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...
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Politics
Vermont not “OK” with cross
Hey, I tried
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.
Bill O'Neill remarks to revisit budget at UD3 meeting 1/12/10 [ 6:28 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Happy Birthday America
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.
Libby's Quick Commute, or, Scooter Commuter
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 →