John Edwards and the Standoff in New Orleans

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeRumors this morning is that John Edwards will quit the campaign today. Only time will tell. I am unsure if this is true or not - it may be. I think if I was John, I would at least wait until after Super Tuesday to make the decision. If he does quit so soon before Super Tuesday, then a great majority of people will not get the chance to vote. Time will tell. If he does leave the campaign trail today, I will miss him - his message resonated with me and many times, he was the only adult running. We shall see.

One Vote '08

I like this idea--it fits with my belief that it's important to get candidates to endorse *our* agenda. ONE Vote '08 is an unprecedented, bi-partisan campaign to make global health and extreme poverty foreign policy priorities in the 2008 presidential election. The next president will take office in a time of great hope: there are effective and affordable solutions that save lives. AIDS drugs can now cost as little as $1 a day. A $5 bed net can keep a child from dying from a mosquito bite. With the force of more than millions of members from all 50 states and a coalition of more than 100 non-profit, religious and charitable groups, ONE Vote '08 will educate and mobilize voters to ensure that the next American president is committed to using "strategic" power to end global poverty and keep America strong. I'm not interested in being on any candidate's team at this point. I'm tired of candidates and their spokespople telling pundits "what the people want". I'm much more interested in being part of a movement where the actual *people* tell the candidates and elected officials what issues are important to us.

And Now the NEW FACE OF UNICEF

UNICEF Black Face Campaign The New Face of German Racism? What do you think? Hat Tip: Black Women in Europe Read more HERE

Desmond Tutu addresses G8 Leaders

I wish I had some insightful commentary to add here, but work's been getting in the way of my blogging (and my pre-blogging research) again. But I think this is important and should get wider attention... From Ecumenical News International Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has joined other religious leaders and globalization critics in sending an anti-poverty message to leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations who are meeting in Germany. "We can survive only together, we can be free only together, we can be prosperous only together, we can be human only together," said the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town to lively applause at a rally during the Kirchentag, the once-every-two-years German Protestant convention, meeting this year in Cologne. The June 7 rally, outside the city's cathedral, took place the day before the heads of six African nations were due to join the leaders of the G8 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, German, Russia and the United States -- for the final day of their northern German summit. "I want to say to the leaders of the G8, 'I am an African, I am a man, I am a human being ... I am not an object of pity, I am not an object of charity'," said Tutu. "I am an African, I am your brother." The open-air gathering had a live video link to an anti-poverty concert in Rostock where rock stars were trying to put pressure on the G8 leaders meeting nearby in Heiligendamm, behind a 12-kilometer-long fence topped with razor-wire. "The message of the Kirchentag is clear; we say: Pull down the barriers between those who decide and those who are affected by the decisions," the president of the Protestant convention, Reinhard Höppner, told the Cologne rally. "We say: Do not put your efforts into growth that violates the dignity of people." More here.

The Food Stamp Challenge

Originally posted at Howard-Empowered People. I don't know why I'm having trouble with the links to Ryan's web page, but if you Google for "Food Stamp Challenge", you will find a number of stories about it. And this is definitely worthy of wider attention... I saw this in the newspaper at some point this week, and had Demetrius post a link to it in the comments. I meant to follow up with a front page post, but it slipped my mind with everything that's been going on. Still, I think it's worth drawing attention to while it's still more or less timely: From Tim Ryan's web site: (Washington, DC) Congressman Tim Ryan (OH-17) will participate in the Food Stamp Challenge, an effort aimed to raise awareness of the hunger problem faced by 38 million Americans nationwide, including 13 million children. The Food Stamp Program provides over 25 million people living at or below the poverty line with a means to afford basic foodstuffs. Click here to read a Washington Post article about the challenge, and here to see Tim Ryan's blog entries about his experience living on $3 of food per day this past week. Note: I spent 20 minutes this morning trying to fix the link to Tim Ryan's web page, and no matter what link I used, once I pasted it into Blogger, I got a page not found message. The link I use at the beginning of this post is a link to a Wikipedia article about Ryan. At the bottom of that page, there is a link to his home page, which works when I click it. Or copy and paste http://timryan.house.gov into your browser window. Thank you, Jessica, for pointing out the "page not found" error message. Wish I could figure out what I'm doing wrong with the link. I mean, I *do* know how to make links--why can't I get this one to work?