Yearly Archives: 2005

La Danse Macabre

6/23/2005 – 9:42 am

Vermont is in the middle of a federal murder trial that may lead to our state’s first execution in 51 years. In November 2000, Donald Fell and Robert Lee killed Mr. Fell’s mother and her boyfriend in Rutland, Vermont, then carjacked Teresca King, drove her across the New York state line and killed her. Mr. […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Legitimate Aspirations

6/16/2005 – 6:15 am

The war in Iraq, like the war in Vietnam, is a quagmire, but where does the comparison end? There’s a wall in Washington, DC that says the Vietnam War lasted 16 years and cost 58,000 American lives. Let’s hope we don’t match those statistics before we bring the troops home. As in Vietnam, it’s been […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

6/9/2005 – 10:20 am

Vermont’s forum for direct democracy, the town meeting, made national news in March when 50 towns passed resolutions calling on the state legislature to investigate the effect National Guard deployments have on the state, asking Congress to balance authority over the Guard between state and federal governments and calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

You Be The Judge

6/2/2005 – 10:36 am

Science, law and religion are meeting this spring in state capitols and at local pharmacies. The topic of discussion is “Plan B,” a contraceptive drug sometimes called “the morning after pill.” Plan B is a concentrated dose of the hormone levonorgestrel and taking it will prevent a woman from ovulating, prevent an egg from being […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

History in the Making

5/26/2005 – 10:18 am

This week’s last-minute Senate deal on judicial appointments entailed a showdown between Senators Bill Frist of Tennessee and John McCain of Arizona, men considered leading rivals for the 2008 presidential nomination. Everyone loves to handicap the great presidential derby, but it’s too early to look that far ahead. This week’s world will be long gone […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

The Parent Trap

5/19/2005 – 9:22 am

Mexican President Vicente Fox put his foot in his mouth up to the knee last week. Speaking to a business group, he criticized U.S. immigration policy, saying Mexican workers are willing to go to the U.S. and perform jobs “that not even blacks want to do.” There was the usual uproar and, after initially standing […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (1)

Courting Cataclysm

5/12/2005 – 10:52 am

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Vermont legislature’s struggle with finding a path toward universal health care in this year’s session. In other states, the lawmakers must have more time on their hands than they do here in the Green Mountain State. In Wisconsin’s legislative session, an effort to allow citizens to kill […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)