Re: Feeding the mind......

The reason I tried to get as many comments as possible about eating in the classrooms of the school you attended was this. After having been associated with the BI School in my very MINOR capacity as the steering wheel for the cleaning and maintenance crew, I noticed events that have not yet ceased to amaze and confuse me. To wit; the carrying out of food of all descriptions, from the cafeteria and into the classrooms!!

After watching this for a few months, I finally asked, "what's the deal with this practice"? I was told that it had been allowed to happen, kind of by acts of omission. There are some children that because of monetary constraints weren't getting to eat breakfast before coming to school. There is a State mandate that says that if you accept money from the state for your school, you must provide a nutritious breakfast for those children, a mandate that I am in FULL ACCORD with! Over time more and more children began eating there and paying for it out of Mommy and Daddy's pocket. It became more expedient for the 'rents to send the kids to school with a couple of bucks than a lunch bucket, and that is also just fine with me. Where it becomes a problem is when the food leaves the confines of the Cafeteria! This is because when they, as well as others came as "late arrivals", they couldn't finish eating before it was time for class, they were allowed to carry it to their classrooms to finish.

Enter now the fact that a lot of this food sits in the classroom from early AM till at least noon and even till dismissal time at 1421 hours. Many times during the day, small to large bits of this food get dropped on the floor to be ground into it and the spaces between the flooring. There it sits, becoming the incubation nurseries for who knows what kind of little germies!

One day while discussing with a School Committee member the possible different floor covering options to be used on the elementary room floors, I asked that we consider reverting to carpets as had been done in the past. Immediately came the reply about the fact that there were a lot of children that had allergies and that the carpets "MIGHT POSSIBLY" exacerbate the problem. That particular problem can be seen as a non-starter as hospitals routinely have carpets installed and the allergy problem mitigated by the types on carpets installed! And riding atop that small hitch was the problem of food being constantly dropped and ridden into the carpet and all the associated ills(no pun intended) that go with those occurrences.

My come back too that was to obliquely make a comment about NOT eating in the classroom. Apparently it wasn't heard or was silently dismissed out of hand.

So after doing a few days of searching through all the maintenance magazines that the school regularly receives, and doing a lot of hours of on-line searching and reading, I personally came to the conviction that a carpet was the only way to go to rectify all the ills connected with the conditions of the rooms as presently constituted. In this vein, I have written a short discourse to be presented to the School Committee on the reasons why I, as the Steering Wheel, recommend the switch back to a high end carpet, and how we as the, "implementers of cleanliness" would go about maintaining that level of spotlessness!

Referring back to the top of the rant, parents have got to take back some of the responsibilities of raising their children. That would include making sure they are adequately fed before school if they are financially able, and if they are not,
getting them to the school early enough for them to consume the food in the cafeteria! The food ALL OVER the building has to stop! Besides being unsanitary, it makes the place look like a shit-house as food is ROUTINELY dropped all over the place! TIFN

Boneless Wonders

After reading quite a few blog sites this AM I came across one that discovered that Grandma Pelosi and her lapdog Reid have come up with another way to to speak out of both sides of their mouths at the same time. I had always thought that was a physical impossibility.
We hear every day from them that they don't support the war in Iraq and WON'T send in more troops. So when it comes right down to the part where it says in the Constitution that," Congress shall vote to fund or not, any wars",(wording is not exact, but the gist is there), they are just to GD chicken shit to actually vote for their convictions! So what do they do? They decide to introduce a NON_BINDING resolution regarding sending more troops! And this will do what? Oh yeah, if things turn out bad in Iraq in the next two years, it will perfectly position them for the '08 Prez run by saying look how GWB F***** up THAT idea of more troops on the ground. Conversely, if things turn out well, why then you will hear loud and continuous bloviating about how they NEVER did cut funding for the war and were the greatest supporters of the "absolutely needed conflict in order to establish democracy in the middle east".
You would think that their mouths as well as their brains would HURT after all the doublespeak emanating from them. Let's see, did I not hear grandma P speaking about a Congress filled with "Transparency and Bi-partisanship"? Well it sure is transparent in some respects! Bi-Partisan? It appears to be well and truly on it's way down the tubes also. Wait and see I guess! TIFN
PS Don't forget the previous post. I need lots more input of any kind! Thanks
PPS: Go over to the right side of this page and click on Michael Yon Online Mag. Then navigate around so that you read the three section,"Walking the Line" post in order. This will give you a sense of what's going on "over there"!

Feeding the mind, as well as the body

I'm about to use this blog spot to run a poll. One of the duties of the job at the school is to find better ways of keeping the place clean and neat, and in the greatest shape possible necessary for the filling of the young occupants minds. Along these lines I would like to pose this question to readers of all ages. When you respond, if you do, add the decade that you were in school please. This applies to all readers from wherever you went to school, not just BI. The question is:

Were you allowed to take and consume any food what-so-ever into a classroom? Or were you required to eat it in a cafeteria or a room designated just for that purpose?

I'm going to leave it at this point for right now. After a couple of weeks, I'll come back and tell you why I ran this post. TIFN

What's happening in '07

Well for starters, this is the second anniversary of my attempt at blogging.

It was,4 days ago, the 45th year anniversary of attempting to make a marriage work.

In about two to three weeks there will be the addition of grandchild number six! Of all the events that will happen this year, this is the most anticipated!

With regard to my third attempt at running away from permanent retirement, the job at the BI School is coming along nicely albeit slowly. Lots of niggling things need fixing but because of time and money constraints they move at a laggardly pace.

The miniscule part of my life now that is called Littlefield and Sons Ltd., has updated it's bookkeeping system from one called Real World that has served us well for about 26 years to a new one from Quicken. So you will see a different kind of invoice in the mail if you are one of our most valued customers. And BTW, thanks too all who have sent cards and gifts over the years!

As a part of keeping up with the times, in the near future there will be a new LPG delivery truck cruising the highways and byways of the Island. I wanted it to be painted orange and black but was vetoed by the whole clan!

Model plane building and flying has slowed to a virtually non-existent pace as involvement with other things vie for the time. As in, spent 1/2 the day Sunday running sheets of old paper through a blender with lots of water and turning it into raw pulp to make more paper! That was a granddaughter project she received for X-mas. Whew, glad that is over! Lots of time and labor involved for not much return.

Have been informed by the parents of the soon to be New Granddaughter, (Ha HA, I know what her name will be!), that she, the baby, wishes for Mama-san and myself to be available for consulting, hugging, kissing, etc. when she is old enough for such things. So within the parameters of trying to remaining a viable entity when she comes of that age, we have been asked to do all we can to make that possible. That would include trying to reduce the body mass from huge to something approaching svelte! So in the interests of same, please, "Do Not Feed The Dieters!".

And the last but significant event to happen around here will be the demise of the over two hundred year old house of Kirk's out front. The old place has really begun to show its age even with the not so recent rehabs. So it will shortly be coming down to be replaced by a modular that will look virtually the same on the outside, but with a drastically modified interior floor plan.

That's it for now. From all of us to all of you readers, the extended family wishes each of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Will expect you all back here in 365 days for the 3rd anniversary of the blogging experience. TIFN

Christmas Cheer-Not!

Went over to America the other day to do some shopping and after most of the day spent up around Warwick, we made our way to the big Wal-Mart in Westerly where the Missus says she just had to go for whatever reasons. By now, I'm sick of traipsing around in stores looking for those elusive Xmas gifts. Never did get any. So she goes into the store and I sit in the car. After a few minutes I noticed this guy and another lady arrive in front of the store carrying two waist high, 6 inch square boxes with feet to make them stand up and a locking top on them. The guy sets up shop in front of the main entrance and the lady goes to the food store part of the building. Imagine my surprise when the guys whips out a small hand bell and begins to shake it like he was trying to exorcise a devil from inside it! This guy looked like a bum, dirty, no teeth, scruffy beard and a great big parka on one of the days last week when the temp was up in the low sixties over there.This is the guy the Salvation Army supposedly sent out there to represent them. The Salvation Army is one of the charities I always felt was a worthy charity so I got out of the car, dug out a twenty and walked over to the guy and started to put the money in the slot,when he holds out his hand and says,"do you want me to put that in for you?" So I handed it to him and says sure and started to walk away as he puts it in the box. Only I happened to notice that he was holding onto one corner of the bill as he made to insert it. He pushed it in and then pulled it back a little so it was stuck in there with the corner still showing... I said to him that it didn't go down and he makes a show of wacking the box with the flat of his hand which did nothing to make the bill go down. So I stepped back over and pushed it down with my finger. By now I'm a whole lot suspicious if this guy is who he pretends to be, so I went in the store to the customer service desk and asked if these two people were legitimate reps of the "Army". The lady said she assumed so and I mentioned what had just happened and recommended that she call and find out.
I went back out to my car and watched this guy thru a pair of binoculars as he pulled this same scam with about fifteen or so other people. If they walked up and pushed the money in themselves, in it went. If anyone walked up and handed him the money, in it went also,TO HIS POCKET after making the big show about stuffing it in the box!
I don't know what the final outcome was, but he was still there when we left after about two hours, hauling in his ill gotten gains from a bunch of unsuspecting good hearted people. From now on my donation will go directly to the "Army"in the form of a check.
So in the meantime, I would wish for all of you who read this thing, a very, "Merry Christmas"! No PC bull here thank you very much. Hope all of you have a great time over the holidays and have an even better time in the coming year. The very best to all from the whole extended Littlefield family. Peace on Earth. Please!

Refurbished Runway has first crash!

Well that didn't take long did it? Actually it wasn't a full sized aircraft. Before the runway was completed, and on a Sunday morning while the airport was still closed to air traffic, I took my brand new, five foot wingspan, P-51 Mustang radio controlled plane up there to give it, it's initial trial by fire. This plane is a 1/5 scale version of the venerable fighter escort plane from WWII. It was the plane that made it feasible to shadow the bombers all the way to the heart of Germany and give them protection all the way in and back home. It was used almost exclusively by the Army Air Force at the time.
It took me a long time to lower myself far enough to build an Air Farce(just kidding) plane after being an old Navy guy for 20 years, but, what the heck, I'd run out of Navy A/C to model. Besides, this is one fine looking plane in anybodies estimation.

So off I go with all the necessary equipment needed to get one of these babies in the air. Big battery and starter to get it cranking over, big portable air tank to fill the small air tank inside the fuselage, this to make the retractable landing gear operate,fuel cans and pumps,a fully charged radio system, Tx. and Rx. First off I have to attach the wing to the fuse which is done by two 1/4 nylon bolts. Then it is charge the air tank and then fill the fuel tanks. Lots of tank stuff with this plane! Now it's time to take a few pictures of this baby before engine start. After the photo op was complete, there was no way to delay this any further. Turn on the Tx. and then the Rx. Run all the control surfaces through their complete range on high and low rates. Yup they all work fine, throttle also. Okay, pull the prop thru a few turns, crack the throttle, apply the heat to the glow plug, push the starter against the prop spinner and press the switch. It only took about ten seconds of cranking for that OS MAX 1.20 four stroke engine to fire and settle right into a nice idle. Run the engine up to full power and set the needle valve for high and low operation, run the flight control surfaces through their full range of motion again and it is time to go. She is sitting right on the centerline of the runway, so with a smooth steady push to full power and a little rudder to keep her straight down the runway, off we go. After about 15 feet the tail comes up and I let her build up a good head of steam before I gently rotate her into the air. Damn, this thing flies like a dream! A climbing left turn to keep her in close so I can see what it is doing, and I am at about 50 feet altitude with the gear still down, 'cause I'm afraid to let go of any levers just yet to flip a switch! Just as I turn town wind and get level, it becomes deathly silent up there in the air next to my beautiful bird! As in a real plane, when that fan out on the front of the plane stops generating a breeze, the hard sweats immediately start behind the controls! Same thing here. What to do? Try to put it back on the runway is the first thought, but realize that I don't have enough speed or altitude to stretch out the glide. This thing is heavy too! It weighs about 15-18 pounds when fully loaded. So the only option is to push the nose over to see if I can generate a little airspeed, but this thing flies like a brick when all forward motion is suspended. When I pushed the nose over, it used up all my altitude in about 2 seconds, and my hard flare didn't do much to arrest or even soften it's contact with the ground. She plowed into the ground, thankfully about a foot of soft wet mud, and snapped off both of the extended landing gear and buried the engine up to the back of the crankcase! Twas actually a spectacular landing! Kind of like some of Herman's!
After wading thru the mud and retrieving all the various and sundry pieces, it was determined that actually very minimal damage was done to the wing structure and that it could and would be repaired rather easily. Which it has been as of this writing. Just waiting for new decals to arrive before flight number two.

So I am claiming the rights to the title of, first takeoff, first landing(close but not on), and first aircraft incident(read, crash) on the newly refurbished BI Airport. Also the second of each category as I flew an electric powered Islander around for one flight also.

Oh yeah, why did the engine quit you may ask? Well after getting her home and all the mud dug out of the airframe and in the engine room, I discovered that the fuel line from the fuel tank to the fuel pump on the back of the engine had come off. No gas, no go, no fly, result? CRASH!! Oh well, off again very soon I hope! TIFN

What's the plan Nancy?

Well they screamed and hollered for the last year or so about President Bush having no "Plan" for Iraq. Then the new, soon to be Speaker of the house was asked on a news interview just what was the Dems plan for Iraq, she stammered and stuttered, couldn't come up with an answer and changed the subject! Come on Nancy what's the plan?
She also put out a list of what she was going to accomplish in her first 100 HOURS, not days, of her assuming her new position. One of them was that she is going to remove America's dependency on foreign oil and put us in the position of energy independancy! Guess that means she IS going to allow oil drilling in the AWR, which she voted against in the past. Hell maybe she is going to go down to Veneszuela and give old Hugo some straight "grandmotherly" advice. Or something else. In 100 hours? Damn Nancy, what sort of favors have YOU been passing out behind closed doors to make a statement like that? If you can do it, I'll vote a straight Dem ticket in '08!
On old BI, I am pretty happy with the results except one. A totally new council would have been really good, but with at least four level heads, maybe some of the things needing to be done will begin to happen. Beginning with a total and complete accountability of the final numbers on the school. It doesn't have to be withheld till the litigation is finished, because we are going to have to expend ALL the money allocated to the project. Probably more!
Negotiations and resolution of the remaining problems with the school are still going on. Some of the problems have been resolved to our satisfaction, while a couple of the thorniest ones remain in dispute as to whosee problems they are. Roof leaks being one of them. But yesterday the roofing company guys spent the day fixing, or at least attempting to fix them. We shall see after a couple of good hard horizontal rainstorms how they fared.
Thats IT For Now! Thanks for all the responses to the last post. They made for interesting reading.

The New First Warden

Well, after reading all the comments on the BIRA "do" at the School last week and taking a long and reflective look at all the candidates for this position, I have finally made my decision as to who will get my vote this time around.
Most all the positions taken by all the candidates, are just re-hashes of the previous stances put forth by their erstwhile forebearers.
This "endorsement" coming from me, may well be the death knell for this guys political aspirations. We have not seen eye to eye on many of the happenings here on the Island, but I believe he will be forceful enough, fair enough, and able to see past all the stone-walling and foot dragging that has gone on for years, and get some of these projects that need doing, DONE!!
I also think that no matter what he personally thinks of another council persons opinions, he will let them, nay MAKE them, be discussed at the table in full view of the townspeople and not subverted behind closed doors as has gone on with some of the previous councils.
I have not heard him say this next anywhere, but I hope it will be one of his priorities, to get a Public Works director hired, a planner, and most of all, a PROFESSIONAL Town Manager, not someone doing it as a hobby.
So when you go to vote, put aside personal feelings and vote for the guy who just may be a welcome surprise. We all know he is not bashful about stating his opinions. Give Steve McQueeney a shot at getting this town in step with the people's desires. BTW, I am STILL a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, to the right of center, Elephant hugging,constitution loving as it was written, Republican!! Half of a Pox on some of you liberals! I don't want you to die, just be a little scarred or at least sick for a day or two.TIFN.

WIN NUMBER #1!!!

Some good news for a change! The Block Island School fifth and sixth graders soccer team just had their first win today on the final home game of the season!! They have only played five games in their very short careers, but this was one to behold. They couldn't stop smiling and laughing and jumping around like a bunch of kids! Duh! How about that, doing what kids are supposed to do. So I say to them, "Congratulations from everybody on the Island"!
Now it is time to start developing those basketball skills also. See you on the courts guys! From all your fans!!!

Something to think about as we get ready to vote

Foreword: I did not write this, just stole it from friend. It would behoove us all to remember just what kind of people we are dealing with when it comes to Hillary C. She is JUST as bad as her philandering Billy. Wonder just who he is "doing" these days?


I know we hear or see all the stories about President Bush and how bad he is, so here is the story the newspapers don't tell you about the president who gave you prosperity that you wanted and bankrupted the country of its morals.

Subject: REMEMBER THIS WHEN HILLARY RUNS FOR PRESIDENT
Bill &Hillary: Worse than you thought & worth remembering and this came from a Democrat

Dear Mr. Ex President Clinton:

I recently saw a bumper sticker that said, "Thank me, I voted for
Clinton-Gore." So, I sat down and reflected on that, and I am sending my
"Thank you" for what you have done, specifically:

1. Thank you for introducing us to Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Monica
Lewinsky, Dolly Kyle Browning, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broderick. Did
I leave anyone out?

2. Thank you for teaching my 8 year old about oral sex. I had really
planned to wait until he was a little older to discuss it with him, but
now he knows more about it than I did as a senior in college.

3. Thank you for showing us that sexual harassment in the work place
(especially the White House) and on the job is OK, and all you have to
know is what the meaning of "it" is. It really is great to know that
certain sexual acts are not sex, and one person may have sex while the
other one does NOT have sex.

4. Thank you for reintroducing the concept of impeachment to a new
generation and demonstrating that the ridiculous plot of the movie "Wag
the Dog" could be plausible after all.

5. Thanks for making Jimmy Carter look competent, Gerald Ford look
graceful, Richard Nixon look honest, Lyndon Johnson look truthful, and
John Kennedy look moral.

6. Thank you for the 73 House and Senate witnesses who have pled the 5th
Amendment and 17 witnesses who have fled the country to avoid testifying
about Democratic campaign fund raising.

7. Thank you, for the 19 charges, 8 convictions, and 4 imprisonment's from
the Whitewater "mess" and the 55 criminal charges and 32 criminal
convictions (so far) in the other "Clinton" scandals.

8. Thanks also for reducing our military by half, "gutting" much of our
foreign policy, and flying all over the world on "vacations" carefully
disguised as necessary trips.

9 Thank you, also, for "finding" millions of dollars (I really didn't need
it in the first place, and I can't think of a more deserving group of
recipients for my hard-earned tax dollars) for all of your globe-trotting.
I understand you, the family and your cronies have logged in more time
aboard Air Force One than any other administration.

10. Now that you've left the White House, thanks for the 140 pardons of
convicted felons and indicted felons-in-exile. We will love to have them
rejoin society. (Not to mention the scores you pardoned while Governor of
Arkansas)

11. Thanks also for removing the White House silverware. I'm sure that
Laura Bush didn't like the pattern anyway. Also, enjoy the housewarming
gifts you've received from your "friends."

12. Thanks to you and your staff in the West Wing of the White House for
vandalizing and destroying government property on the way out. I also
appreciate removing all of that excess weight (China, silverware, linen,
towels, ash trays, soap, pens, magnetic compass, flight manuals, etc.) out
of Air Force 1. The weight savings means burning less fuel, thus less tax
dollars spent on jet fuel. Thank you!

13. And finally, please ensure that Hillary enjoys the $8 million dollar
advance for her "tell-all" book and you, Bill, the $10 million advance for
your memoirs. Who says crime doesn't pay!

14. The last and most important point - thank you for forcing Israel to
let Mohammed Atta go free. Terrorist pilot Mohammed Atta blew up a bus in
Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part
of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree
to release so-called "political prisoners". However, the Israelis would
not release any with blood on their hands. The American President at the
time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher,
"insisted" that all prisoners be released. Thus Mohammed Atta was freed
and eventually thanked the US by flying an airplane into Tower One of the
World Trade Center. This was reported by many of the American TV networks
at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in
the US from all later reports. Why shouldn't Americans know the real
truth?

What a guy!!

If you agree that the American public must be made aware of these facts,
pass this on. God bless America and THANK YOU (once again) for spending my
taxes so wisely and frugally.

SINCERELY,
A US Citizen

PS. Please pass along a special thank you to Al Gore for "inventing" the
Internet, without which I would not be able to send this wonderful,
factual e-mail.

AND THE REST OF THE STORY Hillary Rodham Clinton, as a New York State
Senator, now comes under the "Congressional Retirement and Staffing Plan,"
which means that even if she never gets reelected, she STILL receives her
Congressional salary until she dies. (Would it not be nice if all
Americans were pension eligible after only 4 years?)

If Bill outlives her, he then inherits HER salary until HE dies. He is
already getting his presidential salary until he dies. If Hillary outlives
Bill, she also gets HIS salary until she dies. Guess who pays for that?

WE DO!

It's common knowledge that in order for her to establish NY residency,
they purchased a million dollar-plus house in upscale Chappaqua, New York.
Makes sense. They are entitled to Secret Service protection for life.
Still makes sense.

Here is where it becomes interesting. Their mortgage payments hover at
around $10,000 per month. BUT, an extra residence HAD to be built within
the acreage to house the Secret Service agents. The Clintons charge the
Federal government $10,000 monthly rent for the use of that extra
residence, which is just about equal to their mortgage payment. This means
that we, the taxpayers, are paying the Clinton's salary, mortgage,
transportation, safety and security, as well as the salaries for their 12
man staff -- and, this is all perfectly legal!

When she runs for President, will you vote for her?

Candidates Night

Well, I do believe there is going to be a chance for all of us to go and grill, or at least lightly "toast" the hopefuls for town offices tomorrow night at the school.

Here is a chance to ask directly, I hope, each one of them just exactly what it is that they WOULD accomplish if elected. I realize after having sat in one of those seats that it takes three to make anything happen. But some of the things I would like to hear addressed directly are:

What WILL you do about the Neck Road? Go look at it after just twenty four hours of NE wind and tide.

What exactly WILL you do about the Old Harbor Dock without disrupting the lively-hood of all the business people down there?

What WILL you do about the Inner basin down there being filled with sand? The last three or four spots on the east dock, have been lost to rental because of sand infiltration.

What WILL you do to stop the ever increasing deterioration of all the towns buildings? That, mainly because of the towns inability to hire some one to keep ahead of the curve. You can't pay them slave wages to do somewhat semi-skilled work and expect to keep them long term.

What WILL you do to stop the forthcoming disaster down at Bridgegate square? They, the State in collusion with our Town Council has agreed to let them take a perfectly well operating four way stop, and re-engineer it to someones idea of,"we can do it better". It works just absolutely fine right now as long as you are not from, NJ, NY, MA, CT, and can't wait for your turn because you HAVE TO BE somewhere else right now!

What WILL you do the next time it becomes necessary to do some paving on the roads of the Island, and an asphalt plant needs to be set up TEMPORARILY? Will you cave in to the rants of three or four people, or let it go forward in the interests of the huge amount of money to be saved for the rest of us in the form of less tax money collected?

What WILL you do about getting Port Authority enabling legislation pushed thru, so that we can have some sort of autonomy over how many more ferries can come here?

And finally, What WILL you do about the possibility of taking on the power company as a co-operatively owned entity, run by a PROFESSIONAL manager?

These are things that people WANT to hear your views on, and ferverently hope you will abide by if elected.

Vulnerability on the Neck Road

After taking a walk on the beach across from the Beachead resturant yesterday, I suspect we are going to be in trouble by the end of this winter. If we get two or three real good 'Noth-easter's" that is. It you take the same stroll, you will notice that most of the fill, old cement, rocks etc. that had been put in there years ago and covered with a varied mix of junk, has been being slowly exposed by the wave action and is rolling out on to what little beach is left there. In a few places, the water has already undercut the edge of the road, and after the next storm, it should begin to fall onto the beach below. I expect that after the next few storms we are going to have a much nastier surprise waiting for us the morning after than the one up by at Scotch beach.
As one of the very first actions that I think the new Council should undertake is to start the proceedings to get the State to honor their "commitment" to keep the roads here in good repair. It is going to be a huge job along the lines of what was done on Spring Street below the Spring House in order to slow down the erosion. You can never stop it, because mother nature is a lot stronger and much more persistent than we mere humans.
I hope that this council can work a lot faster than the ones of the last 17 years, as that is how long, at least, that they have all collectively talked the repair of the Old Harbor dock to death with absolutely no action! Yep! Another study for $20-30 K! Just what we need! Come om ALL you wanna be councils folks, lets hear some dialogue on this one.

Blubber for Dinner anyone?

Here is a little surprise sent to us by those lovely east winds. It is supposedly a Blue Whale of about40-50 feet in length. The Herring and the Black Back gulls have found it and will be well supplied with victuals for the foreseeable future. Hopefully it will be all gone by spring except the bones. But don't you dare touch them! This is a protected species, although it comes a little late for this guy. One of those feds didn't do his job well enough I guess. Anyway, there goes my idea of grabbing a few bones and spending the winter making scrimshaw items of the Town Council in action!! I guess it would have to be of bodies in repose and snoring huh? TIFN  

Path to 9/11

Well I see that ABC is finally going to regain some of its credibility as a viable news entity. It is going to, as of THIS date, air a two part mini-series starting on Sunday night. It is called, The Path to 9/11, a movie made by the Disney people wherein it lays out the WHOLE incredible path of events leading up to the actual occurrence of the two towers being destroyed. Apparently it is an absolutely factual account of what happened. How am I so sure of this? Because the four top Democratic Senators sent a letter to Micheal Eiger, president of Disney, threatening him and ABC with the loss of their licenses to broadcast over the US airways if they regain power in the House and Senate this fall! Don't believe that statement? Google up, Democratic Senators letter to Disney, and read it yourself. This is a blatant attempt to squash a movie that portrays Bill Clinton in his true light. When the CIA guys in Afganistan had the house where Osama was hiding, surrounded and they put in a call to the White House to see if it was still okay to go in and get him, Our Uncle Billy sid no, right along with Sandy Berger, one of his top aides(NSA?). I guess Bill had other things on his mind, or other parts of his anatomy, another aide under the desk I suspect.
So lets all watch Sunday night and see if ABC retains its newfound supply of intestinal fortitude and goes ahead with its intended showing of Disneys $40 million dollar movie. I am sure it will portray events in a more factual light than that piece of crap by M. Moore, farenheit9/11. BTW, Mr. Bill has been on the phone with the Disney folks trying to get them to rewrite history more favorable to him. I ferverently hope they didn't cave in. Tell it like it WAS, and let the chips fall where they may. TIFN

Reutersgate on Block Island!

Photoshopped! It even happens in the smallest of newspapers. Apparently Adnan Hajii, a photo stringer of Lebanese lineage, has taken up residence on BI under the alias of "Nameless"! I refer to the photo in this weeks newspaper, emblazoned across the front of the paper. In an amazing display of camera wielding, the local bathing pavilion has disappeared into the nether world, and a very nice looking sand dune has appeared in it's place. Is nothing sacred anymore? Why is it necessary to TRY and dupe we who live here with a false representation of actuality? I can't be the only one who has noticed this. I realize that this is a much better view than that of the boxy building, but come on folks, reality would have sufficed. BTW, don't know who Adnan Hajii is? Go to a web site called "Little Green Footballs" and scroll through a few previous posts of the last week or so. You'll find, in the Blogosphere, the only coverage of the fake,(photoshopped) photos by this man sent to Reuters, and then on too the rest of the world giving totally false apprasials of what is going on in the Isreali/Hezbollah war. NOT ONE WORD has been seen in the MSM about these dupliticious actions by AP/Reuters. Their credibility has been shot to hell in my estimation, and I will find it hard to believe anything they put forth in the future, as nothing more than their reconstructed views of what actually happened. Truth be damned! Another BTW, sorry about my prediliction for the use of comma's. I never learned the rules for the correct usage. TIFN

Lets get Political!!

Now here is a subject that about which I think we can all have a little to say. The "Question" I pose is, "What do you think of the candidates that are running for office this time around?" Feel free to speak your mind and say what you really think about how the performance of each of these individuals, if elected, will Effect/Affect ( both uses of the words) the running of the Island. Now let us NOT have any Nasty or Personally derogatory remarks about them. Just how you think they will do, and wether you are going to vote for or against each and why. Let's make the questions/answers well reasoned and hold the vitriol to a minimum. Okay folks let's go! Here is your chance to vent, good or bad!! TIFN

Still Alive and Kickin'

Well, I'm still here on top of the dirt, but have been too busy with my "other job" to do much here. Will get back at it soon enough. Thanks for hanging around.

Taking back the Old Harbor

In the paper yesterday there was a call by some for the town to "take back control of the Old Harbor". Well it is a sentiment that I am in full accord with, but I think it is too late to happen now. It could be done using the eminent domain ploy but the court fight will go on for years 'til either Interstate et al, runs out of money or resolve, or the town does. I think the town will be the one that falters first. That is unless there are some really strong personalities that are in the wings who will come forward and shepard this thing to it's conclusion. To do that though, is going to take a long time commitment by those folks to get themselves elected on a recurring basis, and have the mental and physical wherewithal to finish it. That and the ability to convince the public at large that this is a good thing for the well being of the Island! And at the same time they should still persue the Port Authority concept with relentless vigor. Nevermind what the nay-sayers will counter with, ad nauseum. Maybe THAT, first! Then the town would have some teeth with which to grasp the eminent domain problem with some hope of resolving it fairly quickly. In case you haven't noticed there are now 22 boats a day coming into Old harbor hauling people and freight, and another about to descend on us from New Bedford.

I've been told by some of the people researching the property ownership of the land in front of the National that my family is one of those 19 part owners of said piece. If that is true, I'll state here and now, that in the interests of preserving some semblence of sanity in the down town area, I'll give up my right of ownership to the town provided it can demonstrate that it will in fact, use that right for the furtherance of a viable and well thought out plan for it's usage. It is NOT a piece of land that can be used for much of any kind of commercial venture what with 19 other "partners" to consider. That being the case, maybe an approach of the others by the town with a good "sales pitch", might elicit the same reaction from them.
Now if this is going to happen, it needs to get going soon, as after I'm out of the equation, family commitments and desires may change! TIFN

And Lets not forget This TWO Faced Bastard

That Was Then, This Is Now

John Kerry on the campaign trail, in December 2003, before the Council on Foreign Relations:

I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election.

I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit. But it would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists.

Kerry was against cutting and running before he was for it!

Mr Lincoln Chaffee- NOT in his fathers image!

I have been following all the votes of our junior senator and am very dissapointed in what I've seen. He seems to have fallen right into the clutches of the good old Libs. He was the ONLY Republican to vote today, for the "re-deployment" of troops in Iraq. The only one of 39 others all dems. Sounds like he wants to be one.

He has also been sitting on a bill, in his committee, that would end forever that wonderful "death" tax wherein your family has to pay a tax to the government because you had the bad luck or audacity to up and croke out! Bad enough you're gone from them forever, but they rub salt in the wounds by making you sell the house you live in to pay the damned tax! I tell my kids that when it happens to me and they can't pay the money, burn the friggin' house down and ship them some ashes! House ashes that is, not me!

Then there is the issue of him voting for bills with all those wonderful things called "earmarks" whereby any senator can just add on ANY AMOUNT of money they wish for some project in their district and there is NEVER any debate on the subject! Even if voting against such a bill would deprive your own State from gaining some money for a project,I personally think that it would be the right thing to do! Also the MORAL thing to do! Maybe if enough of the people in the Congress had the intestinal fortitude to do this and to hell with the consequences, maybe the people of this country might begin to gain a little more respect for the politicians who they sent down there to look out for their intrests! But NOT at the expense of other folks in the country. Because of people like Congressman Jefferson, Patrick Kennedy and his dumbshit father and quite a few others of questionable integrity, the faith of millions of people in the ability of these bent people to govern us equitably, has been irrepairably damaged. I have absolutely NO regard for nine tenths of the people down there. Chaffee has to go and that is why I WILL vote for Laffey in the primaries. If he doesn't live up to his promises, out he goes on his ass in six years. That should be long enough for anybody anyway. After that, to many "good ole boy" alliances get formed to the detriment of us all. Any bill that comes before them should be debated and voted on strictly on it's merits and not because you 'owe' someone a vote from a previous bill of your choices passage.

So come on all you sinners! Out with the old and corrupt! In with the new and not-quite-so-corrupt!! Another rant to follow some day. TIFN