Considering that I spent 15 of my nearly 65 years writing and editing newspapers in small communities, how much I loved that work, and how interesting I found it, it’s remarkable how little I’ve written about it since I left.
With very little fanfare or opposition in 1999, New Hampshire became the last state to adopt a Martin Luther King holiday, replacing its optional Civil Rights Day. Civil Rights Day was adopted in 1990, after a major battle in the Statehouse. As Statehouse reporter, I scooped the state with the inside story of the back room Civil Rights Day compromise.
An American suggests we fly the flag upside down to protest U.S. policy. We did that in the Vietnam War, and we’re still paying for that terrible mistake.
Pro-life activists don’t care about mothers and babies after they’re born. Doctors care more about malpractice insurance premiums than malpractice. Pro-choicers only care about women who choose abortion.
In Feb., 2008, the question was how long middle-class Americans could keep saving the economy by shopping. By Feb.. 2009. the answer was, Not any more.
It’s too soon to tell, but media baron Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of the Wall Street Journal could be very bad news for the quality of journalism everywhere, and the amount of information people get.
Family restaurants like Pizzeria Uno used to be considered recession-proof. But several barely survived the last recession
It can take three years to qualify for disability benefits under Social Security, and it pays barely enough to get by. Fraud is practically impossible. People who get it almost always deserve it. Taxes have supported the deserving poor since Biblical time.
Recycling has become big business. It’s not just for organic granola eaters any more.
The murder of an exemplary police officer in Manchester, NH, was so cold-blooded and tragic, it made me question my opposition to the death penalty. But I held my nose and opposed it even in this horrible case.