Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

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  1. Check it out – in the line item for constitutional officers (!) the House is adding EARMARKS on the sly. Look at the last sentence: $200,000 for ‘dyc’, which is the Dorchester Youth Center.

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    p>http://www.mass.gov/legis/10bu…

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    p>And further amend the bill in section 2, by striking item 0810-0000 and inserting in place thereof the following item:-

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    p>0810-0000 For the office of the attorney general, including the administration of the local consumer aid fund, the operation of the anti-trust division, all regional offices, a high-tech crime unit and the victim and witness compensation program; provided, that the victim and witness compensation program shall be administered in accordance with chapters 258B and 258C of the General Laws; provided further, that the attorney general shall submit to the general court and the secretary for administration and finance a report detailing the claims submitted to the state treasurer for payment under item 0810-0004 indicating both the number and costs for each category of claim; and provided further, that no less than $200,000 shall be expended for the dyc safe city initiative …………………………………………$23,869,648

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  3. “grim prospects facing journalism.”  Rather, it has everything to do with a pathetically bad business model that’s dying because it was meant to die.

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    p>Journalism will be just fine.  Won’t find much of it in the Phoenix, though—have to make room for all the porno ads.

        • … you need to update your snark.

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          p>Back to the topic at hand: Even the Phoenix has had layoffs.  Nothing on the extent of the Globe’s or Herald’s, but it still gives pause.

          • a paper that made its bones on the back of its Entre Nous porno ads and its riveting coverage of heady topics like “the Boston music scene” found it had the standing as a “real newspaper” to take a shot at the Herald for acting like a tabloid (the horror!) and the Metro as a standard “killing some time on the T” throwaway.

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            p>Dan Kennedy notwithstanding—don’t even know if he’s still there—the Phoenix considering itself a legit paper is downright funny.

            • … but the funny thing to me is that with each passing year it seems to me that it actually is on the path toward ‘journalistic legitimacy’.  Of course, the extent of that process or the likelihood of eventual success is a matter of opinion, but it is indeed amusing given it’s history.

              • think there’s a legitimate place in the market for a paper like the Phoenix, and that writing for the Phoenix has merit, but come on.  It’s not the New York Times or the Economist.  It’s Stephen Mindich’s rag.

                • … is exactly what the paper is migrating away from (at least trying to).  It’s light years from NYT of course, but the direction they are attempting to take is noteworthy.  The humor is in the contrast between their aspirations and their past.

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                  p>I think I have a some ‘little engine that could’ appreciation for their efforts is all… like a puppy trying to grow up by emulating the big dogs in the pack.  

  4. It would be interesting to hear the production status of the Sunday paper. On a normal Thursday, I think a lot of deadlines would be falling, say for the Ideas section.

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