Anonymous's blog

Mac D'Alessandro for Congress from Massachusetts' 9th district
by Mac D'Alessandro

From Thursday's Boston Globe -- the Shirk family, no kidding - their real name, Tea Party family of 12, and we pay for their health insurance: read more

“Not the computers, not the high-tech, not the downloadables,” said Boston resident Maria Rodriguez at a March 9 Boston Public Library board meeting. “Libraries are about books and librarians. I didn’t hear anything about that in your vision.” Rodriguez was one of nearly 400 people who came for details about the planned closure of as many as 10 of the city’s 26 library branches and the layoff of up to 25% of the staff in order to address a $3.6-million budget shortfall for FY2011, the Boston Globe reported March 10. [...]

Menino's budget puts councillors on the spot:

Menino lays out $2.5b plan
By Gintautas Dumcius, News Editor DORCHESTER REPORTER
Apr. 15, 2010

Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday laid out a $2.5 billion spending plan for fiscal 2011 that includes

• 250 fewer [city] jobs
• four fewer libraries
• eight fewer community centers
• while expanding education funding and grappling with rising health care costs.

The plan, increasing by 2.5 percent from the fiscal 2010 budget, depends on using $45 million from the city’s reserves.

Make it $48 million from reserves and don't close the libraries.

The mayor also submitted a capital budget that includes funds for renovating

• several school libraries and media labs,
• playgrounds
• courts in nine parks
• a new branch library in East Boston
• resurfacing 21 miles of roadways
• revamping of four Dorchester Ave. intersections, which has become a fixture of the capital budget, also continues

.

The meltdown of the financial sector of the US economy in 2008 devastated most other sectors of the economy as well as state and local governments, and now government is right to address re-regulation head on no matter how hard moneyed interests like investment banks on Wall Street fight against it.

Where does Sen Scott Brown stand on the issue? KBusch writes:

And why can't Senator Brown support a bill to prevent a repeat of the Savings and Loan Crisis and the Great Recession of 2008?

Don't they have to be a sovereign nation (and be able to write a melody) to have a national anthem?

Boston Public Library closing four branches
By Chelsea Feinstein, DAILY FREE PRESS

The Boston Public Library Board of Trustees approved a budget plan Friday for the upcoming fiscal year that will close four of the 26 BPL branches in order to reduce a looming $3.6 million budget gap.

In the meeting, the board voted in favor of a $38.9 million budget that will result in the closing of the Faneuil, Lower Mills, Orient Heights and Washington Village branches.

“After much study, the board has come to what I deeply believe to be a judicious and prudent decision for the Boston Public Library in a difficult time,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey B. Rudman in a press release.

BPL President Amy Ryan said the budget plan was a positive step in helping the library system move forward.

“While we understand the natural attachment that people have to the branch with which they are familiar, all of the efficiencies in this plan will lead to a more robust, sustainable and modern library system,” she said in the release. link

Tina Fey reprised her impression of Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" while hosting the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday night. It was Fey's first performance as the former Alaska governor since her iconic impressions during the 2008 presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Fey appeared as Palin in a sketch introducing a mock "Sarah Palin Network," satirizing Palin's entry into media. Palin recently launched the program "Real American Stories" on Fox News Channel and will soon begin production on "Sarah Palin's Alaska," an eight-part series for TLC. link

Related: We have a simple plan to counter protest Sarah Palin

We need a majority of the Boston City Council to veto the budget and demand that at least $3.6 million be added to the budget for BPL.

Click here to find you city councilor. Click here to write you city councilor and ask her or him to veto the budget and demand at least $3.6 million more be added for BPL to save all of our BPL libraries.

Mayor Menino’s budget for the city leaves the Boston Public Library short $3.6 million dollars. The Boston Public Library Trustees, under the executive direction of President Amy Ryan, voted March 24 to protect certain branches from closing:

1. Brighton
2. Central Library (Copley Square)
3. Codman Square
4. Dudley
5. Grove Hall
6. Honan-Allston
7. Hyde Park
8. Mattapanand
9. West Roxbury

In April the BPL Board plans to vote on which of the following BPL libraries will be closed. The will close up to eight (8).

1. Adams Street
2. Charlestown
3. Connolly
4. Dudley Literacy Center
5. East Boston
6. Egleston Square
7. Faneuil
8. Fields Corner
9. Jamaica Plain
10. Lower Mills
11. North End
12. Orient Heights
13. Parker Hill
14. Roslindale
15. South Boston
16. South End
17. Uphams Corner
18. Washington Village
19. West End

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Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy
by Joseph E. Stiglitz

"I can only hope Obama makes room for it on his nightstand."
- James Pressley, BusinessWeek

Dear Dave Wiegel,

You are inside the beltway and inside the bubble. We live at the Hub of the Universe.

Here at the Hub of the Universe there is no "fairly obscure blog." There is however, UniversalHub. As Tom Friedman once said, "suck on that." He actually said "Suck on this" but you know what I mean.

[size=12]Scott Brown: Help Me Defeat Rachel Maddow, Who Might Run Against Me, According to Twitter[/size]
By David Weigel 3/23/10 4:58 PM

The campaign of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who’s got less of a cash problem than almost anyone running for office in 2012 (he has millions left over from his special election bid), points to a fairly obscure blog to stoke fears that MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is being recruited to oppose him.

Greg Sargent at The Plum Line writes:

By now you’ve probably heard that Mitt Romney uncorked a blast at Obamacare today, claiming that its passage constitutes an “unconscionable abuse of power.”

“The act should be repealed,” Romney wrote, making it clear, with characteristic subtly, that he intends to position himself as the 2012 presidential hopeful most associated with the repeal push: “That campaign begins today.” read on