I finally get an opponent, and it still looks like only Mountain Times, Bennington Banner, and Brattleboro Reformer have picked up on the news that I am in the race.  At least that's what the web searches suggest.  The news release went to a couple of dozen email addresses at Vermont news organizations. The governor's website hasn't changed since 2020, so there is nothing to critique. It's a smart strategy for an incumbent, as is the prefiguring of the media coverage. He started with some tweets about how he never runs a negative campaign. Sure, but he has people for that. One way to try for a summertime snoozer of a campaign is to undermine other candidates before they even start. At the press conference  on Tuesday, the governor again reassured reporters that he doesn't participate in the negative campaign and then said that he would debate opponents that he felt were "legitimate." The voters are no doubt appreciative to have a sitting governor decide wh...

 On Tuesday, Saudi Aramco became the most valuable corporation in the universe . We Vermonters should pat ourselves on the back because it is our demand, and the demand of others like us, that makes Aramco's petroleum reserves so valuable.  And the further weirdness is that this is petroleum that they can't actually touch and had no hand in making. It's estimated and inside the Earth, not hanging out in some Amazon warehouse. But phantom accounting tricks make it seem like an economic asset and a product.  Enough about accounting. Let's get back to Vermont's role in boosting Aramco over Tesla and Microsoft and Amazon and Google and Apple. How did we do that? We drive cars. We heat houses. We go to war. And we do a lot of that. It gets worse. When wars start, like the war in Ukraine, we don't rethink our addiction to crude, we double down on it. And then, of course, the global price goes up, and the profits rise for the kings and dictators and their oil industry ...

Today , Brattleboro Reformer and Bennington Banner covered my candidacy announcement.  Mountain Times appears to have been first to publish, yesterday . Also today, there was an interesting opinion article in the  Boston Globe by Joan Vennochi about Bret Bero . It's hard to get media attention, especially when you've got "the kind of resumé that guarantees disrespect from a political universe that runs on conventional thinking." I wonder if the pollsters will ignore me, just as they did Bret Bero. According to research cited by the article, "horse race coverage can...give an advantage to novel and unusual candidates". Maybe there's a chance for this unusual candidate. Or, maybe the campaign coverage could be less horse race and more issue investigation.

 It's Saturday. How about some animated short films? No Parking Hare (1954) from WB Cartoons on Vimeo . What on Earth! , Les Drew & Kaj Pindal , provided by the National Film Board of Canada Are you sensing a theme? Runaway , Cordell Barker , provided by the National Film Board of Canada

I am Peter Duval and I am a candidate for the office of Governor of Vermont. If you are concerned about climate, carbon offsetting and trading, food self-sufficiency, the cost of living, mass extinction, or the war in Ukraine then this may be the campaign for you. The campaign will question assumptions and rationalizations, and connect the issues. This is an all-volunteer campaign. Democracy needs your involvement, and the planet needs this campaign. I ask Vermonters to identify issues that have become clichés and to help describe and address underlying problems. Be an agent of change.  PRESIDENTIAL PRECEDENTS – WHAT THEY KNEW I imagined a speech that is a lot more like the type that politicians used to give.* As Eisenhower was, I am concerned about the bloat of industrial complexes; as Reagan was, mindful of the sluggishness of bureaucracy. Carter acknowledged our wasteful consumption of natural resources and the need to change our “ways of living” — something that I believe ...

 Here's the short and sweet of it: Yesterday, I pedaled over to the nearest sunny spot and stated my intention. Earth is a major element in my campaign, as could be guessed from the campaign's website domain name. Indeed it is the organizing theme. I will be doing everything I can to minimize the campaign's impact. My aim is to keep the campaign expenses below reporting threshold and not accept contributions. It will take a lot of volunteers to turn that into a success. If Vermonters rally behind a candidate who is calling for emergency conservation and immediate action to address climate, biodiversity, and all of the symptoms of collapse , it will be politically seismic.   It's complex and complicated, but I think when the debate begins to link Putin's War with the laundry list of crises unifying themes will emerge. And we will find straightforward, though difficult, solutions that resolve many issues simultaneously.

  Welcome You are early, and that's good. You can hang out here as long as you like. Would you like something to read?   Classics: tWW or HHtF   or W or E&E    Or, Fresh:   on BS or 5-level chess or Demydiv . Or, Poems: TiJtS or MW or tRW Would you rather watch something?  Classics: Unchained or WoE or Runaway or tBW Or, Talks:  Ignore Climate Change or on Regret Or, Slow: EWRM or Slomo “I think there are always opportunities, pathways that present themselves. I am a big believer in being brave and taking those choices. You have to have the drive and the determination, you have to set the goals. The last thing you want to do is live to regret it. I think for most people, if they make a decision and it doesn’t work out, they [still] don’t regret making the decision. It’s the lost opportunities that you regret.” -- Zali Steggall