Freyne Land

This was the scene after Gov. Scissorhands' presser along the main drag in the smallest state capital in the United States.

Is it just me, or do they not make good films anymore?

The last one I saw was that Helen Mirren one in which she played the Queen. Won Best Actress. Marvelous! And I'm Irish.

But "Hot Fuzz" and "Disturbia?"

Sign of the times.

This couple in the State Street shot actually are touristas from Minnesota.

We had a nice chat about the "Land of the Golden Gophers."

Speaking of location, location, location, I was wrong in the post below in suggesting Barack Obama, like Hillary Clinton, "grew up" in the Chicago area.  Thank you, Lisa Crean.

Here's this off Obama's U.S. Senate official website:

Obama and his wife, Michelle, married in 1992 and live on Chicago ’s South Side where they attend Trinity United Church of Christ.

Barack Obama was born on August 4th, 1961, in Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. and Ann Dunham. Obama graduated from Columbia University in 1983, and moved to Chicago in 1985 to work for a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. In 1991, Obama graduated from Harvard Law School where he was the first African American president of the Harvard Law Review.

No wonder I never get a Chicago "feel" off the dude.

Veteran AP Reporter Ross Sneyd's upcoming job switch (see post below), was quite the hot topic by the time we hit the Statehouse for the midday battle of the Thursday press conferences.

First, Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington moved her usual Friday Brown Bagger at noon up a day.

Then folks billed as Vernon town officials did their thing in Cedar Creek - surprise, they agree with Entergy Vermont Yankee and don't want the VT Yankee generation tax in H. 520!

And then at one o'clock, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas echoed those sentiments and more.

The Guv's presser had an interesting start when the gentleman at right, identified later by Capitol Police as David Maunsell of Hardwick, interrupted the opening with a question for Douglas about some court matter with which I am not familiar.

Maunsell is not an unfamiliar face and has popped up at gubernatorial pressers before, even going back to the Howard Dean era.

Capitol Police Officer Kurt Snyder politely escorted him from the room. No hassle.

That's Republican Rep. Rick Hube looking a little nervous, and to his right, Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper, former career Vermont State Trooper.

A little Frisbee football and a little new mom jogging with new arrival up past UVM's Redstone Campus this evening

Paying more attention to the kidlets lately. It's a "future" thing, as in imagining what their future will unfold as?

By the time this wee one is my age, it'll be 2064.

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?

UVM tuition will cost $________?

Yep, tough to bitch about the weather lately, eh?

Boy, are bikes, the pedal variety, de rigeur now or what?  And people are pedaling them up and down the Marketplace [against the rules] and up and down many a sidewalk. It's too early for the summertime Church Street youngins without lethal weapons who politely say, "Please walk your bike. Thank you."

Only gonna be more of them, with the parking spaces getting fewer and farther between.

Anyone see Mayor Bob Kiss lately?  Just checking.

Just received the May 7 "From the Mayor's Desk."  There were 902 volunteers on Green-Up Day in The Peoples Republic of Burlington, double last year's turnout according to da' Mayor, and 300 were UVM students.

And Mayor Wet is putting out the word - "2009 is the 400th Anniversary of the arrival of the French explorer Samuel de Champlain....It's likely Burlington will host a large signature event in July of 2009."

Should we care?

Hey, popped down to Shaw's on Shelburne Rd. and leaving, ran into Ch. 3 News Reporter Kate Duffy and the headless videographer. A TV journalist has no right to complain of having their picture taken, right?

She didn't. Great smile, eh?

It wasn't Kate's story, but they'll be joking at the Statehouse tomorrow about how WCAX-TV misidentified a Statehouse "fixture" for the last 20 years - Gerry Morris, aka "Morris the Cat."

Gerry the Lobbyist, represents Entergy Vermont Yankee, aka Le Nuke, among others. Major crunch time. Every million he saves 'em this week will be appreciated. He's a very rare sighting on the TV news, and rarely quoted in print. "Behind-the-scenes" is his thing.

Ch. 3 identified him as "Gerry Morrissey."

The late, great Gerry Morrissey was a state senator from Bennington County.

Funny guy, too.

What else?

More color.

Tulips in Burlington's South End - the Seven Sisters, er, sorry, Five Sisters neighborhood.

Hit the brakes.

Got to get 'em while you can.

Perhaps like you, I've long had the impression the Vermont Foodbank in Barre is a most honorable charitable organization that provides free, healthy food to hungry, low-income Vermonters.

So it was a bit of a surprise to get a call Monday from Al Robinson [left], director of the Imani Health Institute, a small Old North End non-profit providing health info and services to Vermont's ever-growing "community of color,"  both black and Muslim.

Concerned about the impact of childhood hunger, Mr. Robinson got in touch with the Vermont Foodbank a few months ago and signed on for a year's worth of once-a-month Neighborhood Pantry Express Drops. That's 5000 pounds of food and costs $250 per drop. In the pitches the Foodbank made to him, Robinson said it sure looked like good, healthy, nutritious food - the stuff that just doesn't fill empty tummies, but also builds strong bodies. Imani raises the money to pay for the Foodbank monthly drop through small fund-raisers, he said.

The first couple Pantry Express drops contained a good mix of food, he told us. But then things changed. The last few have been different. Significantly lower quality items. Now, Robinson says, Imani is getting big drops of cookies and crackers and bottled water and snack foods. They're clients are not seeing any of the "meat and potatoes" that was in the early Foodbank drops.

"We've become their dumping ground," Robinson told me with disgust. And what was really the last straw, he said, was the April 27 Freeps article "Roving Food Drive a Hit at Church," praising the Vermont Foodbank for it's NPE drop at the Congregational Church in Malletts Bay which included potatoes and Cornish Game Hens!

"I feel like we're the new kids on the block," said Al, "and I'm having trouble believing that everybody's being treated the same way."

Tuesday afternoon, Robinson met with Vermont Foodbank officials in Barre. The pow-wow broke up too late to make the "Inside Track" in today's Seven Days.

We can report that it appears to have been a productive session.

"Our intention is always to treat our agencies with utmost respect and to give them good customer service," said Christine Foster, one of the current co-CEO's at the Foodbank. "We just sat around the table and had a wonderful conversation about that. We understand and regret how he felt," she said, and the Foodbank is committed to helping Imani "get the best food they can from the Foodbank."

But why was the Old North End agency getting "junk" while Mallett's Bay Congregational was getting Cornish Hens?

"It was a mistake on our part," said fellow acting co-CEO Ed Fox, "not to get that out to them."

Robinson told me after the meeting that his main concern is getting less "crap" in the once-a-month 5000 pound drop even if that means fewer pounds.  What's important is getting food that truly fights hunger.

Stay tuned.

The Vermont Foodbank's new CEO Douglas O'Brien starts June 18. O'Brien's been with Chicago-based  America's Second Harvest since 1994.

Listening to House Speaker Gaye Symington and Senate Boss Peter Shumlin on VPR with Bob Kinzel.

Exciting, eh?

Think there's a "future governor" on the program?

OK, how about Kinzel?

Didn't catch it all. Did catch Shummy making the heartfelt, patriotic, we can save the planet, global warming pep talk. We've only got 8-10 years to get off the oil dependancy, he says.

Shummy says he "finds it curious that Gov. Douglas will fly to China [in June] to tell the Chinese how to do efficiency, but he won't be creative and expand efficiency at home."

Spent the day working on "Inside Track" for Wednesday's edition of Seven Days. Had some fun. Had what one might call an "evolving" impeachment story involving our distinguished congressman. Never say "never."

Hey, where else can one see colorful houses like these?

Snapped this one on North Winooski Avenue, just north of North Street.

Missed the Ch. 3 Six O'Clock News, but they just posted it. This one was a wee bit curious:

Rutland wants a former city attorney to return the laptop he wasissued. The city sent a letter to Christopher Sullivan giving him aweek to return the computer. Some believe it contains legal informationthat the city needs. The board of aldermen acknowledges that Sullivansigned a contract during the Jeff Wennberg administration that says hecan keep the laptop. But the Board says the former mayor did not havethe right to give away the computer.

Really?

Wennberg [right]. the former mayor is currently Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation in the Agency of Natural Resources.

AND, would you believe his name has popped up in the last week in conversations about who the Republicans have to take on Peter Welch in the 2008 U.S. House race?

Two South Burlington High School 10th Graders brought smiles and good vibes to the mellow and warm Church Street Marketplace late Monday afternoon.

Thank you, Samara Densmore (right), and Sarah Jaques. Sweet sixteen are they.  Remember?

Where did the "Free Hugs" idea come from?

They directed me this gentleman on YouTube, an Australian bloke, they said, who goes around the world giving out "free hugs."

Nice.

What else?

Struck up several conversations along the bricked downtown of Vermont's largest city. Old timers and new folks. Lots of smiles. Friendly vibes. Free hugs.

When I was 16, I imagined by now interplanetary travel would be commonplace. War would be "nearly" obsolete.

Oh, well. Anyone working on either of those goals lately?

Also picked up some interesting news on the Vermont political front, even political history-wise.

Saving it for the Ol' "Inside Track" in Wednesday's 7Days.

Yes, they still have newspapers made out of newsprint!

Down under the golden dome they'll be seeking compromise on the Global Warming/Climate Change Bill (H. 520) that's raising Entergy Vermont Yankee's blood pressure (and the Guv's).

Here on the South End of Burlington, Jay Morin was picking up the Blue Boxes starting at 7 A.M..

Yep, Happy Recycle Day in Freyne Land!

Mr.Morin told me he picks up "about four tons per day" out of the Blue Boxes. Been doing it for two years. The pay's "decent" and "the benefits are good," he said.

Please, no dirty diapers and cigarette butts, folks, OK?

Hit the wrong button, so I took a little movie instead of a little photo.

Download recycle_may.mov

Blue Boxes? Remember when they didn't exist?

Remember when everything went out the window or into the landfill and adjacent river?

We've come a long way, baby, because a whole lot of people actually give a damn. The Blue Boxes are just one little reminder.

Also, more on the Vermont IMPEACHMENT movement and Vermont Congressman Peter Welch in today's Brattleboro Reformer:

Welch: No impeachment
Protesters try to change congressman's mind on issue
By PAUL H. HEINTZ, Reformer Staff

HARTLAND -- He doesn't agree withthem, but he'll listen to their arguments and pass those along to theU.S. House of Representatives.

So said Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Saturday afternoon, following atense meeting with impeachment proponents in the basement of Damon Hallin Hartland.

Since the Vermont House and Senate weighed in on impeachmentlast month, the political hot potato has been tossed to Welch, a firstterm Congressman who believes impeachment proceedings would divide thefragile Democratic majority and prolong the Iraq war.

As soon as he sat down with leaders of the impeachmentmovement on Saturday, Welch announced he would host a town hall forumthe following weekend for his constituents to discuss the subject withhim.

"I'm glad to listen to Vermonters," he said. "Let whoever wants to come and talk about it."

More here.

Sitting at the Blue Star Cafe in Winooski, doing some reading/working. It's my semi-regular Sunday routine, one of the only times during the week when I can actually sit and think for a little while uninterrupted by work or emails or little boys going "vrooom, car!"

So this past week, I've been reading Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer's memoirs of Nazi Germany. Speer was an architect who fell under Hitler's spell in the early 1930s. He ended up becoming Hitler's personal architect, and later became Germany's Minister for Armaments during the Second World War. He's a controversial figure. He seemed like a smart, mostly sane guy who was seduced by the power of the dark side. Escaped being sentenced to death at Nuremberg in part because he claimed to have no knowledge of the Holocaust. Hence the controversy.

Anyhow, I've had a copy of this book lying around for many years, and have never read it. But then last week was looking for a new book and decided it was time. I'm about halfway through now. So far the book has focused mostly on Hitler and Speer's elaborate architectural plans. But now Speer's just been appointed to his government post, and he's writing more about the management of the war.

Throughout the book, I've been struck several times by how much the political intrigues in Hitler's inner circle echo situations I've experienced in my own professional and civic life over the years. I've also noted several passages that seem to speak to current events. Here's one example, from the beginning of Chapter 16, "Sins of Omission":

"It remains one of the oddities of this war that Hitler demanded far less from his people than Churchill or Roosevelt did from their respective nations. The discrepency between the total mobilization of labor forces in democratic England and the casual treatment of this question in authoritarian Germany is proof of the regime's anxiety not to risk any shift in the popular mood. The German leaders were not disposed to make sacrifices themselves or to ask sacrifices of the people. They tried to keep the morale of the people in the best possible state by concessions...

Whereas Churchill promised his people only blood, sweat and tears, all we heard during the various phases and various crises of the war was Hitler's slogan: 'The final victory is certain.' This was a confession of political weakness. It betrayed great concern over a loss of popularity which might develop into an insurrectionary mood."

I know, Hitler and Nazi comparisons are so tired, but I couldn't resist pointing this out. I'm still haunted by the Iraq War vets I talked with a couple weeks ago. There's still a war going on. It's costing us hundreds of billions of dollars a day, not to mention the mounting human cost. Does anyone even notice? I can't help but wonder.

Just watched former CIA "Medal of Freedom" winning boss George Tenet do the whole "Meet the Press" hour.

Pathetic.

If you missed it, check the transcript. Can anyone think of Georgie-Porgie's next job?

Talk show host?

Did want to take note that impeachment talk is still being talked. These two active Vermont women (State Sen. Jeanette White on the right, Liza Earle on the left), were snapped outside the Brattleboro restaurant where Democratic Congressman Peter Welch held his 60th Birthday Party and $75-a-head campaign fundraiser!

God, I remember when 60 sounded "ancient."

A few hours before the "Happy Birthday" festivities,   Mr. Welch met for almost an hour at the Hartland Town Hall with four leaders of that effort: Newfane Selectman Dan DeWalt, South Burlington Attorney James Leas, U.S. Army veteran, former-Sgt. Adrienne Kinne of Sharon and Richmond nanny/baker extraordinaire Liza Earle.

Welch, along with Vermont's U.S. Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (D) and Bernie Sanders (I), opposes making impeachment of President George "WMD" Bush and V.P. Dick "America" Cheney the focus. They say they have plenty of congressional investigations under way now that the Democrats have the majority, and impeachment would only sidetrack those efforts.

The Birthday Boy came "with an open mind," said Ms. Earle. "He said he disagrees with us on impeachment, but his job is to hear voters out."

She said Welchie agreed to do a town meeting at the Hartland Town Hall on the impeachment issues. It's tentatively scheduled for next Saturday. Stay tuned for more details.

According to Earle, Rep. Welch told the quartet "that his priority is ending the war. Everyday, he told us, he asks himself what will hasten that end, and he's made a judgment call that impeachment is not part of that answer."

Jim Leas told us Welch agreed with about 80 percent of what they wanted and they were "thrilled."

"We knew we wouldn't convince him [on impeachment]," said Leas, "but the door is open for discussion."

A number of folks showed up outside Welchie's fundraiser at the Riverview Cafe in Brattleboro to remind him that a whole lot of Vermonters think impeachment is the way to go. A raft with about six people and an "IMPEACH CHENEY" sign also paddled by the Welch event on the Connecticut River.

Energetic bunch of Vermonters, eh?

Attempts to get Welch's side of the meeting from Press Secretary Andrew Savage and Staffer Jon Copans [who attended], have unfortunately been unsuccessful.

Stay tuned.

***Update***

Welch Campaign Manager Carolyn Dwyer called after we posted this to tell us “about 75” supporters attended the Brattleboro fundraiser. She also was complimentary of the impeachment protesters.

“They did it with passion and humor,” said Ms. Dwyer, “and made their opinions clear, but in a respectful, light-hearted way.”

They even sang "Happy Birthday" to the congressman!

Something for everyone in downtown Burlington, Vermont this sun-splashed Saturday!

William Costello, 41, of Milton, described himself as a "street evangelist." Told me he was saved nine years ago and has been street-preaching for the last seven. Does it all over Chittenden County, he said.

We asked him if the cops ever hassled him?

He just shook his head "no," and said, "First Amendment."

Then, out of nowhere, came something I haven't seen in a long, long time: college students protesting a war. Hey, there isn't even a draft!

This bunch of about 60 included students from (at least) Middlebury College, UVM and Johnson State College.

Well-organized. Good chants:

What do we want Democracy to look like?

This is what we want Democracy to look like!

U.S. Out of the Middle East

No Justice! No Peace!

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

***Update***

FYI: I deleted the comments from “vermonter” and “real vermonter” posted under Friday Night Follies. Never did that before and I wanted to tell you why:

Gut impulse.

Woke this morning with a little nausea feel. The last chemo dose was a stiff one. The post from “vermonter” calling me “sexist” for commenting on the House Speaker’s second haircut in two weeks only irritated it. The nausea feel.

Then someone called “real vermonter” posted a shot calling “vermonter” a “chickenshit” for not putting his/her real name on his shot, but didn’t give her/his  name, either.

Look, one thing I’ve always done since "Inside Track" popped up in the Vanguard Pressback in 1981 is put my name on it. I’ll take shots and write someunflattering comments about our public/political figures, but I’ll always put myname on it.

So....who needs this?

Life’s too short.

Grow up.

Please.

- Freyne