If, over your morning coffee, you turned to page 6 of the Free Press today and spluttered “What the f…??” you’re in good company.  

A full page ad from Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG) and the Vermont Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA was the first I heard of an Alice-in-Wonderland twist to U.S. patent laws that has apparently allowed hundreds of patents to be filed, not on tax-prep software, but on actual tax filing strategies covering retirement plans, workplace compensation, financial investments, charitable giving, estate planning, etc.  That’s right, should you be so bold as to prepare your own taxes using tax law and your own native intelligence to arrive at some of the same strategies in filing your own taxes, you could be sued by the patent holders.

Relatively few of our readers are likely to be significantly impacted by patents in those areas, but the future implications for the rest of us are clear.  According to the ad:

Many of these tax strategy patents cover a wide range of important but common forms of compliance that you may be already using without permission from the patent holder…Based on current patent applications filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, we are extremely concerned that, if nothing is done, these sorts of outrageous patents will entend to other tax-related issues affecting Vermonters’ lives, such as planning for a college education, health care savings programs, and life insurance.

It goes on to commend Sen. Patrick Leahy for his efforts to correct patent law so that such strategies would be eliminated as patentable applications.

Having had a small amount of experience with patent law, I can only speak as a matter of opinion. While necessary in theory, patent laws actually represent a huge boondoggle for that segment of the legal trade who shrewdly seek them out. The process of obtaining a patent is extremely arcane and complicated, guaranteeing hundreds of billable hours for the technical and legal team that one must almost invariably hire to steer even the simplest patent through the entire process.  

If, as a small inventor, you finally make it through all the hoops and jumps and are awarded your patent, it’s arguable whether you will ever see any financial reward to offset the cost and aggravation.  For one thing, you have only a very limited number of years in which to profit from your patent before it expires, necessitating another costly process for renewal.  

Meanwhile if you’ve actually succeeded in patenting a marketable idea, anyone can introduce even a tiny tweak to your original idea and bypass your patent entirely.

To make matters worse, the patent office is so clogged-up and backlogged with frivolous and even vanity patent applications that by the time a patent is actually issued, your product or process may already be irrelevant. Nevermind the fact that much of the manufacturing world is beyond U.S. control and will ignore U.S. patents altogether. A friend in the software sector tells me they don’t even bother with patents anymore, preferring the more efficient copyright system to offer some security in their fast-moving industry.

One of the funnier moments in my husband’s experience with the patent office came when he finally received notification that his application was successful.  In the envelope accompanying the patent was a promotional flyer, sort of like something you’d get with your bank checks.  My husband’s success as a “patented inventor” was heralded importantly, and he was offered the opportunity to purchase a couple of extremely tacky commemorative items to display to his friends and family!

I’m glad to read that at last some effort is being made to curb the runaway bureaucracy at the patent office.  It would be nice to think that protection for the fruits of American ingenuity is possible without exposing the beleaguered taxpayers to more predatory litigation.

It’s Town Meeting Day, and there are no votes this year to secede from the third dimension, or defund the smurfs, or draw up a warrant for the arrest of Garrison Keillor (but that last one is only true ‘cuz I’ve had too much other stuff on my plate… man, am I tired of that guy). All of which makes for a less colorful than usual TMD.

Here in Montpelier, we do the ballot thing rather than a meeting, and on my ballot is a contest to fill the spot of retiring District 3 City Councilor, Jim Sheridan. Two candidates are vying for the office: James Merriam and Angela MacDonald-Timpone, both political newbies.

But whereas I’m usually thrilled to see new faces in the process, this time around I’m annoyed. Why? Because in a district of a town this size, somebody should have asked for my vote. Directly (via a door knock or phone call, or even email) is not necessary. A door hanger, or even a comment from a designated proxy would do. But I haven’t heard a thing, and at the risk of sounding petty, that bothers me. It sends any one of several possible messages – and none of them are good. Maybe the candidates felt like they didn’t have to bother, maybe they felt that they were entitled to the office, maybe they just didn’t take it seriously enough, or maybe the issue was just laziness. I really don’t know.

Part of getting involved in local elections is electioneering. It’s not enough to think the job would be cool, or even to think you’d be cool in the job. Campaigning is, simply, part of the job description. And it’s not just an inconvenience or a ritual, it truly is part of the job. It’s part of getting to know your constituents, part of keeping them informed and bringing them into the process. That need becomes even more pronounced when, as in this case, the two look to be ideologically compatible (to the limited extent there is information on them available online and in print).

But it’s also just about simple respect. Respect for the process, for democracy. You expect my vote, well, at least do something to tell me why you deserve it – something active. Something more than the easy stuff (e.g. talking to a reporter and showing up to a forum). You need to get retail.

One of these two is going to win today, and I ain’t gonna be thrilled about it either way. Maybe next election, whoever-it-is can let me have some sense of why I should be.

With an emboldened plutocracy flexing its muscles all over the country, it’s good to have another reminder  that our DC delegation continues to look out for the poor “step-children” who have been generally cut-adrift in the current round of economic blackmail. In this case, those “step-children” are the twin causes of environmental and human safety, both of which Entergy apologists would willingly  sacrifice on the altar of “cheap” energy, just to keep VY burbling away well past its sell-by date.

Our own “DC 3” have all signed onto a letter drafted by Bernie Sanders, who sits on the panel charged with oversight of the NRC, urging that regulatory body to ensure that clean-up of Vermont Yankee is undertaken immediately following closure of the plant.  

The lawmakers called it “unacceptable” that Entergy, which owns the Vermont plant, could engage in “decades of delay” before cleaning up the site along the Connecticut River at Vernon, Vt. “Immediate decommissioning will assure Vermonters that the plant is being disassembled safely,” the delegation wrote. An immediate cleanup and shutdown of the site also would allow the plant operator to take advantage of the skills of many long-term Yankee employees who otherwise would lose their jobs.

In the letter to Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, the delegation requests a meeting with the full commission; and that the meeting should include Governor Shumlin,

because of the “enormous consequences” for Vermont and the state’s “vital interest” in the plant’s safe shutdown.

Tying swift decommissioning to job retention is a brilliant and entirely legitimate strategy, which should steal some thunder from one of VY’s dwindling arguments against closure.

As we know all too well,

Entergy has indicated it favors a so-called “SAFSTOR” decommissioning method, a process that the delegation letter said “would let Entergy off the hook” for cleanup and waste disposal for years or even decades. “While Entergy may prefer leaving the plant to sit like an abandoned factory because it has not saved the necessary funds to fully decommission the plant, this is not the safest option for Vermonters,” Leahy, Sanders and Welch wrote.

Senator Sanders points out that a delayed decommissioning process could have grave consequences, as might have been the case when an idle Illinois reactor  experienced frozen pipes (a likely scenario in Vermont) which burst and released 55,000 gallons of radioactive water into a containment building.  An opportune discovery of the problem by the night watchman may have been all that prevented a much more extensive release.  

I spoke with, reactor expert Arnie Gundersen who told me

Had the watchman at Dresden 1 not discovered the leak that created a 55,000 gal. spill inside the containment, an unimaginably worse situation would have developed within 24-hours.  An even larger pipe had almost frozen solid.  Had that pipe broken, the entire fuel pool would have drained, leading to gamma radiation so intense that the entire site would have had to be evacuated, including the two other operating reactors.  

While Arnie doesn’t hold out a lot of hope that the NRC will heed the pleas of the Vermont delegation, he agrees that they are taking a brave and rational position with regard to decommissioning which deserves special recognition.

What the Vermont delegation is requesting of the NRC is hardly unprecedented.  In fact, the idea of delaying Vermont Yankee’s decommissioning is something quite out of the ordinary for a site having only a single reactor. The Maine and Connecticut Yankee plants, which were similar to VY, were both immediately decommissioned after shut-down.  

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up the phone or send an e-mail off to Bernie and the others to say “we support you on this.”   Washington’s got to be a chilly place for these three about now, since even Obama would probably rather have VY up and running past 2012, if only for the statistical cover it would provide on energy.  We need to send a little home-grown warmth their way every now and then.  God knows, we holler loudly enough when they get it wrong!

Bernie Sanders (802) 862-0697  

Peter Welch (802) 652-2450

(Inspired by that lone goddamn pigeon munching out on gourmet crumbs in front of Three Penny Taproom last Friday.  Pige hit the big time.)

do you wonder why

we go on waiting

for God’s hand

to save us

why we think

we have some place

in a plan among the stars

do you

the universe

continues to explode

maybe help is on the way

or maybe

we do foolish moves

that do not face facts

do not let instinct

see the light

do everything we can

not to show our hands

not to break our hearts

break the fragileness

surrounding us

do we

a pigeon gets along

with crumbs

a tree with rain and sun

the universe

with its plan

I would bet these words

God’s hand is empty

so I play the game

lay down my crumbs

but I don’t count on it

do I

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

(I think Odum’s idea of promoting some of Julie’s best writings to the front page is exactly the right way to say “goodbye.”  First I chose  “Messages from the Future” because I loved the irreverent humor, and I thought the title sort of says what a writer’s (or an artist’s) legacy should be.  But I settled on this one, because it features a rare glimpse of Julie and her friends making music.  She was an amazing musician.

We love you Julie, and we’ll miss you…but we have your words, your pictures and your music.  They won’t fade away. – promoted by Sue Prent)

Earlier this month, a small group of musicians banded together to perform a benefit show for the Greater Falls Warming Shelter, an overnight shelter in Bellows Falls, VT.  

We were, of course, thwarted.  Not only was there an ice storm that night, but there was actually thundersleet going on.  The last year, we had a large audience and raised over $700.  This year, we had about 15 people, but still managed to raise $350.  So we decided to give it another try.  We’re doing the show again, this time on April 16th.  

Our featured musicians are Jesse Peters, Julie Waters and Ali Chambliss.  Here is video of the piece we used to close the show last time:

Here’s one of the solo pieces I performed:

If you would like to donate but are unable to attend the show, please send your donations to:

Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA)

91 Buck Drive

Westminster, VT 05158

Please mention that the donation is for the Greater Falls Warming Shelter and please reference the benefit concert

Other relevant info:

Facebook link for the concert

Downloadable poster

News about the shelter

Full press release:

BENEFIT CONCERT TO BENEFIT GREATER FALLS WARMING SHELTER

When:   Saturday, April 16th at 7:30 p.m

Where: Immanuel Episcopal Church (the Stone Church) in Bellows Falls, VT

Contact: Greater Falls Warming Shelter (bfwarmingshelter@yahoo.com / 802.463.2567)

or

Julie Waters (julie@riverartsproject.com / 802.451.1947)

BELLOWS FALLS, VT. – They tried it once, and now they’re trying it again.

In February of 2011, Julie Waters, Jesse Peters and Ali Chambliss attempted a benefit show, braving bad weather which included not only icy roads but a surprise appearance of thundersleet.  The concert was wonderful, but sparsely attended.  Despite the audience of a mere 15 people, they were able to raise $350.  So, they figured, it was worth trying again, hoping to get a much larger audience in better climate.

Julie Waters took on the task of wrangling a new date for the show.  “It didn’t take too long,” she explains, “but I wanted to make sure everything was in perfect order before publicizing the show.”  She had to get the go-ahead from the warming shelter’s board, the other two musicians and the venue.  “I was especially hoping to be able to get the Church again,” she continues.  “The acoustics in that building are amazing.  I think of the venue itself as the fourth member of our group.”  

The Greater Falls Warming Shelter is a valuable resource in Bellows Falls.  According to the Brattleboro Commons, “in its first year, the center served 44 individuals for 371 bed nights during the 93 nights it was open. More than 75 volunteers stayed overnight at the shelter or provided some kind of support such as laundering, cleaning,  donating furniture, providing supplies or helping with the fundraising concert. Monetary contributions to the shelter may be sent to the shelter’s fiscal agent, Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA), at 91 Buck Dr., Westminster, VT 05158.

   In addition to Waters, Jesse Peters and Ali Chambliss will be headlining the show.

   Julie Waters is a folk artist in the truest tradition, weaving stories, motion and rhythm, creating lyrical poetry through the strings of her guitar. More than simply a creative approach to  music, her performances turn on a dime, first evoking ancient modal  melodies, and then suddenly sliding into a rock and roll beat that morphs straight into the 21st century.  According to Folk Singer Peter Mulvey, “Julie’s playing is kinetic and moving, and memorable a season after you hear it.”

   Jesse Peters is flexible enough to play instrumental dinner music one day and jazz-rock with his trio the next. His writing style is similarly broad, with modern groove numbers interspersed with more traditional finger-picked tunes and a few rockers thrown in for good measure.  “Jesse’s amazing,” explains Julie Waters.  “I’ve played with a lot of guitar players in my time.  Jesse is among the best.  Playing with him pushes me to be a better musician.”  

   Ali Chambliss is one woman, with a guitar, an array of songs and a tremendous voice.  Her original songs are crafted from a well of emotion deep and challenging as it is beautiful and poignant.

   Suggested donation is $10.

   The Greater Falls Warming Shelter opened November 22nd at 83 Westminster Street (behind Athens Pizza) to provide a temporary spot for an overnight stay. It will remain open until April and is staffed seven nights a week by volunteers who serve in two shifts from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 1 a.m. to 7 a.m. New volunteers are urged to contact the shelter at bfwarmingshelter@yahoo.com or leave a message at (802) 463-2567 to learn about the shelter and the on-going training provided. Members of the shelter steering committee will also be at the concert to provide information.

I’m all about the movies, so I find myself drawn to the Oscars every year, even as they invariably annoy the crap outta me. Since I’ve had kids, I don’t get the opportunity to see everything that comes out, which is a bummer, but I still get invested in what’s out when, and what gets buzz.

And let me be clear, when I say I like movies, I really mean it. I don’t limit myself by actors or topic. Nor do I arbitrarily toss out genre movies. People who say they love movies and then qualify that love with a list of entire categories of movies they feel are beneath them don’t like movies, at least not in the way I mean. I like big movies, little movies, special effects movies and indy movies, chick flicks and gorefests. Every genre and category have their good ones and bad ones… and even some of the bad ones can entertain in their own special ways.

So, I’ve been thinking about movies (obviously) and I got to thinking about movie villains. A good villain is a joy to behold, and I started working on my top-ten movie villain list. Granted, its a list I came up with at this particular moment, but there are a few names on there that would probably remain over the long haul.

But what a hard job, narrowing that list down to ten. So many fantastic villains that deserve special mention that, for whatever reason, did not quite make the cut at the moment I was typing them out. I feel I almost owe an apology to cinema baddies like Norman Bates, Nurse Ratched, The Wicked Witch of the West, Alex DeLarge, Harry Lime. And Michael Corleone, what do you do with him? He was hero, then anti-hero, then villain, then tragic anti-hero?

So anyway, below is my top ten for the moment. I encourage folks to add their own… and my maybe-surprise pick for my favorite movie villain ever is definitely not one of those impulse choices. He’s always the first villain I think of when I consider my favorites…

1. Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) – Training Day (2001). Best. Bad Guy. Ever. Denzel Washington won an Oscar for this role, and boy did he deserve it. Harris was played as alternately magnetic and creepy, scary and reassuring, and utterly diabolical. At several points, you find yourself sympathizing with his seductive rationales for crossing the line. In that way, the film becomes a test of how far into evil the viewer can be led before faced with the realization that Harris is simply a violent, sociopathic nightmare. Good stuff.

2. Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) – Blade Runner (1982). One of those perfect combinations of script, director and actor that can never be planned for. It’s like lightning striking. The emotional roller-coaster of watching this character is like no other; frighteningly inhuman to painfully, tragically human. Strong and unstoppable to completely fragile. The sudden, whiplash-inducing turn from being terrified of this Frankenstein-esque monster to crying for him as a tragic character should never be attempted in film, as it’s too much to ask an audience to come along with – but in Blade Runner, it was a roaring success, and the result was amazing.

3. The Joker (Heath Ledger) – The Dark Knight (2008). What more is there to say than has already been said about this performance? Creepy, disturbing, even repelling. Ledger’s Joker was not your seductively-styled evil. Credit also goes to the writers for a creatively conceived manifestation of the classic Batman villain, but it was the late Ledger that made you buy that – despite the mystery and unanswered questions around who he was and where he came from – this Joker was not merely a force of nature or a plot device, but a terrifying, if unique, human monster. No small feat, considering how over the top the character is.

4. Regan MacNeil/Satan (Linda Blair) – The Exorcist (1973). Uhhh. Speaking of non-seductive evil. Shudder. Can still give this catholic boy nightmares if I think about it too much.

5. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) – The Silence Of The Lambs (1991). Another one that needs no explanation, and another that depended on a fantastic performance. How many nightmares did “Silence of the Lambs” cause anyway? It’d be creepy enough if he was just a crazed killer, but he eats people. Ew.

6. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain – voice) – 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Come on, there have been plenty of evil-computers-gone-bad stories… but really, there has been only one evil-computer-gone-bad as far as I’m concerned. Kubrick made you feel totally isolated and utterly at the mercy of this inscrutable, unknowable, omninpresent, all-powerful, and completely inhuman thing.

7. Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey) – The Usual Suspects (1995). Even though the movie is 16 years old, its still a no-no to talk about the end of this movie and the whole Kaiser Soze thing, so I won’t. But what a unique and amazing villain. More cinematically impressive and cool than scary, but that counts.

8. Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) – Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982). The ultimate scenery-chewing, obsessed, old-school comic-book style bad guy in movies, bar none (and super-strong to boot). Also, the universe’s coolest latino-sikh.

9. Darth Vader (David Prowse / James Earl Jones – voice). This is one of those names like Norman Bates or the Wicked Witch that I could easily have left off, but he made the list. Vader is sort of a cinematic bad guy archetype, and while I love those sorts of characters, they lose some of their charge for me over time. But, hey, its Darth Vader. Just seemed like no list would be complete without him.

10. Lt. Col. Owen Thursday (Henry Fonda) Fort Apache (1948). Okay, this is my impulse choice for today (as I noticed I only had 9 on my list as I’d accidentally listed Heath Ledger’s Joker twice). He probably shouldn’t be on a “best” list, but I just hated this guy. Great movie (if you ignore the peculiarly tacked-on, cheeseball epilogue scene), but this guy – as perfectly portrayed by Fonda – just embodied all our worst, paternalistic American impulses, while those under his command (who were learning to work with and build trust with the native tribes before Thursday came along) seemed to be rising above them.

Your turn…. who ya got for me?

I hope Mr. Legend’s beliefs begin to catch a little fire!

On Thursday night (Feb. 24), President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama honored Motown Records with a special concert event at the White House. Performers included Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Seal and John Legend, who gave politicians a mouthful of negative feedback on their tax initiatives.

He scolded lawmakers for cutting taxes for the rich, at the expense of axing cultural community organizations such as arts and singing programs. “I hope our politicians will not think that they are expendable and they can just get rid of them and nobody will feel the pain,” he continued. “Because I think society will feel the pain. I’m really frustrated with some of the discourse that’s coming out of Washington.”

Well, the good people of The Town of St. Albans reelected Bill Nihan to another term as Chairman of the Selectboard.  Nihan will, no doubt, regard this as a mandate to do as he pleases about the policing contract and the Town Plan.  Look for girdlock in relations between the Town and the City to continue at least for the next two years; a return to “spot” zoning and pedestrian-free planning; and continued refusal to cooperate with any research on the watershed.

_____________________________________________________________

Why should we care about petty-politics in neighboring towns when the country has so many larger problems? Because corruption and abuse of power begin at the local level.  From there they take a foothold, become systemic and deliver us all to the unhappy state of affairs we now have playing out in Wisconsin and elsewhere.  It’s a political habit that is near impossible to break.

As Town Meeting Day approaches, a new chapter in the ongoing drama between St. Albans Town and St. Albans City has been unfolding, largely unobserved outside the area since very little Messenger content is carried on-line these days.  But this time we have a link to an excellent piece of reporting by Michelle Monroe.

In the current chapter of the ongoing saga, the action is centered on a power struggle within the Town Selectboard over the question of which entity will be awarded the contract for policing services: Franklin County Sheriff Robert Norris or the City of St. Albans.  The Selectboard originally asked for “opinions” from the City and from Sheriff Norris as to what would comprise adequate policing for the Town, and requested each to give a quote on providing those services.  Sheriff Norris currently is the provider and the request for bids was for the upcoming contract period.  The details of those opinions and quotes are available in Ms. Monroe’s article; but in the end, the Selectboard voted 3-2 to give the contract to the City, which had a lower bid.  Sheriff Norris’ bid represented an increase over his current rate, which was already higher than the City’s bid. There was considerable rancor in the Town around this decision.  The Sheriff has a lot of friends in Town; and the City and Town have a history of rocky relations, both real and imaginary.

Now it comes out that after the bidding closed and the Selectboard had reached its decision, Town Manager Christine Murphy approached Sheriff Norris and asked only him to provide a quote on continuing his contract for another year at the same rate as is currently being paid.  Supposedly, the idea was to use  the difference between what the Sheriff was already being paid and what he wanted to be paid for the upcoming contract to fund an independent  “study” of the policing needs of the community. The City was not included in the request for a new bid.  Sheriff Norris was, of course,  amenable to  the offer since it was better than not having his contract renewed at all.  

The full Selectboard was not aware of Ms. Murphy’s actions until she provided a 4-page memo regarding the discussions to the Selectboard on February 18.  The Messenger got the memo from one  of the dissenting Selectboard members on February 23 and posted it to their website.  Let me tell you, there are some pretty angry words coming from the voting majority on the Selectboard, particularly Paul Larner who said there was no need of further “study” since the Selectboard had already received the opinion of two competing experts (the Sheriff and the City) who essentially were in agreement as to the need.   John Gray, who also voted to award the contract to the City, expressed his frustration with the City Manager’s actions.

“From day one, the process has been biased toward a certain entity.”

One cannot help but suspect politics were in play, since one of the two dissenting voters, Selectboard Chair Bill Nihan is running for re-election.  Chairman Nihan is one tough cookie who doesn’t readily take “no” for an answer.

His opponent, Dave Schofield, is currently serving on the Planning Commission that was charged with drafting a new Town Plan.  The Town Plan is of special interest to me, as a member of Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth, because it will shape the future of highway-centric development in the two zones at Exit 19 and Exit 20 that the Town has identified as their twin “growth centers.”  (Don’t get me started on that!)

Anyway, Mr. Schofield and his colleagues on the Planning Commission held a number of public forums and spent many months carefully crafting a workable plan that attempted to be as smart and sustainably framed as possible under the circumstances.  When they presented their ideas to the Selectboard, they had a great deal of difficulty finding common ground because the Selectboard, under Nihan’s influence, wanted to do overlapping or “spot” zoning, so that there would be no commitment that might later prevent a major player from locating wherever they wished to.  After the Planning Commission completed their task and submitted the new plan to the Selectboard, they were surprised to see that it was substantially altered…by Mr. Nihan and the Selectboard!

While Ms. Murphy’s actions will no doubt be under review to determine if she has done anything unethical, there has been a distinct pattern of abuse of power under the leadership of Mr. Nihan who comes from a corporate background in Asia-based manufacturing.  In his retirement from that life, Mr. Nihan has become a major policy controller in the Town for many years, also serving strategically to shape the Big Box ambitions and conveniently framed growth centers that enable them.  One can only hope that Town voters are growing tired of the drama and will finally give Mr. Nihan the retirement he so richly deserves.