Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Columbus: the Man and the Myth
Another holiday, another opportunity to vilify the United States. Actually, the upcoming Columbus Day holiday is just a warm-up for the Thanksgiving main event. We know the narrative by now. Christopher Columbus was not a heroic explorer who discovered a new world. He was a villain who set in motion the centuries-long American reign of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, History, Opinion, Politics, Profiles | 3 Comments
Tags: America, Americans, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Columbus Day, discovery, explorer, explorers, Genoa, holiday, holidays, Indians, Italian, Italians, Native Americans, United States
Remember How We Felt on 9/11
Every generation has one of those “always remember where you were” dates. For the Greatest Generation, it was Pearl Harbor. For the Baby Boomers, it was the JFK assassination. September 11, 2001 is one of those dates. The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is upon us, and even more than any of the preceding anniversaries, the […]
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Tags: 9/11, 9/11 attacks, America, Daily Item, Ground Zero, Lorne Michaels, Mark Sardella, New York, New York City, Rudy Giuliani, Saturday Night Live, September 11 2011, SNL, terrorism, terrorist attack, terrorist attacks, terrorists, Twin Towers, United States, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, World Trade Center
Lighten Up
The Boston Globe recently ran a front-page story about people who are hoarding incandescent light bulbs in anticipation of a coming federal restriction on the sale of Edison’s most important invention. Count me among the hoarders. I’m not ready yet for my close-up on reality TV, but I have managed to lay in a small […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, News, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment
Tags: banning light bulbs, bulb, bulbs, CFL, CFL light bulbs, CFLs, Compact flourescent light bulb, Daily Item, electric, electric light, electricity, household lighting, incandescent light bulb, Item, light, light bulb, light bulb ban, light bulb law, light bulbs, lighting, lights, Mark Sardella, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
The Price of Redemption
Debt ceiling, we hardly knew ye. Now that the debt discussion that has held the national airwaves hostage for the past few months is over and the phony threat of default is in the rear view mirror, can we please get back to real issues – like littering? Expanding the Massachusetts bottle law is the […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics | 2 Comments
Tags: bottle, Bottle Bill, bottle deposit, Bottle Law, bottles, can, cans, Massachusetts, recycle, recycling
Challenge Your Future
My 2011 Commencement Address Winter ended a week ago, and that means it’s graduation time. So I am happy to be here delivering my 2011 commencement address. Graduates, distinguished members of the faculty, salutorian, valedictorian and vegetarians. I guess that covers everyone. I come here today not to tell you how to live your lives; […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Humor, Opinion, Politics | 1 Comment
Tags: Anthony Weiner, commencement, commencement speech, Daily Item, graduates, graduation, graduation speech, school, speech, student, students, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item
Catering to Apathy
Note to 89 percent of the registered voters in Wakefield, Massachusetts: There was a Town Election on April 26, 2011. Sorry you couldn’t make it. Two selectmen, two School Committee Members and an Assessor were elected. And those were just the contested races. It’s been noted that the 2011 Wakefield Town Election may have seen […]
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Tags: apathy, campaign, campaigns, candidate, candidates, Daily Item, election, elections, Item, voter, voter apathy, voter turnout, voters, voting, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Sound Advice
We’ve all heard the expression “political echo chamber,” but until the recent debates who knew that the term referred to Wakefield‘s own Galvin Middle School Auditorium? I don’t know what it sounded like to the live audience of a dozen people who packed the hall, but for those of us on stage there was more […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Community, Opinion, Politics, Television, Wakefield | Leave a Comment
Tags: cable TV, Daily Item, debate, debates, echo, Galvin Middle School, Politics, reverb, sound, Television, TV, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts, WCAT
A Wakefield Kid After All
On March 11, 2011, Scott Brown, the United States Senator who grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts will be inducted into the Wakefield High School Alumni Hall of Fame. Even Sen. Brown, whose time growing up here was often far from idyllic, would probably concede that Wakefield wasn’t a bad place to grow up. Just after […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics, Reviews, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Daily Item, Mark Sardella, Massachusetts, Scott Brown, Sen. Scott Brown, senate United States Senate, Senator Scott Brown, US Senate, Wakefield, Wakefield Daily Item, Wakefield High School, Wakefield High School Alumni Hall of Fame, Wakefield Item, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass, Wakefield Massachusetts
Two Partings, One Huge Loss
When all was said and done after this long campaign season, Tuesday’s election directly impacted Wakefield, Massachusetts in a couple of key ways. Two of Wakefield’s longtime representatives in the state legislature will no longer be there. Running for Lt. Governor as Charlie Baker’s running mate, Wakefield’s Sen. Richard Tisei suffered the first loss of […]
Filed under: Columns & Essays, Opinion, Politics, Wakefield | 1 Comment
Tags: Charlei Baker, Donald Wong, election, elections, Mark Falzone, Massachusetts, Politics, Richard Tisei, Saugus, Scott Brown, State House, state representative, State Senator, Wakefield, Wakefield MA, Wakefield Mass
Mark Sardella 