Voting in Boston on September 11?
I drove through Union Square in Allston tonight, and there were several signs up telling people to vote in elections on September 11. Say what?
Category Archives: Government activism
Boston City Council elections should use preferential voting
As noted at Universal Hub, the Boston City Council submitted a home-rule petition over the summer, asking the State Legislature to allow them to dispense with a preliminary election which would have winnowed the field of at-large candidates from nine down to eight. The legislature agreed, and Governor Patrick signed the legislation. When I first… Read More »
USPS loses our mail during four-day mail hold
We were out of town from August 9 through August 13, and I put a hold on our mail delivery during that time through the USPS Web site. The following letter tells what happened next:
NSTAR turns off paper billing without customers’ consent AGAIN
[Update: See NSTAR’s apology.] I wrote last year about NSTAR’s turning off paper billing without prior consent for customers enrolled in their e-Bill program. I sent a sternly worded complaint to NSTAR about this as well as complaining to the Department of Telecommunications and Energy. Well, they’re at it again.
State of Ohio screws up, scapegoats intern
Recently, a backup tape containing over 800,000 unencrypted names and social security numbers for Ohio taxpayers and state employees was stolen from the car of Jared Ilovar, a 22-year-old college student working for the state as an intern.
MBTA complaint of the day
It never ceases to amaze me that the folks who run the MBTA can’t seem to handle the simplest aspects of running a working public transit system. Over and over again, I’ve found myself complaining to them about things that just shouldn’t come up, because they should just be handled properly to begin with.
Free money for mortgage delinquents
I just sent this letter to Senators Kennedy and Kerry and Congressman Michael Capuano:
Wanna send someone a bottle of booze? Think again!
I recently decided to send a bottle of Scotch to a friend as a gift. Guess what? You Can’t Do That. FedEx, UPS and the USPS all refuse to accept packages containing alcoholic beverages. FedEx and UPS both said that a license is required to ship alcoholic beverages. The USPS simply says that alcoholic beverages… Read More »
Massachusetts, Boston and Cambridge police play pass-the-buck with potential terrorists
In an ideal world, the treatment received by a private citizen calling 911 would inspire confidence in the ability of the police to protect people from crime and terrorism. In reality, it seems designed to inspire confidence only in the criminals and terrorists.
Weird prerecorded phone call and Web site mccabillexposed.com
I just got a phone call with a prerecorded message about House Bill 4493, which you can read here. The message claimed that the bill was going to be passed “tomorrow” and that I should call the backer of the bill (Senator Jack Hart) and the director of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (James Rooney)… Read More »