February 2005 - Issue 5

Shielding police abuses

Cambridge Police Commissioner Watson says, “For the second year in a row, we’ve received no complaints of excessive force....” That does not mean there were no incidents of excessive force, only that there were no complaints. Nor does that mean that there were no instances of police misconduct or abuse of police powers.

The twilight of democracy

POLICE STATE is defined in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary as “repressive government control… arbitrary exercise of power by police and esp. secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures.”

We deserve a working democracy

Running for office is not an easy thing. For me, however, it was not the hours, or the insults, or the fundraising that was the most challenging.

Public Backs MNA's Safe Staffing Bill 3-1 Over MHA Legislation

Citizens View Understaffing of Registered Nurses as a Problem That Requires Urgent Attention by Massachusetts State Legislators

Harvard moves to dominate riverfront; state report delayed

In January, studiously ignoring major objections to its development plans in Riverside, Harvard University made another big land purchase in Allston.

Reflections on the Carolina Johnson campaign

Some people were taken aback by our decision to run Carolina Johnson for state representative in the 25th Middlesex district, because the incumbent was relatively progressive as progressive democrats go.

Memories of Riverside and rent control

We moved on to Western Avenue in the summer of 1964. It was damn hot on Western Ave in the summer. In the winter, everybody crowded into the kitchen. Do you know the kind of place I’m talking about? No wash basin in the bathroom. If you wanted hot water you lit an open jet of gas under a big cast iron tank. But the rent was just $50 a month for three and a half bedrooms, and there weren’t any bugs.

Failed policy? Boston debates drug war

"We have a public policy crisis: we are spending billions of dollars to fight a war on drugs and we don't seem to be able to stop the flow of drugs into this country. We are spending more and more public dollars on housing men and women who are involved with the drug trade, drug addiction seems to be increasing, and yet we don't seem to have the money to help those who want to turn their lives around and recover from addiction."

The hounding of Richard Picariello

On March 9, former political prisoner and long-time activist Richard Picariello will have his tenth preliminary hearing for two arrests in March of 2004 during the lead-up to the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston.

Bully with a badge

On the morning of Saturday, January 15th, at around 1:40 AM, near the corner of Pearl and Williams Streets, a Cambridge police officer, Badge #409, pulled over a car in which I was a passenger.