A new report by the US Department of Energy and the Berkeley Lab puffs up wind power in the US, noting that "35 percent of all new electricity-generating capacity added […]
Little Windmill on the Prairie
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Subways pick up speed in Boston, trolleys are faster nationally
The American Public Transportation Association posted more good news for itself yesterday, reporting that mass transit use went up by 3.3 percent nationwide during the first three months of 2008 […]
Posted inEducation, Politics, The Download
Will the Electoral College even matter?
It’s fun to check in on the latest electoral vote projections, all of which show a close race between Barack Obama and John McCain (see Electoral-Vote.com and FiveThirtyEight.com). But the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Is Ferraro helping to lay the groundwork for Hillary Clinton’s 2012 campaign?
In today’s Boston Globe, former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro proposes a formal study on whether sexism hurt Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign:…a group of women – from corporate executives […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Complete county-by-county primary results (so far)
For real election obsessives, I’ve posted an Excel spreadsheet with complete primary results so far: Download 2008primariesbycountyasofMay27.xls (1181.5K) Not surprisingly, it is a very large file and may take a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Kennedy, Kerry are no match for US Immigration
Despite the efforts of Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, among others, a popular teacher at Fenway High School was deported over what seems to be his misreading of a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Almost as adorable as tribbles!
Never mind the bears in Uxbridge. Massachusetts is three days away from the "Arrival of Brood XIV Magicicadas In Massachusetts," according to the website Massachusetts Cicadas. Mashpee seems to be […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Ted Kennedy as local hero
CommonWealth contributor Dan Kennedy has an unsentimental appreciation in the Guardian on what Sen. Ted Kennedy (no relation) means to residents of Massachusetts, where he’s a lot more than a […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
America is “right of center”
"McCain sees right-of-center nation as he moves against Obama" is the headline of an AP story, flagged by the Drudge Report, that begins: WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican John McCain’s game […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Is Menino sticking out his neck for Hillary?
The Boston Globe’s Political Intelligence blog is reporting today that nearly 50 Massachusetts supporters of the pro-choice group NARAL have signed a letter asking that the organization retract its recent […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
In all fairness, Weymouth didn’t burn down during those five days
After retiring as mayor of Weymouth this January, David Madden returned to his old job as fire chief and served all of five days before retiring again. (The town replaced […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Revenue Dept. says film tax credit could cost Mass. millions
From CommonWealth editor Bruce Mohl: The Massachusetts Revenue Department says the state’s 25 percent film tax credit would not come close to paying for itself in terms of generating new […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
What about Snowe?
Survey USA has released 17 different polls on how well John McCain and Barack Obama would do in Pennsylvania with different running mates. Not surprisingly, Obama does best when paired […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Dueling landslides by Clinton and Obama
The New York Times Book Review has a piece on the "clustering" of people with similar political views. The Big Sort, by Bill Bishop and Robert G. Cushing, explains (in […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
“Flip book” subway ads old news in Boston but a big deal in L.A.
The Los Angeles Times has a story on subway billboards that appear as videos to the passengers gliding by them: On Tuesday, commercial messages on mass transit in the Southland […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health Care, The Download
Night Shift (spoilers for those about to have extended hospital stays)
You have good reason to be afraid of hospitals in the middle of the night, suggests an article in the latest New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. David Shulkin, CEO […]
Posted inThe Download, Transportation
Why can’t we be more…European
Bashing Europeans — especially the French — for going soft on war in Iraq became a popular US pastime in the immediate post-9/11 era. French fries were renamed "freedom fries." […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Vice-presidential picks don’t matter
At Bloomberg.com, Al Hunt puts forth an impossible-to-prove theory as pundit wisdom:Over the past 50 years, 17 men and one woman have been chosen by the major parties to run […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Elaboration, please: Sexist attacks on Hillary
The Boston Globe’s Joan Vennochi has a typically clear-eyed column on the refusal by many of Hillary Clinton’s female supporters to concede the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. But […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Elitist Republicans, rube Democrats
Over the past few decades, Democratic presidential candidates have done increasingly well in urban areas and Republicans have strengthened their hold over rural areas. The map below shows the major […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Obama’s rural peaks and valleys
As other bloggers have noted (see Al Giordano), Barack Obama’s weakness among rural voters seems most pronounced along the Appalachian Mountains, though the map below suggests that the anti-Obama region […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Tax breaks and transparency in Quebec
New Brunswick Business Journal columnist David Campbell notes the reputation of Québec as a "bad boy" in terms of stealing jobs from other provinces (and, presumably, the United States) by […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
State of the Race: May 15
The Boston Phoenix’s Steven Stark says that if the presidential election were held today, Barack Obama and John McCain would each get 269 electoral votes, throwing the election into the […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Over?
The consensus in the mainstream media is that Hillary Clinton lost any chance for the Democratic presidential nomination yesterday, thanks to a big defeat in North Carolina and only a […]