Activist. Vegan. Cyclist. Parent. (Almost) Criminal defense attorney.

John Edwards

It's late, I'm writing a memo that's due on Wednesday. I decide to take a quick break before going to bed, and I happen to browse over to this article on Alternet: Cornbread and Roses-With his campaign to end poverty, John Edwards has shed his Clinton Lite image. But he still faces an uphill battle to win back the presidency for the Dems.

I was never a huge fan, but this is a great story, and I've never been too good to admit, that maybe I was wrong.

"With a $40,000 annual salary paid by private funds, Edwards became the first director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC, Chapel Hill's law school, largely a think tank designed to bring antipoverty scholars, activists, journalists and politicians together to cook up innovative ways to tackle economic and racial inequities.Edwards is also putting some of his ideas into action, including the College for Everyone program he promised in 2004. In low-income Greene County Edwards this summer announced a pilot program to pay for the first year of college for local high school graduates willing to work at least ten hours a week."

Or maybe he's just coming around. Maybe, just maybe, we are realizing that we can offer a real alternative in American Politics today, if we stand up for what we believe in. It's been too long since I've felt the words of someone who wants to do something.

"[Edwards] has a knack for talking about life-and-death struggles, laying bare the challenges of blue-collar folks struggling to make ends meet but leaving his audience more challenged and inspired than depressed. Reminding students of their forebears' campaigns against the Vietnam War and South African apartheid, Edwards throws down the gauntlet: 'These folks need a champion -- and not just me. They need you. You can make ending poverty in America the cause of your generation. It's the right thing to do. This is not about charity -- it's about justice!"

Is he campaigning early? Probably, but he's got unprecedented favorability ratings, even compared to Bill and/or Hillary Clinton. (PEW Reseach Center)

It sounds like John Edwards maybe waking up, and realizing that he cannot stand in the shadow of Bill Clinton, John Kerry, or even Robert Kennedy and win. I'm glad to see that not only does he seem to be moving left, but he's actually doing it. It's not necessarily empty rhetoric.

I'm not saying I think he's ready for the Oval Office. Nor am I saying that we don't have a long row to hoe, we do. But he's doing something.

"Democrats can't afford to keep ceding the 'values vote.' Here again, Edwards sees his antipoverty crusade as a step in the right direction. 'In a country of our wealth, to have 37 million people living in poverty? It's a huge moral issue,' he says. 'There's a hunger in this country for a sense of national community, that we're not in this thing by ourselves. There's been a long period of selfish thinking. I think there's a great opportunity for us to be about a big, moral cause that's bigger than people's own self-interest.'...

Edwards's great challenge, finally, may be convincing the skeptical millions that he's the one who can make things work. 'He's raised poverty to a presidential-level conversation for the first time in forty years,' says Guillory. 'You've got to give him credit for that. And given the shallowness of his experience in politics, the way he vaulted right over the lower rungs of the ladder -- it's an amazing story. But now that he's there, he's got to do more than make us laugh and make us cry. He's got to paint a clearer picture of where he's going to take the country.'"

When was the last time poverty was a presidential-level conversation? LBJ's Great Society.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Again, please forgive the fact, that either my camera sucks, or I have no idea how to work it. Probably the latter. Either way, here are some very blurry pictures from Thanksgiving. Click for larger image.

This first one is of Bethany's dog, Shiva. Do not let appearances deceive you, he will eat you.

This one is of the table, obviously.

This blurry one is of (from L-R) Sam, Megan, Bethany, and Sarah.

It was a great meal, and we had a great time. I did a little drinking, some cooking, and a lot of eating. The food really was incredible. I can't say enough about it. Say what you will, Kenneth, it truly is the non-violent diet.

I also got a few more pictures from Westwind, so I am posting those too.

This is Kristin, me, and Ashley freezing our asses to death.

These are more of the crew that went to Camp Westwind.

With great power, comes great responsibility...

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% The Flash 75% Superman 70% Hulk 70% Supergirl 62% Iron Man 60% Robin 57% Batman 50% Wonder Woman 47% Green Lantern 45% Catwoman 35%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Wichita, Kansas

I am going to try and spend some time away from the internet this weekend. I have a lot of work to do and while I love checkin' my email and the blogs obsessively it's not exactly conducive to getting things done.

Beyond the socio-political implications of the holiday, to me Thanksgiving is about being with people you care about and appreciating the time we've had and the times that will come. Over the years I've had different types of Thanksgivings. Most of them were in my grandparents' house with my huge family around. Some were with my brother and his wife, and her family. Last year I spent with Meredith's extended family in Kansas. It's funny, you never expect to have that true sense of family with people you've just met, but they were so welcoming, and it was great. I don't think they know how truly grateful I am for the opportunity to share the holiday with them. I will never forget the drive to Kansas, playing cards, charades, and even going to the zoo on Thanksgiving day. I've talked a lot of smack in my time about the plains states (appropriately titled if you ask me) but Wichita, Kansas was so warm, and welcoming, it didn't matter how cold it was outside. So, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we'll catch up again soon.

Also today (and I have no idea how they know this) is the anniversary of the first labor strike in recorded history, in Egypt in 1170 BCE.

Leading up to Un-Turkey Day

Law school never ceases to surprise me.

Friday night a few of us went out for Karin's birthday. Karin is incredibly sweet and down-to-earth. She is also a pretty big baseball fan, which is always cool. Her boyfriend, Robert, is also a really nice guy, but he didn't make it to the bar that night. We went to some bar called Night Light. It looked like what most bars in Dallas look like, low lighting with modern furnishings, but with cheap drinks made with fresh and organic ingredients. They serve food, likewise made with fresh organic products, and include a variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes. It was awesome. I, fortunately, was designated Dave midway through the night, and was able to fully enjoy the antics of my friends.

Saturday, I was at school early to get some work done before the short road trip that was planned for the afternoon. The Lighthouse Farm Animal Sanctuary was founded and is run by a former enforcement agent of the Humane Society. Wayne was disappointed by the lack of resources available to help large and/or farm animals who were abused or abandoned in Oregon. So he established the Lighthouse Farm Animal Sanctuary to take in larger animals. The Student Animal Legal Defense Fund volunteered to help with an event the Sanctuary does around Thanksgiving every year, so I went with a few of the gang. It was a wonderful experience. There were so many animals there, and we spent the day cleaning stalls and feeding and playing with all of the animals.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm a city boy. I've never spent more than an hour or two at a "farm," but this was a truly worthwhile experience. The animals are so gentle, and sweet. I've never been so happy to be a vegetarian than when I was petting that HUGE bull. Of course, the problem is, they don't have enough volunteers, donations or grants to do enough. I think only once before have I directed readers to a place to donate, but I've never truly asked. Now, I'm saying, if you are doing or are planning on doing any kind of Christmas shopping for me, stop now, and go here. I will forever be grateful.

I may have forgotten to mention that a friend of mine is hosting a very vegan Thanksgiving this Thursday. Everything will be cruelty-free, and organic when possible. There is going to be faux-turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli rice casserole (almost like mom makes), pumpkin (soy) cheesecake, dressing and much more and almost everything will be made from scratch. I am so excited. The thing was, yesterday was the grocery shopping. We visited, the growers' market, a local co-op called The Daily Grind, Trader Joe's, New Seasons Market, and my personal favorite Food Fight!, a vegan grocery store. Food FIght! was our last stop and just when I think I may not be able to peruse another aisle, we pull up to the store and next door is a tattoo shop.

(Let me pause the story here, to interject that it has been brought to my attention that most tattoo ink is not even vegetarian. Imagine my surprise to learn that the ink is made from the charred bones of animals or some such nonsense. Regardless, I found a vegan tattoo ink through a forum on a vegan website. So I figured, if I'm going to go vegan, and I want another tattoo, the ink should be animal-friendly. The problem was, the tattoo ink I found (at the link above) can only be purchased by tattoo artists, not the general public. This has been something I have been working on for about 2 months now.)

So we walk into the vegan grocer and I ask the woman, who happened to be the owner, about the place next door. She said it was vegan owned and they do cruelty-free tattoos - well, almost cruelty-free, if you know what I'm saying. So I've found a tattoo shop. Now I just have to figure out what I want, and where...

Details schmetails...

Now you maybe asking yourselves, "Jake, did you have ANY time to get any work done all weekend?" And to you I say, "Almost."

No, I worked on my legal memo almost all of the time I didn't talk about here. It's tedious and not as exciting a blog topic as tattoos. But the memo could be better and my goal is to have it almost done by Thursday so I can work on other stuff all weekend. More later I'm sure. I will want to procrastinate while working on my memo, so I will probably post again later.

Oh and don't be shy, put yourself on the "Who Reads the Naive Optimist?" list.

"Join the Union, fellow workers, Men and Women, side by side"

On 10 January 1914, John G. Morrison, and his son, Arling, were murdered by two gunmen with red bandanas in Morrison's grocery store in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later that night, Joe Hill sought medical help for a gunshot wound he claimed he got while defending a woman. The doctor noticed that Hill had been armed with a pistol.

Hill was arrested for the murders. A red bandana was later found at Hill's residence, but the pistol was never recovered. Hill was subsequently tried, and convicted of the murders. Though he resolutely denied the charges, Hill never testified in his own defense.

Joe Hill was born Joel Emmanuel Haggland in Sweden on or about 7 October 1879. Following the death of his mother, Joe and his brother purchased steerage to the US with the proceeds from the sale of the family home. Very little is known or is verifiable about Joe's first years in the states, except that between 1906 and 1910 Joel Haggland disappears, giving way to Joe Hillstrom.

It was in late 1910 that a letter in the Industrial Worker was published denouncing the actions of local police towards members of the Industrial Workers' of the World and other workers. The letter was signed by a member of the Portland, Oregon local of the IWW, Joe Hill.

Over the next several years legend has Joe Hill on the front lines of every major labor struggle in North America. While this is clearly apocryphal, he was definitely there in song. Joe Hill was an organizer, socialist, mine-worker, longshoreman and a songwriter. Click these links to read the lyrics to "There is Power in the Union," "Casey Jones--the Union Scab" and my personal favorite "Workers of the World, Awaken!"

Following his controversial conviction, Joe Hill was executed by firing squad 90 years ago today--19 November 1915.

In 1925, Alfred Hayes wrote a poem in tribute of the great labor martyr called "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night."

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
Alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

"In Salt Lake, Joe," says I to him,
him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."

"The Copper Bosses killed you Joe,
they shot you Joe" says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man"
Says Joe "I didn't die"
Says Joe "I didn't die"

And standing there as big as life
and smiling with his eyes.
Says Joe "What they can never kill
went on to organize,
went on to organize"

From San Diego up to Maine,
in every mine and mill,
where working-men defend their rights,
it's there you find Joe Hill,
it's there you find Joe Hill!

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
alive as you and me.
Says I "But Joe, you're ten years dead"
"I never died" said he,
"I never died" said he.

Joe Hill was cremated and his ashes sent to IWW locals all over the world. So, friends of labor, traditionally the answer the question - "Where is Joe Hill buried?" is "All over the world."

If you can't beat 'em (with a stick), and you can't join 'em--just get out.

Via feministing.com:

In response to Virginia’s laws banning same-sex marriages, a local pastor and his church’s governing council have decided to protest in a big way -- the church is no longer offering wedding services.

The Clarendon Presbyterian Church has long been a supporter of the ordination of women, people with AIDS and the rights of the disabled. Now Pastor David Ensign is in the process of renouncing his state authority to marry (straight) couples. In the meantime, he’s offering blessings to couples by having “celebration ceremonies” and counseling couples who support his protest. “We’re not seeking trouble,” says Ensign. “This is a statement of who we are.”

While many surrounding churches are obviously up in arms and more debate is anticipated, Wilson Gunn, the general executive of the Nation Capital Presbytery, says that it’s unlikely that the church will be punished by the national office.

“It’s within their rights to decide what they’re going to do and not going to do,” he said. “We’re in the Jesus business, not the marriage business.”

Read the Washington Post article here. My favorite part: the headline - WEDDED BLISS FOR ALL OR NONE.

Absolutely.

Finally.

A while back, TTtC ( aka Heather) tagged me for this survey. (Sorry it took so long.)

7 things I plan to do before I die:

1) Change the world.
2) Get off caffeine.
3) Write a book, fiction, non-fiction – I haven't decided, and I don't necessarily want to try and get it published, I just want to have that.
4) Grow up (okay, this one is questionable).
5) Go vegan.
6) Visit as many continents as possible.
7) Run the bases of a professional baseball park.

7 things I can do:

1) Juggle.
2) Make damn good martinis and manhattans.
3) Hold my breath for almost 2 minutes.
4) Find something to talk about .with anybody.
5) Stand on my hands.
6) Make a great mix CD – I think I picked this up from my brother from when we used to make tapes. Making a mix tape was a bigger thing than making mix CDs. It was more of a process. I think a part of this skill is paying attention to how each song relates to the next one—people don't do that anymore with CDs. When we made tapes we had to listen to each song as it recorded, so not only was that song still in your head as you started the next song, but it stayed with you, so each tape was like your baby.
7) Procrastinate like a champ.

7 things I cannot do:

1) Save money.
2) Spell weird on the first try, ever.
3) Sing.
4) Tell a joke. (I like to think I can make people laugh, but when it comes to “Have you heard the one about...” I ruin them every time.)
5) Go to bed and/or get up at the same times consistently.
6) Leave a concise voicemail.
7) Play it safe.

7 things that attract me to another person:

1) Passion.
2) A great laugh.
3) Idealism.
4) A desire to do much, but not at the expense of doing nothing.
5) Outspoken. (I know that's an adjective not a 'thing' but I can't come up with another way to describe it other than to add -ness to the end.)
6) Same thing I tell my sister – someone that is nice to waitstaff (everyone else too, but this is a good indicator).
7) A love for crossword puzzles.

7 things I say most often:

1) Dude.
2) You know?
3) Does that make sense?
4) I don't know.
5) Whatever.
6) I'm easy like Sunday mornin'...
7) ...because it's a conspiracy by the man to keep the people down.

7 people I want to do this:

1) Ang
2) Kenneth
3) Meredith
4) Judith
5) Ashley
6) Aaron
7) Jamaica

"Why are you dressed so scary?"

I know it's been a while since I've posted...I guess I just haven't felt like saying much.

Today however, I was reminded of something that happens to me fairly often and I wanted to run it by you and see what, if anything, you might add.

For some reason, when I'm on a bus (or in this case, shuttle) where there is an open seat next to me, and people are getting on after my stop - no one ever sits next to me. I don't know if it's that I look scary or unfriendly, but the only time any one ever sits next to me is when there absolutely is not a seat left on the shuttle. Today, I was the only person sitting alone, and I was up front. So people had to walk past the empty seat next to me, to get to empty seats in the back. It was early, so I know I didn't smell. I purposely put my bag on the floor at my feet so that I wouldn't be taking up too much room. I had my headphones on so it's not like I'm going to try and talk to you...

It's not as though this is just today either; this is a regular occurrence with me. More times than I would care to admit I've been left sitting next to the only empty seat on an otherwise full bus. Maybe I really look scarier than I think.

GITMO etc.

A quick run down of the situation.

The United States government has been detaining what it calls "enemy combatants" at the Marine Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They are specifically called enemy combatants because if we called them prisoners of war we would have to treat them according to standards agreed to by the United States at the Geneva Convention. They were specifically held in Cuba because the Bush Administration thought they would be beyond the jurisdiction of civilian courts there. They have been detained since the occupation of Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01. They have not been convicted of anything, nor have they even been to trial.

There are any number of things wrong with the whole thing, but last year the Supreme Court ruled that the detainees had a right to challenge their detention in federal court by petitioning for a writ of habeas corpus (Rasul v. Bush). This was important. This meant that the federal government would have to prove there was a reason for detaining these individuals. Whether you agree with me politically or not you have to recognize the fact that the framers of the Constitution were clear - the government cannot deprive anyone of liberty without due process of the law--meaning someone cannot be detained indefinitely without being told why, and without a trial.

Well, the Senate, in its infinite wisdom, is trying to take that power away from them again. In a 49-42 vote, the Senate approved an amendment that would nullify the Supreme Court decision. The amendment a measure from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) essentially removes the power of hearing the merits of the detainess' cases from federal courts - and only leaving the power to rule on procedural issues related to the Defense department.

The best part--I finally live in a state where I am represented by at least one Democrat in the Senate and somehow, on this issue, the Republican got it right. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) voted for this measure, and Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) voted against. Five "Democrats" voted for it, while four Repulicans voted against it, including Arlen Specter (R-PA) who as a pro-choice Republican is one of my favorite Republicans (well, him and Ainsley Hayes).

In other news - it's Veterans' Day. Call and thank a vet. (Check out here, and here)

And, go read Judith's post called Baby mamas are cool; baby mamas are great. Not only is it a great story, but you have to admire how she allows the format for telling the story to tell the story. I don't know, the dialogue is incredibly effective and I would never have thought to do it that way. It's a great choice. But more importantly, I love her rapport that she has with her students, and I love that they seem to do well for her.There's a moment in the story where you just feel so proud for her, and happy for him.

But I still don't know when to use a semi-colon.