(Head go “boom.” – promoted by JulieWaters)

Here's a cut and paste article from Vermont Business Magazine.  I'm sure lots of us will be rolling our eyes on this one.  Vermont Energy Partnership exists to support Yankee, so it should be no surprise to see how their “independent assessment” turned out.  Note how Dr. Howard Axelrod referred to only single sources of power vs. a mix of power sources as a replacement for Yankee.  How realistic is that?  

However obvious VEP's angle may be, it's important to know how far out a case they are going to make this session.  They won't get all of what they want, so it appears they are trying to pull as hard as they can in order to win most of they want in an appearance of “compromise.”  

The “independent assessment” is just below the fold.

Howard Dean is 60 today, and those of us in the national netroots owe him a mighty big piece of birthday cake, as does the whole nation. He has, of course, recently announced that he will be stepping aside as DNC Chair and bowing to the tradition of a Democratic President putting one of his own people in there. As his legacy, he has transformed the Democratic Party priorities and infrastructure through his much-maligned and now much-lauded 50-state strategy – which went a long way to turning the nation so blue in the latest election.

What to do next? Well, Dean has made it clear he’s eyeing the possibilities created by the incoming Obama administration, particularly the Health and Human Services job, which would seem like an obvious fit.

But as has been the pattern with Dean’s presence as a national political force, those in power might not be feeling so grateful. From Politico on Friday:

Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean is not a serious contender to be secretary of health and human services in the new Obama administration, sources said.

Dean’s name has appeared on short lists for the Cabinet post circulating throughout Washington, based largely on his party chairmanship and career as a doctor. Dean also passed health care reforms while governor of Vermont. And his allies said the Obama transition team has had some informal discussions with him about the job.

But the chief attributes President-elect Barack Obama is seeking in his HHS secretary will be an ability to work with members of Congress and shepherd reform legislation through the House and Senate.

That job description has turned out to be a particularly ill-suited one for Dean, given his partisan background and lack of congressional experience, sources inside and outside the transition offices say.

Odd, isn’t it? The lack of Hill experience isn’t being cited as a disqualifier for Obama supporters such as Janet Napolitano. And as far as the “partisan” thing goes… c’mon. As Markos points out:

Boy, I hope Rahm Emanuel doesn’t get a position in the administration, given that he was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and spent a chunk of the last four years helping thin the ranks of Republicans in the House (and did a nice job of it, too!).

Oh, wait…

If Obama wants someone like Daschle to head up Health and Human Services because Daschle has Hill experience, that’s one thing. But if the standard is now “partisanship”, then Rahm better resign ASAP, because there are few dudes more partisan in Washington than Rahm.

Could there be something else in play? Hmmm…?

In 2006, Dean clashed sharply with incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel over how to allocate party resources during the midterm elections.

Dean held firm on funding state party offices as part of his 50-state strategy at a time when Emanuel, an Illinois congressman who then headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, wanted to see more cash to help House candidates.

A compromise was reached, but resentment lingers in some corners, sources said.

If this report is true, and its all about nothing more than the usual suspects who have Obama’s ear using the opportunity to curb Dean, I have little doubt that you’re going to see the netroots from coast to coast raise holy hell.

Last April, top George W. Bush administration officials, desperate to exploit any possible crack in the close relationship between the Nouri al-Maliki government and Iran, launched a new round of charges that Iran had stepped up covert arms assistance to Shi’a militias.

Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates suggested that there was “some sense of an increased level of [Iranian] supply of weapons and support to these groups.” And Washington Post reporter Karen DeYoung was told by military officials that the “plentiful, high quality weaponry” the militia was then using in Basra was “recently manufactured in Iran”.

. . .

The caches that included Iranian weapons thus represented just 2 percent of all caches found. That means Iranian-made weapons were a fraction of one percent of the total weapons found in Shi’a militia caches during that period.

(U.S. Task Force Found Few Iranian Arms in Iraq, IPS, 11/15/08)

Wait … there’s more! (Pssst, Mr. Obama … are you payin’ attention?)

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.

The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source — most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.

(Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated, RawStory, 11/10/08)

A strategy of threats and “provocations” against Iran by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to be counter-productive, according to a new report released here Friday by a group of 20 former top U.S. diplomats and regional experts.

(Obama Advised to Forgo More Threats to Iran, IPS, 11/17/08)

Keep this in mind as Obama continues to fall into the neocon view of the world.

• Burlington mayor’s race in motion…: City Councilor Ed Adrian will not be running against Progressive Incumbent Mayor Bob Kiss, who is seen as vulnerable after such bumps in the road as repeated difficulties with elections logistics, as well as widespread frustration with Chief Accounting Officer Jonathan Leopold, who many see as some sort of Rasputin to Kiss’s Czar. Adrian said in an email:
  

  This decision has not been made lightly, however it has been made that much easier in that I am confident that the only other announced Democrat in the race, Andy Montroll will be striving towards many of the same goals that I planned to work on.  I will be working vigorously on Andy’s campaign and hope you will join me in that pursuit.  

  It is also evident to me that were I to start down a similar path in the future, there are a number of bridges I need to build, as well as, some that I need to work on repairing.  Over the months and years to come, it is my intention to reach out to those who share similar ideological interests, even if our partisan allegiances differ.  

  Of course, word was that Montroll was contemplating a run as an Independent rather than face a caucus battle… guess now we’ll never know, as the longtime D will have the Party field to himself regardless.

• Uhhhh… yeah. I wanna be a part of that. The secessionists had their convention, featuring Lynette Clark of the Alaska Independence Party (who received recent national coverage following her associations with and enthusiasm for Sarah Palin’s ascendence) waxing macho about carrying a loaded colt everywhere she goes. For those who may be curious, SVR founder (and one-time blogger-stalker) Thomas Naylor coined a new bumper sticker for the group:
  

  Naylor calls secession a “radical act of rebellion grounded in anger and fear. We got on the map in Vermont because of the anger.

  Sounds… swell.

• Final time and place for the new media/grassroots activist meeting on Saturday the 6th: So as to accommodate some folks who also want to pop in on the Democratic House caucus that same day (where the new leadership team will likely be chosen), Saturday’s meeting will be at 1 PM in the meeting room at the Montpelier Police Building. Email me for directions.

  And to all those who have RSVP’d:, sorry I haven’t responded yet… swamped… you’ll hear back from me very soon. Looks like its going to be a great group, well equipped to brainstorm ways to get out of our progressive (li’l p) ruts. Keep an eye on this space for more info.

As some of you know, I’ve been into birding for some time, and photography for a bit longer.  Now that the election is (mostly) over, I’m going to do another one of those diaries where I share some of my favorite bird photos and talk a little bit about the photos themselves.  There will probably be some overlap here, as some of my favorites I’ve probably discussed before.

I’m going to start with the one showed: a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird feeding off of a bleeding heart.

This is a different version of this photo than I’ve shown before: it’s a wider shot, as I’ve found a nice way to present it as a gallery work (10″x15″), but I think it works nicely.

This shot was a combination of preparation and dumb luck.  I had been mowing the lawn all morning and was exhausted.  I sat down on the porch, really unable to do much of any damned thing, but I did have my camera with me (when I mow, I set it up on a tripod, near the feeders so if I spot something interesting, I can take a break and check it out).

So suddenly I see this flicker of motion and realize what it is.  One of the hummingbirds has swung over to the front yard.  They love the bee balm plants, but I’d never seen one go after the bleeding heart.  I grabbed the camera, took as many shots as I could, and… well, wow.

This next photo I haven’t shared here before, I don’t think, though it’s one of my favorites.  Snow geese sometimes populate the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in Western Vermont.  I had often tried to get photos of them, but it was always from a great distance.  This particular day, I’d had a morning meeting in Burlington and had the rest of the day to myself.  I decided to go the long way home and swing by Dead Creek (it takes me an extra two hours or so).  When I got there, there were no Snow Geese to be found, and suddenly I spotted these ones on a nearby field.  I pulled over, grabbed the camera and started to take pictures.  They were all on the ground at that point.  Sometimes I will take a photo, edge a little closer, take a few more, etc., which is what I did in this particular case.  Eventually, I made the mistake of getting a little two close.  The entire flock started to take off and then started flying in circles, more or less surrounding me.  It ended up with me getting this photo:

While I love this shot (and when you see it blown up, you get some incredible textures), I think I like it even better like this:

It seems to come down to 1/3rd preferring the b&w to the color and 2/3rds preferring the color.

This hummingbird shot, though, is one of my favorites as well:

It’s a very lucky shot.  I had the camera pointed at the feeders to see if any cool looking hummingbirds showed up, but I’d rarely seen two at once.  Once I realized there were two of them the trick wasn’t getting close enough.  It was zooming out quickly enough that I’d get them both in the same shot.  I managed to pull it off, just as they hit the dive bombing position.

This Rufous Hummingbird:

was a real joy to photograph.  I’d never seen one of these before (we really only get the ruby-throated hummingbirds in New England), but in November of 2007, we got word that one was hanging out at a feeder in Westmoreland, NH.  Westmoreland isn’t that far from where I live (and we’ve traveled a lot further to find rare birds) so we figured we’d check it out.  It was on someone’s property, which is always dicey, but this woman had given permission for people to stop by her porch and hang out to look at it.  She was really into it, too, it turned out. She came out to say hello and asked us to make sure we sign her guestbook.  

But the best part was that it took minutes before we saw the bird.  She had hummingbird feeders all over the area, and the porch looked out on several of them, so we figured, well, we’ll get a decent look and maybe I can get a nice photo from here.

But no, the rufous was interested in the feeder on the porch.  The one that was only about eight feet away.  So we sat there for about half an hour watching it come and go while I photographed it, figuring out just how close I could get where it would use the feeders without being so close I’d scare it off (turns out about 6’6″ is about the magic distance) and voila, instant life bird.

Speaking of traveling to find birds… this January was our first big birding trip.  We went to Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, and had a real trip finding all sorts of new birds.  But the real treat was the Sandhill Cranes.  This shot in particular:

is one of my favorites from the trip.  There’s something wonderful about that moment just before flight; all that energy built up and ready to go, at that moment where the bird transfers from awkward and gangly to magnificent in flight.  

I will also say something else about snow geese here.  I mentioned before getting to see Snow Geese at Dead Creek.  Seeing them at Bosque is a whole different ball game.  If you get to the viewing platform before dawn, you can be part of probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced as a birder.

There is this large body of water where many of the birds roost all night (roosting in water makes them much less vulnerable to predators, such as coyotes, which will try to get their paws on the geese and the cranes).  If you get there at the right time, you will see the ones gathered in the water, plus all the other geese gathering in to join them.  It’s thousands of snow geese, coming together in the middle of this pond, making all sorts of racket.  This can go on for an hour; sometimes more; sometimes less.

But then there is this point where all of a sudden (and there is no time to prepare for this) it gets silent.  This lasts about as much time as you have to breathe in and then out again and everything else is just dead quiet.

And then…

…the geese take off.  For about five seconds, all you hear is wings.  It’s loud enough to sound like a tornado going directly over your head.  The first time you experience it, it’s like nothing you’ve ever been through before.  The second time you think you’ve already seen it once so you’re prepared for it.  You’re wrong.  It’s every bit as intense.

There’s something about being surrounded by birds that just makes my heart leap.  I hope writing this up has been nice for some of you as well.

For those of you who enjoyed these photos, you can see tons more at juliewaters.com

As usual, feel free to use this as an open birds and birding thread and post your own photos.