For opinion pieces on any topic.
Washington, DC – Tuesday evening, the House of Representatives approved by a voice vote legislation authored by Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Rep. Peter Welch to address the growing problem of Lyme disease. The incidence of this debilitating disease has and across the Northeast region.
One solution to the chronic income short fall in Brattleboro is a program that has been implemented around the US with considerable success that has benefited cash strapped communities a Payment in Lieu of Taxes or PILOT for businesses that are listed as not-for profit and yet generate revenue. While it would not be a legally binding, it is an agreement between the town and income generating business like the Brattleboro Hospital, Windham Land Trust, colleges, and not for profits that generate say more than $100,000 in revenues per annum to pay fixed percentage of revenues like the Brattleboro Housing Authority that pays 10% of their revenues as a PILOT. Why should multimillion dollar businesses like Windham Land Trust, the hospital, the Retreat not contribute equit
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 7 – One day before the U.S. Senate votes on a constitutional amendment to restore limits on big money in politics, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called the drive to undo Supreme Court decisions that gutted campaign finance laws “the major issue of our time” and said Monday’s showdown vote is “a pivotal moment in American history.”
“Billionaires buying elections is not what our Constitution stands for,” said Sanders. He is a cosponsor of the amendment to reverse Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and later court rulings that let millionaires and billionaires spend virtually unlimited and unregulated sums to sway elections.
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 6 – With the wealth gap in the United States growing and greater already than in any other major country, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders today called for a progressive estate tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires.
“A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much while so many have so little. We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes and which reduces the obscene degree of wealth inequality in America,” Sanders said in a speech to be delivered this morning at the Vermont AFL-CIO annual convention here.
In the unfinished business of what happened on September 11, 2001 lay the questions raising doubts about the official story. During the 13 years after the attacks, the 9/11 memorials have centered on creating a status quo of remembering the heroes, volunteers and victims who lost their lives that day.
And like many remembrances, there is a blind spot that blocks out the other side of the story. By their nature, memorials need to be one-sided. There can be no doubt as to why people commemorate war memorials. In our pride and blind patriotism, we would not believe that the 9/11 attacks were perpetrated from within and without.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 4 – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has added his crucial backing to calls for a one-year moratorium on U.S. Postal Service plans to close up to 82 mail processing plants, slow down mail delivery and eliminate up to 15,000 jobs.
Reid added his signature to those of 50 other senators who calling for a ban on Postal Service cuts as part of must-pass legislation to keep the government running into the new fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) organized the effort to block the cuts proposed by Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Sept. 3 – Amid a major crisis in primary health care, the situation may become significantly worse unless Congress renews support for community health centers that care for 22 million Americans, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) warned today.
Sanders four years ago helped lead the effort to secure $12.5 billion in the Affordable Care Act to expand community health centers and to recruit more doctors, dentists, nurses and other primary health providers. The health centers provide affordable primary care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs for low- and middle-income Americans.
The CVS pharmacy chain just announced that it has ceased sellimg tobacco products.
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Health is everything.
Your health is our #OneGoodReason to be tobacco free.
Community Appreciation Day was a huge success on Friday and we have you all to thank for that!!
We would like to extend a special thank you to Vermont Country Deli for allowing us to purchase a whopping 1250 fresh baked cookies, Gougers Market for prepping all of the lettuce tomato and onion, Putney Road Market for helping us to purchase several hundred hot dogs, veggie burgers, and hotdog and hamburger rolls, and Hannaford’s for helping with the purchase of 20 lbs of summer slaw and hundreds of hamburgers.
Thank you to these local vendors for helping to make such a successful event!
Once the New Brooks House gets established, it would be interesting to add a new 2-Story canopy made to modern standards.
BURLINGTON, Vt., Aug. 31 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement in advance of Monday’s observation of Labor Day:
“Today, we salute the trade union movement and all Americans who are fighting for the needs of working families.
“The sad reality of today’s America is that while the wealthiest people and largest corporations are doing phenomenally well, the middle class is disappearing and millions of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages. Congress must start listening to the needs of ordinary Americans, not just the billionaire class and their lobbyists.
Rebecca Balint and Jeanette White received the most votes for the Democratic primary today in Brattleboro. Balint had 699 votes; White received 751.
Roger Albee garnered 269 votes and Joan Bowman had a total of 128.
Shumlin and Welch received solid support.
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Another slaughter of men, women and children in the land of the Bible. Probably many have heard the voice of God demanding it. The Jewish Bible is in the Christian Bible. Intelligent understanding of sacred scripture might make it more difficult for the mega genocidal thieving and enslaving amoral private speculative banking backed neocolonialist media and military to overcome Mankind’s natural spirituality and humanity
Congressman Peter Welch
United States House of Representatives
Official Appearance Schedule
Monday, August 25th, 2014
10:30 a.m. Roundtable Discussion: Brattleboro
Rep. Welch will participate in a roundtable discussion on the Support and Services At Home (SASH) program. SASH is a federally funded, integrated care pilot program that coordinates health care services for seniors with an emphasis on improving health outcomes.
……………. “the candidates being considered for Town Manager is a confidential personnel human resources matter. The names of the candidates are therefore not made available to the public.”
Furthermore, the name of the new Town Manager after they have been hired will not be made public pending notification of next of kin who may want the applicant to find employment closer to home because property taxes in Brattleboro are unaffordable.
Years ago one sunny morning, a messenger in my office came back from a delivery. He looked dazed and moved slowly to sit down. When asked what was wrong he replied that a man had landed with an explosive sound on the sidewalk in front of him on 34th Street. He had just jumped from the upper level of the Empire State Building. The man’s heart burst from his body and landed 10 feet from where our messenger was unchaining his bike. I asked one of our supervisors to take him home.
Too often successful and attempted suicides are unnecessarily violent. The fact that other people are affected by someone’s suicide is compounded when they are particularly brutal. And, too often many suicides are gruesome because they have no way out other than ending their life violently.
Please get out and vote in the Democratic Primary next Tuesday, August 26 [or vote in advance at the Town Clerk’s office] … and please WRITE-IN the name of Dean Corren for Lieutenant Governor! We in the Windham County Democratic Committee voted without dissent on Monday, August 18 to give him our FULL SUPPORT. Dean Corren needs your write-in vote as a Democrat in order to run as a Progressive / Democrat on the November ballot.
Book: The New Nuclear Danger 2002 by Dr. Helen Caldicott page 203: Three Tennessee Valley Authority commercial nuclear reactors —
Watts Bar Unit 1 (near Spring City, TN) and Sequoyah Units 1 and 2 (at Soddy Daisy, TN) — have been chosen as the “preferred” sites to manufacture tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons. The decision breaches the longstanding policy of not producing bomb material in civilian nuclear power plants. According to Robert Tiller of Physicians for Social Responsibility, “Our leaders are upset that Iraq might use civilian facilities to produce components for weapons of mass destruction, but the United States is now committed to do that very thing — turning a civilian reactor into a bomb facility.”
Following successful forums in Townshend and Bellows Falls, the Windham County Democratic Committee will host its final candidate forum in Brattleboro.
Guilford, VT, August 15, 2014 – The final State Senate candidate forum hosted by the Windham County Democratic Committee will be at the American Legion Hall in Brattleboro, beginning promptly at 6:30pm. Regarding the forums, organizer Betty Frye said:
Too Urban?
It’s seeming that the Elm Street parking lot is quickly becoming the favorite choice for the location of the Brattleboro skatepark. It’s an odd turn of events considering this location is not supported by BASIC or the larger skateboarding community. It’s a little bit confusing because when the new Selectboard pulled the $50,000 dollar designer rug out from under BASIC and roped everyone back to the start line it was to “ensure due public process and identify the most ideal location for a skatepark.” Is the Elm street lot the best location for a skatepark?
