From the State of Vermont's Web site:

You are "uninsured" if you meet any one of the following circumstances:

You currently have health insurance but it covers ONLY hospital care OR doctor’s visits

 

You have not had health insurance for the past 12 months

 

You had health insurance in the past 12 months but lost it because you:

 

• lost your job
• got divorced
• no longer have COBRA coverage
• became ineligible for Medicaid or VHAP
• had insurance through someone else who died
• are no longer a dependent on your parent’s insurance
• graduated, took a leave of absence, or finished college or university and purchased your insurance through school

Does anyone else notice what's missing here?  It doesn't provide an exception if you lost your medical insurance because your spouse or civil union partner became unemployed.  If your partner dies, you are eligible.  If you get divorced your are eligible.  But if you're getting insurance through someone who loses their job and you therefore lose your insurance, there's no indication in here that you're eligible for catamount.

Is this just a minor error on their web site or did I just find a major gap in eligibility here?

The recent assault by the Brattleboro Police against two non-violent protesters is just one more illustration regarding our various governments' run-away violence. Another example would be the (again) Brattleboro PD's killing by gunfire of Robert Woodward after he threatened to harm himself back in 2001.

The war against the American people (euphemism: drug war) comes up with many more instances of abuse … click here for an interesting list.

We invaded a nation, Iraq, that never attacked us.

This is a short, short, short list.

I find all this absolutely unacceptable.

Will politicians from either the Democratic or Republican parties act to protect us from all this? Maybe the question is … why haven't they to date?

There are answers … click here to read about legislation actually introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. It appears to me here in Vermont we need some sort of department level non-violence representative.

And, of course, there are those things we can do in our day to day lives that encourage non-violence.

We need a piece of that peace.

Many people I've talked to feel that the recently passed veto session was, for all intents and purposes, the real start of the 2008 Governor's race. Sure we don't have a candidate yet – and, well… that's a problem, no doubt – but it feels for all the world like the race is on nonetheless, and we can at least be laying the groundwork for a successful run by…well, by somebody. And a little encouragement might get a wavering candidate in. A usual Vermont short election calendar serves incumbents – especially the incumbent Governor – so why wait?

It's time we all did what so many in the rest of the country have done (and what kestrel9000 is doing in Virginia, until such time as he finally gets a job up here that allows him to move back to Vermont where he belongs) – that is, make our OWN media. Blogs, sure. If you're at all inclined, you oughta have one, but what I'm really talking about is A/V! Time to get out the cameras and/or microphones and start following Republicans to public meetings and events. Ask the tough questions, get them on record and put it out on the intertubes as a permanent record. Ask them how they voted on the global warming bill, death with dignity, campaign finance. Ask how they feel about gay marriage, IRV, the RNC hiding from a subpoena behind “executive privilege.” Ask them in front of GOP crowds. Get a hold of a video editor and add your own music and effects, or just post it raw. Nobody's gonna do this for us, folks, so lets start to kick it up a notch.

To that end, GMD will have a contest: make your own internet ad that tells voters why its time to stop voting for Jim Douglas and submit a link in a user diary,  or just via email to me (check my profile). We'll get them all posted and let people vote on their favoritte. It could be video, or just straight audio, if you're more into the radio thing.

Now, I have no illusions about the relatively small pool of readers of this site. None of us on the front page are expecting hundreds of entries. So we'll allow plenty of time for the contest. Get your entry in by the first of November, and we can announce the winner exactly one year before election day. That's three whole months, folks. Plenty of time to get creative! We'll post updates and reminders from time to time, and I'll add a link to this diary at the top of the page so new readers can be brought up to speed.

So what are you waiting for?