Green Mountain Daily - Recommended Diaries

Good Ol' Fashioned Hoolaginism:

wdh3 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:06:38 GMT

Douglas pied at the Montpelier July 4th parade (by, of all people, Santa Claus)!
.... I'll hopefully have some pics by tomorrow for y'all.

Snippets from the
Times-Argus article:

Douglas was not injured in the incident and eyewitnesses said the pie appeared to be whipped cream only.
"He was unfazed" by the pie, (Douglas' campaign manager) said. "He wiped off his face and kept marching."
This is not the first time a Vermont politician has been attacked by pie-thrower.
During the 2006 campaign for U.S. Senate, Rich Tarrant was also hit with a pie while he marched in the Montpelier Fourth of July parade. It does not appear there were charges filed in that case, and the pie tosser was not identified.
In recent years, politicians, columnists and celebrities whose positions have come under scrutiny have been the targets of pie-throwers, including Microsoft's Bill Gates, and New York Times writers Thomas Friedman, Ann Coulter, among others.
The high-profile prank is seen by some as a symbolic political statement.

A pie heard 'round Vermont or It was a pie for help

BP — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:09:05 GMT

A newspaper article heavily quoting a man that witnessed the Douglas Pie in the face Incident appears today .What if the pie had been loaded ? A man who worked for James Jeffords (it doesn't mention what capacity )in Washington is traumatized . He maintains that "clearly the situation could have been life threatening" Later he goes on to say that Santa would the one to be dead ! The man on receiving end of the pie felt fine about attending several more parades .I believe 18 was the total number .

A Middlesex man , who worked for former U.S. Sen. James Jeffords from 1996-2002, witnessed the parade incident and chased down the(alleged?) pie-thrower with the help of two others, including Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon.
"The seriousness of this I don't think can be overstated," he said in an interview. "We certainly live in a time when what might previously have been seen as a prank could have turned into a tragedy. He was able to put a pie in the governor's face; that could have easily been life-threatening."
"Obviously the governor was quite startled and upset," Harrington said. "It went from a very congenial situation - the downtown atmosphere was one of happiness, neighborliness and joy. Then this intrusion of an individual whose motives are inexplicable to me, but clearly the circumstances could have been life-threatening."
"I know from having been with Sen. Jeffords staff during 9/11, I frankly think if this young man had tried to do this type of thing in Washington D.C., he might be dead right now," Harrington said.

Doesn't this speak more to what is wrong in Washington ?

Denise Casey said the incident has not changed the way Douglas, she or other staffers feel about public appearances. She said she's not watching the crowd, wondering is if someone on the sidelines has a pie poised to toss.
She said Douglas was comfortable with the way the incident was handled.

http://www.timesargus.com/apps...

Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games

BP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:43:57 GMT

I put the flag out on our house early this morning, the 4th ,Independence Day .It's the entire country's flag after all .
It's an understatement that there is much the country needs to put right ,but what a teacher I had years ago used to say to us students is true of this country "You all have great potential if you use it ". Although I think she loved the sarcasm too.

It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory.

John Adams,1776

Fuel costs attitudes

BP — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:23:26 GMT

It has been noted that mass transit ridership and fuel efficient car sales are going up as people feel the pinch of higher gas prices. Now a Pew research poll shows that some attitude shifts are also underway in regard to fuel prices. Some of this is surprising .The number of people considering conservation important declined.Conservation in practice and cost is different than conservation as concept. Those in favor of drilling in more and different places increased .A big change also in the 18-29 year old groups attitude. Maybe the American lifestyle is not negotiable when push comes to shove .Poor Jimmy Carter suffered the consequences way back when of trying to deliver an unwanted message to the country that we live in a World with limited resources that should be used wisely.Today the ever helpful Newt the Gingrich has a website with a petition to "drill here ,drill now " ...1.2 million hits .

-Nearly half (47%) now rates energy exploration as the more important priority, up from 35% in February. The proportion saying it is more important to increase energy conservation and regulation has declined by 10 points (from 55% to 45%).
-The proportion of liberals who say expanded energy exploration is the more important priority also has doubled (from 22% to 45%).
-About the same proportions of Democrats (46%)and Republicans (43%) now say expanded exploration
-the percentage of liberals who said expanding energy exploration was their most important priority doubled from 22 percent in February to 45 percent; increased by 19 points to 50 percent among independents; and by 18 points to 46 percent among women.
-Fully half of people ages 18 to 29 (51%) now say expanding energy exploration is a more important priority for energy policy than increasing energy conservation and regulation,up from about a quarter (29%)

http://people-press.org/report...