Thanks for including the MBTA in your list of free-speech abusers, or “Muzzle Awards.” While taking photos of the T no doubt makes some paranoid citizens nervous, and while the flap over the MBTA photo permit may strike some as unimportant, I think it is important to stand up for artistic and documentary photographers’ right to photograph in a public place like the mass-transit system. Serious photographers should not have to go through a CORI criminal-background check to get a permit, while tourists taking family snapshots are unhindered by T employees. I applaud the ACLU for challenging the secret MBTA photo policy. I think Daniel Grabauskas should be rebuked for insulting us, and for being naive enough to think this inconsistent and unwritten policy increases security of the T and its passengers.
Steven Keirstead
Boston
Let’s have an honorable mention for the Phoenix itself, which allowed itself to be cowed by extremists and scared away from publishing the Mohammed cartoons. There’s no censorship like that which comes with death threats. How did that not make the list, Mr. Kennedy?
Pablo Machado
Smithfield, RI
Man, I hate liberals. I will never understand your priorities. My life comes first, end of story. So go ahead, GW, listen in on the international phone calls, monitor international banking transactions, do whatever it takes to keep me and the people I care about safe. I’m not doing anything illegal and I’m certainly not aiding terrorists, so having the government keep an eye on my actions doesn’t scare me a bit. The government is not stopping me from making my own decisions or living the life I choose to lead. If it ever should, I’d be the first to take a firm stand against it, regardless of who’s in office. But until that day comes, keep watching over my top priority.
Lizabeth Arnolds
Somerville
Shaken and stirred
Thanks for “Shaking up the Ballot,” a great report on the exciting initiative for cross-endorsement voting in this state. I would point out that in Canada, it was a third party, the National Democratic Party (NDP) back in the ’60s, that emerged to give opposition politics strength and eventually pushed the agenda there to the left. I believe that cross-endorsement could be a key way for a strong, appealing party to start building and really changing the dominant discourse today, where the Dems and others are mere foils to corporate Republican reactionaries. This voting method frees us to think and act differently.
Joaquin Font
Cambridge
Sharp words
Regarding your editorial, “Healey gets it wrong”, I do not agree with the position of Romney, Healey, or the Boston Phoenix. If this bill ever becomes law it will, as with the old needle-exchange program, be ripe for abuse.
The program was initially designed to be a one-to-one exchange policy. Bring one needle in; you get a clean one in exchange. This is very often not the case any more. Calls to 911 in every town and city, presumably to request pick-up of dirty needles on the streets, sidewalks, and playgrounds have increased exponentially every year. There also has been an increase in assaults and threats with dirty needles against EMS, police and fire personnel, and store clerks. Can you imagine what would happen with every IVDA person with a box of 100 hypodermic needles? Let’s hold those who have this habit accountable. Instead of simply letting them go with a slap on the wrist after a purposeful assault, let’s threaten them with real jail time and make it mandatory for them to submit to HIV/AIDS testing, with the results released to those affected by the person’s actions.
Eric
Melrose
