Category Archives: Civil Liberty

Thousand-Pound Missile

9/12/2013 – 7:42 pm

I attended a middle-age rite of passage last night as my daughter took me to her high school cafeteria for the mandatory meeting of parents of students taking driver’s education this semester. Seventy-five students (in various states of eye-rolling exasperation at having to be seen with a parent in front of their peers) and parents […]

By floegel | Also posted in Commentary, September 11th | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Damned (Vermont) Yankee

8/29/2013 – 2:56 pm

In yet another blow to the mythical “nuclear renaissance,” (unicorns, anyone?) Entergy Corporation announced Tuesday that Vermont Yankee, its troubled Fukushima-like nuclear plant on the bank of the Connecticut River in Vernon, Vermont will close in late 2014. This is a victory for activists who mounted a four-decade campaign of resistance to the plant, since […]

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

Scene of the Crime

8/15/2013 – 10:18 pm

I didn’t post anything last week, my apologies.  I was visiting family in Florida, didn’t bring my laptop, thinking I’d try to post from my smart phone.  Fail.   Specifically, I was in Seminole County, which was still recovering from the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial. I wanted to get a feel for the place before I […]

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

Bearing Witness

8/1/2013 – 8:42 pm

The world spins faster.  This is not necessarily a good thing.  Some days I attend a video conference while my phone(s) ring, texts come in (teletype sound effect), calendar beeps, multiple Skype messages make moist Skype noises.  I think, this is how the world will end: everything moving faster, overwhelming the individual until society throttles […]

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

Off-Label Police State

7/25/2013 – 7:35 pm

You’re familiar with the concept of “off-label” use (and abuse) of pharmaceutical drugs, right?  A drug is developed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for one use, but soon after either doctors or the patients themselves use it for other purposes. Perhaps the most famous – and perhaps frequent – current example of […]

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

The Flood of July

7/4/2013 – 3:04 pm

The little ones ran through the back yard last night with sparklers in their hands, screeching with delight and anxiety.  It’s a rare for their parents to allow them to hold anything on fire.  Monty the Saint Bernard stood among them, panting, somehow seeming in charge of the situation. The teenaged girl had long since […]

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

A Day in the Life

6/27/2013 – 9:17 am

I’m in DC this week.  I hit the streets early Tuesday, before the heat of the day came on.  I stuck in my earbuds and shuffle served up A Day in the Life, one of my favorites Beatles’ songs.  I like it because it strikes me as a wedding of John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s […]

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