BurlingtonPol.com

• Markowitz Fails You Can Quote Me

  Number of comments: 2
  I didn't hear it all. I just caught the part where she was bragging about killing nine jobs in archive micro-filming in favor of electronic only record keeping. This reminded me her response to my concerns about the evils of paperless voting in which she cited its "efficiencies." That was' [...]
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  Posted: December 20, 2009, 6:49pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Dean and Sanders Uging Reconciliation

  Number of comments: 2
  Senate Health Care Bill a Monstrosity- Must Be Killed
  Time to get what we can in Reconciliation

  Burlington Pols Dean from Ward 5, Sanders from Ward 4 in News Today

  Background...
  
  Expanded Health Care Coverage? Rumors Are Greatly Exaggerated, Unless Paying Fines Is Now 'Health Care' from Huffington Post today
  [...]

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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 11:08pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Danger on the Beltline

  Number of comments: 5
  [...]
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  Posted: December 16, 2009, 4:18pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Shay's Tweet on BT Lawsuit

  Number of comments: 1
  I had a post a while back called "Leopold to Personally Repay 17M BT Debt." I was kidding of course, but Shay's tweet today lends credence to the idea that there's a little truth in every joke.
  # Whoa: #BTV Telecom lawsuit claims CAO J. Leopold's "conduct constitutes deceit" [...]
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  Posted: December 15, 2009, 9:39am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Delays Financing V

  Number of comments: 19
  Breaking News: Council Scuttles Piper Jaffray Deal
  I think now it's safe to say "scuttles." They just voted 8-6 to put out a request for proposal to try to get other funding offers from other money companies. That move essentially rendered moot the resolution that would have authorized the letter [...]
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  Posted: December 14, 2009, 7:01pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Imperial Heresies

  Number of comments: 0
  An Imperial Presidency, Like It Or Not [...]
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  Posted: December 11, 2009, 8:34pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• The Things I Believe In

  Number of comments: 0
  What do I believe in? Have you ever asked yourself that? That last post about Entergy just got me thinking. I have a moral opposition to nuclear power because I don't want to burden the future. But it's theoretical. In the generic ballot test of life- if somebody asks me' [...]
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  Posted: December 11, 2009, 6:34pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Entergy Poll

  Number of comments: 0
  A nice man who couldn't pronounce "legislature" or "nuclear" called just now. He said he was was from Communications Center, Inc. in Spokane Washington and he administered a market research study. It was a straight forward poll that really did take only about five minutes. It wasn't a push [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 6:15pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• On Top of Magram's

  Number of comments: 0
  One time when I was in high school, me and a bunch of friends lead by the gym coach's daughter climbed up the fire escape behind Henry's to the rooftop above Magram's department store. As I recall the last part of the climb was pretty hairy. The view of Church [...]
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  Posted: December 10, 2009, 10:38am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Disclaimer & Other Links

  Number of comments: 3
  Read my Disclaimer if you haven't already. And check out some of the weird links along the sidebars I put there for you. Sure a lot of them are dead, and some of the folks to whom the links link are dead, but that's part of the fun.
  [...]
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  Posted: December 09, 2009, 5:57pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Favorite Members of Congress

  Number of comments: 11
  Who are your favorite members of Congress? In the House of Representatives mine are Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Ron Paul of Texas. I feel like they are both honest and principled men, and I tend to agree personally with most of what they both say. Don't ask me for' [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 6:36pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• The Oxygen in the Room

  Number of comments: 3
  I watched some of the city council meeting on channel 317 last night. Channel 17 people take note- the audio was terrible. The horrible humming sound made the meeting extremely hard to pay attention to.
  
  One of the things that occurred to me as I watched councilors discuss the [...]
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  Posted: December 08, 2009, 11:22am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Pooled Cash=Taxpayer Funds

  Number of comments: 4
  You know for Jonathan Leopold to state flatly the other night that "Pooled Cash is not taxpayer funds" is so upsetting. That is clearly false.
  
  The only possible way to rationalize that "pooled cash is not taxpayer funds" is to parenthetically insert the word "(only)" between "not" and "taxpayer" [...]
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  Posted: December 05, 2009, 2:09pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Delays Financing IV

  Number of comments: 3
  Breaking News: BT Business Plan Totals 7 Pages
  Well I missed the dramatic conclusion of the big city council meeting. Marrisa Caldwell walked past channel 17's camera and it suddenly went black. It seemed like she might have kicked a cord out of place or something.
  
  Just before that' [...]
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  Posted: December 04, 2009, 1:07am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Delays Financing III

  Number of comments: 13
  So the council's big BT meeting is going to start in about 15 minutes. We'll see what kind of information they're given. I'm sure they will hear all kinds of dire warnings about what will happen if they don't take the financing. Leopold will craft projections to assure the council' [...]
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  Posted: December 03, 2009, 5:13pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Give 'em Hell Bernie!

  Number of comments: 1
  This is why we vote for this guy.
  
  Bernie is going to move to block Ben Bernanke's reappointmed as Fed Chair. From The New York Times...
  

  "...Senator Bernard Sanders is expected to hold up the nomination of Ben S. Bernanke for a second term as chairman of the" [...]

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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 7:14pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Briggs and Montroll

  Number of comments: 2
  I'm pretty sure I just saw John Briggs talking to Andy Montroll in the downtown mall.' [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 2:33pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Mulvaney-Stanak Resigning from Council

  Number of comments: 3
  Emma Mulvaney-Stanak is resigning from the Burlington City Council because she is purchasing a house in Ward Three. Her statement is below the row of stars to follow.
  
  This will leave Democrats holding a majority of the remaining 13 members and only two Progressives, both from Ward Three, until [...]
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  Posted: December 02, 2009, 11:31am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Rockaway Memories

  Number of comments: 0
  It's more than an hour to go from Manhattan to the last stop on the A train at Beach 116th Street, but Far Rockaway is still part of New York City.
  
  I have been fortunate to travel to this little peninsula at the edge of Queens many times to' [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 10:45pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Assistant Judge Guilty of Harassment II

  Number of comments: 0
  Windsor Country Assistant Judge William Boardman still refuses to take me off his spam list. I keep getting his crappy spam emails about Vermont courts or whatever. I don't even read them. I've asked him several times to stop sending them to me, but he just refuses. The first time [...]
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  Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:57pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• What's the Matter with Burlington?

  Number of comments: 18
  It's been almost seventeen years since the posts on Church Street went from green to black.
  
  The mall sucks. Woolworth's is gone. You can't buy a hammer downtown. The economy of our urban core seems more and more to be premised on the idea that everybody has a trust' [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 11:23pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Internet Time Machine

  Number of comments: 3
  The Internet is a kaleidoscopic time machine. Look at this old page from this blog. Or how about this one? Weird. And how does iburlington still exist? I started a section called "link graveyard" somewhere on this blog a long time ago, but like everything else I [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:02pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• City Between Rock and Hard Place on BT

  Number of comments: 5
  "You don't just walk away from a thirty-three million dollar debt." -Jonathan Leopold
  
  The city of Burlington has always owned the risk for Burlington Telecom. The notion that taxpayer money was never at risk was patently false. Big D or small d department, BT belongs to the City and' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:37am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Mulligan Seeks Re-Election

  Number of comments: 0
  Owen Mulligan is running for re-election as Ward Six Clerk.
  
  Note he is the Ward's "Clerk." Not the Ward's "Assistant Chief Administrative Officer." [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 9:33am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Russia Bans Death Penalty

  Number of comments: 2
  From Al Jazeera English....
  "A Russian court has effectively outlawed the death penalty in the country, ruling that a moratorium on capital punishment due to expire in January must remain in force."I was wondering just the other day if Russia had the death penalty. This action by the Russian [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 6:03pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Ed to Bob

  Number of comments: 2
  A letter from Councilor Adrian to Mayor Kiss...
  
  *****
  November 19, 2009
  
  Dear Bob:
  
  I would like to follow-up on Karen Paul's letter of the other day and Joan Shannon's letter of today. We have, over a period of time, been asking as individual Councilors for [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 4:33pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Joan to Bob

  Number of comments: 2
  It looks like the city council is tired of getting pushed around. Here's a letter Councilor Joan Shannon just sent to Mayor Kiss...
  
  *****
  Dear Mayor Kiss,
  
  On November 11, 2009 the Ad Hoc Committee on BT Governance requested certain information in order to better understand the [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 2:51pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Delays Financing II

  Number of comments: 1
  "Had I been there I would have voted against splitting the question, and against the postponment of the letter of intent." -Me from the last post
  
  A prominent local attorney wrote to me yesterday to express his belief that Monday's resolution was more binding than I thought. Why a' [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 10:13pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Delays Financing

  Number of comments: 7
  Breaking News
  Well that was one of the more entertaining council meetings I've seen in recent years. In the end Bill Keogh couldn't quite keep up with his officiating duties and posed the motion to postpone in such a way as to be unintelligible by all present except city attorney [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 12:33am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Poopsie for Shumlin

  Number of comments: 1
  My wife Poosie is all into Peter Shumlin for governor. She likes his appearance, she likes his voice and she likes what he stands for- fiscally conservative and environmentally liberal she says. She loves his nose.
  
  I think p-p-p puttin' on the 'witz has a lock, but I also [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:20pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Department or department?

  Number of comments: 5
  Cheif administrative officer Jonathon Leopold keeps pushing the limits of the public's credulity. Take a look at this recent email between Leopold and city councilor Marissa Caldwell in which Leopold tries to defend calling Burlington Telecom a "department" in a recent Free Press Op-ed.
  
  
  From: Jonathan Leopold[...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 2:32pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Bob Kiss Blogs about BT

  Number of comments: 1
  The Mayor discusses the ongoing controversy surrounding Burlington Telecom at The Prog Blog.
  
  Also, The Burlington Free Press obtained an unauthorized copy of the communications between Leopold and city lawyers. The documents won't officially become public until the resolution to release them, passed unanimously last night by the' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 6:53pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Leopold to Personally Repay 17M BT Debt

  Number of comments: 2
  Just kidding. [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 6:19pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Assistant Judge Guilty of Harassment

  Number of comments: 1
  Assistant Judge William Boardman from Woodstock will not stop spamming me. I have asked him more than once to kindly take me off of his email distribution list, and he simply refuses. This is not this man's first ethical breach.
  
  I don't want your emails Mr. Boardman. What [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:46pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• The Obamas' Birth Control

  Number of comments: 5
  I wonder what Barack and Michelle Obama use for birth control. Think he's snipped? It appears they made a conscious choice to stop at two kids. Kinda weird how the last three presidents have spawned only daughters. And the last president to spawn sons lived to see one of them' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:00am EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Existential Equilibrium

  Number of comments: 0
  "equilibrium" 1.A condition in which all acting influences are canceled by others, resulting in a stable, balanced, or unchanging system." -Answers.com
  
  I have said before on this blog that everything is defined by the absence of what it isn't. This pertains to all areas of life and of the'" [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:11pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• BurlingtonPol Eye-Spy

  Number of comments: 1
  Caught on film! Matty Tanner and Bernie Sanders!
  [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:34pm EST
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Shay vs. Odum vs. Me

  Number of comments: 6
  Shay lashes out a little at the Dems this week, as if they may end up destroying BT with their bad attitudes, although his column doesn't address how the seventeen million might be repaid. On the other hand, Odum thinks it's the Progs who might end up destroying [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 5:42pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• More on BT and Leopold

  Number of comments: 4
  From Shay's very good reporting...
  
  “This is a partisan witch hunt. If I wanted to hide something, why would I put it in the budget? I’m not going to be scapegoated because you can’t read a budget," Leopold added.
  
  Yes. Yes. Exactly. Jonathan is pointing out the'" [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 5:43pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Leopold Poll

  Number of comments: 0
  
  What should happen to Jonathan Leopold?Nothing. He's doing an exemplary job.Suspension with pay and investigation.Suspension with no pay and investigation.Jonathon Leopold should be fired.  Free polls from Pollhost.com
  ' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:35am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Remarks on Burlington Telecom

  Number of comments: 2
  Candleblog 10.31.05 CM&D interview with Tim Nulty
  
  Business People Vermont January 2007
  
  802 Online 10.22.07: Tim Nulty Resigning from Burlington Telecom
  
  802 Online 10.23.07: More on Tim Nulty's Resignation
  
  I think I will be going to the public forum tonight. Just trying' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 8:13am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Two Special Council Meetings

  Number of comments: 0
  SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING
  CONTOIS AUDITORIUM, CITY HALL
  TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009
  7:00 P.M.
  
  1. AGENDA
  2. REPORT: Mayor Bob Kiss, Jonathan P.A. Leopold, Jr. CAO
  & Burlington Telecom General Manager Chris
  Burns, re: Update on Burlington Telecom (oral)
  
  * * * * EXPECTED EXECUTIVE SESSION * * [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:36am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Marselis Parsons Retires

  Number of comments: 4
  
  
  Tonight is Marselis Parsons's last broadcast. The Free Press has a story here. Kate Duffy offers Mr. Parsons retirement advice here.
  
  I was watching this guy just the other day and thinking "I wonder how much longer we'll be seeing him" [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 10:45am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Council Gets Rolled on Telecom Borrowing

  Number of comments: 2
  Burlington Free Press reports the entire council, except for Ed Adrian, approved going to the Public Service Board to "relax" the rule that forces Burlington Telecom to pay back money borrowed from the taxpayers within 60 days, a rule they had apparently been violating anyway.
  
  Good on Ed Adrian [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 12:01pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Cohen Brothers vs. Baker

  Number of comments: 2
  Dan and Ted Cohen of South Prospect Street take on Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Bruce D. Baker at [southprospectstreet.blogspot.com] [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 8:37am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Paper Ballot! Paper Trail!

  Number of comments: 0
  Re-run from 02.08.07
  ******
  
  You know...It isn't as if it hadn't occurred to me to write Deb Markowitz about "Paper Ballot! Paper Trail!" before. I've hesitated to do that because I was afraid of what her answer might be.
  
  Anyway, I finally did write to her yesterday. Her' [...]
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  Posted: October 02, 2009, 5:55pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Too Big To Fail

  Number of comments: 0
  Nothing is too big to fail. Not The Roman Empire. Not the dinosaurs. Not the sun. Nothing. Certainly not a bank. You're telling me the banks have a gun to the head of the United States of America because they, the banks, are too big' [...]
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  Posted: September 24, 2009, 5:39pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Adrian Tweet Experiment Successful

  Number of comments: 0
  [twitter.com]
  
  "More good than bad." -Haik [...]
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  Posted: September 22, 2009, 7:19pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Mall Walk

  Number of comments: 1
  Two decades ago I was the next Eva Solleberger. Check out my Eighties hair. Courtesy of Jason's YouTube channel...
  ' [...]
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  Posted: September 21, 2009, 3:10am EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian

• Adrian to Tweet Meetings

  Number of comments: 2
  Breaking News
  
  Ward One city councilor Ed Adrian will be tweeting live from city council meetings starting Monday. His twitter page is here: [twitter.com]
  
  In related news, I just found out that I've been mixing up the Heisenberg uncertainty principle (the idea that the precision with which' [...]
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  Posted: September 18, 2009, 11:09pm EDT
  by Haik Bedrosian