I’ve been listening to the live-stream of the marriage equality debate on the House floor. Most of the Repubican antis are whining on behalf of “unheard” or possibly “unlistened-to” constituents. They were the ones pushing for the amendment to put off the bill for a “nonbinding referendum” in November. One surprise for me was Will Stevens, one of the Independents, voting for the referendum.

The referendum push is clearly a stalling tactic and a refuge for those legislators who want cover.

Bottom line is that the anti-marriage people have had all the same opportunities as the pro-marriage people to register their opinions with their representatives. Not that I think legislators are god, but here’s the analogy. People pray to their deity all the time with requests — for health, happiness, loved ones, a job, whatever. And their deity, they believe, listens to every request and answers every request. Sometimes the answer is NO.

People can send emails  and letters and make calls to their legislators on issues any time. And their concerns are listened to. There have been hearings. Gay and lesbian couples who want to marry have already served a NINE-YEAR probationary period. Enough is enough! So now, we hope, the answer to prejudice is NO!

I just received an email from Deb Markowitz announcing her support for marriage equity. I’m not decided as a primary supporter yet, but want to share this because I think it’s commendable for two reasons; for making a clear statement of her position as part of the primary process, and of course, for the position she took!

The other oft-mentioned prospective candidates, Bartlett, Racine and Shumlin, have all also indicated their support by voting in favor of this issue.

From her email:

I’m reaching out to you now to share a recent opinion piece I wrote on marriage equality. Given today’s vote, I thought it was important to share my position – please feel free to forward it to anyone else who might be interested.

I was surprised and disappointed to see that Governor Jim Douglas has stated that he will veto the marriage equality bill that is now moving through the legislature. Vermont was a national leader when we adopted the civil union law in 2000. Since that time we learned that civil unions are not good enough.  

(full text below)

Thank you for joining the hundreds of Vermonters who have signed up to stay in touch with my campaign efforts. As we move forward, I hope you and I can continue a meaningful exchange of ideas through my website and through email.

I’m reaching out to you now to share a recent opinion piece I wrote on marriage equality. Given today’s vote, I thought it was important to share my position – please feel free to forward it to anyone else who might be interested.

OPINION EDITORIAL

March 27, 2009

The Time for Marriage Equality is Now

By Deb Markowitz

I was surprised and disappointed to see that Governor Jim Douglas has stated that he will veto the marriage equality bill that is now moving through the legislature. Vermont was a national leader when we adopted the civil union law in 2000. Since that time we learned that civil unions are not good enough.  

My office was charged with assisting in the implementation of the civil union law.  It was our job to train the clerks and justices of the peace and explain the law to the public.  I was also asked to report back to the legislature on the success of its implementation.  As I reported to the commission appointed to study marriage equality, unlike a person who has been married in Vermont, a person who has obtained a civil union here leaves the state, and enters into a legal limbo that has meaningful consequences for the individuals and their families.

For many families this is a very personal issue. In my family both my sister and my stepsister are in long term lesbian relationships. My sister and her partner have been together for 21 years. My stepsister and her partner have a beautiful daughter together. It is hard to explain to my children why Laura and Rachele do not have the same right to marry that Paul and I have. I love my sisters and want them to have every possible benefit in life including the right to marry the people they love.  

There is no question that these are difficult times for many Vermonters and that the legislature must, and will focus on getting Vermonters back to work and helping our struggling businesses. There is no question that the legislature must and will pass a tough and balanced budget and they will decide how best to use the federal stimulus money to create new jobs, to make our roads and bridges safer, to bring fast internet connections to our rural communities, and to help more Vermonters tighten up their home to save on energy costs.  

By threatening to veto the pending legislation the governor has taken a step to further divide the state rather than using his unique position as governor to bring us together in recognition of our common interest to have stable loving families. It is divisive and will create a greater distraction.

I know firsthand that separate is not equal when it comes to this important civil right.  The legislature is capable of addressing multiple issues, so the argument that there are more compelling problems facing the state is no excuse.   Standing up for the rights of all Vermonters to join in marriage is the right thing to do.  

Best,

Deb

www.debforvermont.com

For those of us not easily “distracted”, there's an interesting conference happening next week in Montpelier on monetary reform policy. An introduction:

Article 1 Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution reads,“The Congress shall have power…To coin money (and) regulate the value thereof…” Yet Congress has largely ceded that “money-creating” power to the private Federal Reserve Bank (the FED), from which that same Congress then borrows money back at interest whenever we need to spend more than we collect in taxes. This might not be a problem if the FED were actually part of the U.S. Government, the way the name makes it sound like it is. But the Federal Reserve is not a part of the Federal Government. To be sure, the President appoints the Fed Chairman, but the FED itself is owned by the private banks, and is a private corporation.

It is the private banks that have the power to create virtually all our money, out of thin air through the fractional reserve banking system. Our money supply (the checking deposits,savings deposits, CDs, money markets) comes into existence as loans, repayable at interest. By switching to a U.S. Treasury-issue system of money creation, all new money would be created “debt-free” without any need to ever pay it back to the Treasury.

This is not an inconsequential matter for our society. The world is drowning in debt. It is well documented that public debt has been increasing exponentially in recent years, such that in FY 2008, the U.S. Government paid $451 Billion in interest (c. 15% of the total of the federal budget). About fifteen cents of every dollar that we pay the IRS goes to interest on the debt!

It's some pretty heady stuff. I attended a conference in Massachusetts a few months ago, which was basically a history of the U.S. monetary system, followed why the reasons our current system as it currently stands is unsustainable and contributes to a lot of the problems we have in society right now.

The details of the conference:

A group of local citizens under the moniker The Kettle Pond Institute for Monetary Reform is bringing Joe Bongiovanni to the Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier, Wednesday April 8 from 7-9 PM to present his talk: America’s Debt Crisis and the Need for Monetary Reform.

He’ll cover: what money is and how the FED and the private banks create money as debt in our country. He will explain the unsustainability of debt-created money. Then he will introduce the notion of debt-free money, its history in the U.S. from Colonial times through Lincoln’s time, and he will argue for its potential to create a more equitable and peaceful society. He will end his presentation by discussing The American Monetary Act, a draft of legislation that attempts to enact changes that Joe advocates which may be accessed here.

There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion after the presentation. Joe is very clear that this talk will be geared towards the person on the street. “For too long,” he says, “we have left decisions about our money system to the “experts” who are surely fine people, but who have no incentive to change the status quo.”

I know some of the people involved in this, they really have done their homework. It's not Ron Paul/fringe stuff. It's one of those things that stays of the radar of the national dialogue, in part because of its complexity, and of course, because the big banks and such are the ones making a killing on our current monetary policy. Hope some of you can make it.

You can download the full press release (excerpted above) here.

Based upon the report in the Rutland Herald, it looks like the leak is in the reactor clean-up system.  In a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) water containing contaminants flows in while chemically clean but still radioactive steam exits the reactor.  This system is designed to clean up the water inside the reactor so it doesn’t become contaminated with chemical contaminants that might injure the fuel or weaken the reactor vessel.

Once again this is an example of VY’s deferred maintenance at the risk of both reliability and safety.  The reactor water clean-up is considered a safety system.

How ironic that Entergy did not release this information when the incident occurred, but waited until their weekly newsletter, which was released on the eve of two huge voting issues at the State Legislature.  I guess that ENVY is hoping the legislators will not notice the 3rd leak in 3 months.  The 2nd leak was also in this same safety related system.

I wonder if DPS was given this information and sat on it too, or not informed as has also previously occurred.

Rutland Herald:

Yankee springs another hot leak

BRATTLEBORO – Entergy Nuclear announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had another radioactive leak, this time in a filter that removes radioactivity from other water leaks.

The company, in its weekly newsletter to the media, said the leak was not affecting the operation of the plant. The leak was found in a filter in a portion of the plant that was plagued by another leak that was fixed last week after three months of leaking thousands of gallons of radioactive water…

…Today’s announcement is the third radioactive leak at the plant in the past three months.

NOT an April Fool’s spoof:

Yankee springs another hot leak

Published: April 2, 2009

BRATTLEBORO – Entergy Nuclear announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had another radioactive leak, this time in a filter that removes radioactivity from other water leaks.

The company, in its weekly newsletter to the media, said the leak was not affecting the operation of the plant. The leak was found in a filter in a portion of the plant that was plagued by another leak that was fixed last week after three months of leaking thousands of gallons of radioactive water…

…Today’s announcement is the third radioactive leak at the plant in the past three months.

http://rutlandherald.com/artic…

Much-lauded Rutland Herald editorial page editor David Moats crosses the media divide onto radio this morning in a VPR commentary lamenting the current decline of newspapers across the nation. The topic is an important one, and one we’ve certainly addressed at this site on numerous occasions. Amidst the alternating praise and criticism that we pepper reporters with on an ongoing basis, we’ve also had a steady undercurrent of concern for the newspaper industry’s health given the free speech/free press niche they fill.

And it’s also a frustrating topic for those of us who, in our spare time, are filling a free speech niche of our own – either by writing for, commenting on, or simply reading new media sites, and whether those be citizen or alternative journalism websites, blogs, or even social networking sites like Facebook. Frustrating because, while many in the newspaper industry – faced with an “adapt or perish” paradigm for the future – are proactively integrating and engaging new media (see Seven Days as a great example), others are simply reacting.

And Moats, for all his talent, is doing nothing more than what Herald editorial has done in the recent past – simply shaking his fist at the heavens. In doing so, he illustrates what often is a significant impediment to the continued viability of the newspaper business model; newspaper professionals unable to (or resentful of) change (or possibly evolution).

Moats’s commentary focuses its ire on blogs (and those that read them), starting out in generally reasonable tones before rapidly devolving to a blanket dismissal of the medium as “Blogmaniac.com.”

But it underscores the reality that Moats is reacting rather than being proactive, when his industry so badly needs him to be the latter. He reacts in the same way he did during the iBrattleboro trial lawsuit. For those who may have forgotten, the administrators of iBrattleboro were sued by someone based on the content of a user comment. At the time, the letter of the law as well as legal precedent were crystal clear in that the case had no merit whatsoever. Observers across the nation rolled their eyes and declared the suit would be roundly dismissed in no time at all – which, of course, it was. Moats’s editorial page, however, waxed righteous at the prospect of new media’s chickens coming home to roost and even enthusiastically predicted a trip to the Supreme Court itself. A couple other Vermont traditional news sites followed suit.

It was, frankly, an irrational stance to take at the time, and we hear a bit more of that same irrationality in this VPR piece. What makes it particularly frustrating is that Moats is usually one of the most rational voices in the Vermont media. It is a shame that he loses his perspective on this issue. In the commentary itself, Moats not only myopically focuses on blogs (as though there is no other new media), he seems to take the stance that all news of any kind seems to flow from newspapers, casting his dismissive net across television and (ironically) radio in his determination to condemn those blog maniacs. Does he really believe that no other medium generates any fresh or breaking news reports? Probably not.

Does he really believe that blogs have no value or role to play in the media landscape?

I’m thinking at this point that that may well be the case.

Between the evolution of media and the economic meltdown, the storm is now raging for traditional media – but in particular newspapers. While we continue to need them as much as ever, the transition is proving fatal for many – and that’s a concern. New media is an inevitable by-product of our new communications infrastructure. The economic collapse is an inevitable by-product of years of economic wrongheadedness. Both, while born in human activity, are at this point cultural forces of nature.

Shaking one’s fist at (and castigating) forces of nature has a poor history of leading to anything productive. It’s going to be those that harness the storm, rather than curse it, that will be around to greet the sun when the clouds inevitably clear.

From a comment in a previous thread by Waterbury Rep. Tom Stevens.  These are the people who have been robocalling us:

The executive director is Bryan Brown, formerly with the Family Institute of Connecticut.  Fundamental Catholic ties.

The Chair of the Board is Robert George, professor at Princeton and fundamental Catholic.  Many conservative ties.  To quote Andrew Sullivan, “his passionate opposition to the civil equality and freedom of gay people is the core principle of his politics.”  Ties to American Enterprise Institute, involved in opposition to Prop. 8.

Kevin Corkery is a board member.  May have donated to Mitt Romney and Pat Roberts in last presidential cycle.

Chuck Stetson is a NY investment banker and board member.  He founded Bible Literacy Project, which compiled a textbook based on Bible to be used in schools: “there are references to the Bible in Shakespeare, so if they don’t know the references, they won’t learn Shakespeare.”  Grandfather made his money with Coca Cola, railroads and JPMorgan and was very friendly with Prescott Bush.  Stetson the younger went to Yale at the same time as W and Kerry.

Ken VonKohorn is a board member and chair of the board of Family Institute of CT, which is conservative religious, not just Catholic.  He’s a money manager in Westport, CT and has written for AEI.  Robert George is on this board as well.

Luis Tellez is a board member and head of the Witherspoon Institute (winst.org), which publishes thepublicdiscourse.com, fundamental and conservative writing on religion and politics. Also hosts http://princetonprinciples.org/, a discussion of “Marriage and the Public Good.”

Matt Holland is a board member and and a professor of PoliSci at Brigham Young University

Thanks, Tom, for posting this.  It’s very helpful.

Anyone else up for pushing for a ban on all robocalls without an opt-in (i.e., if you ask a company to call you, such as to arrange an appointment to install cable tv at your house, they may robocall you) in the state of VT?

Per today’s Rutland Herald, in a great piece by Lewis Porter:

…The job of Jon Kart, a fish and wildlife scientist in charge of helping coordinate protection of non-game animals before they become endangered, is on the list of potential layoffs.

“None of my funding comes from the General Fund,” said Kart… not only will the federal money that is used to pay his salary and benefits be at risk, but the federal money and other funds that go to support his habitat restoration and other work – more than half of which is spent on private contractors and other needs in Vermont – could be lost, Kart said.

Every dollar of Fish and Wildlife spending on his program – mostly from hunting, fishing and trapping licenses – raises $7 in other funds, totaling millions over the years, Kart said.

Laying him off would actually cost the state money, given that his unemployment and other benefits would have to be paid, Kart told legislators.

But yes, let’s pretend that this is about a budget gap and not about trying to eliminate environmental regulations and doing damage to the unions.

We really need a new governor.

Pardon this break from the April Fool’s silliness. Unfortunately, this one is for real…

The Princeton New Jersey based “National Organization for Marriage” – a national religious right group that works against LGBT rights across the country – is currently running robocalls in the state on the marriage equality bill. Click below for an example (player won’t show if you’re using Chrome… just use this link instead: http://greenmountaindaily.com/wp-content/uploads/upload/robo.mp3):

While there is a compelling case out there that this organization is either a Mormon Church front group, or is at least largely supported by the LDS Church, they got started in California (where they were very active in the California Prop 8 fight) with money from the Catholic Knights of Columbus. In any event, it is – once again – a group with a religious agenda that they feel everyone should be legally bound to, no matter what state they live in.

UPDATE: They called my home in Montpelier three times tonight – same call as the one above, except it targeted my own Rep. – Warren Kitzmiller – who has posted the following update on his Facebook page: “Angry!! about the nonsense robo-calls! I’ve gotten TONS of calls from folks who are mad about these calls and they are asking me to the exact opposite . . .which is what I’ll do.” You go, Warren…

( – promoted by odum)

New Chief of the Vermont State Police, Tom L’Esperance, has announced a major break in the case of Governor Douglas’ mysterious disappearance.

L’Esperance told reporters this afternoon the department “has reason to believe that there is a fiendishly dangerous, interstate legging ring, headquartered in VT.”

This ring, according to sources, has nationwide reach, and was run out of the left rear pocket of the Governor’s pants. Details are sketchy, but unnamed individuals in the Governor’s office have told this reporter that just before his disappearance, the Governor mumbled that someone was “in his pocket,” and he planned to “take care of the situation.”

Our office has been leaked a copy of the following police sketch, laying out the interrelationships of the suspected ring members:

While the pants were the obvious mastermind, located at the heart of the ring, the other players, especially Trousers are wanted for questioning.

Police consider the suspects extremely dangerous, and strongly recommend you avoid approaching them. Instead call the special hotline at the end of this article, immediately, if you should see them in your neighborhood.

The bloomers are said to be particularly starchy, and are likely to chafe and scratch unsuspecting victims. The following artist’s rendering has been released to help the public identify this particularly dangerous garment:

Police are offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of bloomers, knickers, trousers, or other ring members.

To report a sighting, call: 1-800-555-FOOL.