I am not optimistic right now.

I’ve been thinking about how to put this into words for some months now.  I’m not sure I’m there yet, but it’s important enough to try.

Ever since the Democratic members of our legislature started embracing “Challenges for Change,” I’ve had a kind of sinking feeling about where this state is headed.  I’ve been hoping to be proven wrong, but nothing’s happened yet to suggest I am, and I’m honestly sickened by the cynicism behind this and the speed with which we’ve been willing to sell out the poor and disadvantaged in the name of fiscal responsibility.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it was awhile ago so I’ll bring it up again.  I’m pleased with the outcome of the vote on Vermont Yankee, but I keep coming back to wondering why it took place specifically when it did and why it was so urgent to do the vote that specific week.

And no matter what else I come up with, I’m led back to one thing: we were being played.  They knew they’d be taking up Challenges for Change that week and that the VY vote would be such big news that it would provide great cover for the support for Challenges.  

I just don’t see another reason for this and I don’t see it as anything but a ploy.

And the thing is, it basically worked.  Even though I believe Shumlin was behind this, I’d still vote for him in November if he’s the nominee.  Even though I believe most of the candidates were complicit in it, I’d vote for any one of them over Dubie.  

But there’s a dramatic difference between having my vote and having my support, and I don’t know who I can support any longer.  I hear these assurances that they’ll make sure the Challenges legislation doesn’t have too much of a negative impact.  But both Shumlin and Racine voted for legislation connected with Challenges for Change, and they basically handed a lot of power to the Governor for no reason that I can see.

I don’t know what the solution is, but it feels like this particular “solution” started with a back door deal that was done in such a fashion as to avoid responsibility and accountability.  And it was done on the backs of the poor.  It was done on the backs of child care providers and working mothers.  It was done on the backs of the homeless and mentally ill.  It was done on the backs of the most vulnerable among us.

I don’t often blog angry.  But I’m angry about this and when I wait until I’m calmer or more settled on the topic, it doesn’t come.  I just stay angry.  

And I honestly have no idea what to do about this, because I don’t see us overturning this legislation, even with a different governor.  

So I try looking ahead and I keep coming back to one thing: we’re just pretty much screwed.

That's not the word they used, but it is the inescapable conclusion of the report released yesterday on the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.

On January 30, 1972, civil rights marchers in Derry were confronted by the English army of occupation. Without provocation the army opened fire and thirteen Irish demonstrators lay dead on the ground; another later died of his injuries.

The dead have now been utterly vindicated. A report by Mark Saville, a justice of the English Supreme Court, which took twelve years and cost nearly $300 million, concludes that the killings were unprovoked and unjustified. The report finds that the victims were unarmed, that the army targeted unarmed civilians, that the army fired without warning, and that there was no justification for the killings.

I call that murder.

 Cross posted from Rational Resistance.

The Vermont News Guy seems to love starting his post off by affirming how fair, honest and non-judgmental he is …. and then proceeds to be unfair, dishonest and judgmental.

His latest post, One House, Two House, 06/16/10, provides a perfect example.

Margolis starts by telling us he’s going to begin with a suggestion and (my emphasis)

That’s “suggestion,” not “proposal.” This site does not customarily take sides in policy disputes, and none will be taken here. But now that Burlington has done away with its Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system, political activists there (and elsewhere in Vermont) might want to take a look at yesterday’s election in Port Chester, N.Y.

He then proceeds to talk about cumulative voting … so good so far … BUT THEN

That, of course, is not the intention of IRV supporters. In Vermont, the real purpose of IRV is to serve as a Progressive Party Protection Act, saving the Progs from the “spoiler” label when they effectively elect a Republican by siphoning off votes that would otherwise have gone to the Democrat.

A claim that can only have come from Margolis’ butt.

Here’s reality: folks like me support the Vermont Progessive Party in part because the Vermont Progressive Party supports instant runoff voting and will actually work hard to see it instituted. I most certainly do not support IRV because I support the Vermont Progressive Party.

Margolis tries to pass himself off as a new breed of electronic based reporter, but in truth he operates on level with the Vermont tigger … basically full of crap.

Vermont tigger already has the spot when it comes to faith-based, factually vacuous, hypocritical statement filled posts. I’m sorry to see Margolis go this route, and until he decides to change he is no longer on my reading list.

As for the Green Mountain Daily? I thank you folks for being honest, and although I may disagree with some, all or none of you (depending upon the subject) at least there is a deliberate effort to stay real.

I got nuthin’.  How about you?

oh … and Rob “republican party talking point repeat parrot” Roper too …

This link is to the preliminary GAO investigation into all the alleged and found without basis accusations leveled against ACORN by Vermont Representative Peter “The Weasel” Welch and his rabid right wing allies.

I’m not going to excerpt so please read. I know Peter “The Weasel” Welch and Rob “Republican party talking point repeat parrot” Roper won’t … otherwise they’d have to admit they’re both equally full of shit!

HEY WEASEL .. way to help destroy an organization who’s mission was to help empower those the likes of welch and roper have helped to disempower.

So … where’s the apology?

As the Environmental and Economic Costs Continue to Mount From Blast That Destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon Rig — Now the Worst Man-Made Disaster in U.S. History — Advocates Struggle to Draw Greater Attention to Safety of Workers on Other Offshore Oil Rigs

Response crews pour water on the burning Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico shortly after the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers and ultimately destroyed the rig and triggered a massive undersea gusher of oil, which now threatens the Gulf Coast with the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. But as much attention has been focused on the environmental and economic costs of the disaster, less attention has been paid to the 11 workers killed in the blast — whose bodies have never been recovered — and on the safety of workers on other oil rigs in the gulf. (Photo courtesy U.S. Coast Guard)

(Posted 5:00 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 15, 2010)

By MIKE LILLIS

The Washington Independent

(Published under a Creative Commons license)

The largest oil spill in U.S. history has received no absence of congressional scrutiny. Yet as lawmakers continue to focus their examinations on the environmental, economic and energy implications of the disaster, a number of labor advocates are beginning to wonder: What about the workers?

Eleven men were killed and dozens more injured, when BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20 about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The youngest victim, Shane Roshto of Franklin County, Mississippi, was 22; the oldest, Keith Blair Manuel of Eunice, Louisiana, was 56.

To date, none of the bodies have been recovered.

Yet their stories have become mere footnotes beneath the other narratives that quickly monopolized the national headlines – particularly the environmental and economic threats posed by the millions of gallons of crude oil that have gushed into the Gulf of Mexico since the blast.

WORKERS AT HUNDREDS OF GULF OIL RIGS FACE DANGERS

Worker advocates are quick to acknowledge the severity of the ongoing leak. Still, many also warn that ignoring the worker safety issues exposed by the tragedy would be a mistake, especially considering that hundreds of oil and gas rigs – among the most statistically dangerous workplaces in the country – remain active off the nation’s shores.

“The worker-safety issue has been completely lost in this story,” said Tom O’Connor, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, an advocacy group. “It’s one of the biggest industrial disasters in recent history, and yet Congress [views it] the same as the public: They’re not seeing it as a worker-safety issue.”

Federal statistics support O’Connor’s call for concern. Between 2004 and 2008, the most recent figures available, 563 oil and gas workers were killed on the job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, including 120 in 2008 – easily dwarfing the 93 coal miners killed in mining-related accidents in a comparable period between 2003 and 2007.

In 2008, the oil and gas industry accounted for more than 10 percent of all workplace fatalities resulting from fires and explosions, according to the federal Minerals Management Service (MMS). And offshore rigs are hardly immune. Between 2001 and 2009, 60 offshore workers were killed on the job, while more than 1,600 were injured, according to the agency.

BP OIL RIGS IN GULF DISASTERS WAITING TO HAPPEN, DOCUMENTS SHOW

[The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is investigating the April 20 blast, released dozens of internal BP documents Monday that showed BP made a series of decisions aimed at saving money that heightened the risk of a catastrophic blowout, with a BP engineer calling the Deepwater Horizon platform “a nightmare well” in an e-mail issued less than a week before the explosion.

[The release of the documents came just weeks after the online news service Truthout reported that a former contractor who worked for BP warned in a series of e-mails that the British-owned oil conglomerate violated federal worker-safety laws and its own internal procedures by failing to maintain crucial safety and engineering documents related to one of the company’s other deepwater oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

[The whistleblower, whose identity was not disclosed, raised concerns as far back as November 2008 about safety issues at another BP-owned rig, the BP Atlantis, located about 200 miles south of New Orleans.

[And more than a year ago, an outside consultant who examined procedures at the BP Atlantis rig warned that more than 85 percent of operations were not compliant with either federal workplace safety regulations or with BP’s own safety and environmental management standards and carried a high risk of “catastrophic operator errors.”]  

A MUCH DIFFERENT REACTION FROM THAT TOWARD W. VIRGINIA COAL-MINE DISASTER

The reaction to the Deepwater Horizon incident contrasts sharply with the response to another recent industrial disaster: the April 5 explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in southern West Virginia that killed 29 workers and almost killed a 30th. In the wake of that tragedy, it was concern for the well-being of the miners that captivated lawmakers and spurred their indignation.

“[Miners] deserve nothing less than a safe working environment, and an employer who respects and values their safety,” Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) said in April, echoing the sentiments of many of his colleagues. “We must reexamine the health and safety laws we have put into place and what more may need to be done to avoid future loss of life.”

Since then, three separate labor panels – the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, the Senate Appropriations Labor Subcommittee, and the House Education and Labor Committee – have examined the Upper Big Branch accident.

Neither of those panels has held hearings on the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Senate Democratic leaders were quick to call Gulf spill hearings in the Energy, Environment and Homeland Security committees.

In the House, both the Energy and Natural Resources panels have examined the disaster, while Representative Edolphus Towns (D-New York),chairman of the Government Oversight Committee, has launched an investigation into the actions of federal regulators prior to the accident.

A QUESTION OF WHO HAS JURISDICTION

But, to date, none of the scrutiny has focused on worker safety.

Part of the reason is likely jurisdictional. Unlike mine safety, which is monitored by a branch of the Labor Department (the Mine Safety and Health Administration) — and therefore overseen by Congress’ labor panels — offshore drill rig safety is a responsibility split between the Minerals Management Service, a part of the Interior Department, and the Coast Guard. Neither agency falls under the watch of Congress’ labor experts.

A provision of a 1970 labor law has allowed both the MMS and the Coast Guard to preempt the oversight authority of the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which focuses exclusively on workplace safety. Critics of that arrangement contend that the other responsibilities of the MMS and the Coast Guard dilute their concentration on occupational safety.

Peg Seminario, safety and health director for the AFL-CIO, suggested that as a result of the 1970 law, the wrong agencies are in charge of overseeing offshore oil rigs. “Those most focused on worker safety and the environment – OSHA and the EPA – don’t have a say in this,” she said. “It’s an area that clearly needs attention.”

Calls by The Washington Independent seeking comment from the MMS and the Coast Guard were not returned.

WHITE HOUSE, CONGRESS NOW ZEROING IN ON WORKPLACE SAFETY

The Obama administration has taken some steps to prevent similar disasters from occurring in the future. On Thursday, the administration acknowledged that the safety rules for offshore rigs have been lacking, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announcing strict new operating requirements for those projects, as well as a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling.

Faced with criticisms that the MMS’ duties – which include oil rig leasing, revenue collection and safety enforcement – are conflicting, the Interior Department recently split the agency into three separate parts, one of which will focus exclusively on the “oversight, safety, and environmental protection in all offshore energy activities,” according to an Interior Department spokesman.

[President Obama is scheduled to deliver a televised address the nation from the Oval Office at 9:00 p.m. EDT tonight (Tuesday) on the gulf oil disaster.]  

Meanwhile, congressional leaders are urging worker safeguards where they do have jurisdiction in the Gulf region — on land.

Representative George Miller (D-California), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, wrote to OSHA on Thursday seeking assurances that the agency is protecting workers involved in the cleanup efforts, some of whom have been hospitalized with headaches, nausea and vomiting.

“Much is still unknown about the long-term health effects of chemicals utilized in this cleanup,” Miller wrote, “Especially given the health and safety track record of [BP], heightened vigilance is necessary to ensure that every person aiding the cleanup is provided the necessary information, training and equipment to protect themselves.”

BP A POSSIBLE TAKEOVER TARGET BY CHINESE FIRM?

[Meanwhile, BP’s stock value has fallen by a dramatic $67 billion since the disaster began, leading to speculation that the oil giant could become a target for a takeover by a larger company.

[According to Bloomberg News, BP could become an attractive target for a takeover by a Chinese oil company. The business news service on Thursday quoted analysts at the London-based Standard Chartered Bank as saying that PetroChina, in a bid to top Exxon Mobil as the world’s largest oil firm, would have “persuasive” reasons to seek a takeover of BP.

[A takeover of BP by PetroChina would likely run into a brick wall of opposition by both the U.S. and British governments, however. An $18.5 billion bid in 2005 by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to purchase Unocal Corporation was scuttled in the face of strong opposition in Congress. Unocal — known for its orange-ball 76 brand — was subsequently acquired by Chevron Corporation (ConocoPhillips now owns the 76 brand).  

[BP’s shares have plunged from a year’s high of $62.38 a share on January 19 to a year’s low of $29 a share last Wednesday. It rose slightly on Monday, closing at $30.67 a share.]  

# # #

Special Report Copyright 2010, American Independent News Network. Published Under a Creative Commons license.

The ‘Skeeter Bites Report Copyright 2010, Skeeter Sanders. All rights reserved.

(cross-posted from Vermont Watch blog, here)

*Updated* (see bottom of post)

Back in 2004, then State Senator Jim Leddy offered the following comments concerning the dreadful conditions of the Vermont State Hospital:

New England Psychologist

Suicide likely to delay plans to revamp Vermont State Hospital

(December 2004 Issue)

[…]

Legislators and others have expressed concern that the administration of Governor Jim Douglas is moving too slowly on the hospital planning initiative. “I suggest we have lost a year,” says Mental Health Oversight Committee co-chair State Sen. Jim Leddy (D-Chittenden) in remarks before the annual meeting of the Association for Mental Health. “I can’t imagine that for another population, another disability, we would take so long to figure out what we should do.”

[…]

[…]

Read the entire article, here.

That was then and, nearly six years later, the following op-ed submitted to area newspapers for publication is now (posted as is with direct permission and with thanks to Jim Leddy for thinking to send it my way; am including an excerpt from his note since it hits the nail on the head as usual):

[…] … The treatment of Vermonters with serious mental illness often exists below the radar screen. Hopefully this op-ed will help focus attention on a problem too long ignored.

[…]

–Jim Leddy 

Op-Ed by Jim Leddy:

Two Crises, One Solution

A Story of Priorities

Nearly eight months ago – October 16, 2009 – the Champlain Bridge connecting Chimney Point, Vermont and Crown Point, New York was abruptly closed because it was determined to be unsafe. Within two weeks Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont and Governor David Patterson of New York announced transportation alternatives, including free ferry and commuter bus service, to assist the many Vermonters and New Yorkers who travel every day to and from work across the Champlain Bridge. On January 14, 2010 – three months after the closing – the two governors announced the design for a new bridge, with the goal to have it open by the end of summer in 2011.

More than six years ago the federal government determined that the Vermont State Hospital was unsafe for mentally ill Vermonters, and revoked the hospital’s certification to receive federal Medicaid and Medicare funding.

Six years later: no new hospital, several failed efforts to regain federal approval, and still no federal funds. In these dire times with many cuts in state programs and services, the continuing loss of these funds will cost the State of Vermont an additional $9,700,000 in the next fiscal year, on top of the millions lost over the past six years.

I wonder if we would be in the same place if it were any other illness or any other hospital than the Vermont State Hospital for the Mentally Ill. The stigma of mental illness still lingers more than 10 years after Vermont enacted pioneering legislation requiring parity in coverage and services for people with mental health and substance abuse problems. It is hard to imagine that seriously ill patients with any other illness would have, as their only option, care in a dilapidated facility which does not meet federal standards. It is unfathomable to imagine that these patients and their families, not to mention their communities, would tolerate, much less accept such conditions in any other Vermont hospital.

But mental illness is different, I guess. Stigma lives on. Parity is a word, not a reality. And clearly not a priority.

A bridge fails. And eight months later there’s a plan, free ferries transport people back and forth across Lake Champlain, and Governors Douglas and Patterson break ground on a new bridge on June 11th. Where there’s a will,….

A hospital fails, and six years later it is still failing. For six years the State of Vermont has allowed failure to become the status quo. What’s different between these two pictures? What’s wrong with this picture? Priorities, it’s always priorities.

The recently adjourned Legislature did resolve to support a secure residential program in Waterbury, but this depends on receiving $10,000,000 from an uncertain federal Medicaid bonus payment. And the estimated cost for building this new facility is more than $15,000,000, with no plan of how the project would be completed. Still no new hospital.

For patients at the Vermont State Hospital, their plight often invisible, there is a sense of abandonment. There is also a sense of shame that the State of Vermont has allowed failure to win. So many challenges, so little change.

No more excuses, no more delays. If we can build a new bridge lickety split, we should be able to build a new hospital for some of our most vulnerable relatives and neighbors. It isn’t an either/or decision. Priorities. It’s always about priorities. Enough. It’s time. It’s long past time.

Jim Leddy, South Burlington

Retired Director of Howard Center, Former State Senator and Co-Chair of the Mental Health Oversight Committee

*Update*: In addition to his previous public service and for the sake of full disclosure, Jim Leddy is president of the Vermont chapter of AARP (AARP-VT) as well as having been recently appointed by Speaker of the House Shap Smith to the state Health Care Reform Commission; the latter of which is currently being challenged by Doctor Deb Richter of the group Vermonters for Single Payer. Read a report concerning such via Vermont Public Radio, here.

( – promoted by GMD)

When I booked Susan Bartlett onto VTblogosphereTV last winter, we had no idea that the date we picked would fall on the Legislature’s last week to figure out the budget. Needless to say, as Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Susan could not make that date, but I worked with her campaign manager John Bauer to reschedule. The later date worked better anyway, since with the budget ironed out we could speak with some finality.  

Susan has a knack for creating a sense of comfort. When I asked her before the interview what issues she wanted to highlight, she asked me what my coworkers were talking about at my job. Her interest in people’s concerns is genuine, and she sounds more like a neighbor than a politician. I never got the sense that she was trying to finesse an issue. Having a governor who does not seek political advantage at every opportunity could take some getting used to.

In this clip she discusses our earlier primary date (August 24), the goodwill among all of the 5 Democratic candidates, the budget process in hard times, and how the internet has made us all less dependent on traditional media in getting to know the candidates. She closes with words that nicely capture Vermont as a special state of mind.

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3.

[Note: No endorsement implied. Just continuing the VTblogosphereTV tradition of showcasing the qualities of the guest.]

Susan Bartlett’s campaign website

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Maybe its just me, but discussion of the Governor’s travels while in office make me distinctly uncomfortable.  Apparently, compared to some other states, Vermont taxpayers are not nearly so much on the hook for his ramblings as they might be; and I suppose that’s all well and good. Nevertheless, one has to wonder what exactly he is saying when he wanders about the globe, presumably to carry a message about Vermont.  What is he saying to China, to France and to Canada?  

Set aside, for a moment, the ethical question of whether or not, as governor, he should ever be traveling at the expense of a foreign power.  Is Governor Douglas truly the person we want representing the Vermont brand?  The message he has consistently broadcast is that Vermont is a poor place to do business; that our taxes are burdensome; and that our young people are fleeing from the lack of opportunity here.

He seems to favor low-grade investments from out-of-state entities like box stores, but has paid little more than lip-service to the agricultural heritage of the state, to fostering green technology, and to achieving statewide broadband access; all of which offer our greatest opportunities for home-grown prosperity in Vermont.   His nearsighted focus on the corporate interests of unreliable entities like Entergy and IBM betrays a deficit of imagination and a lack of confidence in Vermont’s own potential for innovation.  

As we approach the end of the Governor’s final term of office, perhaps someone should give us an accounting of how productive his travels have been for Vermont.  How much have our exports to specific countries increased, and how many more tourists are we receiving from Quebec?  With this information, we might be better able to evaluate the prospect of a continuation of Governor Douglas’ agenda of Vermont-bashing under a Dubie administration.  After all, Dubie’s opening salvo in his campaign was that infamous web-banner essentially proclaiming Vermont to be a failing state.

I think we’ve all heard that you catch more flies with honey.  Perhaps it would be worth a try.  

For your Sunday morning viewing pleasure, another group of pics from one of my urban explorations into Places One is Not Supposed To Go. This one’s from one me and my gal went to in the fall of last year, in New York City. Go below the jump for more…

These photos are from a rather sprawling hospital complex in NYC, one that’s been around a rather long time. There are two abandoned areas of interest, the first being the children’s hospital built in 1937 (seen above) which we explored, and a group of buildings from the turn of the century that were set up as a tuberculosis hospital (see last picture). The 90’s horror flick “Jacob’s Ladder” was filmed in one of the buildings of the TB hospital.

The children’s hospital was abandoned about 20-25 years ago. It’s amazing how quickly things can deteriorate in that amount of time:

The building was set up with six floors with symmetrical wings, as well as a basement that held the kitchen, and a sub-basement with the furnace. It is hard not to be awestruck at how much gets left behind, as though it was done in a hurry:

This was our first venture of this kind. It was tense; ones senses are heightened, as one needs to be on the lookout for the perils of deterioration, as well as the police substation right behind the building. But with this heightened sense comes a greater attention to detail, such as seeing the intricacies of peeling paint:

The TB hospital is on some sort of historical registry, due to the intricate mosaics that ornament the building:

Not believing one whit in the paranormal, it is still hard to be immune to the lasting imprint of the suffering that went on in these places. More than likely, a child died in this crib, seen through the window:

We have some more adventures planned shortly, so I’ll keep you updated as they occur. To see the complete slideshow of this set, in all of its full-sized glory, click here.