Daily Archives: January 31, 2009

A Dream Of Peace (VT Congressman Works To Ease Humanitarian Crisis In Gaza)

( – promoted by odum)

In response to the recent Gaza War, a fundraising page was set up on ActBlue.com in order to contribute to elected officials who have been supportive of the peoples of Israel and Palestine.  The page is called “A Dream of Peace: Justice and Equality for The People of Israel and Palestine”, and can be found here.

The mission of the page states “All of the people of the Holy Land need to live in peace and security. We need to support and elect candidates that are willing to stand up for the rights of the citizens of Israel and Palestine. These candidates support measures to stop violence, increase economic and humanitarian aid, actively engage in negotiation, and promote co-existence among these two Peoples.”

On January 28th, Rep. John Olver (MA-01) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter to Secretary Of State Hillary Clinton requesting that the State Department release funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for reconstuction and humanitarian assistance in Gaza.  The letter was signed by a total of 63 Democratic House members, including Vermont’s Peter Welch (VT-AL).  The full text of the letter, as well as the full list of signatories can be found here.

As a result of this request, President Obama, yesterday, authorized the use of $20.3 million from The US Emergency Refugee and Migration Association (ERMA) for humanitarian needs in Gaza.  $13.5 million went to UNRWA, $6 million went to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and $800,000 went to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Congressman Welch, as well as the rest of the signatories, are all strong supporters of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.  They are speaking out to help lessen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to commend President Obama on his early committment to the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.  We need to help these candidates as they face pressure from the anti-peace community.  Please visit our fundraising page and contribute to these members, as well as any (or all) of our candidates.

In peace.

“and we’re real concerned” Vt.Sec.of Agriculture

The Rutland Herald reported and today the Free Press follows with news of the gathering storm in diary farm business.Prices per hundred weight have dropped 30% from last year at this time .Last month 11 farms failed .The dangers of the situation were recognized at UVM’s farm extension service and they established a telephone crisis line for stressed farmers.It is noted that two struggling farmers in California committed suicide during a period of financial stress.  

Once again the crack team of Douglas administrators have taken notice,sat up ,shrugged and are doing little if anything. According to the Sec.of Agriculture the best hope is to wait for the federal stimulus package .

No new ideas,no innovative emergency plans were reported .Last week we had multiple complaints from republicans about others executive salaries, makes me wonder what they are doing to earn theirs .At least they didn’t offer the Dept of Labor’s telephone game show format for the stress hotline.Multiple failures of diary farms will have a dynamic effect on character of the state,someday someone may wish they had done something.We are real concerned.

Officials said Thursday there’s little the state can do, in the short term at least, to resolve the mess.…”‘Send money now’ would be the best thing, but there isn’t any money to send,so we’re trying to find ways to decrease the cost side for farmers and find a way for them to get through this,” Diane Bothfeld, dairy industry specialist for the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. The worst, she said, is yet to come.

Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee said Vermont’s greatest hope right now lies in the federal stimulus package. Vermont farms, he said, provide 15,000 jobs to the Vermont economy. He estimates that the industry’s woes could cost the state $200 million in lost economic activity in 2009.

“It’s a big impact and we’re real concerned,” Allbee said.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/a…

Leahy speaks on behalf of a Palestinian student from Middlebury

Photobucket   Photobucket

Every once in a while, a good story slips through the cracks about our congressmen in Washington. This was one of them.

Amer Shurrab is a Palestinian from Khan Yunis living in Washington, DC. Shurrab is a recent graduate from Middlebury College.

Democracy Now! reported last Wednesday, that “Shurrab’s father and two brothers were fleeing their village when their vehicle came under Israeli fire. His twenty-eight-year-old, Kassab, died in a hail of bullets trying to flee the vehicle. His eighteen-year-old brother, Ibrahim, survived the initial attack, but Israeli troops refused to allow an ambulance to reach them until twenty hours later. By then, it was too late. Ibrahim had bled to death in front of his father.”

On Wednesday, Senator Pat Leahy made a moving speech on the Senate floor about Shurab, his family, and what he’s been through. Personally, I appreciate this because it’s not easy for any Congressman to speak out on behalf of Palestinians.

Below the fold is Leahy’s speech. I highly recommend everyone take a few seconds to read it. As many of you know, the plight of Palestinians is something I care very deeply about. It makes me proud we have a Senator who also recognizes their struggles. We need more like that.

– Christian  

“Mr. President, we have all seen the photographs of houses, schools and other civilian infrastructure destroyed in Gaza, and the reports of civilian deaths, including over 400 children, and many thousands more injured.  Behind each of these statistics is a story of a family tragedy.  I want to take this opportunity to talk about one that has touched the lives of Vermonters, and which should cause each of us deep concern.  

Amer Shurrab is a recent graduate of Middlebury College, which is located not very far from my home in Vermont.  Amer is also a Palestinian, whose family was living in Gaza during the recent Israeli invasion.  His father, Muhammed Kassab Shurrah, is a farmer who grows fruits and vegetables on a small plot of land.

On January 16th, Amer’s father and brothers were returning home with provisions from their farm during the 3 hour humanitarian cease-fire that was in effect that day.  Although there was apparently no indication that the route was unsafe for a civilian vehicle carrying civilian passengers, Israeli soldiers fired from a civilian house at their car as it passed for reasons that remain unknown.  In a panic, Amer’s brother, Kassab, already wounded, got out of the vehicle and was shot a total of 18 times and died a short distance away.  Israeli bullets also hit Amer’s father and younger brother Ibrahim, who were unable to leave the car to get medical attention because Israeli soldiers refused to allow movement in or out of the area.

Muhammed tried everything he could to save his son Ibrahim, who was bleeding to death before his eyes.  He phoned a hospital with his cell phone, but the hospital told him the Israeli Army was preventing an ambulance from reaching them.  He called relatives, who contacted the Red Cross on his behalf to ask for assistance, but the Red Cross had to wait for assurance from Israeli authorities that an ambulance would get through unscathed, assurance which was not forthcoming.  He spoke with several members of the press, including the BBC, who even broadcast his plea for help.  But an ambulance could not reach them until 22 hours after the incident, even though the hospital was located less than a mile away.  By this time, Ibrahim had died in his father’s arms.  Israeli troops reportedly looked on and ignored Muhammed’s pleas for help.  

This case cries out for an immediate, thorough, credible and transparent investigation by the Israeli Government.  Any individuals determined to have violated the laws of war should be prosecuted and appropriately punished.  In addition, it is important that the U.S. Embassy determine whether any Israeli soldiers who were equipped by the U.S. violated U.S. laws or agreements governing the use of U.S. equipment, both in relation to this incident and others involving civilian casualties.  This should include the use of white phosphorous in heavily populated areas, which is alleged to have caused serious injuries to civilians.

Mr. President, this is a heartbreaking story.  My thoughts and prayers go out to Amer Shurrab and his family and friends, and to the families of other civilians, Palestinian and Israeli, who died or suffered other grievous losses in this latest escalation of violence.”

UVM is a National Embarrassment

Well, Groovy UV (in honor of Peter Freyne) has made national headlines this week, only not in a good way.

PZ has a post about their boneheaded choice of commencement speaker. Have you heard already? It's Nixon chum and creationism apologist Ben Stein.

 As PZ says, picture being a biology professor and sitting there while ths quizmaster and right-wing Republican gives the big sendoff to the graduates of Vermont's flagship institution of higher learning.

What are they failing to see? Wasn't anyone from the Flat Earth Society available?

White House Farmer » Will it be a Vermonter? VOTE NOW!

Source: whitehousefarmer.com

Everyone, from your family and friends to our First Family and their guests, needs to know who grew their food and how it was grown.  PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD AND VOTE! This would be great for the State of Vermont…

There is a Vermonter in the running to be the White House farmer. Please visit the website and vote for Professor John Hayden.  Below the fold there’s a note from Professor Hayden.

Dear friends,

I have been nominated to be The White House Farmer. I think this is a great campaign to bring awareness to the local organic food and self-reliance movement. Take a look at the website;

http://www.whitehousefarmer.com.

I am a dark horse candidate as I was just added to the list.

This is the extent of my campaign, but I would love your vote. The polls close tomorrow, Jan 31 at midnight. Please tell your friends about this push to get an organic garden in our new president’s backyard. Yes we can… on to a victory garden in The White House!

Warm wishes,

John



John Hayden

Lecturer, Ecological Agriculture Program

Plant and Soil Science Department

103 Hills Building

University of Vermont

Burlington, VT 05405

802 656-4046

Various things, most of which will annoy you

  • So, tell me what you would do. Say you've just been diagnosed with possibly terminal cancer and you'll need off and on chemotherapy treatments indefinitely in order to have any hope of surviving even a year. But you have no health insurance and cant get any, so you're SOL. But then – miracle of miracles – help from on high arrives, as someone will cover your first few months of treatments. After that, though, prospects are uncertain. Do you:
  • a. Take the treatments to stay alive and work to change your situation over the coming months, or otherwise hope your insurance environment improves?

    b. Figure, “well, I cant take this because it's just a one-shot deal, and it'll make it all that much harder in a few months when it runs out.”

    If you picked 'a', you're probably a sane, reasonable person. If you picked 'b,' you have the right reasoning skills to be a member of Governor Douglas's economic team. Congratulations. No doubt a cushy, superfluous political appointment job awaits you on the public dime. As to those 600 state employees that Douglas seems bound and determined to fire? Eh, screw 'em. They're nothing more than union members.

  • Of course, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Bartlett was walking dangerously close to the Governor's rhetoric herself on the Mark Johnson Show this morning.

  • And then there's Treasurer Jeb Spaulding, who we mildly took to task already for lending his name and credibility to the Vermont Tiger symposium on conservative conservativeness, thereby helping to boost the hard right wingers clout and profile. If you're wondering why that's such a bad idea, here's from VT Tiger:

     

    The executive editor of the Burlington Free Press has a personal blog on the paper's website and he used it recently to hyperventilate about the debate over the state's budgetary problems and whether raising taxes will ameliorate them.  The climax of his argument goes like this:

     

    The perennial GOP slur of all elections has been erased. The governor has embraced a tax because he must, and as a result Vermont business will pay. The times do these crazy things to our senses. The times make us eat our words. The times make even the hardest anti-taxer an old softie. The VermontTiger reactionaries must be stunned.

     

    I've e-mailed the following:


    Dr. Mr. Townsend,


    Jeb Spaulding, Art Woolf, Daniel Fogel, Mary Powell, and many other “VermontTiger reactionaries,” will be gathering this 
    Monday at the Burlington Sheratonwhere we will be listening to speakers from California's Silicon Valley, the Albany Nanotechnology Center, and the Atlantic Monthly and discussing, among ourselves, strategies for returning Vermont to primitive 19th century economic arrangements.  Please join us as my guest.

     

    There it is, Mr. Treasurer. You're now Vermont Tiger's beard of moderation and respectability.

    Let's just make something clear to all those who might like to get through a Vermont Democratic Primary for a run at the Governor: you go Republican lite, or otherwise showcase your uberhipness by promoting Republican ideas at the expense of progressive policies, this site won't be the only group of primary voters determined to insure you come in dead last.

  • Nope, can't have cwazy Howard Dean anywhere near an Obama administration, but Judd Gregg at Commerce is just fine. Excuse me while I go vomit.

  • Auditor Tom Salmon seems to be the only one who isn't going to voluntarily accept a 5% pay cut among State employees making more that sixty grand. Salmon rejected it loudly and clearly, calling it a “gimmick.” Well, no duh its a gimmick, but that doesn't change the fact that by not going along with it in this economy, to 99% of Vermonters the $95k-a-year Salmon will look arrogant at best, like a total ass at worst. Between this and the ski resort-casino idea, methinks this younger Salmon is still in the learning curve of the political big leagues. Better learn up quick, buddy. They're coming after you next time for sure.

  • You've probably read this elsewhere by now, but just in case“S.O.S.(Save Our State)-VT” is the new blog set up by Chris Curtis and other advocates for low-income and working Vermonters to focus on those issues and try to drum up some activist energy in the face of major potential cuts. Among other things on the site, the blog announces a series of rallies and vigils for Monday, Feb. 2nd statewide. Click over and get involved.