Month: March 2007

“Your Right to Know” panel

I was honored to be on a televised panel about openness in government this week with T&G City Desk editor Jay Whearly, blogger/businessman Bill Randell, ADA Patricia Smith, and Vocero Hispano’s Jaime Flores. WCCA’s Mauro DePasquale was the emcee.

You can watch it on WCCA’s site or the Internet Archive.

whearly randell smith flores mauro
benedetti

I’ve had positive and negative feedback on the panel, but I gotta say it was the most interesting panel about open meetings law and governmental information requests that I’ve ever participated in. I had a lot of fun.

Indymedia lives! and other items

Worcester Indymedia: The new site is up! Let us know what you think.

CJR: “How TalkingPointsMemo Beat the Big Boys on the U.S. Attorney Story.”

“We have a readership of about 100,000 people,” [Josh Marshall] says, “and that means that in any city around the country we’ve got a bunch of readers who are reading the local papers. So we’ll often find out if something happens that’s only reported in some small paper — we basically have an intelligence gathering service that mainstream reporters don’t have because they don’t have the same kind of relationship with their readers.”

TPM is the only national partisan blog I read, because of journalism like this.

Vegan Outreach: I’ve got a post about some veg activism over at Worcester Activist.

Comments: Some staff at the Orange County Register find the reader comments on their website so crude that they want the whole comments thing removed. This brief T&G article once had a comments string complaining that the people were holding a Spanish sign. Those comments remained for a few days, but have since been removed.

March Madness: This year, I predict the finals will be Ray Kurzweil vs. Dennis Kucinich. And the Kooch will win it all. Mark my words.

I’m on a public panel Thursday

I’ll be part of a panel on “Your Right to Know” this Thursday, 2pm, at WCCA (415 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts). This event is free and open to the public.

Sunshine WeekWe’ll be talking about how to get information about what the government is doing, and how the government often stonewalls private citizens, bloggers, and professional journalists. This is part of the national event called Sunshine Week.

Other panelists include blogger Bill Randell, Assistant District Attorney Patricia C. Smith, Jay Whearley of the Telegram & Gazette, and Jaime Flores of Vocero Hispano.

This discussion will be taped, and later broadcast on WCCA and posted to their website.

If you have suggestions for things we should discuss, comment away.

T&G article about the panel

Coffee in Worcester: Boulevard Diner

In this coffee review about the Boulevard Diner, Bruce and I are joined by Michael, the “publisher” of Pie and Coffee, who rarely appears on this blog. He speaks Hungarian, is a fan of classic diners, and lives near Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Pie and Coffee: So how do you say her name?

Michael: Báthory Erzsébet.

P: And what were you telling me about her?

M: Well, she liked to bathe in the blood of young girls. She thought it kept her young. And that’s not really cool, but the family couldn’t kill her, because she had a title and all that, and you don’t kill a family member. So they walled her up in her room, because they weren’t really killing her then.

P: So they just let her die.

M: Roughly speaking, yeah.

Bruce: Of a slow death.

M: Yeah. But they didn’t kill her!

B: Of a bloody death.

P: Did you hear Bruce’s song about her?

M: Yes I did, I liked that very much.

P: It got a good review on Volcano Boy.

B: I got a great review on Volcano Boy.

M: I saw that too.

B: You know what they say about Volcano Boy.

M: What do they say about Volcano Boy?

P: It’s a volcano—watch out for the ashes! They get hot!

P: So the Boulevard Diner.

M: The Boulevard Diner rocks!
Continue reading “Coffee in Worcester: Boulevard Diner”

Worcester County Ecumenical Council dissolving

Tanya Connor, in the Catholic Free Press:

The Worcester County Ecumenical Council is closing on June 30, due to waning support and changes in ecumenical endeavors.

The Rev. Allyson D. Platt, executive director, made that announcement in a March 1 letter and explained reasons to The Catholic Free Press Tuesday.

“The General Board, with both current and past members, reached this unanimous decision in the fall of 2006,” said the letter. Rev. Platt said they worked out details before making the announcement.

(read more)

I have mixed feelings about this. Part of me thinks that somebody should be doing full-time ecumenical work around here. (According to the article, running the Council is a 17-hour-a-week endeavor.) Another part of me is glad to know that Worcester is a city of religious cooperation, and that the people behind the WCEC are willing to say “mission accomplished” rather than keep the WCEC together just for the sake of keeping it together.

Items

Cha-Cha ConnorSupermodels for Oaxaca: In May, Miss Universe will be holding its “traditional costume” competition in Oaxaca. Given that repressive Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is likely to capitalize on this event, a group of activists calling themselves the Popular Assembly of Models for Oaxaca (AMPO) will be dressing up and picketing Donald Trump and NBC in Manhattan. on April 18 Auditions are April 18. Narco News has more, courtesy Worcester’s own Cha-Cha Connor.

Press release

Pictured: Activist and “Spokesmodel for Oaxaca” Cha-Cha Connor. “We models aren’t cheap props for dictators.”

Caltech: Niniane has photos and memories of a Caltech mini-reunion.

Taxing non-profits: The Worcester City Council is always mumbling about asking non-profits for a “payment in lieu of taxes.” (PILOT, or, as I like to call it, “taxes.”) Bill Randell wonders why the recommendations of the last city Task Force on this issue haven’t bourne fruit.

St Patrick’s Day: A classic video from last year.


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Continue reading “Items”

Less anxiety about the Worcester Wal-Mart

Don’t get me wrong. I still think bringing Wal-Mart to the city would be, economically, a step in the wrong direction. But after meeting with some folks about this last night, I no longer feel a free-floating anxiety. I don’t have a lot of hope at this point, but I have some actions I can take.


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For those who are interested, you can read the planning proposal.