Author: Mike

Worcester parishioners make rosaries to end the war

A few weeks ago a friend handed me Worcester’s InCity Times and pointed to a notice about local Catholics sending rosaries to our troops in Iraq. He suspected this was some sort of pro-war statement. To me, though, sending rosaries to the troops seemed like a great idea, whatever the political background.

According to a front page article in today’s Telegram & Gazette, we were wrong to be suspicious of the rosary-makers’ agenda:

“With enough prayer over there, we’re hoping that something will happen where this war will end,” Ms. Mason said over the Memorial Day weekend.

And that couldn’t come soon enough for her, especially since her son, U.S. Navy Reserve Petty Officer 1st Class Raymond R. Mason, 39, of Worcester, is scheduled to return to the war zone this summer.

My friend and I are so keenly interested in rosaries and the war because we’re going to court June 17 on federal charges for praying the rosary in the Worcester federal building as part of a Lenten prayer, fast, and vigil for an end to the Iraq War.

(You may recall that we mentioned this rosary project a few weeks ago on the 508 podcast, and that I disagreed with the rosary-makers’ statement that “There is no greater power than to place in the hands of our soldiers the rosary,” believing that both God and any sacrament, for example, are greater powers than that.)

Those looking to renew their habit of saying the rosary might read Garry Wills’s recent book The Rosary. (Interview about the book.)

An interview with Claire Schaeffer-Duffy

Long-time Worcester Catholic Worker Claire Schaeffer-Duffy is one of 35 people on trial in Washington, DC, Tuesday for nonviolent civil disobedience at the Supreme Court against torture and denial of habeas rights to Guantanamo detainees. I talked to her shortly before she left on the bus to DC.

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508 #36: Metrics

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

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The march for criminal records (CORI) reform went well; WCCA has the kickoff and the Metro reported along the way. The Telegram & Gazette reports that legislative efforts are hung up in committee. We hear Gary Rosen (who Brendan praises for his wiley ways) speak up for CORI reform.

Brendan comments on this quote from Police Chief Gemme:

The single most effective way to reduce fear…is foot patrols.

Mike brings in this quote from Bill Randell:

Do me a favor walk around the Commons some day and even walk into the street level of City Hall. Do you feel safe, or better yet would you want your mother walking around by herself? I would not.

The locally-produced film “We Got the Beat” is now looking for actors! Mike talks Bruce into auditioning. Brendan mentions the Bruce Willis film now shooting in Worcester.

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Please find this man a speaking role.

Worcester Magazine still hasn’t mentioned Charter’s plans to sell data about its internet customers.

John Monfredo wrote an article about keeping your kids safe on the net in the InCity Times; Brendan ridicules this article. A listener takes issue with Cory Doctorow’s portrayal of Tor in Little Brother. (Mike mentions counter-measures used against British Telecom that he now can’t find….)

WCCA’s contract with the City has been extended a few months, giving more time to hammer out a long-term contract. Sheriff Guy Glodis was on WCCA and at least mentioned the federal report on the county jail.

Worcester City employee salaries won’t increase for the moment. Mike suggests the City Manager’s salary be a multiple of the median income in Worcester.

We finish up with a pledge drive from maximumfun.org.

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New Englanders march for an end to Darfur genocide

img_0033Ten New Englanders travelled to Washington, DC for a march yesterday against China’s support for the government of Sudan’s genocidal practices in the Darfur region.

The group included one person who had been to Darfur and four who had been arrested for protesting the violence in Darfur with nonviolent civil disobedience.

The day before this march, Human Rights Watch issued a press release saying, “Darfur: ‘Scorched Earth’ Tactics Warrant UN Sanctions.”

The march began at the Chinese Embassy’s “Economic and Commercial Counselor’s Office,” which seemed to be in some sort of mall/office complex. We handed out a few fliers and had many honks of support from cars driving by.

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Catonsville Nine: 40th anniversary

The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholics who burned draft records (with homemade napalm) to protest the Vietnam War on May 17, 1968.

One of the nine was our friend, the late Tom Lewis. We interviewed him in January about the anniversary.

Recent articles about the anniversary include Joe Tropea’s “Hit and Stay” and “Lessons from the Catonsville Nine” by Ron Manuto and Sean Patrick OÂ’’Rourke.

508 #35: No coffee

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike skips his coffee, with predictable results. Brendan Melican, by contrast, is sharp as ever. (Note that Brendan now appears on WTAG Mondays at 6:30.)

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Mike loved the Dragon Sorcerer, and interviews author Asa Needle.

The City Council and other city employees got raises this week. If Charter cable provides your internet service, they’re now selling info about your browsing habits to an ad company. (Related: how to encrypt your Gmail e-mail.)

Mike reads the InCity Times.

There was a hearing about Planned Parenthood changing its Worcester location. Critics of PP, including local blogger JayG, come off looking like nuts in press coverage; this is possibly their own fault.

Worcester CORI-reform activists are walking to Boston next week. The feds say the county jail has problems; Brendan expands upon his blog post on the subject. Mike is going to DC next week to ask the Chinese and Sudanese governments to stop supporting genocide in Darfur. WCCA is holding (and broadcasting live) a public meeting on an impending funding crisis at the station. “To this date, we have no contract with the City, and no real assurances for the continuity of WCCA’s future.”

We talk more about Charter recording information about users’ internet habits, and finish with an explanation of Tor from the audiobook of Cory Doctorow’s great young adult novel Little Brother.

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Items

WoMag jail story
It used to be hard (but not uncommon) for the weekly Worcester Magazine to scoop the daily Telegram & Gazette. Yesterday, via the power of the Internet, WoMag beat the T&G by 8 hours in their coverage of a recent federal report on problems at the county jail.

The report (PDF) makes a few dozen recommendations on improving conditions, because:

In defining the scope of inmates’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, the Supreme Court has held that corrections officials must take reasonable steps to guarantee inmates’ safety and provide “humane conditions” of confinement. . . . The “humane conditions” standard is satisfied when a corrections system provides for inmates’ basic needs for safety, medical care, food, clothing, and shelter. . . . As discussed below, the conditions at the Jail do not comport with these legal standards.

This part has already provoked comment:

The Jail’s grievance process is difficult for inmates to access. As an initial matter, inmates do not have direct access to grievance forms and must obtain them from the housing unit captain. Once a form is completed, inmates must “complete and forward the form in an envelope, with postage, addressed to the (‘Facility Inmate Grievance Coordinator’) by way of the outgoing facility mail.” Pursuant to the Jail’s policy, inmates must file a grievance form within ten days of the incident at issue, although the grievance officer told us that he does not enforce this rule. Inmates are subject to these same rigorous requirements if they wish to appeal the grievance officer’s decision.

The inaccessibility of this system is reflected in the low number of grievances that are filed.

Deputy Superintendent Jeff Turco:

There’s nothing in the Constitution that says a jail can’t have a cumbersome grievance process … [or] any process.

Buck Paxton:

Apparently some people think the right to petition for a redress of grievances is just part of a Seinfeld sketch.

I’d be curious to see how this report compares with the reports issued to other jails these days, or Worcester County in the past.

Meth lab at slaughterhouse
At a notorious kosher slaughterhouse, according to accounts of a recent immigration raid there. “Last November, the search warrant said, ICE agents interviewed a former Agriprocessors supervisor who said some employees were running a methamphetamine lab in the plant and were bringing weapons to work.” Erik Marcus notes: “I had no idea that crystal meth was part of a deep religious tradition.”

Interview with Louis Rodemann of KC Catholic Worker
Haven’t listened to it yet, but here it is: mp3#1, mp3#2.
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508 #34: Too old and too ugly

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panelists are Cha-Cha Connor, Brendan Melican, and Bruce Russell.

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The show begins with an excerpt from Fr. Bernie Gilgun’s homily at the memorial mass for Tom Lewis.

Cha-Cha was part of a Real Solutions press conference this week looking to change people’s attitudes towards “sex workers” and “drug users,” among others. Real Solutions has asked the City Manager for information about the state of rooming houses and “SROs” in Worcester over the past decade.

The license commission suspended the city license for a gun range and will allow alcohol to be served at an event at Green Hill Park. City Councilor Joff Smith has suggested the city start a lottery.

“Renegade blogger” Marc Reece had a bad experience with Karon Shea Modeling and started a blog about it. Mike ties this to some of the ideas in Clay Shirky’s great new book Here Comes Everybody.

Jeff Barnard and Jordan Levy have criticized some of the recommendations the Research Bureau made about the city’s finances. Mr. Levy’s blog now has an RSS feed.

Jeff:

They recommend that the city sell, among other things, the airport. . . . the city’s been trying to sell the airport since the beginning of time . . . They’ll probably recommend in some future report that the empty mall on Front Street should be redeveloped . . . .

We experiment with reading Mr. Levy’s blog aloud.

Brendan: You, Mike Benedetti, just fixed everything that’s wrong with Jordan Levy.

Mike: As Muhammad Ali said of someone else, he’s “too old and too ugly to be the champion. Look at me! I’m pretty!”

The Telegram & Gazette spammed Mike this week. Jeff Barnard pointed out that blogging for the T&G is a rip-off. This week’s best online discussion threads include this one about school funding and this one about WRTA funding.

Fitchburg is cutting library services.

Papamoka and Wormtown Taxi posted some interesting info about groceries. Mike encourages you to hike the Massachusetts Midstate Trail and read his thru-hiker’s guide (PDF).

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Fr Bernie Gilgun’s homily, May 2, 2008

This is a recording of a homily by Father Bernie Gilgun, from his weekly Mass at the Mustard Seed in Worcester, Massachusetts. He talks about the Lavallees’ wedding anniversary and the Ascention.

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Tom Lewis memorial mass

The Mustard Seed was beyond packed for Tom Lewis’s memorial mass, with a crowd of 30 lingering outside the doorways hoping for a glimpse of the events.

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Father Bernie Gilgun celebrated the mass. (Deacon Walter Doyle assisted.) Here’s Fr Bernie’s homily:
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In Psalm 137, and also in the book of Proverbs, we are told, truly told, “The memory of the just is blessed.” If you wanna be blessed, don’t forget Tom Lewis! “The memory of the just is blessed.” You wanna be blessed? Remember this just man! He carried high and proud the banner of peace and justice in this community, perhaps like no other. Like a one-man revolution.

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My bad photos.

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