( – promoted by odum)

Sure it’s summer and the news is pretty quiet. But one of these Fridays, the Vermont State Supreme Court will issue its opinion on the Wal-Mart permit appeal in St. Albans. Wal-Mart? St. Albans? Wasn’t that denied like a decade ago? Permit Appeal? That sounds confusing. How could anyone possibly get up to speed on the convoluted and sketchy attempted resuscitation of the proposed Wal-mart in St. Albans during the Douglas years? Sue Prent to the rescue! In this interview, She gives just the right level of detail to explain the 18 year saga.

Coincidentally, the US Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Wal-Mart in a gender discrimination case. You might remember Antonin Scalia issued this instant classic legal eagle opinon:

Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn’t. Nobody ever thought that that’s what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that.

So let’s hope Wal-Mart does not fare as well in VT’s highest court as we await their Supreme Judgment.

Sue lives in St. Albans, runs Pink House Studios with her husband Mark, and is an active member of Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth, the local grassroots organization that has seen this Wal-Mart fight through from the beginning.

We also discussed her piece An Even More Inconvenient Truth which considers the whole logic of using economic growth as the measure of our economic health. And from her eleven years living in Canada, she can testify to the quality and equity of a universal single-payer health care system. Finally, Sue offered her support to women who want to run for office in Franklin County, which is a great idea especially given that

the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex

.

So as we wait for the VT Supreme Court to decide, we can be thankful that people like Sue are willing to stick their necks out and fight these protracted battles against behemoths for the sake of our future.