Two Class Acts

Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont's comments on today's announcement by Republican Sen. John Warner, 80, of Virginia, that he will not seek reelection in 2008: 

“John Warner is one of my best friends.

"The Senate will be diminished by his leaving, and his steady, solid leadership has served the Senate, the nation and Virginia well.

“Senator Warner understands and values the Senate’s special role in our system. 

"At its best, the Senate has acted as the conscience of the nation.  Too few like Senator Warner are left in the Senate who understand that Senators must put country ahead of politics.”

Two guys who believe the country and the Constitution come before any administration, eh?

A Shopper's Paradise

Yours truly was the only press to show up this morning at Shaw’s on Shelburne Road in South Burlap to catch Congressman Peter Welch in action. Welchie and aide Jon Copans manned the folding table at the supermarket’s front door from 10-to-noon.

Even former Republican House Speaker Walt Freed [right] showed up! Freed of Dorset was docked down at Shelburne Yacht Club and picking up cold medicine for his lovely wife. We had a great chat. Honest. He's been reading the blog.

Not too busy for Welchie, but I’d say Vermont’s congressman got an earful from about 30 "shoppers" - one a familiar face from a past life of mine as a Leunig’s bartender in the early 1980s - Nancy Gerwig.

Nancy waitressed there for her four years at UVM [1982-86] while picking up a political science degree. Now a wife and mother of four living in Shelburne, she came to the supermarket with her youngest - four-year-old Greta to grocery shop and to ask her congressman a few questions.

“I thought the answers were not really what I wanted to hear,” she told me afterwards pushing her cart to her car. “I really feel that the Democrats are afraid to stand up and stop all the stretch of power that Bush has done.”

After living through the sanctimonious impeachment of Bill Clinton by the GOP majority, Nancy, like many Americans, has had a hard time understanding the Democrats’ argument against impeaching our disgraceful Liar-in-Chief - that it would detract from their other Democrat investigations and give the Republicans an issue to rally around.

Yes, indeed, it's a strange, strange world.

James Mullowney, a facilities manager at Vermont Gas Systems biked over to have a personal one-on-one with his congressman. Abortion, he told us afterward, is his #1 issue. He opposes it. What he expressed to Welch, however, was his objection to all the political partisanship and bickering. He said a bumper-sticker he’d seen "calling President Bush a terrorist” was way over the line.

“I appreciate that I made a point," he told Freyne Land. "I may not always agree with him, but I do appreciate him being out here and talking to people and listening to them.”

Said Welchie when it was over:

People are really engaged. I heard from everybody from people who are for impeachment to against impeachment. Folks who want us to do more on the environment. People who want us to focus on problems and not what they call partisan bickering. People are watching pretty closely.

What’s the top issue?

A lot of concern about the war, I think. A lot of concern about Congress trying to do something on health care. You really hear the most heart-wrenching stories about health care....More and more people who have been working hard can’t afford health care. They get it that our system isn’t working.

Media Notes

So I'm sitting at the top of Church Street last evening. Taking it all in and appreciating the magnificent changes my eyes have seen on Church since the "ancient" 1970s.

And a familiar face - a flash from the past - walks by. Meg Dennison was a reporter at The Associated Press' Montpeculiar bureau (1984-93). Grew up in Hinesburg. Married reporter Tim Peek [Addison Independent and Vermont Times]. With her are daughters Alison [13], in the middle, and Molly [11]. Home these days is South Orange, New Jersey.

Meg's parents still live in Hinesburg, and they ski Killington a lot in the winter, but she told me she hadn't visited downtown Burlington in years and was amazed  by how much it's changed.

Tim and Meg departed Vermont at the end of 1993 when he took a job as a producer with Inside Edition. Tabloid TV was just coming in. But Peek got fed up with Inside Edition and moved onwards and upwards to Dateline NBC.

Now, says Meg, he's directing some new digital gig at NBC called Channel One.

Stay tuned.

Never, ever, will I forget that phone call I got from Tim, then Vermont Times editor, in 1992, asking if I'd be interested in reviving my Ol' 1980s Vanguard Press "Inside Track" column after a three-year absence?

Are you kidding?

Music to the ears of Blacklisted & Penniless Pete, who the very next morning was going to officially abandon his writer/journalist quest and start a brand new job selling life insurance. Honest to god.

You have no idea how good it felt to call the insurance guy and tell him I wasn't going to take the job!

Change is in the air...

Love this window-box around the corner. Flowers have made such a comeback in Burlap. Heck, the whole city’s made a comeback as those who were around for the Burlington of the 1970s know well. A treeless City Hall Park. A waterfront under rubble. Patrick Leahy the state’s attorney.

Speaking of St. Patrick, just got an email from one of his crew regarding my description in this morning’s “Inside Track” column of the Senator as “one-eyed.”

He noted the senior senator from Vermont actually has two eyes in his head, but is “legally blind” in one of them.

Relax. “One-eyed” was merely a slang way of saying such. C’mon, it’s a column.

Hey, how about those headlines in today's papers:

Persistent Fear Drives Down Stock Market

A Scandal-Scared G.O.P. Asks ‘What’s Next’

A lot of folks are asking what's next, eh?

What else?

Last night, I was a 20-minute “guest” on NewsTalk 93 FM in Kingston, Jamaica. [Never been to Jamaica; love those accents!] Two female hosts, very articulate,  and some other American political science professor-type on the phone. The topic: Alberto Gonzales.

The other Yank was of a mind the choice of the next AG is George “WMD” Bush’s alone.

Not.

In fact, I’ve seen little in the national political press coverage that reflects any comprehension whatsoever about how the U.S. Constitution actually works.

This lame-duck president is really no King George, folks. The Age of Karl Rove has passed! Democracy is back. The required public process begins with a Bush nominee’s appearance before the Judiciary Committee. That will not happen until George "WMD" Bush AND Chairman Leahy and Co-Chair Arlen Specter have agreed on precisely who the next AG will be - ahead of time.

Let's be real. What’s happening now before our eyes is the collapse of the most crooked and corrupt U.S.  Executive Branch we have ever witnessed. Once so invincible it could fabricate phony evidence and mount a media propaganda campaign that led us into a totally senseless war it cannot/will-not end, the Bush Regime rats are fleeing their sinking ship quickly, eh?

That's what the loss of that iron-fisted majority control of Congress can do to you.

Donald Rumsfeld.

Scooter Libby.

Karl Rove.

Alberto Gonzalez.

And now, "Bathroom" Larry Craig of Idaho?
Larry “Family Values” Craig!

And I caught these patriotic Americans exercising our precious "freedom of speech" rights on the Church Street Marketplace Tuesday, during the dinner hour. There were 30 of them. From grandmas and grandpas to moms and dads and their little ones.

According to MoveOn.org there were 600 similar protests across the nation yesterday.

Oh, Happy Day!

See, the tide is turning. The truth will make us free.

First, Scooter the Liar gets convicted.

Then Rove the Liar quits.

And now Alberto the Liar finally pulls the chute!

Why, just 10 days ago, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont wrote the Inspector General requesting an investigation of the blatant untruths and contradictions in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ridiculous testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

This, minutes ago from St. Patrick:

“Under this Attorney General and this President, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence.  It is a shame, and it is the Justice Department, the American people and the dedicated professionals of our law enforcement community who have suffered most from it. 

“The obligations of the Justice Department and its leaders are to the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people, not to the political considerations of this or any White House.  The Attorney General’s resignation reinforces what Congress and the American people already know -- that no Justice Department should be allowed to become a political arm of the White House, whether occupied by a Republican or a Democrat.

“The troubling evidence revealed about this massive breach is a lesson to those in the future who hold these high offices, so that law enforcement is never subverted in this way again.  I hope the Attorney General’s decision will be a step toward getting to the truth about the level of political influence this White House wields over the Department of Justice and toward reconstituting its leadership so that the American people can renew their faith in its role as our leading law enforcement agency.”

Well said, eh?

This from Senator Bernie Sanders:

“It was past time for him to go. He had not been honest with Congress.  His credibility was shot. He has not respected the Constitution,” Sanders said.

Sanders added that the confirmation process could be a healthy refresher course in constitutional values.

“I think it’s time for the Congress to tell the president that we have a Constitution in this country which protects the basic rights of the American people.  He cannot do anything he wants whenever he wants.  Let’s get an attorney general in this country who can be effective in helping to protect the American people from terrorism while at the same time understands what the Constitution is about and respects basic civil liberties of the American people.”
 

And finally, this from Congressman Peter Welch:

"Alberto Gonzales will go down in history as one of the nation's worst Attorneys General. His legacy will be one of reckless politicization of the Justice Department, lying to Congress, and undermining our nation's cherished civil liberties. Vigorous congressional oversight, particularly under the principled leadership of Senator Patrick Leahy, is holding this Administration accountable and producing results."

Senator Health Care?

Lots on Bernie's plate these days. The freshman from Vermont, the only Independent in the prestigious upper body, has his butt parked on several key committees. One is "Health, Education, Labor & Pensions" chaired by Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. And that's got health-care reform at the top of his agenda when the Senate goes back into action after Labor Day.

America’s healthcare system is "disintegrating," says Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The sad fact is we’re the only country in the industrialized world without a national healthcare program. And he told us the other day that he's got serious plans to end that embarassment.

"What we’re going to do is introduce legislation which will allow 10 separate states to get federal funding and all kinds of federal waivers, so that they can move forward in providing universal healthcare to every man, woman and child in their states."

Ol' Bernardo tells yours truly he's teamed up with Rep. John Tierney [D. Mass], who will introduce similar legislation in the House.

"I hope that Vermont and other states will go forward with a single-payer system, which I believe is the best way. But in any case, we will be able to look at what states are doing, learn from that  and develop a national program which finally will provide healthcare to every man, woman and child as a right of citizenship."

And Bernie did not need any motivation from Michael Moore's flick - Sicko, which presents a scathing fact-based indictment of our shameful for-profit healthcare system. Been running around the state holding town meetings and meeting with constituents, says he. Just hasn't had time for the movie theater.

Certainly has a lively website, though. Doesn't he?

A True Vermont Embarassment

First woke for a morning pee at 5:49. Rang a bell.

“549“ was the number of one of my regular cabs in Chicago back in the 1970s.[Hey, is this the aging process?]  Actually it was “2549.” One of Chicago’s 5000 “licensed” taxi cabs. Most were either Yellows or Checkers. Mine was one of the few hundred “Independents.” A red-white-and-blue Ford LTD. No shield. Twenty-five bucks, plus gas for a 12-hour shift. Sometimes I miss it. You met everybody. 

A great classroom. And a great office. Made up for the street-smarts one isn't exposed to in a college classroom. Expect the unexpected.  Still carry the backpack and the notebooks and pens. Tools of the trade. Guess it’s worked, eh?

Anyway, I didn't cover this earlier in the week - busy week - but, Vermont's Independent U. S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is blowing the whistle on the Bush-Cheney propaganda machine, aka Fox News, for beating their 24/7 drums for a new war against another country that is not a threat - this time against Iran.

And the ludicrous, dishonest editorial page of the Caledonian-Record in St. Johnsbury, Vermont once again abandons any and all pretense of credibility in smearing Ol' Bernardo, our popular and well-respected U.S. senator, for having the courage to stand up and tell the truth about Fox News, which apparently, is the right-wing "Cal-Wreck's"  TV News bible!

Sen. Bernie Sanders and a notoriously liberal filmmaker have teamed up to produce a three-minute documentary that viciously attacks the Fox News Network as a collection of warmongers leading us into war with Iran. Their documentary is a pastiche of bits and pieces from a dozen sources that add up to a virulently anti-Bush, anti-Republican piece of propaganda.

It is sad to see Sen. Bernie Sanders prostituting his election to the most prestigious body in the world by flacking for the rabble. He plainly doesn't understand that there is a dignity that goes with the office of senator that precludes hawking snake oil. When Bernie was a simple congressman, one of several hundred, making speeches to an empty House at 2 in the morning in order to get himself into the Congressional Record, it was easy to dismiss him, as virtually everybody in Washington and Vermont did. But as Senator Bernie Sanders, joining his raucous voice to a radical propagandist's and attacking a national news network that millions and millions of Americans pay attention to every day, cheapens his high office and is undignified and unworthy.

I'd say the St. Johnsbury daily gets an "A" for propaganda!

The nerve of Landslide Bernie Sanders to be "flacking for the rabble," eh?

Doesn't he know he should be flacking for the banks, the profiteering war-machine, the insurance industry, the polluting oil & coal industries and the richest of our rich?

You know, the folks the Caledonian-Record editorial page has championed for decades?

Writes Sen. Sanders:

Every American should watch Robert Greenwald’s short video, for it shows us that the current Fox drumbeat for war is almost exactly the same as what Fox did, and most of the American media did, in the days before we invaded Iraq.

We know that most of what we were told then in that very loud and determined campaign about the dangers of Iraq turned out to be false. We need to be very, very careful that we don’t follow another loud and determined campaign into another disastrous war.

Presidential Boycott of Vermont

With the tornado-like storm blowing through Chicago, the Midwest underwater, and a U.S. fighter jet, one of our boys, bombing British troops in Afghanistan, I thought the "Presidential Boycott of Vermont" story would get bumped from "Good Morning America."

Wrong.

I rarely if ever watch ABC's "Good Morning America" program. Now I know why.

They treated it like an "entertainment" story rather than a "news" story. Though they had little sound bites from our senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders, the "hook" was Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream fame and his "free ice-cream offer" to our disgraceful president if he sets foot in Vermont, the only state of 50 he has not visited while president.

Wonder what Ol' Ethan Allen would say, eh?

I was lost in something else in Internet Land and didn't get the tape recorder on it. Barely got this pic of our presidential warmonger, the ol' draft-dodger who used daddy's connections to get into the Texas National Guard and avoid the Vietnam War. And he has the nerve to compare his own personally orchestrated, totally deceitful debacle in Iraq to Vietnam as he "fights" in the media to keep his war going?

Thank you Sen. John Warner, Virgina Republican and former Secretary of the Navy for speaking up yesterday and saying what has to be said - time to bring our troops home!

Reports The Washington Post: Sen. John W. Warner, one of the most influential Republican voices in Congress on national security, called on President Bush yesterday to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in time for Christmas as a new intelligence report concluded that political leaders in Baghdad are "unable to govern effectively."

The Vietnam-Iraq parallels grow stronger every day, don't they?

Anyone out there remember Phil Ochs?

Oh, we're fighting in a war we lost,
before the war began.

We're the white boots marching
in a yellow land.

Vermont Leads - USA Follows?

Cheer up, folks.

The voice of this little Green Mountain State continues to catch the nation’s ear. The tide is turning, not as fast as we'd like, but it is turning.

CNN’s John King aired a nice little feature on the CNN “Political Ticker” Wednesday afternoon about “President Bush's forgotten state?”

They’d actually had it in the can for a couple weeks - bumped by the Minnesota bridge-collapse story and the mine cave-in.

C’est la vie, eh?

And not only the usual suspects appeared before the camera like Bernie Sanders, our “self-described socialist” senator and UVM Political Science Prof. Garrison Nelson. Garrison told CNN that he "sees no upside in the president paying a visit to Vermonters."

"It is a photo opportunity he does not need," Nelson said. "I cannot imagine any assemblage in the state of Vermont that would give him an unalloyed positive reception."

But CNN also noted:

Vermont does have a Republican governor, Jim Douglas, but he is a throwback to the moderate breed of Republicanism that once thrived across New England. Douglas notes the first President Bush visited Vermont last among the 50 states, and predicts the son will do the same — despite his low popularity.

"He can take it," Douglas said of a potential Vermont visit. "He has certainly taken a lot of hostility and tough questions and I am sure he can do that here."

More to come, too.

A crew from one of the original "Big 3" networks (psst: ABC) was in town yesterday. Curious, they were, about why this president won't set foot in this state.

Too bad they weren't as curious when the crooked Bush/Haliburton/Fox News Team led us into war on such fraudulent evidence, eh?

Football Returns to UVM!

So I’m driving home from Seven Days on Tuesday evening. Another weekly "Inside Track" miracle in the can. Heading south along Prospect Street and I’m cruising past the Redstone Campus. It’s about 7 p.m.  and a beautiful Burlington sunset.

Had noticed the UVM students returning to the apartment blocks around downtown over the past couple days. It goes with the season. But I was not prepared for what I saw on the big lawn of Redstone - a football team practicing - a college football team!

See, there hasn’t been a college football team at UVM since 1974 - that’s before the college students of the present were even conceived, yet alone born.

Had to check it out. Was it a mirage?

Nope.

It was one of the very first practices of the UVM Club Football Team. Yes, University of Vermont football!

They’re playing in a semi-pro league and have an 8-game schedule...and a website. First game is Saturday in Manchester, VT against the Northern Berkshire Kings.

Some have previous college football experience, said injured tailback Dustin Degree, who played a season at Norwich. And some, said Dustin, the team spokesman, have never played organized football before.

Home games will be played at Buck Hard Field at Burlington High School.

The team will practice at Redstone and on the UVM Rugby Field.

One day - the Catamount Coliseum?

Something about seeing these guys in pads and helmets smacking into one another at Redstone made this old dog feel like a miracle was happening before his eyes.

UVM football. Wow!

A Great Escape!

It’s Tuesday morning, which means a lot of balls in the air vis-a-vis the ol' "Inside Track" print column for tomorrow's paper. But this old dog wanted to share a brand new trick.

On Sunday at 3 p.m., yours truly was the 10th person, that’s right, just the 10th, to enter the hallowed halls of the Vermont Historical Society Museum in the Pavilion Building on beautiful State Street in Montpeculiar.

I was heading for some coffee at Capitol Grounds. Quiet street. But there was a “Open” sign out front on the State Street sidewalk and I followed the impulse. After all, I realized, I’ve been to a million gubernatorial press conferences on the Fifth Floor above, but I have never, ever been in the first floor of the building...ever. And these days, trying new tricks is what this gracefully-aging Freyne does.

A marvelous surprise! Top shelf exhibit! Freedom & Unity: One Ideal, Many Stories.

Something for everyone with a taste for Vermont history. And a political junkie’s feast. Great audio and video of the politicians of yesteryear like Phil Hoff, Ralph Wright, Madeleine Kunin and George Aiken and many more. Plus wigwams and old colonial shops, a movie theater and many great surprises. I'm definitely going back.

Mostly the many surprising, informative and mysterious rooms play to a lot of 4th Grade school tours during the week, but let me tell ya’, it’s a precious gem for kids of all ages - and need I repeat, a political junkie's field day? Easy to kill a couple hours and get lost in the old days and the people who made them.

The exhibit’s in the 3rd year of a 10-year-run. Admission is $5 for adults. A great spot on a rainy weekend. Check out the museum website.

Upside-Down World

A little on the chilly side for August, eh?

Dare we say the world's a little upside down?

Nobody makes that point better than the Rythym Riderz Crew for whom standing on their heads comes natural. The Crew puts on quite the amazing show. We caught them on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace the other evening.

And, of course, they have a website, AND you can watch them perform online over on fellow Seven Days video-blogger Eva Sollberger's "Stuck in Vermont" blog.

How does he do that?

I mean, a truly amazing show to catch. I don't recall ever seeing a similar "break-dance" style. Local boys, too.

On the politics front, things are a little quiet.  Anti-wind power Republican Gov. Jim Douglas continues to get good press while Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington and Democrat State Chairman Ian Carleton merely put out press releases that get ignored.

God forbid they'd ever make a phone call to a reporter, eh? Or hone down their message to a single, simple point?

Simply put, communications is not their strength, it's their glaring weakness.

Lucky Jim Douglas, eh?

Frickin' Freyne Friday

What a day!

My apologies for the delay in blog-posting. Love the weather, but technical difficulties have been my theme song this Friday. Can’t get my camera to download pictures to my computer. Then I had my "Freyne Land" blog-posting completely disappear just when it was all set!  Had to rewrite the whole bloody thing.

C’est la vie, mes amis. We are living in interesting times and the tide is turning...finally.

You see, I went down to the Health Department in Burlington this morning to catch U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy. He was getting an award from Human Services Secretary Cynthia LaWare for his stellar work on behalf of the WIC Program.

I wanted to ambush him on the rather historic goings-on in Washington where as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, St. Patrick is at the center of the storm as this corrupt, dangerous and dishonest administration crumbles like a House of Cards.

Karl Rove, the architect of George “WMD” Bush’s political dynasty, may be leaving the White House, but Sen. Leahy made it clear to us that his committee is not backing off on its investigation of criminal wrongdoing by Karl Rove and the rest of them in the dumping of 8 federal prosecutors and the ensuing cover-up.

On Thursday, Chairman Leahy, wrote the Inspector General at Justice, asking that he investigate “potential misleading, evasive, or dishonest testimony by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 24, 2007,”  and in previous hearings before this and other congressional Committees.

The request comes just days after Rove, President Bush’s top political spin-doctor, announced in The Wall Street Journal that he will be leaving the West Wing at the end of August. Rove is so far refusing to honor a bipartisan subpoena from St. Patrick’s committee. Said Sen. Leahy to "Freyne Land":

I’m going back to Washington Monday, on the return date on the subpoenas. I expect that they will not produce the documents even though they easily could, but I’ll be there on the off-chance that they might produce something.

The former Chittenden Country State’s Attorney will meet on Capitol Hill with Judiciary Committee staff over what their next move will be, then return to the Green Mountains on Tuesday.

I’ve also sent a transcript of Attorney General Gonzales’ testimony to the Inspector General at the Department of Justice and pointed out a number of glaring inconsistencies in it. I asked him to look into that and to give us his report back.

And this morning in The Washington Post, FBI Director Muller adds to the inconsistencies of the Attorney General’s testimony. So it is becoming something where both Republicans and Democrats are very, very, very concerned.

Leahy’s reference is to FBI Director Robert Mueller who described then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as “feeble” and “barely articulate” when Gonzales tried unsuccessfully to get the hospitalized Ashcroft to approve a Bush Administration warrant-less wiretap program.

Gonzales, however,  gave a much different account of that Ashcroft hospital visit when he testified under oath before Leahy’s committee, describing Ashcroft as ”lucid” and claiming the drugged hospital patient had done most of the talking.

Anybody, anybody at all out there still believe Alberto?

Vermont Gets Noticed...Again

“Maybe President Bush doesn't like Birkenstocks, or antiquing, or socialists,” writes Joe Curl, the chief White House correspondent for the conservative Washington Times. “It could simply be that the health-conscious president just doesn't dig Ben & Jerry's high-fat ice cream.”

Sure, Joe. With the Bush Administration crumbling in disgrace, denial and dementia, it's time to get the focus outside of Washington, eh?

“Whatever the reason, Mr. Bush has not visited the state of Vermont. He has been to 49 other states and stopped off in more than 60 countries, including Albania, Uganda, Qatar — even Mongolia — but still no trip to Vermont.”

I know, you thought this was old news, right? But the Bush-friendly daily founded and funded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, father of the Unification Church, put it on its story list Tuesday, the day after Karl Rove's resignation went public in the conservative Wall Street Journal.

Yours truly had a voice-message on our machine when we got home from Seven Days Tuesday evening. I confess, I'm not a regular Washington Times reader, but I returned the call.

Unlike the president's first-ever visit to Rhode Island in June — when he made an appearance at the Naval War College in Newport that both of the state's U.S. senators skipped — Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, a vocal administration critic, yesterday made a solemn pledge to be a hospitable host.

"The whole delegation would be there — all three of us. How many other states can you get every single member of the delegation out there?" the senator said with a laugh yesterday.

Mr. Leahy said there are no hard feelings about the profanity Vice President Dick Cheney spewed at him on the Senate floor in 2004, and offered a simple reason why Mr. Bush has not dropped by: "I think he's saving the best for last."

Curl also discussed the matter with Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders:

"If the president came, we'd get the largest facility we possibly could, I would be delighted to moderate it, and he would be treated with the respect as is becoming the president of the United States," he said.

And Curl did get former Bush mouthpiece Ari Fleischer in the piece. Always liked Ari, didn't you?

"Vermont is the opposite of George W. Bush: It's granola, it's crunchy, it's liberal, and it's socialist," said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who attended Middlebury College in Vermont and still vacations there.

And Mr. Fleischer knows firsthand what the president faces: When he went back to his alma mater — a school of about 2,000 students — to receive an award, "about 1,000 protesters showed up." No place is safe in the state, Mr. Fleischer said: "Even the tallest mountain peak, they'll backpack their way up there to protest the president." 

But Ol' Joe didn't return our call-back. Bummer!

Read the whole article here.

What do you think?  Will our president visit our state before he leaves office?

As Ari put it, "He sure saved a doozy for last."

Changing Times, eh?

Let's get this straight, OK?

The Vermont Public Service Board has approved what GOP Gov. Jim Douglas scorns as an  "industrial" wind power project in Sheffield.

Karl Rove, the man behind George "WMD" Bush's presidential throne has announced his "resignation," and will be gone from the West Wing by month's end.

And GQ Magazine has picked Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy as one of The "50 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE IN D.C."

That's St. Patrick at his Tuesday presser in Montpelier with a couple of the handful of members of the Vermont media who showed [Lisa Rathke from AP, Louis Porter from the TA/Rutland Herald, St. Pat, TA photographer Stefan Hard and Rob Roper, the state chair of the Vermont Republican Party whose curiosity showed.]

You'd think Mr. Rove's resignation and Sen. Leahy's position as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a committee currently seeking Rove's testimony, would make for a worthy news hook, eh?  Unfortunately, Vermont's "top" daily newspaper and "top" TV News operation did not think so.

The Gannett chain's Burlington Free Press did not even send a reporter - they no longer maintain a Montpelier office when the Legislature's not in session - and WGOP, er, sorry, WCAX-TV News just showed up to grab a soundbite afterward.

No big deal, eh?

Just the fall of the corrupt, deceitful and dishonest regime that's done more harm to America than any that's preceded it!

One of a kind, eh?  In fact, the White House correspondent for the Washington Times was on our answering machine Tuesday, inspired by Vermont's unique status as the ONLY state in America this president has not set foot in while president.

I don't know about you, but it feels like an honor, a sign of genuine r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Vermont is, after all, the ONLY state whose entire congressional delegation voted against the legislation that turned the Bush-Cheney-Rove Team loose in Iraq.

Now look where it got us, eh?

Our team, Team Vermont, got it right, as in "correct," from the very beginning on Iraq, its alleged "threat,"  its non-existent WMDs and the truthfulness of the current White House. And Republicans like Mr. Roper, the GOP's Vermont chair, still don't get it.

"Karl Rove has served this country for the past seven years," Roper told Reporter Louis Porter. "This is a moment we should take a moment to thank him for what he has done whether we agree with him or not."

Thank him? Thank Karl Rove for what he's done for our country?

Tell that to the families of the 3700 American soldiers who've already died because the rest of Congress fell for the lies that he successfully sold them.

Tracky Tuesday Again

Still letting the reality of Karl Rove’s resignation sink in. Has a “rats leaving a sinking ship” feel to it, doesn't it?

And if you liked Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, you’ll positively love What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire!

“A disturbing, compassionate, sometimes humorous personal essay about coming to grips with climate change, environmental meltdown and the demise of the American lifestyle.”

It’s a very well done two-hour documentary by a bunch of talented midwesterners I had not heard of that goes deeper than Al Gore did. Caught a preview the other day. Reality - what a concept!

And it’s showing Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Champlain College’s Alumni Auditorium. They’re asking for a $10 contribution.

One path leads to despair and hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
- Woody Allen

Correction: Our source for there having been four Democratic governors of Vermont was that Howard Dean guy.

Not!

An election of special importance in the history of both the Republican and Democratic Parties of Vermont occurred in 1853. Contrary to common belief, the first Democratic Governor of Vermont was not Phil Hoff, but rather John Robinson, elected by the General Assembly in 1853. Robinson had come in a distant second in popular vote (38%). Whig candidate Erastus Fairbanks had 44% and Lawrence Brainerd, the Free Soil Democrat, had 18%. After nine days and 26 ballots the General Assembly finally elected the Democrat Governor and then went on to do likewise in the election of a Lieutenant Governor and Treasurer (in which races the Democrats had also come in second).

Leahy on King Karl's Departure

First comment on Karl Rove's resignation comes from Vermont's senior senator, Patrick J. Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

“Earlier this month, Karl Rove failed to comply with the Judiciary Committee's subpoena to testify about the mass firings of United States Attorneys.  Despite evidence that he played a central role in these firings, just as he did in the Libby case involving the outing of an undercover CIA agent and improper political briefings at over 20 government agencies, Mr. Rove acted as if he was above the law.  That is wrong.

"Now that he is leaving the White House while under subpoena, I continue to ask what Mr. Rove and others at the White House are so desperate to hide.  Mr. Rove’s apparent attempts to manipulate elections and push out prosecutors citing bogus claims of voter fraud shows corruption of federal law enforcement for partisan political purposes, and the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its investigation into this serious issue.

“The list of senior White House and Justice Department officials who have resigned during the course of these congressional investigations continues to grow, and today, Mr. Rove added his name to that list.

"There is a cloud over this White House, and a gathering storm. A similar cloud envelopes Mr. Rove, even as he leaves the White House.”

***This just in at 4:55 p.m. from Rep. Peter Welch:

"Karl Rove's departure is long overdue.  While the so-called "Architect" is gone, his legacy of seriously misguided politics and policies regrettably remain in place.  His departure does not give him or the President a free pass from the congressional investigations and close scrutiny these policies rightly deserve."

Damage Control?

On Saturday, he was cozying up over hot dogs and french fries with French President Nicholas Sarkozy, and Monday morning the news dropped that Karl Rove, the man behind George W. Bush’s throne, is leaving the White House!!!

Rove is universally regarded as the guy who has been String-Puller Numero Uno. Certainly, no one would deny that our country would not be where it is today without Karl Rove?

And for that there ought to be a spot in a federal penitentiary with his name on it, eh?

We’ll see.

Ah, but he departs in his inimitable style, giving the Democrat most likely to replace Mr. Bush a swift kick between the legs in his Wall Street Journal farewell.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rove predicted, would be the Democratic nominee, and he then called her a “tough, tenacious, fatally flawed candidate.”

But let's leave Hillary alone for a second and keep the light shining on you and yours.

The Bush Boys, you and yours, have lost the confidence and basic trust of the American people and deservedly so. There's no doubt about it. Obviously, your departure is designed to get the heat off the Bush White House and the Bush Administration and some how. some way, save a few Republican congressional seats in November 2008. 

The question is, will it?

DNC Does Burlington

There have only been four Democratic governors in Vermont history. They're all alive and half of them were on the same dais at the Burlington Hilton on Saturday.

Howard Dean M.D. and Ambassador/Author Madeleine Kunin spoke to the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee. Ho-Ho's the current chairman. Still sounds like a presidential candidate, especially when President George "WMD" Bush is the target:

He makes a big deal about putting together commissions to talk about security and then ignores security.

We are the party of security. They are the party of talk, and I think at the end of the day in November, the American people will elect the party of security and stop electing the party of talk and I’m looking forward to that very, very much.

Ho-Ho was getting kudos for his "50-state strategy" which has given life to Democrat candidates in places [like New Hampshire] where they used to appear non-contenders.

Dean also assured the Vermont reporters who turned out that there will be a Democratic Party candidate on the ballot against incumbent Republican Gov. Jim Douglas in 2008:

I think by Vermont standards this is incredibly early. As you may remember, Tom Salmon, the second Democratic governor in 100-and-some odd years became the nominee of his party shortly after the Democratic convention in Miami in 1972. So by Vermont standards, [it's] very, very early and I have full confidence that the Democrats in Vermont will have a very strong gubernatorial candidate.

A Democratic candidate on the November 2008 ballot?

Yes.

Well, what did you expect him to say?

Queen Madeleine is finishing up her next book on women in politics. Kunin said the current working-title is Go For It.

"We’ll see," she said. "It may not last."

The publisher is Chelsea Green, a Vermont publisher.

Kunin stumped the DNC Executive Committee with the question:

Which country in the world do you think has the highest percentage of women in its parliament?

P.S. One thing Gov. Dean the Democrat has in common with Gov. Douglas, party of Bush,  is that neither one has gone to see Michael Moore's powerful healthcare flick Sicko.

Why not?

"'Cause I don't have a chance to watch movies," said Dr. Dean when we asked.

Unlike the other Guvs, Gov. Kunin said she has gone to see Sicko.

Hometown Boy

Hey, remember this guy?

Howard Dean M.D. has called Burlington home for almost 30 years. And for more than 11 of those years he was beating the path back-and-forth to Montpelier where he was Vermont's governor.

Hey, it's his name that's attached to the first-in-the-nation law extending marriage rights to same-sex couples.

No photo of the signing exists, however.

Today Ho-Ho's the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the guy most people credit with the Democrats' successful 50-state strategy that took back Congress in November 2006. I caught him this afternoon in the lobby of Burlington, Vermont's newest hotel - the Hilton!

Well, it may have been built in the 1970s, but it was called the Radisson back then. Then it became the Wyndham [in the 90s?] and just this week, I'm told by the cashier in the gift shop, they celebrated the name-change to Hilton.

The Hilton! The name always takes me back to the Conrad Hilton on Michigan Avenue in Chicago - August 1968 and the Democratic National Convention.  A Chicago "police riot," said the Kerner Commission, with more blood, bandages and tear gas than you could swing a billy-club at.

According to the official press release put out by the DNC HQ in DC this week, the official event is only happening on Saturday:

The Democratic National Committee today announced that it will host a joint meeting of the DNC's Executive Committee and the Executive Committee of the Association of State Democratic Party Chairs (ASDC) at the Hilton in Burlington on Saturday, August 11 at 11:00 a.m.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean will deliver remarks highlighting the success of the DNC's 50 State Strategy in the Democratic victories last November and provide an update on the DNC's State Party Partnership. Dean will discuss the DNC's new national voter protection effort, an unprecedented initiative that would not be possible without the SPP staffers employed by state Democratic parties, and outline the Democratic Party's plan for keeping its majority and taking back the White House in 2008.

In addition to Dean's update, the meeting will also include an update on 2007 governors races by Nathan Daschle, Executive Director of the Democratic Governors Association, and an update on the 2008 Democratic National Convention by Leah Daughtry, DNC Chief of Staff and Chief Executive Officer of the Democratic National Convention Committee.

We will also be joined by the Honorable Madeleine Kunin.

Actually, folks started arriving this afternoon. Ho-Ho announced to a few other Ds in the lobby that I was the Vermont political columnist to watch out for. I took it as a compliment.

Then he had to dash out to the airport to pick up his lovely wife.

"Disappointed"

That's how Gov. Jim Douglas said he felt in response to the Public Service Board decision giving the green light to the 16-Tower wind project in Sheffield.

Unfortunately, we had to wait 45 minutes to ask him since the presser was a pre-staged commercial for the "New Workforce Recruitment Effort" the Douglas Administration is rolling out online next month. That's Commerce Secretary Kevin Dorn at the microphone [Alan Walker, a Scotsman who manages Qimonda in Williston over his right shoulder and you-know-who over his left].

There'll be a new "web portal" unveiled next month [another presser to promote it?] that's designed to attract the software engineer crowd, many of whom may have picked up a college degree here, or grew up in Vermont and departed to experience the world of big cities.

And then, when we finally got to the real "news" story of the day, Press Secretary Jason Gibbs jumped in quickly to say time was about up since the Boss had to stay on schedule and depart for the 3:15 ribbon-cutting at the Winooski Farmer's Market.

Yours truly, however, spoke up about how it might be nice to address the top Vermont news story of the day, and Gov. Scissorhands graciously did so. Let's face it, this Middlebury College graduate, who stayed in Vermont, can talk the paint off a wall when he has to!

Vermont's Guv is "disappointed" that the wind project got the green light - he always calls it "industrial wind." And he said he's hopeful the PSB will look at the coming wind power projects "on a case-by-case basis."

You'd think a Vermont CEO like that, one who is dead-set against wind energy, while going to the mat for nuclear, could attract a few challengers, eh?

"The Answer, My Friend

Is blowing in the wind.

The answer is blowing in the wind."

That little Bob Dylan tune fills the air this morning. The Vermont Public Service Board has given the green-light to the Sheffield wind power project! I trust the Guv will express his sincere displeasure at his 1 p.m. presser.

Also on the presidential political scene there's "a new wind blowing," says Laura Cary of South Burlington, a volunteer activist with Vermonters for Obama. It may be the "Dog Days of Summer," but the group went ahead and held an August meeting anyway at Uncommon Grounds Coffee Shop on Church Street Wednesday evening.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama came in first with 36 percent in the Vermont Democrat Party's straw poll released on August 1.

John Edwards was second with 29 percent.

Hillary Clinton came in third with 10 percent, though she is in first place nationally among Democrats.

"The mood is excellent," Cary told us afterward. They're making plans for the fall, she said, and also finishing up collecting signatures to put him on the ballot.

"I’m no political expert," said Laura, "I’m just a voter, but I think it looks good. It’s five-and-a-half months away so anything can happen. We know that from last time, so I’m hopeful. Obviously Hillary’s the front-runner. We’d rather be the front-runner, but he’s doing very well and a lot can happen in five months."

A lot of people for Obama have never experienced the man before, I noted. Is it fair to say he represents 'hope' and the the 'unknown.' It’s part of his strength, Agree?

"Yes. I think people want change desperately. Everyone’s just had enough," said Cary. "Everyone’s had enough! Obama represents something different, a turning of the page and I think that Republicans and Democrats alike have just had it. Hope is really building. I think there’s a new wind blowing."

Did you just tune out the White House?

"I unfortunately follow it. I’ve stopped reading The Burlington Free Press and that’s made me a happier person. If I stopped reading The Washington Post, I’d probably be a happier person, too, but I haven’t. I do read the WP everyday, and The New York Times [chuckle] and The Los Angeles Times.

"Obama’s doing great. He’s building momentum. He’s No. 2 in the polls, though I don’t think the polls are accurate. Wanna know why?"

Sure.

"As a generalization, Obama supporters are younger people and Hillary supporters are older people. All the polls are done on land lines only.

Young people don’t have land lines, they have cell phones and they don’t poll people with cell phones. So I think that skews the polls. That’s my theory!"

Interesting.

Building Bridges

A lot of happy campers on hand at the noon hour today as South Burlington and Colchester celebrated the official completion of the new Lime Kiln Bridge!

Good timing, especially in light of the Minneapolis bridge collapse over the Mississippi. The old Lime Kiln Bridge certainly looked like it was about to, didn’t it?

This baby over a branch of the Winooski also came with a great lookout over the gorge and hiking trails in the woods! There’s even a nice little parking lot for tourists and hikers on the South Burlington side.

I went thinking I’d get a shot of a Gov. Jim Douglas ribbon-cutting, but there wasn’t one. Darn.

Instead. he unveiled a plaque and ate a piece of cake, [though he remains kinda skinny, don’t you think?]

Also wanted to catch Transportation Secretary Neale Lunderville in action. That’s the Boy Wonder with the woman he replaced last summer - Sec. Dawn Terrill.

After a  year-and-a-half running AOT, Dawn departed the Douglas Administration and bought a business with her husband Steve: JaniTech - a commercial janitorial business that offers “green cleaning solutions.”

Progress is a dirty business, folks, and somebody’s got to pick up after.

Lunderville, Jimbo’s talented former campaign manager, continues to get high marks for his performance as Vermont’s Secretary of Transportation. Young Neale is getting kudos for his smarts and his communication skills and there’s a little buzz going behind the scenes about a statewide candidacy for governor in his future [in the post-Douglas Age, of course].

Tracky Tuesday

The weekly ritual: writing "Inside Track."

Would you believe I started writing this column in the summer of 1981?  A vehicle to corral all the "stuff" that was going down in Burlington, Vermont's dramatically altered political/social/cultural/media  landscape with that new guy, Bernie Sanders, occupying the office of mayor.

Those were the days when Church Street closed to traffic and became a pedestrian mall. New joints, restaurants and watering holes opened like Sweetwaters and Leunig's. And the distinguished folk musician Tim Whiteford [left] was part of that scene with his band - the Highland Weavers.

Used to bump into Professor Whiteford (he teaches education at St. Michael's College], regularly at the corner of the bar in Leunig's. And a great hang-out it was! Met the two women I married in there [and that's probably why I've stayed out of the place this century.]

Tim and his Highland Weavers were regulars in Burlington's "First Night" New Year's extravaganza.  Performed for more than 20 First Nights. Bumped into him yesterday at Speeder & Earl's on Pine Street.  He told us that last year the band was not invited back. So what did he do?

Started his own First Night in Richmond, calling it "A Celtic New Year"  - sold 500 tickets - and sold out three days before the show!

This year, he said, they'll sell 1000 tickets and have jazz groups and rock and roll, too.

First Night Burlington, he said, did call and invite them back for New Year's 2008, but you know what?

A Celtic First Night is staying in Richmond.

Now....time for "Track."

Look at the Bright Side

Not exactly a typical August day in Vermont weather-wise, but c’mon, there’s a silver lining in every cloud, right?

Took this shot yesterday under warm temps and sunny blue skies downtown on Main Street in Burlington. It’s been a great summer on the floral front, eh?

Can you find the butterfly?

And also look at the bright side on the political front. A year ago at this time, the ol’ “light at the end of the tunnel” was tough to find, if one could find it at all. I know I couldn’t. And when the light went out, the cancer came in.

That’s changed.

And I’m not alone.

This weekend the second annual YearlyKos convention took place in beautiful Chicago. And one distinguished Vermonter attending the big blogger shindig at McCormack Place had this very interesting observation:

I think, nearly three-and-a-half years after Dean for America collapsed in the wake of the Iowa caucus loss, that Howard Dean might have won the campaign.

The words of Montpelier’s Garrett Graff, son of Chris, who worked on Ho-Ho’s presidential campaign. Garrett noted that when the 2004 presidential campaign ended and George “WMD” Bush [and his boss, Dick Cheney], retained power, WMD's Democratic challengers pretty much fell completely by the wayside.

Anybody seen or heard John Kerry in the last three years?

How about his wife? [Not that we miss her.]

Writes Garrett:

Today the Democrats are Howard Dean’s party and Howard Dean’s people are in charge, including, of course, himself. And, again, I’m not just talking about the paid DNC staff but actually the thousand-plus activists here most of whom seem to have come into DailyKos.com and the Democratic Party through Dean for America, Democracy for America, or the state-level efforts of Dean’s 50-state campaign.

Very interesting piece, indeed, by Graff the Younger.

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

Also on the "Look at the Bright Side" front...

Congratulations are in order for Ch. 3 anchorwoman Kristin Kelly and Burlington Police Lt. Emmet Helrich.

They finally made it "official" and tied the knot on Saturday.

Best wishes!

Bush, Babes and Berryman?

America's dishonest and dangerous national leader, President George "WMD" Bush, spent all of three hours on the ground in Minneapolis on Saturday demonstrating to the nation that, even though he's not running for reelection, he can still do a photo-op!

Unfortunately, America's renegade regime leader is not the most articulate president we've had. In fact, he's the least articulate of my lifetime, making Ronald Reagan appear borderline brilliant. Said George our Liar-in-Chief:

On behalf of the citizens of America, I bring prayers from the American people to those who suffered loss of life as a result of the collapse of the 35W bridge here in the Twin Cities. I bring the prayers of those who wonder about whether they'll ever see a loved one again.

So now the man who presided over the deceitful and dishonest scheme to start a war he can neither win nor end has dubbed himself a prayer-carrier?

Bush told the cameras he had met with the police chief and sheriff and, "people who represent men and women who are working as hard as they possibly can to save life and to find life; to go under these murky waters to find the facts."

Facts?  Facts?  Everybody knows after five years of an illegal war in Iraq that facts are this bloody tyrant's #1 enemy, ferchrissakes.

The Minnesota trip was to cover his PR butt after blowing it on Hurricane Katrina. Those Cable TV News Babes really do count, right Mr. Rove?

His remarks, all 500 words, lasted four minutes. Our president did not take any questions from the press.

He doesn't have to, does he?

Way to go Mr. President!

Meanwhile his visit, picked up live on the cable news channels, took me back to the next vehicle-span downriver on the Mighty Mississippi - the Washington Avenue Bridge. It's a two-decker, pedestrians on top (with a heated, enclosed inner section for winter), and motor vehicles on the bottom. It cuts right through the middle of the University of Minnesota campus, the largest in the country at that time. A little memory lane here.

Autumn 1971. A quiet, early-in-the-week kind of night. The bar was called Caesar's. I was 22. She was 27. He was some old wasted academic-type on a stool in the dark corner.  She'd been talking to the old fart, then apparently had her fill and asked the young guy - me - if I wanted to shoot a little pool.

You never say "no," right?  Not at 22, anyway. After three games we went back to her place. The old drunk, 57,  was in the same spot the next few times I dropped in. Usually quite hammered. Someone said he was a famous poet. Never got much of a conversation going, he was usually pretty sloshed.

A few months later in January he waved to whoever was nearby and jumped off the Washington Avenue Bridge. Death by suicide.

It was UM Professor/Poet John Berryman, winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize.

From Berryman's 77 Dream Songs:

I'm too alone. I see no end. If we could all
run, even that would be better. I am hungry.
The sun is not hot.
It's not a good position I am in.
If I had to do the whole thing over again
I wouldn't.

John Berryman

Bernie vs. Bushie

And right now, Bushie, i.e. President George "WMD" Bush, is losing.

Bernie Sanders, Vermont's freshman United States Senator, and one-of-a-kind left-wing, people-powered, "Independent" Vermont political institution, has used the power granted a U.S.  Senator to place a hold on President Bush's nomination of former Rep. Jim Nussle to be the next White House budget director. Reports the Des Moines Register:

The Senate Budget Committee has voted 22-1 to approve the Iowa Republican's nomination, but at least two senators had placed holds on the nomination, blocking the full Senate from taking a final vote.

Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent who cast the lone vote against Nussle in the budget committee, said President Bush was "way out of touch with reality" in thinking the economy is good and needs a budget director who will tell him otherwise.

Sanders said he "would love to hear from Mr. Nussle and the White House that instead of simply paying attention to the needs of the wealthiest people in this country that they are serious about addressing the concerns of the middle class and working families."

He said he had not contacted the White House about his concerns.

At least one other senator had anonymously placed a hold on Nussle's nomination, said the budget committee's chairman, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

The holds jeopardized the White House's plan to get Nussle on the job before the August congressional recess. The outgoing director, Rob Portman, leaves the job today.

An individual senator can block a bill or nomination by refusing to agree to the unanimous consent necessary for going forward.

This is the kind of tactic I recall the right-wing senators of my youth employing to block judicial nominees who thought a woman had a right to control her own body, or non-whites had a right to go to school or to the restaurant with white folks.

If you haven't already caught it, do yourself a favor and catch the U.S. Senate hearing video of Ol' Bernardo questioning his old friend from the House - Jim Nussle.

It's a keeper!

What's it all about...?

Don’t know about you, but I haven’t quite got it all figured out yet. However, I am certainly enjoying the quest. And I am very glad to be here...still.

The 17-year-old gals with the musical charms on the Church Street Marketplace yesterday around dinner time also seemed glad to be here. Hana Kornbluh [left] and Emma Nelson hail from Lincoln, Nebraska. Hana’s got a guitar in that case. They were playing some great indie-folk.

Only in Burlap for a week. They're staying at Camp Common Ground in Starksboro. Rang a bell.

Like almost everything these days, it has a spot in cyberspace, too.

Worth a check. And do watch the movie.

And lookie here at who we bumped into en route for a little Speeder & Earl’s caffeine?

Why it’s Ch. 3 Reporter Jack Thurston and veteran videographer Shelly Holt Allen!

Holy ____!

They were doing a piece on a show at Pine Street Art Works. And Ol’ Jack was giving me some friendly “BS”  for not having announced his arrival at WGOP, er, sorry, WCAX-TV in “Media Notes” in the Inside Track column...five years ago.

Jeezum crow, these Middlebury College graduates are so sensitive!

I’ll admit I’ve kinda gotten away from keeping steady track in Inside Track of the local news media turnover - unless it's a firing of a Burlington Free Press editorial page editor like David Awbrey [back when Vermont’s Gannett-chain outpost had free parking for employees], or a move to Boston by a longtime Ch. 3 news anchor like Sera Congi.

Sorry, Jack.

Hey, at least they have free parking at WCAX, eh?

Minnesota Makes News

Something to bounce the endless Iraq suicide-bomber stories and the Bush White House lies off the front page, eh?

In fact, our distinguished President George “WMD” Bush is about to step before the cameras and express his deep concern and heartfelt sympathies.

....And announce he’s pulling the plug on his Iraq War madness and bringing the troops home!

In an historic moment, Bush will tell the nation he will instead propose pumping the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars he’s been flushing down the Iraq War toilet into a bold new program to rebuild America’s infrastructure before it’s too late!

“America’s crumbling roads, bridges, subways and water treatment plants,” he will say to a stunned nation, “are a far greater threat to our beloved nation than Iraq ever was or ever will be. We must act before it’s too late and that means acting immediately.”

“And I’m also announcing," Bush will say, "that I’ve asked for and received the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Lying will not be tolerated any longer in my administration!"

Yeah, sure, dream on.

Instead, get ready for a political battle over who can convince the America people they care more about our nation’s infrastructure: President Katrina or the Democrats?

***Updated 11:30 a.m. ***

I was wrong.

President Bush only used the opening 20 percent, or 133 words of his "eloquent" 645-word Rose Garden speech to acknowledge the Minnesota Tragedy.  Told the TV cameras and the handful of reporters that he had phoned the governor of Minnesota and mayor of Minneapolis this morning, sent his prayers and expressed the view the feds sh