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True
North Archives - May 08, 2007
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Featured
Articles
Review
of Deep Ecology for the 21st Century: Reading on the Philosophy and
Practice of the New Environmentalism
By Bruce Shields
...[M]any Deep Ecologists
espouse an end to the Western religious tradition with its emphasis on
revelation, Truth, and reason. Several articles praise shamanism, paganism,
animism, wiccan, Druid, and other form of religious experience. Gary Snyder
especially praises Buddhist thought for providing a world view in which
there is no mind at work, no one in charge, and all elements of the world
are completely equivalent, eating and being eaten. Humans play no
greater role in the eternal scheme of things than the lowest bacteria.
 Vermont
needs a Goal Keeper
By Mark Shepard
A number of years ago an
article in a local paper expressed how nice it was to live in a state where
diversity is embraced. Given Vermont’s lack of racial and ethnic
diversity the writer redefined cultural diversity by separating people
based on their feelings and choices. It was actually quite comical
to see the contortions the writer went through to convince herself that
she indeed lived in a very diverse part of our county and thus embraces
diversity.
 Sen.
Shumlin's Desperate Search for New Taxes
By John McClaughry
A shabby, desperate attempt
to find something new to tax is now playing itself out in Montpelier. The
principal actor is the Senate president pro tem, Sen. Peter Shumlin.
 Legislature
Kills Assisted Suicide Legislation
By Mary Hahn Beerworth
All told, euthanasia proponents
were rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of what appeared to be
a sure win in Vermont. Proponents of suicide hired nine lobbyists, ran
television commercials for months featuring two former Governors, a former
Lt. Governor, and a former Congressman. They promoted the results of their
biased public opinion polls, claiming 82% of Vermonters favored the legislation
and they enjoyed the advantage of a House of Representatives made-up of
93 Democrats, 49 Republicans, 6 Progressives and 2 Independents. But over
the years, a growing coalition of local opposition had been forming to
warn of the dangers of passing physician-assisted suicide legislation.
The Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, under the guidance of Dr.
Robert Orr, worked to expose the abuses of the law in Oregon.
# # #
Quotable
"A certain shock treatment
is needed, but it would best be delivered with a two-by-four as a solid
whack to the head of politicians who remain oblivious to fundamental physical
facts" --James Hanson, head of NASA's Institute for Space Studies and
a witness for the State of Vermont in its case against automobile manufacturers.
The quote first appeared in the New York Review of Books. Discussion of
the quote and its context can
be found here.
"Veteran political columnist
David Broder set off a firestorm recently when he called Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid an 'embarrassment' for declaring the Iraq War 'lost.'
From the assault subsequently directed at Broder---from other journalists,
political operatives, left-wing bloggers and even the entire 50-member
Senate Democratic Caucus---you'd have thought Broder had had an intimate
encounter with an intern." --Kathleen Parker, Washington Post (read
the full piece here)
# # #
Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
Iraq
War veteran lobbies Montpelier on troops
by Daniel Barlow, Vermont
Press Bureau, May 2, 2007
Lt. Col. Steve Russell arrived
at the Statehouse with a difficult mission ahead of him: Convincing a Democratically-controlled
Vermont Legislature to pass a pro-war resolution with just days left in
the session. (more info and links in the following section.)
American
Civil Liberties Union Bullying
Caldonian Record Editorial,
May 7, 2007
We urge the House and Senate
conferees to call the ACLU's threat and pass the spending cap/super majority.
If they are bluffing, and we think they are, we'll hear their balloon deflate,
and our legislators might grow in courage and stature for standing up to
them. If they sue, we'll all go to court and let the judges decide. Either
way, their bullying will not decide the issue.
A
Backlash Postponed
Caldonian Record Editorial,
May 3, 2007
It isn't surprising that
some of the heavyweight businesses in Vermont have come out in strong opposition
to Sen. Peter Shumlin's effort to tax Vermont Yankee's profits, again.
Among others, Central Vermont Public Service, IBM, Green Mountain Power,
General Electric and Ethan Allen Interiors oppose Shumlin's plan to drain
off 35 percent of Vermont Yankee's "excess" profits. Even Jeb Spaulding,
Vermont's treasurer, opposes it. That's because Peter Shumlin understands
only the immediate politics of it, while all of the rest of them understand
the economics of it.
Bad
choice for energy, the economy
By Lisa Ventriss, Rutland
Herald, May 2, 2007
We already know that nuclear
energy is clean, reliable, and inexpensive; it represents one-third of
our electricity supply; and the most aggressive renewable energy portfolio
cannot approach replacing this base-load power. Nuclear energy is one of
the reasons we are the lowest carbon-emitting state in the union; it is
the backbone of our portfolio. To levy a new tax on one corporation, Entergy,
in effect showing them the door, is a shot across the bow of the business
community in and outside of Vermont. It says Vermont cannot be trusted.
House
says: Hang up and drive
By Nancy Remsen, Burlington
Free Press, May 2, 2007
Buckle your seat belts, holster
your cell phones, and if you are driving with a junior operator's license,
get home by midnight. That's the message the House sent to Vermont drivers
Tuesday when lawmakers gave preliminary approval to a highway safety bill.
Here
We Go Again!
Caledonian Record Editorial,
May 5, 2007
Bartlett et. al. suddenly
found the money - Where did they find the money? Why, they found it by
dramatically increasing their estimates of state revenues (read taxes)
next year. The new estimate of revenues is either a ruse or a betrayal
of the Vermont taxpayer. Take your pick. What we're looking at, here, is
a financial shell game. Which shell is the money under? Is it under any
of the three of them? If the Legislature buys the Bartlett shell game,
Vermont taxpayers will have been suckered again. Bartlett and her cohorts
are counting on a revenues surplus to solve the fact that they overplayed
their hand. If there truly is going to be a revenues surplus of the magnitude
that they now predict, then why in the name of all that is fair have they
hidden it from the rest of us?
The
Shumlin shakedown: State politics at its worst
By Jennifer Clancy, Burlington
Free Press, May 5, 2007
Whether the senator likes
to admit it or not, Vermont today has the lowest per capita carbon emissions
rate of any state in the country, and got there in good part because it
gets one-third of its electricity from emission-free Vermont Yankee. Vermont
Yankee mitigates the production of more than 4 million tons of carbon dioxide
annually that would result otherwise from base-load, fossil-fuel sources.
While wind, solar, and other sources of renewable power do have an important
role to play in Vermont's energy future, they are intermittent sources
and cannot be counted on 24/7.
Norwich
honors two soldiers
By Wilson Ring
The Associated Press
"We don't forget our heroes,"
Norwich President Richard Schneider said during Palermo's service. "Anthony
was a hero."
Kennedy's father, David Kennedy,
of Norfolk, Mass., said his son faced mortal danger every day he was in
Iraq.
"To go and do his duty in
the face of this danger took a courage I am incapable of," Kennedy said.
"Was he afraid? Hell, yes. Yet his honor demanded he continue his mission."
Norwich, founded in 1819,
is the nation's oldest private military college. The names of all graduates
and former students who gave their lives for their country are noted somewhere
in the college chapel, Schneider said.
What
the President actually said...
Rob Roper, VT GOP Chair,
May 1, 2007
The media has made note that
today is the four year aniversary of President Bush's speech from the deck
of the USS Abraham Lincoln, dubbing the addresss in many cases as the "Mission
Accomplished" speech. Below, for a reminder, are the words the President
actually spoke four years ago. The phrase "mission accomplished" never
appears.
# # #
Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
Iraq
War veteran lobbies Montpelier on troops
by Daniel Barlow, Vermont
Press Bureau, May 2, 2007
Lt. Col. Steve Russell arrived
at the Statehouse with a difficult mission ahead of him: Convincing a Democratically-controlled
Vermont Legislature to pass a pro-war resolution with just days left in
the session. ...The resolution's language has caused some problems for
Democrats and Progressives in the House. In addition to linking the Iraq
War to the War on Terrorism, the resolution contains language that implies
support for the war in Iraq. Rep. Michael Obuchowski, D-Rockingham, said
the resolution has been sent to a House committee to be rewritten.
Related: Vermont
Senate Resolution S.R.19
Related: House
Proposal of Amendment Not Concurred In; Committee of Conference Requested
Vermont
Calls for Pledge not to Abandon Troops
Joint Resolution 07-1390
declares in plain language that the "General Assembly on behalf of the
people of Vermont is on record that we will not abandon our servicemen
and women in this time of war and pledges full support to them and their
efforts to secure victory."
America,
Saving Muslim Women’s Lives - Images of opression
By Fred Thompson, National
Review Online, May 3, 2007
The next time I’m reminded
of the suffering women endure in too many radicalized Muslim cultures,
or apathy toward their plight back here at home, I’m going to conjure up
the image of 40 or 50 thousand Muslim mothers smiling into the faces of
healthy babies. You might try the same — and remember, while you’re doing
it, that these babies would not be alive today if it were not for the U.S.
and Coalition soldiers.
The
Muslim Mainstream and the New Caliphate
By Andrew G. Bostom, The
American Thinker
Nearly a century later, the
preponderance of contemporary mainstream Muslims from Morocco to Indonesia,
apparently share with their murderous, jihad terror waging co-religionists
from al-Qaeda the goal (if not necessarily supporting the gruesome means)
of re-establishing an Islamic Caliphate. Polling data just released (April
24, 2007) in a rigorously conducted face-to-face University
of Maryland/ WorldPublicOpinion.org interview survey
of 4384 Muslims conducted between December 9, 2006 and February 15, 2007-1000
Moroccans, 1000 Egyptians, 1243 Pakistanis, and 1141 Indonesians-reveal
that 65.2% of those interviewed-almost 2/3, hardly a "fringe
minority"-desired this outcome (i.e., "To unify all Islamic countries into
a single Islamic state or Caliphate"), including 49% of "moderate" Indonesian
Muslims. The internal validity of these data about the present longing
for a Caliphate is strongly suggested by a concordant result: 65.5% of
this Muslim sample approved the proposition "To require a strict
[emphasis added] application of Shari'a law in every Islamic country."
Fighting
Al-Qaeda in Iraq
by James Phillips, Heritage
Foundation, May 4, 2007
Al-Qaeda's strategy is to
carve out a state-within-a-state in Iraq to use as a springboard for exporting
terrorism and subversion. Iraq looms much larger in al-Qaeda's plans than
Afghanistan because of its strategic location in the heart of the Arab
world, in close proximity to the Persian Gulf oil fields, a high-value
target for attack. Iraq is a more useful staging area for attacks on neighboring
countries and Israel, which is likely to become more of a target for future
al-Qaeda terrorism. Moreover, Baghdad was once the seat of the caliphate
that al-Qaeda seeks to recreate, which is an important ideological consideration.
Finally, as an Arab-dominated movement, al-Qaeda would have a much easier
time operating from bases in Sunni Arab regions in Iraq than in Afghanistan
or Pakistan, where Arab travelers stand out from the local population.
Bill
Clinton's Disastrous Record of Fighting Terror Terrorism
Kathy Miller The New Media
Journal, April 28, 2007
Five weeks after the World
Trade Center bombing, four suspects were under arrest. The mastermind,
Ramzi Yousef, had fled. Still, at that point in early April 1993, the FBI
proclaimed that it had captured most of those involved. The bombing, it
claimed, was the work of a loose group of fundamentalists with no ties
to any state. The predictable media frenzy followed and, perhaps as a result,
some obvious questions were not asked. How could the government know so
early in the investigation that those it had arrested had no ties to any
state? If the government knew so much so soon, then why did one of those
arrested never stand trial for the bombing, and why were three others indicted
much later? In short, the Justice Department determined that the bombing
had no state sponsorship even before it decided definitively who had been
involved.
Yet by responding to state-sponsored
terrorism solely by arresting and trying individual perpetrators, the US
government, in effect, invites such states to commit acts of terror in
such a way as to leave behind a few relatively minor figures to be arrested,
tried, and convicted. This makes it unlikely that the larger, more important,
and more difficult question of state sponsorship will ever be addressed.
A
Glimmer of Hope
by Gary Bauer, Human Event
Online, May 4, 2007
If there is a voice for pluralism,
peace and tolerance in Islam, the "pessimists" wonder aloud, where is it?
I may have heard it recently in Kiev, Ukraine, where Christian, Jewish
and Muslim government, religious and civic leaders gathered in an attempt
to find common ground. The unique gathering, dubbed the Summit on
Peace and Tolerance, was the brainchild of Irwin Katsof and was a joint
project of the World Conference for Christians, Jews and Muslims; the Global
Foundation for Democracy; and the Ukrainian Interfaith Association. I was
invited to speak at the event, whose attendees included Tom Ridge, the
first U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Rabbi Yona Metzger, the Chief
Rabbi of Israel, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former
Romanian Prime Minister Petre Roman and National Religious Broadcasters
President Dr. Frank Wright, among other prominent leaders.
Will
Britain one day be Muslim?
by Ruth Dudley Edwards,
Daily Mail, May 5, 2007
Omar Khyam, Waheed Mahmood,
Salahuddin Amin, Anthony Garcia and Jawad Akbar - first and second generation
immigrants - responded to the tolerance of the British people by trying
to kill as many of them as possible. Is it absurd to hope that the exposure
of their evil after a 13-month trial which cost an estimated £50
million has finally provided the wake-up call that this slumbering country
so badly needs? |
From
Elsewhere
Freedom
Is the Environments Best Friend
By John Semmens, The Freeman:
Ideas on Liberty, April 2007
The environmental alarmists
have it backwards. If anything imperils the earth it is ignorant obstruction
of science and progress. People living on the edge of subsistence cannot
afford to conserve the environment. Their energies must go into surviving.
People who are prosperous can afford to think about conserving the environment.
So to the extent that the measures demanded by environmental alarmists
retard progress, they also endanger the environment. That technology provides
the best option for serving human wants and conserving the environment
should be evident in the progress made in environmental improvement in
the United States. Virtually every measure shows that pollution is headed
downward and that nature is making a comeback.
The
New Europeans - Can an election change France?
The Wall Street Journal,
May 5, 2007
Even France may be ready
at last to abandon statist orthodoxy. Mr. Sarkozy got 31% in the first
round, the highest score for a right-wing candidate since 1974, and heads
into the runoff with a nine-point lead in the polls. French voters are
saying something must truly change. But will it?
Leftist
Thought Control
by David Limbaugh, May 4,
2007
The political left, which
holds itself as progressive, rational and fact-based, is becoming an enemy
of academic inquiry, and a practitioner of thought control on a wide variety
of issues. Increasingly, from the left's perspective, there is just one
acceptable viewpoint.
More
Kafkaesque behavior from the UN
Ed Lasky May 04, 2007 American
Thinker
If the UN were rational and
felt the need for an African nation to head the Commission, it should have
chosen Botswana-which for many years has enjoyed a booming economy AND
political freedom. But that would presume some positive values at the UN.
Hate
This - Mr. President, get ready for another veto
By Timothy Lynch May 3,
2007 National Review Online
Hate-crimes legislation will
also take our laws too close to the notion of thought crimes. It is true
that the hate-crime laws that exist presently cover acts, not just thoughts.
But once hate crime laws are on the books, the law-enforcement apparatus
of the state will be delving into the accused’s life and thoughts in order
to show that he or she was motivated by bigotry. What kind of books and
magazines were found in the home? What internet sites were bookmarked in
the computer? Friends and co-workers will be interviewed to discern the
accused’s politics and worldview. The point here is that such chilling
examples of state intrusion are avoidable because hate crime laws are unnecessary
in the first place.
Free
Economies and the Common Good
by Rev. Robert A. Sirico,
Acton President May 1, 2007
The common good is incompatible
with the violation of the right to economic initiative. As Pope John Paul
the Great wrote of economic initiative: "It is a right which is important
not only for the individual but also for the common good. Experience shows
us that the denial of this right, or its limitation in the name of an alleged
‘equality’ of everyone in society, diminishes, or in practice absolutely
destroys the spirit of initiative, that is to say the creative subjectivity
of the citizen."
Media
Hype on Climate Change Is Nothing New: Inhofe
The Heartland Institute,
Published in: Environment News, March 2007
Alarmism over climate change
is unsupported by the weight of scientific evidence, and proposals by environmental
activists to impose drastic actions are unwarranted, Sen. James Inhofe
(R-OK), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee,
stated on the Senate floor on September 26, 2006. In his address, Inhofe
summarized the state of climate change science, drawing upon the latest
scientific research.
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