If you don’t vote today, your license to bitch about almost anything is revoked.  If you don’t vote today, shut the hell up.  You don’t get democracy.

The most intense interview of my life. That is how I would describe the thirteen or so minutes I spent on the phone with Ed Asner last week.

Ed Asner appears Wednesday night at 7:00 PM at Fuller Hall at St. Johnsbury Academy.  His one-man show, F.D.R., is being sponsored by Catamount Arts. You are well advised to attend.

Thirteen or so minutes with Ed Asner:

Ed Asner 19 Feb 2010

VPIRG wants Vermont Yankee closed for good in 2012.  James also called some of yesterday’s guest’s comments untruthful…AND called out Northeast Kingdom state Senators Matt Choate and Jane Kitchel for playing the worst kind of politics…

James Moore from VPIRG on Vermont Yankee

The vote takes place tomorrow in Montpelier.  Stay tuned.

Is the argument political?  Of course it is.  BUT…that doesn’t mean we can’t try and offer both sides.

We begin with a Monday morning interview with Larry Smith, the Manager of Communications for Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, the company that wants a twenty-year extension on the plant’s license.

LarrySmith_VermontYankee_Feb22.mp3

Tomorrow, we’ll talk to James Moore, the Clean Energy Director for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.  His take is…different.

Wednesday morning, prior to visiting companies throughout the Northeast Kingdom, he stopped by the studios.  We talked about the state budget, the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, and what he should order at the Miss Lyndonville Diner…

Lt. Governor Brian Dubie 17 Feb 2010

Corporate Agribusiness doesn’t give a damn about you.  They prove this with every recall, with every outbreak of botulism, every time a slaughterhouse gets fined and keeps doing what it does.

The movie FOOD, INC. is being shown at Lyndon State College on Saturday night at 8:00 PM.  There is no charge.  It’s being presented by local organic farmer Eric Paris (who also, with his family, runs the Freighthouse Restaurant in Lyndonville).

Eric and his daughter Bonnie came by the studios Friday morning to talk about the movie, their commitment to local, organic food and why you should see this movie.

Eric & Bonnie Paris 29 January 2010

We’re a LONG WAY from a tipping point, where local and locavore are not just words we throw around.  If  you care about what you put in your mouth, if you’re startled by the increasing incidence of cancer and obesity and diabetes GLOBALLY, if you’re concerned about your childrens’ future, what are you doing about it?????

You can start by seeing this movie.  If you’re in the Northeast Kingdom, get out of your safe place and go to the Alexander Twilight Theatre Saturday night.  If you’re anywhere else, find out where it’s playing or go down to the Amazon link below and to the right on this page and buy it for…$9.99!

Do it before the bastards who don’t care if they kill you…kill you.

Maybe the technique you and your party have borrowed from Joseph Goebbels for so long: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it,” works with some of the gullible, frightened, and angry folks who get their news from highly-biased organizations or ranting maniacs, but most Americans know there is one political party that (although far from perfect) is at least trying to make life better for real Americans.  That party is not the Republican party.  Never has been.  Ever.  (Yes, I’ve studied history.)

I know I haven’t forgotten that your party cared nothing about the deficit when you and Bush cut taxes for the wealthy, gave huge tax breaks to corporations, and started an obscene and unprovoked war in Iraq.  I also know that when you were in power you made a lot of what you now call so snidely “back room” deals.  Please spare me.

Your hypocrisy — and your assumption that I’m stupid, forgetful and easily swayed by speeches and grandstanding — offends me deeply.

Go ahead and vote in lock step.  Keep spreading lies.  Obstruct and try to derail.  Burst a blood vessel with your self-righteous indignation if you must.  But I –we–will not forget.  Your party will lose again, as well it should.

Leora

On Tuesday morning, Darcy called in again, to give us some numbers, and to give us what on the surface seems like good news for Caledonia County.  But as you listen to our discussion, you’ll hear that it’s not all good news.

Darcy Carter, Deputy Director, SBA – Vermont

If you’re a businessperson in Vermont and you’re still not getting the dollars the SBA guaranteed, you NEED to get in touch with Senators Leahy and Sanders and Congressman Welch…NOW.