Monday, August 24, 2015

As The Second Vermont Republic Sputters to Its End...

... apparently the new plan to attain relevance in our time by the secesher brain trust is a concerted anti-Bernie Sanders campaign by Vermont's flailing secessionists.

The publisher of SVR's hate blog, Rob Williams, points us to this piece by longtime secesher flack, Bill Kauffman, as though it isn't a piece of transparent, partisan "analysis." Kauffman "analysis" relies entirely on the musings of, at one time or another, three of Vermont's best known crackpots. (I've written before about Kauffman here. Kauffman is also a contributor to the notoriously anti-Semitic, neo-Confederate and racist Chronicles magazine. Williams suggests to us that he has a relationship with Bernie - that's a laugh since Bernie has a short fuse around assholes like Williams. Although he is well aware about his Dixie singing founder of SVR, the quite dead Thomas H. Naylor,, Kauffman never discloses what he also knows about the SVR-Williams'-Naylor's many, many ties to racists and homophobes like the declared anti-Semites and racist League of the South, delegates from the racist Southern National Congress, and Williams past publication of the ravings of racist UVM prof. Robert S. Griffin, anti-Semites like Carol Moore and Dennis Morrisseau (too name only two of his Jew loathers), the racist LoSer board of director and convicted felon Franklin Sanders (no relation to Bernie), as well as the particularly nasty homophobes at South Carolina's Christian Exodus who Rob invited to Vermont because they like him.

In short, with no successes that he in the more than ten years that he's been fluffing the secesher hog - a failed publication; a rejected distribution deal; the goal of distribution throughout Vermont never even came close; although he promised them in all towns there has been no meaningful effort to get Vermonters to vote for secession at town meetings; despite his saying seceshers would be in the legislature and proposing legislative articles of secession by 2015, no secesher has come even remotely close to something exceeding a single digit showing when people knew it was a dyed in the wool secessionist running - Williams is now apparently orchestrating anti-Bernie campaign aided by a tiny group of usual suspects (former Bernie friends and/or allies Peter Diamondstone, Greg Guma, Robin Lloyd, Ben Dangle, to name just a few - all seceshers and lifelong losers.

The biggest laugh I got from the piece is that Williams might possibly believe that Bernie Sanders might see him as something better than (as in advisor) the neo-Confederate, anti-Semitic, racist enabler that he is. Next time you see him remember that Bernie sees you for exactly what you are.
"... support for the Pentagon’s F-35 Burlington-based joint strike fighter baffles and infuriates me. I find his cozying up to Lockheed and Sandia Labs perplexing, and his support for Israel maddening.

“Bernie knows I am a secessionist,” says Williams. “I have often suggested he run for president of the 2nd Vermont Republic. I’m not sure he appreciates this.”
Right, Rob. Anyone is bound to be sweeped away by the pleadings of a neo-Confederate, racist and anti-Semitic enabler rather than the platform for the presidency. Williams really is a completely delusional, narcissistic asshole, and Bernie knows it. What Williams didn't say was that more than five years ago Thomas Naylor sought to get Bernie to run as the secesher gubernatorial candidate but who they eventually got to stick his neck out was Dennis Steele, a bad caricature of the Brawny Towel Guy. Although conventional wisdom has long held that Bernie hasn't a chance in the Democratic 2016 primary, the seceshers own track record for failure may push Bernie over the top. Wouldn't that be a trip?

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Saturday, August 8, 2015

A Second Vermont Republic Founder Joins The Culture War

I know, it's been months since I last posted but, really, the Vermont secesher movement is pretty much dead here. Other than the occasional post at his hate site (no, I won't link to it), publisher Rob Williams, hasn't really been doing much of anything. Sure, he's tried to get his tired message out about "the Empire" out by piggybacking at other's events but Vermonters have pretty much got his number: hate. He's also been waging a bizarre anti-Bernie Sanders campaign, relying on the past writings of failed secessionists like the still dead Thomas Naylor, a lightweight by the name of Greg Guma, and his own whiny scribblings that point to the attacks of anti-Semite Stephen Lendman. Secesher Peter Diamondstone has played along with the campaign; you can read about Diamondstone's failure here.

I'd figured that this was the end of the line for the largely ineffectual SVR crowd and, for all intents and purposes, it is. It's founder dead, his successor completely failed, and the original SVR leadership scattered and silent. All except for Kirkpatrick Sale.

Sale was part of the 60's era SDS organization. He writes useless books devoted to his cramped worldview and, of course, secession. And he writes letters to his now local paper in Charleston, SC, about, of course, secession. He retired to SC from NY State a few years ago as things unraveled for his friends here at SVR in Vermont. In his retirement, Sale followed his dead friend's lead and has published some really dumb stuff but probably nothing quite as stupid as this recent op-ed in Charleston's The Post and Courier. In it, Sale offers secession as the solution to the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefel v. Hodges marriage equality decision.
"That is why I believe that the death of states’ rights is really a clarion call for states to defy the federal government and assert their rights independent of Washington and its minions."

"I care not how it be done..."
In his piece Sale essentially says "to hell" with the 5th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and cavalierly proposes conflict between Americans and their government. How'd that work out the last time around, Kirk? 500, 600 or 800 American dead, right?

I have little doubt Sale won't find takers for his proposal among the evangelical nutters that have spent the summer fuming over SCOTUS's decision. Sale's op-ed closes with:
"For if it is not done now, it will not be done ever."
That's probably the only thing that Sale got right in his op-ed.

You can read the op-ed here and a very good response can be found here. 'Course, Sale has been whining about "gay power" to whoever who'll listen for months.

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