VPR “Vermont Edition” host, Jane Lindholm, provided a bona-fide journalistic interview of Governor Jim Douglas today.  The podcast is available on the VPR site, and I highly recommend clicking over for a listen.

http://www.vpr.net/episode/44687/

Oddly, the interview ended at 12:40 despite the fact the show goes to 1pm.  Did Jim Douglas point to his watch and motion to Lindholm that he had to cut out?  🙂

Lindholm and VT Edition producer, Sarah Ashworth accomplished something that's pretty difficult to encounter when reading or listening to Vermont news programs.  The show offered very informed questions as well as clear, hard-hitting follow-ups.  Real honest to goodness journalism.  

The show deserved praise, so I sent the following note along to Jane.  As an aside, I think it's important to let Vermont's reporters know when we appreciate a job well done, in addition to the times we're not that impressed.  There's a saying that goes, “If no one's complaining, it means you're doing a good job.”  Well, it's also nice to send out a quick, “Keep up the good work!”  note as well, in my humble opinion.  My quick note to Jane is below the fold.

But more importantly, go listen to the podcast on the Vermont Edition page:

http://www.vpr.net/episode/44687/ 

Hi Jane,

Thank you for today's interview on Vermont Edition.  The use of respectful yet uncompromising news questions along with journalistic, fact-checking follow-ups is the kind of reporting we need in order to learn more about the real issues here in Vermont.  Unfortunately, it's far too often that interviewees are given softball questions and allowed to simply say what they assume listeners of similar views want to hear.  We have come to expect this in national news reporting, which has devolved from journalistic integrity far too significantly in a way that leading news organizations have acknowledged help lead America to an unnecessary war in Iraq.  

Today's interview with Governor Jim Douglas was incredibly candid, offering the kinds of frank questions and follow-up fact checking that Vermonters and Americans are no longer accustomed to or even expect.

Please keep up the good work in this direction, Jane, no matter who your interviewee may be.  

If Walmart is a green company then John McCain is a candidate of change. Both are ridiculous suggestions, and both are being propagated by these two antiquated refuges of Republican America.

McCain, for his part, is suddenly casting himself as an agent of change after spending the last two years cozying up and currying favors from the Bush-Rove-Falwell axis.

And Walmart?  Well, the world’s largest retailer has launched a much-ballyhooed greening initiative that has won acclaim from everyone from the Wall Street Journal to Bill Clinton.

Just to be fair, let’s take them at their word for second – Maybe McCain and Walmart read some polls and learned that, wow, people want change and want to go green.  

But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t make them the gold standard.  They’ve still got a lot of atoning to do.

Walmart is the poster-child for suburban sprawl in America and their stores take up more square mileage than the entire island of Manhattan!  When they move out of those stores to pursue greener pastures (leaving the local economy conquered and depleted), the stores sit empty and the parking lot crumbles.

When Walmart builds new Supercenters, they don’t hesitate to pave over wetlands or suffocate corn fields with asphalt.  And their green plan for these new stores seems to overlook that rainwater flushes garbage form their Supercenters’ Mega-Parking Lots into the local waterways.

And then there’s China – they place that produces 70% of Walmart products.  Don’t even get me started about China.  The stories about mercury spills and raw chemical discharges would disgust you.

I hope Walmart can reform some of these practices.  I hope that they’re serious about being greener.  But I’m not going to hold my breath – It’d be like taking McCain’s word that he’s going to bring change to the White House.

That’s the term the former Fed-Head and still occupier of a post in the supposed economic gods pantheon,  Mr. Greenscam errr … span, used to describe his reaction to the recent economic turn of events particularly as they apply to the financial markets.

You mean “caught with hand in cookie jar”, don’t you, big Al?

Way back in the early 1980’s I, nothing more than an enlisted man in the US Army working on tugboats, saw it with great clarity … the newfangled “trickle down”, cheap labor, borrow and spend economic theology being pushed by the likes of Ronnie “doubler of payroll taxes on the working class” Reagan was a scam. It was as obvious then as it is now. You can’t simply borrow money forever without the bills coming due!

But you, Greenscam, sat down with the aforementioned Reagan and “Tip myself over to present my posterior as a sign of surrender to all things Republican” O’Neill (then speaker of the House) and came up with a grand scheme to borrow our way out of the Vietnam war debt created inflation morass that chased Carter out of the Presidency. The scheme included such things as tax breaks for rich folks, and to keep those tax giveaways popular the scheme included an increase in domestic spending … all paid for by debt. You’re scheme, Greenscam, also included almost doubling the payroll tax on working Americans so excess Social Security monies could be collected and used to fund your Greenscam/Reagan/O’Neill credit cravings.

It would have all fallen apart a decade or more ago, but two things happened: 1) H.W. Bush came to his senses and re-entered the time when he considered your scheme “voodoo economics” and increased taxes, and 2) Bill Clinton realized he couldn’t fund his Presidential ambitions and followed H.W’s lead by another common sense tax increase (not enough maybe, but adequate for sure).

It took a return of the Reagan legacy in the form of Dumbya Bush to help undo the budgetary advances made by his two predecessors.

Greenscam, you told congress there was something wrong with budgetary surpluses … ostensibly because there really was nowhere for those surpluses to be put. Of course paying off our national debt was out of the question … so said banker you who has no problem with the public dollar paying hundreds of billions of dollars a year in interest payments … money that could have funded education, medical care, environmental protections, worker safety, infrastructure maintenance and more.

Boy  … you sure kept your economic class in style!

Of course the workers of this country, you know … the folks who actually make the gears turn, were not of concern to you. As a matter of fact, Al, you insisted one of your jobs was to keep wage inflation down (while making sure stock inflation soared). Recently I caught you making just that sort of claim on Bloomberg News: you told the show’s host that you are very concerned about income disparity and the way to keep that disparity down is to allow more trained workers in as immigrants so America’s well trained workers will have wage competition!

Never occurred to you the income disparity is between the upper 5 or 10 percent (ie. YOU Greenscam) and the rest of us … did it?

Shock and disbelief? Fat freakin’ chance. Greenscam, anybody who’s ever balanced a checkbook knew exactly what was coming down the pike with your borrow and spend, cheap labor economic theology … and we’re seeing it today.

(Bumped, with some edits. This is outrageous, and its not the first time Douglas has acted aghast (ha) at the actions of some underlings taking inappropriate electoral action on his behalf (remember the “Sandinista” schtick?) – promoted by odum)

Earlier during the budget cutting the Douglas talk was of shared responsibility and doing what had to be done for Vermont and Vermonters. Now a letter blaming cuts on the legislature has been  mailed from the State of Vermont to more than a 1000 seniors receiving state aid as part of the “Choices for Care” program without approval of “higher-ups” according to Jason Gibbs, Spokesperson for the Governor.

Passing blame may be just another tool in Governor Jim’s re-election tool box. The cuts will save $500,000 I am not sure how that stacks up to which is roughly the pay for his team of public relations spokespeople. The Choices for Care program is described this way on the DDAS web page.

The program assists people with everyday activities at home, in an enhanced residential care setting, or in a nursing facility.

The Douglas administration letter attempted to let these older Vermonters know where to pass the blame.

The letter in part, “The Vermont Legislature has directed the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living to reduce every Choices for Care program participant’s assistance with Instrumental Activities of Daily Living by one hour per week.”

The decision to cut the care was part of a series of budget rescisions the Legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee made with the Douglas administration. Gov. Jim Douglas touted the bipartisan work during an election debate Wednesday

Jason Gibbs, spokesman for Douglas, said the wording of the letter was a mistake and that Administration Secretary Neale Lunderville apologized to Joint Fiscal Committee Chairwoman Susan Bartlett when she brought it to his attention.

Gibbs said the letter went out without approval from higher-ups, including the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living commissioner, the Agency of Human Services secretary and the Governor’s Office. The letter was written by a Medicaid waiver manager.

The cut in service will save $500,000 and means 1,300 elderly will receive one hour per week less in support services such as grocery shopping and cleaning that helps seniors remain in their own homes.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

When I went to the Welch interview two weeks ago, I had a handful of questions, many of which I didn't get time to get to, a few from other FP'ers. I had a few given to me about nuclear energy, which I emailed and got a response from Peter. I'm going just go ahead and print the questions as posed, as well as the answers. Below the fold.

The questions:

Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Trust Funds now account for more than Three Trillion dollars nationally.  Given what is happening here in Vermont, as well as the collapse of the stock  market, would you consider holding Congressional hearings on the national implications of the investment of these funds and the proper assessment of decommissioning itself?

Peter, as a lawyer, do you think that Vermont Yankee should be owned by a limited liability corporation?  Are you in favor of the spinoff to Enexus, a limited liability Corporation with $4.5 Billion dollars in debt and junk bond rating by Reuters?

During the purchase of Vermont Yankee by Entergy (2002), you were President Pro Tem of the VT Senate.  Knowing what you know now about the Decommissioning Fund Gap and the current market conditions, would you have done anything differently to guarantee the safety of the Decommissioning Fund?  For example, making contributions from Entergy to the decommissioning fund a mandatory condition of the sale and/or requiring that the Decommissioning Fund remain in the State of Vermont, where it originally was located?

The answers: 

A deal is a deal. The nuclear power companies have agreed to bear the cost of decommissioning. They should honor that obligation, not outsource it to the ratepayers and taxpayers who, in effect, have already paid this in their monthly bills. The Vermont legislature is the defender of the rate payer and the taxpayer. Any proposal by Entergy that would, directly or indirectly, alter its current obligation to pay the costs of decommissioning should be scrutinized carefully to protect the taxpayer and rate payer from bearing what is Entergy's obligation. Entergy also must bear the consequences of its own investment decisions, not reserve the upside to itself and offload the downside to the ratepayer.

I was not President Pro Tem in 2002. I was in 2003-2006 when Vermont passed the most progressive states right initiative to give citizens a say in the future of nuclear power. Vermont is the only state in the nation where the General Assembly has the right to vote up or down on the extension of an existing license application for a nuclear facility located within its borders.

This from Ben Smith @ politico.com (http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Dept_of_fraying_tempers.html):

John McCain’s brother exchanged sharp words with a police operator after calling 911 to complain about traffic.

His call, and a call back to reprimand him for an inappropriate use of the service, were recorded by City of Alexandria Police, WJLA first reported.

Here’s the exchange:

Operator: 911 state your emergency

Caller: It’s not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95 traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic’s coming the other way?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: “Fuck you.” (caller hangs up)

The operator then called back, and received this message: “Hi this is Joe McCain I can’t take this message now because I’m involved in a very … important political project… I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John.”

McCain then apparently called 911 again, to complain about the message.

You can listen to the call here (.wav): http://share.ovi.com/download/…

I think this speaks for itself:

My quote from the press release:

“Jim Douglas equals failed leadership for Vermont. If he spent half as much time focusing on improving the lives of Vermonters as he does blaming others, Vermonters would be much better off,” said Adam Quinn, representative for Democracy for America. “When Vermonters vote for change on November 4th, Jim Douglas will join a record high number of unemployed looking for work.”

What would your quote for this ad be?

(Full disclosure, I work for Democracy for America. Adam Quinn)  

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Lots and lots and lots to report. Here's a smattering:

• If you've been wondering where Julie's been lately, she's having some serious health issues and today went into what may be the first of a few surgeries. Doesn't sound like anything life threatening (besides the risk of surgery in general) as long as she's treated, but very significant nonetheless. So, send healthy thoughts and we'll try to keep you all up to speed with her condition.
• Funny math. At the end of debates, Anthony Pollina has been suggesting that if everyone who voted for him in '02 (when he came in third with about 25%of the vote) were to vote for him again this time and bring one friend, then he would win. I suppose he figures 25% plus 25% equals 50% but… well… you see where I'm going with this. The number of voters is likely to be markedly higher this year than in 2002, so all 25%s are not created equal. Pollina got 56564 votes in '02…. double that and you get 113128.

  Of 418718 voters on the checklist, 56% voted, or 232993. At the Presidential Primary this year, 46.6% of 421987 voters turned out, which is nearly 20% up from the 27.8% in 2004, giving you a sense of the increased enthusiasm. If that enthusiasm increases the turnout in November "only" 10% to 66% (which is, I think, a likely minimum increase), that would come out to 284876 voters as measured against the voter registration count from the September primary of 431631 (which will in reality be markedly lower than the final registration totals). This will give Mr. Pollina a maximum vote percentage under this scheme of 39.7%, and almost certainly lower – perhaps significantly so. Maybe if all those '02 voters bring 2 or 3 people…

• In other Pollina news, the Prog-turned-Indy is making extraordinarily good use of the Facebook social networking site. He's seriously maximizing its potential to do some viral organizing by aggressively “friending” new people (even me, for god’s sake… does that count as “reaching out” to a dubious Democrat?) and keeping the communication steady and personalized, rather than making it blandly institutional in flavor, keeping with the feel of the Facebook system (at least to all appearances – and its the appearances that matter in this game). Kudos.
• Over in Symington land, the hits on Douglas have been coming daily, along with doses of policy for those looking for a little more meat. Here's the YouTube video from her press conference at Flatbread in Burlington rolling out her economic development ideas:

• Lastly, Democracy For America has weighed in with another anti-Douglas ad, and this one is a big improvement over the first, VT Yankee-based one. DFA has invested a significant amount in this race on Symington's behalf, including this ad which is part of a $40,000 media buy. We'll see if it pays off:

This is officially yesterday’s news, but I didn’t catch it until this evening.

  Chris Matthews does a good job calling out Senator Michele Bachman when she uses the words, liberal, leftist and anti-American as meaning the same thing.

The meat of the interview starts around the 9:40 mark, but the unbelievable quote is the eleven-second span between 10:22 and 10:33.  

According to Senator Michele Bachmann:

"…the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look, I wish they would, I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out if they're pro-America or anti-America.  I think people would love to see an expose like that."

Holy McCarthyism!  This is a direct quote, no joke.  Let's just hope the American media starts with Bachmann.  

The html code for the video was a little screwy, so here's the link to MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27317976#27317976