This being a presidential election year seems to accentuate the political nature of many things. Hemp remains in the position that it’s in here in the United States not because of any difference of opinion based on facts, but primarily because of politics. We started the legislative season this year with five bills carried over from last year, and because of election politics we did not expect any new legislation to be introduced. We had high hopes for H.267, the Hemp for Vermont bill. Along with the agricultural policy non-profit Rural Vermont, we put nearly two years into getting the hemp farming bill passed.

Our hard work seemingly paid off, but at this point the hemp farming bill is still not certain to become law. Supporters worked hard and made sure that the bill moved out of committee and got the floor vote in the Vermont Senate that it deserved after passing in the House by an overwhelming 126 to 9 margin. The Senate vote was an even stronger 25 to 1! The day after Governor Douglas indicated that he would allow H.267 to become law, we put out the press release “Hemp for Vermont Bill Becomes Law.” Unfortunately, that may have been premature, as it was previously reported that a “pocket-veto” was not an option for the Governor. Please see the news stories below for full details on this somewhat confusing issue with Constitutional repercussions in Vermont.

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Article I

Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.

Article II

Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.

Article III

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.

Article IV

Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.

Article V

Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.

Article VI

Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.

Article VII

Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII

Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.

Article IX

Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X

Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI

Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII

Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources

Article XIIII

Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article XIV

Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV

Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI

Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII

Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII

Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX

Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX

Imprisoning Children

Article XXI

Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII

Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII

Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV

Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV

Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI

Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII

Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII

Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX

Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX

Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI

Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII

Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII

Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV

Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV

Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

Full list with details here.

Glad to see you’re on board with this Leahy, Sanders and Welch.

Oh … that’s right … you’re not! Better you have something to whine about than really take action.

I’ve seen comments here and there about how so much of the party favors Clinton for the VP slot.  Some have even suggested that this is the first real test of Obama’s leadership, such as illustrated here:

Early on in the debates, it was obvious that people wanted the Dream Ticket and that the two of them had a real chemistry.

Face it– the Democratic Party is and always has been a house divided. Obama has a chance to show some real leadership here by bringing the party together.

I’ve seen similar arguments throughout the blogosphere and I think they’re misguided.

The real test of leadership is not what choice Obama makes for the VP slot.  The real test of leadership is how he makes it.  Does he do so quickly, in order to placate disappointed party members or does he do so with careful and thoughtful deliberation?

Does he make a quick rash decision in the interests of bringing the party together or does he let the possibilities linger for a time?

Does he respond to the pressure from outside groups to force him to choose a specific candidate, or does he refuse to allow an entity within the party to dictate to him what his choice will be?

I don’t know about the rest of you but, to me, a leader is someone who actually, you know, leads on an issue: the best possible move Obama can make at this moment in time is to do exactly what he’s doing: say that it’s going to take some time and that this is a private process and that, eventually, a decision will be reached, and then take his time, with the support of his search committee, to find the best possible nominee not for this moment in time, but for November and beyond.

Veterans For America (VFA) strongly applauds Vermont Rep. Welch for co-sponsoring H.R. 6205, the Stop-loss Compensation Act, authored by Rep. Betty Sutton of Ohio. The bill requires that U.S. servicemembers whose tours of duty are involuntarily extended, commonly known as “stop-loss,” receive special pay for the duration of their extension.

More than 70,000 Soldiers have been stop-lossed since 2002.  During the recent Iraq troop “surge,” the number of troops stop-lossed reached 12,235.  Such orders harm the morale of our fighting men and women and are nothing more than a short-term crutch for maintaining force levels.  As Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said “we need to move away from [stop-loss] as rapidly as we can.”

Of all the abuses borne by our servicemembers since the beginning of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, excessive reliance on stop-loss is one of the most egregious. Involuntary service negates the promise of our all-volunteer military. By forcing tens of thousands of troops to stay in the military, we have broken the contract that our servicemembers willingly entered into with their country.

VFA applauds Reps. Welch and Sutton’s efforts to mitigate the burdens placed on our troops and their families by stop-loss orders.  We encourage their colleagues in Congress to support this legislation.

Sheesh. What, I gotta do everything around here? Here are the final delegates to the DNC August Convention, chosen over this last weekend:

Unpledged Delegate:

Secretary of State Deb Markowitz

Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official Delegates:

Senator Sara Kittell

Senator Peter Shumlin

Pledged At-Large Delegates:

Linda Weiss – Corinth

Kevin Christie – Hartford

Sherry Merrick – Post Mills

Alternate At-Large Delegate: Tim Briglan – Thetford Center

Markowitz was elected the Vermont Delegation chair. Don’t know what it means to be the chair, but when I get to Denver and find out, I’ll let you know…