Blue Mass Group

Hey, let’s have a big BMG shout out to the Olympic team and local hero Alicia Sacramone. By the way, how big is the Massachusetts Olympic team? What other New England athletes are in Beijing? And why isn’t U.S. football an Olympic sport. I’d like to see Tedy Bruschi with a gold medal around his neck. UHub speculated on a Boston Olympics a few years ago. That would be a good way for Governor Patrick to end his 10th term or so. Someone should get on it.  

Man, I was just cruising around on the net and ran into the website usawake and I would like to say I am rocked enough to post on this hatred.

As Mark Steyn [author of the New York Times bestseller "America Alone"] puts it, “The future belongs to the fecund and the confident. And the Islamists are both, while the West — wedded to a multiculturalism that undercuts its own confidence, a welfare state that nudges it toward sloth and self-indulgence, and a childlessness that consigns it to oblivion — is looking ever more like the ruins of a civilization.”

By now everyone knows that DNA testing is a powerful scientific tool for proving guilt or innocence in our criminal justice system. Often post-conviction DNA testing provides the only evidence that can correct the injustice of wrongful conviction.  

But what if all the biological evidence is destroyed while you’re still in prison? What if there is evidence but it’s not discovered until after state-imposed deadline for seeking DNA testing? What if the state denies your petition for testing because you accepted a plea bargain to avoid a harsher sentence for a crime you didn’t commit? And what if you’re indigent and can’t afford an attorney to help navigate the complex legal and scientific issues involved in obtaining a DNA test?

The sad truth is that it often takes a series of miracles to gain access to post-conviction DNA testing. That’s because our criminal justice system continues to place significant obstacles in the way of post-conviction DNA testing that could determine whether the wrong people have been convicted and punished for crimes they didn’t commit.  

A man by the Name Damian Anketell has thrown hiw hat in for Essex County sheriff. Although sure to be an uphill battle he looks forward to the chalenge. Some of the things he is concerned about. 1. The taking in of massive amounts of campaign donations from employees and family in a law enforcement orginization must stop. 2.We can hardly house the inmates we have now. The current sheriff houses federal inmates for money. Sounds like a great idea but not when you have inmates sleeping on floors in gyms and warehouses. Send then back to the feds and take care of the inmates from this county. 3.Release of inmates on braclets to our communities in order to avoid over crowding. these inmates are let out, put up in rooming houses and forced to pay weekly rent. Where does that money go? Who owns these buildings. and where are they? 4.Better labor relations. Mr. Anketell would like to see a full acounting of just how much taxpayer money has been spent fighting with the union who represent the hundreds of hard working people in the Sheriff’s dept. Unions pay there own legal fees, however the Sheriff spends OUR money [...]

Full disclosure: Three weeks ago I wrote the two democratic challengers, Jack Hurd and Ken Donnelly for the Fourth Middlesex Senate seat.  Mr. Hurd responded immediately and set up a meeting to discuss the questions I had regarding his stance on many positions important to me.   We talked for ninety minutes and the conversation could best be described as informative, refreshing and forthright.  Jack Hurd was candid and did not dance around any issue that I posed to him, and trust me – I challenged him.  He listened to what I had to say and I left our meeting feeling confident a vote for him would deliver strong representation in the Senate for our district.   As for Mr. Donnelly, he  never responded to me, which I believe is foretelling as to how he would act as a state Senator.  Who wants a Senator who won’t respond to your concerns?  I know that’s not what I want.  I want a state Senator who is going to make himself available to his constituents and will listen to what I have to say.  For this reason, I am voting for Jack Hurd on September 16 and I urge the voters from [...]

The National Anthem concert is exactly one month away — Friday, September 12, 8 pm, at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, in case you need a reminder.  And just today, the amount we’ve raised for the Obama campaign via ticket sales surpassed $10,000!   Pretty good.  But, needless to say, we can do better.  If we sell as many tickets as I think we’re capable of selling, we should hit $50,000 by the time this thing actually happens.  But we can’t do it without your help.  And by the way, the program keeps getting better — just today, I found out that we will be presenting a duo of classical guitar and accordion playing tango music by Astor Piazzolla.  Really cool. So, if you haven’t bought a ticket yet, buy one now.  If you have bought one but haven’t yet told your friends to come, tell them now.  There are good seats available for only $20 (of course, you can spend more if you’re so inclined). As always, thank you for your support!

Time flies in presidential races, it seems like yesterday that a good friend of mine met with Barack Obama about running the online portion of his campaign. He didn’t want the job after the interview, sensing, correctly, that Obama was centrist, maybe even centrist-right and my friend is more of a Democrat.

I remember the exact quote so well: “If he ran as a true Progressive, he’d run away with this thing.”

Indeed.

The following convention themes have been unveiled: Monday: One Nation Tuesday: Renewing America’s Promise Wednesday: Securing America’s Future Thursday: Change You Can Believe In Globe sez Michelle O and Nancy P will speak Monday. Hillary will speak Tuesday (but will not be the keynote*). VP speaks Wednesday, and Gov. Bill Ritter and the Man Himself will speak Thursday. The VP’s night suggests a national security theme- ergo, it would not be surprising if Obama picks someone particularly qualified to speak that night. Theme’s title turns out to be the name shared by Wes Clark’s PAC.  

From the people who brought you “Pray Away the Gay“, now comes their newest installment!   Focus on the Family would like you to put your prayer powers to a new use: raining out Obama’s DNC speech in Denver. The video was pulled this morning, but the internets has a pesky way of keeping videos around.  Enjoy. “Would it be wrong if we asked people to pray…to pray for rain? Abundant rain, torrential rain. Urban and small stream advisory rain. At a particular time, and a particular location? Say at August 28, right here at Mile High Stadium in Denver? During prime-time TV hour when a certain presumptive nominee is scheduled to make a certain acceptance speech at a certain Democratic National Convention?” That’s Stuart Shepherd speaking.  He’s managing editor of Focus on the Family’s Citizen Link.  

The McCain campaign is making a strong bid to render the Weekly Joke Review unnecessary. The Fox propaganda channel jubilantly trumpeted the Senator’s campaign appearance last week at the Sturgis South Dakota bikers rally and the rest of the traditional media also gave the event wide coverage. What they didn’t explain very clearly, however, and what we have to rely on TPM and YouTube for, was this clip of McCain suggesting that his wife enter the “Miss. Buffalo Chip contest” which is, according to ESPN, “essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too.” Click here for some video of the contest, complete with simulated fellatio, which gives a far better explanation of what Senator McCain suggested than words alone. Blogger Todd Epp of S.D. Watch got the whole story. If you’re really interested, you can click here for some video of the Buffalo Chip pickle-licking contest, although there is apparently some controversy about whether that is part of the official pageant. Hat-tip TPM via Harper’s weekly. Perhaps McCain doesn’t realize that women have the right to vote.