Yearly Archives: 2005

Three Days in May

5/5/2005 – 6:39 am

George Bush says his worries about what might happen in 2041 have caused him to propose a radical overhaul of Social Security. George Bush would do better to worry about what is likely to happen by the end of his term, a likelihood brought on by his own reckless arrogance. Here are items from two […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

A Million Dollars a Day

4/28/2005 – 11:34 am

The national news media has not paid attention to it, but the Vermont Legislature has spent the winter and spring debating the merits of universal health care. It’s a debate worth having. Vermonters spend $3.5 billion on health care each year, about $5,700 for every man, woman and child, sick or healthy. Those costs are […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Plausible Ignorance

4/21/2005 – 11:13 am

Politics makes strange bedfellows of us all, which is why I commend UN Ambassador-Designate John Bolton for his recent service to our nation. This commendation is, of course, indirect and is merited only because Mr. Bolton’s confirmation hearings shed such light on a particular mode of operation within the Bush administration. Mr. Bolton’s nomination is […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Black Flag

4/14/2005 – 11:45 am

April is usually an unpleasant month in Vermont – cold, gray, muddy. This year (so far) it has been anomalously warm, sunny and dry. I took advantage of the weather to bicycle along the lakeshore Sunday afternoon, slowly picking my way along the crowded recreation path. Frisbees and soccer balls flew through the air; children […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (1)

Abolitionists

4/7/2005 – 3:02 pm

Around the time the pope died Saturday, I was sorting through various letters of charitable solicitation. A word in the epistle from Citizens United Against the Death Penalty stopped my eye: abolition. Anti-death penalty advocates are, by definition, abolitionists – they’re trying to abolish the death penalty. The word “abolitionist” in America, however, connotes pre-Civil […]

By floegel | Posted in Catholicism, Civil Liberty, Commentary | Comments (0)

Have a Banana

3/31/2005 – 11:04 am

There’s an old joke about a mountain guide who tells his climbing party: “Watch your step on this ledge, if you slip you’ll fall 400 feet. If you do slip, however, look to your right, you’ll never see a view like that again in your life.” We are all of us stepping along a ledge […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Judgment Day

3/24/2005 – 11:35 am

The front page of the Washington Post’s web site last night carried a story about a technical mishap at Fox television that caused some votes on “American Idol” to be recorded incorrectly. As a result, Fox will air an extra hour of “American Idol,” with – darn! – more expensive ad revenue. The top story […]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary | Comments (1)