What to say about political and cultural commentator Frank Rich in today’s NYT? He’s on a tear against Left, Right, and Center. The only satisfaction he finds in our messed up world today is Jonathan Franzen’s new and already-blockbuster novel “Freedom,” which Rich says nails the psyche of the time like…
An Eileen Donoghue flier arrived in today’s mail. “A proven track record of job creation” was the theme of this piece, with a testimonial from the president of a company she once assisted in a “major” way that now has 50 employees in Lowell. The local newspaper also has profiles…
Maybe it was the coming Hurricane or maybe the various campaigns just stopped for a breather, but nothing politically-related arrived in the mail today. There’s always tomorrow.
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…
A relatively slow day . . . A Guy Glodis for State Auditor flier arrived in today’s mail. Glodis, the sheriff of Worcester County, pledges to “reign in wasteful political spending” and to “fight for Massachusetts Jobs.” Another Chris Doherty piece arrived in the mail, as well; this one on…
Jim Peters, who’s married to the sister of the late Paul Tsongas, shares some thoughts on campaigning for his sister-in-law, Niki Tsongas, and on the upcoming election: Being related to the Democratic candidate for Congress has its ups and downs. I get my pick of overly large T-shirts with the…
Each evening until the September 14th Primary Election I hope to write a short summary of the political activity that intersected my day, not as someone who seeks out this stuff, but as an average voter who listens to the local radio station, occasionally reads the local newspaper, and looks…
The big story today was the disclosure that Republican Congressional candidate Jon Golnik had been arrested in 2001 for Driving Under the Influence. I’m pretty sure that the Eagle Tribune broke the story. That paper’s latest is here and the Sun has a small piece here. The Globe also has…
With the primary election just two weeks away, I’m more attuned to efforts by the candidates in the final stretch. Nothing arrived in today’s mail but late last week I received pieces from each candidate in the First Middlesex Senate race. Chris Doherty’s was a postcard thanking me for signing…
“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,…