Please understand-the ban was not put in place to protect you from your own bad choices. It was put in place to protect me and everyone else for your bad choices. It was put in place to prevent employers from pressuring workers into making unsafe decisions about when to leave. It was put in place to make sure that plows could keep the roads as clear as possible so an ambulance carrying someone to the hospital could get there, or a fire truck could go deal with someone's burning house.
It's not all about your freedom, it's about everyone's freedom. View Comment
Gas priced peaked during the reign of Gee Dub. Which, in any case, is not terribly relevant because the President does not have a lot of control over the price of gas. Now, if you want to talk about President Obama's efforts to reign in Wall Street, and how the GOP clown brigade in Congress, with the help of Former (love that word!!) Sen. Scott Brown, has hindered that, or how President Obama has put in place policies generally favorable to the shrinking (thanks to GOP favoritism for Wall Street) middle class, we can have that conversation some other time.
And FYI, the US is on track to be energy independent by 2030. You can thank "Barry" for a large part of that. View Comment
I would be worried that the people working at those stores would not really have an option. They would be forced to work. Of course it is true that first responders, medical practitioners, and other essential people often work on Holidays, but I am not sure that retail is really essential.
Nice to see others expressing this concern.
This weekend I will do what I do every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving-go for walks, make turkey soup, read a book, and order presents on line. Not going near a shopping center.
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I understand the policy, given the circumstances. But it sounds like medical professionals need to think about better, safer ways to handle obese patients. Until we solve the problem of obesity (and we should continue serious efforts to do so), we have to deal with it. Imagine a doctor turning away someone with cancer or depression or diabetes?
While 22% is still too high, I am happy to see MA below the national average. View Comment
I am fairly sure that in tho area, making the lunches healthier will make more people buy them. Fruits and vegetables are more "expensive" because fruit and vegetable growers don't receive anywhere near the amount of our tax dollars that commodity crop growers get. As for beverages-the schools can "now" offer only milk, juice and water. Are there other beverages that were previously sold?
It all sounds good to me. View Comment
Off topic, but I just read an article about recent survey that found that millennials lack trust in government, and so fewer young people hold elected office or take an active role in government. As a result, we are seeing legislative bodies that lack direct input from a group of people who are greatly impacted by the policies and decisions being made.
So it is really nice to see Jason Palitsch sitting up there, taking an active role in a very important aspect of local government. Let's hope that this is just the start for him, and that he leads the way for his peers. View Comment
Wow-so much to comment on here, I'll be back a few more times. But this one caught my eye:
"The idea that in this state, it would not be a Democratic senator is ridiculous," Neal said.
Uh, yeah. Rep. Neal? Are you aware that this kind of thinking is what alienates independent voters and makes them vote Republican "just because"? Are you aware that Martha Coakley's very bad attitude and presumptuousness about walking int "Ted Kennedy's seat" is what gave us Scott Brown? Dude, lose the 'tude.
I am voting for Elizabeth Warren not because she is a Democrat and "this state" must have a Democrat. I am voting for her because she most clearly articulates the underlying causes of our current economic woes, and proposes some solutions with considering. She is a consumer advocate, and favors a strong middle class. She has been critical of Democrats when warranted, and her criticisms of Republicans have not been ad hominem attacks but fact-based arguments.
I'm a committed Democrat, but the minute the Republican party becomes sane again, folks like Reps. Neal and McGovern are going to have to work a lot harder to keep me in the blue. And I have to say, around here (central MA), my impression is that some local Republicans are pretty sane. So step it up.
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Bruinsfancam8, Ms. Warren attended the University of Houston, not Harvard. UH is still a reasonably-priced regional public university. Sadly, though, it is getting less reasonably-priced every day, for any number of reasons beyond the scope of this article.
Also, she was not "given" her UH education. She earned scholarships for part, and paid the rest by working.
Can we keep the facts straight? View Comment
Thanks, V.
I'll keep an open mind, but as I said, there is a lot of good info available about Jim Kane, so it is hard to see voting any other way. As for "entertaining", well, I'm not so interested in being entertained by people elected to lead. We live in tough times and face serious issues.
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Thank you. I have really enjoyed reading these endorsements of Mr. Kane. The letters and comments have presented well-constructed, sound, rational, and very convincing arguments in favor of Mr. Kane's continued leadership. I have also been favorably impressed with what I have seen from Mr. Kane on the public access TV channels, and what I have read about him in the local papers.
I am new to the area and seeking as much information as possible to inform my vote. I am struck by the absence of written endorsements for the other candidate and hope to get more information about him as well. If anyone can direct me to such information, I would be grateful. View Comment
Thanks for this letter. Looking forward to a trip to O'Driscolls. Also consider a look at Mass Local Food (masslocalfood.org). (fyi-this is for information, not an endorsement Also, I am not a producer and do not stand to profit from this comment). Local businesses will only survive if we support them. Big box stores are a reality of life, and they employ a lot of people. But let's hope that our existing local businesses survive, and that we can create the demand for more to come along. View Comment
Also, I feel compelled to point out that the 47% of Americans who pay no federal income taxes pay state taxes and payroll taxes. I agree that our tax system is convoluted, and that a simpler tax system could be fair and generate more revenue. I'd love to see some of the President's proposals on tax simplification be considered. I will also point out that for many of the 47%, it was the Bush tax cuts that knocked them out of the marginal income level required to pay taxes. This will be "fixed" if the Bush tax cuts expire in 2012. As they should. View Comment
Beautiful story.
I really liked Ken Burns "The War" documentary. It featured commentary by many WWII veterans and other survivors. What they described, the horrors they saw somewhat regularly are, thank God, unimaginable to most of us. Many of the commenters, old men and women when the film was made, said that for most of their lives, they could not bring themselves to talk about what they had experienced. So few people were able to understand.
If one thinks about what was at stake in that war, and how easily, especially in the beginning, it could have gone the other way, and how truly awful that would have been, it's not so hard to understand their reticence.
We should never forget what we owe to these people. We should make our country worthy of their efforts. View Comment
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