Vermont
updated
6:47 a.m.
As I predicted here a while back, the volume of passengers passing through the Burlington airport has declined in 2009. The BFP reports that: "In January, 50,490 people flew from Vermont's largest airport, a 5.5 percent decline from January 2009 -- and the weakest January tally since 2004. The decline marked the 10th consecutive month of sagging year-over-year results at Burlington...
Vermont Commons - Sat 9:44 p.m. - 2 clicks 
A truly shocking article from the Telegraph. Excerpt: The mystery of Le Pain Maudit (Cursed Bread) still haunts the inhabitants of Pont-Saint-Esprit, in the Gard, southeast France. On August 16, 1951, the inhabitants were suddenly racked with frightful hallucinations of terrifying beasts and fire. One man tried to drown himself, screaming that his belly was [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Sat 1:09 p.m.
UPDATED Entergy keeps operating Vermont Yankee while leaking tritium (though it's not clear whether there are any new releases to the groundwater), trying to limp along until the scheduled April closing for refueling. Meanwhile, in Illinois, Exelon will have to pay big bucks for tritium leaks at three of their nuclear power plants. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced yesterd...
Vermont Commons - Fri 9:23 a.m. - 4 clicks
Date: Saturday, 10 April 2010 Time: 5:00 – 9:00 PM Location: Ripton Community House Route 125, Ripton, Vermont Bayley-Hazen Boys read more ...
Vermont Commons - Fri 7:29 a.m. - 3 clicks
If Vermont were to secede from the United States empire and become an independent nation-state, how could it possibly survive as a separate republic? How would it function? Are there any examples of smaller, sustainable nation-states which might serve as a role model for a state like Vermont, should it decide to leave the U.S.? There is at least one such nation that might serve as a viable model ...
Vermont Commons - Fri 4:22 a.m. - 5 clicks
Dear Friends (friend?) Here's the long-awaited update on "Mixed Nuts". Have a taste of the script that gives some idea of the pith. (Enter Dr. Darcy, whistling or humming “If I only had a Brain” which the musicians pick up.) read more ...
Vermont Commons - Thu 7:45 p.m.
Promoters of an industrial wind energy plant off the shore of Jones Beach, Long Island, New York, attempted some time ago to debunk a few of the findings in the early but still comprehensive and persuasive paper "A Problem With Wind Power" . Theirs was a weak effort indeed, but since it is still occasionally cited as definitive, this refutation from January 2009 deserves to be reposted. Answers f...
Kirby Mountain - Thu 9:25 a.m.
Editor's Note: Lendman's article is particularly timely, in light of UVM researcher Gary Flomenhoft's "Message In A Bottle" COMMONS feature on the current status of Vermont's groundwater, found in the current MUD SEASON issue of the news journal. Vermont's Groundwater: Pure'ly Private? read more ...
Vermont Commons - Thu 8:28 a.m. - 4 clicks
Dear John Ryan, I read with interest your letter in Seven Days last week in response to my letter about their so-called media issue. (I printed your letter out below in its entirety.) Even though you and I have never actually met, we do seem to share much in common. We're both good-looking fellas. Rob Williams. read more ...
Vermont Commons - Thu 8:28 a.m.
This is old news, but I just learned about it. And there's new news that makes the old news newsworthy in a whole different way. George W. Bush's Department of Energy issued a report in July 2008 that said that the US could generate 20% of its electricity from wind by 2030: A 20% Wind Scenario in 2030, while ambitious, could be feasible if the significant challenges identified in this re...
Vermont Commons - Wed 9:24 p.m. - 5 clicks
With the help of Glenn Scherer at Blue Ridge Press , I turned the state Senate vote on Vermont Yankee into an op-ed on states' rights to regulate nuclear power plant. Blue Ridge Press sends out op-eds to newspapers around the country, and Glenn hoped the states' rights slant would appeal to newspapers in some conservative states. We'll see how that strategy works. So far, it's been picked up ...
Vermont Commons - Wed 7:25 p.m. - 6 clicks
Reprinted from BUSINESS INSIDER A defiant, though occasionally jocular, Gov. David Paterson tried Monday to set aside the swirl of rumors surrounding his immediate future and get back to the business of addressing the gaping state budget problem. read more ...
Vermont Commons - Wed 9:06 a.m.
Stop the medical insurance bail-out bill! Dave Lindorff writes at Counterpunch: When Obama came to my neighborhood this week to press for public support for his health “reform” bill, he wasn’t just greeted by tea-party hecklers. Speaking to a large group of mostly supportive students and local residents at Arcadia University in Glenside, the president at one point mentioned that “people on th...
Kirby Mountain - Wed 8:05 a.m.
I am excited to tell you about something I've been working on for several weeks. All of us candidates for Vermont governor have been saying how essential it is to achieve universal access to affordable health care -- and I've been figuring out how to actually make that happen. The escalating cost of our current system is crippling our state, our families and our businesses. Health care in Verm...
DailyKos (Vermont) - Wed 7:22 a.m. - 3 clicks
Washington Electric Co-op (WEC) has produced a video tour of its landfill methane generating plant in Coventry, Vermont. The ten minute video was recorded during an open house held at the plant on November 4, 2009, and follows the tour actually given to visitors on that day. Read all about landfill methane and take the tour below the fold. ...
DailyKos (Vermont) - Tue 3:03 p.m. - 4 clicks
Bill Quigley writes at Huffington Post: It is time for a revolution. Government does not work for regular people. It appears to work quite well for big corporations, banks, insurance companies, military contractors, lobbyists, and for the rich and powerful. But it does not work for people. The 1776 Declaration of Independence stated that when a long train of abuses by those in power evidence a...
Kirby Mountain - Sun 12:44 p.m. - 2 clicks
As reported by Ryan Grim at Huffington Post, at his recent meeting with House progressives about the health insurance regulation bill that was supposed to be a health care bill, "Obama pointed Kucinich toward single-payer language that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was able to get into the bill. Kucinich fought for an amendment that would allow states to adopt single-payer systems without getting s...
Kirby Mountain - Mar 6 - 8 clicks
Agricultural practices and high reliance on coal, oil and gas gives the country a poor environmental ranking Denmark is ranked a modest 32nd in the ‘Environmental Performance Index 2010’, compiled by researchers from American Ivy League universities Yale and Columbia. The index ranks 163 countries, measuring factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, protection of habitats for fauna and flora, g...
Kirby Mountain - Mar 4
Miles and Matt talk economics, ecology, and epistemology with Dr. Roel Boumans, a former UVM professor and computer modeling expert who’s teaching a homesteading skills class this summer at his homestead (Windy Corners) in Charlotte, VT. ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Mar 3 - 2 clicks
Angus King, formerly governor of Maine and now an industrial wind developer, had an opinion piece published in Sunday's Portland Press Herald. It is a response to letters pointing out some of the shortcomings of industrial wind turbines that must be weighed against their alleged benefits. Rather than acknowledge such impacts in any way (a signal that the benefits side of the argument isn't at all...
Kirby Mountain - Feb 24 - 2 clicks
For the first time since Ron Paul officially ended his Presidential bid in 2008, the mainstream media today has framed him as a kook. With 31% of the CPAC vote, Dr. Paul won the straw poll, beating both Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin handedly, two candidates who have more or less declared their candidacy for [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Feb 21
For those readers who neither live in Burlington, Vermont, nor are political junkies, IRV stands for Instant Runoff Voting, and it has been the center of some local controversy recently. A few years ago, Burlington voted in a referendum to change its voting system by which the mayor is elected from requiring a plurality of [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Feb 19 - 3 clicks
Ever since Ron Paul’s presidential bid in 2007-2008, Glenn Beck has been something of a controversial figure among members of the liberty movement. On the one hand, he addresses many issues near and dear to our hearts (such as the bailouts and stimulus, the Federal Reserve, select police state measures, state sovereignty, etc.) which we’d [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Feb 17
If I may jump in here as an editor of medical journals, I would just like to note that single case reports and case series are a major part of their content. That is how information is shared. When the authors are noticing something new (or more often, noticing something in a new way), they are clear about the limitations of a case series for making conclusive statements. For example, this is from...
Kirby Mountain - Feb 17
MISSES MONAHAN by Eric Rosenbloom copyright 2010 Are you not the son of Manannan Mac Lir? The queen Etain? Have you not already fought The hosts arrayed against you, won the hearts of kings And people? Wake! child! your fate is rising before you. Shuffle the deck and read the signs once more. The gateways that have brought you here have fallen Away, and you are at the origins of some...
Kirby Mountain - Feb 12
ADAM AND THE QUEEN OF EDEN by Eric Rosenbloom copyright 2010 One day while strolling to take the air, Sir Adam spied a garden fair Its keeper called He was enthralled With Eve at home atearing her hair. He entered on her invitation Flattered by her fine flirtation ...
Kirby Mountain - Feb 12
For generations the delivery of medical care has been a highly disputed and controversial issue in the United States. In general, the left side of the political spectrum continuously attempts to develop government run health programs on the state and federal levels, while the political right often resists these attempts. There are many variables to [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Feb 6
I recently encountered a reference to the film “Collapse”, and spent part of my afternoon today viewing it. Essentially a long, wide-ranging interview with a fellow by the name of Michael Ruppert, the movie covers Ruppert’s view of the interconnected nature of peak oil, the financial crisis, and the series of wars that’ve been fought [...] ...
American Socialism for the Rich - Feb 5
Mother turbine gives birth to industrialization of Backbone Mountain, West Virginia. ...
Kirby Mountain - Feb 3
Daniel Smith has written an article in today's New York Times Magazine about the psychologic relationship of humans and the rest of the natural world, particularly that part not altered by humans: "Is there an ecological unconscious?". While recognizing the benefits of reconnecting with the earth and the mental toll of environmental degradation, one should also consider that we are indeed somewhat...
Kirby Mountain - Jan 31
According to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution , almost one-third of the nation (91.6 million people) was "poor" in 2008, i.e., with income at or below 200% of the official poverty threshold. More than two-fifths (39.1 million) of those individuals lived in "poverty". Data for 2009 are not yet available, but they are sure to be worse. 2008-2009 poverty thresholds: $10,830 for s...
Kirby Mountain - Jan 29
David Michael Green writes at Counterpunch: There’s only one political party in the entire world that is so inept, cowardly and bungling that it could manage to simultaneously lick the boots of Wall Street bankers and then get blamed by the voters for being flaming revolutionary socialists. It’s the same party that has allowed the opposition to go on a thirty year scorched earth campaign, stea...
Kirby Mountain - Jan 23
Russell Mokhiber, editor of Single Payer Action , writes in Counterpunch: Martha Coakley is going down in flames. So is the Democratic Party. Why? We found the answer earlier this week at – of all places – The Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Timothy Carney was giving a powerpoint presentation about his new book: Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall St...
Kirby Mountain - Jan 15 - 2 clicks
MAYNARDVILLE, Tenn. – The two-hour drive is done, but Hannah and Jack Hurst leave the Honda's engine running. Hannah's prayers have brought them here. Now there's little to do but turn up the car's heat, try to get some sleep and wait for morning — and a set of glass and metal doors to open. Still, Hannah doesn't complain. The 26-year-old mother of three has waited "pretty much as long as I ...
Kirby Mountain - Jan 3
This comment was sent to us, responding to a vapid article by Jurriaan Kamp at Huffington Post: "Renewable" energy -- as opposed to fossil or fissile fuels -- are those that the earth is already using. When humans take it, whether it's water, wind, or sunlight, we are taking it from other living things. In that sense, though "alternative", renewable energy is not green. It is also, except for ...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 30
In an editorial at renewablesbiz.com, Bill Opalka describes Nina Pierpont's recently published case series describing wind turbine syndrome and the consequent pushback by the American and Canadian Wind Energy Associations. Unfortunately, a few members of their "expert panel" have written in clear support of Pierpont's findings . Opalka also notes their statement that "for 30 years, people have be...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 29 - 2 clicks
Paul Krugman wants us to know ("Tidings of Comfort", New York Times, Dec. 24) that the health insurance bailout bill just passed by the Senate is a great progressive act. He notes that if Tiny Tim can keep from getting sick until 2014, some yet-to-be-defined subsidies will help his family pay for some of his insurance, which they very likely will still not be able to afford (the company will be re...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 25
Before Rajendra Pachauri became head of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he was director and then director-general of the Tata Energy Research Institute, later called "The" Energy Research Institute, or TERI, which is essentially a division of the Indian industrial conglomerate the Tata Group. And he still is. TERI now has branches worldwide. In North America, its corporate sp...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 22 - 3 clicks
"Clear-Cutting the Truth About Trees", Bernd Heinrich, New York Times op-ed, Dec. 20, 2009: Part of the problem is the public misunderstanding of how forests and carbon relate. Trees are often called a “carbon sink” — implying that they will sop up carbon from the atmosphere for all eternity. This is not true: the carbon they take up when they are alive is released after they die, whether from ...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 20
In contrast to the latest effort by the Canadian and American Wind Energy Associations to assert otherwise ("Wind Turbine Sound and Health Effects: An Expert Panel Review" (December 2009), read what a couple members of their expert panel said before they tapped into the wind industry money pipeline. 1. "A Review of Published Research on Low Frequency Noise and Its Effects", Report for Departmen...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 16
The Den Brook Judicial Review Group were recently successful in a Freedom of Information request to obtain drafts of a government-contracted report about noise levels from wind turbine facilities: "The measurement of low frequency noise at three UK wind farms" by Hayes McKenzie Partnership Ltd. for the (former) Department of Trade and Industry, 2006, contract no. W/45/00656/00/00; URN no. 06/1412....
Kirby Mountain - Dec 13
" Obama's Big Sellout " by Matt Taibbi " The Devil and Mr. Obama " by Joe Bageant " Are We Not Romans? " by Michael Vlahos ...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 11
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No, I'm not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world ov...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 8
Kate Galbraith writes in today's "Green, Inc." column for the New York Times that offshore wind is moving along: first example, Denmark's starting the operation of Horns Rev 2, the world’s largest offshore wind farm, in September. That project represents the first addition of wind capacity in Denmark since 2003. In November, it had already ceased operation due to problems with the transmissi...
Kirby Mountain - Dec 6
