Not sure if this is some attempt at a quasi April Fools joke, but…

And, strangely, there’s no mention from writers Ian Baldwin and Frank Bryan about the recent “racists in their midst” controversy. Heh…

The winds of secession are blowing in the Green Mountain State.

Vermont was once an independent republic, and it can be one again. We think the time to make that happen is now. Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has grown too big, too corrupt and too aggressive toward the world, toward its own citizens and toward local democratic institutions. It has abandoned the democratic vision of its founders and eroded Americans’ fundamental freedoms.

Vermont did not join the Union to become part of an empire.

Some of us therefore seek permission to leave.

I’ve been a big fan of Kathy Sierra’s Creating Passionate Users blog for quite some time.

Like Zack Exley in the political world, she writes about exactly the kinds of things I’m interested in — using the power of technology to create new relationships between institutions and their supporters. To move beyond the top-down vs. bottom-up arguments to create a new kind of synthesis that works to the benefit of both.

Like her recent series, How to Build a User Community (Part One and Part Two), she offers fantastic ideas on how to do this.

So, it was very disturbing to learn of the truly weird attacks being waged against her.

And it is causing a very profound ripple effect on the many thought leaders of this whole movement — as it exposes the darkness of human nature which clearly exists in both the real and the virtual.

The BBC has more…

And since Vermont’s own political blogosphere hasn’t been immune to semi-anonymous, rather vicious and aggressive behavior in the past nine months, this is an important story to keep on eye on.

Keep the faith, Kathy.

And, it’s all Newt Gingrich’s fault.

From UVM’s student newspaper, the Vermont Cynic…

The College Republicans club was derecognized by the Student Government Association (SGA) on Tuesday, after failing to repay year old debts.

The group owed $6,548 from a $7,000 loan they took out in Oct. 2005. The loan was initially taken out in order to pay Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to speak at UVM.

When the club failed to pay at the first deadline in Nov. 2005, their account was frozen and they were reminded of the consequences if they were unable to pay. The club proceeded to ask for two more separate deadline extensions, and was given one in Dec. and one in Feb.

According to the College Republicans president, senior Heather Baldyga, the club had been warned twice of a possible derecognition should they fail to repay their loan.

Now that the club has been derecognized SGA will repossess their budget, which will cover the debt the College Republicans owe, according to senior Jessica Banks, SGA treasurer.

If the club is rerecognized it will be on their own terms, and financially “they’ll be back at ground zero,” said Banks. They will be treated like any other new club.

College Republicans expected the profits from Newt Gingrich’s presentation to help cover the loan, but there was a smaller turn out than they had expected.

“We were not able to pay back SGA because there was little or no effort to fundraise in the past few semesters. It is also difficult to fundraise for a Republican organization around here, because we don’t have many fans in this area,” Baldyga said.

VDB provided the details of our push to show strong support for Barack Obama by March 31st.

He writes…

No need to rehearse the fact that the 2008 cycle is moving at an incredibly rapid pace. You know it, and you know the major players at this point. And you also know that this site has been pulling behind Barack Obama for months, in an early, exploratory sort of way.

  Cut to hard-core organization. Fundraising reports are out at this end of this month, and all of the major Democratic campaigns are pushing like mad to raise money. But as much as money, they need muscle: people willing to provide early help. Lots of people.

  The Obama campaign has called for a nationwide day of house parties on the 31st of March. They call it Community Kick-Off day. Obama will be at a party in Iowa, and the idea is to mirror that small, retail event with thousands of others around the country.

  Vermonters for Obama (V4O) – the group established back in December in northern Vermont – has adopted two goals to coincide with Community Kick-Off Day. First, we’re looking to double our own email list, from 60+ to something over 120. Ambitious, but achievable, we think. Second, we want to shoot for 20 house parties in Vermont, gatherings registered with the Obama folks and tied in to the conference call that will go out at 3:00 pm on March 31.

  It’s unbelievably easy. Go here: my.barackobama.com. Once there, you’ll be able to click to sign up and create a profile.

  Then you can search by Zip (05401) to find Vermonters for Obama, or go directly to: my.barackobama.com/page/group/VermontersforObama

  On this actual group page, you just need to click the “Join Group” button in the upper left under the group name to add yourself (and to boost our group number).

  I know: it’s early to commit. Not everyone’s there yet. But ask yourself this: are you far enough along in your thinking to give your email address? It’s a big step, of course, but not exactly selling your house.

  Updates as the 31st draws near.

We’re currently at 7 VT house parties and 73 group members. Please spread the word, create or sign up to attend an event, and encourage people to join our Vermont group (this can certainly include people who have joined or started smaller local groups.)

And again, you can go here to create or find an event.

Regards,

Neil Jensen
V4O Group Administrator

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Imagine my deep disappointment yesterday morning when, as I do every morning during my 40 minute commute, I tuned into WTWK 1070 AM to listen to the latest progressive news on the Young Turks. And instead of Cenk, Ben and that vacuous what’s her name, I find that the entire Air America schedule had been replaced by the radio version of the We channel.

Yes, it’s true. Air America has been replaced with Eve 1070: Talk Radio Evolved. So, instead of the Young Turks, I got the Radio Ritas. And on my way home, there’s Women Aloud instead of my girl Randi Rhodes — a loud woman to be sure, but still not the same thing.

Not that there’s anything wrong with women’s programming. And it’s probably a good thing that the old 1070 was put out of its misery. Not only was virtually every transition botched, but I started coming up with my own lyrics for the extended pop song instrumentals that took the place of what should have been local advertising.

But, I’m a political junkie, dammit! And I need my fix! For there to be an Air America station in Brattleboro, and not in Burlington, is wrong man. Just plain wrong.

I don’t believe there’s not a market for progressive radio programming in northern Vermont. It just needs to have a good business strategy. Anybody want to line up some investors? I’ll pitch in 5 bucks as some seed capital. Who else is with me?

Today’s Town Meeting Day, so go to Exit Voices and join in the discussion.

And from Candleblog‘s Bill Simmon, here’s what it’s all about…

Welcome to Exit Voices! Town Meeting Day is here! Please use the comments section of this post to discuss what’s happening in your town. Are you attending a town meeting? Are you going to the polls to vote? What are the issues that concern you?

If you are new to Exit Voices, be sure to look around and read some of our guest posts and watch some video posts. Let us know what you think in the comments sections. We will be continuing to put up new content through Wednesday, so keep checking in.

This post will remain at the top of the page, even as new content is added, so make sure you look below this post for new additions.

Now go get your democracy on!

As Jack mentioned below, Steve West, co-host of Live & Local on WKVT 1490, wrote this reaction to the attack on John Odum…

…I’m reading a vitriolic screed by a man defending his own anti-racism credentials (which have not been questioned), slamming the character of Mr. Odum (who he does not know), and implying that Mr. Odum’s employer should put a tighter leash on him.

No matter what the details of this discussion……….that’s just not cool.

Any hope of keeping the “moral high ground” that SVR and Mr. Naylor had prior to this phenomenon is gone. He has displayed some fairly childish “schoolyard bully” behaviors, and has entirely alienated at least one potential comrade to the SVR cause……….meaning me.

Even if Odum’s posting was wildly off base and without merit……………the response was, dare I say, nasty and personal, and only tangentially addressed the issue. At this point, frankly, I’m pretty tired of the whole thing already. But now, today, John Odum says that, in order to keep the peace at his workplace, he is stepping down from GMD, where he has helped to add intelligence, humor, and energy to the political dialogue in Vermont.

And that’s just not right.

And to Professor Naylor and others of like mind at SVR, I say……….right or wrong, I’ll stick by John Odum on this one. He has shown himself to be, in my experience, intellectually honest and well-intended. I cannot say the same of the responses I’ve read from SVR.

And now I, for one, will redirect my attention to more immediate and measurable threats, while hoping that Odum reconsiders.

Well said, Steve. And thanks for saying it.

I thought this was a joke, but no. It’s much much better than that.

From the official press release…

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert may have no taste for the truth, but he does have a sweet tooth. Ben  & Jerry’s has named a new ice cream in honor of the comedian:  "Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream."
 

It’s vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and caramel.
 

Announcing the new flavor Wednesday, Ben & Jerry’s called it: "The sweet taste of liberty in your mouth."
 

The Vermont-based ice-cream maker is known for naming its flavors  after people such as Jerry Garcia, Wavy Gravy and the band Phish —  which Colbert sees as a political bias.
 

"I’m not afraid to say it. Dessert has a well-known liberal agenda,"  Colbert said in a statement. "What I hope to do with this ice cream is  bring some balance back to the freezer case."
 

Colbert, who spoofs flag-waving conservative pundits on his Comedy  Central show, "The Colbert Report," is donating his proceeds to charity  through the new Stephen Colbert Americone Dream Fund, which will  distribute the money to various causes.

During the 2004 election season, a campaign by MoveOn.org, Arianna Huffington, and Joe Trippi implored John Kerry to "go big."

The kick-off email began…

Dear MoveOn member,

As George Bush’s poll numbers drop, John Kerry is facing an important choice — perhaps the most important choice he’ll make in his campaign. He has to decide whether, as some consultants will urge, he should be cautious, or whether he should present a bold agenda for change and rally all Americans around a common vision for our future.

Throughout his life, John Kerry has made a practice of standing up for bold initiatives to provide health care, protect the environment, and guarantee truth-telling in government. Together, we need to let him know that we want him to be his best, boldest self — to go big, ask more from us, and power his campaign on the politics of hope and progress.

MoveOn asked you to sign on to a letter to John Kerry from Huffington and Trippi that included…

You should own September 12th – the spirit of generosity and community that poured forth in the aftermath of the attacks – and the politics of hope.

Offer voters a bold moral vision of what America can be. A vision that is bigger than the things that divide us. A vision that brings hope and soul back to our politics and appeals to more than voters’ narrow self-interests. A vision that makes America once again a respected force for good in the world.

Don’t be tempted to adopt the familiar – and failed – Republican-lite swing voter strategy. You can reach out to and inspire the fifty percent of eligible voters who have given up on voting. If you do, you will win not in a toss-up but a landslide.

Senator Kerry, I’m ready to vote my hopes and not my fears. So please: Go Big, Ask More!

The fact that Trippi was a part of this "go big" push is not surprising. The early Dean campaign embraced a similar calling for something bigger, and evoked the idealism of our nation’s greatest leaders… In Trippi’s (and Pat Cadell’s) famous "Definitional Moment" memo, Trippi challenged Dean to be a transformational leader.

On June 11th, less than two weeks before Dean’s ambitious "Great American Restoration" announcement speech (read it) — delivered, on a beautiful sunny day,  to a massive crowd packing every inch of Church St. in Burlington, the memo read…

The campaign has gotten to a place no one ever thought it could get to.

A confluence of your passion, events of the country, the mood of the voters, and the conjunction of history have produced yet another moment that is with precedence in American history – the transformation of American politics.

It began with Andrew Jackson who transformed America into a Democratic Republic, then to Lincoln who saved it, and to the populist/progressive movement of Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson and then to Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal.

This is another one of those moments – the place where the future happens.

You have felt this – you know that something bigger is happening here beyond conventional politics. It is what happens every time you tell people that the future of our country rests in their hands – and not in yours. The room goes silent and you feel the hunger in them and the frustration within yourself to explain something that you have yet to find the words to express.

It is the need to throw out all that is transactional and embrace the hunger to transform our country.

If the country wanted a transactional leader i.e. somebody to negotiate deals with various groups and interests, and grease the wheels of inside Washington and make things as they are run better, there would be no rationale for your candidacy – nor would thousands be joining your cause. In fact if the people wanted a transactional leader there are far more obvious choices among this field of candidates than you.

Yet young people are streaming into your campaign everyday, your supporters are energized, travel hundreds of miles, and wait for hours to cheer briefly as you go into an event that they are not even allowed to attend.

This is the thing you must recognize – the thing above all others you must understand. This campaign is not about you – it may have started out that way but you have touched something more powerful than any other force in our nation’s history. It is bigger than you, bigger than any single issue, and you can not turn away from it or your responsibility to move from a transactional leader who has a health care plan – to a transformational leader that rises to the historical moment, and leads a movement to save and restore America’s ideals – and invite – no demand that every American rise to the challenge.

You have touched a nerve of unvanquished hunger, and almost limitless need to transform our country.

With later references to Tom Paine’s "Common Sense" — amidst all the seemingly necessary appeals to the base — the Dean campaign hit upon this intoxicating "go big" invitation to participate in something bigger, something better.

Barack Obama struck the same vibe in his speech today at the DNC’s winter meeting, where, in 2003, Dean made his own splash.

And while the content of Obama’s speech today was certainly inspiring, similar to the highpoints of Dean’s rhetoric, the one striking detail to me is what Obama, quite intentionally, didn’t do [my emphasis] …

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama struck an understated tone. Unlike other candidates, he had no entry or exit music when he spoke. His campaign’s table offered no stickers, buttons or other trinkets — merely a sign-up sheet for volunteers.

In fact, one had to look pretty hard to find the table at all. Its sole identification was three tattered pieces of plain, white paper with "Obama’s Exploratory Committee Table" printed on them.

All of this was purely intentional, according to an Obama campaign official. He said it would be hypocritical to say, as Obama has, that you’re running a different kind of campaign while using traditional tactics.

Of course, a candidate like Obama, the current sensation of the Democratic Party, may not need to put on a big show. Even in his speech — interrupted by applause several times — he made little mention of himself, his story or his abilities. Instead, he asked the crowd to transcend partisan politics and embrace hope.

If the recent moves — the bold Iraq De-escalation Act, the support for universal health care, the voting fraud bill — seem to be signaling a bold agenda for Obama’s candidacy, this symbolic spurning of traditional political trappings only adds to the promise.

The themes of civic responsibility and personal humility, of course, are not new for Barack Obama. His Harvard Law years’ writings hit many of the same notes. But that one blind quote highlighted above really sparked my imagination. Maybe, just maybe, the Obama campaign can pull off what the Dean campaign could not sustain.

If Obama and his staff can avoid the internal battles that watered down Dean’s transformational message — apparently as early as the "September to Remember" — they will, in the words of Huffington and Trippi, "win not in a toss-up but a landslide."

I saw this graphic from the New York Times on MyDD the other day — and boy do some pictures speak louder than words, huh?

And I particularly enjoyed this bit from the latest Newsweek poll…

  …more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush  presidency were simply over, a sentiment that is almost unanimous among  Democrats (86 percent), and is shared by a clear majority (59 percent)  of independents and even one in five (21 percent) Republicans.

Now, to be honest, I’m more on the side of the "put the fire out before you convict the arsonist" school (with it’s corollary: Investigate First, Call for Impeachment Later), but these disenchanted voters should be reminded that there is a way to ensure that Bush’s presidency ends sooner than later.