Downtown Monday Etc.

All scanned. The first one, the PET Scan, took 35 minutes in the tube-thingy. That's after 45 minutes just laying still in a recliner in the back of the truck trailer that lugs it around New England. I dozed off a couple times. It sure does have a Star Trek feel to it all.

Then an hour break to drink a couple bottles of some banana-tasting creamy stuff that's radioactive.

Cool.

Then into the CT scan, but this time it was less than 15 minutes. Had time to go home for a bite to eat and then a run downtown for a little coffee and printed matter (i.e. newspapers).

Very quiet.

So quiet that Burlington Officers Matt White ([left) and Lee Thayer actually had a chance to stop and chat with each other in the heart of the smallest largest city known to any state in the United States!

Officer White hails from Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Officer Thayer is from Milton, Vermont.

Honest.

Lee's a 1999 graduate of Milton High School. The boys, er, men,  went through the Vermont Police Academy together and have been wearing Burlington Blue for three years.

They're the most important people on Earth when you really need 'em.

And am I "dating" myself when I say they look kinda young?

Also on the street, playing to a very sparse audience, was this gentleman. I'd know his name, but as soon as I pointed the camera in his direction he started improvising a song hitting on me for money for taking his picture.

Public street, pal.

For now I'll just think of him as "Your Excellency!"

Gov. Jim Douglas has changed his schedule, moving his "regular weekly press conference" from Thursday to Tuesday. That means I have a little Tuesday schedule reordering in store.

Wouldn't miss Gov. Scissorhands' performance for the world!

Anybody out there got a good question for our chief executive?

Not a speech - a question?

George "WMD" Bush: drummer

As You Like It, Act V, Sc. I

The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.  [check *Update* below)

"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war
in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword.

It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind...
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood
boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no

need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the
citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all
of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.

How do I know?
For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar."

- William Shakespeare

If the shoe fits, eh?

***UPDATE***

The distinguished chap who sent me the above "alleged" Shakespeare line, now informs me it's not from the pen of Will Shakespeare. Says it's been floating around the Internet for a few years....

I don't have time to dig into it further right now....doctors appointments. (Anybody have time to find the source?)

It's still a good line, eh?

Yours truly's off to the Fanny Allen...."Double Scan Land" for today. The "miracles" of modern medicine.

[photo shot last fall at Oakledge Park. The birds came back. We made it through!]  

Political Theater

 "Four years ago this spring the Bush administration took leave of reality and plunged our country into a war so poorly planned it soon turned into a disaster."

The words of Bill Moyers in his "Buying the War" eye-opener. Like a man who gets right to the point.

"The story of how high officials misled the country has been told. But they couldn't have done it on their own; they needed a compliant press, to pass on their propaganda as news and cheer them on. Since then thousands of people have died, and many are dying to this day. Yet the story of how the media bought what the White House was selling has not been told in depth on television."

Better late than never, eh?

If you haven't seen it, it's available online here at PBS.

And closer to home in the Beautiful Dark & Damp Burlap area, yours truly's second Statehouse cafeteria food-fight of this season, aka "Point-Counterpoint,"  will air on CH. 17 - at 11:40  A.M. & 5:40 P.M. We, me and the CCTV crew, taped it under the dome on Wednesday when the place was jumping!

It's the only time I'm aware of that Burlington Rep. Kurt Wright, a Republican, has refused to appear on a television program. In this case, he would have been opposite fellow Burlington pol, Rep. David Zuckerman, a Progressive. The issue on the table was the Impeach Bush & Cheney Resolution that had passed the Senate. and was headed for the House Floor that afternoon.

Perfectly understandable, eh?  Who in their right mind would want to have to go before the TV cameras and defend George "WMD" Bush?

With no Kwik Stop Kurt, just an empty seat, I had to play his part opposite The Pony Tail. After knowing Kurt for going on three decades, I think I have his mannerisms and political gyrations down pretty good.

Just kidding.  I didn't play his part. Well, not too much of the time, anyway.

But according to reliable sources, GOP Rep. Wright had heard such - that I played him - and called CH. 17 demanding he be allowed to view the program before it airs!!!

Big Brother?

Those sources say they were eventually able to calm down Ol' Kurt. Poor guy's extra sensitive  imagewise these days. Heck, in addition to state rep, he recently ascended to the presidency of the Burlington City Council.

Presidents have much larger....heads, eh?

Speaking of presidents, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin is also a guest, as is Associated Press writer Ross Sneyd.

No beating around the bush....

Lessons Learned?

That was one of the questions yours truly put to Vermont House Speaker Gaye Symington [right] at her Friday bag-less "Brown-Bagger" with the Statehouse press.

Any lessons learned this week, Madame Speaker?

SYMINGTON: It confirmed for me that Vermonters pay attention to what’s going on in the world around them, and understand well, that policies that initiate at the federal level affect the choices we have on our plate in Vermont, even to the level of addressing property tax pressures and the kinds of budget pressures the Iraq War puts on us...

I don’t think there’s a difference of opinion in terms of our underlying anger, outrage at where our country’s been led under the leadership of President Bush.

As everyone knows, Speaker Symington had let it be known in no uncertain terms as recently as April 20, that the Vermont House was focusing on more important matters and would not have a floor debate on the Bush-Cheney Impeachment Resolution. Besides she opposed it.

PRESS: Now your reaction. It was the right thing to do?

SYMINGTON: Yes, I think it was the right thing to do. I was impressed by the process. I know people are disappointed in the outcome of the vote, but I think they felt heard....

I’ve written a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, indicating that while members differed as to whether now was the appropriate time to initiate impeachment, we are unified in our abhorrence of this Bush Administration and support for the work the current leadership is doing to hold them accountable.

Dear Speaker Pelosi

In the past week, the Vermont Legislature debated resolutions that urge Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush and Vice President Cheney.  The Senate passed such a resolution and the House rejected one. Despite reaching different conclusions about whether calling for impeachment is appropriate now, the Vermont Legislature is united in its outrage at the conduct of this Administration and its support of the work that the United States House of Representative, under your leadership, is currently undertaking to investigate the Administration’s activities.

Although I opposed the impeachment resolution, I am writing to express the deeply held feelings that many Vermonters share regarding the Bush-Cheney Administration. Over the course of this legislative session, the Vermont House has heard from hundreds of Vermonters who believe the actions of the Administration have been deceitful, immoral, and potentially criminal. This week, over 300 Vermonters gathered in the Statehouse to express their support  of impeaching the president and vice president. While I disagreed with their support of impeachment, I was moved by their passion for holding the Administration accountable.

As the Speaker of the Vermont House, I would like to convey the sentiments of these and thousands of other Vermonters who agree - regardless of their position on the impeachment issue - that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have done potentially irreparable damage to  our nation’s reputation, our standing in the international community, our civil liberties, and our core belief in the principles of representative democracy.

I would also like to convey my appreciation to you for the dozens of investigations into the conduct of this Administration that are currently underway in the U.S. House. Thanks to your  work, we are getting answers to questions the previous Congressional leadership refused to raise. We are learning about the Administration’s mismanagement of the Walter Reed Medical Center, about fabricated pre-war intelligence, and about a range of other issues that demand action and accountability. Please continue your work to investigate the Administration’s actions and hold them accountable.

Thank you again for your leadership.

Sincerely.

Gaye Symington
Speaker, Vermont House of Representatives

Nice letter, Madame Speaker.

Caught these folks on Burlington's Marketplace around the noon hour:

Entergy's Best Spokesman!

Entergy, the huge New Orleans power corporation that owns our state's only nuke plant, could not have a better spokesman in Vermont than the one who strode before the TV cameras and radio microphones at the Statehouse Thursday.

The articulate and loquacious smoothie ridiculed the Democrats’ latest proposal to pay for Vermont’s fight to slow Global Warming by taxing either Entergy’s windfall profits or the growing amount of deadly nuclear waste stored on its Vernon, Vermont site. Those buckeroos - about $35 million over the last five years of VT Yankee's operating license - would bankroll a new state-run energy efficiency utility dedicated to reducing Vermonters energy use by boosting renewables and dramatically increasing energy efficiency.

Entergy did not have to hire its new Vermont spokesman. He’s already getting a paycheck - from the State of Vermont. His name is James Douglas. He lives in MIddlebury, and he’s our governor!

Here’s an excerpt of Gov. Smoothie’s remarks on the matter from his weekly presser under the golden dome:

DOUGLAS: It’s another example of Democrats in the legislature proposing a new tax. It seems every few weeks they come up with a new tax idea, whether it’s the transfer of homes, gasoline or home-heating fuel or large vehicles, mini-vans, now it’s the Yankee Power Plant. They come up with more ideas to tax Vermonters and entities in our state that I think is quite disconcerting, because as you know, we’re the most heavily taxed state in America according to both the Census Bureau and the Tax Foundation.

This would fund some new bureaucracy to help Vermonters conserve, and I certainly want Vermonters to conserve...but I think there’s a lot more work to be done before embracing some new tax and new bureaucracy.

Press: As you know, Sen. Peter Shumlin [right] at his Monday press conference accused you, and if he were here now would probably say that in the last five minutes you’ve done an excellent job, as you always do, of "talking the talk,” but you have not "walked the walk."

Things are getting very serious on global warming. He says we only have 10 years. We have to take serious steps, serious action. Just filing lawsuits here and there isn’t enough anymore.

You still haven’t told us how you would fund the program.

You never give a suggestion on the funding side?

DOUGLAS: Well, because, Peter,  We don’t have a system where each program of state government is funded by a discreet source. We have a budget, a large multibillion dollar appropriation every year from several sources that funds all the many programs of state government. So it’s not a matter of finding a new source of money for each new program, it’s a matter of establishing some priorities, making decisions and fitting it in to our resources.

PRESS: I wonder if I can characterize your position on this and you tell me if I have it right or wrong. You have lukewarm support for the bill, but you would not support ANY taxing source for it?

DOUGLAS: Well, I certainly don’t see the need for any taxing source.  And let me cycle back, at the risk of sounding too defensive, and offer more of an answer to Peter’s question.

I don’t accept the  notion that I’m not “walking the walk.”

I saw a bunch of folks from special-interest groups holding a press conference out in front of the Federal Building (in Burlington) a week or two ago in connection with the lawsuit there (U.S. automakers are suing Vermont for adopting tougher tailpipe emission standards).

That was my administration that adopted the tough California auto-emission standards. That wasn’t the legislature. That wasn’t some special interest group. That was my administration that adopted those tough standards that are being challenged.

The defendant in the lawsuit is George Crombie, the secretary of Natural Resources. That was my decision. My walk!

That and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative the other lawsuits that I’ve initiated, the savings we’re achieving in state government. The Climate Change Commission that has objectives for reducing emissions that are very similar to some of the ones that I’ve heard being discussed by private organizations, was my initiative and I feel very good about the steps I’ve taken.

There are a lot of companies who’ve done well and we’re pleased that they do. It just seems to me we don’t need to keep thinking about new ways to tax Vermonters and Vermont companies when we’re trying to improve the prospects for our economic future to attract more investment and capital here. These Democratic lawmakers just keep thinking of more taxes and that’s not what we need when we’re #1 in America.

Next year we'll spend about $4.7 billion in Vermont. I think we can find some resources within that very large amount of money without some new tax if this is a priority.

He's good isn't he?

Entergy's damn lucky to have him.

Nobody around here "talks the talk" any better than Jim Douglas.

That may, in part, explain why King James, a Republican serving his third term as governor, remains an almost prohibitive favorite to win a fourth term in 2008.

Vermont Democrats want to "walk the walk." Good for them!

But they'll need to improve their "talking" skills before they'll ever achieve that goal.

A Beautiful Day for Democracy

When I got to the Statehouse Wednesday morning, the cafeteria was already packed with 200-plus people with name tags around their necks who'd come from all over the state to personally put their bodies on the line for two things:
1. Democracy
2. The impeachment of  President George "WMD" Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

A House Democratic rep who was following the issue closely and keeping a vote count had an ashen look in his face. On Monday, the word was impeachment supporters only had about 25 votes in the 150-seat House. On Tuesday the estimate rose slightly to 30.

But at 10:30 Wednesday morning, our Democrat vote-counter told us he would have predicted impeachment would get no more that 40 votes max....that is until he saw the size of the intelligent, well-behaved grassroots crowd that had showed up. And people were still pouring into the building.

All bets were off.

Who are these people?

Folks like Bill Cobleigh, 60, of Wallingford.
"I’m here because I’m angry. I represent thousands of others who couldn’t be here today because they have other obligations," he said.

"I have two children in the United States Military (one Coast Guard one an Army nurse), Bill told us. "I support our troops because they’re my children, but I’m angry."

And Cobleigh confided to us it was the first protest he'd ever participated in in his life!

Also among the crowd that grew to 400 plus was 87-year old Bonney Simons of St. Johnsbury.

Why was she there?

"Because they are ignoring the Constitution and in order to get this war stopped we have to get them out of office."

And what was retired school teacher Jim Waters of Milton doing at the Statehouse?

"I’m here because this administration has set about systematically dismantling and destroying the Constitution of the United States.

"Secondly I’m hear because this administration has perpetrated a fraud on the American people and it has used that fraud to send more than 3000 American young people to their death, to say nothing of more than 500,000 innocent Iraqi civilians."

In my 20-plus years of covering the goings-on under the golden dome in Montpeculiar, I have never witnessed the powers that be - the political leaders who run both House and Senate - completely reverse their dug-in public positions in the face of a grassroots outpouring of political opinion,  passion and and determination.

Let me tell ya, it's been beautiful to watch.

Ten days ago, Senate Boss Peter Shumlin, Ol' Pistol Pete from Putney, told his hometown Brattleboro Reformer:

...impeachment proponents should feel free to travel to Montpelier, but his mind is made up. "I welcome them on Tuesday. I welcome them any day. But we're not doing impeachment this year," he said.

As everyone knows, Shumlin pulled a 180-degree switcheroo last week. Shummy took advantage of Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie's absence to slip the "Impeach Bush & Cheney Resolution"  onto the "orders of the day" and it was adopted within 10 minutes on a roll-call vote 16-9.

Four hours later at her Friday "Brown-Bagger" with the press, Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington was still insisting the House would not take it up - more important things to do.

"What I would like to do," said Simple Symington, "is be able to focus on what matters most to Vermonters, and the work that I was elected to do as Speaker of the House."

Whatever you say, Madame Speaker, you're the boss!

Speaker Gaye had her "impeachment conversion," or rather, "democracy conversion" sometime Monday. "Political" minds finally impressed upon the Tuxedo Park, New York native, and consensus-building policy-wonk, the importance in a democracy of actually listening to actual people, ordinary people, people incensed by the high crimes of the most corrupt regime to ever control our government.

On Tuesday the word officially got out that Speaker Symington would allow the resolution to be debated on the House floor Wednesday afternoon and brought to a vote.

Of course, Symington also knew that the common folk from every corner of Vermont were planning to rally at the Statehouse Wednesday to do just that - urge her to allow the House to debate it.

Even though they knew the prospects of winning a House vote were slim - since Symington, herself, strongly opposed it and would bring many Democrats with her - the ordinary folks had the strange notion that having the House address it was, in and of itself, a significant victory for democracy.

And they were right.

The Impeachment Resolution Progressive Rep. David Zuckerman [left] introduced with two dozen co-sponsors was defeated 87-60. But it's worth noting that Democratic Speaker Symington lost the Democratic vote 52-39. The Dems who voted "no" were for the most part Symington recruits which means they're middle-of-the-road to conservative Democrats.

More significant is the fact that the House Speaker lost her own House leadership team!

Both House Democratic Majority Leader Carolyn Partridge, and House Democratic Whip Floyd Nease voted "yes."

So did 11 of the 14 committee chairs Symington appointed, including former House Speaker Michael Obuchowski (Ways & Means). Only three House committee chairs, one of whom is Republican,  voted "no."

Dare we suggest that a House Speaker who can only hold three of the 14 committee chairmen she appointed, is a House Speaker who ought to be thinking of a career change?

*****************************************

Did you catch Bill Moyers' chilling return to PBS last night with a 90-minute documentary pointing out in specific detail how the major mainstream press - The New York Times and Washington Post along with CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN and Fox - collaborated with the Bush Administration in spreading, unchallenged, the lies used to lead us to war in Iraq?

"Buying the War" is a must see. This horror could not have happened without the help of the corporate-controlled major media.

Shocking and shameful!

Even The New York Times and Washington Post.

Finally, the truth is coming out, mes amis. And the truth will set us free.

Democracy Rears Its Head, Eh?

In the dictionary definition, democracy is "government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." 

In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

What we are about to witness today in Montpelier, Vermont, the smallest state capital in the United States, is a biggest demonstration of democracy in action that I have witnessed since the injustice of racial segregation and discrimination was broken down by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. 

Here in Vermont, the "people" exercised their "supreme power" at 37 Town Meetings last month. The good common people of Vermont adopted resolutions calling for the impeachment of a person we all know to be the most corrupt, dishonest and dangerous president in American history.

George W. Bush has had, and will continue to have, a devastating impact on life in America and on life in Vermont. Make no mistake about that. Forget the hundreds of billions of dollars Vermonters and all Americans will be shelling out for years to come. We have paid for President Bush's  War in Iraq with Vermont lives and Vermont blood and it is a war we now ALL know never should have happened.

There were absolutely NO WMDs in Iraq, as President George W. Bush repeatedly told us.

Saddam Hussein had absolutely NO ties to al Qaeda and absolutely NO ties to 9/11, a President Bush repeatedly told us and continues to tell us!

Iraq was in no way, shape or form a threat to the people of the United States of America.

George W. Bush lied to every single one of us and the price of his lies has been staggering. His senseless Iraq War continues with NO end in sight.

People with no prior political activism have become active. The grassroots have never been greener.

Last week the Democratic leader of the Vermont Senate finally realized that most Vermonters are sickened by it all. Despited repeatedly saying the Senate had no time to do an Impeachment Resolution, Sen. Peter Shumlin experienced something akin to a religious conversion. Suddenly, Shummy saw the light! And on Friday the Senate quickly took up and passed the resolution.

Today the spotlight shifts to the Vermont House, the "People's House," right?

There, as everyone knows, Democratic Speaker Gaye Symington is going to do something she has sworn up and down for months she would NEVER do:  Madame Speaker is going to let the Bush-Cheney Impeachment Resolution she's wished would just go away, come up for floor debate and a vote.

Symington has repeatedly argued her House had "more important" matters to tackle, at which point she'd rattle off the usual list we hear every year: property tax reform, health care reform, education reform, environmental protection...they've done a great job, haven't they?

God forbid the People's House would devote an hour to an issue that is actually more important to a whole lot of Vermonters right now - the TRUTH.

Speaker Gaye opposes the resolution and will vote against it, she told fellow Dems at the party caucus Tuesday.

About 25 Democrats will have to join her and the 50 Republicans to vote "no" in order to defeat it.

Karl Rove's probably working the phones, eh?

Deadline Tuesday

Crunch day for "Inside Track." And would you believe I was up at 6 A.M. pounding out my May "Under the Dome" column for Vermont Business Magazine?

I love writing. When I was a 20something cabbie in Chicago during the 1970s I always had a notebook with me, a copy of Letters to Theo, a Henry Miller novel. Mike Royko on the corner of the Billy Goat bar nursing a brew. Lincoln Avenue was my Left Bank night scene. Blues, jazz and Mamet plays. 

Chicago was this New Yorker's own little Paris of the 1930s. When I wasn't at the BelAir Hotel on Diversey, I was living with the artist/painter sweetheart who eventually led me to Vermont in the late 70s where life really got interesting.

Still live on the shore of a "Great" Lake as the photo of Burlington shows.

I know, I'm procrastinating. Beating around the bush. That's because there's something I have to write about that I've been ducking....

Something for "Inside Track" about my own personal inside track - something about what I've learned about cancer.

OK. OK. Gotta run......

Vermont Impeach-Bush Feedback

On Friday morning, the Vermont Senate passed its President George "WMD" Bush Impeachment Resolution on a 16-9 vote.  The news went national and apparently disturbed an unidentified fellow from Al Gore's home state who left the following message on Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin's (at right) office answering-machine:

"Yes, sir. I live in Tennessee, but when people like y’all up there make national news, be prepared for some response.

"I see where you voted for your non-binding resolution to impeach the president, but listen, dumb ass, you need to name some specific crimes, not just some bullshit that you think he may have done.

"Impeachment is a serious business and you’re just politically posturing. You’re a fucking communist just like the rest of the goddamn Democrats! So how about naming some real crimes or shut the fuck up!"

It's said you can judge a man by his enemies.

Shumlin must have done something right, eh?

Wonder if Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington will continue blocking the Impeachment Resolution from floor debate?

The "gentleman" in Tennessee would certainly appreciate it if she did!

Recycling America Week?

As one who was born and raised in a world that did not have have recycling trucks or seat belts or self-serve gas stations, I've pretty much been able to go with the flow and adapt.

Not everything, though. Still use cassette tapes for my Radio Vermont News reporting. Cassettes have an "antique" feel, which is nice, And they're cheap, efficient and get the job done.

Dashed out a few minutes ago when I heard the recycling truck out front. It's Blue Box Day on the Southside of Burlington, Vermont - each blue box a sign of hope, really, hope that we will, each one of us acting in unison, save the damn planet and stop the environmental degradation that will be the lasting legacy of the Corporate Age and the 20th Century.

Another sign of reason to hope is the big story in today's Times Argus by Editor (and former Howard Dean Press Secretary), Sue Allen. Sweet Sue is not someone who's easily fooled. And when her name is the byline of a news story, pay attention, folks.

In this case, it's a story about the upcoming Wednesday showdown under Montpeculiar's golden dome between the common folk who refuse to be good, quiet 1930s-style Germans, and the lawmaker class of Vermont Democracy. At issue is whether or not our discredited and deceitful President George W. Bush and Veep Dick Cheney deserve Blue-Box treatment for the horror they've dragged America into.

The Impeachment Resolution that passed the Vermont State Senate on Friday morning is expected to hit the House floor Wednesday. House Speaker Gaye Symington of Jericho was in Bennington Sunday evening to speak to local Democrats. And based on what she told Bennington Banner Reporter Neal Goswami, she's still a victim of the chronic tunnel vision that, sadly, is becoming her trademark:

"I'm still coming to terms on whether or not we want to have that debate in the House," said Symington, D-Jericho, before speaking to a gathering of Bennington County Democrats Sunday evening. "I just do not believe it's appropriate, at this point, for the Vermont Legislature to call for the impeachment of the president. I voted against a resolution at my own town meeting."

Symington said the approach taken by Shumlin in the Senate would not happen in the House.

"They brought it up at 8:30 in the morning and there was no notice. I don't think that's a fair way to do it. I think if we were to do it in the House we would do it with a full, open debate," she said.

Symington maintains that debating a resolution in the House would take up a significant amount of time in a legislative session that is scheduled to adjourn the first week of May. She said the Senate, a body of just 30 members, is able to debate issues more quickly than the 150-member House.

Poor Gaye, eh?

Doesn't get it, does she?

Such a "radical" notion -  that the elected-by-the-people Vermont House of the People actually address an issue of great concern to Vermonters, even if it wasn't on House Speaker Symington's "to-do" list for the 2007 session.

Check this out - even retired ABC News foreign-correspondent extraordinaire Barrie Dunsmore of Charlotte addresses the issue in his Sunday Rutland Herald column.

A Gonzales Replacement?

Vermont’s senior U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy and longest serving voice on Capitol Hill (since 1975), was on CBS’ Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer this morning. The main hook for the program was Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead.

How to prevent such from happening again wondered Schieffer?

Former FBI profiler Garry McCrary was nice enough to scold the media for running and rerunning and rerunning and rerunning the madman’s video. [Hey, man, it’s a ratings battle out there. The Almighty Dollar rules!]

Thank you, Garry.

By the way how many people have been killed in the ongoing massacre known as the “U.S. War in Iraq?”

Hundreds of thousands?

How many Americans?

According to CNN - 3316. They died to protect us from Iraq WMD's that simply did not exist!

Anyone looking into how that happened, and how it can be prevented from happening again?

In Blacksburg, Virginia, the gunman took his own life. Has anyone been held accountable for the continuing bloodbath in Iraq? Anyone?

At least Face the Nation had Leahy on so they could devote about three minutes to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ all-day appearance before Sen. Leahy’s Judiciary Committee on Thursday.  After all, Gonzales is the chief law enforcement officer in the United States.

I know, hard to believe the "land of the free" and "home of the brave" has sunk this low, eh?   

BOB SCHIEFFER: A lot of people now calling for his resignation. Are you ready to call for his resignation?

SEN. PATRICK J. LEAHY: You know, it’s an interesting thing. A lot of those calls are coming from Republicans. I think the Republicans were as critical as the Democrats during these hearings. The question I have if he left, he’s lost the confidence of many, the Democrats and Republicans in the Congress and many people throughout America, and the hearing did not help at all. It was sad in a way.

SCHIEFFER: But do you think he ought to stay? Can he be effective now?

LEAHY: I don’t think he can be effective, but who would he be replaced with? Is it going to be another person who is going to be really run by the White House? And if the White House is continued to be allowed to interfere with the criminal justice system throughout this country, something that affects everybody right down to the officer on the beat, then it does no good.

Never in the history, never in the history of the Department of Justice has there been a case where there’s be so much interference from the White House in our criminal justice system. That is what’s wrong.

SCHIEFFER: Thank you, Senator. Thank you.

Impeachment Sunshine

Scads of folks on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace today, but by our count, only about 60-70 were there specifically to attend the noon Impeachment Rally on the City Hall steps.

Afterward I interviewed two of the rally organizers Nanny Liza Earle of Richmond [pictured below, standing], and Attorney Jimmy Leas of South Burlington [seated on bench behind her].

LIZA EARLE: We've been busy focused on Montpelier and haven’t done much to spread word about the rally. It’s one of the first gorgeous days we’ve had so people are out. They want to do something active. I think it’s great for everything else that’s going on on this beautiful Saturday.

JIM LEAS : We only really started trying to get publicity out after Tuesday. cause we were so focused on Tuesday.  We did have a flier, but we never went out to do plastering the town.

FREYNE: Prospects for moving in the House?

LEAS: Well, I think it depends on how many people we can get there on Wednesday. If we can duplicate what we did last Tuesday or even do more, then I think they’ll pay attention to us.
We had a wonderful, respectful, passionate and articulate group of people.

FREYNE: Don’t you think House Speaker Symington has made it perfectly clear to you where she stands?

LEAS: She’s made it perfectly clear, but, you know, we do have a democracy and we do expect the legislators to listen to the voice of the people.

...The Senate has spoken. We’ve gotten a lot of momentum from the Town Meetings, from the mobilization of the grassroots, I would think that Gaye and members of the leadership of the House should really think through why they would want to suppress this. Why they wouldn’t want to encourage it?

EARLE:  Sen. Peter Shumlin said that what's great about Vermont is that the legislators listen to the citizens and I would say that’s our hope this week - that we make the message so loud and so clear that Gaye Symington changes her mind that “This is not something Vermonters want us to take up.”

I then learned something new - that Liza Earle, until recently, held the Symington view on the Impeachment Resolution, herself!

EARLE:  The Town Meeting is the most pure form of democracy and where the people have a direct voice. The Richmond Town Moderator did not want me to bring up the Impeachment Resolution, but I went ahead and I brought it up, and Richmond voted 2-1 for it - even though when I went into it, I didn’t know if the votes were there. And some people in the [Vermont] House are saying they don’t know if the votes are there, so why should we take it up?

And there were many people here today saying two months ago they were not supporting this. I had Gaye Symington’s attitude two months ago, Peter, and I heard a debate and it totally changed my mind. And that’s what democracy is and we’re just saying give it a chance to be debated.

What was missing today?

Not a single elected official, or the representative of an elected politician - not one - not even a city councilor  - attended the Impeach Bush-Cheney Rally.

Germany circa 1936, 1937?

******************************
Here's a taste from Speaker Gaye Symington's Friday Noon, Bagless Brown-Bagger with the press. Full turnout press-wise this week.


PRESS: You know what the Senate did this morning. Does it change any of the pressure on you to  do a resolution in the House?

SYMINGTON: I don’t feel that it really changes the pressure in the House. I think that the Senate has passed a Senate Resolution. I think the Senate is a different body from the House. ...I think the outcome in the House were it to come to a vote would be quite different. That is worth contemplating as you think whether to bring it up in the House.

But I do not think that it is appropriate for the Vermont House to take up and debate a resolution calling for the impeachment of our president and vice president.

I continue to feel that, while I deplore the actions and priorities of our current federal administration, I feel that the focus needs to remain where it is on the kinds of hearings we’ve been seeing [in Washington]...I would not want us to have our attention diverted into a discussion about impeachment.

I feel the focus of the Vermont House needs to be on legislation that directly impacts the quality of our lives today and the quality of our communities and jobs available to future generations and that’s by continuing to stay focused on issues like affordable health care for all Vermonters, property taxes, a solid energy future and the other hard work that we’ve been doing.

PRESS Then why do you think the Senate did what it did then? ‘Cause weren’t you on the same page with Shumlin on Tuesday?

SYMINGTON: You should ask that question to Sen. Shumlin.

PRESS: I will. But I wondered, you’re the Speaker of the House. The Senate just did a remarkable thing today. It’s national news. Why do you think the Vermont Senate did that?

SYMINGTON: Because the Vermont Senate is horrified by the priorities of our current federal administration and chose to express that.

PRESS: And you still maintain, though they took less than 10 minutes, that it would be a diversion if the House took it up?

SYMINGTON: The Senate took half-an-hour for debate on the Iraq War Resolution. The House took all afternoon. The Senate, it was a fairly quick process. The House had a very partisan debate. It was respectful, but it was very, very difficult.  And we moved on from there to get back to solid work around energy and health care and all the other priorities we’re working on, but it was tough.  And I assured the House at the time that I felt it was important to take up and debate the Iraq War, but that I. in general. think those kind of debates don’t contribute to the overall work that we need to be doing in the Vermont House.

The Senate is a very different body from the House and I respect what the Senate has done, but I don’t think it creates a necessity for the House to follow suit.

A reporter than asked the top Democrat in the Vermont House if she imagined the Republicans driving a wedge between the Democrats, playing up the angle the Vermont Senate may have rammed through an impeachment resolution but the Democratic Speaker won't touch it and considers it "a waste of time?"

SYMINGTON: My focus is not on what the Republican Party is doing. My focus is what Vermonters are looking for and asking for from their state legislature and that’s where I’m focused.

PRESS: And those people in the Cedar Creek Room on Tuesday, you don’t consider them Vermonters?

SYMINGTON: I do consider them Vermonters. That’s why I stayed. That’s why I listened. I don’t think those are the only Vermonters who want to weigh in on the issue.

Press: Do you think in your opinion, that most Vermonters would support impeachment right now, today.

SYMINGTON: I don’t know the answer to that question. I don’t think the majority of Vermonters want their state legislature to be taking up and debating the question of whether to call for the impeachment of the president and the vice president.

PRESS: Because?

SYMINGTON: Because I think Vermonters want their citizen legislature to focus on the issues that most directly affect their lives.

What a Day!

Yes, it really happened. Today, the Vermont Senate passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The story made the "A" wire. In fact, sources say, Democrat Senate president pro tem Peter Shumlin, a co-sponsor, got calls from far and wide including a call from the International Herald Tribune!

With this morning's action, an 180-degree turnaround by Shummy, the Vermont Senate became the first legislative body in the United States of America to have the guts to call for the impeachment of the most corrupt, greedy and dishonest administration in U.S. history. Big Oil and Big Pharma could not have purchased better White House representation!

Unfortunately, Bush and Cheney represent us, too.

So guess what Channel 3, "Vermont's Own," led their Six O'Clock News with tonight?

Would you believe the weather? The nice weather?

I'm not kidding.

Alex Martin, WCAX-TV heir apparent, was "live" on the Burlington waterfront to tell us what we already knew: it was a sunny day with spring-like temps.

Stop the presses!

Also a bit of a surprise to see "Vermont This Week" on Vermont Public Television lead off tonight with the Nor'easter wind/ rain storm that downed trees and knocked out power in Rutland on Monday as their top story of the week. Brent Curtis of the Rutland Herald was on via phone to say anyone not already reconnected to the power grid, will be by the end of the day on Friday.

Stop the presses!

And Democrat House Speaker Gaye Symington had her noontime "Brown-Bagger" Friday. Full press turnout. She still won't touch an impeachment resolution with a 10-foot pole. More important things to do.

Obviously she does not realize what Peter Shumlin came to realize this week - the fact that outside the building, support for impeaching the Bush-Cheney Crime Family is strong, wide and deep among the common folk.

And the pro-impeachment grassroots passed the state senate resolution with 16 members in favor and nine opposed. Impeachment supporters are planning a Saturday rally in Burlington's City Hall Park at high noon.

See you there?

Friday Surprises

7:00 A.M.

Good morning.

A second bright dawn in a row in Beautiful Burlap.

And word from pro-impeachment sources that a new Bush Impeachment Resolution, not J.R.H. 15, the one that's stalled in both chambers, but a new one, will surface in the Vermont State Senate this morning.

With Republican Lite-Gov Brian Dubie out-of-state, Democrat Peter Shumlin will be the presiding officer.

That means the new impeachment resolution will be voted on by the full body (Democrats hold 23 of 30 seats) and not shipped off to the Judiciary Committee.

Interesting, eh?

"Vermont Senate Calls for Bush Impeachment" goes on the "A" wire.

Then the spotlight falls on the Vermont House....where today is anti-impeachment resolution Speaker Gaye Symington's birthday. Happy birthday, Madame Speaker!

Nice present, eh?

*************************************
***9 A.M. UPDATE***

At 8:41 A.M. the Vermont State Senate, in its first order of business, passed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. (Thank you, VPR, for the live, online coverage.)

Senate Resolution 16, sponsored by Windham County Democratic Senators Peter Shumlin (who was presiding officer with Lt. Gov. Dubie away), and Jeanette White, was adopted on a 16-9 roll call vote.

Liza Earle, the Richmond, Vermont nanny/activist who was one of the organizers of the grassroots Vermont impeachment effort, was ecstatic.

"It's really an incredible day for democracy!" she told "Freyne Land" minutes ago.

Tuesday's turnout of 130-plus impeachment supporters at the Statehouse obviously had an impact, eh?

"I think Tuesday was a really powerful day in the House of Democracy," said Ms. Earle. "We got a lot of smiles from legislators," she said, even though the leadership of Sen. Shumlin and House Speaker Gaye Symington told them impeachment was "dead."

""It's amazing," said Earle, "how the leaders will follow when the people lead."

Amen!

Here's the text of S.R. 16:

Vermont’s state senators do support a resolution requiring the United States House Judiciary Committee to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president and the vice president of the United States.

WHEREAS, President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have exercised the duties of their respective offices with respect to both domestic and foreign affairs in ways that raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality and abuse of the public trust;

WHEREAS, the president’s conduct in his role as commander-in-chief  leading our nation into the military conflict in Iraq and the vice president’s continual advocacy for American troops remaining in Iraq have cost the United States much of the good will that was extended in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States;

WHEREAS, the president and the vice president’s domestic leadership on issues relating to individual privacy and personal liberty under law has raised constitutional issues of the greatest concern to the nation’s citizenry;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE, that the Senate of the State of Vermont urges Vermont’s representatives in the United States House of Representatives to introduce, and Vermont’s United States senators to support, a resolution requiring the United States House Judiciary Committee to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President and the Vice President of the United States, and be it further resolved that the secretary of the Senate be directed to send a copy of this resolution  to United States Represenative Peter Welch, United States Senator Patrick J. Leahy, and United States Senator Bernard Sanders.

Gonzales in Leahy Land

The distinguished senator did not mince his words Thursday afternoon as he looked Attorney General of the United States Alberto Gonzales right in the eye and let him know exactly what he thought of Alberto's handling of the recent unexplained dismissal of eight competent, dedicated U.S. attorneys for political reasons:

“It was handled incompetently. The communication was atrocious. It was inconsistent.

“It’s generous to say that there were ‘misstatements.’ That’s a generous statement. And I believe you ought to suffer the consequences that these others have suffered.

"And I believe the best way to put this behind us is your resignation!”

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. You see, those words were not coming from the lips of Sen. Patrick Leahy, but from those of a conservative Republican senator from Oklahoma - Sen. Tom Coburn M.D. - recently featured here in Freyne Land when he got up on the Senate floor and blocked a couple million bucks for the Jim Jeffords Center up at UVM.

No shit!

Read Sen. Coburn's official statement. And he wasn't the only Republican to suggest Gonzales needed better answers, credible answers or he might need to come up with fresh plans for his immediate future.

Despite weeks to prepare for his appearance before St. Patrick’s committee, George "WMD" Bush’s longtime Texas political crony continued to suffer from very wide and very deep gaps in his memory.

“I don’t recall” was the U.S. Attorney General's favorite line, uttered dozens and dozens of times, making him sound like what we used to call a "broken record."

It was unbelievable, literally.

"I must admit that this is a day that does not make me happy at all,” said Leahy as he soberly wrapped things up late this afternoon. “I cannot think of any time I’ve been more concerned,” said the Vermont chairman, “more concerned for the system of criminal justice in this country. With that we stand adjourned.”

Sunshine and...

Another day on Planet Earth.

Took this shot around the corner in my Burlington, Vermont neighborhood shortly after 7 A.M. - it's been so long since a sunrise beat the cloud cover! And word is there's a lot more to come. Notice the photographer's shadow?

Peter the Groundhog.

The plan is to catch St. Patrick, excuse me, Sen. Patrick Leahy, kickoff his Judiciary Committee probe of the firings of 8 U.S. Attorney's with star witness Alberto "I don't remember" Gonzales front and center. C-SPAN will carry it. I wonder if the "news" networks will?

(***Check NOON UPDATE below***)

What else?

Oh, yes. At his Wednesday presser, Gov. Jim Douglas was asked about Vermont "security," questions that were obviously prompted by the bloody massacre at Virginia Tech on Monday. The TV angle, eh?

Getting ready for the Virginia Tech Copycat Killer? Could it happen here?

Well, it could happen anywhere and it does regularly.

More than 200 innocent people were blown to bits in Iraq yesterday by suicide bombers, which appears the fastest growing occupation in that part of the world.

You remember Iraq?

The country OUR country invaded because President George "WMD" Bush's lies, like those of Adolph Hitler in 1930s Germany, were swallowed by the majority of the citizenry and the majority of the nation's "lawmakers."

Like Ol' Adolph, Ol' George was elected. Democracy at work!

And Adolph, like George, was only protecting his country from dangerous threats. At least, that's what he said he was doing.

The question of whether or not ignoring the gross impeachable offenses of George W. Bush and V.P. Dick Cheney does or does-not qualify one for contemporary "good German" status is a fair question and worthy of discussion and debate.

Back to Montpeculiar: The Guv was asked if there were any rules or laws preventing a person from bringing a loaded handgun into the Vermont Statehouse. (That's his Administration Secretary Mike Smith with a portrait of the legendary Matthew Lyon.)

Gentleman Jim, a regular in the building since his legislative days back in the 1970s, simply did not know. In fact, no one on his distinguished personal staff who was in attendance did either.  That probably shows what a non-issue it is in Vermont where "gun control" laws only apply to hunting season.

I followed up and just got this from the Dave Janawicz, the Capitol Police Chief:

       Rule 26 of Joint Rules of House & Senate:  Regarding "Public Conduct" says no person shall carry a firearm or explosives, openly or concealed, except for official purposes, while in the State House.

******************************************

***NOON UPDATE***

C-SPAN1 & 2 went back to live floor coverage at 10:A.M., as they normally do. If C-SPAN3 is carrying  the Gonzales Hearing before St. Patrick's committee, I do not know. I don't get it.

And CBS and ABC and NBC have "normal" programming while CNN and MSNBC and FOX - the cable-news giants - are milking the massacre at Virginia Tech for every drop its worth to them.

Fortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee has Attorney General Gonzales available for live viewing on its website.

Thanks.

If I didn't know Alberto's "day job," I'd swear I was watching some Mafia Crime Family Godfather's top lawyer getting grilled in an organized crime investigation.

Big balls.

No memory.

Wonder how history will treat him?

And his boss?

Montpeculiar Ethics

In the wake of the now patched-up controversy involving charges of legislative vote-buying by Douglas Administration Transportation Secretary Neale Lunderville, Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has called for the establishment in law of a state ethics code for the executive and legislative branches, as well as creation of an "ethics council" or "ethics commission" to enforce it.

At his weekly press conference Wednesday, Republican Gov Jim Douglas was asked if he agreed with Symington?

DOUGLAS: “I don’t think we need a new bureaucracy to monitor the performance of our public officials. I think Vermont is a state where we can be proud of  the people that serve in all branches of government, people who for the most part are above reproach, people of integrity and people who follow the constitutional  edict of serving the public and acting in the public interest.

"I believe that codes of ethics are appropriate. The judiciary has the canons of ethics for attorneys and judges.

"Four governors in a row have adopted executive codes of ethics.

"Frankly, the only branch of government that doesn’t have a code of ethics is the Legislature and I think it would be very appropriate for them to adopt one."

Lunderville first served Gov. Scissorhands as his young and successful twenty-something campaign manager in the 2002 race and followed up in that role in 2004. In between campaign seasons, the Boy Wonder has been a key member of the governor’s 5th floor inner circle. Neale was appointed to the transportation secretary position last year despite having absolutely no experience or training in the field. Gov. Douglas was asked if the Boy Wonder's political past and lack of "transportation" experience reinforced the impression he wasn’t the right choice for the position?

DOUGLAS: "On the contrary, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. As soon as he was appointed, Sen. Mazza ( Dick Mazza, a Chittenden/Grande Isle Democrat and chairman of the Transportation Committee), spoke very positively about the choice. I think everybody who sees the work that he’s done knows that he’s just the right person for the job!....I think he’s doing a great job!"

On other matters of "ethics" in politics, Gov. Douglas was asked if he "has confidence in U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales," who is scheduled to testify under oath and in public Thursday before U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy’s Judiciary Committee.

Douglas refused to give a "yes" or "no" answer, instead telling reporters we "should let the process go forward,"  and we should "wait and see what Gonzales has to say before the committee."

And speaking of ethics in government and media...

Here's a picture I shot around 11:20 A.M. on State Street in Montpelier across from the Pavilion Building.

Won't see this on the Six O'Clock News, eh?

I dare say it's solid evidence WCAX-TV News doesn't get any special breaks from les gendarmes of the parking space in Vermont's state capital.

When it comes to parking, everybody pays.

Vermont Impeachment Has Legs!

Faces, too!

I was here all day at the ranch in Burlington, writing "Inside Track" for Wednesday's print [and online] edition of Seven Days. That meant I could not make it to Montpeculiar and catch the Statehouse goings on, one of which attracted so many people not even WGOP, er, sorry, WCAX-TV News could ignore it.

Our pals at Channel 3 reported at 6:12 P.M. that about 100 Bush-Cheney impeachment supporters had descended on the Statehouse today to lobby Democratic leaders Peter Shumlin, senate president pro tem, and Gaye "Policy Before Politics" Symington, the Speaker of the House. 

A real threatening and dangerous looking bunch, too, eh? Folks like Peggy Sapphire of Craftsbury and Eliza Earle of Richmond (below right).

Last week, Peter and Gaye quickly blew off three leaders of Vermont's grassroots pro-impeachment movement, saying the legislature they run simply "does not have the time."

Sure.

This week they gave the more than 100 folks from every corner of the state about 40 minutes of their personal attention. Are they finally realizing this impeachment stuff is broad and deep?

Unfortunately,  the sad fact is Shummy the Senator and future something has tried taking almost every possible side of the impeachment issue for months.

He's been passionately for it on several occasions.

He's blamed it's demise on Symington's refusal to take it up in he House.

He's denied blaming it on Symington.

He's blamed it on non-existent rules that require the House to pass it first.

He's blamed impeachment supporters for not bringing it up sooner. 

Heck, he's blamed everyone but the Easter Bunny and Monica Lewinsky!

And in this photo from tonight's Ch. 3 News, it actually looks like Sen. Shumlin's nose is growing, doesn't it? Growing right before our very eyes!

Holy Pinocchio, Batman!

Associated Press Senior Writer Ross Sneyd couldn't ignore today's grassroots turnout either. Mr. Sneyd reported an even larger crowd showed up under the golden dome to press Democrat "leaders" to quit ducking it. AND, he also reported things have changed - Speaker Symington has opened the House Impeachment door she's kept shut tight. Opened it just a tiny, little crack:

Montpelier, Vt. - Democratic legislative leaders faced an angry crowd Tuesday critical of their refusal to let resolutions calling for President Bush's impeachment come to a vote in the House and Senate.

Despite the sometimes heated and emotional pleas from a crowd estimated at 130, House Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin said they had no plans to force a vote on the resolutions.

But Symington did hint at a way out of what has become a growing distraction for the state's top two Democrats among the left wing of their party. She said any member of the House could propose that the resolution be pulled out of the Judiciary Committee and debated.

"There may be a move at some point for the resolution to be taken up on the House floor," Symington said in a joint noontime appearance with Shumlin before the crowd.

Interesting.

An Ethical Dead End?

My sixth sense tells me that "Blunderville, " the great Montpeculiar political controversy of last week - the charges flying from House Speaker Gaye Symington about Transportation Secretary Neale Lunderville trying to "bribe" Rep. Jim Fitzgerald of St. Albans for a "No" vote on the budget-adjustment override - will, dare I say, "peter" out this week.

Freyne the Psychic sees Neale and Ol' Fitzy shaking hands in the Statehouse cafeteria and agreeing it was all just a "misunderstanding"...."no hard feelings"... they have better things to do!

Speaker Symington, as you know, had written Sec. Lunderville, asking him to appear before the House Rules Committee to answer a few questions and clear things up.

In response, Republicans raised questions about Democratic vote-buying and vote-trading and Gov. Jim Douglas noted the legislative branch doesn't even have an ethics code!

No way, either Democrats or Republicans, want to end the legislative session in a nasty name-calling brouhaha that leaves everyone looking bad in the eyes of the public. This week, "cooler" heads will prevail.

Speaker Gaye is well aware she has no power to force Lunderville to appear before the Rules Committee. She will, however, push to "codify" the ethics guidelines the Guv has posted on his website for the executive branch and she's open to doing likewise with ethics guidelines for legislators. She says more than 30 states already have them.

Brave new world, eh?

********************************

P.S. Picture of the Week? Month?

Thank you, Cathy R., for catching this one Monday on a public bulletin board in the Old North End of Burlap. In the city park at Archibald and North Winooski.

Have I finally become worthy of Sign Man's attention, time and effort after all these years?

Must be doing something right, eh?

Not that size matters, Sign Man, but assuming it's your work, I'd note your HOWARD DEAN sign was a whole lot bigger. So's your RALPH NADER one, too.

But isn't it rather "cowardly" of you not to sign your own sign?

Ah, yes, true to form.

Keep up the good work!

******************************************

AND wasn't the Doonesbury "Vermont Impeachment" series something special or what?

Catch the finale on Saturday?

A Monday Taste of Hell

Of course, more than two dozen innocent people being executed by a mad gunman is just another normal, everyday occurrence in Iraq or Afghanistan these days where broken nations full of rival factions and foreign occupiers experience a living hell. 

But on a college campus in Virginia?

The first shots were reportedly fired around 7:15 a.m. this morning.

Caught the first word when CBS broke in at 12:38 with a brief report there had been a tragedy in Blacksburg, Virginia at the campus of Virginia Tech.

It's one hour and 20 minutes later - all the cable news networks are covering it, but the "Big 3," i.e. CBS, ABC, and NBC are sticking with their soap operas.

By now, dear reader, surely you too, have heard.

Still no answer from authorities to the basic questions:

Who?

How?

Why?

Life, the life we live at this moment, is a precious gift.

It can end at any moment.

Let the ones you care about, the ones you truly love, know it, while you're both still here to share it.

Big Week Ahead?

Thank God there was the big advancing Nor'easter to cover this weekend, or the mainstream U.S. media would have had nothing to report, eh?

They said we'd get six to 12 inches, maybe more in higher elevations. Global Warming's full of surprises, eh?

The "higher" elevation got more of the sticky white stuff, but in the valleys, like the one Burlington, Vermont sits is, it was light on the white stuff and heavy on a whole lot of rain and slush this morning. And a fine Blue Box Recycle Monday it was in my Five Sisters neighborhood.

Took this shot (left) about 7:10 a.m. Those of us who'd believed the weather reports had held off putting out our Blue Boxes last night.  Bit of a scramble this morning when we heard the recycle truck!

Made it!

What else?

A picture's worth a thousand words and a human face says it all.

Such was the face of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday on CBS' Face the Nation. Dick Cheney - one of the grand architects of the fraudulent policy/scheme that's done more damage to the United States of America and her people than any foreign foe in my lifetime.

In response to Host Bob Schieffer's suggestion that Cheney's 2005 remark that the Iraq insurgency was in its "last throes" might make some dispute his optimistic take on the war going forward, the vice president suggested his comments lacked hindsight, but still insisted that progress in Iraq was evident.

"My statement at the time that you referenced was geared specifically to the fact that we just had an election in Iraq where some 12 million people defied the car bombers and the assassins and for the first time participated in a free election," Cheney said. "We had three elections in 2005 in Iraq: We set up a provisional government, then we got a ratification of a brand new constitution, then elections under that constitution of a new government, the government that is in place now. I still think in the broad sweep of history those will have been major turning points in the war in Iraq."

Pants on fire, Dick?

And what about his old buddy and top aide Scooter Libby - now, not just an accused, but a convicted liar?

Would you believe that Big Tough Dick Cheney, former CEO of Haliburton - for whose stockholders the Iraq War is being fought -  would not discuss the recent conviction of Libby on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice as part of the investigation into the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

Cheney called the verdict a "great tragedy" but said he had not talked to Libby since he was found guilty on March 6. "I haven't had occasion to do that," he said.

Couldn't even call him on the ol' cell phone?

We understand, Dick.

And what about fellow "Liar on the Hot Seat" Attorney General Alberto Gonzales?

Gonzales is scheduled to testify under oath before Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont's Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

"He is a good man," Cheney said of Gonzales. "I have every confidence in him. The president has every confidence in him."

Uh, huh.

Speaking of Alberto - did you catch the op-ed he had in Sunday's Washington Post titled "Nothing Improper?"

Alberto's got a future in comedy. I loved this line:

"What began as a well-intentioned management effort to identify where, among the 93 U.S. attorneys, changes in leadership might benefit the department, and therefore the American people, has become an unintended public controversy."

Damn!

Those "unintended" public controversies are always the worst, eh?   

Caledonian "Broken" Record?

I confess: I do not check the St. Johnsbury Caledonian-Record newspaper website on a daily basis.

Used to. The Cal-Record's editorial page is often good for a few laughs. It's just that it got to be so predictable. The voice of an angry, anti-Democrat, anti-Progressive, anti-equal rights, anti-Patrick Leahy, anti-Jim Jeffords and anti-Bernie Sanders Vermont.

Hey, it's still a free country, right?

But the times are a changing, even in Caledonia County, Vermont, the Green Mountain State's mythical "Northeast Kingdom" country. These days, Democrats get elected in Cal-Record Land. They even get reelected as Democratic State Sen. Jane Kitchell of Danville has shown.

Still, it was a surprise to read the Cal-Record's Saturday editorial that several folks forwarded our way:

A Startling Exchange Adjusted For A Later Event

Saturday April 14, 2007

Three weeks ago, on VPT's "Vermont Politics," Peter Freyne took on Speaker of the House Gaye Symington, grilling her about her public statements blaming Gov. Jim Douglas for failing to get out the Republican vote to support her weak-as-water education funding reform bill. Speaker Symington was understandably frustrated by the crash-and-burn of the Democrats' centerpiece legislation. In the course of Freyne's and her give and take, this startling exchange took place.

Speaker Symington [on Gov. Douglas's non-support]: "Well, I think there's a certain amount of gamesmanship going on now in terms of just, 'Let's watch them fail.' That gets back to the point, are we playing games here and playing politics? Or are we going to try to move forward with what's best for the state and if people just want to play games with it, that's one thing."

Freyne: "Isn't it always both, though?"

Speaker Symington: "Well, that's the constant rub in this position, and you know, I have to tell you, there are so many other things I could be doing with my life than this. So many other."

Freyne: "Name three."

Speaker Symington: "Being with my kids. Being with my husband. Traveling. ... the rest here.

I blush! Yes, indeed, the above exchange took place. The quotes are accurate.

What's of interest is the time and place the Caledonian-Record editorial page identifies as the "when" and "where" it occurred.

The  Right-Wing Record says it was "three weeks ago" and aired on "VPT's 'Verm