Hub Blog

'To defend the indefensible'

2009-11-20T07:46:00.002-05:00

Outraged Liberal is all over the brewing battle between the governor and lawmakers. ... They don't trust the governor to make non-executive-branch cuts? What types of cuts? OL has three examples. ...

‘Just what Boston needs …’ Part II

2009-11-19T19:30:00.002-05:00

The Great Shake Shack Controversy hits the New York Times – and Hub Blog is prominently featured. I await the flood of new readers and private-equity offers to buy my blog, though I hope the due-diligence types don’t notice that I never wrote the quoted remarks attributed to me. …

BTW: Hub Blog wants the record to show I hereby officially oppose Jeff Miller’s Boston-themed 'Common House' eatery. The reason: “Freedom Trail ketchup.” … Are you happy, Mike Ross? See what you’ve unleashed? …

I guess nixing Jeff’s idea makes me profoundly anti-provincial, hating the Red Sox and Boston’s status as a great ketchup town, etc. … Adam: "But if we can't overreact to the Times calling a series of closed urinals 'a sacred shrine,' what can we overreact to?" ... Shake Shack and Common House may have a new ‘sleek, European-style’ burger rival for the Pink Palace. … Scott has additional thoughts on Shake Shack. ...

By all means, ‘blame the legislature’ … But …

2009-11-19T08:24:00.003-05:00

Minor quibble with OL: The legislature hasn’t been the problem ‘for the last 20 years.’ It’s been the problem for the last half century, after it became a single-party club that resists any and all substantive changes. Major agreement with OL: Republican and Democratic governors may come and go, knocking their heads against a wall and then bolting early to preserve their sanity and dignity. Yet voters keep electing their precious individual lawmakers who keep electing their eminently corruptible leaders. …

But here’s the problem with Deval running a ‘blame the legislature’ theme: No one would want to follow him on a bumbling cavalry charge against the legislature. He’s dangerously unpredictable and legislatively incompetent. One day, he’s fighting the good fight for charter schools. The next, he’s angling for the UMass law-school boondoggle. One day, he’s fighting to reform hack agencies. The next, he’s hiring Jim Aloisi. Etc., etc., etc. On any given day, you never know from which direction he’ll approach an issue.

My hunch is he’s more than a bit disgusted by what he’s seeing and hearing behind the scenes on Beacon Hill, especially the shadow ‘legislative sponsor’ system that’s strangling this state. But he won’t decisively move to untie the Gordian knots held together by the Hack-Progressive Alliance because A.) He can't make up his mind whether he's for or against the alliance B.) He's de facto leader of the alliance.

Health care and constitutional rights

2009-11-19T06:23:00.002-05:00

I don’t agree with everything in George Will’s column on health-care reform. Example: distinguishing between government coercion to buy auto insurance and health insurance. Hmmm. Isn’t this the same government that reserves the right to draft able-bodied young men ("just because an individual exists") and send them off to war, the ultimate anti-health-care choice of them all?

But the column is thought provoking. Example: If liberals claim health care is a “right,” then don’t free citizens have a “right” to choose the health care they want? Defining health care as a right and then forcing individuals into certain types of health-care plans is akin to declaring protests to be a right and then narrowly restricting individuals to certain types of protests. … It’s an interesting argument, though I’m sure constitutional lawyers could pick it apart. But on principle, it holds up – and it’s why so many people despise the thought of a top-down single-payer system.

The Senate health-care plan unveiled yesterday is better than the House bill. But that’s not saying much. Once again, it includes a “public option,” which is adamantly backed mostly by single-payer supporters with an eye of one day expanding it to everyone. Once again, the idea of universal health care is bogged down by an obsession with the means to an end, i.e. many on the left REALLY want government running a universal health-care system. That obsession killed a chance for universal health nearly 40 years ago. That same obsession remains at the heart of today’s debate.

Being a backer of universal health care, I wish Congress had simply mandated that people buy health insurance, maximizing choices and not micro-managing types of choices. It would have taken compromises on both sides (Democrats axing single-payer proposals and their bastard cousin offshoots; Republicans accepting the notion that universal health-care’s time has come.) But I guess I’m living in my own moderate utopia by thinking such compromise deals can be hatched into reality.

‘May God have mercy on our souls …’

2009-11-17T14:32:00.001-05:00

The most frightening thing about holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s trial in N.Y.? The Media. … The scary part starts at the 5-minute mark. …

'Message: I care'

2009-11-17T10:45:00.004-05:00

Not content with telling us what we can eat and keeping track of what we can buy, they now want to tell us where we can park. Reader No. 1:

Could there be a better example of how NOT to promote environmental initatives than this proposal? Progressives have a talent for getting people to agree with their thoughtful views by pointing fingers.

With so many statewide offices opening up, could these two legislative proponents be buffing up their citified profiles for future appeal to the sensitive, educated suburban dwelling half of the Hack-Progressive alliance - "Message: I care"?

Solons, take care when you attempt to legislate use of dwindling precious resources - I speak not of the air that we breath, but the spaces in which we seek to park in the course of making our daily livings. For so many of Bostonians spending so much time away from home, accompanied by Blackberry, iPhone, Sirius and Garmin in our mobile offices, a man or woman's BMW X5 truly is his/her castle.

'Across New England, disbelief rose like a mushroom cloud'

2009-11-17T07:45:00.002-05:00

Even the Christian Science Monitor is weighing in on the Decision. ... More on the Teutonic Terror. ... I'll let Gerry have the last word/rant/kick/punch/spit etc. on the Decision. I'll only repeat that I don't think it was insane. ... BTW: Watching endless replays of The Play last night, I'm with Gerry and Reader No. 1 (see immediately below). Why always go for the marker in such situations?

'Belichick Made the Right Business Decision'

2009-11-16T15:29:00.005-05:00

Here's another way to look at Belichick's decision:

He may be blamed for months for the crushing loss, but what he really did was rational risk management. He had the option of two gambits: Watch Manning pick apart his defense with two minutes remaining or control his team’s own destiny by gaining two yards. He chose the latter. Many CEOs would have made the same decision.

He's referring to non-Wall Street CEOs, by the way, the types who don't get bailouts after they fail.

Update -- From Reader No. 1:

Well, Ron Borges is finally happy. For believers in team dynamics, Teddy Bruschi's ESPN column makes a fine point.

The bitter pill for Teddy, and the rest of us, is that Manning has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to march his Colts through Patriot defenses in the clutch - the last shutdown AFC ChampionshipGame in Foxboro was five years ago. You can blame the defensive erosion on Coach Bill, and you can criticize the specifics of the play call (why are so many NFL 4th-and-X yards plays executed so close to the down marker within literally less than an inch of margin in the event of a bad spot?). But don't whack the coach for innovation - punt the ball away 40 yards and this was still an eminently losable game.

Win Probability: (0.60 * 1) + (0.40 * (1-0.53)) = 0.79

2009-11-16T10:47:00.003-05:00

Brian Burke at Advanced NFL Stats says Belichick’s decision was statistically the right thing to do. …

I’m not trying to play both sides of the fence. I’ve already said I wouldn’t have gone for it. But Belichick’s decision wasn’t insane and it wasn’t an unrivaled Buckner/Grady Little moment. Just pointing that out. … Thanks to Reader Ben for the Burke analysis.

Update -- Ben adds:

In that he’d gone for it in a similar situation earlier in the season (Atlanta game on the 24), I wasn’t so shocked. All season there have been statistical analyses publicized suggesting teams need to go on 4th and short more often. However, where BB failed is not knowing he was going for it on 4th and, thus, running on 3rd down.

'It will be debated over and over and over'

2009-11-16T07:22:00.002-05:00

The only way -- and I mean the only way -- you can justify going for it on fourth and two on your own 28 is if Bill Belichick was absolutely convinced: “We lose if Manning gets his hands on the ball again.” …

He was undoubtedly calculating the odds of getting the first down vs. Manning marching down the post-punt field for a score. He lost the gamble and now can’t disprove the critics. … Would I have gone for it? Nope. Not on the 28. But I’m not Bill Belichick. … Spare me the Bucky Dent/Bill Buckner/Grady Little and insanity histrionics. This was a regular season game. … Kevin Faulk: “Hey, shake these cobwebs off and move on.” … Our new Teutonic Terror: Sebastian Vollmer.

'Federal oversight of subways proposed'

2009-11-15T09:28:00.004-05:00

After recent T accidents, it’s hard to argue with an Obama administration plan for a federal takeover of safety regulation for the nation’s subway and light-rail systems, citing “haphazard and ineffective oversight by state agencies.” …

Of course the following is what the debt-ridden T will look at most closely: “States running their own programs would receive federal funds to cover salaries, training and other expenses.” It should go without saying the T would normally jump at any increased federal subsidies for the system. But can you imagine the deliberations over how to bamboozle the feds into paying for and maintaining the T’s highest-in-the-nation union benefits? To be a fly on the wall this morning over at the Boston Carmen’s Union.

Update -- I hadn't noticed that Outraged Liberal had already jumped on the issue. He thinks a fed takeover is a 'marvelous idea.'

'The picture's greatness evaporates if …'

2009-11-15T08:46:00.002-05:00

George Will tackles whether Robert Capa’s iconic “Falling Soldier’’ photo was faked. … Sounds like a controversy for Cambridge’s Errol Morris to settle. I wanted to believe that Roger Fenton didn’t stage his famous Crimean War photo. I want to believe that Capa didn’t stage his own photo. But facts are facts, so let them fall where they may. … Robert Capa photo/Copywrite 2001 by Cornell Capa. … P.S. – By pure coincidence, I’ve been watching in bits and pieces Morris’s Fog of War this weekend. I only got to McNamara’s lesson No. 5 before being interrupted. Hope to get back to it later today.

‘Just what Boston needs …’

2009-11-14T11:29:00.009-05:00

Not to sound too provincial, but do we really want a N.Y. chain-wannabe on Boston Common? I tilt toward Jeff Miller’s plan, if only because it at least strives for a local flavor. But you just know the same types who think “SoWa” is such a cool name will go with the “beloved” Shake Shack – and then they’ll lecture us about having an inferiority complex while they’re off aping everything Manhattan. They’ll never understand that it’s not about New York – or Kansas City. It’s about losing a little local character every time they plunk an out-of-state chain or name on an historic area.

BTW -- It's frappe to many Bostonians, not shake. ... The best reason to avoid the place if they go with Shake Shack.

BTW II -- Do we really need a theme eatery at all? I loved this outdoor café. No Zulu or Afrikaner impersonators in sight. It was just a pleasant place to enjoy a beer or coffee. …

Update -- Right out of the starting gate, MC Slim JB links my views to hating the Yankees and not admiring things from the "country's greatest restaurant town" – as I predicted some Shake Shack supporters would do. … If he read my post a little more carefully, he’d see that my point wasn’t about New York or Kansas City, etc. And Shake Shack is 'not merely one that looks like a chain.’ It’s a chain, owned by a restaurant group. I'm glad he confirmed the restaurant-group fact.

'An Act Relating to the Treatment of Elephants'

2009-11-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

How did they know I was snorting at this end of the computer? …

Hey, it’s actually a worthy cause in the end. But the name of the bill does have that ‘only in Massachusetts’ feel to it.

'The truth is, all faiths have a lunatic fringe'

2009-11-14T08:04:00.003-05:00

Joe Fitzgerald (no relation) parks one re the Fort Hood/Muslims question:

The truth is, all faiths have a lunatic fringe.

Yet if we don’t hate all Baptists, all Jews, all Catholics, all evangelicals, understanding that they all include mad men in their midsts, how does hating all Muslims make any more sense?

The solution is to bore in on isolated individuals exhibiting and expressing extreme views, sweeping aside extreme PC concerns. It’s not as easy as denouncing an entire segment of society or pointing fingers to score political points. But it’s got to be done. Adam R addresses this unglamorous but necessary approach.

P.S. – Sorry, Tarek Mehanna supporters. No sympathy for anyone who even amateurishly dabbles in terrorism. ... Here’s the Free Tarek web site. Here’s the federal indictment. The arrest is nowhere near a close call.

'Only those with 'extravagant lifestyles' would be affected'

2009-11-13T10:06:00.002-05:00

Then why do it? Because they can’t help themselves. They’re on a self-righteous high.

‘It’s time to flip a coin’

2009-11-13T07:52:00.000-05:00

It’s perhaps the only way to block Deval’s re-election.

Lights, camera … Trader Joe’s?

2009-11-13T05:47:00.003-05:00

Remember Hub Blog’s suggestion for a movie studio on the 500 block of Harrison Ave.? Scratch that idea. A developer is looking at turning the site – a former power station and trolley barn – into a Trader Joe’s. No complaints here. Hub Blog loves TJ’s frozen fish sticks and cheap wine. …

P.S. OMG: They’re trying to foist the pseudo-hip “SoWa” name on that area of the Sound End too. They’re absolutely convinced too much local flavor is a bad thing. … The only way to resist these London-NY wannabe names is cracking down on them one reference at a time.

'As to why he is doing surprisingly well in the polls …’

2009-11-13T05:44:00.002-05:00

In an email slugged ‘It’s All Other People’s Money,’ Reader No. 1 responds to my Pags comment in this post:

I am not particularly a Pags backer (can someone ask whether he supported TARP and if so, why?) but I do not understand your comment "I still don't like a candidate who basically tries to buy an election via wealth he got from other people's money." How is this any worse than a candidate who basically tries to buy an election via campaign contributions in the form of other people's money?

As to why he is doing surprisingly well in the polls: that's easy: he's the only candidate with a clear and coherent message that the economy is Job One, not health care or how many people you know in Washington or government jobs.

Update -- This won't help Pags.

‘This is going to get ugly,’ Part III

2009-11-13T05:42:00.002-05:00

Adam R has a good piece on the predictable reactions of the right and left to the Fort Hood tragedy. I initially covered the right’s reaction -- while unfortunately neglecting the left’s dreadful PC response. Adam has now covered that base.

Update -- Charles follows the formula: A.) Blame media. B.) Blame liberals. C.) Tally up points and declare your side the winner. D.) Offer no solutions.

'Good Advice for the President'

2009-11-12T08:04:00.002-05:00

Though I disagree with the ‘Chicago machine’ analogy (Karl Rove employed the same spoils-system politics, openly and cynically borrowing the tactics from Tip O’Neill), Joel Kotkin has some great ideas about how Obama can reset his presidency. … The emphasis on distancing himself from Democratic interest-group politics is key. ... Via Reader No. 1.

BTW: I also liked Kotkin's shots at Wall Street's support for Obama. Maureen was taking her own shots at Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein for his comment about “doing God’s work.” But there’s one important caveat to consider: What if Blankfein and his Wall Street pals really do believe they’re the essence of capitalism and prosperity – and what if there are government policymakers who hold the same views?

The problem is that financiers are NOT the essence of capitalism. They’re merely an important part of capitalism – along with barber-shop owners, software developers, fishermen, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, contractors, scientists, lawyers, nurses and others who are allowed to toil within a ‘free-market system.’ I’ve always preferred the term ‘free-market’ over ‘capitalism’ because it’s a more expansive and accurate description of all the human activity that creates a complex free economy and society. But somehow, somewhere the Wall Street boys and their Washington sycophants began to believe they were the essence of the free-market system, justifying their stupendous rewards, taxpayer bailouts and government protection to take enourmous risks with the nation’s money. This really shouldn't be a right-left thing. Conservatives should be appalled that Wall Street has sucked up to government. Liberals should be appalled that government is sucking up to Wall Street.

‘Best Christmas Tree Ornament – Ever’

2009-11-12T08:01:00.003-05:00

Armchair Gen. Savin Hill is all excited about this. … Every visiting bachelor uncle or grandparent should have one for those trying moments before and after the Christmas dinner. …

'A majority of people want Deval out of office'

2009-11-12T07:37:00.002-05:00

Hub Blog is tempted to give Deval a poll-numbers break due to the economy. But a negative image has clearly taken hold -- and the best thing going for him now is the prospect of a three-way race. ... Cahill's consistent second-place numbers theoretically put him in the position of asking whether a Republican should be his running mate -- not the other way around. But the numbers will change for Baker, the likely GOP nominee, though you can't count Christy out. ...

'Coakley continues to cruise'

2009-11-12T07:04:00.002-05:00

Martha's poll numbers remain strong heading into the home stretch. The big surprise is Pag's numbers -- and Capuano coming in third. Keep in mind the poll was conducted before Capuano's 'monumental 24-hour flip-flop.' ... He really hurt himself on that one. Conventional wisdom had it that Coakley scored big by saying she wouldn't have voted for the health-care bill if it included the abortion-funding ban. But Wayne rightly noted it wasn't as simple as that. Her comments weren't on a par with Shannon O'Brien's disastrous '02 abortion remarks. But they nonetheless raised eyebrows among the non-moonbat set. Capuano had no choice but to jump on her stand -- and he initially did so with potentially effective gusto. Then came the seeming flip-flop. It doesn't look good, as Outraged Liberal and Joan note. ... A couple lucky breaks (i.e. blunders by Coakley and male-vote-splitter Pags) and an unpredictable turnout could still keep Capuano in the running. But it's getting late. ... BTW: Pag's performance, in general, is impressive. I still don't like a candidate who basically tries to buy an election via wealth he got from other people's money. But he comes across in appearances and commercials as affable and relatively earnest.

'Diagrams of farting cows’

2009-11-09T18:30:00.002-05:00

We can only hope John Carney’s piece in the American Conservative represents the beginning of the end of the Entertainment Right, a sort of purging of the purgers. Favorite lines:

Now conservative offerings come with diagrams of farting cows—bless Glenn Beck. No one is likely to have his worldview rocked by Sean Hannity’s Deliver Us From Evil or his political eyes opened by Michelle Malkin’s Unhinged. Laura Ingraham’s Shut Up and Sing slides easily down the memory hole. But permanence isn’t their intent. Conservatism has shifted from a modest cast of mind to a playground contest of insults. Millions can play along.

This isn’t to say that bestselling conservative authors don’t manage to pack arguments into their books or buttress those arguments with facts and footnotes. But they do not aim to challenge the faithful or change the minds of their opponents—to turn moderates into conservatives or shake liberals from their delusions. Conservative readers are looking for how-to manuals — an easy way to beat that liberal sister-in-law in a dinner-table debate. Thus Beck’s latest blockbuster offers “the secret formula to winning arguments against people with big mouths but small minds.”

Hub Blog noted the right’s compulsion to win arguments a while back. … Via Business Insider.