Mr. Hakkarainen goes to Helsinki

If you refer to blacks as niggers but don't call yourself a racist, then you're not a racist. So said Timo Soini, leader of the True Finns party in a BBC Hard Talk interview. (The video clip does not play on mobile devices. When I find an audio link, I will update this post.)
Soini was defending his party leadership when the interviewer asked about Tuevo Hakkarainen, who had used neekeri-sanan in a speech in Parliament. "Don't use that kind of language," said Soini.
He went on to say that it isn't OK to use that kind of language, even if you're not a racist. "You should be improving in your behavior."

---

This post is one of a series about Teuvo Hakkarainen, the True Finns Party MP from Viitasaari. For the record, my grandfather was born in Viitasaari.

If Developers Wrote the Laws

Code is code, right?

Read more at my Develop in The Cloud blog: If Developers Wrote the Laws

Congress shall make no law ...

In the news, we learn that there are a bunch of laws managed by private firms, for which we'd have to pay to see because, well, that's what Boing-Boing is trying to figure out in Liberating America's secret, for-pay laws. These laws relate to areas as diverse as building codes, motor vehicle standards, and workplace safety. Because the laws are written by private, albeit nonprofit, organizations, the companies are asserting their copyright on the material. Courts have made it abundantly clear that the laws of the nation are in the public domain. Nonetheless, the companies are charging big bucks to have the documents printed and are still claiming their rights to restrict distribution.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Times is reporting that the Justice Department is trying to keep another category of information out of the reach of Freedom of Information Act requests.

A quiet visit with a LaRouche supporter

"It's all about the British financial institutions," said the female Lyndon LaRouche supporter. She was talking with a woman in front of the Holden post  office.

Read the rest of A quiet visit with a LaRouche supporter on my TelegramTowns.com blog.

Obama, Romney Go Mobile for Money

The Obama and Romney campaigns are using mobile technologies to collect political donations.

Both campaigns will use Square. Additionally, Romney supporters can download a copy of the candidate's Believe in America jobs plan by tweeting about the book via Pay with a Tweet. The book is No. 9 on the Amazon Kindle best-seller list.

Read the rest of  my blog post,  Obama, Romney Go Mobile for Money,  at The CMO Site.

About the political friends of Tim Murray and Deval Patrick

It's pretty rare for the Globe editorial team to deliver such a devastating takedown of a Democrat. In Lt. Gov. Tim Murray’s patronage politics show deeper problem in Mass., the Globe not only slams Murray, but also reminds us that Gov. Deval Patrick's continued support of Murray is bad for government in general.

Tim Murray earned this long before his early morning car crash. His aspirations to make it outside of Worcester brought him to people who, legally or ethically, should never be near a political campaign.

The Globe editorial concludes:

Tim Murray has shown, through his relationship with McLaughlin, that he lacks the judgment and character to make these decisions. And Patrick, who controls all the levers of the executive branch, still sees fit to keep Murray as his personal liaison to municipal government.

Long-time students of Massachusetts politics and government shouldn't be surprised by any of this. All the same, we had hoped that we were better than this.

GOP Fumbles Social Media

Through inattention and tone-deafness, the GOP has failed to capitalize on a good start using social media for political campaigning, ignored an essential constituency in Florida, and missed chances to address local issues.

Read the read on The CMO Site - Karl Hakkarainen - GOP Fumbles Social Media

More on Mitt Romney and historic events

When Mitt Romney 60% of the voters in  New Hampshire's primary didn't vote for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor declared, “Tonight we made history.” History, in this context, was manufactured because political wonks discovered that Romney is the first Republican non-incumbent presidential candidate to win nominating contests in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

No, my friends,  last Tuesday's "historic" moment is as historic as Al Bundy's four touchdowns in a high school football game. It's the worst kind of political geekery that passes for analysis, made even worse when raised up by a candidate on a national stage.

No, my friends, history was made with:

• the march on Selma to Montgomery in 1965


• the march on Washington in 1963


• the march on the Pentagon in 1968


• Juneteenth in 1865


• Nelson Mandela's walk from prison in 1990


• the ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791


• the election of a black president in 2008

This history-is-waiting tidbit started showing up a couple of months ago. I haven't verified that Jim Geraghty's column in NRO, War-Gaming the GOP Early Contests, Six Weeks Out, is the very first mention, but it's among the earliest. The factoid gained momentum after Mitt's presumed eight-vote triumph in Iowa. It was held high by the candidate, much as a fifth-grader would raise a blue ribbon for the best bug collection.

All around the world, people are fighting and dying for the right to have a government of their choosing. Should we warn them that it's is what their future could be?

We, for varying values of we, are idiots.^™

Republicans Target Marketing Guns on New Hampshire

Republican candidates are using a mix of old and new-media marketing tools to reach state voters for the important New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
Read the rest of my latest blog on  The CMO Site - Republicans Target Marketing Guns on New Hampshire.

More on politics and news

[Editor's Note: This is the latest installment of the More On series.]

As of December 1, 2011, there were approximately 614,000 registered Republicans in Iowa. Of those, slightly more than 100,000 Republicans attended and voted at the caucuses. The Three Amigos are each getting about one-quarter of the total. The punditocracy is trying to decide which one won with differences measured in the 100s or less.

None of the Iowa Republican delegates selected tonight are bound by the election results. If they were, the state might lose half of their delegates because the Republican National Committee says that we're starting the election season too early.

There were 137M registered voters in 2010, including 1.5M in Iowa.

Every major television, radio, cable, and newspaper service has been running special coverage of the Iowa results. Countless bloggers and twitterers are cloggging the InterTubes with their thoughts about the meaning of this vote that doesn't even rise to the level of a rounding error.

We, for varying values of we, are idiots.

Report from Chicagoland

We trekked to the Chicago area to attend a family (my second cousin-in-law) wedding and to visit long-time friends in the college town of Urbana. Lemme tell you, if there's gloom in nation, a pall on America's spirit, I didn't find it here. Folks are going about their business. They're making lives, working hard, and are hopeful for their kids and grandkids. They're glad for a light snow cover to make December feel like Christmas.

To be sure, we didn't initiate any conversations aobut politics with anyone outside of the decidedly liberal crowd at the taping of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!. We let people about work and families and the usual fare for people who'd just met.  The most serious social problem that I heard discussed came from one woman who told of neighborhood kids playing baseball in her driveway and denting her garage door.

[caption id="attachment_3029" align="alignleft" width="179" caption="A room with a view"][/caption]

The rehearsal dinner was in a restaurant in the back of a bowling alley. Several people at the lanes were wearing Bowling for Jesus shirts "because He died your pins."

It's true that Marshall Field's has been hollowed out and replaced by Macy's, that Dunkin' Donuts is bringing its alleged coffee to every street corner and gas station. There were few choices for breakfast near our hotel that's at the back of a large shopping mall that's in the middle of the carpet of suburbs. So we had our breakfast at IKEA and were very pleased. We ate lunch at the restaurant next to the Bass Pro Shop.

The people we spoke with were unfailingly polite as you'd expect. Their work was often in flux. The people getting married are in their mid-30s, late by the standards of previous generations, but common now. Housing prices are low, but credit is extremely tight, so attractive homes stay on the market for a long time. There weren't  a lot of little kids around, letting the four-year-old ring-bearer enjoy his day without competition.

We talked long enough to get beyond the introductory niceties. People didn't, of course, get to deep stories, but they did talk of their futures, what they liked and disliked about their jobs, what they did on weekends, and what they imagined for retirement. None of it was on hold until the 2012 election. None of it was about 99% or 1%. None of it was about class war or the war on Christmas or or who believed what. They talked about what they were doing and what they were gonna do.

If you read or watch or listen to the news, you might think that the fabric of the nation is irrecoverably split. The news spends too much time listening to itself.  Chicago may be divided, but it's between Cubs fans and White Sox fans, those who care or don't care that Theo Epstein might bring a World Series championship to Wrigley Field.

When good people let us down

On this evening's PBS News Hour, Jim Lehrer asked David Brooks and Mark Shields for their comments about Barney Frank's decision not to seek re-election. Both praised Frank's formidable intellectual and verbal skills as well as highlighting his ability to get stuff done in Congress.

About Frank's impatience with stupid questions there is little disagreement. That's fine and often funny. Brooks went on, however, to characterize Frank as a bully.

You know, you go to Capitol Hill, and we see -- just on the show today -- there are these scrums, where these reporters surround the politicians. And most of them are like us, who are sort of middle-aged guys, and we can take it. But there's always a bunch of young people who are just learning the trade. And they're nervous.

And I just saw Barney Frank as cruel to them on a couple of occasions, needlessly cruel. And I'm sure he did a lot of good things, but that needless cruelty always put me off. And that's the lingering memory I have.

Shields, Brooks on Gingrich's 'Skeletons,' Bill Clinton's 'Second Act,' Tax Cuts | PBS NewsHour | Dec. 2, 2011 | PBS 

I have no direct experience with Barney's behavior. Sandra and I saw him in downtown Boston one time years ago. My impressions of him are based on what I've read, heard, and seen in the media. Reflecting on those stories and the reports from people who have met and worked with him, Brooks's comments are credible.

There are always times when it's necessary to speak truth to power. There are always times to afflict the comfortable. Mike Benedetti and I spent a good bit of time talking about those themes last night. #Occupy has carried hard messages but has done so with self-deprecating humor.

Barney used to do that, too. A campaign ad in the 70s clearly showed that he understood that his sartorial abilities rarely reached a passing grade.

When campaigning, Barney could be funny and smart, but also charming. That happened when he needed something - a vote or a favorable press piece.

In his non-reelection announcement, he said, “I don't have to pretend to be nice to people I don't like.” His political insights were sharp enough to know that he couldn't be successful if he was his natural self. By dialing it back, he could champion the liberal causes and get a lot of good stuff done.

His true perspective, though, seems to be that, for whatever reasons and for whatever purposes, he knew that he was smarter than the rest of us and that he didn't respect us for that.

Damn.

Say it ain't so, Barney.

More on education and politics

[caption id="attachment_2836" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Tim Connolly and Rep. Jim McGovern"][/caption]

The other day, Rep. Jim McGovern spoke at our WISE politics and media class. Tim Connolly, communications director for Worcester County D.A. Joseph Early, Jr., is leading the class. McGovern took questions for the full 90 minutes. As you might expect, topics ranged widely from Worcester politics to the pile of rubble that is the Washington political process. "If you wanted to chose any time in history to be president," said McGovern, "this is not the time you would choose." (Ref The Onion's on-point headline in November 2008, Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job .)

We talked redistricting. More than half of his district is new to him, now anchored to the west by Amherst and Northampton. (I corrected him on the pronunciation of Amherst, with a silent h. The townspeople notice such things.) The discussion about education included the usual topics of improving STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) as we try to prepare young people for jobs in the emerging green economy and medical technology.

In a bit of topic drift, we noted that a 20% turnout, coupled with Joe Perry's 48% plurality, means than fewer than 10% of Worcester voters chose their new mayor. "We are ultimately responsible for whom we elect," noted McGovern. By comparison, 40% of Fitchburg electorate voted. They re-elected Lisa Wong as mayor.

In addition to the usual concerns about civic detachment, the class agreed that civics should also be included in any education reform.

I know that it's comparing apples and dump trucks to relate my personal educational experiences with the practices and people of these times. There are a few dynamics about growing up, however, that are somewhat enduring. So, here are a couple of points:

• I loved history, social studies, and political science. I even got an award as best social studies student in my graduating class. My first college course, taken when I was 16, was political science. I grew up in a household where both parents voted regularly, where my mother campaigned for Ed Brooke as senator.
  I didn't vote until I was 30.


• There were several classes - Shakespeare in freshman English, shop, and gym, notably - that caused me not only not to learn the subjects but also to hate them later in life. Part of it was bad teaching, more of it was due to an inept student forced to display his ineptitude for the world to see.

These are notes of caution about what we can expect from education of any type, be it our public schools or even a parent to a child. We can give skills and knowledge, knowing that some of that will land on fertile ground and some will land on the rocks. The skill of the teacher and the aptitude of the student are the major factors here.

Much, much harder, though, it teaching people how to care when they don't. Even if we can identify root causes and remove those impediments, our successes are less than hoped for. It's pretty easy for people who are passionate about a topic to share why they're excited. The stories that are most interesting and, I think, most instructive, are the ones where someone once didn't care and now does. What happened? Is there anything transferable from those life lessons?

I voted for the first time because I was friends with people who were active in politics and who voted. The friendship preceded the act of voting. (This, by the way, is why social networks can be so compelling.) It's not about trust in the political arena or in the classroom, perhaps, but in the coffee shops and living rooms and other social places, where change happens. I voted not because I trusted the politicians so much as I trusted my friends.

More on poker, True Finns, and the presidential, er, um ...

Various about government and politics that you may have missed or wished you had.

• Apparently, online poker is no longer the clear career path that it was even last week.  According to the Wall Street Journal, in Online Poker Players Face Big Life Changes, when the Obama administration shut down various online poker sites this past weekend, it made life more difficult for folks who'd make as much as $75K from their couches on Sunday afternoons. Now, instead of being able to play up to 50 games at once, these players would have play live online games, one at a time, slowing the Fire Hydrant O' Cash^™ to a mere garden hose.
  Even Rep. Barney Frank thinks that shutting down these operations is a waste of time.
  "Frank mocked the seizures as the administration 'protecting the public from the scourge of inside straights,' and lamented that the Justice Department is more focused on prosecuting online poker sites than those responsible for the mortgage crisis and financial meltdown."
  
  via Rep. Frank: Administration 'wasting time' with online poker crackdown - The Hill's Hillicon Valley
• I'm gonna blame the Microsoft-Nokia deal for this one. The True Finns, a nativist, but still progressive party, surprised most every one by winning 18.6% in Finland's parliamentary elections this past weekend. In a parliament where no party has more than 21%, the True Finns' ascendancy will likely lead to their being part of a new coalition. The party gathered a just 3.7% of the vote in 2007. (via Helsingin Sanomat)
  Among the True Finns who will be taking seats in the new parliament will be one Teuvo Hakkarainen. No known relation, but he does come from the town where my grandfather was born.
• Arizona governor Jan Brewer vetoes the Presidential Candidate Penis Identification Act.
  The legislation would have required presidential candidates to deliver proof positive that they met the criteria for "natural-born citizen" before their names could be placed on the Arizona ballot. Absent a standard, verifiable long-form birth certificate, candidates could also offer alternative proof, such as an  "Early baptismal or circumcision certificate."
  
  via Brewer vetoes gun, birther bills and  
  Arizona's Senate-Approved Birther Bill Could Force Presidential Candidates to Provide Documentation Describing What Their Penis Looks Like to Get on Ballot - Phoenix News - Valley Fever

1st Worcester race

One of the better tenets of good politics is that, when your opponent is making trouble for himself, keep quiet. That seems to be what Kim Ferguson is wisely doing as Ken O'Brien thrashes around.
The latest troubles come in an exchange of letters to the editor in the local outlets. Last week, former selectman Joe Sullivan wrote a letter to The Landmark outlining the reasons that he could not support his former colleague, O'Brien, in the race for state representative in the 1st Worcester district. Sullivan concluded

Finally, Ken O’Brien’s [sic] often speaks without thinking. His comments about “older” municipal employees required a select board motion repudiating Ken’s remarks while embracing the absence of discrimination in our community.
A nice guy? Yes. A great candidate for state representative? No way.
via Former colleague can’t vote for O’Brien | www.thelandmark.com | Landmark

Also last week, Ed Meyer of Holden wrote a lengthy piece in TheDailyHolden.com Letter to the Editor: The Superior Court Law Suit against Holden’s Ken O’Brien. In the letter, Meyer alleges a number of serious ethics violations against O'Brien, along with a charge that O'Brien has failed to produce documents that the Secretary of State's office has ordered. Meyer has file suit in Superior Court to have O'Brien produce the documents.
I'm not in a position to evaluate the validity of Meyer's claims or O'Brien's defenses. Those are left to the court. I would suggest Mr. Meyer, however, to make sure that he spells Mr. O'Brien's name correctly. Lines such as this get confusing:

On April 28, 2010 Secretary Galvin’s Office issued a second order to Mr. O’Brian reaffirming its’ earlier “determination ordering Mr. O’Brien to provide you (me) with a fee estimate for the provision of these records…”. 

Anyway, so, how does O'Brien respond? In his own letter to the TheDailyHolden.com, ,  Letter to the Editor: Negative campaigning obscuring race for State Rep., O'Brien says,

I have been sued by Mr. Edwin Meyer, the same person observed handing out negative hand bills to members of the Hubbardston Lions Club, and attaching them to every car in the parking lot at the Hubbardston field day. 

Not much of a rebuttal, eh? He made a similar complaint against Sullivan, dismissing the severity of the charge because Sullivan has contributed to Ferguson's campaign.
Ken O'Brien is working hard to get elected. I've seen his signs prominently placed throughout the district. I've seen him campaigning early in the morning at the intersection of Route 2 and 140 in Westminster. He has the endorsement of people whom I respect. 
What he's not done, however, is address the series of very serious issues concerning his attitudes and actions throughout his time as selectman in Holden. He's responded with ad hominem attacks of his own. That's not a way to establish credibility. That's not a way to get my vote.
The candidates for state representative will debate on Thursday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Holden town hall. 

Primary election news in Massachusetts

Secretary of State William Galvin predicts light voter participation in today's primary election. Granted, there are few statewide contests to generate excitement. The top of the ticket is settled for Democrats, Republicans, and independents.  Some local folks are running for the down-ballot positions of treasurer and auditor. (See Elections: 2010 Democratic Primary Candidates and Elections: 2010 Republican Primary Candidates.)
Nonetheless,  with the election as a major civic event and with all else going on in the nation and the world, you might wonder why Fox 25 led last night's newscast with a 1:57 story about a Needham family dog that was shot and killed by a pellet gun.

via Family dog shot and killed

Boston's two dailies don't acquit themselves very well, either.

The Herald has one small story and an editorial

The Globe offers a small blurb many pixels from the top

It's a theme that we'll come back to often. The media doesn't tell us what to think, but they do tell us what to think about.

Please tell me that this is a Karl Rove psyops story

Midterm Bieber fever - PATRICK GAVIN | POLITICO CLICK

More on politics

One of the toughest things about reading political analysis these days is trying to filter the snarky, sarcastic, or ironic commentary from the straight-forward loony. I suspect that I know the answer to this one, but I'll ask for your help.

...when it comes to doing what is right versus doing what is expedient, you do what is expedient so that you can get reelected and do what is right in the second term.
via Obama, the one-term president - Roger Simon - POLITICO.com

Simon's point is that President Obama is on track to be a one-term president unless he decides to quit first. 

A candidate says, as Bobby Kennedy did, “Some men look at things the way they are and ask why? I dream of things that are not and ask why not?”
A president says: “What do the polls say?”

Citing Eisenhower's decision to send troops to Little Rock or Lincoln to talk about slavery, both actions being off-message to the public sentiment, Simon continues

... But what’s so wrong about being off message if you are right about the issue?
This: An unidentified chief of staff to a “politically vulnerable House Democrat” told James Hohmann and Maggie Haberman of POLITICO that Obama’s statement “probably alienates a lot of independent voters” and “there are a lot of [Democrats] who are spooked in tough districts today” and “a lot of Republicans licking their chops right now.”
And what’s the point of doing the right thing if your party is going to lose seats because of it?

I believe that Simon is being ironic. His words and tone are so close to the sentiments of so many other analysts that I don't think that an intelligent person could write this way in seriousness without throwing up just a little bit.

More on Massachusetts Republicans

For all of the brouhaha regarding the Tea Party this week, the Massachusetts Republicans wound up nominating a good-looking executive as their candidate for governor. Their state senate ranks drop by one because they've chosen a state senator to run for lieutenant governor. They couldn't even muster a candidate to run against a Democrat who'd been humiliated at the national level.
The party platform (here()) is not a radical document, but one that echoes familiar themes of transparency (with a embrace of the web as a way to make governmental processes more visible), lower taxes, fewer regulations, more accountability, and an overall goal of limited government.
There are a few items that might raise an eyebrow:

• Apparently, governmental regulations are standing in the way of reducing toxic building materials - "Supports prompt update of state building codes to allow rapid adoption of more cost-effective, more energy-efficient and less toxic construction materials and techniques." (p8).
• Tort reform, the battle cry in the national Republican health-care  debate, barely gets a whisper - "Generally supports tort reform concepts that limit malpractice awards, with certain exceptions. "(p11).
• Sounding as though they want to take on National Grid, the party "[d]emands the breaking of the monopoly that currently controls electricity generation and distribution in the Commonwealth." (p8).

They didn't mention marriage, abortion, or drugs other than prescription ones. (They'd allow us to buy in Canada if we want to.)
For a while, it looked as though the Tea Party movement would radicalize the Republican party. Not so, The biggest rousers of rabble at the party were Tim Cahill and Cristy Mihos. And, of course, without a major change in the legislature, there's little chance that any part of the Republican platform will pass.  For all the brouhaha, the Republicans aren't even going to put a full team on the field, Red Mass Group:: Great Seats with No candidates.
Dunno what all this portends for the fall elections. I try to avoid predictions just like I try to avoid guess people's ages or weights. The benefit of making a correct guess is very small compared to the damage done by an incorrect call.
Nevertheless, if a radical change is to come in this fall's election, it's not likely to originate in the Republican party in Massachusetts. Radicalism may propel them to victory, as it did with Scott Brown, but it won't make them radicals.

More on law and politics

There's a bit of crispness underfoot on the grass in the back yard this morning, a reminder that, as unseasonably warm as it's been, we still are in New England in April. The weekend forecast suggests that we might see snow showers on Friday evening. I've added fresh water that sits on top of the ice in the bird bath.
It's not often that I get to visit the state's largest cities in one week. After classes in Gardner in the morning and a quick visit to the camp mid-day, I'll go to Springfield for a seminar at Western New England Law School. Tomorrow, my school chums and I will meet at the Moakley federal court house in Boston to meet with Judge Hillman. The judge will meet with us separately, give us a tour of the court, and then invite us to attend a session.
I don't know if we'll finish up in time to hear Tina Fey-impersonator Gov. Palin at the Boston Tea Party rally over on the Common.
Thursday, I have some errands in Worcester that may or may not take me in the vicinity of our fair city's Tea Party event.
So, it's a week of law, politics, and weather. Now, if only the Red Sox would bench Big Papi or at least platoon him with Mike Lowell against right-handers, we'd be really cooking.
Did I mention that the Tea Partiers in Boston request that you take public transportation?

via Tea Party Express coming to Boston : Greater Boston Tea Party