Glenn today links a post on the damage the folks at OccupyBoston did to the “scenic Rose Kennedy Greenway,” quipping that Boston Occupiers Leave Site In The Kind Of Condition The Country Would Be In If They Were Listened To:

[Nancy] Brennan [executive director of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy] said the grass, which has turned into a mud pit, will need to be completely resodded, and she fears several trees that have been damaged will have to be replanted.

“Three or four trees might be lost. There’s browning of the foliage, and there are some broken and bent limbs,” she said. “Part of what we need to do is check on the root systems, and that is just going to take a little bit of time.”

Brennan also expects that the sprinkler system was damaged so much it will have to be repaired or replaced. Also in need of replacement are about 20 percent of the shrubbery and the pebbles from a pedestrian walkway that runs along Purchase Street.

And that’s just a partial listing of the damage.  Wonder how much the cleanup’s gonna cost.

In Los Angeles, Democratic Mayor Antonio “Villaraigosa has said the cleanup and repair to the park might cost more than $1 million.”  Oh, and let’s not forget the “overtime costs for city employees” during the “occupation.”  According to the LA Times, “Overtime costs for the General Services Department, which runs the police force assigned to City Hall and other municipal buildings, exceeded $100,000 even before the overnight raid [ending the 'occupation'].”

If taxpayers foot the bill, as seems likely, the occupiers can just say, “Well, that’s what democracy looks like.”

As a member of the GOProud Board, I’m publishing this statement:

On behalf of the GOProud Board and its members and supporters, we want to make it very clear that “outing” a gay or lesbian individual is wrong and should never be used as a political weapon.

Private lives should remain just that — private. The right to disclose one’s sexual orientation belongs solely to each individual. We will continue to oppose “outing” as it has never advanced a political cause but only hurts individuals and their families.

We strongly regret the events of this week.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

About eight weeks ago, I asked, What could Obama accomplish in his second term?

Others wonder if the Democrat actually has a governing agenda for his second term.  Listening to the president’s speech on Tuesday, Sonicfrog agreed with the Democrat’s diagnosis of the problem, calling the address “nicely worded”, but found it lacking in specifics.  “OK,” the blogger asked, “So what is your solution to fix the problem of the diminishing middle class?”.

Seems Sonic’s concerns reflect those of a supermajority of Americans, given this tidbit Ed Morrissey pulled out of the recent CBSNews poll:

Even while Obama keeps fanning the flames of class warfare, no one is sure what Obama intends to do with a second term anyway.  Two-thirds don’t have a clear idea on his second-term goals (32/66) — and that includes a majority of Democrats (46/52) along with more than two-thirds of independents (29/69).

Via Instapundit.  A Republican who offers a clear an comprehensive reform plan could win a lion’s share of those voters — and then some.  Some who have a clear idea of the president’s second term goals believe the Democrat wants to further increase the size of the state.  And they want no part of that agenda.

Supporting the status quo on gays in the military, that is, after the repeal of the misguided Clinton-era Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell (DADT), may not help a candidate win Republican votes in states like Iowa with a large concentration of social conservatives.  That said, saying, as Rick Perry does in his new ad, that “there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school” is more the mark of desperation than of sound political strategy.

Now, I’m all for kids openly celebrating Christmas and praying in schools (if they so choose  – and provided they do so on their own, that is, not in prayer organized by a teacher or school official). As should all people. Heck, the “free exercise” clause of the First Amendment guarantees it. (And the “establishment” clause does not trump it.)

It’s a nice rhetorical trick to contrast the open service of gay people in the military and the open celebration of Christmas, but the juxtaposition just doesn’t work, save perhaps to remind voters of the candidate’s social conservative bona fides.  In doing so, Perry is really jumping the shark.  His campaign is sinking and he is making a desperate ploy to gain traction.

I doubt this tack will work.  Even among socially conservative Iowa Republicans (as among Republicans nationwide), jobs and the economy are the key issues: (more…)

According to Reuters, “‘Avatar’ director James Cameron has been hit with a lawsuit by a writer who claims that the plot for the hit sci-fi movie was lifted from his own project“:

In the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday, Eric Ryder claims that he entered into an agreement with Cameron’s production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, to develop a movie based on his story “KRZ 2068.”

According to the suit, the project was envisioned as “an environmentally themed 3-D epic about a corporation’s colonization and plundering of a distant moon’s lush and wondrous natural setting.”

Mr. Ryder, it appears, is mistaken. Evidence sxists showing that Cameron merely rewrote Disney’s Pocahontas.