Bill-O'-Notes® » Politics

FLATUS TAXUS! $700K Taxes to Study Cow Burps?

Bill O'Neill — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 00:48:51 +0000

Oh, waiter? Belching bovines, Batman! Seven hundred thousand dollars in federal tax money to study burping cattle? Really? As a friend of mine just remarked, “Meanwhile back at the ranch I am looking for loans to send my kid to school.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. “Cows emit most of their methane through belching, only a small fraction from flatulence,” said the project’s principal investigator, Ruth Varner of UNH’s Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space. Pass the Lea & Perrons. Instead. The Manchester Union Leader reports that we are going to fund nearly three quarters of a million dollars in research to the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH to study burping cattle. While I enjoy a belching bovine as much as the next guy, would we not be better off putting a cork in that project for a decade or so just to see how it all, well, works out in the end? Oh, I can hear the naysayers: “How many more must perish before this great nation of ours recognizes our grievous irresponsibility in this matter as we pass gas to the generation of our great grandchildren?” Pass the Lea & Perrons. Indeed.

Peter Shumlin, You’re Confusing Me

Bill O'Neill — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 01:28:58 +0000

Mr. Shumlin, you are confusing me. In tonight’s mail you sent me two large, glossy color cardboard mailings for your candidacy for Vermont governor. One mailing is a photo of a pouting little girl writing with her pencil. The slogan? “If Brian Dubie wins, she loses.” The other mailing from you? It’s a woman with a fiery stare and the words, “Brian Dubie thinks abortion should be illegal” and “Brian Dubie will endanger our freedom and our health.” Your shell game is shell-shocking, Mr. Shumlin. So, Mr. Shumlin, you claim that if PRO-LIFE candidate Brian Dubie wins, then young life “loses”? How can you as the pro-abortion candidate point the finger of endangerment to “health and freedom” to the pro-life candidate? With a straight face? There is nothing more protecting of young life than advocating that they get the chance to breathe air in the first place. All of this is about as inconsistent as your position on “saving” $40(M) million in tax dollars by early release of prisoners spending NEW tax money up front in order to do that, AND also spending $33M from the “savings of $40M to start early childhood education programs. Your shell game is shell-shocking, Continue reading →

Senator Boxer Entitled to Her Title?

Bill O'Neill — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:51:31 +0000

Senator Barbara Boxer has worked so hard for her title. Perhaps it is time to give her a rest? I’ve worked so hard for that title. Call Me Senator from RightChange on Vimeo The question remains, is Senator Boxer entitled to her title? Her constituents will decide in November.

Shumlin Should Have Brought Ice Cream

Bill O'Neill — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:17:09 +0000

Video: Vermont gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin (D) poorly executes his lame attempt at a surprise visit on the headquarters of challenger Brian Dubie (R) prior to a scheduled broadcast debate nearby. Swing and big miss for Shumlin but you be the judge. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzaOmTwsI48 Notice Shumlin, flanked by rolling cameras (statewide TV news) and others in this obvious set-up intended to embarrass an unprepared challenger. Dubie was not at the location when Shumlin arrived with a box of central casting donuts. Also, notice the Dubie spokesperson who steps up and hits out the talking points and then hands the copy to Dubie’s challenger and then generously offers Shumlin some Dubie bumper stickers. She did everything but offer him a fresh diaper for the walk over to the debate. It looks like someone at Brian Dubie’s office got a heads-up call in order to have a video camera rolling and aiming at the door as Shumlin came it. Judging by the entourage of supporters and media, the parking lot activity was likely not difficult to notice from within the Dubie campaign office. Politics is a full-contact sport but Peter Shumlin played it like flag scrimmage.

Joy Jones for VT State Rep

Bill O'Neill — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:53:45 +0000

I’m supporting Joy Jones for Vermont State Representative in Addison-Rutland 1 serving the towns of Shoreham, Whiting, Orwell and Benson. I hope you will too. Open publication – Free publishing – More vermont

Vermont not “OK” with cross

Bill O'Neill — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 04:18:35 +0000

Do you know what makes this “Vermont” story all that more interesting to me? I had to go to an “Oklahoma” news source to find it. Greetings from Vermont.
The battle is on between religious freedom and land use laws around the country. The Oklahoman reports in NewsOK that here in Vermont a couple of Roman Catholics wish to maintain an illuminated cross of substantial size, twenty four feet, at a chapel they built for their very large family and the general public. State and local authorities say “no.”

Hey, I tried

Bill O'Neill — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:46:30 +0000

I serve on the Union District 3 school board here in Vermont. It serves the Middlebury Union High School and Middlebury Union Middle School which encompasses the town of Middlebury plus other area towns within the Addison Central Supervisory Union (ACSU) here in the southern Champlain Valley in Vermont. I am the Shoreham representative to the 12 member board. The other night I made some remarks about the need to reduce the proposed budget we would be sending to the voters on Town Meeting Day in March. Here is some audio of my remarks a the meeting. Six minutes – okay, I’m long-winded. Audio courtesy of Middlebury Community Television. This article by John Flowers of the Addison Independent has a good run-down of the events and frames the issue well: UD-3 board declines to revisit budget The motion failed 7-5. The $16M budget will go to the voters across the district on Town Meeting Day the first Tuesday in March.

Happy Birthday America

Bill O'Neill — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:01:14 +0000

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, Continue reading →

Libby's Quick Commute, or, Scooter Commuter

Bill O'Neill — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:37:35 +0000

In the wake of President Bush’s prison sentence commutation for “Scooter” Libby, we are wise to revisit President Clinton’s explanation, published in the NY Times, of the 100+ presidential pardons that he granted on the eve of his leaving office. Clinton writes, “On Jan. 20, 2001, I granted 140 pardons and issued 36 commutations. During my presidency, I issued a total of approximately 450 pardons and commutations, compared to 406 issued by President Reagan during his two terms. During his four years, President Carter issued 566 pardons and commutations, while in the same length of time President Bush granted 77. President Ford issued 409 during the slightly more than two years he was president.” Is President Bush likely to put forth many pardons and commutations? This question is addressed here at Jurist Legal Intelligence FAQ reply. In it, the author(s) opines: “No. For one thing, his father issued very few (77) when he was in office. For another, during his prior term as Governor of Texas, George W. issued fewer pardons than any Texas Governor since the 1940s (16 up to January 2000, as opposed to 70 for his immediate predecessor Ann Richards, 822 for 2-term governor Bill Clements, and Continue reading →