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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who helped draft the immigration reform bill currently being discussed in the Senate, says he will walk away from the negotiations if it includes a controversial amendment to provide immigration benefits for gay couples. "If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I'm done," said Rubio during an interview on the Andrea Tantaros Show on Thursday. "I'm off it, and I've said that repeatedly. I don't think that's going to happen and it shouldn't happen. This is already a difficult enough issue as it...

N.Y. 3 Feet of Snow: Reversed Global Warming Causes Unusual Amount of Snowfall on Memorial Day Weekend In New York [PHOTOS] 3 feet of snow had just fallen in New York over Memorial Day weekend, and the unusual amount of snowfall sparked speculations that say the extreme weather was caused by reversed global warming. **SNIP** Although during May of last year, the temperature had been going up due to global warming, this year's Memorial Day weekend experienced what some have called "reversed global warming," as the temperature is dropping much more than usual. Residents of New York were surprised to...

Memorial Day weekend is expected to feel more like “winter” for areas of the eastern U.S., according to forecasters at weather.com, with snow possible for parts of the Northeast.

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case. Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court. Blackburn, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Fifth Amendment posed no barrier to his decryption order. The Fifth Amendment says that nobody may be "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," which...

**SNIP** Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, one of Congress' most outspoken liberals and a vehement opponent of chained CPI, warned Obama on Friday morning not to renege on his promise to avoid cuts to entitlement programs and veterans benefits as a way to reduce the deficit. “Millions of working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, and women will be extremely disappointed if President Obama caves into the long standing Republican effort to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans and their survivors through a so-called chained CPI,” he said in a...

Provo-Orem, Utah, is the most religious of 189 U.S. metropolitan areas Gallup surveyed in 2012, with 77% of its residents classified as very religious. Burlington, Vt., and Boulder, Colo., are the least religious, with 17% meeting that threshold. Most of the top religious cities are in the South -- the exceptions are Provo; Ogden-Clearfield, Utah; and Holland-Grand Haven, Mich. The least religious cities are clustered in the Northeast and on the Pacific Coast, with the exception of Boulder and Madison, Wis. The cities referred to in this article are based on the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) as defined by the...

There is a showdown over guns coming to the Senate Wednesday, but no firearms are allowed. In advance of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday morning, two of the committee’s Republican members sent a complaint that they were refused permission to bring guns to the hearing. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sent a letter Tuesday night to Chairman Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, that the purpose of bringing the firearms was to educate fellow Senators and “shatter the mistaken belief that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are a danger to society.” However,...

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Vermont officials overseeing the state's transition to a single-payer health care system say providing health insurance to undocumented immigrants would not likely cost taxpayers much money. Lawmakers asked the Green Mountain Care Board to examine the costs of coverage for people who are here illegally. But officials say it's difficult to nail down a price tag because there are no firm numbers of how many undocumented people live in Vermont. It's estimated to be between 1,500 and 3,000. "But we did learn, I think, enough kind of useful facts about the demographics of the population and some...

<p>WASHINGTON -- Senator James Jeffords criticized President Bush's tax cut proposal yesterday, saying the debate reminded him of two years ago when he decided to leave the Republican Party. ''Millions of Americans need help,'' the Vermont Independent said in the Democratic Party's weekly radio address. ''Yet, the president insists on a tax cut that hurts those who need help most, and helps those who need it least.''</p>

MONTPELIER, December 6, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite strong opposition from pro-life forces and a recent high-profile defeat in neighboring Massachusetts, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said last week he is confident the state legislature will pass a bill legalizing assisted suicide during the next session. Referring to assisted suicide as “death with dignity,” Shumlin laid out his agenda for 2013 in a press conference last week. “I’m confident that regardless of who leads the various bodies in the legislature, that we can pass decriminalization of marijuana, death with dignity, and the [unionization] bill for childcare workers,” the governor said. “We’re going...

Vermont is the only state in the nation on a path to a single payer health system. That could take a while, though. And in the meantime, the state has to set up an insurance exchange to comply with the Affordable Care Act. While some states are still struggling with the basic question of whether to do their own exchanges, Vermont is moving ahead at a rapid clip, digging into the details of how much various health plans will cost on its exchange. The Green Mountain Care Board this week released the basic outline of benefit packages that will be...

Bad news for GE Healthcare workers in Vermont. The company, which specializes in information technology for the healthcare industry, announced last Thursday that it plans to lay off about 10 percent of its workforce in the state. The company promised, however, to try to find “alternate roles” for those who lose their jobs. “While GE Healthcare regrets the loss of any jobs, the business needs to make tough decisions in the current economic climate,” company spokesman Benjamin Fox told the Barre Montpelier Times Argus. It’s unclear at this time how much of GE Healthcare’s workforce these cuts represent, though the...

Ski and snowboard season for the Northeast opens in just a few weeks. And when it does, a Vermont ski area plans to unveil a gondola powered entirely by cow manure. Killington Resort in central Vermont has partnered with Green Mountain Power to convert manure from nearby dairy farms to electricity for its K-1 Express Gondola. The so-called "Cow Power" program uses manure from 10,000 cows producing 300,000 gallons of manure per day. "Easily the coolest thing you can possibly do with cow manure," the power company's website declares. "The short version is that we take cow manure, work some...

The Justice Department ... filed today in the federal district court in Vermont to resolve the lawsuit the department brought on Oct. 11, 2012, to enforce the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)... “This agreement reflects this department’s steadfast and continued commitment"

Vermont could be first in line for single payerBy JOANNE KENEN | 9/17/12 4:28 AM EDT **SNIP** Shumlin can’t get there by 2014. He may not get there by 2017, when states get more flexibility under the health law to design their own health care systems. He may not get there at all. But he believes that even small states must aim big. **SNIP** The rest of the United States has no interest in single payer, of course, not now nor in the near future. Not only did the 2010 health law reject single payer or a public option, its...

For those of you who live in Pennsylvania,can any of you decipher why the left has been so adamant over the voter ID requirements if it looks like Obama has already won the state? How come the left isn't demanding voter ID in Maryland,California and Vermont? Why Pennsylvania? Is the left learning through internal polling that Romney has an 8/9/10 point lead? Maybe it's because Pennsylvania is about 80% White. And according to most polls,at least 60% of the white vote is definitely voting for Romney?For all we know,Pennsylvania could be the the "Surprise Romney Win"!

A Republican-controlled Senate in 2012 looks less likely than it did a few weeks ago, but the prospect for GOP gains is still quite solid. Of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs this cycle, seven are occupied by Democrats or Democrat-leaning independents who are not seeking reelection, three are occupied by Republicans who are not seeking reelection, 16 are occupied by Democrats seeking reelection, and seven are occupied by Republicans seeking reelection. This is the class of senators last elected in 2006, a midterm election that almost could not have gone worse for the GOP. A few recent developments...

A bed-and-breakfast in Vermont has reached a settlement with a lesbian couple over the business owners' opposition to holding a same-sex wedding ceremony on the business' property. According to a settlement reached on Thursday, the Wildflower Inn of Lyndonville agreed to pay a fine of $10,000 to the Vermont Human Rights Commission and $20,000 to a charitable trust created by the lesbian couple. In return, the VHRC and both parties acknowledge that the Wildflower Inn acted "in good faith" regarding their reliance on a 2005 case and no further legal action will be taken against the Inn. "The Wildflower Inn...

BURLINGTON, Vermont (Reuters) - A Mennonite minister was found guilty on Tuesday of aiding a kidnapping by helping a woman flee to Nicaragua with her daughter to evade court orders giving visitation rights to her former lesbian partner. The case drew widespread attention as gay rights groups and evangelical Christian groups took opposing sides in the legal battle between the two women over Isabella Miller-Jenkins, now 10. Federal prosecutors say Kenneth Miller of Stuarts Draft, Virginia, helped orchestrate Lisa Miller's flight to Canada and Nicaragua in 2009 with her daughter out of Christian solidarity with her decision to reject homosexuality...

At least one state chapter of the Boy Scouts of America is not prepared to toe the line with the organization’s national ban on LGBTs joining the scouts The Vermont Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America has reaffirmed its non-discriminatory stance allowing LGBTs to be scouts and scout masters in the face of the national organization’s continued refusal to allow LGBTs into the organization.

MONTPELIER, Vt. - Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbour called 911. A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles — five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van. By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road. With their vehicles crushed, "We had nothing to pursue him with," said Chief Deputy...

A Vermont man is accused of single-handedly leaving a path of destruction at one police station... Police say 34-year-old Roger Pion of Newport, Vt. took his family's farm tractor and ran over the cars just after lunchtime Thursday. Apparently, Pion was none-too happy about being arrested for resisting arrest after being caught with marijuana.

Working in a stout former bank building with windows closed and air conditioners humming, Orleans County, Vt., sheriff's deputies didn't know what was happening in their parking lot until a neighbor called 911. A man on a big farm tractor, angry about his recent arrest for resisting arrest and marijuana possession, was rolling across their vehicles -- five marked cruisers, one unmarked car and a transport van. By the time they ran outside, the tractor was down the driveway and out onto the road. Thursday afternoon's incident ended when city police in Newport, the county seat of the northern Vermont...

He fought the law, and the law got crushed. The man who drove a tractor over several police vehicles in northern Vermont last week is on the verge of becoming a modern-day folk hero to some, with various online sites cropping up to canonize and defend the "simple farmer" from Newport, Vt. Roger Pion, 34, was so angry about his arrest last month on marijuana and other charges, he took the law into his own hands, so to speak, and flattened 6 police cruisers and a van from the ">Orleans County Sheriff's Department. The Aug. 2 incident got Pion arrested....

VT. POL KOS 9/11 HERO MEDALS By VINCENT MORRIS SEN. LEAHYKills bill. April 12, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - A Vermont senator has single-handedly killed a plan to honor the cops and firefighters who gave their lives on 9/11 with special presidential medals, The Post has learned. Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, pulled the plug on legislation to bestow the "Presidential Medal of Valor" on public-safety workers who perished in the terror attacks. The new medal, which is the nation's highest public-safety award, was created about a year ago, and the 9/11 heroes were set...

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean blasted anti-tax rhetoric Thursday, arguing that Americans owed something back to the nation that created the world’s most successful economy. In an appearance with Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus on CNBC’s “The Kudlow Report,” Dean took a shot at the businessman’s stance. “You made a lot of money because you live in the United States of America,” he said. “We owe something to the government to grow up in this great country. I’m tired of hearing people in the private sector talk like they don’t owe the government anything. We do. This is a great...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com - Pat Leahy’s Anti-Israel ExtremismPosted By Ben Shapiro On June 1, 2012 @ 12:40 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments Last Thursday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) targeted an amendment by Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) that would force the State Department to determine how many actual Palestinian refugees – not their children, relatives, friends, or distant relations – are being served by US tax dollars. Leahy was upset because he knew, as most supporters of the Palestinian cause do, that the number of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from Israel during the 1948 war...

ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. - A man is dead following a home invasion early Friday morning. It happened at a residence on Main Street in Essex Junction. Police say the intruder was killed after getting into an altercation inside the building. More details are expected later.

Two months ago, Barack Obama decided he could intimidate the United States Supreme Court into finding his namesake healthcare plan Constitutional. Overturning the Affordable Care Act “…would amount to an unprecedented, extraordinary step of judicial activism” said the President at a rare White House news conference, adding “…I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected congress.” (1) Though someone with the hyper-arrogant mentality of the Manchurian Candidate doesn’t really need a reason to direct this sort of...

BURLINGTON, VERMONT, May 22, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The city council of Burlington, Vermont, has passed a new ordinance that could have the effect of banning pro-life protesters from exercising their right to protest in front of the town’s Planned Parenthood facility. On Monday, council members voted to establish a 35-foot “safety zone” about the town’s abortion clinic by a vote of 13-1. Republican Paul Decelles cast the lone dissenting vote. The measure now goes to a three-member Ordinance Committee for final wording. Ten council members supported the measure going in, although the Burlington Free Press reports pro-life and pro-choice citizens...

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee wants Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to find out if taxpayer dollars received by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office through a federal grant program were used by his deputies to illegally detain Hispanics whom the government alleges were the victims of racial profiling. If so, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, wants the Justice Department to consider ways of getting the money back - a total that could exceed $25 million. “I urge the department to take all appropriate steps to determine whether taxpayer dollars - have been used in connection with the...

(CBS News) Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean said Sunday that the policies promoted by the Republican Party have women and Latinos "terrified." "Women are terrified of what the Republicans are talking about. They're talking about basically stripping away their ability to have insurance pay for their birth control pills," Dean said on "Face the Nation." "Latinos are terrified of the Republicans, because they seem to have a total tin ear when it comes to the basic needs of treating people with dignity. "For Michele Bachmann to go on there and claim that women are going to vote for Mitt Romney...

Democrats in House of Reps. joined J Street in supporting Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions Seventy-four Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the dovish J Street organization in supporting the Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions to the Palestinian Authority. “In our view, support for a two-state resolution is inseparable from such support for Israel, its special relationship with the United States, and its very survival as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people,” the letter said. Seven Jewish members signed the letter, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John...

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- A late-night encounter with four bears trying to snack from backyard birdfeeders gave Vermont's governor a lesson in what not to do in bear country. One of the bears chased Peter Shumlin and nearly caught the governor while he was trying to shoo the animals away, he said Friday.

Trevor Whipple, the police chief in South Burlington, told Fox News that his department incurred $4,200 in overtime expenses as a result of separate fundraising events featuring President Obama and the First Lady. ...... “The president is the president wherever he goes and whatever he does,” Vermont Democratic Party Chairman Jake Perkinson told Fox News. “I don’t think there’s any credible reason to be nickel and diming the security of the President of the United States or his family.” Perkinson said taxpayers should be happy to cover the cost of the president’s fundraising visit to Vermont.

This is based on a genealogy table I made. Had a bit more trouble than I should have tracking down the first round results, wth.

Vermont Secretary of State James Condos is threatening videographer James O'Keefe with criminal investigation for his Project Veritas exposé of voter fraud in the state. Ironically, Condos would have made it far easier to commit the very fraud that O'Keefe's investigation has suggested may be possible at the polls. As a state senator, Condos pushed for same-day registration voting. "We are all concerned about maximizing the number of voters with an election that has integrity," Condos told The Burlington Free Press on February 14, 2005. "There is a lot of trust in our system," Condos told The Free Press on...

James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has released a new video exposing just how easy it is to commit voter fraud in Vermont. The video, a sequel to O'Keefe's "Primary of the Living Dead" in New Hampshire, shows a Veritas agent entering various voting places around the state of Vermont, giving a different name each time. Each time, he is given a ballot without showing an ID, to his disbelief. The new video follows in the wake of a highly-politicized media attack on Mr. O’Keefe after his exposure of voter fraud in New Hampshire. Those videos resulted in calls from the left for O’Keefe’s...

Mitt Romney won easy victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont Tuesday as he looked to take a commanding lead in the Republican presidential race. Newt Gingrich, hoping to revitalize his campaign, notched a home-field win in Georgia. Together, 10 states scattered across the country hosted Super Tuesday contests, the biggest day yet in the fight for the right to challenge President Barack Obama this fall. Ohio, a critical state in the general election, was the spotlight race, with Mr. Romney running close to former Sen. Rick Santorum, who has seen his Ohio lead erode. The former Pennsylvania senator was hoping...

Several Democratic senators are calling on the Obama administration to allow Syrians who are already in the United States to stay, at least temporarily, out of concern it would be "too dangerous" for them to return home. The senators want President Obama to invoke what's known as "temporary protected status" for thousands of Syrians in the U.S. The designation typically is given to foreign nationals whose home countries are beset by war or natural disaster and who could face harm should they return. The senators argued that Syrians in the U.S. are in just that kind of predicament, as Syrian...

Newt Gingrich has a double-digit lead over the rest of the GOP field in his home state of Georgia, according to a Landmark-Rosetta Stone poll released late Friday. Gingrich took 38 percent, followed by Rick Santorum at 25 percent, Mitt Romney at 19 percent, and Ron Paul at four percent, the poll found. Gingrich held a nine-point lead in the same poll taken earlier this month. The poll could be an outlier – Gingrich leads by only two points in Georgia according to the latest Insider Advantage survey and leads by five points according to Rasmussen. Both of those polls...

BURLINGTON, Vt. - "The state of Vermont is not going to crumble because there was a prank played on us," said Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont. Some think the hoopla over the doctored decal on Vermont State police cruisers is hogwash. "Not news," said Nancy Brouillette, who is visiting Vermont. "I don't think it's big news," said Jason Maring of Moretown. "When I first heard about it I was like eek what does it look like? And then I saw it and I didn't think it was that big of a deal," said Martha Demers of Woodbury. Others are tickled pink...

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

SHELBURNE, Vt. — Richard Ketchum, a historian, writer and editor who co-founded a magazine about country living and wrote 17 books, has died. He was 89. Ketchum died Thursday at the Wake Robin retirement community in Shelburne. Ketchum wrote 17 books, six of which focused on the American Revolution, including "Saratoga: Turning Point of America's Revolutionary War," and "Winter Soldiers." After moving to Vermont for good in 1974 with his wife, Ketchum co-founded Blair & Ketchum's Country Journal, written for people who had moved to rural areas after growing tired of hectic city and suburban life.

Tomorrow less than 20 percent of registered Republicans in Iowa are going to tell us who they believe should take on President Obama. Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, who has bypassed the caucuses, said last week that Iowa picks corn, not presidents. Is he correct? Well, if you ask Mike Huckabee, he would say yes. But on the other hand, Obama did win the state. Iowa’s importance will be in whittling down the field of contenders. It is most likely going to claim several conservatives, which means that their voters could flock to another right-wing candidate — not necessarily the frontrunner....

Vermont fraternity chapter closed indefinitely over rape surveyLISA RATHKE - Staff Writer 9:53 a.m. EST, December 17, 2011 MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A University of Vermont fraternity whose members are accused of circulating a survey that asked who they would like to rape has been closed indefinitely. The national Sigma Phi Epsilon made the announcement Friday after an internal investigation and lengthy discussions with the university in Burlington. "Without suggesting that every member had knowledge of this questionnaire, the questions asked in the document are deplorable and absolutely inconsistent with our values," said Brian Warren, executive director of the national...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Police in Vermont say a woman who might have been angry about a dead raccoon left on a street took its bloody carcass to City Hall and angrily slammed it against the building’s doors. Burlington police say the woman left the raccoon’s body outside City Hall before walking off one morning two weeks ago.

The man who shot himself at an Occupy protest camp in downtown Burlington, Vermont, this week was 35 years old, homeless and had briefly trained to be in the Army, police said on Friday. Joshua Pfenning apparently shot himself in the head inside a tent at the encampment in City Hall Park on Thursday afternoon and later died at a city hospital, Burlington Police Chief Michael Schirling said in a statement. After the shooting, police banned camping at the park because of safety concerns. Police have stopped short of calling Pfenning's death suicide, but have said witnesses indicated the shooting...

Gov. Peter Shumlin has added fuel to the fire over this week's bust of undocumented migrant farm workers by the Vermont State Police. In an interview with WPTZ-TV's Stewart Ledbetter yesterday, Shumlin said Vermont should "look the other way" when it comes to dealing with immigrants working illegally on Vermont farms. "We have always had a policy in Vermont where we kind of look the other way as much as we can," Shumlin told WPTZ. "I just want to make sure that's what's we're doing. [Vermont farms] can't survive without workers from outside America. It's just the way it is....

Shumlin Says State Policy Is To "Look The Other Way" POSTED: 8:27 am EDT September 16, 2011 UPDATED: 11:00 am EDT September 16, 2011 Gov. Peter Shumlin clarified his position Thursday after ordering an immediate investigation into State Police handling of a routine traffic stop on I-89 earlier in the week, one that sparked protest and the detention of two migrant farm workers from Mexico. Read more: http://www.wptz.com/video/29203802/detail.html#ixzz1Y8HQrAAS