Senator Kerry sent this message to the Massachusetts members of the johnkerry.com community this morning, and we wanted to post it here as well for the benefit of those readers both inside and outside the state who aren't currently subscribed to receive his emails. Team Hoyt is an outstanding effort, and we're glad to help spread the word about this extraordinary father-and-son team.


I'm going to ask you to do something in this email that's really important to me because I care about an incredible young man and his father and what they're trying to achieve.

This isn't another political appeal -- though campaigns are as important as ever -- but it's an appeal that's much more simply from the heart. Please keep reading.

Yesterday I was very fortunate to be able to fire the starting gun for the wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon. The competitive fire and strength of these amazing athletes is just incredible.

I don't do this all that often -- but there's one particular athletic team I saw yesterday that I want to mention and ask you to help today. Dick Hoyt and his son Rick form Team Hoyt, a team that has competed in marathons and triathlons around the world. Rick is in a wheelchair without use of his arms, and Dick pushes him through the course.

Rick was born in 1961 with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, and ever since, Rick and his family have pushed the boundaries on what people thought possible. From pushing for Rick to be able to attend public schools to building a special computer to show people that Rick can communicate and think just as well as any other young person, Team Hoyt has worked hard on the front-lines of the battle to tear down the roadblocks faced by people with disabilities.

They began to compete athletically when Rick wanted to run in a charity event in the late 70s, and they began running the Boston Marathon in 1981. Since then, they've competed across the world, raising awareness about human potential and raising money for charities that work with people with disabilities.

As Rick puts it: "The message of Team Hoyt is that everybody should be included in everyday life."

They've formed the Hoyt Foundation with the goal of integrating people with disabilities into everyday life. This is a fantastic charity, and the Hoyts are absolutely inspiring. If you can, please give to the Hoyt Foundation by clicking here:

http://www.teamhoyt.com

The wheelchair division of the marathon is testament to the success of people like the Hoyts in expanding opportunities across our society, but we still need to do more. I hope you will do what you can to help this amazing team and their important work.

Thank you,
John Kerry

I understand you all are pretty interested in a vote happening in Pennsylvania tomorrow. Not surprisingly, I'm focused on that, too -- I spent Saturday in Pennsylvania for Barack -- but there's a very important event happening tomorrow which we can't afford to have lost in the shuffle.

The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on the future of the Internet, and a big part of that equation is net neutrality. I know net neutrality is important to a lot of you here, but Senators haven't heard from you in a while on the issue, and I want to make sure we keep this front and center -- it's that important.

Last Friday, I did a liveblog at Firedoglake, and I talked about how some of the big network providers have run into some problems trying to manage traffic using their own rules. The one you've probably heard the most about is the dispute over Comcast and BitTorrent, but this is hardly the only incident to occur since we last took a look at this issue in the Senate.

These actions by the big providers are a cautionary tale. We can't allow companies to pick and choose what companies they allow to access their networks, and we certainly can't depend on overwhelming political pressure on every decision to keep the networks open. This is not good for the future of the Internet and, frankly, it's not good for anyone who uses it either.

I realize there’s a certain primary in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that a lot of people are thinking about -- myself included (in fact, I’ll be on the ground there again tomorrow) -- but one of the things I think those of us in the Senate need to do is try to keep some focus on another big event that day which we can’t afford to get lost in the shuffle because it affects net neutrality.

The Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing on Tuesday to look at the future of the Internet, and a big part of that equation is net neutrality.

Obviously -- and I know you don’t need to hear it from me -- we need to keep up the pressure on this issue. The uncertainty isn’t helpful, and we have to set the rules of the road and protect the innovative world of a free and open Internet.

Americans everywhere are feeling the squeeze of rising energy prices, from the low-income family that endured a tough winter without heat to the truck driver who takes a blow to the wallet at every stop along the highway. Farmers are watching profits dwindle, and consumers are seeing food prices climb week after week.

In the campaign to take America from oil dependence to renewable energy, John Kerry has been an innovator. He charted a clear course forward by proposing his “three bold new ideas� for energy independence. He stressed that the government has to be proactive in urging American businesses to build more cars that can run on ethanol, and to sell ethanol fuel at more gas stations around the country. He proposed tax credits to pioneering automakers and a boost in federal funding for energy research. And with his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry, Senator Kerry wrote and published This Moment on Earth, a book that shed light on the ingenuity of everyday Americans as they work to solve local environmental challenges.
But John Kerry has also been a man of action. Last month he secured $1.5 million for M.I.T. to develop cost-effective solar energy technology. Just this week, he brought half a million dollars to Boston to fund the installation of solar panels on city buildings and schools. These victories are just the latest part of the Senator’s consistent record of environmental advocacy in Congress. That’s why the League of Conservation Voters awarded Senator Kerry one of the highest scores in the Senate on its 2007 National Environmental Scorecard.

This entry is cross-posted by kind permission from the good folks at www.KerryVision.net, an independent text & multimedia blog created by some of the Senator’s most loyal long-term supporters within the johnkerry.com community. One of the best ways to keep up with Senator Kerry’s daily doings is to stop by the KerryVision website, especially on Monday mornings when they post a video newsreel of his activities from the previous week.

Last Saturday, the city of Newburyport held its Third Annual Three Towns and Two Cities Breakfast with the participating Democratic committees of Amesbury, Newbury, Newburyport, Salisbury and West Newbury. I had planned on attending the event and while I was there, gather signatures for Senator Kerry.

In terms of the economy, these are uncertain times for just about everybody. Hardworking Americans everywhere are feeling the pinch of the mortgage crisis and rising prices. Small businesses are facing a frightening climate of volatile markets and tight credit. The government has a responsibility to protect citizens from insecurity – but in order to do that, the government has to know where the problems are, and how to fix them.

As we’ve seen before, the President isn’t in the loop when it comes to the everyday struggles of the American people. The same man who was surprised to learn the price of gas is running an administration that thinks it can solve local issues without the input of local authorities.

We’re seeing it play out right now in Gloucester, Mass., where Washington’s fishery policies are gutting local industry and pushing fishermen out of work. After the Bush administration rebuffed Governor Patrick’s attempt to secure emergency funds, Senators Kerry and Kennedy won a $13.4 million line item in the federal budget to bolster the state’s fishermen.

While John Kerry’s been busy working for the people of Massachusetts, the MA GOP seems to have whiled away the hours attending Karl Rove seminars and cozying up to the usual pack of attack chihuahuas in the Republican Party in DC. Unfortunately, they didn’t spend that time actually doing any research about John Kerry’s record. Or they’re just lying now. Hard to tell.

I won’t link to it, but the National Republican Senatorial Campaign committee (NRSC) has decided that this YouTube thing may actually have a future (maybe George Allen told them) and decided to “get down with the kids” and put up an attack video on John Kerry with some lame pop culture references. Of course, it wouldn’t be a GOP attack without the standard mix of painfully transparent attempts to be “cool” and a pack of basic untruths. The fun thing about this one: it’s all one big lie!

The point (to save you having to Google it) is that they claim John Kerry hasn’t passed any legislation in 9 years. Of course, the discriminating viewer would probably think, “Well, most of that time was with a GOP Congress and a GOP President, so the opportunities would be limited for a Democratic Senator.” Problem is, the discriminating viewer would be giving the GOP too much credit by believing their central premise. It’s just not true at all. Kerry was recently named the “12th Most Powerful Senator” by Knowlegis because of his record as an effective advocate for Massachusetts. But, when your party has put the economy in the tank, driven gas prices toward $4 a gallon, and has a nominee that’s calling for 100 more years in Iraq … what’s a Republican to do?

This is a headline in a recent story posted by Steven Rosenfeld on the Alternet website:

Veterans Department Creates Roadblocks to Voter Registration for Injured Vets

VA Secretary says registering voters in VA facilities is a “partisan” distraction.

Senators John Kerry and Dianne Feinstein wrote to the VA last year and again earlier this year to ask that the VA enable voter registration for injured veterans at their facilities. The VA claims that registering voters would “divert substantial resources from our primary mission.”

The VA said no. They don’t want to do this and called the effort “partisan.” Instead of trying to figure out ways to help register this very special group of citizens to vote, they decided that they didn’t want to get involved in “partisan” activities, like voter registration, and decided to throw up some bureaucratic roadblocks to this common sense request instead.

Senator Kerry reacted to the news that the VA had turned down the request to aid in registering veterans in no uncertain terms:

“You’d think that when so many people give speeches about keeping faith with our veterans, the least the government would do is protect their right to vote, after they volunteered to go thousands of miles from home to fight and give that right to others. And yet we’ve seen the government itself block veterans from registering to vote in VA facilities, without any legal basis or rational explanation. I will keep fighting with Senator Feinstein to ensure that veterans aren’t facing unnecessary hurdles just to exercise their voting rights.”

The Lowell Sun newspaper is running a four-part series this week on the many difficulties that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are encountering upon coming back home after their service. The April 6th article in that series, which ran this past Sunday, was a wrenching account of a soldier who was wounded while on duty in Iraq with the US Marines.

Chuck Millard, a rifleman to the Third Battalion, Second Marines, Kilo Co, suffered a back injury while on a night mission with the Marines in Iraq. He didn’t report the injury right away because he thought he could tough it out. Later tests revealed that he had injured his back and would require a series of surgeries in order to relieve some of the pain and damage in that area.

The Lowell Sun article told how the injured Marine tried to get a disability ruling from a Physical Evaluation Board:

Last fall, a Physical Evaluation Board found Millard “unfit” for service. He leaves this month with a single severance check. It’s a far cry from the monthly payments and lifetime health care of full medical disability.

Medical records say he qualifies for a medical disability retirement. But Millard has been rebuffed twice by Naval boards, without explanation. Millard says he is owed more, based on the military’s own injury ratings system.

Fearful of losing what he’d already been promised, Millard gave up on a third, “formal” hearing in Washington D.C., on March 20. He would have been represented by a Naval Judge Advocate General (JAG) lawyer to plead his case before three high-ranking officers.

A war in Iraq was enough. Why fight one in Washington, too?

Yesterday, Senator Kerry appeared on Fox News Sunday where he was interviewed by host Chris Wallace. Much of the questioning revolved around the inconsistent views that Senator John McCain has been making about the long term prospects of American troops in Iraq. Senator Kerry pointed out that John McCain had said one thing in August of 2007 on the Charlie Rose Show, a nationally syndicated PBS TV interview show, and another thing on that same show in November of 2007.

Chris Wallace questioned Senator Kerry about his views on comments that Senator McCain had made about staying in Iraq for 100 years. Wallace contended that the comments were meant in support of a position that would leave troops in Iraq in non-combat roles and would be similar to the US presence for several decades in places like Japan, Germany and South Korea. Yet, as Senator Kerry pointed out, John McCain has been very inconsistent in his views on that. In the first interview with Charlie Rose in August, 2007, McCain had argued in favor of the presence on US troops in Iraq in a Korea model.

Chris Wallace disagreed yesterday with Senator Kerry and tried to establish that Senator McCain had been consistent in his view that Iraq could be stabilized and a US force could be there for an indefinite period of time. Senator Kerry asked that Wallace review the transcript and see that Senator McCain had changed his mind on Iraq, bouncing from a pro Korea model to a view against it and now back to a pro-Korea model.