Frequent contributor Jim Peters shares this essay:

I was watching television this evening, the news on ABC to be exact, and Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of the City of New York was featured for a new program in the city. Bloomberg has, apparently, dictated that new mothers be given a stern lecture on breast-feeding while formula is locked-up in a separate part of the nursery. Eight million people of New York City are being denied a basic right, the right to choose. If a Democrat had come up with this, they would be figuratively crucified. Since a Republican did it, ABC just reported that information. Conservatives often say that the press is leaning towards the left on the issues. This bit of information and the way that it was reported, indicate to me that the press is leaning towards the right. No comment was made on the constitutionality of this program. No comment was made beyond reporting the facts of the program. I believe in breast-feeding, I just find this to be somewhat puzzling. Women, for millions of reasons, make the decision to breast feed or not based on a number of good reasons. Job requirements, schools, and family considerations all play into this decision. It should not be dictated by the Mayor of New York.

Speaking of women’s rights, Scott Brown has lost any consideration for my vote based on his decision to support the Bond Amendment, which dictates that a women not be reviewed for, I believe, cervical cancer more than every five years. Cancer is something I have, and I do not believe that doctor’s orders for tests should be tempered by a law which is detrimental to basic health. How he explained this vote to his wife, Gail Huff, or his daughters is beyond me.

Life is very interesting for me right now. I am incredibly busy with my landscaping business, my children are doing very well and my mother just paid a visit to Lowell and its environs. She had a good time, and remembers when the National Park was just a dream. She was impressed with the activity she saw downtown. She worked downtown for years, at Community Teamwork, Inc. She was curious as to what is happening at the Jackson Mills. Construction seems to have stopped, I believe, and I am kind of curious as to what is happening there. The Ken Powers’ experiment on Middlesex Street seems to be doing well. I wonder what would have happened had Ken Powers still been the leader of Lowell House, Inc. As I wrote in a previous blog, I believe Lowell House, Inc. was synomonous with its director. I wonder how things are going there without him?

Speaking of well-known Lowellians, Richard Howe Jr. was estatic about his son Andrew’s graduation from Harvard University. Andrew, as I understand it, is working hard for Elizabeth Warren’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. His parents, I hear, are very proud of him. I wish him well. He was an outstanding student at Lowell High School, which bodes well for the school and its reputation. I hear from my friends who are still there that it is an highly-charged environment. I hope the emotionally and otherwise challenged students are being challenged to go on to college or into a vocation that pays well. I see a great many people who give up on their education, but I see many others who eventually go on and get their Bachelor’s degrees.

I just heard a commercial by the Republicans saying that Mr. Obama cannot run on his record. Of course he can. I believe as an historian that Obama gave up his chance for an outstanding presidency by not utilizing the power of the press in his first term. There were no Rooseveltian “Fireside Chats” to calm the people down. He did not utilize his ability as a speaker to echo John F. Kennedy. But he has made progress. NAFTA was not his fault, but Republicans are quick to plant the effects of making it easier to import Canadian and Mexican goods on him. The Republicans were the party in power when the AWACs airplane was forced down by the Chinese so they could dissect it. In my opinion, the next morning we should have sent in the Navy Seals and blown the thing to bits. Too many secrets were lost by that embarassing manuveur. Now we have sent the majority of our manufacturing to the Chinese at great American expense.

I have not spent any time writing about my brother-in-law lately. Paul Tsongas was the most innately competitive man I have ever met. One day, on Cape Cod, he decided that the game of the season was Bocce. No we did not bet on it. Anyway, he was ready for me, in spite of the lateness of the hour, and we played pretty well together. As I have said before, you did not lose to Paul. A tie was OK, but a loss was unexcusable. We played Bocce until it became dark. Paul said, “Let’s give it one more toss and call it a day.” I said fine, or something like that. He threw a beautiful toss, and came within an inch of the jack. “Beat that,” he said. I saw my game floundering but I lined up and gave it my best shot. I came within an inch of the Jack, too. “I don’t believe it!” he said. “Kids, come out and see this,” he yelled. I had not embarassed myself, and I was pleased. Every summer there was a new game. Every summer I played. And, most times I competed well.

It is too easy to blame the current situation on the Democrats. Democrats assume responsibility, Republicans transfer the blame. It is time to negotiate. As I quoted from John Randolph about Henry Clay, “Like a mackeral by moonlight he shines yet stinks.” Having lived through four years of Romneyism, I apply that to Mr. Romney. Henry Clay was a born politician who would say anything to get elected. That is how I view Mr. Romney. He eschews his relationship to Massachusetts, his authorship of the state’s first-in-the-country medical care insurance package, and everything else that he used to hold dear. He even escaped Massachusetts to move to California so he could run as a Californian. In my opinion, it was a dastardly thing to do.