You Can Quote Him

Sunday morning at 11 a.m. on WCAX-TV, Ch. 3,  Windsor County's veteran State's Attorney Bobby Sand [right] occupies the guest chair on You Can Quote Me.

Even law enforcement types who don't agree with Sand the Prosecutor about taking a "harm-reduction," rather than "lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key" approach, to "illegal" drugs, privately admire his courage.

Hey, did you know that, "The United States has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners, incarcerating more than 2.3 million citizens in its prisons and jails, at a rate of one in every 136 U.S. residents—the highest rate of incarceration in the world?"

Did you realize that "55% of all federal and over 20% of all state prisoners are convicted of drug law violations, many serving mandatory minimum sentences for simple possession offenses."

Or how about the fact that "federal, state, and local costs of the war on drugs exceed $40 billion annually , yet drugs are still widely available in every community, drug use and demand have not decreased, and most drug prices have fallen while purity levels have increased dramatically?"

Yep. Get past the government propaganda and one is faced with the fact that the Ol' "War on Drugs" is about as effective as the Ol' "War on Terror."

The truth hurts.

And maybe you knew, but I honestly had no idea that "cities across the country have experienced a rise in violent crime and must prioritize scarce law enforcement resources, yet the nation’s police arrested a record 786,545 individuals on marijuana related charges in 2005—almost 90% for simple possession alone—far exceeding the total number of arrests for all violent crimes combined!"

Let's see, the current official estimated population of the State of Vermont - every man, woman and child - is 623,908.

That's 162,637 more pot arrests in America than there are human beings in the Green Mountain State!  Sad but true. Great use of our police resources and tax dollars, eh?

My source?

The U.S. Conference of Mayors, and the above is from the resolution adopted at last week's 75th Annual Meeting of the USCM in Los Angeles. Check column-right under "Adopted Resolutions" for a complete copy. [Go to pages 47-50.] America's mayors have had it. They officially want to see "A New Bottom Line In Reducing the Harms of Substance Abuse."

Change is in the air, eh?

Greed is Good in Healthcare?

Went to Montpelier for the Vermont premier of Michael Moore's Sicko at 9:30 this morning at the Savoy.

Yours truly and WPTZ-TV were the only media to show up for the presser at the front door of the Savoy Theater that Dr. Deb Richter organized.

Powerful stuff. Mind-opening. Heart-breaking. It's about a whole lot more than the visit to Cuba part that's received all the pre-opening U.S. mainstream-media hype. The visits to Canada, yes, Canada and Paris, France and London, England will blow your all-American mind. They certainly did mine.

Closer to home, he refuses to see Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, still, so I'd be shocked if Vermont's Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, a governor who publicly supports opening up our state to every cherry-picking health insurance outfit in existence, went anywhere near this flick.

More later....

Much moore.

"Battlefield Breakdown" Update

Just got home from Montpeculiar and checked the ol' email and learned that this weekend's premier of "Battlefield Breakdown" the CNN Special Investigations Unit Special Report yours truly highlighted in this week's "Inside Track" column in the print edition of Seven Days had been canceled.

The powerful one-hour investigative report was produced by Rice High School and UVM grad Laura Bernardini, with veteran CNN news guy John King and Jung Park and Doug Schantz who work the camera/sound angle.

The first email indicated the powers that be at CNN had pulled the program early this morning "due to breaking news regarding the foiled London terror plot."

You know, the green Mercedes packed with 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, and discovered parked outside the Tiger Tiger night club in Haymarket last night? London police say hundreds of innocent people could have been killed.

Ah, yes, what a wonderful world it is.

Great leaders.

The news, I confess, bummed me out. Finally a major mainstream U.S. news network was going to tell it like it is on how this administration has treated its fighting men and women and they pull the plug at the last minute to fan the ol' 9/11-type War on Terror flames.

Hello?

Then about 2:45, "Freyne Land" got word that CNN had changed its mind - a little bit. The "Battlefield Breakdown" documentary will air this weekend after all!

Only it won't be in prime time as originally scheduled.  Here are the new times:
Saturday 6:00AM – 7:00AM, 3:00PM and Sunday 6:00AM and 2:00PM.

Don't know about you, but I am an early riser these days.

Nixonian Flashbacks

***LEAHY UPDATE FRIDAY 6 P.M.***

"This is a further shift by the Bush administration into Nixonian stonewalling and more evidence of their disdain for our system of checks and balances," Leahy said.

"Nixonian stonewalling," eh?

Shall we say, the perfect word selection by Vermont's senior Sen. Patrick J. Leahy?

The Senate Judiciary Committee Leahy is chairman of has issued subpoenas to the White House for documents and testimony that will help to uncover the truth about the Bush firing of all those federal prosecutors. We still live in a democracy, right?

*UPDATE: Chairman Leahy will appear live Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press" for a 15-minute solo segment regarding the subpoenas.

C'mon St. Patrick, comb your hair nice.

Closer to home, these folks were out exercising their democratic right of freedom of speech on North Avenue in Burlington last night. Their issue is global warming. And their target is Republican State Rep. Kurt Wright, whose district they were in. Ol' Kwik-Stop Kurt, along with all the other House Republicans, voted "no" on H. 520, the top priority of Democratic Senate leader Peter Shumlin, the big global-warming bill that passed and received a firm gubernatorial veto.

Lawmakers return on July 11 for a veto-override attempt. And it appears obvious to all now, including Shumlin, they simply do not have the two-thirds vote required to win.

That's prompted Shummy & Co. to offer a deal -  the withdrawal from the legislation of its controversial funding source, the tax on power generation on Entergy's Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Vernon, Vermont.

"This is dead meat," suggested yours truly to the tiny band of environmental activists. "There’s no impeachment override. The Democrat leaders concede they don’t have the votes. It’s not about getting Kurt’s vote; they can’t even get enough Democrats!"

"That’s only half the point," replied Vermont Public Interest Research Group Field Associate Sean Sarah. "The other half of the point is action and letting people know, and letting legislators know, it’s not just about this one vote, it’s about the issue. And even if we lose this vote, the issue’s still around. The amount of play it’s gotten in the media tells us it’s still going to be around whether we win or lose and that’s equally important."

By the way, "Freyne Land" was the only media that dropped by Thursday's protest.

"I’m sure there’s a chance we’re going to lose." said the VPIRG organizer. "We’re still going to fight and even if we lose, we still have the issue. That’s the most important thing, continuing the dialog afterward."

Becca McHale, a sign-holding Burlington graphic designer, said she liked Gov. Douglas "a lot more before this."

"You didn't vote for him, did you?" I asked.

"No, I didn't, actually, but I didn't think he was this bad!"

McHale said she thought that, "It was the Yankee tax that really did 'em in."

Carrie Shamel, a Burlington social worker, said she was protesting the governor of Vermont's veto of H. 520 during Thursday's dinner hour because she was "saving the planet for my great-great grandchildren."

And the youngest of the tiny band, 17-year-old Sarah Pennucci of South Burlington had biked into the Queen City [no helmet!] for the protest.

"It’s my future that this is concerning," she told me with determination. "Most of the people making the laws will be dead before any of this has any effect, but I have to deal with it and I think I should be part of trying to solve it."

Sarah got wind of the event from a friend at the recently started Vermont Youth Activism Network.

"I think our governor really needs to get a backbone already and stop cow-towing kowtowing [thanks Kitchen Talker], to businesses," added Sean Zigmund, a "computer geek" by trade. "This is not about money anymore. This is really about our future. It's up to the younger generation to step up and say this is bullshit."

Why the rather small turnout Thursday evening on North Avenue? There were more protest signs than hands to hold them.

"Honestly," said Zigmund, "I think it’s because we live in a society and a country where we’re complacent because of the fact that we’re spoon fed eveything through the media and we just buy whatever we’re told.

"And we’re content with what we have and we’re very comfortable. If people weren’t comfortable you’d know they’d be out in the streets screaming about it."

He's got a point, eh?

History Lesson?

Hey, remember winter?

Cool down. It'll return. Like history, winter has a way of repeating itself.

You know, the longer I live, the more I realize the glaring flaw in this little type of primate that I am - the inability to overcome the inability to live under primate leadership that tells the truth and is committed to making peace, not war, its top priority.

And history provides endless lessons, doesn't it?

I had a bunch of Vermont political balls in the air inside the "Freyne Brain" this morning, but then Ol' Garrison Keillor's magnificent Minnesota mind absolutely blew me away with his Writer's Almanac on VPR.

World War I - we all learned about it in school, right?

Today is both the anniversary of the event that started World War I and the day that the treaty was signed that officially brought the war to a close.

The event that started the war was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a Bosnian revolutionary on this day in 1914 in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.

One month after the assassination, Austria used the event as an excuse to declare war on Serbia, even though the nation of Serbia had nothing to do with the assassination. Germany chose to back Austria in its attack. Russia chose to defend Serbia. France entered the war against Germany. And when Germany invaded Belgium, Great Britain got involved as well, having pledged to defend Belgium from any invaders. That series of alliances led to the largest war ever conducted in history at that point. About ten million people died in the next four years of fighting.

The enormous bloodbath we call "World War I" [first of dozens?] officially ended on this June day in 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

It redrew the maps of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Four fallen empires [the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Tsarist Russia], were dissolved and their global territory redrawn.

It was done in private by three men:  Woodrow Wilson of the United States, Georges Clemenceau of France, and David Lloyd George of Great Britain.  Among the countries created by the Treaty of Versailles was Yugoslavia, which collapsed into civil war in the 1990s, and a country every American has now heard of - Iraq.

Just about every major European or Middle Eastern conflict in the last few decades can be traced back to the decisions made in 1919. One of the people paying close attention to the conference was a young Southeast Asian kitchen assistant at the local Ritz Hotel named Ho Chi Minh. During the conference, he submitted a petition appealing for the independence of his home country, Vietnam. But the petition was ignored. So even the Vietnam War can be traced back to the Treaty of Versailles.

French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau would later say, "It is much easier to make war than peace."

Thanks, Garrison.

Now fast-forward to the present day and listen to Major General Rick Lynch explain what his U.S. fighting men and women have been doing over the last 12 days, claiming "control" of all of 6 kilometers of ground along the Tigris River on the south side of Baghdad, Iraq.

The straight-talking professional soldier compared his troops task to "playing three-dimensional chess in the dark."

Hear General Lynch for yourself here.

Bottom line: Lynch and his fighting men and women deserve better leaders in the White House and on Capitol Hill. Just like the soldiers of my generation did when they told us if we didn't stop the Communists in Vietnam they'd be in California next!

Instead, we've got Russian hockey players from the Land of Lenin in the NHL and the governor of Vermont, a Republican, just returned from a trade mission to Red China.

You tell me.

Old Timers Day?

The thermometer hit 96 degrees again in Beautiful Burlington, Vermont, but the humidity was significantly higher than yesterday and that kept a lot of the outdoor tables empty this noon, downtown on The Church Street Marketplace.

Air-conditioning was quite the "hot" commodity today, eh?

There were exceptions.

Recognize these two dudes at Ken's Pizza?

You'd recognize their voices...if you had been listening to Burlington radio through the 1980s and 90s.

That's Louie Manno of "Manno & Condon" fame on WQCR-FM and WKDR-AM on the left [Jim Condon has ended up representing Colchester in the Vermont Legislature.]

On the right, the one and only Arty Lavigne who year-after-year made 'The Wizard" aka WIZN-FM, rock!

Yours truly was en route to a lunch date at Sweetwaters with an old Vermont reporter-type - Diane Derby.  "Derbs" is quite familiar to Vermont news junkies and was U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords' last press secretary. Ate in the air-conditioned interior on the College Street side and got to watch all my "pals" from the Freeps go out for their lunch breaks.

The conversation was so good I completely forgot I was packing the little camera.

Realized that when I was sitting on the top block an hour later and this "tourist-type"  walked by.

Recognize him?

Let's just say you would if he had the black robe on over the shorts and Hawaiian shirt and you were in the courtroom on the Fifth Floor of the Federal Building during one of the many sessions he presides over.

Looks in pretty good shape, doesn't he?

Nice shirt.

Said he was coming back from his lunch break.

Given the decisions of the Roberts Court this term, I say, when it comes to the First Amendment: Use it, or lose it!

Vermont Will Be No. 1

Vermont was the first state to ban slavery, the first state to ban roadside billboards and the first state to recognize the loving relationships of same-sex couples.

And after tomorrow, Thursday,  June 28, 2007,  it will be the ONE and ONLY state in the United States of America that the most incompetent and dishonest president in our history - George "WMD" Bush - has not visited.

Until this week, there have been two states on the Bush no-go list. The Green Mountain State and Rhode Island have jointly shared the honor and distinction of not having had to "show the flag" for Bush II.

His daddy, President George Herbert Walker Bush visited all 50 states, including Vermont, during his one term in the White House.  And his successor, Democrat William Jefferson Clinton did make it to all 50, too, hitting Nebraska in his final month in office.

Word's out this week that the current President Bush plans to speak Thursday at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. His topic will be the global fight against terrorism [something he's a real authority on, eh?]

The Republican president is making the trip to the heavily Democratic Ocean State before heading north for a vacation at the seaside estate of his father, former President George H.W. Bush, in Kennebunkport, Maine, said a Bush spokesman.

You know what that means, don't you?

After Thursday, we're No. 1.

Hip, hip, hooray!!!

You'd think Republican Gov. Jim Douglas' angry veto of H. 520, the Democrats/tree-huggers global-warming bill that ticks off Corporate Vermont so much from Entergy to the oil dealers, would soften Bush II up a little, wouldn't you?

C'mon Jimbo, use your Republican Party clout!

Wow, Democrats Can Count!

What else explains this little missive that went out to the Vermont media around lunchtime:

"The leadership of the Vermont House and Senate today announced that in light of Governor Douglas’s veto of H.520 and his objection to the source of funding for the bill, Senator Shumlin [at right] and Speaker Symington [currently in Norway] will propose a suspension of the rules during the veto override session on July 11 to consider the same bill with the funding for an all fuels efficiency utility removed.

"Since the legislation vetoed by the governor stipulates that funding for the all fuels efficiency utility will be needed starting in 2009, this proposal would allow the legislature to consider how to fund the utility when it reconvenes in January.

"In the meantime, the planning process for the utility, as well as other key provisions in H. 520, will be enacted as stipulated by the bill.  Senator Shumlin and Representative Robert Dostis, Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, are meeting with Governor Douglas tomorrow to inform him of this proposal."

I can think of a few Statehouse lobbyists who just might be having a few cold ones this evening in celebration of well-earned Democratic surrender!

Sum-sum-summertime!

Up and at 'em bright and early - it's a two-column Tuesday ahead!

Knock off the VT BIZ one first [one I don't think certain leading Democrats will enjoy], and then roll right into "Track." And good news on the "hands" front - the swelling's really gone down a whole lot. The infection's on the run.

Jeezum crow, at the Sunday Democratic Party event, after one handshake, I had to give it up - hurt too damn much!

Interesting object, the human body, eh?

And there's Ch. 3's "Morning Meteorologist" Gary Sadowsky giving everyone the straight news about the day ahead and it's all about a little three-letter word - HOT! HOT! HOT!

Thank you, Gary, only former bike-shop manager I know who holds college degrees in philosophy [University of Minnesota] and meteorology [Lyndon State]!

No, I don't own an air-conditioner.

I live in Vermont.

I have two fans!

And why is Paris Hilton's release from jail the top story on the national morning news in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?

I've managed to avoid that one.

Corporate media at its very best!

Who is Paris Hilton?

But I do know who Bellows Falls High School graduate Liam Madden is, and if you don't, you should!

Check this.

Procrastinating Pete

No panic. Deadlines are the cornerstones of journalism. Things have to be in by a certain time, no ifs, ands, or buts.  I'll knock out the print version of "Inside Track" tomorrow, but my plan was to knock out the "Under the Dome" column for the monthly Vermont Business Magazine "sometime today."

Instead, I spent time on the "Inside Track" trail this morning. Then strolled down to the caffeine outpost on Pine Street [taking pictures of the flowers along the way] for the print edition of The New York Times avec the bottomless $1.75 Speeder & Earl's high-test.

Though the folks at the tables, all solo flyers with their laptops, never spoke, either to me or one another [laptop culture?], one of the college students working there for the summer had some recent personal experiences to share that were right in synch with an item I'm pursuing for "Inside Track."

Cool.

Then as I was reading The Times - interesting front-page story about the Japanese sushi CRISIS - they're running low on bluefin tuna - the picture of the VT BIZ column started to materialize between the ol' ears. Interesting how that works.

Came home and the phone started ringing. Political types. But then I did something I rarely do - turned on the Ch. 5/WPTZ "News at 5" and there's a shot of Burlington Attorney Jerry O'Neill going ballistic in the Chittenden Superior Court hallway. Why?

Mistrial declared in priest sex case

By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press Writer
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- A mistrial was declared Monday in a priest sex case accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington of negligence when a diocesan lawyer overstepped the bounds established by a judge in questioning the alleged victim.

Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph declared the mistrial at the request of lawyers for James Turner, 46, of Virginia Beach, Va., saying Diocesan lawyer David Cleary violated the pretrial ruling....

"We will have a different judge, with a different perspective on the case," said Cleary outside court, referring to a retrial.

Jerome O'Neill, one of Turner's lawyers, said he never saw such a blatant violation of a pretrial ruling. He said he would seek to have the Diocese found liable for the attorneys' fees and expenses incurred by Turner.

"The Diocese wins again," O'Neill said. "It manages to keep a complainant from coming forward."

In his suit, Turner said Willis - who has since been defrocked - molested him as they slept with several other people in a Latham, N.Y., hotel room after attending an ordination ceremony for Bernard Turner.

James Turner was 16 at the time.

It’s tomorrow’s front-pager.

Interesting comment by the Diocese's attorney David Cleary, eh?

About having "a different judge" next time.

Sounds like a guy who just got his prayers answered.

Democrats Dance On Impeachment

Almost 100 Democrats turned out for the Burlington Democratic Party fundraiser ($20) at the St. John's Club in Lakeside Sunday evening.

Among them former Governor of Vermont and Ambassador to Switzerland Madeleine Kunin (on the far left in the photo), and our current representative in the U. S. House of Representatives - Peter Welch.

Only five attendees, however, signed the petition offered by the four "democrats" out front who did not attend the event inside. Madeleine was not among them.

"We agree to disagree," said Ambassador Kunin when asked why she wouldn't sign. Straddlin' Madeleine did tell the protesters, "I admire your guts for standing out here."

Guts?

The petition she would not sign states, in part:

Whereas George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney have:

1. deliberately misled the nation about the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war,
2. condoned the torture of prisoners in violation of the Geneva Convention and US law,
3. approved illegal electronic surveillance of American citizens without a warrant, and

....Whereas 39 Vermont towns, the State Committee of the Democratic Party of Vermont, and the Vermont State Senate passed resolutions calling for impeachment investigations of Bush and Cheney;

Therefore, I call upon Vermont Congressman Peter Welch to introduce or cosponsor a resolution calling for investigation of Bush and Cheney regarding these charges, and if the investigations support the charges, to vote to impeach them as provided in the Constitution of the United States of America.

Congressman Welch [on left in photo], the only millionaire in the Vermont congressional delegation, was friendly to the Impeachment Foursome and spoke with them for 5-10 minutes, expressing his distaste for and opposition to the current corrupt and dishonest regime in the White House. But Welch, like Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, believes impeachment would only slow things down and delay and sidetrack investigations of the bankrupt Bush Administration already underway.

Inside, Welchie told the happy Burlington Democrats he's a guy who loves his job.

“I love serving in Congress," said Peter. "I’m almost embarrassed by how much I’m enjoying it.”

Al Walskey of West Burke, wearing the blue Welch for Congress tee-shirt, told the Congressman he had served nine years in the U.S. Army (1963-72).  A calibration specialist in electronics. Two tours in Vietnam.

"I just think he stood his ground same as he has been," Mr. Walskey told Freyne Land afterwards,  "and we’re hoping that he’s going to come around. I think he sort of indicated that September is that time frame that they either have to make something happen, or Congress will be able to muster enough votes to override a veto."

And we did ask, and Al told us he had voted for Peter Welch last November.

Sunday Sights

Nice flowers, huh?

I know, I know, I have to leave for the Burlington political event of the evening - a Burlington Dems fund-raiser with Rep. Peter Welch the headliner. And impeachment supporters to nudge him their way.

But it's already been such a special day for exploration and conversation and new people and lifted spirits. From Paul, the 80-year-old in the Brooks Drugs parking lot who told me how Buddhism has cured his lung cancer, to Stephanie, the lovely, warm woman in the Uncommon Grounds coffee shop who introduced herself, told me that she loves my work, reads this blog regularly, and is "praying for me."

Every day a gift, eh?

We are all in this together, you know.

And what about the baby-boomers from Ontario, Canada in the 1959 Austin-Healey at the top of the Main Street hill?

I had pulled up behind them an hour earlier at the bottom of the hill by the waterfront and inquired about make, model and year. Friendly folks. Also did my diplomatic duty and welcomed them to beautiful Burlington, and it was indeed beautiful this morning.

"Democracy for America" Celebrates!

Time flies!

It's started out over three years ago as "Dean for America," and has evolved and grown into "Democracy for America" with an H.Q. in South Burlington, Vermont, outposts in 49 states [all except Wyoming at the moment], and 600,000 members!

They called it "Birthday Bash 2007" - Friday evening's Happy Three-Year-Old Birthday Bash/Fundraiser at the ECHO Center on Burlington's waterfront. The event drew about 80 folks from near and far who have contributed time, effort, money and energy to former Gov. Howard Dean's national political star.

The 2004 presidential hopeful from Vermont did not win the Democratic Party nomination, but he is the current chairman of the Democratic National Committee [DNC] and a household word coast-to-coast!

That's Ho-Ho's younger brother James H. Dean, DFA Chair, and DFA Executive Director Tom Hughes [right] at last night's event. Not hard to tell Jim and Ho-Ho were cut from the same cloth.

Tom Hughes is a UVM grad who volunteered for Michael Dukakis back in 1988. He did advance work for Vice President Al Gore before a stint in 1998 as Executive Director of the Vermont Democratic Party. Managed Doug Racine's gubernatorial disaster in 2002, too. Can't win 'em all.

Unfortunately, the two political "stars" who were pitched as attractions in the fundraiser's invite - Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Peter Welch were no-shows.

Ol' Bernardo had been described as "invited," whereas Welchie's appearance had been a sure thing. At least until Vermont's congressman ran into plane trouble in Washington. Word was Pedro the Congressman was stuck on the tarmac with the aircraft door closed, thereby preventing even an audio appearance at the Democracy for America fundraiser via cellphone.

Bummer.

Jimmy Dean explained to us that older brother Howard wasn't there because DFA is "a political action committee" and the event was "a fundraiser."

Older brother Howard chairs the DNC, which Jimmy explained, is also a PAC.

Apparently there's some sort of conflict in that, which would make Howard's attendance awkward, though Jimmy couldn't nail down clearly and concisely just what the conflict was. Something about an appearance of favoritism by someone in a role that demands neutrality.

Jimmy Dean also told us that DFA will be endorsing a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination by year's end.  DFA will have an endorsement vote among its membership, he told the gathering at the waterfront fundraiser.

At present, DFA is busy with its "activist training program," said Dean the Younger. The key ingredient, he said, is teaching activists to communicate one-on-one effectively. That means training people to be able to communicate a message using "27 words in nine seconds while making three points."

"At the end of the day," said Dean the Younger, "it's all about leadership development."

And, oh yes, the DFA Fundraiser attracted a few impeachment supporters who had hoped to see Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch.

Though those guys were no-shows, Eliza Earle of Richmond [center], said they had plenty of "good conversation" with folks passing by both for the DFA Event and the Chew-Chew Festival.

They said they hope to catch Welch on Sunday at another Democratic Party event at the St. John's Club in Lakeside on Burlap's South End.

Tonight's "Vermont This Week"

That's what it looks like from the "far-left" panelist seat on the "Vermont This Week" set at Vermont Public Television at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester.

In fact, that's exactly what it looked like at the taping at 3:30 this afternoon with Sweet Sue Allen, currently the editor of the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus on the left, filling in for WPTZ-TV's Stewart Ledbetter, the regular host. Then that's Freeps Statehouse/political writer Nancy Remsen next to Susan and John Flowers from Middlebury's Addison Independent next to Nancy.

With things kind of day-to-day in Freyne Land due to chemotherapy, I can't predict just how things will go, but I was in great shape today. Pumped up. Delighted to be on the program with Sue Allen, who I've known since the Reagan Era when she landed at the Freeps [and tangled with when she was Ho-Ho's esteemed press secretary during his gubernatorial chapter]. And also excited about the opportunity to confront a bit of the Freyne Past - the Roman Catholic Church.

It's been front-page news all week -  the big civil lawsuit that began in Burlington in which a former Vermont altar boy is suing the Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese for damages due from being sexually assaulted by a Vermont parish priest way back in the 1970s.

Sam Hemingway at the Freeps and Brian Joyce at WCAX-TV have been all over it.

Yours truly has deliberately avoided this one, not because I was molested by a priest, but because when I walked out the door at Maryknoll 's college seminary in Glen Ellyn,  Illinois in early June of 1969,  I also walked out the door on the Roman Catholic Church. Quite simply, I was no longer believing it all anymore. And I could not accept the answers I got when I dared to asked questions.

Though the church-lawsuit story wasn't on the original VTW headline list Producer Joe Merone e-mailed out around noontime, yours truly insisted we address it.  It's reality and that's supposed to be the business we're in, right? 

Especially when you have Susan Via, a top prosecutor from the 1980s, testifying that Roman Catholic Bishop John Marshall had told her boss,  Roman Catholic States Attorney [and now judge] Mark Keller, a Notre Dame grad,  it would be "a sin of scandal" if he opened a criminal investigation into the child-molesting priest's conduct.

Give me an effing break!

That's NEWS.

And it's also a dramatic window into the religious establishment of the past, and the power once enjoyed by it's priests, monsignors and bishops, who were experts in the world of sin, eh?

Report from China

Lot of balls in the air this Friday.

Hey, have a nice summer?

Our ol' pal from the Peoples Republic of Burlington's City-Hall news scene of the 1980s, Mark Johnson, had plenty to say about the latest in the Vermont delegation's trip to China this morning when he called his own WDEV talk show from the hotel in Beijing.

Mark told Eric Michaels on WDEV in Waterbury that the Vermont delegation, led by our Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, has been meeting with folks pretty high up in the food chain in the Chinese Departments of Agriculture and Tourism.

And we in Vermont do like tourists, right?

Their minister for tourism, he said, pointed out that the Chinese have a problem getting American tourist visas.

"In their view," said Johnson, "Americans view them as some kind of security problem."

Even with all the Chinese restaurants we've got?

Travel-wise, he said, 5 percent of Chinese tourists go to visit Europe. Only 1 percent come to the United States. And their most popular U.S. destination right now is, are you ready?

Las Vegas!

In Beijing, said Marko, "the buses are packed to the gills and everybody takes taxis. The ubiquity of taxis," he said, "is one of the surprises for me."

There's massive road construction underway in preparation for the Olympics next year. As one minister expressed it, "You are the most developed country" on the planet and we are "the biggest developing country."

Mark also said he's noticed the enormous gap between rich and poor. The folks building the roads "make 75 cents-an-hour and live in these sort of little box houses." They are "housed and fed and able to send money back home," he said.

"It's an economy that's like out of the 1920s in America," said the Vermont radio guy. "Everybody knows this isn't real and it can't last forever and it's superheated, but everybody's in because they're worried they might lose out."

And, by the way, there are no labor unions and only "emerging" environmental regulations. [Beijing, he described, as a very polluted city.] And paying off local leaders, said Johnson, "is pretty well acknowledged as a way of doing business here, and I would dare say, even in the United State of America."

Shocking!

"How are you treated?" asked Eric Michaels.

"When I came I was not billed as a journalist," replied Johnson. His business card, a vital tool in China, bills him as a "broadcast personality," he said, "so as to not accentuate the fact I'm a news guy."

He said Gov. Jimbo had introduced him earlier on Friday as a "journalist," and one Chinese official turned to him and said, "We didn't used to like journalists."

"And Gov. Douglas said something like, 'In the past, I haven't either.'"

Later, said Johnson, he suggested to the Guv, "Maybe we ought to lay off the "J" word for the rest of the trip?"

On Saturday morning at 7 a.m. China-time, the Vermonters head out on an hour-and-a-half drive north  to see the Great Wall of China firsthand!

Wonder if it could have gotten an Act 250 permit?

Bernie's Solstice Doubleheader

Just when we were wondering if the mainstream American press was ignoring Vermont's favorite socialist, Independent United States Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ol' Bernardo popped up "live" on two programs Thursday, the day of the Summer Solstice, the longest "day" of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Sanders started out in the morning as a half-hour "live" in-studio guest on "Washington Journal" on C-span. Here's a taste, as the Vermont leftist set a Republican caller straight:

I think you’re missing the main point about what goes on in Washington, DC.

The reason that the middle class is shrinking; the reason that poverty is increasing; the reason that the United States has by far the most unfair distribution of income of any industrialized country on Earth; the reason we are the only major nation on Earth that does not have a National Healthcare Program guaranteeing health care to all people is, in fact, the power of Big Money over the political process!

And you talk about taxation, well, under President Bush we have given hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and it took us until last week to raise the minimum wage to $7.25-an-hour over a three-year period!

We have children in this country who are living out on the streets and our veterans are not getting the type of health care that they need.

So I think when we look at what’s going on in Washington the real issue to focus on is the power of Big Money, the power of Corporate America in settings an agenda that is certainly at odds with the needs of working families.

Yep, he was in the zone.

Then Thursday evening, Sanders of Vermont was a "live" guest from Capitol Hill with someone who really endorses where he's coming from - CNN's Lou Dobbs.

SANDERS: A growing number of Americans understand that what happens in Congress, to a very significant degree, is dictated by Big Money interests. Their whole ideology is based on greed. They’re selling out American workers. In fact, they’re selling out our entire country. And that is a major struggle that we have got to engage in to take back our country from these very powerful and wealthy special interests.

DOBBS: It is now only so blatant and overt that only those who would refuse to see could deny that both the Democratic and Republican parties are owned lock, stock and barrel by Corporate America  and special interests ...who really have very little regard for the traditions of this country, the values of this country, or the constituents.

SANDERS: There are a growing number of Americans who understand that there is something wrong when the middle class in this country continues to shrink, despite a huge increase in worker productivity. Poverty continues to increase. Since Bush has been president, five million more Americans have slipped into poverty. Six million Americans more have lost their health insurance. And the gap between the rich and everybody else is growing wider.

So when President Bush tells you how great the economy is doing, what he’s really saying is that the CEOs of large multinationals are doing very, very well. But he’s kind of ignoring the economic reality of everybody else.

And that gets us to immigration issue. If poverty is increasing, wages are going down, I don’t know why we need millions of people to be coming into this country as guest workers who work for lower wages than Americans and drive wages down even lower than they are right now.

I just read something today that a lot of people coming into this country to work are coming in as life-guards. That’s right. We can’t find American workers to work as life-guards!

The point is, I've been hearing this from Ol' Bernardo's lips for the past quarter-century.  Hasn't changed his tune a quarter-note. Now the other 49 are finally getting a taste.

Let's see how it plays, eh?

As goes Vermont, ____________________.

Inside the Freyne Brain

In the good old days, the early 1970s when I was a nursing assistant in the surgery ward at General Hospital in downtown Minneapolis, they would have already drilled a hole into the Freyne skull [at right, as pictured yesterday]: "exploratory surgery" we called it.

General was a hot "teaching" hospital. Five color-coded surgery teams made up of seasoned five-year veterans in charge, all the way down to rookie interns fresh out of medical school. It was like one big M.A.S.H. unit, and several of the teaching pros with the scalpels were Vietnam vets.

Rich learning ground for this kid.

Risky business, too, but a lot of brain surgery was detective work. Finding out what caused what happened to happen. Unfortunately, the search for the answer inside a living brain often did its own damage, including speech or vision loss, paralysis, or death itself.

Fast forward to 2007. The mystery of the moment out there is answering the question: What caused that brain seizure I experienced when I was getting cancer "chemotherapy" dose #2 back in February up at the Mary Fanny? Only brain "seizure" this child of the Sixties has ever experienced. [Well, at least, only one that I remember.]

"Exploratory surgery" appears to be pretty much a thing of the past these days. Instead, in the computer age, they go high-tech with all kinds of scans. Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, is the hot ticket these days. So they slid me on my back into the big MRI tube, put ear plugs in my ears, and I held still with my head in a cage for 45 minutes during lunchtime Wednesday while the MRI machine shot the Freyne Brain in three-dimensional imagery.

An hour later, I had an appointment with Dr. Harold Morris the neurologist [left]. He got the first look at the high-tech images and liked what he saw.

The white, fuzzy area in the left temporal lobe around the speech/language center [right side in the MRI picture],  was darker and not as fuzzy/light. Looks a whole lot more like the right temporal lobe, as it should.

Good sign, says he.

Clearly, even the Freyne Eye can see that the Freyne Brain isn't looking any worse.

Another good sign, says he.

The neurosurgeon and radiologist-types will take a peek, as well. But, hey, the fact that Dr. Morris doesn't want to see me again for six months is a damn good sign, eh?

P.S. Do have a surprise infection in the left hand - where I got the chemo two-times back.  Red, swollen and sore. Doc Morris persuaded me to stop by oncology to have 'em take a peek.

Good idea.

Couple of the Mary Fanny oncology nurses looked at it, recognized an infection right away and gave me a script for Keflex, an antibiotic. 

Keeping an eye on it this morning.

No problem with the feet. 

Howard Dean: "Outmaneuvered"

And Howard Dean [left], chairman of the Democratic National Committee, admitted it, too!

The setting was Waterbury radio station WDEV's "Mark Johnson Show" on Tuesday. Former State Rep. Peter Mallary was the fill-in host.

His old pal Howard Brush Dean III was his "special guest" via telephone. Yours truly wrote it up in today's "Inside Track" print column.

Here's a taste:

“I think we were doing great until the Iraq vote,” said the DNC chairman, “and that really upset an awful lot of people who wanted to be out of Iraq.”

Certainly Ho-Ho knows that opposition to President George “WMD” Bush’s Iraq war is very, very strong in WDEV Land.

Dean said the Democrats in Washington didn’t come off looking too good, in part because of what he termed “this complex press coverage, headlines like ‘Democrats Cave in to Bush,’ which really wasn’t true.”

But the problem the Dems have with the Iraq war, said Dean, is one of mathematics.

“We really had trouble with Iraq because, frankly, [Senate Democratic Leader] Harry Reid only has 49 votes,” noted Chairman Ho-Ho. [Connecticut Independent Sen.] Joe Lieberman votes with the Republicans on this issue. [South Dakota Democratic Sen.] Tim Johnson is out sick. He’ll be back in September, and we were outmaneuvered a little bit.”

How unusual to witness a political party leader admit to being “outmaneuvered” by the other side, eh?

“I think the next time that we try to shut down the war — perhaps in September,” said Dean, “we’ll be a little bit better prepared for the machinations of the Republican minority in the Senate.”

One would hope.

East-Looking Vermonter

It had the feel of one of those Douglasian proverbs delivered from the opposite side of Planet Earth to the folks back home in the Green Mountains.

Gov. Jim Douglas [left, in a recent WCAX appearance] was on a conference call Tuesday with a slice of the Vermont/N.Y. press/media from the worlds of radio, newspapers, TV, The Associated Press and that Internet thingy.

The Douglas line that really opened the window on how Jim Douglas truly understands the global-warming crisis was this one:

"To have a genuine positive impact on global warming, I would recommend that people look to the East.”

Look to the East?

Whatever you say, Grasshopper. But are you sure?

"I’ve said many times that Vermont has such a small imprint on the surface of the planet that we can do as much as possible and still not save a single polar bear or make any significant impact on global warming," said Vermont's Republican CEO.

"But China can have an impact because of the environmental challenges the environmental officials we’ve met with recognize and need to deal with. I would hope that Vermonters who have a serious interest in climate change would devote their time and energy to places like China where the potential for progress is far more significant," said Gov. Douglas.

He's not suggesting Vermonters take Act 250 to China, is he?

No way.

Reported Louis Porter in this morning's Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus:

"He just doesn't get it," said Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, and a leading supporter of the proposed new efficiency program.

"As everyone from the people I speak to on the street to Al Gore understand, if Vermont leads the way in terms of reducing our demand for oil other states will follow," he said. "That is the sort of leadership that is lacking and this bill [H. 520] provides it."

Sock It To Us!

Tuesday's "Best Vermont Press Release" was written by David Mace over at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development:

Sock Maker Lands $1.7 Million Army Contract

NORTHFIELD, Vt. – A Northfield sock manufacturer has been awarded a $1.7 million contract to produce socks for the U.S. Army, resulting in a half-dozen new jobs.

The Cabot Hosiery Mills Inc. and Darn Tough Vermont announced that the U.S. government recently awarded the company a significant military contract to produce 300,000 pairs of Merino wool boot socks.

“As a manufacturer we take great pride in the quality of our products, and Darn Tough Vermont is especially proud to have our socks selected by the U.S Army,” said Roland Beliveau, Brand Manager of Darn Tough Vermont.

Darn Tough Vermont brand socks are a wholly owned brand manufactured, promoted and distributed by The Cabot Hosiery Mill Inc., which has been a manufacturer of premium hosiery for the past thirty years.

Darn Tough Vermont’s military version of its Merino Wool Cushion Boot Sock represents a tremendous improvement over the current standard issue boot sock, Beliveau said, because they are made from Merino wool that regulates the soldier’s temperature over a wide range of conditions; are naturally anti-microbial; and are significantly more comfortable and longer lasting.

The contract is valued at over $1,700,000 and has allowed Darn Tough Vermont to invest in 10 new knitting machines and to hire 6 to 8 new employees to fulfill this contract.

“Darn Tough Vermont impressed the military by being the best at what they do - making quality socks,” said U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy.  "Thanks to Darn Tough Vermont’s talented workforce, superior design and quality sourcing practices, American troops will be equipped with quality footwear that promises to make them better prepared and more comfortable.”

Check 'em out here.

Energy Gets Hot

Here at the ranch it's "Inside Track" Day and energy is a hot topic indeed. Sen. Bernie Sanders, at right, went ga-ga at his retrofitting presser yesterday.

I'm telling you, you've got to love the divergence of views on the editorial pages in Vermont when it comes to facing global warming. Here's how the Brattleboro Reformer sees things:

Until the Legislature made climate change a key issue in this session, there was little incentive for Douglas to act. But now public support for expanding Efficiency Vermont's work is growing and Douglas has a choice. He can stand with Entergy, IBM and the rest of the major businesses in this state, who object to being taxed to pay for it, or he can stand with the people.

Here's the deal with the tax on Vermont Yankee. Right now, Entergy pays .001 cents per kilowatt hour generated -- a deal worked out in the then-Republican controlled House in 2003 without public imput or knowledge.

It is the only power generator in the state that pays a rate this low. H.520 would raise what Vermont Yankee pays to .003 cents per kilowatt hour, or the same rate that wind farms will pay.

Douglas can defend an out-of-state corporation's sweetheart tax deal, or he can support a bill that would make it easier for businesses and individuals to invest in small-scale renewable energy.

Then, try a world away up the Connecticut River in St. Johnsbury where the Caledonian-Record editorial page looks at it completely differently:

One more time, we are witnessing the fundamental difference between Republicans and liberal Democrats. Republicans value self-reliance and minimal government. Liberal Democrats want a nanny-state wherein government wipes our financial noses at every opportunity and pays for it by taxing everything in sight. Shumlin's plan is essentially two knee-jerk liberal reactions: set up a bureaucracy, reward your like-minded pals - Paul Cillo, Scudder Parker, Cheryl Rivers, et al - with newly created jobs, and pay for it with new tax money.

The question is fundamental. Do we require or want a nanny state or do we want a self-reliant citizenry? We opt for the latter. There isn't a reason in the world that the government should do for free what citizens can afford to do themselves. Put a little more bluntly, there isn't a reason in the world that the government should fix your house or mine and pay for it with Vermont Yankee dollars, confiscated from Entergy by a totally unethical last-minute tax grab. We urge our legislators to swamp the effort to override the governor's veto with a resounding NO!

Mr. Retrofit?

Forget Karl Marx's class analysis of society. Forget the greedy pharmaceutical companies. Nothing gets U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' juices flowing these days like solar power and green energy!

You see, our favorite socialist has a seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Energy Bill will be up for floor debate at the end of this week. Last week, the Sanders Amendment adding about $100 million for "sustainable energy" grants and rebates was added to the bill.

Ol' Bernardo held a Monday presser that felt like a campaign presser, even though he won't be on the ballot again until 2012. Held it out at a house on Burlington's North Avenue that's getting retrofitted and re-insulated by some young fellas in training.

Said Bernie:

California right now is doing an extraordinarily good job. In California right now, if you were to install photovoltaic solar units , the state will provide you with a $10,000 rebate in order to do that. Their goal is to have a million rooftops with photovoltaics in the next 10 years. I think the federal government should be moving in a similar direction.

I’ve recently talked to somebody right here in Vermont who is going to be manufacturing small scale wind turbines for use in rural areas. He thinks he can produce and sell those products for $12-14,000. If we have a rebate, or tax-credits there, you can end up with a situation where people will be producing half of the electricity they need through small wind turbines and, in fact, saving money on their electric bills.  This is a win-win situation.

And, if we’re producing these wind turbines in the United States, which I want to see, we’re creating jobs in the production end as well.

And, yes, in response to our question, Sen. Sanders said he does support Democratic efforts under Montpeculiar's Golden Dome to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of  H. 520, the global warming/climate change bill when they return for a special one-day sesssion on July 11.

Incidentally, this green power stuff looks like it's becoming Bernie's new religion.

He's hosting a "Town Meeting on Global Warming" at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning July 8 at Montpelier High School. Noted Environmental Writer Bill McKibben will provide a sermon. And a free brunch will be served at 10.

Sunday morning, eh?

Live from Shanghai

It was 9:05 a.m. in Waterbury, but 9:05 p.m. in Shanghai, China and WDEV Talk Show Host Mark Johnson sounded like a pumped-up morning guy as he spoke to his Vermont audience from the balcony of the Broadway Mansion Hotel.

Mark went along with the Vermont business delegation sponsored by the State Chamber. A 14-hour flight from Chicago, he said. Over the North Pole. Four movies.

Vermont's GOP Gov. Jim Douglas, he said, traveled via Arizona to San Francisco to Tokyo to Shanghai.

The radio talk-show host, got the balcony room, he told Eric Michaels at Radio Vermont back in Waterbury, because the electricity went out in his original hotel room. He'd come back from dinner via taxi. "I ate jellyfish!" he said. "I went into my room and couldn’t get the lights on." He went down to the front desk to seek help.

"They were mortified," Johnson told his listeners, "profusely embararrassed. They made sure they put me in a really nice room."

Now he was looking out from the balcony on a panorama he described as that of "a city of 20 million - the world's largest" - that he described as "a sea of neon."

[Turns out it may not be the largest. InfoPlease says Bombay's the "largest city." Tokyo appears the "largest metropolitan area."]

The highlight of the day, said Mark, was a formal meeting between Gov. Douglas and the Vermont delegation and the Mayor of Shanghai. "There was a Chinese TV station there filming it," he said.

The first state chamber to set up an office in China was Maryland. "They set the gold-standard of how you do this," said Johnson. Vermont set up its office in 1993 and that gives us an advantage. A Vermont firm recently won a China contract, even though its bid was 30 percent higher, he said. "It's all about who you know."

Looking out from the Shanghai Hotel balcony, said Johnson, he spotted a promenade that reminded him of the Burlington Waterfront.

"It's a small world after all," said Mark.

Symington Norway Bound

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington joked she’d been told in media-training at a recent conference in Washington for "Women in Leadership" put on by The Barbara Lee Family Foundation to keep her hands in a box like this.

She tried.

Symington was a featured speaker at the Democratic Party fundraiser held Saturday afternoon at the St. George farm of the late, great State Sen. Jean Ankeney [right].

"As you’re aware," said Speaker Symington to the 50 Democrats in attendance, "we’re still wrangling over a couple of issues, one of them being our energy future, one of them being whether we’re going to put reasonable restraints on the influence of money in campaigns. I’m disappointed Gov. Douglas has chosen to veto two significant pieces of legislation," she said.

Madame Speaker also told the gathering she departs Friday with daughter Mary to visit an old friend in Norway! Won't be back until July 9, two days before the special session to deal with trying to override the Douglas vetoes.

Are you gonna win on these veto-overrides?

Symington:  I think we’ll win at least one and I think that we might win two.  We’re working hard at it.

Ethan Allen Update

Back in 1979 when yours truly landed in Vermont to stay (Randolph first, that's where the station wagon broke down), my first job was as a "drawer-man" at the Ethan Allen Furniture factory that used to operate there. Ethan Allen Furniture, headquartered in Danbury, Connecticut, still makes some furniture in Vermont, but not as much.

Very interesting interview with the current CEO at Ethan Allen in Saturday's New York Times and International Herald Tribune:

Few names are as evocative of American history as that of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. But today Ethan Allen, the furniture and home furnishings company based in Danbury, Connecticut, is thoroughly international. Its chief executive is Farooq Kathwari, 62, who was born in Kashmir. Its manufacturing base is increasingly international as are its design motifs.

Kathwari recently discussed the international influence on his company and the furniture industry.

Where is furniture made these days?

Some 10 years ago, 85 percent of the furniture sold in the United States was made here. But today about 50 percent of the furniture sold here is made in the United States and 50 percent overseas, with China emerging as an important resource in the past 10 years.

What is the division of labor between America and China?

More customized furniture is made in the United States. For instance, upholstered furniture such as sofas and chairs, which is made custom in a selected fabric, is made in the United States. On the other hand, we have a lot of wood resources in the United States, but 70 percent of our wood furniture is now made overseas even though countries such as China and the Philippines have to import the wood. Because of their labor, and also the technology they have added, this furniture is made overseas.

Can any American manufacturing of furniture be defended?

In the case of Ethan Allen, we still have plants in Vermont, Maine and North Carolina making wood furniture. We are able to make furniture in solid woods. But unless it is very specialized, the chances are that over a period of time most furniture manufacturing will leave the United States.

Is all the manufacturing going to China?

China is getting a major portion, but countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam are getting a fair share. I'd say China accounts for 50 and 60 percent of all the products imported into the United States.

More here.

Martha Sighting [On Drugs]

This was the mellow scene down on the Church Street Marketplace earlier this evening. Summertime, summertime, sum-sum summertime!

A little foggy today inside the old cranium am I.  Totally spaced on getting a Neulasta shot yesterday on Hospital Hill. It's one of them "wonder" drugs that boosts white-blood cell production to counter the white-blood cell destruction caused by the other chemicals pumped in as part of Wednesday's R-CHOP chemo regimen. Went in this morning. No problemo.

Trust me, the old memory bank does take a hit under this drill. Others I've talked to who've been down the road before me have said it's something they experienced, too, and continue to experience.

Great. Where was I?

Yes, I was walking down the next block, look up, and 10 feet away walking towards me with two of her friends is....drum roll, please.....Martha Rainville!

Instead of playing reporter, however, I gurgled about how everyone's asking me about what's she's doing and telling me how much they miss her! Heck, I miss her, too! Jim Douglas' biggest catch was she for the Ol' Vermont GOP.

Biggest recruitment loss for St. Patrick, eh?

Talk about "chemo-brain," I had my little camera in my hand and never even thought to snap a picture.

Marvelous Martha, former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, last we heard landed some big job at FEMA and is down Washington-way these days.

Yes, indeed, here's the FEMA release:

Martha Rainville Joins FEMA Leadership

Release Date: April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Retired Air National Guard Major General Martha T. Rainville has been appointed counselor to the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator and deputy administrator for Continuity Programs, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison announced today.

Rainville, who officially joined FEMA on April 16, 2007, will conduct, lead, or coordinate special studies, issue analyses and task forces as assigned by the administrator, and recommend policy, program, or organizational changes to Continuity of Operations planning.

"I am happy to have General Rainville join FEMA's leadership," said FEMA Administrator Paulison. "Her background and experience in the National Guard will be a real asset to us as we continue building FEMA into the nation's preeminent emergency management and preparedness agency."

You'll recall Martha lost the November 2006 congressional race to Democrat Peter Welch 53.2 percent - 44.5 percent. Hey, no way a Republican was going to win that one.

And if President George "WMD" Bush doesn't make some significant personnel changes soon, his Republican Party will have to publicly abandon him. The numbers at left were from tonight's "Washington Week in Review." This week's Wall Street Journal - NBC  News Poll.

Mr. Bush's approval rating is at 29 percent.

What happens in a powerful, democratic nation where the people suddenly have no confidence in the commander-in-chief?

We're going to find out, aren't we?

Speaker says "Fuggedaboudit!"

After the stories in the morning Vermont papers about Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington thinking about pushing back the date of the special summer veto-override session from July 11 to September 11 [and Wednesday's punchy op-ed in the Rutland Herald by Senate Democratic kingpin Peter Shumlin], this email a few minutes ago came as a bit of a surprise, coming as quickly as it did:

Statement by House Speaker Gaye Symington
June 15, 2007

House Speaker Gaye Symington today affirmed that the veto session scheduled for July 11 will proceed as currently scheduled.  After several members informed the Speaker of their inability to attend the July 11 session due to long-planned vacations, she decided to explore the option of postponement so that as many members as possible would be present for the vote.  After discussing that possibility with the leadership of the minority party caucuses, she concluded that the July 11 date will remain as previously scheduled--at 10:00 am at the Statehouse.

Interesting.

Kudos to GOP Gov. Jim Douglas' Press Secretary Jason Gibbs [right] for a particularly snappy response yesterday to word Speaker Gaye was "thinking about" postponing the July special session.

Said Jason, who's been Jimbo's press guy since the first gubernatorial race against Democrat Doug Racine back in 2002:

"To ask the members to change their plans again, just so they can have more time to try and reverse votes, is alarmingly irresponsible leadership. She and (Senate President Pro Tem Peter) Shumlin selected that date, July 11, one of the latest veto sessions in the history of our state already, based on what was most convenient for their caucus and without regard for what was convenient for the minority."

Ouch!