My Meeting with the Governor
August 30, 2009 | 10 Comments
It was a big week for Governor Jim Douglas. Nah, I’m not talking about his decision to step aside after his current term expires. I’m talking about his excitement over the opportunity to have a little pow-wow with yours truly only days after rocking Vermont’s political world with his retirement announcement. Oops, I forgot, Jim hates it when I say he’s retiring. Moving on, he kept counseling me — he’s “moving on.” Of course.
After our little chat about his future, a photographer approached and wanted to document the moment. Douglas, being the considerate gentleman that he is, asked the photographer to hold off long enough to look me in the eye and ask this all-too-important question: “Are you sure a photograph with me won’t ruin your reputation?”
Yeah, it probably will. But I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
Stay tuned for the specifics on our little chat. Hint: I’ve got big news.
A Tale of Two Jims
August 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Whew. It’s Friday.
And I guess something big has happened politically in Vermont. But I’m not sure, since I’ve spent most of the week either walking behind or sitting upon a horse. Big Jim’s been a busy boy, Fat Bart’s been getting his nightly workouts, and Lady (our daughter’s horse) has been getting the round-pen run-around thanks to Isabel, the newly minted 6th grader. Yikes.
Wait. Did I say “Big Jim?”
And, no, I’m not talking about Jim Douglas, either – the governor of Vermont. Because my Big Jim doesn’t quit.
But Vermont’s Governor Jim Douglas – the Republican – does quit. Wimp.
I’m speaking, of course, about yesterday’s announcement by Jim Douglas to step aside and skip the 2010 election in favor of….CASH. Oh wait, Douglas didn’t actually say “cash,” but he did say that he wanted to make some money to supplement his state retirement fund. Poor fella, he’s only been making around $100,000 for the last umpteen years as a “state-servant.” Better yet, he’s also had absolutely no family health-care payments in all those years.
See, Jimbo-the-quitter, socialism isn’t always bad.
But it’s clearly gotten too hot in Jimbo’s political kitchen to carry on for him politically. And with possible jobs at Green Mountain Power, Entergy Nuclear, and Middlebury College waiting for him, why continue to get charred by your own political stupidity when you can step aside, chase the cash and have the Vermont political and media elite all but write your fawning resume for you?
But if the truth could be invited into the discussion about Douglas’ quitting, it would point to this: Douglas’ economic neanderthalism sunk not only his political ambitions but also the state’s economy.
While Douglas ran on the slogan of “Jim=Jobs,” his political obituary should read “Jim=Job Cuts.” Worse, Jim also equaled a dated, stale, mean-spirited, and anti-labor economic outlook that left him – and the state – in a mess that looks all-too-similar to the every other state.
Quitter Jim is what they should be calling you. But the Vermont media and the political and media elite in the state are far too worried about their own well being to come out and say it. So, instead, we’re getting a truckload of bullshit from one media outlet and political figure after another that praises Douglas for his service, his commitment, his dedication and his…. [Editor intervenes: No more!].
Even the whiny-assed Democrats are jumping on the “thank you, Jim Douglas” bandwagon after his announcement. Consider these words from Democratic Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, a woman who recently announced that she had raised nearly $200,000 in her effort to unseat Douglas:
“I want to congratulate and applaud Jim Douglas for his years of service to the state. Douglas is a Vermonter who has devoted his life to public service. Vermonters, regardless of political party, should honor him for his commitment to serving the state for all of these years. I wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”
And that, my friends, is what’s wrong with Democrats. Congratulate and applaud him? Sorry, Deb, but you’re either full of shit with this statement or your campaign to unseat him is full of shit. If, in fact, this is how Markowitz feels about Douglas, perhaps she should return the $200,000 she raised to unseat him. Just saying.
But, that’s the way the game is played. And it works as long as you’ve got a ticket to ride.
Unfortunately, however, most of us don’t have that ticket, meaning that politics as they are almost always played aren’t a game to us.
While Markowitz can play footsie with Douglas after his decision to quit, many Vermonters who have lost their jobs, curtailed their dreams and been handed nothing but coal in the land of supposed “plenty” don’t have that luxury. They are – we are – under-employed, overly-stressed, and hyper-sensitive to the realities of our economy. It’s called living paycheck to paycheck.
Try it sometime, Jim & Deb.
So let’s recap: The Republican Governor is a quitter. And the Democratic challenger is an appeaser.
Been there, done that.
Come on, Big Jim, let’s get out of here.
Just Because: RIP, Mr. Kennedy
August 26, 2009 | 1 Comment
VT Media Watch: Link Edition
August 25, 2009 | 7 Comments
Fun with Blurt: I couldn’t help myself yesterday afternoon when I found myself hitting the “send” button after typing a comment to Pamela Polston’s little public backrub session with Bernie Sanders at the 7Days blog. Go read it HERE if you’re interested in the back and forth. Diabetics beware, though, because you might need a shot of insulin.
Bottom line: If mainstream politicians “love” your work, you can no longer call yourself “alternative.” Because you’ve clearly morphed into a “player” at that point on Team Power Elite. Deal with it. Or, in the case of 7Days, make a pun of it, offer an award for it, and then throw a party in honor of yourself.
Earth to Polston: Bernie’s returning your phone call so quickly because he knows you’re willing to play ball with him (read: you gush, rather than dig, when it comes to covering him).
Pulitzer was right when he declared that “newspapers should have no friends.” Because when newspapers seek friends – or gush about their friendships with those they’re supposed to be covering – the news they report becomes suspect at best.
The day Bernie refuses to return Polston’s calls is the day I’ll know that 7Days has become “alternative.”
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A Neighborhood Walk: I was coaxed away from work yesterday (oh, that’s hard) by the vacationing Stacy (aka: the wife) so that we could venture up our road (Gould Hill) and take our inaugural hike on the new trail that was recently finished on our neighbor’s land. Wow. The five-mile back-and-forth loop from our doorstep was incredible, endless hills included. Susan Allen at the Times Argus wrote about the new section of the trail in yesterday’s paper if you want to learn more about it.
Bravo to the Kaeding family of Worcester for opening up their gorgeous piece of land to non-motorized forms of recreation – including horses! It’s a real treat.
Speaking of horses, I decided to take my overly-fed saddle horse, Black Bart, for a ride last night in the hopes of getting to the Kaeding’s new trail. Unfortunately, Fat – err, Black – Bart was huffing and puffing by the time we got up Gould Hill so badly that I decided to turn around. Let’s just say that he’s now in training: A little bit more every day. Perhaps tonight we’ll make it to the actual new trail…
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VT Commons on a Roll: Rob Williams, the Wizard behind the Vermont Commons website and organization, has been on a roll this week by posting a couple of fantastic pieces on their blog.
The first one that caught my attention was by Eric Andrus, a fellow draft horse enthusiast, who penned a great essay on the importance of “local wheat and bread.” Read it.
Also served up at Vermont Commons this week is an important essay the role of Congress when it comes to declaring war. As we all know, Congress has been largely abdicating its war-making powers to the president in recent decades, resulting in one nefarious, illegal and disastrous military action after another. Enough already.
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NTodd Never Sleeps: NTodd Pritsky, that is – the indefatigable blogger, activist and father-to-be. Because if NTodd ever slept, he wouldn’t be posting all the stuff he posts all the time at his very entertaining and necessary blog that can be found HERE. Click, read, and enjoy.
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That’s all, folks. I’ve got horses to tend to.
Our New Small House (dream)
August 24, 2009 | 3 Comments
So we’re thinking about building a new house. A small house. A house small enough to say: We’re living in a small house because small is all we can afford.
But, then again, not too small. Because too small can say: We’re too small to be happy.
Ha! No problem. Because then you build small enough to be small AND cool. Bingo. I think I’m onto something.
And, remember, I’ll be living in the house with my wife and daughter who most likely wouldn’t be begrudged for saying this from time to time: I need some space from HIM.
I’m him. And, yes, I take up space.
Oh the dilemma of being poor and wanting just the right house.
So let’s start with this: A walk through the neighborhood. And then a horse ride. Followed, of course, by a couple of beers that should be marked: “Feel good about beginning the process of building a new house.”
But wait. I didn’t really start the house.
Fuck. This is going to be harder than I thought.
But wait: Acknowledging the fact that it is going to be harder than I thought deserves a trip around the property in a horse-drawn carriage, no? Of course it does. In fact, I may even make a sign for the carriage – well, cart – that says: Celebrating Accomplishment.
I’m not worried about the neighbors asking me why I’m going around with such a sign because I’ve long since realized that the norm in this neighborhood is going around and around with equipment in the apparent celebration of “accomplishment.”
Yep, they mow.
I, on the other hand, hook horses and smile and wave.
Either way: Accomplishment be damned. Stalemate.
But, personally, I think I’m winning. But, then again, maybe they’re not playing. Maybe they’re serious. About their lawns?
Now I’m sad.
But, really, I’m going to build a house in the woods as soon as I can figure just a few things out. You know, things like: How to build a house in the woods.
Minor obstacles for dreams as big as the dreams we’re dreaming, for sure.
Google should help. Well, once I stop writing to you about the need to Google the information to build the house that I’ve promised to build for my family.
In fact, I got some idea reinforcement for my plan to build a small house from a small-house guru who said what I would have liked to say about the common question of: Why a small house?
Duh. Because I hate to vacuum.
I’m starting to realize that the philosophy of building a small house is almost as important as building the small house. Cool. We can spend years here. Or maybe we have. Shit.
Whatever. It’s a process. And – trust me – I’m working on it.
Donations – and advice — accepted.
Help Wanted: New Mentor
August 24, 2009 | 4 Comments
Yep, the Old Mentor – Boots — just isn’t working out. Sadly, he’s changed.
So, what I’m looking for is someone who: Won’t sit on my lap in public; won’t stop talking to me when the Mayor of Montpelier approaches; won’t do something ridiculous like win an election (farmers’ market presidential elections, for example); won’t drive long distances on a beautiful summer day to accept a meaningless plaque in his/her group’s honor; won’t wear socialist t-shirts while playing a smiling capitalist; and who is partnered with someone who won’t hang up the phone when I call. It’s not asking much, you know.
Celery (yes, celery), benefits (nightly calls, etc.) and a stock answer to the question of, “you’re friends with him?” included in the package.
This website and its editor are desperate and opportunistic employers.
Let’s be friends.
Better Late Than Never: Dem-Bashing Gets Popular
August 21, 2009 | 3 Comments
Bashing the Democrats nowadays is like shooting fish in barrel: Easy. But it makes me wonder what people like Maher were thinking when they partook in the Obama wet-dream last year. Moreover, it makes me wonder if they’ll have the political gumption to keep this kind of rhetoric and clear-headed thinking up when the next election rolls around. One can only “hope.”
Obama Consummates His Love Affair with the Right Wing by Inviting NASCAR Nation to the White House (Fuck Yeah!)
August 19, 2009 | 2 Comments
But, first, let’s begin with a simple multiple choice question:
Guess which constituencies have NOT been invited to the Obama White House?
A. Wall Street Criminals.
B. Health Insurance Industry Crooks.
C. Single-Payer Advocates.
D. Anti-War Leaders.
E. Military Industrial Complex Thieves.
Oh wait, maybe I didn’t word that very fairly. Whatever.
Time’s up. The answer is “C” and “D.”
Didn’t fool you, huh?
And if you’re wondering where the change is, try this: Insert hand into pocket and shake. No, no, not there. Yeah, there – where the change is. Feel it, baby. And then weep.
But now, as of today, we have a whole new right-wing constituency that is being fawned over by Obama himself: NASCAR nation.
I’m guessing that Team Obama was going down its list of whom it hasn’t abandoned yet and determined that the eco-global-warming-anti-noise folks hadn’t been properly poked in the eye yet. Solution? Invite NASCAR to the White House. Done – poke provided.
But Obama didn’t just invite the gas-hounds to the people’s house, he also spewed his own verbal petroleum out in a way that should have made Bill McKibben wonder why he lectured his global warming groupies to stick with the good Democrat. I mean, consider this quote from Obama today as he stood with NASCAR drivers in the White House driveway:
One of the core values of the NASCAR community is the belief that service isn’t just something you do once in a while when it’s convenient. It’s a way of life. That’s the face of America that you show to the world.
Huh?
Sorry, but the only “core values” I can think that belong in the same sentence with the term NASCAR are things like: Racism, waste, drunkenness, obesity and ignorance. Well, I do think it’s pretty cool when they shave the number of their favorite driver into their back hair.
Oh wait, did I say, “racism, waste, drunkenness, obesity and ignorance?” Oops, I forgot, in modern political speak that translates to: Votes.
In fact, the more I think about it, maybe they’re all Democrats. They do, after all, seem to have a lot in common. NASCAR fans and Democrats, for example, love to sit on their asses and watch their “leaders” go around and around and, in the end, get nowhere. Worse, they all still cheer as if they won. Fuck yeah.
But Obama stretched it more than a bit too far today when had this to say about NASCAR races:
Families can go to the track and they can see these great racers and enjoy a good family event that lasts for a while, and it’s affordable. But part of it is also the fact that I think racing teams themselves are a family, and it’s a reminder that the guy behind the wheel is not the only person involved in this thing. That it takes a pit crew, and it takes the engineers back at the shop.
Oh no, Mr. President, your ignorance scar is showing. Pandering will do that, you know.
Because if you’d managed to check, NASCAR races are not family events and they’re certainly not “affordable.” Unless, of course, you consider $100 tickets affordable and viewing fat, toothless, drunken bastards with exposed ass-cracks as big as the ozone hole a good family event.
Oh Reverend Wright, where are you when we need you? I’m sure you could have set the Good Brother Barack straight on this one.
But then, as I studied the picture of the NASCAR drivers posing with Obama, I realized what the attraction was: the corporate logos. Of course.
But at least the NASCAR drivers are honest about the game they’re playing. When they get media face time they appear with corporate stickers all over them and gush about the great “Dupont, Shell, Exxon, Coke, Budweiser, etc.”
If Obama was that honest, he’d be similarly decked out in corporate logos when dismissing meaningful health care reform or bending over for the military industrial complex while escalating wars.
Once again, it’s the corporations, stupid.
Maybe NASCAR’s onto to something: Honesty.
Pass me a beer.
VT Media Watch: 7Days’ Ober
August 19, 2009 | 2 Comments
The new girl on the 7Days block, Lauren Ober, has been delightfully snarky in her writing for the sometimes “alternative” Vermont newsweekly. After being rescued from the sinking ship known as the Burlington Free Press (snore), Ober’s been serving up one dose of think-smack after another for those of us who need our daily dose but – unfortunately – have to look far outside the “I Love Vermont” club to find it.
Ober’s targets so far have been the obvious and the super-safe (read: right-wing-evangelicals, etc.) but her writing’s been refreshing and punchy. Let’s just hope that Ober doesn’t get drowned out by the creative wet blanket that can be the pun-happy and cutesy-obsessed culture at 7Days.
It would also be nice to see Ober turn her snarky pen on the Vermont dopes who need a good smackdown from time to time.
Click here for Ober’s 7Days blog post for today: Westboro Baptist Band of Crazies Coming to Vermont? http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2009/08/westboro-baptist-band-of-crazies-coming-to-vt.html
What can I say, I’m a sucker for writing like this (an excerpt from the link Ober link above):
Here’s a little background on Mr. Phelps (no relation to human fish cum mad toker Michael Phelps) and his Westboro Baptist Church. Apparently God visited Phelps and was all like, “Yo son, what’s wrong with this world? Dudes are doing other dudes and it goes against my will ‘n’ shit.” And Phelps was all like, “Oh, word, homes. Guys screwing other guys in the poopshoot ain’t cool. I gotta do sumpin’ about this.” And God was all like, “Dawg, you need to represent me on Earth. Ain’t nobody down there listening to me.” And Phelps was all like, “God/Jesus/the holy spirit, I feel you. You can count on me.” Then he started making crazypants signs that say God Hates Fags and Thank God For AIDS and other awesome stuff like that. Sign Guy Steve totally ripped them off.
Write on, Lauren.
Links on the Obama Mess
August 19, 2009 | 1 Comment
Yes, indeed, we’ve seen this movie before. Yeah, you know, the one where hope silences passion and then the passionless wonder why they got nothing. Think: Carter. Clinton. And, now, Obama.
Pass the popcorn, because this horror-flick has got a lot more spiraling twists before it flails for its Phoenix moment just in time for next year’s midterm elections.
Some people never learn. But, on the bright side, I’m pleased to remind you that some of us were never fooled.
Here, for your reading pleasure (and my slacker-blogging ways as I find myself mired in w-w-w-w-ork – have I mentioned I hate that word?), are a couple of excerpts and links to essays I’ve found on the web that help propel the urge to yell “I told you so” in a crowded public space.
First up, Chris Hedges, and his wonderful TruthDig essay, Nader Was Right: Liberals are Going Nowhere with Obama.
An excerpt from Hedges:
The American empire has not altered under Barack Obama. It kills as brutally and indiscriminately in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as it did under George W. Bush. It steals from the U.S. treasury to enrich the corporate elite as rapaciously. It will not give us universal health care, abolish the Bush secrecy laws, end torture or “extraordinary rendition,” restore habeas corpus or halt the warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of citizens. It will not push through significant environmental reform, regulate Wall Street or end our relationship with private contractors that provide mercenary armies to fight our imperial wars and produce useless and costly weapons systems.
The sad reality is that all the well-meaning groups and individuals who challenge our permanent war economy and the doctrine of pre-emptive war, who care about sustainable energy, fight for civil liberties and want corporate malfeasance to end, were once again suckered by the Democratic Party. They were had. It is not a new story. The Democrats have been doing this to us since Bill Clinton. It is the same old merry-go-round, only with Obama branding. And if we have not learned by now that the system is broken, that as citizens we do not matter to our political elite, that we live in a corporate state where our welfare and our interests are irrelevant, we are in serious trouble. Our last hope is to step outside of the two-party system and build movements that defy the Democrats and the Republicans. If we fail to do this, we will continue to undergo a corporate coup d’etat in slow motion that will end in feudalism.
And then there’s David Michael Green’s excellent piece from CounterPunch, Guess What? He’s a Terrible President.http://www.counterpunch.org/green08192009.html
Here’s an excerpt:
Both President Obama’s health care plan and his presidency are going down the toilet.
This is well, and right, and just as it should be.
Obama is turning out to be a disastrous president, wholly unsuited for the times and our national and global challenges, and his job approval ratings reflect this.
In Obama, we get all the corporate toadying of the last Democratic president, along with an even greater unwillingness than Clinton – and who would’ve thought that was possible – to name names, call out enemies, and throw a freakin’ punch every other year or so. (We’re also getting a continuation of the civil rights and civil liberties policies of Dick Cheney, as an extra added bonus, but that’s another story.) What makes it even more astonishing this time around, however, is that we’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends. There is apparently absolutely no bottom – as the events of recent weeks have reconfirmed – to the pit of vicious lies, brutal tactics, and democracy-demolishing antics of which regressives will avail themselves in their practice of contemporary American politics. In addition to not being prepared for that, Barack Obama is still seemingly unable to raise his voice a decibel or two against the very people who are helping him to destroy his own presidency. Indeed, he is negotiating ‘bipartisan’ (read: total capitulation) deals with them, even as they relentlessly trash him before a national audience.
I’ll be in the woods if anyone needs me…
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