Thirteen million children -- nearly one in every five -- lives in poverty.  Close to 25 percent of all African Americans live in poverty.   Twenty-three percent of the population in New Orleans lives in poverty.

It's unconscionable. I don't know what else to say.

If there is any good to come from this disaster, it's to remind people we really do have Two Americas, and we can take steps to making them one.

JRE,

I've been waiting to see some post, message, or other such word from you.

I have been a big fan of yours.  I believe you are absolutely right about the poverty situation in New Orleans and how that contributes so heavily to this disaster.

Your tone is sincere and somber, but my heart and mind are racing in anger.  I believe that many individuals in power NEVER saw these poor people... they NEVER think about them.  The powers that be (bush) don't know poor people.  Our leaders, all too many of them, believe people choose to be poor or are "content" to live as they are.

These are the same leaders who like Condi Rice decided to go shopping, and see a play on broadway before getting back to work 3 days after the hurricane hit.

Who is this FEMA director?  And how many crimes can we charge him with?  I've read reports that say he is an incompetent bumbler.  We need to be asking questions.  We need to hold our leaders accountable for their disgraceful responses to this tragedy.

While helping our fellow citizens, we must also embrace our passion and anger and focus ourselves on what truly matters.

1.  Helping those victims who are still in danger.
   
2.  Helping all the citizens of New Orleans
   
3.  Helping the poor.

But also

4.  REMOVING FROM OFFICE those individuals who standby and turn a blind eye when they see people living in poverty.  REMOVE FROM OFFICE those individuals who believe that oil and gas companies deserve 1-2 billion dollars in tax credits.----

  AND IF ANYONE MENTIONS SOME SORT OF OIL COMPANY BAIL OUT BECAUSE OF THIS EVENT...

Or, maybe they'll offer a no-bid contract to some company to rebuild/repair parts of New Orleans.

---now I'm just angry.  However, using this tragedy as an example of incompetence is NOT politics.  This is the perfect example of what happens when you vote for leaders who are so out of touch with the true needs of the American people.

-Zen Blade

Although that is a very important subplot here, the big story is LACK OF FEDERAL PREPARATION. National Guard troops are in Iraq instead of at home protecting America. Money that should have gone to preventive measures instead went to Iraq and tax cuts. Wetlands that should have been preserved were instead handed over to developers. The chain of command has broken down, the Bush administration doesn't know what it is doing, and at this rate New Orleans and its citizens may never recover.
The Kerry/Edwards administration would have had smart, capable people in charge rather than incompetent lackeys like Brown and Chertoff -- and yet even an efficient administration would have had its hands full dealing with this crisis.  
I understand that this may be a good opportunity to understand the poverty crisis across the country. But that's not the top priority right now. This crisis shows the value of good, smart governance to prevent problems and deal with them when they occur. Democrats need to explain that this is what incompetence and cronyism and corruption looks like in a crisis. And America deserves better.

Welcome back Mr. Edwards.

Priorities need to be re-examined in America.  We had a president, who new as early as Saturday, that a MAJOR hurricane was going to hit somewhere in the Gulf, and refused to end his vacation.  He needed to be back in DC to lead the efforts, instead his vacation was more important.

I have heard some from the right blaming victims who had no where to go, nor the wherewithall even if they had a destination, for their own plight.  Some people don't heed evacuation orders because they are foolhardy but the vast majority have no choice but to stay.  

You are no stranger to these storms, being from North Carolina.  We have seen a couple up here in Connecticut.  These storms are cataclysmic events which should be prepared for.  And how did this president prepare?  By cutting funding for levee improvements for NOLA.

The outrage over Katrina is that the full weight of our government was not brought to bear in assistance even before the last rain drop fell.  When we needed leadership we got a president who didn't want to come back from vacation...

Now is the time to act.

Now is the time to act.  Let's hear some Congressional voices calling the bankruptcy bill onto the carpet - not just postponing implementation but standing up against the whole damn wretched thing.  

<span>Dear Senator ,</span&gt

<span>First, let me state my admiration for you.  I am an active lifelong Democrat and worked some on the local part of your Vice Presidential campaign.</span&gt

<span>I am worried that we will forsake or give  shortshrift to the poor and helpless in New Orleans while continuing to spend our treasure in the sands of Iraq.</span&gt

 

<span>My question is, “Why was the President so seemingly disengaged, until the last 2 days, on this national tragedy unfolding, especially in the city of New Orleans with the complete breakdown in law and order?”  The tragedy is made worse by the lack of communications capabilities.  </span&gt

<span>
Thus, the following proposal:</span&gt

 

<span>Why does not the President fly Air Force One to an airport in Louisiana and set up a mobile White House there?
 </span&gt

<span>Once done, call a meeting of the Govs. of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, their respective Commanders of the State Police, the respective Generals of the State National Guard units, heads of the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, the head of Homeland Security, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</span&gt

<span>
At that meeting, commit mobilization of a JSTARS plane, a mobile military command post, a battalion of military personnel from bases in the US, a regiment from the Sea Bees and from the Corps of Engineers.</span&gt

<span>The troops would be deployed for two purposes:  security and communication liaison with civilian authorities in the field. To do this, set up a battlefield military communications network and attach military personnel with communications gear and specialists to travel with local police and search and rescue teams.  Using JSTARS and, if appropriate, AWACS capabilities to manage the deployed personnel, civilian and military and to target protection of the public / private health systems, securing any gun shops (look them up in the yellow pages), armories, shelters and other appropriate targets.  </span&gt

<span>Some will be worried about military intervention on US soil.  We seemed to handle that with discretion in Indonesia after the tsunami.  So I would not sweat it.</span&gt

 

It is disheartening to witness the engineering of pat self-serving narratives ("it was their choice to remain") to deflect criticism of the authorities and, I suspect, also to relieve peoples' nascent sense of guilt at not being able to better help people in need. 

While this tact is entirely in keeping with the "white backlash" take on a range of issues, from welfare to inner city riots, I have to believe that it simply won't wash in this case.  Peoples' instincts to provide relief to the afflicted and the singular scale and seriousness of this disaster ought to over-ride attempts at cynical spin.  Not to mention the fact that something actually has to be done here.  Its not one of those issues that can simply be pushed to the back of your mind if you just keep ignoring it. 

I have to believe that there will be no way to prevent the incompetent handling of this epochal event from having the most serious consequences for those responsible (or irresponsible).

What I am recalling is that JFK initiated the war on poverty after reading The Other America by Michael Harrington.  What I guess you are correcting me on is that RFK campaigned in 68 and did passionately address the subject.  Fair enough. 

In his 1964 State of the Union address, Lyndon Johnson announced, "This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America."

I'm not a religous person but I say to Mr. Edwards, God bless you. Bless you for speaking for the poor and forgotten, the people who those in power would sweep under the rug. When, oh when, will we again have a government that cares for people not profits? I think of the last election and I despair for American humanity. When we will wake up?

Really, nobody wants to work more hours? At any price? How about the unemployed? the person who can only find part-time work? The person who would make 1.5x his hourly wage for overtime. The person who would rather his kids go to college than have fun? Need I go on?

Is New Orleans that poor or did the people with money already leave?  What happened in the NO suburbs?  What will happen in those suburbs if NO does not get back on its feet in a reasonable time?  

If as I suspect those with money and their own cars left why didn't the different layers of government do something to organize an evacuation?  

Senator Edwards, you have been trying to draw the nation's attention to the plight of the [working] poor and now the entire nation can see the dimensions of that problem.  The failure of emergency planning agencies to develop a workable plan to evacuate the poor in the face of danger is an unconscionable moral failure.

"Bleeding heart" planners who view the lives of poor people to be as valuable as the lives of affluent people would have recognized that society needed to arrange for an extraordinary and massive organization of resources in order to remove the poor of New Orleans from danger.  Republican administrators were made aware of the danger they face, but apparently did not want to take on the expense of saving them.

The magnitude of the disaster in New Orleans is a direct result of the profound detachment of the Republican Party from the very real needs of the poor.  We may not be able to make every citizen of the United States wealthy, but we can surely muster all of the resources we have available in order to protect poor people from a foreseeable disaster.

People died and suffered in New Orleans because the gang of elitists running our government simply did not care enough about them.  It is a disgrace.

http://taxwisdom.org/republican_nemesis.htm 

I registered voters for you over here in Ireland. But I still wish I'd done more. Sitting here thousands of miles from the country I grew up in I feel shame, anger and horror. When I go down to the shops, when I meet up with friends in a pub, my accent screams yank.

The rest of the world thinks we are savages. Heartless, incompetent, tightwad savages. The British news has ripped into this administration at a level I have never seen. British news teams were on the ground in New Orleans days before FEMA and the National Guard.

Mr. Edwards, when will decent elected Americans stand up and be counted? Is the Mayor of New Orleans all alone? Will no one speak out publically the anger that we should have if we have *ANY* pride in our nation. Is it truly down to shoe shoppers in NYC to represent the people of New Orleans to members of this administration - as they're dragged away by security.

I don't want to see Democrats defending the indefensible any more. I want them in Bush's face demanding answers. Yes it will be hard, yes it will be difficult, but those who died in filth and squalor in New Orleans deserved better.

I am ashamed to be an American today. In 3 month's time I've planned on running one overseas voter registration clinic every month. I'm wondering why I should bother now. If this sort of thing is acceptable now in America, why should anyone care? It would be better to help evacuees from Katrina find homes in nations that actually care for their citizens.

I wish you'd won. I hope if you and Kerry had been in office this disaster wouldn't be as horrific. But the anger and shame all Americans who have let down their fellow citizens on the Gulf coast should feel - those feelings should have a voice. Democratic leaders are not doing that.

Sigh.  You won't understand this.  I wish you could watch a few minutes of British news coverage.  They hammer on American officials, UN officials and EU officials pushing them to explain when these people will be helped.  The latter two want to help but aren't being allowed.  The first group are feckless.

It's all revolting and the idiots we've elected are apparently trying to match Katrina body for body. Someone has to speak for these people.

Please. 

Daniel, what we're seeing now IS the government effort to evacuate. Are we really supposed to wait around until it gets better? While that is going on, I'm going to buy some guns. And lifejackets.

 

I was really asking questions.  I was trying to figure out the balance of what I am seeing one TV and reading.  Obviously the South has more Blacks, at least as a percentage than the rest of the country.  

I know many people here in NYC who have followed your example.

WE NEED NEW LEADERSHIP IN WASHINGTON. Thank you to John Edwards for speaking the truth about the growing gap between the rich and poorest in our country. 

 

Because of Bush Administration policies and ineptitude, we have all but forgotten our responsibility to one another, as a civil society. THAT's what the Democratic party should be standing for. THAT's what our President should be talking about.

 

FDR implored Americans to work together for the benefit of all. Instead, Bush uses FDR's rhetoric to implore us to take action that benefits only the richest among us -- and ignores the poor altogether.

 

New Orleans proves that we cannot lead good lives unless we care for the least among us. Which we did not.

 

The New Orleans disaster plans did not account for the people who do not have an SUV and $300 and relatives outside the storm.  Thousands of new homeless, waiting to be sent to Bushville Refugee Camps. We watch them on TV (as if they were in a zoo), weeping, taking food from shuttered stores, crushed as they attempt to board too-few busses with too little oversight (as babies are torn from mothers), waiting for more busses that rescue tourists from the Hyatt before refugees in the SuperDome. 

 

Praise be to all who are taking care of the poorest among us -- in San Francisco, where Glide Church feeds free lunch to 600 people every day -- in New Orleans, where  brave people offer help, to rescue, to offer food and hope and solace.

 

Thanks to all those who offer bravery and thoughtfulness (and over 66,000 people who have offered housing via MoveOn.org's Hurricane page at http://www.hurricanehousing.org/) --  DESPITE the dreadful example of our President (and Condoleeza Rice, who shopped for $1000 shoes and saw a Broadway comedy, as the storm took its terrible toll.

"This strikes me as possibly criminal incompetence."

Well, I don't think NO has a reputation for good government, but I am not sure it is criminal.

I suspect that part of the problem is making the decision to do a forced evacuation.  The hurricane shifted to the east a bit at the last minute and if the levy had not breached, there would have been political ramifications for a "false" evacuation.

The last time I visited I met some friends from Australia there. Being foreigners, they decided that it would be fun to look around. We walked through the city to some tourist destination which turned out not to be there any more. We also rented a car and drove around the countryside.

My impression was that there really isn't a suburban outgrowth. The people outside the city were fishermen, and they looked if anything poorer than the people in the city. The city itself had a section of historic southern homes and a university section where the rich people lived.

The tourist trap area was full of frat boys of all ages. The music scene on Bourbon Street was basically seventeen different bands playing "Mustang Sally". I think I was there for St Patricks Day. They had a parade where they shot cabbages off the floats. What a weird place.

 

Incidentally it sounds like plenty of the people who live outside N.O. got killed and the rest are starving to death right now.

 

Welcome back Senator Edwards, I appreciated seeing your entry on this blog after I'd returned from a long absence. Keep speaking out on this as so many around the country are suffering, and too many are only just becoming aware of this... your message will not fall on deaf ears, please get yourself on Al Franken or Randi Rhodes show on Air America Radio and spread it far and wide.
 
--------------

Misterciii, The democratic leaders were the ones returning to Washington to force an early session so as to demand something be done to help the victims of the hurricane. They weren't posturing for the cameras, like Bill Frist and members of Bush's cabinet.. who were stammering in shameful embarassment when they got caught asleep at the wheel. Why not demand answers to the media blackout of the democrats return to congress, why did C-SPAN not cover the Senate and House proceedings? But then again, that wouldn't serve your neo-left (kissing cousins to the neo-cons) propaganda. Here's a question for you.. why aren't the Nader reichers, like Medea Benjamin, Jeff Cohen to name a few, who laughed off the facts that Bush would force us into a war, and impose mass suffering upon the most powerless, apologizing and admitting to the blood on their hands.. why do types like Benjamin try and act as though they have no culpability in what they sought to achieve by rationalizing Bush's election? Could it be because in their blind lust for power, they sought to sacrifice innocents as a means to an end... their ambitions of power? How dare you or anyone else replay this same stupid gambit.. ?!?! All during the last election, wonderful candidates like John Edwards and John Kerry talked about what Bush was doing to people.. the destruction of the economy, the cruelty and unfairness of a health care system that discriminates against those who cannot afford adequate insurance, and who warned that the pain would only migrate upwards further into the middle class if nothing is done. They also discussed the dangers of shoreline erosion, focusing on what has been happening in along the Louisiana coastline for decades.. and the dangers it presented in the future. If anyone has been asleep at the wheel, it's been the right wing, and yes, the neo-left who have been so drunk on political ambition and a desire for power that they have absolutely no right to be deserving of it.

Then f*ck serious politicians.  It's time to elect nut cases.  Serious politicians vote for wars in Iraq.  Serious politicians cut funding for levees.  Serious politicians vote for bankruptcy bills that harm the poor.

Nutcases don't.  It's time to fill congress with nutcases.  It's time to house serious politicians in the Louisiana Superdome. 

Senator Edwards, I would be more impressed with your theme of two Americas if you managed somehow to speak about how the war in Iraq affects these two Americas. We know from the many reports that funds for hurricane protection and disaster management were plundered by the Bush administration to finance the war in Iraq. We know that the National Guard no longer is capable of acting in natural disasters since most units are in Iraq sustaining casualties in a war of regime change that has made us more vulnerable to terrorist attack AND to natural disasters.This war was undertaken with your support and with the support of the Democratic leadership; you and the leadership still have not spoken out clearly regarding the immorality of this war and how we get out of it. I find this disgraceful; I find your moralizing about two Americas and not speaking out about the wasting of American lives and resources hypocritical, morally repugnant and unacceptable.

Thank you Senator Edwards. You have finally given the human side, the political side, the moral side of this "natural disaster" powerful and eloquent voice. We cannot be who we claim to be as a nation if we do not listen, and far more important, respond.

RIght you are. 

Dr. King said: "AN INJUSTICE ANYWHERE IS A THREAT TO JUSTICE EVERYWHERE."

NEVER WAS THIS MORE TRUE THAN TODAY.

It's a real priveledge to be able to comment to such Americans in high places as John Edwards and Wesley Clark.  Generally with other media, they seem out of touch from our own lives, yet with blogs you feel as if you are conversing with friends.  I'd say this is one of the best uses of Internet i've seen in 11 or so years of using the Internet.

Anyhow, I too felt like the rescues were coming way too slowly in New Orleans.  But I was watching through the telescope of news media cameras in helicopters and on the ground.  The news can make a place look small.  But New Orleans is no small city.

Although a proactive President would have taken the bull by the horns regarding this hurricane, and sent national guard trucks to evacuate residents of New Orleans *before* the levy broke, and even if the President is a 100 percent delegator and expected FEMA to be proactive in this way, if the mayor had been proactive in this way, the governor, the list goes on.  I think they all scre*ed up.

And I don't see this as a race card thing nor a scr*w the poor thing.  I see it plainly and simply as reactive management.

The entire idea behind disaster preparedness is to be proactive.  So all the various top managers involved from mayor to President, are to blame for the sluggish reaction to the broken levy in New Orleans.  I really think it had not to do with not caring about New Orleans citizens, but had to do with ineptitude, sloth, mis-organization, and un-preparedness.

Now I do think Bush can be squarely at blame for cutting the funds that were going to make the levies in New Orleans bigger.  This is a no brainer regarding pointing the finger on this one, which may be the biggest blunder in the New Orleans tragedy, since the levy probably would not have broken if it was built up larger and reinforced.

When we get more and more hurricanes in the future, Bush will also be squarely at blame for not utilizing the Government's role to curb miles per gallon standards in cars sold in the United States.

However, let's not forget New Orleans is no small town.  I don't know the reasons boat rescue operations were "suspended", but they were suspended.  It had to do with they were too dangerous.  But it seems to me that power to the city could be switched off, yet I am no expert on what is dangerous about boat rescues.  This only left helicopter rescues as the water was too deep for vehicles to get in.  We did see large military trucks driving through the waters in some streets recently though, but the water may not have been as deep in those streets as many streets.

Helicopter rescues are limited in how many people you can rescue at a time, and limited as far as how many helicopters and trained crews you can muster up for the effort.  Why the military helicopters seemed to take a long time to get to New Orleans seems like more sluggishness and lack of proactive management.

Although everyone knew that New Orleans was a bowl and that the category 5 hurricane approaching might fill up the bowl with water, that the levies might be overrun by water higher then the levies, it seemed at first New Orleans would be spared the flooding nightmare, as the hurricane turned to the right, but then a day later a levy breached.

I think the reaction despite everyone knowing that it was a reality that one day New Orleans might fill up with water, was "what do we do now?"

And this is not preparedness.  It shows an utter lack of preparedness.

At any rate - In my opinion the sluggishness most likely didn't have anything to do with race, class, whether New Orleans is a "red city" or a "blue city" (if it is mostly Democrats), I really think it just showed us an example of across the board ineptitude by top managers ranging from mayor of new orleans to president of the united states.

I hope what comes of this terrible sadness is a new America. I hope the phoenix to rise from the ashes is a movement towards the destruction of a class society.  It came from the Mississippi flood in 1927 as a man, Huey Long, who was disgusted with President Calvin Coolidges false promises of help. Some say he influenced FDR.  I know Mayor Nagin had his heart in it, as well as LA's governor. Something good will come of this...

Who wants to bet that the corporations profit?  I hate to say that, but that's what has happened after 9/11.  War Profiteers...  I don't understand it...Must we lock the cupboard??? Maybe the flood/hurricane victims shouldn't take it so hard...it's just business as usual in an administration of failed ex-businessmen.  I know, I am so awful...

The comparison to RFK is a scary thought.  I remember the day he died...a lot of hope died on that day, too.  We had felt like we belonged to America, that we were important and a part of it
.
But, anyhow...as one woman said, "It's a test...we have to survive!"

God Bless all of America, and hold the hearts of the newly tramatized in His hand, until they can survie on their own again.

An alienated, poor, black populace shoved out of their homes by a detached, vengeful, wealthy leader. I'm talking about Zimbabwe. To me, it's not that dissimilar to what's happening in New Orleans, yes, a natural disaster this time, but the followup speaks volumes. Did I hear Hastert say we ought to bulldoze N.O.? Would that include the Garden District? Almost like the people left in N.O. are being punished for being poor, black, and not Republican, in the same way Zimbabweans were punished. It breaks the heart, if you're human at least.

The "Two Americas" provokes a very powerful image - but it is one the Republicans have learned to counter by screaming "Class Warfare", talking about Welfare Cadillacs, and Lucky Duckies. Katrina has shown how vicious the result of their rhetoric is. They need to be pounded hard on this, becuase they have shown they CAN mobilize government when they want to.      Billmon over at http://billmon.org/archives/002125.html lays out in detail how the Bush Administration in  2004 pulled out all the stops to smother Florida with help for the hurricanes that hit that year - just before the presidential election. The record of their success then shows the excuses coming out of the administration for Katrina now are just that - excuses. As Iraq was a war of choice, so too the Federal lack of response to Katrina was a disaster of choice.      When the President deems it important, he and his Congressional allies can move with blazing speed. I am referring of course to the Terry Schiavo passion play staged earlier this year. Contrast their actions regarding Katrina with this:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_Compromise)
"On March 19, congressional leaders announced that they were drafting a bill which would transfer the case from state court to federal court. In the very early hours of March 21, Congress approved emergency legislation. Despite an absence of a quorum, the Senate approved the bill (S. 686 CPS) by voice vote. The bill passed unanimously, 3-0, with 97 of 100 Senators not present. Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, deliberation continued during an unusual Sunday session. When it came to a vote, the motion was passed 203-58 (156 Republicans and 47 Democrats in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against), with 174 Representatives (74 Republicans and 100 Democrats) not present on the floor at the time of the vote. The vote concluded at 12:41 a.m. EST; President Bush returned from vacation at his Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas to Washington, D.C. and signed the bill at 1:11 a.m. when it became Public Law 109-3. [1]" 
  Take special note of that. The President cut his vacation short and flew back to Washington to sign a bill in the wee hours of the morning. He CAN stay in touch and act with all deliberate speed - when it suits his purposes. 
   Election year Florida. Terry Schiavo. Hurricane Katrina. When you look at those three examples, it becomes clear that there is only One America for Bush - his base. Everyone else is expendable.

The lack of preparation didn't harm everyone equally. The poor bore the brunt of the misery.
Furthermore, this disaster is also an allegory for thousands of other miseries the poor bear out of proportion.

history. I think any state would have been pushing the limits of its resources to move over 100,000 households out of danger.

 I'm not denying the racial component of this tragedy, but I feel it's mostly an incidental result (which doesn't excuse it)  of the culture of corruption, privilege, and incompetence that got us into this mess and seems powerless to get us out. I  haven't heard the reports about the hotel  guests, but I wouldn't be  surprised if their transportation was provided by Hyatt Regency, not the federal government.  If so, it's another example of the incompetence of the whole operation. And it might have been the feds, too.  My capacity to be amazed disappeared about 2 days ago.

jmatthan,

Firstly, the candidates and the democratic party had people at precincts all over the country, and were reporting on the problems. I don't remember where John Edwards or John Kerry were supposed to be on the night of the election.. I do remember they were still traveling to get out the vote. But I do know something about what John Edwards has been doing since the election, and I'm replying because not only are your comments unfair jmatthan, they hint at a mindset who in all probability seeks to exploit the sufferings you pretend to care about. I've seen alot of that since the 2000 election.. the neo-left working in tandem with their neo-con brothers to further increase the suffering of the people, both seeking one profit or another from said suffering.

John Edwards wife, Elizabeth had been diagnosed with breast cancer during the campaign, yet they both still threw themselves in to campaign to help take back our country from George Bush's corrupt administration.  Having myself taken care of a critically ill spouse, I can only imagine how he had to step in and help his family, especially as they have small children, through what was a difficult and stressful situation.

During that time he also help create the One America Foundation, and has been a part of a program dealing with poverty at the University of North Carolina.
 

If a storm blew across our Appalachian Mountains washing us down to Interstate 75 you would see the Second America you saw on Interstate 10 in New Orleans last week.

Our Second America seeks acceptance,not just handouts. Listen to us and enable us to act in our own One America.  When Vista Volunteers came to our communities in the War on Poverty in 1966 they helped us produce local school plays that our parents attended. They gave us confidence and hope. They gave us hope for college and professional careers, as the GI Bill did for WW!! veterans.

We have thousands of children without hope washed onto the interstates. Volunteer in your city. Help children act in their own play. Let's play a role in ONE AMERICA by helping the refugees in Houston and across the South.

The poliitcal reality is that John Edwards has the rare ability to advocate for this ONE AMERICA. Yet the very people he wishes to help don't have broadband or CNN. They follow the populist figures on the Religious Right because that is the only message they receive. Lend your support to getting out the message of hope and understanding to our dispossesd people. Let's make it ONE AMERICA.

 

 

 

Good for you. Loved your comment. All these politicans can buzz the hell off as far as I'm concerned.

I'd vote Atrios before Edwards in a heartbeat.

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