I’ve never worked for the public sector, except indirectly. I work, I earn money, I pay taxes on that income, which supports public employees, among other things. Most public employees do important jobs for their communities, but too many of the perks they get are beyond my comprehension. Not having to pay more than a …
Author: aronsbarron
GlobalPost.com brings the world a lot closer
Last night, Boston-based web site globalpost.com partnered with WGBH’s Frontline program to document the youth movement that fueled the ouster of Egypt’s longtime president Hosni Mubarak. Half the program explored The Muslim Brotherhood, in a far more nuanced way than conventional network coverage. The program, produced by Charlie Sennott, GlobalPost’s managing editor, formerly Boston Globe …
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Do we need our politicians to become Oprah-ized?
Revelations by Senator Scott Brown that he was sexually abused follow by weeks Governor Deval Patrick’s going public with the depth of wife Diane’s depression. Do we really need this tell-all trend? Do we want to know the gory details?Certainly it will help sell their memoirs, about to be published. Is that what it takes …
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Health law bill includes nasty surprise, due in 2018
Congressman Stephen Lynch was against the President’s health reform proposal before he was for it, and now he thinks that Republican efforts to repeal the law are “a colossal waste of time.” Better, he says, to focus on improving it, especially to get costs under control. Meanwhile, speaking at a New England Council briefing this …
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Richie Neal – a pragmatic politician looks at Obama’s energy ideas
A million electric cars on the road by 2012? Utilities getting 80 percent of their fuel from clean sources by 2035? These and other clean energy goals are exciting to contemplate as part of the President’s agenda, especially given volatility in the Middle East. But how realistic are those goals? Especially since the Republicans have …
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African violence against women brought home at Huntington Theatre
Last week’s referendum on South Sudan may provide a respite in the stories of one of the most savage and dehumanizing conflicts in Sub Saharan Africa, but we must not turn away from the uncomfortable news that persists elsewhere on that continent. The current Huntington Theatre production delivers this message in a most disturbing way. Lynn Nottage’s …
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Obama’s State-of-the-Union address tone-setting, but so what?
President Obama’s SOFU address was a good speech, not a great one. There were moments that were inspirational, but there were also moments that were, dare I say it, boring. In all, however, he was setting the right tone – bipartisan – and right course – centrist. Some conservatives wish this could have been his …
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Patrick Term II Starts Strong
Good news coming out of this morning’s speech by Deval Patrick to the Mass. Municipal Association. He will be filing legislation to require cities and towns to provide public employee health insurance either by joining the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) or devising a similar plan on their own. This was something Republican Charlie Baker …
Sorting out the Mommy wars
It’s good to know that, when we’re tired of the political vitriol and the rantings of Sarah Palin as she insists she is being “blood libeled,” we can turn for sport to the most recent iteration of the mommy wars. For decades, this has referred to the debate between the virtues/shortcomings of working moms versus …
Lesson from Tucson: First Aid Training courses in high school
People continue to cast about to identify lessons learned and take-away “to do” agenda items in the wake of last Saturday’s shooting rampage in Tucson. The overarching theme has been the need to dial back the hatred that colors so much rhetoric across the political spectrum. Restore civility. Eliminate or reduce incendiary language. There are …
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Marjorie Arons-Barron 