Op/Ed

New Jersey has been known for its culture of mobsters, hooligans, and political dirty tricks for many decades. When I was a kid, anytime the topic of New Jersey was discussed, my Dad would smile and say – “Yep, that’s where all the crooks are”. He always had a twinkle in his eye when he said that. Naturally, it made me want to move to New Jersey as soon as I was old enough. New Jersey sounded really cool, like a land of fun and excitement…especially, while growing up in the coal mine region of Pennsylvania.

I dropped by the new ALDI supermarket on Putney Road today. The place was buzzing with people checking out products and prices, and staff were getting used to working in a new building. I had two immediate impressions of the supermarket.

First, the prices were low. Very low. Other supermarkets in the area should be worried about losing people looking for lowest prices. ALDI means business and appears ready to compete.

How low? Can of black beans was 59 cents. Bottles of wine under $5. Chicken breasts for $2.69 a pound. Pineapples for $1.29 each. Milk was $2.29 a gallon. And so on. Anyone looking to pay less will be in here.

Was it natural selection, maladaptation, or human greed that killed-off the woolly pachyderm? It’s not critical now because the species is gone, and I bring it up only as a metaphor to set the stage for this article.

I don’t like to explain an analogy in advance. There may be implications or reverberations from the imagery that might trump the reference. Suffice it to say, this great and noble beast, who roamed these very hills and valleys is no longer around to give direct evidence of what went wrong.

Which brings me to the topic at hand. Lately I’ve been wondering about the predicament of our elected officials. To whom are they ultimately accountable? Whether the scale is the local school board, or Congress, we see without any deep investigation, affinities to the establishment, or private interests, or the sitting administration, that conflict with those of the voter or constituents.

If you asked me at any point during 2013 what kind of year I thought it was, I would have said lousy.  From a personal perspective it was trying to say the least.  Perhaps the brightest spot for me was fulfilling my 2012 New Year’s resolution of launching the new, improved iBrattleboro site on schedule in February 2013 thus marking the site’s 10th anniversary with a decided upgrade.  That felt good.   But personal issues aside, 2013 was an unusually mixed year with surprising news both good and bad.  First the bad.

The Boston Marathon bombing was a depressing incident through and through and while we may never know what really happened there, we can be sure that things like that will happen again. This year saw a continuation of random shootings, in malls, workplaces, and other typically safe places that seemed to pick up steam last year with the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy.  Perhaps in time we’ll become desensitized to such events but not yet.

Since the Selectboard supervened in the matter of the skatepark location, reversing their previous commitment, annulling the vote of town meeting, backing-up their resolve by forming a skatepark search committee, all in the name of a solution, I’ll take this as the price of progress. But a few lingering questions continue to puzzle me.

That there are no skaters on the committee, although peculiar, this is not my primary concern. There is a stalwart member of BASIC, and a longtime Rec. Advocate aboard, this brings some consolation in that regard. But I do find it bizarre; would a golf course be sited without a golfer, or outdoor musical venue without the ear of a musician?

I don’t think I ever agreed with anything U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas) has said. But this time he hit the nail on the head:

“Friday, December 20, 2013 3:55 pm WASHINGTON, D.C. —,”Today I voted against the National Defense Authorization Act. I am deeply concerned that Congress still has not prohibited President Obama’s ability to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens arrested on American soil without trial or due process.

Of course I have been reading the latest opinion letters about Brattleboro finances and taxes. I agree there is a fair bit of sentiment being expressed about this issue, with most of it against higher property taxes.

There is, however, another side of the story. The major reason for tax increases coming over the next two years is that Representative Town Meeting approved the bonding of the Police & Fire Station improvements, which bonds may reach about $14.1 Million. The full weight of this bonding will be phased into our tax rates over two years’ time, because of the Selectboard’s decision to apply for the bonds in two stages: $5 Million initially to fund the planning phases of the project, and the rest the following year.

I am watching the discussions about the budget, growing obligations, new expenses and concomitant higher taxes, with concern. The lack of public input over the continued escalation of property taxes is confounding. The fact that Brattleboro continues to pursue this path, given the current economic situation and future portended, seems like trying to deny the coming tsunami. While income sensitivity is a panacea for some, the property tax bite has moved beyond unreasonable into unsustainable. The fact is, Vermont has the third highest tax burden in the nation and Brattleboro has one of the highest tax burdens in the State.

It’s been very encouraging to read about all the recent arrests of people stealing things from cars in Brattleboro. Our officers seem to be going above and beyond to keep the community safe, and I can’t express my gratitude enough.

A few days ago, I was the victim of yet another theft in town, and the officer who handled my case showed exemplary professionalism and courtesy. Even though it didn’t happen to one of the wealthy elite, and he probably has a ton of things on his plate to deal with, he was very respectful, handled business, and brought resolution to the case within a matter of days. Thanks to his good work, there’s now yet another scumbag with a mile long rapsheet off our streets, and our community is a little safer.

I believe we need not a financial audit (we’ll get those by law), but a periodic audit of the effectiveness of management and the fulfillment by Town government of its objectives.

Therefore, I have recommended to my fellow members of the Finance Committee that we request such audits.

Every ten years or so, we should have an outside or third-party expert review very extensively whether our Town is being run using best practices or not. Particularly at the juncture of the current inter-regnum (between Town Managers), this could end up being a very effective way of reducing Town expenses.

When you walk across the bridge to Hinsdale you feel the bridge vibrating underfoot. It is a sustained motion, that combined with the obviously “insufficient weight limits” might give the pedestrian pause to be concerned in what is an otherwise peaceful, scenic river view.

What the long-term overweight loads and steady shaking does to the bridge structure is another matter.

Let’s skip the medical marijuana dispensary syndrome and simply legalize marijuana for adult use in Vermont. The Vermont legislature, like other states have outdated themselves with the implementation of marijuana dispensaries. They are not sensible solutions to set guidelines to dispense marijuana to people as patients.Moreover, it sets the terrible precedent that marijuana is best prescribed. The guidelines enacted by the legislature border on the ridiculous. Setting limits on the number of “patients” allowed to receive a license, and setting limits on the list of ailments that physicians can prescribe for their patients literally defeats the purpose of using marijuana as a medicine for a broad spectrum of people.

Our inaction, our passivity, our naivety and the ease with which we can be manipulated has fueled the forces of fear, power, greed and suppression. Most U.S. citizens now walk around in self-induced comas, too ignorant to question, too afraid to ask and too numb to feel.

Is our government capable of killing its own people? Look … at what we have done to the environment and the poor for oil. Look … at the brutal dictators we have brought to power and continue to fund. Look … at the wars we have manufactured. The U.S. has become the 21st Century’s “Death Star.” We do not prevent war, we make war. We do not protect humanity and prevent atrocities, we kill people and commit atrocities whenever our multinationals are affected. Let’s-be-clear PROFIT defines our “national interests” and our foreign policy not free thinking and not free speech.

I was just listening to a song that literally brought tears to my eyes. It’s about a different war, and a different country, but the message is the same: War Sucks. And it’s the little guy that pays the biggest price, while the 1% profits enormously and hides those profits in tax shelters.

Nearly 100 years later, the “poverty draft” still takes our youngsters and subjects them to unspeakable horror. Very few of them come back unaffected. For some, they suffer for a very long time. A good friend of mine just succumbed to cancer resulting from Agent Orange in ‘Nam.

I heard .

I can’t help but wonder if this is what we have to look forward to with this new healthcare debacle.

The scary part is I see many similarities here. 

A devious, abhorrent UN film is described to emphasize how the UN hasbeen continually used as the handmaiden of genocidal military interventions arranged when predatory investments of the powerful private usurious amoral speculative investment banking industry politically referred to euphemistically as the ‘international community of nations’ read investors controlling the Neo-colonial Powers are threatened or inhibited.

DESCRIPTION:

Investors in war, dominant on Wall St. almost since the birth of the US, must be calculating that it be convenient to have more, not less, people ready to die fighting  a cruel and genocidal desperate American super empire of amoral senseless greedy speculative investment banking governance.
Likely stratagem of investors interested in big wars, not skirmishes. Their trial must happen before the 3rd world conflagration being invested in

It’s difficult to square the sentiments of the author, tomaidh, in “TPP: What You Don’t Know Will Hurt You/ibrattleboro”, November 4, 2013, with the .  

Those pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agenda aim to enshrine corporate pillaging and weaken legislative safeguards that protect public interests and the environment. 

We see the same modus operandi at work with smart meters; proponents have introduced legislation to “make ‘smart’ meters mandatory for the entire nation”.

I have distributed the following proposal to Town Meeting Members. It should be noted that any town meeting action that may come about can only deal with the bonding amount. All other aspects of this proposal must be considered separately. Voting to change the bonding does not automatically put anything else into effect. The purpose of holding back on the second bond is to open the scope of the project to far greater possibilities and benefits.

Rethinking the Police/Fire Facilities Project

Do you want F-35 test bombs droping on Vermont? Ten years ago I lived in northern Vermont. My mother’s house and yard was adjacent to the Ethan Allen U.S. Army National Guard Firing Range on Bolton Mountain, the other side of the Mtn. From Bolton Ski Resort. 3.9 miles up a dirt road to get to Mom’s house, and when the Army was doing off M 155s the ground shook and the house shool, Now, even if the F-35 jets only drop 2,000 pound test bombs, the ground is going to shake and your house is going to shake – and they will most likely chose a rural area to drop them, not the city of Burlington.