As the last couple days before the long weekend drag on, we’re getting ourselves psyched up to celebrate Independence Day. We’ve been practicing our “oohs” and “aahs” for watching fireworks displays (the ones created by professionals, not bored suburban teenagers). We’ve been scanning the liquor ads in the papers to find the best price on a case of Sam Adams. Tonight, we’ll stock up on earplugs to protect ourselves from the “music” of Rascal Flatts.

But perhaps nothing has filled our hearts with as much patriotism like the video clip that accompanies a Herald story about Mayor Tom Menino slicing a gigantic cake with a sword.

(more…)

A Boston Daily tipster passed along a link to this announcement from the Middlesex County DA’s website. District Attorney Gerard Leone Jr. will indict two Tufts University employees on charges that they stole nearly $1 million from accounts that belonged to the Office of Student Activities.

That could have paid for a lot of punch and pie at student group meetings.

(more…)

The fallout from Manny Ramirez’s latest physical altercation with someone on the Boston Red Sox payroll continues today. Dan Shaughnessy’s preschool teacher-like column (Manny’s actions were “not OK”) in today’s Globe got his detractors all riled up. Surviving Grady ponders if it’s a play by Sox management to make not re-signing the slugger palatable to fans.

We’re already tired of it. But MannyGate is nothing when you compare it to the PR nightmare Alex Rodriguez is dealing with in New York. Tabloids have romantically linked the Yankees third baseman to Madonna.

Yes, that Madonna.

(more…)

As you may have noticed, we here at Boston Daily have a weakness for political gossip. Whether Paul McMorrow is countering baseless speculation with some of his own in the Hill and the Hall, or if we’re hearing about where Mitt Romney sleeps at night, we can’t get enough news from our local politicians.

So you can imagine our excitement when we learned about Politicker MA, a blog that describes itself as “a virtual watercooler for the state’s political elite.”

(more…)

Mitt Romney is going to be in New Hampshire this weekend to campaign for John McCain while enjoying a parade near Lake Winnipesaukee. While the Republicans have wisely elected to skip the nauseating Unity photo-op, they’re still giving us vertigo from all the vice presidential back and forth.

It’s been relatively quiet on the GOP front as of late. But Politico.com reports that our boy Mitt is at the top of McCain’s list of running mates.

(more…)

On Friday, we lamented Rep. James Fagan’s speech on the House floor about what defense attorneys would do to child rape victims if tough mandatory sentencing laws were passed. Here are his remarks again, in case you missed them.

Fagan, a defense attorney, infuriated victims’ rights advocates during a recent House debate when he said he would “rip apart” 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and “make sure the rest of their life is ruined.”

In a fiery soliloquy on the House floor, Fagan said he’d grill victims so that, “when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”

It was a poor choice of words, to say the least. And some bloggers have taken action beyond writing about their outrage.

Behold the certificate we received from one Richard Cochrane, who bills himself as a Contributing Editor to Hypocrisy.com. (Click for big.)

(more…)

The state of Massachusetts has a bit of a reputation. While we view ourselves as a group of intelligent, reasoned people, the rest of the country sees us as a bunch of feel-good, woosie liberals whose policies hath wrought pregnancy pacts and legal gay marriage.

Now that California has also legalized gay marriage and the Gloucester kerfluffle is slowly dying down, we figured the heat would be off for a while. But state Rep. James Fagan’s recent remarks on the floor of the House will doubtless give Bay State haters more ammunition.

(more…)

It’s only a matter of hours before Game 6 of the NBA Finals tips off at the Garden, and we know you’re really excited by the prospect of a championship being won on Boston soil. The Red Sox and Patriots have celebrated all their victories in other people’s houses, and you have to go all the way back to 1986 to find a championship trophy hoisted in the city.

Should we be so fortunate tonight, for the love of God, behave yourselves.

(more…)

Social networking sites used to be the haunt of cyber-stalking significant others and tech-savvy teenagers, but now everyone from young folks devoted to local media personalities to city councilors are getting in on the action.

The one group of people we didn’t expect to see hopping on the Facebook bandwagon was anyone affiliated with the MBTA. But as a Boston Daily tipster points out, MBTA General Manager Dan Grabuaskas now has a presence on the site.

(more…)

When you get off the highway and head for my apartment, you pass what must be the sketchiest adult bookstore in the entire Boston area. There is a red and white sign advertising books and movies, and no matter what time it is, someone a little creepy-looking is walking through the door.

I’m grateful that the advent of the internet has made it so the majority of porn connoisseurs can get their fix in the privacy of their own homes, cutting down on the skeevy guy population in my neighborhood. But internet pornography has a dark side. Just ask Michael Fiola.

(more…)