President Obama's health care Town Hall in Portsmouth

President Obama came to Portsmouth High School on Tuesday to conduct a Town Hall forum on health care. Had he come in the front door, he would have been flanked on his left and right by those representing the left and right, as citizens from both sides of the political spectrum were awaiting his arrival. Had he not used the back door, he would have landed center stage among those playing out the frenzied, tense drama with escalated rhetoric directed, ultimately, not at him, and not at each other, but at the national audience brought by the media who swarmed the site from well before I got there at 6:45 a.m., until sometime after I left at 4:30 p.m.

I'm frustrated by the photos I took outside. You can see the crowds, read the signs. But what they don't convey is how damn loud it was--loud in an ugly way. In a scary way. In a pessimistic, hopeless this-can't-possibly-be-a-good-way-to-do-anything way.

Inside the gymnasium, the mood was celebratory: the President of the United States was about to arrive. I'd venture to guess many of those present had seen Obama before as candidate Obama--I had several times--but a presidential visit seemed different. People felt honored to be there. There was a point at which someone came out to talk to the crowd and said something about health care (I can't remember what exactly) that sent Obama supporters to their feet. That was when I saw how many people who opposed him were in the room. I was startled enough by their numbers to imagine things could get unpleasant. But the atmosphere in the room wasn't foreboding. And, after having spent the morning among the crowd outside, it felt like a love fest.

If you missed watching it on TV, it's available to watch any time on c-span. (Oh, and don't skip over the National Anthem. It was sung by high school senior, Natalie Hazzard, whose voice was sweet and clear and on pitch--no mean feat for that piece! Ordinarily, when I hear our anthem sung, I'm further convinced This Land is Your Land would be a far better choice for the country. I still think it is, but this time that wasn't my first thought!)

Enjoy the pictures!

100 Days Visibility in Newburyport

On a morning that was supposed to be rainy and miserable, bright skies prevailed over a happy reunion of Obama supporters who gathered in Market Square to show their enthusiasm for the new administration's accomplishments.

Cars honked in a show of support and smiling demonstrators waved back in solidarity.

It was altogether a lovely way to start the day!




You can see the rest of the pictures HERE.

Greg Palast

I don't know if any of you have had a chance to visit any of the links I've provided to websites and blogs over to your right, but let me direct you now to Greg Palast's blog. His new entry is about the evils of nuke plants and how McCain's and Obama's proposed nuclear energy policies differ.

Once you've read that, click on Greg's home page and look around. He's an investigative reporter who is passionate about election protection, knows a great deal about election fraud and writes about it for the BBC. Note: he's an American, but writes for the BBC, because the American MSM won't hire such a blatant truth-teller.

If you read my post from July 28 (the link from Common Dreams) about the role of the DOJ in the firing of U.S. Attorneys, you'll be interested to know that it was largely due to the investigative work of Palast that the practice of caging voters came to light, an issue on which he collaborates with Robert Kennedy, Jr. They are currently investigating why thousands of democrats have found their names missing from the voter rolls during this year's primary.

FACT: On Super-Tuesday, the number of Democrats missing from voter rolls in New Mexico exceeded George Bush’s 2004 ‘victory’ total by 300%. No wonder McCain’s campaign says, New Mexico is “in play.” The question is who’s playing with it?

I hope you will comment about what you read there.

Btw, I've had a request from a friend that I remove the restriction that requires one to sign up on blogger before making a comment, and I've done that. So, let the conversation begin! (You can go back to any of the previous posts on this blog and comment. It's never too late!)

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Here are links to some weekend reading:

Glenn Greenwald on this week's news with an excellent chronology and updates about the anthrax scare.

There is a move to promote the idea of Wes Clark for VP here and here.

China parks 1.5 million cars, closes factories and spends 18 billion dollars (yup, that's B for billion and $ for dollars) to turn dirty gray skies to blue in time for the Olympic games.

Have you noticed McCain's recently-flipped stance on squeaky clean campaigning? It's because there's been a change of personnel. Here's a piece about the nasty campaign tactics being used against Obama by Steve Schmidt, who ran "Karl Rove's war room" against Kerry in 2004.

What Schmidt and his associates have apparently concluded is that McCain’s weaknesses—on the election’s most salient issues and as a candidate—are so pronounced and Obama’s vulnerabilities so glaring that the low road is their guy’s best, and maybe only, route to the White House.

More later (maybe)...

Kerry v. Lieberman on this Sunday's Meet the Press

This Sunday on Meet the Press (10:30 a.m. ET), Tom Brokaw will moderate as John Kerry, for Obama, goes head to head with Joe Lieberman, for McCain. (How odd to feel compelled to remind readers who is advocating for whom.)

If you're as angry with Lieberman as most Dems, and if you have a propensity for throwing things, you might want to watch it on an old TV.

We in Newbury/Newburyport had hoped that Senator Kerry might find time to march in the Yankee Homecoming parade this Sunday. I guess this news establishes his alibi! ;-)

UPDATE: For a preview of what we might expect from Kerry on Sunday, take a look at his appearance on Friday evening's Race for the White House, in a segment called "Face Off," in which he blew Arizona Senator John Kyl out of the water.


Speaking of Sunday, after you kill your TV, you'll have just enough time to get to Newburyport to support Congressman John Tierney by marching with him in the Yankee Homecoming parade! (Details to the right.)

Concert to benefit Obama campaign Sept. 12

There's a wonderful event coming up on September 12th: a concert to benefit Obama will take place at Jordan Hall (not a bad seat in the place). Tickets start at only $20.

Many well-known Boston area musicians are coming together to perform a concert to benefit the campaign. And to entertain us!

Here is the announcement on BlueMassGroup as well as a post from Wednesday requesting we buy our tickets by the end of the month. Hey, that's today!

Who's going to carpool down with me?

Sunday morning

This morning, when I remembered Obama was going to be on Meet the Press, I flipped on the TV and found myself watching c-span, the channel I was watching last night before going to bed. The congressional hearing exploring the horrible policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell was being aired, and I ended up watching the entire thing. (You can find the link under the Congressional Hearings heading in the column on the right.)

When it was over, I watched Senator Obama here.

I spent most of the day learning bits of html and exploring the layout and posting options of this blog. It's a little overwhelming, but lots of fun. (It would be lots more fun if someone would pay me to do it!)

Now, I'm going to stop this. I've been waiting all day for a few moments to read the latest post on Dick Cavett's blog, What's So Funny About Nebraska If you didn't know about Cavett's blog, but remember his TV show, you'll be pleased to discover his writing entertains with the same unique and refreshing style. I envy those of you who have yet to discover the posts in the archives of his blog!