Daily Archives: November 16, 2007

First videos of Welch meeting on YouTube.

The first videos of last Sunday's controversial meeting with Peter Welch have been put up on YouTube.  Go below the jump for more…

The first three videos are up, they are videos of the three speakers that opened the meeting. The first is from Dottye Ricks of Military Families Speak Out. For me, her angry, moving speech was the high point of the meeting for me:

 

The next is from Judy Sargent of Marshfield:

 

Finally, Will Allen from Thetford, of Farms, Not Arms.

I am hoping that more videos will be posted shortly, in particular the confrontation with Welch. With all the various takes on what happened and who antagonized who, it is important that those who were not there will get to see and decide for themselves. Thank you to whoever posted these.

Vermont needs instant runoff voting, NOT charges of spoiling!

(Good discussion here. – promoted by JulieWaters)

Visit VermontIRV at http://www.vermontir… for more on instant runoff
voting.
Vermont is a three party state. It's that simple. The Vermont Progressive Party is just as capable of seeing their candidates get elected or make solid showings as are the Democratic and Republican parties. The “spoiler” charge is not a legitimate argument against a strong non-Democratic/Republican challenge.

Because of this we are going to see more and more vote splitting and elections being won by candidates with far less than a majority vote. Vote splitting occurs when generally like minded candidates share a pool of voters who disagree on relatively few topics. The non-majority winner occurs when three or more strong candidates are on the ticket and there is no requirement to reach more than 50% of the vote to win.

We've seen what happens WITHOUT instant runoff voting in recent years in races that ended with non-majority winners for Governor , Lt. Governor and State Auditor.

 

We need instant runoff voting, and that's where you come in. Connected, Vermont (http://www.connected…)is currently working with an ad-hoc gathering that includes Common Cause, Fair Vote, League of Women Voters and others. We ALL want to see S.108 (a Vermont bill that will institute IRV for the federal House and Senate races) passed into law THIS YEAR.

In today's (11/16/07) Times Argus the ugly spoiler charge was leveled via a letter to the editor in what is surely just the beginning: “My heart sank when I saw that Anthony Pollina plans to run again for governor. With a great candidate like Peter Galbraith, the Democrats have a real chance of unseating Douglas and Pollina can do nothing but act as a spoiler. The few Progressives with whom I am still speaking seem to have a blind spot on this question and cannot believe that voting for Pollina is just a way that the self deluded vote Republican. If the Progressives want to do something really progressive they should back and vote for Peter Galbraith.”

I am not a member of the Progressive Party, but I take great umbrage at this “vote Democratic or you're voting Republican” stance.

Your letter to the editor is desperately needed! Letters to the editor are well read and very influential on your community. You can make a huge difference by writing a one, two, three or more paragraph letter. Using your own words you can tell your community how you feel about instant runoff voting and why. You can inform the folks around you that we already have S.108 passed by the Vermont Senate and waiting on passage by the House and Governor.

Do you have questions that will help you put a letter together? Great … reply to this post with your questions, comments or whatever. I'll be more than happy to either find you help or help you myself.
 

THE FIRST VERMONT PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL (for links to the candidates exploratory committees, refer to the diary on the right-hand column)!!! If the 2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary were

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The Most Practical Plan For the Economy

Dennis Kucinich's approach to the economy is so practical and farsighted, I sometimes wonder why it isn't discussed more; even by Kucinich! But, I guess Iraq is always the dominating issue.

However, amazingly, this plan addresses: balancing the budget, tempering the Pentagon war machine, fair taxation reform, leveling the business sector to enable small businesses to compete, our $800 Billion trade deficit, worker's rights human rights and environmental concerns, the millions of outsourced jobs, and  rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure-while at the same time creating more national wealth with millions of jobs, promoting renewable energies and saving families money on bills! It is insanely practical and wholly part of his message of “Strength Through Peace” for America.

In the same way that Dennis Kucinich will strengthen our security internationally by creating pragmatic relationships of peace, based upon equality and fairness, so he will at home by creating a more balanced economy and more equal society. To start with, Kucinich will repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and then double the tax refunds and credits for Americans earning $80,000 and less. He will create a more level playing field for small businesses by reconstituting the trust-busting powers of the Justice Department and breaking up the monopolies that make competition next to impossible in many industries. Further, he will slash the bloated Pentagon budget that we spoke about earlier by 15% to provide for universal education, pre-kindergarten/daycare through college, as well as a new public works program, called the WGA, which in turn will create millions of new jobs.

Regarding our massive trade deficit, mounting over $700 Billion/yr, and the millions of jobs our country has lost through trade agreements (3 million manufacturing jobs lost since 2000 alone) Kucinich is the only candidate willing to address the problem head on. As one of his first acts in office, he will notify NAFTA and the WTO that America is withdrawing from the agreements, thus protecting massive outsourced job loss, stimulating the economy and getting us on the road to recovery nationally; as America starts to produce goods that Americans purchase. No longer will it only be about corporate wealth, but national wealth as well, and Dennis will agressively pursue that these corporations pay their fare share in taxes too.

We will return to bilateral trade, based upon workers rights, human rights and environmental principles. No more exploiting workers for slave wages. No more ruining the environment for profit. Workers will be empowered and the rights of American workers to unionize and enact effective collective bargaining will gain more strength by Kucinich's promise to repeal the Taft-Hartely Act.

And finally, Dennis will create millions of new jobs and more wealth among the middle and working class and small businesses, while simultaneously addressing our crumbling infrastructural problems and energy needs. Through his Works Green Administration, or WGA, Dennis is investing in the environment, as well as our future, while stimulating the national economy. Inspired by FDR's Works Progress Administration, the WGA utilizes the Environmental Protection Agency to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our schools, bridges, roads, ports, water systems, and environmental systems. Not only does the bold practicality of the plan lie in putting Americans back to work by investing in the national wealth of our own infrastructure, but the plan also incorporates environmental and energy concerns to further create wealth for the country and save individual families more money. For example, not only will the public works projects stress green building and renewable energy technology, but the plan will enable homes to be retrofit with green building, solar and wind microtechnology which will save families money on their energy bills.

Chevy Volt

     

Chevy Volt

Lyrics as if in the voice of Sheryl Crow  

by Nate Freeman


I want a Chevy Volt. I want a good green home.
I want a piece of the earth that's gonna be here in a hundred years.

My man earned just $12.65. Seemed a struggle just to keep our ride.
Now he's at home raising the kids. It's not what we asked for; it was my wage or his.

I want a Chevy Volt. I want a good green home.
I want a piece of the earth high off the coast with black garden dirt.

I give my children the best to survive. I teach 'em love and how to fight.
Off to college for a Masters degree; then two years of hell to build their resumes.

Then they can buy a Chevy Volt. Then they can have a good green home.
They'll do it right: get a piece of the earth. Should only take 'em just a couple of years.

Now if my kids have their own boys and girls, there's no telling how to plan for their world.
What will it come to?  Where will it end?  A barrel of oil for an acre of land?

Will it then matter who's the President?  Will it then matter where Al Qaeda went?
Oh, stop it now, let's not dwell on it.

I want a Chevy Volt. I want a good green home.
I want a piece of the earth. I don't want your damn rhetoric.

I want a Chevy Volt. I want a good green home.
God dammit, just a piece of the earth. God I'm asking you for all that it's worth.

 

Telco immunity update: Leahy uses the power of the gavel, comes through big.

No opining to do on this, other that a big “woo-hoo!” From TPM:

…aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have confirmed to me that the version of the FISA bill that was just reported out of the Judiciary Committee does not — repeat, does not — contain retroactive immunity for the telecom companies. 

And a source close to Reid says that this is “most likely” the version that the Majority Leader will file a motion to proceed on.

It's a bit of a concern that Reid's person is leaving wiggle room, given that Reid seemed ready to declare war on his own caucus of late, all in the defense of a major campaign contributor.

How did it go down?

Senator Patrick Leahy, the chair of the committee, essentially went around Specter's amendment and moved to have a vote to report the bill out of committee without any telecom immunity in it. That passed along strictly party lines. And that's where we are.

Nice work, Senator. You did us proud today.