Congressmen Told Not to Say "Merry Christmas"

Rules gag free speech between voters and elected officials.

According to a December 12th memo by the House Franking Commission, congressman in the House of Representatives are not allowed to wish voters a "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year" in mail or e-mail.

Congressman use their franking privileges (using taxpayer dollars to pay for postage) to send mail or e-mail to voters throughout the year. However, the Franking Commission, the six-member bipartisan group officially known as the Commission on Congressional Mailing Standards, told legislators that "Merry Christmas" is strictly prohibited.

In addition, the memo also noted that congressman can't use their official social media pages to wish constituents "Merry Christmas" or "Happy New Year." It cited the Rules of Practice which also states congressmen cannot use "colors that give the impression of a holiday greeting."

A Franking Commission spokesman confirmed to The Washington Examiner that members of Congress indeed cannot wish constituents "Merry Christmas" in any official mailing. "Currently, incidental use of the phrase Happy Holidays is permissible but Merry Christmas is not," said Sally Wood. Curiously, these rules do not currenty apply to Senators.

Medford City Committee Chair and State Committeeman Bernie Green urges all of our readers to call or e-mail Congressman Ed Markey and Speaker John Boehner, urging them to reverse the franking rules to allow Christmas and other holiday greetings in mailings to voters.

Recent Capuano Statement on Green Line Funding

Since Congressman Capuano made his initial comments to the Somerville Board of Alderman on December 8th, he has been under great pressure from Somerville advocates to support the full build out of the proposed Green Line to Route 16. In order to keep the readers of our Blog aware of the political maneuvering going on not only for the present, but for the future as it impacts Medford we ask that you read the editorial letter sent by Congressman Capuano. We continue our efforts to educate those directly affected by the current proposed light-rail expansion, but also participate with other concerned residents of Medford to inform all of the pressure by developers to extend the additional trolley service to Route 16.

To read the Capuano letter click here:

Winchester Residents oppose Freight Train Spur

According to Winchester Patch Editor Daniel Marra, "Winchester could see freight trains driving through town in the near future." Over 25 residents crowded into the Board of Selectmen meeting room [recently] to oppose the possibility of having freight trains stopping in town. According to Winchester resident Susan Busher, a railroad switch has been established by the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) at Cross Street at the request of Tighe Trucking, Inc. She said "that a railroad siding will be installed that will bring freight trains off the commuter rail for the delivery to the back side of Tighe Trucking at 45 Holten Street." If you haven't weighed in on this issue,and wish to, you should call a member of the Selectmen's Board and/or your town meeting member(s)!

To read the full article click here:

Congress sees the Light over Bulb Ban

By Howie Carr

The forces of of science and rationalism won a big victory in Congress this week over superstition and religious intolerence, but somehow I doubt the American Civil Liberties Union is celebrating. Here's the headline: "Congress overturns incandescent light bulb ban."

That's right. The ban on 100-watt incandescent Thomas Edison light bulbs, which was supposed to begin January 1st, was put off. Congress has denied the green fundamentalists any funds to impose their eco-sharia law on the rest of us infidels who have figured out that global warming is a scam, or should I say false religion. Is that blasphemy, what I just said? Am I a denier? It's certainly lese majeste, because the ruling classes, Republican and Democrat alike, have embraced this this strange cult.

You can see the fanatical true believers engaged in their bizarre rituals, sorting out their trash and depositing each type at a different altar in the suburban landfills - a different one for cardboard and newsprint and green glass bottles and clear bottles and tin cans and aluminum cans. Like all new cults, the Greens have zero tolerance for the older religions. Just because they believe in global warming , it must be true, and therefore anyone who opposes them is an infidel who must be shunned. They have their own Book of Revelation - the movie "An Inconvenient Truth."

Alas, the inconvenient truth is that the date of the apocalypse keeps getting moved back. Temperatures aren't rising, theyr'e falling, thus the now-famous memo from alleged scientists (actually high priests) about "hiding the decline" in global temperatures. Archbishop Barack Obama,who in 2008 predicted tht his nomination would be the day the sea levels stopped rising, now admits he can't control the weather. Well, even St. Augustine was plagued by doubts. What's ironic about the Church of Green is that these are the same people who want government out of their bedroom, or their uteruses, now want government in your light socket, or your toilet.

As late as the 1960's, Roman Cahtolics were forbidden to eat meat on Fridays. It was a mortal sin - an express ticket to hell - to enjoy a cheeseburger or a pepperoni pizza. Yet, no Catholic pol would have ever dreamed of filing legislation to ban everyone from eating meat on Friday. But the shock troops of this new religion have no such qualms. First they came for your toilets that flushed, next they came for your incandescent light bulbs. Whatever happened to the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Or the Hippocratic oath: "First, do no harm." Stopping the light bulb ban, at least temporarily, was a small victory for us nonbelievers. At least we have something to be thankful for this Christmas, or, as the Greens describe this season, "the winter solstice."

States move to Cut early Voting Days

More than a half dozen states have passed laws to reduce early voting, setting up a clash with civil rights groups and Democrats who claim the rules could disenfranchise minority voters in the 2012 elections.

Among the states with new restrictions: Wisconsin and Florida, presidential swing states that are key battlegrounds in the fight for control of the Senate, narrowly held by the Democrats.

In Florida, nearly 3.3 million Democrats cast in-person ballots before Election Day in the 2008 contest that swept President Obama into power. By contrast, 810,666 Florida Republicans participated in the in-person early voting that year, according to the Florida secretary of State's office. Obama won the state by 3 percentage points.

In five other states - Georgia, Maine, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia - this year approved laws shortening early voting, according to the non-partisan National Conference of State Legislatures. With the exeption of West Virginia, Republicans control the governor's offices and legislatures in those states.

The Republican-controlled Legislature in another key presidential battleground state, North Carolina, plans to revisit a proposal next year to reduce early voting voting from 16 days to 10. North Carolina Rep. Bert Jones said he sponsored the bill to cut the state's early voting by six days to reduce the influence of political money in state and local elections. "The longer voting period gives that much more of an advantage to candidates who have more money to spend." said Jones, a Republican. "Ten voting days is still a generous amount of time." Opponents say early voting restrictions, along with new laws in six states requiring photo identification at the polls, will thwart traditionally Democratic voters, including college students, African Americans, and Latinos.

Republicans think their path to victory is through limiting eligible voters'access to the polls." said Obama campaign spokesman Ben MaBolt. "Our goal is to maximize participation." The Obama campaign scored a very key victory last week when Ohio officials certified that the law's opponents had collected enough signatures to get a repeal petition on the November ballot. That delays the implentation of the law.

Obama's political operation, Organizing for America, helped run the petition drive, which collected nearly half a million signatures. Efforts are underway in other states to combat new voting restrictions, campaign officials said. Early voting has surged in recent years. More than a dozen states launched or expanded early voting programs from 2001 through 2010, according to data compiled by Jennie Bowser of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Overall, 34% of voters in the 2008 general election cast ballots before Election Day, up from 22.2% four years earlier, according to data from the Associated Press and Edison Research. Michael McDonald, an elections expert at Virginia's George Mason University, said it's too soon to tell whether the new laws will lower turnout. The changes may lead to longer lines on Election Day, he said. But, "in a high-profile presidential election, people are entusiastic about voting and will often overcome the barriers put in their way.

Today's protesters will be back - as tomorrow's plutocrats

By Frank L. McNamara Jr.

If what is past is prologue, the recently busted "Occupy Boston" protesters can take solace from what eventually became of their 1960s forerunners, whose example they so conspicuously emulate. (But surely itwould be unfair to call those arrested early this morning sixties wannabees.)

History records that a surprising number of the college professors of the 1960s, after starring in their own movies by protesting the depredations of unbridled capitalism, the military industrial complex, and the Vietnam War, discovered...money! Or, more accurately, the lack of it, going on to become themselves overly compensated Wall Street investment bankers, hedge fund managers, partners of white-shoe law firms, and chairmen and CEO's of companies doing business with that government, including the military that they had so long despised.

I suspect that in due course many of those arrested last night will experience a similiar metamorphosis. The arc between protester and plutocrat is not that long. Those who traverse it will end up contributing disproportionately, just as their sixties counterparts did and do, to entrenched, mostly Democratic, polititions. (Big Business, which controls government and does business with it, likes its government to be Big.) In so doing they will forget that the polititions they support are successors to people like Mayor Menino, enjoying symbiotic relationships with the very public sector unions (in the case of the Boston police union) whose buzz-saw tactics the "Occupy Boston" protestors now deplore.

So, in the final analysis, what can be said of the arrested "Occupy Boston" professors? Or of the entitled plutocrats against whom they protest? Or of the entitled, unionized police who arrested them? Or, for that matter, of the entitled entrenched, politition who ordered their arrests?

That they deserve each other's throats?

That the more things change, the more things remain the same?

How about this: We all desire change and more just society; but the only change worthy of the name is brought about by men and women who are prepared to suffer at the personal level.

Protesters, plutocrats, police, and pols who are at once desirous of fame and money, yet fearful of failure and sacrifice, are not reliable agents of the change we all seek.

Frank L. MaNamara Jr., a lawyer at Bowditch & Dewey, is a former US Attorney for Massachusetts.

The President of Contempt

By Bret Stephens

Nixon was tricky. Ford was clumsy. Carter was dour. Reagan was sunny. Bush 41 was prudent. Clinton felt your pain. Bush 43 was stubborn. And Barach Obama is...

Early in America's acquaintance with the man who would become the 44th president, the word that typically sprang from media lips to describe him was "cool."

Cool as a matter of fashion sense - "Who does he think he is, George Clooney?" burbed the blogger Wonkette in April 2008. Cool as a matter of political temperment - "Maybe after eight years of George W. Bush stubborness, on the heels of eight years of Clinton emotiveness, we need to send out for ice" approved USA Today's Ruben Navarrette that October. Cool as a matter of upbringing - Indonesia, apparently, is "Where Barack learned to be cool," according to a family friend quoted in a biography of his mother.

The Obama cool made for a reassuring contrast with his campaign's warm-and-fuzzy appeals to hope, change and being the one we've been waiting for. But as the American writer Minna Antrim observed long ago,"between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt." When it comes to Mr. Obama, boy does it ever.

We caught flashes of the contempt during the campaign. There were those small-town Midwesterners who, as he put it at a San Francisco fund raiser, "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who are not like them." There were those racist Republicans who as he put it at a Jacksonville fundraiser would campaign against him by asking, "Did I mention that he was black?" There was the "you're likable enough Hillary," line during a New Hampshire debate. But these were unscripted disgressions and could be written off as such.

Only after Mr. Obama came to office did it start to become clear that contempt would be both a style and method of his governance. Take the "mess we have inherited." line, which became the administrations ring tone for its first two years.

"I have never seen anything like the mess we have inherited," said the late Richard Holbrooke-a man with memories of what Nixon inherited in Vietnam from Johnson -and about Afghanistan in February 2009. "We are cleaning up something that is-quite simply-a mess ," said the president the following month about Guantanamo. "Let's face it, we inherited a mess," said Valiere Jarrett about the economy in March 2010.

For presidential candidates to rail against incumbents from an opposing party is normal, for a president to rail for years against a predecessor of any party is crass-and something to which neither Reagan nor Lincoln, each of them inheritors of much bigger messes, stooped.

Then again, the contempt Mr. Obama felt for the Bush administration was mearly of a piece with the broader ambit of his distain. Example? Here's a quick list: The gratuitous return of the Churchill bust in Britain. The slam of the Boston police officer who arrested Henry Louis Gates. The high profile rebuke of the members of the Supreme Court at his 2010 State of the Union speech. The diplomatic snubs, of Gordan Brown, Benjamin Netanyahu and Nickolas Sarkozy. The verbal assaults on Wall Street "fat cats" who "caused the problem" of "10% unemployment." The never-ending baiting of millionaires and billionaires and jet owners and anyone else who, as Black Entertainment Television's Robert Johnson memorably put it on Sunday, "tried rich and tried poor and like rich better."

Now we come to the last few days, in which Mr. Obama first admonished the Congressional Black Caucus to "stop complainin', stop grumblin', stop cryin'," and later told a Florida TV station that America was losing its competative edge because it "had gotten a little soft." The first comment earned a rebuke from none other than Rep. Maxine Waters, while the second elicited instant comparisons to Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech. They tell us something about the president's political IQ. They tell us more about his world view.

What is it that Mr. Obama doesn't like about the United States-a country that sent him hurtling like an American Idol contestant from the obscurity of an Illinois Senate seat to the presidency in a mere four years?

I suspect it's the same thing that so many run-of-the-mill liberals dislike: Americans typically believe that happiness is an idividual persuit; we bridle at other people setting limits on what's "enough"; we enjoy wealth and want to keep as much of it as we can; we don't like trading in our own freedom for someone else's idea of virtue, much less a fabricated contempt of the collective good.

When a good history of anti-Americanism is someday written, it will note that it's mainly a story of disenchantment-of the obdurate and sometimes vulgar reality of the country falling short of the lover's ideal. Listening to Mr.Obama, especially now as the country turns against him, one senses in him a similiar disenchantment: America is lovable exactly in proportion to the love it gives him in return.

Hence his increasingly ill-concealed expressions of contempt. Hence the increasingly widespread couter-contempt.

The Dignified Statesman

By Brian McGrory

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine - Patten's Berry Farm is the kind of place a Hollywood producer would want to invent if it didn't already exist, with Mrs. Patten selling corn, apples, and pumpkins on the side of a country road in this impossibly pretty town.

I happened to be chatting about the Patriots with the nice woman at the cash register on a quiet Sunday morning when a gleeming black sedan pulled into the parking lot. The front doors opened and men emerged. The back passenger door opened. When I looked up again, George H. W. Bush, the former president, sat in a wheelchair between his car and mine.

This is not unusual, seeing George Bush, the original George Bush, in this town. He was, until a couple of years ago, a fairly regular golfer at Cape Arundel, a fixture on his power boat, an occasional diner at the Hurricance in Dock Square. He orders lobster rolls at the Clam Shack and roams the aisles of the Bradbury Bros. Market. There is little in this world as authentic as George Bush's love of Kennebunkport, Maine.

As we returned to the car, the former president continued to sit, smiling at something I couldn't see. And then I did - our golden retrievers, two of them, their heads poking through the back window pleading for his attention.

"Beautiful dogs," he said. He asked their names - Baker and Walter - then smiled at the answer. I brought up Ranger, the lessor known of his two springer spaniels from his White House days, a dog he loved that died much to young. He said he has a couple of smaller dogs these days.

I didn't tell him I wrote for a newspaper, not that he would have cared, or that I covered his successor, Bill Clinton, or that I once spent the better part of a day with his son when he was governor of Texas. It wasn't worth clouding a moment this clear.

The president extended his arm to shake hands, with me and Pam, who led me on this produce run. I told him he looked good, because he did, sharp and oddly boyish, even at 87 years old in the confines of a wheelchair.

"Spiritual," he replied, whimsically. "I hope I look spiritual. I'm just coming from church."

When we were done, the former president continued on his quiet errand. I should have felt invigorated by this uniquetly American encounter. What I really felt though, was a deep sense of loss.

Five minutes with George H. W. Bush, and the problems of the present are made more vivid by the virtues of the not-so-distant-past. Say what you will, but the unimpeachable fact is that he knew how to govern. His compromise on a tax hike (which cost him his presidency), combined with the spending caps and cuts he put in place, paved the way for the roaring prosperity of the 1990's and the federal surpluses that accompanied it.

He reached across the aisle to pass the Clean Air Act of 1990 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, two landmark accomplishments that have a profound impact on every day life. The war to oust Saddam Hussein's army from Kuwait had a clear mission and a defined end.

That Washington doesn't exist any more. There are no leaders risking their careers in the name of the common good. There are precious few officials seeking compromise rather than cheap political points. There are no bridges, just roadblocks, no reasonable debates, just frantic threats. The extremes, especially on the right, have overwhelmed the middle, and the result is an economy in a government-prolonged rut.

This wasn't exactly a revelation on the side of a country road in Maine, but a moment of clarity. George H. W. Bush's presidency, maybe even Washington as a whole, was quided by decency and dignity.

You don't outgrow these virtues, you simply abandon them. And to spend even a few fleeting minutes with what we had only makes it more regrettable about what we've become.

Mass. GOP Chairwoman announces Resignation

By Glen Johnson, Boston Globe

Jennifer Nassour, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, is stepping down as she prepares to have a third child. In an e-mail today to members of the Republican State Committee, the local GOP's top echelon, Nassour wrote, "We are thrilled beyond words and our daughters are incredibly excited. We are also mindful of the additional reponsibility in our already busy lives." She announced that she will resign effective October 28th. The mother of two daughters aged eight and five is slated to have her third child in February.

Nassour, an attorney living in Charlestown, campaigned to be chairman in late 2008 and took over in 2009, navigating a split between the liberal and conservative factions within the State Party.

While chairman, she presided over a resurgence in party metabolism and success, culminating with Scott Brown's upset win in the January 2010 special election to replace the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy and a doubling of the House Republican membership in last fall's state elections.

"I wanted to run, originally, because the party really needed a facelift and some new energy, and I think I succeeded," Nassour told the Globe in an interview. "We have no debt, a good reputation, and I've always tried to greet everyone with an open door, whether they are candidates, the press, or members of the party." she added.

The resignation comes as the state GOP gears up for Brown's re-election. At least six Democrats, including Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, have announced campaigns for next year's Democratic US Senate nomination.

"The 2012 election year is going to require the party to have a chairman who is focused on the job and able to commit long hours of fund-raising and campaigning." Nassour wrote in her e-mail to the members of the State Committee. "However, family must come first. It is my preference to focus on my family and give someone else the opportunity to lead our party through the upcoming election year. By making a change of leadership in 2011, we give a new chairman the time to get up to speed and lead us to victory in 2012."

Among those first mentioned as possible successors is Mary Connaughton, who narrowly lost an election to serve as state auditor in 2010.

FCC Formally Erases Fairness Doctrine

The Fairness Doctrine, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implemented in 1949 to require broadcasters to present both sides of controversial issues, became less relevent as cable TV exploded in the 1980s. So the FCC dropped the rule in 1987, but it never implemented it - that is, until August 22nd of this year.

The agency formally dumped more than 80 media industry regulations. Other rules the FCC tossed include the "broadcast flag" digital copy protection rule that courts overturned and those pertaining to the cable programming service tier rate.

Monday's action constituted part of the commission's response to an executive order from President Barack Obama implementing a "government-wide review of regulations already on the books" to strike unnecessary rules.

Its ugly, its messy... its democracy

By Charles Krauthammer

Of all the endlessly repeated conventional wisdom in today's Washington, the most lazy, stupid and ubiquitous is that our politics is broken. On the contrary. Our political system is working well (I make no such claims for our economy), indeed, precisely as designed - profound changes in popular will translated into law that alters political direction.

The process has been messy, loud, disputious and often rancorous. So what? In the end, the system works. Exhibit A is Wisconsin. Exhibit B is Washington itself.

The story begins in 2008. The country, having lost confidence in Republican governance, gives the Democrats full controlofWashington. The new president, deciding not to waste a crisis, attempts a major change in the nation's ideological trajectory. Hence his two signature pieces of legislation: a near-$1 trillion stimulus, the largest spending bill in galactic history; and a health-care reform that places one-sixth of the economy under federal control.

In a country where conservatives outnumber liberals 2-1, this causes a reaction. In the 2010 misterms, Democrats suffer a massive repudiation at every level. In Washington, Democrats suffer the greatest loss of House seats since 1948. In the states, they lose more than 700 state legislative seats - the largest reversal ever - resulting in the loss of 20 state chambers.

The tea-party-propelled, debt conscious Republicans then move to confront their states' unsustainable pension and health-care obligations - most boldly in Wisconsin, where the new governor proposes a radical reorientation of the power balance between public-sector unions and elected government.

In Madison, the result is general mayhem - the drum-banging protestors, frenzied unions, statehouse occupations, opposition legislators fleeing the state to prevent a quorum. A veritable feast of creative democratic resistance.

In the end, they fail. The legislation passes.

Then, further resistance. First, Democrats turn an otherwise sleepy state Supreme Court election into a referendum on the union legislation, the Democrats' candidate being widely expected to overturn the law. The unions/Democrats lose again.

And then last Tuesday, recall elections for six Republican state senators, three being needed to return the Senate to Democratic control and restore balance to the universe. Yet despite millions of union dollars, the Republicans hold the Senate. The unions/Democrats lose again.

The people spoke; the process worked. Yes, it was raucous and divisive, but change this fundamental should not be enacted quietly. This is not midnight basketball or school uniforms. This is the future of government-worker power and the solvency of the states. It deserves big, serious, animated public debate.

Precisely of the kind Washington (exhibit B) just witnessed over its debt problem.You know: the debt-ceiling debate universally denounced as dysfunctional, if not disgraceful, hostage taking, terrorism, gun-to-the-head blackmail.

Spare me the hysteria. What happened was that the 2010 electorate, as represented in Congress, forced Washington to finally confront the national debt. It was a triumph of demorcatic politics - a powerful shift in popular will finding concrete political expression.

But only partial expression. Debt hawks are upset that the final compromise doesn't do much. But it shoudn't do much. They won only one election. They were entrusted, as of yet, with only one-half of one branch of government.

But they did begin to turn the aircraft carrier around. The process did bequeath a congressional supercommittee with extraordinary powers to reduce debt. And if that fails, the question - how much government, how much debt -will go to the nation in November 2012. Which is also how it should be.

The conventional complaint is that the process was ugly. Big Deal. You want beauty? Go to a museum. Democratic politics was never meant to be an exercise in aesthetics.

Not just ugly, moan the critics, but oh so slow. True again. It took months. And will take more. The supercommittee doesn't report until Thanksgiving. The next election is more than a year away. But the American system was designed to make a full turn of the carrier difficult and deliberate.

Moreover, without this long ugly process, the debt issue wouldn't even be on the table. We'd still be whistling our way to Greece. Instead, a nation staring at insolvency is finally stirring itself to action, and not without spirited opposition. Great issues are being decided as constitutionally designed. The process is working.

Notice how the loudest complaints about "broken politics" come from those who lost the debate. It's understandable for sore losers to rage against the machine. But there's no need for the rest of us to parrot their petulance.

What has America become?

Dear Editor,

Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard?

Lets see: If we lie to Congress, it's a felony and if Congress lies to us its just politics; If we dislike a black person, we're racist and if a black person dislikes whites, it's their 1st Amendment rights; the government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; In public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you better not use the work God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it is wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don't burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we got rid of the communist and socialist threat by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but we have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; If you protest against President Obama's policies you're a terrorist, but if you burned an American flag or George Bush in effigy it was your 1st American right.

You can have pornogaphy on TV or the internet, but you better not put up a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use human fetus for medical research, but it's wrong to use an animal.

We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don't want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political idealogy; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf spill is that neither president did anything to help.

And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who's at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes; tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.

What has happened to the land of the free and home of the brave?

-Ken Huber
Tawas City

Tawas City, MI, is located about halfway up on the shoreline of Lake Huron. The Tawas City Newspaper Editorial... short and to the point...

Sen. Brown to Gov. Patrick - can gas tax plan

Hiking the state's gas tax now could flatten the tourism industry and blow out budgets for working class families who are already struggling to make ends meet, U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said today in a letter to the governor. "I believe the answer at the state level has to be the same as the federal response: cut spending, don't raise taxes."

Green Line extension put off until 2018

The long-anticipated extension of the Green Line has been delayed an additional three years, state planners said yesterday, with service to T riders in Somerville and Medford slated to begin in fall 2018 at the earliest.

The reason for the delay is a decision by transportation planners to wait to obtain all or most of the parcels of land and environmental permits the billion-dollar project requires before the state puts major design and construction out to bid, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation said in a statement.

While fall 2018 is the earliest projection, station service extending to College Avenue in Medford could be as late as 2020, the statement said. "Let me be clear: We are behind the Green Line extension," said Richard Davey, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, in a phone interview. "It will get built."

The agency said it is taking a lesson from the re-opening of the Greenbush Commuter Rail line, which was fraught with delay when planners failed to buy all the land required to complete the project before it was put out to bid. "The Green Line project team aims to prevent the issue that cost the MBTA both time and money," the Department of Transportation said in a statement.

In support of that committment, Davey pointed to a deal to buy a parcel of land owned by Pan Am Railways required for the project, that was closed late last year, he said, and his agency continued efforts to buy two dozen Green Line cars for the extension. Still uncertain is the fate of a 24-hour, 11 acre maintenance facility in the Inner Belt section of Somerville, which planners have yet to acquire.

Nineteen properties in Somerville and Medford must be aquired before federal environmental regulators will sign off, Joseph Pesaturo, an MBTA spokesman, said in an e-mail. The announcement of the delay made in an annual report in the Department of Environmental Protection, came after the agency announced last July that it would push completion back a year, to 2015.

"Obviously it's disappointing," said Marc Draison, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which in the last year has undertaken a myriad of public meetings to hash out a second phase of the extension to Route 16 in Medford. While acknowledging the need to buy land and acquire permits, Draison said he suspected underlying financial instability. "We want good roads, we want fast trains, and complete streets," he said. "People want these things, but if you want them, you have to pay for them."

The state is legally bound to finish the Green Line project by the end of 2014 because of a lawsuit that requires the state to build non-automobile transportation projects to ameliorate the environmental impacts of the Big Dig. Davey said he and Transportation Secretary Jeffrey B. Mulllan will work to "turn back the dial" from the 2018 projection.

Mayor Joseph A. Cutatone of Somerville, a long-time Green Line proponent, said he spoke yesterday with Mullen about the delay and will seek answers in coming weeks from transit planners, reiterating the legal obligation the state has to complete the project, and called for Governor Deval Patrick to respond to the delay. He added, "We will hold their feet to the fire, and the governor's administration, to make sure that happens."

GOP Moves to Tighten Vote Rules in 13 States

Seeking to preserve the integrity of the delegate process, GOP-controlled statehouses nationwide are stiffening voting laws with changes that include requiring valid photo identification, restricting early voting, and imposing stricter rules on those who can register to vote.

Republicans in 13 states - where changes have either been passed or introduced in the past few months - say they are trying to ensure voters are qualified; Democrats counter the moves are politically based and aimed at weeding out young and minority voters - many of whom comprise the party's base.

Recently, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas joined Kansas and South Carolina, and signed laws that would require valid photo identification before a voter could cast a ballot. Twelve states now require photo indentification to vote. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed a bill in May to tighten restrictions on third-party voter registration organizations and to shorten the number of early voting days. The battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are among those considering voter-identification bills.

"If you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on a airplane, you should show a picture ID when you vote," Gov. Nikki Haley said in May when she signed the South Carolina law. Democrats say there is little proof of voter-impersonation fraud, that the GOP-led laws ring of racism, and target those who tend to vote Democrat.

Democrats also point to state figures showing there are few proven cases of voter impersonation and question why Republicans would want to spend taxpayer dollars on an insignificant problem, considering states' fiscal problems.

"There is not one documented case that has been presented to us, and we had numerous hearings," said Democratic South Carolina state Sen. Brad Hutto . "Republicans have to have some reason to do this because it doesn't sound good to say, we don't want Latinos or African-Americans voting."

State Republicans have long attempted to legislate photo identification requirements and other changes, said Daniel Tokaji, a law professor at Ohio State University and an expert in election law. Previous bills were largely derailed after the Bush Administration fired several United States attorneys whom Republicans had criticized for failing to aggressively investigate voter fraud. "That's what really killed the momentum of more states' enacting voter ID laws," Tokiji said. "Now with the last elections, with the strong Republican majorities in a lot of states, we're seeing a rejuvenation of the effort."

Republicans say increased immigration nationwide has spearheaded the push to make sure elections are legitimate. "Over the last twenty years we have seen Florida grow quite rapidly, and we have such a mix of populations," said state Sen. Dennis K. Baxely, the Florida Republican who wrote the law to tighten third-party registration in his state. "When we fail to protect every ballot, we disenfranchise people who participate legitimately.

"The changes are likey to have an impact on close elections," Tokiji said."Remarkably, most of those significant changes are going under the radar," he added. "A lot of voters are going to be surprised and dismayed when they go to their polling place and find that the rules have changed."

Most measures would require people to show a form of official valid identification to vote. While drivers licenses are the most common form, voters an also request free photo ID's from the Department of Motor Vehicles or use a passport or military identification, among other things. But Democrats say the extra step will discourage voters who will have to pay to retrieve documents, like birth certificates, for proof to obtain a free card.

A few state bills and laws also reduce the number of early voting days, which Democrats also oppose. In the 2008 presidential election, a majority of those who cast early votes did so for President Obama. In Florida, the number of days is reduced but the number of hours remains the same. In Georgia, where photo ID's became a requirement in 2007, minorities voted in record numbers in 2008 and 2010. Turnout among Hispanic voters jumped 140 percent in the state in 2008 and 42 percent among blacks compared with 2004, a change attributed in part to Obama's candidacy. In the midterm election two years later, turnout also rose among Hispanics and African-Americans, according to data from the Georgia secretary of state.

But with the presidential elections in 15 months, Democrats are taking their own offensive. The Democratic Governors Association started a Voter Protection Project in May to educate voters and encourage them to speak out against the measures.

Next Meeting of MRCC July 26th

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held in the Dello Russo Meeting Room at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street, on Tuesday July 26th at 7:00PM.

On the agenda will be upcoming filings for the number to be elected from each Ward and the September nominations for each Ward. A progress report on ward membership efforts is also expected.

Maine's New Governor: My kind of Guy

In case you haven't heard about this guy before, his name will stick in your mind! The new Maine Governor, Paul LePage, is making New Jersey's Governor Chris Christe look like an enabler. He isn't afraid to say what he thinks. Judging by the comments, every time he opens his mouth, his popularity goes up.

He brought down the house at his inauguration when he shook his fist toward the media box and said, "You're on notice! I've inherited a financially troubled State to run. Observe...cover what we do...but don't waste time responding to your every whim for your amusement."

During his campaign for Governor, he was talking to commercial fisherman who are struggling because of federal fisheries rules. They complained that Obama brought his family to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park for a long Labor Day holiday and found time to meet with union leaders, but wouldn't talk to the fisherman. LePage replied, "I'd tell him to go to hell and get out of my State." The lame stream media crucified LePage, but he jumped 6 points in the pre-election poll.

The Martin Luther King incident was a political sandbag which brought him National exposure. The "Lame Stream" media crucified him again, but word on the street is very positive. The NAACP specifically asked LePage to spend MLK Day visiting black inmates at the Maine State Prison. He told them that he would meet will all inmates, regardless of race, if he were to visit the prison. The NAACP balked and then put out a news release claiming falsely that he refused to participate in any MLK events. He read it in the paper for the first time the next morning while being driven to an event and went ballistic because none of the reporters had called him for comment before running the NAACP release.

He arrived at that event and said in front of a TV camera, "If they want to play the race card on me, they can kiss my ass!", and then he reminded them that he has an adopted black son from Jamaica, and that he had attended the local MLK Breakfast every year that he was mayor of Waterville. (He started his day there on MLK Day.)

He then stated that there's a right way and a wrong way to meet with the Governor, and he put all special interests on notice that press releases, media leaks, and all demonstrations would prove to be the wrong way. He said that any other group which acted like the NAACP could expect to be at the bottom of the Governor's priority list.

He then did the following, and judging from local radio talk show callers, his popularity increased even more: The State employees union complained because he waited until 3PM before closing State offices and facilities and sending non-emergency personnel home during a blizzard. The prior Governor would often close offices for the day with just a forecast before the first flakes. (Each time the State of Maine closes for snow, it costs the taxpayers about one million in wages for no work in return.)

LePage was the CEO of Marden's chain of discount family bargain retail stores before his election as Governor. He noted that State employees getting off work early could still find lots of retail stores open to shop. So, he put the State employees on notice by announcing, "If Marden's is open, Maine is open!" He told State employees, "We live in Maine in the winter, for heaven's sake, and you should know how to drive in it. Otherwise apply for a State job in Florida!"

Here is the Point: Stumbling in the Darkness of Zero Tolerance

By Rick Greeley

Republican State Committeeman (2nd Plymouth and Bristol District)

When is enough, enough? Every week it seems that another story surfaces surrounding the lunacy of yet another "zero tolerance" policy gaffe. Government agencies, most notably public school districts, often employ so-called zero tolerance policies in order to deal with a particular issue. The purpose of these policies is to appear to lay down the law, as if to say this particular behavior will not be tolerated at all, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And we deal with those who break the rules in such a harse and impartial manner that it will deter others from doing the same.

Click here to read the full story.

Editorial: Stop the Code of Silence!

Weeks into the DiMasi trial the Democrats are desperate to change the subject. In Federal Court, we have seen the way business gets done on Beacon Hill. There is a code of silence in the Democratic machine. They think if they don't talk about it, it will go away. Well, it's not going away. We've already been through Wilkerson, Galluccio, Buonomo, and Marzelli. Up next after the DiMasi trial will be the probation department scandal and the mess in Lawrence City Hall. The DiMasi trial has shown us how state contracts get rigged, and the probation scandal will show us how political contributions grease the skids for state jobs.

The legislative leaders who voted to re-elect DiMasi as speaker even as federal agents were closing in cannot hide their vote. Those legislators who promoted applicants for state jobs with one hand and took campaign cash with another will not be able to hide. Those who supported the election of Mayor Lantigua in Lawrence, including Governor Patrick, Lt. Governor Murray and House Speaker DiLeo, will need to explain their continuing support and failure to act in the face of a federal investigation.

Editorial: Mr. Markey - Let my People Go!

The next time Joe Kennedy delivers oil to the elderly and the poor on behalf of his Citizens Energy, he should invite Congressman Markey to accompany him. For several years, Congressman Markey has been in the forefront of opposition to offshore and onshore oil drilling and oil and gas exploration studies. He has also voted against the construction of new oil refineries (there are no oil refineries north of New Jersey). Several years ago, he tried to shutdown the Seabrook nuclear plant but Congress voted against his proposal.

For "protectors of the environment" (who must delight OPEC) like Representative Markey, drilling in Alaska is a no-no, even though it could provide the nation with several years of crude oil independence and an eight-year supply of natural gas. All this by providing access to only 2,000 of Alaska's 20 million acres, - a mere 1/10,000th of the total area.

It should have been no surprise that drilling out a sea at depths at up to 5,000 feet is more dangerous and prone to catastrophe than doing so in the hundreds of safe sites closer to shore that Markey, Pelosi and their allies made off limits.

Weaning ourselves off foreign oil is essential to our national security. Last year, the U.S. consumed 300 billion gallons of oil, nearly two-thirds imported. About 86 percent of the world's oil is produced by foreign state-owned oil companies (as in Egypt and Libya). Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, owns only 1.08 percent of the world's oil reserves. Yet Markey consistently attacks them and hampers their oil exploration.

As the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, he circulated a memo to reporters in February stating: "Global unrest shows that oil is still a global commodity, with supplies still concentrated in the Middle East. Increased drilling in the United States would do nothing to immediately impact prices." Maybe so, Representative Markey, but with heating season only four months away how long would you like us to wait?

Barbara A. Laskey

Barbara A. Laskey a long-time member of the Medford Republican City Committee and Ward One Republican Committee died on Thursday May 19th. Beloved wife of committee member and Voter Registrar Richard M. Laskey, she was 77 years of age. Barbara was the mother of Frederick Laskey, Mother-in-Law of his wife Donna and Grandmother of Daniel, Christopher, Mathew and Geoffrey Laskey all members of the Ward Eight Republican Committee.

Barbara was also survived by her sons Richard M. Laskey Jr. and his wife Josephine, Kenneth Laskey and his wife April, and daughter Elizabeth Monteforte and her husband Alexander. She was a sister of Roland Johnson, Edward Johnson, the late Muriel Johnson, Robert Johnson and Hazel Newcomb. Barbara was also Grandmother to Richard III, Alexander, Kirsten and Emilee.

Funeral Services will be conducted in the First Congregational Church 26 County Road in Chelsea on Saturday May 21st at 11:00AM. Visitation hours will be held from 9:00 to 11:00AM at the church. Services will then conclude at the church. Regrets and sympathies are extended on behalf of the Committee to the entire Laskey family.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus at MassGOP Fundraiser

On Thursday evening April 28th, various State Committee Members including Second Middlesex State Committeeman Bernie Green, GOP elected officials, State Representative candidate Jim Dixon and his wife Laura, college Republicans, TARS State President Sean Harrington, and activists from across the state were on hand to hear from the RNC's new Chairman Reince Priebus. Priebus who appeared at one of a series of spring state GOP fundraisers highlighted the importance of supporting the MassGOP but not just to further Republican principles. Rather, he stressed that supporting the party is one way we can support our communities and strenghten Massachusetts.

Priebus also discussed the importance of our National Committee Members Jody Dow and Ron Kaufman saying they are both influential to his chairmanship. Charged with the mission of building trust with state parties, contributers and grass roots activists, Priebus noted that the outstanding debts of the RNC had been addressed and he pledged to be a formidable force in the 2012 elections.

Investigative Journalism still critically needed, Woodward says

Journalist and author Bob Woodward shared his thoughts and experiences on issues central to the American Presidentcy during at lecture in front of a fully packed Cohen Auditorium on April 25th. Woodward recounted his experiences investigating high-profile stories in Washington and interviewing American presidents and other top figures thoughout his career. The journalist keep his own remarks short in order to make room for extended questions-and-answers with the audience, pairing sobering commentary on serious political issues with humerous anecdotes about famous Washington personalities.

Woodward rose to national prominance for his coverage, alongside fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein, of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. Woodward told the audience that his biggest concern is "secret government," the concentration of power in the hands of the executive branch and the military and intelligence community that he called "breathtaking."

"Democracies die in darkness, and...if there is no accountability, then we are finished," Woodward said. The Nixon presidency and Watergate scandal, Woodward offered, were symptomatic of this mentality. "The tragedy of that ultimate secret government...was that no one ever said, 'What would be good for the country? What does the country need?"

Woodward spoke about the challenges and responsibilities journalists face in getting around the powerful "message machine" that controls the public face of many political figures, including Presidents. He estimated that the public knowledge of most presidential administrations is only a tiny fraction of the complete picture - "one percent," by former Vice-President Al Gore's calculations, according to Woodward.

Woodward discussed the extent to which journalists , like political figures they cover, can never fully understand the consequences of their actions and their legacies. Woodward added that former President George W. Bush had once commented to him, about his own legacy, "History-we don't know, we'll all be dead."

Several notable persons of interest have come to the Tufts campus in Medford recently after being invited to appear and speak at various venues at the University. Access to most events is limited to the College Students and Faculty, but a few limited opportunities to residents in the community are sometimes available. Among this spring's speakers and lecturers have been entertainer and comedian Bill Cosby, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, and journalist and author Bob Woodward. "Of the three" according to Medford City Committee Chairman Bernie Green, "I enjoyed Bob Woodward the most for his insights about various Presidents since Nixon. Cosby was funny, but Pelosi gave a disjointed and boring presentation. I was not impressed by her presence either."

Tufts to build new Sports and Fitness Center

Tufts University will break ground for the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center on Tuesday, April 12, 2011. The 42,000 square-foot center located on College Avenue in Medford, will feature a dramatic new central plaza leading into the heart of the new facilities, which will adjoin the existing Gancher Center and Cousins Gymnasium.

Click here to read the full story.

Big Labor fights back in Wisconsin and U.S.

The battle between public unions and taxpayers will define the next decade in most U.S. states, and this past week the union empire struck back in Wisconsin. Big Labor went all-out to seek revenge against Governor Scott Walker's public union reforms, when they made a serious effort to take over the state Supreme Court in that states recent close election between Justice David Prosser and liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

At this time it appears that Justice Prosser has won re-election to the state Supreme Court. Until Gov. Walker's collective bargaining reform passed last month, incumbent Justice Prosser was a heavy favorite. Unions then turned it into a grudge match, with the union-backed Greater Wisconsin Committee alone spending $1,363,040 for Ms. Kloppenburg, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The voter turnout of 1.5 million was nearly double the usual number of voters in a state Supreme Court election. Union efforts were aided by an unfortunate Wisconsin law that lets voters register immediately before casting a ballot. A similiar Minnesota law helped elect Democrat Al Franken narrowly win a Senate seat in 2008. Because identification requirements are scant, the law creates different standards at different polling places and is an invitation to fraud. These problems were apparent long before this last election. In 2008, a 67-page Milwaukee Police Department Report chronicled potentional fraud in the state's tally of voters in the 2004 Presidential election. Questionable voting by absentee ballot, voting by felons and disparities between votes cast and those counted were part of "an illegal organized attempt to influence the outcome of the election," the report noted. Gov. Walker and the GOP legislature blundered by not repealing same-day registration as an early priority.

In the event of a recount, the very liberal state Chief Justice Shirley Abrahanson will decide which circuit court judge will hear the dispute-though she ought to recuse herself. Ms. Kloppenburg interned for her early in her career, and a spat between Ms. Abrahanson and Justice Prosser that included intemperate comments by the latter became campaign foder for Ms. Kloppenburg. The Wisconsin high court is ofter split 4-3, and a Prosser loss will put liberals back in charge. Some Republicans will interpret a Prosser defeat, if it occurs, as proof they should never challenge public union power, but that is precisely what Big Labor wants. Once Prosser began to fight back, he made the race exceptionally close. Unions are never going to easily give up dominence over the public purse. The lesson of Wisconsin is to retool the reform message so taxpayers understand the stakes. The various labor and election reforms being considered or acted upon in other states will clearly be fought across the country for some time to come.

ObamaCare To Tax Home Sales

"I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." President Obama, September 12, 2008.

Beginning January 1, 2013, ObamaCare will impose a 3.8% Medicare tax on all unearned income, including the sale of single family homes, townhouses, co-ops, condominiums, and even rental income. In February 2010, 5.02 million homes were sold, according to the National Association of Realtors. On any given day, the sale of a house, townhome, condominium, co-op, or income from a rental property can push middle-class families over the $250,000 threshold and slam them with a new tax they cannot afford.

This new ObamaCare tax is the first time the government will apply a 3.8 percent tax on unearned income. This new tax on home sales and unearned income and other Medicare taxes raise taxes more than $210 million to pay for ObamaCare. The national Association of Realtors called this new Medicare tax on unearned income'destructive' and 'ill-advised' and warned that it would hurt job creation.

Jim Dixon's Rep Race Needs Your Help

Captain Jim Dixon a commercial airline pilot with American Airlines is running for State Representative in one of the two special elections currently under way for open seats to be filled on May 10th. The more local race is for the 10th Middlesex District seat which became open after then re-elected State Representative Koutoujian was named by Governor Patrick as the interim Sheriff of Middlesex County in January. Dixon, a first time candidate, who ran for the seat against the incumbent in November is making his second effort only months after knocking on doors in the district which includes Waltham, Newton and Watertown.

While four Democrats are beating themselves up in order to win their party primary in April, Jim will have the opportunity to sprint to the May 10th final election. Already volunteers from various local committees in our area have assisted in sending out fundraising letters and starting an effort of literature drops on doors in the district. Money for additional mailings and campaign materials are needed to combat the expected union onslaught and efforts from vested interests in order keep the seat from falling into Republican hands.

Captain Dixon was a special guest at the March 23rd Medford Republican City Committee meeting and was presented with the opportunity to express his concerns for the district and state. Chairman Bernie Green asked those present and is asking all the Ward Members in the city to make a donation of money and if they have the opportunity - volunteer in this special election by donating time such as making phone calls on his behalf from home. For more information you may call the campaign at (800) 582-5340 or visiting his website at http://www.jedixon.com/.

Officials question MBTA Report on Garage

While Medford City officials have worked for more than a decade to remove the MBTA garage from its current Salem Street location due to multiple complaints of noise and pollution from neighbors, a recent state report stating just the opposite has left many perplexed.

Recently a local group involved in transit issues discovered that Ms. Fichter of Mass DOT misrepresented the Haines Square issue in comments she submitted in the annual Green Line SIP report that was released in January. The citizen group submitted comments asking yet again, as city and local legislative officials have in the past, that the Haines Square car barn be moved out of the city as a substitution for the delay in the Green Line.

Ms. Fitchter, in a patronizing and condescending writing style responded with a false answer, stating that there was opposition to moving the Garage. That statement was included in the Mass DOR report. The falsified report has left some questioning whether officials from Mass DOT are working and acting in good faith when they discuss and report transit issues such as the proposed Green Line extension to officials and citizens in the area.

Click here to read full story.

Boston Municipal Research Bureau Report: School Employees 82% of Budget

The Boston Public Schools has a $821.4 million general fund budget that serves 56,742 students throughout 134 schools. This year 82% of the budget or $671.6 million will be spent on employee salaries and benefits. Salaries for teachers totals $399.2 million or 49% of the total budget BPS budget. In FY11, $9.1 million is expected to be paid for teacher step increases. Teacher health insurance is budgeted at $52.5 million while the BTU Health and Welfare Fund totals $8.4 million.

Click here to read more details of the BMRB report.

Next Medford RCC Meeting March 23rd

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held in the DelloRusso Meeting Room at the South Medford Fire Station, 1 Medford Street on Wednesday March 23rd at 7:00PM.

State Grant Builds Windmill that doesn't Churn

Just across from the Chelsea Creek sits a windmill intended to power an entire housing development that is stalled and appears not to have a future anytime soon. The electricity-generating machine doesn't appear to be working either since the blades sit idle.

The State invested $500,000 from the state's Renewable Energy Trust Fund that actually gets its money from a surcharge levied on electricity rate payers.

In fact, the only requirements included in the original Grant was for the designing and building of the windmill, and there were no stipulations that it ever had to work - let alone power the Green Economy.

Click here for the full Story.

Bad Idea - Questionable Motives

State Representative Bradley Jones (R-North Reading) and James Dwyer (D-Woburn) have introduced HR 1972, to move the Presidential Primary from February to June. The bill also moves the primary for other offices from September to June. The authors suggest that the state would save money by holding one primary instead of two.

The bill if enacted would not affect the deadline for Independant candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to get on the ballot. That deadline would remain in July. The idea of a Massachusetts presidential primary that late in the year is completely new to the state. Massachusetts has held a presidential primary in every presidential election year starting in 1912, and it has always been in February, March or April.

According to sources, the idea has a problem because, no state is going to be allowed to hold September Primaries for federal office any longer, due to the law Congress passed telling states they must mail overseas absentee ballots at least 45 days before an election.

STATE LABOR DIRECTOR DECLARES WAR

Obviously, some folks in the Patrick Administration missed hearing about the drubbing Congressman Mike Capuano took for telling union protestors, "Every once in a while you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary."

Because there was state Labor Director George Noel, a card carrying member of IBEW Local 1505, who makes $125,000 courtesy of the taxpayers, telling another union protest: "Make no mistake about it. We are at war."

Commenting on Noel's remarks, State GOP Chair Jennifer Nassour said: "Governor Patrick needs to explain why his labor director is at war with the taxpayers and whether he agrees. The Governor has stacked his administration with officials from organized labor and leaves the appearance that organized labor isn't just at the table, but sitting on both sides of the table. Forgive us for wondering whether Governor Patrick represents all people or just special interests like organized labor. This is more of the same and why the Governor failed to get 50% of the vote."

State Employee Perk: Free Tuition

It's a little known perk, the spouses of full-time state employees are entitled to free tuition at state-run Universities and Colleges. Full-time state workers also get the benefit, but it is the perk for their spouses that surprises many.

The decades old law allows employees and their spouses to attend all state-run schools except the Law and Medical Schools. State records show that 1,200 state employees took advantage of the program, along with 200 spouses of state workers. 'Team 5 Investigates' was unable to find a similiar program in another state.

It is revelations such as this, of unheard of benefits, that makes the average worker in the private sector want to do away with collective bargaining and binding arbitration for government employees. Some suggest that there should be full transparency for all employment agreements at the municipal and state level.

Capuano Calls for Blood at Pro-union Rally

By Matt Murphy,
State House News Service

Congressman Mike Capuano must have lost the memo from President Obama and Democratic leaders who were demanding more civility in our political discourse and a toning down of incendiary rhetoric after the massacre in Tucson on January 8. Yesterday, at a rally on Beacon Hill, Capuano couldn't resist the urge to stir up a crowd of union members with a call for blood in the pursuit and protection of their political agenda.

Capuano's comments included: "This is going to be a struggle at least for the next two years. Let's be serious about this. They're not going to back down and we're not going to back down. This is a struggle for the hearts and minds in America," Capuano said, refering to the Tea Party counter-protesters as a "couple of nuts in the background."

"I'm proud to be here with people who understand that it's more than just sending an e-mail to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary." he continued.

Click here to read full Article.

Mark Steyn to speak in Stoughton February 24th

Mark Steyn, international best-selling author and human rights activist, will speak on "Relighting the Lamps of Liberty: Standing Up For Freedom in a Darkening World," at Ahavath Torah Congregation, 1179 Central Street, Stoughton, MA on Thursday evening, February 24th at 7:30PM. Steyn's writing on politics, arts and culture is published regularly thoughout the English-speaking world. His columns appear in various newspapers in the US, Canada, the Middle-East, Australia, New Zealand, and in Italy.

Admission is $10 per person. A VIP "meet and greet" with Steyn will be open to donors/sponsors of the event at $100 per person or $1000 per organization at 6:30PM. For more information contact Rabbi Haus at Ahavath Totah Congregation at 781-334-8733 or e-mail at office@torah.org.

Polito Supporters Angered by Remark

State Republican Party Chair Jennifer Nassour created unnessary anguish among Karyn Polito supporters and others within the Party on February 6th by her response to a question posed on Channel Five's Sunday morning program "On the Record." When asked if she had a comment about a recent complaint by Karyn Polito that - Steve Grossman had received $728,000 from the Massachusetts Democratic Party and that effectively she had received no (financial) support from the (Republican Party) and that it was the significant difference in the race.

Nassour responded by saying "I am so happy with all of our (State Party) efforts in 2010, I think we did a great job; and no amount of money was going to help Karyn Polito who lost by ten points (to win the race), number one and number two, I would have taken a lot of heat from our activists and supporters if I had given money to Karyn Polito a Republican who was out campaigning with Tim Cahill and Independents."

Curiously, Polito who turned out to be the top Republican vote getter in the November election caught the attention of Massachusetts Democratic Party Chair John Walsh who had made a statement that he considered Polito a strong candidate and that it was anticipated by many that she might win the State Treasurers office.

To see the video of the TV5 program, click here.

Medford Presidents Day Celebration a Success

The Medford Republican City Committee presented its Presidents Day Celebration on Saturday February 19th at the Post 45 American Legion Hall with a program of interesting presenters and speakers recalling some former Presidents and honoring the 100th birthday anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan. A delicious barbecue lunch catered by Redbones of Somerville began the festivities. A program of presentations began with the 'Pledge of Allegiance' lead by Arlington High School senior and TARS Club Chairman Sean Harrington; and a wonderful rendition of 'God Bless America' by Medford High School senior Nicole Avella, daughter of committee member Mathew Avella.

The speaking program began with keynote speaker Don Feder whose topic "What America Means to Me" received a standing ovation from the audience at its conclusion. Former State Auditor candidate Mary Z. Connaughton presented a biography on the life of former President Ronald Reagan and Boston Herald columnist and political consultant Holly Robichaud gave an informative view of efforts by Republicans to train future candidates and their supporters on how to conduct successful campaigns. Ralph Zazula founder of "Show ID to Vote" was offered the opportunity at the end of the scheduled program to explain his efforts to bring about changes in State Law requiring that every voter provide a valid government-issued photo ID in order to vote in any election held in Massachusetts. Passage of such laws requiring an ID in order to vote in the twenty six states that now have such prerequisites have resulted in a reduction in the number of people able to vote fraudulently. Anyone wishing to learn more about this effort may do so by going to: www.ShowIDtoVote.com.

Special introductions from among the attendees included Joseph Boike, newly appointed Republican member of the Arlington Board of Registrars; James Dolan former chairman of the Arlington RTC and candidate for School Committee; Anthony Ventresca, chairman of the Billerica RTC; Helen Hatch State Committeewoman from the 4th Middlesex District and President of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly; Donald Wong, newly elected State Representative and co-owner of the Kowloon Restaurant; Karla Romero, former candidate for State Representative; Frank Addivinola, former candidate for State Representative; David Carnevale, former candidate for State Senate; and Paul Caruccio, former candidate for Governors Council.

Committee to host Presidents Day Celebration

The Medford Republican City Committee announces its plans to hold a Presidents Day Celebration at Post 45 American Legion Hall 321 Winthrop Street in Medford on Saturday February 19, 2011.

The event is scheduled to start with a Reception at 11:00am. A western-style family-friendly Barbecue Lunch catered by 'REDBONES' of Somerville will be served at 12:00 noon. The meal will include Barbecued Chicken, Sliced Smoked Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Potato Salad, Macaroni and Cheese, Cole Slaw or Green Salad, Cornbread, Sandwich Rolls and an assortment of individual sauces.

A speaking program recalling notable Presidents and celebrating the 100th birthday anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan will begin after the luncheon with a keynote speech by former Boston Herald editorial writer and syndicated columnist Don Feder. Among the other featured speakers will be Mary Z. Connaughton former Turnpike board member and recent candidate for State Auditor, Christy Mihos businessman and former gubernatorial candidate, and Holly Robichaud a Boston Herald columnist and a successful political consultant who served on the Massachusetts Republican State Committee for 16 years.

'Presidents Day Committee' co-chairs Susan Lance and Barry Greenspan in addition to soliciting Medford members, are also reaching out to city and town committee members from neighboring communities. Several other recent candidates for public office have expressed their interest in attending.

Medford GOP Committee chairman Bernie Green is encouraging residents and friends of the committee to attend and enjoy the luncheon and speaking program. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for children under 12. Please RSVP by February 14,2011.

Click here to learn more and register.

Nassour Re-Elected Chairman of Mass GOP

Massachusetts Republican Chairman Jennifer A. Nassour running for her second two-year term won re-election over State Committeeman Bill McCarthy of Worcester by a substantial margin at the State Committee meeting held at the Newton Marriott Hotel on Wednesday January 6th.

State Committeeman Bill McCarthy together with others inside and outside of the Party had called for a change in the Party's leadership and direction. McCarthy who is incensed by the state GOP wipeout in the November election, stated on numerous occasions that she hadn't done enough to boost local candidates and focused most of the Party's resources on the Gubernatorial race. Specifically all of the Republican state-wide Constitutional Officers and US Representatives in Congress failed in their bids to get elected. Supporters point out that since becoming chair of the State Party, Nassour has been able to pay-off the debts that had accrued in the previous two-year election cycle by instituting a sound fiscal plan while enhancing the staff and work output.

In campaigning for re-election Nassour outlined her priorities for 2011 and 2012. Namely assisting with the re-election of Republican incumbents and to recruit more challengers to state legislative and congressional districts; conducting robust and strategic fundraising efforts that benefit all GOP candidates; changing the concept of campaign-driven GOTV efforts to a coordinated statewide effort and building the infrastructure to implement it; Increasing the number of registered Republican voters with the aid of re-built city and town committees and allied organizations; and updating the decades old technology and productivity for the benefit of the candidates.

The Republican State Committee elects a new chairman every two years during the January meeting following a presidential or gubernatorial election. There are 80 seats on the Republican State Committee, consisting of a man and woman elected every four years from the 40 state senate districts.

Medford City Committee to meet January 20th

The next regular meeting of the Medford Republican City Committee will be held at the Medford Public Library 111 High Street on Thursday January 20th at 7:00PM.

On the agenda will be discussion of our Presidents Day Celebration on February 19th, the budget for 2011, Campaign Training and New Technologies, and Membership reach out for the Wards.