Yes, yes, it's important to see the big picture. But sometimes viewing life from 30,000 feet is not actually better. Two stories in today's Boston Globe show how grand urban plans or budget metrics can sacrifice a touch of humanity. First, in the interest of saving money, the Social Security Administration has been closing field offices, …
Category: Politics
Iraq: Hell no, we shouldn’t go
President Obama said Friday the United States will not be sending American troops back into Iraq. That was firmer than his earlier comment that every possible response to the sectarian war was on the table. The difference is a important. Insanity, we are told, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Earlier that day, Fourth …
Eric Cantor’s House of Cards falls
I always thought that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was the brat, the youngish sharp-elbowed, supercilious, conservative Congressman assumed to be John Boehner's heir apparent as Speaker of the House. Bookish. Dogmatic. So determined was he to be the ideological antidote to a liberal Obama administration, he was a driving force behind the Republican congressional strategy to …
Senator Whoever: a candidate for The Daily Show!
I haven't written much about Citizens United and the lethal impact that infamous Supreme Court decision has had on our already tainted political process. Nothing I could have written would have driven the point home as colorfully as this music video by Los Angeles-based music writer, singer and producer Eric Schwartz. Please take a few minutes …
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Gun deaths: how many more before common sense kicks in?
Driving past Newtown, Connecticut this past weekend was a reminder of how virtually nothing has been accomplished since the slaughter of little children at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut a year and a half ago. The Stop Handgun Violence billboard along the Mass. Pike puts at more than 32,000 the number of gun deaths since …
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Healey a worthy addition to Dems’ AG race
Former state rep and state senator Warren Tolman, whose bid for state attorney general has the backing of four former AG's, has always said he was taking candidate Maura Healey seriously, and well he should. While Tolman, who previously ran for lieutenant governor (on the ticket with Scott Harshbarger) and for governor, has been working as a consultant, …
Katherine Clark: too new to be cynical?
At least 16 Democrats will not seek reelection to the House of Representatives this fall. No surprise there, given that they are outnumbered 233 to 200 (with two vacant seats), and the Republican majority has no interest in power-sharing, collaboration or even communicating. Among the 51 Tea Party Representatives are some who take pride in …
Juliette Kayyem belongs in the gubernatorial field
At first blush, one wonders what former state and federal Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem has done that would prepare her to be governor of Massachusetts, overseeing a more than $6o billion budget and God knows how many departments, agencies, boards and authorities. Her Boston Globe columns on national security matters were often interesting but hardly …
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Kerry said the “A” word; so have many Israelis
Secretary of State John Kerry prompted a diplomatic gasp and a Ted Cruz hissy fit by warning of the dangers of apartheid if Israel and the Palestinians can't achieve a workable two-state solution. Kerry's private comment was uncharacteristically undiplomatic but not without truth. A Boston Globe editorial sums up succinctly Israel's dilemma if a two-state solution fails …
Continue reading Kerry said the “A” word; so have many Israelis
Military moves (slowly) on sexual assault
Reports of rape and sexual assault were up 50 percent last year, according to a Pentagon study released on Thursday. What's unclear is whether that reflects more reporting or more assaults. And what of the record in bringing justice to victims (of both sexes, by the way)? Recently, the U. S. Navy reassigned a Blue Angels …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 