where has John Kerry been

[sasha031]

I'm watching senate, I never see him anymore?

[ProSense]

1. He's gave a speech on the floor

recently about the START treaty.

Here's a clip of a November appearance on MSNBC, via Think Progress (scroll down).

He'll be on Meet the Press tomorrow.

[sasha031]

3. thank you ProSence, I will defiantly watch it

[karynnj]

24. Here is a link to his Senate speech

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=599216397

The Boston Globe spoke of him flying to Boston over Thanksgiving to speak about START and spending most of the weekend after Thanksgiving in extensive phone conversations on START. This is his responsibility as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations. He has also been quoted in countless print articles on the status of those negotiations. He has written several opeds making the case for START.

Here's one from yesterday that is important because it attacks both the RW arguments and MItt Romney, who is posturing as an expert on this - in spite of no foreign policy or military expertize. Though all the media attention is on Palin, Romney and others are clearly trying to position themselves. It is important that Romney not be seen as strong on these issues - when he isn't.

This week, after being in the Senate for Dodd's farewell - which out of loyalty to someone he served with for 25 years he had to be, he spoke on the situation in the Congo, on the horrors there, the role played by rare minerals needed for cell phones - calling for people to demand that their phones not be "blood phones" - as worked when people demanded no "blood diamonds". This was at the Holocaust Museum at a forum led by Ben Afflect, who has made a serious effort to study this and bring visibility to it. He also speaks of the International Violence Against Women legislation that he had a preliminary hearing on in 2009 and which he wants to take up again soon - it was scheduled for this week but the Senate schedule led to it being postponed. Here's a link - http://csis.org/event/us-policy-democratic-republic-congo Kerry starts at about 1 hour and 17 minutes in, but the entire event is worth watching.

On November 18th, Kerry was on Morning Joe speaking mostly on energy projects and an infrastructure bank, that would fund future modernization of our crumbling infrastructure. This would create jobs and make us more competitive - and really interested the NYT business reporter, Sorkin, and others who encouraged him to take it to the people. (Article that includes the video as a link - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=273x167567#167618 )

In early November, he chaired a hearing on cable/content provider disputes on retransmission of television - http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/296636-1 He also has written legislation dealing with online privacy (http://politicalnews.me/?id=6953&keys=Senator-John-Kerry-OnlinePrivacy )

In late October and early November, Kerry also went to Sudan where he has been helpful in making a referendum for South Sudan to secede - that could avoid renewal of war in this area where millions have died in the last 20 years. Resolving this and improving life in Darfur is a major issue - and Kerry has been the unofficial Obama representative there in addition to a special envoy.

In addition, in early November, Kerry was in Massachusetts working at the neighborhood level to help a town deal with resolving a chronic flooding problem, complicated because the source of the problem is in one town and the problem in another - and they are in two different counties. http://www.nashobapublishing.com/harvard_news/ci_16531095 This is worth reading - and it is the type of work that was not even covered in the Boston Globe.

[sasha031]

2. stupid question, he's in there

[pinboy3niner]

4. He'll be on Meet the Press tomorrow. nt

[MBS]

38. blurb from MSNBC website -- looks promising!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608 /

This Sunday, with unemployment now at a 7-month high and after Tuesday's high-profile White House meeting between President Obama and Republican Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and his House counterpart Speaker-elect Rep. John Boehner, both sides must now decide where to fight and where to compromise on tax cuts, the deficit dilemma, unemployment benefits, the New Start Treaty and gays in the military. We'll find out where the battle-lines are drawn with two key players in the Senate: the Republican Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Democratic Senator John Kerry (D-MA).

Then, Battleground 2012: How vulnerable is the President in 2012 and what does he need to do to get back into a position of strength? What Republicans are poised to challenge him? We'll also discuss this week’s Wikileaks document dump: how damaging is it for U.S. foreign policy? And how will the politics of lame duck session and the debates on tax cuts, New START and gays in the military set the tone for the 112th Congress in January? Our roundtable of political journalists and strategists weighs in: New York Times columnists David Brooks and Tom Friedman; BBC World News America’s Washington Correspondent Katty Kay; and Republican Strategist Mike Murphy.

[BeFree]

5. Counting his millions?

Hard work, doing all that counting.

[ProSense]

9. In between that

Kerry Marks World AIDS Day

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement in honor of World AIDS Day:

“Today, on World AIDS Day, we mourn the millions of people who have lost their lives over the decades at the same time we celebrate all that has been accomplished in the fight against this devastating disease. Within the past year, new HIV prevention breakthroughs have been announced. One of them, microbicides, offers women a means of prevention that they can employ themselves. Over 50 countries have seen their epidemics stabilize or decline, as new infection rates have begun to slow. Next year, for the first time in two decades, the International AIDS Society’s annual meeting will be held on American soil. The U.S. can now host this meeting because we eliminated the visa restriction that banned HIV positive visitors from entering our country.

“All of these steps represent tremendous advances, but our progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS is in danger. There are those in Congress who have proposed that we roll back what they define as “non-security funding” to fiscal year 2008 levels. While I recognize the financial constraints under which we operate, we should not sacrifice the lives of people with HIV/AIDS. Going back to 2008 funding levels would mean cutting our global AIDS budget by over 12 percent. Such cuts would require us to scale back prevention programs just as we are learning to target them effectively. Cuts could mean freezing enrollment for treatment programs – a virtual death sentence for HIV positive people.

“In Massachusetts, thousands of people are living with HIV/AIDS. We are making headway, but we need to do more to improve access to treatment, encourage testing, and promote prevention. We need to recognize new infection patterns so we can better respond to them. ‘Know Your Epidemic’ is a global mandate, but we must also apply it closer to home. The same budget axe that could wipe out progress against global HIV/AIDS prevention could do the same in Massachusetts and across America. Our investment to combat this disease must not diminish.”

In 2007, Senator Kerry authored legislation to eliminate the 20 year travel and immigration ban on those infected with HIV. Supported by over 30 public health, LGBT and religious organizations, it was signed into law in July of 2008 as part of PEPFAR. Senator Kerry then worked with both the Bush and Obama administrations to ensure that new regulations would be written and on January 4, 2010 these regulations went into place so that HIV positive individuals would finally be able to enter the United States

In 2010, Senator Kerry led the Congressional effort calling on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to review and revise the outdated policy that bars gay men from donating blood. As a result of the initial review, HHS determined this policy to be “suboptimal” and initiated a process to modify the blood donor screening process in a way that improves the safety of the blood supply from blood borne diseases like HIV/AIDS without perpetuating stereotypes and discrimination against gay men.

[BeFree]

11. Kerry is invested in AIDs paharma, maybe?

When he fell down after the 2004 vote theft, I gave up on Kerry.

He gave up on us, first.

Hell, he doesn't need us, and we sure don't need him. He is a part of the establishment.
To us, not more than just another infection.

[ProSense]

12. I'm sure that's it. n/t

[Mass]

17. You dont. We in MA do need him.

[Blaukraut]

20. Thank you. Besides, Kerry bashing is so 2004/5

Seriously, though; Kerry is one of our most progressive Senators and is always fighting the good fight. It really is time to have his back. But I'm afraid that, as with many other good people, he won't be appreciated until he is no longer there, working for us.

[MBS]

21. " " " " ""

[karynnj]

30. Kerry fought very hard to win in 2004 - and if there were adequate

voting machines in Ohio, he would have become President. He did not "give up on us", he was told by the party lawyers, who told Gore to challenge, that there were not enough contested votes to make a case. The Republicans won because of voter suppression. The fact is that is still the situation - no one has ever found enough validly cast votes that would have made Kerry President.

But, what he did do was that within a few weeks of the election, he sent a message to his mail and email list thanking us for what we did do and encouraging everyone to stay involve and to work for the goals he spoke of in 2004. He did not just go away - which is what many from George McGovern to the Clinton's with their vested interests suggested he should do. The Clinton wing in fact had a whisper campaign that he - thought he was a party leader (imagine the nerve of the party standard bearer) and that he did not fall in line with Reid.

It was Kerry, not the party leaders, who led against Alito and to move to get out of Iraq - both issues that the leaders did not want raised. Imagine 2006, without the Democrats being able to use Iraq. (Without Kerry/Feingold there would have been no Levin resolution which was a CYA for Democrats not voting for K/F - including many who 6 months later were proposing variations of K/F as their position.

As to AIDS, it was Kerry and a SFRC staffer of his who were the first to fight for the US to do anything on AIDS in Africa. This was in the 1990s. It got no Presidential support, until Kerry was able to convince Frist to be his co-sponsor and eventually Frist pushed Bush to agree to a similar program. In 2007, Kerry and Teresa took a SFRC trip to oversea the work being done under the Bush program. This in addition to things Kerry listed. It is despicable that you imply that it is his interest in his finances behind this. Frankly, they have enough money that that is not an issue - Teresa's foundation subsidizes prescription drugs in some impoverished areas.

[MBS]

33. thank you for your very welcome thorough, fact-based response.

Kerry has worked tirelessly and altruistically for Dems,especially since 2004.

I'd only add to karynnj's list the Senator's passionate, TOTALLY committed efforts to move the country forward on energy, environment and climate-change issues. RFK III called Sen. Kerry a "hero" on environmental issues.
The fact that the Republican party, and, sadly, even some Dems, choose to oppose those efforts is not Sen. Kerry's fault.
(You've heard, perhaps, that one of the first acts of the incoming Republican House will be to abolish the House Select committee on climate change, and to oppose any and all efforts to reduce carbon emissions in this country. Some of the incoming Senators and congressional representatives are SO backward that they not only don't believe that climate change is caused by human activities: they don't even believe that climate change is happening!! THESE are the people that Sen. Kerry continues to fight against, with integrity and determination, every single g_ d___ day. )

We should be supporting those efforts, not repeating bogus, irrelevant Republican talking points about the size of his bank account.

[karynnj]

25. Your sarcasm fits right in with the RW attacks on him

In the first place, the millions are mostly Teresa's, not his and will never go to Kerry. The fact is that he is wealthy, but he always votes for the middle class and those trying to get into it (as he once said).

You might want to consider the types of things that Teresa has done with her millions through her foundation - like setting up a program with Cory Booker to provide inexpensive prescription drugs in Newark, or programs that provide preschool to low income kids in PA.

As to hard work, Kerry's SFRC trips alone would be a tough job and he does a great job.

[babylonsister]

6. Kerry Responds to Pentagon Report: The Time is Now to End ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=537173

[babylonsister]

7. Kerry introduces legislation for online privacy

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=538934

[babylonsister]

8. Kerry: December START vote critical

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=536631

[MBS]

18. see his great reply to Romney s__ on START

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2010/12/new_start_debat.html

[Catshrink]

10. He'll be on Meet the Press with Yertle tomorrow...

[Blaukraut]

13. He's on the senate floor right now n/t

[YvonneCa]

39. Saw him there voting...

...this morning.

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. CATCH UP......

ITS A CONDIMENT.

[Mass]

15. Focused on foreign policy issues,

START
Sudan
Went to the middle East in November again.
Made multiple trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Working on MA issues, calling for DADT to be repealed, town meeting in central mass to discuss perennial flooding issues -- It was in October --, ...
...

Grandstanding on TV is not necessarily the best way to do things. Though some may fall for it.

He is as much present as any other Dems, I think, except those who were running in November.

[MBS]

16. also working on infrastructure problem and pushing high-speed rail

senate testimony Sept 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNmqN7TvkUo

Dodd and Kerry acquire federal rail funds for CT and MA October 2010
http://www.johnkerry.com/news/entry/conn._mass._getting_121m_in_federal_rail_funds/


Rumored to be preparing legislation to improve infrastructure , planning national speeches on issues of energy and infrastructure

[Ichingcarpenter]

19. Yeah.... what a leader!!!

Give me a break......... he talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk
except with Veterans.

[ProSense]

22. At least you're in the right thread now.

:rofl:

[Ichingcarpenter]

26. Well at least you are Paying Attention for once.

Since you think my posts are so important.


I'm on my iTouch... but will soon be on my computer at home.

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

32. Maybe I just

vehemently disagree with your POV.

[lonestarnot]

23. Isn't he a richie rich? Just say'n

:shrug:

[karynnj]

31. He grew up upper midle class, but closely connected to the richer social elite

So, NO, he was not Richie Rich - he was one of the poorer students at his exclusive schools - with his tuition paid for by an aunt. Richie Rich was the richest kid.

He has always spoken of having been very lucky that he never had real financial hardships - but, as a Senator there were periods where he could not afford apartments in both Boston and MA, his kids' expensive school expenses and the cost of travelling back to MA every week to be with his kids - so he lived on friends' couches in DC.

Now, married to Teresa, he lives an incredibly rich and privileged life - but spends a huge part of his life going to trouble spots like Sudan, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If he were what you suggest, don't you think he would have opted not to run in 2008 - and spent his life on a yacht with Teresa, occasionally writing opeds on subjects where he is a leading expert?

[ProSense]

34. Alan Grayson is worth $52 million

Just say'n

[politicasista]

36. Nah, he's perfect. Leave him be

:sarcasm:

[Mass]

37. I guess Kennedy was an horrible senator. All three of them, by your standard.,

[lonestarnot]

42. Where the fuck did I say anything about "horrible senator?" Could you please buy a vowel.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[politicasista]

35. Another positive Kerry thread ruined by a flamewar

Go figure. :(


Guess having dough is a liability now based on the comments in this thread.

[AndrewP]

40. I don't get it either. As long as they are on the right side of the issues, who cares?

1 John Kerry > 20 Kent Conrad's

[politicasista]

41. Bingo

This isn't sasha's fault. :) However, our energy should poured into going after Boner and Turtle McConnell.