Op-Ed

Double Standards [Op-Ed]

Whatever caused this tragedy is now in the public domain

All the various media have clearly participated in some sort of cover-up.

By Michael Bradley

Ken Nagy.

Jason Lantych.As someone who once served as a police officer and who later worked for many years as a newspaperman, the ongoing news coverage of Beverly police officer Jason Lantych’s shooting by Sgt. Ken Nagy of the Hamilton Police Department is galling.It seems obvious that if Jason Lantych was a general contractor and Ken Nagy was a framing contractor we would already know why Lantych was shot by Nagy. The media, print and electronic, would have been all over the story, probing the business and personal lives of the two men.

We would likely already know more than we cared to know about the two men, including how they did business, who they associated with and why, and perhaps most importantly, we would know if money and a bad business deal were involved or whether it was a love triangle that caused the shooting.

But in this actual case involving police, not contractors, several days after the unfortunate episode all we know is that the two officers from adjacent towns agreed to meet at a diner, but apparently without discussion Lantych was shot several times by Nagy.

We now know that some of the restaurant patrons were heroic in helping to save Lantych from bleeding out, since apparently one of the shots hit an artery in his leg, almost as though the shooter was aiming for the groin. And later that night, in the midst of a police manhunt for one of their own, Sgt. Nagy returned to the proverbial scene of the crime and, unfortunately, killed himself.

That this immediately appears, on the face of it, to be a classic human tragedy involving hopes, dreams and very possibly, love, has been completely ignored by a media that would have torn the covers off of the lives of any average person. The news approach in this case is a farce, which is underscored by the fact that in its most recent reports the TV media is using hints instead of facts, observing that Mrs. Nagy works in the Hamilton Police Department.

There cannot be two sets of media rules for the average citizen and the law enforcement community.The apparent double-standard regarding police suspects and the rest of us was remarkably illustrated by the office of Essex County DA Jonathan Blodgett, whose spokeswoman flatly stated that motive in this case “is not relevant.” After some ridicule, DA Blodgett backed away from that remark.

Whatever caused this tragedy is now in the public domain and all the various media have clearly participated in some sort of cover-up.

It is understandable and human for the police departments and the families involved to desire the story be contained, but there cannot be two sets of media rules for the average citizen and the law enforcement community. It is simply incredible to believe that with all the resources of the Massachusetts media all that is known is the bare facts of the shooting and the status of the wounded officer, Jason Lantych.

It is incredible because everyone realizes that if the tragedy involved them or their family members, the reporting would be diametrically different.

Mike Bradley is a longtime newspaper editor and publisher who lives in Bourne and publishes The Bradley Report. He is a former publisher of the MPG Comminications South Group of five newspapers, the Marion Sentinel, the Mattapoisett Sentinel, the Wareham Courier, the Bourne Courier and the Sandwich Village Broadsider.

The real Obama outrage [Op-Ed]

The Obama Administration's war on religion

By Cynthia Stead

The Obama Administration is waging war on religion by forcing religious institutions to cover contraception on the health plans of their employees.  This is a new and startling outrage.  It has also been the law since 2000.

Back in December of 2000, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that failure to provide such coverage violates the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, which is an amendment to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which outlaws, among other things, discrimination based on gender.  A suit filed by Catholic Charities in California and New York were both decided against them and the 2000 regulation was upheld.

The only thing that the Obama administration is doing is insisting that the employer – religious or not – cannot charge a co-pay from the employee, but in the Progressive Spirit must provide something for nothing.  That is where the issue begins.  Until now, employees of Catholic institutions simply paid a co-payment of 100%, allowing them to have access to the desired contraception while also not forcing the religious institution to subsidize something that violates their principles.

Why wasn’t there a hue and cry back in 2000?  Because Massachusetts employers didn’t have to cover contraception as a medication until 2002.  Women already had to pay that 100% co-pay anyway, so the change in regulation as it pertains to religious institutions slipped under the radar.  Massachusetts comes close to being the contraception-free state that Rick Santorum envisions.  Birth control was illegal here due to the legislative Catholic Democrat majority, and Bill Baird went to jail for giving away birth control in Boston. Historically, the champions of contraception in Massachusetts were the Republicans.  Even when contraception was partially legalized, it was still illegal for ‘unmarried women’ until 1974 – once abortion was legalized, the Democrats decided that maybe contraception wasn’t the end of the world, but they still didn’t want to make access easy and allowed employers to refuse coverage - although Viagara was mandatory as soon as it was invented.  When then-Speaker Tom Finneran was presented with a letter in 2002 signed by 81 legislators demanding that a vote be allowed to require contraception to be covered on health insurance plans, he capitulated and allowed the vote.  He did know how to count.

What IS an outrage is the Obama ‘solution’ to free contraception.  He proposes to make the insurance companies pay for the contraception instead.  By what right does the government require that a private concern (insurance companies) provide product for free to consumers?  Will GM be instructed to provide free cars, now that the government owns them?  If an insurance company decides it would rather not insure a Catholic employer because it doesn’t want to have to bear the cost of providing free medication, will they be penalized for Civil Rights discrimination?  If this precedent is allowed to stand, what other products and services can private industry be required to provide by government fiat?

Social conservatives are snapping at this ‘issue’ like a trout at a fly, not recognizing the real outrage here.  Whether they ‘win’ the religious exemption argument or not, we all should be on guard against this attack on property and freedom by the Obama Administration.

Cynthia E. Stead is the Secretary of the Massachusetts Republican Party. She is also running for re-election as the Cape & Islands Republican State Committee Woman, a position she has held for eight years.

Trickle down urine specimens [Joe Quigley]

   Trickle down economics definitions (take your pick):

By Joe Quigley

• Wikipedia: "Trickle-down economics" and "the trickle-down theory" are terms used in United States politics to refer to the idea that tax breaks or other economic benefits provided by government to businesses and the wealthy will benefit poorer members of society by improving the economy as a whole.
  "Money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy."
• Urban Dictionary:A Failed economic policy that asserts that if you give tax cuts to the rich the profits will trickle down to the lower classes.Time has shown that this Regan policy is nothing more then a scam to give the rich a Free Ride in society
  "Trickle down economics don't trickle down on me! Where's my money and my job? They been outsourced by some elitist rich snob."
• Obama on "Trickle down economics: "Now, just as there was in Teddy Roosevelt’s time, there’s been a certain crowd in Washington for the last few decades who respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. 'The market will take care of everything,' they tell us. If only we cut more regulations and cut more taxes – especially for the wealthy – our economy will grow stronger.
  
• Sure, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everyone else. And even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, they argue, that’s the price of liberty.
  
  "It’s a simple theory – one that speaks to our rugged individualism and healthy skepticism of too much government. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. Here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked. It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible post-war boom of the 50s and 60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade."

Joe Quigley also draws political cartoons for the American Federation of Teachers/Massachusetts, and for the Elizabeth Warren campaign. Right now he has a "Red, White & Blue" sales at his online store on Zazzle. Below are just a few sample of his work on the 2012 campaign.

Joe Quigley lampoons St. Rick, the Mittser and Scott Brown's pick-em-up truck

Quigley quakes some more

Joe Quigley also draws political cartoons for the American Federation of Teachers/Massachusetts, and for the Elizabeth Warren campaign. Right now he has a "Red, White & Blue" sales at his online store on Zazzle. Below are just a few sample of his work on the 2012 campaign.

Who's that strapped on the roof of Obama's station wagon?

Brown's Pick-em-up Truck, St. Rick and Jesus meets John Adams

Alliance founder, funder, Bill Koch slapped with $550,000 fine [Op Ed]

Bill Koch" the man who called Cape Wind a ‘Sweetheart Deal’

Slapped With $550,000 Fine For No-Compete Contracts by US Justice Department

by Michael Conathan

This doesn’t qualify as much of a news flash, but just in case you were curious, hypocrisy is alive and well in the Koch family. And this time it’s going to cost one of them half a million dollars.

After a lengthy series of lawsuits he filed against his better known brothers, Bill Koch has often been described as the “black sheep ” of his family. And while Bill’s public and messy falling out with his $50 billion brothers has led to only a slightly less lucrative career as founder of the dirty energy conglomerate Oxbow Carbon, he has largely steered clear of his siblings extreme climate denial and political wrangling. Except when it comes to one pet peeve: offshore wind.

Koch’s funneled over $1.5 million dollars to the Alliance to Protect Nantucket SoundEarlier this year, Cape Wind became the first offshore wind farm to receive the green light from federal regulators despite Koch’s funneling over $1.5 million dollars to a nonprofit group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, formed to combat Cape Wind.

The site where the project will be built just happens to be visible from backyard of Koch’s mansion on a private island country club community in Osterville, MA. One of the favorite arguments used by Koch and the Alliance is that the project was the beneficiary of a “sweetheart, no-bid deal.”

Koch's "sweetheart deal" will cost him over a half million dollars

Apparently, Koch only likes sweetheart no-bid deals for his own operations. Last week, Gunnison Energy, a subsidiary of Oxbow Carbon, was slapped by the Justice Department with a $550,000 fine “related to an agreement not to compete in bidding for four natural gas leases sold at auction by the U.S. Department of Interior.”

According to the complaint, [Gunnison Energy] and [co-conspirator SG Interests VII Ltd.] were separately developing natural gas resources in Western Colorado. In 2005, GEC and SGI entered into a written agreement under which they agreed that only SGI would bid at the auctions and then assign an interest in the acquired leases to GEC… As a result of the agreement between GEC and SGI, the United States received less revenue from the sale of the four leases than it would have had SGI and GEC competed at the auctions.

A dirty energy magnate with a history of bilking
the federal government., of course, that Bill Koch has ever been interested in allowing the federal government to get its fair share. His run to capture the America’s Cup yachting trophy in 1992 was fueled by tax breaks from donating his own money to a foundation set up to fund his pursuit of the prize. The donations saved him “a couple million dollars” on his taxes.

It should come as no surprise that a dirty energy magnate with a history of bilking the federal government might try to pull a fast one on federal regulators. Let’s just make sure we remember this one next time he accuses a clean energy company of working the system.

Michael Conathan is the Director of Ocean Policy at American Progress Action Fund, and he grew up in Centerville and Bill Koch's 'hood, Osterville. This column appeared in Think Progress. The Justice Department release is reprinted below in total.

What's Romney doing on Obama's car roof? [Joe Quigley]

Joe Quigley fantasizes  about an Obama trip to Canada

For those unfamiliar with the Romney dog-strapped-to-car-roof story

Back in 1983, Mitt Romney traveled 12 hours to Canada with his Irish Setter, Seamus, strapped to the roof of the car in a kennel.

Then the doggy do-do

Then, as the Boston Globe described when they broke the story in 2007, Romney’s son noticed a brown liquid dripping down the back window.Romney hosed the dog off and stuffed the hound back into the crate.

The dog allegedly ran away when the Romney family finally reached its vacation destination.

NMA's video, "Mitt Romney ‘dog on roof’ story just won’t die" imagines what Seamus’s fateful trip might have looked like.

Joe Quigley of Dennis draws political cartoons for the American Federation of Teachers/Massachusetts, and for the Elizabeth Warren Campaign. 

Right now he has a "Red, White & Blue" sales at his online store on Zazzle.

Quigley cartoons quake Cape Cod [Op-Ed]

Joe Quigley of Dennis draws political cartoons for the American Federation of Teachers/Massachusetts, and for the Elizabeth Warren Campaign. 

Right now he has a "Red, White & Blue" sales at his online store on Zazzle.

Aw, come on Walter & Monpo, get it right [Op-Ed]

Have a little patience Monponsett and Walter

Friday was not a good day for Elizabeth Warren on Cape Cod Today,

By  Richard Bartlett

Friday, February 17th was not a good day for Elizabeth Warren on Cape Cod Today, the favorite website of so many of us.

First the usually affable and always perceptive Walter Brooks wrote a lengthy piece telling her to fire her campaign manager. He seemed unduly concerned about a 9 point lead Brown had 9 months before the election.

After watching the GOP presidential circus with its clowns enjoying about a month of glory before plummeting to the scrap heap it seems entirely possible that gearing up later is the smart strategy.

I'm not suggesting in any way that Elizabeth Warren resembles those strange ones, only that people tire of campaign overkill. We don't need too much too soon.

The second article on the same day had an impressionable Monponset bedazzled by the photogenic Scott Brown and arguing he was the likely blue collar favorite.

Really? Scott Brown has been called "Wall Street's Best Friend in the Senate." His $12 million campaign chest is stuffed with big --- really big --- corporate gifts, and he has known how to show his appreciation to those donors whose generosity is prompted by favors from Scott. It's called "pay for play."

Brown co-sponsored a bill that would not only deny women contraception, but would allow any business or insurance company to deny any employee any part of or all of their health care insurance.Just as Mitt Romney wears carefully wrinkled blue jeans to prove he's one of us, Scott made a barn coat his disguise and a pickup truck his camouflage. He wanted us to think of him as an independent, but he voted the Tea Party dominated Republican party line most of the time.

He gave his support to the Ryan Plan to kill Medicare and Social Security as we know them. He consistently voted to filibuster needed judicial and agency appointments --- party over country.

With Sen. Blunt he co-sponsored a bill that would not only deny women contraception, but would allow any business or insurance company to deny any employee any part of or all of their health care insurance. This guy is from the dark ages.

Brown is from the dark ages with his hands in your pocket

Perhaps the reason he is co-sponsor of the Blunt bill is because he received $108,900 from FMR (financial lobbyists), $80,900 from Liberty Mutual  Insurance Company, $54,448 from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. That's just the tip of the iceberg of the "gifts" from legal firms, big banks, and insurance companies. (I wonder if the policy holders realize part of their premiums are supporting the Republican Party?)

Instead of cozying up to Wall Street, his opponent, Elizabeth Warren created a watchdog agency to protect small investors and home buyers against the unregulated policies that harmed so many and caused the recent financial mayhem. It is she who would be the champion of the blue collar and middle class in the senate.

So have a little patience, Walter and Monponset, the truth will out. It would be more characteristic of CCToday if your voices clearly gave support to the candidate who would help Obama keep the recovery rolling.

Brown - the "Filibuster senator" from Massachusetts

Remember Scott Brown's old pitch --- he would be "the 41st vote." He would be that one extra vote that would allow Mitch McConnell to filibuster everything with no threat of cloture, making it necessary to get 60 votes on everything instead of the traditional simple majority. So Scott Brown's gift to the nation is two years of governmental constipation. No wonder congresses approval is only 10%.

Richard C. Bartlett
Cotuit

Op-Ed: Healthcare workers union endorses Bill Keating

Keating the right choice for healthcare workers on the Cape and South Coast

By 1199SEIU Executive Vice President Veronica Turner

Working for 1199SEIU, the largest healthcare workers union in Massachusetts, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and acquainting myself with several elected leaders, from Barack Obama to members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate. Each one of these leaders has impressed me in different ways. Congressman Bill Keating is no exception.

Throughout his career, Congressman Keating has maintained a consistent record of fighting for the rights of workers, and has been a strong advocate for our hard-working families and labor. Our members on Cape Cod and the South Coast are confident that he will continue to be a clear and consistent voice for residents of the new 9th district. 1199SEIU members know that Congressman Keating shares their values regarding the importance of quality, affordable health care, and that he will be a strong advocate for both patients and caregivers.

Congressman Keating is the real deal. From his first day in office, he has been a vocal supporter of our local hospitals, fighting for us every day in Washington and bringing home critical funds to make necessary improvements.That’s why we chose to endorse the Congressman in his reelection bid for the congressional seat in the 9th district. Bill Keating looks beyond the partisan bickering that typifies the current political landscape and focuses on what matters most: the people. A firm believer that ‘politics as usual’ won’t move us forward, Congressman Keating is a man of action. He is exactly what working families need in Massachusetts.

The 1199SEIU Massachusetts Executive Board, comprised of 1199SEIU members and 1199SEIU leadership, voted to endorse Congressman Keating based on his exemplary performance this past year in his district. He has created 10,000 new jobs in Massachusetts – one of the only members of Congress to achieve this goal; sponsored the AGREE Act, a bipartisan bill that encourages economic growth and gives tax breaks to small businesses; fought back against attacks on Social Security and Medicare and was a leading voice in holding Big Oil accountable for the exorbitant subsidies they receive.

Congressman Keating is the real deal. From his first day in office, he has been a vocal supporter of our local hospitals, fighting for us every day in Washington and bringing home critical funds to make necessary improvements.  As health care workers, we are on the frontlines every day in our hospitals, in our consumers’ homes, and in nursing homes and we know that Bill Keating is a man who will fight alongside of us for quality, affordable health care.

The more than 46,000 union members of 1199SEIU are proud to stand behind Congressman Keating as he campaigns to represent the 9th district and continue fighting for working families. We are confident that his integrity, values, and work ethic will continue to help him be the leader that the Cape and South Coast need.

1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East is the Union of healthcare workers working in the homecare, hospital and nursing home industries, as well as pharmacies, freestanding clinics and other healthcare settings. We care for the sick, the infirm, the elderly. The mission is to improve and expand quality patient care, to protect and improve the lives of our members and our families, and to work in solidarity with working people in our communities and around the world.

Op-Ed: Romney and the Whale

Mitt's Moby Dick

On April 11, 2006, then-Governor Mitt Romney signed the most sweeping new healthcare bill into law at a festive Faneuil Hall ceremony surrounded by his Democratic colleagues of the moment. From left, Tim Murphy, Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert Travaglini, Senate President, Ted Kennedy, U.S. Senator and Sal Dimassi, House leader who is currently in jail.

by Christy Mihos

Like Captain Ahab, Mitt Romney has his great white whale, and it has all the likelihood of taking him down too. 

Universal healthcare and its author at the federal level, United States Senator Edward Kennedy tried for decades to establish healthcare for all, only to be shot down by the Congress, by a bad plan, and later, terrible execution by the Clinton administration and by a nation adamantly opposed to the concept of mandates. 

This all goes back to 1994, when Mitt took on Senator Kennedy and with the polls even in October, Mitt morphed into a candidate that we, as ardent supporters did not know.  First he let it be known he did not vote for Ronald Reagan, who by the way, carried our state not once but twice.

Then he became Mitt the pro-choice icon of the left, only to trump that with a representation that he would be far better for the gay community than the liberal lion of Massachuestts Ted Kennedy.

Huh?  He said what?  Who is this guy?

After Kennedy took apart his business record the race was over and Kennedy won by almost twenty points. 

But in 2002 Mitt came back for more. 

Fresh off the success of the Olympics in Utah, and with millions in federal dollars to make these games safe and secure after 9/11, Mitt took center stage on Friday night in January 2002 and was catapulted onto the nation’s spotlight.  Who can forget the opening ceremonies with Mitt and President George Bush seated high in the stands talking to participants and the crowd---it was a seminal moment for Mitt!

Governor Romney,
pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-healthcare mandate.Now governor of Massachusetts, still pro-choice and pro-gay rights, Mitt stood down as gay marriage became law in his Massachusetts.  It wasn’t enough.  As our state ranked 48th in job creation a truly bad place to be, Governor Romney, now chairman of the Republican Governors Association began to bring forth his concept of universal healthcare.  And in April of 2006, in a signing ceremony at historic Faneuil Hall, flanked by Senator Kennedy and other prominent Democrats, Mitt slew the great white whale signing a bill into law that hooked a mandate around every ones neck. 

You had to buy healthcare---and if you don’t, you will be fined up to $2,000 each year.  The bill was written by many in the healthcare industry.  They were happy to help out Mitt and haul in higher healthcare premiums for all. 

Romneycare advanced, and now 99% of our citizens have healthcare.  But for we mere mortals, the cost of healthcare has risen by 70% since Mitt slew his great white whale.  Emergency rooms in hospitals still are swamped with people utilizing them as their primary care outlets.  Healthcare is still a budget buster.   But Mitt did what even Ted Kennedy could not.  

And as Captain Ahab had to have his prize, the vision of Ahab riding the whale down into the ocean depths launching spears into its pure white back, while his ship and sailors perished, is a clear picture of Mitt Romney, our former governor, now presidential candidate hurtling down into the depths, on the law he so blindly had to have which now will kill his hopes for the presidency. Should the United States Supreme Court rule the individual mandate unconstitutional it might be a moment that those that Mitt so desperately needs and wants will be somewhat upset with the father of Romneycare and Obamacare.

But for us who supported him through the years, Romneycare was the last insult. 

Christy P. Mihos was an Independent candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006 and ran again as a Republican in the 2010 Massachusetts gubernatorial election. He  served as a member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority from 1999 to 2004.