From The Globe and Mail: Kerry opts for Edwards

Kerry opts for Edwards
Associated Press

Washington — U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry selected former rival John Edwards to be his running mate, telling supporters Tuesday that he can’t wait to see the freshman North Carolina senator going “toe-to-toe with Dick Cheney.”

“In the next 120 days and in the administration that follows, John Edwards and I will be fighting for the America we love,” Mr. Kerry said in an e-mail to supporters obtained by Associated Press. “We’ll be fighting to give the middle class a voice by providing good paying jobs and affordable health care. We’ll be fighting to make America energy independent. We’ll be fighting to build a strong military and lead strong alliances, so young Americans are never put in harm’s way because we insisted on going it alone.”

In selecting Mr. Edwards, Mr. Kerry rejected more seasoned politicians in hopes of injecting vigour and small-town appeal to the Democratic presidential ticket.

He offered Mr. Edwards the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket in a telephone call Tuesday morning, and the North Carolina senator accepted, said two senior Democrats familiar with the conversation.

Mr. Edwards was at his home in Georgetown when Kerry called, readying his two young children for summer camp. Mr. Kerry called from his Pittsburgh home.

He planned to announce his pick at a rally in Pittsburgh. Mr. Edwards will not be at the rally. Obsessed with secrecy, Mr. Kerry kept his decision to himself until the last possible minute, giving Edwards no time to get to Pittsburgh in time.

The newly minted ticket will meet up later Tuesday and begin a multistate tour, ending in Mr. Edwards’s home state.

They will be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, which begins July 26.

Mr. Kerry’s decision ended a search that began with about 25 candidates and a mandate to find a political soul mate who could “be ready at any moment” to assume the presidency. Kerry advisers said their boss had also signalled his interest in Representative Dick Gephardt of Missouri, Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, Senator Bob Graham of Florida, retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana and Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

Mr. Edwards was the last major candidate standing against Mr. Kerry in the Democratic presidential race. He emerged as a favourite second choice of Democratic voters, thanks to his youthful good looks, a self-assured manner and an upbeat, optimistic style. He saved his harshest criticism for U.S. President George W. Bush, whom he accused of creating “two Americas” — one for the privileged, another for everyone else.

Some Democrats were concerned that Mr. Edwards, whose only political credential was a single term in the Senate, lacked the experience in international affairs, particularly in wartime, to be a credible candidate to assume the presidency in the case of death, resignation or removal.

Indeed, Mr. Kerry privately complained to associates during the campaign that Mr. Edwards had not served long enough in the Senate — or politics for that matter — to deserve a shot at the presidency. Aides said he was won over by his private meetings with Mr. Edwards, his performance as a campaign surrogate since the primary fight ended and pressure from Democratic leaders who pushed Mr. Edwards as a vice-presidential pick.

Mr. Edwards seldom criticized Mr. Kerry or any of the other Democrats while running a generally positive campaign. The two had few major policy disagreements — both supported the decision to go to war in Iraq, for example, and both voted against the $87-billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan.

One division was over the North American Free Trade Agreement: Mr. Kerry voted for it, but Mr. Edwards campaigned against NAFTA, which the Senate approved before he was elected. Mr. Edwards made trade, jobs and the economy the centrepiece of his campaign, questioning Mr. Kerry’s vote on NAFTA but not pledging to seek its repeal.

They also differed in some ways on how to approach some issues. Both called for rolling back the Bush tax cuts, but Mr. Kerry proposed eliminating the tax cuts for those who make more than $200,000 a year while Mr. Edwards set the ceiling at $240,000. Mr. Kerry voted against the ban on so-called “partial birth” abortion passed by Congress, but Mr. Edwards did not vote. A more clear-cut difference was Mr. Kerry’s opposition to the death penalty and Mr. Edwards’s support of it.

Mr. Kerry finished first and Mr. Edwards second in the Iowa caucuses in January, surprising front-runner Howard Dean and driving Mr. Gephardt, a regional favourite, out of the race. Mr. Dean finished second to Mr. Kerry in the New Hampshire primary, but the race quickly became a contest between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Edwards.

Yet Mr. Edwards could never muster enough momentum to overtake his Senate colleague. He won only a single state – his native South Carolina – during the competitive phase of the primary and ended his bid after the 10-state Super Tuesday elections on March 2.

Mr. Edwards, 51, was born in Seneca, S.C., and grew up in Robbins, N.C. His father was a mill worker, and he announced his presidential campaign from the factory, then closed, where his father had worked and where he had swept floors to earn money for college. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina State University in 1974 and a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1977.

A Methodist, Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children: Cate, Emma Claire and Jack. Another son, Wade, died in a traffic accident at age 16 in 1996.

Mr. Edwards worked in private practice in Nashville and Raleigh, N.C., for nearly two decades, earning a fortune from medical malpractice and product liability judgments. Although he portrayed himself as a champion of ordinary people hurt by large corporations, the American Tort Reform Association described him as “a wealthy personal injury lawyer masquerading as a man of the regular people.”

From CBC News Tony Blair calls “Guantanamo an ‘anomaly’ that has to end”.

Guantanamo an ‘anomaly’ that has to end: Blair
Last Updated Tue, 06 Jul 2004 8:27:29

LONDON – The U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has gone on nearly long enough for British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said on Tuesday it has to end.

Blair has personally asked U.S. President George W. Bush to let go the four remaining Britons being held at the camp, a request Washington has been reluctant to grant.

“Guantanamo Bay is an anomaly that has at some point got to be brought to an end,” Blair told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

The United States insists that the four British citizens will remain behind bars at the U.S. naval base until the British government can guarantee the men will not pose a threat, either to Britain or elsewhere in the world.

The U.S. military set up the prison camp in January 2002 during the war in Afghanistan to hold suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda members.

Hundreds of detainees of various nationalities have been held there for months, now even years, without charge.

At least two Canadians have been held at the camp, Abdurahman Khadr, who is back in Canada, and his brother Omar, who is still at Guantanamo Bay.

Five Britons who spent up to two years at the prison camp were released to British officials in March. All were freed without charge.

London still wants four more released. Two of them, Moazzam Begg, 36 and Feroz Abbasi, 23, are expected to be among the first of the detainees to face a U.S. military commission.

Britain’s Attorney General Lord Goldsmith said last week he didn’t believe the commission would provide trial that would meet international standards for fairness.

Speaking to the House of Commons Liaison Committee on Tuesday, Blair said he didn’t believe the U.S. demands were unreasonable. “I hope we can resolve it reasonably soon,” he said.

Blair is under political pressure, both from opposition parties and from within his own Labour party ranks, to have the remaining Britons released. Some suggest his support for Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have earned Blair little influence in Washington.

City Of God (imdb | rotten tomatoes | buy it) was as good as promised. When I first started watching it last night I thought, “There’s no way I’ll care about these characters.”

I was wrong.

I ended up caring, very much, what happened to them, how they fared, what they did, how the stories intertwined, how things fell apart and back together. It’s an incredible, brutal movie, well worth the two hours.

It appears that, as of yesterday, Michael Moore has a blog. Welcome to the party, pal.

But, umm…where’s the RSS feed?

Had lunch with my friend Jane today. I haven’t seen her in months, now that she’s an Albertan. It’s been too long…she’s one of the few things I miss about working at that technology startup (whose name I dare not speak)…

Wow, Crush was amazing! Definitely the best value for the money of the Winter/Summerlicious outings we’ve had so far. I went for the cauliflower soup/pork loin/orange chocolate cake, and my wife had the greens/steak/creme brulee. Everything was excellent, the wine was surprisingly good for $39, the service was fantastic and we had a great seat outside that let us people watch on King West. The poor bastard next to us had a girlfriend/date that simply would not shut up, whether to him about nothing in particular or yelling into her cell phone. But it was more amusing than annoying; I felt bad for him. After dinner we walked over to Senses for a wee nip of scotch. I had Bowmore, she had Lagavulin.

Definitely a great start to the Summerlicious slate. Next up: Verveine.

We watched two summer (read: light and fluffy) movies last night: 50 First Dates and Love Actually. The former was about what I expected – dopey, Sandler-esque – and I only agreed to watch it ’cause Drew Barrymore’s in it. Love Actually was a surprise. I expected standard romantic comedy fare, but I sometimes forget that those of the British variety are typically much better then what Hollywood puts out. It’s light enough to make people smile, but it’s intelligent enough to be enjoyable. I recommend it.

50 First Dates…meh. I can only recommend it if you like Adam Sandler and can tolerate Rob Schneider.

It’s been a busy long weekend. Thursday – Canada Day – was actually pretty tame. Yesterday picked up a bit; went for a run in the morning with T-Bone, then breakfast, then walked down to St. Lawrence Market for some fresh goodies. Picked up my new suit from Harry Rosen, rented some movies and for some ungodly reason convinced ourselves it was a good idea to order Pizza Hut. After we ate the grease and watched the movies, we were about done in. It was a long day.

Today (Saturday) was just as busy. We got up early and went out to the Toronto Islands. My wife had never been before, and I’d only been there once. It was a great day in the sun – long walks, frisbee, boat rides, grass, trees, dogs – and we were pooped when we got home. We’re now on our way out the door to dinner at Crush.

And we have one more day left in the weekend!!

We found out this week that it’ll be August of 2006 before we move into our condo. Late August. At least. That’s a long time to wait, man.

Spurred by great reviews and a scary love for both Kirsten Dunst and Mary Jane Watson (and something equivalent to Tobey Maguire for my wife) we lined up to see Spider-Man 2 (imdb | rotten tomatoes). We weren’t disappointed.

Sam Raimi really nailed it: the anguish Peter feels for Uncle Ben, for Mary Jane, for Harry, for his failures as a student. He injects silliness & campiness, but not at the expense of the pain that Spidey – and all the great Marvel characters, really – struggles with every day. The action sequences were better, the rooftep-swinging looked more realistic, and Alfred Molina made a great Doc Ock. He walked just as fine a line as Maguire and Raimi did, between being a compelling movie character and being a comic book villain, and he pulled it off masterfully. Ooh, ooh, and Mary Jane even breaks out a “tiger”. That made me happy. Oh, and J.K. Simmons…I’m not sure they could have found a better J. Jonah Jameson anywhere in the world. What makes his performance that much more remarkable is that I still think of him as one of the most memorable characters to ever appearon TV: Vern Schillinger, resident Nazi rapist on Oz.

I liked the first Spider-Man, but I didn’t think it was a great movie. Spider-Man 2 is. I now have high hopes for the third movie, for which they introduced one obvious villain and another that’s only obvious to people who know their Spidey villains well. Hobgoblin and Lizard, please step up.