Yesterday morning seven local bloggers accepted an invitation to go on John McDonough’s “City Life” program. The show runs live daily on LTC – the local access channel – with George Anthes as the regular host. Blogging has been a regular topic for quite awhile – with George and John…
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I became a little pensive when I read former President George H W Bush ran his boat aground in Maine Monday. Personal history caused what you might consider an unusual reaction. I am lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Southern Maine. Over the years I have seen…
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From www.truth-out.org, there’s an interesting op-ed essay by Henry A. Giroux titled “The Disappearing Intellectual in the Age of Economic Darwinism.” He assesses the impact of this trend on public conversation and policy-making in our democratic republic. Giroux really smacks “academics,” whom he says are not as a group responding to the…
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Boston.com has a lead story by Globe business reporter Rob Gavin about the need for workers in Massachusetts with mid-level skills for jobs in pharmaceuticals, health care, insurance, and more areas. Based on a new employment study, the article makes a strong case for more emphasis on community college programs to…
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Kudos to Glenn Prezzano for making Merrimack Valley Magazine better and better with each issue. As a region, the Merrimack Valley needs this kind of publication to develop and maintain a distinct personality and image. The combination of local content, local writers, local photographers and designers, and business talent is…
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For the past few days our home phone has been dialed by someone the caller ID has named “Arizona” so we haven’t gotten around to answering. Someone I was speaking to this morning did pick-up when the 48th state called and ended up on the phone for 20 minutes answering…
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Last fall I took a class with Niall Ferguson, the historian who is easily the most prominent proponent of the use of counterfactual history. Counterfactuals are “what if”s: what if the British had spent the same amount of money fighting the American Revolution as the French (never mind Napoleon), what…
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We’ve just scheduled several guided tours of historic Lowell Cemetery for the coming months. They are still a ways off, but you can at least get them on your schedule: Saturday – August 14 – 10 am Friday – September 10 – 1 pm Saturday – September 11 – 10…
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National columnist E. J. Dionne in his latest essay charts a route out of the political thicket for the Obama-led Democrats, but he senses a nagging lack of passion among the “D’s” and sees “I’s” trending toward the GOP for the fall. Read Dionne’s essay here, which I picked up from…
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Bob Dylan said you don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind’s blowing. Bob Forrant says we shouldn’t wait for the economists to tell us which way the economy went, but should seed the clouds ourselves to make some money rain. Read his latest take on the regional economy in…
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