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Vermont Commons is a print journal and online forum for exploring the idea of Vermont independence – political, economic, social, and spiritual. We welcome your letters, thoughts, and participation.
Issue 33 - Winter 2010
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WINTER '10 WEB EXCLUSIVE: "Avatar's" Anti-Imperial Vision - Film Review (Rob Williams)
Unless you’ve been living in the wilderness of the rural Vermont frontier, you probably have heard that uber-director James (Titanic and Aliens) Cameron is back with an incredible "game-changing" new film called "Avatar" that has imperial audiences and critics talking. Much has been made, and rightly so, of the movie's brilliance: the creation of an entirely new language, for example, and the film's iridescent three-dimensional visuality - a phenomenal spectacle - and well-worth seeing on the big screen.WINTER '10 WEB EXCLUSIVE: Project Censored 2010 - Book Review (Stephen Lendman)
For 33 years, Sonoma State University's (SSU) Project Censored (PC) has engaged in pioneering research on, and advocacy for, First Amendment issues. Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, it's now headed by Professor Ben Frymer. On July 1, he took over from Professor Peter Phillips who stepped down after 13 years of distinguished service as Director.WINTER '10 WEB EXCLUSIVE: The Collapse'nik Speaks - Resources For Our Times (Rod Carmosino)
I don't agree with Global Warming. Most Vermonters seem to. The Global Warming (GW) theory is simply assumed to be correct. Strictly speaking, it’s gone from a theory to an axiom. If your research goals and data collection methodology are aimed at adding to the body of literature ‘proving’ GW, you can feed at the trough! USD 400 million in “stimulus” money just went into the research kitty.
Gary Flomenhoft: Vermont's Common Assets: From Banana Republic to Sovereign Commonwealth (FEATURE)
In our next several issues, Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence news journal will run a series of articles reviewing the common assets of our state and their estimated value, including our air, water, land, resources, broadcast spectrum, financial markets, banking, etc.
Adrian Kuzminski: Vermont's Pathway Toward Economic Independence, Part II (FEATURE)
In Part I of his article for Vermont Commons; Voices of Independence (Issue No. 32, Stick Season 2009), Adrian Kuzminski introduced the economic principles of Edward Kellogg (1790-1858), author of Labor and Other Capital (1849), and posthumously A New Monetary System (1861). Kellogg proposed a system of local credit banks and interest rates close to 1.1 percent. “Why 1.1 percent?” Kuzminski wrote.
WINTER '10 EDITORIAL: January 15 - Vermont Independence Day. Be There. (Ian Baldwin, Publisher Emeritus)
The date is January 15, 2010.We are at the outset of the greatest social crisis of my lifetime. (I was born on the eve of World War II.)
How we choose to respond, now, to this national and global crisis will determine if we wither or we thrive anew here in Vermont.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: An Independent Candidate, For Actual Independence
Editor, Vermont Commons:My name is Robert Wagner and I'm running for the Vermont Senate from Addison County.
I've gotten a lot of inspiration from your paper since I discovered it a year ago. Economic re-localization, transition towns, post-Peak Oil – all necessary fare in a Vermont that is just waking up to some harsh global facts.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Entergy Tries Another Wall Street Shell Game
Editor, Vermont Commons:Having spent almost six years working in The Navy/Atomic Energy Commission's Naval Reactors Program headed by Adm. H.G. Rickover in the 1960s, I gained enough experience with nuclear reactors to be sensitive to the technical and financial troubles they pose.
Frank Bryan: Vermont’s Genetic Code - Toward a Decentralist Manifesto (FEATURE)
In his 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, author Robert Putnam ranked Vermont above all other states on his scale of “tolerance for gender, racial, and civil liberties.” At about the same time, political scientist Tom Rice ranked Vermont first among states on a “civil society” measure published in Publius, the leading professional journal of American federalism.Robin McDermott: Localvore Living - Fermenting Independence: An Ancient Food-Preservation Technique Makes a Vermont Comeback
Even if you are a chronic procrastinator living off the grid without a root cellar, there is still time to preserve some food for this winter and it doesn’t require energy inputs or special equipment. All you need is some of the least expensive of all local vegetables – cabbage and/or root vegetables – and it is likely that you will find these in ample supply at one of the many winter farmers’ markets throughout the state.
Carl Etnier: Transition Times - Indiana Transition Plan Sets Bar For Vermont Efforts
The police department is one of Bloomington, Indiana’s most fuel-intensive departments, according to a new report from the city’s Peak Oil Task Force. In a coming era of expected oil shortages and wild oil-price volatility, they say, crime rates are likely to rise, at the same time that it becomes more difficult to fuel the police cars.
Combating Climate Change Through Commercial Collaboration - An Interview With 1% For The Planet (VERMONT VOX POP)
1% for the Planet, in the words of its mission statement, “exists to build and support an alliance of businesses financially committed to creating a healthy planet.” Recently relocated to Vermont, the organization’s website, www.onepercentfortheplanet.org, features the motto: Keep Earth In Business.
Gaelan Brown: Energy Optimist - Energy Crisis, Energy Opportunities
Our world is in the midst of an endless list of crisis scenarios related to politics, the economy, credit, the environment, health care, security, human rights, energy, water, food, and the list goes on and on. Yet there is some reason for optimism, particularly related to our potential to transition to sustainable and clean energy systems.
The Greenneck: Vermont In Winter
The season’s first big snow found him on the shed roof by 7 a.m., trying to nail down the last few sheets of tin before the storm begins in earnest. Already, the air is thick with snow. He sees the cows, bent to their feed, broad backs coated with white. He sees the boys, sleds in hand, trudging through the accumulating snow. They are yelling. Maybe they are arguing, maybe they are just yelling to notice how the snow hushes their voices. He yells, too, but they don’t hear or, if they do, don’t acknowledge hearing. They are getting older, learning that he can be ignored.
Carolyn Baker: Collapse, The Movie; Staring Down the Barrel of the 21st Century (FREE VERMONT MEDIA)
When was the last time you saw a movie that opened with a plea for revolution?
No, not the kind with bullets and bombs, but the kind Thomas Jefferson said should happen every twenty years—a revolution in our thinking?
Ben Falk: Homestead Security -Protecting and Making Soil – Three Strategies for All Scales (Soil to Oil and Back Again, Part 3)
This issue’s Homestead Security column continues our series, Oil to Soil and Back Again. Part I (“Rapid Topsoil Formation in the Solar Age”) appeared in our Fall 2009 issue; Part II (“Harvesting Value from Your Leach Field”) was published in our Stick Season/Holidays issue (November 2009).
Kirkpatrick Sale: Dispersions - Why No Uprising Yet?
It is completely beyond me why the people of this country/Empire haven’t taken to the streets and marched on the political castles with torches, pikes, clubs, and muskets like good townsfolk used to do.Just look at the utter incompetence, not to mention skullduggery, of what they’re doing in Washington. It is a government incapable of … well, governing.
FREE VERMONT DANCE PARTY! "Spirit of '77" - Saturday, January 9, 2010!
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