Blue Mass Group

From Kos, here's Future Republican nominee Mike Huckabee: I don't think the issue's about being against gay marriage. It's about being for traditional marriage and articulating the reason that's important. You have to have a basic family structure. There's never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived. So there is a sense in which, you know, it's one thing to say if people want to live a different way, that's their business. But when you want to redefine what family means or what marriage means, then that's an issue that should require some serious and significant debate in the public square. It is true: This whole state has turned into such a toilet since we allowed gays to get married. And I hear the footsteps: We're gonna get invaded and annexed by Texas warships any day now. And that's not even mentioning the plague of locusts. Seriously, when people start talking about gay marriage as a “threat”, is it really too much to demand how exactly bad stuff is going to start to happen? I mean, can you just please posit a mechanism? OK, the charm is wearing off a bit. 

The Materials Research Society fall meeting at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston has come and gone. http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/sec.a… This materials convention features the most advanced research in the creation of tomorrows industrial materials.  Seminars have titles such as”Atomic Layer Depsition-Fundamentals and Applications in Nanotechnology and 3D structures” or how about “Interfacing Quantum Dots, Metallic and Magnetic Nanoparticles with Biology” plus scientific equipment vendors show their wares.  Our lab deals with industrial materials so at the suggestion of my boss several of us went. This particular society and convention was new to me even though in 20 years I have attended many other similar events. This convention had all of the interests and benefits of any other large scientific show.  Talks with familiar salesmen, scoping out new capabilities and technology used in other industries and in general it was a very good take. But. The most eery of all feeling hit me before we called it quits.   Where is everybody?  This is a major big city, big time convention and attendance seemed to be off.  As I thought back, recollecting recent years the nagging though intensified.  Yes, attendance has been off for quite some time now. It was an emotional [...]

I Don’t know how to put the video itself here, otherwise I would have. [I did it for you, Joe. On YouTube, you'll see a link that says, "Embed." On BMG, just copy and paste that into your post and voila! - Bob]

In recent years, growing numbers of evangelicals have decided that part of their mandate from god is to help find solutions to global ecological problems.  I think this is a great development in so many ways.  One is that these folks will need to start working closely with the traditional keepers of environmentalism’s keys, lefties.  We can all benefit from working towards a common goal.   Working towards a common goal, however, may present some unexpected challenges along the way.  For example, take today’s blog entry from Gary Randall’s Faith & Freedom Fdn (an anti-LGBT christian org).  He gleefully promotes a news story that notes how divorce creates “extra” households (about 2 million of them), and how those households are a further strain on the resources and the environment.  So to improve our environmental lot, get rid of divorce!  This must be an appealing finding to many Christian fundamentalists, because it gives them a non-Biblical reason to oppose divorce that may appeal to secularists. But have they stopped to think?  There are somewhere between 3 million and 30 million gay or bi people in the country.  According to the 2000 US Census, only 600,000 of us are living together as [...]

A poll for the first time shows Mike Huckabee ahead in South Carolina, having jumped from 11 to 23%. A new Insider Advantage poll out today shows the former Arkansas governor in the lead, with 23 percent, more than doubling his 11 percent support in October. Former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, the other Southerner in the race, had been leading, but is now tied for second at 17 percent with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to the poll. Mitt Romney is in fourth with 14 percent and John McCain has 10 percent, the poll found. Of course, this poll was taken before the speech, so we’ll see if things shift around dramatically in the speech‘s wake.  My guess: not much.

I just got a call from the Cangiamila campaign, urging me to support Cangiamila (R) for the 4th Middlesex senate seat.  The sales point used by the caller was: “and he supports the marriage amendment”. This is pathetic in two ways: There is no such pending amendment, so the guy is really out of touch. He disrespects his constituents who are lawfully married or support the law of the land (marriage equality). A bit of earlier related discussion here. UPDATE.  Stealth campaign:  Either Cangiamila doesn’t want it widely known that he’s running an anti-gay campaign, or he has no intention of following through for his anti-gay constituency.  I mull this over because there is no indication of his stance on The Gay on his website.  

Whichever presidential candidate gets the most votes could be guaranteed the election — if the statehouse votes on and approves the National Popular Vote bill in the next few months. Not only would it make sure we never had another minority-vote president, it would finally kill the idea of swing states, meaning Massachusetts voters would matter for the first time in living memory. Read on for more …

Obviously I'm no fan of Mitt Romney. But I have been very dismayed at the tone of the Republican primary so far, in which an explicit religious test has been so central to many voters — even to the extent that Romney was asked whether he believed the Bible literally. For cryin' out loud, we're talking about President, not Dean of the Seminary. Mitt, of course, has heretofore barely challenged the premise of such questions, since he's trying to appeal to Christian Right voters. Romney finally confronted the whole issue today. And it's a peculiar speech, striking roughly the right tone in some places, but leaving intact the false choices that are slowing down his own campaign: Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president. Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith. Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on [...]

Yesterday the New York Times held their own virtual caucus, but only hosted it with Republican leaning voters. I personally believe that’s not fair. With less than a month ahead, where can Democrats find a place to voice their opinions about the upcoming primaries? Lots of people are claiming that the Republican presidential nomination is up for grabs and is a wide open field. Like that’s not equally true to Democrats. Facing a highly compressed primary schedule, the focus has been on the handful of early primary states to determine the fate for the rest of the country. I particularly have a problem with that. Although early state voters claim that they take this seriously and are voting in the interest of the country, how can they say that if people are saying that the “National Polls are completely meaningless in predicting the results of New Hampshire, once we know the results from Iowa.” So let me get this straight, Iowa and NH are the only results that matter? Please, I thought my vote mattered to some degree, and now I’m being told it’s doesn’t at all. As noted by Chris Bowers on Open Left, “Some people argue that, because [...]

His remarks here. Seems to me a net plus for him on the road to the VP nomination. Or whatever. Let the spinning begin.