Genesis and Crumb

An encouraging religious item of note for all Vermonters: This important spiritual news takes the form of cartoonist R.Crumb’s version of the book of Genesis. Crumb’s website says he has finished the Genesis project including the introduction, back sleeve commentary and a map for the beginning of the 201 page book. Soon to go into production and planned release this Fall . A world without R.Crumb’s Genesis would be depressing and dangerous.

The acclaimed satirist revealed that he had finished the project, which his UK publisher is predicting will "provoke the religious right". Four years in the making, Crumb worked from the King James Bible and Robert Alters’ translation to reinterpret the Book of Genesis, from the Creation via Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to Noah boarding his ark.
Back in 2005 in an interview at the New York Public Library recorded by Time magazine, Crumb, a hero of underground comics, talked about the difficulties of drawing God for the book. "My problem was, how am I going to draw God? Should I just draw him as a light in the sky that has dialogue balloons coming out from it? Then I had this dream. God came to me in this dream, only for a split second, but I saw very clearly what he looked like. And I thought, OK, there it is, I've got God," he told interviewer Robert Hughes, Time's art critic. "He has a white beard but he actually ended up looking more like my father. He has a very masculine face like my father." He had considered, he said, drawing God as a black woman. "But if you actually read the Old Testament he's just an old, cranky Jewish patriarch."

GuardianUK

Three Myths of Three Mile Island Accident

March 28 will mark the 30th anniversary of the accident at the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) nuclear power plant near Middletown, Pa. The TMI-2 accident had the greatest impact on nuclear regulation of any single event in history. Although there were no deaths or injuries, the accident is a reminder for the NRC and those who operate plants to remain vigilant in watching over the 104 operating reactors in the United States to ensure their safe operation.

These talks were recorded live at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on March 26, 2009.Video link here http://www.tmia.com/march26
Nuclear engineer and long-time industry executive, Arnie Gundersen gives a talk on his calculations of the amount of radiation released during the accident at Three Mile Island. Mr. Gundersen's calculations differ from those of the NRC's and official industry estimates.

About TMIA organization ........
Three Mile Island Alert is a non-profit citizens' organization dedicated to the promotion of safe-energy alternatives to nuclear power and is especially critical of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
Formed in 1977 (two years before the accident) TMIA is the largest and oldest nuclear watchdog group in central Pennsylvania.
Also at www.greenmountaindaily.com

Shellac attack! Or: What apples lac?

While eating an overly shiny red apple (New York State grown Empire) earlier today I read the fine print label on the bag. I found knowledge. Knowledge that everyone else may already know,a commonly known fact that for some reason had passed me by in the normal ebb and flow of day to day operational knowledge.
I use shellac regularly as a finish on furniture and considered myself familiar with it, but one never knows. Shellac finish is a liquid denatured alcohol-based solution of pure lac, a natural resin secreted by tiny insects on certain trees. It is available in Clear and Amber.
My shiny red apple however was “shellacked” Food-grade shellac, which also comes from a secretion of the lac bug (sounds like the same stuff to me) found in India and Pakistan. In the tablet manufacture trade, it is sometimes referred to as "beetlejuice" for this reason. These waxes are also approved for use as food additives for candy and pastries. The commercial waxes do not easily wash off because they adhere to any natural wax remaining on the fruit after cleaning. Waxed produce can be scrubbed with a vegetable brush briefly in lukewarm water and rinsed before eating to remove wax and surface dirt.

What,lac facts

--On 26th July 1989, the United States & Drugs Administration published a proposed rule, for affirming that shellac and shellac wax, were generally recognized as safe (GRAS), with specific limitations for use as a direct human food additive. The shellac would have to be, of appropriate food grade. Substances approved for addition to foods by the US FDA are listed in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (21 CFR). Shellac is regulated as an Indirect Food Additive in 21 CFR §175.105 (Adhesives) and §175.300 (Resinous & Polymeric Coatings).

--The normally amber coloured resin can also be bleached with sodium hypochlorite to obtain bleached lac, which is white in colour. Bleached lac has specialized demand for coating medicinal tablets, confectioneries etc.

--Lac Resin (a polyester complex of straight-chain hydroxy fatty acids and sesquiterpenic acids) 68 %

--Since lac insects are cultured on host trees which are growing primarily in wasteland areas, promotion of lac and its culture can help in eco-system development as well as reasonably high economic returns.
note : this information is from a national shellac trade promotion group


http://www.usapple.org/consumers/wax.cfm

Obama live online Thursday

Obama and the media of change
President Obama did not call on any National papers at his press conference Tuesday night (noted in a bit of pique by the New York Times political reporters) and recently, he delivered a snub to the Gridiron Club (widely recognized by most insiders as the ultimate insiders club) by declining their invitation to attend their annual dinner.
A recent poll reports that nearly one-third of Americans under the age of 40 say programs like The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are taking the place of traditional news outlets.
Thirty-nine percent (39%) of adults say programs of this nature are making Americans more informed about news events, while 21% believe they make people less informed. Twelve percent (12%) say they have no impact.

Now this--- no media at all.A press conference of sorts online with no press at all .A live online event from the White house in which he will answer citizen submitted questions .Submitted in advance at http://www.whitehouse.gov/OpenForQuestions/ and ranked by participants regarding interest and importance. I looked at the site earlier and it has a video message from Obama and is quite easy to navigate around .I did not pass up the opportunity and did submit a question.

White House to Host Online Town Hall after Ignoring National Papers at Press Conference

Participants can submit questions in writing or video. They can also vote for questions they want most to be answered. The questions are listed by topic, and then ranked by interest in them. On Wednesday afternoon , there were 22,596 people to have submitted 24,737 questions and cast 835,484 votes. A ticker at the top of each list of topical questions keeps an updating count.

This event may provide a model for how to engage participants in an online event. Registration requires first name, e-mail, and ZIP code and "catch" verification. The "Terms of Participation" are explicit. Participants can flag questions that violate the policy and if several flag one question, it will be downplayed then reviewed and either removed or restored to the rotation. People who want to submit a question outside the event can do so.
Questions and voting are hosted by Google Inc., but whitehouse.gov owns and has access to the data related to the questions and voting, which will be treated in accordance with the whitehouse.gov privacy policy. Google never receives your email address and does not store the IP addresses related to open for Questions.

http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/entertainment/nearly_one_third_of_younger_americans_see_colbert_
stewart_as_alternatives_to_traditional_news_outlets

Vermont’s year old L3C law may help newspapers:UPDATED below

As struggling newspapers across the country are looking for ways to survive the L3C is getting close scrutiny in several places. A Chicago Sun-times editor in the Huffington Post, an article in E&P magazine and Robert Lang (L3C Advisors CEO and the creator of the L3C model) are touting L3C’s as possible methods for saving struggling newspapers.
The state of Vermont was among the first states to enact L3C (low profit limited Liability Corporation) legislation in April last year. Since then Michigan and the Crow Nation passed similar laws and legislatures in Georgia, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon are also expected to pass L3C legislation. The law allows establishing a low profit, non-profit hybrid entity. The entity would be a low-profit company with "charitable or educational" goals and some return for investors. The social benefit, educational and social responsibility features play to the newspapers hopefully continuing (and improving?) role as public advocates and leaders of public debate.

Historically, newspapers are not considered nonprofits. However, a federal L3C bill and the Federal Program-Related Investment Promotion Act, if passed, would expand charitable purposes to include newspapers.
Robert Lang creator of the L3C model, stated, "What we are looking at is the newspaper as a self-sufficient entity. It will not be a high profit entity." Unlike other current options, the L3C is sustainable, allowing newspapers to tap into the $17M available for PRIs while the L3C’s social purpose business model continues to realign newspapers with their community service mission.

The L3C structure plays well in Peoria where the Peoria Newspaper Guild, and a coalition of Journal Star employees and community leaders have been quietly looking for two years at alternatives including co-ops and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to operate the Peoria Journal Star.
The one idea that really clicked was the L3C. Because it can tap into foundation money, an L3C is sustainable, and because an L3C business must meet a social purpose, it realigns newspapers with their mission of community service.
"We are looking at long-term ownership that puts journalism first," said Jennifer Towery, President of the Peoria Newspaper Guild and also Neighbors Editor for the Peoria Journal Star. "[The L3C] just resonated. It has so much potential."

Vermont companies pay $75 to file as an L3C and those located elsewhere, $100, not including the fees generated by filing annual reports, said Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton. There are no estimates last year on how much money the measure could raise.
In Vermont roughly 35 L3C entities have been or are in the process of being created , such as CoolPass, L3C, Faithful Travelers, L3C, and Monkton Community Coffeehouse, L3C. A list of established L3Cs in Vermont is searchable through the corporation database on the Vermont Secretary of State website.

UPDATE : Newspaper Revitalization Act

This bill has yet get any co-sponsors and does not use an L3C style law .So it would operate under traditional non-profit regulations 501c3.

U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin introduced legislation Tuesday that would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofit organizations, providing significant tax breaks to the struggling industry.Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.Under the proposal, newspapers could operate as nonprofits, if they chose to do so, claiming 501(c)(3) status for educational purposes, similar to public broadcasting.Newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/senate-democrat-proposes-nonprofit-status/story.aspx?guid={D7827992-C28B-41DE-89E8-F480762D989E}&dist=msr_32




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sally-duros/how-to-save-newspapers_b_164849.html
http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/home/2009/03/l3c-developments-resources.html
also posted at http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4209

Comfortable footwear is always vitally important

A poll conducted by Gallup and Healthways(a disease management company)charted levels of stress in 2008

-Stress shot up over 2008, peaking in the fall and winter as the economic crisis deepened, then continuing high through February. The 10 least happy days of 2008 all were in the last quarter.
-Emotional well-being overall dropped, too, driven largely by declines in mental health for the poorest people.
-Americans' moods were ultra-sensitive to economic news. Well-being plunged on days when the Dow lost big and with reports of high jobless claims.

This has raised two important and slightly troubling points for investigation at a later date .

-First find out specifically what it is that a disease management company does.

-Second,research what metrics are used to measure the 10 least happy days of a given year.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-03-11-stress-poll_N.htm

Unnamed Vermont official questions ARRA job estimate

A question by an unnamed Vermont state official at an ARRA implementation conference has Earl Devaney* Chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board questioning job estimates. Devaney said: “This whole thing has got me very nervous.”

*(Devaney was the former inspector general at the Interior Department, he helped unearth the Jack Abramoff scandal)

According to a press pool report from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Implementation Conference, an unnamed state official from Vermont asked if state job numbers on the recovery.gov Web site were made up.

Devaney, according to the pool report, pointed to the difficulty of defining a saved or created job.
“We need to all be playing off the same sheet of music,” Devaney went on. “If I’m going to be held accountable for this Web site, and there’s a graph in there that talks about jobs created or saved, it’s going to be as accurate as I can get it.”
Devaney, according to the pool report, pointed to the difficulty of defining a saved or created job.

And if anyone knows who the Green Mountain stater who asked the original question was,we would love to know .

http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimulus/item/stimulus-oversight-chief-questions-jobs-numbers-too-316
http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4184

Website Tracking States’ Spending Trackers

Follow the stimulus money .The White House called it the accountability summit Thursday. State leaders charged with spending the stimulus were told they are on the “front lines”. Officials from all fifty states but Idaho attended to be coached on how to make the stimulus work .Cabinet secretaries and administration officials were available for questioning. Accountability and transparency were buzz words at the meeting a major part of transparency is easy availability of information.”Recovery” web pages and easy access to state information regarding stimulus money spending and contracting is key. Stimulus spending has started here in Vermont at the Richmond Bridge. The choice of the very low bidding out of state company makes clear the need for openness. Vt. Secretary of Transportation defended the Maine contractor choice in the paper the other day as questions were raised about the company being from out of state and about the huge difference in bid costs .Nothing apparently is amiss but information access online could be better because accountability is the goal.


A tracker tracker,here is a link http://www.obamaperspective.com/?p=559
to a site by a fellow who is tracking all fifty state’s “recovery” websites. He is tracking how states are handling transparency issues. Posted are links to and brief notes on all states "recovery” homepages. The quality of Vermont’s site (as it now appears) compared to others according to this site gets what would translate as a “meh”.
…..Vermont’s stimulus site includes only the most general information about the recovery plan, such as links to the text of the bill, and to the federal stimulus site,http://recovery.vermont.gov/
More information will follow, a press release says.

The tracking website says “we’re considering adding a scoring system. The Missouri site is noted as best …and for accountability and décor Missouri nails a 9.8! . The Missouri Accountability portal provides comprehensive documentation of grants, contracts, budgets and state employee salaries. All line item expenditures are accounted for, even for minimal expenses. Missouri’s recovery site lists stimulus funds received by the state, with fields for the date of deposit, the funds’ intended purpose, the amount and how the dollars have been spent. http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov/MAP/Portal/ Missouri is the "Show Me State "

http://www.propublica.org/special/chart-tracking-states-spending-trackers

No surplus left anywhere in the world

“There’s no surplus left anywhere in the world,” not petroleum , maple syrup.This is what Sen. Schumer is talking about ."Everybody is waiting for this year’s crop.”Restaurants in Vermont are rationing maple syrup and not allowing unlimited pouring. As the state’s annual harvest gets under way this week, restaurants and shops are paying as much as $70 a gallon for syrup, said Rick Marsh, president of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association. That’s up from about $40 last year, he said.

Although Vermont may lead the nation in maple syrup production New York State politicians are taking the lead in using the current high price of syrup to reintroduce legislation suggested in 2008.
The plan would provide for access to private land and to create centralized storage and bottling plants .Incredibly they are hoping for the $65 million dollar industry to increase sales by 400 percent! Although Schumer had no statistics for Vermont he did say “Listen to this, we have 289 million maple trees in New York, but we tap less than one-half of 1 percent of them. It’s a large, untapped resource, shall we say.”
Sen. Schumer, newly appointed Sen.Gillibrand and upstate NY Rep John McHugh have proposed legislation to help small producers nationwide.
Maple TAP Act which would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which states may apply for grants to encourage owners and operators of privately-held farm and ranch land with maple trees to voluntarily make such land available for maple tapping.

Quebec, the OPEC of maple syrup accounts for more than 70 percent of the global supply, 5.35 million gallons last year. Vermont, the domestic leader, produced 500,000 gallons. New York, which had a strong year, produced 322,000 gallons. Quebec produces more because it taps over a third of its trees. Vermont taps 2.1 percent.

While supply has dwindled, international demand has increased, largely because of marketing efforts by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, a trade group representing 7,300 companies. The focus has been on Asia, and Japan now accounts for 10 percent of Canada’s maple syrup exports, said Geneviève C. Béland, a marketing executive with the federation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/dining/11maple.html?ref=nyregion
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=309291
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=ah5DD99EXVkw&refer=home

Grand Wizer's cave keep out

Vermont’s new two headed recovery office

Vermont like many states is unveiling shiny new websites to provide information regarding their state’s use of funds from the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Well Louisiana, maybe not?
Here is a link http://recovery.vermont.gov/to Vermont’s shiny new site which contains perhaps an excusable amount of self promotion by Republican Governor Douglas. For a man whose party leaders have come close to expressing the desire for Obama’s policies to fail seems to have achieved a good comfort level with this program.
…………

Welcome to the Vermont Federal Recovery and Reinvestment Website:
Thank you for visiting our site. Here you will find information regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as it relates to our state. You can learn about Governor Douglas’ plans for using these resources to strengthen Vermont’s transportation and technological infrastructure; to invest in renewable energy and efficiency programs; and to grow our economy and put Vermonters back to work.

But Two Heads? The Governor has interestingly found the need to appointed two people to head this office in less than a month. In the beginning of February Governor Douglas named as head Jim Bush, the current Assistant Director of Program Development at the Agency of Transportation. ……However just the other day it was announced that The Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery will be headed by Tom Evslin, who will report to Administration Secretary Neal Lunderville. March 2, 2009.One head must be bigger than the other.
http://recovery.vermont.gov/

Editor’s blog takes exception to Congressman’s press release

Recently the Burlington Free Press editor’s Twitterings Blog took exception to Vermont Congressman Welch's manner of announcing his attendance at a White House event. Twitterings calls it the "new era chest thumping" and follows up with a suggestion that congressional franking privileges be taken away.
Welcome to the new era of chest thumping
If it's worth a thump, let out a squeal of political joy to the rabble. Perhaps it's time to end franking privilege. This just in from the Welch press release machine *see offending press release below

Diss the announcement but at least love the achievement! The event Peter Welch has taken the time to announce was the White House signing of a bill overhauling contracting procedures. During the ceremony President Obama will noted the congressman's work on this issue .The new regulation forbids awarding no bid contracts that ran into so many millions in recent years .This new rule is expected to save taxpayer dollars .What is the problem being informed that our congressman is followed through on an effort he started a while back and getting recognized for his work? I hardly think announcing this heralds a new era of chest thumping or an abuse of the franking privilege. After reading of the new law and the savings it may lead to and the waste it may stop one can only wonder in awe at why the Free Press wouldn't want to cheer this rather than denigrate the announcement without noting the achievement.

Welch, a member of the House Government Oversight Committee, said he got interested in the topic during hearings on contracts for services in Iraq, including allegations that companies such as Halliburton – which has strong ties for former Vice President Dick Cheney – was ripping off American taxpayers.

Obama's new contracting rule forbids the awarding of no bid contracts and will enhance oversight of how successful the work is carried out, Welch said. This regulation will extend to the nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan passed into law last month.
Obama thanked Welch for his work on this issue during the press conference Wednesday.

Defense bloat has stunned auditors. A report last year from the Government Accountability Office found that 95 ongoing major defense programs exceeded their budgets, providing an accumulated excess cost of $295 billion to taxpayers................

According to the government’s Federal Procurement Database, which tracks federal contracts, the Defense Department reported over $394 billion worth of business with private contractors in fiscal 2008 alone.

*offending press relaease
Congressman Peter Welch United States House of Representatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Welch to join Obama at announcement of government contracting procedure overhaul

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Peter Welch will join President Obama this morning for the announcement of an overhaul in government contracting procedures – a move expected to save taxpayers $40 billion.

Welch, who successfully closed the Contractor Fraud Loophole in the last Congress, will be on hand for the 10 a.m. signing of a presidential memorandum in the Old Executive Building.

Obama is expected to direct his administration to draft new rules that would make it more difficult for contractors to rip off taxpayers. The rules would reduce the frequency of no-bid contracts and would make it easier for small businesses and independent contractors to bid on federal contracts.



http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090305/NEWS02/903050311/1003/NEWS02

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=899485bfb00e48eea120c5dc4509418e&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a899485bfb00e48eea120c5dc4509418ePost%3a20d91c8a-3c9d-41c6-8f56-35f2fe4149ad&sid=sitelife.burlingtonfreepress.com

http://washingtonindependent.com/32582/defense-contractors-gird-for-fight

Signs of the times old and new

Where you see this sign ,your tax dollars at work
"These emblems are symbols of our commitment to you, the American people — a commitment to investing your tax dollars wisely, to put Americans to work doing the work that needs to be done. So when you see them on projects that your tax dollars made possible, let it be a reminder that our government — your government — is doing its part to put the economy back on the road of recovery."President Obama speaking at the Transportation Department.

The NRA Blue Eagle,that's National Recovery Agency from the FDR's first one hundred days

http://www.federaltimes.com/federal-times-blog/tag/arra-emblem/

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/emblems-to-stam.html

Vermont's Jim Douglas: Zelig on the national stage

Vermont Governor Jim Douglas has been paraded and is parading himself on a National stage. As co-chair of the RNG Conference he has been seen with his fellow Republican governors and heavy hitting Democratic governors like Ed Rendell .He sat like Zelig in balcony at Obama's invitation to hear the presidential budget address .Yet even with all this flagrant photo-op bipartisanship he seems unwilling or unable to speak out aggressively against the growing isolation of the Republican Party. Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah is making noises about the damage that the dead-enders will do to the Republican Party as the country's voters leave them behind .Huntsman claims a good re-think is in order. "The party needs to be more intellectually rigorous, and to compete for the votes of the young, the elites and minorities," he said in an interview with Politico. A Utah governor's ability to do this may be a little bit of the 'only Nixon could go to china thing '.

Douglas would have no trouble being heard should he decide to speak ,the microphone and headlines would be his .It would be a courageous thing for one of the last standing Republicans in New England to take a stand and bring his party back from the conservative brink as Gov. Huntsman is attempting in Utah. For someone that may have national ambitions a clear effort at reality therapy for the party wouldn't be a bad way to start .It could be just a question of timing ,he can stay low and continue to glide through without getting his head bitten off by the right wing .However anybody who is observing his approach to this current budget situation here in Vermont would realize is that Douglas is not a moderate keeping his head down ,but a conservative keeping his mouth shut .National observers seeing him for the first time may not realize that Douglas,in the words of a Vermont paper ( belatedly observed after the election) is "the kind of radical conservative that voters rejected at the ballot box in November."

RNC chairman Steele and Rush Limbaugh got into a pushing contest yesterday over who is the true voice of the Republican party .Steele promptly backed down and begged to be forgiven .Chairman Steele's mettle leaves something to be desired and commenting on the Rush /Steele flap Gov.Bobby Jindal says "Well, I didn't follow the day's events. I'm glad he[Steele] apologized.".The head of the RNC and Gov.Jindal who was chosen to rebut President Obama's budget speech are both in alignment with Rush. Maybe its time governor Douglas is given a chance to get above the radar on this .Limbaugh has expressed in no uncertain terms that he wants Obama to fail .White house spokesman Robert Gibbs suggests reporters ask Republican Congressmen if they support Rush .A fair question for Douglas................Do you support Limbaugh's views ? It is his party .

Commerce as usual

The senate has a narrow definition of conflict of interest.Threading the needle .

The scale and the finesse are perhaps different but here are the same basic ethical moves of Blagojevich dressed up in a conservative New England suit.

The reason Senator Judd Gregg's bi-partisan ardor suddenly wilted may not have been formed in the conservative conscience he claimed to have suddenly remembered possessing . After removing his name from consideration to the cabinet post and trying to explain his change of heart on the stimulus bill Gregg said in an interview that the stimulus should focus more on how we control real estate values .A subject he appears to be familiar with ."I have said I think we need to put more targeted effort on the real estate side, where we balance and basically look at how we control the price of real estate, so people have more confidence in the value of their home."

In New Hampshire the former Pease Air force base closure brought some opportunities to Judd Gregg and appears to have done well for his brother .His brother Cyrus is a partner in a company called Two International Group that has built a dozen buildings at the former base since it closed and was re-purposed .Brother Cyrus is said to be a major player at the base

Reports say that he(Sen.Gregg) collected from investments at the former base $240,017 to $651,801 at the same time arranging for federal aid to the former base of $66million.

Gregg's investments in the partnerships date back at least to 1999, when he had $15,001 to $50,000 invested in 222 International Drive LP, according to his Senate reports....By 2007, Gregg had a total of $465,000 to $1.05 million invested in four businesses: 222 International Drive LP, Say Pease LLC, Say Pease II/IV LLC and Say Pease VII LRC, according to his most recent Senate report."I've throughout my entire lifetime been involved in my family's businesses and that's just the way our family works," he said. "We support each other and our activities."

By putting government money into the former base, Gregg helped it become a desirable place for employers to locate, making developments there more valuable.

Said Senator Gregg .."I am absolutely sure that in every way I've complied with the ethics rules of the Senate both literally and in their spirit relative to any investment that I've made anywhere," Say Pease ,indeed

In an interesting but not directly related transaction ....................

Two International also develops properties elsewhere in Portsmouth, recently selling a $1 million-plus condominium at its One Harbor Place development to J. Bonnie Newman, Judd Gregg's former chief of staff. Gregg agreed to become commerce secretary if the Democratic New Hampshire governor named her to succeed him.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/12/1793330.aspx

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNbrnUBpDY517FaoDzHF5oEBCRnwD96K6IO00