Worcester

By Jennifer O’Connor

The state and county fair season is in full swing, and the times they are a-changin’. Segway rides are replacing tired old pony rides, hands-on clean power demonstrations have taken over petting zoos and people are waiting to ride a vegetable oil–powered car instead of an elephant. Cruel animal displays are making way for fresh and innovative exhibits that appeal to a generation that cares about animals and our planet.

Mobile solar panels, hybrid water heating systems and wind-powered generators are drawing tens of thousands of fair visitors who leave entertained, informed and empowered. This year’s Green Long Beach Festival showcased an art project with 23,000 water bottles representing the wild dolphins who are killed for food in Japan each year. The Spring Green Expo in downtown Los Angeles featured student-designed sustainability projects and panels on organic gardening. Similar “green” fairs are sprouting up all over the country.

Yet some fair organizers—refusing to accept that times and sensibilities have evolved—continue to fall back on stale old midway displays such as tiger cub photo booths, pig races and goldfish ping-pong games. And for these ill, exhausted and dispirited animals, the shift to the 21st century can’t come quickly enough. Click to continue »

By Ron O’Clair

My father had seven children, and was married to my mother for 20 years before they were divorced. I was the fifth of seven children that bared his name. I lost my father when I was just 18 years old, two years after my mother also passed away.

I did not have the benefit of having my parents around to guide me in my later years, but I can proudly say that the lessons they taught me while they were alive were lasting ones. My father John Edward O’Clair Sr. had a strong sense of right from wrong, and a healthy respect for the law, as do I.

He served in uniform to protect America from her enemies during World War 2, and did not shirk from his duty as so many did in later years by evading the draft for Vietnam. I put this down to his own ideals of what it is to be a man. A man does not fail to honor his obligations, or he could not hold his head high, proud to be a man. My father honored his word, and enjoyed a reputation of honesty, integrity, and earned his reputation the old fashioned way, he worked for it. Click to continue »

Necessary Secrets

By Gabriel Schoenfeld

Reviewed by Steven R. Maher

In March 2006 Gabriel Schoenfeld wrote an essay in Commentary calling upon the Bush administration to prosecute New York Times personnel for publishing details about the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance of Al-Qaeda emails and telephone calls. In “Necessary Secrets” Schoenfeld expanded the essay into a book, in which he examines the collision between a free press operating in a democratic society, and the legitimate need for secrecy in the war on terror.

“In vibrant democracies there will always be tensions between the government’s need to keep secrets and the news media’s need to reveal them,” noted lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz wrote on Schoenfeld’s book. “There will never be a perfect solution or an agreed-upon balance. This is as it should be. Constant tension between the government and the press is an essential requisite of our system of checks and balances.”

Neocon book

Schoenfeld’s March 2006 essay made him a hero on the right, which despises the New York Times. This is a neocon book, about as persuasive an argument as can be made for limiting a free press. Click to continue »

By Karen Porreca

I find it very difficult to write or even think about the topic of cruel dog-training techniques. In fact, it makes me feel lightheaded and sick to my stomach. Because of my close relationship to my dogs and my familiarity with their beautiful nature and endearing qualities, it’s incomprehensible to me that someone could purposely inflict pain on them while claiming to be teaching them. The only thing that dogs can learn from the infliction of physical pain is terror, which is the same thing that we would learn.

So it was especially disheartening to read about a dog trainer named Jeff Loy who was brought up on charges of severely beating a 6-pound shih tzu named Moby with an 18-inch piece of PVC pipe, as well as abusing the dog with a choke collar, slamming him to the floor and punching him in the chest with a clenched fist. The dog had to be rushed to the vet and was found to have sustained a broken rib, a bruised liver, a bruised bladder, profuse internal and external bleeding and ruptured blood vessels in his eyes. Click to continue »

By Chris Horton

Revolution.

The word defines who we are as a people. Whether our ancestors came across the Bering Straits 10,000 years ago or just arrived here from Ireland or Columbia, we are the people who inherited the Revolution we celebrate every July 4. We march up and down, shoot off fireworks, listen to patriotic speeches – and sometimes - more and more often of late - we sit around the barbecue pit talking about how out of control our government has gotten, and how we need a new revolution, or are headed for one.

Our Declaration of Independence starts with the assertion of our right to make a revolution when we need to, but most of us know very little about revolutions, and our minds are full of images that scare us away if we get too close. Because “we need a revolution” connects to “peasants with pitchforks” and Minutemen with guns – and that usually stops us. Because if we think that a revolution is a war, anyone who understands what a war really is knows that we don’t want one if we can help it.

Yes, we Americans celebrate the Revolution – our own special kind of revolution. We’ve all heard Jefferson’s quote about the Tree of Liberty needing watering from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots. Click to continue »

By Ron O’Clair

A lot of press coverage has been devoted to the Taxi-cab versus Livery Car service issue, and as I was formerly a driver of the Taxi-cab side of the controversy, I feel that it is imperative that I add my two cents worth on the subject. And as InCity Times is the only venue in the City of Worcester where people are allowed to opine on a subject with enough word count to do the issue any justice, this is the place that this story belongs.

I am trying my darndest to be fair to all parties involved, but as I have never driven for the Livery Service side, I may come off as somewhat one-sided to some reader’s. (Livery owner/operators perhaps?)

Let me start with a couple of obvious facts that should help straighten out the controversial attitudes expressed in the articles that I have seen. #1 is that Taxi-cab trips are recorded by the driver as he takes them on what is known in the industry as a “WAYBILL”. Livery cars have a different document, entitled “MANIFEST” which is supposed to be pre-printed before they even leave the garage, listing all the trips of the day, times of pick-up, and times of drop-off inclusive. They are not supposed to take fares that call them on the spot, either by cellular telephone, or two-way radio, nor are the drivers supposed to take flag down fares off the streets of the communities they work in, The fares they do take are supposed to be listed beforehand, with, in most locales, a minimum of 24 hours advance notice. Click to continue »

(Southwick’s Zoo urged to publicly release Dondi the elephant’s veterinary records)

editor’s note: For years Southwick’s has been nothing but an exotic animal death camp PRETENDING to care for animals. 15 or 20 years ago, they made the news (they have made the news several times) for their shitty wild animal housing. I went down there and saw: a chimp in a fake circus train car sitting on a bale of hay! That was it! That was its home! Their lion? In a fenced in bit of concrete sitting in the middle of the dump - all ribs, all hip joints. No shade - no “habitat.”

A crime! A crime they had to pay for: they were ordered to build more suitable habitats for the poor animals that “live” tragic lives at the Southwick “zoo.” Do not kid yourself! There are no real vets/experts there. There is no one who is a true biologist/scientest caring for the animals. This place is strictly a money maker - no better than Barnum and Bailey’s.

Let’s work to free Dondi’s “vet” records. I bet they did little for that poor creature!

Boycott Southwick’s in Mendon, Massachusetts!

- Rosalie Tirella

now the article:

San Rafael, Calif. – In Defense of Animals (IDA) today filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), urging an investigation into the death of Dondi, an Asian elephant held at the Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts. Dondi died on Wednesday, after suffering an unidentified illness.

“Dondi’s unexpected death raises a red flag because at age 36 she should have been in the prime of life,” said Catherine Doyle, IDA Elephant Campaign director. “We are asking the USDA to investigate the circumstances surrounding Dondi’s death as a matter of public interest and public safety.”

In a separate letter sent to Southwick’s Zoo president Justine Brewer, IDA urged the zoo to publicly release Dondi’s veterinary records and necropsy reports, saying, “The public has a right to know the cause of Dondi’s death.”

Dondi was in direct contact with the public at the Southwick’s Zoo, where she gave rides during the summer months; she performed circus tricks and gave rides during the winter at various locations in Florida. Elephants can harbor diseases transmissible to humans, including tuberculosis, which can be difficult to detect. Release of the records would hopefully allay any public health concerns. Click to continue »

By Jessica Sandler and Kate Willett, Ph.D.

If anyone out there is still wondering about the superiority of alternatives to animal tests, look no further than what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico. In its efforts to assist the devastated region, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is saving time, money and the lives of countless animals—those suffering in laboratories—by using efficient and effective non-animal methods to study the endocrine effects of chemical dispersants that could be used to clean up the oil gusher.

In fact, using non-animal testing methods is the only way that the EPA can get information about these chemicals in a short period of time—a few weeks as opposed to years. Without such sophisticated methods, the EPA would have to rely on crude and cruel animal toxicity tests that date back to the 1930s, and we would be waiting years to know anything at all about these chemicals. Considering the dire conditions of the region, waiting years for an answer is simply not an option. Click to continue »

By Chris Horton

Today it’s very hard to be a father, and that can be hard for everyone in the family.

For men, who see our ability to bring home a paycheck as a big part of what makes us a man, of what makes us worthy to belong to a family, not being able to provide for them can be devastating. But we are worth much more than that to our children. This is a good day for us and for our families to reflect on what we’re worth, what we bring, why we’re needed.

Times are hard, and it’s natural to feel that it’s our fault, our personal failure. The “great ones”, the ones who’ve made it and the ones who were “born on third base and think they hit a triple”, are trying to blame this disaster on us and get us blaming ourselves and on each other for it, but it’s really not our fault. When you’re struggling to survive and it’s not working, you have to keep on trying - and to do that well you have to take responsibility for the results you get. But when it’s not working no matter how hard you try because of things beyond your control, there’s nothing to be gained and everything to lose from beating yourself up, drugging yourself and taking it out on your family.

Unemployment levels are higher than at any time since the Great Depression. The De Facto Unemployment Rate (DUFR, calculated by the Center for Working Class Studies, counting everyone who would be working full time if they could but can’t) is hovering around 30%. And that’s not Dad’s fault. Click to continue »

By Sue Moynagh

I have very few memories of my father, Donald Moynagh. He died in January 1957 at the age of 28 from complications following what should have been a routine operation. I was 4 years old at the time, but I remember saying goodbye as he packed to leave for the hospital. I also remember walking up Harrison Street with my Aunt Helen, heading towards Dirsa’s Funeral Parlor on Providence Street. She asked if I would like to give my father a flower and I said yes. I took the carnation she had plucked from a wreath and placed it in my father’s hand, alongside his rosary. A flag was draped over the coffin. At some level, I understood he would not be coming home again.

Other memories vary in length and clarity, like clips from a video or the grainy black and white snapshots in a photo album. I remember visiting his parents in East Brookfield. Their home was on Lake Lashaway where he loved to swim. I was playing in the shallow water while he swam further out. My mother and grandmother sat nearby, but I decided I wanted to “swim” to him. The next thing I remember was being under the water Click to continue »