Characterizing the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the economy as “short-lived”, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (the Fed) voted yesterday to raise the federal funds rate once again, to 3.75 percent.
Month: September 2005
Top Ten
Weather person Mich Michaels sometimes talks about the “Top Ten”, the ten days of the year with the best weather conditions.
Yesterday had to have been one of them, and serendipity lead me to the perfect way to enjoy it.
Not a Good Thing
I tried to watch the first episode of Martha Stewart’s Apprentice last night, but in short order, switched to a superb show on PBS about the Tango, with top-notch performances by dancers and musicians from Buenos Aires but, unfortunately, some horrible camera work (there ought to be a law that when you film a dance performance, you must at all times SHOW THE DANCERS’ FEET, for heavens sake, and not their faces.)
Too Scared to Report It?
As we’ve seen in the past, the Boston Herald seems to be the only media outlet in town that isn’t afraid to take on people in positions of authority.
Yesterday, there was a 25-mile traffic jam on the Massachusetts Turnpike. It happened because of a union-inspired protest by firefighters that evidently had been implicitly supported by both the city and state police.
Having blocked traffic in Newton Corner, the firefighters created a bottleneck at one of the exits off the Eastbound (Boston-bound) side of the Pike. According to the Herald, “medical employees, ambulances and other emergency workers were being blocked from urgent duties,” and some drivers were unable to get to doctors appointments.
This Will Happen Again
Until people stop treating adoption like teddy bears and lace, more and more kids will end up like a 11 year old girl from Westfield: critically injured by the very people who are supposed to protect them, their so-called “parents”.
Values Clarification
My friends at HAC have invited me to an orientation meeting tonight for prospective volunteers to help out at “Otis Village”, the barracks which now house a little fewer than 200 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina.
We Can Only Hope
Big surprise, Mitt Romney is being considered to oversee the post-Katrina cleanup.
Not sure what the job is, exactly, except for a high-visibility, no doubt well-paying plum, to a favored contender for national office.
No Big Surprise, but Too Bad Anyway
Macworld Boston is no more – the organizers announced that Macworld will be consolidated into one major show in San Francisco.
Given Apple’s boycott of the Boston venue, and the financial problems that technology shows have had in general since Dot Bomb, the outcome was inevitable.
Cataumet, the Beautiful
Cataumet is a seaside neighborhood within Bourne, a town split by the Cape Cod Canal between the Cape and the mainland.
As dilapitated as Bourne is on the mainland side, the Cape side has some magnificent homes, including a renovated 22-bedroom summer house that used to be a hotel called the Alden House.
There’s Something Wrong Here
Direct quote from this morning’s Boston Globe:
Nantucket will likely bare the brunt of Tropical Storm Ophelia when it rages through southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the islands early this morning.
But the attention of state emergency planners is turning to Bourne and Camp Edwards to ease the anxiety of Katrina evacuees as they weather their first significant storm since the hurricane destroyed their Louisiana homes.