Monthly Archives: November 2011

Seashore park misbehaving at the pond again [June 2009 / CCT]

It’s pond season again. I walked over a couple of days ago on the warm Memorial Day, thinking to test the waters—actually, my mettle—and found the latter lacking. I waded out through the yellow pine pollen scum that had blown against the lee shore and stood there kneedeep thinking over the possibility of full immersion. […]

November 30, 2011 – 6:13 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Healthcare initiative having trouble with liftoff [July 2009 / CCT]

It is indeed strange when you have to go back 40 years to get back to the future. When men bouncing on the moon looks quaint. Fact is, that first moon trip is more ancient to kids today than the Model T Ford was to baby boomers when we were young. Some pundits are calling […]

November 30, 2011 – 6:07 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Wellfleet town meeting: doing the after math [May 2009 / CCT]

OK, on the premise that Wellfleet, as a canary in the coal mine of contemporary regulatory America, is of interest elsewhere (a parochial premise, I know): our recent town meeting. Much of the first night consisted of rubber -stamping budget items which in most cases most citizens didn’t know enough about to either approve or […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:56 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Is pig heaven hell on groundwater? [November 2009 / CCT]

Recently Judy and Fred Tesson applied for a permit to keep 10 pigs on their half acre lot in Wellfleet. A neighbor, a part time resident, had complained in a letter to the board of health about the proposed pigs’ unpermitted predecessors , describing vividly “eight large pigs wallowing …in mud mixed with urine and […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:50 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The illusion of intervention American-style [July 2009 / CCT]

President Obama has been drawing fire for the anti-exceptionalism tenor of his foreign policy speeches. He is daring to admit that we are not an exception to the long and sorry cautionary history of self-interested nations. He’s saying we need a little humility, to the extent even of being willing to come down off our […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:45 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Kennedy was better than his money [September 2009 / CCT]

Senator Kennedy was no saint, but one of the important things you can say about the most influential liberal force in our times is that he was better than his money. It seems common knowledge, easily confirmed with an online search, that the Kennedy family fortune was, like so much great wealth, of dubious origins. […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:30 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Abortion: confusing the issue with false clarity [June 2009 / CCT]

One of the most troubling and seemingly irresolvable parts of our national life is the abortion issue. It bubbled up again recently with the murder of Dr. George Tiller, regarded as a compassionate hero by millions, arch fiend and mass murderer by other millions. How is resolution possible? A letter to the paper the other […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:23 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

Why second guess the spiritual argument? [December 2009 / CCT]

There has been a nasty tone creeping into the comments of Cape Wind supporters now that they sense victory is close. It’s a tone of mockery for the idea that spiritual values could really be the motive behind the opposition to the 130 450 foot -high wind turbines proposed for Nantucket Sound.. Commenting on the […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:19 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

How happy should we be? [July 2008 / CCT]

A couple of weeks back a story about a survey of depression on Cape Cod was featured prominently in these pages. (“Depression: Study gauges the Cape blues.”) The sampling was convincingly large, 15,302 local people. Of these 43% “showed signs of depression,” almost twice the national average. Almost half of us depressed. That’s depressing news […]

November 30, 2011 – 1:14 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Restoring the logic of government [November 2008 CCT]

I imagine Thanksgiving will assume a civic dimension this year it hasn’t had in some time. At many tables there will be thanks for an amazing election that gives us hope that we now have a shot at government of the people, by the people, for the people. “For the people”–remember that? To read letters […]

November 30, 2011 – 12:59 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns, Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (0)