Today was the deadline to file independent ballot petitions, so it’s worth checking to see if there’s any fallout from this week’s primary upsets:



UPDATED 9/13/08 9:00 A.M.

Washington-Chittenden 1: Gordon Miller, defeated in the primary by Sue Minter and Tom Stevens, has filed as an independent.

No other filings of note.

Franklin 2–“Moose” Christie defeated Ron Allard in the Democratic primary. Now, as expected, Allard has filed to run as an Independent, setting up a five-way race for two seats.

Washington 5–Longtime Montpelier City Councilman Jim Sheridan has filed as an Independent. This was expected, as he had already announced he would do so to give the voters a choice, but he is not expected to be a significant impediment to the election of the two Democrats, Warren Kitzmiller and Mary Hooper.

Possibly more interesting is the fact that so far Jon Anderson has not filed Independent petitions. He has not made any public statements about his intentions since his defeat Tuesday, and his signs are still up, so observers are wondering if he will give it another shot. The smart money is against it, but we don’t know for sure.

Chittenden 3-5: Longtime Representative and Burlington City Councilman Bill Keogh was defeated Tuesday by Suzi Wizowaty, and there was speculation that he might file as an Independent. No sign of that yet (As per vtbuzz, Keogh has indicated he is not running as an I  -odum).

Windham 5–Steve Darrow lost in a write-in campaign, but no sign of petitions for the general.

The Elections Division will be posting a final report around noon tomorrow, so there is still time for some surprises. As of 3:00 this afternoon, however, this is pretty much the story.

John McCain is a serious man who promised to wage a serious campaign. Win or lose, will he be able to look back on this one with pride? Right now, it's hard to see how.

CORRECTION: Initially credited to the Wall Street Journal 

I have the full official report of Montpelier's polling, and I think some of the numbers are interesting.

 First, we had about a 25% turnout in Montpelier, which is probably to be expected considering the high interest in the contested House race. There were 1339 Democratic ballots voted, 129 Republican, 13 Progressive, and only 1 Liberty Union.

On the Democratic side we had two races for multi-seat districts: House and Senate. You already know what happened in the House race. Given that fewer votes were cast in the House race than in the uncontested Senate and statewide races, I don't see evidence of a lot of Republicans crossing over to bullet vote for Jon Anderson. In the Senate there was quite a spread, with incumbent Ann Cummings getting 1013 votes, veteran candidate Kim Cheney getting 800, and new candidate Laura Moore coming in third with 667. Laura is still on the general election ballot, but she'll obviously have to goose her visibility in Montpelier to be a contender in November. We also had 36 write-in votes, including two for Robb Kidd. (Way to go, Robb!)

On the Republican side there were only 139 votes cast, which isn't too surprising since there were no contested races. One thing that was interesting was that there were 32 write-ins for House, and only 19 of those were for Jon Anderson (along with 3 for Mary Hooper and 7 for Warren Kitzmiller). That suggests to me that there was no coordinated write-in campaign to put Jon Anderson on the general election as a Republican–if there had been, all he needed was six more votes.

 Oh, and the Progs and LU? Did someone forget to tell them there was an election?

 So, now that the primary's over, any predictions on whether we'll see any Independent or Republican House candidates?

Remember last year when Obama caught a raft of shit for saying he would go into Pakistan if necessary to fight al Qaida?

And who was giving him a hard time? The Republicans, of course.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized Democrat Barack Obama on Friday for vowing to strike al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan if necessary as the Obama camp issued a strident defense of his plan.

But then, in another example of how the Bush administration has come around to follow Obama's advice, the U.S. is doing exactly that.

 All Things Considered, September 3, 2008 · Pakistan says U.S.-led forces crossed into its territory and launched an attack that killed at least 15 people. The target of the attack was a village in South Waziristan, which is a tribal area used as a base by the Taliban and al-Qaida.

So what have we seen? Timetable on getting out of Iraq? Check.

Attack al Qaida in Pakistan? Check.

How come the guy who isn't supposed to have the experience to run our foreign policy is always right all of a sudden?

There comes a time in each administration when they have lost the right to point to the last one and say, “It's all their fault.” I think that point has long since arrived for Douglas, don't you?

Douglas was first elected Governor in 2002, just shy of six years ago, and he's now running his third reelection campaign. His official bio touts the idea that he has been serving the people of Vermont for more than thirty years.

You would think that sometime during those thirty years he might have learned that bridges have to be maintained, that they don't just go on forever without periodic infusions of capital, but apparently not.

What's this leading up to? Oh nothing. Just the fact that once again a major bridge has had to be closed down before it falls into the river.

MONTPELIER – Another key bridge in the state has been closed because of safety issues.

Richmond's Bridge Street Bridge, which connects the town to nearby Interstate 89, had already been reduced to a single lane several years ago due to the conditions. This latest development had state and local officials scrambling for a solution.

What's the opposite of a ribbon-cutting?

Cross-posted from Rational Resistance:

After the Harold Ford campaign two years ago, and, for that matter, forty years of Republican tactics, we knew that the racist attacks on Obama were on the way. Arguably we've seen them already in the commercials juxtaposing Obama with young white women like Paris Hilton.

Still, you have to figure that they weren't planning on being this blatant about it. This comment by a Deep South Republican inadvertently reveals what they really think about the idea of having a black president:

Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland used the racially-tinged term “uppity” to describe Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Thursday.
 
Westmoreland was discussing vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech with reporters outside the House chamber and was asked to compare her with Michelle Obama.
 
“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they're a member of an elitist-class individual that thinks that they're uppity,” Westmoreland said.

Asked to clarify that he used the word “uppity,” Westmoreland said, “Uppity, yeah.”

You know what word usually comes next.

If you make your living reading palms, casting horoscopes, or some other manner of mystical fraud, St. Johnsbury is open for business.

That's right, folks, back in July, without much notice, St. Johnsbury repealed its ordinance prohibiting its ban on soothsayers, psychics, and other “practitioners” of mystical and nontraditional methods of divination.

The problem? Practitioners of new-age irrationality, like tarot card reading and feng shui, didn't like the idea that they couldn't ply their trade in the city limits. Now, if you feel uncomfortable visiting that spooky fake Gypsy lady with the crystal ball, you can visit her hippie granddaughter upstairs from the health food store.

A supporter of this move is quoted by the Times Argus as saying: 

“The government has no power to determine whether or not these people are committing fraud.”

Too late for Carlo Ponzi, but it looks to come up trumps for the New Irrationality here in Vermont.

I know there are all kinds of people who believe in this stuff, and probably a good number of them come here. We also know that the Northeast Kingdom has traditionally been receptive to superstitions like dowsing. Nevertheless, I think we're taking a step backward when we decide that anyone who wants to take money from unsuspecting dupes by convincing them that they have mystical powers is entitled to do so.

I also think the Times Argus is missing out by uncritically repeating  the backers of this move. For instance, here's a quote from the article:

“We have people who predict what the stock market is going to do. We have people who predict the weather and get paid for it,” said Haynes.

Is there any difference between predicting the weather and predicting people's fortunes based on feng shui? I can think of one: predicting the weather isn't infallible, but it's based on the laws of physics and it can be evaluated based on the evidence; feng shui, on the other hand, is based on the study of forces that nobody has ever shown to exist.

But if you're a practitioner in these things, and you think they actually work, James Randi has a million bucks for you if you can actually do it.

Great post from an Alaskan blog:

“Is this a joke?”  That seemed to be the question du jour when my phone started ringing off the hook at 6:45am here in Alaska.  I mean, we’re sort of excited that our humble state has gotten some kind of national ‘nod’….but seriously?  Sarah Palin for Vice President?  Yes, she’s a popular governor.  Her all time high approval rating hovered around 90% at one point.  But bear in mind that the 90% approval rating came from one of the most conservative, and reddest-of-the-red states out there.  And that approval rating came before a series of events that have lead many Alaskans to question the governor’s once pristine image.

There is no doubt in my mind that many Alaskans are feeling pretty excited about this.  But we live in our own little bubble up here, and most of the attention we get is because of The Bridge to Nowhere, polar bears, the indictment of Ted Stevens, and the ongoing investigation and conviction of the string of legislators and oil executives who literally called themselves “The Corrupt Bastards Club”.

 This guy bears watching in coming weeks and months.

And here are some reactions from local Republican politicians:

Alaska State Representative Mike Doogan (R): “Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head”. He also called the prospect of Palin potentially needing to take over as President”pretty scary.”

Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (R): “She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?” (Green is from Palin's home town of Wasilla.)

Alaska House Speaker John Harris (R): “She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen.”

You know McBush's line about how Sarah Palin blocked the Bridge to Nowhere?

Turns out it's a lie.

And even more from the Anchorage papers:

The Alaska governor campaigned in 2006 on a build-the-bridge platform, telling Ketchikan residents she felt their pain when politicians called them “nowhere.” They're still feeling pain today in Ketchikan, over Palin's subsequent decision to use the bridge funds for other projects — and over the timing of her announcement, which they say came in a pre-dawn press release that seemed aimed at national news deadlines.

“I think that's when the campaign for national office began,” said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein on Saturday.

 And there's more from Mudflats, also cited just above:

Palin is McCain’s Bridge to Nowhere. Thanks, But No Thanks.

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

UPDATED AGAIN: September 1, 10:59 p.m.

Amy Goodman has been arrested in St.Paul

by: bluestateblues

Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 21:19:32 PM EDT

This afternoon, I watched today's edition of Democracy Now!, which included a piece about the St. Paul police conducting preemptive raids in advance of the Republican convention, targeting groups of protesters, journalists and videographers, including videographer, Elizabeth Press, who works for Democracy Now!.

I just received the following email announcing Amy Goodman has just been arrested.

I spent time volunteering for Democracy Now! last week in Denver, where I distributed information about the show at events around the city. Amy produced a 2 hour show daily during the convention in Denver, and planned to do the same this week during the Republican convention.

 You can view the video of Amy being arrested here.

Cross posted from Rational Resistance:

The Republican Convention starts Monday, and the police in St. Paul are rounding up activists to prevent them from demonstrating against the Guardians of Privilege.

Glenn Greenwald is all over the story at Salon, including video of residents and neighbors. I am particularly interested in the president of the local Lawyers Guild chapter, who is very informative.

In these raids, armed officers from a nearby county sheriff's department (that's right, they were operating outside of their geographic jurisdiction) burst into at least four homes, known in their neighborhoods as “hippie houses”, handcuffed the residents and guests in the homes and forced them to lie on the floor for as long as forty-five minutes, and executed warrants authorizing them to seize such common household items as laptop computers, maps of St. Paul, twine, cardboard, spray paint, and paint thinner. A couple of people were arrested on the bogus charge of conspiracy to riot.

In one video one of the lawyers working as a liaison with the police at a home where journalists were being detained is seen speaking to the press in handcuffs.

It's obvious that they're doing this to prevent people from protesting the Republican Convention. It's too early to know if there has been any coordination between county sheriff Bob Fletcher and the RNC, but I assume people will be looking into that. Meanwhile, this is something that we need to follow very closely. As the Bush administration has attacked all forms of constitutional protection, including the right of habeas corpus, this comment from Firedoglake is particularly apt:

Didn’t the Chinese do the same thing to potential protesters (raid their homes, intimidate them, follow them around, force them to leave town, detain them) ahead of the Olympics and we denounced them as the repressive regime that they are.. even called our president to boycott their precious games? I’m so glad that we live in a country that would never do such things to its own citizens….

I'll keep this diary updated as I learn more.

UPDATE: Local TV stations are showing video of items the local sheriff says he seized from the raids, including buckets of urine, homemade caltrops to block buses by puncturing their tires, and other items.

The Strib has more information, including a response from Denis Nestor, the Lawyers Guild president that Glenn Greenwald also interviewed.

The alleged urine, Nestor maintained, was actually three buckets, two of which contained dirty water used to flush toilets while conserving water. The third was seized from an illegal apartment occupied by someone not connected to the RNC protests. There was no bathroom in the illegal apartment and urine was collected in a bucket, Nestor said.

 UPDATE: Here's the link to the RNC Welcoming Committee, the anarchist organization sponsoring a lot of the anti-RNC activities. As you read their materials, you can see very clearly that they intend to blockade and disrupt the Republican activities.

Here's what they say about “violence”:

30. (Insert question about rock throwing/smashing windows)

As the Welcoming Committee, we refuse to condemn the defense of individuals, communities, and the Earth. Most violence comes from the state. When you come to St. Paul in September, look around: we won’t be the ones with nightsticks, guns, and Tasers.

31. What’s your stance on violence and property destruction?

Destruction bad. Property bad. The concept of property is used to deprive people of the basic necessities of life. We live here, and want to live in beautiful, clean environments, just like you. We also believe we have a right to defend ourselves, and if the tools used to attack us include the tools of property, it’s not exempt.

32. But haven’t all of society’s gains been made by “non-violent” action?

First, while we support oppressed peoples defending themselves with whatever means appropriate, our blockading strategy does not call for violence.

Power will use whatever means are most effective to maintain control. The primary tool of state control is violence whether physical, economic, or psychological. The state will use violence when needed to put down dissent. The only check on state violence is the risk of losing sovereignty and with that facing greater dissent. When “non-violent” action has seemed to be successful it is not because the appeals of the masses tugged at the hearts of the men in power. Rather, it becomes clear to those in power that if they don’t deal with the more moderate protests the protesters will all become “extremists”, and more voices will rise in protest. So, ultimately those who are behaving in a more moderate fashion receive a space at the table in order to keep the “radicals” out and to prevent the radicalization of the moderates. So, even the moderates have the state’s fear of radical action backing up their arguments.