Senator Kerry, appearing on the ABC News show This Week, was asked about John McCain's choice of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin to be his Vice Presidential pick and if that means that the McCain/Palin ticket might draw votes from former supporters of Senator Clinton. Senator Kerry strongly disagreed:

"The people who supported Hillary Clinton are not going to be seduced just because John McCain has picked a woman," Kerry said. "They're going to look at what she supports. The fact that she doesn't even support the notion that climate change is manmade -- she's back there with the Flat Earth Caucus. I think it's almost insulting to the Hillary supporters that they believe they would support somebody who is against almost everything that they believe in'.”

One of the things that Senator Clinton strongly believes in and worked for is the idea of equal pay for equal work. Senator Clinton, along with 42 other Senators including Senator Kerry, was a Co-Sponsor of the 2007 "Fair Pay Restoration Act." The bill was introduced to reverse the obvious discrimination that Lilly Ledbetter, a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant manager from Alabama, had received in pay in her years of employment.  Ledbetter had shown that she was paid less after 19 years as a manager at that plant than a male employee with less experience or years of service.  The courts had initially backed Ledbetter, but the Supreme Court of the United States had thrown out her case because of a technicality.

Senator McCain did not show up for the vote in the Senate on the Fair Pay Restoration Act, but he told reporters that:

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."

 Apparently, equality is fine, as long as no one is required to pay for it. Senator McCain did magnanimously explain how he thought women should go about getting equal pay for equal work:

"They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else,” McCain said. “And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them."

The solution for women who want equal pay for equal work, according to Senator McCain, is to go back to school and get more training.  Lilly Ledbetter spent 19 years performing her job as a manager at the Goodyear plant in Alabama.  Exactly how much training and experience should she be expected to get before she is paid the same amount of money as the men in her office for doing the same work? Isn't 19 years of on-the-job experience and training enough?

What does Gov. Palin think about this?  In her introductory remarks as a VP nominee, Palin talked about the "18 million cracks" that Senator Clinton and other women had put in the glass ceiling blocking opportunity for women. Does Gov. Palin believe in equal pay for equal work? Will she be the maverick that the Republicans are touting her as and call Senator McCain on his refusal to truly move forward on granting women full rights as workers in this country?

Or will she stand silently by as Republicans once again offer a "bait and switch" stance on equality for women that promises much and delivers nothing. There are indeed cracks in the glass ceiling that hold back equal opportunity for large groups of Americans.  Governor Palin should truly come out as as the force she claims to be and go to work for other" working moms" to erase the kinds of barriers of opportunity and pay that hold so many women back.  That would truly be the move of a "maverick" choice.

DENVER - Senator John Kerry spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on Wednesday evening.

There is a video of Senator Kerry's speech at this link or at the home page of the www.johnkerry.com website.

The following are his remarks as prepared for delivery.

Four years ago, you gave me the honor of fighting our fight.

I was proud to stand with you then, and I am proud to stand with you now, to help elect Barack Obama as President of the United States. In 2004 we came so close to victory. We are even closer now and let me tell you - this time we're going to win.

Today, the call for change is more powerful than ever - and with more seats in Congress, with more seats in Congress, with more people with more passion engaged in our politics, and with a President Obama, we stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity of our generation to move this country forward.

The stakes could not be higher because we do know what a McCain Administration would look like.

Just like the past. Just like George Bush; and this country can't afford a third Bush term.

Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90% of the time - 90% of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly.

Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology - never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America's bipartisan foreign policy.

George Bush, with John McCain at his side, promised to spread freedom, but delivered the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time.

They misread the threat and misled the country. Instead of freedom, it's Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and dictators everywhere that are on the march. North Korea can build more bombs, and Iran is defiantly chasing one.

Our mission is to restore America's influence and position in the world. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal - above all, our values.

President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down Guantanamo, respect the Constitution and make clear once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever.

We must listen and lead by example because even as a nation as powerful as the United States needs some friends in this world. We need a leader who understands all our security challenges: not just bombs and guns, but global warming, global terror and global AIDS. And Barack Obama understands there is no way for America to be secure until we create clean energy here at home - not with a little more oil in 10, 20 or 30 years, but with an energy revolution starting right now!

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain.

To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician: I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once called irresponsible.

Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill.

Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote.

Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it!

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.

And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same Rove tactics and the same Rove staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear.

Well, not this year. Not this time.

The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

So remember - when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better - and time and time again, Barack Obama has been proven right.

John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed: "Next up, Baghdad!"

Barack Obama had the judgment to see "an occupation of undetermined length, undetermined cost, and undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East."

Well, guess what? Mission Accomplished!

So who can we trust to keep America safe?

When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it: "The false comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe?

When democracy rolled out of Russia and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the cold war. Barack Obama responded like a true friend of Georgia and a statesman of the 21st Century.

So who can we trust to keep America safe?

When Democrats called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it "Cut and Run." But today, even President Bush has seen the light: He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on - guess what? - a timetable!

So who can we trust to keep America safe?

The McCain Bush republicans have been wrong again, and again, and again. And they know they will lose on the issues.

So, the candidate who once promised a campaign of ideas, not insults, now has nothing left but personal attacks.

How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops?

How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself?

How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn't put America first?

No one can question Barack Obama's patriotism. Like all of us, he was taught what it means to be an American by his family. His grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line in World War II. His grandfather who marched in Patton's Army. And his great uncle who enlisted in the Army right out of high school at the height of the war, and on a spring day in 1945, he helped liberate one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Barack Obama's uncle is here with us tonight. Please join me in saluting this American hero, Charlie Payne. Charlie, your nephew, Barack Obama, will end this politics of distortion and division. He will be a president who seek, not to perfect the lies of swiftboating, but to end them once and for all.

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: You don't decide who love this country.

You don't decide who is a patriot.

You don't decide whose service counts and whose doesn't.

Four years ago I said - and I say it again tonight - that flag doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any political party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation and it belongs to all the American people.

After all, patriotism is not love of power; or some cheap trick to win votes - patriotism is love of country.

Years ago when we protected a war, people would weigh in against us saying: "My country right or wrong." Our answer?

Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right.

Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power. This is one of those times, and Barack Obama is telling those truths.

In closing, let me say, I will always remember how we stood together in 2004 - not just in a campaign, but for a cause.

Now again, we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight.

The choice is clear, our cause is just, and now is our time to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States of America.

Thank you.

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Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Denver featured a warm and stirring tribute video for Sen. Ted Kennedy.  You can see the Ken Burns directed video on the JohnKerry.com site by going to the multimedia section or clicking on this link.

 Sen. Kerry was interviewed by the Boston Herald about his part in the video tribute and his feelings for his long-time Massachusetts Senate colleague:

In an interview with the Herald yesterday, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) - featured prominently in tke Kennedy tribute video - said of Kennedy’s 46 years in the Senate, “Every major piece of legislation in that time, he’s had an impact on one way or the other.”

Kerry, who got one of his first political jobs working for Kennedy as a volunteer at age 18, said it has been hard to watch the dire health problems of his longtime colleague and friend.

“It’s tough on all his colleagues in the Senate,” Kerry said. “He’s been a great mentor and a great teacher. I’ve learned an enormous amount."

We are lucky to have another essay from Myra today about her family ties to Pakistan.  Though this essay is about the horror of war as it happened in Pakistan two generations ago, the feelings it brings up are as fresh as this morning's headline about the Republic of Georgia and the new war going on there. War doesn't care about the innocent and doesn't respect boundaries.  It is a testiment to the human spirit that hope can come from the type of horror and devastation that so many people around the world have experienced. I hope that happens in all the places in the world that are now consumed in fighting.

A Message of Hope and Determination

One thing will always be extremely dear to me: A letter that my Dadima (Paternal Grandmother) wrote to me about the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. At that time I was in fifth grade and was really moved by it. I have saved this wonderful piece of history in a special place where I keep all of my memories. Whenever I read it, it brings tears to my eyes. I am so glad that I was curious enough about my heritage and roots to ask Dadima to write to me about it. This is truly one piece of paper that I can never give up.

The partition, the biggest forced migration in the history of the world, was an extremely frightening and difficult time for the 14 million people who faced it. I find it hard to imagine how so many innocent people could be forced to leave their homes and to suffer from such a terrible ordeal. People who had once been friends and lived side by side became enemies. My family was lucky to escape their house just as their neighbor's house was being burned in the middle of the night, unexpectedly all of a sudden. They fled for their lives, and were forced to leave everything behind--all of their dreams, their home, and everything they had.

My great grandmother, Sara, quickly wore three shirts, one on top of the other. That is the only thing she had time for. My great grandfather was lucky enough to quickly pick up his and his children's degrees and a few important documents. There were people at the front of the house ready to kill them with guns as they would try to escape. Luckily they were able to jump over the back wall of the house. How scared they must have been. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in this senseless killing. They ran, they walked, and they hid in dark jungles for three and a half days. They were lucky to head in the right direction and finally arrive at the UN refugee camp at the border with the newly created Pakistan. There they had their first meal in three and a half days, a meal of lentils and half a pita bread each (daal and roti).

My family had lost everything. All they had was each other and a spirit of hope and determination. In spite of their difficulties, they never gave up. After all they had the most precious gift of all--life. With hard work, love, and understanding they rebuilt their new lives together. I am proud to say that after much sacrifice and struggle they became doctors, lawyers, business people, engineers and professionals in many other fields.

Such is the story of my family and millions of other Pakistani's. It is a story that I can never forget, a story of endless possibilities when you do not give up, a story of hopes and the dreams that came true with the new-found independence. Everyone put aside their differences and united to build their new nation, Pakistan.

But somewhere along the way, the country lost its way. We need to help Pakistan find its way again and to bring back the hope. People and nations have suffered greatly. And it is important to bring back democracy to Pakistan, peace, security, and justice for all. We must not let all the sacrifices go waste. It is time for everyone to work together and to let the hope shine through.

Short term fixes will keep us going in circles and we have seen that. It is time for us here in America to realize how important it is to develop a long term strategic relationship with the people of Pakistan. We in America just cannot afford to loose in this vital area.
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There was a wonderful idea in the comments section of my article "Education and Poverty in Pakistan" that every Pakistani abroad should support the education of one poor child in Pakistan. I extend this challenge to all and I would not limit this to Pakistanis and Pakistan alone. Let all of us who can, support at least one struggling child to get education in some impoverished part of the world. Remember for most people the cost will be very little. Small efforts like this can truly help to make the world a better place.

Other articles in this series:

Hope Within Pakistan-July 5, 2008
Education and Poverty in Pakistan-July 13, 2008
Women of Pakistan-July, 28, 2008

A Message of Hope and Determination-August 12, 2008

Myra Chaudhary

Myra is a junior at Brandeis University. She is majoring in Economics and International and Global Studies.

Senator Kerry appeared on Meet the Press this morning with Senator Joe Lieberman to talk about the Presidential campaigns. Both Senators were asked about the recent ads that the McCain campaign has put out that features celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.  Senator Lieberman defended the ad saying he thought, "it's cute."  He went on to say that he thought the use of these two pop culture figures would make the point that, "Senator Obama is against offshore drilling for oil."

The ad in question doesn't talk about that issue or Barack Obama's stand on that issue. Kerry said, "it doesn't mention offshore drilling. What it talks about--it tries to insinuate that his celebrity is somehow all he has." That is the point.  The McCain campaign is trying to attack Barack Obama's character by bringing in questionable associations to people that have nothing to do with this Presidential campaign and nothing to do with the issues that the American people are grappling with this year.

Kerry referenced a speech that Joe Lieberman gave ten years ago on the Senate floor about morality in public discourse: "Even you, Joe, 10 years ago, you went to the floor of the United States Senate, and you said that our public life is coarsening. You said that the society's values are shrinking. That's an ad that plays to the worst instincts in America, which is to diminish someone's character."

Maybe Senator Lieberman would do well to review what he said on the Senate floor in that speech in July, 1998:

The news media, I am afraid to say, which itself has been infected by that anything-goes mentality--not always, but often infected by the anything-goes mentality pervading the entertainment culture--seems too often to fan the flames of controversy. The result is not so much an honest, engaged debate about values, but a culture war echo chamber that only heightens the average citizen's distorted sense that the country is locked in a mortal moral struggle.

We need that "honest, engaged debate" not some "cute" diversion that seeks to distort the facts on the important issues that face this country.  A campaign based on "look over here, bright shiny stuff" does not further the public debate, it coarsens it. Let's talk about the real issues that the American people face and put these negative, insulting attacks that are meant to demean the character of others on the shelf.  The country deserves better than this.