Senator John Edwards:
voted for War on Iraq, pro-nuclear, pro-Patriot Act
in 2004, Edwards was vetted by elite "Bilderberg"
society for the job of Vice President.
Kerry and Edwards "won" the 2004 election, but chose not to contest the election fraud, which was worse in 2004 than the 2000 debacle.
In 2008, Edwards was the only "top tier" Democrat to discuss the issues of class, and was ridiculed by the corporate media for daring to talk about economic injustice. (Edwards of course had a much weaker position than Rep. Dennis Kucinich, but he got a similar dismissive treatment from the media and dropped out of the race on January 30.)
"I think Iraq is the most serious and imminent threat to
our country."
-- John Edwards, CNN Late Edition, Feb. 24, 2002
August 8, 2008:
Interesting that the (irrelevant) story of John Edwards not being monogamous was given full coverage the same day as the Russia - Georgia war broke out. Sex is obviously more important to the media than this very dangerous flashpoint for a new oil war.
www.prorev.com/2008/01/john-edwards-hidden-problem.html
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008
JOHN EDWARDS' HIDDEN PROBLEM
Sam Smith
JOHN EDWARDS has departed the race leaving a surprising number of liberals without a target for covert class prejudices that have so broadly replaced ethnic and gender discrimination among the better educated. Now the righteous are safe to make what is in their mind a decent and diverse choice: between a black and a woman, one a graduate of Harvard Law School, the other of its Yale equivalent.
It's sort of like the beginning of the Clinton administration which was going to look like America. In fact, 77% of Clinton's initial cabinet were millionaires, beating out both Reagan and Bush in this category. In DC, the Clinton choices barely raised an eyebrow. Clinton's cabinet may not have looked like America, but it certainly looked like establishment Washington. It required no corruption or conspiracy for the city's journalists to ignore it; everything was just too normal.
One of the delusions of elite liberals is that that they lack prejudice. To be sure, they treat black, women and gays far better than once was the case. But if you are poor, uneducated, own a gun, weigh a lot, come from the South or mainly read the Bible it is another matter. Class and culture have replaced the genetic as acceptable targets.
www.democracynow.org/2008/1/3/vote_for_change_atrocity_linked_us
January 03, 2008
Vote for Change? Atrocity-Linked U.S. Officials Advising Democratic, GOP Presidential Frontrunners
Independent journalist Allan Nairn and American Conservative correspondent Kelley Beaucar Vlahos discuss a little-addressed facet of the 2008 campaign: many of the top advisers to leading presidential candidates are ex-U.S. officials involved in atrocities around the world.
ALLAN NAIRN: The list of his foreign advisers is not as complete, so it’s not as clear exactly where they may be coming from, but it’s interesting. Last night on TV, one of the top Edwards advisers, “Mudcat” Saunders, was complaining about the fact that there are 35,000 lobbyists in Washington. And it appears, from the Edwards list, that many of the military lobbyists are working on the Edwards foreign policy team, because the names that--the Edwards names that are out there mainly come from the Army and the Air Force and the Navy Material Command. Those are the portions of the Pentagon that do the Defense contracts, that do the deals with the big companies like Raytheon and Boeing, etc. One of those listed on the Edwards team is the lobbyist for the big military contractor EADS. So, although Edwards talks about going after lobbyists, if he tries to go after the military lobbyists, he may get a little blowback from his own advisers.
www.wlos.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.nc/22b7034c-www.wlos.com.shtml
Edwards: Americans should sacrifice their SUVs
August 29, 2007 07:46 EDT
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.
The former North Carolina senator told a forum by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, yesterday he thinks Americans are willing to sacrifice.
Edwards says Americans should be asked to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. He says he would ask them to give up SUVs.
Edwards got a standing ovation when he said weapons and equipment used by America's military needs to be made in the United States. He says tanks and ammunition for M16 rifles are being made in other countries.
He says jobs that provide equipment for America's defense need to be made in the United States.
| John
Edwards and Bilderberg |
New York Times
A Secret Conference Thought to Rule the World
By ALAN COWELL and DAVID M. HALBFINGER
Published: July 11, 2004
SINCE its first meeting 50 years ago, the Bilderberg conference, a
secretive gathering of global power brokers, has inspired layer upon
layer of conspiracy theories, which it has done little to dispute. Over
the years, the deeds laid at the conference's devious door have included
the creation of the European Union, the invasion of Iraq and the bombing
of Serbia - all to service its most cherished goal: the creation of
a world government.The conspiracy theories bubbled to the surface anew
last week, after it was reported that a well-received speech
by Senator John Edwards at the conference last month in Stresa, Italy,
was one reason for his selection as John Kerry's vice-presidential running
mate.
Is the Bilderberg confab now molding domestic American policy?
Roughly 130 delegates attend the invitation-only annual gatherings,
named for the Dutch hotel where the first Bilderberg conference was
held in May 1954, to debate issues surrounding the cold war.
The meetings are hardly a monument to transparency. The hotels involved
are usually closed off to other guests.
Unlike the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, journalists are
not invited to cover it - although a few attend as participants - and
all delegates promise to keep quiet about what they hear and say.
"They do not have to sign anything, but they understand that they
do not talk," said Maja Banck-Polderman, the organization's executive
secretary. In a telephone interview, she said she was the only employee
at the Bilderberg administrative office in Leiden, the Netherlands.
Secrecy understandings aside, prying details loose about Mr. Edwards's
appearance was not difficult so long as the chattering chieftains were
not identified.
Mr. Edwards, several said, joined Ralph Reed, the Republican
strategist, in giving a presentation on the American election. After
Mr. Reed spoke about how Mr. Kerry was vulnerable on "values,"
Mr. Edwards presented a characteristically positive case for Mr. Kerry's
election, focusing on the insecurity of American workers that persists
even when economic statistics turn north.
Two Democrats in the room said Mr. Edwards sparked a rule-breaking round
of applause when he finished, though a nonpartisan witness did not recall
such an ovation.
"He spoke with great passion, in a meeting that is usually
rather dry," said the nonpartisan veteran attendee. "He was
able to make it a cross between his stump speech and an intimate conversation
in a small room."
The group's meetings, Ms. Banck-Polderman said, are financed by corporate
sponsors in the host countries and are regularly attended by tycoons,
politicians and diplomats in Europe and the United States, including
Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Richard N. Perle,
the former head of the Defense Policy Board. This year's list also included
Richard C. Holbrooke, the former United States ambassador to the United
Nations, and, of course, Senator Edwards.
The guest list and membership would more or less overlap with
the "Wanted" posters of anti-globalization protesters. Indeed,
one former participant, Will Hutton, a British journalist and economist,
has been widely quoted calling the Bilderberg set the "high priests
of globalization."
Former participants have generally played down the conspiracy theories,
saying the secrecy is merely designed to foster a climate of open debate,
allowing participants to speak their minds freely.
But critics of the Bilderberg conference argue that while it may not
make formal decisions, it sets a consensus that spreads among
business and political elites, molding the global agenda.
Some argue, for instance, that the first intimations of American
determination to wage war in Iraq came from a Bilderberg gathering in
2002.
"What I call for is more openness in what they do," said Tony
Gosling, a British researcher and former journalist who has followed
the Bilderberg meetings and believes they are designed to unite opinion
around major, global ideas.
"I don't think the participants should be sworn to secrecy,"
he said in a telephone interview from Bristol, England. "I think
that a forum where so many rich and powerful people meet should be open
to public scrutiny."
Whatever else, the selection of Mr. Edwards as Mr. Kerry's running mate
seems to show that the Bilderberg delegates have an eye for a contender.
But Democrats please note: they do not always back the winner. This
year's delegates list showed that Giulio Tremonti attended as Italy's
minister of economy and finance: four weeks later, he resigned in a
political dispute - perhaps not the best of omens for Senator Edwards.
| Edwards
is now anti-war (but the damage has been done) |
It is a good thing that Edwards is now anti-war, but that does not undo
the damage that he caused in supporting the War on Iraq. A "peace
president" would be one who can make the right decision when it is
needed - and not merely change his mind in favor of peace years after
the fact.
Edwards Echoes King's Anti-War Message
The Associated Press
Monday 15 January 2006
New York - Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards called on
Americans to resist President Bush's planned troop escalation in Iraq,
echoing a plea by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
40 years ago to end the Vietnam War.
Edwards addressed about 1,200 parishioners Sunday at Riverside Church,
a multiracial, politically active Manhattan congregation where King
delivered his famous "Beyond Vietnam" speech on April 4, 1967.
King was assassinated exactly one year later.
Edwards spoke from the same wooden pulpit King used and was introduced
by King's son, Martin Luther King III. The younger King said his father
would have admired Edwards' commitment to fighting poverty.
The former North Carolina senator and 2004 Democratic vice presidential
nominee touched on poverty issues in his speech, as well as AIDS in
Africa, energy independence and a proposed boost in the minimum wage.
But he saved his strongest words for the troop increase in Iraq, invoking
King's condemnation of the Vietnam War as a betrayal of American values.
"Silence is betrayal, and I believe it is a betrayal not to speak
out against the escalation of the war in Iraq," Edwards said to
a sustained standing ovation.
It was a high-profile appearance for Edwards on the home turf of Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner who
has been decidedly more cautious in speaking out against the war and
the proposed troop escalation.
Several of Clinton's allies attended the Edwards speech, including fellow
New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has already endorsed Clinton's
likely presidential bid.
Clinton spent the Martin Luther King holiday weekend traveling to Iraq
and Afghanistan.
Two other Democratic presidential hopefuls, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden
and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, attended King remembrances in South
Carolina. Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who could join the presidential
field as early as this week, was observing the holiday weekend with
low-key appearances in Chicago.
Underscoring his previous calls for a troop rollback in Iraq, Dodd said
Sunday at a memorial service in Greenville, S.C., "It is time now
that we say we have done enough."
Edwards, who declared his candidacy in late December, said Americans
must not wait for a change in presidential leadership to demand that
American forces be drawn down in Iraq. Bush announced last week he would
send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq in an effort to stabilize the
war-torn country; Edwards has called for 40,000-50,000 to be removed.
"We need to show we are serious about leaving, and the best way
to do that is to start leaving," he said to applause.
Edwards voted in 2002 to authorize military action in Iraq, as did Clinton,
Biden, and Dodd. All but Clinton have forcefully recanted their votes.
Edwards also called on Congress to withhold funding for the troop increase,
echoing a proposal announced last week by Massachusetts Sen. Edward
Kennedy. Kennedy's plan has been embraced by some other Democrats, including
Dodd, but viewed warily by others who see it as unworkable and potentially
harmful to troops already serving in Iraq. Clinton and Obama are among
those who have not yet indicated they would support Kennedy's approach.
http://nc.indymedia.org/news/2002/07/197.php
Citizens Rally at NC Senator John Edwards’ Raleigh Office
by Nora Wilson • Monday July 08, 2002 at 03:02 PM
nora@ ncwarn.org 919-490-0747
NC Citizens Rally for Responsible Nuclear Waste Policy
In 2000, the North Carolina Democrat changed his stance from opposition
to support of the Yucca Mountain project after receiving a letter from
CP&L executive William Orser.
www.lasvegasweekly.com/2004/02/05/upfront.html
Flip Flops, Unchanged Stances and Whatever Will Get Me Your Four Electoral
Votes
Where the candidates stand on Yucca Mountain
By Steve Bornfeld
Sen. John Edwards: The only major candidate to come down squarely
for building the Yucca dump, Edwards voted for the project
despite pleas from 21 environmental and social-justice group leaders
in his home state of North Carolina--who posed questions about waste
transportation to a life-size Edwards cutout outside his office in Raleigh.
And further rumblings about his relationship with the nuclear-power
industry are ominous.
However, Edwards is under pressure from his state's nuke-industry power
brokers. North Carolina has five active nuclear reactors that produce
about 32 percent of the state's electricity. The North Carolina Independent
Media Center claims that in 2000, Edwards reversed his stance from opposition
to support of the Yucca project after getting a letter from William
Orser, an executive with CP&L (Carolina Power and Light).
|
