Per the Rutland Herald:

Marking the 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, some 280 Vermonters marched on the Statehouse on Saturday to decry legalized abortion and celebrate the defeat last year of a bill that would have permitted physician-assisted suicide.

I just want to note that Brattleboro High School students alone staged a protest of about 200 people earlier this year.  This was Montpelier, much larger than Brattleboro, and all they could come up with for anti-abortion protesters was 280?  

Good job, guys.  Way to press the issue.

Okay, that said, more from the Herald:

Vermont Right to Life is backing three pieces of legislation this year…One would create a new ability to sue under Vermont law when a fetus is killed in an accident resulting from negligence; a second would call for notification of parents of minors seeking an abortion; the third would require abortion clinics to offer patients an opportunity to see an ultrasound of the fetus.

I’m going to take these one at a time:

1. One would create a new ability to sue under Vermont law when a fetus is killed in an accident resulting from negligence
   
   I honestly have no real problem with this.  I don’t see any reason that someone shouldn’t be able to sue should someone else do them damage which hurts  a developing fetus, even if no other injury occurs.



2. a second would call for notification of parents of minors seeking an abortion
   
   I have a serious problem with this.  When minors seek abortions covertly, it’s common for them to do so out of genuine fear of what will happen should their parents find out.  This is, primarily, an intimidation tactic designed to discourage minors from seeking legal abortions.



3. the third would require abortion clinics to offer patients an opportunity to see an ultrasound of the fetus
   
   This is another tactic designed to prey on people in vulnerable situations.  If a woman is at an abortion clinic to have a pregnancy terminated, she’s there because she made a choice.  The state has no right to question her choice after the fact or to assume that she’s too stupid or ignorant to know what that choice means and entails.

Fortunately, I see little chance that 2 or 3 would come to the current legislature, but it’s still good to keep tabs on the opposition’s tactics.

Crossposted @ www.rednalsiofvermont.blogspot.com

Saturday, I had the pleasure of accompanying my father, grandfather, and nephew to the annual Yankee Sportsman’s Classic. It was held at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. A great outing, we saw lots of taxidermy animals and fish, and oufitters from as far away as Montana, North Carolina, and Canada. Exhibits, products, campers, boats, cars, trucks, ATV’s, galore. There were lots of things to benefit Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, a camp for kids with cancer.

It took us about three hours to weave throught the sensory delight. Along the way I got to see my nephew of 6 years use a laser gun to shoot deer on a TV screen at the Fish and Wildlife Dept. exhibit. He shot a BB gun to benefit the camp, fished in the pond to benefit the camp. We entered a raffle for the camp. Still as we passed the concessions I began to wonder. All these people who had been elbow to elbow since the show opened, with a line long out the door as we left and every adult paying ten dollars to get in.

All these thousands of adults paying to attend an event in the dead of winter. The vendors pay to be there, and concessions are sold. This is one of many events outside what is typically thought of the “fair season”. The Champlain Valley Exposition has become a year round venue, it should be paying taxes. It developed new facilities and expanded its season, it has long past its fairground status. The day they undertook to develop new year round facilities was when I feel their tax status changed.

Cross-posted from Rational Resistance: 

 Okay, I know my postings have been a bit light lately. Especially the past few days, ever since I split my head open playing racquetball. (I was going after the ball, ran into the wall, and, like the song says, "I fought the wall and the wall won.") So eight stiches later I've been moving a little slowly lately, but getting back into it.  

Anyway, you probably know the latest from the Huckster. That's right, he's asking you to let him swear to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, but it's just that our Constitution doesn't sit right with him. Not biblical enough for him. So he wants to change it to make it all godly and stuff. Apparently his big problem with the other Republican candidates is that they don't want to "amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards".

I guess he doesn't like the fact that the only mention of religion in the original body of the constitution is the part where it says there can be no religious test for any public office, and the only mention of religion in the amendments is the part where it says we have freedom of religion, so if you think the biggest problem with our Constitution is that there isn't enough God in it, now you know who to vote for.  

But he's not the only religious wack job with these ideas. No sir! Our friend Charity has a page up that she's calling the Carnival of Principled Government. I'm not going to pick a fight with that. It's her page, she gets to call it whatever she wants.  But anyway, I want to mention one of the essays in this carnival, one about the enforcement of morality.

Here is the central passage of this paper: 1) A just government enforces God’s moral rules, including rules regarding personal/consensual abuse and immorality.  2) Individuals have a moral obligation to submit to such a government’s rules. To do otherwise is to go against multiple (and divine) moral obligations, including the obligation to submit to a just government.  3) Individuals are not in supreme control over themselves; they are subject to God and his laws. To this extent, government receives authority from both a Scriptural and natural law perspective to intervene in an individual’s decision if he is abrogating his own (or other consenting individual’s) natural rights, including his own pursuit of happiness.  

I have a couple of comments here, and I have to say that someone who takes a position like this is pretty scary, at least if he gets power in his hands. Lots of conservatives claim that they're in favor of limited government, but here we have someone who says that a just government has complete power over anything that anyone does that conflicts with god's plan for that person.

Of course, you would only make a claim like that if you also thought you knew what god's plan for you and other people is, so you can set yourself up to make those decisions. So if you're this guy, maybe you like Huckleberry's idea that we need to shoehorn god into the Constitution somehow. Then, we have god in the Constitution telling the government what to do, the government telling all of us what god wants us to do, and as long as we all do what god wants us to do nobody gets hurt.  

Except it sure doesn't sound like America anymore. I know that conservatives aren't nearly as crazy about the Constitution as they are of the Declaration of Independence, and that really was a revolutionary document for its time, and maybe even for now. Here's what the Declaration says about government authority: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. So if he's arguing that government is legitimate only if it follows god's plan, regardless of what the people want, then he is explicitly challenging the Founders. I'm afraid I have to side with Thomas Jefferson on this one.

Oh yeah, there is one other thing. Jason, the author of this enforcement of morality essay, presumably thinks he has a pretty good idea of what god wants. After all, he's got this book that tells him what god wants. The problem, though, is that there are a lot of other people who also think they have a pretty good idea of what god wants, because it's in this book they have. Only their book is the Koran, or the Book of Mormon, or Dianetics, and, funnily enough, they don't match.

So there are just a couple of problems here. One, do we want the government of the United States to work the same way that the governments of Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or pre-invasion Afghanistan work? I sure don't. Two, if you take Jason's ideas seriously, and if you believe, as he must, that he and his god are right, then doesn't that lead you to conclude that none of those other governments, religions, and gods are, and that it is not only our right but our duty to overthrow them and impose our (oops, I mean god's) will on them?

And how do you distinguish this from the kind of thinking that got us into a bunch of the problems we're facing right now?

Bernie Sanders made an appearance in Immokalee, Florida on Friday to support the farmworkers there and urge Burger King and its tomato buyers to pay a living wage to the pickers. From the Naples Daily News:

At a press conference inside the Coalition office in Immokalee at noon Friday, Sanders urged Burger King Corp. and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange to cease their opposition and pay farmworkers a penny more per pound.

And the head of the Senate’s health, education and labor committee isn’t alone.

Now, four senators, including Sanders, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Springfield (Ill.); Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., have signed a letter urging Burger King Corp. and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange to improve wages similar to the ones agreed upon by other fast-food chains.

“This is the year 2008. This is the United States of America and quite frankly I think all over this country people are shocked to learn that in America today slavery exists,” Sanders said at a press conference Friday after a two-day visit to Immokalee.

Yum! Brands, the company that owns Taco Bell, and The McDonalds corporation have already agreed to pay the extra penny. This particular battle seems to be rather heated, with the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange “deeply offended” by Sanders' remarks. The penny increase would almost double the money earned by the growers.

I've been to Immokalee and it's not a place where life is easy, and it has a very high crime rate, as well. Sanders appearance there has been well recieved by supporters of the farmworkers:

Friday’s group included Immokalee farmworkers, members of Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida, a coalition of religious people allied with the Coalition, Naples Institute and church members.

Among supporters was the Rev. Patrick O’Connor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Immokalee.

O’Connor applauded Sanders’ visit.

Sanders’ visit to Immokalee will help many of the only Spanish-speaking residents in Immokalee who feel that the country dislikes them, O’Connor said.

“His concern for farmworkers gives them a ray of hope,” he said.

Let's hope this one works out well for the farmers. Sanders should be commended for his efforts here.

Thank you for the link to Bob Kinzel’s piece on the proposal to eliminate the 40% capital gains tax exemption. Peter Shumlin tried to talk seriously about the issue but Kinzel went into default mode (controversy is better than substance). He perpetuated the “tax burden” myth by quoting the Governor saying Vermonters are the most heavily taxed people in America. It is outrageous that a reporter on an NPR affiliate would be this compliant and sloppy. I wrote Kinzel a note (see below) and urge all of you to the same. We deserve better.

Doug Hoffer

“Your story about the proposal to eliminate the capital gains exemption quoted the Governor as saying that Vermonters are the most heavily taxed people in the country. The only measure that supports this assertion is based on per capita taxes (or taxes as a % of total income). There is no one in the phone book named per capita. It is an abstraction. As you well know,  VT’s graduated income tax distributes the so-called burden more fairly than most other states. This was illustrated nicely in Vol. 2 of JFO’s Tax Study. The facts don’t lie. So why do you (and other reporters) keep quoting the Governor when he is clearly misleading people? What ever happened to checking facts or holding elected officials to a higher standard when they make such statements? Media has to do more than simply repeat press release sound bites. It is a disservice and does nothing to advance the quality of the discourse. We expect it from the Free Press but it’s very disappointing for an NPR affiliate.”

[…]

I loved Election when it came out. It’s portrayal of a high-school election contest between an obsessive-compulsive, tense girl and a laid back jock was pitch perfect. When the folks at Slate V realized there were some parallels with the Democratic candidates, this video was born.

[…]

Came across the above via techPresident, posted by Joshua Levy, here; 1/18/2008; embedded vid via BrightCove, here.

Several other vids were posted within the same post, so make sure to follow the above link, yet for my part I thought this particular vid was both the best as well as funniest among those and, thus, received my full attention when I saw it.

(cross-posted to Norsehorse’s Home Turf, here)