Op-ed

Since he took office February 4, 2010, US Senator Scott Brown has yet to host a public town hall or open forum. His schedule has included more than 250 stops for ribbon cuttings, groundbreaking ceremonies and photo opportunities – even a slew of book signings to market his autobiography. But Brown has yet to offer a single opportunity for Massachusetts taxpayers to gather in an open, public setting and ask questions of their senator.

The misleadingly named “Secure Communities” is a secretive deportation program launched in 2008 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under this deeply flawed initiative, the biometric fingerprints of everyone who is arrested – not convicted - for any offense whatsoever are automatically matched against FBI and ICE databases. ICE then decides who should be detained and deported.

A  group of twenty Verizon technicians and two other employees who formerly worked for Verizon Select Services (VSSI) have voluntarily gained union recognition from Verizon management.

Concerned about security and the lack of any "say so" in their future, the former VSSI techs began signing union cards several months ago. Once they established that a strong majority desired collective bargaining rights and union representation, union leaders requested recognition from Verizon management.

Last year, Massachusetts taxpayers sent $19.9 billion to the Pentagon to fund the trillion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sustain over 800 military bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Egypt, Afghanistan and other countries all around the world, and “improve” our vast stockpile of nuclear weapons – among a number of other very expensive projects.

Massachusetts also gives much more than money: 105 Massachusetts soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and over 600 have been wounded. Hundreds of military families, friends and neighbors are left in pain and turmoil.