Freyne Land

Forget Karl Marx's class analysis of society. Forget the greedy pharmaceutical companies. Nothing gets U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' juices flowing these days like solar power and green energy!

You see, our favorite socialist has a seat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Energy Bill will be up for floor debate at the end of this week. Last week, the Sanders Amendment adding about $100 million for "sustainable energy" grants and rebates was added to the bill.

Ol' Bernardo held a Monday presser that felt like a campaign presser, even though he won't be on the ballot again until 2012. Held it out at a house on Burlington's North Avenue that's getting retrofitted and re-insulated by some young fellas in training.

Said Bernie:

California right now is doing an extraordinarily good job. In California right now, if you were to install photovoltaic solar units , the state will provide you with a $10,000 rebate in order to do that. Their goal is to have a million rooftops with photovoltaics in the next 10 years. I think the federal government should be moving in a similar direction.

I’ve recently talked to somebody right here in Vermont who is going to be manufacturing small scale wind turbines for use in rural areas. He thinks he can produce and sell those products for $12-14,000. If we have a rebate, or tax-credits there, you can end up with a situation where people will be producing half of the electricity they need through small wind turbines and, in fact, saving money on their electric bills.  This is a win-win situation.

And, if we’re producing these wind turbines in the United States, which I want to see, we’re creating jobs in the production end as well.

And, yes, in response to our question, Sen. Sanders said he does support Democratic efforts under Montpeculiar's Golden Dome to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto of  H. 520, the global warming/climate change bill when they return for a special one-day sesssion on July 11.

Incidentally, this green power stuff looks like it's becoming Bernie's new religion.

He's hosting a "Town Meeting on Global Warming" at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday morning July 8 at Montpelier High School. Noted Environmental Writer Bill McKibben will provide a sermon. And a free brunch will be served at 10.

Sunday morning, eh?

It was 9:05 a.m. in Waterbury, but 9:05 p.m. in Shanghai, China and WDEV Talk Show Host Mark Johnson sounded like a pumped-up morning guy as he spoke to his Vermont audience from the balcony of the Broadway Mansion Hotel.

Mark went along with the Vermont business delegation sponsored by the State Chamber. A 14-hour flight from Chicago, he said. Over the North Pole. Four movies.

Vermont's GOP Gov. Jim Douglas, he said, traveled via Arizona to San Francisco to Tokyo to Shanghai.

The radio talk-show host, got the balcony room, he told Eric Michaels at Radio Vermont back in Waterbury, because the electricity went out in his original hotel room. He'd come back from dinner via taxi. "I ate jellyfish!" he said. "I went into my room and couldn’t get the lights on." He went down to the front desk to seek help.

"Theywere mortified," Johnson told his listeners, "profusely embararrassed. They made sure they put me in areally nice room."

Now he was looking out from the balcony on a panorama he described as that of "a city of 20 million - the world's largest" - that he described as "a sea of neon."

[Turns out it may not be the largest. InfoPlease says Bombay's the "largest city." Tokyo appears the "largest metropolitan area."]

The highlight of the day, said Mark, was a formal meeting between Gov. Douglas and the Vermont delegation and the Mayor of Shanghai. "There was a Chinese TV station there filming it," he said.

The first state chamber to set up an office in China was Maryland. "They set the gold-standard of how you do this," said Johnson. Vermont set up its office in 1993 and that gives us an advantage. A Vermont firm recently won a China contract, even though its bid was 30 percent higher, he said. "It's all about who you know."

Looking out from the Shanghai Hotel balcony, said Johnson, he spotted a promenade that reminded him of the Burlington Waterfront.

"It's a small world after all," said Mark.

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington joked she’d been told in media-training at a recent conference in Washington for "Women in Leadership" put on by The Barbara Lee Family Foundation to keep her hands in a box like this.

She tried.

Symington was a featured speaker at the Democratic Party fundraiser held Saturday afternoon at the St. George farm of the late, great State Sen. Jean Ankeney [right].

"As you’re aware," said Speaker Symington to the 50 Democrats in attendance, "we’re still wrangling over a couple of issues, one of them being our energy future, one of them being whether we’re going to put reasonable restraints on the influence of money in campaigns. I’m disappointed Gov. Douglas has chosen to veto two significant pieces of legislation," she said.

Madame Speaker also told the gathering she departs Friday with daughter Mary to visit an old friend in Norway! Won't be back until July 9, two days before the special session to deal with trying to override the Douglas vetoes.

Are you gonna win on these veto-overrides?

Symington:  I think we’ll win at least one and I think that we might win two.  We’re working hard at it.

This was the mellow scene down on the Church Street Marketplace earlier this evening. Summertime, summertime, sum-sum summertime!

A little foggy today inside the old cranium am I.  Totally spaced on getting a Neulasta shot yesterday on Hospital Hill. It's one of them "wonder" drugs that boosts white-blood cell production to counter the white-blood cell destruction caused by the other chemicals pumped in as part of Wednesday's R-CHOP chemo regimen. Went in this morning. No problemo.

Trust me, the old memory bank does take a hit under this drill. Others I've talked to who've been down the road before me have said it's something they experienced, too, and continue to experience.

Great. Where was I?

Yes, I was walking down the next block, look up, and 10 feet away walking towards me with two of her friends is....drum roll, please.....Martha Rainville!

Instead of playing reporter, however, I gurgled about how everyone's asking me about what's she's doing and telling me how much they miss her! Heck, I miss her, too! Jim Douglas' biggest catch was she for the Ol' Vermont GOP.

Biggest recruitment loss for St. Patrick, eh?

Talk about "chemo-brain," I had my little camera in my hand and never even thought to snap a picture.

Marvelous Martha, former adjutant general of the Vermont National Guard, last we heard landed some big job at FEMA and is down Washington-way these days.

Yes, indeed, here's the FEMA release:

Martha Rainville Joins FEMA Leadership

Release Date: April 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Retired Air National Guard Major General Martha T. Rainville has been appointed counselor to the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator and deputy administrator for Continuity Programs, FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison announced today.

Rainville, who officially joined FEMA on April 16, 2007, will conduct, lead, or coordinate special studies, issue analyses and task forces as assigned by the administrator, and recommend policy, program, or organizational changes to Continuity of Operations planning.

"I am happy to have General Rainville join FEMA's leadership," said FEMA Administrator Paulison. "Her background and experience in the National Guard will be a real asset to us as we continue building FEMA into the nation's preeminent emergency management and preparedness agency."

You'll recall Martha lost the November 2006 congressional race to Democrat Peter Welch 53.2 percent - 44.5 percent. Hey, no way a Republican was going to win that one.

And if President George "WMD" Bush doesn't make some significant personnel changes soon, his Republican Party will have to publicly abandon him. The numbers at left were from tonight's "Washington Week in Review." This week's Wall Street Journal - NBC  News Poll.

Mr. Bush's approval rating is at 29 percent.

What happens in a powerful, democratic nation where the people suddenly have no confidence in the commander-in-chief?

We're going to find out, aren't we?

After the stories in the morning Vermont papers about Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington thinking about pushing back the date of the special summer veto-override session from July 11 to September 11 [and Wednesday's punchy op-ed in the Rutland Herald by Senate Democratic kingpin Peter Shumlin], this email a few minutes ago came as a bit of a surprise, coming as quickly as it did:

Statement by House Speaker Gaye Symington
June 15, 2007

House Speaker Gaye Symington today affirmed that the veto session scheduled for July 11 will proceed as currently scheduled.  After several members informed the Speaker of their inability to attend the July 11 session due to long-planned vacations, she decided to explore the option of postponement so that as many members as possible would be present for the vote.  After discussing that possibility with the leadership of the minority party caucuses, she concluded that the July 11 date will remain as previously scheduled--at 10:00 am at the Statehouse.

Interesting.

Kudos to GOP Gov. Jim Douglas' Press Secretary Jason Gibbs [right] for a particularly snappy response yesterday to word Speaker Gaye was "thinking about" postponing the July special session.

Said Jason, who's been Jimbo's press guy since the first gubernatorial race against Democrat Doug Racine back in 2002:

"To ask the members to change their plans again, just so they can have more time to try and reverse votes, is alarmingly irresponsible leadership. She and (Senate President Pro Tem Peter) Shumlin selected that date, July 11, one of the latest veto sessions in the history of our state already, based on what was most convenient for their caucus and without regard for what was convenient for the minority."

Ouch!

Late yesterday afternoon at Speeder & Earl's on Pine Street. The place was jumping with city worker bees.  At the window table there's Burlington Recreation Superintendent Maggie Leugers [right] meeting with Mary Wylde of Stowe, a consultant who will be giving "team-building" training to the 70-80 youngins who show up for their first day on their summer jobs today at the Burlington Parks & Rec Department.

Then there's the Fourth of July festivities to get ready for. Actually, on the waterfront of Vermont's largest city, the fireworks are fired on the evening of the 3rd of July.

Happy Third!

Maggie, a Cincinnati native, has been at this parks stuff since way back in the age of Mayor Bernie Sanders in the 1980s and the Burlington parks just keep getting better, don't they?

P.S. Is that really Dan Bolles, the new Seven Days music editor having a java and reading a book at the picnic table outside?

Caught the tail-end of the Vermont State's Attorneys' three-day pow-wow at the Sheraton Burlington [just over the line in South Burlington] late this morning. I wasn't the only one in a Hawaiian shirt, but they said I was the only press that had showed.

Boy, big renovations underway at the Sheraton - the lobby's getting redone, new floors, fixtures, the parking lot's getting a pave-job and more. The new Marriott that just opened on Battery Street by the Lake is having an impact, eh?

Here's a shot of our state's attorneys getting lectured by "Master Organizer" Porter Knight of Bristol, Vermont. Sounded enticing: "Organized to Last- 5 simple steps to staying organized."

Wish I had the time.

Did see a few of those state's attorneys from outstate and downstate I only ever see on Ch. 3, including some who rarely get in front of the camera unless they're in a courtroom, like veteran Rutland County State's Attorney Jim Mongeon [left]. Nobody's been at it longer.

Jim is a 1970 UVM grad who was deputy state's attorney when Gov. Dick Snelling appointed him way back in 1980 to fill a vacancy in the top stop when the incumbent resigned. Mr. Mongeon's been reelected every time since.

Had a good chat. He confirmed my suspicion from faraway Burlington that Rutland is on the rebound.

"I'm a big believer that community involvement has a lot to do with crime prevention," Mongeon told me.

He said that community involvement has been happening in Rutland and "paying attention to the little things improves the overall quality of life. People are paying attention."

There's been community action -  "Rutland United Neighborhoods" [look column left on the police department page]  -  and reduced crime in Rutland.

It's making Vermont's second largest city a "livable place" again, said the man who ought to know.

Good news.

Up and at 'em!

Don't you miss winter?

Got the Ol' Inside Track done yesterday. I swear, when I started the day, I had no idea what I'd find to fill the space. Amazing how that works.

Was thinking yesterday that since the first "Inside Track"  back in 1981 in the Ol' Vanguard Press, I've pumped out more than 1000 of them.  Never came up empty. Amazing.

No wonder I can't remember it all!

Had fun this week - got to interview Cheney!

No. Not his nibs, the big Dick, but State Rep. Margaret Cheney [right] of Norwich.

Never heard of her, right?

A freshman from outside the Burlington media-market glare, Margaret has a seat on the Natural Resources & Energy Committeee.

She is the Cheney with the rather well-written op-ed in defense of H. 520 that ran in the Rutland Herald and The Burlington Free Press recently. Here's a taste:

In his veto of the bill, Douglas claimed that Entergy was being singled out for unfair special treatment -- when in fact it has been receiving special treatment. Entergy may be the only entity in Vermont whose value has increased but whose taxes have declined dramatically.

Months ago, the governor trumpeted his intention to address the crisis of global warming. This May, he said he rarely hears Vermonters talking about climate change and doubts that it's on their minds. I think he's wrong. Through H.520, Vermonters can slow global warming while saving money and creating jobs. If ever a veto deserved an override, it is this one.

And she was born a Cheney. Has had the name her whole life.

In fact, would you believe, she once worked as a journalist in Washington?

More in today's "Inside Track."

For me, it's Chemo Day #7 up on Hospital Hill.  Every three weeks. Times flies.

Still here.

Meet Nick Morse.

Nick was the sextant, oops, sexton, at the First Congregational Church on South Winooski Avenue in downtown Burlington back in the early 1990s when he planted the peonies - 136 different varieties!

Wow!

They'll be in blossom for two to three weeks, said Nick.

The "First Congo" makes for quite the contrast to the First United Methodist Church across Buell Street where the church lot is completely flowerless.

Hey, it's a free country.

" Inside Track" day here at the ranch. Won't be able to make Gov. Jim Douglas' 1 p.m. presser where he'll pitch his last minute counter-proposal to H. 520, the big Global Warming/Climate Change Bill he vetoed.

The Guv "will announce the composition of a task force charged with launching his Energy Efficiency Investment Program—an innovative public-private partnership that will invest $20 million in energy efficiency efforts over the next 4 years, without raising new taxes or bureaucracies."

Amazing!

Where was any mention of such a Douglas Plan in January, February, March, April or May?

Recognize the location?

And as luck would have it, I was taking pictures of the flowers this evening just when the person who planted these peonies back "in the early 90s" was there to admire them as well.

More on that in the morning....

It's turned into Peony Education Evening for Pedro.

One of the most outstanding perennial flowers that is grown in the garden is the peony. Even though this plant seems to have been grown forever, it still remains very popular today. Of course, there are reasons for this and even though there are those gardeners who do not use this plant in their gardens, they certainly should. There are few perennials that can offer beautiful flowers in the spring and provide good foliage throughout the summer.

More here.