yes, there it is, Afghanistan and Iraq and all the little nameless places where the United States empire is being supported by war and lesser violence.

For me he owns them all as of today.

Expanded war in Afghanistan (another nation that never attacked us); no end to the Iraq invasion; increased war spending for our Department of War; a larger military and more.

And, just like the cheney/bush administration before him, Obama has added central America to his list.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday defended an imminent agreement that will give the United States access to military bases in Colombia, amid regional concerns about US intentions.

(Sec. Clinton defends deal to send US troops into Colombia, RawStory)

So how’s that feet to the fire thing working out for you liberals?

Yeah, this could have been titled “More non-change, you can believe it!”

Have to admit I found the grotesque hate speech in Mike’s really good post to be comically funny – at least from a Ten Commandments’ perspective.

Let’s face it, Fred Phelps is a serious violator of the the Top Ten.

And he is a serial violator of the specific Commandant in the Top Ten dealing with “shall not misuse the Lord’s name/shall not misrepresent the Lord etc. etc. . . ”

Just how many times in his Vermont missive did he spike the “name in vain” offense?  Let’s rack’um up – points on his pastor’s license in italics:

You hate God’s standards, and He hates you!

Check

God hates you, Doomed america, for what you have done to your children!  . . . God gave you vilent, freakish, worthless, brute-beast children!  You hate your children, and next, YOU WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN.  

Your antichrist, seated in the White House as the result of your sins, will pass a decree saying you MUST eat your children! (NOTE: probably applies to taking the “Antichrist’s name in vain too”)

Check.

GOD HATES VERMONT.

Check (and all caps name in vain too!).

Because you refuse to repent and return to the God of your covenant, He’ll cause the nations to march on Jerusalem, to afflict Jewry as never before, & you will eat your children.

Check.

God killed fags in Tel Aviv.

Check.

FAG-INFESTED WHOREMONGERS PIMPING FOR A SODOMITE BROTHEL MASQUERADING AS A LEGISLATURE. PICKET THE STATE HOUSE AND THE CITY CLERK’S SAME SEX MARRIAGE LICENSE MILL. THE STENCH OF VERMONT – AS WITH SODOM – HAS REACHED THE NOSTRILS OF AN ANGRY GOD.  Gen. 18:20,21.

Check? No Check.  

I just really liked the part about “Brothel masquerading Legislature” and “God’s nostrils” picking up on what we’re doing in Vermont as I sit here typing – windows open – on the day virtually every farmer in Central Vermont is spreading manure since we’ve just had enough days to finally bring in the hay.

Guess you kinda’ have to be here.

After the fat tax cutting years of the Bush regime would it be ungracious to suspect that maybe the rich have eaten their fill pushed themselves away from the table and some are able to feeling like sharing?  Burp.

A recent study from the University of California-Berkeley shows that, in 2007, the wealth disparity grew to its highest number on record, based on US tax data going back to 1917. The top 0.01 percent of earners in the US are now taking home six percent of all the income, and a whopping six-fold increase since the start of the Reagan administration

Tax me more please is unlikely to be the next big thing among the moneyed but a group called Wealth for the Common Good has called on President Obama and Congress to rescind the Bush tax cuts immediately According to their website’s latest update they have more than 1,000 signers. About 300 of them are from high-income households.  Good for them, because as the familiar saying goes “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society”. The Bush tax cut would sunset at the end of 2011 automatically if left unchanged.    

Commenting  on the Wealth for the Common Good concept  the Wall Street Journal noted that the recession weary rich may have already suffered enough and naturally aside from having greater ability to pay them, the rich, you know just don’t like taxes . First, the rich pool has been drained markedly by financial crisis. And second, the wealthy — like many Americans — don’t really like paying taxes.

The head of an organization called Wealth for the Common Good is hitting the airwaves to urge wealthy Americans to sign a petition that would reverse the Bush-era tax cuts on household incomes of more than $235,000.

The group seeks an increase of the top tax rate to 39.6% from 35%, which it estimates could raise $43 billion in tax revenue a year. “We believe high-income households want President Obama to move our country toward stability, fiscal responsibility and sensible taxation and investment,” the group states.

One of the group’s co-founders is Chuck Collins, great grandson of hot dog magnate Oscar Mayer, who has been a vocal proponent of the rich sharing more of their wealth with society. In 2003, he co-authored the book Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes with William Gates Sr., father of the founder of Microsoft.

http://online.wsj.com/article/…

http://rawstory.com/08/news/20…

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews…

NPR is required listening for liberals, right? In fact, it's nothing but a liberal sounding board, right?

Maybe it's time to rethink that. Here's an example. Every Monday morning on Morning Edition they call Cokie Roberts and she gets to blather on about her view of what's happening in the news. She actually does it from her house, and she can pretty much say anything she wants.

Today one of her key topics was health care, and Cokie's disquisition included the following statement:

ROBERTS: . . .  The Democrats will shift, think they have something the Republicans will go for, and then the Republicans shift further. And they make a big deal about something that distracts and frightens the voters like those so-called death panels, then the Democrats drop that and Republicans find something else to object to.

Let me just repeat that:

And they make a big deal about something that distracts and frightens the voters like those so-called death panels, then the Democrats drop that . . .

I'm sure she thinks she's being fair and balanced because she said “so-called”, thus imparting a note of skepticism. But this is inadequate. What she said was that the death panels were in the bill until the Republicans made a big deal about them, and then the Democrats dropped them. In other words, the Democrats' plan was to kill your grandmother and Sarah Palin's baby.

How about telling the truth: the Republicans made it all up. There are no death panels, so-called or not. It's all a big lie by the Republicans.

I don't know about you, but I think the job of journalists goes beyond parroting what the various sides say, and extends to actually reporting the facts. Of course, Roberts didn't even do that. She didn't resort to the old reliable, “he said, she said” formulation. If you listened to her commentary, not only would you get no idea of what the truth is you would get no idea of what the Democrats say about the Republican claim about death panels.

And this is what passes for a respected journalist in this country?

I’m gonna get it for this, both here and from my friends in the national blogosphere…

Three days ago, the online editors at the Guardian’s Comment Is Free website turned down a proposed piece about the passion gap between pro and anti health reformers in much of the country (not Vermont), instead asking me to “focus on the question of whether the left should get behind Obama’s plan, despite the fact that it falls short of their goals?”

Sure, I said. After all, since when do I turn down an opportunity to opine? And how often do I get to do it professionally (answer: not very)?

But I was dreading it because I knew where I would go, and I wasn’t ready to go there. Not yet. Nor was I, in any honest, direct assessment of that very specific question, willing to be cagey or deceptive – even strategically so. As such I was up until all hours with it, when I can usually knock out a blog piece in almost no time.

Anyway, have a read if you like: here’s the link. Then you can come back here and beat me up (or there… the Guardian site takes comments too).

I suppose the long and the short is that my bluff is being prematurely called. I didn’t plan it to be a bluff, but when you get right to it, I suppose I was fooling myself. Does that make me the worst, most self-sabotaging type of liberal? I honestly don’t know. You tell me.

I’m out in Utah this week, packing in about 15 days of adventure into 9, solo.

Yesterday, I went to the famous Arches Nat’l Monument and took some great photos that I’d like to share.

I hit the Arches at sunrise, before those crowds that Edward Abbey ominously warned us about showed up:

The world famous Delicate Arch:

Lots of stuff like this on the way in:

Delicate Arch from below:

Ute Pictographs:

There’s more photos here at a Photbucket album:

http://s131.photobucket.com/al…

So this afternoon, I’m off to backpack into the Canyonlands, then tomorrow up to a hotel in Beaver. Day after that, I’m attempting the 12,000+ foot Delano Peak (sleeping up there), then the next day a hike in Bryce, then back to Vegas, then home to VT. If I can get to a computer agin, I’ll give you another update, if not, I’ll have a bunch of great pics up when I get home.

(Thanks for the heads-up Mike. – promoted by odum)

I’m sure I don’t have to tell anyone about the Westboro Baptist Church and their “God Hates Fags” (and just about everyone else) campaign.  

Well, the bad news is that they’re bringing their fear and hatred to Vermont. On Tuesday, September 1, they’re planning to protest at the Montpelier High School from 7:20 to 7:50 am, then go to the Vermont State House from 7:55 to 8:25 am, finishing up at the Montpelier City Clerk’s office from 8:30 to 9 am. Rather than paraphrase their hate-filled “press release,” I’ll post it after the fold.  

A warning, though, don’t go to the jump if you don’t want to see the hate.

WBC WILL PICKET THE FAG-INFESTED, PERVERT-RUN MONTPELIER HIGH SCHOOL

Montpelier High School, 5 High School Dr., Montpelier, VT

Tuesday September 1, 2009, from 7:20 to 7:50 am.  

We will give your children an opportunity to see what good looks like, to see the face of what they were entitled to have from every adult that has ever touched their lives!  You hate God’s standards, and He hates you!

God hates you, Doomed america, for what you have done to your children!  Here is the COMMANDMENT from your God:

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” Deuteronomy 6:6-9

You did not obey; you corrupted them from the womb, so God gave you violent, freakish, worthless, brute-beast children!  You hate your children, and next, YOU WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN.  YES! Your antichrist, seated in the White House as the result of your sins, will pass a decree saying you MUST eat your children!

Time for some Bitch Burgers, Obama Fries & Simple Slut Shakes!

Read the words: Deut. 28:53-58; Lev. 26-29

Fear God, and give the Glory to HIM, for the hour of HIS judgement is come.

GOD’S CURSE IS ON YOUR BRATS, DOOMED aMERICA

But wait, there’s also a special message for the Legislature:

GOD HATES VERMONT.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, FAG-INFESTED WHOREMONGERS PIMPING FOR A SODOMITE BROTHEL MASQUERADING AS A LEGISLATURE.  WBC WILL PICKET THE STATE HOUSE AND THE CITY CLERK’S SAME SEX MARRIAGE LICENSE MILL.  THE STENCH OF VERMONT – AS WITH SODOM – HAS REACHED THE NOSTRILS OF AN ANGRY GOD.  Gen. 18:20,21.

Vermont State House

115 State St., Montpelier, Vermont

(Picket Tuesday, September 1, from 7:55 to 8:25 am)

City Clerk’s Office

39 Main St., Montpelier, Vermont

(Picket Tuesday, September 1, from 8:30 to 9:00 am)

And that’s not all.  Apparently God, or at least Rev. Fred Phelps and his followers, also hate Jews.  After they get done hating gays, children, legislators, and town officials in Montpelier, it looks like they’re going head up to Burlington to hate a few Jews:

THE FATEFUL FIG FIND

Burlington, VT Edition – Tues., Sept. 1

WBC TO LOOK FOR GOOD FIGS AMONG THE FILTHY, CHRIST-REJECTING JEWS

9:45 am – 10:15 am

University of Vermont Hillel

The Allen House, 461 Main St.

10:15 am – 10:45 am

Chabad of Vermont/Chabad JCC

57 S. Williams St.

10:45 am – 11:15 am

Ohavi Zedek Synagogue

188 N. Prospect St.

MEMO TO EVIL FIGS: YOU WILL EAT YOUR CHILDREN!

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently uno thy children.” Deut 6:6-7.

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all of his commandments… thou shalt eat the fruit of then own body, the flesh of they  sons and of they daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee… in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.” Deut. 28:15, 53.

You Jews have taught your children that God is a liar, and that they can commit abomination with impunity because they are of the children of Israel.  Now, the hearts of your young people are hardened against God, even as they’re shot and killed in your centers of idolatry.  Because you refuse to repent and return to the God of your covenant, He’ll cause the nations to march on Jerusalem, to afflict Jewry as never before, & you will eat your children.

This little gem was accompanied by a photo of children, apparently creating some sort of temporary memorial.  WBC’s caption:

Young Jews mourn fags slain by God in Tel Aviv.

Sorry for all the hate, folks.  I know how angry this makes me feel, and I’m not a particularly sensitive person.  So I know some people will find this extremely distressing to read.  But I do think it’s important not only to know that these folks are headed for our fair state, but also to know exactly what kind of hate they’re capable of.

The first half of this title is the top headline in today’s Barre/Montpelier Times Argus.

My wife, an ardent Obama supporter who actively and successfully lobbied friends to vote for Obama, tossed the paper down in disgust. “Where’s the change I voted for?” she asked the kitchen and me.

In my opinion the answer is simple: we are witnessing Obama’s definition of political change.

If all you ever heard during the ’08 presidential campaign was the flowers in Obama’s speeches … sure … you’re surprised and disappointed in what you’re seeing now. But if you listened to the words Obama was using, like me you’re recognizing he is following the path he promised.

For Obama change was and is about Republicans and Democrats coming together to create common solutions to our nation’s and world’s biggest problems. On the campaign trail he wasn’t results oriented instead focusing on the process to achieve the results and that is where he still is today.

Nothing illustrates this better than the inexorable dissipation of any political will to insist up the inclusion of the progressive compromise on single payer health care systems: a public run insurance program.

Simply put Obama is going to push through anything he can label as “reform” without regard to what the sausage tastes like in the end. It is more important for Obama to garner Republican support than it is for him to jump ugly on intransigent right-wing Democrats. (This is despite the fact that the House’s bill 2600 made sure that prices were to be fixed at a level insurance companies could thrive with … a point I made in a previous post.)

I remember when the Bybee pro-torture memo surfaced. It is a litany of ways the cheney/bush administration could avoid any application of anti-torture laws to them or the good Nazis who did the bidding or cheney/bush.

(Obviously the Bybee memo has served its purpose well as Obama has strenuously fought any attempt at holding the torturers or their enablers responsible for anything … ‘nother story ‘nother day.)

The primary way the Bybee memo performed its function was simply by redefining torture to mean an act that could never be reached! Pain and suffering was defined as being “equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such a organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.” (The Bybee memo got this definition from medical law describing when medical care is required … but never mind.)

Various methods the Bybee proposed as not being torture includes: “four detainees were severely beaten and forced to stand spread eagle up against the wall” (page 29); and being ‘forced to stand spread eagle while an interrogator kicked them “continuously on the inside of the legs.”‘ (ibid … oh, and you might want to take this definition and enter “common peroneal strike bagram airbase” in google … describes what happens when the cheney/bush torture process is applied to the outside instead of the inside of the legs).

And let us not forget the ever copyable Israelis and ‘”the forceful shaking of the suspect’s upper torso, back and forth, repeatedly, in a manner which causes the neck and head to dangle and vacillate rapidly.”‘ No, not torture either.

The end result of the Bybee memo (beyond giving Obama a chance to make excuses for torturers) was a complete redefinition of the word torture that still survives today. And like the Bybee memo has effectively redefined torture, at least for now, Obama has effectively redefined change.

For Obama change has nothing to do with results, but has everything to do with process … even when that process is the same old process that has been failing our nation. Obama has no issue with the same policies and proposals as those that came out of the cheney/bush administration; he just wants it to be “bi-partisan” as opposed to Republican party rule.

So while you stand there with mouth agape wondering “What the fuck?”, well, don’t be surprised … it’s just Obama’s version of change … which really is no change … but that’s why it looks and feels like change really isn’t happening.

PS. Did you look up that “common peroneal strike bagram airbase” in google? If you did you’ll note that even life threatening pain in the end wasn’t considered torture by our nation’s military courts.

Wondering why you can't get state offices to answer their phones on that one odd day in the middle of August?

The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that took place on August 16, 1777, in Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles (16 km) from its namesake Bennington, Vermont. An American force of 2,000 men, primarily composed of New Hampshire and Massachusetts militiamen, led by General John Stark, and reinforced by men led by Colonel Seth Warner and members of the Green Mountain Boys, decisively defeated a detachment of General John Burgoyne's army led by Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, and supported by additional men under Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann.

After a day of rain, Stark decided on August 16 to send two columns of his troops against Baum's flanks and rear while the remainder assaulted the front. The attack began at 3:00 pm. Many Indians, Canadians and Tories fled or surrendered after the first musket volleys, but the unmounted cavalrymen held position, fighting off the attackers with sabres. Baum himself died in the battle, which Stark would later describe as “one continuous clap of thunder,” which lasted two hours before the hill was finally taken.

What we may have considered inevitable appears to be happening: Obama is selling out real health care reform.

According to this report from NPR, 

Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, President Obama's administration signaled on Sunday that it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Americans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that a government alternative to private health insurance is “not the essential element” of the administration's health care overhaul. The White House would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so they can declare a victory.

I'm sure that most readers of this site will find this utterly unacceptable. President Obama ran on a platfom of delivering health care reform, and the fraudulent package he is apparently willing to accept is a betrayal of all of us who worked so hard to put him in office.

If you agree that health care “reform” without even the watered-down public option is no reform at all, please contact your congressional delegation and ask them to oppose any health care package that does not include the public option.

Senator Patrick Leahy:

199 Main Street, 4th Floor – Burlington, VT 05401 – (802) 863-2525 – 1-800-642-3193

P.O. Box 933 – 87 State Street, Room 338 – Montpelier, VT 05602 – (802) 229-0569

Senator Bernie Sanders:

 Representative Peter Welch:

30 Main Street, Third Floor, Suite 350 – Burlington, VT 05401 – (888) 605-7270 (toll free in VT) – (802) 652-2450