For opinion pieces on any topic.
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, political critic and activist. He is an institute professor and professor emeritus in the department of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. History educator Daniel Falcone spoke with Chomsky in his Cambridge office on May 14.
He has some interesting, iconoclastic ideas on a lot of things. Here are a few excerpts from this interview.
Wilmington, where my house is got 2 inches of snow, northern Vermont received between 4 and 15 inches of snow, and Whiteface Mountain in New York received 3 feet of snow!!
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BURLINGTON, Vt., May 26 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, issued the following statement today in honor of Memorial Day:
“Memorial Day must not simply be a day for picnics and ballgames. It is a time to remember and cherish the lives of service members who have died in defense of this nation and appreciate the unimaginable loss their families have experienced. But Memorial Day is not just a time to reflect upon the past. It’s important that we also focus on the present and dedicate ourselves to do all that we can to protect the interests of today’s veterans – many of whom came home from war wounded in body and in spirit.
This veteran is waiting for the year in which the Veterans For Peace, in its Memorial Day Press Release, states that Veterans mourn first, the lives America took in poor countries, both the civilian men, women and children and the patriots that fought our illegal and criminal invasions since 1945. Only then should come bitterly mourning GIs who were duped by our elected officials and the CIA and Pentagon fed, corporate-controlled war-promoting media cartel fooling them with lies, misinformation, disinformation and psyop techniques that deceived them into proudly following homicidal criminal orders. Orders given, as Martin Luther King Jr. cried out, “for atrocity wars and covert homicide meant to maintain unjust predatory investments overseas.”
[see Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence sermon]
On Saturday, just after 1 PM, WVEW played a very long selection of dissonant vocal noise that could not be called music in any way.
I tolerated it for 10 minutes, and then complained to the disk jockey, who thought my assessment of it as “noise” was just an opinion.
The Nuclear Plant in Paducha, Kentucky is set to shut down at the end of May (less than a week).
Les Montgomery and Susan Avery both had recent LTEs in the Reformer about the proposed skateboard park at the Crowell location, and cited several reasons to explore an alternate site.
Ms. Avery further suggested that no alternate site solution had been offered. She went on to say: “Neighbors of the Crowell Lot and concerned citizens of our town must continue to collaborate in working toward finding alternate locations for this activity. We need a better place; better yet, we need to come together for a “win-win” resolution.”
Here’s my suggestion:
To the editor,
I’m pleased that legislators have agreed to decriminalize possession of marijuana, but the conversation shouldn’t end here. Marijuana is a much safer substance than alcohol or hard drugs, and that’s one reason legislators should move swiftly to begin regulating-and taxing-this market similarly to the way we regulate alcohol.
As Attorney General William Sorrell explained at public hearings on the decriminalization bill, it would be better if users had a legal way to obtain marijuana rather than continuing to buy it from the illicit market. Sorrell suggested decriminalizing possession of a small number of plants, which would make a lot of sense, but ultimately the best solution is to allow regulated cultivation and sale of marijuana to adults who wish to use it.
How Well Is Medicare Plan D Working For You? How well is Medicare Plan D working for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and U.S. Congressman Peter Welch? (all over age 65)
I received this letter from my current Medicare Plan D today, simply dated, “May 2013” so I have no idea what day of the month they actually sent it.
WASHINGTON, May 22 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today proposed an amendment to the farm bill that would let Vermont and other states require clear labels on any food or beverage containing ingredients that have been genetically modified.
“All over this country, people are becoming more conscious about the foods they are eating and the foods they are serving to their kids and this is certainly true for genetically engineered foods,” Sanders said. “I believe that when a mother goes to the store and purchases food for her child, she has the right to know what she is feeding her child.”
I took my family to the Top of the Hill Grill for dinner on Tuesday night around 7:00 pm. Just before we arrived, apparently someone walked off with the staffs tip money, jar and all!
If anyone at that time noticed that happening, I would hope that they would tell someone anything that might bring the theives to justice. Maybe a description or a licence plate #.
WASHINGTON, May 21 – With gasoline prices rising rapidly, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today proposed an amendment to make U.S. federal regulators follow the lead of Europeans and investigate oil and fuel price manipulation.
Sanders also proposed a 30-day deadline for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its emergency powers to curb excessive speculation in crude oil markets.
“We must do everything that we can to make sure that oil and gasoline prices are transparent and free from fraud, manipulation, abuse and excessive speculation,” said Sanders, a member of the Senate energy committee.
Cornel, how am i doing?
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IF Our Re-elected Prez is WarCriminal, What Are We? King would have asked! by jay janson
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Cornel West, most outspoken anti-imperialist and defender of Black and minority civil rights since Martin Luther King now says Obama is a war criminal, a black puppet of corporate plutocrats, head of the US killing machine. Will West tell us that King said America, Americans, are responsible for the atrocity wars, being capable of making them unacceptable and inoperable through non-participation and conscientious objection?
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Presiding Judge, “he knew about everything that was going on and he did not stop it, despite having the power to stop it from being carried out.” US President Ronald Reagan also had the power, greater power, to stop the massacres being perpetrated by dictator General and President Ríos Montt. Instead visited him in Guatemala City and praised Rios Montt as “a man of great personal integrity and commitment. Who was more guilty?
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Shumlin’s List
If the ” Nazi’s” over at the Vermont Board of Medical Practice and the “Nazi’s” “we” elected to the Vermont State Legislature would stop telling doctors how much prescription pain killers they can (and can NOT) prescribe, and stop hounding and stalking patients and trying to falsely accuse them of “selling” the scant few prescription painkillers they are allowed, while simultaneously the Police are scanning the Vermont Prescription Drug Monitoring plan patient history so they can harrass the patients; if all this wasn’t going on, do you seriously think people would want a Lethal Injection if they had enough prescription painkillers to be comfortable?
BURLINGTON, Vt., May 17– U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will welcome Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen of Denmark to Vermont for a series of town meetings this weekend.
Lessons the United States can learn from Denmark will be explored at town meetings in Burlington, Brattleboro and Montpelier.
WASHINGTON, May 16 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today applauded Pope Francis for condemning a “cult of money” in the world that he said was oppressing the poor.
In a major speech at the Vatican on Thursday, Francis said the global financial system has worsened poverty while benefiting the wealthy few. “While the income of the minority is increasing exponentially, that of the majority of the majority is crumbling,” Francis said.
Referring to front page article in today’s Reformer 5/15/13 “Clements also said that the plans are only on paper at this time and machinery or changes in drainage could have a further impact on the trees. These two trees will be trashed. I don’t see any other way around it, ” said Clements. The Reformer article neglected to mention one of the trees to be removed as a consequence and unlikely to survive the construction of the proposed skatepark project is the majestic Norway Spruce many have come to identify with Crowell Lot as one of the original estate trees that has up to now survived at least two major hurricanes, Irene most recently, and has often been the center of this contoversy and a primary example of what’s at stake for those wanting to defend the right to preserve the park as a green area and natural tree lined setting void of excess concrete.
WASHINGTON, May 15 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today issued the following statement on a Congressional Budget Office report that the federal deficit is expected to total $642 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30:
“It is very good news for our country that we are making progress on deficit reduction. President Obama inherited a $1.4 trillion deficit when President Bush left office more than four years ago. This year, the deficit is on track to be cut by more than half from what it was in January of 2009.”
“But what can I do?” It’s a question that comes up a lot in conversation and one I’ve grappled with in recent months as I’ve tried to figure out a response to it. When nothing we do seems to make any difference, why should we even care what’s going on let alone try to do something about it? Or to put it another way, what is an ordinary person to do in the face of the kind of unsettling news that has become routine in the last ten years?
