MONTPELIER – A bill that would tighten reporting requirements for doctors who accept money from pharmaceutical companies and place limitations on such gifts has nearly unanimous support from members of the Vermont Senate, according to backers of the legislation

The bill, which also has support from the Vermont Medical Society, would strengthen legislation that established a database of drug company payments to physicians, including honorariums and other perquisites: The new proposal would place an outright ban on many of those gifts and expand reporting requirements for others…………..

“Patients need to have confidence in the prescribing actions of doctors,” said Dr. John Brumsted, president of the medical society.

I did a diary about this in Dec.but now that the legislature is acting it may worth a reminder of what this bill will not do.

In Vermont  pharmaceutical companies spent $3.1 million to promote their medicines to doctors during a 12-month period ending in June 2007.Peter Shumlin has filed a bill to put a lid on this with reporting requirements that will promote confidence doctors are not making judgments based perks from drug makers .

This bill is one step,but a link in the chain of pharma money remains secret and intact.Last December when discussing this new legislation Shumlin said he envisioned changes to the state law that would only allow the pharmaceutical industry to keep secret very limited information, such as donations to support academic research.Why the exclusion ?This information may be limited but its importance is sizable .Lobbying and campaign contributions are subject to transparency laws,why not pharmaceutical research funding ? Pharmaceutical companies are money making corporations and no matter how altruistic it may seem their motives are to make money.To have confidence in acedemic research the ability to ‘follow the money’ is needed.

“Drug company funding of medical research is not going to end – nor should it entirely stop. Yet a new set of federal rules dictating the transparency and direction of such funding is desperately needed to redress a dangerously corrupt system. It’s not enough to simply have doctors more explicitly report their incomes from drug companies, though it is a very useful first step.”  Lawrence Diller, M.D.

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…

It looks like IBM is leveraging job cuts and the bad economy in an attempt to op-out of the Efficiency Vermont obligation.Currently in the plan out of IBM’s $1.6 million given to Efficiency Vermont it got 90% back by following rules to create efficiencies. It is a complicated payment process but the basic op-out plan proposed would rely on IBM doing voluntarily what it now is required to do by law .Compliance would be verified after the fact by an audit .This must be part and parcel of the self-certification compliance style that Governor Douglas spoke of so movingly in his inaugural address .All the buzz words we have been hearing are in play here,flexibility,op-out and others too numerous to mention.  If  this obligation is removed where are the guarantees and auditors going to be and where are the penalties for non-compliance ?

In what way does IBM envision using this flexibility it so desires ?

House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Chairman Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, said he’s inclined to make the change”If there are things we can do to help them without doing any harm, then we should do it,” Klein said. “On the surface, it sounds like a beneficial idea to everybody involved, but we have to make sure it is.”

O’Kane, government affairs director for IBM laid down IBM’s concerns about energy costs in meetings with two House committees Wednesday, he offered a stark reminder of why legislators might want to help: The company’s 5,300 employees receive more than $250 million in pay a year, he said. The economic benefits of that reach far beyond, he said.

…The company wants the state to allow large corporations that agree to do at least $1 million a year in energy-efficiency work to opt out of contributing to Efficiency Vermont, a state program funded through a charge on every electric bill, O’Kane said. By running its own efficiency program, IBM would have more flexibility,  “It would, in our view, be much more effective if we could make investments and then get audited,”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

( – promoted by odum)

Here is a follow up or a continuation and it is still outrageous.. . ….. Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden’s “think of it as a radio contest ” quip was mentioned in a diary five days back and ridiculed editorially by the Times Argus .It seemed an off the cuff remark that certainly wasn’t official operating procedure and perhaps was regretted as insensitive by the person that made it .Wrong,in the Free Press the VT. Labor Dept. not only repeats its advice but offers it as one of seven helpful tips on how to initiate a claim .Perhaps the un-employed should donate to the Governor’s Inauguration Ball to be heard rather than dial multiple times “just like a radio contest “.

For those who are newly unemployed and need to initiate a claim:

• Call the Initial Claims line at 1-877-214-3330.

• Try multiple times an hour versus once every few hours. Think of it like a radio contest and call multiple times. Hitting the “redial” button on your phone increases your chances of connecting as soon as a line becomes free

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

The Times Argus ran an online poll in the past two weeks asking:Do you support the governor’s proposal to overhaul the state’s education funding plan? Over one thousand people “voted” in the unscientific poll 53.1% yes and 39.1% no,7.8%didn’t know  .

An editorial today presents the issue in a clearer light and I think the paper could just as fairly now run a poll with a more direct question asking :Do you support the Governor’s proposal to increase property taxes ?

The  editorial on the budget finagling Douglas is attempting explains the ins and outs of an issue that has been complicated by Douglas’s fuzzy sales pitch. The paper states ….

He(Douglas)would drive property taxes higher by robbing the Education Fund of about $63 million. He does not call it robbing. In his role as governor, he is trying to balance the General Fund by diverting money now going to the Education Fund back to the General Fund. With less money in the Education Fund, property tax payers will have to make up the difference.  …..Douglas is following a demagogic path blazed by other Republicans in previous eras, using education as a whipping boy in hard times,imposing corrosive controls on education spending that ultimately undermine our schools.  It is what happened when a property tax cap in California transformed one of the nation’s best school systems into one of the worst.

The piece ends with the sad obligatory warning for Democrats not to be frightened. “The Democrats must not allow Douglas to frighten them into ill-considered legislation designed to protect them from the charge that they are not doing enough to curb property taxes.” This is no time to start talk of phasing in parts of this program when a simple no will do.Just say no ?

http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

( – promoted by odum)

“As we strive to protect that which is so special about Vermont” – Gov. Jim Douglas  

It is a little hard not to get the idea that Governor Douglas is doing a little gutting with his cutting. He suggests a good dose of trust and strong penalties for non-compliance. But there is no mistaking the message sent when the first of eight layoffs starts at ANR with the state’s director of enforcement. Talk about a thin veil of cover.

The administration of Gov. Jim Douglas this week laid off the state’s director of environmental enforcement and eliminated his job, the first of eight layoffs expected at the Agency of Natural Resources this month. In addition, a retirement last month reduced the number of environmental enforcement field investigators to seven. The retiree will not be replaced in the near future.

Businesses will not be let off the hook from environmental protection. Non-compliance will bring costly penalties, motivating developers to complete legally and environmentally sound projects. Furthermore, self-certification will allow agency staff to spend more time in the field ensuring compliance, rather than micro managing proposed permits upfront.

“The timing and nature of this is very odd in light of the governor’s claim that his permit-reform effort would include an enhanced focus on enforcement.”said Anthony Iarrapino, a lawyer at the Conservation Law Foundation

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

http://www.vermont.gov/portal/…

attempts to dis-remember the facts

This may be a small thing but there is no reason to let Bush get a head start ,or any start for that matter on rebuilding or spinning his tattered legacy off into history as anything but the gruesome eight years it was.

The first draft of history had better be correct from the git-go.Thanks to Bernie …………..

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has written to the Smithsonian raising questions about the caption that sits beneath its new portrait of George W. Bush. The current wording of the caption states that Bush’s term was marked by “the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Sanders, bless his heart, points out that the 9/11 attacks — all together, now — had nothing to do with the Iraq war.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talk…

(Pardon me for back-to-back promotions of VY diaries but BP has another good one. Dems take note what’s going on down here and Wall Street! – promoted by Christian Avard)

 The business world this week is declaring longer term growth for Entergy “muted” due to market conditions and questions about nuclear power’s future. As Ed’s two Entergy Yankee diaries show, new large nuke construction is on hold, with the old ones future’s in trouble. These events show current size nuclear power plants becoming  dinosaurs financially as well as in the engineering sense. But strangely a new nuke may be emerging, a greatly downsized unit. Generating 25 megawatts (VY is 620 megawatts ) on, or close to where the need is these micro plants are being marketed as a clean replacement for high greenhouse gas emission generating sources. The engineering of these plants is different from the giant versions but the sales pitch sounds ominously similar. It isn’t quite power-too-cheap-to-meter but it could drift into that sales pitch territory.

They are styled on a small reactor built and used by students of nuclear power ,23 are in operation today.Known as Training, Research, Isotopes,General, Atomics or TRIGA they use a different kind of fuel. It is said they are deigned to make a meltdown virtually impossible. In other words no containment buildings are needed. By the way aren’t the large nuclear generating plants also designed to make meltdowns virtually impossible? The entire apparatus is tamper proof and factory sealed before shipping. We hardly have the capacity to monitor the smattering of large nuclear plants in operation now, it is doubtful the same regulatory agencies could cope with thousand of little nukes shipped, scattered and operating through out the land. “All of our units will have remote sensors on them and they’re all monitored around the clock. And there’s on-site monitoring as well. We will know what’s going on with every one of those units at all times,” a spokesman maintains. ……………Thousands of TRIGAs out and about .

More below the fold.

Hyperion Power Generation Inc. has developed a garden shed-sized nuclear reactor that can produce enough heat to generate 25 megawatts of electricity for up to 10 years.That’s enough energy to power 20,000 homes, but still tiny by current nuclear standards. Hyperion, which calls its reactor as a “nuclear battery,” licensed the technology from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. It plans to sell the reactor for about $30 million (U.S.) and says there’s potential to sell 4,000 of them around the world by 2025. The company already claims more than $2 billion worth of orders in the pipeline and more than 100 “firm” orders.

TRIGA reactors use low-enriched uranium hydride as a fuel, which can’t be used to make a bomb, and they’re designed to make a meltdown virtually impossible. In other words, no containment building is required.”The secret of the fuel is that it cools itself off,” says a spokesman When uranium hydride gets too hot, above 550 degrees Celsius, it will shed hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen flows out of the core and is stored in special storage trays within the reactor. As the fuel loses hydrogen atoms it begins to naturally cool. As it cools, it will retrieve the hydrogen atoms from the trays.The whole process is self-limiting. A runaway chain reaction isn’t possible – at least that’s what the company claims. The company compares the reactor to lungs that inhale and exhale hydrogen in a natural balance that keeps the reactor at a fairly constant temperature.

http://www.thestar.com/Busines…

http://www.hyperionpowergenera…

( – promoted by odum)

“We can count on state government to do less and less to help even those in dire need. “

This is a truly radical and disturbing statement. The Free Press sees the state government as something wholly detached from an obligation to care for the citizens,especially, by their logic in a recession “And the only talk coming out of Montpelier seems to be about the enormous budget deficit that threatens to swallow Vermont..” In their editorial titled, with no irony, Core principle: we’re all in this together, the “we” they speak of does not include our state government. No one can dispute the need for community, family and associated networks, but the retreat of the state government in the face of what the paper is calling dire need is an insult. They declare that one of the defining characteristics of Vermont is its sense of community, isn’t state government an integral part of that community?

This is the monologue of drivel the Democratic legislature is failing to get out in front of.

The last year ended with the hard realities of the recession crashing down upon us, and 2009 is sure to bring even more challenges. The economic decline continues, with no one predicting a rebound anytime soon. News about layoffs keeps coming. And the only talk coming out of Montpelier seems to be about the enormous budget deficit that threatens to swallow Vermont.

We can count on state government to do less and less to help even those in dire need. Food shelves and emergency shelters report increased demand they are having trouble meeting. Social service agencies warn that less money will mean people losing the support they need in their daily lives

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

The state is using a new miracle road de-icer,but what does it contain? Three newpaper articles and one radio report later no one has said what exactly is in this stuff that “wets” salt,or sodium chloride to make it melt ice more readily at low temperatures.Called “Brine” it is an”oatmeal-like” mixture made in a new distillery in Colchester . “When the temperatures dip, “brew” masters can also add different chemicals to help melt the ice and now. The chemicals are agricultural by-products, so VTRANS said they are recycling what would otherwise go to waste. The brine is not only environmentally friendly, and more effective, but it also could save the agency millions of dollars,” according to administrator of VTRANS District Five Gil Newbury. Unnamed agricultural chemical by-products poured onto state highways .What are these chemical agricultural by-products spread on the roads? With all the trouble in Lake Champlain with phosphorus runoff,all the hazardous waste rgeulations and such why wouldn’t someone in the press ask a simple question ? Probably,assume it is harmless but,I for one am curious and its always good to know what is in an oatmeal mixture.

Distillery Is State’s Newest Winter Weather Tool

COLCHESTER, Vt. – Treating the roads for a storm has gone high-tech. The Vermont Agency of Transportation is now using and experimenting with spraying a new product that is more efficient, making the roads safer.

The new product is called a brine, a mixture of salt and water. It’s made in a new salt brine distillery at the Chimney Corners Maintenance Garage in Colchester. “It’s old school, but the new technology really helps us out,” said Ed Boucher, who has started spraying the brine from his newly-outfitted VTRANS truck. The administrator of VTRANS District Five, Gil Newbury, said the new product can be used in several ways. He said the distillery can make a liquid brine that is mostly water, or a thicker substance that is more like an oatmeal.

“If we went with straight liquid, we could actually put the brine down days ahead of a storm, and just let it soak in and stay there. Oatmeal mix, we should stay within about four hours before a storm. So, two different applications, one is more versatile, but one lasts longer,” said Newbury.

He said the “oatmeal-like” mixture is more versatile and that is the product VTRANS would really like to concentrate on. He said despite its thickness, drivers won’t really be able to notice it on the roads.

I think this is just odd coming up after weeks of Governor Douglas has been miles out ahead of Vermont Dems on the budget cut /gut publicity campaign.The Democrats finally,in the last week ,starting to get the word out about some alternative budget options then the legislature gets going and …wait for it …may take a short break to see what will happen in Washington.

Vt. lawmakers mull early-session lull

MONTPELIER, Vt. – Vermont lawmakers are considering a staggered start to the session – an organizational week, followed by a break while fiscal news is awaited from Washington. Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin says the idea would be to give President-elect Obama a chance to get inaugurated and sign a promised major economic stimulus package bill that could have an impact on the finances of Vermont and other states.The session starts Jan. 7.

http://www.fox44.net/Global/st…

Why a recess?

The Valley News has endorsed the idea of the VT. legislature meeting and then recessing until the Obama/federal aid program details becomes available .Getting more information about the size and direction of the federal aid program is reasonable .But statements by legislative leaders and Valley News fail to make clear is why the legislature doesn’t deal with non-budget issues in session while waiting for the pending economic details. Two weeks,three weeks while other legislative business will be in stasis until the federal aid program is designed in Washington. I am only marginally familiar with the mysteries of how legislature manages itself but will this lull cause other tasks that are not budget related to be set aside or ignored ? Also from a framing the debate standpoint ,recess leaves the governor once again alone in the spotlight .

To that end, Vermont’s legislative leadership may be on the right track in considering taking a recess either soon after convening or in mid-session. That would permit lawmakers to acquire more accurate revenue forecasts and to see how the huge federal stimulus package promised by the incoming Obama administration would affect the state’s budget picture.

http://www.vnews.com/12302008/…