Vermont
updated
11:44 a.m.
FLANNERY: A Life of Flanner O"Connor, by Brad Gooch, Little Brown & Co.,2009. Flannery O'Connor's publication of A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND (1955), was the most impressive debut story collection since publication of Richard Wright's UNCLE TOM'S CHILDREN (1938). O'Connor was hailed by one critic as another Kafka, by others as the most distinctive voice of what some called a "South...
Vermont Commons - 9:57 a.m.
It’s one thing to theorize what could happen behind closed doors between politicians and nationalized businesses, it’s another to hear it brought up on the House floor. Michelle Bachman (R) Rep from Minnesota calls out Senators and Congressmen who have already been using political clout to pick and choose which Government Motors (formally General Motors) [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Sun 8:22 p.m.
Publisher's note: We published this editorial in our first July issue of Vermont Commons four years ago. Every year it seems more and more relevant. Happy Independence Day - July 4, 2009. Let's begin with the "shout heard 'round the world." The words of Thomas Jefferson and the first Continental Congress in 1776. The opening moments in what has become one of the most import...
Vermont Commons - Sat 6:05 a.m.
While the United States of America pays lip service to Independence Day, such as it is... Don't miss the action over at "Let A Thousand Nations Bloom." Some really provocative writing about nonviolent secession and decentralization this week. Hope to see many of you at the parades this week-end. And don't forget - Tuesday, July 7 is Vermont Independence Day. Long live the o...
Vermont Commons - Fri 4:59 p.m. - 2 clicks 
This is a scan, but very readable. Rolling Stone hasn't released the full article yet. http://bigpicture.posterous.com/goldman-sachs-the-great-amer A fabulous article that makes things about as freakin clear as one can make them. ...
Vermont Commons - Fri 12:00 p.m.
I wrote this as a response on another blog to all those who are accusing Tea Party folks of getting suckered into working for Corporate America: This is something that has come up a few times, that Corporate America is cheering the Tea Parties because they want folks fighting for lower taxes on Big Business and less [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Fri 10:07 a.m.
Just a quick update: the pile of wood-chips, before being wetted and packed down to condense the digestion-properties and create more heat, is already 112 degrees. I believe that based on this, we could get temps north of 125 degrees through effective wetting and packing of the chips around the water-coil. So I am going to attempt to construct the mound without shredding the chips, and see wha...
Vermont Commons - Wed 8:59 p.m.
No one will argue that Bernie Madoff didn’t deserve to go to prison. However, let’s take a moment to consider why Bernie is going to jail while the Banks That Broke The World, the architects of the derivatives fraud and the real estate bubble fraud, and Hank Paulson, the architect of the nation’s biggest ever government sanctioned money laundering operation are still free. I have a couple ideas. ...
Vermont Commons - Wed 12:45 p.m.
Probably the biggest blow to the Vermont independence movement came in 2007 with the League of the South controversy. Sparked by a Southern Poverty Law Center report on Second Vermont Republic’s ties to the League of the South, and fanned by an anonymous blog and an assortment of Vermont bloggers, the controversy focused most [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Wed 11:47 a.m. - 2 clicks
Thanks to the Institute for Social Ecology's Brian Tokar for passing on this analysis from Reese Ehrlich at Z magazine. The bottom line - what's happening in Iran right now is complicated. Black and white is impossible to discern. But let's be honest about the motives and strategies of ALL the players. Time will tell re: who knows what. ...
Vermont Commons - Tue 11:20 a.m.
Editor's note: We received this thoughtful missive from Dick Mills, who hailed us as "a full time cruising sailor." He and his wife live full time aboard their sailing vessel Tarwathie. Home port - South Burlington. Read Dick’s blog at dickandlibby.blogspot.com . read more ...
Vermont Commons - Tue 9:23 a.m. - 4 clicks
It seems that for the past week, much of our collective American consciousness has been absorbed in the death of Michael Jackson. Personally, I’m too young to have memories of him as anything other than a weirdo has-been, but, judging from many older folks’ reactions, he seems to have had a profound impact upon a [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Mon 8:24 p.m.
All the way from Uganda, Diane joins us during her first visit to the United States. Since 2008 she has worked with the New Sudan Education Initiative (NESEI), which was founded here in Burlington in 2006 by Sudanese men who sought refuge in Vermont from their war-torn homes. Diane serves as NESEI’s Program Director and [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Jun 29 - 4 clicks
Looking back over the nearly 40 years of my life, there have been few moments where I felt that I was truly a witness to history as it was happening. But, one of the first was watching the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, and Forever special which — according to Wikipedia — was aired on NBC on [...]...
What's the Point? - Jun 26
Concerned about the economic policies of the Obama administration, which Peter Welch has obediently supported, Dan Weintraub will be challenging him in the 2010 VT Congressional Democratic Primary. In the interview he explains his socially liberal perspectives, in addition to his support for non-Keynesian monetary reform. ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Jun 24 - 5 clicks
FLASHPOINT www.flashpointmag.com celebrates FINNEGANS WAKE on its 70th Re-Birthday! GEORGE CINCLAIR GIBSON MARY ELLEN BUTE KARL REISMAN SUZANNE NIXON ERIC ROSENBLOOM STEPHEN WALSH & BRIAN O'TOOLE JAMES JOYCE LUCIA JOYCE STELLA STEYN JOHN ATKINSON KIT SMYTH BASQUIN ELLIOT KAPLAN JOHN MATTHIAS JOHN RYSKAMP DAVID HICKMAN PETER O'BRIEN ROSALIE GANCIE JOE BRENNAN JR FOLEY CARLO P...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 23
Leader of the Second Vermont Republic, Thomas Naylor spoke with Glenn Beck tonight about murmurs of secession becoming louder over the past few weeks. ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Jun 22 - 3 clicks
By John Davis, Adirondack land conservationist: The development of alternatives to traditional forms of electric generation is important to help minimize any future damage that the Adirondack Park may suffer from acid rain and climate change. However, there remain many concerns about negative impacts from some of those alternatives. In the case of wind generation, those concerns include both ...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 22
The account of the couple who gave up the suburban lifestyle and became farmers of organically raised livestock is troubling (Food: Field Report, by Christine Muhlke). There’s something just plain wrong with killing animals after treating them to a lovely and very short life. Is it better than killing them in horrific slaughter facilities after even shorter, truly miserable lives? Of course it is....
Kirby Mountain - Jun 22
(As it is everywhere.) By Chris Hawley, USA Today, 17 June 2009: The windmills stand in rows like an army of Goliaths, steel towers taller than the Statue of Liberty and topped with blades as long as a jetliner’s wing. The blades whoosh through the humid air, carving energy from a wind that rushes across Mexico’s Isthmus of Tehuantepec on its journey from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Oce...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 19
Whereas: 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance; 60 million Americans, both insured and uninsured, have inadequate access to primary care due to a shortage of physicians and other health service providers in their community; 100 million Americans have no insurance to cover dental needs; 116 million adults, nearly two-thirds of all non-seniors, struggled to pay medical ...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 16
But I hiked Camel’s Hump yesterday, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Barring physical disability, everyone living in northern Vermont should make the pilgrimage to the top of the Hump or Mansfield at least once a summer. A day on the trail really puts things in perspective, especially when you finish with a view like [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Jun 15 - 3 clicks
In the introduction to a story on Vermont Public Radio this morning about the proposed 80-MW wind turbine facility in Ira and neighboring towns, it was stated that "If completed, it would be the second largest energy producer in the state after Vermont Yankee." With 400–500-feet-high machines sprawling over two prominent mountains in western Vermont, it would actually be the biggest facil...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 9 - 2 clicks
It's "bottom-up" -- of the people, by the people, for the people -- until that populist surge puts you at the top. Then it's "top-down" -- trust me, this will help you, too -- all the way. ...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 5
Dave Lindorff writes: Sunday’s cowardly assassination of abortion doctor George Tiller demonstrates once again that the US is not all that different from Pakistan. One thing that these two violent societies share is having a group of rabid religious fundamentalists who are each on a jihad against those in their nation with whom they disagree, and who are ready to kill and maim their enemies wi...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 2
Debra Sweet writes: ... Having been nose to nose with anti-abortion leaders in front of clinics, and sometimes between them and doctors, for decades, I know them as the active base of a deeply dangerous, Christian theocratic, and fascist movement. They believe, as Randall Terry screamed in my face in 1987, that women must be kept subservient to men. Their god is a vengeful god, they remind us...
Kirby Mountain - Jun 2
David Bromwich, May 25, 2009: ... Obama's May 21 speech at the National Archives combined a general repudiation of the Bush-Cheney policies with a surprising concession to methods that the former vice president, Dick Cheney, tried to graft onto the Constitution. This approach the Constitution repels as surely as a healthy body rejects poison; for in the Cheney interpretation, the common-law rig...
Kirby Mountain - May 28
Ted Rall, May 28: We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama's inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through. ... I refer here to Obama's plan for "preventive detentions." If a cop or other governme...
Kirby Mountain - May 28
Nebraskan lawmakers heroically tabled a bill providing tax breaks for nonprofit health clinics, so that the money could all go to the "economically viable" wind industry. Click the title of this post to read the whole story at National Wind Watch. tags: wind power , wind energy , human rights ...
Kirby Mountain - May 28
[S]wings of 500 megawatts of wind can disappear from a system in an hour or less, creating scheduling havoc for system operators, as it did in Texas in February 2008. The system operator relied on interruptible contracts with industrial customers to retain reliability during that event. ... The maximum change in Colorado over a 24-hour period was a 743-megawatt increase and a 485-megawatt decrease...
Kirby Mountain - May 27
Philip Baruth (aka Bill Baroonth) makes it official… A short break from the cheeky political analysis and irony, for one highly serious post. As many of you know by now, I filed Monday with the Secretary of State’s office to campaign for the State Senate from Chittenden County. The Bank and Treasurer Designation form indicates that [...]...
What's the Point? - May 22
"Both historically and in the contemporary movement, [Norwegian philosopher and mountaineer Arne Naess] saw two different forms of environmentalism, not necessarily incompatible with each other. One he called the "long-range deep ecology movement" and the other, the "shallow ecology movement." The word "deep" in part referred to the level of questioning of our purposes and values when arguing in e...
Kirby Mountain - May 17
Why isn’t as much time and effort spent educating and encouraging people to conserve rather than defacing our landscape? ... Long-term benefits like preserving the character of Vermont and energy conservation are more important than short-term solutions that create more problems than they solve. --Jane FitzGerald, Milton, Vt., Burlington Free Press, May 15, 2009 tags: wind power , wi...
Kirby Mountain - May 15 - 2 clicks
Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, interviews with residents living near 400ft turbines - by Lynda Barry: tags: wind power , wind energy , wind turbines , wind farms , human rights ...
Kirby Mountain - May 14
In Wisconsin, energy projects smaller than 100 MW may be subject to local and county ordinances for health and safety. With those concerns in mind, many communities have established setbacks -- usually one-half mile from a residence -- and noise limits. While denying that noise is problem, developers complain that such regulations effectively ban industrial wind -- because noise is indeed a proble...
Kirby Mountain - May 14
In an article in today's Toronto Star ("Noise protesters howling about windfarms"), Tyler Hamilton reports: At the moment, however, there's no convincing evidence that wind turbines located a few hundred metres from a dwelling negatively effect health, [Energy and Infrastructure Minister George] Smitherman said. A 2008 epidemiological study and survey, financed by the European Union, generally ...
Kirby Mountain - May 13
Wind turbine syndrome (WTS) is a cluster of clinical symptoms first formally identified by British physician Amanda Harry, MD, and subsequently given the name Wind Turbine Syndrome and a pathophysiological explanation by New York State behavioral pediatrician Nina Pierpont, MD, PhD. WTS refers to the discrete constellation of symptoms that some -- not all -- people experience when living near win...
Kirby Mountain - May 8
A letter in the May 7 (Woodstock) Vermont Standard expressed the opinion that the rich are unduly taxed to support the poor. I will ignore the absurd accusations implying that the poor have chosen to be so and that even the obscenely rich are justly rewarded for uniquely hard work and wise decisions. And I will ignore the other question raised of whether sharing the risk of what afflicts all of us...
Kirby Mountain - May 8 - 2 clicks
Denmark, Spain, and Germany have the most wind energy capacity as a proportion of total electricity generation. Denmark's wind plant was built from 1996 to 2003. Spain has built steadily since 2000, and Germany since 1998. According to data from the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, in the International Energy Annual 2006, with data updated in December 2008 ( ...
Kirby Mountain - May 8
Janice Harvey, president of the New Brunswick Green Party, writes in today's Telegraph-Journal: It’s as predictable as the wind. Now that big utilities and corporations have grabbed hold of wind energy, the controversies begin. The first complaints were of the visual impact of wind farms on their landscapes and waterscapes. Now a new concern is emerging. People who live near wind turbines are ...
Kirby Mountain - May 6
To the Editor, Burlington (Vt.) Free Press: If wind energy had not been prominent in the news for several years, the Free Press might not be faulted in asserting that a balance can be found between impacts and benefits from industrial wind facilities on Vermont ridgelines ( editorial, Apr. 26 ). But while they appear to be open to discussing impacts and presumably how best to minimize them, th...
Kirby Mountain - May 3
Music by Jonathan Mann Lyrics by Jay Bybee the detainee is lying on a gurney that’s inclined at an angle: 10 to 15 degrees a cloth is placed over the detainee’s face cold water is poured on the cloth the wet cloth creates a barrier through which it is difficult or in some cases not possible for the detainee to breathe if the detainee makes an [...]...
What's the Point? - Apr 22
