Or, to be more precise but less poetic: “To the law-enforcement agency with GPS devices, every car looks like a terrorist’s.”

Recently, the US Supreme Court ruled against the warrantless use of GPS devices to track a driver’s movements. And now, that noted megaphone of peacenik propaganda, the Wall Street Journal, reports that following the decision, the FBI has had to turn off about 3,000 GPS units that were in use without warrants.

Three. Thousand.

Now, I realize this is a big country with lots of people. But 3,000 seems like an awfully damn big number. I see two possible explanations:

1. We’ve got a plague of domestic terrorism, and Armageddon is just around the corner.

2. We gave the FBI a hammer, and they decided everything was a nail.  

Given the relative absence of things going boom on our shores, I opt for #2. This is why I am skeptical of the War on Terror, why I think the excesses of the Patriot Act are significant threats to our freedoms, and why one of my biggest disappointments with the Obama Presidency is its validation of many of Bush’s worst excesses in fighting terrorism. And why I’m convinced that  it’s a dangerous waste of money to be giving weapons of war to local police departments who don’t need them. And why I’m not a big fan of giving Tasers to the cops.

Because when they get a weapon in their hands, they find reasons to use it. Just ask the UC-Davis Campus Police.

I have a hard time believing that there are enough serious threats to justify 3,000 warrantless GPS tracking devices. It sounds more like a case of spraying everything in sight and asking questions later.  

The primary cycle has been dominated by such extreme Republican dysfunction that most Democrats are enjoying it as disbelieving spectators; but there is something other than Republican melt-down that makes the 2012 primaries especially noteworthy.  

2012 is the first year in which a new amendment to the state constitution allows young people who will be eighteen by November 6, but are still shy of their eighteenth birthday as of primary day, to vote in a presidential primary election.  Vermont is one of the first states to take this initiative.

Credit for proposing the new amendment belongs to three young students, Kate Levasseur, Ellie Beckett and Courtney Mattison who were serving as State House interns when they came up with the idea; and to two social studies instructors at BFA Fairfax, David Clark and Judith Stewart, who encouraged their effort.

The amendment, dubbed “Proposition 5,” which was overwhelmingly endorsed by voters in November 2010, permits seventeen-year olds who will be eligible to vote by the date of the general election to more fully participate in the process of both statewide and presidential elections.  They will not be administered the Voter’s Oath until they are of age, but their vote in the primary will be accepted on an equal footing with that of every other voter in the state.

It is hoped that this early engagement will serve not only to better prepare young voters to make a choice in the general election, but  will also increase the likelihood that they will fully commit to a lifetime of voter participation.

On February 6, taking advantage of new technology now available to Vermont schools, Secy. of State Jim Condos, a passionate supporter of the early engagement model, met with eighty BFA Fairfax students in a virtual “classroom” to listen to their comments on the new amendment, to answer their questions and to explain to potential first-time voters what they can expect.  

BFA Fairfax students have even made their own “get out the vote” video and expect a good turn-out by BFA seniors on primary day.

In a year where voter suppression has once again reared its ugly head on the national scene, it is comforting to know that, at least here at home in Vermont, we are invested in the idea of voter empowerment and expanded participation.

“Congratulations” to all those seventeen-year old Vermonters who will have the excitement of voting in their first primary this year; and “thank you” to Secy. Condos for demonstrating, once again, what meaningful engagement by a state officer truly is.

One quick reminder from Secy. Condos to all Vermonters: The last day to register to vote (on March 6)  is Wednesday,  Feb 29, by 5pm, at your local city or town clerk’s office.

Here’s a time-out break from GMD’s extensive comprehensive coverage of one percenter Bruce Lisman and his ongoing secretly funded Campaign for Vermont.  

So then how are Vermonters that aren’t retired millionaire bankers with their own megaphones doing? How are the 99% doing on their roads to prosperity?

In the Upper Valley and White River Junction for the next three months, postal workers have job uncertainty to spare. Two hundred and forty-five good-paying USPS jobs are at stake. William Creamer Jr., president of Local 301 of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union told the Valley News:

the White River Junction [USPS] plant, which employs 245 people, was one of eight plants around New England that received such [closure] notices yesterday, Creamer said. Mail currently sorted in the Upper Valley would instead be routed through Manchester and Burlington. […]The plant closings are part of a national plan to close as many as 252 processing plants affecting more than 100,000 jobs.

This is part of U.S.Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s proposal for cutbacks – which may prove to be a death spiral of quality and service cuts for the Postal Service.

The workers at the White River facility (and eight others in New England) are on notice, yet still in limbo, as no decision is final until May. That is when a Congressional moratorium on closing or consolidating postal facilities ends. By that time some resolution of the USPS’ dire financial situation may be achieved. The Vermont Congressional delegation, and Bernie Sanders (ever the supporter of rank-and-file workers) in particular, has expended great effort to try to save these folks’ jobs. Senators Leahy and Sanders and Congressman Welch released a joint statement of support reiterating their plans to work to maintain service. In part they said:

We are extremely disturbed that the Postal Service intends to continue with its original plan to close the processing plant at White River Junction. We are pleased that the processing plant in Essex Junction was spared, but what we are saying loudly and clearly is that we will do all that we can to keep the White River Junction processing plant open as well.

The USPS mailing centers handle standard bulk business mail, which includes advertising fliers, periodicals and non-profit solicitations. And, of course, there are the political mailings – when printed and handled locally. Many printers and supporting mail-fulfillment businesses rely on the postal center for efficient handling of  bulk shipping orders. We can expect that large ripples – even waves – from much more than just 245 lost jobs and their lost incomes and spending  will flow throughout the area.

Vermont’s business leaders do moan and wail publicly about uncertainty over possible changes to health care costs. Imagine the yelping we’d hear from them if they had to go through employment uncertainty like our postal workers are being put through!  

(Great, hard-hitting documentary from an international news source that features our own bete noire, Vermont Yankee. – promoted by Sue Prent)

Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Feb 23, 2012

“The US has more than 100 reactors similar to Japan’s destroyed Fukushima plant. Some located in earthquake zones or close to major cities are now reaching the end of their working lives. People & Power sent Joe Rubin and Serene Fang to investigate.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?f…

Investigative piece from Al Jazeera English program “People & Power” focuses on US ageing reactors, highlighting deplorable conditions & other risks which have existed as well as the rationale behind the decision making process concerning these potential disasters-in-the making.

The battle of “VY v VT” as well as New York’s Indian Point are included plus a few familiar faces. Information examining the role of the NRC, supposed nuclear safety czars, the degradation & potential risks of US plants are discussed, leaving little doubt that the NRC is beholden to the nuclear power plant owners rather than the safety interests of the public they claim to protect. For those following these events, I think we get this.

Story also touches upon reported mutiny inside the NRC which appears to be due to chairman Jaczko’s insistance upon following directives based upon new information from studies conducted after the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.

Following the disaster, from what information is available, there is a recognition of not only the destruction but safety issues regarding contamination which continue, the myriad of other resultant problematic issues such as how to fix them, what to do with the contamination & the awareness that there’s no putting this genie back in the bottle.

How this debacle is & has been handled, timliness of crucial information reported by those tasked with protecing the public, rescue efforts & the virtual information blackout witnessed exposes a reality that the rest of the population surrounding these deadly threats are mere pawns & potential statistics in the deadly gambit of the nuclear power industry, promoters & enablers.

As ageing reactors are run using brinkmanship methodology primarily to further the interests of those connected to this industry, many of our friends, family & gullible public have no more of a clue to the danger lurking than the unwitting Japanese public. Ignorance is bliss.

The unending problems & potential risk posed by our own ageing reactor, Entergy Louisiana’s VY are “Friends & Neighbors” I think the region can survive without.

[Edited version of previous post]

It seems the fine folks at the Campaign for Vermont (Prosperity) have executed something of a tactical retreat. Since GMD made note of the increasingly partisan tone of CFV founder/eminence grise Bruce Lisman’s radio ads, and since the Vermont Democratic Party filed a complaint over the anti-Shumlin rhetoric coming from this supposedly nonpartisan group, CFV has produced some new ads. And apparently scrubbed the offending ones from its website.

The new ads cut back on the overt partisanship. Instead of directly slamming Shumlin and the Democratic Legislature, the language is carefully oblique. For example, the new health care spot says that “some legislators are working hard to ensure choice … but many others seem not to completely understand what’s included in the legislation.”

The ads also include multiple voices, perhaps in response to GMD’s observation that CFV seemed to be a vehicle to promote Bruce Lisman rather than a broad-based policy shop. The latest ads include Lisman and an unnamed female voice, and some also include Tom Pelham (CFV co-founder and former tax commissioner under Gov. Jim Douglas) and State Rep. Oliver Olsen (R-Jamaica).

Gee, Bruce, couldn’t find a Democrat for your nonpartisan spots? Kestrel and I got skillz, and we could use the cash.

And, as we’ve noted previously, the CFV website has gotten a slight makeover to de-emphasize the Cult of Bruce. The photos of Lisman are fewer and less prominently placed, with more room for the stock photos of non-Vermonters as documented on GMD. (I do like the new photo of Bruce with a microphone. I imagine him singing karaoke. “Mack the Knife,” perhaps.)

All in all, the changes seem designed to carefully skirt the campaign rules that CFV is accused of violating. CFV is once again sporting its nonpartisan sheep’s clothing… but those Republican eyes are still glowing from within.

We also note with some sadness that the CFV’s list of Vermont media links still doesn’t include GMD. Its three links to websites include the truly nonpartisan Vermont Digger and the two leading conservative sites, Vermont Tiger and True North Reports. Hey Bruce, for the sake of nonpartisanship, how ’bout adding a link to GMD? No hard feelings?

I must admit, these juicy tidbits put a smirk on my face. This is rich:

Vermont Yankee status conference March 9

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Terri Hallenbeck

“Whether the board will say which it’s going to do at this status conference or just hear from the parties remains to be seen.

The irony of this hearing: It will be held in Room 11 of the Statehouse, a larger space than the PSB hearing room across the street. The federal court ruling took the decision out of the Statehouse and now, here it is back in the Statehouse.”

http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…

Regulators Have Questions For Vermont Yankee

Friday, 02/24/12

John Dillon

“The PSB also asked Yankee what it planned to do with radioactive waste produced after March 21st. The board noted that it previously ordered that Yankee could not store waste on site that’s produced after March 21.”

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail…

DA DUN!

Just a quick note, and then I’ll leave you all with your regularly scheduled programming. A few of us will be informally getting together Wednesday February 29th, downstairs at NECI’s Main Street Grill in Montpelier between 5:00pm and 6:00pm (more or less) in support of my run for Montpelier City Clerk. There will be drinks, chatter, a passing of the hat, and with any luck a few legislators as well (including GMD pal and Chittenden Senator Philip Baruth).

Feel free to stop in. I’d love to see folks.

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

Last time Jack McCullough visited VTblogosphereTV in 2009, he discussed the outcry that resulted in a well-respected nonprofit organization reversing a decision in order to salvage its reputation. It was also a February. Strange now that Jack leads us through another case study of internet activism forcing an organization to rethink its policies, this time concerning the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood.  

Who knew that the month with “love” celebrated smack dab in the middle of it would become National “assault on women’s reproductive freedom” Month? The Komen story, the Santorum surge, the question of whether health care reform would fully cover contraception, it seems the headlines of the past month have reflected the cultural mentality circa 1958, not 2012.

So early on in this clip Jack graciously corrects my misnaming of the Susan G Komen Foundation. I must have confused the organization with the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011, another recent dishonest attempt to roll back the clock on women’s reproductive freedom.

We then got to discuss whether the Komen Foundation was bowing to external political pressure or reflecting its own internal ideology.

Then Jack explained just how the issue exploded, particularly, and perhaps centrally, on Facebook. He described the growth of the Boycott Susan B Komen Foundation Facebook page, the battleground for message control that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Facebook page became, and the Komen’s Foundation’s subsequent failed efforts to limit the damage.

Jack closed by sharing some success he experienced locally starting a Facebook page, this one getting South Burlington Little League to allow a boy to play who had missed a registration deadline.  So whether you love it, hate it, love to hate it, or hate to love it, Facebook can be a powerful tool for activism on any scale, and organizations like Komen are learning just how quickly and forcefully their top-down decisions can be met with bottom-up pressure.  

We kind of knew it was coming, but today’s announcement that the Burlington Free Press switch to a tabloid format is at hand still came as an unwelcome surprise at my house.  We kind of like the big-sheets littering our breakfast table.

Of course, the BFP experience has been modified numerous times since news giant Gannett acquired the paper back in the early ’70’s.

Free Press readers saw the same decline in breadth and depth that was visited on so many papers over the past couple of decades as ownership consolidated and online media pressured the bottom line.

Fans of the “funnies,” like my (then) young son, mourned repeated raids on the comic pages.  

Finally, in a company-wide sweep that laid off 700 employees nationwide, the Free Press lost six of its newsroom staff in 2008.  

                             ……………………………

The new format will feature “color on every page.”   That sounds attractive enough, but it hints at the possibility that there may come to be more emphasis on engaging pictures than on expository text.  Could the Free Press one day feature a “centerfold” like some British news tabloids?

What most concerned me about today’s announcement is that it seems to suggest that there will be two different “tiers” of news provided to subscribers.  Print subscribers will get a more expansive product, while online readers will be paying for something less complete:

“Our strategy is to create a more robust website and be the media of now on the Web, with in-depth narrative reporting in print,” said Jim Fogler, president and publisher of the Free Press.

What exactly a “more robust website” might be is an open question.  Despite much promisory hyperbole I am doubtful that less will mean more.

“Local news and in-depth coverage, that’s our franchise and we will not waver from that,” Fogler said. “We will offer more narrative and more polish for print as opposed to what we post online.”

As a daily print subscriber who values the opportunity to source the entire text via the web for the purpose of engendering a fully-informed dialogue with GMD readers, I don’t much like where this seems to be going.  If I were solely a web subscriber, I would like it even less.

We could have a different conversation about paywalls: their pros and cons.  This isn’t about paywalls; it is about simple access.  I think the Free Press has some more explaining to do.

Well, the Republican candidates and the Fox News crowd have found something new to wail about: rising gas prices at a time of year when they’re usually holding steady or falling, in spite of the fact that gas consumption is at its lowest level in 15 years. They’re right that gas prices are unusually high for midwinter, and there’s reason to worry that they may go even higher and threaten our fragile economic recovery; but they’re dead wrong about the causes, which may not exactly be news to some of you.

They’ve taken this — as they take every bit of bad news — as a pretext to bash Obama. His earth-worshipping Administration has turned off the taps! The oil industry is weighed down by the burden of regulation and limits on drilling. And the Keystone pipeline! Ah, if we only had Keystone, then gas would be free to anyone who needs it.

Baloney on all counts.

As for the castigation of the Tree Hugger-in-Chief, as Rachel Maddow showed last night, domestic oil production has increased substantially during the Obama years. It’s been consistently higher than at any point in the Bush presidency.

As for Keystone, anyone with half a brain could tell you that it won’t affect oil prices at all until it’s finished. And even then, the effect will be minuscule because the oil will go into the global marketplace. Keystone oil would make the global pool a little bit bigger, that’s all.  

So why are gas prices so high?

Commodity speculators.  

Let’s look at that renowned Socialist mouthpiece, Bloomberg Business Week, and an article entitled “Rising Gas Prices: Not Demand Driven.” It quotes Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service:

Kloza believes much of the increase is due to speculative money that’s flowed into gasoline futures contracts since the beginning of the year, mostly from hedge funds and large money managers. “We’ve seen about $11 billion of speculative money come in on the long side of gas futures,” he says.

Crude prices are so high that some refineries have cut production or even shut down rather than operate at a loss — which means lower gas production and higher prices.

This ain’t the first time we’ve ridden this speculator-driven merry-go-round. Remember June of 2008, before the mortgage meltdown? When gas and oil prices suddenly, and for no discernible reason, went through the roof? It was a severe shock to the economy, and set the stage for recession in the fall of that year.

That was a huge issue around these parts, because it came at exactly the time when heating-oil dealers were selling prebuy contracts for the winter of 2008-09. Customers bought the contracts because oil prices were widely predicted to be on an upward trajectory. There were fears of $5-a-gallon gas prices, and heating-oil prices to match.

Then, after a lot of customers signed those very expensive prebuy contracts, oil prices deflated. For the first time in memory, heating oil was much less expensive in winter than it had been the previous summer. Customers were stuck with the contracts because their dealers were just as stuck; they had prebought at summer prices.

At the time I was working for a local newspaper, and to find out why this had happened I interviewed Matt Cota, Executive Director of the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association. Not exactly an Occupy type. But he placed the blame squarely on commodity speculation.

The problem is that the trading of oil has been deregulated. And large financial players are dominating the market. A recent Washington Post article showed that 81 percent of future oil contracts are controlled by non-physical players — people who don’t own trucks, people who just trade paper.

…It’s provided volatility to a market that, frankly, is so vulnerable to volatility. We’re talking about a product that people need to get to work and to heat their homes. And for this to be used as a financial tool, so Wall Street traders can make billions, is shameful.

There has been some tightening of regulation since 2008. But to judge from the Business Week article, not nearly enough.

p.s. Some lefty commenters have posited a Wall Street conspiracy, driving up oil prices to derail the economy and torpedo Obama’s re-election effort. I might be inclined to agree, except I don’t think Wall Street is smart enough to pull it off. The Masters of Finance did the exact opposite in 2008: flushing the economy down the toilet in the middle of election season, all but assuring a broad Democratic victory. I don’t think they’ve gotten any smarter in the last four years.