If the bill has been significantly amended, I’m curious to know how.

I know I should be living and breathing this special US Senate race.

I love politics. I’m an issues nerd. Debates over tax policy, gun control, abortion rights, the environment — these are usually major boat-floaters for me.

But as the column goes on, the actual truth comes out.

Neither Democrat is known for his electrifying personality.
…
Michael Sullivan is about as riveting as Markey and Lynch
…
I need more. Or maybe less. You got a truck?

It was the last line (which is the last of the column) that really got to me. Unless we have a circus atmosphere surrounding the campaign, with barn coats and trucks and accusations of false heritage and other things that have nothing to do with the job at hand, it is a snoozefest.

How about this: Actually dig into those issues: tax policy, gun control, abortion rights, the environment. Examine each candidate’s record and positions on those issues. Confront them with what you find. And then write about it.

Do we really need a truck driving candidate to get the media engaged? Sigh.

There are many reasons for stalled weather patterns, but I believe the biggest is the lack of sea ice from climate change. An open ocean leaves a lot of heat in the poles. This fosters high pressure (or blocks in the jetstream), and with very little movement to weather patterns at the top and bottom of the globe, we get pinned down in these long periods of heavy precipitation/drought and hot or cold.

The image in his post is worth a minute or two of study. Do click on the link and read the explanation.

Kudos to Bouchard. I don’t know if he mentioned this on-air, but at least it is in the blog. Hopefully, we are seeing the start of a trend where the meteorologists on TV, radio, and the net start tying the larger weather picture with the change in climate.

The Senate will vote to confirm John Kerry as Secretary of State on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced.

So it is time for all the speculation to end. Markey needs a real campaign structure now. Any other Dems vying for the seat have to speak up. Whoever is going to run on the GOP side has to speak up.

I think it is worth a caption contest. Fill in the SoS’s thought bubble. Here are two entries from me:

1) Two weeks… Just two more weeks of this BS…

2) Tell that to me when I’m President, buddy!

This is in one of those little stories on page 2 of the Boston Globe today:

The globe last month matched a record for the hottest September, set in 2005. It was the third time since 2000 that the world set or tied a heat record for September.

If you don’t see a trend there…

This is the 16th time that the world has set or tied a hot temperature record since 2000, according to NOAA. The last time the world set a cold temperature record was in December 1916, nearly 96 years ago.

Emphasis mine.

Not important enough for the front page, I guess.

These two are big names in progressive talk, with Miller simulcast on Current TV and touring with the successful Sexy Liberal Tour (just in Boston on Saturday), while Schultz is, of course, in the 8pm slot on MSNBC weeknights.

I’m not sure why they made the change, but given that I can listen to those shows other ways (Internet, Current), they just lost this listener.

“We mostly experience weather and climate through the extreme,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who is one of the report’s top editors. “That’s where we have the losses. That’s where we have the insurance payments. That’s where things have the potential to fall apart.

“There are lots of places that are already marginal for one reason or another,” Field said. But it’s not just poor areas: “There is disaster risk almost everywhere.”

So what was the chance that later in the day I would get a newsletter from my insurance agency warning me to expect my home insurance premiums, which had been mostly steady (adjusted for inflation) over the last ten years, to rise? They blame… the changes in climate that have led to more weather disasters. Just last year in Massachusetts, increased claim payments – exceeding the amount insurance companies took in via premiums – have been required to pay for the damage due to everything from ice dams to tornadoes to the freak October snow storm. The newsletter notes that this has been part of a pattern of an increase in “catastrophic claims” in recent years. Therefore, premiums must go up.

Everyone knows the role of health care costs for individuals, businesses, and as a budget buster for local and state governments. Is climate change about to join or even surpass it?

Elizabeth and Scott Brown made an agreement — called the People’s Pledge — to keep special interest groups’ ads out of our campaigns.

Scott Brown’s supporters violated that pledge for the first time.

We’ve just learned that a pro-Mitt Romney PAC was caught running ads on Google in support of Scott Brown. The Brown campaign has agreed to donate 50% of the value of the advertising spend to a charity of our choice, as outlined in the pledge.

It starts out with a date of “Monday Morning”. I guess if you are a normal, Joe Lunchpail, truck-driving guy, you don’t put real dates on your letters. Regarding that truck, that is the first big, bold, italicized quote that appears:

I’m Scott Brown. I’m from Wrentham. I drive a truck. And I’m nobody’s Senator but yours.

However, the truck apparently isn’t going to be the core message this time. He’s positioning himself as the maverick (yes, he uses that word) guy who has done things unheard of in Washington:

I am nobody’s lackey

(um, what about Mitch McConnell?)

and the opposition that is lined up against him are nasty, unscrupulous bunch.

From the instant my right hand came down after taking the oath of office, I have been attacked, demonized, and vilified. The attacks have come from shadowy shell groups who cherry-pick votes, deliberately take things out of context and instinctively engage in scare tactics and class warfare.

It’s hogwash. It’s baloney. And there’s a lot more of it to come.

I wasn’t expecting a pat on the back from our rivals, but I was hoping I wouldn’t get stabbed in the back either.

So it looks like the story line is: These nasty liberal groups (and he sadly points out that the League of Women Voters have also attacked him) are unfairly attacking him and have made him the underdog in the race and we all need to back him because, well he doesn’t say much about specifics or votes or anything as to why we should back him. I guess that would be cherry picking. The letter just contains the usual drivel against the Washington establishment, ObamaCare, business regulation, etc. But he’s different. Really. We’ve never seen the likes of his type in Washington before. OK.

Regarding his potential opponent:

The Washington insiders have anointed Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren as my Democrat opponent and the liberals and special interests are eager to do her dirty work.

That’s you. When you sign up to volunteer, make sure you check the box next to “Dirty Work”.

So there you have it. I hope we stay on Senator Brown’s mailing list so I can share further letters with you.

L. Lin Wood, the lawyer hired by the Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain to fend off sexual harassment accusations, has warned that any other women who might be considering coming forward with similar allegations “should think twice.”

The Herman Cain camp has adopted the strategy of deny the accusations and attack the accusers. Rush Limbaugh and others are piling on.

Sharon Bialek — whose last name Mr. Limbaugh has pronounced as “buy-a-lick”

[New York Post] columnist Andrea Peyser called Ms. Bialek a “gold digger” who “flirted like a tart” with Mr. Cain.

And now we add to the strategy the intimidation of any other potential accusers.

At what time and in what place am I living again?

This doesn’t make much sense for Cain’s political future if the sexual harassment accusations are false. And if the accusations are true, these are some really, really brave women who are coming forward.

Massachusetts is set to experience a 3° to 5°C (5° to 10°F) increase in average ambient temperature, with several more days of extreme heat during the summer months. Days with temperatures greater than 32°C (90°F) are predicted to increase from the 5 to 20 days annually that Massachusetts experiences today to between 30 to 60 days annually; while up to 28 days annually are predicted to reach above 38°C (100°F), compared to up to two days annually today (Frumhoff et al., 2006, 2007). Sea surface temperatures are also predicted to increase by 4°C (8°F) (Dutil and Brander, 2003; Frumhoff et al., 2007; Nixon et al., 2004), while winter precipitation—mostly in the form of rain—is expected to increase by 12 to 30 percent. The number of snow events is predicted to decrease from five each month to one to three each month (Hayhoe et al., 2006).

I’ve only gotten through the executive summary so far and it is about 120 pages, but I thought someone should bring it to everyone’s attention.

The current forecast has a most likely track with the center of the storm (the “eye”) hugging the coast until coming ashore somewhere near New York City, continuing NNE eventually into western-central MA. However, take two things into consideration: 1) This is a big storm and high winds and rain will be felt far from the center; 2) Landfall (of the eye) anywhere from the Jersey shore to Cape Cod is still in the realm of possibility.

Typically, those to the east of the storm get the worst wind while those to the west get more rain. The winds on the east side of the storm come from the south, so SE MA could have a serious storm surge.

If you don’t want to deal with listening to the TV talking heads, find a web site you like (I use Weather Underground) and check in every few hours so you know the chances of being affected. If you want to plan ahead, there are a lot of checklists of supplies you might want to get, like this one from the National Weather Service. In particular, think about what you’ll do if your electricity is out for a few days. Given that outages will be widespread if the storm pans out as predicted, it may take a while to get your power back on.

In a few recent threads, a couple of writers have noted this dynamic where the “bottom” action came from MLK with others in the civil rights movement, and LBJ eventually had to act. I wanted to refresh my memory on the dynamics that lead FDR to enact what we now know as the “New Deal” and then compare that to today’s situation.

I’ve been as ready as anyone else to get on Obama for not using his ample talents to push the country in a more progressive direction. I’m still not willing to cut him too much slack, but after re-reading Chapter 15 (“Self-help in Hard Times”) of Zinn’s book, my conclusion is that, unlike FDR, Obama has no parade to lead.

Zinn notes that FDR’s reform legislation had to meet two “pressing needs”:

to reorganize capitalism in such a way to overcome the crisis and stabilize the system; also, to head off the alarming growth of spontaneous rebellion in the early years of the Roosevelt administration – organization of tenants and the unemployed, movements of self-help, general strikes in several cities.

(Emphasis mine.)

The rebellion was real when Roosevelt took office. Desperate people were not waiting for the government to help them; they were helping themselves, acting directly.

Among the things people were doing “to help themselves”:

• Forming organizations to stop evictions.
• Bartering. Trading goods and services directly without money exchanging hands.
• Widespread labor actions, including strikes organized directly by workers, not authorized by union officials. These actions often lead to violence.

Many of these organizations had self-described communists as participants and leaders.

Among the labor actions was a new tool: the sit-down strike. Zinn describes one such strike:

The idea spread through 1936. In December of that year began the longest sit-down strike of all, at Fisher Body plant #1 in Flint, Michigan. It started when two brothers were fired, and it lasted until February 1937. For forty days there was a community of two thousand strikers. “It was like war,” one said. “The guys with me became my buddies.” Sidney Fine in Sit-Down describes what happened. Committees organized recreation, information, classes, a postal service, sanitation. Courts were set up to deal with those who didn’t take their turn washing dishes or who threw rubbish or smoked where it was prohibited or brought in liquor. The “punishment” consisted of extra duties; the ultimate punishment was expulsion from the plant. A restaurant owner across the street prepared three meals a day for two thousands strikers. There were classes in parliamentary procedure, public speaking, history of the labor movement. Graduate students at the University of Michigan gave courses in journalism and creative writing.

Especially note the assistance the strikers received from those not directly involved in the labor action.

Fast forward to today. While noting the Tea Party and some action in Wisconsin, there is almost nothing going on that one can compare to the turmoil in the 1930s. Without that pressure, Obama receives pressure from and succumbs to the only source of power: the corporate class. Even FDR had to relent when his hand wasn’t forced:

Where organized labor was strong, Roosevelt moved to make some concessions to working people. But: “Where organized labor was weak, Roosevelt was unprepared to withstand the pressures of industrial spokesmen to control the … NRA codes.”

This begs the question: Why isn’t there more of a societal uproar over the condition of the country today? I’m sure there are a lot of opinions about that. Certainly, the role of the right-wing message and media machine has a lot to do with it, pushing supply-side economic theory, making anything associated with “socialism” or especially “communism” a non-starter (and applying those labels to anything they don’t like even if it doesn’t fit), and vilifying the labor movement. The result is the “What’s the Matter with Kansas” effect: people working to enact laws and elect politicians that work against their own interests.

The very low rate of unionization in the private sector is very likely a contributing factor.

And maybe what FDR started has an even more important role: If the idea of the New Deal programs was to cushion the effects of economic downturns in order to pacify the masses, it may doing just that. If not for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits, would we be seeing more activity reminiscent of the 1930s?

It just might be the case that things will have to get much worse to see any significant progressive advances. What has to happen to get enough people to make enough of a stink to get Obama – or any president or Congress – to take significant action? A bunch of electronic signatures on a MoveOn petition doesn’t cut it.

Corporations finally relented to union organizing because the unorganized alternative was (to them) even worse. Is something similar needed to pull out of the current economic mess?

The two changes that I’ve noticed most are the font change (I can really tell the difference) and the lack of the “teaser” text on the recent posts and comments. Thanks a bunch for those.

My #1 wish at this point is to somehow reduce the size of the Recommended post list. When I first noticed the teaser text gone from the recent lists, there happened to be no recommended posts and I thought, “this is great” because I could see several of the recent items without scrolling. I know that we can’t get by without the recommended list (I wouldn’t want that), but I can suggest two things to reduce its size:

- Get rid of the teaser text there also.

- Algorithm changes to limit the number of posts appearing there. I have no idea what the current criteria are, but I do see some posts linger for a week.

In any case, it seems like we are getting more contributions, and that is of course a good thing. Correlation does not mean causation, so I can’t give any reason why the participation is up (I can’t even provide data to say that it is!).

Thanks, editors!

A couple of meaningless historical tidbits that I’ll pass on in any case:

1) (As a Red Wings fan, I find this one painful). The last time the home teams held serve through six games was just two years ago, 2009. In game seven, the away team had the first and only road win to take the Cup.

2) The last four times the Bruins were in the Stanley Cup Final, they lost to a Canadian team (Habs in ’78 and ’79; Oilers in ’88 and ’90).

I will go out on a limb and make one prediction. Actually, it’s not much of a limb and it’s pretty crowded out here: Tim Thomas wins the Conn Smythe trophy for most valuable player, regardless of which team wins. The way he has played, he’d be in contention anyway, but given that no one else has distinguished themselves in this series, he’d have to have an awful game tonight to not get it (and that’s not going to happen).

I’m hoping for two or three overtimes. Sorry if that causes too much self-inflicted hair loss for you Bs fans!

From my neutral-observer point of view, I’d like to see the series go to seven. What’s better than one game, winner-take-all??

Do you think Tim Thomas gave Roberto Luongo a call over the weekend for some goaltending tips?

Puck drops after 8pm. TV is NBC (channel 7 in Boston).

Under fierce pressure from fellow Democrats to resign in a sexting scandal, Rep. Anthony Weiner announced Saturday he was entering professional treatment at an undisclosed location and requested a leave of absence from Congress.

An aide for the embattled New York lawmaker made the disclosure in a statement shortly after several Democratic party leaders demanded he quit for exchanging messages and photos ranging from sexually suggestive to explicit with several women online.

Two years into the recovery, hiring is still painfully slow. The economy is producing as much as it was before the downturn, but with seven million fewer jobs. Since the recovery began, businesses’ spending on employees has grown 2 percent as equipment and software spending has swelled 26 percent, according to the Commerce Department. A capital rebound that sharp and a labor rebound that slow have been recorded only once before — after the 1982 recession.

And the money that isn’t being spent on equipment?

Corporate profits, meanwhile, are at record highs, and companies are hoarding cash. Many of the companies that are considering hiring say they are scared off by the uncertain future costs of health care and other benefits. But with the blessings of their accountants, these same companies are snatching up cheap, tax-subsidized tractors, computers and other goods.

Now, I’m not (at least not here) questioning whether this is smart for the companies to be doing. We were told that we had to extend the Bush tax cuts for the richest so that they could create jobs. That was how we were going to get people back to work. The question, right back at House Speaker John Boehner, is, “Where are the jobs?”

Note to the TV and radio folks out there. It’s the Stanley Cup Final, not finals. As in “final series”. “The Finals” is the NBA thing.

An interesting letter in the Globe today: The writer cheers on the anthem singers for performing “with total conviction and without the clichéd, narcissistic tinkering with the melody favored by various pop icons”. I’d have to say I mostly agree, even though I admit I was on the side of Jose Feliciano when so many people got their shorts in a twist after his rendition during the 1968 World Series. But what really bugs me about the way some pop stars sing (in general) is that they seem to be afraid to hold a note. Any time you get to a note that is sustained (“And the rocket’s red glare…”) you end up with (“gla-a-a-a-a-a-ar”), up and down and all over the place. It just bugs me. Woody Guthrie comes to mind: “If you play more than two chords, you’re showing off.”

Enjoy the game!!

A lot of us have had it with these political scandals and how they suck the wind out of just about everything: news, blog posts, water cooler discussions. So here’s what I’d like you to do:

(note to editors: If I could separate above and below the fold, I’d do it here)

Carve out some time in the next week or so to think. What I want you to think about is your life and all of the things you do, whether as part of your job or not. And especially things that you do while using your computer, smart phone, or anything else that creates a permanent record of your activities.

While you are doing this, note anything that you think you’d find an embarrassment or otherwise damaging if it became public knowledge. If you think you need to grab a pad of paper and a pen at this point, do so. Don’t leave anything out, whether it is part of your personal life or something you should not be doing as part of your job. Whether or not you are breaking any laws.

Now, for each of those noted items, play out in your mind what would happen if that knowledge got into the hands of someone who might want to blackmail you, or someone with the morals of Andrew Breitbart, or Andrew Breitbart himself. Or if all of the sudden you became the lead story on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

Now think about the effect this would have on your career, your aspirations for higher office. How it would affect your family, your spouse (if applicable), your friends, the people around you who trust you most. Your constituents. Your colleagues.

And then think about how much time and energy would be wasted on covering and discussing this revelation in the media and on the Internet, time and energy that could better be spent fighting for the very things you support, those things that you got into office to do. And how you’d end up a weaker proponent for those causes.

If you come to the conclusion of “eh, this would blow over eventually” or “I could lie my way out of it,” think some more. Talk to a trusted confidant. Make sure.

Finally, if you don’t like the outcome of the thought experiment, stop doing that! Now. Put another way, since I’m reading Keith Richards’ book at the moment, it’s time to quit the smack cold turkey.

You might ask, “There’s something that certainly would be embarrassing, but it’s really no one’s business but the people who are involved.” Well, here’s an example to help you figure that out.

Suppose you and your spouse are into tying each other up in bed. If that got out, I think most reasonable people would say that if it’s your spouse, you both consent, and no one gets hurt, well so what? Don’t worry about that one.

However, if you are actively seeking out others outside your primary relationship who share this interest, whether just for titillating conversation or for actual encounters, that’s over the line.

You might also ask, “Well, I screwed up already, and there’s evidence. Like a kid. Or a pile of money in my bank account.” In that case, you need to consider the consequences of getting that information out there on your own terms rather than having someone else do it.

OK. Got it? You have no excuse for being stupid now. You’ve been warned. Take care of it.

I think (hope) that the suspension of Aaron Rome will get the teams to play cleaner and try to stay out of the box.

Nothing like hockey on a 90 degree day…

The good news for Bruins fans: A serious offensive explosion in the second period, including a power play goal and a short-handed goal (a beauty by Brad Marchand).

The third period has just started and, unless there is a total breakdown (I’m not trying to jinx them), this final goes at least five games.

(Off-topic note: The Preview button didn’t work as I was writing this.)

I’m not a Bruins fan, but I am a huge hockey fan. My team is the Detroit Red Wings, who got knocked out in the second round by Joe Thornton (remember him?) and the San Jose Sharks. I was bummed until I realized that between appearances in the Eastern Conference final by the Bruins, the Wings had been in eight Western Conference finals, won six of those, and went on to lift the Cup four times. I’m not rubbing that in… Yes I am.

Anyway, I’m happy to see both an Original Six team and a Canadian team in the final. If the Bruins pull it off, that’s three out of the last four for the O6, Among those teams, the Bruins’ Cup drought (1972) is only surpassed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who haven’t won since 1967. The last Canadian champions were (of course) the Canadians in ’93.

Here’s to an entertaining series! I only wish it was starting earlier.

you might find your thoughts wandering to, oh, global warming, and to the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet, since warm air holds more water vapor than cold air.

It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods — that’s the important thing. Just be careful to make sure you don’t let yourself wonder why all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity

If you aren’t picking up on Mr. McKibben’s sarcasm, read the whole article. In it he lists some of the extreme events we’ve seen lately:

• Tornado outbreaks in the midwest and (in April) the south
• Wildfires in Texas
• Drought in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the Amazon
• Record snow and rain in midwest
• Record floods in Australia, New Zealand, and Pakistan
• Drastic Arctic ice melt
• Pine forests disappearing in the western US

And regarding this year’s tornado outbreak:

Q. How bad has this year’s tornado season been, relative to other years?

A. Extraordinarily bad, even by historical standards. The death toll, now at more than 480, is the highest since 1953, when an outbreak of twisters across the Midwest and Northeast claimed 519 lives. The high death toll so far this year is all the more remarkable considering that early warning systems are in place throughout tornado country, made possible by the advent of Doppler radar. Many tornado experts believed that the advances in technology had greatly diminished the risk of mass tornado fatalities.

“We never thought there’d be another year of deaths like this, with all our warning systems,” said Thomas P. Grazulis, a tornado historian.

Since 1875, there have been just 15 years with more than 360 tornado deaths, and none since 1975. The single deadliest tornado year in the United States was 1925, with 794 fatalities. This year now ranks eighth on the list of deadliest tornado years.

The tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., on Sunday, with its death toll now standing at 122, is also the single deadliest storm in recorded history.

Added emphasis mine.

The nation’s scientific establishment issued a stark warning to the American public on Thursday: Not only is global warming real, but the effects are already becoming serious and the need has become “pressing” for a strong national policy to limit emissions of heat-trapping gases.

The report comes from the National Research Council. The authors, “an unusual combination of climate scientists, businessmen and politicians”, started their work in 2009 when the political climate was a bit more favorable for action.

“The risks associated with doing business as usual are a much greater concern than the risks associated with engaging in ambitious but measured response efforts,” the report concludes. “This is because many aspects of an ‘overly ambitious’ policy response could be reversed or otherwise addressed, if needed, through subsequent policy change, whereas adverse changes in the climate system are much more difficult (indeed, on the time scale of our lifetimes, may be impossible) to ‘undo.’ ”

One more quote:

Not only is the science behind the climate-change forecast solid, the report found, but the risks to future generations from further inaction are profound. Already, the report noted, sea level is rising in many American towns and the average United States air temperature has increased by two degrees in the last 50 years.

Do I expect any action? Will most people even hear about this? I’m doubtful. The counter-argument, which is roughly the equivalent of the schoolyard taunt, “is NOT!”, has been very effective, coupled with the boogieman of possible higher energy prices. Well, Mother Nature neither understands nor cares about our economic system. She just does what she does based on the science.

It says that Arctic temperatures in the past six years were the highest since measurements began in 1880, and that feedback mechanisms believed to accelerate warming in the climate system have now started kicking in.

One mechanism involves the ocean absorbing more heat when it’s not covered by ice, which reflects the sun’s energy. That effect has been anticipated by scientists “but clear evidence for it has only been observed in the Arctic in the past five years,’’ AMAP said.

So what exactly does that mean?

The melting of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, including Greenland’s massive ice sheet, are projected to help raise global sea levels by 35 to 63 inches by 2100, AMAP said, though it noted that the estimate was highly uncertain.

That’s up from a 2007 projection of 7 to 23 inches by the UN panel, which didn’t consider the dynamics of ice caps in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The NY Times has an article on how some GOP lawmakers are taking a bit of heat at town hall-type meetings during their break (House G.O.P. Members Face Voter Anger Over Budget). There is the expected whining that the people complaining are all liberal plants. I don’t know if there is any truth to that, but I have a two-word response: Tea Party. Funny how Republicans scream the loudest when their own tactics are used against them.

But the most egregious part of the whole thing is how these lawmakers are telling their constituents not to worry.

[Paul] Ryan said he stressed with his constituents that those over 55 or currently on Medicare would still be covered under the existing program.

When I explain that people over 55 are not affected there is almost a sigh of relief.” [Representative Lou Barletta (PA)] added, “I am not going to do anything different.”

Since there are no gays or Muslims or darker skinned people to go after in this debate, they break it down on an age basis. If you get yours, don’t worry about throwing your 54-year-old friend under the bus. She’ll get a voucher which will not cover the cost of the coverage she’ll have to buy from a private insurance company – coverage that the company would not even have to offer if the GOP had their way.

I think it would be wise for us to stress this point.

…allowing the most Republican states to dominate the early voting would bolster the chances that a more conservative candidate will clinch the GOP nomination.

Democrats believe that the more conservative candidates would be polarizing in the national election and have less of a chance of defeating President Obama than a moderate Republican, such as Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

What do you think? My take: Be careful because you never know what unintended consequences will rear up. Remember all of those states wanting to push up their primaries in 2008 so they would be relevant? It ended up that the late primaries were where the real action was.

Don’t try to meddle in the Republican nomination process. You might get what you ask for, and that might end up backfiring big time.

Mr. President, you may think that by attempting to appease Corporate America, by appearing as a compromiser, and by appealing to the “independent” voters, you will be elected to a second presidential term, maybe even with a Democratic majority in the House again. If that is what you believe, then I have two reactions: First, all that rhetoric about the power of grassroots campaigning was a lie. Second, I think you will lose and the country will be much worse off for it. Do you think those independent voters will go canvassing in bad weather and make all those phone calls for you? If you still truly believe in the grassroots process, you need to give us a reason to work hard again like we did in 2008. If you’ve lost your confidence in the power of the grassroots, just look at what we achieved in Massachusetts last year.

Mr. President, this is your moment in history. The right is feeling their oats and apparently think that they can execute their end-game to finally reverse the gains the working class made over the first half of the 20th century. You can be remembered as the one-term president that let that happen. Or you can be on the other side of history. I’ve been told that one characteristic of a good political leader is the ability to recognize a forming parade and to get in front of it. That parade is forming with or without you, Mr. President. We’d prefer that you help.

Tuesday, February 22nd

4-6pm

Massachusetts State House

The dismal fiscal situation in many states is forcing governors, despite their party affiliation, toward a consensus on what medicine is needed going forward.

The prescription? Slash spending. Avoid tax increases. Tear up regulations that might drive away business and jobs. Shrink government, even if that means tackling the thorny issues of public employees and their pensions.

We have an economic recovery that is only working out for the GOP’s chief benefactors. The lack of money in the hands of everyone else has kept government revenues down and make it politically difficult to generate more revenue. Whether by design or just because it is the way things worked out, this must be good news if you are a drown-it-in-the-bathtub conservative.

This is why the Great Compromise of 2010 still stings for me. While some good things passed, the end result is that the powerful and wealthy gained more power and wealth as a result.

If you’ve never seen a real filibuster, or even if you have, you can watch on C-SPAN2.

There was a slowdown in Arctic warming in 2009, but in the first half of 2010 warming has been near a record pace, with monthly readings over 4 degrees above normal in northern Canada, according to the report card.

Emphasis mine.

At any level of the government, the chances of any action on climate is inversely proportional to the number of ‘R’s next to elected officials’ names. So please take that into account over the next week and a half.

But that doesn’t mean the boil-water order was a needless hassle for up to 2 million people, officials said, noting that state and federal regulations required the order and that it was impossible to know whether the water was drinkable until tests were performed on it – and that took more than a day.

“This was a precaution. We didn’t know what the quality of the water was going to be like,” said Robert Keough, spokesman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Hopefully, if something like this happens again, there will not be the over-the-top rhetoric (crisis? really?) from the media and the general public reaction will not be to push the panic button. And maybe some people who had the ability to boil but emptied the shelves of bottled water instead will react differently. But I’m not holding my breath.

I’ll also note that navigation within my local supermarket was difficult yesterday as I had to maneuver around stacks of bottled water that was on sale for really cheap.

Let the speculation begin (or continue).

Whether you agree with Capuano or not, he is undeniably himself out there. He is the most un-managed serious candidate we have seen in years, and certainly in this Senate race.

We used to have a lot of politicians like him around here – imperfect, scrappy, passionate – and we celebrated them. We should celebrate them still.

Weiss writes about what I was feeling as I watched the debate:

MIKE CAPUANO spent much of the debate with a look of frustration on his face, as if he were an air conditioning repairman who had just stepped into a symposium on the philosophical underpinnings of the air conditioner.

I didn’t even need to see the frustration on his face to know this was happening. I only had to listen to the other candidates.

While his opponents spun theoretical answers over the need to curb health care costs, Capuano raised the less-palatable truth that most people, faced with the illness of a child or parent, want to spend whatever it takes on whatever cure is possible.

As evidenced by the recent outrage over the mammogram study. This is probably one of the toughest nuts to crack to reduce health care costs, but it was only Mike who saw fit to mention it.

It’s a tricky thing to run as the insider. Most campaigns assume every voter is dying for hope, change, and the chance to send the bums home.

But then, this is a race to fill the seat of the consummate insider, a man whose understanding of the Senate helped him accomplish his goals, and whom Massachusetts voters sent back to Washington time after time.

It’s finally good to see in print some of the arguments I’ve been using for weeks in support of Mike. Hopefully it’s not too little, too late.

Markey is the dean of the Massachusetts delegation and nearly ran himself in the special Senate election to fill the seat vacated by the late Edward M. Kennedy. Markey’s formal endorsement of Capuano is scheduled for this afternoon in Malden

On Saturday, Nov. 21, the Democratic senatorial candidates will come to Lincoln to present their case for the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the passing of Sen. Kennedy. This is expected to be the last of the large senatorial candidate forums in the area north and west of Boston before the Dec. 8 primary.

The candidates will respond to written questions from the audience, which can be addressed to an individual candidate or to all candidates. The candidates will have the opportunity to give a closing statement. Joe Mullin of Weston will moderate the forum.

The Third Middlesex Senatorial District Democrats, the Fourth Middlesex Senatorial District Democrats and the Greater Lowell Area Democrats will sponsor the forum, which will be hosted by the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee.

The forum will be held in the Donaldson auditorium at the Brooks School, 6 Ballfield Road, Lincoln. The doors open at 12:30 p.m. with seating at 12:45 p.m. The forum will start at 1 and end at 2:30 p.m.

Campaign literature for each candidate will be allowed in the lobby outside the auditorium, but campaign literature or signs will not be allowed inside the auditorium.

Discussion iten #2: One might be tempted to now ask each Senate candidate how they would vote if no public option were included, and that clearly illustrates the problem with these types of questions. If there’s a definite yes or no based on multiple single features of the bill, do we have to draw up a multi-dimensional matrix to figure out each potential Senator’s vote?

I still think the right answer is “I’ll make the decision when I see the whole, final bill”. Unfortunately, no one has said that yet.

Please join Congressman Mike Capuano at an “Open Mike” meeting in Belmont this Sunday.

Belmont Hill Club

825 Concord Ave, Belmont

Sunday, November 1st, 3:00 pm

(Also, I’m now off the fence and supporting Capuano.)

So, if you have decided to back Coakley, Khazei, or Pagliuca, here’s a chance to make the case for your candidate to us undecided voters. Or if you are a Capuano supporter, I’d still like more information. Tell me why you are backing your candidate.

In particular, I’m looking for reasons to vote for a candidate, not why to vote against someone. What unique qualities does your candidate bring to the table? Why do you think she or he will be an effective Senator? I have a mental picture of Capuano in the role and I need that for the others.

To those who do respond thoughtfully, my sincere thanks in advance.

• is a corrupting force; and
• leads to actions that are detrimental to the Commonwealth.

Knowing very little about how things work inside the State House, I’m comfortable with asking these two dumb questions in order to get a conversation started:

1) From where does the Speaker derive his/her power?

2) How do we go about changing that to apply the proper checks and balances to the position?

I thought State looked really shaky in a few games this year and I didn’t know which version of the team would show up for the tournament. They can obviously play defense against anyone. It’s a matter of how much they turn the ball over and if at least one shooter can put up points when the rest of the team goes cold. After last weekend, I’m a full believer and I’m picking them to go all the way, albeit with my Green and White tinted glasses on.

UNC / Villanova is a toss-up in my mind. ‘Nova really won me over last weekend with their play against both Duke and Pitt last weekend, so I will go with them in a squeaker.

My heart goes out to those still recovering from the ice storm and I’m hoping they are spared the worst of this.

I’ve been able to get things squared away this morning, so I’m home for the remainder. The kids get out of school at noon. My wife is still considering what to do about an afternoon appointment. At least it’s local. We have to prepare for a family gathering Saturday which will hopefully happen if the storm gets over as indicated by the forecast. I need to call grammer to ease her fears about driving tomorrow.

What’s going on with everyone else? Are you heeding the warnings or banking on the possibility that this is over-hyped?

Well, apparently if a financial institution that was part of creating this economic mess gets in trouble, a bailout can be worked out in days.

the Treasury will make a fresh $20 billion investment in the bank. The government has already injected $25 billion into Citigroup as part of the $700 billion bailout passed by Congress in October.

No congressional hearings. No “come back with a plan.” Maybe the message to GM, Ford, and Chrysler last week was really, “come back and prove to us that you are a bank.”

If only there were a best-selling author and journalist who would do a better job than I could putting my feelings into words. Wait, what’s that? A column by Detroit’s Mitch Albom! (emphasis mine)

And the rest of you lawmakers. The ones who insist the auto companies show you a plan before you help them. You’ve already handed over $150 billion of our tax money to AIG. How come you never demanded a plan from it? How come when AIG blew through its first $85 billion, you quickly gave it more? The car companies may be losing money, but they can explain it: They’re paying workers too much and selling cars for too little.

AIG lost hundred of billions in credit default swaps — which no one can explain and which make nothing, produce nothing, employ no one and are essentially bets on failure.

And you don’t demand a paragraph from it?

They also voted on a resolution that was somewhat of a reprimand from what I heard, but I have not been able to find that yet (will update when I do or someone does).

For me, this wasn’t an issue of retribution or getting back; it was one of job performance, and I thought Lieberman hadn’t done his job.

But I didn’t have a vote and I just have to hope this works out for the best.

Coincidentally, Palin was the centerpiece of a similar ceremony on October 11 in Philadelphia. The Flyers dropped that game, 4-3, to the New York Rangers and proceeded to lose their next five before posting their first win of the season Friday at New Jersey

The Blues host the Florida Panthers tonight. We’ll see how that goes.

I assume that all city and town halls now have or will soon have absentee ballots, so you can just go in and fill one out right there. Do it soon!

Taking a look at the Guardian today, I discovered someone (Michael Tomasky) who says this all better than I can. Have a look and see what you think.

So, please, when you discover that Sarah Palin didn’t feed her dog for three days in a row some time in 2005, don’t email it to me. Can we concentrate on Obama (good) and McCain (bad), please?

I don’t think the interview was over the line. Neither does CNN. And neither do most of you who e-mailed me this week. Thank you, all of you who e-mailed me, including those who disagree. We’re always interested in getting past talking points and exploring the issues in any political interview.

You have a right to know the people you are voting for. Our pledge to you on this program is to ask the tough but fair questions and to try to get answers.

My hat’s off to Campbell Brown and CNN with the hope that we see more of this – with all of the candidates.

The Democratic presidential candidate told USA Today on Thursday that he went with someone who is independent and would challenge him in the White House. He also said he wanted someone who is prepared to be president and would help him strengthen the economy.

He wouldn’t say whether he’s informed his pick yet. He says he won’t reveal anything else about the decision until he announces it.

Those are your final clues. Who is it?

Kenneth Donnelly and Jack Hurd, candidates for the 4th Middlesex district State Senate seat formerly held by James Marzilli, will present their qualifications and views on governmental policy at a Candidates Night sponsored by the Lexington League of Women Voters on Monday, August 25,2008 at Estabrook Hall.

Estabrook Hall is located downstairs in Town Hall ( Cary Hall ) in Lexington center and is handicapped accessible. The hall will be open at 7:00 pm for refreshments and informal conversation. The program is expected to start at 7:30pm.

…

This is an opportunity for the candidates to present their positions on issues and to listen to their constituents’ concerns. There is no admission charge and the public is encouraged to attend. For further information, call the League of Women Voters at 781-861-0123.

A correction: Town Hall and Cary Hall are not the same building. Cary Hall, where the event will be held, is at 1605 Massachusetts Avenue, the large building with the semi-circular drive in front. Town Hall happens to be next door.

“You can’t be putting those out already,” I pleaded.

“Tax free weekend, brother,” one employee replied.

“Oh. OK, I get it.”

I don’t need a new snowblower or any other big ticket items, so I’ll be sitting this one out. How about the rest of you?

Wednesday, July 16

7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Community Room, Lower Level

Robbins Library

700 Massachusetts Ave.

The meeting will include an informal session with both Democratic candidates for the 4th Middlesex Senate seat, Ken Donnelly and Jack Hurd, who will speak briefly and answer questions. All Arlington Democrats are cordially invited.

Since this also hit the Lexington DTC email list, I assume (hope) that all 4th Middlesex Democrats are invited.

Already, legislators in a half-dozen states – Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri and South Carolina – have tried to require that classrooms be open to “views about the scientific strengths and weaknesses of Darwinian theory,” according to a petition from the Discovery Institute, the Seattle-based strategic center of the intelligent design movement.

…

” ‘Strengths and weaknesses’ are regular words that have now been drafted into the rhetorical arsenal of creationists,” said Kathy Miller, director of the Texas Freedom Network, a group that promotes religious freedom.

If you are thinking that it can’t happen here, consider the effect on the national publishers of school textbooks:

What happens in Texas does not stay in Texas: the state is one of the country’s biggest buyers of textbooks, and publishers are loath to produce different versions of the same material. The ideas that work their way into education here will surface in classrooms throughout the country.

This concept was explored in the realm of high school history textbooks in Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen (hmm… looks like a revised edition of that was just published).

So I guess the question is: Do we want the content of our future science textbooks influenced by the likes of the chairman of the Texas education board, Dr. Don McLeroy?

Dr. McLeroy believes that Earth’s appearance is a recent geologic event – thousands of years old, not 4.5 billion.

…

But Dr. McLeroy says his rejection of evolution – “I just don’t think it’s true or it’s ever happened” – is not based on religious grounds.

Yikes.

Yes, Boston has won four games and Detroit only two. But it’s hard to imagine a more arbitrary and undemocratic way to determine this series’s outcome than “games won.” It is, after all, a bedrock value of the game of basketball that all points must be counted.

…

Once you abandon the artificial four-games-to-two framework that the media has tried to impose on the series, a very different picture emerges, with the Celtics leading by a mere 549 points to 539. Yes that’s right, the margin between the two teams is less than one percent-a tie, for all intents and purposes. This is probably the closest Conference Finals in NBA history, though I will thank you not to check on that.

Bring on game 7!

I’d like to hear from others with whom I’ll be working this summer and fall, and why you will also be supporting our nominee.

Democrats Jack Hurd, James Marzilli and Ken Donnelly had more than the 300 required signatures in Arlington alone, but they will need certification from the Secretary of the Commonwealth before they can appear on the Sept. 16 primary ballot.

Republican candidate and Billerica resident Brion Cangiamila also pulled papers to run for the seat Marzilli has held since his special election victory last year. … The Billerica Town Clerk’s office had not completed certifying Cangiamila’s signatures by Wednesday.

In 2006, the Democratic National Committee adopted a rule providing that four states – Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina – could hold their presidential primary or caucus in January, with the rest of the states following. The rule dictated that the early states hold their contests in a specific order – with New Hampshire coming third – and no earlier than designated dates between Jan. 14 and Jan. 29.

…

But last August, the New Hampshire secretary of state indicated he was going to schedule his state’s primary before the date specified, clearly defying the sequence and timing the party had set. Michigan Democratic leaders repeatedly asked the Democratic National Committee if it intended to penalize New Hampshire for this violation, but the committee refused to act.

Rather than allow this broken system to persist, we challenged it by deciding to apportion our delegates according to the results of a primary scheduled by the Michigan Legislature for Jan. 15.

The Democratic National Committee proceeded to selectively enforce its calendar rule. It gave New Hampshire a waiver to move from third to second place in the sequence. But Michigan and Florida, which had also moved up the date of its primary, were denied waivers. When Howard Dean, the party chairman, says that states should not be allowed to violate the rules, he ignores the fact that when the committee itself decided not to follow the rules and granted a waiver to New Hampshire, it set the stage for the present impasse.

Could anyone shed light on this? Is their description of the events accurate? Any NH folks who can weigh in?

This is journalism?

That’s all. I just had to vent…

Verizon must pay taxes on poles and wires over public ways – a decision that could bring an estimated $78 million tax boost to cities and towns.

When?

“In terms of when cities and towns will be able to realize this money, we would be gathering information literally over the next week or two from Verizon and other companies,” said Navjeet Bal, the commissioner of the Department of Revenue. The department issues its central assessments in May, and changes would be reflected in tax bills for fiscal year 2009.

Additionally, cities and towns that have filed appeals could also be paid back taxes.

Verizon will most likely appeal this decision.

And to our right-wing friends, turn it around and let us know the same regarding the Democratic candidates.

I honestly don’t have an answer yet. Each time I consider a particular GOP candidate seriously, I get scared.

Talk to or email your neighbors and friends to make sure they remember to vote.

Contribute to Jim’s campaign.  Do this now via Paypal on Jim’s web site.

Volunteer for the GOVT effort.  Contact Megan Amundson by phone at 781-316-8302 or by email at megan@amundson.com.

If you didn’t hear me before, I’ll say it again: Don’t consider this race won.  Like any other election, it’s all about turnout, and it’s very easy to forget to vote this time of year.