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UnspokenIdeas
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UnspokenIdeas's Blog
 Feb 19 2010 - 1:55pm
As the debate about healthcare is underway, we hear from the far left that a single-payer, government mandated program is the way to go. We hear from the far right that less government intervention and hands-off-my healthcare is the better approach. As both of the ideological arguments persist, the larger concern that is being heavily ignored is the lack of healthcare staff.
Even though Canada and England have fair criticism regarding their systems, the good and the bad, the fact of the matter is that the long waiting lines are not because of it being inefficient, it’s because they have a shortage of doctors and nurses. A friend of mine, a Canadian citizen, wanted to be a nurse there but she decided against it because the classes were in the same realm as that of a doctor. She said that half of the classes were irrelevant for nurses. “I might as well become a doctor,” she said out of frustration. Canada is not making it attractive enough for people to become nurses and the waiting lists for the nursing program are extremely long. In addition, in the United States, almost every school only has 20 seats every year for both dental hygiene and the nursing program. Another friend of...
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 Feb 13 2010 - 1:01am
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Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Obama on Feb.17, 2009 textbook and other course material expenses incurred in 2009 and 2010 that are not covered by scholarship or grant aid may be counted toward the newly created tax credit called the American Opportunity Tax Credit on that year’s tax return.
So, save your course material receipts — you may be eligible for a tax credit up to $2,500.
Originally posted February 12, 2010 at Wicked Local Cambridge.
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 Jan 31 2010 - 9:41pm
Originally published in HuffingtonPost: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aquila-rivers/why-i-a-democrat-voted-fo_b_...
Born and raised in MA, I’ve typically voted Democrat in every election except for city council because Cambridge has proportional representation and the municipal elections are not based on party. The Massachusetts Special Election was the first time I voted Republican for a state-wide campaign. I did it for two reasons: protest and to send a message to President Obama and his White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.
We want a change, but we want the change that we voted for in 2008. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on December 18, 2009, Emanuel told Jonathan Weisman that he was not worried about appeasing the base. My message to Mr. Emanuel is: don’t ignore your base or they will not turn out to vote — or, quite frankly, they will vote the other way out of protest.
Obama abandoned his efforts to go after Wall Street and, once elected, he moved from the left to the middle. Come to think of it, once he officially got the Democratic nomination, he moved from the left to the middle, and then once he was elected, he skewed more to the right. I realize that...
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 Nov 20 2009 - 12:12pm
This is in response to the Cambridge Chronicle’s piece, “Capuano reverses course, would vote against health bill with abortion ban,” Nov. 11.
First of all, to my liberal friends, I don’t think the government should be responsible for paying for the decision, or lack thereof, regarding a woman’s choice to abort her child. As long as there are abortion clinics, she is exercising that right. However, it takes two to tango and the responsibility should financially lie upon the mother and the father.
Secondly, the national debate coming from the Democrats is only being half-told. Abortion will be covered under the public option for a woman who is impregnated by incest, rape, or if the life of the mother is in danger. There are already private health insurers who don’t cover abortion, so why such the outrage?
I think I can live with a healthcare bill that doesn’t cover abortion. Let’s face it, some women use abortion as a birth control mechanism, emphasis on the word, “some.” Should the government be responsible for the woman not going on birth control or her partner not using protection? Let’s focus on more sex education in middle school or high school, protection from sexually...
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 Nov 4 2009 - 12:24am
ABC’s Good Morning America features Kathy Spencer on October 29, 2009, a Massachusetts mother, family of six, on her quest to share tons of info regarding money-saving grocery tips.
Spencer: “When I go to the store, I only buy what works out free or close to free, and that’s how I do it for as little as I can.”
What stood out to me: When I frequent the deli, even with a coupon, I feel obligated sometimes to get 1 pound of the item that has $1 off. However, with Kathy’s idea, when she has $1 off coupon at the deli, she gets a 1/25 pound, and the item is either free or dirt cheap. On my next grocery shopping trip, I’m going to use some of these tips.
http://www.unspokenideas.com/2009/10/30/family-of-6-lives-off-4wk-for-food/
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 Oct 29 2009 - 11:40am
We need City Councilors who aren’t afraid to stand up to the status quo. It seems that the current Council has let City Manager Bob Healy take their power away from them. This isn’t an accusation – go back to the first candidate forum where the majority of the incumbents defended his high salary and questionable tactics, including the discrimination case filed against him. Are they too afraid to challenge him or are they receiving favors of their own? If not, please explain to me why this occurs?
For the few councilors who do challenge Healy, where are the other councilor’s voices? This reminds me of the Patriot Act, which passed the Senate 99-1 back in 2001. Senator Russ Feingold was the opposing vote, even though at the time it was unpopular. Fast forward nine years, the Senate is now catching on to the fact that there have been abuses regarding the Patriot Act within the Dept. of Justice. Will city councilors recognize flaws in something and stand up for it, even among unpopularity?
In addition, for someone to think that one person is the only person fit for the job is mistaken. Take New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg – he feels he’s the only person knowledgeable and qualified to...
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 Oct 27 2009 - 4:55pm
I like to either start with a question or end with a question. Do you think its right that white collar crimes and failed financial institutions are rewarded while homeowners are branded as irresponsible? Let’s take embattled Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis as an example. He will receive $125 million dollars for failing the shareholders. Merryl-Lynch was bailed out. Bank of America, CitiGroup, and a host of other financial institutions, as well as AIG, the insurance giant. On that note, when it comes to people losing their homes, there are a variety of misperceptions, as I will note in this blog post.
Although much has been written about the current mortgage lending/foreclosure crisis, I’m going to add to the consensus.
2008 has been an interesting year, for good and bad. For students such as myself, this financial crisis has been a learning and teachable experience, i.e. Economics 101. Business, government and the economy often get muddled with too many partisan arguments. Don’t get me wrong, healthy debate is important, as long as we are getting to the root of the problem. Watching the markets go up and down, reading about the origins of the Federal Reserve Bank, and chairman Ben...
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 Oct 27 2009 - 4:50pm
Thanks to a detailed explanation from Cambridge School Committee incumbent candidates Marc McGovern and Patty Nolan, the Cambridge Proportional Representation voting system is a bit clearer. PR is a different ballgame from classroom learning as a college student to hands-on-experience, that’s for sure.
Out of the nine candidates running for CSC, I’m giving my number one vote to McGovern. Earlier this year, I had a school registration hiccup with the Cambridge Public School Department. With no luck from the CPSD, I contacted the CSC and two members reached out to me for support — McGovern was one of them. The next day, he got on the phone with the CPSD, and even though the particular CPSD bureaucrat that he conversed with didn’t fix the problem, it was McGovern’s response that stood out to me.
In addition, what I noticed right away about McGovern is his platform of ideas and commitment to the job. Budget transparency — gently correcting inaccuracies about the duties of the CSC; he wants ineffective programs shut down and even said during one of the debates that “sometimes programs are easy to start up, but harder to shut down because people are afraid to say that the program just...
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 Oct 27 2009 - 4:48pm
This is in response to City Council candidate Tom Stohlman’s October 6 Opinion Letter, “Why the bad voter turnout?,” he asked: “Why do student residents, even the ones who are registered voters in Cambridge, pass on their chance to have a say in their local government?” I appreciate that Mr. Stohlman has asked this question and hopefully other students will weigh in as well.
To put it plainly, if the candidate running isn’t energetic, reaching out to student needs, or providing opportunities for students to be engaged, they will stay home. We witnessed an unusual high voter turnout from young people during the 2008 Presidential election, and I think that local government can capture the same tools that were used. One of those tools used by almost all of the Presidential candidates was social networking. Twitter, Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, and blogging, to name a few. Additionally it comes down to the candidate, their platform and whether or not they can connect to voters. For example, Barack Obama and Sarah Palin captured a lot of young hearts. They were both energetic, upbeat and they continuously had a lot of enthusiasm while they campaigned, which is why they drew large...
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 Oct 27 2009 - 4:40pm
Low voter turnout for municipal elections is nothing new. One hundred thousand residents in Cambridge — approximately 50,000 registered voters — and about 13,000 turn out.
In America, this number has declined from more than 70 percent in the 19th Century to about 50 percent in the late 20th Century. Off-year elections result in very low turnout rates — only 36 to 39 percent will show up to vote if presidential candidates are not standing for election. European democracies have much higher turnout rates, primarily because they have automatic voter registration, which the United States has yet to adopt.
Why is this? This is, with all intent and purpose, not a simple question with a simple answer. Many factors weigh why people don’t turn out. Higher income and older people are more apt to vote. Statistically, those who vote Republican are of a higher income, while those who tend to vote Democratic are lower income. Women are more likely to register and vote for the Democratic Party, while men are more likely to support Republicans. Both parties attract loose coalitions of voters who believe that the party they have supported will, in turn, support them with programs that benefit...
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