THE HOME BOY

Who would have guessed that our Waldo could dance on the national stage? He was a mediocre governor who ended his reign bathed in irrelevance. Yet he lit up the lights in his run for president. And now he has won his prize as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

He won the old fashion way, really the "Republican" way he hates so much. He told the state committees that he would send national money to them thereby increasing their salaries and budgets and removing the daily onus to raise their own money. Bribery and corruption, off to a great start.

He let his constituents know that, "I hate Republicans and everything that they stand for." Nothing new to Vermonters having listened to Waldo pronounce "all Republicans racists" during the Editors program just north of the border. That his entire family back to Lincoln were Republicans might have suggested to his constituents that they for call on Doctor Freud, not Doctor Dean. Why does he hate his own?

Did you check out his financial statement? He has over $3,000,000 in cash. Sure didn't earn it. More Republican success to hate, his own inheritance. His wife lent a bit of sanity to the episode, "With his being away, I can stay home and read my books."

How long will he be away? If success is any measure, not so long. How will he do? Not so well. As the childhood ditty went, every party has a pooper that's why we invited you. Dean will be a party pooper, not a builder, not a uniter, not a leader.

MISPLACED HOPES

We wrote in the November 9, 2001 issue of DPR, "The Case for President Dean": http://www.dwinellpoliticalreport.com/ds_11_09_01.htm#presdean "He has an appealing message, money, frugality, and discipline. He will also have the benefit of a favorable press, maybe even a forgiving press. Dean's message will be falling on friendly ears.

"What are his pitfalls? At times, Howard Dean has a Clintonian understanding of truth. Trying to explain a lie is a fast way to get off message. Second, he has a Gore-like tendency to exaggerate and use inappropriate superlatives. DPR was astounded when first attending Dean's press conferences that the media never called him on his exaggerated speech. They must have all become used to and inured to it. But such will not be the case when he hits the national press."

We wrote in November 11, 2004 issue of DPR about Dean's candidacy. "Waldo as head of the Democrat National Committee? Now there is a joke. The job requires patience, tact, and an even handed approach. Does any of that sound like the Screamer you know and love? It requires fund raising with a sophisticated touch with the high donors. Howard Dean is not the man."

WHY DID HE RUN?

Because he could and he had nothing else to do. He had a national organization which no other candidate had. He was able to use that to generate energy and commitment on the part of the activists. The Daily Show parodied the DNC chair race. They quoted Dean, "If we knock on the doors in Utah and West Virginia, introduce ourselves and tell them what we believe in, they will vote for us." Jon Stewart added, "Doesn't work for the Jehovah Witnesses."

Dean is not smooth. He is very "edgy," hasty in his condemnation. He has no real friends. He hates the entire Washington establishment. But they are the establishment for a reason and they will lie in wait and pounce when the time is right. He will not kiss ass, and all the big donors who give millions want their asses kissed regularly. He hates big business and they give hundreds of millions. Why should they give to someone who hates them and thinks that they are the source of all evil?

As Dean demonstrated in winning the chair, money talks. Outgoing chair Terry McAulliffe has left the cupboard bare giving the cash on hand to the Virginia Party for the governor's race and filling the coffers of the Democrat Congressional Campaign and Senate Campaign Committees. He will have a hard time raising big money. Give Dean a couple of years when the lack of money talks back.

HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE

Given Vermont’s compassionate sensitivity to potentially offensive team names like "Crusaders" and "Rebels," bears called "crazy," and even "Irish" on license plates, and notwithstanding the incessant coverage of Howard Dean’s howling to be the next chair of the DNC, it was surprising that Dean's pronouncement that he "hates Republicans" was not reported in Vermont's media.

Must we conclude that Dean’s cultural legacy to Vermont is a tolerance for such hateful bigotry?

Dean was quoted here: http://www.nydailynews.com/01-30-2005/news/wn_report/story/276020p-236422c.html

DEMOTIONS ABOUND

What is happening in the Douglas administration? Smith & Smith remain in power. Yet each was demoted. Or were they? Charlie Smith was running the biggest agency, Mike Smith the most powerful.

Charlie was leading by consensus and compassion. Everyone loved him. Mike Smith was dictating, taking no prisoners, true to his Navy Seal background. Everybody hated him. So "Smith" as Mike Smith is known is sent to correct Corrections, Medicaid, and the "nutcase" hospital, to use a Burlington Free Press term. No more consensus. Napoleon Smith to the front. Insiders suggest that with two-year terms for governor, there is no time for consensus and compassion. It is time to make the trains run on time. Three cheers for the two-year term.

Charlie gets to move to the fifth floor of the Pavilion as Secretary of Administration right beside the governor and gently move budget numbers and present them to the legislature. He follows in the footsteps Kathy Hoyt, David Wilson, and Richard Mallary. "Smith" is exiled to Waterbury.

COMPLAINTS ABOUND

Complaints are flying about the governor and his staff. Legislators and lobbyists name names. Some folks are liars, others pompous, political, and arrogant. None listen. None carry a true message. They do not attend Republican or Democrat weekly caucus meetings. They are all snakes.

Most complainers blame Douglas saying that he is too knowledgeable and smart not to know and see what is going on. DPR confirmed that the governor's office has heard the complaints.

Why are so many complaining? Some say that it happens every year. Others suggest that many Republican are not used to or happy about being in the minority once again and want more attention and affection. Others suggest that the governor is distracted by his administration's difficulty in getting its arms around the problems.

BYE BYE JOBS

Been reading the papers. South, north, and west companies are decamping from Vermont. Not that they are going overseas or outsourcing. They are consolidating but always close their Vermont operations while keeping others.

Governor Douglas says that he has called often to stop the trend and in one case prevented an expected move. He added that he is close to attracting new investment with his outreach. He credits the many local development corporations who keep the Agency of Commerce informed and they him.

HE WHO PAYS THE FIDDLER CALLS THE TUNE

What a difference a few years make. It seems like just yesterday when Barbara Ripley was directing Vermont's efforts to preserve and protect its unique environment. Recently the Free Press quoted her in protecting her new client, Great Bay Hydro of Portsmouth, NH, "The Clyde River (a Newport river once prized for its salmon run) has a rich history of use for hydroelectric power generation." Sounds like a practitioner of the world's oldest profession.

THIS TUNE STAYS THE SAME

The recent Davos meeting of the rich and famous concluded with CEO's listing "overregulation" as their biggest headache, the same complaint as last year. These CEOs may be paid $10 million a year, with apartments in every city awaiting, chauffeurs and private jets, and expenses accounts and stock options. Recall when Ben and Jerry's tried to find an president who would work with their formula of no employee making more than seven times the wage of another. They failed. Today the gap has spread in some cases to over 400 times.

HAVEL 1, DOUGLAS 0

For speaking up for the rights of man, President Vaclev Havel wins another round. The last issue of DPR quoted Havel's protest of the EU's plans to accept Castro's demand that dissidents could not attend embassy functions. Havel said that the EU was putting business ahead of principle.

The Prague Post reports: "In their first foreign-policy victory since joining the EU, Czech officials in Brussels have blocked a proposed ban on inviting Cuban dissidents to receptions at European embassies in Havana. Debate over the ban touched a nerve here, where many former dissidents entered politics after communism fell in 1989."

Douglas continues to refuse to stand up for principle or rights of Vermonters saying that he was unwilling to risk a potential financial penalty in doing so.

YOU SAY WHAT?

According to the Associated Press, the Sunni clerics did not like the election. They said that it was not legitimate because they choose not to vote. Hard cheese.

WHEN IS A BEAR TOO HARD TO BEAR

By Dr. Ian Robertson

Last Wednesday, Elisabeth Robert resigned from the Fletcher Allen Health Care board only because of her teddy bear, making Vermont officially the Politically Correct capital of the world. Amorous teddy bears are beyond the pale of acceptable social expression thanks to the editorial staff at the Burlington Free Press and, sadly, our governor.

I am offended by the astonishing lack of perspective shown by everyone who thought the teddy bear was some kind of an attack or even, as one letter writer to the Free Press put it, the moral equivalent of a Nazi uniform!

I am offended by the power ceded to our local fanatics. I am offended by the attack on my freedom to choose where to find humor. I am offended by the overly literal construction of words that is being used in Vermont to castrate our mother tongue. No little band of narrow-minded cranks is going to take the English language from me without a fight. I will not give up the shades of meaning and richness of expression that has taken all of human history to invest in our speech.

PULITZER PROGRESS

Visit the Free Press web site to view its 13-part series on the Vermont Teddy Bear Imbroglio, the most insanely PC thing I have ever seen. The special VTB Imbroglio section contains 13 parts, including 3 editorials. Overkill? Not in Vermont. "Her company's Crazy Bear perpetuates the stigma that people with mental illness are crazy, wear straitjackets and should be committed. It's not funny."

The Crazy for You bear does no such thing. To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a teddy bear is just a teddy bear. On the day when Robert resigned from the hospital board, the Free Press editorial page itself ran an opinion piece which contained the phrase "Why do I feel my poster is more valuable than DaVinci's masterpiece, besides the possibility that I'm a nutcase?"

CRAZY FOR YOU AND A NUTCASE

I was shocked! The Free Press editorial page was perpetuating the same type of verbal imagery which was good reason to remove a member from the board of our state's largest and most troubled hospital. Will they demand their own? They cannot argue that this was merely an innocent slip; there is no innocence in their system of belief.

Before someone labels me as insensitive, I confess that twenty years ago I went through a prolonged and horrible depression, in fact, the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. So why don't I feel insulted by the Crazy for You bear? Because it has nothing to do with me or what I suffered, nothing at all. Except the behavior of the humorless PC tyrants are making me crazy!

HAVE A NICE DAY

If only the problems of the mentally ill were so simple that they could be cured by PC. No mentally ill were helped by the Free Press witch hunt, not one. Mental illness is not caused by teddy bears. The real work of helping the mentally ill is much more difficult, the VTB Imbroglio is merely a diversion created by amateur grandstanders.

Consider the letter writing UVM psychiatry professor who angrily demanded that Roberts be dismissed from the board. As a psychiatrist he should understand the essential role that humor plays in helping people deal with their own fears. Representative Anne Donahue, (R-Northfield), another mental health advocate, made no sense: "If she had not resigned and the board felt it was okay, I think that it would have left people feeling unsure of their commitment (to the mentally ill)."

Could anybody actually believe that the hospital board bases decisions of management on teddy bears? I'm trying and failing to connect teddy bears to policy making. There is no connection. But there is a loss in this farce. "Liz has been a tremendous trustee. She has been really, really valuable. We're going to miss her," said board Chairman William Schubart. Governor Douglas added, "She has been a great asset to the audit committee."

The value of her donated expertise does not matter in Vermont. Of course we can all agree that competent management of the institution in which so many Vermonters go to live or die is an issue that pales in significance to the hurt feeling of the PC community. Is not perspective a good portion of sanity?

HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU

AAARRGGG! I wish that all the hypersensitive people who find offence in anything and everything, including a simple teddy bear, would please give us all peace and move to an island of their own; when they inevitably succeed in offending each other, each should move to his/her own island.

SHARING

The Times Argus wrote that "Jan Reynolds was sharing her stories and images of living with rice farmers in Indonesia. $5.00 adults, $2.50 children."

LIBERAL-MEDIA SPEAK

"Close tax loopholes means raise taxes. Spending cut means any increase in spending that is less than we think it should be. Bipartisanship means Republicans voting to do whatever Democrats want. This will help our kids means more taxpayer money for the teachers' union bosses. Helping the poor means increasing the bureaucracy that works with the poor." -- Orange County Register

SLIGHT OF HAND

The headline read, "Senate slices school tax rate." It should have read "Senate cooks books to steal taxes from public." Act 68, the Act 60 reform bill, suggested that for each $5,500,000 surplus in revenue to the Education Fund a one cent tax reduction should occur.

In January the Emergency Board voted to increase the revenue projections. This created an extra $6,800,000 surplus suggesting another penny cut in the property tax. Hurrah. The senate then asked the Joint Fiscal Office to override the Education Department projections of expense to increase projections to eliminate the new surplus, because as Senate Pro Tem Peter Welch said in caucus, "We will need that money for other things." On a straight party vote, the Democrats keep the extra $6,800,000 to fund other programs.

Yet this is exactly what Act 68 was supposed to stop. First they robbed and still do the Transportation Fund, then they underfunded the Vermont Teachers' Retirement System, now they are stealing from the Education Fund. The Douglas administration plays that game too by using the Education Fund for adult education though it is by law only meant to fund K-12.

JUSTICE FOR DOOLEY

»» Stewart Skrill, Randolph Center: Can someone tell me why any of our legislators would favorably consider retaining Justice John Dooley on the Vermont Supreme Court?

For the past twelve years, Judge Dooley has continually refused to take the Oath of Allegiance to his office. Does he uphold our Constitution, while he mocks it at the same time? What message does this behavior send to the people? Why should anyone bother to take an Oath of Allegiance? This Judge should not be retained for another six years.

THOSE WHO IGNORE HISTORY

»» Bill Adamson, Charlotte: I always enjoy the DPR. Thanks for persisting, despite your moving and recent sabbatical. Have you noticed the BFP's attention to the Sundance Film Festival? On Monday, Jan. 31 they did a puff piece on Waitsfield filmmaker Eugene Jarecki, who opined that "Democracy at the point of a gun has never worked." This easily refuted position (Jarecki may not know how America became a former British colony, nor how Europe was liberated from the Nazis) is apparently the central thesis of his film "Why We Fight," an attack on what he calls "American militarism." Big deal. So a leftie filmmaker thinks we don't belong in Iraq? I'm shocked. I thought I might see a response in the Forum from someone with a different view, but no. My own letter to the editor about this has not been printed yet, and I don't expect it to be.

A couple of days after the article on Jarecki, they did a human interest story on a group of high school kids from the Vermont Commons School who went to Utah to attend this same Sundance Film Festival. The kids had raised and saved money to go and apparently had a good time. Fine. I have no problem with a group of private school kids aged 14-17 going chaperoned to a leftist film festival in Utah. I do have a problem that the Free Press sees no controversy in Jarecki's film or his comments. The BFP could have carefully asked questions about some of the controversial issues raised in the films.

HEALTH INSURANCE BOON TO VERMONTERS

»» Frank Mazur, South Burlington: State rankings are subjective and appraise what the authors want to measure. So is it good news that the United Health Foundation ranks Vermont’s State Health third in the nation?

The following earned Vermont that top honor: "low infant mortality; low prevalence of smoking; low obesity rate; low rate of uninsured population; high access to adequate prenatal care; low percentage of children in poverty; low incidence of infectious disease and low premature birth rate."

Let’s look at what the authors ignored. Vermont’s health insurance cost is astronomical even though we have a low number of health care mandates compared to other states. Also, the rate of uninsured in Vermont is 8th lowest in the United States.

A recent study by eHealthInsurance ranked cities with the most affordable health insurance for families. Kansas City had the lowest at $172 a month for a $2,000 deductible with a 20% coinsurance for a family of 4. Other cities ranked in the study ranged from $180 to $212. In Vermont that same policy costs $771 a month.

Why the difference in premiums? Though Vermont has 25 health mandates, the ones we do have are very costly. Mandates are regulations imposed by government that requires certain treatment or procedures that must be covered in every health insurance plan. The costs of those regulations make health-care costs go up through everyone’s insurance premium.

Vermont mandated "“community rating" (CR) and "guaranteed issue" (GI) in 1991 for health insurance policies. CR required insurance companies to charge the same health insurance premium for everyone regardless of health, lifestyle, age or sex. Younger people paid higher premiums than their expected medical expenses would otherwise justify. GI prevented insurers to deny coverage regardless of condition.

These two mandates assured anyone can buy insurance regardless of condition at a rate subsidized by young and healthy people. It’s estimated that imposing CR and GI on the health insurance market causes premiums to increase no less than 25% thereby making it harder for Vermonters to find affordable coverage.

In the last decade Vermont also expanded state health coverage (Medicaid) to include almost 25 percent of its population. Now, almost 92 percent of adults and 99 percent of all children are eligible for health coverage.

As the Burlington Free Press reported, Medicaid is a "monster, gobbling up precious tax dollars..." and its $70 million deficit will increase to $300 million in coming years. But that’s only part of the story.

To financially sustain state health coverage, our Governor and legislature for years intentionally under-funded payment for health services around fifty to sixty cents on the dollar and cost shifted the difference to the private market. This Robin Hood tax policy requires Vermonters to subsidize state health insurance for low income residents through higher premiums that add another 25% to health insurance premiums in Vermont.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Congressman John Shadegg have offered a bill that would be a boon to Vermonters. It would allow any employer or individual to purchase health insurance from any state that he or she wishes. This would enable them to purchase insurance that was not weighed down with unnecessary costly “mandates”. Our Congressional delegation should support this initiative.

We should be encouraged by our state’s high overall health ranking but challenges exist to find affordable health insurance premiums and cover the uninsured in Vermont. The $600 a month cheaper health insurance premium in Kansas City can't be ignored and should be the affordability goal we strive for in Vermont.

THEY LIKE US

»» Bill Adamson, Charlotte: Thanks for your hard work keeping the DPR coming.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

"I think that joining in the charge of the French light brigade against the United States is neither in the European interest, the Polish interest, nor even the French interest." -- Radek Sikorski, Former Polish Deputy Defense Minister, Polish Daily Rzeczpospolita

A CHARGE FROM A LIGHTER BRIGADE

"You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room?" Dean asked to laughter. "Only if they had the hotel staff in here." -- Howard Dean, Associated Press

Source: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/politics/sns-ap-deans-moment,0,3868303.story

P.S. Maybe Waldo should attend a Republican cabinet meeting.

THERE REALLY IS A GOD

"Dean's election as DNC Chair proves that there really is a God." --Karl Rove, The White House

HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD JUDGE DOOLEY

"This overweening addiction to the courtroom as the place to debate social policy is bad for the country and bad for the judiciary. In the legislative arena, especially when the country is closely divided, compromises tend to be the rule the day. But when judges rule this or that policy unconstitutional, there's little room for compromise: One side must win, the other must lose." -- Neil Gorsuch, National Review, 2/7/05

Full article: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/gorsuch200502070742.asp

A DAY TO REMEMBER

"Iraq's election has made it crystal clear that the Iraq war is not between fascist insurgents and America, but between the fascist insurgents and the Iraqi people." -- Thomas Friedman, New York Times, 2/8/05

LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

"Presidents come and go, but laments about the high price of higher education are eternal -- and so are calls for ever more federal aid to mitigate it. For 60 years, the federal government has been shoveling money into programs meant to make college more affordable -- yet a college degree today is more unaffordable than ever. Rarely has Washington so comprehensively worsened a problem it was determined to solve." -- Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby

DPR was recently accused of going soft by supposedly complaining about corporations using a one-year tax repatriate window to acquire companies and consolidate, i.e., lay off workers.

Our complaint was the same as above, the law of unintended consequences. Supposedly, this tax holiday was to cause investment which would create, according to Senator John Ensign, R-Nevada, "hundreds of thousand jobs." Didn't happen.

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