While I am glad that BP has not taken up some home remedies, such as corks and pillows, their response and the government’s to what is an unmitigated disaster are anything but funny. We’ve crossed into millions of gallons of oil spilled in the Gulf and the wholesale destruction of species, estuaries and a way of life. We don’t have any sense as to the full damage caused. If you are the laugh rather than cry type, check out the Australian comedy team Clarke and Dawes as they give their take on an oil spill resulting from the front falling off an oil tanker down under. Some folks actually took this to be a real interview with a real politician.

(An irregular series on public space. Downtown Crossing covered here.) I’ve heard several of Boston’s ‘great and good’ refer to the Seaport District as a success. I beg to differ. Press the arrow on the slide show below and take a look at the slide show of the district that we took in mid-December 2009 between 12:30 and 1 PM. What’s your reaction? My first one was to ask the photographer (Pioneer’s own, redoubtable Peter Begley) if he deliberately left people out of the shots. He said he only delayed a single shot to let one person clear the frame, everything else is candid. My second reaction was: where is everybody? I know its December, but its lunchtime on a […]

From Today’s Globe: “Massachusetts education officials are quietly putting together a proposal to scrap the controversial MCAS exams in English and math and replace them with new tests they are developing with about two dozen other states.” From 2006 Globe and State House News accounts (sorry, MA library card req. for access): …Thomas F. Birmingham, a former Senate president and a candidate for governor in 2002, said at a Pioneer Institute breakfast forum Thursday. “In this regard, I’m a bit discomfited that one of the leading candidates for governor is, in my opinion, ambiguous on the issue of even retaining MCAS as a graduation requirement.”… …In an e-mailed statement… Patrick spokeswoman Libby DeVecchi said the campaign has reached out to […]

On Tuesday, The Boston Globe published its annual Best of Massachusetts Business list. This is of the genre of U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings, which is to say more circulation-promotion than journalism. The Globe did explain its methodology and some readers may find something useful in it. What I gleaned is based on a recent conversation with Chris Bertelsen of Aviance Capital Management, a highly respected financial analyst. Chris noted that American companies are currently positioned to do very well. The rub is that opportunity knocks not mainly in the United States in its current economic condition, but in rising economies including (but not confined to) Brazil and India. (He interestingly has doubts about China.) The Globe confined […]

It’s commencement time in Boston, which means a stream of events with caps bobbing and gowns and parents waving. Yesterday was a beautiful day for the Boston University commencement with Attorney General Eric Holder. After the center-ring event, a number of schools have their own convocation events. Here are remarks I made at the convocation for the University Professors Program at Boston University. UNI is a really unique place to get a degree, something like the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago in its interdisciplinary approach and unabashed elitism in restrictions on access. (God knows why they let me in.) A few segments worth highlighting: I wish you lots of success, wealth and well-being. Often these occasions […]