ok i admit it we are rather extreme in our social programs up here. with that said i have to tell all of you this. if you exclude the 3 or 4 major cities( major for us,lol) the average income in this state is like $25,000/year. most people i know dont make much over 20,000. add those excluded areas and the income jumps up to 64,000. this state bends itself over a pork barrel for the tourism and agriculture industries and drives all others out with opressive taxes. Some of us ARE waking up though. most vermonters in my region( NE) are hard working people who would much rather work for what we have than take handouts but our government has really tied our hands. please have some mercy we are not all like them rat-b*stards in the capital. most of our federal politicians come from the liberal areas of burlington and montpeiler not the rural areas that make up most of the state. btw please excuse the typos, i think faster than i type.