Blue Mass Group

[Filed on behalf of The Fernald League for the Retarded, Inc.]

U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro has upheld a guardian's right to free speech.

We understand that Tauro has denied a motion by a state-funded service provider to remove Diane Walsh McDonald's letter from the district court docket.  McDonald had criticized the role of the provider, the Arc of Greater Boston, in the allegedly involuntary transfer of an elderly woman from the Fernald Developmental Center in 2008.

We first reported here on BMG that McDonald's letter was written to a Fernald administrator in objection to a current plan by the Department of Developmental Services to transfer her brother from Fernald to a group home in Bedford. 

Talk about an idiotic idea. The U.S. is going to start charging foreign tourists $10 to visit the country. The funds will pay for an advertising campaign to encourage people to … visit the country. U.K. Guardian: The US yesterday passed a new law designed to boost dwindling numbers of foreign tourists – it will start charging them for the privilege of entering the country. The bizarre move has prompted controversy on both sides of the Atlantic and warnings that it could backfire. Under the Travel Promotion Act signed into law by Barack Obama yesterday, a new national marketing body will be set up to promote US holidays abroad, a job that until now has only been done piecemeal by individual states. However the money to pay for the “multi-channel marketing campaign” is to be raised in part from visiting tourists, by charging them $10 for permission to enter. The rest of the funding will be raised in private sector contributions. What this sounds like to me is a new fee imposed on people who can’t vote to fund a new bureaucracy that will produce a product whose effects can’t be measured with any precision. In other words, a hack’s [...]

I go full-bore “where’s the 5,000 jobs coming from,” Mr. WannabeGovernor over at my blog, but here’s a classic example of why “The Smartest Man in Government” is quickly becoming the best political joke of a frequently used title I can remember. First, the video. “Erica” was on the radio today with Baker, asking about those 5,000 jobs in state government that he wants to cut, wondering if she’s going to be one of those state employees to get a pink slip. Someone (that I don’t know) emailed me the video this morning — and it was a doozy. Baker says to her, talking about how private employees have been taking massive paycuts — he throws around the number “20%” — that it seems like State Employees haven’t been taking any cuts. So, he asks her if she knows anyone who’s had any pay cuts that she works with in state government. “Absolutely… I took a pay cut.” Flabbergasted, Baker says she’s the exception to the rule. Now it’s our turn to be flabbergasted. State Government has been absolutely decimated by the Great Recession. From just one round of cuts last year alone: Governor Deval Patrick cut an additional 750 [...]

Kudos to the folks at Red Mass Group for their latest effort Red Noreaster, “a blog focused on the Northeast region of the United States.” I like the name. After putting Scott Brown in office, turning the whole Northeast red seems almost trivial by comparison.  

There is a great blog post on Time’s The Curious Capitalist blog about a bill that Wisconsin Congressman Steve Kagen (D-WI08) has introduced. The bill would effectively put price tags on health care services, such as pills that hospitals and doctors provide. You would know in advance that a Tylenol was going to cost $140. The bill – Transparency in All Health Care Pricing Act of 2010 – already has 45 sponsors. This is the type of common sense approach to cutting health care costs that Congress should be looking at. Kudos to Kagen for filing the bill. Let’s hope it becomes law.

No time to write up a full post this morning, so here are some links to get you started on the topic of the day.  In case you missed it, Speaker DeLeo proposed two resort casinos and four racinos or slot parlors in his Chamber of Commerce speech yesterday. More: DeLeo is all in. McGrory is worried. Jonas is cautious. Leading casino opponent Senator Susan Tucker is not seeking reelection.

Fess up. The title got you.  About a gazillion years ago, in Sociology 101, I was introduced to the intriguing concept of status deprivation. Goes like this: A does not have X / A knows of other persons that have X / A wants to have X / A believes obtaining X is realistic. This explains a huge amount of the behavior of politicians at many levels of government. And what is the “X”  at issue here? Sports tickets, of course.   I know, I know, this is confusing triviality with importance. No.It’s.Not. Sports tickets are the coin of the realm. The Holy Grail. Witness the ongoing plight of Salvatore DiMasi. In addition to the Cognos mess, for which he has been indicted, there is the ticket reselling mess in which, according to the Globe, “a group of professional ticket brokers hired Richard Vitale [Di Masi's main guy]to help pass the proposed bill [favoring the ticket sellers]. Vitale, the personal accountant and former treasurer for …  DiMasi, reportedly told the brokers that he could ‘do things a registered lobbyist couldn’t do – behind the scenes.’” And, if you think that sports tickets didn’t also figure into the Cognos deal, you [...]

Ho-hum. It was the usual one-two punch in the Globe today. James Vaznis reported on the Boston superintendent’s announcement that 12 ‘underperforming” Boston school will be shaken-up. Boston superintendent Carol Johnson announced that five principals will be replaced and the staff at six of the schools at the schools will be forced to reapply for their jobs. http://www.boston.com/news/edu… Mr. Vaznis asked everyone for a comment (well, almost everyone). Ms. Johnson has a quotation. The Governor expresses his concerns. Mayor Menino gets his say-so. A superintendent voices his fond hope for some of that RTT money. Even union president Richard Stutman gets a word in. Once again, not a single, solitary teacher-only the group most effected by this shake-up-is asked for a comment or thought. To do so might give the impression, mirabile dictu, that they can actually think.  How do they feel about having to reapply for their jobs, mostly in the absence of any evaluations? What is their response when the Boston superintendent says teachers are going to have to “recommit themselves”? One would think these are natural questions for a reporter to ask. By not asking them and having only Mr. Stutman respond, Mr. Vaznis reinforces the perception [...]

Niki Tsongas failed to take a principled stand on the PATRIOT Act last week. This is exactly the kind of “compromise” that makes the Democratic Party look weak. Tsongas defended the vote as a stopgap measure until lawmakers on Capitol Hill can agree to a suitable alternative that balances personal freedoms with the need to protect the United States from attacks at home and abroad. President Barack Obama signed the extension into law on Saturday. “This is a temporary one-year extension, and I do have serious concerns with it, but we don’t yet have a substitute to correct them,” Tsongas told The Sun when questioned about her vote. “We saw with the Christmas Day bomber that we still have real problems collecting intelligence and sharing it, and we need a broad solution.” The House voted 315-97 last Thursday to extend three key provisions of the Patriot Act related to wiretapping and surveillance that were set to expire on Sunday. The vote, coming on the heels of unanimous consent without a roll call in the Senate, extends the powers granted to the federal government until Feb. 28, 2011. Tsongas joined 127 Democrats, including the party leadership, in backing the extension, but [...]

The State Convention is an important way to have an influence on who will appear on the ballot and who will be endorsed by the Democratic Party. And it is always a lot of fun!  This year is an endorsing convention.  Each statewide candidate needs at least 15% of the delegate vote to appear on the primary ballot.  The Add ON delegate process is an important opportunity to be able to attend the convention.  Be sure that the application is filled out completely, especially the name of the Senate District.

Here is some information from the Massachusetts Democratic Party on becoming an Add On delegate.

Democrats who were not elected at their local caucus can still go to the convention as an Add On. Download the forms for the Add On positions. To be a delegate you must be Democrat as of December 31st, 2009. The deadline to apply for an Add On position is April 5th.

The 3 categories for Add On are below the flip.