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

While in Harare, Zimbabwe, we met with the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ), an initiative of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) which started operating in September of 2003. The research institute’s primary objective to develop, through research, well-grounded policy positions designed to influence development processes and outcomes at the national, regional and international levels. This is particularly important in the context of globalization where national policy is increasingly giving way to regional and international developments. In this regard, the ability to anticipate developments will help in designing proactive policies that respond promptly to external challenges.

LEDRIZ shared with us the training and research materials and documents they use in training programs throughout the country around the “8 Socio-Economic Rights.’ Rather than directly endorsing political candidates, ZCTU advocates for democracy and good governance in Zimbabwe. LEDRIZ is strategically positioning itself to be part of every major economic policy debate in Zimbabwe, an impressive feat given the tight autocratic rule President Mugabe maintains over the country. In addition, LEDRIZ is fighting hard to establish progressive policies such as opposing the privatization of public utilities, providing support for the informal sector, protecting workers’ pensions and their ability to retire with dignity.

In establishing an aligned research institute, the labor movement in Zimbabwe is following the examples of the US, European, South African and Namibian trade unions. Such a research think-tank is particularly helpful in an economy like Zimbabwe’s which has experienced a wrenching brain drain, undermining capacity. The main strength of LEDRIZ is that it is a member of several national, regional and international networks such as the Alternatives to Neo-liberalism in Southern Africa (ANSA) which it coordinates; the African Labour Research Network (ALRN); and the Global Union Research Network (GURN), launched in January 2004 under the coordination of the ILO Bureau of Workers’ Activities and the International Trade Union Council (ITUC).

Former City Councilor Andy Montroll and former Burlington Telecom boss Tim Nulty, along with Ron Cassel, Stanton Williams, Paul Guiliani, Rick Royer, Paul Millman, Richard Donnelly, and Don Mayer make up the so-dubbed “group of 9” – the cadre of technical professionals and investors who have offered to step in and cover the late payment on BT’s debt in exchange for being given the reins of the whole operation (or in Nulty’s case, re-given… is that a word?). Calling themselves “Reboot Burlington Telecom,” the group has a website up detailing their proposal (ht CandleBill).

RebootBT has already done the impossible; carved out a growing space for those who think the whole endeavor is a hopeless disaster under the Kiss administration, but really don’t want to see it abandoned. That’s a space that hasn’t existed for months – really, ever since Progressive Party leaders tried to make the whole thing into a partisan referendum, setting up a “you’re with the mayor or you’re against BT” dynamic.

They certainly succeeded in that, but the results of that now-polarized dynamic have hardly gone their way. Now, the only realistic hope for salvaging the situation – particularly in terms of public confidence – would seem to be in accepting Reboot BT’s offer.

Thankfully, the City Council is filling the void and moving forward on their own as – naturally – the mayor and Jonathan Leopold have all but ignored the offer. After all, going with it would be a tacit admission that they screwed up.

It’s called the first deadly sin for a reason.

The Brattleboro Reformer has this story (Clerical error closes LeFevre) discussing the closing of a local ambulance service. Apparently they weren’t able to make payroll much less pay anything else.

The owner said the company had to begin using a new Medicare number for billing purposes, but they hadn’t received it yet … so they couldn’t bill.

Okay, that is a problem … but the reason for not getting the new Medicare number:

National Health Insurance Company, the Medicare Part B carrier for Vermont, has not sent LeFevre its new number, LeFevre billing supervisor Katherine St. Martin said, due to a broken fax machine in the insurance company’s office.

Couldn’t transfer a number because of a broken fax machine? FAX MACHINE??

Have I slipped back to the 1980’s?

Is this really just a Star Trek re-run?

Is this why we pay so much for insurance?

FOR A FREAKIN’ FAX MACHINE?

In other news Louisiana Entergy has said they intend to spin their Entergy Yankee nuclear power plant off to a newly formed church ala Scientology. “We’re truly a holy place,” said the spokesperson, “and obviously we’ve miraculously located underground pipes that weren’t there.”

According to the Governor’s office, Douglas supports the plan saying it’s important to our energy future and jobs that The Church of Enterology be moved forward post-haste. “In the end,” said Douglas, “It’s all about having faith in them, isn’t it?”

But this switch to web-based government, just like the switch to web-based flight reservations and banking, means better service to clients at lower cost to the service provider. Not too good to be true. March 7,2010

Governor Jim Douglas’ resident smart tech man, Tom Evslin, is still threatening Vermont with an earlier promise of a government that will be run just like web-based flight reservations and banking services. He has expanded on this theme lately and now highlights the wonder of ATMs and computerized bank records as examples of efficiency for state government.  

Another newly added folksy illustration of life after our technological revolution is how easy it will be to apply for a hunting/fishing license. (Currently Hunting /fishing licenses can easily be purchased at most general stores in Vermont.) Perhaps he’s keeping it simple out of consideration for those that don’t share his vision of Vermont bureaucracy “in the cloud.”

But once records become electronic, they're wherever you need them to be. It doesn't matter whether they're in a corporate data center, on a disk in a state office. or somewhere off in a huge computer center operated by Google or Amazon (technically this is called being "in the cloud"). When you need access to them, they're where you are. You can withdraw money from any ATM (at least if you don't mind fees); you can charge at any store; and you ought to be able to go into any government office to do whatever government business you need to do.

He never touches the potential problems with cloud storage of public records on systems accessible through Google or Amazon. Previously his performance at the Vermont State Recovery Office was rated 47th out of 50 at providing required public access to economic stimulus spending and contract bid information. Evslin is a smart fellow, yet he persists in making simple arguments for his brave new world, with only fleeting references to what he calls “current organizational constraints.”  These constraints would surely involve “attendant discomforts, confusion, and fears,” but Evslin glosses over these specifics and proceeds speedily past. No reason to dwell on job and pay cuts.

Anyone with a minimum familiarity with web-based transactions knows the fur-balls that electronic data can cough up. I wish he trusted in his vision and Vermonters enough to raise the level of discussion above 1960’s Popular Science Magazine.  Stop chatting up the wonder of a government as futuristic as ATMs and airline flight reservation systems.

How about an open discussion about who wins and who loses in your bureaucratic cloud? Get out from the closed door meetings and explain to Vermont citizens, (or clients as you call them) how these changes will challenge them.  

In a roll call vote that followed three hours of debate on war and peace, Vermont Rep. Peter Welch voted with Rep. Dennis Kucinich, 58 other Democrats, and 5 Republicans on Kucinich’s House Concurrent Resolution 248.

That resolution, “pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution,” in effect would have set a timeline for withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan:  either within 30 days of the passage of the resolution or by Dec. 31, 2010 if the earlier date would lead to an unsafe withdrawal.

The resolution failed by a vote of 356 to 65.

Ron Paul was one of the Republicans. Curmudgeon and cynic Barney Frank was among the 12 handfuls of Democrats voting in favor, as was Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian congresswoman, and outspoken Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida’s 8th District.

On the huh?! list was Michigan’s Bart Stupak in the yes column (when did he start acting like a Democrat?) along with disgraced Democrat Rep. Eric Massa  (must have been his last vote, the seat is now listed as vacant), and under-investigation Rep. Charlie Rangel, both of New York. Perhaps when there’s nothing more to lose, these guys can finally vote their beliefs.

NH Democrats Paul Hodes (now running for Senate) and Carol Shea-Porter joined voted against.

I’m glad Peter Welch was among the 65 voting for peace now, even if some of the company was a tad unsavory.

Call me old fashioned, but all the sweeping, absolutist ranting against “earmarks” as “pork” leaves me cold. Sure, we can all agree that gazillion dollar bridges to nowhere are a bad thing, but funding for projects at local universities? Support for renewable energy projects? Public works? Infrastructure projects?

Hell yes I think those are perfectly good uses of federal tax dollars. In fact, I’m of the school that thinks securing such assistance for worthy, meaningful home state projects is a fundamental part of a US Senator’s or Representative’s job. That’s why I appreciated this from the Freeps today:

Vermont does better than any other state when it comes to qualifying for federal money distributed on the basis of census data, a new study has found.

[…] According to the Brookings data, Vermont received almost $1.79 billion in federal money in fiscal 2008 based on Census-related statistics, or $2,873.67 per capita. The per-capita average for the country was $1,469.

Heck, with all the inevitable “earmark” whining that’s probably filling up the Freeps comment section by now, allow me to offer a hearty “damn fine job, gentlemen”.

Looking forward to the day (not too far off, maybe?) when our senior Senator becomes Chair of Appropriations…

Doris Haddock, aka Granny D, died Tuesday afternoon, March 9, 2010. She had turned 100 years old in late January, and celebrated with a party at the NH State House. When she was 90, she walked across the entire country for campaign finance reform (there’s an HBO documentary available free on Hulu, called “Run Granny Run”).

In 2004, she ran a very grassroots campaign for Senate against Sen. Judd Gregg. She lost, yes, but not before showing up the GOP for the arrogant, elitist gang it was, and Gregg for the patronizing sexist he is.

There’s a website dedicated to her speeches, many of which still pertain to how politics is done in 2010.

Here’s a quote from one given in 2000 in Boston on election reform:

We elect our representatives to represent our values and our needs in shaping public policy and allocating community resources. In this work, the regular citizen doesn’t stand a chance if elected representatives must first go to wealthy special interests to fund their campaigns. The representation game is over before it begins.

It is nothing particularly new. But in the past, the wealthy lived among us. We shopped in their stores on Main Street and their children went to grade school with ours. We shared the same community interests and values.

We are now talking about inhumane organizations of inhuman scale and international allegiance. They care not if our main streets or our families prosper or if they blow away. We must not have these monsters influencing our community decisions. We must not allow them to provide funds for our candidates, where those funds will deny us proper representation.

And another, also on campaign finance reform from November 2000 that still rings true:

I set out on my walk across the United States at a time when the leaders in Congress were saying that no one cared much about campaign finance reform. I wanted to demonstrate that I indeed cared, and I hoped to meet others along the way who cared. That is what I found.

Not very many people understood the term “campaign finance reform,” but nearly all of the thousands of people I met felt and still feel that they no longer have senators and congressmen who represent their interests. They believe that wealthy special interests have taken away their opportunity for a representative democracy. And many, many people got teary-eyed or they cried outright about it. They sent me on my way with a prayer for success for all of us, and many of them –over 2,000 of them– came to join me for the last mile in Washington, D.C. That was a joyful day, but despair, sadness and anger were the typical emotions I encountered along my way.

On that last day of my walk, we started from the graves of Arlington–rows upon rows of white stones that mark the sacrifices that have been made for the idea of freedom and self-governance. I felt those honorable spirits walk with us to the Capitol to demand an end to the political bribery that now dominates Washington. This bribery nicely calls itself campaign finance–much as a prostitute might wish to be called a personal companion. But it is what it is.

Rest in peace, Granny D. Others will carry the torch against corporate funding of campaigns.

If/when Congress passes a campaign finance law restricting coroporate-financed campaigns and contributions by foreign corporations, maybe they should call it the Granny D Public Campaign Finance Act.

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

Imagine being one of only five opposition voices in a country of thirteen million people, where all radio, print and television is strictly controlled by the government. That’s Ben Madzimure’s uphill battle everyday as editor of “The Worker,” the voice of the labor movement, in Zimbabwe–especially because his newspaper is only printed once a month, with only 5,000 copies distributed throughout the country.

“Zimbabwe used to have such a vibrant and independent media but most of the press was shut down,” said Madzimure. Today many of the print reporters across the country bite their tongues and print the government’s viewpoint. Madzimure, on the other hand, actively seeks out stories the government doesn’t want mentioned, such as worker discontent and political corruption, and provides an unfiltered analysis of current events.  

While President Mugabe lost the presidential election of 2008 (despite employing voter suppression strategies), he refused to relinquish power to the victor, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. Today, under a “power sharing” agreement between the parties of Mugabe and Tsvangirai, the government continues to control all forms of media and mass-communication.

Given that Zimbabwe is one of the most literate countries in Africa, around 90 percent literacy rate, print media is a critical tool in moving a message. Madzimure says that after the newspaper is read, it’s passed on to at least nine other people and it remains a  “permanent marker,” because people use it to “wrap things or to fill holes.”

With a population spread out over hundreds of miles in rural areas, “The Worker” is the main way for the trade union federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), to disseminate news and inspire activity. “When ZCTU calls for national actions, the media doesn’t report on it at all, “The Worker” is a main vehicle giving directions to people on how to participate in strikes, elections and public actions,” said Madzimure.

Yet, despite financial support from the ZCTU, the Solidarity Center in the United States, the Canadian Labour Congress, and others — the $1 USD price tag to purchase the paper is too expensive for most Zimbabweans. With 80 percent job informalization in the country , according to a recent United Nations report, the labor movement relies on its local networks to make sure the message filters throughout the country. Union members at every district are providing reporting as “volunteer correspondents” and several unemployed  reporters are also lending a hand.

Madzimure’s dream is to eventually turn “The Worker” into a daily publication, offering investigative reporting and political analysis. In the meantime, while most Zimbabweans have no access to the computer, this does not stop Ben from promoting widely via every medium at his disposal including a news blog, a fan page on Facebook (it has 3,800 fans), and on Twitter (12,000 followers).  

A Google Ad network recently made an appearance; it’s an ad with the headline “Vermont Must Change” and the subhead “taxes are costing jobs.” The ad is anonymous — the only tagline on the ad itself is “surveymonkey.com” and it’s not immediately clear from the survey itself who is behind it and has made the buy with Google Ads.

The survey itself, dubbed “Vermont Chooses” is pre-ambled as follows:

“Vermont is at a crossroads. State revenue is sharply down and likely to remain that way for years; demand for social programs is up. Raising taxes means shrinking the tax base.

Vermont can succeed; can lower the cost of government, lower taxes, create jobs, and allow the tax base to grow. But succeeding means making choices.”



It features an odd mix of tea-baggerish libertarian positions and candidate awareness queries, but there’s a noticable emphasis on Brian Dubie towards the end, making me wonder if this might be his attempt at testing his waters.

The odd survey can be found here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s….

There's a Google Ad poll (which can currently be seen at Crooks and Liars) that reads like a set of Douglas/Dubie talking points. For instance: Vermont can succeed; can lower the cost of government, lower taxes, create jobs, and allow the tax base to grow. But succeeding means making choices. Something tells me they're looking to create the illusion of a groundswell for Dubie's "ideas", so maybe some GMD readers would be interested in sharing their perspectives.

Hop over here to take the poll.

Thanks to John Fairbanks at Scaypgrayce for the link.