John Edwards in Atlanta w/pics

I'm not a good writer nor am I even a good speaker. What I do know is what's in my heart and a little bit more about computers and a little something about politics. I was at the rally for John Edwards today at the IBEW union hall (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers). The steelworkers were there, Mark Taylor was there and former Georgia governor Roy Barnes.

First of all let me say that I don't care how he did in Nevada or Iowa or New Hampshire. My candidate is and will be John Edwards. In fact this will be the third time I vote for him and I hope to make it to a fourth. I am an independent voter and not part of the Democratic party but I tend to vote for them as they represent my views the closest.

First on stage was the head of the labor council Charlie Flemming (I hope I spelled his name right) who is apparently knows my father who is in the CWA. (Communications Workers of America) and also part of the labor council? My apologies if I get confused about the local union, I work for insert giant evil IT company name here and have no union.

Next up I believe was Mark Taylor who ran against Governor Sonny Perdue and lost. I was impressed with his speech; he seemed like a stand up guy. He mostly spoke about how bad Bush has screwed up the country. I believe it was also Mark Taylor who said "We all knew Bush would screw up the country but nobody thought he'd screw up the world!" Crowd roared.

There was some talk about local issues, the drought. Some police officers who were shot and killed here in Atlanta. One of which was a veteran of the Afghanistan war and the other worked a few jobs to make ends meet.

Former governor Roy Barnes took the stage and I tuned out a bit during his speech (fumbling with new camera). I managed to get my attention back when he was complaining about people who don't talk like him. I'm not sure what he was saying but it sounded like an insult to northerners (Clinton maybe) but I'm a northerner. So of course I was thinking "shutup and get John on the stage."

Finally John Edwards takes the stage and gives a very moving speech. He spoke about our snow (lol) no but seriously he spoke at length about healthcare in America. That was the most I have heard about healthcare from any candidate to date. He spoke about Elizabeth's cancer and how she has coverage but many with cancer can't get chemotherapy in an emergency room. This part of his speech brought my eyes to tears and I am not moved  that easily. He spoke about Obama's healthcare leaving 15 million people without coverage.

John also spoke about labor and how "If you can join the Republican party by signing your name on a card, you ought to be able to do the same thing to join a union." He said he would be the strongest organized labor president in history (and I believe him). He also spoke about closing tax loopholes for outsourcing jobs.

He spoke about our veterans, specifically our homeless veterans. How tonight some of our veterans will sleep under a bridge or on a grate. He also spoke about homeless shelters and women and children sleeping on the streets and in cars. He was the ONLY candidate I've seen speak at length about the homeless. That takes courage and that takes heart.

I'm sure you're tired of my babbling and want to see the pics. I just want to end my diary by saying that no matter who you support, it was wonderful to see democracy in action and be part of something special.

Please ignore the pictures of my house and the snow (snow is rare here). Also please forgive the couple of blurry pics as I was learning how to use my new Nikon D80.

I created the link to the slideshow because flickr resized my pics when linking directly.
Clicky the linky for more pics

Thank you for supporting John and reading,
Screwjack

Not sure if this will post again... but I had corrections to make. And I'm not sure how to correct them without hitting "Publish." We shall see.