Category Archives: Commentary

Our Tortured History

The weird thing about the torture memos in the news this week is that I can’t stop thinking about Harry Potter. In those books, the bad guys – the wizards and witches that had been drawn to the Dark Side – make their case thusly: This isn’t about good and evil, it’s about power and […]

No Hope, Bad Dope

I am the measure of all humanity. My height is average. If you’re shorter than I am – well, sorry, you must have been the runt of the litter. If you’re taller – perhaps you should consider a career in pro basketball. My income is average. If you earn less than I do, it’s clear […]

Four and Counting

Tuesday, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage and the first to do so via legislative, rather than judicial, action. Big deal? Big deal. Civil unions, the not-quite legal equivalent of same-sex marriage, have been legal in Vermont since 2000. Since that happened, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa (just this week!) legalized same-sex marriage. […]

Who’s Anti-War Now?

I am. Principles aren’t principles unless they’re consistent. Now that the White House and Congress have changed hands since 2006, it’s interesting to see politicians and pundits on both sides of the ledger flipping and flopping. Still, the world is not two-dimensional and those who pretend it is do an injustice to reality. I’m willing […]

I Want More

The day after Christmas, the New York Times published a column by Judith Warner in which she discusses the ethics of using cognition-enhancing drugs beyond the boundaries of their prescriptions. The drugs in question – Ritalin, Adderall and Provigil – are prescribed for attention-deficit disorder (the first two) or narcolepsy (the third). People unafflicted, however, […]

The Value of an Anniversary

Thirty years ago today was a Monday. After track practice, Dan O’ Hara and I went to Al Oliver’s house to help kill what was left of a keg of Molson’s Golden Ale from Al’s St. Patrick’s Day party the previous Saturday. It was warm, flat and skunky, but we pushed through, as returning a […]

Law and Order

Another too-warm Vermont winter sputters to an end. My backyard, bereft of snow, is a mottled greenish-brown. Over in Montpelier, America’s smallest state capital, legislators – about to return after town meeting recess – are bogged down (as are their counterparts across the nation) trying to cut spending quickly enough to keep pace with the […]