Cross posted at Montpelier Matters. 

Here in Montpelier we're lucky to have two hardware stores, right next to each other, where you can get great service, good selection, and competitive pricing, and, if you live in town, you don't even need to burn any gas to get there. I'm talking, of course, about our local Aubuchon and Somers Hardware, right on Main Street. Barre also has a great local hardware store, Nelson Brothers True Value. If your needs are a little more extensive you can get all your lumber and remodeling needs at Allen Lumber, and they deliver right to your house.

So what do we need with another Home Depot?

A local group, Citizens for Community and Local Prosperity is asking that very question. 

On Monday, March 10, you can hear Stacy Mitchell, theauthor of Big Box Sindle, speak at the Labor Hall in Barre. The event is at 6:00, it's free, and the author will be siging copies of the book.

For more information call 272-8543 or email CCLP AT vtlink.net 

OK–yesterday I provided a little break from the presidential campaign crap, but here’s what greets me as I begin my blog rounds this morning. (Um, this afternoon–the brain still says late morning.) It’s four days old, but the day job keeps me from keeping up as I’d like during the week. This is from Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire:

Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Sen. Barack Obama’s Missouri co-chairman and pledged Obama superdelegate, said Obama will gain the support of 50 undecided Democratic superdelegates later this week, according to the Columbia Missourian.

Said Clay: “She (Sen. Clinton) will not make up those numbers. This race is over.”

Not only is it not over until it’s over, but this kind of trying to make it so by declaring it so is something a lot of Obama supporters are doing these days, and it is an unsettling page from Bush’s play book.

It’s what Bush did in 2000, declaring he had won the presidency even though Gore had won the popular vote and lots still hung in the legal balance at the time.  It’s what he did about WMD in Iraq and with “Mission Accomplished.”  It’s what he’s freaking done his whole freaking life as far as anyone can tell, and so WHY in freaking hell can’t Obama supporters see that they are doing just what Bush has done and it is NOT a good thing and they need to sit down and take a few deep breaths?

I could go on (and on, and on) about how this kind of thing is emblematic of contempt toward democracy, democratic process, and just plain disrespectful of others, but I get really tired of the go-rounds.

I’ll go look now for more refreshing breaks from this kind of stuff.

( – promoted by odum)

Here are the top stories this week related to our soldiers here and abroad, taken from the Our Troops Newsladder.

The latest Army mental health survey brought back more bad news, with only 20% of troops describing their morale as high. Obviously, they are seeing things in Iraq differently than John McCain is. VoteVets.org’s Jon Soltz makes the case that someone should ask them why they see it so differently and how he can insist that they should stay the course. (vetvoice.com)

The same survey also suggested that civilian psychiatrists be sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to assist the uniformed mental health corps. (military.com)

On top of all of all the mental health problems that soldiers are facing as they return from the combat zone is the No. 1 disability in the war on terror: hearing loss. 70,000 troops who have served are on disability for tinnitus (a constant ringing in the ears) and another 58,000 for hearing loss. (AP)

A new study found that among people suffering from alcoholism and drug addiction, those who also suffer from PTSD face worse outcomes and consequences from their chemical dependency problems. (Medical News Today)

The weekly newspaper at Fort Drum (already the subject of a damning report about its failure to treat troops from the most deployed unit in America for mental health problems) responded to a recent spate of DWIs by printing the mug shots of servicemembers on the front page. Maj. Gen. Michael L. Oates defends his decision to print the pictures to discourage other troops from drinking and driving, while Adrienne Willis, a spokesperson for Veterans For America said it seemed to unduly burden soldiers who are reeling from the stresses of multiple deployments in Iraq. (NY Times)

Veterans of America is proud to sponsor the Our Troops Newsladder, a new tool to find the top news and articles in the progressive community by, about and for our troops.

Cross-posted at Rational Resistance.

 How about a book by the stupidest fucking guy on the face of the earth?

The benefit of getting out of the administration early is that you get to retaliate against the truth by getting your story out earlier, and if you're Doug Feith, you probably need it, given that you were one of the prime movers and architects of the Iraq invasion.

Still, even Feith has the ability to commit a massive faux pas by blurting out the truth. We already knew it, but it's good to have it confirmed:

Among the disclosures made by Feith in “War and Decision,” scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush's declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that “war is inevitable.” The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Feith, who says he took notes at the meeting, registered it as a “momentous comment.”

You might think that so many years later it hardly matters, but I think the truth is inherently important, especially as we debate the positions our presidential candidates took on going into the war in the first place.