When Pigs Fly

by Alan from Massachusetts (Link 1- Link 2)

Back in 2004, the Red Sox finally won the World Series. The headline on Boston.com: "When pigs fly, when hell freezes over". Well that same headline could have been used when Massachusetts did something that it rarely does -- elect a Republican senator! Scott Brown, a Republican, won the special election to fill the seat left vacant upon Sen. Ted Kennedy's death. We have elected Republican governors, but the last Republican senator from MA was Ed Brooke who served from 1967 to 1979. According to his Wikipedia biography, he was the first African-American senator elected by popular vote.

Many people believe that MA is a very liberal state. In some ways that may be true, but voter registration statistics disagree. According to the site DemocraticUnderground, there are 4,220,488 registered voters (as of 2008). Of those voters, 2,141,878 are listed as Independents (no party affiliation), 1,559,464 as Democrats, 490,259 as Republicans, and 28,887 as one of the many third parties. If anything, Independents and third party members are increasing.

Third parties include but are not limited to: the Conservative Party, Natural Law Party, Green Party USA, We The People, and the Constitution Party. The amount of Independent and third party voters is not surprising considering that MA is the cradle of the American Revolution.

Massachusetts also provides a variety of contrasts. There are old mill and factory communities, fishing communities, and country hamlets in addition to old cities. Our public transportation system is the oldest in the U.S. and its blue line was the first subway line to travel underground across water. It connects downtown Boston with East Boston and some communities on the North Shore.

I look forward to sharing more information with you about the beautiful state of MA and its residents.

Alan Cohen

http://acohen413.tripod.com

http://acohen843.gather.com

Phoenix Meets the Leftovers from California's Storm and Wins! Sort of...

by Charline from Arizona

I woke up this morning around six for seemingly no reason at all. My tired brain went into over-time trying to figure out why I was awake at this awful hour especially since I didn't fall into bed until sometime after two. Several minutes later I realized I was listening to the sound of rain. Again. Apparently when a person wakes up, their hearing is one of the LAST senses to work properly! Funny, I always heard it was smell... No pun intended.

So there I lay, wondering when exactly I had moved from Phoenix a.k.a. the "Valley of the Sun" to Seattle. When I was a child, my parents briefly lived in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula inappropriately named "Belfair". Correct town name? "Belfoul". Because of this experience I am quite familiar with the consistent rainfall Seattle is well known for. I can assure you the weather we have been experiencing here would definitely make her proud!

Where does one even begin to describe this storm and its effects? Should I start by mentioning that during the entire YEAR of 2009 Phoenix only received 1.59 inches of rain while just last week alone we received a whopping 2 inches? There were travel restrictions around the entire state of Arizona and I saw footage of a road that had been eroded from underneath by water. Dry gulches, river beds and washes now frothed and seethed with water that angrily pounded its way through them. A house around 48th Street and the Carefree Highway overlooking a nearby wash had part of the land supporting it washed away. Let me just state for the record, seeing a house teetering over an apparent raging river is not a common sight here in Phoenix! Did I mention yet that the ENTIRE city of Wenden, Arizona flooded early Friday morning? Can you imagine waking up in the morning, you know...when your brain is hazy and those senses we previously discussed are not functioning correctly...only to step out of bed and into the bathtub? How many of us would immediately wonder if we wet the bed...I know I might!

On the flip side, my mother felt it necessary to call late Friday afternoon so she could tell me what was happening here in Phoenix. *chuckle* Thanks mom! While Flagstaff received almost five feet of snow which caused the roofs on some buildings to collapse, there WAS a collective cheer heard around the state from the operators of the Arizona Snowbowl and the people who love to ski! City officials in Flagstaff are also thrilled because Lake Mary, which prior to this storm was only filled to thirty percent, now sits at sixty percent. More importantly if they are *cough* lucky enough to receive another foot of snow before winter's end their water usage will be covered for the next two years! Can I please get a "Huzzah"!

I am also pleased to announce that, to my knowledge, only two people were ticketed for breaking the "Stupid Motorist Law". Yes! That is an actual law here in Arizona; for its definition please follow the included link. I can't actually explain it to you for fear of what I might be compelled to say after! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupid_Motorist_Law

In closing, here's hoping the skies clear, the house doesn't fall into the wash, the damaged roads get repaired, Lake Wenden dries up and Flagstaff only receives a foot of snow and not another four and a half or at least not all at the same time!

On a more serious note though... I would like to take a moment and offer my condolences to the families who lost loved ones because of this storm. I hope that each of you will take the time to remember them in your thoughts and prayers as well!

Charline Ratcliff, author
www.thecurseofnefertiti.com

A White Christmas

by Heather from Minnesota

Minnesota is well known for its cold, snow filled winters, and averages between 40 & 60 inches of snowfall annually. This year would be no different as residents prepared for a possible record breaking winter storm, beginning on the evening of Dec. 23rd, just in time for Christmas. The forecast predicted a possible 16 - 22 inches, with potential to become comparable to the Halloween snowstorm in 1991, which had a total of 28.4 inches in just 4 days, as well as breaking the Twin Cities Christmas eve record of 1916 with 2.8 inches, and it's Christmas day record of 1945 with 9.6 inches.

Over the next three days, the storm caused plenty of chaos. Hundreds of crashes were reported, and more than 1000 cars ended up in ditches. Nearly 1000 metro-area households lost power, and over 150 flights had been canceled at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. When the storm ended on Dec.26th, it had managed to break the Christmas Eve record of 1916, but failed to come close to the Halloween storm of 1991. Total snowfall for the duration of the storm was recorded at 9 inches for the Twin Cities, and nearly 24 inches in Duluth.

Grey Bears

A note from Juneau

The fate of polar bears in a warmer world is unclear. They are in a grey area.

The answer is to teach them to live on the arctic mainland, in addition to reducing the causes and exacerbation of changes in habitat.

We can't float synthetic icebergs because we're going to need those water passages for shipping routes; not just for commerce but for disaster recovery. Natural disasters are increasing in frequency and if we want to provide aide, we need increased avenues for global supply.

Luckily, bears are naturally becoming more terrestrial in the summer. Now some are swimming to shore in the summer when areas of ice have disappeared.

Do polar bears really need ice to survive? Or can they emulate brown bears and hunt on land?

Polar bears are known to eat a varied diet including: walrus, white whales, narwhals, and harp seals, small mammals, bird eggs, sea weed, grass, and other vegetation, although these food sources are less common.
Just today the news said bears in the Southeast, mostly Sitka, woke up out of hibernation due to warm weather. They had a snack, and are expected to go back to sleep. Bears are changeable; probably why they made it to top predator status.

How could we live together if we “invited” them to land? Polar bears are curious animals and will investigate human settlements and gar-bage. They have been known to eat crazy things like: plastic bags, styrofoam, car batteries, ethylene glycol, and hydraulic fluid.

Would they kill our pets, livestock, and first born children? Maybe.

Different Arctic nations treat Polar bears differently. They are protected in Canada and the United States. In Canada, polar bears are legally hunted. Seasons, protected categories, and quotas apply. In Alaska, polar bear hunting is not legal, but native people may kill animals for subsistence. In Russia and Svalbard, polar bears are completely protected. In Greenland, polar bears are legally harvested by Inuk hunters.

What do you think?

Things We Do For Love

by Jess from New Mexico

Down here in New Mexico we love pain. Daily we order pain in, smothering or on the side of our meals. But we don’t refer to it as pain, we just call it chile. Although it may be hard to believe, chile is not a bowl of beans and onions and meat but it’s an honest to goodness vegetable. In fact we grow them, peel them and roast them right here in our own state. If you’re driving past the right stores during the right time of year, you can salivate over the unmistakable smell of roasting chiles. But smelling is nothing compared to the experience of eating them.

Chile comes in two varieties, green and red (if you want both you ask for ‘Christmas’ with your meal). Debates are hotly contended over which makes your eyes water more but both are impressive competitors. When one eats chile on a good day, your eyes will begin to water, your tongue will feel as though it’s singed, your sinuses will be cleared faster than any medicine can and your lips will all but fall off from the warm tingling induced by the heat. To put it in perspective, chile isn’t as hot as well made wasabi, but it’s hotter than curry. But although some in season chile can make you forget how to speak, it’s tradition in the Southwest and we love it despite the pain.

Put Your Memories On Ice

by Vanessa from Vermont

Someone asked me today how many months we burn wood. ‘We’ was meant to be collective. I answered, “Roughly eight”. Yes, here in Vermont we burn wood roughly 8 months out of 12, depending on the year. This question was asked while a group huddled around the fireplace, warm soup was simmering on the stovetop and pie baking in the oven. Outside, it was a balmy zero. That’s right-zero.

Not surprising, weather is usually the topic of conversation in small towns across our state; in the post office, in the country store, at the bank. It is more often than not the first thing out of someone’s mouth, “Cold today, isn’t it?”, “Big storm coming!”, “Hope it warms up a bit”.

Given that Vermonters only have a few days of sun on average a year, we have to sometimes force ourselves to get out and enjoy ALL kinds of weather. I have found that this is when some of the best memories are made.

One New Year’s Eve when a nor ‘easter storm hit we went sledding down a deserted hill. The flakes were coming down so fast and they were so big, our eyelashes were loaded up with them. We could hardly catch our breath we were laughing so hard. There was the Great Ice Storm of 1998 that had the power company working overtime for over a month. We put on our skates the day after the worst of it and skated back and forth down the road. We made sure to bring our camera for that one! Most recently, we bundled up our 14 month old son and brought him to the local iced over pond. We put him in the smallest skates I have ever seen and made a memory I will never forget. It made no difference to him that it was 10 degrees. He only knew that his family was together and we were having the most fun. Our noses may have been red but the only part of us that hurt was our cheeks from giggling so much.

So, my new motto is: no matter the weather you are served, get out there and make some memories.

State Snack: Cheese?

by Jon in Wisconsin

State Senator Jim Sullivan (Wauwatosa) recently submitted a bill for consideration that would make cheese the official 'state snack' of Wisconsin. (In case you're wondering, Wisconsin does not currently have an official state snack.) Wisconsin has long been called 'America's Dairyland' and Wisconsinites (especially Packer fans) are commonly referred to as 'cheeseheads'.

I have mixed feelings on the bill. I love cheese (I used to work at a cheese factory, as a matter of fact) and cheese is definitely a major part of the Wisconsinite diet -- it goes well with many, many kinds of food (hamburgers, hotdogs, nachos, pasta, biscuits, chili to name a few). However, I'm not sure I like calling it a snack. That kind of implies that cheese is eaten by itself between meals. As far as snacks, I'm rather fond of chips, or beef jerky, or cookies.

I definitely think cheese is fitting of an official 'state ____' title -- I'm just not sure snack is the best noun to fill that blank. I think I would even go so far as to say cheese should be Wisconsin's state food, though I'm sure the corn (state grain) and cranberry (state fruit) would be none too pleased with that proposal.