Mayor Bloomberg and the Two Party System

In Tuesday’s New York Times, Matt Bai wrote about the possibility that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may run for president in 2012 as an independent. Bloomberg recently spoke at the launch of a new group called “No Labels” which “aspires to build a grass-roots movement for political independents…

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Earmark Requests for Massachusetts

In today’s Globe:  The Globe has compiled a list of all of the earmark requests from the Massachusetts congressional delegation that are part of the $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill now headed for a Senate vote. Included are requests from US Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown, and US Reps.…

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Political Theory on the 4:10 Lowell Train

Returning from Boston by train yesterday afternoon, I was seated behind a sixty-something Patriots-sweatshirt wearing white male who was not shy about sharing his opinions on politics with the fellow sitting next to him. Unfortunately for everyone else on that part of the train, his volume required us all to…

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“Tsongas Steel”

Today we combine photos by Tony Sampas with a poem by Paul Marion in a tribute to Paul Tsongas and the UMass Lowell Tsongas Center. Tsongas Steel I view my approach as compassionate realism. Can you imagine a bumper sticker with those words on it? —Paul Tsongas 1. It’s January…

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Civil War Stamps

In the early 1960s, I was following my father’s lead and collecting stamps. I wasn’t obsessive about it, but I enjoyed the hobby for a while, particularly as the stamps were small windows onto history and geography. During the centennial of the Civil War (1961-65), the US Postal Service issued…

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