Dennis "Denny" Lane- running on the Vermont Grassroots Party(VGP) and Grassroots Party of Minnesota ticket & hopes to get on the ballot in other states as well. Dennis "Denny" Lane Website All information provided by the candidate. Abortion Issues: I believe that all human beings own their bodies and not the government. Abortion is a medical procedure that should only involve the woman and her God and her doctor and that the government should not intervene in a woman's personal choice. I believe in personal freedom and responsibility and that the government has no business dictating to a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body. Affirmative Action: I believe in equal rights for all human beings. I know that Afro-Americans and other minorities have been enslaved and discriminated against since before our nation was born. There was and is a need to offer a helping hand to equal the playing field of opportunities. However, I think affirmative action programs are reverse discrimination and therefore unconstitutional. Massive institutional changes are necessary to bring about equality of opportunity. Banks are the key, in that they have money to make available to everyone and bring about economic opportunities. Banks should be making more loans to entrepreneurs who currently are from a minority group. There should be more banks in minority/low-income areas. These banks should be more community responsive to the people living in those areas. Campaign Finance: We are in need of drastic campaign finance reform. The hundreds of millions of dollars some candidates have available basically helps them buy the election and that is obscene. The current campaign finance system does not allow for possibly better, unknown candidates to have their voices heard. The money needed to mount a serious campaign is pernicious and keeps many qualified, credible people from even participating. The old adage that "money is the mothers milk of politics" rings truer than ever. This candidate is one dried up cow. It is a complex issue to level the playing field, but it is imperative we do that as we have the lowest voter turnout of any democracy. One way to achieve that goal is for all the television stations to host debates including all the candidates- no matter how much money they have. We definitely need to ban all soft money- corporate, labor, and all the other special interests. I have mixed thoughts about the constitutionality of public financing of campaigns, but it would level the playing field. As it is a small minority of people wind up "electing" one of the two pre-ordained choices. Campaign finance reform is essential to restoring democracy. Crime: Despite all the television propaganda to the contrary, violent crime rates have been dropping for over 25 years. Drug prohibition (a "victimless crime") is one of the main reasons why we now have ore than 2 million citizens behind bars. We spend more arresting and imprisoning people on drug "crimes" than we do on education. If we spent more money on education, prevention and other positive social initiatives, there would be less crime. Next to the internet, the police/prison/industrial complex is the fastest growing industry. We have less than 5% of the world's population, yet we have 25% of the world's inmates. Ending drug prohibition would end much crime, corruption and violence. I'd like to see more prosecution of white collar criminals who do more harm than street thugs. Non-violent "drug offenders" have to do draconian mandatory minimum sentences and as a result, murderers, rapists, thieves, stalkers and "white collar criminals" do much less time in prison. I would reign in the FBI & ATF and abolish the DEA. Media makes it appear that violence is up when the opposite is true. Defense Spending: I'm in favor of a strong national defense based on real national security interests, which need to be redefined. I believe we spend more on defense than is necessary. Most of this is caused by the military/industrial/intelligence complex that Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address. I'm in favor of spending more on salaries and benefits for our soldiers and veterans. We need a good pay rate to acquire and maintain some of this nations best and brightest to insure a military that's second to none. Spending more of defense than all other nations combined is out of line. I want to maintain an adequate defense- not the most expensive one! Our spending should reflect the world's changes and threats now that there is no longer a cold war, and address all the hotspots throughout the world that could flare up. Our troops should have the appropriate equipment to accomplish their missions. The Pentagon has to be a LEAN, clean, fighting machine and not a black hole of taxpayer money. Drug Policy: Our drug policy is an outrageously expensive abysmal horrific failure. We should have learned something from our past experience with alcohol(a drug) prohibition for 14 years. Prohibition is the cause of crime, corruption and violence and not the prohibited substance. Insanity is sometimes defined as continuing the same behavior and expecting different results. After 63 years of cannabis, hemp, a.k.a. marijuana prohibition and 86 years of cocaine prohibition, we now spend approximately $150 BILLION dollars annually in a war much like unwinnable Vietnam. I would end the drug war immediately in order to restore the Bill of Rights, end forfeiture law, and allow us to shift from a fossil fuel to a hemp based economy. The government(such as the CIA & police-some of the biggest drug dealers), and the petro, pharmaceutical cartels along with the military/industrial/intelligence complex favor prohibition because they profit from it. If our nation survives, the era of drug prohibition will be seen as a frontal assault on the Bill of Rights and a dark period in our nations history. Under current Federal law and drug policy our founding fathers- Washington and Jefferson(premier cannabis growers of their time), would be executed as drug kingpins and Mt. Vernon and Monticello would be stolen (forfeited) by the government. Our current drug policy is just plain crazy and does and will not work. The most blatant example of an ever encroaching, intrusive government that believes it owns our bodies and tells us what we are allowed to ingest, our drug policy is an insidious evil that destroys families and the Constitution and Bill of Rights. We should spend money on real drug education- not propaganda, and allow for treatment and therapy on demand by those citizens who have abused certain drugs and wish to end their addiction. Drug policy should be a health issue- not a criminal one. Homosexual Issues: I believe in equal rights and opportunities for all our citizens. This is another personal choice and civil liberties question. I believe in a rather basic concept and that is that we the people and not the government control our own bodies. I'm opposed to discrimination. As far as homosexual issues, gays and lesbians should have the same rights and opportunities as straight people. I do not believe in laws that favor or discriminate against any specific group of people. Education Money: I believe in local control of education. I believe in ending the drug war which is now costing almost $150 BILLION dollars a year and using some of that money in educating the young and not imprisoning them. It's an outrage that we spend more on the drug war than we do on education. I don't believe in unfunded federal or state mandates. I believe that a local community knows better how to educate and how to spend their money and not some Washington bureaucrats. Education is key to the future of our children and deserves adequate money so our progeny are prepared for an ever changing high tech world. Environment: We are reaching crisis levels as far as the environment is involved. Industrial pollution and an ever increasing population with its attendant sprawl with developers cutting down the very trees that provide us with oxygen to live, and diverse animal and plant life losing its habitat, global warming and the oceans rising and the topsoil blowing away, does not bode well for the future. My solution is to change from a dirty fossil fuel economy to a hemp based one. This would really save the family farm- growing hemp for food, fuel, fiber, medicine and 50,000 other industrial uses. Everything from petroleum can be derived from hemp, including methanol to fuel our cars, textiles for clothing, cellulose for making paper(1 acre of cultivated hemp replaces over 4 acres of trees that take 20 years to harvest), building materials, paints and thousands of environmentally friendly products. Using a pyrolitic converter hemp can be made into methanol (clean, high octane fuel for about 75 cents a gallon), representing real national security by American farmers growing our own fuel. Methanol can be produced to fuel our industrial plants and charcoal is the 3rd useful clean energy fuel by using pyrolitic converters. By using hemp grown by lots of profitable American farmers. By burning charcoal(clean & efficient) the industrial Midwest would no longer export acid rain to the Northeast (where I reside and see the effects of no more trees on the tops of our mountains) by burning dirty coal and oil. Hemp(marijuana) is the most versatile, beneficial plants on the planet and our government prohibited it so that the oil conglomerates and others could profit from this and keep Americans from becoming energy self-sufficient. Utilizing cannabis, hemp, a.k.a. marijuana for all it's energy and connected environmentally friendly products- an estimated 50,000 various uses that replace the use of dirty fuels is something Chris Conrad wrote in his landmark book "Hemp- Lifeline to the Future: The Unexpected Answer to our Environmental and Economic Woes". No more oil spill or wars for oil. To safeguard our environment I would end "drug prohibition" and create a hemp based economy and end the use of dirty fossil fuels that foul our environment in so many ways that don't need to be if the petroleum conglomerates didn't control most politicians. Of course various types of alternative clean, renewable, sustainable energy source such as hemp being used for biomass energy, need to be utilized more such as small scale hydro, solar, wind and new technologies being created as I write. Hemp is America's future and we should utilize like we did for 2/3rds of this nation's history and many industrialized democracies and other countries are currently doing. Canada is now growing their 3rd of 4th legal crops. Hemp is the way for the environment and the economy to work in harmony instead of the adversarial relationship that's been a result of the current oil addiction that face America and the world. Hemp is the premier plant on the planet in that in can produce so many varied products replacing those which currently adversely damage the environment. Utilizing hemp would help stop our air and water quality from being polluted. Hemp is the answer to our environmental woes as it would affect all aspects of life as petroleum products now do. In 1942 the Dep't. of Agriculture at the behest of the War Dep't. created a training film to teach farmers how to grow hemp(without hemp Pres. Bush's parachute wouldn't have existed to save his life), entitled "Hemp for Victory" extolling its virtues back to the times of Greek Power and throughout history and thousands of tons of seeds were handed out by 4-H clubs and others when the Japanese cut off our supply of jute. Hemp farmers were exempt from military service as it was considered patriotic to do so. Hemp has been used throughout history and with today's technologies it would drive our economy exponentially and save and preserve our environment. It is THE solution to and for the environment. Evolution: Hopefully mankind will continue to evolve as we have a long way to go to reach our highest and best fruition. Creationism is something I studied in college in comparative religion courses and my own earlier religious upbringing. I think proven scientific theory should be taught and not religious belief in public schools. I understand creationist dogma but believe the science about evolution is well established. Who knows, we may have evolved from Martians! Foreign Policy: The way the current system is set up our foreign policy is based in large part by America's oil addiction. If we changed from a fossil fuel based economy to a hemp based one, we would not have to put our soldiers in harms way by fighting for oil. We need to redefine what our national security issues are currently. I am opposed to one world government and organizations and agreements such as NAFTA, GATT, and the WTO. Under NAFTA, GATT, & the WTO, we lose our personal, state and U.S. inalienable rights to the global plantation masters and international banksters that run the show. As a superpower we have the moral imperative and means to help end aggression along with our Allies. We should rethink our involvement with the UN and their hidden agendas. Gun Control: I'm a rabid supporter of the Bill of Rights. The 2nd amendment allows for citizens to bear arms. I believe we have too much gun control already. Violent crime is at its lowest in 30 years but the government and media propaganda portray the opposite for manipulative reasons. I believe every citizen has the right to protect himself from criminal acts- be they from street thugs to police and government agents run amok. Putting more restrictions and control on law- abiding citizens will not prevent criminals from obtaining guns. I'm against any plan to disarm our citizenry. I would restore 2nd amendment rights to non- violent felons convicted on drug charges. I find it an outrage that such citizens cannot hunt for food with a gun or else they face an automatic 5 year federal sentence. Gun control will not solve crime. Health Care: Because of the greed of doctors, insurance companies HMO's, and mainly pharmaceutical cartels, new expensive high end technology and an ever increasing elderly population in need of services, the cost and whole system of health care is out of control. When I was young, doctors still made house calls. I believe in the adage that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Thus I would have the government spend more money on education and prevention. Citizens should be able to set up tax-free medical savings accounts to handle their own health care. If we are truly a great nation than we should help our citizens and continue with Medicaid and Medicare assistance. I fear a government bureaucracy if a universal health care system is used But a truly great nation should take care of its own. The greed of the pharmaceutical cartels makes prescriptions unaffordable for many Americans. By ending marijuana prohibition, medical cannabis could legally be used in treating Aids, chemotherapy and other gesture-intestinal problems by sparking an appetite and thereby treat the "wasting syndrome". Cannabis is useful in treating chronic pain, epilepsy, glaucoma, migraines, menstrual cramps, stress, ALS, multiple sclerosis and dozens of other debilitating and deadly diseases. People growing their own medicine to treat a whole panoply of human illness and disease could dramatically cut health care costs. Moral Issues: Morals, as with beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't think anyone should be allowed to impose their value and belief system on others. I believe their has been a decline in moral and ethical issues over the last 30 or 40 years. The breakdown of the traditional nuclear family has resulted in less quality time for both parents to instill a sense of right and wrong in their children. Unbridled greed and materialism has grown exponentially in the last couple decades. Instead of the golden rule being do unto others as you would have them do to you, now it's he with the most gold makes the rules. Too many lies from Washington and politicians have disillusioned the populace as evidenced by the lowest voter turnout of any democracy. We need to restore a strong spiritual and moral belief system in order to have people interact with others with respect and understanding. The government has done a great job of dividing and conquering our citizens by pitting one against another, instead of fighting the real enemy- the global plantation masters(Illumaniti) and the international banksters who rule the world through their puppet politicians. Social Security: In order to maintain the solvency of the social security system for the future we must never again take money out of a lock box for social s security funds to cover other government obligations. Social security money must stay in social security accounts. I think after we secure the solvency of the system we must take a look at alternative retirement systems. We must honor past, current and future obligations. However we should explore other options like letting citizens keep their own money and invest in alternative retirement systems. I think individual Americans and not the government should be in control of their own economic futures. Tax Policy: I think we should scrap the old system altogether- abolish the IRS, the Federal Reserve Corporation(a majority foreign & privately held issuer of debit notes), the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These are institutions controlled by global plantations masters and the international banksters to serve their needs and not the public. It's outrageous that Americans must work 5 months a year just to pay their annual taxes to the IRS. Our country was born out of a revolt against taxation without representation and the time is ripe for history to repeat itself unless we change our current tax policy. I would abolish corporate welfare and make sure that multinational corporations be made to pay their fair share. Since most corporations make profit while people are just paid for their time and labor, I believe giant conglomerates should pay way more in taxes than they currently do. I think a modified flat tax might be the way to go, with 15% the rate for people making $50,000 to $100,000, and no taxes for people below the poverty line, with a graduated percentage increase for those making above $100,000 and so on. I would also explore a possible national sales tax(with exemptions). The Constitution states that "Congress shall have the sole authority to coin and distribute currency". With subterfuge, Nelson Rockefeller's maternal grandfather Nelson Aldrich created the Federal Reserve Tax Act in 1913 abrogating a Congressional obligation. Interestingly, 1/2 of 1/3rd of the original shares of the FED were owned by Rockefeller's Chase Manhattan Bank and the other 1/2 of 1/3rd of stock owned by J.P. Morgan Guarantee & Trust. Our national debt has increased exponentially since the creation of the FED- and we just pay a part of the percentage of the interest so our progeny are condemned to perpetual economic servitude. To end this legalized thievery banking scam, I would do what Lincoln and Kennedy tried to accomplish before they were assassinated by agents of the Rothschild empire and that is for our Treasury to issue our own money and end this usurious system that creates "Billions for Bankers and Debts for the People". I believe the average American should be paying way less in taxes. I would retire the national debt by having it "forgiven" the way we do for other countries or at least renegotiated at more favorable terms. Trade Issues: I believe in fair trade not free trade. I am opposed to NAFTA, GATT, the WTO and other tools of the global plantation masters and international banksters, whose loyalty is not with the American people. The multinational conglomerate/cartels create trade deals that benefit their bottom lines and not the small business person. I am opposed to the New World Order-i.e. One World Government, that drive most trade deals. I will not surrender American jobs and sovereignty to the multinationals and their trade organizations. I think a nations human rights record could affect its most favored nation status. I would lift the embargo against Cuba. I support trade deals that benefit the American worker- not the oligarchy of multinational cartels. It seems every time a new mega- merger occurs, the following week 40,000 employees are laid off. I am opposed to tax breaks for these cartel conglomerates. I believe trade deals should benefit the American worker- be they farmers, high tech end jobs, our former great industrial job sector, etc. and individual citizens from all walks of life. Too often deals benefiting the mega-wealthy is what the U.S. does. I believe small businesses are the backbone of our economy and need to be protected and made to prosper and grow. I am opposed to any trade deal that would bring into question U.S. and individual rights and liberties under some global trade deal- such as NAFTA & GATT. Bio: I was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on 11/4/47 but grew up in New York City and attended public, Quaker and advanced learning schools. I graduated from Suyvesant H.S.(semi-public school specializing in math and science in '64. I went to Washington College from '64 till '68 for a BA, majoring in political science and American history. In '61 I attended Fordham University studying international politics, etc. I am divorced and the father of 20 year old Jessica. ORGANIZATIONS & EXPERIENCE: In 1961-62, I was a member of Young Americans for Freedom. In 1962 I worked for Wm. F. Buckley Jr's. NYC Mayoral campaign. In 1964 I was a campaign worker for Barry Goldwater's Presidential bid. I've been the Vt. state rep for NORML(National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) from '94 till present. I am the Vt. state rep for FEAR(Forfeiture Endangers American Rights). I'm the former Vt. rep for FAMM(Families Against Mandatory Minimums). I am a member of the Marijuana Policy Project since their inception. I am the founder/chair of the Vermont Grassroots Party(VGP)- which received enough votes in only our 2nd election in '96 and again in '98 to become the only other major political party in Vt. besides the big 2. In '94 and again in '96 I was the Gubernatorial candidate(with a 70% increase in votes the 2nd time around). In '98 I ran for Secretary of State, receiving 4 times as many votes as my first election. WORK EXPERIENCE: My work experiences have been varied. I've been self- employed for most of my life save for when I introduced Snapple beverages to Vt. in 1982-83. I have been the owner/manager of innumerable small businesses ranging from boutiques, import gift shops selling clothing, jewelry, wood stoves, imported rugs, health foods, candles, sandals, etc.. I ran a mail order business selling over 1,500 items. Wholesale businesses I created sold American Indian turquoise and silver jewelry and scrimshaw ivory, as well as selling plastic netting. I worked for Advanced Independent Research Labs creating and selling plasma light sculptures, including one to the Grateful Dead in 1985. Most all my businesses were in sales and that experience of speaking with lots of different people trying to sell them a product has been helpful in selling political and social ideas. I've been doing education of the populace through the Grassroots Part I created 8 years ago, about topics as diverse as the gold-fringed flag issue to how the Federal Reserve Corp. Banking system works, executive orders, and the evils of prohibition. My business is to make Americans aware of grave constitutional issues that the major media and major candidates will not address. If you agree with me, contributions can be sent to P.O. Box 537 Waitsfield, Vermont 05673 email is vtgroots@madriver.com Thanks for reading!

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