One of my favorite writers on current affairs is Kevin Williamson, who posts a piece every Tuesday at nationalreview.com. Last week he did an illuminating piece on President Biden’s current concern about “ghost guns,” unserialized and untraceable firearms that can be bought online and assembled at home.

The March 29 Washington Post reported that President Biden has requested more than $11 billion to help developing countries adapt to the ravages of climate change and build greener economies in his $5.8 trillion budget plan.

On April 20th, the Ethan Allen Institute hosted its 29th annual Jefferson Day celebration at Saint Michael's College, showing the first half of the Ken Burns film "Thomas Jefferson." EAI Board Chairman Jack McMullen presented former EAI president Rob Roper with an award for leading the organization from 2014-22. EAI Vice President John McClaughry fielded questions about the film afterwards.

"The evening was upbeat in its honoring Rob Roper's near decade long service as EAI president. The Jefferson film was remarkably well done and balanced showing his strengths and his human failings." 

~ Jack McMullen, Chairman of the EAI Board of Directors 

"It was my first EAI event and I loved the energy of the group and enjoyed spending time with like minded people." 

~ Randall Northrup, EAI Board Member

"It was a truly wonderful evening! Besides a well-deserved recognition of Rob Roper’s many accomplishments as EAI president, we were treated to a truly thought provoking and beautifully produced film about one of the most seminal yet complex figures in American history."
~ Robert Letovskey, EAI Board Member

A friend sent me the video of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy committee meeting of April 15, discussing the Clean Heat Standard bill (H.715). Twenty nine minutes in, it yielded this these gems:

Matt Cota of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association recently sent out its weekly bulletin to its hundred-plus members, the people who bring fuel oil and propane to keep you from freezing in Vermont winters. A major topic was the Clean Heat Standard bill (S.715)  that has passed the House and is now in the Senate.

Legislators will soon vote on an override of H.157, which would create a fee-based registry for Vermont’s small contractors, based on the theory that home improvement fraud is a massive problem and consumers don’t have a good way to protect themselves.

The climate lobby is racing to push through the Clean Heat Standard heating fuel tax bill – without any legislator voting on the record to launch this costly program. For climateers, defeating the Menace of Climate Change trumps Vermont’s constitutional requirement of legislative accountability. The Check Back Amendment would require a vote of the legislature after March 2023, when all the details are known.

The Legislature is doing a wonderful job of compartmentalizing problems, so sure that partisan sleepwalking is the best strategy for all kinds of political problems.