Oops! She really MAY have done it again!

Yesterday, in noting a few thoughts on whether Hillary Clinton leaked to the Drudge Report a picture of Barack Obama wearing a turban I was skeptical. Now, I am skeptical for another reason – “the lady doth protest too much, methinks”.

Well, ok, I just wanted to use that line. However, I’ll get back to it in a moment. Maybe she was on the attack again.

Someone told me he thought he had heard or read about Clinton using Drudge to her own advantage. It makes sense in a “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of way, even your new “friend” is not all that fond of you and has attacked you and yours as well.

I began a search.

First, it led me to the Guardian’s online edition. There, from October of last year was “Hillary Clinton woos man who nearly ruined her husband“.
Read more

Hillary Clinton not quite down yet.

I am not so sure Hillary Clinton will be telling us goodbye all that soon.

Newsweek’s Jonathon Alter says she should step down down, and avoid the embarrassment of defeat in the March 4th primaries in Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island and Ohio.

Well, fine, Mr. Alter, you national boys have a heap of smarts. Now, I don’t carry any water for either of the two remaining Democratic Party candidates. My boy, John Edwards, doesn’t have a dog in this fight (although his name still is on the Texas ballot).

My mother’s side of the family comes from Vermont. I was there awhile back and got to drive logging roads and look at autumn colors. Nice place, but I don’t know anything about its politics.

Don’t know how it is in Ohio. Nice place, I understand. It gave us James Thurber. Used to play cards with a helluva player name of Lillile who lived up there. I rode through the state in the back seat of a car when I was kid. I remember a lot of green. I understand there’s some football played up there too.

Never been to Rhode Island, not even through it. There’s a good chance I flew over it once or twice, but that’s about it.

However, I do know Texas.

A “do or die” situation inspires the troops. They shoulder their underdog burden and wear it with pride as they knuckle down.

Hillary and her camp are in “Alamo Mode”. That’s not a la mode, with the ice cream on top of the pie, but hunker-down-and-get-ready-to-fight-to-the-end-in-one-last-stand mode. Often, that kind of determination can overcome inspiration.

Face it, there are many older Dems here who don’t want to seem racist, but just don’t feel right voting for Obama. I am not making this up. They say they are concerned about experience, electability in the South and a sense that Hillary has “earned” her turn. These are the folks you can count on to vote. Many of these also are the folks who see John McCain as a nice man who would not make a bad president.

Of course, there’s always that cloud of racial read more

Why I keep hounding Rep. Burgess

I keep on about Rep. Michael Burgess. He might even be a nice guy. His politics are abhorrent to me.

I just sent him this note about impeachment -

Sir, I call upon you to vote in favor of any and all motions to begin impeachment actions against President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney.
There is more than enough evidence to initiate proceedings.
If they have nothing to hide, they should not object to a full investigation of their actions.
Respectfully yours,

Now, I don’t expect him do any such thing. However, (and this is where I want y’all with out-of-touch lawmakers representing you to listen up) I don’t want him to think for one minute everyone out here is happy with the job he is doing.

It is my hope that the more people who disagree with the likes of Burgess and his ilk speak up, the more our voices might be heard. If representatives want to keep their cozy, privileged lifestyle up in Washington, they need to work for it. That means listening to all the people.

Do you think he cares? I don’t kid myself. However, if we stir up enough of a breeze, he might start bending with the winds of change.

There could be another effect. If you join me in stuffing their mailbox, you may get as fed up with them as I have and start to look for a replacement. Once you’ve found one, maybe you’ll start working for that candidate. Once you start working for a bold, new candidate, maybe we will see some changes.

As it happens now, the nation still is tied to the railroad track and my representatives in Congress are tightening the knots.

---

The following is not paid for or endorsed by Leach for Congress

Please go to http://leachforcongress.com/ and check out Ken Leach for Congress.He is running an uphill battle against Burgess. He can use all the support you can give him in time or money or BOTH!

Even if you do not live in the 26th District of Texas, we sure could use y’all’s help.

Thanks!

Texans’ eagerness for new license plates part of Bush’s failed legacy.

Fella, name of Steve Delahoyde, has been having some fun at the expense of us Texans. Seems he is amused by the recent vote on Texas license plates. He has written some giggly stories about us in his online publication “Unbeige”.

Now, that’s ok. He just doesn’t understand.

Frankly, what makes it so puzzling to me is that “Unbeige” is an online design publication . He probably is unaware that we Texans have been suffering for years from Governor Boy George Bush’s war on good design.

You see, when Boy George became governor, this was the basic design of the license plate. It was the most color Texas had had on a plate ever. Most folks thought the flag and “TEXAS” just about said all that needed to be said. The design was simple and striking and did not give bombastic calls to duty (“Live free or die!” – whatever the hell that means) or overt bragging (“The Sunshine State” – except when there’s hurricanes).

Then, came the Sesquicentennial (that’s 150th anniversary) of Texas’ statehood (ignoring that little dustup in 1865). Up until then, the only word on the Texas plate beside “TEXAS” had been “HEMISFAIR” to celebrate the 1968 HemisFair Expo in San Antonio. That’s right, there never had been so much as a “Remember the Alamo!” on Texas plates, just “TEXAS” – ’nuff said.

Well, the folks who make such decisions decided we needed a special Sesquicentennial plate. That’s it on the left. Okay, it was a big deal to many. Personally, I liked the flag better, but you have to make something that will sell on eBay in ten years. We got our special plate with more words on it than ever – “150 YEARS OF STATEHOOD’ (highway department didn’t have to learn how to spell sesquicentennial).

That soon passed and then the design treachery moved into the picture. I should say pictures. The state flag plate was out. The Sesquicentennial Plate was out. The designers under Boy George Bush’s reign came up with this:

What is there to like about this plate? You’ve got a cowboy. OK, Texas has cowboys. You’ve got oil derricks (the kind we have not seen for decades); Texas has oil. You have the space shuttle. Uh? Ok, “Houston,…” aka the Johnson Space Center is in Texas – but the shuttle isn’t. It’s like on any given day you’d see a cowboy riding along by antique oil rigs with the shuttle overhead.

Are those mountains in the left lower corner or fire ant mounds?

It was so ugly! I think it was designed that way on purpose to drive people to buy the state’s many and varied (and much more expensive) vanity and specialty plates. Seriously, I can see them saying – “Give them this and they won’t hesitate a New York minute to pony up cash for different design”(chuckles and laughter fill the meeting room).

I seriously was saddened when my flag plate had to go and was replaced by the ludicrous, new design. They say it was the first three-color design (I guess what looked like red, blue and black on previous designs was just red and blue).

It was just dumb!

That was what passed for design in 2000 in Texas. You ask why Texans were so eager to vote on a new license plate?

They did try to sneak the old design into the competition (yep, Boy George’s successor Rick “Good Hair” Perry is another GOP design moron -not saying all of the GOP are design morons, we just seem to pick them here). To save it, they stuck an American flag on the shuttle (that’s not there in real life) and stylized the state outline as a state flag. It still was ugly. It got the fewest votes. I think the designer and his or her family must have burned out several computers getting it the votes it did garner.

It was just dumber!

This is what won (yep, folks did turn down a simpler design and my choice*). It’s fairly simple and straight forward, with an homage to the flag in upper left hand corner. The state outline is a stylized flag.

At the base, are the wonderful mountains (not rolling hills) of West Texas. To be there is fantastic as you are wrapped up in the amazing grandeur and wonder, driving from a desert floor to an alpine range in about an hour’s time. It is inspirational.

It’s change for the better and another step along the way to our recovery from Boy George’s days.

However, the concern that many truck owners had that “TRUCK” would not be on the new plate shows we have a long way to go, alas.

---

*My Choice

Images of license plates from

License Plates of the World

Texas Department of Transporation (the highway department)

Tell Texas GOP senator John Cornyn what you think!

You remember Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the apologist for domestic terrorists? He is Twiddle Dee to Sen Kay Bailey “Kaybar” Hutchison’s Twiddle Dum on the Bush Senate softball team.

Well, John-Boy has a poll up and he wants our views.

“Who is your first choice for President?” he asks.

“Should Congress allow the tax cuts to expire?” he asks.

There are many more. Just be careful. Your natural tendency to say “NO!” to everything Cornyn says might end up with you giving the wrong answer.

Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE CORNYN POLL!

Powered by ScribeFire.

An Open Letter to SMU Petition Signers

I am Andrew J. Weaver, the person who organized and maintains the petition at www.protectSMU.org. I am an ordained United Methodist minister
and research psychologist living in New
York City. There are over 11,200 petition signers
representing every state, including 28 United Methodist bishops, several hundred
graduates of SMU and thousands of clergy, church members, and people of
conscience. Many thanks for your support!

Below is a
press release about the current situation regarding the Bush proposal to build a
library and partisan think tank at Southern Methodist University. We need your
help to get this story to everyone you know. We need you to contact the UMC
bishops, especially those in the South Central Jurisdiction (see below:
nationwide toll free numbers). State your concern in a courteous but firm manner
that elected delegates have a right to vote under church
law.

PRESS RELEASE

George W.
Bush Foundation tries to bypass church law to build presidential library at
Southern Methodist University

January 30, 2008
For
immediate release

In a conference call
held on January 9, 2008, the eleven active United Methodist bishops in the South
Central Jurisdiction were asked to issue an interpretation of United Methodist
church law that would circumvent a vote by lay and clergy delegates and permit
the immediate establishment of a partisan Bush institute at Southern Methodist
University (SMU) along with the planned Bush presidential library. The request
to the bishops came from the George W. Bush Foundation.

The controversial
institute, dedicated to promoting the domestic and international views of George
W. Bush, would not be under the supervision of SMU and would hire without regard
to university policy. No other university with a presidential library has
permitted such an institute on its campus.

Bishop Kenneth W. Hicks of
Little Rock, Arkansas, said, “My reason, conscience, and experience tell me that
the bishops do not have authority to circumvent the right of the 290 delegates
to the Jurisdictional Conference to vote on a 99-year proposal for land use of
this nature. I encourage my fellow bishops to honor the voting rights of the
Jurisdictional delegates.”

The South Central Jurisdiction of The United
Methodist Church owns SMU and has the final say about the use of university
property. In addition to the Bush presidential library, the Bush Foundation is
seeking to establish at the university a controversial partisan institute
devoted to “promoting the views of George W. Bush on international and domestic
matters,” as stated by Marvin Bush, the president’s brother. The Foundation
acknowledges that the institute would not be under the supervision of the
university and that hiring would be without regard to university policy.

In the conference call, the eleven active bishops were asked to
interpret church law to declare that the decision of the Mission Council, a
21-member interim body which approved the use of SMU land for the institute
after heavy lobbying in March, 2007, is final. This would permit the Bush
Foundation to avoid submitting the matter to the 290 Jurisdictional Conference
delegates meeting in Dallas in July, 2008, where the outcome of such
a vote is in doubt.

The delegates represent 1.83 million United
Methodists living in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska,
Arkansas, and Louisiana. If a majority vote against leasing
university property for a partisan Bush institute, it cannot be built at SMU.
The Foundation hopes to rely on the bishops’ interpretation in order to break
ground for the institute before the delegates meet this summer.

However,
Reverend David Severe, Director of Mission and Administration for the South
Central Jurisdiction, wrote to an SMU professor on October 6, 2007, that “All
actions taken by the Mission Council interim the Jurisdictional Conference must
be ratified by the next Jurisdictional Conference session.”

He cited
church law from the 2004 Jurisdictional Journal: “The Council shall be subject
to the following and specific limitations of authority: All actions taken by The
Council shall be valid and in full effect within the South Central Jurisdiction
until the next regular session of the (Jurisdictional) Conference…. The
chairperson of the Council shall submit to each regular quadrennial meeting of
the Conference a written report of all actions taken by the Council during the
quadrennium.”

“To not protect their right to vote on the use of land by
the George W. Bush Foundation is a violation of the democratic and open
processes of our church,” said Bishop Hicks. “I am worried that the
disenfranchisement of Jurisdictional Conference delegates will undermine our
ministry together as a church.”

“I can understand why the George W. Bush
Foundation does not want the Jurisdictional Conference to vote on this issue,”
said Andrew Weaver, a United Methodist pastor and graduate of SMU. “In recent
months, colleagues and I have spoken to dozens of delegates who are increasingly
questioning the wisdom of placing a partisan think tank on the grounds of a
United Methodist institution. The George W. Bush Foundation wants to prevent the
vote because it fears the outcome. It appears that the Bush Foundation has no
respect for the laws and procedures of the president’s own
denomination.”

“The placement of a partisan institute to promote the
policies of George W. Bush at Southern Methodist University would be a tragedy,”
said retired Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of London, Ohio.
“The policies of the Bush administration are in direct conflict with the Social
Principles of The United Methodist Church on issues of war and peace, civil
liberties and human rights, care for the environment, and health care. Our
United Methodist identity and its moral authority would be seriously compromised
were it to be identified with the policies of George W. Bush in this
way.”

Schubert M. Ogden, University Distinguished Professor of Theology
Emeritus at Southern Methodist University, observes: “While the wisdom of
establishing a library and a museum is debatable, establishing a partisan
think-tank will unquestionably damage the integrity and the reputation of SMU.
The partisan mission of the proposed institute is profoundly incompatible with
SMU’s own mission as a university and could be made a part of it only by
damaging it and soiling its good-standing in the academic community. In any
case, The United Methodist Church has the right to an open, honest debate on the
issue, and the elected delegates to the South Central Jurisdiction should in no
way be deprived of their legal right to vote.”

George Henson, who teaches
Spanish at SMU, stated, “It does not surprise me that the Bush Foundation is
attempting to circumvent United Methodist law in order to place the Bush library
and institute at SMU. A highly partisan think tank like the one planned for SMU,
which exists completely outside the purview of normal academic controls and
practices, is bad enough. The fact that United Methodist bishops are being asked
to collaborate with Bush’s representatives to circumvent the approval process is
disgraceful. I am worried about the message this sends to our
students.”

THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER
AND HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

Below is a list
of all the duly elected members of the South Central Jurisdictional Conference,
representing the 1.83 million United Methodists in the region. These
representatives will meet in Dallas, July 15-19. They can say NO to Bush and
refuse to allow him to use the land at SMU, if they are allowed to vote. About
35 percent of the delegates are progressives who will likely vote against the
partisan Bush institute. We need to inform and recruit 16 percent of the
moderate delegates to block the project.

Link:
http://scj.umportal.org/myFolder/contentManagerImages/52/SCJ_Delegates_2008.pdf

Call
your Annual Conference office and ask for the names and addresses of the
delegates from your Conference to the Jurisdictional Conference. This will
include both General Conference and Jurisdictional Conference delegates. If
these United Methodist Christians truly understand what Bush is requiring, they
will vote against the project.

Write these delegates (or call them) and
ask that they not ratify the report for the Jurisdictional Mission Council which
includes the Mission Council’s approval of SMU leasing part of its property
(owned by the South Central Jurisdiction) for the building of the George W. Bush
library and partisan institute. The 2004 South Central Jurisdictional Journal
says (p. 101): “The Council shall be subject to the following and specific
limitations of authority: All actions taken by The Council shall be valid and in
full effect within the South Central Jurisdiction until the next regular session
of The (Jurisdictional) Conference…..The chairperson of The Council shall
submit to each regular quadrennial meeting of the Conference a written report of
all actions taken by The Council during the quadrennium.”

This specifies
that decisions may not extend beyond the next regular session of the
Jurisdictional Conference unless approved by the action of The Jurisdictional
Conference, “not the bishops”.

Read the research articles below to give
you more information regarding the history and inside workings which led to this
unfortunate decision. Also forward this article to your Jurisdictional
Conference delegates.

Links to information on the SMU Bush
project:

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2008/01/17/Opinion/The-fantastic.Failure.Institute.Will.Undermine.Smu-3155803.shtml.

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/09/25/Opinion/Slavery.Torture.And.Methodist.Dna-2989642.shtml.

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/media/storage/paper949/news/2007/02/27/Opinion/Trustees.Should.Follow.Lead.Of.First.Lady-2745030.shtml.

http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=196.

http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=171

4. We need
your help to build a legal and educational campaign fund. Given the most recent
actions by the George W. Bush Foundation, we need to secure funding for lawyers
to help us, as well as to educate the church about this issue. Contributions can
be sent to Rev. Robert Weathers, 2420 Willington Avenue, Fort
Worth, Texas 76110. Rev. Weathers is a highly
regarded member of the Central Texas Conference and a former District
Superintendent. Please made checks out to “Protect SMU
Fund.”

5.
Continue to encourage your friends and colleagues to sign the petition. Each
person is important. We need to tell officials of the UMC at every level that we
find this association with George W. Bush
unacceptable.

With best
regards,
Rev. Andrew J. Weaver, Ph.D.

South
Central Jurisdiction Bishops

DALLAS EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Alfred L.
Norris
P.O. Box
866128
Plano, TX 75086-6128
Nationwide Toll Free
Number: (800) 969-8201
Phone: (214) 522-6741
Fax: (214) 528-4435
Email:
bishop@ntcumc.org
NORTH
TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

FORT WORTH EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop
Ben R. Chamness
464 Bailey
Avenue
Fort Worth, TX
76107-2153
Nationwide
Toll Free Number: (800) 460-8622
Phone: (817) 877-5222
Fax: (817)
332-4609
Email: bishop@ctcumc.org
CENTRAL
TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

HOUSTON EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Janice Riggle
Huie
5215 South Main
Street
Houston, TX
77002-9792
Phone:
(713) 521-9383
Fax: (713) 529-7736
Email: Bishop.Huie@txcumc.org
TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

KANSAS EPISCOPAL
AREA
Bishop Scott J. Jones
9440 East
Boston, Suite 160
Wichita, KS
67207-3603
Nationwide
Toll Free Number: (800) 745-2350
Phone: (316) 686-0600
Fax: (316)
684-0044
Email: kansasbishop@kswestumc.org
KANSAS EAST ANNUAL CONFERENCE
KANSAS WEST ANNUAL
CONFERENCE

LOUISIANA EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop William W.
Hutchinson
527 North
Boulevard
Baton Rouge, LA
70802-5700
Nationwide
Toll Free Phone: (888) 239-5286
Phone: (225) 346-1646 ext 212
Fax: (225)
387-3662
Email: lcumc@bellsouth.net
LOUISIANA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

MISSOURI EPISCOPAL
AREA
Bishop Robert C. Schnase
3601 Amron Court
Columbia, MO 65202
Nationwide Toll Free Phone:
(877) 736-1806
Phone: (573) 441-1770
Fax: (573) 441-0765
Email: DCurry@moumethodist.org
MISSOURI ANNUAL CONFERENCE

NEBRASKA EPISCOPAL
AREA—THIS IS THE BISHOP WHO ABSTAINED—THANK HER
Bishop Ann Brookshire
Sherer
2641 North 49th
Street
Lincoln, NE
68504-2899
Nationwide
Toll Free Phone: (800) 435-6107
Phone: (402) 466-4955
Fax: (402)
466-6793
Email: bishopsherer@umcneb.org
NEBRASKA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

NORTHWEST
TEXAS-NEW MEXICO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop D.
Max Whitfield
11816 Lomas
Boulevard, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112-5614
Nationwide Toll Free Phone:
(800) 678-8786
Phone: (505) 255-9361
Fax: (505) 255-8738
Email: mbelu@nmconfum.com
NEW MEXICO ANNUAL CONFERENCE
NORTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

OKLAHOMA EPISCOPAL
AREA
Bishop Robert E. Hayes, Jr.
PO Box 60467
Oklahoma City, OK 73146-0467
Nationwide Toll Free Phone:
(800) 231-4160
Phone: (405) 530-2025
Fax: (405) 350-2040
Email: cberry@okumc.org
OKLAHOMA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
OKLAHOMA INDIAN
MISSIONARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE

SAN
ANTONIO EPISCOPAL AREA
Bishop Joel N.
Martinez
PO Box
781688
San
Antonio, TX 78278-1688
Nationwide Toll Free Phone:
(888) 349 -4191
Phone: (210) 408-4500
Fax: (210) 408-4501
Email: bishop@umcswtx.org
RIO GRANDE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SOUTHWEST TEXAS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

ARKANSAS EPISCOPAL
AREA
Bishop Charles N. Crutchfield
2 Trudie Kibbe Reed Dr
Little Rock, AR 72202-3770
Nationwide Toll Free Phone:
(877) 646-1816
Phone: (501) 324-8001
Fax: (501) 324-8021
Email: bishopcnc@arumc.org
ARKANSAS ANNUAL
CONFERENCE

Powered by ScribeFire.

Unapologetic “Yellow Dog Democrat” takes on Bushman Burgess for Texas 26th Congressional seat

Was your congressional representative and were your senators among the cheering throngs last night for the smirking, prissy cheerleader-in-chief? Mine were and it was sickening. Just another example of the Tom DeLay, New Gingrich and right-wing drug-crazed radio jocks bullying bellicose behavior. They have nothing of which to be proud, so they make noise cheering it.

We need to allow the rich to keep their tax cuts. After all, look how well it has worked out now.

Were your representatives among the cheering?

Were they the ones cheering Bush blaming Congress for denying health care when it was the private insurance company’s denial of service that recently killed a yound person needing a transplant? Were they cheering the obscene insurance company profits – partially due to 47 million Americans who have no health coverage? Were they cheering that that figure is 8.5 million persons higher than when Bush strutted into office?

Were they cheering that during the past seven years the tax cuts for the rich have helped lower the median annual household income by more than $1,000 a year?

Or were they cheering that those tax cuts have helped destroy a budget surplus and saddled us with a $734 billion deficit?

Were they cheering that those tax cuts to create jobs in reality led to an economy where job growth is almost stagnant – from 1.76 million jobs created per year in the eight years before Bush to 369,000 jobs per year over the last seven years?

Maybe they were cheering that the Canadian Loon, or dollar, is now worth more than the U.S. dollar.

Bush smirks as he calls for less dependence on oil, while whimpering to allow more drilling in wilderness areas, the price of gasoline is more than $3.00 per barrel in much of the nation, and heading back up there for the rest.

So, Rep. Michael Burgess, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sen. John Cornyn were cheering $3.00 per gallon gasoline.

Thanks, guys. Yes, you are part and parcel of the “success” of Boy George Bush. I pray the voters remember just who was cheering the smirking Bush boy tonight and they do something about it.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Unapologetic “Yellow Dog Democrat” takes on Bushman Burgess for Texas 26th Congressional seat

Ken Leach says it is time the middle class in Texas’ 26th Congressional District had a representative in Washington.

As I have noted here many, many times incumbent Republican Michael Burgess has been an adamant supporter of President Boy George Bush’s failed policies. What Bush wants, he gets from Burgess, despite the ill effects on his district, particularly the middle class.

The fact that I personally think Burgess is a dangerous ideologue, sycophant to big money and a toady to the religious right in no way expresses the views of the Ken Leach campaign.

”We need to take our country back,” Mr. Leach said in announcing his candidacy. We need to move our country forward.”

“I want to be the instrument today that makes the difference today that will be remembered tomorrow.”

Leach says it is time to break the stranglehold Tom Delay and his vested interests have held on the district.
“When Tom DeLay railroaded his redistricting grab of congressional seats, the Texas 26th Congressional seat was thought to be a permanent seat for Republicans,” Mr.Leach’s website says. “however, the numbers do not add up to that. With a strong grassroots effort, this district can be won by a Democrat.

“It is not going to be easy, but with your help, it can be done.”

How can you help?

First of all, you do not have to be in the 26th to help out. He will need help from everyone.

Cash is of the essence to beat the smug GOP juggernaut. It will have to come from the

grassroots. Right now, the Leach campaign is accepting donations through Act Blue.

Go to Democracy for America and sign up so you can vote for him as one of their targeted candidates. You also can sign up there to volunteer for his campaign.

Click here to check out his stands on the issues and contact him through his website.

Here are some issues highlights -

• No American shouldhave to put off medical care because of lack of money to pay for a life-saving procedure. Each American should have universal health care.
• We salute and congratulate all of our military men and women for their hard work and sacrifices; however, Iraq is the worst diplomatic failure in our history and a product of our worst presidency. Congress should not vote any more funding for Bush’s War. Our troops should be brought home at the earliest possible moment.
• We must stop corporate welfare programs benefiting oil companies.

Mr. Leach is a navy veteran, with Vietnam service. He was in the Sales Promotion Department of American Petrofina, a civilian with the Dallas Police Department’s Planning and Development Division, and administrator with the Field Operations Division of the Fort Worth Water Department, before retiring and moving back to Gainesville.

He is a life-long Democrat and has been an active campaigner for Democratic Candidates since he was in grade school. He was a congressional aide in Congressman Frank Ikard’s Office.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Why John Edwards should be president of these United States

John Edwards is my choice for president.

I firmly believe he will replace the current regime’s reign of fear, terror and hatred with hope, compassion and a renewed, realistic optimism.

I don’t mean the optimism of Boy George “Gee I am not hurting and my friends are hurting so the economy is doing just fine” Bush, which requires a total suspension of belief . I mean a hope and an optimism that this is a country that does not have to surrender rights or live in fear to fight a common enemy – a country that stands up for its rights and freedoms as it fights those who would endanger it whether they be outside or inside enemies.

It is time America stood up on its hind legs and fought back against the attacks on our rights and courage by the Republifascists. Being the puppets of oppression is not the way to fight enemies of freedom.

At first, I did not commit because I was waiting to hear from Al Gore.

Then, frankly, I was totally turned away because the race was starting so early and all the arguments were over strategy and not policy.

In looking around, I tried to embrace the Kucinich. However, there never were any sparks.

As I systematically ignored the debates and the hype, little bits of campaign always managed to make it through the filters.

The more I heard of Edwards, the more I liked what he said. I also more and more liked the way he said it. It was apparent from the beginning that Edwards was not one to be Swiftboated. It also was apparent that Edwards would give you a straight answer, not one designed to appease. Do you want universal health care similar to Canada? He’ll tell you that’s not going to happen right now, but here’s his plan to do what he can right now for the millions of us without medical insurance.

John Edwards will get us out of the Bush War in Iraq. He is apologetic about his vote authorizing the madness of King Boy George. However, he is unapologetic and unequivocal about ending that quagmire of death, greed and corruption.

Finally, I don’t care what all the pundits and prophesiers say. There is a chance, a good one, that the floor can fall out from under the two top runners. The GOP is playing a Brer Rabbit routine with Hillary…”Oh, dear…oh dear….HOW can we beat the Hillary? Oh, woe is us if they nominate her.”

In truth, I believe Hillary Clinton is the only unifying force left to the Grand Old Pirates and their politics of fear and hatred. Disenchanted evangelicals, who finally are discovering that they were taken for a ride by Boy George Bush and his neocon pals will abandon plans to sit out this election if Clinton is nominated. GOP icons Mark Foley and Larry Craig might even win on that ticket (the Republicans are hoping you will forget about Mark Foley, Larry Craig and that Lott). Heck, GOP party stalwarts already have formed an anti-Clinton group with the initials CUNT (how’s that for family values?).

You better believe the Republifascists will be counting on a “Southern strategy” if Obama is nominated.

Edwards would be more like (and I cannot tell you much it thrills me to write this in a devilish way) a tar baby. No matter how much his campaign goads or rattles the Republicans the more they strike back, the more they will get stuck until they finally are trapped. For instance, when the GOP hisses “trial lawyer” Edwards will respond better fighting for rights than denying life-saving surgeries (has it dawned on you yet that all the charges people make against so-called “socialized medicine” can be found in our current “enrich the big corporations” medical system, such as denial of service – this handing out death sentences – and not picking your own doctor?).

Finally, Edwards has been in the trenches . . . the REAL trenches. Neither senators Clinton or Obama have ever had to look at life the way I am having to look at now. Edwards has seen it and knows how it feels.

I feel he feels for me.

I feel he should be president.

And, yes, I will try to find some money for him.

For more on John Edwards and how to join his campaign

• click here to go to his webpage, which also houses a blog and podcast
• click here to go to his YouTube page
• click here to see his Flickr photos
• click here to donate to John Edwards (or go to his website)
• click here for John Edwards’ MySpace page (like awesome!)
• click here for John Edwards’ Facebook page

Powered by ScribeFire.

Hello world!

Let’s see how this serves us as a backup!