Immunity

Whitey Bulger says he is going on the witness stand at his murder trial to testify about his immunity deal with the FBI.
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This has got to be hard on the family's of the victims, if the FBI cast askance at their loss.

Happy Weekend

Peeps...
I know that I was in a blog lapse this weekend, but between Tommy O's deck, the final touches at 32 Beverly Ave., and the Olympics, I pretty much fell off the wagon.
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We got all of the framing done on the deck and I called for the inspection today.  Then we will start to lay the decking.   Using 2x10's and 6x6 posts with a three board 6x10 laminated beam makes this deck a bit overengineered... ok .... it could easily be used as a heliocopter pad.
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But the O'Shea's will need a solid platform with the type of serious partying and entertainment that is  their hallmark.
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Across the street at 32 Beverly Ave., the new screen door looks great and the refurbishment of the back deck was also a total success.   Even the basement stair rails were completed with a bit of the Nanepashement flair that you all have come to know and love.
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Bobbi Cody, the Marblehead Code Inspector, (classic code inspector name) came by and blessed the Nanepashemet House with a certificate of code compliance for the pristine residential shrine that is the birthplace of the Nanepashemet Blog.
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The tenants are happy, the code inspector is happy, the O'Shea's are happy.... that really is the overall final work product of Nanepashemet .... Happiness.
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Course, I would have liked to have seen Shalane Flanagan from Marblehead medal in the Olympic Women's Marathon, but she seemed to be content with tenth place after suffering leg cramps, and 10th in the Olympic Marathon is really a huge accomplishment in the overall scheme of things as well.
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All that weekend happiness left me pretty sore though.  Just can't frame a deck in 90 degree weather like I used to.

BTTW at Tommy O's

Today, shortly after we hang up the Nanepashemet Telecom mantle in the late afternoon, it is BTTW (Balls To The Walls) time at Tommy O's Deck.
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We'll be undertaking the crucial step of attaching the ledger board to his house, and setting up the posts to level for the cantilever receiving beam.
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Tommy and Linda want to break after that and head to Essex for some fried clams.... which I think is an excellent notion.
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They have opted for traditional 7/8" Pressure Treated Deck planks over the popular composite stuff that is on the market.   Our PT Deck  at 32 Beverly Ave. was showing some wear after a dozen years or so, but we screwed down some loose and warped decking, then stained and sealed it and it really came out completely renewed and rather beautiful, so I have no trouble with the traditional wood choice.

A Warren Irritation/Obsession

Does Liz Warrren's new ad about putting people back to work like they do in China irk you?

Should we pay our people the same wage rates as the Chinese Liz?

 Or should we indiscriminately rip down their homes without due process to put a road or project anywhere we like?

Or should we ignore the enviroment and spew pollution freely anywhere we please?

 LIKE THE CHINESE DO????

Is Warren as off base as I think? .... or is it just me? Holy Freaking Cow.

Cutting through Boston today, I saw an SUV with a Warren sticker on it so I caught up to the driver to see what he looked like.... because I can't imagine who would support this poser.

The guy looked like a Goofy Bastard.

Amazing Olympic Events

The Olympics are moving further away from the capabilities of regular people.   I remember 20 years ago or so when we were awed at the performance of Nadia Comenici of Romania in woman's gymnastics  as she performed amazing feats on the unparallel bars and the vault.
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A look at her routine vs. the current competitors makes Nadia look almost pedestrian.... a truly amazing development.
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I was also watching the 10 meter synchronized platform women's diving  and have no conception of how these athletes twist, twirl, flip, and enter the pool in perfect identical motion.
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How the hell do they do that?

Doug's Tuna

Fellow Blogger, Doug Maxfield, http://northshorewaterman.com/  caught this 800 lb. Bluefin Tuna the other day, that was worth a little less than $15k to our Japanese raw fish enthusiasts.  ~

Congratulations Doug.   I personally prefer mine packed in oil with a little mayonaise and some chopped celery.  Potato chips and Ginger Ale on the side.

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That's Doug standing to the right.

Pretty Women

I was on a sailboat with a full moon in Marblehead Harbor having drinks and appetizers with these pretty women tonight.
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Life is good.... Even for Mountain of a Man standards.

Ethan Bowling

Kennedy Legacy

Who would have figured that in only one or two generations, this family of American royalty would father such self-indulgent, mis-guided. and frankly embarrassing offspring?
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Irish Catholic American working  class Democratic families like my own were so proud and hopeful for the Kennedy's.

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Jack Kennedy, a legitimate WWII hero, would have been labeled a conservative today, and his brother Bobby had extraordinary courage and conviction.  They protected the nation from a real Russian threat, and steered the nation away from the cancer of racism.

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We are forever in their debt.

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But, Ted got caught in the downstream backwash and can never be forgiven for what he did in Martha's Vineyard.  At the time, the whole nation was in denial that this unbelievable death occurred at Chappaquidick Island.   I remember just wishing that it didn't happen and hopeing that he was not to blame.   He was though....and, he should have been convicted of manslaughter.... The national sense of denial gave him a stay of that sentence.  Maybe he turned out to be a Senator of consensus as he grew older, but there are a lot of those around.  He was saved only because he was a Kennedy.

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It seems that John Jr. would have been the exception had he survived, but after that.... not so much.  Caroline's run for the Senate was a disaster as she demonstrated an inarticulate lack of passion and purpose. 

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Seems like a legacy of entitlement and self-absorption characterized by drugs, infidelity, and  a liberal epithet thrown out once in awhile to keep things stirred up has defined the rest of the clan.   Literally no one who is a thinking person could rationally be inspired by what has emerged from that gene pool.

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Caroline Kennedy recently has stated that the family is "at it's lowest point ever" as they scrap over the remains of Ted's estate.  Every family has it's phucked up issues.  Maybe it's unfair to have held the Kennedy's to a higher standard.

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But they gave us so much hope in the beginning.

Gun Control

The 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution states.... "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
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In other words, you can't take away our Black Powder Flintlocks and Swords.... because that was exactly what the FF's were referring to.
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The right to bear arms was conceived by the Founding Fathers when a farmer in his field basically had the same weapons technology as a squadron of Redcoats marching down the road.     The ability of local militia to defend themselves and repel an armed invader was available then, but long gone now. Time to ban guns. Technology has outrun the good intentions of our Founding Fathers.
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There's too many innocent people being gunned down by mental cases who get their high powered killing machines legally.    I've been taking my chances with a baseball bat handy anyway... would rather get the bad guys on the run, rather than come at us with legal weapons.
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If we followed the intent of the Founding fathers, every farmer would be sporting assault rifles and anti-tank grenades.  This is crazy.  If we ban guns, only the bad guys will have guns.   So let's ban them, define the bad guys, and rout them out.
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 I've been wrestling with this one for awhile, because I hate to take away a right that we have, and wouldn't mind packing a Glock myself, but it's the conclusion that I have arrived at.
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For the hunters and shooting enthusiasts among you, I would make this suggestion... Black Powder Flintlocks and Bows and Arrows.   That is the technology embraced in your Constitutional Right, and this should not be banned.  
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I never heard of a mass murder with Flintlocks.
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The patriot below has her actions illustrated by WWII Japanese.  Today's technology would blow her away.

Call Me Maybe

My Grandkids sing this song.

Weddings and Baudy Comments

Tommy O and I mixed and poured 16 eighty lb. bags of concrete mix into 4 twelve inch Sonotubes reinforced with four 1/2" steel 4' rebar each this morning to form the foundation for the O'Shea pool deck.  Then we laid out the joist system and Tommy is ordering the lumber while the concrete cures.
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I was going to do some odds and ends at 32 Beverly Ave. afterward, but there is plenty of time for that, and I have to rest up for the evening festivities.  We will probably end up doing some Saturday night stuff with the Johnsons whose daughter, Amanda, also was a recent recipient of a positive marriage proposal.
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So there will be a lot of deck and wedding talk tonight, in between the baudy Buck behavior with it's concomitant chastising from the females.
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Looking forward to it.