Category Archives: National Stuff

National stuff and Newburyport, MA

Sailing to Obama Land

As I reread the entries on the Newburyport Blog of the last few days, they appear almost “giddy.” Now the Newburyport Blog has been silly at times, but “giddy,” I’m not so sure.

And as I think about this, I think I’m feeling giddy, because as a nation we’ve set sail and are very, very close (like on Tuesday) to Obama Land. (Although, I’m not too happy about the potential Secretary of the Treasury not having paid some of his taxes, I don’t care if it’s a “mistake.” I want my Secretary of the Treasury to have absolutely no hint of indiscretion, much less have the vague possibility of being indiscrete, or just as bad, being just plain old stupid. No, I want Obama Land to come up with a saint for Secretary of the Treasury, and I really don’t care that a human being, whose had that much money and power over the years, could not possibly meet that criteria. I want it anyway. Plus I’d like to have a Secretary of the Treasury during these scary financial time, in place right at the get-go, and, as of this morning, that doesn’t look as if it’s going to happen.)

And I’m glad to see the Land of Bush-Cheney fade further and further into the horizon, hoping that for once that the earth actually is flat, and Bush-Cheney Land falls over the edge, landing somewhere in permanent oblivion.

Oh the relief I feel at the thought of having someone, yes, human and of course mistake prone, like the rest of us human beings, but actually, intelligent, articulate, possibly “centrist” in his approach, thoughtful and it appears calm and possibly even balanced.

Whether all of this could possibly be true, at the moment, I really don’t care. It’s like the beginning of a romance, where no matter how flawed the human being might be, they appear saint like and untainted to their significant other. The reality of actual humanness can sink in later.

They don’t call it a “honeymoon phase” for nothing. I’m so looking forward to my first hundred days, first thousand days even (this guy really needs some major breathing room here) of happy fantasy, that despite all odds, Obama Land will pull off what seems like the near impossible, to restore health, financial and otherwise, happiness and peace to the world. I want my moment, in fact I want a very, very long moment, of being totally out of touch with national and international political reality.

Primary Care Physicians and Bye-Bye Doctors

I have a very conscientious GP aka primary care physician, which I gather from looking at the news lately is actually pretty hard to come by these days.

Apparently there’s a vast GP shortage.

I guess to go all the way through medical school and only become a GP could be kind of a letdown. I can’t imagine even going to medical school in the first place, much less spending lots more time and money in medical school, and becoming a specialist, which medical insurance companies now are not so found of paying. Sort of a catch-22 for folks going to medical school, if you ask me.

I don’t like going to specialists, it means something could possibly be wrong. I’d rather just go to a GP.

Once, a while back, I was feeling particularly hypochondriac like, and mentioned an “ailment” to my very conscientious GP. Bad move on my part, let me tell you.

My very conscientious GP tested me for every terrifying thing in the book. You name it, if it was terrifying, we found out whether I had it or not. This could also be called CYA, but I’m not sure. Thankfully, I didn’t have any of the terrifying, life threatening or fatal ailments that I was tested for.

Showed me. Now the when my very conscientious GP asks me if anything is “wrong,” I think about it for a mila-moment and then say, “Nope, everything’s just fine.” I don’t care what possible ailment, that I’ve conjured up in my brain, that I think I might have. No more terrifying tests for me, thank you very much.

And insurance companies should learn from this. Instead of saying, “No, we’re not going to test you for x, y or z.” Take a different approach. A person comes in and complains of burping, you scare the shit out them, and then they never ask for anything ever again. Sort of like dealing with a wayward two year old or difficult teenager. You know, reverse psychology.

But, no, as I mentioned in the previous post, I’ve gotten very, very used to getting missives (if not just down right taking them from granted, anticipating them even), disguised as expensive looking brochures, informing me that, nope, guess what, we said that you were covered for x out of x, y and z, but guess what.. x is now out. Lucky you.

In fact, last week I get a long letter from my medical insurance agency letting me know that, oops, some patients thought that their doctors were part of this insurance company’s insurance plan. But guess what, in 3 long weeks, bye-bye doctors. Got to go find some other folks. Not that this is the medical insurance agency’s fault. Oh no. The doctors want to be paid an actual living wage, and that is too much to ask of the medical insurance agency. You got to give these medical agency people a break, come on.

So I’m hoping that my very competent GP, aka primary care physician doesn’t get deluged with all those patients, betrayed by their greedy doctors, wanting to actually get paid something decent for a visit to the physician, GP, specialist or whatever.

I still like having the option of saying, “Nope, everything’s just fine,” but knowing that if something actual isn’t “just fine,” there is someone out there who will scare the shit out of me, trying to find out what the hell might be going on.

Insurance, My House is Worth Tons

I get my new home insurance policy and it seems high.

On one of the few transverseable Newburyport winter wonderland days, I wander into my insurance company, introduce myself to the new young lady in charge of insuring my stuff, and declare that the new premium seems “high.”

I also tell her that I haven’t read through the darn thing, I have no idea what’s in it, but promise that indeed I will peruse the document in question.

Also, somehow the subject of “Minnesota” (see previous post) comes up, and a declaration is made that my new young lady insurance person would never think of leaving good old New England. I, of course, think that this is downright dandy, and feel that we have a bond (a good thing to feel that you have with your new insurance lady, which, of course may or may not be true).

A few days later I actually do read the document in question. I find out, that it appears among other things that I am insured for a golf cart that I don’t own, and a boat, that I don’t own either. The insurance company also seems to think that the price of my house has actually gone up. Were that that would be actually true, in these lousy and scary financial times.

So I chat with my new insurance lady and explain that I don’t want to be insured for a golf cart or a boat that I don’t own. I’m told that this is standard policy, but I zone out during the explanation of why this is “standard” stuff.

I’m sitting there wondering, because I haven’t perused the document in question that carefully, what else might I be paying to be insured for. A flock of sheep? An island in the Bahamas? The possibilities are endless.

Also, I’m so used to getting statements from my medical insurance telling me all the things that I’m not insured for, that I’m just not used to being insured for a golf cart that I’m never planning to use, much less never planning to buy.

After the explanation, that I’ve paid absolutely no attention to, because I’ve been wondering what else I could be insured for, I also inform my new insurance lady, that in these times when houses, on a whole, are worth less than they were, let’s say a year ago (woe is me), that there is no way I’m paying what the insurance company thinks my house might be worth.

Silence, the insurance company might not agree.

So, instead of saying something tactful like, “I’m sure you can convince them to come to another conclusion,” I say the sort of thing that makes people wish they worked somewhere else. The sort of thing that instead of putting a smile on a person’s face, they grip their desk when they see you or hear the sound of your voice, and say to their family when they get home, “You would not believe the day that I’ve had!”

Maybe it was reading about being insured for the golf cart thing, but I slipped and pulled what my son would call a “New Yawker.” Lots of explanations on my part, but no excuse.

Politics in the Middle

My guess (actually it’s been my hunch for a while) that Mr. Obama might have more problems with the “Left” of his party than with the “Right” of the other guys. (That was even more my hunch when I heard his first named “go to guy,” Chief of Staff, would be Rahm Emanual, not exactly a wilting flower. I thought, “Maybe my hunch could be correct.”)

Already there are grumblings about Mr. Obama’s foreign policy team, not so much from the “Center Right” folks, but from the “Left Leaning” folks. Sigh.

This is my guess. When President-Elect Obama got his first intelligence briefing, he might have said to himself, “I knew things were bad, but, Oh my, this really and truly is a terrifying foreign policy world.” And folks like Mr. Gates (Secretary of Defense) were asked to stay on for the good and safety of the country. What Mr. Obama would call a “practical,” not a partisan thing. (Actually he most likely would not call it a “thing,” far too many smarts to sound like Dr. Seuss.)

So here is one of my favorites, what I would call the ever eccentric (I’ve always liked eccentric people), ever outspoken, to the Left, Congressman from Massachusetts, Mr. Barney Frank:

“‘It would be very helpful if the president-elect would become more involved in resolving the issue over the source of the funds,’ he (Barney Frank) said.”

(No offense to Mr. Frank, but President-Elect Obama has been kind of busy lately, with trying to put together a new administration and everything.)

Mr. Frank goes on to say, “Having lived with this very right wing Republican group that runs the House most of the time, the notion of trying to deal with them as if we could be post-partisan gives me post-partisan depression,” … (The entire article from the Huffington Post can be read here.)

I can’t help wondering whether Mr. Frank’s good old North East (reminds me of a good old New Yawker) combative spirit, might be part of the reason, although not all of the reason, there has, to my knowledge, not exactly been a “love fest” between Mr. Frank and the Republican Right.

And that, hope against hope, Mr. Obama’s calm, practical, (and let’s not rule out tough, don’t forget Mr. Emanuel), inclusive, problem solving approach, not to mention scary melt-down times, could be slightly more effective than the, at times, entertainingly “bombastic” style of Barney Frank.

National and Newburyport Local

In two and a half months so much has happened. I feel like I’ve been holding my breath. And the world is still swirling around and it still feels as if I’m out of balance.

A person who does seem to be in balance (and very calm), is our president-elect, Barack Obama.

My one very strong reservation when I went to the voting booth and cast my ballot, was that I had no indication, really, of how Mr. Obama would govern.

And so far, I am unbelievably relieved.

My great hope was that with the chit chat of the “middle” class, Mr. Obama would indeed govern from the “middle,” and with smarts.

And it appears from the appointment of his economic team and his foreign policy team that “middle” and with smarts may be us. In my book so far this is a, “Whew.”

Having blogged The Newburyport Blog for almost 3 years now, and having followed minutely how folks govern on the local level, as I’ve said before, I’ve become a downright “centrist,” because it appears to me that governing from the center, locally, has the best chance of getting things done.

And maybe it’s that just these “up in the air” times are making me cranky (they are making a lot of people cranky), but I’m having very little tolerance for the folks that are on either edge of the spectrum, right or left. My eye-rolling response to both is, “Please give it up, let us get important (vast understatement) things done.”

And what happens nationally, very much effects us locally. Such things as aid to states in financially perilous times, has a whole lot to do with Newburyport, MA, in the hopes that, if it arrives, state aid trickles down to our fair seaside city.

I am local, and I am hoping for good national (as my friend Frank Schaeffer would say) “Juju.”

Newburyport Banks

I stopped by my Newburyport mutual savings bank, which I call one of our Newburyport community banks, and it was business as usual. I asked if they were giving out mortgages, and Yup, yes they most surely are.

And I am so grateful that I have my mortgage with one of the local community banks. Which is what I told them.

One of the perplexing things about this financial crisis, is that institutions that are having trouble don’t know what kind of mortgages they have.

That is because their mortgages have been sold and resold.

And one of the things that I like about our Newburyport banks, and I’ve said this before, is that they are local in the best sense. They know exactly what mortgages they have, and who they lent them to. They do NOT sell them. They keep them, and they make money off them.

They are in great shape.

Responsibility, accountability, commonsense, fiscally sound. Not to repeat myself, but to repeat myself, that’s one great example for the situation that we as a country find ourselves in.

And part of me even hesitates to blog during a financial crisis as big as the one that we are experiencing at the moment. I just could not believe it when the House of Representatives did not pass the rescue bill yesterday and the DOW dropped almost 800 points. Yikes!

And someone described the situation to me this way. It’s a credit problem (one which our Newburyport banks are not experiencing, but obviously one which a lot of others banks are). It’s as if someone turned the water on the water spout, off or down to a trickle so the vegetation could not get any water. Consequences not so good.

It would mean that small business could have problems getting credit for their payroll. Not only might the businesses not grow, they may not be able to pay employees and jobs could be lost.

It could be difficult to get credit for cars, homes, a college education. People’s retirement could be at risk.

So this rescue bill if it does NOT pass, could effect all of us.

I’ve contacted my Representative John Tierney who voted against this bill, and asked him the next time round, in no uncertain terms, to get the thing done and vote for it.

Newburyport Yankee Economics

It was once called “Voodoo Economics.” I believe it was called that by the first Mr. Bush in the Republican primary against Ronald Regan.

I always thought Mr. Bush was right. “Trickle down” economics surely seemed voodooish to me.

I keep coming back to Ronald Regan. Sorry, heresy, I never thought he was a good president. I still don’t. I thought his deregulation economic stuff was a lousy idea. With the huge Wall Street bailout in the works, I wonder what he would think now?

It always struck me as being very un-Yankee like. Newburyport, MA has often been thought of as “Yankee” territory.

We have two “Yankee” banks in town. They do not sell their mortgages, and as a result, because they are responsible for what happens, it’s always been the case, to my knowledge, that if anyone applied for a mortgage, they got checked out pretty good, and had to actually prove that they could pay that mortgage.

“Yankees” tend to save. Coming up with something like coming up with a down payment when buying a house, could be seen as a good thing. Really. It means that the person is more likely to be very committed to making it work.

Our “Yankee” community banking institutions are doing just fine. And it’s because of what some might see as their “thrifty,” commonsense way of doing things.

It used to look sort of old fashion, even frumpy. Not any more. Newburyport Yankee economics is not “voodoo economics.” It works during good times and less than good times.

And it is my very firm opinion that Americans could see a great example by looking at how our Newburyport, MA local, community banks work.

Mythic Absolution, Newburyport, Politics

In thinking about the “mythic” power of politicians, and what they represent to our collective American unconscious (see previous posts), I began to wonder about what other myths our top ticket candidates might embody.

Bill Moyers (yes, wise men and women tend to make the top of my list) back in January 2008, addressed the myth of Barack Obama taking away white guilt of racism. (Myth not being something that would be either true or false, but a story or a person that represents a world view.)

You can read the transcript of that fascinating segment here.

For whites to be absolved of a history of racism has a very powerful mythic quality about it.

And then I started thinking about what other myths does Palin personify. One of those myths could be that, even a woman with a large family, could successfully work, i.e. be a governor or a vice president. (Just as a btw, our very own former governor Jane Swift, as I recall, had trouble demonstrating that this particular myth could be a reality.)

And this is also one very powerful myth. Because if someone with 5 children, a newborn with special needs being one of them, could be a successful mother and hold such a powerful office–that could mean, that a family with 1 or 2 children, with both parents who have to work, because of economic realities, and who may on some level feel very, very guilty when they leave their child with a caregiver– if that person could successfully accomplish that feat, that resolves an awful lot of guilt, for an awful lot of people.

And this goes straight to the heart of our difficult economic times. People are having to work harder to pay for gas, utilities, food and hold onto their homes. This could often mean even less time spent with their families–creating even more guilt on the part of struggling families.

And for families with this particular scenario, which is an awful lot of families in America, Palin resolves a lot of guilt in very difficult economic circumstances.

So, when I think about it, and this applies to families in Newburyport, MA as well, my question would be, are the many dilemmas that we as a nation face that Palin could represent (see earlier posts as well), are they stronger than the mythic quality of Barack Obama’s absolving the white world of racism? (Again check out Bill Moyers’ exploration of this concept here.)

Newburyport, Power of Myth

Bill Moyers again did not disappoint.

In this weeks Bill Moyers Journal, Bill Moyers had this to say:

“The novelist Russell Banks, in his first book of non-fiction, just published, explains the Sarah Palin phenomenon even before it happened. In “Dreaming Up America,” he writes that we choose our presidents not on the basis of their experience or even their political views, but on how well they tap into our basic beliefs, our deepest communal desires, including our religious or spiritual beliefs. Our presidents, he writes, represent in some very personal way the imagination and the mythology of the people who elect them…”

“No wonder reality-based journalists are having a hard time with this story. Mythology is not their beat. But in the imagination of her tribe, Sarah Palin achieved an almost immaculate conception. Her lack of experience matters not to them. Nor do they care that her past is filled with contradictions, and nothing the press reports, no matter how grounded in fact, can shake their faith…”

The whole transcript can be read here.

And a comment on an opinion piece in the New York times has this to say:

“Sarah Palin appeals to the conservative base. But she also appeals to Americans who are longing for a glorious past. A past in which a hard working man could support a family, even if he did not have higher education (Todd Palin). A past in which a mother of young children could rely on relatives and friends to help her with her daily tasks. And, on a more archaic level, a past where you could go out and hunt and fish to bring food home to your family.

I have had enough of liberals making fun of the Palins. I do not agree with Sarah Palin’s political views, but I see how her life can be attractive in a society that is losing all these very basic securities.”

You can read that comment here.

And in a world where families are splintered, fragmented and globalized, I think the commentator is right when she says, “But she also appeals to Americans who are longing for a glorious past… A past in which a mother of young children could rely on relatives and friends to help her with her daily tasks.”

And it is also one of the reasons that people are so attracted to Newburyport, MA, because it holds out a myth, a myth of community, a community which people are an extended family, and support one another–that is so embodied by our beautiful, quaint, historic (and Federally funded) downtown, and the historic neighborhoods that surround it.

Myth, Politics, Newburyport

Either you love Sarah Palin or you don’t, and what 2 weeks since her arrival on the national political scene, people’s feelings on the matter seem to be already pretty much entrenched. And I am fascinated by this phenomenon.

My observation in local politics here in Newburyport, MA, is that people often vote viscerally on personality, not necessarily who would be best on the issues that face our small New England seaport city.

And I’m imagining that some part of this political reality would apply to how we would vote as citizens on a national ticket.

I came across a fascinating article by Joe Klein, September 10, 2008 at time.com.

“Palin’s embrace of small-town values is where her hold on the national imagination begins. She embodies the most basic American myth — Jefferson’s yeoman farmer, the fantasia of rural righteousness — updated in a crucial way: now Mom works too. Palin’s story stands with one foot squarely in the nostalgia for small-town America and the other in the new middle-class reality. She brings home the bacon, raises the kids — with a significant assist from Mr. Mom — hunts moose and looks great in the process. I can’t imagine a more powerful, or current, American Dream.”

Joe Klein goes on to talk about Ronald Regan:

“The blinding whiteness and fervent religiosity of the party he (Ronald Regan) created are an enduring testament to the power of the myth of an America that existed before we had all these problems. The power of Sarah Palin is that she is the latest, freshest iteration of that myth.

Joe Klein continues on:

“The Republican Party’s subliminal message seems stronger than ever this year because of the nature of the Democratic nominee for President. Barack Obama could not exist in the small-town America that Reagan fantasized. He’s the product of what used to be called miscegenation, a scenario that may still be more terrifying than a teen daughter’s pregnancy in many American households.”

I looked up “miscegenation,” I had never heard the word before. It means, “Cohabitation, sexual relations, or marriage involving persons of different races.”

Joe Klein concludes that the “mythic” nature of Obama’s story, is actually much more reflective of America today, but is a “vision is not sellable right now to a critical mass of Americans.”

You can read the entire article by Joe Klein here.

Newburyport, Losing Funding for Education

As many of the readers of the Newburyport Blog know, I am a big fan of Bill Moyers.

On September 5, 2008 Bill Moyers had this to say at the beginning of the segment on the Bill Moyers Journal:

“Fifty million American children went back to school this week. But as reporter Sam Dillon writes in the “New York Times”, more of them than ever are homeless and poor enough to need free meals. Mortgage foreclosures are throwing hundreds of families out of their homes each month. With fuel and food costs rising, with tax revenues falling, school budgets are in retreat. Detroit, for example, has laid off 700 teachers. We’re not talking about just a few isolated places. This is nationwide…

The Bush Administration was announcing an increase in American aid to Georgia by more than 1500 percent… From 64 million dollars this year to one billion dollars next year. A billion dollars. You can only wonder how many American kids a billion dollars could put back on the buses, back in class, and back in the cafeteria line.”

You can read the whole transcript here.

And this is one of the things that concerns me. We as a country have the Bush administration (I trust Bill Moyers) allocating one billion dollars next year to Georgia (the country not the state). One billion dollars that could have gone to the education of the children in the United States of America. Money that we in Newburyport, MA would not see go towards funding for our much under-funded public schools.

Come January, I want a president who would be wise and prudent in spending our tax dollars, who would make sure that, yes, the war on terror is vital, but so is the education of our children. I want a president who understands that. I do not want another four years of a Bush-Cheney administration.

Newburyport, Education and the Election

I’ve been consumed by the national election for president. Nothing on the local level (at least as of today) seems to be as intriguing as what is happening on the presidential campaign front.

And, for me, there is so much that would effect us locally in Newburyport, MA, depending on the outcome of the presidential election.

At the moment, mayor John Moak is asking the citizens of Newburyport, MA to consider voting on a tax increase to help with, among other things, education in Newburyport, MA.

This is at a time when people are loosing their jobs, not getting pay increases, dealing with the high cost of gasoline, increased cost of groceries and other staples, getting ready for more expensive heating and electric bills for the winter. This would be a tough sell for our mayor at any time, and it is a particularly tough sell at this point in tough economic times.

And we need a lot more money to help educate our children.

And one of the things that we as a community in Newburyport, MA, have discovered during the ordeal of the Override for funding for our schools last year, is that there is little help from the State of Massachusetts, one of the reasons being, the Federal government is not helping the states, or at least our state, with money to adequately fund education.

So I want someone in the White House next January who is going to pay attention and help local education, as well as help the financial plight of small cities and towns all across America. And during the last eight years we certainly have not seen the local support that we in Newburyport, MA need so badly, from the current administration. And I doubt we would see an improvement in support for our small cities and towns from 4 more years of a Republican administration.

It is one of the many reasons that I would like to see a Democrat in the White House.

And to compare the candidates’ voting records and educational priorities, I found a helpful site here and here.

“Judgmental and Intolerant”

When the Republicans were attempting to impeach President Clinton, basically for attempting to cover up an embarrassing blowjob, and not doing such a great job of it, Barney Frank said something to the effect (and I can’t find the exact quote),”When your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, just stand back and let them do it.”

I always thought this was wise political advice, and ever since then, Barney Frank, Massachusetts US Representative, has always been one of my favorites.

And in Sunday’s Boston Globe, September 7, 2008 he has this to say about Sarah Palin, “The relevant political point about the existence of these incidents in Palin’s family is not that they reflect badly on her or her relatives, but that they further reveal the central flaw of the harshly judgmental and intolerant philosophy she exemplifies..”

The, “harshly judgmental and intolerant philosophy she exemplifies,” wonderfully articulates my “dilemma” with Sarah Palin and with the Republican party of the last eight years.

Barney Frank also has this to say in the same opinion piece, “..the questions of divorce and teen pregnancy are relevant in discussions of the McCain/Palin ticket. The individuals involved in these cases deserve to be treated with compassion, but so do millions of other Americans who find themselves in similar situations.”

And in the Sarah Palin family saga, I find this weird double standard, harsh and judgmental toward others, but not harsh and judgmental towards Sarah Palin, perplexing.

And as a single mother I got to experience first hand the subtle and not so subtle harsh and judgmental attitude of a lot of people. And I have a visceral dislike of politicians, no matter how charming and disarming, who embrace this particular point of view.

Newburyport and a Palin World View

Would Sarah Palin’s world view matter to the folks of Newburyport, MA?

Yup, I think it would matter a lot.

Sarah Palin is absolutely upfront, unapologetic and proud of her world view. This would appear to be the same world view as George W. Bush, possibly even more extreme. (However, it would not appear to be the same world view as her running mate, John McCain.)

That world view put us in what is now understood as the hugely unpopular war in Iraq. Something that this community is very much affected by.

From an AP report (Gene Johnson, September 3, 2008), a quote by Sarah Palin: “Our national leaders are sending them (our troops) out on a task (Iraq) that is from God..”

Sarah Palin candidacy also, very possibly, reignites the receding culture wars that have been so divisive and destructive to our country, that neither John McCain or Barack Obama have seemed interested in revisiting or reviving.

I’ve said it in an earlier post, this enormously talented and effective young woman, who gave a very impressive speech last night in front of the National Republican Convention, could be more popular, more powerful and even more successful than Ronald Regan or George W. Bush, in getting the Christian Right’s social agenda enacted.

In eight years (2 terms), John McCain would be 80 years old. And whether he might fill one term or two terms, Sarah Palin, at the moment, would appear to be the next in line.

PS. Tony Auth has a great political cartoon on Sarah Palin here.

Palin Politics

I think faith is a good and wonderful thing, but I don’t think most Americans understand faithwise where Sarah Palin, the new Republican pick for VP, is coming from.

Ronald Regan paid lip service to a lot of the political conservative issues, but Sarah Palin is “saved.” Not that being “saved” is a bad thing, the passion and convictions that such faith could have, may be pretty amazing. However, it could be a puzzle and has been a puzzle for many “mainstream” Americans. (My friend Frank Schaeffer has a whole lot to say about this one.)

There is a post on the Huffington Post with a video of Sarah Palin speaking in the church where she found her faith, that would delight many a Conservative Christian, but my guess would be that it could probably be a head scratcher for a lot of folks.

You can see the video here.

A sort of Ok definition of “Conservative Christianity” is here.

And in helping to understand what is meant by Alaska being a refuge in the “last days,” a link to this definition could be helpful here.

North East View, Sarah Palin

My first impression when I saw the first appearance by John McCain and Sarah Palin, was that Sarah Palin made John McCain looked really, really old, and that John McCain looked, not like he was hugging his daughter, he looked like he was hugging his mistress, he made Sarah Palin look slutty.

This is exactly the sort of thing that the Obama campaign does not want anyone to mention.

Tough luck, it’s true.

How many years did we as a country obsess about Hillary Clinton’s hair. Aren’t we allowed to do the same with the new Republican VP pick without being accused of being sexist?

First introduction, too much hair and way too much make-up. My prediction, the hair is coming down (which it has), it will also get a lot flatter, no more possible hair pieces in the back. (I really don’t care if it sounds catty, it’s true). The hair high-lights are going to be toned way down, and a “trim” and a whole lot less hairspray and hair product. Honey, this ain’t Alaska anymore.

Honey, they want you to look “professional” bordering on frumpy. No “hot” or “sexy.” And let’s face it, the first impression was that she was a “babe.” My prediction is that the babe-alicious stuff is going to played way, way down. We could see this “gorgeous” woman, go to the frump-o-meter side of the scale.

Yes, untested Sarah Palin could bomb. Dems would be delighted. But, yes, she could also do really, really well. She’s already been a quick study, witness the hair coming down thing.

And if she does really, really well, look out America, this woman could be not the most conservative, formidable politician since Ronald Regan. From what I can tell she is way, way more conservative than Ronald Regan. Ronald Regan paid lip service to some of the stuff that flows happily and proudly through Sarah Palin’s vanes. This goes way beyond “more of the same,” this woman’s views are so rightwing that it’s just downright spooky.

Ghost Town

It felt like a ghost town to me in Newburyport, MA over the 4th of July weekend. (And this is from a blogger who was “remarking” that it was “tourist season.” Does she stand corrected? Good grief.)

I asked someone else if they thought that could be true, and they said that they thought that it felt like that all over.

My.

I went downtown on the 4th of July in the afternoon. I went into one of the shops to say, “Hello,” and the shopkeeper came outside, because no one was in the shop at all, to look around town to see if other people might be having the same experience as they were.

After barely waiting for an ice cream cone, I had a choice of 3 empty benches in the shade on Market Square, in the middle of the afternoon. I told my friend this, and the reply was, “3 benches? Empty? That never happens.”

And usually, if I would be coming from the South End of Newburyport, MA, on a holiday weekend, traffic would be backed up on High Street by the State and High Street light, and it usually could take 3 lights to get through.

Not this weekend for moi. No problemo.

My friend speculated that it could be the price of gasoline, and prices in general. Homemade picnics rather than eating out. Last years clothes, rather than a happy summer spending spree. People staying put, rather than riding around and using gasoline.

I have been acclimated to the “tourist crunch.” In fact complaining about tourists is often seen as a secret, or not so secret Newburyport past time, or guilty pleasure.

I’m not use to all that “quiet” in Newburyport, MA on a major holiday weekend. Wow.

Newburyport Calm

With the exception of the ongoing Landfill fiasco (The Landfill owner threatening Newburyport with legal action if more “stuff,” a lot more stuff, would not be allowed to be brought in, thereby stretching the actual capping of the darn thing, and relief for the good people of Newburyport, MA, into who knows whenever. The Newburyport City Council voted unanimously, “no way,” but left the door open in an attempt to settle the retched, yes, pun intended, thing..) all appears to be pretty Ok on the Western or Eastern or Newburyport front.

It’s not July 4th yet, the tourists haven’t arrived in droves. School has just gotten out. The weather has been pretty Ok. It’s nice walking around town. The place is gorgeous. The new Newburyport City Council appears to be settling in, and the second term of Mayor John Moak is moving along (as far as I know), and Jim Roy is starting his own publication, to be out, according to his Letter to the Editor, at the end of this month–something to look forward to–colorful and entertaining political commentary. My.

And I am enthralled by national politics.

Yes, Hillary Clinton, as predicted by a tiny, tiny tidbit of political punditry, is looking as if she would support Barack Obama with class. (Yes, Newburyport voted for Barack Obama) So, whew. I figured the Democrats would get their act together, to try and win this thing.

If my Dad was around, he would love, love, love the “I told you so” stuff that is now coming, pouring out about the present administration in the White House. He knew it all along.

And I am really, really looking forward to seeing how this very, in my view, astute Democratic politician, candidate would go about going about and doing stuff. And I will be fascinated to see how Mr. McCain would fair.

After terror and then a desert of ineptitude, national politics looks like it could be fun again. Loving this.

Missing in Action

I’ve been missing in blogosphere action for a while. A sad amount of posts for the month of May.

But, personal stuff, due to the death of my Dad (along with lots and lots of technical difficulties, like the blog not even showing up at all, good grief, see previous post) has kept me off my blogger feed. We’ll just see how things go. And I appreciate the calls and emails checking in to see if everything is/was Ok. Thank you. That was very kind.

And, I’ve also been fascinated by what has been happening on the national political scene. A Democratic candidate, finally. Whew.

I love national politics. (It’s one of the things I miss talking with my Dad about. I have so many questions I’d like to run by him.) Part of the reason I started a local Newburyport blog, back in January 2006, was that I was so discouraged about what was happening on the national stage. (And there were lots of other reasons too.)

But now I am interested, really, really interested again. And I’m looking forward to how the whole thing will unfold.

And there are lots of things to say since I’ve been gone from the blogosphere. But the thing that most readily comes to mind, is that I miss Jim Roy’s column in the Newburyport Current. I hardly glance at the Newburyport Current now, it just seems so lifeless without his voice (which I didn’t necessarily agree with all the time, but I sure did enjoy reading it). Bring back Jim Roy, blustery fellow that he is. I know that I’m not the only one that misses him. (Editor’s Note: Blogger minds think alike! Tom Salemi over at the Newburyport Posts, just said the same thing! Love when that happens.)

Curiosity, Money, Happiness

One of the things that I do have, is a very curious nature.

I’ll wake up one morning, and go, “Oh, I don’t know anything at all about ‘X,’ how can I find out or learn about ‘X’ (short of going and getting a degree on the subject).”

And bless the Internet, because, if I feel like it, I can learn a whole lot about a whole lot of stuff, and it’s really fun for me.

One of the things that I’ve decided that I know “nada” about is business and finance, and it’s high time I learned something about the subject. (Maybe it’s Mr. Karp coming to town. Maybe it’s the continuous municipal mess so many cities and towns, including Newburyport, find ourselves in. Whatever it is, I got real curious.)

So I have several neophyte sources that I go to, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch and the Huffington Post. They all have links to various articles on various subjects on the subject.

People get MBA’s in this stuff, so (yes, I know) without an MBA I’ll be in kindergarten on this subject for the rest of my life, the “fluff” of Yahoo Finance sound-bites being my teacher.

BUT, I’ve come across a Yahoo Finance person that I really like a lot–Laura Rowley, who writes articles on how money affects people psychologically. And her latest article “Money & Happiness” I like a lot, a whole lot.

“The study (you’ll have to read the article) underscores the importance of separating temporary euphoria from genuine happiness. I subscribe to Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia — which is translated from the Greek as “happiness,” but is probably closer to the word “flourishing.” And long-term flourishing requires discipline, persistence, hard work, faith, and, most important, pursuing goals that are close to your heart and based on your personal gifts.

This isn’t the smiley-face, instant-gratification kind of “happiness” that popular culture promotes. As Thomas Carlyle once said, ‘There is something higher than happiness, and that is blessedness.’ ”

And after reading that again, maybe it’s my frustration with our “Paris Hilton world” (see lots of other posts). And in reading this, it’s nice to see happiness equated with “discipline,” faith,” “persistence” and “blessedness.”

Love that. Love that a lot.

Mary Eaton
Newburyport