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Happy 234th Anniversary: On Virtue
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIn just a few days, we will be celebrating the 234th anniversary of our republic. To mark the occasion, I thought it would be fun to go back to one of the great acceptance speeches of the past 50 years – Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1980 Republican convention – and pull out eight important themes for 2010: You know, the first Republican President once said, “While the people retain their virtue and their vigilance, no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.” If Mr. Lincoln could see what’s happened in these last three and a half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. But […]
Happy 234th Anniversary: On Standing United
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIn just a few days, we will be celebrating the 234th anniversary of our republic. To mark the occasion, I thought it would be fun to go back to one of the great acceptance speeches of the past 50 years – Ronald Reagan’s speech at the 1980 Republican convention – and cull eight important themes for 2010: More than anything else, I want my candidacy to unify our country, to renew the American spirit and sense of purpose. I want to carry our message to every American, regardless of party affiliation, who is a member of this community of shared values. He went on to criticize his opponents for saying that the United States has had its day in the […]
Why is Mike O'Brien Smiling?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byBecause he just got an awesome deal on the Worcester Airport, that’s why. The city just got paid $17 million by Massport (and here’s the build-up behind the number). Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the Worcester Airport and I hope it one day becomes a thriving hub. There’s a lot of potential there but the reality is that it loses money, so getting $17 million in value is a great one for Worcester (and an…ahem…challenging one for Massport, no?).
In-Sourcing?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byMassDoT Secretary Jeff Mullan used this term yesterday in reference to a move to have more snow plowing done in-house, rather than by private contractors. I’m skeptical to say the least — the Turnpike to MassHighway analogy used in the article (where the Turnpike uses in-house staff while MHD uses a lot of contractors) is a false one — Turnpike is a discrete asset, MHD has lot more miles spread out over the state. And I hope any analysis done is all-in — you’ve got to count the capital cost of any new equipment plus factor in the maintenance of that equipment (or the reduced lifecycle if you don’t do it). Plus the overtime and/or lost productivity (for other tasks) […]
$75 Million Reasons to Move?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byWe picked on Curt Schilling a few months back for considering a move to Rhode Island. And we maintain our position that firm relocation, in the aggregate, is not an important creator of jobs across the entire MA economy. That said, Schilling’s firm has been offered a $75 million loan guarantee (note the difference — a guarantee on a private loan, not a direct loan) by Rhode Island, according to the Providence Business News.
James Carroll Time-Saver: America is Rotten
/2 Comments/in Blog, News /byThe Globe’s James Carroll regularly writes op-ed columns* that utilize available newspegs to hammer home one of his key themes: the utter rottenness at the core of “America” and its rapidly approaching collapse. A tour through his back catalog yields lots of examples — disparate items like Christmas, soccer, and the Somali pirates all provide important insight into this theme. So, to save the reader of today’s Globe the trouble of plowing through his whole column, just take your newspegs as the oil spill in the Gulf and General Petreus’ collapse during his testimony last week, then add the usual theme: …..The two Washington hearings captured the widespread American mood of exhaustion and dread. The nation has been drastically confronted […]
Fact-checking The Angle on education reform
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byIn Tuesday’s The Angle video on Boston.com, Globe columnist Scot Lehigh and cartoonist Dan Wasserman slug it out over how to reform our schools. It’s great when people debate education with passion, because we need to keep business, community and neighborhood leaders focused on this issue. Is anything more worthy of debate than how to ensure that our next generation is better prepared than the past and current ones. But great debates need quiet facts. And that’s true as much for Wasserman and Lehigh as it is for Patrick, Baker, Cahill and Stein. So here is a friendly fact-check for the Lehigh-Wasserman smackdown. For example, what to make of Dan Wasserman’s suggestion that charters have pockets of excellence but for […]
Memo to Mitchell — Improve Boston About Results
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byTo: Mitchell Weiss CC: Lisa Signori, Chris Osgood Boston About Results should be the centerpiece of the Mayor’s plan for “making over basic city services”. Here’s some key steps to fixing it: 1) Bring the data to life: Don’t break the data up into scores of static PDFs. Provide the data in multiple, user-friendly formats, like Excel, so it can be easily analyzed. 2) Make data comparable: Right now, it shows year-to-date data for this year and full year data for previous years. Provide apples-to-apples data so users can see how this year’s performance stacks up against previous years. 3) Open up the process: Other cities have formal ‘citistat’ meetings and some release the detailed analyses used in these meetings. […]
Al Gore is absolutely right on censorship
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byGore is right to call for the Coast Guard/FAA/BP handlers to “Stop Censoring News From The Gulf”: These reports are deeply disturbing: “When the operators of Southern Seaplane in Belle Chasse, La., called the local Coast Guard-Federal Aviation Administration command center for permission to fly over restricted airspace in Gulf of Mexico, they made what they thought was a simple and routine request.” “A pilot wanted to take a photographer from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans to snap photographs of the oil slicks blackening the water. The response from a BP contractor who answered the phone late last month at the command center was swift and absolute: Permission denied.” This behavior is completely unacceptable. Access by reporters should be as […]
Great news on Roxbury Prep Charter School
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Education, Blog: School Choice, Jim Stergios, Related Education Blogs /byHere is a great outcome from the passage of the charter school cap lift in January: the Roxbury Prep charter middle school, which is a standout in raising student achievement is announcing that it is going to replicate! from the announcement passed on by Dana Lehman and Will Austin, currently co-directors at RP: We plan to serve up to 2,000 children by 2020, playing a significant role in reshaping public education in Boston… As of July 1, Dana will become Uncommon Schools’ Managing Director of the Boston network and begin the process of charter applications and planning for the opening the first new Roxbury Prep campus in 2011-2012… Roxbury Prep is formally partnering with Uncommon Schools, Inc. Uncommon Schools, Inc. […]
Ths is getting ugly.
/0 Comments/in Blog, Healthcare /byToday’s Globe story regarding Insurance companies’ unwillingness to participate in the Connector’s new program “Business Express” is interesting but incomplete. The reporters should pay attention to bloggers’ comments about why the program may not be working and about how this option doesn’t really offer more affordable options for businesses. I do not know why the Connector and the Globe keep touting lower premiums. The Connector failed in its mission to serve small businesses by not offering a defined contribution model. Are they really going to sue the insurers for not offering this product through the Connector? That sounds desperate to me. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the feds don’t follow suit when they promulgate regulations for state-level exchanges.
Answering the Question No One is Asking
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byHot off the presses, the Needham Times brings us this vital piece of gubernatorial race insight: “If these two gentlemen were running a summer camp for girls I would want send my daughter to go to the one being run by Deval Patrick,” Khoury said.
Well, so much for objective analysis : MA DESE and RttT one more time
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byThe Secretary and Commissioner of Education have repeatedly said that they would not adopt national standards if they were weaker than Massachusetts state academic standards. I long ago stopped believing, even as friends in the media and elected officials told me otherwise. Even as recently as May 20th, Secretary Reville noted to GateHouseNews Service: “There’s no plan whatsoever with how we’re going to proceed on this,” said Reville. “There’s simply an opportunity for us to play a national leadership role.” He said the state had “absolutely no plan to replace MCAS.” On June 2nd, Commissioner Chester put out a press release on the Department’s website declaring: Our curriculum experts have worked closely with the developers of the Common Core Standards […]
Pioneer = conservative, liberal or libertarian?
/1 Comment/in Blog, News /byAs you probably know, Boston.com has kindly invited me to blog on their website regarding how to move our state and country forward on education. It’s called Rock the Schoolhouse, and I’m pleased to have the opportunity. As you might expect, several commenters ask about Pioneer, and often they ask if this is a conservative, a liberal, libertarian organization or some fudge among the three. Such was the query today from “Abrahamson”. I had posted a blog noting that elected officials who don’t support school choice are often the products of school choice or private schools. Abrahamson queried me on two points: (1) The conservatives always preach that the government is not supposed to guarantee equality, that those who work […]
School choice for the POTUS
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /byPolitico reports today that the “pool” followed POTUS and FLOTUS to the Sidwell Friends private school. “We are told that POTUS and FLOTUS were both in the motorcade and are at the school. Your pooler assumes the visit is some sort of end-of-the-school-year event. But we have not been told what they are here for. Just that they are attending one of Sasha’s school activities.” Take a moment to look at Sidwell’s site. I am glad the President can afford the $30,000 tuition. Simple question – and it is the same one David Gergen asked Deval Patrick before he was elected Governor in 2006: This question: when you were young, you won a scholarship to go off to the Milton […]