( – promoted by odum)

On April 12, Tom Salmon will be holding a “Town Hall” in Bradford, VT, ostensibly answering questions like “Where does your tax money go”, “What about Vermont’s finances and reform initiatives?” and “Where is Vermont’s fiscal future going?”

Ownership of the event is a bit unclear, but it was recently announced by an anonymous poster on an Upper Valley list serv. The poster was soon discovered to be the contact person listed by the Ethan Allen Institute as the regional Tea Party contact, and when pressed declared herself to be someone called “Peg.”  

As of today, the event is publicized by the Mountain Rangers Tea Party as well as the Patriot Action Network‘s local branch (but, oddly, it is not listed as an official Vermont Tea Party even, nor is it on the calendar for the Upper Valley Tea Party or the Green Mountain Patriots — it would appear that the ‘baggers roll a bit like the People’s Front of Judea, with lots of splitters obscuring the true nature and organizational prowess of their supposedly silent but deadly majority).

I plan to attend Auditor and Republican candidate Salmon’s event to listen to his “answers” and I would be grateful to hear from GMD posters with any questions that I might ask of Mr. Salmon to get a better sense of where this ex-Democrat, soon-to-be ex auditor, current sweetheart of the Tea Party stands on things.

There are certain institutions in the American press that can always be counted on, and the Wall Street Journal is one of them. Here’s the latest example of their overheated rhetoric.

What’s the action the workers are requesting?

A sign that says the business supports workers’ rights.

And those steel pipes?

Yup, count on the Wall Street Journal.

In the healthcare debate, many missed the just how negative the language became where the sparks of divisive language harkening back to 2000 began to reappear.  This past week, Rep. Michel Consejo responded to Rep. Burditt’s language in a powerful speech that was journalized.  I thought it was worth quoting in full.

He is right.  We can not stay silent, no matter how fringe we believe the attacks might be.

House  Journal 3/29/11

“Mr. Speaker:

Mr. Speaker, over the weekend break, I tried to put aside the bad feelings that I had left over from our long and sometimes contentious debates of last week. For the most part, I could, except for one instance. The remarks made on this floor, the floor of the House of Representatives, by the member from

West Rutland, was more than my soul could bare. So much so that I had to respond. My name, my accent, my origins, my upbringing – all those facts compounded, make me wonder when I am going to be targeted. To tell me, here, that I am a communist, a socialist, and to compare my actions to radical

islamists, only precludes the days that I am going to be asked to go back to my own country.

This, mr. Speaker, is my certificate of naturalization – on november 14 of 1986, I became a proud citizen of this country. In 1979, when I filled out my documents to enter the U.S.A. as a permanent resident, I was asked to swear that I was never a member of the communist party in my country of origin.

This was one of the many requirements I had to fulfill in order to be accepted here.

Over the years, I had to brush off many remarks and comments about my name and my accent, my country and my origins, but never one has it been on this floor. This rule has been broken, and I stand today as a pre-emptive measure, telling you that I won’t take this kind of attack lying down.

What makes this body strong and efficient is our diversity, both of ethnic views and background. What makes us strong if the fact that we can differ on many subjects and stay civil and respectful doing so. What makes us strong is the respect we have for each other and the acceptance of different opinions.

Mr. Speaker, let me point at our sheild that stands above us…way above all of us. It reads “freedom.” Freedom to be who we are without fear. Freedom to think, act, and live independently, without fear. Freedom to be different, and to lead without fear.

It reads “unity.” That binds us all, as without it, our small state would not be such a strong leader. That unity that has led us to so many landmark, forward-thinking decisions. Let it be known that without both freedom and unity, we cannot be vermont. Let it be known that those who have lived and died for those two words, are holding us guardians of their integrity.

I cannot – and will not – let anyone drive a wedge in that tradition. I, for one, am proud of this body. I, for one, am scared of what is coming next if we do not respond to these kinds of insidious remarks. The time to do political posturing of this sort is outside of this chamber. And I hope that the members of this body, present and future, will share this feeling.

So, Mr. Speaker, to conclude and for the record, I am half spanish, a quarter Italian and a quarter French. I am a U.S. citizen and I can prove it. But above all, I am a proud vermonter, and I am staying here.  

( – promoted by odum)

The size of the Vermont press — sorry, media — corps has become smaller and smaller in recent years. So small that it’s getting difficult for Vermont Public Television to find three “reporters” to fill out its Vermont This Week panel.

And yet, somehow, the Associated Press managed to shake someone loose to cover a rally on Thursday in Montpelier that attracted “about 20” people.

Not a misprint: “about 20.”

“About 20” people from a coalition of Tea Party-type groups — none of whom could muster anything more than token attendance — rallied in opposition to Democratic efforts at health care reform in Vermont.  

So I ask the editors of our media: How small does a right-wing protest have to be, for you to deem it unworthy of coverage? At what point do you tell your reporter, “Never mind, go dig up some real news”?

I mean, there was a hardy group of souls who staged a weekly antiwar picket in front of the Montpelier post office once a week for YEARS. They may still do it, pardon my ignorance. On a good week, they’d manage to gather “around 20.” But never any hint of a story in the media.

And this story on the tiny protest is written exactly the same way as a story about a big protest: it gives precious space, and significant weight, to an insignificant group of people. To be fair, it does mention the minuscule turnout in the second paragraph; but after that there’s no mention of what is, to any objective observer, the most salient fact: that almost nobody attended the “rally.”  

By Brian Till Apr 1 2011, 1:18 PM ET Comment

http://www.theatlantic.com/nat…

Author makes this astute observation of our ‘troubled plant’, following the description of cooling tower collapse, previous transformer fire & subsequent SCRAM which occured shortly thereafter:  

“The narrative seems more befitting a Soviet-era republic than modern New England, but strings of jarring failures are what many in southern Vermont, and those across the river in neighboring New Hampshire, have come to expect from Yankee.”

And, another frightening example of NRC disconnect:

“Our nuclear plants are like snowflakes, they’re all different and they can all melt.”

-former NRC commissioner

(…and now we return to our usual sobering content… – promoted by Sue Prent)

There were two updates yesterday. This was from yesterday 3/31/2011, as well as the other one posted. Does not look good.

Untitled from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

It’s the big day.

If your browser doesn’t automatically forward in a couple seconds, click here.

By popular “alright already” request, the autoforwarder is now off.

To view Vermont Tigger on this glorious April 1st, click the link below:

How does that saying go?  If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas?

Thanks to a provision authored by Bernie Sanders in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, it has been revealed that between December 2007 and March 2010, the Federal Reserve loaned over $26 billion dollars to the Arab Banking Corporation, the majority of which is owned by the Libyan government! The interest rate for those loans?  Practically nothing…0.25%! [one-quarter of one percent]* This corporation’s toehold in the U.S. consists of exactly  two branches, both located in New York City (one identified as the “U.S. Branch” and the other, as the “Grand Cayman Branch.”)

Wow!  ‘Way to honor your commitment to  the American taxpayers, Federal Reserve!

Says Senator Sanders:

In another dubious twist, the Fed loans, at interest rates as low as 0.25 percent, relied on U.S. Treasury securities as collateral. In other words, at the same time that the Arab Banking Corp. was borrowing money at almost zero interest from one arm of the government, the Fed, it was lending money at a higher interest rate to another arm of the U.S. government, the Treasury Department.

This, while small U.S. businesses find it to be like squeezing water from a stone to get any kind of help from U.S. banks; and while tens of thousands of Americans face foreclosure and ruin.

There’s ample reason why we are awash in cynicism these days.

Anyway, Senator Sanders has sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke,  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner,  and John Walsh (Acting Comptroller of the Currency and Admin. of National Banks) demanding an accounting for this extraordinary behavior.  The letter poses a number of questions that beg where exactly the Federal Reserve’s allegiance lies:

.Why would the U.S. government exempt the Arab Banking Corp. from economic sanctions when it is primarily owned by the Central Bank of Libya?

.How many U.S. Treasury Securities does the Arab Banking Corp. currently own?

.How much money has the Federal Reserve lent to the Arab Banking Corp. since December 1, 2010?

.Is it in the U.S.’s interest to be borrowing and lending money from a bank that is predomiantly owned by the Central Bank of Libya?

.How may U.S. Treasury Securities did the Arab Banking Corp. purchase when it was borrowing money from the Federal Reservve’s various emergency lending facilities?

and finally:

.Why would the U.S. government allow a bank that is predominantly owned by the Central Bank of Libya..an institution on which the U.S. has imposed strict economic sanctions.. to operate two banking branches within our own borders?

The letter itself is well-worth a read as it contains many points of fact that will only serve to increase your level of indignation.

* corrected

Update on Fukushima: Discussion of High Level Radiation Releases and the Previous “Worse Case Senario” Planned for by The Indust from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.

Per Bob Audette, writing for today’s Brattleboro Reformer:

Late Wednesday afternoon, Entergy, which owns and operates Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, announced its attempts to find a buyer for the 40-year-old facility were to no avail.

What?  You mean no one wants to buy an aging power plant that’s shown repeated signs of failure, malfunction and mismanagement?

“Although we received interest from a number of companies, the conclusion of the sale process, without a sale, was driven primarily by the uncertain political environment in Vermont,” stated Richard Smith, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, in a press release. “The plant’s strong operating performance was attractive to potential buyers; the political uncertainty was not.”

I think it’s safe to refer to this as “the inability to find a donor for our corporate responsibility.”

But that doesn’t stop VY from attempting some deal making.  They’ve negotiated a tentative deal with the Vermont Electric Cooperative (though it still needs to be approved on multiple levels by VEC).  

But guess who’s in favor of the deal?

But Brad Ferland, president of the Vermont Energy Partnership, stated in a press release that the offer to VEC “is a great deal — and we need more like it. We encourage other Vermont utilities and Vermont Yankee’s owner to finalize similar agreements in the very near future.”

VTEP is a group of more than 90 business, labor and community leaders committed to finding clean, affordable and reliable electricity solutions. Entergy is one of its members.

So there’s no possibility of bias there, right?