reporting on the news here in Chapel Hill

[dweller]

local radio station, of a bomb scare at local Edwards campaign headquarters. About 3 miles from where i am at, heard coptors passing over minutes ago. But nothing on the internet, or local tv news.

anyone else hearing anything?

okay, local tv news carrying it. Suspicious package, FedEx env. w/beeping sound.

bomb squad is there

dp

building evacuated, and area (southern village) is pretty muched blocked off.

[karlrschneider]

1. Nobody at Fedex noticed the beeping?

:wtf:

[truth2power]

27. Strange isn't it? I mean, you'd think...

Beep buh beep beep... :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[southerncrone]

2. Haven't seen anything on MSM, but PLEASE keep us informed!

[malaise]

3. MSNBC just said suspicious package n/t

[supernova]

4. Local Link: Edwards Campaign HQ Evacuated

Edwards Campaign HQ Evacuated
Posted: 49 minutes ago
Updated: 35 minutes ago

Chapel Hill — A suspicious package addressed to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards forced the evacuation of his campaign headquarters Thursday, the third time authorities have responded to mail addressed to the office.

Capt. Bob Overton of the Chapel Hill Police Department said he did not know the contents of the package, but he said authorities have deemed it suspicious.
"We are investigating the package at this time," Overton said.

The package was found in the mail at about 10 a.m. Thursday, authorities said. A small section of the Southern Village complex in Chapel Hill was blocked off.

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/1584815/

[dweller]

7. you want to post in LBN?

i'm just listening on 1360am, and they are breaking in/updating at the half-hour.

go for it.
dp

[supernova]

8. Sure.

Just didn't think about it. :silly:

[supernova]

9. It's up on LBN now.

:hi: Thanks dweller.

[nashville_brook]

5. Edwards getting death mail proves that he scares the PTB way more than

any other candidate.

Why does he threaten them so? Doesn't it seem like crazy yay-hoos would be threatening Clinton or Obama? Instead the white, southern guy is attracting the terrorists. reeeaallly makes you wonder...

[mmonk]

11. Corporations are afraid of trial lawyers

and despise them the most.

[nashville_brook]

13. uh-huh -- and i'm wondering where on the coporate org chart falls "CDTO"

Chief Death Threat Officer.


Edwards threatens big wheel corporations -- not crazy, lone gunmen. Threats issuing from sources other than a crazy, lone gunman are far more terrifying, as we imagine that this isn't Joe Nutbucket.

Shades of post-911 anthrax, I say...

[Lex]

6. This is the *third time* his office has received this sort of thing.

I can't remember a GOP'er presidential candidate receiving this kind of stuff, btw.

[Progressive_In_NC]

10. Edwards has a lot of enemies in NC in both sides of the aisle....

Repubs hate him, and some Dems feel betrayed by him since they worked hard to get him elected to the Senate and then he didn't bother to actually do his job as a Senator, opting instead to immediately begin a Presidential run.

There are folks around here who speak about him with vitriol I've only heard used on Bush in these parts. The sad thing is, all of them are not stupid Repubs.

[marions ghost]

12. why would you assume

that somebody local is behind this?

[Lex]

16. LOL! Yeah, it was a Dem.

What?

[Progressive_In_NC]

19. I seriously doubt that thanfully, I didn't mean to imply it

I was saying what I know from having live in this state my whole life.

Sorry

[Blackhatjack]

17. Why state this as a fact? I live in NC and I know this is not true....

"...some Dems feel betrayed by him since they worked hard to get him elected to the Senate and then he didn't bother to actually do his job as a Senator, opting instead to immediately begin a Presidential run."

He did a lot as Senator and it this kind of statement is a backhanded criticism that is a broad smear, and does not provide any proof to support it.

[Progressive_In_NC]

18. I hear it from my neighbors from time to time

I live in Raleigh on the East side of town (in Brad Miller's district). The last time I heard it was from a Repub up the street, but it hasn't been all that long ago that I heard it from a pretty moderate Dem.

The sad fact is, that if you remember it as I do, the not so liberal Raleigh News & Observer harped on him daily for missing so many votes during his exploratory run for the Presidency. The local conservative talk station did the same (610 AM).


I didn't say that I believed it (in fact, I'll be voting for Edwards in 2008 if he's in the race), I'm just saying what I hear from my side of Raleigh, NC that's all. And i agree with you, he has done a lot of good things while in the Senate, but if you compare him to say Clinton, this is what you get:


Statistics from http://www.govtrack.us/congress/person.xpd?id=300039

===================================================================================
Hillary Clinton
Number of Years in the Senate: 6 years
Percentage of Votes Missed: 2%
Average Number of Bills Sponsored Per Year in the Senate: 48 bills per year
Number of Sponsored Bills Successfully Enacted: 2 successful bills during her 6 year tenure


John Edwards
Number of years in the Senate: 6
Percentage of Votes Missed: 15%
Average Number of Bills Sponsored Per Year in the Senate: 13.5 per year
Statistics: John Edwards has sponsored 81 bills since Jan 19, 1999, of which 74 haven't made it out of committee (Average) and 0 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Edwards has co-sponsored 531 bills during the same time period (Average, relative to peers).

=====================================================================================

In other words, he hasn't helped his cause by missing 15% of his votes.


Then to top it all off, we had to endure numerous hit pieces on the poor guy from the likes of:

The John Locke Foundation

http://www.carolinajournal.com/opinions/display_story.html?id=1100

snip
===================================================
Wouldn’t you like to have a job where you showed up for work only 78 percent of the time — a job where you hobnobbed with cultural elites in Hollywood and crisscrossed the country in private jets?

That’s the life of North Carolina’s “Part-Time Senator” John Edwards, now “officially” running for president.
Edwards has outgrown the little people of North Carolina. He now wants to be commander-in-chief of the world’s only superpower.

Case in point. On May 5, Edwards wrote a letter to his Senate colleagues requesting support for an amendment to the energy bill to remove language that threatens existing moratoria that protects sensitive coastal and marine areas. “ I am leading an effort to prevent drilling for oil and natural gas off the Atlantic coast of North Carolina,” Edwards said. (Edwards’ press release 5/14/03)

However, when the Senate voted June 12 on the amendment, Edwards was absent. According to CNN, Edwards missed the vote because he was on his way to Nashville to “meet and greetTennessee Democrats.”
===================================================


Only the Winston Salem Journal tried to stand up for the guy (that I could find):

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031770817111

snip
===================================================
Edwards, like other presidential candidates who serve in Congress, regularly misses roll-call votes as he campaigns.

Edwards skipped 38 votes of the 119 tallies cast during June and July, Senate records show.

That is a better attendance record than most of his Democratic rivals for the White House.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts missed nine out of every 10 votes during the two summer months that Congress was in session, the Greensboro News & Record reported. Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut did slightly better by missing about eight in 10 votes. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was away for half the votes.

===================================================

[Blackhatjack]

20. There is no doubt been an organized effort to paint Edwards that way....

One key fact from your post is often overlooked --'Edwards has co-sponsored 531 bills during the same time period'

Edwards also headed up Clinton's defense in the Senate trial to remove him after impeachment by the House --and won rave reviews for his work there from Democrats.

The N & O has never 'warmed up to' Edwards --and plenty have attacked him mercilessly (like Rob Christenson, 'political expert'--hack in my opinion).

Edwards was selective in how he chose the bills to work on, and in many cases he got no credit whatsoever for his efforts. If you want to know how helpful, call Teddy Kennedy --he will tell you.

My objection was your wording it to appear that it was a fact. I have heard the same complaints too, but they are not supported by the facts. And missing 15% of the votes put Edwards in the upper portion of senators with the best voting records.

[marions ghost]

26. Your assessment makes sense with what I know

:thumbsup:

Yeah I wish they'd get some alternative to Rob Christianson

Agree, my impression was that he had done a good job in the Senate, maybe got out a little soon.

[dweller]

14. latest i'm hearing

is that another (?) bomb squad has been called in, still investigating what they have deemed a 'very suspicious package'.

this reported on our hometown local am station WCHL1360.

dp

[11 Bravo]

15. Limbaugh implied that it was staged by the Edwards camp earlier this afternoon.

Obviously, he had no evidence to support his claim, but when has that ever stopped the fat pig-fucker?

[shadowknows69]

21. An "Agent Edwards" in the CIA maybe staged it

but not John Edwards, real patriot and someone who's boots you're not worthy to lick Limpdick.

[NC_Nurse]

22. I didn't know you lived here.

I'm within a mile of Southern Village. I was at work though. Missed it. :hi:

[dweller]

25. we'll me too!

in the countryside towards the lake.
:hi:
one day it will all be Southern Village or Gov.'s club tho ... :(

i'm enjoying it while i can.
dp

[NC_Nurse]

28. We're off Mt. Carmel Chruch Rd.

We're getting swallowed up by million $ McMnsions in our neighborhood. :-(

We just rented out our house to get ourselves in a better financial position. We found a house in Hillsborough, but it needs some repairs. We'll see if the
sellers are willing to do them. Otherwise, we'll be homeless on Aug. 1st.

I guess we'll just get an apartment - yuch!

[SoCalDem]

23. Once a UPS guy asked me to open the package he brought me.

He was so curious, he asked if I would please open it NOW.

It appears that Grandma had sent my boys easter bunnies...easter bunnies with manaical laughs..and of course she put batteries in them and left them ON.. Every time the ups guy hit a bump, the box laughed hysterically.. Three laughing bunnies..

Today, the bomb squad would have blown the bunnies to bits :)

[struggle4progress]

24. Edwards' staff evacuates office, beeping watches found in package

Published on Thursday, July 12, 2007

A package of beeping watches sent to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards forced the evacuation of his campaign headquarters Thursday, the third time authorities have responded to suspicious packages addressed to the office.

Capt. Bob Overton of the Chapel Hill Police Department said a bomb squad from nearby Durham County "rendered the device safe" by shooting the package with a charge of water. Authorities later found that the package contained three or four wrist watches that were beeping at regular intervals.

"There's no hazard at all," Overton said, adding that authorities were still trying to determine other contents of the package, its source and why it had been sent to Edwards' campaign.

<p>Edwards officials said the package arrived at campaign headquarters Thursday morning. ~snip~

http://www.fayobserver.com/article_ap?id=107809