What would Edison say?

Sorry for all of the news dumps lately, but I haven't had the time to do any original posts. I will try to bring you some of my fresh perspective and enlightening brilliance later this week.

In the meantime, I just read this story out of good ol' California.

How many people does it take to change a light bulb? In California, the answer could be a majority of the Legislature.

The electricity-wasting incandescent bulb would be banned _ replaced by energy efficient compact fluorescents _ under a bill that Assemblyman Lloyd Levine plans to introduce.

Governor Arnold "The Terminator" Schwarzenegger has not weighed in on this issue yet.

Feel free to discuss.

Green Party Drama

This week's Seven Days has an article about the recent schism in the Burlington Green Party.

It seems there are two people claiming to be the legitimate Green Party Chair. Only one has candidates on the ballot this march. The other one wants to challenge that in court.

Read all about it.

Contested City Council Races in All 7 Wards!

There is great news in the Free Press this morning for Burlington voters. There are contested city council races in all seven wards!!

Burlington City Council races present choices

Published: Tuesday, January 30, 2007
By John Briggs
Free Press Staff Writer

All seven wards in Burlington will have election contests on Town Meeting Day, said Jo Lamarche, the city's director of elections.

In Ward 1, independent incumbent Sharon Bushor is running unopposed for a new two-year term. A three-way race has developed, however, to fill the remaining year of Democratic Councilor Ian Carleton's term. Carleton, the council president, announced recently he was resigning his seat because he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Democrats have nominated attorney Ed Adrian for the seat, and he will face independent Dick Bove and Progressive Megan Munson-Warnken.

In other wards, contests that became clear after the Monday filing deadline are:

WARD 2: Progressive incumbent Jane Knodell will be opposed by independent David Rogers.

WARD 3: Incumbent Tim Ashe, a Progressive, will face independent Loyal Ploof. Ploof was nominated by city Republicans but withdrew from the race before deciding to run as an independent.

WARD 4: Republican incumbent Kurt Wright will be opposed by Democrat Jim Holway.

WARD 5: Incumbent Joan Shannon, a Democrat, will face Green Party candidate Rene Kaczka-Valliere and independent Basil Vansuch.

WARD 6: Andy Montroll, the incumbent Democrat, will be opposed by Tom Licata, running as an independent.

WARD 7: Linda Deliduka, a Democrat, Craig Gutchell, a Republican, and independent Ellie Blais will campaign for the seat held by Democrat Carmen George. George, elected in 2005, decided not to run again.

Deliduka lost a three-way contest for the Ward 7 seat in 2004, coming in third behind Republican Alan Sousie and the ultimate winner, independent Ellie Blais. Gutchell ran unsuccessfully in 2006 for state representative. Blais lost her seat in 2006 to Republican Paul Decelles.

This is a great day for local democracy in Burlington.

I will continue to bring local election coverage during the month of February. If there are any candidate websites, feel free to e-mail me (go to my profile) and I will put up a link.

Also, be sure to check out BurlingtonPol.com for Haik's local election coverage.

Roper New Chair of VT GOP

After spending the weekend in Massachusetts, it was great to come home to find out that the Vermont GOP elected Rob Roper as the new state party chair.

The left is already trying to portray him as an out-of-the-mainstream bigot, but this Vermonter welcomes someone who champions lower taxes and less government - not to mention, a coalition-builder - taking a position of party leadership in this state.

She's Right Podcast Now Up

Last Friday, I had Haik Bedrosian from BurlingtonPol.com as my guest on She's Right, the monthly Channel 17 show. You can listen to the podcast here.

We talked about the upcoming Town Meeting Day local elections in Burlington and, of course, our blogs. I meant to blog about it, but I never got around to it.

Haik is continuing with his local coverage, with a new post about the Ward 1 Democratic Party caucus last night. Be sure to check it out.

Have a great weekend! We are off to visit my in-laws for a belated Christmas, so I probably won't be posting.

Blogger Down

Love him or hate him, all of us political junkies in Vermont make Peter Freyne, of Seven Days, one of our weekly reads.

Peter posted on his blog earlier today that he has been diagnosed with lymphoma and will be undergoing chemotherapy.

Stop on over and send your well-wishes.

A Third Force

Back before the election, I linked to a piece by Richard Viguerie, in which he declared that the Big Government Republicans needed to lose the election. Ever since, I have been receiving e-mail from one of Viguerie's groups.

One great thing about that is that it contradicts my pessimistic view that the right does not have a handle on how to use new media to rally grass-roots support. I get e-mail like that from Newt Gingrich and a couple of others, as well. Good for you, guys.

At any rate, the other day, I received the following statement from Viguerie, in response to the President's State of the Union speech.

“I was struck more by what I didn’t hear than by what I heard.

“What he did say was mostly big-government economic, energy, and education schemes that could have just as easily come from President Clinton or President Carter. What he did not deliver were any Reaganesque calls for reducing the size of government, or getting the government off our backs—a core conservative goal since the 1950s.

“The underlying message in this State of the Union Address was directed toward the Democrats: In effect, we can work together--let’s make a deal. The underlying message directed toward the conservatives was: You have no place else to go.

“Among the other omissions in the President’s speech:

♦ He did not acknowledge any mistake in pursuing the liberal, big government policies that have driven the Republican Party from power on Capitol Hill.

♦ He did not announce any changes in personnel in a conservative direction.

♦ He did not announce that he will veto any increase in discretionary spending.

♦ He did not call for the downsizing or elimination of any government programs.

♦ He did not call for eliminating the corporate welfare shelled out to big business.

♦ He did not announce that he will veto any legislation that contains ‘earmarks.’

♦ He did not launch a serious war on the institutionalized government corruption between big business, their lobbies, Congress, and the Administration.

♦ He did not announce any significant initiatives to protect traditional moral values.

“Accordingly, conservatives must continue to declare their independence from the Republican Party. We must act as a Third Force in American politics, seeking to draw both major political parties to the Right. Conservative principles and goals take precedence over partisanship. We will support Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the right thing, and oppose Democrats and Republicans alike when they do the wrong thing.”

While I don't agree with every single thing that Viguerie wanted the President to say, I think he has an interesting idea - for conservatives to abandon their allegiance to a party and act as a force that draws both major parties to the right.

I think the case could be made that the reason both major parties are moving toward the Big Government side (I'll refrain from using the classic left-right designations here) is due in large part to the efforts of different social activist groups to gain public support for their movements. Public support = votes. Ergo, the politicians started moving in the direction where they thought they would find the most public support.

One need not look very far to find examples of public policy being shaped by a couple of loud voices, whether or not the general public agrees.

Could this strategy work for conservatives?

In light of the former Republican majority's near total abandonment of fiscal conservatism, would it make sense for conservatives to abandon the party and work instead on influencing the entire political landscape by influencing public opinion through independent activist groups?

I don't know if this is what Viguerie is proposing, but it does make sense for small government conservatives to start getting out and actively educating the public as to why Big Government policies are harmful.

And I agree with Vigueire that the conservative vote cannot be taken for granted to belong to the GOP.

This Just In - I am Not Living

Not that I needed another reason to think that the Livable Wage Campaign is a complete joke, but I have one anyway.

According to the fancy graphic in today's Free Press, the livable wage for a family with two parents, two kids (we actually have three), with only one wage earner is $50,319!

I am officially not living.

On the bright side, next time that I have to listen to some liberal tell me how they are going to help the poor, I can say, "Hey buddy! I know all about the poor. We don't even make a livable wage!"

Livable wage includes costs for food, rent, utilities, transportation, child care, clothing, landline telephone charges, life insurance, renter's insurance, health care, dental care, child care and tax obligations. The study also assumes 5 percent of income will be saved. It includes $2.30 per person per day for personal expenses such as books, magazines, newspapers, gifts and movies.

The "Inconvenient Truth" Movie You Must See

This post has a little something for everyone - a homeschool tie-in, a local tie-in, and a national tie-in, so I am posting it on She's Right (my political blog) and Crafty Mama's Homeschool (my homeschooling/crafting blog).

Yesterday, I was reading one of my favorite homeschool blogs, Why Homeschool, and they had a link to an interview with Oak Norton, a father of five from Utah, who is fighting to get good, old fashioned math back in the schools there.

He now publishes a single-frame comic on the website Weapons of Math Destruction.

A little background, from Norton, about the problem (from the edspresso interview):

A few years ago my oldest daughter was finishing up her third grade year and at a parent/teacher conference I asked her teacher when they were going to start learning the times tables since they hadn’t yet and I’d done it nearly thirty years earlier in third grade.

The teacher replied, “Oh, we don’t do that anymore.” [pause for picking my jaw off the ground]

“You don’t do that anymore?”

“That’s right, it’s not part of the curriculum.”

“Well then how do you expect the children to learn their times tables?”

“Well,” she thoughtfully paused, “the smart kids will just pick it up as they go.” This time my jaw cracked hard when it hit the ground and I was off to the principal’s office.

The principal explained that although this method was different from how we had grown up, there were problems with traditional math and all the research showed kids were really excelling under these discovery learning methods. I left with a serious intestinal problem and promptly purchased Singapore math workbooks and flashcards for my children to make sure they knew their basic facts.

I was reading through the WMD archive, I noticed a familiar curriculum: MathLand. Wait. That's what they use in Burlington.

As it turns out, MathLand is one of the not-really-math math programs that is responsible for dumbing-down our kids here in America.

And they do use it in Burlington. In other words, they want us to approve a spending of almost $11,000 per pupil, but the kids will likely leave without a mastery of mathematics. (Don't worry, I am working on a school budget post.)

Thankfully, for me and my kids, the curriculum we use, Saxon, is one of the programs recommended by the WMD site. It focuses on - gasp! - rote memorization of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts AND the correct answer matters!

Why does all this - My math is better. No my math is better - matter? It just so happens, I came across a You Tube video, called "Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth," (Hat Tip: Chanman) where examples from two leading fuzzy math texts are given (you won't believe how profoundly stupid this is) and the real world implications for our children's future.

The video is 15 minutes long, but you really have to see it to believe it. It is worse than you thought.

It is no secret that the United States lags behind the rest of the world in Math and Science Education. Watch this and you'll see why.

Both the woman on the You Tube video (which is a quality video - she's a TV weather woman) and Oak Norton recommend picking up Singapore Math to supplement your children at home.

On a side note: Did you know there is a name for that? Afterschooling. You know American Education is screwed when supplementing your child's education is so prevalent that there is a name for it.

Channel 17 Media Education Series

I thought this looked interesting...

Channel 17 hosts a monthly Media Education Series the 4th Wednesday of Each Month.

This month, January 24th at 6:30pm We are Hosting a program on
Pharmaceuticals and Advertising.

Dr. Amanda Kennedy, Pharmacist; Dr. Lynn Gregory, UVM Professor of communication and Dr. Richard Pinckney MD, MPH look at various types of prescription drug advertisements on television, print or in spot marketing (pens, notepads etc.) They will deconstruct the media messages and discuss certain instances where indirect misinformation can be leading consumers and providers down harmful or expensive health care paths.

A Loyal Republican?

(Updated 1/24)

I have been meaning to post about this since Thursday, but I was sick (again!) this weekend and just didn't get around to it. However, since I was quoted in this morning's Free Press quite extensively, I figured I would write up a post.

As you other Burlington area political junkies already know, last Thursday, Loyal Ploof, former Progressive, former Green, former independent Mayoral candidate, became a Republican and left the caucus with our nomination for City Councilor in Ward 3.

As John Briggs in the Free Press reported this morning, my thoughts were that it was like watching a car accident - "really shocking to have that happen in front of you. You want to stop it, but you can't. "

Thankfully, he also printed my backpedaling quote, "I don't want to say he's as bad as a car accident, but I can guarantee you the people who identify themselves as Republicans aren't going to look at him as someone who represents their views."

Here are my thoughts about this whole debacle.

If Loyal Ploof has really decided that he is a Republican, as he says in the article, then he should have stood up and addressed the caucus.

I fully understand the nature of political parties and the fact that there is a broad spectrum of views. All are welcome and I do not have the right to decide who is and who isn't Republican enough.

When I was Party Chair, I was interested in party-building and reaching out to new people. Even within the ranks of long-time Republican activists, there was a broad range of views, some of which even conflict with some of my own.

I welcomed Libertarians Jeremy and Heavenly Ryan to all of our monthly meetings and found common ground with them. I would have gladly welcomed Loyal Ploof, who volunteered on one of my City Council campaigns. There is common ground there, with Loyal. I do not dispute that.

My problem is with how the situation transpired. Looking around the room, I saw the expressions of other people, who have been with the party for years, wondering what this guy was doing.

As I said, he should have addressed the caucus. He should have known that people would be wondering what he was doing there.

Party Secretary Kevin Ryan was quoted in the story saying, "I hope the party is going to be open-minded and welcome new people." If this was Ryan's goal, he, as the person chairing the meeting in the absence of the Chair and Vice-Chair, should have invited Ploof to address the caucus.

Of course, he also could have told others that Ploof was coming, which I have reason to believe he did know ahead of time, contrary to what the article says.

There was one procedural objection to Ploof's coup. Our by-laws state that a member of another party cannot be on our committee. One of Ploof's supporters, Sean Starfighter, is a Green Party member, appearing on this March's ballot as a Green.

Ryan dismissed the procedural concern, saying that we would deal with that later.

If people are truly seeking to work together, bind-siding those you hope to work with is not the best way to form that alliance. The way to build a group is through communication.

Instead, Republicans are left wondering what the motivation is behind Ploof's move. Is he using the Party for money? Is this just to spite the Progressives, as suggested at BurlingtonPol? Or is Ploof really interested in fiscal conservatism?

Well, we don't know because he never addressed the caucus. All we know is that he categorized the elected Republican City Councilor and State Representative Kurt Wright as being "one of those real strong right-wingers." Unfortunately for Ploof, many of the people in the Party he now calls home see Wright as rather moderate.

This is a wake-up call to the Burlingtonians who identify themselves as Republicans. Any three people can come in off the street, declare themselves Republicans, and one can walk out our city council nominee, if there are no Republicans from that ward present.

This also could have happened in wards 1, 2, and 6, all of which had no other members present, and even in my ward 5, which had only me present.

It only takes three people to make a ward caucus and elect a nominee. If people do not show up at the caucus to represent the wards, anyone can walk out of there with the nomination. Not only does this make a mockery of our party, but it also hurts fund raising efforts.

If the Burlington Republican committee is going to have any relevance in the future, they need to get more people to come and we need to show up.


Update: In yesterday's Free Press, Loyal announced that he is no longer running for City Council in Ward 3. Also, in the comments of this post, it was revealed that Sean Starfighter is not running as a Green, as a result of the party cross-over incident.

My, Me, Meme

(Updated 1/23 with link to my favorite blogger. I can't believe I forgot to link it. It was one of the three meme questions!)

I have never done one of these meme things that litter the blogosphere, or make for easy space fillers, depending on how you view them, but they are a fun way for readers to learn a bit more about the blogger, so here goes.

I was tagged by Johnathan at the new blog TwoKnowItAlls. I guess the idea is to say the first thing that comes to mind.

1. My: You’ve heard the saying “I’d give my right arm for…”. So, what would you give your right arm for?

Literally? Probably only something involving saving someone's life.

2. Me: What’s one word that describes how you want people to see you?

Real. As opposed to fake or phony or trying to be something I'm not. I try to be honest and personal.

3. Meme: If you could be any blogger, which blogger would you be… and why?

There isn't anyone I would want to be, but the blogger I most admire is Philip Baruth. Even though his politics are all wrong :) I love his writing style and use of the language.

Okay, so here is where I tag others to keep the dream alive. I choose Haik, Tirade (in hopes to see her post again), and Jeff.

"I'm in. And I'm in to win."

Hillary Clinton announces bid for President.

In a videotaped message posted on her Web site, Clinton said she was eager to start a dialogue with voters about challenges she hoped to tackle as president _ affordable health care, deficit reduction and bringing the "right" end to the Iraq war.

Read the story here.
Or visit www.HillaryClinton.com.

Okay guys, the conservative she-blogger desperately says to the Republican Party, get your behinds in gear and put up a good candidate.

Pelosi Beats the Clock

The news today is that the House Democrats have succeeded in passing their 100-hour agenda.

That's great that they lived up to their campaign agenda of addressing the areas that they promised to, but the question that needs to be asked is: Is it enough to hammer though bills that have a significant chance of failure when they get to the Senate or the White House?

Wouldn't it have made more sense to allow input from the opposition and rise above partisan politics as the Democrats also promised?

According to Speaker Pelosi, No.

"It was about keeping our promise, not about adhering to some process," she said.

Translation: I don't care about compromise; I need to satisfy my base.

I guess all of that talk about changing the tone in Washington was just that - talk.

The details of the bills are at the end of the article.

She's Right on Channel 17, Tomorrow

I saw none other than Haik Bedrosian from BurlingtonPol.com at the Burlington Republican caucus tonight. Haik went to the Democratic, Progressive, Green, and Republican caucuses, then blogged about them. The GOP write-up isn't posted yet, but there is a little surprise in there. I don't want to scoop Haik, since he did blow off his own birthday party to go to the caucus and all.

Be sure to tune in to She's Right on Channel 17 on Comcast and Burlington Telecom tomorrow (Friday) at 5:25 PM to see Haik and I dish about the Burlington March election and blogging.

It is a live, call-in show.

Update: Haik's GOP post is up now.

DigitalBridges 2007

I received an e-mail about the DigitalBridges 2007 Conference at Middlebury College. I didn't have time to read through the whole thing, and I won't be back on the computer until later today, so I thought I would just post the thing here. It looks interesting. I hope to be able to post this afternoon. Enjoy the day!

Millennial Generation and social networking to be topic of DigitalBridges2007 Conference Jan. 27

Events are free and open to the public

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — On Saturday, Jan. 27, from 9:15 a.m. - 6:45 p.m., a group of Middlebury College students will join the public for “DigitalBridges2007: Here Come the Millennials!” An annual conference sponsored by DigitalBridges2.0, this year’s DigitalBridges2007 will address key issues in which the Internet continues to drive change in society and the economy. “Here Come the Millennials” will focus particularly on how this generation, born between 1977 and 2000, is shaking up everything from politics to business, and even creating an entirely new phenomenon called venture philanthropy. Venture philanthropreneurs, political analysts and consultants, and Internet and technology company executives will participate in a series of five sessions throughout the day.

All events will take place in Room 216 of McCardell Bicentennial Hall on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125). The events are free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. Refreshments will be served throughout the day.

Organized by Michael Claudon, Middlebury College professor of economics, the conference is the product of the work of the 15 students enrolled in his Winter Term course, “DigitalBridges2007.” To develop and present the event, the students collaborated with mentors and panelists drawn from DigitalBridges2.0’s growing network of Middlebury College alumni, parents and friends whose goal is to provide Middlebury students with real-world business experience. Participants will investigate how Millennials and technology are making politics digital, blurring the lines between philanthropy and business, and changing how business is done and where business opportunities and threats can now be found. Questions and discussion from the audience will be encouraged at all of the panel discussions.

According to Claudon, who is the director of the DigitalBridges2.0 program, the Millennial Generation includes pre-teens through twenty-somethings. These digital natives assume technological literacy and live online, having grown up using technology such as computers, the Internet, cell phones, text messaging and blogging. “They are wildly different than their Generation X parents, and are redefining everything from how we socialize, learn and characterize careers to how we elect candidates for public office. They are changing traditional approaches to life itself,” said Claudon. “The Millennials are porting an ever-larger share of their offline lives and habits onto the Web. Tapping into this new generation depends upon how well politicians and enterprises understand the evolution of social networking in general, and the Millennials in particular.”

Claudon explains that the Internet arenas MySpace.com, YouTube.com and FaceBook.com are but three examples of how Millennials are increasingly living their lives online. He says that Second Life, a virtual 3D world entirely built, owned and inhabited by nearly 2 million residents, has grown explosively since it opened to the public in 2003, and that Gaia Online, with more than 5 million registered users – more than half of whom are between the ages of 13 and 16 – is the largest, English speaking, online forum in the world. “Together with social networking, blogging represents a virtual tsunami on the Web. Since the term was coined in 1997, ‘blogs’ have morphed from self-indulgent hobbies to flourishing businesses. There are about 50 million of them – two new ones are being launched every second,” he said.

According to Claudon, blogging is challenging everything from music and entertainment through advertising and even academic publishing as the new phenomenon.

Claudon further believes the line between philanthropy and business is blurring as never before. He describes philanthropreneurs – who seek to do social good with profit – as representatives of a new generation of philanthropists. “Philanthropreneurs are, for the most part, young billionaires who have reaped the benefits of capitalism and believe that it can be applied in the service of solving social ills,” Claudon said. “Additionally, nonprofit philanthroventuring – or social entrepreneurship – is fostering and funding collaboration among researchers, companies and government.”

On Saturday, Jan. 27, “DigitalBridges2007: Here Come the Millennials” will begin at 9:15 a.m. with introductory remarks by Claudon. At 9:30 a.m., three Middlebury College students from Claudon’s course will present “Social Networking (Our Digital Life) – The Millennials Unite.” The panel of students will demonstrate the Millennial lifestyle with the tools and techniques such as blogging and text messaging that they use for social networking, entertainment and research.

From 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m., a panel discussion titled “Digital Politics: Fundraising, Campaigning and Mobilization” will showcase Facebook.com; YouTube.com; MySpace.com; blogs, podcasts and Web sites of political figures. Participants in this discussion will be Eric Davis,

Middlebury College professor of political science; Karl Frisch, director of media relations for Media Matters for America, a political organization based in Washington, D.C.; Michael Silberman, a member of the Middlebury class of 2002 and co-founder, director and senior strategist of EchoDitto, an online firm that serves as a guide for the creative use of emerging technologies for nonprofits, corporations, political candidates and organizations, and elected officials; and Adrian Talbott, co-founder and executive director of Generation Engage, a nonpartisan, youth civic engagement initiative headquartered in Washington, D.C.

From 1:45 - 3:15 p.m. a panel discussion titled “Venture Philanthropy: Doing Good with Profit” will discuss the new generation of philanthropists – or philanthropreneurs – in the service of social good. Panel members include Jim Laughlin, director of communications for Life is good, Inc.; Elizabeth Glenshaw, director of CI Market and Industry Development for Calvert Social Investment Foundation, a Bethesda, Md.-based enterprise that seeks to work in disadvantaged communities with local partner nonprofits to provide the investment capital for people to work themselves out of poverty; Ward Fowler, partner of Alterra Coffee Roasters and a member of the Middlebury class of 1986; and Lincoln Fowler, partner of Alterra Coffee Roasters and a member of the Middlebury class of 1989.

From 3:30 - 5 p.m., a panel discussion titled “Business Opportunities and Challenges” will focus on the competitive strategy of firms entering the Millennial craze – the leveraging by smaller businesses of the tools used by the Millennial Generation; understanding the global marketplace; launching growing ventures; and using marketing techniques such as blogging for dollars, Google and Fuse Integrated Sports Marketing. Panelists will be Tom Kottler, a member of the Middlebury class of 1984 who is chief executive officer and managing member of VeinAid, based in Fairfield, Conn.; Brian Schmidt, a member of the Middlebury class of 1997 who is manager of the National Agency Team at Google; and Chris Charron, emerging technology advisor and former group president of Business-to-Consumer Technology Research at Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company based in Cambridge, Mass.

From 5:15 - 6:45 p.m. the conference will close with a town meeting discussion titled “What Have We Learned and What Does It Mean?” The culminating event will summarize the key points from the four earlier sessions. Maureen Ellenberger, entrepreneurial advisor and venture consultant based in Concord, Mass., will serve as moderator. Panelists, selected from the four earlier sessions, will be Charron, Laughlin, Schmidt and Talbott.

For more information or to make reservations, contact conference coordinator MariAnn Osborne of Middlebury College at mosborne@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5435. On Jan. 27, the DigitalBridges2.0 Web site, http://www.digitalbridges20.net/annualconference.htm, will also include the complete proceedings of the conference, and student-authored reports will be available for viewing following the conference.

Brownback to Run for President

I am as tired as you are of the 2008 election starting, well, the day after the 2006 election, but I feel obligated to share what I know. I'm a blogger. It's my job. As they say, don't hate the player, hate the game. (I know, I can't believe I just said that either.)

So without further ado, top secret inside sources tell me that United States Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) will announce his intention to run for President of the United States this Saturday in Topeka, KS.

See for yourself.

Burlington Green Runs for City Council

Yesterday, Ward 5 City Council candidate Rene Kaczka-Valliere stopped by my door for a nice, long chat. I will write up a post about that soon. In the mean time, you can read this information-filled press release about his campaign.

January 15, 2007 (Burlington, Vermont)—The Vermont Green Party has a fresh, new candidate in the local race for Burlington City’s Council. A social worker running for his first public office, René Kaczka-Vallière will formally announce his candidacy for the City Council race in Ward 5 at Department of Public Works, Conference Room, at 4:00pm on Wednesday, January 17, 2007.

Kaczka-Vallière’s petition has been accepted by the Burlington Office of the Clerk/Treasurer and his name will appear on the ballot on March 6, 2007.

Kaczka-Vallière believes he and the Green Party can take the seat from Democratic incumbent, Joan Shannon, with his vision and plan to lead the city in spending less while adding value to the community.

In his official campaign announcement, Kaczka-Vallière will outline his four point campaign platform that he says, “will excite the concerned voters in his district.” The four-point campaign platform features the only concrete alternative made to date in the long-debated, hotly contested and sometimes detested “southern connector” proposal, among others:

Kaczka-Vallière’s Campaign Platform

1. As a City Councilor, Kaczka-Vallière will reform the unfairness of current applicable property taxes. As a social worker, Kaczka-Vallière witnesses first hand the negative impact of property taxes on the majority of ordinary people, especially the elderly. Some seniors are actually forced out of their homes, he says, because they cannot afford to pay a $3,000-4,000 annual property tax bill. “Most seniors struggle with day-the-day economic security. These individuals have spent their working lives giving to their families and our community, and continue to contribute to all of us in many ways,” argues Kaczka-Vallière. “I am committed to ending this unfair burden on people who literally cannot afford this expense.”

2. As a City Councilor, Kaczka-Vallière will address traffic, pollution, and unsafe streets. He has simple, cost-effective solutions to solve these problems. Kaczka-Vallière does not support the construction of new roads. “Roads are expensive to repair, and this is especially so in our typically cold climate,” he notes. He opposes the Champlain Parkway because of the long-term negative effects it will have on the city’s budget and on the environment. “If the goal is to save money, not spend more, I have a concrete alternative idea that will be both good for the neighborhoods and for local business,” he says. In place of building a new and expensive parkway, Kaczka-Vallière proposes an environmentally sound light rail system that will both create jobs, increase tourism and solve traffic problems.

3. As a City Councilor, Kaczka-Vallière will address men’s violence against women. “Men’s violence against women is serious social problem,” he says, “and male leaders in our community need to do more. Our community needs to know where every male leader stands on this issue.” He notes that the leading cause of death among pregnant women in this nation is murder by their male partners. Locally, 3,773 people called Women Helping Battered Women last year. “Male violence is the true name of the problem,” he notes, “in a society where 99.8 percent of convicted rapists are men.” Kaczka-Vallière will work to ensure Burlington becomes the safest city in the world for all women. “Addressing male violence is a political problem,” he argues, “not just a social phenomenon. That’s why the Green Party itself is based on principles of non-violence, social justice and feminism. The Green Party is a leader on this issue.”

4. As a City Councilor, Kaczka-Vallière will address inequity in local schools. “All children deserve to learn in suitable and equitable environments,” he says, “but busing, a recent suggestion, is not the answer.” He opposes this option because of the personal burden busing creates on children and families; the environmental burden caused by increased pollution and the economic burden of busing on school budgets.

“In fact, the Green Party believes in decentralization; that is how our school system should operate,” he says. “I am committed to improving the education of all children, especially those who have learning disabilities.”

Kaczka-Vallière’s Plan of Action

If elected, Kaczka-Vallière pledges to undertake three specific actions in his first year on the council.

1. Sponsoring a resolution calling upon the Vermont General Assembly to repeal and replace the statewide property tax. “Although largely a symbolic act, it will also make clear that this tax hurts seniors as well as ordinary people – homeowners and tenants alike. It is time for the largest City in Vermont to join the 52 other towns across Vermont who have called for property tax repeal,” he says.

2. Sponsoring a resolution calling on citizens to be active participants in the effort to address violence in the city. The resolution will specifically call upon men who witnessing other men’s violence against women to become vocal and active rather than passive supporters of other men’s violence and abuse of women.

3. Leading partners in an effort to create affordable housing in the city, which would result in diversifying and equalizing our schools.

To examine his campaign platform and action plan in greater detail visit voterene.org

Martin Luther King's Legacy

Wow. My second post wrote itself, too. Actually, someone wrote my second post, too, I should say.

I did not have time to write my own Martin Luther King, Jr. post today because I was really busy with home and homeschooling things, but this post on the new blog Two Know It Alls, the blog of the atheist couple I have been debating in the comments field on one of my posts for the last two weeks, really hits at the heart of what I wanted to say.

I'm not going to copy this one, so you have to hit the link.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: Conservative or Liberal?

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I planned to write a post about the difference between Dr. King's strategy for helping blacks and the current strategy employed by the party that really cares about blacks, the Democrats.

Fortunately for me, some posts just write themselves or, in this case, somebody writes them for me.

Here is an excellent column from Harry R. Jackson, Jr., which can be found here. This is better than I could have written. Give credit where credit is due. Go to the site, click on the ads, etc. For those of you who won't go to the link, you should really read this, so here it is.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr: Conservative or Liberal?
By Harry R. Jackson, Jr.
Monday, January 15, 2007

Both conservative and liberals quote Dr. King on this national holiday. Similar to the recent religious question – “What would Jesus do?” Many would-be social reformers attend to answer the question – “What would Martin do?”

Everything from legalizing gay marriage to withdrawal from Iraq have been couched in the terms: “Martin would have been for this!” The truth is that we can only take his speeches and writings and infer how he would have navigated the murky waters of the third millennium.

Therefore, before we start making pontifical statements about the nature of King’s direction, let’s review the history of which we are sure.

The first mass meeting of the Montgomery Improvement Association on December 5, 1955, attracted several thousand attendees. The newly elected president, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was bold enough to describe the dilemma of black bus passengers and Rosa Park’s heroic act of civil disobedience committed just four days before.

Aware that discussing these issues candidly could ignite bitter, violent outbursts, King appealed to the faith of the African-American community. He encouraged his listeners to believe in the power of biblical justice. King’s sermon went one step further than most of that day by encouraging them to act on their belief in divine justice and use the American tradition of legal protest.

During the next 30 days, King received 30 to 40 threatening letters or phone calls each day. King wrote in “Stride Towards Freedom” that one night he received an ominous phone call just as he was about to doze off to sleep. The caller promised that before seven days passed, King would be sorry that he ever came to Montgomery, Alabama.

By his own admission, King was afraid and offered a desperate prayer from his kitchen table. He felt as though he could hear an inner voice saying, stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.

Although King’s uncertainty disappeared, three days later his house was fire bombed. Steadied by his “kitchen prayer,” he boldly preached to the crowd that gathered outside of his badly damaged house. He sent them away with his own firebombs of love and faith instead a call to arms, riot or violent retaliation.

We celebrate Dr. King’s birthday not just because his courage and resolve advanced civil justice for blacks. His life was also a gift to all Americans. Today, his dream is a living legacy, which is still changing the nation.

There is no question that Dr. King was a great man. Yet he may not have been as unique as many would attempt to paint him. In all due respect to Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, and countless other civil rights luminaries, the black church was their spiritual mother. Each one of these leaders took their cues from the historic charter and mission that the Black church had set for itself.

Many excellent black churches commissioned their leaders to the dual role of biblical interpreter and social reformer. Just like the Old Testament prophets, black preachers have charged with the task of bringing a sense of divine justice to the social ills of their generation.

One strategic contribution was the church’s involvement in creating the first major black financial institutions: banks and life insurance companies. Black churches not only provided people with spiritual comfort and hope but also established an economic support system that served to lift their people.

The church emerged as a credible bridge to future financial power for financially cautious former slaves and their descendents. The church refused to wait for a government welfare agency or secular non-profit organizations to lead the way.

The black church remained vigilant through the years. Time and time again, she has risen up important leaders who were wedded to the unique needs of both their people and the American culture. For example, overcoming the devastation of the Great Depression was no easy task for anyone in America. Thankfully, new heroes arose in the black community to meet the challenge in the 1930s.

Some black churches held classes in the fundamentals of job seeking and household economics for people. In addition to public training, behind the scenes pastors negotiated access to jobs in hospitals, stores and schools. These jobs had been closed to blacks prior to that time.

Each generation has had several black leaders arise from the black church to innovatively guide its constituents. In light of this history, we return to the question – “What would Dr. King do today?”

King would most likely be a social conservative. He would attempt to protect families and the dignity of both working class people in the U.S. He would not ask big government’s permission to confront the Goliaths of poverty, crime, drug abuse and teen pregnancy that stalk urban America. King would rally local church leaders and begin to solve tangible problems through volunteerism.

Dr. King knew that the greatest obstacle to social advancement in both the black and the white communities is a lack of vision, courage and determination. In this regard King was like former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall who explained his enormous success in challenging the racially biased application of laws during the civil rights movement like this: “I did what I could with what I had.” Like Dr. King, that’s the best any of us can do.

Harry R. Jackson Jr. is founder and Chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition as well as author of The Warriors Heart: Rules of Engagement for the Spiritual War Zone.

I will try to post again later today with my own thoughts on Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Threat to Free Speech?

Is free speech, or worse, our ability to keep tabs on the Congress, at risk from a small section of a bill aimed at lobbying reform?

All of the Christian Right political groups have been on the horn today to get people to try and stop bill S.1 from passing with Section 220 intact - a section that would limit their ability to do just that.

The bill is a lobbying reform bill, and it is largely a great bill, they say, but Section 220 targets “paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying” - in other words, groups that contact the public in order to encourage the public to contact Congress about an issue.

Some groups that fall under this section claim that the bureaucratic red tape would severely limit their ability to keep the public informed and hold the Congress accountable to the people.

So far I have only seen right-wing groups, mostly Christian, speaking up about this, but if it is indeed a threat, the left should be concerned, too.

Apparently, the bill defines “grassroots lobbying firms” as any organization that encourages more than 500 members of the general public to contact Congress.

You can read the text of the bill here. You can also read the action alert from the American Family Association here, which summarizes why this is a potential problem for groups that keep the public informed of what Congress is doing.

The one thing I didn’t like about their communication was this: “Basically these new rules were written to isolate pro-family and conservative Christian organizations. Large corporations (which spend millions in lobbying expenses) would be exempt.”

If their characterization of the bill is correct, this is not a conservative Christian issue. This is an issue that affects grass-roots groups on the left and the right.

When people asked for Congress to reform lobbying, I don't think they wanted restrictions on grass-roots organizing.

Don't Forget...

I just want to take a minute to remind everyone of the She's Right Compassionate Cause for January: Blood:Water Mission.

Click here to make a donation to help build clean wells in Africa. Any amount helps.

And it's Bono approved!

Quote: "As a fan, I don't think anyone has had a bigger voice than the activists in Jars of Clay."

For your convenience, the current month's Compassionate Cause can always be found at the bottom of the side-bar.

WTF?

The criminal justice system in this state is really messed up. I just want to know if there is any rhyme or reason to what our justice system does - and I use the word justice loosely.

Here is the charming story of Kyle Berthiaume, a 17-year old young man, who repeatedly raped a 7-year old girl in the care of his mother's home daycare, at least 15 times over the period of two years. He will serve not a day behind bars because the victim forgives him.

The mother of the victim says, "The more that we hold onto the anger in us, then the more it's going to hurt us and keep us in bondage. So we needed to just let go and forgive and keep our focus on getting Kyle the help that he needs."

Umm, yeah. That's a great attitude for you and your daughter's healing. Good for you. Now the state needs to step up and do its job. (That would be punishing people who commit horrendous crimes against innocent little girls.)

If this guy had raped 15 different girls, instead of the same girl 15+ times, he would be considered a serial rapist. Yet, since his single victim forgives him, there is no punitive component to his sentence.

I was almost forgot to blog about this until I read this story. Here you have the story of Melanie Hackett, a 24-year old teacher's aid, who had sex with a 13-year old student. Setting aside the question of why on earth a grown woman would want to have sex with a 13-year old, I have to ask, what gives? The judge wouldn't give her a 6-month sentence, even though the victim and his family wanted it.

Is it wrong to want some consistency in our justice system?

I guess my real outrage is at the sentence that 17-year old received. The teacher's aid probably should serve more than 6 months. While they are at it, get her some therapy, too. I just can't understand how 6 months can be viewed as too little by the same system that decided this guy should serve no time at all.

Oddly enough, Berthiaume was a student and Hackett an aid at Missisquoi Valley Union High School. There must be something in the water up there.

It's That Time, Again!

This is my favorite time of year - Town Meeting - which is Vermont-speak for local elections. I will have local politics posts regularly for the next two months, but not exclusively.

Next Friday, January 19, Haik Bedrosian of BurlingtonPol.com will be on "She's Right," on Channel 17 at 5:25pm, to talk about blogging and the local elections in Burlington.

Haik attended the Green Party and Democratic Party caucuses on Sunday and has a post about them here and some pictures here.

In other local election news, Burlington will have a ballot question about a new 9/11 investigation.

"Shall Vermont's Congressional Delegation be advised to demand a new, thorough, and truly independent forensic investigation that fully addresses the many questions surrounding the tragic events of September 11, 2001?"

John Briggs has the low-down here in the Burlington Free Press. (That link only works for one week.)

Who Will Replace Jim Barnett?

I just read that Rob Roper is running for State Republican Party Chair. Roper is currently involved in the Vermont chapter of Freedom Works - the lower taxes, less government activist group formed by Dick Armey.

This could be a great day for the Republican Party. Hey, maybe a small state can lead the nation. One can only hope.

You can read the article here. I will be back with more commentary when I am feeling better!

VT Legislature Back in Session

Updated.
Updated again on 1/8/07.

So, the Vermont Legislature is back in session. They have only been there for two days and there are already 14 bills, (whoops, I meant 24, but now they are already up to 41!) that have been introduced. Look forward to laws about swimming pool fences and having to get a license for mineral prospecting. The legislature doesn't think we have enough laws to follow yet.

An anonymous commenter has made the case that the mineral prospecting bill was a bad example of a trivial bill. I admit that I threw this post up in a hurry when I wasn't feeling well, but my point still stands that we need to keep an eye on these guys. Read my comments for more discussion. For the record, the # of bills is up to 54 in just one week!

Is it me or does it seem like these guys have too much time on their hands? I say we cut it back to bi-annual. Last session there were 1,215 bills introduced! In a state of around 500,000 people!

And this year, they are really taking themselves too seriously. Check out this headline: "Legislature convenes with call for Vermont to offer global leadership."

I decided I should add a category for Vermont politics. I think I'll keep a closer eye on these guys this year.

Stay tuned!

Things Said by Atheists...(Epilogue)

I had a few more closing thoughts about this series of posts after I went to bed last night. The impetus for this series was that I wanted to start a "debate" with JD Ryan, but I also wanted to bring up the common claims made by atheist bloggers and other writers that I find faulty.

I am not expecting to convince anyone to believe in God based on my own personal "coincidences" and seemingly flaky brain chemistry. I wasn't trying to. That would be like expecting a toddler, who has just learned the alphabet, to teach others to read. Someday she will be able to, but not today.

I related some of my personal experiences because that is how I write. When I used to write a column for the local paper, my regular readers knew many details about my life. I met one woman once, who felt like she practically knew me, as I am sure many of my regular blog readers feel. That's just who I am and how I write.

The one thing I learned is that atheists and Christians (probably other theists, too) speak two different languages. There is a lot of preaching to the choirs, but not a lot of communication across groups. I admit the title could have been less confrontational, but the point is still valid: there are many assumptions made by atheists about theists that are not true. To restate these again and again only detracts from the strength of one's case.

When I read something written by an atheist and I come across any of the things I discussed in this series, I am inclined to dismiss the rest of the piece out of hand. Maybe I should have titled this series, "How Atheists Can Make Better Arguments," but why would I want to help them do that? ; )

To re-cap for people just coming upon this:

Part one:
- Introduction to the series
- the only reason people are Christians is because their parents were.

Part two:
- that religion relies on a "blind faith" and a lack of questioning and skepticism.
- that religion discourages people to think for themselves.

Part three:
- "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
- religious people are living for the afterlife.

Part four:
- that getting rid of religion will get rid of the crazies.
- Christians only do good for the selfish reason of scoring points with God.
- the notion that science disproves God.
- whether or not God is necessary for morality.
- people only believe in God because they are ignorant.

Things Said by Atheists That Are Untrue or Otherwise Irritating (part four)

For all of you who are not into the religion debates, I am sorry for going back into fundie mode, but I need to address a few more points in this discussion I am having with J.D.Ryan of Five Before Chaos. Also, check out part one, part two, and part three.

I am going to try and wrap this series up with a few straggling points that haven't been addressed.

Today, I was reading a post that was given the Rudest Atheist Post of 2006 honor by five before chaos. It was mostly a rant against all of the bad, murderous things that fanatical religious belief leads to. It brought me to realize another thing that atheists say that is untrue or otherwise irritating. Atheists seem to think that getting rid of religion will get rid of the crazies.

Understand this. There will always be crazy people and they will latch onto whatever they can to justify their craziness, but that does not make religion at its core nothing more than a vehicle for creating crazies. Take away religion and you can always find some other thing that will drive the crazies. History is full of examples. Can you say, "communism"?

Heck, I know some atheists who would gladly kill all religious adherents if the law was on their side to carry such an action out.

There are also a lot of good things that people do in the name of religion. Would the same people who condemn the whole concept of religion for the times it is used as a justification for bad things also praise religion for the times it is used as a justification for good things? No. Of course not.

In fact, Christians are criticized for doing good because they are really just doing good to score points with God, which is selfish, unlike atheists, who do good because they are good. This is another untrue thing that atheists say, or at least, don't get.

Here's how it works. (Of course, this is my version and there are so many different belief systems all calling themselves Christian that it is very confusing.)

For starters, I really don't like people. Seriously. They are rude, obnoxious, self-centered, loud, smelly, and take up too much space. I like my space. I don't like people.

But God likes people. Actually, God loves people. Even people like J.D. Ryan. He loves us all. Even the Muslims. Even the New Agers. (No seriously.) Even the Red Sox fans. (I'm kidding. I don't even watch baseball.) God loves people. Why? I don't know. He just does.

I love God. He rocks. Even more so than geeky husbands. I love God more than anything. Even blogging.

I want to use my life to do God's work, to be His hands and feet, as we say. God wants to show people that He loves them, ergo, I must show people that God loves them. Except, I don't tell people that God loves them because that tends to freak people out. I just do things to help them even if I don't want to.

Is that selfish? Not really. I don't need to help people to get to Heaven, or whatever. I am saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone. I just want to serve God because, well, because I have a deep, burning passion for Him. He is awesome.

It's kind of like if I knew my husband wanted me to do something and I really didn't feel like it. I would do it anyway because I love him. Not for a selfish reason or because I would expect something in return. Just because I love him and I like to do things to make him happy. He's the same way with me. That's part of the reason I love my husband. He's a great guy.

I feel the same way about God. He's a great God. I love Him. I want to do things for Him. He wants me to love people.

That's it. Jesus said that all of the other commandments hang on these two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and Love your neighbor as yourself. (Darn. I said I wasn't going to quote the Bible. Well, that was a paraphrase.)

To change gears, since I got kind of out of hand with the Bible quoting and all, I want to address two final points.

First, the notion that science disproves God. This is a funny one because some science lovers say that the two are separate (as to not cause the religious folk to come after science), but then the anti-god-ers come along and say that they are not separate (and use science as a weapon against faith). I have heard atheists from both perspectives, so I don't want to lump them all together (unless the ones that say God and science are separate are lying).

In his post "Science Must Destroy Religion," outspoken atheist Sam Harris says that, "The conflict between religion and science is inherent and (very nearly) zero-sum. The success of science often comes at the expense of religious dogma; the maintenance of religious dogma always comes at the expense of science."

The only conflict there is between science and religion is the conflict between religious people who fear science and scientific people who fear religion, or rather, people who fear religion and view science as the means of destroying it.

I am a "religious" person (meaning I live my life according to a faith, though I don't really care for that word because it implies a legalistic adherence to ritual and tradition that is not really necessary for a relationship with God), but I am not afraid of science. I homeschool my kids, but I do not keep them from secular science materials (and even history materials contain an evolutionary perspective). In fact, I took this book out of the library for my kids just yesterday. The first chapter is entitled, "Man or ape?" and explains how humans evolved.

Do I believe that? No. I believe God made man as man.

Does that mean that I find no value in science? No. Science is very valuable for understanding our world and it leads to discoveries that make our lives better. It is, however, based on things that can be seen and measured, which God cannot be, so it excludes this very influential piece of the puzzle. Science makes assumptions about the past based on what is known or true now. As with any logic-based discipline, if any of the premises are faulty, the conclusions are flawed. Just the same, it is important to learn and understand science. To try to infuse it with religion would not work. So, it has to be "godless."

That doesn't mean that one cannot use one's own capacity for reasoning to look at the science and identify the assumptions that would not hold if God was in the equation. This process is the responsibility of parents and the religious community though, not the schools.

The bottom line is that science cannot destroy God and believers need not fear that it will. God is bigger than that. More importantly, they need not try to destroy, or weaken, science education in the process.

The last thing I want to touch on is the question of whether or not God is necessary for morality. I do not doubt that an atheist can be a "good" person. I was an atheist for most of my life and I was a good person. I never stole, or lied, or cheated, or killed anyone. I worked hard and was more or less responsible. I did not need a code of ethics from a divine being to be a good citizen. Even though, as I said, I don't so much like people, I was not mean or rude to them and was even helpful of my own free will on occasion.

People can know right from wrong with out religion for the most part, but when right and wrong are subjective, it is easy to reason ourselves into dark waters.

We can justify stealing when a poor man steals food for his children. We can justify lying when a woman lies to her abusive boyfriend to keep him from hurting her. We can justify killing an otherwise healthy and viable fetus when it would be inconvenient to the mother for it to be born.

People can justify just about anything. People even use their religion to justify bad things that are clearly condemned by their religion. People are good at making excuses, whether they are religious or not.

Moral relativism is dangerous because there is no standard by which to judge things. Even though humans will continue to miss the mark when it comes to God's plan for us, it serves as a baseline for evaluating our own behavior.

I don't use my value system to judge other people. That is actually condemned by the Bible. I use it as my guide to make my own life easier.

I once heard this great teaching series on a Christian radio program that I listen to online called, "Living on the Edge." They did a series on the Ten Commandments and how they are a guide to living a life of minimal suffering here on earth; kind of like God's instruction book for a good life.

It is amazing how much pain we cause ourselves when we violate God's laws. Some theologians even believe that Hell is actually the state we create for ourselves when we reject God, as opposed to the dated idea of an actual place where pain and suffering is imposed. We don't need a tormentor to suffer in a hell of our own creation.

Non-religious codes of morality are based on not hurting other people, but the amount of harm we cause ourselves is far greater. All of the "sins" I needed to confess when I accepted Jesus were things that were harmful to only myself and fully accepted by our secular society.

So, yeah, one can be an ethical person without God, but I have learned that God's way is really better.

Okay, I sound like I am evangelizing again, so I will wrap this up.

On a final note, the thing that atheists say that is the most untrue is that people only believe in God because they are ignorant. This is note true at all. If there is something that you think I do not know, or haven't thought about, that would make me reexamine my beliefs, please let me know. God has not called me to a life of ignorance.

Another Reason Why Geeky Husbands Rock

My husband e-mailed me this really cool add-on for Firefox today. It's called "Morning Coffee." When you click on it (or you can set it to fire up upon opening the browser) it opens each of the websites you put in your list in separate tabs. The coolest thing is that you can set different sites for different days. You choose the frequency when you add the site - everyday, one specific day of the week day, MWF, T/TH, weekdays, or weekends.

This will be awesome for me because I have a list of websites I check whenever I get a chance to read blogs. Instead of going down the list to open each one, I just click on the little coffee cup icon in Firefox and they all open in tabs. I can also add the sites I check rarely on to only one day's morning coffee setting.

On a Microsoft sucks worse than I thought side-note, I finally figured out why my Outlook 2003 won't let me open links in e-mail. I have Firefox set as my default browser. When I change it back to Internet Explorer, the links open fine. Those bastards!

If you are not already using Firefox, you should check it out. The add-ons rock.

In Local News...

This is getting to be a little freaky, but this is the second accident that happened right in front of me. Luckily, this happened just before I got there, otherwise, I would have seen an SUV fall right in front of me from the interstate overpass.

That would have been a bummer.

Man injured when SUV rolls off Interstate 89 in Colchester

Published: Tuesday, January 2, 2007
COLCHESTER - One man has been injured in a dramatic one-car accident at the intersection of Interstate 89 and U.S. 7 at exit 16 in Colchester, according to Free Press staff writer John Briggs, who was at the scene, and Vermont State Police.

David A. Pelkey, 30, had been driving a green SUV southbound on I-89 at about 1 p.m., when his vehicle veered off into the center median, struck a concrete drainage abutment and catapulted over the overpass, on to U.S. 7, said Briggs, who spoke to Williston State Police.

Williston State Trooper Greg Campbell said Pelkey was conscious and alert when he was removed from his vehicle and transported to Fletcher Allen Health Care.

Briggs said Pelkey's SUV, which had been traveling at about 70 mph at the time of the accident, came to a rest on its side near a curb on U.S. 7. Its roof was ripped off. A shoe and a case of unopened grape juice were lying in the vehicle.

Northbound and southbound traffic on U.S. 7 was tied up for more than an hour because of the accident.

Police and fire crews, including rescue vehicles from Winooski, Colchester and Mallets Bay responded to the scene. Northbound traffic was backed up about a mile, to downtown Winooski.

Trooper Campbell said the cause of the accident is still unclear. Police said there were no skid marks on the Interstate and no sign that there was another vehicle involved in the crash.

Curious About Homeschooling?

As you know, I homeschool my kids. We started doing this at the start of the 2005-2006 school year.

When I first started, I knew nothing about the diversity of families homeschooling and the many different methods they use. It's a common stereotype that a right-winger such as myself would homeschool, but seriously, we are a diverse bunch. (And here in B-Town, most of the homeschoolers I meet are hard-core lefties.)

If you are curious about the homeschooling world, I encourage you to check out the Carnival of Homeschooling. It is a collection of links to posts from different homeschooling blogs around the blogosphere.

This is the first anniversary of the carnival. Stop on over and check it out.

The War in Iraq is Not a Graphic Novel

I usually don't talk about my kids here on She's Right because, well, if you wanted to read about my kids, you would read my homeschooling blog, but tonight we were talking with my 8-year-old son about the war in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the boys were in public school when the war started, so it is not one of those things we can shelter them from while we let them be innocent kids for just a little bit longer. No, sadly, they got to hear all about it from their first- and second-grade classmates.

Even more unfortunately, kids at that age cannot understand the intricacies involved in the politics of war.

You see, age 8 is during the superhero phase. That time when a young boy still wants to save the world and hasn't yet realized that he can't. His toy chest is filled with Power Rangers and other action figures. His room is adorned with posters and bedding of spider-man and batman. He's even recently taken to checking out graphic novels at the library, which is the grown up word for "comic book."

Tonight he wanted to know why the United States can't help everyone in the world that is being unfairly oppressed (my term, not his).

We said that we just can't do that.

But, he reasoned, we went into Iraq to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Well, we tried to explain, not everyone thinks we should be in Iraq and depending on how many people think we should leave, we might leave. In the US, we make decisions together by voting, so if most people want us to leave, we will.

But what will happen when the bad people try to take over? We have to stop them. There was a look of desperation in his eyes.

How do you tell an 8-year-old that it is not that simple? How do you explain that the majority of Americans want to pull out our troops and leave the Iraqis to fend for themselves amidst the onslaught of insurgents?

For starters, why don't you just explain it to me. Then maybe I will be able to put it in terms he can understand. It's kind of hard when I don't understand it myself.

Don't tell me that we shouldn't have gone in there in the first place.

Don't tell me how bad it is over there.

Don't tell me that Bush should be impeached.

Don't tell me that you don't like the situation that we are in over there because none of us do.

Tell me how we can - now, today, in the situation we are currently in - pull out and leave the Iraqis to fend for themselves.

And, take my advice, try to avoid the topic of war around 8-year-olds.

Compassionate Cause for January 2007

The She's Right Compassionate Cause for January is Blood:Water Mission.

This group is "committed to clean blood and clean water to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to build clean wells in Africa, to support medical facilities caring for the sick, to make a lasting impact in the fight against poverty, injustice and oppression in Africa through the linking of needs, talents and continents, of people and resources."

Currently, they are working on the 1000 Wells Project.

1000 Wells Project

• Did you know that millions of Africans lack access to clean water?


• Did you know that people living with HIV/AIDS are dependent on clean water to survive?


• Did you know that $1 provides one year of clean water for an African?

Please consider giving a donation to the Blood:Water Mission. It is very easy to donate online by going to this link.