The Terrorists Have Already Won

When Mooninites from a stupid cartoon can turn the entire city of Boston into one gigantic gridlock, you know the terrorists already won. That the ghosts from five and a half years ago can come alive in the form of florescent lights and a small marketing campaign is... to put it mildly... despicable. Some people would say, "it's better to be safe than sorry." Normally, I'd agree with you. However, today's example took it to the extremes. What's next? Should we close down the entire subway system because someone forgot to throw out their box of munchkins?

A lot of people are pissed - they had to wait in hours of traffic, so who could blame them? However, the profanity, cusses and attacks directed at Ted Turner and his company over at Blue Mass Group remind me of the song Flagpole Sitta: Paranoia, paranoia - everybody's comin' to get you.

So traffic was at a standstill in Boston for hours - annoying, sure, and someone should have to pay for that annoyance. However, target the people at fault: the people who are supposedly keeping us safe. Clearly, they probably couldn't tell a bomb from a popsickle. Does anyone have a shred of confidence in Boston's anti-terror capabilities if it takes them three weeks to find a florescent light bulb?

Without having any expertise in explosives, anti-terrorism or anything of the like, I can come up with some easy, useful guidelines for cops to use in the future. It's only sad that our bomb squad doesn't have such an ability to employ logic.

1. Terrorist attacks aren't generally something terrorists want to market, like Adult Swim, so they're probably not going to leave a bomb at one location for three weeks in plain site - with their middle finger sticking up at passersby.

2. They're going to hide the bomb as best as possible - and set it off as soon as possible - just like on 9/11. There was no billboard saying that was coming, just an equally flawed CIA/NSA that couldn't sniff it out beforehand.

3. You don't need to shut down the entire infrastructure of this state every time
something weird happens. Send someone out to initially investigate the situation next time, please.

4. Back off. 'Live free or die,' isn't exactly easy. If something as small as a few florescent bulbs can destroy anyone's freedom, even for the duration of a long afternoon commute, then we have some real problems - and it's not the terrorists.

Clearly, the terrorists have already won this war. We need to regroup, regain our composure and lose this irrational fear that's eating this country from the inside. It's not too late to fix things, but a whole new strategy must be developed if America is going to remain a free state.

Huh? What is Marty Meehan Thinking?!

Marty Meehan sure is confusing me.

He builds up a huge warchest - the biggest among Democrats in the House of Representatives. He has future ambitions to run for Senator of Massachusetts, something he would have been a favorite to win had John Kerry decided to run for President instead of Senator. Now that Kerry will run for reelection, what does Marty Meehan go and do?

US Representative Martin T. Meehan has emerged in recent weeks as a leading candidate for chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, a move that would set off a political stampede to fill his much-coveted seat and create the first competitive fight for a Bay State congressional district in more than five years.

Weird...

Quite frankly, I'd be disappointed if Meehan left. He's built up quite the tenure in D.C. and has an ability to have a strong impact on very important decisions. Now, he's not a perfect congressman, but he's fairly solid on most issues. He's been very outspoken in getting rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell - one of the most horrible, self-destructive policies the military has ever instituted (for example, I know more gay members of the military than straight ones - they're just shushed into the closet). Now that Meehan is in a position to actually enact important changes - changes his constituents no doubt want - he's taking interviews to be the Chancellor of UMASS Lowell?

Don't get me wrong, UMASS Lowell needs a top-notch Chancellor. However, would Meehan even fit that bill? Wouldn't it be better to find an already-successful Chancellor (one who students actually like) and hire he or she, rather than installing another politician into a position that requires more than political skills? Would a Chancellor Meehan understand that his most important duty is to create an environment that would allow students to excel - which means earning the trust of the student body, professors and even parents who he's never met.

UMASS Lowell is no doubt just as important to Lowell as UMASS Dartmouth is to the South Coast, so I wouldn't want to hamper UMASS Lowell's ability to succeed by criticizing a Meehan Chancellorship. However, as important as the resurrection of Lowell is, Marty Meehan's in a position to help the entire country from his current position of power. The Democrats just won its first Congressional Majority in more than a decade - and Meehan's rise in Congress has been rapid. It would be a sad waste for Massachusetts and the entire country to see it be all for not.

How a Movement Spreads

Every semester, I've always tried to take at least one class that I thought would really add to my understanding of society - how things work, what's important, etc. Last semester, classes like my seminar on Urbanism fit the bill. This semester, I took a political science seminar on Civil Rights.

Right away, when we were given our syllabus, I got kind of excited. We have a 15 page paper - long enough to study an issue, not long enough to make me insane trying to write and research every day. Anyway, the paper is basically on anything we want to study within the context of Civil Rights - and, despite the fact that I only had one class so far, I think I already know what I want to do.

I want to study how a movement works today - what makes it effective, what's a huge waste of time and what each type of event or organization means to a movement. Since that's such a huge question, I thought I'd narrow it down by focusing on the glbt movement in Massachusetts as a case study. So, for example, I'm interested to know what effect any of the rallies have had - is the publicity worthwhile? Are they useful as a sort of rallying point? I'm interested to see how all the different organizations fit together - how have in-your-face organizations like Knowthyneighbor made an impact compared to more conventional ones like MassEquality? What about regional organizations like the SouthCoast Alliance?

Furthermore, are there certain events that have become important in the movement - and how can you tell if they're important? For example, how did the attack in Puzzles effect popular opinion about gay rights? What about all those rallies for hate that went around earlier this year, including the one where one of the leaders attacked a counter-protester? Is there sort of a marketing element to movement-building that's become important, so people hear about these events and realize their importance?

I think that there's a lot to learn within the framing of this question that could be useful information. If anyone has any ideas about what you think - or any suggestions for a good book on the subject, let me know. I doubt too many people have done research in this area, but it's truly a question that interests me. Because movements are so important to increasing equality in this country, it's important to know what works and what doesn't. By the end of this semester, I intend to have an answer to that question.

Rally Against Hate

For anyone in the South Coast,

Light the Night Against Homophobia and Violence
Thursday February 1st
6:30 - 7 PM
Steps of New Bedford Public Library
Pleasant Street, New Bedford

It's a reaction from the community to last year's attack at Puzzle's. I plan on being there.

On Pooling Resources

Lynn, a coastal city nothing like Venice, has one similarity with the darling Italian city on water - a sinking school. That's right, Lynn's nearly brand-new high school, Lynn Classical, has parts of the school that have settled in the ground a little too far - and now the damage has to be fixed. It helps that the architectural company agreed to an almost ten million dollar settlement - but that still leaves the city of Lynn about 15 million dollars short. Furthermore, it does nothing to help the student body - which, in the whole scheme of things, is what's really important.

Having three cousins, two aunts and an uncle all a part of the Lynn school system in some capacity (be they students or employees), I've been privy to all the goings on. It appears as if Lynn Classical is no longer going to accept new students while construction takes place. I don't know how they intend to keep the current ones with major construction going on, but I do know where Lynn plans on putting the incoming freshman classes - at the old Lynn Classical, which is a current Jr. High. Some students will be going to Lynn Tech, which has plenty of room - but it s a technical high school, while others will squeeze into Lynn English - but the bulk of kids apparently are heading to a building that's quite possibly in worse shape than the new Classical, sinking floors and all.

All of this got me thinking. A while back, there were all sorts of rumors that Lynn would try to work with other towns in the area. They were going to try to send some students to towns and cities like Swampscott, Salem, Peabody, Marblehead and Lynnfield. I thought it was a great idea. Almost all of these schools have room for a few more students - so if some volunteers at Lynn would have parents willing to take them there, it would be an easy way to deal with the situation.

Of course, many people would be against it - and why not? In Massachusetts, it seems as though every town is out for itself. With no theory as to why, there really is a corrosive, selfish element in Massachusetts communities. People should realize that something similar to what happened to Lynn could happen anywhere, but they don't. Communities need to be willing to work together when difficult situations arise - they need to be willing to pool resources, like any company, family or set of friends would. Instead, Lynn's heading down the "going it alone" path - a path that, most Americans have come to realize, typically leads to disaster.

A Voice From the Puzzles Aftermath

It's about a year after the Puzzles attack in New Bedford, where a clearly deranged man went into a gay bar on a rampage, both shooting and using his hatchet on innocent people. The tragedy continued in a brutal police chase, several days later, that resulted in multiple fatalities. The entire New Bedford community was in shock - many people I knew at nearby UMASS Dartmouth were devastated. People were so horrified because of what Puzzles really meant and exposed: life is a glass that can shatter at any moment.

Puzzles was the type of event that's important to remember and reflect on, because there were very real implications. Why the Puzzles attack occurred in New Bedford isn't exactly a mystery. It's a city with an at-least average-sized gay population, with lots of diversity and welcoming attitudes... and a lot of old-fashioned, homophobic attitudes too. When those two elements converge, there's bound to be incidents. That New Bedford is becoming infamous for violence, especially at clubs and bars, only poured salt on the Puzzled wound.

However, the city and community rallied. One of New Bedford's Councilmen, Joe DeMedeiros, had an interesting article about him in today's South Coast Standard Times. Soon after the Puzzles attack, DeMedeiros felt compelled to publically come out for the first time in his political career at one such community event. Puzzles had a profound impact on him and he wanted to put a face on the issue. Gay rights isn't some abstract debate, like many people seem to think it is. It effects people, like DeMedeiros, everyday.

It's people like DeMedeiros, taking a public role in promoting diversity and equal rights, that can help turn cities like New Bedford around. True acceptance and understanding is like the ultimate grassroots campaign. People need to be convinced on a personal level, by people they know. Because the city of New Bedford and the issue is so important, it's nice to see that so many people and organizations have stepped up in such unity and resolve.

His Best Days Could be Ahead of Him.

That's what Scot Lehigh thinks and is what I alluded to last night. Now that Senator Kerry doesn't have the weight of considering a run for President tied around his neck like a noose, maybe he can finally be the Senator we desperately need. Let's hope so.

Good Decision, Senator Kerry

So, Senator Kerry will not run for President again. Apparently, he doesn't think he'd have a great shot - which is probably true. However, it was a good decision - for other reasons. The Senate is in a precarious position and many of the Democrats are traditional obfuscating moderates. Senator Kerry has been one of those for the past few years, but that wasn't always the case. Running for President caused him to be a different man than he was in the past.

This country needs a real, courageous, liberal presence in the US Senate - someone to keep picking up Senator Kennedy's mantle. John Kerry could be that person. Senator Kerry is in a great position to advocate for all kinds of important causes - few in the Senate have his fundraising potential, which allows him to help fund candidates we need to win crucial House and Senate seats. Kerry also has great name recognition, making him poised to lead on important issues that come up.

As of late, Kerry has shown some of his real potential as a US Senator. He's clearly no longer afraid to take on the Rove's of this world - and that's something most other Democratic Senators would do well to learn. Hopefully, in the Senate, Kerry can help disperse those real-life lessons he's learned to other promising candidates for all kinds of positions in the future.

President Bush's State of the Union

The State of the Union is not good - and as long as President Bush is in charge, he's going to do nothing to make it better. Any marginal improvement in the economy, with his tax cuts to the rich and huge spending to boot, will be short lived and costly to the future of this country. President Bush has no legacy; history will remember King George's reign with infamy.

The only good thing about this State of the Union is it's one of the last big speeches he'll ever get to make on national television again.

Barrack Obama Declares His Intentions to Run...

So, like a few days later, Hillary's all sad and everything that he stole her thunder. I was watching the news last night when Charles Gibson literally started talking about how the media would "talk about" her declaration for "days." Since when did the act of talking about something become news in and of itself? Hillary's declaration to run for President, which surprised no one, isn't just news - the future of talking about her declaration to run for President is now Prime Time worthy.

More than ever, the media is hopeless. Is anyone, except the media, really excited about Hillary's declaration to run for President? I have no doubts she'd be an okay President. Her husband was a decent one and she's made a fairly effective Senator. However, I'm not excited about Hillary. I'm certainly not going to contribute to her campaign at this point, or concede the entire election to her. Heck, I don't even think she's odds on to win the nomination. I'd give that recognition to Barack Obama, who has at least began to speak with a little clarity about Iraq.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's running. Democrats need a true, spirited nomination process to find the best candidate. However, I just hope this time around people stop thinking they know what makes an electable President before the actual election. People need to find the candidate they think will make the best President, both in terms of policy and competency, and vote for that person. That's all there is to it.

If any of you think that person is Hillary Clinton a little more than a year from now, mark it down. I, for one, have no idea who I'll vote for at this point. However, I can tell you with certainty that my analysis of whatever goes on will extend far beyond the chit-chatter that the media elites just love to pretend is actually news.

PS: The audacity of my spelling mistake in the title! Yikes.

Please, Do It! Anything to get rid of Trav!

Let's hope the rumors are true and he wants this job.

The political intrigue began brewing last week following the Massachusetts Hospital Association's decision to fire its $500,000-a-year president and the forced resignation of the legally wounded former House speaker, Thomas M. Finneran, as the highly compensated president of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

Much of the focus is on Travaglini, who was sworn in Jan. 3 to his third two-year term as the Senate leader. Both jobs involve highly complex industries and require the political skills to work the hallways of Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill to promote and protect the interests of their members.

I say it's worth the potential insider deal or two over the next few years to get rid of that good-for-nothing, wannabe-Tom-Finneran, undependable, backstabbing terrible "leader." It's time for the Senate to get a little air. Only new leadership can do that.

Teachers: On Living Where They Work

I just read most of this article about a family from Martha's Vineyard struggling to afford where they live. Things were so bad that, at the time the story was printed, they were "living in a tent with their two year old daughter." The mother just happened to be a teacher. It's not that the family was really the kind of poor that they couldn't afford to find somewhere to live - or even buy. They just couldn't afford it in Martha's Vineyard. Until, of course, they were lucky enough to score affordable housing - for $287,900! While I wouldn't exactly call that affordable, it was a price they were willing to pay. However, life can be interesting - and this is one of those cases. Families that don't even live in Martha's Vineyard are bringing the three proposed units of affordable housing to court - stalling anyone's chance of moving in.

Of course, that one anecdote has wider meaning. In fact, it's not really much of an anecdote at all. Affordability is a systemic problem for most of Massachusetts, not just those two, remote islands. However, it's almost ironic for teachers who work at wealthy or very good school systems: they aren't allowed to give their kids the same quality of education that they give to thousands of students over the course of their career.

Back in the 1980s, when my Dad first started working at the Lynnfield School System, they allowed teachers to send their kids to Lynnfield Schools. It was such a rare policy that, in the early 90s, they quickly reversed it. All my father's children were probably the last to go - and grand-fathered in, as the policy changed when my brother was there (Class of '92). Though my Dad lived in Lynn, infamous for its schools, he was able to send both my older brother and sister to the Lynnfield School System for the latter years of their K-12 education.

They're definitely smarter for it, too. My sister was able to take all sorts of honors and AP classes that wouldn't be available at Lynn and she even did exceptionally well in athletics, which would have been harder at a much larger school system. My brother, who was more into sports than education, ended up with respectable grades and reportedly lost the Cape Ann League's Football MVP because my Dad, a head football coach, abstained from voting that year. (He didn't think it would be right - even if my brother was being recruited by the BCs and Notre Dames of college football at the time.)

However, as the years went on and it was time to pick a school system for my much, much younger brother and sister, my Dad and Stepmother were facing a tougher choice. My older brother and sister only went to Lynnfield High School and Middle School - right around the corner from the high school. They sent them when Lynnfield was a different town - still prosperous, but with more of a mix. There were as many owners of landscaping companies and electricians as there were lawyers. Now, it's mostly just the lawyer-types.

For myriad reasons, my Step Mother really wanted to move to a system she felt would come close to Lynnfield schools. They were mostly looking at Swampscott, but all the school committee infighting and administration vs. teacher angst left a sour taste in her mouth - especially since I was at Swampscott High then and told her about all the stuff going on.

They saw a few houses in Lynnfield that they liked, just before housing prices really spiked, and jumped at one they found out was on the market before there was even a sign on the lawn. Because prices were finally what they were in the 80's, before the housing market crash, they could finally afford to move at all. Moving in Lynnfield, though, meant they had to really sacrifice: my Dad had to sell the house he grew up in, too.

So two nice houses for my Dad and Step Mother = a slightly nicer than average house in Lynnfield. However, almost no one is in the position my Dad was in back then, least of all his co-workers. Not many people were essentially given a second house they'd be able to sell, so they could get their kids the same education they gave everyday. Even the LHS principal lived in Peabody, literally a few houses down from Lynnfield, a decision they made because they couldn't quite afford something for a family of four in Lynnfield. Heck, as the son of a teacher, I probably wouldn't be living in Swampscott if not for the fact that my Dad played for the Buffalo Bills when they bought this modest house for $20,000 in the 1970s.

Massachusetts - and this entire country - has to do something for its teachers. It's a basic matter of fairness that people who spend their lives educating thousands of other people's kids ought to be able to give their children the same quality of education, be it in Swampscott and Lynnfield or Martha's Vineyard. I don't know what the answer to this problem is - though, ultimately, I'd wish it was "fix every school system so they're all very good," but that's not going to happen yet.

There are laws in Massachusetts that allow construction companies to bypass town bylaws and build more units than would otherwise be allowed if a percentage of them are affordable housing, but that causes some problems of its own (traffic, cramped housing, a break from what homes look like in the area, etc.). However, affordability is at the root of many problems surrounding a lack of town-to-town equality in education - something that effects millions more than just teachers in Massachusetts. In creating a better educational system across Massachusetts, our state's leaders must look at periphery - yet connected - causes, including affordable housing.

On Martin Luther King Day

Here's something to read.

It makes me think - if only...

Everyone Depends on the T. Period.

Charlie, over at Blue Mass Group, has a great post on public transportation. I was a little late in joining the debate, but I feel strongly enough about the subject that I have to make some comments on my own blog. Charlie's post is about how Tim Cahill, our State Treasurer, is furious about the prospect that the state may be willing to take on some of the T's debt. The fact that the T is struggling, despite raising fares 28%, doesn't matter to Mr. Treasurer. All he sees is the bottom line.

Yet, what Tim Cahill doesn't realize is there's more to this than the bottom line. There are all sorts of costs in life, not all of them are direct. For example, the T may operate in the red, but because of that service thousands of more jobs are created and survive in the Boston area. Because of that "debt," hundreds of businesses are profitable. Because of what some call debt, people are easily able to get from point a to point b when it otherwise would be either hard or impossible. In fact, it's hard to say the T operates in debt when the shit would hit the fan in Boston without it.

There's another form of debt, beyond the addiction Boston businesses have on the T. Emissions from cars and trucks commuting into Boston contribute to Global Warming. Systems like the T are exactly what this country needs to save the Earth, literally. Global Warming is real and great public transportation is a big part of the solution. The costs associated with Global Warming are going to be far greater than any of the T's so-called debt; we're just spending a little money now to save tens of trillions later.

Transportation systems cost a lot of money - and it doesn't make fiscal sense to allow them to continue to work in the red. So changes are going to have to be made. However, businesses and non-profits throughout the state depend on the T as much as the riders do. People in Massachusetts depend on those businesses and non-profits thriving to maintain the quality of everyone's lives, whether they ride the T or not. Ultimately, we all need systems like the T - so it makes sense to invest in them now. Since we all rely on the T, we all have to help pay for it - including Tim Cahill, who should be more than willing to help the state make sure the T is in great fiscal shape.

Robert Kuttner on Social Security, Medicare

He has a great piece in the Globe today, so he can do the talking for once.

Consider first the roots of today's budget imbalance. After 12 years of tax cuts and deficits by Reagan and Bush I, the Clinton administration succeeded in balancing the budget and even produced surpluses. Bush II then came in and enacted more than $3 trillion worth of tax cuts, tilted to the top. It was a purely partisan assault, intended to reduce taxes paid by the wealthy and gut government's ability to address social needs.

So, why does it need a bipartisan solution -- with more cuts on the spending side? The remedy is as simple as the cause -- get rid of Bush's tax cuts, except for tax relief for those of moderate income. (Getting rid of his off-budget war would help, too.) End of budget problem.

He goes on to say that Medicare is a larger problem, but not a crisis. The cure, he says, would be universal health insurance - where healthcare funds would go toward paying for that healthcare, not all the inefficiencies that exist in the American insurance system.

I Sense a Little Hypocrisy

The Globe writes an editorial today about Deval Patrick meeting with the state's mayors and selectmen. Boston's biggest newspaper couldn't help but get a dig in on Deval Patrick "hedging" on his so-called promise to apparently single-handedly cut property taxes for all the state's cities and towns. He was ambiguous, so fine. Maybe he deserves a few digs on the issue, even if I think his policies so far have not only been consistent - but right. Yet, criticism is tempered by one thing alone: hypocrisy.

The Boston Globe's editorial today is not without that dastardly, inconvenient, annoying, little word - hypocrisy.

It's time, says Beckwith, for Beacon Hill to prove itself a worthy partner in the effort to make Massachusetts a haven for current residents and a draw for
new families.

A predictable revenue-sharing partnership is a good long-term goal. But adding another earmark now, especially when faced with what could be a tight budget year, would be a misstep.

According to the Globe, we don't have enough money to increase earmarks for states and towns. We don't have enough money to increase their local aid, at least beyond the amounts already accomplished this year. However, because Deval Patrick can't do it, he's criticized at the top of the piece.

Ah, hypocrisy. It's almost as delicious as my sausage and garlic pizza pie from Santarpio's in East Boston last night. Almost. Maybe next time, when the Boston Globe writes about Deval Patrick's meeting with local leaders, they should just stick to the meat of their argument. Going off on tangents in their editorials doesn't improve their argument; it only calls their entire piece into question.

Whoa!

Here are two names I never thought I'd see together. Our former Lt. Governor and Senator Jarret Barrios decided to write an opinion piece in the Boston Globe about "Technology Against Violence." Skipping any snarkiness about that pairing, I'm going to go right to the meat of their argument.

Here's the gist of what they see as the problem:

In answering domesic violence calls, police departments routinely supply information on battered women's shelters, along with advice on how women can seek protective orders. But why tell a woman how to leave if you are helping her obtain a restraining order that is supposed to protect her? Expecting the victim to leave instead of asking why the justice system cannot restrain the batterer from reassaulting illustrates how ingrained it has become to expect danger as a matter of course when victims seek to end abusive relationships.

Currently, many battered partners leave -- their homes, families, or jobs. Battered women's shelters must turn away thousands of women every year. Twenty-three percent of women and children in homeless shelters report that they are directly fleeing domestic violence. Instead of asking why a woman doesn't leave the violent relationship, we need to be asking how can we help these families stay -- to stay housed, in their jobs, with their kids.

Here's their remedy:

With the help of Diane Rosenfeld of Harvard Law School, we looked at how to improve the criminal justice system's response to domestic violence. On the last day of the 2005-2006 legislative session, a bill we filed was signed into law that will help remedy the loss of a victim's safety.

Under the new law, an offender who violates a domestic violence order of protection can be required by a judge to wear a device that provides Global Positioning System monitoring. The GPS helps enforce the restraining order by preventing the batterer from entering "liberty zones," such as the battered partner's domicile and place of work, their children's schools, and the residences of extended family members. Probation agents will monitor offenders to ensure that they do not breach these zones. If they do, a record of a restraining order violation will be made, thus making stalking and further violent attacks more difficult. Further, police and the victim are automatically phoned if the offender breaches the battered partner's liberty zone, thus minimizing the victim's fears of an unexpected confrontation with the batterer.

Seems like a great idea to me, at least in cases where there has been either breaches of agreements in the past or violent history. Hopefully enough law enforcement officers and others will know about it so people who need this protection can make good use of it.

Finneran's Dream Job

WRKO did the right thing in November when it fired its morning radio show host, Mike DePetro. However, it wasn't exactly a lesson learned. WRKO has made a remarkable new addition to its planned line-up: the (thankfully) former Speaker of the House, Tom Finneran. The hire is so curious, it begs the question: why have homophobes on the air, when you could have convicted felons? I don't know which one's worse - the corrupt, lecherous politicos or Team Homophobia. Then again, it's not exactly mutually exclusive. After all, Tom Finneran's a talented man. I'm sure he has room for both, especially now that he'll be speaking into a microphone (and paid handsomely for it).

While this isn't news to most readers - there have been rumors about this for months - I just want to take the time to applaud our former state dictator Speaker. He has his new dream job: a job where he can be paid to be himself, an asshole. He doesn't have to worry about tearing down minorities via some old-fashioned, illegal gerrymandering - now he can spew his hate right out in the open. Whee!

Look for the wannabe Democrat to fit right in at his new home, Conservative Talk WRKO. I'm sure he'll have a lot of important things to say, except almost none of it will be either enlightening or relevant. It's quite sad when the politically dead find new ways to linger. Tom Finneran with airwaves reaching hundreds of thousands could just the next Resident Evil sequel. WRKO can only hope so, because that's sure to be a box office smash.

Go, Ted, Go!

What a difference a legislative majority makes! Anyone enjoying the change of headlines in the media? In just the Boston Globe, there's "Democrats Step Up Battle Over Troops" and "House Passes Antiterror Bill "(which President Bush "doesn't support"). Finally, now that Democrats are in power, bills are getting passed and some Democrats are trying to step up and do something with their newfound majority status. Senator Kennedy is leading the charge on Iraq, standing strong as he did before the Iraq invasion - when he was one of the few to vote against it.

The frustrating aspect about leadership is the growing phase. There are natural leaders, like Senator Kennedy, who have stood strong on the issue consistently. There are people who learn from their mistakes, like Senator Kerry - a man who's become a strong proponent of respecting our troops by advocating their removal from harm's way. Then there are war-hawk wannabes like Joe Biden, who's masking their support of the Iraq because 'can't do much about it.' Some people clearly can't learn from their mistakes and its time they be severed from the party like a cancerous tumor in its early stages - before it can spread and do more damage.

Joe Biden doesn't think he can prevent increased troop levels, but someone's paying the bills and it isn't President Bush. Congress control's the Pentagon's budget and 20,000 more troops in Iraq is going to cost a lot of money. Biden can say no, as Ted Kennedy is clearly preparing to do. The fact is Biden supported the war and probably still supports it, but obfuscates the point and suddenly is clear of any wrong doing because he's just an elected Senator of the United States of America. The blank check for the Bush administration is over, whether Joe Biden likes it or not.

The good news is people can learn. Ted Kennedy won't be alone in his call to prevent an escalation of this mess. If enough people rise up in chorus, it doesn't even matter if there's a vote. It's time to make the Bush Administration know that political poison does more than sting, it kills. It's time for the Iraq Invasion to be in its last throes, a sure shock and awe to the man who's probably never heard the word "no." No more troops in Iraq - it's time they be sent home. No more ignoring the generals. No more treating troops like second-class citizens, sticking them on the other side of the world for over a year at a time - then quickly sending them back, just when they get home (just in case they weren't bruised and tortured enough the first time). In fact, no more Iraq War; it's a mistake that never even made sense to begin with.

And to the Senator I get to vote for every six years, including this past election, please continue to do your best to make that happen. Make President Bush be held accountable on this disaster we cann the war in Iraq. Do what you can to make it end. For all this talk about respecting the troops, we have to respect them by keeping them out of harm's way whenever possible. An Iraq Civil War is not a war of American necessity. The time is not for an escalation, it's time to end this: in fact, the Iraq War's time is up.

Go, Ted, Go!

Did Deval Even Promise to Lower Taxes?

From the campaign trail, I remember certain statements about property taxes - such as "we need to keep property taxes under control," etc. Because people kept challenging him on how whe would do that, he created a plan that would have at least some small effect: if cities and towns didn't raise property taxes, they'd get more state aid. It wasn't enough aid to compensate for lost property tax revenue, but likely enough to lure some municipalities who were in good fiscal shape. There must be one or two of those towns out there, right?

Property taxes became a huge problem after our former Canadian Ambassador - I mean Governor - led the fight to cut the state income tax. There wouldn't be any problems, Paul Cellucci said. We could afford it, he said. Whoops. What happened was that the lost city and town state aid, because of cut taxes and a few bad fiscal years, meant almost all of Massachusetts had at least one property tax override. Most of those cities and towns had to cut important, key services to boot.

So when Deval Patrick said, 'we can't afford an income tax cut,' and 'we need to focus on property taxes,' I didn't take that as meaning 'we are going to cut property taxes.' What kind of logic is that? It means that there *has* to be a tax cut - a cut, of any kind, we can't afford. Suddenly, on the campaign trail, the center position became cutting taxes slowly. You were a marxist, communist evil-dictator wannabbe if you wished to maintain the status-quo. It was down-right assumed we needed a tax cut, and why? It begins with M and ends with IA. There's an E and a D somewhere too. Heck, some may even blame it on a Boston-based newspaper named after a synonym for a sphere.

So if Deval Patrick made a few statements that were up for interpretation, could anyone blame him? I don't know any other hardcore supporter who honestly expected Deval Patrick to come up with a way to fairly and adaquately reduce every single town's property taxes. How would you even begin to do that? If you cut everything across the board would that be fair? Some towns and cities were willing to pass overrides every other year to make sure their kids were learning their ABCs - and getting music lessons. Other municipalities were willing (eager?) to let them suffer. Don't the towns who raised their taxes into the stratosphere deserve a bigger cut than the localities who weren't even willing to keep core programs running afloat? However, with so many municipalities in Massachusetts, it would be a herculean task to figure that all out.

It was the media who took statements like "we need to get property taxes under control," and turned it into "Deval Patrick promises to cut property taxes." Maybe what Deval Patrick had in mind - this whole time - was a slightly different tact. Give enough state aid that cities and towns could afford to maintain the status quo in funding. That way, within a few years, cities and towns would be back into the situation where the tax rates were at least somewhat fair. It's not an horrible idea: before Mitt Romney was around, state colleges and universities freezed tuition and fee hikes for years on end. During that time, Bay State higher education went from one of the most expensive and worst to average and average. It wasn't until Mitt Romney and key state Senators and Congressmen who were more than willing to slash the UMASS budget that we saw a reversal over the past 4 years.

There are two ways I took Deval's frequent campaign statements. First, we need to make sure local aid won't be slashed again. Slashing local aid will only mean another spike in property taxes across the state, which have proven to be far more costly (and far less progressive) than the state income tax cuts. Second, our system of taxes is - to put it mildly - flawed. There's so much reliance on property taxes that it endangers our cities and towns. From what I heard on the campaign trail, I get the feeling Deval is thinking of ways to reduce that burden. If anything revolutionary comes out of those thoughts, I'll be pleasantly surprised. For now, I'm just excited to have someone who's thought about the subject. I can almost assure all my readers that Mitt Romney, Jane Swift, Paul Cellucci and Bill Weld didn't. (If they did, we probably wouldn't be in this mess to begin with - that was 16 years of potential reform they had, turning out into 16 years of exacerbating the situation.)

So when the Boston Globe essentially has a headline calling Deval Patrick a liar, I get a little peeved. They jumped at calling Deval's statements a public call to cut property taxes. They took it as meaning he was the one who is going to do that. At the core, reform has to come from the people who need it. Towns and cities need to be demanding new and better ways to fund town services, especially education. They need to lead on this front, not just one man. Instead, we have towns and cities bickering about who deserves more aid. We have formulas based on a town's income, not on how stingy their citizens are (plenty of wealthy towns have turned down one too many override because, apparently, art class isn't worthy of their tax dollars - and neither is math). Let this be a lesson to take any Globe headline or article with a little grain of salt, because the truth is always in the eye of the beholder - and taking a few sentences way out of context can turn mean you're "hedging" on your so-called promises, if ever you get into a public position.

Nancy Pelosi

I'm taking a day off from writing about Massachusetts to write about the new Queen of Politics, Nancy Pelosi. Anyone else really impressed by her first "100 hours?" Say what you want about her, but I like her style. She's tough, says it like she means it and isn't afraid to take risks. How many elected Democrats on Capitol Hill aren't afraid to take risks? Two? Three?

When Nancy Pelosi nominated John Murtha, a lot of people thought it was a mistake. I did too. The current second-in-command among the Democratic Caucus was very powerful and it would be hard to pry the votes away from him. Furthermore, Murtha isn't particularly liberal. In fact, he's probably one of the most conservative guys in the Caucus. I was speculative about the choice for one alone: his ethics were at least questionable, right or wrong, and I didn't want to see that on the news.

However, Nancy Pelosi stuck to her guns. She knew that without Iraq, Democrats certainly wouldn't have won both houses of congress - and any Democratic win in the House would have been slim, if it even happened. Right after Murtha actually lost, lots of people were dooming Nancy Pelosi. But by the time it had happened, I read enough people that I stopped seeing it as a mistake and actually saw it as a huge plus. She was willing to take a risk and, in doing so, at least made her point: Iraq is a big deal.

So, when she challenges President Bush, I get excited.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that Democrats would not give President Bush a "blank check" to continue the war in Iraq, and suggested that Democratic leaders may seek to deny the administration funding to send more troops to Iraq.

No, President, you don't have a blank check on Iraq. Because of the fact that Republicans secured his funds for another year several months ago, it will be tough for Democrats to challenge Bush over funding for the next year - but I have high confidence Nancy Pelosi will do so when it comes time to drafting the next military budget. Furthermore, she can definitely challenge President Bush on sending more troops - and it's time someone tells that man NO. It'll probably be the first time he's ever heard it.

It's time we answer all the questions surrounding the Bush Administration's Iraq War - and I trust Nancy Pelosi's Congress to do it. If the truth is out there, there's no way President Bush will get away with the things he has over the past 6 years. The grains of truth that have been revealed now likely pail in comparison to what really went on. I want those questions asked and answered. The days of Rumsfeld and Energy guys going to Congress for hearings - and not having to take the Oath - are long, long over.

Before she became Speaker, I only knew Nancy by the tone of her State of the Union "rebuttals" - long, drawn out and boring, boring, boring. However, now that she's been given power, I can start to see how she got to the point she's at today. Hopefully, that'll mean all the men and women literally stuck in Iraq - with multiple tours, lasting more than a year sometimes - will get home soon. Too many people have died, especially innocent Iraqis, and the effects have been felt close at home. It's great to have an elected leader in power who's finally going to fight for them, not just put their lives at risk on an oil-hungry whim.

Bust Out the Shorts

The weather outside is frightful... but please spare me any fire this holiday season. New England weather has always been known to be head-scratchingly odd... but this is just, well, weird. Weirder than usual, even. It's maybe the weirdest winter I've ever witnessed.

A remarkable thing happened just before the holidays. My father, who's always been much more moderate than I am, finally became Mr. Green. I remember talking with him about Katrina, just after it hit, saying "see what Global Warming is doing to us?" He just said it could have been coincidence. After all, it wasn't the first Cat5 hurricane that's hit America. Well, Dad... there was also the first hurricane to truly hit Brazil that year too.

Amazingly, I think it was Al Gore's movie that finally did it for him. My dad, who rarely goes to see movies, decided to go and see what Al Gore had to say. He's an open-minded kind of guy and - to be honest - that's probably why he had so much trouble believing Global Warming was as bad as most scientists were saying it was to begin with. There were some people (albeit rarely scientists) who didn't think Global Warming was a big deal, so he figured 'it had to be something in the middle.'

Well, he saw the Gore's movie and came out a changed man. Now he feels really guilty about owning a Suburban - even though he only drives it to school (which is at the most 2 minutes away). His new dream car has shifted from being some pimped out, huge Beamer to an earth-friendly hybrid. Who knows if we'll be able to reverse Global Warming or not, but the fact that a guy like my Dad can change so quickly, mainly by a great documentary. I truly do have hope. We have not lost the Earth yet and we may not lose it after all.

In fact, Dad's never seen a winter like this one. That's saying a lot: soon to be 57, he's seen a lot of winters. But this one is different. This one has solidified his belief of Global Warming. We've had almost no snow. I could have worn shorts today and I would have only been mildly chilly. In fact, I saw squirrels scurrying about my backyard's fence. Aren't they supposed to be hibernating with dozens of acorns in their mouth? I even heard on the news that some flowers were starting to bloom. If my Dad still had a garden, he'd surely be freaked out.

We - as normal, rational people - need to continue to try to change one mind at a time. We need to get our skeptic friends to see Al Gore's movie. Heck, we should just get the guy to run for President again. Despite the mild winter, I still have hope we'll have a White Christmas soon enough.

Thank You Rep. Peterson and Sen. McGee

So often this website seems like a tool to bash those who are anathema to the political process and so rarely do I get to tell my elected officials "good job." I'm going to do that today. Here's a public thank you to my elected officials, Representative Doug Petersen and Senator Tom McGee. They're two people who voted with conviction on January 2nd. Both voted in favor of equality and against the kind of bigotry that has thousands of gays, lesbians, friends and family in Massachusetts queasy. I count myself especially lucky that I get to vote for Mr. Petersen every two years; he's one of the strongest and most consistent progressive voices in the State House and has been for a long time.

The next few months are going to be difficult and - as Laurel has mentioned numerous times in the comments - quick. Who knows when Senate President Travaglini will call forth his next hatefest Constitutional Convention (so he can try to do away with the rights of thousands of Massachusetts residents)? We need to rally our progressive allies at the State House, like Senator McGee and Representative Petersen, to not only continue to be on our side - but also to exert whatever pressure they can to make sure the rights of everyone in Massachusetts are protected. If two people who represent parts of a blue-collar city like Lynn can be so open-minded, anyone can.

PS:

I had a great time at the swearing-in ceremony today. I'm so glad it was held outside, for everyone to participate. The continued sights of one Senate President Travaglini made me sick, since he pretty much single-handedly got the marriage ban pushed forward (and *voted for it!*) - but I survived.

Oh - and to anyone who thought Mitt tried everything he could do to be there today, since I've been told by some Deval pushed Mitt into changing things around, he was in and around Boston for the ceremony. Instead of participating, he was touring his new Presidential Campaign HQ. Perhaps I shouldn't scold Mitt for not attending - after all, for once he was actually in Massachusetts, but I will anyway. Tsk, tsk, Mr. Romney.

While Willard couldn't make Deval's swearing in, Bill Weld managed to travel all the way from New York to be there. Paul Celluci, Mike Dukakis and Jane Swift managed to make it as well. Heck, there was even a former Governor from Virginia!

A Legislative Dozen

That's the number we need to make sure hatred doesn't get on the ballot. A legislative dozen isn't quite a dozen, because you can't always trust a legislator's last vote completely. It isn't even a baker's dozen, because switching 13 votes doesn't seem like enough to me either. Yesterday, we may have only needed a dozen votes, but tomorrow it could just be a legislative dozen. So, how many votes do we need? Let's call it 15 - about 5 already won over through last year's election. How do we go about doing it?

Yesterday, I talked about recourse. However, recourse can take on many forms. Part of gaining ultimate victory on marriage equality will be replacing the 25% of legislators who support vile, hurtful hatred and bigotry. However, it extends beyond that. Eileen McNamara writes that Deval Patrick did too little, too late. However, it isn't too late. Deval Patrick has a bigger role to play and a year to do it. We, as his supporters and constituents, need to remind him to not only continue to support our cause - but to do it with a little more flourish over the next year.

Anyone want to take a bet that Travaglini's final support of the bill, as one of the 62 yeas, had anything to do with its passing? It's a bet I'll take. Recourse is replacing that DINO, who sort of reminds me of a Dick Cheney, except not completely bald and gray. I don't think I can count how many times Trav has made behind-the-scenes, backdoor deals that reeked of spoiled democracy. Candidate Gabrieli, anyone? Trav's time as Senate President should be limited (I'm hoping my State Senator, Senator McGee, is listening).

So there are our three ways to get our legislative dozen. We're going to nudge Deval ever so slightly to really get on this issue. One way or another, legislators will realize it's politically poison to vote for hatred and bigotry. We're going to be dealing with Trav, too, and he's not going to like the wake-up call from an entire people-powered movement, his phone lines be damned.

Recourse on Marriage Equality

Today’s loss was not completely unexpected. But, in some ways, it was still a surprise. Despite the fact that I thought the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling would likely result in a vote today, I wrote one of my last blogs about how we were giving too much attention to gay issues. My mind, which understood the implications of the SJC’s ruling, wasn’t quite in sync with my heart - which knows there are hundreds of issues that should be more important, if not for the fact that a very basic right is still under attack in Massachusetts. It’s funny how minds and hearts work.
But my heart was wrong, because 62 state legislators decided the fighting over gay marriage hasn’t been bitter enough. They’ve decided we need to air out our differences for yet another year, when this issue should have been dead and settled. They’ve decided that it’s okay to put human rights up to a vote, where a mere majority can decide something as personal as marriage.

However, the ante has been upped. Foes of equality have forced the issue, masked by the never-investigated fraud that pushed their way unto Beacon Hill. It’s time for some supporters of equality to start to do the work necessary to ultimately defeat opponents of equality for good.
I don’t want to fight for my rights anymore. Fighting for my rights has only lead to gridlock, heartbreak, tears and nightmares. I’m sick of trying to convince people that everyone deserves to love the one they’re with. But I’m not willing to go back to the way things were either, where it was okay to be gay - as long as you shut up about it. No, it isn’t time to give up - it’s time to change tactics.

It’s time to take the fight to them. The time to merely educate is over. If state legislators haven’t learned by now, they lack the skills necessary to serve.

The time is now to take on every opponent of marriage equality. State legislators who voted against marriage equality need to understand that their jobs can be very, very temporary. They need to understand the concept of retribution. They need to understand that they’re about to be fired.

Enough is enough - if people are going to continue to argue about marriage equality, we’re going to take them out come primary time. It’s democracy at its finest. We’re not going to be polite, we’re not going to be timid - we’re going to be the Donald Trumps in the room, firing people who just don’t get it.

For all the talk about upholding the constitution, our state cannot tolerate state legislators willing to uphold inequality. We will not tolerate legislators who are willing to uphold hatred and bigotry. We will not tolerate legislators who think their love is more deserving than the love between two men or two women. Love knows no gender: people who can’t accept that do not belong among the elected officials of this state. It’s time they be fired.

Gay-right supporters have already had some success. Multiple opponents of marriage equality have lost reelection. No supporters of marriage equality have lost. Do opponents think they’re on the winning side? Hardly. But there’s so much more potential to make our point - it’s time we create a unified campaign, bringing together all of our skills.

Where does today lead us? The people among MassEquality and other, similar organizations need to do the work they’ve done all these years - convince the legislature that they don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. They need to continue to hold the rallies and push the legislator in the right direction. People who can be taught need to learn.
But some state legislators just need to go away. There are plenty of jobs available to help in the effort. Anyone willing to be drafted?

Many organizations across the state have resources aplenty to take on this task. It’s time to pick some weak state legislators now and start working on fielding primary opponents to defeat them. Homophobic representatives like Joyce Spiliotis in Peabody have never won a decisive primary victory and we cannot stand for their service any longer. It’s time they lose, once and for all. When we start a unified campaign with select targets, others will quickly get the message - whether we win or lose. But with our money, ability to spread information and vast array of volunteers - we’re going to win. Big.

For groups like Knowthyneighbor.org, MassEquality, Marriage Equality Alliance of the South Coast and dozens of others, the tasks are obvious. But what role can bloggers, readers and regular people take on? Beyond organizing, opining, lobbying and doing the thousands of things we do everyday - there’s little to no information available on State Senators and Representatives. Their state websites are next to useless and there are few organizations keeping track of all their legislative votes and positions on easy-to-access databases (hey KTN, can we get a database on that?). Readers and bloggers need to start digging up the dirt we’ll need to defeat our legislative opponents. We need to start driving the news and forcing the issue. We need to advance the movement.

Most of all, we need recourse. We need to personally end this debate and ensure equality for one and all.