There’s a phrase that jumped out at me while reading this morning’s Battleboro reformer:

Hikers on the new Woodlands Interpretive Trail will be able to enjoy a full sensory experience.

Okay.  

…Part of the Brattleboro Retreat’s network, the interpretive trail is now officially open. It is a moderate one-mile loop along the recreational trails and features 18 placards that point out interesting natural aspects of the trail for visitors, such as where lightning struck a tree and the site of granite that traveled to Brattleboro from Dummerston via a melting glacier.

Nice.

But unlike other hiking trails, the interpretive path offers a new audio recording that coincides with the walk.

Huh?

Oh.

That’s the “full sensory experience” referenced earlier in the piece.  Something you can listen to while out on a walk on a nature trail which keeps you from hearing nature.

Look, I’m all for nature trails, and I like those interpretive trails that tell you where some unusual plant grows or where a tree fell 300 years before or what uncommon bird nests in whatever bush you’re looking at.  These are good things, and they engage people.

I’ve got nothing against technology.  It has its place.  Just please… don’t try to peddle the idea that listening to your iPod, Zune or whatever else while walking a trail gets you more engaged with nature.  

But hey, if we’re going to call listening to pre-recorded audio on your iPod “a full sensory experience” why not just give everyone a 3d video to watch as well?  I mean, hey, that enhances the “sensory experience,” doesn’t it?  Maybe you could sit at home and have someone occasionally stick a stone in your shoe while you walk in place.  Get some mosquitoes in the mix, and you’ve done a full simulation of the outdoor experience.  

I think I might have a better idea for what might constitute a “full sensory experience:”

Go outside.  

Walk.  

Look.  

Listen.

I think this is kind of a big deal:

Peter Shumlin today received the endorsement of the Vermont State Troopers. The endorsement marks the first time the VTA has endorsed a Democrat for Governor since endorsing Howard Dean in 2000.

The state troopers never endorsed in opposition to Jim Douglas and apparently a lot of other support for Douglas isn’t materializing for Dubie either:

Earlier Tuesday, the Dubie campaign said it would announce an endorsement from Rep. Richard Howrigan, of Fairfield, the only currently elected Democrat expected to openly endorse the Republican candidate in the gubernatorial race.

But when the Dubie campaign issued its press release about the endorsement event, Howrigan was not on the list. A family member, Anne Howrigan, was listed in his place.

“They’ve been pushing me for awhile to endorse Brian, but I’m just not ready,” Richard Howrigan said Tuesday. “Come back to me in a month. I still need some time to decide between him and Shummy.”

I can imagine that things inside the Dubie campaign have got to be just a wee bit uncomfortable right about now.

I ask because of this:

Will the Vermont gubernatorial race between Republican Brian Dubie and Democrat Peter Shumlin be all about missteps and mudslinging?

The tone and tactics Monday both during and following their first debate suggested voters should expect a lot of rough-and-tumble politicking from these rivals for the state’s top job.

I listened to that debate.  It was civil, polite and issue oriented.  The only personal comments were positive, with Shumlin talking about what a great guy Dubie is and Dubie talking about how great it was that Shumlin loved his kids.  

They challenged one another on issues and made their points of view clear.  They also challenged one another on facts.  To be fair, the Free Press piece did eventually address the substantive aspects of the debate.  It just waited thirteen paragraphs to do so after the headline “Dubie, Shumlin grow testy in first debate.”  Contrast this with the Rutland Herald coverage, which focused primarily on differences between the two campaigns, and only spoke to personal issues towards the end of the article.

It’s not as though the Free Press doesn’t have the opportunity to report the facts of the debate in a fashion which is helpful and of value.  They just, apparently, prefer to push the narrative of nasty squabbling, despite the extremely tame debate that was just held.

Maybe we should all just listen for ourselves.

Though it’s clear that Brian Dubie would like to walk this statement back, a bit, I’d like to suggest a different approach:

We’re going to have to look at our programs and target the most vulnerable… it’s basic economics.

Brian Dubie, economist, would like you to believe that cutting services for the most vulnerable is “basic economics.”  What he doesn’t understand is that these benefits come with a stimulative benefit.  Though his campaign manager claims that the intended intent was to say “protect” and not “target,” the “basic economics” that Dubie fails to understand are that benefits for poor people encourage people to spend:

Giving money to the wealthy doesn’t increase spending and doesn’t improve the economy.  Giving money to the poor has a tremendous impact on the economy and can improve it dramatically, increasing state revenues as a result.  This is not the time to be taking a knife to benefits.  This is a time to be analyzing what benefits produce the most economic benefit overall and finding the best possible way to implement these benefits.

That is “basic economics.”

Over the next few weeks, there will be a series of candidate forums focused on:

• Developing a health care system that works for everyone


• Affordable childcare and access to quality early education


• Access to jobs and the impact of cuts to public services

These forums focus on local (house and senate) candidates.  The full schedule is:

The forums are sponsored by the Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign – Vermont Workers’ Center,  Vermont Early Educators United – American Federation of Teachers and the Vermont Center for Independent Living.  

My hope is that some of us will be able to live blog these forums as they come up, so if there’s one you’re interested in or available to live blog, please comment and I’ll see what I can do to help set it up.  If you’re not a site moderator, I can still bump your live blog to the front page when it’s happening.  Both Sue Prent and I have had experience doing live blogging of these forums and though I can’t speak for Sue, I’d be glad to give suggestions and advice on how to do a live blog while still keeping (relatively) sane.

Now that Brian Dubie has a specific, named, general election opponent, it’s probably time to summarize the week in Dubie.  First, we get the broken record of Dubie’s great big master plan, from the Rutland Herald, Dubie champions tax cuts as cure for economic woes, in which the following is noted:

Details of Republican Brian Dubie’s plan to cut income tax rates by about a third are sparse. But an unofficial analysis by the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Office – done at the behest of a prominent Democratic lawmaker – suggests the proposal initially could cost the state nearly a quarter-billion dollars annually in forgone revenue.

We also have, a piece by CJ Curtis here at Green Mountain Daily, Brian Dubie: Invisible Man, Invisible Plan, in which CJ notes:

The contrast between what Peter Shumlin and the Democrats offer and what Dubie is offering could not be more stark. Shumlin and the Democrats will help Vermont weather the Republican Recession by targeting help to Vermont businesses, maintaining essential services, avoiding lay-offs and stabilizing our workforce, while minimizing the harm to the most vulnerable in the budget. Dubie’s plan appears to be a series of slogans and nothing in the way of specifics with respect to what programs and services he will cut after his $250 million tax cut giveaway to the richest Vermonters. He is truly the “invisible man” with an “invisible plan.”

Also this week, Sue Prent wrote a piece about Doug Hoffer going after Dubie on tax cuts.  7 Days has more:

“It is disingenuous to talk about Vermont’s ‘income tax’ for the simple reason that Vermont does not have one income tax,” Hoffer wrote, in a press statement. “It has a progressive tax system so residents pay at very different rates depending on their income. I am certain Mr. Dubie knows this so it makes me wonder why he would use such language.”

What I particularly love about this is how precise and clear it is, in stark contrast to Brian Dubie’s plan, which as I noted before, is akin to this:

In the meantime, as much as Dubie likes to pretend that Vermont is bad for business, it’s clear that there are things about it that some businesses very much like, as noted in the Rutland Herald’s piece Organic Trade Association moving to Vermont:

Vermont has been a leader in organics, not just milk, cheese, vegetables and meat, she said, but also in “food to fiber to personal care products.” Almost four percent of food purchased in the United States is organic, she said.

“We just thought, Vermont walks the walk and talks the talk,” she said.

As our United candidates for Governor noted:

“Over the past 8 years we have been an extraordinary state with very ordinary leadership. Not enough has been done to spark the ingenuity and drive that Vermonters possess to make Vermont a center of innovation and job creation,” Markowitz said. While my four fellow Democrats and I were discussing issues of job creation, renewable energy, health care reform, saving our family farms, and improving our education system during this primary, Brian Dubie was spending his time and money advertising in the New York Times that Vermont is a bad place to do business. Brian has a very simple view of the very complex problems we face.”

It’s time to put someone in the Governor’s office who loves Vermont and sees what it can be, as opposed to trying to saddle us with ridiculously high deficits and running ads in out of state papers telling everyone why it’s bad to do business here.

(Promoted due to final results coming in: Shumlin wins. – promoted by JulieWaters)

The results are in from all counties and the recount is officially over.   Racine gained 19 votes in the recount and Shumlin gained 25.

See the Burlington Free Press for county breakdown.  

Congratulations, Peter!

Chittenden County Clerk Anne Williams said Thursday afternoon she expected to wrap up counting Friday morning, the third day of the recount. Chittenden County had the most Democratic primary ballots to recount: 20,173.

“It’s looking good,” Williams said as four teams of 12 volunteers each sorted and reviewed ballots at tables in the courthouse lobby and a nearby lounge.

Windsor County officials planned to continue counting into the evening Thursday in an effort to finish, releasing the results today.

In the meantime, we’ve seen solid, extended, and engaged party unity across the board with all five candidates participating in serious cross-campaigning.  This would have happened with or without the recount, but it probably wouldn’t have happened with this amount of coordination over an extended period.  The lone unity event scheduled the next day would have been good, but also obligatory.  What’s happened since, involving all five candidates in a full-court press to support the eventual nominee?  

That’s been fantastic.

Long weekend’s over for most of us, so here’s a minor sanity moment for those of you who have to go back to a crazy job today, as well as those of us who are still looking for any job, even a crazy one, to go back to:

Have a good day, everyone.

It’s been a really good week for birds and birding.  

Per Peter Shumlin:

Unity PicToday we announced that I will be embarking on a United Vision for Vermont Tour with the 4 other Democratic gubernatorial candidates on Tuesday, September 7.  Over the course of 2 days we will criss-cross the state highlighting our unified vision to get Vermonters back to work and continue to make Vermont a great place to live, build a business and raise a family. Please come join us at any of the below stops!

Schedule of stops is here.  Stops include St Albans, Rutland, Shelburne, Bennington on the 7th and then on the 8th, Brattlebor, WRJ and Montpelier.