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Tax Cuts aren’t Partisan when Hatred is Removed
By Rob Roper, State Director of FreedomWorks-Vermont. More at www.freedomworks.org/vermont (07/24/06) "It has been gratifying to watch the debate in Vermont papers about tax cuts and how they have proven to effectively raise government revenues. That the final if begrudging concession by the Times Argus editorial page, 'Score one for President Bush…' came on my birthday, was particularly satisfying."

Vermont Faces a Demographic Free Fall
By Tom Licata (07/24/06) "In The Gathering Storm, Winston Churchill’s stated purpose was 'to show how easily the tragedy of the Second World War could have been prevented.'  In Churchill’s time, as now, a storm was brewing but "people were viewing it and not doing anything".  An economic storm is brewing in Vermont."

Modern Day Journalist Versus Old Time Values: The Search for Ernie Pyle
By Phil Kiver, Author of 182 Days in Iraq  (07/24/06) "….Even in the dark hours after D-Day when Pyle wrote about the horrible death and destruction along the beach, the troops were already inland. America was winning! Pyle was there to relate those important facts to America. Today’s journalists seem to take pleasure in reporting when Americans are losing. Often completely ignoring positive stories that take place on a daily basis…"

Editors Note: This piece is longer than usual (about 6000 words), but Phil Kiver’s perspective as a soldier and journalist in Iraq coupled with his appreciation for history is invaluable. This is a refreshing, must read! We look forward to sharing more of Phil Kiver’s writing in TrueNorthRadio.Com in the future.Related: 182 Days in Iraq

Controlling Education Costs: Solution Five
By John McClaughry, President of the Ethan Allen Institute. More at www.ethanallen.org. (07/24/06) "The biennial election season is upon us, and there is no shortage of candidates keen on showing the voters that they feel the pain of soaring property taxes. When it comes to actually doing something about it, most candidates fall strangely silent...."

Tax relief debate divides Statehouse
By Louis Porter, Times Argus, July 18, 2006
"…. nearly everyone agrees on the problem — that taxes and school spending are too high. But again, as with the two-year fracas over adopting a government health system or maintaining a private one, this time Democrats and Douglas don't agree on how to sort it out. Residents will just have to hope that in the end they make a deal that works….

Teach to impeach: Events nationwide aim to educate public about impeachment
By Kathryn Casa, Vermont Guardian, July 14, 2006
"….Impeachment teach-ins have been organized in more than 100 U.S. communities, including three in Vermont — Waitsfield, Burlington, and Brattleboro — where they are precursors to a month-end impeachment organizing effort featuring anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan…."

Related -- Pacifists versus Peace
by Thomas Sowell, July 21, 2006
"….'Peace' movements don't bring peace but war…. The most catastrophic result of 'peace' movements was World War II. While Hitler was arming Germany to the teeth, 'peace' movements in Britain were advocating that their own country disarm 'as an example to others.' ….British Labor Party Members of Parliament voted consistently against military spending and British college students publicly pledged never to fight for their country. If 'peace' movements brought peace, there would never have been World War II. Not only did that war lead to tens of millions of deaths, it came dangerously close to a crushing victory for the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese empire in Asia…."

Montpelier teacher disciplined
Free Press Staff Report, July 22, 2006
"A Montpelier elementary school behavioral specialist [bold, italics added] has been disciplined for pulling a developmentally disabled student across a carpeted floor and causing the student to suffer a carpet burn…."
 

Campaign ‘06

Filing period ends with full slate of candidates
By Darren M. Allen Vermont Press Bureau, July 18, 2006
...By Tuesday, Sept. 5, voters need to register in order to vote in the primaries — and minor party and independent candidates need to file their intentions to run in the Nov. 7 general election....

Democrats plan $600,000 ad buy in Vermont
By Darren M. Allen Vermont Press Bureau, July 21, 2006
"Democratic congressional candidate Peter Welch is expected to be the beneficiary of more than $600,000 worth of television advertising between mid-September and the election in an effort by national Democrats to "do what it takes" to ensure his victory…."

Rain Washes Out McCain Visit
By Kristin Carlson, Channel 3 News, July 22, 2006
"….McCain's plane could not land in the bad weather, a clear disappointment for Rainville, whose campaign had hoped the visit would boost her bid for the U.S. House…"
 

Elsewhere

Central Park: The Oil for Food scandal yields its first conviction
By Claudia Rosett, WSJ Opinion Journal, July 20, 2006 
"While the United Nations frames its next response to crisis in the Middle East, its last grand venture in that region--Oil for Food--has finally resulted in a guilty verdict in open court. Last Thursday, a high-rolling, globe-trotting South Korean businessman named Tongsun Park was convicted in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to launder money and act as an unregistered agent of Saddam Hussein's Iraq…. Prosecutors argued that he used this foothold to help Saddam corrupt the 1996-2003 Oil for Food program from the start, the aim being to undermine the U.N. sanctions and ultimately remove them altogether. In return, Mr. Park got at least $2.5 million from Iraq, with a promise of millions more to come…."

United Nations Eyes Global Taxes, Senate May Act
By Richard Rahn, July 20, 2006
"….The U.N. crowd has proposed an international tax on aviation fuel, a tax on airline tickets, taxes on international currency transactions, carbon use taxes, including a 4.8-cent tax on each gallon of gasoline, and other taxes on an extensive range of transactions, goods and services…. Sens. James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, and Ben Nelson, Nebraska Democrat, also seeing the threat to national sovereignty and global economic prosperity, have introduced a bipartisan bill known as the "Protection Against United Nations Taxation Act of 2006" (S.3633)."

Related -- Statement by Senator Patrick Leahy In Support of Additional UN Peacekeeping Funds - Senate Floor - May 3, 2006

Republicans Propose National School Voucher Program
By Diana Jean Schemo, New York Times, July 19, 2006
"With Education Secretary Margaret Spellings joining them in a show of support, Congressional Republicans proposed Tuesday to spend $100 million on vouchers for low-income students in chronically failing public schools around the country to attend private and religious schools…."

Have You Hugged a Hummer Today?
Hybrid vehicles' overall energy costs exceed those of comparable non-hybrids. By Shikha Dalmia, Reason, July 19, 2006
"…. But despite all these drawbacks, hybrids are at least better for the environment than say….. a Hummer, right? Nope. [Art] Spinella spent two years on the most comprehensive study to date – dubbed "Dust to Dust" -- collecting data on the energy necessary to plan, build, sell, drive and dispose of a car from the initial conception to scrappage…. Comparing this data, the study concludes that overall hybrids cost more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles…. But even more surprising, smaller hybrids' energy costs are greater than many large, non-hybrid SUVs."