Joe's mistake

Joe Wurzelbacher, like many other Americans, believes in policies that work against him and the vast majority of citizens. The ersatz plumber and Ohio resident has been used by John McCain as an example of a working guy who would take a hit financially under Barack Obama’s tax proposals. In reality, Joe the Plumber – and millions of other working people – would benefit from a plan that raises taxes just a bit for anyone making more than $250,000 a year and lowers them for most everyone else.

US Census Bureau statistics for 2005 showed that 1.5% of US households earned more than a quarter-million dollars and, yes, I do believe in higher taxes for those at the top. The wealthy have, without exception, benefited from public resources and a stable nation and, therefore, it is justifiable to have them kick in a larger share of the money that is necessary to keep the social contract functioning. Many have raked in cash in the real-estate boom and the soaring stock market of the past decade or two and should now bear a larger responsibility in cleaning up the resulting mess.

Let us not forget that, historically, the highest tax bracket is currently at one of its lowest levels since before the Great Depression. To finance World War I, the uppermost bracket was raised to 67%. During the Depression and then World War II it was increased to as much as 94% and stayed above 70% through the post-war economic boom and into 1981.Under Ronald Reagan the top bracket was lowered first to 50% and then into the mid-30s, where it’s mostly stayed. Currently the tax code tops out at 35%.

Since the 1980s, income disparity has widened drastically in the United States. I believe in spreading out the resources rather than having a small group horde the wealth, allowing them to live in excess while others lose their jobs, live on the streets, suffer from illness, receive subpar educations or go to sleep hungry. There is no justification for this in the richest country in the world. Yes, our status as the economic superpower is now threatened, and this is all the more reason why those who can afford to should be asked to step up and to sacrifice for the good of the country, just as was done in every other difficult period in American history.

Hub of the Hub

Did you know that one of the world's leading political activists works out of his home here in East Boston? Or that a foreign country has its local consulate in this neighborhood? I recently started taking note of some of the regional, national and even international organizations located in Eastie and here is what I found:

*The Albert Einstein Institution, led by Dr. Gene Sharp, advises political movements around the world from his office in Eastie. The mailing address for the organization is AEI, P.O. Box 455, East Boston, MA, 02128.

*The El Salvadoran Consulate for New England is located at 143 Border Street.

*Project Bread, the group that organizes the annual Walk for Hunger, has its headquarters at 145 Border Street.

*Hip hop record label Amalgam Digital operates out of 2 Neptune Road.

*The New England Gallery of Latin American Art opened last year at 184 Cottage Street.

*The Militant Labor Forum Hall hosts speakers and films on workers' issues and human rights on the second floor at 13 Bennington Street.

Those of us who live here, of course, have always known that Eastie is the center of the world.

Dailies endorse opponents

The Boston Globe has endorsed Barack Obama for president and, in an unusual step, the newspaper's editorial board has concluded that John McCain is unfit to take over the Oval Office. As is noted, the Globe endorsed McCain in the Republican primary in December, but now the paper finds that the Arizona senator "has been a profound disappointment."

Back on Oct. 1, The Boston Herald endorsed McCain.

Local killing

A 19-year-old Hispanic male was murdered just before midnight last night in East Boston. The victim was stabbed to death near Liberty Plaza, and police are searching for "a black, four-door car, possibly a Honda or Toyota, in connection with the incident." Anyone with information should call the Boston Police at 1.617.343.4470.

No rain on today's parade

The annual Columbus Day parade is in East Boston this year and starts from Orient Heights at 1 p.m., following a course from Bennington Street to Chelsea Street to Meridian Street and ending in Central Square. Beware of parking restrictions on those streets from mid-morning to late afternoon.

The forecast is for sunny skies with a high temperature of 66 degrees.

Getting ugly

John McCain is apparently losing control of the tenor of his campaign. An Associated Press story reports that angry crowds at Republican events are asking their candidate to get tougher and some supporters are shouting "terrorist" and "off with his head" in reference to Barack Obama. At one point when McCain tried to reel in the crowd he was booed. The article goes on to say that the mood of the crowd is angrier at events that Sarah Palin appears at. She apparently brings out the real lunatic fringe of the GOP.

By choosing Palin and airing ads that are all negative, McCain has planted these seeds. He shouldn't be surprised at the results.

Table-banging time

The latest national polls all have Barack Obama with leads larger than the margins of error, and the Democrat has opened up a lead in almost every toss-up state as well. With less than a month remaining until Election Day, the campaign of John McCain now understands that their ideas are not going to convince the citizenry to chose the GOP nominee, and therefore there is only one route remaining: all negative, all the time.

William Ayers, a 60s radical who is now a civically-active college professor in Chicago, has been resurrected by attack-dog Sarah Palin. Can Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko be far behind? That's all they've got: guilt by rather weak association. Oh, and race. The McCain campaign has been subtly injecting that into the mix all along -- with their talk implying that Obama is unlike the rest of us (hint, hint white America) -- and now this area will be mined for all it's worth.

The Obama camp struck back with an Internet video yesterday that reminds voters that McCain was part of the Keating Five and that Charles Keating was part of the problem that led to the Savings and Loan Crisis, another instance where the taxpayer had to bail out banks and millionaires after they'd run wild in the face of lax regulation. I heard Obama quoted as saying that, in the realm of negative ads, he will not punch first, but that he will punch last. Clearly many believe that the lessons of Gore and Kerry are that attacks cannot be unchallenged.

One surprise is that lack of 527s -- groups unaffiliated with the campaigns that air attack ads. The GOP has used these to their advantage in the past: remember the so-called Swift Boat Veterans? Don't be surprised if they surface now with some outrageous allegations. The Republicans are desperate, and like the old saying about lawyers, when neither the truth nor the law are on your side, you've got to bang the table and scream as loudly as you can.

What if it's a tie?

The Globe ran a Reuters story today about what should happen if John McCain and Barack Obama tie with 269 electoral votes each. Though Obama is opening up a small lead in some key states, there's still a month and circumstances could change.

There was a similar situation once before in an American presidential election. In 1824 none of the four candidates received a majority of the electoral votes. What happens? The House of Representatives chooses, and that year they elected John Quincy Adams.

There are some twists, however. In a vote of the House to decide an election, each state casts one vote. So, the Democratic margin in the House is smaller than the current 31. According to the story, the Democrats lead in the make-up of state delegations, 27-21. The other two are tied. (There is some disagreement over whether this Congress or the newly-elected one gets to choose.)

The other monkey wrench is that the Senate chooses the VP on a straight up or down vote. Theoretically, the president and vice president could be from different parties. Though technically the two major parties each have 49 senators, the two independents (Bernie Sanders and the turncoat Joe Lieberman) caucus with the Democrats, giving them a two-vote majority. One could easily see Lieberman choosing the GOP candidate, who is part of the ticket he is currently endorsing. This would mean a tie, which current VP Dick Cheney would presumably break with a vote for the lunatic Sarah Palin.

Of course, a tied electoral field could quickly evaporate if just one elector is persuaded to change his or her vote, which seems to be legal in most states.

Doesn't all of this make a good case for abolishing the often-misunderstood and always-cumbersome Electoral College?

RIP

Winthrop and East Boston lost a couple of long-time civic-minded sons this week. Alan Lupo, who chronicled the lives of average Joes and never held his tongue when confronting abuse of power, died Monday at age 70, while Tony Marmo, widely active among non-profits and youth sports organizations, passed away Tuesday at age 90.

Both communities are lesser places in their absence.

Shameful GOP tactics

One part of current presidential elections that is disturbing is the degree to which the Republican Party attempts to disenfranchise voters they believe will choose their opponents. It's probably one of the most overlooked stories of national elections in 2000 and 2004: the GOP using misinformation and lawyers to get tens of thousands of votes thrown out.

And they are at it again. I've heard and read a number of stories about dirty tricks against traditionally Democratic groups. Here are two, for example: first in Virginia, where the GOP is trying to convince college students, incorrectly, that they would forfeit scholarships or lose the ability to be claimed by their parents on tax returns if they register to vote; then in Florida, where a confusing mailing went out to registered Democrats, apparently to convince them that their voter registrations are messed up.

What could be less democratic -- with a small d -- than confusing or scaring people into not voting? It is, however, part of the Republican playbook. They will do whatever it takes to win.

Bailing out the rich

It's difficult to know what to think about the so-called "bailout bill" that Congress has struggled with for the past 10 days and will likely vote on today. Plenty of people on the left and right (Newt Gingrich and Michael Moore, for example) are saying that such an allocation of the treasury is unnecessary, while many others whose opinions I take into account (George F. Will, Paul Krugman, Barack Obama) are saying that, despite the odiousness of this proposal, something has to be done.

Many in Congress -- including the Democratic leadership in both houses -- apparently feel they cannot sit by and not be part of a remedy when there is a chance of economic disaster on the horizon -- and that is the way that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke have described the future without the $700 billion bailout.

This roundtable on This Week with George Stephanopoulos was particularly interesting yesterday, with Will, Gingrich, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein, and several of them talked about Americans living above their means for the past decade or so. Pearlstein said that the rest of the world is tired of lending us money to do so.

Another truism here is that unfettered capitalism always leads to a feeding of swine at the trough. The deregulation pushed by the Republican Party beginning with Ronald Regan and escalating under George W. Bush -- always with the support of John McCain -- is partly to blame here, and whether we need to rescue Wall Street to save Main Street or not, it should be clear that the greed of the ruling class is much more of a threat to our way of life than earmarks, welfare or any of the culture war issues that the GOP routinely distracts Americans with around election time.

Facts again take back seat

The East Boston Times is dead wrong when it says, in a front page story in the Sept. 24 issue, that the Salesian religious order "evicted Savio Prep High School from its property on Byron Street two years ago." In fact, Savio's board of directors voted to close the school. I know because I was there.

The school actually had another year on its lease with the order, but decided to pull the plug at the end of the 2006-07 school year. The Salesian Society did make clear that they would not be renewing the lease with Savio after June of 2008 -- for reasons that do make sense -- and at least one priest was not very civil to the school down the stretch, but there was no eviction.

The whole sordid story of the demise of Savio is something I've avoided wading too deeply into here, as it's a complex web of mismanagement at several levels -- possibly including the misappropriation of funds. Suffice to say that when I returned to the Savio faculty in the fall of 2006 the school was on life support and more than one person said to me that the place should have been shut down the previous June.

Having worked for both the Salesian (note to Times: there is no "s" at the end) Boys and Girls Club, as well as Savio -- and after having passed through both institutions as a youngster and teenager -- I am not predisposed to take the side of one or the other, and recognizing Fr. John Nazzaro with a story is commendable. He is a good guy who I've known for years.

However, on an issue as emotional and recent as the closing of Savio, I'm not sure how a key fact was bungled so badly.

Quality pet products

Dog and cat owners might want to check out Lucky Dog Organics, a locally-owned Internet business that sells quality pet foods, toys and other items. My favorite toy on the site? The big, spooky eye -- stuffed with catnip!

"Something wicked this way comes"

Consider, for a moment, a noble warrior who becomes consumed with ambition to the point that he casts aside the values he once believed in; when he senses that he is in reach of the seat of power he abandons all restraint and does whatever it will take to eliminate his enemies and to solidify his control. Consider, also, a scheming, amoral woman at his side.

Who is it that you see? William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth just over 400 years ago, and it is arguably his most frightening work. The Scottish general who lusts after the throne becomes ever-more consumed with naked ambition as his wife encourages his terrible deeds.

It occurs to me that there are clear parallels between the play and the actions of John McCain. Of course, there are no blood-filled scenes, but "the Thane of Arizona" has clearly sacrificed principles that he seemed to embody back when George W. Bush was doing the smearing and lying. One can imagine a rendezvous with three witches who told McCain that they've seen the future and he can be president -- but only if he is willing to do whatever it takes.

Meanwhile, central casting appears to have been a bit unsatisfied with Lady McCain in her role, so they sent us Sarah Palin, who we can easily imagine grabbing a bloody dagger to finish what her partner began -- just as though she were gutting a moose. In Shakespeare's work, however, guilt consumes Lady Macbeth. Palin does not seem to possess a conscience, and therefore will likely never feel remorse.

Ecco opens

I was unable to make it to Ecco's complimentary-meal soft opening last week, but the doors opened for real last night. Does anyone have feedback on East Boston's newest hot spot?

Today's Globe has a piece on Ecco that isn't a restaurant review, but rather an examination of how a "martini-tapas bar" like this reflects the influx of young professionals in the neighborhood.