2x5-designerscirc071206 7/11/06 10:24 AM Page 1 SEVEN DAYS |august 02-09, 2006 | inside track
inside track
Local jeweler now performs laser surgery
BY PETER FREYNE
AN IRREVERENT READ ON VT POLITICS
What Global Warming?
J
ust before noon on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas issued an “official statement” urging citizens to “Avoid Heat Related Illness.” Certainly not something one sees on a regular basis coming from the office of the governor of Vermont. Gov. Douglas advises everyone to “drink more fluids,” to “never leave kids or pets in a locked vehicle” and to “stay indoors if possible.” The words “global warming” did not appear anywhere in the Guv’s press release. They didn’t have to. The temperature’s been rising for the last decade. We’re not stupid, right? As Democratic U.S. House candidate Peter Welch put it recently, “There is no longer a serious question that global warming is real, is accelerating and is caused by human beings. The question,” said Welch in no uncertain terms, “has been asked and answered.” Not so fast, said Republican U.S. House candidate Martha Rainville. She held a presser on energy-related issues the other day in the Park & Ride parking lot on Rt. 7 near the Colchester-Milton town line. Candidate Rainville, by the way, said she still hasn’t had time to catch Al Gore’s flick, An Inconvenient Truth. Too bad. That’s because if she had seen the Gore flick, as anyone who has seen it knows, she would no longer be making embarrassing public statements about all the facts not being in yet when it comes to global warming. “I think that we’re all getting concerned about what is happening with global warming,” said Marvelous Martha in her new life beyond the uniform. “The questions are still out there and are the matter of some debate,” she continued. “How much warming is occurring and is this part of historic climate trends?” So she disagrees with Welch? “I’m not disagreeing or agreeing,” answered Rainville. “I’m just saying I’m not a climatologist, Peter’s not a climatologist. We come to our own opinions, but we need to look at the science of this.” Yes, indeed, “Misconception 1” on Mr. Gore’s list of “the 10 most common misconceptions about global warming” is that “scientists disagree about whether humans are causing the Earth’s climate to change.” Actually, Gore notes, they do not. There’s strong consensus among scientists. Ms. Rainville was also asked if she agreed with the recent rather astute remarks of one United States Senator who said, “Instead of national security dictating our energy policy, our failed energy policy is dictating our national security.” “I have to say,” replied Rainville offthe-cuff, “I think they’ve got a point, because when you look at where we have to go for oil, it’s in Nigeria, it’s in Venezuela, it’s in the Middle East, it’s in Siberia. These are not easy places or stable places to deal with on a long-term basis. And that is one of the reasons that
I think energy is so important, not only for economic reasons and our way of life, but for our national security.” Incidentally, the U.S. Senator who made the point Martha the Republican liked was none other than next-doorneighbor Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a Democrat. Maybe it’s a woman thing? Talented Couple — Everybody knows what she does. After all, she’s the Speaker of the House under Montpelier’s golden dome. Folks may be less familiar with Speaker Gaye Symington’s talented husband Chuck Lacy. Back in the 1990s he ran Ben & Jerry’s, but what’s he been up to lately? In an “Inside Track” interview this week, Mr. Lacy described himself as an “entrepreneur” with a few irons in the fire, including a grass-fed beef operation based in Hardwick, and the largest wireless phone company in Bangladesh. At the moment, however, none is hotter than the extraordinary film Ol’ Chuck just produced, The War Tapes: The first war movie filmed by the soldiers themselves. Three members of the New Hampshire National Guard were outfitted with personal video cameras for their one-year tour of duty in Iraq. Nothing is staged. The War Tapes is the next best thing to being there. More at www.thewartapes.com. Chuck of Jericho served as executive producer on the film. The project’s roots, he said, began in a writing class at Dartmouth a few years back. Director Deborah Scranton, “the other grownup in the class,” had hoped to imbed with a unit of National Guardsman but wasn’t able to,” said Lacy. Instead, she came up with the idea of sending cameras with the soldiers. The two of them got out their credit cards and bought 10 cameras. They personally distributed them to Iraq-bound U.S. troops at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. The War Tapes is the remarkable result. “For me,” said Lacy, “the war was a political issue before doing this. The goal of the film is to turn it from a political issue to a personal issue. It gives people a chance to personally know some soldiers who are serving.” U.S. news coverage of our soldiers at war in Iraq has become increasingly sterile, with few reporters venturing outside of the heavily fortified Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad. Lacy’s film fills a great void by giving the average American a real-life feel for the explosive, fast-foodequipped, Internet-access-provided hell zone our soldiers are living and dying in. Chuck said the film is opening this week near the U.S. Army base in Ft. Hood, Texas. The War Tapes will open at the Roxy in downtown Burlington on August 11. It’s Iraq uncensored and unfiltered through the eyes of the actual troops. You owe it to yourself.
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52 Church Street, Burlington Across from Burlington Town Center 802.864.4238 2x5-Leunigs072606
7/24/06
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LUNCH DINNER BRUNCH 1834 Shelburne Rd. So. Burlington 862-1081 www.paulinescafe.com
INSIDE TRACK >> 16A
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7/25/06 10:53:13 AM