Category Archives: Commentary

Betrayed by a Trusted Caregiver

11/29/2012 – 10:23 am

Attention sociologists: How would you like the rare opportunity to study what happens when 400 vulnerable children in seven states are taken from what is universally acknowledged to be the most supportive foster-care program in the country and placed into the care of already-overburdened government agencies in their respective states?  Track their outcomes five, ten […]

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

Gratitude for Here and Now

11/22/2012 – 11:49 am

Happy Thanksgiving.  It’s a bright sunny morning in northwest Vermont and if we had huge balloons shaped like cartoon characters, we would absolutely have them inflated and crashing into trees and traffic lights, so I’m grateful for my municipality’s modesty. I’m grateful my state was prepared for this year’s big storm and even more grateful […]

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

Chump Change = No Change

11/15/2012 – 4:57 pm

Let me apologize in advance for all the numbers that follow, but they’re important. Eleven men died on Deepwater Horizon the night BP’s Macondo well blew out in April 2010.  It’s one number we shouldn’t forget and no number can be placed on the loss their families and communities suffered and continue to suffer. The […]

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

Through the Watershed

11/8/2012 – 1:54 pm

I imagine you’re as sick of political campaigns as I am, so I want to make a few last points about what happened Tuesday and then I hope we can stop thinking about politics for a few months at least. Maybe it was exhaustion, but by the time Mitt Romney conceded early Wednesday, I had […]

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

Between Two Worlds

11/1/2012 – 3:05 pm

It’s November and we have yet to have good hard freeze along the shore of Lake Champlain.  The temperature did touch the freezing mark for a hour or so early last week, causing the green leaves of the grapes, wisteria, hydrangea and apricot to be suddenly shot through with yellow. I raked the yard Sunday; […]

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

Attack of the Giant Pandas

10/25/2012 – 2:49 pm

I don’t have a dog in this fight.  By “this fight” I mean the World Series.  My team, the Orioles, not only had its first winning season in 15 years (which is all I asked for), but also made it to the wild card round, beat the Texas Rangers in a one-game playoff and took […]

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Geography, For Example

10/18/2012 – 5:21 pm

Some things we can’t control.  Geography, for example. Mountains ranges in Europe tend to run east-west; in North America, they run north-south.  A new report by the reinsurance company Munich Re cites this fact as one reason North America experiences more weather related disasters than Europe – there’s no east-west mountain range to separate cold […]

By floegel | Also posted in Energy, Global Warming | Tagged , , | Comments (1)