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Items by Tommy

  • Stray Shots

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    Assorted Ones

    With the voting over, the harvest in and the last of the leaves falling, our Valley is now awaiting the arrival of winter, nevermind these last vestiges of Fall on my neighbor's steps.



    I like my neighbor's chilltown stove.

    [...]
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    Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:14pm EST
    by Tommy

  • Election Night

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    At City Hall



    In the political prognostation racket there are two types, those who pretend to know what's going on and those who really do. There's no question which group I belong to after last night, as I was right in my predictions about [...]
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    Posted: November 04, 2009, 11:55am EST
    by Tommy

  • Waiting

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    On Election Day

    This is the polling place where I went to vote this morning before work.



    Einstein theorized that gravity distorted reality but he was wrong - politics does.




    When I went downtown to [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:58pm EST
    by Tommy

  • Endorsements

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 6
    And Predictions



    Oh no, don't tell me we've slithered around to another local election! Well, I guess I must do my duty and advise you how to vote. Not that I expect you to follow my advice, I certainly don't allow anyone to tell' [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:55am EST
    by Tommy

  • Lost Posters

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 11
    Drawn By Jerry Garcia



    An integral part of any music scene is the promotional posters that are created to advertise the shows. All the cool posters you see around Northampton are some of the strongest evidence of what a vibrant music scene there is [...]
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    Posted: October 31, 2009, 1:05pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Business Liberty

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Set Them Free

    Former Massachusetts United States Senate candidate Michael Cloud has some great advice for revitalizing our economy - the complete separation of the state and business:



    "Business interference in government is the main cause of today's economic meltdown and recession," argue' [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 3:20pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • False Promise

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Can the Government Save Money?



    I'm shocked that I continue to hear people say on TV and in the papers that one of the main goals of the so-called health care reform efforts in Congress is to control spending. Huh? When the hell has' [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2009, 1:11pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Augusten's Latest

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Skewering Christmas



    Augusten Burroughs is Amherst's most famous writer since Emily Dickinson, although not quite as beloved. The reason for the mixed emotions are the series of thinly veiled autobiographical novels Burroughs has written based on his trauma-filled upbringing in Amherst and Northampton by' [...]
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    Posted: October 26, 2009, 1:50pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • President Trips

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Did JFK Take LSD?



    John F. Kennedy is probably the most popular president to come out of Massachusetts, although politically one would probably have to say that John Adams and Calvin Coolidge were more influential. Perhaps we like Kennedy more because unlike Adams and [...]
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    Posted: October 25, 2009, 2:08pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Lessons Unlearned

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    The Price we Pay

    In 1989 millions of people were suddenly freed from socialist oppression when most of the communist world collapsed because of the failure of their socialist economies and the firm military pressure of the United States under the leadership of Ronald Reagan and the first George [...]
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    Posted: October 24, 2009, 11:51am EDT
    by Tommy

  • Pancake Thursday

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    My Morning



    Every Thursday I cook pancakes for the people at the shelter in Northampton. I was taught in rehab that service to others was the best way to recover from addiction, because you can't focus on your own problems when you are focusing' [...]
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    Posted: October 22, 2009, 6:00pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Local Polls

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 3
    The Mayoral Races



    WGGB-TV runs a poll every day on a subject related to the news. They are unscientific polls because the people who participate are self selected. However they are not completely unenlightening, since people participate who may never otherwise be contacted by [...]
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    Posted: October 21, 2009, 12:56pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Arturo Innocent

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 3
    Activist Found Not Guilty


    Arturo Castillion

    The Northampton radical group Poverty is Not a Crime, the brainchild of activists Caty Simon and Ira McKinley, organized a number of rallies earlier this year to protest downtown economic development policies, in particular the proposed ordinance [...]
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    Posted: October 19, 2009, 2:18pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Pathetic Palin

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 7
    Absurdity Level Rising

    I do not follow the non-stop drama surrounding alleged 2012 presidential contender Sarah Palin. Personally I blame Palin for the defeat of John McCain last year, if he had chosen former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as his running mate instead, I believe he would have won. [...]
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    Posted: October 17, 2009, 1:38pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Leary in Springfield

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    His Childhood in the City of Homes



    Probably the most infamous person to ever come out of Springfield, Massachusetts was Dr. Timothy Leary, the internationally known LSD advocate once called "the most dangerous man in America" by President Nixon and who once occupied the [...]
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    Posted: October 16, 2009, 4:23pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Hail Columbus

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Better Late Than Never




    Monday was Columbus Day, and I didn't mention it, but an essay has come to my attention that I think is worthy of belated reprinting. My main personal memory of Columbus Day's past is a speech I once gave [...]
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    Posted: October 14, 2009, 1:11pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Clintoned

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 5
    Deja-vu All Over Again?



    In 1993 the newly inaugurated President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton, announced that the top priority of his administration would be "health care reform." The Clinton Administration set deadlines by which congress must take action, but month after [...]
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    Posted: October 12, 2009, 2:37pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Blotto on Blotter

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Zane Kesey Has a Sale



    I'm told that LSD is still available on the black market, but I never see any of it, and that is probably for the best. At this point I can't afford to put any of my remaining brain cells [...]
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    Posted: October 11, 2009, 2:44pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Liberty is Green

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Ecology Requires Free Markets



    Dr. Mary Rupert is the author of the international bestseller Healing Our World. In this surprisingly brief essay she concisely explains why libertarian free market policies would be the best way to develop alternative energy sources.

    [...]
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    Posted: October 09, 2009, 2:27pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Meghan's Mustache

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 3
    My Photo Causes a Stir

    Senatorial daughter and internet sensation Meghan McCain spoke at UMass last night. Here's a clip of her discussing her mixed feelings about libertarian congressman Ron Paul.



    Of course Meghan had to twitter about her UMass experience, saying this [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 2:50pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Papers Alive

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    The New York Exception

    Newspapers are dying? Not if you live in New York, according to the Village Voice:



    On the southeast corner of 96th Street and Broadway, on any weekday morning, you would swear that the U.S. daily-newspaper industry isn't dying. In' [...]
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    Posted: October 07, 2009, 3:23pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Magazine Mayhem

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 3
    Big Names Closing



    A lot of attention has been paid to the relentless decline of the newspaper industry, but print magazines too are finding their readers and advertising money stampeding to the internet. Like newspapers, some magazines are finding new life by becoming more [...]
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    Posted: October 06, 2009, 3:23pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • The Wee Sound

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Odd Moment in Hungry Hill

    I was an embryo in Maine. That was where my father was stationed when I was conceived, at a base in Presque Isle Maine.



    However I was actually born at home, in my parents bedroom in Robinson's Gardens, [...]
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    Posted: October 05, 2009, 10:23am EDT
    by Tommy

  • Life Ain't Fair

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Local Writer Edition



    Sometimes prestigious awards are denied to the most deserving. For example, Metallica once lost the Grammy Award for best Metal band to Jethro Tull. I love Tull, but they never pretended to be a metal band, which makes you wonder whether [...]
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    Posted: October 04, 2009, 3:13pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Warhol at UMass

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    The Exhibit

    Last year this portrait of Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol sold for $300,000 dollars.



    After Jackson died this year, two months later it sold for a cool million, proving once again that in the art world there is no more [...]
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    Posted: October 03, 2009, 2:31pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Michael's Money

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Biting Hand That Feeds Him



    Documentaries with an attitude are made all the time by people from across the political spectrum, so how come lefty Michael Moore's movies get such attention? Especially since from a political standpoint Moore's films have been total flops. Roger [...]
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    Posted: October 02, 2009, 2:38pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Establishment Tool

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Obama is No Radical



    Back during the Vietnam War, when people were protesting by the thousands against U.S. policy, conservative elements of the media resorted to an old and dishonest trick to make the protesters look bad. They would single out the craziest looking [...]
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    Posted: October 01, 2009, 1:17pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Deval's Dive

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    The Downward Spiral



    A new poll by Suffolk University shows Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in increasing danger of defeat next year:

    A new survey by Suffolk University, released the same day Patrick appointed Paul Kirk to the open Senate seat, finds 45% [...]
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    Posted: September 30, 2009, 11:54am EDT
    by Tommy

  • Steve's Book

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    For Bohemians

    UMass cartooning legend Steve Lafler received a lot of emails when the following image appeared in the fashion mags:




    The model is wearing headgear that UMass alumnus of a certain age would recognise. Lafler explains:

    People have emailed me [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 5:02pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Happy Birthday Amherst

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    Two Hundred and Fifty Years Young

    Today is the 250th birthday of my beloved Amherst, Massachusetts. When I arrived at the Amherst Starbucks this morning, looking out the window I felt sure the parade would be cancelled by heavy rains.



    But despite [...]
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    Posted: September 27, 2009, 5:36pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • The Great Smokeout

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Featuring Karma the Smokehound



    This was back in the old times, before everyone started smoking pot. The marijuana scene was still underground then. No one ever spoke about it except to those who you knew also partook of the weed, or unless you had [...]
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    Posted: September 26, 2009, 6:52pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Pictorial Parade

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 5
    From Around the Valley

    I'm been busy the last few days, but even if I can't write my camera is always close at hand. Here's a potpourri of stuff:

    The Amherst Resevoir this afternoon.



    Hampshire College barncat.

    [...]
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    Posted: September 25, 2009, 6:27pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Discriminatory Practices

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 5
    Erasing the Legacy of the 80's



    The University of Massahusetts has a proud history, despite having had students like me. But even in the rogues galelry of my family history there was my Uncle Steve Willis who played for UMass in the 1920's and' [...]
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    Posted: September 23, 2009, 1:44pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Summertime

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Done Come and Gone




    At 5:18 today the season officially switched from Summer to Fall. How appropriate then that I should spend a little time this morning on Summer Street in Northampton. Not many people know the name of that street, they just [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 5:30pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Dodd in Danger

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Schiff Enters the Race



    Disgraced Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd continues to find himself in a downward spiral of scandal and incompetence. Now he has another headache on his hands with the long hoped for announcement last week that economic guru Peter Schiff will run [...]
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    Posted: September 21, 2009, 5:24pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Saratoga Two

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    More From the Races



    Okay, I got the last of the pics from Jeff Ziff and combined with some of my own photos here's the rest of the photographic record of my trip Saturday to the races at Saratoga.

    The race track [...]
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    Posted: September 09, 2009, 12:42pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Saratoga

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    A Day at the Races



    On Saturday I went to Saratoga, New York to see the historic victory of the female horse Rachel Alexandra over her all male competition. How did I manage to go to one of the most expensive racing events in [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2009, 3:53pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Rachel Wins

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Climactic Video

    Hey everybody, just popping in with this cool video from Jeff Ziff that was filmed as we witnessed first hand Rachel Alexandra's historic victory Saturday in Saratoga. The video came out so good, it feels almost like being there!



    Tomorrow I'll be back [...]
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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 2:26pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Happy Labor Day!

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    Quick post.




    Hey people, I'm so busy this holiday weekend I hardly have time to post. Too bad, because I have plenty of good material to post about, such as my trip yesterday to Saratoga see the horse Rachel Alexandra' [...]
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    Posted: September 06, 2009, 3:48pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Knightly Remembers

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    A Musical Flashback

    Yikes, here's something I stumbled across in the vaults recently - a 1975 copy of the Springfield Technical Community College newspaper The Ram. In it is an interview by a promising young writer with a guy named Rick Knightly, at that time a wizened old' [...]
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    Posted: September 04, 2009, 1:47pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Out Now

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 5
    Not Worth It



    Right-leaning columnist George Will released a bombshell column Tuesday calling for the removal of almost all ground troops in Afganistan. His reason? That Godforsaken country just isn't worth the amount of blood and treasure necessary to control it militarily.' [...]
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    Posted: September 03, 2009, 4:11pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Who's Next?

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    Filling the Empty Seat



    With a big election coming up in Massachusetts on January 19 to replace Senator Ted Kennedy, everyone is wondering who will run for the seat. Speculation so far has centered on the state's Democratic congressman, both present and former. According [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 11:24am EDT
    by Tommy

  • Ten Pics

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    This and That

    Ever so often I have to go through my camera and clear out the odds and ends. Let's begin in downtown Northampton with this photo of the Daly Building.



    The sun strikes a sunflower on State Street.

    [...]
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    Posted: September 01, 2009, 3:03pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • The Smoking Spot

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 2
    At the High School of Commerce



    Recently I was in Springfield, waiting for the bus in front of the noble High School of Commerce, which is where I graduated from. People who attended that school, at least from my era, are very insistent that [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 3:36pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Libertarian Ted

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    Kennedy's Forgotten Legacy



    It's seems like it's been all Ted all the time on TV these past days, but is anybody watching? Nielson ratings are in and according to the New York Times ABC's special Remembering Ted Kennedy drew four million viewers. The CBS [...]
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    Posted: August 29, 2009, 2:31pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Matty's Legacy

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    A Mixed One



    The last time I saw Matty Ryan (above right with Eddie Boland) was at Charlie Ryan's mayoral victory celebration in 2003. That night was a far cry from eight years earlier when Charlie lost to Mike Albano. At Charlie's Forest [...]
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    Posted: August 28, 2009, 2:54pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Stalking Teddy

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 1
    My Convention Capers



    It is almost impossible to live your whole life in Western Massachusetts and never have been in the presence of Ted Kennedy (above with Charles V. Ryan in 1965). I saw him marching in parades and from a distance at political [...]
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    Posted: August 26, 2009, 12:03pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • North and South

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 3
    And All Around

    I took the bus to downtown Springfield yesterday and saw this really cool car in the Peter Pan bus station parking lot.



    It belonged to none other than Peter Picknelly Jr. himself.



    Marilyn [...]
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    Posted: August 25, 2009, 4:40pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Clownie

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 5
    Earliest Memories



    I began to read spontaneously at the age of three. No one taught me how, I just one day to the amazement of the adults around me began pointing at words and saying what they were. I don't remember doing that, I' [...]
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    Posted: August 22, 2009, 4:51pm EDT
    by Tommy

  • Artistic Outrage

    —Tommy Devine's Online Journal

    Number of comments: 4
    A Cry for Justice



    John Sendelbach (above) is one of our Valley's most respected artists. His work ranges from cosmic psychedelia:



    To the whimsically practical, like this spaceage birdbath:



    However he is [...]
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    Posted: August 21, 2009, 3:13pm EDT
    by Tommy

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