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Friday, July 14, 2006
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So somebody at the desk next to me just quoted the Groucho song, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It." Terrific song, but I didn't know all the lyrics. A quick Google search, of course, found them. Interestingly, they were posted by someone in the office next door, once and maybe (who knows) future colleague, Dan Brekke:
I don't know what they have to say,
It makes no difference anyway --
Whatever it is, I'm against it!
No matter what it is or who commenced it,
I'm against it.
Hey, Dan. Can't argue with that!
5:46:31 PM 
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In this interview, John Edwards makes a pretty good case for himself as future president.
We often hear skeptics talk about how costly it would be to make the
investments necessary to end poverty. What you don’t hear as much about
is how expensive it is for America to have so many citizens mired in
poverty. We all pay a price when young people who could someday find
the cure for AIDS or make a fuel cell work are unemployed or stuck in
low-wage jobs because they didn’t get the education they need.
We
all pay a price when our people turn to crime because they have no
other hope. A Harvard professor estimates that growing incarceration
costs and unemployment of ex-offenders costs 4 percent of our economy,
each and every year. And we all pay a steep price when the American
dream no longer seems attainable to every citizen.
Can you imagine having a president who didn't spend all his time either trying to scare us or tell us how we have to prevent anyone from takng the money of his buddies? Edwards can at least speak in full sentences, which alone would be a big step up.
My friend David Shipler, tells a striking story about a single mother
he met while researching his book, The Working Poor. She had no savings
and low earnings, so she had to live in a drafty wooden house. This
exacerbated her son's asthma. That led to two ambulance rides to the
hospital. Those trips led to ambulance charges she couldn't pay. Those
charges damaged her credit report. And so then she was denied a loan to
buy a mobile home. That meant she had to stay in that drafty house. And
she had to buy a car from a sleazy dealership that charged her 15
percent interest.
This is just one vivid example of how a
combination of forces act together to keep people stuck in a cycle of
poverty -- despite their best efforts.
It is important not to
overlook rural poverty, which is particularly prevalent in the South.
Eighty-two percent of the poorest rural counties in America are in the
South. We need to offer tailored solutions to meet the needs of
America’s small towns and rural communities. We should invest in
community colleges, which are particularly important in rural areas and
open rural small business centers to provide investment capital and
advice to help entrepreneurs get off the ground.
When was the last time the current clown in the White House spoke about poverty?
3:27:47 PM
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The surest sign that things are going well in Iraq is the growing violence in Palestine and across the Lebanese border into Israel.
(Via American Spectator Blog/a>.)
So if there wasn't any violence in Palestine and Lebanon, then I guess that would be a sign that things were going badly in Iraq? What a crock.
8:55:05 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Steve Michel.
Last update: 8/1/2006; 8:56:45 AM.
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