Blue Mass Group

I was reading The Hill today, and came across the following article Black lawmakers irked by Obama’s diverse Cabinet. The first line of the article just about sums it up Some members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are disappointed President-elect Obama did not appoint more African-Americans to his Cabinet. I understand the frustration that the CBC has experienced with past administrations. This group of Black lawmakers have made it a priority to make sure that issues important to Black Americans are not ignored. But isn’t their most recent disappointment a little dramatic? Obama’s Cabinet, if confirmed, will include 11 whites, four blacks, three Hispanics and two Asian Americans. According to the US Census Bureau, African-Americans make up just over 12% of the Country’s population, but represent 20% of Obama’s cabinet nominees. What is there really to be upset about? I believe Obama has picked a variety of individuals, who on the surface (gender, race, ethnic origins) represent a great cross-section of Americans. Furthermore, I believe that while Obama wanted his cabinet to be diverse, he wanted his picks to be qualified. I think those benchmarks have been met. What is more, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus seems to be pleased [...]

Sent to Saddleback Church on December 22:

Pastor Rick Warren has attempted to refute criticisms that fundamentalists pick and choose when they seek to impose some parts of Jewish law (the “Torah”) but not others on modern society. Leviticus forbids sex between males (though not lesbian sex), which is a rule Warren sees as binding on everyone in the world. Yet Leviticus also forbids consumption of shellfish, certain forms of shaving, and blended fabrics. If fundamentalists were literally interpreting the Bible in its entirety, they’d have to abstain from most seafood and reject as sinful clothes made from cotton/polyester blends. Clearly they don’t.

The New York Daily News is reporting that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R-Medford) is anxious.  People are focusing on “all the wrong things.”

Wrong things?  Like, does Caroline Kennedy vote in elections?  What has Caroline Kennedy actually done?  What are Caroline Kennedy’s position on the issues?  Would Caroline Kennedy back the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City in 2009?  Is there anyone more qualified that Caroline Kennedy?

Here’s Michael Bloomberg, sounding like a high-pressure used car salesman in the Daily News:

Mayor Bloomberg had a message Monday for Gov. Paterson as he mulls a replacement for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat: hurry up already!

“It’s up to the governor, and I think the governor should make a decision reasonably quickly because this is just getting out of control,” Bloomberg said. “Everybody’s focusing on the wrong things.”

Good thinking.  The more folks talk about the senate seat, the more folks compare Caroline to other New Yorkers who might be more compelling choices to hold a senate seat.  Even if you want to choose from outside the usual suspect pool of elected officials, New York is a state filled with accomplished people.  One example, with everything but a famous relative, is described under the fold.

“Treasury Secretary” — I think the air quotes are appropriate since he’s more like the un-Treasury Secretary — Paulson has asked Congress to approve the second tranche of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout program. The AP reports: Under terms of the $700 billion rescue fund that Congress approved on Oct. 3, when the administration determines the second $350 billion is needed it has to submit a report to Congress detailing how it plans to use those funds. The money automatically will become available unless both houses of Congress pass legislation blocking the funds within 15 days of receiving the administration’s report. I think we have seen enough of Secretary Paulson and his flailing incompetence. A recent survey by the AP, for example, found as just one among many examples of mismanagement: After receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. “We’ve lent some of it. We’ve not lent some of it. We’ve not given any accounting of, ‘Here’s how we’re doing it,”‘ said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. “We [...]

First, here is the link:  http://www.mass.gov/childadvoc… Note that the website has a link where you can file complaints as to poor service or abuses by the Department of Children and Families, or other state agencies and also a link to contact the Child Advocate. The first report by the Child Advocate is also posted in its entirety – welcome transparency and much appreciated.

Pope Benedict relayed the following message of good cheer on Monday.

Pope Benedict said on Monday that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behavior was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

“(The Church) should also protect man from the destruction of himself. A sort of ecology of man is needed,” the pontiff said in a holiday address to the Curia, the Vatican’s central administration.

“The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.”…

[I]n October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality “a deviation, an irregularity, a wound.”

The pope said humanity needed to “listen to the language of creation” to understand the intended roles of man and woman. He compared behavior beyond traditional heterosexual relations as “a destruction of God’s work.”

Vying for the honor of presenting President-elect Obama’s inaugural invocation?

Rosaria Salerno City Clerk http://www.cityofboston.gov/ci… Do I have to identify myself? If you wish. If you may. Rosaria Salerno, City Clerk, 149 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston You may just want to adjust the mike, I think there might be a Is it not on? Is it on? It doesn’t At the base So let me just start. To answer your second question first, yes, well, people should be able to find out anything, so yes I agree. I would like to answer your first question a little with a little more elaboration. yes So I became the clerk in 1995 and I was elected in January. But I wasn’t sworn in until February and in that intervening it was I think I was elected on the 28th of January and I was sworn in the the 14th of February and within that short period of time a gentleman from Cambridge got in touch with me to complain to me about Boston City Council minutes. Now I wasn’t even the clerk yet. I think I know who this is. And that was the initial introduction I had and over the years since 1995 he calls or emails on a regular basis and [...]

For better or worse, it looks like Jim Aloisi will be transportation secretary. But now that that furor has died down, I can't help but worry about another high-profile will greet us after the holidays.

I'm talking about MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas.

Today is National Call-In Day for HR 676, a single-payer health care bill introduced by John Conyers. Many in our delegation are sponsors, Capuano, Delahunt, Frank, Lynch, McGovern, Olver, Tierney. We need to put pressure on those who aren’t. Notably missing are Tsongas, Neal, and my own congressman, Ed Markey. Our state’s own plan is terribly inadequate, and Sen. Kennedy, who is taking a lead national role in this, needs to be told that we can and should do much better. Let’s all do our part, in this moment of opportunity, to push through meaningful and just health care reform