Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category
Total Recall
Massachusetts town solves voter apathy problem Outraged that only 145 voters showed up at Wakefield‘s Annual Town Meeting session to vote on the town’s $67 million FY’11 operating budget, a group of local citizens has filed a petition to recall Wakefield’s remaining 16,301 registered voters.
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Tags: apathy, budget, budgets, Daily Item, election, elections, government, Mark Sardella, municipal budget, municipal government, municipalities, municipality, Open Town Meeting, recall, recall effort, recall efforts, recall election, recall petition, recall petitions, tax, taxes, town, Town Meeting, Town Meetings, towns, vote, voter, voter apathy, voters, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
A recent incident at Wakefield High School in Massachusetts illustrates just how much our country has changed in just one generation – and not for the better. A few weeks ago, a substitute teacher at Wakefield High School, who is also the father of a soldier who gave his life in Iraq, reprimanded a student […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 23 Comments
Tags: America, American Flag, flag, Joe Bellavia, Joseph Bellavia, Old Glory, patriotism, Pledge of Allegiance, public schools, Russell Nelson, school, schools, Stars and Stripes, teacher, teachers, United States, United States of America, US, USA, veteran, veterans, Wakefield, Wakefield High School, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Another 15 Minutes
“In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes,” may well be the most famous quote of the 20th Century. First uttered by Andy Warhol in 1968, it has taken on various forms. We refer to someone’s “fifteen minutes of fame,” or note that another’s “15 minutes are up.” But Warhol’s remark proved to […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion | 1 Comment
Tags: Boston Magazine, celebrity, Daily Item, fame, Guardian, Kowloon, Mark Sardella, McWanks, microcelebrity, photo, photos, Scott Brown, Sen. Scott Brown, Senator Scott Brown, US Senate, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
Whiners and Losers
If Martha Coakley had won the Massachusetts special election on January 19, 2010, do you think she would have embarked on a statewide post-election tour to thank the voters? We’ll never know of course, but I’m guessing she’d have been sworn in and shaking hands in Washington – not at the Kowloon in Saugus shaking […]
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Tags: Democrat, Democrats, Edward M. Kennedy, election, Kennedy, Kowloon, Lenny Clark, Martha Coakley, Massachusetts, progressive, Republican, Republicans, Saugus, Saugus Mass, Saugus Massachusetts, Scott Brown, Sen. Scott Brown, Senate, senator, Senator Scott Brown, senators, special election, Steve Sweeney, Ted Kennedy, Teddy Kennedy, United States Senate, US Senate, vote, voter, voters, Wakefield, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Election Ennui
Congratulations to the voters of Wakefield, Massachusetts. One in four of you came out to vote in the recent special primary election to choose Teddy Kennedy’s successor in the US Senate. Wakefield’s 26 percent participation was nearly double the statewide turnout of 14 percent. Somewhere, the Founding Fathers must be beaming with pride. In the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, News, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 3 Comments
Tags: Alan Khazei, campaigns, candidate, candidates, conservative, conservatives, Daily Item, Democrat, Democratic, Democrats, Denocratic Party, Edward Kennedy, Edward M. Kennedy, election, elections, FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Harry Truman, Jack E. Robinson, Jack Kennedy, JFK, John F. Kennedy, left-wing, liberal, liberals, Martha Coakley, Massachusetts, Michael Capuano, Mike Capuano, moonbat, moonbats, Nancy Pelosi, political campaign, political parties, political party, Politics, primary, primary election, Republican, Republican Party, Republicans, Scott Brown, special election, Stephen Pagliuca, Steve Pagliuca, Ted Kennedy, Teddy Kennedy, United States Senate, US Senate, vote, voters, voting, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Taxing Times
Wakefield, Massachusetts votes itself a new tax The 2009 Regular Town Meeting proved to be a taxing one – and not just for those who hung in for the entire three and a half hours. Town Meeting backed two new local taxes: one that will bring the tax on a restaurant meal in Wakefield to […]
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Tags: Daily Item, hotel tax, John Carney, local option, local option meals tax, local taxes, MA, Marc Luca, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, meals tax, tax, taxation, taxes, Town Meeting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Mark Sardella 