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McCarthyism Online (for Skeeter)

by: PeteySweety

Tue Nov 16, 2010 at 14:32:40 PM EST

"isn't it true mr./ms. blogger
that you have occasionally made
the crude joke that could be
construed as not only homophobic
and racist and sexist but also
radically out of step with those
of us who stand for true democracy
and correct thought and feeling good?"

"well, mr. front-pager, I..."

"comment yes or no please"

" mr. front-pager, I was merely pointing out..."

"I'm waiting for a yes or no reply"

"I can't see anything homophobic
or racist or sexist in my posts
nor do I see anything wrong
with making jokes about people in power
or people who willingly come to the defense
of those people in power because..."

"that is not a yes or a no
so I will interpret your response
as an attack upon all we are trying
to do here in creating a progressive
and enlightened community of blog
I am hitting the delete button"

"but mr. front-pager, I...(deleted)

(But the 'Anyone But Dubie' poster-babe, that's not sexist.  Hmmmm...Or, to coin a phrase:  "Have you no sense of decency, sir?  At long last, have you left no sense of decency?")

Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt.
(Kafka Lives!)

Vermont Secession: Beyond the Straw Men

by: carbonpenguin

Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 14:24:13 PM EDT

Probably the biggest blow to the Vermont independence movement came in 2007 with the League of the South controversy.  Sparked by a Southern Poverty Law Center report on Second Vermont Republic's ties to the League of the South, and fanned by an anonymous blog and an assortment of Vermont bloggers, the controversy focused most of the Vermont political blogosphere discourse around whether or not SVR founder Thomas Naylor is a closet racist and whether SVR is a front for the a modern white supremacist/neo-confederate agenda.

This controversy has had the unfortunate (or intended?) effect of closing off discussion of the many important issues that Naylor and others in the independence camp have brought up.  The accusation of racism is one of the most effective ways to delegitimize an individual or idea in modern American society, and in this case it has been utilized to effectively narrow the range of acceptable discourse around sustainability and decentralism among Vermont's intellectuals.  It's okay to discuss buying local, and maybe even peak-oil; but heaven forfend one brings up the unsustainability of the Federal Government (both in terms of its scale and its fiscal policies).  Only racists like Thomas Naylor talk about that stuff.

The thing that strikes me as most disappointing about this whole state of affairs is that it seems that some those most eagerly attacking SVR are actually folks who value decentralism.  Therefore, I'd be curious to know what people (particularly the GMD crew) think of the independence question divorced from personality-based attacks on Naylor.  For anti-Naylor folks support who it in principle, it seems to me that the intellectually honest thing to do is to start a rival organization that takes the critiques of the last few years into account; for those who oppose secession in principle, I urge you to argue the real meat of the issues at hand rather than fixating on a thoroughly beaten straw-man.

What I personally understand SVR and the Middlebury institute to be doing is working to build a sort of meta-secessionist movement with the purpose of legitimizing the idea of secession in America, divorced from any particular set of political values.  Because of the Civil War, we have the knee-jerk reaction of associating secession with slavery, but anyone with more than a cursory knowledge of world history know that there have been countless example of justifiable and progressive political dissolution (the breakup of the Soviet Union being but one instance).  This total association of the Civil War with secession in the American political consciousness has become a source of Federal Legitimacy which reifies the narrative of American History as a story of continuous centralization.  As a result, Americans seem to have forgotten that, in our own case as in the case of other countries, governments and nations are merely structures created by human beings.  The knowledge of this means that, when they become abusive or decadent, we have the responsibility to deal with those issues head on rather than retreating into the comfortable myths of nationhood.  It's really easy to play the guilt by association and character assassination games; it's much harder to take on the immense problems we now face and attempt to determine through discourse what needs to be done.

If a statement isn't intended to have serious meaning ...

by: Rama Schneider

Fri Aug 15, 2008 at 07:41:15 AM EDT

In another thread (here) the use of this phrase occurred twice in succession, and I pointed out a simple fallacy: in order to be 7th generation Vermonter, one would have to be 140 to 175 years old depending on how many years you want to go with for generation.

In today's Times Argus (story not posted online yet) this same claim to multi-generational Vermonterism is repeated. "Matthew is an eight-gneration Vermonter who grew up on Scragg Mountain ..." (Man pleads not guilty in pie-throwing, Times Argus, 08/15/08).

My whole discussion about this stems from an interest in what people are trying to say, how they say and what they mean to infer in their words. It's obvious that many people believe a claim to long family ties to Vermont has special meaning, but it's not so obvious what they are trying to say is so special.

Apparently even bringing this subject up is enough to have opprobrium upon the questioner in the form of troll ratings and attempts to be dismissive (ironically while responding to the questioner's posts).

I think laying claim to being a multi-generational Vermonter and that having any import in issues of discussion is meaningless, trite even.

What do you think?

Dems = Repubs ... sad but true

by: Rama Schneider

Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 07:27:48 AM EDT

The Democratic led Congress has opted to give Cheney/Bush/Gonzales wider latitude and less no oversight!

Oh yeah, the Democratic led Congress also forked over another $450 billion for non Afghanistan/Iraq related war spending. Can't wait for that second half of the bill.

But the Dems did accomplish something ... they got to go home for summer break!

The only difference between today's Democratic and Republican parties is the way they talk. The end result is the same ... over and over and over and over and over and over ad nauseum.

Military spending, war authorities, the war on the American people aka the drug war, voting machines and elections malfeance, spying on the American people, secretive government, corporate protections at the expense of the Jane and John Does of the world ... you name it. We as natural persons have done nothing but see our powers and protections erode year after year, decade after decade ... under Democratic and Republican control. 

If you really want to whip the Democratic Party into line, you would simply not support them for one election cycle. Face it ... things really can't get any worse as the Dems are already giving facism everything it wants. After one election cycle a much chastened party will be willing to take the serious issues of freedom and democracy seriously. 

Oh wait - I forgot - the Dems gave the poorest workers a seventy cent pay raise (while the Dem politicians managed to garner a multi thousand dollar salary increase)!

Whew! And I thought they weren't busy doing good things.

A Call for Action from the Northeast Impeachment Coaltion

by: patrioticresponse

Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 13:55:01 PM EDT

This past Sunday, July 29, over 50 impeachment activists from seven northeastern states met in Worcester MA to spearhead a united push for impeachment across the region.

Below is our Statement of Purpoose and a regional call for actions in the next two months.

Dan DeWalt

Northeast Impeachment Coalition Statement of Purpose

Our nation is in crisis. The executive branch of the Bush administration has breached constitutional rule in our Republic. They have shown contempt for our nation, the Constitution and the principle of the separation of powers by asserting a self-professed authority to block oversight of the executive branch by Congress and the courts.

If this assault on the separation of powers goes unchecked, it will set a dangerous precedent, encouraging future presidents to act contrary to the interests of the nation with impunity.

Impeachment of the President and Vice President is the only constitutional remedy available to the Congress that addresses executive abuse of power. Yet Congress has refused to act.

Every member of Congress takes an oath of office to preserve and defend the Constitution. They have an ethical obligation to act in its defense without exceptions for political expediency. Every member acknowledged this professional obligation when they swore their personal solemn and sacred oath.

Failure by Congress to impeach puts the Constitution, the rule of law, civil liberties and our democratic form of government at severe risk.

Revolt & Repeal Ads?

by: peterbrunovt

Mon Mar 05, 2007 at 13:32:23 PM EST

Green Mountain Sell-Out

by: SnarkyAlterEgo

Thu Aug 17, 2006 at 23:37:13 PM EDT

GMD proclaims to be liberal but they’re pretty quick to banish the thoughts and opinions of anything that veers from their proscribed little view of Democratic thought. They argue, for example, that Ned Lamont is close to the second coming of Christ but scream holy hell about anyone criticizing Hillary Clinton, questioning media monopolies, or – god forbid – swearing. GMD is about everything that is wrong with liberalism in Vermont: they love activists and renegades from afar but shit their pants when it comes to their doorstep. Lamont for Connecticut? Great. But criticism of Welch in Vermont? How dare you.

They’ll get what they deserve: more milquetoast Democrats promulgating more ridiculous reforms like the meaningless health care bill passed in the last Democratic-led legislative session. And they’ll continue to applaud mediocrity, because mediocrity is all they know.

Like the Democrats nationwide, the Vermont Democrats are unable to be real or speak the truth. They’re stuck in some obnoxious paradigm that tragically affixes them to the quicksand of deceit. They start out with ideals but turn to mush when it’s time to fight for those ideals. They talk the talk of change but chicken out when it’s time to walk the talk of change. They preach tolerance but practice censorship. They worship change but cling to the same old, same old.

And if you don’t believe me, consider these two less-than-dynamic names: Scudder Parker and Peter Welch.

What’s most tragic, however, is that GMD thinks it’s following in the netroots tradition of liberal Internet activism like the national sites they so want to emulate, sites like DailyKos and MyDD. But what they don’t understand is that these sites don’t censor and these sites have a significant audience – and these conditions are NOT mutually exclusive. GMD’s national godfathers created the audience and then wielded their power, whereas GMD has tried to wield their power WITHOUT their audience (just look at the same 7 participants!). Worse, they’ve dutifully disdained anyone who has visited their site with a thought outside their stultifying little constrictions of thought. Sound familiar? Yep, it’s the same notions that have kept the Democrats in the powerless position they’re in.

The Snarky Boy went onto the GMD site to see if there was hope. Unfortunately, the Snarky Boy has learned that there is no hope for GMD in their current mindset. Oh sure, the same old folks will heap praise on them and exchange links with them, but those are the same old folks who thought Howard Dean was a liberal while governing Vermont and that Gaye Symington’s ridiculous health care compromise meant anything other than two-more-years for Jim Douglas.

GMD, unfortunately, is like the dog that chased cars. They tried and they tried until, finally, they were run over. They thought they won, but everyone else saw how obviously they lost.

Fine, GMD, kick me out. I knew you would. But while you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face, consider this: Without me, your site got as boring as the candidates you support.

Get real. Sleep well.

Ding-Dong, PoliticsVT is Dead!

by: Snarky Boy

Wed Aug 16, 2006 at 19:02:49 PM EDT

Vermont Blogger's Love-Fest (Vol. 2)

by: Snarky Boy

Tue Aug 15, 2006 at 16:11:17 PM EDT

Bernie the Democrat!

by: Bruce Marshall

Sat Jul 08, 2006 at 14:18:00 PM EDT

I guess Bernie wants to debate Craig Hill and Larry Drown? I doubt it. Rather Bernie wants to make shure no one is on the Democratic ballot line come November.

Could it be that Bernie actually wants to be a  Democrat, the party that he votes like and with whom he is getting support from?

I do not know much about Larry, but I do know that Bernie is aware of the fact that Craig Hill is already making a point of exposing Bernie Sanders
voting record, which exposes the reality of his rhetoric.

I hope that the Vermont press will entertain a true debate and airing of issues. Bernard Sanders does not deserve a free pass to the Senate no matter how chic, warm and fuzzy, he may seem.

  I myself am appalled by the fact that he voted for the Iran Freedom Act, which Dennis Kucinich called "a stepping stones to war". See Justin Raimondo's piece at Antiwar.com for details. Vermonters should know that Bernie has voted for a bill that calls for economic sanctions and regime change in Iran. This is not about peaceful solutions, but solutions based on power politics that plays into Bush's hands.

  Also the fact that Bernie wants to cut off aid to the Palestinians is appalling. The treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government and the United States is nothing less than a genocidal progrom which is stealing land, water and human decency away from these people. Are not all humankind made in the image of god? Are not all men created equal as our Declaration of Independence states? Why not policies that respect such ideas of self-evident truth?

  So in essence Bernie Sanders supports the state sponsored terrorism of Isreal, Britain and the United States which is beggetting the very terrorism that we decry. This is not the way to peace. Peace can only come through trust that can not be bought, but worked at through projects of mutual development which people of that entire region need such as water development. Right now
the battle between the Palestinians and Isreali's is as much about water as anything else.

  There is much more of Bernie's record that he does not want Craig Hill, or anybody else the chance to question him on. I frankly believe that no one deserves a free ride into the Senate of the United States.

  Certainly the other millionaire, and Sanders is a rich man, Richie Tarrent, is not going to go after Sanders voting record that helps the Bush Administration. Tarrent is not going to challenge
Sanders as to why he refuses to take his oath of office seriously...for anyone who believes that 19 Arab hijackers are responisible for demolition of the World Trade Center is either willingly or unwittingly going along with the basic contention of the Bush Administration, that Al-Qeada did 9/11 and thus we must have a war on Terrorism.

  Sorry folks 9/11 was a Reichstag fire style Coup that is the excuse to implement the preemptive war plans of the neoconservatives and concurrrent abrogation of the Constitution which Bush's imperial signing statements attest. With his vote in support of th Iran Freedom Act, Bernie is doing Bush and the NeoCons bidding.

  One must ask why did it take so long for Bernie
to sign on to John Conyers inquiery into a possible impeachment. Well because Vermonter's themsleves were becoming the leaders in our own call to have Bush and Cheney impeached so Bernie finally jumped on board.

  By the way it was Chuck Ross, Patrick Leahy's top aide in Vermont, was the leading voice against the Jefferson's Rulebook Impeachment proceeding from ever being taken up for a vote by the Vermont Legistlature.  Such Legistlature endorsement would bring the very credible issue of impeachment to the floor of Congress. That was not what Leahy and the Democratic leadership want.

  The Democrats do not want to get rid of Bush, they just want to continue the 'wait until November charade' that did not work in with the coup's of 2000 & 2004. Who says that we will have
an election without stories election fraud somewhere in the country this year?

  The issue is that we must get Cheney and Bush out now. Bernie could do that by taking the essence of what Craig Hill tried Patrick Leahy to understand in 2004 about 9/11 and make that an issue. Expose the anomilies of the case that show that the 9/11 Commission was a farce. A farce that is the ultimate unchallenged excuse that allows Bush to go to war and dismantle our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

  The reason that Leahy and Sanders will not bring up this issue is that they are afraid. They know the message of the Anthrax letters. Well there are Citizens in this country and this state that demand that our leaders uphold their Oaths to defend the Country from enemies both foreign and domenstic. Our young soldieres are dying to do so right now, why can't highly paid politicians like
Leahy and Sanders do so?

  If Tarrant is a patriot, then he will ask these questions too, but he is a Bushist, or will he wake up!

  Craig Hill is not an apologist for the Bush administration unlike the wimpy milktoast oppossition of the Co-dependent Democratic Party and suppossedly independent Sanders. Sanders made a faustian bargin with the Democrats a long time ago which has forced him to vote in the democratic block, though he is gets to keep his independent cover. Do not judge a book by its cover.

  Craig Hill has a wide platform of solutions that Vermonter's and the nation needs to hear concerning a New Deal type of approach to solve the Energy crisis/global warming issue which is needed to be implemented as a response as well to
the fact that the finacial system is helplessly
bankrupt. We can have a positive future.

  It is the bankruptcy of the west that is the cause of the imperialism of the United States. War is the way in which the speculative bubbles can be kept alive. Read 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' by John Perkins to understand the role of the IMF/World Bank in its subjugation of nations.
The economic material of the LaRouche organization is right on target as they have for years.

  Craig Hill is not a LaRouche supporter in that he does not like his stance and rhetoric on the environment and other poinst, but Craig does realize the need for a New Deal type of approach to reindustrialize the United States such that we can implement a new Green economy. The Vermont Legistlature passed a Resolution JRH 76 that calls for an New Deal approach to saving the nation's Machine-Tool capacities and skilled workforce through a plan ot diversify the productive capabilities of the ailing Automobile sector. The federal Government can create and allocate the recources towards such a diversification plan. The precident is hear as confirmed by the Vermont Resolution.

  Congress must promote the General Welfare as is its Constitutional charge by directing investment towards those projects in infrastructure and the promotion of science and manjufacturing that will deal with the many issues that face our nation, a nation that still can not seem to clean up New Orleans.

  As a member of the Congressional Committee on Banking what has Bernie Sanders done to promote such Congressional power over the use of the nation's finances towards investment in the physical economy other than going into supportting
the greatest speculative bubbles in history?

  The plan is right there with you and you are in power already as Congressman Mr. Sanders. If you really want to be Senator, why do you not do what you can while you are a Congressman. State that you doubt the official story of 9-11 and want a new investigation. Work to stop a war with Iran as oppossed to helping Bush start one. Bring forth the Vermont Resolution on retooling the auto industry and reviving the American economy away from the bankers such as  Middlebury alum Felix Rohatyn who funds the Democratic Party to not take an FDR style approach to our crisis.

  Bruce Marshall

  Co-Chair Green Party of Vermont.