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Governor Rick Perry of Texas joins a list of growing states who say they will refuse to implement Medicaid expansion in their states. The one-time presidential hopeful stated yesterday, “If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.” Gov. Rick Perry’s decision makes Texas the sixth state to opt out of Medicaid expansion so far. Texas joins Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Wisconsin in using

Early Sunday morning in Scotland protesters serenaded workers arriving at the nuclear-armed Trident submarine base in Faslane. Later the same day in Vermont  protestors serenaded police and private security at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. Each action was the latest in decades of resistance to these nuclear installations. Each was peaceful and ended with the arrest, citation, and release of dozens of protesters. At Faslane, Brian Larkin succeeded in melding with the workers

Taser deaths by police in Vermont and elsewhere clearly show that it is time for a moratorium on what the UN calls a "torture weapon." On the evening of June 20th in Thetford VT, Macadam Mason was just another all-but-anonymous 39-year-old artist, an alcoholic sober three years, a father of three who had epilepsy and mental health issues in the bargain.  He’d had a grand mal seizure the day before and was suffering what, for him, were the typical disorienting after effects that usually lasted f

July 4th, 2012 marks the United States’ 236th birthday. Although still a relatively young nation, the U.S. has transformed into an influential world power with a large and diverse population. The implementations of Decennial Censuses were included into the Constitution to acquire the enumeration of the American people every ten years, to be used for apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives among the states. They also have proven to be a great way to mark the constant changing U.S.

The head of Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) has published an almost giddy opinion piece, distributed statewide in support of the controversial wireless “smart meters” currently being installed in Vermont. Appearing in various media over the past few days, the piece prompted immediate rebuttal from two state legislators and others. In her op-ed posted on VTDigger on June 28, Deborah Markowitz, Secretary of ANR since January 2011, discussed her notification that she would soon get a s

In a perfect world, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear power plant would have shut down on schedule last March, the decommissioning fund would have been fully funded, and everyone in Vermont would be living green and happily ever after. But it’s not a perfect world – Vermont Yankee, with a design life of 40 years, started its 41st year of operation last March 22, despite promises to shut down, despite an act of the Vermont Legislature requiring it to shut down, and despite almost 40 years of public pro

Last week, IVN commented on a lawsuit brought by alleged delegates to the Republican National Convention. The Republican National Committee, while stating that suit was frivolous at the same time organized all the named defendants into a united defense against this litigation. There is no indication yet that the complaint in the action was served on any defendant or that the RNC has voluntarily appeared and moved to take any pretrial actions. What is clear: Ron Paul's delegate count continues to

Following the controversies surrounding the presidential election of 2000, in which George W. Bush lost the popular vote but won the presidency, there was renewed interest in reforming the Electoral College system. That interest has held steady over the course of the last decade. In a Gallup survey from late last year, 62% of those polled said they would prefer that the president be elected by a direct popular vote rather than via the indirect system characteristic of the Electoral College. The

Constant exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) affects all of us. Women’s College Hospital in Toronto is the first Canadian hospital requiring its doctors to be trained in treating the effects of EMR, even as Health Canada, the Canadian government health agency, claims EMR is probably harmless. Women’s College Hospital’s Environmental Health Clinic hosted a one-day seminar in May to raise medical awareness of the symptoms exposure to electromagnetic radiation. The symptoms identified by t

Credit: vtiso.blogspot.com Despite overwhelming public turnout against having nuclear-capable F-35 stealth fighters based at Burlington Airport, city councils in the nearby cities of Burlington and Winooski failed to decide for or against the escalation and voted instead to seek more information. While anti-F-35 community organizing has the biggest presence, there are also pro-jet groups. But the cities choose to ignore both. This shows the power of community organizing as both councils previou