Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:46:43 -0500
To: "Theresa J Steed" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: "Sen. Ted Kennedy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Not This Senator
Dear Theresa J,
Republicans apparently think it's acceptable to continue pouring billions of
taxpayer dollars into the war in Iraq. They think it's acceptable to ignore the
needs and priorities of our people here at home on dozens of vital domestic
issues!
But it's not acceptable to this Senator.
If you agree with me - if you want to end the GOP's distorted priorities and
get America back on track - help elect a Democratic Senate that will do it.
Make a donation of $10, $20, $50 or $100 to the Committee for a Democratic
Majority today:
http://www.democraticmajority.com/thissenator8
This holiday season, millions of working families across the nation are
suffering unfairly because of the distorted priorities of President Bush and
his Republican allies in Congress.
From rising gas prices to soaring health costs to skyrocketing housing
payments, Americans in communities across the country are worried about their
jobs, their retirement, and whether they can afford their son or daughter's
college education.
Again and again, Republicans in Congress have blocked needed progress by
Democrats on behalf of working families. They blocked legislation to fund early
childhood education and veteran's job training programs. They've blocked
legislation to protect workers' rights. They've even blocked legislation for
children's health care.
Instead, the Republican leadership is attacking Senators like me for
supporting an end to the war in Iraq and bringing our troops home as soon as
possible.
The 2008 elections are our chance to change all that. Right now, I'm working
hard with the Committee for a Democratic Majority to decide where to put
resources into the 2008 election, and elect leaders who will do the right
thing. You still have time to send early, critical funds to our program that
can make a big difference. You can help elect enough new Democratic Senators to
end this disgraceful GOP obstruction and move America forward once again.
Please make a $10, $20, $50 or $100 donation to the Committee for a
Democratic Majority:
http://www.democraticmajority.com/thissenator8
Thank you so much for your strong support.
Sincerely,
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Paid for by The Committee for a Democratic Majority
This email was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe, go to: http://www.democraticmajority.com/unsubscribe
************************************************
WE the people on the internet grass roots, would like to thank Senator Tim
johnson for his hard fight to come back and business as usual. We admire you
for your perserance and know that you are doing your share to get America back
on Track Again. It will take us all to turn this country in a different
Direction, as under our
U. S. Constitution, not as Law Breakers but as Law and order on our agenda.. We
must restore our U. S. Constitution, and save our country. We are grateful to
you for being an example us all of us to never give up. We shall overcome!
Regards,
Theresa J. Steed
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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A year after hemorrhage, S.D. senator gets around
Posted 15h 17m ago | Comments13 | Recommend3 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Susan Walsh, AP
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., right, rides next to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.,
left, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
By Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
WASHINGTON The last thing Sen. Tim Johnson remembers about Dec. 13, 2006, is
arriving at the hospital in an ambulance. After that, his memory begins to fade.
The South Dakota Democrat suffered a brain hemorrhage that day, setting off a
furious round of speculation about whether the balance of Congress would shift.
Senate Democrats had just won a one-vote majority in the November elections,
and the senator's death could have passed control of the chamber back to
Republicans.
But Johnson held on.
He survived life-threatening surgery that night, oblivious to the political
speculation and the TV camera trucks surrounding George Washington University
Hospital. He emerged from a medically induced coma a month later, and has fuzzy
memories of the Super Bowl and the State of the Union address in the weeks that
followed.
"I had dreams about being other places but I wasn't fully conscious," Johnson
told The Associated Press in an interview in his Senate office. "It was strange
when (my wife) Barbara and the family told me what a deal it had been."
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Senate | Capitol Hill | SD | Susan Walsh | Sen. Tim
Johnson | Dr. Michael Yochelson
A year later, Johnson, 60, is settling back into his Senate routine and
preparing to run for re-election. His speech is slurred, but has improved
noticeably since he first returned to work in September. His right side is weak
and he uses a scooter to travel long distances in the Capitol. He can walk,
though, and increasingly uses his cane to get around his office and his home.
As weeks pass, Johnson appears increasingly comfortable in interviews and
conversations. He hasn't missed a vote yet, despite some long nights in the
Senate.
Johnson, who is also a cancer survivor, says his doctors are amazed at his
recovery.
"My therapist says I'm a miracle," he says.
Dr. Michael Yochelson, the director of Brain Injury Programs at Washington's
National Rehabilitation Hospital, who has overseen Johnson's recovery, said the
senator's progress has been remarkable.
"When he first came to us you could barely understand what he was saying,"
Yochelson said. "It wasn't that he didn't know what to say, he just couldn't
get it out. He has gotten much more fluent."
Yochelson, who has regular visits with Johnson, said he believes the
senator's speech and physical condition will continue to improve, which could
be helpful as Johnson prepares for a rigorous re-election campaign next year.
There was some speculation that Johnson wouldn't run, but he says he is
committed to staying in the Senate. Campaigning in the state could be
difficult, made tougher by South Dakota's wide open spaces and tendency toward
bitter, contentious Senate races in recent years. Johnson won re-election
against Republican John Thune in 2002 by just 524 votes, and Thune defeated Tom
Daschle in another close race two years later.
Republicans have yet to field a well-known candidate and residents appear,
for now, to be mostly forgiving of the physical weaknesses that keep Johnson
from returning to the state as often as he used to.
"We'll see," Johnson says of the rigors of campaigning. "I'm prepared for it.
I make reasonable accommodations for it. I don't think there will be problems."
Johnson's hemorrhage was an arteriovenous malformation, a condition that
causes arteries and veins in the brain to grow abnormally large, become tangled
and sometimes burst. He says he had no idea he had the condition before he fell
ill last year.
He says he remembers everything about that day before he arrived at the
hospital. He first became disoriented on a conference call with reporters, when
he started to stutter and couldn't get the right words out of his mouth. He
wrapped up the call, and walked to the Senate subway with some of his staff. At
that point, he started to realize something was wrong.
"I couldn't speak, and I thought that was strange," he says.
His staff quickly called doctors and he was rushed to the hospital in an
ambulance.
"Upon arriving at the ER I was conscious, but I don't remember very much
after that."
Drey Samuelson, Johnson's close friend and chief of staff for 22 years,
remembers it well. Doctors told him and Johnson's family there was a 15% chance
the senator wouldn't survive the emergency surgery.
Samuelson said the group, which included incoming Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid, D-Nev., and former South Dakota Sen. Daschle, sat together for
several hours through the surgery, waiting for news from a doctor who would
come through the waiting room doors with frequent updates.
"Any time that door moved my heart would be in my throat," recalled Samuelson.
The doctors eventually brought good news Johnson had survived the surgery
and his condition appeared to be under control. In following days, fluid
developed in his lungs another life-threatening condition. He was kept
sedated and on a ventilator for several weeks.
Johnson was upgraded from critical to fair condition in January. He spent the
next eight months recovering in hospitals and at home.
Almost a year later, Johnson says he is thankful. He plans to spend Dec. 13
as a quiet day with his wife, though he may have votes in the Senate. The day
before, he will speak to reporters on his first conference call since the one
on which he fell ill.
"My speech is not 100% but the doctors say I will get there. ... I'm
frustrated by the fact that I can't get around as much but that too is
improving," Johnson says. "I am thanking God for the result and I'm determined
to make this a second chance at life."
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Comments: (13)Showing: Newest first Oldest first
Linda Whitaker wrote: 7h 20m ago
i AM SO PROUD FOR THIS MAN, GOOD JOB.
Mait McNamara wrote: 10h 36m ago
I thank The Lord for keeping Sen Johnson with us. He is a good man who has
represented South Dakota extremely well and hopefully will continue to do for
another six or more years. I live in Connecticut now but was a Sodak resident
(Mitchell) during the late 40s' and 50s'. I loved the state and it's people
then and still do now. Merry Christmas to all.
Mait McNamara
Old Lyme, Ct.
The Mick wrote: 10h 59m ago
OK all you Evangelicals - see how God is keeping the Democrats alive and
letting the Republicans die? Repent and change your party support before you
get to the Pearly Gates and get a big kick downstairs!
blurtman wrote: 11h 31m ago
jsleidell wrote: 3h 23m ago
Is being a U.S. senator really that easy? You can spend a year recovering from
brain damage and still adequately represent your consituents? You can have
slurred speech, and be unable to walk, but still want to run for another six
year term? Surely, South Dakota can produce a more capable candidate.
C'mon, just look at our president.
Rushay wrote: 11h 48m ago
Trust in the Lord and He shall deliver!!
I'm happy for Sen. Johnson--he's a young man & has alot to offer still!!!
crb wrote: 12h 46m ago
I'm sure being a senator is not easy. He has a strong staff who support him and
do much of the constituency work under his direction.
Though I disagree with his politics, Sen. Johnson has my prayers for his full
recovery. And if the good people of South Dakota want to re-elect him, I hope
he will serve them well in the future.
As a Republican, I hope he loses the election to a better qualified
candidate, however. Below are just a few comments to Senator Tim Johnson.E-mail
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**********************************************
There is supposed to be a bill introduced by Senator Lloyd Benson of Texas a
few years ago, like 10 or more, to require double hull Oil Tankers as they were
being replaced. This makes perfect sense so the oil spills will not take it's
toll oun our shores and oceans. It is time to review that bill, it had a
sunrise clause in it, if I remember correctly.. If there isn't one, then please
write to congress and ask them to supply another on effectative immedialy, by
all replacements, this should really become a law through the Kyoto Agreement.
We must work together with the rest of the world on our environment. Just a
month or so ago, we had an oil spill in San Francisco.
Que*****
Thousands clean up spilled oil in SKorea By HYUNG-JIN KIM, Associated Press
Writer
1 hour, 57 minutes ago
MALLIPO BEACH, South Korea - SouthKorea's Coast Guard mobilized thousands of
people Sunday to clean up a disastrous oil spill polluting a swathe of the
country's scenic and environmentally rich western coast.
About 100 ships, including Coast Guard, navy and private fishing boats, will
help contain and clean up South Korea's worst spill, said Coast Guard official
Kim Young-hwan. About 6,000 people, including government personnel, local
residents and volunteers were expected to participate, nearly triple the number
on Saturday.
"This will be difficult work," he said. "We are just in the initial stage."
The oil started hitting beaches on Saturday, a day after a Hong
Kong-registered supertanker was slammed by a South Korean-owned barge that came
unmoored from its tugboat in rough seas about seven miles off Mallipo, one of
South Korea's best-known beaches. The area also includes a national maritime
park.
On Saturday, tides of dark sea water crashed ashore at Mallipo beach, while
the odor reached areas a half-mile away.
Nearly 2.8 million gallons of crude gushed into the ocean, more than twice as
much as in South Korea's worst previous spill in 1995.
Thick, smelly waves of crude washed ashore, turning seagulls black and
threatening fish farms along an 11-mile stretch of coast, defying efforts to
contain it by dropping oil fences into the ocean and using chemicals to break
it up.
The Coast Guard said the last of three leaks in the tanker had been plugged
Sunday morning.
Mallipo, an important stopover for migrating birds including snipe, mallards
and great crested grebes, also has an abundant fishing industry.
Choi Kyung-hwan, a 58-year-old fisherman, came to the beach Sunday to help,
but despaired for the area where he has lived for 30 years.
"Mallipo is finished," he said.
Choi, wearing a thick winter coat, said the strong odor of oil had sickened
his wife.
"But I came here because I have to do something," he said. "I don't know when
we can finish. But we have to continue. I feel dizzy."
Cho Yoo-soon, who runs a raw fish restaurant at Mallipo beach, 95 miles
southwest of Seoul, said the situation was overwhelming. She said restaurants
in the area were closing, and she could not pump fresh sea water into her tanks.
"Without fresh sea water, the fish will start going bad after a week," she
said. "We can't even walk around here because the entire beach is covered with
oil."
The affected areas include 181 maritime farms that produce abalone, brown
seaweed, laver, littleneck clams and sea cucumbers, said Lee Seung-yop, an
official with the Taean county government, which includes the beach. Aquatic
farmers in the area number about 4,000, he said.
"A lot of damage is feared to these farms, although we don't have an estimate
yet," Lee said Saturday.
Local raw fish restaurants such as Lee Ok-hwa's were suffering.
"I haven't had any customers since news of the oil spill Friday," said Lee,
who had previously served 200 tourists and others a day.
"I don't know how to make a living," she said. "I don't know how to pay the
rent. I believe this situation will last for at least one year."
The central government has designated the oil spill a "disaster," which makes
it easier for regional governments to mobilize personnel, equipment and
material to cope with the situation. But it stopped short of declaring the
region a "disaster area," which would make residents eligible for government
financial aid.
The Coast Guard said it was unclear how many days the clean-up would take.
The accident occurred Friday morning when a barge carrying a crane en route
from a construction site lost control after a wire linking it to the tugboat
was cut due to high winds, waves and currents. The vessel then slammed into the
Hebei Spirit tanker. Neither ship was in danger of sinking and there were no
casualties.
The tanker had been at anchor and carrying about 260,000 tons about 1.8
million barrels of crude oil to be loaded into boats from a nearby port.
The size of the leak reported by the authorities would be about one-fourth
that of the 260,000 barrels, or 11 million gallons, spilled into Alaska's
Prince William Sound by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.
The spill was also smaller than one in Pakistan in 2003 when a
Greek-registered ship ran aground near Karachi, leaking some 8.2 million
gallons of crude that polluted the city's main beaches.
Associated Press writers Kwang-tae Kim and Jae-soon Chang in Seoul contributed
to this report.
Email Story IM Story Printable View RECOMMEND THIS STORY
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