It seems dozens of wealthy Wall Streeters that donated to Obama in 2008 are now realigning and donating to Mitt Romney. Many may just be hedging their bets as Obama is still raising plenty from Wall Street. In June he reportedly gathered $2.4 million at one event in a New York restaurant.  

However-

According to a review of fundraising data, 67 people who work in the financial sector and live in the New York City metro area gave to Obama in 2008 and the former Massachusetts governor in 2011.

This select group from Credit Suisse, the Blackstone Group, the Stanwich Group and Goldman Sachs has since donated more than $147,000 to Romney. Supposedly these reversals come as a result of Obama’s “tough” rhetoric while pushing to pass the Dodd-Frank banking laws.  

One aspect of this that is little hard to stomach given the fast pace of recovery on Wall Street compared to main street is the executives expressed feelings of “betrayal” by Obama.

"Everybody I speak to is on the same boat — disappointment," said one Wall Street executive who requested anonymity

They seem more fragile and easily offended than one might expect of hardened business execs.

And there is this heartrending remark

Or is that a tearful threat?

It could be if you take seriously a recent warning from Warren Buffett, one of the World’s richest men

“There’s class warfare, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

So enjoy the upcoming Labor Day holiday and please be gentle with the wealthy. After all we have been warned that it isn’t healthy for the rich to feel maligned! Be thoughtful and try to keep in mind the burden it must be for the top 400 wealthiest people in this country to own more than the bottom half combined.  

(cross-posted from Beyond VSH blog, here)

As sent to Vermont Department of Mental Health (VT DMH) Commissioner Christine Oliver, among others within the administration, fyi (hey, if one cannot have a little fun in this “business”, it just isn’t worth the bother doing):

Mental Health Advocacy Humor Break

Since it is on sale this week, I bought my first pint(s) of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream in a real long time. Could not decide on which of two different flavors to get, so ended up buying both. It is good to be able to enjoy the premium brand name version, rather than generic (lesser quality) versions, of my one and only preferred anti-depressant medication, which is always best when taken proactively of course. I only wish doctors were able to prescribe such and insurance covered it, then I could afford it more often when needed. The fact is I am not, nor have I ever been “treatment resistant”, just very particular about using what works, not what doesn’t.

Okay, the humor break is over now, sort of anyway.

Moral of the story aka food for thought:

Maybe if the State of Vermont were to consider voluntarily offering Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, as well as, even more importantly, other things people could use to meet their basic human needs, including safe, decent and affordable housing when needed, rather than trying to find ways to make it easier as well as faster to force medicate and otherwise “treat” them (read: “treatment”) when they are experiencing a major crisis leading to the emotional and or so-called mental or psychiatric variety or vice versa, people would heal and eventually get better, outcomes would improve, as would their quality of life and, it would be more affordable to do too boot.

While the ice cream might not seem to be so important or vital in the greater scheme of things, it surely could not hurt and certainly would be an improvement over many of the damaging psychotropic drugs, including with all their hazardous effects, people are forced to take.

That stated, the key factor is most of the time they are denied choice in what should be their own treatment decisions, which should not be up to anyone else to make for them.

Do not take my word for it however, try a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and then try the medications forced on people locked up at the Vermont State Hospital (VSH) for yourself and find out which you would most prefer if truly given the choice.

Although the above also touches on more serious matters and concerns afoot of course, it is hoped it is received and taken with the dose of humor it is dipped as well as wrapped within.

🙂 [smile]

Morgan W. Brown

Montpelier, Vermont

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”

—    Marie Curie

     French (Polish-born) chemist & physicist (1867 – 1934)

Been in the garden, photographing very small things:

Two quick things:

(1) these are all smaller versions.  Clicking on them gets to larger versions on my web site.

(2) if you are creeped out by spiders, you might not want to go any further, because this not only includes photos of a very small spider, it’s a very small spider that can jump.  

These were all from our backyard in Southeastern Vermont.  I know little about insects so I’ve no idea if any of these are rare or unusual.  I know that one is invasive, but nothing about the rest.

Ants and Mystery Bugs:

Invasive Japanese Beetle:

Mystery Beetle. A little smaller than the ladybug:

Mystery… something:

Northern Jumping Spider.  Yes, not only is it a spider, but it jumps.  

The first photo is from yesterday.  I was amazed that I was able to find one (possibly the same one) again this morning and get more photos of it, covering the whole body rather than just the peek-a-boo shot from yesterday.

I included a wider view as well so you can see how small this creature is– those buds around it are about 1/4″ long at most:

Tick of some sort.  This looked too large to be a deer tick:

Wasp or Hornet:

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

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

______________________________________________________________

‘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?

*Update 1*: As posted to Governor Peter Shumlin’s Facebook page (here):

I understand your recent concerns regarding Pete the Moose. In corroboration with H.91, I pardoned Pete and on Wednesday night the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board voted to stand behind Pete’s safety. As Governor, I can ensure Pete’s pardon is still in effect, as can Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry, the Vermont Legislature and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board. I will continue to keep your comments in mind as this moves forward.

Apparently it is not Pete the Moose whose head is on the block, however — if I understand it correctly — possibly over 200 other animals (i.e., “Over 200 Whitetail and a dozen moose”), here.

*Update 2*: fyi (excerpt; view full text of Act 54 (2011) summary, here; emphasis mine):

[…]

[…] Upon transfer of regulatory jurisdiction to the department, the captive cervidae facility shall be regulated as a captive hunt facility under the fish and wildlife board’s (board’s) rules governing the importation and possession of animals for hunting, except for the following: the entrapped wild cervidae may remain at the facility but shall be subject to hunt during an open season set by the board; the board shall adopt by rule a process to reduce the number of white-tailed deer or moose at the facility to zero over a three-year period from September 1, 2011, provided that the moose known as Pete shall not be hunted or killed; and the board shall adopt a process and protocol for a disease surveillance program at the facility. The act prohibits the owner of the captive cervidae facility from charging for the right to take white-tailed deer or moose, and no person may knowingly or intentionally allow wild cervidae to escape or be released from the facility.

[…]

Original post (updated):

Please help save Pete the Moose[‘s] as well as his friends today!

Apparently there is a plan afoot by the State of Vermont and its Fish and Wildlife Department to execute them  [over 200 whitetail deer and 12 other moose] on or about September 1st, despite what had been indicated previously would be the case.

Governor Peter Shumlin should save Pete the Moose[‘s friends], just like he said he would, here. There is no good or rational reason not to do so.

One wonders if Governor Shumlin has gone up to Irasburg in order to look Pete and his animal friends straight in the eye to let them know he has broken his promise and say something along the lines of “sorry Pete, but we’re going to have to execute you and your friends after all”. If not, then maybe he should do so.

Shame on Governor Peter the Hypocrite er, Governor Peter Shumlin!

Make sure to check out the related action going on at Facebook, here, here and here.

Although I cannot get up to Irasburg myself, it is hoped there will be huge numbers of people turning out up there before as well as on September 1st to show solidarity for Pete et al as well as to protest against this senseless slaughter.

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.

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

On Banning of Cell Phone Use When Operating Moving Vehicles

In my opinion (IMO), …

All cell phone use as well as other such devices, whether hand-held or otherwise, by anyone driving a moving vehicle should be banned within the state, no exceptions. The only thing an operator of a moving vehicle should be doing behind the wheel is focusing on the road, nothing else.

One is not sure why current policies, laws and regulations do not already restrict what one is allowed to do when operating a moving vehicle without requiring new laws to specifically spell out and restrict such.

If new legislation and law is required to address such matters however, what the state legislature should seriously consider doing is, rather than drafting and enacting a bill to ban such devices, to instead draft and enact a bill that further clarifies license and driving policies, laws and regulations concerning what is allowed as well as not allowed to be engaged in while operating any moving vehicle, including bicycles.

To my way of thinking, this would be a better approach rather than an outright ban of certain devices, etc., while operating a vehicle. Restricting what one can and can not do behind the wheel of a moving vehicle would appear to be better to do versus attempting to ban the use of specific devices while one is driving. Although it might seem to be the same thing, it is using a different approach to achieve the same result, however doing so focused more on the behavior in question rather than the device itself.

This could also prove to be sound public policy since it is not the devices that are the problem, but rather the person’s use of these and other distractions while operating a moving vehicle and not all vehicle operators exercise good judgement unless and until there are specific regulations about what is allowable and what is not as well as severe consequences clearly laid out in law and  then made known about what will result if one fails to comply.

This is my opinion on the subject. What is yours?

Well now we know how Entergy will try and spin it . In his rushed pushback against the Vermont Department of Health’s announcement that radioactive tritium leaking from VY has reached the Connecticut River, Entergy Vermont Yankee spokes-flack Larry Smith makes a claim that dips below the level of detectable credibility.

Smith maintains that Entergy’s tests are showing tritium levels below the minimum detectable level. He fails to explain how Entergy labs perform this miraculous feat of science.

But New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. issued a statement, saying its testing of the same July 18 and July 25 samples showed levels of tritium below the minimum detectable amount.

"Results from our laboratory testing of those same samples … show levels that are below that same extreme lower limit," Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said.

Smith said he could not explain how the company was able to detect tritium at levels below the "minimum detectible." He said Entergy wants an independent third party to analyze both sets of test results to resolve the discrepancy

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.

The bi-partisan Debt Reduction Super Committee is charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion* in budget savings over the next decade and will have power to direct taxing and spending.

Last week Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos wrote an open letter to US Speaker of the House John Boehner (posted here on GMD) suggesting the need and benefits of transparency for the newly formed  bi-partisan Committee. Other leaders and organizations are calling for special fundraising rules, given that lobbyists and other special interests are already at work on the members of the committee. The Sunlight Foundation has an online petition HERE demanding openness for the powerful gang of 12. Sec of State Condos’ call for transparency features

–open and transparent meetings and records regardless of physical form. It is imperative that this Super Committee work in a way that restores Americans' faith in government.

 

Transparency is a good but the forces pushing and pulling the powerful committee will be massive and some problems are baked in to the process. It is not a good sign for flexibility that all six of the Republican members have signed loyalty oaths to Norquist’s group Americans for Tax Reform and have promised opposition to increasing income tax rates and couple dollar for dollar cuts to elimination of tax cuts. All committee members will be super targets for lobbyists and some of them will have a head start.

Between the 12 lawmakers, there are more than 100 former aides who now lobby for various firms, companies or trade associations, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. And many of them will tap into their old relationships to try defending their clients from the spray of spending cuts that must be enacted.

Looks like the “Super Committee” is Congress’s worst excesses written “super” large. Either our expectations for a fair and reasonable solution must be cut way back, or the pressure on the committee members – and the president not to sign away safety net programs in any resulting bill – by ordinary, unincorporated citizens must be cranked into overdrive.

*corrected