John Edwards Buzz: Half in Ten Goes to AARP

Yesterday JRE spoke to the AARP Forum on Poverty and Aging. Fellow blogger Edgery from the EENR blog attended the event and jotted a few notes on the EENR blog:

In introducing John Edwards, Nancy LeaMond (head of the AARP Foundtion) said,

"John Edwards exemplifies the values Bill Anderson advocated throughout his life for our nation's most vulnerable people. ... Bill Anderson was a Legal Services attorney who was once accused by opposing counsel of being 'overzealous' because of how hard he fought for his client. The case was over just a few hundred dollars but Bill understood how important a few hundred dollars were to his cllient, an older woman. ... Bill approved of John Edwards' willingness to speak out on poverty and economic security when no one else would."

This notion, that John Edwards has stood up for the issues of poverty and economic justice when no one else will, resonates strongly here at EENRblog and it is repeated now regularly by the media. Others talk about the different aspects and possible programs; Edwards brings it all together with a clarity that unique.

The theme of today's speech can be summed up in two words "Remember Us." He told about finding the people sleeping under the bridge in New Orleans last January on his way to where he would that he was ending his presidential campaign, and the older woman who said to him as he was leaving, "You won't forget us, will you?"

AARP Radio also interviewed him. Here's a link
to their blog where there are YT clips.

As usual, the idiot paparazzi was there too, more interested in whether or not he was at the Beverly Hills Hilton last week instead of asking him about poverty or Half in Ten. (I'm not posting a link to that story, just trust me that I read it). He told them he didn't have time. I don't blame him. He was rushing to get back to Chapel Hill to celebrate his and bride of 31 years' anniversary, but I'm certain the media didn't get it that was one of his reasons.

Happy Anniversary John and Elizabeth. I've been working on a YT, but my learning curve is steep. For now, I'll just post a pic of you two and just imagine Nancy Lamott singing an obscure Gershwin tune "Ask Me Again."




















Here's some champagne for two of the most selfless but high profile people I am blessed to be acquainted with.

John Edwards in NYC for Half in Ten

According to Pol.it website,

John Edwards will be in East Harlem at noon to highlight a new national project he is heading called Half in Ten.

Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate, will meet with feeding program customers/clients and local anti-hunger advocates, tour the pantry facilities and see a pilot project that enables people to apply online for food stamp benefits.

The pantry is located at 8 East 109th St., between Madison and Fifth, Manhattan.

JRE will first be on the Brian Lehrer show. Click here to listen.

Lehrer is asking very good questions, such as the impact of welfare reform of the Clinton administration.

Elizabeth Edwards & Coalitions are Pushing Obama on Health Care

The Politico is reporting that Elizabeth Edwards is leading a $40M campaign called Healthcare for America Now on July 8th at the National Press Club.

Our lady Elizabeth Edwards, Healthcare Guruess

Healthcare for America Now will unveil a $40 million effort, with the first ad buy being a $1.5 million in national print, online and broadcast advertising.
The group's goal is to provide "quality, affordable health care for every American," and it obviously dovetails with the Obama campaign's promise of providing universal health care. The group will spend $25 million in paid media, while also funding 100 organizers involved in events around the country.

Healthcare for America Now coalition is comprised of a who's who list of progressive organizations such as MoveOn.org, ACORN, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, National Education Association, Planned Parenthood, the Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, United Food and Commercial Workers, and National Women's Law Center. Many state organizations are also participants.

Many of these organizations are also participating in John Edwards' Half in Ten poverty Initiative.

Elizabeth Edwards is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action fund, thus it is not totally surprising that she is leading the effort. Sam Stein at HuffPo reported that Elizabeth Edwards said yesterday that Elizabeth continued her criticisms of McCain's plan with this comment (not certain if it was a conference call or not):

Often Republicans try to skate by the issue of health care without putting out a plan...John McCain didn't do that he completely breaks that mold, nit only does he have a plan he has posed the most radical plan in this race, the most radical plan in my lifetime... It ignores what happens in people's lives, how the insurance industry has worked in the past, and will work in the future, and it ignores other kinds of deregulations.

CAP pointed out that in 2009, McCain's plan would cut a family with $40K in income's taxes by $50, but by 2013, as the value of the credit erodes, this family's taxes would increase more than $1,100. By 2018, they will be paying over $2,800 more.

Will you stand with Elizabeth Edwards to obtain health care for all of us? If you're ready, click here and sign up. Elizabeth is obviously pushing Obama's promise on good health care coverage for all.

John Edwards Fires Up ACORN Conventioneers Today

Here's the video clip. He will inspire you too.

More buzz l8tr

John Edwards Will Speak to NLC Graduates (Updated)

Good news BW readers!

JRE is the commencement speaker for the National Labor College on June 28th. From the AFL-CIO blog:

Every graduation is special, but this year’s commencement at the National Labor College (NLC) marks an important milestone. This is the school’s 10th annual commencement, and next weekend, the school will celebrate a decade of providing a college education for union members.

Some 67 graduates will receive bachelor’s degrees at the June 28 ceremonies on the NLC campus in Silver Spring, Md.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards will deliver the commencement address. Edwards, who grew up in a working class family, is a former U.S. senator and was the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2004. A strong supporter of workers’ rights and social justice, he now leads Half in Ten, an effort by several organizations to reduce poverty in the United States by 50 percent within 10 years.

He spoke on Wednesday to the Manufacturer's Association meeting on Wed, but haven't found any information on what he said there.

UPDATE: Thanks to my buddy Machka at Southern Hope, there is a video clip from the event:



So, JRE stays relevant, and does things to promote the middle class and to highlight the problems of poverty.

More buzz l8tr..

Thoughts for Mother's Day

By Julia Ward Howe
Proclamation of Mother's Day, 1870:

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:

"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.

"We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.

Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.

It is also Mother's Day that Elizabeth Edwards and I connected online for the first time, in 2006.

Little did I know she would mention me in a speech to the Personal Democracy Forum the next day. Here's the podcast of her talk.

And it appears Elizabeth is going back, June 23-24.

One last thing: poverty strikes single mothers worse than anyone. I am posting a video by NcDem of an interview of JRE on Face the Nation, in which endorsements are discussed, but so is the Half in Ten initiative.



Happy Mother's Day, and let's support our moms and dads.