(Go going Peter! Keep it up! – promoted by Christian Avard)

The latest from Peter Welch.

Watch out Halliburton/KBR! Peter’s on your tail (no bunny rabbit pun intended)!

Update: Mission accomplished perhaps? Check out the latest, courtesy of Peter Welch’s office:

Bush administration plans to close fraud loophole in response to Welch-initiated investigation

Washington, DC – The Bush administration has retreated in its proposal to exempt overseas contractors from reporting fraud after Rep. Peter Welch (VT-AL) initiated a congressional investigation last month.

Welch first called for the investigation through the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, on which he serves, on March 7, after learning of the loophole.

“This investigation proves why congressional oversight is essential.  Whether through my legislation or a new rule, we will close this multi-billion dollar loophole,” said Welch.  “The question is why it required a congressional investigation to prevent the Bush administration from giving overseas contractors a free pass to defraud taxpayers.  It defies common sense.”

In addition to requesting the investigation, Welch also introduced The “Close the Contractor Fraud Loophole Act,” H.R. 5712, to require all contractors, regardless of where the work is performed, to be subject to fraud reporting requirements.

The Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization, and Procurement will hold a hearing on the investigation initiated by Welch and on Welch’s legislation tomorrow, Tuesday, April 15 at 2:00 p.m.

From the website of the Tibetan Association of Vermont http://www.vermonttibet.org/:

Tibetan Association of Vermont & Students for a Free Tibet  are coordinating a “Peace March for Freedom in Tibet”. This 40 miles walk will start at 9 am on April 12th in downtown Burlington, Vermont in front of City Hall. It will conclude on April 14th at around 12:30 pm with a rally in front of State Capitol, Montpelier. There will be two stops, one in Richmond and other in Middlesex.

We invite everyone to begin planning to join us in Montpelier, VT on Monday April 14. You can also join the march from the beginning as well. Please contact tsering05408@yahoo.com or call (802) 578-0264 for sign up or for more information.

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Also, at 1:00 Wednesday, April 16th, a resolution in support of Tibet will be read on the House floor. Members of the Vermont Tibetan community will be there and will be introduced.

Crossposted to Birding New England and Reason and Brimstone

Last year, I had a few brief sightings of eastern bluebirds, but they were few and far between and I only spotted them a few times.  This time, I’ve had multiple sightings of them.  While last year, several of my sightings were directly connected with nesting boxes, this time, the sightings have been frequent and in areas with no visible nest boxes throughout the region.

I’m still relatively new to birding, so I find it difficult to know how much of this is my eye changing over time and being better at spotting (combined with having much better camera equipment than I had two years ago), and how much of it is a change in the environment or conditions from this year compared to last.  

Cornell has some interesting facts on Eastern Bluebirds:

The male Eastern Bluebird does a “Nest Demonstration Display” at the nest cavity to attract the female. He brings nest material to the hole, goes in and out, and waves his wings while perched above it. That is pretty much his contribution to nest building; only the female Eastern Bluebird builds the nest and incubates the eggs.

Eastern Bluebirds typically have more than one successful brood each year. See a Birdscope article for data from The Birdhouse Network that show this graphically. Young produced in early nests usually leave their parents in summer, but young from later nests frequently stay with their parents over the winter.

Eastern Blue birds are, by the way, quite a bit different from Western Bluebirds, which tend to have a very similar shape, but the males have a darker throat and the females and less contrast on the chest and throat.

As usual, the photos are smaller versions of full-sized images, which you can get to by clicking them.