A regular reader sent us the snapshot taken of the Vermont State House early this morning.

Aw, shucks!

Love was in the air and and in the snow and on the front pillars of Vermont's working, functional granite monument to democracy.

But the snow had a downside. The first program in the 2007 edition of yours truly's Statehouse cable show - "Point-Counterpoint" - was canceled.

Bummer.

Had Vermont Democratic Party Chairman Ian Carleton of Burlington booked to go head-to-head with new Vermont Republican Party Chairman Rob Roper of Stowe.

Also a special Valentine's Day "Battle of the Whips!" between House GOP Whip Patti Komline of Dorset and Democratic Whip Floyd Nease of Johnson.

The third segment was going to involve two members of the Vermont Senate, but I confess, given the current make-up of the Senate - the alleged "upper" body - it's pretty damn difficult to find a pair who can get into a serious "pissing" match.

Plus, it's the day after the U.S House and the Vermont House and Senate all passed anti-Iraq War Resolutions. Once again, Vermont led the nation by being the first state to do such. The momentum is building, folks.

So, improvising a Plan B  to handle the  Valentine's Day Blizzard of '07, I got out the snow shovel cleaned out the driveway and walked around the corner to the Cheese Outlet to stock up on some supplies. They've got a Turkey/Avocado/Bacon sandwich that, I swear, covers two meals.

Then dropped in Speeder & Earls' bare but wired caffeine HQ next door for a few beans and a shot of the student studying in the window. Ella Martin's told us she's a hometown girl and a second-year medical student at the University of Vermont's College of Medicine. Studying for a really big exam coming up next week that will test everything she's been taught in her first year-and-a-half, she said.

And, yes, we do want our doctors to know what they're doing, don't we?

Speaking of which, my doc's nurse called this morning to remind me about Friday's appointment. It'll be my second full-day chemotherapy session. One every three weeks.  And if you think today's Valentine Blizzard has canceled a whole lot of doctors appointments, you're thinking right.

Oh God! George W. Bush, the Liar-in-Chief with the 30 percent approval rating, is "live" on TV holding a White House presser to promote and spin his positively bankrupt war policy. It's ludicrous! But can one argue it's "surprising?"

Ol’ “Weapons of Mass Destruction” George is a Vietnam War draft dodger who used family clout to elbow his way to the top of the list for one of those extremely rare open slots in the Texas Air National Guard.

Way to go, George!

Definitely not a case of “like father, like son.”

His Daddy, President George H. W. Bush, demonstrated bravery at the controls of a World War II fighter in more than 50 combat missions in the South Pacific. And Bush I demonstrated brains, too,  when he called back the troops in 1991 - the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, then the occupier of Kuwait.

Bush I knew an invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent open-ended occupation of Baghdad that would follow, would be disastrous for the United States of America. We’d become an isolated Western power, surrounded, despised and trapped in the center of Planet Earth’s Muslim World.

That was not something Bush II wanted to hear.

Still doesn't.

Too bad for the dead, crippled and maimed who have followed, and continue to follow, his bankrupt orders, eh?