Blue Mass Group

You read it here first!  A new coalition of nonprofits calling itself “We Need Two” is setting up an online petition to urge the legislature and the Gov (who needs no urging) to act on Senator Kennedy's desire to have an interim Senator appointed until the special election can be held.  The coalition includes: Chelsea CollaborativeChinese Progressive Association MassVOTEMassachusetts ACORNMassachusetts Affordable Housing AllianceMassachusetts Senior Action Council MIRA CoalitionOiste SEIU MassachusettsUFCW Local 1445 Notably absent from the WeNeedTwo website, unfortunately, is an important part of Senator Kennedy's idea, namely, that the interim appointee should not participate in the special election.  However, coalition spokesman Michael Whitney told us that [I]f the legislature honors Senator Kennedy's request to change state law and allow[s] for a temporary appointment to fill his seat, the prospective candidates can be asked to pledge not to run for the seat after the appointed time. The [WeNeedTwo] site specifically emphasizes the “temporary” nature of the appointment, too. … [T]his pledge would most likely be based on a promise by the appointee (and those who do not make that public promise could be dropped from consideration) but would be easily upheld by the voters. Any appointee who breaks their public [...]

Cross-posted from Blue News Tribune. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ratcheted up bellicose US rhetoric against Iran Wednesday, accusing the country of funding “terrorism” and interfering in the internal affairs of states throughout the Middle East. Her statements coincided with the release of a report by a Washington think tank with ties to the Obama administration suggesting that the US should establish a “nuclear umbrella” over the region. (snip) Making it clear that the question of Iran had been central to her talks in Israel, the occupied West Bank and Egypt, Clinton declared, “It is clear that Iran intends to interfere with the internal affairs of all these people and try to continue their efforts to fund terrorism, whether it’s Hezbollah or Hamas or other proxies.” http://www.globalresearch.ca/i… What was that, Madam Secretary? Washington has branded as “foreign terrorist organizations” both Hamas, which is the elected government of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah, which is one of the most powerful political organizations in Lebanon and part of the national unity government, because both have resisted Israeli occupations. There’s more. A report issued by a think tank thinks this is a good idea. (I think “pro-Israeli” may be [...]

Watched the CBS Evening News tonight,Thursday August 27th on Channel 4 only to hear Katie Couric who was broadcasting fron the Kennedy Library say that the Kennedy Library was “located on the shore of the Charles River.” Katie Couric are you that dumb? Look behind you and you will see BOSTON HARBOR, you idiot. No wonder Red Sox Owner Tom Werner dumped you ! You can’t tell a river from the Atlantic Ocean.

Ted Kennedy was a living legend his entire life due to his long career as our state’s senior Senator. Over the course of nearly five decades he was a major leader on the important legislative issues of his, and our time. Whether it be opposing the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, opposing Robert Bork, or standing for immigrants, African and disabled Americans, gay Americans, women, and the poor, through all the legislation he crafted and proposed we are sure to miss him. Also due to his seniority and influence Massachusetts was a top destination for federal funds, especially vital research grants to our universities and hospitals. The political landscape of this state and our nation was altered forever by his untimely passing and as we honor our late Senator it is also important to ask who should pick up the torch. These are the names that have been floated in the press of course you are welcome to float other names as well but I wanted to get a sense of who people wanted to back.  

The BMG flag flew this morning, and will be repeated throughout the week, on the Sirius/XM current events chat show The New School, which runs on their POTUS Politics Weekly channel. Congressperson Dana Rohrabacher led off the show, followed by a round-table with Sharon Toomer of BlackandBrownNews.com, White House correspondent Dayo Olopade of TheRoot.com, and yours truly, on Kennedy, the Massachusetts succession, and what’s top of mind for BMGers these days. As best I remember, because it was pretty early in the morning and I was still getting my coffee IV hooked up, I said we want the President to remember who “brung him” and push for a public option, withdrawal from Iraq rather than a permanent occupation, and the rule of law: no indefinite detention without trial, no kidnapping people and rendering them to foreign countries. I reminded everyone that Senator Kennedy said the best vote he made in his entire career was the one against the Iraq war. Hat tip to the thousands of BMG commenters who hold forth here.

Meet me at Foxwoods!  On the brink of default, the Mashantucket Pequots are seeking to restructure $2.3 billion worth of debt, a senior adviser to the tribe said in interviews this week. The debt is $1 billion more than the tribe's Foxwoods Resort Casino – North America's largest casino and once the world's most profitable – can sustain, the adviser said. … [T]he prospect of a “destination” casino resort in the Bay State, where lawmakers could legalize casino gambling as soon as this fall, looms as the single greatest threat to Foxwoods, the senior adviser said. The restructuring will apparently have no effect on Foxwoods operations … but a casino sure doesn't look like the golden goose anymore. I suppose I should be glad that casinos are not recession-proof. 

Hub blog posted an interesting link to a series of news clips from the early 1970s outlining the debate between the Nixon administration and Sen. Ted Kennedy over health care coverage for all Americans. It is interesting to note that Ted Kennedy became a great Senator after he failed in his run for the Presidency in 1980 and put that dream behind him. After he was no longer a candidate he was able to put his full focus on legislation and made legendary compromises with conservatives from John McCain on immigration to Orrin Hatch on S-Chip to George W. Bush on education. But back in 1971 he was still in partisan candidate mode and ended up refusing to compromise on single-payer health care, killing Nixon’s reform, and stalling all reform efforts until the failed 1994 effort. The clips are interesting since the newscasters comment on how health care costs are astronomically rising, make up the biggest costs for families, businesses, and the federal government, phrases such as ‘rising out of control’ and ‘broken system’ are also heard. Also both Nixon and Kennedy in the speeches heard on the clips mention preventative care as well and advocate healthy lifestyle. It is [...]

The Globe is reporting, of course, on potential successors to Senator Kennedy. The article makes the point that while there are several strong contenders, “The shape of the race – and the Kennedy political legacy – will hinge on whether another Kennedy seeks to keep it in the family.” There was a famous case in England in the seventeenth century called the Oxford Peerage Case. The de Vere family, one of the great old Norman families that had come to England with the Conqueror, had held the earldom of Oxford for hundreds of years. There were many famous and capable de Veres. The 18th earl, Henry de Vere, died without a son, and so there was a lawsuit between Robert de Vere, a cousin, and Lord Willoughby de Eresby, who claimed through a female (which was disfavored at the time). The decision, which was in favor of Robert, is in my mind one of the very few really eloquent law cases, and I think it is relevant to the vacant Massachusetts senatorial seat. Here is Lord Chief Justice Crewe: I have labored to make a covenant with myself, that affection may not press upon judgment, for I suppose there is [...]

Since the radical right wing token conservative was so far off base and so ill informed  as to call for Senator Kennedy to step down from his US Senate position hours before Kennedy died one wonders if the Boston Globe should ask the bearded, jowly, lisping Jeff Jacoby to resign. Maybe there is an opening at Bay Windows for a radical, ill informed hack writer?

“Please join Governor Deval Patrick for a cookout in Hopkinton on Sunday.   Sunday, August 30 at 2 PM Mass Laborers District Council 7 Laborers Way, Hopkinton Suggested donation $25 RSVP: (617) 367-2010 or cookout@devalpatrick.com We invite anyone who would like to attend, so bring your family, your friends, and your neighbors. We hope to see you there!” It will be good for us to come together as we mourn Senator Kennedy, while carrying on the Democratic work that he advocated.  Many of us feel the need to be in the company of other Democrats.  It seems a fitting tribute to the Senator.  A year ago, on 8/25/2009, I last heard Senator Kennedy as he addressed the National Convention. “The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”  Please join us.   Kate Donaghue