End Polluter Welfare Act

WASHINGTON, April 22 – As the nation marked Earth Day, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) introduced legislation to close tax loopholes and eliminate other subsidies for the oil, gas and coal industries.

Subsidies for polluters now in place are projected to cost taxpayers more than $135 billion in the coming decade.

Sanders’ Senate bill and Ellison’s companion measure filed today in the House would remove tax breaks for fossil-fuel industries and ensure that taxpayers receive a fair return for energy resources owned by the American people and make research into renewable energy a national priority. The measures also would prevent companies from escaping liability for spills or deducting cleanup costs from their taxes.


Sanders, Labor Leaders to Protest Disastrous Trade Deal

WASHINGTON, April 20 – Protesting a trade deal that would throw Americans out of work, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today planned to march with leaders of the AFL-CIO and other labor organizations to a rally outside the U.S. trade representative’s office.

“One of the key reasons why the middle class in America continues to decline and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider is because of disastrous trade agreements which have sent millions of decent-paying jobs to China and other low-wage countries,” Sanders said.


Take the “B” Out of LGBTQ

The misappropriation of ‘bisexual’ into the collective initialism of LGBTQ remains one of the worst things to happen to human sexuality since the days of Leviticus.

It’s bad enough that both sides of the sexuality fence have wasted humanity’s precious time embattled over the black and white issue of straight versus gay but to drag bisexual people into this self-centered mess has no conscious behind it. Gay people’s action of taking “something for one’s own use, typically without the owner’s permission,” did a great disservice to bisexual people and to the future of our sexually.


Senators Markey, Boxer and Sanders Call for Increased Safety at Nuclear Plants

Trio of bills address safety of spent fuel storage and decommissioning plans

Washington (April 15, 2015) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reintroduced three bills today aimed at improving the safety and security of decommissioning reactors and the storage of spent nuclear fuel at nuclear plants across the nation.

When spent nuclear fuel is removed from the part of the reactor that generates electricity, it continues to produce significant quantities of heat and radiation for years. Spent nuclear fuel is too dangerous to be removed from the spent fuel pools for five to seven years. Studies conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and independent experts have shown that partial draining of the water from a spent fuel pool caused by an accident or terrorist attack could result in a spontaneous fire, the release of large quantities of radiation, and widespread contamination. However, NRC regulations allow spent fuel to remain stored in spent fuel pools until the reactor completes decommissioning, which can take as long as 60 years. Current NRC regulations also allow the NRC and the nuclear plant operator to adopt a decommissioning plan without considering the concerns of nearby states and communities. The three bills introduced today will address all of these problems.


HHS to Probe Skyrocketing Generic Drug Prices

WASHINGTON, April 14 – At the urging of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general has agreed to investigate how sudden price hikes by generic drug makers are driving up the cost of taxpayer-supported health care.

“It is unacceptable that Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Generic drugs were meant to help make medications affordable for millions of Americans who rely on prescriptions to manage their health needs. We’ve got to get to the bottom of these enormous price increases,” said Sanders.


Sanders: Make Public Higher Ed Tuition-Free, Reform Loans, Protect Pell Grants

WASHINGTON, April 13 – In a speech tonight at American University, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will call for overhauling how college education is financed by allowing students to refinance loans, eliminating federal profits on loans, making 4-year public colleges tuition-free, expanding work-study programs and providing incentives for colleges and universities to keep costs down.

The senator also will call for expanding Pell Grants to help more students afford college through a program targeted for steep cuts by Republican budget makers in Congress. Sanders also said student loan programs must be overhauled to reduce crushing debt loads which now exceed American’s credit card debt.


International Jazz Day at a UN Underwriting Genocide in Yemen After Having Ordered Libya’s Obliteration and Korea Reconquered

DESCRIPTION:
Some, if not most, of the most accomplished jazz musicians in the world performed brilliantly at the United Nations on International Jazz Day, April 10, 2015, at the same time sanctifying with music a failed United Nations, which, since its creation by the colonial powers, has facilitated genocide for profit of the amoral wealthy elite of Western speculative interest banking. Why? Celebrities as influential role models have added responsibility for the actions of their government.


Why Not Us, Too?

How I wish Brattleboro would follow Westminsters lead. This mornings Reformer let us know that residents of Westminster will be receiving a mailing with information regarding their “new” trash/recycling program. Included with the mailing will be 52 STICKERS FOR 52 WEEKS OF TRASH …………….. and they’re FREE, FREE, FREE! If residents use more than one bag per week they’ll have to purchase additional bags for $3.00 each. This is a perfect example of those in charge governing and at the same time considering and showing compassion and understanding towards their residents.


Snow, Synchronicity, and Edward Snowden

Maybe it was those snowflakes in our weather forecast, but I had a lot of snow-related synchronicities this week.  It started with the news that a new monument had gone up overnight in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park, not far from the Brooklyn Bridge.  The monument consisted of a bust of Edward Snowden, with his name emblazoned across the column below it in big Roman capitals.  It was an impressive gesture by a group of artists who wrote (as you shall see below) some powerful things about freedom and heroism and the public’s right to know.  And even though the government covered it up, by sending park employees to smother Snowden’s bust in a tarp so no one could see it, civil disobedience had happened and it was noteworthy.  — it’s a nice statue.  


“Musical” Backpacks

I just received an email from a lawyer and peace activist in Boston named Ralph Lopez, in which he references an .

In the article, Lopez states that “High quality images from just-posted evidence exhibits in the Tsarnaev trial by the US Department of Justice show conclusively that the backpack carried by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in a surveillance video, and the one said to contain the bomb which killed eight-year-old Richard Martin, do not match in color.”


What Brattleboro Really Needs Is A Food Co-op

A real food co-op just like the one we used to know. One where most of the work is done by working members. One where most of the produce is local. One where you can’t select from over 100 varieties of wine or countless designer beers. One where most of the food is nitty-gritty real food, affordable by ordinary people, not high end gourmet stuff.

 What we have now is indistinguishable from a Whole Foods Market or a Trader Joes, except our prices are a little higher.

I’ve been a member of the Co-op since the days on Flat Street. As I’ve watched the “devolution”, I’ve watched the prices go up.


Massachusetts Open Meeting Law Under Attack

From a March 26, 2015 Hampshire Gazette editorial:

It’s not shocking that several public officials stood up at a public meeting to complain that the state’s Open Meeting Law is cumbersome and confusing.

What is shocking is that they derided it as “unfair and undemocratic” and claimed that a request for meeting minutes is tantamount to harassment.

Even more shocking is that in a room full of 100 elected and appointed public officials from Hampshire and Franklin counties, these comments elicited applause.


A Saker Is A Very Large Falcon

 A Saker is a very large falcon, native to Europe and Asia.

“The Saker” is a pseudonym for a top level American military analyst who lives in Florida, the author of the leading blog covering Russia and the Ukraine crisis, , which gets an astounding 50,000 page views per day.   Of the many blogs covering the subject, his has shot far ahead of the others, due to his sharp analysis and insight.  


A Presidential Candidate – Ted Cruz

Texas Senator Ted Cruz has announced his campaign to become our next president:

“I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America, and that is why today I am announcing I am running for president of the United States.”

He appears to be the first official major party candidate.


Sanders: Let Vermont Protect Consumers from Dangerous Chemicals

WASHINGTON, March 18 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today backed stronger curbs on the use of dangerous chemicals in consumer products but criticized a bill in Congress that would take away from Vermont and other states the power to protect consumers with new state regulations.

Under the current federal law, tens of thousands of potentially harmful chemicals have continued to be used in products without proper testing and without disclosure by the companies that use them. The law, enacted in 1976, is so weak that it kept the Environmental Protection Agency from even banning asbestos, which causes cancer.


Open Letter Re: Brattleboro Town Finances

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Dear fellow Town Representatives:

I have been meaning to write an open letter reporting out my concerns and observations about this year’s Representative Town Meeting, items on the agenda, the budget, etc. I have left this until the last minute in hopes that others of you might finally step forward to join me in drafting a brief report as your Town Finance Committee.

This is the

The site has not been updated in a year. I can’t do the work of the committee by myself, so please regard this as merely a personal letter.