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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Swiss721BT-BoldCondensed","sans-serif"'>“So Why Be So Hard on Vermont?”<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'>By Calvin Trillin, Deadline Poet<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'>“Michele Bachmann says Hurricane Irene was God’s warning to<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'>curb excessive government spending.” —news reports<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>We know that this God’s an all-powerful God<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>God’s actions are not nonchalant.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>We know he can punish whomever he wants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>So why be so hard on Vermont?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Yes, spending increases our deficit—sure.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Vermont, though, has not been </span><i><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Italic","serif"'>avant<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>The rest of the country. We all spend a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>So why be so hard on Vermont?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Its mountains? Its hipsters? Its accent? Or what<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Might tick off the Great Commandant?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-autospace:none'><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>We know we’re all sinners; we spend and we spend.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>So why be so hard on Vermont?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>------------------------------------------------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Seeya round town, Moscow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"JansonText-Roman","serif"'>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"Corporations are an oppressed minority forced to move headquarters from state to state in search of friendlier tax codes--sometimes being forced to live just off our shores in tiny mailboxes." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>- John Oliver, The Daily Show<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>