Category Archives: Civil Liberty

Farewell, Sally Bowles

1/13/2011 – 3:48 pm

Jill Haworth died January 3 in Manhattan at age 65. The British-born actress originated the role of Sally Bowles in the musical “Cabaret” in 1966 On January 8, I read the news to see five people connected to WikiLeaks had their Twitter accounts subpoenaed by a grand jury that had previously been operating in secret. […]

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Numbers, Large and Small

1/6/2011 – 12:43 pm

“As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens.” It’s an old Vermont weather proverb and reads like one, too. I can see the crusty old dude by the potbellied stove with the gumboots and plaid mackinaw draped over the back of his chair. Alert readers will remember I referred to the proverb a year ago this […]

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Hypocrisy

12/9/2010 – 10:35 am

Week two of the WikiLeaks massive document dump and I have yet to be surprised. By anything. I’m not surprised the US government has a dishonest and unreliable partner in Afghanistan, the State Department thinks Vladimir Putin is an ass, the Americans put pressure on the Germans not to prosecute the CIA assets that kidnapped […]

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Thank You, Bumbler

12/2/2010 – 2:56 pm

I thought they had me this time. I was coming home via DCA Tuesday night and in every security line stood the full-body scanner, dead ahead. Either that, or the pat down, no way around it. I was resigned to my fate. It was a late evening flight; there were few people ahead of me […]

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The Big Squeeze

11/25/2010 – 11:27 am

Happy Thanksgiving. The threatened “pat-down” protest at the nation’s airports didn’t materialize yesterday, so if you flew, that’s one thing you have to be thankful for. It’s not surprising, either. Regardless of how steamed you might be to read about full-body scans, I can’t think of anyone who wants to take more time getting through […]

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The Lunatic Fringe

10/28/2010 – 12:23 pm

Do you remember the incident, two years ago, as the presidential election campaign was winding down, an old lady at John McCain rally got a hold of the microphone and said she didn’t trust Barack Obama because “he’s an Arab.” Senator McCain pulled the mike away from her and said, “No, ma’am, he’s a decent […]

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Where’s Whitey?

9/23/2010 – 11:31 am

So I’m working Monday afternoon, busy and a Skype message from one of Greenpeace’s media officers pops up on my screen and – God bless them, they’re wonderful – but it’s never good news. A Dallas tee vee station was calling her about a report just released by the Department of Justice that detailed the […]

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