Spilled Oil

I haven't told you how I feel about the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico yet.
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That's because it's so hard to figure out what's going on after the Media rings the "Crisis" Bell.
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And whatever you think of the Obama administration, you have to admit that they are a bit prone to exaggeration
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Witness the recent Swine Flu pandemic, now that the government is dumping unused vaccine.
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So when they say that this is an environmental disaster of epic proportions and that the crisis rivals the carnage of Hurricane Katrina..... I'm just not on board yet..... especially with news film of BO walking the beach and saying " These are the tar balls they are talking about."    Tar balls are not Katrina.
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My favorite journalists on ABC News are all over this story.... Speaking with Passion.   The Governor's kid, Andrew Cuomo, pointed to some oil on some marsh grass tonight and said dramatically, "And when this is gone.... it's gone forever."   Ecologically and scientifically speaking, Andrew is dead wrong.  Nature has huge recuperative powers with this type of thing.
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And Congressman Ed Markey, with his finger pointing and name calling..... all the while offering no solutions or alternatives.... well I guess that is Ed Markey for you.  He hasn't helped me to make up my mind either.  Plus I don't know why we are sitting back and asking British Petroleum to solve this.  Just because they have financial liability, it's the American Homeland that is supposedly under siege.
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I'm pretty sure that there will be some ecological and economic damage out of this.  And my heart goes out to the people who live and work on that shore and are so frightened by the uncertainty.  But, just as we avoided the massive pandemic of the swine flu, maybe this too shall pass.

Memorial Musings

Happy Memorial Day.
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Last night while watching Sixty Minutes , Andy Rooney, who is a WWII vet, pointed out that our forefathers didn't "give" their lives for their country.  Their lives were "taken" from them.   They were the victims of circumstance, but rose to the occasion, with the result being the preservation of our way of life.
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Without their response and courage, we could be speaking German, and busy purifying the races.  We could be in a cultural Dark Age shackled by totalitarian repression.  Who knows what our lives would be like.
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In my own case, my grandfather was gassed in the trenches of WWI France, my father spent a year in the hospital after his Coast Guard Ship was sunk in WWII and my father in law survived wounds and prison camp in the Korean War. 
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To this day, I always have some guilt for not going to Vietnam, although my father claimed that he would shoot me in the foot to avoid being drafted.  Luckily, my draft number was high enough to preclude either alternative. 
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I believe that we had a need to intervene in Iraq and Afghanistan, although the inability to reach closure in these conflicts is very disturbing.  At this point, it is overbearing to hear of the deaths of young Americans over there.

Tuna Lips said...

On the other foot, solgerin" gets all the prine hoors, most often at a rebate price. Shoo worked that angle, shameless as he were.

Official State Bird of Maine

A few Peeps mentioned that they were heading to Northern New England this weekend.  And I was really tempted to head to North Conway, New Hampshire, but Joanne had an open house for the Sundance School Program.
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It's probably for the best, because this is really the peak of Black Fly Season on our pristine northern states of Maine and New Hampshire.
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These swarming, blood sucking, bastards can really put a damper on your fun in May and June.
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As bad as Black flies are, the worst are the Greenheads on Crane's Beach in Ipswich.   They don't just sting or bite, they tear out a chunk of your flesh.
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So I'm going to hang around the driveway and work on the boats.
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Have a nice day.

POTW Week 21

Last night, Tommy O set us up with some sort of shooters with creme and liquer at the BYC Bar.
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Announcing....

Nanepashemet Peeps of the Week for the 21st week of 2010.

Scott McBurney

Nancy Bruett

Aquinino Orichi

Maria Rowen

Rajon Rondo

Mark Vona

I'm sure that the Sam Adams had a lot to do with it too, but I am really heavy headed today.

Ready to Defer Maintenance

I was thinking that it would be a great weekend to head up to North Conway, but Joanne has an open house at Sundance Pre-School on Saturday.
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So this long Memorial Day weekend will be a big push to get all of the rowing boat stuff done for the season including construction of the sail mast for the Pram, and the Tender epoxy and varnishing.
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In the meantime, there is some trim paint and random shingling that still has to be done.
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Because.... after this weekend.... all maintenance will be deferred until October.

Thick Skin

We'll be conducting a Balloon Test in Sturbridge this evening in order to ascertain the visual impact of a cell tower that we proposing.  The weather will be warm and summery and  there is a lot of interest from residents of a condominium complex that is relatively close by.
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Should be controversial, and I'll have to put my thick skin on.
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Then again.... I've had it on anyway for the last couple of days.... and have decided to keep it on for as long as it takes.

Key of G

I'm working on the G Major Chords and the G scale this week on my Goldstar GF 100 HF Banjo.  The instrument is tuned on open G which makes things easier.
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A lot of bluegrass is played in G, but since I'm going to be a serious shitkicking musician, I'm going to learn all of the keys.

Allow to Retract

Now comes Gov. Deval Patrick showing true colors.
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Patrick, a close friend and ally of Obama’s, said at a Suffolk University Law School event that he’s taken his share of criticism over the years, though not to the extent of what Obama is going through at the hands of Republicans.

“It seems like child’s play compared to what’s going on in Washington, where it’s almost at the level of sedition,” Patrick said.
- Boston Herald
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To disagree is UnAmerican?  To disagree is Sedition?  This type of remark transcends mere liberalism.  It is a bit toward the Facist extreme.
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I'll give the Governor room to maneuver on this one.   Allow him to back out if he chooses.  Even if this is his true feelings, he should be allowed to retract from such a despicable remark.  Because this attack on our freedom of speech is the slippery slope to totalitarianism, and I can't believe that he would stoop to that.

Jim L. said...

The fact is, the grads didn't know what sedition meant.

More Fees

Every slight, every insult, every manipulation, every fabrication and everyone of your outright lies comes with a price.
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Can you afford to run up that tab?
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Keep your wallet handy.  

Keeper Weekend

Mike and Mark Vona got into some mackeral and then some stripped bass yesterday.  Mike said that they caught around eleven at the power plant in Salem.  He harvested a 37" keeper which we grilled for an early dinner tonight.
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Mike hung around to play with the grandkids after we brought them back from some FreshAyer with Ryan.
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A most enjoyable day on many levels.
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Next week, I'm going to start to hound Mark Ryan to get the WhaleEye in by Memorial Day.  There are some lobsters crawling around Salem Sound that will be out of the water and on the table is a couple of weeks.

Pisc said...
Sweet. I swam a plug last night off of worlds end, nothin', but Dan B pulled a keeper off of Poponneset last night.

Mike Nestor said....
The Boat caught about 8 I would say and I didnt catch the 37"'r...I think Vona did. Where is your work cited page??

Official Marblehead Restaurant

Last night, we had a great meal at Ataraxis in downtown Marblehead with Lou Panakio, Harvey and Lisa Rowe. I had the pulled pork burrito.
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There are a lot of restaurants that I like in Marblehead, including Cafe Italia, the Landing, the Barnicle and Maddies to name some of my favorites, so I haven't named an official restaurant of Nanepashemet.... outside of pizza (Vesuvius) and Chinese Take Out (Feng Wah). But Ataraxis, which is the former Flynnies, came close to getting the nod last night.
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Course, we don't eat out that much because Joanne is such a good cook.  Not to mention that I am a Tour de Force on the Grill and at the Turkey Frier.

Pisc said...
Time to catch some fish. Hope you have registered with the Federales.

Sail On

With most of the painting except for some touch up in place, the Pram has some final details before I bring it down to the Ring at Village Wharf.

• Install Tie up Hardware
• Install bumpers
• Screw in Seat Plate
• Install Rudder Plate
• Fabricate Center Board
• Glue up Mast

Should be able to launch the first sail on Memorial Day.  Today though, I have to fit in power washing Tommy O's patio and it is a perfect day to finish seeding the back yard.
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If there is any downtime, the tender needs some sanding, epoxy and marine varnish touch up too.

TommyO said...
What a most excellent job you did, the patio looks incredible. Mrs. TommyO is very happy.
Thanks J