Opinion

Official warning:  All Progressive Party voters in the town of Brattleboro, in the county of Windham, are hereby notified, in accordance with 17 VSA # 2303, to meet in caucus on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 145 Green Street, Brattleboro at 6 PM.

     The agenda is:

         1.  Election of the Town of Brattleboro Committee

         2.  Election of Officers by the Town Committee

WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 – In a Senate floor speech later today, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will detail his support for an agreement to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. In prepared remarks, Sanders likened critics of the agreement to those in Congress who voted to take the United States to war in Iraq in 2003.

“Those who have made every effort to thwart the diplomatic process and have spoken out against the Iran agreement, including many in this chamber, are the same people who spoke out forcefully on the need to go to war with Iraq,” Sanders said.

“I voted against the war in Iraq. Sadly, much of what I feared in fact did happen. I do not want to see it happen again.”

I’ve been noting presidential candidates, but we also have an upcoming race for Vermont Governor. So far as I can tell, six people have annouced their intention of running for the state’s highest office. It is your challenge to learn about them and report what you learn here so others can benefit. Become a local correspondent for the VT race.

In alphabetical order, to get you started:

Lawrence Lessig has announced his intention of running to be president, accomplishing one goal, then stepping aside.

“I’m running to get people to acknowlegde the elephant in the room.”

Hi, I’m here for a job interview. I’d like to be a doctor.

Do you have experience being a doctor?

No, but I’m a quick study. You’ll be impressed after I start operating.

Do you know anything about radiocarpal articulation?

That’s a “gotcha question.” I’m not a specialist

Matt Dunne has announced that he will seek the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2016.

As Matt begins his bid for governor, he is eager to meet with Vermonters and listen to their concerns about the challenges facing Vermont, and their ideas for the future.

Matt’s campaign is scheduled meetings in every county of our state including two in Windham County — one in Bellows Falls and the other in Brattleboro.

From “The Pen” (People’s email network) Today at 7:15 AM (edited)

The Beltway pundits remain condescending and dismissive, which is all the more reason why we need to keep cranking up the people power, to continue to raise the visibility of Bernie Sanders, as he continues to rise in the polls.This week on Meet The Press, they trotted out the big guns, so-called “senior” campaign advisers to pre-emptively and forcefully declare that Donald Trump was NOT going to be the Republican nominee. Chuck Todd has been wrong so many times already, we suppose he needed some faux authoritative reinforcement.

It’s a safe bet that Bernie Sanders will carry Vermont in our presidential primary. For folks itching to help the national campaign, “Windham County for Bernie” is organizing to help our neighbors in New Hampshire ensure that Bernie Sanders wins the all-important NH primary in February.

We will hold our first public organizing meeting of “Windham County for Bernie” on August 27. NH campaign staff from Concord & Keene will attend to update us on the NH campaign. Sign up for phone banking, canvassing, helping out at NH Bernie events, writing letters to editors, bird-dogging other candidates’ and more.

Hilary is raising money from private prison corporations.

Bernie is introducing legilation to make them illegal.

Somehow I thought that when you ran as say, a Democrat, that Democrats would at least acknowledge that you exist instead of stealing all your platform planks, (watering them down), and then trying to find people to run on them.  But that is exactly what the Democrats are doing in the face of Bernie Sanders’ unexpected popularity.  First it was Hillary, with her student loan program and her sudden concern for the middle class.  Then she got in trouble, so the party players decided to float Biden.  Biden seems to be nibbling, so we may see him in the race.  Then this weekend, the Guardian ran a story saying people wanted Gore to run.  Somehow I don’t think that’s likely but really?  You want to run Gore?  Anyone?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced that he will support an agreement that the United States and other nations negotiated with Iran to limit its nuclear program.

Sanders issued a statement after a telephone conversation on Friday with President Barack Obama, who addressed some of Sanders’ concerns. The senator first publicly discussed his intention to vote for the agreement in an interview with John Dickerson of CBS News, which will be broadcast Sunday on “Face the Nation.”

“The test of a great nation is not how many wars it can engage in, but how it can resolve international conflicts in a peaceful manner,” Sanders said in the statement.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 – In a Senate floor speech today, Sen. Bernie Sanders said he will introduce legislation to provide public funding of elections to replace a “corrupt” system of “legalized bribery’ with candidates “begging for contributions from the wealthy and the powerful.”

“We are talking about a rapid movement in this country toward oligarchy, toward a government owned and controlled by a handful of extremely wealthy families,” Sanders said.