Dracut Musings

Fishy

2009-11-16T18:04:00.002-05:00

So we always knew that President Obama's team was playing fast with the stimulus numbers but this is a little fishy.

The official White House website on the stimulus package says that 2,873 jobs were created in the 00 NH Congressional District, 3.2 jobs in the 6th District, and 2 in the 27th district.

Last I checked New Hampshire had two congressional districts.

h/t to NRO Corner

Later, senator

2009-11-16T17:22:00.001-05:00

In the fine tradition of State Sens. James Marzilli and Diane Wilkerson (not to mention countless others), State Sen. Anthony Galluccio is finding himself in more hot water. Last month he was involved in a hit and run (he was the hitter) in which he hurt a 13 year old boy and now it has been revealed that Cambridge Police had to give him a ride home the same day...at 4:39am...because he was too drunk.

Looks like another fine senatorial career is coming to an abrupt end.

Blow ins

2009-11-15T18:56:00.003-05:00

Looks like some New York City restaurant wants to open a location on the Boston Common. Its name? The Shake Shack.

Um, folks, this is Boston, it is frappe. Also, why make the Common a commercial place?

The Hub Blog has a great post on this:

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.

If anyone ever says SoWa in my presence, they will regret it!!

Me and the boy

2009-11-15T18:05:00.001-05:00

It was an all Flaherty Male weekend as Lynn was gone all weekend. After I did a stint on the radio yesterday morning, Lynn headed down to Middleboro for a scrapbooking event. From what I gather, it was just a big old scrapbooking party at a VFW type place. Lynn's sister lives in Middleboro so she joined her for the day. I was happy to hear that - they never get to see each other since we literally live on opposite ends of the state!

So, since it was pouring out Kevin and I decided to head to a local Catholic school's Christmas Fair. There wasn't much that interested us really - lots of crafts and stuff. Kevin was more interested in the dancing Santa Claus. We each did enjoy a donut and I bought some apple cinnamon bread and we then took a ride to the library. We didn't do a whole lot there, it was mostly me chasing after Kevin and asking him to be quiet! It was then nap time and that evening we did the grocery shopping.

Today Lynn met up with some old college friends down on the Cape. She was going to bring Kevin but I knew she wouldn't be able to have a good time with him running around so I told her to leave him. So, Kevin and I went to the 11:30am mass at our Church and then to my school's championship football game (which we won!). Kevin was uncharacteristically good at mass as I had him pretty occupied the whole time with a coloring book and pretzels.

Now he's eating some leftover pasta and then it's off for a bath (he got into mud today at the game). It was fun to spend time with him, good old fashioned daddy/son time! But, hopefully it's an early bed time as I have a lot of work to do tonight. Lynn will be home late as she had to go to mass at 5pm and then had a meeting afterwards.

Running mates?

2009-11-15T08:34:00.002-05:00

I missed this on Friday: Howie Carr weighed in on Republican Charlie Baker reportedly asking Independent Tim Cahill to be his running mate in next year's governor's race. Baker has a right to be worried - Cahill could take away a ton of votes from Baker and throw the election to Gov. Deval Patrick (which almost happened two weeks ago in New Jersey).

See the column here but a taste below:

It’s time to flip a coin. I’m serious. Heads or tails. The winner runs for governor, and the loser gets to be the other guy’s running-mate on the Republican ticket. If both of you get together right now, you can begin planning the transition in January 2011.

Not even ACORN will be able to pull it out for Deval. Or even the Globe - assuming there still is a Globe next November, that is, after all the layoffs next January.

No way Deval Patrick can be reelected in 2010. Let me rephrase that - no way he can get over 50 percent of the vote. But if two candidates are on the ballot against him, then he only needs 34 percent of the vote. Sadly, despite his disastrous term, he could still conceivably get 33 percent-plus-one. There are that many moonbats infesting this benighted Commonwealth, that overly medicated, guilt-ridden, non-working trust-fund crowd living off the monthly check from either their parents or their uncle (Sam, that is).

The next Attorney General

2009-11-15T08:19:00.003-05:00

Howie Carr has a good column today speculating on who will be the next Attorney General for Massachusetts. It's pretty clear that the incumbent, Martha Coakley, will be our next U.S. senator (shudder) so it's time to start thinking about the interim AG.

Under state law, the Legislature appoints an interim AG if the current one resigns. Howie throws some names around like State Reps. Charlie Murphy and Jim Vallee but he thinks neither of them will get the nod. Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo has already said he doesn't want the job.

Whoever gets the job will have to go up against State Sen. Scott Brown who is running for the U.S. Senate on the Republican side. He will not win the Senate race but he is getting his name out there.

Anyway, see the article here but a portion is below:

It’s imperative for the Democrats to hang onto the AG’s office. So here’s one solution being bandied about. Have DeLeo order his minions to elect Bill Galvin AG. If Galvin is no longer the secretary of state, the Legislature will have to fill that vacancy too, and it could go to . . . DeLeo.

DeLeo can’t survive a high-profile race. But secretary of state . . . maybe.

It would be the perfect golden parachute for him. Even if Bobby loses next November, he gets in a year at $130,000, which will boost his kiss in the mail.

Galvin’s already run statewide five times, and he was around the last time a GOP tidal wave rolled in and wiped out the Democrat party. Running for treasurer in 1990, he got washed out to sea too, but now at least he knows enough to check the weather forecast before going near the beach.

Move on

2009-11-14T18:15:00.002-05:00

Wow, I need to read National Review's Corner more often. This is just brilliant:

George W. Bush inherited a recession. He also inherited the Iraq no-fly zones, a Middle East boiling after the failed last-minute Clintonian rush for an imposed peace, an intelligence community wedded to the notion of Saddam's WMD proliferation, a Congress on record supporting "regime change" in Iraq, a WMD program in Libya, a Syrian occupation of Lebanon, Osama bin Laden enjoying free rein in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, a renegade Pakistan that had gone nuclear on Clinton's watch with Dr. Khan in full export mode, and a pattern of appeasing radical Islam after its serial attacks (on the World Trade Center, the Khobar Towers, U.S. embassies, and the U.S.S. Cole).

In other words, Bush inherited the regular "stuff" that confronts most presidents when they take office. What is strange is that Obama has established a narrative that he, supposedly unlike any other president, inherited a mess.

At some point, Team Obama might have at least acknowledged that, by January 2009, Iraq was largely quiet; Libya was free of WMD; Syria was out of Lebanon; most of the al-Qaeda leadership had been attrited or was in hiding; a homeland-security protocol was in place to deal with domestic terror plots; European governments were mostly friendly to the U.S. (unlike during the Chirac-Schröder years); and the U.S. enjoyed good relations with one-third of the planet in China and India.

The fact that in the Bush years we were increasingly disliked by Ahmadinejad, Assad, Castro, Chávez, Kim Jong Il, Morales, Ortega, and Putin, may in retrospect seem logical, just as their current warming to the U.S. may prove to be cause for alarm, given the repugnant nature of these strongmen.

Bottom line: Obama's second year as president is coming up, and it is long past time to move on and let historians judge the Bush years.

Nice try

2009-11-14T18:08:00.001-05:00

Piggy backing off of Jeff Jacoby's column this morning about President Obama's ego, this great piece from National Review:

“As America's first Pacific president,” said President Obama in Tokyo, “I promise you that this Pacific nation will strengthen and sustain our leadership in this vitally important part of the world.”

It is true that the president was born in Hawaii (sorry, birthers), lived from ages six to ten in Indonesia, and attended a Honolulu prep school. But he is not our first Pacific president. Richard Nixon was born in California in 1913, and spent much more of his life in the Pacific region than the current president has. Moreover, while Barack Obama made his career in Chicago and Springfield, Ronald Reagan made his in Los Angeles and Sacramento.

And the incumbent is hardly the first chief executive to have lived in another Pacific Rim country. William Howard Taft was governor-general of the Philippines. Dwight Eisenhower had military postings in the Philippines and the Panama Canal Zone. Herbert Hoover worked as a mining engineer in Australia and China; he even learned to speak Mandarin. Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Bush 41 all served in the Pacific during the Second World War. What they did as adults was perhaps more consequential than what Obama did as a child.

The Great I Am

2009-11-14T09:51:00.003-05:00

Jeff Jacoby has a special Saturday column in today's Boston Globe on President Obama's mega ego. You need to read it all (see here) but below is a taste:

At the start of his presidency, Obama seemed to content himself with the royal “we’’ - “We will build the roads and bridges. . . . We will restore science to its rightful place. . . . We will harness the sun and winds,’’ he declaimed at his inauguration.

But as the literary theorist Stanley Fish points out, “By the time of the address to the Congress on Feb. 24, the royal we [had] flowered into the naked ‘I’: ‘As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress.’ ‘I called for action.’ ‘I pushed for quick action.’ ‘I have told each of my Cabinet.’ ‘I’ve appointed a proven and aggressive inspector general.’ ’I refuse to let that happen.’ ’’ In his speech on the federal takeover of General Motors, Obama likewise found it necessary to use the first-person singular pronoun 34 times. (“Congress’’ he mentioned just once.)

At this rate, it won’t be long before the president’s ego is so inflated that it will require a ZIP code of its own.

Then again, how modest would any of us be if we were as magnificent as Obama? “I am well aware,’’ he told the UN General Assembly in September, “of the expectations that accompany my presidency around the world.’’

In 1860, writes Doris Kearns Goodwin in her celebrated biography “Team of Rivals,’’ an author wishing to dedicate his forthcoming work to Abraham Lincoln received this answer: “I give the leave, begging only that the inscription may be in modest terms, not representing me as a man of great learning, or a very extraordinary one in any respect.’’

Obama has often claimed Lincoln as a role model, but it only goes so far.

New Bishop for Fort Wayne-South Bend

2009-11-14T09:31:00.002-05:00

Today Pope Benedict XVI named a replacement for Bishop John D'Arcy, the bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana. D'Arcy is 77 and all bishops submit their resignation at 75 and the pope accepts it or waits, as he did here.

I love Bishop D'Arcy. He is a Boston native and a fellow graduate of Boston College High School. He is not afraid to stand up to people (and for the truth), most notably Fr. John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, for granting President Obama an honorary degree this past May.

I met D'Arcy a couple of times when I was in the seminary with the Holy Cross Fathers at Notre Dame and he was very friendly and easy to talk to. I hope he comes home to Massachusetts for his twilight years and contributes to the Church of Boston - it will be nice to have him back!

DeNucci moving on

2009-11-13T16:45:00.002-05:00

My father worked at the State House for a number of years doing construction work. He said the nicest guy that worked there was Auditor Joe DeNucci. He would always talk to people, no matter if they were some big shot or a janitor.

Today DeNucci announced that he will not run for re-election. He has been auditor since 1986 and he said he wants to move on.

This may be a good opportunity for the Republicans to pick up a constitutional office. The Globe says since the 1960's they've only held one constitutional office other than governor and lt. governor. They didn't say which one but it has to be treasurer - Joe Malone held that job in the 1990's.

Thought for the day...

2009-11-13T12:27:00.002-05:00

Is there anything more disgusting than the abortion special interest groups?

It has begun

2009-11-12T16:43:00.002-05:00

In today's Lowell Sun there was an article about Byam Elementary School in Chelmsford which has banned any recognition of Christmas from its "holiday gift shop."

A flier sent home with students for the gift shop, which will run from Dec. 1 to Dec. 4 and benefits the school's PTO, states no Santa, candy canes, stockings, Christmas, Hanukkah or other "religious items" are welcome.

Hmmm, so they're having a "holiday" event but the students cannot mention the "holiday" they are celebrating.

It's funny that a Massachusetts public school is banning any and all mention of "holidays" when the state Department of Education lists the public holidays in the states and bolds statewide legal holidays. What is one of those bolded public statewide legal holidays? Christmas.

Will there no mention of George Washington on Washington's Birthday at Byam Elementary School? Will the children of Byam Elementary School ignore Christopher Columbus on Columbus Day? Guess poor old Martin Luther King is going to lose out at Byam Elementary School, huh?

Here's what I suggest. If Byam Elementary School is going to ignore a statewide, legal, public holiday then people should ignore their fundraiser.

See why I teach in a Catholic school?

The best

2009-11-12T12:11:00.001-05:00

I may have posted this before but someone on Facebook was talking about Johnny Most and it got me thinking of the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons. See below:

Keller gets in on the action

2009-11-10T18:03:00.002-05:00

Jon Keller of Channel 4 nails Rep. Michael Capuano for his obvious political flip flopping on the health care bill:

Q: Have you ever seen Mike Capuano and John Kerry photographed together? And are you sure it wasn't a fake?

Nice.

Man of principle

2009-11-10T16:48:00.001-05:00

Line up Rep. Michael Capuano for a Profile in Courage Award.

Yesterday when Attorney General Martha Coakley said she would vote against the health care bill if it banned funding for abortion, Capuano said Coakley had a "lack of understanding of the legislative process" and that a legislator must "have the skills to build consensus and the courage to make difficult decisions, and the wisdom to know when to choose progress over perfection."

Well, what a difference a day makes. Now, Capuano says he too will vote against the bill if it restricts funding for abortion. Gee, Rep. Capuano, what happened? You said Coakley lacked "understanding" and one needs to "build consensus" to pass legislation. Do you now think differently or was it that all the radical abortion groups pounced on the anti-abortion provision and you risked losing the vote of the precious baby killing lobby?

I think the latter.

Rep. Capuano. A true man of his word...except when it will hurt him politically.

Losing the war

2009-11-09T14:53:00.003-05:00

It is said that after Walter Cronkite came out against the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

Well, Deval Patrick can something similar today about his base as two liberal bloggers, Dan Kennedy and the Outraged Liberal have criticized him for the increase in the hacks and the funding of a bridge for Foxboro Stadium.

Kennedy said the following:

I will only disagree with Mr. O.L. to this extent: Patrick has now been governor for nearly three years. Yet Mr. O.L. still refers to the governor’s actions as “screw-ups” and questions “whether anyone in the Corner Office is paying attention.”

No. At this late date, the only reasonable conclusion is that this is who Patrick is.
He shoots, he scores!

Another extremist

2009-11-09T14:41:00.002-05:00

So once again, in an effort to prove to all liberal moon bats everywhere that she is one of them, Attorney General (and Senate candidate) Martha Coakley said today that she would have voted against the health care bill that was passed in the House on Sunday because it restricted funding of abortion.

You've got to be a hard core, wack job, ultra liberal to say you would vote against one of the biggest Democratic bills since Medicare because of a provision on abortion. Coakley is clearly outside of the mainstream in America and needs to be stopped in the primary or the general election.

This is just too much...Martha Coakley is dangerous.

No room in the fields

2009-11-09T08:41:00.001-05:00

The Globe has an interesting article today on the plight of Civil War reenactors in New England. Already handicapped by people being more interested in the Revolutionary War they are now having trouble finding space big enough to stage their enactments.

I confess that I am not much of a Civil War buff. I actually am more interested in the events that led up to the war rather than the battles. Case in point: on Saturday I went into Boston for a talk on John Brown at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Anyway, see a snip of the article below:

“The mindset on other parts of the country is so different. History is the Civil War. You knew about the American Revolution, but it didn’t happen in your town,’’ said Richard Dobbins, founder of the Duxbury-based American Civil War Research Database, the largest online searchable American Civil War database.

Julie Marin, a Groton Civil War event organizer, said she was frustrated that state officials had not made more public land in Eastern Massachusetts available for large-scale living-history activities. Her group, she said, has liability insurance and has worked well with local police, fire, and town officials to enjoy smooth reenactments in the past.

Marin doesn’t blame anti-Civil War bias for her group’s trouble in Groton. She chalks up the difficulties to skyrocketing land prices and the housing boom of the past decade, along with people “still learning what we’re about and what we have to offer people,’’ said Marin, who often portrays General Grant’s wife, Julia, wearing homemade skirts with stiff petticoats.

Tom Higgins, recruitment director of the Attleboro-based 28th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, said his reenactment community is planning smaller events at mostly private venues farther afield.

He concurred that many New Englanders are desperately in need of a crash course in Civil War history, to balance out local fervor for that “other war.’’

“You can see that when you go to some events [in costume] and people ask where the Redcoats are,’’ he said wryly.

What to do...

2009-11-09T08:12:00.001-05:00

My school always gives us the Monday of Veterans Day off instead of the 11th so it's a nice long weekend for me. Kevin's not feeling so hot today (little bit of a cold) so he's going to stay home with me today. Just checked the weather and it's supposed to be 67 out so hopefully we can spend some time outside.

I visited the Lowell National Historical Park yesterday for a talk and picked up a nice pamphlet on walking tours of Lowell. Perhaps we will check some of those out. I've been trying to walk more too so I think a walk is on the agenda (went for a 90 minute walk last night around Dracut).

So many possibilities...

Who is Michael Capuano?

2009-11-09T07:57:00.001-05:00

Rep. Michael Capuano, a candidate for the Senate who left of Mao, is trying to portray himself as a common man from the mean streets of Somerville. But, the Herald points out today that the common man has expensive tastes:

Capuano spent nearly $12,000 over the past two years wining and dining a total of 67 times at posh restaurants such as Sonoma wine bar and Charlie Palmer Steakhouse, both in Washington, D.C.

The dining spree includes:

$1,065 at the Taverna restaurant in Washington, D.C.

$444 at the Capital Grille in Burlington

$122 at the Block House, a steakhouse in Hamburg, Germany

$229 at Cafe George V in Paris

$443 at the Tune Inn restaurant and bar in Washington, D.C., a more relaxed and well-known hangout for young staffers on the Hill.

Extreme Liberal

2009-11-08T10:13:00.005-05:00

Yesterday (or was it this morning) the House passed their version of the health care bill. As part of the deal to get some conservative Democratic votes, they agreed to vote on an amendment to ban health insurance companies who participate in the federal exchange to cover abortions. The amendment passed 240-194 with one member voting present.

How did the esteemed representative from Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District vote? No.

She couldn't disappoint her gal pals over at Emily's List, you know.

Not that this is a surprise but you can now officially call Rep. Niki Tsongas an ultra-liberal.

Sham Artist

2009-11-08T09:35:00.003-05:00

The Globe reports today that since Gov. Deval Patrick took office in 2006, the number of employees working in the state transportation departments have gone up 20%! Not only that, the high level employees are making 25% more than they did under former Gov. Mitt Romney.

This despite the fact that Patrick has promised major cuts and reforms in the transportation departments.

I've said it a million times now...Patrick is nothing more than a snake oil salesman whose promises of reform and change were nothing more than hollow campaign pitches.

Hmmm, kind of sounds like someone else we know.

Get out

2009-11-07T21:06:00.003-05:00

I never knew this but I guess the U.S.S. Constitution shoots off cannons twice a day and plays the national anthem each day as it raises and lowers the flag. Nice stuff.

But some yuppie over at the Charlestown Navy Yard is complaining, saying the noise is too loud and disruptive. Screw you yuppie (pardon my French). These idiots have infiltrated Boston over the past 10-15 years and now expect 200 plus years of tradition to change because their chi-chi friends get jumpy.

Move back to Weston if the city is too loud for you.

Jerk.

Follow the leader

2009-11-07T20:27:00.003-05:00

This is a few days old now but Joan Vennochi had a fantastic column the other day about how members of the Legislature do/vote whatever the leaders want them to do, no matter how odious the legislation.

Case in point. In 2007, the House passed a bill that would have lifted the cap on resold tickets for places like Ace Ticket. The bill was pushed by Speaker Sal DiMasi because his buddy, Richard Vitale, met with him privately and asked DiMasi to push the bill through. Vitale was paid by a ticket group to meet with DiMasi which would count as lobbying but Vitale did not file statements saying he lobbied DiMasi as required by law. Vitale is currently facing charges.

You can see the column here but I love the conclusion:

What’s as disquieting is the go-along culture under the Golden Dome. It’s unchanged. House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo wanted a sales tax hike instead of a gas tax hike. Lawmakers went along with his desire, even those who saw it as Band-Aid over a still-festering wound.

“I have long felt and even included in my seconding speech for Sal DiMasi, that we have not gotten to the point of collaborative leadership,’’ said Kaufman, who, under DeLeo, chairs the committee on revenue.

Voters send representatives to Beacon Hill. Once there, institutional leaders vie for their loyalty.

That’s when the people’s lawmakers start turning into the leader’s sheep.