Thursday, April 27, 2006

Biting the Hand That Feeds You

Okay . . . we've stayed away from the immigrant issue because it's highly sensitive and controversial and provokes strong emotions from both sides. However, after having read the news reports on the planned boycotts for Monday, May 1 -- well, we just can't keep silent any longer.

Organizations who favor immigration reform are doing themselves absolutely no favors by taking actions of this kind. In summary, pro-immigration reform activists are planning on boycotts of business, are encouraging their children to skip school, and are putting together large protest rallies in major cities which are aimed at halting business and impacting the economy of the country. "We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, who is a union official who has helped organize previous rallies.

We have two words for Mr. Rodriguez and to anyone else who thinks that breaking our laws and flaunting it in the face of American citizens and people who have made their way here legally -- GO HOME.

For anyone who is here illegally to have the temerity to stand up and insist on "full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," as Rodriguez has stated, and for US law enforcement officials to stand by and allow this to happen, to allow our cities to be disrupted and allow lawbreakers to flagrantly thumb their noses at the rules, just defies logic and, we hope, will have the opposite affect of what the movement is looking to do. We hope it makes people angry. We hope that the millions of immigrants who are here legally, who wait years to attain their citizenship, will speak out. We hope that law enforcement officials will take notice. We wish that law enforcement officials would attend these rallies and insist on seeing documentation that proves these people have a legal status. They are, by their own admission, here illegally, and therefore, there's probable cause to insist on identification. There is reason to believe that everyone taking part in these protests is breaking the law simply by being there.

Perhaps we'll be thought of as intolerant or racist or hate mongering for expressing these views. We're willing to accept that. What we're no longer willing to accept is the notion that people who come here illegally deserve some sort of special treatment, as though they're some sort of protected class, instead of the law breakers that they are. Democrats and Republicans alike need to stop pandering to these groups and start paying attention to the needs and wishes of the American people.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Gasoline Prices, Energy and Rich Guys

The price of gasoline has gone through the roof again. We paid $2.89/gallon on Broadway today, for the mid-grade stuff. Pundits are looking at inflation indicators...because when gasoline goes up so dramatically, so does the price of everything else - from produce to computers, and clothing to furniture. This is a bad thing for all of us, except for perhaps Lee Raymond, the Exxon Chairman who will be retiring with a $400 million dollar parachute. Even Vice President Dick Cheney waltzed out of energy firm, Halliburton with a $20 million dollar retirement deal.

With energy prices the way they are, it's more than a little funny that two of the Commonwealth's richest guys, Senator Ted Kennedy and Governor Mitt Romney, are opposed to the wind turbines on the Cape. The Massachusetts Maritime Academy just installed them and officials there are calling them a "money machine." Money machine? That sounds like a good thing! We'd put one in the backyard if it would fit...

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Happy Easter and Happy Passover

The staff of the Everett Mirror would like to wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Easter and Passover season.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Bombshell! Or Two or Three....

A regular bombshell went off in the State Senate race earlier this week. Anthony Galluccio had been the presumptive heir to Jarrett Barrios' Senate seat until recent allegations involving a December car accident and a possible drunk driving charge inspired several other candidates to get into the race. The Senate district is comprised of Everett, Cambridge, Somerville, Allston/Brighton, Revere, Saugus, Chelsea and Charlestown.

While the Everett Independent was reporting that Leo McKinnon, a member of the Common Council from Ward 4, was entering the Senate race, the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald were reporting that Jarrett Barrios would be dropping out of his race for Distict Attorney, and instead, running for his Senate seat! Both the Everett Leader and the Advocate ran the story on the first page.

For Everettites, this has special meaning - because we remember when Ed Markey had intended to vacate his congressional seat to run against John Kerry....and then changed his mind. So many people in Everett already committed to Sam Rotondi, and stayed with him - because that's the way we are. We give our word - and we stick to it. Well, Ed Markey won the race - and it took us years to recover from the bad feelings that had arisen during the race.

We don't know where this thing is going right now...there could be 50 more candidates in this thing before it's over. What we do hope for is a professional and issues-focused race, instead of the scorched earth politics that we've seen in the past.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

News Coverage- Part II

The shooting of a store clerk by two would-be robbers at Kipo's on Bucknam Street has been all over the print and news media, so you couldn't have missed the story if you tried. The clerk was shot in the leg, and by all accounts appears to be okay, all things considered. One of the two alleged robbers is a local boy, which makes this crime seem all the worse for the community. It's one thing to be able to say that crime is coming from Chelsea or Eastie...it's quite another when the criminals are home-grown.

So, what do we do next? How do we turn this around? What makes a young man from this community rob a local store at gunpoint? This is the kind of stuff that chases the middle class right into the suburbs....and when a city loses it's middle class - it loses everything. And it's not just Everett....nine teenagers in Falmouth were just picked up for running a drug ring.

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO17457/

Any ideas?

Sunday, April 02, 2006

News Coverage

While we've complained about the lack of news coverage by Everett's weeklies in the past, two local newspapers, the Everett Leader and the Everett Independent, covered the stabbings that occurred over a week ago at Papa Jacks on Ferry Street. It was a shocking crime, with robbery suspected as the motive.

The attack occurred on Tuesday, Match 21, at around 7:00 PM. Two young men were walking along Ferry Street when they were accosted by three males who had pulled up in a car. One of the victims was stabbed in the back, and the other was stabbed in the hand. Both victims were treated at Mass. General Hospital. Police have identified at least two of the suspects.

It's hard to believe that something like this can happen in Everett...but it appears to to be happening everywhere. Crime seems to be on the rise, and our citizens need to know what is happening and why. Part of it has to do with the reduction in community policing grants, with that money being funneled into Homeland Security grants that have been distributed from New York to Alaska. While Everett has been the recipient of some of that money, community policing grants allowed the police department to hire "ground troops," police officers on the street, as opposed to equipment and technology.

The Everett Advocate, for some reason, took a pass on this important story.

We hope that the weeklies will continue to cover real news. There's a lot going on between Broadway (city hall) and Vine Street (school department) every week, and people have a right to know the unvarnished truth.