THE REAL DEAL

Iraq citizens voted. They did so disregarding Old Europe, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Osama bin Laden, and their own safety. They were told that good Muslims were not democrats but followers of the Koran as interpreted by bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. They were threatened. Regardless, they voted, even in Falujah. A Tsunami will roll through the Middle East. Praise be the Lord.

THE PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Observers tell DPR that the health care battle under the watchful eye of Ceres is all about public relations, spin, and appearances, campaigning for 2006 has begun. Douglas has a leg up, creating a no-win health care dilemma for the Democrats unless they get behind his plan. If they come with a single payer plan, Douglas will pounce on them. If they come with nothing, Douglas will pounce on them. If they come with his plan, Douglas can acknowledge the high level of non-partisan politics in Vermont.

CALL 911

If you call 911, the local rescue squad quickly materializes at your front stoop and whisks you to the hospital. The same thing happens if you meet unexpectedly with a tree. Everyone is provided care, the details are sorted out later.

In most of the industrialized countries, health care is about eight percent of GNP. Here it is closer to fifteen. Why the difference? The answer is in the “sorting it out later.” It is estimated that forty cents of every health care dollar goes to “sorting out” the procedures and who pays for what, not the procedures themselves. If there is universal coverage in name, not just in fact, billions are saved.

JOB CREATION

For business, health care costs are expensive, time consuming, and ultimately unsatisfying to the employee and the employer. Programs change, co-pays change, providers come and go, and costs always go up. Would a state which could solve these problems not have a leg up on attracting new business and retaining old? Have you not noticed that one company after another is closing their Vermont operations while maintaining operations in other states?

IT IS TORTUROUS

Writing as an employer, Vermont’s health insurance options for employers are dreadful. In order to qualify for group insurance, a firm is to have seventy-five percent of the qualified employees in the group, often a mission impossible.

Often small employers pay a large portion of the premium but many require an employee share too. When premiums were cheaper, employees joined the group. But as premium costs increased at rates well above wage increases, usually by margins of 300 to 400 percent, employees dropped out, killing the group.

YOU CAN’T HIRE MR/MS RIGHT

Try to hire a key executive. Each expects fully paid health and dental insurance as part of the package, no questions asked. To grow the business, you need key folks, skilled and experience, from here and afar.

You are not supposed to discriminate. If you require an employee contribution for one, you should for all. There are legal loopholes, but not ethical ones. Nor practical ones. There are no secrets in small business; what you do for one you must do for all. Employers face the Hobbesian choice; not hire the folks you need as you do not have insurance or bankrupt the company by providing insurance for everyone.

SPENDING A LITTLE POLITICAL CAPITAL

Public relations will not fix the problem. Politics will not either. Bush wins by a whisker and he says he has political capital to spend; Douglas wins by more than twenty points and he worries about re-election.

It is hard to believe that the cost of health insurance is going to be fixed by more open insurance markets, “moving us steadily toward universal health insurance coverage” as the governor puts it. During the past twenty years, the Democrats have so bollixed up insurance, health care funding, and entitlements that no one can fix it, let alone a Republican governor facing huge Democrat majorities.

Why not step back and encourage the Democrats to come up an alternative system? Why not then look at what the Democrats come up with see what can be added to the mix?

WHAT A DIFFERENCE TWO YEARS MAKE

Two years ago, having just won a close election, Jim Douglas had just two months to hire staff, prepare his inaugural address, complete the budget, and find the bathroom. He presented his budget, recommending $106.8 million for job creation, $11.7 million of new money for roads, $7 million to upgrade water and pollution control, $4.5 million to combat drugs, and a new commissioner of innovation and technology. He asked for permit reform, Act 60 reform, and stormwater reform. And he got it all.

This year his budget address was reminiscent of President Clinton when he recommended the v-chip and school uniforms. He was derided for his “mini” programs, having been laid bare by his health care bomb, the 1994 Gringrich revolution, and irrelevancy. But he was re-elected.

With the country’s lowest unemployment and revenues well over projections, Douglas recommended this year another $7 million of “new” money for roads (new means taking a bit more from the Highway Trust Fund than usual), $9.2 million for clean water, and $4.6 million for the wreck called the Vermont State Hospital.

MINI-ME

Then, like Clinton, he moved to mini-government: $500,000 extra for training, $300,000 for new mathematic based computer technologies, $225,000 for the Fire Service Academy, $150,000 for Regional Development Corporations, and ten new drug counselors in schools. Not many bold strokes here.

THE MARATHON MAN

When we arrived at the recent Inaugural Ball in Northfield at a bit after nine, Governor Douglas, his wife, Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie, and Auditor Randy Brock and his wife were at the head of the receiving line welcoming most by name and a hug. When we left at 1215 am, the event officially ended at 1100 pm, all of them were still standing there receiving.

TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM

An Associated Press Poll asked folks if they were "angry" about George W. Bush being President. Only 21% said they were, while 79% said they were not. Guess that they missed Vermont. But there is hope.

According to the Best of the Web, January 17th, the ten states with the highest number of therapists per capita were all blue states and the ten states with the lowest number of therapists per capita were red. Fortunately, Vermonters are safe, we have the highest number of therapists per capita.

THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

The law which keeps on giving. Folks screamed about Elizabeth Roberts and the Vermont Teddy Bear company manufacturing and selling the “crazy for you bear,” a bear wearing a straight jacket. A non-story became a Vermont story, even consuming a quarter of the governor’s press conference.

The story then became a national and international story. Instead of being a quiet but stupid and offensive bear product, it is now offensive to so many more. February’s Fast Company magazine choose Robert as one of “Four leaders you need to know,” complete with a four-color glossy of Robert and the shipping line.

Robert was chosen as one of “the best of a new breed, leaders who is are problem solvers who brainstorm with their teams and listen to their customers over making sweeping pronouncements.” And who stays the course, sells more bears than ever, and makes the shareholders happy.

DIGNITY AND RESPECT

All governments should strive to enhance the dignity and respect of its citizens. This week Governor Douglas missed five chances to stand for dignity and respect. He chose the cloak of “opposing censorship.”

Two Vermont families with same sex parents were humiliated by Education Secretary Spelling and WGBH when they were dropped from PBS’s series Postcards from Buster. Buster has wandered around the United States visiting forty-five diverse families and reporting in.

In Vermont, adoption by gay couples was made legal in the early 1990’s. In 2000 the Civil Unions law was passed guaranteeing equal rights to gay couples. One might disagree with both laws; nevertheless they are the law of our land. The governor’s job a defined in our constitution is “…to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” He did not speak or act in a manner to respect the rights and dignity of the two families affected.

WHILST THE GRASS GROWS AND THE WATER FLOWS

In the spirit of timeless renewal, many an old deed granted hunting or fishing privileges as long as “the grass grows and the water flows.” Not so with the Democrats legislators.

Renewable energy is all the rage; and it should be. When petroleum has so many uses, it is almost criminal just to burn it. But the goal of increasing use of renewable energy does not justify cheating, scamming, and lying to accomplish it.

At issue is the percentage of our electrical power which comes from renewable sources. The Democrats say fifteen percent. They claim that Hydro Quebec power is not renewable despite its waters which keep flowing. Include Hydro Quebec power in the formula and nearly fifty percent of our power would be renewable. In twisted logic, they say that some trees were cut and some Native People’s rights were violated in building the dams many years ago thereby negating the obvious.

THE JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMITTEE

In a report from the front, DPR has been told that the judicial nominating process does not seek out the best and the brightest, only the political and the pushy. “All we get to do at the end of the day is to select the tallest midget. Instead of a meritocracy it is a mediocracy,” we were told. Even DPR has been lobbied on behalf of Supreme Court candidates.

THE FLEECING OF AMERICA

Remember when the national news highlighted Howard Dean’s choo-choo as “the fleecing of America.” Remember when Governor Douglas proposed running the train up the siding and leaving it there? Recall how the Democrats howled that would require our paying all that fleeced money back? Not only do we not have to pay the money back; we can spend it on other rail projects.

THE FALL GUY

Attorney General Sorrell spoke of Fletcher’s former president Bill Boettcher as the ring leader of a $370,000,000 scam to evade the laws of the land. Boettcher plead guilty to most charges but not to misleading the Board of Trustees. Whoops.

The sounds of cheering were muted from the “boys,” the folks, (men and women), who usually have their way, who pull the strings above the curtain, who make up the power boards, commissions, and councils.

It was reported to DPR in the days of yore that these very same “boys” jumped Governor Dean to lean on BISCHA to look the other way and approve the Fletcher project. “This is the largest construction project ever in the state of Vermont. Are you just going to sit there and let BISCHA stop it?”

The “boys” got their way, Boettcher got the highway and soon the clink. For good measure Dean reportedly leaned on Commissioner Elizabeth Costle to personally reject Central Vermont Hospital’s expansion already approved by the BISCHA board as just punishment for the hospital’s choosing to affiliate with the Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital and not the UVM Flectcher Hospital. Will the “boys” get their just desserts? Not likely. The get to keep the profits.

THE WORM TURNS

The state has been pounding the stormwater drum ignoring the obvious; as DPR reported months ago, the state, owner of the highways, is the largest stormwater polluter of them all. South Burlington is now charged with collecting fees for “extra stormwater management.” According to the Free Press, they will soon be charging the state. The state protests, “Taxpayers of Vermont will be paying $50,000 to South Burlington for nothing.” The state is beginning to sound just like the rest of us.

GOVERNMENT CONTROLS BUSINESS

They keep trying. Your editor recalls a meeting where a participant had a problem; how to shelter $4,000,000 of profits in order to pay no tax. Within twenty minutes the group solved the problem. The government got no tax, the fellow keep all of the $4,000,000. Your editor thought, “It is not fair. As soon as the government writes a new rule, legions form to go around it. Bureaucrats and lawmakers just don’t stand a chance.”

In that vein, Senator John Ensign, R-Nevada, led the charge last year to allow corporations a one-year window to repatriate profits made offshore. The one-year tax holiday will allow just ten of many American companies to return $200 billion to be taxed at 5.25 percent instead of 35 percent like the rest of us.

Ensign pleaded with his colleagues that this new American investment would lead to hundreds of thousands of new jobs. The law of unintended consequences predictably interceded. The corporations appear to be using the windfall to acquire other companies and thereby will lay off thousands. Proctor and Gamble is reported to be using its windfall to buy Gillette for example.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

Is somebody out of touch or does Hollywood just not like losers? Recall Michael Moore’s eighteen minutes of fame, the length of the standing ‘O’ for Fahrenheit 9/11 and its accompanying Palme d’Or awarded by the Cannes Film Festival for best film? The film was nominated for no Academy Awards.

WE CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel took issue with EU’s plans to ban Cuban dissidents from national day receptions at the EU’s embassies in Havana, bowing to an explicit demand from Castro. Unlike our governor, Havel minced no words in standing up for the rights of man.

Havel denounced EU’s plans as "diplomatic apartheid" and a "shameful deal." He said that diplomatic receptions were often the only occasions where dissidents and communist officials meet.

He accused Europe of putting the interest of hotel investments ahead of human rights according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

THOSE WHO DO NOT LEARN FROM HISTORY...

Munich, Jan 24, 1939 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said on Monday military force should not be used to resolve the issue of Germany’s controversial rearmament programme. "In our view, it should not come to military intervention. This resolve should be clear to all of our friends." Germany denies it has been trying to rearm and says its programme is solely geared to generating jobs.

The paragraph above is an almost verbatim from a Reuters report just last week of a speech by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder describing European negotiations with Iran and its nuclear program. Wrong then, wrong now. Some folks just do not learn.

AND THERE IS MORE

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, left wing Germans in an “effort to spare German feelings” identified Auschwitz as a "Polish camp" in the official EU resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of its liberation. After Chancellor Schroder called off his Members of the European Parliament, they agreed to admit that "Nazis" built the camps. Not German Nazis of course.

TO THE BARRICADES

One might think that Europeans would be overjoyed by the recent “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine. But no. According to the European’s Parliament President Josep Borrell Fontelles, Ukraine is now a “Trojan horse” inside the EU.

Pro-American nations like Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, and now Ukraine are hard to ignore. To suggest that they are a “Trojan horse” or a 5th column inside Europe instead of an economic opportunity and a buffer between old Europe and Russia, the Middle East, and Central Asia is to not study economics and geography. Old Europe might learn a thing or two from the countries which fought for their freedom instead of having it given to them by the Allied Forces.

FLY ME TO THE MOON

A probe, years in the making, landed on Titan, a moon of Saturn. Dr. Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, crowed, "This is a fantastic success for Europe."

How did that probe travel through the ages to Titan? Just as with Tsunami aid, Uncle Sam made the delivery. You’re welcome.

CHILDREN SAY THE DARNEST THINGS

Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, while giving out twenties to the children in Banda Aceh asked, “What do you need most?” “Schools,” they said.

MY HOME IS MY CASTLE?

According to a report in the London Daily Telegraph, there is a law which defines dealing with an intruder: you may only use “reasonable force.” The liberals will begin a marketing campaign to “educate the public on how far they may go to defend their property.”

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said, "Reasonable force is extraordinarily difficult to interpret in your kitchen at four o'clock in the morning." For those in Vermont who wish we were more European must be thrilled at the prospect of a clear definition of “reasonable force” coming to Vermont.

STUCK IN A RUT

Ever been stuck in a rut? Try to break a habit and can’t? You must feel like the Rutland Herald’s editorialist. They just can not stop banging on George Bush, as if he cared. Iraq has elections in a show of determination and courage. Whom does the editorialist congratulate, George Bush. Whom does he criticize and warn? George Bush. Would you please give it a break?

OVER AND OVER AGAIN

By the same token have others noticed that the Burlington Free Press draws nearly all of their reprinted editorials these days from the LA Times and the Baltimore Sun? Gee, we wonder why they don't occasionally choose editorials from papers without established reputations as editorial organs of the far left...

THE OVERBLOWN BLEW OVER

The Times Argus headlined, "Hillary Clinton Collapses," the New York Times wrote, "Mrs. Clinton Faints." She did not feel well after lunch, she sat down, she fainted briefly. She went to her next appearance and spoke.

WHAT ABOUT OUR MOM?

On January 16th, the Reuters headline informed: "Romanian Woman, 66, Said to Be World's Oldest Mom." Gee, our mom is 88 and going strong.

WOLCOTT WATER OKAY AFTER ALL

»» Richard Bailey, Hype Park: From your November DPR, "WAS THERE SOMETHING IN THE WATER? The Stowe Reporter reported the outcome of all races in all the surrounding towns. One result stood out among the others. The presidential race in Wolcott: Kerry 473, Bush 24."

This bothered me. I could not believe the President would have sustained such a huge loss to Kerry in Wolcott. I am pleased to report the Stowe Reporter got it wrong with a misprint in the numbers, Kerry 473, Bush 241. His loss average 33%, was consistent throughout Lamoille County with the exception of Belivedere.

Fortunately, there was nothing in the water. This information will vindicate Wolcott.

INSIDE VEPC

»» Ralph F Colin, Jr., Dorset: With respect to your remarks on VEPC, as usual, you hit the nail right on the head. The "but...for" clause should never have been included in the criteria because it is, as you so aptly point out, discriminatory towards Vermont-based companies whose owners and employees wish to remain in the state, forcing them at times to lie in order to receive the much-needed tax credits.

But it should be noted that this provision and most of the other not-so-necessary criteria for receiving the tax credits and incentives offered by VEPC were fashioned by a group of ultra business-UNfriendly legislators (Frieden, Rivers, Shumlin, Cillo and MacDonald, among others -- all but the latter now gone) who fundamentally opposed the concept of economic development in Vermont. In creating the benchmarks for qualification for the award of VEPC benefits, they tried very hard (and successfully in certain cases) to raise the bar high enough so that many, if not most, businesses might not be able to qualify.

The new measures proposed to simplify the process by essentially eliminating all but the two most important criteria, those of creating new jobs and of implementing above average job wages based on the specific business and geographic sector, would go a long way towards improving and streamlining the arduous process.

I would take issue with your sentence, "Business takes credits which they have not earned." That is a fiction created in large part by two defeated former Auditors of Accounts, Flanagan and Ready, whose goals were to discredit VEPC to which they were both politically and ideologically opposed. It is true that VEPC conditionally awards certain tax incentives and credits to qualifying businesses to be literally fulfilled only if the companies actually deliver on the goals to which there is previous agreement by both they and VEPC during a fixed period of several years. Those businesses which are unable to meet the objectives are not finally credited with the benefits.

As the representative to VEPC from the Bennington County Regional Commission for almost six years from virtually the time of VEPC's inception and as someone who attended more than 90% of VEPC's meetings in that time frame, I have a reasonably good perception of what I speak.

BUT FOR GREENHOUSE GAS

»» Bruce Shields, Eden: I hope you get a chance to read "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton. The Greenpeace response to the tsunami will never sound the same again!

THEY LIKE US

»» Peter Crosby, St. Johnsbury: Thank you for the Dwinell Political Report. I enjoy every issue.

»» Michele Morin and Mary Hahn-Beerworth: Thank you for covering the Planned Parenthood condom debacle.

»» A loyal reader from So. Burlington: Once again, a delightful read on a cold Saturday in January - keep up the good work - I agree with you about 98% of the time....well maybe it is 99.9% of the time!

RATHER RIDES INTO THE SUNSET

"What's the big problem at CBS News? Well, for one thing, it has no credibility. And no audience, no morale, no long-term emblematic anchorperson and no cohesive management structure. Outside of those annoyances, it shouldn't be that hard to fix." -- Former CBS News executive Van Gordon Sauter

AN ALTERNATIVE INAUGURAL ADDRESS

"Thou shalt not steal. In 2004 the United States government spent $2,318,800,000,000. Thus every American benefited from $7,919.37 worth of federal services. Let me ask the jerks something. Say you're average jerks, a blended family of four. Did you pay $31,677.48 in taxes last year? If you didn't, you took things from other Americans." --- P. J. O‘Rourke, Weekly Standard, January 24, 2005

For O’Rourke’s complete inaugural address, go to: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/141kgagb.asp?pg=1

CAPTAIN COURAGEOUS DISSEMBLES

Ted Turner compared Fox News Channel to Adolph Hitler’s propaganda machine. Fox News responded "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network, and now his mind. We wish him well."

DON’T FEED THE BEAST

Raising taxes "is out of the question because it will not work. Taking money out of the private sector is a no-no. We don't want to feed the monster. We want to feed the private sector and starve the public sector." -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Fund, Political Diary, 1/20/05

SKIING THE AXIS OF EVIL

"Jean Claude Killy loved the Iranian people and their mountains as he did the Alps. There is a difference between a regime and its people. Regimes have an implicit expirations date, while human benevolence does not." -- Eric Segalstad, Ski Magazine, February, 2005

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