A Survivor
While the New York Times online is still free, see Leah Carroll’s poignant account in ‘Modern Love’ of a child left behind. This story is local, the Providence Journal is part of it. I felt a nervous flutter at finally seeing him, but my tension was not romantic. He wasn’t a love interest but rather [...]
Paul Harvey and J.Edgar Hoover
Before Rush, even before Morton Downey Jr., there was Paul Harvey. In the 1980′s I was working in a factory pasting up business cards. Every day I had to listen to Paul Harvey’s unctuous voice on the radio. The room was small and I was newly hired, so I had to put up with it. [...]
Taking their Money and Voting Against Them
The New York Times has an article discussing the new Supreme court decision which takes restrictions off corporations giving money to politicians. The article includes quotes from social scientists saying there is little evidence that all our attempts to restrict corporate giving to politicians come to any good. I have another idea. How about if [...]
Playing With Fire
Cable Car Cinema is showing the documentary, ‘Waiting for Armageddon’. Check their website for showtimes. If you didn’t have enough to be anxious about, for years American evangelicals have been touring the Holy Land, visiting the Muslim holy site, the Dome of the Rock, and making provocative statements about leveling the Dome in order to [...]
Me Vida Local
Okay, terrible name for a column, but it’s been a tough week and my brain is fried. I’m thinking of how the radical wing of the Republican party wanted to ‘starve the beast’ so that the government wouldn’t get in the way of corporations and organized religious groups. Pretty good job they’ve done of it. [...]
The Morning After
I’m not going to snark at two nineteen-year-old unmarried parents. The teenagers should be in college or finding their way in life in work or adventure. The baby is real, and deserves parents who are able to care for him. But these particular teenage parents are supposed to be a national model for whatever spin [...]
Not Kitty Genovese
A sad and sordid story out of Ohio. A woman was raped on a busy street in daylight. But this is not Kitty Genovese. Several people driving by called 911 from their cell phones. I would have wished that one person had been quick enough to pull over and intervene, but that’s asking a lot. [...]
Vampires Must be Invited
They say that vampires can’t enter your house unless they’re invited. In fact, from Dracula on, the creepy thrill of vampires is their seduction. I’m stealing a few minutes before a heavy work day, so this will be a little fragmented. The TV is off, the warm insinuating voices of the commercials, which now comprise [...]
What Happened?
This week I did some phone banking for Martha Coakley and ran into some Unitarian and progressive friends at the union hall. I didn’t expect such a high level of motivation and spirit, and I thought maybe the results of the election would belie the polls, but the voters have spoken and Massachusetts will have [...]
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