Senator Sanders

Too Big to Fail A top U.S. bank regulator warned on Friday against legislative proposals that would break up financial firms if they were deemed too large. Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan said major corporations need sizable financial firms to serve their needs, and said restrictions on size could open the door for non-U.S. financial firms to fill the void. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced legislation last week that would allow regulators to preemptively break up some firms, even before any signs of instability, Reuters reported. LINK

Heath Care "The real solution to the problem of how to reform health care in this country is a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system," Sen. Sanders said in his weekly Web video on The Huffington Post and elsewhere. Efforts led by Sanders...could improve the final health care bill." The Nation magazine editorialized. "Enough of Lieberman, enough of Ben Nelson, enough of Conrad and mini Max Baucus. Let`s go with people like Tom Harkin, Chris Dodd and our friend Bernie Sanders," radio talk show host Jeff Santos said on MSNBC. LINK, LINK and VIDEO

Veterans Area veterans were treated to a special recognition dinner at the Derby Elks Club Wednesday evening, Veterans Day. The message of the day was thanks to the millions of men and women who put their lives on the line to defend the United States, said Sen. Bernie Sanders. A member of the Senate Veterans Committee, Sanders said the process for getting a veterans' health clinic in the Newport area continues, and it could open within the next year, The Newport Daily Express reported. LINK

Climate Change "If we get our act together as a nation and start addressing the major environmental problems of our time, global warming and our continued dependence on fossil fuels, we can create millions of good-paying jobs. In other words, good environmental policy is good economic policy," wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders in an op-ed which ran in the Valley News, Arlington's Vermont Journal, and the Manchester Journal. LINK, LINK

Mideast Members of Congress sent AIPAC-promoted letters urging Arab states to recognize Israel's "legitimacy." The Senate letter was circulated by Sens. Bayh and Risch. It was signed by 71 senators, but only six of the 13 Jewish senators. Those not signing were Feingold, Feinstein, Franken, Kohl, Lautenberg, Levin and Sanders, according to Media Monitors. LINK

Space

Water on the Moon It turns out there's lots of water on the moon - at least near the lunar South Pole. The discovery announced Friday comes from an analysis of data from a spacecraft NASA intentionally crashed into the moon last month, Reuters reported. LINK

International

Obama in Asia The United States is not threatened by a rising China, President Obama said Saturday, but will seek to strengthen its ties with Beijing even as it maintains close ties with traditional allies like Japa, The New York Times reported. resident Barack Obama is emphasizing cooperation on his first major trip to Asia, opening with a warning to North Korea that there will be tough, unified action by the U.S. and its Asian partners if the Koreans fail to abandon their nuclear weapons programs, AP reported. LINK and LINK

National

9/11 Suspect to be Tried in NY The accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks and four co-conspirators will be sent to New York for trial in a court near the site of the World Trade Center, the Obama administration said Friday, as it took a step toward closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, Reuters reported. LINK

Jefferson Gets 13 Years in Prison Former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison following his conviction in a corruption case that featured a freezer full of suspected bribe money stuffed into boxes of veggie burgers, The Wall Street Journal reported. LINK

Vermont

Leahy on Lieberman Sen. Patrick Leahy, one of 13 Democrats who voted last fall to strip Joe Lieberman's gavel of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, answered sharply when asked if Lieberman should be kicked out of the Democratic Caucus if he filibusters the health care bill. "Let's see what happens. I don't think anybody should be filibustering - nobody should be filibustering health care. Either vote it up or vote it down," he told Politico. LINK

Burlington Telecom Debts of about $33.5 million to CitiCapital and $17 million to the city will be restructured in a new $60.6 million arrangement with Piper Jaffray, a Minneapolis underwriting company. The financing, described Friday in a City Hall news conference and later at a special Board of Finance meeting, would be structured as Certificates of Participation, sold to private investors, The Burlington Free Press reported. LINK