Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen pictured on far right of second row. From the 2nd Floor / St. Raphael’s wing at Holy Family Hospital – A Caritas Family Hospital – located in Methuen in the Merrimack Valley, I’m reading yet more articles in today’s Globe about the Cerberus proposal to…
I met Robert Reich in Lowell in 1981. Anyone who attended the annual Lowell Conference on Industrial History (LCIH) that year, when he was invited to comment on one of the scholarly papers, remembers how he stole the show with his brilliant, insightful, brief remarks about the relationship of government and…
Yesterday’s Globe had an article that provides a glimpse into the shadowy world of big money political fund raising. The US Attorney has charged Martin Raffol, a high ranking executive in a big Massachusetts constructions company with illegally funneling $12,000 to the campaigns of Congressmen Barney Frank, Stephen Lynch, Mike…
“Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama,” a story by journalist Jane Mayer in the August 30, 2010 edition of The New Yorker, details the political activities of Charles and David Koch, the billionaire owners of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that owns Brawny paper towels,…
The following link takes you to a pretty useful summary of President Obama’s remarks on Sunday during an interview with Brian Williams of NBC-TV news. The report is by Tom Kavanaugh of AOL. What the President says reverberates in our local and state election campaigns this fall. The agenda put…
web photo courtesy of washingtonpost.com I saw the aerial-view pictures of the “restore America’s values” rally in Washington, D.C. The organizers and attendees deserve credit for an impressive looking gathering. A lot of people. They put their shoes on and showed up to make a point and pump themselves up. The…
The Moses Greeley Parker Lectures, Middlesex Community College, and UMass Lowell have teamed up to offer two important public lectures on economics this fall at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center. Both programs are free and include a light buffet lunch. Here are the details: Monday, Oct. 18, 12 noon…
David Brooks wrote a column this week in the NYTimes extolling the virtues of German economic policies. So far, more than 200 readers have responded to his opinion piece, and lots of them do not agree with what he said. Read the readers’ comments here, and get the NYT if…
Mark your calendars for one of the authentic Merrimack Valley annual events, the Bread & Roses Festival in Lawrence, which is always produced on Labor Day. This year it’s Monday, September 6, 12 noon to 6 p.m. on the Campagnone Common in the middle of downtown. If you go, look…
David Brooks of the NYTimes is back with another cerebral commentary today. He keeps digging to find out what’s really ailing the nation. I get the sense lately that he is deeply pained by the high level of toxicity in our civic culture and thinks that if he can describe the cause we…