The Year 2014 in the Bay State -- A reflective look

By R.T. Neary

New Year's Day 2014 brought a nor'easter to the New England eastern shore with blizzard snows and chilling cold. Sights of plows, blowers and shovels were very much in evidence, and we would see 20 inches of snowfall in January.

As the hardy citizens went about the needed countermoves to the age-old battle with nature, two events would be foremost on the horizon: the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings and November elections.


Local interest, however, started to become focused on the Jan. 15th hearing at the Supreme Court in Washington on McCullen vs Coakley. The Boston Globe had for months revved up its spinning of the background which led to the law establishing the "buffer zone" in front of facilities performing abortions. Now reporters from the Associated Press, New York Times and other national news services started to appear in front of Planned Parenthood headquarters at 1055 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

While observing the peaceful pro-lifers who were required to stay outside the 35' buffer zone, most of the "news" however, was obtained from Planned Parenthood President Martha Walz. She had authored the buffer zone law while serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and also was the chair of the PP search committee which, to no surprise, selected her for the President's position.. She also headed up PP's political arm. They would endorse Martha Coakley to be the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Walz reached back 20 years to deranged hairdresser John Salvi's murderous rampage, which occurred when PP was located on Beacon St in Brookline. She also related highly questionable "frightening" personal experiences of encounters with protesters. The true facts were that there never had been charges filed against any pro-life counselor or protester – let alone any conviction during the 7 years of the "buffer zone."

The opposite was actually the case! Right to lifers were subjected to profanities and verbal abuse. They were the ones whose lives were threatened!. The media, though, including AP and the Boston Globe, ignored the actual Boston Municipal Court records of threats by PP's supporters on the lives of peaceful opponents of abortion. They instead put a 180-degree spin upon their "reporting." The dishonesty of this false narrative, which could very easily be checked, was allowed to prevail.

In April Boston Strong lived up to its name, as the first anniversary of the Marathon bombings saw a successful run and celebration of Patriot's Day. Law Enforcement and the citizenry once again showed the character which demonstrated the area's illustrious history, going back to the days of the Minutemen..

Fortunately there was no repeat of crude outbursts of any celebrities such as Red Sox star David Ortiz in 2013. His use of a vile four-letter Anglo-Saxonism while holding the microphone in Fenway Park went far and wide. On a later date he ripped off his uniform jersey to display that solitary word in bold print on his undershirt before heading into the dugout. Neither he nor team owner John Henry ever apologized to the public for the crude displays. The media sought to act as though it never happened, and this only revealed much more about an untreated sub-surface sickness in our social structure.

Back on April 15, 2013 law enforcement and first responders did such a magnificent job with victims, runners and spectators that history will forever honor the thousands of heroes the event produced. Evil had caused innocent deaths and much physical injury, but the goodness of the human spirit emerged to win the day. Public relations people did their utmost to thrust Gov Patrick and Boston Mayor Menino into the spotlight and make them appear to be heroes. The opportunism was transparent.

In truth the area was fortunate to have had Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, as well as the capable law enforcement personnel, especially the police of the town of Watertown. The capabilities and the professionalism of the police and medical services following the pressure-cooker explosions on April 15, 2013 was to be highly commended, not the politicians who would attempt to steal the credit.

In fact, the FBI under Robert S. Mueller III, long a part of the Boston legal and political establishment prior to being elevated to that of FBI Director, was remiss in ignoring information the FBI had on the Tsarnaev family. While the brothers were gaining the protections of the sanctuary city of Cambridge, the Russian government had warned about their threat to security. When the Director tried to deny the happening, Russia produced documents to prove this fact. It may be significant that Mueller and Richard DesLauriers who headed the Boston FBI office, have both since moved on.

Attorney General Martha Coakley, the chief law enforcement officer of this Commonwealth, was also remiss with regard to any monitoring of the Tsarnaev brothers as they planned out the bombings, but she has always had shelter under the media's protective umbrella. Her sights were always adjusted by her political aspirations.

A major irony in the aftermath of the tragic deaths and physical injuries that day was that the surveillance camera of high-end clothier Lord and Taylor on Boylston St. helped to identify Tamerlan and Dzochar Tsarnaev scurrying away from the bombing sites across the street from the store. Ironically, their mother cannot return to this country from Chechnya, as she is subject to arrest on shoplifting charges of merchandise worth over $1600 from a Lord and Taylor branch store in Natick.


Harvard's sanctioning the presentation of the Satanic "Black Mass," a venomous attack on the most revered ceremony in the Catholic Church; proved to be an embarrassment of the highest order to the renowned University. Their profession of respect for diversity literally took a bizarre turn, trashing Roman Catholicism in its wake.

An insult of this nature would never have passed academic muster had any group as patently ill-willed, planned to use their grounds to perform a ritual so insulting to Jewish or Muslim tradition.

As it happened, a groundswell of opposition initiated by students at Harvard and MIT, joined by orthodox Raman Catholics linked by the social media and word-of- mouth, caused the May event to eventually self-destruct.

The embarrassed Harvard President, Drew Faust, while professing support for freedom of expression, attempted to find some way to clean their tarnished image. Apparently unable to find another locale for a physical appearance to express opposition, she chose to attend a Holy Hour in St. Paul's Church located near Harvard Square.

Media coverage could not escape picturing her as frozen and obviously uneasy in the midst of such a gathering – one calling for involvement in a highly spiritual way. The University was certainly relieved to be heading toward graduation exercises.

On the morning of June 26 when the Supreme Court announced the 9 to 0 vote in favor of Eleanor McCullen et al, declaring the 35-ft buffer zone radius around Massachusetts abortion clinics unconstitutional, national media gravitated to 1055 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston.

From NPR to the N.Y. Times and Reuters, there was surprise, and they were politely seeking quotes, unlike local media clearly seeking to please the bellwether Boston Globe. PP personnel and especially Martha Walz were shrill in harkening back to the John Salvi episode, with TV channels reaching back into their files for video clips.

The turbulent lifestyle of the homosexual hairdresser and his brutal death in prison, as usual, was off-limits since it destroyed the image the local media seeks to perpetuate. Any level-headed thinker should have balanced the pictures being painted with the persona of Eleanor McCullen, the gentle grandmother whose religiously-driven mission has saved the lives of countless children who were scheduled for destruction.

Eleanor came across as the "what you see is what you get" saintly person she is, and local media was unable to obtain a "gotcha" from other pro-life counselors, as well. Starkly evident, however, was that all of the media were still unwilling to explore the flip side of the equation relating to the virulent verbal and physical threats made by PP's allies, all of which can be obtained from police and court records.

To the NY Times reporter's credit, they did a balanced piece, while the Globe even included a scathing lead Opinion piece by Rebecca Weiss. She headlined that the U. S. Supreme Court was "naïve" and also stated "draws a bright, imaginary line between the stereotypical abortion protester – foaming at the mouth and screaming slurs – and the nice, gentle, quiet people who challenged the buffer zone law." Such drivel.

The ultimate insult to the Right To Life cause, to truth, and to society at large was the local media's response to this decision, by actually depicting it as a victory for the 0-9 loser, the defendant Attorney General Martha Coakley. Both the Boston Globe and the Herald's front pages ran stories stating this total falsehood. Martha Walz added by saying that AG Coakley "has been a tremendous champion for access to health care." Health care? The aspirant to the governor's office basked in this fiction and helped push a new buffer zone bill through the Legislature with minimal opposition.

Boston police were out in numbers the day after the Supreme Court ruling, and Martha Walz stood in front of PP with the lieutenant in charge for a long period. Eight officers at one time outnumbered pro-life counselors who were peacefully seeking to dissuade clients entering the premises from aborting the lives of their pre-born children.

Before departing, while a wild-eyed Martha Walz listened, a veteran pro-life counselor thanked the Lieutenant and the other officers for being there to protect the lst Amendment rights of those who now could stand within the 35-ft yellow radius – and talk with PP clients. In subsequent days the Boston Police presence disappeared, obviously having seen through Martha Walz' shrill rhetoric – and now saving taxpayers' dollars.

Before the Legislative session in June had ended, the new convoluted bill had been signed into law. Although involving a lesser radius behind which a police officer could require pro-life counselors to stand, it makes an officer the one to decide...Pro- lifers are now prohibited to form a "gathering," with as few as two fitting the definition. The Legislature, AG Coakley, and Gov.Deval Patrick once again made a mockery of Jurisprudence. Their new "buffer zone" now makes a police officer both judge and jury.

President Barack Obama's few visits to the Bay State were highlighted by the now annual vacation on Martha's Vineyard. His quick return to the golf links after a media appearance on the savage death of NH's James Foley and video by ISIS barbarians was callous – and a national disgrace. Many pray this nation can survive his presidency.

The death of the longest serving mayor in Boston's history, Tom Menino, saw extensive media coverage of his 20 years in office. All agreed that he was a simple man. If ever a man was at the right place at the right time, he personified him.

From being elected to the city council from the Hyde Park neighborhood, and rotating to the council President's chair, all the chips fell in place for him... Boston Mayor Ray Flynn accepted the prestigious position of Ambassador to the Vatican as a reward for campaigning for Bill Clinton , and Menino assumed the office. Surrounded by advisors from real estate interests, the rising homosexual/lesbian "community" in the city and sundry other power groups, he served their interests and was elected for 5 terms.

Carrying the label of "Mumbles" Menino and Mayor Malaprop of the "shee of Bawsun," he once advised all men to have their "prostrate" checked.. When asked how he could attend same-sex marriage ceremonies, march in the "Pride" parade, support the abortion providers and still call himself a Roman Catholic, his answer epitomized the man. His response: "When the Pope speaks on doctrine, that's absolute! I don't think 'choice' and 'gay marriage' are doctrine." Tom Menino received a Roman Catholic funeral presided over by Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley

Pro-abortion politicians included VP Joe Biden and John Kerry. Gov.Patrick and new Mayor Martin Walsh gave eulogies. Walsh's live-in partner, Lorrie Higgins, was featured in attendance. No TV of the Holy Communion part of the Mass was allowed.

While the Nov.4 national "wave" of victories for pro-life, traditional marriage candidates occurred in multiple states, and gave Republicans the majority in the U.S. Senate, the Bay State saw little change. Although Republican Charlie Baker, on his second try, will now occupy the governor's office, ideologically there's little difference between him and Deval Patrick – or Martha Coakley.


When asked in their last debate when he had "last cried," he strained and feigned an emotional choking up in relating a happening 4 years earlier, involving a fisherman. Baker told of the man "completely soaked in sweat and saltwater" having to prevent his 2 sons from accepting college football scholarships in order to follow his family career, now being over-regulated by government fishing-catch limitations. Not only was this "fish story" ham-acting at its very worst, the man could never be located.

Coakley pulled out all stops, including a lovefest with the Clintons. While the debates brought out minor differences, in campaigning there was not a whit of difference on abortion, buffer zones, same-sex marriage or illegal aliens. In fact, Coakley once said, "Technically it's not illegal to be illegal in Massachusetts." She could never explain that, nor in her support for abortifacient Plan B the statement that "perhaps Catholics should not work in emergency rooms." That might seem strange from someone whose early schooling was in St. Joseph's parochial school, but Roman Catholicism now has no political impact under the current church leadership in the Commonwealth.

Homosexual victimization has been high on a religious plane in this land of the Pilgrims for decades. To explain the candidates' support for homosexual/lesbian rights, a synoptic look back at some facts is necessary to exemplify their similarities. In 2010 Charlie Baker picked for his Lt. Gov choice openly homosexual State Sen. Richard Tisei.

In 2014 Martha Coakley's running mate was openly homosexual William Kerrigan. To counter-balance, Baker in this campaign championed the fact that his own brother was homosexual – and married to another man.

Tisei had decided in 2014 to run for the U.S. House and lost to a "progressive" Harvard-trained Iraq war veteran, who ran on the Democrat's pro-abortion, pro-SSM positions. He tried, in turn, to link Tisei with the GOP's conservative national platform. Tisei countered by seeking to appeal to a broad spectrum with a folksy commercial including a statement affirming his local roots and saying that he "still lived with his 'husband' right next to his mom." Massachusetts politics affirmed it had now surely gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Succeeding Coakley as the new Attorney General, voters elected the Democrat, Maura Healy, who ran openly as a lesbian. Democrats also swept into the other major offices statewide. Gambling casinos statewide were approved easily by referendum, and a new blight was introduced to the landscape of this once-proud Commonwealth.

On another note, but of some interest to Bay State voters, former Sen. Scott Brown, who beat Martha Coakley and then lost to Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, was defeated in New Hampshire by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. At the end of the campaign each was trying to prove to be more supportive of abortion than the other. Shaheen ran a commercial claiming that Brown was involved in GOP efforts to pass a bill that would require women seeking abortions to view a "technicolor" picture of the fetus. Brown countered quickly with a video personally affirming his "pro-choice" stance and support for funding Planned Parenthood, as well.

The loss for the GOP in N.H. did not affect the traditional values conservatives' margin in the U. S. Senate, whatsoever. We may, though, in 2014 have seen the political demise of both of the candidates who competed to succeed the late Edward M. Kennedy.

The emergence of Jonathon Gruber as a national figure did not mention that in'97 he joined in a statement that said Roe v Wade " improved the lives" of children born after it – and also saved the government "billions in welfare." Although the architect of Romney-Kennedycare, the MIT economics professor was not known to most citizens. His attitude, however.was! It permeates our politics, our government and academia.


The students at MIT, though, are hardly monolithic. They have demonstrated this on different occasions, including pro-life events. While tarnishing MIT's image, the fact that Professor Gruber's doctorate was obtained from Harvard has been subdued.

Gruber's statement that "The lack of transparency is a huge political advantage." is not only the reason we have Obamacare, but also why we have Obama, himself. Just as it, unfortunately, took so many decades to reveal everything about the lifestyle and serial adultery of JFK, it will take as long to reveal the truth of Barack Hussein Obama's lack of credentials to ascend to the Executive Office. We could conceivably be living through the most egregious scam ever perpetrated in American history.

The reversion to Barack Obama from Barry Soetoro, his Indonesian citizenship, educational financing, and ascendancy to the White House should, unquestionably, be totally transparent. The sealing of documents by institutions such as Harvard, together with other individual cover-ups, not only has cost millions but has severely damaged this nation in countless ways. Lest we forget, he campaigned for the Presidency in 2008 with a call for full transparency.

Gruber's "stupidity" of the voters and his hubris in his other comments reveals still more about the "Big Business" the college/university industry is, and the fiefdoms created within, but also academia/media linkage in these parts

What passed unnoticed was the locale Jonathan Gruber selected to make a public appearance after the now-famous video clips went viral. It was an interview with PBS Channel 2's Emily Rooney. Emily is another example of the shallowness of the Hub Of The Universe's veneer. Daughter of the famous wit and curmudgeon Andy Rooney, after a stint as News Director of Channel 5, she perched on a branch at Channel 2. Her Greater Boston and Beat the Press are classics in Left-wing bias- and a truly entertaining study.

Beat the Press could easily be labeled "Emily and her Lapdogs." Politically correct to the core, the panel presents all demographic representations – except an orthodox Roman Catholic, an Evangelical Christian or even a traditional conservative.

Subsidized by millions of our taxpayer dollars, Jonathan Gruber knew exactly where he was perfectly safe, and clips of his interview with PBS Channel 2's Emily Rooney were then circulated and used by commercial channels, including Fox News.

While the Ferguson riots metastasized nationally and to the Commonwealth, thousands here protested around racial themes and they received media approval. The focus, however, was negative with stories ignoring African-American successes such as Dr. Ben Carson He lived for two years of his impoverished youth in Boston.

The famous neurosurgeon, who embarrassed President Obama at The National Prayer Breakfast, has said that people are "starved for honesty and common sense" His advice to the underprivileged: ."Through hard work, perseverance and a faith in God, you can live your dreams." Dr. Ben Carson will be better known – and soon.

Euphemisms such as Happy Holidays, continued to abstract from the true meaning and God-content of celebrations such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.This euphemistic language, however, also dominated the year's public debate about the value of human lives in utero and the intentional termination of our fellow human beings.. At some point precise language has to prevail in order to allow the full truth to be addressed.

While visiting her relatives here, as the featured speaker for the kickoff of a 2014 40 Days For Life prayerful protest, Rebecca Kiessling lamented the use of the euphemism "it" – rather than he or she – for the pre-born child. Rebecca's mother was raped, gave her up for adoption, and she went on to become a RTL lawyer testifying nationally against calling yourself "pro-life" but allowing the "rape exception." Her story was too vivid for the local media, including the "Public" Broadcasting Service. She and her husband also have 3 adopted children, as well as having 2 biologically.

The act of denying personhood to the pre-born always has to be clothed in Madison Ave abstractions. They have religiously sanitized the act of aborting human life, in what George Will labeled as their "Church of Choice." He said they could not risk "conceding what is killed in an abortion ever possesses more moral significance than a tumor."

At one point during the post-Ferguson episodes, we saw political correctness come to a point where Smith College President Kathleen McCartney, because of racial interpretations, apologized for saying "all lives matter" in response to the African- American shooting deaths. Yes, she had received pushback publicly, from students, from media and from "the Academic Community" for this wording in her comments.

It was of interest that Harvard Law Professor Nancy Gertner – a former U.S. District Court judge -was quoted in the Globe, the day after the McCullen decision, as stating, "The pro-choice position is not only popular in Massachusetts," adding "It's been enshrined in the law for years." This was from a law professor.

Yet, Justice Harry Blackmun, Roe v Wade's author, admitted the day after the Roe announcement that in denying personhood to the human developing in the womb, any 14th Amendment reference to a person was not even considered as applying. If it had been deemed to apply, Blackmun admitted, it would cause Roe to collapse.

The "choice" mantra came from Madison Ave. Professor Gertner knows that well. It was this denial of humanity that has legally justified stopping the beating hearts of over a million new humans in this Commonwealth she now calls home. – and over 55 million nationally. We are still only a legal definition of "personhood" which includes the human being in the womb, to end the American Holocaust. The personhood of the pre-born would then become "enshrined," Nancy Gertner's "choice" notwithstanding.

The Sophism of the Secular Fundamentalists has served to strengthen the resolve of some of us humans who now cherish more deeply this nation's basic Judeo-Christian original principles. We still hold God and His universe in awe.

C.S. Lewis said it best, " No philosophical theory which I have yet to come across is a radical improvement over the words of Genesis, In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth."

And it is He, Our God, Our Creator, who gave us not only this universe – but the right of all human creations to their earthly existence in it.

© R.T. Neary