Blue Mass Group

agreed to the awful backdrop for the debate set? Is CNN trying to make all the viewers dizzy? If you can listen and not watch our group is far more impressive than the group that bats Tuesday night.

At a marriage equality rally in Quincy last week, we were lucky enough to hear from Sgt. Adrian Quinn, a 16 year veteran and the Army National Guard, who returns to Iraq in July. Why did Quinn decide to speak out against the upcoming anti-gay amendment? Because, as he told the crowd, he is worried he will come home to a Commonwealth “less free than the one [he] left behind.” If you’re also worried about our Commonwealth becoming less, and not more, free if this amendment goes on the ballot, take the time in these next few days to contact your legislators to let them know how you feel. When you’ve done that, you can go to http://www.massequal… to view an interactive map that will show you which districts are represented by anti-equality incumbents. Contact your friends and family living in those districts and ask them to take action, too. The clock is ticking…the time to take action is now.

Dear Governor Patrick,

Your promise of a ?sustained effort to change fundamentally the way we think about and deliver public education? has me worried. We need higher, more rigorous standards, not for students and teachers in public schools, but the Readiness Project itself. The standards for the educational reform process were set in the 1980?s, and to be honest, they are too low. You say you will appoint the  ?brightest leaders and thinkers in education, in business, in local communities, in our legislature.? I?m hoping for the best, but I?m worried that the distinction between thinkers and leaders will be blurred. College presidents and think tank and policy organization representatives may be some of our brightest thinkers, but it is the educational researchers and scholars who set the standard. In the last round of educational reform, these professionals were conspicuously absent.

Massachusetts has some leading educational scholars whom you might consider. Sonia Nieto, professor emerita at UMass-Amherst, is an influential researcher and writer on multi-culturalism. Professor Robert Sternberg, formerly of Yale, now teaching at Tufts University, is a leading scholar on intelligence. Recently, he?s been writing about the connection of culture and intelligence. He understands the testing game, which, by the way, is the logical outcome of higher standards. Another professor you should check out is Andrew Hargreaves at Boston College. He specializes in innovation in schools and he understands another key component of your goals: teacher education. Without significant representation from actual scholars, the Readiness Project will lack not only the knowledge base necessary for success, but the ability to apply the lessons of research to what decisions are finally implemented.

Dr. James Holsinger, chosen by the Decider to be Surgeon General, founded a “recovery ministry” in Lexington, Kentucky which tries to cure homosexuality, along with its faith-based treatment of substance abuse. His nomination goes before the Health and Labor Committee chaired by Senator Kennedy. The Anti-Violence Project is calling for scrutiny of whether he advocates witch-doctoring to turn gays into straights:   June 3, 2007 Senator Edward Kennedy 315 Rayburn Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator Kennedy:   President Bush?s nomination of Dr. James Holsinger to be Surgeon General of the United States is of grave concern to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community, both in Massachusetts and nationwide. His association with quack ?conversion therapy? aimed at gays and lesbians in Lexington, Kentucky raises significant and worrying questions about the impartiality and scientific integrity of his medical judgment. We write to you in your capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee through which Dr. Holsinger must pass if he is to be confirmed in this high office. According to the Lexington Herald-Leader in a story reported June 1, Dr. Holsinger founded the ?Hope Springs Community Church? in Lexington, Kentucky. A focus of this church is ?recovery ministry,? [...]

People often tell me “no one is demanding same-sex conception”, and it is hard for me to prove them wrong, because usually no one goes on record demanding a right to create babies by joining the genes of a couple of the same sex.  But my poll from back in April attracted nine brave BMG persons willing to anonymously express their opinion, and all but one of them (88.9%) feel that same-sex conception should be allowed, right now.

I don’t know if this represents the views of BMG editors, or of most progressives, or of most democrats, or of most same-sex marriage supporters, but it’s still pretty shocking that eight times more person-id’s here believe it should be allowed today.  Experiments in animals are still resulting in a less than one percent success rate, with 90% of live births dying before adulthood.