Category: Opinion

Government ‘feed the rich’ scams abound, new book reports

Not discussed are the huge – for Vermont – benefits shoveled out to the renewable industrial complex: feed in tariffs, standard offer, production tax credits, sales tax exemptions, bonus depreciation, free use of the highways by subsidized electric vehicles, and the Renewable Portfolio Standard that requires utilities to buy high-priced electricity from wind and solar producers.

VT lawyer groups reject First Amendment resolution – now citizens must lead

A few days ago, I asked my colleagues in Caledonia County Bar to urge the Vermont Bar Association to take up the resolution. The response? I was verbally assaulted and publicly shamed. Lawyers said that the resolution was “right wing lunacy”, called my defense of the First Amendment “crazy rantings”, and said my proposal was “raw politics”. Several lawyers told me to stop sending messages—they were busy. One lawyer told me to go home and lie down.

Helping Vermont media understand their bias

Vermont conservatives – and Trump supporters in particular – are media shy. At numerous Trump rallies this reporter has asked flag-waving, sign-carrying, “USA” chanting Vermonters to tell me why they support the president. Those willing to answer usually refuse to give their names. Social and family repercussions are feared. Worse, they tell me they’re worried about losing their jobs.

Where’s concern for huge crowd of Biden partiers?

What madness is this that the governor, and now the Burlington Free Press, continues to push the false premise that somehow two Halloween parties, a bowling league, and some anecdotal hypotheticals about deer camps, etc., are to blame, while intentionally ignoring mass gatherings? Surely, if there are any upticks in numbers, it is this event that is squarely to blame.

An Open Letter to AOC

Shakespeare wrote, ‘Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez is uneasy. Recently she tweeted, “is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future?”

Systemic paternalism

by Carol Frenier June 12, 2020 – Over half a century of serious effort to equalize opportunity for Blacks and Whites has failed in our inner cities. Many well-intentioned, politically conservative Whites […]

Op-ed by Lawrence Zupan: American history built over generations, torn down in minutes How oddly ironic that those who would destroy and rewrite our American history by tearing down our monuments, actually […]

LETTER TO EDITOR: Former VT state senator sees Klar as candidate of hope, opportunity By Mark Shepard July 6, 2020 – In the race for governor, Vermonters have three very different choices. […]

Listen…..

By Guy Page June 11, 2020 – America sucks at listening.  My America. Your America. “Their” America. Me. You. Black. White. Liberal. Conservative. Poor. Rich. We’re caught in a full-blown pandemic of […]

Waiting for DOL

Another Vermont Daily Off The Cuff Editorial This morning a former lawmaker from the Islands asked me about the status of unemployment payments. In a VPR interview today, acting labor commissioner Michael […]

Remember when?

Artwork credit: seen on Vermont Emergency Management Facebook page, sourced from a Seattle woman who says her sister Annie is the artist Hey, Vermonters of the Covid-19 era! Remember when we….. Made […]