Millions of copies will be sold of a book written by someone who can’t write, intended for an audience that doesn’t read, about the thoughts of a person who doesn’t think. God is dead.

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Disaffected youth of Worcester, bookmark this video for use next time Worcester Officials try and tell you skateboarding is a crime. If it’s good enough for a congressman, it’s good enough for you.

The whole clip is pretty great, but for the extra excellent Worcester Rep on wheels skip to the 5:20 mark.

In 1979 the American Antiquarian Society purchased a small hard-covered account book containing a daily log from January 1, 1869 to June 2, 1870.  Clues of the anonymous diarist’s identity began to reveal themselves in his cursive scrawl: a young blacksmith apprentice from Stow, Massachusetts working in Medfield.

That diary is now coming back to life in the form of a blog with each entry represented by a new post.
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From the American Antiquarian Societies new Past is Present blog.

Does anyone out there have any insight as to what they chose for a CMS? Was the work done internally or outsourced?

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The moderators of the event did a fine job and asked some decent, less than predictable questions, but the answers… man, are we in tough shape. Maybe it’s just a byproduct of our form of government and the perceived limits it places on the Council and Mayor, but there is a significant lack of well fleshed out, inspiring ideas coming from this crew. It seems that when tasked with difficult times local politicians almost appreciate being confined by a particular set of legal and administrative constraints; but we’re hiring them for the job of lawmaker, so those constraints are artificial in the sense that these are the very people charged with creating/adjusting those constraints to suit todays needs. Our local government exists in a sort of suspended animation, more relevant to 1947 and 1983 (most recent years of charter change) than 2009. Someone needs to step up and point out that 2009 is neither 1947 or 1983 and the future of the city can not be dependent on trajectory set 60 years ago.

One question presented by T&G columnist Dianne Williamson, which was surprisingly not mentioned in either Nick K’s coverage in the T&G or Worcester Magazines liveblog of the event, set the tone of this campaign season for me. It was possibly the easiest question to answer and all four candidates failed miserably. Referring to the public records lawsuit the T&G is currently involved in with the WPD and City Administration, she asked:

‘is it appropriate that public money be used to keep public records from the public?’

The only answer, of course is “No, it is not OK.”

All four candidates wobbled on that one with the predictable answers we’ve been hearing since this public records debacle began. But it raises the question, how can we take anything a politician says sincerely if they believe the public system they function in should not be open to scrutiny by the public they represent? Without real transparency in government there is little reason to have faith in any of the position papers, talking points and claims of general awesomeness all four candidates seem to be comfortable presenting.

Why does this matter? Well unlike question 2 which the voters of MA passed with a rather loud voice (65% in favor) last fall, medical marijuana is currently being debated in the state legislature (their vote, not ours). House Bill 2160 is the one to keep an eye on if this is an issue that’s important to you.

Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance

When the City Administration responds to complaints like these as if there’s an actual problem it forces one to wonder how a project like City Square, assuming it actually comes together sometime in the next few decades, is expected to succeed. How exactly does the city plan to capitalize on the mostly disposable incomes and general untainted enthusiasm of young people by chasing them away?

But what’s most interesting about this latest non-issue is the city response, cameras on the common to keep an eye on loitering. Not that language and the actual meaning of words is important to Worcester Administrators…

Loiter
verb [ intrans. ]
stand or wait around idly or without apparent purpose

… but it sounds like the only people loitering on the common are the old folks sitting around all day waiting for someone to come along and give them something to complain about. If loitering is the concern, I hope the WPD plans to act upon this scourge and lock up all the pensioners or at the very least give them them a ride back to their respective nursing homes where they can’t shit on anyones good time.