Happy New Year 2015

Grotesque Ineptitude

Ken O’Brien

What Tuesday’s meeting of the Southbridge School Committee lacked in substance it made up in illustrating the ineptitude of its members.

The starting point, of course, was the absence of Superintendent Gardner from the dais. This naturally leads to speculation as to the result of the Flick report and whether we are in for yet another change in district leadership.

Let us hope that, if this is the case, there will be a return to the “best practice” of appointing a committee consisting of appropriate stakeholders to recruit and evaluate candidates.

Merry Christmas 2014

Ken O'Brien

Southbridge School Committee Meeting - December 23, 2014

The Interview Available On YouTube Now

The Interview starring Seth Rogen and James Franco is available for rental on YouTube now.

The price to rent the movie is $5.99

You can get it by going HERE.

Enjoy!

Track Santa's Flight With NORAD

Obama Ends Year On An Upswing

Ken O’Brien

Americans are more optimistic about the U.S. economy than they have been in years, and that upbeat mood has pushed President Obama’s job-approval level to its highest point since the spring of 2013, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll released Tuesday afternoon.

The poll showed 51 percent of Americans with a positive view of the economy, up from 38 percent in October.

It was published on a day that the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 18,000 for the first time, with the economy’s growth rate up to 5 percent in the fall. 

Biggest GDP Growth in More Than a Decade

Ken O’Brien

Real gross domestic product -- the value of the production of goods and services in the United   States, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 5.0 percent in the third quarter of 2014, according to the "third" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The number marks the strongest pace of U.S. economic growth since the third quarter of 2003. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also traded above 18000 for the first time on Tuesday. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 4.6 percent. 

The Colbert Report Is Gone But Truthiness Lives On

Ken O‘Brien

I used to say that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

I have come to realize, however, that such an observation is no longer valid.

Whether on a national or local level, what pass for facts are entirely a function of the purveyor of information and the decibel level provided by their supporters.

We live in the age of truthiness, a concept introduced by Stephen Colbert in the first episode of his show “The Colbert Report”.

New York Times Calls For Torture Prosecution

Ken O’Brien

The New York Times editorial board has called on President Barack Obama and the Justice Department to launch a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of torture, in a scathing editorial published Sunday.

The board demanded that the investigation look into involvement of former Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as several other former Bush officials, with regards to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report detailing the CIA's post-Sept. 11 torture program. The 500-page report, released in early December, examined the tactics inflicted upon terrorism suspects, whom interrogators waterboarded to the point of near drowning and rectally rehydrated.

Below is the New York Times editorial. What do you think?

Outfoxed • Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism • FULL DOCUMENTARY

Presidential Weekly Address: America's Resurgence Is Real

Paul Revere's Time Capsule

A time capsule buried in 1795 by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams was unearthed Thursday, December 11, in Boston at the Massachusetts Statehouse, possibly the oldest such U.S. artifact ever uncovered. 

The copper container — green from oxidation and caked in plaster — was found in the cornerstone of the "new" statehouse on Beacon Hill, which was completed in 1798. 

As Boston Museum of Fine Arts Conservator Pam Hatchfield chiseled away for hours to free the box, five silver coins spilled from the stone block — measures of good luck tossed in when the capsule was entombed by the revolutionary heroes 219 years ago, officials told the Boston Globe. At the time, Adams was known as the governor, not a beer.

We are fortunate to be able to present the first look inside.

Coal Ash Labeled As Nonhazardous Waste

Ken O’Brien

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Friday the first national regulations for the safe disposal of coal ash from power plants.

The new rules categorize coal ash as a nonhazardous waste.

"These strong safeguards will protect drinking water from contamination, air from coal ash dust and our communities from structural failures, while providing facilities a practical approach for implementation," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said in a release. 

How Far We Have Fallen

Ken O’Brien

In 1940 Charlie Chaplin released his film The Great Dictator. At the time of its first release, the United States was still formally at peace with Nazi Germany. Chaplin's film advanced a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini's fascism, anti-Semitism, and the Nazis.

Can you imagine if this film had been withdrawn prior to release because Hitler objected to it?

What has happened to us?