158 Families

158 families are trying to buy our government.. . .

A handful of super-wealthy Americans is in the process of buying our government.

If you want to know how, and how to stop them, let explain:


Vermont Delegation Calls for More Public Scrutiny, Meetings in Vermont on Decommissioning Regulations

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 – The Vermont congressional delegation – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) and Rep. Peter Welch (D) – announced Tuesday that they have called upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to improve public input on proposed changes to nuclear plant decommissioning regulations.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who serves on the Senate energy and environment committees, led the effort which urged the NRC to hold public meetings in each state where a nuclear power plant is currently being decommissioned and to extend the deadline for public comments.


Ted Cruz, Immigrant

Ted Cruz has taken a hard line on immigration. Cruz was born on December 22, 1970, in Calgary, Alberta. Therefore, Cruz is himself an immigrant. Huh?


House Honors Cheney

On December 3rd, the House of Representatives unveiled a marble bust of former Vice President Cheney, which will reside in Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol. At the unveiling ceremony, Cheney was, in the playful words of NPR, “lightly roasted” — as though he’s some sort of grumpy though beloved avuncular stand-up comic. Courtesy, Glenn Greenwald.


Sanders Announces $1.1 Billion For Vermont in Transportation Bill

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that a five-year, $305 billion transportation bill agreement reached Tuesday by House and Senate negotiators will deliver nearly $1.1 billion to Vermont to improve the state’s roadways.

“While this legislation does not have everything I would have hoped for, I am pleased it includes more than $1 billion for Vermont’s roads and bridges in the coming years,” Sanders said.

As a member of the committee with primary jurisdiction over federal road and bridge programs, Sanders successfully fought for a funding formula that helps Vermont. The final agreement includes a 5 percent increase in funding for Vermont in the first year and a total increase of 15 percent over five years.


Occupy Wall Street

. I have always been a keen supporter of the movement. I joined two Wall St local groups and an offshoot work group of one of them and the movement is dear to my heart. However, I think it’s futile this idea of demonstrating. It merely keeps us in the position of hamsters on the wheel. As long as we supplicate anyone or any entity, we are essentially saying that we need permission.


A Story For Bill Hicks

Those of you who like the comedy of Bill Hicks will like this one.

Hicks had a routine about how wide-eyed, good-meaning presidents get elected with all sorts of great plans, then they get led to a little room by a small group of powerful people and shown a film of the Kennedy assassination from another angle . They ask the new president “Any questions? and the new president falls right into line.


ISIL and Us

The Middle East has been America’s military playground for over 30 years. Starting with the first Gulf War, the US has gone beyond the installation of dictatorial puppets and into the realm of constant warfare, with drone strikes only a part of our present involvement in that region. Up until now, not much of this has touched the average American, who lives thousands of miles away from the carnage. Unless you or a someone you knew was in the military and deployed there, it didn’t feel real. Or at least it didn’t, until recently. Paris changed all that. Suddenly, the battlefield was no longer just the Middle East, where we could safely ignore it, but potentially here, where we live.


Sanders Announces Annual State of the Union Essay Contest

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has launched his sixth annual State of the Union essay contest, calling upon Vermont’s high school students to address what they view as the major issues facing the United States.

The U.S. Constitution calls for the president to “give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” As President Barack Obama prepares to deliver his State of the Union speech to a joint session of Congress in January, Sanders is again asking Vermont’s high school students to consider writing an essay of 250 to 500 words detailing their own view of the state of the union.


Brattleboro Kiln Dried Noise Increase

I’ve been living on Elliot Street, south side, above the BKD complex for about 5 years. There has always been factory fan noise, but up until now, the decibel level has been not too bad.

Recently, however, I noticed a marked increase in the fan noise-say in the last month or so. The level is difficult to tolerate-I run a white noise generator whenever I’m home. And it barely contains the hum. If there are others who have noticed this intrusion, I’d like to hear from you. BKD ought not to be allowed to just turn up the fans and wreck the neigborhood, just to generate a bit more $$.

Paul Miksis


New England Re-Arranged, Vermont Now On Atlantic

Presidential Candidate Ben Carson sent out a graphic to supporters yesterday that included a map of the United States. Sort of. It’s not THE United States so much as a slightly re-imagined United States.

Look at this detail from the map and you will see a new layout for New England. Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have been moved north, Connecticut and Rhode Island have been relocated to our east, and Vermont remains where it has stood for at least the last decade.


Modern Wood Heat: An Economic Engine for Windham County

Windham County is poised to lead a modern wood heat revolution in Vermont—and there are several reasons we should be leading the charge.

Modern wood heat—I’ll explain just what that is in a minute—will deliver economic, ecological and community benefits to our county. It will create jobs in forest-based businesses and foster energy independence, both of which Vermonters value.

Modern wood heating systems use high-efficiency boilers to heat whole buildings ranging in size from a modest one-story home to apartment buildings to large commercial buildings. Instead of oil, these systems feed on wood pellets or wood chips that are delivered in bulk and stored on-site. When you push up the thermometer, the heat kicks in just as it would with fossil fuel, but you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are heating with a renewable local fuel and that your heating budget is supporting our economy.


Distinguishing Between Fact, Opinion, Belief, and Prejudice

From Colarado State University’s Writing Center

A fact is verifiable. We can determine whether it is true by researching the evidence. This may involve numbers, dates, testimony, etc. (Ex.: “World War II ended in 1945.”) The truth of the fact is beyond argument if one can assume that measuring devices or records or memories are correct. Facts provide crucial support for the assertion of an argument. However, facts by themselves are worthless unless we put them in context, draw conclusions, and, thus, give them meaning.


Honor All Veterans? Contrast Words of Mandela, Ramsey Clark, M.L.King, Mark Twain, Jesus

DESCRIPTION;

Veterans Day? Mandela,”US committed unspeakable atrocities” Clark,”US foreign policy greatest crime” King,”Time has come when silence is betrayal. They languish under our bombs, children homeless without clothes run in packs beg our soldiers for food, sell their sisters, mothers” Twain,”Easier to fool people than convince them they’ve been fooled” Gen.Butler,”War is a Racket!”Jesus,”As you did to my brothers, you did to Me” 


Doug The Mailman Retires?

Say it isn’t so!

Heard from a neighbor a rumor that Doug the Mailman has retired. This will be big news to a significant portion of town if true. It seems to be true. He hasn’t been delivering mail for the last week or two.

Doug was the type of postman you thought of if you were casting someone in the role for a movie or TV.  Friendly, fast, up for short conversations and new tips, he handled the delivery of all those wonderful bills (and a few other things) since we moved to town.

He was reliable. One could almost set a watch by his delivery times. And the routine was well known. You’d see Doug and his truck on one street and know your mail would be there shortly.


Upcoming Public Forum on Modern Wood Heating Systems: Local Heat for a Local Economy

The Windham Wood Heat Initiative (WWH) will hold a free public information forum on modern wood heating systems on November 16 from 5:30 – 7:30pm at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro. Modern wood heating systems are low emission, high efficiency systems that provide much of the convenience of conventional fossil fuel boilers—without the fossil fuels. Heating with locally sourced, sustainably harvested, and renewable wood pellets provides numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. These systems come in a wide range of sizes adaptable for residences as well as large commercial operations.


Israeli-USA Insanity Described by Gideon Levy Was Media Created for Profitable Genocide

DESCRIPTION:
Mark Twain said, Fear the media, for they will steal your Honor. Watch the video of Haaretz Newspaper’s renown columnist Gideon Levy describe a state of blind, deaf and dumb Israeli acceptance of the inhumanity of death, degradation and homicidal captivity of their Arab Palestinians. Read author’s ‘US Economic Facilitation of Holocaust and Middle East Destabilizing Partition.’ Corporate media maintains a genocide-perpetuating pretense of a non-existent search for peace in Palestine.