Spokesman leaves out vital information to keep press release short.

Notes fear of “very,very long press release”!

Inspectors didn’t have a clear view of hard to see problems !

There is humor all over this but today for some reason its just sad and disgusting.Does anyone in the NRC or Entergy even consider their long term  credibility  when making these statements ?

The NRC declares in a report that the rotting timbers were hard to see and they did not have clear view of them.The master of unintended foolishness himself Rob Williams defends his not releasing certain information because he wanted to keep press releases short.  

VERNON – A special inspection team from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to find five degraded support columns in the only safety-related cell in Vermont Yankee’s cooling towers because inspectors didn’t have a clear view of the interior of the cell, according to an NRC spokesman.

“There was no way the special inspection team could see these with fill and louvers in place,” according to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan

Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, defended the company’s decision not to include information about the bowed and cracked timbers in its press release about the refueling outage.

“That could have been a very, very long press release,” said Williams, who last week was criticized for also neglecting to mention the 16 additional new cracks found in the reactor’s steam dryer.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

Was there a time when products were either good for the environment or they were not? Maybe its only in looking back that this seems like it might have been . Environmental group’s identities are meshed with the corporate world  and the lines between them are movable and trade-offs are everywhere.This may have been the case always but grey areas now loom large .Offsets ,trade-offs and compromises of all kinds are happening.These trade-offs remind me more than a little of  the church selling indulgences way back when in the 1400’s……the rich buy their  way into green heaven. Heap onto this situation the cross feeding of funding ,the success of green branding between businesses and big environmental groups to complete the fusion. As green branding sells , green status can be bought .

Bottled water: Fiji brand bottled water has offset it’s way to greendom  with the help of an environmental group.The approving enviro-group and the bottler are wed pretty tightly together .

When Fiji Water announced a sustainability initiative last spring to help protect forests on the remote Pacific Island of Fiji, Conservation International Peter Seligmann praised the move. “We applaud Fiji Water for offsetting the climate impact of its products, reducing the impact of its operations, and funding crucial conservation efforts that support local communities and protect some of the last remaining forests in the South Pacific,” he said in a Fiji Water press release.The endorsement didn’t surprise anyone who understands the relationships between Fiji Water and Conservation International. The privately-owned bottled water company pays Conservation International – neither party would say how much – to finance the work they do together. Stewart Resnick, who owns Fiji Water with his wife, Lynda, sits on Conservation International’s board and donates to the group.

Such cozy arrangements are increasingly common as big companies work side-by-side with big NGOs (non-government organizations). Clorox secured the endorsement of the Sierra Club – and the use of its logo — for a line of eco-friendly cleaning products, called GreenWorks that the company introduced late last year. Neither will disclose how much cash is involved.When Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500) last month set new targets for greenhouse gas reductions, the World Wildlife Fund offered its praise – again not unexpectedly, since the beverage giant consulted with WWF on its climate change plan and agreed to donate nearly $24 million to the environmental group to help preserve river basins.

If the goal is to move corporations toward  better style behavior environmentally these deals may be funding that change .In this case the Fiji islanders are getting economic development that perhaps is greener than might otherwise exist.Corporate behavior may be changing gradually but as a result of this are the environmental groups changing themselves into something different. If green branding sells and the green label can be bought ,who have become the greening enablers ? Vermont as brand and state has an interest here, not directly in Fiji water but as a stake holder of sorts in the well being of  a real green concept. Environmental groups,green brands and socially responsible companies may suffer if some clearer lines and standards aren’t drawn. A good cause is in danger of getting watered down .

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/1…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi…

(Head go “boom.” – promoted by JulieWaters)

Here's a cut and paste article from Vermont Business Magazine.  I'm sure lots of us will be rolling our eyes on this one.  Vermont Energy Partnership exists to support Yankee, so it should be no surprise to see how their “independent assessment” turned out.  Note how Dr. Howard Axelrod referred to only single sources of power vs. a mix of power sources as a replacement for Yankee.  How realistic is that?  

However obvious VEP's angle may be, it's important to know how far out a case they are going to make this session.  They won't get all of what they want, so it appears they are trying to pull as hard as they can in order to win most of they want in an appearance of “compromise.”  

The “independent assessment” is just below the fold.

Howard Dean is 60 today, and those of us in the national netroots owe him a mighty big piece of birthday cake, as does the whole nation. He has, of course, recently announced that he will be stepping aside as DNC Chair and bowing to the tradition of a Democratic President putting one of his own people in there. As his legacy, he has transformed the Democratic Party priorities and infrastructure through his much-maligned and now much-lauded 50-state strategy – which went a long way to turning the nation so blue in the latest election.

What to do next? Well, Dean has made it clear he’s eyeing the possibilities created by the incoming Obama administration, particularly the Health and Human Services job, which would seem like an obvious fit.

But as has been the pattern with Dean’s presence as a national political force, those in power might not be feeling so grateful. From Politico on Friday:

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is not a serious contender to be secretary of health and human services in the new Obama administration, sources said.

Dean’s name has appeared on short lists for the Cabinet post circulating throughout Washington, based largely on his party chairmanship and career as a doctor. Dean also passed health care reforms while governor of Vermont. And his allies said the Obama transition team has had some informal discussions with him about the job.

But the chief attributes President-elect Barack Obama is seeking in his HHS secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate.

That job description has turned out to be a particularly ill-suited one for Dean, given his partisan background and lack of congressional experience, sources inside and outside the transition offices say.

Odd, isn’t it? The lack of Hill experience isn’t being cited as a disqualifier for Obama supporters such as Janet Napolitano. And as far as the “partisan” thing goes… c’mon. As Markos points out:

Boy, I hope Rahm Emanuel doesn’t get a position in the administration, given that he was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and spent a chunk of the last four years helping thin the ranks of Republicans in the House (and did a nice job of it, too!).

Oh, wait…

If Obama wants someone like Daschle to head up Health and Human Services because Daschle has Hill experience, that’s one thing. But if the standard is now “partisanship”, then Rahm better resign ASAP, because there are few dudes more partisan in Washington than Rahm.

Could there be something else in play? Hmmm…?

In 2006, Dean clashed sharply with incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel over how to allocate party resources during the midterm elections.

Dean held firm on funding state party offices as part of his 50-state strategy at a time when Emanuel, an Illinois congressman who then headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wanted to see more cash to help House candidates.

A compromise was reached, but resentment lingers in some corners, sources said.

If this report is true, and its all about nothing more than the usual suspects who have Obama’s ear using the opportunity to curb Dean, I have little doubt that you’re going to see the netroots from coast to coast raise holy hell.

Last April, top George W. Bush administration officials, desperate to exploit any possible crack in the close relationship between the Nouri al-Maliki government and Iran, launched a new round of charges that Iran had stepped up covert arms assistance to Shi’a militias.

Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates suggested that there was “some sense of an increased level of [Iranian] supply of weapons and support to these groups.” And Washington Post reporter Karen DeYoung was told by military officials that the “plentiful, high quality weaponry” the militia was then using in Basra was “recently manufactured in Iran”.

. . .

The caches that included Iranian weapons thus represented just 2 percent of all caches found. That means Iranian-made weapons were a fraction of one percent of the total weapons found in Shi’a militia caches during that period.

(U.S. Task Force Found Few Iranian Arms in Iraq, IPS, 11/15/08)

Wait … there’s more! (Pssst, Mr. Obama … are you payin’ attention?)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.

The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source — most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.

(Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated, RawStory, 11/10/08)

A strategy of threats and “provocations” against Iran by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to be counter-productive, according to a new report released here Friday by a group of 20 former top U.S. diplomats and regional experts.

(Obama Advised to Forgo More Threats to Iran, IPS, 11/17/08)

Keep this in mind as Obama continues to fall into the neocon view of the world.

• Burlington mayor’s race in motion…: City Councilor Ed Adrian will not be running against Progressive Incumbent Mayor Bob Kiss, who is seen as vulnerable after such bumps in the road as repeated difficulties with elections logistics, as well as widespread frustration with Chief Accounting Officer Jonathan Leopold, who many see as some sort of Rasputin to Kiss’s Czar. Adrian said in an email:
  

  This decision has not been made lightly, however it has been made that much easier in that I am confident that the only other announced Democrat in the race, Andy Montroll will be striving towards many of the same goals that I planned to work on.  I will be working vigorously on Andy’s campaign and hope you will join me in that pursuit.  

  It is also evident to me that were I to start down a similar path in the future, there are a number of bridges I need to build, as well as, some that I need to work on repairing.  Over the months and years to come, it is my intention to reach out to those who share similar ideological interests, even if our partisan allegiances differ.  

  Of course, word was that Montroll was contemplating a run as an Independent rather than face a caucus battle… guess now we’ll never know, as the longtime D will have the Party field to himself regardless.

• Uhhhh… yeah. I wanna be a part of that. The secessionists had their convention, featuring Lynette Clark of the Alaska Independence Party (who received recent national coverage following her associations with and enthusiasm for Sarah Palin’s ascendence) waxing macho about carrying a loaded colt everywhere she goes. For those who may be curious, SVR founder (and one-time blogger-stalker) Thomas Naylor coined a new bumper sticker for the group:
  

  Naylor calls secession a “radical act of rebellion grounded in anger and fear. We got on the map in Vermont because of the anger.

  Sounds… swell.

• Final time and place for the new media/grassroots activist meeting on Saturday the 6th: So as to accommodate some folks who also want to pop in on the Democratic House caucus that same day (where the new leadership team will likely be chosen), Saturday’s meeting will be at 1 PM in the meeting room at the Montpelier Police Building. Email me for directions.

  And to all those who have RSVP’d:, sorry I haven’t responded yet… swamped… you’ll hear back from me very soon. Looks like its going to be a great group, well equipped to brainstorm ways to get out of our progressive (li’l p) ruts. Keep an eye on this space for more info.

As some of you know, I’ve been into birding for some time, and photography for a bit longer.  Now that the election is (mostly) over, I’m going to do another one of those diaries where I share some of my favorite bird photos and talk a little bit about the photos themselves.  There will probably be some overlap here, as some of my favorites I’ve probably discussed before.

I’m going to start with the one showed: a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird feeding off of a bleeding heart.

This is a different version of this photo than I’ve shown before: it’s a wider shot, as I’ve found a nice way to present it as a gallery work (10″x15″), but I think it works nicely.

This shot was a combination of preparation and dumb luck.  I had been mowing the lawn all morning and was exhausted.  I sat down on the porch, really unable to do much of any damned thing, but I did have my camera with me (when I mow, I set it up on a tripod, near the feeders so if I spot something interesting, I can take a break and check it out).

So suddenly I see this flicker of motion and realize what it is.  One of the hummingbirds has swung over to the front yard.  They love the bee balm plants, but I’d never seen one go after the bleeding heart.  I grabbed the camera, took as many shots as I could, and… well, wow.

This next photo I haven’t shared here before, I don’t think, though it’s one of my favorites.  Snow geese sometimes populate the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Western Vermont.  I had often tried to get photos of them, but it was always from a great distance.  This particular day, I’d had a morning meeting in Burlington and had the rest of the day to myself.  I decided to go the long way home and swing by Dead Creek (it takes me an extra two hours or so).  When I got there, there were no Snow Geese to be found, and suddenly I spotted these ones on a nearby field.  I pulled over, grabbed the camera and started to take pictures.  They were all on the ground at that point.  Sometimes I will take a photo, edge a little closer, take a few more, etc., which is what I did in this particular case.  Eventually, I made the mistake of getting a little two close.  The entire flock started to take off and then started flying in circles, more or less surrounding me.  It ended up with me getting this photo:

While I love this shot (and when you see it blown up, you get some incredible textures), I think I like it even better like this:

It seems to come down to 1/3rd preferring the b&w to the color and 2/3rds preferring the color.

This hummingbird shot, though, is one of my favorites as well:

It’s a very lucky shot.  I had the camera pointed at the feeders to see if any cool looking hummingbirds showed up, but I’d rarely seen two at once.  Once I realized there were two of them the trick wasn’t getting close enough.  It was zooming out quickly enough that I’d get them both in the same shot.  I managed to pull it off, just as they hit the dive bombing position.

This Rufous Hummingbird:

was a real joy to photograph.  I’d never seen one of these before (we really only get the ruby-throated hummingbirds in New England), but in November of 2007, we got word that one was hanging out at a feeder in Westmoreland, NH.  Westmoreland isn’t that far from where I live (and we’ve traveled a lot further to find rare birds) so we figured we’d check it out.  It was on someone’s property, which is always dicey, but this woman had given permission for people to stop by her porch and hang out to look at it.  She was really into it, too, it turned out. She came out to say hello and asked us to make sure we sign her guestbook.  

But the best part was that it took minutes before we saw the bird.  She had hummingbird feeders all over the area, and the porch looked out on several of them, so we figured, well, we’ll get a decent look and maybe I can get a nice photo from here.

But no, the rufous was interested in the feeder on the porch.  The one that was only about eight feet away.  So we sat there for about half an hour watching it come and go while I photographed it, figuring out just how close I could get where it would use the feeders without being so close I’d scare it off (turns out about 6’6″ is about the magic distance) and voila, instant life bird.

Speaking of traveling to find birds… this January was our first big birding trip.  We went to Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, and had a real trip finding all sorts of new birds.  But the real treat was the Sandhill Cranes.  This shot in particular:

is one of my favorites from the trip.  There’s something wonderful about that moment just before flight; all that energy built up and ready to go, at that moment where the bird transfers from awkward and gangly to magnificent in flight.  

I will also say something else about snow geese here.  I mentioned before getting to see Snow Geese at Dead Creek.  Seeing them at Bosque is a whole different ball game.  If you get to the viewing platform before dawn, you can be part of probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced as a birder.

There is this large body of water where many of the birds roost all night (roosting in water makes them much less vulnerable to predators, such as coyotes, which will try to get their paws on the geese and the cranes).  If you get there at the right time, you will see the ones gathered in the water, plus all the other geese gathering in to join them.  It’s thousands of snow geese, coming together in the middle of this pond, making all sorts of racket.  This can go on for an hour; sometimes more; sometimes less.

But then there is this point where all of a sudden (and there is no time to prepare for this) it gets silent.  This lasts about as much time as you have to breathe in and then out again and everything else is just dead quiet.

And then…

…the geese take off.  For about five seconds, all you hear is wings.  It’s loud enough to sound like a tornado going directly over your head.  The first time you experience it, it’s like nothing you’ve ever been through before.  The second time you think you’ve already seen it once so you’re prepared for it.  You’re wrong.  It’s every bit as intense.

There’s something about being surrounded by birds that just makes my heart leap.  I hope writing this up has been nice for some of you as well.

For those of you who enjoyed these photos, you can see tons more at juliewaters.com

As usual, feel free to use this as an open birds and birding thread and post your own photos.

Too bad they don’t post the Sunday Rutland Herald/Times Argus on line, but they don’t. Wally Roberts has a really great piece in the Perspective section titled A long time coming.

In his oped Roberts talks of his first and second hand experience with the not long ago past, civil rights and what he called “state-sanctioned terrorists defending white supremacy.” It’s an excellent read if you get the chance, and what I follow with below is merely an addendum to all the efforts put forth by Wally and his co-horts.

At some point in the future history will view the Obama election more as a transition than an event unto itself. It will be talked and taught about as merely one step in a journey of human rights and recognition that started millenia ago. Future generations will not see this event as the defining moment we do today much like we now view World War II as a fuzzy part of our past despite our grandparents having lived and fought it.

This isn’t because history will be forgetful or leave important details of the human condition out. It is simply because the further in time one is removed from an event the more distant is the view.

In quantum physics there is an ultimate smallest to everything: space and time and matter and energy and everything else can only be taken down to a special size called the Planck unit. The Planck length, for example, is 1.6 x 10 to the minus 34ths inches … that’s a 16 preceeded by a decimal point and 34 zeros. There is no distance that is smaller than that number. Time itself has a Planck length: time can reach a span no shorter than the ever so brief period it takes light to cross the Plank length.

We just can’t feel the passage of these minute time lengths because we’re too big … to far away … to detect them. What we see instead is an apparent smooth flow from second to second; from one minute, hour, day, year and more  to the next … from the past to the present into the future in a seamless movement of time.

But today, right now, we can see the line in our political history we’ve just crossed. We have elected the first non-caucasion President in our nation’s history, and that is a cause for celebration. I along with many others believed that entrenched racism was still too strong for this event, but a newer generation proved us baby boomers wrong. We just finished yet one more small step for man and giant step for mankind … and we got to witness it first hand!

Somewhere in the not too distant future, probably about two generations down the road, folks will see the Obama election as something that was obvious and long overdue. The closeness and personal experiences will have faded away to grandparents and the dead. But that’s not because history won’t care, it’ll only be due to the passage of temporal distance.

That doesn’t mean we can’t relish the historical nature of the moment. This is a Planck moment … but it’s our Planck moment.

Watching and reading about the Republican party soul searching now in progress and the accompanying preview of potential up and comers,I was struck at first by the lack of Gov.Douglas from some of the more prominent lists but sniff around a little and he can be found.

Former Republican Party Chairman wheeler dealer Haley Barbour says Douglas is “strong as a field of garlic”. Someone with that quality should stand out more in a crowd .The Washington Post claims that Douglas won re-election even as he was targeted by national Democrats.(really?)This comes as a surprise .

It’s hard to think of our dynamic Gov.Douglas on a national stage.Winning in a 3 way race may be no great feat, but then again looking at the Republican lineup of stars maybe little feats count large .Mark Sanford (S.C.), Sarah Palin (Alaska), Tim Pawlenty (Minn.) and Bobby Jindal (La.)are all mentioned as rising stars .Pawlenty had some past problems with poor bridge maintenance,Palin was not even included on the RGA’s executive committee and Bobby Jindal’s past efforts at exorcism aren’t widely noted except in TPM media.  

Here in Vermont as we watch the Governor juggle his lieutenants strategically between State agencies is it actually possible he intends to use his garlic like power on a national stage in the future ? Gov.Douglas in a letter offered to work with President elect Obama on health care issues,certainly good for Vermont and it also puts him nicely on a national stage.Characteristically he offers the talent of others not his own .

In the letter, Douglas pointed out that 67 percent of Vermonters supported Obama, the second highest among any state in the country – even if he was not one of them.Douglas also offered Obama “the talent, skills and experience” of the people of Vermont, which he called “a small but innovative state.”

The letter focused on health care reform, one of Obama’s main campaign issues.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

Senator Dick McCormack (D-Windsor) took a few moments today to speak candidly about the new legislature and the prospects for environmental and economic policy progress in the upcoming session.

Is this a GMD-kinda legislator or what?