All posts by norsehorse

Montpelier Bridge on Tasers

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

UPDATE: Montpelier city council denies Taser request until completion of a public process, with opportunity for a full and complete community discussion.

The January 20th edition of the Montpelier Bridge is no[w]t yet available online, at the time of this posting anyway, however anyone in the area who is able to pick up and read a print version available on the street is urged to do so asap.

The newspaper includes a lengthy article on pages 22 and 23 reporting on the Taser hearing before the city council last week. In addition is an editorial on page 26 written by Nat Frothingham within which is voiced strongly worded opposition to the purchase of Tasers by the city.

In addition, for further information concerning Montpelier, Vermont and Tasers, check out an informational slideshow presentation of mine on the subject, here.

Poem

Ode to Election Day 2010

Today the voters of Vermont will head to the polls

Leaving muck and mire of political campaigns behind

While voting their conscience when casting ballots

With the future of their beloved state kept in mind.

by Morgan W. Brown

Montpelier, Vermont

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

word is

(No time to sleep! The thread..the thread’s the thing, wherein we catch the conscience of the king… – promoted by kestrel9000)

While not directly confirmed as of yet, the word is that Emily Peyton has followed Ben Mitchell’s lead and, at Vermont Law School hosted gubernatorial forum held last night, dropped out of the race and endorsed Peter Shumlin.

Brian Dubie Says Stun Guns Are Nonlethal

( – promoted by odum)

During Saturday evening’s WCAX gubernatorial debate, when questioned by Mark Johnson once again about the issue of state police Taser stun guns, included within his answer Brian Dubie mentioned that these weapons were among those considered to be nonlethal.

WCAX gubernatorial debate archived video (stun gun question at 28 minute mark), here.

Why, when even Taser International and also many police departments using these weapons these days are no longer making such claims amidst growing evidence that have proven otherwise over at least a half-dozen years, is Brian Dubie insisting that Taser stun guns are nonlethal? Could it be that he is either mis or ill informed on the subject?

Maybe Brian Dubie should attempt to sell his nonlethal stun gun theory to the families, friends and colleagues of the victims who were alive until they had been tasered by stun guns at the hands of police both across the nation as well as elsewhere within the world.

Let us only hope no one has to die within Vermont after being tasered by police in order to finally convince Brian Dubie and others that Taser stun guns are actually potentially lethal, something which others have found out after it was far too late to do anything to prevent such tragedies.

Further reading on the subject (and merely the tip of the iceberg):

  • Tasers “are now recognized by Minneapolis police as potentially lethal”, here (via Star Tribune);
  • Use of ‘nonlethal’ force may be a factor in many deaths, here (via St. Petersburg Times);
  • Amnesty International 12/16/2008 report on Tasers and industry ‘non-lethal’ claims, here;
  • Taser Settled 10 of 52 Cases It Said Were Dismissed, here (via Bloomberg);
  • Training incident spurs Taser lawsuit, here (via Lawrence Journal-World);
  • Autopsy links Taser to Cardall’s death, here (via Salt Lake Tribune);
  • Watsonville man shocked by Taser, injured in 2006 reaches $2.85M settlement with stun-gun maker, here (via Santa Cruz Sentinel);
  • Safety: In Stun Gun Training, Officer’s Spine Is Fractured, here (via NY Times);
  • Cops raise Taser safety claims: Metro officers hurt during training sue company, say warnings didn’t suffice, here (via Las Vegas Sun);
  • State trooper from Grafton suing over Taser injury, here (via Worcester Telegram).

Thoughts on News Media Online Edition Paywalls

*Updated* (with the usual edits)

More and more commercial news media or newspapers of various forms are heading toward creating a fee to read or, more commonly referred to as a paywall model of one sort or another, for either select content or most if not all of their content. Others, including within Vermont, have already established such.

The free online versions of such news media or newspaper Websites as they currently exist include a revenue-generation model in the form of paid ads on its pages. The fee versions will probably offer the same as well, the only difference will be people will have to be paid subscribers in order to view its content.

Unless online edition readers can gain access to additional quality content that makes it well worth paying for a subscription, it is most likely only those with enough disposable income to afford such will be able to gain access and, those who cannot afford to do so will lose access to content that had been available up until paywalls were or are put in place.

These news media sources or newspapers may gain some online subscribers for the paid content area of their Website, however could also end up losing numbers of visitors who use to visit as well as bring others to content of mutual interest and, whom might have clicked through onto paid ads as well.

Even for those who can afford to subscribe to the fee versions of these news media sources or newspapers, one would be less prone to e-mail, tweet or blog about and link to such content if one’s family members, friends and peers or followers and blog readers cannot gain access as well, unless they paid for it of course.

Thus, while gaining a certain amount of income from paying subscribers, these news media sources or newspapers could lose income on the other end and it could prove to be a wash, if not a net loss (no pun intended).

In addition, the haves will have access if they pay for such and, the have-nots will lose out because they cannot afford to pay for it, unless they go to the library and are able to read the print edition there.

What this paywall trend will most likely bring about is for the community and weekly newspapers that have viable print editions (some of which are free) as well as full online editions and, do not charge for access to their online content (since the ads bring in plenty of revenue), will continue to grow in greater popularity and will also be able to feature more and better quality content.

The dailies as well as those weeklies or monthlies based on the older business model, who cannot manage to afford to keep up, will be forced to downsize more and more, which has been happening already, both elsewhere as well as also within Vermont.

The fact is that news media sources or newspapers that are more about business or the financial bottom line than they are about providing quality news and rich, meaningful content will continue to decline.

While those that are more about providing quality news and rich, meaningful content, than they are about business and their financial bottom line, will continue to grow and thrive. This is proving to be true all over and it seems will remain so.

This will also help to foster the growth of citizen media sites and various blogs, most of whom do not have feewalls, yet might generate revenue through paid ads and the like, including through tip jars. There are many examples of blogs that have grown a healthy readership and do well because of it.

In fact, many within traditional media attempt to blame these sites and blogs for their woes, even though many of them were in trouble both long before such emerged as well as, even after these sites or blogs appeared on the scene and became well established, for much different reasons.

Among the reasons people create or are drawn to visit such sites and blogs is due to these providing something traditional media either had little interest doing in a quality manner or not being engaging or interactive enough to allow people to feel they have a real and meaningful voice on matters of concern and interest to them.

As far as myself goes, especially for all the many news media sources or newspapers I visit when access to such content of interest is free, I certainly cannot afford to pay for paid subscriptions for the fee area of these online versions.

Yet, even if I were somehow able to afford to do so for some, tweeting or blogging links to content within these paywall areas would not make sense, because most of my followers or blog readers would not have access unless they paid for it. This would actually cause me not to bother to do so, since a lot of my visiting and reading is part of the social networking model of news gleaning and sharing I do for the various advocacy efforts I engage in solely on a volunteer (unpaid) basis.

That is my two cents on the subject, what is yours?

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

*Note*: made several, mostly minor, edits for the purposes of clarification and readability; last updated on Friday, October 1, 2010 at 4:25 AM (ET).

THE FIRST VERMONT PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL (for links to the candidates exploratory committees, refer to the diary on the right-hand column)!!! If the 2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary were

View Results

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Brian Dubie’s Phantom Prisoner List

(Wow. – promoted by JulieWaters)

*Updated* (additional related info links)

Dubie Prisoner List



(via VtDems, here; length: 38 seconds)

Read an article that reports on how Brian Dubie‘s list does not appear to be what it was said to be (via vtdigger), here.

Related information:

  • 7Days Blurt post on Steve Howard differing with Peter Shumlin‘s prison plan (here);
  • State Senator Dick Sears press release regarding Brian Dubie‘s attack ads on prison plan (here);
  • Vermont View post on controversy and robotic call concerning it (here);
  • Archived audio of Brian Dubie campaign robotic call (here).
  • State Senator Dick Sears Op-Ed: Facts about crime in Vermont (via Times Argus, here)
  • Times Argus article on Steve Howard and Lt. Governors race tie-in (here).

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

5-part Question for 2010 VT State Senate & House of Representatives Candidates

Five-Part Question Posed to 2010 Vermont General Assembly Candidates regarding homelessness and affordable housing:

If the voters within your legislative district were to elect you to the seat within the Vermont General Assembly being sought, when it comes to addressing homelessness and affordable housing across the state, please answer the following five-part question:

  1. What priority would both of these matters hold within your set of legislative priorities?
  2. What concrete steps would you propose the state take to address these matters?
  3. What are the expected outcomes by which the state should measure the effectiveness of such proposals?
  4. What timelines would you propose be set for addressing such?
  5. How would you recommend the state fund such proposals?

Due to the extensive work involved in contacting various campaigns as well as compiling responses from the candidates, which I experienced somewhat when doing the 2010 Vermont Gubernatorial candidates version, this version will mainly be blogged up in the hope that candidates will avail themselves of the opportunity to answer such and make their answers known to voters within their district. In addition, if a given candidate has a blog or Website, they can list their responses to the questions there and/or can also provide their answers by posting a comment to this blog post.

Voters should also feel free to pose these as well as related questions to the candidates running for seats in either the state senate or house of representatives.

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

*Update*: These same questions were also posted to iBrattleboro, here.

Spreadsheet of 2010 VT Democratic Gubernatorial Primary Vote Cost Comparison

         

 

2010 VT Democratic primary candidate Campaign spending total (primary) Total votes received (official recount totals) Cost per vote  
           
         

 

Peter Shumlin $573206 18301 $31.32

 

Doug Racine $253581 18098 $14.01

 

Deborah Markowitz $630571 17601 $35.83

 

Matt Dunne $335876 15320 $21.92

 

Susan Bartlett $69345 3766 $18.41

 

Combined totals & resulting cost per vote $1862579 73086 $25.48

 

    (above does not include write-in vote totals)