Blue Mass Group

This is why I can’t wait for more unfiltered Scott Brown in 2012. During is election kickoff media day he was quoted in the Globe with this whopper, emphasis mine: Brown, who used a South Boston diner yesterday for a round of brief, 15-minute sit-down interviews with Massachusetts reporters, sought to paint himself as a bipartisan, moderate Republican. He even seemed to leave the door open in the future to move away from his no-new-taxes pledge when he said was open to raising tax rates in an overhaul of the federal tax system. “If you want to raise rates or do something as part of overall tax reform, I am all ears,’’ Brown said as he sipped a whipped-cream covered hot chocolate at Mul’s diner on West Broadway. That seems to be a flip flop on his signing of Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge(pdf), where he pledged to not raise taxes, eliminate deductions or even reduce deductions for that matter. Scott Brown’s handlers to the rescue, you see, when Scott said that he was all ears in raising rates, what he really was saying is that he’s opposed to raising rates: “Scott Brown is opposed to raising taxes,” spokeswoman Marcie [...]

An essay appearing at the Daily Kos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/29/1049670/-Occupy-Boston:-Wheres-the-Empathy reveals that Level 3 sex offenders convicted of preying on children were present at the Dewey Square encampment with the knowledge of some of the organizers. No disclosue was made until after the closure.A shocked mother learned that her young daughter had come into contact with a child predator. In the post-Dewey Square phase of the movement, the mother proposed to the General Assembly that Occupy Boston discourage the presence of Level 3 sex offenders–those determined most likely to reoffend. Shockingly, the GA deadlocked. In the 1980′s when some in the gay community argued that advocates of sex between adults and minors should be included as a part of our civil rights movement, a critical mass of leaders and grassroots activists said no. The North American Man-Boy Love Association was disinvited from participation in the annual Pride parade. In the years since it has become clear that our movement would have floundered had we not taken a strong stand against the participation of adult “boy-lovers.” If the Occupy movement cannot learn from the experience of other grassroots movements, it will not succeed in transforming society.  

By the time I finished reading this article from Talking Points Memo I lost count of the number of concerns I had with it. Not only was Twitter subpeonaed for user account information, but the whole investigation appears to be shrouded in secrecy. Apparently it involves alleged criminal activity relative to Occupy Boston, but anyone who knows is either not talking or not allowed to talk. I still haven’t figured out how to link in a diary so I’ll put that in the first comment.

367 days ago, I wrote a list of predictions for 2011.   Many joined in with theirs.  How did we do?  Well….huh… Most annoyingly, after I specifically predicted that Kim Jong Il would not die, he went off and kicked the bucket just in time for 2011.  Blah.  (Jimc correctly disagreed with me then.)  Aside from the safe prediction of new heads of government in Ireland, Australia, and Japan, and a non-indictment of Assange, I blew almost all. Props due to the following for their input: warrior02131 predicted that the Red Sox would continue to suck. liveandletlive: “the Main St economy will continue to stuggle along, while Wall Street and large global corporations will continue to do well” doubleman: “Chris Christie’s star fizzles.” jconway: “Bruins beat Canadiens and eventually win Stanley Cup.” The winningest prediction  eddiecoyle: “After redistricting by the Legislature carves up the 4th Congressional District, Congressman Barney Frank calls it a political career and announces he will not run for re-election to Congress in 2012.” What nobody saw coming  European financial meltdown, assassination of OBL, rise of Ron Paul and Elizabeth Warren. Below the bump: What I get wrong for 2012!

“Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” — Joseph Stalin   Hey Republicans–   Given that the Iowa Republican Party is going to assemble the caucus “results” in a dark, secret location, are you worried yet?  I mean, I know that elections are sacrosanct to you, to the point of violating federal law in your New Bedford appearance of late just because one person might cast an illegal vote.   Given that manipulated counts provides opportunity for one fraudulent datum, but literally thousands, you must be real upset, right? So, all our local conservatives, how outraged are you that Republican votes are going to be tallied up by a group of insiders in a method that recalls nothing as much as sub-Saharan “elections” where the powers that be inevitably triumphed?  Who have you written?  How have you complained? Or are all of you just full of it? PS:  I understand your rationale is fear of a couple big-talking protestors.  If you can’t defend the integrity of an election from some Iowa Occupiers, how can you defend this country from our foreign rivals?

Hey Bob Kraft, what happened? You’re Bob Kraft for crissakes. I thought everyone in Foxboro had three pictures in the living room. Jesus, John Kennedy, and Bob Kraft. You’re not trying to bring casinos to town. Nope, you’re protecting all the people of MA from the scumbags that are sprinkled through out the gambling industry. By making Bob Kraft overlord of the table game and slot plantations we the people are assured of benevolent pit bosses. Thank you Mr. Kraft for stepping up to do battle with these miscreants rushing into the Commonwealth to do business. Unfortunately Bob, may I call you Bob? Okay, Unfortunately Mr. Kraft the people seem to be against due process. You hit the nail on the head by saying so in today’s papers. They have the right to bring this to a referendum and they are denying themselves that right. I think they have to be reminded who you are and how much money you spend. Okay, the casino law states that first a town has to enter into negotiations and come to an agreement with you before there is a referendum. So of course they can chose not negotiate. That’s the law. But Mr. [...]

When individuals take advantage of the state’s supports— it is a crime against the people of the Commonwealth. The Lynn EBT case is a prime example of the kind of offense we are talking about. In case you missed it in the lead-up to the holidays, the parties involved withdrew money through their EBT accounts which they used to purchase illegal drugs. If this did in fact occur it is clearly unacceptable. The prosecutors and law enforcement officials involved in bringing this important case should be applauded. The double-dealing these parties were involved in takes resources from families and individuals struggling in the midst of the worst economy since the Great Depression. The scale of the fraud alleged in this case clearly demonstrates that the EBT system should be reformed. These individuals if convicted should be punished as severely as permitted by statute. With that said though, it is important that we also remember that the vast majority of public assistance beneficiaries follow the rules and are law abiding citizens. Any forthcoming reform effort must put recipients’ and their families first. The underlying behavior in this case must be seen for what it is… the desperate actions of people who are [...]

The Lawrence Eagle Tribune prints six or seven anti-Obama LTTEs and editorials each week. Today’s treat complaining about the upcoming SOTU starts off with an invocation of the teleprompter meme, and ends with “The greatest threat to this nation in 2012 is the possibility of the re-election of Barack Obama!” The Disqus comments that follow are pure comic wingnuttery. http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/x1477835356/Letter-Obama-has-led-the-nation-to-disaster  

HIS-TOR-Y: If it was still before Christmas and not half a week after, I would call Scott Brown the Rudolph of the U.S. Senate, where the other Senators apparently don’t let him join in any of their reindeer games. But it is after Christmas, so I guess Scott Brown’s not Rudolph, and just a guy who likes to give interviews at Mul’s. (AP) Brown also went on Keller to “drop the gloves” against presumed opponent Elizabeth Warren. (WBZ) GREETINGS, EARTHLINGS: Refusing to limit his awkwardness to just New Hampshire (Monitor), Mitt Romney sees an audience in Iowa. (AP) Foxborough casino’s opponents use social media to build their cases – The Boston Globe (Photo: Gretchen Ertl) VIDEO: Scott Brown Is Ready To Drop The Gloves Against Elizabeth Warren – CBS Boston Kraft Group “disappointed” with Foxborough board’s decision to not negotiate casino proposal – My Fox Boston Mass. Representatives call out National Grid – WWLP.com Read the rest of the MASSterList, including the Mitt Monitor, today’s legislative headlines, transportation news, new health care headlines, today’s Best of the Blogs and more by signing up for daily email alerts.

A moment of compassion for Scott Brown, once the Cosmopolitan Sexiest Man in America, who has a $10.5 million bank account to $3 million for Elizabeth Warren at last count and a Tea Party army of 258,528 Facebook supporters to Warren’s 85,279 (not to mention Twitter expert Eric “CrazyKhazei” Fehrnstrom as a top lieutenant), but finds the difficulty of managing his vast wealth and power much greater than most people acknowledge. As he told the Herald’s Hillary Chabot today, “I just think that if you’re going to find out where people stand, you gotta ask them tough questions like you guys ask me every single day. Every single day of my existence I get tough questions from you guys.” “She’s going to have every advantage,” he lamented to Chabot, before lighting a cigar with a $100 bill. Perhaps the questions were not so tough at Brown’s recent $1,000 Washington, D.C. fund-raiser for Wall Street lobbyists. Brown is closing in on $3 million in campaign contributions to date from the financial industry: almost as much as Warren has raised in total. The Public Campaign Action Fund reports, citing Politico, that the hosts for Brown’s Dom Perignon champagne fundraiser hosted by luxury liquor giant Diageo (producers of Dom and Moet) [...]