U.S. Senate candidate and Boston Celtics honcho Steve Paglicua, who is running for Democratic nomination for the late Ted Kennedy's seat, is getting batted around for what appears to be his own confusion about the military draft. First he was for it, then he was
against it. (Is he channeling John Kerry, here? Or, as Jonny Most would have said: "First…
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Added by Tom Reilly on November 13, 2009 at 2:58pm —
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I can't say I'm happy about
this, but at least now we are spared what seemed the very real possibility that the World Series celebrations would cut into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.
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Added by Tom Reilly on November 5, 2009 at 10:45am —
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Of the many examples of American cultural imperialism (blue jeans, Starbucks, Miley Cyrus) that drive European opinion makers to distraction, few compare to the Americanized celebration of Halloween. Damian Thompson, the blogs editor of the London
Daily Telegraph, provides a good example
here of their complaints. But, not to worry. Americans, showing…
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Added by Tom Reilly on October 30, 2009 at 4:30pm —
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I'm not going to blog about the
balloon boy -- well except to say this: The Heene kids are named Falcon, Ryo and Bradford. Bradford? BRADford? BRADFORD?! What? They ran out of car and truck model names for their kids? The name Willow was already copyrighted? Frodo was too pedestrian? They wanted at least one of the kids not to get beat up at school every…
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Added by Tom Reilly on October 20, 2009 at 10:00am —
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No matter what your political position, you have to recognize that it's an honor for the United States that the leader of our country has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Certainly all of us can set aside partisanship to take pride in this recognition of the president's efforts in the cause of peace?
Or not. Evidently there are people hoping the prize would be awarded to…
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Added by Tom Reilly on October 9, 2009 at 12:16pm —
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Miami Herald columnist Dave Barry has won a Pulitzer Prize for his commentary on everything from international finance to exploding toilets. But now he's done something really worthwhile. His blog has taken notice of
this. (And just in case it got bumped off the top spot on his blog, we are refering to
this.) Yes, we know this…
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Added by Tom Reilly on September 24, 2009 at 5:06pm —
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So according to a campaign
spokesman, Sen. Scott Brown, R-Wrentham, is not just marking time with his run for the GOP nomination for the US Senate.
He's "in it to win it."
Senator, if you or your staff are going to use sports cliches in your campaign (and why should you be any different), you need to take the advice of an
expert…
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Added by Tom Reilly on September 18, 2009 at 12:58pm —
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Did your kids get to hear President Obama's speech today? Many didn't. Some schools had interesting reasons for omitting the address from the school day. And by interesting, I mean, of course, totally i
nsane.
This appears to be a trend.
In some school districts, students can opt out of sex education classes if their parents object to the content. In others, parents have asked if…
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Added by Tom Reilly on September 8, 2009 at 5:10pm —
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Predictably, along with the tributes, the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy has brought out the Kennedy haters for one last romp through the blogosphere. Whether it was because of Chappaquiddick, busing or civil rights legislation, there's a segment of the population that saw Ted, or his brothers or old Joe or all of them together -- along with the Masons, the Vatican and FDR -- as the essence of evil. And it's not only on this side of the Atlantic. Kennedy's passing has revived the animosity of the…
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Added by Tom Reilly on August 27, 2009 at 2:44pm —
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In our humble opinion, after years of newspaper journalism,
this may be the greatest headline ever. Period.
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Added by Tom Reilly on August 26, 2009 at 4:27pm —
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Although, as
Dave Barry's blog points out, the
suspect was covered with suspicious ruler marks.
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Added by Tom Reilly on August 14, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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My night shift colleague and fellow editor, Larry Kessler, in his
column this week, speaks eloquently about the overuse of the ephithet "Nazi" to describe any social or political position we don't like.
Unfortunately, it's our generation -- Larry's and mine -- that has a lot to answer for when it comes to labeling people Nazis or fascists.
Didn't oppose the Vietnam War stoutly enought? You were a…
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Added by Tom Reilly on August 13, 2009 at 3:30am —
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Apologies for not having blogged recently, but I was waiting for my invitation to the
"suds summit" (Make mine a Guinness, Mr. President.)
Like many of you, I watched in amazement as TV news covered this like the moon landing.
Reporter: "Yes we can confirm there are pretzels, whether they are Rolled Gold or Bachman's we are not sure, but we'll try to get that for you."
Anchor: "…
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Added by Tom Reilly on August 2, 2009 at 5:00pm —
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Even as we type, there are heroic bloggers and bloggettes following every detail of the
Sotomayor hearings. They are made of sterner stuff than I am. But I was struck by the caption on Boston Globe photo of Judge Sotomayor earlier this week that said she had spent most of the day "listening to senators." Doesn't that fall under "cruel and unusual punishment?"
Quick update: I belie…
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Added by Tom Reilly on July 15, 2009 at 2:00pm —
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Al Franken, after nearly seven months, has been declared the
winner of the U.S. Senate race in Minnesosta. Somehow, I had expected to get the news
this way.
But is it right to have a professional comedian in the Senate? It would seem to give him an unfair advantage over…
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Added by Tom Reilly on July 1, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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There's a continuing debate in this country about whether marijuana use impairs cognitive function. On the one hand we have public service adds such as
this, which urge young people to avoid weed because it will make them do silly, self-destructive things. On the other, we have these
guys. Now, at last we have a definitive answer to the question: Does smoking dope make you stupid? And…
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Added by Tom Reilly on June 25, 2009 at 11:54am —
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Last week, my boss, Mike Kirby devoted his Sunday column to reasons why we need newspapers.
OK, it was perhaps not a surprise that a newspaperman would present this information, but it got me to thinking about another reason that, even with the Web, we need newspapers or their equivalent for the digital age.
Remember this
story from back during the presidential campaign? In one 24 hour news cycle it went from a tale abou…
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Added by Tom Reilly on June 21, 2009 at 3:19am —
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Ah, Britain, land of chivalry.
At least two columnists for my favorite UK daily (no, not the one with the Page 3 girls) have sprung (springed?) to the defense of Gov. Sarah Palin after she had been the subject of one of David Letterman's "Top 10" lists.
Daily Telegraph U.S. bureau chief Tony Harnden had
this.
And the paper's religion writer Damien Thompson weighed…
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Added by Tom Reilly on June 10, 2009 at 11:56am —
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Remember this hi-larious "Saturday Night Live"
skit from a few months ago? Oh, those wacky SNL funsters, using wild exaggeration to poke some light-hearted fun at the Republican Party. As if the party of family values would actually go after President Obama's kids, or his wife for that matter.
Then there was…
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Added by Tom Reilly on June 4, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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Just one more note about my daughter's
graduation and I'll shut up.
The other day, with the ink not yet dry on her diploma, she got her very first
unsolicited, pre-approved credit card offer. OK, it was for a Discover card, but you have to start someplace.
Her mother and I are so…
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Added by Tom Reilly on June 3, 2009 at 1:43pm —
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