Here’s the latest POTUS vacation dispatch from the Vineyard by our faithful, far-flung correspondent, Ray LaPorte. Air Force One flew over Vineyard Haven harbor last evening on a glide path to Otis Air Base. Its shimmering light-blue hull and contrails in the fading sun at 10,000 feet signaled that within…
Check out this rant by Allan Sloan of Fortune from cnn.com I spent July on family leave, not writing columns, and watching with increasing horror as market-illiterate know-nothings, abetted by the craven leaders of the Republican Party (from which I’m about to resign) and the unspeakable ineptness of Obama and…
One of our occasional contributors who tracks money, politics, sports, pop culture, Lowelliana, and his own dreamlife (a la Jean-Louis K.) is on special assignment for rh.com while the First Family tries to get a moment of tranquility on “the Island.” Our man on the scene Ray LaPorte from Pawtucketville Nation will file regular posts…
My wife and I did the be-a-tourist-in-your-own-state thing again yesterday as part of our “stay-cation” approach this summer. We started and ended our day in Andover, but spent most of the bright blue-sky day in Boston, which looked very good in the parts we visited. Boston King Coffee on Main Street…
Forbes magazine and website published its latest list of highest-earning authors, topped by James Patterson at $84 million for the past 12 months. I picked up this bulletin from bbc.com. See the top ten here. New Englander Stephen King made third place with $28 million. Note to self: Poets not found on…
Development of “Mile of Mills” Riverwalk along the Lowell Canalway in Lowell – $1 million boston.com is reporting that Massachusetts has received $6.1M from the Federal Highway Administration for 12 projects across the state, including $1M for additional work on the Canalway in Lowell. Read the full article by Matt…
Jennifer Myers in today’s SUN reports on the latest step in the City of Lowell’s effort to redevelop the Smith Baker Center on Merrimack Street near City Hall. Kudos to the SUN for making this Page One news. Her Facebook page has additional comments also. Allen Ginsberg and friends reading…
Following is an excerpt from the poem “Dearborn Suite” in the collection “News of the World” by Philip Levine (Knopf, 2009). . Dearborn Suite . 1. Middle-aged, supremely bored with his wife, hating his work, unable to sleep, he rises from bed to pace his mansion in slippers and robe,…
University of Texas economist James K. Galbraith takes a crack at explaining what is going on with the economy and what Team Obama got wrong in 2009. Read his op-ed piece in the LA Times that I picked up from poet Garrett Hongo on Facebook.
In today’s NYTimes, financial titan Warren Buffet has some words for the Congressional super-committee as they look for ways to get the nation’s financial house in order. For a start, raise taxes on those people most able to afford to contribute more to the federal pot. He points to the example…