" GENEALOGY and us "

My passion......why?..... Why do I find it more enjoyable to be in an old cemetery reading gravestone inscriptions, than going to a party? (don't answer that) I sit for hours at the computer, lashed by some invisible chain, looking at old maps and old photographs and old buildings and bygone years of North Adams and the Eastern Provinces of Canada? Drawn back to a previous reality, viewing a time long gone, as through an old Eastman Kodak Cellulose Movie.

In 1891 the TREMBLAY clan arrived from Kamouraska, Quebec. ( Ya... so what? Who cares?.....Big Deal! ).......... Ever wonder what it was like in North Adams or your home town when your people arrived?

I have tons and tons of French Canadian stuff, if anyone is interested in their Canadian roots. Would be glad to share what I have, if I have it! The North Adams Library will get my boxes of research after I move on. I'll let their skilled hands sort it all out. I'm not much on organization, more of a collector of information, seems I spend so much time looking, I don't stop and smell the roses.

Anyway.....just wanted to share my passion with you and see if there was anyone else living in the past.

" A WHAT? "

OK... someone point me to just where in our Constitution it provides for a "CZAR" of anything? I thought we already had a "Decider In Chief", Joint Chief of Staff, and an sundry of Generals and War Advisers? Is Bush so desperate now that he is creating a fall guy position, someone to take the bullet for him, like he has thrown our sons and daughters out in front of him and his oil buddies to take the literal bullet to protect the Military Industrial Complex and their profits! So he can blame someone else for his stupidity? Will Congress have to OK the position, or are they just going to roll over once again and do the bidding of a mad man? What the hell is going on with our government? I think that there are Constitutional issues here that the Supreme Court has to look at? Excuse me..." WHAT CONSTITUTION? " The mad man needs to be impeached and thrown in jail along with his whole gang of nitwits... and soon!

" AS THE SCREW TURNS "

And you people wonder why I think that politicians are such dirt bags. Look at what is happening now to the Repukes! Their new twist or flip-flop is to now try and blame the Iraq Gov. for all the problems in Iraq and the reason that things ain't going so good. It ain't the Decider Guy's fault or the stick with him at all cost of our youths lives, Repukes, it's that dam Iraq Governments fault! What a bunch of hog-snot flip flopping forked tonged bull shit. I have yet to meet a politician that wouldn't sell his Mother to a slave trader if he thought it could get him elected. Remember it's all about "ME", they don't give two shits about you and your sons or daughters and never will...wake up people!
So lets all watch as this soap opera unfolds and the Repukes try to save the Decider Guys factious legacy and at the same time get elected. It should be quite a show!

" YOUR TURN "

OK...now being that I am "The Peoples Candidate" it wouldn't be very peopleish if I didn't ask you what I can do for YOU! What do you want your Top Public Servant to accomplish on your behalf?

" ALSO "

11. I would require All our kids have to serve a mandatory two (2) years military service upon graduation from High School and before College. No deferments except for life threatening medical reasons. A special unit will be set up to accommodate those physically handicapped.

12. When "Loopholes" are found in laws they will be automatically closed and the term, "to also include or to exclude", written in the law according to the intent of the law.

13. I will institute "TERM LIMITS" at every level of government.

14. Politicians and Judges pay will be a set at a percentage of the minimum wage. If it is good enough for the lower end of the work force then proportionally it is good enough for those responsible for that amount.

15. More to come!

" UPDATE "

Just to keep you informed as to the progress of the campaign. Our war chest got a influx of cold hard cash yesterday...I found $0.37 cents in the couch while cleaning. This will go a long way towards an official, official announcement bash at JACKS HOT DOGS.
Unlike my opponents, ( the wigglers and liers, and phony-bologna) I am going to make public my real stance on the issues and let the voters decide if they want a real candidate or a politico.

1. I will defend the second amendment till "they pull the gun from my cold dead hand"
2. I will stop abortions for all, unless there is a medical need, or in the case of incest, or rape.
3. I will impose an automatic five year sentence and forfeit of ALL assets of any employer or person found having ILLEGAL immigrants working for them. I will create a national data base tied into all federal and state agencies so an employer can check on the validly of an applicants status, returning to them a routing number with date and time stamp to validate their search.
4. I will ban all queer unions, allowing only unions between a man and a women to be legal.
5. I will legalize some drugs.
6. I will change the tax code to be just one simple card. You made a dollar you have to pay a dime.
7. I will institute a national health care system modeled after the VA system.
8. I will stop all perks to politicos unless the general public can receive the same.
9. I will stop the practice of allowing amendments to legislation that has nothing to do with the bill being considered.
10. More to come later!

" OUTTA THE ATTIC "

OK it's now official........ I am throwing my hat into the ring........ You heard it first right here...... I am officially running for PRESIDENT ! All donations can be sent directly to me (cash only) I suppose you want me to have some sort of platform to run on,..... such inconvenience! What's next?......you want me to have a fancy name for my affiliation.......OK, I call my party "Citizens For Accountable Government" catchy right? I am looking for suckers.....I mean volunteers....to run my campaign, since I only have $0.00 in my war chest and my wallet, which I hope to fatten up with your donations!..... We ass kiss any and all groups, no matter how deprived, because we are an equal opportunity boot lick party, not that we agree with you or will do anything to help your cause, we just want your vote, then......kiss off! ..... Isn't it refreshing to have a candidate that is honest for a change? And that's what we are all about!

" YOU GOT ONE OF THESE? "

I found this in some tillage I purchased from a local dirt contractor. Most likely got trapped in the clay of Bascom Lake. Now it is part of my wall! How old do you think it is?

" HERE WE GO AGAIN "

A nut case goes on a rampage and out of the woodwork come the blamers! And of course each one has his/her answer to how to stop this sort of behavior dead in its tracks! First out of the box was... "Blame the school for not knowing that this was going to happen" , WHAT?

Then came... "It was the schools security's fault for lack of vigilance in monitoring the student population close enough", I guess they want a one to one ratio?

Then the BIG ONE............ The ANTI-GUN CROWD! "Oh ya, rising up out of the sewage that spawns them like the great white savior of the evils of modern society. Those pure white robed God like creatures that can attribute every misdeed or evil doing of humanity directly to the owning of a GUN, or wanting to own a gun, or just looking at a gun, or just looking at a picture of a gun!"

We are in for about a month or so of the blamers spewing their garbage and illogical answers to why this terrible massacre happened, of course they all will probably just forget that the person was totally insane and there is no other explanation!

" STICKS & STONES "

OK....So what is all the big deal with Imus? People have been calling each other names since they were first able to speak. Now all of a sudden, because of Al Sharption, Mr. Black Mans self appointed spokesman, CBS has suddenly decided to become concerned. Bull shit! They caved in to the Blacks threats of pulling sponsorship that's all. It is all a bunch of nappy headed nigger jive, meant to perpetuate the poor me syndrome. And by the way don't all you Whops, Spicks, Kikes, Frogs, Slope Head, Chink, Whities, Redneck, Flatlanders get any ideas...this is strictly for the advancement of Colors... I say Hogsnot...Sticks and Stones...All Sharpton and Jessy the Rev Jackson get a real life and stop sucking off the bigotry of your black community for your personal glory!

" NO MORE DAMN MALLS ..... BUT LOTS MORE CONDOS "

Good Morning People of Earth! .......... Well it has finely come full circle. The era of the Mall has passed. That mega shopping mart where you could find just about anything, just like the old time general store, but bigger! I am not against Malls, they do serve a convenience to the community, though they can be blamed for the demise of a lot of local small stores that couldn't afford the mall rents and there-by the exposure to the shopping public..... But alas it has come to it's end because of that very reason.....Mall Owners Greed.....the driving force in our society today.... if you ain't greedy you ain't going nowhere! Anyway..... You could say that by continual raising of the rents they drove out the very people they needed to stay in business? Go figure?
We now have entered the era, (again) mainly because of economic pressures on the communities, to re-open those small stores again but within the community. Lower rents, for now anyway, are the driving force but if history repeats itself then it will be back to that old stan-by....The Catalog Store!
Now on to the Condo issue......... Why do we need more Condos? Ain't we got plenty of empty ones now? Talk to the hand here people! Another nagging Question...If the outfit is going to buy the French Church Complex en-mass, pun intended, why is the Mayor involved? Wasn't that his argument that no one wanted to buy the whole package, so we were stepping in to help out? John...what is going on? Talk to the hand Mr. Mayor! Or better yet talk HONESTLY to the City Council! It will be interesting to see if anyone on the Council has the balls to ask that Question of the Mayor! OK...It's Your Dime!

CNN: John McCain's Baghdad Neverland

" JUST MORE DENIAL OF REALITY "

John McCain said that the Presidents new initiative is working so good that you can now wonder around Baghdad shopping for souvenirs in the now re-opened and thriving open air markets.

This is the reality of the Republicians, the White House, and John McCain!

This is the REAL reality!

" EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE "

Executive Privilege..... OK folks lets tackle this nonsensical, not in the Constitution, plucked outa thin air, a hide behind mechanism, issue. They all try to use it to hide behind when they don't want the truth to get out. Where did it come from? Who first used it? Why do they keep trying to use it when the Supreme Court already ruled on it? This hide behind tree could be used from the White House all the way down to a Council President. It flies in the face of transparency and accountability in government, and says, " I am the sole decider and what I do is none of your business " Work with me people!

" THEM vs US "- or - "THE HATEFUL vs THE COY"

This morning I did my usual routine of rising between 2am or 3am or there abouts, let the dog out for her wizz-poop, (not to be confused with whizz-poop) put on the coffee, suck in my medication that allowes me to function somewhat all day, then settled down at the puter to check on the state of the world. (I gotta get a life?) Then after checking the news, which is usually all bad, I turn to browsing the Blogs.
What seems to have been a recurring theme and discussed a lot on many of the blogs is that the Arts Community or those that associate themselves with them and the non Arts Community, or us longtime locals, as apposed to the new comers, taking sides against each other. Seems the newbies having come from more progressive and liberal communities want to model their new found home after the one they just left. Forgetting that the progressiveness and liberalism was probably the reason they left in the first place! Now us locals somewhat resent being told that we are undereducated, dumb, anti-art, regressive in our thinking, and our school system sucks......we already know this! But what pisses us off most of all is the newbies want to cram their life style down our throats. Not liking or seeing any meaning in a bunch of crushed up garbage sitting on a stick seems to put us in the Neanderthal Man category in their eyes.
Now having said all that what is now understood by the Art Community is that the Arts are not the Save All that it was touted to be in the beginning. (we are not going to say "We Told You So" ) They now realize that you need a diverse community with each endeavor complimenting the other. The radical, something for everyone idea.
North Adams may not be Shangrala but it is, even with all its faults, a great place to live!

" JUST WONDERING? "

A Question to those that may know...Why aren't there any E-Mail addresses for City Departments listed on the Town Web Page? Telephone numbers are listed.....20th century communication device.....but as far as being interactive.....21st century communication device, the Web Page is sorely lacking. It was my understanding that the NEW WEB PAGE was going to be more interactive and allow the citizens greater access to City Hall? Granted there are a few things that you can do over the net but on the whole the web page reads more like a Telephone Directory (The Yellow Book) than a web page. There are no City documents available other than permits for this that and the other, and no way to contact a Department with a question over the net. The telephone only allows access during working hours and if there is someone available. I bring this up because in an earlier Blog we discussed electric generation and I was curious as to how much the City paid for electricity. I went to the City Web Page thinking that that sort of information would be available, The City does publish a yearly report, journal, whatever, listing all sorts of information from salaries to status of city vehicles. Why isn't that available on the net? The City Web Page should, as well as being a Travel Guide for the Chamber of Commerce and Telephone Directory, it should also be a portal to information for it's citizens. How much do we pay for Electricity anyway?

" WHAT's NEW PUSSYCAT "

After reading in today's Eagle http://www.berkshireeagle.com/editorials/ci_5423321 their editorial on the "BLUEPRINT FOR THE BERKSHIRES" I am almost inspired to give the Mayor an a-a-a-a-a-pology. Seems that this very expensive, highly touted cure all, is nothing more than a rehash of common knowledge, things everyone on the street already knew. They produced no answers other than to tell us that the things that are really needed to revitalize the area are to expensive, to elusive, or beyond the scope of reality, (the Bypass) Good job guys!.. So why do we keep paying these ripoff artist to study what doesn't need studying? They wrap it up in a pretty package with a ribbon, give it a technical sounding name, pat themselves on the back, then take the money and run! Hell, they don't even spend the profit here in the Berkshires. Screw all those studies. They are useless and don't solve squat, just waste time and money. What is needed is less Studying and more Doing!

" GOOD OLD NORTH ADAMS "

I had to laugh the other evening when I was reading the Transcript article about how John III got all bent out of shape because the "lets develop the area, gang" didn't show up at City Hall with an oak leaf cluster head ban and a marching band paying tribute to our own "decider". Seems if they don't check in with him first and get his stamp of approval then it is a no starter and can't possibly succeed, ergo the Town will not have anything to do with it, much less he give a speech and share his experiences to help out. All that being said"

What everyone else seems to understand is that this is "NORTH ADAMS! No matter how you flower it up, paint, sell $300,000 condos (I gotta get me one of those before the rush starts), advertise, try to make us look like Williamstown, or South County or some other ritzy neighborhood, the fact remains....we are who we are and we just don't fit in and never will. We should feel lucky that they were willing to include us at all,..... I guess we don't have to worry about that anymore!

" FREE POWER ,kinda"

Well ...Good Morning Populace of The World. First the good news.....my (S) key is working again, I know that just makes your day. On to the real important issue of the day. ENERGY!
Let us start our journey with our Federal Governments Energy Policy....... hold on just a minute,... I'm still looking for it?... Seems I am unable to find it... It must be in some committee waiting for further clearafacation?........No!....I found it..........It is in the Vice Presidents Pocket...He won't let us see it though because of "Natural Security Concerns" and the "War On Terror" thing, and after all how can he do his job if everyone knows everything!.....Hmmm, I'm going to have to think on that one.
OK, on to the State of Confusion, I mean Massachusetts. Seems their policy changes with the wind,... (I put that in for the professor, :~) ) Anyway at the present time they seem to want to turbineize the State with windmills, but not where any self-important persons, like Senators, can see them. It is not a good thing to ruin the beauty of the view, you know? (White man speak with forked tong)(White man has two faces) etc....
Locally how can we lower our energy costs? Notice I didn't say energy needs! We live in an energy demanding and consuming world so for (Them, the energy producing and supplying corporations) telling me to conserve as a way to energy independence, is kind of an oxymoron of sorts. Again I would like to ask why we can't put our water power back into service? Instead of tearing down the dams, why can't we fix um up and power up the hydro generators? I don't think that there was even a feasibility study done to see if it would be cost effective. You don't need an outside expensive private enterprise to do the preliminary work. Hell... send out the City Engineer and have him make few measurements and make some calculations. He is after all on the City payroll and he is an Engineer! Dam...even if we just power up the municipal needs it would be a big savings for the City. What do you think? Wind power or water power?

" TIME WARNER UPLOAD SPEED "

Does anyone have any update as to what is the current situation with the high speed "Road Runner" upload speed? Is Time Warner going to rebate us for a broken contract or just drop our rate? I lost over 200 KB/s upload speed and that is a lot, we are not getting the same as with our Adelphia contract, which seems to me to be illegal. Any one ?