VOL. 113 - NO. 28 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, JULY 10, 2009 $.30 A COPY BARNEY FRANK Tall Ships Sail into Boston Certified Elected Crook Sail Boston is an official Port of the Tall by Herman Cain Ships Atlantic Challenge 2009 (TSAC). The trans-Atlantic regatta started in Vigo, Spain. While the mainstream of Congress received no cov- From there the fleet raced to Tenerife in the media was saturated with erage at all. Canary Islands, en route to Bermuda. The coverage of celebrity deaths Barney’s “TARP for Main fleet then race to Charleston, South Caro- last week, the House of Street Act of 2009” would al- lina before racing to Boston, for Sail Boston Representatives passed the low the profits now coming 2009. From Boston the fleet will cruise in Cap & Trade & Tax & Kill back to the taxpayers from company north to Halifax, Canada. From bill. The official name is TARP to be used for one of there the fleet will race back across the the American Clean Energy Barney’s pet projects that did North Atlantic to Belfast, Northern Ireland. and Security Act of 2009, but not get funded with last Sail Boston will entertain its younger there is absolutely nothing year’s bailout of Fannie audience with educational programs focus- clean about it. Mae and Freddie Mac. The ing on US and international maritime This is another bill passed original TARP authorization history. Cadets and crewmembers will be by Congress where no mem- specifically designated that available to educate children of all ages of bers had an opportunity to profits from the loans would their personal experiences at sea, home read the bill, because most be used to pay down debt on countries and more. of the members did not re- behalf of the taxpayers. Cisne Branco Brazil ceive the last 300 pages of Some people would call THURSDAY, JULY 9 the 1,400-page bill until 3:06 Barney Frank’s move Crew and Cadet Soccer Tournament SATURDAY, JULY 11 a.m. last Friday, June 26, sleight-of-hand, below the University of Massachusetts Boston Public Access to Piers the day the bill was voted on radar, bait-and-switch or 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM * Specific times for public ship tours will and passed. opportunistic. I call it just Public Access to Piers * Specific times for be determined by each vessel’s captain. While celebrity deaths plain deceitful and crooked. public ship tours will be determined by Charlestown Navy Yard, Pier 1 and Pier 4 were receiving the most cov- Barney and the Democrats each vessel’s captain. 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM* erage, this so-called “clean could not resist the $6.2 Charlestown Navy Yard, Pier 1 and Pier 4 Fish Pier; Seaport World Trade Center energy” bill received some billion that the General 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM* 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM* coverage, but not nearly in Accountability Office (GAO) Fish Pier; Seaport World Trade Center Seaport Music in the Park proportion to the largest- had reported coming in so 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM* South Boston Maritime Park ever expansion of taxes and far. Some skeptics never Friends of Fort Point Channel Summer 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM government in our nation’s thought the taxpayers would Concert Series Tall Ships Atlantic Challenge Awards history! see a dime of profit from Children’s Wharf Park, Boston Children’s Ceremony The dirty little secret that TARP, and they will be Museum 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM South Boston Maritime Park Rep. Barney Frank intro- right if Barney’s bill is en- 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM duced during those closing FRIDAY, JULY 10 hours of last Friday’s session (Continued on Page 15) Downtown Crossing Festival SUNDAY, JULY 12 Downtown Crossing Public Access to Piers 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM * Specific times for public ship tours will Public Access to Piers be determined by each vessel’s captain. * Specific times for public ship tours will Charlestown Navy Yard, Pier 1 and Pier 4 News Briefs be determined by each vessel’s captain. 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM* by Sal Giarratani Charlestown Navy Yard, Pier 1 and Pier 4 Fish Pier; Seaport World Trade Center 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM* 12:00 PM - 8:00 PM* Fish Pier; Seaport World Trade Center Seaport Music in the Park West End Community Center Presents 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM* South Boston Maritime Park Before you know it, it will be time once again Liberty Party** 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM for the annual West End Children’s’ Festival. This Bank of America Pavilion year it happens on Saturday, August 15 from Noon 8:00 PM - 10:45 PM (Continued on Page 14) to 4 pm on Thoreau Path. Register online at www.westendchildrensfestival.org. The West End Community Center always says that they are proud to serve the greatest neighborhood this Mayor’s Column side of heaven or as some North Enders might by Thomas M. Menino, Mayor, City of Boston say, this side of Hanover Street. Just kidding. With all of the shifting, complex chal- the Boston Fire Department has suffered Bastille Day Celebration lenges facing city government, one pri- no layoffs and no fire stations were closed. ority is a constant focus for my admin- In fact, Boston has the highest ratio of The French League Alliance Francaise of istration – ensuring the highest level of firefighters both per capita and per Boston will sponsor its Bastille Day Party at the public safety for everyone that lives and square mile of any other city in the Liberty Hotel (the old Charles St. Jail) on Bastille works in Boston. From training to equip- country, and we are second only to San Day, July 14. I thought of Bastille Day after bump- ment, we continue to invest tremen- Francisco in the amount spent per resi- ing into some tourist over by the Greenway who dously in public safety improvements dent on the fire department’s budget. were visiting from France. When they asked if that strengthen the security of our City, Unfortunately, certain individuals Boston had a French community, I told them we and recent attempts to manufacture fear within the Boston Fire Department have had lots of Haitian cab drivers. They laughed at and undermine public confidence by spread misleading, and in many cases this and headed for the North End for an Italian certain individuals in the Boston Fire flat out incorrect, information about the style dinner. Department is not only a disservice to department’s daily operational plan for residents, it’s a disservice to all of the the purpose of political gain. All in the Simpson Family progress that we’ve made. People should It’s easy to alarm the public with far- When Matt Groening came up with the popu- not allow misinformation about the fetched accusations, but the actions of lar cartoon show “The Simpsons” he chose char- department’s daily operations to over- Local 718 are no more than scare tac- acters names – Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie shadow the truth. tics. Everyone should rest assured know- Despite a difficult budget with layoffs (Continued on Page 15) that impacted many City departments, (Continued on Page 13) THE POST-GAZETTE SATELLITE OFFICE IS NOW OPEN AT 35 BENNINGTON STREET, EAST BOSTON This office is open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM and Thursdays from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PMPM, for the convenience of our East Boston and North Shore clients and contributors Call 617-227-8929 for more information Page 2 POST-GAZETTE, JULY 10, 2009 RAY FLYNN: The Legacy of a Mayor Stirpe by Prof. Edmund by Sal Giarratani Turiello Nostra Boston Herald columnist As I look around the city Dave Wedge’s recent piece today, I see the legacy of Ray A weekly column highlighting some on a reported rift between Flynn across the city. You of the more interesting aspects of our Mayor Tom Menino and can see it especially in our ancestry...our lineage...our roots. former Mayor Ray Flynn (As neighborhoods. South Bos- Ties with Tom get Frosty, ton has grown stronger and SOME RELIGIOUS ORIGINS Flynn aids Rival, July 1) re- has become more inclusive. Once upon a time in greatly influenced ours. The minded me of the fact that Roxbury is re-building and Heliopolis, there was an description of their “Elysian former Mayor Flynn is often people are demanding a role Egyptian priest-historian Fields, Hades and Tartarus” forgotten or relegated to the in making life around them named Manetho. Sometime is certainly more than a back pages of political his- safer. Ray Flynn showed between 283 and 246 B.C., chance similarity when tory. He has unfortunately people that government isn’t he was commissioned by compared with our Heaven, become a forgotten mayor. politicians at City Hall, it is King Ptolemy to complete an Purgatory and Hell. We are Caught between four term the people of Boston’s diverse account of the history and told of the tribes of savage Mayor Kevin H. White (1968- neighborhoods working to- religion of Egypt that went hunters who wandered 84) and four term Mayor gether to make things hap- back to 4400 B.C. It takes through the dense forests on Thomas M. Menino (1993-?), many have for- pen for them. Mayor White had his “Little only seconds to calculate that the hills of ancient Rome. gotten the role played by Ray Flynn in his City Halls” and Mayor Menino has his Main it is 490 years since Chris From these tribes came ten years as mayor.