It’s Sunday night, it’s been a beautiful weekend, and I’m just up waiting for my cheesecake to be done for my book group , the Montburries, going strong since 1975, meeting tomorrow night. So rather than post something substantive I’ll just invite you to hop over here to take a little quiz that tests your ability to distinguish Ann Coulter from Adolph Hitler.
A warning: it’s not easy!
Nobody expects him to even win the primary, but in doing some correspondence regarding the VSH Futures Project I came across some information about Dennis Morriseau, one of the candidates running for House of Representatives in the Republican primary.
Years ago, before he started running for office, Morriseau owned a restaurant on Church St. in Burlington called Leunig’s Bistro. Annoyed that there were too many “undesirables”–homeless people–in the area, he came up with an idea for a program he called “Westward Ho!” The idea was that this organization would give bus tickets–one-way tickets, of course–to the crummy people they didn’t want hanging around Burlington anymore. Presto! Problem solved!
Apparently only one person actually took them up on this offer and the idea pretty much went away. One very interesting angle, however, that I just found out about recently,
is that they actually tried to get the IRS to consider the organization a tax-exempt charity.
Yes, they did, I’m not making this up, and I can’t say that I appreciate your skepticism.
Anyway, here’s the link to the Tax Court decision denying the tax-exempt status: One-Way Ticket Out of Town for Homeless Not Motivated by Charitable Impulse.
Here’s one paragraph from the court’s decision:
“It is apparent that petitioner’s activities were designed to rid the Marketplace and downtown Burlington of disruptive homeless persons and to protect the commercial interests of petitioner’s creators, who owned restaurants in the Marketplace. Homeless persons had caused disturbances in the Marketplace and in the restaurants owned by petitioner’s creators. Through various media, Morrisseau, Thompson, and Halvorson expressed their concerns with the problem of homeless persons in Burlington. These expressions, however, reflected frustration with the harassing and abusive behavior of some of the homeless persons and fears of financial loss, rather than concern for the homeless persons. By ridding the area of homeless persons, petitioner’s creators were providing themselves with a more desirable commercial location.”
I understand that Morriseau’s candidacy is motivated by his opposition to the war in Iraq. Still, if you happen to catch him at a campaign appearance, you might want to ask what he thinks of “Westward Ho!” now.
Enjoy the rest of this beautiful summer weekend.
Odum has previously posted about push-polling by the Tarrant campaign. Now, we learn from Scudder’s campaign that Douglas is doing the same thing. Here’s the message I got from Scudder’s campaign today. I don’t have any other details at present, but the fact that Douglas is willing to stoop to these dishonest tactics this early, in the very week he announces his reelection campaign, shows us all what it means to have a Republican governor.
Now We Know What We’re Up Against
Yesterday, Jim Douglas made it official that he’s running for reelection. However, many Vermonters found out late last week and over the weekend what we’re really up against.
Over the past several days, Vermonters have received calls from a polling firm with questions designed to smear Scudder and boost Jim Douglas. They’re out there, testing which message is most effective for a character assassination of Scudder – and what they’re saying is full of exaggerations and misrepresentations. Make no mistake, this is not a real poll; it’s a negative campaign tactic.
If this is the way they’re going to run the race, we need your help more than ever. Help us now to raise the money it’s going to take to push back these un-Vermont tricks and promote Scudder’s vision for Vermont.
Together, WE CAN refuse to let these Washington D.C. style tactics gain traction in Vermont. Let’s keep this campaign real for Vermont. Please click here to make your most generous contribution now. Thank you.
( – promoted by Jack McCullough)
One could easily conclude that Richie Rich and Martha Rainville are decent, moderate people as individuals. Still, these two headlines demonstrate what it means to have the Republicans control the House and Senate, and why it is so important to elect Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch:
Cross posted from Rational Resistance
Who needs help in this country?
If you were an economic policy maker, and you were thinking about which segments of society need a little economic boost, who would get it? The lowest-paid workers in America, or the rich, who are inheriting millions from their parents?
Here’s how the Republicans answer the question:
Just a quick note to share the news of two important rallies in Vermont this weekend:
PEACE MARCH & ART EXHIBIT: Saturday, June 10; 3 pm- Peace March; 4 pm- Art Exhibit; State House Lawn.
VT SPEAKS UP: RALLY TO STOP GENOCIDE IN DARFUR: Sunday, June 11; 2 PM; City Hall Park, Burlington.
Iraq isn’t strictly a local Vermont story, but the front page of today’s http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS01
First, we have the story that about 375 Vermont National Guard members are on their way back from Iraq. This is obviously good news, and we are glad that they will soon be reunited with their families.
Second, and also good news, is the well-deserved death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
So what’s the problem, you say? Well, it’s something you didn’t read in the Free Press, or in most of the other MSM coverage of Zarqawi’s death, but it’s crucial to what’s happening in Iraq today. You see, we had a chance to get Zarqawi way back in 2002. “Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn’t do it,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution.
The reason was simple: taking Zarqawi out of the picture would have taken him off the table as a rationale for invading Iraq. “People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.
Think what that would have meant:
Nicholas Berg, Eugene Armstrong, and other Americans beheaded by Zarqawi: maybe they’d still be alive today.
The suicide bombings around Iraq that Zarqawi organized, and the hundreds killed: maybe they never would have happened either.
And that invasion of Iraq, the one sold to us and to the world based on claims that Iraq was supporting terrorists: well, we know the story about chemical and biological weapons was a lie, we know the story about support for terrorists was a lie, and we know it took a hard sell to get Congress to approve military force. It’s hard to say that this one piece of evidence would have made the difference, but you never know.
And with no invasion of Iraq we wouldn’t have to read about Vermonters being separated from their families. And we wouldn’t have those families worrying about whether their loved ones will be coming home.
Cross-posted at Beyond VSH
Here’s a new story from today’s Vermont Guardian:
Vergennes Mayor to run for legislature
VERGENNES — Mayor April Jin is tossing her hat into the electoral ring, running as a Progressive this fall for the city’s seat in the Legislature.
Do you remember the last time Vergennes was in the news? I do. It was when the local community mental health center was proposing to open a new facility to provide residential and mental health services to people diagnosed with mental illness who don’t need to be confined to a hospital. It wasn’t that long ago, just last November.
I also remember what the open-minded folks of Vergennes did: they got the mayor and council to pass a resolution opposing the siting of such a facility in the City of Vergennes. Nevermind that the very building that was going to be used was already appoved to house a nursing home with twice as many residents, a mental health facility is apparently different.
Mike Smith, the Secretary of AHS at the time, said that this resolution was outrageous, stigmatizing, exclusionary, and discriminatory.
And whose signature was the first one on that resolution? April Jin’s, as if you didn’t know.
Mike Smith was right. In his press release he said, “If this had been a plan for a residential or respite facility for those suffering from some physical illness, I expect that the Mayor and City Council would not have issued the same statement.
. . . We should not allow the subtle signs of discrimination to drive public policy, or prevent us from doing what is right, as we care for the most vulnerable among us.” He didn’t wait around to condemn this. The Vergennes resolution was November 29 and Mike Smith’s press release was December 1. I’ve always appreciated how quickly he stood up to bigotry when he saw it.
Interestingly, what Mike Smith, a Republican, said is more in line with the Progressive Party principles than what Mayor Jin did. Here’s what the Progressive Party says about people with disabilities:
I’ve never met April Jin. I don’t know anything more about her than what I’ve read. What I do know is that when the time came for her to stand up to bigotry she failed that test, and stood with the bigots.
( – promoted by Jack McCullough)
John mentined this story over the weekend but I thought I’d provide some more details.
As I was driving back from my daughter-in-law’s college graduation about a week ago I started noticing yard signs in the Bethel area for Dick McCormack. You may remember him as a sort of gruff, not entirely predictable, but strong-minded state senator for thirteen years throughout the 1990’s and beyond, until he left voluntarily in 2002. Dick was always the kind of guy that I thought of as a real Democrat: strong supporter of the little guy; skeptical of the pwer, especially economic power; and ready for a fight when necessary. I spend a lot of time in the State House and I was always glad when I had to lobby a committee that Dick was serving on. I was glad to see Dick’s yard signs sprouting again, so I thought I’d give him a call.
It’s true, Dick is running for Senate again, and this is good for the party and the people. Windsor has been a strong Democratic county, sending such strong Dems as Cheryl Rivers, Peter Welch, and Matt Dunne, to the Senate over the years. If we’re going to keep our strong voice in the Senate we need candidates like Dick, and Dick himself, to carry on the struggle.
I’ve invited Dick to visit us here at Green Mountain Daily, and to post his thoughts and comments as he gets the chance. Since he told me he’s just easing into the world of cyberspace (he told me, “I realized I had to catch up when people stopped asking me if I had an e-mail address and just started asking me what my e-mail address was”) it may be a bit of an adjustment for him. Still, until we hear from him directly why don’t you take a look at his web page to get a good sense of what he’s all about?
Here’s a commentary I got from the Vermont Progressive Party. It’s by Kurt Staudter and I think it expresses some of the dissatisfaction that many of us have with the Legislature’s deal on health care.
Health Care Commentary:
Historic Health Care Reform?
By Kurt Staudter
“The politics of health care reform in Vermont and in the nation will remain the politics of the center for the foreseeable future. In the case of Vermont – and I suspect the nation as well – it will take a coalition of the left (who after all wants something, as opposed to those on the extreme right who want either nothing or something so minor as to be inconsequential) and the center to enact reform. This will mean that single-payer advocates will have to reconcile themselves to the fact that they may not get all they want immediately.” Howard M. Leichter, Winter 1994 issue of Health Affairs
That was written more than a decade ago after our last attempt at historic health care reform. Meanwhile, the costs have gone out of control, the quality of care has deteriorated, the number of people uninsured or under-insured is climbing to record levels, and we haven’t a clue as to how we are going to pay for this dysfunctional system. Yet, after intense negotiations, and in the dark of night, a deal was brokered between Governor Douglas and the Democrats in the legislature. A deal for which both sides are now claiming victory. With all of the back-slapping and self-congratulatory speech making going on, one would have to believe that maybe the state has finally gotten their act together and passed historic systemic healthcare reform. I wish that I could tell you that were true, but the reality is actually quite different.
For those that have been working on the issue of healthcare justice for more than three decades, the work done last year in the legislature was the source of great hope at the end of a long fight. The fact that Governor Douglas wasn’t going to buy into a plan that would represent true systemic reform really wasn’t that surprising, but after his veto, I was stunned by the behavior of Senator Jim Leddy and Rep. John Tracy as they pointed the finger at you and me for not being more outraged at the governor. This somehow justified for these legislative leaders to move the whole discourse to the right, and despite what has been reported in the news, Catamount Health is neither historic nor reform.
As precious time ticks away we are now going into the next round of waiting for the latest scheme to work, and the problem is that we can’t afford another four year delay to solve the crisis. However that is what we now have, and because we will all dutifully wait a see if Catamount works, during the next two election cycles the issue won’t even be on the table. Incidentally, even Karl Rove couldn’t have manufactured a more effective scuttling of Scudder Parker’s campaign for Governor. Before the deal Scudder said on the steps of the Statehouse, “If I were governor we would be talking about a very different bill,” then adding, “Jim Douglas just doesn’t get it… Jim Douglas thinks voters will just throw up their hands and think nothing can be done.” Governor Douglas is no fool, and as the week wore on he saw that he was clearly seen as the one unwilling to compromise, and after gutting any sort of true reform from the bill, he was ready to sign on. And Scudder Parker might as well pack it in and enjoy the summer.
This is of course the problem when the right/center coalition is permitted to write healthcare reform legislation. We ended up with yet another version of the employer benefit/insurance company model that has led to the crisis in the first place. Did we uncouple the financial link between employment and health insurance coverage? No. In fact Catamount forces a greater link between employment and health care by encouraging employers to carry their employees on their insurance, and if they don’t, then they will be forced into the Catamount pool. I will say that charging employers a piece of the cost of public programs is a step in the right direction. However, any way you slice this, the cost of the employer based benefit system is not sustainable and will eventually collapse of the shear weight of the costs.
Add to this the fact that families will have to pony up to $1,600 that they can’t afford to buy into the program. We’ve just moved the bar a little for low-income Vermonters for a program that will remain unaffordable. Then one of the parts of the backroom deal capped the state involvement in Catamount to only cover the first 25,000 of the 60,000 uninsured. I guess those that get neglected can just suck it up. And nothing is done for the rest of us that are being crushed under the weight of unaffordable insurance, and nothing is going to be done to reign in the out of control costs of our inefficient system.
Perhaps what disgusted me the most about Catamount is that it is just another insurance company product. The new program is going to be offered through the insurance companies, and we all know that if they can’t make a profit on Catamount, they’ll just have to make up the difference with rate increases in our already too high premiums. Here we go again with private sector gatekeepers whose job is to limit care and maximize profits. The whole point was to move beyond the employer/insurance company model to a program that actually took care of our healthcare needs in a way that was effective and efficient. Catamount does neither, and 4 years from now we will realize that we have to start all over again. Let’s hope it’s not too late. But for those of us that didn’t get timely affordable care during that time, sadly, it will be.
Kurt Staudter appears regularly in the Springfield Reporter and Vermont
Standard
We have good news this week. Two advocacy organizations have settled major cases and demonstrated, once again, that change doesn’t happen without a fight.
The Conservation Law Foundation, which for years has been in the forefront of environmental advocacy in Vermont, and for almost as long has been the governor’s most hated organization, sued Lowe’s over its plans for a store in South Burlington. They just announced a new agreement to change the plans to reduce stormwater runoff from the site, and Lowe’s even agreed to new roofing technology, in which the roof will be covered with soil and planted with vegetation, in a future store. None of this would have happened without the CLF lawsuit.
In another case, Vermont Protection & Advocacy settled a suit with the Vermont Department of Corrections over its treatment of prisoners with psychiatric conditions. Believe it or not, before this case the prisons would actually punish prisoners by putting them in solitary for cutting themselves or doing other self-harming behavior arising out of their psychiatric disabilities. Yes, you got that right: when prisoners were driven to hurt themselves, rather than provide treatment, the Department would punish them.
Now, after being taken to federal court, the state has agreed to do what they should have been doing all along.
Congratulations to both of these organizations for their great work!