C’mon… Can’t we help this guy out?

Greg Parke’s not some latte-sipping, Bentley-driving elitist, on a swan-song ego trip.

Oh no, he’s the real deal, folks. Air Force veteran, Middle Eastern diplomatic experience. I mean, just look at his issues page. He’s not equivocating about his views. He’s just about 100% in the Bush camp.

And his campaign signs are far less obnoxious to boot!

See, it’s been floated around these parts lately that the Republican Party insiders are placing a choke-hold on democracy, trying to force Parke to get out of the race in order to clear the way for Rich Tarrant’s big money challenge to Bernie Sanders.

Today, PoliticsVT pointed out information from an AP report titled "Tarrant’s self-funded campaign could boost GOP rival."

Parke says he’s invoking the “millionaire amendment.” The AP explains…

 

Richard Tarrant’s donations of his own money to his GOP campaign for the U.S. Senate could boost the fortunes of another Republican seeking the nomination.
 

A provision of the campaign finance law allows a candidate running against a self-funded rival to accept higher individual donations.
 

In the case of retired Air Force pilot Greg Parke, he’ll be able to accept a little more than $12,000 per individual, six times higher than the $2,100 typically permitted candidates for federal offices.
 

Parke accused his Republican opposition – moderate Rich Tarrant of buying the election.

Parke makes a good case for his appeal to the Republican base in this press release from April 17, 2006…

 

The Friends of Greg Parke announced today  that they have received over $1,000,000.00 in campaign contributions  for Republican Senatorial candidate Greg Parke. 
 

In response Parke stated, "We are getting a tremendous response with  our grassroots campaign.  Support is pouring in from people who are  concerned about our soldiers and our military situation.  They want the  kind of leadership that I bring to the table as a veteran and as  someone with real experience in the Middle East," said Parke.
 

Parke’s campaign has received donations from over 26,000  contributors. Parke has been fundraising primarily through direct voter  contact mailings. Parke has raised over $85,000.00 via the internet  from over 1,500 contributors.

Can’t we help a brother out?

Let’s not forget how much fun we Vermonters had crossing over to vote in a little Republican primary that made a national star out of Fred Tuttle.

So, stand up for democracy and say it loud and proud: Greg Parke for U.S. Senate.

[Crossposted at What’s the Point?]

Darren Allen reports that this week’s Democratic Response to President Bush’s weekly address will be delivered by Senate President Pro Tem and US Congress candidate Peter Welch (Sen. Welch must have friends in high places).

If you’re interested, WDEV usually carries the two addresses during their mid-day News Service slot at 12:00-12:30 on Saturday. Welch will record the response tomorrow and will make it a press event. In a lot of places, this wouldnt be as big a deal, but in little Vermont, it should generate some great media for Welch.

Gravity over at the Vermont blog Everybody Falls generally writes about “music, anime and games,” but these extraordinary times we live in, — where basic liberties that we are all raised to take for granted (like the open access to information and press freedom) can no longer be taken for granted — tend to force people of good conscience into the political. From this context, Gravity’s brief post on the matter reads like a lament, so I asked for and received her permission to reprint it here:

When I was growing up, I never thought that the freedom of the press would ever be a stake in a political game. In civics class, it was a foregone conclusion that the press was untouchable – as long as they were telling the truth.

I’d be the first to admit that a whole lot of things have changed since 1988.
When watching older movies and TV shows, I notice how often the whole plot would fail because someone in the group would have a cell phone.

Continued after the link…

Things change, that is life. When my AunT was in school, she was taught that the sun would burn out within about 100 years. Granted this was probably just a Podunk backwater teacher airing personal alarmist views, but it wasn’t presented that way. Now we know that it’s not the sun blowing up that’ll get us. We got lots and lots of time on that score.

In Civics class, we learned about libel and slander, and the role of a free press in society. We learned that if the reporter was telling the truth, then they were doing nothing wrong in bringing the public’s attention to matters that they need to be informed about.

Now, the Attorney General of the US has made sounds relating to prosecution of reporters for printing true things, because these things were “secret”.
I am wholly a supporter of free information. I do believe the ol’ 80s cyberpunk meme of information needing to be free.
It’s true. I believe that 99% of the information in the world should be accessible to anyone who cares and knows where to look. Frankly, who is going to search for info on auto-erotic asphyxiation unless they have some sort of interest in it – either they read a reference to it or whatever – so there would be no harm in having that information freely available (yes, I know it is. Please send no links. Really.)
Having that info available does not incite someone who has no interest to read about, try, and/or die by way of AEA. It does, however, promote understanding.

I have a problem with a lack of transparency in government. This came up recently in Vermont with a whole bunch of really stupid stuff being exempted from Freedom of Information Act filings because they were deemed privilege of “Deliberative Process” by the very same people who created the documents.
This reminds me very much of how the federal government thinks that marking a huge wodge of the papers that they touch “top secret” will mean that nobody can ever ever find out about the bad things they are doing.
I really, really don’t like this.

Someone should start a little newspaper or website where reporters or others can anonymously submit the info that they know to be true and that the public is being denied.

Oh, wait… that won’t work either, since it would all be traceable by phone and email records.

I hate this crap.

Give me my information. Give me my privacy.
This is insane.
Just freaking re-name the DHS the “Ministry of Truth” and get it over with.

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

John mentined this story over the weekend but I thought I’d provide some more details.

As I was driving back from my daughter-in-law’s college graduation about a week ago I started noticing yard signs in the Bethel area for Dick McCormack. You may remember him as a sort of gruff, not entirely predictable, but strong-minded state senator for thirteen years throughout the 1990’s and beyond, until he left voluntarily in 2002. Dick was always the kind of guy that I thought of as a real Democrat: strong supporter of the little guy; skeptical of the pwer, especially economic power; and ready for a fight when necessary. I spend a lot of time in the State House and I was always glad when I had to lobby a committee that Dick was serving on. I was glad to see Dick’s yard signs sprouting again, so I thought I’d give him a call.

It’s true, Dick is running for Senate again, and this is good for the party and the people. Windsor has been a strong Democratic county, sending such strong Dems as Cheryl Rivers, Peter Welch, and Matt Dunne, to the Senate over the years. If we’re going to keep our strong voice in the Senate we need candidates like Dick, and Dick himself, to carry on the struggle.

I’ve invited Dick to visit us here at Green Mountain Daily, and to post his thoughts and comments as he gets the chance. Since he told me he’s just easing into the world of cyberspace (he told me, “I realized I had to catch up when people stopped asking me if I had an e-mail address and just started asking me what my e-mail address was”) it may be a bit of an adjustment for him. Still, until we hear from him directly why don’t you take a look at his web page to get a good sense of what he’s all about?