Waiting for the Farrier Blogging
December 5, 2007 | 9 Comments
Yeah, that’s what I’m doing: waiting for the farrier. And, around here, it’s kind of like waiting for Godot. Tick, tock, tick, tock. But the good farriers are few and far between so you just keep waiting and keep hoping that the fine fella will come and put the winter shoes on my boys. We’ve got work to do, you know. Trees to pull. Sleds to pull. And fun to be had.
So, while I wait for the sound of his truck to pull up, let’s blog. Ready. Set. Go.
My Brother the Rock Star: I just learned from my brother’s blog that he’s written the introduction to Lee Ranaldo’s new book . Yeah, Lee Ranaldo, as in: Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth fame (and a wee bit of fortune). Damn, why is it that older brothers have all the fun? But it gets better. The artwork for the book was done by Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets fame. As some of you may remember, my alter ego from last year, Snarky Boy, attended the Meat Puppets concert in Burlington and had plenty of good things to say about it. Congrats, bro. And, since you failed to get me the free tix to either the Sonic Youth or Meat Puppets concerts, I look forward to a signed copy of the book (hint, hint).
Cheap Bastards: I loaded up on newspapers yesterday on my way to court. The last thing I wanted to happen was to be stuck conversing with the old bastards I was arrested with. Just kidding, Boots and Will. Included in the stack was the Wall Street Journal, one of my favorite papers (no kidding). If you can hold your nose – or keep your sides from splitting from the laughter – while getting through its “opinion” pages, it’s a pretty good paper as far as pretty good papers go.
But I wasn’t laughing while reading Andy Laperriere’s op/ed entitled “No Bailouts for Borrowers.” In it, Mr. Laperriere is rip snort over the calls for legislation that would aim to help the homeowners who are on the edge of foreclosure due to the slimy practices of certain loaners of late. Funny, isn’t it, that the Wall Street Journal didn’t mind it when the federal government started forking over billions of dollars to help prop up the slimy loaners? They thought that was just fine. In fact, they called it a necessary step to “stabilize the markets.” But when it comes to a rather benign action like holding the foreclosure agents at bay for 90 days, the Wall Street Journal and its knuckle-dragging opinionators scream holy-hell about a waste of taxpayers’ money.
It kind of reminds me of certain war policies. You know, like handing over billions of dollars to rogue military contractors but then asking soldiers who get their legs blown off to return a few thousands dollars of their sign-up bonuses because they didn’t “complete their tour.” Bastards. No, make that: Shameless bastards.
Zapping the Elderly: Speaking of the Wall Street Journal, they also had a very bizarre – and disturbing – article entitled “The Graying of Shock Therapy.” Yep, it’s about the growing use of shock therapy on the elderly to literally zap them out of depression. The article features 93-year-old Ida Galvanoni who had this to say after three-shocks-a-week since October:
I’m smiling more now; I can see it in myself. I don’t get so distraught.
Sorry, but this is more than a bit disturbing, especially when you consider this eerie note of caution on the practice of zapping the elderly from the article:
One concern is the risk of administering shocks to someone who is actually suffering from dementia rather than depression.
Yeah, that would suck. And why don’t you waterboard them for some family secrets while you’re at it?
But, don’t worry, the medical profession is all over this one. A doctor from the University of Toronto, for example, told the Wall Street Journal that “elderly patients should be carefully monitored for confusion after [shock] treatment.” You think?
Hey Mom, as soon as you get back from that bus tour to Nashville, let’s stick your finger in the socket….
Seven Days Nails It: Mike Ives of Seven Days has filed a great story about the protests at the military recruiting centers last Friday. I guess we were lucky that the increasingly cantankerous, meandering and navel-gazing Peter Freyne wasn’t available to attend. Whew. Ives beautifully captures the mood of the event and puts a well-deserved spotlight on 15-year-old organizer-extraordinaire, Jaz Whitney. It’s just too bad that the feature photo had to include those old bastards. Guess which one is Boots? Hint: Look at the feet. Another hint: He’s A LOT older than I am. Congats, Jaz. And thanks, Mike.
Oops, out of time.
Note to readers: Click on “Go to the Full Blog” for today’s earlier post.
Our Moment in Court
December 5, 2007 | 23 Comments
Another day. Another court appearance.
Yesterday we made the snowy trek to Burlington’s District Court to stand before a judge and T.J. Donovan, the state’s attorney, and very proudly plead “not guilty” to the charges of trespassing at the offices of our congressman, Peter Welch. Basically, it was a three-hour trip for a mere 30-seconds of the court’s time. And I got to utter these words to the judge who seemed like she wasn’t going to have much patience for any more: “I am not guilty, your honor. And I will be seeking a jury trial and invoking the necessity defense.” Next.
T.J. Donovan – sorry, but that’s just one cool name for a prosecutor – wants to cut a deal of some type. He told us before the court hearing that he’d be willing to drop the charges if we agreed to do some community service. Well, T.J., our actions WERE a community service. So our response to him was: Declare our attempts to meet with our congressman and ask him to stop funding the war a court-recognized “community service” and we’ll sign on the dotted line for a dismissal. Otherwise, let’s go to trial.
Personally, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to pick a jury and put on a trial that will seek to prove that our minor legal transgressions were necessary to prevent the larger legal evils of the Bush war and Congressman Welch’s continued double-speak on whether or not he’s going to continue funding it. And how much fun will it be to serve Welch and his staff subpoenas to be witnesses at the trial? I guess we might get another chance to ask him some “yes or no” questions, huh? Priceless.
People spend thousands of dollars to get Welch’s attention by way of campaign contributions – he’s now collected nearly $700,000 for his next campaign. This trial – with all the free legal help we’re being offered – will be, in comparison, a very cheap way to have a little one-on-one with the Congressman.
Welch has handled this all with the kind of fumble-fingers that one would expect from a rookie. Remember, when we went to his office in October we we’re simply asking for a meeting with him. He refused. And then his staff instructed the Burlington Police to have us arrested.
But Welch quickly realized that having constituents arrested for trying to meet with him looked kind of old-school Soviet Union and all. And so he agreed to meet with us in public, mostly to stem the tide of his political capital oozing like a sieve from a perplexed left. But, just to show that the vengeance will be his, Welch has never requested that the trespassing charges be dropped.
Whatever, Congressman. We’ll just keep picking the scab that is your very confused and confusing record on Bush’s war with Iraq. And, who knows, someone might even use the trial as an opportunity to announce a challenge to your re-election bid. This should be fun.
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While awaiting our 30-seconds of court time yesterday, the very affable T.J. Donovan took the time to introduce us to Ian Carlton, the chairman of the Vermont Democratic Party. No, Carlton wasn’t there to discuss Donovan’s promising future as a statewide politician someday in the near future. Instead, Carlton was there to go head-to-head with his fellow Dem on a legal matter before the court. Carlton, you see, is a practicing attorney and – thus – had some non-partisan work to do involving a client who got caught stealing. Let’s just hope for the Dem Party’s sake that Carlton is a smoother party chair than he is a lawyer. In the three minutes of court time we witnessed, Carlton seemed to be doing his best Jerry Lewis imitation. Carlton, for example, got softly reprimanded for filling out the wrong paperwork for a plea deal and then almost fell into the lap of Donovan while tripping before the court. And why, oh why, did his clumsiness remind me of a certain political party and its relation to important issues of the day? Just wondering.
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