Category Archives: Commentary

The Big Schlep (Glossary Included)

10/5/2006 – 10:19 am

Monday was Yom Kippur, the annual Jewish day of repentance. A Jewish friend once told me, “Catholics are lucky. You can go to confession and get absolved of your sins any time you want. Jews only get the chance once a year. It’s a big schlep.” (Schlep: verb, to carry, lug – Yiddish.) I responded […]

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

The Road to Hell

9/28/2006 – 11:25 am

People often speak of the pavement on the road to hell, rarely about the traffic. These days, that particular avenue is gridlocked with American cars. Big, stupid, gas-guzzling American cars. Global warming, a terrestrial version of hell 150 years in the making, is sore upon us. Here in the nation that contributes more to global […]

By floegel | Also posted in Economy, Energy, Global Warming, Oil | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Equinox in the Balance

9/21/2006 – 1:48 pm

Happy equinox. Right on schedule, the temperature dipped in Vermont last night. One of the sugar maples in my back yard is turning bright orange, either as a sign of the season or a reaction to stress from global warming. Is the tree half green or half orange? Autumn in Vermont is a season of […]

By floegel | Comments (0)

Sorry About the Numbers

9/14/2006 – 7:42 am

I’d like to apologize up front for all the numbers that follow, for two reasons. One, because I try to keep these commentaries are more entertaining than a math problem and two, because the message they carry is so depressing. The numbers are from an article in the 21 Aug edition of Oil and Gas […]

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Global Warming or Cold Turkey

9/7/2006 – 12:24 pm

In January’s State of the Union address, George Bush admitted America is addicted to oil. Little did we know how prophetically his words would play out in the months that followed. According to the Department of Energy, the average price of gas in the U.S. the week of Mr. Bush’s speech was $2.33 a gallon. […]

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It Ain’t Just Labor

8/31/2006 – 1:14 pm

Welcome to Labor Day, the holiday America forgot. We still take the three-day weekend; it’s considered the official end of summer and the traditional (ha!) beginning of election season, but we don’t take a moment and think about the working people of this country, the way we think of soldiers on Memorial Day or thank […]

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It’s All North America

8/24/2006 – 2:36 pm

Today’s New York Times has a story about the ongoing, sporadically violent standoff in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico between citizens and the state government. Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ca), capital of the state of the same name, is in southern Mexico. I spent 10 days there last winter, visiting Adrienne, who was there for two months. […]

By floegel | Comments (0)