Perhaps it is too soon to ask this, given that Senator Kerry had to make a tough decision regarding the 2008 race. Does he have any plans to endorse a candidate in the primary?

I'd like to see a serious effort to expand tax credits for green-friendly home-building and remodeling, support for home solar-panels, etc. I'm frankly not smart enough about economics or the science to frame a good question, but I think gov't support could change things.

1. Which Democratic candidate has the best position on Iraq and whether he will consider running as a Vice President if Obama is the Democratic Nominee?

2. If the tables were turned, and John McCain to be his running mate will he accept it?

3. As a senior member of the Foreign Committee why has he not taken the lead on the Darfur situation especially since he is married to a wonderful African who fought against apartheid in South Africa as a young woman?

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to participate

Is America in a position to lead world opinion in issues related to the environment, health and human rights? Could such a leadership position benefit America in the long term?

What's the best way to beat Mit Romney?

1. Will the Senator cosponsor S. 309, the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act (the Sanders-Boxer bill)?

If not, why not?

2. Does the Senator think we have any hope of passing cap-and-trade legislation this year?

How about just in the Senate? Or is this legislation that has to clear the House first?

Will/can the Senator be putting any pressure on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to move forward?

What advice does he have for whomever wins the Democratic nomination as to how best to deal with Swiftboat attacks?

During the debates , you were asked if Bush is a liar.  Republicans have no restraint on calling Democrats liars.  Why didn't you brand Bush and his dirt machine as the liars that they are?

It is great that John Kerry has written a book about the environment that begs the question (same with Al Gore) why he never made the environment a major campaign issure in 2004. This is something that need to be seriously addressed given the fact that 2008 will be most likely the same thing.

Obama mentions "Meeting America's Energy Needs" on his web site, Edwards has "Leading the Fight against Global Warming and Our Addiction to Foreign Oil" and I could not really find anything on Hillary's web site.

IMHO this does not go far enough. Global Warming is just ONE part of the enviroment. Where is the candidate who will be able to frame environmental issues in a way that will make greedy americans want to go green. e.g. tax credits for solar panels etc.?

... it would be "what is going to happen with the DirecTV/MLB deal?"

And the larger question, what is going to happen when one carrier owns exclusive rights to baseball, another to football, and a third the NBA?  Then there's NASCAR (for fans of that, ummm, sport).

Am I going to need three different carriers to get my fix?

Thanks,

Tim

My question:

  Can John and Teresa Kerry suggest a realistic scenario in which fast-developing Asian giants China and India can be brought into a global agreement to curb greenhouse gases? (I admit that I have not read their book; perhaps they have already provided an answer there.)

"How do you promote environmental legislation in Congress when the minority leaders in both chambers exclude from committee membership those Republicans with scientific credentials who accept the consensus on climate change?"

When companies like Citibank want to have access to high-margin revenue streams from polluters both abroad and domestically, and they also pump huge amounts of campaign contributions into moderate Democratic coffers, how are we supposed to legislate effectively?

What will it take for elected represtentaives of the people to actually read blogs?

Question:  how do we do better?

Scientists are saying we need to cut CO2 emmissions by 80% within a few decades to avert catastrophic warming, yet the strongest proposals I see involve a cap (= 0% cut).  How do we break through and not attack global warming with half-measures (as is typically done, such as with the War on Poverty)?

One other one:  what are the prospects for a major carbon tax?  (while tweaking the income tax code to avoid hurting the poor).

I'd like to find out how familiar he is with Katrina rebuilding issues. Is he familiar with specific problems - i.e., the discrepancy in MS/LA funding, the Road Home Program, the fact that the Stafford Act matching fund provisions haven't been waived, unqualified FEMA inspectors, or FEMA trailer issues? Is he aware New Orleans is suing the Army Corps of Engineers? Does he believe the problem is a lack of funds to the situation, or does he recognize that enough money (for now) has been allocated but is tied up in bueracracy?

I'm not looking to see if he has solid proposals for recovery programs, as he may not be on the relevant committees. I just want to make sure he understands the situation or at least is fully aware of and concerned about it.

Does Senator Kerry agree with any or all of Al Gore's proposals?

 Al Gore's Ten Point Plan for Global Warming, presented to both houses of Congress on March 21, 2007:

1. Immediately freeze carbon at the existing level; then implement programs to reduce it 90 percent by 2050.

2. Reduce taxes on employment and production, instead taxing pollution (especially CO2). These pollution taxes would raise the same amount of money, but make us more competitive by encouraging employment while discouraging pollution.

3. A portion of the revenues must be earmarked for low-income and middle-class people who will have a difficult time making this transition.

4. Negotiate a strong global treaty to replace Kyoto, while working toward de facto compliance with Kyoto. Move the start date of this new treaty forward from 2012 to 2010, so the next president can start to act immediately, rather than wasting time trying to pass Kyoto right before it expires. We have to try to get China and India to participate in the treaty. If they don't immediately participate, we have to move forward with the treaty regardless, trusting that they will join sooner rather than later.

5. Impose a moratorium on construction of any new coal-fired power plant not compatible with carbon capture and sequestration.

6. Develop an "electranet" - a smart grid that allows individual homeowners and small businesses to create green power and sell their excess power to the utility companies at a fair price. Just as widely distributed information processing led to a large new surge of productivity, we need a law that allows widely distributed energy generation to be sold into the grid, at a rate determined not by the utility companies, but by regulation. The goal is to create a grid that does not require huge, centralized power plants.

7. Raise CAFE standards for cars and trucks as part of a comprehensive package. Cars and trucks are a large part of the problem, but coal and buildings must be addressed at the same time.

8. Set a date for the ban of incandescent light bulbs that gives industry time to create alternatives. If the date is set, industry will meet this challenge.

9. Create Connie Mae, a carbon-neutral mortgage association. Connie Mae will defer the costs of things like insulation and energy-efficient windows that cut carbon but are often not used by builders or renovators because they add to the upfront costs of homes, only paying for themselves after several years of energy savings.

10. The SEC should require disclosure of carbon emissions in corporate reporting.
- From the AlGore.org web site.

After 90% job losses in the WV coal industry, and over 1 million acres of Appalachia having been desroyed by mountaintop removal mining, how can we afford to continue the practice of mountaintop removal mining?

peace,
JW Randolph

Given the discrepancies between the 150 year record of direct sampling of carbon-dioxide in the air, and the ice-core record (i.e. for the decade of the 1940s, direct sampling showed carbon-dioxide levels to be at around 440 parts per million [ppm], while the ice-core record shows carbon-dioxide levels in the 1940s to be around 225ppm); given the fact that cold water absorbs carbon-dioxide and warm water releases carbon-dioxide; given the fact that prior to 1850, the planet was in a temperature period known as the 'little ice age' in which the temperature dropped by 3degrees C, and the globe has only warmed by 1 degree C since 1850 (meaning we still have 2 degrees C to go to get to pre- 'little ice age' levels); given the outright lies in the IGCC (i.e. the claim the malaria carrying mosquitoes cannot survive outside the equatorial regions even some of the worst malaria pandemics have happened in Russia and New York)...

...How can we trust the leaders of the Global Warming movement?  Either they are lying or are incompetent.

1. Joe Lieberman.  Can someone talk some sense into him?

2. Have you heard of the tokamak as a form of clean alternative energy?  How viable is it?  I know UCLA had an electric tokamak that actually achieved plasma all the way back in 1999, but when Cheney took office, the Dept. of Energy stripped away most of UCLA's funding in that, preventing more research and progress on that.

Does he still believe that John Edwards is the best person, other than himself of course, for the Presidency?

but couldn't Kerry have found an issue other than the one Gore has already made his own?

Not that environmentalists don't need help, but there are other issues out there.  And the book sounds more passive than active.  How about a well-researched look at health care around the world and a reasonable plan for us?  Or alternative energy?  Or the problems of American diplomacy in the middle east?  Or poverty?

Ah, sorry, still just a little mad at how he called the last days of his last campaign "Closing Arguments."  Because you know how much Americans love lawyer-speak.

Mine would be....

QUESTION. The ongoing massive recall of pet food products in the United States has brought up a lot of questions about how we protect the animal and human food supply in this country when so many corporations are now doing business in countries where there are not similar food safety laws. How do we know if the food we consume is safe to eat at this point? What steps will Congress take to make certain this does not happen again in the future?