Freyne Land

The first was the snow. Started here in Burlap with a few flakes at 5:45 AM. And then things got real dicey for everyone playing the part of morning-commuter regardless of economic bracket or job. If you were driving to work this morning, you were f**ked.

This sidewalk plow was shooting up the block out front early. Not bad for a city with a socialist mayor, eh?

Maybe the snowstorm inspired the second surprise of the day - Progressive Party Gubernatorial Candidate Anthony Pollina of Middlesex put out what I think is his first gubernatorial campaign press release of 2008! A Pollina take on Gov. Scissorhands' proposed state budget. Rips it to sheds!

Unfortunately it's 538 words, single-spaced. A taste:

"Now that the dust has settled around Governor Jim Douglas' budget proposal it's clear he is promising too much in a budget that is more political than practical. While the economy is weak and money tight, Douglas promises to cut income tax rates for wealthy Vermonters and offer the rest of us a one time, election-year, cut in property taxes. He also proposes to increase spending over $60 million. This may sound good on the campaign trail but our state budget should be realistic. It should aim to strengthen our economy, support job growth and provide needed services for Vermonters struggling to make ends meet, not be a tool for re-election...

And closes with:

Ultimately, a state budget should be based on a commitment to Vermonters, not election year gimmicks. If there is a choice between cutting tax rates for the wealthiest or lowering property taxes and creating jobs for average Vermonters, I choose the jobs."

Don't have room for it all. And, unfortunately, it's not posted at anthonypollina.com...yet.

And wouldn't a serious gubernatorial candidate call a presser and take questions (get on the TV & radio) on something as big as his opponent, the Guv's, proposed VERMONT STATE BUDGET?

Just wondering...

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?

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....

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?

Democrat House Speaker Gaye Symington [left] was the guest on Ch. 3's "You Can Quote Me" which aired Super Bowl Sunday morning.

In case you didn't tune in, I watched for you.

News Director Marselis Parsons and Statehouse Reporter Kristin Carlson asked the questions. One zeroed in on the apparent quick compromise between the Democrats in the Legislature and the Republican - Jim Douglas - in the Governor's Office on one hot topic.

Last year, Symington and the Dems could not muster the votes to override Douglas' veto of their big "fight global warming" energy-efficiency legislation. Funding derived from a tax on the profits of Entergy's Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station were unacceptable to a certain governor.

Carlson: What do you think changed from last year to this year to sort of make this all come together because last year it was so divisive... and this year we’re just a few weeks into the session, the same players, the same people at the table, and now we have an idea that’s really close to coming out as a bill in the committee?

SYMINGTON: Well, I’d say it’s fuel prices!

Vermonters are in a lot of pain around fuel prices and I could show you a graph: property tax increase is here, and municipal taxes here and healthcare costs up this much. And then there’s a bar for the increase in fuel prices [which] is enormous and is really affecting Vermonters.

And I think it’s a shame we’re a year behind where we could have been if we had passed that bill last year.

It is...getting o-o-l-l-l-l-d-d.

Things are different today....I hear every mother say....

Remember that one?

Things were different on Church Street in Burlington this afternoon, too. Not everyday that one can catch the House of LeMay Drag Queens out for a stroll. In this case they were promoting Drag Ball XIII coming up on February 16. More here.

It’s a evening of cabaret at Higher Ground on Main Street to benefit the "People With AIDS Coalition."

The LeMay drag queens were being shot by Tim Kavanagh and his crew from "Late Night Saturday" on WCAX-TV. [No, that's not Marsillyiss Parsons on the right!]

Caught their act because I went downtown this afternoon for the 3:40 showing of Woody Allen’s new flick - Cassandra’s Dream - at the Roxy. Did not check any reviews. Hey, just had a Woody-Allen feeling. One of the leading moviemakers of my youth!

Had I checked a film review, I might have caught wind Cassandra’s Dream was not particularly Woody-Allenesque.

Sure. Very well shot. Excellent score, but...depressing. The women actors are babes, but their characters are not developed beyond the shallowest of veneers.

The male leads...pathetic losers and brothers, a chronic gambler and a hustling, skirt-chasing swindler, and, in this case, first time murderers in “Merry” Modern England do not arouse much in the way of empathy on the part of the viewer.

Hey, money does make the world go ‘round, right?

Made the panel out at the Colchester studios of Vermont Public Television. Ch. 5's Stewart Ledbetter was the host. Terri Hallenbeck from the Freeps and Dan Barlow from the Vermont Press Bureau, who made the dodgy drive from Montpelier together, were with me on the panel. Got to talk about marijuana and hemp and Howard Dean, Madeleine Kunin and the National Guard among other items.

And about the possibility of Vermont's March 4 Town Meeting Day presidential primary making a difference in the race for the Democrat Party nomination that's down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Really?

St. Patrick, excuse me, U.S. Senator Patrick J. Leahy has endorsed Barack Obama. So, too, has Vermont's Democratic Congressman Peter Welch.

But what about America's best-loved socialist - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders?

Just checked with Sanders' Press Secretary Michael Briggs.

Michael went and rechecked with his boss and came back with this latest statement from Ol' Bernardo:

"As an Independent, I do not plan to be involved in the primary process. After a nominee is selected, I will do everything I can to make sure he or she is elected president."
  

Back when the Baby Boomer Generation, the generation of Gov. Jim Douglas, was young, the White House had the "Selective Service System" - THE DRAFT - to provide the bodies to fill the bags in South Vietnam.

To pull off the current quagmire in Iraq, this White House didn't have the draft to rely on.

Instead, President Bush, who "dodged" the Vietnam-era draft by getting a special placement in the Texas Air National Guard, had to count on the Reserves and the weekend warriors of the states' National Guard forces.

National Guard troops can be federalized to protect the nation's security, but as Sen. Peter Shumlin pointed out on "Charlie & Ernie" this morning [see item below], the reasons President Bush cited to do so were bold lies and hold no water whatsoever. The nation's security was not being threatened by Iraq,

At his official weekly presser today, Gov. Scissorhands was informed of Shummy's comments on the morning radio and their connection to the bill, H.746, that  Rep. Mike Fisher (D-Lincoln) and 27 co-sponsors introduced in the House on that point. Said Vermont's reigning and apparently invincible King James:

"I share every Vermonter’s concern about the continuation of the war. I hope that we can find an exit strategy. That is the responsibility of our national leaders so that no one from Vermont or any other state is called upon to serve.

"But in the meantime, the Congress not only authorized the use of force, but continues to fund the war efforts and it’s really a question that’s best put to those who represent us in the Congress.

"I think it’s important for the Legislature to focus on the agenda they can affect, because they can’t affect the power, constitutionally and statutorily, of the President to federalize the National Guard. It’s been clarified by the Congress. It’s been litigated throughout the centuries and that power is quite clear.

"I hope the Legislature will focus on economic growth, on housing, on healthcare, on reducing property taxes, on matters that are within their provence."

Q. Do you think there's justification for Vermont Guard members to continue to be on the firing line in Iraq?

Douglas: "Well, the President has that authority."

Q. And you don’t question that?

Douglas: "No. It’s been resolved by the court system repeatedly."

Informed afterward of Douglas' remarks, the bearded Rep. Fisher told yours truly:

"It’s clear to me that the governor and the governor’s staff have not looked at this issue. We’re putting a very serious question on the table about the continued illegality of the President’s federalizing of the Guard. I hope that the Governor and his staff will take a good serious look at the questions we’re raising and invite him to the policy table.

"I think when his staff does take a look at it, they’ll realize there is a role for states to play with respect to the governing of the Guard."

One thing's clear: these guys are worlds apart on this one!

Got wind the other day - from a Montpeculiar business lobbyist, as a matter of fact - that 620 WVMT-AM morning radio jock Charlie Papillo, of "Charlie & Ernie" fame, was whining on the radio airwaves about the fact I'd snapped his picture at the Great Harvest Bread Store on Pine Street, but never published it in this blog.

Poor baby!

Charlie, so sorry. The opportunity simply hasn't presented itself. Haven't been tuning in.

But with the Vermont Legislature back in session and you having guests like Senate President pro tem Peter Shumlin, I tuned in this morning.

So here's the shot of your handsome self at long last!

Mr. Papillo leans to the political right. And he challenged Shummy about his support for Rep. Mike Fisher's bill declaring that President George "WMD" Bush's authority to federalize the Vermont National Guard for Iraq duty has terminated.

"The Governor’s already come out and said that any bill that would suggest that, he would veto it in a minute. You’re going to continue on that fight?" asked Charlie.

Shumlin: I have really strong feelings about the war in Iraq. I also think it’s a great example of why Americans are turned off by politics-as-usual. All these folks running around saying we’ve got to get out of Iraq, we’ve got to end this war. Nothing happens.

And the fact is the Vermont Guard has made the most extraordinary sacrifice for their country and they are fighting hard in Iraq and I think Adjutant General Dubie has done an extraordinary job. I am proud of the families and the Vermont Guard.

However, the resolution that was passed by Congress six years ago, in my judgment, has expired. It was based upon three tenets:

1. That the government of Iraq was a threat to the United States. Well guess what? Saddam Hussein is not longer a threat to the United States.

2. We had to get those weapons of mass destruction. Well, haven’t found them yet [because they do not exist].

3. That it was punishment, in effect, for their complicity in 9-11, which we know also didn’t happen.

So either Congress needs to authorize a new resolution saying we’re gonna mediate a civil war in Iraq, or we should bring our Vermont Guard members home.

Good point, eh?

P.S. Good bread, too.

"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