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Everyone in the US should be guaranteed a minimum annual income, free education up through a PHD, full medical care, a house and a car.
Well, this sounds good to me! As long as it is at least $500,000 minimum, free education at an Ivy League school, free medical coverage at the doctor of my choice, a free house in - where else - Maine AND finally, a 4W drive to get around in my new home state!
By the way, do they realize what they are talking about is the "C" word that they used to have in Russia?
communism!!!! Oh crud!!! We'll be standing in line all day for toilet paper.....
Yeah, sorry for the rant. I've just been through trying to drive around Chittenden county to do errands during the Holiday rush, sheesh. Vermont USED to be very republican and independent. Ever hear of Ethan and Ira Allen? Farming was hard work for the early folks and it's no picnic for the current ones who are still trying to hang in there. Yeah, it was largely imported- but now it's being exported, yay!
Reindeerlady you can rant on............everybody needs a good rant
We're getting kind of "over run" here in my neck of the woods too
Pardon me, but I find this funny. Vermont is viewed (correctly or not) by much of the country as a bastion of green & liberal ideology. Many midwestern red-state cranks consider VT hostile territory that probably should be walled and contained. I just find it ironic that you complain of all the liberalism being IMported, when the perception (fear?) is very much the opposite.
Maybe it's just that the people of Vermont have traditionally been independent and self-sufficient, and that may be interpreted as "green & liberal?' I don't know... Personally, I am a "live and let live" person, and I usually take umbrage with those midwesterners who consider that anyone should be walled and contained in a supposedly "free country." Such is human nature 'tho to question those who may not "conform" to what others think is the right way to live I suppose.
It just goes to show that you can't always believe what you view in "mainstreamville."
I could write an eloquent description of the most beautiful rose in bloom, and use such fascinating verbiage that someone might want to see it for themselves. When they arrive to view such a "vision of beauty" and I hand them a turd on a stick - well, then I could argue "No, no, can't you see? It's a beautiful rose in bloom."
I guess it's all in the "perception" and "spin" of things. Until you see it for yourself, then you're at the mercy of whomever describes it to you.
As far as the rudeness of people now, I've seen that up here too. It's to a lesser degree I'm sure, but unfortunately, it's everywhere. It's also why I threaten my kids within an inch of their lives when they even remotely contemplate being unneccessarily rude. I say "unncecessarily" because there are occasions where a snappy retort to someone who is ramming you with their shopping cart while yakking on a cellphone is indeed called for.
Interesting reading these comments, after just finishing reading an aricle in the WSJ about a prominent Russian professor predicting the collapse of the U.S. in 2010. He has had the prediction since 1998 and his theory is based on an economical and moral collapse in the U.S. leading to a civil war which will split the country into 4 seperate territories.
Interesting reading these comments, after just finishing reading an aricle in the WSJ about a prominent Russian professor predicting the collapse of the U.S. in 2010. He has had the prediction since 1998 and his theory is based on an economical and moral collapse in the U.S. leading to a civil war which will split the country into 4 seperate territories.
Perhaps the professor is right, but then again, the world was supposed to stop in the year 2000 when all of the computer databases were predicted by some to "crash" and result in impending doom. In a sense, this country has been split for quite some time. Rational discourse is a thing of the past unfortunately. It used to be you could disagree amicably (and respectfully by the way) with someone's opinion of something. Now, it's all in the "Political Correctness" and not "offending" anyone. There's far too much "My way or the highway" going on in my opinion. Anyone who didn't see this economic crisis coming years ago, wasn't - as far as I'm concerned anyway - either paying attention, or was too busy trying to survive.
I think there's also an element of "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."
communism!!!! Oh crud!!! We'll be standing in line all day for toilet paper.....
In school I remember reading books about folks using corn cobs during the Depression.
My grandparents then told me that country folk grew corn. A little for themselves / livestock, a little more to barter with city folk, but mostly for squeezin's.
Then they sold the clean cobs to city folk to use in their latrines. While country folk used the corn husks in their outhouses.
So when folk wrote books about their lives during the depression, if they were using cobs they were in the city. It they were using husks they were in the country.
Now I have never used corn husks for latrine duty, I have only used them for cooking tamales.
We're living in a time when things have changed quickly and drasticly for some of us. Everyone seems to be in a rush; gotta go, gotta see, gotta do...NOW. Just like in the movie "Vacations" where Chevy Chase bobs his head at the Grand Canyon and says OK lets go. People have their own itinerary and heaven help anyone that gets in their way. We have mostly become a world that expects everything to be given to us and get our own way at any cost. That's why I like it here and don't like going to Bangor or Portland. Other larger cities like London or Philly the people just ignore youand as long as you stay out of the way they don't plow into you. But as reindeerlady says sometimes you can be well oyut of the way and still get bumped with no "excuse me". And charity should have at least a hint of altruism and not just giving/doing and ensuring others know about it.
And tcrackly hits it with the kids and their ipods (gotta have one earbug hanging down though). We used to want to go out and play. Now you have to kick them out and they just sit or roam. I sound like my father. He warned me I'd end up this way.
When I go to the "city"... at the end of my trip I feel so tired and dragged down. It's just mentally over drainging to me.
I remembered as a kid that there was "no inside" time. We lived outdoors unless it rained. I think as a kid, I can count on both hands how many kids saw my room. It just wasn't something I expected. Kids came over.. and that meant outside unless you had to use the washroom.
Ok, this is the icon for embarassment, right? And Mercator Projection, sorry if I offended; I wasn't thinking of New York, but hubbs is from upstate NY, and he agrees having lived here quite a few years, now - enough to see the creeping changes. Seriously, thanks folks. I'll shut up for now.
You didn't offend. And I'm sorry if my response was snide. I just thought it was funny to find a VTer lamenting about outsiders demanding that everyone be more liberal. It would be like NYC folks complaining about all the Upstater's coming down the Hudson with bad accents and imposing a hurried pace of life on everyone. Ironic... thats all.
Really - No need to shut up. I like your posts.
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Personally, I am a "live and let live" person, and I usually take umbrage with those midwesterners who consider that anyone should be walled and contained in a supposedly "free country." Such is human nature 'tho to question those who may not "conform" to what others think is the right way to live I suppose. 
I say "unncecessarily" because there are occasions where a snappy retort to someone who is ramming you with their shopping cart while yakking on a cellphone is indeed called for.
Ok, this is the icon for embarassment, right? And Mercator Projection, sorry if I offended; I wasn't thinking of New York, but hubbs is from upstate NY, and he agrees having lived here quite a few years, now - enough to see the creeping changes. Seriously, thanks folks. I'll shut up for now.
