Radiohead

Oh, here we go again.

Just when it appeared that the controversy surrounding Boston talk radio star Jay Severin would finally die down, along comes Bay Stater James Kirchick, assistant editor at the New Republic, to revive it. Kirchick writes, “…Jay Severin makes Mark Levin look like Diane Rehm. So it was with great displeasure that I heard about his return to the airwaves last week after a month long indefinite suspension.”

After recounting some of Severin’s more incendiary comments and past controversies, Kirchick notes that Severin’s apology was “…the sort of insincere expression of regret that politicians and celebrity abusers of the law and/or basic standards of propriety seem to offer on a weekly basis in response to popular outrage over their misbehavior. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who has a monthly radio show on WTKK, weighed in on the controversy, saying that while he ‘read and appreciated [Severin’s] apology,’ ‘we have got to figure out a way on this station and in our broader civic life to engage even on difficult issues without demeaning people who differ from us in background or point of view.’ Those are wise words from the Governor. A first step would be to start ignoring Severin and other blowhards, whatever their political leanings.”

If Severin has in fact cleaned up his act, why should his words be ignored in the future? Yes, his remarks were over-the-top, irresponsible, hurtful. But should he be shunned forever?

Kirchick should give the new and improved Severin a try. He just might like what he hears.

Teaparty Updates – Worcester, MA

The Teaparty events of April enabled conservatives,libertarians, and others the necessary room to blow off some much needed steam. In order to turn the Teaparty events into a legitimate movement for change, events such as those taking place in Worcester are essential.  Here is a sample:

Saturday, June 20, Noon-3 p.m.  Worcester Tea Party-Rally for Responsible Government, Elm Park, Worcester.

FREE family friendly rally and picnic (bring your own).  Speakers, live music. Bring chairs or a blanket to sit on.

Tuesday, June 30, 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m.  Worcester Tea Party Forum, Worcester Public Library, Saxe Room:
Nicholas Sanchez, Prof. of Economics, College of the Holy Cross will be discussing the federal budget [and how we got into our current economic mess — shari]

Ken Mandile
Worcester Tea Party

Shari Worthington, sharilee@telesian.com
MassGOP State Committee, 2nd Worcester District
Worcester Republican City Committee, Ward 5 Chair
Massachusetts Republican Assembly, National Committeewoman
Tel: (508) 755-5242 Cell: (508) 397-6345
http://www.worcestercountyrepublicanclub.com
http://blog.worcestercountyrepublicanclub.com
http://www.mass-republican-assembly.com

City of Boston – Mayoral Race update

Kudos to Kevin McCrea for securing a place on this fall’s mayoral ballot. Mr. McCrea is an advocate for transparency in government. Such an initiative would be a welcome breath of air in Menino’s musty City Hall chambers.

Protect the Public, Not the Illegal Aliens

The Rhode Island legislature is currently considering a bill to require the state’s employers to verify that all new employees are legal workers.  Introduced by two Woonsocket-area Democrats, Sen. Marc Cote and Rep. Jon Brien, it passed the RI House in April, by a vote of 38-33.  Massachusetts lawmakers should take note — this is a common sense approach to a problem that burdens our state as well.

For the third year in a row, the bill is being held up by a Senate Committee that for some reason seems loath to bring it to a vote, despite enormous public support for the bill, as evidenced by strong turnout for the hearing on May 14.  The committee heard testimony from citizens outraged at the fiscal and socal strain illegal immigration imposes on their communities and also from advocates for illegal aliens who maintain that E-Verify, the screening system mandated by the bill, would cause discrimination in hiring.

The testimony that I found to be most compelling was submitted to the committee in writing, and later e-mailed to me by the writer, who had heard that I followed the issue.  She wanted the committee to hear a story that is not often considered by our lawmakers — one to remind them that illegal immigration can harm citizens in ways more serious and personal than job losses and the cost of social services.

Here is her story, below.  Ironically, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Michael J. McCaffrey, which is holding up this bill, represents Warwick, where this horrible incident occurred.  Senators, it’s time to let this bill move forward.

“On June 8th of last year something happened to me that was the most terrifying event of my life. After spending the day with my family celebrating my cousin’s recent graduation from college, my mom had to make a brief stop at a store in a shopping plaza in Warwick. I decided to stay in the car since she was only going to be a few minutes. Shortly after my mom went into the store someone opened the car door and at that moment I experienced a fear that I had never felt before as a man got into the driver’s side of the car. I thought maybe he was confused and didn’t realize he was getting into the wrong vehicle. That was until I saw the knife. After taking my money and credit card he drove me to Roger Williams Park where he had stopped the car on the side of the road and told me to get out. I thought he was letting me go but that was not the case. Instead, he ended up sexually assaulting me twice in the park that day. He was arrested a few days later after footage of him appeared on the local news and a co-worker at the restaurant, where he had worked, recognized him.

The police had difficulty identifying my attacker because he had false identification.  It turned out he was an illegal alien with a criminal record who was also wanted by ICE.  This man was able to stay in our community and get a job at Texas Roadhouse using false documents.  If Texas Roadhouse (and all other employers in RI) had been using E-Verify, he would not have been able to stay here so easily to take advantage of us.  This tool has been available to employers for many years, but they choose not to use it.  It will detect people using false documents to get jobs.  Incredibly, Texas Roadhouse and hundreds of other employers in the state are still not using E-Verify.  They seem not to care who they are employing, and what danger they may pose to the rest of the community.  This legislation is necessary to ensure that they check out their workers, to save jobs for citizens and legal immigrants, but also to keep individuals who try to hide their identity or their immigration status from getting jobs.

After I heard about the many times this man had been taken into custody prior to the incident and then later released I had hope that things would change to prevent another crime like this from happening but nothing has changed. There are a lot of people here who are concerned about the welfare of illegal immigrants, and that is their right to speak about that, but I am here tonight to help you remember those who have been harmed by illegal immigration, so that they are not forgotten in the debate.

When I hear people protesting the E-Verify program it seems that a major concern is the monetary cost of implementing and maintaining the E-Verify program but what about the human cost if E-Verify is not used in the hiring process? Are we willing to continue to take that chance? I do not think that all illegal immigrants who reside in the US are violent criminals but we do need to put something in place for the ones that do have ill intentions. We cannot continue to allow those who are dangerous to hide in plain sight within the community, working with false documents without risk of being caught. E-verify should not be considered a burden but a useful tool in preventing unauthorized workers from getting a job. The crime against me is a crime that should never happen again and this state needs to start doing what is necessary to protect the legal citizens of Rhode Island.”

And while we’re at it, should concerned citizens be eating at Texas Roadhouse any more, or the establishment of any other employer who refuses to verify the status of its workers?  Not when we can patronize Papa Ginos, Dunkin Donuts, or any of the 120,000-some other employers who do care enough to hire only legal workers.  Find out who they are here.

Endangered Species: Female Democrats?

The impetus for this post originated with Boston Phoenix writer David Bernstein. The bottom line: what do male Democrats have against their female counterparts?

A tip of the cap to Boston Phoenix writer David Bernstein on this one:

Congress passed a res. yesterday for 30th anniv of Thatcher becoming 1st female PM. Mass. delegation all voted no, except Tsongas.11:49 AM May 13th from web

Much of the activity that takes place on the floor of the United States Congress (ditto The US Senate and most political bodies) is irrelevant, trivial pursuit, people looking for ways to justify their existence (and our votes). So let me say before I get into the meat of this post, that I believe that this motion and others like it generally have no place. There are plenty of Constitutionally-mandated duties Congress should follow, and if it did, life in America would be a lot better. Nonetheless, pn May 12,2009, the House Roll Call 245 passed with 339 Ayes, 64 Nays, 24 Abstaining, and 6 Presents. (The vote tally is here.) Had I been a member, I would have abstained or voted present. Of the 64 Nays,  all were Democrats. Of the 174 Democrats who voted Aye, only one came from Massachusetts, not surprisingly, and the vote belonged to the Bay State’s sole female member: Niki Tsongas.  And thus arises the question: why only Tsongas and why Tsongas at all. Presumably she’s no fan of the Iron Lady’s pro-growth fiscal policies (as am I). As such, she would be well within her rights to vote Nay with her Democrat colleagues. Had she chosen to do so, no one would have noticed or cared. Moreover, had the entire delegation voted to Abstain or vote present, no one would have noticed or cared either. Is it possible that male Democrats are hostile to powerful women? Might not Hillary Clinton answer (secretly, off the record), in the affirmative. It’s an open secret that many female Massachusetts Democrats are still miffed at the lack of support shown for Hillary Clinton by their male counterparts. It seems, at least on the surface, that women have no place in the Democrat tent, unless it’s one of subservience. Only one female has won statewide elective office in Massachusetts; for that matter, Tsongas is only the second woman to represent Massachusetts at the Congressional level, after a 25 year drought. How can this be, given the prominence of women in the Democrat Party and the omnipresence of Democrats in Massachusetts. I have no answers for you in this regard, only questions and observations. What doYOU think?

A Severin-Scot Summit?

It’s time for Jay Severin and Scot Lehigh to settle things once and for all.

The libertarian Boston talk-radio star and the center-left Boston Globe columnist have been feuding for the last half-decade, with no end in sight. Lehigh, who has strongly criticized Severin for his statements about America’s efforts to stop terrorism and has raised questions about the WTKK-FM broadcaster’s biographical claims, is now involved in a new endeavor known as “Jay Watch.” Lehigh says this is “…an effort to assist WTKK’s putatively penitent p.m. host as he tries to clean up his act” (Severin recently returned to the airwaves after a month-long suspension for using excessive rhetorical force in describing Mexico’s role in the recent swine flu scare.) “…Jay Watch will focus on utterances that debase the dialogue, like Jay’s recent comments about Mexicans. Declarations that this group or that person should be killed also qualify. So, too, do the misogynistic terms that Jay applies to women he disdains. I know that the odds against success are long. Still, elementary civility is worth the effort. So let’s try to help Jay with his resolution to stop polluting our airwaves.”

Lehigh probably shouldn’t waste his time on “Jay Watch.” This initiative will only result in more hostile e-mails in Lehigh’s in-box and a furtherance of the perception that Lehigh and the Globe have an ideological axe to grind with the main promoter of “Extreme Games.” Instead, how about Lehigh and Severin resolving their differences on-air?

A conversation between Severin and Lehigh would not only make for great radio, it would also heal whatever damage both men’s images have suffered in the eyes of their philosophical opponents. Let’s face it: the average Lehigh fan regards Severin as a right-wing reactionary, and the average Severin fan regards Lehigh as a member of the self-righteous elite liberal media. If both men had a civil conversation on WTKK, it might shatter both stereotypes.

Severin would be able to answer the questions Lehigh has raised about his biographical claims and incendiary language. In addition, Lehigh could respond to the constant claims by members of Severin’s hardcore fan base that he would like nothing more than to drive Severin and other non-liberals off the air.

Severin is big on apologies these days. Wouldn’t it be something if he apologized to the man he once characterized as a “pant-load?” Wouldn’t it be fascinating to hear these two rhetorical rivals attempt to find common ground?

“I’ve long been a critic of Severin’s crude, bombastic, xenophobic discourse,” Lehigh wrote last month. “Over the years, I have highlighted a few of his more blatant lies, outrages, and inventions because I thought his listeners should know what a bigot and a fraud he was.” Hearing Severin directly respond to Lehigh’s claims would allow other Severin skeptics to gain new insight into the controversial commentator.

Lehigh would also change a few minds. Lehigh is the E. J. Dionne of the Globe, a clear thinker who can challenge conservatives without furthering the degeneration of discourse. Say what you will about Lehigh’s perspective, but he wasn’t the one who compared climate-change skeptics to Holocaust deniers.

Severin should ask Lehigh to walk over to the WTKK studios and finally put this dispute behind them. Hearing Severin and Lehigh discuss their grievances would be good for ratings, good for radio, good for rationality. Both men have something to contribute to the public square. Neither man should remain the other’s villain.

UPDATE: More from WGBH.

There Was A Crooked Man…

The Bay State’s tradition of (alleged) corruption continues. Can the Massachusetts Republican Party take advantage of this controversy? More from the Boston Herald, NECN and Boston Phoenix.

Reform NOT revenue: The MBTA

The MBTA continues to “crash” in spectacular fashion before the very eyes of the public it ostensibly serves. Corruption, goldbricking, ineptitude and corruption are pervasive. The latest slap in the face: a Green Line snafu which led to the delay of a much anticipated kidnapping trial. As the saying goes: “Justice delayed is justice denied”. For the MBTA, the time  has long since passed for the administration of justice. In this case, the thing to do is to sell the system to the highest possible bidder. It is little more than a fiscal black hole, and it would possibly be cheaper for the state to subsidize riders with a stipend of some kind. Not that we favor government-administered subsidies, but the dollar-cost analysis would be insightful nonetheless. The MBTA has rifled the pockets of taxpayers long enough. The only reform worthy here is a sale of the “asset” itself.