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.
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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."
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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
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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."
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Burlington Telecom Drops Al Jazeera II
Friday, May 16, 2008
Updated Saturday Night / Sunday Morning below. Link to the Channel 17 free-speech forum podcast pending... *****
It hurts. It hurts. Burlington Telecom. Al Jazeera. I don't want to be labeled a terrorist or an anti-Semite, but I do believe strongly in the freedom of speech. It's our most basic freedom. We can't let ourselves be afraid of words and ideas only. A suicide bomber is not going to jump out of your TV screen because you're watching Al Jazeera on Burlington Telecom.
"Mr. Chris Burns, Managing Director of Burlington Telecom, has decided to end the broadcasting of Al Jazeera Network. I congratulate him for his courage. You can be sure Mr. Burns will be the recipient of lots of negative mail in the coming weeks. It was Chris Burns’ predecessor who chose to include Al Jazeera making Burlington just one of two cable companies in the nation to do so! I wrote Mr. Burns and thanked him for his decision. Al Jazeera is nothing more than the political and religious voice piece of radical Moslems. While I do not endorse the silencing of opposing opinions I do believe the telecommunications industry has the responsibility of presenting material which will not incite civil unrest or religious prejudice. Please write Mr. Burns in support of his decision. To help you formulate your letter I’ve included a letter written by Daniel Pearl’s father regarding Al Jazeera. In Peace, Rabbi James Scott Glazier"[Emphasis added.]
I'm not really buying it. I believe Al Jazeera is a news network of many journalists. I don't understand why Rabbi Glazier believes it is "nothing more than a political and religious voice piece of radical Moslems." I've seen bits and pieces of Al Jazeera news and it's basically like the BBC. I think what he's saying is patenly false, and I'd ask the Temple to produce evidence of Al Jazeera causing any "civil unrest or religious prejudice" in Burlington. In any event, Temple Sinai is in South Burlington so its edicts shouldn't be controlling here. Ohavi Zedek and The Isreal Center of Vermontare in Burlington, but I don't see anything about this on either of their websites.
Of course it was Laffal and Jeffrey Kaufman of the Israel Center of Vermont who were quoted in the now infamous 7 Days article by Ken Picard that touched off this firestorm. And the story has legs. Today there was a live at 5:25 call-in show on the topic at Channel 17. Of course there was the post by Gregory Giordano and its follow-up. Cathy Resmer mentioned the 5:25 show at Blurt. Jay Vos has done a post and a follow-up too.
And here's where it starts to get interesting. Over at Candleblog, Bill Simmon did a post on this, and a follow-up in which he makes an open appeal for "someone at BT" (read: Richard Donnelly) to address the issue. Donnelly responds:
"During our annual review of cable TV contracts Burlington Telecom discovered that we have no contract to carry Al Jazeera English (AJE). AJE confirms this.
This was the reason behind BT's decision to cease carrying the channel. No cable television company (including BT) can distribute content across a cable system with out [Sic.] a contract as this presents a significant liability and risk to the distributer, in this case BT.
BT has been in touch with AJE, and will carry the channel while contract negotiations between the two parties continues [Sic.]..." [Emphasis added.]
Excuse me? We have no contract? Even back in August of last year when this was written in American Journalism Review :
BT staff downlinked Al Jazeera in November 2006 and previewed it internally for three weeks. "I was just stunned at the quality of the coverage," Donnelly says. "It was fantastic. There were some amazing, eye-opening news stories about world affairs, women's issues and stories about what we call the 'Third World.' "
How do you go from previewing it for three weeks to running it for a year and a half without getting a contract in between? Thanks again to Cathy Resmer for for the lead on that.
But Donnelly says contact negotiations are continuing now. What about the "courage" Rabbi Glazier is so sure Chris Burns has? What will Glazier say when he finds out Burns is negotiating with the enemy? Will he call him an appeaser like Bush called Barack Obama from the floor of the Knesset? Is Richard Donnelley telling the truth? I have no way of knowing what Al Jazeera English confirms or doesn't confirm.
What about the fact that the Isreal Center of Vermont and Burlington Telecom are both at 200 Church Street? That's an odd coincidence. It's hard to believe this is all just because somebody forgot to get a contract for this one controversial channel. Did BT forget to get contracts for any other channels?
****** Update: There's a seventh comment in the string at Candleblog now (left May 16 2008 @ 11:39pm). Again from Richard Donnelly:
"The decision to expidite [Sic.] the contract review in light of all the pro-AJE public comments from the citizens was a factor, but the decision to pull the station originally was due to the liability of not having a contract and NOT due to complaints.
Look at it this way: if AJE was under contract we couldn't pull the channel even if we had a million complaints. But we also cannot continue to broadcast it without a contract.
We get complaints about a lot of things on our cable network and we refer the comments first and foremost to the producers of the content (networks) and not the distributor (BT). This is spelled out in our original cable tv selection policy found on our website..."
I'm staying off this Candleblog comment thread myself. I find it infuriating the way the Candlebloggers are fawning over Richard Donnelly like a bunch sycophants. The guy's story is full of holes.
"The decision to expidite [Sic.] the contract review in light of all the pro-AJE public comments from the citizens was a factor,"
That's not even a logical construction. What does that mean? I thought he said in his first comment they "discovered" BT had no contract with Al Jazeera during their annual review. So what do pro-AJE public comments, which largely came after Picard's 7D article, have to do with anything?
"...but the decision to pull the station originally was due to the liability of not having a contract and NOT due to complaints."
How do you suddenly "discover" you don't have a contract to be running the channel you've been broadcasting over a year? At the very least, this raises the issue of competence. How is this the only channel this happened with? How does this square with Burns telling Picard "“We really don’t need to stir up more dust?” Why would he say that?
In his first comment on the Candleblog thread Donnelley said "BT has been in touch with AJE, and will carry the channel while contract negotiations between the two parties continues [Sic.]"
In the second comment he said "But we do have one fast rule is that we don't (or cannot) distribute anything that is not under contract. "
Except Al Jazeera, that is- for over a year, and still today while these "negotiations" take place.
Richard Donnelly is the marketing director for Burlington Telecom. He's a bullshit artist, virtually by definition. His job is to try to make this thing go away quietly. But it's a problem. It appears that Burlington Telecom's general manager decided he was going to pull Al Jazeera English off "our" network because of pressure from some members of the Jewish community. He can't do that. Burlington Telecom is a publicly owned department of the city of Burlington. It is not a private business.
BT needs to explain how it could overlook not having a contract, how that could happen with only this one controversial channel, provide evidence of its negotiations with AJE, and explains the Burns "dust" statement, at least.
"Moslems"? Really? I didn't realize rabbinical school was taught by 19th century British historians.
Sorry to focus on something seemingly so trivial, but that spelling always gets to me. You'd think the guy would know that the word in Arabic--a Semitic language like Hebrew--is "muslim" and is not difficult to transliterate. Always strikes me as something between condescending and dismissive.
Anyway, good continued coverage, HB. This story is exposing parts of our fair that are evidently not so far. Oh, and good call on the South Burlington distinction.
For those raising voice against diversity of news channels for viewers in USA the advice of Wei Zheng a 7th century Chinese wise man has gained even more relevance. He suggests: "Find enlightenment through heeding many points of view. Find ignorance through heeding few."
Perhaps there are still some who prefer ostriches as their role models for facing the 21st century by buryig their heads in sand.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
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"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."
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Whatever things
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Jessica Sklar
"Moslems"? Really? I didn't realize rabbinical school was taught by 19th century British historians.
Sorry to focus on something seemingly so trivial, but that spelling always gets to me. You'd think the guy would know that the word in Arabic--a Semitic language like Hebrew--is "muslim" and is not difficult to transliterate. Always strikes me as something between condescending and dismissive.
Anyway, good continued coverage, HB. This story is exposing parts of our fair that are evidently not so far. Oh, and good call on the South Burlington distinction.
Sad...