At least that's what I think ... about several items in the news

04/20/2015   Blog

Spring has sprung, tepidly at first, but the warmth is sure to follow.

At least that's what I think.

The backtracking by Jeb Bush of his initial support for the original language in the recent idiotic anti-gay Indiana law shows that while he's willing to run as far to the right as he needs to in order to win the Republican nomination, he will make a mad dash back to the center if he makes it to the final.

At least that's what I think.

Talking about Indiana, not one of the many potential Republican candidates for president took the opportunity to publicly criticize the original language in the bill until after Gov.

Mike Pence and the right-wing Indiana legislature backed down, which was a huge lost opportunity for one of them.

At least that's what I think.

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Three tales worth telling

04/06/2015   Blog

This is a column regarding three seemingly disparate stories that are nonetheless linked by the broad mosaic of how we treat those different than ourselves.

The first is a tale of personal courage in the face of ignorance circa 1965 that has resulted in an uplifting new book fully 50 years after the incident that spawned it.

The second is a tale from earlier this year regarding political dirty tricks, which, apparently, has backfired on its sleazy perpetrators.

Finally, the third tale is a story of political arrogance in 2015, one that has produced a backlash that may finally prove how far we have come as a truly tolerant nation that demands fairness for all our citizens.

Tale No. 1 we'll call "personal courage."

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Matty at the Bat

04/01/2015   Blog

Ah, wrong about the March weather!

Sorry!!

This months prediction, I think, will prove more accurate.

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BPR: Politics, Pope Watch, and Paula Deen

03/31/2015   In The News

Michael Goldman and Senator Bob Hedlund give us their take on Boston 2024, as well as the stakes for Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton. [21:35]

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Can someone please explain this to me?

03/23/2015   Blog

How did $5 million in CIA money get in the hands of the terrorist group al Qaeda?

Believe it or not, somehow it did!

How can Benghazi House Committee Chair Trey Gowdy and a wannabe presidential candidate like Jeb Bush publically criticize Hillary Clinton for her email screw up when they themselves have email snafus in their own past history?

If you can catch a quick jet to Las Vegas, lay all your free cash on reporters finding yet other members of both political parties with substantial email issues of their own.

How could 47 members of the Republican Senate do something as stupid as to write a letter to our enemies in Iran undermining both the president as well as the State Department?

My quick answer? Burning hate for the sitting chief executive.

How can anyone in America, let alone members of the U.S. House and Senate, proudly proclaim that they don't text or use email?

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Thoughts while praying for two days in a row of 40 degrees

03/09/2015   Blog

Keep repeating the mantra:

"I won't let the winter break me"!

"I won't let the winter break me"!

Feel better? Me too!

Now on to more important stuff!

My review of the CPAC clown show masquerading each year as a serious political gathering:

Everyone who attends ought to be forced to wear a T-shirt bearing one of Ronald Reagan's most famous (and honest) quotes -

"Facts are stupid things".

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Matty at the Bat

03/01/2015   Blog

So we had more snow than we ever had before in the city's history last month, and that record precipitation was coupled with the one of the coldest February's on record.

We also had a Superbowl victory and a Superbowl parade - a much needed and deserved respite from the insanity of the New England weather.

So call me crazy for wondering why anyone would not expect the streets and sidewalks of Boston to still not to be in perfect shape!

Come on people.

Spring training has begun and I have a strong feeling March is going to be more like early May weather-wise than early January.

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A case for high-school students taking citizenship tests

02/17/2015   In The News

So you want to become a United States citizen and you come from a foreign land?

One of the prices you have to pay is you have to pass a citizenship test.

So you want to be a graduate of a Massachusetts high school?

One of the prices you should have to pay is to pass the same citizenship test.

Why, you ask?

Because you can't truly be ready to participate in the political process if you can't pass a basic exam on the history of our government and how it operates.

Naturalized citizens are required to do it. So should citizens lucky enough to have been born here.

A recent random test of 15 junior and seniors at a state university, which I've chosen not to name, reveals all. All 15 are US citizens. All graduated from public high schools in the Bay State. All are students in good standing with the university on the way to graduation.

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Here's 17 reasons Dems are up for '16

02/09/2015   In The News

There are 17 good reasons why Democrates are looking forward to 2016.

Reason 1: John Bolton

Former United Nations Ambassador Bolton wasn't included in the Iowa poll of potential Republican candidates released last week by the Des Moines Register, but that hasn't stopped some far-right crazies from touting a guy who recently criticized Fox News for "backing down" after it was forced to acknowledge its ludicrous claim that France and England both have no-go zones, where only Muslims are allowed to enter was fraudulent.

Reason 2: Jeb Bush

His father couldn't remember dozens of meetings on Iran Contra; his brother couldn't remember why he ducked out of the last year of his National Guard obligation; and he couldn't remember bullying younger and smaller kids while in prep school.

The tradition continues.

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Boston’s public affairs firms: low profiles, big influence

02/04/2015   In The News

In a city where politics is a blood sport, shaping a candidate’s public persona can be big business. Candidates spent hundreds of thousands of dollars last year on the guys — and they’re almost always guys — who worked behind the scenes as strategists, juggling media calls and developing advertisements and campaign themes.

The ground has shifted yet again for Boston’s public affairs firms, with a wave of newcomers on Beacon Hill and in Washington. The time between election cycles is when strategists build their roster of private-sector clients. Political races can pay off months after an election: A surprising, come-from-behind win creates positive exposure and gets people talking. If the victor is a high-profile position such as governor or attorney general, corporate clients come knocking, hoping to buy a direct line to the new bosses or at least an understanding of how they think.

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