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Writing quite moderately about Mitt Romney today, NYTimes opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof reviews past charges of flip-flopping candidates and reminds of us of Paul Tsongas calling Bill Clinton “a pander bear” in 1992—there are photos of Paul holding up a stuffed panda bear at campaign rallies. I don’t know who came…
Read More »Shortly after news broke yesterday that Lt Gov Tim Murray’s state vehicle was traveling more than 100 mph just before it crashed early one November morning, I received an email from a trusted observer with good political instincts. Here is what it said: Tim Murray was going 108 miles per…
Read More »Here’s the third group of South Common haiku from the Facebook postings in November and December. If we ever get a pile of snow this winter, I’ll try to write another batch with the Common in white.—PM . South Common Haiku Set (III) . Who has not looked up and seen…
Read More »MassMoments reminds us today that Harry “Bucky” Lew – the first African American to play professional basketball – was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on January 4, 1884. On this day …in 1884, Harry Haskell Lew was born in Lowell to a family that had long been active in the struggle for…
Read More »The best of these ecosystems will be cities and towns that combine a university, an educated populace, a dynamic business community and the fastest broadband connections on earth. These will be the job factories of the future. The countries that thrive will be those that build more of these towns…
Read More »Thanks to reader Maxine Farcus for forwarding this great 1949 holiday-time photo showing Lowell’s first and longtime favorite “downtown” Chinese restaurant Chin Lee’s. The sign is at Kearney Square marking an earlier location. By the time it closed it was located on Merrimack Street upstairs on the 2nd floor adjacent to…
Read More »In honor of today’s Inaugural Ceremony and our city’s new mayor, whoever that might turn out to be, here is a list of those councilors elected mayor since 1966 with the councilors who elected them listed in the order of finish in that year’s city election: 1966 – Monday, January…
Read More »January is National Mentoring Month. I’m so thankful for those who mentored me… first it was the nuns – particularly Sister Mary of Charity, GNSH at the Immaculate (she was from Lowell – a Welch, I think) who saw my potential as a would-be teacher… then it was women professors at Lowell…
Read More »On this day – January 2, 1960 – appearing before the press in Washington, DC in the Senate Caucus Room – Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy of Massachusetts – announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite his youth and being seen by some as lacking experience in foreign affairs…
Read More »Here is my own eclectic list of important things that happened in 2011. 1. The local political lineup changed considerably in 2011. Steve Panagiotakos, who was elected to the Lowell School Committee in 1989, the Massachusetts House in 1992, the State Senate in 1996 and had most recently served as…
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