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John Michitson with supporters in downtown Haverhill Saturday.

John Michitson with supporters in downtown Haverhill Saturday.

Mayor James Fiorentini stands with supporters Saturday.

Mayor James Fiorentini stands with supporters Saturday.

I spent Saturday slugging along the campaign trail in Haverhill where City Counselor John Michitson is hoping to unseat current Mayor James Fiorentini. Both candidates and their supporters are pushing hard as election day nears.

Mayor Jim Fiorentini campaigns door to door Saturday.

Mayor Jim Fiorentini campaigns door to door Saturday.

I split the day in two, riding along with both candidates one at a time as they went door to door. The day certainly revealed differences in the two men’s styles — as well as their connection with voters. Fiorentini moved quickly through neighborhoods, shaking hands and passing out fliers. As the sitting mayor, he’s got easy facial recognition with voters — as evidenced by a 14-year-old who answered one door with “Hi, Mr. Mayor.” He’s quick to point out lack of school cuts to teachers or call back to the office to get a citation for a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

Mayoral hopefull John Michitson campaigns door to door Saturday.

Mayoral hopefull John Michitson campaigns door to door Saturday.

As a city counselor, Michitson isn’t exactly a stranger. But he clearly recognizes that unseating any current mayor is a challenge. Going door to door, Michitson wasn’t moving like lightening. Instead, the mayoral hopeful dug in at each stop, staying five or 10 minutes to talk to residents about their concerns and what they want out of their city government.

We’re working on an audio slideshow of Saturday’s campaign ridealong to be posted by the end of this week. It will give you a snapshot into the world of door knocking and sign wielding in Haverhill.

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Well, this morning in Lawrence started out with a bang as demolition crews took down two 100-year-old smoke stacks near Sal’s headquarters. We were on hand to talk to some of the neighbors who grew up looking at those big old stacks. One woman — who does not appear on the video — is 95 and has lived across from the old mill all her life, with several generations of her family still in the home. It was demonstrative of just how tight-knit some of these Lawrence neighborhoods remain despite the changes around them. The twin stacks that served as a backdrop to their home for so many years, however, are now gone. Out with the old and in with the new.

Smoke stacks at Sal's scheduled for demolition tomorrow.

Smoke stacks at Sal's scheduled for demolition tomorrow.

The scheduled implosion of two smoke stacks at Sal’s headquarters in Lawrence tomorrow morning is already shaping up to be a major media event. Let’s face it, destruction — specifically planned destruction where no one gets hurt — draws the crowds.

We’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning. The demolition, which they say will knock the two towers over onto the building they’re placed on, is scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. We’re going to try to setup a live video feed from the site, but no promises there. Trying to wrangle live video from a parking lot with a laptop and shaky Internet connection is problematic at best. We will be filming, however. We’ll post some raw video of the actual toppling tomorrow morning shortly after the event and then give you a more comprehensive video of the event later in the day.

Looks like we’ll have a pretty good seat to view the destruction. I was over earlier today scouting out the designated media section and we should be able to get viewers close up. Personally, I’m hoping for a few flying bricks my way and I promise to keep filming.

Eagle-Tribune TV is going on the road tonight and will be streaming video live from City Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m.

With incumbent City Mayor Michael Sullivan’s term set to expire and 10 candidates vying to replace him, today’s primary results could very well yield a more clear picture of who the real contenders are.

Polls in today’s primary election close at 7 p.m. and results are expected sometime after 8 p.m. We’ll be on hand talking with candidates and supporters about the day’s vote, predictions and city issues. We’ll announce the primary winners as the results come through live on the Web. Check The Eagle-Tribune home page from 7:30 p.m. on to link to the live video feed.

Associated Press photo

Associated Press photo

The more “clunkier” the car, the more reason to trade it in, right? Not so. The Cash for Clunkers program is offering incentives for auto owners to turn in their older fuel-inefficient cars for brand new ones, but there’s an age limit. Yes, that’s right, your car may just be too clunky.

Interesting piece in the Los Angles Times on how a lobbyist group for the Specialty Equipment Market Association lobbied to have a provision placed in the Cash for Clunkers program excluding vehicles made before 1984 — likely the most gas-guzzling, clunkiest cars on the road. The organization was seeking to protect the market for used cars and used car parts and services.

Some important points to consider as listed in the Times (citing numbers from Experian Automotive):

  • There are 4.8 million vehicles older than 25 years on the road today
  • Those vehicles represent about 2 percent of all registered vehicles

But although they represent a fairly small fraction of cars on the road, they do tend to be some of the worst offenders as far as emmissions and fuel efficincy. It’s difficult to imagine a car owner with a classic wanting to make a clunker trade, but if you’re driving a beat-up 1983 model and getting 13 mpg, you’re out of luck. Then again, with a car at that value are you looking to trade up to a brand new vehicle with new car payments?

One of several images being circulated by LaRouchePAC.

One of several images being circulated by LaRouchePAC.

Probably the most extreme and shocking imagery out of yesterday’s crowd gathered outside the president’s town hall meeting in Portsmouth was a picture of Barak Obama with a Hitler mustache. The doctored photo — in various forms — has been popping up at protests around the country. There were several versions at Portsmouth High yesterday. But before you heave your disgust at conservatives speaking out against the president’s health care proposal, take a look at the source.

Democratic activist and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. His LaRouchePAC has been circulating materials equating Obama to Hitler.

Democratic activist and perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. His LaRouchePAC has been circulating materials equating Obama to Hitler.

The posters are being circulated by LaRouchePAC, an organization headed by Democratic activist Lyndon LaRouche. Although LaRouche and followers share criticisms of the president’s proposal with other detractors, they’re not in the same crowd at all. It’s a fine point that we in the media can easily gloss over, but it showcases the many different groups and factions that are speaking out in the health care debate. Looking down the driveway leading to the high school yesterday, one side of the road consisted primarily of those supporting the president’s plan. The other side consited largely of those opposing it. But when you start to pick apart the layers, you find opinions — and affiliations — are not so easily delineated.

Why Hitler? Comparing our president to history’s most reviled leader who systematicaly led the extermination of an estimated 11 to 22 million people (depending on your counting method) is fearmongering at its worst. Hitler sought to purify the Aryan race by killing those who didn’t fit the Nazi ideal. He headed a fascist government that controlled every aspect of its citizens’ lives and forbade dissent. This isn’t Nazi Germany and Obama is no Hitler.

The LaRouche campaign is comparing Obama’s proposal to the health care system that existed in Germany under the Nazi regime. Uder that system, government health care was the only option available to citizens. Probably the more crucial difference, however, is the fact that the system was run by Nazis hell bent on genocide. It’s not a minor point.

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Yesterday’s visit by President Barak Obama saw a slightly more civil tone than what we’ve seen in similar town hall meetings across the country. The street outside was filled with its share of charecters, however. I’m posting some of the unedited video we shot yesterday, most of which didn’t wind up in our finished piece.

Warning: there is some foul language here and there.

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Judy Hurst of Ocean Park, Maine, Linda Dupere and her husband Lenny Dupere, both formerly of Derry and now of Campton, were on hand to demonstrate outside at the town meeting that President Barack Obama was holding at Portsmouth High School on Tuesday to discuss his health care plans. Photo by Allegra Boverman/Eagle-Tribune Tuesday, August 11, 2009.

Judy Hurst of Ocean Park, Maine, Linda Dupere and her husband Lenny Dupere, both formerly of Derry and now of Campton, were on hand to demonstrate outside at the town meeting that President Barack Obama was holding at Portsmouth High School on Tuesday to discuss his health care plans. Photo by Allegra Boverman/Eagle-Tribune Tuesday, August 11, 2009.

It’s easy to concentrate on the circus aspects of it: A chorus of singers caroling in German while holding up a sign comparing President Barak Obama to Hitler clashes with the tunes being played by a group calling itself “The Leftist Marching Band.” A man carrying a U.S. flag and wearing some sort of pseudo-colonial-era shirt shouts to passersby that he’s ready to fight when “the Chinese come knocking down my door.” There are a lot of slogans, a lot of jabs of the “your momma” variety.

“You’re parasites … You want health care? Try getting a job,” a man with a megaphone shouts from the side of the street dominated with those protesting the president’s health care plan. On the other side, a man shouts back to a heckler, “you gotta problem? We can meet after!” A few feet down, a woman decked in red, white and blue twirls a baton.

It would all be kind of funny, if it wasn’t real.

President Barak Obama’s town hall meeting at Portsmouth High School today is part of a series of such meetings the president is holding across the country to drum up support for his health care reform plan.While a select number of ticket holders asked the president questions inside, outside supporters and protesters alike lined the road. It’s easy to concentrate on the circus aspects of such demonstrations because — well, they make themselves difficult to ignore. People shouting, waving signs at other people waving signs. Zingers, jabs and taunts seem to overpower those seeking information. Civil discourse? Well, it’s more like shaking a box full of bees.

The ability of citizens to take to the streets wielding signs and slogans (right or wrong) is one of the things that have made this country the world’s shining example of democracy. It showcases our ability to allow discent. It doesn’t always showcase our best behaviors, however. One can’t help but wonder if the real democratic process isn’t happening quietly on the sidelines. Not from those who are shouting slogans, but to those asking questions. There were a few of those people there today, too.

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It’s just a bizarre tale — but then again, it’s Vegas.

Eagle-Tribune reporter Crystal Bozek today tells the story of an Andover businessman who claims $30,000 worth of fradulant charges were placed on his credit card on a recent business trip to Las Vegas. James Hackett says someone handed him his wallet while he was in a hotel bar claiming he dropped it. A few of the cards were moved around, but, nothing missing. Hackett took note and continued. But on his way from the hotel bar, Hackett says he blacked out. Days later, his credit card showed $30,000-worth of drinks and lap dances from a Vegas strip club. The club claims the charges are valid and American Express is telling him to pay up. He’s suing.

What really happened that night? According to Hackett, not even he really knows. It’s worth a read, though.

Below is the actual complaint filed against American Express and the parent company of Club Paradise. Click the little square to the upper right to enlarge and read.
A09595953C Complaint

President John Quincy Adams

President John Quincy Adams in his early years before becoming president.

Sure, he’s been dead for 161 years, but you can now follow former U.S. President John Quincy Adams on Twitter. And — as this Twitter user can attest to — he’s pretty Twitter savvy. This just in from our Associated Press wire:

John Quincy Adams tweeting thanks to Mass. society

By JEANNIE NUSS
Associated Press Writer

BOSTON (AP) - It seems John Quincy Adams was way ahead of his time.

A high school student touring the sixth U.S. president’s archives recently noticed his bite-sized diary entries looked a lot like tweets.

Starting Wednesday, history will meet modern technology as the Massachusetts Historical Society begins posting Adams’ updates from 200 years ago on Twitter. The historical society will include a presidential tracker of sorts, linking maps to show Adam’s progress on a diplomatic trek to Russia as U.S. minister.

The tweets will include mentions of his favorite reads, memorable meals, weather updates and the daily drama of months at sea.

His updates are concise enough to put Twitter experts to shame: “Thick fog. Scanty Wind. On George’s Bank. Lat: 42-34. Read Massillon’s Careme Sermons 2 & 3. Ladies are Sick.” (This one, from Aug. 6, 1809, comes in at 109 characters, well under Twitter’s 140-character limit.)

The Aug. 31 entry was even tighter, at only 91 characters: “Calm and light winds. Pleasant weather. Lat: 59-23. Long: 17-15. Cimon and Lucullus. Cards.”

His 95-character line showed Aug. 15, to be more eventful: “Weather fine- wind scanty. Lat: 44-13. Long: 53-40. This afternoon I found the Caboose on fire.”

Librarians and historians at the society say they hope to connect a new online generation with Adams by bringing his life into the 21st century. The group’s Web site has digital copies of Adams’ diaries that show his whimsical script.

Adams’ Twitter-ready entries suggest the micro-blog phenomenon has century-old roots. But no one knows what the former president would think of his diaries being used as social networking fodder. Perhaps he’d be LOL (laughing out loud).

Society librarian Jeremy Dibbell said Adams didn’t intend for his diaries to be published.

“When he’s doing this it’s not really for public consumption, although I think the Adamses kind of knew that what they were writing would be read for many years hence,” said Dibbell, an assistant reference librarian co-coordinating the society’s Twitter feed.

Robert Remini, an Adams biographer and historian of the U.S. House of Representatives, said such a public man would be pleased to know the online world was following his daily life two centuries later.

“I don’t think he would mind that,” Remini said. “It’ll show what a dedicated person he was in working for the public good.”

Follow John Quincy Adams on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/JQAdams_MHS

Follow The Eagle-Tribune on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/EagleTrib

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