The Last Track

As you may have noticed, dear reader, the writing stopped in Freyne Land two weeks ago, both here in cyberspace and over there in the print edition of Seven Days in the "Inside Track."

Here's why.

Been covering the Vermont political/news/media scene since autumn 1979. Way back before Bernie Sanders ever won an election and nobody had heard of Howard Dean M.D. other than his patients.

And for most of that time, I simply could not believe they were actually paying me to have so much fun!

But in the last few years, what had been pure pleasure had turned into work - drudgery, in fact.

Not good.

Depression set in. Cancer followed. And, surprise! surprise! - beating the darn cancer did not change things. The depression, which those who've been there know is utter misery, came back. Why?

Because being "successful" at one's job does not mean being "happy" with one's life.

It has not been easy, mes amis, but the lesson learned in the last month has been positively enlightening.

I deserve to be happy - as do you -  and if that means putting the period down, ending the paragraph on the last "Inside Track" then so be it!

Life is short. As my ol' pal Mike always said, "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time." And as I've come to realize, one cannot begin that new chapter of life until one closes the page on the current one. It's a big step to take, a risky one, but until one takes it, the misery reigns supreme.

Health-wise, things haven't been this good in Freyne Land in decades. And the writer within - the non-political columnist - has a whole lot of material that's been waiting much too long to get out.

Stay tuned. We continue our good relationship with Seven Days as contributing editor and blogger and who knows what's next?

The simple fact is that life is good...and getting better.

And I haven't been able to say that in years!

Window Change

A new windshield in Freyne Land!

Like having a new car.

Took a little over an hour for Justin Smith, 20, of Georgia, to remove the old one which had a crack in its outer layer (of three) that was about three-feet long, and install the new. Mine was his third window of the day, and, coincidentally, they were all on Saturns.

Been doing windows since last summer, he said. Had tried the two-year mechanical engineering program at VTC in Randolph, but it had been a bit much. If he had it to do over, he would have spread it over three years.

Learning the window trade to get the job at Safelite Auto Glass required completing an 8-week training course in Albany, New York. And like a lot of other technical jobs here and elsewhere, they're hiring. Good benefits, he said, health and dental.

Got to admire someone who actually knows how to do something of practical value, eh?

And when the political columnist inquired if he were paying any attention to the presidential election circus, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Justin the windshield replacer/fixer is on the Barack Obama train. Why?

Because "He's down-to-earth."

Hillary, to him, is "more of the same."

And the fact that's he's a black man makes absolutely, positively no difference whatsoever. It's simply not a factor. I've noticed that more and more of late as Justin's generation hits their twenties.

When I was 20, in 1970, that, unfortunately, wasn't the case.

We've come a long way, baby!

P.S. A little Montpeculiar action today under the Golden Dome. Ol' Bernardo's making the rounds and Gov. Scissorhands is having his "weekly presser."

What fun!

Statehouse Skinheads?

So, the ski industry must have loved the thaw, eh?

For awhile there, it sure felt like winter, didn't it?

The Statehouse gets back into action today. As time passes, styles change. Once upon a time hair was big. Nowadays, the less hair the better is the style, as demonstrated by this trio of (l. to r.) Todd Bailey, director of the Vermont Alliance of Conservation Voters, Bob Stannard, blues-harp player and lobbyist for the anti-nuke Citizens Action Network,  and State Rep. Tony Klein (D-East Montpelier).

Anyway, it's "Inside Track" day here at the ranch in Burlap. High temp's supposed to be 35 degrees. High enough for the windshield repair guy to come and replace my cracked windshield. An interstate pebble did the damage. Didn't know previously that there are three layers to a windshield. Just the outer one is cracked. The repair guy couldn't come last Tuesday because it was "too cold." He told me not to worry about the whole window breaking or caving in. I haven't. But the crack has extended itself from a couple inches to about three feet.

Not to worry.

Hillary Getting Worried?

Okay, okay, okay. It's a snowy day in Vermont and I’m starting to pay attention.

I give in. I give up!

There is nothing more important on Earth than the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Not even shoveling the driveway.

Besides, it’ll all be over in less than nine months, just like a pregnancy. Look, Pedro, you simply can't ignore the damn thing any longer.

Of course, we'll have to get through Town Meeting Day, the Republican and Democratic Conventions that could put a couple Vermonters in the spotlight of history. And then there’s the Olympic Games in Red China where they make everything these days. And the World Series. And the surprises as yet unimagined...

But from this little outpost on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, it appears the tide is turning...against Hillary Clinton. So much for the continuation of some royal-family torch-passing in the "Democratic" USA. Hillary looks like a woman who's had her last night in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Bush I was, after Clinton's reign, followed by a son, Bush II. But William Jefferson Clinton does not look like he’ll pass the torch to his wife after Dubya mercifully departs.

Why do I say this?

Because Freyne Land is all-of-a-sudden on the Clinton for President Campaign email list! They're noticing the March 4 Vermont Primary.

Just got one from Mark Penn, Ol’ Hillary’s “Chief Strategist.” Interesting chap. Do check him out here at SourceWatch.  Also here at his outfit Global Leadership.

Says the award-winning public relations spin-doctor once dubbed the “Master of the Message” by Time Magazine [did wonders for Bill]:

This election will come down to delegates.  Votes are still being counted and delegates apportioned, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are separated by approximately 40 delegates right now – that is, barely 1% of all the delegates to the Democratic convention.

Change Begins March 4th.  Hillary leads in the three largest, delegate rich states remaining: Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania...

The reason Hillary is so strong in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania is that her message of delivering solutions resonates strongly with voters in those states.  Hillary is the only candidate who can deliver the economic change voters want...

The demographics in these states also favor Hillary Clinton...

Hillary Clinton has shown that she has the ability and organization to compete financially and on the ground... 

Again and again, this race has shown that it is voters and delegates who matter, not the pundits or perceived “momentum.”    

Believe him?

Crunch Time for Credentials Committee

Hey, if DNC Chairman Howard Brush Dean III says you're on the 25-member Credentials Committee that decides who can vote at the Democratic Convention this summer, you're on the Credentials Committee!

And if the primary contest between New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama continues on a nip-and-tick course, those 25 votes, including four cast by Vermonters, will be biggies.

Those four Vermonters include three former members of Ho-Ho's gubernatorial staff [from back in the old days before he had the antiwar/political sex-change operation]: Kathy Hoyt, Kate O'Connor and Bob Rogan - and someone who for some reason gets her name left out of all the news stories and even today's editorial about the Credentials Committee in the Times Argus.

And that distinguished someone would be Jane Stetson of Norwich. Jane, wife of Bill Stetson, founding president of the Vermont Film Commission, is of the Watson/IBM lineage and, like Bill, a passionate Barack Obama supporter.

It was at her Norwich home last August that Obama-Wama had the big fundraiser that raised around $250,000 for the currently emerging Democratic front-runner.  Check out Mike Ives' story about it in Seven Days. Also Philip Barruth - an Obama supporter - blogged it up good in his Vermont Daily Briefing as "The Brigadoon Fundraiser of 2007."

Yours truly had a nice chat with one of those credentialed Democratic power-brokers late Tuesday - Mr. Rogan [at right]. Bob is currently chief of staff for Vermont Democratic Congressman Peter Welch - a man who appears unopposed in the 2008 race.

Freyne: Tough race ahead for Welchie?

Bob Rogan: Every day we wake up assuming we will have a competitive race. That’s what we’re planning for.

Freyne: Male or female?

Rogan: No idea. Lot’s of rumors come across the transom daily. We’re just assuming it’s going to be a competitive race and we’re planning for it.

Freyne: A lot of folks up here are thinking there isn’t going to be one. Are they crazy?

Rogan: You’ll have to ask them.

Freyne: Seen Howard lately?

Rogan: Yes. I  spoke to him three weeks ago on the phone. He’s in good shape and happy and enjoying the position he’s in.

Freyne: [Rogan and I go back a few years.] I remember the other Howard Dean.

Rogan: Which one was that?

Freyne: The one that was governor of Vermont. 

Rogan: [laughs] He’s come a long way.

Freyne:  Kate O’Connor, formerly on the campaign staff of right-wing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ritchie Tarrant [ran against Bernie Sanders in 2006 and got creamed), is now on the Democratic Credentials Committee. Isn’t that a little funny?

Rogan: You’ll have to ask Howard and Kate about that. Kate is an old-time Vermonter with good political horse-sense. She’s someone who’s loyal to Howard Dean and a good friend of his and ours, but you’ll have to get someone else to comment on that.

Freyne: Do you have a horse?

Rogan: No. Haven’t written any checks; haven’t endorsed. I don’t have a dog in this one.

Freyne: The McCain people would like it to be Hillary.

Rogan: Unfortunately, that’s not going to be their choice...Everyone says this, but it’s what I truly believe. They’re both incredibly strong candidates and bring their own strengths to the table. And the party and the country will be served well by whoever ends up the nominee and the president.

Freyne: Well, that’s the standard rap.

Rogan: I honestly believe it. That’s why I’m having a tough time deciding.

Freyne: Let’s look at it from the other angle - their weaknesses. What is Hillary’s #1 weakness?

Rogan:  [chuckles] That’s not for me to say. They’re both strong candidates.

Freyne: She’s got baggage Obama doesn’t have. You’re not going to go there?

Rogan: Others will go there. I’m not.

[Mr. Rogan said all he knows is he got a call from Ho-Ho about three weeks ago and a follow-up letter.]

There’s going to be a meeting of the Credentials Committee sometime in July and, I assume, another meeting at the convention. This is the committee that will determine which delegates have the right to vote on the floor of the convention.

It’s going to be fun and a bit intense.

Freyne: Ever think you’d have this wild a life?

Rogan: [chuckles] I’m living on the edge, Peter.

From a distance

A little after 7 AM. Waiting for the electrician-guy. To get the new furnace [we think it was made in Germany - hey, what’s made in America anymore besides footballs for the Super Bowl?] and hot-water heater up and running. They had trouble getting it started last night, reading the manuals and instructions over and over.

It was on when they left around 8:30, but it didn’t last long. Got two little electric portables that worked just fine overnight.

Central heating is really such a 20th Century luxury. It put the hot-water-bottle industry, which some of you white-haired folks recall, out of business.

Saw Montpeculiar from a distance yesterday - like normal people do.  Bagged it due to the weather - smart, right?

So, what happened with the healthcare reformers’ Lobby Day #2?

WPTZ-TV had a little report, showed folks in some auditorium with Dr. Deb Richter talking. Couldn't tell where it was actually, but it wasn’t the Statehouse.

WCAX-TV, “Vermont’s Own”  had absolutely no coverage of it. Statehouse Reporter Kristin Carlson filed a piece on the Senate Judiciary Committee looking at relaxing the marijuana possession laws.

God forbid!

Then in HealthWatch, the other Kristin, Anchorwoman Kristin Kelly had this reefer-madness-style read-over:

A new study finds smoking pot triples the risk for gum disease. Researchers in New Zealand examined 9-hundred young adults. Of those with new cases of gum disease -- they say one-third was the result of smoking marijuana. The increased risk exists even for light smokers -- and for people who don't smoke cigarettes. The researchers say toxins in marijuana destroy circulation -- and prevent the gums from healing. Gum Disease can lead to tooth loss. It also increases the risk of heart disease and stroke.

As goes New Zealand, so goes Earth!

Ah! 7:30 and the furnace guys are here and the electrician guy, too! Gonna get this baby running!

Associated Press Reporter David Gram went the pot-route, too. Filing a cannabis story on the world’s largest newswire, but unlike Ch. 3, he led with the Vermont House’s landslide approval of the Hemp Bill, and tacked the Senate Judiciary’s dalliance with the more potent strains of pot on the end.

Interesting.

Friday's Burlington Free Press had a Nancy Remsen front-pager on the House Commerce Committee hearing about the evils of junk mail! And inside, they had Terri Hallenbeck's version of the Senate committee on the marijuana roll. Didn’t see a peep online about the Hemp Landslide on the House floor, though.

The out-country newspaper “chain” - Rutland Herald and Times Argus - did not ignore the healthcare protesters. Let’s face it, the issue isn’t going away. They put it out front, too: “Sparks fly at Statehouse hearing on single-payer health care.”  Here.

In a phone interview last night, Dr. Richter told Freyne Land  that 100 people signed their “Healthcare for All” sheet under the Golden Dome on Thursday. Considering the weather - not bad, eh!

She said I’d missed a good one - the passions were flowing, as Dan Barlow reports. Richter said they wanted Health Committee Chairs Sen. Doug Racine and Rep. Steve Maier to agree to hold a public hearing on H.304 - the reform bill that would cost the insurance companies and hospital paper-pushes significant buckaroos, while covering all Vermonters hospitalization costs like governments do in the rest of civilization.

Chairman Doug and Chairman Steve, both Democrats, she said, declined.

Didn’t Racine run for governor once?

Old Man Winter

Nice day, eh?

Yours truly was up at 5:30 AM. L'il snow in the Queen City.

Hell - lotta snow.

Shoveled out so the dynamic duo installing the new furnace and water heater could get in. Pleasure to meet folks who actually know how to do stuff. And they never went to college.

Maybe that explains why they know how to do stuff?

Then headed around the corner for a little Java. The snow just won't stop. Almost 16 inches in the Peoples Republic. Vermont like the old days. No one will be sitting at the picnic table outside Speeder & Earl's today.

The Ol' Saturn, I was just told, will be ready for pick-up at the body shop around 1:30 PM. That's when Gov. Scissorhands is having his weekly presser in the Ceremonial Office at the Statehouse. And it's just after Dr. Deb Richter and her "Healthcare for All" crowd wrap up their second monthly Statehouse protest/lobby day. We'll see how the weather affects the turnout.

Looks like I'm gonna miss both, since I still haven't deciphered all the bells, whistles, buttons and switches on the Toyota Prius rental, and even if I did, the roads look like *&#*.

C'est la vie.

Hope King James doesn't miss me.

Tomorrow's another day.

Wild Wednesday

It's snowing hard in Burlap at 7 AM!

Winter as it's supposed to be, right?

Ch. 3 Weatherman Gary Sadowsky says 4-8 inches.

The plan calls for a Montpeculiar run.

We shall see.

I'm still learning how to drive this Toyota Prius Hybrid rental I've got while the Ol' Saturn gets repaired in the body shop. Now the word is the Saturn - that got a $1600 ding in the Mary Fanny parking garage - won't be ready until tomorrow.

So, I'm learning new tricks. The Prius doesn't even have an ignition key. A bunch of new buttons to learn, but I'm getting the hang of it. We'll see how it does in snow, eh?

And the crew is due to arrive any minute to remove the old furnace and install the new one. Tomorrow's the hot-water heater. Unfortunately those units are parked behind my refrigerator here in the ground floor mother-in-law apartment, so I'm out of here for the day....

The house was built in 1981 - the year Ol' Bernardo won the mayor's office by 10 votes - on Burlington's Southend, the "famous" Five Sisters Neighborhood.

Everything wears out sooner or later.

Perfectly natural.

Do give the Ol' "Inside Track" a look today in Seven Days. I don't know if Ambassador Peter Galbraith's going to run for governor, but he is a very smart and interesting chap.

And yes, I really did write something nice about The Burlington Free Press.

Paula the Publisher couldn't believe it!

P.S. Sen. John McCain the GOP front-runner after Super Tuesday?

Mad Dog Jim Barnett must be in good spirits this morning.

Too bad McCain didn't make it to front-runner in 2000, instead of whatshisname, eh?

Super Tuesday Watch

Voters in 24 states will cast their votes today in primaries and caucuses for their hopes and dreams for who occupies the White House starting next January.

In Vermont, we just watch.

For yours truly, it's "Inside Track" Day. Lot of balls and calls in the air....

But the first news of the day comes in the email pipeline from the office of the mayor of Vermont's largest city - Burlington - The Peoples Republic of Burlington. Mayor...whatshisname...the tall quiet guy....oh, yeah, Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss:

BURLINGTON NAMED ONE OF “AMERICA’S GREENEST CITIES” BY ORGANIC GARDENING MAGAZINE

February 5, 2008, Burlington, VT - The February-March issue of Organic Gardening magazine ranks Burlington as one of “America’s Greenest Cities” --  those U.S. cities “that are leading the way toward a more sustainable future.”  The magazine ranks Burlington second among small cities (less than 150,000 residents).

More here in the organic garden!

Now, back to Track Land....

Ending the Boycott

As regular visitors are aware, yours truly does not spend much time on the 2008 presidential race in this space. It's fair to say I've avoided it.

Deliberately.

But now on the eve of "Super Tuesday," as we get down to the final TWO "horses" on each side...

PLUS, I just saw Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the assassinated president of my youth, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and niece of the assassinated presidential candidate of my youth, Robert F. Kennedy, tell me in a TV commercial to vote for Barack Obama for President of the States.

The indelible image of her as a child remains. I'd just turned 14 when her father, America's first Irish-Catholic President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas. I was in a high school with Irish Christian Brothers in black cassocks in the front of the room. Brother John Dunne was at the front of my room at the time - religion class. [He also taught French and carried either a leather strap or wooden 2x4 for disciplinary reasons now considered aggravated assault/child abuse.]

Word came via the 2 PM end-of-day principal's send-off over the Iona Prep classroom intercom system. Brother Patrick Nagle ended whatever announcements he had soberly with, "And we ask your prayers for President Kennedy, who has been shot in Texas."

Instant gut level reaction: It's a joke! It can't be real! Beyond the beyonds! He's kidding!

We - most of us wiseguys - laughed!

Brother Dunne, however, realized he was deadly serious. He slammed the classroom door shut so hard it made the white chalk dance off the blackboard at the front of the room. And with the veins red in his neck, he screamed at us, his sophomore minions, along the lines of, "The president has been shot and you LAUGH about it?  What's WRONG with you? You should be ASHAMED of yourselves!!!"

As Brother Dunne let us out, I and others dashed to the school library which had the only television [black-and-white]. That's where I got the news. JFK was dead!

Sen. Teddy Kennedy, the only living brother of the president of America's "Camelot," has also endorsed Obama. So, too, has Maria Shriver, JFK's niece and wife of Arnold the Terminator, the Republican Governor of Colliephornkneeya

And, now, with Caroline also saying I should vote for Obama, who else matters, eh?

Mary Jo Kopechne?

Oh, that's right. Mary Jo cannot endorse anyone, can she?

 

Reality Check

Skated down to Speeder & Earl's early this morning for some mocha java and the NY Times - the "New England Edition." Kinda skinny on Saturday, but, hey, I'm hooked.

Grew up with it.

Six stories on the front page: Google Eyes Microsoft - More Bombings in Baghdad - Recession Fears at Home - Hillary's Race Education - Teddy Kennedy Revels in the [Obama] Limelight  - and Michael Vick's Dogs Find Kindness!

Excuse me, but....how much did you pay for your last tank of gasoline?

Round-trip, Burlap to Montpeculiar, 80 miles, costs $8-$10 these days.

The top story of the day, I'd suggest, was buried - on Page 3 in the "B" section.

That's right - Page 3!!! Couldn't even make Page 1 of the Business Section.

Exxon Sets Profit Record:
$40.6 Billion Last Year

By JAD MOUAWAD

By any measure, Exxon Mobil’s performance last year was a blowout.

The company reported Friday that it beat its own record for the highest profits ever recorded by any company, with net income rising 3 percent, to $40.6 billion, thanks to surging oil prices. The company’s sales, more than $404 billion, exceeded the gross domestic product of 120 countries.

Exxon Mobil earned more than $1,287 of profit for every second of 2007.

That's more than $40 billion in pure profit!

To put it in perspective, I would note that's almost 10-times the size of the entire budget Gov. Jim Douglas just proposed for the the State of Vermont in fiscal-2009.

Way to go, Exxon-Mobil!

Vermont's junior senator, Bernie Sanders, issued a statement yesterday that said, in part:

“It is absurd for oil companies like Exxon Mobil to be raking in obscene profits while millions of Americans are struggling to pay skyrocketing gas and home heating oil prices.  We owe it to the American people to do everything we can to stop big oil companies from ripping off American consumers."

Nice that some elected official noticed, eh?

"I'm Jeff Danziger...

"I'm a political cartoonist. I've been doing this for about 25 or 30 years, and slowly but surely, trying to figure out what it's all about."

That's the opening line in a snappy little four-minute video Jeff polished off and sent our way a couple days ago. Merci beaucoup.

I hear ya, man. I might utter the same line, only substituting "columnist" for "cartoonist."

Once upon a time, Ol' Jeff taught English at U-32 High School in East Montpelier, Vermont.

Hey, somebody has to, right?

Today he's nationally syndicated.

Here's the link to Jeff, the talking cartoonist on the Big Apple rooftop - his first on YouTube.

Nice

Vermont Takes the Point...

Just got word that legislation is being introduced today under Montpelier's Golden Dome that will put Vermont on point in leading our nation out of the illegal Bush-Cheney Quagmire in Iraq. The lead sponsor is Democratic Rep. Mike Fisher of Lincoln.

Says Fisher in a statement being released today at a Statehouse presser and also being released nationally by the Liberty Tree Foundation:

"It is clear that the mission that Congress authorized no longer exists. The President has no current or permanent legal authority to keep Guard members in Iraq. The Governor as Commander-in-Chief of the Vermont National Guard should take necessary steps to bring them home."

Statement of purpose: This bill addresses limits to the constitutional and statutory authority of the President to federalize and deploy the Vermont National Guard in Iraq; declares that the authority for that deployment has terminated; requests that actions be taken to terminate federalization and bring troops back to Vermont as members of the Vermont national guard; and reaffirms that Vermont national guard members be limited to service on behalf of the state of Vermont, unless properly and lawfully called into federal service.

Interesting, eh?

[Took the picture last Valentine's Day.]

More here.

State of the Mind?

Tuesday "Track" rush for Wednesday's Seven Days.

BUT....

Talk-show host Arne Arnesen, out of Massachusetts these days, called last night. Long time no hear.

She wanted me on her radio show this morning to talk about...get this... President Bush's Monday night "State of the Union" speech.

Told her I wasn't planning to watch it, but for her?

What the hell!

"Why don't you watch it? You're a political columnist."

I confessed. I haven't been able to watch or read about anything to do with presidential politics, the Liar in Chief, or the presidential race with the smiling wannabees and the distractions from reality. Is it an indication of my good health? Or of a persistent illness?

But for her, I told her, I would make an exception.

I watched. Did you?

Was reminded of why I had stopped watching. My beloved America is tumbling into the worst economic recession of my baby-boomer life. The Bush Administration's Iraq War, the war that, like Vietnam, never should have been allowed to start, continues unabated without any end in sight.

And Big Oil continues to rule, as Mother Earth's rising temperature forecasts the shameful legacy we shall leave for our children's children.

Mr. Bush preferred to emphasize the need for maintaining tax cuts for the rich. The repeated standing ovations by the Republicans to even the most meaningless of lines became nauseating  acts of forced theatrical absurdity.

Hey, Sen. Pat Leahy's come out for Barack Obama for president. Sen. Bernie Sanders hasn't made an endorsement yet. BUT, Ol' Bernardo did sit right behind Obama-wama and was real friendly with him.

A sign?

Work in Vermont?

This is what a talented, hard-working, successful newspaper publisher looks like. Took the pic this afternoon.

Paula Routly came to Vermont to go to Middlebury. Stuck around. Started Seven Days with Pamela Polston... jeezum-crow, in 1996?

"Inside Track" departed Vermont Times to join them about two months after they started. Hillary Clinton was First Lady.

I never see Paula on a Wednesday. But today I followed an impulse and bagged my trip to Montpeculiar - snowing and traffic moving at 50 mph, so I got off on the Richmond exit and came back to Burlap.

Did taxes, would you believe? Then went to 7Days to make copies.

Ol' Paula's been doing extra duty promoting this Saturday's big Creative/Tech Expo on the Burlington Waterfront. It's called "Vermont 3.0."

We're talking Green Technology, software/website development, graphic design, cutting edge you-know-what. Right here in the Peoples Republic. This week's edition of Seven Days has a bunch about it.

Did you know that there are a whole bunch of high-tech, laid-back businesses in your backyard looking for talent?

I didn't.

Tuesday Turmoil...

There talk on the morning airwaves of world financial markets crashing.

At 2 PM, Gov. Jim Douglas will deliver what's expected to be a rather austere "tough times" budget address at the Statehouse.

And veteran Rep. Cola Hudson (R-Lyndon) won't be there to catch it.

Cola, 81, who's been there every winter since 1973, died Sunday. He came down sick on Friday.  At least he got one last January in the House he loved so well before passing.

Ah, but the man sure had a heart!

Vermont heart.

Save me a spot, would ya', Cola?

In with the new...

And New Art on the walls at Uncommon Grounds in downtown Burlap.

It's a busy place in the Caffeine Age and Joan MacKenzie of Essex Junction was hanging this sampling of her very electric, eye-catching paintings that instantly livened up the Church Street Marketplace coffee joint.

Joan's into animals in her own unique way.

Lots more here at the Pika Works website.

Hey, everybody has a website these days, right?

The Carbon Farmers of America do!

Bumped into this dairyman from St. Albans at Uncommon Grounds, too. Abe Collins is one of the organizers of an outfit called the Carbon Farmers of America.

Just when despair and depression appeared to be sweeping the land, hope and determination starts breaking out.

Global warming on your mind?

More here.  And here.

In fact, in the last few weeks of 2007, I've had the pleasure of meeting many folks in Vermont coffee shops and elsewhere, exuding "hope." Thoughtful, caring folks who see the glass half-full, not half-empty and are simply mad as hell and not going to take it any longer.

Finally!

Out with the old?

This & That

A treat to see the smiling face of Bridget Burns yesterday on the Church Street Marketplace in Big, Bad Burlap.

Usually the only place we catch Bridget is behind the front desk at a certain successful local Vermont weekly where she's the office manager. But Seven Days has a week off!

In her free time, Bridget's been busy in the fight against the truly anti-American Bush-Cheney Iraq War. She's a reminder to this gracefully-aging Vietnam War protester that the "younger generation" of today is not silent.  If anything, they're ignored by the "mainstream media."

Take a look at how 18 different panelists on Vermont Pubic Television's "Vermont This Week"  rated the year's "top" stories as compared to 39 "viewers."

To the press, the action by almost 40 Vermont towns to back resolutions calling for the impeachment of the current president of the United States was no big deal. Here we are, once again, leading the nation at the grassroots level and the story just barely squeaked onto the press' list in 10th position.

To the VTW viewers, however, it came in 4th.

Hmm.....

Compare for yourself:

As selected by "Vermont This Week" panel members (18 votes)

1.    Vermont Yankee cooling tower collapse causes alarm         
2.    Federal Court upholds Vermont’s emissions law            
3.    Climate change dominates much of legislative session            
4.    Democrats fail to override Governor’s vetoes          
5.    Leahy assumes leading role in battle with White House    
6.    Catamount Health begins                      
7.    PSB OK’s industrial wind project for Sheffield            
8.    Verizon seeks to sell landlines to FairPoint               
9.    Valentine’s Day blizzard sees up to 30” fall          
10.  Communities back impeachment resolution               

As selected by "Vermont This Week" viewers (39 votes)

1.    Democrats fail to override Governor's vetoes            
2.    Leahy assumes leading role in battle with White House
3.    Vermont Yankee cooling tower collapse causes alarm
4.    Communities back impeachment resolution   
5.    Rep. Welch targeted by anti-war activists
6.    Federal court upholds Vermont's emissions law
7.    School spending caps increases
8.    Climate change dominates much of legislative session
9.    Valentine's Day blizzard sees up to 30" fall      
10.  Catamount Health begins

Bhutto assassination

And is anyone out there surprised by the news?

Was it not inevitable?

I heard it when I tuned in Peter Mallary filling in for Mark Johnson on WDEV.

My first gut reaction was: Amazing that Benazir had survived this long since returning in October to her native Pakistan where her family had been a political dynasty and her father hanged. She was the first woman to lead an Islamic state. There the Harvard grad also served five years in prison - mostly solitary confinement.

Such a courageous woman.

I won't pretend to know anything about "Pakistan" beyond how to spell it.

It's 10:20 a.m. - no statements from Vermont's congressional trio... yet.

Any thoughts?

**********

From U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy [12:38 PM):

"This is a sorrowful day for Pakistan and for people of goodwill across the globe.

"This election is important in what it will show about the vigor of democratic institutions in Pakistan.  The lack of real democracy and the crippling of Pakistan’s judiciary have been grave setbacks.  The earlier protests by Pakistan’s lawyers in defense of the rule of law helped show the world what is at stake, and now, with this tragedy, the whole world again is watching Pakistan.

"The people of Pakistan deserve to know that the people of the United States stand with them as they struggle to restore constitutional government and to prevail over thuggery.  They will want to know that our military aid is no longer blind to their aspirations.  And they need to know that we share their profound sense of loss."

From U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders [1:11 PM]:

“Despite the grave dangers she faced, Benazir Bhutto showed enormous courage by continuing to participate in Pakistan’s democratic process.  I am saddened and outraged by this cowardly assassination and I urge the Pakistani government to undertake a vigorous investigation to apprehend those responsible for this terrible deed.  Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons, is now in the midst of dangerous political crisis.  The United States must increase its diplomatic efforts in working with the democratic forces in Pakistan to promote stability, democracy and peace.”

Boxing Day

Or St. Stephen's Day as it was known in the Old Country of dear Ol' Papa Freyne. The day after Christmas.

Took this shot at Borders Books on Church Street in downtown Burlap this afternoon. Had a nice chat with Charlotte who was in town from Boston visiting her son who has been working at UVM for a year. Loves it, said she. 

Should have taken a picture of her, but I was feeling shy - Charlotte traveled with the aid of her walker. Has a hip-replacement operation scheduled for March, she told me. Spent most of her life in San Diego.

Then veteran Burlington jazz musician/playwright  Steve Goldberg appeared. Always remember the image of Steve playing his trumpet on the balcony outside Mayor Bernie Sanders' office to kick off the first Burlington Discover Jazz Festival...in 1984. Perfect timing - Steverino had both of his hips replaced.

I called out to him and he swung over our way. Steve's 68, about her age. He told her how he rides a bike and plays tennis. Boosted Charlotte's spirits.

Took this shot of Snake Mountain yesterday from across Dead Creek. Coming home from the Empire State was I, the official land of my birth.

Hadn't been there - over the Crown Point Bridge - in more than a decade.

They've spruced things up a little.

Yours truly's survived the holiday. In fine health. No big rigamarole. But I could not help but notice the layer of stress many others appeared to be bearing. The annual ritual of family obligations. Stirred the memory of those Irish-Catholic Christmases of my childhood - the early 1950s and 60s in Westchester County. Christmases that usually tore this baby in the family's innards apart in a rather Long Days Journey into Night way, if you know what I mean.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

A wee bit damp here at the flat in Burlap, but it's the unexpected that makes life interesting, eh?

Christmas Eve '07

Also "Recycle Day" in Ward 5 on the South Side of the People's Republic of Burlington, Vermont.

And I was up early this morning - had some "extra stuff" for the Recycle Man.

Rick was a new face. He also looked my age - 58. Turned out I had a good eye. He's 57. Here come the Baby-Boomers!

Hey, we'll work 'till we drop, right?

Told me he'd worked at E.B. and A.C. Whiting on Pine Street, a stone's throw away, for 32 years [they made plastic brush bristles]. Whiting closed about two years ago, moved out of state. Dealer.com is in there now.

"Got to do something," he said.

My "extra stuff" was wet newspapers. Good thing I had a pile because Freyne Land's downstairs, "mother-in-law" apartment got a wee bath last night.

Looks like a little rodent hole from last summer is behind it. And, yes, I caught the little critter - a mouse - but he obviously left his mark.

Called the landlord at 7 a.m. and he had this fine crew over by 8.

Everything under control.

Great vacuum.

Nothing like good suction, eh?

Merry Christmas, folks!

Following the $ and the flesh...

Yes, that was our junior U.S. senator on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric last night giving the Pentagon, specifically the Air Force, a well-earned hard time. So much for his critics who assured us no one would pay any heed to him when he arrived in the United States Senate:

“The idea that over $200 million in spare parts that has not yet come into the Air Force is already marked for disposal!” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. “They’re planning to get rid of it and it hasn’t even come in!”

Sanders wants Congress to cut Air Force funding if it doesn't get a serious grip on its inventory problem.

It costs up to $30 million dollars a year just to store the stuff they don't need.

Nobody at the Air Force would agree to an interview, but told us they're "taking steps" to fix the problems and to "serve the best interest of the American public."

“We have almost $19 billion in absolute waste in spare parts in the Air Force,” Sanders said.

They are taxpayer dollars squandered in the wild blue yonder.

Watch him yourself here.

Then, this afternoon, I bumped into these four gents at the Green Door Studio around the corner off Pine Street. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Four Iraq War veterans...from l-to-r: Eli Wright, served as an army combat medic with the Ist Infantry Division; Jon Michael Turner, 8th Marines; Liam Madden, 31st Marine Expeditionary Force; Matt Howard, two tours in Iraq with the Marines. Wright's the only one still on active duty over at Ft. Drum.

What are they doing?

They're cutting up their old uniforms to make paper and other works of art.

Everybody's got to do something, right?

"I am shredding these uniforms because they are symbols of a betrayal," said Madden, "and I think it’s pretty liberating."

Feels good?

"Feels real good," said he.

Making paper out of old soldier uniforms?

Check it out. I missed the Seven Days story last April, too.

Play it as dealt....

Started off with an 8 a.m. doctor's appointment up at UHC.

Got the call on Monday morning - the first one from a human, telling me I had the appointment with Dr. Morris, the neurologist.

Hey, I do what I'm told.

In the afternoon, the computer called to remind me of it.

Cool.

Time is money. Got to have patients fill the time slots.

Only problem is, the appointment was a mistake.

It had been six weeks since last I'd seen Doc Morris. But he hadn't wanted to see me for six months. The appointment was a UHC mistake. The Doc said I won't be billed.

Nice of 'em, eh?

Next stop?

Lake Champlain Chocolates on Pine Street. A couple Christmas presents to mail west. Problem was one of the recipients operates through a post office box and the LCC rep  informed me they don't mail gift-boxes to a P.O. box address.

Bummer. Life goes on....

Hey, there's Ho-Ho on with Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Looking a little bedraggled. DNC Chairman Howard Dean turned 59 last month.

The Tuesday Crunch

It's a little after 7 a.m. and +3 degrees in Burlington, Vermont.

Listening to Roger Hill give the weather on WDEV as only Roger Hill can.

Thanks, Roger.

That's a shot taken yesterday afternoon of the fountain in Burlington's City Hall Park.

The days of the long shadows, eh?

Roger says sunshine this morning, too!

Take it when we can.

It's an "Inside Track" Tuesday here in Freyne Land.

Lot of balls in the air.

Was just thinking....that first "Inside Track" hit the street in 1981, soon after that Bernie Sanders fellow took over the mayor's office in city hall.

Whatever happened to him?

Monday, Monday

"Can't trust that day."

Remember The Mamas & Papas?

Good lord, they were playing them, the music of that era - my era - down at Speeder & Earl's today.

Stopped in there after paying a visit to McCaffrey Sunoco in the Old Neighborhood at North & North. Woke to a little more than snow today - how about a tire that was going flat, too?

Don't panic, I says to myself. If you make it to McCaffrey's, you'll be OK.

Always feel safe in the hands of Ol' Pat McCaffrey. That's his kisser [left]. One of his boyos, excuse me, highly-skilled mechanics, pulled a nail and slapped a new nozzle or some kind of doo-hickey on it and, while waiting, who stops in for some auto service but veteran arts writer Susan Green and former College Street saloon-keeper Pat Finnigan!

Everybody's got a car in the Age of the Auto, eh?

And it's fair to say yours truly is among those who have contributed a wee bit to paying for Finnigan's as well as McCaffrey's.

Ah, the good old days...my pleasure.

AND...

Gov. Jim Douglas didn't get his "Weekly Public Appearance Schedule" emailed out until 4:58 p.m. this afternoon.

Heck, we missed the Vermont Timber Frames Ribbon-Cutting at 10:30 this morning in Bennington!

"Nobody cuts it better..."

Sunday Snowstorm

Woke to about 5 inches of the white stuff tumbling down in beautiful Burlap. Soft and fine. I could clear the walkway just with a brush of the boot. Heavy overcast. So dark the auto-flash lit up the snowflakes. It's still coming down steady, too.

Work day in Freyne Land.

End-of-year deadline crunch for a couple fine Vermont publications.

And what a year it has been...

Another Queen City loss

First it was CEDO Director Michael Monte departing Burlington City Hall where he'd been a regular since the Sanderista Revolution of the early 1980s.

Next it was Chief of Police Tom Tremblay, a regular with BPD since 1983.  Tom 's Gov. Jim Douglas' next  Commissioner of Public Safety - Vermont's top cop.

And now another longtime Burlington City Hall regular is moving on.

Jo Lamarche [left] started with the city back in 1981 at the ol' police department as a dispatcher. Moved on to the clerk's office in city hall in 1985. The Richmond resident has been a reliable fixture - in the city clerk's office and at city council meetings - for more than 20 years. She is currently director of elections and records.

LaMarche has become a city-hall institution, dare we say, while the building around her and the bosses above her have changed over the years.

Her next mission?

She starts next month as the new county clerk in Addison County.

Congratulations, Jo, and congratulations Addison County!

New Capitol Duds

A dramatic change at the Statehouse in Montpelier, Vermont.

The coppers have new outfits!

Veteran Capitol Police Chief Dave Janawicz [left] and the other three gentlemen who make up the distinguished Capitol Police Force have bagged the white shirts and gray pants and ties and gone dark blue!

"It's different," said Chief Dave, who has been patrolling the halls under the Golden Dome since 1995. "If you have dandruff, it'll show," he quipped.

Why the switcheroo?

Chief Dave said the idea was to make the Statehouse police "more easily recognizable as police officers."

I don't know. I never had any trouble recognizing him, even with the goatee.

What do you think?

I miss the white shirts. It's the Vermont Statehouse not Detroit.

Frosty the Snowman...

Got some attention this evening on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace from this suspicious-looking band of older fellas singing in the snow.

Singing pretty damn well, too. A real treat. And the snowflakes obliged.

It's the one-and-only Green Mountain Chorus!

More here.

Thanks, guys!

Just had a conversation in Uncommon Grounds about what an especially depressing Christmas Season this is given:

1. The endless Bush-Cheney War in Iraq that everyone knows is based on Dubya's success in deceiving the American people.
2. The melting ice caps and the global-warming crisis that worsens day-by-day in the Age of Exxon.
3. The cost, quality and accessibility of healthcare in our beloved America, and
4. The fact we've got more than a year left of America's worst staying in charge.

Ti's the season to be jolly
Fa la la la la,
la la la la.

Christmas Spirit

Here's a shot of the Vermont tree all a glitter keeping an eye on the United States Capitol in Washington.

Somebody's got to, eh?

Taken by a tall, follicly-challenged Vermont guy who has a job in the building.

Thanks, Senator.

Antiwar Protests

Nice to hit the online edition of The Burlington Free Press, my favorite local daily, this morning and catch Matt Sutkoski's article about the antiwar protest on Friday at the Vermont National Guard recruiting office in Williston.

Everyone from local high school students to soldiers who fought in the Bush-Cheney madness in Iraq participated. The Freeps reports 13 people were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Yours truly had other items on the Friday agenda including checking out the new TV news operation our local Fox affiliate will be offering local TV news junkies starting Monday at 10 pm.

Protest-wise, however, I did swing by what has become a Monday-Friday ritual at the top of Church Street in front of the Unitarian Church. An older bunch of protestors have been "religiously" demonstrating their antiwar feelings Monday-Friday from 5 pm to 5:30. It's an antiwar protest that one of its regulars, author Marc Estrin (with the "got fascism?" sign) told me "has logged more person-hours than any demonstration of its kind."

They started the daily antiwar protest, said Marc, way back before Dubya even launched his Iraq invasion - on September 13, 2001 - more than six years ago.

That's persistence, eh?

Quiet before the storm?

The parking-ban lights were blinking this morning down here in the South End of the Queen City. I trust Ol' John King is giving 'em a tester. King John's a former Burlington Police officer/sergeant/commander who's now in charge of all things related to parking enforcement and the winter parking ban.

Then this press release arrives from John "Be Prepared" via email. Hey, remember fax machines? Don't them seem ancient? The picture's from last winter. Wasn't that long ago, was it?

With the possibility of a snow storm Sunday night, it’s time to think about winter parking.

When conditions require the City of Burlington to plow city streets, or in anticipation of a snow storm the City can declare a parking ban.  Parking bans start at 10:00 P.M. and last until 7:00 A.M. during which time vehicles are not allowed to park on any city street or city owned parking lots.

When a storm has been declared the yellow snow lights must be turned on prior to 3:00 P.M.  When the lights are on, the ban is in effect for all city streets, not just the street the lights are located on.

Vehicles on city streets or parking lots during a ban will receive a $95.00 parking ticket and are towed to another street.  To prevent your vehicle from being towed, it is suggested you make arrangements now where you will park your vehicle during a storm.

You are allowed to park in any City owned parking garage from 10:00 P.M. to 7:00 A.M. with no charge.  Please do not park on the top (roof) of any garage.

Remember to avoid a tow call 658-SNOW for updated information. 

On Vacation Freyne

An honor to be replaced in the print edition this vacation week by the one and only David Sirota. First met David when he was a [young] press secretary for a certain Vermont congressman with a Brooklyn accent. Thanks, David.

And here's something a little different. Marie Claire, pictured with her dad Tim Whiteford, a St. Mike's prof, manages Speeder & Earl's on Pine Street to pay her bills. But at the moment, she's on one of those month-long other-side-of-the-world vacation trips to visit a friend in India, not Indiana the state,  but India the country -  you know, where Gandhi preached a gospel of nonviolence.

We knew Marie Claire inherited some of her Scottish father's musical talent - Tim's the organizer of Richmond, Vermont's Celtic New Year - but the young lady picked up some writing talent somewhere as well, as evidenced by her entertaining online reports from India posted on her MySpace.com blog.

Here's a taste:

... you find your breaking point and pass it.

... when the taxi driver is trying to rip you off and tells you no he can't put the meter on because it's broken and you've heard that line a hundred times you look at him and yell "THAT'S A LIE!" and you can tell he knows it by the succeeding gleeful peals of laughter.

... your snot is black.  one day in Delhi and your snot - is - black.  we won't even discuss the q-tips in the garbage can.

... your rickshaw driver lets you off a block early because the street is heavily congested with traffic.  due to a wedding.  complete with groom-on-horse, marching band, hand-held lamps powered by a generator on a wagon, dancing indian men a la Elaine from Seinfeld.

... fifteen minutes after noting (out loud) the bad teeth and annoying indoor smoking habits of the large and curiously well-groomed party of Brits seated next to you at dinner, the restaurant manager stands up and announces to the dining room at large that it is their distinct pleasure this evening to welcome the mayor of London and his entourage.  whoops.

... oh well, as you sit and enjoy the evening's "entertainment" hired in his honor, you become certain that the belly dancer who is now gyrating around him while he tries to enjoy his meal is making him much more uncomfortable than your verbal faux-pas, which he probably didn't hear anyway.

... i hope.

... you really want to go to the beach.  good thing you're heading there tomorrow!

Duck Wisdom

Location: The harbor in Burlington, Vermont near the U.S. Coast Guard station. The boatless boat-access ramp.

A bit of a chill. Windy, too.

Yours truly was the only homo sapiens. Haven’t been down there all year. These guys had been sitting and floating along the shoreline having a little chat when I pulled up.

I popped out of my freshly inspected 2000 edition motor vehicle {McCaffrey’s Sunoco at North & North] and they came right over.

“Where you been,” asked the babe on the left?

“Slight life-style change,” said I. “2007’s been my year off the bike. It wasn’t just the cancer, it was time for a change of the routine. People still tell me they saw me on the bike the other day somewhere. I’ve stopped telling them I’ve been out of the bike saddle since December. People, after all, will see what they want to see.”

“You don’t have to remind us of that,” quacked the dude on the right.

“Sorry,” said I. “No bread. I just came down here on an impulse.”

“We’ll survive,” he replied. “After all, we ducks do not live by bread alone.”

Right.

“Just explain to us,” asked the female on the left, “why George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are still in charge, quack, quack?  In our little world, one-legged liars just don’t cut it, know what I mean?”

I told her I did. I also told here that “Justice in the human world often doesn’t get delivered as quickly as in the duck world. Especially in a ‘democracy’ which has rules and regulations and procedures and timelines and elections!"

“You people are so pathetic,” said one of the guys on the right.  “They stole the 2000 election. Your Supreme Court stopped the Florida vote recount that would have put Al Gore in the White House. An inconvenient truth, eh?

“Then the Bush-Cheney ruling team makes up bold lies to con your Congress and your 'media' and your crazy population into believing wild lies about Iraq so they can justify an invasion in 2003. And the bloodbath continues. For what?”

"Good question," I replied.  "Look, I’ve always wished human brains were as smart as duck brains. C’est la vie. You play the cards and the species you’re dealt, right?”

“I hear ya,” quacked one of the dames on the left.

"But,” says I, “it’s not like all human brains are dysfunctional. You guys probably aren’t going to fly cross-state, but Monday at 7 p.m. there’s going to be a big Impeachment Teach-In at Dartmouth’s Moore Hall.

“Among the participants in this human reality-check are Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Nation magazine writer John Nichols and Newfane Selectman Dan DeWalt who started the impeachment ball rolling a couple years back with a Vermont Town Meeting Day resolution.

“Hey, guys, we’re only human,” I told them.

Quack, quack, quack...