Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO
Wes Clark: "We're no better than our own sense of humility."

I'm so very proud of and satisfied with his service!

He is one of only three-- yes, only THREE-- Congressional representatives going to rally for single payer health care advocacy in Washington. Tomorrow is the final day of the hearings of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care.

John Conyers, Bernie Sanders & Eric Massa

Representatives of the People ^^^

I guess the other 532 members were ...busy.

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-05-09-13-03-56-news.php

He is one of very few bright spots in a very dark chapter for our government.

health care right after the Mike Farrell interview.  The interview with Eric starts at about 04:37 into this video and goes to about 08:04 into it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30710404#30710404  (13:43)

Push for universal health care grows
May 12: Author and actor Mike Farrell discusses the importance of a single-payer system for health care reform.  Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) is interviewed right after Mike Farrell starting at about 04:37 into this video.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30710404#30710404  (13:43)

Eric said that he will not be politically intimidated during this interview.  He is definitely not a rubber-stamp because he is willing to tell Obama what he needs to hear and he will take on the corporate interests regardless of the political cost.  Eric also called himself "the most targeted member of Congress" during this interview and he said that he trusts the insurance companies as far as he can throw them!

Eric Massa in my opinion is the real deal and he is in Congress for all of the right reasons!

The Joe Sestak interview starts at about 07:18 into this video right after the Ben Cardin interview:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30731255#30731255  (12:21)

Cheney plays the TV media
May 13: MSNBC's Ed Schultz talks with Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., about former Vice President Dick Cheney's continued defense of torture as well as efforts by Congress to determine the truth about torture under the Bush administration.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30731255#30731255  (12:21)

Like Eric Massa, Joe Sestak is definitely not a rubber-stamp and he is asking all of the right questions in my opinion!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30766508/

'The Rachel Maddow Show'for Monday, May 11, 2009
Read the transcript to the Monday show

Guests: Howard Dean, Ana Marie Cox, Clifford Alexander, Erica Massa

RACHEL MADDOW, HOST: "Remarkably, former Vice President Dick Cheney is still on TV. All appearances suggest that he did not enjoy appearing on television while he was vice president, but now, he‘s everywhere—except on this show, of course. Please? And I don‘t think he‘s done the food network yet, either. But I wait.

In his most recent sit-down with CBS‘s Bob Schieffer, here‘s what former Vice President Dick Cheney had to say about the war that his administration started more than 7 ½ years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD CHENEY, FMR. U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: It became a sanctuary for al Qaeda and they used it to train terrorists to come to the United States and kill Americans.

We can‘t allow that to happen. We can‘t allow ourselves to go back to a situation where Afghanistan is out there operating—there‘s no U.S. presence, no foreign military presence—until we‘re convinced that the Afghans themselves can control all their sovereign territory. When that day happens, I think we‘ll be happy to leave. But that‘s how I would define success in Afghanistan is it no longer constitutes a threat to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: So, as long as al Qaeda uses Afghanistan as its base of operations, we need to have boots on the ground in Afghanistan. That has been the rationale for the war there from the beginning.

And it‘s interesting. I think it‘s probably the one thing that Dick Cheney is sound off on, even now, without sounding all that different from politicians who aren‘t Dick Cheney. We are in Afghanistan to counter al Qaeda.

So, what if al Qaeda isn‘t in Afghanistan?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, SUNDAY/CNN)

GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, CENTCOM COMMANDER: They do come in and out of Afghanistan. But al Qaeda—precise al Qaeda, if you will—is not based, per se, in Afghanistan. The federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan—that very, very mountainous, rugged terrain—just east of the Afghan border and in the western part of Pakistan is the locus of the leadership of these organizations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: That was CENTCOM Commander David Petraeus confirming to CNN what the president of Afghanistan said last week and what Professor Juan Cole said on this show at the end of March: al Qaeda is not in Afghanistan.

And if al Qaeda is not in Afghanistan, what‘s the rationale for us waging war there now? Is it to prevent al Qaeda from relocating into Afghanistan again? If so, that means we‘re waging another preventive war, doesn‘t it? And does that mean that the Obama administration accepts the Bush doctrine of preventive war, waging war on a country, in a country to prevent it from becoming a threat in the future?

In the Afghanistan war, there was a huge surprise today as Defense Secretary Bob Gates announced that he has asked for the resignation of the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. He is General David McKiernan and he has been there less than a year. McKiernan is to be replaced by Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal, who has been head of Special Forces in Iraq and who headed up a the Joint Chiefs of staff Afghanistan policy review.

Again, the replacement of the top general came as quite a surprise today. No one is quite sure what it means.

Here to help us sort some of this out is New York Congressman Eric Massa. He retired as a Navy commander after 24 years of service, including serving as special assistant to the supreme allied commander of NATO during the war in Bosnia. He currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman Massa, thank you so much for joining us tonight.

REP. ERIC MASSA, (D) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good evening, Rachel.

It‘s good to be here with you on such a serious topic.

MADDOW: Indeed. Thank you.

Were you aware that our top general in Afghanistan was going to be replaced or were you just as surprised as everybody else today?

MASSA: I think we all were, and, frankly, it raises a serious question. You know, this is the same secretary of defense who less than a year ago said we can‘t discuss repealing “don‘t ask, don‘t tell” because that would be too much of a change. And yet, here he is firing his on-the-ground general which I quite frankly think will have one heck of a lot more impact on the morale of the troops, apparently for no reason at all.

Maybe the first time since World War II, and even before, that a secretary of defense has publicly fired a four-star commander in the field. It‘s very concerning to me.

MADDOW: Do you anything about what might have led to this? There‘s been reporting today about dynamics among the senior command, dynamics among the high-ranking generals that we‘ve got serving in CENTCOM and in other territories.

Do we know if there‘s anything specifically about General McKiernan which made him the wrong man for this job at this time?

MASSA: Nothing specifically except he was hand-picked for the job. He is a brilliant commander with an incredible combat record that we all respect. But you‘ve got to remember that this comes at a time when, frankly, we‘re all very concerned about changes of strategy.

When you have Dick Cheney on one hand saying that Rush Limbaugh is a better role model than Colin Powell, and then, on the other hand, tacitly, completely agreeing with President Obama about the fact that we need boots on the ground in Afghanistan, although goodness forbid, former Vice President Cheney would never praise President Obama for anything, you get a lot of mixed messages in the media and this is one of those mixed messages.

So, I, and, I believe, other members of Congress are very concerned about the fact that this very respected combat general, frankly, was publicly fired for what we believe to be no reason.

MADDOW: General Petraeus says that al Qaeda is no longer based in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai said the same thing, informed observers have said the same thing recently. If that‘s the case then, do you see what we‘re doing in Afghanistan right now as a preventive war? And does that mission seem appropriate to you?

MASSA: It causes into question an awful lot of issues. Now, remember, for a long time, those of us in Congress, whether we‘ve had military experience or those of us like myself who were privileged to serve in the armed forces, were told we must listen to the generals on the ground. General Petraeus, preeminent among them.

So, if we follow that logic that we must listen to General Petraeus, then we have to call into question the overall efficacy of the strategy that‘s being laid out, regardless of the president that‘s laying it out. So, I think there‘s a lot of work to be done here in justifying to the American people exactly what this strategy moving forward is, and many of us will express our concerns with the vote coming up on the 2009 leftover Bush war supplemental—which a lot of us are questioning, saying, “Wait a minute, why are we still dealing with supplementals at a time when we‘ve already have two budgets laid the table?” So there‘s going to be some public debate about this.

MADDOW: Do you think that Afghanistan is a threat to the U.S.?

MASSA: I don‘t have the intelligence information front of me that lays that case up, but I do have the senior most military commander telling us that al Qaeda is no longer stationed in Afghanistan and that Pakistan is now the center of the theater. At the same moment he‘s on the ground, a general gets fired. So, there are some questions here to those of us who have significant military experience.

MADDOW: Congressman Massa, I also have to ask you about this jaw-dropping news today from another theater that a U.S. soldier killed five other U.S. troops in Iraq today. As someone who is a veteran, someone keenly interested in military affairs now, I just have to ask what your thoughts are about this.

MASSA: This is a terrible tragedy. I heard about it while I was returning to Washington. Frankly, it causes me great heartache for the families and for the soldiers. This is, I think, a case showing very clearly or military is operating on the thin edge of stress, beyond acceptability, and I plan on offering whatever resources we need to offer to help our military in the field while offering support to get a strategy that gets us out of Iraq. I ran on a provision that we must return our forces from Iraq. I haven‘t seen enough movement in that direction yet.

MADDOW: Congressman Eric Massa from New York State and the House Armed Services Committee—thank you so much for your time tonight, sir.

MASSA: Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate you bringing this subject to the forefront.

MADDOW: Absolutely. Thanks..."

Thank you, Eric Massa. You have no idea how much your leadership and candidness on the wind turbine issue is appreciated.

http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2009/05/15/us-congressman-overwhelmed-by-wind-turbine-noise-complaints/

May 15, 2009
New York
U.S. Congressman overwhelmed by wind turbine noise complaints

Transcript of AM 1480 WLEA (Hornell, NY) interview with U. S. Congressman Eric Massa (D, NY) on April 25, 2009, talking about the “virtual flood of constituents,” and even non-constituents, complaining about wind turbine noise.

Brian: Hi, and welcome to Connections with Brian O’Neil, on the phone today with Congressman Eric Massa. Congressman, good morning.

Congressman Massa: Good morning, and thank you for having me with you today.

Brian: Well, it’s always great to be on the line with you Eric.

Congressman Massa: How can I help?

Brian: Well, Congressman, one of the big stories lately on AM 1480 WLEA and, of course, the Corning Leader is what’s been going on in Prattsburgh. On Friday, you met with two Prattsburgh town board members Steve Kula and Chuck Schick. Now, having attended the last few Prattsburgh meetings myself, I’m guessing your meeting had something to do with the controversy over wind energy in Prattsburgh?

Congressman Massa: Well ,yes, and as some listeners may remember and certainly you might remember, for almost three years of my candidacy, and certainly since I have become an incumbent, I have been very focused on the challenges this area faces as foreign-owned industrial wind turbine corporations attempt to build thousands of these 450 foot tall towers on virtually every hill in western New York State, despite the fact that the United States Meteorological Service has stated very clearly we simply don’t have the wind in this area of the world to economically justify this. We have seen a consistent effort by these foreign companies to subvert local governments who are ill prepared to deal with these million-dollar industrial systems, to back out of commitments they’ve made through the industrial development agencies, not to pay their contributions to the local schools that they promised, not to create new jobs. So, this is, unfortunately, what we’ve been talking about, and I wish I was wrong, but everything I said for the last three years has come true. But nowhere is that more apparent than now, with the fact that these wind turbines generate so much noise that the very homes on the properties that leased agreements to the wind turbines now can’t be occupied.

Now I’m not making this up. I have been in my office with a virtual flood of constituents who have come to me, both on and off properties that were leased to the wind companies, saying that they can’t live in the houses anymore, yet they can’t sell them, and in fact the town supervisor of Cohocton, a man that would not even shake my hand at a parade because he was so upset that I dared challenge this issue, has written a letter to the very company that he invited into his community, saying – we can’t have these wind turbines here because they’re too noisy. Well, you know, three years too late, and I am meeting with the folks in Prattsburgh so that they get – first off, they requested to meet with me, because they’re asking for help, to make sure that what was rammed down Cohocton does not get rammed down Prattsburgh. And it’s very disconcerting that everyone has such a wonderful opinion of these 450 foot towers that frankly don’t even produce electricity, and I don’t say that comically, I say that realistically. It’s a huge local issue.

Brian: Now, Congressman, are more wind farmers besides Hal Graham stepping forward to you and telling you that the wind turbines are driving them nuts?

Congressman Massa: Its – I have been, I would say, every weekend a different family in the office, talking with me.

Brian: Wow. And they’re wind farmers, some of them?

Congressman Massa: Yes. In fact one is the, one owns a home and he agreed to have a lease on his property and now he is saying – I have to move out of my property. It’s quite amazing. Not to mention the fact that as we talked about, hunters are now coming up and telling me that there’s no wildlife anywhere within distance, and I’m talking three to four miles, of any of these wind turbines because these wind turbines emit low frequency vibrations that drive the deer away. So if some foreign companies have their way you’ll never be able to hunt in the southern tier again because we won’t have any deer. And that’s, again, I know that sounds like an exaggeration.

Brian: Right.

Congressman Massa: But it’s not an exaggeration. Anybody who can tell you about animals in the wild will tell you they hear frequencies that humans cannot. And the low frequency vibrations from these industrial wind turbines drive the deer away. It’ll be the end of hunting for us.

Brian: Now, Congressmen Massa, back to what you said just a moment ago – you said these things don’t generate electricity at all?

Congressman Massa: Bingo. So, if the winds not blowing, they’re not generating. But if the wind is blowing, the electricity they’re generating, even now, is not going to come to New York it’s being shipped to other states like Massachusetts. And even now, we have a very limited capability technologically with the Independent System Operator, that’s the technical name of the individuals that oversee the incorporation of all electrical production into our New York Grid, a very limited ability to actually absorb the very unpredictable and highly variable nature of the electricity driven by wind turbines. Period.

Brian: Congressman Massa, when you met with those Prattsburgh officials on Friday afternoon, or Friday morning I think it was, what sort of impression did you walk away with when you left the meeting with those two Prattsburgh board members on Friday.

Congressman Massa: Well, first off, that they were very serious and concerned, that they were local officials of what I call gravitas. In other words, they’ve thought this through, they’ve asked the tough questions, they’ve asked for help from every, anyone and they told me that I was the only local, state or federal official that would sit down and talk to them.

Brian: I can believe that.

Congressman Massa: Now, this is an issue that I have been dealing with for years because I refuse to take the side of these very powerful foreign companies who are willing to do all kinds of things to get me to spout the party line for them. By the way, speaking of party lines, just about everybody that’s come up to me and asked me for this help is not of the same political party I am, because this, like every other issue that I deal with, cuts across party lines. This is about the future of this area. One of the last things we have, after everything else has been taken from us, is our environment, and now they want to take that too, and I will not rush willy-nilly down a road, a road by the way that has been torn up by the heavy tractors transporting these windmills and then we have to pay to repave them, I won’t go down that road without a fight, and that’s what I am trying to make happen.

Brian: We’re talking with Congressman Eric Massa on Connections here on AM 1480 WLEA. Congressman Massa, it seems to me that the two big issues right now in regards to wind energy are the problems with noise and the problem with corruption, with politicians having conflicts of interest. Some of these politicians out there, it seems like they’re just being out and out agents for wind companies in more than one way. One way would be bullying around anyone at these meetings who asks any, who questions at all, anything at all that the wind company wants. Another way would be for them to vote just down the line in every way that the wind company wants them to. As a matter of fact, at the last Prattsburgh meeting I attended, a man stepped forward and complained that one of the Prattsburgh Town Board members had given his name to a wind company person and this wind company person showed up at this Prattsburgh man’s house. And the Prattsburgh man was furious that his address and name had been given out to a wind company official by a Prattsburgh Town Board member for purposes of solicitation. Congressman, what’s going on here?

Congressman Massa: I think it’s a combination of opportunism and short- sightedness. I have been to these meetings. I have seen the bullying. You can’t – I am not easy to bully.

Brian: Right.

Congressman Massa: Many people will tell me they don’t like me because I’m too outspoken.

Brian: And you’re fast on your feet, yeah, I’ve seen you in a debate.

Congressman Massa: But on the other hand, I think that the voices of the people that have no voice need to be represented. Now, if in a free and fair and open and informed decision a town decides they want to do this, then great, that’s a local issue. But I want it to be free, fair and informed and when the information actually gets out there, people say – well, we don’t want that. Nobody, including me, is against the clean production of wind energy where it makes economic and technical sense, at all. It doesn’t here. We are being taken advantage of because we ‘re being treated like a bunch of country bumpkins by these foreign folks from European capitals, and it’s got to stop.
Brian: Congressman, one person said to me recently that you seem to be way ahead of most of your political colleagues on this subject of wind energy because most leaders at the federal level that we’ve seen are just acting like, basically, public relations guys for wind companies. Do you think that someday that wind will be looked on in some areas like ours as a fad and a phase that just didn’t work out?

Congressman Massa: Yeah, but the problem is when they look at that, we’re going to have hundreds of these industrial wind turbines broken and rusting and spilling oil that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to take down and return those forests to what they were so we can go back to enjoying and attracting people for what they come here for. That’s the problem. So we shouldn’t have to wait to realize that a mistake has been made. If we had wind greater than 33 percent, which means that more than a third of the time the wind blew strong enough to actually turn the blades and make electricity, we could have some hope of having a real contribution to help stop environmental degradation, and yes that’s global warming, and to make inexpensive electricity. But, none of that electricity is staying here and those turbines are not generating electricity, so you can look at this from many different levels. And it’s very sad. And then, of course, I get painted as an out of control you know, aggressive, guy. Well, I’m going to be very aggressive when it comes to fighting for our local interests, because, candidly, nobody else is.

Brian: Congressman, it seems that you have a lot of knowledge about laws regarding wind power. Do you know who would be held responsible if a neighbor of a wind project suffered something like property value loss or their house was vibrating and, you know, they’re living next door to a wind turbine that’s causing their house to shake or the noise is terrible at night. Do you know who’s responsible for that – the wind company, the IDA, the town? Do you know who has to take responsibility?

Congressman Massa: Well, the immediate supposition is that the source of the problem is culpable for the property degradation. That’s generally the rule, but the wind companies then seek protection by saying – well, the town boards and the local towns gave us permission to do that, it’s their problem. The town board says – yeah, but the IDA gave us permission to do this, so it’s their problem. Then all of a sudden, a single family has to go running around, all up and down trying to get someone to help them when they are given the run around. This is exactly what happened in Cohocton. When people went to the town board and complained and said – listen, you guys voted to put these things up here, it exceeds the noise limit. The town board said – well, don’t talk to us, talk to the wind company. They went to the wind company, the wind company said – not our problem, the town board issued us a permit. And this is how you end up going in that circular run around that drives people crazy and they shouldn’t have to. So I’ve said – come see me, it’s my job to help where I can help, and I’m going to do that.

Transcript provided by Helderberg Community Watch
[submitted to NWW]
25 April 2009
This article is provided as a service of National Wind Watch, Inc.
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/
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