So Much for the "Straight Talk Express"

McCain struggles to answer why men can get Viagra covered by health insurance but women cannot get contraception covered.

If anything can create a gender gap for Obama it is increasing awareness of McCain's inability to understand the issue of reproductive freedom and how men and women are treated differently. Not just on the abortion issue, but in terms of contraception and women's health care generally. There is a double-standard here that must be addressed and McCain just doesn't get it.

Wonder if he's mum on this because he's got a prescription?

Jim = Jobless

Time for a new bumpersticker, Governor.

The Vermont Press Bureau reports today that Vermont is hemorrhaging jobs at a rate of about 2000 a year. That's the magic of the Douglas "Affordability Agenda." Vermont Tiger schill and supply-side apologist, Art Woolf says it is "not because our economy is doing lousy." Hmmm. Why would it be, then?

Oddly enough, it's usually the Vermont Toothless Tigers who are out trashing the Vermont economy. Now Woolfie is trying to make it sound like things aren't so bad (it's not the job-loss that hurts, it's that when we rebound in a year, we won't have enough workers, sayeth Art). Maybe with an election year looming constantly harping on Vermont as a bad place to do business is suddenly not looking like a winning strategy, eh? Time go give Do-Nothing Douglas a little cover so he isn't the one who ends up jobless? Could be...

Douglas Stiffs Retirees

First, he kills the energy bill which would have created long-term savings and affordability for average Vermonters. Then, he cuts funding for affordable housing and conservation in Vermont. Next up? Taking a bite out of retirement funds for state employees. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Is the American Dream dying?

That may be overstating it a little, but when it comes to his "Affordability Agenda" it basically comes down to this: In Jim Douglas' world if you are independently wealthy, life in Vermont will be affordable - for the rest of us... uh, not so much. Douglas' failure to plan beyond the current fiscal year and seek long-term solutions for Vermonters is at the heart of his penny-wise, pound foolish budget and his other legislative priorities.

On the other hand, there is one new job he could create that would have a major impact on Vermont's future: New Governor. He's looking near invincible right now, but all things change in politics, and adopting these short-sighted policies may hasten his demise. Maybe not today, mabye not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of his life (with apologies to Bogey).

At least Jeb Spaulding is stepping up and holding Douglas' feet to the fire. In today's Times Argus, he takes Douglas to task for stiffing the state retirement fund:

"As a former state treasurer, you must know that is not a prudent action, because the problem of under funding compounds itself. It is the first time in recent years we have intentionally underfunded the state employees' retirement system. We shouldn't be starting new spending initiatives, no matter how worthy they are, unless we can meet the obligations," Spaulding said. "It's not like we can decide we want to change the rules of the game for the people who are on the job now."

Spaulding wrote to Douglas outlining his concerns: "I find it difficult to justify proposing new spending initiatives at the same time you are proposing not to pay the bill for services already rendered." Spaulding wrote. "I do hope the Legislature will correct the situation by funding the actuarial recommendations for the Vermont State Employees' Retirement System in full."

Giving New Meaning To Iraq's "Green Zone"

All I can say is "wow."

Town Meeting Day!

** Cross-posted at Exit Voices. Worth checking out to post your own town meeting day stories.

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Just finished up Northfield Town Meeting. My son’s first town meeting day (he’s just 5 months old)! Felt great giving him a front-row seat to democracy in action.

Most items passed without much debate. The exception? A proposal to establish a $500 fund for picnic tables at recreational areas in town. Small town democracy at its finest!

I was particularly pleased that the town voted in favor of establishing a conservation commission, something a small, dedicated band has worked on for about a year now. They’ve already secured some grant funding for surveys of the Dog River and trail- work on Payne Mountain. Commission status will boost their grant potential for other projects in the future.
It’ll be interesting, too, to see how the other big items fare: There’s a ballot item for a new police station, and of course the school budget. The former went down last time, but there is renewed interest b/c of the building’s dilapidated condition; the latter is almost always a close, 50-50 vote with one side or another eeking out enough to carry the day (followed by a series of re-votes, ugh!).

Rep. Anne Donahue was there… so was Sen. Bill Doyle. Didn’t see any other political glitterati, however.

I was pleased to see most members of our Democratic Town Committee were present for the meeting.

Wonder how much a meaningful, contested primary this year boosted town meeting attendance. It would be interesting to find out. Do people just turn out to vote? Or, do they stick around to discuss the details with their neighbors at the town meeting? What do you think? Anybody else observe greater numbers at the meeting? I’m sure the overall vote tallies will be substantially higher - probably record numbers.

As for a wish list item for the ballot, here’s mine: One thing I would love to see is the elimination of the recall rule. It requires a legislative fix, but currently Northfield voters can overturn a result by getting a small number of petitioners to call for a re-vote (think it’s 5 or 10%, or something). This means that even when we get a majority vote, a tiny minority can call it back and rely on a much smaller turnout the second time around (because special elections frequently have smaller turnout either because folks don’t know, or forget a special vote is happening, or because there aren’t other elections/candidates/ballot items to bring people out to the polls). This happens frequently when we do happen to pass the school budget. It’s a real thwarting of democracy, and a deceptive way to go about doing town business.

Obama in Vermont?

According to the Washington Post, Sen. Barack Obama is taking time out of his Texas/Ohio schedule to campaign in both Rhode Island and Vermont. Here's what the Post had to say:

"In a testament to the importance being placed on every state and delegate in the hard-fought Democratic contest, the candidate will take time away from Texas and Ohio to stump in this state as well as in Vermont, which will also hold a primary on Tuesday."

Anyone else out there have any information on this?

Exxon's Free Lunch (Oil On the Side)

Anyone who has checked out David Cay Johnston's excellent new book, "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)" has probably already pulled most of their hair out by now. The rest may be gone soon if word coming from the U.S. Supreme Court following oral argument on damages in the infamous (and long overdue - 19 years) Exxon/Valdez case is correct... or at least it may merit a new chapter in any reprints of Johnston's book.

Some analysts predict the Court will use the obscure tenets of maritime law, and a 200-year old case (the "Amiable Nancy") to overturn or diminish the $2.5 billion in punitive damages (already only half the original amount) awarded by jury trial in the decades long case. Originally complaints were filed in 1989 and then consolidated for trial in 1994. The jury awarded its verdict in 1994 - $287 million in actual damages, and $5 billion in punitive damages. You can find a complete timeline here.

Since then, what's happened?

Well, nothing. At least not much anyway. The company has paid out some settlement money (to the government for criminal fines (although even those may have been mitigated by the feds at taxpayer expense, according to the New York Times), for some tribal claims, among others, to the tune of a little more than $1 billion). And, they had clean-up costs of about $3.4 billion. Of course, the clean-up is still incomplete (by some reports only about 14% of all the oil spilled was actually recovered and/or remediated). And, the damages in the form of lost jobs, businesses, and biodiversity will perhaps never be recovered. The settlement monies and actual damages may sound like a lot, but as the plaintiff's attorney in the Supreme Court appeal pointed out, the total award to each plaintiff to date amounts to about $15,000 per plaintiff.
Probably... Tell it to the whale.

So, the Supremes have an opportunity to affirm the jury award and to send a message to corporate polluters that they must abide by some basic rules we all learn in kindergarten: clean up your own mess, and when you make a mistake, don't do it again! In all likelihood, though, the Court will look to determine the outcome on two narrow grounds. First, was the drunken captain (convicted of negligence, but acquitted of "driving under the influence") an "agent" of the corporation; and second, are punitive damages in maritime cases limited by maritime law? The Justices appeared to be skeptical of the first point, and affirmative, or at least supportive of the premise of that last.

This does not bode well for the fishermen and women, the local industries, the towns, the wildlife, or anyone or thing connected with the fallout in Alaska of this environmental catastrophe.

Oh, and message to polluters: drag litigation out as long as you can (Slate reports that 20% of the orginal plaintiffs - about 6,000 people - in the case have already died - not to mention the fact that even if they end up having to pay the full $2.5 billion, it represents only about 3 weeks of last year's record profits... some disincentive, huh?) and hope for a few more conservative justices on the Supreme Court - of course, that may not help you much if they're all shareholders!