First of all, a couple public “thank yous” are in order. First of all, to folks who came to my birthday party – and to everyone who chipped in on the amazing birthday present for me… wow! Thanks… it was completely and totally unexpected and unprecedented, given that this was the first (and likely only) birthday party I’ve had as a grownup. I promise I’ll thank you all personally. Also a public thank you to Governor Dean for the birthday message (that had to be played video and audio separately due to some technical limitations, but it worked… in any event, it’s a keeper!).

On other positive developments that merit some thumbs ups… it seems that the Pollina camp may be concerned about bridge-building after all. There was a two-step response to the frustrations expressed in this diary from earlier in the week. First (yesterday), they adjusted their linked text to actually present the entire Reformer editorial which wasn’t at all as critical to Dems (and in particular to Peter Galbraith) as their edit left the impression (although the front page jab remained). Today? The poke-in-the-eye at the Dems is completely removed from the front page of AnthonyPollina.com, and has been replaced with a couple rhetorical jabs at the real opponent – Jim Douglas. Way to do the right thing, folks. If you really are serious about working with Dems, the less confrontational approach will be a lot more productive for you. Thanks.

And the biggest “thank you” of all goes to the US House of Representatives which (surprisingly) stepped up to the plate with the ultimate way to cut through the Gordian knot of amendments, Senate filibusters and cross-partisan deals regarding the renewal of extended FISA provisions that would have insulate the telephone companies (and the Bush administration) from any repercussions from the illegal wiretap program. The answer? Walk away, letting Bush and the GOP go apoplectic as the extended powers simply expired, leaving us all under the previous (and already quite far-reaching enough, thankyouverymuch) FISA regime. Add to that the (finally) aggressive pursuit of contempt charges against Bush administration officials who have refused to comply with subpoenas (and the extra step of passing a measure authorizing judicial action in the face of the anticipated refusal of Attorney General Mukasey to trouble himself with enforcing the contempt citations), and you have the kind of day in Washington we’ve all been so desperate for. Kudos to Rep. Welch and company. Lets hope they all notice that the world hasn’t fallen down around their ears after standing up to Bush, and maybe – just maybe – they’ll decide it’s something they can do on a more regular basis.

I believe there are times when Progressives and Democrats can work together, and times when we need to go our separate ways.

The Executive Director of the Progressive Party, Morgan Daybell, lives in Franklin County, where a bunch of us liberals of whatever party and no party get together and shoot the breeze once a month over a beer. It’s friendly and entirely off the record.

A week or 10 days ago, I got a call from Morgan asking whether Anthony could come to our March Franklin County Democratic Committee meeting to talk about his candidacy. I said I’d run it by the committee.

On Feb. 11, we were winding up the business part of our meeting when Peter Galbraith  arrived as our speaker. It was awkward, but there was a request for a show of hands on whether we would allow Anthony Pollina to come the next month and talk to us. There was no formal motion (despite what you might read in Friday’s St. Albans Messenger, which relied on hearsay and got the numbers wrong), some discussion, at least one vehement declaration that the declarer would not come to the meeting  if Anthony was there. The show of hands came to 15 for letting Pollina come, 6 against.

Then Peter Galbraith spoke. It was a good speech, and his responses during the Q&A afterward were even better. Healthcare, the environment, diversified and renewable energy, housing — Galbraith touched on all of them enough to confirm that he is a liberal Democrat, and definitely not a DINO.

What happened next after the jump.

After he was done, there was a show of hands as to whether the committee attendees would like to see Peter G. run for Governor. It was nearly unanimous (a couple of people not voting). Then there was some conversation about not wanting Anthony Pollina to come to the next meeting after all. This time, a formal motion was offered, carefully worded along the lines of allowing Anthony Pollina to consult with us at our next meeting on how best to defeat Jim Douglas. There was more discussion, and then a vote. The formal motion was defeated 15-6.

To compound the impact of the half-assed reportage, publisher Emerson Lynn (known to be a strong Douglas supporter) wrote and printed in the same issue a long two-column editorial (not available online), regurgitating the errors. Lynn’s point was to commend the Democratic Party for sticking to its own and not giving even the appearance of considering Anthony Pollina. Emerson’s Republican soul is no doubt chortling at the prospect of the three-way race among a Republican and two liberals.

The committee changing its mind after hearing Peter G. is interesting — and I don’t think they were just being polite. More along the lines of, “Well, this guy says good stuff on issues we care about, so why should we abandon our party if Peter runs?”

So at this point, if Anthony Pollina wants to talk about his candidacy, he gets to rent his own hall. If he wants Franklin County Democrats (or anyone else, for that matter) to come hear what he has to say, he can invite us to that meeting.

NanuqFC

In a Time of Universal Deceit, TELLING the TRUTH Is a Revolutionary Act. — George Orwell

 

You undoubtedly know that one of the big issues this year is whether marijuana should be legalized, decriminalized, or whether the current regime of prohibition should in some other way be rationalized.

Now, we have two new voices against a rational drug policy in Vermont: Lite Gov Brian Dubie and Barre Mayor Tom Lauzon. Sure, it's been a long time since we've heard anything from Dubie, except for what job he might be up for in the Bush Administration, but he's in the news again, standing up for marijuana prohibition.

MONTPELIER — Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie doesn't weigh in publicly on many bills before the Legislature. Most of the time, he said, he works behind the scenes to offer input.

Dubie held a rare news conference Friday to say he'll work to change a bill that would allow first- and second-time offenders with an ounce or less of marijuana to go through court diversion without the possibility of jail time, taking that decision out of the hands of the prosecutor.

. . .

Dubie was joined at the news conference by Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon, state Sen. George Coppenrath; R- Caledonia; and Debby Haskins, director of statewide in-school drug counseling programs.

  So what? Lauzon's a mayor, he has to be concerned about law enforcement in his city, and that might involve drug issues, right?

It's just that this isn't the first time we've heard from Lauzon about marijuana. In fact, it was less than a year ago that the new mayor of Barre was  taking public positions on drugs. What do you think he said back then?

Well, he was saying that we should adopt the death penalty for drug dealers. Yes, the death penalty. Vermont doesn't execute murderers, kidnappers, rapists, child rapists, or people who refuse to dim their high beams (and we really need to get on those guys!), but he wants to execute drug dealers.

Potheads, on the other hand? Las year he was calling for legalization of marijuana–not decriminalization, but legalization. He was right then, except for the capital punishment thing, but it struck more than a few people that this was a bizarre combination of positions. Now, less than a year later, what gives?

Lauzon said, “I think there should be stiffer penalties for drugs.”

He said he is willing to consider reduced penalties for some marijuana cases if it's part of a larger discussion about the state's overall drug policy.

 I agree that we should have a larger discussion about drug policy. Somehow, I don't think that executing drug dealers should be part of it, though.

The Obama campaign has hit Vermont!

That’s right, they arrived tonight, and I met some of them at the 40th birthday party for our proprietor over at the Labor Hall.

Fresh from their stints in New Hampshire and Maine, I met Rob Hill, the Obama State Director, and Emily Polak, the field organizer for Washington, Orange, and Caledonia Counties. As you might guess, Rob and Emily are young, smart, and enthusiastic. Who wouldn’t be enthusiastic with the momentum they’ve got going?

The Obama campaign in Vermont has a state director and six field organizers, and I think some other staffers (it was hard to hear over the sounds of Sugar Shack but hey, I’m not going to complain about the chance to hear Scarlet Begonias, Cumberland Blues, and other Dead classics), and they’re planning on a phone banking and door-to-door campaign from now to Town Meeting Day.

They didn’t tell me this is okay, but if you are fired up and ready to go, you can contact them at rhillATSYMBOLbarackobama.com and epolakATSYMBOLbarackobama.com

In this edition, we’ll focus on ignorance, partisanship, gimmicks, and energy policy from “the Tiger”…oh my!  Buckle it up and come on down below the fold.

Mr. Jon “Hyperbole” Harrison is at it again in a slightly humorous post about breaking VT up:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

Mr. Harrison has been in VT for a whole 4 years now, so he’s an “expert” on the subject.  The idea that Killington wants to join up with NH is about a productive idea, I think, as Brattleboro wanting to arrest Cheney and Bush…neither is even going to happen.  Have fun trying to get a NH plow to come over and do the roads during a snowstorm there Killington.  I’ve always said that if Killington gets to join NH, then I want my city to join AK…I want an Alaska Permanent Fund (read that as oil) Dividend check damnit!   The post goes on to sing the praises of NH’s (property) tax structure and economy:

The New Hampshire law is perhaps even more convoluted and regressive than our own, hard as that may be to believe. Still, New Hampshire has no state income tax or sales tax. And its economy, at least in comparison to Vermont’s, is relatively modern and prosperous.

When I used to live in NH, my boss and one of my friends at work had houses of similar sizes in adjoining towns.  The property taxes that my boss paid on her house were around double what my friend paid…mostly because my boss lived in a town with a high school and my friend lived in a town that just sent their kids to another town for high school.  Sounds “fair” to me.  I personally don’t think that VT’s fiscal future lies with nickel and diming its citizens with fees, having toll roads that will never go away, having a state liquor store on the highway, soaking the tourism and business community with taxes, etc., etc. like NH does.

The post goes on to opine about how to break up VT:

Portions of the Northeast Kingdom might want to join New Hampshire, but most of it would probably prefer to become a part of Canada. Ethnic ties already exist, and the Canadian social model would no doubt appeal to many in the Kingdom.

Ah, those wacky Canadian-style socialists in the Northeast Kingdom…they’re all over the place…in Mr. Hyperbole’s mind no doubt.  BTW, it’s Chittenden Mr. Harrison…read a map sometime.  Then he goes on to reminisce about how great things were when he lived in MA:

On the other hand, electricity, food and gasoline are cheaper in Mass. And taxes are lower, with more return for your tax dollar than Vermonters get.

Right, gas is cheaper in MA, except for every single time that I’ve been there in the last decade or so.  Sheesh…

Here’s another take on the recent McCain fundraising trip to VT from “the Tiger”:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

where they compare Leahy-sponsored federal funds that have:

helped clean up Lake Champlain, provide affordable housing and expand Vermont National Guard facilities

to a

bridge-to-nowhere.

And then there’s this post:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

where “the Tiger” conveniently forgets that the “steroids in baseball” issue was originally investigated under a GOP Congress I believe.

Things certainly are strictly non-partisan over there at “the Tiger”.

Here’s some more anti-union and anti-teacher blather from “the Tiger”:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

Stronger unions bad…employers good.  “Better pay for teachers in such schools, in order to attract the teaching talent these students need” bad…less money for schools good.

“The Tiger” routinely advocates for gimmicks in order to try and solve real problems, like here:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

where the solution to rising education costs is…more voting, and when that’s not enough…more voting on top of that.  Here’s to that bastion of liberalism, the city of Rutland, where apparently the residents don’t vote on the school budget!  I wish that “conservatives” that advocate more voting as a solution to education spending were honest about what they were stumping for.  They want arbitrary caps on education spending, but they know that this idea wouldn’t be as popular as the issue of “more voting”…so they stump for that instead.  I also wish that if a school budget was voted down in a municipality that the schools actually shut down.  No budget, no school…just like no contract, no school.  The fact is that school districts keep right on spending money whenever a budget is voted down now.  I just wonder how that dynamic would change if the shoe was on the other foot.  We need real solutions to education spending problems in this state, not more gimmicks.

Finally, we come to the (insane) energy policies that “the Tiger” routinely advocates…little to no alternative energy sources or conservation and just more of the same sources of energy that are costing us so dearly, in more ways than one.  We’ll start with this post:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

where “the Tiger” describes nuclear energy as “all-natural” after all.  They also completely miss the point about the common argument against nuclear energy…pretty much all nuclear power plants in this country are permanent nuclear waste dumps.  It doesn’t matter if the radioactivity at these sites “migrates”.  None of the nuclear waste that’s been generated so far in the USA will ever be going to that failed waste dump site in NV, and every year that a nuclear plant stays online simply means more nuclear waste that will need to be stored…forever.  I actually love the idea of getting our energy from natural nuclear energy sources…like the Sun.  And I love this quote from Mr. Hyperbole in this post:

What really surprises me about this post is Paul’s – er, I mean Mr. Guy’s – failure to comment on it. I peg him as a fanatical anti-nuclear activist. Rumor has it that he’s retired to an ‘entertainment farm’ in the north of the state. There also seems to be a rumor circulating that he was killed in a freak motorcycle accident in upstate New York this past weekend. Nothing in the local papers, though.

My name isn’t Paul, I haven’t gone away, and I don’t drive a motorcycle…keep hope alive though.   🙂

“The Tiger” has also recently come out in favor of woefully inefficient incandescent bulbs:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

I don’t know about the guys over at “the Tiger”, but I’ve been able to cut my electricity bill/usage a fair amount by using CFLs.  I like my bulbs to generate more light then heat…call me crazy though.

“The Tiger” further disses the idea of alternative energy and conservation efforts in VT in these two recent posts:

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

http://www.vermonttiger.com/co…

And they are likely to realize that Vermont will be better off if it focuses on generating energy rather than conserving it, which is an exercise in diminishing returns.  Alternative energy initiatives are plainly needed and inevitable.  But there are two questions we’d like answered:

a) just how large will those ‘state subsidies’ be?

&

b) where will we go for ‘base load’ power to cover us when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing?

renewables are intermittent.  Not only is Vermont sunshine-disadvantged, but the sun tends not to shine at night.  As for wind, well, wind power is almost never available when it is most needed, on the coldest and hottest days.

This would be a great time to remind people of how the city of Burlington was able to cut it’s energy usage by roughly 10% a while back through conservation efforts.  Someone should have told Dick Cheney that when he was going around the country at the beginning of the Bush Regime trying to sell the same idea that “the Tiger” keeps trying to sell, that energy conservation doesn’t work.  It also would be great time to re-tell a story that I’ve told on other websites before.  One of my former co-workers built a house for himself and his wife up along the Canadian border where he maximized the use of insulation and where he also used the power of the Sun and the wind to generate electricity.  He did this over a decade ago and was able to stay completely disconnected from the electrical grid.  There is no reason why this kind of technology can’t be used more widely today and why the govt. shouldn’t try to encourage its use.  Our sources of coal, natural gas, and oil are finite, period.  It’s way, way past time to wake up to this IMO.

P.S. – I promise to post about some issues with this election cycle soon JD.