These are the 11 Ds who supported the veto of 520

Franklin-2      St. Albans Town George  Allard
Chittenden-7-1  Colchester      Jim Condon
Bennington-2-1  Bennington      Timothy Corcoran
Chittenden-6-1  Essex           Debbie Evans
Franklin-3      St. Albans City James Fitzgerald
Franklin-4      Enosburg                Avis Gervais
Franklin-2      Fairfield               Richard Howrigan
Chittenden-6-2  Essex           Tim Jerman
Franklin-3      St. Albans City Kathleen Keenan
Franklin-6      Richford                Albert Perry
Orleans-Cal-1   Glover          John Rodgers

Cross posted from Rational Resistance: 

Ya gotta love this, right?

First off, here's the story about Senator David Vitter, a “pro-family” Republican from Louisiana who has just been scooped up in the “D.C. Madam” case.
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) apologized last night after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the woman dubbed the “D.C. Madam,” making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in the high-profile case. . . .
On his Senate Web site, Vitter says he is committed to “advancing mainstream conservative principles” and notes that he and his wife are lectors at their hometown church. Lucky for him, he says both God and his wife have forgiven him, although I'm not quite sure how he knows.
While he was running for Senate he angrily denied a story that he had carried on a long-running relationship with a New Orleans madam, but now that story also appears to be true.
NEW ORLEANS — New allegations tie Sen. David Vitter to a high-priced brothel in his hometown, one day after he publicly apologized for his connection to an alleged prostitution ring in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Vitter acknowledged being involved with the so-called D.C. Madam. A day later, new revelations linked him to a former madam in New Orleans and old allegations that he frequented a former prostitute resurfaced, further clouding his political future.

The irony of this case is not just that he has made a career out of being a committed family guy, but also that he got his start in Congress by replacing Bob Livingston, Newt Gingrich's successor as Speaker of the House, after Livingston got called on his own sexual pecadilloes.

Vitter was the first senator to endorse Giuliani, who famously met his third wife while cheating on his first wife with his second wife.

But that's not all. Today the Orlando Sentinel has a story that Bob Allen, a Republican State Representative from Florida, has been arrested for soliciting male prostitutes.
TITUSVILLE – State Rep. Bob Allen was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a local park after offering to perform a sex act on an undercover officer in exchange for $20, police said.

Allen, R-Merritt Island, was booked into the Brevard County jail in Sharpes on a charge of solicitation to commit prostitution, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in the county jail and a $500 fine.

I don't know much about the guy, but I'd happily speculate based on his ability to get elected as a Republican in Florida. I did find a number of bills he has sponsored, including one to stiffen (oops–sorry!) laws against lewd and lascivious conduct; one to increase penalties for indecent exposure; and one to encourage family education regarding the dangers of sexual solicitation and abuse.

We can thank Larry Flynt for at least the Vitter story, and who knows how many more to come?
Flynt hunts for political sex scandal
The Associated Press

The publisher took credit for the demise of Rep. Bob Livingston, R-La., who admitted he had had extramarital affairs after word got out that Flynt was investigating him. Livingston announced his resignation in December 1998, days before he had been expected to become speaker of the House.

I had to post this story, even though it means we have two non-political stories in a row here.

 It's from NPR this morning. If you play guitar, you know Mel Bay.

I almost hate to bring this up again, but if you are a regular reader you will undoubtedly remember the discussion of the Second Vermont Republic and how friendly they seem to be to racist and neo-confederate groups.

Anyway, I was just viewing Blogging Heads and the first discussion on yesterday's Science Saturday diavlog was all about the secession movement in Vermont, and one of the speakers actually had attended a party with Thomas Naylor.

I think this is pretty interesting, and I think John Horgan, who knows a little bit about it, clearly gets what they're all about.

Watch it here. 

Cross posted from Rational Resistance.

 Although there is still a year and a half left of Bush's reign, commentators have started discussing the historical significance of the Bush administration. Never mind that he's the worst, most corrupt, president in history, we've survived incompetence and corruption before.

No, the key here is the absolute war on our constitutional system of government that Bush has carried out, and this week's events have once again demonstrated how these attacks have worked. We have already seen Bush's use of “signing statements” as a means of undermining or sidestepping the Congress. He has made it clear that nothing that the legislative branch can do can limit his executive power.

Now, his statement this week on the Scooter Libby free pass demonstrates that he has the same attitude toward the judiciary. Here's what he said: “I respect the jury’s verdict,” Mr. Bush said in a statement. “But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive.”

Again: “I have concluded“.

Anyone with the slightest knowledge of American government knows that the trial and sentencing of those charged with crimes is a power of the judicial branch, and there are good reasons for that. Reasons like protecting the innocent from over zealous or politically motivated prosecutions, and like sheltering the criminal justice system from favoritism and undue influence.

In other words, it isn't up to the president to determine the justice of a sentence, it is up to the courts. If there were an argument that the sentence was unjust and excessive, Mr. Libby would be free to make that argument as part of his appeal.

In this case, though, by commuting the sentence, specifically based on his own determination of what is a fitting punishment, Bush has announced to the world that his executive power knows no bounds, and that, as in the case of signing statements, he will rule as he will, by fiat, unbounded by the rule of law.

I don't ask whether the United States can survive this corrupt autocrat. I do ask whether our democracy can.

Cross-posted from Beyond VSH: 

A new reported shows that the Vermont Department of Corrections may administer antipsychotic drugs to more of its prisoners than any other state. A study done by the Associated Press shows that 46% of all prisoners held by the Department of Corrections were prescribed antipsychotics.
 Even the Department seems to admit that these drugs are overused. For instance, Dr. Susan Wehry, the medical director for the Department of Corrections, admitted that some powerful drugs, such as Seroquel, are given to help prisoners sleep, and that sometimes doctors prescribe antipsychotics for prisoners who request them rather than have to deal with a grievance from a prisoner who wants them. “Quite frankly, I think docs get worn down,” she told AP.”

Given that the incidence of schizophrenia worldwide is estimated at 1%, the adminstration of antipsychotics to 46% of Vermont prisoners seems very difficult to justify.

Aside from whether all this use of antispychotics is justified, it is important to consider the impact of this news on the VSH Futures effort. As you know, this has been going on for years in an effort to design a replacement for the Vermont State Hospital. Naturally, one of the big questions has been the size of any new facility, which, of course, entails an understanding of the need. For years, mental health advocates have been arguing that the State has sytematically understated the number of Corrections inmates with severe mental illnesses, and for just as long the State has been reporting laughably small numbers for these prisoners.

Here's an excerpt from the minutes of one meeting earlier this year:
Hospital Futures Plan from February 4, 2005, that the VDH/Division of Mental Health
prepared for then Secretary
of AHS Charles Smith. She distributed excerpts of the plan.
Discussion of the group’s charge stimulated discussion around several issues:
o Given a number of different populations currently served at VSH, should we
create multiple inpatient programs to address each population?
o How do we meet the needs of people in Department of Corrections custody?
o How would we estimate the inpatient capacity needed for Corrections?
The
February 2005 Futures Plan reported the Department of Corrections’
estimate of four to ten persons in DOC custody needing psychiatric
hospitalization for whom no appropriate inpatient service site was
available.
The
inpatient mental health needs of Corrections is required for capacity
planning for the Futures project.

So tell me: if the mental health needs of DoC prisoners are so high that almost half of them need antipsychotics, what should we be doing to plan for their mental health needs in the future?

Bloggers, Pols, Wannabes to meet for good company and loose behavior!

Mark your calendars for the Political BBQ and Hamburger Summit, coming up Sunday, July 15, at North Beach in Burlington.

 I missed the shindig last year, although I had a good excuse–basking on the beach on Martha's Vineyard. I'm all over it this year, though, and you should be too.

See you on the beach! 

Yes, you read that right. Even in these times of Bush's packed court there is the occasional bright spot, and this time it's because of a decision they decided not to make.

You may remember the case of Zach Guiles, a high school student from Williamstown who was suspended for wearing a T-shirt critical of George W. Bush, referring to him as the “chicken-hawk-in-chief”. The ostensible reason for the suspension was the presence of drug paraphernalia on the shirt, but the context made clear that the whole incident was prompted by a parent who didn't like the message. With the help of the Vermont ACLU Zach sued the Williamstown school board and won his case in the Second Circuit, so the school board asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari to reverse the decision.

Although the denial of a writ of certiorari does not necessarily state that the underlying decision is correct, it terminates the litigation and finalizes whatever relief the winning side won in the appellate decision. This is great news, especially in light of the Court's decision earlier this week in  Morse v. Frederick, which upheld a school's decision to punish a student for speech that the principal thought was disruptive, even though it did not even take place on school grounds. Although new Chief Justice Roberts pretended to honor the principle that political speech is protected, possibly most chilling was Clarence Thomas's statement that,  “As originally understood, the Constitution does not afford students a right to free speech in public schools. “

Congratulations to Zach Guiles and the Vermont ACLU! 

And when will the Vermont press call him on it?

 Here's what Douglas said on VPR this morning:

(Douglas) “I made it very clear that there are two objections to the bill that they presented to me. One is the unfair tax on Vermont Yankee, and the second is creating an untested and extensive bureaucracy, without really understanding what its mission is and without any track record.”

He won't stop saying it, but it's still a lie.

First, the bill says that energy efficiency programs will be  

provided by the energy efficiency utility appointed by the board under subsection 209(d) of this title and operating in accordance with section 209  of this title.

In other words, the services would be operated by Efficiency Vermont. Efficiency Vermont is not a bureaucracy, it's not part of state government, it is an activity of the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation, a nonprofit corporation in Burlington, Vermont. 

Second, he calls this organization something that doesn't understand its mission and has no track record. 

Let's take a look at the record. Efficiency Vermont has been in business since 2000.

The combined lifetime economic value of all Efficiency Vermont investments since 2000: $207 million.

The lifetime economic value of Efficiency Vermont investments made in 2005: $37 million.

Through energy efficiency investments made since 2000, Vermont is now using 5% less energy than the state would have used.

In 2005, the cost of saving electricity with energy efficiency was approximately 3.6 cents per kWh. That's almost two-thirds less than the 9.6 cents per kWh that utilities would have paid for a comparable electric supply.

Gov. Douglas's own Public Service Department has evaluated the savings claims of Efficiency Vermont, and has found that they are valid. Efficiency Vermont has been recognized around the world, and has been honored by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for its activities. In fact, I attended the press event at the State House when Douglas spoke eloquently about Efficiency Vermont's award.

So isn't there someone in state government who will tell the truth? 
 

I know what you're thinking. Every time a big business decides to lay people off it's the same old story: it's the bosses, the guys at the top in the nice suits, who bear all the burden.

 Well finally, we have a major Vermont employer with the courage to buck the trend. 

Powdr Corp. refused to disclose the number of employees who were let go, saying only it involved many employees and was across the board and wasn't limited to management personnel.

Yes, the company that was the first to redefine the Vermont life expectancy as two years has again decided to buck the trends, and to stand up for the big guy. 

Great work, Powder Corporation! You do Vermont proud!