It looks like IBM is leveraging job cuts and the bad economy in an attempt to op-out of the Efficiency Vermont obligation.Currently in the plan out of IBM’s $1.6 million given to Efficiency Vermont it got 90% back by following rules to create efficiencies. It is a complicated payment process but the basic op-out plan proposed would rely on IBM doing voluntarily what it now is required to do by law .Compliance would be verified after the fact by an audit .This must be part and parcel of the self-certification compliance style that Governor Douglas spoke of so movingly in his inaugural address .All the buzz words we have been hearing are in play here,flexibility,op-out and others too numerous to mention.  If  this obligation is removed where are the guarantees and auditors going to be and where are the penalties for non-compliance ?

In what way does IBM envision using this flexibility it so desires ?

House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Chairman Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, said he’s inclined to make the change”If there are things we can do to help them without doing any harm, then we should do it,” Klein said. “On the surface, it sounds like a beneficial idea to everybody involved, but we have to make sure it is.”

O’Kane, government affairs director for IBM laid down IBM’s concerns about energy costs in meetings with two House committees Wednesday, he offered a stark reminder of why legislators might want to help: The company’s 5,300 employees receive more than $250 million in pay a year, he said. The economic benefits of that reach far beyond, he said.

…The company wants the state to allow large corporations that agree to do at least $1 million a year in energy-efficiency work to opt out of contributing to Efficiency Vermont, a state program funded through a charge on every electric bill, O’Kane said. By running its own efficiency program, IBM would have more flexibility,  “It would, in our view, be much more effective if we could make investments and then get audited,”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

That’s the headline (minus the quotes) from a piece in today’s Rutland Herald.

I think it’s an odd way to frame it.  Why not “Vermonters turn to assistance from diminishing fund?”

Perhaps because that doesn’t frame it as the fault of the unemployed, who are clearly at fault for being a drain on our system.  It couldn’t possibly be the responsibility of the state for failing to meet the needs of the system by underfunding it, or the responsibility of employers to pay more into the system.

From the New York Post:

Caroline Kennedy last night withdrew her name from consideration to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate after learning that Gov. David Paterson wasn't going to choose her, The Post has learned.

I think this is a good thing. It's not just the question of whether she's paid her dues. She's done some charitable work, and that's been valuable, but from my reading it doesn't appear that she's really done anything political, which is kind of important if you aspire to be a politician. I also think there are bound to be other Democrats in New York, including strong women, who would be just as good for the job, who wouldn't have to carry the weight of having been handed it, and who have actually gone out and scrambled for votes year after year.

Jim Douglas.

Check it out.  WhiteHouse.gov has a whole new look.

Music to my ears.  As a Mac user, blogger, and constant internet user for my job, I love that both President Obama and Vice President Biden are internet savvy Mac users.  

[Wow it is so nice to type President Obama and Vice President Biden without the term “elect”.]

President Obama has already brought 21st century change to the White House.  Not only will Obama use a laptop in the oval office, but The White House website has a fresh new look with its daily blog.  Check it out under the tab:  The Briefing Room.

Also meander over there every Saturday morning to check out President Obama’s weekly video address at  http://www.whitehouse.gov/week…

Even more importantly, want things quickly and up to the minute, then sign up for Obama’s twitter account.  

Obama takes over thewhitehouse twitter account. Follow @ http://twitter.com/thewhite…,

Special thanks to Tristan O’Neil, Director of New Media at Vermont Business Magazine for the head’s up on all these Presidential electronic media changes!

I am a fan of Vermont State Parks; I mean I became a facebook fan.

So there is nothing wrong with a “Vermont State Parks” Facebook page. I do wonder if this is “news”. I also wonder if this is the kind of “expertise” Gibbs is bringing as Commissioner.

Remember Gibbs is super qualified (sarcasm drip):

Gibbs is an Eagle Scout, avid outdoorsman, snowboarding coach and adventure racer who hikes, bikes, climbs, paddles and snowboards as often as his schedule permits.  

Anyway, like I said, there is probably nothing “wrong” with this. It is odd and we better not find out it cost money, or took some huge amount of staff time etc…

As matter of fact, I hope it was Gibbs doing it at home sitting watching TV or something. Lets hope Gibbs is actually doing some good and not just playing on Facebook on the tax payers dime…

WATERBURY, Vt.—Fans of the Vermont State Park system have a new place to share their enthusiasm: Facebook.

Officials set up the Facebook page where park users can share their favorite parks and their favorite locations and things to do in the parks.

Vermont Forest and Parks Commissioner Jason Gibbs says the Facebook friends are “Internet ambassadors” who help spread the word about the many opportunities that exist within Vermont's state parks and recruit new visitors.

Gibbs says the diversity of affordable recreational opportunities at the parks must be matched by a diversity of outreach activities.
 
Full story on the AP

Please note that any vagueness in this account is done to protect the identity of patient and medics as required by HIPPA regulations.

I often look at the crisis management side of major events given that for several years I was a volunteer in an ambulance corps, and my 26-year-old daughter is a full-time paid paramedic.

The Inauguration of our 44th President Barack Obama was incredible for its lack of crisis.  

More than one million people standing shoulder to shoulder for hours upon hours in the cold to witness the historic inauguration.  

Thousands upon thousands of people never even made it on to the Mall.  Yet, there were no demonstrations, no major medical emergencies, and no necessity of emergency fire and police aid.  In spite of the thousands of people waiting to witness, this event, who didn’t get inside, things were calm and peaceful.   No need for fire hoses to quell the angry spirits of Limbaugh fans and other hate groups clamoring immediately on TV and the Internet for the failure of Obama’s presidency.

Yes, after the inauguration, Senator Ted Kennedy had a seizure due, according to his doctors, to his brain cancer and exhaustion.  He was speedily transported to the hospital, and we all wish him well.  My son, his wife and many of my friends from all over the country the country were on the Mall as witnesses to this historic event.  I was even lucky enough to celebrate at Nectar’s [photos to come later].  

While we witnessed and cherished the day, my paramedic daughter was on roaming ambulance sent from location to location on a 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. shift.  I rang her late last night just after her shift ended to share our feelings about the day. Had she and her ambulance partner had any opportunity to see or hear any portion of the inauguration?  Yes, they were watching Vice President Biden being sworn in on a big screen TV in Circuit City where they had stopped for a pit stop, when they were called out for an emergency.  

She said they went lights and sirens to rescue a middle-aged woman allegedly having a stroke.  When they arrived the woman was lying on the floor and incredibly disorientated.  She could not get her breath, was unable to speak, and seemed not to know what day it was.  Her young daughter was standing in a corner crying, terrified by what was happening to Mommy, and a neighbor friend was standing by.

While my daughter began to assess and treat the woman, the other paramedic made sure the daughter was OK to leave with the neigbor.  A possible stroke in middle-aged woman is clearly an unusual event, so the two paramedics moved as quickly as possible to get the woman to a hospital, as she was so unresponsive and incoherent.  

As they rushed lights and sirens to a large stroke center emergency room, my daughter tried repeatedly to calm her patient, asking her once again if she knew where she was, finally getting a response of “yes, in the ambulance”.  

“Do you know what month this is,” the paramedic asked.  The patient answered affirmatively that it is January.  

“And, do you know what day it is,” the medic prodded.

“Yes,” the woman wept, “today is a horrible day because the wrong man is being sworn in as our President.”

Old fears and hatred die hard.  

(Cross-posted on Broadsides.org and CounterPunch.org)

Oh America, you celebrate better than most. But why must you always celebrate with your blinders on? Why must you celebrate the end to the “race wars” with a nasty kick at the queers? Why must you speak of toil while keeping the toilers at bay?

I’m confused, America. I want to attend your parties but I smell of horseshit and I wouldn’t be allowed in. Besides, I can’t stop thinking about the servers at your parties. How do they feel about your $200 million inauguration? Would you like my dignity with that?, they ask.

I want you to think about class. I want you to wonder why it takes a billion dollars to win the presidency. I want you to wonder why Steven Spielberg and not Cindy Sheehan gets a seat at your party.

I want to believe. I want to say, “Yes, we can.”

I want to cry with you, America, when you feel like you’ve reached the top step. But I see many, many more steps to come. And so I cry for the 40 million of us with no health insurance. Or for the 3 million of us who lost our jobs recently. Or for the soldiers like Vermont’s own, Thomas Hermann, who ran for Congress – unsuccessfully – to really (truly) stop the war but found out last week that he’s being called back to serve yet another tour in Iraq under Obama’s army.

I want to believe, America. I’d like to celebrate. I’d like to wear the proud smile of those who pretend they’ve crossed the finish line of democracy but I can’t be fooled. For it is only the finish line of privilege that they’ve crossed. They have won, for sure. But we have lost. For we have no insurance. We have no jobs. We have no economic equality. And we have no tickets to the glittering inaugural balls.

America, I want you to listen to all of Martin Luther King’s speeches. He was making demands. He was righteously angry. He was right.

Listen to his words: “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

And if “amen” can be said to anyone or anything, it is not to the Rick Warrens and his homophobic rants in the name of the Jesus in his mind, it is to the words of the people who have truly risked something, fought for something, and denied themselves something so that those with nothing had a seat at the table of basic human dignity.

This is no time to celebrate, America. This is a time to push forward with all our might. And to reject false prophets. And to demand what is truly ours: Dignity. Truth. And Happiness. For all, not just those who can afford it or a seat next to it.

Oh yes, I have a dream, too, America. And it’s all about a victory in our next, glorious war: The War on Class.

Ready. Aim. Organize.

The following letter appeared in today’s Rutland Herald and warrants discussion.  I am a huge fan of the iPhone, but it’s important we don’t lose track of what’s below the surface here.  Kudos to Ralph Montefusco for submitting a letter.

Workers may get a break

RALPH J. MONTEFUSCO

(Communications Workers of America)

Burlington

( – promoted by odum)

Here is a follow up or a continuation and it is still outrageous.. . ….. Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden’s “think of it as a radio contest ” quip was mentioned in a diary five days back and ridiculed editorially by the Times Argus .It seemed an off the cuff remark that certainly wasn’t official operating procedure and perhaps was regretted as insensitive by the person that made it .Wrong,in the Free Press the VT. Labor Dept. not only repeats its advice but offers it as one of seven helpful tips on how to initiate a claim .Perhaps the un-employed should donate to the Governor’s Inauguration Ball to be heard rather than dial multiple times “just like a radio contest “.

For those who are newly unemployed and need to initiate a claim:

• Call the Initial Claims line at 1-877-214-3330.

• Try multiple times an hour versus once every few hours. Think of it like a radio contest and call multiple times. Hitting the “redial” button on your phone increases your chances of connecting as soon as a line becomes free

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…