There are new numbers out on Vermont’s currently six-way race, but you’ve got to consider the source: Rasmussen, widely regarded as, uh, sympathetic to Republicans. If you click on over, the polling site reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie leads all five Democratic candidates.

Why might we question that outcome? Well, they also show Republican Governor Jim = fire-all-the-union-employees (unless-they-work-for-Entergy) Douglas as enjoying a 64% approval rating. One has to wonder at their claim they screened their respondents for likely voters. Other somewhat odd results suggest that Sen. Susan Bartlett has better name-recognition than Sen. (and former Lt. Gov.) Doug Racine:

Dubie and Markowitz are the best-known of the candidates. Dunne and Racine are the least-known.

The good news, if the poll is to be believed, lands in Sec. of State Deb Markowitz’s lap. Of the five D candidates, she polls the closest, lagging only seven points behind the debate-shy Dubie, 46% – 36%. Racine and Bartlett poll equally behind Dubie at 48%-35%, followed by Peter Shumlin (51%-33%) and Matt Dunne (51%-29%).

[Update: It’s been brought to my attention that the text at the Rasmussen Vermont poll site says Bartlett lags Dubie in a head-to-head by 52% – 26%.

When State Senator Susan Bartlett is his Democratic opponent, Dubie holds a two-to-one lead, 52% to 26%.

I was looking at the charts in the right-hand sidebar which show Bartlett and Racine with the identical difference. The chart info is copied after the flip. Just one more reason to ask questions about any data.]

Election 2010: Vermont Governor

Brian Dubie (R)48%

Doug Racine (D) 35%

Some Other Candidate 5%   Not Sure    12%

Election 2010: Vermont Governor

Brian Dubie (R) 48%

Susan Bartlett (D) 35%

Some Other Candidate 5%   Not Sure 12%

One other, uh, interesting thing in the data is the some other candidate/unsure category. In the Markowitz head-to-head, it’s 14% (4% some other; 10% unsure). For Shumlin, the total duh factor is 16% (6 and 10); Racine’s and Bartlett’s total duh factor is up one more at 17% (5 and 12 each); and Dunne’s is 20% (6 and 14).

And even Republican leanings can’t suggest that U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy will have to break a sweat in his re-election campaign, but that’s another poll.

There's new numbers out on Vermont's currently six-way race, but you've got to consider the source: Rasmussen, widely regarded as, uh, sympathetic to Republicans. If you click on over, the polling site reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie leads all five Democratic candidates. Why might we question that outcome? Well, they also show Republican Governor Jim = fire-all-the-union-employees (unless-they-work-for-Entergy) Douglas as enjoying a 64% approval rating. One has to wonder at their claim they screened their respondents for likely voters. Other somewhat odd results suggest that Sen. Susan Bartlett has better name-recognition than Sen. (and former Lt. Gov.) Doug Racine: 

Dubie and Markowitz are the best-known of the candidates. Dunne and Racine are the least-known.

 The good news, if the poll is to be believed, lands in Sec. of State Deb Markowitz's lap. Of the five D candidates, she polls the closest, lagging only seven points behind the debate-shy Dubie, 46% – 36%. Racine and Bartlett poll equally behind Dubie at 48%-35%, followed by Peter Shumlin (51%-33%) and Matt Dunne (51%-29%). [Update: It's been brought to my attention that the text at the Rasmussen Vermont poll site says Bartlett lags Dubie in a head-to-head by 52% – 26%.

I was looking at the charts in the right-hand sidebar which show Bartlett and Racine with the identical difference. The chart info is copied after the flip. Just one more reason to ask questions about any data.]

Election 2010: Vermont Governor Brian Dubie (R) 48% Doug Racine (D) 35% Some Other Candidate 5% Not Sure 1

Election 2010: Vermont Governor Brian Dubie (R) 48% Susan Bartlett (D) 35% Some Other Candidate 5% Not Sure 12%

One other, uh, interesting thing in the data is the some other candidate/unsure category. In the Markowitz head-to-head, it's 14% (4% some other; 10% unsure). For Shumlin, the total duh factor is 16% (6 and 10); Racine's and Bartlett's total duh factor is up one more at 17% (5 and 12 each); and Dunne's is 20% (6 and 14). And even Republican leanings can't suggest that U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy will have to break a sweat in his re-election campaign, but that's another poll.

To hear the Douglas-Dubie Administration tell it, you’d think that Vermont’s public schools are wasting money on all sides. But you’d be as wrong as they are. Republicans love “tests” as a measure of “outcomes.” Well, you can’t get much better outcomes than these:

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Vermont’s 8th-graders achieved the best scores in the country in reading. Fourth-graders came in second after Massachusetts.

Not to mention that results in math posted last fall showed Vermont’s 8th-graders getting the second-highest scores in the country, with 4th-graders ranking third.

Now how do you suppose a small state like Vermont managed to get those outstanding results?

“Vermonters invest in their local public schools, year after year, because they recognize the importance of hiring the best and brightest to teach their children,” [Vt NEA President Martha] Allen said. “It is gratifying – though not surprising – that Vermont’s students continue to achieve at such high levels.”

So much for undermining public education by using vouchers to funnel public money to private and religious schools, as has been proposed by the state’s current Republican administration.

Republicans somehow never allow facts to get in the way of their ideology.  

They do; they get it.  Profiled in today’s Free Press, B&J’s new CEO, Jostein Solheim took the opportunity to reaffirm the company’s commitment to Vermont with some very well chosen words:

And to you, Governor Douglas: as you prepare to grab your golden parachute please do us the courtesy of leaving the vessel that was entrusted to you intact rather than consumed in the fire of your unrealized agenda.

Perhaps you’ve caught GMD’s latest publicity stunt? It’s part of a series we’ve developed for a catchy, vaguely serialized promotion using a consistent character who will come to be associated with our brand in the public eye. In fact, it’s modeled after the highly successful Geico “caveman” ads.

The idea is we create a rabid right-winger – you know, sort of a stereotypical tea bagger sort – and have him rant against the site by shilling in free forums, raising our profile among like minded lefties to get a good chuckle. More than that, though, is – if we may be so humble – the real genius of the promotional campaign. Our rabid mascot doesn’t just inveigh against GMD’s embrace and promotion of a lefty perspective, he’s highlighting how seriously and widely GMD is read, and that serious Democratic candidates – including all five candidates for Governor – frequently post here to reach our readers.

In this way, our target demographic gets the message that we’re not only a no-nonsense progressive political site that drives the right crazy, we’re also more than just your typical blog, and what we do here is a real part of the political discussion.

Anyway, it’s going great. Each iteration of the promotion that’s run so far has increased GMD’s hit count. We’re all looking forward to taking the campaign as far as we can.

Here’s the most recent entry in today’s Free Press: http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

You can compare that with our initial launch of the campaign in the Times Argus (in which we also mentioned one of our reader awards): http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

What do you think, dear readers? With the success of this, our first foray into newspaper-based publicity, what should be our next promotional project?

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

In addition to hoes and shovels, more and more farmers in sub-Saharan Africa carry another agricultural “tool”: a cell phone.

Over the last decade, cell-phone use in Africa has increased fivefold, and farmers are using their phones to gain information about everything from markets to weather. For example, farmers can find out prices before they make the long trips from rural areas to urban markets, giving them the option to wait to sell until prices are higher. Agricultural extension agents and development agencies also use mobile phones to communicate with farmers, letting them know about changes in weather that could affect crops.

Farmers and agribusiness agents in Zambia are also using cell phones as bank accounts, to pay for orders, to manage agricultural inputs, to collect and store information about customers, and to build credit. Mobile Transactions, a financial services company for the “unbanked,” allows customers to use their phones like an ATM card, says Mike Quinn, Mobile Transactions General Manager. An estimated 80 percent of Zambians, particularly in rural areas, don’t have bank accounts, making it difficult for them to make financial transactions such as buying seed or fertilizer. But by using Mobile Transactions, farmers are not only able to make purchases and receive payment electronically, they are also building a credit history, which can make getting loans easier.

Mobile Transactions also works with USAID’s PROFIT program to help agribusiness agents make orders for inputs, manage stock flows, and communicate more easily with agribusiness companies and farmers. Perhaps most importantly, the partnership helps agents better understand the farmers they’re working with so that they can provide the tools, inputs, and education each farmer and community needs.

In addition, e-banking and e-commerce systems can help make better use of agricultural subsidies. Mobile Transactions worked with AGRA and CARE to develop an e-voucher system for obtaining conservation farming inputs. Farmers receive a scratch card with funds that they can redeem via their phones to purchase tools or other inputs from local agribusiness agents. Unlike paper vouchers, there’s no delay in moving the money, and farmers can get what they need immediately, such as seed during planting season or fertilizer when it can be used most effectively. And because donors are using Mobile Transactions to distribute the vouchers, they’re acting as a stimulant to the private sector, rather than distorting the market.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts — we check for comments everyday and want to have a regular ongoing discussion with you.

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The Vermont Tiger is simply aghast that Joe Biden may have misquoted the poet Virgil at the White House health care bill signing ceremony. Biden’s offending quote the “greatest wealth is health.”

The problem they sniff is … the quote is one of those that cannot be traced to the putative author. (I was never even aware Virgil authored The Putatives).

The Tiger is sadly confused and unfocused. The actual story as I see it is that Joe Biden later misquoted a more recent public figure. Biden quite obviously caught up in the gravity of the event happily uttered “This is a big F’king deal.”

Vice President Biden just awkwardly paraphrased an infamous comment made by the ever erudite and concise Dick Cheney years ago.

Let me see, what exactly were Cheney’s three words?  

There are new numbers out on Vermont’s currently six-way race, but you’ve got to consider the source: Rasmussen, widely regarded as, uh, sympathetic to Republicans. If you click on over, the polling site reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie leads all five Democratic candidates.

Why might we question that outcome? Well, they also show Republican Governor Jim = fire-all-the-union-employees (unless-they-work-for-Entergy) Douglas as enjoying a 64% approval rating. One has to wonder at their claim they screened their respondents for likely voters. Other somewhat odd results suggest that Sen. Susan Bartlett has better name-recognition than Sen. (and former Lt. Gov.) Doug Racine:

Dubie and Markowitz are the best-known of the candidates. Dunne and Racine are the least-known.

The good news, if the poll is to be believed, lands in Sec. of State Deb Markowitz’s lap. Of the five D candidates, she polls the closest, lagging only seven points behind the debate-shy Dubie, 46% – 36%. Racine and Bartlett poll equally behind Dubie at 48%-35%, followed by Peter Shumlin (51%-33%) and Matt Dunne (51%-29%).

[Update: It’s been brought to my attention that the text at the Rasmussen Vermont poll site says Bartlett lags Dubie in a head-to-head by 52% – 26%.

When State Senator Susan Bartlett is his Democratic opponent, Dubie holds a two-to-one lead, 52% to 26%.

I was looking at the charts in the right-hand sidebar which show Bartlett and Racine with the identical difference. The chart info is copied after the flip. Just one more reason to ask questions about any data.]

Election 2010: Vermont Governor

Brian Dubie (R)48%

Doug Racine (D) 35%

Some Other Candidate 5%   Not Sure    12%

Election 2010: Vermont Governor

Brian Dubie (R) 48%

Susan Bartlett (D) 35%

Some Other Candidate 5%   Not Sure 12%

One other, uh, interesting thing in the data is the some other candidate/unsure category. In the Markowitz head-to-head, it’s 14% (4% some other; 10% unsure). For Shumlin, the total duh factor is 16% (6 and 10); Racine’s and Bartlett’s total duh factor is up one more at 17% (5 and 12 each); and Dunne’s is 20% (6 and 14).

And even Republican leanings can’t suggest that U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy will have to break a sweat in his re-election campaign, but that’s another poll.

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.

Bugs. When I remember of Zambia, I think of bugs.

It started when a mysterious little creature bit Dani on the side of the head,  we spent hours monitoring the swelling bite as it inched near her eye, applying cortisone, and praying that we wouldn't have to go to the clinic. Thankfully, Dani's head didn't explode and the bite went way.

But her adventures with the insect world weren't over. The next day, as we were lying down on the bed in our hostel, Dani jumped up, shaking her head from side to side.A cockroach  had crawled into her ear and refused to leave. For the record, we're not sure if it ever came out (gross, but true).

Despite a mosquito net, our favorite bug repellent (Dani has a new found love for chemicals), and wearing clothes head to toe while we slept—the bugs were everywhere.

Even at our local internet cafe cockroaches were crawling over the keyboard and we didn't dare open the drawers of the dresser in our room—better not to know what else was also calling the hostel home.

Bugs aside, Zambia was our of my favorites countries. There's not a lot of infrastructure, or DSL, or tourist destinations to visit in Lusaka. And definitely not a lot of food options for the vegan/vegetarians (thank Vishnu and Shakti that there was one Indian restaurant within walking distance). Yet, in this medium sized city were some of the nicest people we've met yet on our journey and where we had some of the most frank conversations with agricultural aid workers.

You immediately feel safe in Lusaka. People are proud of the fact that during the day anyone can walk nearly anywhere, despite the fact that we didn't see a single police car. Zambia is also laid back. Don't expect many places to have "take-away" cups for your coffee, and don't expect any meal your order at a restaurant to arrive in under a half-hour. But the culture of being relaxed, sitting down to enjoy a meal, and allowing the day to float by, is something I will deeply miss as we continue to travel. No one seems in a rush in Zambia and no one rushes you.

Jan Nijhoff, who sits on the advisory group of Nourishing the Planet, served as a terrific host. In only three short days we had an  incredible set of meetings with CARE , COMESA , Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), the World Food Program , USAID , and others. As part of our visit, Jan took some of the most experienced staff from various organizations to engage in a frank and open discussion on a wide range of topics that included: misuse of donor money, the role of the market and private sector in sustainable agriculture, developments in cell phone technologies to aid farmers, carbon trading systems, and so much more.

We spent hours with Jan having exhilarating conversations that range from the fluctuations in maize pricing to the prevalence of outdoor hockey rinks in the Netherlands.

We also met with an environmental reporter named Benedict Tambo with the Zambian Daily Mail. Benedict lamented the fact that businesses were ordering fewer and fewer papers and a rising number of people impacted by the economic downturn were choosing food over their daily news. To maintain his environmental beat, Benedict also writes sports news, and sometimes even entertainment. The troubles seemed all-to-familiar with those faced by the newspaper industry in the United States.

We stayed at a fun hostel called KuOmboka, at 20$/night for a private room with fan. The place has a bustling bar that attracted far more locals than tourists. The 24-hour internet cafe, accessible laundry facilities, and the pumpkin leaves on the menu were the real selling point. The place was extremely friendly, people genuinely trying to be helpful, and down the street from a lovely Indian restaurant that had all-you-can-eat vegetarian tali for four dollars. We also tried various traditional Zambian foods, and I watched Dani eat an entire bowl of Maize meal, called "nshima," which admittedly didn’t taste that bad. The local beer is called Moshi. It's a light beer and when I told a Zambian it reminded me of Budweiser, he was truly insulted. Even after I told him: "But I like Budweiser!"

We spent Saturday night as spectators, visiting a local club called Brown Frog and watching Zambians get down with some intense rumba and salsa dancing while we downed jack and cokes. Zambia has a real "joie du vivre" and I watched as people smiled and glowed as they danced. People were dressed to the nines, the woman sporting decadent dresses, and the men sporting their dress shirts. Some of the couples had clearly been practicing, as their moves seemed so fluid they'd been choreographed for the crowd.

We also visited an organization created by a North Carolinian named Dale Lewis, whose life's work has been in testing methods to have the most impact possible on conservation and in reducing the pouching of wildlife. After years of trial and error, his data showed that lifting farmers from poverty through providing access to a market, offering training, and fair wages, was the single biggest factoring in protecting wildlife. The growth, size, and scope of his operation was mind-blowing, employing hundreds of staff that involved thousands  of farmers. Dale's dream is to make COMACO and it's brand (terrific nuts, honey, and peanut butter) self-sufficiant. He says that he is 70 percent their, while receiving training from Minneapolis-based General Mills, and support from Howard Buffet, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and others.

It rained nearly the entire time we were in Zambia, and after three straight days of downpour, and flooding on the neighboring streets, we wondered if our ground floor hostel room would soon be under water. After many months of drought the rain seems to be coming at the wrong time, too late to help farmers harvest crops. People were clearly getting nervous as newspapers predicting an entire week of rain. 

While it is easy to find companies willing to take you by bus the nearly 25-hour route from Lusaka to Johannesburg, it's another story to get to Zimbabwe's capital Harare which is a stop along the route. We found a company whose transport reminded more of a  traditional school bus than a commercial bus company. When you arrive at the bus station, dozens of people hoard around you, trying to out-negotiate each other assuming that you are headed to visit Victoria Falls in Livingstone. Yet, that doesn't seem like the right  mission for this trip, with so many exciting organizations and projects awaiting us in South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar and beyond…

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts — we check for comments everyday and want to have a regular ongoing discussion with you.

2. Receive regular updates–Join the weekly BorderJumpers newsletter by clicking here.

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but that is exactly what Peter “The Weasel” Welch would have happen.

ACORN has officially announced that their national organization is closing down. According to a statement sent to The Brad Blog:

The ACORN Association Board met on Sunday March 21 and approved a set of steps to responsibly manage the process of bringing its operations to a close over the coming months. These include:

   * Closing ACORN’s remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1st; and

   * Developing a plan to resolve all outstanding debts, obligations and other issues.

ACORN’s members have a great deal to be proud of–from promoting to homeownership to helping rebuild New Orleans, from raising wages to winning safer streets, from training community leaders to promoting voter participation — ACORN members have worked hard to create stronger communities, a more inclusive democracy, and a more just nation.

But Weasel Welch didn’t care about ACORN being an effective vehicle of empowerment for those across our nation who have been dis-empowered by the likes of Weasel Welch. After all he with great alacrity voted along side his radical right wing buddies in congress to attack and destroy ACORN based entirely on fabricated evidence.

Thankfully at least one individual with legal experience chose to make an impartial investigation.

And what was found?

Brooklyn  prosecutors on Monday cleared ACORN  of criminal wrongdoing after a four-month probe that began when undercover conservative activists filmed workers giving what appeared to be illegal advice on how to hide money.

While the video by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles seemed to show three ACORN workers advising a prostitute how to hide ill-gotten gains, the unedited version was not as clear, according to a law enforcement source.

“They edited the tape to meet their agenda,” said the source.

(B’klyn ACORN cleared over giving illegal advice on how to hide money from prostitution, NY Daily News, 03/01/10)

So where is that apology Welch?

Did I say thanks yet to the weasel?