In fairness, I thought I should modify this post with information provided to me by Sen. Sander’s office, that five or ten Democrats are expected to co-sponsor once the bill has been introduced.  Still it’s hardly the number one would expect given public sentiment and the draconian nature of attacks on Social Security.

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Well, Sen. Bernie Sanders has  proposed a bill that would protect Americans’ Social Security benefits for the next seventy-five years…and absolutely no one is co-sponsoring it.

That’s right, one of the most popular public programs of all times has only a single champion today.

Why, you might ask, is that?

Bernie’s plan is simple: all Americans with incomes over $250,000. should make contributions to Social Security on that higher income, the same as they and everyone else does on income below that amount.

I don’t know about you, but around my house that sounds eminently reasonable.  

Contrary to what Republicans would have us all believe, Social Security is not insolvent.  It is in danger of nothing so much as the sinister Right’s scheme to divert our public investment into private pockets.

The reason other Senators won’t touch this bill with a ten foot poll, even though most Americans would say, “Hell, yes!” if the question were put to them, is simply because, under the current campaign financing system, money makes policy; and saving Social Security will not serve the monied-class agenda of the Right.

“Money makes policy.”   In fact, let’s be perfectly honest and chuck that dated sentiment, “E pluribus unum” and replace it  with “Money makes policy.”  “Out of many, one” couldn’t be much farther from the truth.  Citizens United simply sealed the deal.

Cruelly selfish positions such as those espoused by the current crop of Tea Party Republicans used to be carefully avoided as “politically incorrect” so long as an immigrant working class still had the ear of its government.  In our new post-democracy, politicians have only to please stateless corporations, the uber-rich and their bizarre puppets on the far right in order to ensure the kind of media investment necessary to bring home the bacon.

Up is down and down is up if they say so; and no matter how many independent economists debunk Reaganomics, if it fits the meme of the power class, we’re stuck with it.

The resounding moral cowardice of Congress when presented with almost any opportunity to ease pain and fear among our most vulnerable populations truly makes me sick.  

I’m growing doubtful of our ability to survive these difficult times as a nation even vaguely resembling the fortress of ethical compassion that we once were.

I had hoped to live-blog from the Unity event, but could not connect to wireless.  ‘Not such a serious loss however, as little happened beyond the expected.  Lots of tribute speeches, lots of applause; celebration of the tremendous turn-out among Democrats (70,000!); and vague references to the nearness of the vote.  

My best estimate is that there were about 300 (+ or -) Dems assembled at Union Station; a smattering of partisan t-shirts among them, but generally quite civil and good-humored.  Of course the gubernatorial candidates were all present and smiling.  Gov’s Kunin and Dean were there and Phil Hoff was fondly referred to, evoking the glory days of Democratic hegemony in the state’s highest office.

There was a moment of silence in memory of the two recently fallen young soldiers from Vermont, during which you couldn’t hear a keyboard click.  Acknowledgement of Chairman Judy Bevens; then salutes to all the winning and losing Dems in yesterday’s race.  First among those to take the podium was Doug Hoffer.  Was it my imagination or did he actually get the loudest cheers from the assembly?  He thanked Tom Salmon for becoming a Republican.  Laughter.   Next was Jim Condos who promised accountability and transparency when he would inevitably take the Sec. of State’s office.  Then Steve Howard, who promised to fight for Vermont’s Middle Class (“middle class values” as he put it, which I found a little odd.)  Jeb Spaulding was mentioned, and all those who had decisively carried their legislative districts.

Sen. Leahy was introduced to thunderous applause and made some remarks on behalf of Peter Welch (who was also there.) He complimented his campaign manager, Carolyn Dwyer; and then presented checks to Jim Condos, Doug Hoffer and victorious Senate nominees.  I asked Doug later how it felt to accept that check from Sen. Leahy and he had a one word answer: “Great!  He said he expects he’ll be getting a lot of advice from all kinds of people now!

They wrapped-up the event with all five candidates for governor, standing shoulder to shoulder on the podium, beaming into the crowd.  No mention of the vote tally; no suggestion of a winner. That was it.  Mission accomplished?

Now we wait… some more…

A new video from Fairewinds discusses how TEPCO’s own measurements prove damage occured to the fuel pools:

Newly Released TEPCO Data Proves Fairewinds Assertions of Significant Fuel Pool Failures at Fukushima Daiichi from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

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Rumors that the nuclear core has melted through the containment at Fukushima and is now in the groundwater prompted the latest video update from Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Assoc.

While Arnie doesn’t think sufficient evidence for this has been provided yet, he believes that the sensational report of cracks and steam or smoke rising from the grounds has obscured focus on much more important issues which are factually supported.

First of these is the discovery that radioactive sulphur has been detected in California. The question is how that sulphur was created.  As Arnie explains in this video, the logical conclusion is that this is evidence of spontaneous chain reactions taking place at Fukushima long after the reactors had been shut down by plant operators, a finding consistent with his April hypothesis.

Another troubling issue is the continued position of the NRC that the spent fuel pools were not a “problem” at Fukushima despite the fact that plutonium has been detected more than a mile away from the site.  it is difficult to get past the impression that the NRC simply doesn’t want to address the implications this would have for US reactors.  

When pressed about the plutonium deposits, the NRC has suggested that they must be from the reactor fuel itself; but, as Arnie explains, if this is in fact true, it is potentially even more troubling since the only way that material could have travelled from the reactor to the surrounding landscape would be if both the reactor and the containment had been breached.

Finally Arnie focuses on the distribution of cesium over northern Japan and the currently allowed practice of burning materials heavily contaminated with cesium.  He points out that, whereas those materials would be treated in the U.S. as extremely hazardous, requiring secure storage for thousands of years; the Japanese are effectively re-releasing the cesium into the atmosphere where it can contaminate the environment a second time over an even broader region of distribution.

There’s much more, so be sure to listen through to the end:

New Data Supports Previous Fairewinds Analysis, as Contamination Spreads in Japan and Worldwide from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

We all have an opportunity to join the 350.org fight  against Climate Change.

For more information: http://www.moving-planet.org/e…

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‘Just a little shout-out to our colleague Bill McKibben of 350.org, who, about now, is cooling his heels with fellow pipeline protesters in a DC jailhouse.

At issue is the proposed pipeline connecting the tar sands of western Canada with oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.  Thus enabled for exploitation, those tar sands stand to unleash what most environmentalists agree has the potential to be the single largest contribution to planetary degradation through CO2 emissions.

Of course, as in every debate concerning resource exploitation, the short-term economic gains trump all other considerations for Washington, since every single elected official owes his or her own short-term job security to lobbyist puppet-masters who have turned Congress into a marketplace.

U.S. Park officials originally warned only that the “trespassers” participating in the White House sit-in would each be arrested, fined $100, and then quickly released.  When they learned that 2,000 demonstrators from across the country were anticipated to join the small group of 64 for the week-long sit-in,  the officials changed their tune and are holding Mr. McKibben and company until a Monday hearing.  

They say that they are concerned that the demonstrators will disrupt the August 28 dedication of the Martin Luther King memorial.

How’s that for irony?

You’ve got to admit there is more than a little irony in Republican Governor Rick Perry’s highly publicized anti-science positions…especially the one about Climate Change.

If anyone has reason to believe in the consequences of human intervention on the environment, it should be a Texan!

The ability of Texas to prosper as it has, or even support human habitation over much of its territory, has always been highly dependent on the state’s ability to divert water through huge public projects.

Now, just as the will to make public investments has been completely eroded by magic thinkers such as Governor Perry,  nature appears to be drawing a line in the sand…and that sand is at the bottom of countless dried-up lakes and stream-beds.  

Injured and insulted by a population who pushed it always further and further while giving less and less back in the way of supportive regulation,  the environment in Texas appears to have finally had enough.

In April, in the midst of the worst drought in history, Governor Perry called on Texans to pray for rain.  One has to wonder how solid is the Governor’s connection to the divine since it is August and his prayers have still not been answered.

As late as ten years ago, there were still thinking minds in Texas, however; and they did have recommendations for addressing the calamitous math of a steadily growing population and dwindling water resources.  

When the Legislature approved a statewide water plan in 1997, then-Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock hailed it as “the heart of our legacy,” while its sponsor, Sen. J.E. “Buster” Brown, promised it would provide plentiful supplies of the crucial resource “for our grandchildren and our grandchildren’s grandchildren.”

Then came the Great Drought: Since passage of the landmark 1997 legislation, state funding for water projects has been as scarce as rain in the summer of 2011.

The 1997 water plan required an investment of $53 billion dollars of public funding, but as we are learning, Texans have voted resoundingly for the guy who wants to get government out of the people’s business.

So all that is on the table now for a November vote is a modest $6 billion bond, which, if passed, will bring the total investment of Texas in its water issues since 1997 to a mere $10 billion.

Watch closely, folks.  Texas is poised to become the perfect storm of deregulation and denial.

That’s why Governor Perry is praying for rain.

We knew this was coming.

Radioactive tritium has been detected in the Connecticut river, exactly where one might expect to find it deposited from Vermont Yankee’s plume of tritium.

The only remaining question is how Entergy will choose to spin this one.  Will it be the banana story or the one about “background” radiation from nuclear testing in the 1960’s?

It doesn’t really matter which one they settle upon, since it’s all just a dumb show to distract us from the terrible truth that other, far more deadly isotopes have likely made the same trip.

…and persuades this fence-sitter to finally join them.

Up to now, I’ve not been on the Progressive’s mailing list; but when Cindy Weed told me that Governor Shumlin was going to put in an appearance at the State Committee meeting, I decided this was one I didn’t want to miss.

Sunday afternoon, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Rutland, Martha Abbott set  a cordial tone for the meeting by observing that,

” If the Democratic Legislature takes on our issues and fights for them, we win.”

The agenda opened with an economic primer by Jeff Thompson of the Political Economy Research Institute, who explained the factual evidence that economic stimuli, not budget cuts are the key to turning the economy around.  

Said Thompson, lack of demand, not Government spending, is the primary down-driver of the recession. Despite the low cost of borrowing, business investment declined in the recession and still lags, while the savings rate has climbed higher, but only among high income earners.   Ordinary folks aren’t spending as they once were; but they also aren’t saving because they can barely cover the essentials.

The answer on the state level, says Thompson, is not to cut taxes, because to do so would also necessitate a cut in public investment and therefore, jobs.  He points out that, on average, Vermont has not managed to preserve as many public sector jobs as other states have; and that these job losses not only represent an extension of the jobless cycle, but also real impacts on public health, safety and education.

Mr. Thompson reminded us that historically, we’ve seen much higher taxes on upper income households in the not so distant past, and that there is absolutely no evidence supporting the assertion that slightly raising taxes on those households would cause the rich to flee the state.  

Finally, he believes that not tapping into the rainy day funds for the short-term relief and stimulus they could provide represents “fiscal mismanagement.”

This presentation was followed by a legislative summary; then a break and organizational business, ending as Governor Shumlin took the podium.

The Governor’s words predictably tracked his stump speech, carefully steering away from any points of contention.  This speech was immediately followed by audience questions read by Martha Abbott from cards that had  been collected earlier.

In retrospect, I think it would have been  a more authentic interface with the governor if he had dispensed with the stump speech and simply entertained questions informally posed from the modest-sized audience.

Some attendees expressed frustration with the format, and a number of questions went unasked in the brief amount of time that was allowed.

Despite an inhibiting format, the issue of Governor Shumlin’s reluctance to raise taxes on the wealthiest Vermonters came up repeatedly in the Q and A’s;  as did the harmfulness of public sector cuts.

Had the governor attended Mr. Thompson’s earlier presentation, he might have framed his responses differently. As it was, his answers sounded a little insubstantial in light of the contradicting evidence that had just been rather exhaustively presented to us.  

“We must agree to disagree,”

was Mr. Shumlin’s final answer when caught in the conundrum.

As the governor stepped down and prepared to leave, I caught up with him and once again posed the question I have raised repeatedly since March: “Why did you re-appoint Dan Luneau to the District 6 Environmental Commission?”

Once again, the governor demurred that

“we must agree to disagree.”

I pointed out that I had provided a very good reason why Mr. Luneau should not be re-appointed and he had provided none for why he should.  The visibly exasperated governor replied that Mr. Luneau is his friend and that he trusts Mr. Luneau.

After a few parting words about how he might expect challenges in future Act 250 proceedings concerning Exit 20 of I-89, where Mr. Luneau’s family business is positioned to benefit from surrounding development, I rather heatedly broke off the conversation.  

Before I left the building, I located Morgan Daybell.  He had asked me much earlier to organize for the Progressives in St. Albans and I had said I wasn’t sure I was ready to do that.  Now, I think I am.

I’m not sorry I helped elect Governor Shumlin, but I now realize it will take more than the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to hold his feet to the fire.  

If you thought extending Vermont Yankee’s operating license was a bad idea, wait until you hear what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized the Tennessee Valley Authority to do!  

Nuclear energy expert Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates believes you have a right to know:

Yesterday the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Fairewinds Associates issued a report to the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority regarding numerous concerns with the Bellefonte Unit 1 nuclear project. First designed with slide rules back in 1968, Bellefonte Unit 1 is America’s oldest nuclear power plant that has yet to generate any electricity. TVA began construction in 1974, mothballed the plant in 1988, and cannibalized the plant for scrap metal between 2006 and 2008. Alarmingly, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently allowed construction of Bellefonte Unit 1 by TVA to start again with its 1968 design and its 40-year old weakened foundation and containment. In the video and in its report, Fairewinds identifies seven areas of substantial risk for TVA if it continues to construct this aged facility

You can’t make this stuff up.  Here’s the video:

Fairewinds Report for Southern Alliance for Clean Energy on TVA Bellefonte Plant from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

In light of the very recent Supreme Court decision upholding a permit for JLD Properties to build a big box Walmart in St. Albans,  I have a challenge to put to Governor Peter Shumlin:

Deliver to us the transparency and accountability that you pledged just months ago in your election campaign.



I bought it; hook, line and sinker; and I worked tirelessly after your nomination to see you elected.

Just three short months after you took office, I sent an e-mail on the governor’s website asking that, given the nature and intent of Act 250 permitting, science, and not just business, be represented in appointments to the District 6 Environmental Commission.

I also specifically explained the potential conflicts of interests that made businessman and Douglas appointee Dan Luneau an inappropriate choice for that commission.  As I pointed out, the fact that his family has opportunistically located a big retail business at Exit 20 of I-89, where most large-scale development requiring Act 250 review is likely to occur, makes his bias permanently suspect.  

That bias has already been raised as an issue at the Act 250 hearings regarding the St. Albans Walmart, but Mr. Luneau refused to recuse himself.  

Vermont law, it seems, leaves it up to the individual to decide for himself whether or not he can act in a quasi-judicial role without bias.  

As naive as this arrangement seems, it is worsened by the fact that there is no penalty if the individual acting in this role is found to have made a judgement that was contaminated by his conflict of interests.

Bearing all of this in mind, and in light of the fact that accountability had been so much a component of his election promises, one would think that the Governor might take very seriously the concerns raised by a District 6 resident about appointments to her local Commission.

Without recounting once again the slow exchange of phone calls and letters in a vain attempt to get the Governor to not re-appoint Mr. Luneau as Chair of the District 6 commission, I will just leave you to read all of that in the link  I have provided.  

Today I have been told that there is also no penalty enforceable on  Bob Johnson who was the chairman of the DRB that issued the local Walmart permit, despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Vermont clearly states in its findings that his actions flagrantly violated our civil rights.

So much for accountability.

There is a culture of cronyism run wild in Vermont.  It contaminates decisions on such a routine basis that most people have simply come to accept it as “just the way things get done.”

This simply is WRONG.  If you can’t see that, I’m afraid there isn’t much hope for the promise of accountability.

Here then is my challenge to the Shumlin administration:

Make good on your promise.  Charge the legislature with drafting a statewide ethics policy that effectively addresses conflicts of interests by establishing meaningful penalties for violations.



We deserve that much protection at least.

First, the disclaimer:

I am an active member of the Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth.

I have served as spokesperson for the group through much of the eight+ years in which we have been opposing the current JLD Properties St. Albans Walmart application.  

Here follows our formal statement on the Supreme Court decision to uphold the permit:

The Northwest Citizens for Responsible Growth are extremely disappointed by the decision of Vermont’s Supreme Court with regard to the J.L.D. Properties Walmart permit application.  

The decision indicates a disregard for citizen access within the local permit process, not to mention for the validity of that process itself.

The judges acknowledged the egregious nature of conflicts of interest that occurred in the local permit process, which is the only level at which ordinary citizens may participate without devoting considerable financial resources to the effort. By ruling that those conflicts of interest do not matter because of the “de novo” nature of the Environmental Court hearing, they are saying essentially that the local permit is meaningless.

We sincerely hope for the best possible outcome for our communities, and we trust that the careful scrutiny that we will apply to Mr. Davis’ St. Albans Walmart, both during the construction phase and throughout its operation, will serve to ensure that this will be the most scrupulously operated Walmart store in history, and that none of the issues of traffic congestion, secondary growth, store closings and environmental degradation that we fear will be allowed to ensue.

There is so much more I’d like to say about this, but I’ll reserve that for another time.