The Political Trash

The Therapy of Friendship

2011-10-21T13:00:00.001-04:00

I was reminded today by a friend that I am better than all the lovers of all things landfill and chemicals. So, I've removed my previous post. Not because I don't still believe those things, but because there are more productive ways to get rid of this cancer. You can't fight cancer with cancer. Although, it would be an epic battle.

I've performed an exorcism and now I feel better. Be gone evil spirits. Happy Halloween!!

Southbridge Town Council and Town Manger Shut Cable Access Down...we turn Live Streaming on!

2011-10-18T12:13:00.000-04:00

These citizens are smarter than the average Town Councilor!

Check the Sidebar to View the Stream Live on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 at 7pm.

NPR and United Southbridge on the same side of the Chloramine Issue!

2011-09-26T15:07:00.000-04:00

If NPR is looking into this, you know we're on the right side. Chloramine: Disinfecting substitute in water may have risks!

United Southbridge Protects Rights of Town's People!

2011-09-23T20:02:00.002-04:00

They almost took our freedom to speak on any issue at any meeting for a reasonable amount of time. Rights are not ripped away; they are chipped away one tiny bit at a time. Rights are never negotiable!

United Southbridge Blog - Rights Protected!

Little Moses' Rescue

2011-09-12T12:55:00.000-04:00

Saved hours before being killed in a North Carolina gas chamber, Moses is now on a journey across the world to a loving home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY0qhj8MiM8

Chloramines: Order to Suspend by Southbridge Board of Health!

2011-08-20T11:42:00.001-04:00

A group of concerned citizens and a Board of Health that (for now) is listening, voiced their concerns on the implementation of chloramine -- a toxic and corrosive disinfectant for tap water -- into the Southbridge municipal water system. At question is the fact that lead can leach from plumbing due to chloramine's corrosive nature.

Because of this potential hazard the Board of Health voted on an emergency measure to halt the implementation until a thorough study has been done on the housing stock that may be impacted, better notification could be done for the residents, and possibly adopt some of the EPA recommendations on such a move. None of the recommendations by the EPA have been adopted thus far.

For more read see Greater Southbridge Blog.

As of yet, no word from the Town Manager and the Southbridge Water Department as to whether they are going to honor the order.

United Southbridge Meeting - August 17, 7pm

2011-08-16T16:05:00.000-04:00

Don't forget we have a meeting tomorrow for all those that want to see positive change from our dysfunctional town government and un-elected Mayor.

At:
7pm
111 Main Street
Southbridge, MA

If you wish to join the United Southbridge mailing list, please email info@unitedsouthbridge.org

Coming this week! A Free Speech Blog for the Town Of Southbridge!

2011-08-16T15:56:00.002-04:00

The Virtual Public Town Square will be back! A place where all will be able to say their piece, as well as say your peace. All are welcomed and all should contribute. Only when we ALL speak up will we be heard.

Our rules will be simple: Speak with respect to others; state facts and truth, cite when available; and stick to the issues that we all care about.

If you have any thoughts on its format and initial content, please email me at racielf@gmail.com.

:-) You can also speak your mind here: http://www.greatersouthbridge.org/

Night of the Jackals

2011-08-09T14:27:00.005-04:00

It took less than 48 hours. Like a starving little pigeon I ate up the little shreds of insincere bread crumbs that were tossed my way this past Saturday at the mildly torturous, pathetically amusing, inconsequential gas-fest that was the off-site Town Council Meeting. I was starving for a bit of local democracy. It’s in my nature to first trust, you see. My mom taught me well. Although, like I said, my cynical side seems to be more and more prominent these days. At least it’s only cynical to a small number of despots that have devolved into a pack of jackals from the once respected role of Town Councilor. The rest of humanity gives me hope.

My fellow blogger Ken O’Brien pulled me aside (virtually) and gave me a piece of advice on what to expect. I took it but held on to it, instead giving the benefit of the doubt to said jackals. Note to self…. ALWAYS listen to Ken O’Brien!

As of yesterday’s Southbridge Town Council meeting our town’s regime is officially Totalitarian. They’ve suspended our Charter and are making up the rules as they go. Of course, the rules must suit their lord and master, Casella. Who, I’ve heard, allegedly has a bigger office in Town Hall than the Town Manager.

They also voted a member to the Board of Health, the agency that is supposed to protect us, a citizen who proudly proclaimed on his cover letter to the Town Manager that he has "extensive experience in synthesizing and analyzing a variety of chemicals including PCB's, Dioxins, pesticides, herbicides and EXPLOSIVES (emphasis mine)." He's made money making the same things that he's suppose to protect us from now. You can't make this sh*t up! Up next is another chemist to be appointed to the board. This time with the added bonus of aligning himself with a political party that would prefer that pesky regulatory agencies just disappear. Cholera anyone?

It’s funny, though, how this violent move against us -- we the people -- will actually help in their demise. The enemy has become emboldened and in their brazen acts these past several weeks, and those that will surely follow, they’ll help raise the numbers against them. The left, the right, and the middle; gay, straight, religious, conservative, liberal, young, old and bold are joining together in this small New England town like never before.

Last night was tough but we never thought we’d win blocking their move to violate the Town Charter – it’s been several years in the making. Although we were defeated last night, we are bigger and stronger this morning. It’s a good day!

Join us! UNITED SOUTHBRIDGE.ORG. Our full website will be up soon. Or, email us at info@unitedsouthbridge.org and we’ll add you to our cause...your cause. We meet on Wednesday, August 17^th at 7pm. Location TBD.

Extraordinary Rendition: The Case of the Town Taken on the Road

2011-08-07T01:57:00.014-04:00

I won’t try to decipher intent with what happened today. My cynical side would go insane with that, so I’ll (try) to stick to my observations and obviously some commentary.

The out of town Town Meeting that took place today felt like it had 2 objectives: 1.) to make the council more involved and perhaps accountable in moving the town forward; and 2.) to assert much more authority towards the governed than ever before. I applaud the former – some good discussion came from it. The latter was, essentially, a testing of the waters on a “management style” that is a balancing act between a chauvinistic view towards us (the citizens), mixed with some genuine care, and even pity. Perhaps thrown in was a lesson of discipline for the “rabble-rousers”. Perhaps it was just two knuckle-heads who thought up this stuff while sipping long island iced teas during a Southbridge Taxpayer funded conference. Perhaps there was just no forethought, or awareness of the ramifications from this type of meeting structure. I'll stick with the last one.

Anyway, overall their hearts seemed to be in the right place, but their execution gets a “D-“. It was part fiasco, part motivational speech. If we were a small company needing to get out of our sales slump by selling more printer toner, this might have worked. But we are a democracy in a small New England Town that needs big ideas to get us out of a depression. If you stick with the toner seller metaphor, we’re more like shareholders, than employees. They think we’re the employees. In ten months they’ll realize we were the shareholders.

Like employees who can’t go into the board room during strategy meetings, citizens weren’t allowed to speak. By barring speech, Councilor Nikolla effectively suspended the Town of Southbridge Charter while in Sturbridge; a type of “extraordinary rendition”, if you will. Other than the overly ambitious air conditioner, no one was really tortured. Disrespected, yes. Tortured, no. Having ignored this clear reading of the Charter, it certainly didn’t seem that Councilor Nikolla would have acted without advice of legal counsel. I think she’s a bit smarter than that. I wonder how much this “opinion” cost us. “Just go over town lines and only state law applies”, I imagine was opined. It’s the Bush-era logic we’re getting used to in Southbridge. They carefully skirted the state’s open meeting law except for that pesky locked door. Locked doors are illegal in public meetings. To be fair it, was glass, so one could easily be seen at the door, should they want to come in. Ironically, Councilor Nikolla didn’t realize that by suspending the Southbridge Town Charter she and the council then had no legal authority over us. They get their power, or should I say, we delegate them our power, through the Charter. At that point, we were all just a bunch of tourists in a bank in Sturbridge sucking down free coffee and donuts. Free for us, anyway. Much to the ire of the Chair and Vice-chair (caught on video). Lucky for her, the “rabble-rousers” are a respectable bunch of civic minded citizens and not a mob. We let her play her game of “I’m the boss” and only ate a few donuts. It was amusing.

The chair and vice chair repeatedly cited the “conference” as somehow giving them authority to do this in the manner they did. Unfortunately, what these two ladies failed to do was apply the knowledge they obtained at this municipal management conference to their unique circumstances. It’s kind of what you’re supposed to do when you go to conferences. You learn through others’ experiences then bring it back and see how it fits into your job. What they did was try to mimic someone else’s experience; a square peg in a round hole. The round hole was our Charter that says that we will always have the right to be heard and that the council shall never abridge that. Someone else’s square charter was applied to our round one. A conference, it seems, trumped our Charter, but it’s not surprising. So have 3 lawyers, an out-of- town- manager, a large waste management firm, and our own bylaws have trumped our Charter.

On the subject of bylaws…..

I learned that this group, again with their chauvinistic perspective, wants to focus on legislating our bad behavior through by-laws with the bonus of a revenue boost. I don't think this is what they meant by "economic development". I now see why they seem to think that bylaws trump the Charter. They really believe this. It’s their tool of choice; no vote from the people needed. Well, at least not more than five people. While I feel that this may have some good outcomes, such as not stepping in dog poop when I walk my own dogs, in the hands of a legislative body that doesn’t understand how to balance a citizen’s rights with the rights of the council and has a motive to use them as a revenue booster, this frightens the hell out of me. If we all thought that the heavy handed treatment of an 80 year old who didn’t shovel his sidewalk this past winter was bad, wait until you see what this group has in store. Luckily, none of them will last long enough to see the construction of a whipping post at the Town Common.

I also learned that they want us to respect them and our community. But they’ll demand respect by punitive bylaws. This, too, will fail, if at the head of government they repeatedly break the supreme law of Southbridge (our Charter). How do you respect someone who tells you not to spill your milk, while they push a cow over the Grand Canyon?

One of the objectives was, I believe, to bring the “team” together to iron out some goals. Again, good on intent, flat on its execution. First, if “team” was the starting point, the organizers would have accommodated everyone on said “team”. They didn’t. Like a kick-ball team of bullies on the playground, they left the physically challenged (but seemingly smarter) member out. “Team” concept failure number 1 (play annoying buzz sound affect here). Second, the “team” concept requires that you recognize who should be a part of the team. This team of bullies decided that the majority of players – the people of the town that gave them the ball to play with -- should be left out. On top of that they took our ball somewhere else to play. “Team” concept failure number 2 (play annoying buzz sound affect here). Many of us couldn’t make it out of town. Many of us, feeling rejected, didn’t feel like going to the game where we weren’t wanted. Many of us simply don’t like bullies and prefer to play at home. Some of us, like me, can handle bullies. Deep down inside, they’re just terrified little children with esteem issues.

Councilor McDonald did the right thing by walking out. We should be proud. For a councilor to participate in a meeting that, notwithstanding its few good intensions, purposely excluded the thoughts of the governed, shows contempt at its worst and mere ignorance of our importance at its best. Today, I gained a little bit more respect for some councilors, and lost a little bit more for others.

Councilor Vandal showed dignity by not even giving them the time of day and enjoyed a Saturday morning at home. A time that would have been physically demanding on his body, but bullies don’t care about that kind of stuff. He gets bonus points from me.

A citizen left in “disgust” half way through. When she did, she spoke for many; many whose local government has forgotten them and as such has gone terribly wrong. She later “apologized” on Ken O’Brien’s Blog for storming out, but she has no need to. She spoke up. That is at the heart of democracy. When you aren’t being heard, you yell.

Another citizen who witnessed a little over an hour, then left, observed something different. He also later commented. The comment made a keen observation and read with an appreciation for the corporate approach to management. What I think he also missed was that we aren’t employees, we’re shareholders. We don’t need to push toner cartridges. But I can definitely appreciate his out of context view. . The councilors that were left were well-behaved, positive in their input, and compliant towards the chair. The folks in the room were also very quiet, with the exception of the previous citizen's understandable outburst (it must have seemed out of proportion to him). Technically, we were gagged, but that’s beside the point. I can see his view.

One citizen - a young and smart man representing the real future of our town -- left because he had to tend to family issues. Too bad. Had he been allowed to speak, the councilors would have learned that many of his ideas about becoming more business-friendly and engaging the community are creative and forward-thinking.

And now for the good, the bad, and the not-so-attractive…

The Bullies seem to play well with each other. They will move as a team without the other players. We’ll need to watch and plan on the sidelines because they have our ball. For now.

I’ve learned that some councilors have forward thinking ideas, while others are regressive. Councilor Nikolla had a few good ideas (along with some very bad ones), but the devil's in the details and if this meeting's details are any indication, those good ideas may be corrupted. Other councilors are stuck in the 20^th century in a romanticized view of an industrialized America that doesn’t exist and will never exist again. Economic development means factories to these people. In a capitalist world where you can produce a watch for 10 cents in China, why would a company pay someone 8 bucks an hour to do it in Southbridge? It’s the June Cleaver, American Optical America that many of us were never a part of (nor would want to be). Some think MORE this way than I had thought. Luckily, I also learned that some councilors think LESS this way than I had at first thought. Namely, Councilor Nikolla, keeping in mind that "less" is relative.

People were allowed to speak after all. A 180 degree turn in tone and approach surprisingly came at the 11^th hour. 11:30 AM, to be exact (meeting was scheduled to end at noon). Even more surprising, it was presented by Ms. Clemence. If only she could learn to be more fake. Diplomacy is truly a talent. She doesn’t have this talent. It was presented as a generous gift, with the approval of the board of directors, of course. Any objections were sure to leave us out in the employees' lounge. Our right to speak given back to us on a cheap caulking tool with the words engraved, “Thanks. After 25 years of service, you may now speak.” I suspect during the break some legal advice was given to our town representatives (there’s that cynical side creeping in). Still, I appreciate the move and she still gets the credit. Unfortunately, it was too late for those that left and were still denied their rights. In any case, what followed was what should have happened from the beginning. The sharing of ideas and input from the citizens on what the councilors had spoken about. All 4, myself included, of those remaining had something to add -- one hundred percent citizen participation! Imagine what a different meeting this would have been with an open dialog and a reached out hand to the entire population. The collective conscience always produces the best solutions. We might have even found the answer to Southbridge’s depression. Instead, we got a few promising nuggets, but they might be buried underneath the same ol' industrial-landfill- golden egg. And finally, I learned that Councilor Nikolla can be reasonable. I think her intension are always well meaning. We just disagree on her approach; her hard, disrespectful approach. I’d like to go to bed tonight thinking that the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. She seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say. I hope she's just not a better faker than Ms. Clemence. I may think differently on Monday when they try to butcher the Charter again by adding 2 members to the Board of Health.

Well, enough about what I thought. You be the judge when we post the video in the next day, or so.

UPDATE: I posted the above at 2am. Intent was not where I wanted to go. I went to bed, got some much-needed sleep, and woke up FURIOUS!

Today, I'll speak of intent. Misunderstanding my ass! In my sleepy state I had forgotten that this was just another incident in their record of abuse. For it to be a misunderstanding it would have to have been the first few times. But this is now clearly their modus operandi. The meeting was a move to silence us; to bolt the door on us. It worked against some, violating their rights. The fact that they tried to recover (or cover their asses) at the end doesn't excuse what the intent was. Despite the fact that some good came at the end, doesn't excuse that they felt they could abuse their position. It's amazing what clarity a good night's sleep can do.

As always, great perspective from Ken O'Brien

2011-07-28T20:04:00.002-04:00

(Ken O'Brien - Will Cart-Man Strike Back?)

My comment: To make such a blatant undemocratic move will only serve to galvanize the community. One only needs a common enemy to unite an army. Mr. Clark strikes me, if anything, as an astute man, and has assessed the situation well. He fully understands that this fight he won't win and could spell his demise. Any councilor supporting such an undemocratic move would also be the target of the majority of this town's citizenry -- especially an energized and awakened one. But the less astute leadership, who apparently can't even tell the difference between 5 minutes and 4 minutes, may push him to this end. I would predict the other councilors would distance themselves from this cabal pretty quickly should they make this bad move. Does he not realize that Ms. Marcucci was at the forefront of firing a Town Manager she felt had usurped too much power?

Baby Democracy is Born in Southbridge, MA!

2011-07-28T14:54:00.003-04:00

A small, albeit growing, group of individuals from diverse backgrounds decided to ban together.

Despite knowing that an overwhelming majority of citizens in our town of Southbridge, Massachusetts have the same concerns and issues – a local government that is contemptuous towards the citizens and panders to a few; a growing crime and drug problem, despite a bloated police budget; failing schools; growing concerns for our health and well-being; an unsustainable budget; and a town manager that is amassing power as if it’s going out of style (to name a few) – our local government seems to be oblivious of those issues and our voices. Separately, we are lone wolves to be hunted down one by one; together, we are the voice of the town.

This group took a chance to speak up as one united front and United Southbridge was born.

We are mere infants as far as groups go, but we’ve already experienced our first steps.

We’ve taken baby steps right from our first meeting where we targeted the failed chair of the Board of Health for his disregard for our health (he “retired” soon after). To our second meeting where we decided the quarter million dollar “Not-So-Smart” Cart needed to be defeated.

We spoke our first words at this past Town Council Meeting when United Southbridge, along with several other brave citizens that joined our call, defeated the “Not-So-Smart” Cart 7 to 1. Most of those votes were clearly for the cart at the start of the meeting, but couldn’t deny the right thing to do at the end.

The group managed to get the word out! Information was key since it’s been tightly controlled in town for years now. We scrambled to make fliers for mass distribution in the newspaper. Ads in the paper were also made. If the local papers ignore us, we’ll pay for them to pay attention to us. The plan was so effective that several council members and the Town Manager pulled out all their tricks to silence us. They buried the most costly ($240,000) agenda item at the end of a 27 item agenda (almost 4 hours by the time we were done). The councilors opposing us were also well-rehearsed playing the role of good-cop/bad-cop, all the while asking leading questions and referencing our documentation. I found it humorous that they referred to it as "paraphernalia". I wonder if Thomas Paine’s work was also referred to in this pejorative manner by his detractors? I hope so. They tried to strip the citizen’s of their right to speak by cutting us off before the time allotted. They also attempted to simply end citizen input all together, which our brave Councilor Conrad Vandal did not hesitate to stop. We stood strong, persistent, and respectfully stuck to the facts. In the end, they could not deny the fact that the people whom they represent would hold them accountable for a failed decision that went against our wishes.

So, that’s the last I’ll say about this meeting. We now must learn to run and sing.

Southbridge residents, please join us! Let your voice finally be heard. All are welcomed!

United Southbridge meets at:

7:00 PM

Wednesday, August 3^rd

The Arts Center

111 Main Street, Southbridge

Building Momentum!

2011-07-20T01:59:00.000-04:00

The third meeting of United Southbridge -- our new name -- comes very quickly! Meeting at the Arts Center on July 20th at 7:00pm.

We have a urgent action item to review, as well as hone our platform statements. Get people there and get people to the Town Council meeting on July 25th!

Location:
Arts Center
111 Main Street
Southbridge

Please invite anyone you think would fit this group.

The Symbiosis of Drug Trafficking

2011-07-19T14:00:00.010-04:00

–noun, plural.

1. Biology .

a. the living together of two dissimilar organisms, as in mutualism, commensalism, amensalism, or parasitism.

Money Spent this year on the War on Drugs:

The symbiotic relationships between two organisms can take on several forms. I'll use the term organism -- a form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes -- loosely, but accurately, to describe nations. Let's examine the relationships between the U.S. and Mexico; two distinct organisms with many of the same problems, as they relate to the so-called "War on Drugs".

For the record, I abhor any war. I also abhor what the illegal drug trade has wrought on entire nations as well as individual lives -- murder, violence, epidemic addiction. But let's be clear, it's the fact that it's illegal and carries huge profits for criminals (and corporate CEOs) that is the cause of most of the violence . We learned this almost 80 years ago with Prohibition. An attempt to make alcohol illegal brought severe consequences to our society. A reversal of that policy immediately quelled the violence and crime. The liquor industry's product is a drug. Yet, you don't see the level of violence to sell and distribute and government resources going into combating it while it's legal. I'm not saying legal drugs in a society don't come with a price. Take alcohol again. The same issues are there -- addiction, crime, drunk driving, violence. There's a cost to any drug. However, as long as they are legal, their negative and destructive impact on society never reach the level of a highly profitable, tax-free, underground industry that we're seeing with the illegal drug trade.  But I digress.

In the news you often see the war on drugs with Mexico from a Parasitic Symbiotic view. The U.S. is portrayed as the victim of all this uncontrolled Mexican crime. Essentially, our neighbor to the south is portrayed as a failed state that can't control its drug manufacturing and smuggling. They keep putting drugs on our land and as much as we try we are the victims. Much of that hatred is transferred (intentionally by the right) to Mexican residents in the U.S. and fuels the anti-immigration call. BUT THIS IS A FALLACY. Mexico only controls up to the border. From that point, drugs have no problem being moved (on U.S. soil) as far as the Canadian border and smuggled in to every inch of U.S. soil. Even within its own jails, the U.S. has failed to prevent the flow of drugs. So why is there no accountability there? Why are we putting the entire blame on Mexico? Why are we the victims of Mexico when we can't seem to control them here?

The truth is that we actually are, and have always been, in a Mutualistic Symbiotic relationship with Mexico when it comes to drugs. They are not parasites; they are partners. Within this relationship, both parties benefit and both parties cooperate. While the U.S. has acted as if we're victims, we've been enabling and easing the drug trade. In fact, we've been arming the drug traffickers the whole time. (Hear complete report here: U.S. Encouraged Gun Sales to Drug Cartels, 70% of Seized Mexico Guns Are from U.S.) Our guns are smuggled into Mexico just as much as their drugs are smuggled into ours. To make matters worse, the U.S. government has been actively allowing the gun trade to continue all the while knowing that in order for the drug lords to control and terrorize the Mexican people they need a constant supply of guns.

So, what's in it for us? As always, just follow the money. The U.S. spends billions annually to fight this made up war. In 2010 alone we spent 15 billion while at the same time undermining our own efforts. 500 dollars per second, to put it more clearly. It's a boom industry subsidized by a constant flow of government cash. Your dollars. Since Nixon declared this war a massive infrastructure has been built up to "fight" it. Businesses, contractors, consultants, gun manufacturers all make money directly from this "war". It's really a flourishing business sector at this point.   Capitalism requires wars, even made up ones, to refresh the capitalist system, but that's a whole other story. As long as this war that will never end rages the business model is successful, profits rise, government money flows in, and politicians have an enemy to rail against in their campaigns.
Making drugs legal, taxed, and controlled would end this industry and end the violence. Just as in Prohibition, it ends, literally, overnight.   Resources can then be moved to handle the social issues that come with drug use -- a much more effective, economical and productive approach to dealing with the problem.

Now that the issue of allowing the arming of drug lords by U.S. officials has come to light, I hope the President pursues this to the end. Even if he's implicated. My guess is this policy has been in place since Nixon's kick-off of the war with each subsequent President looking the other way.

Dear Gloaters, here's some perspective....

2011-07-13T13:32:00.005-04:00

Now that the election is over and our new town leadership is in place I wanted to follow up on a comment that was posted with devilish delight with regard to my thoughts on the outcome.

Anonymous said:

Well Mr Raciel what do you say now....Well one thing for sure you can still take your little camera along with Marketti, and Sottile and make some videos. Only things this time you will be recording a real council in action getting things done.

I say, "Great; more material for my blog!” As for the camera, it's a High Def Digital with a 160 GB of flash memory. I will be able to record hours and hours of every detailed contorted twists of the face that the Chairperson Nikolla and Vice Chair Clemence are known for; every verbal tort flung at the masses (or "pigs" as we're referred to); every grimace of disapproval; and every disrespectful roll of the eyes in contempt towards the citizens of this town. Yes, I look forward to this year!

They say sunshine - or in this case digital light -- is the best disinfectant.

To put things into perspective to those who are acting like the new leadership have a mandate from heaven to carry out their policies: Our new chairperson won by 13 votes in the election. Let me repeat. 13. This is hardly a mandate and in a town with a disenfranchised latino population who, despite making up almost 30%, are not represented in our town's government at all. That, coupled with a progressive voting base that is completely disillusioned given the coordinated tactics of public humiliation that were railed against her opponents (see O'Zone's review: Liquorboarding the Lazos) , made the outcome quite predictable.

I congratulate Langevin and Marcucci for returning to the council. Clearly they brought something to the table that the people responded to. I’ll remind everyone that in their previous tenure they both voted against the landfill expansion. Something the new majority should understand may have been a reason for the new councilor's success. I hope that on their hiatus they both reflected on the things they accomplished, or failed at, and learned from them. By definition, that's experience. That’s hard to do when you are in the middle of conflict and dysfunction. I wish them success and luck and urge them to bring a reasonable tone to the council.

Nikolla, cleverly enough, associated herself with these strong contenders somehow creating a virtual ticket that never existed and rode in on their coat tails. Even so, she only squeezed out 13 additional votes. She needs to be humbled by this and run the council with reason, fairness, and respect. Things she is capable of but apparently often has difficulty with. The Vice Chair, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be able to control herself. Decorum is not in her vocabulary. Even in social settings. In this case, I hope Nikolla health and that she is able to attend every….every…..every meeting.

How this year goes remains to be seen but my camera will “see” and document it all. Hopefully, some disinfection will come from it.

It's time for Action!

2011-07-07T17:02:00.000-04:00

Second organizational meeting of the local activist group is scheduled for Friday, July 15th from 7pm - 10pm. We have secured the local Arts Center again for our second meeting. Lots to discuss and plan. Now that we have a new Town Council, we know who and what to address.

We'll focus on deciding on our top issues that we all agree on as our platform. We're a very diverse groups. Many of us disagree on many things but there are issues we all managed to agree on. That's the place we'll work from and gain our power.
Our primary goal is still to join the forces of the various groups in town to affect change in town for the positive.

Location:
Arts Center
111 Main Street
Southbridge

Please invite anyone you think would fit this group.

Religious Bigotry...24 Hour News Style

2011-07-06T12:37:00.007-04:00

A quick CNN update just came through on my Blackberry. Most people in America suffering from Post Traumatic Syndrome due to 9/11 (arguably a majority of the population) will probably see nothing wrong with this. It fits nicely in their reality of who the bad guys are. In fact, they may actually feel proud that the most severe sentence will be sought for a crime that isn't even related to 9/11. But, hey, "they're all the same Boogie men; they all hate America; they're all Muslim". Right?

From CNN News Wire -- "A U.S. Army General Wednesday approved a possible death penalty in the future military trial of Major Nidal Hasan, the American Muslim accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan is charged with those homicides and the wounding of 32 others in a lone-gunman shooting spree on November 5, 2009. "

This was a horrible crime. There should be a just punishment for it. But here's what's wrong: Replace the word "Muslim" with any other religion. Now be horrified. If this read "the American Jew accused".... or, "the American Catholic accused of....", or, god-forbid, "the American Christian accused of...." we would all have gasped. But in this PTS Post 9/11 America there's no outrage. In fact, our own Congress is gearing up for more "Muslim Menace" hearings, further feeding this terrible cycle of Xenophobia.

What we have here is an alleged American Psycho with extremist beliefs and nothing more. We should treat it as such and not keep feeding this cycle of hatred and bigotry towards Muslims that has been institutionalized in this country; that has been integrated into the business plans of every American media corporation. If we don't, then the terrorist really did win.

UPDATE: Another psychotic fundamentalist, this time of the Christian persuasion, struck terror. My point still stands that it's wrong to portray this lunatic as representing the religion he claims. But, as expected, see (Daily Show) how the right wing conservative media have no concept of self examination/self reflection. It's as if there is some actual psychosis that they're all affected by that makes them not realize that their hateful and hypocritical rhetoric is recorded on tape.

A Step Forward - A Very, Very Small Step

2011-06-21T12:43:00.006-04:00

Last night I was to speak at the Town Council meeting during citizens' forum. My purpose: To lay out a complete and truthful argument against the reappointment of the Chairman of the Board of Health, Dr. Thomas O'Leary. To enumerate how he has undermined the effectiveness of the Board of Health, the group charged with protecting the health and safety of the town; to list how he has, in concert with the Board of Health's own attorney, attempted to subvert the will of the Board; and to prove how he has silenced the voices of citizens, while giving full stage privileges to the operators of the toxin filled dump. I felt prepared and confident that my argument was strong. Mr. O'Leary was there so I thought this would have more of an affect and impact.

But something happened along the way.

I noticed Mr. O'Leary was also planning on speaking, but was allowing other citizens to speak before him. Something was up. I surmised that he wanted to ensure he had the last word of the night. Whatever he was going to say would be controversial; surely it would need a rebuttal. I decided to wait until he went to then follow and counter what ever it was. We played a game of chicken for a several minutes as each citizen approached the podium. I won the game as Mr. O'Leary finally stood to speak.

What followed was a victory for the rising movement in town of accountability and transparency unexpectedly handed to us by one of the targets. He announced that he was not seeking another term once his ends at the end of the month. After a few cheers of happiness from the audience, he left the building. I admit I was one of those cheering. I know it's disrespectful, but I couldn't control myself. I really couldn't; it was completely involuntary. The thought that the Board would finally function in a democratic way once out of his dictatorial regime seemed too promising. Just like that, everything was all better.

I decided there was no need to speak. To do so was to "finish him off". Sure, there's a definite need for people to know the facts of the legacy he will leave behind, but to kick a man (no matter how deserving) while he's down in public makes you just seem like a bully. It would defeat any legitimate purpose we have in bringing accountability and transparency to our broken town government. It would turn any reasonably bystander off from this movement. We have plenty of bullying groups in town already and people just roll their eyes at them.

For now, no blood (or credibility) was shed in this fight, but the town walked away as a winner.

The Failed State of Southbridge

2011-06-13T16:52:00.011-04:00

What is the purpose of government? Is it not to ensure that a civil society functions in a civil way? And, that when our society is shaken through tragedy that we all have this collective agreement called government to pull each other through?

My conservative friends would argue that you're on your own and government is only there to ensure the "basics". They don't realize that essentially we on the far left believe the exact same thing. Where we differ is in the definition of "basics". Inexplicably, their list of basics always contains guns. But that's another post. I believe the basics include equal rights; medical care; clean food, air and water; accountability and transparency; and that we are all in this together and no one will be left out to starve or be without a home. Things that man, with his faulty ego, generally won't provide to his neighbor.

So imagine my delight when I saw the headline in Friday's (Telegram article) paper that explained how Sturbridge, Massachusetts, one of our sister towns and next door neighbor devastated by the tornado, is developing a plan to clear all the rubble and debris and help its victims. This is when government works. Sturbridge's residents had a collective agreement with its town government that they pay taxes and at some point the town will function as planned. The plan worked.

Now imagine my horror -- although not shock -- when I went to my town of Southbridge, Massachusetts' website to see what we were planning on doing for our citizens. I mean, we pay the highest taxes in the area surely we have an even better plan to help our citizens. Right?

This is what was posted:

"On June 1 the Town of Southbridge was hit by a tornado and sustained damage …

Beginning Thursday, June 9^th the town will no longer have resources to chip brush and remove trees along Charlton St., Worcester St., or Pleasant St.. Residents shall contact private companies to continue with the cleanup."

Translation: "Our bloated budget has no room in it for your little tragedy. You're on your own."

As you lift your jaw off the ground in surprise and disappointment, please remember that this flip comment -- almost incidental -- is directed at real lives that were destroyed. One can still drive on any of the streets mentioned and see photographs, toys and personal mementos scattered about. I saw one person lovingly collecting little bits together. Almost like it was the most beloved jig saw puzzle ever created.

The contrast between these two responses illustrates the fact that only a few of us in my town openly, and repeatedly, say: Our town government is a complete failure.

Try to explain how one town (Sturbridge) with lower taxes and better services has a plan to help people pull their lives together, while another, over-taxed town (Southbridge) has only this short sentence to convey its failure as a governed entity. Really. Try. If you have an explanation, please let me know as this sealed the deal for me. I've lost complete faith in my town to function at all, let alone govern.

So, when a government has failed isn't it the duty of its citizens to replace it? Luckily, this is one of those few moments of "synchronicity" where two events that are seemingly unrelated come together. On the one hand, this tragedy unveiled a failed government to a wider population. On the other, we have an election that is scheduled at the end of this month. Put the two events together and we can fix this government!

Please vote on June 28th and remove those that continue these failed policies. DO NOT VOTE for Catherine Nikolla, or any of the others that are attempting to return to government (Langevin and Marcucci) after their own legacy of failed policies. They have already had their chance and have created the government that we now have that has this complete and total failure on its hands.

Please vote for Steven Lazo, Richard Logan, and Gary Fontaine. They have shown to want to put this town on the right track.

If you choose the former, well, then you deserve to continue to be pick-pocketed. Your taxes can continue to go to buy the police chief his two new unnecessary vehicles, continue to pay the 6 digit salaries of our government officials', and not go to helping your neighbor (or yourself) pull through this terrible tragedy.

If you choose the latter, then, welcome to the dawn of a new era in rebuilding our government along with our town.

When Good Karma Does Bad Things

2011-06-13T12:18:00.001-04:00

I'm a strong believer in the necessity of the universe and creation to balance herself out at all times. When it's not in balance it makes abrupt and sometimes violent adjustments. When I see bad things being done I reflect on the belief that at some point that bad deed will be done right and we'll return to balance. The catch here is that you, as the observer of karmic forces balancing things out, can't engage in a victory dance. Doing so invites Karma to balance your ass right out. That said, I'm human and humans are flawed -- terribly and comically flawed.

I let you know this because a.) I believe this completely and b.) because I'm about to invite Karma to kick my ass at some point in the future. Here goes:

Casella Waste Management, the behemoth dump-lord that has entered our town through invitation and coercion of our local government officials -- arguably, it's more like invasion since it was at the opposition of the majority of our citizens -- is experiencing financial worries when it comes to their publicly traded stock. (*uncontrollable smile*)

This little tidbit came through on my watched stocks today. Yes, I confess, I've been monitoring their stock for a while enjoying their slow demise. I am (at my own peril) relishing that the karmic forces are surely kicking in. As our home prices continue to dramatically decline well beyond the economic downturn the state is experiencing (See O'Zone's perfect assessment), their stock value continues to nose-dive. As our pride in the town continues to fall, their stock grows as an embarrassment for them. As our environment and our health becomes compromised, their portfolio begins to stink and rot.

In short, Casella's stock is "taking a dump"... just like our town.

Karma will balance this out and at some point our town will begin to recover. For myself, I can only hope Karma is kind to me. In the meantime, I'm all giggles and am sleeping with garlic cloves in my pillow.

Thinking People from Southbridge? Really?

2011-05-25T21:26:00.001-04:00

And here's another "Thinker" from my town. OK, I will not lose faith that ignorance will be conquered!

The Massachusetts Observer: Recipe for a Republican victory: "Well, the race for the 6th Worcester District representative is over. Republican Peter Durant beat incumbent Democrat Geraldo Alicea by 56..."

My Town......WTF

2011-05-25T21:06:00.001-04:00

My Town government is A.) insane B) moronic C.) Evil or D.) All of the Above?

Read here how F*cked up it is, by Kenneth M. O'Brien, one of the few "thinkers" in town.

The O'Zone: WTF Southbridge?: "Kenneth M. O’Brien I confess that I am outspoken and prone to expressing my opinions. However, as hard as some might find it to believe, ..."

Glowing in the Rain

2011-03-27T22:52:00.001-04:00

Radiation detected in rain falling in Massachusetts most likely from Japan disaster. It's a small planet. There are 442 nuclear power plants world wide. 104 of them in the US alone. And, 65 new ones are under construction*. The entire planet is affected by the failure of these few. Do we still think this is safe?

* European Nuclear Society, of Jan 19, 2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/27/radiation-rain-water-massachusetts-radioactive_n_841188.html

Census figures out: Southbridge in Decline...shocker!

2011-03-25T14:50:00.003-04:00

The latest U.S. Census numbers reveal what we, the citizen "bloggers", already knew but our local government doesn't seem to comprehend: The Town of Southbridge is being killed! Not only did we lose population, but we topped Worcester county for the most population loss. A great "accomplishment" for Southbridge, I'm sure. Isn't there an award plaque the Future of Southbridge gang can give out for this at the next town meeting? I'm sure the local paper will be there to capture the moment.

This is the first real evidence we have that we may be headed to the fate of places like Detroit (at a much smaller scale, of course). We're not unlike Detroit -- a bombed out shell of a city -- where the primary industry disappeared leaving a wounded ship. But that's not what killed the city. It was the inept and corrupt leadership that followed that instituted bad policy after bad policy that dealt the sinking blow. Decline, decay and despair were the result. They simply did not have the intelligence, or will, to deal with such a challenge. Sound familiar?

Also, our surrounding towns, not surprisingly, gained populations. To use the ship metaphor again, like rats fleeing the sinking ship, some of our own went to them. Although, that's a bit unfair to rats as they are just stowaways trying to survive. These people were more like the captain and the crew after steering the ship full steam ahead onto the icebergs, then abandoning it with us doomed passengers still on board. Fill in the names here; we all know them very well.

So, what now? We can look at this as a failed state and jump with everyone else, or we can pull our bootstraps up and be thankful that some of the deserters are gone and can no longer do harm. We can turn our attention to those cowardly crew that are left and are scheming to be captain but are clearly using the same outdated charts, or broken compasses -- compasses that point them to more taxes, more garbage, more fees, more new cars for dog catchers, more higher paid non-resident employees, more fines for neon, more fines for recycling, more fines for snow, more poisons in our water, etc.... etc.... etc...

In short, it's time for a mutiny, folks! It's time for some rational, intelligent, feasible planning that looks at the future. Planning that doesn't see the future as a resurrected ghost ship (made of cardboard) with American Optical and Casella Waste Management logos all over it, but one where we start from scratch and build on good, progressive ideas. We've begun hearing some on the SpeakOutSouthbridge Blog (http://www.speakoutsouthbridge.com/). Let's keep going. Let's put our words into action. We don't all agree on many things, but we all agree that some must "walk the plank" in order for us to set a new course.

Separated at birth: Southbridge, MA Council Meeting - Santa Cruz, CA Council Meeting

2011-03-05T10:58:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you search out your soul mate. Sometimes you bump into your soul mate. Sometimes you wish your soul mate would shut up and stop doing those embarrassing things.

I thought the characters in my town were, let's say, of the eccentric persuasion. But seeing this, which is not unlike a town meeting in my own town of Southbridge, Massachusetts, I realized it's not eccentricity or kookiness; it's down right stupidity. When you look in the mirror, you might need to scream and run.

One last note: There may be a triplet out there. Notice the applause at the end. Oy!