… is apparently, to give Joe the Plumber a job:

You’d think Joe the Plumber’s 15 minutes would be up by now. But , no, after a stint as a correspondent in Israel, he took his act to Capitol Hill today.

The first order of business: giving political advice to conservative Republican staffers at breakfast, which, Wurzelbacher told us, “Went really well.”

His advice, essentially, was to take no prisoners in standing up for their beliefs.

“It’s not politically incorrect to say you’re Republican or conservative,” Joe said. “They need to dig their heels in and fight for what needs to be done.”

And no reason to be subtle, he said, as long as folks inform themselves. “I don’t believe there’s two sides to every story. It’s black and white,” Wurzelbacher explained. “There’s right and wrong.”

One thing that needs to be done, he said, is killing this stimulus package, because it’s just another example of “American government” — Republicans and Democrats — “kicking our butts left and right.” He also called it welfare.

Wow… eloquent and a deep thinker. Who knew?

And yet…

Ben Stein described the brouhaha over his selection as commencement speaker at the University of Vermont as “*laughable*” on Tuesday called the whole episode “*pathetic*.”

So much for “graciously.”

In a phone call to the Free Press on Tuesday, Stein said that describing his views as “antithetical to scientific inquiry” was “a wildly unfair characterization.” He said he was by no means “anti-science,” as some of his critics have described him.

Anyone who follows Scientific American’s 60-second science, knows better.  It quotes Stein from the film “expelled” as quoting Darwin:

“With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination. We build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed and the sick. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.”

Scientific American, however, continues the Darwin quote, completing it in full:

“The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which was originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, even at the urging of hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of his patient; but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil.”

Back to Stein from the Free Press:

“Mr. Stein has also expressed opinions on subjects unrelated to economics, most notably with respect to evolutionary theory, intelligent design, and the role of science in the Holocaust,” Fogel said in a statement to the UVM community Monday. “Those views are highly controversial, to say the least.”

Stein called the university’s response to the furor “chicken sh**, and you can quote me on that.”

As for the commencement speech, he said, “I didn’t really want to do it in the first place.”

I’d say this is win-win.

(Ed has the latest with the new NRC report… and it ain’t good.   – promoted by Christian Avard)

That’s the best way I can describe the NRC report released today on the cleanup fund for Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee.

The report ignores the fact that with the falling stock market, the amount in the fund has dropped by 20% since 2007. NRC staff take no notice of the drastic decline in the value of the cleanup fund.

While the report states

Should there be a material decline in the Decommissioning Trust Fund balance, the staff’s analysis and preliminary findings may no longer be valid

Entergy has not yet been required to officially report the dramatic loss in the fund to the NRC. So the NRC pretends that the fund has as much money as before the crash.

More on waste after the jump

By 2011, Entergy Nuclear VY will be storing an amount equal to two pounds of high level nuclear fuel waste per each man, woman and child in Vermont. This is the highest amount of waste per capita of any state in the US.

Entergy wants to use money from the cleanup fund to pay the costs of storing this waste.

Independent expert testimony before the VT State Legislature last week made it clear that the nuclear fuel waste is likely to remain in Vernon forever.

http://rutlandherald.com/artic…

Entergy’s waste storage cost calculations, based on the fiction that all the nuclear waste will be removed by 2042, undermine the NRC staff’s basis for approving Entergy’s funding plan.

When the legislature chooses a safe energy future based on renewable resources, and refuses to allow continued operation of VY after its license expires in 2012, steps must also be taken to ensure that Entergy pays the full cost of cleanup to Vermont standards.

If this weren’t so sad, it would be funny.

OK, it’s funny.

Apparently James Simpson, candidate for Mayor running as a Green, suffers from that same syndrome as men who drive Hummers (see http://www.urbandictionary.com…

Give it a read: http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2009…

Apparently IBM has a plan.  H/t to Crooks and Liars

Under a program called Project Match, IBM will help workers laid off from domestic sites obtain travel and visa assistance for countries in which Big Blue has openings. Mostly that’s developing markets like India, China, and Brazil.

So here’s the deal: if you work at IBM and are worried about the economy, you shouldn’t be.  Why not?  Because you can get relocated to India, be forced to follow local laws and sell your home in Vermont for rock-bottom prices.

Way to go!

If you woke up on Christmas morning like I did and went to DailyKos, you saw kestrel9000’s (Ed Garcia) “Feed the World” diary at the top of the recommended list, followed by juliewolf’s (Julie Waters) “War.On.Solstice.”

So when I interviewed Ed Garcia recently, I had to lead with that.

good stuff

 The conversation got me thinking a lot about the relationship between the blogging and the radio worlds. I also got to thinking about the relationship between GMD and Dailykos. There’s GMDers I see over there regularly, some occasionally, some not at all. Some GMDers may be over there but use a different screen name.  So….

 Loading ...

Look, anything’s possible. And I’d like to see it happen. I think Dean is a more than competent manager, has learned a tremendous amount in the last decade (making him one of those rare national-level Dems with a hands-on understanding of national and corporate dynamics, as well as rural needs), and has a real commitment to health care as an issue. Is he a single-payer proponent, no. But we’re not getting one of those. And Dean isn’t in the single-payer camp, not necessarily because he is ideologically opposed to it per se, but rather that he sees it as unattainable. In fact, I daresay there’s no one better suited on the horizon – and I say that as one who could respect (if not necessarily agree with) Obama’s decision to choose Daschle over the good Doctor.

But the reason Dean was passed over for anything and everything in an Obama administration has not changed. His arch-nemesis, Rahm Emanuel, is still Obama’s “Number 1,” and I see no reason to believe that his mood has softened. And if one would absolve Obama of responsibility for enabling such petulant grudge-mongering, recall how it was made clear that Dean would not even be welcome at the press conference where the new President introduced Dean’s successor at the DNC, Governor Kaine of Virginia. Although former-Deaniacs-turned-Obamiacs across the internet have tried to ignore or rationalize that slight away, the fact is, it was cold, cold, cold, and is part of the reason so many Washington insiders have termed Obama’s snubbing of Dean as completely without precedent.

So, although strange things happen, I’m afraid in this case its pretty unlikely. Far more likely that Obama might – oh, I dunno… maybe cut a deal with Senate Republicans to pull an arch-economic-conservative he barely knows into an empty post at, say, the Commerce Department, without upsetting the balance of power in the Senate… rather than do the right thing by the guy who deserves much of the credit for getting him into office in the first place.

If Obama suddenly decides to throw his activist base a bone (or frankly, to go for the best choice over political calculus and personal bullshit), it might go the other way, but that’s the only caveat I’ll drop.

Quick update: I’ll also add that I think those that speculate that Obama may well break out the position that Daschle was to fill into HHS Chief and a distinct Health Care Czar are probably correct. My hunch is to look for Kansas Governor Sebelius to get the former, and a congressional alum to get the latter – perhaps someone we haven’t thought of at all, like a Dick Gephardt or somesuch.

How many of you are still unable to access your e-mail, two days after the changeover from Verizon.  I have spent a total of 7 hours in queue and finally struggling with three separate technicians, none of whom could get my e-mail working.  Now they tell me they’ll “get back to me” within 48-hours of 7:00 last night (even though my first request for help went in at 11:00AM that morning.)  I was also told that the 150 messages that seem to be held in suspension may never be recovered!

What’s next with Fairpoint? They’ve already reneged on their promise to keep those accounting jobs in Vermont.  What will happen with their promise to provide DSL to rural communities?

(Heh. – promoted by odum)

I was trying to imagine the presentation that Gov. Douglas might have made to President Obama at their meeting on Monday. Given his approach to the state budget situation, I have to think it went something like this:

“Mr. President, I appreciate the offer of support through the stimulus package. But we Vermonters believe that tough times call for tightening our belts. We should not live beyond our means, especially in times like these. As I told the people of Vermont, we can no longer afford to maintain all the government programs we have come to enjoy. Therefore, Mr. President, with all due respect, I must refuse any influx of federal funds that arise from deficit spending. And I urge you to follow our example throughout the country: Cut spending. Balance the budget.”

So that’s it, right? That’s gotta be more or less what he told the President, right? Let’s turn to the Times Argus account:

The Republican governor and the Democratic president spent about 30 minutes discussing the state of the national economy and the dire need for the economic stimulus bill to pass during a meeting that came as a surprise to Douglas.

“The president and I both believe that we need to do something now to help the economy,” Douglas said early Monday evening during a telephone interview.

Oh. Gee. Never mind about our core principles, then. Show me the money!

(Cross-posted at Broadsides.org)

Poor Rod Blagojevich. He got caught, of course, trying to negotiate a deal for how he’d go about appointing a replacement for Barack Obama’s senate seat. And the crowd went wild – liberals and conservatives alike. And, while using all the strength they could to keep straight faces, they intoned in a near-perfect chorus: How dare he? How could he? This isn’t the way things are done.

Bullshit. Old Blago was just a bit reckless.

But, cried the bullshitters, you can’t trade favors when it comes to making appointments like that. The liberal darling of the moment, Rachel Maddow, even went so far as to imply that Blago incriminated himself on her MSNBC show because he – rather laughingly – declared that what he was really trying to get in return for the appointment was a legislative promise or two.

Maddow’s knuckle-dragging competition at FOX News displayed a similar sense of “outrage,” only more so since Blago, the other key players and the seat in question were all wrapped in the “evil” D-word: Democrat.

The rules are clear, they all sang, you cannot seek anything in exchange for a political appointment.

Sure, this is a fine theory – not to mention one that ought to be followed and enforced. But, sorry silly talking heads, this is far from the political reality. And, of course, you know it.

Fast forward to today’s news that President Obama will be appointing New Hampshire’s Republican Senator, Judd Gregg, to be his Secretary of Commerce, an appointment that will lead to yet another open senate seat to be filled by a sitting governor.

When news of the potential Gregg appointment first broke last week it was portrayed as little more than a clever “trick” by the Obama team to either look bipartisan by even considering it or by knocking Gregg out of the Senate so that New Hampshire’s Democratic governor, John Lynch, could appoint a replacement – thus securing the coveted 60-seat filibuster-busting majority the Democrats desire.

As a result, the pundits scoffed at the Gregg pick. There’s no way Gregg would give up his seat and stick it to his Republican colleagues, they all chirped.

But that was last week. Because this week – today, in fact – a deal has apparently been reached: Gregg and Governor Lynch have agreed that a Republican will be appointed to take Gregg’s place once his appointment is confirmed. And not only that, they’ve also apparently agreed that whomever they appoint will also agree not to run for the open seat in two years.

So let’s tune into the MSNBC and FOX News pundits to feel their current outrage for the obvious “conditions” that were secured for a political appointment: Nothing. But. Silence.

Bullshitters, indeed.

And the most comical aspect to all of this is that these same news organizations are reporting this morning that the Obama administration has “not been involved” in any of the negotiations surrounding a possible replacement for Gregg. Cue the laugh track.

From a political perspective, I can understand why the Republican cheerleaders are keeping quiet on this one. But what about the liberals? They’re being asked to both “shut up” about the appointment of yet another Republican to the Obama cabinet and “ignore” the deal to appoint another Republican to replace him.

Geez, who put the “kick me” sign on their backs? But, being the good liberals that they are, they’ll just play along, pretending, of course, that maybe – just maybe – Obama will flash his mega-watt grin at them sometime soon.

The good news is that there’s at least one Democrat who won’t be keeping quiet on this New Hampshire deal: Rod Blagojevich. I’ll bet his lawyers are preparing the subpoenas right now for each and every player in the “Gregg deal” in order to prove what we all, unfortunately, should know: Our career politicians are little more than money and power whores.

And once they’re done with their dirty dealing, they rest of us still won’t have the jobs we need, the health care we deserve or the peace we desire.

Until we wake up.