His announcement is not necessarily surprising, considering he was the keynote speaker at the launch of the Hamilton Project — a Wall Street front group working to drive a wedge between Democrats and organized labor on globalization issues. His announcement comes just days after a Wall Street Journal poll found strong bipartisan opposition to lobbyist-written NAFTA-style trade policies.

I went to the Clinton event, with a different feeling than I had 4 years ago when I was involved with the Kerry campaign. Today I was an observer, rather than a blogger for a campaign.

Admittedly I have been very interested in what Clinton has been saying on the campaign trail, because I have felt, as I have said here in the past that she resonates with me, as woman.

Since the New Hampshire Primary, I have talked to many women who have told me they are supporting Clinton. Women from all walks of life. Women around the country. The theme among the women I have spoken with is that they believe she is the most qualified, they believe she has the most experience and they feel at this point in time our country needs that experience.

So I listened to Hillary Clinton today with an open mind and an open heart. She started her speech by recalling the ‘92 Northridge earthquake that devastated the Valley. She reflected back on how the Clinton administration handled that disaster compared to Hurricane Katrina and there was a shift in her voice, she softened and was that woman who learned to listen in New Hampshire.

Clinton spoke clearly and never seemed to skip a beat. She knew her stump speech inside and out and she knew the policy she was talking about. The economy here in Southern California has been rocky at best for some time. She was, I thought ahead of the curve weeks ago when she got that is was only going to worsen and she began to call for action. That was the first real hook on the issues for me, outside of her health plan, which I feel is the best of the 3 front-runners.

And I watched. I watched her radiating on the stage. Truly confident with herself and the issues she was discussing. She told the crowd in the room, and those listening outside via the loudspeakers that she is running because she knows “America can do better,” and she wants us “to enter into the future with Confidence and Hope.”

The economy, Clinton told the audience, “has to be the number one issue, because it is where we live.” We live in our homes, we live in our pocketbooks, we live in our day to day existence struggling to put food on the table. She spoke few words but said a mouthful that was loud and clear. Yes, it’s still the economy.

“This election,” Clinton said is “about the people. Your hopes, your dreams.” Which translates into, I get you all have needs and I care. It’s another version of Clinton’s “I am listening” mantra, which resonates with women and people who are struggling to be heard.

And then it hit me. I knew that she could lead this nation in a better direction. I knew that she had the experience, the knowledge, the innate sense and the vision to start fixing the wrong that have been wrought on the American people by the Bush administration. Yes, she can, I told myself. Yes she can.

I believe Hillary Clinton is the right choice for President. I had been leaning in that direction for some time now, but it hit me standing there in the crowd today, that my mind was clear. When the event was over I struggled through the crowd to try to meet her. Thankfully I learned the tricks to working my way through 4 years ago, but unlike my time following John Kerry on the trail and knowing his staff that traveled with him, I was heading up there on a wing and a prayer that I would be able to get her attention and speak with her. Someone was listening.

I reached out to her and she responded. And in those first moments talking to her I blurted out that I had been a blogger for Kerry in ‘04 and had been undecided, but I was clear today — You have my support Senator Clinton. I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Wade, whose office on Capitol Hill resembles Jimmy Fallon’s man-boy apartment in “Fever Pitch,” said his first order of business as president would be to pardon Bill Buckner and demand the Sox owners sign A-Rod!

“Today’s report underscores even more powerfully the urgency of getting our soldiers the care and assistance they need before they deploy, while they are in combat and most importantly when they return,” Senator Kerry said. “There is nothing more important than getting our government prepared to help heal all the wounds of war – including those that might not be visible. It starts with improving PTSD treatment and giving our veterans centers the resources they need to provide the care our soldiers deserve.”

“Over the past 6 years we’ve too often seen the rhetoric of supporting the troops fall short of promises kept. From threatened vetoes of military pay raises, failure to provide our troops with the proper equipment, and a multi-billion dollar shortfall at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the gaps in preparedness have been unacceptable. The Administration must reverse course and immediately follow the Dole-Shalala Commission’s recommendations and improve care and resources for PTSD and traumatic brain injury. I also call on the President to support bipartisan efforts in Congress to increase the number of mental health specialists in both the Department of Defense and the VA and increase dwell time for our soldiers between deployments.”

Today the President made a partial report on Iraq. While it is true there has been some tactical military success—no amount of spinning the military component can obscure the bottom line reality in Iraq today: That reality is clear: there has been no meaningful political progress, and in the long run, that is the only progress that counts. Unless and until Iraqis begin to resolve their fundamental political differences, any security gains will be temporary at best. Welcome, but temporary. Moving the goalposts, dressing up the failure to meet strict benchmarks as “progress”—these are rationalizations for failure, not plans for success.

Meanwhile, another report tells us that while we’ve been bogged down and distracted in Iraq, Al Qaeda has found safe haven in Pakistan and rebuilt its organization. Today, top intelligence officials tell us that Al Qaeda is better positioned to strike the West than they’ve been at any time since 9-11. And where’s our focus? On Iraq. Our continued presence in Iraq isn’t just a distraction from the fight against terrorists—it’s also Al Qaeda’s best fundraising and recruiting tool. We don’t have to wait until September to know that we need a new policy.

Two days ago, I heard some colleagues come to the floor and question why we’re having this debate now when the White House is going to report on his escalation in September.

I heard Sen. Sessions say “This is not the time to alter the policy we established about 2 months ago.” I heard Sen. Kyl say “we need to await the report in September before making judgments about what to do next.” I heard Sen. McCain ask, and these are his words, why “do we have to keep taking up the Iraq issue when we know full well that in September there will be a major debate on this issue?”

I have great respect for my colleagues, I particularly know how much my colleague the senior Senator from Arizona cares about American troops serving in Iraq.

But these questions from the other side of the aisle astonish me. Why now? Why this debate now? Why do we have to, as Sen. McCain asked, “keep taking up the Iraq issue?”

The answer is simple—and compelling: Because American soldiers are dying now. Because the escalation is a failure, now – and we know it. Because when a policy isn’t working, you don’t wait for some artificial timeline to fix it. You fix it now.

The statement containing Vitter’s apology said his telephone number was included on phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates dating from before he ran for the Senate in 2004.

Sen. David Vitter, who publicly apologized after being linked to an alleged prostitution ring in Washington, was once a client of a high-priced New Orleans brothel, a former madam told a New Orleans television station Tuesday.

Jeanette Maier, who pleaded guilty to running the Canal Street brothel in 2002, made the allegation in an interview with WDSU-TV.

For years now, some in Washington have clung to any excuse or rationalization they could find—no matter how thin —to avoid confronting the imminent threat of climate change.

But last week, on the heels of President Bush saying that this is a serious issue, we reached a new low when Michael Griffin, the Administrator of NASA – the agency that oversees climate change science — offered a disturbing insight into what many of us have long feared is the true thinking of this Administration.

He said that while he acknowledges the existence of global warming, he’s not sure it’s fair to say that it’s “a problem we must wrestle with.” He said he isn’t sure which human beings should have – and these again are his words — “the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now, is the best climate for all other human beings.” He thinks it’s “arrogant” to think that the government should act on climate change.

“We support the troops by getting the policy right and this bill allows the President to keep getting the policy wrong. We need a deadline to force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, not watered down benchmarks and blank check waivers for this President. We support the troops by funding the right mission, not with a White House that opposes a pay raise for our brave men and women in uniform,” Kerry said. “The original Senate legislation offered a roadmap to change course in Iraq. This new version enables the Administration and Iraqi politicians to deliver more of the same. I am determined to continue pressing this issue until President Bush changes course. We owe our troops nothing less than a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice.”

“We support the troops by getting the policy right and this bill allows the President to keep getting the policy wrong. We need a deadline to force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, not watered down benchmarks and blank check waivers for this President. We support the troops by funding the right mission, not with a White House that opposes a pay raise for our brave men and women in uniform,” Kerry said. “The original Senate legislation offered a roadmap to change course in Iraq. This new version enables the Administration and Iraqi politicians to deliver more of the same. I am determined to continue pressing this issue until President Bush changes course. We owe our troops nothing less than a strategy that is worthy of their sacrifice.”

It talks about the environmental movement and the need for solutions to pressing environmental problems.

“It’s about how we can deal with environmental issues effectively, make money, create new jobs, be more secure and ultimately make America stronger,” Kerry said.

We can stop a catastrophe
Miami Herald
May 07, 2007

BY John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry

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