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CHARACTER 

Firm, resolute, consistent, and brave is our Commander-in-Chief. Dean attacked. Daschle attacked. Chirac, Shroeder, Putin attacked. The United Nations as well, unprecedentedly applauding the opposing position. Millions demonstrated. Every other country in the world where the question was polled opposed Bush, except Israel.

George Bush was patient. He waited for the United Nations to talk, to inspect, and to talk some more. He waited for Great Britain to find its way. He spoke straight and clear. There was not a syllable of political correctness.

"After twelve years of diplomacy, more than a dozen resolutions, I will keep my oath. We will rise to our responsibility. War has no certainty, except sacrifice. We will apply the full force and might of our military at the time of our choosing. A policy of appeasement could bring destruction of a kind never before seen on this earth. We will honor the deepest commitments or our country."

VOICE OF CAMELOT

President John F. Kennedy promised in his Inaugural Address; "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

WE ARE THEY

According to pollsters, our democratic friends think that we are a greater menace to peace and safety than Iraq.

Yet we are they. We are the most ethnically diverse country in the world. We have the highest percentage of foreign born. Los Angeles has the largest foreign populations outside the borders of over fifty other countries. We are they. But they with a twist. They all left their home countries for the opportunities in ours.

ROLL OF THE QUISLINGS

Did France go to the Security Council before parachuting into Cote d’Ivoire?

Did China go to the Security Council before invading and annexing Tibet?

Did Russia go to the Security Council before invading Chechnya?

Did Saddam go to the Security Council before invading Kuwait?

Did Al Queada go to the Security Council with its complaints before September 11th?

Why did Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan take no action in Rwanda and Burundi when he was Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations? Why did he take no action when he was responsible for the "safe area" of Srebrenica? Why would he say "Saddam is a man I can work with?"

Why would former Governor Madeline Kunin say, "The United States reeks of colonialism, we are not a democratic leader of the free world. The United Nations is our only hope for peace and security." 

DISPATCH FROM LONDON 

Antiwar protests here this week were small, only a handful of people. The antiwar crowd did not have enough people in London to fill the yard outside Westminster House of Parliament. The pendulum is swinging rapidly towards support for war — even my communist flatmate is now convinced by Blair’s case.

We are seeing a Tony Blair who no one ever would have imagined existed. he built his political career being another Bill Clinton without the interns. People were reluctant to trust him on this. In the past couple of weeks he has managed to display leadership and courage of almost Churchillian proportions.

People have realized he’s dead earnest. He has charged ahead despite some cabinet resignations and a major House of Commons rebellion, something they never would have expected from the old Blair. When he spoke in the house the other night, it truly was magnetic.

DPR readers may also be interested in this recent speech by Tony Blair, "Why I'm not going wobbly on Iraq": http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110003084 

ATTENTION ICE CREAM LOVERS 

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream finally has some competition from the right... The Star Spangled Ice Cream Company. Here's what they have to say on their web site:

"All-American consumers have their choice of 'I Hate the French Vanilla,' 'Iraqi Road,' 'Smaller Govern-Mint' and 'Nutty Environmentalist' - all at a price lower than B&J's. And to top it all off with a cherry, the Star Spangled Ice Cream Company is donating 10 percent of all profits to 'charities that support the men and women of the US Armed Forces.'

Not available in stores. Order via their website at: http://www.starspangledicecream.com

Before every election our dearly departed Howard Dean kept saying he had an Act 60 plan, but alas, he never shared it. Jim Douglas has. But will it fly?

In the short-term, Douglas would stand by his January proposal for a three-cent reduction in the statewide property tax. In the long run Douglas would adopt most features of the recent Senate proposal, a rerun of the so-called Shumlin Plan of last year regarded by many as an "Act 60 preservation plan." The block grant would increase to $7,000 and the statewide property tax would increase to about $1.35, more or less depending on local spending. Towns spending more than $9,600 per student would be on their own for additional amounts, and would be "penalized" by a "school choice" requirement that they accept some students from other districts, for which the school would receive only the $7,000 block grant.

To some this plan sounds like something thrown together over the weekend. If the goal of Act 60 reform is to reduce reliance on the hated property tax, why is the Governor's biggest cost containment feature continuing the pain of Act 60 property taxes? The plan does not address the Common Level of Appraisal or the Killington Decision. Using school choice as a penalty is an odd way to introduce market forces into our education system.

Some have hinted that the Governor could not even find one sponsor in the House. Speaker Walter Freed, R-Dorset (a gold town), said, "This is heavily dependent on the property tax. The problems of Act 60 are still inherent in the Senate plan... It doesn't eliminate the sharing pool. It turns it into a (sharing) ocean." Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Dick Marron, R-Stowe (a gold town), said "We are going full speed ahead. The train has left the station, and it isn't backing up."

The Vermont League of Cities and Towns gave the House plan an enthusiastic endorsement in last week's Legislative Report. Senate pro tem Peter Welch, D-Windsor, likes both plans. Some business leaders are less enthusiastic, saying the Marron plan sounds like a Democrat plan.

Why is Douglas not in favor of the Marron plan? "Taxes. I cannot support over $250,000,000 of new taxes that would make us less attractive for new business growth. There are substantive additional new taxes. I want to keep working with the leaders of the two chambers. But I am worried about relying upon the income tax, a too high and very volatile source of revenue. And I am worried about folks with large mobile assets who might leave our state because of our increasing the income tax. The increase in the sales tax hurts us vis-a-vis New Hampshire."

Why is Douglas doing this, Marron was asked. "Because we do not have a four-year term for governor," he replied.

For details on the House plan, visit: http://www.act60.org

MORE ON LOW COST HOUSING 

Last week we wrote about a poor fellow trying to build 30 units of senior housing in Bennington, made poorer by the State of Vermont. Jim Davis, the developer, called to say that we had one fact wrong: he is a fifth generation Vermonter from Woodford, VT, not Woodford, RI as we wrote last week.

He said that the State has driven up the price of his senior housing project by "about $12,500 a unit. The trouble was based on a hunch of one State employee. They could not even find one Vermont engineer to testify. They had to go to Ontario to find one, pay him and pay to bring him here. We even had an eyewitness, an old timer who testified that in the great flood of '27 his father had used my twelve acres as a staging area to fight the flood. The streets of Bennington were awash but my land was high and dry. But oh no, the state employee was sure that he was right." 

DON'T YOU COME BACK NO MORE 

Snow River Wood Products employed about thirty or so workers in Brattleboro last year at this time. They relocated to Wisconsin in May because of its more favorable business conditions.

Just to make sure they do not have a change of heart and return, Attorney General William Sorrell charged them with the heinous crime of mislabeling their products. It seems that Snow River had a supply of finished goods and label inventory when they moved. They failed to remove their "Made in Vermont" labels. They then sold products from Wisconsin. Snow River admitted no guilt but agreed to pay a $10,445 fine. 

I'LL BE MOVING 

Industry experts says that plants like IBM Essex will be part of an industry shake-out soon. Here's why.

"Soaring fab costs, economic malaise and unchecked capacity expansion are conspiring to bring a shakeout to the once-bulletproof foundry industry, observers and executives said last week.

"In total, the world's three largest foundry providers-Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Pte. and United Microelectronics Corp.-are expected to produce 369,000 equivalent 200-mm wafers a week in 2003, said Semico Research Corp. Meanwhile, newer foundries have brought on another 150,000 wafers per week. That astounding 40 percent increase in capacity since 2000 has depressed average selling prices (ASPs) and, arguably, lengthened the current semiconductor recession.

"'There is more capacity than the industry needs today,' said Chartered president and chief executive officer Chia Song Hwee."

From EE Times, March 17, 2003. For complete article, go to: http://www.eetimes.com/semi/news/OEG20030317S0012

HELP IS ON THE WAY 

Just when you need it. Former Representative Mike Quaid of Williston and others have founded a new lobbying group: Vermonters for Tax Reform. Their logo is says it all: "Protecting Vermonters' Wallets Since 2003."

Their website went up today and there's already some great material posted: http://www.vermontersfortaxreform.com

THE GOOD LIFE 

As pointed out in an Orange County Register cartoon, in spite of junk food, PCB's, diet soda, cigarettes, cell phones, SUV's, genetically modified foods, air pollution, and so forth, life expectancy in the United States hits an all time high. 

GOVERNMENT PRESCHOOL 

Senate bill S.166 establishing government preschools has finally been introduced. Senators Condos and Illuzzi, who took some heat last month when their impending bill was noted in the Free Press, have now added 16 co-sponsors. Too bad additional support for our existing preschool system never reached that level.

The bill proposes to allocate state funds for building public preschool facilities and to provide partial per-pupil block grants for preschoolers 3 to 5 years old. It also directs the State Board of Education to develop standards for preschool programs and to license preschool teachers. It specifies that only licensed teachers may teach preschool, and if a public school contracts with a private provider, the program must be licensed and accredited.

The bill does not specify that Vermont taxpayers would now pick up the tab for what has been a family expense. Nor does it acknowledge that hundreds of private preschool providers will be driven out of business by new state requirements. Nor does it predict that state-licensed preschool teachers working in public schools would soon swell the ranks of the Vermont-NEA and join in collective bargaining for higher salaries. And of course, it goes without saying that no money would be available for families who choose to raise and educate their preschoolers at home.

http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2004/bills/intro/S-166.HTM

NO POLITICS IN EDUCATION? 

In the current edition of Vermont NEA-Today, under the byline "Vermont-NEA Executive Director and Chief Lobbyist," Joel Cook offers a mid-session legislative report. Therein one finds reference to a variety of legislation, including, in his words, "the usual litany of ideologically driven stuff masquerading as 'cost containment.'" In this category Cook specifically includes "public school choice, statewide teacher contract, RIF by seniority, making your negotiations with school boards open to the public, merit pay, eliminate tenure, voter approval of your contracts, making teacher retirement a defined contribution, rather than a defined benefit, program, and more."

Also this week, a Free Press article on a bill that would have the commissioner of education appointed by the governor included this remarkable quote:

"I still need to be convinced it is the right thing to do. We have a system in place that really takes the politics out of education, and it is working." -- Senate Education Chair Jim Condos, D-Chittenden.

Monday Free Press story here (expires after one week): http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/bfpnews/local/monday/2000h.htm

Vermont NEA-Today is not available to the public. You have to ask a teacher for a copy. 

NEED TO KNOW 

A truly heinous crime occurred in Barre in January: A local teenage woman was brutally murdered. The alleged culprit was arrested last week. The murder was committed with a knife, the women was raped and mutilated. Enough already.

Not for the Burlington Free Press. Free Press writer Emily Stone proceeded to describe the gory details and more. The victim was a well known teenager, this case was followed intently by young and old. Thank goodness the local media, the Herald of Randolph and the Times Argus, were more discreet. 

CLARIFICATION 

»» Andy Montroll, Burlington: I enjoy reading your take on Vermont and Burlington politics. I have a clarification to the statement in your report that I announced a write-in campaign for mayor in Burlington. Actually, I did not announce or run a write-in campaign. After I lost the democratic nomination for mayor, a number of people told me they intended to write me in. Some asked if that would be ok, and I said yes. One person asked if it would be ok if she made and put out some signs on my behalf on election day. Again, I said that it would be fine if she wanted to do that. While a truly appreciate the support from all of these folks, that was (as far as I know) the extent of the write-in campaign. 

QUITTING NOT AN OPTION 

»» Carol Nedde, South Hero: In the 2-28-03 issue of your report, as you requested subscription payments, you stated that if you didn't receive necessary funds, you would assume that your report was only for a season, by implication, that you had fulfilled your mission and it was time to move on. I beg to differ. Rush Limbaugh says that he is doing what he was born to do. If that is true, than you also are now doing what you were born to do. In order to continue your mission, you have to find a way to keep the funds rolling in. I wish I was the person to do it for you, but I am not. What you do is truly worth money.

The Burlington Free Press called last night and offered me a discounted subscription. My response was that I wouldn't take it if you gave it to me for free. But your report, I can't live without. My suggestion is that you need someone to manage the financial end of your business, because there is no doubt in my mind that what you do is worth a lot more than what you seem to be getting. Quitting is not an option. If you stop, I believe you have missed your calling. I will send my check today. 

WORSE THAN WE SAID? 

»» Cindy Myrick, Bridport: Your snippet BOOK HIM DANNO was misleading. Yes, both newspapers, the Addison Eagle and the Addison Independent, covered the controversial Bread and Puppet Theatre event at Middlebury Union High School, but it was a parent who went to the school later, March 5, to check out why the press was prohibited from the grounds during the time students were going to hold another event, probably war protest rally. As a parent he wanted to know that his two students were safe and were doing the right thing, attending class.

After being assured, when leaving, he observed something that necessitated questions which went unanswered and instead he was told to leave, he was trespassing and if he didn't leave, the principal would have him arrested. Well, since there was a uniformed officer right there, on duty to rove amongst the kids all day, every day, he was put up against the wall and cuffed, although not resisting in any manner, taken to a holding cell, fingerprinted, mug shot taken and cited into Court April 21st.

Particularly disturbing is that the students who were in the area never saw it as newsworthy enough to bring home and mention to parents! Only the Addison Eagle covered it. The Burlington Free Press refused my questioning letter to the editor, but they gave it to their Metro division to check into. Are these students sufficiently conditioned to accept this as a routine occurrence? 

TIME MIGHT TIP THE BALANCE 

»» Herbert G. Ogden, Rutland: You're right that our Governor should have a four-year term. While we're amending the Constitution, let's differentiate the Senate from the House in more ways than just size of district. To reduce the impact of sudden political swings and give at least one house of the General Assembly more time to legislate calmly and to develop the experience necessary to ride herd on executive agencies, let's give the Vermont Senate six-year terms, staggered so a third of the Senate comes up for election every two years. 

BURLINGTON ELECTION REACTION 

»» Laura Brueckner, Waterbury Center: Clavelle couldn't garner but 64% with virtually no challenge?! Hooray, hooray! My faith in Vermonters has been renewed. Clavelle develops OUR (Vermonter's) waterfront and not one politician, not one environmental group or media sees this as an affront to Vermonters! If the waterfront is for sale - put it up for sale and "pay back" Vermonters. Clavelle - the pass feel good legislation but ignore it (living wage), give Burlingtonians a grocery store they didn't want and campaigned against, and ever escalating real estate taxes - and he will run for governor? 

LET THEM EAT CAKE 

»» Jen Hersey, Barton: I dare say that your life might have turned out differently had you grossed $206 a week. The minimum wage does affect a lot of people, just not those in your elitist circles. 

THEY LIKE US 

»» Jack McMullen, Burlington: Thank you. Your Report is an informative and entertaining addition to the Vermont political landscape. It keeps getting better with each month that passes.

»» Rich & Dinah Bryan, Montpelier: As usual, GREAT REPORT, please keep them coming!!

»» Lorretta Martin, Brattleboro: Keep up the good work!

»» Marc Laurencelle, Brownington: Great Job!

»» Richard Bryan, Montpelier: Keep up the great newsletter. Really great information!

»» Hugh Campbell, Waitsfield: Good news about Vermont.

»» Ken Smith: Thanks - love your work! 

I'M FOR PEACE, WHAT ARE YOU FOR?
by Libby Sternberg 

Anti-war activists distill the complexities of how to deal with terror and tyrants into a simple message: Peace. But is the absence of war really peace? Isn't that what we thought before September 11, 2001? Little did we know then that the choice wasn't between war and peace. It was between war now or war later.

Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. He has used them in the past. There are indications he is connecting with terrorists who have already rained destruction on our country. Therefore, we must act or we face more destruction, perhaps more horrific than what took place on September 11.

Or, as President Bush put it in his address to the nation Wednesday night: "We will meet that threat now with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities."

The anti-war crowd's case is cynical and sometimes incoherent. Some say North Korea is a greater threat and we should focus on that problem instead. The "two wars or none at all" argument implies that unless we fight the North Koreans, we shouldn't fight Iraq.

The anti-war crowd also calls out for more "diplomacy" and says the "inspections were working" so we should continue them. If the inspections were working, however, it is because a quarter million American and British men and women were amassed in harm's way along the Iraqi border. Even Chief Inspector Hans Blix admits that it was the presence of the troops that put the pressure on the Iraqis. And of course, Iraq has no Scuds.

The other cynical message the anti-war crowd floats out there is the "blood for oil" argument. It goes something like this: Bush and Cheney have connections to the oil industry. Iraq has lots of oil. Therefore... This argument paints a picture of leaders so craven for wealth that they would risk their own political futures, as well as the lives of military forces and Iraqi citizens, to get it. It is also an incoherent argument because if oil were the goal, lifting the sanctions would be a far easier way to get at it.

Which is more important with the anti-war crowd: loathing of Bush or a desire for peace. For all those out there who see the Iraq situation through the filter of their dislike for Bush, let me offer the following quotes:

»»  "We stand united...determined to send as clear a message with as clear a resolve as we can articulate: (Saddam's) willingness to...abrogate UN resolutions is simply unacceptable." --Sen. Tom Daschle in September 1996 after Hussein had attacked the Kurds and President Clinton was considering action.

»»  "...I despise a Left that thinks of Osama bin Laden as a slightly misguided anti-imperialist...Jacques Chirac - who built Saddam Hussein a nuclear reactor, knowing what he wanted it for - carry more weight than those of persecuted Iraqi democrats. In this moral universe, the figure of Jimmy Carter - who incited Saddam to attack Iran in 1980 without any UN consultation that I can remember - is considered axiomatically more statesmanlike than Bush." --Liberal columnist and socialist Christopher Hitchens, Washington Post.

»»  "I think there is a lot of (anti-Americanism) around, and I think it is … dangerous...There is a tendency for the world to say to America, 'the big problems of the world are yours, you go and sort them out,' and then to worry when America wants to sort them out. ... Can you afford to allow Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime, knowing what we know of them, knowing how many hundreds of thousands of people they have killed, can you allow them to carry on developing biological, chemical, potentially nuclear capability?" --Prime Minister Tony Blair.

And finally, here's another quote, from another time, unrelated to Iraq or Bush or Blair, but relevant nonetheless:

»»  "Could France and England idly contemplate what was happening...for long? Would not the humanitarian left in both countries be appalled by the barbaric tyranny that was taking place on their doorsteps - and would not the nationalist right be alarmed by the … open rearmament that had been pursued almost from the very first day of the new regime? ...Surely these two countries would soon lose patience ...and use their still infinitely superior military might to stop the mischief in a week?" --from "Defying Hitler," written by German-born Sebastian Haffner, who fled the Nazis before the outbreak of hostilities.

As we all know, the "humanitarian left" and the "nationalist right" did not "stop the mischief" in Germany in a week. They waited for diplomacy to work. They waited because they thought the choice was between war and peace, when the choice was really between war now or war later. 

LEAHY'S DRIVING THEM TO THE GOP 

"This is the biggest anti-Hispanic crusade this city has ever seen." -- Rep. Henry Bonilla, Texas Republican, on the Democrats continued filibuster of Miguel Estrada's judicial nomination 

AS THE WORLD TURNS 

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war." --Anonymous Web Chatter 

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