Freyne Land

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced his decision on whether he will support President Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General at his Burlington office on Wednesday afternoon.

Mukasey, a former federal judge in New York, had been considered a shoe-in when he was nominated to fill the vacancy of Bush’s political ally, A.G. Alberto Gonzales, who resigned under a dark cloud of bipartisan criticism.

But the tide turned on Mukasey’s second day before Leahy’s Judiciary Committee when the Bush nominee declined to declare that the form of torture known as "waterboarding" was, in fact, illegal and a violation of US Law. In fact, he said he didn't know if waterboarding was "torture." Said St. Patrick:

When it comes to our core values, the things that make our country great, that define America’s place in the world, these values do not waiver or change from president to president. They are America’s values. They are not values that are owned by any president, or any administration or any Congress or any attorney general. They are the values of a great and good country.

America should continue to stand against torture.

Leahy told reporters in response to a question that he has asked Mukasey both publicly and privately to reconsider and take a public position on "waterboarding," but Mukasey, he said , has firmly declined.

I wish I could support his nomination, but I cannot. America needs to be  certain and confidant of the bedrock principle deeply embedded in our laws and our values that no, no one in our country  is above the law.

So when the Judiciary Committee meets on Tuesday morning, I will vote “no” on the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General of the United States.

Asked to respond to President George W. Bush’s criticism made  before the right-wing Heritage Foundation Thursday that the nation is at war and in desperate need of having an attorney general in office, Leahy told reporters “In some ways the nation has been without an attorney general since Alberto Gonzales was installed.”

Ouch!

It was the big political story of Friday afternoon as Democrats divulged how they'd vote. A freelance TV crew was there to feed CNN. Dave Gram was in from Montpeculiar's Associated Press Bureau - here he is letting the world know on the sidewalk outside. And a crew from the new local Fox News operation, too. They're expected to hit the local airwaves shortly.

Can't wait.

With one year to go before the votes are counted, would it be impolite of me to declare rookie Democratic U.S. Congressman Peter Welch the winner of the 2008 Vermont U.S. House race?

At the moment, Welchie's only political critics in the Green Mountains are folks on the antiwar left who are upset that Ol' Pedro has not supported the impeachment of the Liar in the Oval Office or voted "no" on any and all Iraq War money.

No Republican in Vermont is showing any interest in what would surely be a political suicide mission.

Congressman Peter Welch and New Jersey Democrat Rob Andrews, a 10-term veteran considered a "centrist" Democrat, told reporters on a telephone press conference from Capitol Hill Thursday they have introduced a bill to repeal legislation passed by the Republican Congress in 2000 that deregulated energy markets.

Dubbed the "Enron Loophole" - the legislation removed any government oversight of natural gas and heating oil markets that the congressmen say resulted in windfall profits for speculators while consumers bills have soared.

Q. How come the "Enron Loophole" hasn’t been closed up to this point?

Word from Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' office that the subcommittee Ol' Bernardo sits on on the Environment and Public Works Committee that handles global warming approved on a 4-3 vote today "a global warming bill that Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) opposed because it would not reduce emissions of greenhouse gases as much as scientists say is necessary to stop catastrophic changes in Earth’s climate.

“This bill is a step in the right direction, but it simply does not go far enough to do what scientists tell us must be done to stop global warming,” Sanders said. “If we are not extremely bold and aggressive, this planet faces a catastrophe in the years to come.”

"Catastrophe?"

Yep. That is what many reasonable, intelligent people are saying.

Still, it could have been worse. A lot worse. Were the Republicans still the majority party, there wouldn't have even been a global warming bill!

Look at the bright side!

As Paul Burns over at the Vermont Public Interest Research Group pointed out to yours truly, "Bernie actually proposed nine different amendments to strengthen the bill, one of which was accepted.  Most of the others were defeated 5-2 or on a voice vote.  It's really true that no one in the Senate (perhaps the US gov't) is doing more than Bernie Sanders to fight global warming."

The Senator's release notes that, "Added to the bill was a Sanders provision that would encourage automobile manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency. To be eligible for a pool of new funds to produce more fuel efficient cars, auto makers first would have to manufacture vehicles that get at least 35 miles per gallon."

See.

A tree did grow in Brooklyn, after all!

Yes, indeed. It's a frightening world out there awaiting these little ones from the Burlington YMCA observing Halloween on the Church Street Marketplace yesterday as darkness fell.

It's for them, is it not, that we grown-up types must pay attention to the goings on at the top in this dismal, depressing and frightening Age of Bush II?

Serious attention, eh?

For All Hallows Eve "fright," how about former Bush Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "snowflakes," reported on by Robin Wright in today's Washington Post?

Don't know about you, but it only confirms what a scary dude Ol' Donny really is.

In a series of internal musings and memos to his staff, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld argued that Muslims avoid "physical labor" and wrote of the need to "keep elevating the threat," "link Iraq to Iran" and develop "bumper sticker statements" to rally public support for an increasingly unpopular war...

Under siege in April 2006, when a series of retired generals denounced him and called for his resignation in newspaper op-ed pieces, Rumsfeld produced a memo after a conference call with military analysts. "Talk about Somalia, the Philippines, etc. Make the American people realize they are surrounded in the world by violent extremists," he wrote.

People will "rally" to sacrifice, he noted after the meeting. "They are looking for leadership. Sacrifice = Victory."

The meeting also led Rumsfeld to write that he needed a team to help him "go out and push people back, rather than simply defending" Iraq policy and strategy. "I am always on the defense. They say I do it well, but you can't win on the defense," he wrote. "We can't just keep taking hits."

Based on the discussion with military analysts, Rumsfeld tied Iran and Iraq. "Iran is the concern of the American people, and if we fail in Iraq, it will advantage Iran," he wrote in his April 2006 memo.

Surprised?

The truth is, I'm on "vacation." And I already live in vacation land. So instead of going somewhere far away, I'm getting my travel bug scratched by someone who is far away - Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Received this e-mail from University of Vermont grad [1998] and former WCAX-TV Reporter Brian Byrnes.  Brian's in Buenos Aires these days and just became a daddy -"Terrence Bautista Byrnes ("Bauti"), was born on August 30th. He's cute as hell and we're thrilled."

Brian's also been having a blast covering the Argentine presidential election - you know, the one we heard little about from our mainstream press. Writes Byrnes:

If you're curious about what really happened in the Land of Eva Peron - and much more, check here.

Yes, there are other countries out there besides Iraq and Iran.

A little chilly out there, huh?

And not many folks on Burlington's Church Street Marketplace during the Monday evening "rush" hour.

But UVM sophomore Dan Leipow, 20, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey was. Majoring in geography "at the moment," said he. Appears to prefer juggling much, much more. Been at it religiously since last October, though he told me he got the juggling balls from an English friend eight years ago - just never got hooked.

Said his little donation jar takes in about $5-an-hour.

Speaking of juggling, yours truly is officially on vacation this week from "Inside Track" duties.  Of course, the juggler in me cannot avoid the blogosphere.

Speaking of great "jugglers," have you ever heard of a guy named Jim Douglas?

Off his "official" public schedule:

9:00 a.m. Maison de la France and Department of Tourism Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony, Ceremonial Office, State House, Montpelier

11:00 a.m. Barton Senior Center Halloween Party and Luncheon, Village Square, Barton

1:00 p.m. Northeastern Vermont Area Agency on Aging Annual Meeting, East Side Restaurant, Landing Street, Newport

Before going out to catch former CIA covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson's speech at the Sheraton Sunday afternoon, sponsored by Vermont Woman, I swung by author/musician Marc Estrin's place in Burlington's Old North End. Hadn't been by in a few months and I wanted to get the latest casualty count on the Bush-Cheney madness.

The number on the left, [449], is the latest U.S. death toll in  Afghanistan. In the middle, [3834] is the latest U.S. death toll in  Iraq. And on the right, [1,085,967] is the latest estimate of civilian deaths in Iraq, according to a Johns Hopkins study.

Reality check.

So was Ex-Agent Valerie Wilson [right] talking to Vermont reporters in the hallway before her speech. She's on a national tour plugging her new book: Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House.

"My parents were Republicans," said Mrs. Wilson. "I was raised Republican when that meant strong national defense, a strong fiscal policy," she said, noting it's been changed so much "to the state it's in now, that it's now hard to recognize it."

Valerie's the career undercover agent at the Central Intelligence Agency outed by the White House in Robert Novak's column in 2003. V.P. Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby got convicted for the leak, but then received a presidential pardon* (see correction below) - no jail time.

Hey, he was just doing his job, right?

As Wilson told the admiring crowd of 800 in the Emerald Ballroom, had "senior administration officials been sitting across from a Russian journalist at a fancy restaurant in downtown Washington and given him my name, that would have been called 'treason.'

"Why is it called anything different when it's filtered through an American journalist?"

Good question, eh?

The former CIA agent told the gathering the American invasion of Iraq "was in many ways a response to an unproven academic theory put forward by the Neocons that democracy would blossom, that the invasion, conquest and occupation of Iraq would really just get democracy blooming throughout the region!"

During the Libby Trial, she noted, "What came out very clearly was the extent to which the media, the White House press corps -  has a symbiotic relationship with this administration. That's nothing new, but the extent to which this administration has used intimidation tactics is unprecedented!"

Mrs. Wilson highlighted the "quite striking"  fact regarding the "very little shoe leather that was expended by the media on the reasons for going to war." The Washington press corps, she said, was "spoon-fed everything by the administration."

Sad, but true.

"Now it's true - anything the President says is news, but it seems to me we were let down by the media because they didn't actively pursue the mid-level managers at the Pentagon, the State Department and elsewhere. They could have told them a little different story."

Yes, indeed.

More here.

*********
Nov. 3 post - This from Marc Estrin. I got it wrong on the "pardon."

I did want to correct one thing in your blog. Scooter Libby was not pardoned; his sentence was commuted. This was very savvy of  the Bush lawyers. It leaves the case still open and "on appeal". Therefore Bush/Cheney/Rove can continue to argue that they cannot comment publicly because it's an ongoing investigation. Libby paid a small fine the very afternoon it was demanded -- if I recall, $250k -- but he had already raised $3+ million from Republican fatcats for the "Scooter Libby Defense Fund".

All in all, another good job done cheaply by the administration. Bread & Puppet made the same mistake for a "Pardon Me" circus act this summer, but no one would listen to me and accept the distinction. It was a funny act, though, with the puppeteers handing out pardons to the audience like pre-Luther indulgences, without charge.

Thanks, Marc.

Yes, it’s a scary world.

And I’m not just talking about war, fire, hurricane, drought and the melting of the Arctic ice cap.

I’m talking about the Boston Red Sox sitting one game away from winning the World Series. Ah, modern pro baseball! Millionaires on steroids!

In the old days, they just used to drink alcoholic beverages.

Born and raised a Yankee fan was I. Dad may have been the Kilkenny farm boy who joined the IRA in 1920, but mom was raised in the Bronx, daughter of the Galway girl who survived the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 and the butcher from Tipperary who keeled over from a heart attack when she was still a kid.

Agnes Cummings grew up on Clinton Place, a dear and devoted Yankee fan and close friend of Yankee relief pitcher "Fireman" Johnny Murphy’s sister. That meant tickets to the games and socializing with the Yankee players. We’re talking mid-to-late 1930s and early 1940s.

Pre-Internet.

Ah, sure they're all gone now, and you and I will join them one day, but the here and now is all we've got.

Happy to say I looked like I needed a haircut the other day. It’s growing back. Couple tests on Hospital Hill this week, but the chemo treatments look like they did the trick.

And also happy to say that Jessica Sidway introduced herself the other day down at Speeder & Earl’s and suggested she’d be the perfect one to do it.

The full treatment including a shampooing. Haven’t had one of these in.....ages?

Gentlemen’s Top Option. Down on the Burlington Waterfront. Upscale price-wise, but worth it.

Life’s short, eh?

And Jessica was great company.

It was the official opening of the new environmentally-friendly Merrill Lynch office on the Burlington Waterfront Thursday. Yours truly was the only press that showed. No big deal, but I thought there just might be a gubernatorial ribbon-cutting, eh?

Gov. Jim Douglas noted Merrill Lynch is a "very large global corporation with annual revenues  7-times the state budget here in Vermont."

Gov. Scissorhands called Merrill Lynch "a great corporate citizen" for making a "commitment to a green building."

Steve Waltien of Shelburne, a UVM grad and bank president before signing on with Merrill Lynch 17 years ago, told the gathering of almost 100 that "Without the support of the local administration, this project for us would never happen. So we really appreciate your being here mayor."

Progressive Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss - the only socialist we could identify in the crowd, told the gathering that:

"Being a student of the Sixties, you know the question I have is: ‘Does business have a soul?’ 

"I think in a lot of ways Merrill Lynch is a pillar of the community...and we’re building the community together.

"We all know that the sub-prime mortgage rates are in trouble. We all know that there’s disparity between rich and poor and I think we’re all struggling with those issues to make sure we have a quality life and a better life."

"So what I see here is a dedication to green building,  an investment in Burlington and a long commitment, I think, to social needs in the City of Burlington and the State of Vermont so I’m hoping that we partnership together so that we can build a better world."

After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Merrill Lynch's Waltien told Freyne Land:

"There are a lot of Merrill-Lynch managers like me around the country who think like I do. Very frankly, I’m a liberal Democrat and there are many people who think like I do in this firm. I feel very comfortable in this firm.

"I think the impression from afar is that these are the right-wing Republican fat cats. Nothing could be farther from the truth."

What do you think?

Bye-bye summer, eh?

Still, though, plenty of flowers holding in there in Vermont's Queen City - this batch on South Union Street yesterday.

Nice.

Also, I didn't have room to take note of Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' new press secretary in the print column so here he is - Will Wiquist. Would you believe he's been living in an apartment across the street from yours truly in Burlington's South End?

Yes, indeed. Here's a shot of Will as he made the final move-out last weekend.

Previously, Wiquist, 29,  worked as comptroller on Democrat Peter Welch's successful 2006 congressional race. Then he was briefly with the Vermont Department of Public Service working on telecom policy. Will's a money/numbers guy, previously a senior campaign finance analyst with the Federal Elections Commission. No past press job, unlike his immediate boss, Ol' Bernardo's Communications Director Michael Briggs, who was with the Chicago Sun-Times for years.

Will informs us he graduated Franklin & Marshall College with a double-major in English and Government. Entirely "appropriate" he says, "given that my parents were English and History teachersrespectively.  Coincidentally," he adds in an e-mail, "the only other F&M alum I’ve met inVT is our own City Councilor Joan Shannon."

As for his Vermont roots, Rookie Press Secretary Wiquist informs Freyne Land, "My mom was born in Fletcher Allen while my grandpa was working inVergennes running the old Week’s School.  My mom’s parents were pre-skiboom Stowe born-and-bred (ie poor farmers)."