Has The Second Vermont Republic's Bad Penny Turned Up Again?

It's been a quiet month but some things just aren't meant to last.

Thomas Naylor, our Magnolia Vermonter, has been churning out his patented, sententious essays that, for all they lack in reality based quality, more than make up for in offering a glimpse into a mind that's left the rails. His game board mentality for reshaping the world as he would have it, despite its obvious utter misreading of histories and the present, offer insight into just how far into the ridiculous his "plans" have now veered, if you can call his muddled thinking anything like planning.

But today I have something that's not so new from the Second Vermont Republic website, written by someone that Thomas Naylor has described as one his "twenty Vermont Internet cowboys" - James Duncan.

Duncan, you may recall, is the "cowboy" who posted on the not-so-secret (although they all thought so at the time) Free Vermont listserv his disdain for lesbians and race-mixing, and was the largest out-of-state contributor to the utterly failed campaign for Vermont governor waged by Green Mountain Brigade commander, er, anti-war candidate and Connecticut native, Dennis Steele, who was just fine about keeping the money contributed by a bigot.

Duncan also has plans for "show trials" in the new Vermont Republic of current law enforcement members that he discussed in this Free Vermont listserv posting, where he suggested someone for SVR's Very Foreign Minister, Dennis Morrisseau, to contact in the Patriot movement:

From: jd882u at hotmail.com (james duncan)
Date: Fri Mar 12 14:25:53 2010
Subject: [Free Vermont Framework] FW: [New post] Oath Keepers and Oath
Take rs: Does It Really Matter?
Message-ID:

"Sorry, my encounters with law enforcement were always of the non-oath keepers types."

"You know, the socieopathic toadies of the plutocracy whose defense when we put them on trial will be ......"I was only following orders"."

"Remember, most of the servants of the Empire oppress and tyrannize you for a mere pat on the back and a Scobby snack from their masters. If you want to pursue making contact, their leader seems to be a Stuart Rhodes and this is his website http://oathkeepers.org/oath/

On the plus side, he is on SPLC shit list along with the rest of us."

A year before this threatening posting, early in 2009, Duncan had an essay published at baas Naylor's SVR website where he laid out his plans for a new Vermont currency. The plan was comprised of the usual sovereignty movement/Glenn "Hoard Gold" Beck crap, along with economic bilge of the sort usually associated with the likes of former SVR board member and current board member of the white supremacist group, the League of the South , Franklin Sanders, who received a felony conviction for his own financial shenanigans.

Duncan included a dog whistle to racialist politics and separatist ideals with this gratuitous passage in his 2009 essay:

"The Empire is in its death throes. Built on avarice and greed, it has all but eaten itself. How do we protect ourselves as it thrashes around and strikes out? Secession is of course the ultimate answer. We have nothing in common with the gang bangers in L.A., the crack dealers in Detroit, the stock swindlers in N.Y. Why should we be forced to associate with them any longer? Why should the sweat of our brows be used to spread murder abroad and tyranny at home? Enough is enough."

He even signed his piece like SVR board member Jason Sorens has also written in his scribblings that have argued for violence against some leaders - Sic Semper Tyrannis - a favorite closing line among seceshers, both past and present, including Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Later that year Naylor's SVR issued what the baas has called a "token" in this announcement.

Below is from the page at Moonlight Mints that seems to indicate a a somewhat smaller minting than originally described by Naylor- 113 Nearings; 109 Duncans vs the 500 Nearings alluded to by Naylor in his offering.


In his announcement Naylor goes on to say that his "token" will trade at par with the dollar.

"Why clovers, the state flower, instead of dollars, pounds, or euros? As Voltaire once said, “Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value – zero.” With the Federal Reserve Bank printing fiat money as though it were going out of style, the value of such money can only spiral downward."

"Why clovers? Why not? Why peg something of value (silver) to a rapidly declining asset (dollars)? Why not a fresh start with a new yet time tested medium of exchange?"

"Clovers will trade at one to one vs the dollar – for now."

So Naylor's token isn't really a "token"; it's intended to be a what's called a private currency - and it seems that just might be illegal enough, based on the offer to trade for dollars, for the FBI or the Secret Service to take an interest. Recently a similar private currency issuer was convicted for another version of these money schemes. [1] [2] After I'd begun research for this post, a Vermont Commons blogger, Sherry Ackerman, expressed last week her own concerns about the SVR funny money.

So perhaps that's why this announcement now appears on the SVR website:


But the question that really needs an answer from Naylor, Williams, Flomenhoft, Wagner and/or any of the other SVR secesher braintrust of wingnuts is, "Why the hell does the Second Vermont Republic need a James Duncan coin?!?!" Maybe James Duncan would like to throw in his own two cents to explain the "Duncan" and, while he's at it, explain the Donnachaidh thing from a few months ago.

Comments are temporarily on - wingnuts start your propellers.

Oh, and don't take any wooden Naylors. (I know but I couldn't resist, having heard wa-a-ay too many yak puns from Rob Williams during the past year.)

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