Category: government

City Hall Park Art


Larry Glen and Kevin couldn’t decide if the pieces which look like furniture were art. They had no trouble deciding that, on this cold day, it wasn’t a good idea to sit on either the sofa or the chair. Both are made of metal and it was 5 degrees.

I mean, what is art? The chair image ain’t the chair; it represents the chair, lacks the function of the chair, has its design, but it ain’t real. It must be art, eh? Too cold, though to talk with these connoisseurs about the topic. It was too cold to even have a camera; I shot with Canon S90, which I kept in my pocket where it fogged up.

Kevin came from Barre. “Don’t drink the water there,” I was told when we came to VT. He has stage 5 colon cancer. In town to go to the doctor and see his social worker, he hopes that Make a Wish will send him to Japan for his last fling to see amime and the life there. He don’t care about cold. He’s still alive. Go live, my man. You have courage.

 

Larry and Matt Sweet have a tent. No way these guys do the shelter thing; too many rules. Know how to camp in the tent. Keep out the drafts and cold air.

Joe knows some kids, maybe college kids, who let him sleep in a utility room. They give him beer, pot, and food. He offered me some of his pina colada. Not exactly a drink I would drink, assuming I would drink in the park on a day like this, even if I were thirsty or going through withdrawl. I associate pina coladas with warm weather and tropical breezes, not sub arctic cold.

Connor and Country. I cannot be sure. They were looking for someone or something, they thought.

Keith came out for tobacco. I could not see coming out for something to smoke. A hospital appointment, sure; you got nowhere to go or you don’t know where you are, sure; but tobacco …. What a country. We all get a vote, too.

Damn, it was cold. And the cold doesn’t usually bother me. Tomorrow, colder. Joe said only the really hard core would be out tomorrow. We will see.

 

 

Miro Walks Church Street

 

Weather slightly bitter, as am I for being shut out of the caucus this weekend for reasons I cannot even imagine, but who cares about either of these problems. I will continue to live here, hoping the place lives up to its promises.

Miro walked alone up Church Street. He seemed upbeat about the election and upbeat about serving at a time when the job would be more difficult than if someone forced from office by term limits had succeeded in his task and all he had to do was color in the spaces. Why anyone would want to be a hall monitor in this zoo, escapes me. He thinks he can do the job, okay, but for what reason?

Charming, personable, knowledgeable and seemingly experienced in the ways of small city government, can he, if elected, move the city ahead, leaving the 1950’s where it is mired and make it a place more attractive to a growing upper lower and middle class than a nomadic college crowd? More crime. More poor. More vacancies. Not so chic shops. Lots of coffee shops and semi-fast food, but not a lot of cuisine. Does he support art? How about help for the hopeless and hapless. Is he a puppet of the authorities he has served or a visionary? He says he is a hands on problem solver; if nominated, he gets a chance to run for a  thankless job.

Good luck dude. Thanks for the portrait.

Burlington Telecom


Accept the fact that $18,000,000. didn’t go where it should have and no one in government or the communications business will be prosecuted for mismangement or theft. Cannot dispute the decision of TJ Donovan, the Chitteneden State’s Attorney, because the results of the investigation have not been released. But, if you believe in the system, you have to believe he made the decision by applying the applicable legal and ethical standards. The case, however, is a political disaster, especially since at least one of the major players, the Mayor, remains in office and there is no way to evaluate his performance without more information.

Stripes Again and Yet

Just bought Apple TV. Search not as expansive as I would have liked. But there are plenty of movies I have wanted to watch which I didn’t want to spend the money to rent and weren’t worth the hassle of entering them into Netflix que debates with Sharon. Streaming screams out for filmfiles, even if I couldn’t find Mildred Pierce. Only need to watch five or six movies a week to pay for the device in a reasonable time. We can do it with no problem. And, there is no late fee or crazed drives to return rentals.

As for Stripes, you should be ready for a bumpy ride. Great to reacquaint with early Murray, Harold Rambis, and the late, great John Candy. Warren Oates brings generational glue, anchoring the tale for the WWII and Korean Vets. Listed as a comedy, the absence of a conditioning word like “black” deprives the flick of legitimacy.  The first half is funny and sexy; the second is scary.

Murry and his buddy can’t handle life. Goofballs and slackers, they enlist into the Army for a European vacation, training, and some benefits. Some still follow their path, earning $20,00 or more as an enlistment bonus, a sum that would require some to work four jobs in a week to accrue. They end up in a troop of misfits let by Oates. Afraid to be sent back to 9 to 5, and after a shot to the bread basket by Oates, they work the troop into shape and earn an assignment to a special forces team whose task it is to test a new high tech tank disguised as an RUV. To further the romance of  service, they team up with two more qualified MPs who happen to be female and whisk them off in the vehicle for a tryst. While screwing, the home team thinks they have been kidnapped and go off to free them. The rescue team gets captured and the slackers then have to rescue them, starting a minor war with an unnamed enemy (Joe Flaherty), smite them, and return heroes.

This movie speaks to our worst dreams. Metaphorically, the US Army does what it wants, bringing its people into places where they may not be wanted. The officers come from a privileged class, educated, and clueless, charged with overseeing members of the underclass whom they send into battle willing to risk the lives of other but not their own. Both sides party without regard to the customs of  the places they inhabit, ignorant of the possible consequences, while remaining blind and deaf to the real purpose of  their undefined missions. Assume the tank works. Certified, it becomes a superior killing machine. No one wants that responsibility. Don’t explain the mission. Just tell me what to do.

The consequences of their conduct goes unquestioned. Force will cure any missteps. If captured and they get tortured, a act of the heathen enemy that could later be justified by invasion, assuming they cannot be traded for our hostages. Civilian casualties or the accidental destruction of property can be fixed with post-war reparations. And the players, they are are rejects who couldn’t make it elsewhere and who can be sold on the Army life, sir, as much because they don’t have anything else going on in their lives as that they have ideosyncrasies which can be translated into killing, fighting, and destroying skills. We hope at the end of the movie that this is how it used to be. What could be bad. They could be in jail. Now, you can even use enlistment as a get out of jail card, so long as you haven’t lost the ability to carry a gun.

Then they make them heroes and give them medals for winning a war they started.

Papa Neutrino and Julian Assange

What else to do on a cold and snowy Sunday other than sit next to the fire and curl up with the NYT? Been doing it for more than 50 years.

After reading sports, obits, and the Magazine section, I went down to the Lake for a walk with the two stories resonating in my head. Neither the cold, the damp, nor the gray could hide the natural beauty. But, I just couldn’t get Papa Neutrino or Julian Assange out of my head. They both be dreamers who wanted to change the world-one by being a part of it and the other by leaving it. Charge…

People celebrated Papa’s departure with song, champagne, and fireworks. No one on the shore admitted that they didn’t think the craft would make it, though everyone hoped it would. I watched them put it together; Papa was a little ballast short in this shipbuilding experience. And don’t forget, a few days before the departure, he had his pacemaker replaced. His cardiologists even came down to visit the boat with their kids. Not sure they were on board with the trip, but they be healers not seers.

Papa sort of gave everyone a dream that you don’t have to be tied down to your things to have a good life. Who knows if he left anything other than dreams? He knew the score, but didn’t seem to notice if he was ahead or behind. To him, the system was going to do what it was going to do and he was going to do what he was going to do and he didn’t care about the power structure and they didn’t care about him, other than to make sure he secured permission to take his craft out on the Lake, something he did by showing the Coast Guard the raft floated and had running lights.

Well, he left and we all know what happened. Some of his junk remains here, although it is covered by the snow.

When I read Bill Keller’s article on Julian, I sort of got the feeling that he, too, thought he could take on the system and prevail. Both guys battled against the system. One’s dream was built on leaks, the other derailed by one. Ultimately, nature and biology got to Papa. Too early to tell what will happen to Julian. His stuff was not as blockbusting as republican critics have shouted. Nothing changed. We knew most of what he told us. And as for what the materials said about the caddiness of diplomats and world leaders was no surprise. Papa’s ill fated voyage had the same effect.Both didn’t understand that you don’t step on Superman’s cape and you don’t piss into the wind.

I thank the NYT Managing Editor for his work in telling us how respectfully the paper balances the competing interests of the First Amendment. I question, though I do not reject, the judgment that went into selecting Papa for a William Grimes obituary. Aware as I am of the NYT policies on publishing alleged classified documents, assuming that is what Julian’s were and its standards for selecting people for obits, instead of paid death notices, they did what they do. As for both of those guys, though,neither is or was as big a deal as they thought they were, but the world would be a lesser place if individuals didn’t think they could live a life that makes a difference.

Joe Kernan

To protect what little is left of my retirement and savings, I sometime watch CNBC. No more. Aside from the yelling, bickering, and free market blather, they try to do news. Because of their bias, that part of their offering falls way below even FOX’s, whom we all know is simply a tool for Rupert Murdock’s and Roger Ailes’ political machines. The government had a chance to stop Murdock, GE should stop Kernan and the rest of the banterers. I will watch no more.

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Anita Hill Asked To Apologize

Can you believe the outright gall of that woman, Mrs. Justice Clarence Thomas? She must be on some kind of drugs, oxy would be my guess, or on a power trip of obscene proportions. Apologize. I’d prefer that Mr. Justice Thomas, he of the scowl and the silent treatment, resign and that Ms. Hill take his place. Good thing Ms. Hill called the FBI. Who knows what Ginny Thomas and her Liberty Central buds are capable of?

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