NUKES: With Fidelity execs set to appear before a panel of lawmakers today, attention on Beacon Hill may shift from other explosive issues (Ledger,) namely, nuclear safety. Gov. Patrick is set to meet with nuclear regulators (AP) to get the lowdown on power plant safety here in the Commonwealth while other officials keep on top of how things work at Plymouth's Pilgrim energy plant (Patch.)
SPRING BREAK: From the great untamed west come details on Speaker DeLeo's trip to UMass Amherst with his leadership team for a legislative retreat (MassLive/Republican). WWLP reports on leaflets circulating the area reminding residents of the l ocal party bylaws. Draw your own conclusions. Go UMass! [Disclosure: the ListMasster is a proud UMass grad.]
MITT MONITOR: Former Governor Mitt Romney had an active day in the news, re-hiring a past adviser (Globe), snagging a win in a Tea Party poll (MassLive) and boldly giving $25K to the N.J. GOP, home of possible rival Chris Christie (AP) – but Politico reports that religious voters may still shy away from him.
BOOK BAG-GATE: Freshman State Rep. (and Whitman resident) Geoff Diehl comes under fire for sending schoolkids home with invitations to a fundraiser (Globe). He promptly apologized (Enterprise). Boston.com's Garrett Quinn applauds Diehl's decision to come clean about the violation and uses the opportunity to slam (Whitman native) Auditor Susanne Bump's tax troubles, possibly revealing the blogger's outrageous anti-Whitman bias. [Disclosure: the ListMasster is from Whitman.]
Read the rest of today's stories on the MassterList
jimc says
Thanks.
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p>The Fidelity thing is about their tax credit? Wouldn’t it be yanked more or less automatically? Why do we need a hearing?
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p>A meta item, if you don’t mind — I was on early this morning, and the load speed was good, notably better. I’m wondering if user logins are slowing things down. That could be worse if there’s a lot of beta testing going on during the day.
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p>Also … I hate the rating system. Am I in the minority on this? If so I’ll keep quiet about it.
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stomv says
I offer you a 6 in an attempt to get you to like the rating system more. Don’t take an individual rating too seriously. I find that they do help give community feedback… when folks are out of line in a personal matter, out of line politically, or hit the nail on the head, the rating system helps reinforce that. My suggestion: ignore the ratings when the denominator is small. đŸ™‚
kbusch says
Amazon’s rating improved markedly when they started highlighting the “best negative review”.
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p>Here the conversation would be improved if the ratings offered a way to uprate comments with which one disagreed. Currently, there is no way for me to “reward” a clearly stated or well-sourced or nicely written conservative comment that I don’t agree with.
jimc says
I say you should be able to 6 such a comment, and feel confident that we know you’re not endorsing its politics. I feel like ratings here, too often, are measures of how much the rater agrees with you. (That happens everywhere, I know.)
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p>Mainly I think the four ratings are too complex. I like the 0 and 4 system — but again I may be outvoted.
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kbusch says
I also want to be able to express agreement. That’s totally legitimate. The ratings are too one-dimensional as it were.
david says
you’re looking for a two-dimensional rating system – an “agree/disagree” axis and a “good job/bad job” axis. But I don’t see how that’s really feasible.
kbusch says
Otherwise BMG becomes a magnet for troll-motivated conservatives rather than for thoughtful ones. The only rewards on offer are negative.
kbusch says
It’s a problem other liberal blogs have solved by closing the door on right-wing and even moderate contributors. The Editors seem to want a different membership base.
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p>That would imply that different social mechanisms.
ryepower12 says
Republicans flip out… When a republican does something wrong, “well democrats do it too.” Iokifyar.