I think I posted the same headline last year. A Pew Research survey just came out, and VT and NH are the least religious states in the country, with less than four in ten saying “religion is important in their lives.” Not surprisingly, Mississippi is the most religious state… God has blessed them by being one of the poorest, least educated states, too. Go figure.
Every fall, for the last, oh, 6 or 7 years, I make sure I go backpacking to Camel’s Hump around peak foliage season. Sometimes I go with a friend, sometimes solo. The weather kept me away these last two weekends, but this weekend was perfect. I haven’t been hiking and backpacking as much as I used to in this past year or so due to being too goddamn busy with school and the house project, and I (and the dogs) were feeling the results of that on the trail, as we went up the long way via the Long Trail, coming up from the south, an incredible trail. But we made it. There were way too many people on the summit, so we stopped and rested on the Alpine Trail right after the treeline. I wanted badly to nap in the sun, but it was at a rather busy part of the trail and didn’t want to to do that. (you can click for larger pics)
It didn’t stop some of us, however:
Hop below the fold for more, including the plane crash story and dinner… More pics, too.
It’s really simple.
Integral Psychosis has the goods on the latest outrage.
Those of you in Vermont who follow politics closely know about Instant Runoff Voting, a voting method that is much fairer, more closely reflects the will of the voters, and most importantly, due to its design it prevents third parties from becoming spoilers in the races, an all too common occurrence, especially in Vermont. To get yourself up to speed on it, check out this handy FAQ.
Anyways, VT activist Rama Schneider and others have been working their asses off trying to make IRV a reality in Vermont. And now, they’re closer than ever, because the IRV bill has now passed both chambers, and is on the way to Governor Jim Douglas, who is expected to veto it. With more people tending to vote for left-leaning parties in VT, having IRV wouldn’t work out as well for Republicans, so they are able to win statewide elections while getting a minority of voters. But that’s not the issue here – it’s about fairness and democracy.
I’m asking you Vermonters to all to take a moment on Monday and do something important. Call Governor Douglas on Monday and ask him to sign the Instant Runoff Voting bill. The phone number is 802-828-3333, or the toll-free in VT number is 800-649-6825. It will only take a minute of your time and if enough of us do it, it will have and impact. For the latest on the status of IRV in Vermont, please be sure to go to the Vermont IRV blog. A big tip o’ the hat to Rama Schneider for all the work and energy he’s put in to getting this moving.
Hard to believe it’s been a year since that whole Second Vermont Republic fiasco, in which it was revealed that the tiny VT secessionist group had (and continues to have) some rather unsavory ties to Neo-Confederate groups. It got the wingnut brigade out in full force, but they couldn’t hide the bad PR, especially when they were defending it as though it were nothing to be concerned about. But that hasn’t stopped founder Thomas Naylor and VT Commons editor Rob “I don’t know if they’re racist and frankly, don’t care” Williams from trying. Blogger Thomas Rowley, the man who set the ball in motion that would eventually sink SVR, has a little retrospective up now. And today’s Times Argus also has the latest on the failure of the recent effort for SVR to get a secession initiative going on the ballot at Town Meeting Day in several towns this year (h/t to Jack at GMD). They couldn’t even get enough signatures to get it on one ballot, anywhere. Yet Thomas Naylor will probably insist that support is still growing, the neo-confederates are nothing for us to be concerned about, and whatever other blatherings those crazy voices in his head make him say. It seems to be his stock formula now, regardless of the truth of the matter.Nice job guys.
Now, I’m not one to shill for candidates, but in light of yesterday’s action from Chris Dodd, it’s at least important to hear his message on it. It’s a rather inspiring one, to be honest – inspiring in that it’s real action, not rhetoric, like some of the other candidates seem to pass off as having ‘leadership”. And remember, Clinton, Obama, and Biden all apparently thought staying in Iowa was the best way to stand up to Bush:
Dodd is going to need all the help he can get next time this comes up next month. Here’s a list of the courageous ten Senators who stood up to Bush as well as the leadership of their own party:
Boxer (D-CA), Brown (D-OH), Cantwell (D-WA), Cardin (D-MD), Dodd (D-CT), Feingold (D-WI), Harkin (D-IA), Kerry (D-MA), Menendez (D-NJ), and Wyden (D-OR)
The fact that Leahy and even more importantly, Sanders, are missing from this list is, for lack of a better word, disgraceful. If there’s ever been a case of them talking the talk without walking the walk, this is it. You all know what to do – start making phone calls, and encouraging others, both in VT and other states, to do the same. There is no reason why our delegation, especially in light of all of the chest-puffing and tough rhetoric they seem to put out, should not be taking the lead on this as well.
Well, then. Tee VT State Police have now confessed to visiting three pharmacies and improperly collecting pharmacy records. And the cop on the Mark Johnson show the other day was full of shit. GMD has more.
Finally, Dan Barlow of the Vermont Press Bureau has written an excellent story in the Times Argus today about the VT State Police poking into your pharmacy records, aptly dubbed “Fishing Derby Friday”.
Fairfax Pharmacy owner Rick Hogle said he refused to hand over a list of his customers prescribed schedule-two drugs, which include medications such as oxycodone, when asked by a state police trooper who was investigating the spread of such drugs on the street.
Hogle, a pharmacist for 16 years, said he felt caught between protecting the privacy of his customers and assisting law enforcement in stopping the illegal sale and use of these medications.
“I’m not going to release patient information,” Hogle said. “The woman from the state police was very polite and did not throw her weight around, but unless they get a court order, I’m not going to release this information.”
Props to Mr. Hogle for doing the right thing. The chattering behind the scenes on this indicates that this story is not over. It’ll be curious as to whether Douglas did indeed have a hand in it. What did he know and when did he know it?
Also, an interesting update from GMD:
UPDATE: Based on confirmation from law enforcement sources, pharmacies that were approached by the State Police on Friday November 30th and from legal sources representing people affected by State Police conduct last Friday, GMD can add the following to the reporting that has occurred already.
* The Department of Public Safety was planning last weeks pharmacy checks (“Fishing Derby Friday”) for several weeks.
* The State Police visited multiple pharmacies on Friday November 30th.
* At least two pharmacies were told to by the State Police to turn over patient profiles for every patient who received a schedule II prescription from that pharmacy.
* At least one pharmacy was told it would be required to update the patient profile information with the police every two weeks.
* At several pharmacies the police merely introduced themselves to the pharmacist, gave their business cards and asked the pharmacist to call the police officer if they encountered any suspicious behavior such as indications of “Doctor shopping” or prescription fraud.
* Late Friday, due to intense push back and complaints from pharmacists who were concerned about requests from the Vermont State Police that they reveal confidential and federally protected medical information about their customers, State Police management sent an email to all State Police involved with the pharmacy checks throughout the state instructing them to cease the pharmacy checks. After the email went out, Fish Derby Friday ceased (for now).
How does this fall under “to protect and serve”?
Well, this story about the VT State Police going into pharmacy records that I let you know about is starting to get some legs. The AP is working on it now. This is a big story folks.
A few more updates for you . Juliewolf has an excellent diary over at Kos on it right now, “Kiss your 4th amendment goodbye: VT State Police collect medical data”… have a read and give it some rec’s so it stays on the front page longer. Also, more at GMD about this story in regards to the confusion as to whether or not pharmacists need to comply with this…Police Pharmacy Data Collection: Must Pharmacists Cooperate? Depends on Who You Ask…
Another great read – Maia Szalavitz over at HuffPo, with Cops Become Drugstore Cowboys in Vermont; 4th Amendment Officially Dead:
Just contemplate for a moment how much information your complete prescription records give to the police. From this data, the cops can tell if you suffer depression, HIV, anxiety, herpes, impotence, cancer and many other disorders many people prefer not to broadcast. If there is any information that should be protected from warrantless fishing expeditions, it’s gotta be your pharmacy records. If the supposed health care privacy act HIPAA is anything more than a paperwork tree-killing bonanza, it must prohibit this ridiculous type of data mining. But Vermont pharmacists are being told that it doesn’t.
Even politicians have gotta wonder: do I really want the state looking at my Viagra script?
It’s funny, with all of the constant accusations from the right about the Dems being the “nanny’ party, they seem to forget the very prescient fact that the Republicans are undoubtedly the “Big Brother” party. What’s worse? As more develops on this story, I’ll put it here and of course, keep checking GMD.
A BIG story just broke over at GMD that should be of concern to all Vermonters. Apparently, the VT State Police are going around to pharmacies and collecting personal data about what prescriptions you’ve taken out:
GMD has learned that State Police representatives are going to Vermont Pharmacies amd demanding complete dumps of all information about patients with Schedule II prescriptions (the class of medications that include prescription drugs with street value). After talking to a few pharmacists, I found one in Franklin County that confirmed they had been approached, and had been advised by the state that they did, indeed need to comply with the request. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy about it.
What’s even more disturbing? When I asked if he knew of any other pharmacies that were being mined for data in this way, he responded that it was his understanding that this was a process that was to take place across the state.
This means that the State Police is actively putting together a database of medical records of Vermonters across the state for the purpose of, as this pharmacist opined, “fishing expeditions.”
Truly disturbing. This is only the beginning of this stoty. I’ll have more as I get it.
