(Promoted pursuant to our policy of front-paging diaries from candidates for statewide office. – promoted by Jack McCullough)

I just got word that Governor Douglas has allowed S.88 to become law without his signature. Thank you to everyone who worked with me to get this bill to his desk and made into law.

I am pleased that S.88 has been allowed to become law today. It is the essential next step for health care reform in Vermont. I am proud that, as chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee, I was able to craft this bill with the help of many legislators and advocates, and to achieve a non-partisan, strong majority vote in both houses. I made a promise in the fall to move Vermont forward in addressing our health care crisis, and I kept that promise.

I am disappointed that the governor pointed to the anticipated design work as a reason for his refusal to sign the bill. Jim Douglas should understand what most Vermonters do, which is that our health care costs are out of control and access to affordable health care is becoming more difficult every day.

S.88 offers hope that Vermont can lead the way once again by charting our own course and showing that quality, affordable health care can be available for all Vermonters.

I look forward to the process that will happen over the summer and fall, and as governor, I will implement the best design option.

–Doug Racine

http://dougracine.com/  

Here’s to tilting at windmills.  May we forever rise to the occasion!



It’s not even Memorial Day, and we’re broiling like lobsters in record heat. (Thank you, Climate Change Foot-Draggers!)  Confronted with what is by far the worst oil spill in U.S. history, the man we all worked so hard to send to the White House is telegraphing helplessness back to us. What is there to celebrate, as we enter this odd little weekend wienie-roast commemorating the dead of war?

Well, we’ve got Bernie; and it looks like he’s finally had enough of the go-along-to-get along. Channeling the frustration and anger of all environmentally sentient Americans, Bernie Sanders is calling once and for all for an end to offshore drilling.  Besides banning offshore drilling, his “Clean Coasts and Efficient Cars Act” would exact full restitution for the spill from BP, and force automakers to finally deliver on the fuel-efficiency they’ve been kicking down the road now for decades.  Does he have any chance of moving this thing forward? Who knows? Certainly there is no better time to make the argument; but it feels awfully good to see our guy stand up and speak the words to power that we all long to scream.

Per today’s Keene Sentinel, Vermont Yankee had to do an “automatic shutdown.”  

But we don’t need to worry ’cause “no radiation has been released, according to spokesman Laurence M. Smith.”

Well, I feel better.  

 Vermont State legislators are restricted from soliciting funds from lobbyists when the legislature is in session. The legislature is, technically, but no less legally still in session until June 9th.  

Gubernatorial candidate Brian Dubie is taking no chances and recently canceled his planned big bucks fund raising breakfast to remain in compliance with the spirit of this regulation.

But this deserves a stand alone mention.    

If you are candidate for Lt. Governor Republican Phil Scott it is ok to just go ahead as planned, give yourself a pass and bend the rules. He says he understands the reason for the rule, yet still chooses to pursue campaign donations in possible conflict with regulations.  

State Senator Phil Scott’s campaign manager says the Elks Hall is already rented and he did not want to cancel it.

Sen. Scott says "I can understand that it's the law, and I understand why," he said. "Certainly especially during the legislative session you wouldn't want to put yourself nor lobbyists in a compromising position."

 

‘But you see the hall is rented and we don’t want to cancel it. Trust us we would never do anything inappropriate.’   IOKIYAR  

"I'll have to make it very clear tomorrow night," that donations from lobbyists must wait, Lamberton[Scott’s campaign manager] said Tuesday about the event for Scott, who now represents Washington County and is one of two Republicans vying for his party's nomination for lieutenant governor. "I'll have to have someone go through the checks and send back any that are inappropriate."

Danielle Nierenberg is blogging everyday from across Africa for the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet blog. She is also writing with her partner Bernard Pollack at her personal blog: BorderJumpers.

As we talked to locals in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital city, people were so proud to talk about the things they love about their country.

“We are free here, our country is so peaceful, you don’t have to be afraid,” said one.

“You can criticize the government, you have free speech, free elections,” said another.

Botswana is indeed an incredible country.

Home to not only the most beautiful wildlife we’ve seen yet, including elephants, giraffes, impala, kudu, and warthogs, Botswana is also where we’ve met some of the friendliest people. And it is one of the most vibrant political democracies we’ve seen so far, a nation proud of its peace and stability.

More than diamonds, people in Botswana consider water their most precious resource. This landlocked country’s national flag is blue to symbolize the element and it even named it currency “pula” or “rain.” Nearly everywhere you go in the country-including public toilets, sinks and showers-you see signs asking you to curb your consumption of water. These signs are tied to a massive national education and advertising campaign geared towards creating a general consciousness about the obligation as individuals to conserve water.

We visited a project helping to conserve another one of Botswana’s precious resources: wildlife. The Mokolodi Wildlife Reserve teaches the community about conserving and protecting wildlife and the environment, while also educating students about permaculture. By growing indigenous vegetables, recycling water for irrigation, and using organic fertilizers-including elephant dung-the Reserve’s Education Center is demonstrating how to grow nutritious food with very little water or chemical inputs.

We can learn a lot from Botswana on the importance of conservation. Here are two simple techniques they are using to curb consumption of energy and resources:

1. All electrical outlets-from the city to the countryside-come with an on/off switch. While this switch might sound simple, how many times have you seen these in the United States (instead of just having to unplug everything)? Televisions, alarm clocks, air conditioners, and other appliances are programmed to withstand these power shifts and they don’t have to be reset when the power is turned back on.

2. We’ve all seen plastic bags on the side of the road or in trash bins- taking many lifetimes to biodegrade – and doing irrevocable damage to the environment. While a few U.S. cities – such as Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington DC have implemented a small fee – or even an altogether ban- for plastic bags, we were impressed that Botswana has already implemented a surprisingly high (by local stands) national fee for their use or purchase. As a result, people bring their own bags to the grocery store or use no bag at all. Check out this interesting page on plastic bags by the Worldwatch Institute.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts — we check for comments everyday and want to have a regular ongoing discussion with you.

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only I would’ve put it even more strongly.

(Thanks to Raw Story for the pointer.)

( – promoted by GMD)

Interesting Mark Johnson show today. Mark interviewed both Geoff Norman, Editor of Vermont Tiger, and economist Art Woolf. First, Mr. Norman talked a lot about economic growth… but not wind power development. He didn’t want to spoil his view. Even though it would create jobs, new tax revenue, and, well, economic growth (not to mention a long-term, sustainable source of renewable/carbon-free energy). But, he does support installing new cell phone towers so he and his vacationing friends from New York can have cell phone service. Hmmm. So much for the NIMBY argument.

Equally interesting was the discussion with Art Woolf who said that gas taxes should be raised to pay for our roads and bridges. And, he said that he would favor eliminating the VEGI program which hands out taxpayer dollars to private businesses who promise to expand or create new jobs in Vermont (the trade-off, he said is that instead Vermont should reduce the corporate income tax). Still, it’s nice to see at least one of the folks at Vermont Tiger finally talking about new revenues, public investment, and ending corporate welfare. I’m sure it won’t take long to back track and/or explain away these statements.

Finally, I noted with some interest the session at the Vermont Tiger conference led by Tom Evslin. Mr. Evslin’s session is called “What the stimulus giveth, Challenges taketh away.” This is a shocking admission from the Governor’s point person on stimulus money and Challenges for Change. It is a clear signal that the Administration recognizes that its efforts are at best counter-cyclical and worse, may be counterproductive in terms of emerging from the recession.

It calls into question the Douglas/Dubie team’s obsession with budget-cutting. Instead of enhancing efforts to stimulate the Vermont economy and ensuring a permanent budget solution using new revenue, the Administration’s constant cut-backs are jeopardizing public investments. Vermont is facing the possibility of a $120 million budget deficit next year and there has been next to no real discussion of making the necessary adjustments to find the revenue to deal with it. If Vermont leaders fail to design a balanced approach to Vermont’s budget woes it will mean ushering in an era of near-permanent budget crisis which will lead to even more draconian cuts to essential programs and services.  The result of focusing solely on budget cuts is that we are left fighting this recession with one policy arm tied behind our backs, and with reduced ability to seize economic opportunities when they arise as we emerge from the recession. It’s worth noting that most other states are raising the revenue they need, so they will be better positioned to rebound faster than Vermont.

This kind of flip characterization is really stunning, especially in light of the fact that we are not supposed to “take away” from the impact of the stimulus package… that is precisely why much of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) money came with strict rules attached that said states must show “maintenance of effort” rather than cutting back on programs when the federal funds came in. While Vermont presumably complied with those requirements where specified, if the cumulative effect of the budget cuts reduces Vermont’s ability to maintain effort across state government in a variety of related essential programs and services does that not compromise the rationale for why those requirements were imposed in the first place?  

A Connecticut River fish caught four miles upstream from the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor this winter tested positive for low levels of strontium-90, a highly dangerous radioactive isotope recently confirmed in soil outside the plant.

(Fish in Connecticut test positive for isotope, Barre/Montpelier Times Argus, 05/25/10)

But not to worry because according to William Irwin (described as radiological health chief for the Vermont Health Department) the strontium contamination is not related to Louisiana Entergy Yankee – the toxic material is from 1960s era nuclear weapons testing and the Chernobyl explosion/meltdown of the 1986.

We’ve been down this road before. Louisiana Entergy Yankee is right now cleaning up strontium from depths in the ground unreachable by airborne contamination that Louisiana Entergy Yankee and the Douglas administration were happy to blame on the same long ago happenings!

Per today’s Rutland Herald:

A Connecticut River fish caught four miles upstream from the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor this winter tested positive for low levels of strontium-90, a highly dangerous radioactive isotope recently confirmed in soil outside the plant.

But the Department of Health said Monday that the fish’s strontium-90 was not related to this winter’s radioactive leak at Vermont Yankee, and state officials attributed the strontium to atmospheric testing in the 1960s and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster 20 years ago, which spread radioactive fallout even as far away as Vermont.

But not to worry:

“Even if in edible portions, there is no expected, measurable health risk from the consumption of fish contaminated from these extremely low, fallout-derived quantities of strontium-90,”

See?  Everything’s just fine.

Wonder how they know where the SR-90 is coming from?

The headline as presented: Obama seeks to force votes on spending cuts. The headline as it should have been presented: Obama not really that different from dumbya bush.

According to today’s (05/25/10) Barre/Montpelier Times Argus Obama is on the king making push:

President Barack Obama sent legislation to Congress on Monday that would allow him to force lawmakers to vote on cutting earmarks and wasteful programs from spending bills.

Rather than deal with democracy which involves input from numerous sources, apparently the darling of the (suckered) liberals wants the ultimate and final say-so over as much as possible.

This is how kings and dictators act … just like President Cheney in the not distant at all past.

The second worst part about Obama’s grab for greater centralized authority? Apparently he doesn’t even need it! A process for removal of unwanted spending already exists … it’s called congressional action.

Oh yeah .. the article also makes mention of yet another alternative that is written into sub-constitutional law (my emphasis):

There is already a process under which Obama can ask Congress to cut wasteful programs, but lawmakers are free to ignore the request. Republicans have urged Obama to send the Democratic-controlled Congress a package of such rescissions, and promise to employ a cumbersome process available under existing budget laws to force a vote. But Obama has opted not to officially send Congress such spending cuts, and has instead worked with Democrats to kill a handful of programs and force reductions in others.

Got that? What is in existence is working! Nonetheless king wannabe Obama desires more centralized dictatorial authority.

Add in all of these: Wall Street bailouts; a medical insurance “reform” that ensures greater profits for the already glutted with our cash big insurance corporations; expanded war and increased military spending; governmental secrecy; more offshore drilling with more environmental permit waivers; a banking “reform” bill that does nothing to change what needs to be changed and a push for nuclear and coal power to name a few.

Oh, and this insistence that in the face of a massive environmental and economic disaster caused by big corporate BP’s Gulf oil spill government can do nothing beyond stand in front of cameras and pontificate about how much government is doing when we all can see Obama has either encouraged or allowed our government to be totally neutered.

I guess if you prefer your sex with folks of the same gender you’ve found some solace in Obama, but not only is that all you will get … for the rest of us Obama has been nothing more or less than dumbya bush II.

Wake up folks, the headlines are obvious if not actually in print.