Sotomayor shows she’s ready to play
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, July 16, 2009
BOSTON --
At times it sounded more like the all-star game than the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice. I could have organized an office pool guessing the number of times senators would say “balls and strikes” (13) or “umpire” (16).
Palin the pretender
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Wednesday, July 8, 2009
BOSTON -- What had happened to Sarah the Barracuda? The pit bull with lipstick? The mother of five, moose killer and marathoner who juggled a BlackBerry and a breast pump?
Elderly family members are depending on you
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, July 2, 2009
BOSTON -- As a society, and as individuals, we are woefully unprepared for aging, even when it’s our parents. We have 76 million baby boomers already entering their 60s.
Journalism in a Twitter era
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, June 25, 2009
BOSTON --
There’s a cartoon showing a protester holding his cell phone up to a mullah beating a protester and warning, “Stop or I’ll Tweet.” If this is a Twitter Revolution, the score so far is Despots 1, Twitter 0.
Tuning a culture to a ‘calling’
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, June 18, 2009
BOSTON --
Somewhere along the way, with the help of insurers and incentives, by paying for procedures rather than patient care, we have created a culture of medicine that pushes doctors away from the “calling.”
The identity dance
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, June 11, 2009
BOSTON --
I can’t help noting that in the Sonia Sotomayor drama, the charge of “identity politics” is leveled at relative newcomers. I have yet to hear a certified member of the establishment derided as a practitioner of this dark art. For that matter, identity itself seems to be exclusively a matter of race, gender and minority status.
Myth of the lone shooter
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BOSTON -- It is well past time for the anti-abortion movement to denounce those who are in the profession of inflaming passions: Those who call Obama the “most pro-abortion president ever.”
A wise person for the court
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, May 28, 2009
BOSTON --
What a difference since Ronald Reagan had to reach into a state appeals court to find his “first.” Today the most experienced candidate is the diversity candidate.
In praise of empathy
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, May 21, 2009
BOSTON -- A phalanx of horrified conservatives has trotted out, insisting that empathy is just a code word for the sentimental liberal bias in favor of underdogs over the Constitution.
What would Goldwater say?
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, May 14, 2009
BOSTON -- As if the Republicans weren't having enough trouble with defectors, they've gone on a purge.
When rationing may be rational
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, May 7, 2009
BOSTON --
Today more than one-fourth of Medicare dollars are spent in the last year of life. Most people want to die “peacefully” at home, but 80 percent die in hospitals. So, much of our money goes to the kind of death we don’t want.
Life as a makeover
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, April 30, 2009
BOSTON --
To make over or not to make over? This was the question that followed Susan Boyle's flat heels off stage and into the limelight. She became a template for our ambivalence. And hers.
Sexting—and common sense
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Friday, April 24, 2009
BOSTON --
Over the last months, “sexting,” that spicy combo of sex and texting, has created something between a moral panic and a reprise of “Trouble in River City.” Parents who have barely begun to absorb the too-much-information on Facebook are now confronted with research suggesting that one in five teens has sent or posted scantily clad or nude pictures of themselves.
Sexting—and common sense
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, April 23, 2009
Over the last months, “sexting,” that spicy combo of sex and texting, has created something between a moral panic and a reprise of “Trouble in River City.” Parents who have barely begun to absorb the too-much-information on Facebook are now confronted with research suggesting that one in five teens has sent or posted scantily clad or nude pictures of themselves.
A strange dual citizenship
By ELLEN GOODMAN - Thursday, April 16, 2009
BOSTON --
Melba Abreu and Beatrice Hernandez file state taxes as what they are—a legally married Massachusetts couple. But under federal law, they have to file federal taxes as what they aren’t—two single women.
