Fourth congressional district candidates Sean Bielat (R) and Joe Kennedy III (D) finally met in their only televised debate, on Channel 5's On the Record. It's hard to know how many viewers they had, but it's easy to see how foolish Joe Kennedy has been in avoiding face-to-face televised debates. While Kennedy initially came across as young and …
Continue reading Kennedy versus Bielat in only televised debate
She listened, she learned, and took a big step forward. For weeks, many sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren’s US Senate candidacy have expressed exasperation at her campaign and her candidate skills. In this, the important first debate against her often affable opponent, incumbent Scott Brown, she more than held her own. Brown, in an overbearing (television …
Set aside such unacceptable (and criminal) "clear and present" dangers such as shouting Fire in a crowded theater, as a journalist I have always thought of myself as something of a First Amendment absolutist. That's being tested these days. The cornerstone of democracy is having a vigorous marketplace of ideas, where all ideas, regardless of merit, are tested, …
Continue reading “Innocence of Muslims” film tests First Amendment beliefs
Over the summer it was rumored that NBC was going to drop David Gregory from the Meet the Press moderator's chair because of dramatically declining ratings. Would that they had. Except for FOX appearances, Mitt Romney has been AWOL from network news interview programs. On Sunday, host David Gregory missed opportunity after opportunity to quiz Romney …
News Corp chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg came to Boston Tuesday to hail immigrants' contributions to our economic vitality. Touting the findings of a report by the Partnership for a New American Economy, the two cited the shortage of skilled workers in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, …
Continue reading Murdoch, Bloomberg call for GOP to have courage on immigration
Last week I was surveyed by the Gallup organization, confirming two things: first, that the venerable public opinion survey actually talks to real people, and second, that the results of questions they ask can't possibly be a reliable reflection of, er, public opinion. One problem is that the questions are designed to force choices, elicit simple …
Continue reading Public opinion polls: take with grain of salt
Shouting fire in a crowded theater is a terrible thing to do. Opening fire is a horror of a whole order of magnitude. Most of America is struggling to make sense out of 24-year-old neuroscience student James Holmes' rampage, which so far has resulted in the deaths of 12 people and injured 59 others, some of whom may …
Continue reading Colorado shooting scares, saddens and stymies us
Last Tuesday, Congressman John Tierney did what he should have done many months ago. He held a press conference and faced questions about what he knew and when he knew it regarding his brother-in-laws' illegal activities. For Tierney, there were no new revelations. Too bad he waited until he was backed against a wall by the two …
Continue reading Tierney v. Tisei: Time to focus on the issues
While tens of thousands of Boston concert-goers were being herded from the Esplanade to a tunnel under Storrow Drive under threat of storm, Ogunquit, Maine was celebrating July 4th as tradition would have it: simple and lovely. Standing on the Marginal Way, overlooking the water, the friendly, appreciative crowd could see the fireworks unfolding along the coast: …
Continue reading Ogunquit fireworks preserve charm of yesteryear
Thanks to CNN and Fox, Thursday's SCOTUS announcement was an emotional roller coaster. Like the Dewey-beats-Truman headlines, they both were so eager to be first that they were wrong. Shame on them. This time, print media at least made a stab at reading the Supreme Court decision before pronouncing the individual mandate dead. And, of course, it wasn't. …
Continue reading Health care – the end of the beginning and the beginning of hard work
Marjorie Arons-Barron 