Hats off to Bill (all three of them)

Bill Dwight will probably choke on his coffee with this analogy but my appearance on his radio show this morning reminded me of my first appearance on the O’Reilly Factor TV show four years ago to discuss Amherst being the only High School in the nation to perform ‘Vagina Monologues.’

Bill O’Reilly obviously agreed with my stand (the show should not go on) so there was no verbal sparring. And the other Bill this morning agreed that the parade is a celebration not a protest, so we had nothing to fight about either (darn—I had even stretched out before heading to Hamp.)

Yeah, I am getting a tad spoiled by blogging as I did let slip the word “bitch”. WHMP has an eight second delay but allowed it on the air since context is everything and the FCC would not mind me calling Osama Bid Laden a son of a bitch.

Bill Dwight also said he would march in the Amherst July 4'th Parade, so maybe we can place him next to the Town Manger.

Yesterday a mole in the Amherst Town Democratic Committee gave us a draft letter they are still working on (since late February no less):


The Amherst Town Democratic Committee may be interested in participating in the 4’th of July Parade in downtown Amherst this year.

Please kindly regard this as our official application to participate. We anticipate that those parading may exercise the rights that the U.S. Constitution, including the 1’st Amendment, guarantees to all Americans.

Please let us know in writing whether this will be acceptable. We would appreciate a reply with the next month.

Sincerely Yours,

H Oldham Brooks
Chair of the Democratic Committee

Of course Mr. Brooks is no longer Chair having lost the election last week to more moderate Leo Maley and extremist Mary Wentworth also lost reelection as Vice Chair.

See what happens when you lead your organization into an ill-conceived war?

During the second 15 minute segment we mostly talked about the current “only in Amherst” episode splashed on the Front Page of today’s Gazette where the Middle School administrators censored an article in the school newspaper unflattering to the institution.

The kids polled 175 students and discovered as Bill Dwight so aptly put it “school sucks” (yes, I guess you can say that on the radio). The school spiked the story and ACLU spokesman Bill Newman has already gotten involved.

So the school system that allowed teen agers to use the C-word, and feign masturbation to orgasm on stage as part of the their First Amendment rights censor Middle Schoolers who express unflattering sentiments about the venerable school system.

As Bill Newman said in 1999 at a rally I organized in favor of ‘West Side Story,’ after the school cancelled it: “The way to counter bad speech is with good speech, not suppression.” Amen.
UPDATE: Friday 6:15 PM Besides the AP, the story was also picked up by these folks:
LawFolks
DC news blog
Crusty Gazette Comments
And the next day as well

Back from the Brink

The 20-minute meeting with the Town Manager went well. He confirmed that he would allow Police and Fire personnel to march in the Amherst July 4'th Parade (So I assume that means in their official town uniforms) and that he would march as well (as he did last year).

Mr. Shaffer wants to see in writing the new policy that the Gazette mistakenly headlined as “loosening”.” The policy to allow any group to carry ONE banner or sign designating the legal name of the group is not really relaxing anything--it is more of a “clarification.”

He also said he was not going to do anything—like pull police and fire equipment--due to “hypotheticals”. As in the last two years when we did this kind of meeting, he wants us to be as “inclusive” as possible.

So we will be, up to a point. An anti-war group can march as long as the legal name of the group contains that sentiment. Abortion groups—pro or con, Gay rights groups—pro or con, and Nuclear War groups—pro or con, probably will not gain entry.

And if the Amherst Town Democratic Committee wants to boycott as they did last year that’s fine. It did not seem to keep Congressman John Olver, State Senator Stan Rosenberg or State Representative Ellen Story from marching.

And the winners are...

Nope, not her. So much for the 'Power of the Blog.'

And the winners are...

Yes, the Amherst Taxpayers for Responsible Change met last night (appropriately enough at the Rod and Gun Club) and overwhelmingly endorsed two Select board candidates. Both of whom I voted to support.

But I can't tell you who they are until the Ultra Crusty Bulletin goes to press. Gotta throw them a bone once in a while (although their editor is probably a vegan).

The Amherst July 4'th Parade Committee Executive Circle will be meeting with Mr. Laurence Shaffer Amherst Town Manager at 4:00 PM this afternoon in his office. (notice I didn't call him "Boss Hogg") No I will not blog live from there--although I assume it will be a short meeting.

And I make a return visit to Bill Dwight's WHMP radio show tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM to talk about whatever pisses me off at that moment.

Should old acquaintance be forgot...

I have beheld the Power of the Media from every possible angle: as a reporter, columnist, frequent Letter To the Editor contributor in print; as well as national news appearances on radio, TV, Cable and an early adopter off all things Internet—chat groups, listserves, and The Drudge Report.

But I have never encountered a more perfect weapon for the lone individual than this, the blog.

Seamlessly melding photos, audio, video with text made instantly available to anyone in the world (except China) via the simple button click is nothing short of revolutionary.

I once thought that if a tree fell in the forest and a reporter was not there to cover it than, indeed, it did not make a sound. These days’ chances are a motivated blogger will witness and record the event.

The Bricks and Mortar media can’t be everywhere 24/7. And they have advertisers to worry about and corporate owners who worry about offending their advertisers.

Bloggers are everywhere. And it only takes one to get the story out.

A year ago yesterday I started this blog figuring at the very least it would get me writing three or four times a week. Little did I know that it would sometimes become three or four times a day.

I think of this blog the same way I do my small business—obsessively. Allowing me--when things get rough--to draw strength from that core American value, pride of ownership.

(Now if only I can keep my cool when I spend two weeks in China!)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

And in Massachusetts state workers in Suffolk County are pretty happy, as they get the day off. Although technically I think it's called 'Evacuation Day' to commemorate the Brits turning tail and leaving Boston under pressure from cannons above (damn sneaky American).

Although at the airport coming down here on Friday I did see a commercial from Guinness asking folks to sign an Internet petition to make St. Patrick's Day a national holiday (kind of funny that a Brit company wants to establish an American holiday--but they would probably prefer we celebrate St. Patrick rather than a British defeat)

Yeah, I know today marks the One Year Anniversary of my blog. And yeah I should have something thoughtful to say. But I'm still in Florida, the sun is shining (74 degrees at 8:30 am)we need to get in our second day at Busch Gardens, get to the airport by 5:00 pm so Kira and I can fly home and Donna can fly to China.

And yeah, I'm watching as closely as I can the events in Tibet.

When a dollar is not a dollar (Only in Amherst)

So even from Florida I can, finally, read about the 70-K water debt discovered by a rookie Amherst meter reader.

Because this is not exactly a Watergate kind of story the Bricks and Mortar media left out some context: Amherst water system does not differentiate between water and sewer, although each is billed at $3 per cubic foot (1,500 gallons). Every drop that comes into a home is considered a drop that exits via the sewer system. So essentially, all Amherst homeowners pay $6 per cubic foot.

Thus when we water our lawns or wash the car in the spring and summer we really pay twice what we should. So I’m hoping town officials charged the car wash for both water and sewer (and 99% of their usage does leave via the sewer).

Thus the $70,000 is evenly split between two separate Enterprise Funds each costing about $3.5 million annually to operate. But the state says that all monies within an Enterprise Fund have to stay within that fund and cannot be used for teachers, police or library books.

Hence Town Officials (other than DPW, of course who ride on herd on them) don’t care about the Water, Sewer, or Solid Waste Fund. And they only took interest in the Transportation Fund when they stretched the law to siphon off $100-K for outreach PVTA buses that get sparse ridership.

And that is why the Select board, acting as Sewer Commissioners, were so quick to flush down the toilet the $40-K in effluent water Umass uses for heat (but will soon be using to irrigate extensive recreation fields and in the new Science Building for cooling thus potentially doubling their usage of effluent…and why not? The town has given them a Use-All-You-Want-Free card.

So that’s why I’m confused the Town Manager had to get the Select board to officially vote to give Umass the freebie (a close 3-2 vote with 2 of the 3 Yes votes having economic ties to Umass) but when another large user is inadvertently not charged for five years do to a billing error the Select board suddenly has no role?