Left In Lowell

Due to some technical difficulties, last night’s City Council meeting was not broadcast on Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) Channel 10. So many Lowellians who wanted to watch the discussion on “trash pickup” did not have the opportunity.

But do not worry. LTC’s web site already has posted the streaming video and there are numerous opportunities to watch the replays starting tonight on Channel 10:

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 11 p.m. [for insomniacs ]
Friday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 13, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 14, 8 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 3 p. m.
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 11 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 19, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 20, 10 a.m.
Sunday, Sept 21, 8 p.m. (more…)

I always forget to plug the Left Ahead podcast, but I still do them most weeks, and today we interviewed Ed O’Reilly, who is challenging John Kerry for the Democratic nomination.

You know. In that election thing that’s happening next Tuesday. (So get your ass out to vote.)

But before you head to the polls, and since the media has done a less than bang-up job of covering this race, you can maybe get informed by listening to our interview (which was conducted live at 2:30 today) online.

You can also see the pathetically-short Jon Keller-moderated pre-taped debate which stupidly aired at 8:30am on a Sunday. Go democracy. Oh well, better than nothing.

(Update: we did ask John Kerry to also join us for a call-in show but were told he was too busy. We also had this request months ago. Anyway, just wanted to be sure that everyone understood we did want to be fair, but we only got an interview with Ed O’Reilly. I think you’ll agree we did ask some uncomfortable questions in our interview with him.)

The CM’s blog has the details on a second round of this workshop and grant program.

The City of Lowell will once again be offering the Best Retail Practices program to assist small retailers, restaurants and storefront service businesses in Lowell with professional advice and grant money in the areas of store and restaurant design, window and merchandise displays, signage, and cost-effective marketing tips.

The Best Retail Practices is a three-part program beginning with a 2-hour workshop and presentation using visual examples of best retail practices. The workshop will be held Tuesday evening at 6:30pm on September 16th in the Assembly Room of the Morse Federal Building, 50 East Merrimack Street.

Sco asks the question.

Now that Middlesex County Register of Probate John Buonomo has stepped down from office in the face of theft charges, it is worth spending a little time discussing what might happen if Buonomo wins the primary, but then withdraws his name from the General Election ballot.

Sco has experience with this, as something similar happened (a late withdrawal) in his district. Sco is Watertown Chair of the DTC (Dem Town Committee). Basically, the local Democratic party has the opportunity to meet to choose a candidate for an upcoming general election if they have no candidate due to late withdrawal. He tells us the following (with the caveat that he is not a lawyer and could stand to be corrected):

As the newspapers are reporting, it is too late for Buonomo to withdraw his name from the primary ballot. Since his is the only name that will appear and this race is so low-profile, it is not inconceivable that he will get more votes than any write-in challenger. WBUR this morning was reporting that should he win the primary, Buonomo would withdraw his name from the general election. Democrats throughout the county would then be able to fill the ballot line via a caucus, as provided for in Mass General Laws chapter 53, sections 49 and 14.

He goes on to tell us how he thinks this would work under party rules. (Worth the read, I won’t quote the whole thing.) Lowell would be alloted some 24 delegates (divvied up to its 11 wards). And this is all on a severely short timetable:

Keep in mind that all this must happen between the time Buonomo withdraws from the ballot — no sooner than the morning of September 17th, the day after the election — and September 25th at 5PM, the Secretary of State’s deadline to fill vacancies.

If this does go to a caucus under these rules, Lowell shouldn’t be left out (and neither should its neighbors). Due to the largely defunct Lowell Democratic City Committee (yes, defunct, as much as I personally like some of its members, there is, in effect, only an LDCC on paper, not in reality), we may well fail to be represented at any county-wide caucus…if things go as I bet they will.

Of course, as sco says, it is a low-profile position. “I’m wondering exactly how many people I’d be able to convince to show up on one or two days notice to pick delegates for a caucus that would decide such a low-profile position. My guess is very few… My hunch is that this will be true in communities throughout the county.”

Indeed. Given my above complaint about the nature of our local Committee it’s even less likely that Lowell will even send one delegate in such a case. A rather unfortunate situation if you ask me.

Look, it’s the home stretch. We need to win in the fall if we’re to make progress on health care, the economy, jobs, sane foreign policy, Iraq, Afghanistan, the global climate crisis, women’s rights, civil rights, preserving the Constitution, stopping the torture policy, and to gets our childrens learning.

So, it’s time to go listen to some music.

I’ve bought my ticket (hint: it wasn’t the expensive seats but it weren’t the cheap seats neither), and am all set to head out this Friday to Boston and the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall for “National Anthem,” the fundraiser organized and starring Blue Mass Group’s David Kravitz and Charley Blandy, along with other amazing singers and musicians. Even Mr. Lynne is making a cameo appearance where they need him to help with percussion in the orchestra.

The concert takes place this Friday, September 12, 2008 at 8:00 p.m., again, at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall at 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston. There’s a list of pieces on the program (subject to change). You can buy tickets in advance from the website (they use ActBlue) and it is strongly advised you do so, as it makes it easier for the organizers who are adhering to campaign finance rules. (If purchased at the door, I assume they will have to have people fill in all relevant data that you fill in when donating via the web, slowing down the line I’m sure.)

If you aren’t there, I will know about it, and you’ll never hear the end of it.

Can we finally all agree that the Republican leadership are a bunch of whiny, tiny babies? No, really. Clever whiny babies with loud voices, but still.

Palin spends her entire RNC speech dissin’ (in some cases, lyin’) Obama-Biden, but when Obama uses a zinger to call McCain’s new faux “change” mantra (when he really embraces Bush’s policies) as “putting lipstick on a pig,” that’s calling Sarah Palin a pig. I mean, uh…huh? Come again?

This is reverse sexism, folks. It’s using the shadow of sexism (a very real issue in our society) to divert attention from a grownup conversation on policy. Of course, avoiding a discussion on policy is exactly what the entire RNC convention and the McSame campaign hopes to do. Like the plague, folks. Or even having Ms. Palin answer any legitimate questions about her lies, distortions, and ethics problems. (Because the media is doing McSame’s vetting job for him, he having picked Palin at the very last minute on a whim, even though she would be a heartbeat away from being President and McCain the oldest candidate ever, with a history of cancer.)

And it’s dangerous territory. Trivializing sexism means that when sexism really does occur to someone, it will be more likely to be derided and ignored.

Attacking Sarah Palin for being a woman is sexism. Attacking her for being a lightweight (she is) or a liar (she is) or ethically-challenged (she is), or attacking McCain-Palin for trying to “repackage” themselves as the change candidate when they clearly represent more years of Bush-Cheney, that’s fair game. Let’s hope the media figure this out before this whining gets anywhere.

Oh, and if you want to know how this is related to the title, McCain compared Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal in the 1990’s as putting lipstick on a pig. And to go even further, he’s also known to have made a horrible rape joke, a joke about Chelsea Clinton’s looks, and reportedly called his own wife a c**t.

I never thought we would devolve quite this far. I mean, yes, politics is juvenile, but this is going the extra mile.

(Update: The aforementioned McCain lipstick pig comment was actually recent, during the primary, comparing Clinton’s current health care plan with the one from the early 1990s stating that “I think they put some lipstick on the pig but it’s still a pig.” So, McCain is even more of a cynical hypocritical whiny tiny baby.)

Update II: This all must mean “Nanny McPhee” is a sexist movie!