Opinion

Vermont voters are still undecided with no candidate recently polling at 50% or more for Governor of Vermont.  Of course the recent polls are corrupt because they don’t include the name of all SEVEN  candidates for governor of VT. The polls are created by major news media contractors and all major news media, television, radio and newspapers, are controlled by Corporations.  They don’t even want you to know the names of the “other” candidates the voters are “undecided” about.  This is how government continues to be of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.   We need to break the deadlock of undecision in Vermont by allowing one more debate with all 7 candidates.

Sanders’ Veterans Bill Expanded Education Program

BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 21 – U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that the Department of Veterans Affairs will begin accepting applications for college scholarships for surviving spouses of service members who died in the line of duty. Sanders worked hard to get the provision in the recently-passed veterans bill. He urged all eligible spouses to take advantage of it.

Until the law was changed this summer, the Post 9/11 GI Bill had offered scholarships to children of those who died in the line of duty but not their widows or widowers. Now, eligible spouses may be entitled to full tuition for up to 36 months plus a stipend to cover the cost of housing, books and supplies.

Humor is the best and worst of political hay. From Cris Ericson’s sparkling sequined farm dress and Ma Parker’s picnic floppy hat, to Peter Diamondstone’s too patriarchal horn-rimmed glasses, longbeard and grade-school shorts, to Bernard Peter’s pitchfork take-charge Duck Dynasty philosophy, to Emily Peyton’s grinning political dibs through gritted teeth, to Scott Milne’s making each point with a full left head swivel to Governor Shumlin, this lineup is richly deserving of national late-night talk show humor.VTDigger and the Reformer made short work of the “In case you missed it” reportage:

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 15 – Speaking at a labor union convention here today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the future of American democracy is at stake.

“We are not living in a democracy when 60 percent of Americans are not voting, while billionaires like the Koch Brothers are spending hundreds of millions to buy the United States Senate. That’s called oligarchy, not democracy,” Sanders said.

The billionaires Charles and David Koch and other wealthy individuals are pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into this fall’s campaigns by taking advantage of a disastrous 2010 Supreme Court ruling and subsequent court decisions that gutted federal and state laws limiting campaign spending.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 7 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today strongly disagreed with a proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to cut Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits to pay for more defense spending.

Ryan has resurrected a discredited plan to change the formula that the federal government uses for calculating annual cost-of-living adjustments. According to published reports, Ryan said he wants to boost the Pentagon budget by taking what he called “savings” in Social Security and other programs pegged to annual adjustments in the consumer price index.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 4 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today that the “incredible and obscene” level of income and wealth inequality in America has become a danger to our economic and political systems – and must be addressed.

According to a new Forbes magazine tally, the 400 wealthiest Americans are now worth $2.29 trillion. Their combined wealth grew last year by $270 billion – a 13 percent increase. These billionaires now own more wealth than the bottom half of America – more than 150 million people.

While the very rich become richer, most Americans have become poorer. Median family income has declined by almost $5,000 since 1999 and more than half of the American people have less than $10,000 in savings.

Vermont PBS offered each candidate for Governor and Lt. Governor of Vermont the opportunity to record a series of messages to be broadcast on-air throughout October.  These “candidate commentaries”  are one minute long, each. The 3  topics are Jobs/Economy, Healthcare, and the Candidate’s #1 Priority.  

Congressman Peter Welch, United States House of Representatives

Official Appearance Schedule – Wednesday, October 3rd, 2014

5:30 p.m.
Brooks House Grand Opening: Brattleboro
Rep. Welch will join the celebration and make remarks at the Brooks House Grand Opening.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 2 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) today launched an investigation into soaring generic drug prices.

“We are conducting an investigation into the recent staggering price increases for generic drugs used to treat everything from common medical conditions to life-threatening illnesses,” Sanders, chairman of a Senate health care subcommittee, and Cummings, ranking member of the House oversight committee, wrote in letters to 14 pharmaceutical companies.

Early/absentee ballots for the General Election to be held on November 4, are now available in all Vermont town clerk’s offices. Anyone wishing to vote prior to November 4, may apply for an early/absentee ballot until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 3.

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. For more information or to request an early/absentee ballot in Brattleboro call 251-8157.

BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 30 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will not be defeated until neighboring Muslim nations deploy ground troops against the terrorist organization.

Sanders also strongly disagreed with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) who said on Sunday that the United States may have “no choice” but to send ground troops into Syria.