Left In Lowell

This is it kids. The election is on the line, as is health care reform, oversight over banks (Brown wants them to go on business as usual), climate legislation, you name it, Brown is FUBAR on it, so get hopping to one of these phone bank sessions, capiche?

Wannalancit Mills (40 lines)
175 Cabot St Lowell, MA

1/15/2010 - 6-9pm
1/16/2010 - 9am-9pm
1/17/2010 - 9am-9pm
1/18/2010 - 6-9pm
1/19/2010 - 6-8pm

Turnout is king on Tuesday, January 19th.

A lot of people feel helpless in the face of the terrible disaster in Haiti. If you are contemplating a donation to one or more organizations that are part of the response, I hope you’ll consider an organization I’ve come to know, the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation. They have facilities on the ground and while some of their bigger facilities were not affected, being further out, all of the country’s remaining hospitals are being overrun with patients fleeing the city and looking for care. They also have facilities needing to be rebuilt as well. They are well positioned to deliver needed care now, as well as on into the future, to continue their work to build and rebuild infrastructure that Haiti sorely needed before the earthquake, and now is desperate for.

They are also blogging their experience on the ground as best they can.

Other organizations that I recommend as well are Oxfam, and Doctors without Borders. Both groups get stellar marks for the amount of your dollar that actually goes directly to aid.

Cassin takes the money and runs. What a guy. Classy to the end.

Honestly, if this isn’t proof that elections matter, folks, I don’t know what else could be. Obviously the Cassin GOB has seen the writing on the wall. From the Sun article:

James Cassin, the highest-paid school superintendent in the region, announced last night he plans to retire in June and is taking his second raise of the school year to up his pension.

Cassin’s contract with Greater Lowell Technical High School expires June 30, but his last day on the job may come well before that day because Cassin said he has a number of unused sick days he plans to use.

This can only make people shake their heads in disgust. But what does Cassin care? He gets to retire using his ridiculous $190K salary (a 69% increase since 2003, says the article) as part of the equation. Meanwhile, people are screaming about how the CM shouldn’t get a raise because of tough times. This makes one angry enough to chew a nail.

Thank god we can put this behind us, albeit let’s not forget it. Now we have to look for a really great replacement, one who actually has administrative experience maybe? Who can hire and fire impartially? I have a feeling a lot of stories of Cassin’s administration will come out now, not the least of which because the Sun is aggressively seeking them out (and the Sun loves to find fault with the schools). What is a miracle to me is how good the school still is. There’s a lot of good that can be done with the Voke but let’s not forget the hard work of the teachers who have been doing the real work of teaching our kids the trades. Hopefully they will now get an administration which supports and nurtures that goal in a better fashion.