The EDSA Revolution, also referred to as the People Power Revolution and the Philippine Revolution of 1986, was a mostly non-violent mass demonstration in the Philippines. Four days of peaceful action by millions of Filipinos led to the downfall of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and the installation of Corazon Aquino as president of the Republic. EDSA stands for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, the main highway in Metro Manila and the main site of the demonstrations.

In the last year or so I’ve posted more than a few articles protesting various aspects of the Cheney/Bush administration and their ill conceived, illegal and insane policies and on several occasions I’ve led the pieces with pictures that cast Cheney and Bush in Nazi uniforms. I have no facility with Photoshop so I “borrowed” the images from here and there around the web. My apologies to those unheralded graphic geniuses whose work I “borrowed.”

The pieces were generally well received around the liberal blogosphere but locally, here in Dayton, Ohio I took no small amount of heat for comparing Cheney/Bush and his criminal minions with Hitler and his henchmen. I received some very unflattering comments, some hate mail, more than a few invitations to an ass kicking, mine was intended I believe, and one grammatically challenged death threat.

It is not always a friendly house we play to here in the “heart”land, this crowd can get tough.

I’ve long believed that no matter how great my fears of the criminal depths to which the government of my country has sunk, no matter how bad I suspect things have become, the reality is always, always, worse. much worse, way worse.

That is why I’m seldom surprised by reports of governmental abuse of the rights of our citizens and other human beings around the world and why I wasn’t surprised when I read an article (“The CIA’s torture teachers”) in Salon today in which Mark Benjamin points out the emerging facts in several investigations currently underway which point to the active participation of members (Doctors, I believe) of the American Psychological Association with the CIA and Special Force components of the US military in the criminal interrogations of prisoners being held at Guantanamo and other sites known and unknown around the world.

I also believe that I’ve reached an age and a level of experience at which, if I notice that if someone is pissing in my boots and simultaneously trying to explain to me that it’s raining, I have no problem kicking his ass without benefit of further evidence.

Bullshit, I feel, announces itself well in advance by it’s unmistakable aroma, and my sniffer has only improved with age. And so, I believe, has yours.

This makes me what they call a loose cannon, so be it.
I knew, for example, long before the first court proceeding that Scooter, along with everyone in the VPs realm and the entire “unitary executive” had signed on to destroying Joe Wilson, his wife was just necessary “collateral damage.” And so, I believe did you.

I knew that Bush’s pathetic little sycophant at Justice was balls deep in doing exactly what Karl Rove told him to do the moment I read the first story of the attorney firings in the press nearly a year ago, as, in my mind at least, did you.

And, to the point, I knew when these assholes started beating breasts and investigating and charging and arranging courts martial for a few poor enlisted saps, and hanging fully expendable reserve officers out to dry over their involvement in the criminal abuses at Abu Graib, I knew that the policy directives/orders had flowed like water, down the big hill, always seeking the path of least resistance, right from the headwaters of criminal madness in the big White House on Pennsylvania Avenue, down through the office of “Gee Willikers” Don, to be signed off on by every cowardly, ass kissing “General” in the sickening group of careerist traitors that passes for military leadership in this Alice in Neocon world, and rolled inexorably on, like some, some, giant nightmare snowballing turd, crushing the hapless, low level few who would be sacrificed so that the dreams of empire could continue on and the profits would not abate. Somehow, I don’t believe that I was alone in my “knowledge.”

This story, of which I’m sure I have not heard the end, coupled with the “The General’s Report” in the New Yorker by Seymour Hersh about the downfall of Antonio Taguba, an honest and honorable officer and how he became one of the millions of human casualties of the human filth in neckties who have taken control of my America and Glen Greenwald’s piece this morning about Norman Podhoretz the lunatic who represents the “spiritual” core of this piratical band of psychopaths has pretty much driven my rage level to the ceiling.

I now live in a country that forces brave men like Antonio Taguba into retirement for behaving like honorable men, like soldiers, a country that rewards pathological scum like Norman Podhoretz the “Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

I was right to portray Cheney/Bush as Nazis, but they are potentially far worse.

I’m ready for the barricades. I know it… let me know when you know that you are.

Bob Higgins
Worldwide Sawdust

Jim Douglas hardly tries to conceal his snarky streak anymore. Freyne has a quote where Douglas lets his contempt for concerns about climate change shine through:

“I’ve said many times that Vermont has such a small imprint on the surface of the planet that we can do as much as possible and still not save a single polar bear or make any significant impact on global warming,” said Vermont's Republican CEO.

“But China can have an impact because of the environmental challenges the environmental officials we’ve met with recognize and need to deal with. I would hope that Vermonters who have a serious interest in climate change would devote their time and energy to places like China

Great. Let China deal with it. So Douglas doesn't have to trouble his beautiful mind with it all.

Looking for the perfect gift for Dan DeWalt this summer? Click here.

Shad 2, Vermont Yankee 1. A judge has again ruled that Vermont Yankee can't dump its water discharge into the Connecticut River (potentially harming fish) after receiving permission from the Douglas Administration to do so.

Citizen activists continue to work with Burlington police on the issue of racial profiling. It sounds like the police have been receptive so far after some incidents. If you don't think we need to be on the lookout for racism in oh-so-enlightened Vermont, here's some news for you: in 2006, there were two chapters of the Ku Klux Klan operating in the state, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (hat tip to Rowley).

Speaking of haters, are authorities getting involved with the threats received by Rep. Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg) thanks to Bill O'Reilly? This site and other Vermont sites have received hits from law enforcement via a Google search for “bill lippert fag”.  It's not the norm for people in law enforcement to use department computers for personal use, so this is likely a sign of some sort of official inquiry or investigation. Book 'em Dano, I sez.

( – promoted by odum)

        “It's no different than being at a major sporting event,” 

Full story:

[cross-posted from Montpelier Matters, here]

*Updated*
[see below the fold, toward bottom of post at *Update*]

Found the following blog post on a recently created blog that calls itself Montpelier Pillow Fight!!! — a public pillow fight for you and your friends — blogged by bloggers named Nadia and Caroline, yet featuring just one lone and brief post thus far (here):

Where: State House Lawn, Montpelier, Vermont

When: Saturday, July 28th 2007, 3:00 PM (listen for the signal)

Who: anyone and everyone

What: massive, public, free mayhem

[via Montpelier Pillow Fight, here (Wednesday, 20, 2007)]

Thus, at least if this is for real, it seems the gauntlet has been thrown down.

Does anyone know anything about this particular upcoming event?

An example of such an event can be viewed in this brief video clip of a public pillow fight held earlier this year in New York City (NYC) as well as yet a different and longer video following it:

Feathers Flying at NYC Pillow Fight 2007

Feathers fly as hundreds engage in a pillow fight in a public park in New York City.

[via YouTube, here; posted by chaossix6 (February 24, 2007); length: 29 seconds]

nyc pillow fight ’07

public pillow fight in union sq

[via YouTube, here; posted by disorderpeculiar (March 18, 2007); length: 2:41 minutes/seconds]

Find out more about the NYC public pillow fight, here [via newmindspace].

For additional information concerning the trend of public pillow fights, check out Pillow fight flash mob [via Wikipedia].

*Update*: Check out more information concerning the upcoming Montpelier Pillow Fight scheduled for late next month, here [via a comment post posted by Caroline within the comments section of this particular blog post], as well as, here [via Montpelier Pillow Fight blog].

*Note*: last updated on Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 1:49 AM [EDT].

[cross-posted from Norsehorse’s Home Turf, here]

When I moved into my Winter quarters last October 22nd (here), the arrangement agreed upon was that I would be moving out on the 22nd of either by April or some following month to be decided upon later by my kind and generous hosts, which ended up being June, just like what turned out to be the case last year as well.

Was informed last evening (Tuesday, June 19, 2007), however, that I could stay until next Monday (June 25th). Thus I will have this weekend to stay put, rest and relax prior to becoming mobile (read: houseless aka homeless) once again; at least until I can either make arrangements for next Winter or hopefully find permanent housing of my own with which to reside instead: Which means that come Monday I will basically be in couch surfing mode.

a home is a garden of life

let people find a place
where they can plant
fertile seeds — that contain
their own hopes and dreams,
from which they may then
draw harvests of plenty to
share with others and,
which they will call home,
for it is a garden where
lives thrive and are grown.

by Morgan W. Brown
August 13, 1999
Montpelier, Vermont, USA

On Monday of this week I began the daily process of gradually moving items into town to the place where I will once again be able to store and have easy access to them. This way come next Monday I will not have to end up hauling too much all at once and, when I do leave that morning, will be grabbing my hat off the door from where it has hanged since I had moved back in last Autumn.

P.S.

With apologies for the rather light posting for these last several months; especially given that most of my blogging efforts have been concentrated at the Montpelier Matters blog for some time now.

In case you haven't seen this, just wanted to make sure you all know about improvements to the Vermont Democratic Party's website.

Here's the VDP's announcement…

The VDP website: bigger and better

The Vermont Democratic Party is on the move.  With new staff and a new office, we've decided it's time for a new look for  the website.  We've just unveiled the redesigned home page, which features a Daily Democratic Digest and an easy-to-use  action center.  Now you don't have to wait for for the Wednesday Weekly Digest to get your fix of Democratic commentary.  We'll update the site every working day.  But don't worry, we'll continue emailing the Weekly Digest with the best of the  website posts and some new material.

But we haven't stopped there: we've also just unveiled “VT Political  News,” a daily news service.  Each day, the Party will update the site with daily news clips taken from news outlets all  around the state.  “Our grassroots are constantly telling us they want to be better connected and more informed,” explained  Democratic Party Chair Ian Carleton.  “This is one way we're hoping to facilitate that.”

“I think the daily clips is a really useful service, so I'm excited we're now making it a public service,” said Democratic  Party Vice Chair Judy Bevans.  “I truly believe that being an informed citizen is critical to our democracy and I hope this  service will help make information more easily accessible.”

We hope to keep the website growing and evolving along with our Party. We welcome any suggestions or feedback that can help us provide a better website for your use.

 

 

The failure of the Immigration Bill (notwithstanding its gradual and uncertain prospects at resurrection) in Washington has been cast as a victory of the far-right immigrant bashers, hiding behind their paper-thin justifications of crusading against “lawbreakers.” I have little doubt that among the most vociferous members of this crowd, Howard Dean had it right in his reference to “racist hysteria.”

But who else voted to uphold the filibuster against the bill more than a week back?

Senator Bernie Sanders – and Bernie’s actions bear discussion for two reasons; both to highlight problems of the bill which was also a priority of President Bush’s, and also to beg the question of precisely who our elected officials represent and who they don’t. More beneath the fold.

The Immigration Bill of course, would have – among other things – provided what opponents are calling amnesty; that is, a vehicle whereby current illegals can get a limited visa to stay and work legally after paying a fine of several hundred dollars – or opt to pay even more and get on the path to citizenship by way of their native countries. Obviously lost in the shuffle are the huge numbers of truly poor illegals who can’t possibly afford even a few hundred dollars, and the problem of reaching many of them to explain the program.

Nevertheless, the very idea is anathema to the right wing for all the usual reasons.

But Bernie is not the only member of the Senate Democratic caucus to oppose it. Voting with him against cloture were a handful of other Democrats, such as Barbara Boxer of California. Bernie’s objection is a Labor-based one; that this guest worker program amounts to an endorsed and fully facilitated rush of cheap labor that would undermine workers in this country. From Bernie’s floor statement in support of an amendment that mitigated some of the bill’s less desirable qualities:

Mr. President, one of the businesses supporting this bill is Wal-Mart. Oh, they don?t go out and say this directly. They let special interest groups like the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition do their dirty work for them.

Mr. President, is there a shortage of Americans willing to work at Wal-Mart? Well, let?s see. Two years ago, when Wal-Mart announced the opening of a new store in Oakland, California, guess how many people showed-up for a job? 11,000, Mr. President. 11,000 people in Oakland filled out applications for about 400 jobs at Wal-Mart just two years ago.

In other words, there is no shortage of labor when it comes to Wal-Mart, the largest employer in America, a company I might add, that just a few years ago was paying its clerks a poverty-level wage of $8.23 an hour.

But, you might say, that was two years ago, ancient history. Well, guess again.

In January of 2006, it happened again. When Wal-Mart announced the opening of a store in Evergreen Park just outside of Chicago, 24,500 applied for 325 jobs at this store.

And, Wal-Mart says that there is a labor shortage. Give me a break.

So, we know who supports an expansion in low-skilled visas and what their motivations are.

The bill is more than troubled, it’s not even good, frankly. Remember, the President likes it, after all. But it does (or did) represent some opportunity for struggling and often impoverished illegal immigrants in this country, which is why it did draw the often grudging support of many immigrant rights advocates.

And it’s no accident that many in the business community supported it – particularly the high-tech sector, which has loudly complained for some time of the dearth of highly-skilled techies in the US and the need to import some as easily as possible. Bernie rightly went after that myth and earned (once again) the ire of corporate America:

Compete America, a coalition of U.S. tech companies, in response to the Sanders Amendment, wrote: “The Sanders Amendment will accelerate outsourcing and undermine U.S. economic growth. This ill-conceived measure is flatly anticompetitive and is a clear attempt to gut the H-1B visa program and will make it much harder for U.S. businesses to support the Senate bill? American companies should not be penalized for hiring top talent, especially those who are graduates of U.S. universities.”

Sanders made the case convincingly that major high-tech companies that are laying off workers by the thousands should hardly complain that they need to import more to fill a shortage.

And yet, there’s still the plight of those on the bottom of the American workforce. The ones that people like Jim Douglas have no problem with exploiting within the market machinery. What about them? The following quote of Bernie’s from a letter to the LA Times suggests where his focus is:

The great economic crisis facing the United States is the shrinking of the middle class and the loss of millions of good-paying jobs. In my view, we must do everything that we can to reverse that trend and make sure that, to as great a degree as possible, good-paying professional jobs in this country are filled by Americans, not by people brought in from other countries by corporate interests.

It’s a Hobson’s Choice to be sure. To support a bill that could help millions of those in the greatest need, vs possibly harming one’s constituents.

Or is it even more complicated than that?

It’s time that our elected officials who represent areas (like Vermont) where illegal immigration is not only a part of our culture, but has become an indispensible part of our economy, to recognize that these illegals became every bit their constituents the moment the crossed into the state and got a job, as any one else in the state. They are part of the Vermont economy, culture, and community, and are therefore part of our Washington delegation’s responsibility. They may not be able to vote, they may not be paying income taxes, but neither are my kids and nobody would suggest that they are not part of our Senators’ purview. These people (and they are “people,” not simply “illegals”) are not only a constituency of Senator Sanders, they are a constituency in serious need of help.

Given the implications and collateral damage this bill would have caused, I cannot fault Bernie for working against it. It probably needs to die. But in doing so, he (and other progressives that opposed it) have taken on a special moral responsibility to place the welfare of illegal immigrants at the top of their priority list. They don’t like the bill, fine – understandable, even.

Now give us an alternative.

I'm still transcribing the interview with Presidential hopeful and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel, but I wanted to take a moment to mention a couple items. First off, I'm experimenting with site stuff. There won't be a big, blank white spot in the top middle for long, I promise, but I am hoping that I can get Soapblox's news feeder feature to work. My goal is to have current news from VPR, VPIRG's blog and VNRC's newsfeeds running – and more as I find 'em (not any of the major news sources though, VPR being the exception).

While I work on this stuff, though, I'd like to make a big suggestion to the world at large. And as usual, I'm sure the world is waiting with baited breath (ew) to leap at my wisdom and implement it universally, through some sort of UN declaration…

I propose that we call a permanent moratorium on the use of the following two words from politicians of every stripe:

#1: “Disappointed.” As in “I’m disappointed Gov. Douglas has chosen to veto two significant pieces of legislation” You're not disappointed, Rep. Symington, you knew he was going to do this and you're pissed off. Say it loud and say it proud. This is a line we hear a lot locally, nationally – and no matter who says it, it sounds like a sighing elementary school teacher shaking their head and saying “tut tut” to a six year old who just called someone a poopyhead on the playground. Yuck. Candor is what people want from their electeds these days, and part of candor is emotional honesty. Passion.

#2: “Change.” This is the big one. I can live with “disappointed” staying in the lexicon if we can just dump the word “change.” It's a buzzword that perennially polls well, and means absolutely NOTHING. Change what? Into what? It's meaningless as a standalone goal, and yet those that overemploy it on the stump use it precisely for that reason: to studiously avoid having to say something meaningful. They all do it (at least at the national level), but there's no question Obama's got it the worst (“walk for change“?? WTF is that supposed to mean??). Still, it's undeniable that every Democratic Presidential candidate would have to rewrite half their press releases and stump speeches if we could pry it out of permissable political babble.

To this end I propose legislation. Criminal penalties. Gitmo. I just can't stand it no more. I'm going to be very disappointed if I don't see a change.

There was an article in the Rutland Herald the other day which was probably ignored by everyone but me. In
Vt. probes sale of broadcast spectrum, the Herald notes that the VSC did a no-bid deal with Utopian Wireless Corporation which the state is questioning, as it appears that the licenses are worth a lot more than Utopian paid for them:

“We estimate the value of these EBS license to be in excess of $500,000,” Smith wrote. “Vermont is home to numerous wireless broadband companies that are working hard to meet our rural broadband goals. Many of these companies are desperately seeking out licensed spectrum that will ensure their company’s future. It appears that Utopian’s mission is purely speculative in nature, with hopes of selling those assets to a larger national provider. It is unlikely that a national provider would have Vermont as a priority for building a wireless broadband network.”

I tried finding out about Utopian Wireless and came up blank, except for one interesting fact: they appear all over the country in meeting minutes from local school boards which are discussing similar deals: buying wireless networks from local school districts. Web searches for Utopian yield nothing in the way about the corporation, who’s in it, no way of verifying whether any of the officials involved in these transactions have any connection to the company, etc.

I do know they’re not local to Vermont, and I think that there’s real question as to whether or not a state entity should be making choice deals with out-of-state businesses without even giving local companies a chance to bid on the deal. It could end up happening that Utopian just turns around and sells the networks to someone else for a profit, a profit that could have stayed in Vermont’s hands.

No, it's not a hit piece involving corruption or anything. It's not even a hit piece, but I'll bet it got your attention. Paul at Alien and Sedition draws a rather apt comparison to how the conservative movement reacted to Nixon and how the progressive movement could react towards a Hillary Clinton presidency:

All interesting enough. But a more instructive comparison for the progressive movement might be between Hillary and Nixon. The right wing, never particularly fond of Nixon, turned on him with a vengeance after he had been in office for a couple of years. If we wind up with a President Hillary, the progresssive grassroots/netroots could find itself in a similar state. After all we've done, why are we going back to this? Why are we going back to Bill Clinton and triangulation? Echoes of: Why are we going back to Eisenhower and Keynesianism and internationalism? What really makes the parallel amusingly complete is how Hillary's right-wing enemies, like Nixon's on the left, see her as the ebodiment of extremism, while her own party's activists view her as little more than a self-interested centrist.

It's a quick interesting read, and I've often asked myself the same questions in regard to a H.C. presidency being a HUGE step backwards for our movements. Check it out, it's worth a look and a ponder.