So here Vermont stands, at the edge of an uncertain future, like looking out over a gorge. Will our state falter and fall into the abyss of economic disparity? Be washed away in the currents of time? Or will we build a bridge to get our state across to solid ground?

Forget the rest of the country, right now I’m just worrying about Vermont, and Vermonters. We need to look back at history, and see what’s worked. Modify it for current times and employ new strategies. I conceptualize a cross somewhere between “Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” and a “New Deal”.

We need to work to get less people relying on government assistance. We need to inspire people to work, and give them meaningful work to accomplish. We need to drastically reduce Vermont’s unemployment rate while working toward a goal of full employ. We need to make Vermont work, for working Vermonters.

The problem with new strategies and programs is the need to create bureaucracy to administer them. The largest employer in the state of Vermont, is The State of Vermont. A lot of people seem to have problems with this, I personally don’t. I don’t foresee private enterprise jumping in to save Vermont, so state government will have to do!

The fingers of state government have worked their way into all our lives through taxes, education, transportation etc. It’s time those fingers were used to massage the lives of the citizenry instead of keeping them in a death grip. Vermont state government needs to present Vermonters with one thing; opportunity. Opportunity to deduct from their tax burden, and help out fellow Vermonters. Opportunity to provide for themselves and their families. Opportunity to have a viable future in the state of Vermont.

There’s no way I can lay all this out in one post, but here’s my main idea, a Vermont Works Progress Administration that coordinates with the needs of Vermont State Government. Put Vermonters to work to reduce the overall tax burden, and also provide goods and services to improve the quality of life of Vermonters. Yes, this means less contracting between government and private enterprise, and yes, this does sound a bit like communism. As long as the end justifies the means, so be it.

How will we pay for the new administration? My favorite part, simple; roll back the bonuses that Governor Douglas gave to the administration, and roll back the last raise our legislators voted to give themselves. Desperate times, desperate measures, and I don’t think the people who serve the state of Vermont should be getting pay increases while those who pay for those increases see their own paychecks decrease!

State sponsored food bank farms to supply fresh food to help the poverty stricken. Require people receiving state assistance to put in a couple hours, they can bring the kids, no need for daycare! Prisoners can start all the plants in greenhouses at the prisons. Even better if we can get the correction officers union to negotiate and allow some prisoners to work in fields.

State sponsored School Lunch farms. Great project for kids who are off all summer. Maybe even give the parents a tax break for the hours their kids work? Grow certain crops for canning or freezing for the school year. Beans would work great, broccoli, potatoes. The added bonus would be the kids are growing their own food, and would have a much greater appreciation for where their lunches come from. A variation could be groups of kids who go out berry picking etc. and freeze them for school use.

Town growth centers. This is an idea that’s been kicking around our state for awhile but hasn’t gotten the boost it needs. The idea is to concentrate growth in designated areas of towns. What better time to create infrastructure than when people need work? Why not put people to work creating sewer systems in a designated growth center in each town, and allow towns to grow their tax base?

Coupled with the town growth centers we need to attract and grow small businesses throughout the state. Ideally situating these businesses within the growth centers of various towns. We need to spread the work out all around the state instead of concentrating it in Chittenden County. Less people commuting means less gas usage, less pollution, and more money staying within local economies. There is no real need for a large percentage of the inhabitants of the state to commute to the same county to work.  

So my wife found some rather inexpensive real estate real estate recently on the internet.  Here in a northern Vermont city, ten minutes away from where we currently live.  I called the realtor and made an appointment that evening to check the place out.  It was being sold as is, in need of TLC.  The realtor said it was a foreclosed property with a lot of deferred maintenance.  I naively thought to myself; needed new furnace, doors, windows, plumbing, electrical, probably even has a leaky roof.

The price, I wondered.  Between what the realtor said on the phone and some quick internet research, something was off.   The average price of just a lot in this city, was $50-60,000.  This was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home for less than half that.  What would make the price of a home go down I querried, then I Googled.  

Damage to a house drops its price.  Foundation and roof issues are usually the culprit.  They’re also the two things that make a home not “structurally sound”, and the credit unions won’t give you a VHFA loan for it.  That must be it I said, there must be something wrong.  So I did more Googling looking up tips to spot a bad foundation and a bad roof.  

When we got there in the evening the realtor was really nice, met us in the driveway, and brought us right to the door of the house.  She was on her way to a wake, so I didn’t want to be rude and take all night.  This was our first mistake.  ALWAYS WALK AROUND THE HOUSE BEFORE YOU GO IN.  So we walked in.

It was the most beautiful little hundred plus year old city home.  As we entered the house I noticed the gap in the concrete block foundation immediately.  This and the crack on the inside wall were a dead giveaway.  Serious structural issues.  But we went in anyways, and it was filthy.  I mean the filthy like I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind, and will probably have PTSD and nightmares later on in life about!  Filthy.

It had potential, but needed a lot of work, and a lot of cleaning.  Then there was the basement, I opened the door to a ridiculously old light switch that didn’t work.  Stepped down the stairs to a cellar that on this side of the house had an old stone foundation, a dug basement.  The light found a very old furnace and most of the rest of the basement.  The ad?

Yes, the ad said something about a full walkout basement.  Not really wanting to venture further my mind had already been made up, wasn’t interested in the place.  We headed back outside to look at the yard.  It was the most beautiful city lot we’d ever seen.  It had a stream running down one side and along the back, with the backyard sloping to it.  We were commenting how hard it would be to eradicate all the invasive Japanese Knotweed, when we turned back to look at the house and saw the full, walkout basement.  

The crack I had seen in the house was no doubt associated with the fact that the backside of the house had no foundation save for some pressure treated 6X6 supports and sheets of plywood.  It looked like someone had undertaken to enlarge their basement themselves and hadn’t gotten very far.  They dug a hole so deep and far behind the house, water from the brook was seeping in.  The whole thing was wet, and eroding the foundation.  We shot around to the other side of the house and observed a 2×4 holding up the corner of the house.  So I thanked the lady for her time and we were on our way.

On the way home I said someone with the cash is going to come in and level the place.  Put in fill and concrete slab for a house and garage, and have themselves a nice place in the city.  

( – promoted by odum)

I’m not very optimistic about Vermont’s economic future.  According to Douglas’s latest, Vermont’s economic strength is in it’s “diversity”.    That’s a crock of crap, the biggest load of BS that’s ever been heaped upon our state.  Diversity?

We’re so reliant on tourists to pump up our economy it’s ridiculous.  No wonder we have no tax base and have to tax peoples property.  Driven around Vermont lately?   We’re a state of tourist trap after tourist trap, just about every road you take.  Can’t really blame people, it’s where the money is.  None of us certainly have any.

We’ve got artisan and specialty businesses galore, but how many people do they employ?  A couple at a whack.  Don’t get me wrong, they’re great, but we need employers who hire a lot of people.  We need employers who pay decent livable wages to Vermonters.  This is where Vermont is absolutely not competitive.  We’ve got a lot of educated, hardworking people who’ve had to settle for less.

How many employers are there in the thousand plus employee range?  Not including the state of Vermont, you’ve got what IBM, maybe Lockheed Martin?  Face it the only industry we have is our huge dairy farms, and who do they employ?  Mexican immigrants with questionable legal status, because they can’t find anyone else to work for housing and pathetic wages.

Smart directed growth is what Vermont needs, spread evenly throughout the state.  Not a bunch more service jobs that pay ridiculously low wages and force people to live paycheck to paycheck.  This direction starts from the top.  No, we don’t need all sorts of industry pumping pollutants into our air, water and soils, but we need something.  The governor should be seeking out environmentally responsible businesses to bring into the state.  

Better yet, look to accommodate local businesses and their growth needs.  Help businesses that employ Vermonters to grow.  Look at Unilever, opening a Ben & Jerry’s out west, look at Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, setting up shop in Tennessee.  We can’t even keep Vermont companies in Vermont let alone attract new ones!

The buck stops at the Governors office.  That’s where the direction of our state comes from.  Instead of taking credit for everyone elses work, and blaming failures on the legislature, we need a governor who can deliver.  We need someone who can not only keep jobs in Vermont but deliver us new ones.  After all the governor is not a spiritual figure head like the Pope.  The governor needs to do more than make appearances, and wave to crowds.   They need to do the work of the state, and work damn hard at it!

Crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

At no point am I a fan of the oil companies, or many of the foreign governments/cartels behind them.  As far as I’m concerned they’re drug dealers on a much larger scale.  They got our whole planets economy hooked on their stuff, and eliminated any threats of competition to it.  They suppressed technology and inventions to get us where we are today; between a rock and a hard place.  Nobody, not even governments are strong enough to stand up to them.

That said I strongly feel that the United States is very much in the wrong by trying to tax oil companies windfall profits.  That is, while they’re still taxing us at the pump.  It’s clearly double dipping; tax users, and tax the suppliers.  Where does the taxing end?

Guess what, peoples wages aren’t going up, and because of the high prices people are driving less.  Time for the state and federal governments to wake up!  Time to find a new way to pay for roads and bridges because the projections won’t ring true, the budget shortfalls are coming; plan for it NOW.  End the regressive tax on gasoline, the incentive to cut down on use is already there!

If you want to make a windfall profits tax, make it across the board for ALL corporations.  Why single out the oil companies, and leave the war profiteers like Halliburton off the hook?  Any companies that make an excess percent of their normal profits, has to pay a certain amount of that percent to the government.  It’s simple.  Use this money to pay for state and federal infrastructure needs like bridges and roads, and pay off the national debt.  If it goes into the general fund it will just get eaten up by pork projects, and these don’t help the nation.

These are tough times, and they’ll only get tougher ahead.  Our nation needs to stop, assess, think, plan, and act.  By having a little foresight and acting now, we can get our country back on track.  We need to wrestle it back from the grasp of greedy corporations and foreign governments/cartels!

(It’s SVR material. So let’s FP it! – promoted by Christian Avard)

There is nothing in my life I am more proud of than being a Vermonter.   Our rich and proud history is long and colorful.  Our state is full of natural wonders from its mountain tops to its lakes and streams, and the very diverse geology that underlies it. Without the six seasons (I include Mud and Leaf Peeper), life would be mundane. I abhor ever having to live anywhere else in my lifetime.  

I’ve learned to accept all the people who move to Vermont.   Even the ones that decide they have to make it just like the place they moved from.  Personally, if they liked it so much I don’t understand why they left, but that’s their business.  Anyways, Vermont is for Vermonters, no matter how long you’ve been here, or where you moved from, you just have to be rugged enough to deal with it.  Doesn’t matter your sexual orientation, your color or creed.

We stole our state from the Native Americans who were here first.  We defended it against New York’s Governors Clinton, and Tryon.  We defended our state in two different wars against Great Britain.  As a member of the Union we were attacked by Confederate troops from Canada.  As a member of the Union, we suffered dearly, probably losing more troops per capita than any other Northern state save for NY who signed the Irish up for service as soon as they got off the boat.  It was Vermont’s old brigade that was the heart of Grant’s army.

That anyone would think Vermont is a good place to move to promote racism and prejudice is beyond me.  To move to the state that played a heavy hand in the demise of the Confederacy, that fought to preserve the Union, and get IT to succeed.  We know the costs of succession.  

That’s why I see SVR as a joke.  There are many people who would like to see Vermont as its own autonomous region.   But we know the price our state paid, and why we cannot leave the Union.  That a bunch of Confederate sympathizers can’t see that is beyond me.  

This is the letter I submitted to the local Islander paper, but was turned down because it was “more than one letter on the same topic”.

Dear Editor,

I’m very thankful to VTran’s Secretary Neale Lunderville and Senator Dick Mazza for answering the questions I posed.  It was refreshing to see government officials take time to inform the Grand Isle County community about what is going on with their drawbridge.  I sincerely hope this openness and dialogue continue into the future.

I was glad to hear “there are no plans at this time, so there is nothing as of yet to report.”  This means with things in the early stages, there is plenty of opportunity to involve the islands community in the planning process.  After all, who knows their bridge better than the residents of Grand Isle County?  County residents see beyond the structure of the bridge, to all that it represents and could be.  

I personally feel that if there is to be a reconstruction, some sort of handicapped fishing access would be a good addition.  With the little access road on the north side this would not be a far stretch, and surely help some good folks out.  I’m sure Island residents have other insightful ideas of what could be done to the drawbridge during reconstruction.  That’s why VTrans needs to have their engineers and planners hear Islanders speak before planning begins.  Then good ideas can be incorporated into the plans from the start, not worked out as revisions, or worse too late.

The next ten to twenty years leave plenty of time to involve the residents of Grand Isle County in the future of their bridge.  Engaging communities is what democracy is all about.  I implore all members of the Grand Isle County community to contact VTrans immediately, and ask them to sponsor meetings for public input prior to planning.  Talk to your governor, neighbors, selectboard members, and state representatives.  Contact Secretary Lunderville and Senator Mazza, and hold them to their pledge that “as engineers concept what might be next for this bridge, Islanders and their local government officials will certainly be involved.”  

Best regards,

Jason M. Brisson

North Hero, VT

Crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

This letter was in response to a previous post/letter to editor by yours truly about the Grand Isle Drawbridge.  It was put into the local Islander paper.  Must’ve struck a nerve if I elicited a response from Neale Lunderville, Douglas’s Campaign Manager, I mean The Secretary of Transportation.  Even more interesting that Senator Mazza a democrat also put his name on the letter.  Don’t worry boy’s, you’ll have my response coming your way soon enough!  

“To the Editor,

Work to rehabilitate the North Hero/Grand Isle Draw bridge is now complete.  On behalf of everyone involved, we want to thank Islanders for their patience and cooperation during the past several months as crews worked on this important project.

We also want to thank Jason Brisson for his kind words in a recent letter to the editor regarding the men and women who worked on the bridge.  Their efforts were indeed exemplary.  Unfortunately the letter distorted the process by which the Agency of Transportation will plan future bridge work, and we would like to take a moment to set the record straight.

Throughout the process that led to the recent emergency repair, the local Select Boards and town managers were kept in the loop.  Agency of Transportation engineers offered to travel to the islands to meet with selectmen during public meetings, but the boards instead elected to be kept abreast through phone calls, letters and e-mails.  There was always a standing offer to attend a public meeting if selectmen believed that necessary.

Mr. Brisson’s letter asked what’s next?  He then questioned why he has yet to hear about future bridge repairs, and why there have been no public meetings to inform Islanders about the Agency’s plans.

The answer is simple: there are no plans at this time so there is nothing as of yet to report.  The rehabilitation that was just completed will keep traffic moving safely over this important bridge for the next decade or two.

VTran’s staff put significant time and resources into the bridge rehabilitation that was just completed.  The work was done during one of the most difficult winters in memory and completed in time for the upcoming nautical season.  The paint is barely dry.  As engineers concept what might be next for this bridge, Islanders and their local government officials will certainly be involved.

Neale Lunderville,

Secretary Agency of Transportation

Dick Mazza,

Senator Grand Isle”

crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

So I talk a lot of crap about Pollina running for governor against Douglas. This will be my last swipe until November when I post a big I told you so. Yep, 6 months of no Pollina bashing from me. Why? I actually like the guy, I’d even go so far as to describe myself a fan. I love everything that Pollina stands for, his heart is in the right place. He’s the Bernie Sanders of Middlesex. However, because I like the guy, it makes me one of his biggest and most vocal critics.

Alot below the fold……

I voted for Pollina to help make a point in 2000, and again in 2002. Where did it get me? I feel like my vote was wasted. I’d even go so far as to say counterproductive in 2002. I feel like I was burned by Pollina, for giving me false hope. Hope that he would get elected. Hope that all the great things he talked about would really make a difference when he got into office. Hope that he would help make Vermont a better place.

Perceptions are everything in politics. Pollina is a great speaker, but he needs to up the energy and charisma. He has a great, and good natured personality, but he needs to share it more with people. Show his vulnerable side, his hobbies, what he does for fun. He needs to relate more to your average working Vermonter. He needs to relay the message that he is the best choice because he will affect positively Vermonter’s lives when they vote for him.

Going beyond that though, he needs to run an effective campaign. Progressives are good at running Chittenden County campaigns, but haven’t really grasped the concept of a Vermont campaign. The Republicans and Democrats are much better equipped, and entrenched. The heart of a Vermont campaign lies within the county caucuses and town committees. In the small towns of Vermont where everyone knows who’s voting which way and why. That’s where campaigns are really won and lost.

You can run all the TV ads and radio spots you want. But until neighbors begin talking to neighbors about Pollina and how good he’d be for Vermont, its all for nothing. Until people see their fellow townsfolk going door to door, knocking. Unless they’re convinced that Pollina is a safe person to entrust their hopes and dreams to, he’s a risk, a liability. He is as yet untested in statewide office.

Pollina is not just the underdog, he has three strikes already against him in the eyes of Vermonters. He lost the bid for congress as a Democrat to Jim Jeffords in 1984. In 2000 he was the candidate that was neither for or against civil unions, a safe place to be. In 2002 his last bid for statewide office, he was the spoiler candidate that gave us Dubie as Lt. Governor. That’s a tough history to overcome, three times a loser doesn’t inspire confidence the fourth time around.

So when I criticize Anthony Pollina, it’s not because I don’t think he’d be good for Vermont. It’s not because I don’t like him or his politics. It’s because I’m afraid to build up hope again. I’m afraid that he won’t run a Vermont campaign, and bring his message to the “you can’t get there from here” villages and hamlets scattered throughout the Green Mountains.

(Amen! – promoted by JulieWaters)

Of all the stupid bone-headed ideas I’ve seen carbon-neutral takes the cake. No need to create a new process by which carbon credits are created and exchanged to offset pollution. It’s unnecessary. Growing plants capture and sequester the excess CO2 in the air, we all just need to grow more plants.

What better way to clean the air than fields of industrial hemp. It is probably the worlds fasted growing annual plant, and an acre of hemp yields 4 times more biomass than an acre of forest. We don’t need pesticides to grow it, or fertilizers. The products are many, varied, and can lead to even more sustainable practices/products.

Using Du Pont’s patented paper making process from trees, all sorts of chlorines, dioxins, and emissions are used or created in the paper-pulp making process. It also uses trees of which only 30% is roughly available to be made into paper. That compares to 80% of a hemp plant, and no nasty chemical or by-products are needed/created.

So we’ve got fields of industrial hemp growing, acting like big scrubbers for the atmosphere. They take in all sorts of CO2 the number 1 greenhouse gas, so why aren’t we growing it by the hectare? Oh, that’s right, it’s not legal here in the US. Everyone confuses industrial hemp with the drug Marijuana because of a very long misinfomation campaign by corporations and the US government. The sad truth of the matter it Marijuana advocates aren’t hemp advocates because industrial hemp lacks the Tetra-Hydro-Cannibinol to get one “high”. People who grow Marijuana are against hemp, because the two would cross pollenate, and their drugs wouldn’t get them high anymore.

But it’s not just the Marijuana growers against industrial hemp. It’s the cotton industry who is the number one user of pesticides, it’s the US Department of Justice who needed something to do after they lost the fight against prohibition. They actually brought back hemp during WWII to win the war, and the USDA produced a bulletin about it.

In Canada the farmers currently clear, after costs are figured in $200 and acre for the industrial hemp they grow. They make $200 an acre, without using any pesticides, or chemical fertilizers! No wonder the US government fears the plant so, it undoes everything they tell the farmers to use!!

crossposted @ www.vermontbloggernaut.blogspot.com

Breaking news just came over the wire, Earth’s axis is off kilter. Scientists studying global climate change have discovered earth’s axis is fluctuating, this they say explains the odd weather as of late. The earth instead of it normal rotation, is fluctuating like a spinning top. The reason, the northern hemishere is top heavy!

The earth has experienced such tremendous human population growth in the northern hemisphere that the planet has become top-heavy. Instead of a steady rotation it weebles, wobbles, and pitches forward. It has created an interesting phenomenon. As greenhouse gases are put in motion and slammed against the atmosphere, their density increases. When mixed with carbon dioxide it forms an odd liquid mixture. This pollution solution then runs down the inside of the atmoshere and falls out the hole in the ozone layer above Antrctica.

Scientists estimate in 50 years time all the pollution and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will fall out and no longer be a problem. They are concerned however about the fluctuating rotation. They expect that unless large numbers of people move to the southern hemisphere, the planet will be condemned to a day of summer. followed by a day of winter, continuing year round.

Global crop production is expected to be interupted bringing famine and hunger. Because of the adverse weather patterns, green energy production is also in danger. Only those countries able to power entirely on nuclear and coal will be able to survive. Already nations have mobilized their armies and called up reserve troops to quell riots and looters. Stores have closed their doors, as well as banks and schools.

Aren’t you glad its just April Fools Day!!