Blue Mass Group

 Aquafina bottled water is Ayer MA tap water. Channel 7 did a story on it a few years back. You express excitement over Obama’s 55%-33% lead over McCain. Jesus couldn’t win if he was a Republican in this state. I saw a car with a Kerry bumper sticker blocking a curb cut that I use. Sorry, I use a wheelchair. It appeared to be the same sense of entitlement the Senator displays. Stay fat folks, I think change is coming.

Today’s Boston Globe contains a long, detailed story about Haleigh Poutre, complete with names and pictures despite the secrecy that usually hides cases in Juvenile Court.

My own opinion is that impoundment, rather than protecting children, protects judicial bias, cultural bias from service providers, and sloppy legal work generally.  Haleigh’s case seems to illustrate these dangers.

Pat Wen’s detailed story in the Globe leaves me with the following questions:

1.  Given those earlier hospitalizations, did Haleigh “self injure herself” while hospitalized, or only at home?

2.  What efforts, if any, were provided to help Haleigh’s biological mother keep Haleigh at home?

3.  As no one has mentioned Haleigh ever being injured while in the care of her biological mother, why was Haleigh removed and why won’t DSS let Haleigh be visited by her mother?  Is there more to that story?

4.  What did Haleigh’s court appointed GAL or attorney do during this long, drawn out case to keep her safe or determine what was actually going on?

5.  How did keeping everything secret help Haleigh?

The Globe reporter, Pat Wen, leads off with this:

Authorities believed Haleigh Poutre’s many wounds were self-inflicted, and that her adoptive home was safe. What they missed nearly killed her.

Here is the link:  http://www.boston.com/news/loc…

In studying H4905, which overhauls DSS, it looks like the new structure might have kept Haleigh with her biological mother, and prevented this horrible case from happening.

My choice for Vice President is Evan Bayh.  After looking over the field of possible candidates for Obama’s running mate, I think that Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana best fits the necessary criteria that I believe Obama’s vetting committee has set.

He is a popular two term senator, formerly a popular two term governor of a heartland state, one that we would like to turn from red to blue, an outcome that is a lot more possible with Bayh on the ticket. He would also help with Ohio (another state that we all know would have made the difference for Kerry in 2004), and the other midwestern states.  

Actually Bayh is reminiscent of one of my heroes  Al Gore. Like Gore, Bayh comes from political pedigree, his father Birch Bayh, was a popular senator from Indiana who lost his own presidential primary bid to Jimmy Carter. Again like Gore, Bayh comes from the Democratic Leadership Council wing of the party and has a very strong record on the environment.

Crossposted from Blue Hampshire

Some context:

After witholdings for taxes and healthcare, I get 63% of my earnings to take home. I get paid bi-weekly, and one check is $100 short of paying my mortgage.

My wife works, so it comes to about 13% of our household income devoted to healthcare, assuming good health. (My insurance has $3000 deductibles per person for care that requires hospitalization) Now, once we factor in the cost of living, we are at the point where a $300 car repair goes on the credit card to be paid off over  a couple of months.

All and all, we have a decent standard of living. We invest nearly $300/month in our youngest daughter’s private schooling (the oldest now goes to Lowell High) and there is $250 going towards martial arts. I say this because, it is clear we aren’t strapped. Though things are tight, we have discretionary spending. BTW, our big screen TV is a hand me down, as are most of the kids clothes.

The only thing that truly bugs me about our daily lives is that we live in a poor neighborhood. Lots of drugs and alcohol around, gangs and the occasional fatal shooting. We are waiting for the right time to flip this house and use the VA housing loan that I have available.

I am busting my hump on this election because the difference between treading water and swimming to shore is winning in November. Our party will provide me and those in the working class, the best opportunity to fulfill the promise of America.

This post is a continuation from my comment about the sad news of lolorb’s passing.  I wanted to supplement the notion that we BMGers should get to know some of the personalities behind the commenters before it’s too late, but I realized this idea would hijack the thread, so it became a diary.

I’d encourage people who’ve posted here long-term to add an email – even a dummy email account – to your BMG profile. You might be pleasantly surprised when someone reaches out to you – I was when the four people who contacted me sent emails.

You can post an email and protect your privacy and against spam.  Here’s my recommendation: set up a free GMail account (or any email that has free email forwarding) with any alias that will hide your privacy. In your dummy gmail account, click “Settings” then “Forwarding and POP/IMAP”. Under that tab click the “forward a copy of incoming mail to” option and enter an email account you check frequently. Post your new BMG-specific email on your BMG profile and if you are still worried about spam (I find GMail has an excellent spam filter) you can post the new email in a “nospam” format like “my.fake.email [at] gmail [dawt] com”.

Today in Paradise That day did not feel like I was in paradise But looking at the pictures of that day I can smell the sunshine, hear her laughter see her with 7 mega pixel clarity in spirit and in memory. The waters of death, floating so many I loved; On that outgoing tide To hopefully return, riding the great waves Onto the beaches of a different paradise, guided by the flames of many white candles. I was in paradise that summer day But I did not know … Today too will be paradise In my memory And will never return. -written by Deb Sirotkin Butler in 2007, revised 7/6/08 in honor of Lori Benatakis I did not know that day in Lowell this year would be the last day I would see or talk to Lori – and that despite all the discomforts and the heat, the Democratic Convention this past June was a Day in Paradise – because everyone there came with the goal of making the world a better place, and who knows when I will see many of them again? I like to think Lori was there in spirit [the day was so full and confusing [...]