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True
North Archives - September 01, 2009
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Featured
Articles
A
Political Vacuum
Robert Maynard
Yes, there are opportunities
in 2010 for those of us who would like this see this State not merely slow
its rush into State domination over more and more aspects of our lives,
but to actually reverse course. The key is to find someone to run at the
top of the ticket who will clearly point out that it is not merely a case
of moving too fast, but that we are headed in the wrong direction. A candidate
for Governor could set the tone for gains up and down the ticket by giving
voice to the growing frustration of what is looking more and more like
a grass roots movement capable of supporting such a change in direction.
If the candidate can motivate this base to passionately back the campaign,
without scaring off those who are less committed to such a change, the
next election cycle could be a big win for the forces of liberty.
Yes,
Let's Talk about Nazis and Propaganda
 By
Rob Roper
In their August 20 editorial,
Let's
talk about Nazis, the Rutland Herald takes to task opponents of government
run health care who alluded to the plan and the president as being "Nazi"
in nature. We applaud the Herald for writing, "American people need to
see that those who fling about terms like Nazi and Nazism are bringing
discredit on themselves and destroying civil discourse." This is true.
Nazi is not a term that should be used lightly, even by Lyndon LaRouche
Democrats, who were the one's doing the flinging (see CNN
Fails to Report Woman Comparing Obama toHitler is a Lyndon LaRouche Democrat).
MoNOlight
in VermNOt
By Martin Harris
 Contemporary:
or "how Vermont has become a State of NO": the image, beyond its borders,
of the State isn’t any more one of frugal and laconic, innovative and free-enterprise-motivated
Yankees, but one of hostile zoning boards, compost-throwing public hearing
"participants", fleeing businesses and a shrinking young-adult labor force.
If the old icons of Vermont character were accurately captured in the now-mostly-forgotten
mill, railroad, quarry and farm photo’s by the Rutland Herald’s Aldo Merusi,
the new image-icons might well be the fake stuffed sheep adorning pretend-grazing
meadows near Woodstock, the building-supply retail outlet in Montpelier
which has stood vacant since Grossman’s left and Home Depot chose not to
fight through the permit process for a move-in, the "affordable-housing"
opportunities which are easy for government-related or –connected applicants
but not for private-sector developers, or a State government which proudly
announced that it has just allocated "stimulus" money for research into
the "physical and performative qualities of fresh water", presumably not
including traversing a millrace and turbine for power generation.
# # #
Quotable
"When the
government can steer vulnerable individuals to conclude for themselves
that life is not worth living, who needs a death panel?"
-- Jim Towey, Former
Director of Faith-Based Initiatives in the Bush Administration, in a Fox
News interview with Chris Wallace.
# # #
Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
Take
It to the People Founder still Fighting Gay Marriage
Benson says group
was never ‘anti-gay’.
By Nancy Remsen, Burlington
Free Press, August 30, 2009
"Our focus was the marriage
question and the right way to deal with it," said the minister of the Cambridge
United Church. He’s still pushing for what he calls a fairer way for all
Vermonters to weigh in on this core societal question.
From Bensen’s perspective,
both in 2000 when the Legislature enacted civil unions and again in 2009
with passage of a marriage-equality law, House and Senate leaders rammed
through bills without consideration for the views of the majority of Vermonters.
National
Democrats to Target Vermont Governor's Race
From VermontBiz.com, August
27, 2009
The Democratic Governors
Association is moving Vermont into its top tier of targeted 2010 pickup
races, as Governor Jim Douglas announced his retirement today.
Big
Red Numbers
From Vermont Tiger, August
29, 2009
Early in August 2009, Gov.
Douglas sent a memo
to Rep. Mike Obuchowski, Chairman of the Joint Fiscal Committee,
detailing the Governor's rescission plan in response to projected revenue
shortfalls in the current FY. In that memo, Gov. Douglas described
a frightening number: the combined shortfall for the outlying fiscal years
2010, 2011, and 2012 is 259 million dollars. That's a bit over 86
million dollars in tax revenues, per FY, that the state will be short.
VPIRG's
Phony Mathematics
Caledonia Record Editorial,
August 29, 2009
The only problem with VPIRG's
claim that massive power from the Greens' approved power sources is affordable
is VPIRG's mathematical projections. They don't hold water. [Burlington
Free Press; Aug. 27] "VPIRG concluded that a combination of energy efficiency
and renewable energy would cost 47-50 percent less than the open market
power price Vermont Yankee might charge in the future.
Dubie
Mulls Running for Governor
Lieutenant governor
exploring support, fundraising.
By Nancy Remsen, Burlington
Free Press, August 30, 2009
Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie expects
to take only a couple of weeks to make up his mind about running for governor
in 2010 in the wake of incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Douglas’ decision
not to seek a fifth term.
Dubie has asked Susie Hudson,
who managed his 2008 campaign, to "structure my decision-making process."
His first meeting with supporters took place Saturday.
Saint
Michael's Ranked in the US News Best National Liberal Arts Colleges
From VermontBiz.com, August
27, 2009
Saint Michael's College is
ranked 105th in the Best (national) Liberal Arts Colleges category of the
2010 edition of the U.S. News & World Report magazine’s popular, but
controversial, rankings of American colleges and universities. Having moved
two years ago from North Regional Masters University category to National
Liberal Arts College category, Saint Michael's entered a much more competitive,
much larger category of colleges. The rankings, which include some 1,400
schools nationwide, are available today at www.usnews.com/colleges,
will also be published in the September issue of the U.S.News & World
Report magazine, on newsstands starting August 20th.
# # #
Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
Cargo
of North Korea Matériel Is Seized en Route to Iran
By Peter Spiegel and Chip
Cummins, The Wall Street Journal, August 31, 2009
Authorities in the United
Arab Emirates recently seized a shipment of military hardware from North
Korea aboard a vessel bound for Iran, according to people familiar with
the seizure.
The seizure could fuel efforts
by the U.S. and other Western powers to push for greater economic sanctions
against Tehran, if diplomatic outreach fails.
Kissing
Off Eastern Europe...
From Investor’s Business
Daily, August 28, 2009
Missile Defense: The
U.S. has abandoned plans to install a missile defense system in Europe,
according to a report. If true, this is a major strategic error that will
have serious consequences for our allies in Europe and for us.
Conspiracy
Theories, Terror Support Found in ISNA Convention Literature
By Steve Emerson, Family
Security Matters, August 26, 2009
Literature available at ISNA's
annual convention last month in Washington, however, offers a far different
vision. Books and pamphlets obtained by the Investigative Project on Terrorism
from ISNA's July national convention feature numerous attempts to portray
U.S. prosecution of terrorists and terror supporters as anti-Muslim bigotry;
dramatic revisionist history that denied attacks by Arab nations and Palestinian
terrorists against Israel; anti-Semitic tracts and hyperbolic rants about
a genocide and holocaust of Palestinians.
Obama's
Nuclear Blackmail of Israel -- and of the World
By Vel Nirtist, American,
Thinker, August 29, 2009
This appears to be Obama's
logic -- blackmailing Israel into unconscionable concessions to the Arabs
that are unlikely to solve the conflict anyway -- as precondition for US'
involvement in resolving Iran's nuclear issue. That Obama is engaged in
what should be plainly called "nuclear blackmail of Israel" is the gist
of the recent reports and analyses - one in Britain's Guardian
, another in Israel's Haaretz.
Hizballah’s
Possible Back Door into the UN
By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.,
Family Security Matters, August 18, 2009
Though barely registering
a blip in Western media this week, there have been several reports – primarily
throughout a variety of Middle East media – that Lebanon may well be a
candidate for membership (though non-permanent) on the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC). ...
This of course would have
huge implications for any future strategic decisions on Lebanon by the
UNSC, because the Lebanon-based terrorist group, Hizballah, controls vast
tracts of territory in that country, illegally maintains a vast array of
weaponry from rifles to rockets, has infiltrated all levels of the Lebanese
Army, holds parliamentary seats, has time-and-again shown its willingness
to take up arms against the Lebanese people to achieve its political goals
(we must never forget May 2008), and the group continues to conduct terrorist
training, operations, and related smuggling of arms, cash, and men worldwide.
The
Kremlin vs. the Cardinals
By Patrick Devenny, The
American Thinker, August 29, 2009
An indispensable addition
to this long overdue hit parade is Spies in the Vatican, an intriguing
account of the KGB's secret war against the Catholic Church. Author
John Koehler is uniquely suited to tell the story having served as both
a US intelligence officer and an AP journalist in Europe. Upon leaving
the media, Koehler spent the better part of the last decade delving into
volumes of dusty Cold War-era intelligence documents. His dedication
is apparent: Spies tells a fascinating alternate history of the
final two decades of the Cold War as written by tyranny's custodians.
# # #
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From
Elsewhere
Government
Isn't the Only Answer to Helping Needy Get Health Care
By Larry Elder, Investor’s
Business Daily, August 28, 2009
Assisting the needy in health
care is a "moral imperative" — not a constitutional right. The two are
as different as a squirt gun and an Uzi. If something is not permitted
under our Constitution, the federal government simply cannot do it. Period.
Patients
and Doctors: Partners not Adversaries
By Jordan Ballor, Acton
Institute for Religion and Liberty, August 27, 2009
In the midst of ongoing debate
over the scope and desirability of various health care reform proposals,
an obvious and critical component of cost management is going unnoticed:
malpractice litigation.
By all accounts the soaring
costs of health care have precipitated the national discussion on medicine,
insurance, and the government’s role in provision and regulation. President
Obama has pledged that any reform of the health care industry must be "revenue
neutral" for a government already facing huge budgetary shortfalls. In
a conference call to faith leaders from around the country on Aug. 19,
the president noted, "By far the single biggest driver of our deficit and
our debt is federal government spending on Medicare and Medicaid. And Medicare
is about to go into the red in eight years." At the same time he neglected
to mention the need to address malpractice litigation as a contributing
factor to health care insurance costs.
Speaker
of Lies
From Investor’s Business
Daily, August 28, 2009
Public Trust: What did the
speaker know, and when did she know it? With CIA documents contradicting
Nancy Pelosi's claims on classified briefings, will a death watch begin
on her leadership?
Related: The
Real CIA News
Related: Acknowledging
the Obvious
A
History of America’s Nuclear Power Experience
By Jay Lehr, Ph.D., Environment
& Climate News, August, 2009
The book jacket perfectly
describes Tucker’s understanding of nuclear energy, explaining how odd
it is that nuclear energy has to be reintroduced to our nation even though
it has long supplied almost 20 percent of our electric power. Nuclear power
has been too long associated with bombs, accidents, and anti-nuclear hype.
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and China Syndrome come quickly to mind.
Tucker makes it clear that
nuclear power is a form of natural energy, the same process that heats
the center of our Earth to 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The concentration
of power in the nucleus of the atom is incredible, as the disintegration
of a single uranium atom produces 2 million times more energy than is produced
by breaking a carbon-hydrogen bond in coal, oil, or natural gas when they
are burned.
Airbrushing
out Mary Jo Kopechne
Only a Kennedy could
get away with it.
By Mark Steyn, National
Review, August 29, 2009
We are enjoined not to speak
ill of the dead. But, when an entire nation — or, at any rate, its "mainstream"
media culture — declines to speak the truth about the dead, we are certainly
entitled to speak ill of such false eulogists. In its coverage of Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy’s passing, America’s TV networks are creepily reminiscent
of those plays Sam Shepard used to write about some dysfunctional inbred
hardscrabble Appalachian household where there’s a baby buried in the backyard
but everyone agreed years ago never to mention it.
In this case, the unmentionable
corpse is Mary Jo Kopechne, 1940–1969. If you have to bring up the, ah,
circumstances of that year of decease, keep it general, keep it vague.
As Kennedy flack Ted Sorensen put it in Time magazine: "Both a plane
crash in Massachusetts in 1964 and the ugly automobile accident on Chappaquiddick
Island in 1969 almost cost him his life."
Related: Lion
of the Left
Related: The
Media's Kennedy Coverage: A Case Study in Liberal Myth-Making
Obama's
Summer of Discontent
The politics of charisma
is so Third World. Americans were never going to buy into it for long.
By Fouad Ajami, The Wall
Street Journal, August 25, 2009
So we are to have a French
health-care system without a French tradition of political protest. It
is odd that American liberalism, in a veritable state of insurrection during
the Bush presidency, now seeks political quiescence. These "townhallers"
who have come forth to challenge ObamaCare have been labeled "evil-mongers"
(Harry Reid), "un-American" (Nancy Pelosi), agitators and rowdies and worse.
Related: Growing
Government Role Fuels Anger
Related: Will
Media Notice Sheehan's Anti-Obama Protest?
Caving
to Trial Lawyers
It's necessary to
tie any health-care reform to tort reform.
By Fred Barnes, The Weekly
Standard, August 29, 2009
Howard Dean has exposed the
hypocrisy and political favoritism in Obama's health reform scheme. Republicans
could be much more vocal in making this part of their critique of Obamacare.
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