Philip has a full multimedia presentation:
POLITICAL BARBEQUE ERUPTS ON NORTH BEACH; Officials Unable to Count the Injured and Disoriented; Welch Communications Director Hospitalized for “Percussive Gastric Event”; Odum Also Lost; Ah, The Humanity, the Humanity!

Brattlerouser has some great first person reportage.

Freyne explains his absence.

And Odum cracks us up with severed heads.

Christopher Dickey writes a very thoughtful and important reflection on George Orwell’s “Notes on Nationalism” for Newsweek online.

Excerpt:

But American nationalism, unlike American patriotism, is different-and dangerous.

The second part of Orwell’s definition tells you why. Nationalism is the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or an idea, “placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.” Patriotism is essentially about ideas and pride. Nationalism is about emotion and blood. The nationalist’s thoughts “always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations. … Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception.”

One inevitable result, wrote Orwell, is vast and dangerous miscalculation based on the assumption that nationalism makes not only right but might-and invincibility: “Political and military commentators, like astrologers, can survive almost any mistake, because their more devoted followers do not look to them for an appraisal of the facts but for the stimulation of nationalistic loyalties.” When Orwell derides “a silly and vulgar glorification of the actual process of war,” well, one wishes Fox News and Al Jazeera would take note…

…All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts,” said Orwell. “Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage-torture, the use of hostages, forced labor, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians-which does not change its moral color when committed by ‘our’ side.… The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

It’s this aspect of nationalism that peacemakers in the Middle East find so utterly confounding. The Israelis and the Palestinians, Iraq’s Sunnis and Kurds and Shiites, Iranians and Americans have developed nationalist narratives that have almost nothing in common except a general chronology. “In nationalist thought there are facts which are both true and untrue, known and unknown,” Orwell wrote, in a spooky foreshadowing of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s nationalist musings. “A known fact may be so unbearable that it is habitually pushed aside and not allowed to enter into logical processes, or on the other hand it may enter into every calculation and yet never be admitted as a fact, even in one’s own mind.”

The whole thing’s really great.

Haik’s got some great “distorted” photos up on Burlington Pol.

Cathy writes a non-attending lament, and some conversation in the comments.

Odum adds his first thoughts. Comments there, too…

Philip gives me some props for helping out. And promises to write up a full post soon. I’ll take the “yeoman” in the best sense of the word. He also has a really great interview with T.J Donovan, Democratic candidate for Chittenden County State’s Attorney.

Bill Simmon offers this.

UPDATE: Charity has a great post-BBQ write-up.

The calm before the flame…

A sign of the times…

Susan Sussman, Philip Baruth, and Scudder

The Candleblogger, Evening, Scudder, The Carpetbagger,
and Brendan McKenna, communications director for Martha Rainville

Evening, The Carpetbagger, Odum, and P.B.

Scudder going for it…

John Tracy

Scudder going for the Hail Mary…

Nate, Bill Simmon, Matt Dunne & Peter Welch

Matt Dunne, Shay Totten, Prop (kidding!),
Scudder & Peter Welch

Scudder, Odum, Haik & Charity

Philip & Charity

All taken with the super-double-plus-ungood Largan Chameleon Mega, the cheapest digital camera ever made.

See you Sunday at 2…

Brendan McKenna and Andrew Savage,
Spokespersons for Rainville and Welch

I love Vermont.

T minus 2 days and counting…

Oh yes, I’m talking about what will prove to be the most important event in Vermont politics since Pat Leahy wrote in favor of skinny-dipping…

The First Annual VDB/GMD Political Barbeque and Hamburger Summit!

It’s this Sunday from 2 to 6 at North Beach in Burlington. Philip has the latest details.

I have had the good fortune of being tangentially involved in this endeavor and will be helping Philip and John Odum with food run and table-securing duties.

And, though it’s not my best work, I did the iconic clip-art spatula ad (that looks more like a putter, I think) for the event. I sent along the graphic to Philip and John to see if they wanted something like that to put on their sites, and before I had a chance to create something a bit more slick, they up and posted it.

But, maybe slick’s not really the right feel for an event that will consist of a bunch of junkies baking in the 90 degree weather.

Personally, I can’t wait.

Swing low, my sweet…

Sadly, this will may be the last installment of Friday Album Cover Blogging. I have run out of material.

These covers, by the way, can be found in a variety of lists on the web that compile really bad album covers. Just search on “Butch Yelton” and you’ll see what I mean. Like this one.

The Addison County Republicans, Martha Rainville, and Tarrant groups in the parade could barely pull enough to carry the signs…

But the Democrats and Bernie were in full force. Shook Bernie’s hand. Wished him luck.

Sandra Wright sang the blues.

Philip Baruth has got a disturbing piece up on VDB about John McCain… Our, um… President in waiting…

Cheers and Happy 4th.

America is blessed.

Praise the Brave Americans who fight for the values of America.