To be or or not to be (30 times)

One week from today is the primary for Massachusetts state/federal candidates.  It will be very interesting to see ho well the winning candidates do in the primary.  For some, it is the de facto election, for others, it will be an indication of just how much work remains for them.

The big election, the Senate race, has nor primary.  I have been thinking about that for a few weeks.  While most candidates prefer to avoid a primary, there are occasions where one might benefit from one.  In this particular election I am not sure about the benefit for the Democrats, but one can ponder that it might have helped.  

Elizabeth Warren would have been campaigning toward obtaining toward the same goal, while avoiding the bulk of the counter arguments from the real opposition.  The primary focus (election and attention) would have been on the democratic candidates, and there would have been more, much more, attention on the democrats theme in press coverage, and quite frankly less attention in the press about Senator Scott Brown, the Republican incumbent.

She would have only had to run directly against the Senator for two months.  She most probably would have avoided the pitfall of the "no negative" ads promise.  I know, we all hate negative ads, but right about now I am guessing that there are more than some scratching their heads over the corner the dems have gotten painted into.

There would have been a unified theme as to why Brown shouldn't be re-elected, with again, in my opinion anyway, that theme getting a whole lot of attention, all the while limiting the ability to counter it.  

Just a thought.

I have also be thinking about what to do about the birds and bats being killed by the turbines issue raised in the press the last few days.  I read and heard there are actual pictures, but haven't seen them.  According to the article in the Standard Times, the paper received photos showing one dead bird and two dead bats. The only other numbers I have heard or read about are in general terms, i.e. a slew of them.

Is there more evidence?  If not, the only thing this type of claim does is continue to desensitize the public.

Will there or have there been bird and bat kills as a result of the turbines?  I would have to imagine the answer would be yes.  The number of "kills" and the types would have to be known to start significant concern.

We can discuss the issue of whether one or just a few are one or a few too many.  We can, but we won't.

Call it cold heart if you want, but I think for most people, they will need to see evidence of a real "slew" of dead creatures before this becomes an issue.

A potential issue looming is the proposed additional solar farm on Alden Road.  See the Fairhaven Neighborhood News article (8/30/2012 edition, page 4) on the Selectmen's meeting.  I am not going to put words into someone's mouth, because as I noted in a prior piece I didn't quite grasp the whole conversation.

What I will say is I think from the get go we all need to be aware of whether any additional project will in fact be required to obtain Town Meeting approval, either by law or by agreement of the Selectmen. It becomes extremely significant as there seems to be the option of proceeding under one of two sets of laws.  A c. 30B contract requires a substantially different process than a c. 25A contract.

I also think the Town needs to take a hard look at just how much of a utility company we want to be, or need to be.

I haven't seen the RFP draft, but seems to me from what I heard, it was not to be a 30B, but again, I admittedly was a bit perplexed.

Tuesday's Nickle's Worth

Ran across an interesting piece online yesterday centering on our President and the call for his ouster by a former professor of his.  Very interesting indeed.  Seems the guy nearly everyone right of center seems to consider to far left just isn't cutting it for some who are left of left.

You get right down to it, I am not an Obama fan.  But the last thing the Dems need right now is for those teetering on the outer 25% of the left wing jumping off without a parachute.  Not sure how anyone left of center can feel their agenda will benefit from an Obama loss.

Of course neither am I sure how those on the outer 25% of the right wing feel they are any better in tune with the country as a whole, or would benefit from a Romney loss.

Bottom line as of the latest polls I have seen, flip that coin and when it stops spinning hope it is worth more than a plug nickel.

It is a very long time in the life span of a political election until the first Tuesday in November.  The things that could go wrong, or correctly, for either of the candidates are too numerous to list.

The first smack coming down of major significance is going to be the Supreme Court's decision on health care.

Nancy Pelosi was reported as predicting a 6 - 3 decision upholding the reform bill.  

Quoted in multiple sources:

"First of all, I think we're ironclad on the constitutionality of the bill," Pelosi said on CBS's "This Morning." 

"We believe in the Constitution, we believe in judicial review ... I think we'll be 6-3 in our favor."

Which if that is in fact the case, one has to wonder why she essentially in the same breath conceded the fact that parts of the law could in fact be struck down.

Maybe the Democratic leadership should have cloaked the law with titanium instead of using iron sheeting. 

Republicans should not jump up and down too hard in gleeful anticipation.  Mitt still hasn't answered for me and many the great and significant contridictions between state universal and nation universal and why the concept of universal is not good now.

Bottom line, at least from my slant, the hornet's nest is about to be broken and everybody is about to get stung.

Shifting more locally ...  

Turned on the T.V.  at about 7:20 last night.  Since Con Com was on I am assuming the Selectmen will be a taped delayed game this week.  The only blurb in the S-T is concerning potential mitigation for the noise from the turbines.

The answer it seems is the first step is to wait on the state study.  It is the correct answer in this case I think.  The noise study will be the proverbial first nail in someones coffin on this issue.  It will be the beginning of the burial process for one of the two sides.

If in compliance, well does a whole lot have to be said?

If not in compliance, then the egg jumps out of the frying pan and splats in a bunch of faces; and, rightfully so.

You can't go around selling something as compliant, and then find out it isn't and cry foul when you have to make it so.

The one given fact in this matter is the town noise standard is no good.  It isn't the town's standard that will be the measure.  It will be the state's.

Another shift with a bit larger local focus ...

Seems we have cause to celebrate with the award of the PCB settlement money for restoration projects.  Seems the Harbor Trustees have held on to the money as long as they can and have decided that the time to let it go has come.

So the proceeds from the 1992 settlement will be released.  Money has trickled out over the years for this or that.  It has been used to support a mini-bureaucracy, communities and private groups have been fighting over the money and its proper use since the paper it was printed on was still a tree.

Sen. Montigney was absolutely correct.  As quoted in the S-T article today "waiting decades is waiting too long."  

The NOAA explanation for holding onto the money so long, "The delay is in part due to a decision to let the $20 million settlement accrue interest, allowing the council to award $30 million toward restoration projects, according to NOAA."

I am going to hazard a guess that once you factor in the administrative and associated costs of the Harbor Trustee Council over twenty years +/-, plus inflation, the true value of the extra "interest" money that was able to be applied to restoration projects was not much more than a plug nickle.