I drove back up into the Poconos this past weekend to the picturesque little town of Jim Thorpe for their Fall Festival and some leaf peeping. The little Leigh High Valley town, was originally two towns,Mauch Chunck (Indian for Bear Mountain) and Eastern Mauch Chunk. Both thrived and blossomed with the discovery of anthracite coal.*
Tycoon Asa Packer was instrumental in developing Mauch Chunk into a 19th century center for commerce, canal trade and coal shipping. In the mid-1850s, Packer, worth a reported $54 million in today's currency, was responsible for laying rail road tracks that connected Mauch chunk to Easton, PA and further into the NJ Central Railroad system, providing year round transportation for both coal and steel.
After the death of Native American and 1912 Olympian Jim Thorpe in 1953, the two small, economically struggling towns united and changed their name to Jim Thorpe after an appeal from Thorpe's wife who was looking for support to build a memorial in honor of her husband. Thorpe's native Oklahoma had turned away her request to to assist in developing a memorial.
Packer built two of the largest mansions in towns that sit high a top a hill, overlooking the canal. The mansion below, was built for Packer's son Harry. This mansion would later be the model for the Walt Disney Haunted House.
Below is the Asa Packer mansion which sits next his son Harry's. I had a hard time getting a clear shot of the due to the trees.
McCain needed a knock out punch during the debate tonight just to get back in the game and he didn't get it. According to a CNN focus group who watched the debate live, while McCain won the first 30 minutes, he lost the last hour as he got testier and testier (his temperament has long been a stumbling block for him). There in lies one of McCain's fundamental problems--he's just not likable. A CNN post-debate telephone poll with viewers who watch the debate rated McCain's likability as only 22%. And this is big trouble for McCain who trails in the polls in a number of key states. Not only isn't he likable, the average voter just isn't connecting with him.
The average voter just can't connect with a man who has 7+ houses (actually doesn't know how many he has) and at least as many cars. McCain hasn't spent a day in his life wondering how to pay his many mortgages; worrying about how he's going to pay a hospital bill if he get's sick (he's been covered by Federal health insurance for most of his adult life--first in the Navy and later as a 20 year veteran of Congress); wondering if he should pay the electric bill, water bill or phone bill this month; or how he's going to pay for his childrens' education.
McCain's biggest problem is he's out of touch and he did nothing tonight to portray himself otherwise. We've got 19 days until the election and a lot can happen in that time. But, for the moment, I'm cautiously optimistic.
So said Senator Hillary Clinton this afternoon at a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania that I attended. Dramatic perhaps, but hopefully true. Bush Sr. drove us into a recession during his presidency and Jr. has spent the last 8 years driving us into an even bigger mess. We're in dire need for someone to go in and clean up the Shrub's mess and it certainly won't be McCain. McCain will keep us on the same old destructive policies that have led us into a War in Iraq and a global financial crisis. President Clinton got us to a surplus in 8 years time and a booming economy. Let's hope Obama and Biden can do the same for us.
Below are the first pictures from the rally this afternoon. I'll a few more in a day or two when I have time to finish editing.
Remember, friends don't let friends vote Republican! There's way to much at stake this year.
And a clip of a video from this afternoon's rally:
Want to get to know the real John McCain? Check out this RollingStone Article here: Make Believe Maverick
I drove back up into the Poconos this past weekend to the picturesque little town of Jim Thorpe for their Fall Festival and some leaf peeping. The little Leigh High Valley town, was originally two towns,Mauch Chunck (Indian for Bear Mountain) and Eastern Mauch Chunk. Both thrived and blossomed with the discovery of anthracite coal.*
Below is the Asa Packer mansion which sits next his son Harry's. I had a hard time getting a clear shot of the due to the trees.
*Historical details supplied courtesy of http://www.visitjimthorpe.com/new/history.htm
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