The following has been submitted to the Cambridge (MA) Chronicle.
**********
Editor
Cambridge Chronicle
There are striking similarities between the Paterno scandal and business as usual with the Cambridge Pols.
The NCAA has struck all of Paterno’s victories dating back to when he should have taken action. The massive fine is probably related.
Paterno lived in a world of his own making. He had a lot to be proud of, but, rather than do the right thing, he just pretended he was holier than thou. The NCAA treated this with the appropriate disgust.
The Cambridge Pols nonstop tell us they are holier than thou.
They claim to be defending Alewife. They have destroyed many acres of irreplaceable forest and killed hundreds of animals for “flood protection” their project cannot provide but which can be provided across the street. Now they are yelling at the property owner across the street just as they yelled at another private property owner in doing the original destruction. Anything but yell at their friends who are prepared to keep on destroying and killing animals.
They claim to be defending the Charles River. In their world the last 13 years with its environmental destruction and heartless animal abuse do not exist. Now they are fighting to multiply the animal abuse and to destroy the parking lot at the foot of Magazine Street. They have no explanation. Just listen to the lovely project they yell about. Do anything but work to undo their pending and existing environmental destruction and animal abuse.
They claim to be pro Women’s Rights. But they have not wanted to know the real decision in Monteiro v. Cambridge, that the Cambridge City Manager destroyed the life of Malvina Monteiro because she filed a women’s rights complaint. The judge, jury and appeals court have given the city grounds to fire the city manager without golden parachute and possibly without pension.
So we see a motion about apologies and chastisement. Two of the four sponsors were among the five members who voted to put the motion in committee. Of the four members objecting to putting it in committee, two quite possibly just wanted to kill the initiative. No councilor says to fire the City Manager.
Paterno and the Penn State leaders hid the vileness of his program until they could no longer hide in the shadows.
How much longer will the Cambridge Machine stay in the shadows while proclaiming a world of nonsense which is so different from reality?
