Blue Mass Group

I’m going to be at the BMG Canvass tomorrow in Nashua – if anyone wants a ride from the metrowest area, I can meet up at the commuter lot off exit 26 around 10:00 am.  I made a sign-up page at barackobama.com: http://my.barackobama.com/page… Jeanne Shaheen is having a rally in Nashua at 2:30 tomorrow, and Bill Clinton will be the feature speaker – might be fun to take a break and go see the big dog in action!   I’ll be leaving around 9:30 am and getting back around 7:00 – 8:00 pm depending on dinner plans.

I think I've held forth on these already, so I won't belabor the points: Question 1: No. For all those folks who don't use roads, or send kids to schools (or care about or are influenced by public education in any way), or aren't protected by police or firemen, or don't use libraries, or courts, or services for the disabled, or have parents in nursing homes, or get health care services, or use parks, or are affected by local economies … Yeah, for all those folks, then Question 1 makes a hell of lot of sense. All three of you, living in that cave, with all the guns and canned food. For the rest of us, it's a Dumb Idea. Question 2: Yes. I just can never get over the question of why marijuana possession itself should be illegal in the first place. The argument always goes into “it's a gateway drug” (slippery slope), or weak analogies to alcohol, heroin or cocaine (are they at all similar? How?), or that weed is way more powerful than it used to be (more powerful than what? to what effect, exactly?).  I am open to any responsible, well-documented arguments regarding the harmfulness of [...]

The Pro-Prop 8 people mailed this to California voters this week.  Obama, by taking his Jim Crow, fudged Christian stance on equality under the law, has perfectly set this up for the haters.  Will Obama let this go unanswered?  Will you, Obama supporter?  Obama needs to publicly repudiate the use of his image and words to pass a discriminatory constitutional amendment.  His supporters need to demand it of him.  7% of CA voters are still undecided about Prop 8, and will tip the balance.  What he says and does right now matters.

In the box of text that may not be legible, it says:

“When asked to specifically define his views on marriage, Obama has stated that he believes ‘that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.’  ’Now, for me as a Christian, it’s also a sacred union.  God’s in the mix,’ he added.

August 16, Saddleback Church Candidates Forum in California”

On the other side it says (among other quotes):

“Senator Joe Biden affirms his and Barack Obama’s support for traditional marriage.  ’Barack Obama nor I support redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.  We do not support that.’

Sen. Joe Biden VP Debates 10/2/08″

Yes, there’s a double-meaning here. Wilkerson is now a footnote in Boston’s checkered and too often sordid political history. A sad end to a career that once had real potential. But throughout the incident that finally did her in, Wilkerson displayed behavior that is all-too-similar to other political miscreants. Here’s a footnote on that. In 1980, Gerald F. O’Leary, then a member of the Boston School Committee, tried to extort money from a bus company that was vying for the lucrative Boston school-busing contract. O’Leary demanded, and got, an initial payment of $25,000. The company then contacted the FBI, who filmed O’Leary receiving a second $25,000 payment in a room at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. (Sound familiar?) He was convicted and sentenced to 18 months. Political wags drew two morals from this incident. First, if you are going to get $25,000 in cash in a hotel room, be sure that YOU rent the hotel room.  Second, if you are going to take a chance like O’Leary did, make sure it’s for more than $50,000. Because it’s not only your political career, but your whole life that’s on the line. $50,000 is not enough. When you look at what O’Leary did [...]

Sorry, BMG. I’ve been away for a while. I hope this is a good time for me to come back.

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

Two days ago, on October 30, the London Times reported that Barack Obama’s Kenyan aunt, Zeituni Onyango, was living in public housing in Boston.   This Saturday morning, the Associated Press reported that Onyango is an unauthorized migrant. 

Nativist bloggers are already foaming at the mouth.  Michelle Malkin has highlighted a typical nativist comment, capital letters and all:

Interesting little side story — the Matt Santos character on West Wing was directly based on Obama! Politico has a nice interview with Jimmy Smits on seeing his character’s story playing out in real time. http://www.politico.com/news/s…

UPDATE: Instead of sentence by sentence, I’m now twittering just the topic sentences for each paragraph. The reason: To get people engaged, the sentence has to state a position and ask for information. A sentence that simply documents a point doesn’t lead to anything. So people are providing the answers for each paragraph themselves. I’ve done four sentences. Will try to digest it all by tomorrow morning, write the top of the draft, post it, and resume the Twitter exercise. Here are the first four tweets: 1) Go ahead and laugh at Twitter. Plenty of trivia. (I’ll put more detail in the story, but don’t want to waste Twitter characters on it.) But businesses are coming up with all kinds of ways to harness microblogging… 2) What started as a watercooler for geeks is becoming a vital com. platform-with its own developer crowd. But now tech challenges: 3) Twit is tiny in social media. Only some half million active users. But influential. More venture funding? What’s it worth? 4)Is Twitter just changeable cog in social media mix? Or with its fast-growing ecosystem of aps developers, will it be a platform? ____________ alex45 blue square bonus free bet. Bluesq.com promo code. [...]

1. Abolish the state personal income tax? No. I agree the Beacon Hill is controlled by a group that too frequently puts their private interest ahead of the public good. The legislature reminds me of Edoras before its cleansing by Gandalf — a dark, closed place that feeds on its own whispers and has fallen far from former greatness — for any Tolkien fans out there. Ending the income tax, however, would be to destroy the state in order to save it, to paraphrase the logic of an infamous U.S. commander in Vietnam. A far better approach is to replace the hackocracy with progressive Democratic majorities in the House and Senate — one of the goals of BMG, coincidentally. 2. Decriminalize possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Yes. We should legalize marijuana in order to better control it, tax it, and end the crime associated with its distribution. This is a step on the road to that end. The current drug control regime is a failure: it is easy for anyone to buy marijuana any time they want it. Indeed, it is harder for many, perhaps most, teenagers to buy beer than pot. Since the existing system doesn’t [...]