Freyne Land

Is blowing in the wind.

The answer is blowing in the wind."

That little Bob Dylan tune fills the air this morning. The Vermont Public Service Board has given the green-light to the Sheffield wind power project! I trust the Guv will express his sincere displeasure at his 1 p.m. presser.

Also on the presidential political scene there's "a new wind blowing," says Laura Cary of South Burlington, a volunteer activist with Vermonters for Obama. It may be the "Dog Days of Summer," but the group went ahead and held an August meeting anyway at Uncommon Grounds Coffee Shop on Church Street Wednesday evening.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama came in first with 36 percent in the Vermont Democrat Party's straw poll released on August 1.

John Edwards was second with 29 percent.

Hillary Clinton came in third with 10 percent, though she is in first place nationally among Democrats.

"The mood is excellent," Cary told us afterward. They're making plans for the fall, she said, and also finishing up collecting signatures to put him on the ballot.

"I’m no political expert," said Laura, "I’m just a voter, but I think it looks good. It’s five-and-a-half months away so anything can happen. We know that from last time, so I’m hopeful. Obviously Hillary’s the front-runner. We’d rather be the front-runner, but he’s doing very well and a lot can happen in five months."

A lot of people for Obama have never experienced the man before, I noted. Is it fair to say he represents 'hope' and the the 'unknown.' It’s part of his strength, Agree?

"Yes. I think people want change desperately. Everyone’s just had enough," said Cary. "Everyone’s had enough! Obama represents something different, a turning of the page and I think that Republicans and Democrats alike have just had it. Hope is really building. I think there’s a new wind blowing."

Did you just tune out the White House?

"I unfortunately follow it. I’ve stopped reading The Burlington Free Press and that’s made me a happier person. If I stopped reading The Washington Post, I’d probably be a happier person, too, but I haven’t. I do read the WP everyday, and The New York Times [chuckle] and The Los Angeles Times.

"Obama’s doing great. He’s building momentum. He’s No. 2 in the polls, though I don’t think the polls are accurate. Wanna know why?"

Sure.

"As a generalization, Obama supporters are younger people and Hillary supporters are older people. All the polls are done on land lines only.

Young people don’t have land lines, they have cell phones and they don’t poll people with cell phones. So I think that skews the polls. That’s my theory!"

Interesting.

Not exactly a typical August day in Vermont weather-wise, but c’mon, there’s a silver lining in every cloud, right?

Took this shot yesterday under warm temps and sunny blue skies downtown on Main Street in Burlington. It’s been a great summer on the floral front, eh?

Can you find the butterfly?

And also look at the bright side on the political front. A year ago at this time, the ol’ “light at the end of the tunnel” was tough to find, if one could find it at all. I know I couldn’t. And when the light went out, the cancer came in.

That’s changed.

And I’m not alone.

This weekend the second annual YearlyKos convention took place in beautiful Chicago. And one distinguished Vermonter attending the big blogger shindig at McCormack Place had this very interesting observation:

I think, nearly three-and-a-half years after Dean for America collapsed in the wake of the Iowa caucus loss, that Howard Dean might have won the campaign.

The words of Montpelier’s Garrett Graff, son of Chris, who worked on Ho-Ho’s presidential campaign. Garrett noted that when the 2004 presidential campaign ended and George “WMD” Bush [and his boss, Dick Cheney], retained power, WMD's Democratic challengers pretty much fell completely by the wayside.

Anybody seen or heard John Kerry in the last three years?

How about his wife? [Not that we miss her.]

Writes Garrett:

Today the Democrats are Howard Dean’s party and Howard Dean’s people are in charge, including, of course, himself. And, again, I’m not just talking about the paid DNC staff but actually the thousand-plus activists here most of whom seem to have come into DailyKos.com and the Democratic Party through Dean for America, Democracy for America, or the state-level efforts of Dean’s 50-state campaign.

Very interesting piece, indeed, by Graff the Younger.

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

Also on the "Look at the Bright Side" front...

Congratulations are in order for Ch. 3 anchorwoman Kristin Kelly and Burlington Police Lt. Emmet Helrich.

They finally made it "official" and tied the knot on Saturday.

Best wishes!

America's dishonest and dangerous national leader, President George "WMD" Bush, spent all of three hours on the ground in Minneapolis on Saturday demonstrating to the nation that, even though he's not running for reelection, he can still do a photo-op!

Unfortunately, America's renegade regime leader is not the most articulate president we've had. In fact, he's the least articulate of my lifetime, making Ronald Reagan appear borderline brilliant. Said George our Liar-in-Chief:

On behalf of the citizens of America, I bring prayers from the American people to those who suffered loss of life as a result of the collapse of the 35W bridge here in the Twin Cities. I bring the prayers of those who wonder about whether they'll ever see a loved one again.

So now the man who presided over the deceitful and dishonest scheme to start a war he can neither win nor end has dubbed himself a prayer-carrier?

Bush told the cameras he had met with the police chief and sheriff and, "people who represent men and women who are working as hard as they possibly can to save life and to find life; to go under these murky waters to find the facts."

Facts?  Facts?  Everybody knows after five years of an illegal war in Iraq that facts are this bloody tyrant's #1 enemy, ferchrissakes.

The Minnesota trip was to cover his PR butt after blowing it on Hurricane Katrina. Those Cable TV News Babes really do count, right Mr. Rove?

His remarks, all 500 words, lasted four minutes. Our president did not take any questions from the press.

He doesn't have to, does he?

Way to go Mr. President!

Meanwhile his visit, picked up live on the cable news channels, took me back to the next vehicle-span downriver on the Mighty Mississippi - the Washington Avenue Bridge. It's a two-decker, pedestrians on top (with a heated, enclosed inner section for winter), and motor vehicles on the bottom. It cuts right through the middle of the University of Minnesota campus, the largest in the country at that time. A little memory lane here.

Autumn 1971. A quiet, early-in-the-week kind of night. The bar was called Caesar's. I was 22. She was 27. He was some old wasted academic-type on a stool in the dark corner.  She'd been talking to the old fart, then apparently had her fill and asked the young guy - me - if I wanted to shoot a little pool.

You never say "no," right?  Not at 22, anyway. After three games we went back to her place. The old drunk, 57,  was in the same spot the next few times I dropped in. Usually quite hammered. Someone said he was a famous poet. Never got much of a conversation going, he was usually pretty sloshed.

A few months later in January he waved to whoever was nearby and jumped off the Washington Avenue Bridge. Death by suicide.

It was UM Professor/Poet John Berryman, winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize.

From Berryman's 77 Dream Songs:

I'm too alone. I see no end. If we could all
run, even that would be better. I am hungry.
The sun is not hot.
It's not a good position I am in.
If I had to do the whole thing over again
I wouldn't.

John Berryman

And right now, Bushie, i.e. President George "WMD" Bush, is losing.

Bernie Sanders, Vermont's freshman United States Senator, and one-of-a-kind left-wing, people-powered, "Independent" Vermont political institution, has used the power granted a U.S.  Senator to place a hold on President Bush's nomination of former Rep. Jim Nussle to be the next White House budget director. Reports the Des Moines Register:

The Senate Budget Committee has voted 22-1 to approve the Iowa Republican's nomination, but at least two senators had placed holds on the nomination, blocking the full Senate from taking a final vote.

Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent who cast the lone vote against Nussle in the budget committee, said President Bush was "way out of touch with reality" in thinking the economy is good and needs a budget director who will tell him otherwise.

Sanders said he "would love to hear from Mr. Nussle and the White House that instead of simply paying attention to the needs of the wealthiest people in this country that they are serious about addressing the concerns of the middle class and working families."

He said he had not contacted the White House about his concerns.

At least one other senator had anonymously placed a hold on Nussle's nomination, said the budget committee's chairman, Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D.

The holds jeopardized the White House's plan to get Nussle on the job before the August congressional recess. The outgoing director, Rob Portman, leaves the job today.

An individual senator can block a bill or nomination by refusing to agree to the unanimous consent necessary for going forward.

This is the kind of tactic I recall the right-wing senators of my youth employing to block judicial nominees who thought a woman had a right to control her own body, or non-whites had a right to go to school or to the restaurant with white folks.

If you haven't already caught it, do yourself a favor and catch the U.S. Senate hearing video of Ol' Bernardo questioning his old friend from the House - Jim Nussle.

It's a keeper!

Don’t know about you, but I haven’t quite got it all figured out yet. However, I am certainly enjoying the quest. And I am very glad to be here...still.

The 17-year-old gals with the musical charms on the Church Street Marketplace yesterday around dinner time also seemed glad to be here. Hana Kornbluh [left] and Emma Nelson hail from Lincoln, Nebraska. Hana’s got a guitar in that case. They were playing some great indie-folk.

Only in Burlap for a week. They're staying at Camp Common Ground in Starksboro. Rang a bell.

Like almost everything these days, it has a spot in cyberspace, too.

Worth a check. And do watch the movie.

And lookie here at who we bumped into en route for a little Speeder & Earl’s caffeine?

Why it’s Ch. 3 Reporter Jack Thurston and veteran videographer Shelly Holt Allen!

Holy ____!

They were doing a piece on a show at Pine Street Art Works. And Ol’ Jack was giving me some friendly “BS”  for not having announced his arrival at WGOP, er, sorry, WCAX-TV in “Media Notes” in the Inside Track column...five years ago.

Jeezum crow, these Middlebury College graduates are so sensitive!

I’ll admit I’ve kinda gotten away from keeping steady track in Inside Track of the local news media turnover - unless it's a firing of a Burlington Free Press editorial page editor like David Awbrey [back when Vermont’s Gannett-chain outpost had free parking for employees], or a move to Boston by a longtime Ch. 3 news anchor like Sera Congi.

Sorry, Jack.

Hey, at least they have free parking at WCAX, eh?

Something to bounce the endless Iraq suicide-bomber stories and the Bush White House lies off the front page, eh?

In fact, our distinguished President George “WMD” Bush is about to step before the cameras and express his deep concern and heartfelt sympathies.

....And announce he’s pulling the plug on his Iraq War madness and bringing the troops home!

In an historic moment, Bush will tell the nation he will instead propose pumping the hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars he’s been flushing down the Iraq War toilet into a bold new program to rebuild America’s infrastructure before it’s too late!

“America’s crumbling roads, bridges, subways and water treatment plants,” he will say to a stunned nation, “are a far greater threat to our beloved nation than Iraq ever was or ever will be. We must act before it’s too late and that means acting immediately.”

“And I’m also announcing," Bush will say, "that I’ve asked for and received the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Lying will not be tolerated any longer in my administration!"

Yeah, sure, dream on.

Instead, get ready for a political battle over who can convince the America people they care more about our nation’s infrastructure: President Katrina or the Democrats?

***Updated 11:30 a.m. ***

I was wrong.

President Bush only used the opening 20 percent, or 133 words of his "eloquent" 645-word Rose Garden speech to acknowledge the Minnesota Tragedy.  Told the TV cameras and the handful of reporters that he had phoned the governor of Minnesota and mayor of Minneapolis this morning, sent his prayers and expressed the view the feds should help the state rebuild "as quickly as possible."

Then he moved on to what he really wanted to use the national media spotlight for!

The remaining 80 percent of President Bush's remarks were devoted to using the bright lights of the Minnesota Tragedy to politically attack the Democrats for not passing his spending bills fast enough, just the way he wants 'em.

"If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year," said Bush, leaving Minnesota behind, "Cabinet Secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country...

"The plan I put forward would keep your taxes low and balance the budget within five years, and that is the right path for our country," said our Presidential Disgrace.

And everybody thinks this guy knows "the right path for our country," right?

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR and check out the straight and honest remarks of Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy on Politico.

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

[continued]

As you know, “Freyne Land” has always had a media link [column right] to The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. And this morning the Minnesota memories are flooding back. Spent almost four years post-college on the banks of the Mississippi in St. Paul and then in Minneapolis [1971-74]. And yes, I was riding a bicycle back then, too. Great bike town. Things are pretty flat, and Minneapolis really is a “City of Lakes.”

A different time. Attended many a University of Minnesota “Golden Gopher” hockey game in the old Williams Arena. The joint was usually just about half-full.

In our modern American media “culture,” we never get any news out of Minnesota unless it’s pro sports or bad news like this Interstate bridge falling into the Mighty Mississippi.

P.S. Interesting letter-to-the-editor on the Star-Tribune site yesterday. About taxpayers funding new sports stadiums for billionaires, rather than...bridges.

Guess today's groundbreaking ceremony has been canceled, eh?

The groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for the Twins stadium should also include a memorial service for the local taxpayers...

It sure looks like [owner] Carl Pohlad and the Twins could have paid for the entire stadium project and had enough leftover to finance a few lakeside estates, an overpriced jewelry store and still made a handsome profit on their investment. In a period of crucial funding shortfalls for roads, bridges, libraries and crumbling public infrastructure, local government officials decided building a stadium for a billionaire was more important.

On Aug. 2, please indulge in a moment of silence for the local taxpayers. Hennepin County officials buried them long ago.

JAMES HAFNER, COON RAPIDS

Let me tell ya', this is a smile one wants to see in person.

Eric Pillemer M.D. is an oncologist up at the Mary Fanny Hospital in Burlington. He spends his long working day treating people like me - people who have cancer. He's also a tree-farmer, a Christian and a guy who twice voted for George W. Bush for president [but now realizes that was a mistake].

I was out to the Fanny Allen in Colchester Monday for some nuclear medicine - one more PET Scan of the Freyne guts to see where things are after seven months of chemotherapy treatments. It's a 35-minute picture taking session before which one's injectedwith radioactive material that will stand out for the scanner.

My Wednesday appointment [today] to see the Doc and get the results got moved up to midday Tuesday. Tuesday is my busy "Inside Track" Deadline Day, so the run up Burlington's Hospital Hill to FAHC was sandwiched in between "Sex and the Governor's Race" and Patrick Leahy, Alberto Gonzales and Ingmar Bergman.

Mes amis, the "news" still hasn't completely sunk in, and probably won't for a few days.

Doc Pillemer is a straight-talking kind of guy. My kind of guy. No beating around the bush - he communicates very clearly and has had no problem with me tape-recording my visits. In fact, everyone should think about recording one's important doctor visits because the emotions tend to rule in moments that cover matters like this. Trust me - it can be tough for the Ol' Brain to get the whole picture.

Pillemer popped the PET scan pictures up on the computer screen - the "before" taken back in January [right] when I was one sick puppy en route to the next life, and the "after" taken on Monday.

The one in January had a big, fist-sized chunk of bright yellow stuff filling my upper abdomen. Not good.

The one from Monday, however, showed not a single spot of the radioactive material highlighted anywhere. Not a drop!

"Complete remission," were the words that tumbled out of Doc Pillemer's mouth. Two words I'm sure he loves to be able to utter: "COMPLETE" and "REMISSION."

"Come back in three months for a check-up," he said.

Thanks, Doc. And thank you, dear friends and readers, for your prayers and support; your notes, cards, e-mails and good vibes.

Could not have made it through without you.

A new chapter has begun.

Merci beaucoup.