“Bindings”, Part 3

As they rode into a clearing, Syras stopped his horse and suddenly a slash of light appeared in the snow in front of them. It rotated into a large opening, large enough for two people to ride side by side. At the asha’man’s command everyone rode through, Vyshaine flinching as she rode as if afraid it would close on her, Noelle not even noticing the Gateway. Maeve stared at it open-mouthed, hardly noticing that everyone else had gone through until Syras spoke to her. “Go through, then wait for me. I do hold it, I go last.”

Hurriedly, she booted her horse through the gap. Of course, now she knew there really were that many men who could channel, that vague rumor about Travelling being true did not surprise her. What did surprise her was the size of the village she rode into. She looked around in amazement as Syras rode through the Gateway and let it close, then as they rode a short distance over a hard-packed, broad street toward a long row of stables. Syras dismounted and she did the same. He handed her the reins.

“Storm do go in the third stall to the left. Find any empty stall for your own horse, there do be enough open yet. Take care of them both and do come out with your saddlebags when you be finished,” he instructed her.

She blinked for a moment, were they to be treated as servants? Then they had not had any servants along on this ride. She had been taking care of her own horse for weeks, and it was not as if she had any choice in the matter. She did not hesitate as she led the horses inside, unsaddled them and rubbed them down. His first, but she did not neglect her own, checking the gelding’s legs for any damage he might have taken when he had stumbled after Syras had let them lose.

Besides her, only Ladonna and Ceris were unsaddling their own horses, and those of the men who had captured them. They moved methodically, their faces blank, yet jumping at every sound, especially every time a man spoke. Maeve did not know what to say to them so she kept silent as she worked.

Several of the other men who had been out on the road unsaddled their own horses, and she gasped again as she noticed they used the Power for all their chores. Of course she could not see the flows, but she saw the saddles lift off by themselves, the buckets of water float through the air. These men must be holding saidin all day long, no wonder they had learned to channel so much of the Power in the brief time since Al’Thor’s amnesty had been declared! She had to haul her buckets by hand. Not that she would have used saidar for something like that at any other time, but it did make her flinch to realize she could not have touched saidar if she tried.

The men who had brought their own horses in floated their tack to a small room in the back of the stable, so she carried the saddles there as well. As she walked past the stalls she noticed a tall grey and her breath caught. She was sure that was Gabrielle’s mare. Gabrielle had been in the only group that had been in front of them; eight other small groups would follow. She had a sinking feeling she knew what they were about to run into and she only hoped the sisters who led the other groups would be more careful than Vyshaine had been before ordering a charge. Vyshaine was of her own Ajah, and a casual friend, but it was her denial of what had been plain to see that had cost Noelle her Warder, and got some of the guardsmen killed as well, she was sure of that. Ordering them to attack men who could channel while the five of them were all shielded, Light!

Then she was done with the horses and she walked out of the stable, where Syras stood talking to a few other men. He saw her coming out and broke off his conversation. He indicated for her to follow him and he led her though the village.
“You be sleeping here, with the other Aes Sedai,” he said as he showed her a large building with many small rooms canvassed off. “Breakfast do be every morning at first hour in the barrack next to this one. After breakfast you come to my place and I do tell you what to do that day.” Maeve nodded as she dropped her saddlebags on a cot.

“You can unpack later. And do leave your ring here, or carry it with you where none be able to see, but do no wear it. No one who be no part of the Black Tower need see who you are. Now do come with me,” Syras instructed and he walked her to another part of the village after she had dropped her ring in her belt pouch. Many wooden houses lined the streets here and it looked almost normal. Women walked the streets, and even a few kids ran around playing.

“Some of us do have families,” Syras commented as he noticed her look of surprise.

“Do you?” Maeve asked, just to say something.

Syras shook his head. “Not me,” he answered.

They came to a mid-sized, two story house and Syras opened the door. “This be where I live,” he said. She followed him in and he closed the door. They were in a plain living room that contained a bench, a couple of chairs, some shelves and a small desk. A fire was burning in a large, stone fireplace, a door led off to what Maeve thought would be the kitchen, and a steep ladder led up to the second floor.

“You can put your cloak on a peg,” Syras indicated a short row of pegs next to the door, hanging his own coat on one. Then he reached down and pulled off his boots. “You do know any Healing?” he asked.

Maeve blinked, then nodded.

“Good, do see about my blisters. I be a sailor for twenty years and those things they do no agree with me,” Syras said, kicking the boots into a corner with a heartfelt curse.

Maeve reached out for saidar tentatively, not knowing what to expect, but she found she could embrace the Source as easily as ever. She laid her hands on him and channeled briefly, then let go of saidar. Again she felt a mild surprise at how completely he trusted the bond, letting her channel on him. Then, what was she going to do here, in the middle of this Black Tower, even if she could have channeled at will?

Syras stretched and wiggled his toes on the bare wooden floor. “Better,” he stated. Then he walked through the door into what cooking smells confirmed was indeed the kitchen. “You be hungry?” he called.

Maeve did not immediately know what to answer. It had been hours since their last stop, but her stomach still felt queasy. “A little I guess,” she replied and entered the kitchen as well.

Almost as large as the front room had been, the kitchen held a large table in the middle of the floor, a stove for cooking and an oven, and a good number of cabinets along the wall. A pot of stew hung near the fire where it would remain warm but not boil over.

“Jhoira be the one who made this. She do be cooking for many of us. Can you cook?” he asked her.

“Yes, I…I may be out of practice,” Maeve answered. Every village girl of seventeen knew the basics of cooking and baking, of course, and her mother had taught her well, but she had not used those skills even once since she had gone to the White Tower. “No matter, you will pick up again I be sure,” he said while he reached into one of the cabinets and took out two wooden bowls, handing one to her. “Help yourself.”

She took some stew and ate slowly. As she finished, he looked up and said, “Rinse your bowl and go to the dormitory. Do get some sleep, you be feeling tired. Be back here tomorrow after you break your fast.”

“Yes Syras,” she answered, then did as he had ordered. She was no longer surprised he let her walk out the door and to the dormitory by herself. But what she found in the dormitory was hardly something that made for an easy nights’ sleep. As she had known when she had seen Gabrielle’s horse, all five sisters from the first small group had also been captured. Gabrielle herself sat on one of the long benches that lined the broad hallway, looking silently at her lap. Noelle was crying on the shoulder of Hannah, another Green who had been with Gabrielle’s team. At least Hannah looked like her two Warders had been taken alive. Maeve did not even consider the possibility they had escaped; not after what she had seen today. Ceris and Ladonna stood each on one side of the hallway and glared at her as she entered. Then they turned back to glaring even harder at Vyshaine, who sat on a bench by herself still shaking her head, oblivious to anything around her.

Maeve quickly walked through to the small room where she had dropped her bags earlier that day. She did not feel she would be able to speak to Vyshaine right now, knowing she was bitter for the woman’s blunder earlier today. She doubted it made any difference in her own situation but it had cost lives, but Vyshaine knew that as well as she did. She certainly did not need to hear it from someone of her own Ajah. Ceris and Ladonna looked like they blamed her as a Red almost as much as they blamed Vyshaine, and she did not think Gabrielle or any of the others would hold a different opinion. She closed the flap of canvas that was her door and stripped to her shift. As she tried to go to sleep she finally wept, feeling very much alone even though the other sisters were right there in the small rooms next to her.

(to be continued)

“Bindings”, Part 2

After only a few steps, the horse stopped so suddenly that she would have been pitched over his head into the snow if she, too, had not been held firmly in place by something. Saidin, it had to be. She felt a cold that had nothing to do with the weather that had bothered her earlier.

A man rode up to her, slowly walking his horse through the snow. He was a big man, with wide shoulders and thick, muscled arms. His face was weathered but he did not look much older than his thirties. A sword pin shone on his collar.

“There do be no need to run. I will no hurt you,” he said. He brought his horse up close to hers and then, out of all things, he kissed her!

Warmth flooded through her, a sweet kind of warmth, boiling through her veins and saturating every nerve in her body. Then suddenly it shattered, as if a thousand tiny shards of thin glass burst out from inside her. She gasped.

“I be sorry about that, I do no usually kiss a woman I do not know. But it do be our way,” the man said. “Now, do not attack anyone in a black coat, do not try to escape, and do not touch saidar unless I do give you permission. I be called Syras. What be your name?”

“Maeve,” she answered, surprising herself that she could even bring out the words. She felt totally dumbfounded, overwhelmed by everything.

“Just Syras, none of this sir business. I be no lord,” the man said and she nodded quietly.

“I will release you now. Do be careful, your horse he may spook when he can move again,” Syras told her.

Maeve nodded again, and moments later the bonds that held her were gone. Her horse snorted, stumbling and sliding in the snow as he frisked, but she settled him down with a pat on his neck. Her shield was gone too, she noticed. Strangely enough, she felt no desire to channel or to run again.

Syras looked satisfied as she settled her steed, then turned his horse around. “Follow me and stay close,” he said as he rode off without even looking if she did indeed follow. She booted her horse, quickly catching up as she tried to make sense of what had just happened. Syras rode his horse down the road to where a few other men were waiting, together with Ladonna and Vyshaine. Most of the guardsmen stood, without their horses, off to the side, stiffly so that she was sure they were held by the Power. She spotted Ceris riding next to another man when she turned around, and yet another came riding out from the trees with Noelle behind him on his horse. The Imperial still seemed satisfied. Light! She gasped again as she realized she could feel he was satisfied. Hesitantly, she focused on the feelings that were his. As a Red, she had never felt a bond but of course she had heard it described. This man had bonded her? And compelled her through the bond, there was no doubt of that, although she had never heard of compulsion being so strong. He had not even looked if she had followed!

“All Aes Sedai do be accounted for, Lorin,” Syras reported to the older man who had approached them first.

“Those of you with a sister, take them to the Tower,” the man addressed as Lorin ordered. “Peytr, Borvald, take the captured guardsmen in. The rest of you round up any stray horses and remove all traces of anything happening here.”

A chorus of “Yes Lorin,” and “Will do,” and similar acknowledgements answered him.

Syras rode off with those who held the other Aes Sedai and she followed. Ladonna and Ceris rode silently, as she did, but staring down at their hands as if they could not bear to look up. Vyshaine was crying softly, shaking her head from side to side, as if to deny everything that had happened. And Noelle was sobbing against the back of the man she rode behind, holding him like a child sobbing against her father’s back. Maeve looked around for her warder, then remembered he had been among the first to charge past her. Light! She felt her heart catch in her throat. Poor Noelle. She wanted to ride up to the sobbing sister but she could not leave her place at Syras’ side.

(to be continued)

SCOTUS Watch: 2007-2008 Preview

It’s been a while since we’ve focused on legal proceedings at the Supreme Court.

The Court will begin its next Term on Monday, 1 October 2007. Here is a look at some upcoming cases of interest in the months ahead:

Second Amendment and Drug Trafficking

Michael Watson was arrested for trading illegal drugs for an unloaded semi-automatic pistol. He was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 262 months in prison. Since Watson’s crime involved a gun, his sentence included an additional 60 months. The extra jail time was imposed under 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A), which punishes any drug trafficker who “uses or carries” a firearm during a drug deal. In Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223 (1993), the Supreme Court had ruled that a defendant who trades a gun for drugs “uses” it for purposes of the statute. However, the Court clarified in Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137 (1996) that “use” means “active employment” of a firearm; mere possession of the firearm does not necessarily constitute use.

On appeal, Watson argued that the firearm was not used in his case. He stressed that the gun was never loaded and was in his possession for only moments before he was arrested. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected Watson’s arguments and affirmed the lower court. Following Circuit precedents, it ruled that Watson had used the gun under the statute’s meaning of “use.”

The question before the Court seeks to answer whether receipt of an unloaded firearm as payment for drugs constitutes “use” of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense for purposes of federal law.

The case is Watson v. United States, 06-571.

First Amendment and Child Pornography

Michael Williams was convicted in federal district court of “pandering” (promoting) child pornography. The PROTECT Act of 2003 proscribes the pandering of “any material or purported material in a manner that reflects the belief, or that is intended to cause another to believe” that the material is illegal child pornography. The Act represents Congress’s attempt to outlaw sexually explicit images of children - including both images of real children and computer-generated images of realistic virtual children. The Supreme Court struck down Congress’s previous effort as overbroad in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (00-795) 535 U.S. 234 (2002) 198 F.3d 1083, because the law as written could have outlawed artwork that was neither obscene nor child pornography. Williams argued that the PROTECT Act was similarly overbroad, but the district court held that the government can legitimately outlaw the pandering of material as child pornography, even if the material is not in fact child pornography.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the lower court and struck down the PROTECT Act as unconstitutionally overbroad. The Eleventh Circuit was unmoved by the government’s argument that prosecuting the promotion of virtual child pornography as real is necessary to combat the child porn market. The Circuit Court held that the Act’s prohibition was broad enough to include any “braggart, exaggerator, or outright liar” who claims in a non-commercial context to have child pornography but actually does not. Thus, the Act’s pandering provision prohibited protected speech as well as actual child pornography.

The case is United States v. Williams (06-694).

Related: JMG has this post regarding a legal tangent that touches on one or two pieces of legislation relating to Williams.

Jury Selection and Racial Discrimination

On 25 June 2007, the Court agreed to review a capital case from Louisiana in which an all-white jury sentenced a defendant to death after the prosecutor urged a death sentence so that the defendant would not “get away with it” like O.J. Simpson. All five qualified African-Americans had been struck from the jury pool by the prosecution using peremptory challenges. The defense has challenged the selection of the jury as a violation of equal protection. The defendant, Allen Snyder, is black and was convicted of killing his wife’s male companion in a trial that occurred within a year of the O.J. Simpson acquittal.

The Louisiana Supreme Court upheld Snyder’s conviction and death sentence, holding that no impermissible use of race had been shown.

The case is Snyder v. Louisiana, No. 06-10119.

Habeas Corpus, Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Suspension Clause

Two cases, Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush, involve challenges to the government’s interpretation of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and whether federal courts have habeas corpus jurisdiction to review the detainment of prisoners at the United States Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay.

Questions presented by Boumediene:

1. Whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (the “MCA”), validly stripped federal court jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions filed by foreign citizens imprisoned indefinitely at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay.

2. Whether Petitioners’ habeas corpus petitions, which establish that the United States government has imprisoned Petitioners for over five years, demonstrate unlawful confinement requiring the grant of habeas relief or, at least, a hearing on the merits.

Questions presented by Al Odah:

1. Did the D.C. Circuit Court err in relying again on Johnson v. Eisentrager, 339 U.S. 763 (1950), to dismiss these petitions and to hold that petitioners have no common law right to habeas protected by the Suspension Clause and no constitutional rights whatsoever, despite this Court’s ruling in Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004), that these petitioners are in a fundamentally different position from those in Eisentrager, that their access to the writ is consistent with the historical reach of the writ at common law, and that they are confined within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States?

2. Given that the Court in Rasul concluded that the writ at common law would have extended to persons detained at Guantanamo, did the D.C. Circuit err in holding that petitioners’ right to the writ was not protected by the Suspension Clause because they supposedly would not have been entitled to the writ at common law?

3. Are petitioners, who have been detained without charge or trial for more than five years in the exclusive custody of the United States at Guantanamo, a territory under the plenary and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, entitled to the protection of the Fifth Amendment right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law and of the Geneva Conventions?

4. Should section 7(b) of the MCA, which does not explicitly mention habeas corpus, be construed to eliminate the courts’ jurisdiction over petitioners’ pending habeas cases, thereby creating serious constitutional issues?

Questions presented by the government:

1. Whether the MCA removes federal court jurisdiction over habeas petitions filed by aliens detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2. Whether aliens detained as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Suspension Clause of Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution.

3. Whether, if aliens detained at Guantanamo Bay have such rights, the MCA violates the Suspension Clause.

4. Whether petitioners may challenge the adequacy of the judicial review available under the MCA and the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, before they have sought to invoke, much less exhaust, such review.

Arguments are tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, 5 December 2007.

Related: Click here and here for related posts regarding the MCA and its distant cousin, the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which creates the legal framework by which His Imperial Majesty may become a defacto dictator of the United States. For those of you who think that’s hyperbole, you really need to wake up from your stupor.

Dinner, 28 August 2007

Well not really. This was more of a light snack.

3 ears of fresh corn, shucked and stripped of niblets

1 Vidalia onion, diced and 2 leeks (white part only), sliced

3 cups homemade chicken stock. A recipe is here.

Saute onion and leeks in 3 T. olive oil; add a pinch of salt. Add in 1 T. unsalted butter, cut into cubes.

Cook for about five to six minutes or until vegetables are translucent but not browned.

Adjust seasoning.

Add corn, stir thoroughly. Add chicken stock and simmer on low heat, partially covered for about 15-20 minutes.

Cool slightly. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender. Return to pot and add 1 cup of buttermilk. Cook on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately.

Optional: Tomatillo Salsa

2 cups tomatillos, husks removed, cubed
2-4 jalapenos, roasted, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1 red onion or Bermuda onion, finely chopped
strained juice of 1 or 2 limes
grated lime peel
3 T. light olive oil
2 T. cilantro, chopped
kosher salt

Mix all ingredients and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Makes 2 1/4 cups and keeps roughly three to four days in the refrigerator.

El Cuatro

Blogging Project Runway has announced the date for the premiere of Season 4 of Project Runway: Wednesday, 14 November 2007. Now go set your TIVOs and tell me all about it. Spamwise is cable-less in his studio apartment.

By the way, my favorite collection of all three seasons isn’t Jay’s, isn’t Laura’s (though hers comes a close second). No, it’s the inimitable Kara Janx.

A real pity she wasn’t in the season two finale.

“Bindings”, Part 1

Maeve rode next to Vyshaine, the only other Red in her small group, through the deep snow. Behind her, Ceris, Ladonna and Noelle rode together, a White, a Grey and a Green. Noelle’s Warder, the only one she had, rode with the twenty Tower Guard in the rear. It was a cold day, and even though Vyshaine could usually ignore the cold, it started to creep up on her after a long day of riding. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her long, brown hair, wiggled her toes in her boots, and played with the reins in her fingers to keep them from getting stiff. Would they reach their meeting point the next day? She thought they would, even in this snow. They would have to wait on the other parties to join them, but most would come behind them still. At least they wouldn’t have to ride through this mess. She had seen plenty of snow of course, growing up in a small village not too far from where they rode now, just south of Orend on the road to Stressex. Hardly anyone travelled in this weather, not if it could be helped. At this time of year, the snow should be gone already. If winter had not arrived as late as it had, perhaps it would last all spring. What would have been spring, she reminded herself.

“Riders!” Noelle’s Warder called out, and Vyshaine started out of her musings. She looked up to see several men riding out of the forest around them. Light, they wore black coats like Ceris had described to them! Somehow the Black Tower had learned of their arrival. But surely they could not channel. Ceris had been sure only a few men really could hold the Source, if that. Vyshaine herself had seen only a handful in her sixty years in the Tower. She reached for saidar and gasped as she found she could not.

“Surrender and no one will get hurt,” a man with gray hair called out, riding forward.

“I am shielded,” Vyshaine said softly to Maeve, trying to remain calm. Maeve, who was the leader of their small group until they joined with Ceris, choked. “I am too.”

“So am I,” they heard from behind them, three times. Apparently they all were held.

Maeve looked at the men around them. “Light, there’s twenty of them. But they can’t all be able to channel. I am certain it is just that man in front of us.” She glanced back toward the Tower Guard. “At my command, we rein our horses to the side, you attack him. He can not possibly divide his flows so much with all of us shielded. I am sure you can get through to him. As soon as he lets go of the shields, we will take care of the rest.”

Vyshaine had also studied the men in the black coats. She thought every one of them sat his horse with great confidence, watching them with an intense look. “Maeve, I don’t think–” she started, but Maeve reined her horse aside as she ordered, “Take him!”

Vyshaine had to turn her steed aside too, as the Tower Guards and Noelle’s Warder spurred their horses and came rushing by. She tried to yell at them to stop, to wait, but they were already past her and her throat clenched as she watched, frozen in horror, holding her horse there at the side of the road. The Tower Guard never made it more than a few horse lengths before the earth burst up beneath them and fire burst out among them. She heard Noelle scream. Then suddenly Ladonna rode past her, whipping her horse with her reins. “Ride, ride! We’ve got to get out of here!” the White yelled. Vyshaine finally led her mount around, kicking him hard in the ribs and the gelding took off, sliding in the snow as he tried to gain speed.

(to be continued)

* * *

Author’s note: This short story takes place shortly after the events detailed in Knife of Dreams.

First Frost

It snowed the night Robert died
dropped like ash tears upon
my cheek, coat and arm.
Soft flakes fell
as if in a dream

for in dreams we believe
the pale blue light
spiraling upon and around us:
that we are immortal.

The sky shook in my arms
saying, Robbie, Robbie
as we watched those white tears fall
from the seventh floor of St. Vincent’s
and caught on the memory
of an old streaked photograph
two boys in bunny suits
tails and all.

In our dreams
the soft azure ocean would swallow
and we would feel it still in our waking.

The respirator filled his lungs
and I watched, with flecks in my eyes,
as my best friend, partner and lover
poured in years through the tubes
and it all became one night,

one sleep
of luminous clouds
that float with light.

The first frost of the season
too early, only October
and snow shouldn’t have come for weeks
but here, whirled with the weary smell
and monitored machines bouncing black,
your heirloom and inheritance –
all perfect,
one slow dance.

Then it was gone,
like a comet that burned incandescent
entering the earth’s atmosphere.

Snowflakes dropped and melted
into the pavement
and his blood pressure swooped flat.

You looked at me as if my presence
told this story,
the unfolding of a man I never knew.

I shook the bodiless snow from my face
held his swollen limbs
with a tenderness shared between us,

and understood emptiness.

We believe in the demons
that haunt the day:
the pearl of snow so brief
it could have been imagined,
and the window between death and dreams.

Letter to San Francisco

my friends are great
though somewhat irritating

typical boy jealousy that
drives me mad. at least

I have James (when he detaches
from Rafael). we are now

an established gang
in new york. people talk

about us and in their speech
are words like tough,

political, proud.
makes me feel good

to do something
for our community.

promise me you won’t let
a man walk all over you

unless of course it is Folsom
and you are the entertainment

and he is a pair of boots,
but then remember

if he feeds you fruit
you will eat them off the floor.

Election 2008: John Edwards [Part 2]

He sure is photogenic, I’ll give him that.  Wonder what he’s like in bed.

* * * 

Johnboy sure has a lot to say to the voters.  Didja see his campaign declaration?  He pleads with us to be a force for change, ”not to wait till Election Day but to start now”.  He repeats that theme during his interaction with Sens. Clinton and Obama during the YearlyKos convention that occurred a couple of weeks ago.  “The time for change is now.”  Johnboy is so good-looking, he could well be your local parish priest, raining fire and brimstone from his bully pulpit in church.  Uptight and wholesome like Ned Flanders.  It’s all that repressed sexuality yearning to come out.  He’s doing his damndest trying to convince us that he’s got the moral high ground to be the next Prez of the good ‘ole U.S. of A.

Watch the video excerpt again.

Mr. Edwards:  “…from this day forward, we will never take a dime from the Washington lobbyists, we do not do business with these insiders, we’re going to give the power in this government back to the people.  Senator Obama and I have already done it….”

Johnboy highlights a symptom at the root of Washington’s disconnect between the average American and the federal government, particularly Congress.  Money talks, and the wallets of those evil corporate lobbyists speak the loudest voices.  Influence peddlers hammer the legislative and executive branches from all sides.  I daresay, if they could, they’d try to mold the opinions of the judiciary too.

I have a few problems with that statement.  On the one hand, Edwards is attempting to be a force for positive change — which by the way, is easier said than done.  It’s one thing to be able to throw verbal bombs because he’s running for office.  It’s quite another to carry out your campaign promises once you’ve been elected.  Gays in the military became DADT. Clinton’s 1993 healthcare reform plan went down the tubes.  That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try because the opposition might be formidable.  However, don’t claim that once you’re in office, it’ll be a clean sweep because it won’t be.

Moreover, Johnboy is being disingenuous.  Can he [and by extension, Obama] really say with a straight face that he’s going to be free from corporate influence and govern according to his conscience?  The fantasy that is a presidential campaign allows him to make these cockamamie statements and possibly get away with it.  Reality is quite a different story altogether.  It is a simple fact of life that the evil corporate lobbyists exert a great deal of influence on our government — and not just in Washington, but on the state and local level.  The difficulty that we face is profound and endemic and not easily solved within a generation or two.

“…from this day forward…”

So I guess that’s an admission that you’ve pocketed money from those evil corporate lobbyists in times past, Mr. Edwards? Hum. What was that saying about stones and glass houses again?

Though if we were electing people on the basis of looks, I’d do ya. You just need a better haircut though. Hair parted to one side is so 1950s.

Next: Mitt Romney

Election 2008: John Edwards [Part 1]

A preview of John Edwards really can’t be complete without his Youtube video announcing his campaign. I suppose it’s a sign of his electability that most of the mainstream American media ignored the announcement back in December.

Here is the famous excerpt from slightly over a week ago in which he excoriates his fellow Democrats, Hillary in particular, on accepting donations from the evil lobbyists in Washington:

Watch the videos. It’s mesmerizing to see what he says as much as what he leaves unsaid. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a snake-oil salesman for President of the United States. And to think I actually entertained the notion of voting for him.  Clearly, I must reconsider.

I will update this post later today, after I’ve dealt with a couple of deadlines at work.