For opinion pieces on any topic.
First a little background :
Tom Wheeler, was appointed by Obama, to be the FCC chairman. He could not be more of a corporate insider. Prior to this post Tom was the CEO of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association for 12 years. Before that he served as president of the National Cable Television Association, a cable lobbying shop. “He’s beloved in the telecom industry.”
Early/absentee ballots for Annual Town and Town School District election to be held on March 3, are now available in the Brattleboro town clerk’s office. Anyone wishing to vote prior to March 3, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 2.
Early/absentee ballots may be voted in person in the clerk’s office, mailed to the voter by the clerk’s office, picked up by the voter or delivered to the voter’s residence by two justices of the peace. All voted ballots must be received by the clerk before the polls close on election day in order to be counted.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was at the White House today when President Barack Obama signed legislation to address suicides among veterans.
“This bill says loudly and clearly that we understand suicide among veterans is a national tragedy and it begins the process of addressing the problem,” said Sanders, who headed the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee when the panel late last year passed the measure.
Twenty-two veterans a day, on average, take their own lives. “The suicide rate, especially among young veterans, is tragically high and we have to do everything we can get these veterans timely access to the quality of care they have earned and deserve,” Sanders said.
Washington, DC – This morning, President Obama sent Congress a plan to authorize the use of force against ISIS. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) gave the following response after reviewing the proposal:
“Congress has been ducking its Constitutional responsibility to authorize this war so I am pleased that the President is now forcing Congress to do its job. However, I cannot support this authorization as written. It leaves in place the Bush-era open ended authorization that led to so much harm.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today after President Barack Obama formally asked Congress to authorize a military campaign against the Islamic State terrorist group:
“The Islamic State is a brutal and dangerous terrorist organization which has murdered thousands of innocent men, women and children, including Americans. It must be defeated.
“I voted against the war in Iraq because I feared very much the destabilizing impact it would have on the region. Today, after 13 years in Afghanistan and 12 years in Iraq, after the loss of almost 7,000 troops and the expenditure of trillions of dollars, I very much fear U.S. involvement in an expanding and never-ending quagmire in that region of the world.
Women often receive warnings about protecting themselves at the mall and in dark parking lots, etc. This is the first warning I have seen for men.
A ‘heads up’ for those men who may be regular customers at Home Depot, Hannafords or Wal-Mart. This one caught me totally by surprise. Over the last month I became a victim of a clever scam while out shopping. Simply going out to get supplies has turned out to be quite traumatic. Don’t be naive enough to think it couldn’t happen to you or your friends. Here’s how the scam works:
The West Brattleboro Economic Development Forum has been postponed until Monday, February 23rd. That evening it will still be held at 5pm in the central conference room at the 55 Marlboro Road building.
– Michael Bosworth, Board President, West Brattleboro Association
From the BBC
US senator questions forcing food workers to wash hands:
A US senator has suggested that restaurants should not have to make their employees wash their hands after toilet visits.
Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, made the comments on Monday during a speech criticising business regulations.
“Let them decide” such issues, the newly elected lawmaker said.
PRESUMED CONSENT OF ORGAN DONATION. OH, REALLY? WHAT A CREEPY WAY FOR THE STATE OF Vermont TO MAKE MONEY because “presumed consent” is NOT “informed consent”!
This Act shall take effect on January 2, 2016. Bill as introduced, H. 57 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont: Sec. 1. 18 V.S.A. chapter 110A is added to read: CHAPTER 110A. ANATOMICAL GIFTS § 5232. PRESUMED CONSENT All Vermont residents 18 years of age or older shall be presumed to consent to making an anatomical gift of some or all of their organs, eyes, tissues, or a combination thereof upon their death for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 24 – Potential Republican presidential candidates are hobnobbing this weekend with politically potent billionaires at an invitation-only gathering in Palm Springs, California, that U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others have called “the Koch brothers primary.”
Four Republican hopefuls – looking to line up benefactors to bankroll their campaigns – are participating in mostly closed-door meetings of millionaires and billionaires assembled by Charles and David Koch, the industrial tycoons who control the second largest family fortune in the United States.
The excerpt below is from an article documenting the shrinking middle class, and the accumulation of wealth upward, ever upward. According to the authors, Of the 50 states, Vermont was, surprisingly to me, #2 for this phenomena.
“2. Vermont
> Middle income growth 2009-2013: -5.9%
> Fifth quintile income growth 2009-2013: 2.8%
> Fifth quintile share of income: 48.8%
> Middle class household income: $53,020 (20th highest)
DESCRIPTION:
Meaningful justice, would be Europeans recognizing their legal responsibility to compensate the survivors of Muslim and non-Muslim millions slaughtered, maimed, impoverished, enslaved and exploited on three continents over the centuries of Europe’s rise via the plunder of three continents, including Muslim and other cultures and civilizations older, more advanced and wealthier than those of Europeans at that time. Patience!
No one on the political horizon can stir my voting allegiance. And, no one ever has. My vote like so many other voters goes to the lesser evil. Too often the greatest pull is to not vote at all.Now that 2016 presidential hopefuls are at stage left or right, no one captures my undivided interest.
Take Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s Senator who is dancing on the edge of the presidential hat ring. At first glance, his recent 12-point national economic program enumerates what many in our state would expect from him: job creation, wages, unions, in-sourcing, climate and fossil fuel concerns, trade policies, equal pay, break up big banks, wealth disparity, Medicare-for-all, Social Security and tax reform – all quintessential Bernie.
By Curtiss Reed, Jr., Executive Director, Vermont Partnership for Fairness & Diversity
Brattleboro. We believe Robert Appel’s Commentary “Racial bias plagues Vermont, too” (Rutland Herald & Times Argus, December 28, 2014) does a disservice to the Vermont State Police by casting the agency in the very narrow, negative lens of deficient data analysis. More so than any other state agency, Vermont State Police (VSP) has demonstrated conspicuously courageous leadership in the areas of bias reduction and cultural competency. This commentary offers a brief retrospective on how VSP leadership has been shaping a more responsive, culturally competent agency.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 19 – With President Barack Obama set to deliver his State of the Union address tomorrow, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced the winner and top finalists in his annual State of the Union essay contest for Vermont high school students.
Leo Lehrer-Small, a sophomore at Mount Mansfield Union High School, was named the winner of the contest, which was judged by a panel of four Vermont teachers. Sanders called to congratulate Lehrer-Small on Friday.
Ryan Taggard of Brattleboro Union High School finished in second place. Two students – Craig Pelsor of Milton High School and Hadley Menk of Champlain Valley Union High School – tied for third place. (The full list of finalists is below.)
I read an interesting article in an older NY Times about ancient terrorism.
The author, Robert Harris is talking about the year 68 BC. He begins: “the world’s only military superpower was dealt a profound psychological blow by a daring terrorist attack on its very heart. Rome’s port at Ostia was set on fire, the consular war fleet destroyed, and two prominent senators, together with their bodyguards and staff, kidnapped.”
He continues: “ in the panicky aftermath of the attack, the Roman people made decisions that set them on the path to the destruction of their Constitution, their democracy and their liberty.”
Here is what the Brattleboro Town Charter Article III, titled “Powers of the People”, section 2 says regarding petitioned articles.
> advisory articles (also called resolutions)
pre-2012
And you thought that ended in 1970?
JANUARY 2015 FEDERAL COURT NEWS: The Marshall Islands Republic sues to try to stop the U.S. Government from continuing nuclear proliferation in violation of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
President Barack Obama (Democrat) claims to be opposed to nuclear proliferation while in reality, he supports it 100% as Commander in Chief of the United States Military. F-35 strike fighter jets are designed to be dual capable to carry nuclear weapons.
rCedits is an advanced complement to our US dollar system. It has undergone a 1.5 year testing phase in Greenfield and is ready to expand.
Meetings in Montpelier have already begun along with those in 5 other states.
We are offering 2 meetings on January 22. Both will take place at the meeting room at the Brattleboro Coop, and will cover the same material. The first is 2 pm – 3:30, the second is 6 pm to 7:30.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today will file that would put the Senate on record acknowledging that climate change is being caused by humans and is a major threat to the planet.
Sanders plans to offer the amendment to a bill that would force approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The controversial project would ship oil from Canada’s tar sands region in Alberta to refineries in Texas along the Gulf of Mexico.
“The American people need to know whether Congress is listening to the overwhelming majority of scientists when it comes to climate change,” Sanders said.
