Category Archives: Commentary

But Joe, I said, you’re ten years dead

4/18/2014 – 9:01 am

I don’t know anything about this Cliven Bundy versus the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fight, expect what I read in the pixels and we all know the media is controlled by socialist Muslims, right? The issues at hand seem to be a) Mr. Bundy has been grazing his cattle on government land for the […]

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

“Let’s See Some Biceps, Biafra!”

3/30/2014 – 11:57 am

A few months ago, I noted in this space that I’d resumed my long-deferred running career on a treadmill in the basement of the local YMCA. It didn’t last. In my head, I might still be a 16-year-old miler, but my knees and ankles somehow slipped away to middle age without telling me. Since this […]

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How to Get a Speeding Ticket (or Not)

3/20/2014 – 1:46 pm

Now that spring is here (or not) and road conditions are improving (or not), I have some advice – wrought from long, sometimes bitter experience – on dealing with traffic tickets. First, when a police officer asks, “Do you know why I pulled you over?” never say yes.  That’s a legal admission of guilt.  She […]

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Welcome to America

2/13/2014 – 2:42 pm

My daughter Lejla became a citizen Monday.  The ceremony was at the federal courthouse downtown; she joined 29 other immigrants from 17 nations in taking the oath of citizenship. (Lejla was born in Switzerland , the child of Bosnian and Croat refugees.  Since Switzerland neither allows refugees to stay very long nor grants citizenship to […]

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Now or Never

2/6/2014 – 9:32 pm

Tuesday night I was in a small club downtown (such as it is in Burlington), listening to Luray, an indie-folk band from the DC area.  (Disclosure: I don’t have to disclose anything, this ain’t the Associated Press.) I missed the top of the set and so found myself jammed next to coat rack in the […]

By floegel | Also posted in Civil Liberty | Comments (0)

Rules of Pollination

1/28/2014 – 1:24 pm

After being diligent and never missing a Thursday for something like 16 years, I’ve started slipping off in these posts lately and though that bugs me, it’s just the way life goes sometimes.  When his publisher suggested cutting his column from six to three days a week, the sportswriter Red Smith answered, “Suppose I wrote […]

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

See You Soon

1/16/2014 – 4:24 pm

My mom died last week.  I’m hesitant to write about it because I’ve rarely seen funereal journalism done well, also because my head is in a netherworld and I can’t quite seem to get to it. It’s where my head was when I wrote the last post, you can tell by the fragment that passes […]

By floegel | Also posted in Catholicism | Comments (0)