Christmas Cheers

Why would a supposedly sane and reasonable/rational person even consider voting for Donald Trump? Trump personifies what politics has deteriorated to in the United States. One can assign as many negatives to Trump as possible and still be coming up sparse on the ledger. But back to the main premise of why? Simply two words – Hillary Clinton.

The illustrious ledger of lies from the Clinton camp certainly is a legacy that will haunt her run for the presidency, but the faithful will do what they do best and ignore the obvious. I would certainly love to post a litany of her ability to dance around various faux pas, but there would be a logjam on servers around the globe inundated with anecdotal and non-anecdotal examples and the precious internet will come tumbling down.

The local angst over the rotary or is it now “The Rotary” continues to inspire our state government – most notably the Department of Transportation – to ingeniously devise ever newer methods of delay. In the meantime commons fixes such as dedicated lanes within the rotary – a common practice elsewhere – are ignored, so that entering and exiting resembles a demolition derby.

Dan Murray is simply painful to watch. The parsing of words at a snail’s pace and the disorganization of notes when going before the BOS makes me wish to start cutting myself again. At a recent meeting the Chair – Allin Frawley – even tried to push Murray along since time is of the essence. Maybe it is a deliberate ruse to accumulate billing hours?

The process to be appointed to a town board is now gone from pathetic to ridiculous. I imagine the vetting of a Syrian refugee is a less ponderous task. What next in this convoluted process? A stool sample? DNA? NSA background check? Most positions are relatively benign – yet they now appear to be in the same league as a SCOTUS appointment.

The Oliver House will drain valuable resources from elsewhere and that is a given that has already reared its ugly fiscal head – and they have just scratched the surface of the money drain this old wreck will present. Bridgewater got stuck with their dilapidated money pit that is now a memorial to inept CPA expenditures and Oliver House will soon follow.

Trash collection is now a pleasure since it is a single stream for recyclables and trash is in a barrel that can actually accommodate most households. The truck method appears to be efficient and painless to the containers. The landfill is still available for a fee ($25) and I have used it many times for hazardous waste.

Why Common Core in Massachusetts? Makes zero sense and the only reason I can figure out is a left over from the Patrick Administration. Massachusetts is the most successful state in nationwide testing. English, science and math we are consistently in first place. In international science and math exams, Massachusetts would be in the top five if we were an independent nation. So we roll over and adopt this? Huh?

What ever happened to that cross that caused such an inflamed discussion a few years ago?

On the recent Gazette “Best Of” list I did not see any mention of the best restaurant in the Lakeville/Middleboro area – Lily’s at LeBaron Hills. An outstanding menu, drinks and meals that can be half size. My only complaint – since that is my nature – is that no alcoholic beverages are not refillable.

What is it with the ghost craze? There is absolutely zero scientific evidence to support such silliness yet it manages to have some traction. But, then again, Peter Popoff bilked his acolytes for 25 Million last year selling “blessings” and some type of bottled water that had magical powers. The water was supposedly from a well near Chernobyl.

The downtown area of Middleboro apparently takes a step forward and two steps backwards with some new closings. An antique shop has shuttered and Cool Moose is gone. Meanwhile, a consignment shop has moved into downtown and from what I have been able to determine a new nail salon has not opened recently. Adam Bond’s bench, however, is fast becoming a local gathering point.

The kerfuffle over the 360 restaurant is now meaningless as it has done a 180 and followed Shooter’s into the town history books. The concept was very similar to Shooter’s which had a rather tainted reputation as a bikers bar. That image remained with the 360 and the few vehicles I observed were usually bikes.