| France’s choice: the Bayrou factor
For what happened on Sunday was that the French - the same people whose vision of their country is full of gloom and doom, who despise politicians even more than journalists, who have lost confidence in politics, who consider that they live in one of the worst places when it comes to the economic, social and law and order situation, who took the idea of a "protest vote" to its limit in 2002 by pushing the extreme-right Jean-Marie Le Pen to the second round at the expense of socialist Lionel Jospin - flocked in record numbers to select a new president. Even more, they have shunned the nine protest-vote candidates, or almost: Le Pen, in fourth position, has his worst score in twenty years (10.51% against 16.8% in 2002), the once-powerful Communist Party marched further towards irrelevance with a dismal 1.94%, while the five remnant "left of the left" figures and the Greens are at an all-time low of 8.5%.
Nursing kittens back to health was the start
Actually, it was several newborn felines that gave the Mandarin resident a new mission in his retirement years. Edwards now spends at least one day a week, sometimes more, volunteering at the Edison Avenue Veterinary Clinic on spay/neuter days sponsored by First Coast No More Homeless Pets. "I wasn't really a pet person in the past," Edwards said while explaining how his efforts to help an elderly neighbor deal with a growing group of feral cats led him down a new path. "What changed my heart," Edwards said while cleaning the mite-infested ears of a cat that had undergone spay surgery moments earlier, "was four kittens left on my back deck by an inexperienced new momma cat." Though they were stiff, lifeless and abandoned by their frightened, confused mother, Edwards did his best to clean and resuscitate the newborns.
Pennsylvania Governor Rendell Proclaims "Cover The Uninsured Week ...
April 20, 2007 -- HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today said “Cover the Uninsured Week" – to be observed April 23-29 – is the perfect time for the General Assembly to begin consideration of his Prescription for Pennsylvania proposal to make access to health coverage available to all Pennsylvanians. During “Cover the Uninsured Week," the Governor and members of his cabinet and staff will be traveling across the state to talk with groups – ranging from business and community leaders to health care advocates – about Pennsylvania's opportunity to make history by providing access to health coverage for all Pennsylvanians. “Nearly 767,000 Pennsylvanians lack health insurance coverage, which stands in the way of making sure they have basic medical care," Governor Rendell said.
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