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Verizon Land Line service has just outdone themselves for the worst possible service and exceeded their previous record of atrocious and mendacious customer service.  After 60 hours they are incapable of adding long distance service to my land line.  In the old days before automation, adding long distance service used to take about 5 minutes.  The agent would ask, "Which long distance service would you like, Sprint, MCI, or ATT?  "I'll take Sprint."  "Ok, SPRINT is now turned on."  "Thank you."

I lost my cellphone and needed to use the land line to call people back with out-of-state numbers.  I called Verizon Land Lines Sunday at 8AM and after getting past the firewall of robot answering machines I ordered long distance service...

F-35 boosters have an Orwellian concept of leadership.

Frank Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation (GBIC), opined in the Burlington Free Press that we should applaud the “leadership” of Vermont’s political establishment for their support of the F-35 basing in Burlington. Cioffi says these politicians have recognized the economic benefits, dealt with “complex” issues, and have stood up to the “...

Two Senators Keep Security State Debate In A Narrow Frame 

Vermont, that seemingly progressive New England state, is no exception when it comes to the arrogance and self-serving attitude of the richest and most powerful--nor that the neoliberal priorities of that 1 Percent inspire people to resist.

The Vermont Air National Guard, the state's Congressional delegation and leading business forces are campaigning to win the basing of Lockheed Martin's new F-35 warplane at Burlington International Airport.

But this has been met with a growing grassroots movement to stop the basing that has gained national attention. The Stop the F-35 Coalition opposing the...

Burlington- Meeting on Thursday at the Burlington Police Department, the City Council Ordinance Committee continued their process of re-examining the Queen City’s Livable Wage ordinance. Beginning with a lengthy public comment period, the committee slowly picked its way through section after section of the ordinance that sets the minimum wage for city contractors at no lower than $13.94 an hour.

Unlike previous meetings, this one was dominated by a public comment period that stretched on for over an hour as numerous citizens and...

Burlington- Meeting on Thursday, the Burlington City Council Ordinance Committee conducted a detailed discussion on the City’s Livable Wage ordinance, recently brought back into the spotlight by the exemption granted to the Skinny Pancake outlet at the Burlington International Airport. Focusing primarily on policy, Councilors Karen Paul, Sharon Bushor, and Committee Chair Chip Mason took a seemingly clinical look at the perceived limitations of the Queen City’s Livable Wage Ordinance established by the Clavelle administration in 2001.

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When the city council in a city of just 18,000 people reverses a vote it took a year earlier, it’s not usually off national significance, but if the South Burlington City Council votes as expected on July 8, in support of basing the F-35 strike fighter in Vermont, it will illustrate how deep the tentacles of national power reach into local government in this country. 

The F-35 nuclear-capable bomber, designed for aggressive war, is one of the more obvious tumors of the military-industrial-political cancer that has metastasized throughout the American system, from Congress and the Pentagon in...

“Everyone knows I’m an asshole, the point is they’re assholes.” - Michael Hastings on covering figures of power and politics.

Not long ago, on June 19th, journalist Michael Hastings was killed in a fiery, high-speed car wreck in Los Angeles. A recipient of the 2010 Polk Award for National Reporting, Michael Hastings had seared his place in journalism history with his jaw-dropping expose of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s bitter dismissal of the Obama administration. Within just a few days of the ...