Vermont Ballot: Should Bush and Cheney be indicted?

I read an article today, where it told the story of a town that goes by the name of Battleboro, Vermont. The required 5% of voters in the town, or 436 individuals, signed a petition, which basically asked the question: "Should President Bush and Vice President be indicted?" The petition passed by a 3 to 2 vote and will appear on the March 4th ballot.

It will read as follows:

"Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictments for consideration by other authorities and shall it be the law of the Town of Brattleboro that the Brattleboro Police, pursuant to the above-mentioned indictments, arrest and detain George Bush and Richard Cheney in Brattleboro if they are not duly impeached, and prosecute or extradite them to other authorities that may reasonably contend to prosecute them?"

I find the tone of the article and some of the quotes included in the article to be more interesting than the pending vote. Throughout the article, it appeared as if most people were critical of the petition and it appearing on the upcoming ballot. Yet, out of 111,892 people who have polled thus far, 56% (62,151) believe that both Bush and Cheney should be arrested, while 44% (49,741) believe they should be left alone. For an article that seemed to focus much more on the criticism of the petition and made the claim that MOST people were disgusted with it, I find it rather humorous that out of over 110,000 pollsters, 56% believe Bush and Cheney should be arrested.

Some of the responses to the petition were as follows and were included in the article:

"Has everyone up there been out in the cold too long?"

"I would like to know how I could get some water from your town. It's obvious that there is something special in it."

One Brent Caflisch, from Rosemount, Minnesota, said this, "Maybe the terrorists will do us all a favor and attack your town next, our country would be much safer with several thousand dead wackjobs in Vermont," It went on to say terrorists could kidnap the three Select Board members who voted in favor, "cut their heads off, video tape it and put it on the internet."

"Be American, not a sniffeling liberal town that sleeps under the shield of safety provided to you by your President. Vacation to VT CANCELLED!"

The only quote included in the article which sided with the petition and Select Board members read as follows, "I feel bad for people who are loyal to Bush who have lost a son or had one in the service and it's hard for them to admit the utter waste of it, and that it was caused by this man in the White House."

So, who reported this? Fox News or Rush Limbaugh? Four of the five included quotes (80%) criticize the petition, while Bush's approval rating is around 30% and 55-60% of people who polled in regard to this petition do in fact believe that the president and vice president should be arrested. Talk about spin. I love the comments too.

Talking about how there's something "special" in the water and how it may be too cold up there. The other two quotes take the cake, though. One said maybe terrorists will do us a favor and attack Vermont next, that the world would be better without these "wackjobs" and that those who voted in favor of the measure to be allowed on the ballot should be decapitated, videotaped, and it should be youtubed, basically. Eh, and he calls residents of Vermont "wackjobs"? He may want to look in the mirror to see a genuine "wackjob". ...and wishing a terrorist attack on anyone is awful. It's reminiscent of when Bill O'Reilly wished San Francisco to be the next terrorist victim, if there were to be another attack on our soil. This person is quite graphic too with the decapitation wishes. The other one said he/she was canceling a vacation to Vermont and that residents of the state weren't Americans, but "a sniffeling liberal town" and then praised Bush for the safety he's provided. Then I read a few comments by average Joes following the article and many of them said things such as, "Anyone who believes conspiracies are stupid" and "Bush is the greatest president ever. He will be judged historically."

Does the author of this article truly believe he/she wrote a fair and balanced article, one that coincides with what the general public actually believes in regard to our president and vice president? The quotes they included were ludicrous. Either this offer works for the president or he/she wants to. The quotes couldn't be any more derogatory, divisive, narrow-minded, or ignorant. Wishing a terrorist attack on a state because they are "liberal"? Labeling the state as "liberal" and then praising a president with an approval rating of 30%, whom has been labeled by many political analysts as quite possible the worst president in the history of the United States? Insinuating that there's something wrong with the water or that perhaps the cold weather has frozen their brains to halt its functioning?

Why aren't there any quotes with some substance, on perhaps why this petition was or wasn't a good idea? Labeling and generalizing people doesn't cut it as in-depth commentary. I mean, these quotes were reminiscent of the comments I read by the average Joes following the article, and if their IQ is reflective in any way of their typing/spelling/grammar/punctuation, the average IQ of these posters make Forrest Gump look like Albert Einstein.