For opinion pieces on any topic.
There is no way to peace. Peace IS the way… David Swanson ()
Ask yourself, and then ask your congress members “why are we at war with so many people in so many places around the world?”
How are these people threatening our “homeland”? (Don’t fall for the ISIS BS).
Why have we been replacing secular, progressive “regimes” with Islamic religious strife?
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 23 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today welcomed growing support for a tax on carbon emissions that cause global warming as the United Nations hosted a one-day summit on climate change.
The World Bank said Monday that 73 nations and some 1,000 companies will join forces to push for policies setting a price on carbon emissions to encourage a shift to cleaner energy technologies.
“It is extremely important that international support is building to put a price on carbon emissions that cause global warming,” said Sanders, a member of both the Senate environment and energy committees and the sponsor of legislation to tax carbon.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 22 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today applauded the more than 1,000 Vermonters who were among 400,000 demonstrators at the People’s Climate March in New York on Sunday.
“Vermonters from across the state marched in New York City because they understand that climate change is the greatest environmental crisis facing our planet. They know that the United States and other countries must take bold action now to reduce carbon emissions and protect our planet for our children and grandchildren,” Sanders said.
The 3 little pigs, Peter Shumlin, Dan Feliciano and Scott Milne are going to the debate at VPR Sept. 23, 2014, APPARENTLY BEING HELD IN BRATTLEBORO, and we could ask, is this all about women-hating???
No, it is worse than being woman haters. This appears to be criminal money laundering. Governor Peter Shumlin signed a budget bill giving taxpayer dollars to VPR, Vermont Public Radio. He also did this in past years. VPR, Vermont Public Radio, refused to allow Ms. Cris Ericson, a woman, to participate in the general election governor candidate debates on VPR.
On the first birthday of Earth Day, April 22, 1970, more than a million people marched up Fifth Avenue to Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park to celebrate the day’s events on an unprecedented scale.Beginning September 21, 2014, just days before the United Nations Climate Summit convenes in New York City, nearly 3,000 climate events are taking place around the globe. The two mile procession of the crowds assembled in Manhattan held a moment of silence “to honor the victims” of climate change.
Unfortunately, the UN summit assuredly will result in “treaties” of the participating nations, not the concerns of the people. It is the 2015 Climate Change Conference in Paris, France where “leaders are hoping to stamp out a binding agreement.”
WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will vote against the United States training and arming Syrian rebels.
Sanders said the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “is a brutal and dangerous extremist organization which must be defeated, but this war cannot be won by the United States alone. There needs to be a real international coalition led by the countries most threatened – Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and Iran.
“The worst thing that we can do now is allow ISIS to portray this struggle as East vs. West, as Muslim vs. Christian, as the Middle East vs. America. That is exactly what they want and that is exactly what we should not be giving them,” Sanders added.
I’ve known Ray McGovern since we were both about 7 years old. He was a straight shooter then, and he is one still.
He was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990 beginning under President John F. Kennedy and lasting until the Presidency of George H. W. Bush. From 1981 to 1985 he prepared and presented the President’s Daily Brief one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s most senior national security advisers including then Vice President George H. W. Bush.
What does “one week prior to the general election” really mean? The Secretary of State Elections Division has announced on its website that Early and Absentee Voting Ballots will be at your Town Clerks Office on September, 19, 2014. That means you can start voting. But, the Elections Division has not distributed the NEW internet version of the Candidate Information Guide which Vermont Election law 17 V.S.A., Chapter 59, Section 2810, requires shall be published one week prior to the general election.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), cosponsor of constitutional amendment to reverse Supreme Court rulings that lifted limits on campaign spending by millionaires and billionaires, issued the following statement today after Senate Republicans voted to block consideration of the amendment:
Co-working Space – Should we have one?
When we two Vermonters walked into a co-working space in San Fransisco, we gasped. In front of us was a large room with long tables at which people were sitting laptops plugged into outlets in the middle of the tables.
It was quiet. Some people were walking around. A tour showed us the phone booths, a conference room, the coffee gallery (of course, it was San Fransisco) and and upstairs space where companies were renting larger offices. The space was specifically for “social entrepreneurs.” For us two, who at the time regularly camped out at the Blue Moose, it was a vision of what we lack here.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement tonight after President Barack Obama delivered a nationally televised address on the Islamic State terrorist group:
“ISIS is a brutal and dangerous organization that must be defeated. I agree with the president that ISIS is a threat to the international community and must be combatted by the international community, not just the United States. Most importantly, this struggle will not be won without the active participation of the people of Iraq and Syria. This cannot be a unilateral American action. As we develop a long-term strategy, we must not forget the painful lessons learned by the Bush-Cheney wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. ground troops should not be sent back into combat. I support the president’s airstrike campaign and help for the Syrian opposition.”
Washington, DC – Representative Peter Welch gave the following statement after the President addressed the nation tonight:
“I have appreciated the President’s clear-eyed restraint to date in responding to multiple, serious threats in this region. I have supported his use of military force to protect American personnel still in Iraq and to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees in cooperation with the competent Kurdish military in northern Iraq. I fully agree with him that American combat troops should not be deployed in the region. And I applaud his leadership in forcing Iraqi leaders to form a coalition government to respond to the threat posed by ISIS.
Washington, DC – Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives approved by a voice vote legislation authored by Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Rep. Peter Welch to address the growing problem of Lyme disease. The incidence of this debilitating disease has and across the Northeast region.
One solution to the chronic income short fall in Brattleboro is a program that has been implemented around the US with considerable success that has benefited cash strapped communities a Payment in Lieu of Taxes or PILOT for businesses that are listed as not-for profit and yet generate revenue. While it would not be a legally binding, it is an agreement between the town and income generating business like the Brattleboro Hospital, Windham Land Trust, colleges, and not for profits that generate say more than $100,000 in revenues per annum to pay fixed percentage of revenues like the Brattleboro Housing Authority that pays 10% of their revenues as a PILOT. Why should multimillion dollar businesses like Windham Land Trust, the hospital, the Retreat not contribute equit
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 7 – One day before the U.S. Senate votes on a constitutional amendment to restore limits on big money in politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the drive to undo Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major issue of our time” and said Monday’s showdown vote is “a pivotal moment in American history.”
“Billionaires buying elections is not what our Constitution stands for,” said Sanders. He is a cosponsor of the amendment to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and later court rulings that let millionaires and billionaires spend virtually unlimited and unregulated sums to sway elections.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 6 – With the wealth gap in the United States growing and greater already than in any other major country, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders today called for a progressive estate tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires.
“A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much while so many have so little. We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes and which reduces the obscene degree of wealth inequality in America,” Sanders said in a speech to be delivered this morning at the Vermont AFL-CIO annual convention here.
In the unfinished business of what happened on September 11, 2001 lay the questions raising doubts about the official story. During the 13 years after the attacks, the 9/11 memorials have centered on creating a status quo of remembering the heroes, volunteers and victims who lost their lives that day.
And like many remembrances, there is a blind spot that blocks out the other side of the story. By their nature, memorials need to be one-sided. There can be no doubt as to why people commemorate war memorials. In our pride and blind patriotism, we would not believe that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated from within and without.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 4 – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has added his crucial backing to calls for a one-year moratorium on U.S. Postal Service plans to close up to 82 mail processing plants, slow down mail delivery and eliminate up to 15,000 jobs.
Reid added his signature to those of 50 other senators who calling for a ban on Postal Service cuts as part of must-pass legislation to keep the government running into the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) organized the effort to block the cuts proposed by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 3 – Amid a major crisis in primary health care, the situation may become significantly worse unless Congress renews support for community health centers that care for 22 million Americans, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warned today.
Sanders four years ago helped lead the effort to secure $12.5 billion in the Affordable Care Act to expand community health centers and to recruit more doctors, dentists, nurses and other primary health providers. The health centers provide affordable primary care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs for low- and middle-income Americans.
