Golden kidney stone
By EDITORIAL | January 28, 2006
4.9
Number of minimum-wage workers it takes to rent a two-bedroom apartment in Greater Boston.
$34 million
Amount the Republican National Committee has in the bank.
$5.5 million
Amountthe Democratic National Committee has in the bank.
$25,000
Amount that online casino GoldenPalace.com paid for a kidney stone that William Shatner passed last year. The proceeds will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.
“Osama bin Laden is going to die of kidney failure before he’s killed by Karl Rove and his crowd.”
- Senator John Kerry, during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, speaking about the Bush administration’s inability to catch bin Laden.
Related:
Republican dirty tricks, Activist Tales, The JonBenet factor, More
- Republican dirty tricks
Late last month, readers of the conservative web site NewsMax discovered this juicy tidbit in a column by Ronald Kessler: “In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an ‘October surprise’ to help win the November congressional elections.”
- Activist Tales
Cleve Jones told a fascinating tale about how the assassination of Harvey Milk led him to become a prominent bridge-builder between the LGBT community and the labor movement.
- The JonBenet factor
Five summers ago, in the weeks before terrorists slammed fully loaded passenger planes into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, national television was obsessed with what? The Taliban? Osama bin Laden? Nope. Sharks.
- What smell?
It’s always summer to George W. Bush, our lazy, hazy, crazy commander in chief who puts in shorter presidential work weeks than Woodrow Wilson did after he was paralyzed by a stroke.
- King of the freaks
I’d like to honor the best of the recently deceased political campaigns. Unfortunately, “best” turned out to be in short supply this year, but there was a surplus of worst. And I have just the prize for that.
- Time for a clean sweep?
In early 2007, Rhonda Dawson, a thoughtful, candid, 45-year-old African-American guard at the Maine State Prison in Warren, quit her job after four years because, she says, of racist taunting from her fellow correctional officers.
- Labor Pains
With an economy in free fall, and popular anger mounting over bailout-mania, one might expect the labor movement to be front and center. But the streets are relatively quiet. And the nation seems as ambivalent as ever about unionism. There is, in short, plenty of fodder for discussion.
- Library critics press for more oversight at the PPL
Calling the management of the Providence Public Library (PPL) arrogant and disinterested in providing library services, library critics continue to press for more public control of the nonprofit corporation.
- A Handy Guide to the Big Dig Screw-Up
As people try to sort out responsibility for the fiasco that led to the death of Milena Del Valle in the I-90 connector tunnel, you might have a hard time keeping the players straight.
- No side bets
Opponents of legalized gaming in Massachusetts are celebrating the death this past week of Governor Deval Patrick’s bill to license casinos, which was crushed by a seemingly decisive margin of more than two-to-one.
- Deval’s dance with labor
One of the most revealing currents political observers will soon be watching is how Governor Deval Patrick deals with organized labor.
- Less

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