For opinion pieces on any topic.
At a surf break, when the line-up is crowded, and competition becomes heated for precious few waves, scenes of hostility are not uncommon. Violence and threat are the ugliest manifestations, but they do happen surprisingly often for something so chill and harmonious as surfing. Localism is the term for brutish behavior stemming from protective ownership of a spot.
I’ve been wondering lately about this in light of discussion of RTM, and questions of involvement vs. ownership.
Chris and Lise,
For quite awhile I’ve been meaning to tell you both how much I enjoy the ” This Day in History” column. It’s fascinating to see that while many, many changes have occurred -both historically and in the make up of the town; It’s also quite interesting (and amusing) to see that some dissatisfactions remain the same: For instance:
“1892: Muttered curses, not low, but deep, are daily heard in reference to Brattleboro’s railway service”
With Peter re-elected, how much more over-taxation suffering can people take before they pack up and move away?
I will run for U.S. Senator or Representative to Congress, and Governor of Vermont; at least one state and one federal office in 2016.
I will fight for our right to have peace and quiet, and that means telling the U.S. Air Force to base the F-35 strike fighter jets somewhere else! Can you imagine having to edit out the “peace and quiet” statement in most of the tourist brochures for Vermont?
Historical ID of now US Secretary of State John Kerry, who today quite rightly condemned the terror attack on the offices of a Paris newspaper plus a history of French colonial and neocolonial terror.
What first comes to mind is US Secretary of State John Kerry’s prestige for his heroic Swift Boat killing of a Vietnamese in his own beloved country during the holocaust the US committed in Vietnam. A wounded Vietnamese freedom fighter, who had been aiming a rocket launcher at the Swift Boat Kerry commanded, was shot by Kerry as he was running away. Kerry by daringly running his boat right at the danger was decorated for having saved the boat and its crew. [“KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him” from official Silver Star Citation “For the President, E.R. Zumwalt, Vice Admiral, Commander of US Forces in Vietnam”]
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) welcomed President Barack Obama’s announcement today that the Federal Housing Administration will cut mortgage-insurance premiums as part of an effort to expand opportunities for first-time homebuyers.
Annual fees the agency charges to guarantee mortgages will be cut by 0.5 percentage points from the current rate of 1.35 percent.
Sanders and 17 other senators had signed a letter asking the Obama administration to take the action that the White House announced.
After seeing the Edward Snowden movie Citizen Four at the Latchis recently, I was left with an impression that was not what I had expected. I had expected to be buried in acronyms – I was. I expected moments of understated drama – they were there. But what I didn’t expect was this lingering feeling of claustrophobia which comes of spending two hours watching a man whose physical existence is now confined, 24 hours a day, to a single beige hotel room which could have been anywhere but happened to be in Hong Kong. What struck me more disturbingly was that you don’t have to be an NSA whistle-blower to feel a hint of that claustrophobia in your own life. Many of us, I suspect, feel confined to a smaller space these days, especially in the time since Snowden’s revelations.
Open Letter To Vermonter Voters,
I have complained here at ibrattleboro.com during the fall of 2014 that my vote count was lowered from the “unofficial” vote count to the “official” vote count four days later. This never happens to major party candidates. It happened to me in 2010, and it happened to me in 2014. I want some positive, constructive changes made! Because this never happens to major party candidates, I am now complaining that I believe the Constitution of the State of Vermont is being violated.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 5 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today asked the chief trade representative for the United States to turn over the full text of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
The 12-nation pact, which could soon come before Congress, has been negotiated in secret but with input from corporations that stand to profit on the deal.
In , Sanders called it “troubling” and “unacceptable” that the only sources for Congress to assess what would be the largest global trade deal in history are a few leaked documents.
Who will win January 8, 2015 for Governor? Will Astrology and Astronomy combined, tell us?
Astrological analysis of the top 2 voter getters, keeping in mind that the 3rd, Dan Feliciano, might win – a meteor may fly over Montpelier, a falling star could hit the Capital Dome, so don’t discount Dan; after all, I think he and his wife are definitely the friendliest of the bunch!
PETER
Looking first at Peter Shumlin, he was born on March 24, 1956 in Brattleboro, Vermont with his natal Jupiter in 22 degrees Leo.
The purpose of writing this is to express my grievance over Governor Shumlin’s recent dismissal of Act 48, the Vermont Law, passed in 2011 by Mr. Shumlin himself –who rode into office on the wave of public support for this law in the first place! This law states that all residents of Vermont have the right to receive the best, high quality and publicly financed medical care– in other words, Universal, or Single-Payer Health Care. He has now abandoned us, having already missed several deadlines for putting various parts of it into affect so that it would be fully implemented by 2017. In his own words, on Dec 17, 2014, Governor Shumlin claimed that “…Now is not the time…”
BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 3 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will introduce legislation when the new session of Congress convenes this month to authorize a $1 trillion, multi-year program to rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and invest in other infrastructure modernization projects.
The investment not only would begin to address a growing backlog of badly-needed repairs, it also would put 13 million Americans to work at decent-paying jobs, according to Sanders, who will take over this month as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Regarding Killing the Prince of Peace in Afghanistan on his birthday, no sense thinking up some new observations, last year’s and those of previous years should suffice.
Below the list of articles, readers are invited to imagine appropriate completions of New Year’s resolutions for a few of problems Americans will face in 2015.
Well it’s official. At approximately 11:00 am today VY powered down for the last time. There may finally be peace in the area as the protesters, most from well outside the evacuation zone I might add, have officially become unemployed. They can move on to another area and chain themselves to the perimeter fence of another nuclear facility. If they don’t mind the cold and would like to enjoy the benefits of no sales tax maybe they should consider Seabrook N.H.
Rick Perry is the governor of Texas and will be Until January 21, 2015. He was a Republican candidate for President in 2012 and has been mentioned as a possible candidate in 2016 (Sorry, Jeb).
On August 15, 2014, Perry was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges for abuse of power. He was accused threatening a Democratic District Attorney who had been convicted of drunk driving. The indictment received some support and also wide criticism from all sides of the political spectrum, and editorial criticism from major US newspapers. He has not been convicted to date.
On December 26, 2004, shortly after 0.58 UTC, scientists of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had been made aware that a deadly tidal wave could be building up in the Indian Ocean from an earthquake of 8.1 magnitude, yet did not warn any of the many nations that might be about to be hit.
Happy New Year! I would like to share this LETTER TO THE EDITOR I wrote to THE VERMONT JOURNAL which they Pubished Dec. 18, 2014
My favorite fantasy is to imagine men in Vermont in the 1770’s riding their horses across the hills and mountain trails, splashing naked in the hollowed gorges and streams, and fighting for their freedom.
How is Representative Town Meeting (RTM) better than the “normal” open Town Meeting that every other Vermont town uses?
Taken on its own merits in a vacuum, RTM is a fine concept. But we don’t live in a vacuum; we live in the state of Vermont. If there were 30 people running for 14 seats, and there were platforms and discussions and a system of accountability between representative and those being represented, then it would be great – but we have 14 people running for 30 seats and it’s not clear who’s representing what. If there were so many people attending Town Meeting that it was impractical to allow everyone to participate in a Robert’s Rules style meeting, then I can see where RTM would be a good alternative – but space doesn’t seem to be an issue.
When it was announced that Brown & Roberts Hardware was being sold, my first thought was, “there goes the year-end sale.” I shop at B&R year-round of course, but I especially liked the pre-inventory sale which, for decades, was held between Christmas and New Years. The fact that everything in the store was discounted a bit was fun for the wallet, but I also enjoyed saving up a list of things, often as mundane as a certain size of wood screw, a kitchen utensil, some glue, a weird wattage light bulb, which I could have bought at any time but didn’t seem to get around to. Then on around December 27 I’d go in and load up on cool, mostly useful, stuff, surrounded by other afficiandos doing the same.
I’m hoping you are getting some warmth, food, and rest in the coming days. Perhaps a present or two, too.
With holidays and such, things may slightly slower around here for the next week or so. We’ll be checking in and making sure things get posted, but we’re also going to try to enjoy some time with the family.
A big thank you to everyone who adds their thoughts, comments, news, and events to iBrattleboro. A big thanks to all our wonderful advertisers, as well. Click on their ads and ennjoy their services.
BURLINGTON, Dec.22 – U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed a Department of Veterans Affairs announcement that the state-run Vermont Veterans’ Home in Bennington is in line for a nearly $1 million federal matching grant.
The Bennington facility is on the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs’ priority list for construction grants during the coming year.
“I am committed to working with the state and the VA to ensure the veterans’ home can make these much-needed repairs,” said Sanders. “The men and women who have served our country in uniform deserve quality care in a safe home.”
