Just fourteen minutes ago, Tom Salmon announced on his Facebook page that he is not going to run for re-election as Auditor of Accounts.

His statement:

I have enjoyed my service to the state but will not seek re-election as state auditor. It has been an honor to serve with such a talented team at the SAO (State Auditor’s Office). Thank you all.

As you know, Salmon has gotten a lot of flack in these pages for various things, including turning his coat to run as a Republican, his support for Republicans, and his farcical talk about running for Senate against Bernie Sanders.

There’s no word on whether he’s running, but he shows every sign that he will. There’s also nothing on his official web page.

Funny that he has so little interest in doing the job of Auditor, after running for election, getting Democrats across the state to volunteer to help with his recount, running again, and then taking office.

It doesn’t say much for his constancy of purpose, does it?

Per the Brattleboro Reformer:

During routine surveillance, steam was seen coming from the high-pressure coolant injection system at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant at 11:25 a.m. on Feb. 16.

“All unnecessary personnel were cleared from the reactor building as a precautionary measure and valves in the steam path were closed,” said Larry Smith, Yankee’s manager of communication. “The issue has been entered into the corrective action systems and an investigation has been started to determine the source of the steam.”

I’m beginning to think that the chief economic impact of the closing of Vermont Yankee will be on the professional investigator industry.

In the meantime, per Dave Gram/AP in today’s Reformer:

A major manufacturer in the nuclear industry is reporting a potential “substantial safety hazard” with control rods at Vermont Yankee and more than two dozen other reactors around the country, according to a report made public Wednesday by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy said it had discovered extensive cracking and “material distortion,” and likely would recommend that the boiling water reactors using its Marathon control rod blades replace them more frequently than they had been told to previously.

Oh, and…

Signs of cracking in the blades would include increased levels of boron and tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, in the water used to cool the reactor, said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman.

“As long as there is no significant increase in boron or tritium observed, the recommendation would be continue operation until the end of the operating cycle,” Sheehan said in an e-mail.

Tritium.  Where have I heard of that before…?

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch, here)

One wonders whether, if corporations are considered persons under the laws of the land, should not then people likewise be considered corporations as well?

Being that such would be completely absurd of course, neither should corporations be considered persons, who are afforded all the rights that ought be reserved to actual persons alone, not corporate interests.

Ours is supposed to be government of the people, by the people, for the people, not government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations.

Among the problems with corporations being granted rights of persons is they only want those rights and none of the responsibilities, obligations and duties that also go along with such or, at least only those they decide to pick and choose from, something which people do not have a choice about since one comes with the others.

When doing a search concerning a resolution currently before the state senate on the subject, I came across a good article (via Valley Advocate, here; Thursday, February 10, 2011; Northampton, Ma.):

Vermont: Corporations Aren’t People

Vermont lawmakers push back on High Court’s Citizens United ruling

By Tom Sturm

The wording of a new resolution brought to the Vermont State Legislature by state senator Virginia Lyons is stark and unambiguous: “The profits and institutional survival of large corporations are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings.” Corporations, the resolution continues, “have used their so-called rights to successfully seek the judicial reversal of democratically enacted laws,” leaving democratically elected governments “ineffective in protecting their citizens against corporate harm to the environment, health, workers, independent business, and local and regional economies.”

Lyons introduced the bill on the recent first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United decision, which, through Byzantine interpretations of precedents that gave corporations “personhood” via the 14th Amendment, allowed them the same First Amendment rights as citizens are granted under the Constitution. President Obama somewhat boldly addressed members of the court at last year’s State of the Union Address, saying the decision would “open the floodgates for special interests-including foreign corporations-to spend without limit in our elections.”

Much of the controversy surrounds another facet of the ongoing argument-the notion that money is equivalent to speech, and that therefore no limits should be placed on expenditures for political advertising during federal election campaigns. Many argue that even well-organized groups of individuals cannot hope to compete with the vast amounts of aggregated cash that corporations can produce as needed, and that most individuals do not own their own newspapers, television stations or the other media networks that offer a greatly amplified voice to the political views of corporations that do.

[…]

Read the article in full, here.

Information on the resolution can be found, here.

In addition, on Saturday, March 5th at 2:00 PM, Senator Bernie Sanders will be hosting a Town Meeting to discuss the issue of corporations being afforded the status as “persons” under the constitution, here.

View town meeting poster, here.

(UPDATE: WEAC, the Wisconsin Education Association Council has called for teachers STATE-WIDE to call in sick tomorrow and Friday.)

I don’t really know much about Wisconsin, other that Madison has always seemed to be a rather liberal oasis. Recently, their new Republican governor has almost literally gone to war with the state unions.

State budgets all over the country are hurting…we see that right here in Vermont just about every day. Governor Scott Walker, since taking office has not only not negotiated with the state unions, he’s supporting a “budget repair bill” that will sharply curtail their collective bargaining rights, make them increase their contributions to their pensions, and double their contribution to healthcare. This is par for the course with Republicans, as they’re doing everything they can to make public employees the new punching bags in the public eye.

It gets worse. He’s actually threatened to deploy the National Guard in the event of a walk-off as his own personal intimidation force, and even after a flood of criticism, reiterated his intentions last night.

Thankfully, there’s been a backlash. Today, an estimated 13 to 30,000 protesters came to the statehouse, 1,000 of which spent the night sleeping in the building’s rotunda. Walker dismissed the impressive numbers, pointing out how there are “about 5.5 million people in the state.”

There have been signs that the public outcry is having an effect, as the Republicans in the statehouse have hinted they are open to changing some of the issues about collective bargaining, undoubtedly to as little as they think they can get away with. The protests are expected to continue tomorrow.

There are far-reaching ramifications for this, as if Walker is successful, other union-busting governors will undoubtedly be emboldened by this. Ohio, for example is getting ready to push a bill that would fire strikers and eliminate collective bargaining. Gov. Christie of NJ plans on “punching” the public unions. Ed Schultz has a good rundown, as well as as talk with John Nichols, about why this is so damn important. Must watch, it’s not bad for MSM:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I’m so cynical at this point, but this potentially has the chance to explode across the nation. Let’s hope so.

Not to worry, just those annoying radioactive puffs of steam!

Steam Leak At Yankee Forces Plant To Clear Reactor Building

Wednesday, 02/16/11 5:50pm

John Dillon – Montpelier, Vt.

(Host) The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had a steam leak today that forced plant operators to clear the reactor building to reduce worker exposure to radiation.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail…

Per Brattleboro Reformer / Bob Audette:

Sorrell and the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut are asking a federal appeals court to force the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reconsider a decision it made regarding its waste confidence rule.

The three-member commission of the NRC ruled in December 2010 that nuclear waste could be stored in pools or dry casks at the nation’s 100-plus nuclear sites for 60 years after a reactor shuts down. Until then, the limit was 30 years.

In the lawsuit, the AGs claim the NRC violated federal laws requiring a site-by-site review of health, safety and environmental hazards.

The problem here is that the NRC hasn’t actually inspected the storage site for VY itself but ruled based on a generic sense of how such sites tend to impact the environment.

Think of it as giving a student a passing grade because most of his classmates got a passing grade, even though he never took the test.

I have to say, I’m kind of amazed to see Sorrell do, well, anything.  I wouldn’t call his lack of interest in his office exactly Salmonesque but, to this point, he’s not exactly rising to head of the class, so I’ve no real confidence that this will go anywhere.  In all likelihood, he’ll just give up once he gets bored or tired.  But in the meantime, he’s at least making the motions of doing what an attorney general is supposed to do: uphold the laws and challenge people who would do the state harm.

But, even if this does peter out, not to worry:

Larry Smith, spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said the casks containing spent fuel in Vernon are designed and tested to prevent the release of radioactivity under the most extreme conditions — earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods.

So VY says it’s nothing to be concerned about.  

Don’t you feel better now?

This isn’t so much an opinion piece (well, to the degree that a stubborn, opinionated S.O.B. like me can write such a thing) but more an observation and articulation of some questions which stem from it.

A recent piece written by odum about a pending Bill which would allow some 10,000 early educators across Vermont the right  to unionize and negotiate with the state (and some high-profile support for it) has, as of this writing, spurred zero comments or discussion whatsoever.

At the same time, another piece by odum, posted about 20 hours later, which is a completely non-political, personal ‘congratulations’ to some friends following the birth of their first child, has 2 comments.

Now, I’m not looking to take away from the latter- odum, as founder and publisher is perfectly within his right to use this forum for personal messages and the birth of a child is surely momentous enough to spur complete strangers to chime in on the ‘congrats’; but I’m curious about the lack of interest among GMD readers in the former.

Are GMD readers silent on this post because there’s no interest in labor issues? because the readership is universally supportive or excited and there’s nothing else to say?

My personal observation is that posts on GMD about labor issues tend to garner a very low level of conversation and debate.  Why?  Do readers of GMD have no opinions on the early educators efforts? of the high-profile support they’ve earned?  Do people perceive the issue has no relevance on their own lives, and so don’t have much of an opinion?  What of the various concern trolls that hang around?

( – promoted by Jack McCullough)

As I searched through the braintrust publications of the Vermont secesher community, it struck me the other day that I was finding more and more frequently that I was coming across an increasing reliance on the contributions of known anti-Semites.  Last week I wrote about one VTCommons blogger’s long, distatsteful history of anti-Semitic writing and activism.

The most recent find was of a woe-is-me, the-sky-is-falling, economic type of article, much favored by the Vermont secesher community, by one Paul Craig Roberts.

Vermonters are supposed to read this stuff, climb into the secesher clown car and head for the nearest cliff. After all, according to “Vermont Commons” publisher, Rob Williams, and Thomas Naylor, baas of the Second Vermont Republic, there is no god but secession and through secession thou shalt be saved. And heck, Naylor’s got that whole Israeli Mafia and the possibility of the Mossad running operations here in Vermont running around in his head.

Paul Craig Roberts was once a writer for national publications and had served in the Reagan administration. No more, for in 2006 Roberts took a very hard turn to the dark side. Now his work is more often published in VDare.com, a white supremacist, anti-Semitic website where his archive of hundreds of pieces may be found among this nation’s most virulently anti-Semitic writers.

VDare is designated as a hate site by the Southern Poverty Law Center; more on VDare.com is to be found here, here and here. In addition to his despicable contributions at VDare, Roberts writes for American Free Press, successor to the racist, anti-Semitic, Holocaust denying Willis Cato‘s earlier hate publication, The Spotlight. Roberts’ work on the Jews and Israel has been frequently highlighted at Cato’s well known Holocaust denial website, Institute for Historical Review.

The Anti-Defamation League has an extensive report on Roberts promotion of anti-Semitism here

Naylor has featured Roberts’ squirrelly February 7 piece, The Official Unemployment Rate; an “Official” Lie at the SVR website. Naylor had earlier published Roberts’ stuff here and here. Like Naylor, Roberts has been a repeat visitor to the racist, anti-Semitic, Holocaust denying web radio program, The Political Cesspool. The Political Cesspool‘s host, hatemonger James Edwards, polled readers of his blog in late December, 2010 about who some of the first guests of the year should be on his show; among other top vote getters like David Duke and Pat Buchanan was none other than SVR‘s own Paul Craig Roberts. Roberts got one of the coveted early appearance spots on January 15, 2011.

Thus it was hardly a surprise then when I found that Paul Craig Roberts work had also been featured by no less than VTCommons publisher Rob Williams himself. Why wouldn’t Naylor and Williams have their respective toes dipped into the same ideological cesspool? After all, when Naylor’s problem with the Israeli Mafia first reared its head, Williams said that he agreed with Naylor about Israelis.

“Since most Americans have been conditioned by years of corporate media training to associate anti-Israeli sentiment with Anti Semitism, talking about the Israeli Mafia smacks of antiSemitism blah blah. Holocaust, SVR are racists, etc ad nauseum. I have spent 4 years defusing the SVR/LOS nonsense and it is finally done, even in the blogosphere. Why go there again?”

“… the thing is I agree with Thomas re Israel.”

Fact is, as time goes by, the “small” Vermont secesher crowd more and more resembles the usual bigoted suspects.

(The above was posted yesterday, Sunday, February 13. Williams has posted a usual non-responsive response that reiterates his intention to proceed with his solo bardate.  None of the invitees have any inclination whatsoever to appear on his fantasy debate team.

A new post on another VTCommons/SVR content contributor who has strong ties to the anti-Semitic, Holocaust denying community has gone up today.

mor2cum)

(cross-posted to Vermont Watch, here)

For those interested in learning more about what is brewing when it comes to town meeting day and politics at the local level as well as behind the scenes of the same, there are two candidates seeking to represent the residents of district three (3) on the Montpelier City Council, which has been the seat held by City Councilor Jim Sheridan for the last twelve (12) years (*Update*: Jim Sheridan is not running for re-election).

This could prove to be an exciting and rather interesting as well as, I predict, a close race between the two candidates and one well worth paying attention to during the next two short weeks leading up to the election.

Each of these candidates will bring a fresh perspective, energy and commitment of their own to addressing issues and problems facing the capital city.

After town meeting day and, no matter whom is elected to fill the district three seat, the council will have four (4) of six (6) city councilors serving at the same time who are under forty (40) years of agein their early forties or younger, not counting the mayor (correction).

These candidates also appear to already harbor ambitions to eventually seek to serve within the state legislature someday should the opportunity afford itself.

While this is her first run for political office, Angela MacDonald-Timpone is by no means a complete stranger to the world of Vermont politics as is often played out at the local level however. She had previously worked on the campaign and also on the staff of Bernie Sanders when he was serving as the state’s lone Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition, Mrs. Timpone reports having been a frequent visitor to his house and listening in on many political discussions while she was growing up due to living on the same street as him and his family back during the time he was Mayor of the City of Burlington.

To learn even more about the candidate, read both a brief profile as well as her responses to a variety of questions posed by yours truly to each of the two candidates, here.

In what will be his second run for political office within less than a year, the first being for one of the two seats the capital city has within the Vermont House of Representatives, James Merriam has now focused his efforts on seeking to represent the residents of district three (3) on the city council.

Mr. Merriam had previously served as the student representative on the Montpelier school board from 2005 through 2007.

To learn even more about the candidate, read both a brief profile as well as his responses to the questions posed, here.

Contact information is also provided on those same informational pages linked above in case anyone has additional questions for the candidates.

( – promoted by Sue Prent)

VT Digger just posted this press release (note: I’ve bolded info about a Friday appearance, in Burlington):

Wendell Potter, former Cigna executive, to speak at Statehouse about industry’s ‘deadly practices’

By Press Release on February 13, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 10, 2011

CONTACT:

Deborah Richter, M.D.

(802) 371-7754

drdebvt@sover.net

Ellen Oxfeld

(802) 388-7214

oxfeld@middlebury.edu

What:

Testimony at the Vermont Statehouse by a former public relations executive in the private health insurance industry who is now an outspoken critic of that industry’s practices, with special reference to the potential impact of such PR on the health care  reform process in Vermont.

Who:

Wendell Potter, former head of communications at Cigna insurance company, now senior analyst at the Center for Public Integrity and senior fellow on health care at the Center for Media and Democracy, and author of the new book Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (introducing Wendell Potter via pre-recorded video connection).

Where:

Vermont Statehouse, 115 State St., Room 11, Montpelier

When:

12:15 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011

Mr. Potter will make a second appearance on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. in Contois Auditorium, City Hall, Burlington, Vermont.

Since Wendell Potter walked away as head of communications at Cigna in May 2008, he’s become a high-profile critic of the methods used by the insurance companies to deny health care to Americans. He has also spoken out and written about the health insurance industry’s role in manipulating public opinion, including by stoking unfounded fears about reform and by underwriting phony “nonpartisan” and “grassroots” organizations to covertly promote the industry’s goals.

Potter, who has been called “the ideal whistleblower” by Time magazine, will be joined by Sen. Sanders (who will introduce him through a pre-recorded video) at the Statehouse. Potter will speak about the dangers these industry practices pose to the integrity of the public debate about health care reform in Vermont.

Sponsors:

Vermont Health Care for All (Vermont for Single Payer), UVM United Academics, United Professions AFT Vermont, and Vermont Physicians for a National Health Program.