Category Archives: Civil Liberty

Phorced to be Phony

3/4/2010 – 10:41 am

“You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save in college.’’
It’s not me saying that, it was Barack Obama, last month. Good advice, but as is often the case when you’re president, it landed him in hot water, so two weeks ago he went out of his way to [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

When the People Lead…

2/25/2010 – 1:46 pm

Vermont’s a small state with a so-called “citizen legislature.” Our legislators don’t have staffs and offices, they have desks in the House or Senate chamber. The committee rooms are small, sometimes people testifying have to wait in the hall until it’s their turn to speak; there’s just not enough room inside.
Our legislators all [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Energy, Nuclear Energy | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Strange Case of Amy Bishop

2/18/2010 – 8:22 am

Amy Bishop, the University of Alabama professor who is alleged to have killed three and wounded three at a departmental staff meeting last week, presents a strange case.
It’s strange her husband told reporters he didn’t know she had a gun – until he remembered he’d accompanied her to a shooting range several times in recent [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Not Measured By Length

1/28/2010 – 12:19 pm

In the autumn of 1987, I canvassed Kensington, Maryland on behalf of the US Public Interest Research Group. I was talking to citizens about acid rain. (Seems almost quaint now.) Canvassing’s a tough job. You get many noes for each yes and you have to keep a thick skin about you.
At [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Re-Creation Stories

1/21/2010 – 8:42 am

January sun was warm in Washington on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It caused me to slip the jacket from my shoulders as I walked on New Hampshire Avenue. There were no eviction piles of possessions along the curb this week, as there were [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Two Priests Walk Into….

12/24/2009 – 10:59 am

A chain store? A casino?
Two stories in Wednesday’s Washington Post: The first was about Father Tim Jones, an Anglican priest at the parish of St. Lawrence in York, England. From the pulpit last Sunday, Fr. Tim said shoplifting is not a sin, if the act was caused by need instead of greed. [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Catholicism, Commentary | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

On New Hampshire

11/19/2009 – 8:18 am

I’m in Washington, DC this week. It’s warmer here than in Vermont, I feel overdressed. It’s autumnal, but in a mid-Atlantic kind of way.
Monday evening I walked northwest on New Hampshire Avenue. The evening was balmy; the leaves were piled thick and dry along the gutters and across the sidewalks. The [...]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, Economy | Tagged , , | Comments (0)