Take two thick slices of Noonie's day old bread, smear Honey Cup honey mustard
liberally over both. Cover both slices with green leaf lettuce. Then on one slice only lay smoked turkey on the lettuce,
a tomato slice on the turkey and sprinkle it with shredded carrot. Then on the lay a slice of provolone cheese over the
carrot then a green pepper ring on top of the cheese. Sprikle with sprouts. Cover with the other slice, lettuce side down.
The letuce should be stuck to the bread with honey mustard so it doesn't fall off when you turn it upside down to cover the
sandwich. Slice sandwich in half with a knife. Wrap in tightly in plastic wrap. Use too much wrap. Tape on label. Tadaaa!
Weighs one pound. Costs Four Bucks.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed,
to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers,
and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and
no warrants shall issue,
but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place
to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Ethan Allen Tower
"During the 1992 campaign, Bill Clinton
sometimes spoke of a 'twofer' (two for the price of one) presidency,
implying that Hillary would play an important role in his
administration."
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem,
consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus.
Whatever things
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem,
consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus.
The Pothole Problem
Monday, March 31, 2008
Ladies and gentleman. I implore you. Can't we put our heads together and come up with a solution to Burlington's pothole problem? It's getting ridiculous out there.
What I'm about to say is based more on imagination than knowledge, but maybe there are some new things we could try when it comes to dealing with our ever-crumbling roads.
Like maybe we could look for a harder, longer lasting surfacing material than the soft black tar we lay down now. That stuff is a joke. Even after it's hardened, you can mush it with your hand.
Maybe if the city currently leases road-building equipment, we could try buying it instead. Then perhaps we could do more road maintenance at the same price, and we could lease the equipment out ourselves to Winooksi and South Burlington to pay for its maintenance.
Maybe this year we should make repaving the worst streets in the city our top priority.
Any thoughts? I'm grasping for ideas. The roads are terrible. I'm wondering if we are feeling the effects of Bob Kiss so successfully holding city spending to 3.5% growth. Not that I'm saying he should have spent more. I'm just saying the potholes are pretty bad this year.
Owen Mulligan has written an informative piece about Diebold optical scan vote counting machines like the ones we use in Burlington. Apparently they aren't always reliable:
"The incident was a faulty equation on a warrant article vote with 193 "yeas" and 198 "nays". But the vote total recorded by the machine was 369. Obviously, that did not add up."
I used to feel pretty good about the opitical scanners, probably since I've been trained since birth to fill in little circles with a number 2 pencil. But Owen's story makes me wonder...
"Here’s how they work: each machine has a memory card which is like an electronic voting box where all the votes from the paper ballots are recorded and tabulated. Before each election, these memory cards must be programmed to reflect all the races with the candidates names, party affiliation, etc. This is done by a private company..."
I don't like the sound of "memory card." That just seems like trouble. But now I'm wondering, why can't we just count votes by hand? It's rare that any ward in Burlington has more than 2000 ballots on any given election. I don't think we really need those machines. Couldn't a bunch of folks count 2000 ballots in an hour? Sure they could. They did it before electricity.
The Burlington Free Press reports Peter Clavelle and Brendan Keleher were able to slip an extra pension for Keleher past the board of finance and the full city council in 2005:
"...In September 2005, approximately two months before Keleher announced his retirement, Clavelle asked the Board of Finance to allow Keleher to join the pension system, with pension credits retroactive to 1990. He also requested that his top financial officer be allowed to keep the payments the city had made over the years into his private plan. He made no mention of the interest those payments had earned.
Clavelle said in an explanatory memo to the board that allowing Keleher to keep the money from his private plan would compensate Keleher for years of underpayment. Clavelle also argued that allowing Keleher into the pension system would act as an inducement to keep Keleher on the job. The board unanimously approved the request..."
"Years of underpayment." That's rediculous. All Clavelle did was make Brendan Keleher Jo LaMarche's boss and give him all the credit for her hard work. What about the years of underpayment suffered by Jo? Well, we've lost her now, and that's too bad.
But why did the board of finance approve this unanimously? Why did the city council? Is Peter Clavelle some kind of hypnotist? No! But he is foxy, and the council is weak. That's what allowed this to happen. People on the city council are deathly afraid of looking as confused and uninformed as they really are. So they all hold hands and walk blindly together, trusting in the mayor to lead them. After all, it's the mayor who has a full time salary, a staff, an office, an operating budget and a parking spot. He must know better than any one of the fourteen lowly city councilors, right? Well, apparently...
"...In December 2005, after Keleher's retirement, the City Council accepted the minutes of the September board meeting, but it didn't discuss Keleher's pension arrangement.
Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Leopold said in November that the total city pension payments to Keleher, based on calculations from actuarial assumptions, could amount to $510,000. Keleher was 59 when he retired from the city to take another job. City officials have said the arrangement with Keleher was unprecedented..."
$510,000. That's over half a million dollars coming out of the city's pension fund which Keleher himself has said is in deep trouble.
The point is, we need somebody on the city council who isn't afraid to get in the mayor's face every now and then. Who will keep pressing until you get answers. Who isn't afraid to stick out like a sore thumb, and say "Hey! Wait a minute! Why the hell are we about to give an extra pension to Brendan Keleher?! That's not right!"
That's why the council exists, actually. It's the legislative civic counterweight to the executive authority of the mayor, and they need to start feeling their oats a little more. The city is growing and changing all the time, and we need leaders with open eyes, independent thoughts and firm voices.
Confusion in Ward 7 Vote Count II: Jean O'Sullivan sues Jonathon Leopold!
Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water, there's trouble right here in River City. On March 7 I reported that 50 extra ballots were found beyond those counted by the machine in Ward 7 on March 4. The machine count was originally reported to be 971-958 in favor of Decelles, but is now reported by the city to have been 979-964. The recount March 10 was 979-965. That's not 50 more, but whatever.
O'Sullivan's lawsuit maintains the actions by Leopold and the aide were so egregious that the Ward 7 City Council contest results should be thrown out. The case will be the subject of a hearing in Chittenden Superior Court at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Leopold, who was served court papers in the case on Tuesday, did not respond to a request for an interview. Ben Pacy, the aide who allegedlyactually [sic] broke the ballot box seals, referred questions to City Attorney Ken Schatz, who said Pacy's actions were legal and justified.
It's Ken Schatz's job to say the actions were legal and justified, but that doesn't necessarily make it so. I wonder who is alleging Ben Pacy broke the seal? I guess we'll find out Wednesday. Philip Baruth has already blogged in support of O'Sullivan's lawsuit. I don't like the sound of seals being broken and all that sort of thing, so I'm very curious about what the heck is going on in my ward.
While I'm thinking about it- I heard IRV might be against the City Charter because it supposedly says votes are to be counted at the wards, and IRV forces the votes to be tabulated at one central location. Anybody know about that?
I have no content to back up the headline. I just think it works. I think Hillary should drop out of the race and endorse Obama, but she's decided to scorch the earth with a burning cross instead. It's a shame.
Jason Cooley will be dedicating a three hour show to songs sampled for the Beastie Boys' Classic Album Paul's Boutique, including songs, remixes, b-sides, and old radio ads.
Wednesday March 26 from 9-midnight on the Radiator 105.9FM.
There is strength in a paradox. It sort of falls on itself like a triangle. Take for example an atom. It's as strong as it is small.
The print you are reading right now. It's black against white. We communicate in contrasts. That's a paradox. All things are defined by the absence of what they are not
Also, you can't think outside the box without paradoxically acknowledging the box and its inside.
The people that tell you to think outside the box are offering you a false dichotomy. Inside and outside the box are not the only two options. You can also be the box. You can forget about the whole box analogy altogether. It's just a concept- like a US Mexico border wall.
People are starting to catch on about these stupid electronic voting systems. Trouble is we spent all this money on them already. Would it be irresponsible to just junk these new machines? No. It would be irresponsible not to.
More from the luminous Cassandra Jupiter on the Bear Stearns meltdown. This is great material and Cassandra did the work! Easier for me. It's a little scary how many blogsearch hits I got from "Bear Stearns Employee" when I posted about her first BS story the other day. Hmmmm. 'Nuff said.
In this installment Cassandra works her informant lover for more intel...
Me: Is it true that there are psychologists on site to counsel employees?
JS: There always are. There's also a hotline for people to call. They're sending out more reminders of these existing services.
...And then goes onsite to snag another exclusive Bear Stearns interview at Corporate HQ in Manhattan...
Me: Change in subject. Do you agree with JS, another Bear employee that it's better to use a hooker than to have an affair?
SG: Absolutely. Less messier.
Me: Spitzer used the same girl on a number of occasions. What do you think of that?
SG: You can't use the same girl, I'd use a different one every time.
Whoa, Nelly Belle! Hold on to your hat Roy Rogers!
The revolutionary professor Maxwell Schnurer has written a book review of Outlaws of AmericaThe Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity by Dan Berger...
Berger starts the narrative with David Gilbert and other organizers of the Columbia University building take over which took place to fight the construction of a multi-million dollar athletic facility in the heart of impoverished neighborhood of New York City. The WU detonated their first successful bombing campaigns after the Chicago police assassinated Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, local panther organizers. The Weather Underground placed bombs in solidarity with dozens of international liberation movements and jailed revolutionaries.
Max is a friend of mine, and a very fine fellow. I met him at the Governor's Institute for International Affairs at St. Mikes in 1990. Remember that young mayor in New Paltz, NY who caught the attention of Eliot Spitzer for perfoming gay marriages? Max ran that guys campaign! Max was trying to stop a development near his house by getting Green Party member Jason West, then 26, elected along with a couple other Greens who went to the New Paltz city council. The plan worked. They stopped the development near Max's yard and they got to marry some grateful people as a bonus!
I've known Bernie Sanders most of my life. I think he's a good senator, even if he's not the best driver. He gave me one quintessential piece of advice in 1995. Paraphrasing- he told me that if you're part of a political party, you have to be loyal to that party. You don't cross the party in public. He may have helped found the Progressive Coalition in Burlington, and he may caucus with the Democrats now- but you'll notice he hasn't run with anything except an (I) next to his name since the US Bicentennial. Correct me if I'm wrong on that.
I like being an Independent, too. It's what makes this blog so good. You pretty much know the agenda is my own here. I can endorse Paul Decelles, Bob Kiss, Ron Paul and Barack Obama and nobody can tell me no.
Thanks for reading BurlingtonPol.com! Visit often!
Since Tibetan National Day on March 10, there have been lots of protests in Tibet. Now the Chinese are rolling in tanks and killing people. Let's be clear. China is guilty of Genocide against the Tibetan people. From 1949-1959 China killed 1.2 Million Tibetans and China has had a policy of systematically eliminating Tibetan culture ever since.
I wish we could boycott Chinese-made products to punish them for the current reign of terror they are inflicting on Tibet, but that won't be easy. America would collapse on itself in one day without Chinese imports.
Speaking of collapse, Bear Stearns, the nation's fifth largest investment bank has just gone down the tubes and will be purchased for a song by another bank. The Asian markets are already tumbling on the news, and it's a safe bet Wall Street will see a triple digit loss Monday. Hell- that would have been a safe bet even before the Bear Stearns news.
*** Update- Maybe stocks won't drop that much today it's 11:53am and they'r only down 58 points...
Don't forget to listen to my radio show Saturday morning from 10-11am.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today and he said he doesn't do "topics" or prepare for his show at all. He just lets events of the day dictate what he talks about. I think Limbaugh is an idiot and a fraud, but he makes millions of dollars, so I felt somewhat validated to hear he prepares for his show the same way I do.
Tune in to 105.9 FM Burlington, Saturdays morning from 10-11am from 10am-11am. Call the show live at 861-9666. Only on WOMM-LP The Radiator.
The only things I enjoy doing are blogging, talk-radio and public access TV. I tend to romantacize the fringies who post to blogs and call talk radio.
Hey Senator Webb and Stech- were you put off by the caveman picture? I noticed everyone stopped talking after that. Did I cross a line by adding the picture after you had left comments? Like you were tricked into tacitly endorseing the picture because you appear to have left comments on a post that included it, when you did not?
Barack Obama said it best when he called Ferraro's statements "absurd." I was going for "absurd" with the caveman picture. I certainly wasn't calling Obama a caveman, if that's what you thought. Well what the hell do you want from me? I slave over this blog day in and day out for you people- the jokes can't call be winners! Cut me some slack. What? The "White People" blog link? Oh I don't know. It's just something somebody sent me.
What else? My daughter turned 1 Friday. She got her ears pierced. I couldn't stop it from happening. If she has been a white man, she wouldn't have been in that position.
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
And Clinton is not denouncing and rejecting. That's a shame.
My mother took me to the Geraldine Ferraro rally at Burlington's Memorial Auditorium in 1984. (I've also seen Jerry Brown and Al Gore there.) The day after George H.W. Bush debated her, he said "Yeah, we tried to kick a little ass last night." Two years later Ferraro's son John A. Zaccaro Jr., then 24 was busted for selling cocaine. He was punished for that two years later by having to live on College Street here in Burlington for six months.
Ferraro and her running mate lost 49 states in 1984. They were running on the "one-state strategy." Burlington pol Howard Dean is considered to be a visionary because of his "50 State Strategy." I don't see what the hype is about. There are fifty states, thus a "fifty-state strategy."
There was a recount tonight to determine if councilor Decelles is actually re-elected over Democratic challenger Steven McIntyre. It went 779 to 764 in favor of Decelles. What happened to those other 50 votes?
And now... The BurlingtonPol Interview: Paul Decelles
Here at last is the long awaited interview between BurlingtonPol (Haik Bedrosian) and Republican freshman incumbent, and senior Ward 7 city councilor, Paul Decelles, 30. Currently is the youngest city council member. This interview was conducted on the morning of December 27, 2007 at the Bagel Café in the Ethan Allen Shopping Center.
BP- When the Hell are you going to pave Matthew Avenue?! PD- I asked Steve Goodkind specifically about Matthew Ave. A few meetings back he gave us a hand out that scored all city streets. Most streets in your neighborhood averaged around a 75. That is pretty good. Mathew Avenue received a 22. A score of 61 is fair and a score of 51 is failing. I told him "Steve please give me some words of wisdom to share with folks who live on Matthew. They ask me why they have to drive on the moon to get home, or whether their share of property tax isn't good enough...I don't know what to tell them!" Steve Said Matthew is slated to be repaired this summer.
BP- Hmmm... "repaired," huh?... So what’s going on at city hall? PD- Things are relatively quiet right now. The council is about to ratify the zoning re-write.
BP- How about the Beltline slip ramp closure? PD- It seems like it is working, but in the first three or four days after it closed, I got non-stop complaints about it by phone and email, but Steve Goodkind said he heard some positive feedback. Neil Lunderville speaks as if there will be no state money to make the change permanent.
BP- Is the rumor about Craig Gutchell stepping down this year true? PD- Craig will finish his full elected term, but he is frustrated with the slowness of government.
BP- Compare and contrast Ian Carlton with Kurt Wright as city council presidents. PD- Ian was very regulated and precise. Kurt has a different style. More laid back, but still in control. Kurt will crack a joke, or maybe Bill Keogh will- and it might break some tension or give us that needed pause- it’s useful to have a laugh and take a deep breath sometimes. I’d say we’re as productive or even more productive under Kurt as we were under Ian Carlton. It’s sort of like a "business-casual" style with Kurt, whereas Ian was more of a "three piece suit" guy.
BP- You have one daughter right? PD- Yes, Ella. She’s 4.
PB- How does being a parent inform your work on the council? PD- Well take zoning for example. Throughout this whole process I’ve kept my mind on how it will effect the city twenty, thirty years from now. How it will effect the business climate in Burlington? How will it effect the new north end? Will my daughter is grown up, will she love the neighborhood like I do? Will she be able to live here?
BP- Speaking of the zoning re-rewrite, there seemed to be an awful lot of cooperation between the Progressives and the Republicans on that. What’s with the unholy alliance? PD- Kurt, Jane Tim and myself got together at Kurt’s to meet on this stuff. Kurt and I sided with the Progs on a number of business and economic issues, like setbacks, and bonuses for environmental efficiencies. For example on LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design]- those aren’t the law, they’re just standards, so we agreed with the Progressives that there should be bonuses for LEED construction. Democrats on the council were more towards the opinion that LEED should be made the minimum.
BP- I know it’s not in your ward, but have you been through the intersection of North and South Prospect where they intersect at Pearl Street and Colchester Avenue? You know, between Dewey Hall and the De Goesbriand? PD- Yes.
BP- That intersection sucks, doesn’t it? It’s skewed so nobody knows who’s supposed to go when and it’s always a dangerous mess. I have an idea for staggering the lights that might fix the problem. Of the four directions covered by the existing light, only have it green for one direction at a time, and maybe rotate clockwise which direction gets the green light while all the others are red. No more tangles and it would be a lot cheaper for the city than physically changing the road. PD- I’ll take ideas from anywhere. There are professionals at city hall, but sometimes Johnny Public has better ideas. That’s why I love public forum- The guy with the guitar- That’s democracy! It’s a town meeting feel. I try not to take bathroom breaks during the public forums.
BP- What happened to the City Kids program? PD- Last summer it was consolidated from Parks to the School District. Many kids were already being served after school by both programs and the School District has federal funding to run it. Under Parks and Recreation City Kids relied on fees and state subsidies. But we definitely still have the City Kids.
BP- What’s your take on Jonathan Leopold? I mean, is he the Bad Cop to Bob Kiss’s Good Cop, or what? Do people hate working under him? I mean, what’s the story? PD- Jon runs things different than Brendan. Keleher would answer questions, or speak at certain appropriate times, but Jon really likes to talk- and Bob will defer to him on a lot of the substantive dollar issues. And Bob is a lot different than Clavelle. Clavelle was a consummate politician. He loved the camera. He loved the limelight. Bob, not so much.
BP- Hmmm…. Changing the subject- Do you go to church? PD- Yes, my family and I attend services at North Avenue Alliance Church every Sunday. We’re Protestants. Our church lets us have a more direct relationship with God. They sort of take the middle-man out.
BP- OK I know national politics and local politics are totally different animals, but you are a Republican. What do you think of some of the thing Republicans are doing lately? Do you think waterboarding should be allowed, for example? Or is it torture? Should America be torturing people? PD- That’s a tough one. I’ve never seen waterboarding done. But I do think that 2001 changed everything.
BP- Let’s talk about Burlington Telecom. Are or were you in favor of the city getting into the telecom business? PD- You have to ask yourself if this is something government should be doing? Should government be competing with private companies providing these same services? But at this point, Burlington Telecom is here and I think from the city’s standpoint, we have to make it succeed now. BT just signed up its 2000th customer, and we think there are potentially 12 or 14 thousand more potential customers in the city.
BP- Some people have been critical of the mayor’s reluctance to sell BT services or bandwidth to neighboring communities. What are your thoughts on that? PD- I actually agree with Bob on this. We don’t have all the kinks worked out. We don’t have HDTV yet. There are a lot of people in our city yet to be signed up or who don't even have access yet… so it’s not something we want to do half-baked. We don’t want to grow it too fast and watch it fail because it’s over extended.
BP- What’s your philosophy regarding representational government? Should you be representing your constituents’ wishes, or their best interests as you see them? Have you ever run into a time when those two things conflicted? PD- Luckily that hasn’t happened, but you do have to take both into account.
BP- How long to you think you will keep doing politics? PD- I love door knocking and meeting people. I love listening to ideas. I think I’ll be involved as long as my wife tolerates it.
TashiDelek. Today is Tibetan National Day. The Tibetan flag will fly over City Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia today. At least 200 Tibetan protesters have been arrested in Nepal. Hundreds of Tibetans have begun a protest march from Dharmsala, India to Tibet. Many other events are happening all over the world. Love and respect to the Tibetan community here in Burlington.
Obviously the best place to get information is the grocery store.
Per Kurt Wright today in the coffee aisle- When the voting ended at Hunt School in Ward 7 Tuesday, Incumbent first term councilor Paul Decelles (R) had apparently beaten Democratic challenger Steve McIntyre 971-958- a mere 13 votes
... But... according to veteran poll worker Leo Grennen there were 50 ballots that our beloved Diebold optical scan counting machines had kicked out as unreadable. Leo, along with Linda Deliduka and one other lady whose name I can't remember counted them- and told Kurt that Paul had picked up 36 votes as a result, making the new totals 1007 for Decelles, 972 for McIntyre
... But...Kurt says, nobody phoned the new result to channel 17 or John Briggs at the Burlington Free Press. Briggs reported the same results I did on election night (possibly because he gets his copy straight off BurlingtonPol) and when Kurt asked whoever it is who's filling in for Jo LaMarche now about the extra ballots, the person didn't know anything about it. Regardless, McIntyre has asked for a recount which the city council will perform Monday. All city councilors should plan on attending the meeting to help count. It sounds like the spread after the recount will be closer to 30 votes than 13.
Speaking of Jo LaMarche... Did you know that I was paraphrased in a "whereas" clause in the resolution, sponsored by Wright and unanimously passed by the council in recognition of Jo's years of service? Here's proof from the North Avenue News.
...Jo Ultimately became assistant city clerk, this title recently changed to that of Director of Elections, although as former city councilor Haik Bedrosian has said that whatever her title he has always regarded her as the city clerk, a sentiment shared by many...
Apparently Peter Potts, the Republican staff person who helped draft the language is the person who included the attribution. Where did he get the quote? I wish I could claim it was from BurlingtonPol, but actually it's from a comment I left at the bottom of this page at iBurlington. That means a small piece of iburlington has been passed into law. Is that a first? Did iBurlington creator Brian Brown just make blogging history in absentia and without knowing? Fascinating stuff.
Hi Rachel. Thanks for your comment on this blog a couple of weeks ago If you are ever in Burlington and would like to be a guest on my radio show, just give me a shout.
The studio is located at 215 College Street in Downtown Burlington and is licensed by the FCC to broadcast at an effective radiative wattage of 100... so... it's kind of a big deal. I do a talk and call-in show.
By the way, did you know we can't get Air America on the radio up here any more? I listen online sometimes, but it's just not the same. And I like you on MSNBC, but that's not the same either. So you should totally come be on my show. I think I've probably got between 10 and 20 listeners on any given Saturday, and I'm sure they'd enjoy hearing us banter.
A couple of years ago when we went to New York to have Kokobaptised (sorry Yanna- no money for your little soul, girl) we stayed at my friend Ben's on 45th and 9th. From his rooftop I could see the M and the old Milford Plaza commercial started running in my head.
You see when I was a child my mother worked, and my mean old crazy father sat me in front of the television all day, every day for the first five years of my life. From age five to age twelve or so, before I started running with the "bad" kids, I sat myself down in front of the television. Channel 11 (WPIX NYC) had the best cartoons, and in between I lived in a virtual world of New York and New Jersey area commercials. Their prices were "insane," as it were.
Anyway, there's the intro. Now dig this commercial break blast from the past. It totally sends me and makes my heart swoon. Enjoy.
Just like last year I made one token wrong prediction for the city council races. This year it was Ward 6. Looks like becoming a Democrat didn't work out too well for Barb Perry. All well Barb- fourteen years is long enough. You don't own the damn seat you know.
Also: The Progressive Ward 2/3 juggernaut has been cracked! The Dems lost one in 6 (sort-of) but they pick up the open seat in 2 with a win by David Bereznaik over Erik Hoekstra. (Dude that picture on your sign sealed your fate.)
More: Decelles wins squeaker in Ward 7! Hot Damn! Unofficial results from CCTV have the race at 971 for Decelles, 958 for Democrat Steve McIntyre. That's a victory of just 2/3 of 1%! This illustrates just how closely divided Ward 7 is in the post Ellie Blais era. Whoever runs in seven next year will definitely have to bridge some of those gaps and bring people together.
And: Looks like Ward 4 Republican Nathan K. Wright will seek to extend his tenure as the city council president. I don't see any reason why that wouldn't happen. He seems to have done a fine job so far.
Lastly: We're gonna keep the Moran Plant! Yay! Voters made the right choice there. This is the victory Bob Kiss needed, and he got it. You may be down to just three Progressive allies on the council, but you continue to do an excellent job as mayor, Bob. You will be re-elected.
Well here it is folks, Tuesday March 4, 2008- Town Meeting, Election and Primary Day. And I owe my readers a big apology. I guess I could lean on my mom dying in January as an excuse, or the extreme turmoil of continued unemployment, but my coverage has been virtually non-existent.
*Apologies to Councilor Decelles for still not writing up my notes on our interview of December 27. I still got 'em and I'll still do it (whether or not you're re-elected today.)
*Apologies to Owen Mulligan for not getting your link up- usually I do a whole sidebar thing for the current election, and I just didn't do it this year... but here's Owen's current campaign site: http://www.voteowen.org/
*Many thanks to Bill and Exit Voices for picking up a some of BurlingtonPol's slack this year. Go there today and let your exit voice be heard.
*I fancy myself a master of the non-sequitur, so congratulations to Steve on the 5th "blogiversary" of The Carpetbagger Report and to Charity on the 2nd Blogiversary of She's Right.
*Oh! and congratulations to me on hitting 50,000 unique visitors to this blog any second now today! (Scroll to the bottom of the page to my counter... click it for details!) Hitting 50,000 on election day. Nice synchronicity.
*And for Councilor Kurt Wright, who asked me if BurlingtonPol will be making predictions and endorsements this year, I now slap together the following...
Ward 1- Endorsement: Ed Adrian (D); Prediction Ed Wins easily over the "Chemtrails" guy Derek Case (Anti-Masonic), Calderon (G) and Cook (I).
Ward 2- Endorsement: None; Prediction: Berezniak (D) will squeak in with a plurality over Hoekstra (I(P)) who made the double mistake of 1-putting his picture on his signs and 2- not shaving for the picture; and Glade (G) who will split Hoekstra's vote.
Ward 3- Endorsement: None; Prediction: Davis (P) will beat Ploof (D) but it won't be a total blow-out.
Ward 5- Endorsement: Bill Keogh; (D) Prediction: Keogh wins over Oberbrunner (G) and Starfighter (I) in biggest crush of the day.
Ward 6- Endorsement: None; Prediction: Newly minted DEMOCRAT Barbara Perry wins over Karen Paul (I) and Kim Mason (G).
Ward 7- Endorsement: Decelles (R); Prediction: Despite the influx of Democratic absentee ballots and the "Obama factor" Decelles pulls out his first re-election over newcomer Steve McIntyre (D) to be the only Republican elected in the city today.
(To my Democratic friends sure to give me grief for that last endorsement... I know, I know... but as my little brother would say "I have my reasons.")
And on the ballot Items... No predictions, but I'll tell you I'm voting Yes for all but item 2. That means YES on 1. Vote yes on 1. Yes. on. 1.
No school board talk from me. Sorry.
Presidential Primaries- Dems: Obama's going to win with over 60%; GOP: McCain will win. Huckabee 2nd. Ron Paul (I'm voting for Ron Paul) will take between 15-20%.
*Final Note: As I often am, Last night I was a guest on the Matty and Stech Variety Hour (featuring Josh Bridgman) on channel 15. There were two guest on from Saint Mike's promoting an Iraq "war" (it's an occupation, not a war- but I digress) teach- in all day tomorrow. Details here.
OK. That's it for me today. Go vote. Do what you do, and have fun. Thanks for reading BurlingtonPol (Today renamed in honor of Dr. Ron Paul, OB/GYN) and for sticking with me through the good times and the bad. Comments are open and always welcome.
...And as our good friend John Mclaughlin says..."Bye Bye!"
Here are some stories from a couple of veterans blogs.
The first one has to do with the guy on the right. Without him JFK would have gone the way of Joe Jr.
"For six days they lived off coconuts. Two local men, Biuku Gasa and Kumana, found them. Kennedy carved a message onto coconut husk..."
The second one dishes the dirt on John McCain... "The spoiled son of military privilege got a free ride throughout his military career despite repeated instances of sex scandals and screw-ups..."
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of
the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Click Sticker to get one.
Yours free with Paypal donation of any amount.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars,
the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury,
shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States,
than according to the rules of the common law.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed,
to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
-Emma Lazarus, 1883
--------------------------
Church Street Energy System
--------------------------
Powered by
"The Medium is the Message."
Whatever things
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem,
consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus.
Whatever things
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Duis ligula lorem,
consequat eget, tristique nec, auctor quis, purus. Vivamus ut sem. Fusce aliquam nunc vitae purus.
Junktique's New Site
Junktique's Old Site
Jessica Sklar
Here are some stories from a couple of veterans blogs.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyNJbNbmUUkmfGLaBuqicz0Zvqt-1zb2AzXdfm1qMXh8AfpmG9leXo0dm_wo-26BNSQz0sc5nzPl7NU4PdQjb1wqbgKf1-A7vG2K8EsV40igIcBQahcPJFPCUfHFy3aSWN2yi8qg/s1600/henry%2527s.jpg")
