If you're not already a regular reader of Vermont Newsguy, which we've had in our blogroll for some time now, you should hop over and read today's post on how Verizon Wireless is cozying up to the climate change deniers.
You may have read about it on Facebook, but VNG has the whole story right here, along with some pointed, and very well-founded, criticism of news bias over at WCAX.
Good work,, Jon!
The writing is on the wall. All the usual suspects in Franklin County are lining-up to leave the Democratic ticket, whoever it may comprise, high and dry. Richard Cowperthwait’s editorial in tonight’s Messenger is a valentine to Jim Douglas, listing all of his supporters among the community of political self-servers that I am ashamed to say make us the Bluest Dog county in the state! Of course, Frank Cioffi is abundantly quoted, as is the very slippery Mr. Fitzgerald. Not surprisingly, after his puzzling quote in the Free Press last fall that suggested Sarah Palin was qualified to be president, Mayor Marty Manahan called to thank Douglas for “everything (he’s) done for our state,” and the governor returned the compliment by naming him important to the state as a “moderate and centerist.” You get the picture.
Turning to the question of who is likely to take Douglas’ place at the top of the Republican ticket, Cowperthwait found plenty of local enthusiasm among Cioffi, Manahan and others for Randy Brock. His views may be odious to the majority of Vermont Democrats; but right here in Blue Dog Central, he apparently is a bit of okay! The power base of good ol’ boys here loves to close ranks around candidates who are least likely to lift the dust-ruffles and look for the cobwebs of cronyism that cloak every function from permits to public services. Douglas was just their kind of guy, and they couldn’t find a better successor than Brock.
Former Attorney General Breaks From Cheney, Says Holder is Doing the Right Thing By Asserting His Independence From White House in Getting to the Bottom of CIA ‘Torturegate’ Scandal ‘Based on the Facts’ — But Less Than a Month Ago, He Opposed the Investigation as ‘Having a Chilling Effect’ on Anti-Terrorism Efforts
(Posted 5:00 a.m. EDT Thursday, September 3, 2009)
By SKEETER SANDERS
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales caused a sensation both inside and outside the Washington Beltway on Tuesday when he came out in defense of his successor’s decision to reopen an investigation into whether CIA officers tortured terrorist suspects.
In a sharp break from former Vice President Dick Cheney and other conservatives, Gonzales said in a radio interview that Holder was correct to move forward with the investigation, despite President Obama’s often-stated desire to put the “Torturegate” controversy to rest and move on.
“As chief prosecutor of the United States, he [Holder] should make the decision on his own, based on the facts, then inform the White House,” Gonzales said during an appearance Tuesday on “America’s Morning News,” a nationally syndicated radio program produced by The Washington Times, which published an exclusive story based on the interview on Wednesday.
Gonzales’ comments marked a dramatic reversal from remarks he made in an earlier interview less than a month ago, in which he opposed any such investigation. The former attorney general told the Associated Press on August 11 that any criminal investigation into whether CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects crossed the line into torture could have a chilling effect on future anti-terror efforts.
Gonzales told the AP that if the Justice Department launched an investigation, it “could discourage” CIA operatives from “engaging in conduct that even comes close” to department guidelines. “So where do you draw the line?” he said. “What is allowed, what’s not allowed?”
GONZALES: HOLDER ACTED PROPERLY IN NAMING SPECIAL PROSECUTOR
In his radio interview, Gonzales said that as attorney general, Holder has a “great deal of discretion” in such matters, but denied having any inside information on whether Holder acted alone in deciding to name a special prosecutor, John Durham, to head the “Torturegate” investigation, then informing the president of his decision.
In sharp contrast to Cheney, who has been highly critical of Holder, Gonzales said he was confident that Holder is concerned only about the “one percent of actors” who went beyond the guidelines of Justice Department lawyers, and not conducting a “witch hunt.”
The other 99 percent “are heroes and and should be treated like heroes for the most part, not criminals,” he said. Gonzales said Bush administration lawyers clearly defined what interrogation techniques were legal and the few who went beyond the rules should be investigated, despite the so-called “chilling effect” it might have on future intelligence-gathering.
“We worked very hard to establish ground rules and parameters about how to deal with terrorists,” the Times quoted Gonzales as saying. “And if people go beyond that, I think it is legitimate to question and examine that conduct to ensure people are held accountable for their actions, even if it’s action in prosecuting the war on terror.”
REMARKS A DRAMATIC CONTRAST FROM EARLIER CRITICISM OF PROBE
Gonzales’ comments marked a dramatic reversal from remarks the former attorney general made in his earlier interview in Lubbock, Texas with the AP, in which he said that any such investigation “could discourage” CIA operatives from “engaging in conduct that even comes close” to department guidelines.
Gonzales said at the time that he had talked to CIA attorneys who had heard from the spy agency’s operatives. “They’re very, very concerned about the legal liability and legal exposure,” he told the AP. “And that’s the danger with launching some kind of investigation. But, again, this is a decision that’s got to be made by the current attorney general.”
The former attorney general’s radio interview also puts him at odds with Cheney, who bluntly accused Obama on Sunday of setting a “terrible precedent” by launching an “intensely partisan, politicized look back at the prior administration” — remarks that strongly suggested that the former vice president was calling into question Obama’s fitness as commander-in-chief.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Cheney minced no words in attacking Holder’s decision to reopen the “Torturegate” probe. “It offends the hell out of me,” he said. “I think it’s a direct slap at the CIA. I don’t think it will work.”
In unusually blunt language, Cheney blasted the president for not overruling Holder. “We had the president of the United States, President Obama, tell us a few months ago there wouldn’t be any investigation like this, that there would not be any look back at CIA personnel who were carrying out the policies of the prior administration,” Cheney said. “Now they get a little heat from the left wing of the Democratic Party, and they’re reversing course on that.”
GONZALES’ TURNABOUT DRAWS MIXED REACTIONS
Gonzales’ latest comments stunned both human-rights activists and Beltway Republicans — and, not surprisingly, drew mixed reactions.
Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, was quoted by The Washington Times as saying that “there’s a kind of dumb honesty to Gonzales.”
Malinowski told the newspaper that “There is no reason why he [Gonzales] shouldn’t support this investigation because, at least on the face of it, it appears to validate the Bush-era legal memos concerning interrogations” and added that CIA officials who authorized controversial interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, “have nothing to fear.”
On the other hand, at least one congressional Republican took issue with Gonzales. Representative Peter King (R-New York), the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Homeland Security and a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said he was mystified with the former attorney general’s motives.
“I don’t know the reason for it,” he told the newspaper. “I just think Gonzales is missing the larger point here: This is either a political decision or a liberal philosophical decision by Holder. [This] has all the indicators of a political investigation, a political decision [because] these cases have already been investigated by the Justice Department, have already been examined, to reopen them has to have a chilling effect and violates the spirit of double jeopardy.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on Gonzales’ remarks.
GONZALES’ OWN TENURE AS ATTORNEY GENERAL HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL
Gonzales, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 as the first Latino to serve as attorney general, is no stranger to controversy. Under his two-year tenure, the Justice Department and the FBI were accused of improperly, and perhaps illegally, using the post-9/11 USA Patriot Act to uncover personal information about U.S. citizens.
His inability to explain his role and influence in the highly controversial dismissal of nine U.S. attorneys — particularly the firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias — and his interpretations of the Constitution led several members of Congress from both major parties to call for his resignation. The dismissals are now the subject of a separate criminal investigation ordered by Holder.
When The New York Times revealed in December 2005 that the National Security Agency (NSA) was eavesdropping on U.S. citizens without proper warrants, Gonzales threatened to prosecute journalists for leaking classified government documents, raising the specter of a First Amendment confrontation between the Bush administration and the media reminiscent of the court battle in the 1970s between the Nixon White House and the media over publication of the Pentagon Papers.
But it is the treatment of terrorism suspects after the 9/11 attacks that has generated the most controversy. Gonzales, who previously served as Bush’s White House counsel, drew fire for approving legal opinions written by John Yoo of the Office of Legal Counsel that became known as the “torture memos.” One such memo suggested that Geneva Conventions protections for prisoners of war did not apply to Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan or al-Qaida suspects held worldwide.
Those memos have led to calls for Gonzales’ disbarment from practicing law and even for the, prosecution of the former attorney general and other Bush administration lawyers.
# # #
Copyright 2009, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.
There’s more to be said about the still-developing situation with Auditor and potential party-switcher Joe Lieberman Tom Salmon, particularly about the mythology that his conflict with the Democratic base that busted their butts to get him into office in the first place is primarily about him being too “moderate” (for one thing, it’s first and foremost about his constant attempts to sabotage his own Party’s legislative leadership – but for another, he’s not exactly “moderate” after all… seriously, where on the liberal-moderate-conservative spectrum does handing over Vermont ski areas to the most unstable and corrupt industry in the nation – casino gambling – fall? Answer: it’s so far off the spectrum, it’s in another dimension).
But that’s for another diary. This one is for entertaining musings. Here’s a scenario for you…
Imagine for a moment that Salmon does become a Republican. Imagine then that he opts not to run for Governor, but to try to play the power of incumbency and runs instead for re-election as Auditor.
Now imagine Dubie runs for the top spot and loses, while the scramble for the open Lieutenant Governor’s office also ends in a Democratic victory. But the incumbent auditor ekes by and retains his position.
And Tom Salmon Jr, as the only remaining GOP statewide officeholder, becomes the functional head of the Vermont Republican Party in 2010.
How does that mess with your head, huh? Am I saying that’s the plan, here? No way, man – I aint sayin’ nuthin. But what makes this scenario so entertaining is that it… could… actually… happen.
Likely? Nah. But still…
( – promoted by odum)
Vermont Governor Jim Douglas became a lame duck by choice last week making the surprise announcement that he will not seek re-election to governor in 2010
Douglas with his near term travel plans in mind may have spoken with some unintended candor when he said during his announcement“The rewards of this job are many,” adding also that he is not running for any other office.
Putting thankfully to rest the persistent speculation about a Palin /Douglas ticket for 2012.
Palin said recently “I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do.” when she resigned rather than finish her term as governor of Alaska”.
The notoriously tight fisted budget hawk and newly lame ducked Governor Douglas had some other news this week .
Off to France
He will be enjoying the rewards of quite a bit of travel as he takes flight to France in September as the guest of the French government to investigate potential markets, export/import opportunities and resource exchange for Vermont agricultural producers.
And then off to Asia
On a previously announced trip tentatively scheduled later in October the governor will take flight to Asia, which will include stops in South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. This will be an overseas trade mission flying with Vermont business leaders seeking investors for their companies showcasing the opportunities for investors here in Vt, as well as to promote general trade with these countries.
PZ Myers refers us to a new report evaluating the states on their approach to teaching evolution in the schools.
Obviously this is important, since you can't understand the rest of biology if you don't understand evolution.
Vermont does pretty well. If you look at the map you'll see that we're doing way better than a lot of other states, and those states are mostly no surprise. It shouldn't take more than the experience of the last eight years to tell you that you don't want your kids to be educated in Texas, for instance. In addition, I can't ever remember a big fight over teaching evolution in any Vermont school boards.
But still, we only rank a B. Why not an A? Here's what the report says:
And:
Column 4: “Human evolution treated?”
It's true. Here's what the Vermont Frameworks have to say about evolution education at the high school level:
What do you think? Is it time for Vermont to score an “A” in science education?
This is a big day in Vermont, not just for the LGBT couples who may now enjoy their full rights under the law. Its an affirmation for all of us that Vermont continues to reflect what is best in us by moving forward toward greater social justice.
It’s other people’s big day; so I’ll just keep my bit brief. I’m delighted to be given the opportunity to join the team at GMD and promise to try to keep up with you all. My familiar turf tends to be around land use issues and the environment, but I’ll pipe-up from time to time on other things to.
Now that I’ve gotten my feet wet, I’ll let the real stars of Sept. 1, 2009 resume center stage. Congratulations to Julie and all the other lovers on this sweet day!
What I think are some interesting stats from Facebook pages:
Candidates:
Susan Bartlett for Governor: 4 Supporters
http://www.facebook.com/pages/…
Doug Racine (Politician): 84 Supporters
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Deb Markowitz (Politician): 239 Supporters
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Brian Dubie for Vermont Governor: 260 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Parties:
Vermont Democrats: 115 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Vermont Progressive Party: 160 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Vermont Republican Party: 198 Fans
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Other Groups of Interest:
Green Mountain Daily: 144 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
1000 Vermonters for Change: 237 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
Vermonters Calling on Douglas Not to Veto Same Sex Marriage: 16,046 Members
http://www.facebook.com/search…
So what does this mean, if anything? Even though some of the members of the Vermonters Calling on Douglas Not to Veto Same Sex Marriage group are from out of state, the potential is obviously there to build a very large group of supporters on Facebook (which should then be used as a TOOL to fundraise, organize field activities, etc).
Why are the Republicans out-numbering us in supporters on Facebook? Should the liberal/progressive Parties and Candidates hire someone to specificly coordinate their online social networking (which would also include twitter, blogs, etc), or at least make it a higher priority for their Communication Director to deal with? Does any of this have an impact on the actual elections?
(UPDATE:
Yesterday Salmon spoke at Sen. Bill Doyle’s class on
>Vermont politics at Johnson State. Among other things
he said:
(1) He has not decided which statewide office he will
seek;
(2) He has not decided which party he will run in;
(3) Vermont Yankee must be re-licensed. – promoted by odum)
UPDATE 2 From a source close to Salmon: “The leading source of (the party-switching rumor) is clearly some Republican operatives who are trying to move Dubie off the dime… I can confirm that no one has a legitimate basis for these rumors.” Interesting – this merits continued watching, especially given Salmon’s comments in Doyle’s class. /update
UPDATE 3 The Rutland Herald has a piece about this. –julie.
He’s been dropping hints for a while, and has certainly been doing all he can to alienate many of the same people who worked so hard during his historic recount to get him where he is today, but is Auditor Tom Salmon Jr. planning to drop the Democratic Party and run for Governor as a Republican (most likely going up against popular Lieutenant Governor and presumed Douglas heir apparent Brian Dubie)?
That’s the rumor – one I’m told by a reliable source is a “90%,” – all but confirmed (but again – not yet confirmed… apply grain of salt).
Currently, Salmon has had Democratic consultants Jake Perkinson and Selene Hofer-Shall working on his re-election. One assumes he would lose their assistance if he makes the move.
We’ll see. Hopefully we can get more on this soon. It’ll be refreshing to see some truth-in-advertising on his ballot line, if this turns out to be true, and not just a wacky rumor. It could also simply be a trial balloon being floated among insiders. Time will tell.
Quick Update: More than one source close to the Salmon campaign say this is “nuts,” and that is a direct quote… others say its for real. Time to let the real reporters have at it, I suppose.
FITNESS FOR DUTY – SUPERVISOR TESTED POSITIVE FOR ALCOHOL was today’s posting on the NRC Website for current event notifications.
A non-licensed employee supervisor had a confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness-for-duty test. The employee’s unescorted access to the plant has been revoked. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for additional details.
What is a non-licensed employee supervisor? Well, that means he was not one of the plant operators, but is a supervisor of another group, like engineering, maintenance, purchasing, or even health physics meaning dose measurement.
Not only is Vermont Yankee on a hiring freeze on orders from parent company Entergy, but the VT Legislature’s appointed oversight panel (VYOP) noted that staffing problems were endemic throughout the organization. In some departments 80% of the employees had been at VY less than three years, which according to VYOP is an indication of high turnover and inexperience.
Last spring, VY informed the Legislature that it would meet the VYOP recommendations, yet with an Entergy hiring freeze at a plant that already had staff shortages, how will that be possible? Now on top of failing cooling towers, equipment degradation and dose miscalculations we have supervisors arriving to work drunk.
NRC report and link below the fold.
Current Event Notification Report for September 1, 2009
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Operations Center
Event Reports For
08/31/2009 – 09/01/2009
FITNESS FOR DUTY – SUPERVISOR TESTED POSITIVE FOR ALCOHOLA non-licensed employee supervisor had a confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness-for-duty test. The employee’s unescorted access to the plant has been revoked. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for additional details.
The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.
FITNESS FOR DUTY – SUPERVISOR TESTED POSITIVE FOR ALCOHOLA non-licensed employee supervisor had a confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness-for-duty test. The employee’s unescorted access to the plant has been revoked. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for additional details.
The licensee has notified the NRC Resident Inspector.