Today WBUR is hosting a call in show entitled "Your Call" from 1 -2 pm regarding the racket that is the state's requirement for all citizens to get healthcare coverage by year's end. I don't know that it will change anything, but if there was ever an opportunity to voice your opinion (good or ill), it is now.

WBUR
90.9 FM
http://www.wbur.org/
http://www.wbur.org/weblogs/commonhealth/

There are times where I really hate being associated with Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I heard that Cambridge officials had put a stop to the local Boy Scouts care package drive for the troops in Iraq at polling places because "political messages are not allowed inside polling places."

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, not a fan of the Boy Scouts based on their history of and current practice of discrimination, particularly of homosexuals and not a fan of the war-we need to be out of there.

A great opportunity to meet other local bloggers!

Host: The Boston Weblogger Meetup Group

Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Location: Algiers (cafe)
Street: 40 Brattle Street
City/Town: Cambridge, MA
Phone: 617.492.1557 (Algiers)
Email:

Description
This month's meetup will feature a discussion about political blogging and will be led by local blogger, Ofer Inbar, who was a blogger and Internet advisor to several state legislative campaigns.

All are welcome to attend. We will be meeting upstairs at Algiers in Cambridge.

The Boston Weblogger Meetup Group is a monthly meetup group for people that are interested in blogging and meeting others who are interested in blogging. Topics discussed range from blog content to blog software. All interest levels are welcome.

The Boston Weblogger Meetup Group:
http://blog.meetup.com/3/

"RACE," a play based on the Studs Terkel book of the same name for is playing in Charlestown January 19 through February 3.

The Chicago Sun-Times says:
"Based on the national bestseller, RACE uncovers the true thoughts and emotions of ordinary Americans, both black and white, about this
country's most explosive issue. We see bus drivers, college students,civil rights workers, Klansmen, doctors, interracial couples and many
more struggling with their feelings on affirmative action, drugs,prejudice, and dashed hopes, revealing attitudes that few are willing

I know that I will spend part of the day working and the rest of the evening returning to better times by watching Robotech at the Brattle Theater in Cambridge.
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?event=HUXSOZZSOHDEOLCWWMJN

The usual maudlin thoughts that are usually reserved for this day were already spent while I was sick, so I don't have anything left for my birthday, which would actually be seen as a positive.

I don't feel older or wiser and I haven't since I was 13. The years rolled on and I just would get bigger and more liable for things like bills...

I received this from a local list I belong to. Sadly I have received too many similar requests for the same thing due to the same reason.

Domestic violence is a tough thing. I hope that those who can help will help.

And, in case anyone wonders....not a scam. I did not know the person but I know about the original sender and she is pretty savvy. Also, another trustworthy member of the list verified this information.

--------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, this family is looking for help with the funeral. Any and all contributions will be appreciated. Thanks, Nikki

Well, it's October and the Red Sox are NOT in the post season.
WGBH is in the midst of its Fall Radio Pledge and they are beating the bushes.

Tonight has been up and down. There was a flurry of activity as the Matching Pledge Challenge wound down. We are half way into our 25 call goal for this program.

Eric Jackson has been spinning some great music-right now he is playing something from nice from Shirley Horn.

We have one volunteer who is one of those bordering on obnoxious missionary Caucasoids who work with "minority" children and talk about "saving them" while flaunting their education. This one works for the BELL-a great organization that does great work. A donor called into pledge and she was chatting him up to donate to the foundation, which while technically not terrible was a bit of bad form by my way of thinking, since she was doing the soft press. I cringed at bits because she sounded so condescending when she spoke about the children.

Section 8 Voucher Re-Opened until Oct 31st.

The Boston Housing Authority has re-opened its Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program waiting list for Priority One applicants only. Priority One applicants are those families and individuals in most emergent need of housing such as victims of domestic violence, homelessness, displacement by fire or condemned housing and no fault eviction. Those applicants can submit their application with the Priority One Self-Certification form in person by October 31, 2006 at 5pm or by mail, postmarked no later than October 31, 2006. For a complete list of requirements, please visit the BHA's website at www.bostonhousing.org.

Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought.

To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears.

To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool.

To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen.

To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to.

To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.

-Octavia Butler

Right now I am listening to WBUR's broadcast of the president's news conference concerning North Korea and Iraq.
I try to listen objectively to his addresses to the nation but it is hard. I am always left with the image of a comedian who is just not very good but insists on trying to keep the audience's attention. I don't know that this is better than the typical image I have of him, which is as the teenage son who tries really hard to do adult things but ultimately needs his dad, usually in the form of Mike Brady, to bail him out.

Apparently we are working really hard in Iraq and while the news broadcasts are terrible, we have to stay the course. As to North Korea, while we are not pleased with what they have done, [nuclear testing] we will work with them diplomatically to resolve the issue.

First, on the heels of a hostage/murder-suicide at a high school in Colorado, shots are fired outside of Charlestown High, necessitating a lockdown and hard target search for the gun.

Next, cement dust blankets the schoolbus yard that is located in Charlestown and that serves many of the schools in Boston.

Granted, it was interesting to hear news about Charlestown that did not concern the usual hard target search for bank robbers and to witness Channel 7 boldly preempt its daytime programming to provide the most coverage out of the three major stations of both events (not seeing 'Passions' and most of 'Days of Our Lives' was no huge loss).

Well, if the school deities are upset, I'd say that Charlestown ought to light a candle, listen to them, say they're sorry and fix whatever it is.

(I know-the last sentence makes no sense but what the hey?)

If you are in Massachusetts and have to see one thing on Friday, September 22 or Saturday, September 23, then stay at home and watch "Close To Home" or "The Charlie's Angels 30th anniversary marathon."

If you are in Massachusetts and have to see one thing on Friday, September 22 or Saturday, September 23 and you don't want to stay at home, then go see "Welcome Home, Molly DeCandia" at the Image Theater in Lowell, Mass.

"Welcome Home, Molly DeCandia" is a part of the Second Annual Mill City Minutes Festival, which features seven exciting ten-minute plays each evening along with dance and original featured songs.

Who knew that Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the late matriarch of the oft-mentioned Kennedy clan (which includes our own senior Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy), had a drink named after her, much less one that contains vodka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Kennedy_Cocktail

(And yeah, at this point to me it seems that any mention about the Kennedy clan is more 'entertainment' rather than 'political.')

I currently host the The Boston Weblogger Meetup Group. I was originally a member and took over after the group had been hanging out there for sometime with no one seeking to take over payments that Meetup.com requires. (Admittedly $19.00 per month can be a bit much. It used to be free but no more...)

At any rate, I joined the Boston Organizer Meetup and someone emailed from that group about how to get started in blogging. Below is her email to me and my admittedly lengthy response to her. I was wondering if anyone elose had any thoughts about the questions she poses...

This is another trinket received from MySpace. It is one thing to hear about it. It is another thing to see the names and to realize that these were people with lives, hopes and dreams and that they will never come back. It is equally disturbing to know how many of the victims were local to Massachusetts.

Please scroll through and remember.

Victims and Heroes who died at World Trade Center

Gordon McCannel Aamoth
Maria Rose Abad
Edelmiro (Ed) Abad
Andrew Anthony Abate
Vincent Abate
Laurence Christopher Abel
William F. Abrahamson
Richard Anthony Aceto
Erica Van Acker
Heinrich B. Ackermann