( – promoted by odum)

As you all know, I have the honor of being one of Vermont’s three Electors, and since Obama won the state, I get to cast one of those three votes on December 15 in Montpelier.

I just received via certified mail a small packet of information purportedly sent by one “Terri Storm” of Bessemer, Alabama. It was addressed to me by name as an Elector. The gist of the message is that some group plans to mount an Electoral College “challenge” to Barack Obama’s qualification for President based on their suggestion that he is not a “natural born citizen” of the United States.

This group charges that

Despite much public demand, Mr. Obama has not provided access to a classic Birth Certificate that proves the actual place of birth (Web site “short form” version simply does not address this question — He [sic] must deliver the certified long form …

More after the jump.

There’s a graphic of the comparison of the “Obama Certification” as shown on the President-elect’s campaign web site and a “Normal Certificate.” In some of the accompanying text, the group claims that on Obama’s website, “He displayed the kind of document Hawaiian residents can get for their  foreign born children.”

There’s more like that, including a close reading of the alleged law regarding foreign-born children of mixed-nationality parents and why, “if Barack Hussein Obama II was born outside the U.S. or its Outlying Possessions on August 4, 1961, then Ms. Dunham could not have transmitted her citizenship to her son …”

The guy behind this malarky is one Douglas W. Schell, who says in his introduction on meetup.com (all typos his):

My name is Dr. Douglas W. Schell. I recently retired as a Univesrity Business Professor from The Univesrity of North Carolina at Pembroke. In 2000, I ran for NC Governor on the Reform Parrty ticket. I have helped manage several state-wide camapign

He’s a Ron Paul partisan. He’s behind a website called Democratic-Disaster.com. A paragraph from his so-called evidence expresses outrage that non-citizens can appear as candidates on the ballot, citing Socialist Workers’ Party VP candidate Roger Calaro as a Nicaraguan citizen with a US green card.

So I’ve been “invited” to sign on to the challenge by promising to refuse to cast my Electoral vote until Obama delivers “the good stuff, the real Birth Certificate …”

This “invitation” is part of a plan to apply to the Supreme Court for a Stay of Election, while awaiting the results of “forensic tests”

on the original, vault copy [of Barack Obama’s birth certificate] residing in the State of Hawaii … to determine if the BC was actually produced on or around 1961 when Obama was born. This test should not take more than 72 hours and then a report produced by these forensic scientists giving their INFORMED opinion of the validity of the BC. … The report must be done by Dec 1, 2008 [from this weird website

But, of course, here’s the real agenda:

THIS CAN WORK AND WILL BE OUR LAST CHANCE TO STOP OBAMA. PLEASE BECOME A PART OF HISTORY AND IN DEFENSE OF OUR BELOVED CONSTITUTION.

GOD GRANT US HIS HELP IN THE BATTLE FOR HIS CONSTITUTION. I SEEK THE PRAYERS FOR THIS ACTION TO SUCCEED IF YOU ARE A PERSON OF FAITH.

It’s all hogwash, out there in lala conspiracy land. I just haven’t personally come into contact with this sort of junk since I can’t remember when.

Never fear, Obamanians, my Electoral Vote is a lock. Just wanted you all to know what kind of [heavy sigh, glyph of hand to forehead] pressure we Electors are subject to. And, besides, it’s Friday, so why not …

Just yesterday Vermont State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding got statewide press for suggesting a gas tax increase in order to keep our crumbling physical state infrastructure going under.

It received a lot of attention in many areas.

And now the inevitable push back from Governor Douglas is occurring with the added sugar of Douglas coming out against marriage for committed couples of the same gender.

Well, get out your hammers, Jeb the Carpenter, because you’ve laid the frame for some great gubernatorial planks (and I’d suggest this isn’t about Plancks): roads and bridges and strong families.

The frame: Douglas is opposed to improving the lives of Vermonters.

Plank 1: Of course Douglas is unconcerned about fixing our roads and bridges, but I (Jeb Spaulding) am happy to join Vermonters in doing the heavy lifting required to make sure we don’t have collapsing bridges and moon craters in our highways.

Plank 2: Of course Douglas is opposed to strong families, but I (Jeb Spaulding) will work with Vermonters to make sure the backbone of our nation’s society, the family, is supported with vigor and palpable action.

And when Douglas and his tax funded PR machine of highly paid spokespeople whine about all Douglas has done and the even more he would have done … why … all Spaulding has to do is say “Yes, Governor, buy you haven’t.”

(Was just talking about this very thing on Mike Abadi’s cable access show yesterday… musta been channeling SPS. Progressive economics is good economics, but I believe many of us have internalized self-doubt about these approaches going all the way back to the Reagan era. When the heat is on is precisely when we should be going with what we know works. Time for some liberal self deprogramming. – promoted by odum)

For a state crammed full of liberals of all stripes, we seem to be positively Hooverian when it comes to running our own ship.  The other day I caught a few minutes of Vermont edition where they were talking about plugging a gap in spending with big cuts in spending.  Now, we have Spaulding proposing a 5 cent gas tax to cover a public works project.

Our politicians are acting as if the problems in the economy are routine.  They are not.  We are headed for a nasty, nasty recession, possibly even a depression (though not on the scale of the Great Depression).  

So why on Earth is Vermont talking about cutting spending?  now is the time for deficit spending – to ensure needed social services are delivered and to keep people working through public infrastructure investment.  This is a classic Keynesian moment.

Now is the time to start dipping in to the Rainy Day fund – it is definitely a stormy economic period.  Moreover, we ought to use Vermont’s very good credit rating to finance public infrastructure investment without increasing taxes.  That credit rating is a fantastic tool, let’s use it to put the state on the road to recovery.  

When the economy recovers, we can restore fiscal balance.  

First a response to some of your emails I received last night. Yup, I saw the announcement on Blurt about a “why can’t the Progs and Dems get along” panel on December 4th. The short answer to your questions is: who knows? I invited Shay Totten and Cathy Resmer to the much-discussed meeting on the 6th in Montpelier, but heard no response. Dunno if this counts as one or not. They’re so funny about us over there.

In any event, to those who are planning on attending on the 6th, ours is a very different goal and approach, so I encourage you (if you have time) to do both, as the 7 Days event could inform our nuts and bolts, outside-the-box strategizing. While the D-vs-P thing is an important part of the puzzle, it is not the only thing keeping us from winning as much, and functioning as well, as we should be.

Our topic is, I think, the broader question of how do we get our act together and WIN. And the meeting on the 6th, again, is a more intimate planning session between Dems and Dem stakeholders in new media, as well as usual suspects and constituency groups that want to break out of some ruts – especially before they get worse (and there are disturbing signs about what’s coming without some serious changes). So here’s a proposed agenda (subject to adjustments from the comments) for the meeting, on Saturday December 6th, 1PM-3PM, Montpelier Police Department Meeting Room:

I. Introductions. 5 mins.

II. The lay of the land The current conditions of the Democratic, Progressive and Republican Parties. 20 mins.

III. Discussion: Avoiding the candidate vacuum of the last cycle. Do we need new faces if we can’t get the old ones off the dime? How do we find them? 25 mins.

IV. Discussion: Getting the left to stop fighting itself (at least long enough to get elected). Does there need to be an independent authority that can talk to the Ds and Ps? What about legislation: IRV? A runoff election? Enabling running in multiple primaries? 40 mins.

V. Wrap-Up & Initial Goals: How to move from the theoretical to the practical? Planning for another meeting (or working group) for the purpose of putting together some sort of workplan to continue the discussion and put some of our ideas into play. 20 mins.

Again, this is going to be a small working group rather than a forum, but if you’re interested, please email me, as you should definitely participate. It’s shaping up to be a fantastic (and even a little unexpected) group with (so far) manageable numbers conducive to a brainstorming session. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be breaking out the agenda items into pre-discussion diaries to set the stage.

Action:

Vermont state Sen. John Campbell says he’s going to introduce a gay marriage bill when the Legislature convenes in January.

Reaction:

If a same-sex marriage bill does gain traction in the Vermont Legislature, (Vermont anti-gay activist Craig) Benson said he and other groups will have an active presence at the Statehouse during the 2009 session.

“We’ve been pretty encouraged by what has been happening on the national scene,” he said.

More reaction:

Gov. Jim Douglas says he will oppose a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry in Vermont.

And more reaction:

Vermont Senate Majority Leader John Campbell…says he received a call at the Statehouse Wednesday by a woman who threatened to blow up his house.

Time to wake up and smell the history, folks. Dead-ender Benson is no doubt thrilled at the possibility this might make him relevant again and restore the hate-filled, fist pounding fan club that showered so much attention on him during the ugly civil unions battle. Douglas is clearly gleeful at the prospect of casting Democrats as irrelevant for being concerned about human dignity while he casual stomps all over it out of political convenience and smiles.

As far as I’m concerned, the fight to consign people like these two into the dustbin of history as the rest of society moves forward into a better world can’t come soon enough. Let’s get to it.

This is a pretty cool thing – especially now that its not simply a one-shot deal. Might merit some talking up nationally as a model for others. Here are the stats from last night’s call:

Telephone Town Hall statistics:

• Total participants: 6,029
• Average length of call: 18 minutes
• Number of questions answered: 19
• Callers who participated for 20-40 minutes: nearly 1,000

Reportedly, the questions were virtually 100% about economic concerns. No surprise there.

Nice story in today’s Boston Globe entitled “Republicans Feeling a New Freedom” by Sasha Issenberg, about a panel at the recent Republican Governors conference in Miami. It was a broad discussion of where the GOP goes from here. One place it’s going as fast as it can: disowning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Those are now Democratic responsibilities, one Bush ally noted with some satisfaction, hinting at a corollary to the “Pottery Barn rule” about postwar responsibility: Republicans may have broken Iraq, but President-elect Barack Obama bought it.

“He will now own it, and Republicans will be more free to criticize,” said former Ohio Congressman Rob Portman, who held two positions in the Bush administration and is now considering a run for governor in 2010.

Hey, wait — I thought criticizing the American war effort was tantamount to treason: giving aid and comfort to our enemies. Guess not, eh?  

There was also a presentation by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, outlining the buzzwords for a successful campaign. They were all about things like “accountability” and “efficiency.” You know, the hallmarks of the Bush Administration and the 1994-2006 Republican Congress. Luntz noted that, four years ago, most of the buzzwords were about strength and security; now, it’s all about the economy and good government. Who’d a thunk it?

But the best comes from Saul Anuzis, the head of the spectacularly unsuccessful Michigan GOP, who has somehow convinced himself that he should be the next head of the national party. We should be rooting for this guy.

“All the things that didn’t go right with government, Republicans got blamed,” said Saul Anuzis, a Michigan party official running to lead the Republican National Committee, mentioning Iraq along with Hurricane Katrina and the so-called Bridge to Nowhere earmark. “Republicans, generally, we run better when we run against Washington from the outside.”

Good thinking, Saul. Two points:

1. “Republicans got blamed.” It’s almost like they were, oh, running the country or something!

2. “We run better when we run… from the outside.” In other words, Saul, the more the GOP loses, the better. I couldn’t agree more. Let’s put ’em way, way outside and keep ’em there for a long time.  

VPR is reporting that Vermont State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding is recommending immediate investment in Vermont’s roads and bridges… real economic stimulus that would help keep Vermonters working, create demand for goods and materials, and repair our broken transportation system. Oh, yeah, and it’s paid for!

For years Jim Douglas has failed do anything about our ailing infrastructure and instead simply puts a band-aid over the problem. Our bridges are falling down, our roads are pockmarked and crumbling. Yet, the Governor does nothing. Why? Well, making those repairs costs money.

Jeb’s plan sounds great, right? Fix our roads and bridges and provide jobs for working Vermonters. So, what’s the catch? The catch, is how you pay for it. Treasurer Spaulding has suggested a 5-cent per gallon increase in the gas tax to bring in about $20 million annually. The total cost of repairs is closer to $120 million or more, so the state could get all the money up-front by bonding it and using the tax to pay it back over time. Then, the state could either retire the tax after about six years, or continue it to pay for other needed infrastructure improvements. Typically, Jim Douglas is going into political pounce mode and is likely to declare this “high taxes” that Vermonters cannot afford.

But is that really true? First of all, gas prices have dropped dramatically over the last few months. We were paying $4 and more per gallon. Gas is now about half that (I’ve seen it for $2.19. A nickel increase would only raise it to $2.24. Now obviously, gas prices are volatile and the cost will likely continue to go up and down for awhile. Still, why not take advantage of the opportunity while prices are low? In the meantime, we’re facing a terrible recession and Vermonters need the work. And, they really need good roads and bridges to support people getting to work, our tourism trade, the distribution of goods and services and to save the wear and tear on our vehicles.

Second, pumping money into the economy that goes directly into creating demand for construction materials and that creates jobs is classic economic stimulus – precisely the kind that may create more economic opportunity than it costs. People use their paychecks (which is taxable income) to buy goods and services locally, which in turn puts money in the pockets of local shopkeepers, etc. and adds to the total gross receipts for the state. This is exactly the kind of activity we should be encouraging right now.

Finally, here is someone with a plan. An actual honest-to-goodness plan(!) to not only fix our infrastructure, but to invest in our communities and our people and actually do something about the economy. We’re still waiting for Jim Douglas’ plan. Unfortunately, a plan does not appear to be forthcoming. The Gov’s position appears to be that we cannot afford to do anything, so the only thing to do is cut the budget, cut services to low-income people who need them now more than ever. It’s hard to know if that is part of an actual strategy, or if it is simply the political equivalent of pulling the covers up over your head and hoping these problems will just go away. But, a plan it is not.

The Governor and the legislature should consider Treasurer Spaulding’s plan carefully. Vermonters should get behind this. It is time to do something about our economic situation. This is a worthy plan.

Crossposted at http://mulishbehavior.blogspot…

Over at another site I was debating the nature of conservatism. My interlocutor claimed that he was standing up for “true” conservatism. The conservatism of Burke and Russell Kirk. You often hear this kind of thing, often from the same kinds of people who say they are “real” liberals, by which they mean the kind of liberals that existed back in the 17th or 18th Century, but never since then.

These guys commonly argue that McCain, and even Bush, are not real conservatives, bt that if the American people knew what real conservatism is, they would be.

So in this discussion I thought I'd point out what I think the elements of real conservatism are. Maybe some of them will look familiar to you.

Bush and Douglas are what conservatism is:

Favors the wealthy over the disadvantaged at every opportunity.

Militaristic to the point of imperialism.

Simplistic, dualistic view of international dynamics.

Hostile to civil liberties, and evidencing a fondness for repressive police and military policies.

Committed to using the powers of government to enforce conservative moral and religious values.

Opposed to using the powers of government to serve the common good or to redress the legitimate grievances of disadvantaged groups.

Hostile to environmental protection or other impediments to unrestrained capitalism.

Oh, and if you haven't noticed, Burke left the building a long time ago.

My medium-range anger in the past few days turned into medium range depression, so its probably time to bump up the pick-me-up-diary for therapeutic reasons.

So, here’s the good news:

• Universal Health Care is, at least, now an explicit goal. From dKos:
  

  According to CNN’s Ed Henry, Tom Daschle will serve not just as Secretary of Health and Human Services, but will also be the administration’s point person on the push for a universal health care plan.

• Closing the gulag and a return to due process. From Huffpo:
  

  President-elect Obama’s advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S.

• The words of Eric Holder, Obama’s pick for Attorney General. Via WaPo:
  

  “Our government authorized the use torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants, and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution.

  “Now, I do not question the motives of patriotism of those responsible for these policies. But this does nothing to mitigate the fact that these steps were wrong when they were initiated and they are wrong today

And of course, there’s the matter of Supreme Court appointments and not having to look forward to going to war with Iran.

There. Feeling a little better. Of course, that could be the wine, too…