Sanders Announces Winners of State of the Union Essay Contest – Brattleboro’s Taggard Takes Second Place

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.)


Pirates of the Mediterranean

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.”


Marshall Islands Republic Sues U.S. Government To Stop Nuclear Proliferation

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.


Brattleboro rCredits Meeting

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.


Sanders to File Global Warming Amendment on Tar Sands Pipeline Bill

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.


Localism

At a surf break, when the line-up is crowded, and competition becomes heated for precious few waves, scenes of hostility are not uncommon. Violence and threat are the ugliest manifestations, but they do happen surprisingly often for something so chill and harmonious as surfing. Localism is the term for brutish behavior stemming from protective ownership of a spot.

I’ve been wondering lately about this in light of discussion of RTM, and questions of involvement vs. ownership.


Very Enjoyable

Chris and Lise,

For quite awhile I’ve been meaning to tell you both how much I enjoy the ” This Day in History” column. It’s fascinating to see that while many, many changes have occurred -both historically and in the make up of the town; It’s also quite interesting (and amusing) to see that some dissatisfactions remain the same: For instance:

“1892: Muttered curses, not low, but deep, are daily heard in reference to Brattleboro’s railway service”


Announcement: Any Office Peter Runs for in 2016, I’m Running Against Him!

With  Peter re-elected, how much more over-taxation  suffering can people take before they pack up and move away?

I will run for U.S. Senator or  Representative to Congress, and Governor of Vermont; at least one state and one federal office in 2016.

I will fight for our right to have peace and quiet, and that means telling the U.S. Air Force to base the  F-35 strike fighter jets somewhere else!  Can you imagine having to edit out the “peace and quiet” statement in most of the tourist brochures for Vermont?


Kerry, Murderer of a Vietnamese Patriot, Comments on Terror in Co-Terrorist France

Historical ID of now US Secretary of State John Kerry, who today quite rightly condemned the terror attack on the offices of a Paris newspaper plus a history of French colonial and neocolonial terror.

What first comes to mind is US Secretary of State John Kerry’s prestige for his heroic Swift Boat killing of a Vietnamese in his own beloved country during the holocaust the US committed in Vietnam.  A wounded Vietnamese freedom fighter, who had been aiming a rocket launcher at the Swift Boat Kerry commanded, was shot by Kerry as he was running away. Kerry by daringly running his boat right at the danger was decorated for having saved the boat and its crew. [“KERRY leaped ashore, pursued the man behind a hootch and killed him”  from official Silver Star Citation “For the President, E.R. Zumwalt, Vice Admiral, Commander of US Forces in Vietnam”]


Sanders Welcomes Relief for New Homebuyers

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) welcomed President Barack Obama’s announcement today that the Federal Housing Administration will cut mortgage-insurance premiums as part of an effort to expand opportunities for first-time homebuyers.

Annual fees the agency charges to guarantee mortgages will be cut by 0.5 percentage points from the current rate of 1.35 percent.

Sanders and 17 other senators had signed a letter asking the Obama administration to take the action that the White House announced.


The Small, Small Post-Snowden World

After seeing the Edward Snowden movie Citizen Four at the Latchis recently, I was left with an impression that was not what I had expected. I had expected to be buried in acronyms – I was. I expected moments of understated drama – they were there. But what I didn’t expect was this lingering feeling of claustrophobia which comes of spending two hours watching a man whose physical existence is now confined, 24 hours a day, to a single beige hotel room which could have been anywhere but happened to be in Hong Kong. What struck me more disturbingly was that you don’t have to be an NSA whistle-blower to feel a hint of that claustrophobia in your own life. Many of us, I suspect, feel confined to a smaller space these days, especially in the time since Snowden’s revelations.


Open Letter To Vermont Voters Regarding Legislative Vote For Governor January 8, 2015

Open Letter To Vermonter Voters,

I have complained here at ibrattleboro.com during the fall of 2014 that my vote count was lowered from the “unofficial” vote count to the “official” vote count four days later.   This never happens to major party candidates.  It happened to me in 2010, and it happened to me in 2014.  I want some positive, constructive changes made!  Because this never happens to major party candidates, I am now complaining that I believe the Constitution of the State of Vermont is being violated.


Sanders: Trade Pact Terms Must be Disclosed

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 5 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today asked the chief trade representative for the United States to turn over the full text of a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

The 12-nation pact, which could soon come before Congress, has been negotiated in secret but with input from corporations that stand to profit on the deal.

In , Sanders called it “troubling” and “unacceptable” that the only sources for Congress to assess what would be the largest global trade deal in history are a few leaked documents.


Will The Stars In The Sky Tell Us Who Will Win The Legislature’s Election Jan. 8, 2015 for Governor of Vermont?

Who will win January 8, 2015 for Governor? Will Astrology and Astronomy combined,  tell us?

Astrological analysis of the top 2 voter getters, keeping in mind that the 3rd, Dan Feliciano,  might win – a meteor may fly over Montpelier,  a falling star could hit the Capital Dome, so don’t discount Dan;  after all, I think he and his wife are definitely the friendliest of the bunch!  

PETER
Looking first at Peter Shumlin, he was born on March 24, 1956 in Brattleboro, Vermont with his natal Jupiter in 22 degrees Leo.


Gov Shumlin, Now IS The Time; We All Deserve “Cadillac” Health Care

The purpose of writing this is to express my grievance over Governor Shumlin’s recent dismissal of Act 48, the Vermont Law, passed in 2011 by Mr. Shumlin himself –who rode into office on the wave of public support for this law in the first place! This law states that all residents of Vermont have the right to receive the best, high quality and publicly financed medical care– in other words, Universal, or Single-Payer Health Care. He has now abandoned us, having already missed several deadlines for putting various parts of it into affect so that it would be fully implemented by 2017. In his own words, on Dec 17, 2014, Governor Shumlin claimed that “…Now is not the time…”


Sanders to Introduce Legislation to Rebuild America’s Crumbling Infrastructure

BURLINGTON, Vt., Jan. 3 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today he will introduce legislation when the new session of Congress convenes this month to authorize a $1 trillion, multi-year program to rebuild crumbling roads and bridges and invest in other infrastructure modernization projects.

The investment not only would begin to address a growing backlog of badly-needed repairs, it also would put 13 million Americans to work at decent-paying jobs, according to Sanders, who will take over this month as the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.


Protester’s Are Officially Unemployed

Well it’s official. At approximately 11:00 am today VY powered down for the last time. There may finally be peace in the area as the protesters, most from well outside the evacuation zone I might add, have officially become unemployed. They can move on to another area and chain themselves to the perimeter fence of another nuclear facility. If they don’t mind the cold and would like to enjoy the benefits of no sales tax maybe they should consider Seabrook N.H. 


Rick Perry

Rick Perry is the governor of Texas and will be Until January 21, 2015. He was a Republican candidate for President in 2012 and has been mentioned as a possible candidate in  2016 (Sorry, Jeb).

On August 15, 2014, Perry was indicted by a grand jury on felony charges for abuse of power. He was accused threatening a Democratic District Attorney who had been convicted of drunk driving.  The indictment received some support and also wide criticism from all sides of the political spectrum, and editorial criticism from major US newspapers.  He has not been convicted to date.