Washington artful dodgers postpone responsibility

Don’t believe the hype: Ted Cruz and Tea Partiers weren’t big losers. Most other people were. The recent partial shut-down and near default of the US government led by rogue  deficit hawks cost American taxpayers at least $24 billion (according to Standard & Poor's), paid furloughed workers not to work,  cut economic growth and, as …

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Bullpen cop not a picture-perfect image

Local writers (e.g., Dan Shaughnessy) have reveled in the image of Boston Police Officer Steve Horgan raising his arms in a celebratory pose as Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter fell over the bullpen wall chasing David Ortiz' grand-slam homer.  It was certainly a joyous moment for all of us Red Sox fans in an extraordinary moment …

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Polly Logan: the best of Republicanism

Massachusetts Republican Party grande dame Polly Logan, 88, died on September 30, a day when the national GOP showed again how it has become the antithesis of what she stood for. Polly, who lived on the South Shore, was a  former Republican National Committeewoman, State Committeewoman, head of the Massachusetts Republican Club and more.  She was a …

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Re Red Sox: I was wrong

Please pass the salt and pepper.  I'm about to eat some crow.  Last July, I wrote how nervous I was when the Red Sox were in first place at the All Star break.  Looking back over 20 years' records, I was pessimistic that the home team could sustain the performance that found them in first …

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Mayoral musings bring greater clarity

Boston's mayoral election is still up for grabs, but the selections may be crystalizing. Four days with no computer has left me grappling impressionistically with the 12-person field, but things are looking slightly more clear.  Thanks to Davcoh Computer Services and a brand new computer, I can return to the task of sorting out this …

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Struggling with the Syria conundrum

Both writer George Santayana and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill have reminded us how those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it.  But, when it comes to chemical warfare in Syria, which history shall we remember and heed? Seventy-five years ago, civilized nations were deaf to early warning signs of the Holocaust, and the results …

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John Henry gets new toy: Globe future still in question

I don't know John Henry.  We've been introduced at fundraising events a couple of times; there was no extended conversation.  He seems very nice, if shy.  I have no reason to think he'll ruin the Boston Globe, which he has just purchased for $70 million from the NY Times, by running it into the ground. He seems a …

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“This Town” captures a place and time

Tom Wolfe's 1987 masterpiece Bonfire of the Vanities  captured the greed, class, ambition, and politics of Reagan era New York City. So, too, does Mark Leibovich's This Town capture early  21st century Washington, D.C.  Bonfire, however, is fiction and This Town is for real.  Leibovich, who is the New York Times magazine national political reporter, …

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Zimmerman verdict gnaws at us

Arrests were made overnight in Los Angeles and Oakland as crowds protesting the "not guilty" outcome in the Trayvon Martin murder case turned violent. Had the verdict gone the other way, others would have protested.  Even though, according to juror B37, the jury doesn't seem to have viewed the case through the prism of race, it's hard …

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Nervous at All Star break

I'm a life-long Red Sox fan, though I have some fair weather tendencies.  I even admit to some fair weather anxieties.  The major one is that, if the Red Sox are in first place at the All Star break, I take it as a bad sign.  It's the idea that the boys of summer simply …

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