Archive for April, 2010

At about 6 a.m. or so Theresa Stone and her daughter got on the Alewife train heading toward Boston. She works hard a convenience store in Marlborough while her daughter works at the local Home depot. She and he vr husband a 15 yet vet discharged medically had raised their girl to pay for what they had before getting things. Their daughter had taken that advice to heart. She is half way to her degree but until she can earn the money to go back to school it would have to wait.

Theresa was long bothered by the direction the country was heading in. The idea that a sense of entitlement was growing disturbed her a system that “rewards indolence”. Her daughter’s friends suggested that if she had a kid outside of wedlock she would be able to get all the college aid and help she needed. It disgusted her as she put it “My generation gives me a bad name.” They felt they had to work twice as hard to support others.

When Scott Brown began his candidacy she was interested. When he won she was thrilled and happy. It was the first acknowledgment that she wasn’t alone. In college her daughter had a professor that objected to her conservative views and graded her accordingly. It had taken a lot of effort to get that professor to actually give her a grade based on her work. Now things were different. People who had sneered at her opinions seemed edgy. Instead of self censoring the worm had turned; “It was if they were running scared from me”.
Now they were on their way to a Tea Party for the first time. They were excited both to attend the Tea Party and to see Sarah Palin a person both felt was very good for the country. It and they would make a difference!

That is why they were in Boston so early and determined to be in the front row. Their whole way of life was being validated and it was a special thing. As the crowd swelled from the dozen that were present when they arrived to the thousands that covered the common they knew that, to steal a phrase from decades ago: “the silent majority was silent no longer”!

These photos are from my arrival at about 6;15. The crowd was thin and people were just starting to drift in. The Press was there right at the start getting setup and ready. You would never think from these early photos that thousands upon thousands would soon be filling up the area.

Since the uploads are iffy I’m posting these as is rather than trying to clean them up.

Yesterday’s planning board meeting was memorable particularly by the amount of time everyone had to wait.

This was due to an issue concerning a culvert and access to a cell tower. Three lawyers, two companies and a local citizen were involved and I suspect Chris and I will agree on the existence of God before these people settle their differences with each other.

By the time that first issue was settled it was always past 8 p.m, the board was tired and several of the people who came to speak had left.

We had several speakers on each side, as usual the lead for the group opposing Planned Parenthood was Doctor Rollo but Ted Turner, Chris Hadley, myself,

Several speakers spoke in favor of planned parenthood including Chris Lackey.

Unlike the city counsel meetings there was a fair amount of give and take and the Planning Board seemed generally interested in the opinions of all.

The general opinion was that the resolution was too broad, this was ironic since the previous proposals were criticized for their specifics.

The board will sending a written recommendation to the counsel who will vote on it May 18th. It was my feeling that 3 people on the board seemed to go for it.

All in all I’d say they treated us fairly, I’ll upload and include some video when I have access to a spot with faster uploads.

Update: The Sentinel story is here.

15 Birds in 22 days

Posted: April 14, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, special events
Tags: , ,

Talking to the Bus driver on the “blue” bus, one of three buses on their way to Washington. They talked about assorted polls but the Bus driver has the best poll of them all.

In 22 days he has been flipped the bird 15 times. He can’t count the number of beeps and thumbs ups he has gotten.

Liberals, be afraid, be very afraid!