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The Vermont Congressional delegation and other elected officials still refuse to explain why they support basing the first strike nuclear-capableF-35 in the midst of Vermont's most populated area even though the Air Force itself says the single engine jet is so loud it will destroy private homes as effectively as if they were bombed.
When 16 concerned, multi-denominational clergy wrote an open ...
The Shumlin administration proposed legislation, introduced in the Vermont Senate, that was hardly more than a page long: “A person may remain in school or in the child care facility without a required immunization, if the person, or in the case of a minor, the person’s parent or guardian, states in writing that the person, parent, or guardian has religious beliefs opposed to immunization.” The bill’s purpose was to eliminate the words “or philosophical convictions” from the previous legislation.
This upset Jennifer Stella of Waitsfield. Both of her children had very scary life threatening reactions. For her, the...
When World War I broke out in August 1914, economists on both sides forecast that hostilities could not last more than about six months. Wars had grown so expensive that governments quickly would run out of money. It seemed that if Germany could not defeat France by springtime, the Allied and Central Powers would run out of savings and reach what today is called a fiscal cliff and be forced to negotiate a peace agreement.
But the Great War dragged on for four destructive years. European governments did what the United States had done after the Civil War broke out in 1861 when the Treasury printed greenbacks. They paid for...
Promised Land, the new movie starring Matt Damon, is a movie in part about fracking, the new and extremely problematic way of getting natural gas out of shale rock far below the earth’s surface. It’s a very good movie, with good acting, particularly by Damon in a very different role than, for example, his Jason Bourne trilogy. Instead of being a kick-ass former CIA assassin on a mission to reclaim his memory and the truth about what was done to him, in Promised Land Damon is a conflicted, conscience-stricken, corporate hot shot “land man” using bribes and threats, when necessary, to...
Activism, Finance, Currency, Commerce, Business, Economics, History, Media, Governance, Foreign Policy
From Peter Garritano
Thomas Naylor woke up every morning thinking about how to make our little slice of the world a better place. He would often call or meet me for lunch so that he could tell me his latest idea, a word he said with a pronounced accent on the “i”. I often wondered if this was a Mississippi thing, he was the only person I ever knew from that part of the country. I enjoyed our talks and felt connected with him. Thomas never flaunted his impressive accomplishments. He always made me feel that even I could make a difference.
Thomas had ideas that often seemed...
Business, Economics, Governance, Foreign Policy, Politics, Trade, Environment, Energy, Vermont Commons
Thomas Naylor used to propose that perhaps one of the best solutions for Vermont to escape the US Empire would be to join the Canadian Maritime provinces, and form a small peaceful country called "New Acadia". Vermont has joined Canada, but not the way Thomas imagined it. Canada owns Vermont.
Let's start with energy. How 'bout that Gaz Metro! This Quebec company is part of an international comglomerate explored by a VT Digger article. It owns 100% of VT Gas, the only natural gas dealer in...
Activism, Finance, Currency, Commerce, Business, Economics, Credit Union, Media, Governance, Politics
The "fiscal cliff" has all the earmarks of a false flag operation, full of sound and fury, intended to extort concessions from opponents. Neil Irwin of The Washington Post calls it "a self-induced austerity crisis." David Weidner in the Wall Street Journal calls it simply theater, designed to pressure politicians into a budget deal:
The...
Judging by their behavior, Vermont’s highest elected officials don’t care much if a thousand or more Vermont residents lose their homes to the world’s most expensive weapons system.
That level of residential destruction is what the U.S. Air Force anticipates in its own environmental impact statement: basing the F-35 nuclear capable fighter-bomber in Vermont will render at least 1,366 houses “unsuitable for residential use.” That’s a scale of human disruption on a par with Hurricane Irene, but the reaction of public officials couldn’t be more different.
Given the unresponsiveness of their representatives, numerous landowners in the three cities around the Burlington Airport have hired...
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