Dec 1, 2008 12:45 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  What a difference On more than a few occasions during the campaign, we discussed the links and comparisons between Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick - their similar educational backgrounds, the fact that they shared the same political guru (David Axelrod), and the striking similarities between their rhetoric and campaign styles, right down to copping each other's turns of phrase. Coming as they did during a period in which the Patrick governorship was not going so well, to put it mildly, these comparisons at times led us to speculate apprehensively about what an Obama presidency might bring.
It's awfully early to draw hard conclusions, but it only seems fair to re-visit this exercise and note the contrast between the way each man spent his first few post-election weeks.
By December first of 2006, Patrick had accomplished two things - the unnecessary alienation of much of the local press corps with a caustic speech to the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association finger-wagging about how their reporters had been blind to the story of his ascendance; and the appointment of a completely unprepared family friend, Joan Wallace-Benjamin, as his chief of staff, a disastrous choice that lasted barely three error-filled months into 2007 before experienced political hands were brought in to stabilize the administration's internal and external game plan.
Obama? Experienced, savvy chief of staff, check; seasoned appointees to key economic and foreign policy positions, reaching well beyond his circle of friends and political allies, check; an unprecedented plethora of press conferences and a couple of high-profile personal one-on-ones, expertly handled with grace and humor by the president-elect (and Mrs. Obama), feeding media hunger for news while seizing immediate control of messaging, check.
It is the difference between the behavior of an arrogant neophyte who doesn't know what he doesn't know and that of an experienced politician eager to put the b.s of the campaign behind him and get down to the hard business of governing. Viva la difference! Nov 27, 2008 10:51 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Car 54, where are you?
WBZ News has learned that the state has revoked the privilege for 107
of the 347 so-called year-round "domicile vehicles." Fifty-eight of those
were assigned to the Highway Department. Others were being used by
employees at executive-branch agencies dealing with public safety,
corrections, park management, and conservation. An
undisclosed number of the remaining domicile vehicles will now be
limited to seasonal use; in one example, Highway Department employees who
supervise snowplowing operations and formerly had year-round access to
the cars will now be limited to wintertime use only.
A top administration official who confirmed the details of the car crackdown said the
governor's Office of Administration and Finance is also "tightening up"
its monitoring of required monthly mileage reports on the cars. Users
are also expected to submit written accounts of their reasons for
travel and explain any after-hours usage. Failure to file such reports
will now result in loss of the privilege.
"I don't think abuse was pervasive at all," said the official. "But given what's going on in the economy, we felt
you really had to make a case to justify this practice."
The move comes at a sensitive time for the administration, under
intense financial pressures and political fire for proposed toll hikes
on the Massachusetts Turnpike. It is the latest in a series of Patrick
administration efforts to model reformist behavior, including a
late-summer deployment of flaggers at some state road-work projects in place of
costly police details, and belt-tightening at the Turnpike Authority,
including efforts to lay off managers and toll collectors.
And the review of state vehicle use is not over, the official said. "There could be more to come." Nov 26, 2008 9:27 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  They're out there Check out my picks for:
- The local turkeys of the year (link here);
- The national turkeys of the year (link here);
- Plus some turkeys who didn't quite make the cut.
Then, add your own below. Nov 25, 2008 10:56 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Help! We're shrinking! Watch our report on the legal-but-insidious practice of downsizing grocery items so that you're paying the same but getting less. (Click on link in box to your right.)
Then go to consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky's excellent website for more information that can save you money. Nov 25, 2008 7:34 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Standing up to Chuck's spin machine Boston Globe columnist Adrian Walker doesn't especially need my support - his high-quality, scrupulously-fair reporting, on display in this excellent column about the Chuck Turner case - speaks for itself. But he has it anyway. It can't be easy for Walker - an African-American who has maintained his integrity and skillfully walked the tightrope of wanting to write about topics of concern to the black community without being stereotyped as a strictly "black" columnist - to navigate the turbulent racial emotions surrounding the Turner and Dianne Wilkerson busts. That stress was etched on his face during an interview with Emily Rooney of Channel 2 tonight, as he was forced to listen to the pitiful pro-Turner spin being spewed by political activist Joyce Ferriabough. Hang in there, Adrian. Once the feds start perp-walking white defendants in the liquor-license fixing scandal, the race-baiting heat will subside under the rocks from whence it came. Nov 25, 2008 5:53 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  What else is new? Is it me, or does it seem that horrid, traffic-gridlocking accidents like this one happen all too often inside the multi-billion-dollar O'Neill Tunnel? Could that have anything to do with the atrocious design of the facility, where traffic coming in either direction is flung down a steep slope into a serpentine maze of bewildered drivers struggling to negotiate poorly-signed exits that come up way too fast? Nov 24, 2008 8:14 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Obama: did you say something? Larry Summers may or may not turn out to be a brilliant choice to run the National Economic Council. Part of that body's role is to play traffic cop, making sure the government carries out the president's economic policies the way he wants them to. Perhaps President-elect Obama figured he needed a real...uh, forceful individual wielding the sap, a la Rahm Emanuel.
Unquestionably, Summers is well-qualified to give it the old college try. For now, the best part of this appointment is the kiss-off it blows toward the local limousine lynch-mob who hounded Summers out of the Harvard presidency because he made a derogatory remark about women that wasn't directed at Sarah Palin. Their pitiful whining may have gotten results from profile-in-courage overseers at Harvard (BTW, terrific job overseeing that 30% hemhorraging of endowment value by betting wildly on risky horses). But Obama didn't seem to really jump to when they threw up another round of caterwauling after Summers' name surfaced on transition short lists. After all, the man got a full whiff of Harvard faculty ideology when he was up here at law school. In fact, I fancy that when some aide told him about the Cambridge government-in-exile and their renewed anti-Summers crusade, he surreptitiously reached down and turned up his I-Pod volume.
Wouldn't you? Nov 24, 2008 12:40 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Seized for cause? Those Somali thugs who've been pillaging offshore commerce? Why, they're actually freedom fighters, according to this incredible specimen of dishonest, blame-America-first "analysis."
It's not surprising that the author insists on blaming the violent criminality of these waterborne gangs on American militarism and corporate swinishness; those cookie-cutter villains are his stock scapegoat for everything. But his most serious indictment - that "the United States no longer pretends that its main way of relating to the continent is through the State Department or the Agency of International Development, and not through the Pentagon - through force of arms instead of foreign aid" - is a flat-out lie.
Oh, but what's a few lies when you're concocting an airy thesis that the bad guys are really the good guys? Keep your eye on this dolt - if you see Gov. Patrick appointing him to the state parole board, you'll know it's time to move out of state. Nov 21, 2008 2:09 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Power to the people, right on Chuck Turner? Busted? What's next. Photos of Dianne Wilkerson on the take?
Oh yeah - never mind.
Why can't I shake the feeling that these two are relatively small potatoes? Those bargain-basement liquor licenses are hardly the only valuable commodities doled out every day by state and local government without much, if any, scrutiny from public-interest watchdogs. Perhaps you recall the eye-popping sting conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times in 1978 when they bought a bar and meticulously documented the corruption of a parade of city inspectors as they traipsed through the place with their paws out. Who's to say the charges against Wilkerson and Turner aren't the tip of the iceberg of similarly systemic corruption? (Establishment defenders, don't whine to me about guilt-by-association until you clean up this little problem.) Maybe that's why state senators who are normally circle-the-wagon types were so eager to get Wilkerson out of there (although not so eager they couldn't finish up their sham Ethics Committee investigation in timely fashion). Nov 20, 2008 5:30 PM Posted by Jon_Keller  Secretary of Space? How can you tell President-elect Obama is making all the right moves?
When utter fools are disparaging them. Like this one.
Clip 'n' save quote: "If Obama really wanted change, if he really wanted to honor progressives who backed him early on and then did the grunt work against McCain, he’d nominate Dennis Kucinich as Secretary of State. That sure would indicate a welcome departure from empire as usual."
It sure would! Not to mention signalling a new era of openness and friendship to our UFO friends from other galaxies! | |