UPDATED–See below 

For the last year, Windsor County State's Attorney Bobby Sand has been trying to start a public debate on the costs and benefits of marijuana prohibition in Vermont. You may remember that when Nixon ordered a look at this very question thirty-five years ago he didn't like the answer, so he suppressed the results. Yes, thirty-five years ago we were on the road to legalization.

So just maybe, when one courageous State's Attorney decides that his office has more important things to do than throw pot-smokers in jail, it can open a debate on marijuana prohibition in Vermont, right?

ll across Vermont Democrats are wailing, gnashing their teeth, and hoping that their one big pre-Christmas wish will come true: a strong challenger to Republican incumbent Jim Douglas. Somebody, maybe one of our top statewide office-holders, to step up, take the big political risk, and tell the voters of the state the truth: that Douglas is an empty suit, someone who looks like a governor, dutifully shows up at ribbon-cuttings, but is a nay-saying do-nothing when it comes to doing anything positive for the people of Vermont.

Attorney General Bill Sorrell is one of those statewide office-holders, and on occasion he has been willing to take independent stands that Governor Scissorhands wouldn't support.

So when Douglas decides, predictably, to take the low road and order the state's game wardens and other law enforcement personnel to bypass State's Attorney Bobby Sand and refer their pot cases to the AG or the feds, what the hell does Sorrel do?

Does he take the opportunity to stand up for Sand, and point out the fact that the so-called war on drugs is diverting vital law enforcement efforts from other, real crimes? Does he talk about the financial costs of confing productive citizens in prisons for enjoying an activity that hurts nobody and is far less harmful than alcohol, tobacco, or the Big Mac you can get legally all over the state? Or does he join Douglas and demagogue the issue?

I wish he could take a position that would actually move Vermont ahead, but I'm afraid not.

I guess we need to look somewhere else for a principled Democratic leader.

As it turns out Sorrel may not be such a big fan of Douglas's move after all. Here's what he said on VPR this morning:

Sorrell says that's within the law – but unusual.

(Sorrell) “It's the first time that in a particular county that a sitting governor has directed the law enforcement that answers to the governor to refer certain cases to the AG's office, rather than the county state's attorney.''

(Sneyd) Sorrell says he's sure the governor's position will not sit well with prosecutors.

(Sorrell) “Is this a slap in the face? If I was a county prosecutor, I wouldn't be happy about this action by the governor.''

In fact, Ross Sneyd couldn't find anyone for his story to support what Douglas is doing, and both Dick Sears, chair of Senate Judiciary, and Jeffrey Shields, dean of Vermont Law School, were pretty critical. 

Number of people currently held at Guantanamo: approximately 320

Number of Guantanamo detainees who were sent to Albania: 8

Number of people who have been held in military detention at Guantanamo: 778

Number of Guantanamo detainees who were sent back to their home countries: nearly 450

Number of Uighurs (members of an ethnic minority from Western China) who were sent from Guantanamo to Albania: 5

Number of other people in Albania who speak the Uighur language: 0

Age of the oldest prisoner ever held in military custody at Guantanamo: approximately 75-78 (As he put it, “How could I be an enemy combatant if I was not able to stand up?”)

RICHMOND — A 21-year-old soldier from the Jonesville section of Richmond was killed Monday during a roadside bomb attack near Kirkuk in northern Iraq.

He graduated from high school the same year my younger son graduated. 

“He went into the Army to pay off his college loans,” Wells said. “It's really a crying shame that in the wealthiest country in the world, people have to go into the army to pay for college.”

Board votes 3-2 to fire Brattleboro police chief

November 2, 2007
 

By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff

    BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro Police Chief John Martin was fired Wednesday night after the Brattleboro Select Board voted 3-2.

The controversial Tasering of two peaceful protesters in July for trespassing on a vacant lot appeared to play a significant but not deciding role in Martin's firing, according to a 19-page findings of fact the town released to support the Select Board's decision.

I just posted the other day about the crook who is running the Consumer Products Safety Commission.  Actually, it wasn't that clear that she's crooked, it was just clear at the time that she is opposed to the very mission of the agency she heads, and she demonstrates that by opposing legislation that would make her agency more effective, expand its budget and staff, and thereby make American consumers safer.
Just a day later, and what do we find out? Of course she's crooked, we just didn't know it yet. Now we do. A story in today's Post shows that the CPSC people have been going crazy taking junkets paid for by the industries they're supposed to be regulating:

The chief of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and her predecessor have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate, according to internal records obtained by The Washington Post. Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to consumer hazards.

The records document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency's acting chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or manufacturers of products ranging from space heaters to disinfectants. The airfares, hotels and meals totaled nearly $60,000, and the destinations included China, Spain, San Francisco, New Orleans and a golf resort on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

How can you justify this? Obviously, you can't, which isn't to say she doesn't try. Nancy Nord was on McNeil-Lehrer tonight, and they interviewed her about this scandal, and she tried to justify it, partly because it's entirely within the proper realm of the agency to be communicating with the industry they regulate, and these junkets were the way to do that. Naturally, one giant hole in that argument is that she's also arguing against giving her agency more money, and if she thinks there are things the agency should be doing, that somebody else needs to be paying for it, then maybe they should really be getting an adequate budget.

Of course, it's worse than that. With these guys it's always worse than it looks at first, right?

Take a look at what she said about addressing industry groups: But at this point, our agency needs to be talking to our constituencies to make sure that they understand their obligations under the law.

“Our constituencies.”

The people the CPSC works for, at least in the eyes of Nancy Nord, are the people who make dangerous products, toys made with lead, and other products that poison or kill American consumers.

She's right, of course, but this is just one more sign of what's so vicious about the Republicans.

Cross-posted from Rational Resistance. 

We've been discussing whether it's a good idea for Congress to pursue the resolution declaring the Turkish genocide of Armenians to be what it was: genocide. Is it meaningful at this late date, is it the right time to be doing it, does it hurt our foreign policy to do it?

 Chris Hitchens is interested in the same questions, only he's approaching it from a slightly different perspective. He's got a piece in Slate arguing, as the title puts it, that the United States should be squeezing Turkey, not the other way around.

 On this occasion I think Hitch is right. On the other hand, the reasons he's right illustrate once again what a mess Bush has made of American foreign policy. We wouldn't be nearly so concerned about pissing off Turkey if we didn't need them so badly in our war on Iraq. Because we need their help, we're dependent on them, so we can't afford to tell the truth about the Armenian genocide.

So why are we talking about this as though it's Nancy Pelosi's fault, and not Bush's? 

As you probably know, Vermont is examining its energy future. as you follow this discussion you might want to hop on over to Welcome Campground and take a look at this post about what role coal should play in the picture:

The Global Warming movement has now focused in on the reduction of COAL fired power plants. Preceding the lecture by Hansen, there was a rally outside called No New Coal which was organized by David Merrill and friends to bring awareness to possible coal developments in Montana and the states in general and why they are a TERRIBLE idea that don't benefit the country.

Paul Wellstone, 1944-2002.

October 25, 2007

By Lisa Rathke Associated Press

SOUTH ROYALTON — A military defense lawyer on Wednesday called the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay corrupt, like a show trial that lacked structural integrity.

“The defendant wasn't needed. Law wasn't really needed,” U.S. Army Maj. Thomas Fleener told students at the Vermont Law School.

More evidence that due process in the war against people we don't like terrorism is a fraud. 

Tuesday October 23, 2007

Bob Kinzel   (Host) Senator Patrick Leahy says he's not sure if he'll vote for Attorney General nominee, Michael Mukasey.

Leahy, who chairs the U.S. Senate Judiciary committee, says he has some serious concerns that Mukasey doesn't oppose the use of torture in the interrogation of suspected terrorists.

In Bob Kinzel's story on VPR Leahy is heard saying that he's not sure about whether someone who won't say unequivocally that waterboarding is torture should be confirmed.

I don't see why this should even be a question: unless you can answer that question correctly you should never be in a position to advise the federal government on what is legal or illegal.

We still have the chance to contact Leahy on this issue. I won't post his contact information again today, but it's been all over these pages, so give him a call or drop him an e-mail.  

(Oops, I did it again.)