JRE Buzz (21): Friday Night Edition

Today JRE is in Africa, and since yesterday's JREB update, there's not been a lot of news, but thought I'd put up a few things.

Remember the video I put up yesterday of JRE and Shuler by Nan and NCDem? Well you wouldn't know it was them as I forgot to mention their names! Anyway, they put it that fine piece of CJ (citizen journalism for those who don't know the acronym)--NCDem's first--on the Daily Kos, and it was on the recommended list for quite a while yesterday morning. Way to go, CJ's!

Speaking of Kos and other blogs, Zeitgiest Rover and Iddybud put up two separate pieces related to Chuck Todd's piece from Hotline that I mentioned on my update. They did a great job in teasing it out and putting up more poll data to prove their points. What was uncanny were 2 different reactions: Wes Clark Jr showed up (again) on ZR's post and went negative for a second time. Iddybud had a nice, nice post from a blogger who wrote: "I ADORE John Edwards and think he is our hope."

The Center for Poverty, Work, and Opportunity announced a 2M donation by a couple of nice alums. I wrote a quick diary about it on OAC, so I'll just post the link.

Podcast to be recorded on the 28th or 29th next week. Submit your questions here or you prefer, use the OAC GCast to make a quick toll-free call. Here are the directions. It's kind of like calling C-SPAN, but leaving a voice mail that is electronically sent to OAC.

Speaking of the Carolinas..

Joe Biden sez he's not too worried about JRE's chances in South Carolina. This is what was reported by Jim Davenport of the AP:

GREENVILLE, S.C. - U.S. Sen. Joe Biden says his former colleague John Edwards has more to lose in South Carolina's 2008 presidential primary than he does.

Edwards hasn't entered the race yet, but the Delaware Democrat has. It's the second time around the track for Biden, who ran in 1988 before dropping out.

snip

And Edwards isn't a deterrent.

"I think it's an encouragement," Biden said. "If John loses South Carolina, he's done."

Biden says he'd face the same fate if he didn't carry his home state.

Edwards grew up in the Upstate before earning his law degree and becoming a North Carolina trial lawyer and U.S. senator from the Tar Heel state.

And South Carolina Democrats gave Edwards his only primary win in the 2004 presidential contest. He was a strong enough factor in the primary that Democrats tapped him as U.S. Sen. John Kerry's running mate.

Edwards "has some real leftover support," Biden said. "So I think John is a real player" and he's far more worried about his polling well in Iowa.

"I take John real seriously," Biden said.

Well, if I were Joe Biden, the feller who was discovered with plagarism during the 1988 campaign, I think I'd be worried about the old crap rather than John Edwards, although certainly the current Dem primary season set for 2008 looks mighty promising for Edwards--and he just got through stumping for Spratt and Clyburn, and if they win...well, even Hillary knows that. But that's a long time from now.

Berkeley Bubble writes a nice summary of a NYT article about Bayh and Romney gearing up for 2008. S/he also believes JRE and Hillary will be the main contenders, but favors Edwards' global message by seeing the Darfur petition action link on the OAC site. BB's site is also about progressive politics and foreign policy, that so that is its slant. Nice, BB, and hope you will join many of us at the OAC blog. We'd like to have your thoughts there.

The Next Prez has JRE back in second for 2008 contenders, as steady. Low negatives are the reason.

Columbia Journalism Review Daily interviewed Roger Weisberg, who produced a film entitled Waging a Living for PBS series, P.O.V, and discusses how the press covers the topic of poverty. Mr. Weisberg credits John Edwards for bringing up this topic in the 2004 election and how minimum wage may become an important election issue. The film follows the daily struggles of four low-wage earners fighting to pull their families out of poverty. Waging a Living makes its national broadcast debut on PBS on August 29.

I'll be watching Tuesday night.

Speaking of PBS, there was a good program last night on Primetime called Out of Control: AIDS in Black America. Gwen Ifill was critical again of JRE on the debate, and of course, they didn't show the part where he made his recovery about the topic, but at least she wasn't as nasty about it as she was at SLA; she was more critical of Cheney for not knowing the numbers.

Deborah White at usliberals@about.com and Crossleft were considerate in mentioning John Edwards' reflections about Katrina which was sent an e-mail this morning. With that, I will leave you with Edwards' e-mail that I did receive, and it is poignant. BW readers are welcome to share their thoughts about Katrina by leaving comments.

Here's what JRE wrote so eloquently as Deborah White put it:

Nearly a year has passed since Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast near New Orleans, killing more than 1,400 of our fellow Americans and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Who could possibly forget the images from that awful week?

People stranded on rooftops. Chaos at the Superdome. The desperate anguish of those unable to escape, simply because they didn't have a car or the cash to evacuate, or because they didn't want to leave behind the few meager possessions they had.

I know that I can never forget the faces and stories of the people I met when I toured evacuation shelters in Baton Rouge shortly after Katrina hit. Hurricane Katrina didn't just blow away lives and dreams, it blew away the shroud that was hiding the invisible poor and, for the moment, put home grown poverty in the epicenter of the national consciousness. It was a horrifying wake-up call.

How could this happen right here in our own country?

To be sure, this disaster also brought out the best in America.

Good neighbors all over the country opened their hearts, their homes and their wallets to people they'd never met. Many gave their precious time to bring comfort and relief to those who suffered in this disaster.

I saw it with my own eyes; it was inspirational and my spirits soared when I joined 700 college students who gave up their Spring Break last March to help dozens of families devastated by Katrina clean up their homes in St. Bernard Parish.

Individual Americans reached out to help one another. But individuals eventually have to get back to their lives.

Pace of recovery is agonizingly slow

In recent months it has become increasingly clear that, a full year after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, the pace of recovery is agonizingly slow. People continue to hurt in a big way.

Despite all the official promises about "doing what it takes" to get New Orleans back on its feet, much of the city still looks as if the hurricane hit yesterday.

Thousands upon thousands of homes remain deserted, windowless and covered with flood grime in desolate neighborhoods.

The water and sewer systems are still in terrible shape.

Fewer than half of the city's hospitals have reopened, and there are not nearly enough health clinics to adequately serve all the low-income families who need care.

Vast areas are still littered with mangled cars and piles of debris.

Schools Turning Away Children

Last week, the news media reported that New Orleans schools are turning children away because there just isn't enough room for them as the educational system struggles to recover.

"It's hurting to your heart when a child says 'Mama, I want to go to school,' and you can't find one," one resident was quoted as saying.

To hear of a child being turned away from a school is disturbing enough. But how do we even contemplate the notion of a new and better New Orleans without there being a decent educational system to lead the way?

Just as Katrina's wrath exposed the two Americas in our midst, the sluggish road to recovery serves as a reminder to us about the everyday challenges faced by the underprivileged in our society -- not just in the Gulf Coast but in impoverished neighborhoods and communities across the country.

The lesson is that the fight against poverty is an ongoing one -- for government, for communities, for all of us.

I know you join me in demanding accountability and pressing government leaders to do what's necessary to get hurricane-ravaged areas back on their feet.

Joining together with the beleaguered residents of the Gulf Coast, something good can come out of this tragedy. The resurrection of the Gulf Coast can herald the rebirth of a core American value that we are all one nation, moving forward together -- and that no one shall be left behind.

For the moment, in their hours of desperation, I ask that you continue to keep Hurricane Katrina's many victims foremost in your thoughts, remember their plight, and offer what you can to help and comfort them.

And let us continue to work together to ensure that America fully responds to the wake-up call delivered on Katrina's winds one year ago.

Your friend,
John

Just Sing for One America (great vlog by mbair101 on Youtube)


Peace.

More buzz l8tr...

Tags: John Edwards, JRE, Joe Biden, Roger Weisberg, Poverty, Katrina, Deborah White, Crossleft, mbair101, Sing for One America vlog, One America Committee blog, One America Committee site, Benny's World, NCDem, Nan, Daily Kos, Iddybud, Zeitgeist Rover