Category Archives: Commentary

Vermont’s Military-Industrial-Real Estate Complex

6/20/2013 – 7:34 pm

Vermont has an Air National Guard unit based at Burlington International Airport (BTV).  They fly F-16s.  The Air Force intends to eliminate some F-16 bases, keep others and convert some bases for use by the new F-35 warplane.  Burlington is the Air Force’s number one pick to base the F-35.  Why is that? It’s because […]

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Civil Liberties, Writ Small (No Spitting!)

6/13/2013 – 8:26 am

Hey folks, why not come on up to Burlington this summer?  We’ve got a lovely waterfront, one festival every other weekend and heck, we do the little things well, things you might not notice, but enhance your tourism experience all the same. For example, our collection of quaint street people – vagrants and vagabonds, wanderers, […]

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Reading the Urban Forest

6/6/2013 – 1:45 pm

Around my 20th birthday, I realized I could name the make, model and year of every car parked along the street where I lived, but had only a vague idea of the trees. I knew a maple from a birch from an oak, but had no real concept of a sycamore, beech or elm.  This […]

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May 1970

5/30/2013 – 7:52 pm

My dad’s union (UA Local 13) went on strike on May 1, 1970.  He knew it would be long and saw an opportunity.  Whatever the union got him in wages, my dad never had a paid vacation, holiday or sick day, so knowing he’d be out of work for at least a month, he and […]

By floegel | Comments (0)

Seasonal Affective Disorder

5/23/2013 – 2:29 pm

I was hiding out in the White Mountains of New Hampshire this week, trying to get my mind right. It is rainy and cool in New England, third week of May.  It’s Teen Death Season.  Classes are ending, exams starting, proms and end of season sports parties.  Late nights, alcohol, drugs and motor vehicles. Two […]

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

Render Unto Caesar

5/16/2013 – 2:59 pm

I’ve been watching with great interest the unfolding controversy over whether the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) singled out “tea party” groups for special scrutiny.  It’s good to see Attorney General Eric Holder take this issue seriously enough to open an investigation although such an investigation need not be limited to these narrow circumstances. While anyone […]

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Cascadia

5/2/2013 – 11:42 am

The refrigerator died Friday.  It had not been a great week to begin with and although a broken refrigerator is not tragedy, I didn’t need the hassle. Like the immediate hassle of suddenly parceling out what has essentially become the family’s pantry to various neighbors, foods frozen or merely chilled.  Fortunately, we have intimate relations […]

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