Maybe he can tell us how the Iowa Caucus being firdt is "a God given right".
Posted by peter at September 5, 2007 03:39 AM"firdt" should be first, my apologies.
Posted by peter at September 5, 2007 03:41 AMI suppose having an insider to the Richardson campaign does elevate the level and accuracy of information imparted. However, doesn't it also risk a lack of impartiality? How is a current volunteer to Richardson's campaign supposed to report dispassionately about the man himself, his organization and his policies? I wouldn't seek out Condi Rice for the unvarnished truth about George Bush. I'd more likely view what she had to say with extreme skepticism. I'll be curious to see if Mr. Camp occasionally filets Mr. Richardson for a misstep or alleged boneheaded initiative. Might be a bit difficult for a campaign volunteer to keep licking stamps while lobbing rocks over the wall.
Posted by steve duncan at September 5, 2007 04:57 AMRichardson lost me at "for reasons of the Lord." Anyone claiming to know God's will will not get my vote.
Posted by CG at September 5, 2007 05:40 AMOf the three Democratic front runners for president, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, only Edwards has issued a statement on his official website about the outrageous Mexican trucking issue. More and more, Edwards looks like the best person for president. Hillary and Obama are useless.
Posted by Christopher at September 5, 2007 05:43 AMPut out a call for Doc Hulbe. There is a report on artic ice melt that surfaced in the UK Guardian recently suggesting the melting is occurring substantially faster than scientists originially supposed. I think it said an area the size of the British Isles melted off just this season and shows no rate of slowing.
Believe it or Not?
Posted by gtash at September 5, 2007 06:07 AMHere is the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/04/climatechange
Unfortunately it appears that everything related to global warming is going faster than the scientists originally expected.
Posted by euzoius at September 5, 2007 06:34 AMThanks, I"ll be glad to hear more about Richardson.
I think his Iowa remark was fine, btw.
Who can be offended by truth-telling like that?
I'm still considering whether Whizzer White was the best Supreme ever, though.
A point driven home with a sledge hammer.
A car company can move it's factories to Mexico and claim it's
a free market.
A toy company can out source to a Chinese subcontractor and claim it's
a free market.
A shoe company can produce its shoes in south east Asia and claim it's
a free market.
A major bank can incorporate in Bermuda to avoid taxes and claim it's a
free market.
We can buy HP Printers made in Mexico. We can buy shirts made in Bangladesh . We can purchase almost anything we want from 20 different countries. And not leave Wal-Mart.
BUT, heaven help the senior citizens who dare to buy their prescription drugs from Canadian or Mexican pharmacy. That's called un-American!
And you think the pharmaceutical companies don't have a powerful lobby?
Think again!
Posted by Judith at September 5, 2007 06:45 AMYeah, gtash, that's why a guy trying to be the first to sail the Artic Ocean couldn't for the ice.
Posted by peter at September 5, 2007 07:04 AMYou had avert your eyes during McOld's melt-down in front of high school kids yesterday. Losing your cool to 16 year-olds is, as one kid said, not leadership. Can you imagine, however, the response if the same questions had been put to Guiliani or Bush? You have to give McOld credit for even going before the kids...something George W. Bush would never do....unless they are first-graders.
Posted by T2 at September 5, 2007 07:12 AMChristopher!
Thank you for bringing up the Mexican trucking issue, that is an absolute travesty, a tragedy waiting to happen, and I didn't realize Edwards commented on it, do you have a link or somewhere to point us?
Free trade? What a joke. I'd like to hear one American truck driver or even a trucking company come forward and announce they'd be willing to go into Mexico, think of the problems. A cash-based currency, no rest stops, no safe places to stop and eat, very poor infrastructure.
Thank you for mentioning this and let's all keep an eye on this important issue. If I'm understanding this correctly Mexican drivers won't be held to the same safety standards as ours, drug testing, licensing, etc. Tell me you won't be thinking twice when a semi is coming up hard in your rearview mirror on a highway.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at September 5, 2007 07:31 AMActually, Jeff, we were discussing the Mexican truck issue in yesterday's open thread. There were a couple good dKos diaries on it over the weekend, too. But yes, it's really not getting as much attention as it should - I was rather disappointed in Chris Hayes at The Nation downplayed the story by saying "the superhighway" doesn't exist. Well, the one to Canada, anyhow, but that's a technicality! Still, it was a good article on the background of the whole story.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 07:47 AMBTW, welcome, Ken, you've got your work cut out for ya! I thought Richardson's "pandering" reply was funny, actually. Refreshing to hear the truth once in a while.
Jeff - Here's the link to Edwards' Mexican trucking statement. Not surprising, having just picked up endorsements from the mining and steelworkers unions. Nice to see he's on top of it; this issue has the potential for crossover voting from a lot of swing people for whom immigration is a single issue.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 08:23 AMLou Dobbs and CNN have been covering the Mexican trucking and super highway for over a year. This is old news.
Posted by JohnT at September 5, 2007 08:29 AMThis is old news.
You're right, let's forget the whole thing, shall we?
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 08:33 AMThanks coyote! Somehow I missed the thread from yesterday about this. It's a disgusting situation. I'm gonna get caught up via your links andd I'm gonna find out if Hillary has commented on it or has any ideas.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at September 5, 2007 08:41 AMNo problem, Jeff. I'd be curious to see Hillary's response. I look forward to your write-up!
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 08:44 AMJeff Dinelli,
The MSM has pretty much done their best to ignore the Mexican trucker issue. The Dems have been useless as well. To his credit, Edwards has great website entry (09/03/07) that's the only comment I've seen from the herd of front runners.
Posted by Christopher at September 5, 2007 08:49 AMChristopher, coyote got me caught up with Edwards on this issue, and I just read the thread you guys had going on it yesterday. I haven't heard anyone else in the "top tier" (I hate that term) talk about it either. I'm checking on Hillary today.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at September 5, 2007 08:58 AMMy cousin's husband is a truck driver and he was talking about this a year ago. He is NOT happy about it--pretty pissed actually. Do the Mexican truck drivers have to play by the same rules, as far as the condition of their trucks, hours driving, etc?
Posted by CG at September 5, 2007 10:01 AMnot to subvert the post, but i want to piggyback a little on what judith said.
oct 2005, my wife got sick. her flu turned into pneumonia, fever for 2 days in the 100's. i took her to the clinic who in turn informed me to take her to the hospital immediately. they admitted her. well, her pneumonia evolved into ARDS, that's accute respiratory distress syndrome for the medically illiterate. long story short, her kidneys shut down and she spent nine (9) days in icu. an overall stay for 20 days. they saved her life. my bill, 300 euros. that's under $450. that's right, she was treated in leuven hospital, belgium. they saved my wife's life for a pittance. they pay higher taxes you know socialized medicine, if i were a citizen, it would be free. our system is broke. by definition, our police force, fire dept, and by extension our military is socialized (simplist definition) how is it that saving lives is a for profit business?
could you imagine if the police, fire dept, or the military were for profit agencies? the outcry of the citizenry?
i may be naive, but i would love an explanation as to why saving lives is a profiteering enterprise.
--anthony
Posted by anthony at September 5, 2007 10:04 AMNo worries, anthony, it's an open thread!
could you imagine if the police, fire dept, or the military were for profit agencies? the outcry of the citizenry?
I saw on the Antiques Roadshow, of all places, that the fire dept in Britain used to be private, because someone brought in a bronze plaque that companies would install on the houses that paid them, but it had to stop because some fires went out of control.
I've heard your story over and over; remember the TB guy who jumped on a plane to the US because he "was afraid he'd die in a foreign hospital?" The truth is the total opposite, isn't it?
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 10:26 AMAmerica could easily afford all of the same health care programs (and more) that the civilized world has, but it cannot also spend $1 trillion a year on national "defense". y'all need to get your priorities straight.
Sturmtruppen, not surgeries! Aerial assault, not out patient care!
Posted by euzoius at September 5, 2007 10:38 AM...brought in a bronze plaque that companies would install on the houses that paid them,...
Some rural fire departments in the United States still do this. If you don't pay the yearly fees they'll let it burn to the ground.
leuven hospital, belgium
That is truly a great hospital.
I suppose having an insider to the Richardson campaign does elevate the level and accuracy of information imparted. However, doesn't it also risk a lack of impartiality?
Exactly. We went through this with the staffer with Princess Sparkle Pelosi who told us all the magnificent things coming our way from a person who turned out to be nothing more than the LeaderSheep of the House.
I can hear how Richardson walks on water from his own campaign website. There is no real need to vomit it back up here without some form of thoughtful and impartial analysis.
Posted by phidipides at September 5, 2007 10:40 AMwe are a populace of one-liner politicians. civics, history, world history, are not a focus of schooling, which breeds and perpetuates followers instead of leaders.
it seems france, great britain, belgium, etc. have healing as the focus of medicine. the american public, so afraid of anything not sounding like democracy socialist=communist=bad=terrorist.
and most of us follow lockstep because we know no better. when folks make points like we are indirectly responsible for 9-11 (our hypocritical policies in the middle east) we ignore the point and blast the messenger. the right knows this so they continue to equate that which they don't agree to anti-americanism... see above equation.
you shouldn't profit on human life. medicine continues to do so. wouldn't this be a great platform for the pro-lifer's to jump on? can you give me a more powerful example concerning the sanctity of human life?
Posted by anthony at September 5, 2007 10:53 AManthony, appealing to some sense of intellectual coherence and consistency in the Stooges of the Right is a real non starter.....
These folks (45% of the population) cannot be "reasoned" with, they operate via their lizard brain platform. Reform is impossible.
Posted by euzoius at September 5, 2007 11:09 AMone can only dream euzoius. one can only dream.
In St. Louis County, during the 40s and 50s, you had to buy a sticker for your house. No sticker, no fire department. I remember thinking, even as a small child how terrible it was to let one house burn to the ground just because they didn't have a sticker.
Posted by Judith at September 5, 2007 11:46 AMGeez, Judith, I had no idea. By all means, we need to go back to that kinda world, don't we? Glad I've got some yard on either side of my house...
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 11:57 AMit seems judith, we as a society are coming to that. no sticker, you ain't american boy....
no money, well, that appendectomy you need, sorry it just blew up... can we use his organs ma'am for our payin customers?
Posted by anthony at September 5, 2007 11:59 AMCG, no, they don't. They won't even be required to keep log books. No drug testing, proper licensing, etc. It's ugly, Man.
Posted by Jeff Dinelli at September 5, 2007 01:03 PMIt seems Kucinich has joined Edwards in denouncing Mexican truckers, the super-highway and NAFTA.
My wife works for Roadway Express, a Teamster Union Trucking Company and people are pissed. Management and Union workers both.
It would be interesting if a Nationwide strike came about. Not just for this issue, but opposing the occupation in Iraq and the politician's in Washington who refuse to listen to their constituents.
Posted by Seven of Six at September 5, 2007 01:51 PMSoS, thanks for the heads up! I checked this morning, too, but no post yet.
Posted by iamcoyote at September 5, 2007 02:39 PMpants pissing peter, STOOPID as usual. From Kos:
A new report just issued by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center show Arctic Ice disappearing at an alarming rate (Hat Tip Barcelona):
Guardian -- The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said last night. Experts said they were "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the north-west passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the north-east passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open later this month.
Posted by Gay Veteran at September 6, 2007 05:40 AM