Welcome to your lucky Saturday night Edwards Evening News! Tonight’s major headline: Elizabeth Edwards finds four leaf clover in Iowa! I guess it wouldn’t be any fun if the other campaigns just packed up and went home right now, but that pretty much seals the deal. John Edwards wins in ’08, thanks to unusual Iowa flora! 
Please follow below the fold for more news.
Four Leaf Clover
Well, that was fun, but there is some serious news tonight. It’s Saturday night, so I tried to start you off with something fun, but we have more important matters to discuss.
Tonight’s Stories:
- Edwards Announces Plan to End the Genocide in Darfur
- “Take A Stand” Tour of Iowa
- Edwards Statement on Justice Department Torture Memos
- Roundup of Today’s Edwards Diaries
Edwards Announces Plan to End the Genocide in Darfur
This is the real headline. I don’t mean to take you at lightning speed from a happy little story about Elizabeth Edwards in Iowa to a story about genocide in Darfur, but this is the sad reality of the world we live in today, so I guess we all get our hope where we can. If anything, it underscores why we need not just good luck, but hard work in choosing our best possible president of the United States in 2008. The world is hurting. We need someone with the policies and the leadership that will help us make a positive difference.
Today, John Edwards announced his six-point plan to end the genocide in Darfur.
“There comes a time when we must say, ‘Never again,'” Edwards continued. “Sudan is the most critical humanitarian crisis in the world. We must take steps to put Darfur back on the road to peace and help restore America’s moral leadership in the world.”
Here are the elements of his six-point plan:
* Convene an emergency NATO meeting. We should call an emergency meeting of NATO’s leadership to support and accelerate the deployment of 26,000 U.N. peacekeeping forces to Darfur.
* Deploy our extraordinary assets to support peace. We should deploy American airlift capabilities, logistical support and intelligence operations to assist U.N. and African Union peacekeeping efforts in Darfur.
* Lead a NATO support effort. America should lead NATO countries to support the deployment of U.N. troops with logistical, operational and financial support.
* Establish a no-fly zone. The U.S. should work with NATO to establish a NATO-led no-fly zone over the region to cut off supplies to the brutal Janjaweed militias and end Sudanese bombing of civilians in Darfur.
* Implement new sanctions. We should work with NATO member countries to impose new multilateral sanctions on Sudan’s government and individuals complicit in the genocide.
* Lead a divestment effort. The U.S. should lead an effort by the American federal government, by American states, by American companies, and by individuals to divest holdings from companies and countries that do business with the Sudanese government.
I hope for the sake of the people of Darfur that we do something useful about this soon. They shouldn’t have to wait until 2009 for a solution.
“Take A Stand” Tour of Iowa
John Edwards is in the midst of a four-day tour in Iowa. Click here for a schedule of events. On the tour, Edwards will emphasize his plan to end the war in Iraq and his new plan to stop the outsourcing of our military to contractors like Blackwater.
For those who may have missed it, John Edwards discussed military contractors on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Wednesday night.
Edwards Statement on Justice Department Torture Memos
Yesterday, John Edwards made a statement about the Justice Department torture memos that you may have missed.
“George Bush has a long record of trampling on the Constitution and failing to be straight with the American people. Yesterday we learned that — even after the Justice Department abandoned its defense of torture — it continued to write memos endorsing the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the CIA. Today, the president asserted that ‘we don’t torture.’ Pardon me, but I have my doubts that George Bush is finally being straight with us.
“As president, I will work to restore America’s moral authority in the world by upholding the rule of law and safeguarding our civil liberties. I reject the Bush Administration’s twisted logic justifying torture. I will release the legal opinions justifying it, and end the abuse of classification and legal privilege to hide un-American legal judgments. Saying no to torture will protect our troops and our values by upholding the Geneva Conventions anywhere American security forces, military or civilian, are engaged.”
Roundup of Today’s Edwards Diaries
Here are some great Edwards diaries that you may have missed:
Edwards Is Our Best Chance to Avoid War With Iran by Todd Bennett
Why I CAN’T Support John Edwards by Vox Populi (delicious snark!)
John Edwards: Don’t Replace Corporate Republicans with Corporate Democrats by Tom P.
Lastly, the faster we get the fundraising out of the way this quarter, the sooner the Edwards campaign can focus fully on getting the message out. Don’t forget that your contributions up to $250 will be matched. I’m trying to reach a goal of 15 contributors on my ActBlue page. Can you be one of them?
UPDATED with unusual flora by RedJet!