( – promoted by GMD)

(cross-posted to Vermont Watch, here)

If you have not already come across the news yet, former Governor Madeleine Kunin has signed the online petition calling for a moratorium on the use of Tasers within Vermont (no title, just her name; petition main page, here):

86. madeleine Kunin Jul 12, 2012 burlington, VT

Six paragraphs concerning these matters are found within the top of the Vermont Press Bureau’s Notes from the Trail political news column and also features a photo of Madeleine Kunin speaking out front of the Vermont State House (most likely earlier this year), which also includes other political news as well, within today’s Times Argus and Rutland Herald newspapers.

A couple of key excerpts (via Times Argus, here; behind paywall):

[…]

Former Gov. Madeleine Kunin added her name to an online petition that urges Gov. Peter Shumlin to call for an immediate moratorium on the use of Tasers by the Vermont State Police as better policies are developed.

[…]

“I think that with careful law enforcement training there are better ways to diffuse a dangerous situation,” Kunin wrote in her email. “Because Tasers have become widely available, the temptation to use them is great. We need to assure that proper training in their use is always available.”

[…]

Thank you if you have already signed onto the petition. It is greatly appreciated!

If you have not already signed it yet, how about adding your name along with that of former Governor Madeleine Kunin and also some other names you might recognize as well (here)?

Take time to wade through the signatures posted thus far and find them for yourself.

By the way, as of this moment, there are 820 signatures.

Please help us reach and exceed our current (automatically set) goal of 1000 and then beyond.

Thank you in advance.

So yesterday we learned that unsubtle racism is the Rutland County Republican Party’s idea of “comedy based in reality.” (The offensive “joke” was scrubbed from the RCGOP’s official Facebook page after we revealed it here. Courage of your convictions, RCGOP.)

Here’s another sample of the RCGOP Facebook page’s comic stylings:

Bwahahahaha. Oh, you Rutland County GOPpies, you know how to tickle a funny bone, that’s for sure. Hey, y’got any of them pictures of a watermelon garden on the White House lawn? That’s a real knee-slapper. Bone-in-the-nose Obama? Always good for a laugh. Obama with a Hitler mustache? Yeah, that’s political commentary with tongue in cheek.

Hey, Wendy Wilton, candidate for Treasurer and Rutland County Republican in good standing: Got anything to say about your compatriots’ Facebook page?

I’ll just add one little bit of historical fact to this diary. If you really want to choose Presidents based on military service — as opposed to how purty they look in a uniform — then Jimmy Carter would have beaten Ronald Reagan (who spent World War II doing stateside PR for the armed services) and John Kerry would have trounced G.W.  

Just a quick reminder that our annual Hamburg Summit, in conjunction with Philip Baruth of Vermont Daily Briefing is coming up next Saturday, July 21, from 1:00 – 5:00PM, at North Beach in Burlington.

We provide the grilled food and trimmings.  Everyone is encouraged to bring a little something else to contribute to the festivities: chips, dips, salads, dessert; what-have-you.  ‘Doesn’t have to be much.

BYOB so you’ll be sure you have enough refreshment.  It may be a hot day, if this is any weekend by which to judge!

Besides Chittenden senatorial candidate Baruth, there should be a number of our other favorite Democratic candidates stopping by to sample the cuisine and press some flesh.

Our own luminary, ex-GMD publisher and current Montpelier City Clerk, John Odum has promised an early appearance.  This is your chance to see if he is still the same down-and-dirty blog-jockey you grew to know and love on GMD.  

As always, we promise you will return home with bellies full and hoarse from stimulating conversation.

See you there!

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

    Now that the Supreme Court has decided that the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, ( or as I like to think of it , Obama Cares ! ), is constitutional, politicians can now only go on and on about the “mandate”: is it a tax, a penalty, a premium, or revenue… and so on. Instead of focusing on the root causes of our health care problems, and helping with real solutions, they only fight over what are essentially symptoms of long-term neglect to reform our health care” system” in this country. Meanwhile these same politicians, who don’t shirk at taking away access to health care for some people, themselves enjoy mandated health care payed for by all of us taxpayers, whether or not we ourselves have health care !

  The same behavior of endlessly arguing about the “symptoms” of Vermont’s path toward health care reform under Green Mountain Care rather than coming up with real “root cause” solutions is equally true of single-payer critics here in Vermont.

Even the ACA, with its many excellent provisions that a majority of Americans would like to keep, does not adequately address the rising cost of health care. This is because it is based on the moderate Republican model of “Romney-care” which makes people buy coverage from the usual suspects, private for-profit insurance companies. Ironically , this was a failed effort to gain bi-partisan support of Republicans, who have now become the most vicious opponents of the former Republican “success story” of Gov. Mitt Romney. ( Romney himself has been forced to practically disown what he once bragged about. )

 

    As Vermont works towards a single-payer solution to address our “symptoms”, we are taking an over-all look at the way things are done currently, including existing mandates. The goal is to come up with a co-ordinated and comprehensive “treatment”, ( to use the health care metaphor ), in the way that health care providers themselves urge as the best way to treat & heal a patient.

On the other hand, Green Mountain Care opponents trot out the same old hyperboles, ( “a runaway train”, “Titanic-care”), but are unable to offer any solutions.

   When I first wrote this last week, Sen. Randy Brock, who has made health care his signature issue in running for governor, was hosting a fundraiser featuring Maine’s controversial governor, Paul LePage. Gov. LePage is hyperbole-champion among Republicans, if that is possible, having just recently referred to the IRS as the “Gestapo”. He may be gracing Sen. Brock’s beautiful home in Swanton because he has “reformed” health care in Maine, and Sen. Brock has been desperate to come up with some plan of his own to offer on the campaign trail. But Maine’s new policy is more one to avoid, rather than to emulate. While premiums for some have gone down by covering less, rates for those who can least afford it, ( seniors and small businesses ), have increased . Insurance companies have been given more power to to vary their rates based on age and geography. Small rural health care facilities, where there are no other nearby options for residents, may be forced to shut down. The real kicker is the individual insurance market can reduce premiums using a $22million PUBLIC subsidy. Maine residents are subsidizing private insurance companies !

  So let’s hope that Sen. Brock decides not to push LePage’s ” solution”.

(They deleted it. Sucks to be the Rutland County GOP.)   – promoted by kestrel9000)

Thanks to GMD regular NToddPritsky for cluing us in to this.

 I had never been to the Facebook page from the Rutland County Republicans before today, so I'm glad NTodd pointed out the kind of racist garbage they're posting. Here is their latest status update in its entirety:

Just wanted to let you know – today I received my 2012 Social Security Stimulus Package. It contained two tomato seeds, cornbread mix, a prayer rug, a machine to blow smoke up my butt, 2 discount coupons to KFC, an "Obama Hope & Change" bumper sticker, and a "Blame it on Bush" poster for the front yard.

The directions were in Spanish. Watch for yours soon.

Fortunately at least one Republican has objected to it.

Thanks for showing us your true colors, Republicans! 

UPDATE: Any sensible person, being called on something like this, would be apologetic or at least take it down. These guys are digging in, saying that this is the kind of comedy that is "based in reality". 

UPDATE 2 (from mataliandy):  

 The digging continues

Well incredibly Maine’s Governor LePage has kept his foot out of his mouth for about 24 hrs so how about a little US Olympic team fashion news for a hot summer night? Just in case anyone has missed it.

Not sure where the story broke but I first read a couple days ago in a press release from Senator Bernie Sanders that the new US Olympic team uniforms were made in China. An unusually aggressive Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants to pile the uniforms up and burn them. Bernie Sanders doesn’t necessarily want them burned but he sensibly wonders why they weren’t made in the US.

Sanders said. "At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, there is no reason why U.S. Olympic uniforms are not being manufactured in the U.S. This action on the part of the U.S. Olympic Committee is symbolic of a disastrous trade policy which has cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and must be changed."

Democrats and Republicans are now in rare agreement that manufacturing the official berets, blazers, pants and shoes in China is a bad thing.  

On their website, the AFL-CIO published a list of US companies that could handle manufacturing the Ralph Lauren polo branded uniforms. They say it could be done for less than the reported cost of $1,945 for the men’s outfit and $1,473 for the women’s. The union website also includes this comment from the NY Daily News fashion writer:

There’s something that Ralph does that often times can look costume-y. . .It was a combination of things to me: rich, British private school kids. . .and Mr. Howell from ‘Gilligan’s Island.’ I wasn’t sure if they were really chic crossing guards or Olympians.”

… Randy Brock’s money bomb has had a delayed explosion. The “money bomb” graphic just went right to the top.

I guess we’ll be seeing a self-congratulatory press release any time now.

And then we can see how the real fundraising race shapes up on Monday afternoon, when the first campaign finance reports since last July are due at the Secretary of State’s office.  

Oh, noes!

Randy Brock’s money bomb has come up short!

Unless they do some late fiddling with the totals, his attempt to raise $40,000 in the last few days before the first campaign finance deadline has come up short.

As of 5:01 p.m. (well, now it’s 5:02), his “money bomb” graphic was stuck at about $36,000.

And everybody said, “Awwwwwww.”

Actually, I’d be shocked if they didn’t do some post-deadline fiddling and get that total up over 40K because a failure would be so embarrassing. But since you’ve read this, you’ll know that’s what they did. It’s now 5:05, and the money bomb has failed to go off.

Note: Noon update added below.

Time keeps on slippin’, as a wise man once sang. And time is rapidly running out on Randy Brock’s fundraising “money bomb.”  Earlier this week, he set a deadline of today (Friday July 13) at 5 p.m. to raise $40,000 for his gubernatorial campaign.

The total has been slowly creeping upward. As I write this, it stands at about $25,000. That’s 15K to go with less than 11 hours left. Which sounds like bad news, but I suspect that things will turn out just fine for ol’ Randy.

See, I checked the “money bomb” last night at about 10:15 p.m., and it was in the upper teens. Which means that Brock somehow managed to raise roughly $8,000 in the overnight hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Wow, he’s like Jack Bauer, working around the clock to defeat his sworn enemy.

Well, either that, or the Brock campaign is doctoring the totals to make it seem like the Brockmentum is growing. Like, perhaps they’re gradually adding in the proceeds from this week’s LePageFest which, at the prices they were charging, almost certainly pulled in far more than 40K.

I have absolutely no proof that the Brock campaign is cheating. But it’s very strange that they managed to pull in so much money when the Good People of Vermont were all asleep.

________________________

Update 12:15 p.m.: Yeah, he’s gonna make it. He’s gone from 25K at 6 a.m. to about 32K at noon. They’re stretching it out just about right: getting close enough to make it, but not so close that there’s no suspense — and not so far away that everybody gives up.

So they’ll make the goal and declare victory, having a moment in the news cycle all to themselves. And then Monday afternoon the fundraising reports are released, and we’ll find out exactly how well Randy Brock is really doing.

Okay, so here comes Charlie Webster, chair of the Maine Republican Party (you know, the guy who almost lost his post after screwing up the Maine caucus six ways from Sunday), defending Governor Paul LePage’s controversial statement calling the IRS “the new Gestapo,” and attacking anyone who would dare to criticize LePage for his rampant assholery. Talking Points Memo:

“What I think the governor is saying – he’s not a politician, everybody knows he’s not a politician, he’s a regular person, he’s a successful businessman and he isn’t politically correct,” Charlie Webster, chairman of the Maine GOP, told TPM Thursday.

Yeah, yeah, he’s not a politician, he’s a regular guy. And just like all regular guys, he just can’t help potty-mouthing and insulting his opponents. Look, Charlie: when you’re in a high-profile public position, your statements come in for greater scrutiny than if you’re just a “regular person.” That’s the way it works. Paul LePage voluntarily ran for the highest office in the state of Maine. And if LePage doesn’t like it, then he should pull a Thad McCotter and exit, stage right.

Webster continued:

“His point, I’m sure, is that we’ve got to get government under control. And we can’t have government dominating our lives at every moment.”

…”I’ve got friends of mine who came here [from Canada] because they couldn’t get their knee replaced in eight months,” he said. “That would be the only way you could tie [the IRS and the Gestapo] together.”

I gotta admit, you nailed it there, Charlie. An eight-month wait for elective surgery is just as bad as DYING IN A GAS CHAMBER. That ought to mollify the Anti-Defamation League.

But wait, Charlie has yet to shut his pinhole!

Webster says those who are offended by the governor’s comments are treated LePage with a double-standard.

“The press didn’t interview me when local legislators here in Maine suggested we hang Cheney. Or that President Bush was a Nazi. I mean it’s a one-sided street here,” he said. “We only talk about something that Republicans happen to say, no one’s talking about these extremists that represent the Maine and the Democratic Party in this country.”

Actually, Chucks, there was one Maine legislator (ONE), Chuck Kruger, who sent out a single Tweet that said “Cheney deserves same final end he gave Saddam.” He got absolutely pilloried for his remark. And you were, in fact, interviewed about the Tweet. And you called for his resignation! And Kruger received numerous death threats. And he offered a sincere and complete apology.

In fact, every time any Democrat, Progressive, or liberal politician says anything derogatory about a Republican, they get drawn and quartered by the conservative noise machine. So stop with your bullshit.