Blue Mass Group

Unease is leading to feelings of resentment and abandonment. Having been there—when you risk death and injury every day, and you come to realize that those who sent you there, to do their bidding, don’t care if you live or die—-it’s then that the anger begins to well up inside you and in the man who is to your left and to your right. You begin to think, ” If I get out of this alive and in one piece—someone is going to pay.” As the Commander in Chief Deliberates, Frustration Builds Within the Ranks By ELISABETH BUMILLER Published: October 19, 2009 But now, after nearly a month of deliberations by Mr. Obama over whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, frustrations and anxiety are on the rise within the military. The thunderstorm is there and it’s kind of brewing and it’s unstable and the lightning hasn’t struck, and hopefully it won’t,” said Nathaniel C. Fick, a former Marine Corps infantry officer who briefed Mr. Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and is now the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security, a military research institution in Washington. “I think it can probably be contained and [...]

Wall Street to set new record with 140 BILLION in holiday bonuses The single largest bonus pool is the 23 Billion Goldman Sachs is paying out. “Given the rules, they earned it,” said Peter Siris, an investment manager at Guerrilla Capital in Manhattan and a columnist for the Daily News’ Your Money section. “The problem is they earned it because the taxpayers helped them out. It bothers everybody to see the kind of money they’re making, but you can’t go back and reset the rules.” Even more troubling, Goldman Sachs fired more than 3200 employees and outsourced everything it could to poorly paid providers.  Kind of like the “Hyatt of banks” only to reward its robber baron elite with – really – 23,000,000,000.00 in bonuses.  Just count those zeros! This year’s bonuses are twice as much they were a year ago. It’s a larger bonus pool than any other year in the bank’s 140-year history. Just to rub it in, check this out, from the same article:   The firm made $3.44 billion, almost $5 a share, in the second quarter and is expected to report third-quarter profits of $4.24 per share tomorrow, up 57%. You know why the elite [...]

Saturday October 24th  is a Day of Climate Action to advocate for a reduction in atmospheric carbon to a safer and more sustainable number, 350 parts per million (ppm).

Come help ring the bell 350 times at 3:50 PM at Medfield’s First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church, with the Church of the Advent also participating.  The Day of Climate Action will spotlight the urgent need to focus the attention of the world’s leaders on reducing carbon emissions to 350 parts per million – a number we can live with! This event, which will culminate with an action in Copenhagen this December, during the International Climate Talks, is the concept of the organization 350.org.  350 ppm is the “safe” level of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere; currently it is 387 and rising.

There will also be a petition to sign to add your voice to the demand for climate action.

As many of you know, President Obama will be visiting Boston this Friday, Oct. 23rd, for a high dollar fundraiser to be held at the Westin Copley Hotel.  Outside the hotel, a protest will be held from 12:30pm – 2:30pm urging President Obama to follow through on his LGBT rights promises.

Join the facebook event!

The protest will focus upon two issues which President Obama has sole authority over, namely signing a stop-loss order to immediately halt the discharge of openly gay members of the military due to the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.  

Further, advocates are demanding that President Obama stop working against the LGBT community and against his campaign promise to get rid of DOMA, the Defense Of Marriage Act, by defending the law in Court.  Rather, they urge that President Obama direct his Department of Justice to stop defending this law in Court, of which there is no obligation to do so, allow a Congressionally appointed lawyer to defend the law instead, and join the plaintiffs.

Basic blogging with boring old words is so, you know, 2007 or so.  Today it’s all about the multimedia thing.  If you want your posts to stand out from the crowd, you need flashing lights, pretty pictures, and sound.  Many of you know how to do all of this already; some of you may not.  And, as I recently discovered, it’s actually quite tricky to embed audio.  So for those who need it, here’s what you need to know to include pictures, video, and audio in your BMG posts.

Everyone is talking about stimulus dollars, rainy day funds, budget cuts, and tax increases as potential solutions to our state's structural deficit. What we need to do is to take a thoughtful look at each of those options – and more – to find a balanced solution. And we are not alone. ONE Massachusetts has been working with experts from states across our country to see what we can all learn from each other. Here is one more piece of that balanced approach to providing real support to our state and our communities:

You know that the public structures that we all rely on – from clean water and safe roads to effective judicial and educational systems – are built, maintained, and repaired using the revenues our state collects through fees and taxes.

You also know that most state tax codes incorporate a number of exemptions, deductions, credits, and deferrals designed to encourage certain taxpayer activities or to limit the tax on certain types of individuals or endeavors. Known as “tax expenditures” (also referred to as “loopholes”), these provisions can have a significant impact on state tax revenues.

But did you know that you can see exactly what our state's tax expenditures are?

The Fiscal Year 2009 Tax Expenditure Budget Summary provides a detailed list of all the exemptions, exclusions, deductions of the personal income tax, corporate excise tax, and sales tax in Massachusetts. The total value of exempted, excluded, and deducted revenues within the Tax Expenditure Budget is $20.62 Billion.

Do you know what our options are for reviewing and adjusting our tax expenditures?

Find out below the fold…

I have heard and just received confirmation that Sen. Ken Donnelly and Rep. Jay Kaufman will announce their endorsement of Congressman Mike Capuano for the US Senate today, 3:00PM, at the Minuteman Statue on Lexington Green. If you are in the area, feel free to attend. (Also, I’m now off the fence and supporting Capuano.)

Remember my post last week on the Lewis and Clark Exploitation of the Middlesex Fells Reservation? Well bad news folks. Remember we hit a golf ball into the land used to create the first ever land trust, then walked to the ball and took a guided tour from there? You see, we were playing a Titleist. The ball we picked-up had a shamrock stamped on one side and on the other it said “Spanky Sullivan’s’ Memorial Golf Tourn.”. So, under the rules of golf, we must disregard everything said after the ball was first hit. Damn it! Coming soon: The Fells, Part 2 Wait Til’ You Hear What These Bastards Did and How They Did It This includes you Deval

In case you hadn’t heard, progressive talk radio is back on the air in Boston!  ”AM 1510 Revolution Boston” is at (you guessed it) 1510 on your AM dial.  It’s a strong signal that you should be able to hear well throughout most of the greater Boston area and hopefully as far west as Worcester, as far south as Brockton, and as far north as Concord, NH.  And if you can’t hear the radio signal for some reason, you can listen to a live stream at this link. I just taped a segment with host Jeff Santos talking about the Senate race.  It airs tonight at 6 pm.  Listen at AM 1510 or on the live stream.  And look for interesting joint ventures between AM 1510 and BMG in the weeks to come.

It must have been my endorsement that got them on board. Both Congressman Tierney and Congressman Lynch have endorsed Mike Capuano for U. S. Senate.

I also want to invite the BMG community to an “Open Mike” event in Westborough on Saturday from 3 to 4 PM at Tatnuck Bookseller at 18 Lyman Stret.  You can take the MBTA from South Station at 12:45 PM and we will pick you up at the Westborough station.  I think it’s time for a BMG Party.  It’s been a while!  Tatnuck Booksellers, then in Worcester, was the site of the first “BlogLeft” meeting back in 2005!.  Blast from the past reading sco’s write-up.  My thinking is that a few of us will gather at Ruby Tuesdays next door, probably at about 4:30 PM.  Come to the event or come to Ruby Tuesdays or come to both.

Lastly, but most importantly, the White House is announcing their new strategy for dealing with Sudan (and the genocide in Darfur) today. This is an issue that is near and dear to many of us, and it’s also one that Mike has been incredibly active on. Much like my own Congressman, Jim McGovern, ending the violence in that region is something that they taken on as a personal mission.

Here’s some information about Mike’s record:

Co-founded & currently co-chairs Sudan caucus

Co-Sponsored:

•       Genocide Accountability Act/Darfur Peace and Accountability Act

•       NATO Bridging Force

•       Presidential Special Envoy

•       Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act

Voted for:

•       Darfur Peace and Accountability Act

•       Funding Amendment for Protection

•       NATO Bridging Force

•       Presidential Special Envoy

•       Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act

•       China Resolution

•       Genocide Accountability Act

•       Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act

DarfurScores.org gives him an A+ on the issue

More details about Congressmna Capuano’s position below the flip.