Paul LePage, Maine’s far-right and hot-tempered Governor, had a fiery exchange with a TV reporter yesterday. It came just a couple of days before LePage’s scheduled visit to Vermont, to fundraise for VTGOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock.

The reporter, Paul Merrill, asked about LePage calling the IRS “the new Gestapo,” which somehow managed to offend some people. Remember, the Nazi comparison wasn’t an off-the-cuff thing; it was in the official Republican response to President Obama’s weekly radio address. It was written out, vetted, edited, approved, and delivered for a national audience.

Initially, LePage blew right by Merrill and refused to answer any questions. But as LePage was walking away, Merrill hit a sore spot by asking if the Governor would apologize. He stalked back to Merrill and said:

“It was never intended to offend anyone,” LePage said. “And if someone’s offended, then they ought to be goddamn mad at the federal government.”

Yes, more civility from Paul LePage. Not to mention flawless logic: if someone’s offended, don’t be angry at the guy who made the offensive remark. Be angry at the government that “provoked” LePage to such extremes.

VTGOP chair Jack Lindley has called on Democrats to be civil to this man. Problem is, he deserves no civility whatsoever. And once again, Randy Brock deserves to be questioned on his choice of political allies. And the national Republican Party should answer for its choice of spokesperson and for his language.

But I’m not holding my breath.  

(For Mitt Romney, Rush Limbaugh, Paul LePage, The Catholic Church, Newt Gingrich, The Tea Party, Our Very Own Randy Brock now, and…oh god…the list seems endless.  Save us!)

“Well, that took you long enough.  DUH.  Now, I suppose, all your nitwit religious types and your assholes running for office, like that Mitt Romney mass, will be on a freak-out about God and The End Of The World.  Well, let Me tell you something–I CREATED God.  Yes.  And it wasn’t one of My better sub-atomic particle reaction moments.  I meant to create a Super Brain for the Universe, something that could also assume a mass that could be used for Energy, a Cure for Cancers and Spaceborne Viruses, and, of course, a Factoring-Out Of Stupidity, which is where you would have come in, if I hadn’t fucked around with those electrons that claimed to be The Lost Electrons Of The Promised Universe.  Shit.  That’s how I wound up with this stupid God you’re all so enthralled with, because, let Me tell you, I think a lot of what I call Stupid Particles got in the mix there.  There’s a lot of Stupid Particles in Space.  That’s why it’s a vacuum.  And that’s why you’re still stupid and your God is stupid.  But I can only work on what comes along.

So far, the closest I’ve come to Super Brain Particle Mass is a guy you’ve got down there whom you call PeteySweety.  Yeah, he was My original God Sub-Sub-Particle, but he got glommed on by an electron I call The Politically Incorrect Electron, which is why he usually emits a negative sum.  What I need to do is come down there and put My field around him and suck all those negative variables out of his atomic structure.  They don’t seem to interact well with alcohol.  If I’m successful, you’ll soon have an INTELLIGENT GOD, and one who will also be able to get rid of all your Stupid Shit and Stupid People via use of His Special Particle Gotcha Beam.

So, Give ME A Break!  I’m working on it.  Just hope I get it done before one of your goddamn Corporations which fund the CERN lab get those physicist geeks to use Me to create an entire GALAXY OF THE STUPID, where your Wall Street Runaway Free Neutron Fuckos will build onto themselves with Malls, set up off-star bank accounts, out-sourse jobs and science to other dimensions, and no doubt fucking drill for oil.  THE ALMIGHTY SPIRIT who created Me, after I created It (don’t ask; the theorems here are of a science alien to your comprehension), wants to get rid of all you folks and start over with something He calls a Fundamental PeteySweetyism.

I mean it; don’t let the assholes screw around with Me!  I’m about This Close (you don’t have an equation for how close My This Close is) to putting My field around that stupid God I created for you and having Him (yeah, that’s right, He is a HE; that’s why He’s so stupid) vaporize into something more useful, like a Psychedelic Rainbow you can look at and trip-out on while you wait for Me to adjust PeteySweety’s quantum symmetry, or whatever it is that comes along.  I just hope it won’t be some of your frigging dildo-dipshit-asshole mutated particles from all that radioactive shit you send up here from your planet.  I mean, I would wind up with a Super PeteySweety Sado-Flesh-Eating Quark, whose mass would get bigger and bigger the more nuclear weapons you used on him, and, of course, the more Single Malt Scotch he interacted with.  Maybe also I should work on that Michael Colby mass.  Yes, he was one of Mine too.

So, I say again.  Don’t let them fuck with Me.  And for The Fucking Almighty Spirit’s Sake, get over this God Shit!  Trust Me, sometimes things happen up here in the Universe that make no sense at all.  Why do you people always turn the Sub-Atomic Breaking Down Of The Energy Force Of Chaos into some kind of nitwit religious thing, or something you can try to make a buck on?  I thought when I created Neil Diamond you might have learned something.  Have a nice day.  If you don’t fuck it up.  And, as your Arnold guy says, I’ll be back.”

Peter Buknatski

(who learned all his science from Mr. Wizard in the 1950s)

Montpelier, Vt.

Note: I’d written most of this before kestrel9000 posted his diary on Paul LePage’s upcoming visit to Vermont. I decided to go ahead and post it anyway, because I found a lot more examples of LePage’s nasty behavior. I think it reinforces kestrel’s point about the company Randy Brock chooses to keep, and the Republicans’ hypocrisy on matters of politeness and civility.

______________________________

Go to hell, Paul LePage! Kiss my butt, you idiot! Get out of my state!

Believe it or not, all of those imprecations and insults were uttered by Paul LePage, the ultra-conservative Governor of Maine. (Yes, that’s him. Sorry, you’ll never be able to unsee that image now.) He’ll be in Vermont this Wednesday and Thursday July 11-12 to fundraise for Randy Brock. When the gig was first announced, VT Democratic Party chair Jake Perkinson issued a news release tying Brock to the extreme policies of his invited guest.

Brock and VTGOP chair Jack Lindley fired back, accusing Perkinson of “nasty personal attacks” (Brock) and “hurling insults” (Lindley). Which was nonsense, because Perkinson’s attack was based on policy, not personality. And there were abundant grounds for a policy-based attack: LePage has called for a flat state income tax (which would result in massive tax cuts for the rich) and a 50% cut in the corporate tax rate; he has advocated school vouchers and state funding for religious schools; he wanted to roll back child-labor laws to allow kids to work up to 32 hours — for a special, lower version of the minimum wage; he has defunded Planned Parenthood; he has proposed union-busting right-to-work legislation; and he rammed through a massive, market-based overhaul of health care in Maine which has, according to one expert, resulted in higher premiums and worse coverage for many, and a rise in the number of Mainers without any insurance at all. The guy who helped create that legislation, Tarren Bragdon, is now helping Randy Brock put together his own market-based health care plan.  

So you see, LePage’s record is perfectly fair game for Perkinson and the Democrats. And if Randy Brock chooses to invite LePage to Vermont, then Brock should answer for LePage’s politics. Especially since he’s hired LePage’s health care advisor to create his own plan.

Now, if Perkinson had wanted to issue a personal attack, he would have had plenty of ammo to choose from; LePage may be the nastiest, most intemperate figure in American politics today. He makes Chris Christie look like the Dalai Lama by comparison.

After the jump: Hell, butt, idiot, bullshit, and other markers of civility.

Before we get to LePage’s lengthy rap sheet of rudeness, let’s note that Lindley demanded that the Dems “treat this man with the same civility that our side demonstrated during President Obama’s recent visit to Vermont.”

Which was also complete nonsense. As I reported earlier, when the President visited Vermont, Lindley put out a blisteringly negative press release. Not at all civil.  

So my opening welcome to Paul LePage — fashioned entirely from his own words — is entirely in keeping with the spirit of Republican-style civility to which he is accustomed.

Well, he’s accustomed to dishing it out, anyway. For the sake of simple fairness, he should be just as willing to take it.

While Jack Lindley was clearly uncivil to President Obama, he was the very picture of civility when compared to Paul LePage. During a 2010 gubernatorial debate, the candidates were asked “If President Obama was with you tonight, what would you ask him to do to help the state of Maine?” LePage’s response: “I’d ask him to get out of my state.”

At another campaign appearance, he amplified the sentiment: “We’ve had enough of the federal government. We’ve had enough. …And as your governor, you’re gonna be seeing a lot of me on the front page saying ‘Governor LePage tells Obama to go to hell.'”

Okay, so that’s his idea of “civility” toward the President. He takes the same approach to anyone who dares to question or oppose him. He once told a reporter to “stop the bullshit.” A favorite word, as it turns out; last December, in an attempt to humanize LePage, his aides arranged a meeting with three unemployed Mainers. Afterward, he posed for pictures with them; but after they’d left, here’s how he described the meeting:

“It’s all a big play and I think it’s bullshit,” said LePage pausing for a minute then adding slowly and deliberately, “Bull …. shit.”

Immediately after his comments his press secretary whisked the Governor away into his waiting SUV.

His humanity toward the jobless was also on display in his speech to the Maine Republican convention in May:

LePage called on the state legislature to pass structural changes to welfare, saying, “Maine’s welfare program is cannibalizing the rest of state government. To all you able-bodied people out there: Get off the couch and get yourself a job.”

He’s not a whole lot friendlier to those who do have jobs — at least, when those jobs are in the public sector. On April 26, he said this: “The problem is the middle management of the state is about as corrupt as you can be. Believe me, we’re trying every day to get them to go to work, but it’s hard.”

And just this weekend, as kestrel9000 previously reported, he ejected another burst of projectile rhetoric, calling the IRS “the new Gestapo.” Yes, because IRS agents are torturing and murdering anyone who dares oppose their Thousand Year Reich.

But wait, there’s more! I haven’t even gotten to LePage’s most famous outbursts.

Shortly after taking office, he refused to attend Martin Luther King Jr. Day events because he considered the NAACP a “special interest,” and added that the NAACP could “kiss my butt.”

And a couple of months later, he ordered the removal of a Maine artist’s mural from the Department of Labor building, because it only showed the labor side of history. And when a group of protesters threatened to form a human chain to block the mural’s removal, he was asked what he would say to them. “I’d laugh at them, the idiots,” was his reply.

(A lot of this bluster might be simple insecurity. LePage “won” the governorship with only 38% of the vote in a hotly-contested three-way race. Independent centrist Elliot Cutler took almost 37%; Democrat Libby Mitchell got 19%, and two other independents took about 6%. Deep in his heart of hearts, LePage has to know that he was and is deeply unpopular.)

You know, personally, I’d be afraid to treat Paul LePage with civility. I don’t think he’d know how to react, considering that he appears to be completely lacking in it himself. If Paul LePage and civility came into contact, it might be like a collision of matter and anti-matter — instant annihilation for all concerned.

I, for one, will do all I can to prevent such a catastrophe. Therefore, I say again, with all the Republican civility that he deserves:

Go to hell, Paul LePage! Kiss my butt, you idiot! Get out of my state!

This thing about gas prices in northwestern Vermont just keeps getting more and more interesting.

Earlier this week, Senator Bernie Sanders called for a federal investigation into why gas prices are higher in the northwest, while they’ve dropped in other parts of the state. (Including very nearby parts.) He offered a hint to the feds: the fact that gas station ownership is heavily concentrated in the Northwest. Nearly 60% of the gas stations in Chittenden County are owned by four companies.

(One of them,. R.L. Vallee, is owned by Skip Vallee, a very generous donor to Republican campaigns. For his fundraising work in 2004, he was named Ambassador to Slovakia by President Bush. Earlier, he’d made one spectacularly unsuccessful foray into politics, spending a massive $134,000 on a losing bid for State Senate.

If anyone out there has information about the political affiliations of the other three, I’d be happy to hear it. The other three outfits are Champlain Oil owned by the Cairns family; Simon’s, owned by Joe and Charles Handy; and S.B. Collins, owned by Bruce Jolley.)

In today’s Freeploid (available here if you haven’t used up your monthly allotment of ten freebie articles), there’s a really good story about the issue. And the Big Four had some fascinating (in a stupid and/or condescending way) things to say about gas prices. I’ll present a selection here, and follow with some information on why free markets don’t work in sectors like this.

First new bit: Bernie reports that Burlington-area gas prices are out of whack with a Federal Trade Commission computer model. According to said model, the price of a gallon of gas should have been somewhere between $3.25 and $3.58 — not the actual $3.68 average.

The Big Four gas station operators were quick to take umbrage at Bernie’s call.  

“It’s normal competition,” said Bruce Jolley of S.B. Collins Inc. of St. Albans. “You watch what everybody else is doing.”

Interesting way of putting it, Bruce. That could mean you’re making sure your prices are the lowest around, or it could mean you’re not lowering your prices unless you have to. Jolley continues…

Asked why Burlington-area prices earlier this week were 35 cents a gallon higher than in Middlebury, Jolley said Middlebury had “different competitive pressures.”

Yeah, Middlebury is more isolated and has a lot fewer drivers. You’d think those factors would raise prices, not lower them. After all, it’s harder to get the gas there, and you’re selling in substantially smaller quantities. Whatever happened to economies of scale? But wait, Jolley has one more insight to offer:

Asked why Burlington’s prices were the among the highest in New England, he said, “I don’t have an answer for that.”

Well, thanks a lot. You’ve been in the gas station business since the mid-1970s, and you don’t know how gas prices come about?

Skip Vallee offered the biggest howler of all. After the jump…

Vallee said Sanders should support the Keystone pipeline project and the plan to refine tar sands oil from Canada for use as gasoline and other petroleum products if he is truly interested in saving his constituents money at the gas pump.

“That would save Vermonters 30 cents a gallon,” Vallee said.

Sure thing, Skippy. The Keystone pipeline would funnel tar sands oil from Canada to refineries and ports on the Gulf of Mexico for export overseas. It would have no direct effect on Vermont gas prices, and would not lower US prices at all unless the Canadian oil is so abundant that it floods the global market, lowering oil prices for everyone. And that’s notgonnahappen.com.

As it happens, I recently read a very good explanation for the gas price phenomenon. It comes from a study of electricity markets done by Sarosh Talukdar of Carnegie Mellon University, as reported in David Cay Johnston’s excellent book “Free Lunch.”

Talukdar created an ideal market for electricity. It had a decent number of producers and utilities, competing on an equal footing. You’d expect that competitive pressures would force electricity prices to fall to the lowest level that would allow producers a reasonable profit.  

But they didn’t. Prices rose. Talukdar ran the model four times, adjusting the parameters, and each time the result was the same.

If this had happened in real life, you’d be crying “collusion” and “price fixing.” But these weren’t real companies, it was just a computer simulation. The conclusion, as reported by Johnston:

What the experiments showed was that sellers could jack up prices in this market because the buyers are forced to buy. If the price of a share of stock or a piece of land is too high, buyers can walk away. Not so electricity.  …So long as no one broke ranks and undercut the market, the sellers overall get higher prices and fatter profits…

…This unstated coordination gave the producers of electricity what economists call market power, which means the ability to set prices higher than a competitive market would allow.

…”Collusion is a crime,” Talukdar noted, “but learning is not. My studies show it is easy to learn from the signals given by others how to get the benefits of colluding without breaking the law.”

The markets for electricity and gas are very similar in one crucial way: captive customers. If you’re driving around Burlington and your gauge is on “E”, you’re not driving to Middlebury for a fill up. Hell, if your tank is 1/4 full, you’re not driving to Middlebury just to save 25 cents a gallon. The Burlington area is. practically speaking, a captive market.

Remember, this works even if there is no active collusion — just a handful of experienced operators who, as Talukdar puts it, know how to read the signals.  

Conservatives these days are fond of putting their faith in free markets. But that’s not enough. Winding up the free market and letting it go simply doesn’t work for a variety of products and services, including the most essential ones. Talukdar concludes that “the design of markets matters a great deal and the design must be verified to see if it really works as a free market.”

That notorious communist Adam Smith had some things to say about this, too. He was the foremost apostle of free markets — but he included some very strong caveats. He warned that a free market wouldn’t work unless buyers and sellers were equally knowledgeable about the transaction, equally free to engage in commerce or not, and had free choice of equivalent options. The second qualifier doesn’t apply to Chittenden County gas prices: sellers are free to sell, but buyers are stuck with the choices available in their geographic area. In that circumstance, as Talukdar proved, prices are likely to be higher than they should.  

(Most of you may have heard of the ‘Whites Only’ Christian conference being held by something called The Church Of The Chosen in Alabama this week.  The conference concludes today (tonight?) with a cross-burning.  The spokespeople for the church are calling it a Cross Lighting, some kind of new spin on Christianity, I guess.  There are Confederate flags and KKK flags galore.  And, no doubt, hot dogs and burgers, and maybe even something for the little Christian kiddies, like maybe a Christian Magic Show featuring ways to make black people disappear.  They’re saying that White Christians are the forgotten or abused people, or some such shit.  Loud, fat, and stupid Christians.  Yeah, I’d like to forget them, after I get to abuse them some.  Well, here’s to them…)

  Old Rugged Cross

O Lordy, the old fashioned bonfire of Thy Hatefulness,

good White Christianity roasting marshmallows

on burning books for Thee under The Cross and  

a moon too embarrassed or afraid to come out,

so chant brothers and sisters: Our Moon Is White,

God Save Our Moon Tonight!  Come Out Of Your Closet,

O Holy Moon, And Show Little Johnny And Mary The Light!

yea, bring out the white sheets and the body and the blood

of a Jesus turned Gay and pray for the end

of a world no longer safe for the hate and fear and wrath

of our Pure White God’s Jubilee and Rapture!

yea, it will come to pass that pick-up trucks will

inherit the Earth’s oil, and lottery tickets

will get us into a Heaven where the beer will flow

beside the still waters, and the Ringmaster will

cast the Evil into a Bottomless Pit Of Vengeance!

all to burn and burn forever til eternity itself

is lit and nothing is left except our Fiery Cross

of Stupidity (Praise The Lord!), Depravity (Praise The Lord!),

and Mortal Sin and Damnation (Praise, O Lordy! Praise!)

it was written that the day would come

when the Force of Satan would take on the visage

of Love and Peace, but we are not tempted to eat

from His table, for we are Fat with the Joy of the Light,

and our hands tremble as we build up the Flame!

so brothers and sisters, go ye forth to Malls

and buy as much as needed and more for the Coming

Cataclysm, and Bless thy ever expanding forms

in all nature of God’s Glut Of Glory!  Amen.

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

This morning, as I do most mornings, I got up and made a cup of hot tea and sat down with my laptop to see the morning news and read overnight emails.

It was quite a surprise to me receive an invitation to become an Amazon Mom with an offer to purchase diapers online!  My children are in their 30’s, and I am not yet a grandmother and there are no grandchildren on the way, so I was stumped until my caffeine started to jump start my brain.  

Yesterday, I received news that a friend had a baby and the chosen name is unique, like our daughter’s name is unique.  Instead of going into the office and pulling out my trusty baby name book that I use for story characters, I Goggled the new baby’s name.  

And, it appears that is where the internet spying began… more below the fold.

I do delete cookies. I have my browser set for privacy.  My Facebook account is set for friends.  

As a GMD blogger and with my own professional paralegal and internet work, I always read what I can in terms of privacy rights and concerns.  I was startled and troubled when a few months ago to read about a young woman who bought a pregnancy test, and then her family received mail from Target suggesting they buy baby supplies!

I don’t want to buy baby supplies.  I don’t want to be followed all over the net and solicited and Targeted or Amazoned to shop for whatever their computer algorithms have determined I must have and must buy from them.  I am not a shop til I drop type of person, and I don’t believe that shopping will get us out of this worldwide financial debacle and depression.

I will continue to buy local first. That is why I frequent Burlington’s exceptional farmers market that is filled with food and local handcrafts from pottery to stained glass to beautiful baby clothes!  That is why I shop at local businesses like Outdoor Gear Exchange or the newly opened downtown Burlington Phoenix Books — that is when I really need something.

Most of all, I simply want my privacy back!  Amazon please heed this post!

Talk about the perfect convergence of storylines; On the one hand, you have a new report from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident independent Study Commission suggesting that the cascade of accidents at Fukushima was largely the product of a culture of lax regulation and conflicts of interest in Japan; and on the other hand, we have the American Nuclear Society awarding honors to its two most faithful accolades and apologists.

The latter demonstrates all too well how an enabling culture also exists in the U.S. compromising regulatory effectiveness and critical thought.

In the past year and five months, U.S. nuclear proponents have been working the ant-farm overtime in order to generate a constant field of spin through which, it is assumed, the American public will fail to recognize the obvious: that Fukushima was an unprecedented environmental disaster that continues to menace Japan and the world; and that, as bad as it was, had prevailing wind conditions been different, it might have been many times worse.

The culture to be rightly indicted in this instance, is not that of Japan but rather the worldwide nuclear culture which binds industry and government regulators in an unwholesome union of purpose to suppress any line of public discussion that does not have the promotion of nuclear energy as its ultimate goal.

In their new video,Fairewinds Associates, would like you to reconsider the argument that Fukushima’s errors were Japan-centrique and have no place in the U.S. conversation about nuclear energy.  Watch:

Nuclear Oversight Lacking Worldwide from Fairewinds Energy Education on Vimeo.

As faithful foot-soldiers for the industry, Meredith Angwyn and Howard Shaffer have been the very models of orchestrated damage control.

That is why Ms. Angwyn and Mr. Shaffer are being honored by the American Nuclear Society, which in its mission statement clearly explains its advocacy role:

Vision: ANS will be the recognized credible advocate for advancing and promoting nuclear science and technology.

That’s oddly in contradiction of the self-view ANS sets forward on page 31 of its own selective report on Fukushima:

ANS is not intended to be-and is not viewed by the media as-a promotional organization seeking to preserve the reputation of its members. ANS is not a trade association or an advocacy group.

In that document, ANS goes on to examine their role in responding to Fukushima, mapping out a strategy for future containment of “risk communication,” including Congressional lobbying and “embedding” of its proponents in newsroom situations.  

They, too, attempt to dismiss the human component of Fukushima’s undoing to Japanese culture.   It’s really quite a read!

 The State of Vermont has tons of old office equipment and associated stuff to get rid of ahead of the massive Waterbury office complex building project. So to make way for demolition there will be a giant tag sale held July 12th though July 14th.

The plan is the office equipment and furniture that must be gotten rid of will first be offered at no cost to municipalities, then (also at no cost) non-profits get a chance, and lastly the public for a nominal fee is allowed to make some picks from what is left. Basically this seems a sensible strategy that probably will get whatever is useful into the hands of those that can make some use of it- so no complaint with that part.

But, here is the cranky taxpayer part: What’s with the nominal fee charged to the public?  

I have to imagine whatever remains after July 14th will have to be carted at away and disposed of at some cost to the state. So why impose a fee, even a nominal fee,to the public for saving this stuff a trip to the dump? Could there be some regulation that allows gifts to municipalities and non profits but prohibits the giving of state property and equipment away to the public? You know I hate to embrace this petty cranky taxpayer bit too firmly (oh madness lies that way) but when you get down to it we paid for this stuff once already.  

A few side dishes for your holiday barbecue… Entergy tries to corral the PSB, police “free for all” near Burlington Airport, TJ Donovan stakes out activist turf, and a positive step by state government. Details following…  

Entergy seeks limits on PSB review. The owners of Vermont Yankee have unleashed their expensive lawyers yet again, continuing their openly adversarial relationship with the state. This time, Entergy is seeking to severely limit the grounds of a Public Service Board review of VY’s operations*. Per Brattleboro Reformer:

*Corrected; the motion was not filed in federal court, as I first wrote.

Because of Judge J. Garvan Murtha’s ruling that Vermont legislation was passed to regulate nuclear safety and the continued operation of the Vernon reactor, Entergy officials stated the PSB is no longer allowed to include energy diversity, the impacts of safety on Vermont tourism and whether Vermont Yankee’s continued operation is in the public good or whether Entergy has been or is a “fair partner” to the state.

…To avoid preemption from the Atomic Energy Act, the motion states “a board ruling must be exclusively based upon an independent, non-safety rationale that provides a factually justifiable basis for shutting the plant down.”

The motion also asserts that concerns about electric system reliability should not be considered. Which is a bit much, coming from the outfit that’s staked its claim on being a reliable source of baseload power. I guess they’ve dropped “reliable” from their mantra “safe, clean, reliable.”

If you’re not a fan of Bill Sorrell, you could call this filing another instance of collateral damage from his one-sided loss before Judge Murtha.

Cops gone wild in South Burlington. Remember that story about police training exercises in those vacant houses near the Burlington Airport? Well, the other shoe dropped in Tuesday’s Freeploid. (Paywalled, natch.)

What happened is that a nice little use of resources (soon-to-be-demolished houses) went completely out of control. And now South Burlington and the Airport has halted all training exercises. This is why the police can’t have nice things.  

The arrangement went off the rails when the Vermont State Police allowed out-of-state agencies to use the houses. Eventually, troopers from all six New England states did so, among others, and coordination with South Burlington police was sketchy at best, nonexistent at worst.

The failure of police to coordinate their training with South Burlington, with neighbors and with the airport led the airport official with immediate responsibility for the houses, [Burlington Airport] Facilities Foreman Matt Harding, to complain internally June 5 that the police presence was turning into a “free-for-all.” Houses were being left unlocked after training, said Harding, who indicated he was often left in the dark about when training would take place.

Also left in the dark: the remaining residents of the neighborhood, a very rare enclave of affordable housing in the immediate Burlington area.

The training for the outside SWAT teams was coordinated by Adam Crogan of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration at the airport.

…Crogan told Harding the State Police were “very excited” about the training, because “some of these guys will go 20 years as a trooper and never have a realistic training venue like this.”

Yeah, they were so excited they couldn’t keep it in their pants. so to speak. The Freeploid also reports that the exercises went beyond designated vacant areas, and came uncomfortably close to “houses that were still occupied,” according to Matt Harding. Yikes!

As I said before, the cops ought to take a bucket or two of that bottomless well of Homeland Security money and build themselves a little Potemkin village somewhere that they can shoot up to their hearts’ content.

Donovan says he’ll go national on marriage equality.  TJ Donovan says he is fully in support of marriage equality — not only in Vermont, but nationwide. Indeed, he says Vermonters won’t have true marriage equality until it’s the law of the land.

Federal law withholds from some married people the rights it grants others.  For example, federal law prevents same-sex married couples from filing joint federal tax returns, which can lessen tax burdens. Federal law prevents the surviving or divorced spouse of a same-sex marriage from collecting Social Security benefits on an equal basis enjoyed by other married persons.

If he becomes AG, he would use his position to advocate for gay rights in other states and at the federal level. VTDigger:

Donovan cites the May 31 decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals that “federal law unconstitutionally discriminates against full citizenship for all adults.” He expects gay marriage rights to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in the next session, and he says he would do anything in his power (amicus brief, anyone?) to support a decision that would uphold Vermont’s law.

It’s another solid step in Donovan’s bid to differentiate himself from Sorrell as someone who wants to be a more involved, activist AG. It happens to be true, of course, that Donovan has a more activist view of the office. But it’s also a politically astute way of painting Bill Sorrell as lacking in energy and engagement. Or, ready for the rocking chair, if you prefer.

DMH and VSP developing better coordination. I’ve been a critic of Patrick Flood and the Shumlin Administration’s post-Ireme plans for mental health care (and I still am), but I have to give them a lot of credit for being proactive on another important issue: the interactions between police and the mentally ill.  

State Police and the Department of Mental Health are trying to develop ways to collaboratively respond to people in mental health crisis. This efforts, Flood said, have been stepped up since the death of Macadam Mason after being tasered* by a state trooper. Valley News:

*My damn spellcheck just tried to turn “tasered” into “tasseled.” Bad computer!

Flood said the first stop will be to ensure that police call the local mental health agency as soon as they get a report of someone who appears to be in a mental health crisis.

Beginning this week, all state police barracks and all of the state’s designated mental health agencies — regional nonprofit mental health service centers that work under state contract — will have contact persons on hand to speed communication.

…”Whenever possible, a mental health professional will join the police at the scene,” it added. “Within three weeks, joint protocols will be in place to guide interactions in these situations.”

The devil is in the implementation, of course; Flood admits that fully funding a 24/7 crisis response capability is problematic. And the issue of taser use must still be addressed in full. But I give a lot of credit to Flood, the VSP, and the Shumlin Administration for taking this seriously. It’s the way government ought to work.  

Those with long memories may recall that way back on May 19, at the VTGOP convention, Randy Brock unveiled the upcoming unveiling of his health care reform plan. Vermont Press Bureau:

Less government intervention, not more, Brock said, will allow market forces to work their cost-containment magic.

…Brock’s speech got a rousing ovation from the GOP faithful. He’ll make his case to a broader swath of the voting public when he unveils a more complete reform plan early next month.

“Early next month,” meaning early June. One month ago. So where is the completed blueprint for RandyCare? I was expecting a big foofaraw with plenty of bunting, fireworks, maybe a brass band, cheerleaders, and a passel of top Republicans playing Pips to Randy’s Gladys Knight.

Maybe they’re just putting in a whole lot of overtime. It’s got to be difficult consulting with all those top conservatives from all over the country, including Tarren Bragdon, the guy responsible for turning Maine’s health insurance system into a free-market disaster.

Maybe they’ve put off the announcement till next week, when Maine’s Tea Party Governor Paul LePage comes to Vermont to fundraise and rabble-rouse on Randy’s behalf.

Maybe the job turned out to be too difficult. Or maybe they decided that the details of a Tea Party reform plan would be so unpalatable to the Vermont electorate that it would doom Randy to a defeat of historic proportions. The good Senator has spent plenty of time slamming Governor Shumlin’s reform plan and the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare, but he’s been very coy about his own plan since his big pre-announcement on May 19.

Of course, considering that many Republican policy proposals are nothing more than a few lines of rhetoric, maybe what we got on May 19 is all we’re going to get. Color me disappointed, but not surprised.