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Regular readers of the ol’ “Inside Track” — and nowadays, in the cyberspace age, the “Freyne Land” blog — have noticed that yours truly has been “on vacation,” print-wise, and hasn’t posted a bloody item online since Town Meeting Day two weeks ago.

There’s a reason. Bear with me.

Yours truly started writing the “Inside Track” column back in 1981, in Burlington’s alternative weekly of the day, the Vanguard Press. I was a $95-a-week staff writer at that distinguished little pot-stirring publication.... Read more

What role should religion play in our public schools? That’s a question Lee Sease, the Addison Central Supervisory Union Superintendent, has had to wrestle with in recent months, after a Middlebury Union High School student filed a lawsuit requesting that a religious club called Youth Alive be given the same recognition and support as other student groups. It’s been a question, as well, for the Williston Central School, which hosts an after-school Christian group for elementary and middle school students called the Good News Club.... Read more

Barack or Hillary? Approve the city budget or vote it down? Demolish the Moran plant or develop it? By the time you read this, we’ll know what the voters chose. Unfortunately, Seven Days goes to press before the polls close. So we can’t announce the results of this exciting election.

Peter Freyne is on vacation this week, so instead of his regular political coverage, we present a selection of election-related commentary from the Exit Voices blog, http://www.vermontcam.org/exitvoices.... Read more

The snow is falling — a record accumulation for February — and the excitement is building as Vermont’s March 4 Town Meeting Day approaches. For the first time in memory, the Green Mountain State’s little presidential primary is in the national mix. Yours truly even got a phone call from a Time magazine reporter this week who was suddenly curious about the unique traits of Vermont’s political scene.... Read more

If one thing can be said with certainty about the 40-year “War on Drugs,” it’s that it’s been a great success for those in the business of selling illegal drugs. It’s also been a great success for those who construct and operate the prisons and jails where millions of nonviolent, illegal drug users have been incarcerated.

But there’s no evidence we can find that shows treating drug abuse as a crime rather than a health problem has been effective in protecting American society as a whole from the ravages of drug abuse.... Read more

Six years ago in 2002, when they first popped up on the Vermont political stage, yours truly dubbed them “The Nasty Boys.” They were two twentysomethings, born and raised in Vermont, who got the Washington political bug and went off to college in the nation’s capital.

Neale Lunderville, “The Boy Wonder,” was GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Douglas’ bright and savvy campaign manager.... Read more

About three hours after last week’s edition of Seven Days hit the street, yours truly got a call from a certain mysterious international political figure “reportedly” considering a run for governor of Vermont.

We had noted in last week’s “Inside Track” that Peter Galbraith, 57, the distinguished author and former diplomat, had not put in an appearance at either of the two weekend Burlington labor events that were politician-heavy, nor had he returned our phone message seeking comment.... Read more

Peter Galbraith, the famous stranger being floated in mainstream Vermont Democratic Party circles as someone who is thinking about running for governor, was a noticeable no-show at the big labor conferences held in Burlap over the weekend. He didn’t return our phone call, either.

Not very candidate-like, eh?

The faces of Senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Congressman Peter Welch, however, were seen at the labor events as were those of GOP Gov. Jim Douglas and Progressive Anthony Pollina.... Read more

Surprise, surprise! Rep. Topper McFaun’s health-care-reform bill — the one the powers-that-be said was absolutely, positively not coming off the committee-room wall — is going to get two days in the spotlight next week, after all!

H.304, the Vermont Hospital Security Plan, would guarantee hospital coverage for all Vermonters while cutting $60 million in annual spending. Pretty radical stuff, eh?... Read more

Vermont’s lone voice in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat Peter Welch, paid his second visit to Iraq last week and came home with a dismal view of the way things are still going there under President George W. Bush almost five years after his unjustified invasion.

In a Tuesday chat with “Inside Track,” Welchie had nothing but praise for the work of the U.S. military, but strong criticism of the way the Bush administration is expanding its duties.

“What I saw over there,” warned Welch, “was mission creep.... Read more