Rocky road to electronic medical records

Have you ever wondered if the doctor who saw you in his office would recognize you if you met at the grocery?  He or she might not, and it's not just because you're in street clothes. It might be that, with new health care regulations for computerized data gathering, he spent most of your annual checkup facing the computer …

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Campaign 2016: Jousting in the Jungle

Storm clouds gathered over Serengeti, New York. The weaver birds and bee-eaters stopped their day’s work and gathered nervously in the limbs of the acacia trees.  Even the flamingos out on Lake Nakuru stopped their soaring flight and gathered in the shallows, intensifying the pink of the mudflats and the lagoons. All around, the grebes …

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Senators dodging action on Garland hardly “principled”

Have you heard the latest?  Senate President Mitch McConnell says the 24 Republican Senators who are up for reelection this fall will not vote on anything from now until January 3, 2017, when those elected this November take office.  Nor will they hold hearings on various appropriations, criminal justice reform, immigration, or any other legislation …

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Brussels attack plays into Trump

Secure the checkpoints. Close the borders. Keep all Muslims out. Is anyone  surprised to hear such calls from Donald Trump?  The unspeakable horrors of the terrorist bombings today in Brussels strikes fear in all our hearts. We're coming up on the third anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. In Greater Boston, we know the chaos and …

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Can you say President Trump?

I hope Les Moonves is happy.  The head of CBS said that Donald Trump is great for business."Donald's place in this election is a good thing,"  Moonves said at a conference Monday in San Francisco. Trump's circus-like antics have been great for ratings, and that means business for the media.  "Bring it on, Donald. Keep …

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The other man in my life

For the past seven years, there's been a second man in my life. His name? Elias P. Demetracopoulos, hereinafter referred to as Elias.  I never met the man, but he figured importantly in our household.  My husband, Jim Barron, is writing a biography about the life and times of Elias, an independent journalist, a fighter for freedom …

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GOP candidates make U.S. a laughingstock

"Listen to this guy. He has one idea and repeats it over and over again."                                                                                                                   "No, you're the one who repeats himself. You have nothing to say."                                                                                                              "You can't be trusted.  You  lie."                                                                                                                                                          "You're the liar."                                                                                                                                  "So's your mother." Why don't you take it outside, fellas. If you watched the last GOP "debate" before …

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Apple versus national security: a tough call

A relaxing Florida vacation has made me even more of a techno-peasant than I usually am. The issue that now challenges me is the dilemma presented by Apple's refusal to comply with the U.S. government's request to facilitate access to the contents of the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the two San Bernadino terrorists, now …

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Suffolk trustees botch the job

Suffolk University board members should be ashamed of  themselves. They are passing up the chance to put the school back on the map as a proud and storied urban university and a meaningful player in greater Boston's civic life. Its inbred board, concerned only about its own power, has launched an attack to undermine the school's new …

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Democratic race a battle of heart versus head

Bernie Sanders has given Democrats what they needed and what many wanted: a healthy debate on issues. Not just stock positions on this or that, because he and Hillary Clinton agree on most goals. His willingness to take on the presumptive nominee has provided an exploration of philosophy and style of governance and a choice between leading …

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