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Winter 2011 Commonssubscribe Online at VOICES of INDEPENDENCE Vermont Number 39 | Winter 2011 CommonsSubscribe online at www.vtcommons.org VOICES OF INDEPENDENCE Interested in the Vermont Vermont’s “Freedom & Unity” coin? statewide independent news journal Find out more on page 39 of this issue. The Empire’s New Clothes: The Barack Brand, Endless War, and the Moral Case for Vermont Independence Christopher Ketcham ere we are a little more than nine years Hafter the attacks of September 11, still hunt- ing for bin Laden, who – according to just about every CIA source I’ve spoken to – is likely long dead. “He’s a narcissist,” said one ex-case offi- cer who worked the Middle East for two decades. “He’d still be making videos – unless he really is a CIA agent.” Alas, as with the mythical terrorist and archenemy of the state Goldstein in George Orwell’s 1984, whose face is periodically brought out on the telescreens for the Two Minutes Hate to whip “the proles” into “one of their periodical frenzies of patriotism,” the enemy must not be U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY SENIOR AIRMAN JULIANNE SHOWALTER. SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS vanquished. He must persist. By god, he will persist. Do Goldstein and his terrorist Brotherhood Lost On Planet Pentagon? really exist? “That,” answers Orwell in his novel, “you will never know… As long as you live it Why Vermont Should Say NO to the F-35 will be an unsolved riddle in your mind.” Thus President Obama, carrying the banner of the Juliet Buck Two Minutes Hate on the appointed day – the date September 11, now perhaps better known ake it from un-credentialed Vermont house- Congressional oversight of that system are fatally as al-Qaeda Day – announces to the nation last Twife: Even a cursory examination of the F-35 compromised in favor of non-stop hand jobs for September that bin Laden has been forced “deep Joint Strike Fighter Program reveals the Pentagon military contractors to the direct operational underground” (much, as it happens, like Goldstein ignoring its own bylaws and brushing aside its continued on page 6 was in 1984)… the evil one is still pursued… still own stated values in pursuit of an unstated and pursued… still pursued…. inconsonant goal. The continuation of the F-35 O N T H E W E B Of course, Obama asks none of the questions program, a program that is unnecessary, egre- worth asking about pretty much anything that giously underperforming, over budget and behind • Center for Vermont Independence launched (Ian Baldwin) needs answering, which is probably why he got schedule but nonetheless replete with an embar- • Vermont’s Real Education Problem elected. Consider the take on bin Laden and 9/11 rassing level of fawning Congressional support, (Bill Mathis) nine years after from Eric Margolis, the veteran is an obvious “tell” of institutional failure, where • Slow Money—The Story of Enough correspondent and columnist with the Toronto the singular interests of global corporations can (Woody Tasch) Sun who covered the Middle East and South Asia: no longer be served within the rule of law. • Green-Blooded: Vermont at a Crossroads The Nunn-McCurdy Amendment, a measure (documentary film) Tapes that appeared to confirm bin Laden’s adopted by Congress in 1982 to curtail cost Join the Conversation: www.vtcommons.org guilt were clumsy fakes. They were growth in U.S. weapons-procurement programs, supposedly “found” in Afghanistan by the provides an excellent framework for reveal- Subscribe to our FREE VERMONT bi-monthly e-newsletter. anti-Taliban Afghan Northern Alliance, ing the disparity between the official mission of which was created and funded by Russian the F-35 and the actual cause being advanced. continued on page 5 Both the DOD appropriation system and the 2 VERMONT COMMONS WINTER 2011 Guest Editorial Taking Stock of Vermont Independence here do we in Vermont stand now? the federal government will remain a The masses are in total denial of this reality. W I stand by the original home page of the plutocracy. More than $4 billion was spent But that is to be expected. Denial is the first stage first online Vermont Commons Journal, published on the recent mid-term election, which of death and change. Anger, bargaining, depres- in 2004, that the Vermont Constitution has been is double any previous election. The sion, and acceptance are yet to come. The sheep effectively REVOKED by the federal govern- Supreme Court’s closely related recogni- meekly accept all the criminal acts of the federal ment. Sovereignty has been taken away from tion of corporations as persons violates government at home and abroad. That is also Vermont in nearly every area that matters: the state’s ability to charter and control predictable. Jefferson stated, “…all experience the power and behavior of corporations. hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to • Vermont has no independent ability to Corporations now truly rule the world. continued on page 4 control our National Guard troops and keep them from the U.S.’ illegal and immoral wars, filled with war crimes Contributors and atrocities. This was assured by several recent Congressional rulings: the Gaelan Brown serves Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence, as its business manager and as a Montgomery Amendment, the Perpich member of the editorial board. He blogs as “An Energy Optimist” at www.vtcommons.org. case, and the John Warner Defense Act, Juliet Buck is an activist, wannabe homesteader, wife, and mother of two, who is making other taking all control away from state gover- plans while watching it all go to hell from South Burlington. She blogs under the moniker nors except in case of a state crisis. Radical SAHM. • Vermont has no independent ability to control our money supply, which has Lauren-Glenn Davitian is an activist and organizer specializing in issues related to community- been unconstitutionally privatized by the based media. She is executive director of CCTV Center for Media & Democracy, and lives in Federal Reserve and private banks. Burlington. Carl Etnier is director of Peak Oil Awareness in Montpelier. He hosts two radio shows and blogs on the subjects of Peak Oil and relocalizing. Vermont has no independent ability Gary Flomenhoft was a founding participant and early editor of the publication that became to regulate campaign finance. The Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence. He teaches energy technology and policy at the University of Vermont. “Citizen’s United” Supreme Court case Richard Foley, of Brattleboro, is a professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire, where he assures that the federal government has taught energy policy and technologies for the past 25 years. He serves on the editorial board of Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence. will remain a plutocracy. The Greenneck loves heavy metal music, combustion motors, animals, and working the land. He lives in a self-built, solar-powered home in northern Vermont and may or may not be based on the life of Ben Hewitt, author of The Town That Food Saved and proprietor of benhewitt.net. • Vermont has no independent abil- Michael Hayes is a freelance photographer and new media geek who resides in Burlington. ity to regulate the safety of hazardous industries such as the Vermont Yankee Bill Kauffman, the author of nine books, lives in his native upstate New York with his family. nuclear power plant. The federal Nuclear Christopher Ketcham is an independent investigative journalist based in Brooklyn, New York. He Regulatory Commission (NRC) has juris- has written for TIME, Orion, Counterpunch, and a host of other national publications. diction over nuclear safety. • Vermont has no independent ability Jasmine Lamb is a teacher and coach. She writes the blog, All is Listening: Loving Your Imperfect Life, to control our school system and must at www.allislistening.com. comply with federal unfunded mandates Will Lindner is a mandolin player, writer, and editor living in Barre. He serves as managing such as “No Child Left Behind” (Bush), editor for Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence. and “Race to the Top” (Obama). • Vermont has no jurisdiction over our Robin McDermott is a co-founder of the Mad River Valley Localvore Project. She and her sovereign wealth such as the “public husband, Ray, operate their business, QualityTrainingPortal, from their home in Waitsfield, airwaves,” that are controlled by the FCC, where they also grow much of their own food. which has given away 98 percent of the Kirkpatrick Sale, editor-at-large and author of a dozen books, including After Eden: The Evolution frequencies for free to private for-profit of Human Domination (Duke), is the director of the Middlebury Institute. corporate commercial interests. • Vermont has no control over the expan- Rick Scharf teaches high school in Montpelier, and resides in Duxbury. sion of federal debt to $14 trillion (100 Taylor M. Silvestri, a student at Champlain College, attributes her failures to public schooling percent of GDP), caused by the ruinous and her successes to every book she’s ever read. imperial wars that are driving the coun- try broke, and provoking an increase in Jonathan Stevens is a Burlington-based attorney practicing law since 1980, whose work terrorism worldwide in response. includes advising clients to represent themselves in addition to conventional law. See www. • Vermont has no independent ability to proselegalservices.com. regulate campaign finance, as the U.S. Carissa Stimpfel is a Professional Writing major at Champlain College, a native Vermonter, and Supreme Court ruled last year. The selling the woman behind “Sex and the College Girl.” of our political system is the most funda- mental cause of the loss of democracy in Rob Williams, editor and publisher of Vermont Commons: Voices of Independence, is a teacher, the U.S.
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