THE DWINELL
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THE DWINELL POLITICAL REPORT
 June 08, 2005   Vol. 6, No. 11 
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*** NEWS AND ANALYSIS ***

IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER

And it is not over, six months and counting. All that time spent on ideology and little on practicality. Politics is the art of the possible, well in the real world. This from the Burlington Free Press.

"Speaker Symington and her Democrat colleagues tout passage of a health care reform package as their number one accomplishment." Whoops! Passage requires the Governor’s signature. It has not passed, and if you believe Jim Douglas it will not pass. Nevertheless, this is their "number one accomplishment."

LOOKING IN THE LOOKING GLASS

Speaker Alice-in-wonderland Symington said, "I feel (not think of course as it is all about feelings) that it has been a really productive, very thoughtful session." At least she is consistent.

Stephen Kimball has spent thirty years walking the halls of the capitol lobbying for his clients and his agency. "What you have to do when you are elected is to disappoint your base to get anything done. Democrats failed to recognize where that line is and crossed it."

THROW YOUR DOG A BONE, OR TWO

They attached a rider to the budget bill interfering in the collective bargaining process at the Vermont State Colleges, rewarding the unions. They attached a rider on the budget bill authorizing two more grades in public education, pre-K and pre pre-K, rewarding the VTNEA.

They passed the monopoly protection bill for the Visiting Nurse Association, rewarding the Association. Anyone who has cruised by their palatial offices in Mallets Bay might suspect that a monopoly is a good thing for the VNA.

They passed a renewable energy bill which will raise your rates by requiring the use of more renewable energy, rewarding the enviros. They re-defined Hydro Quebec as non-renewable even though hydrologists expect that the rivers of Quebec to renew for some time to come, at least as long as there is human form.

They extorted Entergy for millions to allow dry cask storage, providing more money for the enviros. First time you had to pay money to create jobs. This increase will be passed on to rate payers elsewhere. They passed a pension plan bill giving unions the sole right to control Vermont’s pension investment decisions and strategy, another bone for the unions.

When it came time for the people, nada. The state is flush with cash and having a great year. When the big bad corporations have a good year, they pay a dividend to shareholders. When the wonderful compassionate big government has a good year, they do not reduce taxes, they stiff the taxpayer.


DÉJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

Last week while enjoying a small espresso and reading the Times Argus, out popped a wimpy Jim Douglas with the following copy: "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." This full page was brought to you by VPIRG and the Vermont State Labor Council and paid for by True Majority Action, "a national online organization of 150,000 members who just last year sent 2.8 million messages to their elected Congressmembers." If Senator Jim Leddy does not have the time to read his emails, we bet that Congressmembers don't either.


GOVERNOR, CALL YOUR OFFICE

Wow!! Somebody means business. Then we received an urgent-gram; prior to Governor Douglas’s weekly press conference the Democrats would hold one of their own. The Democrat Team gathered in the Cedar Creek room at the Capitol so full of themselves that if just one of them had burst, we would all have been killed. The room was packed to overcapacity. The press corps was shoved into a corner by all the self-important who needed to crowd into the potential wide screen major motion picture coming soon to a theatre near you.

WITH SINCERITY

Senator Welch approached the mics arrayed on the podium. "We are on the threshold where every single Vermonter will have universal access to health care for all time. Vermont will be the first state in the nation to offer universal health care. Vermont will be the first state in the nation where every individual will contribute to the cost of health care. There is only one person standing in the way: Governor Jim Douglas. In an effort to walk the final mile, we have even accepted his premium tax and offered him three revenue options."

MOVING, COMPELLING

Seantor Jim Leddy sought the spotlight. "The governor challenged us to present a comprehensive health reform bill; we have done that. We have provided for everyone, we have provided cost controls, we need to move beyond the rhetoric." His voice rising to a fever pitch, "We need a partner, we need a leader, we need to begin."

Oh my, how could Jim Douglas say no? Their sails were so full we worried that a spar might give way.

ON TO THE NEXT, CIRCLE FOUR AROUND

This circus began at noon; the Douglas press conference began at 12:30. The press, which did not put the Dems through their paces, pounced on Douglas, "Well, are you caving in, ah we mean accepting their offer, or not?"

Douglas, unflustered, replied, "I have not really had a chance to look at their proposal. But I did see ‘payroll tax’ as part of each option. How many times have I said that a payroll tax is unacceptable to me, to Vermonters. What part of ‘no’ do they not understand?"

More questions, complaints, suggestions, pleas, and postures were thrown into the Governor’s face. Quietly answering the press, "This is just the crescendo of the political theatre which attends the end of every session; last minute posturing, amateur hour. It is just part of the process."

TED MACK, WHERE ARE YOU?

"There is an unrealistic atmosphere here in Montpelier. Every day I am out and about in our state, listening to hundreds if not thousands of Vermonters. They cannot afford more taxes; they are taxed to death. They face higher utility bills and insurance premiums, business faces a huge regulatory burden and high workman’s compensation costs. We need to build a more cooperative environment. The payroll tax could make the difference in companies’ investing or not, relocating or not, coming to Vermont or not.

"The legislature acts like and thinks that they are just playing a parlor game. They are playing with Vermonters lives and livelihoods. Like physicians we have a duty to, first do no harm.’"

VERY EXPLICITY & TOTALLY OPPOSED

The governor said that he would veto the health care package if it was funded by the payroll tax; that he would veto the budget if it contained the rider for the legislature to enter the Vermont College’s union negotiations.

AND THE CURTAIN COMES DOWN

The Siren Chorus crooned sweetly, pass it, pass it, pass it; the governor does not have the "cojones" to veto it. And so they did, both health care and the budget bill with the union rider. They were thrilled. Speaker Symington said that passing the health care reform package was the highlight of the session. And they adjourned.

LET IT BEGIN HERE

The post adjournment party in the governor’s office for the minority confirmed that Douglas would veto both bills.


DÉJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

This week was déja vu all over again. The governor scheduled his weekly press conference. The Vermont College's union decided to co-opt the moment and hold a press conference just ahead of the governor's.

Professor Ernie Broadwater, president of the VCS teacher federation, began by blasting the governor. "The governor has taken a nuclear bomb to kill a small life boat. This should send an alarm to all of us in Vermont. Douglas does not have the facts and chooses distortions."

Professor Dawn Carleton, vice president, added, "Politics and power plays are unreasonable. We just wanted to talk with the governor, but he refused."

With that, they waved the white flag and threw in the towel. "We are not winning. We want avoid the cost and the pain of not having a budget. The Democrat leadership has promised us that they will look into the situation at the Vermont State Colleges and will add money for a study in the budget. We are reasonable and we do not want to be in the way of the budget and all who need it. We will recommend to the members that they vote for the existing agreement including the recommendations of the National Labor Relations Board."

YOU MADE ME DO IT

We looked to see if anybody was being held hostage or if anyone was pointing a gun at their heads. Suddenly, appearing from out of nowhere, were Senators Welch, Bartlett and Condos, and Speaker Symington. The assembled professors melted away.

I HAVE SEEN THE ENEMY AND IT IS ME

Senator Welch said, "We have worked with professors for the past year. They have decided to put students and Vermont first. In so doing, we now hope that the governor will not veto the budget and that we will not have a special session. I have had 180 phone calls from legislators wanting to take up where we left off, adding more provisions to the process."

Speaker Symington added, "We wish to avoid a special session. If the union ratifies the existing agreement quickly, it obviates the need to remove the language relating to their going back to the back to the bargaining table. We agree with the governor. It is not an appropriate role for the legislature to be involved in the details or the outcome. We wish to get out of our role of compromising the labor relations process."

Well, blow us over with a feather. One reported shouted, "You lost, you caved." Another mumbled, "Amazing how they can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

FATHER KNOWS BEST

Like children, they did not believe that when the governor said that if you pass it, I will veto. So they tested him. Then they went home, away from the cocoon and the sweet sounds of the Sirens. Perhaps the voters with whom the governor mingles daily spoke to the members. In any event, they had a change of heart.

Peter Welch will run for Bernie’s former congressional seat, ending the short but brilliant run of Senator Matt Dunne. Maybe his ambition was quickly brought up short by the stupidity of his actions.

In any event, the spar broke, the wind fell out the sails, and the ship is motoring slowly back to port. The rudder, previously stuck on a leftward course, has been repaired.

YOU WON, YOU WON

The governor’s staff bugged us, "Wha'cha gonna' write, he won, he won big?" Well okay, the governor won the battle. Politics aside though, he lost the war. Vermonters asked the governor to lead, to take the ideas of the legislature, temper them, and make them better. In the end, he either caved or vetoed. Not a big success story.

We asked the governor to score how he did in this years’ legislative session. "I conceded a great deal. The budget is $3,000,000 more than I think necessary. They took out money for my clean and clear initiative, for drug counseling, for more troopers, and for my fit and healthy program, but I accept it.

"Regarding Medicaid, we plugged the hole but did not fix the problem and we will have to address it again next year. It is unsustainable. We did not advance health care reform. We did not pass the bipartisan civil commitment legislation. We do not have a budget. We asked for slowing the effect of the Common Level of Appraisal on communities and we did not get that. We did see the corrections bill pass."

NOT SO FAST

Big winner, okay, today, but not overall. Sorry for the baseball metaphor, but the governor is not even hitting his weight, one for six, or a .166 batting average. Hey, they stiffed you five times, in the spirit of fair play and bipartisanship, you owe them five vetoes. You have two left, use them.

He will sign the renewable energy bill though it is built on a lie: that the rivers of Quebec are not renewable. This bill will drive up utility costs. Nonetheless, Speaker Symington said, "What we did in energy policy is ground breaking. It represents real vision."

He will accept the budget rider which may lead to the devastation of private day care providers. He will sign the Entergy extortion bill which will provide more money for their "advocates" to shape our energy policy. In that the money is to compensate Vermonters for the risks associated with dry cask storage, how about taking that $2,500,000 annual stipend and divide it up among all Vermonters who live within three miles of the reactor.

When asked what he did for the business community, Douglas returned to the victories of the last biennium which means no help for the job creators this year.

WHAT WENT WRONG

After all, Douglas received 181,540 of your votes. Speaker Symington received 1,510 (3,021 divided by two as each voter had two votes) and Senator Welch received 5,468 (17,339 as each voter had three votes.) Douglas should have more clout. Use it.

The conclusion on what went wrong is that there was too much amateur hour in the sand box. Word from the lobbyists is that they would like a couple of the governor’s staff to have some years, wisdom, patience, listening ability, and trustworthiness instead of youth, hubris, and arrogance.

Word from the Republican legislators is that they want to join the team. They want leadership and direction. They want to know whether to allow the Democrats create total nightmares or whether the governor wants them to make legislation less bad. They want a Republican Plan, legislative ideas which are explained to them, which they can argue about, which they can campaign on, and which they can work to pass, together.

Word from the governor’s staff is that they erred. They came into the session without a plan or a strategy. They acknowledge that they should have had a Republican Plan that the whole team knew, understood, and bought into. They promised to have their act together by fall.


GOTTA LOVE ‘EM

Democrats. We know lots. We know one who voted for Bernie and Peter Clavelle in the last election. She lives right across the street from the local hospital. When she goes to the hospital, she hops in her foreign car and drives over. When asked how she squares her Democrat values with driving instead of walking, adding to global warming, consuming scarce and precious resources, and conspiring with all those nasty gobalizationists in having a foreign car? She simply answers, "I am not that kind of Democrat."

We recently attended a liberal gathering, Dean and Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers galore. There were liberal hippies from a bygone era who will vote for Bernie in the upcoming senate race. Of the fifteen cars in the drive, only ours and another were built by the big three American motor car companies. Check out any school parking lot. The Democrat teachers sell out the auto union workers too.

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO

In what school of Democrats do our legislators swim? There are three interrelated schools: the "trust me I know what is best" school, "my situation is unique" school, and the "I feel that is best" school.

Take Angelo Dorta, head of VTNEA and bete noire of the school choice folks. He sent his child to a private high school. Take William Mathis, head of the Rutland Supervisory District and vocal anti-choice fellow, he sent his child to a private high school. In an interview with DPR, Mathis said that his child had "special and urgent needs."

There are probably thousands of parents in Vermont who believe that their children would benefit by private education at a critical moment in their school lives. Unfortunately, unlike these two who are very generously funded directly or indirectly by your tax dollar, you may not have the financial ability to provide private choice for your child. Dorta and Mathis work daily to insure that public choice is not available to you.

Or take the folks and their foreign cars. We are sure that they decided that a foreign car is the best fit for their needs. Supporting Bernie and his "plan" to stop globalization would require them to buy an American car. They know that they can support Bernie and never fear that "their reality" will ever intersect with reality.

They vote for Bernie not in alignment with their interests but in align with their feelings. How often do you hear your Democrat representative begin their comments with "I feel that...?" Almost always, almost never do they begin, "I think..."

They are Howard Dean Democrats: privileged, entitled, opinionated, smart, but too smart for their own good.


WIPEOUT

(With Jeffrey Pascoe) For years the legislature has been miserly in funding subsidies for lower-income parents who send their children to preschools. This leads to lower preschool salaries, leading to staff turnover, lower quality, and fewer programs. The state created the preschool problem.

For $10 million the state could invest in enough subsides to wipe out these problems. Legislation (S.60, 1999) introduced by the late Senator Jean Ankeney, D-Chittenden, would have done just this, but her Senate colleagues refused. They prefer to spend $100 million to fund an expansion of our union-controlled, property tax supported government school system to include preschoolers.

In 2004 Senator James Condos, D-Chittenden, introduced S.166 to enable public schools to enroll preschoolers and count them. Preschoolers would be weighted at 0.46 of a full time student for purposes of the Average Daily Membership (ADM) and therefore public schools would be able to draw funds from the Education Fund under Act 60. The bill breezed through the Senate but died in the Republican House Education Committee concerned about cost and the effect on private preschools.

SNEAK ATTACK

Prior to the start of the 2005 session, Education Commissioner Richard Cate met with Senator Condos and, according to Condos, the Commissioner asked him to hold off re-introducing preschool legislation while he determined how much of S.166 he could implement using the rule making process.

Commissioner Cate's preschool proposal was withdrawn when members of the State Board informed the Commissioner that the appropriate way was not via the rule-making process, but by having the matter reviewed by the education committees in the legislature.

Senator Condos then tried to "pack" the Education Board (S.133) by adding four legislative members, presumably Democrats. This bill remains in committee.

END RUN, IN THE DARK OF NIGHT

At the same time Senator Condos with a few cosponsors introduced S.132, nearly identical to the failed S.166 from the previous session, calling for the establishment of publicly funded preschools.

In May, the Senate Education committee was still taking testimony on S.132, including heated comments from preschool operators and women's advocates since most preschools are small businesses owned by women. It appeared because of the concern of the stakeholders that the bill would not pass out of committee before the end of the session.

Senator Don Collins, Chair of the Education Committee, D-Franklin, therefore did an end run. The language containing the funding provisions was inserted into the budget by the Appropriations Committee.

The House-Senate Conference committee left the preschool item in the budget bill despite strong objections from the Governor, who wrote, "Given both cost and policy implications, this issue must be fully debated in the appropriate committees of jurisdiction before inclusion into the Appropriations Act."

They deleted one the section of the 10 hours/0.46 percent language, and replaced it with "pursuant to Vermont State Board of Education Rule 9200.4," an obscure rule which says the same thing; "The percentage of full-time equivalent pre school enrollment shall be calculated by applying the ratio of actual hours such pupils are enrolled per week to 10 hours, and further multiplying by 46 percent."

LAW, RULE, REGULATION?

Where did the rule come from? Reportedly, Rule 9200.4 was approved by the 1998 State Board of Education. The rule was supposed to sunset effective June 30, 2000. However, "After conversations with the legislature" as one source put it, the rule was inserted within a larger DOE document entitled "Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment of Pupils" (state rule log number #00-071, adopted in 2000) and made permanent.

Public comment on this set of rules ended on September 19, 2000. In researching this information, an Administrative Assistant at the Vermont State Archives wrote, "Ordinarily agencies file copies of the public comments along with the final proposed filing of rules, but our records do not include any public comment for this rule."

These circumstances cast doubt on the legality of the process. As well, there is no statutory authority for such a rule. Nowhere in Vermont State Law does it say that preschoolers can be counted in a school's ADM.

Legal staff at the Department of Education has reportedly suggested that drawing Act 60 funds for preschool is legal because (a) there is no statutory prohibition against doing so, and (b) members of the legislature acquiesced in the 2000 reauthorization. Nevertheless, it is clear that the DOE and their allies in the legislature are not comfortable with the legal status of Rule 9200.4 nor with the ongoing expenditure of millions of Act 60 dollars on free public preschools. To the contrary, it appears that they are desperately seeking statutory cover.

STOP IT NOW

Now the drama is heightened by the Governor's promised veto of the budget, and by reports that the Auditor of Accounts is investigating the extent and legality of expenditures authorized by the DOE for preschools.

When you turn on the lights, the cockroaches run for cover. We hope that the governor stops this outrage and sends a message that will serve as a lesson for those who wish to sneak through a massive spending using obfuscation in the dark of the legislative night.


WALDO WATCH

Everybody is talking about our Howard Dean’s talking. The press, television news, senators, presidential candidates, and even the Burlington Free Press editorial ladies who wrote, "Try a little tact" and the Times Argus editorial page which ran a cartoon with a picture of Dean with a footprint on his butt: "Man kicked by his own ass."

Remember how the West Danville folks run a contest each year on when the ice goes out of Joe’s Pond? They hook up a clock to a cinder block on the ice, when the cinder block sinks, the time is known. The winner of the ice lotto walks away with hundreds.

We will offer a Waldo contest, when will Howard Dean’s rule at the Democrat National Committee come to an end. Not his last day on the payroll but when he announces, "I have ignored my family for too many months now and wish to return home," sort of thing.

You send to us the date of his departure and we will post it. The winner will receive a free life-time subscription to our newsletter! Hah, it is free anyhow you say. Right you are. So we will throw in a book.


*** THE ROAR OF THE CROWD: EMAIL ***

HEALTH CARE PLAN

»» Bob Alexander: At the risk of "preaching to the choir," the proposed health care numbers do not work viewed from any logical point of view. We are told the 20 million dollars will provide 21,000 people with full access. Please help me understand how a little under $1,000.00 per person is going to accomplish that goal. Where is the cost of hiring more state employees (to the already bloated roster of state employees), to manage not only the money, but the care.

We are a small business, providing heath care. If my premiums go up by an additional 3% (on top of the regular 10% per year), I simply cannot afford to continue with the current level of care, in spite of the some $1,000.00 per month per household I am now paying.

Let the rich pay?? According to the recently released census date, there are about 375 people in the entire state with incomes over $275,000. Are they to ante up 20 million dollars - - do the math.

Are companies like mine going to dig into their profits and make up the difference? No! Are the few remaining health care providers going to take a 3% hit, and not pass any of that along to their members, no!

If the state has as its objective, turning itself into a second home and welfare theme park, it is well on its way to doing so. If 25% of those "rich" people and 25% of the companies paying health care move, who picks up the difference?

* * *

»» Anonymous (working in the Capitol building, postmarked Burlington): This might answer your question, "Why?" Why don't they understand the problems with their health care proposal.

Senator Jim Leddy, D-Chittenden, was asked by a lobbyist why he thought the global budget or spending lid for hospitals was a good idea. He had spent almost twenty years as Executive Director of Howard Mental Health fighting with the State over underfunded services. Leddy said, "Now it is time for the hospitals to suffer."

»» Representative Steve Maier, D-Middlebury, answering the same question, responded, "All the doctors drive BMW's. They can afford it."

* * *

»» Laura Brueckner, Waterbury Center: I talked to a Maine person with a daughter and friends in Canada. She lost a friend with a heart problem because the required number of persons for surgery was not reached before her friend died. She is a nurse so she probably understands the issue more than non-medical person might. We know rich or well insured Canadians come to FAHC for their heart care. Just sit in the waiting rooms and listen. While in Montreal I heard on TV that ER rooms might NOT be able to handle emergencies.


LITTLE INCENTIVE FOR EFFICIENCY?

»» John McClaughry, Concord: The reason FAHC sent Ginger Aldrich to Montreal hospital was that Sacre Coeur has a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. This is the approved method for hypoxia, the bends, and burn healing.

But there is no such chamber in Vermont. I am convinced that this low cost noninvasive treatment is highly cost effective (reducing inpatient stays, etc.). But what hospital wants to invest in equipment that will reduce inpatient stays? It costs them money on both ends.


YOUR ELECTION PROGNOSTICATIONS

»» James Gregoire, Fairfield: It is said that the liberals are attacking Martha Rainville on the Free Press Editorial pages. We all know they wouldn't be writing so if she came out as a Democrat. Regardless of party the one thing that all Vermonters should know by now is that she is one class act.

[Editor's note: After Rainville announced her affiliation, we noted several letters suggesting that she shouldn't run lest she short-shrift her troops. One of these was penned by a former chair of the Burlington Democrats.]


VOTING ALPHABETICALLY

»» Senator Claire Ayer, Weybridge: I vote as I choose and I choose what I think is the right thing to do. Not only are your facts wrong, you spelled my name incorrectly.

[Readers please note: That's Claire with an "e"]


LEAHY'S STRATEGY

»» Bruce P. Shields, Wolcott: During US Senate debate over the Advise & Consent clause our senior senator has enunciated what William F. Buckley once termed the Humpty-Dumpty thesis (referencing Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass"), that the Constitution means whatever the speaker states it to mean. Leahy's bloc in the Senate use confirmation hearings to enforce their idiosyncratic view of the US Constitution and thus avoid the hard and uncertain amendment process.

Sen. Leahy's strategy for years has been to describe opponents as "dangerous right wing extremists" (DRWEs), a phrase for which his office computers surely have an F-Key shortcut. In 1990 he threatened to block David Souter from the US Supreme Court on the grounds that Souter was a DRWE. Leahy's journalized comments on that occasion make very interesting reading today. Sen. Leahy pigeonholes all opponents in the same mould. For instance, a major property rights conference in St. Johnsbury in 1995 scheduled scholar Ron Arnold and "sagebrush rebellion" organizer Chuck Cushman of Oregon as speakers. The day before, a "blast fax" -- unsigned but traced to Sen. Leahy's Washington office -- went out to all Vermont news outlets associating the two speakers with the skinhead militia movement. The Free Press obliged with headlines to that effect. Possibly Vermont reporters should assess how reliable Sen. Leahy's pigeonholing has proven over time.


LIKED MACARTHUR

»» Robert B. Evans, Stowe: General MacArthur was one of the finest military leaders this country has ever had...fired by Truman based on poor advice from General Marshall -- Marshall who didn't believe in the Marshall Plan and offered it to Stalin.

Truman's policy of containment was wrong. MacArthur complained publicly that he was not being permitted to win the war. Therefore Truman fired him for insubordination -- fighting the Korean War to win. It is to bad that we don't have more generals who speak up when they think the president is wrong.


THEY LIKE US

»» Representative Dave Brown, Saint Johnsbury: Have enjoyed forwarded copies. Now is the time to chip in.

»» Charlie Burnham, Stowe: Thanks for your valuable insight.

»» Senator Mark Shepard, North Bennington: I appreciate your style. Your report helps bring some balance; wish that you had wider distribution!!

»» Dick Strifert, North Danville: Please keep doing this. It is so refreshing to read honest commentary based upon facts, common sense, and measured thought.

How wonderful it is to read your newsletter; You shed light on what is really happening under the golden dome and elsewhere. The liberal elites need to be brought to task. You do it so well!


*** QUOTABLE ***

LESS IS BETTER

"Regarding Howard Dean, it is far better to shut your mouth and seem like a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." --Jean Reed, Saint Albans, Burlington Free Press, 6/8/05


THOMAS JEFFERSON, MAY HE REST IN PEACE

“Parents, students and teachers at Jefferson Elementary School in Berkley have voted to rename the school because the founding father for whom the school was named owned slaves. They voted to name the school Sequoia Elementary because a few teachers had complained that they were offended by the old name.” San Francisco Chronicle


THE REAL WORLD

"French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day. Good luck." --Tom Friedman, New York Times, 6/3/05


THE VERMONT BUMPER STICKER WORLD

"If you want peace, work for justice."

THE REAL WORLD

"Peace gives you continuation of life. Justice does not, necessarily. When we can afford it, we can have justice." --President Hamid Karsai, New Yorker, 6/5/05


I'M HERE TO HELP!

"The more one considers the matter, the clearer it becomes that redistribution is in effect far less a redistribution of free income from the richer to the poorer, as we imagined, than a redistribution of power from the individual to the State." --Bertrand de Jouvenel

From a review of Bertrand de Jouvenel's new book found here: http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXXIV/Issue_7/conservatism/breview2.shtml

*    *    *



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James Dwinell, editor-in-chief of this newsletter, is available for speaking engagements on a variety of political topics. 
Contact: dwinell@comcast.net for more information.



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