Op/Ed

Prosecutors, Panhandlers, and Politicians
 
Town officials spoke first. Then just like a scene from the movie, up to the mike, came one lone citizen. Central casting could not have been better at selecting just the right person to speak. He looked like every man you see every day, everywhere. Dark hair, about 5′ 7″, a blue T-shirt, denim jeans with a small hole on one knee.
 
 

I once visited the Western Wall in the holy city where notes are stuffed into the cracks, the in-box of God. Imagine, the standing ruins of Roman Jerusalem, and a procession of unique wordsmiths each hand-delivering the edited essence of their ultimate skinny.

In that crumbling courtyard, under protective eye of Uzi-packing soldiers and who-knows-what-else, I remember scribbling my note, eyeing my spot. Can’t remember what I put on paper. Nor do I recall whether my missive was responded to or not, time just washed it away.

The West Brattleboro Association is celebrating another successful barbecue. To raise funds for programs that help our neighbors and our neighborhood, we sold 216 half chickens over Columbus Day weekend.

We could not have done it without the support of our generous members and sponsors, including Joe Jewett, who gave up part of his birthday to mix up his signature marinade and serve as head chef;  Tim Cuthbertson, who coordinated the event and shared chef duties; Helen Robb, who baked many, many beans—and the rest of the Robb family, including Charlie Robb Jr., who helped with the cooking; Mary Durland, whose giant bowls of slaw rounded out a delicious meal; Carl Hirth, Kris McDermet, Stewart McDermet, and Lynette Hamilton for rounding out the crew; and Barbara Gentry, of Dynamic Words, for promoting the event.

Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, military buildup.

An article by the Associated Press () confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  

This has been confirmed elsewhere by (a private marketing news service).

This is a response to the letter in the Oct, 12th Reformer in regards to the demise of the wild beaver in the West River next to the corn field. Mr. Hamilton refers to killing a “few” beaver when in actuality a whole community was annihilated . Mr. Hamilton refers to killing scavengers such as coyotes, and vermin such as rats, Beaver are neither.

Here’s Fukushima Industries Corp.’s new mascot whose name has been humorously lost in translation.

The Japanese freezer company debuted the smiling, winged-egg creature on Monday.

It would be a more fitting mascot for TEPCO.

Is empathy making a comeback? In Brattleboro and the surrounding area, we have well-established evidence that it is. Since 2005, Daryl Pillsbury and Richard Davis have been running the Windham County Heat Fund, created to help families in financial crisis to heat their homes during the unforgiving, often brutal Vermont winters. Even after applying for fuel assistance from the State of Vermont, many families fall through the cracks, either over-qualifying for sufficient aid or receiving too little fuel to make it through the winter. Luckily, even in our era of government shutdown and drastic economic cuts to almost every social service, vulnerable populations in Windham County can still receive crucial assistance through the caring generosity of their neighbors.

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Equivalent shock for Kenyans as 9/11 was for Americans. Background of these two massacres are pathetically similar. Both were blowback on US genocidal foreign policy. Osama bin Laden in his 2002 Letter to Americans, included “attacks on Muslims in Somalia” in his list of reasons for the al Qaeda 9/11 attack. Synopsis, chronology of US genocide in Somalia given. Every American should consider his or her possible involvement.

For over 10 years I designed and sold Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory control systems. Payment for these systems was justified by reducing the carrying costs of inventory. JIT meant only having on hand (in the warehouse) what you needed to meet sales and nothing more. If you added shelf life to the equation it was further complicated. The best JIT inventory control systems were typically found at our giant grocery stores chains. Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters clearly demonstrated the principles of JIT and just how vulnerable the public is to a disruption in the flow of goods. Usually 3 days was all it took to go from fully stocked grocery store shelves to empty. Guess who is the backbone of this distribution system?

The Brattleboro Selectboard is working at a steady pace to hire a new Town Manager for Brattleboro. The list of applicants has been narrowed over the last month or so, and we’re approaching time for final interviews and a decision. We could be welcoming someone on board within a month.

What skills and attributes do we want in our next Town Manager? What could we do without?

The Brattleboro team that our new Town Manager would be joining is at the top of their proverbial game, having dealt with major infrastructure improvements, fires, floods, and FEMA in recent years. They are very capable, well-trained, and will be an excellent resource for whomever is hired. It takes a bit of the pressure off the new recruit.

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The government may shut down in a few days.

Unlike previous almost-shut-downs, this time no one seems to care.

Perhaps The White House and Congress have cried “wolf” too many times. It could be that the fear has worn off. (“Yawn.”)

Perchance we’ve been taken to the edge of the fiscal cliff too many times. It’s possible that we used to worry that we could go over, but now the edge doesn’t bother us. (“Oh, you again.”)

Kudos to the Tea Party and other Republicans in the House for their heroic efforts to limit food stamps.

They are a waste of money, and really don’t help anybody. The poor are poor before they receive food stamps, and they are still poor afterwards, though they might be a bit less hungry.

Besides, a lot of them squander the aid on unhealthy food like milk and bread.

We can learn a lot from India which has a lot of poor people. They don’t provide a lot of assistance, relying instead on the magic of the free market to solve the problem. (Chris Hedges)

For example, in Mumbai, a whole new hierarchy of entrepreneurial enterprisers has sprung up.

For well over a decade now I’ve enjoyed regular strolls along the West River Trail just past the Marina. The trail is written up in the Audubon Society due to the wide variety of wild birds. In the spring, and early Summer the path is often crossed by turtles off to lay their eggs, until recently a very common sight. Unfortunately I only saw two turtles this year, and both had been run over by the utility trucks working on the I-91 bridge. Over the last few years (probably for a number of reasons) there seems to be a lot less animal , and insect life. Hurricane Irene ,while not entirely, certainly had a hand in the lower numbers of wild life.

A lot of really crazy, loony, kooky individuals have a hard time accepting the official government explanation of the events of 9/11. (I count myself among them). We are called “Conspiracy Theorists” and that’s supposed to be the end of it.

Works pretty well!

But many sane, intelligent patriotic Americans have no trouble accepting the government’s theory that a group of young disaffected Arab men conspired with a disaffected scion of a wealthy Arab family, suffering from kidney disease and living in an elaborate cave in Afghanistan, to defy the nation’s defense systems and allow 4 hijacked airliners to dance around our skies for a few hours until they managed to crash 3 of them into iconic structures, killing thousands.

Well, that’s a “Conspiracy Theory”, too!

Has anybody noticed the decline of this once great station?

For years, I’ve enjoyed its Progressive Talk format.

I still enjoy Live & Local in the morning, and Thom Hartmann in the afternoon, but the evening and weekend programming has hit the bottom. When the Red Sox are not playing, all they seem to offer is Dead Air.

I’m going to try to contain my ranting (just imagine extra expletives as you read and you should get the gist) about the cyclists and skaters I have had the unfortunate experiences of this week.

To the skater who decided I was in his right of way as I drove south on Main St, intending to turn onto High St: No, actually, skating down the middle of the lane is actually not your prerogative. You don’t get to give me attitude, you need to get your helmetless self out of the way of my car.

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As US threatens Syria – 2013 ‘I Have a Dream’ anniversary. No mention of the 1967 King, condemner of America’s ‘atrocity wars’, who belatedly wanted to include the poor being slaughtered overseas for US investment profits in his dream of a just America. War investor owned conglomerate media promotes a patriotic war disinterested King, continues black out martyred King’s fiery condemnation of atrocity wars for investments.

It’s time to say goodbye. For all the many people who have stood so strongly up against the big bad corporation cheer in full delight. Proudly many of them say what a wonderful thing they vainly say they helped to push the big bad corporation out of Vermont. Out of their area. They blew and they blew as hard and as long as they could. Feeling hopless and powerless as the bad bad business was standing it’s ground fighting to stay in business here in southern vermont.

You won. You won the war and now the doors are being closed as the days become numbered and the hours countable as to when it is official that the Vermont Yankess Nuclear Power plant makes ready to end this supply of costly electricity.

It is my opinion that directly telling people the truth does not work. The public is so naïve, so gullible, so committed to their belief in a principled country, with principled leaders, that even direct video quotes do not seem to matter. They watch their leaders lie repeatedly on video, yet they refuse to believe they saw them lie. It is simply unbelievable.

People do not want to look, confront or believe that they have been duped, that they are actually being manipulated by a tiny fraction of the world’s elite, the Old World Order, the ole boy network, the status quo, Club Elite. They do not want to face what answers to unanswered questions and unexplained coincidences might mean. Such an awareness might require them to look into the mirror and realize that their ignorance has contributed and enabled what, by any measure, is now an Evil Empire.