Opinion

‘No Labels’? No thanks

Among the many reasons Democrats took a shellacking in 2010 was the lack of brand identity. No one knows what the heck we are.The Republican brand is clear: anger, passion, as little government as possible. But the Democrats' brand is…

Cutting budgets and grinding axes

People like to compare the state or federal budget to a family's budget, and base suggestions about what government should do on the habits of regular people. For example, new House Speaker Bill O'Brien plans to switch the order of…

An unacceptable tax cut measure

The federal tax compromise is unacceptable on moral grounds and is equally unacceptable politically.It is simply wrong to allow Congress to cut unemployment benefits on which families depend. Too many good, honest people are out of work for reasons not…

Should we repeal health-care reform?

According to a 2009 Harvard Medical School study, over 40,000 Americans die each year because they do not have health insurance. More people die for lack of health insurance than from drunken driving and homicide combined.As one of the study's…

Healthy workforce, healthy economy

Every flu season, public health officials tell us that washing our hands and covering a cough are good ways to avoid getting sick or passing on the illness.It seems that nearly every office worker, teacher and nurse has a bottle…

New England's modern grid opportunity

The energy sector in New England is undergoing the most dramatic changes we have seen in more than a decade. In the electric sector alone, NStar and Northeast Utilities are merging, billions of dollars in transmission investments have bolstered reliability,…

A simple plan to save homes and markets

Both the Obama administration and the Republicans have housing blood on their hands. Obama was silent as Democrats and Republicans in 2009 defeated Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin's bankruptcy reform bill that would have stopped the foreclosure tidal wave.One simple change…