Blue Mass Group

Tonight the Immigration Bill lost the floor on a cloture vote (45-50). Everyone agrees that the US needs a new immigration policy…but this bill was not it…there was something for everyone to hate in this bill…no matter what end of the political spectrum you come from. The Guest Worker Program with the gaping loophole that allows employers to continue exploiting immigrant workers while pulling the rug out from under American construction workers and their families will never pass muster. Until that provision of this flawed bill is fixed, this bill will continue to be opposed by American workers. The Senate can do better for legal immigrants and American workers.

It looks like Governor Deval Patrick is serious about reforming MCAS. Today he appointed Ruth Kaplan, an outspoken MCAS critic, to the state Board of Education. Kaplan, a member of the Brookline School Committee since 2003, will serve as the designated parent teacher association representative on the board. In 2003, Kaplan championed a resolution approved by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, calling for a suspension of the MCAS graduation requirement. There are at least a couple of ways to make MCAS more effective: 1) add in additional assessments like portfolios 2) create a test that provides feedback useful for instruction. Mark

Today John Edwards made his way to Boston for a “Small Change for Big Change” grassroots fundraiser at The Lir.  In addition to the hundreds of Bostonians that came out today for Edwards, a number of Massachusetts Democrats officially endorsed the former Senator today. 

Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger:

John Edwards brings to this race the compassion, experience, integrity and vision to lift our nation from the failure of the past seven years to truly become this Century’s first great American leader. And I and the others who join me in supporting him are committed to doing all we can to ensure he has that opportunity.

State Representative Steven Walsh:

He is concerned about the shrinking middle class, a result of declining salaries and increased costs such as housing and education. John Edwards truly is the best choice for hard working families in the Commonwealth who want a more promising future.  I am proud to support his candidacy and work with him to improve the lives of all Americans.

See the full list of Edwards’ endorsers after the jump…

The New York Times reports today that NYC is one step closer to sharing a $1.1 billion pot of federal money to implement road pricing schemes: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg?s congestion pricing plan got a boost today from the governor and the United States secretary of transportation, who announced that New York City was one of nine finalists for a share of $1.1 billion in federal money intended to fight traffic in major urban areas. Why can’t we get some of that tasty $1.1 billion. More generally, road pricing is an excellent idea and should be implemented as soon as possible as widely as possible. We’ve got the technology to bill drivers without slowing them down with tolls. The federal government will pay to implement it. What’s not to like? Personally, I’m sick and tired of spending billions and billions of tax dollars to subsidize the automobile industry by paying for all the roads. If people want to drive, great: let them pay for it. Market prices should reflect the true cost of driving.

Biotech and technology are essential to Mass. We want the greatest talents in the world to live and work in our country. “WSJ: You recently said that the factor limiting R&D isn’t money but the ability to find the best people. Aren’t we producing enough people? Dr. Levinson: I think Bill Gates made a comment about immigration and the fact that we make it most difficult for the smartest people to come into this country. We’re tightly constrained in terms of bringing great scientists from Great Britain, France or Germany. We struggle to bring in these incredible people who are going to help the economy, help patients and help our business grow. At the end of the day, it will only be good. But we are making it tough on ourselves.”

Hi Folks, Didn’t see another post about this so I thought I would let people know that John Edwards is in Boston tonight at a small dollar fundraiser…$15 per ticket. The Venue is: Lir, 903 Boylston St. Boston, MA *Cash bar* Thursday, June 7th – 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. * Tickets are $15 You may purchase tickets online or at the door See some of you there!

Yesterday, Barack Obama made headlines with the following statements while at the Hampton University Convocation Center: “This administration was colorblind in its incompetence,but the poverty and the hopelessness was there long before the hurricane.” All the hurricane did was to pull the curtain back for all the world to see,” he said. Repeatedly, he referred to the riots that erupted in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four police officers of assault charges in the 1991 beating of Rodney King, a black motorist, after a high speed chase. Fifty-five people died and 2,000 were injured in several days of riots in the city’s black neighborhoods. ”Those ‘quiet riots’ that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths,” Obama said. ”They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.” Predictably, Republican strategists took to the airwaves accusing Obama of fear-mongering about the ever present “race issue.” Ironic, isn’t it? The difference [...]

I went to a public high school in upstate NY, and a big chunk of my graduating class ended up in the local community college (coincidentally, where my mom was a librarian). Such a big chunk, in fact, that the college was jokingly referred to as “Troy High, 13th grade.” That being said, it was a school that combined the unfortunate need for remediation (of bad attitudes as well as insufficient skills) with some areas of genuine excellence. Math and physics were particularly strong, and often fed students into Rensselaer, a major engineering university. It was a great way for good but cash-strapped students to get two years of college on the cheap, and for “non-traditional” students to make a transition into better careers. More or less, it’s a place that knows its mission. The common criticism of Massachusetts’ community colleges is that they don’t seem to know what they’re supposed to be doing. Roxbury Community College, for instance, graduates only 5% of its incoming students. Slice it however you want, but that can’t possibly be good. I don’t even think that it’s the colleges’ fault — there’s something wrong with the students going in if they can’t hack the [...]

Over at DailyKos, Diarist David Mizner makes a great pick up on the former Massachusetts governor’s erroneous take on the start of the Iraq War.  After a bit of hemming and hawing, with a little “null set” pontification thrown in, Mitt really went off the rails: During Tuesday night’s GOP debate–among the half-truths and no truths spouted by the Gang of Ten–this one stood out. Or should have. Asked by Wolf Blitzer whether the United States was right to start the war in Iraq, Mitt Romney said: Well, the question is kind of a non sequitur, if you will. And what I mean by that — or a null set — and that is that, if you’re saying, let’s turn back the clock, and Saddam Hussein had opened up his country to IAEA inspectors, and they had come in, and they had found that there were no weapons of mass destruction, had Saddam Hussein therefore not violated United Nations resolutions, we wouldn’t be in the conflict we’re in. But he didn’t do those things, and we knew what we knew at the point we made the decision to get in. (Emphasis David’s) So Romney doesn’t remember or is trying to [...]

I have decided impeachment is too slow. Deserved, certainly, but too slow. Resignation is faster. I call upon Bush and Cheney to resign. Under a parliamentary system, we could call for elections, without waiting for a prescribed term of office to end. We would not need impeachment, because we would have the vote. If we had a Japanese system of morality, and our leaders were warriors, they would commit seppuku. But they aren’t warriors. They only contrive to get others to fight, and even in this have no honor, for they rely on deception and lies. We can’t call elections and our leaders are not worthy of ritual suicide. We do have freedom of speech, and enough to know that these two have done far worse than what others have done to face impeachment and resignation. Bush and Cheney should resign. Their absences would make Nancy Pelosi President, under the rules of presidential succession.