Joe Sonka July 2nd, 2007
I’m not really sure how many supporters John Edwards had in Lexington on Friday morning, but I know that he has a lot more now. The line on John Edwards that is making the rounds is that his best asset in the campaign to win the presidency is not his humble Southern background, health-care platform or charm, but his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. After watching her performance during Friday’s Small Change for Big Change event in Lexington, I think that statement isn’t too far off base.
Elizabeth Edwards performed a rather spectacular hour+ Q & A session with over 200 contributors, fans, and potential voters. And due to the online outreach efforts of the Edwards campaign (thanks to Tracy and Amy, via DMKY’s Shawn Dixon) and the southern charm of DMKY’s own Jim Pence, Jim and I were able speak with Elizabeth face to face for roughly 10 minutes before her public Q & A session.
Though the Edwards staff thought we had a decent chance of chatting with her for a couple of minutes, shortly after we entered the venue and set up our cameras (Jim and fellow film guru Erica), we were told that there was no time for an interview. After Jim disappeared for a few minutes to chat up the Edwards folks, he came back saying that she might be doing a short “meet and greet” with some people.
“What’s a meet and greet?”
“I’m not sure”
“I’ve never been to a meet and greet”
“Yea, me neither”
Ten minutes later, Jim pulled me backstage and one of the staff stopped us and asked if we were the guys from DitchMitchKY and told us that we could speak with Mrs. Edwards in a few minutes, but not on camera or on tape. So while all of the slick, dolled up TV reporters waited for Elizabeth to come out for the Q & A, the blogger in ratty Chuck Taylors and ripped pants, and the hillbilly with the Acapulco shirt were whisked upstairs to meet her.
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- 2008 KY U.S. Senate Race , 2008 Presidential Campaign , Bigotry , Blogging , Disenfranchisement , DitchMitchKY.com , Elizabeth Edwards , Energy Industry , Health Care , Homophobia , Immigration , Jim Pence , John Edwards , Jonathan Miller , KY Blogosphere , Kentucky Blogosphere , Kentucky Dems , Lexington , Medicare Part D , Michael Moore , Mitch McConnell , Prescription Drugs , Rural America , Same-sex Marriage , SiCKO , Stan Lee , Stem-cell Research , Voter suppression , War
Terri Whitehouse June 20th, 2007
The AP (via NPR) reports that President Bush is prepared to, once again, veto legislation that would supply government funding for embryonic stem-cell research:
This will be the third veto of Bush’s presidency. His first occurred last year when he rejected legislation to allow funding of additional lines of embryonic stem cells - a measure that passed over the objections of Republicans then in control. The second legislation he vetoed would have set timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq.
I’d draw the conclusion that the Bush’s Iraq veto indicates that he doesn’t, in fact, care all that much about “life.” What a surprise: the “culture of life” is actually the culture of death.
Joe Sonka June 9th, 2007
I went to the truly insane “Creation Museum” last Saturday and have my full report up on BlueGrassRoots.
I’m a big fan of dark, unintentional humor, and that’s exactly what I got in my visit. What’s certainly not funny is that I could definitely see certain “Christian Academies” across the State (that teach Creationism in their school) bringing their students here on field trips. To call that child abuse would be appropriate in my opinion.
It also reinforces many, many negative stereotypes about Kentucky.
Another relevant question is how do our representatives stand on the museum? Do they endorse its views? Would they take their children there? Is this an appropriate field trip for students?
I haven’t heard any politicians take on this yet, and I’d be interested to hear it.
Anyway, I leave you a picture of Pebbles Flintstone and her pet Velaciraptor, Dino.
- Anti-Science Agenda , Bigotry , Creation Museum , Creationism , Family Values , Homophobia , Humor , Religion , Religious Fanaticism , Same-sex Marriage , Sex , Stem-cell Research
Matt Gunterman June 5th, 2007
We must never forget that Senator Mitch McConnell has used politics to obstruct life-saving and life-improving stem-cell research. Think of all the millions of people who could benefit from medical and scientific breakthroughs on the scale of the one mentioned below, if only Mitch McConnell stopped playing politics with science just to get the votes of the foaming-at-the mouth, radical base, which is led by the biggest nutter of them all: State Representative Stan Lee (R). Mitch McConnell has voted to oppose expanded stem-cell research at every turn. Imagine what science could achieve if we pursued this line of research full force!
From Fiona MacRae in the Daily Mail (UK):
45-minute operation to restore sight to millions
A revolutionary technique being developed by British scientists could cure blindness in millions of people around the world.
The first 45-minute operations could take place within five years and could be as commonplace as cataract surgery in a decade.
The improvement is likely to be great enough to transform lives, allowing the blind to regain the ability to carry out everyday tasks such as reading or driving.
The pioneering stem cell surgery tackles age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of blindness in the elderly. There are about 300,000 sufferers in this country and the number is expected to treble in the next 25 years to around one million as the population ages.
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