Sometimes it's easy to categorize U.S. Senate candidates Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch. Congressman Markey is the unreconstructed liberal, right? His values on gun control, abortion, climate change, gay rights, and virtually everything else are unequivocally left of center. And Steve Lynch is the conservative in the race - especially when it comes to social …
Author: aronsbarron
All hail Menino
Congratulations to Boston's longest serving mayor. In the 1970's, as a young aide to state Senator Joe Timilty, he told a few Beacon Hill colleagues his goal was to be mayor of Boston. They laughed at what seemed an unlikely prospect, but he did it, and he did it his way. With respect to the …
Boston Olympic bid a silly diversion
Score Boston Mayor Tom Menino:1; Boston Globe:0 on the proposal to bring the Olympics to Boston in 2024. Opined an editorial, a chance to host the Olympics is "too rare to pass up without further consideration." Really? As the Mayor restated Thursday on WGBH's Greater Boston, the city has too many other, higher priority needs - …
This time, the Phoenix does not rise
The announcement yesterday that the Boston Phoenix is ceasing publication marks the end of an era, an era of substantive, long-form journalism. Jim Barron and I wrote for the paper back in the 1970's. It was the place to be, along with The Village Voice, the best of alternative journalism. Back in 1975, Jim Barron and …
Grossman, DeLeo speak reality to Patrick’s dreams
Governor Patrick's hopes for Massachusetts, delivered in his state-of-the-state address in January were big-picture, visionary, limitless in their possibilities - especially in transportation, education and tax reform. They were so big, in fact, they took your breath away. His proposals focused on increasing income and gas taxes to pay for transportation improvements, more early childhood education and extended middle school hours, all the while …
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Sequester brings crisis fatigue
Scream! Make that, primal scream!! Washington's failure to deal with the sequester before it kicked in is just the latest in a series of failed attempts to deal responsibly with federal deficit and budget issues. So bad are the constant failures and so great the frustrations with Republicans, Democrats and the White House that I …
Menino v. Connolly an intergenerational competition
One need look no further than Joe Fitzgerald's column in today's Boston Herald to know why City Councillor John Connolly's mayoral bid is such an uphill race. Fitzgerald looks at Menino through his wife Angela's eyes. Angela is much loved and, wherever Tom Menino goes, she is there. She talks about how far he has …
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Elizabeth Warren still a breath of fresh air
Senator Elizabeth Warren, in office for less than two months, remains a breath of fresh air. She comes to the body with experience, intellect and relative sophistication for a newcomer to the club. She has been there before but is now calibrating her new role at the table. She is frustrated by the impending sequestration cuts, and decries the "mindless across-the-board …
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What a Pope Sean would say about the Church
It's hard not to think positively of Cardinal Sean O'Malley's being mentioned as a contender to succeed Pope Benedict. Media interest (see Vatican reporter John Allen's recap in the National Catholic Reporter about how Italian media have fueled the speculation) has given credibility to the idea in the now hot sport of speculating about Papal …
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A liberal manifesto with a centrist tinge
President Barack Obama's state-of-the-union speech was as much a liberal manifesto as I've heard in decades. Not surprising then that so many of the talking heads take the speech as evidence that Obama is trying to move the American center to the left in much the way Ronald Reagan moved it decades ago to the …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 