The reprehensible Harold Ford once again comes down on the side of Republicans today. He has an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal about jobs, or allegedly about jobs, and he takes the opportunity to parrot the Republican myth that regulations are the obstacle to job creation.

Former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln has argued forcefully in favor of an independent review process for proposed regulations. If the costs outweigh the benefits, they shoulhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifd be eliminated. In the meantime, a moratorium on new regulations that don’t immediately protect public safety is a reasonable step that could be taken until our economy gets back on its feet.

I don’t know why Ford doesn’t just make it official and stop pretending to be a Democrat.

 A recent report to the State of Vermont on Entergy’s Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund shows the value continues to fall short, failing to meet projected requirements. The trust fund six month ago, at the end of April was $498,546,853. It was up slightly in May and then declined steadily. The fund as of the end of September 2011 was $472,346,906. This is a six month loss in value of almost $27 million.

The Vermont Yankee decommissioning fund was at $304 million in 2002 when Entergy of Louisiana purchased the plant. Entergy has not contributed to the fund which is intended to cover clean-up, fuel management and site restoration when Yankee closes.  According to past projections the decommissioning fund was supposed to have been $464 million by 2008 but has languished in recent years. It continues to be way below Entergy’s 2007 estimated plant decommissioning costs of $656 million to $991 million.

In 2010 a long delayed Vermont Auditor’s report

concluded that the current requirement for the State to review the adequacy of the trust fund to meet all cleanup obligations every five years is not frequent enough.

The new policy apparently is for the State to watch Entergy’s decommissioning trust fund’s value fall in real time, rather than slow motion.  

Sunday, October 16, 2011, 12:30 PM, City Hall Park, Burlington, VT

http://www.meetup.com/occupyto…

And if you don’t mind late notice, there’s also an event in Monty today:

Saturday, October 15 · 3:00pm – 5:00pm

City Hall / Statehouse

Montpelier, VT

http://www.facebook.com/event….

If you can’t get to NYC or Boston, show solidarity here at home.  Let’s keep #OWS rolling and show our resolve as things escalate.  This is how big things start…

Update:

Freep has coverage of today’s #OWS in Burlington, Times Argus not surprisingly has nothing on what went on in Monty. But they did post an AP article that is all confused about how people could self-organize and not have any leaders.

It’s clear that the elites have no idea how to classify or counter this.  Keep at it.

I also took some pics in Montpelier today–forgive the father’s prerogative of including a significant number of our son.

UPDATE: COVERUP, BUT NOT BY BERRY?

Today's Burlington Free Press carries updated details about the coverup. It appears that, as my friend Nanuq suggested in a comment, that F&W Commissioner Patrick Berry may have been a victim of the coverup, rather than a perpetrator. 

Nelson didn't return a call seeking comment Saturday. But his son, Richard Nelson, told WCAX-TV that the family misled the state.

“The blame goes to us,” he said. “We're the ones that didn't say Pete died.”

At this point, it seems clear that the true issue is, as it has been from the beginning, that the park operators should never have been allowed to domesticate this wild animal. As Berry says in the print edition of the Free Press:

“This is the prime example of why wildlife should be kept wild. . . .  When you try to domesticate wild animals you have to undertake these sorts of procedure, and you put their lives at risk.”

If you read the comments on places like Facebook you see all kinds of comments from people about state plans to “murder” the moose, In fact, the reason this moose required the hoof operation that led to its death was its domestication, and the domestic diet it was fed. Do you think it might be time to dispense with the romanticization of the occasional wild animal that, usually to its misfortune, comes to the public eye?

ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS;

Did you see this on WCAX tonight? The moose that people have been referring to as “Pete the Moose” is dead.

A stunning reversal Friday evening from state wildlife officials– after assuring us for more than a week that Pete the Moose was alive, officials now say the controversial and much-loved moose is dead.

I was never part of the Pete cult. In fact, from the beginning I thought it was ridiculous that the state agencies charged with managing the wild animal population in the state were supporting the irresponsible actions of the owner of the canned hunting facility where it was kept.

I'm not a wildlife biologist or anything, but it occurs to me that  what happened to this animal is exactly what we want to avoid when we prohibit people from owning wild animals. Trimming hooves and otherwise interfering with natural processes? Who would ever think that was a good idea? In this case, the moose was rendered unconscious by the man who was taking care of him, and then apparently died when the man left him still unconscious.

I really didn't understand why Peter Shumlin would have continued the Douglas policy of letting the “owner” continue to keep this animal in captivity. Probably just pandering to the soft-headed supporters who viewed themselves as animal lovers.

What really baffles me, though, is why the Administration would get involved in a cover-up  once it was discovered that the animal was dead, but that's exactly what happened: they released phony pictures of another moose, claimed they were “Pete”, and put out the story that “Pete” was alive and well. Did they really think the truth regarding the most publicized moose in the state wouldn't come out?

We're obviously going to get more information as the story develops, but it really seems to me that somebody has to be fired for this. I would think that Wildlife Commissioner Patrick Berry, who made the false statement that”Pete” was still alive, either knew it was false when he made it, or knew that he didn't know whether it was true or false.

And then what happened next? The classic Friday night bad news disclosure.

 How is this not a coverup?

(To the tune of This Land Is Your Land…Sort ‘a)

There’s never a right time

There’s never a good time

Ya just need to keep a polite mind

When ya sign on the bottom line

Cause we don’t really mean it

In fact you just can reem it

This contract ain’t worth the paper it was written on

And it don’t mean shit to me

As I was out walkin’

I ran into a Lib-er-al

I said hey Lib-er-al

Hear about all this squawkin’?

It seems that the unions

Are a gettin’ all uppity you see?

We better help the Nazis suppress ’em

Or else the Nazis will come after you and me

Oh La-de-Dade-dade…I’m such a good person

I vigil with the Peace Folks

I don’t listen to no

Politically Incorrect jokes

And I can debate all the fine points

About why the working class needs to pay more

Cause this land was not made for them

It was made for Donald Trump and me

Oh God I love ya Donald

I’d like to be just like ya

Cause ya get me so inspired

When ya say: “You’re fired!”

I’ll help ya bust up all them unions

And after ya’ve taken everything they have

Don’t forget who helped ya do it

That was ME

Oh La-de-Dade-Da-da

Ain’t gonna give ’em nada

Just gonna keep talkin’ ’em in circles

And keep up the Dada

And when I make a million

I’ll open up a restaurant you’ll see

And no union will be there

To bother me

Oh La-de-Dade-Dada-Nada-Nada-Dada

Nada-Nade-Da-de-de……..(Harmonica)

PEACE………………………….

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, Vt.

Lately, I have been receiving so many telephone solicitations and survey calls, which I don’t understand because my number is registered on the federal “do not call” registry.

Lately, the polls have really gotten to me.  I am getting at least one or two each week!  These so-called polls are really push polls because there is no way to answer it except in a manner that drives the pollsters to get the answer they want!

Today’s call from 503-468-5008 took these calls to a whole new level – especially in rainy fall Vermont with winter on its way.  This survey from CFPP Research offered me a 2-day get-away to the Bahamas if I would just answer their survey about our country’s debt crisis! Luckily, right now it is sunny and warm out or I might have been tempted.  Instead I just hit the button to have me removed from their call list.

more below the fold

When I did some research to determine who CFPP is, I found this note from them:

All –

CFPP Research Group is the political action arm of Political Boost LLC (www.politicalboost.org). If you receive a call to do the survey, do it (or don’t).  As far as the sponsor’s offer, do it (or don’t).  If you would like to be removed from the list, press 9 – or you can call us directly at 202-552-1228 and speak with Political Boost directly.

Our goal is to increase participation in the surveys to get and report the pulse of the nation.  Not to annoy or anger anyone.  If our system mistakenly calls you more than once, we anxiously await your notification and request to be removed from consideration.  Below is all of our information should you need to reach us for any reason:

Political Boost LLC

c/o Committee for Political Progress

P.O. Box 65307

Baltimore, MD 21209

Ph: 202-552-1228

fax: 202-747-5822

www.politicalboost.org

Thank you,

Political Boost Team

I checked out politicalboost.org, but was unable to find out any other information about their political leanings or agenda.  Maybe they are what they really purport to be, a survey group, but then why dangle the carrot of a two-day jaunt to the Bahamas if what you are really seeking is  honest opinions about the country’s fiscal crisis?

Guthrie Legacy To Play at Rutland & Burlington Occupy VT Rallies

* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *

Contact: James Haslam, vtworkers(at)gmail.com

Guthrie Legacy To Play at Rutland & Burlington Occupy VT Rallies

What: The granddaughter of the great Woody Guthrie  and daughter of Arlo , Sara Lee Guthrie and  her husband  Jonny Irion are  showing their support of Occupy Wall Street by performing at two of the Vermont solidarity  rallies in Rutland and Burlington Vermont. On Saturday there will be four rallies across the state coinciding with a global day of action supporting the Occupy movement.  Before and after the rallies the Vermont Workers’ Center and Vermont unions will be doing door to door canvassing across the state for their new Put People First Campaign.

“Sarah Lee and Johnny were already performing in Vermont this weekend to help support tropical storm Irene victims. They thought it was a good opportunity to show their support of the solidarity rallies happening in our state” said James Hathaway who is organizing their trip to Vermont “If our government was as quick to bail out Irene’s poorest victims as it is bail out banks and billionaires, maybe so many Vermonters would not still be suffering.”

 

When: Saturday, October 15, 2011

Rallies:

With Sarah Lee and Jonny:

Burlington: 2 pm, Burlington City Hall Park

Rutland: 11am, Center Street and Merchants Row across from the Farmers Market

Also there will be rallies in:

Brattleboro: 2pm, Wells Fountain Park

Montpelier:   3pm, City Hall followed by march to Statehouse

Canvassing:  Happening in towns through the state, if you are interested in following a team contact James Haslam at vtworkers(at)gmail.com

Background: The Vermont Workers’ Center built a statewide grassroots movement with the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign which led to the passage of historic universal healthcare legislation in 2011.  The VWC and its partners launched a new campaign called Put People First: The People’s Budget Campaign and have been organizing in communities across the state, particularly in mobile home parks and other areas which were hardest by Tropical Storm Irene.  

Resource Links:

www.workerscenter.org/occupyvermont

www.workerscenter.org/healthcare

www.workerscenter.org/peoplesbudget

###

Are U.S. nuclear plants prepared to withstand natural disasters equivalent to that of the Fukushima tsunami?

That is the question Arnie Gundersen answers with a resounding “no” in the latest video release from Fairewinds Communications.

We’re well aware of the chaos and delays that followed the Japanese accident, compounding an already grave situation; but what Arnie brings to light is the fact that the Japanese had somewhat better protocols in place for dealing with such a disaster, than we currently have here in the United States.  

The “design basis” in engineering U.S. nuclear plants is founded on a mathematically flawed assumption that the occurrence of natural events of extraordinary magnitude is highly unlikely over the 60-year predicted life-span of any one facility.  As Arnie points out there have recently been four natural events (two earthquakes and two flood events) occurring worldwide in the space of just six months that have each exceeded the “thousand-year event” prediction in terms of magnitude.

Among other fascinating glimpses into the inadequacy of U.S. disaster preparedness, Arnie discusses the computer program, “MACCS 2”, employed by the NRC to predict the impact of natural disasters on a cost/benefit basis. “Cost/benefit” is another way of saying that they are weighing the value of loss in terms of human lives against the monetary cost to the industry of engineering adequate safeguards to withstand maximal force.

For the purpose of this analysis, the NRC has established the value of a human life at three-million dollars, whereas other federal agencies place that value anywhere from five-million to nine-million dollars.

Although the MACC2 program has since been disavowed by its creator, the NRC continues to rely on it to establish regulations for the industry.  As a consequence, the NRC’s disaster planning allows for  human exposures one-hundred times greater than what the EPA recognizes as the limit!  

The NRC has allowed power plants to create “limited liability” corporations, isolating each plant’s liability and limiting it to $10 billion.  In Japan, where Tokyo Electric did not have the protection of limited liability, the cost of the Fukushima disaster alone is estimated at $250. billion and will bankrupt Tokyo Electric, still leaving a massive amount of the cost to be born by Japanese taxpayers.

Those of us who have sustained an interest in Fukushima find it disturbing that clean-up of the contaminated surroundings is predicted to take another several years and will likely have to be repeated periodically for many years after that.   But at least Japan is engaging in some sort of long-term environmental clean-up.  

Using the cost/benefit based computer program, NRC’s  projection for environmental clean-up following such a disaster assumes it would be largely dealt with through one-time burial and simple abandonment.

If you want to add some scary to your Halloween pre-season, have a listen to this chilling video discussion:

Are Regulators And The Nuclear Industry Applying The Valuable Lessons Learned From Fukushima? from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

I'm a little mystified by the angry criticism directed to the Vermont State Employees' Association for standing up for its members and demanding that they be paid what they're entitled to under their contract. Whether it's the editorial pages of Vermont's newspapers, or even here, you see complaintsthat the move by the union is greedy, bad, or just bad politics.

It seems to me the critics are ignoring, or acknowledging and then immediately ignoring, some very important points:

1. The workers have a right under the contract to the pay they're asking for.

2. The union asked the state to take the precise action–declare an emergency reassignment plan that would have avoided this precise problem–and the state wasn't interested in doing it.

3. The union has a legal obligation to represent the workers and enforce their contract. The union could actually be liable to the workers if it refused to do so.

4. The union also has an obligation to protect the contract, so that it will be there to protect the workers not only in this immediate crisis, but in any future conflice with management.

Vermont state government, and local governments across the state are incurring huge expenses for flood recovery and reconstruction. Just yesterday the State estimated that cleanup costs could exceed $500 million, and that they don't know where the money is coming from.

Yet I haven't seen any calls for the excavators, backhoe operators, asphalt vendors, or other suppliers to donate their services, have you?

We support workers. When Bennington teachers stand up to the school board people around here are very enthusiastic. 

It's not our fight, but that's the point. The workers have to stand up for themselves, and we should support them.

October 5, 2011

The Vermont Workers’ Center and its members from every corner of this state join with you to stand in solidarity with those who have taken to the streets in New York and other cities around the country.

We stand with our brothers, with our sisters and with all people, because we all are struggling. We are homeless or losing our homes to the banks. We lack access to the healthcare that we need. We work in jobs that do not pay us enough to survive; we work in jobs that are not fulfilling or dignified, or we do not have work at all. We are drowning in student debt. We are watching the services that we depend on – our schools, our fire departments, mental health services – be cut deeper and deeper every year. We are told that there is not enough for us, while Wall Street makes record profits.

Systems of oppression keep us divided and ruled. We will confront these systems so that we will not be divided. We will not be divided by the color of our skin, by the language that our parents speak or by the gender of the person we choose to love. We will not be divided young against old or student against laborer. We will not be divided against our neighbor who is a little more or a little less poor then we are.

We see clearly that our and our neighbors’ poverty is the same – that our small differences amount to nothing compared to the obscenity of wealth accumulated by a corporate ruling class whom we must not continue to allow to make all the rules.

We will no longer fight against our neighbor over the crumbs that fall from the table upon which the corporations feast, because we recognize that it is the feast – not the crumbs – that belongs to us, and there is plenty to share, once we are all at the table.

Here in Vermont, we have learned that people joining together can overcome the politics of greed. The people of Vermont have demonstrated that healthcare is a human right, and we will demonstrate that ordinary people joining together can make a government that puts people first.

We have much to do. We must end war and the militarization of our borders. We must end the destruction of the natural environment – the environment upon which our lives depend. We must build our economy, so that useful work – not greed – becomes its foundation.

We have much to do, but we have the power of masses of people joining together with a common vision of building healthy communities, realizing democracy and winning justice. We stand here today, and we resolve that we will keep organizing so that tomorrow we will be standing with even more of our friends, neighbors and co-workers.

We are the 99%. We will no longer be divided. We will no longer be distracted. We will no longer blame ourselves for our suffering. We will not stay home, now that we understand that, by struggling together, we can achieve our vision. We will organize until we can create a society where we put people first, where our needs our met, and where we, the 99%, are in charge, and not Wall Street and the wealthiest in our society.

We stand in solidarity with the brave people in New York and other cities. We stand here because we share a vision and because we understand that we have the power to make our vision become real. We stand here because we know that our futures and our children’s futures depend on us. We stand here together now because the time has come.

We are the 99%. We are too big to fail.

In Solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street Protests, the Vermont Workers’ Center is co-organizing rallies across the state as well as a trip to New York City. As part of our Put People First campaign we are standing together with people around the country.

We’re not just rallying, we’re ORGANIZING too. Together we can build the power to make change and put people first. Organize with us on October 15th before joining us for Occupy Wall Street Solidarity Rallies.

Join us in:

Burlington

Saturday, October 15, 2 pm, Burlington City Hall Park

contact: avery@workerscenter.org

Brattleboro

Saturday, October 15th, 2pm, Wells Fountain Park

contact: kate@workerscenter.org

Montpelier

Saturday, October 15th, 3:00pm, City Hall followed by State House

Monday, October 17th, 4-6:00pm, Candle Light Vigil at State House

contact: sarah@workerscenter.org

Rutland

Saturday, October 15th, 11am Center Street and Merchants Row across from the Farmers Market

contact: kate@workerscenter.org