Author Archives: floegel

Town Meeting

3/8/2001 – 4:28 pm

Tuesday was town meeting day in Vermont. The first Tuesday of March is set aside for direct democracy. Citizens gather to conduct the town’s annual business, vote on school budgets and choose members for a selectboard which deals with mundane matters arising between now and the next town meeting. Issues decided at town meeting are […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

The Bad Seed

3/1/2001 – 4:27 pm

In the past few weeks, the science sections of newspapers and magazines have been full of stories about the recently-sequenced map of the human genome. Most opened with a tone of theotechnic awe. Science writers, unlike sportswriters, don’t often get the opportunity to announce a new epoch in human history. We haven’t gotten this worked […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

The American Plan

2/22/2001 – 4:25 pm

Ever since the Supreme Court awarded the presidency to George W. Bush in December, two questions have been outstanding: to whom does Mr. Bush owe his victory and how will he repay them? Aside from the five pro-Bush Supreme Court justices themselves, we should look at the people who funded the Bush 2000 campaign, the […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Mexico, on $5 a Day

2/15/2001 – 4:23 pm

In the 1960s, a different kind of travel guide appeared in American bookstores, with titles like “Europe on $5 a day.” Overseas travel, which until then had been the province of the wealthy, was now within the grasp of working-class Americans. Hoi polloi fanned out in every direction, children and grandchildren of immigrants, going back […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

American Heritage

2/8/2001 – 4:21 pm

It’s been snowing off and on all week in northern New England, piling on top of the accumulated drifts and mounds. We shovel our way to the street, then the city plow comes along and pushes it all back in, heavier than before. Rooftop shoveling is a popular pastime for the anxious homeowner; the snowpack […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

The Age of Unlightenment

2/1/2001 – 4:19 pm

Here’s how things worked in the bad old days: you flipped a switch on the wall and the lights came on. Between 1900 and 2000, electricity went from a luxury to a necessity upon which life as we know it depends. The same evolution will probably take place with the Internet in this century. Cable […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

89637-132

1/25/2001 – 4:17 pm

In the waning hours of the Clinton presidency, the ultimate news was about legal bargaining, which may be the true Clinton legacy. The soon-to-be ex-president cut a deal with special prosecutor Robert Ray. In his statement, Bill Clinton continued to dispense words carefully and the tone was petulant rather than penitent, evidence that personal morality […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)