Waah!!!! Waah!!!! Waah!!!!

The more I hear from the Tea Party, the more I feel like they are acting like spoiled children when they don't get their way.

Example?  Today's T&G has an article announcing a protest of their own darling, Senator Scott Brown.

Why?  Because he voted with Democrats on legislation that (in theory) would offer taxpayers protection against a rapacious Wall Street culture.

This is supposed to be a good thing.  Regulation keeps you from getting screwed, Tea Partiers.  The last economic meltdown occurred because of a lack of regulation....so we should protest in favor of less regulation??????  The road to irrelevancy is paved with pages from Atlas Shrugged, Tea Partiers!

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Rational T&G comment of the week belongs to Ed:

"I've only taken two basic university classes in economics. I mostly read my medical journals for work and history for recreation. I do like to follow the news daily. There are a few things that are extremely obvious even to a non-expert like me! For example, that both the Reagan and Bush era tax cuts to the wealthy led to larger deficits and long term decline in growth. And, that deregulating any industry too much can lead to disasters, since the public is left unguarded against excess. What I fail to understand is this: do these conservative Congressional Republicans really believe that tax cuts for the wealthy work? Do they believe that more and more deregulation is in the interest of the nation's safety and prosperity? That is, have they missed the obvious evidence? Or, do they merely spout propaganda to mislead people so that they get the backing of wealthy donors?"

Traded!

Worcester's Tim Collins was part of a 5 player trade between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves.

Tim has been dominant at Double A New Hampshire this year, and now he will probably pitch for Atlanta's Double A affiliate, the Mississippi Braves.

I like this idea.

"The city is launching a new initiative to encourage economic development with an artistic bent."

Perhaps we should begin with a public transportation system that runs past 8PM, or a cheaper cab system that offers a Passenger Bill of Rights like Toronto.

Imagine trolley cars like this running up and down Main Street, Shrewsbury Street or the Canal District every weekend night.  Imagine college students pedaling customers throughout the Canal District.  Imagine what a $5,000 micro-grant could do to help the various festivals and free concert programs in the City.

Bravo!

Public-private parternships.

That catchphrase has been tossed around more than a few times by our City Council and City Manager.  Hopefully they'll read this article and start to think a little more critically about this issue. 

After all, didn't we just extricate the City from a public-private partnership with National Grid?

Would you like some free Crestor with your lasagna?

I wrote about it last week, and it happened.  Pharmaceutical companies will soon be able to bribe provide free lunches for doctors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and not disclose what they are doing.  I hope the reconciliation package omits the free lunch rule.

Community Development Corporations.

I love this question:

“The city is by no means abandoning the CDCs,” Ms. Vachon-Jackson said yesterday at the ceremony. “We'll be taking a look at hard data — vacancies, foreclosures, overcrowding — and form a policy based on that. Does it make sense for CDCs to build new properties, or help us with the foreclosure problem?”

 YES!!!  The City should be doing everything in its power to solve the foreclosure problem. 

Foreclosure = Urban Decay, and we have had way too much of that in Worcester in the past 30 years.  

Food and Beer.

Here's the money quote from Bill Clapper's review of the Armsby Abbey in the Telegram & Gazette:

"Armsby Abbey’s raison d’etre is beer, and the more exotic the beer, the higher Armsby rises to the challenge."

Why didn't Mr. Clapper mention the beer in his review?  (I really hope that's a real name and not a nom de guerre...it's so much fun to say!)  The Armsby is all about fantastic beer and Slow food.  Missing both in the review doesn't do justice to the owner's vision, and ensures that there will be people who go to the Armsby and miss the point.  I love the place- I've never had a bad meal, beer or experience there.  It's a shame that Mr. Clapper only handed out three stars out of four- I believe the Armsby is one of the best bars in Worcester.

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The trolls were out in full force in today's review and last Thursday's article about the negative aspects of the Summer Nationals.  There's a wide range of reviews on Yelp, (Thirty 5-star reviews, twenty three 4-star reviews, six 3-star reviews, four 2-star reviews, and two 1-star reviews.)  Even though I'm not a fan of trolls, they make for some entertaining reading!

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Speaking of beer, I found this Op-Ed interesting.  There's always been a problem with wholesalers in Massachusetts regarding craft beer, and I don't want to see it get worse!