Memorial Day 2006

Memorial Day 2006

As I sat in church today the priest’s homily started off by asking us how our memory was. He reminded us how with all the clutter that seems to take up our lives we have a hard time remembering things.

As he continued, my mind started wandering and thinking about the holiday we celebrate tomorrow. As millions have taken to the road to officially begin the “summer” season, I am reminded of the people that have given up their lives so we can enjoy the liberties we sometimes take for granted.

Memory, Memorial Day – most of my loved ones are buried thousands of miles away. My father’s picture (the only one I have) of him as a young man smartly dressed in an Italian soldier’s uniform flashes across my eyes as the priest continues his homily. My thoughts quickly turn to my uncles who served during World War II and I silently thank them. My thoughts quickly jump to the service that my middle boy gave to his country and to the one my oldest is currently involved in as a member of the National Guard.

I thank God that they are alive and I also pray for the ones that have died. The priest tells us that in order to focus we should start each day giving thanks to God for the new day and to strive in living our life as true Christians, children of God. He also tells us to end each day in contemplation of what’s been given to us during that day and to thank the Lord for it.

Toward the end of the service, Father offered a special prayer for all those that have gone before us. This brought tears to my eyes and as I picked up my head I could see the woman in front of me crying. I was so moved that I was tempted to go and hug her and console her but instead said a quick prayer for her.

I had just gotten my composure when the cantor sang America the Beautiful for the closing hymn. Again the tears started to flow and I was chocking on the words as I tried to sing along. This time I thought of the more than 2,400 soldiers that have died in Iraq and more than 290 soldiers killed in Afghanistan since combat began in those areas.

Close to 50 Massachusetts residents have died in Iraq or Afghanistan, including a 19-year-old Shrewsbury native who was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan earlier this month.

Memorial Day will be spent in contemplation not only for those who died but for those who live on with the pain of the loss of a parent, a sibling, or a child. Lord, please embrace them and comfort them.

Congratulations to the New BFD Recruits

Congratulations to the Boston Fire Department Recruit Training Program Graduates class 0f January 30, 2006 - May 11, 2006. This class graduated 50 new recruits, the majority of which will serve the citizens of Boston and one each for Chelsea, Milton and Norwood and two for Dedham.

I am extremely proud of this class because my son Lino (pictured in the middle above) was one of the graduates. I am also proud that he like the majority of others have also served for this country in various branches of the military over the last five years.

The training was extensive and my prayers are with you and your families as you embark on a very important job especially in light of the changes since 9/11. Thanks for your continued commitment to the citizens of the various cities and towns you'll serve.

Group 1 ................................... Group 3

Nicholas Santangelo ..........................Scott R. Denson
Robert D. Bottary ............................. Shawn J. Hardiman
Jeffrey R. Lynch ................................Ronald D. O'Brien, Jr.
Michael J. Venteroso ....................... Kevin M. Preston
Patrick J. Foley ............................... Jeremy G. Washburn
Timothy M. Sullivan ...................... Mark E. Williams
Jon P. Flaherty .............................. Todd R. Joyce
Stephen J. Flynn ........................... Pearse T. McIntyre, Jr.
Liam J. Pero ................................... Charles B. Starr
Jay R. Gormley ................................Joseph O. Walsh
Gary W. Russell .............................. Marc Baudouin
Brendan Sullivan ........................... Daniel J. Finn (Milton)
Bladimiro Sanchez (Chelsea)


Group 2 ......................................Group 4

Eric S. Vinitsky ................................ Philip J. Holda
Jeremy M. Conley ........................... James P. Greatorex
Jonathan Hernandez ....................... Edward J. Matthews
Aron M. McCabe ............................. Paul J. Mc Irney
Jeremy M. Nelson ........................... Douglas P. Menard
Brian M. McCarthy ......................... Lino C. Viola
Eamon M. O'Leary ......................... Sean P. Donnelly
Michael P. Feeney .......................... Robert E. Grandfield
Michael J. Mitchell ......................... Daniel P. McDevitt
Cristopher C. Perachi .................... Daniel J. Murphy
Robert E. Barrett .......................... John Cody (Norwood)
Alexander T. Berte, Jr.
Daniel P Whoriskey (Dedham)
Michael L. Huff (Dedham)

Three Educated Men, Three Bad Choices

Over the past several days the newspapers have carried three stories of three learned men who failed miserably at Life 101. The three might have scholarly wisdom as far as having a degree or degrees of sorts, but the plight they find themselves in today show the lack of plain common sense that has passed them by. Book smart yes – street smart no. Change the names and places and their stories seem to have been written by Anton Chekov.

Story number one finds a local former MIT professor, John Donovan, who finding himself embroiled in a battle with his son over the control of a $180 million trust, decided to stage an attempt on his life in order to frame his son.

Like something out of a Hitchcock movie the father thinks and plans all the details probably while having a meal at a ritzy place. He even writes a to-do list on the back of the Algonquin Club menu. The to-do list however misses one very important task, and that is to destroy the to-do list.

This incriminating list was found by police in a pocket of Mr. Donovan’s sport’s coat. If this wasn’t enough, police found the following inconsistencies with the investigation of the alleged crime:

The sport coat had two bullet holes in the left sleeve and three in the right sleeve; but the blue winter overcoat he was wearing had three bullet holes in the left sleeve and two bullet holes in the right sleeve.
An identical blue winter jacket was discovered in Donovan's van, which was undamaged, leading prosecutors to believe it ``was likely worn by Donovan prior to the time he reported the shooting, at which time it was switched with the other jacket that had already been shot through several times at another location."
Police recovered 14 .22- caliber cartridge casings but ``there were no bullet holes to the interior or exterior of the van . . . other than the broken driver's window."
Doctors removed a piece of glass that was lodged in Donovan's right ear. ``This injury was interesting because, according to Donovan, when the shot was fired through the driver's window, he was facing forward . . . one would have expected . . . glass to be lodged in the left ear."
Donovan reported that his metal belt stopped bullets, but the doctor told police there was no sign of any injuries one would expect from the impact of a bullet.

The case is so pathetic, that I start to feel bad for the desperate old man who’s slated to be in court on June 20.


Story number two finds the president of Caritas Christi Health Care System, Dr. Haddad, in the midst of various sexual harassment accusations. At first four women came forward and now as the story grows legs more are adding their names to the list. It now appears that at least ten to fourteen women have complained that Haddad had hugged and kissed them, both in public and in private.

This story has gotten a lot of local coverage because of the ties with the Catholic Church and the apparent insensitivities shown to victims of sexual abuse. Dr. Haddad has been privately reprimanded by the Cardinal for his actions but the spotlight will not be turned off until he resigns.

I can’t figure out how in today’s workplace climate a man in the position such as Dr. Haddad would place himself in such a position. Doesn’t he realize that even looking at a female the wrong way could be construed as sexual harassment?

He said that the behavior for which he was sanctioned was merely an extension of the Lebanese culture in which he was raised, and has been misinterpreted.

At first reading of the case I thought that things were being blown way out of proportion and that some of the impetus was being fueled by the tie in with the Catholic Church. But some of the evidence submitted described Mr. Haddad of doing the following, ``hugs subordinate female employees, kisses them on the lips, rubs them on the back, calls them late at night, and asks them about matters that are highly personal to them."

If these allegations are true, I can’t see how this man can stay on the job and shield himself with Lebanese culture. Sorry Mr. Haddad, in your position you should know better.


Story number three is about Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.), the target of a 14-month public corruption probe, who was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire.
Mr. Jefferson maintains his innocence despite the FBI’s finding $90,000 of the cash in the freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food containers inside his home. "As I have previously stated, I have never, over all the years of my public service, accepted payment from anyone for the performance of any act or duty for which I have been elected."

How can someone deny a wrongdoing when it was videotaped? How does he explain the money in the freezer? I’m surprised he’s not playing the “race” card.
I know that he’s probably not the only congressman on the take. He just got caught in the act.

As this story unfolded, administration officials sought to quell a growing uproar among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, many of whom view the Saturday night search in the Rayburn House Office Building as a clear violation of constitutional language and case law protecting lawmakers from intimidation by the executive branch.
Why are congressmen above the law? I wonder what other searches would find.

Three educated? men, three bad choices.

“Do the crime, do the time.” I say.

English SI, Bilingual NO

“Three years after Massachusetts ended statewide bilingual education, most
non-native English speakers are not fluent enough to function in a regular
classroom, state test results show.
Eighty-three percent of children in grades 3 through 12 could not read, write, speak, or understand English well enough for regular classes after their first year in Massachusetts schools, the test showed. Of students who had been in school for at least three years, more than half were not fluent, according to the test, given for the first time last year.” -Boston Globe 5/21/06

Fifty one years ago I came to this country at the age of 8 from Italy. I had never spoken nor heard of one word of English. The letters K and J were like discovering new planets in our solar system, they didn't exist in my alphabet.
Within a month I was conversing well enough in English that I could play with kids on my street. Within four months, I had written an essay in English that won the award for my class. I still have the picture of me and winners from the other classes with the Mayor of Medford. So when I read of how kids from foreign countries who have been in school for three years and are still not fluent in English, I’m left speechless. Is our educational system that bad? Are these kids that dumb (sorry for being so blunt)? What’s the problem?

The only way to learn a foreign language as far as I’m concerned is to immerse yourself in whatever stream or language that you are trying to master. I studied French for two years in the classroom but could never go out and have a conversation with a French speaking person. One has to see, hear and speak the words and phrases and sentences in order to have some sense of proficiency. You cannot leave school and go home and play with say Spanish speaking friends, or go home to an all Spanish speaking family, or go home and turn on Spanish speaking TV such as Telemundo, or fall back on the government to print everything in both Spanish and English, or even fall back on clicking a button that will bring English speaking programs to your living room in Spanish. YOU WILL NEVER LEARN THE LINGO, GRINGO.

I will grant you that the younger you are the easier it is to make the transition to another language, but age should not be a deterrent. After one year of going to the Medford Public School System, my mom and I moved to the North End of Boston. At that time this area was probably 95% Italian. Most of the Italian immigrant kids attended St. Anthony’s School. I was sent to St. Mary’s where there were only a handful of students that spoke very little or broken English. Even though I attended the fourth grade in Medford and did fairly well I could not get promoted because of a technicality; I lacked the minimum number of days in school. I came to this country at the end of October and by the time I started school I had already missed two months.

So when I went to St. Mary’s, the nuns had no idea of what level I was at and decided to place me in kindergarten. Boy was I humiliated. Here was this big dunce sitting among these little kids. Some sociologists and psychologists would say this was cruel punishment. It was an impetus to learn, plus they didn't have all the wasteful politically correct government programs that they have today. Thank God, that only lasted less than a week and I was finally moved up to the fourth grade class. The second day in class I participated in a spelling bee contest and to the amazement of all I came in second. I couldn’t believe that a kid who wasn’t born here could come in second out of approximately 40 other students who had been born here. I couldn’t believe how many students didn’t even get by the first word presented to them.

Was I an exceptional student? I don’t think so. How did I learn the language so fast? Total immersion. I had to swim or I sank. My regrets nowadays are that I wish I had a better proficiency of the Italian language. I can speak it because my mom always spoke it at home. I marvel at people who have mastered two or more languages. You can speak Spanish or Mandarin or whatever your native tongue is but when you go to school you must be taught in the language of the country you’re in and in this case it’s English. Bilingual education has proved to be a bust to the children and a boon for the educators.

What War?

I see the snippets of footage on the nightly news or on cable news and almost every night I can expect to hear of how many were blown up in Iraq today. It’s gotten to be so repetitive that it’s not news; it’s not new news; it’s the same old stuff. I watch it and get angry and then I say a little prayer for all the people impacted. Visions of those stupid plastic “Support our troops” yellow ribbons that many have on the back of their vehicles flash across my eyes.
Do they really support the troops?
Do they have any idea of what these young men and women are really going through?
I have an idea, but I’ll never come close to know the way they feel because I haven’t walked in their shoes.

An article in Sunday’s Washington Post gives an insightful look at just what these men and women feel. Here are a few paragraphs:

The United States that Iraq veterans are returning to is relatively indifferent, many said. One that without fear of a draft seems more interested in the progression of "American Idol" than the bombings in Baghdad. Sure, there are the homecoming parades, the yellow-ribbon bumper stickers, the pats on the back -- they continue as troops arrive back home.
But for many vets, those moments of gratitude were short-lived or limited to close friends and family. Soon they were joined by bitter impressions of a society that seems to forget that it is living through the country's largest combat operation in more than 30 years.

But perhaps the worst is when they don't say anything at all and just go on living their lives, oblivious to the war.Which is exactly what Army Capt. Tyler McIntyre was trying to explain to some family members while eating at an Italian restaurant when he was home on leave a couple of years ago.He looked across the restaurant and saw everyone stuffing their faces with pasta and drinking wine. "And everyone's kind of just sitting there doing it," he said.Which is really sort of extraordinary, he said. The country is at war. People are fighting at this very moment. Don't these people know what's going on? Don't they care?
No, he decided. They have no appreciation for their easy, gluttonous lives and don't deserve the freedom, prosperity and contentment he was fighting to protect.
He wanted to yell, "You don't know what you have! You don't appreciate it! You don't care!"But he didn't. He kept his mouth shut. He was only home on leave. Soon, he would be going back to the war.

Gee, I wonder if this soldier saw the Support Our Troops ribbons. Doesn’t this show that we care?
It seems that I saw something like this on TV back in the early sixties, Rod Serling hosted the show and it was called The Twilight Zone. To many, the war on terror is being waged in The Twilight Zone.

Too Much Heat in the Kitchen

'I don't envy my successor'

Those were the words of exiting Boston Police Commissioner, Kathleen O’Toole. There used to be a saying that “When the going gets rough, the tough get going,” but in this situation the saying has been given a new meaning. Ms. O’Toole, the “get going” in this quote means to step things up, to roll up the sleeves and work harder; it doesn’t mean to leave. Why not? Many others have already left this great Bay State. First it was Johnny Damon, then Adam Vinatieri and now Kathleen O'Toole.

I’m glad that you found a nice cushy job in Ireland. Good luck to you! Hope that you get everything you want. Why did you ever take the Boston position in the first place? Are you sure you’re making the right decision now?

“I don’t envy you either.”

How Do They Get Away With It?

What is it?

Clue - The planning began in the 1960s, construction in 1991, and it is scheduled to be mostly finished in 2006.

Here’s another clue if you haven’t got it yet – a local writer called it the “big lie.”

Others have called it the ‘black hole” and it’s also been labeled as the U.S. Government’s Enron and even the Big Deception. This has been labeled as the biggest government boondoggle in the history of man concerning cost. For years now, key Massachusetts officials and a world-famous engineering-construction firm are alleged to have labored industriously to hide from the American people the true cost of building a gargantuan highway-construction project through the heart of the city.

The eventual cost of the Big Dig is likely to be 500 percent higher than the $2.56 billion estimate that received federal approval in 1985. Its projected price tag now is at least $14.6 billion.

In 2002, Christy Mihos, a fiscally conservative member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA), and A. Joseph DeNucci, the longtime elected auditor of Massachusetts, agree that billions have been wasted on the project. A report of the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee called the Big Dig one of the worst cases of government mismanagement in recent history. "Bechtel, the project management and others have not made cost containment and prudent financing a top priority" DeNucci says.

Another name that the project earned was that of the “Big Stand Around.” During this period I would often take a commuter rail train from South Station to Needham and as we left South Station we would go right over part of the construction project. I cannot remember ever seeing more that 25% of the men at the site working.

On Sept. 6, a date arbitrarily chosen, a reporter from INSIGHT magazine watched a Big Dig work site with watch in hand, arriving during the lunch break at 12:15 p.m. From the moment the break ended at 12:30, INSIGHT'S reporter saw 23 men idling until 1:30, when eight workers appeared to be both talking about work and socializing until 1:50. During this period, two men were cleaning concrete barriers for perhaps 10 minutes, and no one helped them. This might have gone on all afternoon, but the INSIGHT reporter had to leave the site for an appointment.

I couldn’t believe the amount of money that was being wasted by people standing around doing nothing at the tune of $34.50/hr. including salary and benefits to the lowest paid workers, laborers. All this was forced by the unions who insisted that all workers receive the standard union wage.

Since Messrs. Kennedy and Kerry had no problems keeping the federal funds flowing from Wash. D.C. to Mass. many handouts were easily given; everybody withina few miles of the Big Dig got something. Since some of the construction work impacted the operations of the Main Postal Service Service’s facility we had one high level employee who was a liaison between the two parties whose $85,000 salary was paid for by the Big Dig. We were told to charge the Big Dig project for any time we were called to investigate or assist in the project to the tune of $29/hr or fraction thereof. We had some of the Postal Police force make well over $100,000/yr. half of their salary was paid from Big Dig funds.

The Boston Police have made over $50 million from working as flaggers for the project. The Bay State is the only one in the nation that does not allow civilian flaggers to direct traffic around construction sites, instead requiring that such work be done by police officers who earn at least $29 hourly.

Massachusetts yielded to virtually every complaint. In addition, it seems once the state's liberal politicians learned the federal government would be paying about 90 percent of Big Dig costs, they saw an opportunity to get Washington to pay to improve Boston's neighborhoods at the country's expense. Or, as a former high-level Big Dig official put it to INSIGHT: "Many elected officials and neighborhood groups saw the Big Dig as an opportunity to feed at the trough of the federal government."

Today the Boston Globe is reporting that Amorello, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the Big Dig, will receive the first John Joseph Moakley Public Service Award, while Lewis, state project director, will get the Engineering Center Leadership Award.

What gall!! What cogliones!!! Two overseers of the biggest boondoggle in history are going to be honored with public service awards. Talk about putting the icing on the cake; this is a kick in the ass to all taxpayers whose money has been exploited without any checks and balances.

And to make this spoonful of castor oil harder to swallow is that it’s being paid for by Contractors on the Big Dig. They are chipping in at least $190,000 toward a gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston next week to honor Matthew J. Amorello and Michael P. Lewis, the two top state officials responsible for supervising the firms' work on the trouble-plagued project.

The sponsors include Bechtel Corp. and Parsons, Brinckerhoff Inc., the two engineering behemoths that formed a joint venture to design and manage the Big Dig. They are locked in a legal battle with the state over a claim for $108 million in refunds.

Some people will try to tell you that this is being paid with private funds and it shouldn’t be a cause of concern. BULL!!! Those are funds they made or stole from the taxpayers of this country.

I’m starting to keep score and making sure that I jot down all the names of the politicians in office, because when they come up for re-election I’ll make sure to vote for their opponent.