( – promoted by odum)

We, the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth continue to press our  Appeals against the St. Albans  Walmart project, despite the best efforts of the developer and Governor Douglas to put the fear of our neighbors into us at the recent Walmart rally.

If you got a glimpse of the Governor on WCAX news a couple of weeks ago, pumplng his fist in the air and telling opponents of the St. Albans Walmart project  to “stop the Appeals”, you may be wondering if the hot-dog hoovering crowd left the rally and followed up on JL Davis’s urging to “persuade” those of us involved to drop our opposition to the store.

The good news is that, so far, this attempt at organized intimidation doesn’t seem to have borne much fruit.  True, there were the ugly moments that Saturday afternoon,  when honking and shouting Walmart supporters noisily buzzed the Hudak Farm, waiving signs and carrying on like football hooligans; there was Paul Beaudry reliably spewing hate over the radio; and there has been a slight uptick in nasty letters-to-the editor.  But the simple fact is that many of our neighbors have gone out of their way to give us words of support and encouragement.

We do not, however, underestimate the potential for mischief yet to come; and we have already begun preparing a complaint to the ACLU, as we believe this sort of organized attempt to incite harassment, and so affect an ongoing judicial process, may constitute a violation of our civil rights.

We continue to call-out the Governor for his role in the spectacle.  It should be very concerning to all Vermonters that he apparently doesn’t understand his obligation as a member of the Executive Branch of State Government to not interfere  in matters that are currently under consideration by the Judiciary Branch.  Demonstrating his obvious bias in favor of significant contributors to his campaigns is inappropriate and downright foolish.  This just lends even more substance to our Conflict of Interest charge against one of the commissioners he has appointed to the District 6 Environmental Commission that issued Walmart its ACT 250 permit.

By now, most of you have heard one version or another of this story:

According to State Police Detective Sgt. Richard Holden of the Brattleboro barracks, on the afternoon of Oct. 2, Department of Child and Family Services license auditors visited Diane’s Family Day Care, a day care facility operated by Diane Wood, 40, of Guilford.

At that time, Holden said the DCFS auditors discovered that Wood, in an alleged effort to conceal that the number of children for which she was providing care was in excess of her actual license, locked four children in a garden shed.

First, a thank you to the other front pagers: when this news broke, I asked that we not just post the news itself in a vacuum but wait until one of us had time to provide some real perspective on it.  I often feel the urge to just post about a sensational story without much comment, and I usually go with that, but this time, it felt as though there was a lot more that needed to be said.  So, thanks to everyone for waiting a couple days until I could get my thoughts together to post something that I think does the story justice without just making it about blame and outrage.

That said, I will be clear: this is bad.  Very bad.  I’m not going to defend this Child Care Provider and I’m not going to pretend that what this woman did was even remotely acceptable.  Instead, I want to talk about what Quality Child Care is, what we’re doing to support it and where, as a state, we’re failing.

A few months back, fellow GMD front pager posted Another Douglas failure on child protection: watching the watchers.

I urge you to go back and read that diary before continuing this one.  It provides a lot of the background for what I’m going to discuss here.

I’m going to start with a couple definitions.  The Child Development Division, which regulates child care providers in Vermont, breaks providers down into two primary categories (there are more than this, but I’m only going to focus on these two): Licensed Child Care and Registered Home Providers.  

Licensed Child Care centers are organizations which have their own child care facilities.  Depending on the size of their facility and the number of staff, they can legally care for very large numbers of children.   These are the professional child care centers that you often see in commercially zoned areas.  The quality of care can vary widely from center to center, but these are the primary focus of Child Care Licensors.  It makes sense to focus on the larger centers: with limited resources being allocated for child care licensors (note the numbers that JD points out in his previous diary), focusing on centers which serve 30-60 children is a better use of licensor time than focusing on Registered Home Providers.

Registered Home Providers are the small, home-based providers.  They are people who work out of their home and are strictly limited in terms of how many children they can have in their care at any one time, even if their home is relatively large.  

These providers are usually women who don’t make much money.  

Many home-based providers provide outstanding care, especially given the poor pay that comes with the job.

Not all do.  Some, like the provider in the article I referenced above, even commit fraud in order to make more money off the care they do provide.  In this case, she took in more children than their license legally allows to make a little extra income.  

They can get support from their local Resource and Referral agencies (there is one in every Agency of Human Services District, located throughout the state of Vermont), but not everyone seeks that support.

In theory, these providers should be visited from time to time by the Child Development Division.  These visits should, ideally, be a surprise.  This has the benefit of having providers expect to be accountable for any regulations they violate.  It also has the benefit of giving the licensors the opportunity to provide the providers with answers to questions, suggestions for possible trainings that may benefit them and give them general support.  No matter how good a provider is, it’s helpful for them to feel that they have support at multiple levels, and those licensing visits are a crucial component to that suport.

But they aren’t happening right now.  Under the Douglas administration, the budget to the Child Development Division has been seriously damaged.  There aren’t nearly enough licensors to provider the necessary services and those who are providing those services are stretched thin.

J.D.’s piece referenced what happened in Tennessee: oversight was lax until an actual death took place.

Is this what we want in Vermont?  Keeping the licensor team so small that they just don’t have the resources to make routine visit inspections to Registered home providers until there’s an active complaint about the provider?

Until we’re ready, as a state, to provide serious investment in child care and early education, we’re putting our children at risk, not because of the vast majority of providers who do their thankless, poor-paying, jobs without complaint, but because of the few in the field who treat children as commodities.

What happened in Guilford is an outrage, but it’s also a tragedy of monumental proportions.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d much rather have the event where children were placed in danger be our rallying cry to put more resources into child care and inspections than wait until that danger turns to injury or, even worse, death.

Colin Powell just endorsed Obama on Meet the Press. Powell’s primary dissatisfactions with McCain: economic proposals, negative campaign, narrowing of campaign to a few negative issues, and choice of Palin as VP. Primary positives for Obama: economic proposals, positive campaign, reaching across generational and racial lines, and ability to convey messages and connect with people.

From the Burlington Free Press’ “VT Buzz” politics blog…

Independent gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina is trying to make up for lost time on the fundraising front with an e-mail to supporters today, making an appeal for them to give the full $2,000 they’re now allowed to give, following yesterday’s federal court decision.

The message also says the campaign will record its first TV ad Friday.

One thought per paragraph: First, the e-mail apparently targets the loyal, deep-pocketed donors who have given substantial amounts already, but still haven’t maxed out. So much for building a broad-based, grass-roots effort.

Second, I’m so glad to hear he’s cutting his first TV ad. ‘Bout time. Maybe he’ll buy some airtime next. It’s almost like a real campaign now, isn’t it?  

Whadda you suppose Scissorhands is saying to the Maverick?  

Or maybe he went out with a bank…

A young man named Andrew Lahde decided one day that he wanted to get rich. So at the end of 2006, he set up a hedge fund whose sole purpose was to bet against the subprime mortgage market. He knew that the market was looking shaky, and it would only be a matter of time before it collapsed, so he decided to charge other people tons of money to short the mortgage industry.

When he decided he had made enough money, he shut down the fund. I’m guessing the fed shutting off short sales probably was the real impetus, but that’s not the real story.

The real story is the way he laid bare the corruption and idiocy of those who were considered the brilliant financiers who ran the entire world’s economy into the ground.

In his retirement letter, he didn’t simply burn every bridge he ever built, he blew them up in one of the most spectacular and incendiary conflagrations of all time.

The full letter is over the fold, but here’s a tasty excerpt:

I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

I’ve seen employees go out with a bang. I’ve seen name-calling, blame-shifting, and all sorts of bad behavior on the part of people leaving their current employer, but I’ve NEVER seen anything as bold (or stupid) as this.

Luckily for Mr. Lahde, he’s got enough millions in his pocket to be able to not give a damn for the rest of his life, thus he took advantage of the opportunity to tell the emperor exactly what he can do with his new clothes:

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life — where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management — with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government.

Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country?

Ah, the female. The evil female plant — marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other additive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say good-bye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

Dusting off the linkdump shelf and see what we come up with.

Sports, solidarity, and more: Game six of the ALCS is tonight. Let’s hope lighting strikes and the old Josh Beckett returns as the Sox attempt to even the series at three games a piece. I want to suggest some great sites I’ve been frequenting. Boston Sports Media Watch is a definitive clearinghouse for everything written by the Boston sports scribes. Check it out. I also found some other sports sites worth looking at… wdh3, you’re gonna love this… Edge of Sports with up and coming progressive sports writer, Dave Zirin, The Starting Five (similar to Edge of Sports), and Fire Joe Morgan. FJM is loaded with snark but if you hate ESPN’s Joe Morgan and want some witty observations of sportscasting, check it out.

Liam Madden, Adam Kokesh, and the Hempstead 15: At Wednesday’s presidential debate, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War requested they be allowed to ask questions. When they didn’t hear back from moderator  Bob Schieffer, they went to Hofstra and asked they be let in. They were denied. Police arrested many of them (including Adam Kokesh of Burlington) and left one veteran bloodied. Here’s the lowdown on what happened and Docudharma has some great footage of Bellows Falls’ Liam Madden. These are Vermont veterans whose voices must be heard by the Democratic Party.

Smearcasting: I’ve been wanting to write about this for some time but I just never have the time to write it. So I’ll do what a lazy person does… linkdump it. I don’t know how crazy McCain woman disturbs you, but it sure as hell disturbs me. I know the word “Arab” has been used as a derogative word for quite some time but during the 2008 election, it’s gotten worse, much worse. Democracy Now! reports that 28 million copies of a DVD titled “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” were distributed in key battleground states. The film features graphic, violent images and makes comparisons of Islam to Nazism. On top of that, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting released a definitive case study on the traditional media smearing Arabs and how they’ve gotten away with it. Smearcasters documents the public writings and appearances of Islamophobic activists and pundits who are spreading bigotry and misinformation and it’s shocking. OK… I’m off my advocacy soapbox. Now for the good news…

A Savage promotion: I wanna give a shout out to Andrew Savage, communications director for Peter Welch. In case you haven’t heard, Andrew was promoted to deputy chief of staff to Congressman Welch. Congrats man… you deserve it.

DON’T MISS THIS EVENT! Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 25 and make a trip to crazy Brattleboro. The Nuclear Free Jubilee event takes place 10:30 am to 2 pm, rain or shine at the Brattleboro Common. Bread & Puppet Theater will lead a procession up Main Street and end at the Common. Guest speakers include Peter Shumlin, Anthony Pollina, Gaye Symington, energy expert and author Harvey Wasserman, a special appearance by the notorious Reverend Billy, and musical sensations Nerissa and Katryna Nields. I’ll be taking pictures but it will be great to see some folks from GMD. Seen you then!

GO SOX!  

More like this might be a good idea,you know elbows better late than never.Douglas has denied it but not explained it .If I was an undecided voter hearing Gov.Douglas may have missed a chance at Federal highway funds would be my list of concerns. Higher than say a campaign funding dispute.

Symington: Douglas may miss chance for highway aid

October 17, 2008 2:15 PM ET

RICHMOND, Vt.  – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gaye Symington says the administration of Republican Gov. Jim Douglas is likely to pass up more than $137 million in federal money to fix Vermont’s roads and bridges.

Symington says lack of planning by the Agency of Transportation is to blame for what could be a missed opportunity to receive federal funds.

The outgoing House speaker says she and other lawmakers have been asking for months for an accounting of federal funds unclaimed by the state – and just got one Thursday from the Federal Highway Administration.

Douglas has denied there’s any federal money available that isn’t being used.

http://www.fox44.net/Global/st…

( – promoted by JDRyan)

Here they go again…

A Rutland Herald article and a VT Progressive Party blog post are both trumpeting the sense of outrage, OUTRAGE!, that Pollina and the Progs are feeling over what they are trying to characterize as “swift boat-style attacks” on them by the Democratic Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz and Attorney General William Sorrell over the recent campaign contribution interpretation.

Let’s be clear about what’s going on here. This is really nothing more than a distracting political ploy by the Pollina/VPP camp. It’s a campaign of false outrage in the tradition of the McCain/Rove playbook. Pollina and the Progressives want Vermonters to think that it’s important to talk about the fact that the AttGen and SecofSt came out publically against the legality of their 2-election contributors.

Here’s basically what the AG & SoS said:

The campaign laws say that you may take donations of up to $1000 per contributor for each election; with the primary and the general being separate elections.

They said that once Pollina made the surprising move to run as an independent, he was not participating in 2 elections since he would not be in a primary, and he was thereby limited to only $1000 per contributor, at most. A pretty reasonable argument to make. There are legitimate concerns about the underlying fairness of allowing the big party candidates to double contributions because they have a token primary election, but these concerns are legally irrelevant to this current matter, and beside the point in examining this political tactic.

Pollina and the VPP are now calling this very reasonable interpretation a “swift boat-style attack”.

The court determined that Pollina actually did “participate” in a primary election because the language defining “participation” includes intention to participate, or incurring any campaigning expenses and is very loose. This is an interesting judgment to say the least, and is open to interpretation. To say, alternately, that Pollina did not “participate” in a primary because there was no primary is a matter of differing, and reasonable legal judgment, not a partisan attack.

Just like the McCain campaign architects, they are counting on people not really paying attention to sell this sense of outrage!

I hope that voters are smart enough to see through this ploy and will keep their focus on the more substantial issues that are being discussed in this campaign.