oh, re: CORIs

CORI stands for Criminal Offender Record Information. It’s a MA program that originated as a recordkeeping system for the state’s criminal justice organization – the CORI includes not only convictions but any “contact” with the criminal justice system – if you’ve ever been arrested, you have a CORI, regardless of whether or not the case was dismissed, or you won, or whatever. The severity or the date of the crime doesn’t matter – if you got arrested for underage drinking when you were 15, that’ll show up.

CORIs have a second problem, which is that because of their origins, they’re written in some kind of parole officer slang. This means that, aside from the crime you were charged with, the CORI is basically incomprehensible. A lot of agencies in MA (and now employers, landlords, and lots of other agencies) will, instead of reading a CORI, just request one, and see if it comes back. Since no one can tell what the thing says, a lot of employers just assume that even having one is bad in itself.

Needless to say, this is not a good system.

 

More college enrollment news

Remember when I said schools might price themselves out of the market and apply to state schools.  Well turns out more people, in Massachusetts anyways, are applying to the state school this year.  Mostly, this has to do with the economy starting to tank but I wanted to point out how I (and probably millions of other people) said that state schools would get a boost due to high private school costs.

Did we ever talk about how a good economy might of driven up the costs as well?  Seems plausible, people making more money allows schools to be more liberal in tuition increases because schools knew people would pay the costs.  Now as the economy sours people need cheap alternatives.  People will drop the classism just to get the education it would seem.

 

Snow Storm, December 19th 2008

Hey folks.  To stave off bordem during this snow storm I took pictures of the area around my apartment.  Enjoy!

Edit:  Added two more photos

Another shot of bellvale.

A shot of eastern ave heading twords malden center.

After a few plows, the snow piles up.

The snow as of 9 o’clock.

just the street poll.

This is the 109 MBTA bus heading to Sullivan square braving the elements.

A view of the neighborhood under snow.

The city of Malden plows at work at around 9.

Another shot of bellvale.

A shot of eastern ave heading twords malden center.

 

Our Old Home Town

For those of you who don’t know the home town for Russ, Tyo, and myself got hit by a pretty devastating ice storm a few days ago.   They have been without power for a few days as cleanup crews try to fix the mess.  Still our town of Harvard, MA has come together to make the best of a hard situation.  Some of the town has taken shelter in the Bromfield school cafeteria just waiting for the power to come back.  Anyways, thought you would like to see what was happening near home.  Sure, Harvard is not on 2A but it is close enough.

Good luck to those trapped in Harvard.

 

Let’s talk taxes

Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston is looking to tax non-profit institutions like hospitals and schools as a potential income source for the city.  At the same time the Speaker of the House in Massachusetts Sal DiMasi is looking to cut local aid to balance the budget.  First, I think Menino is doing the right thing, looking at the schools in Boston.  Many of these institutions have millions of dollars in land assets and seem to be endlessly expanding into the city.  While they are providing a great service to the city they are also not paying their fair share.  I am not saying the taxes need to be crippling but they need to pay something.  And let’s face it, these programs have become for profit institutions.

Taking aside certain non-profits, I want to talk about the second article a little more.  Cities and towns in Massachusetts have had to raise property taxes to make up for a lack of state funds lately.  Taking aside the usual left leaning platitudes, our country is not comfortable paying taxes even when the benefits to the nation are clear.  Mitt Romney, while governor, tried to lower taxes to 5 percent and was somewhat successful but also added more corporate taxes and ended certain tax loopholes.  This year in Massachusetts there was a ballot question to end the income tax that was shot down by the people of this state in a convincing fashion, a similar provision in 2002 was closer but still did not pass.  I think this lowering of the income tax rate  lead to the problem that DiMasi and Governor Deval Patrick are facing.

Barack Obama was harped on for saying he would raise the tax rate on the richest 1 percent of the people from 36 percent to 39 percent.  People cried that it would destroy the economy, that businesses would leave in droves, and that it would pay for wasteful government projects.  Yet, these things happened ANYWAYS with a lower tax rate.  The economy is in a bad spot, businesses have been outsourcing to India since Bush took office, and there are billions of dollars unaccounted for in Iraq by government contractors.

But what drives people to think that higher taxes are a bad thing?  Taxes, in my mind, are need in a society that looks out for one another.  Taxes pay for schools, roads, military, hospitals, research,and all sorts of things that keep our nation strong.  No one would suggest that we have a crippiling tax rate.  Do I wish there was no waste in government?  Yes of course but it is bound to happen but starving the beast or privatizing everything will not solve our problems.  However, this country really needs to take a look at its attitude toward paying taxes and using taxes.