Librarian's Rant

So John Edwards met with Martin Luther King III yesterday, and received a gorgeous letter as a follow-up. One point really struck me, as I've been saying the same thing about Edwards for a while now:

There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.

I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.

You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don't have lobbyists in Washington and they don't get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.

So in most of the debates, those watching and being polled have tended to say that Edwards won these debates...but the media only respond to (and report) conflict, so they claim it was all about Clinton and Obama. Now each of these candidates has their strong points (and weaknesses), but their recent behavior has been, at best, childish and, at worst, divisive. I'm particularly sickened (though I wish I could say surprised) at the Clinton camp.

Why, why, why won't the media acknowledge that Edwards is hitting a very significant nerve with the American public? - the ones who actually manage to hear him over the media nonsense, anyways. Without the money to send his message to all 50 states every minute of the day, it's getting lost in the din of pissy rhetoric and backstabbing (wtf President Bill Clinton?? I thought you'd figured out how to be above all this crap!)

The Dems have an excellent chance of winning the White House in November, but ONLY if they stick together and keep it clean, civil, professional and grounded in real issues and real values (not those amorphous 'family values' no one can define to my satisfaction).

Enough already!!

I keep meaning to blog about my amazing Caucus experience last week, but I've been so drained in its aftermath that I haven't had a chance. I will, I promise.

For today, I just got the email sent to Richardson supporters announcing the end of his presidential campaign. What a class act. An excerpt:

Running for president brings out the best in everyone who graces the stage, and I have learned much from the other candidates running. They have all brought great talents and abilities to the campaign.

Senator Biden's passion and intellect are remarkable.

Senator Dodd is the epitome of selfless dedication to public service and the Democratic Party.

Senator Edwards is a singular voice for the most downtrodden and forgotten among us.

Senator Obama is a bright light of hope and optimism at a time of great national unease, yet he is also grounded in thoughtful wisdom beyond his years.

Senator Clinton's poise in the face of adversity is matched only by her lifetime of achievement and deep understanding of the challenges we face.

Representative Kucinich is a man of great decency and dedication who will faithfully soldier on no matter how great the odds.

And all of us in the Democratic Party owe Senator Mike Gravel our appreciation for his leadership during the national turmoil of Vietnam.

I am honored to have shared the stage with each of these Democrats. And I am enormously grateful to all of my supporters who chose to stand with me despite so many other candidates of accomplishment and potential.

Now that my time in this national campaign has come to an end, I would urge those who supported my candidacy to take a long and thoughtful look at the remaining Democrats. They are all strong contenders who each, in their own way, would bring desperately needed change to our country. All I ask is that you make your own independent choice with the same care and dedication to this country that you honored me with during this campaign. At this time, I will not endorse any candidate.

Now I am returning to a job that I love, serving a state that I cherish and doing the work of the people I was elected to serve. As I have always said, I am the luckiest man I know. I am married to my high school sweetheart. I live in a place called the Land of Enchantment. I have the best job in the world. And I just got to run for president of the United States.

It doesn't get any better than that.

I, for one, will miss his voice in the ongoing conversation this political year.

John, a Grinnell classmate of mine, recently received this online holiday card from a public relations firm in his area. It reflects much of what has been on my mind this current season of Peace.

http://www.goodforbusiness.com/ftp/holiday/gfb.html

Happy Holidays and a Safe, Healthy New Year to you all.

At the Polk County Dems Central Committee meeting last night, my friend Mary and I (both precinct reps) got to meet Sen. Joseph Biden and former VP Walter Mondale. His assistant (in the background) asked if he could sit with us, and we were delighted. I had a nice conversation with "Fritz" as we listened to Sen. Biden, who then Senator Mondale had sworn into office many years ago. Mr. Mondale is stumping for Hillary. We used my phone camera, which Mary wasn't familiar with, hence the blurriness.

My political stalking campaign continues!


UPDATE: Turns out I'm inspiring envy with my stalking. Chris Z. on the Library Underground list recently posted the following:

It's that time of year when I am jealous of Iowans. Specifically Louise Alcorn [link to this post]

Bwahahahaha! Don't worry folks - we're a strong people, we Iowans. We'll toughen these politicians up for you.

Well, of today anyways. From a column by Frank Rich (require NYTimesSelect account), discussing Monica Goodling's dubious educational background and probable criminal handling of the U.S. Attorney reviews:

"Though the Monica at the center of the last presidential scandal did enable a husband’s cheating on his wife, at least she wasn’t tasked with any governmental responsibility more weighty than divvying up pizza."

Forwarded to LU, blog post from The CarpetBagger Report on what one blog called "Ashcroft and the Night Visitors". I don't know about Ashcroft and 'integrity'. I agree with one of the commenters - Ashcroft was already up to his crucifix in crap and didn't need to get any further. He'd already signed off on it previously. I do know that AG Gonzales is a yes-man and, probably, a criminal. Too bad no one talked about this when he was getting soundly confirmed.

I wrote my Unitarian minister an email a couple of days ago, expressing how proud of him I was that he'd been one of the clergy who went to Capitol Hill on the 17th to lobby Congress in support of two pieces of civil rights legislation — a bill to prevent hate violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity and another to ban workplace discrimination against GLBT employees.

He sent me back a photo from the clergy call. He's in the back row, left of center, with the goatee.

Well done Mark. And to the remarkable number of faith leaders who were there with you.

Video of Sen. Joe Biden's recent speech on the Senate floor, discussing the administration's massive hypocrisy about Iraq.

I got to hear him speak, along with Gov. Richardson and Sen. Edwards, on Friday the 20th at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner. Richardson was, as usual, clear, effective and interesting. John Edwards nearly brought the room to tears - he really is a fine orator. Biden was the biggest surprise - he started out with standard political rallying...and then he began to talk about Darfur.

As I realized later he'd been discussing it much of that day and the one before in DC, so it was much on his mind. Nonetheless, he was beyond passionate about the need for swift action in the Sudan. He's the only politician I've heard yet who said, straight out, that he'd drop troops into Darfur and stop the janjaweed massacres if he was President. Interesting. And very passionate - it felt (for what it's worth) as if he'd thrown out whatever he'd meant to say and was instead responding to previous speakers' comments about Darfur (which had been correct, if non-specific about action) and stating plainly what he thought. It's one of the things I like about Biden, overall. I don't always agree with him, but I'm usually fairly certain I'm hearing what he thinks when he speaks. Which, of course, gets him in all sorts of trouble...but again, I kinda like that.

Seems the Attorney General may be next on Bush's chopping block. He's terribly loyal...until you make him look bad. Then you're outta there! Unless you're Cheney. But he knows where the bodies are buried, presumably.

Seems an Egyptian blogger is facing a four-year sentence for insulting Islam and the Egyptian president.

Judge Ayman al-Akazi sentenced Nabil, 22, to three years in prison for insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad and inciting sectarian strife and another year for insulting President Hosni Mubarak.

Nabil, who has called himself a secular Muslim, did not react as the verdict was read. His religious family didn't attend any of the trial sessions.

Egypt, a top U.S. ally in the Mideast, arrested a number of bloggers last year, most of them for connections to the pro-democracy reform movement. Nabil was put on trial while other bloggers were freed — a sign of the sensitivity of his writings on religion.

Nabil, who used the blogger name Kareem Amer, was an unusually scathing critic of conservative Muslims. His frequent attacks on Al-Azhar, where he was a law student, led the university to expel him in March, then push prosecutors to bring him to trial.

It's odd, I guess I've always thought of Egypt as fairly progressive, but I suspect my impressions are both dated and based in comparisons to more hard line regimes.

In the back of my mind I find myself imagining our country as a Christian fundamentalist regime, and me being arrested for insulting Shrub (who is, as far as I'm concerned, an insult to me). Can't happen here? Well, it would certainly be harder, but not impossible. Ask anyone who lived through McCarthy. We may be one nutjob (and, one hopes, an intelligent electorate) away from just such a scenario.

Thanks to my new buddy Joel for the heads up!

Al's running, and bless him for doing so. He's smart, articulate, he has a POV, so why not?

In Al's own words (YouTube).

I got an email from the DCCC asking for input on the Iraq War 'surge' proposal. This one is tougher for me than one might assume. Here is what I sent them. It will probably be ignored, as they're hellbent on being anti-Republican/anti-Bush rather than actually thinking about what we need to do as a country:

I find myself torn on this issue more than any other. I thought the invasion of Iraq misguided and disgusting from the start. You would think that my response to a possible 'surge' would be outright dismissal, but I find myself torn. Not because I want any more men and women in harm's way, but because I feel strongly about cleaning up one's own messes. We created instability and horror for the people of Iraq. We must do whatever we can to make amends. Among other things, I want to see Halliburton and their ilk forced to give back every ill-gotten billion squandered in the area and that money spent for real infrastructure work. A pipe dream, I suspect, but that is my hope. I still believe the US can be a force for good, but I haven't seen evidence of it from the government in far too long. And I cannot blame that entirely on Republicans. We need to decide who we want to be in the world, and we can start by cleaning up our horrific playground.

::Shrug:: We'll see what happens. The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach.

Science Panel Calls Global Warming ‘Unequivocal’ (NY Times)

PARIS, Feb. 2 — In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal� and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely� causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.

Today 10 major corporations are allying with several major environmental groups to call for global warming reductions actions - "[a] firm nationwide limit on carbon dioxide emissions that would lead to reductions of 10 to 30 percent over the next 15 years", according to the NYTimes. No, this is not a joke. Though the government response may end up being so. See the press release from Environmental Defense here: http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=5828

They clearly see the bottom line advantage of moving forward on this now, rather than having to spend billions in the not-too-distant future to do cleanup and make drastic cuts. I gather there is a press conference on CSPAN right now (11:30am ET).

The PDF of the entire report is available here.

Now we'll see if the federal government does anything worthwhile with this information. As they seem to live somewhere in the 1930's in their heads, I doubt it very much.

I can't stop watching the CNN election results online. I'm like an election junkie.

And I'm supposed to be working! Well, to be fair, I'm working the ref desk on an election Tuesday night, as I've done for 11 years, which means I'm mostly looking up patrons' polling places. I can do that AND keep one eye on CNN.

On the theory that 'all politics is local', here's what I'm watching: Right now the Missouri Senate race is neck and neck. As a near neighbor (Iowa) this is of interest to me. They don't yet have info on our Iowa gubernatorial race, which is of even greater interest to me. Ohio is looking good, which pleases me (my family is in Cleveland).

Oh wait, I hit Refresh! Now...the McCaskill has pulled ahead in Missouri (yay!), but this means nothing--polls are open for another hour here in the Heartland.

Refresh again. Still nothing on the Iowa gubernatorial. Bah! And Missouri is back to neck and neck. Bah!

It looks like Santorum had his ass handed to him on a plate--CNN's calling it for Casey, even with almost no precincts reporting (based on polling, I assume). Well, that's encouraging. Santorum makes my teeth itch.

Virginia is neck and neck, but I find I don't like either candidate, so I can't get very excited there.

Of course all of this is ridiculous, as almost no precincts, even on the East coast, are fully reported. And we may have another Ohio or Florida to contend with. Come on, who's up for it? Montana? A Dakota? Guam?

Ultimately, I will wait for Jon Stewart to tell me what's what. Yes, that's right, I've decided that my late night election coverage will ultimately come from...Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

What?! I may be CNN's whore, but I'm married to Stewart's Daily Show

Cheers, everybody. Don't forget to vote.