In early October 2008 I was invited to Chicago to sit in the Family and Friends Tent in Bryant Park and witness the possible election of our nation’s 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama.

Look, But Don’t Pick

Orange is the color of late July, as butterfly weed begins to flower, albeit somewhat later than usual in one of the coolest, rainiest summers the Island has seen in many years. The distinctive blooms dot old meadows and farm fields around the Vineyard; one of the best places to see butterfly weed down-Island is the Sweetened Water Farm field along the West Tisbury Road coming into Edgartown.

Uncle Sam and the SSA

The federal government sometimes provides better entertainment than late night television.

Case in point is the Steamship Authority and the latest snafu over the use of federal stimulus money earmarked for reconstruction work on the ferry terminals in Oak Bluffs and Hyannis.

First comes the problem with the material used for the dolphins on the Hyannis project. Turns out that some of the material is made in China and the rules for stimulus money require that all steel be made in the USA.

What Shark Tournament?

It appears the bloom is fading on the Monster Shark Tournament that has been the cause of so much controversy in recent years, and that is probably a good thing.

Twenty years ago Woody Allen directed a nostalgic film called Radio Days about life in the 1940s, a time when living was simpler. The radio, a source of news and entertainment, was one of the more complex domestic devices of its era and was controlled by two knobs: one to turn it on and the other to change the station so that the whole world of airwaves could be accessed.