He had me at “Hello”
Tucson, AZ — Everywhere I go, sitting at borrowed computers, folks walk by and ask me, “So, how’s the world?” FUBAR is, of course, the only logical answer … except for the wrinkles.
Today’s wrinkles include Pakistan … a REAL nuclear worry … and an echo across the globe that democracy, even the pretense of it, is in dire straights. You’ll find links last to give you a clear picture.
However, first I want to post a few pieces that reflect my sunny mood — I AM in Arizona, after all, it’s NOT on fire and we’ve got temps almost 20 degrees over normal so “sun” [and the warmth of basking in time with loved ones] make “hope” easier to grab with both hands, today. John Edwards is my “hope” guy — in this particular presidential primary, he’s the one that always has me at “Hello.” He gave a dynamite speech the other day that’s being favorably commented on around the web, it’s posted first.
The Pub’s can’t seem to find their “hope guy” among their dismal candidates … the days of snake oil salesmen selling Feel Good medicine to the rube’s seem to be drawing to a close, gratefully. You’ll find a WSJ article here that spells it out.
The last bits, snipped from Froomkin, are just odd and funky … what we’ve become accustomed to from the Bushies — Cheney’s embrace of Darth Vader, for instance … he even dressed up one of his dogs as Darth for Halloween; he and the Dubby seem vastly amused by the reference. [Another of my “hopes” is that they can dwell on all their “good times” when they’re dressed in orange jump suits, in some brighter future.]
A note: I can’t get to my usual programs and settings on this computer, so formatting will suffer — it’ll be readable for a week, but not “same old.”
Basking and Frolicking,
Jude
The Moral Test of Our Generation
John Edwards, St. Anselm’s College, Manchester, N.H.
Oct 29, 2007
Many of you know that I am the son of a mill worker — that I rose from modest means and have been blessed in so many ways in life. Elizabeth and I have so much to be grateful for.
And all of you know about some of the challenges we have faced in my family. But there came a time, a few months ago, when Elizabeth and I had to decide, in the quiet of a hospital room, after many hours of tests and getting pretty bad news — what we were going to do with our lives. And we made our decision. That we were not going to go quietly into the night — that we were going to stand and fight for what we believe in.
As Elizabeth and I have campaigned across America, I’ve come to a better understanding of what that decision really meant — and why we made it.
Earlier this year, I spoke at Riverside Church in New York, where, forty years ago, Martin Luther King gave a historic speech. I talked about that speech then, and I want to talk about it today. Dr. King was tormented by the way he had kept silent for two years about the Vietnam War.
He was told that if he spoke out he would hurt the civil rights movement and all that he had worked for — but he could not take it any more — instead of decrying the silence of others — he spoke the truth about himself.
“Over the past two years” he said, “I have moved to break the betrayal of my own silence and speak from the burning of my own heart.”
I am not holier than thou. I am not perfect by any means. But there are events in life that you learn from, and which remind you what this is really all about. Maybe I have been freed from the system and the fear that holds back politicians because I have learned there are much more
important things in life than winning elections at the cost of selling your soul.
Especially right now, when our country requires so much more of us, and needs to hear the truth from its leaders.
And, although I have spent my entire life taking on the big powerful interests and winning — which is why I have never taken a dime from Washington lobbyists or political action committees — I too have been guilty of my own silence — but no more.
It’s time to tell the truth. And the truth is the system in Washington is corrupt. It is rigged by the powerful special interests to benefit they very few at the expense of the many. And as a result, the American people have lost faith in our broken system in Washington, and believe it no longer works for ordinary Americans. They’re right.
As I look across the political landscape of both parties today — what I see are politicians too afraid to tell the truth — good people caught in a bad system that overwhelms their good intentions and requires them to chase millions of dollars in campaign contributions in order to perpetuate their careers and continue their climb to higher office.
This presidential campaign is a perfect example of how our politics is awash with money. I have raised more money up to this point than any Democratic candidate raised last time in the presidential campaign — $30 million. And, I did it without taking a dime from any Washington lobbyist or any special interest PAC.
I saw the chase for campaign money at any cost by the frontrunner in this race — and I did not join it — because the cost to our nation and our children is not worth the hollow victory of any candidate. Being called president while powerful interests really run things is not the same as being free to lead this nation as president of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. If protecting the current established structure in Washington is in your interest, then I am not your candidate.
I ran for president four years ago — yes, in part out of personal ambition — but also with a deep desire to stand for working people like my father and mother — who no matter how hard things were for our family, always worked even harder to make things better for us.
But the more Elizabeth and I campaigned this year, the more we talked to the American people, the more we met people just like my father, and hard working people like James Lowe. James is a decent and honest man who had to live for 50 years with no voice in the richest country in the world because he didn’t have health care. The more people like him that I met, the more I realized something much bigger was stirring in the American people. And it has stirred in each of us for far too long.
Last month Ken Burns — who made the great Civil War documentary — launched his newest epic on World War II on PBS — and what a story it tells.
At the cost of great suffering, blood and enormous sacrifice, within four years after Pearl Harbor it is incredible what this nation achieved. America built the arsenal of democracy worthy of our great history. We launched the greatest invasion armada in the history of warfare against
Hitler’s fortress Europe, and, with our allies, we freed a continent of suffering humanity.
At the same time on the other side of the globe we crossed 10,000 miles of ocean and liberated another hemisphere of humanity — islands and nations freed from the grip of Japanese militarists. While at the same time succeeding in the greatest scientific endeavor ever undertaken — the Manhattan project — and topped it off with building the Pentagon, one of
the largest buildings in the world in a little over a year.
It is incredible what America has accomplished. Because no matter what extraordinary challenges we have been faced with, we did exactly what America has always done in our history — we rose to the challenge.
And, now, as I travel across America and listen to people, I hear real concern about what’s going on. For the first time in our nation’s history, people are worried that we’re going to be the first generation of Americans not to pass on a better life to our children.
And it’s not the fault of the American people. The American people have not changed. The American people are still the strong, courageous people they have always been. The problem is what our government has become. And, it is up to us to do something about it.
Because Washington may not see it, but we are facing a moral crisis as great as any that has ever challenged us. And, it is this test — this moral test — that I have come to understand is at the heart of this campaign.
Just look at what has happened in Iraq. What was the response of the American people to the challenge at hand? Our men and women in uniform have been heroes. They’ve done everything that’s been asked of them and more. But what about our government? Four years after invading Iraq, we cannot even keep the lights on in Baghdad.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the American people were at their best. They donated their time and their money in record numbers. There was an outpouring of support. I took 700 college kids down to help — young people who gave up their spring break. But what about our government? Three years after hurricane Katrina thousands of our fellow Americans, our
brothers and sisters, are still housed in trailers waiting to go home.
There’s no better example of the bravery and goodness of the American people than the response to the attacks of 9/11: firefighters and first responders risking and too often giving their lives to save others, charging up the stairs while everyone else was coming down; record
bloodbank donations; and the list goes on. But what about our government?
Six years after 9/11, at Ground Zero there sits only a black hole that tortures our conscience and scars our hearts.
In every instance we see an American people who are good, decent, compassionate and undeterred. And, American people who are better than the government that is supposed to serve and represent them.
And what has happened to the American “can do” spirit? I will tell you what has happened: all of this is the result of the bitter poisoned fruit of corruption and the bankruptcy of our political leadership.
It is not an accident that the government of the United States cannot function on behalf of its people, because it is no longer our people’s government — and we the people know it.
This corruption did not begin yesterday — and it did not even begin with George Bush — it has been building for decades — until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy.
While the American people personally rose to the occasion with an enormous outpouring of support and donations to both the victims of Katrina and 9/11 — we all saw our government’s neglect. And we saw greed and incompetence at work. Out of more than 700 contracts valued at $500,000 or greater, at least half were given without full competition or, according to news sources, with vague or open ended terms, and many of these contracts went to companies with deep political connections such as a subsidiary of Haliburton, Bechtel Corp., and AshBritt Inc.
And in Iraq — while our nation’s brave sons and daughters put their lives on the line for our country — we now have mercenaries under their own law while their bosses sit at home raking in millions.
We have squandered millions on building Olympic size swimming pools and buildings that have never been used. We have weapons and ammunition unaccounted for that may now be being used against our own soldiers. We literally have billions wasted or misspent — while our troops and their families continue to sacrifice. And the politically connected lobby for more. What’s their great sacrifice — higher profits.
It goes on every minute of every day.
Corporate executives at United Airlines and US Airways receive millions in compensation for taking their companies into bankruptcy, while their employees are forced to take cuts in pay.
Companies like Wal-Mart lobby against inspecting containers entering our nation’s ports, even though expert after expert agrees that the likeliest way for a dirty bomb to enter the United States is through a container, because they believe their profits are more important than our safety. What has become of America when America’s largest company lobbies against
protecting America?
Trade deals cost of millions of jobs. What do we get in return? Millions of dangerous Chinese toys in our children’s cribs laden with lead. This is the price we are made to pay when trade agreements are decided based on how much they pad the profits for multinational corporations instead of what is best for America’s workers or the safety of America’s consumers.
We have even gotten to the point where our children’s safety is potentially at risk because nearly half of the apple juice consumed by our children comes from apples grown in China. And Americans are kept in the dark because the corporate lobbyists have pushed back country of origin labeling laws again and again.
This is not the America I believe in.
The hubris of greed knows no bounds. Days after the homeland security bill passed, staffers from the homeland security department resigned and became homeland security consultants trying to cash in. And, where was the outrage? There was none, because that’s how it works in Washington now. It is not a Republican revolving door or a Democratic revolving door — it is
just the way it’s done.
Someone called it a government reconnaissance mission to figure out how to get rich when you leave the government.
Recently, I was dismayed to see headlines in the Wall Street Journal stating that Senate Democrats were backing down to lobbyists for hedge funds who have opposed efforts to make millionaire and billionaire hedge fund managers pay the same tax rate as every hard-working American. Now, tax loopholes the wealthy hedge fund managers do not need or deserve are
not going to be closed, all because Democrats — our party — wanted their campaign money.
And a few weeks ago, around the sixth anniversary of 9/11, a leading presidential candidate held a fundraiser that was billed as a Homeland Security themed event in Washington, D.C. targeted to homeland security lobbyists and contractors for $1,000 a plate. These lobbyists, for the price of a ticket, would get a special “treat” — the opportunity to participate in small, hour long breakout sessions with key Democratic lawmakers, many of whom chair important sub committees of the homeland security committee. That presidential candidate was Senator Clinton.
Senator Clinton’s road to the middle class takes a major detour right through the deep canyon of corporate lobbyists and the hidden bidding of K Street in Washington — and history tells us that when that bus stops there it is the middle class that loses.
When I asked Hillary Clinton to join me in not taking money from Washington lobbyists — she refused. Not only did she say that she would continue to take their money, she defended them.
Today Hillary Clinton has taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any candidate from either party — more money than any Republican candidate.
She has taken more money from the defense industry than any other candidate from either party as well.
She took more money from Wall Street last quarter than Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama combined.
The long slow slide of our democracy into the corporate abyss continues unabated regardless of party, regardless of the best interests of America.
We have a duty — a duty to end this.
I believe you cannot be for change and take money from the lobbyists who prevent change. You cannot take on the entrenched interests in Washington if you choose to defend the broken system. It will not work. And I believe that, if Americans have a choice, and candidate who takes their money — Democrat or Republican — will lose this election.
For us to continue down this path all we have to do is suspend all that we believe in. As Democrats, we continue down this path only if we believe the party of the people is no more.
As Americans, we continue down this path only if we fail to heed Lincoln’s warning to us all.
“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected,” he asked, “if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It can not come from abroad. If destruction be our lot — we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men we must live through all time or die by suicide.”
America lives because 20 generations have honored the one moral commandment that makes us Americans.
To give our children a better future than we received.
I stand here today the son of Wallace and Bobbie Edwards. The father of Wade, Cate, Emma Claire and Jack — and I know, as well as you, that we must not be the first generation that fails to live up to our moral challenge and keep the promise of America.
That would be an abomination.
There is a dream that is America. It is what makes us American. And I will not stand by while that dream is at risk.
I am not perfect — far from it — but I do understand that this is not a political issue — it is the moral test of our generation.
Our nation’s founders knew that this moment would come — that at some point the power of greed and its influence over officials in our government might strain and threaten the very America they hoped would last as an ideal in the minds of all people, and as a beacon of hope for all time.
That is why they made the people sovereign. And this is why it is your responsibility to redeem the promise of America for our children and their future.
It will not be easy — sacrifice will be required of us — but it was never easy for our ancestors, and their sacrifices were far greater than any that will fall on our shoulders.
Yet, the responsibility is ours.
We, you and I, are the guardians of what America is and what it will be.
The choice is ours.
Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine.
It is the easier path. It is the path of the status quo. But, it is a path that perpetuates a corrupt system that has not only failed to deliver the change the American people demand, but has divided America into two — one America for the very greedy, and one America for everybody else.
And it is that divided America — the direct result of this corrupt system — which may very well lead to the suicide Lincoln warned us of — the poison that continues to seep into our system while none notice.
Or we can choose a different path. The path that generations of Americans command us to take. And be the guardians that kept the faith.
I run for president for my father who worked in a mill his entire life and never got to go to college the way I did.
I run for president for all those who worked in that mill with my father.
I run for president for all those who lost their jobs when that mil was shut down.
I run for president for all the women who have come up to Elizabeth and me and told us the like Elizabeth they had breast cancer — but unlike Elizabeth they did not have health care.
I run for president for twenty generations of Americans who made sure that their children had a better life than they did.
As Americans we are blessed — for our ancestors are not dead, they occupy the corridors of our conscience. And, as long we keep the faith — they live. And so too the America of idealism and hope that was their gift to us.
I carry the promise of America in my heart, where my parents placed it. Like them, like you, I believe in people, hard work, and the sacred obligation of each generation to the next.
This is our time now. It falls to use to redeem our democracy, reclaim our government and relight the promise of America for our children.
Let us blaze a new path together, grounded in the values from which America was forged, still reaching toward the greatness of our ideals. We can do it. We can cast aside the bankrupt ways of Washington and replace them with the timeless values of the American people. We can liberate our government from the shackles of corporate money that bind it to corporate
will, and restore the voices of our people to its halls.
This is the cause of my life. This is the cause of our time. Join me.
Together, we cannot fail.
We will keep faith with those who have gone before us, strong and proud in the knowledge that we too rose up to guard the promise of America in our day, and that, because we did, America’s best days still lie ahead. ++
For Republicans, A New Pessimism Spells Trouble
JACKIE CALMES, Wall Street Journal
November 3, 2007
RICHMOND, Va. — It’s almost un-American to believe that your children’s
generation won’t be better off than your own. Yet that is just what a
dozen Virginia Republicans unanimously agreed to when they gathered here
Thursday night for a political focus group.
That break with what has traditionally been the bedrock belief of an
optimistic America was bad enough, from a Republican’s standpoint. It
captured how demoralized the party is these days, what with an unpopular
Republican president waging an increasingly unpopular war amid rising gas
prices. But what was worse: These Republicans didn’t see a savior in the
big field of candidates vying for their party’s nomination to succeed
George W. Bush.
Several other impressions stood out. The newest Republican candidate,
actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, remains a viable
contender despite one of the least impressive launches in presidential
campaign history. Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani has wide appeal
for his leadership as New York City mayor after the 9/11 terrorist
attacks, but his social liberalism and two divorces are a show-stopper for
many. So is the Mormon faith of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
But if either Messrs. Giuliani or Romney were to be the Republican
nominee, all but one of their critics in this Virginia group said they’d
vote for the men over any Democrat, especially if the nominee is New York
Sen. Hillary Clinton.
The Richmond-area Republican voters were chosen for a two-hour roundtable
sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of
Pennsylvania, as part of its continuing series for the 2008 elections.
Questioning them was Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who also conducts
polls with Republican Neil Newhouse for The Wall Street Journal and NBC
News. Several reporters watched from behind a glass, unseen by the voters.
The voters ranged in age from 23 to 67. All were white and Christian. All
supported Mr. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Their responses — frequently in
error about candidates’ positions or personal lives — indicated they
haven’t really tuned in to the race, though the candidates have been
running all year. By contrast, voters in the states with early contests –
mainly Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — show much more
sophistication about the choices, reflecting the time and advertising
money that the candidates have spent in those places. The voters in
Virginia and other states are likely to have their opinions shaped
strongly by the results in Iowa and elsewhere, given the fluidity of their
impressions now.
First, for the present: The Virginians said they were troubled most by the
war, economic insecurity and illegal immigration. These are “very scary”
times said a 34-year-old woman, adding, “I’m glad it’s an election year,
because I think we need a breath of fresh air.” A 38-year-old man lamented
that Americans are saddling future generations with debt. A 67-year-old
woman agreed, asking, “Who’s buying our loans? Who’s going to own us? We
are going to give ourselves to another country because of debt.”
While a 42-year-old man remained such a Bush fan that he wished the
president could run again, the rest plainly were ready for change. One
offered faint praise — “He believes in what he’s doing” — but others
snap descriptions weren’t so kind to Mr. Bush: “continuing down the wrong
path,” “he’s not listening to the rest of us,” “hard-headed.” Three
Republicans questioned Mr. Bush’s intelligence. Six wanted to end the war,
one immediately, though the rest indicated the U.S. couldn’t leave before
conditions in Iraq were stabilized somehow.
As for Vice President Dick Cheney, two voters said he should retire.
Others called him “cold,” “sick,” “weak,” “secretive,” “calculating” and,
at best, “very influential.”
The group’s feelings about the Republican presidential field — “second
string,” “no stand-outs” — reflected the lack of enthusiasm that national
and state polls have captured all year among Republican voters. That
dissatisfaction prompted Mr. Thompson to make his late entrance after
Labor Day, encouraged by conservatives hoping to fill a void. Yet his
stolid and tired performances since then have disappointed many
conservative voters and pundits.
You wouldn’t have known that from the Virginia voters, though as fellow
Southerners, they are just the voters on whom Mr. Thompson is counting to
boost his candidacy. The Richmond Republicans variously described him as
personable, the candidate most like their beloved Ronald Reagan, and
grandfatherly. One man guessed that Mr. Thompson has children in their
40s; none seemed to know that his second wife isn’t even that old, and he
has two small children.
While Mr. Thompson seemed to have the most potential to pick up support
among such Republicans, at this point four of the 12 said they were
supportive of Mr. Giuliani, and three named Mr. Thompson. Messrs. Romney
and McCain were the choice of two voters each, and another voter was torn
between Mr. Thompson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Only one
voter, a Giuliani fan, said he wasn’t likely to change his mind.
As for the others, a majority expressed concerns that Mr. Giuliani is too
liberal on social issues, mainly abortion and gay rights. Their short
descriptions of him were a mixed bag: along with “confident” and “leader,”
there was “cocky,” “cold,” and “arrogant.” Asked which family member he
most reminds them of, one woman answered, “the evil stepfather.” The group
was vaguely aware of his two divorces and estrangement from his two
children.
Mr. Romney, who unlike Mr. Giuliani has disavowed his past social
liberalism and has worked harder to appeal to Christian conservatives,
nonetheless was suspect to half of the group because of his Mormonism. A
couple foes said Mr. Romney could do nothing to sway them. But even one of
them agreed with the rest that if Mr. Romney were the Republican nominee
against Hillary Clinton, or any Democrat, he’d voted for Mr. Romney.
“There’s Mormons, insects, then Democrats,” the man quipped.
Yet when asked about Sen. Clinton, all agreed that she is a “strong” and
“competent” candidate. That was a surprising and significant concession,
pollster Hart said, one that would be comparable to Democrats in 1964
giving credit to Republican nominee Barry Goldwater on national security
– which they never did, of course. ++
Bush: It’s Mukasey or Nothing
Dan Froomkin, WaPo
Friday, November 2, 2007
Bush’s Hitler Comparison
Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: “President Bush compared
Congress’ Democratic leaders Thursday to people who ignored the rise of
Lenin and Hitler early in the last century, saying ‘the world paid a
terrible price’ then and risks similar consequences for inaction today.
“Bush accused Congress of stalling important pieces of the fight to
prevent new terrorist attacks by: dragging out and possibly jeopardizing
confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, a key part of his
national security team; failing to act on a bill governing eavesdropping
on terrorist suspects; and moving too slowly to approve spending measures
for the Iraq war, Pentagon and veterans programs.”
Here’s precisely what Bush said: “History teaches that underestimating the
words of evil, ambitious men is a terrible mistake. In the early 1900s,
the world ignored the words of Lenin, as he laid out his plans to launch a
Communist revolution in Russia — and the world paid a terrible price. The
Soviet Empire he established killed tens of millions, and brought the
world to the brink of thermonuclear war.
“In the 1920s, the world ignored the words of Hitler, as he explained his
intention to build an Aryan super-state in Germany, take revenge on
Europe, and eradicate the Jews — and the world paid a terrible price. His
Nazi regime killed millions in the gas chambers, and set the world aflame
in war, before it was finally defeated at a terrible cost in lives and
treasure.
- “Bin Laden and his terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as
Lenin and Hitler before them. And the question is: Will we listen?
It’s not the first time Bush has made that analogy. In fact, Bush used
some of the same exact phrases in a speech he gave shortly before the 2006
mid-term elections: “History teaches that underestimating the words of
evil and ambitious men is a terrible mistake,” he said. “Bin Laden and his
terrorist allies have made their intentions as clear as Lenin and Hitler
before them. The question is: Will we listen?”
At that time, (see my Sept. 6, 2006, column) several pundits became irate
over the comparison. Yesterday on CNN, Jack Cafferty let loose: “Where
does he get this stuff? We’re talk about confirmation hearing in
congressional committee for a cabinet officer and he’s babbling about
Lenin and Hitler? I mean — come on! I’m tired of being told to be afraid.
The people are tired of being told to be afraid. Just get off of it.
Either win the argument on the merits or go away and leave me alone.”
The Problem With Analogies
I noted yesterday that Cheney, his wife, his boss and even his dog have
embraced the Cheney-as-Darth-Vader metaphor.
But the AFP’s Olivier Knox points out a problem with the analogy: “It was
unclear whether Bush or Cheney’s pop-culture knowledge included the fact
that, at the end of the saga, Vader redeems himself and saves his son by
hurling the evil emperor Palpatine to his death, at the cost of his own
life.”
White House Watch reader Francis Norton asks: “When the President is on a
USAF aircraft, it is called Air Force One. Is it true that when the Vice
President is on a USAF aircraft, it is now called Death Star One?” ++
Pakistanis lose rights to free speech, assembly, property rights, lawyers
RAW STORY
Monday November 5, 2007
The Associated Press took a look at some of the restrictions of rights suspended by President George W. Bush’s key terrorism ally General Pervez Musharraf Sunday. They follow.
• Protection of life and liberty.
• The right to free movement.
• The right of detainees to be informed of their offense and given access to lawyers.
• Protection of property rights.
• The right to assemble in public.
• The right to free speech.
• Equal rights for all citizens before law and equal legal protection.
• Media coverage of suicide bombings and militant activity is curtailed by new rules. Broadcasters also face a three-year jail term if they “ridicule” members of the government or armed forces. ++
In Pakistan, Officials See Few Options for US
Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Helene Cooper, writing in Sunday’s New York Times, said that “For more than five months the United States has been trying to orchestrate a political transition in Pakistan that would manage to somehow keep General Pervez Musharraf in power without making a mockery of President Bush’s promotion of democracy in the Muslim world. On Saturday, those carefully laid plans fell apart spectacularly.”
Pakistan police attack protesters
As many as 2,000 lawyers attracted the attention of police in Lahore
Police have used tear gas and baton charges to break up demonstrations by Pakistani lawyers against the country’s state of emergency. ++
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