Just heard on MSNBC’s morning show … Howard Dean to be hosting (co-hosting maybe?) Countdown for the week starting tonight.

Suck on that, Sarah Palin … The Dean beat ol’ Betcha’ to the telie!

although he’s found plenty of others to pander to:

White House aides say the administration is concerned about three centers of serious opposition from House Democrats: the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats who are worried about the cost of a public health care plan; the freshmen and other Democrats from high-income districts who are concerned about taxes for high-income Democrats, and the anti-abortion Democrats who are concerned about federal funding going for abortion services, and whether health care providers can opt out of certain procedures.

(Obama: Health care reform means changes in treatment for the better, CNN, 07/22/09)

So which of the three above mentioned groups are you in?

From today’s (Sunday) Times Argus:

In one email, staff members write a response to an article. The e-mail’s title is “Proopsed surrogate: Chad Walldorf.” That indicates Sanford’s office wrote the piece for Walldorf, a political ally and former chief of staff, to sign his name to.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the practice is common among politicians. “I wouldn’t say we do it often,” Sawyer said.

(E-mails show concern about image of Sanford’s administration, Sunday Rutland Herald/Times Argus, 07/19/09)

More reference to the guv’s friends’ plagiarism is found further on in the article.

I would really like to know … how common is the above?

free speech just ain’t what it used to be.

In today’s jingoistic “everything is terrorism” attitude it would seem murdering a doctor who performs abortions because that doctor performs abortions and the murderer wants to use violence or threats of violence to stop a lawful endeavor would fall under the heading of “terrorism”.

But it doesn’t.

On the other hand chanting “1, 2, 3 , 4, open up the cage door; 5, 6, 7, 8, smash the locks and liberate; 9, 10, 11, 12, vivisectors go to hell” and “we will never back down until you stop your killing” does create the crime of terrorism.

It’s true … more below …

First the citation for the above claim: US government’s motion to dismiss motion to dismiss terrorism charges against animal rights activists.

Thanks goes to the Center for Constitutional Rights and BuzzFlash for bringing to light the following:

U.S.A. v. Buddenberg is a federal prosecution of four animal rights activists in California-being referred to as the AETA 4-for conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism. The 4 are being charged with a course of conduct that includes First Amendment protected activities such as protesting, chalking the sidewalk, chanting and leafleting.

At the behest of big corporations the US Congress in 2006 passed AETA (with the support of our ever effective Senator Leahy) to pursue the vital national interests in ending the (non existent) onslaught of terrorist attacks being perpetrated by animal rights activists.

So while the cheney/bush administration had us off chasing tourists terriers terrorists because they hate us for our freedoms, the cheney/bush administration with the active participation of Democratic and Republican politicians alike were labeling animal rights protesters as terrorists … because DC hates us for our freedoms??????

And so we’re now in a position where it is a greater danger to our nation to have folks chanting outside businesses and homes as opposed to actually pushing to physically destroy buildings and harm persons.

I guess in a torture nation like we now live in, it seems obvious the right to torture animals must be held sacrosanct.

CIA Director Leon Panetta told the House Intelligence Committee that the agency had misled and “concealed significant actions from all members of Congress” dating back to 2001 and continuing until late June, according to a letter from seven Democrats on the panel.

The letter was dated June 26, two days after Panetta appeared before a closed door session with the committee and it asked that the CIA chief “correct” his statement from May 15 that “it is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress.”

(Panetta Admits CIA Misled Congress on “Significant Actions”, CQ Politics, 07/09/09)

(melancholic yet cheerful alert, and a note: I am not a patient of Braun Dental)

The Barre/Montpelier Times Argus is reporting this morning that Braun Dental in Barre is closing its doors on Friday after a 20 year stint serving residents of the city and surrounding environs (Barre dental clinic unexpectedly closing, Times Argus, 07/08/09).

This will certainly be a hardship on the many folks who depended upon the clinic for their dental needs. That was a busy place.

But farther down …

Braun is referring patients with dental emergencies to Dr. Jim Culver, … Culver has agreed to see Braun’s patients, …

. . .

Starting Monday Dr. Bill Koch – another Barre dentist – has agreed to care for Braun’s records,…

(ibid)

This may not look like a big deal at first glance, but when I’ve talked with dentists I’ve been consistently told they are full up with existing patients and hesitant to overburden their offices by taking new ones on.

Not to mention taking on care of what is certainly a huge pile of dental records.

I’m sure there is some financial compensation for some of this. But at the same time I applaud the local dentists for doing what they can to assure the good (and bad) people of the Barre City area will still find accessible dental care.

It certainly is sad to see Braun Dental going out of business. I know people who relied on their quality service and reasonable rates. But it is also certainly heartening to see how local folks have rushed in to help pick up the pieces.

Community .. you know .. that 4th of July thing .. gotta love it!

The most important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s clerical establishment.

(Leading Clerics Defy Ayatollah on Disputed Iran Election, NY Times, 07/04/09)

There is something happening in Iran, and I’m still trying on those shoes. This Iranian story has staying power.

Vermont’s tax commissioner, Tom Pelham, is moving over to the job of deputy secretary of administration (Pelham will change roles, Times Argus, 07/02/09).

Okay, nothing strange there.

Pelham is apparently on the same page as Douglas in that tax increases can and should be pushed through, but don’t call these tax increases tax increases … either refer to them as “fees” or simply do it under cover of darkness.

In Pelham’s case it was the cover of darkness. A few years ago Pelham, as tax commissioner, decided to impose a massive (and I do mean massive … thousands of dollars a year in many if not most cases) tax increase on Vermont’s developmental home providers when he unilaterally re-interpreted state law on what was and was not taxable income.

The issue centered around room and board payments, and these payments to the home providers had always been considered and treated as being non-taxable income. Pelham didn’t like that, and not only did he do a 180 degree re-interpretation, but he also wanted it applied retro-actively.

(I actually argued in favor of the change but vehemently against the retro-active nature of the application.)

It took Vermont’s legislature to put into statute what they always meant (and how the law had always been interpreted until the Douglas/Pelham tax hike proposal). In the end, despite Pelham, the taxable nature of the room and board payments returned to where the legislature had originally intended them to be.

But that’s not the whole of today’s morning headache.

Buried in the above mentioned news article is this jem:

McIntire has also applied for an early retirement incentive made available to state workers in legislation this year. McIntire would be eligible for a retirement incentive if she won the lottery, through which 300 early retirement spots are chosen. Nearly 1,000 state workers could potentially qualify.

That’s right folks, the early retirement incentive put into this year’s budget with the intention of helping to clear out some of those jobs Douglas wanted to see done away with is being sought by somebody who is leaving a position that isn’t being done away with!

Ouch! Bringing a dead of night tax increaser closer to Douglas’ bosom, and seeing one of his well paid higher ups who’s position isn’t going away looking for an incentive meant to help cut the number of state employees … that’s a real headache.

How did YOU feel when Muntadar al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Dumbya Bush last December?

New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space-including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else’s shoes-may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others.

(Ability To Literally Imagine Oneself In Another’s Shoes May Be Tied To Empathy, Science Daily, 06/24/09)

Well then …

I’ve been thinking about this vis-a-vis Iran, and I can’t come to a firm conclusion.

Would you want expressions of public support if you were out marching against a regime that was willing to use deadly force to enforce its’ edicts? Would you want other governments to take active stances in your fight for expression and personal rights?

What do YOU think Jane and John Doe Iranian want from us this very day?

I do know how angry it makes me when our own governments physically attack demonstrators who are largely non-violent. I do know it puts me out front and center in shows of support even if I can’t be at the physical location of the assaults. I do know it would be nice to have the Vermont legislators speak loudly and clearly against such attempts to stifle our constitutional rights to assemble and petition government.

I also know politicians across the globe use suspicion of “outsiders” and the concepts of local exceptionalism to whip up government driven fear based reactions in the public.

I tend to think if I were an Iranian dissident I’d want Obama to do exactly what he is doing now: quiet rhetoric that tells me the world is watching while I try to change a system I know and understand.

But I’m not sure … I’m still trying to fit into those Iranian shoes.

Thanks to Tom’s Astronomy Blog for the pointer: