What track are we on now?

Well the good news today is the fact that Gov. Patrick is holding meetings with EPA and Army Corps about advancing the SouthCoast rail project.  This is great news in fact.

Right now we have a Gov. with some "juice" in D.C.  If the Obama win happens as is likely, we will continue to have a governor with some real juice in D.C., assuming he doesn't end up taking a position in D.C.  Which would still be good, unless he was appointed a judge (which has been rumored).  In which case forget the political juice.

But I digress...

It is truly a good thing to see an effort being made to move things along.  If you read The Standard Times piece on the matter though, the one point worth remembering is the local delegation.  The most important thing here is they in fact are kept in the loop and they in fact make sure we get a full meal at the table and not the scraps so often thrown our way.

The surest sign of getting the short end of the stick will be to see a multi-phase project with less than full funding for all phases being appropriated at once.  But that won't happen right, because we have been promised the rail.  

Don't wait to be told what is going to happen here.  Get involved now.  But hey, I don't need to tell them that right, they know what they are doing.

Speaking of knowing what they are doing, does anyone?  

I had a telephone conversation with someone yesterday.  A self-admitted, true and die hard liberal, and proud of it.  We talk periodically, and very intelligently (at least they do anyway).  I enjoy the conversations, discussions and occasional argument.  

Our tete a tete reminded me of what true political discourse can be like.  It gives me a bit of hope that people can disagree, be polar opposite on some issues in fact, and still manage to stay on good terms.

But again I digress ...

What came up was the fact, after reaffirming their political affiliation, the statement was made that "I just don't get how Obama has managed to pull ahead in the race.  Essentially affirming the fact that with everything going on, the reality of the situation is he should be getting his clocked cleaned (I ad lib here just a bit, admittedly.  But that was the gist of it).

As I have said often enough, an election is about choices.  Just as George W. managed to get re-elected, it comes down to the opposition.  The Republicans blew this whole thing on two fronts.  The first is the fact that the only serious moderate contender for nomination was Romney.  The second was the collection of right wing candidates seeking a nomination when they knew, or should have known, they would have had no chance of winning a general election.

They kicked the living day lights out of Romney for so long during the first half of the primaries that they shattered the facade. 

There is a third issue, related to the first, and that is the nominee himself. The biggest factor in Bush's winning a second term was his opponent. We can argue all the issues you want, in the end that was the main reason, just as that will be the main reason for an Obama re-election.  Call it the Goldilocks syndrome if you will.  In 2004 the choice offered was seen as too far left.  In 2012 the choice being offered is seen as too far right.

Some interesting results in the latest poll for the Brown/Warren Senate race from Suffolk/Channel 7.  Warren gets a 4% lead from that poll.  What's interesting is the questions asked, and the answers.

When asked who would be the more independent senator, 50% of the people said Brown vs. 38% for Warren.

When asked who would better represent Massachusetts, 46% responded Brown vs. 40% for Warren.

When asked if they thought a vote for Scott Brown was a vote for Wall Street, 55% said No.

When asked if they thought Scott Brown was anti-women, 78% said no.

When asked if they their opinion of Brown was generally favorable or unfavorable, 60% said favorable for Brown; for Warren, 52% said favorable.

Follow the link above to see all the questions and results.

Granted there are still a fair amount of undecideds.  Still glad though to see the candidate deemed more favorable, independent and believed to be the one who would better represent Massachusetts is only 4% behind in who those same people will vote for.

Tracking polls.  Got to love them.

Speaking of tracking, there are a few blips on the radar that need to be watched.  One is the proposed solar farm for Alden Road.  Seems this one is in a holding pattern for now. 

One that has disappeared is the Con Com issue with the wetlands off Shawmut Road.  For what it is worth, the right conclusion for the matter, in my opinion (See the Fairhaven Neighborhood News 9/13/12 edition, page 4 for the story).

The other blip, one that will eventually cause some issues will be the DOR technical assistance audit.  DOR usually does a fair amount of spin on these things, couching issues in PC talk.  Yet I suspect a fair amount of spin and a whole lot of PC talk.  Come what may, everyone will need to take a hard look at the results and serious consideration for recommendations needs to be given.

We are at a point in Town were the track we have been on may be the one that has kept us heading in the right direction, but we are reaching a switch point.  If the lever isn't thrown in the right direction, we are indeed heading for a train wreck.