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, …
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 …
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 …
Charlotte Golar Richie: the next mayor of Boston?
I have crossed paths with Boston mayoral candidate Charlotte Golar Richie at various times over the last few decades, but without getting a real sense of her as an individual. Certainly, I knew her from her bio: Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya; two master's degrees; two-term member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where she chaired the Housing …
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Book ideas for summer nights
My family's return from a glorious week in London shows how salutary it is for a political junkie to purge herself- albeit temporarily - of politics. So before I get sucked back into the nearly unspeakable frustration of focusing on the ongoing national political dysfunction, I want to reflect on the pleasures that lie between the covers of a …
Barney hasn’t lost his touch
There was a time when former Congressman Barney Frank said you couldn't pay him enough for sitting on a panel with Karl Rove. As it turns out, he mused, "you can." Frank is doing well on the speaking circuit but returned to his roots on Friday, speaking to the New England Council. The long-time Congressman …
Kirby Perkins A+ scholarships distinguish WCVB-TV5
Shootings, muggings, fires, crashes, sports and weather-- all the stuff of local television. Then there are the Kirby Perkins A+ scholarship segments. Kirby was a Channel 5 reporter who especially loved politics and sports. The station's "High Five" series had for years celebrated high school athletes. But he thought that academic performance should also be honored. …
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Welfare audit feeds anti-government hostility
Former State Senate President Billy Bulger used to joke that, when he died, he wanted to be buried at St. Augustine's because he could still remain politically active. Now, thanks to State Auditor Suzanne Bump and Tuesday's report on fraud and abuse in the state's welfare system, we know that there are other forms of life after …
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