Blue Mass Group

This was originally posted on Citizen Orange.

With the launch of the A Dream Deferred blog, the world can no longer feign blindness to the suffering of migrants.  While most bloggers in what we have dubbed the pro-migrant sanctuarysphere struggle to get hundreds of online viewers, this month tens of thousands have already collided head on with the migrant voice.  These “voiceless others” that nativists have beat on for centuries now have a megaphone and they are speaking out loud and clear:

Sometimes “It's a matter of life and death” is neither melodrama nor self-pity nor hopeless regret. Instead, in some cases, seemingly simple things people can do make all the difference for others.

Last week's multi-cultural lunch launch at the old Sears showed what good-headed, good-hearted progressive types can do…particularly when backed up with working capital. Moreover, the New England Newswire's health coverage project involves several long-term lefty leaders.

The short of it is that four grants are combined into seed funds to provide key health issues and resources to a slew of underserved communities. Particularly to those who do not easily understand written or spoken English, that's huge.

Do you get MassInc's Commonwealth Magazine? Good read, folks … kind of like BMG, except objective and well-informed. All articles require registration, but the hard copy is even better …  I neglected to ask Gov. Patrick a central question of economic development: What's the line between creating a business-friendly environment and just straight-up corporate welfare? Bruce Mohl reports that answering that question is not so easy. (We do seem to be actually losing money on our film-industry tax credit.) Well, if we're investing in companies and industries with tax credits, shouldn't we know what our ROI is? Isn't that kind of important? What is our measure of success or failure? An insider's story on the commission on corporate taxation that recommended combined reporting/closing the loopholes. Interesting. Our budget is in trouble — structurally, fundamentally. If capital gains crap out (as seems likely), so does the budget. Broaden/diversify the tax base, find out exactly where the hell our Medicaid money is going. More luv for UHub, this time from Dan Kennedy. Living On Earth this morning had a big section on the eco-city Curitiba, Brazil. I remember hearing about Curitiba back in the 90's … sounded kind of idyllic: It's thoroughly [...]

No earth shattering news, just a nice review of what the south of Boston political landscape will look like this fall.

Much of the focus is on Brockton, where political dominos have been falling since the death of Plymouth County Clerk Francis Powers on March 28.

Bob Creedon runs for Powers’ seat; Tom Kennedy runs for Creedon’s Seante seat. Mike Brady, Bob Sullivan, Connor Yunits, Jill Wiley run for Kennedy’s House seat.

http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

From Daniel Kutzman’s political humor blog: “Did you all see that? She took the shot with the beer chaser. Did it like an old pro. To give you an idea how much she drank, when the phone rang at 3 am, slept right through it.” –Jay Leno “John McCain said he disagrees with President Bush on the issue of climate change. And believe me, McCain knows what he’s talking about on this subject. Of all the presidential candidates, he is the only one who’s actually lived through an ice age.” –Jay Leno “Hillary Clinton was shown at a bar in Indiana drinking a beer, and doing a shot of whiskey. Hey, and it worked. Today, Ted Kennedy switched back. ‘I’m for Hillary now!’” –Jay Leno “The president picked up the pope at the airport. How bored is our president? He’s not the president anymore. Now he’s like your college stoner roommate, doing favors for pizza. Next week I think he’s helping Putin move.” –Jon Stewart “This seemed odd to me. For the pope’s arrival ceremony at the White House tomorrow, they’re going to give him a 21-gun salute. Now, really, isn’t there a better welcome for the Apostle of Peace [...]

Watch it here: You can watch the real thing here. It’s showing right now on ABC-TV.