About twice a month since April last year a Vermonter has been shot with a 50,000 volt taser by State Police. That is, according to a lengthy article at VtDigger.com by reporter Taylor Dobbs, who has analyzed records of Vermont State Police taser use. He reports that since all troopers were issued tasers in April 2011 they have been fired 33 times in those fifteen months.

According to 81 “use of force” reports released by the Vermont State Police earlier this month, 25 percent of officers have unholstered their Tasers in the line of duty. [How does this compare to frequency of an officer unholstering a firearm?] Since the uniform division of the state police was equipped with Tasers in April 2011, bringing the force total to 207, 53 officers have either deployed their Tasers or displayed them (unholstered their Taser, but did not deploy it in the incident). In all, 154 officers have never reached for a Taser.

The reports don’t make clear how many times the incident involved an individual with a mental health issue.

Below the fold: link to Google interactive Vermont taser-use cluster map!

These details are of particular interest given recent calls for a moratorium on VSP taser use since the death of Macadam Mason, following a State police officer’s  taser deployment to his chest. The use-of force reports showed that the trooper who fired his stun gun at Mason had displayed (un-holstered) but not deployed (fired) his taser more than any other officer in the uniformed state police.

While the majority of officers who have drawn Tasers have only done so once over the 15 months since most were equipped, eight officers have had two incidents involving a Taser, one has had three, four have had four, and one – David Shaffer – has had five.  

Col. Thomas L’Esperance, the top officer in the Vermont State Police, says it’s a matter of chance. Some officers happen to respond to a higher frequency of violent situations, he said.

VtDigger also has an interactive Google map here showing clusters of taser use. The map shows the incident location, date and officer involved.

A geographical analysis of state police Taser incidents shows distinct patterns. Predictably, there were relatively tighter groupings of use around the state’s largest concentrations of population in Rutland and Chittenden counties.

An analysis across the 12 state police barracks showed a cluster in a rural community. There were seven incidents at the Bradford barracks (five of which involved Shaffer). Based on the combined population of all towns within each barracks’ coverage area, Bradford had more than four times more Taser incidents per capita than the state average.

Clusters of taser use are found around major population areas but also several rural areas including around the Bradford barracks.

Vermont Department of Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn wished for better compliance from subjects when asked to  comment on the number of taserings that take place in the state:

“I don’t think I could say that I’m happy with any deployments, because in a perfect world there wouldn’t be any deployments,” he said. If all subjects were compliant, he said, Tasers would be unnecessary.

Yes sir, if all subjects were properly compliant it would be easy, say the people holding 50,000 volt Tasers.  

The indefatigable Al Norman of Sprawl Busters, just brought to my attention this latest reason to resist the lure of Facebook.

Through Sprawl Busters and its  network of sympathizers, Mr. Norman, of Northfield, Massachusetts has maintained a constant vigil since the early nineties against the growing threat to local economies and social systems posed by the meteoric rise of big box store development.  

According to a Reuters report,

(Facebook  CEO, Mark) Zuckerberg and his senior management team will spend two days at Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s Bentonville, Arkansas home office this week, meeting with executives of the world’s largest retailer and discussing ways to “deepen” their relationship.

The object of the exercise seems to be to reinforce the mutual opportunities provided by “data mining.”   Those practices have long been in place at the giant retailer, where every customer transaction is carefully logged, then assessed by a massive data management system for the twin purposes of inventory management and sales opportunity.  

Marrying that capability to personal information that may be collected and assessed through Facebook’s twenty-four hour virtual “surveillance” of users’ lives is an obvious next step that will no doubt be accepted with the same relative indifference that has met each revelation of Facebook’s expanding invasiveness.

Remember those futuristic books that creeped us out in middle school, like “Farenheit 451” and “1984?”  The ones where populations are controlled and rendered compliant by sinister powers through ubiquitous media systems?  

Not so remote from reality now.

Chittenden senatorial candidate, David Zuckerman just picked up another significant endorsement for 2012:

Professional Firefighters of Vermont President Matt Vinci stated “Dave has a proven track record of supporting working families and firefighters and we want you to stand with us in sending David back to Montpelier to represent Chittenden County in the Senate.”

The Firefighters made special note of the leadership shown by Rep. Zuckerman in securing passage of legislation banning the use of DECA, a toxic chemical used in manufactured furniture as a fire-retardant.   Due to the nature of their work environment, firefighters in particular were at risk from repeated exposures to the substance, which has been identified as a hazard affecting multiple functions including reproduction.

(First-hand account from Sunday’s protest in Burlington. – promoted by mataliandy)

There are some truly bizarre things in the police report from Sunday’s demonstration.  First, none of us who were on the sidelines of the confrontation described here saw anything remotely resembling a protestor dragging an officer, as was claimed by the Burlington Police.  People were shot repeatedly with heavy rubber projectiles, about 3/8 inch in diameter, not just “pepper balls”.  As police and their guard dogs were successfully pushing away those blocking the buses, heavily armored officers (presumably from the State Police) lunged into the crowd shooting.  In 30 years of political activism in Vermont, I’ve never seen anything remotely like this extreme overreaction on the part of police.

It was a disturbing end to what was otherwise a glorious day, which brought together an unprecedented variety of environmental and social activists from all across our region.  They included representatives of the Innu people, whose territory in Eastern Quebec continues to be invaded by Hydro Quebec’s apparently insatiable desire to increase hydroelectric production, as well as powerline opponents from northern New Hampshire, and Sierra Club members and other tar sands opponents from all across New England, along with Occupiers, labor activists and so many others.

The Burlington Police like to proclaim their commitment to free speech, which was admirably displayed throughout much of Sunday. But the sight of robo-cops on hair trigger alert, charging a few dozen people and firing their weapons out on College Street was a truly shocking and unnecessary end to an otherwise exceptional day.

According to a facebook post from Bill McKibben, Burlington police used unnecessary violence against tar sands pipeline protesters Sunday. Here’s video he posted of the incident:

http://t.co/yR6Lz4cC

The Free Press, has photos, but no significant commentary (other than a headline that implies the protesters started it):

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

Every once in a while, I read a remark by some leading Vermont Republican (which is no large distinction) to the effect that “The voters should elect more Republicans because of the dangers of one-party rule.” The latest whiner is House (Extremely Small) Minority Leader Don Turner, in the Sunday Freeploid:

“What I am selling is Vermont needs a little bit better balance,” Turner said. “I want to bring more Republicans to Montpelier so there is debate.”

Yep, he wants affirmative action. We should elect more Republicans, not because they have better candidates or have done anything to merit our support, but to create some artificial “balance” in the Statehouse. I do hope Mr. Turner would make the same argument in reverse for Republican-heavy states like Texas or Utah. I hope, but I doubt.

He sure as hell wouldn’t have called for partisan balance during the century or so that Vermont suffered under the yoke of one-party rule by the Republicans.

Give me enough time with the Google, and I could find an almost identical statement from just about every top Republican in the state. But I’ll cite just one more.

 This is from the VTGOP’s own website, quoting Mike Bertrand during the brief time when he was the party’s Executive Director. (The time between his appointment in the fall and his resignation in the winter after the party failed to pay his salary.*)

*Speaking of which, according to the Freeploid, the VTGOP currently has no paid staff. Still hurtin’ for cash, I guess. Which is a really bad sign in a campaign year. Especially one that finds most Republican and conservative organizations flush with greenbacks.

“We have got to return some sense of balance to Montpelier,” said Bertrand.  “The simple truth is that Vermonters want elected leaders to act in the best interests of all Vermonters, and to develop sound policy solutions to our shared problems.  One party rule is not what Vermont needs at this critical time.”

Well, Mike, the thing about elections is that they reflect the will of the voters. At least, so we hear whenever the Republicans win one. I agree with you that Vermonters want leaders to act in their best interests and develop sound policy solutions. But Vermonters freely chose to elect a whole bunch of Democrats in pursuit of those ends, and decisively turned their backs on your party. They did so, not because of imaginary ACORN shenanigans or brainwashing by the allegedly liberal media, but because they overwhelmingly preferred liberal ideas and Democratic candidates. There was a battle of ideas, bucko, and you lost it. Bigtime.

If you want to end one-party rule in Montpelier, the task is simple: come up with candidates and ideas that appeal to Vermonters. The VTGOP used to be good at that: Bob Stafford, Dick Snelling, Jim Jeffords, Jim Douglas. These days, its only political figure with anything like broad appeal is Phil Scott.

What do those past and present figures have in common?  Relative moderation. Or, in Douglas’ case, the carefully-maintained image of moderation. If the VTGOP hopes to diminish, or even end, the Democrats’ dominance of state government, they need more candidates like Bob Stafford or Jim Jeffords or Phil Scott. And they need to turn back to the more moderate Republicanism of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. You know — back when they used to win a lot of elections.

Instead, they’ve turned themselves into a carbon copy of the national party, whose far-right conservatism puts it way outside the Vermont mainstream. The result in 2010 — a year of epically-proportioned Republican landslides, and a year when the VTGOP hoped to bask in the fading glow of the Douglas years — was an embarrassing defeat that handed the Dems the governorship and veto-proof Legislative majorities. They follow up that incredible pratfall with a pathetic 2012 performance that included the financially-induced resignation of their executive director, the failure to even contest enough House and Senate races to come close to a majority, and a statewide ticket full of has-beens and never-wases. And Phil Scott.

Then they put the cherry on top of this turd sundae by inviting Maine Governor Paul LePage to raise money for Randy Brock — whereupon LePage immediately makes an ass of himself and creates a nightmarish news cycle or two for the VTGOP. And now they’re inviting Allen West??? Good God, what are they thinking? Or smoking?

And they have the sheer gall to complain about one-party rule, and plead with Vermonters to elect a few more Republicans for the sake of “balance.” Well, sorry, guys, but it’d be against your stated principles to consider you a minority group and grant you some affirmative-action hires. Get out there and earn it, you slackers!

Whatever happened to Gay Pride this summer? Or so I’ve heard folks wonder. Are we so assimilated that there’s no need to march – or parade – for equality, resistance to het norms, for finding ourselves and each other?

Well, there are Pride things happening (including events in Randolph, which I didn’t attend and are not part of this diary), just not necessarily where and when we’ve come to expect.* And three or four recent episodes of homegrown homophobia underline the fact that while we’re legally equal in the Green Mountain State, we still face ignorance and prejudice.

[The Pride Parade and Festival are scheduled for Sept. 21-22 in Burlington, according to the organizing committee’s press release.]

Stonewall ‘Memorial’ at the UU Church

In June, on the actual very anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion (the 27th, into the wee hours of the 28th originally), the first well-publicized event of this year’s Vermont LGBT Pride was held at the Unitarian Universalist Church at the top of Church Street in Burlington.

It was billed as a “memorial” for the rebellion, and the organizers attempted to keep it solemn and “non-political”: Reverend Roberta requested no applause, although there was laughter, thanks to Sam Sanders and Paige Bailey, among others. I brought a “New Glory” flag into the church and sat with it off to the side.

Sanders and Bailey related their memories of being in New York before, during, and after the police raid on a seedy, mafia-run bar where queers and drag queens and street kids hung out. Sanders in particular painted word pictures with such detail, it was a  “You Are There” moment. Bailey reclaimed and proclaimed her identity as a “bulldagger,” as her African American community named her.

The NYC police never expected a bunch of pansies, dykes, and drag queens to fight back against their arrest – they never had before, they knew the routine: the search to identify three items of gender-appropriate clothing, the gathering of names cross-checked with IDs, then a quick release for most, and a perp walk to the waiting wagon for those who refused or who conformed the least. In the rising tension, a butch dyke in handcuffs, who had fought and escaped from the wagon repeatedly, was hit by a cop with a baton, and manhandled into the wagon. “Isn’t anyone going to do anything?!” she cried out. And the dam broke. The queers fought back, forcing the cops to hole up inside the bar awaiting reinforcements, watching as dykes, bulldaggers, faggots, crossdressers and assorted street folk black and white, young and older, rammed the doors with a parking meter ripped out of the sidewalk.

There was no applause, as requested, just a wave of sighs as listeners slowly came back to the Burlington UU, here where we have a legal right to exist and our relationships are not clandestine because of fear of arrest.

Susan Murray (co-founder of Vermont Freedom to Marry, and co-counsel on Baker v. State that resulted in the legislative “compromise” of Civil Unions in 2000, followed by marriage equality in 2009) ably emceed the event. There was a short candle-light vigil on the steps of the church after the ‘memorial.’

It was so assimilated, and so frustrating to those of us who had lived through the years of no rights and no official help when gay guys started dying of the disease later named AIDS. I wanted to make three points before the crowd dispersed. And here’s what I said:

“One: This was called a ‘memorial.’ BUT WE AIN’T DEAD YET!

“Two: We’ve done a lot of work to get equal rights here, BUT WE AIN’T DONE YET!

“The third thing is: Don’t you DARE take the rights we have here in Vermont for granted, they can all disappear in a day. And that day is THE FIRST TUESDAY IN NOVEMBER: VOTE, PICK A CANDIDATE AND WORK TO KEEP OUR RIGHTS!”

[After the jump: Heroes, Saints & Martyrs; Separation of Church & Hate, more …]

Heroes, Saints, & Martyrs at St. Paul’s Episcopal

The next event that I attended in this year’s extended LGBT Pride celebration was an art show at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral (anyone beginning to see a trend here?). The show consisted of 40 depictions in photos, drawings, and calligraphy by Judith McMannis of martyrs, saints, and heroes. It included the gay Franciscan priest and NYFD Chaplain Father Mychal Judge, who died ministering to the fallen in the North Tower command post when the South Tower collapsed on September 11, 2001. Among the heroes was Beth Robinson, who argued Baker v. State before the Vermont Supreme Court where she now sits as one of the Justices, and worked tirelessly to get legal marriage equality in Vermont. There were actual church-denominated saints and martyrs, noted for faithful ‘friends’ of the same gender, and for whose sake they had been kidnapped, or tortured. The parents of one local gay man were honored as heroes for making an about-face from their church’s antigay teachings when their son came out.

The thing that was missing was any acknowledgment that Christian churches have been largely responsible for creating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender martyrs since before the Inquisition. There was no apology (unlike at the Chicago Gay Pride parade, although more research has revealed troubling information there, too).

So I brought my own sign to the event. I’ll say this for the Christians at the opening reception: it was a well received conversation starter.

Churches and LGBT Pride

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s great when churches stop persecuting us queers and teaching their members to hate and fear us. The UU folks were one of the earliest churches to welcome lgbtq members. Vermont Episcopal Bishop Tom Ely was instrumental in persuading Rep. Jeff Young (a Democrat who had voted against the marriage equality bill) to vote in favor of overriding Governor Jim Douglas’s veto, and I deeply appreciate that effort toward civil equality. The Episcopals just accepted a “blessing” liturgy for same-sex couples – not a marriage liturgy, mind you.

Yet I can’t help but notice that almost every Christian church identifying itself as “welcoming” to lesbians and gay men wants to march in the Pride Parade with their banner and their gay, lesbian, and ally members all decked out in rainbow colors. They’re advertising – just as the bars with their floats and the nonprofit organizations are – trolling for customers and donors; the churches want us to swell the ranks of their congregations, and, oh btw, we should bring our tithes, too.

And I have to ask whether these Jesus-come-lately organizations have really earned a right to be in the Pride Parade. Have they or their denominations made any apologies for their long histories of preaching against us?* Have they ever offered to work behind the scenes with the parade organizers? They could, for example, work in traffic control or security, so the lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender folk who are doing those volunteer jobs might get a chance to participate in the joyful dance up Church Street one time. Not one church, not once has made such an offer to my knowledge in my memory of more than 25 Pride marches and parades.

*[The Episcopal Church has, in fact, apologized for its rejection of gay and lesbian people in a statement that was accepted at a national church gathering. I have seen it, but I cannot now locate the document online.]

Separation of Church and Hate

Have the “Welcoming” churches attempted dialog with the evangelicals and fundamentalists on the theological basis of acceptance and Jesus’s “greatest commandment” to “Love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself”? If so, I haven’t heard of it. Have they ever attended those churches and spoken individually at whatever social gathering might follow the service and just chatted with the members about being in a welcoming church? There are not even any rumors about such a thing happening.

So I wonder why it is that this year’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Pride celebration seems so focused on Christian churches (although some would not count the UU as “Christian”).

A friend on the Pride organizing committee said the churches “offered.” With June about to expire sans celebration, the Stonewall memorial was pulled together quickly, and the UU agreed to host the event on short notice. The St. Paul’s art show was cosponsored with the local chapter of Integrity.

Homegrown Homophobia

Do those two events balance somehow the continued existence of homegrown homophobia? To wit:

A local Salvation Army chapter has fired a worker who came out as bisexual during a conversation with her boss.

Local UVM ice legend Tim Thomas, the Bruins’ goalie (who has been on leave since well before this tempest), wants to “stand by” the anti-gay remarks of the president of Chick-fil-A, which have become an online controversy in the last couple of weeks. The Muppets know more about equality and integrity than Tim Thomas does.

You remember Chick-fil-A, the company suing Vermont tee shirt maker Bo Muller-Moore over his slogan, “Eat More Kale.”

And in my own hometown, a member of the combined Methodist-Congregational (United Church of Christ) church in the middle of the village said that gay people would not be welcome there, that the bible says gay people should be killed. She said it to the next-door neighbor of friends of mine, a gay couple looking for a church to attend, perhaps to join. The neighbor warned them away, leaving them amazed and daunted that such institutional and personal homophobia could still exist here in gay-friendly Vermont.

The list could be much longer, including the parental abduction of a child born into a civil union (NYT tiered subscription) and the alleged assistance of the abductor’s church (BFP subscription with 10 freebies/month) in getting the newly “born again” parent out of the country so as to not comply with court-ordered visits by the “other mother.”

Separation of Church and State

The reason the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed Congress in 1996 (Senator Leahy voted for it, but has since had a change of heart as a sponsor of S.598, the Respect for Marriage Act) was as a sop to right wing religious fanatics, who, with the connivance of the Republican Party, threatened to push for a constitutional amendment that, if ratified by two-thirds of the states, would have enshrined anti-lgbt bias in the constitution. The law prevents the federal government from legally recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions regardless of their legal standing in any state. And it allows states to ignore the principle of “full faith and credit,” which essentially requires that contracts executed in one state be honored in another.

There is no such amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But 30 states have passed amendments to their state constitutions defining marriage as “one man, one woman.” Six more do not recognize same sex marriages or civil unions from other states. These laws are based in a particular and highly selective Christian reading of their holy book. They have no place in state policy in a country that pledges itself to equal treatment of all under the law.

Repealing DOMA and enacting ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would be two small but important steps toward get some religion out of the federal government. Having liberal churches in conversation with their gay-oppressive co-religionists would make even bigger steps possible.

The Vermont Republican Party webpage prominently announces that Republican Congressman Allen “there are 78 to 81 Democrat party members of the communist party" West will be visiting Vermont August 5th to speak at a Waterbury Country Club.

If there were such a thing,the Vermont GOP’s political barometer would be falling off the headquarters wall …to the right. It is as if the troublesome headlines surrounding Maine Governor Lepage’s visit weren’t enough to destroy the carefully cultivated centrist facade Governor Jim Douglas used as his umbrella, now crazy talk headliner Republican Congressman Allen West will storm into the state to see what he can do. According to Seven Days VtGOP Party Chairman Jack Lindley said Allen West is

“one of the many up and coming Republican leaders, there's no question about it. He's part of the big Republican tent."

No question about it you can find more big Republican tent stuff like this remark:

"Well, you know what, it is about time that we end this Gestapo-like intimidation tactics that we see coming from Nancy Pelosi and also from the president as well,"

here at What West Said!

Democratic primary candidate for Attorney General T.J.Donovan is calling for Vermont to enact a statewide policy on taser use.

“For the towns that decide to allow Tasers, we must develop statewide policies and protocols for their use. In particular, we must ensure that all police officers have thorough training that includes recognizing and responding to mental health issues,”

This comes on the heels of the death last month of an unarmed 39-year-old man. Macadam Mason of Thetford had a history of seizures and died after being tasered by a Vermont State Police trooper. Also following Mason’s death an online petition requesting a moratorium on tasers in the state has over one thousand signatures including that of former Governor Madeline Kunin.

Back in 2008 at the start of an investigation resulting from public outcry over two Brattleboro taser incidents, Attorney General Sorrell put forward the possibility of a uniform statewide taser policy. However upon completion of the report he had dropped the idea. Sorrell recommended communities that chose to equip themselves with tasers develop their own protocols. The Vermont ACLU, which still supports statewide taser protocols, said at the time that Sorrell should have been more forceful in his recommendations.

T.J. Donovan says:

As Attorney General, I would work with key stakeholder groups, such as the Vermont ACLU, the League of Cities and Towns and the Vermont  State Troopers and Sheriffs Associations, as well as mental health advocacy groups, to develop a toolkit for towns to have this important conversation.

Although still well short of supporting a moratorium, Donovan’s proposed policy change may be a step toward stopping the 50,000 volt taser from becoming Vermont’s most convenient pain compliance tool.

The fight over extending the Bush tax cuts moved forward yesterday, with Senate Republicans failing to block the Obama administration's proposal to extend the tax cuts for 98% of the population.

As TPM reports:

 Senate Democrats have accomplished a feat they were unable to muster back in 2009 and 2010, when they had a much larger majority: On Wednesday, they passed a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone’s first $250,000 in income.

The legislation prevailed 51-48 — a vote that signals Democrats would ultimately be willing to allow tax cuts for high-income earners to expire at the end of the year.

To my mind, there are two good things about this. First, it makes clear that the Republicans don't give a rat's ass about anyone except the richest people in the country. Second, it demonstrates that the Democrats were willing to stand up to the Republicans, and would, as TPM points out, let the tax cuts for the rich expire.

It's a start.