Sunday, September 28, 2008

Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain

Newsweek comments on Freddie's connection to McCain advisor:
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Few advisers in John McCain's inner circle inspire more loyalty from him than campaign manager Rick Davis. ..."Rick is a friend, and I trust him," McCain told NEWSWEEK last year.
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...McCain's trust in Davis was tested again amid disclosures that Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid his campaign manager's firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008.

McCain, Lobbyists and IGRA

Each time I've blogged about Senator McCain or Governor Palin, I've received comments providing arguments and articles to refute my comments or blaming Bill Clinton for all the current ills of the nation, as if the last 8 years don't count. Some are simply ill-informed potshots. I've chosen to moderate comments and since blogs are not democracies and I'm not required to provide anything resembling 'fair and balanced,' please save your time and mine, or participate in the nemasket discussion forum. Begin a discussion thread and discuss the issues with others in a more appropriate venue. I've watched Senator McCain over the years, listened to his speeches on CSPAN, reviewed his votes and looked at his campaign contributors.

The following is excerpted from a New York Times article worthy of reading in its entirety:

Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as “birds of prey.” Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors.

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When rules being considered by Congress threatened a California tribe’s planned casino in 2005, Mr. McCain helped spare the tribe. Its lobbyist, who had no prior experience in the gambling industry, had a nearly 20-year friendship with Mr. McCain.

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In Connecticut that year, when a tribe was looking to open the state’s third casino, staff members on the Indian Affairs Committee provided guidance to lobbyists representing those fighting the casino, e-mail messages and interviews show. The proposed casino, which would have cut into the Pequots’ market share, was opposed by Mr. McCain’s colleagues in Connecticut.

...interviews and records show that lobbyists and political operatives in Mr. McCain’s inner circle played a behind-the-scenes role in bringing Mr. Abramoff’s misdeeds to Mr. McCain’s attention — and then cashed in on the resulting investigation. The senator’s longtime chief political strategist, for example, was paid $100,000 over four months as a consultant to one tribe caught up in the inquiry, records show.

Only six members of Congress have received more money from the gambling industry than Mr. McCain, and five hail from the casino hubs of Nevada and New Jersey, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics dating back to 1989.

He also voted twice in the last decade to give casinos tax breaks estimated to cost the government more than $326 million over a dozen years.

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The first tax break benefited the industry in Las Vegas, one of a number of ways Mr. McCain has helped nontribal casinos.

Purging the toxins

A friend sent an article from European Voices that succeeds in providing a basic explanation of the current financial crisis and solutions. It's worth the read in its entirety, but the following is striking and an important consideration in the Presidential election:
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... the root cause of this crisis is an inadequately and under-regulated financial system. These are in part the effects of the Phil Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed in the US Congress in 1999. That act triggered a further wave of deregulation in the financial industry that, inter alia, brought to the market a plethora of fancy products whose risks were poorly understood. Mortgages are not toxic per se; badly constructed securities based on them are toxic. The packaging and repackaging of financial products are toxic, making their valuations increasingly unclear and reducing their tradability. Reward schemes that shape the decisions of managers and agents in markets and that make their behaviour irresponsible, when judged from a systemic perspective – that is toxic. Misleading quantitative models are toxic. Not to address these and other problems would be totally wrong. The tripwire for this financial crisis may have been in the housing industry, but housing is not the structural cause of the crisis.
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What this crisis should make plain to everyone is that not all financial innovation is benign. It is therefore baffling to hear the argument that fresh regulation is bad because it would stifle financial innovation. Fresh regulation is necessary because there has been a lack of proper regulation and supervision. The enormous mistakes that have been made by allowing finance to develop its own, highly risky “raisons d'ĂȘtre” must be undone.
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The path from greed to panic

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But are we capable of learning that lesson? Why is it that we fail to learn from previous crises? Alexander Lamfalussy issued warnings almost a decade ago; the financier Warren Buffett and the former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker are among those important figures who fired off warnings years ago. How is that their predictions of a crisis have not been listened to?

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Keating 5 ring a bell?

It's impressive to listen to friends who don't customarily pay attention to political events explain their intentions to evaluate the current platforms proposed by candidates and make an informed decision, divorcing a candidate from past actions.
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They ignore events swirling around a candidate. They ignore past conduct and focus on current promises and recent 'conversions.'
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Such is the case of Charles Keating and Senator McCain's involvement.
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My personal appreciation for fairy tales of political sorts, attracted me to Rosa Brooks' easy to understand explanation in the LAT:
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Once upon a time, a politician took campaign contributions and favors from a friendly constituent who happened to run a savings and loan association.
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Ms. Brooks concludes (emphasis mine):
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...despite his political near-death experience as a member of the Keating Five, McCain continued to champion deregulation, voting in 2000, for instance, against federal regulation of the kind of financial derivatives at the heart of today's crisis.
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Shades of the Keating Five scandal don't end there. This week, for instance, news broke that until August, the lobbying firm owned by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage giants implicated in the current crisis (now taken over by the government and under investigation by the FBI).
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Apparently, Freddie Mac's plan was to gain influence with McCain's campaign in hopes that he would help shield it from pesky government regulations. And until very recently, Freddie Mac executives probably figured money paid to Davis' firm was money well spent.
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"I'm always in favor of less regulation," McCain told the Wall Street Journal in March.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Ancient History Always Returns to Haunt

During the process of attempting to hire a replacement for the retiring Middleboro Town Manager, Jack Healey, there were numerous criticisms I launched about the process and the candidates.
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During the last round, the candidates presented included the current Town of Mansfield Town Manager.
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Last week, I encountered several people who are active, involved and paying attention who believed that they might have selected Mr. D'Agostino and were unaware of the surrounding information. The following has been posted on the Mansfield discussion forum that appears to provide respectful comments and a broad range of viewpoints.
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Although the information is too broad to quickly review, for those who would like additional information regarding what a poor choice of candidate Mr. D'Agostino appears to be based solely on publicly available information, a review of TalkMansfield might be helpful.
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Mr. D'Agostino presented a credible, convincing facade and had the support of a Middleboro business owner, Robert Saquet who is Town Moderator of Mansfield, but the selection committee and the Board of Selectmen went no further. This is not to suggest that Middleboro need be mired in the issues surrounding any other town regarding their town manager in the search process, but merely to suggest that you don't arrange a long term marriage without meeting the family.
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As a footnote: there was much respectful discussion surrounding the most recent selection on a local discussion forum, nemasket. (Participation requires registration.) It appears that only one Middleboro Selectmen can be bothered to read what is being posted.
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Because of my limited free time, comments have backlogged my mailbox and most have been deleted in an effort to catch up. Apologies if yours was included. If you believe it was important and want to see it posted, please re-post.
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Land Sold for $1

The Brockton Enterprise reported on an Inspector General's letter to the Carver Selectmen from June 2008 regarding a parcel of town owned land that was sold for $1.
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The June 30 memo, addressed to selectmen chairman Jack Angley, said the town was found in violation of state Chapter 30B laws when it disposed of property at 13 Birch Terrace. The property, which was taken by the town for nonpayment of taxes, was sold to Habitat for Humanity for $1 in April 2002. It was assessed at the time at $42,000.
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In June of the same year, Habitat sold the property to private buyers for $36,000. Last June, after the property was sold two more times over the years, Wells Fargo Bank foreclosed on a $189,900 loan on the property.
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Maybe the details of the property sale aren't that significant to Middleboro residents, but the following comments might be:
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A secretary for Town Administrator Richard LaFond said LaFond was out of town for the week.
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The latest selectmen meeting minutes show that on July 8, selectmen and LaFond discussed the June 30 document, and LaFond acknowledged the issue was not handled properly.
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The minutes show LaFond stated, “mistakes were made and he bears some responsibility of the disposition of tax title property.”
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Some may remember that Mr. LaFond was considered by the Middleboro Board of Selectmen last year as a possible Town Manager and was supported by some. This, yet again, defines the failure of the Town Manager Search Committee and the Board of Selectmen to conduct adequate investigation of potential candidates.
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Katie Couric Interviews Sarah Palin

Reviewing the statistical reports for this site, I was impressed by the numbers of viewers from around the country who reached my blog after searching for "Airhead Palin." While I never blogged using that phrase, it seems a label many have adopted as appropriate.
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For national security reasons, it would seem that the wisest decision voters could make is to return Governor Palin to Alaska to continue to protect the US from a Russian invasion. She has clearly been successful in that endeavor.
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Below are the Katie Couric interviews that are rather softball. No amount of handling will make Governor Palin a viable candidate.
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#1
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I love that little wavy finger! It must be an Alaska THING.
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Bill Clinton Weighs In

We can't spend this election season considering all of the "What ifs....", but with unemployment and home foreclosures skyrocketing, energy costs forcing difficult choices, soaring deficits, financial chaos, and the proposed $700 BILLION bailout, we can sure learn from our mistakes and make better choices in the future.
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President Clinton left office with budget surpluses as far as the eye could see, a sound dollar, full employment and a growing economy because of sound fiscal policy. Grist had this to say:
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Former President Clinton talks about the financial crisis and clean energy on 'The Daily Show'
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Former President Bill Clinton was on The Daily Show last night talking about his Clinton Global Initiative, the financial crisis, and alternative energy -- and how the nation's financial situation might have played out differently if we'd dealt intelligently with energy issues years ago. Here's the video:

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

Ferschnucken!

This has to be the most Ferschnucken Republican Campaign EVER!
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First they grandstand and suspend the Republican Convention because a hurricane is coming, which is curious after they failed to respond to New Orleans' plight in Katrina's wake. (To preserve the continuity of government and the process, conventions were uninterrupted during war.)
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Then Senator McCain can't multi-task and handle more than one national problem at a time, so he suspends his campaign.
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And then there's Satire on Myspace:
McCAIN SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN, RETURNS TO DC BECAUSE "THEY NEED A SENATOR WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT THE ECONOMY TO FIX THE FINANCIAL CRISIS"
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We can speculate that it's to prevent Governor Palin from debating Senator Biden and distance her from the media.
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Now, it's being floated by Politico that Governor Palin will also suspend her campaign -
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John McCain's campaign has floated the possibility that Sarah Palin may also suspend her campaign, matching McCain’s announcement that he would cease campaigning for president to return to Washington to try to hammer out a fix for the nation’s financial meltdown.
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Since Palin was selected as McCain’s running mate in late August, she’s appeared at 21 rallies, most of which were at McCain’s side, has yet to hold a press conference, has conducted less than a handful of national media interviews and has pulled out of several fundraising appearances.
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As Politico also notes:
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John McCain’s campaign is scrapping, rescheduling or offering surrogates for nearly every one of the fundraisers Sarah Palin was to hold this month, instead having her campaign jointly with McCain, prepare for her sole debate next month and get some foreign policy exposure. According to an internal fundraising calendar put together in late-August just before McCain’s vice presidential selection, Palin was to have headlined nine fundraisers across five states by now. She’s attended just one to date.
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Little noticed in the charade is the delay in reporting her finances (LINK)
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WASHINGTON - Sarah Palin requested and received an extension of the deadline for revealing her personal finances, until the day after her only debate with Democrat Joe Biden.
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The Republican vice presidential candidate received a four-day extension Thursday from the Federal Election Commission.
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Astute political observers have wiser words, but even with a rigged election, Senator McCain is scrambling! It looks like the Republicans should have targeted the wealthy white enclaves for those Diebold machines.
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What does the Vice President do? Don't ask Sarah Palin!
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YES on Question 3

Fellow blogger, Ryan Adams has kept tabs on the questionable practices being used to mislead by the industry on Question 3.
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Since the media has remained mostly silent, Ryan's voice, speaking up for the dogs is appreciated.
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The Brockton Enterprise, of the few to comment, reported
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Dorchak on Monday insisted the tactics used by racing supporters showed their desperation to stop racing opponents.
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“Back in 2000, this cobbled-together group that came together to end dog racing lost in the closest election in state history,” she said. “The dog tracks know this time the truth will prevail, (so) they’re going to run one of the dirtiest campaigns in state history to continue their cruelty. Voters should be able to judge based on the facts, and this is an effort to distract them away from the facts and mislead them.”

In response to concerns about Twin Rivers ending up in bankruptcy,
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Carcieri said yesterday that at a time when Twin River’s owners are clearly having trouble paying their lenders: “I don’t think [the greyhound racing] contributes a whole lot.” He said no one has posed the question yet, but if the owners asked to drop dog-racing “and everybody else agreed to it, I’d support that.” ProJo
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So, it would seem that greyhound racing is like the supermarkets' loss leaders, they take a loss to attract the traffic.
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Let the Debates Go On As Planned




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Just when you thought the comedy circuit would lack fodder, Senator McCain outdoes himself!
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All the dirty tricks, swift boating and lies emanating from McCain don't seem to be working their customary magic or concealing an airhead VP candidate being kept from the press.
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McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate

McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis.
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Letterman on being stood up by McCain:

"I'm more than a little disappointed by this behavior," Letterman said. "We're suspending the campaign. Suspending it because there's an economic crisis, or because the poll numbers are sliding?"
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The audience applauded.

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"You don't suspend your campaign," he added. "Do you suspend your campaign? No, because that makes me think, well, you know, maybe there will be other things down the road -- if he's in the White House, he might just suspend being president. I mean, we've got a guy like that now!"
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Then in the midst of interviewing MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Letterman learned that the GOP candidate was about five blocks away at CBS News headquarters, preparing for an interview with Couric.
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Incredulous, Letterman interrupted his chat with Olbermann to show the audience a live shot on the internal CBS news feed of McCain getting touched up by a makeup artist as he waited to talk to Couric."
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He doesn't seem to be racing to the airport, does he?" Letterman said, shouting at the television monitor: "Hey John, I got a question! You need a ride to the airport?" LAT
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Governor Palin could take a few lessons from a previous candidate for Vice President:
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I, for one, look forward to watching Governor Palin debate Senator Biden.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

YARD SALE REMINDER - Saturday, September 27th

REMINDER-

The CFO Yardsale is coming up this

Saturday, September 27th

at the Old Town Hall,
2 Precinct Street in Lakeville
from 10:00AM until 2:00PM---
RAIN or SHINE!

Voter Registration Deadline October 15

The Arc offered the following:
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If you want to vote Nov. 4, you must be registered by Oct. 15

Here at The Arc, we encourage everyone to vote. Your elected officials make important decisions regarding funding for essential services for people with disabilities.
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PLEASE VOTE NO ON QUESTION 1

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The income tax question on the ballot this fall is a reckless proposal that will have severe and immediate consequences for all of us, including people with disabilities and their families. This binding referendum will take more than $12 billion—nearly 40 percent—out of the state budget, driving up local property taxes and leading to drastic cuts in services, such as disability services. Our communities will suffer sweeping education cuts, steep reductions in public safety personnel and further deterioration of roads and bridges. Times are hard enough. Let’s not make them worse.
See our website for more information, including:
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More information about Question 1
A link to register to vote
FAQ's about Voting & People with Disabilities

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Demand Common Sense

Public protests have given Congress pause to carefully consider the bailout proposed by Paulson and the lame duck administration. It seems crucial to include ALL necessary protections to avoid further enriching the rich at taxpayer expense.
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BLOOMBERG NEWS: Paulson Plan To Mostly Benefit His Old Cronies at Goldman Sachs LINK
Paulson Debt Plan May Benefit Mostly Goldman, Morgan
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley may be among the biggest beneficiaries of the $700 billion U.S. plan to buy assets from financial companies while many banks see limited aid, according to Bank of America Corp.
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Petition campaigns are being conducted that include the following 6 items:
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Paulson Feeling The Pressure, Time To Demand "Common Sense" LINK
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1. Public Oversight. This kind of power can never be centralized in a single individual – much less one who did not even stand for election. Any funds must be controlled by an independent entity, with consumers and workers given seats on its board. Congress should be empowered to name independent monitors and to approve all board members.
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2. Protect The Taxpayer. The Treasury bill would have taxpayers buying paper that nobody else wants at prices far above its current value. If a firm wants to auction off its toxic paper to the US Government, taxpayers should get equity in that firm equal to any amount paid in excess of the paper’s value. This will deter profitable firms from using the government as a dumpster for their toxic paper. And it will insure that if the bailout works and the firms become profitable, taxpayers, not simply bankers, benefit from the upside.
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3. Curb The Casino. This crisis was caused because sensible regulations of the banking system that worked for dozens of years were dismantled or went unenforced. No bailout can go forward without requiring the necessary regulation to insure this does not happen again. Any institution which receives assistance should agree to come under a microscope going forward in terms of disclosure requirements, and it should have stringent capital requirement imposed upon it.
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4. Invest In The Real Economy. Ending the bankers strike is not sufficient to avoid the recession into which we have been driven. Major public investment for investment in new energy and conservation, rebuilding schools and infrastructure, extending unemployment and food stamps, helping states avoid crippling cuts in police and health services – is vital to get the real economy moving and put people back to work. No bailout should proceed without being linked to support for a major public investment plan to get the economy going.
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5. Hold CEOs and Boards of Directors Accountable. Wall Street CEOs shouldn’t be pocketing millions while taxpayers are forced to bail them out. Any firm that applies for relief must agree to cancel all stock option programs and CEOs should have stringent limits placed on their compensation until the Company has repaid all taxpayer assistance.
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6. Aid The Victims, Not Just The Predators. Both bankers and home owners made foolish bets that home prices would keep rising. Many homeowners, however, were misled by predatory lenders into taking mortgages that they didn’t understand and couldn’t afford. It would be simply obscene to help the predators and not those that they preyed upon. No bail out of the banks should take place without measures to help people in trouble stay in their homes. Explicit provisions should ensure use of the full array of financial and legal tools available to the government to stop foreclosures and restructure home mortgage loans for ordinary Americans. Where workouts are not feasible, people should be allowed to stay in their homes as renters.

Urgent: Stop The $700B Blank Check!
Please support these email campaigns and if possible, call your elected officials and urge that time be taken to ensure that this is fully considered.
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George Bush with big hair

Not to keep picking on the same poor candidate, a friend forwarded the following article from Salon knowing how much I appreciate the author's writing:
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George Bush with big hair
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The hustling Evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder could be our first woman president.

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By Garrison Keillor
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Sept. 10, 2008 So the Republicans have decided to run against themselves. The bums have tiptoed out the back door and circled around to the front and started yelling, "Throw the bums out!" They've been running Washington like a well-oiled machine to the point of inviting lobbyists into the back rooms to write the legislation, and now they are anti-establishment reformers dedicated to delivering us from themselves. And Mayor Giuliani is an advocate for small-town America. Bravo.
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They are coming out for Small Efficient Government the very week that the feds are taking over Fannie and Freddie, those old cash cows, and in the course of a weekend 20 or 50 (or pick a number) billion go floating out the Treasury door. Hello? Do you see us out here? We are not fruit flies, we are voters, we can read and write, we didn't just fall off the coal truck.
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It is a bold move on the Republicans' part -- forget about the past, it's only history, so write a new narrative and be who you want to be -- and if they succeed, I think I might declare myself a 24-year-old virgin named Lance and see what that might lead to. Paste a new face on my Facebook page, maybe become the Dauphin Louie the Thirty-Second, the rightful heir to the Throne of France, put on silk tights and pantaloons and a plumed hat and go on the sawdust circuit and sell souvenir hankies imprinted with the royal fleur-de-lis. They will cure neuralgia and gout and restore marital vigor.
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Mr. McCain has decided to run as a former POW and a maverick, a maverick's maverick, rather than Mr. Bush's best friend, and that's understandable, but how can he not address the $3 trillion that got burned up in Iraq so far? It's real money, it could've paid for a lot of windmills, a high-speed rail line in Ohio, some serious R&D. The Chinese, who have avoided foreign wars for 50 years, are taking enormous leaps forward, investing in their economy, and we are falling behind. We're wasting our chances. The Republican culture of corruption in Washington hasn't helped.
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And a former mayor of a town of 7,000 who hired a lobbyist to get $26 million in federal earmarks is now running against the old-boy network in Washington who gave her that money to build the teen rec center and other good things so she could keep taxes low in Wasilla. Stunning. And if you question her qualifications to be the leader of the free world, you are an elitist. This is a beautiful maneuver. I wish I had thought of it back in school when I was forced to subject myself to a final exam in higher algebra. I could have told Miss Mortenson, "I am a Christian and when you gave me a D, you only showed your contempt for the Lord and for the godly hardworking people from whom I have sprung, you elitist battle ax you."
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In school, you couldn't get away with that garbage because the taxpayers know that if we don't uphold scholastic standards, we will wind up driving on badly designed bridges and go in for a tonsillectomy and come out missing our left lung, so we flunk the losers lest they gain power and hurt us, but in politics we bring forth phonies and love them to death.
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I must say, it was fun having the Republicans in St. Paul and to see it all up close and firsthand. Security was, as one might expect, thin-lipped and gimlet-eyed, but once you got through it, you found the folks you went to high school with -- farm kids, jocks, the townies who ran the student council, the cheerleaders, some of the bullies -- and they are as cohesive now as they were back then, dedicated to school spirit, intolerant of outsiders, able to jump up and down and holler for something they don't actually believe. But oh Lord, what they brought forth this year. When you check the actuarial tables on a 72-year-old guy who's had three bouts with cancer, you guess you may be looking at the first woman president, a hustling Evangelical with ethics issues and a chip on her shoulder who, not counting Canada, has set foot outside the country once -- a trip to Germany, Iraq and Kuwait in 2007 to visit Alaskans in the armed service. And who listed a refueling stop in Ireland as a fourth country visited. She's like the Current Occupant but with big hair. If you want inexperience, there were better choices.
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(Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" can be heard Saturday nights on public radio stations across the country.)

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Monday, September 22, 2008

Wait Just A Minute .......

Memories fade, but before dress stains and oral sex became the hot Washington topic, it seems there was discussion within the Clinton Administration about the need for regulation of Global Financial Markets. What a novel thought!
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That damned complicated stuff didn't titillate the way moral condemnation did.
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Why tax the brain, force one to actually do the hard work of THINKING, when sex is just so much easier to comprehend?
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And some of my contemporaries (the elderly dinosaurs) might even remember that the preceding fiscal catastrophe was the S&L Bailout that taxpayers funded. Wasn't that about deregulation as well? Well, never mind! You just paid the bill so don't have to understand, but you were mighty generous in allowing the already well-heeled to buy back those properties for pennies on the dollar. And many escaped prosecution, including a G.H.W. Bush son.
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But make sure to look up the Keating Scandal and the connection with Senator John McCain, and his wealthy in-laws. Not so squeaky clean! (An internet search provides some pretty damning information about the Presidential Candidate.) It just makes one warm and fuzzy to know he's suddenly for regulation now that taxpayers will foot the cleanup.
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This is curious timing as well:
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Lehman hires Jeb Bush as private equity advisor
Thu Aug 30, 2007
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NEW YORK, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers has hired Jeb Bush, brother of the President of the United States, as an advisor to its private equity business, a source familiar with the situation said. Lehman hired another relative of U.S Lehman hired another relative of U.S. President George W. Bush last year--George Walker, a second cousin, who heads up the bank's asset management business. Reuters
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Hmmm. Connection maybe?
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Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old investment bank choked by the credit crisis and falling real estate values, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the biggest bankruptcy filing ever on Monday and said it was trying to sell off key business units. [Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old banking institution, survives the Industrial Revolution and two world wars... but not Bush.] yahoo
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Offered by William Greider in The Nation, excerpts below, but the entire article is worth the read:
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... Josh Rosner of Graham Fisher in New York, defined the sponsors of this stampede to action: "Let us be clear, it is not citizen groups, private investors, equity investors or institutional investors broadly who are calling for this government purchase fund. It is almost exclusively being lobbied for by precisely those institutions that believed they were 'smarter than the rest of us,' institutions who need to get those assets off their balance sheet at an inflated value lest they be at risk of large losses or worse."
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The agenda is staggering. The United States is ill equipped to deal with it smartly, not to mention wisely. We have a brain-dead lame duck in the White House. The two presidential candidates are trapped by events, trying to say something relevant without getting blamed for the disaster. The people should make themselves heard in Washington, even if only to share their outrage.
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And another perspective:
It's The Derivatives, Stupid! Why Fannie, Freddie, AIG Had To Be Bailed Out
By Ellen Brown20 September, 2008
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"I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men." – Sir Isaac Newton, after losing a fortune in the South Sea bubble
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Something extraordinary is going on with these government bailouts. In March 2008, the Federal Reserve extended a $55 billion loan to JPMorgan to "rescue" investment bank Bear Stearns from bankruptcy, a highly controversial move that tested the limits of the Federal Reserve Act. On September 7, 2008, the U.S. government seized private mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and imposed a conservatorship, a form of bankruptcy; but rather than let the bankruptcy court sort out the assets among the claimants, the Treasury extended an unlimited credit line to the insolvent corporations and said it would exercise its authority to buy their stock, effectively nationalizing them. Now the Federal Reserve has announced that it is giving an $85 billion loan to American International Group (AIG), the world’s largest insurance company, in exchange for a nearly 80% stake in the insurer . . . .
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The Fed is buying an insurance company? Where exactly is that covered in the Federal Reserve Act? The Associated Press calls it a "government takeover," but this is not your ordinary "nationalization" like the purchase of Fannie/Freddie stock by the U.S. Treasury. The Federal Reserve has the power to print the national money supply, but it is not actually a part of the U.S. government. It is a private banking corporation owned by a consortium of private banks. The banking industry just bought the world’s largest insurance company, and they used federal money to do it. Yahoo Finance reported on September 17:
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"The Treasury is setting up a temporary financing program at the Fed’s request. The program will auction Treasury bills to raise cash for the Fed’s use. The initiative aims to help the Fed manage its balance sheet following its efforts to enhance its liquidity facilities over the previous few quarters."
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BUSINESS AS USUAL: The Bush administration's initial attempt to railroad anyone skeptical of the Paulson plan is reminiscent of some of its previous legislative initiatives. The Bush administration has a long track record of using times of crisis to demand -- and then mismanage -- unprecedented amounts of power and money. Just as troubling, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that lobbyists for Wall Street firms have launched an aggressive campaign to ensure that the terms of the Treasury's proposed bailout are as favorable to the finance industry as possible.
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Our current location was predictable -- it was predicted based on risky loans, with ballooning payments, inflated property values that kept a false economy perking along and some pretty creative packaging.
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Folks, ordinary Americans are loosing their homes, yet the bailouts are aimed at saving the wealthy.
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Neighborhoods are blighted with boarded up or vandalized homes. Animal shelters are overwhelmed with abandoned pets surrendered or just abandoned by owners overwhelmed at the prospect of being homeless and panicked for shelter for their children. A local suicide is but one tragic reminder.
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Before we sit back and foot the bill for the gambling problems of the wealthy and greedy, and the lack of regulation, time for consideration is needed.
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Bankruptcy laws allow a judge to adjust loan payments for cars, boats, credit cards and second homes, but prohibit changes to mortgage payments for the primary residence. Changes need to be included to keep families in their homes and prevent abandoned neighborhoods.
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Congressional action requires more than slapdash legislation, prepared in a panic.
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The last time Congress acted in panic, we invaded 2 countries. How did that turn out?
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This needs to be debated, publicized and fully understood before we give Paulson the keys to the Treasury, with unregulated controls to bailout those he should have been regulating. The Fox guarding the hen house comes to mind.
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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Are we sheep?

Generally, the public is well ahead of short-sighted politicians in leading on important issues. Why should energy be different?
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You and I know better what makes sense for our lives and pocketbooks than out of touch politicians or a media that promotes Think Tank babble.
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The media has continuously raised the issue of Al Gore's energy consumption as an excuse not to reduce personal energy use. Who have we punished but ourselves?
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Others have moved ahead without fanfare, done constructive things, ignored the rhetoric and rewarded themselves with their energy savings. It wasn't always for environmental reasons, but instead to pocket the savings. Those frugal Yankees, you know!
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Local events, such as this will become the norm:
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New technology will be on display at Energy and Water Fair in Sharon
Homeowners can get a look at new technology at free event
By Jennifer Santos
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Sep 19, 2008 @ 05:39 AM
SHARON —
This weekend homeowners will be able to watch demonstrations and meet with
Local retailers will showcase alternative-energy and water-efficiency technology this weekend at the town’s first Energy and Water Fair.
The event is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Sharon High School, 181 Pond St.
Admission will be free.
Home Depot will hold educational sessions on insulating pipes and sealing windows. E Inc. of Boston will provide information on global warming and wind power.
Solar Wrights will demonstrate solar panels, which can be used to produce electricity, heat and hot water.
Adults will be able to test an electric scooter and view a hybrid and electric car that runs on bio-diesel fuel. The Sharon school system will hold a scavenger hunt for children.
An electric meter monitor valued at $100 to $150 and a rain barrel are among the prizes to be raffled off. A meter monitor enables a homeowner using a remote control to see how much electricity is being used.
For a list of the retailers and organizations that will be participating in the fair, visit
www.sharonwater.com/ef/SharonEnergyFair.htm Brockton Enterprise
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Building with natural light
The Gazette
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: Ron Wright assists Tom Pittsley by guiding the wall section into place. The inter-locking walls of the house provide the structure of the building and insulate the home beyond what traditional building would do.
September 18, 2008 11:30 AM
By CINDY DOW
Associate Editor
MIDDLEBORO — With fuel prices rocketing toward the sky and the economy swimming in the other direction, smart homeowners are looking into ways to cut back on heating and energy costs. One local home builder has taken that thought to a whole different level, by building passive solar homes designed to reduce the amount of energy used, and, in some cases, generate enough energy on their own that they sustain themselves electrically.
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Tom Pittsley is not new to the construction business; he's been building for over 25 years. Four years ago, he decided to focus on building the most energy efficient buildings he could, and started a new company, Energy Efficient Building Technologies.
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Some of his recent projects include working as the general contractor on the MIT submission to the 2007 Solar Decathlon in Washington D.C., working as an advisor to the Boston Architectural College and Tufts University team for the 2009 Solar Decathlon, and building passive solar homes in Rochester and Middleboro that will be part of the Green Buildings Open House, sponsored by Northeast Sustainable Energy and American Solar Energy Society's National Solar Tour, on Oct. 4.
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"Over 25 years ago, I was sitting in AutoCAD in high school, and I drew what basically was a passive solar house," Mr. Pittsley said. "Now, 25 to 30 years later, I'm fulfilling a dream."
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Mr. Pittsley explained that building "green" is not only better for the homeowner, who benefits by reduced expenses in heating and cooling, but also is better for the environment by reducing the pollution and energy used. He utilizes several different types of technology in his construction that greatly reduces the amount of energy a house will use for heating and cooling, but also incorporates materials in the house that make better use of the resources that are consumed.
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The 2,700 square foot home in Rochester was completed last year. The concrete slab floor had radiant floor heating installed, and the walls of the first floor and basement were insulated concrete forms. Large, high solar heat gain windows were installed in the south facing side of the home, and windows on the north, east, and west were smaller and fewer.
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The heating bill for the first winter in the Rochester home was less than $750 for the season.
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The Middleboro house is located on Tispaquin Street. Mr. Pittsley said he spent some time on the lot before agreeing that the passive solar house would be a good fit. The southern side of the house has to be able to receive enough sun during the day to ensure the systems will work. While the majority of the lot is clear, a few trees on the sideline of the lot still need to be removed.
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The four bedroom, two bath house will be just under 2,000 square feet, with a single floor design. Radiant floor heating installed in the concrete slab floor will heat the house. The structural insulated panel walls, ceiling, and insulation under the concrete floor, as well as a specially designed thermal mass window system that stores the sun's energy while allowing the homeowner to control how warm the rooms get, are specifically designed to keep the costs for both heating and cooling this home below $700 a year.
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The roofline of the Tispaquin Street house is also designed to install photovoltaic panels on it at a later time. These panels, which were used in the MIT Solar Decathlon zero-energy house, translate solar energy into electricity.
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"The MIT house was an off-grid house," Mr. Pittsley said, explaining the requirement of the Decathlon for the submissions to be self-sufficient. "Here, we would do a grid-tied system"¦we tie in to the town's electric system, and during the day, when you're not using much electricity, it goes back through the meter into the 'grid,' and at night when you need more but the sun is not out, it comes back through the meter."
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Mr. Pittsley said the roof panels would wait until the homeowner has been in the house for a year, when they could compile all the energy bills and could design a system that would equal the usage for the home.
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Mr. Pittsley said the house will cost about $269,000 to construct. He estimated that a similar building constructed without the energy efficiency would cost $30,000 to $40,000 less to build, but that savings could quickly be eaten up with increasing fuel costs.
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For more information on Mr. Pittsley's projects, visit his website,
www.eebt.org, or see his blog, http://tompittsley.blogspot.com. For more information about the Green Buildings Open House scheduled for Oct. 4, visit www.nesea.org. SouthCoastToday
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What I have found is that sensible people have accepted personal responsibility and quietly gone their way of reducing consumption, politicians be damned!
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And so it was that Derrick Jackson's On climate, who will lead by example? was disappointing. Not everyone is following like sheep. People seem to be quietly leading even if the leaders aren't.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Ancient History But Not Quite

When the Selection Committee presented candidates for Town Manager to the Middleboro BOS for consideration, the blogging and Internet communities had much to say.
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The final candidates included a former mayor of Brockton, Yunits, who currently lobbies for the proposed *Brockton Power Plant with the same firm handling the proposed Mashpee Wampanoag Casino PR; a current Town Manager from Mansfield, D'Agostino, with a mega-judgement against the Town caused by his actions and an unprecedented judgement against himself for legal fees, who precipitated a recall election; and Charles Cristello, Town Manager of Hingham, who improved the Town's bond rating to triple A, and by the way, check out the Town's Web Site. (For comparison, check out Town of Middleborough.)
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*As a footnote: the Brockton Power Plant will use 1,600,000 of WASTE WATER daily, has a 250 foot smoke stack, is located in a heavily residential area near schools, and will use CLEAN diesel fuel, whatever that is. When was the last time you got stuck behind a diesel truck? Clean?
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In the process, it would seem that few on the Selection Committee had discovered the Internet and only one Middleboro Selectman had done so.
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The blogs seem to be proving that we are all in this together, regardless of what some believe.
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Middleboro residents might find Talk Mansfield interesting.
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Mr. D'Agostino was well prepared for his interview and presented a good public appearance. His subsequent comments Middleboro Selectmen As Search Committee? said it all.
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Sorry, Mansfield!

Middleboro CEHIC Sept 25th

The Middleboro Citizens Environmental Health Impact Committee (CEHIC) will be meeting on


Thursday September 25th @ 7:00pm
in the Town Hall Auditorium.

There will be a discussion on the Rockland Industry site, the recent Technical Assistant Grant and open discussion.

The public is urged to attend and voice their concerns.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Economic Catastrophe

When the Presidential Candidate who doesn't remember how many homes he owns, again reiterated how strong our economy is (Progress), each day reports economic chaos.
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As Wall Street collapses, McCain declares that ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong.’
Speaking in Florida this morning — the very day that two of Wall Street’s major banking institutions collapsed — Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) declared he “still” believes “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
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Though McCain noted that “these are very, very difficult times,” he seemed oblivious to today’s evidence of the crumbling foundations of the economy, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping 300 points in the first 15 minutes of trading this morning. Yesterday, former Fed chief Alan Greenspan said this economy is the worst he has ever seen.
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Progress has presented those who advise Senator McCain on economic policy, among them is Phil Gramm:
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THE 'ECON BRAIN,' PHIL GRAMM: Former senator Phil Gramm is known as McCain's "Econ Brain." Recently, he has called America "a nation of whiners" who are in a "mental recession." While in the Senate, he was behind the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The former made legal "the mortgage swaps distancing the originator of the loan from the ultimate collector," while the latter "destroyed the Depression-era barrier to the merger of stockbrokers, banks and insurance companies." As The Nation wrote, "those two acts effectively ended significant regulation of the financial community." After leaving Congress, Gramm worked for the Swiss bank UBS. Politico reported that while at UBS, "Gramm lobbied Congress, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department about banking and mortgage issues in 2005 and 2006. During those years, the mortgage industry pressed Congress to roll back strong state rules that sought to stem the rise of predatory tactics used by lenders and brokers to place homeowners in high-cost mortgages." McCain has also voted against discouraging predatory lending practices.
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Charlie Rose has been offering round tables of financial experts worth watching.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Thinking About Buying Energy Star? Buy Carefully

Questions are being raised about the Energy Star ratings that call into question their significance and beg correction.
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Using the energy ratings requires caution and reading the fine print. A recent appliance purchase forced examination of the dollar amounts listed. It is noticeable that the amounts are calculated based on assorted KW hour costs, so annual energy consumption amounts were used.
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The Daily Green offered:
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Energy Star labels are one of the most well-respected and looked-for labels among green consumers. The government rating system, developed by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, identifies those models that use less energy than their counterparts, and provides useful information about how much electronics, kitchen appliances and other common products cost to keep electrified each year.
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Or, that's what we thought.
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Consumer Reports has identified two flaws in the Energy Star rating system that cast doubt on some of the 50 product categories labeled with the Energy Star symbol.
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Testing
The energy use estimates on some products, like refrigerators, aren't always based on tests using real-world conditions. Actual energy use may be as much as double, according to Consumer Reports testing. Further, some tests just haven't kept up with new technology used in products, the companies perform and report their own testing (as opposed to being subjected to independent third-party testing), and the bureaucracy of the Department of Energy slows down the process of improving testing.
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Standards
While only 25% of products in any given category should qualify as Energy Star, the government labels 60%, 70% or even more than 90% of products as energy efficiency leaders, suggesting that the standards need to be set higher to raise the bar.
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Thanks to Consumer's Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, for identifying these issues. Now, let's see the bedrock consumer efficiency labeling program improved.
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Update: The government has responded to the Consumer Reports analysis, saying that the increased market share of energy-efficient products should be seen as a success, not as a weakness of the program. Here's the EPA response, and you can find the magazine's response to it here.
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The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, meanwhile, basically agrees with Consumer Reports, but notes that Energy Star has generally proved an effective self-correcting program.

Why the secrecy?

If McCain got sick while in office, the leader of the free world would be Sarah Palin—someone with no foreign policy experience and a domestic agenda more extreme than George Bush's. Voters deserve to know how likely that might be.
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Regional Energy Roundtables

Attorney General Martha Coakley will convene a series of four Regional Energy Roundtables. The roundtables will include participation by a cross-section of individuals and organizations representing municipalities, community organizations, business organizations, and community leaders. The purpose of the roundtables is to enable these individuals and organizations to share ideas and discuss the financial, public safety and public health implications of rising energy costs, as well as opportunities and best practices to help consumers manage the upcoming heating season. It is important that municipalities plan now for this potential impending consumer and health crisis before thermometers dip to the freezing mark. Participants will also discuss ways in which municipalities are implementing short and long term strategies for cost reduction and increased energy efficiency. The Roundtables are scheduled as follows:

• Fitchburg Public Library, Wednesday, September 24, 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
• Plymouth Town Hall, Wednesday, October 1, 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

• Heritage State Park Visitors’ Center, Holyoke, Thursday, October 2, 8:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

• Old Town Hall, Salem, Friday, October 3, 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
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For more information about the Roundtables, including agendas, directions, and registration, please visit:
www.mass.gov/ago/events



***REMINDER: Tuesday, September 16 PRIMARY DAY ******

***REMINDER:
Tuesday, September 16
PRIMARY DAY ******

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Paid for by Big Oil and Dirty Energy






END BIG OIL'S ENERGY PLAN

With rising gas prices and America's growing dependence on oil, it is clear that too many politicians in Washington are paid for by big oil. We need to stop letting oil companies run our energy policy. To make America truly energy independent, we call on Congress to boost production of clean energy, end all tax breaks for oil companies, and resist the false promise of drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. We need an energy policy that isn't paid for by big oil.

Paid For By Big Oil

Too many Republicans in Washington are in the pocket of big oil. They've taken millions of dollars from oil companies like ExxonMobil. So instead of fighting for new jobs and investing in clean energy, these Members of Congress have supported $18 billion in tax breaks for oil companies.

Now they are back in Washington calling for more drilling - exactly what the oil companies would like. It's time to expose the politicians who refuse to stand up to big oil.

We need leaders to stop working for big oil and to start working for the American people.

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We can conserve our way out of 30-40% of our problem without drilling. It's time for sensible solutions that don't rely on sound bytes, but offer accurate information designed to educate.

I.O.U.S.A.

Warren Buffett on Energy

Warren Buffett




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Warren Buffett on Energy
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Note the Warren Buffett comment that the US used 25% of the world's oil and his comments on the Pickens' Plan.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

“Changed your light bulbs? Now let's change the laws."

The rest of the world is about to pass the US by in energy policy, environmental protection and alternatives. Some countries have already exceeded the US in Green Job Creation.
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Even Canada understands that they have been left behind.
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As Americans, should we do the same?
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Canadians use 60% more energy than Swedes.

Germany uses 20 times more wind than Canada. And created almost a quarter of a million green jobs.

China has more energy efficient vehicles standards than Canada or the US.









A new initiative to put climate change on the Canadian government's front burner was launched in Toronto, Wednesday. PowerUp Canada has been in the works for months and is led by Canadians for Climate Leadership. The group is made up of leaders in academia, science, business and the environment. They intend to pressure the federal government, of any stripe, to do much more to deal with climate change. The key players are Nova Scotia businessman John Roy and Executive Director Tzeporah Berman. The campaign seems to have struck a chord with Canadians. On the first day, powerupcanada.ca had so many hits that it crashed their Web site. Among those who support the initiative are four former prime ministers, Joe Clark, John Turner, Kim Campbell and Paul Martin. The theme of the launch was “Changed your light bulbs? Now let's change the laws."

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Salmonella Pet Food Recall

Because some of these products are sold locally, it seemed important to circulate the information. Products are listed on the company website.
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It's rather curious that the company issued the recall 6 weeks after it ceased manufacture.
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Mars Petcare US Announces Nationwide Voluntary Recall
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Franklin, Tennessee (September 12, 2008)—Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.
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Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems.
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The company stopped production at the Everson facility on July 29, 2008 when it was alerted of a possible link between dry pet food produced at the plant and two isolated cases of people infected with Salmonella Schwarzengrund.
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Even though no direct link between product produced at Everson and human or pet illness has been made, Mars Petcare US is taking precautionary action to protect pets and their owners by announcing a voluntary recall of all products produced at the Everson facility beginning February 18, 2008 until July 29, 2008 when we stopped production.

Friday, September 12, 2008

You Can't Blame the New Town Manager

You can't blame the new Town Manager because the Middleboro Board of Selectmen failed to explain the surrounding issues to him.
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During the BOS Meeting (Monday, September 8, 2008), the Town ownership and disposition of the Rock Village School on Highland St. was discussed.
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The sale of property by the Town of Middleboro, and specifically by the retired Town Manager, Jack Healey, has an inflammatory history that Town voters are unlikely to dismiss as quickly as the BOS. (Matt Carroll of the Boston Globe also wrote about some of the questionable dealings, but the articles are no longer in the Globe archives.)
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Jack Healey presided over poorly advertised Town property auctions himself on the pretext of 'Saving the Town the money of hiring an auctioneer.' Sorry, Jack, but not all of us were or are that stupid. Jack Healey
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Should someone be unfamiliar with auctions, and require an explanation: an auctioneer charges a 'Buyer's Premium,' which means the Town nets X dollars, the auctioneer receives a % of X dollars, above and beyond the bid price. (If you read some of the auction ads in a newspaper, you'll see a Buyer's Premium disclosed.)
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Simply put: Let's say the Buyer's Premium is 9%, you bid $100 for an item, the Buyer's Premium that goes directly to the auctioneer is $9. You pay $109.
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Those land parcels that were auctioned, even at the height of the real estate market, were sold far below the revenue they should have provided for the Town. Casino property for $14,000 an acre?
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And then there was the Perry Property. And Marsha, I spoke to you, personally about this. And we might discuss the school buildings that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. And how 'bout the Cherry St. property? Wasn't that the one where Town Counsel represented both the Town and the Buyers? Or could we toss in the Green School that is slowing rotting? The Washburn property?
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Since Middleboro wasn't on Mr. Cristello's radar when this transpired, he wouldn't have known. But most of the same Board of Selectmen stills sits there. They are the ones who remained silent as Town assets decayed or were given away without generating the revenue they should have. Taxpayers were shortchanged.
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And the taxpayers remember!
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And the Middleboro Board of Selectmen have apparently forgotten the 2007 ATM when voters unanimously REFUSED to vote the Rock Village School to the BOS to be sold. (There was another parcel, as well.) Voters figured out that they couldn't trust the BOS to make the wisest decisions.
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Victor Sylvia stood up at that ATM and spoke about the Rock Village School and that the land had been given to the Town to be used for education. Others made comments about the questionable decisions of the BOS.
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The Rock Village School became vacant because the church group that had occupied the building was delinquent in their rent, hadn't maintained the building, as was required in their lease and Town Counsel opined that occupancy by the church was illegal.
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In the intervening + 1 year, has anyone heard mention of RFPs (Request for Proposals)? Has there been any solicitation for ideas about using the property for community purposes?
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Instead the BOS is considering using the Rock Village School property for storage by the DPW to allow the Forest St. building, where the DPW currently has storage, to be used by veterans' groups. Or, possibly selling the Rock Village School property, in a depressed real estate market, which would allow for residential construction .
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At an earlier date, the BOS established a policy in which, land that could be used for residential construction would not be sold because real estate property costs the Town money in terms of services, specifically cost of education. Wasn't that the issue with the Cherry St. property?
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This one clearly bears watching because mostly the same short-sighted BOS is in place.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sitting Back and Watching .....

Sometimes, when events swirling around make no sense, it makes sense to sit back and watch and they'll make sense when the matter stops swirling.
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And sometimes, those events clearly seem to have pieces missing or pieces deliberately tossed into the mix that make even less sense.
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It all gets too confusing to untangle.
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Such is the case with the recent "Let's negotiate a state Compact" swirl.
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The media was preoccupied with the draft, the exclusion of the host community and the Guv's thanks, but no thanks response.
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And everyone was in a tizzy of the law, the pending Supreme Court Case, new IGRA regs, the reasons the mega casino will never come to pass, to a dizzying effect.
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Fellow bloggers, linked on the right of this site have blogged about the surrounding issues.
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One can only speculate that since indictments are known prior to the surrounding publicity and the indictment and pleading of Kevin Ring was published on Monday, September 8, 2008 (handed down September 5), there could be a connection.
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Anyone who has followed this pathetic soap opera of corruption, knew who was being investigated. And anyone who followed, knew Kevin Ring's phone was about to ring.
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Purely hypothetical telephone call from Scott Ferson to Shawn Hendricks:
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Scott: Shawn, Kevin Ring is about to be indicted and this MR person keeps raising the connection between Abramoff and you guys. And people are actually reading that stuff. We need to end the connection, deny everything. And we've decided that you need to distract the media by hand-delivering a letter to Deval asking to negotiate a Compact with your guys. I'll FAX a draft that will exclude Middleboro, give Adam the heads up to protest and raise a little cane with hurt feelings. Got it?
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Shawn: Got it.
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Scott: Now, Shawn, I'll send you what I want you to say to the media when they call, first about the letter to Deval, and then I'll tell you what you need to say when this Ring indictment comes down. Got it?
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Shawn: Got it.
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And so, when the story broke in SacramentoBee , Boston Herald, FindLaw, Washinton Post, Cape Cod Times and other outlets, the missing pieces fell into place.
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It wasn't about a Compact at all. It was about distracting from the corruption created by Abramoff that swirls around the Mashpee Wampanoag and swirls ever closer to the Tribe and its leadership.
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Where's the media coverage now as the corruption cloud moves closer? Good move, Scott!
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And maybe it was about the shunning of members who asked about Tribal finances because they smelled something rotten.
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The Indictment: 1 2
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