Archive for June, 2007
Pioneer has had a lot to say about the Governor’s biotech proposal — some positive, some negative — but the exact parameters of the proposal are not yet clear. There’s a lot of discussion around research grants, paying for equipment, and tax incentives, but a many details remain to be filled in.
The Administration is having its first meeting of a large advisory group to begin the work on those details. My thoughts, from an article in this morning’s Globe:
Patrick has won praise from life-science leaders for the inclusiveness of his approach to building and luring a competitive industry. But as his plans become more concrete, letting biotech leaders suggest ways to give cash to their own industry raises potential conflicts of interest, said Steve Poftak , director of research at the conservative Pioneer Institute , a public-policy think tank in Boston.
“This is a very specialized area in which you need a lot of expertise, but a lot of the people with expertise stand to be beneficiaries,” he said. “You have to be careful that you don’t get a situation where the people making the policy become the recipients of the program.”
June 20th, 2007
The Vatican has just put out its “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road“, which I have to believe is aimed directly at Massachusetts drivers, rated as the worst in the nation.
A brief snippet:
Sometimes the prohibitions imposed by road signs may be perceived as restrictions of freedom. Especially when unobserved and unmonitored, some people are tempted to infringe such limitations, which are in fact designed to protect them and other people. Some drivers thus consider the duty to respect certain prudent regulations that reduce traffic risks and dangers as humiliating. Others deem it intolerable – almost a curtailment of their “rights” – to be obliged to follow patiently another vehicle that is travelling slowly, because, for example, road signs prohibit overtaking.
June 19th, 2007
Today’s Globe has two stories on pensions today.
In the first, it reports that the Board of Higher Ed has changed its policy to include housing allowances in the calculation of pension benefits for its college presidents. Former UMASS president Bulger won his court case on this matter, so it appears that the board really had no choice. But the whole matter prompts some questions:
- How did we get into the practice of paying housing allowances in the first place? I’ve heard several times that this is ’standard practice’, but the Globe reports:
Last year, the American Council on Education surveyed 2,148 public and private college presidents nationwide and found that 20 percent received housing allowances and 28 percent lived in university-provided residences.
- And if one receives a ‘housing allowance’ but doesn’t use it, how is this different from compensation? The articles suggests (but is not clear) that Jack Wilson has not used the housing allowance to procure new housing. Nor did Bulger during his tenure. If this is really just additional compensation, shouldn’t we be transparent about that?
Also, old friend Charles Lincoln beat the mail fraud rap on his massive gaming of the pension system. He’s left with two civil suits (and a $130,000 per year) to console himself with.
Read all about Officer Lincoln and others in our report on pension loopholes.
June 15th, 2007
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously supported the right of states to require unions to get permission from members before spending dues on political activities.
The case, Davenport v. Washington Education Association (WEA), was brought by Gary Davenport and thousands more non-union Washington teachers. They had opposed the unions chiefs’ use of their dues to support candidates and campaigns.
Important to note is that SCOTUS did not get into the larger question of whether union brass can automatically collect forced dues for politics from nonunion members in the first place. So if public employees are hoping to free themselves of compulsory dues — not happening. Check out the decision here at the SCOTUSblog. (Even they have one, so it is decidedly not cool anymore.)
June 14th, 2007
Wearing your seat belt is a good idea. Full stop. Please do not write in telling me that I am urging people to break the law. I am simply recounting a story from 1986, the first time I ever stepped foot in Naples, Italy. Lots of people hate the place — chaotic, sometimes 3 people and furniture driving down the road on a moped, sometimes those mopeds on the sidewalk (but only when cars aren’t parked there)… There is the Mergellina district with heroine and, uh, other things.
There is also one of the most beautiful bays and overlooks around, the best, best, best pizza, and there are beautiful women who actually read books (unlike in Rome). So, on balance, a great place. There is also history and stuff.
The point? Oh, yeah. They are adamant in their refusal to wear seat belts.
The memory of Naples came back to me when I heard that today a number of people, whose family members had been killed or injured in car crashes, were on Beacon Hill lobbying senators and reps to stiffen the state’s seat belt law. Horrible stuff.
Forgive the juxtaposition of bereaved parents talking about the loss of their kids (something we all understand) with a bit of whimsy. But the news brought back a memory of my first Neapolitan flee market, where among all kinds of hot and cold food (hard to do here–really hard to get a street license), home-made wine (couldn’t do that here - no license), a glass-blower (that’s definitely not possible on the street), motorcycle parts (nope), all kinds of fake Rolexes (nope), black market Marlboros (nope), and other fantastical people and items, there was a woman hawking white t-shirts with a black stripe running from the left shoulder to the lower right side of the abdomen. I asked the woman what the t-shirt was for. She answered: “We don’t like people–especially in Rome–telling us what to do.”
Is that freedom? Irresponsibility? You decide. One thing I am sure of is that she had to be among the herd riding mopeds down the sidewalk, the entire way home zigzagging in and out of pedestrians, husband and kid in tow, the box of unsold shirts dangling dangerously off the back.
There is danger and something quite beautiful in chaos.
June 14th, 2007
I adore my mother. She complains this year that I put in too many tomato, cucumber, eggplant, pepper and basil and parsley plants in her backyard; I tell her that she still has way too much grass. While she says she doesn’t mind, in the end, she doesn’t water the plants in that quiet revenge that mothers are so good at. She cooks good stuff for everyone and stuffs the kids with baklava, so no one takes the complaints too far. It’s called love.
Well, now, mother, whether you water the plants or not, you are going to have to sit in the back seat! Seems that there is consideration being given to bill H 2361 requiring children smaller than 4′9″ sit in a booster seat. In high heels, ma reaches 5′1″, so, given how young she looks, I am guessing she could get caught up here.
No skin off my nose. She pays attention to the kids and has forgotten how charming her son is (was?) anyway. She’ll be back there with them, and I will have full control of the radio and the gas pedal.
June 13th, 2007
Yesterday’s editorial in the Globe on the Governor’s veering away from support for MCAS was spot on. It’s a must read.
Today, again, the right stuff and the right tone on the Quincy teachers’ strike (click here). The money quotes (not in the order presented in today’s paper) are:
The Quincy strike — which was still under way as of yesterday evening — is illegal under state law, and should be ended immediately.
Like municipal leaders across the state, Quincy Mayor William Phelan can’t keep asking the city’s taxpayers to pay the same share of escalating healthcare costs, which in Quincy have almost doubled since 2002.
A bill before the Legislature would allow cities and towns to purchase insurance for their workers through the GIC if 70 percent of the unions agree.
The bill should pass as a first step, but lawmakers have to be prepared to revisit the subject next year if only a few municipalities are able to reach agreement with their unions to join the GIC.
A statewide problem demands a statewide solution, but the compromise bill being considered by the Legislature threads too warily between the interests of local unions and the cities and towns.
June 13th, 2007
Subsequent to a number of emails on the post mentioning Tom Waits, which ranged from deranged and delightful to slightly frightful, I have decided to push the celebrity mention scheme for drawing traffic to the blog. Here goes:
Paris Hilton
Lindsay Lohan
Brad Pitt
George Clooney
Please note that, henceforth, in accordance with Pioneer General Laws, Chapter 39B, Section 3(a)4.t: All blog entries forthwith must begin with, or within the first 17 1/2 words utilize celebrity names according to the provisions set forth in the present statute. No more than two names shall appear in the blog title, which shall appear at the top of the blog entry. Up to three names can appear in the first 17 1/2 words of the blog entry, unless one or more names appears in the blog title, at which point you will need to go to court and be sure to pay the Clerk of the Court $40 unless the judiciary decides that it is unnecessary. The names are to be chosen from among a list of up to 123 3/4 names determined by the Commission for Celebrity Naming (CCN), which will be composed of 13 1/3 individuals, 3 of whom will be appointed by the Governor, among whom 3 will actually be chosen by the State Police Officer standing guard right outside the Governor’s Office; 4 of whom will be selected by the Senate President, among whom will be one sister-in-law of the Senate President’s Education Advisor, one sycophant film-maker who is best known for the number of buttons missing from his shirt and how the last one miraculously is always just below the length of his beard, … more.
For those of you who are interested, our P.G.L. statute for celebrity cribs is in the subsequent chapter and has been largely unused because of the fact that most citizens of Pioneerland have been unable to get past our Chapter 40A, which is only slightly shorter and less complicated than the Massachusetts version.
June 13th, 2007
No, not the Gettysburg Address. (Full site is here.)
At a recent conference for government procurement officers, the chief procurement officer of the Director of National Intelligence’s office gave a powerpoint presentation. She hid the labels on Slide 11 that gave our national intelligence budget, but after it was posted online, you could double click on the chart to see the (understandably classified) actual numbers.
Using the data on Slide 11, and dividing by the ratio on Slide 10, inquiring minds now know that our government spends $56.52 billion on intelligence. Ooops.
Tip of the pen to Slate for the initial links.
June 12th, 2007
A heartfelt thank you to Dr. Roberta Schaefer of the Worcester Regional Research Bureau (WRRB) for all her hard work and efforts on the Board of Education (BOE) over the last 11 years. Roberta’s work on the BOE has been both tireless and exemplary.
And, like Tom Birmingham , Roberta is worried about the future of education reform in Massachusetts. As she has told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, the appointment of MCAS opponent Ruth Kaplan to the BOE highlights a disquieting trend:
This appointment, coupled with the governor’s refusal to fund the Education Quality and Accountability Board and the recent legislative hearings directed at removing MCAS as a graduation requirement, unfortunately indicate that the governor and his legislative allies intend to cancel the “bipartisan bargain” of more education money in exchange for more accountability, as created in the Education Reform Act of 1993.
June 12th, 2007
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