Blue Mass Group

Reported in the Globe that the HACK HAVEN, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is out of control again. Apparently we are conserving too much water and the MWRA wants to raise rates to make up the difference. Huh? Former State Senator Golden,Cohasset, an arrogant asshole is to blame that we have this Hack agency in the first place and Michael Dukakis for failing to file for federal funding under the Clean Water Act. Dukakis was too busy running for president to tend to his job as governor.  

Norfolk County Bill Keating does not seem to understand the fact that his office received information in the past few days that should trigger his duty to re-open an old homicide case. This is standard stuff. Old death cases are re-opened every day. A witness comes forward, DNA evidence tested, etc. In the Bishop case evidence has recently surfaced that strongly suggests the victim was murdered. Why it has taken so long to indict is a side issue. But a murder is a murder is a murder. Without a statute of limitations. As a result the D.A. has an ethical obligation to re-open the homicide case. It really is a no brainier. But not for Bill Keating. Here’s what he told Boston.com today There are lessons to be learned from mistakes and clearly not charging on the three charges, and being put in a position now where we can’t even have a grand jury review those charges. Those mistakes are there,” Keating said. “It’s important to go forward so that the same mistakes can’t be repeated.” Nobody has asked nor has he indicated he will be re-opening the case. Jesus Christ. Do I have to everything around here? Why hasn’t [...]

Email (no link) from  Michael Czin, Northeast Regional Press Secretary, Democratic National Committee: Scott Brown has gone from a DC outsider to an insider in record time. Just last October, Brown’s State Senate district received Recovery Act funds to keep firefighters from being laid off and last April his district received funds to support small businesses – accomplishments he bragged about. Now as a US Senator, Brown claims the Recovery Act hasn’t created one job. This is politics and hypocrisy at its worst – Scott Brown is nothing more than a hypocrite trying to score a cheap political point. It’s time for Brown to stand up to the Republican Party bosses and special interests that got him elected and admit that the Recovery Act is working for all Americans, just liked it worked in his Senate District. Now, this is fine as far as it goes. Mr. Czin, apologies to Lloyd at Goldman Sachs, is doing God’s work here. And one won’t have difficulty convincing a majority of BMG readers, or RMG readers for that matter, that Scott Brown is a Republican extremist cut from the same cloth as Sarah Palin. But, really, the election was last month. Where was [...]

I always been puzzled by Scott Brown’s remarks on the stimulus and jobs.   Don’t you recall when Brown was first elected and he was making the rounds talking to Menino and Patrick.  He said that Patrick should release stimulus funds faster in order to continue to create jobs in Massachusetts.  Now this wasn’t that long ago, only a couple of weeks. So I used “The Google” and found this nugget from January 26, 2010.  Newly elected Scott Brown in midst of his victory tour meets with Mayor Menino and talks about the stimulus impact in Boston and the jobs created. The words of Scott Brown (emphasis mine): Speaking to the mayor, the governor has a lot of this stimulus money and he hasn’t released it, Brown said. And the mayor has done a wonderful job being very transparent in and talking about hard numbers … and jobs actually created. We’ve got to get these dollars out the door, Brown said. The mayor and other cities and towns have jobs and new shovel-ready projects that they can get done right away. Brown then met with Patrick the next day and discussed the stimulus.  I’m guessing that Patrick tactfully set him [...]

RESULTS OF THE MANDATORY WRKO MEETING TODAY WITH ENTERCOM HONCHO: * Felon Finneran, Todd ” I am not a Jew ” Feinburg from 680 WRKO Gone Baby Gone. * Druggy Rushbo off to WKOX and Felon & Feinburg just GONE from WRKO. * All gone by summer. * Howie Carr show on its death bed at RKO but look for the corpse to stink up WTKK by fall. As to WTKK Michael Graham as in “Cracker” is just waiting for his divorce to be finalized before he ventures off to FOX Comedy News as Glenn Beck’s enabler. Who ever said vaudeville was dead. Severin off to nights if the psych drugs hold out. TKK thinking of installing a mobile studio at McLean’s for him on his Down Daze. Michelle McPhee – look for her to be hawking her wares on the street corner where she belongs.

[Cross posted from ONE Massachusetts]

The wellbeing of communities across the Commonwealth relies on our capacity to work together through our government to continue building and supporting our public structures that provide quality education, public health, stable legal systems, safe recreation, clean water, and much more. We work through our government to protect these services when we elect our representatives, become civically engaged in our communities, and pay our taxes.

In a Globe article dated February 14th, Jennifer Fenn Lefferts reported how Concord is considering creative ways to reform its revenues to make its tax system more equitable. With an average property tax bill of $10,128, Concord has had trouble retaining lower-income and elderly residents and working farms.

Let’s keep the Amy Bishop matter simple. Here is what happened according to the highly respected A-1 lawyer and prosecutor John Kivlan. He was the assistant a.d.a that passed on seeking charges against Amy. (BTW – has anyone ever seen Amy Bishop and former BPD big brass Kathleen O’Toole in the same room?) Because the Mass law mandates that suspicious deaths/homicide investigations be headed by the district attorney’s office, and according to the internal procedures at the time, the State Police assigned to the D.A.s office did an investigation. They then filed a seven page report with all the known documents attached that were produced by any source as result of the incident. This included autopsy report, ballistics, all police reports, witness statements, photos, etc.  According to Kevlan neither the report nor the attachments reported any facts related to Bishop’s actions after the shooting which showed “consciousness of guilt”. A legal term used to describe, in this case, evidence of actions taken after she shot her brother that show it was an intentional act rather than accidental. Sich as running from the house with a assaulting people and looking for a get away car. It also shows she is methodical. [...]

One year ago today President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, popularly known as the Stimulus Bill.  That bill has become something of a flashpoint in the country’s political conversation (if you can call it that) ever since, with Republicans making outlandish claims along the lines of “it hasn’t created one new job” when of course it created many, and so forth. Well, a year has gone by, and at least some of the facts are in.  And guess what?  It worked. Imagine if, one year ago, Congress had passed a stimulus bill that really worked. Let’s say this bill had started spending money within a matter of weeks and had rapidly helped the economy. Let’s also imagine it was large enough to have had a huge impact on jobs – employing something like two million people who would otherwise be unemployed right now. If that had happened, what would the economy look like today? Well, it would look almost exactly as it does now. Because those nice descriptions of the stimulus that I just gave aren’t hypothetical. They are descriptions of the actual bill. Really?  Wait – a Republican told me that the stimulus bill was a [...]

I'm positively glowing after hearing President Obama say yesterday that the $8 billion in loan guarantees he has set aside to build a nuclear plant in Georgia is “only the beginning.”

Obama said his budget proposes tripling loan guarantees to help finance “safe, clean nuclear facilities…across America.”

I have to admit I didn't realize that nuclear power has become safe.  For those who remember Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, that's good news. 

I'm positively glowing after hearing President Obama say yesterday that the $8 billion in loan guarantees he has set aside to build a nuclear plant in Georgia is “only the beginning.”

Obama said his budget proposes tripling loan guarantees to help finance “safe, clean nuclear facilities…across America.”

I have to admit I didn't realize that nuclear power has become safe.  For those who remember Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, that's good news.