The Op/Ed opinion section
Having lived in Brattleboro a long time and outside of Brattleboro a short time, I continue to wonder about Brattleboro’s concern about being a “hub town” to surrounding communities.
It comes up in discussion, and the argument is generally that Brattleboro is providing free services to freeloading neighboring towns – they use our services and we aren’t compensated.
It sounds reasonable, but how exactly is Brattleboro going uncompensated? For what?
Ever since Trump was elected president, people have been casting aspersions at Russia for their alleged interference in that election. With the attempted coup now underway in Venezuela, we have an example of how the United States does interference — when they don’t like the result of another country’s elections, they just destabilize the government and install their own guy. In the case of Venezuela, the U.S. has been trying to take out their government since at least the time of Hugo Chavez in the early 2000s, going so far as to pull a military maneuver in which Chavez was briefly kidnapped. Chavez survived that attempt. Now it’s Maduro’s turn.
The raiding of the Rooms & Meals tax revenue has begun. Two private organizations in town have asked for 10% of the annual Rooms & Meals local option tax revenue to be given to them. They’d like nearly $40,000 and in return they offer a vague promise to promote Brattleboro. It’s not a terrible idea, but it hasn’t been thought out much beyond asking for money.
Martin Luther King deserves being the only American whose birthday is celebrated with a three day holiday, but not only as the successful US civil rights movement’s leader, but even more for having been martyred confronting the American killing machine at its source, investors in military atrocities, covert violence and predatory finance.
After listening to Trump’s speech on immigration on Monday night and the Democrats’ response to it, I got to wondering what a humane and effective immigration policy might be. Many people seem to think immigration can’t be fixed. I believe it can. Here are my thoughts, in the form of a convenient, ten point program
As an American, as a Vermonter, and as a Labor leader I have marched many times against US lead wars. However, I do not oppose wars and US military action because I assert war as always unjust and always unnecessary. I am not philosophically a Kantian; this is not a moral imperative for me. I am also no liberal. If truth be told it was only through war and armed conflict that Vermont and the United States became republics free from the British Empire.
I’ve been watching Brattleboro budgets for quite a while, through multiple selectboards, three Town Managers and one Interim Town Manager. I’ve watched many Representative Town Meetings as well and participated in a few. That’s a lot of meetings.
While I’ve come to the conclusion that Representative Town Meeting doesn’t really work, I know that it has become cherished and it is unlikely that abolishing it will be on the ballot anytime soon. Therefore, it should be improved.
At Tuesday’s special meeting, the Brattleboro Selectboard discussed adding a 1% Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) to items purchased in the ‘boro. Adding this additional revenue stream to the Town coffers has been attempted before. Most recently it barely passed as an advisory vote, but was ultimately rejected.
The main argument in favor of the tax usually involves the expected revenue. In 2015, the estimate was $600,000. This, in theory, could offset property taxes by that amount.
But, taxpayers have seen these property tax reducing “deals” many times before, and property taxes do not go down. Spending rises to meet the new income.
Americans being suckered into focusing on voting for one of the two parties of the ruling genocidal Wall St. plutocracy, US CIA controlled media informs of Yemeni children dying from bombs & starvation knowing its captive audience will not turn against the American killing machine. Once USA-EU loses hegemony, the many nations that have seen their children murdered by USA and European empires will demand justice.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” was a phrase made popular by Carl Sagan.
We need to modify this phrase to suit our current situation: “Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary action”
Demonstrations alone are insufficient. We need a mass civil disobedience campaign. We need to shut down the operations of the government in order to gain their attention.
For three and half years, the Saudi’s have waged a horrendous war on Yemen. They have slaughtered tens of thousands of Yemenis – according to the UN Human Rights Commission more than 50,000 children died by Saudi air raids with UK supplied bombs, and US supplied war planes – through lack of sanitation and drinking water induced diseases, like cholera – and an even worse crime, through extreme famine, the worst famine in recent history – as per UNICEF / WHO – imposed by force, as the Saudi’s with the consent of the European allies closed down all ports of entry, including the moist important Red Sea Port of Hodeida. Khashoggi versus 50,000 Slaughtered Yemeni Children
Today is the anniversary of 9/11
“we are far from understanding all that happened on that fateful day”
Here’s what they say happened:
Majority Humanity, especially people whose 3rd World countries have suffered bombing by Americans, as did Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Grenada should take carful note of the adulation awarded a pilot, like McCain, who dutifully bombed cities with women and children in a non-Caucasian nation, for some time soon there will be a reckoning.
I’m going to argue for free parking in Brattleboro.
The main reason we have to pay for parking here and not in most other towns in Vermont is to pay for our parking meters, parking enforcement, and parking infrastructure. Other than helping to pay for parking lot paving and snow removal, this is a silly, unnecessary burden for locals and visitors, and could instead be money spent in downtown stores.
Not based on numerology, but based on the new science of nomenology, which I just invented for this posting. And well, maybe he’ll just make a more-than-could-have-been-expected good showing, but let’s think outside the envelope or whatever and give things a shake-up.
OK, so I noticed that this candidate, who is challenging incumbent Windham County Senators in the August 14 Democratic Primary, is named Wayne Vernon Estey. Lot of Waynes out there, but I figure with his middle name being that of one of the towns in the district, that gives him an edge in Vernon.
I predict, based on Gematria, that Brenda Siegel will win the August 14th Democratic primary for Governor.
Siegel=39 in English Reduction (s exception). Governor=39 in Reverse Reduction. Siegel’s slogan is “A Vermont for all of us”=233 in English Ordinal. 233 is the 51st prime number. Governor=51 in English Reduction.
I’ve been following the drama surrounding Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the southern border. Many Americans are justifiably horrified by our nation’s cruel treatment of the Central American immigrants, and would like to see “something” done about it. But what is that something?
Imagine before each match of the World Cup the FIFA World Soccer Federation making an appeal over the loud speaker asking all the fans in the name of the future of soccer to tell officials of their government to demand Americans stop threatening the future of the World Cup with nuclear war. Soccer stars President of Liberia & UN Good Will Ambassador George Weah and world #1 Diego Maradona to lead FIFA’s appeal.
Two things that have been with me all of my life are going away as July starts, and I’m happy to bid them adieu.
The first is plastic shopping bags. Brattleboro is banning single-use plastic bags (under 2.25 mil) as of July 1. In a world full of plastic bags, our impact may be like a small drop in a big pond, but our drop can cause ripples.
*Emailed him tonight, posting here to see if anyone else cares, or if it’s just me.
Dear Mr Elwell,
I’m a Brattleboro resident, and in the past week alone, have been the victim of three seperate thefts, two at my residence, one at my car while parked in the parking garage. After the first theft, I set up a security cam at my home to catch anyone stupid enough to try it again. My method was effective, caught a neighbor stealing from doorstep two hours after setting up the security cam in plain view at my door. I caught the entire theft and follow up confession in HD with audio, emailed all of the evidence to BPD, and despite all that, they won’t even issue a summons to the thief, who lives two apartments down from my in apt 306, at 9 Canal St here in Bratt.
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