Cross-posted at dailykos

Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of attending the Deval Patrick rally for change on Boston Common. About 5500 people from all over the Bay State came to show their support for our Democratic Nominee for Governor of Massachusetts. I even got a little bit of tape on the Duke and his lovely bride as they made their way out after the remarks.

Patrick didn't show up to give his normal speech. He didn't show up to attack and refute charges. He didn't show up to merely rally the troops. He came to show all of us what leadership looks like. What leadership sounds like. Real leadership.  

Follow me below the fold for the video of Deval Patrick in Boston Common.

I am scandalized by my own ignorance.  Yours too.

I suppose it's presumptuous of me to say I am scandalized by your ignorance. If you are reading this, you are an anonymous reader. Even if we happen to know each other, we are having a private and anonymous conversation -- right out here in public, thanks to the Cortexan interface.  But odds are that you are -- no offense -- at least as ignorant as I am.

It will take me a few paragraphs to get around to telling you why I am scandalized, and the nature of my ignorance. Please bear with me.  All will be revealed before your eyes glaze over.

A-B-S-T-I-N-E-N-C-E = B-A-L-O-N-E-Y

   The Romney administration plans to introduce a new abstinence education program in Massachusetts schools beginning next month, the state's most aggressive effort yet to use a controversial method of teaching Bay State teenagers about sex.

(more)

   

Even as gay and lesbian civil rights have dramaticaly progressed in the past few decades, there is no question that the religious right has mounted an organized and often, hate-infused backlash movement. The particular wedge issue for the religous right these days, is marriage equality.

Marriage equality promises to be one of the central issues of our time. I live in Massachusetts, where an antimarriage equality amendment will probably be on the ballot in 2008.  

It will change political life in my state forever.

I'm setting up this posting so that we can do a liveblog on the breakout sessions at BlogLeft Massachusetts. The original thread is up to about 26 comments, so this will take some of the pressure off that thread.

The tenor of today's BlogLeft meeting in Worcester is much like that of the early convenience store industry. Huh? and How would anyone know?

The first hour was a chance for local leftist bloggers to put faces with URLs, for politicians to hit us up for support, and to swap info. I suddenly recalled my time decades ago as the editor of a grocery magazine. Hannaford's Lil Peach, Southland's 7-Eleven and many others were all growing, energetic and excited.

They would meet and talk about what they did best. Bloggers today have similar joy at their passionate tasks. Those who get lots of hits and even make advertising revenue are happy to describe how they do it.

For the convenience-store industry that ended. Cities were saturated and managers stopped talking to each other. The open minds and hands shut.

I can't see that happening with bloggers, but just in case things get narrow, we can enjoy such events.

Kickin' Ass in Massachusetts is the title of a major political gathering on the campus of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, this weekend, Nov.12-13th. The event, sponsored by the UMASS College Democrats, will focus on the economy, health care, public education, the environment -- and the politics of the 2006 elections in the Commonwealth.

The GOP Mayor of Chicopee, Massachusetts has been arrested and charged with extorting big campaign contributions from local businessmen in exchange for favorable treatment.  

Richard Goyette, 36, a Republican running for a second term, dropped out of the race today, all but guaranteeing that liberal Democat Michael Bissonette will win the election on November 8th. Goyette says he plans to serve out the rest of his term. City Councilors have called on him to resign. Chicopee is a city of about 50,000 people located just north of Springfield.

"`They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap. '" -- Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark

Lately, there's been a hunt on for a fabulous beast.  It's being stalked in Ohio by those who think this critter serves to feed the even more fearsome beast known as Diebold.  It's being chased across it's traditional range in Massachusetts by a coalition that spans the political spectrum.  And out in California, the beasts faces the fading fury of he who was the Terminator.

The creature, of course, is the Gerrymander, that serpentine defender of the incumbent and friend to Tom Delay.  But as the hunt intensifies and spreads to more states, the question has to become: do we want to drive the Gerrymander to extinction?  Is it always a varmint, or does it sometimes show a more noble nature?