Apparently, cameras and media access to the big FLOTUS shindig were largely restricted, so by all means, let us at GMD help out…

More below the fold…

… I just can’t get excited about Michelle Obama’s visit. It’s why I haven’t mentioned it. I swear I’m not posing, I just don’t really do/care-about the celebrity thing. I’m sure she’s a very nice person.

But here’s an open thread for anyone who wants to talk about it, and a picture snagged from Facebook of the Shuminator (& daughter Olivia) smiling with the honored guest.

UPDATE: Holy crap. Apparently there were 928 people in attendance, and the event pulled in a whopping (for Vermont) $117,350. Jeebus. That’s a lot of people, most of whom paid out just $50 or $100, with some higher contributions going as high as $5000 (none of this is counting the more exclusive ECHO event).

UPDATE 2 What’s odd – and covered over at blurt – was the lack of media access to the event, or, I should say, the inconsistent media access. It would make more sense if they just let no media in (it’d be gross, but it would make sense), but in this case, they just let a teensy bit of the media in? Why?

Strange moves from a campaign that, 3 years ago, was legendary for it’s discipline and security. Now? They keep most, but not all of the media out (just enough to keep everything in the open (AND piss off most of the reporters at the same time), while the list of participants’ names and contributions is in seemingly pretty widespread circulation. Methinks some priorities are askew.

Ah, well. Campaigns are silly things. If they weren’t, they’d be markedly less entertaining.

As you all will recall, we noted a few days back that John McLaughry (patron saint of the oblivious-to-reality wing of the Vermont GOP) had a piece posted by Geoffrey Norman on Vermont (What, us Republican?) Tiger denouncing Senator Sanders (no – really?). McLaughrey & Norman objected to Bernie taking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to task for it’s lack of transparency, and its apparent effort to bring the Department of Justice into the court battle over the state Senate’s rejection of Vermont Yankee’s license renewal (on Entergy’s behalf, naturally – yay, Obama administration!). McLaughrey’s sneering message was that Bernie’s engagement was actually great for Entergy, and their agenda of keeping VY open (presumably until it completely disintegrates). A quote from the piece:

Sanders’ inept statement does Entergy a big favor.

So, if a sitting US Senator (and member of the President’s party caucus – if not precisely his party…) weighing in against a corporate interest with business before the feds is good news for that corporate interest, what does that say for today’s report from the Governor’s office: that the Department of Justice will not be intervening in support of VY in the pending Entergy v. Shumlin case?

Hey! Bernie’s inept statement kept the DOJ out of Vermont’s business after all! Must be awesomely good news for Entergy!

Here’s Shummy’s statement:

“Bernie Sanders is an extraordinary champion of Vermonters and our state’s best interests, and I am very grateful for his efforts here. I am gratified to hear that Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice have declined to intervene in this case. That position is consistent with the many, many statements from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirming that states have their own jurisdiction over matters that don’t relate to radiological safety. I believe strongly that our state has proper authority over Vermont Yankee’s continued operation, and that Entergy Louisiana is not above the law and should have kept the promises it made to Vermonters to comply with our laws.”

yes let’s celebrate revolution

freedom of speech and religion

the right to a fair and speedy

trial by a jury of twelve peers

freedom from fear and want

the right to assemble in groups

for a redress of grievances

the checks and balances which

insure protection from plunder

by government taxation or unlawful

activities in the private sector

the pursuit of happiness

the freedom to love and partner

regardless of race or gender

the right to object strongly to

and not participate in an unjust war

freedom of the press and access

to all necessary information

the right to seek and hold office

without being restrained from doing

so by economic or political influences

yes and the absolute unabridged right

to vote in all elections and on all

issues by secure and secret ballot

and to have each and every vote counted

o and how about the right to hold

all elected and appointed officials

accountable for their actions or inactions

why hell the freedom to seek gainful

education and employment without

pregudicial restrictions and the right

to keep and bear arms responsibly

the total unbiased freedom of all legitimate

ventures and the non-discriminatory use of

lawful authority for the public health and safety

yeah all that good stuff and much much more

now tell me please where the hell do I have

to go to live such a wonderful life?  what’s

the name of this wonderful place?

hello?………………………….

Peter Buknatski

Montpelier, VT.

Though it may be largely symbolic in significance, it gave me no little pleasure to read that Bernie Sanders is blocking the nomination of William Ostendorff to another term on the  Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  

Completely apart from the issue of their meddling on behalf of Entergy in defiance of Vermont’s sovereignty on VY, the NRC pattern of repeatedly lowering the bar on safety standards for the benefit of plant operators is sufficient reason to block reappointment of any currently serving members.

As we listen to protestations  on the nightly news that, though threatened by flood or fire, this or that U.S. nuclear facility can’t possibly fail; how is the public expected to swallow such assurances with any confidence, given all that has been revealed in the wake of Fukushima about the questionable practices of our own nuclear regulatory agency?

It’s time for a complete scrub-down of the NRC, a whole lot of daylight, and a totally new roster of independent commissioners who will not approach the job in actuarial fashion, in service to the industry rather than to the public good.

(When it comes to policy and economics, it seems the only “invisible hand” is the one holding the fact sheet that is invisible to those elected to set policies. – promoted by Caoimhin Laochdha)

This graphic says it all:

Source: ThinkProgress

The more a state cuts spending, the more jobs lost in that state.

It IS actually that simple.

Despite the nonsensical claims from the proponents of “cut everything always,” government DOES create jobs – both directly (when you work for the government, you have a job and your employer is the government) and indirectly (when money is flowing into the local economy, it enables businesses to hire).

More than 98% of all businesses in the US are small businesses (PDF of stats from Small Business Association).

Those small businesses usually operate within state lines – they are neither national companies nor multinational behemoths. These small businesses are the bread and butter of the economy. They account for most of the jobs, and 50% of the GDP.

And now, after 30 years of running scared from the dreaded “t” word (thank you, Ron Reagan!), it’s been amply demonstrated that those cuts destroy local economies – by both directly and indirectly slashing jobs.

It’s time to stop running from the cut-mongers. They either have no idea what they’re talking about, or, worse, know exactly what they are doing, but have evil intentions.

We need some grown-ups to stand up and say “enough.”

Bernie has made a good start.

I hope to start hearing echoes of his common sense from leadership everywhere.  

  An important correction: Someone familiar with Vermont electric utilities has informed me that I was wrong and made a substantial error in this diary.IBM did not receive public funds from the $69 million smart grid stimulus grants awarded to the consortium of VELCO and Vermont’s electric distribution utilities to fund statewide smart grid investments. Sorry for my mistake and confusion with this.

BP

IBM Vermont was in the newspaper Sunday. No, it wasn’t for threatening to leave the state but for their use of smart grid style technology. The technology is impressive, the investment impressive and the savings for IBM will be real. Also mentioned, but almost lost in the jumbled-up Burlington Free Press article is the fact this is funded in part by a $69million smart grid stimulus grant from the Dept. of Energy. Our tax dollars at work!

An ethos of common purpose helped secure Vermont's $69 million smart-grid stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009, said IBM Senior Engineer Jeff Chapman.

"We're all paying a part of that $69 million, and we all want that return to be good," he said. "We want tangible results."

Although IBM’s almost ritualized “we could leave Vermont at the drop of a hat” threat is not mentioned directly it lies near the surface. The make or break nature of saving electric power costs is made clear. We are told complacence [regarding energy savings] would kill the plant's price point and if you don’t get that hint they remind "We compete head-on with Asia," (bags are packed!)

I am all for government spending on practical energy programs. Saving Vermont jobs is also laudable if this helps accomplish that. However, in these tight budgetary times a little more than a half mumbled thanks from IBM for forking over $69 million in taxpayer money might be worth their effort.  

Now let’s go cut some food stamp benefits, entitlement programs and balance that ole budget so we keep taxes low.  

Speaking of Bachmann:

In New York state, they have passed the law at the state legislative level and, under the 10th amendment, the states have the right to set the laws that they want to set.

Let's set aside Michelle's simplistic view of the 10th Amendment and Article I, Section 10 for a moment.  I'm more interested in whether she knows about the Full Faith and Credit and Equal Protection clauses… 

ntodd

• Words of something-way-other-than-wisdom in the Colchester High School commencement address: “A penis is a vagina on steroids.” Leading to the follow-up question, American Flatbread Founder George Schenk is a commencement speaker on…? (Note: In my limited experience, George seems like a really good guy but… oy… how exactly are his women employees supposed to feel after hearing this? Hopefully there’s more to the story… some sort of context, although it’s hard to imagine.)
• VT Commons blogger Simha Bode has apparently made the discovery of the millennium, as he’s discovered nuclear fusion reactors (here and here). Somebody should call the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and tell them to stop wasting their time and money.
• According to John McLaughrey and VT Tiger’s Geoffrey Norman, Senator Sanders’ blasting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for cozying up with Entergy, enlisting the Department of Justice to intervene on the corporations behalf, and being completely opaque in its deliberations is (wait for it)… great news for Vermont Yankee! Wow. I’d have thought it could create more problems for them! Good thing we have experts to save us from the nakedly obvious.
• Did you know that someone had tried to resuurect the ol’ “Welch Watch” website from ages past? Me neither. He started it in January, and didn’t get out of January. He also threw up (heh) a facebook companion page, which made it a bit longer – there are entries as recently as March. It’s a St. Michael’s megadittoer student named Dan Bower, who also started the far-right FB group Right On Gallows, which talks up the wild-eyed right line for Chittenden County and eastern Virgina (like he’s the anti-kestrel?), and does something called the “Vermont Avenger Show” (which follows his previous “Fail and Live Long” radio show), and is also part of the Green Mountain Patriots, a local tea party “organization” (koff)… well, at that point I got bored. Some serious conservative-attention-deficit-disorder, here.