This week marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and another chance to revisit the sad and tragic events that followed in it's wake on the Gulf Coast. Senator Kerry made the following statement on Tuesday about this anniversary and the devastating consequences of the storm that persist to this day:

Two years after Hurricane Katrina there is still a long way to go to get the Gulf Coast region back on its feet. Too many families and businesses are still struggling with too much red tape and an incompetent federal response that put our kids in toxic trailers and mismanaged billions of taxpayer dollars. Two years ago, Katrina pulled back a curtain and showed the world the true extent of poverty and inequality that still exists in our country. Remembering this tragedy with photo ops isn’t enough. We must finally force accountability and action from the federal government that will get our families and small businesses back on track.

When Katrina hit, there was no effective safety net to help the individuals and small businesses that were devastated by the storm. And two years later, we still lack a plan that ensures that a Katrina-like response never happens again. I’ve worked with Senator Mary Landrieu and others on a bipartisan basis for two years to provide the government with critical tools to respond more quickly and effectively in the case of future disasters. We passed a disaster loan reform bill in the Senate, and we need to get this legislation on the President’s desk and signed into law.

Many families and businesses owners have put themselves back on track and the Gulf Coast region is making progress because of their own hard work and determination. It’s long past time that Washington gives the victims of Katrina a policy that equals their incredible perseverance and hope.

Americans were outraged by the lackluster response from the federal government to people in trouble in Katrina's wake. The images of American citizens crying out for help from the rooftops of flooded homes in New Orleans are still fresh in the minds of many, as are images of people stuck at the Convention Center and the Superdome without food or water or medical care for days before help came. Katrina was a massive disaster and it was made worse by the lack of a timely response on the part of the federal government. Congressional offices were overwhelmed with phone calls from people across this country who were screaming for the government to go in and help our people, help fellow Americans who were suffering and dying from the devastation caused by this killer storm.

Most Americans are familiar with the sad litany of failures that occurred in New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. Perhaps the most famous line of the Bush Administration, the one that sums up so much about this President's obliviousness to the real suffering and hardship that lack of planning causes is the famous "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," remark from the President's trip to Alabama days after Katrina hit that area. People suffered and some died form the lack of attention and a less than swift deployment of federal resources to the Gulf Coast, thousands had no homes to go to and no jobs to fall back on to help them rebuild their lives and the Bush Administration called that, "a heck of a job."

There was a real emphasis at this year's convention on local blogging -- what it means, the goals local bloggers have, and how they fit into the progressive blogging world.

There were numerous panel discussions that ranged from the technical topics of what blog software to use, to how to attract and retain readers and how to interact with local campaigns and politicians.

The growth in this type of blogging has been phenomenal in just the last year. Many of these blogs, such as the Massachusetts-based BlueMassGroup site, started out with the purpose of filling a gap in the local community and providing a way for people to talk about local races and issues.

Many big city newspapers have nominal coverage of races in their own metropolitan areas. Local blogs can talk, in detail, about races for school committee, town and city council and local State Representative or Senatorial races. These local blogs are supplying a much-needed outlet for communities to trade ideas and provide in-depth coverage of what is going on in smaller communities.

The best and most in-depth coverage of the race to succeed Marty Meehan in Massachusetts' 5th Congressional district, for example, is going on in a host of local blogs. The writers for these sites attend district debates and host videos on their sites of the questions asked and answered, like the LeftinLowell blog did for a debate about the Iraq War and veteran's issues.

There are elected representatives like the Lowell Register of Deeds, Richard Howe, who talk about the debate on their own websites with an deep knowledge of the history of the district, the issues involved and the candidates.

[Here’s the second part of our series of quotes from local residents of the towns and communities along the route of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, explaining why they ride in and volunteer for the PMC every year.]

From the Sharon, MA Advocate:

Behind every biker with tired legs — after pedaling for one or two days from Wellesley to Bourne or Sturbridge to Provincetown — is a volunteer sweating almost as hard. And for this year’s Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, which attracts thousands of bikers each year, 57 of the volunteers feeding and cheering them on are from Sharon.

[ ... ]

Volunteers continue to help out, they say, because it makes them feel good, they make friends, and as Trinka Snyder put it, “Cancer is the illness that seems to touch the most people. My aunt died of lung cancer at 67, and I know lots of others and also a lot of survivors.” This is Snyder’s seventh year at the information booth in Provincetown, the end of the longest of six bicycle routes. Even in the heat or rain, “There’s no downside to volunteering,” she said.

Instead of looking exhausted, “The riders come in looking pumped up and happy,” Snyder’s noticed. “They’ve ridden by tons of people who pump them up and little kids with signs saying they’re cancer survivors. You thank them for riding so far and they say they couldn’t do it without you.”

[ ... ]

One luggage handler at Babson College in Wellesley, one of the bike-a-thon’s starting points, is Jennifer Volpe, a coordinator of volunteers in support of her work at Perkins School for the Blind. She said last year’s Pan-Mass Challenge made her feel especially good about today’s hardworking youth.

For nine years, for example, volunteer Amy Gruber’s two boys, Elliott, 18, and Andrew, 15, have been hefting luggage onto a sleeping barge and into dorms at Bourne’s Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where one-day riders finish their 84 miles and two-day riders spend the night.

Sandra Governman, one of the volunteers parking bikes on the Academy’s grounds, said she and her husband Brad started volunteering in 1999 after her father-in-law died of cancer, and then her mother was diagnosed with it. She’s made many friends at the event, she said, because “everyone feels an allegiance to their job, so they come back to the same job over and over again.” As her children Michael and Lauren became riders, Governman said, “I stayed a volunteer. Over the years my nieces and mother-in-law joined us. It’s contagious!”

On traffic control detail at the Provincetown end point, Bruce Katcher said he feels impelled to serve because “I basically think fighting cancer is more important than fighting wars!”

[As most of you know, the annual gathering of the prog-blogger tribes was held in Chicago this weekend — the YearlyKos convention. This year, more than ever, the MSM (aka the mainstream media) was all over the YKos story. The large-caliber Dem candidates were there in person to answer questions and debate each other on issues raised by the hundreds of online correspondents in attendance. If there’s any remaining question about the rapidly-growing influence of the political blogosphere in the real world of professional politics, this year’s YKos conference should put that to rest.

Our friend and colleague Terri Buchman was there, right in the thick of things. She’s the Netroots Coordinator for our online JK team; so she was at YKos, well, coordinating the netroots. She’s got a whole week’s worth of tales to tell about the many fascinating people and events she experienced there, and we’re all looking forward to seeing them here on the blog. Unfortunately, her laptop expired right before she got on the plane — what terrible timing! oh, the humanity! — so we’ll have to wait until she’s back in the office to hear more about this weekend’s events in Chicago. In the meanwhile, here’s some more followup on this weekend’s events in Massachusetts.]

The annual Pan-Massachusetts Challenge charity bicycling event is a lot more than just another fund-raiser for a good cause. Sure, the cause is extremely worthwhile — all proceeds go to the Jimmy Fund of the world-reknowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. And when they say “all proceeds,” they really mean “all proceeds.” The overhead costs of the event are covered by in-kind donations from various sponsoring companies and organizations, so 99 cents out of every dollar raised by riders goes directly into the coffers of the Jimmy Fund. This is an outstandingly high ratio, unique in the charitable-organization field. The event itself is also unique, since it’s not only the oldest charity bicycling event but also the largest charity athletic event of any kind. Not too shabby for something that a few dozen dedicated riders put together in their spare time back in 1980.

The figures for this year’s PMC event aren’t available yet, of course, but it’s reasonable to assume that it will at least match and will probably exceed the amount raised by last year’s challenge, and bring the total to over $200 million contributed to cancer research as a direct result of the individual riders’ rising to the challenge. (For the record, you and JK’s other supporters collectively contributed $25,039 to sponsor his ride this year, exceeding his goal of $20,000 by a rather healthy margin. And by the way, JK was in the first group of riders to cross the finish line on Saturday’s ride again this year — not too shabby for a sitting Senator, either.)

In yesterday’s blog entry I introduced you to Billy Starr, the hard-charging founder of the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, and told you his back story and what made him so determined to help combat cancer. In that same piece, I mentioned in passing that for Senator Kerry, this cause is personal. But I didn’t go into detail about why that should be so.

You probably already know that JK is a cancer survivor himself. He was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer during his 2002 presidential primary campaign. His prostate was removed in February 2003. His doctors consider him to be cured. But JK still makes sure to get regular checkups, just in case. And he’s well aware of how fortunate he was compared to others fighting the disease. As he told a Boston Globe interviewer in August 2006,

“Too many incredible people weren’t as lucky as I was, some because they had a cancer we can’t yet cure, and others because they didn’t get screening or care in time or couldn’t afford great health care. Every American should have the same health care that senators and congressmen get.”

But that wasn’t the only time JK has had to deal with cancer up close and personal. Several of his friends have been diagnosed with cancer, some of them combating it successfully and others not. His grandfather died of colon cancer. His father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in 2000. His ex-wife, Julia Thorne, was diagnosed with transitional-cell carcinoma a year after JK’s prostate cancer was discovered, and died in 2006.

So JK is painfully aware of how much suffering and loss is caused by cancer every year. He knows that extensive (and expensive) research has made significant inroads in combating the disease, but he also knows how much more work still remains to be done. It troubles him that so many families still have to go through ordeals that his family has because of cancer. As that same Boston Globe article noted,

“Losing friends and family to this disease opens your eyes,” he said. “It reminds you to take a couple of minutes to call someone you haven’t seen in years or reach out to someone going through cancer.” Kerry says he gets many e-mails and phone calls from constituents, seeking advice regarding cancer. “They want referrals, or they share their stories.”

A decorated Vietnam veteran who was wounded in battle, Kerry says cancer, like war, taught him that “every day above ground is extra” and has brought his family closer together. It was his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, who prodded him to get checked out. Once he was diagnosed, he said, “it was as if she was battling cancer herself.”

Billy Starr was cold, wet, tired — and inspired.

He’d just finished a grueling 400-mile hike through the northern and most difficult part of the Appalachian trail. Along the way, he’d also spent a lot of time thinking about a very basic principle of life: “To reap the rewards, you have to do the work.”

He’d also spent a lot of time thinking about the end of life. His mother had recently died of malignant melanoma. She was only 49 years old. Starr was only 25 at the time.

Losing his mother to cancer was tough, but Starr was tougher. He sensed that the best way to work through the emotional pain was to take on a daunting physical challenge — and to come out on top, no matter what.

So Starr organized a group of three friends to trek through the toughest part of the Appalachian Trail. It was no stroll in the park for any of them, that’s for sure — they were pelted with freezing rain for the first eight straight days of their trek. The others wanted to abort the hike, but Starr encouraged the group to keep going no matter what, to keep focused on the challenge.

He didn’t just encourage them, either. He led by example — staying focused on the task at hand, refusing to break away from the itinerary he’d so carefully planned in advance, finishing the 400-mile journey as firmly committed to overcoming all the obstacles in their path as he was the day they left Katahdin.

The experience left Starr with a new understanding of what it takes to succeed against all odds. He understood that those who put in the mental energy — not just the physical energy — will ultimately follow their goals from the original theory to the total mission accomplished. From that point forward, Starr knew he could accomplish anything to which he committed his mind as completely as he did his body.

In 1977, Starr initiated a new annual routine. He would wakeup at 4 a.m. and hop on his bike, focused on making it to Provincetown with enough time to catch the 3:30 p.m. ferry back to Boston. The grueling 140-mile ride, accomplished with amazing speed, was something he did for fun. But he didn’t just leave it at that.

In 1980, Starr led dozens of friends who together had decided that they could do more than just achieving speed or testing their endurance by repeating that feat. This time they made an entire weekend out of it, and set a goal of using the ride to raise money to combat cancer, a disease that had claimed Starr’s mother, his uncle, a cousin and the lives of so many others.

At the end of that first weekend, the 36 riders had ridden 220 miles and had raised over $10,000 for the cause along the way. They donated it to the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research and care at Boston’s world-renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Starr had found his calling, and the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge was born. He committed himself to organizing the PMC each year, and told Dana-Farber officials to expect annual checks that would increase in value.

And Starr stayed true to the commitment that day. 28 years later, the PMC has grown considerably and consistently from its modest beginnings into an event that draws nearly 4,800 cyclists, who hail from 36 states and six countries. Since 1980, the PMC has raised more than $171 million that has been used to improve the lives of those suffering with cancer. This year the organization he founded expects to raise $27 million from the efforts put forth by PMC cyclists on August 4 and 5, 2007. It is the largest single contributor to the Jimmy Fund, bringing in nearly 50 percent of its annual revenue.

The nationally-recognized annual Pan-Massachusetts Challenge is a tribute to Starr’s unending desire to achieve, make a difference, and raise money for cancer research. His total commitment to putting his body where his mind’s goals are has made him a powerful role model for others who, like him, know they have to be willing to do the work in order to reap the rewards.

Senator Kerry is one of those others. He’s not alone, either. He’s out there riding the full Pan-Massachusetts Challenge circuit along with the thousands of others who gather each year to raise money for a noble cause while putting forth the grueling effort of riding riding up to 192 miles for charity in one weekend.

Riding in the PMC is a way to channel physical, mental and emotional energy into something much greater than the athletic accomplishment itself. PMC cyclists use their strength to help those who cannot. And with each mile pedaled, the PMC brings researchers closer to finding cures for various types of cancer that affect millions of people each year.

JK knows that it takes more than individual determination to overcome the odds and best the challenge. With him this cause is personal, but it’s also more than that. He knows that it takes teamwork and mutual determination on the part of many people to accomplish a mission as large as the one the PMC takes on every year.

And that’s why he’s asking you to pitch in and help out, too. Here’s how JK put it in the email that he wrote to his online supporters today:

This one isn’t political, but I hope you’ll give me a chance to ask you to join me in something bigger than just politics.

One thing I know is that cancer changes you — whether you have it yourself or know someone who battles it.

I am proud to be a cancer survivor with a clean bill of health since 2003.

Not everyone in my life has been so lucky. The same cancer I had took my father almost seven years ago, and cancer took my former wife-my children’s mother-last year.

It’s for them, and for all of the people who may get the disease, that I ride in the Pan Mass Challenge again this year — I hop on my bike this Saturday. This race raises money for cancer research and treatment. We’ve made great strides in those areas; I’m living proof of that — but those we all know and love who weren’t so lucky remind us we have more miles to go than there are miles in this race.

So, please, go here and support my ride with a pledge of support. Help raise money for this important cause.

The money raised will go to the Jimmy Fund. Anyone who grows up in New England knows all about the Jimmy Fund. As a New Englander, I still remember those photos in the newspaper and those ads between innings — the images of our heroes Ted Williams and Yaz asking each of us to pitch in to help children struggling to beat cancer.

There’s a reason The Jimmy Fund sign is there on The Green Monster in Fenway Park, a fact which will be brought home to all of us in Red Sox Nation when Jon Lester pitches from the Fenway mound for the first time very soon on his own courageous comeback journey.

This is an outstanding charity that has done decades of important work, and last year this race represented a full 50% of the income of the Jimmy Fund. So this is a very important event for a cornerstone organization in our fight against cancer.

Please help me support the Jimmy Fund.

I’ve worn a yellow “Live Strong” bracelet since I was given my first one at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa by a woman I will never forget. It’s a reminder to me of how lucky I am, and how much more work we need to do. I’ll ride on Saturday with thousands of others, leading a team of folks who work in my office, with that woman in Sioux City in mind, as well as all the others affected by cancer.

Thank you,

John Kerry