Still Doesn’t “Get It”

I’m in the minority who didn’t vote for Deval Patrick and, given his track record in the first nine weeks in office, think my judgment was right.
Whether or not you agree with the finer points, Governor Patrick managed to stir up a lot of contention with a number of decisions to do with personal style: the lease of an expensive car, the hiring of a political supporter as his wife’s chief of staff, an “improper intervention” in a financial deal involving Ameriquest Mortgage, on whose board the governor served.
This week, he got involved in a federal matter concerning the arrest and possible deportation of some 300 illegal workers in New Bedford, people who worked under horrendous conditions but were nonetheless in violation of this country’s laws.
One cannot help but wonder if the governor would personally intervene in a case involving an ordinary citizen who was arrested for criminal activity and whose children were relegated to the not especially tender mercies of the DSS, especially if that citizen wasn’t represented by a powerful and well-funded lobby, as seems to be the case with illegal aliens.

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Money Matters

I attended part of the town’s school committee meeting last night. Prior to the meeting, I got to chat with the elementary school principal and two members of the Finance Committee, including the chairman.
I knew that the elementary school has the lowest rate of absenteeism in the district, even though class sizes are probably double what they should be for early childhood education.
I learned that they also have the highest rates of volunteerism in the district.
Those are indications of a good administrator. Besides, she’s a fan of my youngest grandchild who, by the way, loves his school.

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Wake-up Call Long Overdue

From this morning’s Boston Herald:
SALEM – A mother who prostituted her 8-year-old daughter to a man in exchange for crack cocaine was sentenced Friday to 15 to 18 years in state prison.
Mary Jean Armstrong, 38, was charged with seven counts each of child rape and indecent assault and battery, two counts of inducting a minor into prostitution and other child-abuse charges.
Armstong later told police her daughter had been molested as many as 50 times in a two-year period.
Police began investigating in 2004 after a rapist, Richard Lapham, showed photographs of him raping the victim to an acquaintance who later stole those photos and handed them over to police. Lapham is now serving a 15- to 18-year prison sentence.
When investigators searched Lapham

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Scr*w Jet Blue

I’ve flown JetBlue before, but will not patronize their airline again after the debacle at JFK last week.
Their CEO still has not offered an adequate explanation of why passengers were not allowed to deplane for up to 11 hours. Eleven hours in, as one passenger put it, a metal coffin.
No one would rebuke the airline for imposing moderate inconvenience on passengers due to safety concerns.
But to allow an _arriving_ flight to sit for almost 9 hours on the tarmack: that’s insane. It shows a lack of planning for emergencies and an inability to make decisions when faced with the unexpected, neither of which are especially good qualities in an airline.
Then, to compound this abominable customer service, the airline canceled almost 1/4 of its school holiday weekend flights so that their crews can catch up on their rest.
I guess that union contracts trump greed at Jet Blue.
Too bad they’re not as concerned about their passengers,.

The Child “Protection” Biz

http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
From Massachusetts. ..2002…
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
DSS and affiliates rewarded for breaking up families
By Nev Moore
Massachusetts News
Child “protection” is one of the biggest businesses in the country. We spend $12 billion a year on it.
The money goes to tens of thousands of a) state employees, b) collateral professionals, such as lawyers, court personnel, court investigators, evaluators and guardians, judges, and c) DSS contracted vendors such as counselors, therapists, more “evaluators” , junk psychologists, residential facilities, foster parents, adoptive parents, MSPCC, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, YMCA, etc. This newspaper is not big enough to list all of the people in this state who have a job, draw a paycheck, or make their profits off the kids in DSS custody.
In this article I explain the financial infrastructure that provides the motivation for DSS to take people

Terrorists Under the Bridges

No, I do not have the warm and fuzzies after Boston’s _very_ delayed reaction to the Err and Ignignokt lighted cartoon panels.
These “terrorist” devices had been in place for two weeks before an MBTA passenger – a _passenger_ – noticed the first one around 8 am yesterday.
It wasn’t until mid to late afternoon that officials figured out that the devices were harmless, long after the blogger community identified the panels as part of a publicity stunt by Turner Network.

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Strange Group Names for Birds

An exaltation of larks
A bouquet of pheasants
A building of rooks
A cast of hawks (or falcons)
A charm of finches
A cover of coots
A deceit of lapwings
A descent of woodpeckers
A dissimulation of birds
A dole of doves
A murmuration of starlings
A murder of crows
An ostentation of peacokcs
A parliament of owls
A pitying of turtledoves
For more, see http://www.bcpl.net/~tross/gnlist.html and http://www.sentex.net/~tntcomm/kwfn/numbers.htm