Month: March 2008

The Saga of Dorothy Day

Editor’s note: This is excerpted from Scott’s comic “Servant of God Dorothy Day” in the April/May 2008 issue of The Catholic Radical. For a copy of the whole thing, write to 52 Mason St, Worcester MA 01610.

Servant of God Dorothy Day

The vast majority of those who sought help at Catholic Worker houses of hospitality were pleasant and courteous, but some, (from drink, drugs, mental illness, or plain frustration at their plight) were sometimes violent. Dorothy met those angry few with a down-to-earth love and a good sense of humor.

508 #26: Sunshine Week

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel includes Kevin Ksen and Brendan Melican.

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00002Worcester Indymedia is filing several public records requests to mark Sunshine Week; we’ll follow up on a future show and see if government is responding as the law requires.

Brendan defends the American Antiquarian Society against a proposed expansion of a nearby historical district. (More about the founder of the AAS.) Today is the birthday of one of Mike’s Facebook friends. Former City Council candidate John Mahoney still seems to be spamming people.

The Hanover Theater opens in Worcester tonight; check the WCCA TV13 website for a video clip shortly after the festivities begin. (Brendan mentions David Copperfield in connection with this.)

Census forms are finally out. If there aren’t any changes to be made on your form, you can let the city know via the web.

Mike will be at a prayer service next week that might turn into civil disobedience. And it might not.

Tracy Novick talks about the current crisis in local school funding; she’s been blogging about it.

You, too can leave a voice message to be played on the show. Just call 508-471-3897.

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Opponents of Iraq War to Risk Arrest at Federal Building in Worcester

unjust.jpgOn Wednesday, March 19, 2008, the fifth anniversary of the most recent escalation of the 17-year long American war on Iraq, local residents will enter the US Federal Building on Main Street in Worcester to offer Catholic prayers for an immediate end to the war. Their prayer comes as the culmination of a 43-day Lenten prayer, fast, and vigil carried out in conjunction with people in 11 other US cities, including Des Moines, Iowa, Buffalo and Rochester, New York.
Continue reading “Opponents of Iraq War to Risk Arrest at Federal Building in Worcester”

Items

One Nation Under Elvis
This is just a great article about why you should respect the South and country music, and how progressives can stop alienating the people who should be key allies:

Another set of questions might be why Dick despises the people and places that spawned the music, and what larger rifts his attitude reveals. Answering them requires digging into the deep history of American music and American race and class wars, and into the broad crises of environmentalism in recent years.

Christian videos
The Miro guys have made a Christian edition of their free video player, pre-loaded with channels of Christian content.

Share Miro

Gitmo letter
Sylvia Jaffee, in this letter to the editor, seems to be complaining about Claire Schaeffer-Duffy’s efforts to close the Guantanamo prison, though the thinking is a bit muddled.
Continue reading “Items”

Hearing loss

The daily Lenten prayer and fasting for an end to the Iraq War continued today in Worcester, with 4 people participating. (I think a few dozen have been involved at some point.) We found a nice ring outside the cathedral; you can pick it up at the rectory if it’s yours.

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When we went down to the federal building to continue the vigil, a friend and I went inside to talk to whoever was there. (From my limited experience, this seems to be standard operating procedure for continuing vigils. Sometimes this can bear unexpected fruit.)

My friend mentioned the recent report that upwards of 5% of Iraq and Afganistan War vets are collecting disability for hearing loss due to roadside bombs and the like.

One guy said, “And that’s a problem for us?” (Which seemed an odd thing to say.)

Another guy responded, “Yeah–we gotta pay for it!”

My friend pointed out that hearing loss also probably messes up a lot of these vets’ lives.

Other than that, things passed without incident.

508 #25: Cable, Kate Toomey, Facebook, Trains, Police, Census, Trash

508 is a show about Worcester. Today’s panelists are Brendan Melican and Scott Zoback.

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mail.jpgWe start off by discussing Worcester’s new contract with Charter for cable services. Scott talks about printing City Councilor Toomey’s Facebook updates in Worcester Magazine.

Worcester commuters may take trains to Boston via Fitchburg. Brendan talks about the Worcester police shooting a man. T&G has an mp3 recording of police radio of the incident.)

Mike talks with Election Commissioner John Stewart about the city census.

Kevin Ksen phones in about the successful Stop Unwanted Trash campaign.

You, too can leave a voice message to be played on the show. Just call 508-471-3897.

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To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

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We won’t share this list with others.

Case study: Cutting too many reporters

When you cut your news staff to the bone, you’ll sometimes have to cover a subject without having any reporters who have a general understanding of it, have contacts in the field, and so on.

In this case, that subject is Worcester’s contract (PDF) with Charter Communications.

In the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Nick Kotsopoulos wrote:

  • Charter will pay the city a 5 percent franchise fee, the maximum allowed under federal law. The 5 percent fee is based on Charter’s annual gross revenues for cable television. In the last fiscal year, Charter’s gross revenues totaled about $1.2 million.

He seems to be paraphrasing this bullet point from the City Manager’s letter to the City Council:

  • It provides for an annual 5% franchise fee (maximum allowed under Federal law). This is 5% of Charter Communication’s annual gross revenues for cable television. In FY07, it totaled approximately $1.2M.

The City Manager’s statement is ambiguous; it’s not clear what totalled $1.2M. Kotsopoulos guessed the Manager meant the gross revenues were $1.2M, but Kotsopoulos guessed wrong.

Anyone familiar with all the reports and debate over the cable contract would see that 5% of $1.2M revenue is only $60K a year, hardly enough for the City to pay for the Public Access, Education, and Government channels and its other telecom projects. That would mean a jaw-dropping cut in funding for these things, and would deserve to be a major part of the article.

Of course, the Manager was referring to $1.2M in franchise fees, not revenue.

I work for one of the local PEG channels, and when I first read the T&G article, and before confirming the stat was wrong, I was stunned, thinking I was out of a job.