(In the spirit of sharing some of our favorite works by Julie Waters, I thought I’d re-post this one. There are so many to choose from, and each has its merits, but this one, to me, showcases her unique ability to bring a different perspective to issues. While sites, including this one, were celebrating April Fools day with fun fictitious follies, she kept us aware of the ludicrousness, and seriousness, of real follies happening in the real world. – promoted by simplify)

#1: The dissapointment of racist “Hunger Games” fans.

Yes.  People who were described in the books as dark-skinned were portrayed by dark skinned actors and people got offended.  

#2: Pretty much every single thing about the Trayvon Martin case and Florida’s insane “stand your ground” law, which should possibly be renamed the “lynch mob protection act.”  I wonder how all this will play out the first time a non-white person tries to evade prosecution using the law.

Question: if you wear a sleeveless hoodie, can you be legitimately classified as “unarmed?”

#3: The National Organization for Marriage and everything about them, but especially this:

#4: Rick Santorum calling Obama a “nig-” and then backing off in mid sentence.

So what we have here is Santorum referring to Obama starting with the word “nig-” and then stopping in mid-sentence and saying something else instead.

Now, unless he was trying to accuse Obama of being “niggardly,” (which, to me, seems unlikely) I’m having trouble understanding what else he might have possibly meant in this case if he wasn’t about to accidentally let loose a racial slur.

Beyond finding this to be extremely offensive, I find the whole thing just bizarre and unfathomably sad. Words like this don’t come out of the blue. They come out of having direct experience with the use of the word as a normal part of everyday life. The idea that a nominee for a major political party who’s actually won a few primaries is in the environment where this sort of thing is comfortable is deeply disturbing, and should be regardless of your party affiliation.

#5: Potential Employers demanding Facebook passwords from potential employees.  Seriously, people?  I like what a friend of mine said about this: “ask your interviewees for their fb passwords. If they give them to you, that’s a no-hire.”

#6: The whole crazy, over the top, insane, absurd idea the war on women is about religious freedom.  

#7: The idea that the health care mandate has anything to do with broccoli.  I don’t have the capacity for expressing this the way Lewis Black would, so just watch the video at the end to get the sense of how I feel about this.

#8: The weather.  It was nice to get to wear capris and sandals last week, but I live in Vermont.  We don’t do that.

#9: Bigoted ads intended to marginalize people whose gender expression is not mainstream:

I don’t know if I can keep saying this, but, really?  You people wasted money on that piece of drivel?  

#10: The entire GOP primary season.  I’m not going to post a link.  I just can’t choose.

To summarize, today I am playing the role of Lewis Black, because he can do cranky so much better than I can.

Yes, I am that cranky.

Few details available, though there is this from The Brattleboro Reformer:

More than 1,000 people gathered near Entergy’s headquarters on Thursday, to protest the continued operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

There were dozens of police officers patiently waiting the people who were going to trespass on Entergy’s property and get arrested in civil disobedience.

Most of the group walked from the Brattleboro Common to the headquarter along Old Ferry Road congesting traffic along Route 5 for two hours.

The protest was the largest in Vermont in the past 25 years.

The Reformer’s Facebook page is doing lots of updates, including sharing videos and photos from the protest.  I know there have been several (peaceful) arrests, but I’m not clear on how many of those were at VY or at the Entergy NE HQ in White Plains, NY (also reported by the Reformer).

As some of you know, New Hampshire recently caught up with Vermont, allowing for same sex marriage in their fine, if somewhat behind the rest of us, state.  

There was some question, however, as to whether or not this would stand.  Last election cycle, the Granite state elected a whole bunch of ultra-right wing, ultra-crazy, tea party style republicans, to the point where they had a veto-proof majority if they were willing to work as a sold block.  The one saving grace of this is that some of them are too crazy to compromise.  One of the items on the chopping block was marriage equality.  The thing is, however, they figured out last year that they really did not want to have that fight.  

So they held it off for a year.  And that’s when things got interesting.

Support for marriage equality has, in fact, grown in New Hampshire.  Just like in Vermont and Massachusetts, this is the sort of thing that when people claim the sky will fall if it happens and then, when it happens, there’s no falling sky, people start to think “hey! You people promised me moon rocks raining down form the heavens!  You have no credibility!”  Or something.  I probably can’t tell exactly what people who believe that sort of thing would think, because from my point of view, they’re very crazy, very gullible, or both.

So, anyway… yes, marriage equality in New Hampshire is not only not unpopular, repealing it is *wildly* unpopular:

The WMUR Granite State poll shows that only 27 percent of New Hampshire adults support repealing same-sex marriage, while 50 percent strongly oppose repeal. The percentages are similar to a poll asking the same question in February.

Note that phrase “strongly oppose.”  This is a state that’s thinking “what did we put you people in charge for, because it certainly wasn’t this.”

So what happened yesterday?

The initial panic from the anti-marriage forces could be seen early when NOM (the National Organization for Marriage, which, ironically, is opposed to my marriage) floated support for a “compromise” bill, which would replace same-sex marriage with civil unions.

This happened in Massachusetts some time back.  When they were discussing the possibility of same sex marriage, the debate shifted dramatically to the point where instead of conservatives opposing civil unions, civil unions became the inadequate conservative alternative to full marriage equality.  So NOM, which blatantly opposed even civil unions until recently, tried a hail mary pass in which they would support civil unions in hopes of avoiding marriage equality.

Why did they do this?  Because even though they are a bigoted, vile, hate group they are not, in fact, complete morons.  They, in fact, saw their entire New Hampshire campaign collapsing before their eyes.

And that’s when this happened:

It’s a bigger win than we even thought: actual vote count was 211-116! #NH4M #lgbt

— NH Families (@NHFamilies) March 21, 2012

That win is ours.  Not only did we defeat the attempt to repeal marriage equality.  It went down in flames.

Oh, and to NOM:

“While we are disappointed in this vote today, we remain committed to giving the voters of New Hampshire the opportunity to restore the traditional definition of marriage. The only time gay marriage activists are able to win is when they can bypass the people and get activist judges or legislators to do their bidding, usually after plying them with large campaign contributions.

Yes.  Representative Democracy is such a pain.  

From the Brattleboro Reformer’s Facebook Feed:

…A federal judge issued an order late Monday prohibiting Vermont from shutting down Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant on March 22, when its state-issued certificate of public good expires.

[…]

On Monday, Murtha issued a follow-up order saying the state can’t try to enforce a closure of the plant over the waste issue until appeals are heard and ruled on by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

Maybe if Vermont were to become a corporation, we’d get more respect?

So we have a dilemma: Republicans have clearly decided to go all in with two things:

(1) hostility towards and the demeaning of women

(2) the rights of corporations as people.

I have a modest proposal.

What if women were, in fact, to incorporate?

I can’t believe it took me so long to think of this, but the solution is obvious: women, everywhere, make a point of incorporating yourselves.  Once you’re an actual corporation, Republicans have to treat you like a human being.  It’s part of the pact they make with their corporate masters (it’s actually a very touching ceremony– you should see it sometime.  The ritual tatooing of the corporate logos is just lovely).

Now, of course, another part of the pact involves the public shaming of women.  The ceremony for that one is kind of boring.  They can’t come up with anything more inventive than paying a bunch of women to walk up and down a stage while they yell “slut” at them, but it is how Victoria Jackson got her start in show business, which is great because otherwise we wouldn’t have ever gotten to see this:

But I digress… where was I again?

Oh.  Right.  Incorporation.  See, the best part of this whole idea is that it places Republicans in the situation of not knowing whether to treat humans as objects, or to treat objects as humans.  And by placing them in this dilemma, we may create a logical paradox for them.  

Now, you may point out that, to Republicans, logical paradoxes are kind of home turf.  “Can we defeat them on their own home turf?” you might ask?

This is a good question.  After all, we know that Republicans will gladly attack anything which attempts to make children healthier while at the same time claiming that Democrats are out to kill babies.  If that’s not an extreme amount of comfort in a logical paradox, little else is.

But I think this is different, because it’s pretty clear that corporations are not just another cause to them, but actually their entire bread and butter.  I don’t think they can attack corporations without causing themselves physical damage.

So… to women, everywhere: want to stop Republicans from attacking you?  Incorporate yourselves.  Even better: incorporate your reproductive organs.

Just don’t call your corporation “Solyndra.”

Yup.

Yes, people, it is Daylight Saving’s Time Eve, the time when most of us change our clocks.  What does it mean?  It means, among other things, that we are required to meet at 2am for a mandatory swap meet in which we trade clocks with our neighbors.

The “clock swap” (or, as they call it in the Northeast Kingdom, “That thar clocker swapper thingamajig”) is a long-standing tradition in Vermont, one which is particularly popular in an election year.  

The ceremony (which is simpler today than it was a century ago, given that most clocks back then were large enough that they were often used to hide contraband from the feds, and sometimes could double as life rafts in emergency situations) involves neighbors coming together, trading clocks and then usually ends in a brawl when one person accuses another of being a socialist.

The above, of course, is only part of the story.  The original purpose of Daylight Savings time was that it was originally devised as a method for one time zone to catch up with another.  It began with California, worried it was an hour behind Arizona, enacting Daylight Savings time to catch up.  Of course, the entire West coast had to follow suit, causing Mountain time to do the same, worried that “Those Coastal folks are nippin’ at our heels!”  Then, of course, Central Time and then Eastern Time came around as well.  The measures passed easily in most areas after the “Our Hours Are Ours!” campaign, which not only rallied citizens and legislators alike, it also left several town criers with PTSD, which in those days was called “clock shock.”

It took some states longer than others– Indiana still hasn’t caught up with the rest of the Midwest and Arizona, Georgia and Alabama remain at least two decades behind the rest of the country, at least on some levels.  But, overall, the Domino effect played out simply and effectively.  

Of course, there has always been controversy about Daylight Savings Time.  While Democrats believe it is an outdated sign of old rivalries and conflicts which are no longer needed, Republicans have repeatedly attempted to enact legislation which will set the clocks back to 1952.

I hope this simple post has helped enlighten those of you who feel it unnecessary to honor Daylight Saving’s Time and that you enjoy this year’s swap meet, at least, you know, until the fisticuffs begin.

I’m sure most of you don’t know her name, but in Windham County, Melinda Bussino was a force to be reckoned with.  Her work for the homeless and those in poverty was extraordinary.

I am fairly speechless about this, and the Brattleboro Reformer (through their Facebook Feed) says it well enough that I feel little need to embellish:

It’s with overwhelming sadness that we have learned Melinda Bussino died this morning at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital after sustaining a heart attack earlier this week. Melinda was a friend to all, especially those in need, a woman of infinite patience, intelligence and compassion. Her absence will leave a void in Brattleboro and the surrounding area that can never be filled. The passion she had for her mission to feed the hungry is something we should all hope to aspire to.

This leaves a devastating hole in the community.  It will likely take half a dozen advocates to fill the space left by one woman with an overwhelming belief in the justice of her cause.

Here’s a headline from WCAX:

Should illegal farm workers get Vt driver’s licenses?

The article summary reads:

They don’t live in Vermont legally, but illegal immigrants want the right to drive here. And several state senators support the idea. Why the idea is so controversial.

So here’s the problem with this framing: the phrase “illegal immigrants” is that it classifies the people themselves as illegal.  You can argue that they’re here illegally and you can argue that it’s against the law for them to be here, but you can’t legitimately call the people themselves illegal.  They are human beings.  They are not acts.  They are behaviors.  They are people.

And, frankly, when media outlets frame things in these terms, it feeds easily into right wing and anti-immigration arguments.  In fact, the use of the term “illegal” to refer to undocumented workers frames pretty much every argument about their presence here.  It’s shoddy and reprehensible journalism to lead your piece with such a thorough and non-objective approach to the issue.

So this Dave Gram AP piece featured in The Brattleboro Reformer was unexpected:

The company that owns the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant said Monday night it would appeal a federal judge’s order allowing the plant to stay open past its originally scheduled shutdown date, and asked the original judge to revisit his order and prevent the state from barring the future storage of spent nuclear fuel at the Vernon reactor.

Yes, you got that right.  Entergy is, in fact, appealing the decision that allowed them to stay open.  Why?  Because they not only want the right to stay open.  They want the right to stay open without state oversight of their fuel storage practices.

Any day now, I expect that we will discover that they have, as Mr. Smithers from The Simpsons put it “…crossed that line between everyday villainy and cartoonish super-villainy.”  Regulators will show up, and there will be a defense grid, consisting of an electric fence, a moat and sharks with friggin laser beams.  Oh, and they’ll have installed a Kraken in the Connecticut River to guard the plant from other access points.

Of course, as long as they’ve got enough minions lawyers doing their bidding, they may never need the moat.