As you probably saw, there's a big link on the home page right now encouraging you to give to the PanMass Challenge and the Jimmy Fund and help the fight against cancer. This fight is extremely important to John Kerry; he lost a father and the mother of his children to cancer, and he's a cancer survivor himself.

I don't know if anyone who hasn't had a family member or close friend striken by cancer. We've made a lot of progress against the disease, and it's organizations like the Jimmy Fund and events like the PanMass Challenge who are leading the fight.

So please do what you can by following this link:

Give to support the PanMass Challenge

Today in the Senate Commerce Committee, John Kerry will chair a discussion on the issue of the exclusive deals wireless providers enter into with handset manufacturers. He'll look at whether these are good for consumers, competition, and innovation. The hearing is at 2:30, and you can watch at the committee website, here:

Hearing: The Consumer Wireless Experience

[John Kerry posted the following yesterday at SaveTheInternet.com ]

 

Northern Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine were hit by a terrible ice storm Thursday night/Friday morning. Trees, overburdened by heavy ice, crashed through power lines and buildings in the affected area. An federal emergency disaster declaration has been declared in nine Massachusetts counties, and FEMA has been authorized to release emergency assistance. The affected MA counties are: Berkshire, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Suffolk, and Worcester. The devastation is especially bad in the Worcester and Fitchburg area and across the Merrimack Valley to Lawrence and into Northern Essex county.

I live in Northern Middlesex county. The aftermath of this ice storm resembles the aftermath of a tornado more than anything else.  There were trees down all around where I live. Some were thin, shallow-rooted trees like birch and "junk" maples. Those are relatively easy to clear out or move aside so work crews can collect them later. There were also a lot of big thick pine and oak and other trees that crashed down as well. Many of these trees dropped onto power lines, went through windows or roofs of houses or landed on car tops. Getting these trees or branches removed is a lot harder to do. The cleanup from this storm is going to last a long, long time.

My house was without power from early Friday morning through mid-afternoon Monday. Like so many others in New England, my family dealt with the storm by piling up logs for the wood stove and fireplace, wrapping pipes in the basement and praying that the insulation would keep out the freezing cold. My husband and I surveyed the damage on our lot and gathered information for the insurance adjusters. Our neighbors managed to get through the storm with the same minor damage we did. We were all fairly lucky.  There were many more in Massachusetts who were not so lucky and will be cleaning up from this storm for a long while.

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune has a webpage up simply called Ice Monster. There are pictures there that detail the almost unimaginable destruction the ice storm left behind. It mirrors scenes I saw in my town; roads made nearly impassable by tree branches, huge piles of wood and debris pushed into the side of the road, homes and businesses trying to operate on generators. The DPW workers have been working around the clock to try and clear the worst of the hazards and get schools up and running and roads cleared.  They have done incredible, exhausting work and deserve a lot of thanks and praise for their dedication.

For a lot of people who are already dealing with the effects of the bad economy, this is one more costly blow to absorb. I talked to families who had managed to put some money away for the Holidays who now have to redirect that cash to deal with the affects of the storm. The need is going to be even greater this year at local food pantries and assistance centers as people try to figure out how they are going to recover from the cost of this storm amid other financial hardships. I hope the spirit of generosity, patience and humor that I saw displayed in so many folks this past weekend will extend over the winter.  It will be sorely needed

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) sent out these tips for dealing with the effects of this storm.  Share these with friends and neighbors who are still coping with storm-related problems.

Post-Storm Tips

MEMA offers safety tips to those who continue to be impacted by the recent Ice Storm.

• During the outage, do not open your refrigerator or freezer door. Food can stay cold in a full refrigerator for up to 24 hours, and in a well-packed freezer for 48 hours (24 hours if it is half-packed). After that time frame, you must consider disposing of this food.
• If you have medication that requires refrigeration, check with your pharmacist for guidance on proper storage during an extended outage.
• To keep pipes from freezing, wrap them in insulation or layers of newspapers, covering the newspapers with plastic to keep out moisture.
• Let faucets drip a trickle of water from the faucet farthest from your water meter to help keep pipes from freezing.
• If pipes freeze, remove insulation, completely open all faucets and pour hot water over the pipes, starting where they are most exposed to the cold. A hand-held hair dryer, used with caution, also works well.
• In order to protect against possible voltage irregularities that can occur when power is restored, you should unplug all sensitive electronic equipment, including your TVs, stereo, VCR, microwave oven, computer, cordless telephone, answering machine and garage door opener.
• Be extra cautious around downed or hanging electrical wires. Expect all wires to be live wires. Never attempt to touch or move downed lines. Do not touch anything power lines are touching, such as tree branches or fences.
• Do not become a 'spectator'. Continue to stay off streets in the affected areas, letting the crews do their jobs.
• Call 2-1-1 for non-emergency storm-related questions.

The Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism releases a new report today on the urgency of dealing with nuclear and biological weapons proliferation.  The Boston Globe, in an article by Brian Bender, notes that President-Elect Obama already has plans to appoint a high-level White House official to oversee the effort to stop these deadly weapons from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.  Bender writes:

President-elect Barack Obama plans to appoint a new White House official to coordinate efforts to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear or biological weapons, advisers say, giving the highest priority to thwarting a catastrophic attack that a bipartisan panel warns could come in the next five years.

Naming a top deputy whose sole mission is to oversee the government's wide-ranging programs to stop such an attack would mark a significant break with the Bush administration, which in resisting such a post has maintained that US efforts to reduce nuclear stockpiles and safeguard deadly pathogens are adequate.

In the 2004 Presidential debates, both Senator Kerry and President Bush both agreed that the single most serious threat to the US and the world was nuclear proliferation. However, as noted in the Globe story, the Bush Administration has not increased efforts to combat this growing threat.

 Senator Kerry wrote an OpEd earlier this year that laid out a list of four things that the US could do to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.  

First, engage the American people in this cause. Within the first 100 days, the next president should give a policy address demonstrating his commitment to a nuclear-weapons-free world. Generations have grown up never knowing anything but the old order of mutually assured destruction, but the stage is already set for a big policy shift. In fact, 17 of the 24 former secretaries of state and defence and national security advisers support moving towards a nuclear-free world. This bipartisan council of elders includes cold-eyed realists such as Henry Kissinger and George Schultz and defence hawks such as Sam Nunn and Bill Perry. The new president should bring this august group to the White House Rose Garden so Americans can see at first hand the face of a new consensus.

Second, create a new position: a deputy national security adviser to the president, whose sole responsibility is to prevent nuclear terrorism.

Third, empower this individual to lead an accelerated effort - a Manhattan Project in reverse: instead of racing to assemble a bomb, make sure nobody else can. We should aim to secure all "loose" nuclear material worldwide by the end of the next president's first term and establish a global gold standard for their safe custody.

Fourth, the new president should ensure that our nuclear policy reflects the cold war's conclusion almost two decades ago. The US and Russia no longer need a combined stockpile of more than 20,000 warheads, many of them on "hair trigger" alert. We can and should work to extend the 1991 strategic arms reduction treaty, reach a new agreement reducing strategic nuclear forces resulting in no greater than 1,000 deployed warheads, and increase warning times prior to launch.

The points raised by Sen. Kerry are in line with the recommendations contained in the report being released today.  The Boston Globe summarized those recommendations as follows:

Report Recommendations

• Stop nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea, using diplomacy backed by credible threat of force.
• Work with Pakistan and other countries to eliminate terrorist safe havens and secure nuclear and biological materials in that country.
• Do comprehensive review of global nuclear security and restructure relationship with Russia.
• Work with Russia to jointly reduce dangers, including extending provisions expiring in 2009 in strategic arms treaty, upgrading security at sites in Russia, and encouraging China, India, and Pakistan to stop producing fissile material.
• Review and tighten measures to secure dangerous pathogens, including high-risk biolabs; improve rapid response to prevent mass casualties from biological attacks.
• Press for international conference on biosecurity, strengthen global disease surveillance networks.
• Impose penalties for violating nuclear nonproliferation treaty, strengthen International Atomic Energy Agency, ensure access to nuclear fuel for countries without nuclear weapons.
• Designate a principal White House adviser on nuclear and biological weapons and terrorism, restructure National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.
• Reform congressional oversight of nonproliferation and terrorism.
• Accelerate integration of counterproliferation, counterterrorism, and law enforcement agencies.
• More effectively counter the ideology fueling terrorists who might use nuclear or biological weapons.
• Within six months of new administration, develop a checklist of actions for which citizens can hold government accountable.

SOURCE: Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism

What a difference an election can make.  It is encouraging to see this issue being given the prominence it deserves. The Commission report encourages the Congress and President to work together to oversee efforts to contain the spread of nuclear and biological material that could wind up in terrorist hands.This is a very welcome development and heralds a new seriousness on the part of the US to deal with this extremely important issue.

Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland sent this letter out to the JohnKerry.com community.  You can help Democrat Jim Martin win his Senate race against Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss. Election 2008 is not yet over and you help is needed.  

It used to be a dream, a nearly impossible goal: 60 seats on the Senate, a filibuster-proof majority to bring real change, and a resounding, mandate-sized majority in the House.

But now it's possible. And it's possible because of some amazing races in places no one thought possible. We can turn out some Republicans that are directly opposed to our values, and bring in some great Democrats.

Senators Saxby Chambliss, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and arch-conservative Marilyn Musgrave in the House, all can be beaten.

But we won't be able to do it without all of us doing everything we can right now. This is the vital moment, the time for maximum effort to change our country forever.

Right in my home state of Georgia, Jim Martin has put together a campaign that is shocking the political world. No one gave Jim a chance against Saxby Chambliss, but Jim put together a great grassroots campaign and the polls have closed to a virtual tie. But, believe me, I know, Saxby Chambliss will run any smear, stoop to any low attack, in his attempt to win. So we have to give Jim the resources he'll need to fight back.

And in Kentucky, Bruce Lunsford stepped up to take on the challenge that few thought could be met: taking down the chief roadblock in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. No one in Congress has done more to block the change we need than Mitch McConnell, and Bruce has brought him to the brink of defeat.

And turning to the House, Betsy Markey is running a fantastic campaign against one of the most conservative Republican in the House, Marilyn Musgrave. Musgrave is the original sponsor of the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment, was one of the most vocal Republicans in the Terri Schiavo case, and was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 10 Worst Members of Congress. But Betsy Markey, a strong Democrat, has pulled even in the polls and can rid our Congress of Marilyn Musgrave.

But they need your help! Please donate today!

Chances like this come along very rarely, a time when we can completely remake the political map. But we need to seize this moment. We are competing all over the map, and late charges by candidates like these need more help than anyone because they haven't had the national focus for very long. So please do what you can to help us change our country forever.

Thank you,
Max Cleland

The signs and buttons and bumper stickers have been taken down and packed away. The rallies and campaign speeches are now, mostly, over for this election season. Massachusetts voters joined millions of other people from across the nation in pushing for a new direction for this country. Yet, there are a few more things to say before we completely close the books on Election '08 in Massachusetts.

Thank you to everyone who made got involved and made such a huge a difference this year. Thank you to those who made phone calls, knocked on doors, held signs, showed up at rallies and talked to family, friends, co-workers and neighbors about this election. Volunteers are the heart and soul of a campaign. Nothing would happen without these folks who give so generously of their time.

This was Senator Kerry's message on election night in Boston for all the voters in Massachusetts:

"I am humbled to receive the support of voters from Williamstown to Provincetown and every city and town in between, and I promise to continue to prove worthy of your confidence in me over the next six years.

"Yes, we have challenges to tackle in this country and in Massachusetts. But the American people's remarkable reservoir of talent, innovation, resolve and selflessness has triumphed time and time again. Our history is one of not just overcoming challenges but of emerging from difficult times stronger and better prepared to prosper as a nation.

"I have always been honored to represent the people of Massachusetts and I can't wait to return to Washington with my friend Ted Kennedy by my side and continue to deliver for you and your families. I promise to continue the fight to win back our future and honor your faith in me."

Senaotr Kerry wrote this yesterday on www.dailykos.com.  Today is election day and it's definitely time for all hands on deck!

Leave it all on the road. I see that that's the slogan here, and as a competitive cyclist, I know the feeling. You can't hold anything back, and you can't take anything for granted.

The polls look good, but let me tell you, the early exit polls four years ago looked fantastic. But the cliché is true: polls don't matter. Only votes do. And the large majority of those votes will be cast tomorrow. We have to do everything we possibly can to blow the Republican GOTV effort out of the water.

If we're up by 4 in the polls in a state, we can win by 7. If we're tied, we can win by 3. If we all do our best right now, we'll not only win this election, but win the kind of mandate we need to actually change our country.

All of you remember what we went through last year. I'd come here to this community, and we'd talk about what we could do to pressure a few more Republicans to try to see the light and chart a new course on Iraq, or give more kids health care, or anything else that they blocked. That's what a small, unworkable majority can bring.

This next day can change all that. We can have a true Democratic majority, filled with new progressives ready to move this country - finally! - into the 21st century. But we have to get absolutely every vote we can get. So please do what you can to get-out-the-vote. Head over the Barack's website to see what you can do:

Volunteer!

And then email everyone in your address book that address and ask them to do what they can.

I was in New Hampshire this past weekend, and it was incredible. The organization that the Obama campaign has built is enormous, and it's able to put huge numbers of people to work. But that organization depends on those people actually showing up to do that work. And "those people" are YOU. You are the bedrock of the Democratic Party, the activists who make it all work.

And this is a time to make it work. As Barack has said many times, you don't run to the finish line, you run through the finish line.

Because you know whom we know is working hard? John McCain and Sarah Palin are working hard, along with the Republican Party, criss-crossing the country and continuing their misleading attacks on Barack Obama. But we can overwhelm them because we have truth on our side, and we have you. If they drive a voter to the polls, we should drive three, four, five voters to the polls. If they make one call, we should make five.

So check out what you can do by clicking here to volunteer. And you can find your polling place by clicking here:

http://VoteForChange.com

Pass that URL around to everyone you know so they can find their polling place as well.

If we can turn all of our supporters out, if we can all go to the polls and bring people with us, our country will never be the same. We need a victory large enough that the personal attacks of the McCain campaign are discredited, the policies of the Bush-McCain GOP are repudiated, and the ideology of the extreme right is rejected, once and for all.

And then we can work together on how to get this country moving again, instead of just trying to limit the damage of a Republican President and his Roadblock Republican allies.

Tomorrow is election day. This is our time.

Sen. Kerry was on Meet the Press this past Sunday. He appeared after former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson had spoken on behalf of the McCain campaign.  Sen. Thompson was still pushing the Republican line that Barack Obama is too new and too inexperienced  to lead this country.  He said of Sen. Obama , "you have a fellow who is the most inexperienced and least qualified from a national security standpoint of any Democratic candidate I've seen in my lifetime."  The Republican closing argument is still one based on fear and a false argument that equates years in Washington with judgment. 

This election is not about fear; it is about the American people and their desire to move beyond partisanship. Senator Kerry explainedwhat had been left out of the argument by Fred Thompson:

You never heard Fred Thompson mention the word middle class.  You never heard him offer one proposal for John McCain as to how he will deal with this economic crisis.  You know, there've been two real presidential tests during this campaign.  The first was the choice of the vice president, and it is very clear John McCain went back on his own promises in the primaries, on Fred Thompson's own promises in the primaries, and chose somebody who has zero national security experience, who by definition is not ready to be ready to be president immediately, which is the very qualification John McCain set up.

Secondly, the second critical presidential moment was the economic crisis.  On 15 September, John McCain said the fundamentals of our economy are sound. That was his judgment.  Three days later, he suspends his campaign and says it's the greatest economic crisis since World War II.  He lurches erratically from one place to another.  He doesn't offer any constructive suggestion as to what you do about it.  Senator Obama did offer those.  In fact, all four of his fundamental principles were passed by the United States Congress and put into effect.  So I think on the two critical presidential decisions in this campaign, Barack Obama has been calm and steady and John McCain has been sort of erratic and, frankly, impulsive.  Now, come to the security issue.  Barack Obama has more security experience than Bill Clinton had when he became president.  He has more security experience than Ronald Reagan had when he became president.  And the fact is, it's not just time and a place, and I love John McCain.  I--I've worked with him, I know him.

 It is time to turn the page on the the failed policies of the Bush Administration that John McCain advocates. Barack Obama offers renewal and a chance to change direction for the country.  Sen. Kerry spoke to this yesterday:

This is a moment for change, Tom.  And I might add, you know, if, if John McCain were elected--you look around the world--this is a man who was the biggest cheerleader for the war in Iraq.  He was wrong about who's fighting whom, Sunni-Shia violence.  He was wrong about us being liberators.  He was the first to stand on an aircraft carrier and say, "Next up, Baghdad." He cannot break the break we need from the, from the Bush-Cheney years.  We've got to have a fresh start for America.  We need to move in a new direction, and Barack Obama brings us that.

Now it's up to the army of volunteers to bring the politics of hope and reason home to the voters. No one here is coasting on complacency. Everyone on the Democratic side knows that we have to work very hard to bring this victory home for the American people.  As Sen. Kerry said yesterday:

The Obama campaign is practicing a cautionary lesson by working, working, working.  I mean, the bottom line is you take nothing for granted.  And I know that the candidate, every member of the campaign, and all of his supporters are taking nothing for granted.  Presidential races tighten up anyway.  That year we had a particular event that pushed it, but I think everybody has to be very cautious here and simply work as hard as possible right up until 8:00 on Tuesday night.

See you all at the phonebanks, the visibilities, the canvassing stations and the ballot box. Together we will bring about the change America needs.

 

###

 

 

Senator Kerry mentioned that in his speech at the rally this past Saturday in Nashua, NH that he has never seen such worldwide interest in a U.S. Presidential campaign. Kerry said that he has often been questioned by world leaders about the election and if the American voters are really going to make not only history, but historic change this November.

You know what they say to me sometimes? They look at me and they say, "Can you really do this? Can you elect Barack Obama, can you elect this guy?" Yes we can.  And that's exactly what I tell them. And when we do my friends, we will have changed history in a bigger way than I  think at any time in America and in any Presidential race. We will have given life to our values. We will have given a reality to the American story that reaches all acrosss the planet. And once again an American President's picture will hang in huts in Central and South America, and in Africa and in Asia and in places where they look up to the values that we stand for. That's what's at stake here.

Nicholas Kristof, in his column in the New York Times this morning, agrees with that sentiment. Kristof notes that electing Obama president would signal to the world the elasticity and promise of American democracy. The world would wake up on November 5th with a different view of the United States.

We’re beginning to get a sense of how Barack Obama’s political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American “brand” to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality. This change in perceptions would help rebuild American political capital in the way that the Marshall Plan did in the 1950s or that John Kennedy’s presidency did in the early 1960s.

Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama’s rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama’s rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.

“It’s an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.,” Mr. Kull said.

 

General Colin Powell said in his endorsement Sunday on Meet the Press that the election of Barack Obama would signal transformational change in America.  Senator Kerry said the same thing in January when he endorsed Barack Obama for President.  America has a chance not just to turn a new page at home, but a chance to show the rest of the world that we can renew our our values at the ballot box.  This will have a profound impact all around the world. It is yet another thing to consider in this historic election year.