Recommendations for February 5: From Dan Wood

Hello everyone,

Just passing along an email I received from someone on this list. This email is from Dan Wood, who is active in the City of Alameda. If you have any questions, email him at dwood@karelia.com. Whomever you support for President or whatever you think about any of the state propositions on the ballot, just one thing: make sure to vote! All the best.

Tony Daysog

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Hello all,

Well, my California Absentee Voter packet arrived in the mail yesterday, so I
figured now was a good time to send out an email to my network, with my personal
recommendations for the upcoming (Feb 5) election.

Hopefully, my sticking my neck out is not going to offend many. In the past,
I've gotten way more "thank you's" than the opposite, so I guess it's worth me
doing. I do so in the hope and spirit of a brighter future for all of us.

Of course the big item the ballot is the Presidential primary. I'll get to that
below. But first....


THE PROPOSITIONS

PROP 91 has to do with transportation. Apparently it's redundant. I don't see
any arguments in favor of it so I'll recommend NO.

PROP 92 is about funding community colleges. Our college system has really
gotten the short end of the stick lately. Community college is one of our few
tickets to upward mobility. I recommend YES.

PROP 93 is a 'term limits reform' initiative. While I agree that term limits
make it hard for legislators to do their jobs, this particular bill is actually
a trick - it creates a loophole for President Pro Tem, Don Perata (my state
senator) and Assembly Speaker Fabián Núñez to extend their own terms and power,
which I feel both have abused way too much already. We need to do away with
harmful term limits in the future - but not support a wolf in sheep's clothing
like this measure. So I recommend NO.

PROP 94-97 is about the Gaming industry. Something like this seems to come up
every year. From everything I've been able to determine, Indian Gaming makes
only a very small number of people VERY wealthy and sucks money out of local
economies. These propositions are Governor S's baby, and I'm not going to buy
it. Please vote NO on these.



PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

If you are a Democrat, or if you are an Independent and you request a ballot for
the Democratic primary, then this section is applicable to you.

Perhaps you have already made up your mind about who you are supporting, or
maybe you're just looking at your choices. If you've been reading or watching
the mainstream media, then you are seeing a fight between Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama. It's high "celebrity" drama, but it's not really the whole
picture.

The major candidate that the mainstream media is all but ignoring, and whom I'm
supporting vigorously, is John Edwards.

Now, most people I know will agree that ANYbody will be better in the White
House than Bush/Cheney. And if it looks like Clinton or Obama are somehow
inevitable, why even *think* about any other candidate?

Well we owe it to ourselves to find the presidential candidate who would be the
BEST replacement for the current administration ... not just somebody who is
marginally better. We have the biggest crisis ever on our hands -- the climate
-- and it's going to take somebody who is not just saying encouraging words but
who will do whatever it takes to solve this mess we've gotten ourselves into.

I've been following the presidential candidates for nearly a year now. I've
seen almost all the Democratic candidates speak and I've paid attention to their
plans and their style of leadership. And I honestly believe that ONLY John
Edwards can be an effective leader that we need so desperately now.

LEADERSHIP - While other candidates toss terms around like "hope" and "change",
they are not good at showing leadership. We need strong, bold steps to solve
issues like getting out of Iraq and solving global warming. Yet on key issues
in the Senate relating to the Iraq occupation or energy, both Clinton and Obama
have silently cast last-minute votes rather than making a public stand and
getting others to follow. Edwards has done just the opposite, making a big
public deal about these issues and raising awareness outside of just his own
campaign. On many campaign issues, like raising the minimum wage and fighting
against lobbyists, it was Edwards who brought them up, and who challenged the
other candidates to make them into issues as well. I've seen several instances
where Clinton and Obama have raised points in their campaign, and then backed
down due to Republican bullying. Do we really want another Democratic candidate
who will be like John Kerry, who wouldn't stand up to the "swift-boat" attacks
and who wouldn't challenge any of the huge election discrepancies in 2004? I've
watched how the candidates work, and only John Edwards can be described as a
leader.

ELECTABILITY - This shouldn't be the most important concern for who you choose
as your candidate, but it should be a factor. I've followed several polls for
many months now, and let me tell you, if Clinton or Obama are the Democratic
nominee, it's going to be a TIGHT race. Especially Clinton, which shouldn't be
a surprise considering that she is "Public Enemy #1" to the right-wingers.
Edwards, on the other hand, is projected to beat ANY Republican by a HUGE
margin, turning almost all states "blue." It would be an absolute landslide,
and really help to unify the country (not surprising because Edwards scores
quite well with independents and Republicans). Can we afford to nominate a
Democrat who might not make it, and risk waking up to President Romney or
Huckabee or 9ui11iani or McCain in November?

STANDING UP TO CORPORATE GREED - Perhaps one reason we don't hear much about
Edwards in the (corporate-owned) media is that the mega-corporations fear
Edwards. While Obama talks about not taking lobbyist money, he still lets them
walk all over him. And Clinton is happy to give them a "place at the table,"
accepting huge donations from lobbyists. Edwards, on the other hand, says "If
you give them a seat at the table, they'll eat all the food." I seriously
think that most of the problems of the country are at root because of the abuse
by self-interested corporations. (There's a great documentary "The Corporation"
which you can find on DVD or YouTube.) Only John Edwards has the courage to
take them on -- He's been fighting corporate greed his entire career.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY - With the Climate Crisis upon us, and 8 years of denial
from the White House, our country and planet is in deep trouble. We need a
candidate who is truly committed to solving this problem. We can't have a
candidate who is a proponent of Liquid Coal (like Obama), or a candidate who is
friends with the Oil lobby (like Clinton). We can't afford to re-open the
Pandora's box of Nuclear Energy like Clinton and Obama support. Instead, we
need a leader with the strongest plan, and the best leadership, with an "Apollo"
or "Manhattan" project for fighting global warming. All the candidates at least
talk about Global Warming, but I truly believe only Edwards is going to be able
to do something about it. The Environmental groups are pretty much all on board
with Edwards, and it's very clear why.

ENDING THE OCCUPATION - You know, everywhere in the world, people call America's
presence in Iraq an "occupation" - only we call it a "war". In any case, we
need to get out of this quagmire, and John Edwards is the only top-tier
candidate with a plan for getting out starting immediately and finishing
quickly. Obama talks about his consistent opposition to the war, but his
actions (in his baffling Senate votes and in his support for Hawkish Joe
Liebermann) have unfortunately not been consistent with his words. And Clinton,
well she says she won't even think about it until she's in office. John Edwards
is committed to complete withdrawal within the first 10 months of his
presidency; that includes the war profiteers such as Blackwater and Haliburton.

MORAL LEADERSHIP - This was probably the "theme" that got me interested in
Edwards when I first heard him (along with most of the other Demo candidates)
last year. While Clinton talks about her years of service and experience as
her main qualification, and Obama talks about building bridges and making
changes, I think that what distinguishes Edwards is his capacity to bring out
the best in Americans and America. "The world needs to see America as a force
for good again," Edwards says. Part of this is how he has made eliminating
Poverty a central part of his campaign, an issue which the other candidates
won't touch with a ten foot pole. John Edwards speaks for us, those without a
voice. While the U.S. has economic prosperity as measured by how rich our
billionaire are, the rest us are left behind -- this is the "Two Americas" he
talked about when he ran for President in 2004. In a country with a media that
won't do its job in being critical of the government, we need somebody who will
speak for us, to fight the special interests who have taken over.

As you can see, the differences between John Edwards and his competitors are
Enormous.

THEREFORE .... I'm asking you to seriously consider supporting John Edwards in
the Primary Election. The delegate count now stands at: Edwards-19,
Clinton-23, Obama-25. Edwards is still very much in the race. I hope you will
help me bring him over the top. If you are motivated to learn more specifics
about John Edwards, please go to his website -- www.johnedwards.com -- to
download position papers, watch any of his incredibly motivating speeches, or
make a contribution to his publicly-financed campaign. I also highly recommend
the comparison paper by Steve Kirsch <http://www.skirsch.co...
-- to give you some more specific contrasts among the candidates, or check out
the attachment.

Thanks very much for your indulgence. Feel free to forward this message around.

Best regards,

Dan Wood