It wouldn’t be fair to tag all folks who oppose gay marriage as angry intolerant people who would resort to violence instead of debate. But it’s clear that some of the movement’s leaders are.

As reported in the Telegram and Gazette, the executive director of Catholic Citizenship left the stage during an anti-gay-marriage rally to assault a counter-protester.

WORCESTER– Tempers boiled over at an anti-gay marriage rally yesterday when the executive director of the Boston-based Catholic Citizenship emerged from behind a lectern outside City Hall, rushed toward a female counter-demonstrator, and pushed her to the ground.

Sarah Loy, 27, of Worcester was holding a sign in defense of same-sex marriage amid a sea of green “Let the People Vote” signs when Larry Cirignano of Canton, who heads the Catholic Citizenship group, ran into the crowd, grabbed her by both shoulders and told her, “You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now.” Mr. Cirignano then pushed her to the ground, her head slamming against the concrete sidewalk. …

“Four judges do not get to decide what sin is,” Mr. Cirignano said, as a chant of “Let the people vote” began to drown out the counter-demonstrators, who were outnumbered about 200 to 50.

Ms. Loy was holding a sign that read, “No discrimination in the Constitution” and counter-demonstrators were chanting, “You lost, go home, get over it,” when she was pushed to the ground. Afterward, Ms. Loy, in tears, arose and yelled to no one in particular, “That’s what hate does. That’s what hate does.”

What are they afraid of? Why do they resort to violence in the face of debate? Hopefully the Boston media will pick up the story and ask Ray Flynn and others who spoke at the rally why their leaders need to beat up their opponents.

Tags: Massachusetts Worcester Gay Marriage

All I want is a Bavarian creme donut. Apparently, that’s too much to ask of my local Dunkin’ Donuts.

Since I was a kid, I have enjoyed Bavarian creme donuts. Most Sunday mornings when I was growing up, Dad would bring home Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast and I always had a Bavarian creme. It was what I did.

Now that I’m a somewhat responsible adult, I’ve shied away from donuts with powdered sugar, primarily because I don’t want to show up at work with sugar all over my mug or down the front of my shirt. But it’s a Saturday morning, we’re out of cereal, so I decided I’d run down to get a coffee and a couple of donuts. I figure, “I don’t care if I cover myself with powdered sugar, because I’m just lazing around the house anyway. I think I’ll have a Bavarian creme donut.”

Apparently, I have to fly all the way to frickin’ Bavaria if I want a Bavarian creme donut because I can’t get one at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Central Street in Leominster.

To make matters worse, I then asked for a cinnamon donut because, again, it doesn’t matter if I cover myself in powder…well, you get the gist.

“I’m sorry sir, we don’t have cinnamon donuts.”

It’s a donut shop. “Donuts” is half of the name of the place. You’d think that I could get any of a number of different varieties of donuts at a place called Dunkin’ DONUTS!

Note to the folks running Dunkin’ Donuts: If I want bagels, I’ll go to a bagel shop. If I want sandwiches, I’ll go to a sandwich shop. If I want cookies or pastry, I’ll go to a bakery. If I want donuts, I’ll go to a donut shop.

Apparently I picked the wrong one.

Tags: Massachusetts Leominster Dunkin’ Donuts

I’m as happy as any other Red Sox fan that the team has gone out and signed one of the best pitchers in the world.

But can we please get on with the rest of our lives, at least until Spring Training begins?

I’m tired of being pounded over the head with Red Sox! Red Sox! Red Sox! every last minute of every day. I want to be able to turn on the news and not have Randy Price or Jack Williams or Natalie Jacobsen talking about the Red Sox. I want to be able to pick up a newspaper and not have every last story on the Sports page be about the Red Sox. I want to watch a Bruins game and not have Red Sox talk during every intermission, Red Sox news at the bottom of the screen every 15 minutes, and Red Sox players dropping the puck before the game.

Thing is, I love the Red Sox. I love lasagna too, but if I had Dr. Charles Steinberg and Larry Lucchino forcing lasagna down my throat every minute of every day, I’d eventually get sick of it. And I’ve about reached the point where I’d do anything to stop having the Red Sox force fed down my throat.

I can appreciate a little good marketing here or there, but what the Sox have been doing since John Henry bought the team has gone past marketing and is more like carpet bombing. For five off seasons now, from the never-ending highly public attempt to trade for Alex Rodriguez, to the never-ending highly public attempts every offseason to trade Manny Ramirez, to the smear campaigns waged against Nomar Garciaparra after he left, to holding a freaking press conference after Johnny Damon left, to dragging the groupies out to Hanscom Field to make it look like the pope himself was landing yesterday, it’s all been about publicity.

Well, I’m tired. Please, let me enjoy the season. And then, when the season is over, let me recharge my batteries so I can root for you again. You wouldn’t ask your players to go at full intensity all offseason, for fear that they would burnout. Don’t ask it of your fans either.

Some of us are just about there.

Tags: Boston Red Sox Matsuzaka

The Leominster DPW has asked the City Council to approve a 23% increase in water rates for 2007. As if that’s not bad enough, members of the council won’t even drink the water:

LEOMINSTER– A proposed 40-cent increase in water rates drew lively debate from members of the City Council, as well as some pithy comments from residents who opposed the plan. The increase would raise rates from $1.75 to $2.15 effective Jan. 1.

Joseph Corliss, a former councilor who spoke during the public forum of the council meeting, said he was curious to see that several councilors had bought bottled water from a vending machine nearby the council chambers.

“Why don’t you get your water from a bubbler? [a bubblah! Ha!] It’s probably because you’ve been reading the same reports we have about the water we have,” Mr. Corliss said. He referred to deficiency reports the city has been required to send out about inadequate treatment of the water because of the lack of a treatment plant at one of the city’s reservoirs.

And why are we facing such a high rate increase? Apparently it’s because we’re not using enough water:

During a public hearing on the rate increase, Roger H. Brooks, Department of Public Works business manager, told the council the increase was needed because of declining consumption and pending expenses necessary to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as other anticipated increases.

Mr. Brooks said two years of exceptionally rainy weather have caused people to use less water; as a consequence, revenues for the department have fallen. Mr. Brooks said, on average, this region receives about 40 inches of rain. In 2005, it received 61 inches of rain, and so far this year, 54.66 inches.

Now if anything speaks to the inefficiency of government, that is it. In the real world, when supply outpaces demand, the price goes down. But in the city of Leominster, apparently the price goes up. Way up.

Not that I should complain too much. While a 23% increase is significant, I’ll still be paying about one-fifth of what an MWRA customer pays. Maybe I’ll use the money I save on another case of Poland Spring.

Tags: Massachusetts Leominster MWRA Rates

I tried migrating my posts to a WordPress blog, essentially to see if I liked it better than blogger. Since I did, all of my previous posts on Blogger have become an amalgam of run-on paragraphs.

Apparently, something about the migration process removed carriage returns from previous posts. The thing that’s really weird is that the posts look normal (with correct line spacing) in the preview and composition areas, but are mush when I look at the published blog.

Guess I’ll have to throw myself at the mercy of the Blogger staff to see if they can bail me out again. At least the whole thing isn’t gone like it was when I attempted to move to Blogger Beta.

In any event, I invite you to go to the Blogger No Drumlins site and then let me know which you like better.

Update: OK, that was really strange. Apparently during the migration process, my settings were changed to ignore line breaks. The idea that WordPress would somehow change my settings to make my old blog essentially unreadable is certainly strike one against them. Anyway, I think I’ve fixed it.

Tags: Blogger WordPress

I don’t know about you, but I suddenly have this urge to go shopping in Gardner.

They are no longer just the shops of downtown Gardner. Now, they are The Shops of Downtown Gardner.

In its latest attempt to promote the city’s downtown stores, Square Two, a downtown advocacy organization, is doing a bit of branding. It wants people to think of the downtown businesses as a cohesive unit — not just a disorganized strip of shops with no name, but a quaint, diversified place to browse called “The Shops of Downtown Gardner.”

These Square Two folks have embraced one of the fundamental rules of marketing: There are only three things guaranteed to get people to buy what you’re selling: bears, monkeys, and capital letters. Or something.

“When you refer to something in a different way, it sheds a new light on it,” said Mark D. Hawke, the city’s grants administrator and president of Square Two. “Somebody might say, ‘Oh, The Shops, I might drive through and see what’s down there.’ ”

Oh. The Shops!

Actually, The idea is genius. In fact I may try it. I want my wife to think that the pile of mail that I have to sort through is not just a disorganized mess of letters and magazines, but a quaint diversified collection of items I call “My Pile of Mail.” I’ll bet the next time I walk past the desk, I’ll say “Oh, My Pile of Mail. I might sort through and see what’s down there.”

To be sure, downtown Gardner is not as healthy as the city would like. Some buildings, including the notable former Goodnow-Pearson building, are vacant and boarded up. Other storefront businesses, including a bureau of the Telegram & Gazette, are not retail, which makes them fairly worthless for shoppers walking the streets. …

Still, there is shopping to be had, and a variety of stores line downtown’s few blocks. In little time, a shopper could buy, say, sporting goods, a new watch, children’s clothing and a DVD.

There’s also food, including diners, pizza, a Chinese restaurant and the much-hyped latest addition, the Gardner Ale House. For sweets, there’s a candy-making shop.

I dunno. The Shops at Gardner may inspire folks from Athol or Erving to make the trip, but that won’t be enough to get the Volvo and Lexus crowd to venture outside of 495 for a DVD and a pizza. I’d have gone with The Shoppes at Gardnerville or Ye Olde Gardner Marketplace.

Tags: Massachusetts Gardner Shopping

For entertainment purposes only. Picks are against the spread, straight up winners are in bold.

Pittsburgh (-7) over Cleveland (W, 27-0)
New England (-3.5) over Miami
Kansas City (-3) over Baltimore
Atlanta (-3) over Tampa Bay
Minnesota (+1.5) over Detroit
Tennessee (+1) over Houston
N.Y. Giants (+3) over Carolina
Dallas (-7) over New Orleans
N.Y. Jets (-4) over Buffalo
Jacksonville (+1.5) over Indianapolis
Washington (+1.5) over Philadelphia
Cincinnati (-11) over Oakland
Seattle (-3) over Arizona
San Francisco (-4.5) over Green Bay
San Diego (-7.5) over Denver
St. Louis (+6) over Chicago

Against the Spread

LAST WEEK   5- 11- 0  .313
TO DATE    83-101- 8  .453
THIS WEEK   1-  0- 0 1.000
SEASON     84-101- 8  .456

Straight Up

LAST WEEK   7- 9  .438
TO DATE   118-74  .615
THIS WEEK   1- 0 1.000
SEASON    119-74  .617

Tags: Football NFL Picks odds

Now that we have a child, we decided to break down and get Christmas cards with the kid’s picture to send to everyone this year. So we dressed Jackson up, set him in a little sleigh, propped him up on a TV tray table in front of the Christmas tree, took a bunch of pictures, and sent one to Wal-Mart to get some cards printed.

What an experience that was.

When I get to the photo counter Sunday evening, I give the kid with the floppy blond hair and the conspicuous tongue piercing my name, he searches for my photos, then he tells me that the manager has instructed that they not fulfill my order because the photos look too professional.

I told Slacker McSkaterdude that I was flattered that he thought my pictures looked that good, but that I’d just taken them in my living room the day before. The young man, who despite his appearance took his job very seriously, told me that if I could prove that I took the pictures, he’d let me have them.

I’m not sure exactly the look I gave him, but if the kid could read my face, it was saying “Prove that I took the pictures? You’re kidding, right? And the lisp created by the tongue ring combined with your having to peer out at me from behind your bangs makes it hard to take you seriously.” Showing admirable self-restraint, I asked Master Shaggy how he expected me to prove my photographic skills. He suggested I bring the camera in and show him the image, and he’d let me have the pictures.

I asked for a manager.

The kid started to get a little offended and I assured him that I wasn’t angry at him (except for crimes against fashion) and that I realized that he was just doing his job, but that the whole thing was crazy. He said he understood, and that they’ve been told that they’ll be fired if they let anyone get away with copyright infringement. Then he called Louise Jefferson over to answer my questions.

He explained what was happening and Weezie told me that she wasn’t the manager who had flagged the photos, but that she’d be happy to take a look at them. After inspecting one of the cards for a moment, she agreed that I’d have to prove that they weren’t professional and handed me one.

Weezie, Shaggy and I huddled around the photo like so many Florida election officials examining hanging chads. Luckily, I noticed that I hadn’t cropped out the entire TV tray table, so I pointed it out. Either that was convincing enough, or Weezie was tired of dealing with me, so she finally released my Christmas cards.

You’d think Wal-Mart has more to worry about than keeping me from printing good looking pictures. Maybe I’ll have to print blurry or off-center pics next Christmas to avoid the hassle.

Tags: Massachusetts Hudson Wal-Mart Photo Christmas

For entertainment purposes only. Picks are against the spread, straight up winners are in bold.

Cincinnati (-1) over Baltimore (W, 13-7)
New England (-13.5) over Detroit (L, 28-21)
New Orleans (-7) over San Francisco (W, 34-10)
San Diego (-6) over Buffalo (L, 24-21)
N.Y. Jets (pick) over Green Bay (W, 38-10)
Minnesota (+9.5) over Chicago (L, 13-23)
Kansas City (-5) over Cleveland (L, 28-31)
St. Louis (-6.5) over Arizona (L, 20-34)
Tennessee (+7.5) over Indianapolis (W, 20-17)
Washington (-2) over Atlanta (L, 14-24)
Oakland (-3) over Houston (L, 14-23)
Miami (pick) over Jacksonville (L, 10-24)
Pittsburgh (-7.5) over Tampa Bay (W, 20-3)
N.Y. Giants (+3.5) over Dallas (L, 20-23)
Denver (-4) over Seattle (L, 20-23)
Carolina (-3) over Philadelphia (L, 24-27)

Against the Spread

LAST WEEK   8-  8- 0  .500
TO DATE    78- 90- 8  .466
THIS WEEK   5- 11- 0  .313
SEASON     83-101- 8  .453

Straight Up

LAST WEEK  13- 3  .813
TO DATE   111-65  .631
THIS WEEK   7- 9  .438
SEASON    118-74  .615

Tags: Football NFL Picks odds

At the end of last night’s post about the Leominster woman arretsted in Fitchburg because she threw a hot dog at a police cruiser, I suggested I could make up alliterations to describe the act all day.

So I have. Here’s what I have so far:

• frank flinging females
• weiner whipping wenches
• sausage slinging sallies
• wurst wielding women
• chorizo chucking chicas
• brat bearing babes
• schnitzel sending sisters
• link lobbing ladies
• kielbasa casting kitties
• dog delivering damsels
• hotdog hurling hotties

Please add additional alliterative allusions (there I go again) in the comments.

Tags: Massachusetts Leominster Fitchburg Police Hot Dog 01453 01420