I know, this was mentioned in the comments in my previous diary, and I'm sure there will be more on this shortly, but Cathy Resmer at 7Days has this statement from Smith and Shumlin:

Today, Governor Douglas announced his intention to veto S.115, which has not completed the legislative process. “The governor’s announcement today undermines the legislative process is disrespectful to Vermonters who come to the people’s house to weigh in on the important matters of our time,” said Speaker Shap Smith. “History will judge Jim Douglas on the wrong side of this issue.” “Today is a sad day for Vermont,” said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin. “The governor may choose to veto a bill, but he cannot veto love and commitment.”

There's also a link to some audio with the governor, have a look. Anyone surprised by this?

Poking around this morning, I came across a good piece at the blog Dissenting Justice, a DC blog by Professor Darren Hutchinson. His post, Definite Candidate for Wimp of the Year Award: Vermont Governor Jim Douglas, is a good one, as it's taking on the lack of spine of our pathetic excuse for a governor in the way he's dealing with the marriage equality debate. He believes the governor is hiding behind the president, as Obama has also come out for civil unions as opposed to full-blown marriage, and that it's easier to do that than for Douglas to come up with his own coherent argument.

The latest talking point/strategy from GOP HQ seems to be to fight anything progressive with the argument that it's “distracting” from dealing with the economic crisis that they played a huge part in creating (you know, that whole “Reaganomics on steroids” thing). We're seeing it with all the Village-speak lately with this “Obama trying to do too much” garbage. Now, coming from Republicans, not the most adept, complexity-handling, agile subset of our species, this is understanding… sometimes I wonder how they're able to actually show up to work in the morning in DC with all those similar-looking big grey buildings everywhere; if it weren't for the obvious dome of the Capitol, I suspect some would probably show up at the Smithsonian for work.

And as Hutchinson points out, Douglas, in a bold stroke of originality, is using the same playbook as the mouthbreathing Eric Cantor, who recently criticized Obama's stem cell decision as a distraction, yet apparently found that a resolution congratulating the American Dental Association , a bill to declare English as the official language of the United States, and a beer tax reduction all vital, pressing issues that most of the country loses sleep over at night. I know I do; every time I go to the dentist, I ask him if he feels appreciated enough by the American people, and that he damn well better answer in English, because I'm feeling ornery because of those few extra cents I paid on my bottle of beer last night:

Why Aren't These Things “Distracting”?
Here are some of the other things that Governor Douglas has done (or has planned for this year) that have not caused economic collapse in Vermont.

Vermont Quarter to get a Makeover>: “Governor Jim Douglas has nominated Vermont’s 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail to replace the scene of Camel’s Hump and sap buckets as part of the U.S. Mint’s new America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Program.”

Public Appearance Schedule of Governor Jim Douglas:

Friday, March 27, 2009
6:00 p.m. Annual Green-Up Poster Contest Awards Banquet, Capitol Plaza Hotel & Conference Center, Montpelier

Saturday, March 28, 2009
10:00 a.m. Poultney Maple Fest Weekend Tree Tapping, Green Mountain College, Poultney

11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Tour of Sugar Houses for Maple Open House Weekend, Locations to be Announced

6:00 p.m. Vermont Trappers Association Annual Banquet, Montpelier Elks Club, Montpelier

Governor Douglas has time to hang out at a tree tapping, go on a tour of sugar houses and attend a poster contest banquet, but he thinks that debating civil rights is too distracting.

Maybe he's not distracted because they're all superficial campaign-like PR events, which is primarily what Douglas seems to think passes for governing, when he's not impeding progress in some form or another. Indeed.

(crossposted on five before chaos.)

One of the biggest upcoming legislative battles is going to be fought over the Employee Free Choice Act, which basically will make it easier for employees to unionize, giving them a card-check option (50% +1 sign off) as well as giving them the current option of the secret ballot. Of course, this is a huge threat to corporate America, because if working-class wages go up, there's less for those at the top. So, of course, the right wing is putting out blatant lies about it, trying to tell workers that it will "take away their right to a secret ballot", which is complete, utter bullshit. The only thing it's "taking away" is the employer's decision on how employees will see if they want to unionize, and putting the decision where it belongs: with the worker. They know how a lot of people can't be bothered with laborious fact-checking, so they're pinning their hopes on that strategy.

And of course, where would the right wingers be without fear and perpetual pants pooping?  Fear is all they have, and if you listen to the rhetoric, you'd think that if EFCA passes, there will be mandatory abortions, genocide of the plutocracy, and shopping malls blowing up around the nation. This new ad by the SEIU captures (and mocks) the Browntrouser Brigade perfectly:

More of this kind of mockery, please.

In case you didn’t know, Bernie’s the chairman of the new Subcommittee on Green Jobs and New Economy. And in the new DOD appropriations bill, he’s secured 5 million dollars for a massive solar project for the VT National Guard. From his office:  

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced a $5 million grant for the Vermont National Guard that could result in the largest solar energy project in the state and one of the largest in New England.

“This project will not only help the Vermont National Guard reduce its electric bill and carbon footprint, but will be a major step forward in moving our state toward a greener economy which relies more and more on sustainable energy,” Sanders said.

“There is little doubt in my mind that in the years to come the energy mix in this state will be very different than it is today – with a far greater reliance on sustainable energy.  I hope that this project becomes a model for what can be done and a catalyst for further action,” he added.

[snip]

Although the project is still in the design phase, it is likely that the centerpiece will be a large array of solar photovoltaic cells at the Vermont Air Guard’s facilities at the Burlington  Airport to generate a significant amount of the facility’s electric power.

Hopefully, this will create some decent jobs as well as be an exemplary green energy project. Hats off to Senator Sanders.

I remember reading about this a few weeks ago, but it seems like more places are picking up on this. Dick Cheney will be the guest of honor at the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, VT this spring fall. Yeah, that Dick Cheney, the guy whose idea of “hunting” involves throwing a bunch of birds into a field and firing away (sorta like Gov. Douglas' ideas of fishing involves having a toadie bait his hook for him). That same one behind one of the biggest fish kills in the west. The man just breathes anti-environmentalism, perhaps because not even nature could create something so toxic. 

Apparently, it's pissing quite a few people off:

“The entire fly fishing community is appalled and disgusted,” said Ted Williams, conservation editor at Fly Rod & Reel magazine.

“We all need money, but to apply green lipstick to this Darth Vader of fish and wildlife is whoring – it's grotesque,” Williams said. “It's as if the Holocaust museum held a dinner to honor [Nazi war criminal] Klaus Barbie.”

Steve Wright, a former commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, blasted the invitation, calling Cheney “one of the great enemies of healthy fish and wildlife conservation in the U.S. over the last eight years.”

Cathi Comar, executive director of the Vermont-based museum, said some of the critics “sent me nasty e-mails, calling me names, pretty inappropriate names, I have to say.”

One board member also resigned in protest.

Apparently, the museum is sticking with it for now, as they are not a “conservation or environmental organization.” Forget the fact that if things kept going following Cheney's line of thinking, fly fishing would indeed eventualyl be just that – a museum piece. And Cheney can supposedly “raise them a lot of money”. From who? Greenwash groups? Jim Douglas? I have a hunch this isn't going to happen, and if it does, we won't even know about it until Cheney has long returned to his underground lair.

With the ever-increasing proliferation of hybrid and other high-mileage vehicles, federal gas tax revenue is in the decline. Transportation Secretary Roy LaHood is tossing around the idea of a “mileage tax” to replace the current system, a bad idea for several reasons, both of which summed up aptly in the first paragraph right here:

A tentative plan in Massachusetts to use GPS chips in vehicles to charge motorists by the mile has drawn complaints from drivers who say it's an Orwellian intrusion by government into the lives of citizens. Other motorists say it eliminates an incentive to drive more fuel-efficient cars since gas guzzlers will be taxed at the same rate as fuel sippers.

Besides a VMT tax, more tolls for highways and bridges and more government partnerships with business to finance transportation projects are other funding options, LaHood, one of two Republicans in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, said in the interview Thursday.

“What I see this administration doing is this — thinking outside the box on how we fund our infrastructure in America,” he said.

Apparently, LaHood is open to this idea, as are several states. Now, I know, the gas tax as it is currently structured is a regressive tax, but given the choice of the government being able to track everyplace I go in my car or raising the current tax, I'll go with the latter. Simply put, there is no way in hell I'm going to allow the government to be able to track me in that way, and this one will reverberate across the left/right spectrum in terms of opposition due to privacy concerns. Aside from what the government can do with it, there's a ton of opportunities for abuse if the information is compromised and falls into the hands of private detectives, marketers, etc. No thanks.

Perhaps, 5 or so years from now, after more people have switched to more efficient vehicles, a mileage tax could make sense, but it can be done in a way that is less intrusive, perhaps at vehicle inspection every year or something. But tracking vehicles in this way is ridiculous.

(Poll beneath the jump)

 UPDATED: White House says it isn't happening.

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Apologies for not putting this up sooner, but it just popped into my inbox a few minutes ago, from Johnson State College:

Dr. Winfrid Eisenberg, German pediatrician and recognized authority on the hazards of nuclear energy on public health, will discuss recent reports on the increased incidence of cancer in children living near nuclear installations and the health consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Organized by JSC SANE (Students Against Nuclear Energy) and VYDA (Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance), this talk is free and open to the public.

It’s at the Stearns Cinema on the Johnson Campus today ta 4pm.

UPDATE: Mark Johnson has a podcast with an interview wih Dr. Eisenberg here.

… is apparently, to give Joe the Plumber a job:

You’d think Joe the Plumber’s 15 minutes would be up by now. But , no, after a stint as a correspondent in Israel, he took his act to Capitol Hill today.

The first order of business: giving political advice to conservative Republican staffers at breakfast, which, Wurzelbacher told us, “Went really well.”

His advice, essentially, was to take no prisoners in standing up for their beliefs.

“It’s not politically incorrect to say you’re Republican or conservative,” Joe said. “They need to dig their heels in and fight for what needs to be done.”

And no reason to be subtle, he said, as long as folks inform themselves. “I don’t believe there’s two sides to every story. It’s black and white,” Wurzelbacher explained. “There’s right and wrong.”

One thing that needs to be done, he said, is killing this stimulus package, because it’s just another example of “American government” — Republicans and Democrats — “kicking our butts left and right.” He also called it welfare.

Wow… eloquent and a deep thinker. Who knew?

Reading the news this morning, I was pleased to see that Bernie was one of the senators who opposed the Geithner nomination, but I couldn't find anything more. So, after a quick phone call to DC, I got this:

Sen. Sanders statement on now-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner: “Massive deregulation of the financial services industry has led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. We need a treasury secretary who will support strong and robust regulation of the financial services sector. Mr. Geithner was at the Fed and the Treasury Department when the deregulatory fervor that got us into this mess ran rampant. He was part of the problem. I hope he becomes part of the solution, but I could not support his nomination at this time.”

Telling it like it is. There's also an interview with Bernie from MSNBC here.

FYI:

Playwright Spencer Smith is hosting her Readers’ Theater Play Voices from Chernobyl tonight 7:30 p.m., Unitarian Church (head of Church Street) Burlington. Smith, a Fulbright Scholar and Burlington College Professor, has traveled extensively in the Ukraine.  The play was adapted from the book Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich.

In the play the survivors of the Chernobyl disaster tell their stories.  Smith said, “This is timely as we are considering whether to relicense Vermont Yankee which is also a plant run by nuclear fuel. The dangers of radiation have been long suppressed by those hoping to profit from these plants and who have disregarded those hazards.”