Freyne Land

Look, when a major-party congressional candidate (in a state that only has one congressional seat) gets popped for campaign-website plagiarism the way Republican Marvelous Martha Rainville did earlier this month - that’s news! Especially when the candidate hasn’t run for political office before and in many, many ways is an unknown commodity.

I mean, did the GOP candidate really approve - as she says she did - a policy statement that was literally ripped right from the jaws of Hillary Rodham Clinton?

Unfortunately, the answer is “yes.” And unfortunately, there were more cases of stolen words on her campaign website.

Bummer.

And this Vermont political embarrassment came with an unusual one-two kind-of-punch.

The story broke, as you recall, on Sunday evening, October 1. And it broke first, not on radio or TV, but in this brave, new and lightning-fast world one enters through one’s fingertips - El Blogosphere!

A Vermont blogger - Julie Waters at "Reason and Brimstone" - landed the first punch. Well done, Citizen Waters. Nice birdie pics, too, on Fridays!

The mainstream Vermont press followed quickly on Monday.  Marvelous Martha blamed it on a campaign staffer and promptly fired the gentleman (despite his U.S. Supreme Court lineage.)

The Rainville Plagiarism story went out on the A.P. wire, and VPR, WDEV and WPTZ-TV produced their own reports for their Monday evening newscasts (also was a front-pager in Vermont’s top daily newspapers the following morning).

The second punch came when yours truly tuned into WCAX-TV News at 6 p.m. Monday evening to watch news readers Marselis Parsons and Kristin Kelly tell Vermont all about it. Wanted to see how “Vermont’s Own” would play it. In fact, we tuned in early to catch the political ads.

As everyone in Ch. 3 Land that Monday evening knows, “Vermont’s Own” definitely separated itself from the rest of the news pack on this one! WCAX did not mention one single word about Rainville’s sloppy, shallow and embarrassing plagiarism mess at 6 p.m. Nor did Ch. 3 News mention a single word during their 11 o’clock news.

O.K. I could see somebody over there argue it shouldn’t be the top story, but...no story whatsoever? Not a peep? Hello, Kirk to Enterprise!

Needless to say, we took note of that omission right here in “Freyne Land.”

Then a week ago, I contacted Ch. 3 General Manager Peter Martin, and Ch. 3 News Director Parsons by email on a different matter - i.e. to ascertain why “Vermont’s Own” had decided not to sponsor/produce a TV debate in this year’s Vermont gubernatorial race between Jim the Incumbent Republican and Scudder the Democrat Challenger.

As you may have read in "Inside Track," and in the Saturday item below this one, Peter Martin responded professionally. Unfortunately, my inquiry inspired Marsillyiss to get something off his chest. He sent the following letter to Seven Days coeditor Pamela Polston, and also sent a copy to me personally.

My first inclination was to just have a wee laugh and toss it. But then, Marselis Parsons is an important and powerful figure on the Vermont News scene. Shelburne Bay, pictured above on a windy dark Sunday, is the Ch. 3 News Director's front yard. As we see, Marsillyiss makes the call on what we get to see and what we don't. Our readers/viewers might find it insightful:

                                                                October 10, 2006

Ms. Pamela Polston
Seven Days
By fax

Dear Ms. Polston:

Peter Freyne fairly criticized us for not running the Martha Rainville aide plagiarism story last Monday October second.  It was a mistake not to run that story on that day and the responsibility is mine.

However, Freyne said in his blog that Anson Tebbetts never filed the story Monday.  That is a lie.  Freyne either assumed, or made it up. 

I rarely talk to him as I have lost my regard for his professionalism.  I have not written to you before to complain about him, but the number of errors or distortions has come to the point I felt it necessary.  This statement is a lie and impugns one of our reporters.   

Your readers should know the truth.  Anson DID write the story and filed it late in the day Monday.   I did not notice it in the lineup till after the 6pm program.   It was my fault it was not included, not Anson's.

Peter Freyne has let his obvious animus toward channel three news affect his judgment.  An apology to Anson would probably be too much to ask for, but I would certainly appreciate a correction.   

I have not written on numerous other occasions when he has made a number of errors involving us, and I don't intend to begin now. But I think the editors of Seven Days ought to monitor his work more often.

Sincerely,
Marselis Parsons
News Director

Busy guy. Thanks for taking the time, Marselis.

A “lie,” eh?  You sure about your “accuracy” on that baseless charge?

I ask because my dictionary defines a “lie” as “an intentionally false statement.”

You claim in your letter that I “lied” by reporting, er, blogging on Tuesday morning that your chief political reporter Anson Tebbetts never filed a Rainville Plagiarism story on Monday, the day the story broke. The day when the rest of the pack all carried it:

“Your readers should know the truth.  Anson DID write the story and filed it late in the day Monday.  I did not notice it in the lineup till after the 6pm program.”

Let’s assume for a moment, folks, that’s accurate. But if it is accurate, why wasn't the Tebbetts/Rainville/Plagiarism story - the top story that fell completely through the hour-long 6 o’clock News cracks - not broadcast on the 11 o’clock news that Monday night?

Here's what I blogged that Tuesday morning:

"Marvelous Martha's campaign plagiarism story was completely and totally ignored by Vermont Chamber of Commerce TV News, a.k.a. WCAX-TV - Channel 3. I'm not making this up. Just double checked the Ch. 3 Monday news scripts. The top Vermont political story of the day, a story showing GOP Candidate Rainville in a very bad ethical light, got absolutely no coverage Monday evening by Vermont's top TV news operation, the one I've called WGOP-TV for years!"

One can’t help but wonder how many regular viewers think it likely that Marselis, Anson and Ch. 3 News would have handled it the same way if the guilty plagiarist in the spotlight had been a Democrat, an Independent or Progressive, instead of a "Jim Douglas Republican?"

And, Marsillyiss, like your other regular viewers, the only way I know what Ch. 3 is covering on any given night is to tune in. Please tell us how anyone outside of Ch. 3 could possibly have known that Mr. Tebbetts had, as you claim, filed a little plagiarism story “late in the day,”  but that you, the anchorman/news director, completely overlooked it!

Perhaps, from here on out, you’ll post your daily assignment sheet on your website for all of us to read, eh?

I won’t hold my breath.

But I will use this opportunity to appeal to your sense of public service.  Information-wise, a whole lot of Vermont depends on Ch. 3 News. A gubernatorial debate between these two talented candidates  - Jim Douglas (R) and Scudder Parker (D) - is something "Vermont's Own" Ch. 3 viewers deserve, don't they? I mean, how many more commercials do you expect us to watch?

P.S. To make your claim credible, Marselis, that I have on “numerous occasions” made “errors” and “distortions” in my coverage of WCAX-TV News, you have to at least give a few examples. It’s called "proof."

However, if you put this absurdity together with the glaring and factually-false hatchet-job you pulled on Judge Edward Cashman last January, it's fair to say "credibility" is not your strong suit in 2006, is it?

By the way, I like Ch. 3 News and have been a faithful viewer for decades. Some very nice folks work there, too. Get your facts straight, will ya?  You're an embarassment to them.

Sometimes it looks so peaceful. So in order. Ducks being ducks. People being people. Equals. Wouldn't you like to slip into one of their bodies, just for a day?

I would. I'd love to chat with the other ducks, get to know a few, pick up their perspective on homo sapiens and, last but not least, fly!

But this recent shot in Burlington Harbor betrays a peace that has been in flight the last few years. Everyone's been feeling it. Endless war is the current administration  policy: "The War on Terror."

It's pure propaganda just like the phrase "weapons of mass destruction." Over and over and over again. Guess what?  The WMDs did not exist. Oh, yes, folks, the poisonous legacy of the Bush-Cheney Administration will be long and dark.

Ha! I'll always remember when a business-lobbyist friend told me way back in 1997 that Texas Gov. George W. Bush was their team's next president. A done deal.

I nearly laughed him off the bar stool (ah, the good old days!). You see, I simply could not look at the face of George W. Bush, in a newspaper or on TV, without seeing the face of Alfred E. Newman from the "What, Me Worry?"  Mad Magazine-days of my innocent youth. I thought he was just teasing me. I thought he was joking.

I thought wrong.

Talk about a bad joke, eh?

It's no longer possible to pretend, folks. We all know it. This is the most incompetent and dishonest White House in American history and the Bush-Cheney Team has inflicted more damage on our beloved nation - a nation we took too-much-for-granted - than any of our off-shore "enemies."

I don't know about you, but I want my country back.

Hey, do yourself a favor and read Ed Barna's excellent story in Friday's Times Argus/Rutland Herald:

Lt. General advises Bush: 'Get out of Iraq'

MIDDLEBURY — Get out of Iraq as quickly as possible, Lt. Gen. William Odom, U.S. Army (Ret.), urged at Middlebury College on Wednesday...."The invasion of Iraq is likely to be "the greatest strategic disaster in American history."

...We should leave Iraq "no matter what kind of mess is left behind," Odom said. There would have been a mess if we left in 2003, but not as much as if we had left in 2004, and that wouldn't have been as bad as 2005, he said.

"Every day longer that we 'stay the course' the cost goes up and makes the eventual defeat much larger," Odom said. He predicted that United States forces would finally leave the heavily defended Green Zone in Baghdad with the same desperate haste with which the last Americans left Saigon after the Vietnam War.

And, in just the last month, we've seen the first flickers of light at the end of this long American tunnel. Now, at long last, their House of Cards is finally crumbling. Did you catch Paul Krugman's Friday column in The New York Times?

Will the Levee Break?

By PAUL KRUGMAN

The conventional wisdom says that the Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives next month, but only by a small margin. I’ve been looking at the numbers, however, and I believe this conventional wisdom is almost all wrong.

Here’s what’s happening: a huge Democratic storm surge is heading toward a high Republican levee. It’s still possible that the surge won’t overtop the levee — that is, the Democrats could fail by a small margin to take control of Congress. But if the surge does go over the top, the flooding will almost surely reach well inland — that is, if the Democrats win, they’ll probably win big...

...So if the Democrats win, they’ll probably have a substantial majority. Whether they’ll be able to keep that majority is another question. But be prepared to wake up less than four weeks from now and learn that everything you’ve been told about American politics — liberalism is dead, whoever controls the South controls Washington, only Republicans know “the way to win” — is wrong. (Are we seeing the birth of a new New Deal coalition, in which the solid Northeast takes the place of the solid South?)

(For Krugman's column you have to buy the hard copy or sign-up for TimesSelect.)

Here's a couple more things you might be interested in:

Interesting Strategy - Woke up this morning to an email informing me Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie has canceled yet another debate against his Democrat challenger Matt Dunne and Progressive Marvin Malek. This one was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. next Sunday October 22 at Sterling College in Craftsbury Common.

Looks like both Doobie-Doo and his running mate, Gov. Scissorhands, are keeping the lowest profiles possible since the leaves started dropping.

Not a good time to have "Republican" after your name on the Vermont ballot, eh?

Wonder why that is?

Rethinking Debate Blackout??? -  Heard a rumor, and it is no more than that at this point, that WGOP, er, WCAX-TV NEWS may be rethinking its decision not to televise a Vermont gubernatorial debate this year. We've heard from many viewer/readers who were surprised by Ch. 3's decision to completely ignore the governor's race since the chances of a Scudder upset of Gentleman Jim remains "in play."

Instead, Ch. 3 broadcast a Bernie Sanders vs. Richie Rich Tarrant debate, even though Tarrant had effectively flushed himself down the you-know-what months ago with those nasty, half-truth attack ads that he's spent millions on. Ch. 3 is also doing a congressional debate between Martha Rainville (R) and Peter Welch (D).

In case you missed it in "Inside Track," here's what veteran Ch. 3 GM Peter Martin kindly wrote us in response to our "press inquiry" about the gubernatorial omission.

“We traditionally do debates on weekends. In thinking about this year, the first thing we looked at was which weekends we could count on for a reliable start time given the NFL and college football schedules. When there is a 4 p.m. game start, we almost invariably end up with an overrun, which pushes back the network schedule, which in turn makes the debate start time an unknown. As well, we had to consider the network schedule of programs.

“We ended up with two weekends in which we could reliably schedule debates. Given that there were two, we determined that the senate and congressional races were the priority in terms of the nature and significance of the races.” 

Look, folks, like it or lump it, if one lives in beautiful Vermont, one turns on WCAX-TV for local news. We depend on Ch. 3 for Vermont news, and there is, after all,  only one Marselis Parsons, eh?

But in our little state of few people and fewer TV News operations (two if one counts Plattsburgh N.Y.-headquartered WPTZ),  would it be asking too much for Vermont's largest "award-winning" TV News station to, as a public service, broadcast a quality, Made-In-Vermont gubernatorial debate?

A Ch. 3 Vermont Governor's Debate between Republican Jim and Democrat Scudder  that would surely attract the largest Vermont debate audience of the entire 2006 Election?

Have to ask: Has "public service" become just a public-relations catch phrase over there?

Right now "Vermont's Own" sure isn't looking like "Vermont's Own." Know what I mean?

So.... Let's give the Ch. 3 brass a chance to rethink this, eh?

WCAX General Manager Peter Martin posts his email and phone number on the wcax.com website. Just scroll down. In my dealings with him over the years, Peter's always been a gentleman, too. 

So if you're a Ch. 3 regular (like me) who wants "Vermont's Own" to air a Vermont gubernatorial debate, give the GM a call or send him an email. There are more than two weeks remaining.

Besides, it's still a free country, isn't it?

*Updated last at 4 p.m.*

Debate: To argue about a subject, especially in a formal manner.

It's about 8:45 in the morning, and at 9:05 there’ll be a gubernatorial debate LIVE on The Mark Johnson Show on WDEV. That’s 550 A.M., and the 96.1 FM comes in fine in Addison County all the way down Rutland way.

Plus, in this modern age, it’s also on the Internet, at www.wdevradio.com.

That’s how I get it down the hill here in Beautiful Burlap!

Feel free to tune in at work!

Check back for updates on Debate Land.

For one thing, we've got the suspicion one of the keys to Gov. Jim Douglas' reelection to a third term on the Fifth Floor, is having as few, head-to-head, big-audience debates as possible with Democrat Scudder Parker, that farm-kid-turned-minister... turned-Vermont state senator...turned renewable-energy expert at the PSD... the guy with the funny first name.

As you may have read in "Inside Track," WCAX-TV NEWS - "Vermont's Own" as they call themselves - is not going to host/broadcast a VERMONT Governor Debate. The "New York Station" - Plattsburg-based WPTZ-TV NEWS, aka "NewsChannel 5," is.

Go figure, eh?

Check out the new edition of Vermont Woman which has a very interesting piece about Gov. Scissorhands ducking debates with women's organizations.

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

*First Update*  11:56 a.m.

The WDEV debate was held at a senior citizen center. (Won’t be long, eh, Freyne?)

About 45 minutes into the 55-minute show, "Mark the Moderator" had an elderly resident ask a couple questions. She lives a half-mile off Route 2 in Waterbury, she said,  and she can’t get Verizon to provide her with DSL.

Nice company, that Verizon, eh?

“And one more thing,” she said, “I don’t see why they worry so much about the windmills when every time you try to got take a picture of a mountain or a scene and you’ve got all these telephone and electric wires running back and forth [so] you can’t even get a picture.”

Gov. Jim Douglas and his Democratic challenger, Scudder Parker, see things in Vermont very, very differently. And with a recent poll showing only 19 percent of Vermonters think the good Ol’ USA is heading in the right direction (and I’d love to meet each of them so they could explain why they think that), energy is a major issue with no bright spots down the road....at least at the moment under the current administration.

Hey, if Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie were governor, at least we’d have a "top gun" who, like the vast majority of Vermonters, supports commercial-scale wind-power in Vermont.

Moderator: Let’s focus on that. Is there a point that each of you would agree to that windmills would be acceptable - a height?

Jim Douglas: - "Yeah, I don’t know what the exact footage is, but I certainly support windmills to an extent. To an appropriate degree. I think they should be Vermont-scale. Not huge structures that are as tall as the Bennington Battle Monument. I don’t think that we should industrialize our ridge lines which are what give Vermont a great deal of its natural beauty. That’s why people come here especially this time of year to look at the foliage. To see the natural landscape of our state and I don’t think we should impair it.

"But in certain circumstances - on a small scale - I think wind-power can play a role in our future. I supported the four-turbine demonstration project at East Mountain in the Northeast Kingdom. I thought it would give us a good chance to see how we like it. The Public Service Board, of course, said no.

Scudder Parker - "Well, Jim, actually half your administration supported the East Mountain Project and the other half didn’t. And the other half won. So, I’m not sure which half you are on that one.

"But, the reality is that Jim Douglas has not planned and met the obligation the administration has to plan for our energy future. The wind discussion is always brought up as a kind of aesthetic debate, fundamentally it’s a question about whether we will have secure longterm  sources of energy that help us keep our rates down for businesses and homeowners in the state of Vermont. I think wind needs to be a part of the system. And I think we can start by a partnership among utilities and out Agency of Natural Resources, the Department of Public Service and build systems in place where they respond to community needs and where their longterm contracts make it very clear that the benefit will flow through to the ratepayers in the state.

"In 2012, we’re facing rate increases in the range of 40-60 percent, and Jim Douglas has not been clear with us about the risks that that imposes. And he has not been taking action and investment in the dams on the Connecticut River, on energy efficiency and in wind turbines and other technologies that will help us meet that energy crisis of affordability in 2012."

Check back for more updates.....Got a lunch date, but I'll be back!

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

*SECOND UPDATE" 2 P.M.

REPUBLICAN DIRTY TRICKS

Look, I'd like to keep this Vermont-based blog as open and as hassle-free as possible, but it depends on the posters.

This is a very, very small corner of Planet Earth and it really would help-more-than-harm if posters were for real, rather than nasty partisan pretenders like the bogus, pro-GOP, pro-Jim Douglas poster we ID below - one who changes "names" and uses phony email addresses to champion the Republican Party cause!

Hey, maybe his real name is "Jim" and he works in the corner office on the third floor of the Capital Plaza Hotel?  The Vermont Republican Party HQ!  Perhaps he would feel embarrassed if Freyne Land readers knew that his was the commentary of a paid, state-party official using various bogus names to hide his nastiness.

Perfectly understandable. It's dishonest and juvenile to use various phony names to vent your bias. It'd be nice if he could cut that stuff out, eh?

Life is very short, my friend. Just be honest, be yourself, even if you are the state GOP chair or paid staff. Be brave!

Here's this phony-named dube's last two posting "names,"  which makes it look like there's more of him!. His emails bounced back and his last two IP addresses tell us that they originated from the exact same computer.  Small world, eh?

Deceit and dishonesty, are, after all, well-established trademarks of the current Bush White House. Must be where this Vermont Republican picked them up so eagerly, you think?

Name: John
Email: [email protected]
IP: 24.53.113.91

Name: Gareth
Email: [email protected]
IP: 24.53.113.91

The vast majority of posters have been grown-ups. Met some nice folks. And for that we're thankful.

The fewer dishonest partisan sleaze bags like this, the better.

More later......

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

*THIRD UPDATE *  3:55 p.m.

Email from Vermont Republican Party Chairman/Executive Director James Barnett:

“I want an apology. that's bullshit what you posted suggesting that I am blogging on your blog under a fake name.  just total crap.  I have posted exactly one blog in my life and it was under my own name in response to one of your buddies who had the nerve to insult then-Rep. Doran Metzger as a "braindead Republican" upon his departure to serve in Iraq.”

Jim Barnett
Chairman
Vermont Republican Party
100 State Street, Suite 308
Montpelier, VT 0560

Thank you for your very professional comments. Didn’t realize the skin was that thin these days, James.

However, it is still the good ol' United States of America, even after six years of Bush-Cheney and all they’ve brought us from a needless war to a record deficit and environmental negligence and on and on.

I merely speculated on the possibilities of who on the Vermont Bush-Cheney Team did not want their name on the nasty, anti-Democrat, pro-GOP missives. Here are the lines I wrote that I believe you are offended by:

Hey, maybe his real name is "Jim" and he works in the corner office on the third floor of the Capital Plaza Hotel?  The Vermont Republican Party HQ!  Perhaps he would feel embarrassed if Freyne Land readers knew that his was the commentary of a paid, state-party official using various bogus names to hide his nastiness.

Perfectly understandable. It's dishonest and juvenile to use various phony names to vent your bias. It'd be nice if he could cut that stuff out, eh?

Life is very short, my friend. Just be honest, be yourself, even if you are the state GOP chair or paid staff. Be brave!

Look, I'd suggest that to speculate in America that any political party big shot might be writing pro-party, anonymous. mean-spirited,  blog emails, even without using a whole name, is not a crime.

You replied quickly, Mr. Chairman, and indicated you’re not the nasty GOP poster. Fine. I believe you.

Any idea who it is?

You might want to tell him to stop, eh? Makes your team look real bad.

Thanks, James.

Always a pleasure to hear from you!

Do write back.

P.S. Given some of the poison-pen press releases you regularly put out, Mr. Chairman, like your recent one sliming Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania upon his recent visit to Burlington, I have a difficult time understanding your definition of "bullshit." Please, feel free to elaborate! I'm sure many readers would be interested.

Talk about a flashback to the old "Red-Baiting" days of my youth!

Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass of New Hampshire went after Vermont’s one-and-only U.S. Independent Rep. Bernie Sanders at a GOP fundraiser at Lake Morey in Fairlee two night ago.

Vermont GOP hopefuls Rich Tarrant (Senate) and Martha Rainville (House) were in attendance. And (see below) you can watch Rep. Bass’ outrageous remarks yourself online over at You Tube:  "Charlie Bass Unplugged in VT!"  Don’t you political junkies just love the Internet?

You can also read about Bass’ intelligent remarks in a column by John Gregg in today’s Valley News:

Charlie's Party?

Come election time, U.S. Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., has long appealed to independent voters by portraying himself as a moderate Republican.

But that didn't stop him from lobbing heaps of red meat Monday night to 200 Grafton and Orange County Republicans gathered at the Lake Morey Resort for their annual dinner. Did the six-term lawmaker use code words that some might consider un-PC? Judge for yourself.

First, Bass equated Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fellow socialist.

“Ah, yes, it's going to be nice not to have Hugo Chavez across the Connecticut River, representing Vermont at large,” Bass said of Sanders, who is leaving the House to run for the U.S. Senate. “Bernie Sanders and his ‘Sandernistas' can go back to taxi-driving in the Bronx of New York City where they came from to begin with.”

Bass also knocked Sanders (who is from Brooklyn, not the Bronx) in referring to his possible replacement in the House, Republican Martha Rainville, the former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard. Bass said she is “somebody who has real substance, not fluff, somebody who has a real career in public service.....”

Read the entire column. And here's the You Tube link,  Give it a shot over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_qklmIbXdA

Look, we’ve already declared Sanders the winner-by-landslide in the Vermont U.S. Senate race to replace Jeezum Jim Jeffords.

We’re holding off on the Rainville-Welch race for a little while longer, but it’s not looking good for Marvelous Martha. Even without the plagiarism on her website and the porn probe left behind at the National Guard, it’s simply not a good year to be carrying a Republican torch anywhere in the United States of America.

And the DCCC has a poll out today indicating things may be slipping away for Marvelous Martha Rainville in the House race against Democratic State Sen. Peter Welch for Ol’ Bernardo’s open seat. As long as she continues to refuse to publicly criticize the Bush administration in any way for its deceitful and reckless invasion of Iraq in 2003, Rainville's credibility looks a bit thin, eh?

Head to Head: Welch 52%, Rainville 41%.  A stunning 19% of voters in Vermont think that the country is going on the right track, while 68% say we’re headed down the wrong track and only a 21% give President Bush a positive rating for the job he is doing. [Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, 401 voters; October 8-9; margin of error 5%]

Also debate-wise, the League of Women Voters and the Rutland Herald are sponsoring one tonight at 7 p.m. at the Paramount in Rutland. Sanders-Tarrant-Welch-Rainville will all appear onstage for 2 hours taking the same questions. Darren Allen's the moderator. Sue Allen from the Freeps editorial page and Editor Sabina Haskell from the Brattleboro Reformer will ask questions.

AND - for those looking for Governor debates (which. it appears, is something the incumbent Republican is not real eager to paticipate in this year), there is one Friday morning at 9:05 A.M. on radio hosted by Mark Johnson on WDEV. That's 96.1 FM and 550 A.M. And it'll also be online (which, unfortunately, tonight's Rutland Herald debate will not!).

Went for a spin around Burlap on the two-wheeler during this evening's rush hour, before the Six O'Clock News - and the dark news of the missing UVM student still missing. Never saw so many unmarked cars at BPD. Lots of people working this one flat out.

The "Big" City of Burlington, Vermont was unusually quiet for a rush hour.

But there was a simmer beneath the surface, a building, growing, spreading and deeply felt determination rising, to vote the incompetent, dishonest bums currently in power in Congress out of power on November 7. I want my country back and I am not alone.

Took along the new little digital camera Pamela & Paula, the Queens of Seven Days, laid on me. Snapped a shot of Lake Champlain, Juniper Island and the mighty Adirondacks of New York from the top of Lakeview Terrace. It was absolutely serene and silent.

Wheeling down Peru Street in the Old North End I hopped off the bike to get a shot of the front of the home of author and musician Marc Estrin. Somebody's been keeping track, eh?

Good.

That's the US Iraq death toll in the middle. On the right, The Lancet's estimate, released today, of Iraqi deaths by violence and disease.

Gen. Casey quickly dismissed it,  saying 50,000 civilian deaths was the highest toll he had heard.

OK. Split the difference. It has been an unrestrained bloodbath of innocents. And the abuse of the U.S. military - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines & NATIONAL GUARD - by the Liars Administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz is the stuff of high crimes and misdemeanors.

But what does the "342" on the left reference?

Answer: the U.S. death toll in Afghanistan. (Thank you, Marc.)

Then back at the top of Church Street in front of the Unitarian Church I caught the Five O'Clock Club. A good mix of folks, with a distinguished Irish poet from Co. Cork, Greg Delanty, on the right.

Horns were honking and hands waving in support. A majority of Vermonters, and now a majority of Americans, are seeing through the Bush administration's wall of bullshit.

I can't wait for the Bush II Impeachment Hearings to begin, can you?

You decide.

Thought I’d have room to deal with it in today’s “Inside Track” print column, but No!  Along came Kate O’Connor. Space is tight. Lots going on. So let’s update the Vermont Guard Porngate story here in Blog Land. Nice pic of Candidate Rainville and the campaign pooch. That's Campaign Manager Judy Shailor on the right, Press Secretary Brendan McKenna on the left.

Last week, we reported in Track on an anonymous letter alleging Martha Rainville, as adjutant general, had investigated and covered up a case involving the production and distribution of a homemade porn DVD by a Guard officer who was a Rainville favorite. The letter, sent to the Welch for Congress campaign and to yours truly, also alleged there is a subsequent investigation underway under Rainville’s successor - Gen. Mike Dubie, brother of Brian.

Last Wednesday October 4, Rainville held a presser at her Taft’s Corners HQ.. She was closely questioned about it by reporters. On Thursday October 5, a story related to Porngate appeared in the Times Argus, but other media outlets did not mention it. Nonetheless, the questions by Freeps reporters Sam Hemingway (SH), Terri Hallenbeck (TH) and editorial writer Sue Allen (SA),  as well as from Ross Sneyd (RS) of the Associated Press, were very, very direct.

We suspect press outlets did not go with a Porngate-at-the-Guard story because they could not get anyone to go on-the-record to confirm it. I went with it in Inside Track because I found several credible sources who confirmed it. However, they would not allow their names to be used. No way!

In fact, as you'll read below, Marvelous Martha actually confirms there had been a related investigation under her command, and a subsequent one under her successor.

From the October 4 Rainville press conference transcript:

PF: Did you confiscate or destroy a sexually explicit DVD in an investigation of ...

Rainville: You know, Peter, I know that you’ve received a letter that, although looks like it was signed was illegible, basically an anonymous letter. A letter that I find disgusting. A letter that was sent to the Welch Campaign and to you and a letter that makes some very untrue allegations. I’m not going to discuss the specifics in there.

I also know that there have been events that have transpired at the Guard since I’ve been gone that the current adjutant general is dealing with  through an investigation and that should not be discussed. So I will just say I know only bits and pieces. I do not have any inside information or privileged information on what’s going on there now.

But you don’t lead an organization for nine years without having a sense of something that’s happened. But the current adjutant general is very professionally looking into it. The military has an independent way of investigating through their IG (Inspector General) system.  Allegations can be looked at outside the chain of command. We need to respect that, if in fact that is exactly what’s happening, which I expect it is. So I’m not going to answer specific questions. As AG I had numerous cases to deal with. I dealt with them fairly and I dealt with them directly and I dealt with them as expeditiously as I could.

SH: Why can’t you answer Peter’s question? Yes or no -  did you destroy any sexually explicit DVD material like that. That’s a good answer about what the Guard’s doing now, but, when you were commander, did something come into your possession that you destroyed or not?

Rainville: Because if I answer that, I get into a realm of  talking about personnel issues or possible disciplinary issues that are not to be talked about publicly. They’re not public information. I’m also saying. in this case. this an anonymous letter that was sent. There are 34 days in the election. It was sent out to my political opponent and I’m now going to get sucked down into some negative issues. This is why I came out with a Clean Campaign Pledge [and] invited opponents to join me because this election isn’t about anonymous allegations. This election is about the issues that affect Vermont. Vermonters don’t want to hear it.

SH: Are you saying the Welch campaign had something to do with this?

Rainville: No, I’m not.

SH: Then why are you bringing them up?

Rainville: Because it’s a fact that the letter was sent to the Welch Campaign. It’s a fact that there’s 34 days to the election. It’s a fact that I’m a major party candidate, that there’s an anonymous letter that is questioning my integrity. So I’m not going to talk about specifics and I will just say this is not what the race needs, this is not what Vermonters want. We need to stay focused on the issues. I’m not going to answer anything that was part of an anonymous allegation. Are there any other  questions on other topics?

TH: Well, Vermonters do want to know how you might have handled something like this particularly with the Foley case out there. Voters do want to know if someone’s accusing you of pushing something under the carpet. They need to know whether that could happen or not.

Rainville:  I can say that the allegations in the letter are untrue. I can say my record of leadership speaks for itself. The way I dealt with any issue in the Guard, particularly sensitive issues, emotional issues, was directly and straightforwardly and by the book. I made sure my senior staff dealt with issues in an ethical, legal moral way.  That is what’s important in a leader. That’s what Vermonters need to know about me.

Then the presser moved to other topics for about 10 minutes - including the plagiarism found on her campaign website - before returning to the Porngate topic.

TH: Do you think there’s some risk here of you’re tying to say “Trust me I did everything by the book,” and Vermonters are just supposed to say, “You said you did everything by the book. We don’t have the proof.” It does lead to questions hanging. How do I know?

Rainville: Well, I’m sure there’ll be questions that will be fully exploited by others, too. But how do you know?  You can look back at nine years of leadership. Certainly, again, the unfortunate position I’m in is I cannot give you proof. They’re protected decisions. They’re protected records. I’m sure the person who wrote the letter knew that, and I’m not going to try and quibble or try and give you sorted information, but not give you information on something. That’s not right. But I am the person I am. I do have morals and ethics and values. And I spent nine years doing my best to move the Guard forward and to make decisions that were true leadership decisions and to make sure that the other senior leaders followed suit.  That we treated people fairly. That we gave them due process. That we gave them the benefit of the doubt, when there was any doubt and that we worked to be sure that people were professional at all times.

SH: If you were presented with information when you were commander, that somebody did the things alleged in this letter, what would you have done?

Rainville: When? Because at different times I was presented with different information and I had to make a decision. I had to make a decision at different times throughout my tenure whether something warranted further investigation whether it involved the government. Whether it involved government time, or whether it was a strictly personal issue.
The Guard has limited jurisdiction and you have to be sure of yourself. I used the independent system quite frequently when I said - this is a decision I’m not comfortable with. I want an independent person to investigate it and I went to the IG {Inspector General] and probably used the IG a lot more than other commanders did or had before me and I encouraged my commanders to do the same thing. Cause the most important thing is that people are treated fairly. That they get due process and that you have the facts. And I did my best to act on the facts and to make solid judgments every time.

SH: You wouldn’t have put up with somebody, ah, thinking  homemade porn involving officers. I mean, I can’t imagine you would have....

Rainville: I would never have put up with what is alleged in the letter of distributing porn. Of using Guard members for that. That’s ludicrous. That’s ludicrous.

SH: Is somebody out to get you at the Guard, do you think?

Rainville: Out of 4000 members currently and thousands through the years, I’m sure there’s a few who don’t agree with me. I’m sad to think that any would want to use a race to get at me. or to use the Guard for political purposes. That isn’t in anybody’s best interest. But I’m not surprised that there are those who are disgruntled or that there are those who have a beef. I’ve been in supervisory and command position long enough to know that sometimes that bubbles up, but again, I know that I’ve always acted ethically and professionally and that’s what it’s all about.

RS: Are there public records that would answer any of this? Criminal charges, court martial?

Rainville: There are no criminal charges that I know of. I don’t know what may transpire from anything that’s happening at the Guard now. It’s been six months since I was there. So I would say no. There are no public records for anything, I would imagine, that might be implied.

SA: Was the investigation triggered by the letter or was the investigation ongoing?

Rainville: You’d need to ask Gen. Dubie about that for any specifics. All I have is an impression that there was something they were looking into already, but you really need to ask him specifics on that.

RS: How did you have that impression?

Rainville: Because we have a great retiree breakfast network and I’ve talked to Mike [Dubie] a few times. Again, I tidied up all the issues I had before I left. And he had a fresh slate coming in. So we didn’t discuss details. Again it was just an impression. There might be....

SH: But you didn’t hand off an investigation to him that you can see the link to this letter?

Rainville: Um. No.

SH: And do you have any suspicion that this is some kind of dirty tricks by the Democrats? Or by Welch?

Rainville: I don’t know what to think to be honest with you. I don’t know what to think. I don’t want to make any judgments.

PF: But did not Carolyn Dwyer, Welch’s campaign manager, contact this office immediately when they got the letter? And wanted to speak to you?

Rainville: What I know is she came over and gave us a letter, ah, the letter. Yes.

PF: But didn’t she say that we just got this.

Rainville: I didn’t talk to her. I wasn’t here when she came but I know she came and brought the letter.

PF But even though she did that, and I would assume, denied anything to do with the letter - I didn’t either by the way - that you still think they may be connected?

Rainville: I didn’t say that. I’m not making any judgments. I don’t know where the letter came from.

PF: I understand. But you cannot say “I have no reason to believe Peter Welch is connected to this?”

Rainville: I hope they would and I have no specific reason to believe they did. I hope they would never do that. Peter and I have engaged on the issues. We’ve conducted ourselves I think very well in this campaign to the extent that people around Vermont are commenting on how they’re enjoying the debates because they don’t have to listen to mud-slinging. I know that we both want to keep it that way.

TH: What do think of the way Carolyn Dwyer did handle the letter?

Rainville: I think she handled it in the best way she could have by bringing it over here. So. anything else?

PF: What do you like best about politics?

Rainville: The people. I love the people ad feeling there’s the opportunity to do something to make a difference.

PF: Cool.

Rainville: Thank you.

Democratic congressional candidate Peter Welch got a boost Tuesday from Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha. Murtha is the former Marine and Vietnam War vet who had the courage last November to change his position on the bankrupt Iraq War that President George W. Bush and Co. have dragged America into. Murtha's switch from pro-war to antiwar may well be looked back on as the moment the American people had enough of the Bush administration's lies and deception.

Murtha, said Welch, "has a deserved reputation in Congress of being a strong defender of a strong military. He has a strong record supporting national security. But what he did when he started to look at the facts, instead of just getting stuck in the ideology, was say that it was a mistake to vote to go to war and it was time for us to change our policy."

Welch said Murtha has been "providing leadership in Congress to bring together those who supported the war, and now see it's making us weaker not stronger, and those originally opposed to the war (e.g. the entire Vermont delegation).

Murtha said he felt war was the right thing to do back in October 2002 when Congress voted on the factually-dishonest Iraq War resolution Mr. Bush sent Congress.

"I thought we ought to give the President a club," said Ol' Jack, "and I found out that was a mistake. It didn't take me long afterwards to recognize that. In fact, " he said, "I went to Kuwait five days before the war started and I saw a red line the military had drawn around Baghdad. And they said when we cross that red line,  they're going to attack us with biological-type weapons."

"Well, they didn't attack us," said Murtha, "and it didn't take me long to recognize they didn't  have any."

Rep. Murtha said that under Republican control, Congress works just two days a week and accomplishes little other than running up the national debt to record highs.

"And I say when the Democrats take over, and I believe we will, we're going to be open for business five days a week. We're going to work and we're going to get some of these problems solved. We can't solve 'em until we quit spending $11 million-an-hour on this war. We can't solve Medicare or education or any of those problems when we're spending $8 billion a month on this war!"

Peter Welch, he said, "is the kind of thoughtful, independent-minded individual we need in the United States Congress."

Well, what did you expect him to say?

Last Monday opened for Republican congressional candidate Martha Rainville with word her campaign website contained at least three instances of plagiarism. She took down her campaign website, fired the campaign policy researcher responsible, and apologized profusely.

Then she had the little problem with the anonymous National Guard letter charging her with favoritism in her treatment of an officer in an investigation allegedly involving an X-rated, locally- produced DVD. She denied doing anything wrong, but in doing so, acknowledged there had been an incident.

Then today - a letter from Independent U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords to the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee complaining about a Rainville TV ad they're running that includes a photo of Jeezum Jim. He asks they stop running it.

Why?

"The country will be better served with the Democrats gaining control of the House of Representatives."

Jeffords, the former Republican, says he's for Democrat Peter Welch.

Download Jeffords letter .pdf

NRCC spokesman Ed Patru told Wilson Ring at the Montpeculiar bureau of the Associated Press:

"The ad simply makes the case she is an independent, thoughtful leader in the tradition of Aiken, Stafford and Jeffords "We do appreciate his kind words in the letter, especially his reference to her as a thoughtful leader."

Said Candidate Rainville:

"I think it is a nice ad. I'm pleased they're staying positive. I don't see any reason to stop using the ad. I think it's complimentary to everyone who's shown in it."

Said Welch campaign spokesman Andrew Savage:

"This brings to light the pattern of misleading information appearing in the national Republicans' ad campaign for Martha Rainville."

Well, the TV ad has had one unexpected effect. It's gotten Jeezum Jim to let a wide audience know he thinks Welch is a better choice.

And as long as they keep running it, Vermont viewers will be reminded.

Effective advertising?

Sure.

But for which candidate?

Election Day is four weeks from tomorrow.

Any chance of an upset in the governor's race?

"The reality is that people are learning my name," said Democrat Scudder Parker, the only candidate to grow up on a Vermont dairy farm. "People are coming up to me when I go to events and saying 'Oh, Scudder, I wanted to meet you!'"  said the Scudster at a Monday morning presser in Burlap.

"So the name is getting out there," said Parker. "The response is there. And that's exactly what we need to be doing four weeks out from the election."

"Do you feel confident?" we asked.

"Absolutely," replied Parker. "I felt confident for 14 months, but I feel even more confident now."

Mr. Parker called the presser at Democrat HQ in Burlington Monday morning to shine the light on Louis Porter's Friday frontpager in the Rutland Herald/Times Argus that blew the lid off the behind the scene cozy dealings between Gov. Jim Douglas and the right-wing anti-Wilderness Bill crowd.

“We now know that two senior Douglas officials were thinking more about helping the Governor’s political campaign this summer than they were about looking out for the interests of the people of Vermont,” Parker said.

“Those kinds of calculations have no place in this discussion, and memos like that certainly wouldn’t be written by anyone I appoint. In a Parker administration, I will make it very clear to those I nominate for senior posts that I expect them to offer advice based on sound policy, not partisan politics.  And if anyone were to write me a memo like the ones written by Mr. Torti and Mr. Wood, that official would be subject to disciplinary action.”

“Thanks to good reporting and the legislature’s passage this year of the bill outlawing the Douglas Administration’s attempts to hide behind a deliberative process privilege, the truth has come out.  And the truth – that Jim Douglas cast aside a long public process, intervened at the final hour, and effectively killed the bill by writing to anti-environment Representative Richard Pombo – is not pretty.”

Parker concluded, “When it comes to our commitment to protecting our forests and protecting the voices of all Vermonters, the difference between me and Jim Douglas could not be more clear. Jim Douglas doesn’t seem to understand that this is about so much more than just the wilderness bill.  It’s about treating the public engagement process with the respect it deserves and allowing the voices of Vermonters – which came together through a process of deliberation and compromise – to be heard.”

Interesting.

So's the fact that Gov. Scissorhands does not have a weekly gubernatorial presser scheduled for this week, making it his third consecutive week without one.

That's a bit strange, isn't it?

So's the fact WGOP, er, WCAX aired a live U.S. Senate debate last night between Independent Bernie Sanders and Republican Richie Tarrant. Mr. Sanders, polls show, is crushing Mr. Tarrant by a 2-1 margin.

It's over.

But Ch. 3 does not have a gubernatorial debate scheduled between Douglas and Parker.

That's odd, since the governor's race appears to be closing in the wake of the incumbent's scuttling of the Wilderness Bill at the last minute and other issues.

You'd think the station that calls itself "Vermont's Own"  would sponsor a debate on the race for CEO of Vermont, - a race that's still up in the air? Instead, WCAX holds a Sanders vs. Tarrant debate, even though Tarrant looks like he may not break 30 percent on November 7!

Oh, but that's right, Richie Rich has been spending moola by the millions at Ch. 3 since January. Got to keep the customer satisfied, eh?

Leaf-peepers are everywhere and clear skies are in the forecast!

Hey, did you see the moonrise last night? It’ll be full tonight.

I was downtown, crossing Main Street near Nectar’s about 6:40 p.m. when I looked east up the Main Street hill. Bumper-to-bumper cars heading down the hill. It’s Parents Weekend in this fine college town and the restaurants in the People’s Republic of Burlington were going to be packed last night. And then, all of sudden, there it was -  a huge ball of white light right at the top of Main Street over UVM.

Nice. And a few of you may remember firsthand that night of July 20 back in 1969: “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.”

I was 19 years old. Just finished three years in Maryknoll’s college seminary outside Chicago and was transferring downtown to Loyola in the fall to finish up on the sociology degree.

Spent the summer of 1969 caddying at Scarsdale Golf Club ($14 for a double) and drinking beer with the gang at Foley’s in White Plains. The Vietnam War was dividing the country as it damn well should have. The White House had lied to us about the reasons we needed to protect America and freedom and democracy by fighting the North Vietnamese. The "domino theory" was considered real by our leaders. It warned that the Commies would spread like falling dominoes and conquer the world for the Karl Marx lovers. It was absolute, complete propaganda/bullshit!

The Gulf of Tonkin “incident” that our government used to justify racheting up military action was, as we later learned, a total fabrication. A lie. And it was a lie with enormous consequences. More than 58,000  Americans of my generation died young as a direct result.  And more than 1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong did as well. Plus innocent civilian casualties. War is hell.

Why do the “best and the brightest” get third-rate leaders?

Back in 1969, the German-accented Henry Kissinger was President Richard Nixon's National Security Adviser.

Some things never change, eh?

Word has come out in the last week that Kissinger has been advising President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on the Iraq War.

That’s right.  Dubya - who ducked the Vietnam War draft and the Vietnam War by using his inside connections to get to the top of the Texas National Guard list - gets advice on the Iraq War from Henry Kissinger!!!

A perfect fit! Incompetence and dishonesty are their strong suits. No wonder it's turned into an absolute disaster.

How does this happen?

Maybe it’s because the only two requirements to become President of the United States of America are:
1. being over 35, and
2. getting the most electoral votes.

As we know all too well, getting the most votes isn’t enough. They have to be electoral. Ask Al Gore. And what a price we’ve paid, eh?

In lives and limbs. In racking up the greatest debt in American history. In ignoring the global-warming crisis. In destroying our country's reputation in the world as the champion of freedom and democracy.  And on and on and on....

Shifting gears....

Thanks to the good folks in the blogoshpere who have forwarded me this funny little ditty from Daily Kos. It’s subject matter is the embarrassing campaign of Vermont Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rich Tarrant, the guy who is happilly throwing millions from his own private stash down the toilet. In the print column, I got into Tarrant last year. His Florida residences. His shaky behavior on the Fletcher Allen hospital board, his public attack on those who criticized the deceitful hospital management (CEO Bill Boettcher's now in federal prison), his shady sale of IDX software to Fletcher Allen in small $1.5 million packages to avoid state oversight etc. and so forth. It's not a pretty record.

Now thanks to his multi-million dollar TV ad campaign everyone knows Richie Tarrant - and most, quite frankly, are quite sick of him. The only question left on the Senate race is whether or not Tarrant will break 30 percent. His per-vote cost may well set an all-time national spending record.

One thing is certain: Rich Tarrant will not be missed when the election's over and he joins his lovely second-wife at his true residence, one he purchased for a measly $9 million. The address is 1131 Hillsboro Mile, Pompano Beach, FL 33062. 

Want a peek?

Just cut and paste the above Florida address into Google maps. See for yourself. Meanwhile, Tarrant pretends his $460,000 summer home in Colchester is his true principal residence. Unbelievable!

And here's the Daily Kos ditty about Richie Rich's savvy campaigning skills:

I am in Vermont now for a week and I went to alovely church supper yesterday. Who should walk in but Rich Tarrant, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, facing Bernie Sanders, who is officially an independent, but in practice a Democrat. Tarrant works the room, shaking hands with about 80 people and making small talk with all of them. I was one of the last. So I said to him: "You realize that everyone in this room except for the little kids who are serving and half a dozen cooks is from out of state?" He looked like somebody had just punched him in the stomach. Here is a guy from Vermont who doesn't know the state is overrun by leaf peepers from all over the country the first week of October? He also didn't realize that the supper had been organized by one of the local churches to be neighborly to the tourists and maybe make a little bit of money for the church (they charged $8.50 a head but members of the congregation donated the food). I guess Tarrant is not a member of the reality-based community.