Tag Archives: Vermont

Orwell was an Optimist

9/8/2011 – 4:18 pm

Quick quiz, two questions: 1 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is occurring?  2 – What percentage of scientists think global warming is caused by human activities?  Read those again carefully; it’s not the same question twice.
The answers (I won’t make you wait) are 100 and 98.  No statistically significant number of scientists [...]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Economy, Electoral Politics, Global Warming | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Mafia States

1/27/2011 – 2:47 pm

This week’s paper edition of Newsweek (I can’t find it online) has a story about Tunisia and carries this subhead: “Ben Ali’s fall has exposed the rotten truth of every regime in the Arab world: they’re all, in effect, mafia states, each operating as a lucrative family business.”
Pretty harsh, but a) probably true b) slagging [...]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Nice to be Important, Important to be Nice

8/26/2010 – 12:07 pm

Not that you’d know it by the national media, but we had a primary election in Vermont Tuesday. Pretty exciting, but lacking in tea parties, billionaires trying to buy their way into office, wrestling executives and so forth.
What we had was a five-way contest for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Our four-term (two-year terms) [...]

By floegel | Posted in Electoral Politics | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

When the People Lead…

2/25/2010 – 1:46 pm

Vermont’s a small state with a so-called “citizen legislature.” Our legislators don’t have staffs and offices, they have desks in the House or Senate chamber. The committee rooms are small, sometimes people testifying have to wait in the hall until it’s their turn to speak; there’s just not enough room inside.
Our legislators all [...]

By floegel | Posted in Civil Liberty, Commentary, Energy, Nuclear Energy | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Warmer and Wetter

1/7/2010 – 8:56 am

My new year began with snow. Thirty-three inches of it, the biggest snowstorm in 120 years of recorded weather history in Burlington. It began Saturday morning and didn’t stop until Monday morning. I shoveled and napped, shoveled and napped. We were supposed to attend a holiday party Saturday night; instead we [...]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | Also tagged , | Comments (1)

In the Good (?) New Summertime

7/10/2008 – 9:29 am

It’s hot in Vermont. It’s been in the 90s and humid for weeks. This is great for cherries and plums, grapes and apples. My neighbor’s been making cherry jam for days (add a hot stove to the equation) and she’s had to prop up the boughs of her plum tree, so heavy [...]

By floegel | Posted in Commentary, Economy, Electoral Politics, Energy, Global Warming | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)