Below Boston - Recent Comments

All Talk, No Action.

BobMonty — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:11:39 GMT

Didnt Punxatawney know Conresses schedule before announcing he would spend a cool million on a race? Like Punxatawney Phil, Hingham Phil pops up every election cycle as a potential candidate for something. Run Phil Run!
Move to Weymouth and run against MIA Murphy!

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that politicians don't read a thing besides

Susan H — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:12:36 GMT

results from polls.

What they should read and investigate is this from Diane Ravitch, characterized as 'perhaps America'most influential scholar on education' because she has has reversed her stance on issues such as standardized testing, school choice and the No Child Left Behind Act:she is now AGAINST all of those things( which merely sound good and poll well) because the results are not there to support these concepts any longer.

$285MILLION federal dollars are at stake during a depression/recession......

Susan H — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 10:39:56 GMT

so what if a few teachers who are part of a union and a few schools whose phyiscal infrastructure have been gazed at admirably by the private sector/for private charters maybe? get labelled 'unperforming': we need that money, budgets are in shortfall the Governor, every State legislator who voted for this, as well as every starved for cash city and local government want you to know that - we need the money..... You do know that right?

$285 million dollars.

Can you feel the snark?

I hope so.

Arne Duncan can go ________ himself.

Arne Duncan is a __________.

That's school-ease for fill in the blank. But here's a link for possible choices

Or how about this topic:

Arne Duncan and Barack Obama know what about Central Falls Rhode Island?

Gee, an open ended question - will that be permissable in an underperforming school? You know, allowing for the development of critical thinking skills?

Back to the question posed above:Arne Duncan and Barack Obama know what about Central Falls Rhode Island?

a. it's easy to blame teachers alone for students' perceived failure

b. it's a community affording them a perfect opportunity to push their neo-liberal privatization push for public education

c. NOTHING

d. all of the above

Follwing the choice use 5 paragraphs to discuss the selected answer.

Murphy....

scootermom — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:11:41 GMT

is NO Bill Delahunt!

aha!!! YOU have been paying attention! n/t

scootermom — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:55:22 GMT

Thanks for the update!

Susan H — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:44:06 GMT

But Jamie Murphy isn't what I would call a good progressive on many issues, is he?

In today's Ledger

scootermom — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:11:41 GMT

Weymouth Representative James Murphy says he will consider running if Delahunt does not.

http://www.patriotledger.com/n...

Phil should run for State Senate regardless

LindaB — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:02:14 GMT

I would definitely support Phil if he decided to run. He definitely would bring experience, intelligence and "maturity" to the legislature.

Oh please, please . . . let Bob throw his hat in the briar patch . . . er, I mean, ring

Jan A — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:30:55 GMT

I would love to see Phil Edmundson in the state legislature. He is someone who runs a very successful business and still cares about common good. Plus, he's one of the most thoughtful, informed and intelligent people I've met.

Come on, Bob. Run. Don't be a wimp!! If Scott can win a Senate seat on good looks and free right-wing media shilling, you're a shoo-in for Congress. Do you have an old pick-up truck? Go for it!!!!

Patriot Ledger

Karenmod — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:26:36 GMT

We stopped delivery of the Patriot Ledger awhile ago becuase of their on-going bias reporting.

Actually, it was on Bill Moyers' Journal . . .

Jan A — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:05:38 GMT

not exactly MSM, but not chopped liver either.

What's so awful about this on SO many levels is that

Susan H — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:35:31 GMT

A. we wouldn't know about this unless it was for the netroots because the MSM sure isn't going to tell us

B. she is bearing witness to the fact that the Democrats are many times no better than Republicans in ignoring narratives that does not fit into their worldview and plans:that single payer IS popular and WOULD BE cost effective

C.many more people are going to have to engage in civil disobedience to grab attention that is crucial to CHANGE.

How 'bout less talk, more action

Susan H — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:29:47 GMT

We need another Harry Hopkins.......who is this generation's Harry Hopkins?

or does the Democratic Party of today with it's pro-neoliberal adherents( and that is not a good thing in my eyes)even want to find one?

There's more~Kuttner's criticism about Obama's choice of words during the Republican retreat

Susan H — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:43:43 GMT

is almost as if he is exhorting them to become Eisenhower Republicans again...like him:

About the only thing I cared for was the juxtaposition of the words "Republican" and "Retreat." Obama did a fine job of defending his record and sounding high minded and presidential, but again the plea was for sweet reasonableness.
They sent us to Washington to work together, to get things done, and to solve the problems that they're grappling with every single day.
Obama ticked off area after area where he agreed with Republican policies. Can you imagine Ronald Reagan giving that to the Democrats? At one point, insisting that he was open to good ideas from any quarter, Obama declared:
I am not an ideologue. I'm not.
You're not? Then why bother? Ideology is not some arbitrary penchant for clinging to stale ideas. It is a principled set of beliefs about how the economy and society work, and should work.
To be a conservative Republican is to believe that markets work just fine, people mostly get what they deserve, and government typically screws things up. To be a liberal Democrat is to believe that market forces are often cruel and inefficient; that the powerful take advantage of the powerless; and that there are whole areas of economic life, from health care to regulation of finance, where affirmative government is the only way to deliver defensible outcomes for regular people.
That's an ideology, one that progressives are proud to embrace. So why does Obama think it virtuous to disclaim ideology in general? The problem afflicting America is not "ideology." It's the hegemony of rightwing ideology.

Original link to Kuttner's diary here

Robert Kutnner's diary speaks for me:

Susan H — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:36:34 GMT

Link here

An excerpt:

Though the stance is high-minded and the words eloquent and heartfelt, the exercise fails as politics.
After the Democrats' stunning loss of the Massachusetts senate seat once held by Ted Kennedy, you might have expected Obama to change a posture of partisan conciliation that clearly is backfiring. Instead, what we got was an elegant fine-tuning of the same failed strategy.
The address to Congress, and the president's remarks at the Republican Caucus, obviously, are aimed at multiple audiences. Obama seems to think that if he demonstrates to the voters that he is going the extra mile to appease the Republicans, he will win approval from opinion-leaders for delivering on his pledge to "change the tone in Washington," while Republicans will reap the public's scorn for their refusal to meet him halfway. Then he will gain some leverage to pressure the Republicans to at least find some areas of common ground.
Except, politics doesn't work that way. The Republicans get far more mileage out of continuing to block him at every turn. And his increasingly plaintive pleas only make him look weak.

scootermom forwarded a link to me and normally, neither she nor I would EVER

Susan H — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:11:10 GMT

link to a Howie Carr column but when he points out Republican hack 'o'rama and Bobby Hedlund is front and center......Well, I'll make an exception :)

Link here

Yup, even Howie Carr knows Bobby Hedlund is chanting a mantra: "if Scott can get to Washington so can I"

" I don't have a truck but I know how to fix trucks"

Really?????

Maybe, because he sure can't legislate.

Surely, you jest :)

scootermom — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:05:31 GMT

How can the Senator be continuing to warm a seat at the Snug? Isn't he the one who stands strongly for family values? I would think that feeling as he does, he'd be spending evenings at home helping with his son.

Amazing graphic

Susan H — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:52:48 GMT

Tax credits are not going to cut it.

Where is our generation's Harry Hopkins?

Doesn't Obama know of ANYONE who could try to fill Hopkins' shoes?

That is what and WHO we need.

Absolutely....I second that plea

Susan H — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:46:31 GMT

Yet I am nervous because I think one of the strongest messages from the Senate election is that the base and the democratic leaning unenrolled are using a metric of CHANGE and it seems that one measurement is how much more CHANGE has the democratic individual candidate stood for/produced in contrast to President Obama who has not lived up to his campaign rhetoric and has coddled conserva dems over those on the progressive side of the dial.

Delahunt has a great record across the board: on Iraq, on the bailout( he was aginst it thank God!), on standing for the public option by signing the progressive congressional caucus letter saying he would not vote for a health care bill without one and this record goes on and on.

We need his service.