It's as if we learned that Mr. Rogers was a pedophile, or Marcus Welby had sexually assaulted patients in his exam room. This week we learned that Bill Cosby, the apogee of middle class respectability both in character (as Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show) and in person (universally honored, including locally a few years ago by …
Author: aronsbarron
Ideological purity no help to the body politic
Most of us probably find ourselves somewhere around the center of contemporary political thought, whether it's to the right of center or left of center. Our movement in elections often determine outcomes, and we're usually out of touch with outliers in both parties. We are unsettled by a Congress now with an increasingly hollowed out center, …
Continue reading Ideological purity no help to the body politic
Berkeley students make mockery of Free Speech Movement
This fall marks the 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement at U.C. Berkeley, a pivotal moment in the history of student activism and political organizing that laid the groundwork for the antiwar movement and other social causes. At that time, students and faculty across the entire spectrum of political views joined together to protest …
Continue reading Berkeley students make mockery of Free Speech Movement
Pray for Charlie Baker’s good health
Governor-elect Charlie Baker is off to a good start. He was gracious to losing candidate Martha Coakley on election night and the day after. He struck the right tone with Deval Patrick in discussing the transition. Pushed to announce his positions on everything, he has refused to get sucked into the illusions of hosting the …
Election 2014 – is consensus as remote as ever?
Tip O'Neill famously said all politics is local. Yesterday, Republicans won big by turning that adage on its head. They nationalized state races and turned President Obama's unpopularity and his administration's failures into anvils around the necks of Democratic candidates. Even states that Obama carried turned against him. A happy exception to that trend was …
Continue reading Election 2014 – is consensus as remote as ever?
An open letter to Angela Menino
Dear Angela, Reams have been written and will continue to be written about your beloved husband, Tom; hours have been spent broadcasting his myriad accomplishments as Boston's longest running mayor. History will reflect on the many things he did to leave his imprint on the city and, indeed, the region. Future generations will marvel at the …
Getting a grip on ebola
New York City likes to see itself as informed and sophisticated, but the city's response to its first case of ebola was anything but. The headlines screamed "Ebola in NYC." News stories on television and on the electrified sides of skyscrapers flashed danger. Photos of the doctor diagnosed, who had ridden the subway, eaten at a …
Coakley v. Baker – almost a yawn
Tonight's televised benign if mildly tense debate between Charlie Baker and Martha Coakley was clearly a draw, which may have been the defensive objective of all concerned. Comfortably moderated by WGBH talk show hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, both candidates stuck to their well honed, but by now shop-worn messages, spoke calmly, and smiled wanly …
No on 1- keep the gas tax COLA
Forget the Pilgrim, the Minuteman and the Indian (Squanto?). The real symbol of Massachusetts is the pothole. The state has done a dreadful job of keeping up our infrastructure. There are particularly bad places where hubcaps pile up by the side of the road. Fixing our roads and bridges is paid for by gas tax …
Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Today Boston Herald Editorial Page Editor Shelley Cohen has a heartfelt and candid apology for the racist cartoon it published showing President Obama in his bathroom squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush while a White House intruder looks on from the bathtub. The uninvited visitor asks, "Have you tried the watermelon-flavored toothpaste?" The intent of the cartoon two and …
Continue reading Shelley Cohen, the Boston Herald and racist cartoon
Marjorie Arons-Barron 