Ethan Allen lives!

Be sure to catch Jim Hogue's stirring live performance celebrating Vermont's mythical founding father.

Secession is the Answer

Sent by Travis Hannon
Harwood Union High School;
Mad River Valley, Vermont

In 1776 a document was written and signed. This document was a symbol of freedom and liberty, at least for the rich white, land owners. The document was called the United States Declaration of Independence. A year later, in 1777, a Constitution was created. I'm not talking about the United States Constitution, but the Vermont Constitution. It was formed with forward thinking liberal ideas, the same liberal ideas that we need to have today. However, the United States government has lost sight of those ideas, and there is not much hope for them changing.

Rob's Note - I've never much cared for Garrison Keillor's stuff, until I saw last summer's film by Robert Altman (may he rest in peace) about the "Prairy Home Companion."

And now, the man from Minnesota has won my heart. Read on..

40 states is plenty

Who needs Wyoming, Utah, Texas or Vermont? Senate seats should go to states that matter.

By Garrison Keillor

Nov. 15, 2006 | I'm sitting under a banyan tree in Honolulu with a big glass of pomegranate juice, and the sea is glittering and surfers are skimming in on low waves, and the election is over, so let's all relax and quit irritating each other. OK? Nancy Pelosi, the she-wolf from Sodom, is about to become the madam of the House, so you Republicans just get over it. Cash in your blue chips and invest in gold ingots and maybe real estate in Costa Rica. The black helicopters have landed. Live with it.

> Beheaded
>
>
> you barely feel it
> and when it's over
> there's no more fuss
>
> you have new friends
> and can affect a status
> unbefuddled by thought
>
> it's your lucky day really
> you can whirl in absolutes
> and lurch in gratifications
>
> I truly recommend it
> doctors have made reports
> nations have adopted codes
>
> so just stop the bother
> and bend over
> everybody's doing it
>
>
> Peter Buknatski
> Montpelier, Vt. (Over 10 Billion Candles Sold!)
>
>
> This poetic infomercial was brought to you by:
>
> The Department of Homeland Security
> The Republican National Committee

(We do the same things to the planet that we do to women, so what's all the fuss about?)

Global Warming

you're in a mood
now and of course
it is something
I've done

can we work this out?
can we just move on?

I will not change
nor make choices
I am only me

you will show
how you give
and I take

you will threaten
that our time
has run out

and hurl accusations

but I can bear that
it's what I do now
what I've learned

your love was safe

I never thought
we could come
to such a state

there was an eternity

but now you make
demands I cannot
comprehend

Press Conference

I think you seem to
misunderstand what I'm
not really saying in
the context of history
rather than what is no
longer relevant or true.

There is more to look
at beyond what is
obviously supposed.
There is air and there
is emptiness. Shadows
move slowly, if at all.

When was the last time
all hope seceded?
I have no reports
contradicting the studies
made of them. Stones
that gave us signs
have been mislaid.

Should we panic those
already terrified? Can
we torture the sacrifice
on the altar of love?
I have no comment.
Light bothers my eyes
whenever I look.

Book Review:

Rob Williams on Thomas J. DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War

“The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of all the States; in uniting together they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. . . . If one of the states chooses to withdraw from the compact, it would be difficult to disapprove its right of doing so, and the Federal Government would have no means of maintaining its claims directly either by force or right.”

Alexis de Tocqueville

Where There's A Will, There's A Weapon: Lord Of War
written by Rob Williams

Meet international businessman Yuri Orlov. Son of working class Ukrainian immigrants who opened a restaurant in Big Apple's Little Odessa, Yuri has achieved the “American Dream.” He's got a glamorous wife. A handsome son. A posh penthouse. An impressive collection of three pieces, sunglasses, and suitcases for every occasion. He only has one little problem.

Yuri is an international arms dealer.

At first, Yuri (played with customary deadpan charm by Nicholas Cage) doesn't see anything wrong with his chosen line of work. Like so many others who profit from other people's misery, he constructs elaborate rationales for his behavior. Like the NRA says - Guns don't kill people, right? He's simply a businessman fulfilling a need. “There are 550 million firearms in the world, one for every twelve people,” he observes at film's beginning. “The only question is – how do we arm the other eleven?”

Dying With America

Empires and men come and go
Some last longer than life
Some get cut down at Moscow

Sixty years is merely in-between
And it doesn't look good
For the long haul

Looking east to the sun
I can see at horizon's curve
That the end is rising

Farewell to me and my empire
Just let me live to see the day
And not a moment longer

Peter Buknatski
Montpelier, Vt. (home of the 2000 yard silent stare)

BOOK REVIEW: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins

By Rob Williams

Every once in a while, a book comes along that confirms one's suspicions about the way the world really works. John Perkins's Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is such a book. What is an EHM? Perkins explains:

Economic hit men are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM.