Upcoming Events

Just wanted to let people know about some upcoming events.

1. "Democrats of the 2nd Suffolk" Lt. Gov Forum
Mon, May 22nd, 6-8pm
Suffolk Univ Law School
150 Tremont St, Boston

Please join the 4 candidates for Lt. Gov at a forum sponsored by the Democrats of the 2nd Suffolk. The event will begin with a Meet & Greet from 6-6:30. Followed by a moderated discussion focusing on 3 topics chosen by area ward committees. For more info, contact Howard Leibowitz at (617) 263-3355 or at howardfordsc@aol.com.

2. Book Discussion on "Crashing the Gate"
Tues, May 23rd, 7pm
Middlesex Lounge,
315 Mass Ave, Cambridge

kos (from DailyKos) and Jerome Armstrong (from MyDD) have spent the last six years in the trenches, fighting the Bush Regime tooth and nail since they stole the election in 2000. Now kos and Jerome have written a book, "Crashing the Gate", about what the liberal movement needs to do to beat these clowns and start restoring some common sense in our government.

Join us for a great conversation with these two amazing bloggers!

Co-sponsored bt DFA Cambridge, DFA Boston, Boston Drinking Liberally, and Blue Mass Group. For more info visit www.crashingthegate.com....

3. Barak Obama Rally with Deval Patrick
Thurs, June 1st, 6pm
Hynes Convention Center, Boston

Sen Obama is coming to host at rally/fundraiser for Deval, one day before the state convention. Tickets are $50 for the Rally and $500 for the VIP reception. For more info, contact Lonsdale Koester at (617) 367-2006 x41 or at lkoester@devalpatrick.com.

4. Massachusetts Democratic State Convention
June 2nd & 3rd
DCU Center, Worcester

Endorsements for US Senate, Governor, Lt Gov, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor, and Treasurer will be voted on.

There will be a table at the convention, co-sponsored by DFA Boston, DFA Cambridge, CPPAX, Progressive Democrats of Cambridge, Progressive Democrats of America-Eastern Mass Chapter, and the Committee to Elect Jesse Gordon.

If you would like to volunteer to help man the table during the convention, please contact me at jmcgoldrick@mfs.com.

For those volunteers that are not delegates or alternates, you will need to contact the State Commmittee to find out about the creditionals needed to get into the DCU Center.

The Menendez Gas Tax Amendment: Bad Idea

The DSCC is idiotically pushing the Menendez gas tax amendment to suspend the federal gas tax for 60 days at a cost of $6 billion, which I believe outstrips our entire alternative energy and climate change research budget by billions of dollars. (On the plus side, it would be paid for by eliminating $6 billion in tax breaks for oil companies).

Considering that supplies of gasoline are limited by supply, not demand, basic economics tells us that any cut in prices due to a gas tax reduction will be balanced by an increase in the base price, thus saving consumers considerably less, and offering oil companies even more ungodly massive profits. Also, since the tax cut would be paid for by taxes on oil companies, they would raise gas prices to preserve profit margins (shareholders first!).

The DSCC is selling this as "tax relief". Where have we heard that before? That's right: George W. Bush.

As George Lakoff said:

The phrase "Tax relief" began coming out of the White House starting on the very day of Bush's inauguration. It got picked up by the newspapers as if it were a neutral term, which it is not. First, you have the frame for "relief." For there to be relief, there has to be an affliction, an afflicted party, somebody who administers the relief, and an act in which you are relieved of the affliction. The reliever is the hero, and anybody who tries to stop them is the bad guy intent on keeping the affliction going. So, add "tax" to "relief" and you get a metaphor that taxation is an affliction, and anybody against relieving this affliction is a villain.

"Tax relief" has even been picked up by the Democrats. I was asked by the Democratic Caucus in their tax meetings to talk to them, and I told them about the problems of using tax relief. The candidates were on the road. Soon after, Joe Lieberman still used the phrase tax relief in a press conference. You see the Democrats shooting themselves in the foot.

What could that $6 billion be spent on instead?

The Weatherization Assistance Program, which enables low and limited income residents to weatherize their homes, pays for itself by reducing winter heating bills by an average of 31 percent, or $274 per year. Its present funding is $322 million -- Bush's 2007 budget slashes it to $235 million, which would push 28,650 families out of the program.

Less than $250 million is now being spent on solar power, wind and biomass research combined.

The Federal Energy Management Program is funded at about $17 million a year and saves about a $1 billion a year! The 2007 Bush budget cuts the FEMP by $2 million.

The Climate Change Science Program gets about $1.9 billion in funding; the Bush budget for 2007 cuts $200 million.

(Care of the Union of Concerned Scientists.)

If you want to see what a serious, responsible, and helpful energy policy would look like -- check out Energize America or go to Yearly Kos's energy panel.

Adulatory WaPo article on BPS

Payzant is given a glowing review for his ten years of service in the Washington Post article "Boston's Success Could Be Lesson for D.C. Schools.

A good article, but it does fail to touch on any of the serious problems in BPS, like its truly troubling return to heavy segregation.

Wilkerson's Follies

It appears that Sen. Diane Wilkerson failed to submit enough valid signatures to get on the ballot for re-election, forcing her to rely on a sticker campaign.

At last week's Ward 4 Democratic Committee meeting, a number of members indicated their frustration with the senator, whose office is notoriously bad at returning calls and responding to constituent or legislative queries.

The most interesting part of the Globe's story:

Opposing Wilkerson is Republican newcomer Samiyah Diaz, a 28-year-old law student from Roxbury who filed enough signatures to have her name appear on the September GOP primary ballot. But now she may run as both a Republican and a write-in Democratic candidate.

''This means the Democratic primary is blown wide open: Anyone can run as a Democrat," said Daniel Winslow, a former judge and onetime governor's legal counsel who is advising Diaz.

More on Samiyah Diaz here.