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Michael Horan

Never mind my own transparent interest in this year’s state elections–it’s gonna represent a major fix for political junkies everywhere. When the Republican GOP primaries in Utah and Kentucky fascinate, you know it’s gonna be a good one. By November, people may have forgot all about Scott Brown’s win. Great fun if you love this kind of thing. And watching everybody get it wrong makes it that much tastier.

Check out Matt Taibbi in Wednesday’s NYT.

Continue reading Power Up for Grabs

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Well it’s 21 days into May, and Green Mass Group has been delinquent in getting out a push for our second featured cause for our We, The Media campaign/series. But it’s better late than never, and it’s even better that May’s push is well-timed to support an absolutely critical independent media institution during their membership drive.

Free Speech TV is one of those rare institutions that provides a strong sense of hope that progressives and thoughtful people of all stripes might some day find a way to get their stories out into every corner of the country and beyond:

Continue reading We, The Media II: Free Speech TV!
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The Pittsfield Municipal Airport is situated within the 4th Berkshire District, where I am a candidate for the November 2, 2010 election for State Representative.  The Pittfield City Council is preparing to vote on whether or not to approve an initial $6 million package for the airport improvement and expansion project, $1 million of which will be paid by city taxpayers. Ultimately city taxpayers are projected to pay $3 million of the total costs.  An additional $13.4 million total in public funds are part of the investment, with the FAA contributing another $6 million.

The environmental impact of this project would be serious, while the economic development argument has been flimsy, in my opinion.

Continue reading Pittsfield Airport Expansion – Candidate’s Statement

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When I hauled out of Newark (NJ) for the pastures of upstate New York some 25 years ago, intent, for reasons which today I honestly cannot recall, on adding another degree to my vita, I figured I’d stick around just long enough to complete what coursework I needed in advance of my dissertation and then get the hell out. Lovely country, to be sure, but after the thrills of Newark–at that time, car hijackings at high noon on main street was the sport of choice–Binghamton seemed, let’s say, a bit … placid. Tame. OK: downright freakin’ dull.

To my surprise,  I stayed on for a decade. Binghamton turned out to be manageable, libertarian (rustic style, and that ain’t a bad thing), maybe even a good place to raise a brood, and not incidentally chock full of lively bars featuring astonishingly cheap beer, wings made the right way,  blues bands out of Syracuse, and other stuff you do not need to know about.  But the local economy–heavily dependent on IBM and Martin Marietta–took a nosedive when quarterly earnings reports called for one big-ass axe, and when I left Binghamton for Philly,

Continue reading Bringin’ It All Back Home: Relocalize the War

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I went walking down by Magazine Beach today

and picked up

a clear plastic cup with clear cover

a black plastic cup cover

a white plastic cup cover

a smaller plastic cup, crushed

a broken white styrofoam “clamshell” container

a brown plastic tray for cookies or something like that

a white plastic spoon, dirty

and an orange straw

Continue reading Thought Experiment: Fastfood Containers Recycled into Solar Devices
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BOSTON/State House – Half a dozen top law enforcement officials held a press conference Tuesday expressing wide ranging support for CORI reforms passed by the Senate last November and pending vote in the House.

“Police chiefs don’t sign on to this bill easily, because it appears to be soft on crime,” said Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis. “But it’s anything but soft on crime…It’s smart on crime.”

Continue reading Law Enforcement Joins CORI Reform Consensus
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It’s called Tax Fairness.

State House News reported on May 11, 2010 that  Rep. Jay Kaufman, who chairs the Joint Revenue Committee, said he “hoped to pursue comprehensive reform” to the state tax code next session.   My election to represent the Fourth Berkshire District will help Rep. Kaufman’s hope to become a reality.  Incumbents have been mostly silent – and therefore complicit – on the matter of unfair regressive taxation.

Tax Fairness is another reason for the voters in the  Fourth Berkshire District to elect the Green-Rainbow slate of candidates whom they will see on the ballot this November.

Continue reading Tax Fairness – A Candidate’s Statement

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On June 8, Californians will vote on several referendums, in addition to primary races.  One of those referendums, Proposition 14 (aka the Top Two Primaries Act), could hugely change how those primary races are conducted, and it would definitely not be for the better.  As if to add insult to injury, but it could take down a public campaign financing measure along with it.

Prop 14 was put on the ballot through the backroom dealings of State Senator (not Lt. Gov.) Abel Moldonado, the very last holdout on the budget this year.  He used the budget crisis for his own profit and one of his demands was to put this measure on the ballot.  Now, his reckless action is being opposed by every political party in California and numerous electoral reform groups, groups ranging from the NAACP to the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition.

But big business wants this to pass because of the control it could give them over elections (explanation below the fold).  So your help is needed – $5, $10, $100 – whatever you can chip in to prevent California from descending further into a mess of broken government.

Continue reading Help urgently needed: Stop anti-democratic Prop 14 in California!
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At the NESEA Building Energy Conference in March, the winner of the MA Zero Net Energy House contest was announced.  It is the Stephens/Clarke Residence in Montague, MA which was built by Bick Corsa.  The 1152 square foot, 3 bedroom house cost $180,000, was monitored from January 1, 2009 to January 1, 2010, and produced two and a half times the energy it consumed.  This Zero Net Energy House is actually a Positive Net Energy House.

The house is highly insulated, with R42 walls, R100 ceiling, and stands on an R30 insulated slab.  It is powered by 4.94 kW of solar electric panels, solar air and hot water heaters, and passive solar heat gained through U-.17 windows (about R 5.8, according to my calculations).  There is a mini-split air source heat pump serving as a furnace and demand hot water heaters as back-up in case it’s needed.

The house used 1,959 kilowatts for the entire year with an annual energy bill for heating, cooling, hot water, cooking, appliances, and lighting of $392.  They sold 2,933 kilowatt hours worth $586 back to the grid over that same period.

Continue reading Zero Net Energy House Winner Is Positive Net Energy House
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