Volume 270 | No. 23

N.H. DOE’s “Nuclear Roadmap”

To the N.H. Department of Energy, Concord, N.H.: Dear Sirs, On behalf of Seacoast Anti-Pollution League (SAPL) and our approximately 300 members throughout the Seacoast region of New Hampshire, I’d like to submit the following comments in regard to your “Nuclear Roadmap” process. In considering an energy “roadmap,” I thought of a famous essay in Foreign Affairs, by energy expert Amory Lovins of Rocky Mountain Institute—which was published 50 years ago this year. In it, he posited two paths to our energy future—50 years on—dubbed “hard” and “soft,” and you can likely guess which is which. While the soft path was mostly neglected over the …

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Kidnapping Maduro: Narco-fiction as Narrative Management

by Richard M. Balzano On January 3rd, “Operation Absolute Resolve” transformed years of coup attempts, subversion, and sanctions into outright abduction, as Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were kidnapped by U.S. forces and transported to New York. The White House framed Maduro as a narco-kingpin, head of the fictional “Cartel of the Suns,” dressing the regime-change operation in the language of law enforcement coated in uplifting rhetoric that oscillated between liberation-speak and outright resource imperialism. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, spent decades antagonizing Washington by committing the unforgivable crime of using Venezuela’s oil wealth to fund social programs instead of allowing multinational …

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Sexual Peccadilloes of Public People

by W.D. Ehrhart So much for ex-Marine oysterman and working-class hero Graham Platner’s bid to unseat the sleazy weaselly Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate. Another American male undone by his inability to keep his pants up. It just amazes me—indeed, leaves me breathless and flabbergasted—how often men seem to be incapable of resisting the desire to engage in sequel activity at inappropriate times and with inappropriate partners. Don’t misunderstand me. Ever since I hit puberty about 64 years ago, I’ve enjoyed sex as much as the next man. Indeed, prior to my marriage at the age of 32, I was more active than I …

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Time and Tide Wait for No Man

Nine hundred years ago, Henry of Huntingdon wrote of King Canute, a Dane who had ruled England about a century before. Canute, in Henry’s telling, had his throne carried down to the seashore, where he then commanded the incoming tide to stop advancing before it reached him. Spoiler alert: the tide did not stop. Tides come and go, but that story has remained. So it goes with many stories that are open to interpretation. A fool might think that the story shows King Canute to be a wet-footed fool. That ancient monarch knew, though, where his powers ended. He was just trying to drive some …

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Volume 270, No. 23

Another fortnight, another no-show from truth, justice, and the American Way. Like our favorite forgotten Founding Father, we hold monarchy in contempt as a form of government. Here’s what Thomas Paine had to say about William the Conqueror, who ruled England after the Battle of Hastings in 1066: “A French bastard landing with an armed Banditti and establishing himself king of England against the consent of the natives, is in plain terms a very paltry rascally original.” Despite our antipathy towards all things regal, in this issue we had a kind word for one of King Billy’s predecessors. Strange times, indeed. To learn what has …

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