Election Day 2009

In case you haven’t heard, today is Election Day. While not a presidential election year, there are still a lot of very important elections in many municipalities that can make a big difference. 30 cities in the Commonwealth have mayoral elections, including Boston, which is also electing city councilors today. Is Mayor Tom Menino going to hold on for yet another term, or will Michael Flaherty overcome the power of incumbency?

It will be an exciting day…don’t underestimate the importance of the smaller local elections.

MBTA Supports Banning Drivers From Carrying Cell Phones–So What?

The cause of most accidents can be boiled down to one thing: stupidity.

Case in point, yesterday’s Green Line crash at Government Center…the train operator has admitted that he was texting at the time of the accident.

The operator of a Green Line trolley that slammed into a train stopped at Government Center was apparently text messaging his girlfriend when the crash happened, said MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskus.

“Two detectives have interviewed the operator of the train in the hospital and in the course of that interview he admitted to texting at the time of the crash,” Grabauskus said. The crash happened in a tunnel between Government Center and Park Street stations, sending more than 40 people to area hospitals with cuts, head wounds, and neck and back injuries. None of the injuries was life threatening.

The most seriously injured person was the texting operator of the bullet trolley. He was able to walk out and was taken to a hospital in stable condition. The cars were damaged at the point of impact, but bounced off one another and were still upright when emergency crews went aboard.

Boston Fire Department District Chief Richard DiBenedetto said the crash occured about 7:20 p.m. Because of the number of people on board the trains and a few trapped inside the cars, he called for a second alarm, he said.

Boston EMS Deputy Superintendent John Gill said many of the wounded were able to walk out of the cars, but about 40 people were placed on backboards and carried to the surface by EMTs and firefighters. The injured were laid side by side on City Hall Plaza and triaged by emergency crews while music blared from inside the Big Top Circus – also in the plaza – which was putting on its nightly show.

Grabauskas said if, after an investigation, the operator’s text messages are determined to be the cause he will certainly be fired, and may face criminal charges.

That’s great…let’s hope so. In response to the accident, the MBTA driver’s union has announced that it agrees with a ban on cell phones for drivers on duty.

A day after authorities said a text-messaging operator caused one Green Line trolley to crash into another, the head of the MBTA’s drivers union announced it would agree to ban drivers carrying cell phones and all other electronic devices while on duty.

“It is a public safety imperative,” said Steve MacDougall, president of the Boston Carmen’s Union.

Currently, drivers are allowed to carry cell phones but are penalized for using them while on duty with three-, 10- and 30-day suspensions, ending in termination.

So, will the MBTA search the Trolley operators before their shifts? How will this ban be enforced? Forgive my lack of confidence in the MBTA, but seriously, is there any comfort in knowing the MBTA driver’s union supports this ban? Big whoop. You mean to tell me they didn’t already have training and instruction for all the operators to not use cell phones while operating the train? What’s a ban going to do other than be a smokescreen to the unsuspecting public making us feel like the MBTA is “doing something about it”?

I take no comfort in this.

The Day The Boston Globe Stood Still

Today is the day…will the Boston Globe stay, or will it go?

Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger faces the uncomfortable task of having to shut down the Boston Globe today if holdout employees refuse to fork over $20 million in savings to his family.

If the Sulzberger family carries out its threatened shutdown by today’s deadline, it would be an admission that they wasted $1.1 billion in buying the paper in the first place.

But if they back down, it would show a weakness of will that Wall Street investors who hold big stakes — particularly hard-nosed billionaire Carlos Slim — might turn against the family to wrest away its control of the enterprise.

Another widely discussed option — selling the 137-year-old Boston paper — seemed less likely as potential buyers waved off any thoughts of owning the admired money-pit.

So long, farewell.

Metro Morons

Like many others who commute daily into Boston via MBTA, I read the Boston Metro on the way to work. I can’t say I like the paper, but it’s there, so why not? I don’t read much of it, but I’m usually drawn to the “Voices” section to check out the ridiculous rants, particularly under the column My View, I often feel inspired to respond to some of the more ridiculous screeds, but my belief that any such responses submitted to the Metro will not be published usually results in me not bothering. That being the case, I’ve decided to just write my responses here.

Yesterday, I read the latest rant of Mike Mennonno, a freelance writer who appears weekly in the Metro’s “My View” column (available on his blog) and felt the urge to respond. Riddled with inaccuracies and misrepresentations, Mennonno expresses his disgust with the NSA Terrorist Surveillance Program, and gives the impression that President Bush has a passion for listening to the phone calls of average Americans. But what really got me was the following statement:

I’m a little suspicious when the same people who want to spy on you make the laws that allow them to do so while claiming, without disingenuousness, that it’s all “perfectly legal.” Examples of “perfectly legal” behavior on the part of governments past and present: slavery, ghettos, gulags. Legal? Sure. Just? Well, it depends on your race, religion, or party, I guess.

How can Mennonno, with a straight face, draw a comparison to slavery, ghettos and gulags to the wiretapping of suspected terrorists?

If there is any place the war on terror can be lost, it is not on the front lines, but rather right here at home. A country once united with the goal of winning the war on terror is now sharply divided between those who want us to win, and those who would rather see Bush fail and will do anything to make that happen, even if it means undermining efforts to obtain intelligence on terror activities.