May
30
Adrian Walker on Cahill’s Racist Remarks
Filed Under Link, Opinion, Politics | Leave a Comment
Source: boston.com
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Cahill — he of the fast-sinking gubernatorial campaign — couldn’t resist trying to squeeze some mileage out of Governor Deval Patrick’s meeting last weekend with about 1,000 local Muslims. The candidate issued a ludicrous statement accusing Patrick of “pandering to special interest groups” by, you know, meeting with some constituents.
“Now is the time for Governor Patrick to look radical Islamic terrorism full in the face, call it what it is, and make sure that federal law enforcement officials who are tracking the Times Square case give our local law enforcement the information they have in real time.’’
Again, Patrick’s crime here was to meet with a group of people who are not accused of anything, or suspected of anything. But in Tim Cahill’s world, it’s as if any gathering of Muslims is the moral equivalent of an Al Qaeda meeting.
No doubt here who was doing the pandering.
Globe Columnist Adrian Walker hits it on the nail. What Tim Cahill said was beyond stupid and racist and I’m not surprised it gained the ire of the religious community. I’m surely not voting for him.
May
1
*Note: To add on to the post below, a big chunk of Massachusetts just got a boil water order because of a “catastrophic” leak in an aqueduct. What would Concord do in this situation with no bottled water at the stores?*
Source: boston.com
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CONCORD — For years, Jean Hill has been reading about the environmental consequences of the countless plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. She has watched as other towns around the country have cut purchases of bottled water, which she views as a wasteful, environmentally damaging alternative to tap water.
This week, after lobbying neighbors and local officials for months, the 82-year-old activist persuaded them to take more drastic action than perhaps any other municipality in the country: At Town Meeting on Thursday, Concord residents voted to ban all sales of bottled water.
Concord just voted to make a very drastic change. It is indeed true that bottled water (and anything bottled, for that matter) can lead to environmental waste if not properly recycled, and I do also see the point that having bottled water in your home could be redundant considering that there is the tap. Such a vote, however, doesn’t look at the whole story.
Let’s say that I’m visiting the town and I really want something to drink. I head to one of their convenience stores and now, bottled water is no longer an option. I have a choice between Snapple, Vitamin Water, Gatorade, and a variety of sodas (among other things, of course), but not water. What if I’m just visiting town and I want water? I don’t want sugary drinks. What do I do then? Knock on someone’s door and ask for access to their tap? Bottled water can be wasteful to the environment, but come on, now: there are times when people want to carry bottles with them, especially while on the road. Sure, it mostly won’t bother the townsfolk that much, the people who can get water from their house before leaving. But for people who go to the store because they’re thirsty on the spot, because they want something to drink right at that moment and they didn’t plan ahead, you just took out their healthiest option. Unless, of course, you plan on having some sort of water cooler at every store. Also:
“I am sure this was a well-intentioned proposal in Concord, but I think it’s misguided, because it’s based on misinformation, misconception, and mischaracterization of a product that has a lot of benefits,’’ said Chris Flynn, president of the Massachusetts Food Association, which represents the state’s supermarkets and groceries. “Bottled water is used in times of need, often in natural disasters. It’s also a healthy product.’’
What does happen when there is a natural disaster and the tap’s no longer clean?
Lastly, while Jean Hill does point to a study that says that 88% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, that doesn’t mean that you should prevent people from using it entirely. Remember one of those principles of economics? The one that says that people respond to incentives? We should instead be working more to push people to recycle, not take things away from them just because they’ve failed to do so.
Mar
15
Source: boston.com
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Milton High School went into lockdown this morning after a live shotgun round was found outside the building’s main entrance, police said.
The school was locked down as a precautionary measure after a parent discovered the ammunition around 9 a.m., Police Chief Richard Wells said.
I don’t know where these shotgun rounds come from. What I really want to comment on, however, is that I feel like locking down the school in situations such as these is the right course of action. If you read the comments you’ll see remarks from the sarcastic, asking if they locked down the school because a shotgun round is a choking hazard, to the straightforward “no one’s life was at risk and this was a waste of time”. I believe it’s always important to take these precautionary measures because you never know if someone actually is carrying any sort of weapons and ammunition and happened to drop one. Never. Even if the chance is ridiculously low and near statistically impossible, you never want to take that chance. Things that may only happen a small percentage of the time can still happen, and when they do, people are held just as accountable and put in harm’s way as if the occurrence was a commonality.
You always have to play it safe.
Mar
12
Source: boston.com
Read Op-Ed Article (boston.com)
Read Ravitch’s Huffington Post Article
Globe columnist Joan Vennochi comments on the mass teacher firings at Central Falls High School that I mentioned before (original article here, as well). She says the students might be the ones who get hurt the most from it and asks if these firings are “good for kids or good for headlines.” She also quotes Diane Ravitch, author of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, a book a recently bought and plan on reading when it gets delivered. A quote from her post on Huffington:
Will it be replaced by a better school? Who knows? Will excellent teachers flock to Central Falls to replace their fired colleagues? Or will it be staffed by inexperienced young college graduates who commit to stay at the school for two years? Will non-English-speaking students start speaking English because their teachers were fired? Will children come to school ready to learn because their teachers were fired?
Hopefully Central Falls stays in the news so we can see if anything does indeed change in the schools. Educators really need to figure out why students aren’t as proficient at math and reading as they should be. Did something go wrong in elementary school? Middle school? We need to focus more on the students. Yes, there are incompetent teachers. But every single one? That can’t be statistically possible. Even the worst NFL team has a few good players; likewise, even the worst school has some good teachers and some good students.
Mar
11
Source: boston.com
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An 18-year-old Mississippi lesbian student whose school district canceled her senior prom rather than allow her to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo said she got some unfriendly looks from classmates when she reluctantly returned to campus Thursday.
The district announced Wednesday it wouldn’t host the April 2 prom. The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union told officials a policy banning same-sex prom dates violated students’ rights. The ACLU said the district not letting McMillen wear a tuxedo violated her free expression rights.
Ridiculous to cancel an entire prom because of an issue with two homosexual students that wanted to be each other’s dates. Besides the obvious violation of civil liberties, it sets a terrible example for the students. It also encourages students and parents to point blame at this one family, when it is in face the school district’s fault that the prom was cancelled. People need to be accepting of these kind of things.
Yeah, there was a memo sent out saying that dates had to be of the opposite sex, but Daryl Presgraves, a spokesperson for GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) says that this kind of rule “sends a message that these students shouldn’t be treated the same.” I agree with him, and I feel like most people I know do as well.