Post Town Meeting Day Blogging
March 5, 2008
Well, I guess all that news about the economy being in a downswing must not be sinking in to my neighbors here in Worcester, Vermont. Because at yesterday’s town meeting the voters who showed up couldn’t seem to hand out our town’s money fast enough. Whomever and whatever came forward with its hand out walked away with the tax-payer’s loot – everything from $2500 for fireworks to new fire trucks, plow trucks and every penny the school board asked for with nary a question. Strangely, the only attempt to get money that didn’t see its full request met was that from the Friends of the Winooski River. They asked for $500 but got whacked back to $150. That’ll show those river lovers, huh?
Let’s face it, town meetings are the dream scenario for spending money, especially when it comes to the big-ticket items like town trucks and fire trucks. You’ve got the near-perfect coalition working for it: the liberals who get gooey-eyed over any kind of spending and the town crews and fire men and women who want their new toys. These are two crowds that don’t hang on the same side of the room during the meetings but they certainly coalesce when it’s time to make the money rain down the drain.
Of course, there’s also the fact that the people who are truly struggling economically can’t afford the luxury of skipping a workday in order to be present and attempt to put the brakes on the spending. I ran into one of those folks on my walk home from the meeting yesterday. He was out plowing and sanding driveways but stopped to say hello.
“How much poorer am I now?” he asked as he rolled down his window.
“They passed everything,” I replied. “And fast.”
“Oh hell, I guess I shouldn’t have sanded all their drives. It only allowed them to get out to the meeting and spend our money.”
Indeed.
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Indicting Bush/Cheney: It was, however, nice to see that the town of Brattleboro passed its resolution seeking the indictment of George Bush and Dick Cheney for their alleged crimes against the Constitution. Fun stuff – and free! Well, the town did have to pay for the ink it took to include it on the ballot. And even that was apparently too much money for the White House to find acceptable. Here’s the “official” White House response to the measure:
It appears that the left-wing knows no bounds in their willingness to waste taxpayer dollars to make a futile counterproductive partisan political point.
Hmm, if you substitute “right-wing” for “left-wing” in the quote above you could most certainly be talking about the Iraq War, no? While it’s nice to see them care about taxpayer money, wouldn’t it be better for us if they’d focus on the $2 trillion war rather than the cost of ink on a ballot? You gotta love the modern fiscal conservatism, huh?
Strangely, it wasn’t just the White House who found this resolution annoying, either. Vermont’s wannabe lad-pundits (aka: the Dem sycophants) also got themselves in a lather over it. Why? Because it’s “embarrassing the state.” Oh, okay. We wouldn’t want to upset their mainstream march to nowhere, would we?
It’s simply bizarre to me that you have these self-described “political activists” who never cease to condemn any kind of activism that involves more than pulling a voting lever or rubbing the belly of one of our elected officials. They condemned anti-war activism. They condemned “yes or no” questions for their beloved congressman. They condemned people who got understandably testy in the Statehouse when Dem politicians refused to consider real health care reform. But they’ll apparently spend hours upon hours everyday in the shallow end of the political pool pondering the “big” questions like: Should Obama and Hillary run together?
I guess I’m just jealous because it sure seems like they’ve got a lot of time on their hands over there. Too bad so much of it is wasted on their never-ending pundit-dress-up game. I keep wondering when their parents are going to get home and send them to bed. Or at least outside for some exercise.
And hats off to Dan Dewalt for attempting to bring forth some logic to their little club. Good luck with that.
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And a tip of the hat to the town of East Montpelier for tackling – or swimming in? – the issue of water extraction. Many of the towns’ residents are concerned about a new corporate venture in their midst that is seeking to extract spring water and bottle it for sale throughout the U.S. And so, yesterday, they introduced a resolution that would call for a three-year moratorium on such ventures within their township. After much discussion, the resolution passed. Water, of course, is going to continue to be a big issue in Vermont’s future, evidenced by the growing number of bottled water corporations sniffing around our hillsides. But it would behoove us all to follow the lead of East Montpelier and put the brakes on such ventures until we adequately contemplate the long-term consequences of depleting our aquifers for short-term corporate gain. Always a bad equation in my book.
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Oh boy, what could bring a little sunshine to this dreary March day? Got it: The phone call from Onion River Sports that my racing bike is ready. Yahoo. There is hope in sleetville. I took advantage of their early-bird special and had my beloved shiny machine (Trek 5200) get the professional once over. It won’t be long before yours truly begins the annual quest for 4,000 miles of pedaling around the hills and valleys of central Vermont.
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And since I’ve devolved into the narcissistic and personal, I guess it’s as good a time as any to introduce the Big John replacement: Little Buddy (see below).
Okay, okay, he’s not really Big John’s replacement. That would take a weight gain of about 1975 pounds. Plus – shhh, don’t tell him – some smarts, too. But, who knows, maybe a team of yellow labs is in my future….
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6 Responses to “Post Town Meeting Day Blogging”
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I was really bummed to hear about Big John. But as a person owned by two Yellow Labs I got to tell you they will be as loyal as they are dumb :-).
what does it say about a man when he helps with tapping only because he is too embarrassed to admit he has to stay home……………with the puppy. but do thank him for his efforts.
You and I both agree that Town Meeting has done little to help the oppressive tax levels here in Vermont.
As for the Democratic leadership - Gaye Symington clearly sees herself as getting a call from President Clinton to come work inside the beltway. She’s certainly not going to stick her neck out for the time being. (Not that she should on the Brattleboro matter - it was pointless.)
Looks like a very sweet pooch to me, Michael. Train him to bite you.
And don’t get him arrested.
Hmm, what Boots — oops, I mean “NO CAPS” — is trying to say is: Thanks for helping him set up his sugaring operation today. Yep, 160 taps the old fashion way: buckets, lids and snowshoes.
Yes, I did first attempt to cancel due to some puppy issues. But then our daughter made the gracious (read: opportunistic) offer to skip school and come with me to help and supervise super-pup. What can I say, her mother and I are suckers for letting her skip away from school if it means being in the woods all day.
As Vermonters know, it was a most delicious day. Perfect for stomping around in the woods, even if Boots’ grumbling got in the way from time to time.
In all seriousness, they’ve got an amazing sugar bush. You know, the kind that has reaped the benefits of care for 25-plus years. No complaints here for an amazing day spent in the woods with friends, a daughter and a puppy. Oh my, stop me before it gets too thick in here…
But while Boots hit the sofa when we were done, I got lobbied to saddle up our horses upon our return. I’m a sucker for that, too…
And now the lab and I have only one thing left to say: Goodnight.
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