Saturday, May 10 Don Keelan I can't help but think that Howard Dean might very well be having a difficult time getting to sleep. Especially so if his last thoughts before slumbering off are, as head of the Democratic National Committee, that he does not wish for a repeat of the spring and summer of 40 years ago.   Full Story

Saturday, May 10 Alden Graves He's hustling the same guys the rest of 'em are. No more. No less. — A Washington lobbyist about John McCain Hillary Clinton is still being ridiculed for her statement about being under fire in Bosnia. Barrack Obama has been pummeled for his pastor's view of America.   Full Story

Friday, May 9 Tom Purcell I used to take her forgranted. When my five sisters and I were babies in her womb, she never took so much as an aspirin for a headache. She never put anything in her body but the nutrients we needed to grow, and I took that for granted. As a child, my world was rock solid because of her.   Full Story

Friday, May 9 Joe Bushika Toward the end of last summer, I noticed that my car's air conditioner didn't seem to be functioning the way that it should. While it would blow some cool air, it wasn't chilly enough to make it comfortable for the occupants of the vehicle, so as soon as this years weather started to warm up I took it to the repair shop.   Full Story

Thursday, May 8 Telly Halkias If John McCain isn't the angry man portrayed by the media this past winter, he should be. Other than Gerald Ford, who almost pulled off an upset over Jimmy Carter following the Watergate legacy, McCain has been handed a soup sandwich of legendary proportions. Trying to make political hay out of this electorate is going to be a Herculean task for which he will   Full Story

Thursday, May 8 Wesley Knapp As prudently and carefully as our school boards and other school boards have planned school budgets, the rapidly rising cost of energy in our nation is forcing everyone to evaluate how business is done, and contemplate solutions that will allow us to continue providing quality education for our young citizens.   Full Story

Wednesday, May 7 Lissa Stark It's that time again: Spring cleaning. Out with the old and in with the new. But what do you do with the old if it is hazardous? One answer is to take part in your spring and fall Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) collection events. Each town hosts two of these events each year, at which disposal of hazardous waste is free to residents.   Full Story

Wednesday, May 7 Alden Graves In one of the most unusual stipulations in show business history, Tom Cruise agreed to reimburse"The OprahWinfrey Show" for any damage done to the furniture during his recent appearance. His first offering as a movie mogul, the disastrous "Lions for Lambs," is expected to lose $50 million for United Artists, an unusual approach to rejuvenating a moribund motion   Full Story

Tuesday, May 6 John McClaughry After months of agonizing effort, the Legislature has brought forth a bill for "creating Vermont neighborhoods and encouraging smart growth development." The new bill (H.863) is the latest step in a process that dates back to 1970. Its passage again reveals the political tensions that arise whenever anyone in Vermont proposes to alter the environment for   Full Story

Tuesday, May 6 Dave Mance III The ancient Celts spoke of "thin places" and "thin times" — places and times where the veil between heaven and earth is worn thin. When I read that line I hear it in my Irish Grandfather's voice: "tin play-sis," him smiling and slipping into brogue to amuse his grandchildren.   Full Story

Monday, May 5 Bob Stannard For those of you who have too much time on your hands and choose to read this column regularly, you may recall in my last column I mentioned how I had been engrossed in the HBO special, "John Adams." That series wrapped up last week, and much like the feeling one gets when finishing a good book, I was sad to see it over.   Full Story

Monday, May 5 Michael Reagan Incaseyou haven't noticed, gas prices are soaring, hiking the cost of food and just about everything else. If you believe Hillary Clinton, the blame for all this lies on the shoulders of those greedy oil companies and their bloated profit margins, a notion that like just about every other snake-oil remedy she tries to peddle is simply not the case.   Full Story

Monday, May 5 Happiness is in thedata. That doesn't bode well for folks on the political left. As it goes, Arthur Brooks, a Syracuse University economics professor and author of the new book "Gross National Happiness," began mining happiness data back in his college days. The prevailing wisdom then, Brooks told me, was that liberal folks were happier — that conservatives were   Full Story

Monday, May 5 The organizing principle in the world today is the military, political and economic dominance of the United States. — Vice President Dick Cheney The above quote, from an interview with The New Yorker magazine in May 2001, succinctly described the mantra of the incoming Bush administration.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 Charles Putney Parson Weems is famous for the unverified story about the young George Washington. When asked if he had cut down a cherry tree, he admitted that he had. The story reminds me of my early days in the Boy Scouts. I had a new short-handled ax. Like anyone with a new "toy" (not really a toy, but bear with me) I had to use it.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 Brian McKenna So here's the deal: This week, I really don't have a single theme on which to focus. So instead I'll go with the following formula: an anecdote, an observation and a good problem to have. First, I've been dying to tell you about this since early last week, actually.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 Dianne Lamb We're at the in-between spot before many locally grown vegetables appear in the market. If it seems like your vegetable repertoire has become ho-hum, how about a quick glaze to wake-up everyone's taste buds? The glaze may also help kids eat their daily dose of vegetables.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 Joe Bushika I've been around for awhile, and I thought that I had seen just about everything, but I was wrong. While driving through Wilmington a few days ago, my wife decided that she needed to pick up a few things at the town's only supermarket, so I pulled into the parking lot, and we proceeded to the store.   Full Story

Thursday, May 1 Telly Halkias Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, following one of her electoral victories, noted: "It's passionately interesting for me that the things I learned in a small town and a very modest home are just the things that I believe have won the election." Two decades later, Thatcher's assessment can still teach us much about our upcoming November contest.   Full Story

Thursday, May 1 Sen. Bernie Sanders Hundreds of Vermonters have contacted my office expressing outrage over the high cost of oil and gas. Workers have told me they no longer can afford to fill up their gas tanks as they travel long distances to work. Older Vermonters are expressing real concern about how they will stay warm next winter with home heating fuel prices already averaging $3.   Full Story

Wednesday, April 30 Mark E. Rondeau In his April 26 column, "The audacity of bitterness," Berkshire County, Mass., Republican political activist Matt Kinnaman makes some legitimate points. Barack Obama's comment that many working class people cling to religion, among other things, out of bitterness over their economic troubles disappointed many of his supporters.   Full Story

Wednesday, April 30 Will Durst Order another bag of peanuts, pass the cotton candy and get used to the smell of sawdust, because the circus tour has been extended. Yes, my friends, welcome to the primary that will not die. You'd think that after six thrill-filled weeks of hosting this sideshow competition of rival ringmasters outdoing each other in the Like A Normal Human Animal Act, the   Full Story

Wednesday, April 30 Alden Graves Even as a source for opposing viewpoints, Michael Reagan's columns (I've never listened to the radio program) are of little value. They are typical of the smug, insulated bluster spouted by the paunchy patriots who play golf while other people are maimed and killed for their noble causes.   Full Story

Tuesday, April 29 Dave Mance III If you follow national nature news, you know that in 1995 biologists re-introduced wolves in Yellowstone Na-tional Park. The population subsequently expanded into larger Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. What was 66 wolves is today 1,500. In response, the western gray wolf was recently taken off the endangered species list.   Full Story

Tuesday, April 29 Steve Holmes The housing bill (H.863) that passed the House recently, known as the Vermont Neighborhoods Bill, strikes a reasonable balance between creating more affordable housing and protecting Vermont's unique downtowns and storied landscape of forests and farms that has, for centuries, provided food, fuel, jobs and recreation for Vermonters.   Full Story

Monday, April 28 On the way into church on a recent Sunday, I saw an emergency sign on Northside Drive. Observing the speed limit, I saw a dozen or so firemen standing around in a semicircle overseeing the "burn-down" of a wooden structure. I learned that these operations are usually done on a Sunday because more volunteer firemen are available to check the fire and learn control tactics.   Full Story

Monday, April 28 The House Institutions and Corrections Committee, on which I serve, has passed the Capital Bill S.365. This bill will be passed by the full House and then reconciled with the Senate version. It allocates the money raised by issuing state bonds, which is a way of borrowing money. We endeavored to allocate these borrowed funds to projects that involve investment in productive   Full Story

Monday, April 28 Hank Deerfield (Tommy Lee Jones) has always been proud of his country. A career Army officer, he believes that the young men and women fighting in Iraq are there to instill democracy in a brutally repressed land. That faith is as fundamental to his nature as the dictum that his shoes should be spit-shined and precisely arranged beside his bed each night.   Full Story

Bill O'Reilly of "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox network really is a force of nature, isn't he? The question is, is this a force for good or ill? I, for one, am no longer in doubt. Of course, everyone in the news business knows O'Reilly's reputation for slanting, smearing and sensationalizing, but before the past few days I was unaware exactly how the O'Reilly treatment worked. Now, I know. So, in fact, does the entire state of Vermont.   Full Story

The attacks on the World Trade Center and other places instantly became one of the events of our national history which, in turn, became a defining milestone in our personal lives.   Full Story