"You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." --John Quincy Adams 

Alpaca Breeders of Vermont Open Barn Day! July 5, 2003, 9 am to 4 pm. All are welcome to come visit the Alpacas. Alpaca Products Available too. For directions to the Camel's Hump Alpaca Farm in Huntington, or links for directions to the other 18 other Alpaca Farms in Vermont, visit their website: http://www.camelshumpalpacafarm.com/directions.html

JIM THROWS HIS HAT IN THE RING, AGAIN

Vermont's top vote getter of all time is taking another lap around the track. Governor Jim Douglas told DPR, "I think that it is likely that I will run again. We just cannot accomplish our agenda in two years."

Immediately his ever present press secretary Jason Gibbs chided him, "But you have just announced." Reports suggest that fundraising is going along at a good clip. Filings are due this month and soon we will all know.

Douglas has been making recruiting calls as well reports GOP Chair Jim Barnett. "The house is better organized than the senate. Surprisingly, our fundraising is doing very well also." 

LONG AGO AND FAR AWAY

A year and a half ago the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, appeared on a television screen near you. Caught red handed in a hole in the ground with the Taliban, a young, slim, sick, wounded, Muslim zealot crawled out of that hole and surrendered. Then his trouble began.

It is important to remember on this Independence Day the values we hold dear. Many of those would be tarnished in the following months in the handling of Lindh. 

MY HERO, PATRICK LEAHY

One of the few to raise his/her voice in protest of the government’s far reaching reactive legislation following September 11th to usurp and narrow our rights for the common defense has been Senator Leahy. Perhaps it was only grandstanding, clearly it was a brief voice in the wilderness. Perhaps he should be continuing to raise his voice. 

AT THE HOSPITAL

According to a report in the March 10, 2003 issue of the New Yorker, Lindh was taken from his hole to the hospital with "a bullet in his thigh, various shrapnel wounds, and intestinal problems from drinking contaminated water...he was lying on the floor ‘delirious.’" CNN was on his tail.

"Who are you?" asked Lindh. When he heard CNN, he said, "You do not have my permission to film me." "Okay, our concern is your welfare," answered CNN who kept the camera rolling. Before long CNN portrayed Lindh as a ‘committed traitor.’ Only President Bush spoke compassionately, "Poor fellow." 

I NEED PERRY MASON

A medic said that Lindh asked for counsel "almost immediately." Later Lindh asked, "When will I able to speak to a lawyer?" The Red Cross tried to communicate to Lindh that his father had hired an attorney but American officials blocked them.

He was transferred to a "shipping container often kept blindfolded, naked, bound to a stretcher with duct tape...he was fed a thousand calories a day, left cold, sleep deprived, in a pitch black container."

In December, a FBI agent read the Miranda warning to Lindh followed by "Of course, there are no lawyers here." Ha, ha! 

PERRY MASON TO THE RESCUE

Ms. Jesselyn Radack was following the handling of Lindh for the Justice Department’s Professional Advisory Office. She wrote that Lindh’s father had hired an attorney and it would be improper for the FBI to approach Lindh. She was ignored. She advised that Lindh’s testimony might not be useable.

In January Attorney General Ashcroft concluded that the FBI’s interrogation was legal as Lindh "is entitled to choose his own lawyer and to our knowledge has not chosen a lawyer at this time." 

OR NOT

Radack went to check her files. "Someone deliberately purged the emails for the files in violation of the rules of federal procedure." She then quit her government job and went to work for a private law firm. "The Justice Department officials informed the managing partners of her new firm that she was the target of a ‘criminal investigation.’" She was placed on administrative leave.

In July, the government’s case falling apart, it persuaded Lindh’s attorney’s to settle for a single guilty charge of violating a Clinton Executive Order that none of us probably knew was law of "forbidding Americans from contributing services to the Taliban." The court gave him twenty years. 

WHERE ARE THOU MEDIA?

Often the New Yorker breaks news; news picked up by others. In this case, silence fell on the story. Sure, we are all willing for more snooping, more background checks, and more airport security. But we give up our rights in recognition that our government has our best interests in mind. They did not in the Lindh case. This is scary. 

CLOSER TO HOME

A terrible tragedy occurred on Father’s Day. Sergeant Michael Johnson of the Vermont State Police was killed. The report read, "Police stopped Daley for speeding. During the stop Daley fled as police pursued him. Johnson set up spikes. Daley’s vehicle served into the median and through the crossover, striking Johnson before coming to a rest in the northbound lane."

Soon the story was embellished. "As Daley approached the spike strips, he (not Daley’s vehicle) swerved into the median and through the crossover striking Johnson...Daley swerved in to the median in a desperate fatal measure to avoid arrest...Daley tried to drive around the spikes...

"He killed Sergeant Johnson as surely as if he fired a bullet from a gun. I hope that he pays the highest penalty the state and federal government can impose..."

The Governor speaks, "I certainly have no mercy for Mr. Daley and I hope that he will be dealt with harshly. Vermont is one of a dozen states without the death penalty. This is the kind of case that renews the discussion. I am not opposed to the death penalty. It is fair to discuss it in light of the incident. It is quite clear that he killed a state police officer." 

WAS THERE A MEDIA FEEDING FRENZY?

The initial police statement was not enough. The character of the accident changed. Daley’s intent was clear to the media and to government officials. Daley was demonized. A friend said that he cried when he learned that Johnson had died of his injuries. Another said, "He was a very nice person." Where can Daley now receive a fair trail? The governor, the head of the state police and the media, has decided him guilty. It was not a dreadful accident but murder. 

WHO ELSE COULD BE AT FAULT?

Dan Billin researched a long piece for the Valley News. He cites the factors to be considered before a high speed chase begins; the nature of the offense and the alternatives to chasing are two of them. The offense was speeding. Daley was a local boy. The police knew where he lived.

The written policy calls for spikes "to be deployed between two cruisers in a serpentine roadblock intended to channel the fleeing vehicle over the spikes as it weaves between the cruisers." No other method of using spikes is described.

The method Johnson employed, though often used, is not by the book. DPR interviewed a former police officer. He described what Johnson might have done. "I quit in part because much of what I was asked to do was just too dangerous. Take spikes for example. I was supposed to park my cruiser, get the spikes out of the trunk, and go to the side of the interstate. I was to wait there for the ‘tourist traffic’ to clear.

"Then with a car bearing down on me at over 100 mph chased by other officers, I was to run across the highway to the median with the spike strips and wait for the car to pass over the spikes. Then I was to quickly drag the spikes out of the way so that they would not harm the troopers’ cars.

"This is nuts. At 100 mph with the site curve being only three tenths of a mile from where Johnson was huddled in the median, he had no chance to escape the sliding Daley car."

Why not invent a spring-loaded or motor operated system similar to a metal measuring tape to send out the spike strip from the comparative safety of the cruiser? 

THE CRASH SITE

DPR visited the site. There is little space from where Daley appeared around the corner and probably saw the spikes and when he lost control of the car. Skid marks were continuous for what appeared to be over 300 feet. Be definition, once your car breaks the traction friction of normal driving and goes into a skid, you have no control. To write that he served or tried to drive around did not relate to the evidence at the scene that we saw. Daley was not in control of his car. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA

Yes, happy birthday. A democracy is not just about elections. It is about the rule of law, the institutions which oversee those laws. It is about the people who play by the rules. It is about a free media and freedom of speech. It is about rights and responsibilities.

Sergeant Johnson got a hero’s send off as he should by friends, family, the governor and thousands who never knew him, by people from around the continent. Yet we are also know by how we treat the least among us. We could have done better. 

REPEAT IF NECESSARY

There is an affinity in Vermont for a cooperative/socialist view. Remember just a few years ago how some of our more powerful legislators were trying to bankrupt the utilities but refusing to allow them to pass on the cost of Hydro Quebec? They said those costs were "imprudent." They believe that the government can do better. We need to repeat that, however warm and fuzzy it feels, socialism just does not work.

After years of losing money, the State of New Hampshire was considering closing Sunapee Ski Area. After much discussion they chose to lease it to the Okemo folks. Five years later, the state is not just receiving the $160,000 in rent, but also three percent of the operating gross or $140,000.

Richard McLeod, New Hampshire Parks and Recreation Director, told the Valley News, "This was the best decision that has been made in regard to resource management in the history of the state park system." 

HOW NOT TO DO ENERGY DEREGULATION

"Thanks to Governor Gray Davis, California is now buying energy at mini-bar prices." --Dennis Miller, Comedian 

VERMONT IS THIRD IN GROWTH OF STATE SPENDING

According to a story in MacPaper, the Census Bureau says that Vermont's state spending as compared to population growth plus inflation between 1997 and 2002 grew at a remarkable 286 percent. Howard Dean often took pride in how Vermont never spent more than population and per capita income growth. Alas, not true. He will do to America what he did to Vermont. Where did he ever think up that Take Back America slogan?

Vermont spent almost three times the growth in population plus inflation. Three states actually spent less, Hawaii, Nevada, and Louisiana. Go to: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-06-23-state-budgets-usat_x.htm

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Years ago and not so far away, a Vermont senator lost his right to practice by short cutting the legal process to talk directly to the opposing party. The attorney for the opposition protested that the senator did not go through him/her.

Mark Sinclair, attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, plaintiff, has written an op-ed suggesting that he negotiate directly with the defendant, Governor Jim Douglas and the State of Vermont, going around the attorney for the state, William Sorrell. Will he in his enthusiasm lose his license also? 

DRIVE THAT NAIL IN FURTHER

Just to make sure IBM understands that it is not welcome in Vermont, the Conservation Law Foundation is challenging its discharge permit. Talking about the closing the barn door after the horse is gone, CLF sure shines.

IBM did use lots of bad chemicals in its initial processes. The site and ground water on site are reported to be rather dangerous, contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). But they have not recently even approached seventy-five percent of their 8,000,000 per day discharge permit capacity nor have they used TCE in decades. Their peak was in the first quarter of 2000 at 4,500,000 gallons per day. Currently they are discharging 3,500,000 a day. 

IT IS YOUR MONEY

In 1940 the literacy figure for all states stood at 96 percent for whites. 80 percent for blacks. In 2000, the National Adult Literacy Survey and the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that the literacy rates for whites is 83 percent and for blacks it is 60 percent.

Here in Vermont the media report that a record number of school budgets have gone down to defeat, some fifty-one. That is an understatement as the number represent towns or school districts. In that many budgets were defeated two or three times, the actual number of defeated budgets must be approaching 70.

The much maligned No Child Left Behind is setting standards to address the amazing falling literacy rate in spite of trillions of dollars thrown at the problem. The answer clearly is not more money. 

GET A JOB

With the unemployment nationally at a ten year high of 6.4 percent, it might be time for you to check out a new opportunity on one of Vermont's boards or commissions.

For the first time with our new online high tech government lifting us maybe from last in the country in that category to respectability, you can look up the commissions and boards and find your match. Go to: http://www.gov.state.vt.us/apply.php3

DAMN THE COST, FULL SPEED AHEAD

A headline for an AP story blared, "CRITICISM OF APPOINTMENT OF UTILITY EXEC TO DAM." The executive is Richard Mallary who could also be referred to as congressman, representative, speaker, senator, farmer, intellectual, secretary, chairman, fair minded, etc. The committee is to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing an idea promoted by Senator Vince Illuzzi, R-Essex, Orleans, Franklin, Lamoille, for the state to buy the power dams offered by Pacific Gas and Electric, the company made famous by Erin Brockovich and Julia Roberts.

One problem pointed out by the Governor, "The deal is not just for a few dams on the Connecticut River. There are also dams on the Deerfield River and three coal fired electric generating plants, two in Massachusetts and one in Rhode Island. I still like private ownership." 

IS THAT ALL?

The Times Argus headline read "Sparklers, Powerball biggest among new laws on books."

Gee, what about the jobs bill, or your coming sales tax increase, DETER, Circ highway, suspending the Champlain Flyer, government organization, renewable energy bill, Act 60 changes, etc. Nope, sparklers and Powerball are the biggest. 

READING BETWEEN THE LINES

»» Robert Maynard, Williston: The Saturday [6/21] edition of the Free Press had a story in its Business Section concerning the loss of 39 jobs at the Essex plant of Huber+Suhner. Huber+Shuman is a manufacturer of cables and connectors for telecommunications. The main reason given for the job losses is the continued downturn in the telecommunications market. The company has also sold Champlain Cable to an investment group with a presence in Wyoming.

Consider that the Switzerland based Huber+Suhner was using Essex as its North American headquarters and main manufacturing site. Why would they sell Champlain Cable to an investment group with a presence in Wyoming? Could it be because, for the sixth straight year, Wyoming is the most "wealth-friendly" state (according to Bloomberg Wealth Manager magazine)? How did Vermont do in this ranking? According to the magazine, "The most 'wealth-hostile' states are Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, New York and Maine." Somehow, I do not think that this is a mere coincidence. Perhaps Huber+Suhner have read the tea leaves and are looking elsewhere to base the heart of their North American operation.

I am sure that the telecommunications market will eventually rebound. But when it does, who will be in a position to take advantage? Will it be Vermont, with a ranking among the most "wealth-hostile" states (even before the so-called Act 60 "reform" raised both the sales tax and telecommunication tax), or will it be states like New Hampshire and Wyoming? 

IN NEED OF NEW BLOOD

»» Charles Russell, Randolph Center: Thank you for the excellent and informative DPR. The process by which our Governor receives recommendations to fill a vacant judgeship is the same process that a school board receives candidates for vacant teaching positions - the applicants are screened by a committee - made up mostly of current staff, then 3 "top" candidates are forwarded to the board from which they choose the new replacement ...it is a professional form of inbreeding - producing a rubber-stamped liberals to present their left-wing curriculum to our innocent, hungry children. 

FIX THE FENCE FIRST

»» Sherb Lang, Lyndonville: Concerning the Act 60 relief work carried out this past session. Only because of the fact that the Douglas Administration was elected, did we see any action or movement on Act 60. Even still, the Democrats tried to delay any progress, stating that there was not enough time to deal with such an important issue. Strange how time slips away. The Democrats have been in control for the past 12 years and were aware that there was a problem, but refused to deal with it. Same thing with Act 250, but that is another debacle the Democrats failed with. Finally, we did see some movement on Act 60. But I have to laugh at the efforts. Both the House and the Senate coughed up ideas on how best to resolve the problem. Increase taxes here; shift taxes there. Create a new tax here, drop a tax there. Sounded like a caller at a square dance.

Interestingly enough, no one was willing to look at the root of the problem. While we spent the session looking for new and creative ways to fund school costs, no one spent any time trying to find out what is causing the high cost of education. Previous reports stated that we Vermonters are the second leading high spender per pupil and the one of the lowest receivers of value on the dollar spent on education. Being brought up on a farm, my Dad taught me to fix the fence before going after the cows. In relation to ACT 60, we spent the entire session "chasing the cows" and not trying to "fix the fence." I urge the Legislative bodies to go back to basics and spend the entire session if necessary to find out why we spend so much money and get such poor results on education. Stop giving the education department money and they will quickly decide which programs they don't need.

No successful business would last long if the end result was a poor product. Why should we continue to accept poor results for our dollars spent on a failing education program? 

ONE MAN'S ECONOMIC INCENTIVE...

»» Laura Brueckner, Waterbury Center: Thank you for the most comprehensive report I've seen on the demise of the wood products industry in Vermont. However, you left out the part of how those closing their doors have been paying more than their share of taxes so that governors Dean and Douglas could give that money to "new" wood products businesses. Act 71 forces tax payers to "contribute" to businesses that may be in competition with their own business. This figures into the closure of wood products businesses owned in some cases by generations of Vermonters. 

»» Bruce Shields, Wolcott: Thanks for your words on the Timber Industry. The economic impact goes way beyond $24,000,000. That number, if I recall accurately, is only the direct payroll of timber harvesters. You have stumpage payments to landowners, taxes, machinery and equipment purchase and maintenance, transportation (each logger on average keeps one trucker working), and the secondary jobs created by the timber product. The closing at Hancock will affect Newport, where the veneer consumed at Hancock is manufactured. About 8 years ago, the estimated total effect of timber in Vermont was close to 10% of Gross State Product exclusive of government transfer payments. 

HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

»» Jeffrey Pascoe, South Burlington: Far be it from me to give an economics lecture to a graduate of Moscow State University, but I'd like to make a couple of observations about the American economy that might interest Alexey Voinov.

I remember being appalled in the 1980's when the deficit climbed into the stratosphere. I thought, as Dr. Vionov apparently does now, that our children would be paying that debt. I was wrong. The economy turned around and "poof" --the deficit evaporated!

It will be easy for this to happen again and the reason is simple: "[T]he economy is much larger than it was the last time we worried about deficits back 10 years ago; and $400 billion is only 4 percent of the full Gross Domestic Product, which is really not all that much when you think about it. And that is the percentage that really matters. And so deficits, even these large deficits, don't matter as much economically as that number, $400 billion, implies." --Jeffrey Birnbaum, Washington Week, 6/20/03 http://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/transcripts/transcript030620.html

So despite the gloom and doom that opponents of the Bush administration are trying to foster, just a modest up-tick in the economy will erase the deficit. And just such an up-tick is forthcoming: As Donald Regan wrote before he passed away a few weeks ago, "Thanks to President Reagan, we know a lot more today, although it seems that many in Congress didn't get the memo. We know that tax cuts spur economic growth... The Bush tax program is ideally suited to address this new economy." http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110003609

»» Craig Averill, Goshen: Alexey Voinov could not understand how lowering Taxes could help reduce the increasing deficit. He seemed confused with the Math. Another writer thought Douglas was full of spin and had not done his job for several reasons.

President Bush and Jim Douglas are trying to accomplish jobs that have been stifled, from eight years (or more) of ignorance and deployments and expending all that there was. It is hard for someone to go to a dump and rearrange the garbage and try to make it presentable, at least it is hard to get this accomplished in the first couple of years when you are trying to sort out people who may or may not be on the same sheet of music.

Reducing Taxes leaves more of MY money in MY pocket for me to be able to go and buy the lumber for the project, take the family out to a local restaurant or spend MY money in a million other ways, locally. Example: Middlebury lost Ames, all of the customers who were coming to Middlebury from the local areas to spend on goods also were impulsed to buy at Rosie's or McDonalds. Now that Ames is gone, Rosie's and McDonalds, as well as many others feel the crunch. For some this may sound confusing, but say Ames is still there and now MORE people have MORE money to spend, don't you think MORE people would stop at McDonalds and Rosie's? The result is instead of lay-offs there will be more hires to handle the MORE people and therefore, more money spent in the communities. From little things to BIG things. Purchases put people to work, allow businesses to expand, more work, allow growth and allow money to be spent on needs and desires and not just GOVT Contracts. Makes sense to me. I didn't make the dumb choices in GOVT that wastes my money, so why should I be forced to pay?

This may seem a bit off the subject but bear with me. My Social Security Card CLEARLY says ACCOUNT NUMBER on the top of it. Yet any card that has been issued in the last 25 years has had the words ACCOUNT NUMBER removed. Govt spends and then looks for ways to pay for the bills. One was to milk it out of the Social Security Fund and then convince the people it was not their Personal Account but rather more of an Insurance Account and all of the money belonged to the Govt and not you. Years ago it took only TWO years to be eligible to collect Social Security. I knew a retired Senator who worked Part-time for two years so he could collect Social Security as well as his other pensions, now it is 10 years. Let's not forget that they retire, far earlier than we do and they have spent our money and now tell us we need to pay more in or work longer. Yes! I want more of MY money back every chance I can get. If you control the amount of Input to Government, they will be forced to work with what they have and control their spending. Best way I know how to do it is reduce taxes and make them accountable.

I also feel that the Minimum Wage Bill is a killer and doesn't do a thing. Instead of $.75 per hour and 10 cent sodas and $10,000 homes, you now pay $100,000 plus for a home, a dollar for a soda and $34,000 for the car that use to sell for $3,400. You have 5% of the work force that earns minimum wage and shouldn't they be getting the career in order, prior to building the nest and hatching eggs? What about the retired person who has a fixed income and who has saved their Retirement based on much lower wages? All you do is devalue their savings, decrease their buying power and then wonder why they need to be on Programs to survive. Does it really take a Rocket Scientist to figure this out? 

»» Rob Towle, Rutland City: The way taxes work is that the smaller the margin or percentage of something it is, the better chance you have of getting more tax dollars. Taxes are static and fluid and not finite. If a business can afford to pay 5% and there are 10 business that can pay 5% say of $100 then you end up with $50 dollars. If you keep raising the rate eventually you could get that same $50 but the tax rate would have to be 50%. So you can decide, more businesses or tax payers at a lower rate, or fewer taxpayers at a higher rate.

And by the way, in the first scenario, those 10 businesses might employ 10 times the number of people in the second scenario and that creates 10 times the tax dollars from payroll, etc. as well as possible consumption taxes. It is a very simple premise... If people feel they can't afford something, they will not buy it or pay for it. The will find a way to go without it or to circumvent paying for it. Don't confuse this with tax cheaters. Honest people commonly look for ways to reduce their taxes. And most people feel that if extra productivity is just going to end up in a tax coffer somewhere, they will not bother being extra productive.

And don't start telling me that you feel you don't pay enough taxes because that is a load of bull sausage. Any person that is under-taxed should just send their checkbook to Washington and then show up for Drug-testing. 
 

ALEXEY RESPONDS

»» Alexey Voinov, Colchester: I have always envied people who live on faith. But we were talking about math. Math is based on logic and facts. Once there was a tax cut that was followed by economic growth. Was the tax cut designed in a similar way? - Yes, the so-called supply-side theory, the wealthy got all the gravy. - Was the economy at that time the same? - No. There was no growing Euro and no falling Dollar. The interest rates were high. - Was the World the same? - No. There was no infinite war on terrorism. - Were the deficit projections the same? - No. There was no baby-boomer generation about to retire at that time.

Here are some quotes from an article by Bernard Sherman: http://homepages.kdsi.net/~sherman/rushmore.html

The major question is whether the economic growth of the 1982 and later was really CAUSED by or simply CORRELATED with the tax cut. "Reagan didn't create a 'supply-side boom'; he sat in the Oval Office during a 'business-cycle boom.' When he took office, the economy's bad, bad cold was on its fifth day."

I would not credit Clinton for the economic boom of the late 90s. He just happened to be there at that time.

"Since World War II, whenever oil prices have risen by 60% or more, a recession has followed. So imagine the blow in 1973-74 when oil prices shot up fully 400% because of the Arab oil embargo. Then consider the second shock in 1978-81 when oil prices rose another 125%, this time because of events in Iran and Iraq. Not much stresses our economy like a spike in oil prices, since we depend on the stuff for so much of our technology. And not much can help like oil prices coming back to earth, as they did in Reagan's presidency - but not because of his tax cuts."

We have secured the oil price for a while. It is just about time to cut taxes for the wealthy and claim another triumph of economic rebound.

"If you still believe in Reaganomics, remember what supply-siders predicted in 1993, when Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy by 40%. Newt Gingrich told us the tax increase was sure to bring on a severe recession. The Wall Street Journal told us the budget deficit would go through the ceiling. Forbes told us to take our money out of the stock market, because it was headed for a deadly crash. The predictions could not have been more wrong. If supply-side economics were true, all these disasters are exactly what should have happened."

I agree - faith is great, but I would rather rely on facts especially when it concerns my wallet. I think a precautionary approach is safer. This world is non-linear and it's risky to assume that the same scenarios repeat again and again unless we have real evidence of that. 

READER QUIZ

»» John McClaughry, Kirby: Who said this...?

"I have never done anything before, or ever will again, as rewarding as this endeavor. I mean I never in the world thought I'd be an internationally recognized individual."

a) The previously little known Mohammad Atta, in a tape recording found after he crashed an airplane into the World Trade Center in 2001.

b) The previously little known Monica Lewinsky, commenting on her role in the Clinton White House decision making process in 1997.

c) The previously little known James Jeffords, revisiting his decision to abandon the Republican Party in 2001. 

ON CLOSER EXAMINATION

»» David D. Demar, Georgia: [Regarding "No Catholics Need Apply" DPR 6/20] I believe that Dean Douglas W. Kmiec is slightly mistaken regarding the president’s judicial nominees Miguel Estrada, Patricia Owen, Carolyn Kuhl, and most recently, Bill Pryor. The unspoken "common factor" never mentioned isn't that these people are all "Catholics", but that they are "Pro-Life". We all know this, yet don't have the courage say it. There are plenty of pro-abortion, pseudo-Catholics in politics: Patrick Leahy, Edward Kennedy, Tom Daschel to name a few on the national stage, not mentioning the plethora of pro-abortion pseudo-Catholic rugrats here at home. A more appropriate title for Dean Kmiec’s article would have been NO "REAL" CATHOLICS NEED APPLY, because it goes deeper than just "religious exclusion"; it’s the exclusion of anyone who is Pro-Life, regardless of religious denomination, from serving on the bench. That’s bigotry, in large part orchestrated by Patrick Leahy (a pseudo-Catholic himself) and the "demoncratic" party (misspelling deliberate). 

VERMONT PURE - NOT SO PURE

»» Annette Smith, Danby: The water business is not green, but that's a whole other subject. More to the point, Vermont Pure is not just extracting and bottling massive quantities of water, but using noisy and polluting diesel trucks to haul from the spring, across miles of peaceful rural countryside and through a historic village to the bottling plant.

Nor has the permit process been as simple --or as "pure"-- as you suggest. Vermont Pure received a permit from Randolph's Development Review Board last year. But two DRB members who participated in the hearings own stock in Vermont Pure, a clear conflict of interest and violation of state law as well as the DRB's own procedures. That issue is pending before Environmental Court.

Vermont Pure may have talked to the neighbors, but this out-of-state corporation (registered in Delaware, with a majority of highly-paid executives living in Connecticut) did not listen. The neighbors said more trucks driving past their homes would be an unacceptable intrusion, but that they were willing to accept more trucks for a number of years if the company would commit to building a pipeline within that time. Vermont Pure refuses to commit to constructing a pipeline, but is moving ahead with more trucks anyhow.

Vermont Pure wants to add the trucks at night, when people are sleeping, not "at times when fewer folks were at home," as you reported. I assume you wouldn't mind 50 trucks passing your house at night on your dirt road, waking you up with each rumble?

If Vermont Pure receives its permits, residents will not be able to open their windows day or night because of the dust, diesel exhaust and noise. Maybe you can tell the neighbors how to explain to their children why they live in lovely rural Vermont on a dirt road or hilltop village but must always keep windows closed to lock out the noise, dust and fumes caused by trucks. Tell them how to explain that to prospective buyers when they can't stand it anymore and try to sell their homes.

You note that neighbors hired a lawyer even though the hearings are before a local zoning board composed of lay people. The town of Randolph opted to conduct all zoning hearings "on the record," under recent "streamlining" legislation which Vermont's business lobbyists have clamored for. "On the record" means that the only hearing happens at the local level, and in an appeal, the Environmental Court reviews the record that was made at the DRB. That means that all the evidence has to be presented to the DRB, and it has to be done in accordance with the formal procedures of a court.

While business claimed "on the record" would speed up permits by avoiding de novo appeals to court, requiring what they considered redundant hearings and testimony, environmentalists warned "on the record" would make the proceedings longer and more legalistic and they were right. You seem to be criticizing the neighbors for hiring qualified legal counsel and playing by the rules, making it seem as though they are the ones who are creating this legalistic atmosphere.

Editor's Note: The Vermont Pure piece was juxtaposed to the New Hampshire Sunapee piece to show the difference in participation opportunities in the two states. In the Vermont Pure case, both sides agree that the pipeline is the answer. Vermont Pure could dispense with trucks, drivers, fuel, transportation taxes, loading and unloading. The neighbors would live in peace. However, there are approximately 18 landowners and roads between the springs and the bottling plant.

Perhaps all sides might work to obtain rights of way instead of jostling.

REMEMBERING GARY BECHTEL

»» Allen C. Palmer, Pownal: On Sunday, June 15th, a good friend, neighbor, and staunch Republican, Gary Bechtel of South Stream Road, in Pownal, was killed in an accident at his home. The obituary was in the June 17th issue of the Bennington Banner.

Gary was a good and generous friend to me, my family and all Vermont Republicans. He gave generously of his time and his money to support my candidacy and that of Governor Douglas in 2002. Gary was Jim's town GOP coordinator and he and his wife Sandy hosted a fund raiser at their home last September.

Please let all your readers know that condolences can be sent to Sandy Bechtel, South Stream Road, Bennington RFD, 05201. 

THEY LIKE US

»» Dick Drysdale, Randolph: Congratulations in order both for your daughter's wedding and for your Democratic issues section, that was really lovely. I got the Friedman book for Christmas but haven't read it because I have read so many of the columns, but I missed that piece you quoted.

»» Clem Dubie, Essex Junction: Thanks for a great publication.

»» David Sylvester: Please add me as a subscriber to your Report. If the Reports are as interesting as I've heard, I'll send along a voluntary subscription.

»» Betsy and Gerry Gossens: Amen!!! That's why I keep pushing [People] to start standing up for what we believe in and what we think is important!!! 

*** QUOTABLE ***

WAKE UP, WALDO 

"Democrats can continue to circulate real or artificial tales of Republican outrages, they can continue to dwell on their sour prognostications of doom, but there is little evidence that anxious voters are in the mood to hate, or that they are in the mood for a political civil war, or that they will respond favorably to whatever party spits the most venom. There is little evidence that moderate voters share the sense of powerlessness many Democrats feel, or that they buy the narrative of the past two and a half years that many Democrats take as the landscape of reality." --David Brooks, Senior Editor at The Weekly Standard.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/820yqhap.asp

SALAD DAYS

"Mr. Dean had better enjoy his current celebrity and his victories in such meaningless exercises as the recent Wisconsin Democratic straw poll. He is likely to have fewer 'salad days' in 2004." --Carl P. Leubsdorf, The Dallas Morning News, 6/26/03.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/columnists/cleubsdorf/stories/062603dnedi leubsdorf.58dd4.html 

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION 

"'Diversity' doesn't extend to, say, some dirt-poor fundamentalist white trash. Her presence wouldn't 'enrich' anyone. 'Diversity' means 'more blacks.' That's why traditional African-American colleges are exempt from its strictures: as 100 percent black schools, they're already as diverse as you can get." --Columnist Mark Steyn

http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030628-094911-5378r.htm 

AMERICA'S DIRTY LITTLE DOUBLE STANDARD 

"The courts demand that every religious person must accommodate a single atheist who might be 'offended' at the favorable mention of God's name (unfavorable or blasphemous mentions, we are told, are protected by the same First Amendment that prohibits favorable mentions). But no atheist can be forced to accommodate a single religious person who might be offended by the atheist's unbelief, or who wants to be part of the pluralism and diversity about which liberals regularly speak, but which is not broad enough to embrace people who believe in God." --Cal Thomas

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas030403.asp 

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, THE PUBLIC SCHOOL MONOPOLY, ETC. 

"When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it. When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less what he spends it on. When a man spends someone else's money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about what he buys, but doesn't care at all how much he spends. And when a man spends someone else's money on someone else, he doesn't care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that's government for you." --Economist and Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman

http://www.jeffersonreview.com/articles/2003/031703/light/basic.htm 

HELLO? 

"The culture that so reluctantly supports modern capitalism tends not merely accentuate the negative but to obliterate the positive. In the past 160 years, the world made hitherto unimaginable progress in human welfare, however you measure it. Yet nowadays, never has so much seemed so bad to so many." --The Economist, June 28, 2003 

Do you enjoy the Dwinell Political Report? Think of a voluntary subscription. For $25, you can receive the newsletter for a year and help offset the costs of production. Make checks payable to JDLS Publishing, LLC and mail to 610 Mason Road, Randolph, VT 05060.

The Dwinell Political Report is published weekly by JDLS Publishing, LLC.
Portions of the Dwinell Political Report may be reprinted with attribution.

Contact the Editor with news & comments at: Dwinell@adelphia.net or 802.728.4793

The mission of the Dwinell Political Report is to give readers another view of the news that is refreshing, provocative and sometimes irreverent. 

Subscribe here!