News
by Markos Moulitsas | Sep 27, 2012 | News
Looking back to early August, it now seems funny that Sen. Scott Brown’s campaign website would trumpet a collection of quotes mocking Democrats for giving Elizabeth Warren a prime speaking position at the party’s Charlotte convention. “What’s...
by Stephanie Kraft | Aug 30, 2012 | News
The colorful days of the labor union movement may seem merely historic now, but in fact that movement is alive and busy—and international. You may have noticed that when Mitt Romney visited Poland after a less-than-successful touchdown in England, he won...
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 27, 2012 | News
The Republican Party platform contains a long list of criticisms of President Obama and his administration. That’s natural during election season. But are they the right criticisms? The platform, with its smell of the U.S. ?Russia “superpower”...
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 6, 2012 | News
It’s official: the Arctic set a record for ice loss this summer as 50 percent more per day melted than in 2007, the year the previous record was set for Arctic summer ice melt. The potential results include more climate destabilization and polarization between...
by Our Readers | Sep 27, 2012 | News
Price of Emu Meat Stable Through Time Those emu photos from Gill [“Good Bird Farming,” September 13, 2012] brought to mind a conversation overheard in the Plainfield post office. Steve the postmaster to Bob the emu rancher: “You look tired.”...
by Maureen Turner | Sep 6, 2012 | News
Massachusetts voters are firmly in support of a November ballot initiative that would legalize the medical use of marijuana, according to recent poll results. Fifty-eight percent of respondents favored the measure, while 27 percent were opposed and 15 percent were...
by Terry Allen | Sep 27, 2012 | News
Mitt Romney has a debilitating condition that won’t show up in his medical report: severe cognitive dissonance—simultaneously holding conflicting ideas, beliefs and values. His problem goes deeper than routine hypocrisy and expedient flip-flopping. Romney...
by Pete Redington | Sep 6, 2012 | News
Local journalist Jonathan Green didn’t realize what he was getting into when he took the Men’s Journal article assignment that led to his first book, Murder in the High Himalaya: Loyalty, Tragedy, and Escape from Tibet. “I started out thinking it...
by Maureen Turner | Sep 27, 2012 | News
One year ago this fall, Alex Morse upended all kinds of preconceived notions about electability when he won the Holyoke mayor’s race. “Old Holyoke makes way for New Holyoke as Alex Morse, 22, elected mayor by defeating incumbent Elaine Pluta, 67,”...
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 6, 2012 | News
As the election season rap sheet on Mitt Romney grows longer, dramatic accusations are being aimed at the Republican Party’s anointed contender for the White House—accusations being circulated not only by liberals but by independents and libertarians....
by Tom Vannah | Sep 27, 2012 | News
It is hard to watch the public process set up by Mayor Domenic Sarno for selecting a casino developer in Springfield without feeling bad for the people who live there. Last week, as Sarno’s team met with members of the State Gaming Commission to discuss the...
by Our Readers | Sep 6, 2012 | News
Register Needs More Than Tech Skills Would you vote for a presidential candidate because he had the office skills to effectively manage the White House staff? Or a congressional candidate who had the technical skills to modernize his office with the latest...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 4, 2012 | News
The Republicans are determined to keep Scott Brown in his seat as U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, and, as with all seats in Congress, they play a cautious, watchful game. Republican party leaders know a Senator has to keep his constituents placated, so they allow...
by Pete Redington | Sep 6, 2012 | News
Something amazing happened on the way to this year’s summer Olympics. A Sports Illustrated cover didn’t have any men on it. Under the headline “Five Stars: America’s Game Changers,” SI’s Olympics preview issue featured the five...
by Our Readers | Oct 4, 2012 | News
Who Built the Stadiums? I am a visitor in the Valley and read with great interest [Pete] Redington’s recent piece on public fundings of stadiums. While I am not in favor of this, I think that he is not telling the entire truth, either. The fact is that the...
by Pete Redington | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Ever married to their “Job Creators” mantra, Republicans gave their national convention the theme “We Built This.” The phrase comes in response to a speech President Obama gave earlier this summer, in which he (much like Senate candidate...
by Ted Rall | Oct 4, 2012 | News
Decline is on my brain. Specifically, the decline of America. “There’s not a country on Earth that wouldn’t gladly trade places with the United States of America,” President Obama says, denying Republican assertions that the U.S. is in decline....
by Stephanie Kraft | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Voter fraud is rare in the U.S.—so rare that its use as a rationale for strenuous campaigns to tighten voting requirements is highly suspect. Nevertheless, since the last general election, Republicans have been busy around the country putting rules in place to...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 4, 2012 | News
Four years ago, the historic election of Barack Obama was tempered by a hideous local crime: the burning of the African-American Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield. Three city men were subsequently convicted of arson in the case, and last year,...
by Our Readers | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Our Neighbors Are Hungry Like 49 million Americans across the country, more than 110,000 individuals in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden and Hampshire Counties seek food assistance every year from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and our region’s emergency...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 4, 2012 | News
As Election Day fast approaches, the two big-party presidential campaigns are raising, and spending, money at an egregious rate; the New Yorker recently reported that the Obama and Romney campaigns are expected to spend a combined $1 billion on TV ads alone by Nov. 6....
by Maureen Turner | Sep 13, 2012 | News
Jeff Napolitano has been closely tracking the federal budget debate, and what he sees is far from heartening. On one side is the ideologically driven Republican proposal, shepherded by GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, that would “roll back the clock...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 4, 2012 | News
Kids heading back to school this month are finding healthier options in the lunchroom, thanks to new federal rules that require more fruits and vegetables, less sodium and fat and fewer calories in public-school lunches. But a report released last week points to one...
by Maureen Turner | Sep 13, 2012 | News
It’s still a couple of years before a casino is likely to open its doors in Western Mass., but in Springfield, the casino question is quickly becoming all-consuming. There are turf wars over just who—Mayor Domenic Sarno, the City Council, the state Gaming...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 11, 2012 | News
Forty years ago, Springfield’s German Gerena Elementary School was built in an old industrial area in the city’s North End, and constructed below the water table. Neighbors and at least one city councilor protested about the school’s siting on low...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 11, 2012 | News
Silas “Sy” Bennett was a 28-year-old returning college student studying journalism at Keene State when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in the fall of 2007. Initially, Bennett thought the pain he was feeling was caused by a pinched nerve, an...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 11, 2012 | News
This election season has seen fierce debate among Jewish Americans about whether to vote for Obama or Romney—debate heated by Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline position on Iran. In an article entitled “Five Reasons Why Jews Should Not...
by Our Readers | Oct 11, 2012 | News
Readers Write About Scott Brown Massachusetts voters have an opportunity to correct the crippling desire of the Senate to engage in partisanship at the country’s expense. President Clinton, in his rousing speech at the Democratic Convention, emphasized the need...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 11, 2012 | News
The political committee behind Question 3, called the Committee for Compassionate Medicine, is well funded—controversially so. From August of 2011 to Sept. 20, 2012, the committee raised $1,071,502, according to records from the Massachusetts Office of Campaign...
by Pete Redington | Oct 11, 2012 | News
Noam Chomsky once remarked that “sports keeps people from worrying about things that matter to their lives that they might have some idea of doing something about.” As anyone remotely familiar with today’s spectator sports landscape of multiple...
by Tom Sturm | Oct 16, 2012 | News
Increasingly, every presidential election seems to come down to which guy you dislike the least. This being the case, it’s really no wonder that participation in American elections suffers from such anemic turnout; even if you do believe that your vote counts...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 16, 2012 | News
Walmart unionization is the Holy Grail of organized labor; Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S. and, indeed, the world (it has a reported 2.1 million workers total, about two-thirds of them in America) and has a notoriously bad reputation for low wages,...
by Pete Redington | Oct 16, 2012 | News
“All animals are equal,” wrote George Orwell in Animal Farm, his classic treatise on politics and doublespeak. “But some animals are more equal than others.” In a new report titled Inequality Report Card: Grading Congress On Inequality, the...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 18, 2012 | News
This summer, the Massachusetts Legislature made sweeping changes to the ways the state aids homeless families. Some were welcomed by struggling families and their advocates, such as millions in new funding for rental vouchers and housing assistance programs designed...
by Our Readers | Oct 18, 2012 | News
Monkey Business When a television show relies on wild animals for comic relief, something has gone horribly wrong. NBC’s newest miss, Animal Practice, features a main character played by a capuchin monkey named Crystal. Not only is the use of a monkey on the...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 18, 2012 | News
So we think we don’t need government. We think its programs are a waste. We think paying taxes impoverishes us. But we don’t know how accustomed we are to calling Uncle Sam when something goes wrong. This past summer, with its heat and drought, reminded us...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 18, 2012 | News
If you are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, here is a partial list of resources in the Valley that may help you find shelter if you need it, or avoid losing your current home. First, resources provided by the state: Holyoke Transitional Assistance...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 18, 2012 | News
Environmental and social justice activist Van Jones will speak in Springfield this week on the future of civil rights, the first in a series of speeches planned to mark next year’s 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Jones will speak at CityStage...
by Our Readers | Oct 23, 2012 | News
Student Loans: The Casualties I have over $60K in student loans from my bachelor’s degree [“Trashing a Generation,” October 18, 2012]. I received a Graduate Plus loan for the first year of the MBA program, but I was denied the loan for my second and...
by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser | Oct 23, 2012 | News
When Barbara Parry began offering wool by subscription through her farm in Shelburne, she called it a club. “I modeled it on other wool clubs,” she explains. “What became clear, though, is that club was the wrong word, the wrong idea. That’s...
by Rory O?Connor | Oct 23, 2012 | News
Attention, American citizens! Have you visited a porn website recently? Do you have any gay friends? Is your home in foreclosure? Do you drink Michelob or Samuel Adams? None of my business, you say? Probably not, but Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have made it their...
by Pete Redington | Oct 23, 2012 | News
It’s hard to know what costumed persona Chad Stokes, lead singer and guitarist for Boston’s politically-infused reggae-rock trio State Radio, will morph into for this year’s annual Northampton Halloween 5K. A few years ago he was a kangaroo, then,...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 23, 2012 | News
One way Mitt Romney claims that he will put Americans back to work, he told the Wall Street Journal, is to “crack down on cheaters like China.” China “cheats,” Romney said, because its government subidizes its businesses, steals American...
by Pete Redington | Oct 23, 2012 | News
New England Patriots linebacker Brandon Spikes whipped up controversy with his Twitter account recently, tweeting, “I’m homophobic just like I’m arachnophobic. I have nothing against homosexuals or spiders, but I’d still scream if I found one...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 23, 2012 | News
By now all the sources that calculate the level of student loan debt agree that it stands at over $1 trillion. Student debt has become the new feeding trough for collection agencies. The student loan crisis is so severe that you can hardly understand the economics of...
by Maureen Turner | Oct 30, 2012 | News
On the afternoon of October 16, while Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were preparing for their debate at Hofstra University, Jill Stein was being handcuffed by police outside the auditorium. She would have preferred to be inside the hall that day, debating alongside her...
by Stephanie Kraft | Oct 30, 2012 | News
Solamere Capital Partners is an equity firm started up with $10 million in seed money from Mitt and Ann Romney by their son Tagg and Romney chief fundraiser Spencer Zwick. It invests in other equity firms, many run by Romney political donors. One of those firms is HIG...
by Bruce Kluger | Oct 30, 2012 | News
When I was a boy, my bedroom was plastered with posters: a day-glo illustration of the Beatles from Yellow Submarine; a prehistorically pouting Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C.; Clark Gable, chewing on a cigar and scrutinizing a poker hand in Gone With the Wind....
by James Heflin | Oct 30, 2012 | News
If you’ve wandered through downtown Northampton or been to ES Sports or Holyoke Country Club lately, you’ve probably seen large signs that say Iron Horse Entertainment Group (or other Eric Suher-owned businesses) Unfair. Sitting next to the signs,...
by Mark Roessler | Oct 30, 2012 | News
After our plane touched down in Newark, N. J., my family and I had an hour and a half to get to our connecting flight back to Hartford. We were flying in from Europe. Because we needed to go through customs, we needed to first retrieve our luggage, have our passports...
by Our Readers | Nov 5, 2012 | News
Iran: “War Is Failure” War is no answer to the present conflict between the U.S. and Iran. While I was glad to hear in the presidential debate talk about peaceful resolution of the conflict, I’m concerned that our feckless Congress and some of its...
by Our Readers | Nov 5, 2012 | News
Subsidies Enrich Landlords While reading the excellent article “No Place to Live” in the Oct.18th Advocate, I asked myself, Why are we allowing the 1 percent to impose so much suffering on our most vulnerable residents? We now live in a state where it is...
by Maureen Turner | Nov 5, 2012 | News
Recently, I had the chance to ask Michaelann Bewsee if she could imagine what her life would be like if she weren’t part of Arise of Social Justice, the poor people’s rights organization she helped found more than a quarter-century ago. She paused for a...
by Stephanie Kraft | Nov 5, 2012 | News
It’s a pity the old Greeks, who loved monumental visual ironies—cruel sight gags on the grand scale, like the living Antigone sealed in a cave while her dead brother moldered unburied—couldn’t watch what was happening in America during the last...
by Kathleen Broadhurst | Nov 5, 2012 | News
Florence has had a long history of supporting lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, questioning and intersex (LBGTQI) rights. It’s just little known. In a series of lectures entitled Stories of Our LGBTQI Ancestors, researcher Bet Power and the Sexual Minorities...
by Tom Vannah | Nov 12, 2012 | News
The night after the election, I ran into a friend and neighbor at a youth soccer banquet. Naturally the subject of President Obama’s re-election came up. In 2008, my friend said, he’d been over the moon when Obama beat John McCain. He’d walked around...
by Stephanie Kraft | Nov 12, 2012 | News
It looks like something out of a modernistic Alice in Wonderland: the entrance to the German Gerena Elementary School in Springfield’s North End as you see it from Main Street. Murals in bright blue and other primary colors frame the doorway to the tunnel that...
by Stephanie Kraft | Nov 12, 2012 | News
The best thing about last week’s election was that money didn’t buy it. Though staggering waves of cash flooded campaigns, the best-financed candidates often lost. That won’t stop movements against the Citizens United decision, movements aimed at...
by Our Readers | Nov 12, 2012 | News
Monopoly on Music Venues It is shameful that in our progressive community, there is a virtual monopoly on music venues. Eric Suher is the oligarch, and while he fosters a vibrant music scene, he also charges exorbitant fees on tickets. Those fees would be easier to...
by Tom Vannah | Nov 12, 2012 | News
Although the iconography of gambling and resort casino decor have never been my cup of tea, I will admit that spinning roulette wheels, rolling dice and blinking slots machines make pretty good b-roll for TV news. Which is to observe that the nightly presentation of...
