Category Archives: Commentary

One Man’s Milk

5/24/2001 – 4:49 pm

Ignore the little guy at your peril. In 2000, the only presidential candidate who bothered to visit Vermont was John McCain. Vermont was too small, only three electoral votes, too predictable, the first – and for a while the only – state won by Al Gore on election night. It just wasn’t worth anyone’s time […]

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Good News, Bad News

5/17/2001 – 4:47 pm

“Nothing is either good or bad, only wishing makes it so.” It’s an adage that fits snugly around Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana. At first glance, it seems to be bad news: the court votes eight to nothing (with one recusal) to prohibit the distribution of marijuana for medical purposes. It’s well-known that […]

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Fordian Slips

5/10/2001 – 4:46 pm

Consider Gerald R. Ford, our nation’s 38th president. The only man to sit in the Oval Office who was elected to neither the presidency nor the vice presidency. His tenure was fourth shortest, only William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor and James Garfield served fewer days, and they all died in office, Mr. Taylor from eating […]

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“If the police arrest everybody…”

5/3/2001 – 4:44 pm

There are people, judges and law school professors and tee vee pundits, mostly, who would have us believe the law is a thing apart from everyday society – above mere politics and fashion and moved only by logic, precedent and justice. But it’s not so. The statutes our legislatures pass and the decisions our courts […]

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Great Expectations

4/26/2001 – 4:42 pm

It’s not whether you win or lose that counts, but did you beat the point spread? Anyone who’s ever risked a friendly fiver on a football game knows the truth of that statement. If you bet on the underdogs, you don’t need them to win, you just need them to make it close enough to […]

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Couldn’t Be Clearer

4/19/2001 – 4:40 pm

Welcome to history week, 101. It kicked off Monday, Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts, a commemoration of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, moved to the nearest Monday. One of our sharp-eyed correspondents spotted Paul Revere trotting along Mass Ave. in Boston at noon with a police cruiser in front, two mounted state troopers and backed-up […]

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The Absence of War

4/12/2001 – 4:38 pm

I suppose it’s my own fault for watching television. It was, I don’t know, a month ago and I was watching “The West Wing” – I know, I have no excuse – and one of these White House jerks – the bald one – was leaking bile because he had to talk to anti-globalization activists, […]

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