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Mea Culpa on Westboro Baptist Church visit

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Last week, I received, via email sent to one of my synagogue’s contact email addresses, a flyer from someone at the Westboro Baptist Church, announcing the protests they were planning on holding this week in front of Jewish institutions in Boston.

I was appalled, and my initial reaction was to make a big deal out of it. I emailed the institutions listed on the flyer to warn them about the protest, made phone calls to personal contacts I had at some of those institutions, posted about it on my blog and on UniversalHub.com, and sent tips to the news media.

Some people commented in response that the WBC thrives on publicity, and the best strategy for dealing with them is to essentially pretend they don’t exist. I argued that things had gotten so bad in this country that the WBC was no longer completely on the lunatic fringe, and a response was therefore called for. My argument was legitimate; it’s not at all a clear-cut issue. However, as Bob Sutton says, one should always argue as if he is right and listen as if he is wrong. That’s what I did, and I’ve decided that I was wrong.

(more…)

Tags: Fred Phelps, JEMS, Jewish Emergency Management System, WBC, Westboro Baptist Church
Posted in Boston, Judaism, Politics, Religion | No Comments »

Hey, Congressman Robert Wexler: In the EU, this would be ILLEGAL!

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

November 21, 2009

Congressman Robert Wexler
2241 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Fax: (202) 225-5974

Dear Congressman Wexler,

In May 2008, a letter from you to one of your supporters was forwarded to the Jews for Obama listserv with the introduction, “As you all know, Congressman Wexler has been a strong Obama supporter and advisor to the campaign. Please help him in his re-election bid. Thanks.”

In response, I sent a donation to your campaign, one which I couldn’t really afford given how much I had already spent to help Obama.

When I donated to you, I specified a unique email address, [elided]. Today I received an email message to that address from “Marcy Winograd for Congress”. Since the only time I’ve ever given out that email address to anyone is when I donated to your campaign, the only way Winograd’s campaign could have gotten the address is from you. Shame on you.

(more…)

Tags: Marcy Winograd, Robert Wexler
Posted in Computers, Government activism, Internet, Politics, Spam | 3 Comments »

More on illegal parking by the mayor’s office

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

I sent email to the mayor’s office last week asking him to comment on the two vehicles from his office which were spotted downtown parked illegally in a bus stop. There has been no response.

Dave Wedge ran a blurb about my photos in his “Pols & politics” column in today’s Boston Herald. Perhaps that’ll shake loose a response from Menino, but I doubt it.

One of my rules about when to vote for a challenger over an incumbent is this: when the incumbent starts to act like he’s above the law, it’s time for a change.

Tags: Illegal Parking, Thomas Menino
Posted in Boston, Politics | No Comments »

Capuano supports Israel’s right to self-defense, sort of

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Several years ago, I wrote to Congressman Michael Capuano asking why he didn’t sign an ad published by the CJP which many other politicians signed, attesting to Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks. A friend has pointed out that I was remiss in not posting Capuano’s response, which seems somewhat more significant now than it was then, since Capuano is now running for the Senate.

A member of Capuano’s staff responded in an email message which read as follows:

Congressman Capuano has referred your email message to me. You ask why he did not sign the CJP ad in the Globe and Herald. As I recall, we had a rather short time to review the text and no opportunity to contribute to its drafting.

I hope you know that he did vote, that same week, in favor of H. Res. 921, in defense of Israel’s right, as a sovereign democratic state, to take appropriate action to defend itself. He also wrote a letter of support, which I attach and which was posted on JCRC website.

Please feel free to call if you have further questions.

I am not terribly impressed (more…)

Tags: Israel, Michael Capuano
Posted in Israel, Politics | 1 Comment »

Food, clothing, shelter basic rights? Of course!

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

In a letter to the editor in the September 21 edition of the Boston Herald, one Christine Giroux wrote:

At the core of the health care controversy is the question of whether health care is a basic right held by every American citizen… We all need food, clothing and shelter. Are these basic rights too? … The truth is that these things are not rights and neither is health care.

I found her letter so astoundingly offensive that I had to write a response. Unfortunately, the Herald printed neither my response nor any other objecting to Giroux’s assertion that food, clothing and shelter are not basic rights. Perhaps this is because they felt the issue had already played itself out, or perhaps it’s because they agree with Giroux, or perhaps it’s because they didn’t think my letter was controversial enough, or perhaps they think they’ve printed too many letters from me recently . In any case, here’s what I wrote:

To the editor:

Attempting to contrast with the right to health care, Christine Giroux asks, “We all need food, clothing and shelter. Are these basic rights too?”

According to the millennia-old traditions and ethical code observed by me and my fellow Jews, the answer is clear and unequivocal: yes, of course they are!

Supporting the poor is not merely something to do if one feels like it. It is an obligation placed both on individuals and on the community (i.e., the government). Not only is it a good deed to support the poor; it is a grave sin against man and God to do otherwise.

While I would not presume to speak for other religions, I find it difficult to understand how many who deny these basic rights profess to follow a religion whose holy texts teach, “Let the man with two tunics share with him who has none, and let him who has food do likewise,” and, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor.”

American culture encourages the mistaken beliefs that poverty can be eliminated and that the poor are responsible for their own condition. While that may be true for some, the truth is that there will always be people who need the help of others, and help them we must.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kamens
Brighton

Posted in Boston, Charity, Politics | 6 Comments »

Spam Yoon, Round 2

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

In June, I wrote about Sam Yoon’s unfortunate habit of adding people without their consent to his campaign’s spam distribution lists.

I’ve complained to Yoon’s office twice about the spamming — once in August 2006 and once in March 2009. Yoon did not have the courtesy to respond to either of my complaints.

I thought the spamming had stopped after my March 2009 complaint. Alas, it appears that I was wrong. I just received another piece of spam from him announcing that he and Michael Flaherty are joining forces to beat Menino.

Here’s the complaint I sent in response:

(more…)

Tags: Boston Mayor, Michael Flaherty, Sam Yoon
Posted in Boston, Computers, Internet, Politics, Spam | 3 Comments »

Why I won’t be voting for Ayanna Pressley

Monday, September 14th, 2009

On July 29, I received an unsolicited bulk email message from Ayanna Pressley, a candidate for one of the Boston City Council’s At-Large seats, with the Subject line, “Our Campaign Kick-Off for Boston City Council At Large!” The email message to which it was sent (I use different email addresses for different purposes to make tracing things like this easier) made it clear that Pressley obtained my email address through my activism in support of Barack Obama during the last presidential campaign. Certainly, I never provided by email address to Pressley or gave her permission to send me bulk email.

I responded as follows:

I might have considered voting for you if you hadn’t spammed me.

I don’t patronize companies, support organizations, or vote for politicians who send me bulk email without my consent.

I never gave you permission to put my email address on your bulk email list, so you shouldn’t have done it; it’s just that simple.

Pressley, or her staff, could have responded with an apology, or even with a simple acknowledgment and confirmation that I had been unsubscribed from her list. Any response of that sort would have prompted me to at least reconsider whether I would support her candidacy, and probably would have prevented me from posting this blog entry. Instead, I received no response at all, thus cementing my decision not to support her.

On the bright side, at least she hasn’t spammed me again.

Tags: Ayanna Pressley
Posted in Boston, Politics, Spam | 8 Comments »

Seat belt law opponents are either idiots or liars

Monday, July 13th, 2009

To: letterstotheeditor@bostonherald.com

To the editor:

It has been painful to watch the avalanche of flawed statistics and discredited urban legends wielded by opponents of a primary enforcement seat-belt law in their foolhardy efforts to stop a law which would undeniably save lives.

Jonah Goldberg informs us that since there are states with higher traffic fatality rates that have primary enforcement laws, such laws must be useless. His simplistic analysis ignores the prime directive of statistical research, i.e., that statistical variations between two samples are only relevant if all other factors have been taken into account. Study after study that did take such factors into account have proved that primary enforcement dramatically increases seat-belt use and that increased seat-belt use dramatically decreases accident injury and fatality rates.

A recent letter writer claimed that since millions of people who don’t wear seatbelts have not been killed in accidents, seatbelts don’t save lives. It would make just as much sense to say that since people who don’t play Russian roulette don’t shoot themselves in the head, Russian roulette isn’t dangerous.

That same letter writer trotted out the ridiculous myth that seatbelts can trap passengers in vehicles that are submerged or on fire. The fact is that, as documented by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, virtually every study ever conducted indicates that lap and shoulder belts cut the risk of serious or fatal injury by 40 to 55%.

While the Herald may have a journalistic obligation to present both sides of every story, I do not think that obligation extends to printing absurdities and lies.

Jonathan Kamens
Brighton

Tags: How to Lie with Statistics, Jonah Goldberg, primary enforcement, seat belts
Posted in Boston, Driving etiquette, Government activism, Politics | No Comments »

Better for city employees to work than take the T

Monday, July 13th, 2009

To: letterstotheeditor@bostonherald.com

To the editor:

Councilor Michael Flaherty’s idea to slash the city’s motor pool by having workers ride the T is a brilliant strategy for doubling the number of employees on the payroll. How else does he expect to maintain the same level of productivity when workers are forced to spend half the day waiting for trains and buses that run infrequently and arrive late, if at all?

Is Flaherty trying to save the city money or earn points with the unions by creating jobs for their members?

Jonathan Kamens
Brighton

Tags: MBTA, Michael Flaherty
Posted in Boston, Government activism, Politics | 1 Comment »

The Obamas’ date in NYC: letter to the editor the Herald didn’t print

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

I sent this letter to the Boston Herald on June 8. Unfortunately, they declined to print it. Although I wasn’t reading the entire paper every single day around that time, I don’t recall the Herald printing a single letter, column or article defending the Obamas against the attacks on them for their “date night” in New York City. Shame on the Herald.

(more…)

Posted in Barack Obama, Boston, Journalism, Politics | 4 Comments »

Something better to do

Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Mea Culpa on Westboro Baptist Church visit

Hey, Congressman Robert Wexler: In the EU, this would be ILLEGAL!

More on illegal parking by the mayor’s office

Capuano supports Israel’s right to self-defense, sort of

Food, clothing, shelter basic rights? Of course!

Spam Yoon, Round 2

Why I won’t be voting for Ayanna Pressley

Seat belt law opponents are either idiots or liars

Better for city employees to work than take the T

The Obamas’ date in NYC: letter to the editor the Herald didn’t print

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