Moriarty's "Goodbye" Message

From Shaun Moriarty's Facebook page:

Priorities.

There are few things that better show your character than what you prioritize in life.

I was raised to uphold a basic tenet that has served me well in life: Make no promise that you cannot or will not keep. In my campaigns for a seat on this Town Council, I didn’t do much in the way of your standard political campaign promises. I did, however, promise two things to the citizenry of Southbridge: 

Moriarty To Resign From Town Council

Brian Lee tweets: Southbridge‬ council chairman Shaun Moriarty announced he is resigning from the nine-member panel, effective Jan. 9







UPDATE

Southbridge Council Chairman Shaun Moriarty to resign By Brian Lee

SOUTHBRIDGE -Town Council Chairman Shaun M. Moriarty announced Monday that he's resigning, effective Jan. 9.

The teacher at Pathfinder Regional Vocational High School in Palmer and former Southbridge Evening News scribe cited his increasing commitments.

Just Wondering...

One Child Every Other Day In Three Years

Trump Driven Hate-Fest Obscures The Real Issue

Ken O'Brien

The public, driven by Republican candidates and media pundits, is preoccupied with the threat of radical Islamic terror.

The reason? The media savvy campaign of one Donald J. Trump.

As one source noted:

81:1.

Does that ratio seem out of whack? That's the ratio of TV airtime that ABC World News Tonight has devoted to Donald Trump's campaign (81 minutes) versus the amount of TV time World News Tonight has devoted to Bernie Sanders' campaign this year. And even that one minute for Sanders is misleading because the actual number is closer to 20 seconds.

For the entire year. 

Republicans Give Big Oil Billions To Export Domestic Oil

By: Rmuse in Politicus

Only a person who has been comatose over the past couple of decades is unaware that there are no lengths too far for Republicans to go to provide profits for the oil industry at the expense of the American people; both economically and health-wise. It is just what they exist to do and they are at it again. Republicans are wont to claim that America’s energy independence is their primary concern to prevent providing the Middle East with oil profits from American consumers, but they are a day away from making America much less energy independent and the oil industry billions more in profits. 

Southbridge Schools: What Next?

Ken O'Brien

The Worcester Telegram has described the recently issued report on the Southbridge school district as “scathing”.

Anybody who read the report on this site two days in advance of the Telegram article didn’t need to be told that.

What we did get from the Telegram article was a repetition of the views of Southbridge School Committee Chairman Scott Lazo. He summed up his comments by saying, “…we are ready to correct a five-year mess.”

His comments have been echoed in the past by former Chairman of the Committee, Jack Jovan.

As the report makes eminently clear, the problems go back to 2004 when the district was first declared underperforming. Trying to limit it to the last five years is grossly unrealistic.

Southbridge School Committee Agenda - December 15, 2015

Southbridge School Committee Meeting

MacKinnon Council Chambers

December 15, 2015

7 PM


Agenda

Southbridge Town Council Agenda - December 14, 2015

 Southbridge Town Council Meeting

MacKinnon Council Chambers

December 14, 2015

7 PM



Agenda

DESE Board Meets On Tuesday: Southbridge Schools On Agenda

Ken O'Brien

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will meet at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, December 15.

The agenda contains an item specifically related to the just issued District Review Report on the Southbridge schools.

According to the meeting agenda:

Good Guy With A Gun

                                GO TO VIDEO

State Releases Southbridge School District Review Report

The state issued the result of its review of the Southbridge School District today. The report is based upon interviews conducted by personnel from DESE’s Center for District and School Accountability from October 19^th to October 22^nd . 

The release comes a day before the district is scheduled to host a visit from DESE Commissioner Mitchell Chester.

Below is the Executive Summary of the report (excluding the district profile and a description of the review process) .

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Leadership and Governance

Leadership in the Southbridge Public Schools is currently in a state of disarray. Since 2010, the district has been unable to sustain consistent leadership at any level. The constant change in district and school leadership is symptomatic of the discord that has taken place on the school committee, which has not adhered to its appropriate roles and responsibilities. The school committee has involved itself in the operations of the school district in order to advance personal interest, and interviewees told the review team that the school committee recently exerted its influence into the personnel matters of the district and misappropriated district funds. 

The View On Guns From Down Under

Recently we ran a report on how Australia responded to gun violence. I thought it would be a good idea to gain a perspective on how that action is viewed by the vast majority of Aussies (albeit from a somewhat satirical standpoint). Herewith is one point of view published the day before our article.

******

Australia Enjoys Another Peaceful Day Under Oppressive Gun Control Regime

"...the peaceful two decades that have followed are "probably" because the Australian government decided to strip us of our God-given right to own projectile weaponry capable of shooting down helicopters."

3 December, 2015 10:05

CLANCY OVERELL, Editor  The Betoota Advocate

Due to the nation’s controversial and oppressive gun restrictions, no one has died as a result of a mass-shooting on Australian soil today, for the 7158th day in a row.

Local cinema attendant, Christina Upton can’t believe it has been a whole 19 years and 7 months since a heavily armed white Australian male decided to shoot at a crowd of unsuspecting Australian civilians for no reason.

She says the peaceful two decades that have followed are “probably” because the Australian government decided to strip her of a God-given right to own projectile weaponry capable of shooting down helicopters. 

Before Muslims It Was Catholics

Ken O'Brien

Since Donald Trump put forth his proposal that Muslim immigration into the U.S. be put on indefinite hiatus, much has been said about it being a unique and unprecedented watershed in American political history.

Never before, it is repeatedly claimed, has religion been a basis for restricting access to the liberties enjoyed by other immigrants.

The reality, however, is that it is not all that different than the experience of Catholics over the past 200 years.

A wave of anti-immigrant sentiment occurred after the huge migration of Irish Catholics into the U.S. during the potato famine of the mid-19th century.  Continued immigration caused the Roman Catholic population to grow rapidly even in this hostile environment. In 1784 there were only 30,000 Catholics in America but by 1820 this number grew to over 300,000. Petitions from the northeastern states to Congress, asked Congress to pass laws limiting the new immigrants’ right to vote. 

May The Force Protect Us

Somebody has got to say it – December 18 makes an ideal target for ISIS sympathizers.

On that day hundreds of thousands of people will be attending the opening of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

If we learned anything from events in Colorado at the opening of The Dark Knight Rises a few years ago or the more recent case of the Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris, it is this - people sitting passively in a theater are perfect targets for a deranged killer or killers. 

It is not any attempt on my part to cast a somber pall over what is expected to be a joyous occasion for so many people. Rather, I hope that by raising this prospect that our security personnel are properly prepared to deal with this matter.