Nearing Post Time for the 2012 Electoral Horserace

Today's the last day when candidates for Vermont's statewide and legislative elective offices may submit their nominating petitions.

Wannabe "Senator" Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner's call to arms for 30 secessionist Senate candidates to lead Vermont out of the Union (which received no responses on his website) has only registered one candidate from the list of 5 that he's been promoting for nearly a year - Peter Moss from Franklin County who is running under the Peace and Prosperity Party (?) banner on this go around - all the while claiming that he has at least 6 who'll be running for the senate in 2012. This is according to the latest list of submitted petitions as of Tuesday, June 12 that was made available to VTDigger by Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos.

I suppose we're going to have to wait until post time at 5:00 PM to learn if the present lone occupant of the secesher clown car will have company.

Secretary Condos has indicated that his office will try to have a complete list of candidates who've submitted nominating petitions by today's deadline up online over the weekend sometime.

Meanwhile, in another matter related to Wagner's conflicting positions, there's been no word yet about whether Wagner will be returning the $288.30 Federal subsidy he received while flying out of the airport in Rutland, VT, which is exactly the kind of subsidy that he "is strongly opposed to" and has argued harms Vermonters that I revealed he'd hypocritically availed himself of (as in sticking his snout in the federal money trough) here. Wagner must publicly give back that subsidy money or he'll be exposed for the hypocritical fraud that many of us Vermonters know him to be.

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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.

Current Affairs

Today's email Inbox contained a query regarding when this blog will get back to blogging about the state of the Vermont secession movement and its supporters here or have they simply become so irrelevant that there's little that needs to be said any longer about them.

In answer to the second question first; while it's true that the Second Vermont Republic and its sister website at "Vermont Commons" have become nothing more than an e-bumper sticker movement, they're still trying to come up with a plan for their eventual takeover of Vermont's government and many of its public institutions. Much of their activity amounts to little more than repeating the same old tired, uncompelling talking points that have yet to sweep Vermonters up into their movement. One change has been that the seceshers no longer use the word secession, preferring instead euphemisms like being geared toward "emerging independence" (patently untrue) and "decentralization."

The mathematically challenged "Senator" Robert "Needed Killin' " Wagner is engaged in a weak kneed campaign to enlist similarly deluded nutbars into running for a Vermont senate seat under the banner of secession and the Ron Paultard Revolution.  Someone should tell the "Senator" that for more than two weeks the Paultard campaign has been in a state of full retreat, suspending operations, dropping out of primaries and is financially belly up.  I'll have more on the success, or lack thereof, of Wagner's effort to takeover the entire Vermont Senate later next month.

Also, there's a scheduled meeting of Vermont secesher bigwigs in the late summer where the "rebels" plan to marinate in a daylong celebration of hatred, Jew-baiting, self-delusion, Glenn Beck style gold peddling and windmill tilting, featuring a lecture from noted South Carolinian, neo-Confederate-American delegate (read: windbag) to the Southron National Congress, Kirkpatrick Sale, who once famously said that Israel was a "mistake" and that the "mistake" of Israel can be undone. It should prove to be as boring, poorly attended and insignificant as their previous "conventions" - remember them? Not to worry; no one else does either. Thomas Naylor, the the Dixie singin' baas and founder of the nonexistent Second Vermont Republic plans to take a backseat role at the meeting and focus his energies on his function as the Dr. Kevorkian for the Vermont body politic while running the sideshow will be Vermont Commons' douchenozzle publisher, Rob Williams, who'll co-chair the the secesher dog and pony event with Vermont Commons' web and content editor, Vermont's F35 NYMBY queen and sham radical, Juliet Buck. Political theatre vs. substantive action being their schtick, I'm sure that a clown car has been reserved to chauffeur the out of state revelers. Sounds like oodles of fun.

As for the email sender's first point, it'll be a pleasure to kick sand in the face of one of the most unsuccessful and ineffectual movements to be brought to the Green Mountains by carpetbagging allies of the racist League of the South in a generation over the summer.  In March of 2010 I warned the seceshers that I'd be reviewing their campaign materials later that year and they know how that turned out; whilst they were laying the groundwork for the most disastrous collective electoral effort in recent memory, I was reading their plans that they'd left for all to see on the Intertubes (here).  The secesher machinations were a laugh riot that garnered election results in the single digits or less.  Even Vermont's own Magnolia Vermonter, Tommy Naylor, felt moved to comment when it was over about the complete failure of his handpicked candidates,

"In spite of the paucity of votes attracted by (secesher gubernatorial) candidate (Dennis) Steele, his campaign seems to have been perceived as a major threat to someone."

"During the four weeks before the election, Steele and the entire Vermont independence movement were the object of a vicious, CIA-style, cybersmear campaign. Three websites and a well-organized network of anti-secessionists bombarded cyberspace with charges of racism, homophobia, and anti-semitism. The exact nature of the relationship between the smear network and the hostile websites was unclear. What was clear was that the entire effort was extremely well organized and well financed."

If by "well organized" Naylor meant blogging about the abundantly available facts then I'd plead guilty, but as for "well financed" Naylor's yet to present evidence rather than innuendo regarding that assertion since facts aren't Tommy's strong suit. He's also said,

"...Both the Second Vermont Republic and the Texas Nationalist Movement, the two most high-profile secession movements in the United States, have recently been the object of WikiLeaks-like cyber attacks."

"For over a year twenty Vermont Internet cowboys engaged in an intense Internet debate about secession on a private network known as the Free Vermont Framework. All participants thought the network was confidential and secure. They were mistaken. Six weeks before the November 2nd election the content of the network, including all Internet conversations over the past year, was released to three Vermont Technofascist Truth Squad websites which were hostile to the Second Vermont Republic and its election candidates. The leaked information was then used to wage a vitriolic CIA-like smear campaign against SVR and its candidates."

Source

This year's slate of potential secesher candidates promises to prove to be equally feckless, so let me repeat my earlier warning to these idiots:



More to come.

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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.

Ripton Vermont's Robert Wagner Throws A Hissy Fit Over A Delayed Flight Out Of Rutland's Airport

By now you've all heard of Vermont secessionist Robert Wagner's tendency to fly off the handle for the slightest perceived cause, whether it be communities solving and paying for local needs that he disapproves of based on his own specious reasoning while at the same time seeking to bellying up to the state and federal funding trough to get some goodies delivered to his community at statewide expense.

Wagner, who prefers to be called "Senator" despite having never held such an office, is once again running for the Addison County senate seat in the Vermont legislature; he proclaims such again for the umpteenth time in this recent announcement. Perhaps it's because the media doesn't immediately scrub the news lineup to highlight the latest Wagner barrage of hate directed at his neighbors from Addison County who serve in the legislature that Wagner feels compelled to offer these serial announcements, but whatever the reason it's all getting quite old - like his lie about having six others (that he alleges will ultimately will become thirty) who are running arm in arm with him to takeover the Vermont Senate from those already there who are "corrupt" and are "thieves," as Wagner wrote in his post "How the Vermont Legislature Steals From Us". None of the four (not five) candidates that he lists at his website are as yet registered candidates for Senate; some of their nonsense websites have even gone "dark." Even "Senator" Wagner hasn't bothered to complete the necessary registration form, despite his redundant announcements. What's his strategy this time - a write-in November surprise?

We can now add to the river of nonsense that spews from candidate Wagner his thoughts on flight operations. You see, Wagner would have us believe that flight control is dictated merely by the the weather at the end of his nose. In what can only be described as Wagner's "air rage" snit in his recent rant here over his delayed departure from the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport (RUT) we learn that he was told that weather was the cause for his hour long delayed departure. Never mind his muddled understanding of modern, more effective weather services, such delays are not uncommon in the airline industry. Delays or cancellations are normally due to weather or mechanics, mechanics being something as mundane as a malfunctioning gauge where no true mechanical issue is involved other than a minor electrical fix.

Bear with me as I explain a few air industry fundamentals since there's one helluva punchline to the whole fuss that Wagner raised on the ramp at RUT.

Wagner's sophomoric misunderstanding of the essentials of Air Traffic Flow Management are breathtaking. Ground stops that necessitate aircraft to remain on the ramp or runway awaiting takeoff clearance are not exceptional when varying weather conditions en route or at the destination require readiness to rejoin the "flow" at a few minutes notice. Necessary pre-flight check procedures when re-starting an aircraft can lead to a missed opportunity to rejoin that "flow," particularly in the case of small aircraft such as the small twin engine, nine seat Cessna 402 (oh, yeah, Wagner didn't tell you about that in his rant, did he?). Also, Cessna 402s are much more subject to wind activity at an arrival airport such as at his destination, Logan Airport, than are the larger, instrument heavy aircraft that can handle the tricky Boston Harbor offshore winds (believe me, I know), if not on runway 19 at RUT.

Certainly, this isn't the first time that Wagner's, willfully or not, displayed a self-serving ignorance of basic facts in order to advance his meme-of-the-day. But in this case it flies (pun intended again) in the face of his oft stated principles as a candidate for the Vermont Senate. Let me quote the would be senator from his most recent campaign announcement:

Question: "Would you vote to end government subsidies to private industry?"
Answer: "End them immediately!"
Source

And...

"In 2012, I’m going to be a grandpa. Folks, it takes something like this to broaden your perspective… and now it’s personal for me: I am strongly opposed to Vermont taking federal money, because it’s borrowed money that my grandchildren will get stuck paying back. Deprived of the opportunities that I had, simply because of one short-sighted, greedy generation."

"I say this now: the job of a State Legislator is to protect the rights and fortunes of the people who sent him (why not her, Robert?) to Montpelier. Not; I repeat NOT to give up those rights to gain federal grants for make-work projects in his district."

"These federal grants, stimulus and other welfare is DEBT: money borrowed from my grandkids without my consent and spent today. We Vermonters would be better off holding onto our hard-earned cash. It is a traditional Vermont value to do without what we cannot yet afford, to scrimp & save until we can buy something honestly. Handouts simply aren’t the Vermont way."

Yah.

Here's the deal: Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport receives what's called an Essential Air Service federal grant subsidy (government documents file folder may be accessed here) in the amount of $797,151 per year to operate commercial flights using Cape Air's nine passenger Cessna 402 aircraft. A 14 day one way advance booking costs a passenger $49. Based on the CY 2010 enplanements, the taxpayer's federal subsidy for Robert Wagner's round trip excellent adventure computes to be $288.30! Cha-ching!

The question now for Vermonters is when will Wagner, who is "strongly opposed" to goverment subsidies and federal grants, reimburse the Vermont tax paying community for his recent (as well as possibly earlier) bellying up to the federal grant trough? How 'bout a check to the Vermont General Fund so that Vermonters and their grandchildren aren't saddled with underwriting Wagner's whiny travels, a luxury that many Vermonters in today's economic climate can little afford for themselves.

I wouldn't hold my breath but I'm gonna keep asking when he or his employer intend to pony up the $288.30 "handout" he so "strongly oppose(s)"; that is, when it's not him slopping at the federal subsidy trough that he demands not be afforded to his Vemont neighbors.


Robert Wagner - What. A. Flaming. Asshole. Hypocrite.


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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.

"Senator" Wagner Is Digging In on His More Than One Month Old Lie

It's fascinating to watch as Ripton, VT's Robert Wagner, the primary organizer of a campaign to throw out every Vermont state senator for being "corrupt," for "stealing from us," and for being "pathological liars," repeatedly lying on his own website about the number of Vermont secesher, er, independence candidates. Thus far, the list includes only five of the usual secesher losers whose electoral showings are normally single digit or often just a fraction of that - loopy Dennis Morrisseau, nasty Peter Garritano, flaky Peter Moss, newbie but longtime secession promoter and Second Vermont Republic honcho Michael Patno, as well as his own sorry, unaccomplished self, a member of Rob Williams' stable of headcase bloggers at "Vermont Commons", Robert Wagner.

"... we must vote out the incumbents, starting with the Vermont Senate. 30 seats. We can do it, will you run with us? I’m recruiting senators… the pay’s decent, we’ve got six so far."

Although I'd normally link to "Senator" Wagner's post, this one contains photographs that gratuitously conflate the violence in Libya with some of Wagner's usual cheesy arguments. The guy is becoming a true asshole.

5 ≠ 6





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For the archive of the Free Vermont Framework listserv, click here.