(…and another important action alert from the diaries! Things like this I just have to promote to the front! – promoted by odum)

Did anyone say it could never get any worse than Medicare Part D (for disaster)?  Hang onto your wallet, folks, and have a good supply of nitro pills handy for your heart.  Look what may be coming so the Republicans can promote health cost savings on their campaign trail.

Bernie and Peter Welch would never vote for this — we can’t say the same for Martha Rainville and Rich Tarrant.  But we can stop it in it’s tracks if we mobilize!

I wouldn’t put it past them to sneak in another vote at 2 a.m. or to hold the vote open another three hours to twist some arms — it’s worked before!

Call Leahy, Jeffords and Sanders and ask them to reject this bill and call your local papers and ask them to help publicize this threat.  I hadn’t read about it anywhere else, and didn’t want to believe it, so I looked it up in Thomas:

S.1955
Title: A bill to amend title I of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to expand health care access and reduce costs through the creation of small business health plans and through modernization of the health insurance marketplace.

Sponsor: Sen Enzi, Michael B. [WY] (introduced 11/2/2005)  Cosponsors (7)
Latest Major Action: 4/27/2006 Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 417.

Sounds fairly inocuous, doesn’t it?  Further research shows this bill would override state laws that guarantee coverage of such crucial services as cervical, prostate, and colorectal cancer screenings, as well as mammograms, mental health, and well-child care.  It would not only put consumers at risk but cut back on states’ rights to regulate insurance company behavior;  rules that limit premium discrimination based on health status, age, and sex; prohibitions of huge premium increases when people get sick; and prohibitions of misleading insurance company marketing practices.

Read more:  http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/enzi-bill/Enzi-bill_national_1.pdf

Ignore this if you like paying more for less coverage!  This is yet another giveaway of our money to the insurance companies.

Peace,

Barbara

Throughout our history we’ve always been provided an enemy to cover up government mismanagement — including immigrants  (remember when IRISH NEED NOT APPLY) for jobs?  With the exception of Native Americans, weren’t we all born of immigrants?  We thrived for over 200 years as a melting pot, taking the best from ‘the huddled masses yearning to be free’ .. and forging a democracy we could be proud of.

Let’s take all that negative Republican energy focussed on wedge issues that seek to divide us, turn it around and work for solutions to problems that affect us all.  For the people that think that problems would be solved by outlawing basic civil rights for gays, that would force women to bear unwanted children, that would deny immigrants the same choices their own families had …… grow up!  We’ve got BIG problems here not served by the ‘blame game’.

We won’t forget about wars to steal oil, or the thousands of brave troops who were killed or permanently maimed, or the treaties (NAFTA, GATT) that continue to send thousands of our jobs overseas permanently.

We need universal health care and anti-trust laws …… and we don’t want the threat of nuclear war hanging over our heads with the idiot we have with his shaky finger on the trigger.  We want the prescription drug problem sorted out so seniors can get the medication they need at an affordable price.  A hand up is not a handout!

I marched in NYC again yesterday with Bread and Puppet — (one of the Iraqi women all in black carrying a dead child) and came home convinced that we can change our government, and go back to the basic policies of ‘to the people, for the people and by the people’ .. No more imperial Presidencies, Congressional representatives who serve the people instead of the corporations .. and campaign finance laws that will ensure that money can’t buy elections.

We have the power at the ballot box, and we need to take it back.

Keep your eye on the prize and don’t be diverted by blame, fear and paranoia, and be proud to be a Vermonter!

Peace,

Barbara

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/042006/VTSaysImpeach.shtml

Rep. David Zuckerman, a Progressive from Burlington is collecting signatures from lawmakers today to introduce a formal resolution in the legislature demanding that Congress draft articles of impeachment against the pResident. Zuckerman is relying on the Jefferson Manual of rules for the U.S. House of Representatives which was cited in the Rutland resolution that passed many Democratic County Committees.

According to today’s vermontguardian, at least 12 legislators had signed on.  Please, everyone, call your local reps and ask them to sign on, and to vote for it.  Tell them not to let fear rule their lives. 

Most people know about the lies told us to get our support for invading Iraq.  Most know about wiretapping and threats to our civil liberties.  This is not news — but if the conversation does not become front and center we will be stuck in the same quicksand for another two years.  This should be a national discussion, and Vermont should lead the way.

Barbara

( – promoted by odum)

The freedom of the internet is at stake right now in Congress.  Voting will be soon; we don’t have much time.  We need to ensure ‘net neutrality,’ otherwise network owners like AOL, Comcast and Verizon will be able to choose the content and websites for us, and our favorite sites (like this one) may become unaffordable or just disappear.

Yes, sign the petition: http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet — but don’t stop there .. call Leahy, Jeffords and Sanders and tell them to stop this now.

Further, AT&T and BellSouth want to merge.  Ma Bell was busted in 1984, and that was just telephone service; they intend now to control  telephone, television and internet service today, and of course, to raise their prices yet again.

I know from personal experience, as do many others, that AOL blocks e-mails that mention AOL or impeachment in the subject line, and small providers like Sovernet  are threatened with  being shut down if they do not heed these complaints from AOL.  They, in turn, threaten their customers with being shut down  and advise them not to direct e-mails to any AOL customer.  The big dog barks, and the little dog jumps .. how high?

AOL lines run through many small isp’s, so many won’t be able to switch to another provider.  It’s called a monopoly ..  (we used to have anti-trust laws back in the good old days; remember?) ….AOL is suggesting something like ‘certified e-mail’ to their customers; pay an extra fee and your mail will go through faster.  If people are cowed into going along with this other isp’s will surely follow.

It’s Freedom of Speech, folks … use it or lose it!

Barbara

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060421/NEWS/604210369/1003&template=printart
Rutland Herald
  Article published Apr 21, 2006
State solons join revolt Letter signed by 70 Vt. legislators

NEWFANE — Nearly 70 state legislators have signed on a letter penned by a Windham County representative calling on the U.S. Congress to begin investigations and possibly impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

The letter written by Rep. Richard Marek, D-Newfane, asks that hearings be held on issues such as Bush’s domestic surveillance program and the Iraq war to determine if censure or “setting in motion the constitutional process for possible removal from office” are necessary.

Fifty-six members of the Vermont House and 13 members of the Senate have signed onto Marek’s letter, which will be sent to Vermont’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. A majority of the Democratic and Progressive caucuses have signed on, although no Republicans have endorsed it.

“Vermonters from across the state have expressed concerns with the president’s actions and have displayed that through resolutions, meetings and petitions,” Marek said.

“I thought it was important to put our voices down as supporting an investigation and possible censure and impeachment,” he said.

Some towns have called directly for Bush’s impeachment, while Marek’s letter alludes to that outcome, the exact word is never used. He said he tempered the language because he believed the constitutional process, which begins with hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives, should be followed to ensure “due process.”

In addition to questioning the justification of the National Security Agency’s wiretap program and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Marek’s letter also questions the legality of the “enemy combatant” label, which strips detainees of many of their judicial rights.

Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, said she signed the letter because Bush’s policies need to be investigated.

“I feel as an American that what is happening is not right,” Emmons said. “This administration needs to be investigated fairly and openly because what has happened has raised many questions.”

Rep. Daryl Pillsbury, I-Brattleboro, said he signed the letter because “the president is not bringing this country down the right path.” But he said he hoped for more aggressive language, including the use of the word “impeachment.”

“We need to do something and I hope more and more communities take this issue up,” he said. “If we keep it up, maybe the right people will finally listen.”

Meanwhile, Rep. David Zuckerman, P-Burlington, is circulating a resolution that would trigger an obscure parliamentary procedure created by Thomas Jefferson allowing a state legislature to call on the U.S. House to begin impeachment hearings.

Zuckerman, who is expected to formally introduce the resolution early next week, said he signed onto Marek’s letter, but wanted to keep open the option of triggering an investigation on the state level if the Democrat’s effort fell on deaf ears in Washington, D.C.

“The ramifications of this administration are having an effect on our state budget and citizens,” Zuckerman said.

Newfane, the Windham County town Marek represents, was the first to call for Bush’s impeachment via a warned article at town meeting in March. Since then, six other towns have followed suit and earlier this month Democratic Party leaders signed onto a resolution supporting impeachment.

Dan DeWalt, a Newfane Selectman who proposed the first impeachment question, said he still is receiving inquires from residents of other states asking how they also can call for Bush’s impeachment.

In Vermont, residents of Westminster and Middlebury may also organize town votes on the matter, he said. The impeachment movement has snowballed since Newfane residents voted 121 to 29 by paper ballot to remove Bush from office on March 6.

“After I put the first resolution out there, other towns really grabbed onto the idea,” he said. “It’s a good gesture to show that we will not acquiesce to the president’s power grabs.”

The original copies of the resolutions endorsed by the seven Vermont towns will be delivered to the U.S. Congress by Ellen Tenney, a Saxtons River resident who spearheaded the impeachment effort in Rockingham, when she travels to Washington on May 1.

Tenney said she will give the originals to the clerk of the U.S. House, who is then expected to pass them along to Republican House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois.

“I’m honored to do this,” she said. “I’m taking the will of the people of Vermont to someone in Washington that hopefully can do something.”

Jeff Weaver, a spokesman for Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said the congressman supports any effort to investigate the alleged misdeeds of the Bush administration, but doubts any effort could be successful under Republican control of the House and Senate.

“As long as the Republicans control Congress, there won’t be any meaningful oversight,” he said.

Contact Daniel Barlow at daniel.barlow@rutlandherald.com.

(An exceptionally well written and clearly stated state-of-the-world post from vtpeace with an appeal to participate in an upcoming demonstration in NYC. Good reading. – promoted by odum)

Republicans currently outnumber Democrats 231-201 in the (US) House and have a 55-44 advantage in the (US) Senate.  They will continue to take away our rights and deficit-spend as long as they hold the majority in both Houses.

Vermonters have the opportunity to add one Democrat to each chamber in November.  We can’t change the national numbers but we HAVE to protect ourselves.  Apologists like Douglas, Dubie and Rainville must be faced with the knowledge that we know how many ways Republican policies have hurt Vermonters and that they are out of the mainstream of Vermonters’ thinking. We face darker days ahead without massive changes in both our state and national governments.

Jim Douglas was perceived as fairly moderate until he ran for Governor, and was sucked into the vortex of evil by out of state campaign donors and the Republican power-brokers to become mini-me to his hero Bush.  His roles as Secretary of State and State Treasurer didn’t have much impact on national issues, but he did learn how to deflect the tough questions with his ‘oh, shucks’ persona firmly in place.

He advocates ‘fees’ instead of ‘tax increases’ .. sucks up to the Right to Lifers, controlling state employees’ right to testify to the legislature, sealing formerly public records .. mini-me!  Another puppet on Bush’s knee.

Rainville fell (too) easily from a campaign statement that  ‘some of the Republicans in control of the House seem to have lost their way,’  then quickly proceeded to accept the money and help from those same people.  BEWARE!  She’s saying what you want to hear, but if elected will follow the Republican agenda without question. ‘Moldable’ ethics .. Money talks. Picture a Trojan horse.

Republicans are big on secrecy (unless it’s in their best interest to selectively leak) .. and privacy (unless it’s someone else’s) … Justice William Brennan gave a lesson on the American Revolution. “A main precipitating cause of our revolution,” he said, “was the general search warrant that British customs officers wrote—without going to any court—to break into the American colonists’ homes and offices, looking for contraband.” 

Vermonters are seeing our privacy diminished again, but on a scale undreamed of by Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the other patriots in the Committees of Correspondence.  Our (reasonable) expectation of privacy that was part of our rule of law is vanishing.  We (the new Committees of Correspondence) blog to alert our fellow citizens to the scams and the Orwell-speak used by the Republicans to soothe us so we don’t question or dig a little deeper into what they’ve done or what their agenda really is.  Google the ‘Project for A New American Century’ for the military roadmap.  Note how all the authors were given power by Bush when he was selected by the Supreme Court in 2000. Note how their agenda has progressed in the past 5 years, and see where they want to go in the future.

“There was, of course, no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. . But at any rate they would plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and except in darkness, every movement scrutinized”. George Orwell

The Patriot Act allows the FBI to collect, — and share. — (without a judicial warrant) all kinds of personal information about you, from your doctors, your schools, your internet provider, your telephone company, your tax returns, your library book borrowing and bookstore purchases, to opening your personal mail; and then threatens to jail you (or your providers who were asked for that information) if you tell anyone about it, even your attorney.  Big Brother Bush has the ability and the chutzpah to see and listen to everything that goes on in your life.  You can’t stop it if you don’t speak out and change the regime to one that serves your own best interest.

‘These are the times that try (wo)mens’ souls’ .. we need to publicly put our bodies on the line to stop the dissolution of democracy and the next pre-emptive war with Iran. We can’t sit back and wait and then complain about it. 

Bus tickets are still available for the April 29th peace and justice demonstration in NYC.  Call Andy at 447-0829 or e-mail capnandy@adelphia.net  ($30 and leaving from Bennington at 7 a.m. that day),

or send a check for $50 made out to:  Central Vermont Peace and Justice, PO Box 845, Rutland VT 05701-0845 and include the following information:

The name(s) of the rider(s), The address(es) of the rider(s) — The email(s) of the rider(s)
  — The phone number(s) of the rider(s)and preferred pick-up location: Rutland or Middlebury

Peace,
Barbara

(This is truly gross, or as UVM Political Science Professor Garrison Nelson said, it “smacks of bribery.” – promoted by odum)

Looks like Richie Rich is setting himself up to be Vermont’s ‘Education’ Senator .. hey, it worked for Dubya (thousands of children left behind) .. Katie, you didn’t argue against this? …

Multi-millionaire Tarrant can afford to hire junior and senior high school students to go door to door with his literature, but is it 10 week employment, or is it a bribe?  Potentially 15,000 students may be asked to submit a 500 word essay saying ‘Why Richard Tarrant Should Be Elected to the United States Senate in order to be considered for($3,000 each and a free laptop computer). That’s a tough job; it’s a no-brainer to submit one that considers why he shouldn’t be!

I wonder if the school boards should put this on their next agenda if they don’t have a policy already in place.

Bernie’s unpaid volunteers are really shaking their heads over this one.

This is another example of someone funding a campaign with his own money — he is answerable to no one — and a good example of why he should not be elected.  This may work where he lives in his Florida gated communities, but I think it will come back to bite him in Vermont.

We can’t be bought!

Barbara

Vermonters who work hard and play by the rules deserve a government that guards our borders to keep us safe from attacks as well as from natural disasters.  Our troops deserve a government that only calls them out when there is a real need.  This means that we PREVENT attacks and PREVENT natural disasters when possible.  The Republican priorities are so skewed that the only ones benefiting are the very rich and the corporations.  Did someone forget to tell them it’s OUR tax money?

Why was NORAD not called out on 9/11?  Why is the whole country not calling for impeachment?  We are literally going bankrupt.

Why were the troops sent to Iraq without provocation and without the tools and protective equipment they needed to keep them safe?

Why are they using wmd like depleted uranium?  “Sixty-seven percent of babies born to the 400,000 vets who suffer from Gulf War Syndrome have birth defects,” said Joyce Riley, a former nurse who flew in Iraq and the founder and spokesperson of the American Gulf War Veterans Association. Iraq shows similar numbers of birth defects and high rates of leukemia (they call it the white death).

Army Regulation 700-48 requires mitigation of nuclear waste from these weapons. They are required by law to put into effect environmental remediation and medical treatment for those parties exposed. It’s just not happening.

Google ‘Doug Rokke’ (it’s much worse and more information that I can post here).

The very least we can do is test returning Vermont troops for DU once a year for as many years as it takes. Connecticut and Louisiana have implemented such laws.  New York has a bill in motion as well as about 11 or 12 other states.

Where does the Governor stand on this, and Dubie and Martha Rainville?  We need them to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.  They are the responsible parties in Vermont.  Support Our Troops is more than a slogan for a bumper sticker. By not speaking out they are effectively covering up a war crime and putting their Party before the people.

Mandatory testing of returning troops (since 1991) needs to happen — it’s the very least we can do.  Our sons, daughters, neighbors — shouldn’t be left swinging in the wind.

Barbara

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=3949805

When Martha Rainville comes to your town asking for your vote, ask her if:

Vermont is one of the ten other states a California National Guard file says are engaging in this practice,

is the Vermont National Guard responsible for putting Vermonters at a Montpelier anti-war rally on a DOD list of possible terrorists?  (Senator Leahy has written to vp Dick Cheney asking why this happened),

and what criteria is used to identify someone as a (possible) Vermont terrorist, and where does the request come from;

do all requests for surveillance come through the Governor’s office, as titular head of the National Guard, or just through the Commandant?

Are grandfathers on the list too, or just grandmothers?  Has the database for Quakers been secretly infiltrated?  Are health food stores monitored for vegans?  An ‘inquiring mind wants to know’ ….

We seem to have new rules every day from the Feds as to what behavior is appropriate and what is not, and I’m sure Martha will be most happy to respond to our concerns.

Barbara

From Aristotle to Harry Truman: never truer than today —

“It is also in the interests of a tyrant to keep his people poor, so that they may not be able to afford the cost of protecting themselves by arms and be so occupied with their daily tasks that they have no time for rebellion.” – Aristotle

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” – Harry S. Truman

In January the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root $385 million dollars to construct detention centers  in the United States to deal with “an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs,” KBR said.  The New York Times reported these centers will each hold 5,000 people, but focussed on Halliburton’s reputation for overcharging,  missing the real news.

Check out new ‘homeland security’ rules, posted at the U.S. Army website, (http://www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r210_35.pdf)  about the Pentagon’s Civilian Inmate Labor Program. This program “provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations,” and was revised 1/14/05.

A DOD database includes at least 20 references to U.S. citizens or U.S. persons, including Vermont protesters.  Senator Leahy complained to Cheney months ago, but I have not heard of a reply..  This pResident can claim wartime powers and override any laws.  All he has to do is claim someone as an ‘enemy of the people’ and that person is arrested, losing all rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue reported on a GOP meeting at the White House when Bush was told his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the Patriot Act could alienate conservatives.  “I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief.  Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

Thompson said, “I’ve talked to three people present that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”  (The White House has not denied it).

Draw your own conclusions.  Is martial law closerthanwethink? 

Barbara