Freyne Land

"Inside Track" writing day.

Yes, those old-fashioned "paper" papers still exist. Got a few things on my list....

But did want to share this one with you. Yes, the sun is shining in beautiful Burlington, Vermont, but George "WMD" Bush, Dick "America" Cheney, and Karl Rove are still running the United States.

Their war based on lies, a war that required the deception of the American people, rages on in Iraq.

And Alberto Gonzalez is still the Attorney General of the United States.

However, "impeachment" is a word one hears everyday now and Alberto's credibility meter, like that of his boss, is on empty.

This website, we're told, went up yesterday: www.impeachgonzales.org.

Enjoy!

ReCycling Day in my part of the People's Republic of Burlington.

Remember when we just threw it all away?

Or rather the "garbage men" came and took it all away. It was the only time I - Kid Freyne - saw a black face in my white New York suburb.

On today's agenda: Mayor Bob KIss is doing a City Hall presser at 11 with AARP. They're releasing a report:

The report, "A Great City for Older Adults -- An Action Plan for Burlington," will outline the key findings of city-wide surveys and focus groups, and represents the work of some 30 organizations dedicated to creating a community that accommodates, embraces and serves a fast-growing aging population."

Might be a couple aging reporters there, too?

And a few annual rituals on the schedule this week. The Vermont City Marathon this weekend and the Vermont Business Expo at the Sheraton kicks off Wednesday. Gov. Jim Douglas will be there to cut the ribbon, but I don't see the usual presser on his weekly public schedule.

Certainly, he'll use the occasion to land a few blows in the Great H. 520 - Climate Change Veto Fight of 2007?

Burlington's Church Street was hopping this afternoon, what with UVM graduation and all the relatives in town to witness it. Good vibes in the air. Look at the two romantics on the left of the photo. Just don't see enough people do that in public anymore.

So within a minute of snapping this photo,  two old friends pop up from different directions. Remember Chainsaw Liz, a.k.a. Democratic State Senator and later State Auditor Elizabeth Ready?

Alive and well is she. Son Kevin graduated UVM today. For over a year, Elizabeth has been the director of the John Graham Emergency Shelter in Vergennes. Seventeen beds and usually full, including homeless folks with jobs, said Liz.

Thirty seconds later, up pops Steve Goldberg, my favorite Burlington jazz trumpeter and playwright.  Known them both more than 20 years, so I was surprised they really weren't familiar with each other.  Different worlds - politics and jazz. But it turns out Chainsaw did know Steve's late, great wife Rachel Bissex, the songwriter/singer/performer who passed away from cancer in February 2005.

So I dragged them both into Uncommon Grounds for some coffee. Good chat, too.

Ol' Steverino will be playing in the Discover Jazz Festival this summer (as always?), and plans a revival of his play Curbdivers of Redemption in August.

Cool.

Just a tease.

Take a look at these blossoming crabapple trees. Right in front of Washington County Superior Court this afternoon. State Street, Montpelier, Vermont - the one and only. Just after the Vermont Progressive Party's State Committee meeting which was held in Rooms 10 and 11 under the golden dome. [No coffee allowed in Room 11, so they stayed in Room 10 longer than originally planned.]

A whole lot of gracefully aging former hippies and anti-Vietnam War protestors. Look, I've been going through this "Peter finally feels like he's aging" chapter of life and covering the Progs did not help it. More on that later...and, yes, they adopted an Impeachment Resolution. Voila:

Whereas George W. Bush and Richard Cheney have:
1. misled the nation about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
2. misled the nation about ties between Iraq ans Al Qaeda.
3. used these falsehoods to lead our nation into a war unsupported by international law.
4. not told the truth about American policy with respect to the use of torture, and
5. have directed the government to engage in domestic spying in direct contravention of U.S. law,

Therefore, the Vermont Progressive Party State Committee requests Vermont's representative to the U.S. House of Representatives to file articles of impeachment to remove Bush and Cheney from office.

'Course, Welchie has the same position on impeaching the crooks as our senators, St. Patrick and Ol'Bernardo, have: let's not.

Here's a shot of Ch. 3's crime-beat reporter Brian Joyce interviewing Progressive Party Chair Martha Abbott.

Should have a bite on the Six O'Clock, assuming there is a Six O'Clock News tonight.

Not sure what her crime was?

A couple of surprises, too.

One was the fact that Anthony Pollina, a Prog Party co-founder, gubernatorial candidate and WDEV talk-show host was a no-show.

Bummer.

Another surprise was that they had a press panel on their program - two old-timers, Sam Hemingway and Ross Sneyd, telling them what they thought of the Progressive Party and how fairly it's covered.

More on that later....

So, I'm off to drop by the Vermont Progressive Party state committee meeting in Rm. 11 at the Statehouse.

What fun!

Yes, there still is a Progressive Party in Vermont. Maybe even radio talk show host Tony, er, Anthony Pollina will be there!

Speaking of Progs, have you seen Vermont's on-again, off-again Socialist lately? The alleged "father" of the Progressive Party?

You remember Bernie Sanders, right?

Check him out here.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2007/05/do_tell_a_talk_with_the_senate.html

Later.....

House Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate Top Dog Peter Shumlin, pictured at right,  just made public the letter they've sent to Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of the Fox News Channel. I have it for you below.

They also talked about it at their Thursday afternoon presser. At issue, the "O'Reilly Factor" crew's ambush of House Judiciary Chair Bill Lippert in the Statehouse cafeteria.

"There’s no comparison between what we do in Vermont in journalism and what O’Reilly’s crew did in the cafeteria," said Shummy.  "It’s a different business. It’s like comparing apples and oranges. They virtually attacked him, not only their equipment, but their questions. Didn’t ask for an interview, but shoved the interview onto him. Wouldn’t let him get up out of his chair, surrounded him and froze him there. And their questions were more commentary than objective questions. We don’t do it that way in Vermont."

But that's commentary?

"Right, I agree with you. It’s a different beast,” said Shumlin. "We don’t mean to smear the Vermont press corps in any way. They [O'Reilly Factor]] are not news.”

"It’s un-News," said Da' Speaker. "In fact, Vermont has very tough sex-offender laws. We have very tough legislation around sentencing, around special investigation units and we toughened them this year.

"Fox is worse than entertainment. It’s conveying something that’s absolutely untrue," Symington told reporters.

Their letter:

STATE OF VERMONT
115 STATE STREET
DRAWER 33
MONTPELIER, VT 05633-520

May 17, 2007

Roger Ailes
Chairman and CEO
Fox News Channel
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Ailes:

Last week, a media crew dispatched by the Fox News program “The O'Reilly Factor” confronted a member of the Vermont General Assembly in the Statehouse cafeteria.  The incident was witnessed by several members of the Legislature and later reported on the O'Reilly program.  The news crew asked misleading questions that deliberately mischaracterized Vermont laws and our determination to protect our children. 

The Vermont Legislature has a long history of being open and accessible to all who wish to participate and observe, and has always recognized and granted access to the press to perform its important role.  However, the tactics employed by the producers of this television program are unacceptable and have no place in Vermont's statehouse or Vermont politics.  The camera crew came at Representative Lippert in such an aggressive manner that several bystanders thought he was under attack.  Their questions were meant to provoke, rather than to elicit information. 

As the leaders of the Vermont Legislature, we condemn in the strongest terms these hostile tactics and stand with our colleagues in the Legislature in support of the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

If it was the goal of your producers and Mr. O'Reilly to create a reaction among your viewers that would lead to intimidating threats against our colleague, they succeeded.  Because of your program, Chairman Lippert has received numerous threats of personal injury and physical violence from your viewers.

If, on the other hand, it was Mr. O'Reilly's goal to intimidate the Vermont Legislature into considering ineffective and misguided legislation or to weaken the Legislature's steadfast support for our colleague, your tactics had the opposite effect.  We hope the bipartisan opposition to your channel's tactics of intimidation will serve as a reminder that while Vermont welcomes a healthy and honest debate on issues, we will not be bullied by outsiders whose primary interest is provocation and political theater.

Sincerely,

Gaye Symington                                       Peter Shumlin
Speaker of the Vermont House                President Pro Tem, Vermont Senate 

Mark your calendars.

May 17, 2007: the day the Great Global Warming War of the 21st Century officially erupted full-bore in the Green Mountain State. "Shots" fired.

In Burlington, the two leaders of the Vermont Legislature told reporters they still had hope Vermont's governor would see the light and not veto H. 520, the landmark Climate Change Bill that was the product of their session-opening spotlight on the global warming crisis confronting Mother Earth and her occupants.

They held a presser in the library at former Gov. Phil Hoff's Main Street law firm (over the bike shop). Phil was Vermont's first Democrat in the governor's office, elected in 1962. Maybe they were hoping for some luck to rub off?

Said State Sen. Peter Shumlin, the senate president pro tem from Windham County:

"We ought to be celebrating the fact that the Vermont Legislature had the courage to pass a really tough bill.  Is it really controversial?

You bet.

Do we have a sales job ahead?

You bet.

Does that start yesterday?

It should have.

Will it continue tomorrow?

Yes.

But, Vermont should be proud of the fact that their Legislature has been willing to go to an area that no other legislature has been will to touch!"

In Montpelier, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas made it perfectly clear hewill, indeed, veto H. 520 the big, landmark climate change bill. To the Guv, however, it's a Democratic tax bill not a climate-change bill. 

The GOP governor of a state most think of as comprised of a bunch of antiwar, left-wing tree-huggers, had hinted at a veto of the global-waring legislation for months. But Gov. Scissorhands finally made himself perfectly clear, telling Terri Hallenbeck of the state's largest daily newspaper, The Burlington Free Press, that his mindis made up:

Douglas said... that no amount of persuasion will change hismind about the bill.

"I feel very strongly about it," he said. "It's aterrible message to send to the business community."

Really?

But name one tax any business ever celebrated, eh?

Speaker Symington, a native of upscale Tuxedo Park, New York, who also packs a Cornell M.B.A., is not exactly the sort of person who reflects insensitivity to the "business community."

Said Madame Speaker:

"You already see other states looking to Vermont to learn from our energy efficiency utility. You see Canada looking to learn from what we’ve done in our energy efficiency utility that’s confined to the world of electric energy.

"That’s not enough. We’re trying to move from there to an all-fuels electric utility.

"I find it interesting to hear some of the comments from the business community about their discomfort with this bill. I bet if you go through who Energy-Efficiency Vermont has actually provided service for, you’d find a fair number of those businesses having taken advantage of Efficiency Vermont, realizing some real savings in the last five or six years as a result of Efficiency Vermont."

Speaker Symington said all they're trying to do is extend that benefit beyond the electric-heat crowd to an "all-fuels" statewide energy-efficiency utility.

"The governor can be a real national leader here and an international leader," said Shummy, "and that’s what we need to communicate to him. He’s flying off to China in just a few weeks to promote energy efficiency in China based upon the experience here in Vermont.

"Why this governor would go to promote efficiency to the Chinese in China, when he doesn’t have the courage to support it at home is puzzling to me."

Puzzling to you?

Downtown Burlington was on the deserted-looking side yesterday, probably will be today.

The damp chilly weather keeps a lot of folks inside, but not these loyal antiwar troopers - the 5 p.m. peace people at the top of Church Street.

Wonder how much longer they're going to have to keep doing it?

On the Vermont political front, House Speaker Gaye Symington and Sen. President pro tempore Peter Shumlin have scheduled a joint presser for this afternoon at Phil Hoff's law office on Main Street in beautiful Burlington.

We're told they'll "review the accomplishments" of the recently completed legislative session.

What fun!

And if we have energy left after that, Progressive Mayor Bob Kiss will host an Old North End presser to address what some consider Burlington's #1 problem - graffiti!

"Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss will host a press conference to recognize and unveilthe combined efforts of the City’s Graffiti Removal Team, Burlington youthorganizations, and local youth to create a “Community Art Space” to helpcombat graffiti. The press conference will take place on Thursday May 17at 4:30 p.m. at the corner of North and North Union streets (with a raindate of Friday May 25)."

Bring your magic markers!

Just kidding.

The rain is perfect for it.

Bills to pay. Grocery shopping. You know the drill.

But I did want to share with you my little visit Saturday to the Vermont Vietnam Veterans Memorial along the interstate in Sharon. I was coming back from the Impeachment Town Meeting Congressman Peter Welch held in the Hartland High School Gym. Driving northbound along Interstate 89, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway.

The Sharon Interstate Memorial has been ugraded considerably over theyears and if you haven't stopped by you've been missing something.

That's Arthur M. Hammond Jr. of Bethel, a transportation worker,sweeping up on the right, and some local college students who stopped offon the left. Arthur also served in Vietnam with the Air Force, doingoxygen work on the big jets (1968-72).

I confess. I haven't stopped there in almost 25 years. That's when I covered the memorial's official opening for the late, great Vanguard Press. The Vietnam War is a tender subject. A friend lost, several wounded and a government that lied. Ours.

My last stop was October 30, 1982. No cell phones. No email. No laptops. The White House of that day, having learned nothing from Vietnam, was backing right-wing guerrillas and military juntas in Latin America. And Bernie Sanders was in his first term as mayor of Burlington.

The Vietnam War was my generation's war. I did not fight in it. I fought against it, as did many veterans, too, just like we're seeing today.

On the personal level, there was a draft. I went through the Selective Service System hearing process - summer of '69 - to obtain a "1-0," i.e. conscientious objector status (CO). Got it on a 3-1 vote of my distinguished local draft board. Still see the long Salem filter cigarette dangling out of the red lips of the smirking platinum blond who was the clerk of the board. She looked at me like I was a piece of total ____ and should be taken outside and executed!

A few days later, I was a little surprised to open the mail and see I had been given conscientious objector classification (no Roman Catholic had ever been granted one by my draft board before me). And I was a little disappointed, too, since it 'ended the battle,' so to speak, but my mother was tremendously relieved.

Moms, eh?

Also, there are several really cool buildings at the northbound Sharon Rest Area, an info center and a geothermal planetarium that will fascinate children of all ages. Great bathrooms, too.

According to Roy Black, the friendly "transportation ambassador" inside (pictured at right), the names of 128 Vermonters who were killed in Vietnam are on the granite marker outside.

Also on hand are big journals with the names of the 7230 Vermonters who served in the Vietnam War.

Look, nobody's saying we have to out-do Vietnam in Iraq and Iran, are they?

This Just In from a "reliable source" who got it from the Vermont Guardian's Shay Totten:

"I'm sending this note out to some close friends and associates before I
make it official on the website this afternoon.  I'm enclosing the
press release I will post from the Guardian, and the one that Chelsea
Green is releasing today as well.

"It's been great to work with and collaborate with many of you on this
list, and I'll still be in Vermont working away in indy publishing, so
I won't be far or unreachable by e-mail or cell phone (324-XXXX * see footnote below).

"I want to thank everyone for helping to make the Guardian such a great
asset in the media landscape while it lasted. Perhaps it can be
resurrected by some enterprising young journalists with more energy
than I have to give anymore, but we'll see. As you'll notice, the
website will remain active, though not actively posted to, for an
indefinite amount of time."

Vermont Guardian Editor/Publisher put that out to close friends within the last hour.

The accompanying press release stated:

This week's issue will be the paper's last, and will largely be
comprised of a "best of" retrospective of some of the most important
stories the paper published in its two-and-a-half year run, Totten
said. The Guardian's first weekly print edition hit the streets in
September 2004, and its circulation topped 10,000 readers statewide.

Au revoir, Vt Guardian.

Next?

______________________________________________________

*** Received from Mr. Totten on Wednesday afternoon: