At the Montpelier parade earlier this month I was talking to a local, very liberal, Democrat, and he started giving me a hard time about the posts on GMD. He said if you take off a few days and then read a bunch of GMD posts at one time, you'll get the impression that the reason we're here is to attack and weaken Democrats, which will have the inevitable effect of strengthening Republicans. I disagreed, but I can see his point. Some of the debate we are having here reflects, although in a cruder and more destructive form, the debate that has been going on in the rest of the country.

Yesterday's Salon is a good illustration of this debate. Glenn Greenwald has a piece arguing that we should start disciplining conservative, Blue Dog, Democrats. They don't support the party's values, they cave in to Bush, they actually help Bush's illegal activities.

Here's part of his analysis of the reason why we can't get any progressive action out of the Congress:

That is precisely what has happened over the past two years. It is why a functional right-wing majority has dominated the House notwithstanding the change of party control — and the change in direction — that American voters thought they were mandating in 2006. As progressive activist Matt Stoller put it, “Blue Dogs are the swing voting block in the House, they are self-described conservatives, and they are perfectly willing to use their status on every action considered by the House.” The more the Democratic leadership accommodates the Blue Dog caucus — the more their power relies upon expanding their numbers through the increase of Blue Dog seats — the less relevant will be the question of which party controls Congress.

According to Greenwald, this will happen as long as these conservative D's are allowed to stay in office and pretend to be Democrats

The counterpoint of this argument is illustrated by the companion Salon piece by Ed Kilgore who argues that we shouldn't decide what to do about them until Bush has been replaced by Obama, when conditions on the ground in Congress will be very different from what they are now. He makes a couple of points. First, in a very short time, Bush won't be president anymore, so whether they stand up to Bush is going to be less of an issue. Second, if you want to punish a deviant party member you'd better have the intellectual, political, and financial wherewithal to make it stick, otherwise you're just wasting everybody's time, especially your own.

This is the same kind of debate we've had in Vermont for years.

Remember when Howard Dean was a conservative DINO, the days of “I've  soured on Howard”? There were a lot of real liberals and progressive who wanted to challenge Dean, but the outcome wasn't a primary challenge to his candidacy for governor, but the formation of a new party. Similarly, just during this past biennium we had two Democrats vote with Douglas on a major veto override, Jon Anderson and Ron Allard, and they're both facing primary challenges.

I think this is healthy. The reason we have primaries is to make decisions within the political partie, and to hold the members of our own political party accountable when they turn against us. We don't know yet how those primaries will come out, but they do give Democrats who disagree with the choices of their elected representatives to challenge them, and potentially get rid of them.

It's also consistent with what I think we're trying to do at Green Mountain Daily–promoting more and better Democrats. To a certain extent my friend at the parade was right, and I'm fine with that. If Democrats are being too conservative, or aren't standing up enough to Bush and Douglas, I want us to be out there calling them on it. If there are some Democrats we want to encourage, and others we want to discourage, you'll know about it here.

What I don't think we're about here is taking positions that the Democratic Party is irredeemably corrupt and warlike, and that there is no difference between the two parties. That's what makes the debate, as I said at the top, cruder and more destructive in Vermont.

You can run on a platform of “Democrats suck”, but maybe you should be a bit less surprised when Democrats don't flock to support you. And you should definitely be less surprised when you split the vote and help elect more Republicans, like our esteemed Lite Gov.

Let's have the debate about where we should be going, but try to remember that we're living in the real world, and in most cases voters have two choices. If they're not voting for a Democrat they're electing a Republican, everywhere but in a handful of legislative districts in the state. We have a strong majority in the House, and an even stronger majority in the Senate, so if you want to take on a particularly objectionable Democrat, first by doing a primary challenge, I'd like to see that. But I don't think it's productive to spend our time here, especially when we know it's just not true, that there is no difference between the two parties.

• Tomorrow’s the big day for politics junkies…. that’s right, baby – its campaign finance filing day. Is Douglas getting any money from the national GOP? Are Freeman and Costello raising any cash? Is Pollina’s money holding out?

  Oh there’s so much to be learned from these silly things – especially when you haven’t seen one in ages and ages. And they’ll get more interesting over the next several weeks. One particularly interesting bit to watch will be how Pollina fares now that he is not the Progressive Party’s candidate – meaning that the Progs will potentially get into trouble if they start spending on his behalf. With his/their track record on such matters, you better believe lots of folks will be watching very closely…

• On the Lt. Governor Primary: Nate “mydog” Freeman’s been busy sending out press releases, while Tom Costello has got a couple familiar faces in his corner: former State Representatives Jerry Kreitzer and Patricia Doyle. Had a delightful chat with Patricia the other day, which unfortunately did not include acceptance of our invitation to an online debate, like the one GMD held between Matt Dunne and John Tracy last time that garnered quite a bit of press. I suppose at this point, I am forced to conclude that the answer is “no.” Bummer. Might help folks make up their minds.

  Some folks who seem like they’ve already made up their minds are the Rutland County Democrats. Rutland, along with Windham County, makes up Costello’s geographic base. The calendar entry on his campaign kickoff announcement reads (emphasis added):

  Thomas Costello a Brattleboro lawyer and Rutland native will be announcing he is running for Lieutenant Governor. Tom served 10 years in the Vermont Legislature from both Rutland and Brattleboro.  He chaired the Judiciary Committee as well as General Housing and Military Affairs. He is a Vietnam Vet. who was awarded a purple heart and a bronze star. He is a proven leader who needs our support. Please come and join him at his announcement.

  Ouch. If there are any Freeman supporters in Rutland County, they must be pretty pissed off by that all-but-explicit endorsement. Very impolitic, shall we say.

• Shay Totten reports that layoffs have begun at the Vermont Milk Company. He quotes heavily from a conversation with Dennis Myrick who was brought on to help shore things up at the former Pollina-co-helmed project:
  

  “As of this week, we’re not able to pay on the back debt and we need to have more on the bottom line and have to pay more of our debt service,” said Myrick. If that can’t happen, then they made need to make more cuts or figure out ways to improve distribution.

  Ouch again.

• Speaking of Totten, he’s onto Vermont Yankee’s creative radiation monitoring scheme first noticed here by Julie (no hat tip to her of course, but that’s just par for the course for “shit spewed on a blog”, I suppose…) (okay, I’ll back off, there..). Totten has brought his experience and interest in the Vermont Yankee issue from his Guardian days into his new gig, and its doing a lot for raising the ENVY profile in the northern half of the state, which is great.

  Less great is how he falls victim to above-it-all-columnist-itis earlier in his piece. Under the heading The Politics of Tragedy, Totten waxes PO’d about the political grandstanding surrounding the Brooke Bennett tragedy. A worthy topic (and point of anger) to be sure.

  Totten recounts Douglas’s gross attempts to deflect criticism of his own Department of Corrections by pushing Democrats into an all-or-nothing demand to corner them on his hot-button (but utterly ineffective) “solutions” such as chemical castration. He chides Dubie and radio-wingnut Paul Beaudry for chiming in as well.

  Then he follows the initial account with the statement…

  Douglas then lamented the “great deal of talk, finger-pointing and grandstanding” that followed the discovery of Bennett’s body in a shallow grave in Randolph County (sic). He should know. Douglas, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, Symington and Shumlin are in a league of their own when it comes to grandstanding.

  ….before going on to further chide Douglas. Why are Symington and Shumlin thrown into this equivalence mix out of the blue (especially when you consider that Symington is one of the all time worst grandstanders)? Well, Totten never tells us, does he?

  So I will: he spends the next few paragraphs on an extraordinary soapbox, haphazardly courting the same kind of grandstanding charges he just cast about so freely. The reason, then, he had to arbitrarily drop Symington and Shumlin into a story about Jim Douglas is so he can more easily and cleanly cast himself as above all those terrible, terrible politicians, so as to better speak for the people and tell those phonies what’s what. It’s not an unfamiliar dynamic to those of us who follow the beltway columnists, who routinely try and cast Democrats and Republicans as just as bad on issues that Republicans are clearly worse on. Yawn.

  And if you’re inclined to cheer this kind of thing on simply because the Democrats bug you, don’t be. Why not? Because this kind of faux equivalence in the popular media does nothing but help derail real discussion, real progress, and real political solutions. There are plenty of reasons to beat up on Democratic politicians without having to arbitrarily make up more, just for the purpose of giving yourself a bigger platform from which to pontificate.

The Hill has come out with a list of the “50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill” for 2008, and if you check this link and scroll down three spaces, you'll see that Peter Welch's Communications Director Andrew Savage has made the list. He can be seen here in a photo from his audition for the next “Miami Vice” movie (of course, given his tender age, “Miami Vice” jokes are probably gonna fly right by Mr. Savage…).

The Hill refers to Savage as a “Renaissance Man” and writes:

Along with his ability to ski, bike, cut wood and take pictures, Savage's looks are all natural. His beauty routine is limited to the dictates of personal hygiene.

Well, and forgetting to shave for a few days before the shoot… heh.

Our buddy Andrew's even got one DC blogger speculating that he could be the “white Barack Obama” if he decides to run for office (while granting that he's probably “right on FISA”).

Congratulations, Andrew! Whenever Kiefer Sutherland decides to hang it up, we'll write you a letter of reference for his “24” spot.

Interestingly, this is the second year in a row a Welch staffer has made the list. Last year it was Molly Gray, who the Hill compared to Kelly McGillis.

So, does Welch have something against ugly people? Maybe I'll lead the next office occupation.

If the Welch Staff Swimsuit Calendar gets printed with taxpayer dollars, I'm calling Bill O'Reilly.

The report is in, and the outcome was never in doubt: Bush lackeys Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson illegally based Department of Justice hiring decisions for career positions on the political positions of the candidates. No surprise, but the details are pretty shocking.

Here's what the law says:

It is the policy of the Department of Justice to seek to
eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion,
sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status,
political affiliation, age, or physical or mental handicap in
employment within the Department and to assure equal
employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for
employment.

And here are some of the questions that Monical Goodling asked when she was conducting interviews:

Tell us about your political philosophy. There are different
groups of conservatives, by way of example: Social
Conservative, Fiscal Conservative, Law & Order Republican.
[W]hat is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to
serve him?
Aside from the President, give us an example of someone
currently or recently in public service who you admire.
“Why are you a Republican?”

Anything at all troubling there?

What about the fact that she blocked a new hire, effectively ending a lawyer's career with the Department of Justice, because she thought she was a lesbian?

Now Gonzalez claims that he never knew that Goodling was using political tests to make her decisions. Wouldn't you think it might occur to him when he stopped getting recommendations to hire people from real law schools like Harvard, Yale, and Michigan, and started getting recommendations to hire people from places like Regent Law School , which is where Goodling went? 

You hear about heads of corporations getting prosecuted for treating the company as their own personal piggy bank. What we have here is even worse: the Republicans using the hiring power of the federal government to corrupt the Justice Department and mold it to their political preferences. As I've observed before, these people simply have no conception that government exists for any reason other than to serve the political interests of themselves and their political allies. 

So is it official yet? Is this the most corrupt administration in history?

The DHS just leaked vague warnings to the press for a POHA (really) Period of Heightened Alert, (Poha is also a type of rice flattened beaten but I digress)Possible threats to the elections and Olympics give rise to new warnings minus a color code change,we are still yellow  .Given the past questionable timing of security color code warnings its easy to be skeptical about this .The growing homeland security industry is here to stay.The word Homeland regretfully may be here to stay,it just doesn’t sound like the United States . Michael Chertoff is handing out the grant money,Joe Lieberman is head of the Senate DHS oversight committee. One almost misses Tom Ridge and his quaint duct tape and plastic your home strategy .Even here in Vermont we have Brian Dubie declaring symbolic emergencies to publicize possible heating fuel shortages.How much our country has changed in 8 years .Some things we now accept as normal,enhanced ID’s ,check points on the interstate,government listening in on telephone calls and of course the big one torture(enhanced interrogation) .Threats are real and need to be dealt with but aren’t we about to loose our soul here in an effort to save ourselves from unknown threats ? Take a look at Homeland Security Today Magazine online to get an idea of the amazing business world of the homeland security industrial complex.The New military industrial complex threat for the 21st Century.The concept explored in one article is the leveraging of existing power of local law enforcement and homeland security assets with surveillance technology.Linking local networks of camera,wireless communications etc. with federal level security personnel.The massive scale of this effort in all it’s homeland glory is quite arresting.

Chertoff Outlines FY 2008 Homeland Security Grants

The focal point of Chertoff’s announcement was an allocation of $1.69 billion under the Homeland Security Grant Program, which reflects an increase of $32 million over FY07. This year’s grants included $861 million for the State Homeland Security Program, an increase of $352 million; $781 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative, an increase of $34 million. In addition DHS allocated almost $40 million for the Metropolitan Medical Response system, and $14.5 million for Citizen Corps.

http://hstoday.us/index.php?op…

Wise Eyes

Thinking about surveillance and detection technology in outmoded ways can blind users to the worst danger of all-what they don’t know and can’t anticipate.People are discovering that using surveillance and detection technologies in new and innovative ways can leverage the existing powers and resources of law enforcement and homeland security assets.“The past half dozen years have witnessed an impressive proliferation of powerful surveillance and detection technologies, most originally developed for military use,” said James ( Keith James is program manager of SoBran Inc., Fairfax, Va., a critical mission safety and security services provider ) “They’ve radically expanded, augmented and automated visual surveillance functions over greater distances and with higher definition and speed the detection of specific chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRNE) materials.  The next step both the first responder and technology development community must take is to deploy these tools in ways that aid the goal of a more proactive, adaptive tactical response to threats.”

http://hstoday.us/index.php?op…

From writeup in the Times Argus.

“Jim was widely respected for his fair and balanced approach to the challenges Vermonters face,” the speaker [Gaye Symington] said. “His booming voice never left anyone wondering where he stood, either in principle on an issue, or in location in the House. His easy and deep laugh must have made him a ready stand-in if Santa got way-laid on his travels to rural Vermont.

“On behalf of the entire House, I send my deepest regrets to Jim’s wife, Leslie, and their family. I know his colleagues in the House will miss Jim tremendously. Randolph has lost a true leader and voice of common sense and integrity. Vermont is a wiser and kinder place because of his contributions.”

This is a very sad moment for Vermont. Jim was truly a nice guy who always had whatever he believed would be best for his constituents in the forefront of his mind when in the legislature.

He will be sorely missed.

Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a company that helped renovate his home.

. . .

From May 1999 to August 2007, prosecutors said Stevens concealed “his continuing receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of things of value from a private corporation.” The indictment released Tuesday said the items included: home improvements to his vacation him in Alaska, including a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing, electrical wiring; as well as car exchanges, a Viking gas grill, furniture and tools.

(Sen. Stevens indicted: 7 false statements counts, RawStory, 07/29/08)

The Democrats may have corruption issues, but the Republican Party IS a corruption issue.

The Environmental Protection Agency advised employees last month not to answer questions from journalists, the Government Accountability Office or the agency’s inspector general, according to an EPA e-mail made public Monday.

“Please do not respond to questions or make any statements,” the June 16 e-mail said, advising staff to direct questioners to senior staff members cleared to answer questions from outside the agency.

Robbi Farrell, chief of staff of the EPA’s compliance assurance division, sent the e-mail to 11 managers in the department.

( EPA e-mail to workers: Don’t answer inspector’s questions, CNN, 07/28/08)

Hush now, little one, don’t talk to the strange man.

And saving the worst for last …

Overall violence in Iraq is declining to almost “normal” levels, General David Petraeus told USA Today in an interview published Tuesday, following a string of attacks the day before.

The commander of US forces in Iraq warned however that the trend could be reversed by “sensational attacks” like those Monday in Baghdad and Kirkuk that killed some 56 Iraqis.

“If you could reduce these sensational attacks further, I think you are almost approaching a level of normal or latent violence,” he told the newspaper in a phone interview from Baghdad.

“The fact that the levels of violence have come down so significantly and stayed down now for some two-and-a-half months … indicates there is a degree of durability,” Petraeus said.

Daily attacks have averaged 25 to 30 over the past two months, compared with 160 to 170 a little more than a year ago, Petraeus told the paper.

(Violence in Iraq nearing ‘normal’ levels: Petraeus, RawStory, 07/29/08)

I would really really really hate to see what abnormal looks like to Petraeus.

Yesterday’s Brattleboro Reformer has a Gaye Symington Editorial on the Public Oversight Panel and how it’s been shut out of the process by the Douglas administration.  Emphasis mine:

Earlier this year, the Legislature created a special group of nuclear power experts to be the “eyes and ears” of Vermonters in determining whether the power plant is reliable enough to keep operating past 2012.. The… Panel is charged with examining all available information on the operation of the plant to make its determination.

Gov. Douglas recently stated that he doesn’t think a public oversight panel is really necessary. And his actions show it. The… administration has repeatedly done all it can to keep the Public Oversight Panel in the dark.

Earlier this month, one of the panel members requested that the department allow him to accompany the NRC during a recent inspection of Vermont Yankee. The department falsely claimed to panel members that the NRC had denied this request. However, the NRC has since made it clear that the department never made this request of them.

To make matters worse, the department is denying any panel member the opportunity to join inspections for the remainder of the inspection process. On July 21, Senate President Peter Shumlin and I sent a letter to DPS Commissioner David O’Brien urging him to reconsider and allow Panel members to accompany the NRC in future inspections. We have received no response to this letter.

Blocking oversight?  Preventing government appointees from doing their jobs?  Stonewalling attempts to gain information?

Jim’s learned well from his D.C. overlords.

Back page of section ‘B’ in today’s (07/29/08) Barre/Montpelier Times Argus carries a full page ad from our buddies at Entergy/Vermont Yankee. The ad begins with the words “Vemonter to Vermonter” in huge bold print.

So I decided to look around at just how “Vermonter” Entergy is. Cut to the chase … it ain’t.

Let’s start with Entergy Nuclear, and in particular their website’s legal info page:

This Web site and the Agreement are governed by the laws of the State of Arkansas, excluding its conflicts of laws principles, and, where and to the extent applicable, by federal law.

Okay, no mention of Vermont there. For that matter there is no mention of an “Entergy Nuclear”! It turns out it’s really about Entergy Corporation which is only “a holding company for individual public utility companies, among other affiliates.”

So now back to the Entergy Nuclear (pronounced NEW KLEE ER by the way) home page, mouse over “Plant Information”, and click on “Vermont Yankee”.

At this point we find the purported owner’s name: Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, a “foreign” (ie out of state) corporation. Well, at least that name is registered with an instate corporate address with Vermont’s Sec of State (link here) … but wait …

ENVY, LLC is a managed corporation. Some company named “CT CORPORATION SYSTEM” is handling the corporate business in Vermont.

No problem, I’m sure an instate corporate management business will be a good thing to have, and after all there is nothing illegitimate about hiring a pro to run one’s business affairs. But there is a problem … there is no “CT CORPORATION SYSTEM” registered as a trademark or corporation with the SoC’s office.

Somewhere in Entergy’s Vermont holdings or affiliations there has to be a Vermont connection. Here’s the list as I could find it on the SoC’s website:

• ENTERGY NUCLEAR OPERATIONS, INC. (active & foreign) 1340 Echelon Pkwy, Jackson MS 39213
• ENTERGY NUCLEAR VERMONT INVESTMENT COMPANY (inactive & foreign) 1340 Echelon Pkwy, Jackson MS 39213
• ENTERGY NUCLEAR VERMONT INVESTMENT COMPANY, LLC (active & foreign) 1340 Echelon Pkwy, Jackson MS 39213
• ENTERGY NUCLEAR VERMONT YANKEE, LLC (active & foreign) 320 Governor Hunt Rd, Vernon, VT 05302
• ENTERGY OPERATIONS SERVICES, INC. (inactive & foreign) 120 MALLARD ST, STE 300, Saint Rose, LA 70087
• ENTERGY SERVICES, INC (active & foreign) 639 Loyola Ave, New Orleans LA 70113

There is another common thread other than the name “Entergy”. These  all have a common agent: CT CORPORATION SYSTEM, 400 Cornerstone DR ST240, Williston VT 05495 … nothing registered with SoC under that name.

Follow the internet bread crumbs and one finds CT Corporation System is a part of CT Corporation (link here). Maybe this CT is at least close to Vermont?

CT, a Wolters Kluwer business, provides intelligent software and service solutions that empower legal professionals to more effectively manage dynamic information, speed workflows and make critical decisions. Its parent company, Wolters Kluwer, is a leading multinational publisher and information services company based in Amsterdam with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. CT is part of Wolters Kluwer Corporate Legal Services.

(source)

Damnit … nothing Vermonter there for sure.

No, “Vermonter to Vermonter” falls under the heading of a lie plain and simple. But we shouldn’t be surprised by lies from Entergy any more.

That's right, when Douglas rolled out his plan to address the heating fuel crisis facing low-income Vermonters this year, one of their ideas was to hold canning workshops.

They've got to be kidding, right? And for the next flood season, we're going to hold kayak building clinics?

Boy Wonder Neale Lunderville made one unquestionably accurate statement in the press conference yesterday:  “This is just a nibble,” incoming Secretary of Administration Neale Lunderville said.

He also reassures us that each of these little nibbles together will add up to an effective solution to the problem, but I see no reason to believe that.

The Douglas administration has a record. For years they've opposed Efficiency Vermont, opposed the expansion of Efficiency Vermont's efforts to whole-house energy savings, and opposed innovative approaches to energy costs. They were caught sleeping on the job when their first energy plan was due, and when they did submit it to the Legislature they were basically told to take it back across the street and do the job right. And, as we've seen recently, they're opposing efforts to hold Vermont Yankee accountable for their obligation to operate safely.

And now that we're facing a real energy crisis they come up empty, except for the kind of ineffective plans, like telling people to head into the woods to cut their own firewood, that even they admit won't help meet this winter's heating needs.

While Douglas's Republican friends in the Senate are blocking increased LIHEAP funding (McCain didn't show up to vote) Douglas continues to oppose spending Vermont funds to help address this crucial need.

Of course, Douglas is running, as much as anything else, on the idea that the worst thing any government can do is raise taxes, ever. As we've seen, closing the capital gains loophole is only one of a number of creative ideas that would generate tens of millions of dollars in new tax revenues. It's beyond time to pretend that we don't need to do it.