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Nicole Tammaro of the well-known
Tammaro Family on Lowell Street, who is a still photographer, is
working and helping a movie starring Ben Affleck here in Somerville
& Cambridge.

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We hear that that PDS
web site "Somerville voices" is having a problem and may shut down, we
guess they are truly one sided and make their rules to suit themselves,
like everything else Progressives tend to do, right?

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The
Armory on Highland Avenue is holding their first benefit concert for
the arts center January 24th. Joe, the new owner of the building
created a masterpiece with the fine renovation he has done to the site
and it is a credit to have this newly created arts and entertainment
center here in Somerville. We hope it's nothing but sell out crowds and
great success for the future.

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The City is
going to be installing a WI-FI network in Somerville for all to share
real soon – it's a nice thing the city is doing.

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We
congratulate Donna Amenta from Somerville Traffic and Parking well for
being elected this year's winner of the recently voted "Best City
Employee 2008" and also wish her a speedy recovery after her recent
knee surgery this past week. Get well soon Donna from your friends at
Newstalk and you know whom we mean.

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Sources
tell us that Green Cab company that operates out of Assembly Square has
just purchased the old DHL building on Webster Avenue for a whopping
$2.5 million dollars and plans to relocate the local Family owned Taxi
Cab Company to the new location by the early summer – Green Cab has to
be out of their current location soon because of the new development at
Assembly Square.

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This coming Monday, Jan
19th starting at 10am, The Somerville Human Rights Commission and the
Early Childhood Advisory Council present: REALIZING THE DREAM – Dr.
King's Legacy of Community Service. The event is free, open to the
public and will be held in the SHS Auditorium (81 Highland Ave). There
will be a keynote speaker, award ceremony, musical performances, free
childcare and free interpretation available. This event is co-sponsored
by the City of Somerville in partnership with the Somerville Public
Schools – for more information, please contact the Human Rights
Commission at 617-627-6600 x 2406 or via email:
humanrights@ci.somerville.ma.us

The year 2009 has dawned upon us
with a ton of challenges that range from the fear of being laid off-or
if not, the draining task of seeking employment-how to ever make money
from selling a house, to disgust at the state of affairs in the Middle
East.

Even the most sunniest of personalities may find
themselves drawn into the heated discussions of how low the state of
this world has gone. Like any form of exercise, working those positive
thought muscles may take more work than ever. But it's doable. And for
some, part of their New Year's resolution is to staunchly stay on the
brighter side of matters.

A quick walk through the
neighborhoods of Somerville, armed with a digital camera to capture
some smiling faces, revealed that very few people were truly about
ready to give up hope, and that their resolution for 2009 is to dig
deep from within and see what comes up.

Newly-weds Glenn and
Deborah Morrow of Somerville, both have good reason to be optimistic
for 2009-they are in love. The Morrows have been doing a lot of work on
their house-general renovations and tidying-to make it more of a haven
for them. They decided to cut back on traveling and entertainment so
that they could weather any unfortunate layoff situations, but to them
that's a good thing. Returning to a calmer, domestic home life will
only make them a closer unit.

"Plus, it is an attitude," Glenn said. "I have a lot to be grateful for."

Deborah likes to read poetry when life seems unbearable, as the written word offers a Universal message about faith and love.

"I
try not to be afraid when things seem bad, since fear can really make
you crazy," Deborah said. "I also try to see who out there is in worth
shape than I am. Helping others really can take away those fears."

As
she dashed across Somerville Avenue from appointment to the other, Mimi
Graney, the executive director of Union Square Main Streets, said
keeping busy and useful keeps her feeling hopeful. Constantly thinking
of creative projects for Union Square takes a lot of positive energy.

Hope
for 2009 also comes in the form of fixing what has been broken. People
are coming to realize that the two-party system is not democracy,
explained Mary Crary, a professor of Newton, who was taking a walk
through Union Square with her friend, Amy Valens, a retired teacher,
visiting from Forest Knolls, CA.

"American citizens have to
find ways to engage more in the political process," Crary said. "I hope
that our democracy supports this process, but you can't just rely on
that."

People need to switch their way of thinking away from
Democrats v. Republications, which is dysfunctional and distracts
people from the main issues. "So I resolve to look more at how we can
work towards this shift, than how bad things are," Crary said.

She added that she has intensified her yoga practice and works hard to take deep breaths when things become overwhelming.

Valens
had to agree that she had more hope with Obama soon to be in office. "I
cross my fingers that Obama will pull more things out of his hat," she
said.

Finding hope for 2009 also boils down to faith that
things will get better. John Figueiredo, an HVAC technician from
Somerville, said that he expects the recession to turn around by this
summer and that unemployment levels will start to level off. "Typically
my resolution is to take better care of myself and eat right," he
grinned.

Over at Union Square Smoke Shop, owner Dave
Hamparian, said he has seen both good and bad times, and they all
pass-eventually. "I hope we get through the worst of it as quickly as
possible and that we can find a way to recover," he said.

Across the street at Midnite Convenience, owner Frank Golden shrugged and admitted he takes it all on the cuff.

"I
say, 'Keep on keeping on,' to quote Joe Dirt from Saturday Night Live,"
Golden quipped. "No, really. That is all you can do when you really
think about it. There isn't any other alternative.

Here are five such myths. Each is widely repeated, deeply held — and dead wrong.

1.) We need more government to insure poor Americans.

Government has been providing health coverage to low-income patients for over 40 years. The results are hardly encouraging.

Witness
Medicaid. The quality of care beneficiaries receive is exceedingly
poor. Heart attack victims covered by Medicaid, for instance, are less
likely to receive state-of-the-art care than their privately insured
counterparts — and they're more than twice as likely to die as a
result of their illness.

Because of low reimbursement levels,
physicians are reluctant to treat Medicaid patients. A 2003 study found
that primary care physicians were five times more likely to reject
Medicaid beneficiaries than patients with private insurance.

The last thing this country needs is to expand a failing public insurance system.

2.) 46 million Americans do not have health insurance.

This
Census Bureau figure is often spun as proof that America's healthcare
system is in awful shape and failing many in this country.

Included
in the Bureau's count, though, are more than 10 million non-citizens
and approximately 14 million people who are eligible for public
healthcare programs but haven't enrolled. Plus, nearly 10 million of
the uninsured have household incomes of more than $75,000.

Far too many Americans go without health insurance, but the number of chronically uninsured is nowhere close to 46 million.

3.) Universal health coverage can be achieved by government mandate.

According
to the federal census, nearly two-thirds of the uninsured are aged 18
to 34. This makes sense — healthy people aren't going to pay for
expensive insurance they'll never use.

Those who support an
"individual mandate" believe that by requiring all Americans to buy
health insurance, the formerly uninsured young and healthy will
increase the size of the risk pool and therefore lower premiums for
everyone.

The problem is, some states require insurers to
charge everyone the same rate. So young people would end up paying far
more in premiums than they should — or could — pay.

The real
way to attract young adults into the insurance market is to lower
premiums. This can be done by reducing costly benefit mandates and
allowing people to buy insurance across state lines.

4.) Prescription drug importation will save patients money.

At
most, foreign drug importation would save Americans one percent on
healthcare costs over the next decade, according to the Congressional
Budget Office.

At the same time, purchasing drugs from places
outside the United States raises tremendous safety concerns. Many
foreign drug factories avoid FDA screenings; a hearing in the House of
Representatives last year found that foreign factories are inspected
once every 13 to 30 years on average.

5.) The state-run healthcare systems in Canada and Europe are better and cheaper than America's.

People
who make this claim usually point to the fact that life expectancy is
higher in Canada and Europe. But life expectancy is influenced by a
number of variables aside from the quality of a country's healthcare
system — like diet, genetics, exercise, smoking, pollution, and even
marital status.

A study published last year in the British
medical journal Lancet Oncology suggests that America is better at
treating cancer than Europe or Canada. Researchers found that Americans
have a better survival rate for 13 of the 16 most prominent cancers.

This
study's findings tell us more about the quality of a healthcare system
than life expectancy rates do because the relationship between
treatment and outcomes is more direct.

A single-payer health
system with a global budget — like Canada has — results in long
waiting lists, rationed care, and a dearth of the latest technological
equipment.

If our leaders recognize these five myths, we can expect healthcare reform that works for all Americans. Let's hope they do.

The total cost of the $3,203.02 per
member pay raise for the 200 legislators is $640,604 per year. Over the
two-year 2009-2010 session, the cost is $1,281,208.

Patrick is
required under the state constitution to determine the amount of a pay
raise or pay cut that the state's 40 senators and 160 representatives
will receive for the 2009-2010 session. All Massachusetts governors are
obligated to increase or decrease legislative salaries biennially under
the terms of a constitutional amendment approved by the voters in 1998.
The amendment, approved by a better than two to one margin, requires
legislative salaries to be "increased or decreased at the same rate as
increases or decreases in the median household income for the
commonwealth for the preceding two year period, as ascertained by the
governor."

Legislators' salaries have been raised every two
years since the $46,410 base pay was first raised under the
constitutional amendment in 2001. The new $61,439.76 salary means that
legislative salaries have been raised $15,029.76 or 32 percent since
the automatic hike became part of the state constitution.

The
most recent hike, prior to today, came when former Gov. Mitt Romney
gave representatives and senators a 4.8 percent annual pay raise for
2007 and 2008. That $2,667.33 hike increased the base pay of $55,569.41
to $58,236.74.

At the moment, Democratic House Speaker Sal
DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray also receive and $35,000
bonus for their service – boosting their salaries to $96,439.76.
Republican House Minority Leader Brad Jones and Senate Minority Leader
Richard Tisei receive a $22,500 bonus for their service – boosting
their salaries to $83,939.76.

The remaining 196 legislators currently receive the new base salary of $61,439.76.

Over
the next few weeks, DiMasi, Murray, Jones and Tisei will choose their
leadership teams and also appoint dozens of members to committee
chairs, vice chairs and other leadership positions. At that time, these
legislators will see their base pay boosted by bonuses ranging from
$7,500 to $25,000.

In his official letter to State Treasurer
Timothy Cahill announcing the raise, Patrick said, "As required by
Article CXVlll of the Amendments to the Constitution, for the purpose
of adjusting the base compensation of members of the General Court, we
have ascertained, based on the federal census American Community Survey
and reports of average weekly wages, that the median household income
for the Commonwealth f r the preceding two year period increased by 5.5
percent."

Beacon Hill Roll Call / Special Report / January 7, 2009

"A
budget gap of the magnitude we face will require tough choices that
impact individuals, families and businesses across the Commonwealth,"
said Governor Patrick. "It's necessary for us to have everything on the
table when making these decisions."

The expanded 9C power will
give the Governor emergency budget authority over agencies outside of
the Executive Branch – including the Legislature, the Judiciary,
District Attorneys, Sheriffs, and other Constitutional Officers – and
local aid.

We
thought all three speeches were excellent – so lets take a few minutes
to break them down, for better or worse, and see what they were really
all about.

The School Committee – new Chairperson Maureen
Bastardi made it clear that this sitting School Committee and its
members are completely dedicated to making sure that they will fight
tooth and nail to make sure the same level of services are provided to
the students/children of this city. For an elected body that is more
often than not ignored and/or misunderstood, it is clear that they as a
body are ready for whatever is thrown at them – the bottom line is that
they are equal to the task.

The Board of Aldermen – new
President Walter Pero wasted no time taking a shot at the proposed
changes to the Charter that will be moving forward in some form in the
next few months. He did it with a touch of class and a history lesson –
to get his point across. The bottom line is that this year promises to
be interesting with a President of the Board who is not afraid to speak
his mind and a board that isn't afraid to ask the right questions, even
when it seems like they are just rubber stamping something for the
administration.

The Mayor – Joe Curtatone came through with a
speech that covered the bases and had plenty of sound bites; however,
if you listened carefully, there was plenty of substance to what he was
saying. He did it without saying "I did this" and "I did that" or "look
what I am going to do" – he did it with a splash of realism. He
admitted that it will "get worse before it gets better." That is the
kind of stuff we need to hear. Bottom line – he is committed to doing
everything he can to make Somerville a more sustainable community with
broad vision across the spectrum of local interests.