The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “leadership”. This theme will continue to be promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.”

Leadership was selected as the theme for World AIDS Day to encourage leaders at all levels to stop AIDS. Building on the 2006 theme of accountability, leadership highlights the discrepancy between the commitments that have been made to halt the spread of AIDS, and actions taken to follow them through. The theme empowers everyone from individuals to organizations to governments to lead in the response to AIDS.

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Since 1988, the face and response to AIDS has greatly changed. While many of these changes are positive, this anniversary offers us an opportunity to highlight how much more still needs to be done.

For example: read more...

During this Thanksgiving Holiday, let's give thanks and let's be mindful of those who who may not have a traditional Thanksgiving meal to share and enjoy with family and friends.

Today, thousands of people in Massachusetts, and millions across the U.S., experience hunger because they cannot afford adequate food. Local families are struggling even more this year to put food on the table because of a recent rise in the cost of everyday food, combined with skyrocketing gas prices and the high cost of living in the state. In fact, many families and individuals who never thought they'd need to ask for help are now having to decide between paying rent, getting medical care, or buying food.

It all begins with food. Good food nourishes the body and the spirit. With regular meals, a child is free to grow, to think, to ask a question, to tell a joke. Being chronically hungry is the fate of thousands of children in Massachusetts. read more...

Along with our tremendous excitement over President-Elect Barack Obama's victory, many LGBT community members are sad and angry about a different election result—the passage of California Proposition 8, which reversed marriage equality and wrote discrimination into the California Constitution. Many people worked hard to defeat Proposition 8, but agents of intolerance used fear-mongering to eke out a win.

After the election, people across California immediately took to the streets, vowing to put the state on the right side of history by overturning Prop 8.

Now folks everywhere are coming together to add their voices. Let's continue our ongoing activism across the nation. Cambridge residents please visit http://www.cambridgema.gov/deptann.cfm?story_id=991

There's one other thing you can do to support the fight for marriage equality. read more...

Barack sent the following message last night...We Just Made History... I share this personal thank you with the CCTV Cambridge community and many of the Obama-Biden Cambridge residents...we all made history possible for America and our President-Elect Barack Obama!

Raphael --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack read more...

If all goes as predicted tonight, Americans will wake tomorrow to a new dawn, a new possibility. You don't have to drink the kool aid to appreciate how extraordinary this is. We will look at one another with new eyes. We are a better, bigger, more generous, more optimistic people than many -- particularly the Rove's acolytes in the McCain campaign -- assumed.

And tomorrow morning, the world will look at America with new eyes. For a shining moment, we will be once more that city on the hill, the example of a free people choosing a remarkable new leader. A similar choice -- the son of a native born woman and an African -- could not happen in Europe, in Japan, in China or much of Asia. Amazing grace http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/mahome read more...

I received this important message from Al Gore...

Raphael --

In 2000, the entire election came down to a small number of votes in one county in Florida.

Four years later, we came up short by an average of nine voters per precinct in Ohio.

A small change in voter turnout would have made all the difference. Take it from me, elections matter. And this time, supporters like you can make it happen.

I know this might not be possible for everyone, but I'm asking you to consider volunteering anytime between now and Election Day -- Tuesday, November 4th.

With so much at stake this year, we can't miss any opportunity to get more voters to the polls -- and make sure their votes are counted.

You have an important role to play in this election. Please sign up to volunteer.

We all watched in the last two presidential elections as the course of our nation was determined by a few thousand votes in key battleground states. read more...

We the people of this great nation need a 21st-century leader as our next president. Barack Obama is this unique leader for our time. Iowa gave America its first bold signal that greatness and fresh innovative leadership would come from an Obama presidency. The remarkable presidential primary victory in Iowa earlier this year sent a message that by putting Barack Obama in the White House, we the people would turn the page on old politics in Washington and that the next president of the United States of America would not sound like old news.

We the people of this great nation respect and honor the men and women of past generations and those who now bravely serve and protect freedom at home and in foreign lands. John McCain's record of service to the nation is honorable. This is undisputed. The real concern that should alarm American voters is that John McCain is certainly not a maverick. John McCain is absolutely not an agent of change at all. read more...