knows what it's like to grow up with limitations. A native of the same area in which she now works, she has seen her share of crime and violence. A woman who had the opportunity to go to college and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in human development and went on to get a Masters in Social Work, she is now the coordinator of an after-school program at a community center in a neighborhood where kids grow up dirt-poor and underprivileged. Her program includes a pregnancy prevention program to more than 50 inner-city students, male and female. She has said this:"I'd say the biggest problem in the community is a lack of hope. It can lead to violence, teen pregnancy, and people dropping out of school. It's easier to have hope when you have support and people surrounding you who are positive role models."
Last year, all eight Senior high school students in her program graduated from high school and some have gone on to college. That's a major achievement for this program and for these kids. One look at this should show you what a damned hard job it is to make the slightest bit of difference in this country. To see a respected and prolific blogger like Jane Hamsher trashing Senator Edwards for pointing out certain hard truths - while neglecting the fact that he supports some very-much needed social programs and government incentives to help the poorest in our society is bitterly disappointing, to say the very least. If we political bloggers can't issue realistic, rational, intellectually honest, and fair critiques, we risk being seen as little more than reactionaries. I guarantee you that that perception about our party will serve to secure the Democrats' legacy as losers. We need to appeal to hard truth and hope in finding solutions to the toughest problems if we're ever going to be seen as serious leaders.
On a related note, Matt Stoller, who trusts in the potential of John Edwards as a serious 2008 contender, says that he would have liked for Senator Edwards' convictions to have come across more strongly on his MTP appearance.
Eason Jordan to New Organizations: You're Lost/Admit It.I'm sure you remember the resignation of Eason Jordan from CNN. He's now with an organization called Iraq Safety Net and he's telling the news organizations that they've lost their own way in Iraq, citing a deficiency in the Committee to Protect Journalists for an inaccurate reporting of the number of journalists killed in Iraq.
In a USA Today article about the state of journalism in the Middle East by Souheila Al-Jadda, we are reminded of the dangers of reporting from Iraq and the greater Middle East:Being a journalist in the Middle East can have fatal consequences, where the road to freedom is often paved with blood.
An Update on Bob WoodruffI think about Bob Woodruff and his family often..and pray for his return to good health - and to ABC News. Newsday has an update: Woodruff's doctors at Bethesda Medical Center in Maryland "are slowly bringing him out of sedation and are very pleased with the progress they've seen so far, especially in the last few days."
Cathie Levine, spokeswoman for "World News Tonight," said yesterday there were no additional updates. Vogt, not as seriously injured as Woodruff, checked out of Bethesda Medical Center and returned to his home in France last week.
In his statement, Westin said of Woodruff, "We've come some distance, but we still have a long way to go," though he added that "in another sign of Bob's moving along his path to recovery, the doctors have said that in the next few weeks it is reasonable to expect that he will be able to move to facilities in the New York area, bringing him closer to his family, his home and the support structure here."
Tadadaho Sid Hill and Clanmother Audrey Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation spoke at Syracuse Stage on Monday, February 27th
photo by Iddybud
From Onondaga Land Rights - A Collaborative Educational Series by Frieda Jacques: Tadadaho Sid Hill began speaking to the large crowd with our Thanksgiving address.
The address is an integral aspect of Haudenosaunee life. Therefore, Tadadaho Sid Hill translated his Onondaga speech into English to aid in the understanding of such powerful words. In this address, it reminds us that we are all a part of a very large circle. The Creator of all, the people, Mother Earth, the grasses and tress, the fruits and foods, the animals, the waters, the air, the winds and rains, moon, sun, and stars and are thanked for continuing their duties that support life for the people here on Mother Earth. It is our duty as people to help and ensure that our Mother Earth is healthy so that this great gift can continue for future generations.
Tadadaho explained that it has been a long process for the Nation to get to this point of filing a land rights action. That a major factor for beginning the lawsuit is the Nation believed that its voice needed to be heard in the role of cleaning up the pollution of our homelands. Sid continued on informing the attentive audience by saying that there has been wide support of our action and especially from communities in the Land Rights Action land base. Some of these communities have sought support from Onondaga in their efforts to clean up their own pollution sites.
Clanmother Audrey Shenandoah, eloquently thanked all for coming and also thanking the organizers for making time for our Thanksgiving address. For the address not only begins our meetings, but our ceremonies as well. At Onondaga, ceremonies are an important factor in our daily life. There continues to be a dedicated group of people who have kept our sacred ceremonies alive. She explained how this hasn’t always been easy at Onondaga. That there was a time when other cultures and religions organizations pressured the people to stop the ceremonies and the people were forced to continue our culture secretly.
Audrey Shenandoah stated that today times are different. The churches and the missions on the Nation support our traditional Onondaga government. This is evident with the support of the land rights action. Audrey Shenandoah remembers when she was young that the nation almost filed a similar case in the past. But it was explained that if the suit was settled, the Nation would receive a cash settlement but would end our title to the land. This was unacceptable to the people. That the Onondagas are the caretakers of the land and this is our mandate from the Creator to continue to do so.
From Syracuse.com:Lecture series begins with thanksgiving message by Tadadaho Sidney Hill
Tadadaho Sidney Hill, the spiritual leader of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, opened the Onondaga Nation’s yearlong educational series tonight with the traditional thanksgiving address.
“We give thanks to the creator and everything he has given us,” Hill said. “We start each of our ceremonies with this address.”
Hill and Onondaga Clan Mother Audrey Shenandoah led the program, “Nation in Our Midst: Onondaga History, Culture and Spirituality,” before a crowded audience at Syracuse Stage. The event was the first in a series of lectures designed to help people understand the nation and its land-rights action.
“This night has been long in the planning,” said Philip Arnold, a member of the planning committee. “Our goal really is to bring together the Syracuse community and the Onondaga Nation to foster a greater understanding in light of recent events.”
The nation, which filed a land-rights action last spring, is collaborating with community groups, Syracuse University and the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry to present the series.
“We are trying to educate people about our way and our way of thinking,” Shenandoah said. “Everyone here should pass on what they learn to those people who are apprehensive and have anxiety about what is going on.”
Shenandoah said the Onondaga Nation does not want to cause trouble for any of the people living in New York state.
“In our land-rights claim we have no intentions of causing any harm to the people of this land,” she said.’’It’s justice that we are seeking,” she said.
Hill and Shenandoah said the Onondaga Nation had been planning to file a claim for several decades but didn’t because the timing was never right.
“There were things going on around us that pushed us to do this now,” Hill said. “We were seeing everything that was going on in the world and the problems with the environment. There were talks about cleaning up the Onondaga Lake, and we thought that we should be a part of them.”
During tonight's address, Shenandoah spoke about the traditional history and culture of the Onondaga Nation.
“We are roughly 1,200 people, and more than half adhere to our traditional ways,” she said.
Shenandoah said the other half of the Onondaga people may worship in one of the nation’s five Christian churches or on churches off the nation’s land.
“No matter where they worship they still respect our traditional leadership and our traditional culture,” she said.
-- Sarah Moses
John Edwards Considering 2008 Run for PresidentOn today's Meet the Press, former Senator and 2004 VP candidate John Edwards of North Carolina stated that he was considering a run for US President in 2008.
Senator Edwards leads the list of most popular Democratic 2008 hopefuls in a poll of overall most popular US political leaders conducted by Quinnipiac University.Four Democrats considered potential presidential candidates were also mentioned in the poll's top ten, led by Edwards.
__________A God-Awful Column by George WillGeorge Will writes today:Edwards is roaming around, with 2008 in mind. His travels to more than 30 states have been organized around his interest in poverty.
The pure pessimist, Mr. Will says that he believes most Americans only see "economic injustice" from the selfish and narrow lens of their right to cheap gasoline. I know that Americans are more caring - and far less selfish - than that. Americans would respond positively to moral leadership - if they had any. The sad fact is that we haven't had moral leadership for quite some time in the United States.
Mr. Will appears helpless when he claims that he believes "no one knows how to stop" poverty, criticizing what he calls Edwards' reliance on a tired "1930s paradigm" for poverty resolution. Obviously, Mr. Will has not been paying close enough attention to the work of Senator Edwards. Having no illusions about the problems we face here in America, Senator Edwards is looking for straight-on solutions that fit our modern society. Mr. Will gives no credit to Senator Edwards for all the hard work he has done - especially with the young people across America whom he has inspired to become engaged in finding solutions to the alleviation of poverty in their own individual communities. While Senator Edwards commits himself to shaping the future, Mr. Will unfairly accuses the Senator of looking only to the past. Knowing what I know about Senator Edwards, that makes my blood boil.
Meanwhile, Mr. Will returns to an even more tired and more quickly-failed "new" paradigm - which involves an out-and-out blaming of the poor for who they are rather than who they should be and what could have been accomplished by now had the government done what Senator Edwards is striving to do in order to alleviate poverty from a moral, modern, progressive, and common-sense manner. Like many dull and "stuck" conservatives before him, Mr. Will takes the easy and politically lazy route of blaming the poor for their deficiency in punctuality, hygiene, industriousness, deferral of gratification In reality, the stupidity, stereotyping, and ignorance that surrounds such finger-pointing is being revealed as a failure of imagination and igenuity and a better solution is being researched and formulated by the great ideas of Senator Edwards and his Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina.
Mr. Will's uncreative column ends in a blur of jet-propelled criticisms regarding Senator Edwards' political aspirations. I found it to be a politically-motivated piece with no solution to Poverty other than the employment of naked blame of those who are most in need. Lacking creativity and objectivity, Mr. Will neglects to mention that programs intended to change all those traits he sterotypically throws around about the poor in America (they're late; they're dirty; they're lazy; they're morally deficient) were effectively wiped out by Bush's immoral budget proposal.
The blame-game is old; it's useless; it's for the dull-minded. I know George Will could have done better. I imagine he couldn't resist the chance to take a cheap shot. That's indicative of a character flaw, too - right up there with laziness - isn't it?
Tar Heel Tavern #54
Tar Heel Tavern #54 is up at gingerrivers. The topic for this week is Grace. Don't miss the varied posts that reveal Grace in diverse faces and places.
NYT's Keller: Bush Admin Declaring War on Democracy"There's a tone of gleeful relish in the way they talk about dragging reporters before grand juries, their appetite for withholding information, and the hints that reporters who look too hard into the public's business risk being branded traitors," said New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, in a statement responding to questions from The Washington Post. "I don't know how far action will follow rhetoric, but some days it sounds like the administration is declaring war at home on the values it professes to be promoting abroad." - WaPo
A strong statement from Bill Keller, who obviously sees this type of intimidating White House damage control as nothing but destructive to freedom of the press and the democratic fabric of this nation.
Army to Investigate Pat Tillman's DeathAlthough there have been various investigations already, the US Army will launch the first criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the 2004 death of Pat Tillman, "the former professional football player who was shot to death by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan in what previous Army reviews had concluded was an accidental shooting." [NYT/AP] This past November, Salon.com's Peter Daou had asked this question, after we learned about Mr. Tillman's real views on the war and politics [ie: Mr. Tillman had called the Iraq invasion "so f*cking illegal" and was an avid reader and fan of leftist Noam Chomsky]:Now that we know more about his real views on Bush, Kerry, and war, is Pat Tillman considered a “moonbat” by the right, and is he now a liberal or a conservative hero? Or both?
My reply:Pat Tillman's image as an American athlete-turned military volunteer was used with gleeful partisan craftsmanship by the Right - until the story of the circumstances of Pat's death was widely spread and the Tillman family's reactions and opinions came to light. Then the "Sunshine patriots" of the extreme rightwing, who will hold a soldier to angelic heights only when he and his family agree to their unspoken and undemocratic vow of silence, turned on their destruction machinery. "Pat Tillman could not have been a patriot," the extremists would say. I'd love to spit in the faces of any partisan who would raise a young man to heroic heights and then sully his good name when his political opinions come to light. I see Pat Tillman as a human being - a caring and patriotic American who believed in a vision of America as an indivisible nation. He was lifted to "hero" status by Americans who place a high cultural value on athletes and soldiers. I don't think it's probable that Pat gave too much weight to the divisive political elements that exist today when he decided to join the Military. I think he was moved by all that he'd seen. I think he wanted to put an end to the power of fear that terrorism held over his country. I think he was a brave young man. In 2004, long before the truth came out about Pat's political beliefs, I had written this about him:
The cause in which his country was engaged mattered more to Pat than the dull emptiness of greed. It mattered more to Pat than life.
If Pat was a hero, then all soldiers are heroes. They all risk the same thing - their lives - for their country.
According to the Washington Post, Mary Tillman has expressed deep frustration about what she calls a succession of "lies" she has been told about her son's death. She has said that she believes evidence of a crime has existed all along, and that the family's repeated calls for a criminal investigation were ignored until now. Like Mr. Tillman's parents, I am skeptical that this investigation will bring in any new evidence or revelation. It's a terribly embarrassing situation for the Army, and I'm sure it's painful for Mr. Tillman's family. My thoughts are especially with them at such a difficult time.
David Brooks Eager to See Our Security Sold to DubaiIt's amazing how enthusiastic David Brooks is to see our Ports taken over by foreign investors who may have - for all we know - been involved in financing the terrorists that brought us 9/11. It's also intellectually dishonest - and pathetically political - for Brooks to say it's simply because we 'don't trust Arabs.' This past week, Rep. Bernie Sanders confronted those responsible in the Bush administration for checking out what should be such an obvious concern - and they couldn't say with any form of certainty that the Dubai company didn't have investors who've funded terrorism in their ranks. The biggest joke of all is that Brooks points to Democrats when the majority of Republicans are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Democrats on the Ports deal issue. One of Brooks' statements reeks of omission - and what is missing speaks volumes about Brooks' sheer denial of the reality surrounding the Bush administration's strong and constant Arab-nation-related fear-mongering statements since 9/11. (statement quoted below)
The Bush administration has scared American citizens shitless since the World Trade Center fell (while hypocritically allowing Sheikdom-tyrannies to thrive in places like Saudi Arabia). Brooks was perfectly supportive of the pre-emptive war against an Arab regime. He now falls back on "Bush's brand" as if Bush had never promoted mass fear of Arabs with his foreign policy and fear-loaded rhetoric of Arab nations that fund and harbor terrorists.George Bush's brand was based on the premise that Arabs aren't very different from anybody else, and can be brought into the family of democratic nations.
Guess what, David Brooks? The inept neoconservative experiment in Iraq has been a failure and the only thing "spreading democracy" in the region has proven in the Middle East is that the Bush foreign policy has pushed just about every regional electorate toward the extremists. Arabs aren't different from anyone else - they vote for whom they trust. Thanks to the Bush administration, we've driven them straight to those who hate us most. So much for the "Bush brand."
Bush Has Empowered Iran..
while demonizing them at every turn..In the NYT editorial today, it's said that Thursday's nuclear deal with India would have been a bad idea at any time, but it was an especially bad idea now because it has undermined attempts to rein in Iran, whose nuclear program is progressing fast and unnerving both its neighbors and the West. From the article:For all of the axis-of-evil rhetoric that has come out of the White House, the reality is that the Bush administration has done more to empower Iran than its most ambitious ayatollah could have dared to imagine.
Bush's Cut and Run Plan RevealedApparently, Bush tentatively plans to have cut and run from Iraq by about this time next year.
John Edwards To Appear on Meet the Press this Sunday
A message from Kim Rubey of the One America Committee:
Senator John Edwards will appear on Meet the Press on Sunday, March 5th. Senator Edwards and former Secretary Jack Kemp, co-chairs of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S.-Russia Relations, will discuss the findings of their upcoming report. Click here to find your local listings.
Senator Edwards and former Secretary Kemp will present their findings to the Council on Foreign Relations on Monday, March 6th at noon and C-SPAN will cover their presentation LIVE.
Then, on Tuesday, March 7th, Senator Edwards and former Secretary Kemp will also appear on the Charlie Rose show. Click here for your local listings.
We hope you can tune in for these appearances!
Thanks,
Kim Rubey, One America Committee
Iddybud Journal Nominated for Two Koufax AwardsI have received two nominations this year for Koufax blog awards. I kindly thank those who nominated me. What I do here is something I do because of passion. I do not make any money from my blogging efforts. I work professionally as a facilitator in a school-based program for a Community Service non-profit organization and I spend a lot of time volunteering for various community service efforts, including a Crisis/Suicide hotline, a faith-based choral organization, and a local theatre. I care deeply about my community and spend most of my volunteer-time in political pursuits, taking part in a local Progressive Coalition and writing a political blog for my city's newspaper. The greater Syracuse community is filled with wonderful and caring people, and many days I wish I had three or four more heads and hands so that I could do more for the citizens here. To be honest, though, I already know I have the heart to accomodate all those extra heads and hands I wish I had!
Speaking of heart, my thanks go out to Wampum's own Mary Beth Williams for all the hard work I know she puts into the Koufax Awards.
Your support for my blog is much appreciated.
Jude_____________My KOUFAX Nominations:Most Deserving of Wider Recognition
*see Billy the Blogging Poet's write-up
BEST BLOG (non-professional)
Living A Life Of Grace
The story below is about Grace. It's become a favorite of mine. I received it at a time when I most needed it. It reminds us that as we go through our trials of life, Grace is always present, whether or not we are able to acknowlege her presence. When I first read it, I sent it along to many of my friends to remind them that even when we feel that we're alone, we are never alone. When we feel lost and believe there is no inspiration left to find, tapping into the moment in the deepest silence between our busy thoughts can lead us back to Grace. We are so very lucky, yet we often forget about our good fortune as we allow ourselves to sink hopelessly into our mundane, worrisome, and fearful hours. Faith, hope, and charity - - none of these would be possible in this life without Grace. With it, we can face anything and we can even find an odd beauty in the seemingly ugliest of circumstances. Some call Her a "silver lining." I prefer to call Her a river of unconditional love and eternal light. Living A Life Of Grace printed at Daily OM October 6, 2005
Grace exists inside of all of us and around us. It is our inner beauty that radiates outward, touching everyone we meet. It is that unseen hand that comes from the divine, raising us up when we most need it. To be able to live in a state of grace is not based on worthiness, nor is it earned through good deeds, ritual, or sacrifice. Rather it is an unearned favor, freely bestowed and available to all, that is inherent to our birthright. All we must do is open our eyes to its presence and we will find and experience grace everywhere.
Grace is in the rain bringing relief to drought-ridden farms, and the unexpected lead for the perfect job opportunity that comes from a stranger. Grace is what happens to someone when they miraculously escape injury; it is even the simple events that happen to us that we call "good luck," like when we don't get a parking ticket after our meter has expired. Grace resides in the love between two people, the gift or check that comes unexpectedly in the mail, the cozy comforts that make up a home, and in the acts of forgiveness we bestow upon others. It is grace that moves us to go out of our way to help a stranger. 
In music, a grace note is the pause between notes that is so important to the pacing of a song. Grace is the state we are in when we are doing nothing but just being who we are.
When we accept that we always exist in a state of grace, we are able to live our lives more graciously. 
Knowing we are graced gives us hope, makes us more generous, and allows us to trust that we are taken care of even when we are going through difficult times. Grace is our benevolence of heart, and our generosity of spirit. Grace is unconditional love and the beauty that is our humanity. When we know that we are blessed with grace, we can't help but want to live our lives in harmony.
_________
Grace
It's a name for a girl
It's also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things
- from Grace, a song by U2
John and Elizabeth Edwards Podcast March 2006LINK to audio
Last week, Senator Edwards toured San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston to help organize American Hotel workers (see UNITE HERE). He's trying to help hotel union workers to make it over the poverty line - to get them higher wages and better health benefits. There were huge crowds and a great response to each rally that took place. Where Unions are in place in hotels, wages are dramatically higher. In Boston, the hotels are nearly 100% unionized and they have the support of their mayor. In Miami, the hotel rates are the same as Boston, so there is obviously a lot of room for unionizing without the threat of hotels having to raise consumer rates.
Senator Edwards has been to Democratic fundraisers in Iowa (a state he especially loves visiting), to Missouri for their Democratic caucus, and he did a Wisconsin Poverty event with Congresswoman Gwen Moore along with a fundraiser for the state's Democratic caucus. [See this great post by SerbHallCelebrator at OAC]
Jack and Emma Claire have been busy with their basketball games. Elizabeth took them to a Carolina Women's game - a sold out game in the old arena that the TarHeels used to play in and where Elizabeth once played on that court in something called the Loser's tournament while she was in Law School (if you lost every game in the season, you qualified for the 'Loser's tournament'. This when John was the coach of their really, really - unbelievably - BAD intramural team. :)
The Edwards tell a funny story about signing Jack up for baseball, which is not an easy task because you have to take a day off from work to ensure that you're going to get your child signed up. Even then, you have to get into a long, long line with all the other parents who are signing their kids up at the same time. (the line was around the block by 8:30am - and if you wait until the end of the day to sign your kid up after work, you're out of luck).
The new One America blog is up and running and he hopes you all check it out. He says "We really want to hear from you." Elizabeth has a deadline on the book that she's writing and has been wishing and looking forward to to have more time to get to the blog.QUESTIONS - Dan's Question: About Minimun Wage - No one should work full time in America and still live in poverty. The work is important to Senator Edwards because it lifts people out of poverty. Currently the minimum wage stands at $5.15 an hour - a wage that no one can live on - no matter how hard you work or how many hours. There must be more legislative responsibility shown regarding doing something about raising the minimum wage. Some, like Senator Kennedy, have worked hard to raise the minimum wage, but most of Congress has failed in their responsibility to work to see that a wage increase is passed. What Senator Edwards is doing is "on the ground" - in states around the nation - Ohio, Arizona, Michigan, Arkansas, Nevada, and Montana.
Elizabeth recalled a 2004 story on NPR about the Miniumum Wage. It was about a woman with two children who was working for minimum wage (and trying to live on it) with two teenage daughters. One daughter was going to college and the other daughter was considering joining the Military because her mother could not afford to put her through college. NPR had called both the former Kerry/Edwards campaign and Bush/Cheney campaign to see what they thought about this. The Kerry/Edwards camp had replied that the minimun wage should be raised and there were programs they'd planned for to help kids go to college. The Bush/Cheney team, in contrast, replied that the Minimum wage is meant for teenagers - failing to admit or recognize that adults (many with families/paying rent) are struggling with their attempt to survive on $5.15 per hour.
- JennieForJRE: What does Senator Edwards think of Bush's 2007 Budget Proposal? Senator Edwards thinks the Bush budget proposal is immoral. It will make life harder for a lot of people. Look at what Bush's budget is doing: Making tax cuts for the rich permanent and providing billions of tax dollars for giveaways to big oil companies (as if Exxon's not making enough money right now). On top of that, this budget is proposed as funding is severely cut for programs that once provided nutrition for kids and seniors; programs for kids to be able to go to college; programs that once provided necessary and important health care for poor children. Think about it: Billions of dollars go to Exxon while Bush proposes cutting health care for poor kids. Senator Edwards believes that we should be screaming about this ugly fact from the rooftops, because most people do not realize it's happening. He's going to do everything in his own power to make sure citizens know about it.
Elizabeth mentioned that oil prices keep going up - while energy assistance keeps going down. Head Start money is being cut - 800-1100 slots will be cut for needy children in Iowa alone in the coming years.
- The next question is from Pete: How to keep people engaged in rebuilding the Gulf Coast? Senator Edwards visited New Orleans recently and was amazed to see how little progress has been made in the rebuilding effort since September - especially in the Lower and Upper Ninth Wards and East New Orleans. Here's what Senator Edwards is doing, specifically: He's got students who've signed up to come to New Olreans to assist in the rebuildiong effort over their Spring Break - March 15-18. [See this story in the Yale Daily News ] Over 600 students have signed up from over 81 different schools. He'll be there. The idea is to have young people engaged in an effort that they really care about and he would love to have as many students as possible join this effort. They can visit Opportinity Rocks to sign up for the volunteer effort: www.opportunityrocks.org/
Elizabeth reminded us of the young generation of the 1960s who left college on their breaks and traveled to the same areas of the country, for different reasons, in order to make a difference in the lives of citizens in their nation. Experiences like these can be life-changing.
- The last question came from Nan (by phone): On Election Reform: With activists in Florida working so diligently to have meaningful election reform with the Automarks voting machines (which leaves a paper trail), they were stymied at the last minute by the Secretary of State with political shananigans. In her state of North Carolina, the Diebold Machines weren't supposed to be certified because they wouldn't release information about their software, but after some "politicking", they were certified anyway. Nan's question: When Senator Edwards is President (and Nan averred that she was saying this with a big smile on her face), what will he do to ensure that the HAVA (Help America Vote Act) really helps Americans to vote?
Senator Edwards says it's critically important at a time when Americans are worried about how our voting process is working - to have a uniform system where everyone knows that, when they go to the polls, they'll be able to vote - and to have no question that their vote has been counted. In order to do that, we have to be able to have an audit or paper trail. We have to know that when people vote, that their vote has been counted. It will eliminate the perception that there's manipulation going on - and it can prevent what so many people worried about in 2000 and 2004 - that the election may have been stolen. We need to have non-partisans in charge of the election process - unlike the dubious Secretary of State of Ohio in 2004, who happened to be Bush's campaign manager there. We need independent monitors and operation officials to be responsible for how the elections work.
Elizabeth commended certain legislators from North Carolina who stood strong in the political battle vs. Diebold on the Black Box voting issue in her state. Alaska is now experiencing similar problems. In iraq they used great big plastic tubs stuffed with pieces of paper on which they voted - and if they are more comfortable with the integrity of the elections there, we know we have a real problem here in this country. It's an easy problem to correct and they have to be committed to doing it.
(My own state, New York is being pushed with obvious political shenaigans occurring, having been recently been sued by the USDOJ re: HAVA/Election Reform. We are concerned that the federal lawsuit will rush our state and our communities into adopting a flawed voting system. Here's a related story: Do You Know How Your Vote Will Be Counted? by Warren Stewart)
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