Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
Just, you know, stuff. And things. Things and stuff. Yeah, basically that’s it.
Today that entertaining Central Massachusetts huckster, Tom Crouse, is holding a press conference to announce his PAC, “Let The People Vote!”
The mission statement isn’t very clear, but it’s basically an anti-gay-marriage group.
Perhaps a reader with a Massachusetts address can file an information request on the PAC, and we can get a sense of how it’s doing.
Here are a couple of essays from two of my Worcester friends. Michael True’s op-ed “Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church?” first appeared in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Marc Tumeinski’s response is an “open letter.” Both men are long-time supporters of the Catholic Worker movement in Worcester. These essays are printed here with permission of the authors, and are copyright 2006.
Continue reading “Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church?; and a response”
It prevents the prosecution of other crimes the condemned has committed, potentially leaving murders unsolved. The case of William Bradford has been in the news a lot lately in Southern California, because investigators are trying to determine if any of the unidentified women he photographed may have also been killed.
From the article:
Even Bradford hinted at other victims after he fired his lawyers and gave his own closing argument:
“Think of how many you don’t even know about,” he told jurors.
That turns the tables against the “closure” argument for capital punishment.
Update: Thank God, it appears that most of the women in the photos are alive and well. But at least one isn’t. And since Bradford hasn’t been executed, he can be questioned about the case.
It only applies to employers with over $1 billion in annual sales and stores of 90,000 square feet or more. It’s aimed at Wal-Mart, but I’m not sure who else would fall into that category; the article doesn’t say if it actually applies to any existing businesses in the city.
The wage under this ordinance is $10.00, plus $3.00 in fringe benefits. Much better than minimum wage, but still under the $15.00 (under the table, presumably) that day-laborers in Agoura Hills, California are getting.
Also, of course, it only applies within the city limits; the article notes that Wal-Mart recently opened a store just outside the boundary of the city.
Incidentally, I had no idea Chicago had 50 people on its City Council. Wow!
Wow! The Pitstop Ploughshares were acquitted!
Back in 2003, these Irish activists damaged a US military plane. (P&C post #2 was about them. I’ve been told the AP has a story about this, but the only other reportage I find online is from Counterpunch.)
New Tour de France champion Floyd Landis was raised in a conservative Mennonite community in Pennsylvania, though he left the church at the age of 17. Here’s the article. And a quote:
One of Martindale’s pastors, David Sensenig, said recognition of individual accomplishment is frowned on in Mennonite faith. Nevertheless, he said Floyd Landis was still the talk of the congregation.
“Winning the race isn’t the big deal,” Sensenig said. “It’s what he does with the results, with the fame and fortune. He can use his influence for the betterment of the church, of Christ.”
Paul Landis said he sees the victory as a chance to spread the Gospels and looks forward to meeting people he never otherwise would have met.
“I want to hear their victories and their sorrows, and we can encourage each other,” he said.
I’ve always admired the faith of the Amish and the Mennonites, but doesn’t this point out something of a paradox with insular communities— publicizing the church is only possible for people who leave it?
Here’s an article in the L.A. Times about day laborers in a Southern California suburb (near where my wife’s parents live) demanding $15.00/hour minimum wages. Pretty cool that they’re able to organize like that, although there is a relevant point made by a dissenting worker that the wages should be tied more to the type of work. Banding together for one minimum wage is strong; perhaps if they wanted to implement some sort of graduated scale for the type of work, they could draw up and approve a relatively simple wage schedule that still ensures good pay.
Last night, Kevin Ksen posted a story to Indymedia giving some of the background on the lawsuit against the library for its borrowing policy.
He points out that the first solid information about the policy came from a public information request from Real Solutions in January; and that Indymedia first ran hard facts about the story back in January.
In his article in the T&G, Lee Hammel gets quotes from some of the lawyers involved, and makes the City look stupid:
But City Solicitor David M. Moore said, “Legally, this is a reasonable policy to address non-returned books.†He said library research shows “people without addresses or addresses at shelters accounted for a substantial percentage of books not returned,†although the library yesterday had no figures available to quantify that.
Worcester library officials said other libraries have similar policies, and Mr. Moore said there are “no courts that have found this practice legally objectionable or unconstitutional.†He said that he knows of no cases that have gone to court.
Jonathan Mannina, Legal Assistance Corp. executive director, said that other libraries, including Porter County, Ind., have dropped similar policies in the face of opposition without going to court over it. He said the Worcester library has not shared figures on non-returns it attributes to people living in shelters, but he said he is not aware of city policies that discriminate against others who might have a higher rate of no-returns, such as college students, people who live in apartments, or people who live out of town and are allowed to take up to 40 items at a time from the library.
All this is breaking while I’m moving to the midwest, taking Greyhounds hither and yon. My hat is off to these gents for adding facts to the story.
I’m still wondering: Did the library “run the numbers” for all addresses in the city, or just shelters?
Update: Kevin Ksen reports that the drive-time guys on WTAG this morning called the suit “frivilous.”
Slate has an article on the Michael Lerner religious left vs. the Jim Wallis religious left.
Both houses of our state legislature have finally voted, with veto-proof majorities, for the legalization of over-the-counter sales of hypodermic needles in the state.
Delaware and New Jersey are the only other states where needles are so restricted.
Our governor is planning to cast a symbolic “Yes to Hepatitis!” veto, and the Globe quotes our lieutenant governor and gubernatorial candidate, Kerry Healey, as supporting this decision:
“Imagine your children not only coming upon dirty needles in the park, but standing next to a drug addict in the checkout line of CVS who is there to buy more needles,” said Healey, over the chorus of advocates standing nearby chanting, “Clean needles save lives” and “We need to make sure that this bill goes no further.”
Yes, apparently in states where needles are legal, the kids might as well be pincushions for all the dirty needles that stab them every day.
Continue reading “Kerry Healey’s descent into madness”
