I just don’t know the date H.267 (the hemp bill) was presented to the governor and what date Vermont’s General Assembly adjourned.

From Vermont’s Constitution (Chapter 2 and my emphasis):

§ 11. [Governor to approve bills; veto proceedings thereon; nonaction]

Every bill which shall have passed the Senate and House of Representatives shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the Governor; if the Governor approve, the Governor shall sign it; if not, the Governor shall return it, with objections in writing, to the House in which it shall have originated; which shall proceed to reconsider it. If, upon such reconsideration, two-thirds of the members present of that House shall pass the bill, it shall, together with the objections, be sent to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of the members present of that House, it shall become a law.

But, in all such cases, the votes of both Houses shall be taken by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for or against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House, respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor, as aforesaid, within five days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to the Governor, the same shall become a law in like manner as if the Governor had signed it; unless the two Houses by their adjournment, within three days after the presentation of such bill shall prevent its return; in which case it shall not become a law.

(state legislature’s version of the Constitution)

Oh, hold on … the controversy at hand:

A bill that was poised to legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp in Vermont is now the subject of a constitutional dispute over whether the legislation can become law without the governor’s signature.

(Vermont a hemp state? Not so fast, Times Argus, 06/04/08)

Here’s my thoughts:

1) There is no interpretation controversy here. The Constitution’s language is clear … unambiguous. The dates of the bill’s presentation and legislative adjournment decide the issue of whether Douglas could sign the bill without signing it or not.

2) Of course it is all a Democrat’s fault … in this case Howard Dean back in 1994:

But Gibbs said there’s a recent precedent for Douglas’ interpretation.

“In 1994, under Gov. Howard Dean, the Legislature passed a bill changing fish and game laws in the state. Dean didn’t sign the bill, according to Gibbs, but sent it to the Secretary of State who proceeded to enact the bill into law. of the law.”

3) Signing and not signing are very different acts … Douglas and Gibbs, please read the constitution in a public venue and then re-try your lame excuses with a straight face.

4) “out-of-the-mainstream majority”??????? Silly me, I thought the mainstream was defined by where most of something is. But then again I’m not a Republican politician … in the minority.

5) I really hope Markowitz is correct in her apprehensions. As noted elsewhere I think H.267 was a disaster, and going back for an umpteenth and cleaner bill is a much better proposition.

I’m specifically referring to today’s Barre/Montpelier Times Argus .. State issues new draft long-range energy plan.

When the story is the release of a draft plan … well the story is really mush, is it?

“HOLY FIBEROUS FARMING BATMAN,” hollered the much too short shorted Robin, “THEY MIGHT GET TO GROW HEMP IN VERMONT!”

Well … no. Sorry, Robin my boy wonder, but this hemp bill being ballyhooed by the ever appreciated Rural Vermont as a great step forward will do no such thing.

And no … I’m not talking about whether or not Gov Douglas will veto it.

I’m talking about the bill … H.267 … now waiting the Guv’s signature … or not. READ IT, okay?

H.267 is nothing more than an enumeration of increased big government and big police powers. It has nothing to do with legalizing hemp at all. As a matter of fact it’s stated raison d’taire is

§ 561.  INTENT

    The intent of this act is to establish policy and procedures for growing industrial hemp in Vermont so that farmers and other businesses in the Vermont agricultural industry can take advantage of this market opportunity when federal regulations permit.

And policy and procedures it does establish: have to get a license from the state to grow hemp, can’t have a felony conviction to grow hemp, have to file fingerprints with the SoS, ” Ensuring that all parts of the industrial hemp plant that do not enter the stream of commerce as hemp products are destroyed, incorporated into the soil, or otherwise properly disposed of”.

This bill is not a step forward … it is a disaster.

All it does is continue the lie that marijuana is so dangerous we have to heavily restrict the growing of hemp! And makes us wait of the federal government … for permission … to grow hemp … that has the drug abuse potential of a toilet paper roll.

No, you’re not going to be growing hemp any time soon under this bill, and if/when that time comes to pass you’ll have to be registered with the state and watched with careful suspicion.

In a major victory for consumers’ rights, a federal district judge has firmly rejected software vendor AutoDesk’s claim that its license agreement restricts its customers from re-selling the software they lawfully owned.

. . .

This proposition is being put to the test in the context of eBay sales. After Autodesk repeatedly alleged that Timothy Vernor was violating copyright law by attempting to sell copies of Autodesk’s copyrighted AutoCAD software on eBay, Vernor (with the able assistance of Public Citizen attorney Greg Beck) asked the court to declare that his activity was legal under the first sale doctrine. Autodesk predictably responded by insisting that AutoCAD is licensed, not sold. Nonsense, said the court — Autodesk may have called the transfer a license, but it didn’t look much like one. For example, the license didn’t require consumers to return the software when they were done with it, nor to make ongoing payments for continued use. Thus, the “license” might put some restrictions on use, but those restrictions did not void the first sale doctrine.

(If It Looks Like a Duck . . . Seattle Judge Finds Software Was Sold, Not Licensed, Electronic Frontier Foundation)

Rulings favoring the purchaser of products are hard to come by nowadays in the United States, and it certainly is good to see this one. You buy … you own it! Doesn’t matter what the seller wants you to believe.

Why does it take a court ruling to state this?

Received via email:

VPR’s Vermont Edition live broadcast today (Thursday, May 22) will feature Dr. Deb Richter talking with host Bob Kinzel about health care costs. You can call in at 800-258-1619. The show starts at noon with Dr. Elliott Fisher, professor at Dartmouth Medical School, and  Dr. Mark Novotny, chief medical officer for Southwestern Vermont Health Care, on the subject of high costs. This will be followed at 12:30 to 1 by Dr. Richter and Rep. Tom Koch (Republican- Barre) debating consumer-driven insurance plans vs. publicly financed health care systems.  

Would Dr. Richter have made a good candidate? I don’t think so.

From everything I know about “Doctor Deb” she is a great physician, a true humanitarian, a solid member of her community and a true friend to those that know her as such.

These things I can’t address from personal experience, because I don’t have it. I just know folks who do have that experience.

I do know for sure, however, that there are at least three people in Vermont who have a solid, reality based grasp on our state and national medical systems when it comes to finances: Dr. Marvin Malek, Con Hogan and Dr. Deb Richter. When it comes to their tireless work, endless trekking around the state and continuous output of facts, figures and lucid explanations all of us Jane and John Does on the streets can comprehend … well these three together and individually take a back seat to nobody.

And that is why Dr. Richter would not have made a good Lt. Governor candidate. She is so solidly associated with the medical delivery system, she would have a next to impossible job presenting a larger vision and agenda.

If medical care delivery alone were going to draw in votes, Dr. Marvin Malek would have done much better then he did as the Progressive’s Lt. Gov candidate in ’06.

In my opinion a good Lt. Gov candidate needs to be low key and needs to be prepared to play backstop to the Senate. The proper candidate needs to have a full agenda of issues, but at the same time needs to show a public understanding of the limitations presiding over the Senate entails.

And in the end a good Lt. Gov candidate should be happy to say she/he is willing to work against bad legislation and work for good … and describe what their good and bad is.

ECFiber Finalizes Founding Membership (directly below)

ECFiber Joins Fairpoint and Comcast at GMEDC Economic Development Panel (after the jump)

Quechee, Vt.  ­ The ECFiberNet Governing Board officially seated delegates from Williamstown, Brookfield, and Bethel at its meeting this week, bringing the total number of towns represented to 23.

According to Project Director Tim Nulty, “This is a major milestone for ECFiber because it brings our coverage area to almost 1000 square miles, with about 35,000 utility poles.”

“Things are looking very good for the project at the moment,” Nulty said. “We’ve just invited financing bids from 18 financial institutions who have already expressed interest in the project. We expect at least 4 bids by May 21st. In spite of the unsettled state of the credit markets, there is a great deal of interest.”

At this point, ECFiber holds a bonded commitment from the nation’s premier fiber-optic network contractor to build the specified network within ECFiber’s projected budget and timeframe. The organization has also received a $25,000 planning grant from the Vermont Telecom Authority.

Loredo Sola, Chair of ECFiber’s Executive Committee, said “Development is steaming full-speed ahead, and our organizational structure is coming together nicely. Our grassroots support has been very encouraging  – 3500 pre-registrations represents 15% of the households in the service area. In several towns, half of the population has pre-registered; and we are aiming for 5000 by the end of May.”

Sola said ECFiber hopes to break ground on the project in the spring of 2009 and connect the first customers by the end of that year.  

White River Junction, Vt. – Representatives of ECFiberNet, a local non-profit that is building a ultra-high-speed network, will join representatives of the Fairpoint and Comcast corporations in a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, Monday May 19th.

The focus of the discussion will be centered around the services each provider brings to the area and how they affect economic development.

“We’re excited to be involved in the discussion,” said ECFiber Executive Committee member and State Representative Jim Masland of Thetford. “We feel that broadband is crucial to the continued economic development of the area, and that ECFiber is leading the way to universal coverage at reasonable prices.”

The GMEDC meeting will be held at Elixir Restaurant on South Main Street in White River Junction from 6 to 8 P.M.  

ECFiber Finalizes Founding Membership (directly below)

ECFiber Joins Fairpoint and Comcast at GMEDC Economic Development Panel (after the jump)

Quechee, Vt.  ­ The ECFiberNet Governing Board officially seated delegates from Williamstown, Brookfield, and Bethel at its meeting this week, bringing the total number of towns represented to 23.

According to Project Director Tim Nulty, “This is a major milestone for ECFiber because it brings our coverage area to almost 1000 square miles, with about 35,000 utility poles.”

“Things are looking very good for the project at the moment,” Nulty said. “We’ve just invited financing bids from 18 financial institutions who have already expressed interest in the project. We expect at least 4 bids by May 21st. In spite of the unsettled state of the credit markets, there is a great deal of interest.”

At this point, ECFiber holds a bonded commitment from the nation’s premier fiber-optic network contractor to build the specified network within ECFiber’s projected budget and timeframe. The organization has also received a $25,000 planning grant from the Vermont Telecom Authority.

Loredo Sola, Chair of ECFiber’s Executive Committee, said “Development is steaming full-speed ahead, and our organizational structure is coming together nicely. Our grassroots support has been very encouraging  – 3500 pre-registrations represents 15% of the households in the service area. In several towns, half of the population has pre-registered; and we are aiming for 5000 by the end of May.”

Sola said ECFiber hopes to break ground on the project in the spring of 2009 and connect the first customers by the end of that year.  

White River Junction, Vt. – Representatives of ECFiberNet, a local non-profit that is building a ultra-high-speed network, will join representatives of the Fairpoint and Comcast corporations in a panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, Monday May 19th.

The focus of the discussion will be centered around the services each provider brings to the area and how they affect economic development.

“We’re excited to be involved in the discussion,” said ECFiber Executive Committee member and State Representative Jim Masland of Thetford. “We feel that broadband is crucial to the continued economic development of the area, and that ECFiber is leading the way to universal coverage at reasonable prices.”

The GMEDC meeting will be held at Elixir Restaurant on South Main Street in White River Junction from 6 to 8 P.M.  

why don’t you make good use of it?

Each and every one of us have three things to offer any office holder wannabe: time, money and vote. Those items are our bargaining chips, so how you use them does have meaning. You have to decide for yourself whether you’re making good use of your power.

The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged.

. . .

Involuntary chemical restraint of detainees, unless there is a medical justification, is a violation of some international human rights codes. The practice is banned by several countries where, confidential documents make clear, U.S. escorts have been unable to inject deportees with extra doses of drugs during layovers en route to faraway places.

Federal officials have seldom acknowledged publicly that they sedate people for deportation. The few times officials have spoken of the practice, they have understated it, portraying sedation as rare and “an act of last resort.” Neither is true, records and interviews indicate.

(Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation, Washington Post, 05/14/08)

Here’s a thought:

Sanders, Leahy, Welch and Symington have all stood squarely in the way of holding the bush administration, and in particular bush & cheney, accountable for being the most corrupt, dishonest and incompetent government in our nation’s history.

If Sanders, Leahy, Welch and Symington will stand to protect the likes of bush and cheney … who else and what else will they be willing to protect?

And if you’re not willing to use your powers of time, money and vote to force these “representatives of the people” to act in a time like now, when our constitution is in obvious peril, what else are YOU willing to accept just to vote for a Democrat or against a Republican?

It is not okay that the Catholic Church aided and abetted and looked away regarding horrendous child abuse no matter how many self professed Catholics there are in the U.S. Equally it is not okay that those carrying the mantles of “leadership” in the Democratic Party have actively aided, abetted or looked away as bush administration has dragged us down in manners not dreamed of eight years ago.

This is YOUR chance to force a change in our governments. But blind acquiescence to party labels is certainly not the way to do this … you should be looking at results.

It’s up to you

All I can do, I’ve done

But mem’ries won’t go

No, mem’ries won’t go

(With apologies to UB40 and their song Red, Red, Wine)

The cry has once again been raised on this board.

If only Douglas wasn’t so mean. If only Pollina weren’t in the way. If only everybody would do it our way …. WE, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY COULD WIN!