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MacAdam Mason. Dead after being tased by a police office. He was unarmed. Credit: theduckshoot.com In the first three weeks following the police taser death of MacAdam Mason, an unarmed epileptic Vermont man, fewer than 100 people signed an online petition calling for a taser moratorium in the state, a call that had already been rejected out of hand by Vermont’s Democratic Governor, Peter Shumlin. In the week since former Democratic Governor Madeleine Kunin signed the moratorium petition, the

Healthier food and communities, protection of genetic diversity, lower taxes, a richer local economy..There are countless reasons to support micro-farmers and urban homesteaders who provide local food. Here is a condensed list put together by Vern Grubinger, vegetable and berry specialist at University of Vermont Extension, of why buying local food is a smart move. 1)  Locally grown food tastes and looks better. The crops are picked at their peak, and farmstead products like cheeses and are han

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released today gives new insight into employment numbers, state by state, for the month of June. Compared to the month before, unemployment has increased in 27 states. Meanwhile, 11 states, as well as the District of Columbia, reported a decrease in unemployment in June compared to May. 12 other states reported no change. Looking more long-term, 47 states have reported a decrease in unemployment rates when compared to a year ago. The report is bad news for New Yo

Credit: Bill Oetjen The Pentagon has admitted it was wrong about basic facts relating to basing the F-35 stealth fighter-bomber in Vermont, so of course the announcement was made late last week in a story spun to be about public participation. While most Vermont media missed the story entirely, the Burlington Free Press got the scoop and missed its significance, focusing instead on the extension of the public comment period on the Air Force’s environmental impact statement.   Mission accomplish

Credit: Allison Curran Even though it was Bastille Day in Burlington, VT on Monday, there were no mobs storming the prisons that symbolize state injustice, instead the streets instead were filled with Woody Guthrie songs and protests against a bank that symbolizes state injustice. Organized by Occupy Vermont, the July 14th event was partly a birthday celebration for Woody Guthrie, who would have been 100 years old if he hadn’t died in 1967. Starting out from the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf

Credit: maps.com Randy Brock, Republican candidate for Vermont Governor, probably didn't mean it to come out this way, but his successful Friday fundraising pitch that focused on Republican Governors turns out to be a boost for current Vermont Governor, Democrat Peter Shumlin. Or so it seems to anyone paying attention. The center of Brock’s pitch is that “a recent study showed that of the 17 states that elected Republican governors in 2010, every single one has reduced its unemployment rate.”

Comic Con roars into San Diego this week for a three day fantasy, comic, video game and cinema bonanza. The famous annual conference dedicated to anything geek will run from Thursday, July 12th through Sunday, July 15th. The conference is expecting 123,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors. In the spirit of the festivities, a look into the political themes and tones found in the most successful comic book plots seemed natural. Since their creation, comic books and superhero movies have centered a

The Pentagon wants to base F-35 fighter jets in Burlington, Vermont and has support from much of the political establishment. But determined grassroots opposition, helped by local city councils, may be winning the fight. Media reports typically refer to her blandly as the chair of the South Burlington, Vermont, city council, but Rosanne Greco isn’t your garden variety small town official, she’s a retired U.S. Air Force colonel accustomed to analyzing complex military matters for the Pentagon –

My politics tilt to the left yet by a quirk, I became a Ron Paul delegate in Vermont. Here's how it happened. Just about everyone in Vermont thinks of himself or herself as an independent voter, including a goodly number of people in Vermont’s less than robust political parties that run the gamut, as Dorothy Parker said, from A to B. According to the Vermont Secretary of State’s office, Vermont has three major parties:  Democratic, Progressive, and Republican.  There are three official minor p

The AP reports Sen. Patrick Leahy will make yet another appearance in a Batman movie with The Dark Knight Rises comes out this month. The Democrat from Vermont has previously appeared in 2007's The Dark Knight opposite Heath Ledger's Joker. The National Journal has a clip of his cameo and adds this: Leahy's been a lifelong Batman fan. He told The New York Times in 2008 that Batman is awesome because he "has no super powers... He had to use his own brains and his own knowledge. He could have had