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True
North Archives - February 16, 2010
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Featured
Articles
Manchester
Presentation (PowerPoint)
By Tom Licata & Hugh
Kemper
This is a presentation given
by Vermonters for Economic Health at a "Town Meeting Forum" in Manchester,
organized by the local Manchester Tea Party group.
With nearly 100 people coming
out on a Sunday afternoon, it demonstrated the hunger folks are beginning
to display for truthful and honest economic information.
James
Ehlers’ Response to the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (pdf)
We here at Livin’ find it
interesting that the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources comforts the public
with regard to its permitted human septage-spreading procedures by telling
us this effluent contains fewer pathogens than the livestock manure that
it permits to be spread. That’s odd: Don’t mind our human waste, but that
cow manure … that’ll getcha. If the state is so confident that tourists
don’t, how come the state is not boasting of how clean our human septage
is and advertising where tourists can witness this technology so they can
see just how "green" Vermont really is? We are pretty sure there is a convenient
stop on the way from a bear factory to an ice cream store, just off the
interstate. At least it smells like it. Should we "infer" from this that
the pump-out truck did not hit enough bumps on the way to sufficiently
mix in the lime? We look forward to Vermont resorts boasting on the internet
of their human sludge-spreading programs, right
next to their new solar panel
projects. Geo-caching, sort of, but with "recycled" items? Who knows. Maybe
it will catch on, and then we will owe our friends at the state an apology.
Vermont,
Indiana
By Martin Harris
 There’s
a little bit of Vermont in central Indiana, in the shape of an unincorporated
crossroads settlement in Howard County just east of Kokomo. The then-new
Midwestern village of Vermont was built in then-old-growth wilderness by
cutting down trees and commencing in agriculture; it was settled by Yankees
fleeing their former home-State in the pre-Civil War decades, pursuing
(as today’s flee-ers are doing) better economic opportunity elsewhere,
then in the form of deeper topsoil and flatter, stone-free land, now in
the form of less governmental hostility to business, better jobs, and lower
taxes. Just as much of the trans-Appalachian Upper South was settled by
Scotch-Irish escapees from the "Tidewater" Old South (and their descendants’
outlook on the role of government is recognizeably similar) so too the
Yankees who opened the near Midwest carried in their genes concepts of
"…frequent adherence to principles of frugality…" (read it for yourself
in the Vermont Constitution) and perhaps it’s that inherited mind-set which
explains why Indiana’s voters have just forced an addition of property-tax
caps into their State Constitution.
Maybe it also explains why,
now that such Yankee DNA is pretty much gone from Vermont, any such property-tax-cap
notion would receive short shrift indeed from today’s Golden Dome population.
And maybe it also explains why Mary Adams, who successfully led a grassroots
rebellion to repeal Maine’s statewide property tax in the mid-1970’s before
such recent flight had begun there, was unable to succeed with a 2006 referendum
effort to enact a Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights in the "new" Maine.
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Quotable
"NONE are more
hopelessly ENSLAVED, as those who FALSELY BELIEVE that they are free"
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
Feds:
Leak Not Enough to Warrant Vermont Yankee Closing
Caledonia Record Editorial,
February 12, 2010
The NRC's John White says
Vermont Yankee's problems haven't approached any regulatory threshold that
would require the plant to be shut down while the source of the leak -
reported Jan. 7 - is sought.
That stance squares with
the one taken by Gov. Jim Douglas, who says the threat from the substance
doesn't warrant shutdown of the plant, located in Vernon, Vt., near New
Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Judge
Blocks Burlington Telecom Payment
From WCAX, February 13,
2010
A Superior Court judge has
blocked the City of Burlington from helping bail out Burlington Telecom.
Interest payments are due
next week on the city owned company's $33.5 million dollar debt, but two
former city councilors, Eugene Shaver and Fred Osier, have filed a lawsuit
against the city to repay the $17 million already spent on the utility.
In addition to not allowing the interest payment, Friday's restraining
order requires the city to document any spending on the cash strapped utility.
Mayor Bob Kiss said Friday he is banking on the Public Service Board to
allow Burlington Telecom to tap into a cash pool to make the payment.
Vermont
Legislators Admit to Cheating the System. Are They Justified?
By Andy Bromage, Seven Days,
February 3, 2010
State Rep. David
Zuckerman (P-Burlington) has a confession to make that might
sound to some like political suicide. He bills taxpayers for his "mileage"
to and from the Statehouse — as much as $152 a week — even on days when
he gets a ride with fellow lawmakers or lobbyists. Zuckerman also takes
full advantage of the $61 daily meal allowance afforded to legislators
when they are in session, but admits he rarely spends that much on food.
A
Case Of Mixed Emotions
Caledonia Record Editorial,
February 2, 2010
We are now suffering from
a classic case of mixed emotions. It is caused by watching our legislators
waste time on frivolous matters and issues. The mixed emotions come from
the satisfaction of knowing that, while they waste time on frivolities,
they cannot pass bills and laws that will hobble the electorate even more,
but they also are not addressing the financial unsustainability of our
antiquated school systems, or our crumbling and decaying roads and bridges,
or a dozen other crises.
American
Flatbread Sells Rights to Frozen Pizza
From WCAX, February 9, 2010
American Flatbread frozen
pizzas will no longer be made in Vermont. Instead, they'll be manufactured
in neighboring New Hampshire. The company announced Tuesday the worldwide
licensing rights to its natural and organic pizzas have been sold to Rustic
Crust, a maker of organic pizza crusts.
Vermont
Tax Repeal Efort Draws Controversy
From WCAX, February 7, 2010
As the Vermont legislature
struggles to find $150 million worth of budget cuts this year, an attempt
to roll back two tax increases is running into opposition. At issue are
the capital gains and estate taxes, primarily affecting upper income Vermonters.
But there's evidence that the two taxes are driving wealthier residents
out of state to places like Florida.
The Vermont senate Economic
Development committee met at Burlington city hall last week to hear testimony
on repealing last year's increases on the state capital gains tax and the
estate tax. Although farms were excluded from the death tax, as critics
call it, the two taxes together raise tens of millions of dollars a year.
And tax advisor Rick Wolfish told the panel the higher taxes are driving
out high-income Vermonters.
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Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
The
Spiritual Dimensions of Nationhood
By Herbert I. London, Hudson
Institute, February 10, 2010
I’ve said this before but
no matter how many times it is said, it bears repeating: the threats that
the United States face from a fanatical Islamic foe are made possible by
our devotion to positions that undermine our heritage, accomplishments
and founding....
Is it any wonder that a multi-cultural
stance that denigrates our national experience and superordinates the goals
of other nations is now the prevailing orthodoxy in our schools and colleges?
If the United States is the world’s exploiter, the despoiler of the environment
and the hegemon that restrains the impulse for liberation, why should it
be admired? Alas, in many universities, the United States is the enemy.
Afghan
and Allied Forces Begin to Secure Taliban Stronghold
By Michael Phillips in Marjah,
Afghanistan & Matthew Rosenberg in Kabul, The Wall Street Journal,
February 2010
U.S., Afghan and British
troops were in the early stages of securing the town of Marjah Saturday,
with thousands of infantrymen moving in on foot after helicopter-born soldiers
seized two central shopping bazaars.
The airborne troops landed
before dawn, opening the first major military push in the latest surge
of U.S. and allied forces into Afghanistan. So far, the troops have encountered
only hit-and-run resistance from Taliban fighters, who have been taking
potshots from compounds before moving out as the allied troops returned
fire. Afghan officials said five Taliban had been killed; there was no
word on coalition casualties.
Is
al Qaeda Bankrupt?
By Nathan Vardi, Forbes
Magazine, February 11, 2010
Desperate for funds, the
terrorist group has turned to affiliates that rely more and more on crime.
No
Compromise on Enemy Combatants
We’re winning because
we should be winning.
By Andrew McCarthy, The
National Review, February 12, 2010
This is how we ought to think
about rumors swirling around that the Obama administration is looking for
a deal on enemy combatants and that some GOP types are listening. The compromise
would be: KSM gets a military commission, but Republicans agree to close
Gitmo and bring the combatants to stateside federal prisons.
This would be a terrible
sell-out of our national security. It would also be unnecessary. The American
people strongly support military commissions for enemy combatants — not
for all terrorism cases, but for all unlawful alien enemy operatives who
have no right to be tried in our civilian courts and for whom Congress
has authorized military commissions.
Pakistani
Officials Confirm Taliban Chief is Dead
From the Associated Press,
Peshawar, Pakistan, February 11, 2010
The Pakistani government
has confirmed that the country's Taliban leader died of injuries sustained
in a U.S. drone strike in mid-January, setting the stage for a potential
succession struggle that could further weaken the group.
The
Jihadist CBRN Threat
By Scott Stewart, Strategic
Forecasters, February 01, 2010
It is our assessment that
the first layer of the jihadist movement, the al Qaeda core group, has
been hit heavily by the efforts of the United States and its allies in
the aftermath of 9/11. Due to the military, financial, diplomatic, intelligence
and law enforcement operations conducted against the core group, it is
now a far smaller and more insular organization than it once was and is
largely confined geographically to the Afghan-Pakistani border. Having
lost much of its operational ability, the al Qaeda core is now involved
primarily in the ideological struggle (which it seems to be losing at the
present time).
The second layer in the jihadist
realm consists of regional terrorist or insurgent groups that have adopted
the jihadist ideology. Some of these have taken up the al Qaeda banner,
such as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP), and we refer to them as al Qaeda franchise groups. Other
groups may adopt some or all of al Qaeda’s jihadist ideology and cooperate
with the core group, but they will maintain their independence for a variety
of reasons. In recent years, these groups have assumed the mantle of leadership
for the jihadist movement on the physical battlefield.
The third (and broadest)
component of the jihadist movement is composed of grassroots
jihadists. These are individuals or small groups of people
located across the globe who are inspired by the al Qaeda core and the
franchise groups but who may have little or no actual connection to these
groups. By their very nature, the grassroots jihadists are the hardest
of these three components to identify and target and, as a result, are
able to move with more freedom than members of the al Qaeda core or the
regional franchises.
As long as the ideology of
jihadism exists, and jihadists at any of these three layers embrace the
philosophy of attacking the "far enemy," there will be a threat of attacks
by jihadists against the United States. The types of attacks they are capable
of conducting, however, depend on their intent and capability. Generally
speaking, the capability of the operatives associated with the al Qaeda
core is the highest and the capability of grassroots operatives is the
lowest. Certainly, many grassroots operatives think big and would love
to conduct a large, devastating attack, but their grandiose plans often
come to naught for lack of experience and terrorist tradecraft.
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From
Elsewhere
America
On The Rise
By Joel Kotkin, Forbes Magazine,
February 9, 2010
Complaints of China's ascent
and the U.S.' collapse are overly pessimistic--and misguided. ...
China's social problems will
be further exacerbated by a huge, largely ill-educated restive peasant
class still living in poverty. Of course America too has many problems--with
stunted upward mobility, the skill levels of its workforce, its fiscal
situation. But the U.S., as the Japanese scholar Fuji Kamiya once noted,
possesses sokojikara, a self-renewing capacity unmatched by any country.
As we enter the next few
decades of the new millennium, I would bet on a more youthful, still resource-rich
and democratic America to maintain its preeminence even in a world where
economic power continues to shift from its historic home in Europe to Asia.
NOAA's
Ministry Of Propaganda
From Investor’s Business
Daily, February 9, 2010
Hoaxes: Despite failures
at Copenhagen, the fraud of the IPCC and the farce of Climate-gate, the
administration wants an agency to monitor climate change. Why must we fund
one-stop shopping for climate charlatans?
As the climate freezes, there's
no freeze on federal employment that will grow even more with the establishment
of a new agency, the Climate Service office. The new agency was announced
Monday by Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Related Articles:
The
End of the IPCC
Arizona
Quits Climate Pact
Europe
Ahead of America in Dtching the Bio-Fuels Boondoggle
Escape
from Taxation
A new study shows
that wealth flees after taxes rise
From The Wall Street Journal,
February 13, 2010
New Jersey's Governor Chris
Christie must be following the economic news from Greece. Its tattered
reputation for fiscal control has turned Greece into an international financial
nightmare and laughingstock. Perhaps tiring of New Jersey jokes, Governor
Christie this week handed down a stiff freeze on spending.
Announcing the freeze on
$1.6 billion of unspent money, Mr. Christie was blunt: "Today, we come
to terms with the fact that we cannot spend money on everything we want.
Today, the days of Alice in Wonderland budgeting in Trenton end."
Not a day too soon, judging
from the striking data that a just-released study reveals about the number
of residents of the Garden State fleeing to greener pastures.
Related - the full study
(pdf): Migration
of Wealth in New Jersey and the Impact on Wealth and Philanthropy
Playing
Politics With Jobs
From Investor’s Business
Daily, February 12, 2010
Senate Democratic leaders
have dropped a carefully negotiated bipartisan jobs bill in favor of a
narrower measure catering solely to their party's interest. Is this what
they mean by a new spirit of bipartisanship?
The charade over the jobs
bill — with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid suddenly declaring it null
and void after weeks of haggling between the two parties — shows how insincere
Democrats are about governing.
A
Raring Recovery
By Brian S. Wesbury &
Robert Stein, Forbes Magazine, February 9, 2010
Despite this spike in growth
and a drop in the unemployment rate, pessimism is still prevalent. Many
economists argue that fourth-quarter growth was a function of inventory
building, not real growth. This past weekend former Federal Reserve chairman
Alan Greenspan said the recovery in 2010 will be "trudging."
We think these pessimists
are wrong and that Greenspan is just too dour. First the inventory issue:
The U.S. has just been through the mother-of-all inventory reductions.
Relative to the size of the economy, last year's (inflation-adjusted) inventory
decline of $112 billion was more than twice as large as any other inventory
reduction since 1950. In the fourth quarter inventories still declined--that's
right, they declined. But because they declined by less than they had in
the third quarter, they added to GDP growth. In other words, the inventory
cycle necessary to replenish store shelves has just begun. In fact, there
are signs of a V-shaped, industrial-led recovery all over.
5
Reasons to Fear Big Government
By Victor Davis Hanson,
Pajama Media, February 8, 2010
Who is Afraid of Big Government?
There is no reason to review
all the standard reasons why the American people are terrified of an all-powerful
federal or state government. The case has been made in thousands of elegant
treatises and books, and is best reflected in the Constitution and the
written work of the Founding Fathers.
But let me list a few other,
less elegantly expressed worries, many anecdotal in nature....
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