Blue Mass Group

When DSS removes a child from their parents, it can take months before that child – whether six or 16 – is back in school.  But you do not have to take my word for it!

See:  http://www.masslive….

A gutsy attorney is suing DSS “pro bono” [that means without being paid] to get the children he represents into school.

A lawyer who advocates for juveniles has filed suit on behalf of two Springfield youths, claiming the Department of Social Services fails to ensure that Hampden County children in state custody go to school regularly.

“I don’t think there’s anything worse than not getting an education,” said Brian K. Clauson, who filed the complaint in Hampden Superior Court last month.

This is really NOT an isolated problem. 

The problem of students dropping out remains a pressing one for the region. Although the statewide four-year graduation rate was about 80 percent in 2006, it averaged just 62 percent in urban areas, and fell to 51 percent in Springfield and 49 percent in Holyoke.

You may ask, “But what does this have to do with DSS?”

Rurak balanced growth when he was mayor in the 1990′s.  Recently Haverhill seems to be a bit out of control with condos on top of each other in historic downtown.With only one working bridge in Haverhill this growth presents a transportation and a pollution problem in the city. Rurak’s website does discuss balanced growth and I hope he continues to  point these issues out to the voters of Haverhill. I checked the other candidates who are running for Mayor and find that their sites do not  offer much.  Rurak.com is impressive and worth the visit. Haverhill44 

Hi The Acton and Maynard Democratic Town Committees will be holding a comedy fundraiser April 19. If it doesn’t seem too obnoxious I’m just going to paste in our press release, rather than trying to figure out a way to say the same thing in different words. This will be an outstanding night of comedy. It’s not Laughing Liberally. I do some political stuff, but mostly it’s going to be comics doing their thing. I hope you can join  us. ACTON AND MAYNARD DEMOCRATS TO OFFER A NIGHT OF LAUGHS MAYNARD, Mass., April 5, 2007 – The Sit `n Bull Pub in Maynard will be the scene when three of the funniest comedians in New England take the stage for a fundraiser for the Maynard and Acton Democratic Town Committees on Thursday, April 19. Long-time comedian and Acton resident Chris Oake will headline the show. Oake, a comedian and actor for 17 years, has appeared on stages from Boston to Los Angeles, and has performed extensively in the Nashoba Valley. He is also an experienced actor, having guest starred in shows such as “LA Law” and “Chicago Hope.” Most recently he appeared in the film “Mystic River.” Also on the [...]

Cross-posted at The Eisenthal Report There is a new virtual prediction market at the Inkling platform – Will Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick succeed in closing any state corporate tax loopholes?The idea behind the market, created by yours truly, is to illustrate how long (or short) the odds are that Governor Patrick will succeed in convincing the Massachusetts legislature to enact at least some of his proposals to close corporate tax loopholes. The initial price for the “stock” is $10 per share, which reflects my view that there is currently a 10 percent chance that any of the proposals will pass. Buying the stock indicates confidence that the probability of passage is higher than 10 percent. Doubters can play too, however. If a participant is very confident that none of the proposals will pass, that participant can “short sell” the stock, or sell shares that she or he does not own. This will push the stock price down. It is very easy to play – just register at Inkling, which is the same platform used by Blue Hampshire‘s New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary Market, and then invest away. (Inkling uses virtual money – there’s no real financial exposure from participating.)

After much discussion, help from the state party (thanks State Committee members Claire Naughton and Joe Kaplan), and some enthusiastic new blood, the Medfield Democratic Town Committee is back up and running. At our March meeting we elected a new slate of officers and a new set of bylaws.  We also have a new web site up: www.medfielddemocrats.org Our next meeting is April 23rd at 7:15 at the Medfield Public Library. We are also scheduled to show An Inconvenient Truth on May 10th at the High School, and meet with State Rep. Lida Harkins on May 16th at the Library, again at 7:15pm. We invite all Medfield Dem’s to join us. For more information visit the web site or contact me. We also invite our neighbors (Millis, Medway, Walpole, Westwood, Dover, Sherborn, Norfolk, etc.) to join us in building a strong Democratic base in our little corner of Metro Boston.

State House News has a new poll out that, while not uniformly positive, is generally pretty good for the Gov. Noteworthy, at least to me, was the fact that despite all the unremittingly lousy press surrounding the CaddyDrapesCiticall stuff, and the Globe’s grudging take even on good news stories, Patrick’s fav/unfav ratings haven’t taken that bad of a hit since his election. Statewide personal popularity FAVORABLE UNFAVORABLE Patrick: Now 49% 31% November, 2006 56% 28% Also interesting was the generally nonplussed reaction of the poll respondents to the stories of questionable newsworthiness. Impact of news stories about Patrick leasing a Cadillac, replacing his office drapes, and hiring an aide for his wife: More positive toward Patrick: 3% More negative toward Patrick: 44% No impact on opinion of Patrick: 52% No surprise that very few said the stories actually improved their view of Patrick. What’s noteworthy is that a majority of respondents said it had no impact. Finally, the respondents clearly heeded Patrick’s call not to “give up” on him: After he recently apologized for early mistakes and asked citizens not to give up on him, do you personally feel that you’ve given up on Deval Patrick in terms of his [...]

A reader points out this irony from the front page of the Cape Cod Times: Unfortunately, between the Kennedys and the Bush administration, who knows what’ll happen from here on out?

No beating around the bush, either it should be a crime, or it should be legal. As always, I’m talking about doing whatever it takes to join the genes of two people of the same-sex, creating shared genetic offspring together, I’m not talking about sperm donation, adoption, and other ways that gay couples become parents together. And [edited after 3 votes for legal were cast]: note that the question is about right now, presently, not at some point in the future, when it is safe.  Should we allow someone to try to create a person with same-sex parents, today?  It’s a seperate question from if it should be banned in principle. Feel free to explain why you feel the way you do.

In case you’ve missed it, Garry Trudeau has lately been using his Doonesbury comic strip to hammer away at Mitt Romney’s embarrassing record of saying whatever seems likely to please the audience he happens to be in front of at any given moment. All the strips are available at Slate.  Here’s the first one (scroll down); keep clicking “next” to see the whole series. Funny stuff.

I wanted to touch base with you to let you know that my website, www.EileenDonoghue.com, will be going live in a very short while.  I hope you’ll take some time to check it out and read about my background of real results, my experience as both Lowell City Councilor and Mayor, and my vision for the Merrimack Valley area.