DA Race: A Descent From Standards?
I enjoyed Tom Vannah’s article on “A Decade with Buoniconti” and his run for Hampden County District Attorney (October 7, 2010). “A lightweight lawyer and heavyweight pol” is a good description of Buoniconti. As far as his career not being distinguished by great scandal, that could change. He was named along with Rep. Tom Petrolati for allegedly receiving payment for probation patronage jobs. Will he also be subpoenaed, and if so, how will that play out if he is the district attorney? Also, on the issue of reporting income from his part-time job, come on! Did he really not know that the county retirement board is a public agency? His feet should be held to the fire on these issues before the election. He should not be permitted to use a “delay is victory” strategy.
Anyone that sought the office of district attorney in the last 52 years has been a full-time practicing attorney, up to date on Massachusetts criminal law. Name recognition and money should not be the deciding factors. To even consider waiving current experience criteria for an entrenched politician whose brief stint as a prosecutor is outdated and whose resume contains ethical questions is extremely troubling. The option is to vote for a veteran trial lawyer who has been both a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer and is non-partisan. The choice is an easy one for thinking people.
Joan Reilly
Springfield
What’s That About Pashtuns?
This reader found Chuck Shepherd’s “News of the Weird” article on Pashtun homosexual customs (October 7, 2010) quite amusing. Yes, boys cross-dress and use makeup, and are used as sexual objects by the Pashtun warriors. These Muslims seem quite schizophrenic about homosexual acts. Sodomy is seen as a great shameful taboo in the Koran, calling for draconian punishment. Richard Burton (“Terminal Essay,” from his translation of the Arabian Nights) wrote about Islamic tolerance for homosexuality: “…each caravan accompanied by a number of boys and lads dressed in woman’s attire with kohled eyes and rouged cheeks, long tresses … they are called Kuchi-i-safari, or traveling wives… Marriages between men and boys were celebrated with great festivities. …” But President Ahmadinejab tells us that there are no homosexuals in Iran.
Art Victor
Turners Falls
Obama Better Than Bush?
I think it’s amusing when people remark about how much smarter Obama is than Bush. After two years in the Oval Office, is there any clear evidence of this? Two issues that invigorated Obama’s candidacy were opposition to Bush’s foreign policy (Iraq and Afghanistan) and the Bush administration’s domestic policy (taxes and corporate bailouts). Obama has largely continued with both. Obama has increased combat operations in Afghanistan (which I personally agree with, but that’s not why his supporters voted for him).
Domestically, Obama continued the Bush-enacted “economic stimulus packages,” aka corporate bailouts, which I believe to be among the biggest government-crafted boondoggles in United States history, benefiting only huge corporations and fat-pocketed construction companies.
I don’t recall a single small business opening on Main Street thanks to “stimulus” dollars (geez, but don’t the new sidewalks look pretty?). And did Springfield really need all its main roads from Armory Street to Main Street paved all at once last year? Traffic was a nightmare in downtown Springfield as Big Construction soaked up tax dollars with one un-needed street paving after another. And what the hell is the deal with the freakin’ I-91 multi-year construction fiasco? Finish it up already! What a snow job!
Bill Dusty
http://springfieldintruder.com
