Category Archives: Commentary

Privatization, Inc.

3/23/2006 – 11:45 am

When George W. Bush announced his intention to be president, the U.S. had a budget surplus, thanks to Bill Clinton. Mr. Bush said if he was elected, he’d cut taxes, to give that money back to citizens. Mr. Bush was elected and did cut taxes. He didn’t cut spending and soon the surplus was gone […]

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Crunch Time

3/16/2006 – 12:28 pm

Tuesday is the vernal equinox, which in Iran is celebrated as the new year. The Iranian government was hoping to kick the year off with the opening of a new oil bourse, or market. Currently, there are two oil markets in the world, the New York Mercantile Exchange and the ICE Futures Exchange in London. […]

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Home of the Brave?

3/9/2006 – 10:46 am

Greetings from Vermont, home of the B-2 bomber. That’s right: hippy-dippy Vermont; bluest of the blue states, manufactures B-2 bombers. So does gay-friendly Massachusetts. So does California, the host of Hollywood. Somewhere near you is home of the B-2 bomber, too, if you’re reading this in the U.S. In fact, parts of the B-2 bomber […]

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South of the Border

3/2/2006 – 3:31 pm

Oaxaca, Mexico – Mornings are warm here in the capital city of the southern Mexican state of the same name. Mid-day is hot, driving the gringos to seek cool drinks in the shade, hydrating frut juice if they´re smart – most drink beer. Oaxaca (pronounced wa-HA-ca) is 5,000 feet above sea level, yet it is […]

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All Politics Is Local

2/23/2006 – 1:35 pm

It’s winter in Vermont, although it’s been in the 40’s for most of the season, there’s no snow on the ground and my neighbor, Tom, is moping about the house. He has a new collapsible ice shanty, auger and tip-ups sitting in his basement unused, because the ice on Lake Champlain (what there is of […]

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The Man Who Wasn’t There

2/16/2006 – 1:50 pm

Salon magazine published another round of photos from the Abu Ghraib torture scandal that broke in the spring of 2004. One photo is of the body of Manadel al-Jamadi. One eye is open, fixed and glassy; the other purple and swollen shut. A bloody bandage rests on the side of his face. According to the […]

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Catastrophic Gradualism

2/9/2006 – 1:47 pm

I was browsing in a second-hand bookstore recently, brooding as I browsed on the current state of society. My eye fell on a volume of essays by George Orwell titled, “In Front of Your Nose.” It seemed liked such a deliberate response to my thoughts that I bought it. In an October 1945 essay called […]

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