Op/Ed

Panetta said the Pope said to him, “Thank you for helping to protect the world,” and said that he replied, “Pray for me.” Fellow Catholics can only hope that the Pope said something else that Panetta was reluctant to mention to US foreign-policy-promoting reporters. One paragraph re Panetta’s crimes, Reagan’s Assist. Sec of Treasury quoted, and the usual plea for a responsible public to call for prosecution of illegal war.

Commuter Tax in Brattleboro

Brattleboro is a hub for the economy in Windham country. The population is about 12, 000 and swells to some 30,000 during the day. Many people from outside the area and from New Hampshire enjoy working in Vermont, but they do not contribute to the local tax base.  I propose a 5%  commuter tax like they do in NYC or other places.  In a sense

This is already done in Vermont, at the ski slopes, the price of a lift ticket pays for town services.

It is time that there is a commuter tax in Brattleboro.

During the internationally empowered grand jury proceedings that will eventually investigate the astounding number of US crimes against humanity the Papacy will not escape attention for not only having been accessories after the fact, but also collaborators in innumerable cases of homicidal use of US Armed Forces and CIA on four continents

Was King’s death fortunate or necessary for investors? The violent history of the American empire is replete with stories of seemingly pointless assassinations always characterized by media as senseless acts of individuals acting on their own, assassinations that nevertheless brought investment opportunities for investors on Wall St. either by chance or plan? For crime prevention, indict, prosecute the beneficiaries!

While staring at the New York Times front page photo of the bat-winged nuclear-capable B-2 Stealth Bombers up in the blue sky on their first non-stop long-range mission from the US on their way to a practice sortie to end in a mock bombing drop of inert munitions on a range off South Korea’s coast, I ponder.

The thought that ‘enough is enough’ will apparently never arise in the mind-set of those commanding the first planet-encompassing space-age military, blown up now to an uncontrollable magnitude and fueled by an uninterrupted flow of trillions of dollars by ledger line pre-occupied elite of the speculative investment banking community; a community possibly still being led by multi-war promoting confidants of ninety-eight year old David Rockefeller.

While Senator Sanders may portray our Social Security programs as solvent, it really depends on your reading of what actually happened. The Social Security coffers as it stands today may very well be in the black – as best as in the black can be for a program that’s post Baby Boomer era.

With most of us Baby Boomers closer to our sunset than our sunrise the “contributions” we pay into Social Security is not the same as before. We are increasingly dependent on what the younger generations put into this Roosevelt-inspired retirement piggybank. Unfortunately, the population scale of our young folks shrink into the shadow of a huge and very needy Baby Boomer population.

GMO foods? Why not mix wine grapes and marijuana, or beer hops and marijuana?

Have fun with genetically engineered and genetically modified foods and cross- breeding? Would it be legal now in Colorado and Washington?

I was thinking today about genetically modified and genetically engineered foods, and the lack of labeling, so far.

Martin Langeveld had a very interesting on Thursday March 28, 2013.

He started by taking BABB and the Reformer to task:

The board of Building a Better Brattleboro is proceeding with a request-for-proposals process for the River Garden without holding meetings for public input. “It’s time for Brattleboro to cut its losses and move on,” writes the Reformer editorial board with respect to the River Garden, urging the town to “figure out a way to add the River Garden back to its grand list and move on.”

Open Letter to Governor Peter Shumlin on the subject of Economy of Vermont

Governor,

Why doesn’t Vermont have a Medical Marijuana Expo to attract Tourists and bring money into the State like they do in California?

There was much talk at the recent Representative Town Meeting about “sending a message” to the School board and Selectboard.

One clear message was that people are reaching a breaking point with tax increases. We heard repeated stories of fixed incomes, dropping salaries, and rising costs making it increasingly hard to get by in our hometown. 

Another clear message is that budgets were approved as presented. Attempts to cut budgets failed, and Representatives approved all expenditures.

Which message was sent, and which was heard?

If you do not try then you fail.

I see the internet as a tool for colective problem solving. As a community the internet gives opportunity for the many great ideas to be seeded into the minds of all who wish to subscribe to finding solutions to many of the daily challenges we all face.

A term “Crowd Sourcing” seems appropriate to describe how I see this tool can become effective in finding solutions, such as the current financial crises our area is facing.

The Vermont Legislature is still churning out “Hate” Bills against low income Vermonters and Disabled Persons
on “Benefits”.

This constant harrassment of poor people and people with diseases is unjust and un-American.

Hannaford has made corporate decisions that play out in strange ways at the checkout aisle.

Having shopped for nearly half a century (and with a grandfather in the grocery business), when I’m ready to check out I put my groceries on the belt in easy bagging order. Heavy things, cans, bottles, and boxes go first, then the smaller, lighter things such as parsley or garlic.  A cashier could simply scan and pop it into the bag. We worked as a team to keep things moving along.

Not too long ago, I realized cashiers were scanning and piling all groceries to the other side without bagging anything. Only after all items had been scanned would any bagging occur. It was taking almost twice as long.

Please note that the following message and was sent to Representative Town Meeting Members today. If you are a Town Meeting Representative, please accept my apologies for seeing this message twice. If you concur that amending Article 21 to require continued operation of the River Garden while ownership issues are resolved with oversight from Town Meeting, please reach out to Town Meeting Members in your District.

The following is an article that I wrote a couple weeks ago. I should have sent it to iBrattleboro immediately but didn’t. My apologies for that. But here it is.

This week (the week of Feb 16) the Senate passed what is referred to s.77. Make no mistake – what we passed was not S.77. S.77 was a well thought out bill modeled after the Oregon law that allows a competent adult with a terminal illness the ability to have control at the end of his life. Many objected because they felt that no one should take his own life and this was condoning suicide. Some objected because they felt there were not enough safeguards for the disability community, that it discriminated against those who had lost the ability to self-administer the drug, and that it did not put enough emphasis on palliative care.

The world of words is full of material of uncertain authorship, some venerated as Gospel- literally.  I mean literally literally. The Bible is a work of anonymous scribes, much of it clearly apocryphal. Yet it’s not only cited as a source for our morals and laws, it’s referenced on legal tender, used on the witness stand as a goad against lying, and hauled out at the inaugural podium- divine proxy for winners to swear by.

It was claimed by one writer on this site that an opinion was null and void because the handle used was not authentic, not declarative enough. The charge of coward was brought forth more than once.

March 5, 2013 Tuesday, Town Meeting Day in Vermont

Will President Barack Obama allow United Nations “peacekeeping” troops to kill Americans who are growing marijuana in violation of the United Nations  INCB treaty?

Isn’t it time to end “one world government” so that we can MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL?

Isn’t it time to end all of these Treaties that the United States has signed onto so we can get back in control of our own country?

There’s nothing disgraceful about politics – I chose to live in Brattleboro in part because I knew that here, my ideas would be heard. Other place where I have lived and been involved in politics, things haven’t been anywhere near as open or fair.

I wrote an endorsement of Kate O’Connor which appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer on Thursday. I would like to add more here about why I have made this choice. At the bottom of this new commentary, I will append my letter in the Reformer in case you haven’t read it. I’m also going to add a brief public apology to Spoon Agave at the end.

Because, I’m White

I will not be stopped
for driving while black.

I will not be shot dead
for wearing my dreads.

I will not be rejected
subjected or ejected
Bent over & inspected.

$12 trillion in banker bailouts, billions more in quantitative easing that now will continue monthly. Constant war and military interventions, yet people keep voting Republican or Democrat as if this is the answer. Our sons and daughters are being sacrificed. FOR WHAT? For freedom and democracy? Do you really think so?

The film below is well-researched and less than 45 minutes long. If you review it on its factual merits versus the propaganda that has been drilled into your head since birth, perhaps an awakening will occur.