A Message from the Next President!

As we make our way westward, the crowds keep getting bigger. Yesterday, an amazing 20,000 people greeted us in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The energy at these events is unlike anything I have ever experienced. But today I want to tell you about a smaller event that took place when I met with fifty firefighters at the Kalamazoo Fire Station yesterday to discuss the problems facing our nation's first responders. One firefighter from the neighboring city of Wyoming stood up and told me that his town will vote today on whether it can maintain current funding levels for first responders. If the vote fails, the town will be forced to shut down one of its two firehouses. That would mean one already-understaffed station would be forced to answer all 4,700 annual calls for help. Our communities should not have to make these kinds of dire choices. If we can build new firehouses in Baghdad, then we should not be closing them down here at home. Sadly, the firefighters of Wyoming, Michigan are not alone. Nearly two-thirds of firehouses are understaffed, making it difficult to respond to fires and medical emergencies, let alone the threat of terrorism. John Edwards and I have proposed to create the Father Mychal Judge Fund -- named for the chaplain of the New York City Fire Department who died delivering last rites on September 11 -- to hire up to 100,000 new firefighters and provide the equipment necessary to ensure that our heroes are always prepared. We will also create an Orange Alert Fund to reimburse communities for additional costs incurred in responding to raised threat levels. George Bush seems to be satisfied with the way things are. John Edwards and I feel that obvious priorities are being neglected and that our homeland can be more secure. That is why we are proposing a united strategy that will eliminate homeland security vulnerabilities and make America safer. The major points of our plan are:
Improve our ability to gather, analyze, and share information so we can track down terrorists and stop them before they cause us harm.
Better secure our airports, seaports, and borders.
Harden likely terrorist targets and critical infrastructure.
Improve domestic readiness.
Win the war on terror without losing the values of freedom and justice for all that make us proud to be Americans.
Please read more about our homeland security plan here: http://johnkerry.com/plan We will not be able to change America alone. This campaign will need 5 million voices to reach the 55 million voters we need to win. Please join us and be one of those voices. Sincerely,
JFKerry