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Kids - Health - Safety - Corporate - Government - Animals - Agriculture - Law - Enforcement - Politics - California - Human - Undercover - Video - "USDA's oversight of meat safety criticized." ... "The USDA [United States Department of Agriculture] announced this week that it was shutting down operations at a Chino[California]-based meat producer, after hidden camera video showed workers there using various inhumane methods to force "downer" -- or non-ambulatory -- cattle to their feet and into the slaughter box." ... "Now, in the wake of the video's release and the agency's response, food industry insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is. The incidents recorded at Hallmark Meat Packing occurred under the noses of eight on-site USDA inspectors." ... ""We rely on a system, and the system dropped the ball," said Dean Cliver, a food safety expert who has served in advisory roles with the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. "Somebody ought to be asking some questions."" ... "Cattle that are unable to walk are banned from use as human food because they show a higher occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease." ... "Westland Meat Co.[Company], Hallmark's distributor and a ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program, has voluntarily halted operations, and school district officials around the country pulled suspect beef from lunch menus." -By Victoria Kim -LAtimes

Child - Soldier - War Criminal - Canadian - Afghanistan - Cuba - Guantanamo - Prison - US - Criminal - Justice - Politics - "U.S. says no one too young for Guantanamo court." ... "A Canadian accused of killing a U.S. [United States] soldier in Afghanistan should not be tried as a war criminal because he was a child soldier for al Qaeda, too young to voluntarily join its forces, his military defense lawyer told a U.S. war court on Monday." ... "Navy [Lieutenant] Lt. William Kuebler asked a military judge to throw out the charges against Canadian defendant Omar Khadr, who was shot and captured at age 15 in a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan in 2002." ... ""He is a victim of al Qaeda, not a member of al Qaeda," Kuebler said." ... "But a U.S. Department of Justice attorney [under Republican President Bush], arguing for the prosecution, said that if Congress intended to exclude juveniles from the Guantanamo war court [in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba], it would have explicitly written that, because lawmakers knew Khadr could face charges. Instead, Congress wrote the law using the term "person," which legally refers to "anyone born alive," Justice Department attorney Andy Oldham said." (1, 2) -By Jane Sutton with contributions by Tom Brown and Alan Elsner -Reuters
Babies - Health - Corporate - Manufacturers - Los Angeles - California - Washington - "Study finds high levels of chemicals in infants using baby cosmetics: Babies exposed to lotion, shampoo and powder had more than four times the level of phthalates in their urine as those whose parents had not used the products. Previous research found that the substances altered the children’s hormones." ... "Infants and toddlers exposed to baby lotions, shampoos and powders carry high concentrations of hormone-altering chemicals in their bodies that might have reproductive effects, according to a new scientific study of babies born in Los Angeles [California] and two other U.S. [United States] cities." ... "The research, to be published today in the medical journal Pediatrics, found that as the use of baby care products rose, so did the concentration of phthalates, which are used in many fragrances." ... "The lead scientist in the study, Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana of the University of Washington's Department of Pediatrics, said the findings suggested that many baby care products contain a variety of phthalates that enter children's bodies through their skin." ... "Manufacturers do not list phthalates as ingredients on labels, so it is unknown which products contain them." ... "In their report, the scientists advised parents who want to reduce their baby's exposure to stop using lotions and powders unless their doctors recommend them for medical reasons. They also suggested limiting use of shampoos and other products. Many adult lotions and other personal care products also contain phthalates." -By Marla Cone -LAtimes

Poor - Children - Health - Energy - Money - Politics - Government - Debt - "President's Spending Plan Would Rival 2004 Deficit." ... "The more than $3 trillion federal budget for 2009 that [Republican President] Bush will unveil is his final opportunity to shape the priorities of the government before leaving office a year from now." ... "But even in the unlikely event that he were to get his way, the budget deficit would jump sharply, from $163 billion in 2007 to about $400 billion in 2008 and 2009 -- partly the result of the new economic stimulus plan. Such deficits would rival the record deficit of $412 billion of 2004 [under the Republican controlled Congress], though administration allies argue that shortfalls of that size now represent a smaller share of the overall economy and are thus more manageable." ... "Alice M. Rivlin, who served [Democratic] President Bill Clinton as budget director, pointed out that [Republican President] Bush "inherited a very large surplus," but his "legacy from a fiscal point of view is having blown an opportunity to ameliorate the long-run budget deficits."" ... "Among the reductions are more than $1 billion to programs run by the Administration for Children and Families, including a $280 million hit to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a block grant program that helps the poor pay heating and air-conditioning bills." ... "The budget plan argues for a $500 million reduction in the Social Services Block Grant program, which helps states protect children from neglect and abuse, and pay for day care, adoption, health services, foster care and other services for children and families." ... "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose more than $430 million, including $27 million from its efforts to detect and control infectious diseases, and $28 million from chronic disease prevention and health promotion. A $301 million program that trains 4,700 pediatricians and pediatric specialists at children's teaching hospitals also would be eliminated, at a time when pediatric specialties, such as rheumatology and pulmonology, face critical shortages." (1, 2) -By Michael Abramowitz and Jonathan Weisman with contributions by Maria Glod, Spencer Hsu, Christopher Lee, Josh White and Robin Wright -WashingtonPost

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - South Carolina - Economic - Family - Farmers - Jobs - Internet - 2008 Election - "Edwards jabs Clinton for leaving SC." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said South Carolina voters should question [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Rodham Clinton's commitment to the state since she left in the run-up to the state's primary." ... ""After the debate, she flew out and she's been gone and she won't be back until I don't know - later in the week or until primary day," Edwards told a crowd of about 150 people in this small city on Wednesday. "What are the chances she's coming back when she's president of the United States?"" ... "A South Carolina native and son of a mill worker, he stresses themes focused on the middle class and an economic plan that would bring help to family farmers, and jobs and broadband Internet connections to rural areas." -By Susanne M. Schafer -AssociatedPress

John Edwards - South Carolina - Workers - Economy - 2008 Election - Health-Care - Kids - Education - "Edwards gets union support, details $1.5B plan for SC." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Tuesday won the endorsement of one of South Carolina's largest unions [the Communications Workers of America] as he gave details of an economic plan his campaign said would offer his native state's struggling economy $1.5 billion in relief." ... ""Our country is no longer on the brink of a recession. I think we're in one," Edwards said during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, a day after a testy debate between the Democratic candidates." ... ""I was proud to represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party," he told the cheering crowd." ... ""When all those kinds of personal attacks are going on, it doesn't do a thing to help somebody get health care who doesn't have it," Edwards said. "It doesn't do a thing to help our kids get the education they need. We have work to do in this country."" ... ""There's a disconnect between Washington and the government paying attention to what's happening in real people's lives, as opposed to just paying attention to what's happening on Wall Street," he said." ... ""You watch what [Republican President] George Bush does he just waits and waits and waits and then by the time the water's coming in like a flood, he responds, which is exactly what he's done about the economy," Edwards said. "A month ago I said we had to do something about this and still be he waited and waited."" -By Bruce Smith with contributions by Jim Davenport -AP via-AJC

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - Government - Economy - Workers - Families - Alternative Energy - Consumer - 2008 Election - "Responding to Recession." ... "On the Democratic side, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda. He’s done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures." ... "Last week [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton offered a broadly similar but somewhat larger proposal. (It also includes aid to families having trouble paying heating bills, which seems like a clever way to put cash in the hands of people likely to spend it.) The Edwards and Clinton proposals both contain provisions for bigger stimulus if the economy worsens." ... "And you have to say that Mrs. Clinton seems comfortable with and knowledgeable about economic policy. I’m sure the Hillary-haters will find some reason that’s a bad thing, but there’s something to be said for presidents who know what they’re talking about." ... "The [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama campaign’s initial response to the latest wave of bad economic news was, I’m sorry to say, disreputable: Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser claimed that the long-term tax-cut plan the candidate announced months ago is just what we need to keep the slump from “morphing into a drastic decline in consumer spending.” Hmm: claiming that the candidate is all-seeing, and that a tax cut originally proposed for other reasons is also a recession-fighting measure — doesn’t that sound familiar?" ... "Anyway, on Sunday Mr. Obama came out with a real stimulus plan. As was the case with his health care plan, which fell short of universal coverage, his stimulus proposal is similar to those of the other Democratic candidates, but tilted to the right." ... "I know that Mr. Obama’s supporters hate to hear this, but he really is less progressive than his rivals on matters of domestic policy." -By Paul Krugman -NYTimes

John Edwards - Peoples - Families - Lawyer - Corporate - Government - Drug Companies - Health Care - 2008 Election - "Corporate elite fear candidate Edwards." ... "Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same -- [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Democrat John Edwards." ... "His stump speeches are peppered with attacks on "corporate greed" and warnings of "the destruction of the middle class."" ... "He accuses lobbyists of "corrupting the government" and says Americans lack universal health care because of "drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists."" ... "An Edwards campaign spokesman said on Thursday that inside-the-Beltway operatives who fight to defend the powerful and the privileged should be afraid." ... ""The lobbyists and special interests who abuse the system in Washington have good reason to fear John Edwards." ... ""Once he is president, the interests of middle class families will never again take a back seat to corporate greed in Washington," said campaign spokesman Eric Schultz." ... "Open attacks on the business elite are seldom heard from mainstream White House candidates in America, despite skyrocketing CEO pay, rising income inequality, and a torrent of scandals in corporate boardrooms and on Wall Street." (1,2, 3) -By Kevin Drawbaugh with contributions by John Wallace -Reuters

John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Families - Health-Care - Drug - Corporations - Multinationals - US - Jobs - California - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - "Edwards focuses on health in final campaign push." ... "[2008 Election Democratic President] John Edwards appealed to the emotions of New Hampshire voters in his final campaign push last night by bringing on stage with him three families who had suffered from lack of health care." ... "On a 36-hour non-stop, marathon bus tour round New England, he put health care at the core of his message." ... "At a rally in Elk Lodge, Dover [New Hampshire], he lambasted health insurance firms and drug companies, as well as multinationals who have transferred US jobs overseas. "The powerful interests in Washington have an iron-clad clasp on your democracy," he said." ... "The families with him included a mother, Hilda Sarkisyan, whose 17-year-old daughter Natalie died from cancer on December 20 in California after an insurance company failed to pay up for a liver transplant that could have saved her." ... "Edwards said: "This should never happen in the United States of America. Things have to change."" ... "Hillary Clinton's team accused him of exploiting the families. Edwards, who has been outspoken in criticism of Clinton, retorted that the Clinton campaign had "no conscience"." -By Ewen MacAskill -Guardian.co.uk

US Immigrant - Women - Children - Politics - Sacramento - California - US - Mexico - "Abused immigrant spouses may face deportation: U.S. [United States] rethinks its policy of letting them remain here in certain cases." ... "The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is re-examining a longtime policy [Violence Against Women Act visas] to let immigrant spouses remain here when their abusive U.S. citizen or permanent-resident spouses refuse to help them obtain legal status." ... "Ana Bertha Arellano, who runs her own Sacramento [California's capital] restaurant and cleans offices all night as a janitor, fears a change in that policy would destroy the safe life she's been struggling to build for herself and her children." ... "Without that protection, Arellano could end up deported by the same U.S. officials who agreed to shelter her from abuse six years ago and legally stay here on a special provisional visa." ... ""I have my own health insurance. I don't take any aid for anything. I don't want anything else but a chance to have some stability for my family," said Arellano, 37, one of the thousands of immigrants, many mothers of U.S.-born children, who could be affected if the policy shifts." ... "Arellano's story, like many, begins with marriage to a husband she loved and with whom she had two children, both born here. But her husband, a permanent resident of the United States, never filed papers to sponsor her for permanent residency, she said." ... "After they were married, she said he told her to cross the border from Mexico illegally in 1997, saying he would submit their application once she got here." ... "Instead, she said, he used her undocumented status to prevent her from complaining about his subsequent beatings and verbal taunts." ... "Beth Hassett, executive director of Women Escaping a Violent Environment, which counsels battered women in Sacramento County, predicted that a hard-line policy will cause immigrant women to remain in violent relationships if coming forward leaves them vulnerable to deportation." (1, 2) -By Susan Ferriss -SacBee.com
John Edwards - New Hampshire - Iowa - North Carolina - California - Teenager- Health - Company - Drug - Christmas - Working - People - 2008 Election - "Underdog Edwards says he won't give up the fight for the White House." ... "The former senator from North Carolina [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John Edwards] sought to bring added emotional wallop to his message before Tuesday's primary by campaigning with the family of a Northridge [California] teenager who died after her insurance company delayed approval for a liver transplant." ... "The newest participants in the Edwards campaign were the Sarkisyans of the San Fernando Valley [California], whose 17-year-old daughter, Nataline, died just before Christmas of complications from leukemia. After much debate, the family's insurance company had approved a liver transplant, but she died hours later." ... ""When I talk about what insurance companies and drug companies are doing to America, this is what I mean," Edwards said to a crowd of about 500 in Manchester [New Hampshire], where some were moved to tears by the family's story. "This has real effects on real people's lives."" ... "Grigor Sarkisyan told the audience how he had promised to buy his daughter a white car after she got out of the hospital, but had to buy a white coffin instead. He said he thought he had done everything he was supposed to as a father: working hard, supporting his family and buying health insurance he thought would take care of them if they got sick." ... "His wife, Hilda Sarkisyan, had heard Edwards' speech Thursday after his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and called the candidate's campaign. The family arrived in New Hampshire on Sunday morning." ... "The couple urged voters to support Edwards, saying he is the lone candidate who will fight for Americans against such powerful interests as insurance companies." ... ""They cannot tell us who's going to live and who's going to die," Hilda Sarkisyan said." -By Seema Mehta and James Rainey -LAtimes

Barack Obama - John Edwards - Hillary Clinton - Iowa -Political- Generation - Senior - People - 2008 Election - "Why Obama Won." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Barack Obama's victory in the Iowa caucuses was driven by his support from a new political generation, according to a CBS News entrance poll of Democratic caucus-goers." ... "In a night of record turnout for the Democratic caucuses, Obama and his message of change captured the vote of the first-time caucus-goers, as well as the votes of young people and political independents." ... "In contrast to Obama's strong support among the young, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton appealed to older voters. Edwards won Baby Boomers with 31 percent, to 28 percent for Clinton and 27 percent for Obama. Clinton handily won the senior vote with 45 percent of those 65 and older, compared to 22 percent and 18 percent for Edwards and Obama respectively." ... "Edwards' strong suit was his ability to empathize with people. Nineteen percent of attendees said having a candidate who cared about people like them was their most important character consideration, and 44 percent of them supported Edwards." -By Monika L. McDermott -CBSNews

John Edwards - Iowa - Factory - Work - Health - Education - Family - Folk- 2008 Election - Corporate - Oil - Government - "Edwards in Iowa: Closing With Class." ... ""It is time for some truth telling, and the truth is that corporate greed is destroying this country. I believe that we have a responsibility to stand up for the sacrifice and the hard work of those generations before us."" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards' final message is simple: "to make absolutely certain that our kids have a better life than we had. That's what this is all about, at the end of the day, to live up to our responsibility, to live up to what our folks did for us," Edwards said in a two-minute speech, his voice breaking, at a house party in Centerville [Iowa] 11 hours after his factory floor appearance." ... ""One of the things that I've seen just in the last 12 to 14 hours is the energy and excitement as I move across Iowa," Edwards told reporters Wednesday in Mount Pleasant [Iowa]. "And the one thing that's clear to me [is] that the people of Iowa and the people of America are unstoppable when they commit themselves to stopping these entrenched special interests."" ... ""I see the CEO of one of the biggest health insurance companies in America making hundreds of millions of dollars last year in one year. I see Exxon Mobil [oil corporation] making billions and billions of dollars in profit, record profits. The top 1% of Americans are taking twice as much of America's income as they did 20-25 years ago," Edwards told supporters in Fort Madison [Iowa] today. "The biggest corporations have an iron-fisted hold on your democracy."" ... ""I come from a family where people worked in the mills. My grandmother had a sixth-grade education, she came from a family of sharecroppers, she worked hard all of her life. I loved her dearly," Edwards said Wednesday in Burlington [Iowa]. "She would have done anything for me, for my children, for my grandchildren, and my mother and father they were exactly the same way. They are no different than most of your parents and your grandparents. They worked and sacrificed so that you could have a better life."" -By Jay Newton-Small -TIME.com

John Edwards - Iowa - Manufacturing Plant - Jobs - Peoples - Kids - 2008 Election - - Ad - Money - Journalism - Opinion - "Laid-off worker voices Edwards themes." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards, pressing his populist anger [?editorial opinion masquerading as journalism via Foon Rhee and the BostonGlobe, Watch the TV ad] in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, is returning to a familiar tale in a new TV spot and newspaper ad -- layoffs at the Maytag [manufacturing] plant in Newton, Iowa." ... "The TV ad is to begin airing Wednesday, while the newspaper ad appeared in today's Des Moines Register. They both feature Doug Bishop, who lost his job in September 2004 and who relates his story of meeting Edwards." ... ""This is something I'll never forget -- he grabbed my seven-year-old son by the hand, he dropped to one knee, and he looked him straight in the eye and he said, 'I'm going to keep fighting for your daddy's job, I promise you that.'" ... ""You know, that stuff sticks with you," Bishop continues. "That's the kind of thing we need in a leader in this country. Not somebody that's going to go to a big fund-raiser and say, 'Write me a check for $2,300, and I'll let you know you have my support.'" ... ""I want a guy that's going to sit down and look a seven year-old kid in the eye," Bishop says, choking up, "and tell him, 'I'm going to fight for your dad's job.' That's what I want."" -By Foon Rhee -BostonGlobe

John Edwards - Iowa - Families - Jobs - Money - Attorney General - North Carolina - 2008 Election - "Edwards the orator energizes audience." ... "Dayton Countryman said he's been around long enough to know what it means when a supposedly underdog presidential candidate can pack more than 500 folks into a social hall in this town [Boone, Iowa] of 12,000 people." ... ""This ought to scare the hell out of the other campaigns," Countryman said Sunday as he watched more and more people come in from the cold to hear [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Democrat John Edwards speak." ... "The 89-year-old lawyer is a former Iowa attorney general who recently became a Democrat after more than 50 years as a Republican. He said he's fed up with what's going on in Washington, D.C., and he'll caucus for Edwards because he believes the former North Carolina senator will stand up." ... "Edwards has been drawing increasingly large and energetic crowds in recent weeks as he presses his case that America needs a fighter in the White House. His audiences are filled mainly with people who are middle age or older, and he's banking that such Iowans have been most likely to show up in caucuses." ... ""The corporate greed that's stealing your children's future, that's destroying middle-class jobs in this country, it's not just destroying the middle class for Democrats. It's destroying the middle class for independents. It's destroying the middle class for Republicans," Edwards said." -By Tony Leys -DesMoinesRegister
John Edwards - Working - Family - Economics - Iowa - 2008 Election - "Edwards says he's ready to fight for the middle class." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards has been trying to hammer home his message that he'll stand up to special interests in Washington. As part of the effort, he has launched an eight-day, 38-county tour keeping him in Iowa until the caucuses, which begins the 2008 nominating process." ... ""My belief is that we desperately need to make this government work for everybody again. We need to stand up to the forces of corporate greed that are destroying the middle class of this country," he told a crowd of about 150 people packed tightly into a small restaurant bar in northeastern Iowa." ... "Edwards reminded them that despite his wealth as an adult, he grew up in a working-class family and knows their struggles." ... ""The truth is, all of us have an enormous responsibility to our children, to our grandchildren to do what our parents did for us and our grandparents did for us _ to give them a better life," he said. "I have no intention of letting this corporate power and corporate greed get in the way"" -By Amy Lorentzen -QCTimes

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Iowa - Manufacturing - Jobs - Family - Health-Care - Environment - Human Rights - US - China - Corporations - Iraq - Military - Indiana - Idaho - Illinois - Homes - Consumers- 2008 Election - "Behind the Edwards Surge: Right Message at the Right Time." ... "To a far greater extent than [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates Barack] Obama or [Hillary] Clinton, [John] Edwards has struck at the heart of issues that should matter most in the race to replace not just [Republican President] George W. Bush, but the Bush agenda of corporate giveaways, job-crushing free trade deals, war profiteering in Iraq, and subprime mortgage profiteering in Indiana, Idaho, Illinois and, yes, Iowa." ... "Edwards summed up his increasingly aggressive and powerful anti-corporate themes with a declaration: "What makes America America is at stake: jobs, the middle class, health care, preserving the environment in the world for future generations."" ... ""But all those things are at risk. And why are they at risk? Because of corporate power and corporate greed in Washington, D.C. And we have to take them on. You can't make a deal with them. You can't hope that they're going to go away. You have to actually be willing to fight. And I want every caucus-goer to know I've been fighting these people and winning my entire life. And if we do this together, rise up together, we can actually make absolutely certain, starting here in Iowa, that we make this country better than we left it."" ... "Edwards got to know workers in Iowa. He stood with them in their struggles." ... "Turning a broad question about human rights toward the specific issue of trade policy, the former senator said that human rights, human needs and human values "should be central to our trade policy."" ... ""But," he added, "if you look at what's happened with American trade policy, look at what America got: Big corporations made a lot of money, are continuing to make a lot of money in China. But what did America get in return? We got millions of dangerous Chinese toys. We lost millions of jobs." ... ""And right here in Iowa, the Maytag plant in Newton [Iowa] closed. A guy named Doug Bishop, who I got to know very well, had worked in that plant, and his family had worked in that plant literally for generations. And his job is now gone. The same thing, by the way, happened in the plant that my father worked in when I was growing up. It is so important that we stop allowing these corporate powers and corporate profits to run America's policy, whether it's trade policy, how we engage with China. This is not good for America. It's not good for American jobs. And it's not good for working people in this country."" ... "That's an issue Edwards has taken far, far more seriously than his opponents in what is now a three-way race in Iowa. And that seriousness has benefitted the former senator." -By John Nichols -TheNation
US - Iraq - Military - Family - Poll - Idaho - Oregon - Afghanistan - "Military family members share public's division on Iraq war, Bush: Polls: Almost half say invasion was a mistake." ... "Close family members of U.S. [United States] troops are split on whether the Iraq invasion was a mistake, and 55% disapprove of [Republican] President Bush's job performance, according to USA TODAY/Gallup Polls focusing on immediate relatives of servicemembers." ... ""They've maxed out on the troops. You've got guys who are over there on their fourth or fifth tours. It's ridiculous," says Jeanette Knowles, 40, of Mountain Home, Idaho, whose brother, Jeff, served a tour in Iraq with the Oregon National Guard." ... "More than 1.5 million servicemembers have been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan since Sept. 11, 2001, and Army combat tours last up to 15 months." -By Gregg Zoroya -USATODAY

Families - Poverty - Agriculture - Christmas-Holidays - Thanksgiving - Gasoline - Households - Money - People - "Food Bank Shelves Going Bare At Holidays: High Living Costs Hurting Donations, While Increasing Demand By Needy Families." ... "The reports from across the country are dismaying: Food pantries are running short and cannot meet the needs of all those seeking help." ... "In the Department of Agriculture's most recent study of hunger in America, released in November, more than 35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, were found to have "low" or "very low food security" (defined as households where hunger was prevalent, where there was not enough money to buy adequate food supplies, where food purchased did not last, or where family members had to cut down or skip meals - sometimes not eating for a day or longer)." ... "That's roughly 1 in 9 households. And the numbers are rising from last year." ... "Everywhere, people are feeling the crunch of rising gasoline and grocery prices, as well as utility bills, rent and mortgage payments." ... "Those factors also are cutting into people's ability to donate to food banks for others in need." ... "At Thanksgiving, the [America's Second Harvest] organization estimated that food banks nationally were short a total of 15 million pounds of food, or roughly 11.7 million meals. " -AP via -CBSNews

John Edwards - Working - Family - College-Education - Money - Race - Des-Moines - Iowa - NC - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - 2008 Election - "The Road Warrior: Even if he loses in Iowa's bigger cities, [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate John] Edwards can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts." ... "For months, Edwards has been rounding up support in the state's rural precincts where the front runners have paid less attention. While [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama and [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary] Clinton have drawn crowds in the thousands in places like Des Moines [Iowa] and Ames [Iowa], Edwards has been winning over people in tiny towns like Sac City [Iowa] (population: 2,189). That's important, the strategists say, because under Iowa's arcane caucus rules, a precinct where 25 people show up to vote gets the same number of delegates as a place that packs in 2,500. In other words, even if he loses to Obama and Clinton in the state's bigger cities, he can still win by wrapping up smaller, far-flung precincts that other candidates have ignored. "The bulk of our support is in small and medium counties," says Jennifer O'Malley, Edwards's Iowa state director. O'Malley says Edwards has visited all 99 counties in the state; the campaign has so far trained captains covering 90 percent of all 1,781 precincts. Rural voters are sometimes reluctant to caucus, so the campaign has been enlisting respected community leaders to encourage first-timers to get past their apathy or fear." ... "This could be wishful thinking from an ailing campaign. But it's worth keeping in mind just how wrong the media echo chamber can be when it comes to predicting winners and losers. At about this time four years ago, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was the press-anointed darling who could seemingly do no wrong in Iowa. Dour John Kerry was scorned by reporters as the should-have-been who had blown it and couldn't possibly win. But on caucus night, Kerry wound up the victor—and Dean wound up screaming. Reporters were left to wonder what they had missed. One story the talking heads may be missing this time: just how badly John Edwards hates to lose." ... "The desire to get ahead—to win—is no small thing for Edwards. He was raised in the depressed town of Robbins, N.C. [North Carolina], where his father, Wallace, worked in a now long-gone textile mill. It's a biographical detail the candidate mentions so often in speeches and campaign ads that it can sometimes border on self-parody. Yet his father's story is what Edwards's campaign, and political career, is all about. His dad worked his way up in the mill and was promoted to supervisor. But without a college degree, there was only so far he could rise. "He heard his mother and I talk about it at the dinner table, so he knew what I was faced with," his father tells NEWSWEEK. Money was scarce. Wallace was determined that John and his younger brother and sister, Wesley Blake and Kathy, would attend college. He set an example of self-improvement. He took classes offered by the mill, and tuned in to the education channel on TV early each morning when the station aired lessons in statistics and probability." ... "Tall and good-looking—and he knew it—John Edwards was a popular student and a star football player, skinny but fast. His high-school friend John Mashburn remembers Edwards as a leader. "In a little redneck town, he was different," he says. There was still racial tension in Robbins in the early 1970s, and black students were sometimes mistreated. In protest, several of them once held a sit-in. Edwards persuaded his white friends to join in. "Johnny got a lot of the athletes, myself, our girlfriends … he was instrumental in encouraging us," Mashburn says. John Frye, another high-school friend, says it was a gutsy thing to do. He "stuck his neck out," Frye recalls. "There was a price to pay in how some folks treated him after that. We had people who didn't embrace desegregation even though it had been a bridge crossed years earlier."" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Arian Campo-Flores and Suzanne Smalley Dec 24, 2007 Issue -Newsweek

Mitt Romney - Abortion-Rights - Money - Parent - Mass - History - 2008 Election - "Romney Attended Planned Parenthood Fundraiser in 1994." ... "ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Mitt Romney attended a fund-raising reception for Planned Parenthood in 1994 in conjunction with a $150 donation his wife made to the organization -- notwithstanding Romney's contention that he had "no recollection" of the circumstances under which his wife gave money to the abortion-rights group." ... "In the photograph obtained by ABC News, Romney and his wife, Ann, are shown in a yellow-and-white tent chatting with local political activists, including Nicki Nichols Gamble, who was then president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts." ... "Nichols Gamble -- whose back is the camera in the photograph -- told ABC that the event was a Planned Parenthood fundraising "house party" in Cohasset, Mass., in June 1994. At the time, Romney, R-Mass., was locked in a tight Senate campaign with [Massachusetts Democratic Senator] Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and was touting his support for abortion rights." ... "That event, Nichols Gamble said, was the occasion where Ann Romney wrote her $150 check -- drafted on a joint checking account she had with her husband -- to Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts." ... ""They were both there, and I remember very well chatting with both of them, and talking about his support for the pro-choice agenda," she said. "We talked about the fact that he was taking a pro-choice position on the issues, and we were very pleased about that."" -By Rick Klein -ABCNEWS.com

John Edwards - Working - Families - Energy - Corporate - Government - 2008 Election - Iowa - "Edwards Offers Middle-Class Pitch: [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Edwards Sharpens Pitch Aimed At Working Families." ... "Edwards, on the seventh day of an eight-day bus tour of the state [of Iowa], spelled out the components of what he calls his "middle class rising agenda," including tax breaks for working families, tougher trade policies and investment in alternative energy." ... ""Corporate greed and political calculation have taken over our government and sold out the middle class," Edwards said. "That is wrong. It doesn't say 'life, liberty and the pursuit of endless corporate profits' in the Declaration of Independence."" ... ""We have a fight in front of us, we have a fight for the future of this country," he said. "We need someone who is going to step into that arena on your behalf, someone who is ready for that fight, somebody who has got it inside, somebody who has the toughness and strength and fight." ... ""Brothers and sisters, I was born for this fight," he told the more than 500 people jammed into a high school gym [in Iowa] to hear him." ... "Edwards also is making the case that he's best positioned to win the White House in November [2008's Election], pointing to polls that show him ahead of all the leading Republican presidential contenders." ... ""I was the only Democrat who beat every Republican in head-to-head matchups," Edwards said, telling backers to use that argument with wavering voters. "Make sure they know that the data is powerful, that I'm a winner. Say it that way."" -AP via -CBSNews

John Edwards - US - Iraq - Military - Corporate - Government - Energy - Drug - Health - Family - Farmers - 2008 Election - "