News Talk for the week of April 19

News Talk for the week of April 19

Have you driven down Broadway after 5 a.m. lately? Around Foss Park in front of the Dunkin Donuts, have you noticed there is usually over one hundred men, some say “illegal immigrants,” looking for cheap day work? Watch all the contractors pull in and quickly pull off with two or three, and sometimes even more, day workers who will work for extremely low rates. Well, we’re not the only ones that noticed, apparently the IRS has been noticing along with us. We heard from reliable sources that there is going to be a sting operation which will not just invovoled the workers but the contractors who illegally hire the day workers. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that strange men sitting in vans taking pictures day after day is not a good sign.         
                                                        ********
We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio – Jarrett Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano’s camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio’s behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis?   News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn’t mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.

Have you driven down Broadway after 5 a.m. lately? Around Foss Park in front of the Dunkin Donuts, have you noticed there is usually over one hundred men, some say “illegal immigrants,” looking for cheap day work? Watch all the contractors pull in and quickly pull off with two or three, and sometimes even more, day workers who will work for extremely low rates. Well, we’re not the only ones that noticed, apparently the IRS has been noticing along with us. We heard from reliable sources that there is going to be a sting operation which will not just invovoled the workers but the contractors who illegally hire the day workers. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that strange men sitting in vans taking pictures day after day is not a good sign.         
                                                        ********
We heard some interesting items this week about the Anthony Galluccio – Jarrett Barrios state Senate race. A source inside Congressman Mike Capuano’s camp said Capuano is going to support Galluccio. We also heard ultra-liberal (and expected Barrios supporters) state Rep. Carl Sciortino and state Rep. Alice Wolf are staying neutral. In February, Dan Cohen, progressive pollster for Sciortino and Senator Pat Jehlen campaigns, spoke on Galluccio’s behalf at a Progressive Democrats of Cambridge meeting (By the way, does Cambridge really need more whacko liberals? Just a thought). Could the progressives be losing interest in Barrios? Could Galluccio actually have a chance to beat his old nemesis?   News talk has been told the local progressive posse has become disillusioned with Barrios and wouldn’t mind seeing him struggle against Galluccio. Tune in to the state-wide elections in November for the exciting conclusion.
                                                         ****
Now City Hall wants to have the aldermen approve the expenditure of $100,000.00 to acquire a program that will dial up all the phones in the city and let them know when there’s a snow emergency or if there’s a problem. $100,000.00 for a few who will still complain when their car is towed because they didn’t realize that the city is towing when there is 2 feet of snow? Why in fiscally tight times are we spending that kind of money, when we could hire say… 2 polices officers or 2 fireman? Who says creativity isn’t alive in Somerville.
                                                               ****
Ok what’s going on? Seems that last week the Water Department personnel, including its department head, were all absent from work in the same day. Rumor around town is that something is going on again down at the DPW. Could someone be getting fired again? What was the important union meeting about last Wednesday evening?      
                                                              ****
Still no word from Captain Charles Femino on the missing money from the Traffic & Parking department theft last December. We’re still waiting along with half the city to hear how the exams are going and how long will it take? Charlie? Charlie? Maybe the Acting Police Chief needs to get some answers.
                                                                *****
The Mayor is going to endorse Bruce Desmond in his run for Middlesex County Clerk of Courts.   These two have not always been close political allies, could Mayor Joe be doing this to try and convince Bruce not to run against him in the next election?   We have already been told Tony LaFuente is running so that he can decrease the tax assessment on his home. Never mind, the Mayor’s race is too far away.    
                                                                *****
At the Patriots Day ceremony Monday Foss Park was filled with about 100 people. Take away the police and City Hall staff and maybe 60 regular folks were present. This is an event that has been happening in Somerville for many years, there was a lot of hard work put into it by a lot of people and groups in Somerville, hopefully we can gather more of a crowd for this patriotic event next year.
 

Comments

[Brittain33]

Unless all of those whispered Galluccio supporters know something about the multiple drunk driving stories that the rest of us don't know, I wouldn't expect those endorsements to pan out.

[the other guy]

If JC (and I don't mean Christ) is endorsing Desmond, I am definately going for the other guy..... Who is it?

[REAL Marine]

Other guy....C'mon now.
What better way to get rid of Desmond??
If you're really a Marine, you'd know what I mean. Strategy, HOOOORAAAAAH!

[pick me pick me pick me]

Mike Sullivan is the other guy who is running. Imet him at the Somerville Democratic City Committee meeting. Seemed like a good guy, I did not see Bruce though. Hmmmmmm. ps. Galuccio is still gonna have a battle, no$ no vote

[the other guy]

10 November Baby.........

[Joe Fine]

How come after 5 months we still don't know who left the door unlocked and the safe open at the Traffic & Parking? Better yet what happened to the stolen money?
on Galuccio giving Barrios a run for his money, Barrios wins hands down.

[Rick Rubin]

There is a clear connection between Galluccio and Capuano...it ain't Zab Judah and it ain't ethnicity...

[How much do you trust Barrios now!]

Nice move on Barrios's part! He tells the world that he's running for DA. Gets all of Galluccio's supporters to give him money! Barrios even had one Galluccio's supporter quicly and sneaky collecting checks two days before he withdrew from the DA's race! Then after he filed his war chest he announced that he withdraws from the DA's race and now he is running fror senator again against Galluccio with Galluccio's supporters donation paying for the battle knowing all along that he was going to withdraw! It's money that he would of never saw and money that Galluccio will never see now! Very smooth guy this Barrios! Now that's a guy that you have to watch out for! Barrios got the opponent's supporter's money to fight his battle against him! How much do you trust Barrios now! Now that's a Royal Screwing if I ever saw one!

Your a Bad Boy Senator Barrios!
Love Snowflake's Eleven

PS: And you can't come with us to the PotFest any more! You might have us buy your Pot for you and have us pinched! You Bad Boy!

[Quick Ron, hide the stash!]

Quick Ron, hide the stash! Barrios is around! Ron hide it in your wallet, it's never open!
Love SnowFlake!

[soon they wont]

find the missing traffic money? soon they won't have time to investigate the crime at traffic and parking or to show up at your house when you need them. Many cities and towns across the country are reporting that big-box retailers are generating large numbers of police calls—far more than local businesses do.
One reason for this is that a lot of stores and other big chains, as a matter of company-wide policy, involve the police in every incident, no matter how small. Maybe for insurance reasons. While someone caught shoplifting a $3 item from a local store might simply be told by the owner never to come back, that same $3 shoplifting incident at Wal-Mart will cost the city hours of police time to investigate all the people taking the T in from dorchester and in responding to the call, filling out paperwork, and a possible court appearance.
Another factor is that big-box stores seem to attract criminals passing through, particularly those outlets located near a highway interchange and open 24 hours. Perhaps they prefer the anonymity of a supercenter's aisles to the intimate environment of Bob's Hardware on
Main Street, where Bob himself greets you from behind the counter.
We have heard of reports of this problem from around the country. Others have found that big-box stores can also increase other municipal costs, particularly road maintenance, and eliminate tax revenue from small businesses that are forced to close or downsize. Altogether, these costs may even exceed the tax revenue a big-box store generates. You guys rember when all the Dorchester kids showed up at good times. Just quadruple that number for the assebly square area.

[Denise Sullivan]

Barrios v Gallucio ....who cares!

I would be more concerned with your alderman who all drive home late night after BOA meetings from local city watering holes.

So as they say "people in glass houses"......

Thankfully Dennis Sullivan got out of that race as he has more baggage than Gallucio on any given day.

[YAWN]

ZZZZ

Please. Galluccio is a non starter in this one. Barrios wins 2-1 - just like he did before Galluccio got popped for dui (again). Slow news week, I guess.

[No Gewirtz]

Hello readers of the somerville news. i was up at the disel coffee shop in davis square on thursday having coffee and playing poll and i heard some gossip. i heard that ward 6 alderwoman rebekah gewirtz maybe pull out nomination papers at the last minute to run against state rep. carl sciortino. i hope its not true, i think rep. carl is doing one heck of a job as state representative. i hope its not true. rep. carl good luck on your re-election and if alderwoman gewirtz runs against you i hope you kick her @#[email protected]@

[Ron Newman]

that's the silliest rumor I've ever read on this site, especially since

(1) Carl's district does not include any part of ward 6, and

(2) a candidate for a state rep seat must live in the district for a full year before the election

[Ira Glass]

Newsflash
Monday, April 24 2006
2:30 pm

We have just received reports that an Orang Pendek has just escaped from Stoneham’s Stone Zoo. The officials are saying "Please call your local authorities if you spot the animal. Also, you may want to keep your pets inside." Apparently these animals are very allusive and are not likely to cause harm to humans. The animal they named “Little feet” was reported to have escaped from the Zoo earlier today -- running through the grounds, almost injuring two people, and then frantically making his way past zoo gates to the street beyond. – They believe he may have been last spotted heading through Medford towards Somerville Massachusetts.

If you spot the animal you can Call 617-989-2000 for more information.

[James Norton]

Ron -

Holy crap will you stop about it already. I'm not here to erase comments that were or were not made by you. Do you have any idea how many comments have been made to the weblog, and of those how many were by the same "name" but a different email or IP address?

We aren't changing the format of the weblog so as to avoid one person being outraged by comments made by someone posing as him/her. Anyone who has read anything you've commented on here knows when it's you and when it isn't.

Deal with it. Or don't.

JN

[Martin Edin]

Is'nt there some way though typepad.com to open an account and log in? This way, a logged in user can not be forged and other posts can still have the freedom of not logging in?

[James Norton]

Martin -

Yep, there sure is. Don't care. Not doing it. End of story.

JN

[Jimmy Pringle]

Well this Newspaper would not be partly to blame as to why America is now rated so low on the worldwide press freedom index!

[why would you care]

I think that Mr. Norton should make people authenticate before they give comments. My friend Ron has had someone forge comments that are completely against his opinions, and Norton won't do anything. How about if we all forge comments until he decides that good fences make good neighbors, and doesn't risk Somerville folks' reputations over his slack.

He wrote:

Ron -

Holy crap will you stop about it already. I'm not here to erase comments that were or were not made by you. Do you have any idea how many comments have been made to the weblog, and of those how many were by the same "name" but a different email or IP address?

We aren't changing the format of the weblog so as to avoid one person being outraged by comments made by someone posing as him/her. Anyone who has read anything you've commented on here knows when it's you and when it isn't.

Deal with it. Or don't.

JN

Posted by: James Norton | April 24, 2006 at 04:58 PM

Is'nt there some way though typepad.com to open an account and log in? This way, a logged in user can not be forged and other posts can still have the freedom of not logging in?

Posted by: Martin Edin | April 24, 2006 at 05:09 PM

Martin -

Yep, there sure is. Don't care. Not doing it. End of story.

JN

Posted by: James Norton | April 24, 2006 at 05:11 PM

====

How RUDE, Mr. Norton. You are not inviting the good behavior of the online community.

[James Norton]

Really -

I don't think the "policy" is rude at all. The intent of this weblog has been from day one to have it remain as open and free for comments by anyone about anything completely anonymously.

You paint an incorrect picture of me and this newspaper and in particular this weblog. I was rude to Ron because he decided to make his comments here purely because he didn't like the response he got from me privately regarding this.

Isn't that a shame. I will not explain myself or this newspaper's position regarding this weblog over and over and over. It's not because I have some "power" here, because in the end I really don't. I don't act like a dictator - I have left comments up that were vicious and nasty about myself even.

In Ron's case, someone "forged" (which by the way is really the wrong word to use in this case but since someone else did first...) his name. I maintained all along that if someone read the comments and read anything from Ron before, they would know it wasn't HIM. Besides that, they might get the hint from the two or three postings he made saying it wasn't him.

People are stupid on this thing, but they're not that stupid if you follow.

Beyond all that - the format of this weblog has remained the same since day one. We have created a "methodology" of how it is maintained/formatted and a certain sense of rules do apply. This lends itself to good and responsible journalism.

Know how I know this? Because there have been a few people who have tried to take us to court about things posted on this weblog. They didn't get very far, and that's because the weblog is a certain format, and here we go on that dance again.

So yeah, when I have been running around like a lunatic all day - at that point about 11 hours on my way to a 16 hour workday - I'm not the most cordial in my response, but 99% of the time it's for good reason.

The format here isn't going to be changed, doesn't matter how many people ask, insult, sue or leave. So either understand my position and have a little respect (and I will try to do likewise next time in my response, Ron), or just don't come to this weblog anymore - it's that simple.

JN

[James Norton]

Alright. I've taken a step back, and had a little time to think about things. Now I'm going to do something I don't do too often around here.

I'm going to explain what's been going on.

Ron, you came to me with a valid concern and I was dismissive and rude. Unfortunately that's me sometimes. I don't appreciate you sending me private mail about something, then when you didn't get the response you were looking for you took it here. I think we were both a little wrong.

I work somewhere around 100 hours per week trying to run two companies, help out on a third and then AFTER that, spend time with the paper, and yes, sometimes I forget that I do this because I love Somerville and the people in it. Most of you care for Somerville, too, or you wouldn't be here. And with the challenges that face us as a community, it behooves us all to remain an active part of the community, even if that community is based on this weblog.

I have rules that need to be followed on here - most of you don't see the grief and aggrivation I go through daily with some of the crappy comments on here. Also, with respect to Ron's specific concern, I am limited as to what can be done on the TypePad side of this thing - and it's an all or nothing thing for us here (it HAS to be according to our attorney) - either we keep this as absolutely open as possible, or we remove the ability to comment.

I wish that was different, but from what I gather, there are changes being made on the TypePad side that may address some of the concerns, and allow us to remain as legally protected as possible as far as libel is concerned. I didn't bother to explain this fully before and for THAT I apologize.

People reading this wondering why I am posting this and have no clue - that's okay - I, along with others on here, have agreed to work together to come up with equitable solutions and allow some give and take when it comes to understanding and being courteous. I also promise that at some point in the next week, I will have a link to a page on here with disclaimers and a set of the rules of commenting. In the next couple of weeks, I might have an alternative as well for the more "hardcore" bloggers.

I'm hoping that once I lift the "ban", others will happily agree to peaceful continue towards those ends. That being said, I hope you'll stick around.

JN

[Mrs. McCarthy]

Jamie,

All you had to say is:

RESPECT MY A-THOR-A-TA!

It works for me here at the home.

Please Babycakes, take some time and relax. You're starting to let some of these pinheads get to you. As far as Butters, I warned you. You should try sitting through 2 hour public meetings with him jumping up and down every ten seconds to blurt out whatever random thought happened to get caught on his tongue at that moment.(might have mistook the thought for a morsel of leftover food).

I happen to think you and the folks at the Somerville News provide a very valuable resource to the community. Don't let a very few dickheads ruin your take on this blog and its worth.

Ready for that Backrub Pumpkin? Yes? Then I'll send you a gift certificate to Elizabeth Grady on Newbury Street. Let me know your availability.

Hugs, Kisses and Lots of Lix,

Mrs. McCarthy

[Walkie Talkie]

The Bible vs. the Ikea Catalogue – Which is Winning Hearts?

Around now – August or September - is when we receive the latest annual Ikea furniture catalogue in our mailboxes. When yours arrives, don’t think of it as just a bunch of pages of desirable furniture. See it instead as a major cultural indicator of our times.

For it’s possible that the Ikea catalogue is now the most widely distributed publication in the world. If it’s not now, then it soon will be.

The Bible is the best-selling book of all time. We all know that. The Guinness Book of World Records says 2.5 billion copies have been distributed since 1815, in 2,233 languages and dialects. (In second place is probably Mao Tse-Tung’s Little Red Book, with around 900 million copies published.)

But what about today? We can only guess at how many Bibles are distributed each year. I contacted several Bible societies for guidance. Here’s what one of them told me:

Since there are literally dozens of English translations of the Bible and over 2,000 translations of the Bible into other languages, Bible sales and distribution total well over 100 million copies per year.

If the Bible were tracked in terms of "best seller" lists, it would pretty much be a constant at the top of that list, week after week!

But from the Bible League came a much lower estimate:

David Barrett in the World Christian Encyclopaedia estimates that the total distribution of whole Bibles amounts to 53 million per year. 85% of these are in what he calls "World C" Christians living in those areas where the Gospel has already been proclaimed. The vast majority are also in the English language, distributed through commercial bookstores in North America.

To get a correct/accurate number is almost impossible because both copyright holders and publishers (often not the same groups) "count" the same Bibles, which of course results in double counting. For example, the Bible League might purchase 100,000 Bibles in the Tagalog language for use in the Philippines, from the Philippine Bible Society (we'd be the publisher/distributor, they the copyright holder) and we'd both "count" them. Thus, the number of 53 million is very likely much higher that the actual number used.

By contrast, thanks to the efficient PR staff at Ikea I know exactly how many of their catalogues are published annually. It topped 100 million for the first time in 2001, with the 2003 version – that’s the one shortly to arrive in your mailbox - requiring a printing of 115 million.

And the company is on a gigantic roll. Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book may have fizzled out pretty quickly. Nothing suggests a similar fate for Ikea.

It already has around 150 stores in 22 countries. In 1997 it opened in Shanghai, two years later in Beijing and a year after that in Moscow. It sees these stores as stepping stones for further penetration of those countries. It is gearing up to enter Japan. The catalogue printing run is set to soar.

China. Russia. Japan. Western Christians are spending heavily to reach people in such countries with the Gospel. Will we win hearts as readily as Ikea?

August 22nd, 2002

[Just noticing]

James Norton writes that he was upset that Ron made his comments here because he didn't like the response that he got after writing privately.

But if you look above, you'll notice that Ron doesn't criticize Mr. Norton once. He just tried to let readers know what he did and didn't say. Really doesn't seem like something for Mr. Norton to get all upset about. I'm sorry if you're working 100 hour weeks, but you're not the only one. You're still responsible for your statements.

[James Norton]

If I came off as being "upset" at Ron or stating that he "criticized" me, I must have been on crack that day. I just re-read what I posted above, and I didn't get that from it, but I guess I'm wrong, my bad.

I thought we were all done with this - but apparently not - so that's just swell.

Thanks a whole bunch people.

JN

[Just noticing]

Well, James, you yourself said that you were rude and dismissive. That usually means that someone's upset. "And Holy crap will you drop it" usually means that someone's upset.

That was the first time I was reading the whole thing over--I moved from Somerville to Dorchester and only read this occasionally. And I was surprised that you reacted so strongly to someone trying to let people know what he did or didn't write. But you did step back, and I'm willing to drop it now.