Moving hour
Saturday, August 18th, 2007After several frustrating days spent stomping around inside the inner workings of this WordPress blog, BTGO’s retreating over to Blogspot.
Archive for August, 2007
Too kind
Friday, August 17th, 2007The Dig’s Paul McMorrow calls this collection of scattershot postings “valuable.”
But on to the real meat of the post: McMorrow calls out Rep. Allen McCarthy, in classic Dig manner, for telling his Abington selectmen that Beacon Hill will probably approve casinos, with increased revenues to follow for school funds.
And he reminds us of the Dig article from February that actually analyzed the numbers that keep getting tossed around in the expanded gambling debate: “There are tons of variables in play, but we found that, in the most likely scenario, once you account for lost tax revenue and the inevitably shattered businesses and lives, the Mashpee Wampanoag’s Middleborough casino would net the state $79 million annually.”
If the task force report Gov. Patrick is holding so closely is at all comprehensive, it will likely have the same scenario, among several.
And maybe also have the compelling Dig article attached. (Though probably with any those ads for phone numbers where “nice girls get naughty” hastily scratched out by aides.)
An exercise in futility
Friday, August 17th, 2007You have to wonder whether deporting a Nazi war criminal back to a country that still has trouble reconciling with its World War II past will do any good.
Like a good number before him, he will likely pass away as the court system over there drags its feet.
The most egregious example of this is, of course, Aleksandras Lileikis, another Massachusetts resident before getting deported, who died at age 92 while the trial was ongoing.
Inside track?
Friday, August 17th, 2007Doubtful, but an interesting buried tidbit nonetheless: After getting a grilling on Chapter 70 funding from Abington selectmen, a freshman rep predicted lawmakers are leaning towards approving expanded gambling:
[Rep. Allen] McCarthy offered hope to the board, assuring selectmen the construction of a new casino in Middleboro would bring new revenue to the state, which would likely increase state-aid. State officials would first have to allow casino facilities, and if they do so, hopefully allow slot machines, McCarthy said, the most profitable form of gambling.
“It seems to be they’re leaning towards approving it,” McCarthy said.
On the other side, Rep. George Peterson, the assistant minority leader in the House, told his Westborough selectmen quite the opposite.
But that’s not all. Another slow news day brings more chatter over casinos.
Lawmakers pushing for a casino-rail link. The Boston Phoenix piece, a must-read for anyone keeping track (or trying to catch up) on the issue. The mayor of Chicopee collecting enough signatures for a petition for his board of aldermen to reconsider their rejection of a non-binding casino question for voters. Former John Hancock CEO weighing in on the topic in a Globe op-ed piece.
And that’s just a cursory trip through Google News. Next week is shaping up to be another slow one, meaning more heated speculation and conjecture on casinos.
Well, either that or deep, deep discussions on Chapter 70. Those Abington selectmen may be ahead of the curve on that.
Another reason to order Turner Classic Movies
Thursday, August 16th, 2007Just spotted on the Herald’s website an ad for American Movie Classics.
Only one odd thing with it: The channel is touting its Sunday showing of the Kate Hudson movie “Raising Helen.” Which came out in 2004.
I’ve occasionally scrolled through the Comcast listings several times and seen that they show the hideously bad Catwoman movie with Halle Berry.
Memo to AMC: You guys might want to think about changing your name there if this is the kind of stuff you keep showing. Your well-reviewed new show “Mad Men” notwithstanding.
Fred Clark appointed BHE chair
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007Fred Clark, former aide to US Rep. Joseph Moakley, will be heading up the state Board of Higher Education, AP reports.
He replaces Stephen Tocco, a Boston lobbyist with Republican Party ties, and Aaron Spencer, who has been the acting chair since Tocco stepped down to head up the UMass Board of Trustees. (And could be the first chair to have graduated from a public college.)
Farther down in the piece, Clark, who has close ties to Patrick special education advisor Dana Mohler-Faria, defends Patrick from critics who say he’s moving too slow on his massive education reform plans: “It takes time for a new governor to put his stake in the ground, to make changes…That shouldn’t be something that is rushed.”
Those critics are likely be the same ones who are complaining about how the reform plans are costing the state candidates for education commissioner, as laid out in this good Lowell Sun piece from last week. As a consultant to the search points out, it’s also costing the state money.
But that’s looking like one of the hallmarks of the Patrick administration: Slow and steady. That includes a steady drip of appointments that’s continuing into his eighth month in office and could keep going into September.
Whether that’s been frustrating to each constituency affected by any of the appointments can sometimes be hard to tell.
Nobody seemed to mind that there wasn’t a new Department of Conservation and Recreation commissioner for a while, as the thermometer started to creep up into summer temperatures. (Patrick eventually picked Westfield Mayor Richard Sullivan.)
Education is one area some folks appear to be scratching their heads, though.
Before the administration took office, there were the transition working groups. Then there were the two task forces that met almost weekly. Finally, there was the big announcement at UMass-Boston…which announced essentially another task force, or blue ribbon commission, to set the field for the governor’s vision that he laid out in the speech.
The commission, dubbed the “Readiness Project,” earlier this month just got an 18-member “leadership council,” which will have control over 13 subcommittees with 10 to 12 members each. The commission plans to issue a final report and recommendations to the governor in May, with a rough draft by March, followed by hearings on the draft. (Ignore, for now, that the executive order that was signed establishing the council and commission incorrectly says a final report and recommendations will be in by March.)
That’s a whole lot. It remains to be seen whether (to trot out the – yes, yes – cringe-inducing axiom once again) slow and steady will win the race for Patrick.
Sen. Leahy lands speaking role in new Bat-flick
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007Not quite sure what to make of this, but having anything to do with Batman and Robin is something I wouldn’t exactly admit, Senator. Anyway, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) will be in scene with Batman and the new Joker:
The senator told the [CNN affiliate] station he can’t reveal the exact details of his role in the upcoming movie, but he did say he has landed a scene with its two stars, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.
[via film ick]
Mass. isn’t alone
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007USATODAY’s Dennis Cauchon takes a country-wide look at expanded gambling efforts. It’s not just Massachusetts, though he’s got us in there, too, complete with UMass Dartmouth prof Clyde Barrow in the mix for a quote:
Also driving growth: States are loosening restrictions about where casinos can locate and how they can do business. The days of casinos being located outside of major cities — tourist destinations, often in economically distressed towns — are coming to an end.
The Illinois Legislature is considering authorizing a casino in Chicago. Pennsylvania has approved two casinos in downtown Philadelphia and one in downtown Pittsburgh, next to the Steelers’ football stadium. “Our customer base will be people who live there and who want gaming nearby,” says Kirk Saylor of Majestic Star, the Pittsburgh casino’s developer.
Senate minority leader weighs in
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007Sen. Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield) offers a review of the last several months, with identity theft legislation, sales tax holiday, booster seats, and Sudan divestment.
Tisei also criticizes the Senate’s passing of new welfare reform legislation: “Instead of taking steps to ensure that welfare remains a transitional program that promotes self-sufficiency, the proposed changes only perpetuate a system of dependency that has led some to see welfare as a way of life, which it was never intended to be.”
Brookline explores meals taxes
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007With some of Gov. Patrick’s revenue-raising proposals stalling in the Legislature, at least one town is attempting to take matters into its own hands.
Gatehouse News Services’ Neal Simpson writes up the options being weighed by a Brookline committee charged with helping the town avoid a Property 2 1/2 override.
Local options taxes, one of the proposals pushed by Patrick on Beacon Hill, is one way. Another one the committee is looking at closing the telecommunications tax exemption.
The committee’s energy subcommittee also found out some interesting tidbits:
The subcommittee reported that although the town is doing a good job procuring the cheapest electricity possible, energy costs have shot up in recently renovated buildings.
Committee Co-Chairman Lloyd Dahmen reported that even so-called “green buildings” such as the Public Health Building now require 150 percent more energy than before they were renovated.
“That jumped out at me because the town spent a lot of money on that, and supposedly it was being spent to get some savings,” Dahmen said after the meeting. “Then all of a sudden the total amount of energy used went way up.”
Dahmen said the extra energy consumption comes from bringing the buildings up to code…
Romney related to the Baldwin brothers?
Monday, August 13th, 2007So intimates the Cape Cod Times:
“Romney, for those who pay attention to such things, has local roots that go back further than many who live on the Cape and Islands today. He is a descendant of William Bradford, signer of the Mayflower Compact when the Pilgrims paused in Provincetown Harbor to do laundry, steal some corn and write up a set of governmental rules to keep their colony going.”
Apparently, the four Baldwin brothers are descendents of Bradford as well.
Romney will be back in Massachusetts, and in the Cape and Islands district as the guest of honor for a Saturday fundraiser, according to the paper.
Expanded gambling a-go-go
Monday, August 13th, 2007Folks wanting to get some quotes from gambling opponents besides Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams) could try looking at Ed Mason’s article in the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune today:
“‘There’s an aura that they’re coming and just deal with it,’ [Sen. Susan] Tucker [(D-Andover)] said. ‘That’s the most dangerous thing now. People have this notion that they’re coming, and it’s not true. The Legislature has to decide to go down the casino road. It’s not inevitable.’”
In the second graph, Mason pretty much sums it up: “But the outcome is anything but guaranteed. Gov. Deval Patrick is undeclared, the House speaker has voted against expanded gaming in the past, and many local lawmakers are still feeling their way around the high-stakes issue.”
For another reporter, the whole affair has the distinct feeling of deja vu. A former Boston Herald reporter, who covered expanded gambling efforts for the paper in the 1990s, throws this onto his former employer’s op-ed page:
“Maybe the current Wampanoag proposal really does have legs, especially with a governor seeking any brass ring to help him honor his pledge of greater local aid. But for all the Middleboro headlines, the facts remain that no slots will jingle unless the state and the tribe agree to a compact and the Legislature legalizes casino-style gambling. That’s what croaked the earlier sure-to-happen Wampanoag deal, which makes gambling wars veterans amused by how current coverage tends to ignore such previous history.”
And for those who missed it, Globe columnist Joan Vennochi’s piece on Saturday, where she once again gets her hands on an e-mail, and an interesting one at that.
Cape Wind survey due before debate
Monday, August 13th, 2007Hours before proponents and opponents of the controversial Cape Wind project square off in a debate in Brewster on Wednesday, a new “in-depth” survey on renewable energy and support for Cape Wind is due to be released.
“Should Gov. Deval Patrick be ‘Schwarzenegger of East Coast’ on Global Warming Fixes?” is one of the questions the survey, conducted by the think tank Civil Society Institute, hopes to answer.
Civil Society Institute President Pam Solo, Opinion Research Corporation Senior Researcher Graham Hueber, and Clean Power Now executive director Barbara Hill are scheduled to be on the conference line, according to Cape Cod Today, which has all the details.
Oscar Wilde’s Clobberin’ Time?
Monday, August 13th, 2007Stumbled on an interesting website: Comic artists drawing pictures of literary figures and authors.
Byline
Friday, August 10th, 2007Through the News Service, made the Globe today.
Following up on what Frank Phillips of the Globe wrote about on Wednesday and Thursday, essentially.
Still have to step outside and pick up the deadwood edition.