Schaper: Is Free Speech Petering Out In New England?

Thursday, January 02, 2014

Arthur Christopher Schaper, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

WPRO’s Independent conservative/shock-jock John DePetro is under attack in the Ocean State, specifically following his attack on the unions picketing outside of Roger Williams Casino Park earlier this year.

Why were they gathered together to cause a lather of trouble? To protest General Treasurer Gina Raimondo’s fundraiser, as she was the key reformer who pushed through Rhode Island’s landmark pension reforms in 2011. As a rule, unions will fight to the end to prevent any cuts or reforms to wages, benefits, and pensions. Whatever one may say about their reasons and their rhetoric, the policies which have benefitted the connected public sector unions at the expense of the taxpayer, literally, cannot be afforded any longer.

DePetro referred to the people picketing as “a disgrace” then spelled out the word “whore” to describe them. Yes, and DePetro has twice before faced backlashes for other insensitive comments about some women, (but not every woman) including a claim many years prior that a rape victim was asking for trouble for frequenting a bar so late. And there was that “fat lesbian” comment.

Up till now, conservatives who had made insensitive remarks would get canned, but liberals with offenses aplenty, those that lasted long enough to be profitable, never got rebuked, let alone fired.

This year, that double-standard has faded. With the resignation of Pakistani-Britisher Martin Bashir from MSNBC because of his outrageous remarks against Sarah Palin. suggesting that someone should urinate and defecate in her mouth for Palin’s comparison of the growing national debt to slavery. Also, Alec Baldwin finally got his self-righteous rage-slander comeuppance this year, following his gay-bashing tirade against a New York paparazzo. His fledgling news show was cancelled, too, following aggressive lobbying by conservative groups.

Back to New England, and we find that not only DePetro is facing attacks, but also former Republican US Senate candidate Gabriel Gomez is taking a backlash. On his Facebook page, Gomez maligned the leaders of conservative blog Red Mass Group, calling them members of a “Klan”, and yes with a “K.”

Such race-baiting is destructive, insulting, and just plain stupid. Besides, Republicans are a frustrated breed as it is in the Northeast, and such back-biting in their own ranks just ranks with self-serving wickedness. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Gomez was testing the waters for a run for state treasurer, and he was vetting more liberal credentials to ingratiate himself with the Mass Lib constituency.

Red Mass Group’s Eno and Pinto fought back, and rightly so. Gomez was forced to retract and apologize, although his statements on Boston Public Radio highlighted his resistance to repudiate his remarks.

The conservative right in the United States is coalescing against race-baiting and hate-mongering, and it’s about time. However, do these trends mean better or worse for our political culture?

The Gomez get-back was a private matter, and privately handled. The Red Mass Group is likely red with glee, since they get some worthy press.

Now let’s consider the DePetro dust-up.

Politicians and public sector unions have been tarnished with the prostitution taint many times before. Syndicated cartoonist Michael Ramirez depicted former US Senator Ben Nelson and current, embattled Mary Landrieu of Louisiana as prostitutes for taking back room deals to help pass ObamaCare in 2010. Making fun of politicians is as old as the oldest profession, anyway.

Were DePetro’s comments insensitive? Of course. Did anyone have a right to dig into his past to find present reasons for sacking him a third time? Now, I am not so sure. Should he be fired for referring to the union protestors as “whores”? Hmm. The debate, picked up in greater measure by local conservatives, strongly suggests that Rhode Island public officials’ pressure against a private news medium, or a messenger, does not bode well for free speech.

Governor Deval Patrick and the Mass GOP did not get heavily involved in the Gomez-Red Mass flap, but when Governor Chafee decides to boycott an entire radio station, along with the backing of one-party rule Democrats in Providence, Rhode Islanders should reconsider. Putting aside allegations of sexual misconduct, should the radio host go up in smoke for his incendiary remarks?

For Our Daughters alleges:

DePetro labels women as "whores" on WPRO air.

No he did not.

The union/organization sponsoring the boycott against DePetro, For Our Daughters RI, is a union-sponsored machine. Does New England really want politicians and public sector unions censoring who can say what? Yet proponents of the boycott would argue: Organizations have boycotted media elements before, have they not?

The rub remains this: unions and politicians are funded with taxpayer dollars, monies taken from you and me, and then these same interests spend our coerced monies on candidates, causes, questions, or any kind of demonstrations, whether they serve the public which they claim to serve, or not. If they want to mount boycotts and recalls, they should be doing so on their own time with their own money, that is with money voluntarily extracted from their own supporters.

Boycotts should be a private affair. State officials, with their endemic pride, should not be able to amass power to silence dissent.

Arthur Christopher Schaper is a teacher-turned-writer on topics both timeless and timely; political, cultural, and eternal. A life-long Southern California resident, Arthur currently lives in Torrance.

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Visitors to many of the 11 Daily Voice local news sites in Central Mass were greeted with a new pop-up window this week, one thanking them for reading and their support and informing them that their communities will no longer be covered, at least not by the Daily Voice.

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In the latest twist in the proposed slot parlor, the developer - Rush Gaming from Chicago, Illinois - has withdrawn its $240 million proposal.

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The episode undid a decade of positive work in promoting tourism. It might have been a good idea for the Mayor to have told the Governor to take the body some where else. Hard to believe Tom Menino allowing a the invert to have taken place.

Worcester Police announced Thursday that the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been taken from the city -- and has been "entombed."

Tsarnaev's body had been at the Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Home since May 3.

Police said that as a result of their public plea for assistance Wednesday, someone came forward with a burial site, that has not beed indentified.

Statement on Worcester Police Department Facebook Page:

UPDATE: After The Chief's Public Appeal For A Resolution The Body Of Marathon Bombing Suspect Has Been Moved From Worcester And Entombed

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Missing Councilman

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GoLocal reported:

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Drug Paraphernalia

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Here is what GoLocalWorcester Reported:

A Worcester resident is calling for a boycott of SRK Mart Gas, accusing the Cambridge St. station of openly selling drug paraphernalia.

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#6

Gomez and the Klan

Gabriel Gomez ran for the U.S. Senate seat as the Republican candidate seeking John Kerry's vacant seat.

He travelled across the state seeking the support of moderate and conservatives members of his party.

Just a few days ago, he lashed out at two prominent conservative, grassroots organizers with a vicious attack. It linked them to the Klu Klux Klan.

After numerous media inquiries, he issued an apology. Both the attack and the apology were posted to Facebook.

As reported:

Former Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Gabriel Gomez attacked two prominent GOP activists on Facebook.

Gomez wrote a blistering attack on Rob Eno of the influential blog RedMassGroup and Worcester GOP official Chris Pinto.

Gomez alludes that they are involved with the Klu Klux Klan and "are an embarrassment to our civil society."

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#5

Cronut is a dosant by any other name

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The perpetrator of this blunder is no Worcesterite, but a self-proclaimed food innovator, Chef Dominique Ansel of SoHo. The New Yorker has claimed to invent, create and father the all so popular cronut. However, Ansel forgot one thing – it all started with a nice, smart young baker in Central MA.

As GoLocal wrote:

In case you haven't heard, New York City has been buzzing about the latest dessert craze to hit the streets -- cronuts.

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Telegram – the paper no one seems to want

In August, it was reported that John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox had purchased the Boston Globe from the New York Times Company for $70 million dollars. In most of the reports, buried at the bottom of the article was a footnote that as part of the deal Henry also bought the Worcester Telegram, a direct mail program and half-ownership in the Metro.

For months, Henry made no statement about the Telegram and never visited the paper, until one fateful late November day when Henry finally visited the paper to announce he was selling it. One visit and done.

As GoLocalWorcester’s Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Dean Starkman wrote in his column:

That didn’t take long.

The Telegram & Gazette, a wallflower among New England newspapers that has suffered years of benign neglect by distant owners, seemed poised for a revival, after John Henry scooped it up as part of his landmark deal to buy the Boston Globe.

Now a month later, he’s putting it on the block.

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The recent release of the FBI’s 2012 crime statistics would seem to confirm at least some local fears, or at least, keep the issue fresh on the minds of residents. They continue to show Worcester as a city where crime remains above national and state averages. Worcester ranks 7th in Massachusetts for violent crimes.

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Fresolo was brought before the House Ethics Committee and ultimately resigned his seat.

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Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo has launched an investigation by the House Ethics Committee into "serious allegations" against a state representative, and sources have told GoLocalWorcester that the lawmaker in question is Worcester's own Rep. John Fresolo.

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Health Code Regulators

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The staff at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services Public Affairs office could not have been less responsive. Refusing to answer phone call, missing deadlines of FOIA requests and in general not being aware of basic recording statutes.

Here is what GoLocalWorcester reported:

If you are looking for public information about health inspections in the Commonwealth don’t contact the Massachusetts’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ Public Affairs office.

State law requires the Executive Office’s public affairs group led by Alex Loftus to be the keeper of the information, but GoLocal editors and reporters repeated efforts to secure copies of basic reports in a timely manner proved futile.