Town Meeting
Activism, History, Governance, Foreign Policy, Elections, Military, Politics, Environment, Diplomacy, Common Assets
By Vidda Crochetta
What is it about the future we seem to fear so much? Will we all end by “dining on ashes” paralyzed like lumps of coal on a fire? Will there be any free space left to sit on the ground “and tell sad stories of the death of kings?”
“At the heart of the current situation in the United States today is the need to downscale and re-localize everyday life, and that naturally calls into question how we manage our affairs. This excellent anthology – Most Likely To Secede – voices the arguments around the possible political breakup of the U.S. nation-state.”
So writes Clusterfuck Nation blogger and futurist James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency, of our new book.
Activism, Finance, Currency, Commerce, Business, Economics, Food&Health, Foreign Policy, Transportation, Farming
by Ken White
It’s a fascinating thought experiment, and for many of the Vermonters whose essays are collected in Most Likely to Secede, it’s a viable and urgent project: Why, how, and with what beneficial impact could Vermont secede from the United States, and become a radically local, largely self-sustaining democracy?
This book consists mainly of essays from the Vermont Commons, the newsletter where secession is debated and post-separation arrangements proposed. And although the editors admirably did not produce Most Likely to Secede with the intent to “convert readers to the...
Activism, Economics, Food&Health, History, Governance, Military, Politics, Trade, Environment, Education
The aggressive campaign against vaccine choice that continues this year despite the 133-6 house vote to keep our medical freedom of choice in 2012 reminds me why last year's anti-corporate personhood bill was so critical. It also reminds me of the story of Semmelweiss, a doctor who (in his day) was villified and committed to bedlam by experts who rejected his work on advocating for handwashing to prevent infection...
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...
The following blog entry is by Sarah at the Healthy Home Economist. Thanks, Sarah!
The vaccine industry went home with its tail between its legs after suffering an enormous and...
Vermont Independence Convention 2008: Rob Williams
As we are about to vote in the Burlington mayoral election on Tuesday we are reminded of the Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) fiasco of 2009 and are about to face another possible fiasco due to the previous fiasco. Because of a rare statistical fluke of IRV, most analysis using various voting methods for the 2009 election concluded that Andy Montroll should have won. See: http://rangevoting.org/Burlington.html or other sites.
Backers of mayoral candidate Kurt Wright in particular felt that Bob Kiss should not have won the 2009 election and therefore successfully organized to...
Progress. Got some excellent help from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund after taking their course on Community Rights Organizing: the CELDF helped me with a Town Ordinance against Smart Meters, which acts on a local level to prevent the corporate-controlled Legislature in Montpelier from shoving smart meters down the throats of residents. Here's the plain English version,...
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