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Jack Kerouac Reading with Steve Allen on TV

PaulM — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:06:51 +0000

To add to the “content” for Jack Kerouac’s birthday, here’s a clip of Jack reading on Steve Allen’s TV show in the late 1950s. Stay with the clip to the end for the impressive ending.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzCF6hgEfto

St Patrick’s Day - 1989

DickH — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:38:56 +0000

With St Patrick’s Day less than a week away, here’s a preview of some of the jokes you will hear at the various breakfasts that will be held in the coming days. These are clips from the 1989 Lowell St Patrick’s Day Breakfast, with Ken Harkins as the Master of Ceremonies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2XTf4IIG8Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1tCu4lgWA

Jack Kerouac March 12, 1922

Tony — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:31:11 +0000

Lowell poet Jack Kerouac was born 88 years ago today, March 12, 1922. Below are two fascinating videos of Kerouac.

In this video Kerouac is shown playing pool Lowell’s Pawtucketville Social Club in 1967.

In this video Kerouac is being interview by Fernanda Pivano. Jack appears to be in a “not so coherent” state. Its sad.

Brooks on Barack, Krugman on Obamacare

PaulM — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:18:57 +0000

NYTimes columnist David Brooks tries to set the record straight on what President Obama is doing and why he is doing it. I’m not in Brooks’ camp on most issues, but on the President he is usually a fair and reasonable commentator. I appreciate his thoughtful tone as he writes about complex political and social issues. He doesn’t go nuclear and accuse Democrats, progressives, liberals, or others of being unpatriotic, bad Americans if they hold a view different than his. Read his column here and consider subscribing to the NYT if you appreciate it.

Brooks’ colleague the economist Paul Krugman today walks us through the realities of the health care reform bill in its current version. Where have the voices of the people who really need this bill been for the past year? My sense is that most if not all of the opposition has come from people who are fighting it while on the “health-care plan clock,” so to speak… they’re covered. Read Krugman’s column here.

Governor Patrick: Lead Communities to Health Insurance Savings by Marjorie Arons-Barron

Tony — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:34:48 +0000

Marjorie Arons-Barron writes about the high cost of health insurance and its effect on Massachusetts communities in this entry cross posted from her own blog.

Governor Patrick is said to be planning a visit to Newton this Saturday. His campaign will be giving out bumper stickers and signing up supporters. Here’s what I hope he talks about: the cost of health insurance to cover city workers. It’s a case study in what ails local communities these days.

Newton faces an $11 million deficit. Eighty percent of the cost of running the city goes for payroll and benefits. A solid chunk of those benefits covers health insurance. Recent town hall meetings in all eight wards showed that taxpayers want something done about the costs of that health insurance.

For one thing, the city shouldn’t be paying over 80 percent of the premiums, leaving the city workers to pay a token amount. It doesn’t happen in the private sector, and it’s not fair for taxpayers struggling to pay their own premiums to face a tax increase to cover workers who enjoy greater benefits than their own. Refusing to do better at sharing premium costs will eventually mean laying off some of those very workers, whose services are essential to the city.

Increasing the employee contribution is just one possible solution. Ending the bar to cities and towns’ joining the state’s Group Insurance Commission should be a no-brainer. A recent study by The Boston Foundation found that the handful of communities that have joined the GIC have enjoyed significant savings. If Boston joined the GIC, it could save an estimated 16-17 percent on health premiums.

Unfortunately, when the state allowed local communities to join the GIC, it required that 70 percent of local unions had to approve. And, viewing their benefits as something they had bargained for, they refused to agree to join the GIC. The only solution now seems to be for state law to be changed to lower (or dare we wish it) eliminate that 70 percent approval requirement.

So, Governor Patrick, you’ve already responsibly taken on public sector unions on the issues of civilian flaggers and the excesses of the Quinn bill. Public employee health insurance is “where the rubber hits the road.” You’ve been a stand-up guy on some of the toughest issues facing our state - education, ethics, transportation and pension reform – all hot button issues. This is the big one for cities and towns and their hard-pressed residents. Tell the people of Newton on Saturday what you’re going to do on this issue. The great recession and shrinking local revenues made it impossible to fulfill your 2006 campaign promise to lower local property taxes, but , by leading a reluctant legislature into the light on this, you could help lower the rate of property tax growth.

Senate Leader Harry Reid’s Family in Auto Accident

Marie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:25:56 +0000

The Washington Post is reporting that the wife and daughter of Senate Majority leader Harry Reid were seriously hurt in an automobile accident. The vehicle they were riding in was rear-ended. They were taken to an Washington D.C. area hospital for treatment. Reports unclear on extent of their injuries.

Breaking news here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/03/reids-wife-and-daughter-sent-t.html?wpisrc=nl_polalert

‘The Red Sox Tree’ by Tom Sexton

PaulM — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:17:01 +0000

Here’s another poem from Tom Sexton’s book of Lowell poems, A Clock With No Hands (Adastra Press, 2007). With Nomar back in the news and in the fold, this seemed like a good day for this poem.—PM

The Red Sox Tree

It seemed to take all morning to go around

the massive trunk of that ancient beech.

Almost eight, I kept one eye on the ground

as I climbed as high as I could reach.

A vet who’d fought on Iwo Jima carved

their line-up where the branches thinned,

far above the last initials in their heart,

where the air was always cold on the skin.

Climbing to it was my goal that summer,

and on the Fourth I was almost there

when I was forced back down by thunder

and lightning close enough to singe my hair.

Safe at home behind my bedroom door,

I chanted Williams, Pesky, and Bobby Doerr.

Why so many pine cones?

PaulM — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:07:04 +0000

The Boston Globe yesterday reported on the unusually large amount of pine cones everywhere this year. I noticed this phenomemon in my family’s back yard and across the street at the South Common. The explanation has to do with regular cycles of production, this one being the culmination of the most recent three-year cycle. Read the article here and consider subscribing to the Globe if you appreciate it.

Courthouse Molding being Cast

Tony — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:05:22 +0000

Yesterday workers set up scaffolding on the exterior of the Lowell Superior Courthouse. This work is actually the first step of the installation of an elevator on the Elm Street side of the building. Contractors plan to attach the elevator to the side entrance of the building by the parking lot. The structure will be brick and include several windows for design purposes. Through most of yesterday morning skilled workers used the scaffolding pictured below to access the unique moldings that surround two exterior windows. They painted a latex like substance on the molding. Since the courthouse’s first and second floor window adornments are different workers cast each. These casts will be used to replicated molding that will be installed over the new elevator’s windows.

‘The War Place’: Section 8

PaulM — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:43:52 +0000

Following is the eighth section of the long poem “The War Place.” Section seven was posted March 8.—PM

Invasion of Grenada, 1983

A Marine jet whines,

Its slant chalk scratch

On an otherwise flawless ceiling.

Even L.A.’s smog blown off

By night desert winds.

Scruffy palms, roasting,

Outnumber the faithful at Capo Beach

This bright autumn noon.

One bather treads,

Light in the heave and slide,

Just beyond the break.

Hissing foam sucks back through the stones.