Yesterday the Burlington Free Press ran a story about how the state shut down the Burlington Intervale composting operation due to “pollution concerns” and “recently mandated permits.” Today on Green Mountain Daily, a flurry of comments has appeared following blog moderator John Odum’s post on the subject. Odum writes…

the problem was that [Governor Douglas and ANR Secretary George Crombie] were dealing with environmentalists, and unlike their GOP business buddies who might mutter and fume about having to cowtow to the tree-huggers, the folks at the Intervale were fully and humbly prepared to comply - providing, in the process, an example to others.

That would never do for Douglas. So what does he have Crombie do? Revoke the Intervale’s classification as a farm, retroactively making it subject to all the Act 250 provisions it had never built into its business plan. The new, unexpected burdens - particularly ones relating to concerns about possible siting on archeological sites - suddenly dumped never-accounted for costs that, with an unfriendly agency, would clearly go well into six figures.

If you’re still entertaining the notion that this wasn’t a political hit job, consider the rumor in circulation that I was able to confirm with a source close enough to know. In a conversation with the Intervale Director, Crombie openly gloated that he had the Intervale “in a noose” and wasn’t about to let go.

That’s right. He actually said “in a noose.”

There’s an active discussion raging in the comments section of this post, including this comment from author and environmentalist, Bill McKibben…

Shouldn’t this be a big campaign issue? Shouldn’t Anthony Pollina be holding a press conference out on top of the intervale compost pile today? (or, for that matter, Peter Galbraith?). Isn’t this a chance to knock the nice-guy moniker off jim douglas? And to remind folks what an anti-environmentalist he’s proved to be? Shouldn’t there be bumperstickers that say: ’save the intervale–fire douglas’. Shouldn’t everyone be pointing out how this threatens 7 or 8 % of burlington’s fresh food supply? Can’t we have some pictures of what the intervale used to look like (i.e., informal dumping ground)? Can’t we have pictures contrasting the intervale with the kind of development douglas thinks is environmentally sensible (the st. albans walmart). can’t someone organize around this?

This is a freedom-to-farm issue, a local agriculture issue, a revitalized cities issue, a healthy food issue, an abuse-of-power issue. It’s a dirty trick that will impact lots of people. Don’t campaigns pray for this kind of opportunity?

Click here to read the full post and all of the comments.

See also this post by Burlington blogger Charity Tensel and this Vermont Tiger piece by Geoff Norman (which also has a good comments section brewing).

Burlington, VT bloggers | No Comments »

Broadsides‘ Michael Colby has a post up today that’s critical of the leading Democratic presidential candidates.  According to Colby, Obama’s appeal is all about his rhetoric, but when it comes to issues, he’s just another craven politician.  Colby writes…

There is apparently no end to the suspension of logic. But I guess we already know that since the dominant theme of the apparent winner of the Dem Oz-fest is the “man of hope,” Obama. At least he’s being honest. He’s not talking about accomplishments. Revolution. Systematic overhaul. Peace. Or any such measure of true change. Nope, just hope. And the crowds go wild, tap, tap tapping away….

All this hope comes from a most distinguished place of privilege too. If you’ve got a couple of years to do little but hope you certainly aren’t amongst those who are dodging bullets and IEDs in Baghdad. Or amongst those who are drowning in the financial atrocities of the subprime fiasco. Or amongst those who are so marginalized by the workforce that they no longer even qualify to be counted in unemployment numbers. And just try to send a hopeful note to your insurance corporation seeking an extension on the policy you can no longer afford. Good luck with that.

Sorry, but hope works better on a bumpersticker.

Read Colby’s entire post here.

Obama, VT bloggers, presidential race | 58 Comments »

With the recent passing of noted conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr., many media outlets and bloggers are looking back on Buckley’s career and offering their perspectives on the man and his legacy.  Here are two Vermont bloggers’ reactions to the news of Buckley’s passing…

JD Ryan from Five Before Chaos writes:

I can’t help but see something symbolic in his death in the way it relates to the conservative movement today.

Norman Mailer:

“No other act can project simultaneous hints that he is in the act of playing Commodore of the Yacht Club, Joseph Goebbels, Robert Mitchum, Maverick, Savonarola, the nice prep school kid next door, and the snows of yesteryear,” Mr. Mailer said in an interview with Harpers in 1967.

Good riddance to a both eloquent and deplorable man.

And Vermont Tiger’s Jon Harrison writes:

Bill Buckley died yesterday. In the second half of the 20th century, Buckley, along with Milton Friedman, was one of the two most influential public intellectuals on the Right. When Buckley started National Review in 1955, the conservative movement in America was fractured and without influence. Twenty-five years later, it rode into the White House with Ronald Reagan. Only Reagan himself deserves more credit for that victory than Buckley.

I grew up watching Buckley’s PBS program, Firing Line. It was for years the best program on TV. It contributed greatly to my intellectual coming of age. Buckley was simply the best thing to happen to conservatism in a long, long time. He will be sorely missed.

VT bloggers | 3 Comments »