Senator Kerry’s First 100 Days – Complete Action Plan

[MurikanDemocrat]

Senator Kerry’s First 100 Days – Complete Action Plan

(1) A New National Education Trust Fund

We will propose a National Education Trust Fund to make sure that, for the first time ever, we fully fund our schools so they have the tools to assure our kids can succeed in the 21st century economy. We will make a new deal on education – if Washington is going to mandate something for our schools, then the funding should be mandatory.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for Education: Plan to Strengthen Public Schools

(2) A New Era of National Service
John Kerry will call on Americans of all ages – from students to America’s seniors - to serve in our classrooms, after school programs, nursing homes and nursery schools. We will fight to allow students to earn four years of college tuition in exchange for two years of national service. His plan will require mandatory national service for high school kids and enlist a million Americans in service a year.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for National Service: Plan to Require Service for High School Students

(3) End the ‘Era of Ashcroft’
John Ashcroft has launched an all-out assault on individual rights, allowing for a wholesale invasion of attorney-client conversations, e-mails and telephone calls. Immediately after the election, John Kerry will name a new Attorney General whose name is not John Ashcroft. We will also fight to protect women’s rights, civil rights and workers rights and enforce anti-trust laws.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for Civil Liberties: End the 'Era of Ashcroft'

(4) Repeal Bush Assault on the Environment and Make U.S. Energy Independent
We will rollback the George W. Bush assault on clean air and clean water and work to strengthen our nation’s environmental laws. Kerry will also put forward a plan to make the U.S. energy independent of Middle East oil in ten years—and create 500,000 jobs by investing in energy renewable sources, such as ethanol, solar, and wind.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for Civil Liberties: End the 'Era of Ashcroft'

(5) Rejoin the Community of Nations
We will immediately declare the Bush policy of unilateralism over and work to rebuild our shattered alliances all across the globe. We will launch a successful war against terrorism and also restore trust here at home and abroad by making sure that America always tells the whole truth.

Read the Comprehensive Agenda to Make America Secure Again

Read the Plan to Assure America is Prepared for Increased Terrorism Threat

WATCH NOW: "Making America Secure Again"

At an address to the Council on Foreign Relations on Wednesday December 03, John Kerry outlined the steps he would take to reverse the damage to U.S. security and leadership caused by President Bush’s flawed policies of unilateralism and preemptive war

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(6) First Major Legislative Plan: Affordable Health Care
John Kerry’s first major proposal to Congress will be a realistic plan that stops spiraling healthcare costs, covers every child in America, and makes it possible for every American to get the same health care as any Member of Congress.

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/100days/medicare.html">CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for Medicare: Four Point Plan to Restore Medicare

(7) Reward Companies that Create Jobs not Phony Corporate Profit
We will work to reward companies that create jobs by helping with health care costs, a new manufacturing jobs tax credit and new assistance for small businesses. We will also close every single loophole for companies that take jobs offshore and apply new criminal penalties, such as RICO penalties, on companies that defraud their customers and workers.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE COMPLETE Real Deal for Corporate Responsibility: Plan to Help Investors Recover Losses with New RICO Penalties

(8) Create a Middle Class Economy and End the Privileged Class Economy
We will fight to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so that we can invest in education and health care. We will also protect middle class tax cuts, such as the child credit and the elimination of the marriage penalty and propose additional tax credits to help middle class families make ends meet.

(9) Cut the Deficit in Half in Four Years
We will put forward a budget to restore fiscal sanity, eliminate corporate welfare, and cut the deficit in half in four years. However, we will keep our compact to seniors by securing Medicare and Social Security and protecting our children and veterans.

(10) End Influence Peddling and Secret Deals
We will reinstate the five-year ban on lobbying so that government officials - like Bush’s former campaign manager and FEMA director - cannot cash in by peddling influence. We will also shine the light on the secret deals in Washington by requiring every meeting with a lobbyist or any special interest deal inserted into a bill by a lobbyist be made public.

[XanaDUer]

1. Great post, MD...

:hi:

[MurikanDemocrat]

19. Thanks

:hi:

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Stop the invasion of Iraq?

Repeal the USA Patriot Acts? Repeal the Department of Homeland Security? Repeal No (Rich) Child Left Behind?

[mobuto]

20. Well yes

In his first hundred days Kerry will repeal the offending provisions of the Patriot Act and work to broaden the coalition in Iraq. He'll also fund the No Child Left Behind act, which would be perfectably good if only it were funded.

Will he repeal the DHS? Of course not. That's silly. Everybody agrees we need it. And lest you forget, DHS was initially opposed by the Administration. It was Senate Democrats who shamed Bush into acting.

[eyesroll]

A mixed bag.I hate hate hate community service as a graduation requirement

Kind of takes the "volunteer" part out of it. I suspect we won't create a nation of volunteers. We'll creat a nation of "god, volunteering sucks."

I like the rest of it -- the idea of 2 years of service for four years of college is intriguing, depending on the definition of service.

On edit: I'm just talking about the service part. I didn't read the others yet.

[mermaid]

6. Agree

Compulsory "national service" as a graduation requirement sucks. But rewarding VOLUNTARY two years of "national service" with four years of tuition is a good thing.

[MurikanDemocrat]

8. Actually that is a requirement in many of the communities around me

and it's not associated with religion but often a High School requirement. I think it's a good way to get kids started out understanding that gicing back to the community is important.

[DoNotRefill]

10. Uh huh...

On one hand, it's forcing people to do what they don't want to if they want to graduate. On the other hand, it's pretty goddamned close to slavery.

[MurikanDemocrat]

11. Oh get out! That's bullshit.

I knew more guys in High school that thought Science class was slavery than Community Service and would have gladly traded.

[Mattforclark]

12. Nah

Science is fun. Community service is slavery.

That's the truth. You heard it here first.

Don't worry, Kerry's plan will get struck down via the 13th ammendment.

;)

[DoNotRefill]

15. It reminds me of...

"Joy through Strength".

Seriously, let's look at this. What happens to the people who REFUSE to do community service? They don't get a high school diploma. Then they're fucked.

I thought Community Service was a sentence imposed by the courts in criminal cases when jail wasn't called for...in other words, it's PUNISHMENT.

[WitchWay]

23. I Agree with you

I think that Community Service requirements is b.s. If there is community service to be done, workers should be paid for it. They could pay students, if they want -- but its unfair to request that students community service as a requirement. Otherwise, its forcing kids to take jobs away from workers or potential workers...basically forcing students to be anti-labor (because even in the examples with stipends, the PAY IS NOT EQUAL).

Students come from all strata of society, and the community service requirement makes presumptions about students "gratefulness" and "involvement in a community".
Poor kids have to work cheap sh#t jobs at McDonalds and TacoBell...often to support their families...but then Schools are going to require them to "give back" to a society that is scre@wing them and their families over...without regards to the fact that MOST KIDS are heavily involved in supporting their families and communities.

I find the notion of community service to have both classist and sexist overtones. Many kids, especially but not only girls, engage in helping to take care of children and the elderly in their family and neighborhood, and supporting social ties and networks in their community. Poor kids and kids from troubled homes have to work hard to maintain family security and stability, through caregiving, outside jobs, and extra chores. Community service requirements presumes that all kids are lazy, spoiled and are not grateful. But, no one should be forced into gratefulness as a requirement. Especially, when this requires free labor.

[JohnKleeb]

24. it is for me

[littlejoe]

3. You are in good form tonight.

[doubleplusgood]

4. hope he renames "Homeland Security"

... to "Dept. of National Security". The word "homeland" is just too fascist sounding.

[tedoll78]

5. I really like the energy independence mention.

Good deal!

[DoNotRefill]

7. I see a few Constitutional problems with mandatory service...

Not least of which is violating the 13th Amendment. Also, there's a right to a free education through high school...requiring people to work to graduate would violate that.

[HawkerHurricane]

16. Too late.

My daughter's school district requires a number of hours of community service to graduate. Programs like this have been around for a long time. Hey, you're required to take and pass certain classes to graduate. Is that involuntary servatude also? And, if you aren't paying any money, how is that interfering with free education? Not that it's free, since we pay property taxes to pay for the schools.

[DoNotRefill]

17. Just because something hasn't been effectively challenged and overturned

doesn't mean it's Constitutional.


Think about it....what if they passed a plan requiring all high school students to spend 40 hours a year on the highway picking up litter? Don't you see a WEE Constitutional problem with that?

[HawkerHurricane]

27. Or worse...

passed a plan that made schooling manditory for all children between the ages of 5 and 18?

[DoNotRefill]

28. Actually....

it would be the same if it mandated that PUBLIC schooling was required. In case you missed it, mandating education doesn't mean it must be PUBLIC education....people who don't want their kids to go to public school can send them to private school or home-teach their kids.

[Leilani]

9. In #5 Making America Secure Again

Does he talk about terrorism, Bin Laden, Afghanistan, etc?

I hope he does, because he's already way behind in the polls on
making America secure. I have not heard very much from him on this subject, except the discussion about rejoining allies & multilateralism, which I completely agree with.

I've heard about money for 1st responders, but that's AFTER we get hit. What will he do to KEEP us from getting hit?

[Mattforclark]

13. Yes, very important.

Kerry has about 40% on national security, whereas Bush is closer to 60. On the economy, it is the other way around. In other words, the bases of both parties are with their candidate on both issues, while everyone else likes Kerry on the economy and Bush on security. We need to win on security as well, or at the least decrease the margin significantly.

I think that's one of the more powerful arguments for Clark as VP, btw.

[Leilani]

14. I agree completely, Matt

I've been arguing this point till I'm blue in the face. Kerry leads on all domestic issues, but falls way short on terrorism, national
security, foreign policy. Clark lends instant credibility on these
issues.

[MurikanDemocrat]

18. I'll see what I can find - in the meantime do you have a link to the polls

you're referring to? That's not my understanding of how he sizes up against Bush. Thanks.

Actually, this thread has generated a lot of questions - I should more info up by sometime tomorrow so check back.

[MurikanDemocrat]

21. I'll get a thread together for Foreign Policy - gimme 20 minutes ...

it covers those subjects and more ...

edit: Here ya go:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=442579&mesg_id=442579

[Leilani]

22. Hi Murikan!

Thanks for your response. I posted to you on the other thread.

www.zogby.com Feb18 report

The report is quite detailed, however it gives Bush 50- Kerry 33 on who do you trust against terrorists? (& names them)

I have seen similar polling elsewhere; will try to find additional links.

[MurikanDemocrat]

25. kick

[citizen snips]

26. Great Post!

I will bookmark it.