Young Man, Old Thoughts...

Andrew Meyer whose antics at a John Kerry speech at U-Florida got his ass tasered and a honored spot on Youtube, managed to avoid charges so the AP reports.
As some who has had to suffer thru a lot of disruptions at politics events down thru the years, I can't muster up a lot of sympathy for Mister Meyer. His letter of "apology" to the police and the school struck me as a sury mealy mouthed exercise that was no doubt extracted with great effort from Meyer by the family lawyer.
It is notable in the above article that nowhere does he apologize to Senator Kerry for his outburst.
No..what interests me is that Meyer goes further to decry and bemoan the current political polarization in the country...he opines:

"All of this is false division. We are one people, and once people can forget their differences, we can all start to focus on the issues that truly matter,"

My Ghod how stupid to they take em' at the University of Florida??

Let me first state that there is no such thing as a "false division" in politics, not these days.
Deadly serious things are under debate every day in this country between the right and the left all of them directly affecting holy young fools like Andrew Meyer who does NOT seem to realize his may be the first generation in the country to have less freedom than their predecessors.
And yet young Meyer prattles on about forgetting our differences and "focusing on the things that really matter" like he was Chris Matthews or some other empty headed cable babbler.
Young Andrew, I DO apologize, it isn't your fault that you were born into an era of discord and partisanship. But let me warn you, a new age of bipartisanship won't dawn in your lifetime.
Moreover, people like me can't "forget our differences" with opponents who are casually fantasizing about an end to the two party system and democracy as we know it.
If you don't believe me, then let me cordially invite to pull a similar stunt at a Dick Cheney appearance, you'll be lucky enough to survive and wake up in a cage at Guantanamo Bay.
THEN maybe you'll rethink all this nonsense about "forgetting our differences".

Paul Krugman....

makes a lot of sense today.

I would only had that the iron law of unintended consequences is a much favored thing when it comes to US neo-conservatives and their proposed middle east policy.

By that I mean, that a botched war in Iraq was enough to destroy George Bush Jr, but if these guys botch a war with Iran (and they will), the resulting oil shock will be more than enough to destroy the GOP once and for all.

I hope I'm wrong about this, only because I'd rather not pay $10 a gallon at the pump or go back to Dick Nixon's odd-even day gas rationing system.

"Size is Destiny"

opined my late Uncle Peewee, an opinion obviously shared by the Murphy for Senate Campaign who have gotten themselves a huge-ass sign on Summer Street extolling their candidate's merits.
Exactly why Murphy continues to expend vital resources on Arlington, home turf of his main rival state rep Jim Marzilli remains a mystery. You'd think Murphy would skip all the effort and concentrate on grabbing off Billerica and doing some business in Woburn. Then again, some long time local opponents of rep. Marzilli are backing him so possibly all this hoopla in Arlington is for their benefit.

Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo...

way down in the polls and desperate for attention like a needy five year old wants to wager his presidential candidacy on a World Series victory by the Colorado Rockies. If they lose he drops out of the race.
He wants former Massachusetts Viceroy Mitt Romney to make a likewise wager on the Red Sox.

Geeee...yuh think Mitt will take any of that action?

The HELL he will, not when he still has tens of millions of dollars out of his son's inheritance to burn thru.

Such is the equivalent of the "silly season" in the realm of presidential politics, soon enough it all turns deadly serious.

Anyhow, Humble Elias is going on a brief vacation, I'll be back soon, til then, tawk amongst yerselves.

Overheard in the Living Room of Elias Nugator Sr.

(Age 86 recipient of two Purple Hearts and a politely worded thank-you note from Harry S. Truman).

"Th' Colorado Rockies...they got black shirts...black shirts, My Ghod their a buncha BLACKSHIRTS!! God-damned Fascist Squadristi I knew try fer a comeback someday!!"

At this point in the conversation he bids me to "Tell Senator Kennedy" as the old man is under the charming misapprehension that Edward Maximus and I are somehow best pals.
I do nothing to dissuade, 86 is 86 and he could just as easily insist I call General Omar Bradley with the news, so one must be grateful for small things.

Handicapping the 4th Middlesex state senate special election...

(Hey if Steve Stark can do this, then so can Humble Elias, the only difference is, I won't write the same thing time after time!)

Anyhow, I gathered these impressions from last night's Arlington Town Democratic Çommittee candidate's debate, a interesting and suggestive affair despite the lack of any mix-em'-up.

Kenneth Donnelly: The retired Lexington firefighter is a relative newcomer to politics in the district, and it shows, he seems nervous and needs to dial down a bit and use his "indoor voice" for gatherings such as this. He repeats endlessly his plan to offer 40% of all state revenue as local aid to bail out the cities and towns once and for all. He plans to gin-up that 40% via casino gambling. He is on less solid ground when he gets off this topic, softball queries about global warming seem to slip right past him sans a swing. He must have said "I agree with Pat" three times over the course of a ninety minute debate.

State Representative Charles Murphy (Burlington): Polished, urbane, even occasionally witty, Murphy is big shiny Irishman whose style is very familiar to me as a longtime follower of State politics. With a Dick Cavett-like earnest-ness He compulsively dropped the names of local supporters of his candidacy all through-out the night trying to build up his image as the best Burlington-based friend Arlington has ever had. For all that I doubt Murphy could find Arlington on a map prior to Bob Havern's resignation some two months ago, if he gets elected to the seat, one doubts he will ever trouble himself with the town ever again save to hand out a few baubles to his friends.

State Representative Patrick Natale (Woburn): Earnest, geeky, new to the game but for all that a bit of a waffler on issues like casino gambling and reproductive rights among others. He made heavy use of qualifiers last night to string out his positions on the issues. He seemed likable enough but it is clear he is swimming in very deep waters with a very short resume.

Representative James Marzilli (Arlington) Marzilli is the policy grind of the bunch, he was a well thought out policy in mind from local aid for law enforcement down to what wildflowers to plant on the lane dividers on Mystic Street. He has some notable accomplishments that directly and positively impact the communities he seeks to represent in the state senate, he needs to keep harping on them relentlessly. Like Murphy he is polished, urbane and witty, but then the state legislature is tremendous education in the art of presentation.

Overall, this is a Murphy versus Marzilli fight, with Pat Natale doing some business in Woburn and Donnelly attempting to play the spoiler in Arlington where the heavy democratic turn out tends to overwhelm the district. Why Donnelly is even in this race is a mystery, as a candidate he seems better suited to blitzkreig an open state rep's seat (which might be happening if Marzilli is nominated & wins the special election), but as a senate candidate he comes out of nowhere and has lot of ground to cover in a very short space of time.
I think Natale will fade in the stretch if he keeps coming on like a likable waffler as he did last night, although he will do well in Woburn on election day depending on the breaks.
As for Charles Murphy, he is coming on like a big shiny Irish pol with his Marine Corps bona fides and nice pleasant rictus. As evidenced last night he has plenty of Burlington based volunteers, but then again that is his problem, Burlington turn out wise doesn't have the footprint of other communities in the district. For Murphy to prevail he has to turn out every last democrat, donkey and dog in Burlington and play big in Billerica and Lexington and then come in a hard second somewhere else. That seems like a tall order, smile or no smile.
For Jim Marzilli the story is somewhat the same, turn out Arlington in big numbers, carry Lexington and pick off what you can in Billerica and in the sundry bastions of your opponents. His game plan is complicated by Donnelly's candidacy (much backed by local pols who are longtime Marzilli opponents) and by Murphy's showy bid to grab off a piece of the action in Arlington. That having been said, in seventeen years as Arlington's state rep, Marzilli has beaten back four strong primary challenges and at least two strongly contested general elections (in democrat heavy Massachusetts this constitutes a nigh Napoleonic talent for the big fight)...so his ground game will be strong and competitive.

Chimes at Midnight Guide to Casino Gambling in the 4th Middlesex special state senate election:

(Per tonight's Arlington Town Democratic Committee debate)

Representative Patrick DiNatale: Leans towards the Governor's plan with many qualifiers on a wait-n-see attitude.

Representative Charles Murphy: Pro casino gambling.

Representative James Marzilli: Anti casino gambling.

Kenneth Donnelly: Pro casino gambling.

When I hear from the presumptive GOP nominee for the above office, I'll let y'all know.

Last Night...during the GOP presidential debate,

a transport of raw "Hillary-hatred" swept over Arkansas Governor The Reverend Mike Huckabee who asserted that if Senator Clinton won the presidency a wave of awful things would befall the USA culminating in the drop in the morale of the armed forces.
I'm sure it wasn't the most idiotic thing said at last night's debate, but certainly it ranked in the top three. After all, what does a sickly back country parson who never served in the US armed forces know about the troop's morale or lack thereof?
One thing that unites the current GOP field, is a sickening sense of political entitlement, the above statement being one such example. Maybe at the next debate the whole crazy crew could wear imperial diadems & carry scepters...

There is a lot I could blog about today...

Jeff Jacoby is huffin' & puffin' in the Sunday Globe trying to assemble a big scary straw man out of the "religious left" so he can saber it down and pose as the hero of heroes.
Up above him Joanie Vennochi frets that Mitt Romney needs to be honest about his religion and come out for the separation of church-n-state like a good little pseudo moderate. I would remind Ms. Vennochi that Romney can't be honest about his religion because his primary audience (the religious right) is fundamentally dishonest about it's own ultimate goal to set up a sort of Cromwellian pseudo-biblical paradise right here in America.
Or...
I could riff on Steve Stark's latest column in the Phoenix trying to puff up a potential third party rival to notional nominee Rudy Giuliani out of the current GOP slate. Being Steve Stark, he lands on Ron Paul with the first throw of the dice...Humble Elias though, doubts the loyalty of Mitt Romney, I mean of the lot, he is the most blatantly intellectually corrupt and opportunistic.
Besides that, there is no rock solid guarantee Rudy will be nominated, with the usual crooks do him some dirt whats to stop him from running as an independent candidate for President?
No...there is a lot of fodder there...but I've no great passion for any of it.
So instead I think I post this non-sequitor from the late Adlai Ewing Stevenson:

"An independent is someone who wans to take the politics out of politics"

D'ye know what I dislike about Mitt Romney...?

He hasn't got a shred of pride.
Consider this ringing endorsement of Romney's presidential candidacy from Bob Jones III High Priest at Bob Jones University:
"What is the alternative, Hillary's lack of religion or an erroneous religion?"

Hardly the fevered embrace Boston once gave Larry Bird now is it?

For that fact, what do Romney's fellow worshippers think of Bob Jones and his haughty notions of their "erroneous" religion?

What kills me is, you just know that Bishop Romney had to grovel like a scumbag to get even that lordly disdainful endorsement, nothing so perfectly illustrates the incipient Bonapartism of the religious right or Mitt Romney's gruesome lack of self respect.
But this is a chronic vice of the hard right in the USA, "reaction formation", they cream their hatred at the likes of Mike Dukakis and John Kerry and are happily willing to question their sanity, manhood and patriotism all in one go. Yet the mere frown from James Dobson and these same presidential worthies all defecate themselves with squeals of terror.
Sick
Demented
Typical

Good God Katie Bar the Door!!

For tomorrow, Mitt Romney makes a speech "taking aim at single motherhood!"!
I advise all single mother's out there to gather up your kids and quietly decamp for the Baja, whatever Mitt has in mind for you, it will not be pretty.
Who knows, perhaps the Former Viceroy plans to introduce husband-conscription? After all what else can we deduce from howlers like this:
"Boy, if you could have more married couples in the inner city, wouldn't it be a huge plus for our kids?"
Yeah Mitt sure, that would be great, so would safer streets, better schools, affordable friggin' healthcare, JOBS...a host of things YOU wouldn't deliver on if your cold empty little life depended on it.
Truly, Romney is never more Viceregal or a better intellectual colonialist than when he starts discussing these big systemic social problems. His main theses are utterly predictable, either make the problems cost the treasury less or else decently obscure them so that they do not tire the souls of the overclass.
So it is no accident that Mitt is making this speech before the usual book-worshipping wowser grandees do expect a warm fuzzy patina of paternal imperialism through-out..truly Mitt and his future masters all know what is best for us all.

Sick
Demented
Typical...

Ogo a No-Go...

(I've been waiting all year to write that headline...HUMOR ME!)
Well, Ogonowski went down to defeat up in the Mass 05 special election, however he managed to close within six points which a substantial inroad on the big majorities run up by Marty Meehan down thru the years.
A few days ago, Ogo looked like a gone gosling, now though I suspect that the state GOP might extract from this six point margin of defeat the erroneous notion that a policy of blustery xenophobia is the path back to power.
To me a good chunk of his defeat came of out Ogonowski's hamfisted treated of the SCHIP issue, something beautifully framed by the democrats for once. If I was a GOP Rep in a swing district, I'd be very mindful of the implications of being on the wrong side of sick children sans coverage.
Whether or not Ogonowski survives to run again in a different race a'la Joe Malone and Mitt Romney, remains to be seen. My guess is no, Ogo was a bit of a berserker who ran an amateurish campaign, against a smooth customer like Nikki Tsongas he was destined to lose.
So congrats to Nikki Tsongas, first female congressperson from out Massachusetts since the glory days of Margaret Heckler.
This is an especially sweet victory for Humble Elias who once toiled in the headquarters of "Tsongas for President" campaign.
We lost that year, but there is a mysterious tide to human events to paraphrase FDR and things thought lost come back to us sometimes as different equally sweet victories.

Romney is still spending like a deadbeat tout in a $1,000 claims horse race

and he is still locked in a tight fight in Iowa and New Hampshire.
I wonder how much longer before Tagg Romney and his brothers figure out that every SUV rental, every spaghetti supper, every newspaper advert, every mini bus rented to transport voters to the polls...is quite literally coming out of their inheritance??
It took Steve Forbes' kids two election cycles to figure out the old man was tossing their legacy away into the hungry maw of the early primaries sans avail...Romney's offpsring though, don't impress me as being all that bright. The thought that their mad phat ticket to ride is being relentlessly degraded by their chilly charmless dad's ambition probably hasn't beaten it's way into their noggins yet.
But it will never fear...even the rich and terminally dumb must sooner or later take counsel with their interests.
Meanwhile all I can say is, SPEND MITT SPEND!

Murphy's Law

Burlington state rep Charles Murphy is anxious to grab off a few votes in the magickal suburb of Arlington during this, the fourth Middlesex special state senate election.
So anxious in fact, in his current mailer he makes it very clear he wants to work "to ensure the historic Jefferson Russell House remains a historic treasure of Arlington".
There is one problem with that promise, there is no "Jefferson Russell House" in Arlington.
None
Zilch
Nada Senor.
Rep. Murphy must no doubt have in mind the "Jason Russell House", which contains a very fine museum devoted to part played by Arlington (then called Menotomy) in the Revolutionary War. For the record, Humble Elias can discern no great threats to this "historic treasure" that would require the intervention of the Massachusetts state senate...but it's nice to have friends in high places I guess.
If former Arlington selectman Charlie Lyons really wants to help his pal Murphy out, he can start by QA-ing all the Arlington centered mailings for howlers like the above noted item.

That by the way also points to another intriguing and seldom commented upon aspect of this race, the apparent division of the democratic "regulars" in Arlington.
Charlie Lyons, once a wheel on the Board of Selectman has lined up with Burlington representative Charles Murphy. On the other hand the current wheel on the Arlington board, Diane Mahon and senator Havern's longtime familiar spirit George Laite have lined up behind the novice candidacy of ex-firefighter Kenneth Donnelly.
It will be interesting to see how much business Lyons, Laite & Mahon can drum up for the candidates.
Splits like this in the party are bad things generally, but this does leave the liberals, progressives and independents to be potentially scooped up by Jim Marzilli...and there are a lot of those in Arlington.
Whether or not that can swing the primary Jim's way remains to be seen.

The quiet from out Lexington Mass. (and other news)

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Ma 04 state senate special election has been the attitude and posture of Lexington state representative Jay Kaufman...or more precisely, his lack of any attitude and posture in respect of the contest to succeed Robert Havern.
A lot of factors could be at play here, Kaufman was known to be interesting in making the race earlier this fall despite his lack of residency in the district, Lexington's own candidate Bob Peters has only recently withdrawl from the race then there is the fact that Jay serves in the state house with three of the four announced democratic candidates for Havern's now vacated seat. And two of those guys (DiNatale and Murphy) are quickly building up some props out there as pugilists...seems like keeping a low profile might a good idea when punches are being thrown.
Still and all that, Jay Kaufman and Arlington's Representative Jim Marzilli are known to be allies within and without the statehouse...seems strange that Jay would keep silent in a unique race like this...normally he is the most opinionated of men.
Just sayin' thats all.
***
In other news, former Arlington selectman Charlie Lyons has ringingly endorsed Burlington Rep Charles Murphy in the coming primary. It is thought that Lyon's big rolodex might give Murphy some traction in Arlington, but then the word on the street is, that Charlie's core constituency is aging and no one has seem him around town since his DUI conviction back in the day....so the endorsement might be a bit of a wash despite Charlie's prominent photo in Murphy's latest mailer.

A Big Chimes at Midnight Congratulations goes out to

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore for collecting a Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for his enviromentalist crusading.
For once it is downright pleasurable to think of the screeching shit-fits the radio talk show wingnuts must be throwing...right about...now.

For once, Al is having the last laugh...

Hell this will certainly hearten the disparate collection of democrats and progressives that are trying to tempt him to run for President in'08.
Don't think Gore will do it as it is all part of that "last laugh" vibe don'cha know.

Grace Notes from Outer Space:

Peggy Whitson has flown off to the International Space Station and take command, the first woman so honored in the history of the ISS.
My how things have changed in the exploration of space, I can recall with the simplest nostalgia that Svetlana Savitskaya, the second woman in space, reached the Soviet's Salyut Space Station allegedly only to be handed a frilly apron by Cosmonaut Ledbedev.
Now...Commander Whitson gets to hand out the aprons...to whomever she damn well pleases.
The Russian launch crew marked the moment by handing her a little bull whip to keep the dopes in line when she assumed command upstairs.

Symbolism indeed.

Ummm...

According to this, liberal radio talk show host Ed Schultz has tied with Bill O'Reilly in audience size...so how come Ed isn't on in Boston?
To listen to almost any Boston radio talk show or live& local or national, is basically to listen to the same thing day after day...Where does Michael Graham differ with say Howie Carr on any substantive point anyway?
Yet someone with at least as big a radio audience as Bill O'Reilly remains unheard in this alleged land of democrats and liberals...seems strange.
For that fact, when is CNN or MSNBC gonna give Ed his own simulcast show?
(Answer: When hell freezes over)

4th Middlesex state senate special election....

There is a rumor out there to the effect that Bob Peters will be bowing out of the race very soon. Bob was running as a progressive thus a potential split in the liberal base has been avoided for the moment. This is good news for the arlington-based Marzilli campaign as their message and ground game are expected to do well in Lexington.
For what it is worth, Humble Elias thinks Bob is doing the right thing, this is going to be a tough, tight fight and progressives and liberals will need all the unity they can get.

Whenever

someone runs amok with a firearm and racks up a nice appalling body-count, the gun worshippers inevitably insist that "if only someone else in that situation was armed & trained in the use of firearms, the massacre might never have happened".
Yet in Wisconsin, All Deputy Sheriff Tyler Peterson's training accomplished was to make him a better more efficient mass murderer.
So of course, for the gun-worshipper's logic to work in this case, fourteen year old girls would have to be packin' heat for a sleepover.

Anyone else get the picture here?

Jingle Money Rises from the Dead...

The Boston Sunday Globe breathlessly reports on the front page, that former Governor Jane "Jingle Money" Swift is quietly refurbishing her political network at looks to new races, like maybe another try at congress should John Olver retire.
Well...fine, except this is old news in Western Mass, I can recall reading news stories in the Berkshire Eagle on Jane's cautious efforts to get back into the game as far back as August 2003!
All this indicates is that it takes a full FOUR YEARS for a good story to make it's way out of North Adams out to Morrissey Boulevard.
However, Jane is a spent force in state politics I think...she may want vindication but the time for that was in 2002 when she was beset upon by Crazy Christy Mihos and Mitt Romney. Instead she tearfully surrendered without a fight and handed the state over to an absentee landlord with strange delusions of grandeur. The lady doesn't have much in the way of a fighting record to share with the voters in that district.

Romney is wooing evangelical voters

so reports the Boston Globe. Six months of dedicated cringing and groveling has achieved naught but the enlightened indifference of Dr. James Dobson Dean of the Book Worshipper's political wing. To Romney whose ambition is heavly freighted with low expectations of himself, this trumpeted as a huge victory, proof of his "momentum".
It'd be instructive though to note just what Romney did for the evangelicals of Massachusetts back when he was Governor...which was just exactly nothing from where Humble Elias sits.
And if they are fool enough to vote for him next year, then that is what they will get in abundance, nothing....just between you me and the fencepost.

I'm glad to see that Rudy Giuliani is coming in for

some of the clerical criticism that once dogged Candidate John Kerry circa 2004.

Gotta hand it to the R.C.C., they traffic with none of this "big tent" rubbish they unload on any catholic who departs from the pro-life line regardless of their party registration.

John Hancock CEO Dominic D'Alessandro

in a guest editorial in the Boston Globe comes out swinging for moving up the Massachusetts Presidential Primary to a more competitive date.
Fair enough, this was pretty much a market driven argument to "up-brand" our presidential primary and aggressively pursue a more advantageous calendar position in the schedule.
However, Mr. D'Alessandro fails to note a powerful indirect influence Massachusetts has over the New Hampshire primary being as we are an important source of campaign volunteers for both parties.
Hell, it was Bay State volunteers that kept John Kerry competitive back in the bleak December of 2003...so he can't argue that we play no role, it is just that our primary doesn't count for much.
The problem here is, out of fifty states, is always it necessary that there be one single and only first primary? New Hampshire has had the sinecure for over fifty years now and the whole mishaugas has degenerated into a peculiar local cottage industry. If we really wanted to make the primary process fair and democratic we ought change over to a system of five sequenced regional primaries or else randomly choose the first five or so primaries and leave the rest of the present schedule in place.
The present system is in need of reform owing to the front end clustering of primaries that over advantage early money & momentum at the expense of making a reasoned choice by the electorate.

Oh this is a riot...

Richard Viguerie is still hyping the notion of an ultra conservative third party challenge in '08 as a response to a Giuliani nomination.
Viguerie is the biggest and most predictable drama queen in the GOP, he goes into the same conniptions every election cycle ominously promising a third party if the GOP sways even slightly from conservative orthodoxy. The reality is, conservatives control the GOP nomination, there hasn't been a notable conservative based third party since George Wallace's rebel yell style American Independent Party in 1968. This is why Giuliani keeps surrendering his allegedly moderate GOP principles on a weekly basis, he knows movement conservatives control the GOP nomination and they must be placated. If he gets the nomination he may well go in for full immersion baptism in Goose Creek...he'll come up from the waters blubbering "Praise the Lord and cancel all abortions!" count on it.
As for Viguerie, he is a hack and blowhard...nothing will come of his threats.

Meanwhile...

Channel Zero celebrates the day by indulging in outright comic fabrication.

Happy Sputnik Day...

today's marks the fiftieth anniversary of the launching of the first artificial earth satellite, Sputnik 1.
As this was a Russian achievement, America went suitably apeshit with cold war paranoia, convinced that we'd just lost the containment game in the ninth inning and that Soviet hydrogen bombs were about to rain down us like autumn acorns.
Only time proved the groundlessness of those fears...so remember that the next time Mike Huckabee or John McCain start ranting and raving about the monumental nature of the terrorist threat.