On Wisconsin?

Happy day. Special thank you to the excellent people at the Robert La Follette School of Public Affairs for granting me access to their fine institution. Maybe I'll be in Madison come August. The offer has been extended. They've asked. Now it's the hard part. LBJ, Kansas, I'm waiting.

Jerry Maguire

That guy is so smooth. He'd have me at hello too.

More about John Edwards

Sometimes, he frustrates me, but then he comes out talking about education policy and talking about how they need to present their policy alternatives and he gives you (me) goosebumps. He talks about the people who are ignored by the system. He's just good. Good, good, good. Dennis Kucinich says some good things every once in a while, but he also sounds like a broken record. The debate is fun.

I love John Edwards but...

I wish that he would support more health care spending. I know that he wants to work to reduce poverty and he wants to spend money that could go towards health care on increasing the wealth and savings of the working class. That is an extremely important issue. The wealth disparity is probably the single biggest cause of problems for our working poor. However, if you spend money on health care, you would reduce the negative effects of poverty on the poor. The reduction of the negative effects also has an equalizing effect as there is less doubt as well as a reduced burdon from health care expenses. I see no reason why we can't have universal savings programs as well as health care. Also, I understand that Edwards was raised in a mill village and saw jobs go away. I also understand that Kerry is the richest of the US Senators. And finally, I understand that in the realm of trade, there is no difference between the two of them. In this case, background doesn't matter much. Edwards may have been poor, but he's a multi-millionaire now.

Thank you to the University of Kansas Department of Public Administration. I appreciate the reason to buy a suit. I am fortunate enough to begin the next step in the graduate school application process by interviewing with a fine alumnus from Kansas. It'll be good fun to be sure. Texas, Wisconsin, you guys are on the clock.

I have some favorite records from the past year. I'd like to tell you(?) what they might be.

Kaito U.K. "Band Red"
Bishop Allen "Charm School"
the Joggers "Solid Guild"
Natural History "Beat Beat Heartbeat"
the Unicorns "Who will cut our hair when we're gone"
the Darkness "Permission to Land"
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists "Hearts of Oak"
Monkeytown "Death of Monkeytown"
Spoon "Kill the Moonlight"
Canoe "I Give You...Canoe"
VA "Pop Pop Pigalle"

All of these are good, so you should listen to them.

So, if Robert Reich is my hero, and he is, and he's supporting John Kerry, which he seems to be doing, does that mean I shouldn't be as apprehensive about this surge in Kerry momentum? Kerry is fine and good. He's certainly better than Bush. He just lacks passion and energy. He doesn't have the presence. John Edwards has that. He also has a message that seems to be in line with my personal philosophy. Whoever gets the nomination has a responsibility to say address some issues that my former Governor Clinton never quite sufficiently tackled. I'm still waiting for increased funding for public transportation and job training. I'd also like to see some legislation requiring the broadening of advertising job postings. Companies are more comfortable and more confident with the workers that they can find in the suburbs so they don't bother advertising job openings in newspapers that primarily serve the lower SES inner city. Give me public transportation and better access to jobs, and I'll give as much money and time as I need to help get you elected. Also, I am not interested in emails telling me how to get sex with older women. I don't know what list I'm on, but I'd like to get off of it.

Can you think of anything more egotistical than me, some punk ass of whom you have never heard, endorsing someone in the quest for the Democratic Nomination in our upcoming Presidential election? Neither can I. John R. Edwards.

I don't mean to imply that I am some all-knowing sage in the world of American Politics. I'm not. I'm just some kid in my mid-20's who's getiing married in a couple of months... Okay, I'm some young adult just hoping to get into graduate school so that I can try to help some people who otherwise wouldn't get the attention that they deserve. What I am having trouble understanding, is where is the consistency of thought in those who are making the major policy decisions in our nation. We decide that welfare is bad, so we get rid of that. We push most of those people into minimum wage jobs, but we refuse to raise the minimum wage such that these people are better off working for themselves. We don't offer any significant job training programs. What little we have, we scrap so that some people who owe their wealth and success, in no small degree, to the system can get a tax cut and opt out of the system that they used to their own personal advantage. How are we helping our workers prepare for the reality of a global economy. We eliminate their jobs. We send them to the lowest bidder. This wouldn't be such a bad thing if we would possibly increase training to those without so that we would have workers skilled enough to work the higher paying technician jobs and higher skilled manufacturing jobs that remain. I don't know is all that I'm trying to say. Good times.

Ta Da. This is it, the first post in my newfound world of posting things so that I can come back and read what it is that I may have said at any point in time. Nothing quite so magical as this.