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There is nothing earth shattering about this Tim Cahill for Governor Super Bowl ad, but you’ve got to give the campaign an “A” for creating a buzz with it.

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Because my house is on the flight path of Medflight helicopters coming into and out of Lowell, whenever I hear the whop-whop-whop of rotors passing overhead, I know something bad has happened. To learn more about these various incidents, I purchased an inexpensive police scanner last fall. Now, I sometimes listen to it at night while I’m on the computer, whether or not any aircraft are aloft.

Some interesting stuff flashed over the airwaves tonight. Here’s a sampling:

• Someone “blew up” a mailbox in Tewksbury. The State Police Bomb Squad is en route to conduct a follow-up investigation.
• A group of kids in a Black Camry stole the street sign for Starr Ave in Belvidere
• Event security at Winterfest called for the detail officers to take away “two females who were urinating inside the tent.”
• An employee at the Burger King in Chelmsford called saying there were 50 people in the parking lot waiting to beat him up when he got off work.
• A Lowell cruiser dispatched to the Tsongas Center at Umass Lowell (formerly known as the Tsongas Arena) to investigate an “intoxicated individual on the front stairs” found no one, but asked the UML police be summoned “so they can check on their property.”

Just another weekend night in Greater Lowell

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For a prime example of how out of whack Corporate America and its media coat holders are to the reality of life in America these days, check out the reaction to the news that Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of investment bank Goldman Sachs received a bonus of “only” $9 million this year. (Before shedding too many tears over Mr Blankfein’s misfortune, remember that his 2007 bonus of $68 million will probably allow him to maintain the standard of living to which he’s become accustomed for several more years).

To put it in perspective, an American worker with a $50,000 per year job would have to work 180 years to earn $9 million dollars. For those who say that Mr. Blankfein puts forth more effort than the average worker, let’s assume that our “average” worker take a second job with identical pay. Now working 80 hours per week to earn $100,000 per year, our worker would require 90 years to earn the equivalent of Mr. Blankfein’s annual bonus.

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More often than not, the Super Bowl turns out to be a lousy football game. If you doubt that, just think of 1986 (Bears 46, Patriots 10) or 1997 (Packers 35, Patriots 21). And for all the buzz about them, I’d say the same is also true about Super Bowl commercials. In recent non-Patriot years, I’ve focused as much on the commercials as on the game and few have left me with a “that was pretty good” reaction.

This year even before game day, two commercials have gotten a great deal of attention. One features Florida QB Tim Tebow and his mom and is pro-life/anti-abortion. I don’t believe the video of the ad or even the script has been released yet so I can’t include it here. I’m looking forward to seeing this ad and listening to its message, whether I agree with it or not.

The second ad is one you won’t see, at least on CBS during the Super Bowl. It’s by a website called ManCrunch.com which is a dating service for gay men. In its letter rejecting the ad, CBS wrote the ad “is not within the Network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday” which I find a laughable claim given the crude, low humor laden commercials I’ve been subjected to during Super Bowls past.

I can imagine exactly how this decision was made at the highest levels of CBS. Someone said “whatever criticism we get for rejecting the ad will be infinitely less than the grief we will endure if we let it on the air.” In that I believe CBS has badly miscalculated. In another context, Frank Rich writes this week about the mammoth change that has occurred in Americans’ attitudes since 2004 “when Karl Rove and George W. Bush ran a national campaign exploiting fear of gay people.” Rich points to the “curious silence” from much of the right in response to Adm Mike Mullen’s call for repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell as evidence that mainstream America now recognizes that being gay is not a “lifestyle” but “an immutable identity.” Hopefully he’s right.

As for the Super Bowl ads, I’ve included two below. The first is the ManCrunch ad that was just rejected by CBS; the second is a Snickers ad that did run during the 2007 Super Bowl. View them both and you’ll see the hypocrisy of CBS.

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Here is a list on Toniacs Super Bowl XLIV predictions:

Game Related Predictions

1. OK, right to the point…I think the Colts will win by at least 10 points.

2. Four points or less will separate the teams at half time.

3. The referees will make a controversial, momentum changing call in favor of the Colts (probably in the third quarter).

4. Saints running back, Reggie Bush will rush for less than 50 yards and give up a crucial fumble.

5. Peyton Manning will be the Super Bowl MVP (I wonder, does the MVP still go to Disney World?)

Non-Game related Predictions

6. The best TV commercial will be by E*Trade with the talking (shankapotomus) kid.

7. After this game the NFL will stop labeling the Super Bowl with Roman Numerals, since there are only a few of us old timers left that can read them.

8. Next year the NFL will bring Super Bowl XLV (I mean 45) to Lambeau Field in Green Bay so we can once again watch the game played the way it was meant to be…in the elements.

9. In case of injury to one of the Super Bowl quarter-backs from either team, super Dad, Archie Manning will take the filed as back up.

10. Finally…Buffalo Wings will be the most popular Super Bowl munchie this year.

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Bread & Roses Strike Discussion and Tour

Saturday, February 27, 1 pm to 4 pm, Lawrence Heritage State Park, 1 Jackson St, Lawrence, http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks

On Saturday, Feb. 24, 1912, Lawrence police prevented striking women from sending their children to safety on the 7.11 train, citing “neglect” as the reason. In the riotous melee that followed, 14 adults and 15 children were arrested. By Monday the 26th, the city was in chaos, with marching and singing workers slinging bricks at police, who were shooting into the crowds by then.

Join UMass Lowell historian and professor Bob Forrant and Jim Beachesne, acting supervisor of Lawrence Heritage State Park, for a discussion of violent conflict during the famous Bread & Roses Strike. The program also features a tour of selected locations of the strike, excerpts from the documentary film “John Brown’s War,” and discussion of Brown’s choice of armed conflict in the 19th century.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The program is presented by the Mass Foundation for the Humanities in collaboration wiht Lawrence HSPark, Lawrence History Center, and Lawrence Public Library. For more information, visit www.masshumanities.org or contact localhistory@masshumanities.org

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Walking outside this morning, the cold temperature, chilling breeze, gray sky, and moist air made me blurt out, almost involuntarily, “it sure feels like snow.” That, plus the stories from our nation’s capitol about the “epic snowstorm” now battering that region, caused me to think back thirty-two years to the Blizzard of ’78 when nearly three feet of snow fell on Greater Lowell in a three day period (February 5-7, 1978) paralyzing all of Southern New England and leaving behind a lifetime of interesting stories. I was a sophomore at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, a place that received even more snow than Boston and Lowell, if you can believe that. The following is a story I wrote in 1993 on the fifteenth anniversary of the storm. For those of you above the age of forty, please add in your recollections of the storm.

As dormitory residents at Providence College, none of us paid much attention to weather forecasts. Since the classrooms, the gym and the cafeteria were only a few yards away, snow had never been a problem. Until February of 1978, that is.

The snow, which started falling by mid-morning, was a welcome sight to most. Six weeks earlier, a tragic dormitory fire had killed ten of our classmates and the heavy flakes falling outside the classrooms seemed to lighten the somber mood of those on campus. By noon, however, we were in the middle of a major storm. My roommates and I walked off campus and soon were pushing cars through the drifts, helping commuters make their way home. It snowed all that day, through the night, and for most of the next day. By the time it stopped, nearly 4 feet of snow had fallen on the city of Providence. Nothing – not even snowplows – could move for days. We spent our time trudging though the neighborhoods adjacent to the college, offering snow shoveling services. There were many takers.

Soon we had plenty of money but nowhere to spend it. The shelves of the local stores were all empty. Unfortunately, so was our cafeteria. Friday, lunch consisted of baked beans, canned peaches, crackers and water. Later that afternoon, Rhode Island National Guard helicopters loaded with food were landing in the parking lot, resupplying the college as if it were an isolated military outpost.

Sunday afternoon, the exciting yet erratic Providence College basketball team was scheduled to play North Carolina, the number one team in the country. Green Airport finally opened, allowing the visitor’s plane to land, and word went out that admission was free for anyone who could make it to the downtown Civic Center. Even then, days after the storm, the main road to downtown Providence was open only to snowmobiles and pedestrians. Everyone on campus walked the three miles to see the game and what a game it was. Amidst signs reading “Hi Mom, send shovels”, the unranked Friars beat the best team in the country in the final seconds of a nationally televised game. It was a fitting conclusion to an unforgettable week.

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Back from a short, sunny escape Marjorie Arons-Barron gives us her thoughts on “re-entry”, cross posted from her own blog.

The thing about viewing the world from between your toes, seeing naught but silky white sand and turquoise water, is that it clears your mind.

Re-entry is problematic. I note, for example, that save for the child abduction story, Haiti has disappeared from the headlines here. Is the ongoing human misery no longer a concern? How serious, substantive and sustained will Bill Clinton’s role be away from the spotlight? How will it be possible to transform a Republic of NGOs into a viable nation?

I also note that nothing distracted from Scott Brown’s rock star will-he-run-for-President status until his swearing-in yesterday. This is, as work-aversive former Governor Bill Weld used to say, where the rubber hits the road. At last, Scott Brown will have to get down to business, learn the rules, the issues and his colleagues, and figure out truly whether his primary fealty is to Mitch McConnell, John McCain, a 2012 re-election strategy or to what is best for the people of Massachusetts and the nation. We shall soon see what a Scott Brown Republican really is.

Also greeting me is a story about a Marlborough Councilor’s proposal that all voters have to show photo ID’s at the polls. What’s next? A poll tax? Back in the day, then Senate President Bill Bulger used to joke that, when he died, he wanted to be buried in St. Augustine’s Cemetery in Southie so he could remain politically active. But, to my knowledge, there has been virtually no voter fraud in the Commonwealth since the introduction of voting machines, and photo ID’s would seem to be an unnecessary encumbrance.

On the up side, I note that the Massachusetts House finally passed the no-brainer proposal to ban texting while driving, require hands-free technology for cell phone use while driving and impose vision tests for those over 75 years of age every five years rather than every decade. Critics lament the absence of action on mental acuity tests for older people. Too bad they don’t have that for all of us - especially after a vacation!

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The recommendations - while still not approved by the DNC and its members - offer these solutions:

• Timing of presidential primaries and caucuses: The Commission recommends pushing back the window of time during which primaries and caucuses may be held so that the pre-window could not begin until February 1st or thereafter, and the primary window could not begin until the second Tuesday in March or thereafter. Second, the Commission suggests an incentive system to encourage states to regionally cluster their contests and/or hold their contests later in the nominating calendar so as to avoid frontloading in the calendar.
• To significantly reduce the number of unpledged delegates: The Commission recommends: 1) the category of unpledged add-on delegates will no longer be allocated and 2) converting unpledged delegates (DNC members, Democratic Members of the House and Senate, Democratic Governors and Distinguished Former Party Leaders) to a new category of pledged delegates called the National Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (NPLEO) delegates, which will be allocated to Presidential candidates based on the state-wide primary or caucus results. These individuals would also have the option of attending the convention as a non-voting delegate. (In either case, they would receive the same floor credentials and housing as others in their state delegation. The NPLEO designation continues to recognize the important role… party’s leaders play and will ensure that they continue to have a voice and role in the nominating process and at the convention.)
•  To improve the caucus system: The Commission recommends establishing a “Best Practices” program to help states improve and strengthen their caucuses, keeping in mind that different types of caucuses are used within the Party and that state parties often have limited resources with which to work. The “Best Practices” program would help states adequately plan, organize, and staff caucuses and maximize the opportunity for full participation by all Democratic voters.

It will take a while for the DNC to fully review and vote on these recommendations. Rolling out the final version and selling the implimentation will be a longer more difficult process. State-by-state regulations, parochial concerns and local pride will still be factors, in my opinion. What will it mean for New Hampshire’s “first in the nation” presidential primary status? Will the two-part caucus/primary system in Texas be affected? Will Iowa still “rule” as the most significant caucus? Will new and significant regional primaries emerge in the process? What incentive would encourage a backloaded “cluster” of primaries? Is an NPLEO significant enough for those party seniors and stalwarts? Can this new approach be designed and implimented fast enough to really improve the presidential nomination process in the run-up to 2012?  Color me skeptical.

Go to The Democratic Party blog to read more about the process and weigh-in with your opinion at: http://www.democrats.org/blog.html

Disclosure: I am a member of the DSC representing the 2EM District, Vice-Chair of the Tewksbury DTC and Chair of Greater Lowell Area Democrats. mps

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