Evidently, at least three earmarks for that vast metropolis of Wasila were on John McCain's pork lists: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,6851593.story

 I suppose this will be considered a smear as well…

Here is an nice little example of some election year executive pettiness on our governor’s part .It an official routine except when its not .

It’s a protocol laid out in the Vermont Constitution, a routine that hardly raises an eyebrow.This morning, Gov. Jim Douglas leaves for the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. This evening, Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie is expected back in Vermont from the convention.In the hours in between, that makes Speaker Gaye Symington acting governor. It’s a role she has filled numerous times during her four years as speaker

…This time, Symington said Tuesday evening, she hadn’t heard a word from the governor’s office about filling in. She has been given none of the advanced notice she usually has. She said she didn’t know both Douglas and Dubie were going to be out of state at the same time.

Douglas’ spokesman, Jason Gibbs, downplayed the existence of an official routine. “The governor is governor, whether he’s in Vermont or any other state,” Gibbs said. “In this era of modern communication he is able to communicate and correspond with his office.”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

 But what there’s more today about the Douglas,Dubie absent notification

A message was sent by email although there is a disagreement about whether that was the agreed upon method of communication to Symington’s assistant Alex Maclean.In this era of modern communication its surprising the Governor’s office didn’t follow up on the message .

Gov. Jim Douglas’ spokesman, Jason Gibbs, said the governor’s staff had an agreement with MacLean that when the Legislature was not in session, the best way to reach her was by e-mail. MacLean said that was not so.

Nonetheless, Symington, who is the Democratic candidate challenging Douglas in the election, is acting governor through Friday. Gibbs downplayed the importance of the role.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress…

(Note: in no way does the title of this diary imply that Douglas ever had a firm grip on the reality in regards to relating to Vermonters – this one is just too out in la-la land to pass up, though – he's really losing it.)

This morning's Argus had me spitting up my coffee:

But Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas believes that Palin, a mother, hunter and first-term governor, is not only qualified to be president, if it comes to that, but that she will win over residents of the Green Mountain state.

“I believe Gov. Palin is qualified,” said Douglas, who has gotten to know Palin as a fellow state chief executive. He had hoped McCain would choose a governor as his running mate, he added. “I think a lot of Vermonters will identify with her.”

I guess Douglas also feels that Vermonters also all have foreign policy experience because we live so close to Canada. Or perhaps we all have marine biologist experience because we live so close to Lake Champlain. Or perhaps the Vermonters he meant were the loons in Second Vermont Republic who can relate to her days in the Alaskan seccesionist movement. Who's going to be the first reporter to ask Douglas about this?  Considering how much praise and support Douglas has given our current unqualified commander-in-chief, we really shouldn't be surprised, should we?

Damn.  I wish I’d thought of this.  Per VPR:

A consumer group says the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant have used deceptive advertising in their campaign to operate the reactor for another 20 years.

The report quotes one of the ads:

“That’s because one-third of our electricity comes from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which has been providing reliable electricity with zero greenhouse gas emissions for the last 35 years.”

This is, of course, demonstrably false.  VT Yankee is not a zero emissions plant, and the electricity it provides is neither consistent not reliable.  But hey, why would we let facts get in the way of a good PR campaign?

Oh, and in response to questions about the zero emissions claim, VT Yankee spokesmodel Rob Williams had this great claim, as reported in the Rutland Herald:

Williams said the reactor was “essentially” free of greenhouse gas emissions. “Compared to other sources it is zero,” Williams said, stressing that Vermont Yankee produced one-third of all the electricity used in the state.

Well, okay.  So it’s not zero emissions.  So why not make the above claim in their ads instead of… what’s it called again?  Oh right: lying.

The complaint came from the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, which included this gem in its press release:

“Vermonters would be far better off if Entergy put all the money they’re spending on ads into hiring competent managers and engineers who can help to prevent the plant from falling apart until it retires in 2012,” said Burns.  

I read this Monday, while sitting on top of the web covering the RNC riots.  It’s exactly what some people have been predicting and/or fearing.  From the UK Telegraph:

The Dutch intelligence service has pulled an agent out of an “ultra-secret operation” spying on Iran’s military industry because spymasters in Netherlands believe a United States air attack was imminent.

After I read this, I heard a quick blurb about it on the radio; essentially high-level Dutch intelligence has led them to believe that a U.S.-Israel strike on Iran is planned for sometime in the next 60 days (pre-election, notice) and their spy operation in Iran would have been at risk of being at one of the potential targets, so they yanked him/her.  I’ve been predicting this one- a bomb attack on Iran just before U.S. elections- for over a year, but what I’m suprised about really: the Dutch have high-level spies in Iran?  The Dutch have spies?  That wasn’t in any of the James Bond movies I saw.

Slightly more seriously, it is possible that this is psych-ops aimed at Iran coming from high levels of the CIA or NSA.  Also, it is possible that these wackos are actually getting ready to run bombing missions over Iran (which, I predict, will draw-in Russia quickly, which begs the question of China, which, well, yuck…..)