It’s like Police Academy but starring Dirty Harry
This is the sort of sophomoric, thin blue line bullshit that fosters distrust of authority within the general public. When it comes from the Chief of Police of the second largest city in New England, as opposed to the Sheriff in a small mid-west county, you’re pretty much screwed.
This may be difficult to comprehend if you never wore the uniform and pinned on the badge, but given the choice between the viability of a business and public safety, I will first and foremost address police officer safety.
Elderly man scared of technology, News at 11
State Rep John Binienda makes news today with a plan to track who’s buying pre-paid cell phones in an effort to show criminals we’re tough on crime. Apparently by showing criminals we really don’t understand technology.
“There has always been a concern that prepaid services in general enable anonymity in wireless usage and that’s in part a concern because it lends to its use by criminals,” said Fedor Smith, an analyst who monitors the prepaid cellphone industry for Boston-based consulting and research firm Atlantic-ACM. “If you’re calling other prepaid wireless costumers, there’s a completely anonymous network of people.”
Government has officially become your mom, searching through your sock drawer every day after you leave for school because Phil Donahue convinced her you were smoking dope.
link
This comes only a week after Governor Patrick signed into law H. 4811, Massachusetts version of Jessicas Law, which along the way picked up this amendment (which has nothing to do with protecting kids) while nobody was looking:
SECTION 3. Chapter 271 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 17B, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof following section:-
Section 17B. Except as otherwise prohibited under section 2703 of Title 18 of the United States Code, whenever the attorney general or a district attorney has reasonable grounds to believe that records in the possession of (i) a common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the department of telecommunications and energy, as defined in paragraph (d) of section 12 of chapter 159; or (ii) a provider of electronic communication service as defined in subparagraph (15) of section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code; or (iii) a provider of remote computing service as defined in section 2711 of Title 18 of the United States Code, are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation, the attorney general or district attorney may issue an administrative subpoena demanding all such records in the possession of such common carrier or service, and such records shall be delivered to the attorney general or district attorney within 14 days of receipt of the subpoena. No such common carrier or service, or employee thereof shall be civilly or criminally responsible for furnishing any records or information in compliance with such demand. Nothing in this section shall limit the right of the attorney general or a district attorney otherwise to obtain records from such a common carrier or service pursuant to a search warrant, a court order or a grand jury or trial subpoena.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a subpoena issued pursuant to this section shall not be used to obtain records disclosing the content of electronic communications, or subscriber account records disclosing internet locations which have been accessed including, but not limited to, websites, chat channels and newsgroups, but excluding servers used to initially access the internet. Nor shall the recipient of such a subpoena provide any such records accessed, in response to such a subpoena.
For those of you whose legalese is a little shaky, let me translate ‘In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the AG and DA can get your phone, internet and email records with nothing more than a hunch and a strongly worded letter‘. No really, that’s what it says.
A good week for freedom and capitalism all around. Surely now, with these exciting new tools, we’ll capture that pesky Emmanuel Goldstein!
Th-th-th-that’s Alta folks!
This week Worcester Magazine reports the closing of the Alta Café at the hands of the Worcester License Commission. A mixed blessing for the neighborhood to be sure, as they’re slowly running out of people to blame common bad behavior and terrible public safety oversight on.
As expected, local curmudgeon Billy Breault wins the “I’ll eat my hat” award with this line:
“I think it will make for a much safer area.”
Glad you went on the record with that Billy, now when the area is exactly the same a year from now we can completely discount you and your inane opinions.
Time to meet Worcester’s Street Vendors
Here are just a few of the individuals Mayor Lukes and Councilor Palmeri insist pose a serious threat to the city of Worcester.
Maybe you could pave over Elm Park?
You just know you’ve got a winner on your hands when a newspaper story dated Tuesday, July 22, 2008, starts with the line
In her first neighborhood walk this year, Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes and a small group of officials took a walk on Highland Street yesterday…
Someone please tell me they’re working off the fiscal calendar.
This reads like nobody involved has been on Highland Street in the past 15 years. While mention is made of both the Boynton and the Sole Proprietor expanding their already huge parking lots and Councilor Haller is working on a valet plan involving Elm Park School the merchants involved agree on one thing:
But merchants and officials agreed the main sticking point for Highland Street is its lack of a municipal parking lot.
Is that a joke? 40 Highland St anyone? That lot could definitely fit more cars if it was re-lined and it’s 600ft away from the active part of Highland St. Really, I can’t be the only person who noticed that. But what’s with this sudden need for more parking? I’ve never once had difficulty parking in that area, am I doing it wrong?
Not that anyone is keeping score
There’s an article in todays T&G about an art heist from the semi-permanent public art installation at Elm Park in Worcester. While the story is full of interesting bits of information such as Rob Antonelli, Assistant Commissioner of Public Works and Parks, having to explain to his staff that they were to look out for the sculptures after they noticed, but failed to report one missing. Makes one wonder what, exactly, his staff thought their job was up until this point. But it’s one magical quote from Assistant City Manager Julie Jacobson regarding the boosted statue which really takes flight on it’s own:
“It’s upsetting that it didn’t even make it 48 hours,” Ms. Jacobson said yesterday. “This isn’t just an attack on a piece of art. It’s an attack on the whole community.”
Actually, what’s upsetting is the Assistant City Manager doesn’t seem to realize the art works were installed almost a month ago. I don’t know what’s worse, that it’s nearly impossible to have meaningful things in the city without some douche ruining them or that when we do have meaningful things, city officials are often not even aware they exist unless a speaking engagement is involved.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
It seems as though each day that passes makes it slightly more difficult to discern which team I’m supposed to be rooting for.
From the Washington Times:
Maryland troopers spied on activist groups
Protesters added to database of terrorist suspects
Shaun Waterman UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Friday, July 18, 2008Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating peace and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and sending reports on their activities to U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to documents released Thursday.
—
The activist was identified as Max Obuszewski. His “primary crime” was entered into the database as “terrorism - anti govern(ment).” His “secondary crime” was listed as “terrorism - anti-war protestors.” The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.
And from the Washington Post
WHAT HAVE we learned from the Maryland State Police’s undercover spying program targeting peaceable groups opposed to the death penalty and the war in Iraq, other than that the police are prone to ludicrous misspellings? Well, here’s a sampling of the “intelligence” gleaned during 288 hours of police surveillance in 2005-06, in reports unearthed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland:
· On Oct. 3, 2005, an undercover state police agent attending a meeting of activists ferreted out the fact that antiwar protesters were laying plans to distribute fliers at the Towson Town Center mall.
· On July 11, 2005, an officer attending an antiwar meeting held by “an activist named Bernie” and “five middle-aged women” discovered that in a protest held a week earlier at the National Security Agency, peaceniks shared cookies with NSA guards who issued them a citation for trespassing.
· On June 6, 2005, an agent who infiltrated an anti-death-penalty protest in Baltimore reported “no problems” at the event, attended by about 25 known and “currently unidentified recurrent death penalty protestors.”
We have a terrorist watch list that includes people who bake cookies for NSA guards? That’s the sound of Nero tuning his fiddle, folks.
Thank you for flying Air Zoback
Most of you are familiar with Scott Zoback from the pages of Worcester Magazine. Now familiarize yourself with Scot Zoback as a guy who got stuck on a flight where a naked guy had to be subdued by a professional soccer team. Here’s the email dispatch from the field:
From: szoback@gmail.com
Subject: Nudity on planes is for lovers. Only.
Date: July 19, 2008 12:13:23 PM EDT
To: buckpaxton@gmail.comYou guys remember that scene in “Airplane” when the naked chick runs in front of the camera with her boobs all-a-bouncin? Great times.
Except when it happens in real life.
I was on a flight from Boston to LA yesterday that was already pretty interesting—the couple next to me had gotten off the flight before it started after the woman freaked out that she couldn’t fly, hyperventilated, cried, and bolted off the plane. Her husband debated with me what to do, (I suggested Valim), and eventually left with her. They were on their way to a honeymoon in Honolulu.
So we’re somewhere about halfway across the country when a guy comes out of the bathroom in his full on birthday suit, strolling back to his seat like it’s the most natural thing in the world. A New England Revolution official (oh, right…they were on the plane) stops the dude, eventually convinces him to get dressed (at one point they threw a blanket over him in his seat) and he goes back to the lav. He comes out again, and 15 minutes later makes a beeline for the exit door….the GM, a couple other Revs officials and a flight attendent “subdue” the guy. The pilot locks down the cabin, and immediately lands us in OK City which, from the sky, looks every bit as boring as I anticipated.
Anyway, they were pretty quick about getting us on to LA, although some people missed connections. I made mine to Monterey, CA…only to have them almost not land us because of the ongoing forest fires.
You can read the full story at the Boston Globe (bonus: story written by Milton Valencia, who I boxed for charity in 2006).
And thank you for flying Air Zoback.
link to the AP version of events.
One more reason to like Baltimore
Johns Hopkins University is looking for people with current or past cancers for a self-exploration study involving mushrooms.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University are seeking volunteers with a current or past diagnosis of cancer who have some anxiety or are feeling down about their cancer to participate in a scientific study of self-exploration and personal meaning brought about by the entheogen psilocybin, a psychoactive substance found in mushrooms used as a sacrament in some cultures, given in a comfortable, supportive setting. Questionnaires and interviews will be used to assess the effects of the substance on consciousness, mood, and behavior.
The Rod Sterling Memorial Garage
Congratulations on the new Union Station garage, Worcester, very nice. Two questions…
1. If the garage is automated, meaning you pay at a machine, why is it only open between 6 AM and midnight? Why bother closing it at all?
2. What is so fundamentally broken about us Worcesterites that everything needs an explanation? It’s an automated garage which requires a person to explain the automated part, that’s a joke right? Sometimes I feel like I may be the only person in town who has traveled beyond 290 in the last decade (But I know that isn’t the case since I saw Joe Petty on the Pike this morning and his car has a luggage rack on the trunk which is pretty awesome in my book). At least this partly explains why Union Station went so long without an ATM; they probably couldn’t find anyone to explain how it worked.
