Well, we finally made it into the 21st century last week.
Senator Kerry's legislation to lift the 20 year old HIV travel ban was passed in the Senate along with the PEPFAR reauthorization, leaving less than a dozen countries who still think AIDS is 'catchy' from doorknobs and toilet seats. You can see the entire debate and vote at C-SPAN, or watch the Senator's floor speech here.
The Senator also spoke at a hearing on offshore tax havens, which cost Americans $100 billion a year and which the Senate will continue to investigate this week.
On the topic of offshore tax evasion, I still can't understand why the Phil Gramm story isn't getting more attention in the media. John McCain's chief economic adviser quits the campaign within hours of the company of which he's a VP gets caught up in a Senate investigation on offshore tax evasion and the media attributes his retreat to his 'whiners' comment from ten days earlier? I can't believe people aren't questioning this, yet little in the mainstream media. There was a must-read Frank Rich column in the NYT yesterday that dives into Mr. Gramm's history a bit. Maybe that'll get people talking.
The Boston Herald published several stories from a meeting with the Senator last week. This one is my favorite. Except for the requisite remark about JK being 'stiff', I agree with the writer. We blew it big time in 2004. This letter from the Merced Sun-Star echoes the sentiment. There's a lot of that these days.
Senator Kerry also told the Herald that he's planning to introduce legislation to secure funding for needed Acela upgrades, and commented on the abuse of terror alerts during the 2004 election, and the need to focus on alternative energy (although the writer got it backwards, attributing a quote to The Liar Pickens that Sen. Kerry has used repeatedly for years).
Senator Kerry spoke with MSNBC about energy prices and small business, and introduced the "Emergency Energy Response Act of 2008" to help them deal with rising costs. He announced $1 million for Lowell RTA, called on Russia to be a "responsible G8 partner", introduced legislation dealing with nanotechnology research safety, issued a statement on nuclear weapons detection, and announced funding for a homeless veterans' shelter.
In entertainment news, there's The Strangerer, a new play about the first Kerry/Bush debate. Wonder if the Senator kicks Bush's ass in the stage version, too?
The Senator will be in Framingham on Monday as part of his "Kerry on your Corner" listening tour.
