John Kerry has been in public office for several decades now. He’s been in public service for even longer than that—for his whole life, in fact. As his biography indicates, his dedication to this country and to the welfare of its citizens goes all the way back to his very beginnings. His parents were public servants and environmental activists, and he’s carried their lessons of service and stewardship with him throughout his public and private life. They taught him the virtues of honesty and integrity, the value of passion and commitment, and the essential need for people to work together for the welfare of all.

So it’s no surprise that today Senator Kerry is not just a public servant, but also a passionate activist for the welfare of all of us. He still speaks truth to power, he still stands up for those who need representation, and he still brings people together to work for the betterment of the entire community. That’s true for him in Washington, and it’s true in the world outside the Beltway too.

A prime example of this emphasis on working together for good of all is JK’s lifelong commitment to protecting the planet we all live on. This is no new issue-of-the-month cause for him; he was an organizer of the very first Earth Day actions back in 1970, and he’s been a staunch supporter of environmental causes throughout his years in public service. He’s been a good friend and colleague of another staunch supporter of those causes for over two decades now, and this past week they both came together once again to reach out on behalf of Mother Earth.

Some three million people received an email from former Senator (and former Vice-President) Al Gore on May 8 asking them to stand up and be counted in support of environmental activism to combat the global climate change crisis. While Mr. Gore’s public efforts in this area are already well-known, with this email he had an opportunity to reach out to millions of people who might not otherwise have received his message. And he did so with the help of John Kerry and the entire JK community, because that email was sent to the entire JK mailing list.

As we all know, the online JK community is very large, very loyal, and very active. So the shared Kerry/Gore connection in sending out this email was no small gesture. It got a lot of attention in the blogosphere, this dKos diary by beachmom being just one example among many. And this effort has already proved to be very effective in bringing environmentally-aware cybercitizens to AlGore.com and its sibling initiatives’ websites at EarthChallenge.

When two high-profile people with a record of public service and a shared history of commitment to environmental causes like JK and Al Gore come together for a common cause, that definitely gets noticed and it definitely gets things done. In case you might have missed the original email yourselves, here’s the message that was written by Al Gore and sent out to the millions of people on John Kerry’s electronic mailing list last week: <!-more-> – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –

A few weeks ago I read John and Teresa’s book, “This Moment on Earth”. I found the stories within, about men and women fighting the great fight for our environment, to be a profound challenge to all of us. These activists provide valuable lessons on the power of people working for change. If we embrace their resourcefulness, determination and essential patriotism we will prevail in the fight to save our planet.

I was inspired by their work, and I know you will be too. You can purchase a copy of “This Moment on Earth” at your local bookstore or by clicking here:

Buy the book

The book comes at an important time, a vital moment on Earth.

Right now our nation is ready to cross the tipping point beyond which our leaders will be forced to take real action to solve the climate crisis. However, in order to cross that threshold it is going to take a sufficient expression of political will.

Most of our Representatives in Washington know there is no longer a debate about the fact that the climate crisis is real—and they know the serious consequences our planet faces if we fail to act. Political will is a renewable resource, and enough already exists to start solving this crisis. We just have to communicate that forcefully to the political leaders of our country.

As John and Teresa’s book demonstrates, the most powerful way to realize that change is through the activism of the American people.

That is why a few months ago I began building a movement at AlGore.com. Already we have grown to a community of more than 550,000. In order to ultimately succeed we will need to grow even bigger.

Today I want to invite you to join our movement to solve the climate crisis by visiting:

http://www.algore.com/join/

For many years, I have worked with John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry to fight for a solution to the climate crisis—way before it was fashionable. Indeed, they were providing outstanding and courageous leadership on these vital questions when very few people in the world were even paying attention to these challenges. This commitment continues in their important new book.

I urge you to join me in working for change. And I urge you to read John and Teresa’s wonderful new book for moving and inspiring illustrations of the potential power of Americans working for a better planet. Together, we can create a better tomorrow for our Earth if we seize this vital moment.

Thank you,

Al Gore

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DomeNation, with Jerome Armstrong and David All, has put up the second part of the interview with JK. We blogged about the first part here.

Check it out.

Hattip to beachmom for the heads-up on Part II.

UPDATE: Yes, the first minute or so of part 2 is the same as part 1. In a post which is no longer available on his website, David All indicated that they wanted each video to be able to stand on its own. If you keep watching you’ll see that they do contain different material.

JK had a lot to say about “This Moment on Earth” in this edition. And speaking of TMOE, the Pittsburgh City Paper published an interview with JK & THK.

Why do so many of the activists you profile not consider themselves environmentalists?

Some people have come to see [the term] in the pejorative, and we wanted them to see, “Wait a minute: You can do good things, and be smart about the environment, without worrying about whether you’re an ‘environmentalist’ or not.”

Many environmental books address personal choices, like what kind of light bulbs to buy. Why focus on activists?

We thought that would inspire people more than just saying, “You can do this, you can do that.” Those kind of stories underscore that you as an individual can go out and make a difference. This book is meant to empower people.

Did you find it sobering how often regular citizens have fought just to get existing laws enforced?

It’s incredible. And thank God for those patriotic citizens who do it. I mean, Rick Dove is one of my favorite stories in the book. Here’s a guy who’s 67 years old, he’s been a Marine for a career. Two tours of duty in Vietnam. He earned the right to retire quietly. But he has felt compelled to continue to work for the country by being a Riverkeeper, and protecting the Hudson river.

<!-more-> Read the rest of the interview here. (Actually it’s the Neuse River )

  Also don’t forget to check out all the comments on today’s liveblogging session as well as karennj’s report on the SFRC climate change and national security hearing right here.

 

JK and Teresa are going to be talking with Lynn Cullen of WPTT in Pittsburgh from 9:30 – 10 am ET today. WPTT has a live webcast so tune it in and join us for a live blog session.

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For those of us who missed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday morning, the topic was climate change as a national security threat. Blogger KarenNJ watched it on the web and took notes for us all. Here’s her report:

 

Climate Change: National Security Threat

Yesterday, Senator Kerry and the other Senators on the SFRC had a hearing, requested by Senator Kerry in an April 17, 2007 letter to Chairman, Joe Biden. During the hearing, three retired high level officers spoke about the report, “National Security and the Threat of Climate Change” that they wrote for the Center for Naval Analyses. The hearing can be viewed via this link on the SFRC web’s site. CNA also has a report summary available here.

Senator Biden opened the hearing by explaining the purpose of the hearing and introducing the panel. The overall goal of that study was to assess what the national security impacts might be because of the stresses that climate change could bring. He mentioned that one recommendation of the committee was to have the National Intelligence Estimate reflect potential climate change threats. Senators Durbin and Hagel have introduced legislation to require this.

Senator Lugar, in his opening statement, listed the 6 problems that they found were connected to our use of oil.

1) Oil supplies are vulnerable to natural disasters and to war. 2) As the economies of India and China grow, they increase the demand for oil. 3) Oil is the weapon of choice for the countries that have it. 4) Oil revenues go to some of the least accountable countries 5) Third world countries with no oil resources have economic difficulties. 6) Global Change

Lugar pointed out that the US has abundant coal resources – so we need to work on clean coal. He also said that we need to participate in international forums involving both developed and developing nations <!-more-> Admiral Joseph W. Prucher, USN (retired) , who was also a former ambassador to China, said that climate change was linked to national security because it will exasperate problems, and as climate change increases it will get worse. The lower end of possible problems was described as like Katrina. The higher end would lead to massive migrations, increased disease, and lack of sufficient food and water in poorer nations. This would increase political, military and cultural tensions, leading to instabilities and more extremism. He observed that oil was foreign, finite and fickle and that we need a global solution. He said that just as “the military must fight the right war, at the right time in the right way.” It has think about climate change that way.

Vice Admiral Truly, USN (retired) said that they all agreed on the findings of the report because it came back to the effects on the environment, which impacted societies, which could lead to conflicts. He saw the danger greatest in Africa and the Middle East. In the Middle East, water is scarce as it is and climate change is predicted to make it worse. The rise in sea levels affects the coasts, where most of the trade is. Many US military facilities would be in jeopardy. The often heavily populated river deltas would be flooded leading to mass migrations. He mentioned Bangladesh as a place where this migration would cause enormous problems. He noted that as the oceans rise, all these deltas could be in trouble at the same time.

General Charles F. Wald, USAF (Ret), who was formerly a deputy commander in Africa and the Middle East, sees Africa as the biggest problem. The fear is of giant migrations as water and food become scarce. Darfur partially started due to climate change, where people migrated as land became unusable. The alternation of floods and droughts in Somalia led to problems there, which causes extremism to grow. Wald said, “Climate change is a threat multiplier everywhere.”

When it was Senator Lugar’s turn to ask questions, he asked whether someone running for President could run on the environment, promising that all government vehicles would meet a high CAFÉ standard and all new government buildings would be energy efficient. This would be an example and prove to countries, like India and China, that it could be done economically. Admiral Prucher said he didn’t know if an environmental ticket could win, but that we need to be the model if China is going to do it. Lugar and the panel agreed that a huge technology change is needed.

Then it was Senator Kerry’s turn. He said that he DID run for President saying those things but much of it was hidden by the terror warnings. He agreed with Lugar that all government vehicles and buildings should be energy efficient. He explained that he was at Senate hearing with Al Gore in 1987 and at the Rio convention, which led to a voluntary program that has not worked. He said that top scientists all agree that there is warming and it is partly caused by humans and we are “duty bound” to make changes. Scientists, he said are conservative in their claims, saying only what they can prove. They are now saying that change is happening faster than had been anticipated and that the problem is more drastic. Kerry said that we can’t allow any more old technology plants to be built. He then spoke of how this was also a national security problem.

Senator Kerry issued this press release which summarizes his comments.

After explaining the urgency with which we needed to move, Senator Kerry apologized for speaking for his entire time rather than asking questions. Senator Biden responded that Kerry did not need to apologize that he had been speaking about these things for 15 years and “the rest of us” should have listened.

Senator Hagel then said that much time had been wasted and that he agreed with Kerry, Lugar and Biden. He spoke of how China will use the energy source available to it – coal and mentioned that was why he thought the India nuclear deal was good.

Senator Casey said the debate on global warming is nearly over and the issue was what to do about it. He complimented Senator Kerry on his quick and excellent summary of the problem and the urgency. He then questioned the panel on how it could impact readiness. The answers ranged from possible loss of facilities to dealing with a broader range of threats.

Senator Murkowski asked whether the Chinese think we are hypocritical given our higher usage or if they understand the urgency. Admiral Prucher responded that Chinese are proud that they have recently pulled so many people out of poverty and they do see hypocrisy. General Wold agreed saying that getting 6 million people out of poverty is more important to them than clean coal technology. He then stressed that even if they don’t do anything, we still should. Truly added that doing nothing is not a moral stance.

What was striking listening to this hearing on the web was how much agreement there was between the panel, the Democrats and the Republicans.

 

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  Thanks for that report, KarenNJ.

 

Today is a day for putting a human face on what’s happening in Iraq. Let’s start with Debra Morgan Pardee and her post at TPM Cafe, “So, Now We Wait. Again”, about waiting for a phone call from her son in Iraq.

Six members of my son’s company died yesterday in Diyala Province, Iraq, killed in a massive explosion that entirely destroyed a Stryker vehicle. Only one person survived. My daughter-in-law spent the whole day with her best friend and was with her when she received word that her fiancé had been killed.

[...]

My daughter-in-law and her friend were shopping at the mall when the call came in. She collapsed on the floor, and it took 15 minutes to “peel her off the floor,” I learned later.

[...]

When I learned the news, I was seven miles from my car, riding on this beautiful bike path. I was happy; I had had a really, really nice day. I had ridden seven miles to sit beside a lovely stream; experiencing it’s cool, flowing water was like meditation.

[...]

The bike path ran through farms and pastures and creeks. Spring flowers were blooming everywhere. Life was burgeoning all around me. I thought about the yurt I would like to have someday and how it would look set in a beautiful place like this. I could see in my minds eye how it would glow like a yellow candle on warm summer nights. I could almost hear frogs and crickets serenading a full moon.

Then my cell phone rang. I stopped, pulled it from my pocket and saw it was my daughter-in-law. I remember smiling, thinking she was calling to find out where I’d wandered off to.

[...]

As I hung up, I felt like someone had hit me in the gut and I couldn’t catch my breath. I stood there on the side of the bike lane, looking down at the cell phone in my hand, letting her words sink in, thoughts of my son swirling inside my head.

This is real. This is war. And all the killing and dying is real. It isn’t just happening to someone else. It’s happening to us. It’s happening to young people we know, people who are just starting out in life. Young men and women planning weddings, having babies, thinking about their lives “after the Army.” This particular young man was only 23 years old.

Read Debra’s complete post here. It’s powerful. <!-more-> Debra’s compatriot at TPMCafe, Deanie Mills, talks about the toll on those soldiers who aren’t wounded by the IED that their convoy runs into in “A Black Matter for the King”. Deanie’s son is a marine in Iraq.

Even if you are lucky enough to survive the IED or the sniper or the rocket propelled grenade that killed your buddies or blew off their legs and hands and arms and burned them, you have to be there for them. You have to pull them from burning vehicles when their skin slips off in your hands like a glove. You have to tie a tourniquet around spurting stumps to save their lives.

You have to watch them die.

It’s not pretty, when a buddy dies in combat. Sometimes they fight to live, and you can see them fighting, and you can see the young medic working valiently to save them, and you can see the life leave their eyes.

And then you have to go back to where you lived together, and help gather up their photographs of wife and children or mom and dad and girlfriend, and the letters from home they have saved, and other things.

And then you have to live.

[...]

It’s not enough that they are exposed to intense combat conditions 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end, but this is the first war in our history where they have not been permitted to rotate in and out of a rear area where some measure of rest and recreation was possible.

This is the first war I know of in our history where you don’t just serve your deployment. You serve it knowing you will have to go back, and the whole time you are “home” you are training for more combat for your next deployment, and then you have to go back.

And then you have to go back.

Deanie talked about the phone call from her son made at 3 am Iraqi time on her own blog. It tells the story of emotional stress in a whole new way. I won’t attempt to excerpt it. Just read it and come back.

Deanie referenced a reporter, Dexter Filkins of the NY Times, in another post, saying that his reporting was authentic. She mentioned a specific article that he’d written, “THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: INSURGENCY HOTBED; In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles” (subscrip only). (The IHT has an unrestricted copy here.)

Dexter and NY Times photographer Joao Silva put together a tribute to a soldier who was killed while they were there—an audio-photo show called “The Reach of War: Farewell to an American Soldier”. Take a deep breath.

There are other pictures and stories like this one of Rahid Sabah Abid.

And stories like this:

Names of the Dead

Published: April 27, 2007

The Department of Defense has identified 3,327 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans yesterday:

GASPERS, Kevin J., 26, First Lt., Army; Hastings, Neb.; 82nd Airborne Division.

KING, Jerry R., 19, Specialist, Army; Browersville, Ga.; 82nd Airborne Division.

KNOLL, Garrett C., 23, Pfc., Army; Bad Axe, Mich.; 82nd Airborne Division.

LOCKER, Kenneth E. Jr., 28, Staff Sgt., Army; Wakefield, Neb.; 82nd Airborne Division.

MARESH, Jeremy E., 24, Specialist, Army; Jim Thorpe, Pa.; First Battalion, 213th Air Defense Artillery.

MARSHALL, Randell T., 22, Sgt., Army; Fitzgerald, Ga.; 82nd Airborne Division.

MOORE, William C., 27, Staff Sgt., Army; Benson, N.C.; 82nd Airborne Division.

PEARSON, Brice A., 32, Sgt., Army; Phoenix; 82nd Airborne Division.

RODRIGUEZ, Michael J., 20, Specialist, Army; Sanford, N.C.; 82nd Airborne Division.

VAUGHAN, Michael L., 20, Sgt., Army; Otis, Ore.; 82nd Airborne Division.

  These are the reasons why we work to bring our troops home from Iraq and we will not give up.

 

JK on DomeNation with Jerome Armstrong and David All. They had a very interesting conversation covering a lot of territory including how technology like blogging and youtube are changing politics. h/t to mydd

Also on today’s agenda:

The Congressional Quarterly (subscrip only) noted that JK and Sen. Russ Feingold “plan to offer an amendment to the Water Resources Development Act (S 1248) that would require the Army Corps of Engineers to plan for the impact of a warming climate on water projects. The bill is slated to move to the Senate floor as early as Tuesday.” It will “put the Senate on record in support of scientific predictions that global warming may lead to rising sea levels, droughts and more intense storms.

The Kerry-Feingold amendment would require the corps to take into account the latest scientific projections of climate science when planning how to proceed on navigation, flood-control and coastal restoration projects. Supporters say the plan would mandate consideration of the costs and benefits associated with the loss and protection of wetlands, flood plains and other systems that may be vulnerable to warmer temperatures. For instance, because wetlands serve as a buffer between land and water and can mitigate the intensity of hurricanes, the amendment would require the corps to consider reconstructing wetlands in lieu of structural barriers.

<!-more-> The Commerce Committee is considering a number of amendments focused on fuel economy and CAFE standards today. The Washington Post describes a few of the interested parties in this article. Congress Daily (subscrip only) CAFE standard to be 31 miles per gallon by 2015.

The Buffalo News has an article, “Fuel economy drive gaining momentum”, which wraps up a lot of what’s going on and includes this quote from JK:

“We have a whole new set of facts staring us in the face,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. “We have a 10-year window in which to deal with climate change.”

 

 

JK spent some time talking about This Moment on Earth in Coral Gables, FL this weekend. He spoke and answered questions at Books & Books and Jose and Danielle were there to take a few pictures.

 

JK also called into the Jim Defede radio show. Jim asked some good questions and you can listen to their exchange here.

 

A couple of the local TV stations covered the appearance as well. Check out their reports here and here.

  JK and THK wrote an op-ed, “We can stop a catastrophe”, for Floridians that was published in the Miami Herald today.

Hundreds of thousands of people move to Florida every year, but - for the same reason that people flock there - Florida has more to lose than almost any other state from global warming.

Florida has 8,400 miles of tidally influenced coastline. Scientists estimate that, unless we act, sea levels could rise 18-20 inches by 2100—endangering everything within 250 feet of the shoreline. Hurricanes are already growing stronger, and rising sea levels and fiercer storms could create disasters that dwarf those we’ve experienced in recent years.

Florida stands to lose twice over because of the revenue generated by its beaches and natural beauty. The tourism industry is one reason why, in the 12 months before July 2006, Florida’s population grew by 321,697 people, the second-most of any state in the country. Beachgoers generate more than $15 billion in revenue. In 2001, nearly 5 million people spent around $6.2 billion on wildlife viewing, hunting and fishing—supporting 122,518 jobs in the state.

Difficult choices

So when the next batch of presidential candidates starts converging on your state before the 2008 election, make sure they tell you exactly what they plan to do to stop global warming. Because this state has a special stake in solving climate change.

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Here’s the bottom line: Within the next decade, if we don’t deal with global warming, our children and grandchildren will have to deal with global catastrophe.

Business leaders will tell you: This crisis presents an economic opportunity to create new technologies that lower emissions and reverse the damage already done. Every schoolchild knows our history of innovation—from the Wright Brothers to Henry Ford to Bill Gates, from the Model T to the iPod. Why would we stop now?

The real crisis will come if we fail to seize the opportunities that global warming presents—for renewables, efficiency breakthroughs and clean technologies.

We can create millions of new jobs and vast new markets, slow global warming, save taxpayers money, earn the world’s respect and significantly strengthen our long-term outlook. All by making a commitment to solve global warming.

Thankfully, people are finally waking up, and the result is a new face of a new environmentalism. For anyone who ever once ridiculed environmentalists as elitist ’’tree huggers,’’ it’s time to meet the new face of the environmental movement: ranchers out West, CEOs of ten major companies urging mandatory carbon-emissions caps, evangelicals who believe in ’’creation care’’ and parents wondering what’s in the water that their kids drink.

The new environmentalists reject the lazy dodge that caring about the environment means caring less about security or the economy because they understand that, in the long run, these issues are inseparable.

To put it simply, this is a matter of life and death. It is a matter of keeping our children safe and of respecting God’s creation. It is a matter of preserving species and protecting the bottom line.

[...]

The time to act is now.

 

We all know what the big stories of the day are. We all know what the obvious issues of the week are. They’re all over the place—in the papers and on the radio and crawling across the screen on our cable-TV talking-head shows every time we turn around.

But practicing good governance is not something that shows up in the papers or on the radio or at the bottom of the TV screen every day. It’s something that takes lots of time, lots of commitment, and it gets measured in slow but steady progress sometimes. For every high-profile issue that makes the headlines, there are dozens of other quiet but unspectacular legislative activities in which the real business of running the country gets done.

Here’s just a few of the recent legislative actions by which JK’s been quietly doing the real business of running the country, the same way he’s been taking care of business on behalf of the citizens of his state and his country in the Senate for the last 23 years:

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Kerry Health Care Plan Eases Cost Burden on Families, Businesses Kerry Bill allows for broader coverage and lower premiums

WASHINGTON - Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Healthy Businesses, Healthy Workers Reinsurance Act of 2007, which will tackle the growing crisis of health care costs for families and businesses. Under Kerry’s plan, the federal government will pick up part of the cost for the most catastrophic cases - and in turn, businesses will cover all their employees with quality, preventative coverage. Premiums for all Americans will decrease by up to 10%. Healthy Businesses, Healthy Families is co-sponsored by Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

“The cost of health insurance premiums for families has risen 87 percent since 2000 – this is a huge contributor to the health care crisis in this country,” said Senator Kerry, Chairman of the Senate’s Small Business Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. “Part of the reason that businesses don’t cover their workers is an aversion to risk - a fear that they will be saddled with a sick employee whose high premiums will bankrupt them. But there’s a way to fight these high costs - and it’s time Washington makes employers and healthcare plans an offer they can’t refuse.”

One percent of patients account for a quarter of healthcare costs. And 2 out of 10 patients account for more than 80 percent of all healthcare costs. Under Kerry’s plan, the federal government would reimburse a percentage of these high cost cases if employers include preventative care and health promotion benefits in their health plans, make quality coverage available to all full-time workers, and implement practices proven to make care more affordable. This means lower costs and lower premiums for both employers and employees.

The Legislation establishes a Reinsurance Trust Fund, which would be administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. The fund would reimburse qualified employers and health plans for a portion of the catastrophic health costs of their active and retired employees, and their families.

“Reforming health care in this country requires us to address cost in a comprehensive and meaningful way,” Kerry added. “It’s time the government starts to shoulder some of the burden to help alleviate costs to large employers, small businesses, and families. This will lay the groundwork for achieving our ultimate goal: healthcare coverage for every single American.” <!-more-> – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –

Kerry Plan Would Ban All New Coal Plants That Use Obsolete Technology

WASHINGTON —Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Clean Coal Act of 2007, which prohibits the construction of all new coal fired power plants in the United States unless they use state-of-the-art emissions reduction technology. The new technology limits the release of carbon emissions from power plants, which is one of the leading causes of global warming.

Kerry’s bill will mandate that all new coal plants – including the approximately 150 new plants proposed throughout the United States in the next decade – use technologies that significantly reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

“Climate change is one of the most pressing and urgent issues facing our environment, our economy and our national security,” Senator Kerry said. “We can – and must – find a better way to burn coal to combat the emissions that contribute to this crisis.”

Currently, half of our electricity is generated from coal, which produces approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually. According to the National Energy Technology Laboratory at the Department of Energy, those numbers are only going to get bigger. Over 150 new coal-fired power plants are proposed for construction in the United States. Over their lifetime, those plants will spew an additional 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

“We have a ten year window to address global climate change, and demanding we burn coal in a clean way is an important place to start,” Kerry added. “This bill is the number one solution to global warming. Unless we can build clean power plants, we should not be building them. I urge my colleagues to join me in setting this important standard for coal plants.”

On Monday, Kerry introduced a bill that will combat the pollution generated by the Capitol Power Plant in Washington, DC, by mandating that the Capitol Complex be carbon neutral by 2020. Kerry’s bill makes Congress practice what they preach by taking on dirty sources of energy right in its own backyard.

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Kerry announces seven Massachusetts Vet Centers to receive additional funding

BOSTON—Senator John Kerry announced that the nation’s VA Vet Centers will receive $20 million in funding, as part of the Fiscal 2007 Supplemental Appropriations Conference Report which passed the Senate yesterday.

The new funding for VA Vet Centers will be used to hire additional staff and run the centers already operating in within the system.

“We have nearly 477,000 veterans throughout Massachusetts and hundreds of thousands more nationwide and all of them have earned our care and respect. You don’t support the troops when you fail to provide adequate care when they come home,” said Senator Kerry. “This funding will enable the Vet Centers to hire additional staff and start doing outreach that is long overdue. There are still service members from this generation that are unaware of what a Vet Center is, and the services they provide. This much needed funding will provide assistance for our service members transition from combat to everyday life.”

VA Vet Centers provide readjustment counseling and outreach services to all veterans who served in any combat zone. Our veterans earned these benefits through their service to country, and we must fulfill the nation’s commitment to them by providing the highest quality services possible.

The Vet Center program was established to assist Vietnam-era veterans who were experiencing readjustment problems. In 1991, Congress extended the eligibility to veterans who served during other periods of armed hostilities after the Vietnam era. The goal of the Centers is to provide a broad range of counseling, outreach and referral services to help veterans successfully readjust to civilian life. Services include individual counseling, group counseling, marital and family counseling, bereavement counseling, medical referrals, assistance in applying for VA benefits, and employment counseling.

A report by the House Veterans Affairs Committee Democratic staff found that in nine months, between October 2005 and June 2006, the number of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who turned to Vet Centers for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) services doubled. The increased demand for services is beginning to affect access to quality care. One in four Vet Centers surveyed has been forced to limit services or establish waiting lists for critically needed services.

Approximately one-third of the veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan come to the VA with mental health concerns. We have seen the cases of PTSD rise sharply along with the need for readjustment care when veterans return home. This funding will help insure VA Vet Centers have enough trained professionals to offer quality mental health services. They are currently unable to deal with the increasing demand for mental health services. Each of these centers needs this additional funding to hire sufficient staff to deal with the recent influx of patients.

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Last week we presented a video interview with Cheryl Osimo, co-founder of the Silent Spring Institute in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. That interview was conducted and assembled into its final video form by members of the JK blog community who had read of Ms. Osimo’s work in finding and fighting the environmental causes of breast cancer in “This Moment on Earth.”

This week JK and THK carried the recognition of Ms. Osimo’s exemplary efforts one step further by writing the following guest editorial for the Cape Cod Times, her hometown newspaper and that of the many Cape Cod residents whose lives have been improved by the extraordinary work of Ms. Osimo and her colleagues in the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and the Silent Spring Institute.

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OSIMO A ‘NEW ENVIRONMENTALIST’ By SEN. JOHN KERRY and TERESA HEINZ KERRY Cape Cod Times, May 04, 2007

For anyone who has ever dismissed environmentalists as “out-of-touch elitists,” it’s time to meet the “new environmentalists” — people like Cheryl Osimo of Cape Cod.

A former elementary school teacher with two children, Osimo helped create the Silent Spring Institute — an environmental organization that has made stunning discoveries about the links between toxic chemicals and cancer on Cape Cod.

Osimo became an environmentalist for a very personal reason: she was looking for answers after being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40, despite having no family history of the disease and no known risk factors.

After her diagnosis, she had volunteered with the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and met oncology social worker Ellen Parker. Osimo was grateful for her successful treatment, but determined to find out why she had gotten cancer so young.

The women founded the Silent Spring Institute, won research funding and found something remarkable: Between 1982 and 1992, breast-cancer incidence was 21 percent higher on Cape Cod than in the rest of Massachusetts. And women with greater exposure to pesticides suffered even higher rates.

It turned out that the presence of hormone-altering chemicals, known as endocrine disrupters, in the ground water were at least partly responsible for the higher rates. Soon, scientists found estrogen-mimicking chemicals in surface waters across the nation.

Industrial pollution may well be a factor behind a disturbing national trend in the number of women being diagnosed with breast cancer, especially young women. In the 1960s, one in 20 women nationally was diagnosed. By 1993, it was one in nine. Today it is closer to one in seven.

Some of this may be due to advances in detection, and a fraction is attributable to hormones prescribed to women, but the causes of most cases of breast cancer cannot be explained. According to the Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Association, fewer than 10 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer are born with no known genetic susceptibility to the disease, and as many as half have no known risk factors.

Why are so many women getting breast cancer? With news of breast-cancer clusters — places like Marin County in the Bay area of California and the Northeast corridor from Philadelphia to New York City, where rates are higher than the national average — shouldn’t we be asking whether environmental factors could be having an influence?

That is why the discoveries and activism of people like Cheryl Osimo and the Silent Spring Institute are so important. Just three years after sitting down over coffee to talk about tackling this problem, the women — none of whom were trained scientists — were now bringing about the earliest evidence to suggest that the environment could, in fact, play a role in a woman getting breast cancer.

These are the new environmentalists: A former school teacher and a social worker, acting out of concern for the health of their community, made a key discovery and struck a blow for the environmental movement by cementing the link between these toxic chemicals and cancer rates. <!-more-> Like Osimo, more Americans than ever before are getting involved locally — standing up and forcing our leaders to acknowledge that we face a crisis that links fishermen to ranchers, mothers and chemists, city planners and oncologists. Across the country, individuals are reclaiming the American environment. And they’re changing the face of the environmental movement in the process.

This is the face of the new environmentalism: it’s women on Cape Cod unsure of why so many have breast cancer at such a young age; it’s ranchers out West tired of watching their cows die; it’s CEOs urging mandatory carbon emissions caps because they’re good for the bottom line; it’s evangelicals who call it “creation care” — and it’s concerned parents worried about the water their kids drink.

They understand that, in the long run, we all face a common bottom line: Either we get this right together or we all suffer. No doubt, we in politics must work to solve these problems from 30,000 feet with bold national solutions. But this movement will only succeed if Americans continue to take the lead in protecting the ground beneath their own two feet.

Osimo’s story is a terrific lesson for Americans everywhere struggling for a cleaner, greener future. We believe America is listening — it’s time for our leaders to listen, too.

– - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - –

Military.com reports on our over-stretched military and the health impacts and risks in “Health Care System Puts Troops at Risk” [emphasis added]:

The military is putting already-strained troops at greater risk of mental health problems because of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, a Pentagon panel said Thursday in warning of an overburdened health system.

Issuing an urgent warning, the Defense Department’s Task Force on Mental Health chaired by Navy Surgeon General Donald Arthur said more than one-third of troops and veterans currently suffer from problems such as traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

With an escalating Iraq war, those numbers are expected to worsen, and current staffing and money for military health care won’t be able to meet the need, the group said in a preliminary report released Thursday.

“The system of care for psychological health that has evolved in recent decades is not sufficient to meet the needs of today’s forces and their beneficiaries, and will not be sufficient to meet the needs in the future,” the 14-member group says.

[...]

Many base mental health programs have had to limit their practices to active-duty military, shutting family members out or forcing them to try to access civilian providers through the cooperative program known as Tricare. But in many places, the list of Tricare providers is small, inadequate or even incorrect.

Both the VA and the Pentagon in recent weeks have acknowledged a need to improve mental health treatment. Jan Kemp, a VA associate director for education who works on mental health, has estimated there are up to 1,000 suicides a year among veterans within the VA system, and as many as 5,000 a year among all living veterans.

A recent investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that just 22 percent of U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who showed signs of PTSD were being referred by Pentagon health care providers for mental health evaluation, citing inconsistent and subjective standards in determining when treatment was needed.

<!-more-> PTSD Combat draws our attention to a new report:

Study: 1-in-5 Iraq Vets Diagnosed with Migraines, Suffer Higher Rates of Depression and PTSD

From Health Day News (via WaPo):

Almost one in every five U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq is being diagnosed with migraines, and this group has nearly double the risk for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric troubles, a new study finds.

[...]

According to the researchers, 19 percent of the veterans were found to suffer from migraine headaches, 32 percent tested positive for depression, 22 percent met the standard for PTSD, and 13 percent tested positive for anxiety.

Half of the soldiers who suffered from migraines were also clinically depressed, compared to just 27 percent of those without the painful headaches, the researchers reported. And 39 percent of migraine sufferers were also deemed to have PTSD, compared to just 18 percent of soldiers without migraines. Anxiety disorders were also higher among migraine-prone veterans (22 percent) compared to those without the headaches (10 percent). ...

[Quick note: PTSD Combat is written by Illona Meagher and she has long recognized JK’s leadership on veterans issues. The website is an in-depth resource site for combat-related PTSD sufferers and their friends and families. Ilona’s new book about PTSD and the needs of our Iraq and Afghan vets, “Moving a Nation to Care”, is out and she has an appearance scheduled for Waltham, MA. Check the details at PTSD Combat if you’re interested in attending.]

We’ve talked before on the johnkerry.com blog about the shortage of resources to care for our returning vets. Some of those services are provided by VA Vet Centers which offer readjustment counseling and outreach services to all veterans who served in any combat zone. A report by the House Veterans Affairs Committee Democratic staff found that in nine months, between October 2005 and June 2006, the number of returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan who turned to Vet Centers for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) services doubled.

JK led an initiative to include $20 million in funding for the nation’s VA Vet Centers as part of the Fiscal 2007 Supplemental Appropriations bill that the President just vetoed. Seven Massachusetts Vet Centers would have benefited from the additional funding which the President has just denied.

But as JK says, “Every Veteran Deserves The Best Care“

Recently, we’ve heard media reports suggesting that our brave returning military service members are getting inferior care at Walter Reed Medical Center and other facilities when they return from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s unacceptable to me and it should be unacceptable to all of us… I intend to make sure that our bravest from Massachusetts get the care they deserve.

I encourage any returning service member or family of a service member who is having trouble getting the kind of health-care or counseling assistance from the military of VA system that they need to reach out to my office. We are here for them and we will do everything we can to insure that everyone gets the help they need.

 

Yesterday JK launched the campaign against Roadblock Republicans. Here’s the standing as of 7 AM ET this morning. I’ll add the count as of noon ET today when it’s available at the bottom of this post. Not bad for 19 hours of contributions.

  The campaign was noted by d-day at his(?) blog as well as by Mahablog in a thoughtful post.   People left comments on JK’s diary at dailykos that contained the notes they sent along with their contributions. Enjoy the selections.

What I wrote to Sununu, Collins and Coleman after making a small contribution to each of these Senate campaigns on your actblue page:

“I hope you receive enough emails like this that it will have some impact on your thoughts about the Iraq war. It is terribly dispiriting for Americans - who voted so clearly for a different direction in 2006 - to see only two Republican senators vote to follow the consensus opinion of the Iraq Study Group and begin pulling troops out of front-line combat in Iraq. There is no causus belli for this war - it is a remarkably discredited war, deeply unpopular with American citizens and around the world. If it is no longer a just war - what is it? Chuck Hagel called it a meat-grinder - a horrible world of carnage and blood, death, paralysis, broken bones, brain damaged young men and women - unspeakable horrors in fact. All for no purpose, at this point, other than stubborn political gamesmanship. Please reconsider your support and enabling of this war. I have only contributed a small amount to the fund for your future opponent in 2008, but I am sure to contribute more - and so will many other grassroots activists - if you continue to support the Iraq war, with all of its bloodshed and carnage.”

by awol on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:37:03 PM EDT

mine was a little more ‘in your face.

“Last November the American people cleaned house on the ‘rubber stamp’ Congress. With accountability back on the table the only thing standing in the way to restoring a government that represents the will of the American people is the few remaining ‘Roadblock Republicans’. You, Senator, are one of these roadblocks. I have just contributed against you and three of your fellow roadblocks. I will encourage my friends and family to do the same as long as you continue to ignore the will of the American people. Stop enabling president Bush and help Congress achieve a veto-proof majority on legislation enacting a timetable withdrawal from Iraq or you will soon find yourself an ex-Senator the same way the “Untouchable George Allen” did just a few months ago. I am a member of the netroots sir and our collective power exceeds that of corporate lobbyists. For evidence of that just look at how much money Sen. Obama has raised for his presidential campaign as compared to Sen. Clinton. Make no mistake, you WILL be defeated by us if you continue to defy us.”

The time for being nice is over. Nothing worries these people more than their political future. They need to see a direct correlation between their actions and whether they will still have a job in 2008.

I have to be honest, sometimes I read about these ‘action/donation’ campaigns and I don’t do anything. I felt it was essential to act here. I hope others who get similar feelings of reluctance do the same as I did. by pullbackthecurtain on Wed May 02, 2007 at 02:18:26 PM EDT

“I proudly contributed against you.” What I wrote: by Miss Butter on Wed May 02, 2007 at 01:59:20 PM EDT

<!-more->

I am proud to have contributed to a campaign to get you kicked out of office.

You have failed in your duty to Americans, and you do not deserve the offices you occupy.  By enabling an inveterate and corrupt liar - a man with no honor, no principles, and contempt for the law and for American troops - to continue to kill and maim thousands of Americans and untold Iraqis for no reason any of your party has been able to articulate coherently in IN OVER FOUR YEARS, and to do so AGAINST THE ADVICE OF HIS OWN MILITARY COMMANDERS, whom he fired for doing their jobs and telling the truth that he so desperately avoids hearing, I am pleased to have contributed to a campaign to get you removed from your positions as enablers.  I will continue my contributions on a regular basis, giving the most I can possibly afford, and I will not stop until you and your ilk are gone.

The sentiment that drives me to oppose you with everything I have is alive and growing.  Like the majority of Americans - as poll after poll has confirmed - I want American troops out of Iraq.   Because you have aligned yourself with a criminal who has defied the will of the people at whose pleasure he serves, your days in office are numbered.

I donated to the ActBlue page, and I sent the following letter

Dear Senator,

I would like you to consider the future of this country and the world. It is time to pressure the Iraqi government to some agreement to end the violence so that we can end our occupation. I believe that the country spoke in the last election, and it is your duty to respond. Please stand with the bipartisan decision to fund our troops and pressure the Iraqis to end this war.

Thank you for your service to this country. I hope that you will put this country before the President.

Sincerely, Karen Hoffman

by kaye on Wed May 02, 2007 at 02:49:45 PM EDT

Thanks Senator Kerry

I contributed against Senator Coleman…here’s my message sent to him:

Your support for Bush's war in Iraq has caused me to do something I've never done before. I contributed money to ANY Democrat to run against you. I was disappointed when you got elected, and your continued support for the presence of our military in what is now a civil war in Iraq will hopefully end your tenure in the Senate. It gives me no pleasure to do this, but you stand in the way of the United States getting itself out of this horrible war of choice that was justified by lies.

I like the new, aggressive strategy. by Science and Art on Wed May 02, 2007 at 03:30:08 PM EDT

My letter:

You are responsible for prolonging one of the greatest foreign policy messes in U.S. history. The Iraq war is fast becoming a tragedy of historic proportions, and the disgrace of it is that this war was preventable. After four years of deception and stubborn inaction, George W. Bush decides it’s time to delegate his responsibilities as Commander-in-Chief to a War Czar. As if this head-scratching effort wasn’t enough to cause a few more war supporters to jump ship, Bush decides to veto hope. As two retired Generals put it (http://nsnetwork.org/node/143):

We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration. —Maj. Gen. John Batiste, USA, Ret.

More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war – alone, without their President’s support. —Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, USA, Ret.

Your support for the foolhardy escalation of the war has earned my contempt. Despite repeated warnings from Generals, experts in foreign policy and the Middle East, and critics, including some with ties to the administration, that there is no military solution, you agreed with Bush that sending more American troops into Iraq’s civil war was the best solution. Unfortunately, you were wrong. April 2007 was the sixth deadliest month of the war for U.S. troops and the fourth deadliest month for coalition troops (icasualties.org).

With the situation in Iraq worsening, the cost of the Iraq war surpassing Vietnam and no end to the crisis in sight, acknowledging that the Iraq war is lost isn’t treason, it’s reason.

I support our troops, our Vets and their families, and join with the Generals in saying they deserve better. I join the critics of the war in saying enough, bring the troops home.

I wholeheartedly support Senator Kerry in his efforts to ensure that a Democrat is elected to your seat. I thank him for his leadership in trying to end the war in Iraq.

by AllDemsOnBoard on Wed May 02, 2007 at 04:24:46 PM EDT

Nice letter. Mine’s shorter.

I’ve just contributed to your Democratic challenger. My plan is to make this a monthly donation for as long as you continue to support Bush’s war in Iraq.

We’ve seen too much death and destruction brought about by Bush’s war based on lies. We’ve seen far too many of our tax dollars wasted in this war when that money is needed here at home, all because the President is too stubborn or too foolish to adjust his course. Is that the kind of leadership you want to be associated with?

Please support the withdrawal efforts voted on by the majority of Congress and the American people by supporting a sensible timeline for withdrawal.

Had you listened to Senators Kerry and Feingold a year ago, you would not be receiving this message from me today.

Remember ‘06 when you make your decision to represent either the will of the people or George Bush, because you can not do both.

The American people are watching, and we will not forget.

Sincerely, by globalvillage on Wed May 02, 2007 at 06:42:16 PM EDT

 

Want to send your own message? Just visit JK’s ActBlue page and tell them what you think. UPDATE: And as of noon ET today, Roadblock Republicans has over $45,000: