Tea Party Snubbed

Tea Party protesters in Springfield in April.

A local organization closely identified with the so-called "Tea Party" movement has been turned down by all the candidates but one in a forum intended to educate the public about the state representative race in the West Springfield/Chicopee area. According to the following press release:

Rep. Don Humason and candidate Vogel.

State Representative Candidate Dean Vogel will be the sole candidate to participate in a forum hosted by the Chicopee area group of the Western Mass 912 Project.

Vogel is one of three qualified candidates vying for a vacant seat in the 6th Hampden District, which includes all of West Springfield, and parts of Chicopee and Springfield. The Candidates’ Forum will take place June 3 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the new Chicopee Public Library on 449 Front Street. It is a non-partisan event that is free and open to the public.

According to Barbara Perez, event coordinator and area facilitator of the Chicopee group, the forum is designed to educate the public about important issues, and to learn about the candidates so we are better informed when we go to the polls to vote.

According to Perez, members of the group are pleased that Vogel agreed to attend the forum. Formal invitations and calls went out to all the candidates, she said. But the other Republican, Greg Neffinger, and the Democrat, Michael Finn, declined to attend.

“Dean will have ‘the floor’ all to himself,” Perez said. He will have the opportunity to define himself and the campaign in contrast to the other candidates.”

Congratulations to Vogel for having the courage and integrity to meet with all of his potential constituents in order to appraise their views, and shame on the cowardly Neffinger and Finn for not doing the same.

Meanwhile, the Northampton Democrats were doing grassroots outreach this morning downtown.

 



The weather was gorgeous as I crossed the Calvin Coolidge bridge yesterday on the bus.

The other night however a violent storm passed through the Valley, causing this tree to fall and block the woodland way into downtown Northampton.

Of course, being an intrepid traveler, I found a way around the tree through the woods. However, there was no way for cars to get around this fallen tree on Calvin Terrace.

On the UMass campus a tree by Herter Hall was knocked over.

 



Even the grass was torn up.

 



The national situation ain't so good either.

 



Jorma Kaukonen was in Northampton last weekend. Here is his diary entry.

Sunday, May 16, 2010 Northampton, Massachusetts
Alrighty then... Quite the hectic day today with non-stop traffic from Wilmington, Delaware almost to the the Northampton exit. Once at the iron Horse, we rushed through sound check, ate and hit the stage. Here is our set list:

The Iron Horse
Northampton, Massachusetts
Sunday, May 16, 2010

First Set:
1. Been So Long
2. There’s A Bright Side Somewhere
3. Prohibition Blues
4. Izze’s Lullaby
5. I Belong To The Band
6. Uncle Sam Blues
7. Sea Child
8. Full Go Round
9. I Know You Rider

Second Set:

1. Serpent Of Dreams
2. The Terrible Operation
3. Trouble In Mind
4. Things That Might Have Been
5. 99 Year Blues
6. River Of Time
7. More Than My Old Guitar
8. Good Shepherd
9. Genesis
10. Nine Pound Hammer
11. Encore: Come Back Baby

 

Scott Brown in Holyoke

And West Springfield

 



U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown was campaigning for Tuesday's showdown for Ted Kennedy's old seat in Holyoke this morning, as seen in these Kyle Burns photos.

Among the visiting dignitaries was the Westfield Knapiks, mayor and state senator. That's Longmeadow's Mary Rogeness in back wearing red. 

This supporter wants to make sure everyone knows that he is not paid to be there, like many of those onstage at rallies for Martha Coakley.

A new definition of blue and red.

A worker proudly in defiance of her union's demands.

The red, white and blue Brown bus arrives. 

The next senator from Massachusetts?

Tom Wesley, one of the candidate's running to defeat Congressman Richard Neal.

 



Earlier there was a Brown rally in West Springfield along Riverdale Road.

Neal's other challenger Dr. Jay Fleitman and his wife. 

The Large Vowel

Flashback to 2000

 





I've never been a regular visitor to The Big E, because if you ask me it simply doesn't change enough from year to year to justify annual pilgrimages. Plus, the entry fee has become absurdly expensive. Why should you have to spend twelve bucks just to walk through the door of a place where once inside you can't do anything without spending more money? However, this year my penny-pinching sensibilities were satisfied by the receipt of a free pass given to me by a friend. And so I went.

I saw cows. I saw pigs and little piglets. I saw more cows. There were goats and horses and big black hens. You could have what I was told are heavenly Maine potatoes if you were willing to wait a half hour in line. I wasn't. There was a dragon made of butter. There were pumpkins so big they had deformed into creepy orange blobs. The cows stank to high heaven. I ate at the Lion's Club outdoor bar, where as a youth my buddies and I would spend the whole day, then stagger around drunk offending the tourists. I might still do that today if my liver would allow it.

I'm glad that we don't live in an age when you had to own a cow to have milk. What a pain it must have been to take care of the big stupid beasts! I had a poignant moment outside the blacksmith shop where my old friend from Pine Point Vernon Phelps (above) now long dead of cancer, used to be the blacksmith. I just couldn't go inside and see anyone besides Vernon in that role. Finally, I posed for a picture along with some kids with my face through a cutout of colonial figures. Did I mention the cows?

As usual I was uncomfortable in the big crowd. Generally speaking people can be appreciated best as individuals - en masse humanity is mostly an ugly thing. I guess the highlight of the day came when I was in the Rhode Island building, when whom should I spot but the then Rhode Island Governor Lincoln C. Almond. Only a political junkie like me would've known him from sight (at least among non-Rhode Island residents) and in fact almost everyone present seemed to be ignoring him, despite the state police that were surrounding him suggesting that he was somebody important. 

With my typical brashness, I handed my friend my camera, walked right up to Governor Almond ignoring the nervous, disapproving stares of the state police, and asked if he would mind if I had my picture taken with him. With perfect gentlemanly good nature he said he would be glad to. So here is the picture of me, livin' large at The Large Vowel, with my pal, da Guvnah.

Odd Opening

I was surprised last weekend when looking up the stairs of the old courthouse to see the doors open in the early evening.

It turns out it was for an art show by photographer Dennis Stanton.

You can check out his pics here.

Hard Times

I'm sorry to see that the Ritz Camera shop in downtown Northampton has gone out of business.

 



A combination of digital cameras (no developing required) photoshop type software (anybody can get arty) and the internet (no overhead so cheaper prices) has combined to drive the small photoshops of America out of business.

In Amherst today this girl was holding a bake sale to raise money for programs at the Jones Library. Amherst is one of the wealthiest communities in the Valley, yet it is in constant fiscal crisis, whether it be good times or bad.

But the University goes on no matter what. Here's UMass at two o'clock this afternoon. 

Today's Video

The whole world wants to be a Chili Pepper.

 

West Springfield's Collin's Tavern 2007

I'm way busy today, so I'm letting the multi-talented GOP activist Ben Duffy share some of his adventures with you. I'll be back with more of my own madness tomorrow.

Hey Tom,

I stopped into Collin's Tavern today in West Springfield and took some pictures. It's a real neighborhood bar, an old-fashioned Irish drinking hole. Some of these photographs are a little blurry. There isn't much light inside of this old barroom. Collin's likes to call itself the "Best Kept Secret in Western Mass". It's such a great secret that they write it on the front of the bar!

Besides the Irish theme, the bar seems to have a sports theme (especially hockey), as well as a military theme (especially the 101st Airborne Division), and firefighter theme. The place has an impressive array of Irish Republican Army propoganda on the wall:

Not that I endorse the IRA in any way. They may be my distant cousins from the "motherland", but they're still a bunch of terrorists. As it stands now, the majority of those living in Northern Ireland want to remain with the UK, largely because the majority of the people are Protestant. That will probably change in the near future, as the poorer Catholic Republicans are having a lot more children and than the wealthier Protestant Loyalists.

This can all be decided democratically--if the people of Northern Ireland ever decide that they would rather break away from Britain, I would hope that Britain would respect those wishes, but that's not the situation today. Instead, we have a bunch of thugs trying to win with guns and bombs what they can't win at the ballot box. The best strategy would be to put down their guns, go home to their wives, and make some babies. In the long run, that will accomplish what years of fighting have not.

Irish Republican terrorism is the same as the terrorism that we have seen coming out of the Middle East as of late. The Irish Republican Army does in fact have ties to Muslims terrorist organizations. They consider themselves to be part of some sort of brotherhood of "national liberation movements". There's a reason why Iranian revolutionaries in Tehran renamed Winston Churchill Avenue into Bobby Sands Street.
In any case, I didn't think that it was wise to express my feelings about the IRA too loudly in that barroom. I don't think I would have made too many friends.

This is a mock wanted poster for the "Iron Lady", Margaret Thatcher. The IRA made an attempt on her life at Brighton, England in 1984. The 1980's was a time of major turmoil in Northern Ireland, and she was not known to take crap from anyone, not even the IRA.

On a lighter note, check out this relic from the past. It's the Springfield Indians! They haven't been seen around these parts since they moved to Worcester in 1994. They later changed their name, because "Indians" was not politically correct anymore.

This September 11th era tribute to firefighters adorns the door to the men's room.

Dozens of these old fire helmets hang from the ceiling. Most of them say SFD ("Springfield Fire Department"?), and many even have names written on them. If only fire helmets could talk, I bet that they would have some amazing stories to tell...

I had to laugh at this picture. I've been to Ireland twice, and I must say that no Irishman would be caught dead drinking Miller Lite. It is most certainly NOT "the choice of the Irish". 

There was a lot of military stuff on the walls, but I seemed to notice quite a bit of stuff from the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles", with a few items here and there from the 82nd Airborne and Marine Corps. This large seal of the 101st was painted onto the front door. It made me wonder if the owner of the bar is a former Screaming Eagle himself.

When I was in the Army, the soldiers used to talk a lot about famous people who had been in the military. There were stories going around--some true, some only silly rumors--about celebrities who had once worn the uniform. Elvis Presley, Shaggy, and Axl Rose were all rumored to have had military service. In the case of Elvis and Shaggy, it was in fact true. Elvis was drafted at the height of his fame, and Shaggy was a Marine in Desert Storm. In the case of Axl, it turned out to be false--he just went out and got an army tattoo on his arm to make himself look tough.

One of those rumors about celebrities in the military was about Jimi Hendrix. The usual version of the story was that Jimi had been drafted in the late 1950's. Details varied--some said that he had volunteered to be a Ranger, others said that he was in the 101st Airborne Division. Amazingly, the story seems to check out, even if some of the details aren't accurate.

Private Hendrix was in the Army for about thirteen months, beginning in May 1961. He was a supply clerk in the 101st, so he was indeed a "Screaming Eagle", although he was known to be a terrible soldier, not cut out for military life. He was discharged after he was caught masterbating, and he did not challenge it, because he wasn't really that thrilled about being in the Army in the first place. His sticky discharge (pun intended) must have been hard to explain to his parents, or even the guys back home on the block.

But enough about Jimi Hendrix. I also found a picture of this young soldier on the wall at Collin's. It could have been anyone, perhaps just for decoration. If I had to guess, I would say that this picture was taken sometime in the mid-1960's--the Vietnam Era. If this proud Screaming Eagle were alive today, he would be just about the same age as the owner. Is this the owner of the bar? I may never know.

Incidentally, there were bumperstickers on the beer cooler that read "Proud Vietnam Veteran" and "Boycott Jane Fonda, the traiterous bitch".

Well, it's worth stopping in.

BEN DUFFY