Blue Mass Group

By Rocco DiPippo FrontPageMagazine.com | April 4, 2006 In the years since the Twin Towers were destroyed, Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, has come under fire from several writers who claim that immigration laws he wrote made it easier for foreign subversives to enter America, set up terror cells, and raise funds for extremists. One writer, Chuck Morse, who ran against Frank as an Independent in 2000, asserts Frank bears responsibility for loosening restrictions on student and temporary visas, which eased the way for the 9/11 hijackers to enter the U.S. to plan and carry out their attacks. Frank denies that any of his legislative activity contributed to these things. He implies that “the Republicans” approved of his immigration legislation. He says that his immigration laws were good ones. He says poor enforcement of them was the problem. He says that the 9/11 Commission cleared him of any culpability in the weakening of America’s ability to keep out extremists and foreign terrorists. He calls those who say his immigration policies contributed to 9/11 “right-wing extremists.” There is evidence – presented later in this article – that approximately 19 months before 9/11, Barney Frank had been given specific information indicating that at [...]

Why does the Attorney General pass the buck on handling sexually dangerous people to the local DA’s?  The AG’s office could easily establish a special unit to deal with these sensitive cases, instead of pawning the cases on to overworked and underfunded DAs.  Where’s the leadership?  Why can’t he say to DAs: You are overburdened already; our office will be a central place to handle these complex cases.  The buck stops here. Reilly can try highlight what he infers is his tough-on-the-Catholic Church record, but look to the local DA’s (not the AG’s office) for going after the highest level Church abusers.  See this story  for this: “an abuse victim, said yesterday that Reilly’s effort ”was unprecedented, but we were very disappointed at the time that he could not indict anyone in the hierarchy.””) Link  Sexually Dangerous Persons. “While much attention is paid to sex offender registries, through which sex offenders in the community must identify themselves, less notice has been taken of the Sexually Dangerous Persons law, which provides for civil commitments of a day to life in the Massachusetts Treatment Center after an offender’s criminal sentence is completed. An article in yesterday’s Boston Globe about the increase in [...]

Tom Reilly: Republican for Governor Tom Reilly said in the first gubernatorial debate that Bush and Cheney were hardly politicians to emulate. So why is he doing it with such gusto himself? The modus operendi of the Republicans runs something like this: When you have nothing to say on the issues, attack the person who does. Not on his positions, but on his character. When your positions border on lunacy, attack the other guy with buzzwords, catch phrases and clichés. The Reilly/ Boston Globe team of assassins has taken a chapter directly from Karl Rove’s playbook. It became clear from listening to Reilly, that whatever he wants for the citizens of the Commonwealth, which seems to be very little, indeed, it is to take a back seat to what he wants for himself.  While the other two candidates were talking about education, energy independence, and economic development, Reilly piped in with tax return releases. While the other two candidates wanted to discuss how to move the state forward, Reilly wanted to know how much money Deval Patrick made from Ameriquest. It speaks of conflict, he said. You gotta hand to him; that’s a smoke screen Bush would have been proud [...]

Calling members of the blogosphere committed to truth, justice and the American Way. Kerry Healey’s bio at Wikipedia needs updating in preparation for her debutante, oops, sorry, debut at the Massachusetts GOP State Convention next week. At the moment, the only external website listed are the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Healey for Governor, and Students for Healey.

Did you know that the state Republican convention is next weekend?  I confess I didn’t.  Not that there’s a whole lot of suspense as to who the nominees for Governor and Lt. Governor are going to be.  And, as far as I know, there still aren’t announced GOP candidates for Attorney General, Treasurer, or Secretary of State (one Earle Stroll is running for Auditor against Joe DeNucci).  Kind of sad – the Green Party has a more complete slate than do the Republicans. Here’s Howie Carr on next weekend’s big bash in Lowell: Next weekend’s gathering in the Tsongas Arena is going to be Muffy Healey’s political cotillion, and her dance card has a lot of openings on it.  Mitt Romney wouldn’t tell her if her Yolanda gown was on fire. Jim Rappaport hates her for obvious reasons. Ditto Christy Mihos, and Christy, if you really want to steal her thunder next week, just cut the price of regular unleaded gas at your convenience stores to $1.99 a gallon.  Every TV camera in the state would be on the Cape. You’ll draw a bigger crowd than Muffy, that’s for sure. Seems about right to me. UPDATE: Several alert commenters have [...]

The CBS4 debate is streaming online here. Extra points to the CBS4 web team for clear design, flawless functionality, and near-full-screen video. That’s not easy. The most significant thing about this debate, I think, is that all three candidates were focused, informed, and personable, and treated each other with respect. Kerry Healey will have her work cut out for her. In fact, I think either Reilly or Patrick, and perhaps Gabrieli, can beat her. If I were the Massachusetts GOP, I would be on my hands and knees begging a candidate with a superior record of accomplishment to do to her as Romney did to Swift. As to our team, I thought Reilly did the best, followed closely by Patrick. Gabrieli was third. The AG positioned himself as responsive — let’s listen to the voters on the tax rollback; mature — drivers licenses for illegal aliens poses security questions in the wake of 9/11; and forthright — he has released his tax returns. Patrick did an excellent job introducing himself to the voters on a personal level. He is arguably the best on camera: smiling, smart, and sensible. He was not able to turn the discussion to his superior business [...]

Daniel J. Shea, the lawyer formerly of Houston, now has more than an address in Worcester. He also has a Web site to promote his fledgling campaign to succeed lame duck John J. Conte as District attorney. The site (www.Shea2006.com)is still bare bones but it manages to take a swipe at the old regime while at the same time giving a taste of what the campaign will be like: Mr. Shea, who has represented several area residents who were sexually abused by priests of the Diocese of Worcester, said the District Attorney’s office has failed to bring proper prosecution of the perpetrators and appears to have been working with the diocese to make sure these cases did not end up in court. He criticized the current District Attorney John J. Conte for giving campaign money to the Diocese of Worcester when that corporate entity was a legitimate target of investigation…. Shea promises to establish a Public Integrity Unit within the DA’s office. Shea’s opponent for the Democratic nomination, Joe Early Jr., has been on the Web since early March at www.Early2006.com. According to a posting there Early: … has been a practicing attorney for 21 years, serving both as an [...]

There is some as yet unknown factual information about Tom Reilly’s ability to handle a budget – but first if I could ask for the help of you readers who know more than I ever will about this domain called politics… clearly you are a learned bunch. Ready? OK, a little at a time then. Once I get some of your wisdom I will pass along some of what I have learned… Does anybody know how much money it costs the taxpayers for one day of a Grand Jury? Does anybody know the average amount of time Reilly’s office spends to get indictments handed down? Does anybody know what the success rate is?

… going on right now (8:30am) on CBS4. What do you think?

The Globe today published its profiles on Blue Mass. Group and the differently-winged Hub Politics. Check it out and see what you think.