Blogging at Area 603

I've been invited to blog over at Area 603 and can't wait to give it a whirl. Area 603 is a subsidiary of New Hampshire Magazine and has been running the blog for the last few months. There are a slew of interesting people blogging there. I don't quite know what I will be writing about yet. But please do join me. It should make for interesting reading.

Exercise & Downloading
I've been trying to walk more, lose a few pounds and relieve some stress. So far, I haven't been too successful. But, I'm trying. I've also been downloading stuff on emusic.com, one of the more inexpensive downloading services, and having a lot of fun doing it. The problem is that I'm often not using up all the tracks I can download on any given month. I have a reminder set so that I can use them all up before the end of the month. But, I don't always remember.
The worst part about downloading is that I don't have much time to listen to all the cool stuff I'm downloading. So, I've been thinking about buying an mp3 player in order to enjoy some of the music on my walks. But which mp3 player to choose? Probably not Apple, I guess: ["Apple faces the music as public discord with iPod grows"]. I had a mini iPod which I won at NAB in a raffle but I sold it on eBay for $90. I guess I should have saved it. Or maybe not. I didn't have any use for an mp3 player at the time but I do now.
I actually can't bring myself to buy one no matter how much I would like to be walking around listening to the tunage. While I like the sounds of the outdoors, I find my energy level getting pumped when I listen to music. And I would like to figure out ways to increase my energy level while exercising. Any recommendations on mp3 players would be appreciated.

Losing Farm
It's the end of an era in Winchester, Mass. with the signing over of the deed for Winning Farm to Salter Healthcare: ["Salter to take title"].
For any readers in Winchester who check out this blog, you know about this case and some of the writing which I previously did about the issue as editor of that newspaper.
For those of you who don't know, essentially, a rich suburban town sells 40 acres of land - 12.5 developable - to a local health care company with connections to insiders at cost. At the same time, said town begs and begs for more tax money from an aging population who can't afford the property taxes now. It was probably the biggest giveaway in the history of Massachusetts and everywhere you turned, the fix seemed to be in.
Lydia Crafts, the new reporter for The Winchester Star, gets some of the story wrong in this article but that isn't her fault. The larger story was never told because those people who are connected to the project did all they could to protect those folks behind the scene. I even had one person close to the deal come very close to offering me a bribe to ignore the story under the guise of how little money journalists make. That was when I really knew I was on to something. The case of this one parcel - sold at a fraction of its value - would make a great book or even very long piece for a magazine some day, if anyone can ever get to the bottom of it. Someone will, eventually, when the place is built and running and Salter and his minions are raking in the millions.
I'm sure there are a ton of these stories all over the place which aren't being told because the media just doesn't seem to want to look into much any more ... and townspeople are too afraid to upset other townspeople at their cocktail parties. Sigh.

Is there a crash coming?

How is this for a heavy headline: ["Markets ‘are like 1987 crash’"]. Granted, this is a Brit paper. But, the financial markets are all pretty well connected these days and it all feels a bit unstable, doesn't it? Gas prices really high; tons of folks out of work; tax cuts not geared towards regular folks who really need the tax relief; trade deficits booming; illegals flooding the border depressing the wages of the unskilled citizenry; etc. It all seems pretty bad out there right now.

This guy Ned Lamont
I haven't really been following the Lieberman/Lamont Senate race in Conn. but I am intrigued by it, since I met Lieberman a couple of times when he ran for president. Plus, his unwavering support for the occupation of Iraq makes you wish you had a real Republican in the seat.
This weekend, Lamont got 33 percent of the CT Dem Convention - a shocking feat - and is the talk of the entire political world right now. It seemed worth remarking about. Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie says it best in this piece: ["Lieberman's in Trouble"]. Lamont has some pretty good TV spots posted on his blog which are worth a watch: ["Lamont blog"]. Lieberman's insane support of the occupation and coddling the hard line is dumbfounding especially in light of Rep. Murtha's - a true hero, BTW - recent comments: ["Lawmaker: Marines killed Iraqis ‘in cold blood’"]. What is so sad about all of this is that most of the folks in the armed forces are just ordinary people trying to do what they think is right and they are getting caught up in all of this mess. This action is turning them into war criminals. Why would anyone want to turn another human being into a murderer?

A couple of new blogs
Citizen journalists are sprouting up all over and some of them are more than just ranting opinion places. Here are a couple I've found over the past week or so.

First, there is this one from a guy named Jesse in Cambridge: ["View from 'The Bridge'"]. Since I once lived in both Cambridge and Somerville, I still keep in touch with a lot of the things going on there and sites like this one help me quickly find out what is going on. I love the look of his site too - with the Boston skyline dragged along the page no matter where you are on it. Very cool.

Here is another site called The Alewife
["The Alewife"]. Today's link is about Rep. Michael Capuano voting against some GOP bill. Not a huge thing. However, if you scroll down, you'll find a picture of a rainbow over Porter Square [I used to live a few blocks from there], lots of local news that would otherwise be gathered by a newspaper, and even a notice about meeting Belmont Selectman Will Brownsberger, who is now running for state rep.
I used to cover Brownsberger when I was the reporter for the Citizen-Herald. I got to know him pretty well. For the most part, he wasn't a bad guy [his wife is super nice] with the exception of this one time when he grabbed me in a threatening manner at the 2002 Democratic convention.
I was attending the convention, hanging out with the Belmont delegation for a story I was writing. During a lull - and there were a lot of them - I asked Brownsberger if there was any truth to the compounding rumors I was hearing about sexual issues at the Chenery Middle School, specifically 12 to 14 year-old girls performing sex acts on boys in the boy's bathrooms. I had at least two parents complain to me about the issue privately, although they wouldn't go on-the-record for the story. I thought I would catch him in a relatively good mood and he might slip me some information. But that isn't what he did.
Brownsberger swiftly grabbed my arm and pulled it behind my back, whispering in my ear about how he was sick of hearing that the middle school girls in Belmont were sluts, something I wasn't insinuating at all. I turned to him and told him that he better let go of me right away if he knew what was good for him. He quickly did let go of me and apologized after realizing what he was doing. I was pretty shocked by his actions but I guess I struck a nerve. He said there was nothing to the rumors and walked off, I assume, to cool off. I later learned that Brownsberger had a daughter at the Chenery which is probably why he was so upset by the question. And, despite being a public figure, I never said anything about the outburst until now.
Since I am a parent now, I can understand why Brownsberger was so pissed. But, as a public official clearly concerned about his town, Brownsberger had an obligation to act like a professional. He should have dealt with the question like this from a reporter in a straight-forward manner instead of reacting in a violent manner.
In the end, I was never able to get the story but I did believe the rumors. In an accelerated sexual society, it isn't surprising when kids start doing things they are exposed to. A year later, I started to hear about similar problems at the McCall Middle School when I was the editor of The Winchester Star but I couldn't get that story either [although we did get a story about the early release day when a slew of young teens got busted for smoking pot]. But the stories are out there about very young children and sexual activities. The key now is to admit that they are happening and try to stop them from happening. But for pols, covering it up seems to be the most important task at hand - not fixing the problem.

Bush censure?

Russ sticks his neck out: ["Feingold Calls for Bush's Censure"]. We'll see how this attempt goes. I recall a supposed move by Sen. John Kerry to call for the impeachment of President Bush but that never materialized. In addition, if President Clinton can be impeached for what he did - essentially being a sexual predator - surely Bush can be censured for acting like a borderline war criminal.

Mitt in stunning second place finish: When there is a hometown boy in the race, the talk is never about first place. And in the case of yesterday's Southern Republican Leadership Conference, second was everything: ["Frist Leads Informal GOP Poll for '08"]. I picked Romney to place sixth: ["Guess Romney's straw poll finish, win a DVD!"]. So, I won't be winning the DVD ... and so much for what I know about southern folks, eh? Or maybe not: ["Faith Hill, Tim McGraw Blast 'Humiliating' Katrina Cleanup"].

"When you have people dying because they're poor and black or poor and white, or because of whatever they are — if that's a number on a political scale — then that is the most wrong thing. That erases everything that's great about our country."

Respect for the dead: Do these people have no shame?: ["Hecklers harass families of US soldiers killed in Iraq"]. What happened to unconditional love? I know it is hard. But you are supposed to at least try. These people need to stop judging people and start looking at their own behavior.

I missed posting these earlier in the week: ["Ranking of World's Billionaires by Forbes"]. 2006 - Rudderless Dems: ["Democrats Struggle To Seize Opportunity"]. Dant dah dah dant, dant dant dah: ["The A-Team Reunite For TV Special"]. V is for: ["The Mad Man In The Mask"].

Some quick stuff from Massachusetts' politics
First, this: ["UMass pollster worked on the side"]. While this isn't too surprising - it happens a lot - I've always wondered about DiNatale. I've seen him say some things over the years that revealed him to either be completely clueless - or totally in the tank to some interest. Well ...

Second, polls. First, this one: ["Reilly leads, Patrick gains in new poll"]. UNH Survey Center does a pretty good job of polling, so I don't think the Globe fixed this. But, it is interesting to see these numbers - with both Dems winning; Miho potentially affecting Healey's campaign; and a whole slew of undecideds.

And that Globe poll is completely different than the one posted by SurveyUSA/WBZ just last week: ["New Poll Shows Tight Race For Governor"]. Of course, this poll asked 200 more voters than the Globe poll. But the Globe poll was a week later. A lot can happen in a week. Although, nothing in this campaign has happened to see numbers move around like that. The electorate in Massachusetts is fickle right now.

The WBZ poll also allows the reader to go into the numbers a bit. Here are some interesting things inside the poll that I noticed:
* Mihos is surprisingly more popular with women than men. This is the same guy who helped to run Jane Swift - working mom, governor - out of town on a rail. Reilly is even stronger with women - if he ends up being the nominee.
* Healey is more popular with men than women. This isn't that unusual since every woman I know thinks Healey is a dingbat and men tend to swing conservative anyway.
* Healey wins over young people [18-34] and Boomers [50-64], while Patrick gets the X-ers [35-49]. But Reilly wins most age groups if he is the nominee, with Healey taking the 65-plus. It is interesting to see young people flip so easily between one candidate and the other. This shows that there is no real party loyalty there in the 18-34 bracket.
* Healey gets 43 percent of the Hispanic vote with Patrick in the race ... wow, so much for the "logic" that the minority candidate would automatically get the minority vote. But if Reilly is the nominee, he sweeps all races. Very interesting.
* Mihos earns more Democrat votes than Republicans [16 to 14] with Patrick as the Dem nominee. With Reilly in, 4 percent more swing to Mihos ... but Healey also loses 7 percent of the Dems. This shows that Reilly turns off some indie-minded Dems who would support Patrick with other Dems going to Reilly over Healey. It also shows that those Dems would prefer Healey over Patrick. Very interesting.
* And if Healey wins, the Democratic nominee - in this case, Patrick - can blame the 19 percent of Dems and 21 percent of voters who described themselves as "liberals" who voted for her.
Is race a factor with these so-called enlightened Democrats and liberals? It seems to be in the last two categories here.

R.I.P.: Harry Browne
Two-time Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne died today: ["Harry Browne, Libertarian candidate, dies"]. I got a chance to interview Browne in 1996 and he gave me the whole hour for an interview even though my show was on a 125 watt non-profit FM station. He was gracious and seemed to have a real concern for the American people. While I didn't agree with all his ideas, Browne truly cared about the country.

Mihos roundup: Even though I no longer live in Massachusetts, I'm still watching the gubernatorial campaign there with interest. It has made for good reading and will be all the more interesting to watch as Christy Mihos jumps in as an indie. Here is Mihos' official Web site: ["Christy Mihos for Governor"] and the latest roundup of stories:
["Mihos workers abandon ship in rough seas"] This is not a surprise: Ron Vining has been involved in Republican campaigns for a long time. I doubt he would work for an indie.
["Mihos Campaign Faces Challenges"]
["Independents need to step up in political arena"] Here is a letter from an aquaintance of mine, John Valianti, who was involved in the fight to Save Fenway Park.

Why Kerry Murphy Healy will never be governor of Massachusetts
Four words: Christy Mihos, independent candidate: ["Mihos to run as independent"].
Mihos, whose family founded the Christy's Markets store chain, is one of the reasons Jane Swift isn't governor today, after he fought off being fired by Swift during the Big Dig/Turnpike scandals. He is also one of the reasons that Mitt "Guy Smiley" Romney is governor today, encouraging the Mittster to break his promise that he wouldn't challenge a sitting Republican for gubernatorial seat but bumped-off Swift anyway. Despite what people said, Swift wasn't a bad governor in the scheme of things. She was a moderate Republican who cared about the right things. But the good ole' boys didn't like that should could breed and govern at the same time.
Then, 9-11 hit on her watch, with the hijacked jets flying out of Logan and Guy Smiley was later featured with fireworks and flags at the Olympics in Utah. Presto, instant governor.
Adam Reilly has one of Mihos' big - albeit probably unrealistic - ideas: ["Mihos's Big Idea"]. Reilly also has a piece on AG Tom Reilly's collapsing campaign: ["Ship without a rudder"].
More on the logistics of a potential Mihos indie run after he officially announces.

In the Better Late Than Never category, place this: ["Is 'Made in U.S.A.' back in vogue?"].

"'U.S. retailers are finally looking at lost sales as lost revenue,' said Cohen. 'They know that in order to capture maximum sales they need to turn their inventory much quicker.' The disadvantage of importing from China, he said, is that it requires a longer lead time of between three to six month from the time an order is placed to when the inventory is stocked in stores."

Eh, is it this or the fact that stuff in China is junk? But no matter what the reason, this is good news for the nation, long-term.

Kennedy gets the budget crisis right

Speaking of Dan Kennedy, he gets the answers to the budget crisis dead on in his Media Log entry this morning:

Since the legislators lack both guts and brains, they're almost certain to go along, notwithstanding their plaintive cry to Romney to explain what he's got in mind. But they shouldn't. Here's what they ought to do: Borrow the $600 million needed to get through the rest of the fiscal year without any further cuts.
Reform the state tax system. That means going ahead with the voter-approved mandate to return the state income tax to five percent, but rethinking and possibly repealing the $3 billion to $4 billion in tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy that were passed during the 1990s. That's where the money is. Here's a good place to start: reversing the special-interest tax break that Fidelity got in the mid-'90s. Wonder what former Fidelity executive Robert Pozen -- currently receiving all kinds of praise for serving in the Romney administration without pay -- would think about that? Go after the hackerama head-on. Today's Herald reports that MDC commissioner David Balfour continues to run amok, and that virtually the first act of Tim for Treasurer was to reward one of Tom Finneran's coat-holders with the six-figure job of "running" the Lottery. Ugh.

It really is that simple.