Kerry in the news today

[Mass]

First, good to see that he was recognized for his work on behalf of veterans.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-06-2007/0004541047&EDATE=

Kerry Honored for Work on Behalf of Veteran Small Business Owners

Two Initiatives announced between VA and Mass. based Veterans Business
Center

WASHINGTON, March 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Senator John Kerry today
was honored by the American Legion for his work on behalf of veteran small
business owners.
"I'm honored to be recognized by the American Legion, a tireless
advocate for veterans for nearly a century. I'm proud to stand with the
citizen soldiers who demonstrate every single day that service doesn't end
with a tour of duty or after a battle," said Senator Kerry. "Together, we
can work to improve entrepreneurial development programs for veterans
seeking to start or expand a business. Together we can make sure veterans
receive the quality health care they're entitled to. Together we can make
sure the federal government keeps America's commitment to the men and women
in uniform who so bravely served our country."
Kerry has long been an advocate of providing opportunity and outreach
to our returning veterans. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship, he has made helping veteran and reservist
entrepreneurs one of his top priorities.
Kerry believes the government can and must do more to ensure that
veterans will have economic opportunities waiting for them at home. He has
created Military Economic Injury Disaster Loans and has proposed a Small
Business Military Reservist Tax Credit and the Military Family Bill of
Rights legislation. He has pledged to continue to push for legislation to
create grant funding to assist small businesses during an employee's active
duty assignment.
At a reception in Washington, D.C. today, two new initiatives between
the Northeast Veterans Business Center (NEVBC) in Boston and the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) were also announced. The initiatives will provide
coaching and training to veterans who are recovering at VA facilities in
Bedford and D.C. Bernie Cournoyer, LRC, the managing director of the
Veterans Construction Team at Edith Nourse Rogers Veterans Hospital in
Bedford, Mass. who started the first-in-the-nation Veterans Construction
Team there in 1992 as part of the Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) Program
will announce a new agreement with the NEVBC. The NEVBC will provide
entrepreneurship training and help in placing veterans with
service-disabled veteran owned businesses. In Bedford, 250 veterans
participate in the CWT program each day, putting $3 million a year into
veterans' hands -- 90 percent of whom were homeless when they started the
program. The NEVBC will also partner with Walter Reed Military Hospital to
provide business training and development to recovering injured service
members

[Mass]

1. Speech at the NAAG

http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/191499-u.s.-chamber-speaks-to-naag

U.S. Chamber speaks to NAAG
by John O'Brien
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Counterfeiting and piracy are becoming larger problems and costing people their jobs, members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the National Association of Attorneys General Tuesday.

Caroline Joiner, Executive Director of the Chamber's Counterfeiting and Piracy Initiative, spoke to the NAAG on the second day of the association's three-day spring meeting, telling the 46 attorneys general in attendance that counterfeiting and piracy are issues that "threaten the economic core at the federal, state and local levels."

She also mentioned that Ford Motor Co. loses more than $1 billion every year to counterfeiters, and explained instances of counterfeit prescription drugs, electrical cords, cell phones and condoms that backfired on consumers.

...

Also on Tuesday, the AGs met with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and heard from Sen. John Kerry on criminal law.

"John Kerry was good," Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said.

[Mass]

2. About the Libby verdict

http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=186739

Bay State Democrats applauded today’s guilty verdict in the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby and blasted the Bush Administration for vilifying those who have spoken out against the war in Iraq.
Libby trial:
“This verdict brings accountability at last for official deception and the politics of smear and fear,” said U.S. Senator John Kerry.
“This trial revealed a no-holds barred White House attack machine aimed at anyone who stood in the way of their march to war with Iraq.”
Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, was convicted today of four counts including obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters.

...
Massachusetts senior Senator Edward M. Kennedy demanded that Bush pledge that he will not pardon Libby.
“The administration’s contempt for the rule of law is breathtaking. The President Bush should now pledge that he will not pardon Scooter Libby,” said Kennedy.
“This administration misled the American people in the rush to go to war, then exposed a CIA operative in an effort to hide their own mistakes, and through the Vice President’s chief of staff lied to the FBI and a grand jury about those efforts.”

[Mass]

3. Congress urged to renew health insurance for poor

http://www.masslive.com/hampfrank/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1173186800151170.xml&coll=1

Congress urged to renew health insurance for poor
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
By DAN RING
[e-mail]

BOSTON - A Springfield mother yesterday made a tearful appeal for Congress to renew a program that insures 6 million poor children in the country including her own three offspring.

During a press conference at Children's Hospital in Boston, Dedra A. Lewis, 27, of Springfield, began sobbing when she described how she lost private health insurance in the wake of a daughter's eye disease.

Standing on a stage with her daughter, Alexsiana A. Walker, 9, by her side, Lewis said that in January she enrolled in MassHealth, the state Medicaid program, and received coverage for herself, Alexsiana and two other daughters, ages 7 and 6.
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...
Kennedy and Kerry both pledged to go back to Washington and work to reauthorize the program.

"Of all the fights we have in Washington, this is one we have to win," Kerry said.
...

(Two short articles were also in the Herald and the Globe about this issue).

[Mass]

4. Kerry praises YouthBuild students at annual leadership conference;

http://www.kerry.senate.gov/v3/cfm/record-ma.cfm?id=270190

Kerry praises YouthBuild students at annual leadership conference; vows to continue fight for additional funding

Washington, DC - Senator John F. Kerry today addressed students from across the country who are attending their annual YouthBuild leadership conference and are lobbying their representatives in support of the program.

The students are circulating a letter, co-sponsored by Senator Kerry, urging the Senate appropriations committee to allocate additional funds for YouthBuild programs nationwide.

"YouthBuild saves lives. It takes a special kind of person to face and overcome obstacles and to care enough about themselves, their family, and their community to want to rebuild their lives. The participants in YouthBuild are living proof that with a little help, the American dream is alive and well," said Senator Kerry. "I will continue to fight for more funding for this program so we can reach more kids and touch more lives. It's a smart investment in the future of an at-risk generation of courageous young Americans."

In 1992 Senator Kerry introduced a bill that made YouthBuild a national program, enabling it to receive federal funding. And just last year he was the first to introduce the YouthBuild Transfer Act (P.L. 109-281) which passed unanimously in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and was signed into law by President Bush. The new law transfers the YouthBuild program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Department of Labor (DOL).

Since its inception, 60,000 of young people have built over 15,000 units of affordable housing. There are over 226 YouthBuild programs in 43 states for 8,000 young adults, and Senator Kerry believes that number can - and should - grow. Last year alone, 260 communities were denied YouthBuild funding. In 2004 local programs turned away over 12,000 applicants solely for lack of funds.

###

[TayTay]

5. Thank you for all of these Mass

We are very lucky in the Bay State to have a Kerry as our Senator. These articles show a range of concerns that the good Senator has and how much work he has done in the Senate in support of these programs that not only benefit Massachusetts, but the nation.

Again, this man must go back to the Senate and be re-elected, resoundingly.

[wisteria]

6. Nice to see the American Legion commend him- it is about time.

Thank you also for the other postings. He is a busy guy.

[karynnj]

7. Thanks Mass - What a busy day!

What's amazing is that these are such sensible good solutions to help people who really need it. Good to see that he is getting some of the praise that he so clearly deserves. The veterans and youthbuild progams seem the best possible help you can give because they give the veterans and the kids the tools they need to really succeed.

Seeing this - Tay Tay, we do need the cloning project to work. We need about 67 of him - they could then be strategically placed, 2 per state. It would make a better country.