Monthly Archives: May 2014

The human interest of the Tiger Woods saga

The Tiger Woods story—it’s not about golf. It’s a sports story but not only a sports story. It’s also one of the great human stories of the past couple of decades: the Tiger Woods miracle—and now, in a way just as compellingly, its apparent collapse. It’s hard to think of anyone who has achieved such […]

Lifespan statistics: we’re kidding ourselves

There’s a lot discussion these days, as boomers hit retirement age, about how boomers have a whole other phase of life to look forward to, a whole new shot, time for second careers, and so on. Many more years than their parents or grandparents of serious living. All such upbeat talk starts with the premise […]

Retirement: it’s got issues

Given our growing number of retirees, it’s surprising that there isn’t more debate, in these pages and elsewhere, about the theory and practice of doing what so many of us are busy doing: aging. Having reached the age when I’m no longer taking immortality for granted, I’ve begun to pay attention to the discussion about […]

Harwich beachfront owners may be legal but they’re wrong

I’m sorry to see Harwich town meeting decide not to defend traditional public access to Bay View Road beach. It’s hard for a town to go up against the determined wealthy and their lawyers. It would in any case have been a tough fight in the courts. Owners have sought to restrict public use of […]

Battle of the billionaire titans

One email response to my recent column lamenting our democracy morphing into oligarchy (plutocracy, corporatocracy, what have you) went, more or less: Hey Mr. leftwing columnist, how come you’re complaining about Koch brothers money playing a role in government? There are plenty of rich progressives throwing their money’s weight around. What about them, hunh? And […]

Money versus votes

I wonder how many of our votes the Koch brothers and friends could buy directly, by offering, say, $1000 paid directly to voters for switching our votes in the midterm election? What would it take? $100? Maybe they don’t have to spend that much. I must say I find it depressing news that we are […]

Eastham: electronic voting will mean the loss of the essence of town meeting

At their May 5 town meeting, Eastham citizens will vote whether to be the first on the block to replace traditional voting by voice or raised hands with electronic voting. The idea is that it will shorten meetings, improve accuracy and ensure privacy. In a newspaper story on the proposal a former moderator from Westboro, […]

The Sterling racism story is a cause for celebration

Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers basketball team, has been banned for life for ugly racist sentiments. In this bad news/good news story, the good trumps the bad. Yes, shocking, overt racism at that level. But the reaction to it is, at least for anyone who was conscious during the 1960s and earlier, a […]