Blue Mass Group

Hillary Clinton for Vice President. If this were to come to pass, I might consider voting for President Obama in 2012. It’s the only thing at this point that would give me the desire to vote for him. http://robertreich.org/post/14932718385 Having Hillary Clinton in the room could be what we need to get real change to happen.

Have you read the new casino law? My take on it is we may never see a legal slot machine anywhere near here. Maybe the entire state. Lots of local hurdles needed before a license can be granted. The casino operators know what to do. They practically wrote the book on influencing hyper local opinion in the 21st century. Now throw in the fact that for every operator putting in a bid for a license there will be five who want it to fail. Do you think the money behind Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods will keep their wallets closed during referendum campaigns? Each referendum will be like a mini-presidential primary. (Only more money spent off the books) Here’s my understanding of how it works. Let’s take East Boston for example. According to the new law Joe O’Donnel has to do the following: 1. Negotiate a deal with the “host municipalities”. In this case it would be the City of Boston and City of Revere. This include anything and everything. Infrastructure, taxes, local jobs, building plans, and more. 2. Negotiate a deal with “surrounding municipalities” as identified by the new Commission. A surrounding community is defined as one that because of [...]

We’ve debated this before. We’ll debate it again. It seems like a matter of common sense, but experience shows common sense often makes no sense. In a better world, our political system and electoral process would do its best to enfranchise everyone to vote. We don’t live in a better world, of course. We live in a democracy that has never given voters what they deserve and that is controlled by parties (mostly, but not always, Republican) that will use any legal means necessary to suppress the vote for their own benefit. Voter ID laws are meant to suppress the vote of minority voters likely to support Democrats. It accomplishes this goal not by creating laws requiring ID’s to vote, but by creating regulations which make it difficult, sometimes extraordinarily so, to obtain an ID.

NEW BIFFLES: “Hawkeyed” Attorney General Martha Coakley’s gaming industry oversight is the top story in today’s Herald. Wait, what? Does the Herald know this is the same Martha Coakley that ran for Senate? I guess they’ve decided they like her now, seeing as they went so far as to give her the tough superhero pose. Or it’s all viral marketing for the Avengers movie. MITT  MONITOR: Things are picking up speed up north in New Hampshire and out west in Iowa as the two states prepare to vote for a Republican Presidential nominee. Mitt Romney doesn’t seem worried about his competition and is focusing on the President (AP). And what’s 90s pop culture icon Newt Gingrich’s problem of the moment? Oh, just the republication of a newsletter he authored praising Romney’s 2006 health reform bill. (Globe) Nothing but trouble, these newsletters. IS THE MAYOR FREE?: Lawrence is still without a school receiver (Eagle Trib.) Foxboro casino proposal is dealt a setback (Photo: Essdras M Suarez/Globe Staff) VIDEO: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney set sights on different targets in caucus run-up – Boston Globe Foxboro holds meeting to debate building of casino – WHDH Prince parents got $225K in settlement – WWLP [...]