Rockin' the Geek Casbah: JRE Buzz (11)

It is hard to believe the buzz could get any more strong and loud about John Edwards. But it happened today at Gnomedex. I watched the live stream and it was an experience to behold, just like my conversation with JRE the other day. (photo credit: laniov)

Contrary to what many Gnomes said they wanted--which was more about the Senator's experience with technology, (which is what I had read and told him--but also told him that it would be best if his format was similar to Elizabeth's at PDF for a give and take), John Edwards decided to turn the tables. He came to learn from them, and amazingly, was able to get the audience to speak about their issues. It's your platform, he said. He also got them to laugh at themselves and at him. I don't think I've ever seen him laugh as much in public before, which was great.

The progressives in the crowd were the most outspoken, if downright, blunt, about their views related to politics and technology. One man, who claimed to be a 3rd generation Red diaper baby (JRE: what is that, and my question too)--meaning a communist connotation for those who were communist sympathizers, wanted a politician with balls or for some politican to grow some balls. JRE: Now don't hold back--laughter from the audience (and me both). (photo credit: Dan DeLong/Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

It lead to the issue Net Neutrality (or network discrimination, as an about.com blogger wrote), as it was a big concern with this crowd. JRE said for selfish reasons, he supported Net Neutrality, but he also wanted more transparency; less top-down communication. But he also thought Democrats needed backbone and courage. Why not say, we support universal healthcare, not meely-mouth answers such as "more access" or more affordable healthcare. I think he was making some statements pointed at HR Clinton and Kerry, just a little.



Some were tired of politicans who come across as fake, and wondered why they spoon fed their messages. Some wanted more technology outreach via SMS. JRE was able to plug in that OAC was doing that now, as of yesterday. Some wanted to know what the new technology would be in the future to communicate. JRE: I don't know. You tell me.

Lots on framing issues and language. I will refer you to this digest by Iddybud:

Regarding a war with language: Republicans have used langusage effectively to get the policy they want. Terrorism terms have been employed to make spying on citizens look proper and legal. Democrats need to work on their own language, said an audience member. He commented that even the term "net neutrality" is rather ineffective in getting the average American to understand the issues at hand. Senator Edwards says language does matter, although his own personal focus is talking straight off the cuff and doing his job of deciding and communicating which way he thinks the country should go. He thinks the actual presidential elections are different from Washington D.C.'s everyday national debate when it comes to the use of language. Integrity, character, and trust in leadership are the factors that he believes are important to most people when it comes time to choose a president. More than language, he thinks the Democrats' problem is worrying too much about being "moderate." Language counts, but he believes that voters' belief and trust in the integrity and character of the candidate is what drives presidential elections.

One Gnome suggested giving a free seat on each campaign trail bus for a citizen journalist, and to persuade the other side to do so as well. I agree with JRE: good idea.

My favorite part --the closing by JRE: I want the country to know who I really am, not the plastic doll version who looks perfect all of the time, but I want you to actually see who I am... Because I think if you see who I am, and it takes a lot of confidence, you'll decide I am somebody..cou.. should become your president.

Last thing he says: big priority for me to be able to be here with you. I wanted to hear what you all are saying. I also hope...to Help me and others open up this process, make it not-top-down and democratize this democracy we supposed to be living in.

That's as close to announcing a run as JRE gets.

Update, July 1st...This just in ..

Gnomedex: Interview with Ryan Montoya, Sen. John Edwards' tech advisor (by Dan Farber)

Ryan Montoya spent the last presidential campaign traveling the country with Elizabeth Edwards as she campaigned for her husband. Now the political consultant is helping Senator John Edwards, who seems to be campaigning for the 2008 presidential election, as a technical advisor. He has been involved in Edwards' One America Committee, which has an extensive Web site that included blogs, chat, video and offers updates from the Senator and Mrs. Edwards via mobile phones. I caught up with Montoya at Gnomedex, where Senator Edwards held court for an hour. We talked about how blogging and the Internet are changing the dynamics of campaigning beyond where the Howard Dean campaign took it in the lead up to the 2004 elections. The video interview is in two parts… LINK

Ryan rocks...he's da' man along with "the Man"..from Robbins.


Links:

Between the Lines (zdnet)

Blogaholics.ca

Brandbrains

Iddybud's Diary on OAC blog

Lexblog

Mbair at Daily Kos

Michael Affronti

Micropersuasion

New Media Musings

OAC blog (much of it live blogging) about Gnomedex speech

Raines live blogging post at Daily Kos

Rational Rants

Seattle PI.com
hat-tip: Machka from OAC blog

Tins: Rick Klau's Blog

Tiny Screenfuls

Flickr fotos by Laughing Squid

Mbair101's videos on Youtube

Web 2.0 Explorer Blog

Update: July 1: I've been asked if the "bracelet" Edwards is wearing is the one I gave him. What folks mean is the white band on his left wrist (that you see in the pics and videos) that reads "Make Poverty History." I think it is, but I know he's had another one given to him before.

Tags: JRE, John Edwards, Gnomedex 6.0, One America Committee, Ryan Montoya

JRE Buzz (10)

Ex-VP candidate Edwards calls for a war on poverty in Ore. speech
The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore.

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, who is mulling over a run for the presidency in 2008, called for withdrawal from Iraq within the next 18 months, and for the U.S. government to launch another war _ on poverty _ in a speech Friday at the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women's conference.

Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina who now directs a poverty research center at the University of North Carolina, couldn't resist a few partisan jabs at the current administration, calling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina "a failure of presidential leadership."

LINK

Updates, July 1:

The Oregonian piece about the speech, Speaking on Iraq and Poverty, Edwards Sounds Like a Hopeful

And my favorite line from the Statesman Journal:

Edwards was invited by Sen. Margaret Carter, D-Portland, the conference chairwoman.

She called him "a Southern JFK," evoking images of the charismatic and articulate John F. Kennedy, the Democratic president who said in his 1961 inaugural, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"I wanted someone bold enough to talk about the real issues in America," Carter said. "You cannot talk about those issues without talking about poverty."

And..

JRE Politely says "No, Thanks" to a Poverty debate with Newt..and for good reasons...

From the News & Observer in the Triangle:

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich came on John Edwards' turf this week and challenged him to a debate on poverty.

Speaking at a fundraiser in Raleigh Wednesday night, Gingrich suggested that the former North Carolina senator's approach to solving poverty is wrong.

Gingrich said that the main cause of poverty is a lack of education and that many public schools, particularly those that serve inner-city students, were failing because of incompetency.

"My challenge to your former senator who is running around the country prattling about ending poverty is simple: Take on the teacher's union," Gingrich told about 200 people at a dinner at the North Raleigh Hilton for state Sen. Fred Smith.

"I'd be delighted to come back down and have a dialogue with Senator Edwards about how to truly help the poor," he said. "We might even have a charity night, and all the money we raise that night would go to the poor. So we would actually do something to help the poor as opposed to talking about helping the poor."

On Thursday, the John Locke Foundation offered to sponsor a Gingrich-Edwards debate. But based on the initial response from the Edwards camp, such a debate seems unlikely.

"People worried about feeding their children don't need politicians shooting their mouths off at partisan political events who didn't do anything significant about poverty when they had the chance," Edwards spokeswoman Kim Rubey said in a statement.

Right on, JRE! But this will be revisited...in 2008, I'm certain.


The Hotline picks up about JRE's new SMS service. Cool. So does Personal Democracy Forum.

Frank Barnako from Dow Jones, M$M type who claims to be a blogger and attending Gnomedex, asks why JRE is a keynote at the conference.

The incredibly talented Chris Pirillo is hard at work today opening Gnomedex 6.0.

I was in Seattle for 5.0 last year, and it was an inspiring event, full of podcasters, bloggers, columnists and techies shaking hands and sharing the latest technology buzz. This year, I'm not so sure it will be. Politics has raised its ugly and, from the standpoint of campaigning, its irrelevant head

Instead of the "Podfather" Adam Curry and irascible and brilliant programmer Dave Winer doing keynote speeches, this year Chris has lined up former VP candidate John Edwards.

What?

Getting Edwards to make a stop at Gnomedex scored Pirillo some headlines. Immediately reporters requested access to cover the speech, but Gnomedex was sold out.

Pirillo says, "The senator is a long-standing supporter of technology, including podcasting and blogging," and he "will quickly turn his time over to the Gnomedex audience, fielding questions and fostering discussion over how technology could and should play a role in our world."

What is he doing in Seattle?

This month, already, Edwards was "fact finding" in Israel, spoke to the Teamsters convention in Vegas, and urged a war on poverty in a speech at the National Press Club. Friday, he'll be in Portland to address the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women.

Today, the "pioneering politician" signed on as an "early user" of Melodeo.com, a new podcast aggregator and player.

What's he doing at Gnomedex? Same thing he's doing everywhere else.

Edwards is campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination. Gnomedex seems an odd place to encourage that.

Edward is a controversial keynote. Pirillo promises, "This will not turn Gnomedex into a political rally." He offers that the senator may not have been his first choice. "Early on, I tried to get Arianna Huffington, but her contacts never got back to me."

My favorite line by Barnako (in which a lot of content was added before I decided to post this):

"I guess Edwards could entertain the crowd by describing how he uses GMail."

Well, we'll see what the MSM disguised in blogger uniform will think after the keynote, now that OAC has text messaging going too. Update, June 30th, late at night: debunked by Shel Holtz.

Feed msg from Gnomedex. How to get live feeds.

Pirillo video of why he invited JRE to Gnomedex.

Podcasting Publishing site mentions Melodeo as OAC's mobile distribution service, and adds:

June 30, 2006

John Edwards is Podcasting
Former Senator's Podcast is Called "One America"

Melodeo sent out a press release announcing their new mobile podcatching service and touted John Edwards as one of their users:

"Embracing new technology to encourage open and free discussion is an
essential ingredient in a healthy democracy," said Edwards. "I get
excited about any new services that allow people to easily make meaningful
connections and engage in informed discussions." (press release)

I'm glad he's excited, I'm somewhat perplexed as to why they've chosen to spotlight a former politician's podcast as important enough to include in their press release, but I'm sure former Edwards supporters will be excited to see the mention.

LINK

Hotline: JRE is in their midyear spotlife as one of the most improved for 2008

Digital Micro-markets blog has this headline:

Democrats leverage the Social Web: Al Gore advises Yahoo Answers and John Edwards talks tech at Gnomedex

More buzz l8tr..


Tags: John Edwards, JRE, One America Committee, Gnomedex, poverty, NOBEL, Benny's World

JRE Buzz (9)

This just in...

First press release about JRE's speech to the Teamsters International Union (photocredit: blogger from Hoffaconven)

John Edwards Says Teamsters Are Leading the Way for Workers
Wednesday June 28, 6:36 pm ET

LAS VEGAS, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The labor movement is the best antipoverty program in the United States and the Teamsters are leading the way in the fight for workers in America, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards said today at the Teamsters 27th International Convention.

"It was the union that helped build the middle class of America," Edwards told more than 7,000 Teamster delegates, retirees and guests from across North America attending this week's convention in Las Vegas. "The greatest antipoverty program in the United States is the labor movement." Teamster delegates, retirees and guests from across North America attending this week's convention in Las Vegas. "The greatest antipoverty program in the United States is the labor movement."

Read the rest here.

As NCDem would say, WOOT!

Tom Hayden of the magazine, The Nation, wrote a piece called Shifting Winds on Iraq, notes that, "Kerry's old running-mate, John Edwards, another potential candidate, had issued his mea culpa on Iraq in November, 2005. "


Article in Salem-news (OR) about JRE's upcoming appearance at NOBEL. (photo credit, same place)





Raines from Epluribus Media has posted on his site and on Kos to solicit questions to ask JRE on Friday at Gnomedex. It's fascinating to see the questions are mainly political, considering Chris Pirillo has made it crystal that JRE's speech is more about a politician who leverages technology to engage citizens in discussing politics.

More debunking, this time at Onegoodmove. The thread starter was very positive about JRE's message last week, but as usual, some blogger keeps bringin' up JRE's real estate holdings and how JRE could not possibly understand those in poverty and doubted his sincerity. I thoroughly debunked that poster's message, but we'll see if it works.

Melodeo and John Edwards...new podcasting service for distribution of podcasts, so notes John Cook on his blog:

Al Gore may have invented the Internet, but former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is doing his part in the podcasting revolution.

Gnomedex speaker John Edwards

Edwards -- who will be in town this week providing the keynote address at the Gnomedex conference -- is an early adopter of a new podcasting and social networking service from Melodeo. Edwards is even quoted in the Seattle company's press release, saying that he gets excited "about any new services that allow people to easily make meaningful connections and engage in informed discussions."

Sounds like Edwards is a true Web 2.0 die-hard.

Melodeo, whose original business model dealt with distributing full-length music tracks to cell phones, is not the only Seattle company trying to make inroads in the hot podcasting sector. Earlier this month, Pluggd entered the business with a new offering that helps people find, listen to and share podcasts.

I did a search on it, and found one podcast I had not seen before. Great to see the podcasts can be downloaded to a cell or Blackberry.

And then..

Update, June 29th: Stirling Newberry of BOPNews has decided to back JRE if he decides to run again. In his post, "Nailing My Colors to the Mast", Newberry writes:

It is John Edwards who will bring America home, and paradoxically, this is the step that we need to take to retake our position of leadership abroad.

There is much to be done, an new America needs to be built, not in the palace-embassy of Baghdad, but here in America.

Wow. I would not have expected it from him, as at times I have disagreed with him (not openly). But on this one, he nailed it not only on his mast, but mine too.

Next..

From ClickZ:
June 29, 2006
John Edwards to Sell Issues on Your Cell

"One America, the anti-poverty group headed by Senator John Edwards, is going mobile. Supporters can sign up on the site to receive mobile updates, and they can also text the word HOPE to 56658 and get the following message from the ex-VP candidate himself:

"Thanks 4 joining our mobile team. Please text me your name and email. Visit us at http://oneamericacommittee.com/. I'll be in touch--John.

My contact over there says they'll be sending occasional messages, updates and calls-to-action."

Also announced on OAC Blog.

Haven't gotten it to work on my phone yet, but will need to do so via phone and also for melodeo to get podcasts.

And from our UK news blog correspondents (whoever thought that would be a title for a reporter)..

Alex Russell for the Telegraph (UK), has posted a new thread entitled, "America's next left-wing president?" It's about traveling in Mexico, whereby many are poor and want jobs...no different from here. Russell notes:

It reminds of listening last week to Senator John Edwards – he of the flashy smile, dreamy southern drawl and ever so slightly empty c.v. that was on John Kerry’s 2004 ticket as vice president. Edwards is now preparing for another run and he tested out his campaign speech on me and other assorted hacks. As with the main runners here, he focused relentlessly on jobs and the poor.

So will it work for him? He like so many other Democrats is hoping that he is in the right place in 2008 if Hillary Clinton stumbles. I came away thinking his message might well strike a chord in two years’ time if as is likely the nation is weary of all this talk of fighting the enemy abroad……

Interesting perspective from an outsider.

Update, June 30th, from OAC chat room, NC Dem found a great link to some names of bloggers at Zdnet who will be live tomorrow and thru the Gnomedex conference. Lots of expectations, and JRE is having to speak at a breakfast for notable African-American women leaders first!


More buzz l8tr..

Very Special Edition of JRE Buzz: JRE, Josh & Me

Hello BW Readers,

This is one of the most special days in the life of this blogger: to have 10 minutes of quality time with a great podcaster: John R. Edwards.

About 10 days ago, I had heard that JRE that he was going to be in Bloomington to visit some old friends and meet some new ones. I e-mailed Ryan Montoya at OAC and asked if there was a way I could see the Senator. Miraculously, Ryan was able to work me into JRE's very hectic schedule, after he was to be calling into Randi Rhodes show for a phone interview this afternoon.

Josh greeted me at the place and we chatted for a few minutes. He asked me if Ryan knew this or that. I met Eric D, a fairly new full-time staffer. Both were busy getting plane arrangements, faxes, and copies of speeches for upcoming events.

About 25 minutes later, JRE emerged, and we exchanged greetings. Immediately, he thanked me for coming to see him. I asked him how his day had been with his friends. He said it was good to see them. I asked him about his family. "They're doin' great. Thanks for asking," he replied. I mentioned I had seen him last 2 years ago in Iowa, as I knew he didn't recognize me right away. He asked me where I lived and what I did. I told him. He said "neat."

I told him I knew he would be at ACORN on July 9th. He said he was looking forward to it as they were great people. I concurred.

We sat down and chatted for a few minutes. I showed him a pic of Jackie R, him and me. He signed the back of the picture, which reads:

To Jackie and Becky: Thank you both so much. John Edwards

I also requested he sign the Four Trials book, in which he wrote: " To Becky, Thanks for all of your great work. John Edwards"

As an aside, I mentioned Jackie was looking forward to seeing him next week in Iowa.

It was my opportunity to tell him my personal reasons what why I supported his candidacy last time, and why the poverty theme reasonate with me, which had to do with my mom. He asked me where she lived. He was empathetic. At that point, I gave him one of my poverty bands that I had been saving for months to give him. I wore one as well.

It was nice to talk about his upcoming travels. I found out his talk with the Teamsters convention was in the morning, so he was about to get on a plane to Las Vegas. Then he had some fundraisers to do for some candidates in Seattle, a talk in Portland on Thursday. He turned to Josh and asked the full name of the organization again, and Josh and I both said, NOBEL, and it was Friday morning before going back to Seattle. JRE grinned and said to me, "You know my schedule better than I do."

We also talked about Gnomedex and how I was following the reactions of the attendees on the different blogs. I gave him and Josh a couple of suggestions, one which was to have Elizabeth piped in during the talk if possible. He liked the idea and asked Josh to look into it. I also told them that Elizabeth mentioned me specifically during her PDF talk, and how I appreciated it.

It was good to tell him how much OAC had meant to so many of us, that he and the OAC staff knew how to bring us together. This lead back to the trip to Iowa where I and others had met JRE from all of the country.

I also mentioned there had been "stuff" (meaning balderdash in tune) written about him, but I debunked it. JRE replied, "Thank you."

We talked about Elizabeth's birthday on Monday. I said that we all knew when it was but that I had a special reason for it: her birthday is the day before mine was. Josh smiled, and JRE asked, "Is that right?"

JRE knew it was time to go, so Josh snapped a couple of pics that you see here. And I snapped one of them.

JRE thanked me again for coming to see him. My last words: Thank you for all you do, Senator. Senator, when you are ready, I am. He smiled and said thank you.

They rode away in a white carriage. And I drove away and called my spouse.









Ryan, I owe you buddy.

JRE Buzz (8)

Still a lot of buzz goin' on.

NC Dem has posted the latest version of JRE News at the OAC Blog. She knows how to do graphics so well...great round up. It's nice that she, mbair, and I are collaborating on getting the news out, along with Michka.

Jackie R reports that both John and Elizabeth Edwards will be in Iowa in July. 7/7 for JRE, Memorial Park, Indianola, Iowa.BBQ..7/27 for Elizabeth at Dr. Andy Mcguire's home 100 37th st. Des Moines, IA...7th Annual Polk County Women's event. Woot!

ACORN is having its annual meeting July 8-10 on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, OH, and JRE, along with some other heavy hitters, has been asked to speak on the afternoon of July 9th (confirmed by ACORN via e-mail). Erik Eckholm wrote a really nice piece about ACORN in today's NYT, but I am linking from to the Common Dreams site, which is how I found out JRE's speaking engagement.

Nice LTTE in the Daily Iowan (student newspaper at UIowa) in which someone from Kentucky (perhaps an alum?) wrote:

Edwards offers hope

"If former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., runs for president in 2008, he will get my vote. If his vision for America resonates with most voters, it will show we want to be a generous people willing to work for the common good by placing others' interests above our own self-interests. "

There's more..click on the link to read the rest.

JRE will be calling into Air America's Sam Seder's show this afternoon, according to the OAC blog.

The Juice Blog posted a column about Abner Doubleday, the creator of baseball. The poster contacted John Edward, the famous medium about trying to reach Doubleday's spirit for an interview, but Edward was too busy. Then the poster wrote:

Next, I contacted former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, as his name is very similar. Edwards was not as busy, but didn't know how he could help me reach anyone in the spirit world. He was glad to share with me about how there are two Americas, though.

LOL, the Senator would smile at that comment.

Check out Ezra Klein's 2008 Transparency List.

Check out Kos' Netroots Conspiracy thread.

JRE mentioned on the Colbert Report...war on poverty in The Word Segment.

More buzz l8tr...

JRE Buzz (7): JRE-TV Special Edition

I am back from a family trip to Texas. In the midst of too many planes not functioning properly and missed connections, I missed the one thing the most I wanted to see: JRE speaking at the National Press Club on C-SPAN 3. And most hotels don't even carry C-SPAN on their cable channels (I've always wondered why this is), so I missed it again on Friday. Never again will I be without a laptop of some sort when I know he is going to make a splash.

The good news though is that he sent his OAC readers an e-mail that linked to a JRE-TV presentation and he gave us a preview of his speech. Great idea, JRE. Sounds like he addressed one of my questions about HUD within the speech (that I sent to the NPC via e-mail), but I didn't get to see the Q & A from the session itself.

And if you want to listen to the NPC speech, OAC has a podcast ready for listeners. Want to read along while listening? Go here. OAC and DKos blogger Mbair has posted clips of the speech on YouTube, Part 1, and Part 2. Her digest diary on DK is excellent.

If you want to read all of the immediate buzz about the speech, check out the OAC Blog. Plenty of news links to Bloomberg News, WaPO, etc about the talk. I would imagine later that a new volume of JRE News Round-up will be out later this evening.

Meantime, I have a couple of new buzz items here. I've been paying more attention to the techies since it was announced over a week ago that JRE would be speaking at Gnomedex.

Here's some noise (again) regarding Gnomedex. Dang it, I'm going to have to build in some time with these conferences since I am into social networking tools.

On ZDNet, there is some column space about the BloggerCon IV Conference, Day 2, on the topic of "Politics and Blogging". Only 5% of campaigns have podcasts, and 23% have blogs.

Quote from a couple of blogcon goers:

"Jeremy Pepper talks about the Republicans doing a better job than Democrats in the blogging world. Cash rules he said, and money will flow through blogs and communities who will be trained to work in the blogosphere.

The approach from the John Edwards campaign is, unlike what you see in mainstream media, to have a conversation with people via blogs, podcasts and vlogs, said Ryan Montoya, who is on the Edwards team. Edwards isn't totally ghost written and his wife also posts on the blog."

Yea--JRE's own web master, TO, is mentioned here. To read more about Bloggercon, go here.

Then there are some more folks having strange reactions to JRE being at Gnomedex over the recent poverty speech, such as G in Ft Worth (where I was just this morning, btw) 's comment on Chris Pirillo's site. Guess some, such as blogger G think he's too idealist (or to him, "1/4 baked").






I say to this G blogger, JRE has a vision. What are you doin' except sitting at your puter?Needin' some cheese to go with your whine?





Both the St. Petersburg Times and the Chicago Tribune are complementary to the JRE's speech, but they question how many people in general are listening when the war in Iraq is going on, and if JRE can run for the presidency on the issue of poverty.

It was made public that Elizabeth is cancer free. If anyone had been following OAC blogger Im4JRE's event report from JRE's last visit to Iowa, they would have known it sooner. Anyway The DU had more to say about that piece of good news than about the NPC speech.

Southern Hope has a lot of news from other places I didn't post earlier. Hat-tip, Machka.

A bit of small buzz about Cate Edwards. She is one of the founders of the Urbanistas, a group of 20 somethings who have been seeking advice for all kinds of things in New York.

Lastly, I happen to know that the Senator is going to be in my region within the next few days for a private event. Because it is a private event and it is a fundraiser, I knew I could not be an official attendee. I did inquire about volunteer work but apparently they have what they need. JRE seldom comes to my area, but it's not about me. It's about our next President of the US, if he chooses to run again. Check out the Newsweek piece today.

Update, June 26:

Michael Arrington (he has pics up on flickr of JRE's visit to Silicon Valley earlier this year) was at bloggercon as well. I did not know until today that he writes for the Techcrunch blog. He spoke about meeting JRE. The only thing, Michael, is that I think JRE will make a great president, not just VP, as someone quoted you.


Marc Cooper has some complements for JRE on his blog today. There have been at least 32 folks who have commented and quite a few are looking forward to another run by the Senator. They have some interesting ideas such as adding transportation vouchers for those in urban areas, in addition to housing vouchers.

(photo courtesy of zenzenok on flickr)



Boston Globe finally picks up WaPO story about another possible run.

Time mentions JRE and a few other more visible folks in a piece entitled "Trying to Make a Decent Living". It's about janitors and other low wage workers trying to get into the middle class and can do so via unions.

Speaking of unions, I see that JRE and Danny Glover have been invited to speak at the Teamsters International Convention in Las Vegas this week.

And Common Dreams reposted an editorial which originally appeared in the Charleston Gazette today concerning the Net Neutrality bill, entitled, "Internet Toll Road." JRE is quoted in this article:

John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who ran for vice president in 2004, thinks the House bill spells trouble.

“When MoveOn and the Christian Coalition agree about something, it’s a good bet they’re right,” Edwards wrote. “Groups as wide ranging as Gun Owners of America on one side and U.S. PIRG [Public Interest Research Group, a liberal watchdog organization] and the One America Committee on the other are fighting to keep the Internet the way it is now — free and open to anyone with a computer.”

The American Library Association, AARP, National Religious Broadcasters and nearly every consumer group also question the House bill.

More buzz l8tr...

See also JRE Buzz(6), JRE Buzz(5)