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Law-abiding citizens
Rarely has a Boston jury had to suffer as much ridicule as the 12 citizens who acquitted former Boston firefighter Albert Arroyo of pension fraud.

Rarely has a Boston jury had to suffer as much ridicule as the 12 citizens who acquitted former Boston firefighter Albert Arroyo of pension fraud. Arroyo is the guy who claimed to suffer intractable pain from performing his normal duties — even lifting papers off of a desk — all the while training for and performing in bodybuilding contests.

DUMBBELLS, screamed the Boston Herald's front-page banner headline. JURY OF 98-POUND WEAKLINGS FALLS FOR MUSCLEMAN JAKE'S DISABILITY DEFENSE. "For the dunces on Arroyo's jury, the moon really is just a great big hunk of green cheese," wrote Peter Gelzinis, normally one of the most perspicacious columnists in town. A Boston Globe editorial was equally disbelieving, albeit in more measured tones: "Federal prosecutors made a straightforward — and eminently reasonable — argument that Arroyo's application for accidental disability retirement based on a back injury was a sham because he was caught on video performing a strenuous bodybuilding routine just six weeks later." Concluded the Globe: "the jury was somehow convinced that Arroyo had been acting in good faith all along."

But the press has it all wrong, and indeed did not have the insight of the 12 jurors tasked to decide Arroyo's fate. Contrary to the Globe's claim, the case was hardly a "straightforward" and "eminently reasonable" prosecution; it was a classic example of federal overreach, and the jury saw right through it. (The Globe perhaps should be partially forgiven for its pro-prosecution zeal, since the paper, admirably, broke the initial story of Arroyo's application for his pension while acting the role of muscle man.)

'FRAUD, JUST NOT MAIL FRAUD'

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More than any other city on the East Coast, Boston is addicted to property taxes. Could the Hub be hitting a crippling tax-levy ceiling soon?
In 2012, collections on homes, buildings, and private infrastructure will feed more than 65 percent of Boston's $2.4 billion budget.

It's 2015. Foreclosures have left Boston's outer neighborhoods gutted, and homes virtually worthless. Downtown, property values have also dropped, triggering sharp declines in commercial activity. The budget has been gutted, and reductions in essential city services are noticeable. Teacher, fire, and police contracts that were negotiated in 2011 and 2012 continue to bleed resources, as baby-boomer pension costs increase at exceedingly higher rates than the city's available finances.

>> CHART: Beantown counters: Boston's addiction to property taxes <<

It's a doomsday scenario, sure. But it's one that becomes more and more likely as Boston's residential values continue to tumble, as they have since the 2008 housing-market meltdown. Experts have been saying for years that the economy will rebound, but so far they've been wrong. And there's more at stake here than real estate — the Hub's budget hinges on how much your home is worth.

More than any other major East Coast city, Boston relies on business and residential owners to pay for things like jakes and teachers. One critical observer says the budget is "like an animal that we have to keep feeding" with property-tax levies; in 2012, collections on homes, buildings, and private infrastructure will feed more than 65 percent of Boston's $2.4 billion budget.

That's feasible right now. But in the next five years, Boston could hit the ceiling for how much property tax it can extract under state law. In the uncertain interim, some say that prospect should raise concern on several fronts:

* Though Boston businesses still pay the lion's share of property taxes, city assessors, out of necessity, have gradually shifted more tax burden onto homeowners for nearly a decade. That affects everyone from downtown millionaires to low-income renters.

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Infographic: Boston's addiction to property taxes
More than 50 percent of property in the city of Boston — state buildings, church grounds, college campuses, etc. — is tax exempt. These charts, stats, and graphs illustrate Boston’s property tax addiction: rising costs, a declining real estate market, and state restrictions on how much cash the city can collect.

Bostonians rising in anger -- and action -- against ableism, racism, Verizon, and Fox News
Union flags were flown, loud music roared, and fleets of motorcycles rumbled, as several thousand people marched for civil rights and human dignity, and, in at least one case, to scold moguls for banking gross salaries at the expense of workers.

DROPPING BOMBS After being snubbed by the Urban League, advocates for disabled minorities gathered near the State House to demand a seat at the table.

Boston burned last week, with pandemonium blazing from Beacon Hill to Dorchester's foreclosed ghettos. Union flags were flown, loud music roared, and fleets of motorcycles rumbled, as several thousand people marched for civil rights and human dignity, and, in at least one case, to scold moguls for banking gross salaries at the expense of workers.

>> SLIDESHOW: Protests of Fox News and Verizon <<

According to the Cambridge-based National Bureau of Economic Research, which determines when recessions start and end, the meltdown that began in 2007 cooled off last year. But despite that rosy reassurance, the unemployment rate has hovered at around nine percent for 28 months, and is showing no real sign of recovery. Just this past week, Wall Street suffered its biggest drop since the peak of economic wreckage three years ago.

To worsen matters, the recent debt-ceiling quagmire reminded Americans that they're governed by a callous brood of bozos. If there was ever faith — on the left or the right — that either Barack Obama or the Tea Party would steer us onto a more comfortable course, it's flown the way of the bald eagle.

Boston feels the pain. In addition to an awful rash of violence — 159 shootings and 34 homicides so far this year — vacant storefronts and suspended building projects add insult to tragedy. There have been small victories; last week, for example, the perpetual protest group City Life/Vida Urbana, along with more than 100 picketers, stalled an eviction on Normandy Street near Franklin Park. But this is a long war, with countless theaters and no apparent end. Here's a view from the front lines.

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From Beacon Hill to Post Office Square | August 4, 2011
Members of the Boston Media Reform Network (BMRN) protest Fox News at Beacon Hill on August 4, 2011; Verizon field workers and their allies protested Verizon at Post Office Square also on August 4, 2011.

Verizon field workers and their allies protested Verizon at Post Office Square on August 4, 2011.

READ: "Do the Fight Thing" by Chris Faraone

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Primate dispatches from around the globe
Simian news items, compiled for your reading pleasure.

OVER-THE-SHOULDER MONKEY HOLDERS

It's not always easy to find a babysitter on short notice. When a woman from Amherst County in rural Virginia had a court date she couldn't miss, she couldn't find anyone to watch her seven-week-old marmoset, Cara. So she did what any parent would do: she dressed Cara in a diaper and a polka-dotted frock and stashed the monkey in her bra. Surprisingly, no one in the courtroom noticed. However, while later filling out some paperwork, she pulled out Cara from the best hiding place ever, to show off the "daughter," who was purchased on eBay. The woman later explained, "Well, would you leave your child at home? She has to be close to me."

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Unfinished (monkey) business
The giant monkey of Danville was my symbol, back then, of the fin-de-siècle nadir in media fluffery, thankfully obsolesced in one grim morning.

Ten years ago this month, reporters descended upon the small town of Danville, New Hampshire, population 3500, in the southeastern portion of the state midway between Manchester and the seacoast. They came to cover the search for a giant monkey that had been spotted prowling the forests and stealing food from terrified residents. The creature's origins were a mystery. Nobody had caught its image on camera. The elusive monkey foiled all attempts to capture it.

It was a perfect story for a time when the media, and television news in particular, had plunged fully into a careless, anything-for-eyeballs menu of car chases, foiled robberies, trapped babies — anything caught on video or offering a daily-vigil story arc.

As the coverage peaked, Boston TV reporters filed daily live reports from the forest's edge. Wire services took it national. And the ultimate apex in media glorification arrived: a Today production crew put together a story on the Danville monkey.

The morning that piece was to air was September 11, 2001. The new Danville celebrities watched the Twin Towers footage in the monitor while waiting — made up and wearing microphones — for an interview that never happened.

The giant monkey of Danville was my symbol, back then, of the fin-de-siècle nadir in media fluffery, thankfully obsolesced in one grim morning. News reporting was important again, to be taken seriously. The media, and its audience, were reminded that journalism is too precious to waste on simian nonsense.

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This campaign season, you’re not really committed to defending the GOP agenda unless you sign on the dotted line
Whether it's to flags, fraternities, or charities, privileged douchebags love pledging allegiance.

Whether it's to flags, fraternities, or charities, privileged douchebags love pledging allegiance. That goes double for this season's presidential candidates; more than ever before, Republicans are being asked to sign promises ensuring that, if elected, they will protect the rights of white Christian heterosexuals. The rush is understandable; according to right-wing political consultant Grant Hewitt, "If there wasn't such a distrust in elected officials, you wouldn't have a need for pledges."

Of course, the conservative luna-sphere can't take all the credit for this endless pledge drive. Media outlets of all stripes have fed the frenzy, forsaking meaningful reporting and analysis for constant updates on who signed what, and who got pissed off as a result. With that said, the current conservative pledge matrix, when considered as a whole, actually serves an important purpose: it shows how childish and bigoted these candidates — and their kingmakers — truly are.

THE MARRIAGE VOW

HASHTAG #takethevow

DESCRIPTION Candidates must oppose same-sex marriage in order to save women from prostitution, porn, and abortion. Basic stuff, really, but this has been the most controversial pledge yet, as an early version stated that "a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American president."

MESSIAH The guy getting all the flak (and publicity) here is BOB VANDER PLAATS of the Family Leader, an Iowa-based Christian organization that stands for "God's truths," humility, and limiting the rights of gays and lesbians. Vander Plaats, an Iowa activist and operative who headed Mike Huckabee's state campaign in 2008, won 41 percent of the vote in last year's GOP gubernatorial primary — in case you needed more evidence of why Iowa should not guide the nation electorally.

WHO SIGNED Michele Bachmann (Rick Santorum has committed, but didn't sign)

ELECTORAL REPERCUSSIONS Nothing good for suspiciously lisp-y first-husband hopeful Marcus Bachmann.  

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Death’s confluence: Amy Winehouse and the Norwegian terror victims
Of all the details to emerge from the Norway atrocities last Friday, one of the most harrowing was the thought of those frightened, bewildered youngsters leaping from the shores of Utøya, dragging their limbs through the gloppy water as if in some kind of terrible dream, gunfire crackling at their backs.

Of all the details to emerge from the Norway atrocities last Friday, one of the most harrowing was the thought of those frightened, bewildered youngsters leaping from the shores of Utøya, dragging their limbs through the gloppy water as if in some kind of terrible dream, gunfire crackling at their backs.

It's a bad thought, but there is worse. The mind recoils at the way things played out elsewhere on that tiny island, the final moments of those who didn't make it to the lake, those who confronted a blue-eyed monster, and with him an impossible truth: The absolute certainty of death.

The following day, Saturday, the 27-year-old singer Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London flat, most likely as a result of too much drink or too many drugs or a combination of these things. You wondered if her final moments would have felt like laboring through thick water, if that impossible certainty had occurred to her, too.

Reports of the singer's death and the monster's rampage danced around each other in the media. There was, as always, an incessant drive to accrete relevant facts: the murky political affiliations, the calamitous final performance. Swirling above it all was a kaleidoscopic representation of death—the urge to inflict it, the impulse to avoid it, the apparent desire to bring it on.

There's an old story, about a guy who interviewed people who had attempted suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Many of these survivors, the story goes, told the interviewer that they'd changed their minds mid-air. Faced with the reality of their decision, they finally understood that they didn't want to die.

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With the Urban League conference coming next week, Boston's movers and shakers are scrambling to project a progressive racial image
After years of trying to convince groups with large minority membership that the Hub is now a welcoming, friendly destination for African-Americans, this is the first big organization to test the theory.

SEA CHANGE With the Urban League conference coming to Boston next week, local leaders are out to dispel old stereotypes about race in the Hub.

When Boston hosts the American Academy of Pediatrics this October, or the Association for Financial Professionals a month later, nobody will worry too much about how the thousands of convention attendees spend their time. As long as they enjoy themselves, and spend plenty of money, it's all good.

But the Urban League conference, taking place next week, is different. Like it or not, this is a major showcase for Boston.

After years of trying to convince groups with large minority membership that the Hub is now a welcoming, friendly destination for African-Americans, this is the first big organization to test the theory.

Some 5000 people from all over the country, mostly racial minorities, are expected to come to Boston (to be joined by another 5000 from this area). Ideally, they will return home with positive tales of their time here. And for that to happen, some say, those attendees need to get out to see the city for themselves.

"Obviously we're bringing a lot of skeptics into Boston," says Darnell Williams, head of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (ULEM), "so we want to expose them to as much of the city as we can."

But Williams, who has used his smooth, patrician manner to gain respect and power in Massachusetts and beyond, has his own skeptics here in Boston.

Some community leaders — not wishing to be named criticizing Williams — fault his leadership in the conference preparations. "He was not ready for prime time," one says.

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