living well update

nods again to george herbert who first observed that "living well is the best revenge. so let's review the oktoberfest weekend schedule, shall we?

friday night, on the way back from a quick business trip to filthydelphia, (top down as weather permits, of course), it's oompah band and 144 flavors of draught bier at zeppelin hall in jersey city, jersey. (lest anyone be concerned about the safety of the convertible, arrangements have already been made for accommodations within walking distance of the biergarten).

next, on saturday, after a return home, quick shower and a nap, it'll be a beer or two at a friend's annual oktoberfest party (outdoors in groton weather permitting) on the way over to shirley for dinner and to catch amy speace and the tearjerks at the bull run. for those of you who don't know me well enough to have heard all this before, amy is the real deal. her "songs for bright street" is one of my favorite albums ever, and seeing her last winter in an intimate acoustic setting only reinforced the love. in a perfect world she and the band would head back over to groton with us to finish whatever bier kegs were in need of finishing, but if we have to go it alone, i'm sure my friends and i will find a way to soldier on through. (no word yet on who draws the short straw on the designated driving thing, though after friday's episode, i may be willing to be talked into it myself, but, we'll have to see).

sunday there's the possibility of heading over to reading to watch the old boys play, or at least as many of them as remain uninjured, and then my big comfy overstuffed couch for the finale of the sox' regular season, the tivo'd recap of the beginning of the bruins', and the ongoing pats'. (harpoon ipa already in the fridge for the marathon).

the pre-surgery instructions specified no ibruprofen or other analgesic anti-inflammatories, so it looks like it's beer, beer and more beer instead. and who am i to argue with doctors orders?

prosit!

homeland security

we've spent hundreds of billions in this country trying to defend ourselves against "terrorists". postulating that a world trade center catastrophe per year might be a useful benchmark of lives being saved via that effort, it is with teeth grinding and blood pounding that i read that, once again, we're defending ourselves against the absolutely wrong things.

six thousand people died in car accidents last year, and half a million were injured, by "driver distraction". yes, that's right, we are killing ourselves at a rate of almost THREE world trade center tragedies per year by texting behind the wheel, and i don't see the army being mobilized to save me from anything like that, and i want to know why.

we have our heads so far twisted up our asses on "terror" these days that i can barely see straight most mornings. we're destabilizing entire countries, and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians "over there", so that, what, we can keep 2500 americans safe every year from having their office building knocked down on top of them? which has happened exactly once in the history of our country via people who weren't our own neighbors? (nods to oklahoma city once again).

the misguided priorities and exorbitant expenses, not to mention the loss of so many servicemen and women's lives, is the real terror to me. we have no regard for the actual numbers whatsoever, and we're off tilting at "terror" windmills while our house remains on fire at home. distracted drivers and incompetent elderly drivers and drunk drivers together kill far more innocent people, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, than anything anyone can imagine that isn't inhaled via your friendly neighborhood tobacco company. there's a simple fix, too--you just pull 'em over, and take away their licenses if the fines aren't enough the first time, and lock 'em up if you have to. quick. easy. cheap. revenue-generating, too, if you think about the fines involved. so why don't we do it?

somebody is selling you and me the argument that we have to be "over there" chasing bearded spooks, and we all have to STOP and think about why that is. oil is one thought that comes to my mind, but i bet if we put our heads together we could come up with a few more.

we're being played, people, and our "fears" are the instrument of our own destruction.

we need to wake up.

headline accountability

i've been liking the ap lately. of all the major US news organizations, they seem to often be the best at making proper editorial decisions about what they cover, and how they cover it. (and anybody complaining about cnn while getting their news from fox, or complaining about fox while getting their news from cnn, can kiss my better-informed ass, tyvm).

but tonight i have a serious question to ask the editors at the ap about their choice of a headline for this one. "state to mom: stop baby-sitting neighbors' kids".

now, i'm not arguing that it's pretty ridiculous that there's a state bureaucracy in michigan that has no law-abiding choice but to crack down on parents who trade child-watching favors, but there are two important things to say about that. first of all, the governor, jennifer granholm, properly instructed michigan department of human services director ismael ahmed to immediately work with the legislature to see that the law is promptly changed, and we have every reason to believe the legislature is eager to cooperate. second of all, the real story is actually hidden behind the almost-throwaway line buried in the piece: "the agency was responding to a neighbor's complaint".

want to know what the proper headline is? "michigan leads country in neighborhood douche-baggery". seriously--who complains to a state agency because a neighbor is helping out her neighbors by watching their kids for an hour before the school bus arrives? for no money at all? just to be neighborly? my kids have often been watched by neighbors at all sorts of points throughout their lives. (for example, my daughter currently spends two afternoons a week over at a friend's house after school, but, shhhh, don't tell anyone). my ex and i have many times offered the same consideration to others in reverse for no better reason than it's the right thing to do. and i'm proud to say that at no point in any of these cases did anyone find themselves compelled to call the authorities.

so wtf is going on in irving township, michigan? you know it has to be something--you don't just drop a dime to bust a neighbor doing favors for another unless you've got a real bug up your butt about either the favoror or the favoree. so what is it, ap? we really want to know.

bookends

imagine blake wheeler and milan lucic on either side of marc savard... now, open your eyes and look at your TV, because there they'll be. wheels hit the freshman wall part way through last season, but you know this year he's going to have the legs to do it all year long. (did you see that deke he put on the other night to side-step the defenseman and get in alone?) and milan--what can you say about a guy who can break plexi on a body check, go toe-to-toe with anybody in the league, and then pot 17 goals while he's at it? i know some folks are saying we're going to miss phil kessel, but i really have to wonder if anybody playing on savvie's wing all year isn't going to be a 40-goal guy. and we've got ryder and recchi on our third line, just in case shooting and scoring is in any doubt for this bunch.

and how 'bout that tuukka rask? he's as collected as tank thomas is frenetic in the crease, and that extra year down in providence really looks good on him this preseason. i know manny fernandez was pretty good, but he also was fragile in a way that a 22 year old finnish goalkeeping hotshot just simply isn't. (thanks, toronto, for passing tuukka along in return for andrew raycroft--hope that pogge thing is working out for you). i'm liking the looks of things right now, and not because i think best record in the east is once again in the offing, (it likely isn't), but because this is a solid young team that's coming together in a way that looks extremely good for many years to come.

just one question, claude, if i may? is steve begin really the best we can do for a 4th line center? i'm not sure what else you're looking to see in vlad sobotka, but stephane yelle steve begin surely isn't. (or is it a leftover canadiens thing with you or something?) i get the "veteran" interest on that 4th line, and bitzie surely will benefit from more of that, but, really? or is "undisclosed injury" a code phrase for "we just don't want to tell vlad he's made it outright yet"?

GO BRUINS!

this year i turn 40

the '69-'70 bruins were the perfect conclusion to a perfect cinderella story. 29 years dry since the last time lord stanley's cup was skated around the boston garden, the only player in hockey history to win the norris, ross, conn smythe and hart trophies in the same season, put the dot on the exclamation point with the most photogenic goal in hockey history, too. (assist sanderson, and isn't it poetic that you can buy your copy from www.gretzky.com).

turk has been on tv a lot lately, with clips of his heartfelt homage to fred cusick making all the tribute pieces, and seeing him in glasses and with white hair reminds a guy that no one is forever young. derek always held that soft spot in my heart because he was a skinny guy who never backed down from anyone. nobody could really dream of having bobby's skills, but everyone could look at derek and realize that we all have the potential for greatness within us, if we would only be willing to, as warren zevon would put it, stand in the fire.

so the B's embark on their 40th campaign since mothers day 1970 this thursday, and hope autumns eternal.

GO BRUINS!

adjusting ones tinfoil hat

i can't tell you what i think about this one, because i have no idea what to think. but "national security" sure seems to be as often a euphemism for criminal acts BY our government as it is to guard against.

tex mcnamara's dog still wants to be chuck berry

down at the worthen house last night dave norton sang some melvern taylor (jonatha, working stiff) and tossed in a sixties cover or two, (from mary travers to the monkees), black marmot sang some black marmot and a sixties cover or two, (well, one, anyway, and "don't you want somebody to love" can count for two when it's done right, which it was), and then tex mcnamara and his bucking broncos (calling bob nash to the stage--calling bob nash to the stage) took over the house.

among a thousand other observations, it's fair to say that eddie lyons was ON FIY-ah, (tex helpfully kept count of each time that the band was left for lost, though, seriously now, it's impossible to do justice to what a saturday night pleasure it is to be seated right in front of eddie's setup, and, yes, eddie IS santa, and if you don't believe me just check this out), bob nash has more personal fans than is possible to count, though it's fair to guess that tex's female fan-dom might feel theirs more urgently, at least that's the way it looks from the loges, and there is absolutely nothing more beautiful than a band that is having so much fun celebrating saturday night and the release of their new CD that they're compelled to put one into the hands of each and every fan in their audience just for sharing the night with them. and, yes, they played the one about tex's dog wanting to be chuck berry, and it's everything you've ever wanted to imagine about a dog, and more.

where else does this sort of thing happen? where else CAN this sort of thing happen?

shangri-lowell--the best place on earth.

kseniya simonova

this is from "ukraine's got talent", and there's nothing i can add beyond "just watch". if i'm led to believe this is the history of ukraine in sand, i still cannot help but feel is it all of ours just the same.

in case you missed it...

sam cooke's nephew himself, erik greene, took the time to respond to my blog post the other day talking about "sam cooke live at the harlem square club, 1963". besides making my day, (heck, week--month--year, you name it), he also provided a helpful link to www.ourunclesam.com, where can be found information on "our uncle sam: the sam cooke story from his family's perspective".

the comment arrived as i was enjoying a listen to "night beat", which is another sam cooke gem now available on amiestreet. (remember--it's 2-for-1 today, so it's just five bucks if you get on it). it's amazing to get caught in this sort of a time warp, where your musical hero, tragically deceased as he might be, can still be sending you new music to enjoy as if he were still here, singing as only he can sing.

i like the way tim armstrong sings it best: "cuz through music / we can live forever"

"and i know..."

no excuse now

you know those $4.99 classic albums i mentioned yesterday on amiestreet? (you know you looked at 'em and wanted more than 1). but maybe you didn't actually join up to buy 'em cuz you just didn't get around to it...

well, you're in luck. today on amiestreet they're running a 2-for-1 credit deal where your money ends up going twice as far. so, for example, lets say you wanted 5 of those sony classics. maybe lou reed, sam cooke, billie holiday and a couple of others. and you wondered if $25 was in your budget. well, now you can stop wondering, because there's no excuse now. with the 2-for-1 deal, you just need to put in $12.50 and you can take home FIVE of those albums. or, you could put in $25 and take home TEN. there is simply no better deal in music anywhere right now.

you know you have $12.50. you know you spend that much on a single CD at the store. well, give yourself a treat, and give yourself five of the best recordings there are for the same cost as that other one that you know you won't like nearly half as much in a week.

you're welcome.

sony music makes a case for not being as evil as previously thought

awhile back i had a few choice things to say about sony music and their neanderthal attitudes towards music distribution and digital rights management--as in, observing that sony music generally does everything it can to make *owning* sony music music as odious as possible, the artists, doing their best to make *listening* to their music as pleasant as possible, get caught in the middle. (wheatus going so far as to name one of their albums "suck fony"). of course, i'm proud to say i successfully thwarted sony's pain in the ass cd formatting to successfully download my perfectly legal bought-and-paid-for copy of rachael yamagata's happenstance to my itunes library, which i've enjoyed immensely ever since, but that's the first and last time i'll do business with them that way, so, since then and up 'til now, it's been a sort of a standoff. up 'til now.

this week, on amiestreet.com, sony music has released huge portions of their catalog, and, in a further move to make nice with the listening public, cut the price on 28 of their most classic to a bargain $4.99. right on top is the gem of the collection: one night stand--sam cooke live at the harlem square club, 1963.

WOW

i have loved sam cooke since forever in a way that transcends loving almost any other music i've ever heard, but this is a revelation even to me. i'd heard it before, that, live, sam cooke was a vocalist that put almost every other to shame, but i'd never heard him that way to know of which people spoke. and this recording literally jumps out of the speakers and proves it beyond all shadows of any doubt. amazing. and $4.99. and completely free of nasty DRM headaches that otherwise make you hate having bought it from sony. no, this time, i have loved buying it from sony. and you will too. GET IT!

and that's just the first of 28. there's transformer by lou reed. the first songs by laura nyro. gratitude by earth wind and fire. sweet tea by buddy guy. stand by sly and the family stone. great classic stuff by django reinhardt, blood sweat and tears, billie holiday, the isley brothers, harry belafonte, weather report, bill withers, muddy waters, elo, duke ellington and count basie, and the list goes on. all $4.99.

here are more artists whose albums are just $9.99, just in case you have other faves:

Audioslave
A Tribe Called Quest
Alice In Chains
Angie Stone
Bad English
Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
Ben Folds
Ben Folds Five
Benny Goodman
Bessie Smith
Beth Orton
Black Kids
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Blind Willie McTell
Bob Dylan
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band
Carole King
Charles Mingus
Chris Whitley
Citizen Cope
Cowboy Junkies
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Dave Brubeck
Dave Matthews Band
David Bowie
Does It Offend You, Yeah?
Earth, Wind & Fire
Fiona Apple
Franz Ferdinand
Fugees
George Michael
Imogen Heap
Indigo Girls
Jaco Pastorius
James Brown
Jamiroquai
Janis Joplin
Jeff Buckley
Jefferson Airplane
Johnny Cash
Kings Of Leon
Landon Pigg
Lauryn Hill
Leonard Cohen
Mark Ronson
Matisyahu
Meat Loaf
MGMT
Miles Davis
Modest Mouse
Nina Simone
Outkast
Patti Smith
Pearl Jam
Peter Bjorn And John
Peter Tosh
Phantom Planet
Q-Tip
Raekwon
Rage Against The Machine
Ray LaMontagne
Robert Johnson
Roy Orbison
Shuggie Otis
Silverchair
Simon & Garfunkel
Sir Mix-A-Lot
Slayer
Soul Asylum
Spin Doctors
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble
Taj Mahal
Teddy Pendergrass
Tenacious D
The Allman Brothers Band
The Bad Plus
The Clash
The Offspring
The Stone Roses
The Strokes
The Strokes & Regina Spektor
The Ting Tings
Thelonious Monk
Tori Amos
Travis
Willie Nelson
Wu-Tang Clan

enjoy!

why i love social media

facebook, twitter, and, yeah, heck, even blogspot, take a good amount of arguably well-deserved bashing for facilitating narcissism and collosal amounts of time-wasting, and i'm not here to debate the soundness of those arguments. but just a moment ago one of those social media "tools for tools", as one might say, alerted me to the scheduling of a radio spot next month for none other than melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones, and i find that its impossible not to conclude that all must be forgiven. i mean, seriously, how else was i going to find out about the programming schedule of WMBR radio 88.1 if not this way? (up until now, i had never even heard of wmbr radio 88.1). it's not like i'd have known enough to go looking for it. yes, it's possible that sooner or later i might (or might not) have tripped over some mention on melvern's web site, but isn't that just more of a commercial for the world wide web of all things worth knowing, plus uncounted billions of what's not?

hats off to joel graham of wmbr (as well as wmbr) for recognizing genius when he hears it, and making this happen. it'll be especially interesting to hear more details of "love songs for losers--the rock opera", which has to be one of the most brilliant expressions of adoration for an artist's music one could ever imagine. (those abba, billy joel and other shows were just warm ups for this!) i cannot wait to listen in!

the log in our own eye

our hopelessly misguided "war on terror" has enabled those who would empower government ahead of those governed to profoundly compromise our constitution and bill of rights. or put another way, and ironically--in a bid to "protect" our country, we have been led to destroy much of its most important essence in the process. (as ben franklin observed, those who choose safety over freedom deserve neither and will lose both). our whole approach to "terror" remains such a profound crock of shit to me that i can barely contain myself most days.

some foreigners knocked down a couple buildings in NY and it has us completely obsessed still eight years later, but have we forgotten the situation from just a few years earlier than that, when it was our own fellow citizens who took down the federal building in oklahoma city, (damaging another 324 in a 16-block radius), killing 169, and wounding 680? our helpful approach to homeland security has been warning me about subway bombs, but in the past six months far more people have been killed by elderly drivers who can no longer drive than any subway bomb might take out by comparison. and, today, we get news of a census worker getting lynched in kentucky just for being a census worker, and i'm quite sure the majority of the braying asses on the "terror" topic, coincidentally in favor of destabilizing entire countries at the cost of hundreds of thousands of (foreign) civilian lives to protect our "interests", aren't going to get the point.

before 2001, and since 2001, and, even DURING 2001, all of us have had a far greater risk of injury, maiming and violent death from forces that have nothing to do with al qaeda/qaida than anything else that little band of misfit miscreant sociopaths has ever dreamed to do to us or anybody else. bill sparkman's family now gets the point in excruciatingly tragic detail, but i'm not sure any of the rest of us are paying attention.

we have people in this country who would sooner kill a census worker for their own private misguided politics (and don't get me started about folks getting killed over the issue of abortion, etc.) than respect the sanctity of human life. you can't find justification for that in the torah, bible, quran, or anywhere else i've read for that matter. to everyone who is plum loco batshit crazy to go chasing bearded bogeymen to the ends of the earth, let me suggest that even a portion of that effort be expended to take care of business at home. we'd all be a lot better off for it.

why i love hockey part infinity

alex ovechkin and evgeni malkin are two of the best hockey players on the planet, and, coincidentally, though it's of zero consequence to their legion of north american fans, russian. those of us of a certain age in this country have been led to demonize the past soviet government, which has also spilled over into our continuing distrust of the current russian replacement, which i've always felt is one of the worst consequences of our ongoing geopolitical rivalry. for one example, one of the most moving pieces i've ever read about our current engagement in afghanistan was written in description of the solidarity felt among russian afghan war veterans for the american soldiers now bleeding and dying there. for another, there is nothing so directly accessible to me as a proud american than the depth of russian patriotism as repeatedly demonstrated by her loyal sons and daughters. to wit--evgeni malkin, when asked if he agreed with alex ovechkin's stated intention to play for his country at the 2014 winter games to be held in russia even if sanctioned for doing it, not only agreed wholeheartedly, but expressed his resolve to even forgo his NHL career for the privilege, if that's what it takes. now that's an example of personal priorities we should all be able to believe in.

there isn't another sport, perhaps save soccer, where this universal international understanding of sportsmanship and pride has flourished to this degree, and i think the world is a much better place for it. we're blessed here in this part of the world to be able to enjoy a sport that is so loved everywhere it's played that all the best players want to be here to play it together. i'm hoping that the nhl begins to understand how that works, and how it is steward to something so much greater than itself.

lord stanley would want to be there in russia in five years if he could, too.

anybody know a good GP?

i'm in the market for a good (local) GP. the outfit i was hoping to patronize dissed me because of the flavor of insurance i carry, which is something else for those policy wonks in washington to figure out while they're also busy figuring out how to pay for all this. but, for now, me and my pre-surgical medical evaluation need to come up with plan B. (it also might be a good idea, as various things about my body continue to break down, to have a checkup one of these decades, too...)

something is definitely wrong when everything and everyone becomes a specialty, and no one retains (or offers to convey) the general knowledge anymore. maybe that's why we have consultants on every topic under the sun, but precious few high school kids who know that george washington was the first president of the united states... (ok, wrong rant).

worst case is that i think i'm going to have to drive over the bridge to dracut or something like that, and it's really bumming me out.

there's unforgiveable, there's fun, and then there's this one

sometimes, when there's no way to choose the best version of a gag, you just take the kitchen sink approach. (seth meyers riffing on peter sarsgaard's and maggie gyllenhaal's nuptuals being a case in point--seth went through three different weekend update news headline versions before he delivered my favorite--"they wrote their own vowels"). other times, when there simply isn't room or patience to list them all, (face it--every news outlet in the country is all over this one, from the inquirer, which broke the secret DNA confirmation, to the times, which is claiming to have inside knowledge of a planned public confession), you just have to give it your own summary and be done with it. (and, like all the best ones, this one is literally too much to make up):

per andrew young, erstwhile john edwards campaign aide, whose professional dedication extended beyond simply facilitating edwards' extramarital affair with rielle hunter, to actually stepping in to claim parentage of the issue of said extramarital affair--not only is our man john the true father of said issue, but johnny has further promised the mother of said issue, aka his mistress, his side squeeze, his furniture dealer, (no joke--edwards' PAC sent her production company a check for $14,086 for "unused video tape" the same day johnny boy wrote one to his PAC in the amount of $14,034.62 for a "furniture purchase"), that as soon as his cancer-stricken wife was dead the two of them could get married on a nyc rooftop with a special guest appearance by the dave matthews band.

oh, no, you simply cannot make this stuff up.

yes, this is one special man. my favorite anecdote of pure avarice is how edwards had inquired of his campaign finance chairman, fred baron, after publically declaring his willingness to take a paternity test, if fred would be a mensch and check to see if he could turn up a physician willing to fake one.

but, you know, as with most things, the best part is always found once you sit down and think about it, just for a moment. and i know this makes me a bad person for being amused to think it, but there's a conversation you know johnny boy is going to have to have with his evah luvin (not) wife regarding that part about "when she's dead", and you know it's going to be a hum-dinger.

edited to add, and added thanks to a special friend who enjoys these things even more than i do: did you know that john edwards is originally from south carolina?

no, you simply cannot make this stuff up.

where the news takes us

i read today about an 11 year old boy who was killed amidst a war that we (we americans) as much as anyone have created. in every one of these stories i read i see the faces of my own children, and i am always on the verge of tears.

yet, on top of all this tragedy, i can't tell you how heartsick i am to hear and see and read so many americans still "making a case" for this war, and suggesting there are realpolitik reasons we took it upon ourselves, and continue to take it upon ourselves, to wage it. to me, such noise is no different that the nonsense the "jihad" spewers on the other side vomit out of their mouths. (i put the word in quotes, because a jihad is the struggle to protect a faith, not to attack another).

"whoever kills a single soul for other than a soul killed or for corruption in the earth, it is as though he has killed all humanity together". --Quran Surah al-Ma'Ida ayah 32.

i won't even bother to quote the Bible, because obviously all these "christian" people on the other side exhorting us to war do not listen to such things, either.

marvin gaye said it all when he said that "only love can conquer hate". it's too bad that there are apparently no religions who have succeeded in truly teaching us that lesson.

more on the garbage

here's the link to the globe story, and here's one of those "things people say" that prove what idiots they really are:

"the logistics of collecting trash curbside, particularly for large residential buildings, are difficult and cost-prohibitive".

so can you tell me how you define cost prohibitive?

let's say there are 120 units in a building, (like there are in mine). and let's say there are 120 single-family houses in a neighborhood, (like there may be in the person being quoted's, i don't know). so you tell me--if i had to send one truck to one place to empty a couple dumpsters, as opposed to sending one truck down a dozen little narrow city streets to chase after 120 trash bins and who knows how many other recycling containers, which do you think would be cheaper and easier per-resident?

"introducing the new system increased the fee [for single family residences] from the previous $100, but simultaneously allowed the city to absorb the rest of the actual collection cost, which is $280, out of the general fund".

so, let me get this straight--it's costing the city a net of $180 per single family residence to haul their trash for a year? so, assuming that it would take an amount in excess of that to be considered "too expensive", as characterized above, it's being asserted that it would cost more than $26,200 to send a truck over to my building to grab a dumpster once a week??? (actually, to be apples to apples, it would have to be in excess of $33,600 with a $125 per resident fee).

i'll tell you right now, if you were to pay me $100,000 to take care of the trash and recycling from three condo buildings like mine for a year, i'd take that contract. heck, pay me $200,000 and i'll take care of six, plus throw in a few emptied downtown city street trash barrels just as a sweetener. (i'm thinking there are a lot of trucking companies who would, too).

but, of course, that could never be because "it would be a nightmare for the town to provide trash pickup to the roughly 12,000 residents now not served. We’d charge each household the $125, so for every customer we take on, we’d lose money. for every thousand new customers we take on, we would lose $155,000 a year because what we collect would not fully fund the service".

so let me get this straight--because we're already subsidizing up to 26,500 households in the city, we can't possibly be fair to the other 12,000??? do i read this correctly? or do i just imagine the phrase "some animals are more equal than others" in between the lines...

but the real scandal is that it won't cost the city nearly that much, and the fact that they can't figure that out is the most damning evidence of all of complete and utter idiocy. it's quoted right in the article that serving one of those big buildings downtown costs less than ten grand. and if 100 people are paying $125 a year for the pickup, that would give the city $2,500 profit to do what they've always been doing, which is subsidizing the environmentally unfriendly "have's" up in "the neighborhoods".

c'mon, people, get a clue. this whole mess, like the garbage it's based on, stinks stinks stinks.

health and other kinds of insurance

long story, but i've developed a need for mine recently, (yeah, i know, guys my age shouldn't be playing soccer like i do), and it occurs to me i'm fortunate in so many ways. (and if i had a job that required any sort of mobility, i'd be needing my disability insurance too).

why ALL people cannot recognize the life-changing possibilities of illness and injury, especially for others less fortunate than themselves, is one of the most frustrating parts of our ongoing national debate to me. without insurance right now, i'd be looking between the scylla and charybdis of bankruptcy and cripple-dom. heck, with co-pays and deductibles and the extensive rehabilitation period, i'm going to at least get a small taste of 'em both anyway.

i'm a lucky, lucky guy. anyone who knows me well enough knows that i say that all the time. and it's true.

applications for live-in cooking, cleaning and, um, personal services, are being taken at this time. ;-)

wordpress and other garbage

a fellow local blogger to whom i won't link first of all because their blog tool of choice, wordpress, won't let me post a comment, (i registered, even got my password via email, but it continues to tell me that my username isn't valid), but second of all because the link they tried to provide didn't even work, so why should i bother, talked about a globe north story regarding lowell's improving recycling program.

the point of the blog post complained about the point of the news article, which was related to tenants not able to participate in the city's program. the blogger seemed to think that one of the examples in the original article, about a group of tenants who expanded their contract with their private hauler to include recyclables, which conveniently, or so it was reported, reduced their overall disposal costs, and wasn't that enough for them, proved some kind of a backwards point.

well, fellow local blogger and anyone else who isn't listening, (yes, i mean you, gunther wellenstein), the logic, like the garbage to which it refers, smells.

first of all, taxes are taxes, and for mine to be collected just as assiduously as all my trash-pickup-served neighbors, but not extend to provide me with basic trash-hauling services like all of them enjoy, stinks.

furthermore, as me and my tenant neighbors learned when investigating the rates we pay for hauling, (on top of our city taxes, i might add), the cost to me for recycling paper, for example, actually EXCEEDS the amount i pay for general refuse, so, actually, negotiating for recycling pickup at my building and then increasing the amount of paper i recycle actually costs me MORE than if i single-streamed it all right into the hefty with my other trash.

but, sure, everything is rosy if you live out in the highlands and enjoy a visit from the city trucks once a week.

shared-living residences are a far more environmentally friendly way of life than the energy wasting and space wasting profligacy that goes on among the "single families". for us to have to essentially pay to subsidize the environmental irresponsibility of those single family wastrels is adding insult to injury.

i say trash hauling and recycling for everyone, and another great steaming mug of shut the fuck up to anyone who reads a thoughtful critique as posed in the globe article and concludes that folks left to fend for themselves and pay for the privilege are anything but screwed in the process.

don't say i didn't warn you

i won't say why, but if you've ever been a melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones fan, or thought about being a melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones fan, or simply considered seeing melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones to know first hand what all the acclaim is about, well, then, tonight at toad in cambridge is your night.

7pm. free. beer. (but not free beer). it's the night.

and all i can say is, do NOT miss it.

and i WILL say i told you so.

when we let party politicians write the rules governing party politicians

here's a beauty from the AP: the AP and the Sunlight Foundation (capitals for respect) checked independently obtained fundraising invitations against the campaign finance reports submitted to the federal election commission (lack of capitals for lack of respect) by the benefitting party politicians, and found 195 of those lobbyist-led fundraising efforts have never been reported. (you can read the article for analysis of why).

this recalls to me the democrat lawmakers in massachusetts deigning to rewrite the senate succession rules to fit their return to the governor's desk. my only complaint with the article is that it quotes two "D" miscreants, and not the "bi-partisan" hacks on the other side who bi-partisanly ensured that the final wording let everyone into the country club pool. at least everyone who is already a sitting politician with lobbyists to "guide" them.

when has fenway become yankee stadium and the montreal forum all rolled up into one?

one of my most vivid memories of only a few years ago is of the red sox shortstop (was it offerman?) being called out on the basepaths on a completely ridiculous attempt at a swipe tag by the yankees second baseman (chuck knoblauch?) that missed by at least three feet during a sox/yanks playoff game in 1999.

ok, it took no time at all to find it: the infamous "phantom tag", #1 on the ESPN readers' all time list of bad calls.

we won't bother to go into yankee stadium home runs that aren't home runs, (you can read about it on that same link), or the litany of bogus whistles and non-whistles up on montreal. the fact is, for a long time, it was impossible not to be a paranoid boston fan, because the refs truly were, by effective accident, at least, out to screw boston teams in favor of their more storied rivals.

that day, sadly, is past.

now the boys with the last word are blowing calls in the other direction, and it doesn't really feel a whole lot better. last night i'm willing to say that nicky green's check swing was close enough to be debatable, but that "ball 4" that walked in the tying run was so clearly strike 3 that i could see it plain as day even before jerry remy pulled up the amica pitch zone to prove it.

what is it about "mystique" and "aura" that they'll whore themselves out like that?

how about a fair game, guys?

(though hearing don orsillo say "SOX WIN" never gets old).

beginnings and ends

fred cusick, long-time voice of the boston bruins, and literal soundtrack of my childhood, has died this week at his home in barnstable. i know those telemundo guys make a big deal of how long they can hold the long O in the word GOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!, but fred was there first, and the way he could fill your heart with the full breadth, depth and width of the word SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!! will never be duplicated.

fred started broadcasting the b's on the radio in 1952, and was instrumental in selling the nhl to the boston television market in the 1960's. for all his tireless work, (the globe obit contains the story of him driving videotape overnight from toronto so he could do the voice-over in concord, nh, and have it broadcast the next morning on wmur), fred wasn't even the first choice to sit beside johnny pearson in 1967 when they first put the b's on channel 38. (he had to wait four years before they sent don earle and his buffoonery to philadelphia, and he got his deserved big break in 1971).

i think a lot of younger kids may have thought that "score" was bobby orr's real first name for how often fred would say "score bobby orr!"

hats off to you, fred, and congratulations on your long-overdue induction into the new england sports hall of fame tonight. the bruins won their first preseason game last night, and i'm going to consider it and the entire rest of this new season to be in your honor.

you'll be missed.

i know this shouldn't be funny, but...

i used to think only philly fans had this sort of sense of humor:

hamburg [ny] police on tuesday confirmed the home of a bills player was vandalized, but declined to release details of their investigation after an obscenity and the score of monday night's game -- a 25-24 loss to the patriots -- were painted in white on the player's lawn in suburban buffalo.

to be serious for a second, i have to say that running the ball out of the end zone isn't the cardinal sin for which the player is otherwise being excoriated. with just seconds over two minutes to play, taking an instant knee would have given the pats an extra clock-stoppage, so taking it out should be considered the "smart" thing to do. kudos, leodis.

however, i will say that actually running into contact, and then staying up to fight for the extra yard, is pure idiocy of collosal proportions, and a reminder on ones front lawn doesn't seem to me to be out of place.

i mean, really.

democrats are even more evil than i thought

the "patriot" act is, in my opinion, prima facie, a foul and base tool for government tyranny. i'm willing to bet that if you polled the original colonial line at the north bridge in concord back in 1775, you wouldn't find a single patriot there who would have hesitated even for an instant to go to war all over again to stop it. yet, here are we, free people coasting on the free ride those true patriots gave their lives to give us, giving it all away for free, and not raising a peep in protest.

that the obama administration will do nothing to rescind this act, and then go even further as to ask to have it extended, is yet another dark day in our nation's history.

why do we want to trade our country--our LIBERTY--for the false "safety" of such an act? ben franklin is spinning in his grave right now, repeating over and over and over again:

those who would trade liberty for safety deserve neither, and will lose both.

democrats are even more stupid than i thought

joe wilson did what he could to expand the 2009 south carolinian PR campaign (beyond mark sanford's "international man of mystery" tour) and i think we all were united in our disapproval of his manners around the house the other day. as a matter of fact, i think that shared sentiment of disapproval is the first thing i've read that demicans and republicrats have so quickly agreed upon since they tag-teamed on deregulating wall street just in time to catch the peak of the wave of newly-approved (uncomforming, unperforming, what's the difference?) mortgages over at fannie and freddie. but now, apparently dissatisfied with public humiliation and an unconditional apology, democrat political appetites will not be sated by anything less than an official congressional rebuke. can they truly be as stupid as this proves they are?

don't get me wrong, i give both sides of the aisle full credit for being in favor of proper decorum in congress, especially during addresses by a sitting president. but i can imagine no tactic more assuredly guaranteed to turn up the righteously indignant sentiment that calling out "no clothes" to an emperor riding on the back of an ass shouldn't get the messenger shot than this one.

i expect, joe being the better-mannered man he has become in light of his rapid apology to his best friend, barack, he will not be delayed in penning his thank-you note to the opposition for so quickly returning him to the moral high ground.

i'm sure you're welcome, joe!

why i've stopped really caring about the nfl

damien woody has been flagged for the cleanest tackle i can possibly imagine during the bills first drive of the second half tonight.

the nfl, like the nba, has devolved into a charade of little more than choreographed referee calls, interspersed with (seemingly interminable) time outs. it's truly become the "no fun league". even the throwback uniforms can't redeem this for me, even though it's very, very close on that score. (oh, to see stanley morgan running a post route once again...)

baseball tomorrow. and hockey very, very soon. that's sports for me now.

"that's a lie"

lost amidst the brouhaha of who is allowed to say what to whom where and when, is an interesting half-full/half-empty observation about our presently-proposed healthcare reform.

on the one hand, we have a president who assures us, as we'd all like to be assured, that, under his plan, no care will be extended to anyone not legally in this country, so that we all might be able to afford to extend care to everyone who is. on the other hand, we have an earnest opposition who sees in the proposal no reliable safeguard to prevent such.

excuse me for the impertinence, but don't we all agree about this point?

wouldn't a reasonable proponent listen to the concern, and want to faithfully and honestly address it? and wouldn't a resonable opponent listen to the intent of the proposal, and want to faithfully and honestly support its essence?

unfortunately, what we have is a logjam of "is not" "is so" nonsense that will result in a bill that no one likes and everyone will endeavor to sabotage, either in its passage, or, worst possible, in its incredibly expensive administration after something ill-fated is jammed down our disrespected throats.

why can't someone say, "let's please tighten up the checks against improper benefits", and someone else say "let's please agree that no one should die for lack of being able to afford a doctor".

of course, if you were to ask me, i think this whole mess needs to be taken second after we all put our heads together and figure out how the hell we're possibly going to be able to pay for it.

my first humble proposal is to throw out every registered republican and registered democrat in congress as being guilty of aiding and abetting the looting of our federal treasury, and start over with a clean slate of honest men and women of thoughtful, sensible, and collaborative mien.

an administration late and several trillion dollars short

gotta say it--the "i can't afford obamacare" protesters are not just right, they're also an administration late and several trillion dollars short. their lemming-like embrace of the "R" brand, and jackass-like opposition of the "D" brand are, to me, just as complicit in our present economic morass as any of the "R" and "D" branded politicians that put us here--and arrayed against them are a whole 'nuther legion of mindless stooges who will support the president no matter how hare-brained the scheme.

how did it come to this?

the enemy is the two-headed hydra. until people can open their minds and their eyes, it's going to continue to be one long futile tug-of-war in which the only losers are the ones left to pay for everything, which is all of us. that much, at least, these yahoos have right.

those who would trade liberty for safety deserve neither

those who would trade liberty for safety deserve neither--ben franklin

seeing what you want to see

a letter to the editor in today's sun proudly declared that it was the outpouring of blind objection to obama's message to the kids which produced the version that was delivered. no, this writer refuses to believe that, without such outpouring of blind objection, that the president would ever have backed off his planned propagandist/socialist message to brainwash our impressionable youth away from their otherwise path of true american (i.e. conservative) values.

see, this is the exact problem i see with all our party politics these days. the "faithful" already know what the answer is going to be even before its given, and then, even if the answer proves not to be what they said it was going to be, in their tiny little pinhead minds they can successfully twist the facts to suit their conviction that it was only their steadfast (slavish) devotion to the true cause that saved us all from the worst-case scenario. don't believe me? go ahead--ask that letter writer what he knows about the obamaniacs and their steadfast (slavish) adherence to his doctrine of socialism and moral decay. he can tell you. or, if i were to put it another way, tell me, good liberal, what you know will next come from the mouth of glen beck? ("oh, but that's different--glen beck is CRAZY").

puh-LEEEZE.

my problem is that i'm terrified of both the democrats AND the republicans, so there isn't a news story or a letter to the editor or wing-nut commentary that doesn't scare me to death, and make me blanch in fear for this great country of ours.

honestly, if this is the way you feel in EITHER direction, please know that YOU are the problem just as surely as it's also the problem you are terrified about. And until YOU stop writing those letters to the editors and going all hysterical about everything that the "other" side says and does, and *gasp* might say and do, they're not ever going to stop doing it. and--be honest--neither are you.

so, when are you BOTH going to stop doing it? you know, all that "sky is falling" crap when the "other" guys are left to be in charge? i wonder, without such mutual unilateral rhetorical disarmament, if we will ever have a chance of saving ourselves before it all comes crashing down in one last big cataclysmic financial, moral and ethical collapse...

it's on you. i dare you. just sit down with a great big steaming mug of "shut the fuck up" and THINK for a change.

punked

the folks over at lowell handmade have officially lost control:

http://lowellhandmade.blogspot.com/2009/09/sensation-buy-cheap-viagra-only-for-115.html

not sure if this is a blogspot security flaw that'll eventually be exploited against all of us, or whether they used "password" as their blogspot password or something like that. either way, if you're looking for cut-rate canadian pharmaceuticals, lowell handmade is (for now) your go-to spot on the net.

what does it take to get a 100% rating from capitol resource institute?

family-value watchdog capitol resource institute hands out ratings to help their adherents/sycophants assess the family-value-friendliness of various politicians. in the case of mike duvall, republican state assemblyman in sacramento, california, apparently what it takes to gain a 100% endorsement are multiple adulterous affairs including light spanking and a variety of women's undergarments. (no report on what mike prefers to wear while honoring his marriage).

there isn't anything that terrifies me more than governments intent on legislating morality while gathering to themselves the means to do to you whatever they please, which sounds far more like iranian politics than american, but what do i know. (kudos to mark over at mrmillcity for this one). unlike your garden-variety imam and republican politician, i'm the last guy to criticize anybody for wanting to give their girlfriend(s) exactly what they enjoy, though, geez, at least i don't go pounding podiums with my bedroom slippers insisting on everybody doing it as i say and not like i do. hey, i'd even be in favor of letting republicans actually sleep with their (own) wives if that's what it takes, but, like i said, i don't care much for other people telling still other people who they can and can't bed down with. (though i do draw the line at petitions to the catholic church for annulments every time you want to switch partners, a la joe k--if you're going to sleep around, at least have the decency to leave the legitimacy of your kids out of your selfish equations).

yep, it's true--democrats are two-faced, evil, and not so smart, either

driving back from the train station today, doing my regular bit to support public transportation and lower carbon footprints like any good liberal would, i noticed a small toyota plastered with democrat propaganda stickers, including an older one admonishing the younger bush to "pull out like your father should have done". i probably wouldn't have given it a second thought, only this morning we're apparently obsessing over one particular and particularly poorly-behaved south carolinian, who learned his politics at the knee of an anti-civil rights filibusterer, and his manners at the rush limbaugh school of bluster first, think later.

so, am i really supposed to be so righteously indignant about boorishness within the halls of congress, while folks regularly express their lefty political views in terms of eugenics and other base personal attacks on the ass end of their foreign cars?

in the same way i consider all republicans complicit in the idiocy that is creationism, birtherism and the blind, deaf but unfortunately only dumb in the idiot, not silent, sense, opposition of anything that might come out of somebody else's mouth even before it comes out, i likewise consider democrats guilty of both the basest form of arrogant, ad-hominem politics, as well as the grand hypocrisy of wanting to persecute anyone who would use those same sorts of terms against THEIR guys and gals. (which is to say, if you question obama's parentage you must be a racist, while if you advocate regulating the procreative habits of his predecessor's father, you're just kidding around).

or maybe that 'yota jockey really meant it?

if i had had the time, and a sharpie handy, i'd have hopped out and scrawled across one of the other stickers advocating the firing of republicans to save the nation that we make sure to fire the democrats, too, lest we fail to recognize the kindred corruption of values.

can you hear me now?

one of the funnier bits about the JAMBRA soiree over at garcia brogans last night was sitting twenty feet from the people trying to talk to the crowd, and not being able to understand a single word they were saying. apparently, when garcia brogans assures civic groups and the musicians who will be playing after that they have a house PA, what they really mean is that they have a transistor radio-like thingy about the size of a large toaster that sounds more like the 1920's than the 2010's. (it's wireless!)

luckily for those of us there for the music, justin burns, aka the right reverend jj, lives close enough nearby to be able to run home and retrieve a proper amp for the musical portion of the evening, and we were treated to a delectable set of jen kearney originals from the original jen kearney herself, (very tasty), and then a few tasty biscuits from the right reverend himself after.

great space. lousy PA. hopefully, they'll learn to get this right sooner or later.

follow the money

i've attended any number of downtown neighborhood get-togethers, and met any number of city council challengers there, but it wasn't until i ventured JAM-wards that i met any actual city councillors. of course, instead of downtown's "but that would take money...", the JAM conversations are all about the new parking garage and the new courthouse and all the public money being spent nearby. funny how that is.

anyway, last night, queen rita and king consort bud were glad-handing their friends and ignoring just about everybody else over at garcia brogans, much the same way they glad-hand their friends and ignore just about everybody else at our local city council meetings (except, apparently, every once in awhile, anonymous bloggers, but then only if they're being badly behaved, and safely addressed via cable tv, instead of socially when they're actually trying to introduce themselves, but i digress).

in contrast, one of the challengers, joe mendonca, actually took the time to talk to and listen to the various people among the crowd, which seems like it would be a pretty cool way to run the city...

if only...

"i didn't know", "it was a mistake" and "i apologize"

the sun asked for it, and now they've got it--lowell city councillor alan kazanjian's "explanation" for his part in the ernest "sandy" ames scandal.

one of the weaknesses in asking a public official to explain his or herself is that, as a constituent, it's more interesting to know what they're going to do about it, but here all we have is one big "i didn't know", "it was a mistake", and "i apologize", and i guess that's to be expected.

so here's the sort of phrase that catches my attention most: "i, like my colleagues, have many friends who are employed by the city". oh, i'll bet you do. and, i'll further bet, a lot of them are "lifetime residents", too. (c'mon, ask me how long i've lived here NOW).

but the smoking conversational gun is buried in statements like this one: "looking back, perhaps it would have been a better idea to have the building commissioner procure a plumbing inspector from out of town to perform such inspections, and for not doing that, i apologize". anyone else hear the no-so-subtle sound of a city councillor talking in a way that presumes that city councillors are responsible for telling the head of inspectional services how to do their job?

like or hate bernie lynch, his position as city manager is all that's standing between us and guys like this who think the city council is the catbird's seat from which to tell everyone what to do and how to do it, from the governor of massachusetts cancelling those pesky elections, to the head of the city's inspectional services department looking into (or not) all those projects you got going on around town.

yep, it's true--republicans are morons

i've taken more than a few shots at cadillac eddie and his party of idiot apologists these past few weeks, (easy to do 'cuz they all give a critic so much to work with), and i've been feeling neglectful of the shrill cacophony of idiocy arraying itself against them and whatever else barrack obama is for these days. now i'm not for everything that barrack obama is for these days myself, but, geez, people, have a clue. and i'm finding that it's impossible not to conclude that republicans are possibly even bigger morons than those folk we saw shedding crocodile tears for the open massachusetts senate seat, and here's one reason why:

the republicans' first defense against the charges will be that birthers and paranoid delusionals who vehemently object to speeches even before they are given do not represent the mainstream party, but that's exactly why i have to conclude the mainstream party is also comprised totally of morons. lets ask ourselves, in a different world, where the outrage might be that their party and their ideology is being hijacked by the darwinian equivalent of jerry's kids. (jerry springer, jerry lewis, doesn't much matter, does it). if dubya, the oracle of classic republican moronism, had given this exact speech, (except for the parts about being raised in de facto poverty, which he wasn't), the hordes of jaw-flapping, spittle-flinging zealots who claim to represent the "right" would have been stamping their feet and waving their walmart caps like banshees calling for the burning of all science textbooks to complete the job. (WTF is up with people being unable to call that creationism spade a spade?). but he didn't, and they're not. what the *honest* idiots really want to do, i can only conclude, is to stop the president, THEIR president, ironically enough, from saying "study hard and stay in school" to their meth-addled progeny. (actually, my suspicion is that they're suspicious that this is all a plot to get all the little brown kids to study harder than theirs do, and then take away all those walmart jobs from their idiot children, so maybe they do have something to worry about).

but back to the issue of idiocy and the rest of the *dishonest* and "conservative" folk who will try to say that they're not responsible for every tom, dick and harold who spout the tin hat conspiracy theories that anyone in favor of all people having the means to go to the doctor must be a communist. hey, morons of the right--you're being defined by fox news as one of them anyway, and the coverage on cnn and msnbc is confirming it, so which is it going to be?

are you going to stand up for or against the speech? (are you even going to read it?) are you going to stand up and agree that our children should join parents, teachers and the government in responsibility for their education and their bettering themselves in service to their country? or are you going to let paranoid idiocy speak for you?

the question defines you for what you are. silence, like the proverbial good men doing nothing that is all that is required for evil to triumph, is not an option.

what i did on my end-of-summer vacation

ironically, i hit more traffic heading south this sunny weekend on sunday afternoon than i did heading north on monday evening. (well, it was prime beach-outing drive time on sunday, and well after dark the next day, so perhaps its not apples to apples). no, i'm not changing my philosophical mind about north shore vs south shore, and hardwoods and granite vs scrub pines and dirty sand, but friends invested in a little piece of cape cod real estate from which to run their little boat out into nantucket sound, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. there's also nothing wrong with having a convertible in which to travel back and forth, though it's a heck of a lot more fun with an open road than crawling amidst a long caravan of other people who also didn't want to be there that way, even if that open road is a bit darker and chillier that you might otherwise have chosen. (that's what the heat is for).

we happily chased tuna, bonito and bluefish all around the sound with popping lures and a cooler full of beer. (mostly growlers of cape cod ipa). the fish weren't striking so much, we surmised because of the rougher weather the immediate day before, but that was hardly, when all was said and done, the point--lunch off the boat in oak bluffs more than supplied all the interactity we required. yeah, i "got a little sun", but not so much that it's uncomfortable, thanks to the foresight of sunblock and preferring to migrate around to the shady side of the t-top whenever the breeze and the boat shifted. (the #1 complaint? not enough cupholders).

we did smores around the fire sunday night, and the 2-hour sox replay (what's up with josh these days???) on monday night, and there was still time to get back in plenty of time for a good nights sleep before the gauntlet of "is it september already?" conference calls this morning.

life is good.

oh, and that bullshit that the kennedys and other so-called anti-oil, pro-alternatives environmentalists try to spew about wind farms spoiling the natural beauty of the waterways off the cape? trying to find a quiet spot in which to enjoy the sunny afternoon without being regularly run down and buffeted by wakes from everything from tankers to ferries to yachts the size of a small public school it can't help but occur to any reasonable person that a series of graceful wind turbines is the least of a naturalist's problems in that region of the world.

seriously.

there is no more eloquent argument against the morals and ethics of the "lion of the senate" than his and his family's bullshit objection to wind energy on the sound.

yes, i used the word bullshit twice. three times now.

bullshit.

that's four.

:-)

more sopranakians

the sun continues to make sure it keeps its little golden goose well fed with column inches, even if only to self-reference its own coverage in the form of "questions" to the principals involved. publisher kendall wallace pulled no punches in his "saturday chat" this week, (though i can't for the life of me find it online yet), where he connects the final dot and concludes in print that andy sheehan's firing had to do with his having run a review of the inspectional services department, as he was in line to be named by the city manager, bernie lynch, to head the department in order to clean it up when his salary budget line item was sent to sleep with the fishes via a carefully crafted motion by councillor kazanjian.

dick howe does a much more thorough job in citing chapter and verse, in case you're looking for the complete rundown.

having observed a fascinating coincidence of rita mercier campaign signs at a good number of addresses sporting the kazanjian banners, it raises an interesting question about how much of the voting solidarity among the gang of six is coincidence vs real racketeering collusion. (KMLEMC--Keep Making Lowell Elections More Competitive--Kazanjian, Mercier, Lenzi, Elliott, Mercier, Caulfield--remember those names so you can happily forget them next november). on the one hand, it's plausibly deniable, since kazanjian raised his own motion to ax sheehan, that they were just voting along because of how much they respect a well-tanned politician. on the other hand, the sheer consistency of the coincidental voting records on all sorts of motions, including the one to eighty-six the primary, suggests that only an idiot would believe someone who claims they are shocked, shocked i tell you, that alan kazanjian has turned up dirty.

oh, due process, and innocent until, and all that, but it's pretty clear to me that things aren't being run according to hoyle down at city hall, and that mssr. kazanjian is more than well aware of the shortcomings, to the point of taking active steps to perpetuate the status quo. this alone merits being thrown out of office by legal means if not via the ballot. (oh, i do sure hope the fbi investigative teams have improved their swing since they failed to make the goods on ted stevens stick).

what's amazing to me, echoing nixon in '72, is how comfortable the electorate can remain with smoking-gun evidence of corruption. (you know what they say--democracy just means you get the government you deserve). it's, i suppose, not surprising that i'm taking this assault on my home city very emotionally and personally. for every "how long have you lived here?" i've ever heard pass the lips of the gang of six in council session i'm feeling a lump of bitterness rising in my throat. who the eff you see kay do they, you, or anyone else think they are, to collude with criminals via their bald persecution of anyone who might rock their little dirty boat. i think of all the beauty that's here, and i say a silent little prayer for all the beauty that was never let to be while dirty little men and women choked away its promise in a selfish and petty little game to line their own pockets.

it's not proportional voting that fixes this sort of thing, it's VOTING.

alright, fellow babies, as johnny fever used to say, it's time for us to do OUR jobs.

the only imperfect part was having to leave lowell to do it

i was going to say last night, but, lets be honest, i left home while it was still yesterday afternoon. see, flemings in boston is running a 5 for 6 'til 7 special, (5 of their menu items, plus the prime sirloin burger, which i can assure you first hand is absolutly prime, are 6 bucks before 7pm at the bar), and it was perfect timing to ensure i didn't show up to the all-night lowell music extravaganza at TOAD in cambridge on an empty stomach, because you know how i am about the harpoon ipa while i'm getting my melvern on.

and melvern taylor and his fabulous meltones were absolutely on, in a way that can only be described to someone who has already seen them live. the guayaberas had been put away, even though it's not even labor day yet, and melvern finally had a chance to properly sport his fathers day tie(s), which had previously been rudely interrupted by the summer wear. (the patch of blue sky appeared beneath the faces of melvern jr. and melvern sr., begging the question of whether it was the sky, or the tie, which was being worn the wrong side down).

in other news, johnny got a growler from mrs. melvern for favors unspecified, bob got a last year's tex-mas eve poster for his wall of fame, (you'd think tex would keep better care of his peeps), and dave was selfless enough to feign equipment troubles long enough so that melvern was induced to spontaneously insert a solo version of mary magdaline into the show which promptly stopped it and stole it right out from under himself, even considering the patience and prudence cover to follow.

after two of the bestest sets any shangri-lowellite could ask for, melvern and the boys all stuck around with the rest of the madding crowd for jen kearney and the lost onion's sets which immediately followed. no horns this time, or yahuba, but that just means that there's more carl and more pete to enjoy behind jen's inimitable pipes and keys. the sound was great, the music was great, and the only imperfect part was having to leave lowell to do all of it.

but, fear not, jen's doing a solo set down at garcia brogans next wednesday at 6:30pm, so we're less than a week from walking-distance succotash blue.

finally!!!

this just in, and just in time to catch the first casualties of the fall semester, the country's first residential treatment center for internet addiction has opened just outside of seattle. $14,000 for a 45 day program. (i am sure i am in the wrong business).

you're welcome.

oh, were you talking about me?

second-beer journalism

well, not inebriated in the traditional, alcohol-related sense, but hard on the heels of breaking the ernest "sandy" ames firing and related FBI probe into improprieties at the city's inspectional services department, and just like a teenager on their second beer, the lowell sun opened its next front page with "firefighter allegedly caught occupying handicapped space".

i kid you not.

while murders and federally investigated corruption are all over town, the headline chosen by the editors over at the sun has to do with five minutes by a city fire car in a handicapped spot over at the post office. (five minutes--you know i don't kid about the details).

personally, the most surprising part of the story to me was that they could actually find a handicapped person willing to be quoted on it. or maybe i underestimate the serious threat to public safety these handicap space scofflaws represent, and the enormity (as in heinous, not as in large, because it's a pet peeve of mine that people insist upon misusing this word and it's just about ruined for regular use) of the crime. but, hey, a sun photographer was loafing nearby, and there you have it.

as a result, of course, we have interviews with the city fire chief, edward pitta, who assured the nervous public that "he would speak to fire department personnel about parking in handicapped spaces". we also have better journalism over at mr mill city where ned has raised the dreaded specter of potential moustache discrimination in the persecution of wallace johnson. (the lowell shallot also expressed their investigative flattery by posting a companion piece about bernie lynch getting busted for jaywalking, though they failed to work the irony of bernie's recently announced improvements to downtown sidewalks in order to amp up the scandal quotient on their onionesque headline, and its doubtful a lot of their readers, observing recent comment wars on grammar, are going to get it anyway).

ah, the entertainment value of a good local paper...