Author Archives: Dick

ADD?

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Attention to Deficit Disorder.

The 800 pound gorilla put on a wee bit of weight last week when Congress added the G.R.A.F.T. Act to the TARP payments.

Now that President Obama has hit his bailout and stimulus balls right over the fence, he needs something else to do. See, the economy is fixed. People are back at work, the Iraq war is over, American highway bridges have all been replaced, and New Orleans is completely rebuilt.

The President announced his new goal of the week yesterday. He will cut the deficit at least in half by the end of his term.

We owe an eye-popping $10.8 trillion in gross national debt; that amount will sooner or later come due on our personal and corporate income taxes, half of which already pay solely for the military and the interest on the debt. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the national debt has just about doubled since 2000. The AP reported that the $700 billion bailout alone will send the national debt over $11 trillion. The U.S. Government has never been debt free; we have owed money every year since 1791. In fact, only in the boom years of 1835-1836 has the debt been only $35,000 or so. Every other year but 1837 we have paid interest on millions, billions, or trillions of dollars of debt. I am not Carl Sagan, R.I.P.

NBC News reported yesterday that President Obama acknowledged there is a deficit and that it is as large as it has ever been. Mr. Obama’s budget outline, which he will release on Thursday, will include deficit reduction as a centerpiece in his plans to deliver national health care and national energy changes.

The mechanism to cut the deficit? No more spending in Iraq and higher taxes.

Oh, and by the way? We’re not cutting the actual deficit. We’re cutting the rate at which the deficit increases. You might say we’re sort of reducing how much we borrow. I guess the 800 pound gorilla is still in the corner after all.

My friend “Bob” suggested that we call this piece “DAD” for Deficit Attention Disorder. I would except that sounds so paternalistic. The Obama Administration would never be paternalistic, would it?

Change. It’s what we do™.

Andy Rooney talked about The Times US presidential rankings on 60 Minutes last night. “Democracy is a great idea,” he said, “but I have always thought we have a great president hidden somewhere in the United States and we’ve just never found him. Or her.”

Uplifting? Not.

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The Arts should uplift us in times of trouble and they do. Sometimes the Arts also needs to clothe the Emperor. Or to point out that he is naked.

This is one of those times.

Unlike less than 28% of Americans polled and 60% of the United States Senate, I recognize the Stimulus Package as the Generations Ransack America’s Financial Trust Act.

Many experts, including Congress’ own Congressional Budget Office, say the stimulus bill will at best do no good.

Many experts, including me, say the stimulus bill will hurt the economy in the long run.

Apparently common sense makes more cents in the Arts than in Washington. I had some infinitesimally small hope that Congress would do what Congress does best: lock the grid and spend the remainder of this session worrying about Alex Rodriguez’ steroid use. Nonetheless the House vote was 246-183 and the Senate voted 60-38 to spend more in a single bill than the total cost of the War in Iraq. Interestingly, the G.R.A.F.T. Act is expected to cost less than the total cost of World War II, adjusted for inflation. President Obama signed the measure in Denver today.

The bill includes some potentially good news for the Arts since the $50 million of National Endowment for the Arts funding dropped earlier was preserved in the final version of the package approved by both houses on Friday.

Truth be told, I’d rather give up the stimulus and go back to the normal funding scramble. After all, the NEA appropriation is not “new” money; it is simply a restoration of an item that was cut.

The New York Times reported that Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY and Congressional Arts Caucus co-chair, said, “If we’re trying to stimulate the economy, and get money into the Treasury, nothing does that better than art.”

Arts advocacy groups report that every dollar of NEA money generates an additional seven dollars from public and private supporters. And every dollar in the local Creative Economy improves life here in Franklin County.

That means the NEA appropriation could have stood on its own merits as it has in past budgets.

Hessian Horsemen and Other Stories

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Oops.

Honey, I’m afraid the knife slipped.

I think this column might be in bad taste. You have been warned.

Sam Calhoun lives in a rambling farmhouse in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom with Sarah, his wife of 17 years, their six school-aged kids, and a floppy eared cocker spaniel named Jehoshaphat.The Kingdom is the remote northeast corner of the state, an area comprising Essex, Orleans and Caledonia Counties. It is bordered by the Connecticut River in the East and Jay Peak in the West. North of it is the wilderness of deepest, darkest, Canada. South is the state capitol, Montpelier. 80% of the Kingdom is covered by forest; right now 100% of the Kingdom is covered by snow. It is listed in “1,000 Places to See Before You Die.”

Nice place to visit. Pretty rugged place to live.

Mr. Calhoun is a lumberjack by trade in a time when more wood products come from Canada and China than from Vermont. He struggles dawn to dusk to eke out his living from the hardscrabble landscape.

Jehoshaphat is Sarah Calhoun’s dog but she never grooms him. Like so many cocker spaniels, his hair mats into impenetrable masses, swelling his ears to elephant size and changing his lithe and sinuous body shape to mutton.

Sam Calhoun has told Sarah to clean up the dog every morning and every night for at least a year.

She hasn’t done so and the dog is weighed down by the burden.

Finally Sam and Jehoshaphat led the disobedient Sarah to the wood shed. Mr. Calhoun laid his wife across his best splitting block and beheaded her on the spot.

Mr. Calhoun has a wide-ranging choice of tools. He could have used his Stihl chainsaw with the 30″ bar. He could have used his antique topping axe. He didn’t. He did it the old fashioned way — with a maul.

Then he washed and brushed and combed and dried the darned dog.

Mr. Calhoun told the neighbors that his wife had packed her bags and moved to California. “The land of the fruits and nuts,” he said.

The authorities might have believed Sam’s story had not Jehoshaphat waddled the four miles to the free public library. The librarian noticed there were still flecks of dried blood soaked into the freshly washed fur and called authorities.

“She just would not listen to reason,” Mr. Calhoun told the arresting officers.

The Northeast Kingdom State’s Attorney called it, “The worst form of domestic violence possible”

The story you have read is fiction. I have invented every part of it except the Northeast Kingdom which is indeed, as the National Geographic Society names it, the “most desirable place to visit” in the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun exist only in my pepperoni-fueled dreams.Imagine the flack I would have taken if I had linked my story to all the Islamic jihad imagery of swarthy, hooded men with scimitars standing over humbled Westerners. Imagine the flack I would have taken if I had give the doer an ethnic name like Muzzammil Hassan and identified him as the Buffalo, NY, man who founded Bridges TV five years ago to combat the perception of Muslims as cruel promoters of terror abroad and in their own homes. I could even have written that Mr. Hassan has been arrested for beheading Aasiya Hassan, his lovely, 37 year old, disobedient wife.

Oh.

Wait.

That story would be true.

Stimulating

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We have just sent this message to Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT), Mel Martinez (R-FL), Bill Nelson (D-FL), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Bill Nelson was once again the only congress critter to have “Stimulus Bill” as an entry on his email topic list.

Many experts, including Congress’ own CBO, say the stimulus bill will at best do no good.Many experts, including me, say the stimulus bill will hurt the economy in the long run.Please vote down the stimulus bill.

Do what Congress does best: do nothing. Spend the remainder of this session worrying about Alex Rodriguez’ steroid use.

I wish I had some confidence that the mob had not taken over the Halls of Congress. OTOH, thinking for themselves is probably how we got here in the first place.

For Sale, Cheap

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We all know about using Craigslist to find adult–some might say illicit–activities.

Fort Pierce, Florida, police arrested 35 people as part of a prostitution ring that used Craigslist to set up “dates” last September. Now, 40 states including Vermont have joined in an agreement with Craigslist to crack down on prostitution after Alexis Serrano, 23, of Shelburne, was charged with prostitution. Court papers show she was one of dozens of Vermont women who offered erotic services via Craigslist. Florida will not sign the new agreement.

Advertisers will need to provide valid telephone and credit card information to post erotic services ads. The website will provide that information to authorities if subpoenaed. Started in 1995, Craigslist has websites in more than 50 countries.

There could be other illicit activities associated with Craigslist.

I listed my Keyscar on the popular website last fall. It was a great ad with top notch copy and great pictures. I did not have to provide a credit card but I did include my phone number.

I didn’t expect to get half a dozen offers with certified checks for more than the asking price. The moral of this story is that many, many crooks will offer you a bogus certified check for more than the purchase price and ask you to pay the “overage” to their “shipping agent.”

Don’t do it. They will walk away with your goods and your money. You will walk away with a very small piece of art suitable for framing.

ramsey wrote:

Hello,

I was opportuned to see your advertised Car .So I picked interest in it, moreso with the full description that was attached to with the advert, kindly get back to me with your selling price. Also I will like to know if you will accept a banker draft or a certified personal cheque for the payment . Since I have not seen the pictures clearlly, I will like to know it’s present condition, Also tell me if the Car has ever been involve in any form of accident ? If yes, Don’t essitate to tell me the affected part.

Your fast responce will highly be appreciated .

Regards.

Donald Duke wrote:

Hello…

Thanks for your response to my mail and I want you to consider that its sold, pls do withdraw the advert from craigslist to avoid disturbance.I want you to know that I will be paying with a bank certified check and to also notify you that shipping funds will be included with the payment that is coming to you. so therefore.I will need you to provide me the following information listed below, so that I can ask my secretary to issue out the payment to you.

Full name to write on the check…………
Full Physical address to post the check…….
city………………….
state………………
zipcode………………..
Home & Cell Phone to contact you

*** Note that the payment will be shiped to your address via COURIER NEXT DAY SERVICE and I will like you to know that you will not be responsible for shipping I will have my mover coming over to your location for pick up after the receipt of the payment
Thanks

I am pleased to report that I did get a couple of legitimate nibbles on the car and did, in fact, sell it to a nice couple in Key West.

I am also pleased to report that I just bought a refrigerator via Craigslist.

Nothing ever goes quite as planned. A couple of years ago the 18 cu. ft. or so fridge my folks had used for umpty-ump years started making really loud graunching noises. Its doors sagged so the cold air kept running down the street. And it was a bit undersized for my liking. I watched the bulletin board at the Post Office and found a perfectly good used side-by-side for very little so I grabbed it and moved my folks smaller box outside to be the “bait fridge.”

It still makes a lot of noise so we don’t run it very often.

The perfectly good used side-by-side stopped making cold last week so I looked on cragislist for a replacement. See, I can’t suspend my disbelief enough to shell out more than the cost of a brand new Chevrolet 5.3 liter crate motor for a pretty white box that makes cold.

Sears had plenty of choices but nothing I could buy. A LG side-by-side, $1,300, a GE side-by-side, $1,600, a Kenmore 3-door “trio,” $2,000, another Kenmore 4-door, $2,700, and an 18 cu. ft. Kenmore top freezer bare bones box for $425.

As my friend “Bob” said, $1,200 is too much. $3,000 is mindless.”

I agree wholeheartedly.

With the economy crunched, I’m surprised there aren’t many newish used fridges on the market. After all, there are certainly thousands of newish used homes. I did see a one-or-two year old glory model LG refrigerator advertised in Key West for $1,500. That’s too much for a new one, let alone used.

Craigslist had a 3 year old Admiral listed for significantly less. The new-to-me fridge is in place. It is clean, well made, and in excellent shape.

The fridge was in the Stanley Switlik estate. That beautiful home sits on a some lovely Marathon acreage with water on three sides. D’Asign Source is designing and building a private home for the new owner.

I paid cash for the fridge.