Editorial Comment

Kennedyesque

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:02:37 -0500

Senator Kennedy, who grew up in a wealthy family, didn’t need to commit his life to such causes. He could have dabbled in stocks and lived the life many rich Americans live today without a trace of self-consciousness or guilt. His family, of course, would never have allowed him to get away with that, and he has raised his children in the same manner — as have almost all in the large Kennedy clan.
The Kennedys have always represented the best of progressive politics — what is politically possible in the United States. And in doing so, they have represented the best of what the Democratic Party can sometimes offer.
— Jim Therrien

Live from Denver

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:03:12 -0500

Over the next several days, the Banner will be one of a number of MediaNews dailies to have a man on the ground, so to speak, in Denver for the Democratic National Convention. Neal Goswami, Banner legislative and Bennington town reporter, was one of those selected to work with Denver Post editors, reporters and photographers in running down every story inside and outside the convention site. Street protests were big on the agenda for Neal's first day on the job today. The Banner will have a daily account from Neal, either as an article or as a blog entry. Also look for entries in the new Reporter's Notebook blog on this Web site.
Jim Therrien

Spread the wealth

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:19:35 -0500

Independent Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders and others have pointed out how little time the presumed presidential candidates have spent talking about the dire economy — especially its effect on the poor, the working class, and even the middle class.
At times, the apparent Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, seems no more attuned to the plight of working people and the poor in George Bush-era America than his opponent. If he is concerned, he has been too careful not to offend any of the moguls or corporate entities helping to press down those at the bottom of the economic pile.
Republican John McCain, whose party is closely tied to the interests of the wealthy and big business, has said even less. Senator McCain promises to retain, even expand the Bush tax relief for the well-to-do, which shows where he is coming from.
But Senator Obama also has promised tax cuts, although for the middle class, which is to say he would — with slightly different emphasis — continue the bankrupt Bush administration policies. Bankrupt in that, in order to right our economic ship, the federal budget must be more in balance and the $9 trillion federal debt must come way down.
In other words, there is no alternative to raising taxes and calling for sacrifice from all Americans if we are to dig out of the huge hole we find ourselves in. Yet, no one wants to say that, and each would be ripped apart by the other if they proposed what is so obviously necessary — and in our best interests as a nation.
Only tax cuts sound good to the voting public, of course, never sacrifice, even for the good of the country. Which is why candidates — other than Senator Sanders and very few others, who are never seriously challenged — say they want to do what is clearly called for.
But at some point, doesn’t someone have to step up? Preferably before we have another Depression-like crash.
The sad part is that assisting the poor and working people, providing health care and quality education and good-paying jobs — and a secure retirement — is a much better investment in the United States than the perpetuation of an obscenely wealthy, hoarding elite.

— Jim Therrien

Just the sound of it

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:47:35 -0500

With the idea of a four-day week sweeping the U.S., with the state of Utah and Connecticut municipalities considering four days as a way to save on energy use, many people are probably thinking how good that sounds for other reasons. Like extra days off, like long weekends every single week. Having once briefly worked such a shift, I can say you can get used to three days off in a hurry.
From another angle, is the four-day week about to become the norm for both those reasons, as a five-day week was in demand --- and finally institutued --- early in the 20th century. Before that, six, 12-hour days was not unusual. How does that sound?
As American productivity rises ever higher, it makes sense from a business owner's perspective too. Maybe. It would make even more sense if there were a national health insurance that eliminated businesses from the burden of providing that. In fact, if the next president would push through both a four-day week and national health insurance in his first 100 days, he'd be the next FDR overnight.

Enough already

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:56:19 -0500

The back and forth Democratic primary between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton is one of the closest in the 200-year history of the process. At this rate, one day after Hillary won the Pennsylvania primary by a 10 percent margin, neither candidate can reach the 2,025-delegate platform with pledged delegates, so they'll be forced to use the superdelegates to decide the nominee. This can't happen. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean needs to figure out a way to end this seemingly never-ending battle before the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. Otherwise, the former Vermont governor will have a split party and then this country will have yet another Republican president, more tax breaks for the richest Americans, 5 dollar gasoline, 5 dollars for a gallon of milk and etc. etc. etc. It's ridiculous. After having one of the worst presidents ever (and yes, it's partly my fault, I voted for him twice), this country needs to move in a different direction, and the Democrats, with this extended brouhaha called primary season, are inching ever so closer to screwing it up. Message to Dems: Get your act together, enough of this primary nonsense, get some party unity so you can beat John McCain in November.

The Democratic Divide

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:20:47 -0500

Barack Obama's comments about bitter working class voters are creating a typically overblown issue for the talking heads to rage about, even eclipsing whether Bill Clinton should zip his lip to avoid damaging his wife's campaign.
But the comments do point out the split that has damaged the Democrats in presidential elections since 1968. Obama was speaking to a group of wealthy, liberal supporters in San Fran, not to a working class crowd, and he apparently said something off the cuff that he never would have said in Pittsburgh or Gary, Ind. The real problem for the party this year, and every election year, is how to unite the working class Dems and the so-called latte Dems that Hillary and Bill have always been able to attract while apparently putting off the liberal wing of the party --- Ted Kennedy, etc.
My advice: They have to team up and win or McCain could grab those working class Dems and the party will be looking at 1972 or 1980 all over again. One of them might win on their own, given the economy, but as Dirty Harry said, "Do you want to take a chance? Well, do you?"

Worst of the worst?

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:27:20 -0500

If people are asked what is the worst thing that has happened to the United States over the past couple of decades, some would say the wars we've found in the Mideast and elsewhere, others would say the slow, steady destruction of the environemnt and global warming. Others would cite the bitter partisanship in Washington.
But how about the massive federal deficit, now pegged at around $9 trillion, and our refusal to even attempt to pay it off? Reagan launched it with his economic voodoo proposals but since then both Democrats and Republicans in the White House and in Congress have kept it going, although Bill Clinton and the Newt Gingrich-era Congress made moves in the right direction and actually slowed it down. Bush II has acted as if it wasn't there.
The worst part of it is not even the debt but our endless credit card mentality, somehow developed over the past 30 years. This isn't the America you read about in the history books. Is it?
Jim Therrien

The Florida Decision

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:04:46 -0500

Someone, or several someones in the Democratic Party, should be held responsible for the nutty decision to reject the primary votes in Florida and in Michighan for purposes of the convention. Hillary Clinton supporters are rightfully angry because those two states would have provided her with many more delegates at this point and bolstered her fading chances for the nomination by showing she can win key large states.
But all Democrats should be worried whether voters, particularly in Florida, will come away from the convention disgruntled with the process, the party and the nominee. Remember 2000? Wasn't Florida rather important in that election?
If the race weren't close between Clinton and Barack Obama all of this would be swept under the rug somehow, but any decision now to reinstate Florida or Michigan delegates would prove extremely divisive, so Democrats are likely stuck with the current mess.
Why on earth did they not decide to penalize New Hamshire and Iowa for moving up their contests? That would have made more sense and might have finally ended the absurdity of having those two states hold such sway over the process.
Jim Therrien

The Great Debate

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:25:08 -0500

Voters should completely ignore the TV commentary about the Democratic debate in South Carolina last night. As a general rule, they should ignore 90 percent of what those airheads say, but particularly in this case. Watch the entire debate yourself if you want to see democracy in action at its best. It was a hard hitting back and forth among three strong candidates that ended in something of a love fest of mutual admiration, and it must have left many Democrats wishing they didn't have to choose just one.
Jim Therrien

Tempest in a something or other

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:55:25 -0500

The idea that Hillary Clinton's comment that President Johnson played an important role in the civil rights movement should be offensive to anyone amazing. No, on second thought, the idea that certain factions in a close race for the Democratic presidential nomination --- including some on the Republican side --- might wish to bait Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton into a brawl over race that will damage both of them makes perfect sense.
Jim Therrien

McCain was right?

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:27:57 -0500

Sorry, but the idea that Sen. John McCain is doing well in the Republican primaries and would do well in a general election because he was "right" about the Iraq War is a bogus theory. McCain does well because he was a war hero and POW and because of his independent political makeup.
He was right about Iraq in a strategic sense only, because he saw the need for a much larger deployment of troops from the beginning but was ignored by the Bush administration. He was wrong because it was a war the U.S. did not need to fight and one that has cost us dearly in many ways and kept us from focusing on our true enemy, al-Qaida, while costing us the respect and trust of friends and detractors alike, not to mention in lives and treasure.
JIm Therrien

The Kerry factor

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:33:44 -0500

What seems interesting about the decision of Sen. John Kerry to endorse Barack Obama for president is that he snubbed his former running mate, Sen. John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton. Hmmm, must be a few grudges and/or paybacks involved there. Or maybe Kerry gets a bigger momment in the limelight by being the first major endorser for Obama. Who knows? Politics itself is a strange bedfellow.

Showing some style

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 00:37:18 -0500

I know the hardest thing for most people to get right, or remember, when writing a press release --- even for some longtime PR people --- is AP style. And I know it's not likely very many readers of this entry will immediately start writing like veteran reporters, if only because most people don't write day after day after day, which is really what it takes to approach style perfection. But since I don't think we offer press release submitters and other contributers to the paper enough guidance, I will highlight a few common mistakes. It couldn't hurt.
One of biggest pains for a copy editor is dealing with a release or column in which the writer has left spaces after each sentence and hit return twice after each paragraph. Very few newspapers if any put those spaces in, and they have to be deleted, which is a bit easier now with global searches but never a picnic. Our search isn't all that reliable. I realize that many people learned to type this way --- who is teaching people this style, anyway, and could they just stop? --- but most newspapers would appreciate it if the practice died a horrible death.
There are many other anti-AP style regulars, but these are a few of the classics:
---- Using postal abbreviations for states, such as VT or NY. The AP style is Vt. or N.Y.
---- Capitalizing everything and anything. This comes from press release writing produced by businesses, governments and colleges, in which every possible title, like Stamp Collector or Gentleman is capitalized. And words like State or Town or or Board or Business all get a capital. These all have to be changed by the editors. Basically, the rules are that only a true title, not a generic one, takes a capital, and titles that come before the name are usually capitalized, but those that come after aren't. As in Chairman John Brown and Jane Brown, chairwoman of the board.
----- Out of the blue abbreviating words like department or route right in the middle of a sentence. It should be Department of Human Services and Route 7.

That's all for now, but when I come across more I'll post them here.

---- Jim Therrien

Media Rant No. 1

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:51:33 -0500

One of the major justifications for hating cable television “news” channels has to be O.J. Simpson. Although we suppose O.J. shouldn’t take all the blame himself.
After all, no one is forcing CNN and the rest to keep showing almost every minute of his latest trial — and then piling on hours of “legal analysis.”
On the one hand, maybe it is fitting for the cable networks to pay homage to the guy, who, in 1994, single-handedly launched the celebrity news age by, many would agree, killing his wife and her friend in grisly fashion.
We wonder, though, who the producers of such garbage coverage think they are serving by showing it ad nauseum. If anyone with half a wit is watching the O.J. show, or Anna Nicole, or Britney or Paris, bet that it is only as they are looking for the channel changer or hoping that the network will air some real news — usually to be disappointed.
But shouldn’t the advertisers in that degenerating media wonder who such coverage is attracting? Primarily morons fixated by flashing pseudo celebrities and people screaming and about to flip the channel.
And advertisers, who seemed to be driving these lowbrow efforts, should give some thought to the type of consumers they are reaching — as opposed to those who would prefer an NPR or BCC style news format. Of course, if they are selling gadgets for the witless, then they are right on target.

— Jim Therrien

A cross in the trail

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:45:53 -0500

The view from Harmon Hill, elevation 2325 feet, on the Long Trail in Woodford.

Over the last few years I have driven on Route 9 between Searsburg and
Bennington many times. And many of these times I have looked to see
where the Appalachian Trail cuts across the road in the Green Mountain
National Forest. Just looking from the road at 50 mph, I never could
determine where the crossing was. But lately I had become more
determined and took the obvious step of looking at a few maps. I
discovered that the AT crosses Route 7 in Woodford, around a bend in
the road not far east from the Woodford Elementary School.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, bursting with energy and with other plans having
fallen through, I drove to the AT crossing in the mid-afternoon. It was
a balmy autumn day with the foliage close to its peak. Not
surprisingly, there were many cars in the sizable parking lot. I
decided to take the trail south, toward Massachusetts. From Route 9 you
start up a steep and stony embankment. The huge boulders in many places
form something of a primitive stairway.
Sometimes I go into the woods to be alone and think, but today in such
a place I knew this would not be possible. There were hikers all over
the place. The first two men I met came down the hill talking about
molecular chemistry — I swear — but as soon as one of them saw my Red
Sox hat, he asked me how the Sox had done in the playoff game the night
before. I was happy to tell him that they won on a walk-off home run by
Manny Ramierez. He was very happy to hear this.
After about a half hour climbing up the steep slope I had to stop and
sit on a big rock next to the trail for a breather and some water. Some
more people came down the trail and we exchanged pleasantries. Up the
trail came a charming young woman with a black dog who had started up
the trail a few minutes after I did. We spoke briefly about the how
crowded the trail was and the beautiful foliage. Then, obviously in
good shape, she took off up the trail, quickly past some heavily laden
and slow-moving hikers.
About an hour later, finally atop the ridge, I ran into the woman with
the dog on their way back down. She said there was a very nice view not
far ahead. In a few minutes I came to a sign that indicted that I was
now on Harmon Hill, elevation 2325 feet, and 1.7 miles from where I had
parked on Route 9. There was a path leading off to the west from the
sign. Here I came to an open view to the east of Bennington and Mount
Anthony. I took out my digital camera, but taking a good photo of
Bennington would not be possible, because the valley was filled with
haze. Still, the Bennington Monument was visible in the distance. I did
manage to take a photo I like of the outline of Mount Anthony off in
the distance.
This spot was so beautiful that I stayed there until after 5 p.m. By
this time, there weren't many people around. The sky was overcast and
it was growing prematurely dark, so I decided to head back down the
trail. I didn't occur me that I might get caught in the rain, but just
after I had reached the steep part of the path down the mountain, I
heard a loud sound like wind in the trees. Only it wasn't the wind, it
was rain — a downpour. Then I was glad that I always carry a backpack
with extra stuff, including a rain poncho. I still managed to get
pretty wet as I fumbled to get the poncho out of my pack and onto my
body, but still I got back to my car a lot drier and warmer than I
would have been otherwise.
It was about 6:15 p.m. when I got back to my car. The hike had taken
about four hours. I noted with some amusement that it was 20 years to
the day after the great surprise blizzard of 1987 in the Northeast. I
had an adventure on that day, too, but that's a story for another
time...
Mark Rondeau
Local news editor