tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123554582024-03-13T09:21:11.876-04:00Drinking Liberally in New MilfordGrab your favorite libation and <b>Drink Liberally</b> with the only Blogger guaranteed to be plastered all over the Internet!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1403125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-5178181922693040772011-03-21T09:40:00.001-04:002011-03-21T10:07:22.486-04:00Overtaxation with No Oversight: The Internal Service FundSince Mayor Murphy took office, the citizens of New Milford have been overtaxed to create discrete government piggy bank. The over-taxation has led to the bloating of the Internal Service Fund (ISF) by a whopping 170%. The ISF has grown 2.5 times higher than the town’s healthcare premiums. This overtaxing of citizens has continued to take place even after Murphy’s administration publicly agreed to proper management of the fund in 2008. It’s time for this fund to undergo a proper forensic audit so citizens can be assured their tax dollars are fully accounted for – and returned to them.<br /><br />On February 8, 1993, the Town Council passed a resolution establishing the Medical Reserve Fund, which is now the Internal Service Fund. It is used specifically to keep track of medical insurance premiums coming in, and payments for medical claims going out. The money coming in is paid by employees and retirees of both the Town and the Board of Education. The ISF funds health insurance for a majority of town employees: police officers, clerical staff, teachers, administrators, etc.<br /><br />Here’s what important about the 1993 Town Council resolution: it specifically states, “… making deposits into the fund reserve shall be to maintain the fund reserve balance at a level which stays between twenty percent and thirty percent of the total Annual Medical Expense Estimates.” To repeat: between twenty percent and thirty percent. Not below 20%, and not above 30%. Pretty clear, right?<br /><br />The minimum of 20% was set up to cover extremely high medical costs not covered by a single year’s premiums. The 30% maximum limit was set up to prevent overtaxation and to ensure timely and proper oversight. Pretty clear, right?<br /><br />Prior to Mayor Murphy’s administration, the last fiscal year for former Mayor Gambino was 2003/2004. According to the town’s annual financial audit for 2003/2004, the ISF had $2,629,570 in Total Net Assets. For that same year, the actual medical premiums were $7,786,144. The amount necessary to meet the 20% of premiums is $1,557,229. At this point, the ISF was overfunded by $1,072,341, or at a level of 33.8%. This is 3.8% higher than the maximum funding allowed.<br /><br />Here’s a very important point: the funding level in 2003/2004 was enough to cover the 20% of premiums in 2008/2009 (the last year of audited data). Not one additional taxpayer dollar was necessary during the entire Murphy administration.<br /><br />But the overfunding and overtaxation - with no oversight - were ready to explode.<br /><br />The annual percentage of funding grew far above thirty percent upper limit. 2004/2005: <strong>35.5%</strong>; 2005/2006: <strong>49.6%</strong>; 2006/2007: <strong>53.4%</strong>; 2007/2008: <strong>56.3%</strong>; 2008/2009: <strong>54.0%</strong>.<br /><br />According to the audit reports for the Murphy administration, the ISF net assets have grown to $6,327,551. That’s a whopping $3,697,981 million more than Mayor Gambino. The ISF net assets grew by the following annual amounts: 2004/2005 - <strong>$607,115</strong>; 2005/2006 - <strong>$1,864,570</strong>; 2006/2007 - <strong>$454,861</strong>; 2007/2008 - <strong>$738,532</strong>; 2008/2009 - <strong>$32,903</strong>.<br /><br />You could look at the last audited year (08/09) and think the town has finally made an effort to slow down the overfunding. However, nothing could be further from the truth. That year, the Murphy administration used $1,000,000 of ISF funds to offset budget expenses. So, instead of the fund dropping by $1 million, it actually grew slightly because overbudgeting pumped $1 million back into the ISF.<br /><br />If you’re going to use $1 million to offset budget expenses, why overtax citizens by $1 million? What kind of oversight is taking place? Is there any oversight – or just overbudgeting and overtaxation?<br /><br />What’s also amazing is how the growth of the ISF is much higher than the rise in the town’s health care premiums. From 2004 – 2009, premiums rose by 50%. But the ISF grew by 140%, and the overfunding of the ISF grew by 271%. <strong>What kind of oversight is there when an already overfunded account nearly triples healthcare premiums?</strong> Simply stunning.<br /><br />Prior to 2008, had anyone paid attention to the ISF? The Mayor and Director of Finance never said a word about it – or the overfunding. However, once members of the Board of Education started asking questions about the millions in overfunding, action was “suddenly” taken. A short term accounting review was done (only covering two years of overfunding), and the Mayor decided to take the $1 million out of the fund. In the accounting review, there was a recommendation “that the Town periodically settle the interfund receivable and payable balances.” And, at the Board of Education meeting April 14, 2008, the Director of Finance said the BOE contributions for 2008/2009 looked good. But what has happened since?<br /><br />• Despite the Director of Finance claiming the numbers looked good for 2008/2009, the ISF still grew by $1 million<br />• The Mayor used $1 million for budget expenses in 2008/2009<br />• The Interfund receivable and payable balances – in excess of $2.5 million - have not been resolved as of the last audit<br /><br />It appears that when taxpayers look away from the ISF, nothing changes. Overtaxing and overbudgeting with no oversight remains the status quo.<br /><br /><strong>Taxpayers and town employees need to demand the following:<br /></strong>• A forensic audit of the ISF dating back to fiscal year 2004/2005<br />• Accounting of funds contributed by employees, Town, and BOE<br />• Reconciliation with the health insurance consultant to ensure past practices will no longer be the norm<br />• A transparent process of health care budgeting<br /><br />It’s time to expect Mayor Murphy to follow the 1993 Town Council Resolution. Taxpayers and town employees deserve oversight – not overtaxation.CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-50408975172311040332011-02-09T11:39:00.004-05:002011-02-09T11:58:51.154-05:00HT Gives "Thumbs Up" to NM School BudgetHere are a few snippets from the 2/4/11 editorial in The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Housatonic</span> Times.<br /><br />"...all those who assemble the proposed education budget went into the current process with new resolve to craft a package that met all the needs and would also be politically palatable. Better communication was established between the school board and Town Council and Board of Finance, concessions were secured from unions representing school district employees and more."<br /><br />"The recently unveiled result is a $58,194,266 budget for the next fiscal year that carries a modest 2.19 percent increase in spending. Those numbers are more impressive when one considers a very significant and overdue change this budget would effect: the introduction of full-day kindergarten."<br /><br />"This year, as the proposed education budget moves through the process of scrutiny and approval, officials and taxpayers must be mindful of the hard work that has been masterfully done by school administrators and the school board to craft a plan that meets the district's needs at a very fair price."<br /><br />OK - let's review the key phrases:<br /><ul><li>modest 2.19 percent increase</li><li>hard work</li><li>masterfully done</li><li>a plan that meets the district's needs</li><li>very fair price</li></ul>Those aren't my words - they're 100% <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Housatonic</span> Times.<br /><br />Sorry to say, but this editorial is not posted on-line. You'll have to purchase the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Housatonic</span> Times to read it, but it's worth the $1!CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-17488480055652063772011-01-25T21:51:00.010-05:002011-01-28T00:17:25.730-05:00G! E! T! S! (bud) GETS! (bud) GETS! (bud) GETS!<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Oh, was that too soon, Jets fans? Suck it up. Love, The Patriots Nation.)</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Forget football, it’s budget season again!<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And even though we paid all those pesky teachers last year, they want money again this year. So, of course, it will be controversial.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There are several things in play this year.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <ol style="list-style-type: decimal"> <li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="font: 11.0px 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> The school is (at this time) asking for a 2.3 percent increase over last year’s budget. Which has remained frozen for the last 2 years. So, it’s a 2% increase over the 2008-09 budget. This, no doubt, is giving plenty of non-school-supporters the vapors and the heebie-jeebies. (Just for comparison, Brookfield is asking for a 3.8% increase.)</span></span></span></li><li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span>The school and the town are theoretically working with a new spirit of cooperation and communication, thanks to the Ad Hoc committee’s work of the past few months.</span></span></li><li style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Town Council, in response to citizen requests, is considering streaming budget hearings online this year. (The BoE already does this). If this comes to pass, it will be a welcome improvement in transparency.</span></span></li></ol><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So. Let's take these points apart. </span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1. BoE Budget Hearings.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here is the first budget hearing at the BoE:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.theeventisonline.com/NewMilford/nmboe011811.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.theeventisonline.com/NewMilford/nmboe011811.html</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The first 20 minutes or so is the Superintendent’s presentation. After that, principles from the 3 elementary schools, Sarah Noble, and SMS do a Q&A with board members. (The high school presented on 1/20; 1/25 will focus on maintenance, utilities, general admin, and capital; 1/26 will be when the BoE votes on the whole package). The presentation is, perhaps, the most important part for people who want an overview of what the school system is looking to accomplish.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The biggest change is the request for full-day kindergarten.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Let me preface my remarks by saying I have 0 future kindergartners in my household, nor am I a past, present, or future employee of the school system, so I have no personal stake in what I’m about to say.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Full-day kindergarten is a great, great, great idea.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Full-day kindergarten will cement the basic skills needed to excel in school. Reading, writing and ‘rithmatic of course, but other less testable skills, like sharing, working in groups, taking direction, and problem-solving, all get a workout in full-day kindergarten. This is critically important when one realizes that 43% of this year’s New Milford kindergartners did not attend preschool.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In fact, the value of a solid kindergarten program can be calculated in dollars.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/business/economy/28leonhardt.html</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; line-height: 22.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; line-height: 22.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color:#ff282a;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; line-height: 22.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color:#ff282a;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“All else equal, they were making about an extra $100 a year at age 27 for every percentile they had moved up the test-score distribution over the course of kindergarten. A student who went from average to the 60th percentile — a typical jump for a 5-year-old with a good teacher — could expect to make about $1,000 more a year at age 27 than a student who remained at the average. Over time, the effect seems to grow, too.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 15.0px 0.0px; line-height: 22.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color:#ff282a;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“The economists don’t pretend to know the exact causes. But it’s not hard to come up with plausible guesses. Good early education can impart skills that last a lifetime — patience, discipline, manners, perseverance. The tests that 5-year-olds take may pick up these skills, even if later multiple-choice tests do not.”</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(For non-school-age-kid-parents, having an all-day kindergarten curriculum will enhance property values. Maybe not by $230,000, but certainly enough to impact the time a house is on the market. Even in a recession. Or, to tip the scales for a buyer looking at houses in both Brookfield - where they have 3 days of full-day kindergarten a week - and New Milford. Just sayin’.)</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Full-day kindergarten has been part of the strategic plan for quite some time. Several years ago, JPS had a pilot program: 1 class of full-day K. Those kiddos are now in 3rd grade, and most of them still outstrip their half-day peers. Know why it didn’t continue, or expand? Budget cuts.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So, why bring the subject up now? Because of the federal stimulus grant money.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The school has $698,000 to spend before September 2012. It can only be spent on personnel (not surprising, since it’s called The Education Jobs Fund). Since the money did not come until after the school year was underway (and classes, schedules and workloads were set), most of it has yet to be spent, though the BoE has hired 2 literacy coaches and is looking for 1 math coach. So the Superintendent is proposing to spend the bulk of this money on hiring 9 kindergarten teachers.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Of course, there will be push-back on this. “Why not rehire all the teachers we let go last year?” (Because many of them got jobs elsewhere has apparently not occurred to these questioners. And because recalling teachers in the middle of a school year is ridiculously disruptive. For good or ill, we have the teachers we have for this year.)</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“How will we pay their salaries the next year?” when the grant money is gone, is another question. In part, salaries will be paid for by the savings to the transportation budget. Midday bus runs for kindergarteners costs $127,000 yearly. (And while one BoE member wondered where all those kindergartners would go on the regular buses, there is apparently ample room on our existing buses).</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A skeptical BoE member asked, “What will we do if we have to cut staff positions in the next budget?” I don’t get this line of questioning. What are we supposed to do? Hire no one, and don’t use the federal money? Hire a bunch of teachers on a 1-year contract? Or realize that </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">every</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> year, non-tenured teachers are potential victims to budget cuts?</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Another BoE member said, cryptically, in response to the principles' call for consistency between the three elementary schools, "consistency is the hobgoblin of small-minded." This person was apparently quoting Lewis Carroll. D</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">oes anyone know what the heck that quote is supposed to mean?! </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If I wasn't trying to be nice, I'd say something like, "I'll smoke some of what's in their hookah," but I'm trying to stay civil.)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">[update]</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> It has been brought to my attention (by an English teacher) that the "consistency hobgoblin small minds" quote is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> from Lewis Carroll. I looked it up: it's really the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. (The speaker said it was from Carroll, and I, in my hubris, forgot to verify it with Google).</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC33;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.bartleby.com/100/420.47.html</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And, as you can see, it's misquoted as well as misattributed. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">he f</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ull quote is:</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"A </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">foolish</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">."</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well. Reading all the words changes the meaning significantly, but it makes even</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> less </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">sense applied to education in New Milford. I'll leave it up to you to decide if said person is a little statesman, philosopher or divine (my money is on "member of the Michael Steele Book Club"). I guess I'll take back my hookah quip, because Emerson also once said, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains."</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> (I know, I know hookahs are tobacco and ... other smokeables, not booze, but Ralph was curiously silent on hookahs.)</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">*</span></span></span></span></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In my humble opinion, full-day kindergarten is an excellent investment. The more instruction students get on the from end of their education, the better they will progress in the higher grades. Frankly, I’m jealous that I don’t have a future kindergartner to benefit from this.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There are other things to applaud in the proposed school budget, including restoring the general music instruction at SNIS, and creating “head teacher” positions in each school, to preserve a chain of command when the principal and vice principal are unavailable (since several vp’s are half-time positions, and principals are regularly called off campus for meetings, this is more common than one would think). But full-day kindergarten is the most visionary piece of the proposal.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">BTW, here’s part deux (that’s French for “two,” which I know because when I was in school, my town believed in funding the foreign language department. I could also sing it to you, because my middle school also had a music teacher. But I digress.) which focuses on the high school:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.theeventisonline.com/NewMilford/nmboe011911.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.theeventisonline.com/NewMilford/nmboe011911.html</span></span></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; color:#0e23a3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">2. Ad-Hoc Committee Report.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Ad Hoc Committee with the impossibly long name made its report to the Town Council. And they presented three “big ideas,” which are actually pretty good ideas.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/New-Milford-Town-Council-approves-matching-funds-116391.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/New-Milford-Town-Council-approves-matching-funds-116391.php</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Even if they seem a tad “You haven’t been doing this already?” ideas. (Five months to discover “We need to communicate better between branches.” Ja think?) Still, at least that is a step forward. If the Town Council and the Board of Education can actually work as if they are on the same team (as they should), instead of opposite sides, maybe budget season wouldn’t feel like a medieval siege.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I don’t have much more to say on this at this time, except to roll my eyes at the insta-roadblocks that seem to derail even the baby steps forward. Read through these minutes to learn about what I am affectionately calling “the saga of the boilers.” </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://170.163.202.12/Weblink7/DocView.aspx?id=78012&dbid=0"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://170.163.202.12/Weblink7/DocView.aspx?id=78012&dbid=0</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Ad-Hoc committee noted that both town and school buildings needed some new boilers, decided that a joint purchase would be cheaper than a piecemeal approach, and thought to tap the Waste Management Fund, which would keep the purchase from impacting tax payers. But, I guess, the WMF can’t fund boilers. (Tennis Courts? Yes. Boilers? No. Which I still don’t get. But then, I’m not on the Town Council or the Board of Finance. And they apparently didn’t know either, since their Ad Hoc representatives thought using the WMF was a good idea.) Alas, alack.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The mayor suggested the funds come from capital reserve accounts. Which sounds good, until you remember all the recent TC criticism of how the BoE handles capital reserve. (Last year, that account was supposed to be only used for emergencies. But, I guess that’s sooooo 2009)</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/New-Milford-Town-Council-approves-matching-funds-116391.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/New-Milford-Town-Council-approves-matching-funds-116391.php</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> This purchase would draw that fund down to the dregs, and then, I’m sure no end of angry blog posts will condemn that “irresponsible” behavior. (And I ask you: why can town employee raises come out of a “fringe account” or a “contingency fund” but not boilers? Or at least fix the stupid railroad crossing downtown?!) But, the powers that be have vowed to “look around” for the money, so maybe there’s another stash of cash somewhere. (Couch cushions?)</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">3. All this brings me to my next point, which is all about greater transparency.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Ad-Hoc committee proved, if nothing else, that greater communication between branches of local government will lead to greater efficiency. The quickest way to facilitate communication is greater transparency, and easy access to each other.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">One of the best ways the Town could improve transparency would be to stream its meetings online. As I’ve said (and as you’ve seen, if you clicked the links at the top of this post) the BoE already does this (without costing the taxpayers an arm and a leg).</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">While the Town Council has made noises suggesting they will look into this, I hope they come through for the budget hearings at least.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">[UPDATE: Miracles do happen. As I was drafting this post, the town’s website suddenly underwent a major overhaul, and lo and behold, web streaming of (some) Town Council meetings!</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.newmilford.org/content/2099/default.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.newmilford.org/content/2099/default.aspx</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here’s the presser:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.newmilford.org/controls/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=418"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.newmilford.org/controls/NewsFeed.aspx?FeedID=418</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">according to which, this has been just <i>waiting</i> to happen for years, but, I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that several people requested the Town Council do this very thing at the January 10th meeting:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/New-Milford-residents-want-more-public-access-to-955698.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/New-Milford-residents-want-more-public-access-to-955698.php</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15px; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a href="http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2011/01/14/opinion/letters/doc4d307260a4c8c550191538.txt"></a></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2011/01/14/opinion/letters/doc4d307260a4c8c550191538.txt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2011/01/14/opinion/letters/doc4d307260a4c8c550191538.txt</span></span></a></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well, whatever. Thank you, powers that be! And thank you, citizens who asked that it be done!]</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When watching the TC and BoE hearings (and really, what else are you going to watch this winter? The SuperBowl?) (Still too soon?) be sure to pay attention to how people speak to - and about - each other. Last year, budget season birthed a whole slew of misinformation. I’m sure this year will have its share of pearl-clutching and name-calling. (For proof, I offer this:</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; "><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px"><a href="http://nmbudgetfacts.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://nmbudgetfacts.com</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">/</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">This gem of a webpage started as a reprint of a screed from a Town Council meeting last April. But it quickly grew into a smear campaign against the BoE. (And, maybe you remember those signs? Which basically quoted these talking points? Almost like it was a coordinated effort to bring down the school budget before the hearings even started?)</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Well, a new year, a new campaign. Right?</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So the site’s been updated. At least in the right-hand corner.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But right below it, all the tired old misdirection from last year remains, including the “Why I won’t vote for this budget” rant. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, gets updated. (I note 0 complaints about budget transfers and transparency regarding the Town Council’s move to give town employees 2% raises retroactive to July, even though The Good Citizens of New Milford Never. Approved. Those. Raises.)</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As Linda Richman would say, “New Milford Budget Facts . Org is neither ‘new’ nor ‘facts’ nor an ‘org.’ Discuss.” (And! All! Those! Exclamation! Points! Are! Annoying!)</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; min-height: 15.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">At any rate, I urge everyone to take anything they read on blogs (except this one! wink wink) with a grain of salt, and go straight to the source. Look over the school and town budget proposals. Attend the hearings, or at least watch them on line. The process is transparent and public participation is welcome. Educate yourselves. And for goodness’s sakes, go vote.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">[update #2]</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I've finally viewed all the BoE budget presentations. I have this to add:</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1. I was really taken with NMHS Principal Shugrue's passionate, articulate presentation. Particularly his explanation as to why we can't simply replace teachers with robots. (I know. Who'd have guessed that would be a real conversation?) (OK. No one actually said "robots." They said "technology." But they were </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">thinking</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> "robots.")</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Principal Shugrue outlined what he considered to be the top skills needed by every high school graduate in the early 20th century.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They include the ability to:</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C0C0C0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-collaborate</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-think critically</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-speak articulately</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-work in a group</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-take ownership of students' own learning</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Amen.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(BTW, I was also taken with the other principals' presentations, but I've pretty much hit their highlights above).</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2. I was pleased to see a true integration of ideas between schools. (Guess what? All-day kindergarten enhances the chances a kiddo will graduate having mastered the above list. It's almost like the school is following some kind of long-range, strategic plan ....)</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">3. Addressing students with special education needs is a growing challenge. 600+ students currently fall into this category. (And no, this doesn't apply to the mythical "I'm gonna say I have a special need so I can get out of doing homework" slacker-student. These are real students, with real needs.) The more proactive we can be as a school district whether it be (wait for it) all-day kindergarten, summer school (and, yes, offering bus service to summer school is a good idea. It's not catering to "bad parents," as some seemed to be suggesting. Some people can't choose between work and summer school for their kid.)</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">4. The mayor was on hand for the last hearing. She asked for hard numbers about the kindergarten program. Should we cue the ominous music, or should we expect another "The mayor's office has been working on this for </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">years</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">!" presser?</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Stay tuned ........</span></span></p></span></span></span><p></p>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-31405580159485870342011-01-06T12:53:00.003-05:002011-01-06T12:58:39.342-05:00A Real Public Option In Connecticut?<p><em>And so it would seem.</em></p><p>The other day for an open thread at ePluribus Media I commented on "<a href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/open-thread-state-healthcare-reform-horse-race">the intended public option that should be Sustinet in Connecticut,</a>" and it would seem that is to be the case if the Sustinet Health Partnership Board of Directors get their way according to the report they handed in to the Connecticut General Assembly. Jon Walker has the key report paragraphs at FDL and summerizes it all too well, as anyone that has followed Healthcare reform closely would be aware of these realities:</p><blockquote><h4><a href="http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2011/01/05/connecticut-informed-that-private-insurance-exchanges-are-bad-deals-for-consumers-taxpayers/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Connecticut Informed That Private Insurance Exchanges Are Bad Deals for Consumers, Taxpayers">Connecticut Informed That Private Insurance Exchanges Are Bad Deals for Consumers, Taxpayers</a></h4><p>...snip...</p><p>This report demonstrates what a horrible deal the system of subsidized, loosely-regulated private health insurance exchanges is for both the uninsured and the taxpayers. Using a public health insurance program, the state of Connecticut will be able to provide low income Americans a higher level of coverage at lower personal cost and it will still have a lower overall price tag for the government.</p><p>The only entities for whom the design of private exchanges is a good deal are the drug companies, hospitals, and private insurance companies. The exchanges assure customers for the unnecessary private insurance middlemen. Loose regulation of the exchanges prevents the government from using the market power of a large pool to negotiate with the drug companies and hospitals for lower prices, and so they get higher reimbursement fees.</p></blockquote><p>It seems like they might as well being making the argument for a "Medicare for All!" solution but even as only a Public Option it would force the private insurers into an honest battle for customer base, IMHO, much like the Swiss model which is leaps and bounds better than the American model we are trying to reform.</p><p>Anyways, maybe we will have a real horse race to compare models of healthcare reform?</p><blockquote><h4><a href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/open-thread-state-healthcare-reform-horse-race" title="Open Thread - State Healthcare Reform Horse Race">State Healthcare Reform Horse Race</a></h4><p>...snip...</p><p><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/2/932935/-Health-insurance-reform-measures-that-kicked-in-Saturday">As we mark the passing of the latest phase of health reform laws implemented on January 1st</a> <em>(scroll the comments there and you will see some interesting comments pointing to what I mean about cost controls and other issues, OK?)</em>, the six states Politico suggests following are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Wisconsin for various reasons ranging from the most resistant to reform in Alaska, to the intended public option that should be Sustinet in Connecticut, and all the way over to the Single Payer movement in Vermont. I would not count Single Payer as out of the question in California, either, though there is no mention of that large movement behind it.</p></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-63687790582060034582010-12-23T09:38:00.002-05:002010-12-23T09:48:39.416-05:00Still All That I Want<object height="175" style="clear: right; float: right; padding: 10px;" width="200"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nzXKWKaxt3c?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="175" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nzXKWKaxt3c?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" style="float: right; padding: 10px;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200"></embed></object><br />
Something that gets lost in the news about the unemployed is the fact that much of what used to be the backbone of this nation's economic prowess, the middle class, is now the working poor:<br />
<blockquote><i><a href="http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/2354/imagine-that-working-poor-on-the-rise">Imagine That: Working Poor On The Rise<br />
</a></i><br />
<i>After the Republicans crashed to economy in 2008 one thing became immediately clear. It would not be the folks who can afford it who would pay for the excesses of the last few decades. No, the elitist millionaires in Congress and the White House would make sure they kept their precious tax breaks. Yes, the only group that would be expected to sacrifice just like always would be the working American. Now a new study is out showing just how much they did sacrifice.</i></blockquote>One can only hope <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckcvt0Uye_w&feature=related">that Capitol Hill is really ready to grow its heart a few sizes</a> before things get any worse. But if the media and the politicians are unable to even address the issue of Class War honestly, I can't see them actually fixing the problems. Not in the the favor of the average American, for certain.<br />
<br />
An early Merry Christmas OR Happy Holidays, if you are so inclined, just in case this is the last post you get to check before you disappear into a pile of wrapping paper, empty bottles and hugs from family and friends.<br />
<br />
As for my own Christmas list this year? Well? If you see Santa, tell him that as much as I liked everything from my wife and kids and even what I found in my stocking last year? <a href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/open-thread-all-i-want-christmas">All that I wanted last year is still all that I want this year</a>:<br />
<blockquote><i>The Weepies beautiful Christmas song, All That I Want, live in Philly:<br />
</i><br />
<object height="265" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DRjZGzTEjQI&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DRjZGzTEjQI&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="265" width="320"></object><br />
<br />
<i>I really want for nothing for myself. There are so many things that I want to see changed in the world for the good of everyone. World Peace? Stopping hunger? Ending poverty? Maybe I do want something: Wish me luck on getting those things.</i></blockquote>Is there anything in particular you want for yourself or for others this year? Drop it in comment...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-26599718301360185112010-12-22T16:49:00.000-05:002010-12-22T16:50:17.234-05:00WWWWWWWWW.boardofeducationobstruction.eduClick on the above link, and it will take you to an interesting place. A place where obstruction is the norm, bad <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">lawyering</span> is the standard, lack of preparedness is encouraged, and focusing on the main mission is discouraged. Sounds beautiful, doesn't it? Here's the real name of this magical <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">cyber</span> spot:<br /><br /><strong>W</strong>hat a <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">aste</span> <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">illiam</span> <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">ellman</span> <strong>W</strong>as <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">hile</span> <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">ading</span> through this <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">eek's</span> <strong>W</strong><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">ork</span> at the Board of Education<br /><br />What was WW up to this time? As usual, not much. It seems all he's really able to do is abstain on voting for nearly every issue, and deliver legal opinions that are shot down by non-lawyers.<br /><br />What doesn't WW do? Comment in any way, shape, or form on issues of education. And that's true for not just this meeting, but every meeting. Good thing he's on the board of EDUCATION, right? Maybe he thinks it's the board of Obstruction (but we'll get to that later).<br /><br /><br /><p>To give you an idea how little WW cares about serving as a public official, he didn't cast vote for the election of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">BOE</span> Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, or Secretary. He cares so little that he didn't even vote "no."</p><ul><li>If you care so little, or can't even muster an opinion on your fellow board members, maybe it's time to resign. Public participation would be essentially equivalent for your current level of commitment to the voters.</li></ul><p>Too bad there's no video of that "historic" vote.</p><p>But let's give the guy some credit: he later tried to show everyone what a great lawyer he was. Unfortunately, he was shot down by lay people - no judge required to hold him in contempt! He tried to impose his lack of legal knowledge on the rest of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">BOE</span> in an attempt to make it seem they hadn't done their homework to update the policy on expulsions. However, when the Superintendent, and Board members Lawson and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Faulenbach</span>, reminded him that all of the facts were already in the document, poor WW could only feign ignorance as a defense. Claiming he didn't have the appropriate page in front of him - which means he either didn't read the entire document or was simply choosing to ignore it - WW just chose to disagree.</p><ul><li>Some lawyer you were, WW. The voters - and your colleagues on the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">BOE</span> - hold you in contempt.</li><li>Pay a fine, spend a night in jail, or for your sake and ours, please resign.</li></ul><p>As for the rest of the meeting, the poor old <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">obstructor</span> didn't say a word. No input on a variety of policies, a 5 year <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">curriculum</span> plan, new text books, etc. Why bother weighing in on education issues when you're on the board of obstruction???</p><ul><li>Stop wasting your time - and ours. Stay home on Tuesdays. Watch college basketball, read a book, play the v<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">ictrola</span>. Send in a letter to the editor for your various objections. Make better use of your time - and your fellow citizens.</li></ul>CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-42695204647201791742010-12-12T13:00:00.001-05:002010-12-12T13:04:01.329-05:00Tales From The Crypt - Tax Cuts and Bond Markets Edition<object height="160" hspace="20" style="clear: right; float: right;" vspace="10" width="186"><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NTPj1srp2nc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="160" hspace="10" quality="high" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NTPj1srp2nc?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" style="clear: right; float: right;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" vspace="10" width="186"></embed></object><br />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/8190059/Global-bond-rout-deepens-on-US-fiscal-worries.html">Markets screeched in horror</a> at the mere mention of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/10/927729/-Markets-hated-the-tax-cuts-for-the-rich">conservative ideas like tax cuts</a>, a <a href="http://drinkliberal.blogspot.com/2010/12/rells-big-spending-bureaucratic.html">GOP "free market" and glibertarian favorite</a> stump speech talking point that should be laid to rest permanently:<br />
<blockquote>For the past several months, we've been told by various Serious People that European governments were being punished by markets for being too lavish on social spending, despite bond rates being at record lows (other than in peripheral countries subject to more specific attacks) - or would be punished if they didn't "reform" and lower taxes. The same has been promoted in the US, via the Catfood Commission and the whole noise machine against deficits and stimulus packages... Well, the US government did just what the Serious People wanted, with a nice fat tax cut for the rich, and bond rates jumped - ie markets actually literally hated the measures, selling off US bonds violently.</blockquote><b><i>Bwahahaha! RIP conservative tax cut kool-aid.</i></b><br />
Considering al Qaeda's stated goals of destroying America economically... This kind of puts the conservative ideology of never-ending tax cuts firmly in the arsenal of a terrorist's financial Weapons of Mass Destruction (right up there with Credit Derivatives and Credit Default swaps) and those that support them... Well? In the words of an American idiot, "if you aren't with us, yer against us."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-15807431499302014752010-12-09T11:55:00.007-05:002010-12-09T11:58:36.355-05:002010 New Milford Awards - Your Vote Counts!Grab a beverage and help us toast another banner year in New Milford history. While we won't be applauding most of the award winners, we can still say "cheers" as we raise our glass to their achievements. Make like Bridgeport: vote early, vote late, no official ballot necessary, and write-in nominations are welcome!<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Favorite Republican Dirty Trick</span></strong><br />* Appointing Dem. Rod Weinberg to BOE<br />* NMBudgetFacts.com (anonymous - or was it?)<br />* NMBudgetFacts.com roadside signs (also anonymous - or was it?)<br />* Mayor and Szendy claim no raises for employees - then attempt to grant raises three months later<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Best Example of Gutless Public Service<br /></span></strong>* Town Council Republicans silent vote to reduce school budget by $1.8 million<br />* Ray O'Brien's "Civility Rule" attempt to limit free speech<br />* Walter Bayer failing to second a motion by his fellow Dem. council member<br />* Mayor Murphy unable to say whether or not she supported her budget at the Annual Town Budget Meeting<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Clueless is an Understatement Award<br /></span></strong>* Mayor Murphy for not doing any homework in a failed attempt to pass an ordinance to control the BOE's purchasing policy (The BOE's purchasing policy was better than the town's!)<br />* BOE Member Bill Wellman for being on the board nearly three years and not understanding how field trips are funded by the PTO (even though it's on the agenda every meeting!)<br />* BOE member Lynnette Rigdon (no explanation necessary)<br />* Roger Szendy states concern that the new Economic Development Corporation could vote themselves salaries of $100,000 (Yes, and they could vote themselves a trip to Mars, too)<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Worst Person in the Town Award<br /></span></strong>* TC member Ray O'Brien for his "Civility Rule," and claiming that approving a 0% teacher's contract was like having a gun held to his head<br />* Mayor Murphy for not supporting her budget for the first time in 7 years, and for claiming no raises for non-union employees and then claiming they were "in the budget" three months later<br />* The Entire RTC for not condemning it's members who organized NMbudgetfacts.com<br />* Walter Bayer for pretending to be a "D" while attending the RTC's Reagan Dinner and other "R" functions - and contributing money to the R's in the process<br /><br /><strong>Vote Now - Vote Early - Vote Often! And don't forget your beverage to toast the winners. Cheers!</strong>CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-50857687607018050002010-12-02T14:25:00.001-05:002010-12-02T14:33:54.070-05:00Rell's Big Spending Bureaucratic Republican CronyismCementing Her Excellency, Governor M. Jodi Rell's legacy:<br />
<br />
<blockquote><a href="http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-mandyck-salary-1201-20101130,0,5363502.story"><i>Connected Appointee Gets Immediate Raise</i></a><br />
<i>www.courant.com<br />
<br />
Jacqueline Mandyck of <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/us/connecticut/hartford-county/west-hartford-PLGEO100100202260000.topic" id="PLGEO100100202260000" title="West Hartford">West Hartford</a> — a political appointee of Republican Gov. <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/politics/government/m.-jodi-rell-hpp2166.topic" id="hpp2166" title="M. Jodi Rell">M. Jodi Rell</a>'s who had stood to lose her job as a $107,000-a-year deputy commissioner of consumer protection in January, but on Oct. 22 landed a position on the permanent state civil-service payroll — has experienced still another bit of good fortune.<br />
<br />
Newly surfaced records show that the announced $103,580-a-year salary for her new job at the state Department of Economic and Community Development was immediately increased by more than $10,000, to $113,623.<br />
<br />
...snip...<br />
<br />
Mandyck, 43, knows Rell's powerful chief of staff, M. <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/politics/lisa-moody-hpp3319.topic" id="hpp3319" title="Lisa Moody">Lisa Moody</a>, as well as <a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/economy-business-finance/moodys-corporation-ORCRP010209.topic" id="ORCRP010209" title="Moody's Corporation">Moody's</a> longtime friend and golfing partner, the well-connected lobbyist Paddi LeShane. <b>Mandyck was the focus of a Government Watch column in the Courant on Sunday about a number of Rell administration appointees being placed in jobs on the permanent state payroll rather than becoming unemployed after Democratic Gov.-Elect</b> <b><a class="taxInlineTagLink" href="http://www.courant.com/topic/politics/government/dannel-malloy--PEPLT00007625.topic" id="PEPLT00007625" title="Dannel Malloy ">Dan Malloy</a> takes office on Jan. 5.</b> Other candidates scored higher than Mandyck on an examination, but an interview panel led by Rell appointees said she did better in her interview.</i></blockquote><b>Emphasis</b> mine, because lord knows GOP cronies should not have to suffer through the same unemployment problems - problems they caused with their <i>glibertarian</i>* free-market-run-amok deregulation of financial industries out the ying yang - that the rest of America has to suffer through in the real world.<br />
<br />
So Rell is using the taxpayer's money as an ATM to pay for her friends' parting gifts in the typical IOKIYAR "Big Spending Government Bureaucracy" the GOP likes to create and break when they are in power and then point to as the problem when they are not in power.<br />
<br />
* <a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/?page_id=28596#G"><i>Glibertarian</i></a> and, again, <b>emphasis</b> mine:<br />
<blockquote><i>—<b>a portmanteau of glib and libertarian</b>, a person who affects libertarianism when it’s convenient. <b>Used by those not ready to admit that all libertarian philosophy can be boiled down to “I got mine, fuck you”</b>, or by those attempting to be polite to libertarians.</i></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-68926117554413092042010-11-19T22:02:00.003-05:002010-11-19T22:15:20.675-05:00Thanks, Aunt Myrtle. Now, put the gun down.<span style="color:#ffffff;">As fun as it would be to keep talking about national politics, it’s probably time to return my gimlet eyes to local politics.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">(Wait! one last sip:<br />How awesome are Republicans? They may be drunk with victory, but boy, are they mean drunks!<br /></span><br /><a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/gops-top-tax-guy-republicans-will-block-permanent-middle-class-tax-cut.php?ref=fpb"><span style="color:#ffcc33;">http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/gops-top-tax-guy-republicans-will-block-permanent-middle-class-tax-cut.php?ref=fpb</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html"><span style="color:#ffcc33;">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45181.html</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/mitch-mcconnell-earmark-ban_n_783767.html"><span style="color:#ffcc33;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/15/mitch-mcconnell-earmark-ban_n_783767.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">And then there’s <em>this </em>fresh Hell:<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWKlxNAh30"><span style="color:#ffcc33;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyWKlxNAh30</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Can you feel the brain cells die as you watch? I know the mere thought of those two getting into a “situation” together makes me never want to let anyone have sex. With anyone. Ever. Again.)<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Ok. Gasp! Ok.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">No more capitol cocktails. The hypocricy could kill a person. Local brews. Local brews.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">So. Been to a Town Council meeting lately? Or are you too busy trying to decide if you should support the Bush Tax Cut sunset? Well. You might be able to catch the meetings on cable access. If you keep the tv on channel 17 for the rest of your life. (Better than <em>DWTS</em> at least).<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">At the November 8th meeting, the Town Council weighed in (almost!) on the teacher contracts.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">What teacher contracts? Oh. These:<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/A-pay-freeze-New-Milford-teachers-agree-to-do-680250.php"><span style="color:#ffcc66;">http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/A-pay-freeze-New-Milford-teachers-agree-to-do-680250.php</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Let's pause here. This is a big deal. New Milford teachers and the town’s Board of Education, reached an amicable agreement in July, over salaries and benefits for the next academic year. The upshot is that teachers are accepting a pay freeze. They have also agreed to slightly higher copays for some medical visits. And they did this without a lengthy and expensive arbitration process. So. Tax payers: hug a teacher. And also a BoE member.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Now. Onc e the contract is approved by the teachers and the BoE, it goes on file with thew Town Clerk. Note the date of the article (September 29th). And count 30 days forward. According to the town charter, that’s how much time the Town Council has to approve, reject, or decline to notice, the new contract. The Mayor and TC chose the latter course, but it seems it’s because someone forgot to count.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I guess the Mayor and TC<em> wanted</em> to say something about the contracts, but didn’t realize the contract had been filed (do none of them read the local paper? This was big news), or that they only had a 30-day window. Which, given how long most TC members (not to mention the Mayor) have served this community, seems a little odd. But not as odd as this explanation, from the meeting minuntes:</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“[A Councilman] asked why the Town Council was not notified that the agreement was submitted to the Town Clerk. Mayor Murphy stated that it is not required to.”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">See? “It is not required.” That’s logical and satisfying, isn’t it?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I know. But … given that the TC agenda from October 25th included this item:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“Mayor Murphy told Town Council members if they know of anyone whom they think should be recognized for something they have done in the community or another accomplishment, they should let her know.”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">And, given that the BoE successfully negotiated an even more recent contract, this time with school administrators, <em>also</em> with a $0 salary increase, <em>also</em> with concessions on benefits, <em>also</em> without arbitration<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-school-administrators-avoid-798796.php"><span style="color:#ffcc66;">http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-school-administrators-avoid-798796.php</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">it’s not like there wasn’t anything worth commenting on.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">(Um, Mayor Murphy, how’s about thanking the teachers, adminitrators, and the BoE for agreeing to a pay freeze, and saving tax payers money!?! Too much to ask, I suppose.)<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Well, even though the magic 30 days had passed, preventing the TC from epxressing their official dis/approval of the contracts, some members exercised their First Amendment right to free speech, and comment less officially at the November 8th meeting.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“Mr. Bass stated that all parties should be thanked. Mayor Murphy thanked all those involved for a good job including those people in the audience from the Board of Education.”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">At the risk of sounding ungenerous, these “thanks” were recited with all the passion and sincerity of an 8-year-old thanking their Aunt Myrtle for a hand-knit Christmas sweater.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But, wait, there was more! Following the national trend of seeing one’s first amendment and raising you the second amendment, Councilman Raymond O’Brien had this to say:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“Mr. O’Brien stated that the Town Council usually approves contracts ‘with a gun to our heads’ because it is always told that if they don’t approve the contracts, they would go to arbitration and the town would lose.”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Of course, he isn’t exactly accurate on how the process works. I’ve looked in the Town Charter, and it really doesn’t say “After contract is filed with Town Clerk, a gun will be placed to the Town Council’s head until they vote their approval. If they reject the contract, the Town will automatically lose in arbitration.” But then, my reading of the Health Care Reform Act didn’t turn up any Death Panels either. So, there might be a special ink, visible only to conservatives, involved here.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Well, Mr. O’Brien. Thanks for the statesmanlike response. Honestly. A gun to your head? There’s a lot I’d like to say in response to your stunning hyperbole (not to mention hypocrisy: how’s about that civility manifesto?), but it’s not printable.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But that’s not even the most incendiary part of his comments. There’s more:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">“[Councilman O’Brien] would much rather be advised earlier so that the Town Council could have some meaningful input before it is filed with the Town Clerk.”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Ummm ……. Because that’s not how the system works.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">So, what? Councilman O’Brien would like a seat at the bargaining table? Should Councilman O’Brien just write the contracts himeslf? Why not just let Councilman O’Brien be in charge of everything? Charter, shmarter.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Councilman Peter Mullen tried to dial back the crazy:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">"Dr. Mullen stated that communication is great, but disagreed with O’Brien’s statement. He felt the Town Council is not forced to accept a contract. They are not told the Town will lose."<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Yeah. Well. That and telling Sarah Palin she can’t see Russia from her house will get you a blank stare and a headache.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Look. I’m quibbling over a minor detail. The comments of a cranky man about teacher contracts that already passed really don’t add up to major policy.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">It’s just so disheartening.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">It’s just another casualty in the decline of civil discourse.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">These contracts were the result of hard work, good will, community spirit, and mutual trust, on the parts of our educators and our Board of Education. They are an example of putting community before personal gain. The contracts are something to celebrate.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Is it too much to ask that people like Councilman O’Brien not spoil the moment with petty carping (while also attempting some sort of political coup where he actually gets to take the place of the BoE and the teachers’ union in deciding contracts)?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Would it be putting a (metaphorical!) gun to the Town Council’s heads to expect a sincere, full-throated “Thanks!”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Or is it too close to budget season?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">(are those crickets?)</span>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-57145504957079837332010-11-18T14:19:00.002-05:002010-11-18T14:32:29.119-05:00Don't Turn Your Back on the Bankers for Even a Moment<object height="149" style="clear: right; float: right; margin: 5px;" width="170"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o-0lAhnoDlU?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="149" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o-0lAhnoDlU?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="170"></embed></object>The ink on the legislation is still drying and, already,<a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/11/17/banks-risk-retention/"> the mortgage mill industry is trying to gut the little things that might help to hold them accountable</a> for their bit part in the complete economic collapse of this nation:<br />
<blockquote>Dodd-Frank requires that lenders retain five percent of every loan on their books, so that they are not completely separated from default risk. McClatchy reports that the <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/16/103833/wall-street-quietly-seeks-to-undo.html#ixzz15XuMaPmv">banks are trying to quietly nix</a> that part of the law:<br />
<blockquote>Financial lobbyists also are working to soften requirements that Wall Street firms put more “skin in the game” by retaining more mortgage bonds on their books to guard against shoddy lending…<b>They’re trying to expand the definition of “plain vanilla” mortgages that would be exempted from the risk-retention requirements.</b> [...]<br />
<b>The [American Securitization Forum] and its members want to exempt interest-only mortgages</b>, which caused many unsophisticated borrowers to lose their homes. “Certain types of loans aren’t standard, but are appropriate for high creditworthy borrowers,” Deutsch said in an interview, pointing to wealthy borrowers who seek to maximize their mortgage-interest deductions at tax time.</blockquote>During the debate over Dodd-Frank, <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/05/04/corker-risk-retention/">the banks pushed Sen. Bob Corker</a> (R-TN) to propose an amendment (which was ultimately defeated) striking the risk-retention provision from the bill. It’s no surprise that during the law’s rule-making phase, they are trying to weaken it as much as possible.</blockquote>Nevermind the fact that their argument boils down to "What about the rich people and their tax deductions?" Just in case you missed that last part that Think Progress had not emphasized:<br />
<blockquote><b>Deutsch said in an interview, pointing to wealthy borrowers who seek to maximize their mortgage-interest deductions at tax time.</b></blockquote><i>"<a href="http://iowaliberal.com/?p=5621">Leave</a> the <a href="http://susiemadrak.com/?p=3948">rich</a> aloooooone!!!"</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.correntewire.com/obama_paying_health_care_leave_teh_rich_alone">Does not matter what the issue, nor their political affiliation for the most part</a>... That is always the battle cry and once the lobbyists dump enough money on them or get enough of their corrupted politicians in place you can bet these tiniest of common sense changes will be gutted.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-86291360756699215422010-11-11T21:13:00.000-05:002010-11-12T13:24:45.419-05:00Sarah Palin: Mayor of New Milford?Is this a parody or real life? You decide.<br /><br /><br />Citizens of New Milford:<br />I want you to know that I'm on the job 24/7. Twenty four hours a week, seven months a year. But even with this strict time commitment, I can't be expected to keep up with everything going on in this vast metropolis. That's why I like this job - I've got plenty of other folks to do the work.<br /><br />Not that I seek to blame everyone else for my problems, but everyone seems to be conspiring to keep important topics hidden from my highly skeptical spectacles. Even the Town Clerk couldn't seem to get me a copy of the new teacher's contract, cuz he knows I want to tear them teachers up for their greedy, self-serving ways. I know it's a good 30 paces from his office to mine, so that old buzzard would have to send one of his four staffers all the way down here. But, heck, how else am I supposed to know about these things?<br /><br />How was I supposed to know New Milford's teachers took a Zero % increase next year? And they agreed to pay more for health insurance, too. Who would have ever thought the teachers and the Board of Education would ever take me and Roger Szendy seriously?<br /><br />Do you think I - or one of my 40+ staffers - have time to read about this in the News-Times, Spectrum, or Housatonic Times? That's just plain crazy - we've got other things to do. Why, just the other day I had to count votes for Linda McMahon, and drive Clark around to some meeting at a funeral home. Who's got time to read?!<br /><br />I'm a momma black bear (no grizzlies in these parts). I'll guard my cubs with my life, and you, the citizens of New Milford, are my cubs. You've got to trust that I'm doing all the right things, even if I don't really pay much attention to them. A momma black bear would never deliberately hide money for raises in the budget, or hire kin-folk on the public payroll. Now, she might ask someone else to do those things, but you must trust that I'm doing good by you.<br /><br />And don't ask no stupid questions, ya hear? Luv Ya!<br /><br /><br />Signed,<br /><br />Your MayerCT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-11107131269785401792010-11-05T23:38:00.004-04:002010-11-06T00:06:14.294-04:00Much like the "conservative" GOP...The conservative Blue Dogs acted as Bush's domestic poodles, helping to move a dangerous right wing agenda.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jlVTH9kD-WE/TNTBSUq3nlI/AAAAAAAABY4/l2ioFWtzVFs/s1600/blue_dog_dem_con.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jlVTH9kD-WE/TNTBSUq3nlI/AAAAAAAABY4/l2ioFWtzVFs/s400/blue_dog_dem_con.jpg" width="357" /></a></div><br />
They were owned by the right wing and corporations and there is no big surprise why <a href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/real-victory-tonight-blue-dogs-take-beating">more than half of the Blue Dog caucus (28 of 54 members)</a> were slaughtered in the 2010 elections. <br />
<blockquote><i>So far, it looks like nearly half the Blue Dog Dems have been kicked out of office. That’s a much higher percentage of Dems than the Progressive Caucus lost tonight. I think it speaks loudly to why the Dems got their butts kicked today. This wasn’t Americans turning to the Republicans, which polls show Americans hate worse than Dems. This was Americans turning away from the Blue Dogs. The ones who sold us out to the corporatists.</i><br />
<br />
<i>This opens up some serious opportunities for progressives if we can capitalize on them two years from now. Without incumbency to aid them, the Dem Machine – which will be bringing more Blue Dogs to the table to replace the ones they lost – will have to win primaries against progressive alternatives in every Blue Dog seat.</i><br />
</blockquote><b>Meanwhile in the Progressive Caucus?</b><br />
<br />
Already the largest caucus in the Dem caucus, the Progressive Caucus lost only 4 members in the elections. And may even have gained a new one.<br />
<br />
And <a href="http://openleft.com/diary/20748/more-on-building-the-house-progressive-caucus">the New Dems that had aligned with the idiocy of the Blue Dogs?</a> They are decimated too:<br />
<blockquote><i>Yesterday, in <a href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/20732/blue-dogs-decimated-blue-dogs-triumphant" target="new"><b>"Blue dogs decimated, blue dogs triumphant"</b></a> I called attention to the Blue Dogs losing more than half their seats in Congress, and in <a href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/20733/fighting-smart" target="new"><b>"Fighting smart"</b></a>, I endorsed Big Tent Democrat's argument that progressives should start immediately "focus on Dem primaries for House seats."</i><br />
<br />
<i>To flesh out the argument further, yesterday at DKos, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/11/3/916876/-Progressives-Caucus-remains-intact,-becomes-a-plurality-of-House-Dems" target="new"><b>Chris compared the Blue Dogs, New Dems & Progressive Caucus</b></a>, showing how drastically different they fared:</i><br />
<br />
<center><i><img border="1" src="http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/Paul_H_Rosenberg/Post-Jan-2010/Caucus_stats3.gif" /></i></center> <br />
<br />
<i>And the resulting swing in makeup of the House, making the Progressive Caucus the new plurality:</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<center><i><img border="1" src="http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/Paul_H_Rosenberg/Post-Jan-2010/Progressive_Plurality.gif" /></i></center> <br />
<br />
<i>Check his post out for a chart with a much finer level of detail. But here's how Chris concluded:</i><br />
<blockquote><i>Losing the House is painful, and will cause lots of problems for two years (or more). However, it does give us an opportunity to reshape the ideological composition of the House Democratic caucus in a positive way. Imagine if we can retake the House with the CPC maintaining this new plurality.</i></blockquote><i>Clearly, the strategy Big Tent Democrat suggests would help us do precisely that.</i></blockquote>Just so you know what BTD was talking about:<br />
<blockquote><a href="http://www.talkleft.com/story/2010/11/3/8517/61887"><i><b><span style="font-size: small;">Creative Destruction</span></b></i></a> <i><br />
By Big Tent Democrat </i><br />
<i>A historic loss for the Democrats last night creates opportunities for progressives around the country. Now more than ever, the primary process should give progressive candidates chances to capture Democratic nominations around the country.</i><br />
<br />
<i>While the Beltway and The Third Way will argue that Democrats need to run moderate Republicans as their candidates in the next election, the reality is the Beltway and The Third Way can no longer get a single person elected in a Democratic (or Republican, for that matter) primary.The era of the smoke filled room is over.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Progressives can be the change they are looking for. But they need to start now. And they need to focus on Dem primaries for House seats.</i><br />
<br />
<i>As Rahm Emanuel said, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste. Progressives should not waste this one.</i></blockquote><br />
In case you wanted the list of Blue Dogs that were crushed...<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/11/3/916540/-More-than-half-the-Blue-Dogs-are-out"> Some Puppy Ciao furnished by Meteor Blades:</a><br />
<blockquote><i>As for the departed Blue Dogs, we can do without their sabotage which did so much to deliver House Democrats into the minority. Only seven of the defeated 22 had served more than two terms in the House. Rep. Gene Taylor (MI-04), the longest serving defeated member, was first elected in 1988. So was John Tanner, who opted out of running this year. But 16 of them were first elected in 2006 or 2008. Here they all are, with the year they were first elected.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Mike Arcuri (NY-24) 2006; R. Marion Berry (AR-01) (Retired) 1996; Allen Boyd (FL-02) 1996; Bobby Bright (AL-02) 2008; Christopher Carney (PA-10) 2006; Travis Childers (MS-01) 2008; Jim Costa (CA-20) 2004; Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03) 2008; Lincoln Davis (TN-04) 2002; Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) (Ran for Senate) 2006; Bart Gordon (TN-06) (Retired) 1984; Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (SD) 2004; Baron Hill (IN-09) 1998 through 2004, 2006;Frank Kratovil, Jr. (MD-01) 2008; Betsey Markey (CO-04) 2008; Jim Marshall (GA-08) 2002; Charlie Melancon (LA-03) (Ran for Senate) 2004; Walt Minnick (ID-01) 2008; Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) 2006; Dennis Moore (KS-03) (Retired) 1998; Patrick Murphy (PA-08) 2006; Scott Murphy (NY-20) 2008; Glenn Nye (VA-02) 2008; Earl Pomeroy (ND) 1992; John Salazar (CO-03) 2004; Zack Space (OH-18) 2006; John Tanner (TN-08) (Retired) 1988; Gene Taylor (MS-04) 1988; Charles Wilson (OH-06) 2006.</i><br />
<br />
<i>The four members of the Progressive Caucus who lost: Alan Grayson (FL-08) 2008; Phil Hare (IL-17) 2006; Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (MI-13) (defeated in primary) 1996; and John Hall (NY-24) 2006.</i></blockquote><br />
It seems like everybody on the left realizes the opportunity ahead of us all now that the Dems that had created some of the worst right wing policy and legislation have been crushed.<br />
<br />
And we all know what we have to do... Get to work with an aim to run the primaries off of the map.<br />
<br />
And there is a certain amount of humor in <a href="http://ctbob.blogspot.com/2010/11/death-of-tea-party-in-connecticut.html">seeing a Tea Bagrrrr movement come to screeching halt</a> in this Connecticut election.<br />
<br />
And the biggest change <i>Tea Party Inc.</i> achieved? In other parts of the nation they made the lefts' job easier by helping to pick off the worst Democratic party members in the country while leaving the more reasonable politicians in office even stronger than they were before. And they have nearly completely destroyed the GOP while doing all of that for us.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-49458001145170574592010-11-05T11:30:00.005-04:002010-11-05T12:37:34.199-04:00Stop Drinking and Start Doing, Dem Dumb DumbsSober up, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dems</span>.<br /><br />You started sucking suds when you captured the Congress in 2006. Since 2008 you've been binge drinking with Congress and the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prez</span>. You even nibbled on some hot wings and pub nuts. Burp!<br /><br />And now the bartender just cut your drunk, lazy, liberal, progressive, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">leftie</span> ass off. You dig, Dem dumb dumbs?<br /><br />You thought you could just party like it was 1999. You can't take a beer bong and pour <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">healthcare</span> reform, trillions in spending and bailouts to fat cats down the average '<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Merican's</span> throat and not expect a fight. But, as usual, you didn't fight - you just kept doing <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Jager</span>-bomb shots.<br /><br />Let's not only blame the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prez</span> for this election. Just go straight down the line - all the way to the grass root dumb dumbs who didn't lift a finger to dial up fellow <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">dems</span> to get them out of the bar and into the polls.<br /><br />Too many <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dems</span> turned away after 2008, assuming the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prez</span> and the Congressional majority would take care of "our" business. We drank up, while they did what we asked them to do. But, we didn't follow up on our end of the bargain - work our butts off to help them stay in office.<br /><br />Look at yourself in the mirror. Can you say you worked as hard in 2010 as you did in 2008? Did you bring your neighbor to the polls? Did you give $$ to a candidate? If you didn't do that, how can you expect Joe the Bartender, Joe the Plumber, or any average Joe, to understand the complexities of the issues of the day? <br /><br />How can you expect Joe to deal with this: the worst economy in two generations; soaring debt; jobs lost; home foreclosures, etc. That stuff scares the crap out of people. If you don't help them to understand that you're trying to solve their problems today - and for tomorrow - they're going to do exactly what they did: vote for the other team.<br /><br />You have to expend energy to inspire '<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Mericans</span> to vote. Let's make a quick list of the "no shows" when it came to putting energy into this fall's campaign: Chris <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Dodd</span> (thanks for nothing), the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prez</span>, the Veep, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Rahm</span> "Windy City" Emmanuel, Chuck <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Schumer</span>, John Kerry, Al Gore, etc. I'm sorry - you can't count the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prez's</span> work in the final week as really getting it done; he should have been out there since labor day. Were you all having a beer in the Rose Garden?<br /><br />Who deserves real credit for working his tail off? William Jefferson Clinton. He was busting his hump out there, putting his <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">stent</span>-laden heart on the line 24/7. Let's give the man some credit. <br /><br />Learn from Bill: you have to work hard to win elections. Not other people - YOU! You have to get it done. You have to contribute time, energy, $$. If you can't <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">contribute</span> any of these, then you can't complain about the outcome.<br /><br />To bring it back to a local level, look at Chris Murphy. He worked his butt off! I saw him in New Milford a few times - and I never saw Sam <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Caligiuri</span> (if I had paid $100 to attend the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">RTC's</span> Reagan Dinner, maybe I would have caught a glimpse of Sam C).<br /><br />And I saw Ann Cutter (local Dem) leading Chris Murphy around the Harvest Festival. She worked hard the entire election cycle - organizing phone banks and other get out the vote efforts. Where was the rest of the local Dem leadership? Show up or shut up!<br /><br />Here's the deal: You've gotta work hard lefties, or the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">righties</span> are gonna kick your butt in 2012, too.CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-67584201500599360992010-11-03T23:59:00.004-04:002010-11-04T00:18:32.418-04:00The People Have Spoken. And Their Message Is – Squirrel!<span style="color:#ffffff;">So. What the heck happened last night?<br />The GOP picked up 60 seats in the House, effectively reversing their losses there from 2006 and 2008, and returning control of that body to them.<br />The GOP picked up some 6 seats in the Senate, but the Democratic Party retains control there.<br />The GOP picked up several governor seats as well.<br />And it was a very good night for the GOP in local races around the country.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/senate"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/senate</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I should be suicidally depressed, right?<br /><br />Meh.<br /><br />Don’t get me wrong: I’m disappointed as the next progressive. Disappointed in the party, in the party leadership (Doctor-Governor-Chairman Dean, we miss you and your 50 state strategy!), in knowing I’ll have to hear the phrase “Speaker Boehner” for the next 2 years, in every failed vote and compromise and missed opportunity of the last 2 years.<br /><br />But.<br /><br />I’m far more confused, or bemused, than angry or sad.<br />What I don't get is how non-sensical the results are, when taken as a whole.<br />Despite what the pollsters, the pundits, the media, the GOP leadership, and the defeated TEA-baggers who seemed unclear on what the words “concession speech” mean, all tried to tell us today, there is no single clear “message” to take away from this election.<br />The People Have Spoken, but they all spoke at once, and not many of them agreed with each other.<br /><br />It's not that GOP victories don't make sense: I expected them. Incumbents always lose in the midterms; the economy still pretty much sucks; the major reforms and achievements of the past 20 months have been distorted or ignored; and the GOP has both a major “news” network, and a multi-national secret fundraising machine.<br />It’s the inconsistency behind those victories (and losses!) that don’t make sense.<br /><br />Sarah Palin's candidates won some races, but lost <em>spectacularly</em> in other races. Including, it is widely assumed, in her home state of Alaska.<br /></span><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/sarah-palin-endorsements_n_778556.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/sarah-palin-endorsements_n_778556.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">So, is Palin a king-maker, an idiot, or a stopped clock? (Or all 3?) But more importantly, when will her 15 minutes finally be over?! No one in the GOP wants her to run in 2012. She’s started to lash out at her party and supporters, just like she has for her entire political career. And OMG, when will her daughter stop dancing?<br /><br />For all the “Throw the bums out!” anti-incumbent mentality of this season, several incumbents did quite well. Harry Reid is probably the most surprising incumbent victory, but he’s not the only successful “old guard” campaign. Barney Frank of MA held on to his seat (like anyone was surprised), after fending off a primary challenge from a dining room table, and a general election from a TEA Bagger. Here in CT, incmubent Chris Murphy beat challenger Sam Caligiuri by a very comfortable margin, even in Caligiuri’s own town. <br /><br />True to form, the electorate was largely unimpressed by self-funders (buh-bye Linda McMahon and her WWE game-face, Meg Whitman and her maid, Carly Fiorina and her “So yesterday” campaign, Iott and his spectacular Nazi uniform, and almost everyone who ran using their own fortunes), even though the best way to beat a self-funded "outsider" is to be an "establishment Washington insider:” Welcome back, Senator McCain!<br />Speaking of Palin and McCain, they don’t seem likely to get the band back together for a reunion tour in 2012. <br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-mccain-demurs-over-future-support-of-a-2012-sarah-palin-presidential-bid/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-mccain-demurs-over-future-support-of-a-2012-sarah-palin-presidential-bid/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But, if I were the kind of person to spread ugly rumors (and you may want to skip the rest of this sentence), I’d wager that they must have the best hate sex since Mary Matalin and James Carville.<br /><br />Of course, Marco Rubio was a self-funded candidate, backed by Mama Grizzly, and a likely criminal to boot, and he, sigh, managed to win.<br /><br />(I can’t even begin to explain Rand Paul. But then, I can’t explain much about Kentucky. Enjoy him. What other choice do you have?)<br /><br />Several key races were nail-biting heart-breakers (Sestak-Toomey in PA, Giannoulais-Kirk in IL), that “shouldn’t” have been so close. Toomey would have beaten Specter in the primaries, if Specter hadn’t switched parties. And given the Blagojevich/Burris debacle in IL, and Giannoulais’ banking ties, it was time for Illinois residents to be disgusted by Democrats, instead of Republicans (who here remembers George Ryan?).<br /><br />Other races were mind-numbing landslides: Ayotte over Shea-Porter in NH; Rubio-over Christ (and, I guess, Meek) in FL; Feingold-Johnson in WI.<br /><br />Ayotte I understand. NH really is “ruggedly independent” state: I think they enjoy bucking trends, when they’re not setting them. They’ve flipped from GOP to Dem in 3 times in the last 20 years (Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Kerry by a nose), and chose Hillary over Obama in the democratic primary. Ayotte, despite Palin’s “Mamma Grizzly” merit badge, really isn’t a hardcore conservative.</span><br /><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.270towin.com/states/New_Hampshire"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.270towin.com/states/New_Hampshire</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Rubio was able to take advantage of the 3-way race in Florida. (The final tally was 50-29-20. So, if Meek had bowed to the pressure applied by Bill Clinton and dropped out, FL might have flipped to Christ, who would likely have caucused with the Democrats. Not that I blame Meek for running.)<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44337.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44337.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Feingold I just don’t understand. WTF, Wisconsin? That was the electoral equivilent of pawning your grandmother’s heirloom jewelry for a few bucks at a Cash 4 Gold store, so you can go out on Friday night.<br /><br />I especially don’t get this one from the TEA-bagger perspective. Feingold was anti-war and pro-campaign finance reform, things TEA-baggers are supposed to appreciate. It only makes sense if the TEA Party is really the GOP in a tea bag. (Oooooohhhhhhhhhh.)<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Progressive-Pillar-Russ-Feingold-Crumbles-in-Wisconsin-5632"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Progressive-Pillar-Russ-Feingold-Crumbles-in-Wisconsin-5632</span></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">We lost too many progressives last night, but the Progressive Caucus is still in tact. But, voters kicked out half of our "Blue-Dog Democrats."</span><br /> <br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/blue-dog-coalition-gop-wave-elections_n_778087.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/blue-dog-coalition-gop-wave-elections_n_778087.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I actually think this is a good thing.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Are-Democrats-Better-Off-Without-the-Blue-Dogs-5536"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Are-Democrats-Better-Off-Without-the-Blue-Dogs-5536</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">It hurts to lose the seats, and the committee chairs in the House. But. The Blue Dogs are not exactly helpful to getting progressive legislation passed. The GOP has been purging its ranks of moderates (and non-crazies). Blue-dogs sold out the progressive base of their own party to appease the more conservative voters in their own districts. This is poetic justice. And, it leaves room for more progressive candidates to emerge in those districts.<br /><br />Because I think, the take-away message from this election is this: the American voter is impatient, underinformed, and impulsive. The entire electorate just said, “Squirrel!”<br /><br />I say this because, although the Democrats took a “Shellacking” last night, it’s not because the electorate loves the GOP. They don’t.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/house-gop-disappoint-2012_n_778281.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/house-gop-disappoint-2012_n_778281.html</span></a><br /><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><br /></span><span style="color:#ffffff;">Seriously. The electorate just broke up with Barack Obama to go back out with the guy they know is going to cheat on them, and possibly beat them up.<br /><br />Why?!<br /><br /><br />A few thoughts:<br /><br />1. No one realized that Change doesn’t come by overnight FedEx. And so, like Americans in crisis (like, when the computer freezes) do, they started pounding all the buttons on the keyboard at once, hoping to make something work. The Obama administration, the Congress, the press, and the public, share responsibility for this communication fail.<br /><br />2. They forgot the things the Obama administration, with the Democrats in congress (and really, not 1 GOPer), actually accomplished.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Or, if you can’t sit through the whole thing:<br /><br /></span><a href="http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">There. FTFY, America.<br /><br />3. Also, the country seems to have forgotten what the GOP did to us.<br />So, here:<br /></span><br /><a href="http://reason.com/archives/2009/01/15/where-did-bush-go-wrong"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://reason.com/archives/2009/01/15/where-did-bush-go-wrong</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">4. The Citizens United Ruling from the Supreme Court really did unleash a vast Right-wing conspiracy. Really.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2462/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2462/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">This has to be the worst ruling since Plessy v Ferguson. But, even that bone-headed ruling was eventually overturned. This too shall pass.<br /><br />5. The media really, really, REALLY wanted to tell the “Democrats are in trouble” story, and so they did. (See my earlier post,</span> <a href="http://drinkliberal.blogspot.com/2010/10/rope-what.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://drinkliberal.blogspot.com/2010/10/rope-what.html</span></a><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">about how off-the-mark the coverage of the Blumenthal-McMahon was. BTW, Blumenthal won by 10.5 points. It wasn’t even close.)<br /><br /><br />Here’s one thing that it wasn’t: a repudiation of “liberalism”<br /><br /></span><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/03/pundit"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/03/pundit</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But. We’re back together with the cheating, punching, ex-boyfriend. What’s life going to be like now?<br /><br />Interesting.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/us/politics/04elect.html?_r=1&ref=politics"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/us/politics/04elect.html?_r=1&ref=politics</span></a><br /><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/john-boehner-election-obama_n_778407.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/03/john-boehner-election-obama_n_778407.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">See? Obama’s aprty lost because they refused to compromise (which apparently means, “capitulated to all the opposition’s demands”). Now that the the tables have turned (sort of), we can expect …. NO Compromise from the GOP!<br /><br />And they’re going to roll back Health Care Reform (here’s where I think Christine O’Donnell is speaking through them). Good luck getting past the Democratic-held Senate and the Presidential veto …. And the percentage of your constituents who actually would rather not go back to being without reform!<br /><br />And they’re going to cut the budget: everything is on the table, except the stuff that’s not.</span> <br /><br /><a href="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/eric-cantor-cant-explain-how-republicans-w"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/eric-cantor-cant-explain-how-republicans-w</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Good luck with that too.<br />Oh, and they're going to impeach Obama. Because he must have done something to deserve it. Even if they can't figure out what it is.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/darrell-issa-obama-must-answer-several-hundr"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/darrell-issa-obama-must-answer-several-hundr</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">That'll get people back to work.</span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"><br />So basically, we’re looking at More. Of. The. Same. For another 2 years. From the GOP. And the TEA Party.<br /><br />But. The Democrats may have learned something from this season.<br /><br />For one, DADT is going to come before the legislature in the lame-duck session. </span><br /><br /><a href="http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/2010/11/after-midterms-obama-still-pus.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://metroweekly.com/poliglot/2010/11/after-midterms-obama-still-pus.html</span></a><br /><span style="color:#ffcc00;"><br /></span><span style="color:#ffffff;">And so are the Bush-era tax cuts.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/11/03/extending-bush-tax-cuts-not-a-slam-dunk/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/11/03/extending-bush-tax-cuts-not-a-slam-dunk/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">At this point, Dems have nothing to lose, and much face to gain, by going to the left on both of these issues. Even the outgoing Blue Dogs.<br /><br />The Senate now has the opportunity to reform the rules for the filibuster. They should.<br />And congress, either in the lame-duck session, or in the new session, needs to address the debacle of Citizens United. Because whether they wear a powdered wig or an “I’m With Reasonable” t-shirt, the voters are pissed as all hell at the way campaigns are financed.<br /><br />But whatever happens, I’m pretty sure by 2012, most voting Americans won’t remember who did what when. What they will care about is, whether or not they have a decently-paying job, and whether or not they have a home not in foreclosure. And I remain confident that the Obama administration, with or without a majority in congress, can make that happen.<br /><br />As maddening as the electroate’s ADD is to endure, I take comfort in knowing that today’s Wunderkinds will be tomorrow’s bums. And today’s wave will collapse tomorrow. But, even though we swing back and forth and back and forth like a carnival ride, we still move foreward in the long term.<br /><br />So I remain optimistic.<br /><br />I turn to National Treasure, Jon Stewart, to put it all in perspective.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/the-sanity-song-auto-tune_n_777050.html?ref=fb&src=sp"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/the-sanity-song-auto-tune_n_777050.html?ref=fb&src=sp</span></a><br /><span style="color:#ffcc00;"> </span>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-81561747379033275032010-10-31T22:14:00.003-04:002010-10-31T22:31:16.298-04:00Veni, Vidi, Voting<span style="color:#ffffff;">Hey all!<br />Gimlet Eyes just got back from the Rally To Restore Sanity in Washington, DC (did you see me? I was right in the middle! With a sign!) and now I’m fired up and ready to go.<br />First things first.<br />The rally was incredible. No, it wasn’t partisan. In fact, it really wasn’t political: Stewart didn’t even ask his attendees to vote, let alone to vote for a particular candidate or party. But it was not vague or unfocused. Stewart’s message was simple, beautiful, and smart: disagree with passion, but treat our fellow human beings with compassion. Think intelligently about political choices. And don’t believe everything in the media – particalarly the over-wrought, over-blown under-baked rhetoric.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">No, I don’t know how many people were there (though reliable estimates range from 200,000-250,000), but it was probably exactly eleventy billion. Gimelt Eyes gave up on taking the metro out of there, and restaurants from China Town to 9th St were jammed (waiting times of 2 hours and more) for hours after. But it was a beautiful day, the crowd was friendly and respectful, and I did manage to squeeze into a pub for some post-rally nosh and libation.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Was the rally the best 3 hours of Stewart’s and Colbert’s career? No. But it was often funny, sometimes charming, and always smart. (And the Peace Train/Crazy Train/Love Train battle was pure genius.)<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But what was the point of the rally? I think Arianna Huffington sumarized it brilliantly today on CNN’s Reliable Sources:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/31/rs.01.html"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1010/31/rs.01.html</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: Not at all. Because they [attendees who rode the HuffPo buses to the rally]wanted to have that sense of community and connection. And that was really what you observed all around the rally when you walked around. It wasn't just what was happening on stage, it was what was happening among people there.</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">And:</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: Oh, you can go on shows and disagree with Republicans, or disagree with Democrats. And I do both. The question is, is what you are saying based on fact?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Then, in a moment of unintentional serendipity, Howard Kurtz made Stewart’s point about the stupidity of the media for him with this exchange:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ: But let's be candid. I mean, Jon Stewart appeals to you because he comes at his comedy and satire and criticism from a liberal point of view. </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: Well, actually, if you watched his interview with the president, that was a tough interview. </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ: We're going to play that later, but most -- </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: But he exposed the Achilles heel of the president. That's not a cheerleader interviewing the president.</span><span style="color:#ff0000;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ: Well, now, but it was somebody -- he came off as a disappointed liberal. But let's leave that interview aside. When I see clips of "The Daily Show" on "The Huffington Post," it's often securing Republican targets. You like that. </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: Well, that's not at all actually what makes Jon Stewart special.</span><span style="color:#ff0000;"> What makes him and Colbert special is the fact that they use satire to speak truth to power. Whether that power is liberal, conservative, in the media, in politics, that's where the power comes from.</span> <span style="color:#ffffff;">And people will continue to see this sort of left- leaning show completely missing its appeal. </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ:</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">All right. I think I disagree with that.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Of course you do, Howard.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Ms Huffington also had this to say:<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON: However passionately you may express it, is it based on facts? That is really the key distinction that we need to make. And also, in the progress, are you disagreeing with your opponents or are you demonizing them? </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ: For you it's about the tone? </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON:</span><span style="color:#ff0000;"> For me it's about -- first of all, it's about facts. Is it factual? That's key.</span><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">KURTZ: Right, but conservatives who disagree with you certainly think they are being factual. </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">HUFFINGTON:</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">No. They can't possibly think they are being factual when they say that Barack Obama wasn't born here, or when they are saying that Barack Obama is taking us down a communist path. These clearly are not factual statements, and that is really the first distinction</span>.<br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I mean, really. There are facts, and there are flaming sacks of dog poop. Most of us can tell the </span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">difference. Why does Kurtz seem to find it so difficult?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Here’s an example:<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.politicususa.com/en/fox-union-stewart/comment-page-1#comment-36091"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.politicususa.com/en/fox-union-stewart/comment-page-1#comment-36091</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">“On Fox Business’ Varney and Company, Monica Crowley did her best to discredit the,Stewart/Colbert rally by claiming that union members were being bused in at gunpoint to the rally. She said,</span> <span style="color:#ff0000;">‘Well, but there are a lot of union members who are actually being bused in at gunpoint by their union leadership.’</span> <span style="color:#ffffff;">When Varney countered not at gunpoint, Crowley said, ‘In some cases yes at gunpoint.’”<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">What do you think? Facts? Or verbal flaming dog poop? Yeah. Flaming dog poop is pretty easy to spot.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Of course, Howard Kurtz wasn’t the only “news” person who really didn’t get it.<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/30/stewarts-rally-sanity-brings-urgency-chage/?test=latestnews"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/10/30/stewarts-rally-sanity-brings-urgency-chage/?test=latestnews</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Oh, Fox. Your skewed perspective is showing.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Fortunately, people noticed.</span> <br /><br /><a href="http://rescuetruth.com/media/fox-news-paints-stewart-colbert-rally-attendees-as-insane-potheads/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://rescuetruth.com/media/fox-news-paints-stewart-colbert-rally-attendees-as-insane-potheads/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">(But, wouldn’t you rather hang out with stoned hippies than foaming evangelicals anyway?)<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">So. Did the rally accomplish anything?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Let’s ask the twenty four-hour political pundit panic conflictinator:</span><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/10/30/masters-of-the-ambivalent/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/10/30/masters-of-the-ambivalent/</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/23749"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/23749</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/10/31/john-stewarts-rally-was-not-a-demonstration-of-moderation/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/10/31/john-stewarts-rally-was-not-a-demonstration-of-moderation/</span></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2272781/"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.slate.com/id/2272781/</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Or, read/watch this, and answer it yourself:<br /></span><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/video-and-transcript-of-jon-stewart-s-closing-speech-at-rally-to-restore-sanity"><span style="color:#ffcc00;">http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/video-and-transcript-of-jon-stewart-s-closing-speech-at-rally-to-restore-sanity</span></a><br /><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">My answer is an unequivical Yes.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">The rally restored my faith in America as a nation of basically decent, basically intelligent, basically reasonable people. Despite what the verbal flaming dog poop flingers would suggest.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Do I think Stewart’s rally will sway the election?<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">No. I get it, he was preaching to the choir. People who honestly believe Obama is a secret Muslim or a Nazi Communist will not suddenly vote Democractic in 2 days. And the crazies are more excited about voting than the rational people this time arounnd.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I don’t think the public is as TEA-bagger happy as the media would have us believe. And I don’t think there is going to be a “Republican revolution” come Wednesday. (But then, I didn’t believe the GOP was “finished” in 2008 either.) Yes, some very unfortunate candidates will win on Tuesday (Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, perhaps Pat Toomey or Sharron Angle), but in other places, people seem to be coming to their senses.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">I also keep the faith that, if the GOP manages to take control of the House - they won’t get the Senate - they will have to dial back their crazy no matter how many seats they win.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">But, I’m actually not convinced Tuesday is going to be GOP-victory bloodbath that the media keeps telling me it will be. I think the Democratic base is not as suicidal as the media insists they are. I think Independents are not as distractable as the media thinks. And I feel in my heart that people are more reasonable than the media gives them credit for.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">In any case, whether he meant to or not, Stewart’s rally inspired me. I’m excited to go to the polls on Tuesday. I’m fired up and ready to go. And I’ll be doing what I can in these final hours to convince my fellow voters to vote rationally. I’m betting there are some 200,000+ people like me who will do likewise.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Thank you, Jon Stewart.<br /></span><br /><span style="color:#ffffff;">Veni, Vidi, Voting.</span>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-37856607613861800332010-10-29T20:05:00.007-04:002010-10-30T03:02:35.876-04:00Dan Malloy scores first in Danbury<div class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jlVTH9kD-WE/TMthMP5H7JI/AAAAAAAABYw/SvyQARyuIAY/s1600/Photo-0081_e1-703190.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" height="480" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533623430207237266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_jlVTH9kD-WE/TMthMP5H7JI/AAAAAAAABYw/SvyQARyuIAY/s640/Photo-0081_e1-703190.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
Dan Malloy jumping off of the bench of the Danbury Whalers shortly after scoring the first goal in Whalers' history.<br />
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<b>[update]</b> I have an interview from after the game at TK's. Let me say, in advance, that he was a bit reluctunt to give it since I am a political blogger... But as a hockey fan I promised to make it about the real story: The first goal in Danbury Whalers' franchise history, his assist, and the team with no more mention about his family than "say hi to'em". The young man is a team player. (Saw ctblogger at the game, as well, and he had his cam rolling so he may have some footage to add to the game story).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-46602730186138060892010-10-28T18:44:00.000-04:002010-10-28T18:44:03.213-04:00Throwing a Real Tea PartyFunny or Die pretty much sums up <a href="http://discuss.epluribusmedia.net/content/if-tea-party-wins-america-loses-keith-olbermanns-special-target-message">what we are dealing with</a> when we talk about the Tea Party:<br />
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<object width="370" height="220" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.babelgum.com/embed/6003452"><param name="movie" value="http://www.babelgum.com/embed/6003452"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param><embed src="http://www.babelgum.com/embed/6003452" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" width="370" height="220"> </embed></object><br />
<br />
A slightly misogynist message (Probably a bit <em><strong>NSFW</strong></em>, too) to another aspect of the Tea Party that we have to deal with below...<br />
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<strong><em>Passed around on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_123506151035944&notif_t=group_activity#%21/photo.php?fbid=1565178542287&set=-.">Facebook</a>...</em></strong><br />
<div class="UIStoryAttachment" data-ft="{"type":"attach"}" id=""> <div class="UIStoryAttachment" data-ft="{"type":"attach"}" id=""> <div class="UIStoryAttachment_Media UIStoryAttachment_MediaSingle" data-ft="{"type":"media"}"> <div class="UIMediaItem UIMediaItem_Photo"> <a class="uiPhotoThumb UIMediaItem_Wrapper" href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1565178542287&set=-." target=""><img class="img" src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs136.snc4/37143_1565178542287_1620103606_1325605_6024241_s.jpg" style="height: 342px; width: 519px;" /></a></div></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Info "> <div class="UIStoryAttachment_Title"> <strong>Composer</strong></div><div class="UIStoryAttachment_Table"> <div> <strong><span class="UIStoryAttachment_Label">By:</span><span class="UIStoryAttachment_Value"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_123506151035944&notif_t=group_activity#%21/photo.php?fbid=1565178542287&set=-.">Ben Schmit</a></span></strong></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-8760593550249994802010-10-28T12:59:00.003-04:002010-10-29T12:27:39.550-04:00Reaganing - Even Liberals will Drink to This!For a little levity during this political season, watch the <em>30 Rock</em> episode titled "Reaganing." If you don't have access via on-demand, check it out:<br /><br />http://www.nbc.com/30-rock/video/reaganing/1255493\<br /><br />There are tons of laughs, but the jelly bean bit will make any politico crack up! Enjoy...CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-48031327461901843002010-10-19T17:49:00.004-04:002010-10-19T18:12:04.640-04:00rope-a-what?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Wow, our chattering class sure loves horse races, doesn't it?</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Even when there's not a pony in sight.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Guess what? Richard Blumenthal remains ahead of Linda McMahon! By about the same, comfortable but not Delaware-style oh-my-god-we-can't-possibly-pull-the-lever-for-the-crazy-lady-wide margin as he has enjoyed since the primary.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/forecasts/senate/connecticut</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Before you start telling me that McMahon "closed the gap!" with some colorful wrestling expression, stop. Of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">course</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> the race tightened after the primary. Richard Blumenthal, a well-respected long-serving attorney general against an unknown representative of a demoralized party still reeling from ass-handing defeats in 2006 and 2008, is a shoe-in. Richard Blumenthal running against an actual candidate, and one who both has a functioning intellect and cash to buy lots and lots of ads and mailers, is a bit tougher.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But it's not been the on-the-ropes chair-smashing slug-fest the media would have you believe. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Look at the chart. With the exception of one blip at the very end of September, the race has been steady-Freddy for the past two months.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Some CT voters (I'll go out on a limb here and call them "Republicans") prefer McMahon over a Democratic candidate. But, more CT voters (including a majority of independents) actually prefer the candidate they know over the candidate they don't know (who, despite all the junk mail and nasty swift-boating attempt, and really, really, really lame tv ad featuring 2 "housewives" in an SUV .... really doesn't seem to articulate much of a plan beyond "spending bad. tax breaks good.") Go figure.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">One reason why?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Maybe his ideas are actually better.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Check this out:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/newsreleases/articles/106874.php</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">shorter version:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFCC00;">http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/10/connecticut-s-corporate-tax-breaks-hinder-hiring.html</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Even shorter version:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Huh. Tax breaks on the wealthy don't create jobs.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Investing in infrastructure and education do.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Who'dathunkit?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I guess you can dress up old GOP ideas in a sparkly wrestling cape, but ... no one's going to mistake them for anything but a cheap distraction.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Now, just because Nate Silver thinks McMahon has about a 0.04% chance of (insert your own wrestling analogy for "win surprisingly" here), CT voters should not get complacent.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">There are some closer races that will hinge on Democratic (or at least, the "Sweet Mike, not the GOP again!") voter turnout.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This isn't the Kentucky Derby (if it were, I'd be praying to Aqua Buddha. Just to hedge bets.)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But it's not a done deal.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Vote. vote. vote. vote. vote. vote. vote. vote.</span></div>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-38125428682084774842010-09-30T22:26:00.006-04:002010-10-01T22:41:22.564-04:00How Wrong Can One Person Be?<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I know it’s exciting when someone new walks in and turns everyone’s heads. They’re mysterious. That’s sexy. And, if they can put words together into complete, grammatically correct sentences, they (by today’s standards) are brilliant.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So, suddenly, the known quantity of the person we’ve been with seems suddenly unbearably dull. And all their flaws become magnified to funhouse proportions. We’re prone to find fault with old reliable. We dream of dancing with the New Kid In Town.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But sooner or later, the New Kids reveal themselves to be complete jerks. What was once cool, suddenly seems mean. We realize that New Kid hasn’t been laughing with us, New Kid has been laughing at us. Or worse, we realize that seemed “cool” is actually, kinda dumb.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> It may sound like middle school, but that’s politics in America today. And Linda McMahon has been CT’s New Kid du jour. But guess what? Turns out that scrappy-business-woman-who-will-shake-things-up-in-Washington-and-go-to-the-mat-for-us-in-CT narrative isn’t really an accurate character portrayal. McMahon really, really, is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">far </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">more out of touch with “real people” in CT than she claims.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><a href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/mcmahon_doesnt_rule_out_reducing_minimum_wage/#cmt"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/mcmahon_doesnt_rule_out_reducing_minimum_wage/#cmt</span></a></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">McMahon was asked if she supported increasing the minimum wage. (This wasn’t a gotcha media question out of nowhere. She’d just received the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Business, who is decidedly anti-minimum-wage increases: </span><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.nfib.com/issues-elections/issues-elections-item?cmsid=240"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.nfib.com/issues-elections/issues-elections-item?cmsid=240</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">). She responded:</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p> <span style="font-family:ArialMT;color:#FF6600;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“What I think what we have to look at whenever we’re talking about minimum wage increases is where is our economy is at this particular point, and how’s that going to impact the businesses that are going to have to pay those wages?”</span></span><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">McMahon said.</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Yes. It must be really, really terrible to be paying out minimum wage to one’s workers. Really, if we wanted to help out mom-and-pop business owners (like McMahon and her hubby, who run a mom-and-pop small business themselves, dontcha know?), we’d indenture workers to them for 7 years.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Pressed further, McMahon admitted she did not know the current minimum wage or if anyone at World Wrestling Entertainment is earning that amount.”</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Oh. That’s probably why she needs to study it more, then. For the rest of us, who already know that the minimum wage is $8.25/hr in CT (and $7.25 from the feds), and who also know that the federal minimum wage recently rose after nearly a decade of remaining stuck at $6.55/hr, do we really need the review?</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Minimum wage is only the bottom rung (well, second bottom rung: don’t forget the many employees who earn </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">less</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> than minimum, and rely on tips to make up the difference. And Americans are lousy tippers.) of the pay-scale ladder. And it’s been clear to anyone who earns an hourly wage that our wages are not keeping up with our cost of living. By keeping the minimum wage down, wages all up the ladder stagnated. (Except at the tippy top. Where Linda McMahon sits.) Which is part of the reason we are in this nightmare recession to begin with.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">McMahon, however, doesn’t earn an hourly wage. She earns $46 million a year with her little mom-and-pop business. Now, much of that money is “bred”: it’s dividends and compound interest on investments and all kinds of other low-tax, non-work-related income that one can get when one has accumulated a huge pile of cash. If McMahon’s earnings were calculated hourly, assuming 50 work weeks a year –I’m giving her 2 weeks’ vacation like the rest of working stiffs– she’d be making $23,000 an hour.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Nice work if you can get it. Which, apparently, McMahon can, but she’d rather you and I ….. can’t.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Now, McMahon, sensing she’d maybe said something a little out-of-touch, quickly back-pedaled:</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); line-height: 21px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Don’t take away this morning that I’m saying that we should scrap minimum wage,” she said. “That is clearly not my position.”</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So, she’s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> for not increasing minimum wage? Or, she </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">was </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">for it, but </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">now</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> she’s against it? Or, she has no idea what it’s like to live on $14,500 a year ($16,500 in CT), but she </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">does</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> know that increasing the tax rates on people earning $250,00 + is just too much to be borne? Clearly, her position is entirely </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">un</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">clear. But, her sympathies </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">do</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> lie with the people who have to pay their workers.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Oh well, any rising star candidate can have one bad moment, right?</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Except, the more I hear from McMahon (and, honestly, I get so much junk mail from her campaign, I feel like I went to high school with her), the less I understand about her positions. </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Maybe you don’t know this, but immigration has become somewhat of a hot topic this election cycle (I know. Who knew?). Two important pieces of immigrant-related legislation were nearly voted on this week. (Except that the GOP voted to not vote on either one of them. Hasta la vista, baby!) Maybe you’ve heard that CT is home to a sizable population of immigrants?</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Well, it’s all news to McMahon!</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mcmahon_hits_fair_haven/"><span style="color:yellow;">http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/mcmahon_hits_fair_haven/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-language:EN-US;font-family:ArialMT;color:#FF6600;">“In an interview, she claimed ignorance of two issues of top concern for Latino advocates, especially in a city that has thousands of illegal immigrants: She said she is not familiar with the federal Dream Act, a federal bill that would have allowed “alien children” a path to citizenship. She also said she had not heard about the </span><span style="font-family:ArialMT;mso-bidi- mso-bidi-language:EN-USfont-family:ArialMT;color:#FF6600;"><a href="http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/06/city_id_plan_ap.php"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi- text-decoration:none;text-underline:nonefont-family:ArialMT;color:#FF6600;">New Haven’s municipal ID</span></a></span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-language:EN-US;font-family:ArialMT;color:#FF6600;">, which made national headlines when Mayor John DeStefano created it in 2007 for all residents, regardless of immigration status.”</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Awesome. It’s not like the legal status of American-born children of non-native-Americans will be of any consequence to CT, right? It’s not like issues of immigration and minimum wage are completely unrelated. Nor the idea of educating children of immigrants (legal or otherwise) won’t have an impact on our workforce, our economy, or </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">wages</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">!</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(Hmmm, maybe McMahon should ask her kindred spirit - another mom-and-pop-small-business owner! - and fellow office-seeker, Meg Whitman, about thorny issues of immigration and wages …</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/arrest_meg_whitman_housekeeper_says_conservative_i.php?ref=fpb"><span style="color:yellow;">http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/arrest_meg_whitman_housekeeper_says_conservative_i.php?ref=fpb</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">…. Maybe not.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Then there’s McMahon’s two-step cha-cha position on education:</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><a href="http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7758/mcmahon-campaign-shrugs-possible-tea-party-endorsement"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7758/mcmahon-campaign-shrugs-possible-tea-party-endorsement</span></a></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); ">“As a member of the state Board of Education, McMahon supported the state's application for federal Race to the Top funds, an education program that many in the Tea Party see as another federal intrusion into what should be the province of local and state government.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:#FF6600;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“But McMahon did tell [Freedomworks] she would consider voting to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, as well as the Department of Energy and, possibly, the Environmental Protection Agency.”</span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Or, maybe she didn’t!</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“McMahon's campaign says McMahon's position to the Tea Party was that she would have to study the issue, before deciding if she could support dismantling any federal agency.</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:#FF6600;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Except, there’s a</span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8UOy6ZKvso&feature=related"><span style="font-family:Georgia;color:yellow;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Video of her remarks</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> taken by an audience member, is available on YouTube.</span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The question comes at </span><st1:time minute="45" hour="16"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">4:45</span></st1:time><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">: “Can you name the top 2 or 3 federal agencies you would dismantle?”</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The answer is coy.</span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-mso-bidi-language:EN-US;font-family:Georgia;font-size:14.0pt;color:#FF6600;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"I'm not sure that I know an agency should be totally dismantled and done away with until I've had an opportunity to look at it more," she said. "Some that come to mind that I think would have a first look: one would be the Department of Education."</span>”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So, she won’t dismantle the DoE, until she’s looked at it. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Then</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> she’ll dismantle it.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I now have a headache in my right eye. This is political hair-splitting. Does McMahon ever state a clear policy position? For someone who has used her “political outsider” credentials a major line on her resume, she sure learned the argot of political double-speak pretty quick. (I should also add, she put the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency on the chopping block as well.)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Or her remarks on repealing health care reform (at about minute 2 in the same video): she thinks we need health care reform, but because there was “no bipartisanship” in the recent overhaul (which is true only in the sense that no Republicans voted for it. Because there are a lot of Republican </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">ideas</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> in HCR. But that’s another blog post), she wants to “repeal it” and “start over.” And probably end up with a bill that looks remarkably similar, but with less access to health care for the middle and working class. And more perks for the ultra-wealthy, like herself.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">That’s what really gets me. Here is a candidate who pretends to be “for the regular people.” But she’s really in it for people like </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">her</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">. Top earners. (And, of course, she then smears her opponent with her own flaws.)</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><a href="http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/09/watercress-or-baloney-linda-mc.html"><span style="color:yellow;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://blogs.courant.com/rick_green/2010/09/watercress-or-baloney-linda-mc.html</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here’s the rundown so far (based on her campaign website):</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Linda McMahon is </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">for</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">:</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">▪</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">tax reductions o<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">n </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_gains_tax_in_the_United_States"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">capital gains</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and dividends</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">▪</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">abolition of the </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">estate tax</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and the </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_tax_in_the_United_States"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">gift tax</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">▪</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">greater tax deductions to encourage savings for </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_Retirement_Account"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">IRAs</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and higher education</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">▪</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">passage of pending free trade agreements with </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_%E2%80%93_Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Colombia</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_%E2%80%93_United_States_Trade_Promotion_Agreement"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Panama</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, and </span></span><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Korea_%E2%80%93_United_States_Free_Trade_Agreement"><span style=" text-decoration: none; font-family:'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Korea</span></span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">All of which help to enrich the top earners, at the expense of bottom earners.</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">She’s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">against</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">:</span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">▪</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">the minimum wage (starve the worker, so the employer can make more)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">▪</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">health care reform (so her “independent contractor” wrestlers have even fewer options when the steroids they’ve used to stay employed melt their internal organs.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">▪</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">the stimulus (we should take all that money and “pay down our national debt.” So the jobless, and the soon-to-be-homeless can feel financially responsible, I guess.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:1.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">▪</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">“burdensome regulations” (want some eggs?)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination: none;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">All of which help to level the playing field for the middle and working class. (Once again, let me refer you to Senator Al Franken’s brilliant one-act play:</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Helvetica;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 0); "><a href="http://www.skeptically.org/curpol/id24.html"><span style="color:yellow;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://www.skeptically.org/curpol/id24.html</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Because sometimes, you need Helen Hunt and Drew Barrymore to explain regressive tax policy.)</span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">She’s also, apparently, against the Department of Education, for reasons I can’t begin to guess. </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:1.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination: none;tab-stops:11.0pt .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">On top of it, she doesn’t even bother to </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">know</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> the details of things that concern “regular people”. Like what the minimum wage actually is. Or what the DREAM act might mean to cities like New Haven. But then, we should recognize this character trait by now. Look at how hard she and her husband worked to make sure they were enriched at their wrestlers’ expense! (Insert your own links here. There are many. Just don’t go to that vapid ad with the 2 soccer moms jabbering about “soap opera.”)</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Color me unimpressed with Linda McMahon. She’s wrapped up Reaganomics talking points in wrestling tights and cape, but she’s no more compassionate about the actual plight of actual constituents than any other Beltway bloodsucker. And she’s willfully ignorant on issues that do not intersect with her rarified world of the very, very rich. </span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">While certainly more polished(and less whackadoo) then, say, Sarah Palin or Christine O’Donnell, under the surfaces, she’s cut from the same “Me first! Screw you!” cloth.</span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Cool? Nope. Smart? Not in my book. Senatorial? Let’s hope not.</span><span style="mso-bidi-mso-bidi-mso-bidi-language:EN-US;font-family:Georgia;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">UPDATE:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here's what McMahon's opponent did today:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2010/10/connecticut_halts_all_foreclos.html</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Which will certainly come as a relief to many CT homeowners. (I've been wondering: if McMahon is really so concerned about her potential constituents, why doesn't she dole out $25 million in mortgage relief to CT homeowners unemployed from the Great Recession? How many houses would $25m save from the bank auction? And how would keeping these people in their homes positively impact the CT economy? Linda? Call me!) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">UPDATE 2:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The hits keep coming. (This is where being a shut-in on a Friday night pays off. Who else saw Rachel Maddow tonight?)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003745379</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">When asked by an audience member at a TEA-bagger event, if she'd ever lobbied congress: </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">"McMahon then acknowledged having made campaign contributions to both parties. But “in terms of lobbying dollars in Washington, I have not spent lobbying dollars in Washington,” she said. "</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Too bad she's, um, lying.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">"Between 2001 and 2008, McMahon’s company paid at least $680,000 to lobby Congress and federal agencies over such issues as the defense authorization bills of 2002 and 2003, which included taxpayer-funded advertising programs during wrestling programs. McMahon’s company also sought lobbying help during a Congressional steroids investigation.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Yeah. Lying. Pants-on-fire lying. </span> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But this is my favorite part:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">"The McMahon campaign dismissed the issue as a simple matter of imprecise language and defended the lobbying payments."</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I'm guessing she left herself some wiggle-room with the sentence,</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">"</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(255, 0, 0); ">I have not spent lobbying dollars in Washington." </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">She probably </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">wasn't</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> "in Washington" when she made those lobbying payments. She was probably on the phone, credit card in hand, in CT. Or, she sent a flunky to DC with the check while she was on vacation. Or, maybe, she </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">was</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> in the District of Columbia, but </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> in Washington State. See? It's all a big misunderstanding!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">So. Tell me again how Linda McMahon is an "outsider" offering us something "new?"</span></span></span></p>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-2483731885735295872010-09-29T22:23:00.004-04:002010-10-04T09:15:01.585-04:00salary salads<p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here’s some interesting news about salaries, concessions, and taxes.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">New Milford</span></span></span></span></st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> teachers and the Board of Ed have peacefully renegotiated teacher contracts for the 2011-2012 year.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-teachers-agree-to-no-pay-increases-676941.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-teachers-agree-to-no-pay-increases-676941.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-school-board-approves-settlement-that-672086.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-school-board-approves-settlement-that-672086.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It’s pretty frugal:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The contract will freeze teacher pay for the next year. $0 raises. 0% step increases. $0 in longevity pay. $0 extra dollars for extracurricular service. Whatever a teacher is making this year, they make next year (if they are still working at all).</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Additionally, teachers will also pay a little more out of pocket (in the form of co-pay increases) for medical care.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(Oddly, not everyone is thrilled by this. Bill Wellman and Nancy LaTour of the BoE, wanting more concessions, voted against the contracts.)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Compare this with the last contracts, in the halcyon days of pre-crash 2008:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/New-Milford-teachers-accept-salary-insurance-229754.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/New-Milford-teachers-accept-salary-insurance-229754.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">when teachers’ salaries increased, on average, 3.4%.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(And Bill Wellman thought this was “excellent.”)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Let’s say this again, slowly.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">New Milford</span></span></span></span></st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> teachers have agreed to flat salaries, and increased medical costs, for the next year. Tax payers aren’t being asked for a single dime over last year.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This seems fair, given the current state of the economy. If anyone still remembers last spring, and the budget battle, many, many people criticized teachers for “squeezing” tax payers (by not granting salary concessions mid-contract).</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Some people even thought the budget meetings required defibrillators:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/New-Milford-council-member-s-e-mail-stirs-school-391948.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/New-Milford-council-member-s-e-mail-stirs-school-391948.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">At the same time, the Town-side employees were repeatedly praised for nobly sacrificing raises and benefits increases out of compassion for the struggling tax payers.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(Which is a tad disingenuous. Given that the NM Police contract expired in 2008, and the new contract was finally settled in arbitration this year - which I cost tax payers how much? - the salary picture, at least for the police, seems a bit more complex than certain members of the Town Council would have us believe.)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/New-Milford-police-contract-talks-in-negotiation-296805.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/New-Milford-police-contract-talks-in-negotiation-296805.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/local/article/Town-police-union-struggle-with-contract-329720.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/local/article/Town-police-union-struggle-with-contract-329720.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Arbitration-ruling-on-New-Milford-police-contract-542925.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/default/article/Arbitration-ruling-on-New-Milford-police-contract-542925.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(That’s not knocking the police. Their work is hard and dangerous. That our police force has done so for 2 years under an expired contract is shameful, but it’s not the police force I’m ashamed of.) </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Well. Anyway. That was spring.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">What’s happening on the Town side this fall?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/New-Milford-Town-Council-approves-raises-658218.php</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Huh. Looks like every non-union employee on the town side just got a 2% raise.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Retroactive to July 2010.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">In the budget that was trumpeted as containing 0 salary increases.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Come again?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Yeah.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The Town Council, after slapping everyone involved with education silly last spring, just undercut their own argument.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Ummm … wha?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Where is money coming from?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Didn’t Roger Szendy tell us that the cupboard was bare, the well was dry, and, if money were toilet paper, there wasn’t a square to spare? (He did.)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2010/05/28/news/new_milford/doc4bffdc9a7d538284048885.txt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2010/05/28/news/new_milford/doc4bffdc9a7d538284048885.txt</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Which is kind of funny, when you remember things like this):</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2009/10/02/top_stories/20375189.txt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2009/10/02/top_stories/20375189.txt</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But, apparently, cupboards are not as bare as all that:</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://170.163.202.12/weblink7/DocView.aspx?id=76408"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://170.163.202.12/weblink7/DocView.aspx?id=76408</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">“Mayor Murphy stated the money for the non union personnel wage adjustments will be coming out of the contingency line and out of the Fringe Account.”</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Say What?!</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The contingency line and the Fringe Account?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Pardon me, but: </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Didn’t the Board of Ed get raked over the coals by Paul Szymanski for transferring money form different columns of the school budget? (Oh, yes, he did. He had a facebook page and a website and huge, honking billboards telling everyone with eyeballs just how awful, dirty, shameful, carnie-huckster that kind of transfer is!)</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-2010-11-town-and-school-budget-490234.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newstimes.com/local/article/New-Milford-2010-11-town-and-school-budget-490234.php</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><a href="http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/Calls-Board-of-Education-to-task-for-lack-of-594466.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.newmilfordspectrum.com/default/article/Calls-Board-of-Education-to-task-for-lack-of-594466.php</span></span></span></a></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> So, why is it ok for the town to make these kinds of transfers? What’s the difference? It was the Mayor’s idea, so it’s ok? </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0in" start="2" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Is a salary increase truly a “contingency” expense? (It’s not in my household.) What happens next year, when it’s budget time again, and the revenue side has not improved (as Roger Szendy keeps telling us. His message is “Be afraid. Be very afraid” about future budgets.)? Will the Town Council raid the contingency line again to keep those salaries where they are? Or will they yank that 2% (or more) back from the non-union employees?</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I don’t deny that town employees deserve the increase. I don’t deny the good work done by town employees. So don’t start. That’s not the point.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The point is, there seems to be one set of standards the BoE is expected to follow, or beware the wrath of billboards. And there is another set of standards the TC is allowed to follow. Especially between budget seasons.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Because there’s no way the average tax payer is keeping their eye on this ball. I’m sure next budget season, we’ll hear the same garbage from the same cranks about how teachers are greedy, the BoE is can’t handle money, and </span></span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">no one</span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> will note that teachers and the BoE held the line on salaries, while the Mayor and TC basically used the vacation credit card to pay the mortgage.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It’s all perfectly legal.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But it sure ain’t fair. Not to the taxpayers, who were sold a story about financially responsible town officials and greedy educators. Not to the BoE members, who were vilified for “underhanded” processes that are, apparently, totally cool for the TC. And not to the school and town employees, who are clearly being treated as “good kid/bad kid” in a tragically dysfunctional family.</span> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p></p>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-43712447957426299862010-09-20T21:58:00.003-04:002010-09-20T22:05:45.698-04:00Restoring America’s Awesomeness (Through Truthiness)<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Say what you will about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but they are perhaps the smartest journalists working in comedy, or the most soulful comedians working in journalism. Yes, they are wickedly funny. Yes, they make sometimes jokes best appreciated by a fourteen year-old boy. But Jesus H. Christ, some days they are all that keeps me from sticking my head in the oven.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">There are many, many reasons to sport a Stewart/Colbert 2012 bumper sticker. My favorite moments include:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Jon Stewart channeling </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">America</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">’s fear, pain, and still reminding us of our unquashable optimism on </span></span><st1:date year="2001" day="20" month="9"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">September 20, 2001</span></span></st1:date><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><a href="http://faisal.com/a/2010/09/20/1-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-9202001"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://faisal.com/a/2010/09/20/1-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-9202001</span></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Stephen Colbert speaking truth to power, the president, and the White House press corps.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879#</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Jon Stewart calling out Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson on the ill-fated “Crossroads.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF66;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Stephen Colbert taking Debra Dickerson - and all others who thought candidate Obama might not be black enough (wow. who knew we’d long for those days?) –down a peg.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/81955/february-08-2007/debra-dickerson"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/81955/february-08-2007/debra-dickerson</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Jon Stewart single-handedly ending Betsy McCaughey’s career as a “death panel” fear-monger.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/video-jon-stewart-slams-betsy-mccaughey-on-alleged-death-panels-from-page-425-hr-3200"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/video-jon-stewart-slams-betsy-mccaughey-on-alleged-death-panels-from-page-425-hr-3200</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Stephen Colbert, in a desert cammo suit and tie, shaving his head in solidarity with our troops in </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Iraq</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.25in"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/229768/june-08-2009/obama-orders-stephen-s-haircut---ray-odierno</span></span></span></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I could go on and on and on. But.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I now have an all-time Stewart/Colbert moment.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Last week, after much hype, and a plucky fan-boy facebook page, the satiric geniuses announced plans to host ….. a march on </span></span><st1:state><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Washington</span></span></st1:place></st1:state><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/stewart-colbert-rally-to-restore-sanity_n_720588.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/stewart-colbert-rally-to-restore-sanity_n_720588.html</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">How flippin’ awesome is that?!?!?!?! (Immeasurably awesome. That’s how.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Why? Let me count the ways:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">They will attract a sizeable crowd. And the crowd will be energetic, replete with sardonic signs, and possibly drunk. They will also be more racially diverse, and younger, than any TEA Party crowd. Will they be bigger than the 9/12 rally, or Glenn Beck’s self-love fest to “Restore America’s Honor”? Well, no one will know for sure. Partially because there is no official crowd estimate of those rallies, and because Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann can’t count to twenty-one while clothed. (“Don’t tell me there were less than a million people here!” “No, 3 million!” No, dear. Eleventy brazillion people. At least. Or ….. maybe just 80 to 90 thousand. But who’s counting?) So Stewbert can make up any number they want. (I vote for eleventy brazillion and one).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">As satire, Stewbert will get to play their comedy central personas to the hilt. Stewart will, I’m sure, bring his chalkboard and suede elbow-patched blazer for a hilarious parody of Glenn Beck. Colbert will undoubtedly out-Fox the Fox network in truthy lies told with phony emotion. In any case, any Fox-funded political rally to follow this one, will be anti-climactic, at best. There is no power like that of the gifted satirist, and Stewbert are (is?) perhaps the best of a generation. Once you’ve been pantsed by the jester laureates, you’ve jumped the shark. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Even though Stewbert will swear this in a non-political event (I don’t expect guest appearances from actual politicians or pundits), but rather a parody of a non-political political event, this will have a “get out the vote” effect. The rally is happening 3 days before the midterms. It just might wake up the disengaged voters on the left. If this event can show </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">America</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> that the Emperor Has No Clothes (er, the TEA Party has no solutions), sanity might just be restored before the GOP fringe takes over congress.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Lest you think I’m a deranged fan who really, really needs to get out of their parents’ basement and kiss a girl, I’m not alone in my admiration:</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42447.html</span></span></span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Clearly, the boys from Comedy Central are a sleeper cell, at least in the minds of the truly crazy:</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:7.0pt; font-family:Tahoma;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Tahoma; "><a href="http://www.politicususa.com/en/beck-colbert-stewart"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;">http://www.politicususa.com/en/beck-colbert-stewart</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF33;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: Tahoma; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Let’s hope, Glenn!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Stewart and Colbert really, really don’t care how anyone votes on November 2. They just want you to </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">think</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> about who you’re voting for and why. Stewbert aren’t partisan hacks. (THe left, from Bill Clinton to Barak Obama, have been on the receiving end of the jester scepter). They don’t blindly worship Democrats, nor blindly condemn Republicans. They ruthlessly mock stupidity and hypocrisy. Sadly, there’s plenty of that to go round on both sides of the aisle.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are satirists of the highest order, as soulful as they are smart; and for much of the last decade, they have been the keepers of </span></span><st1:country-region><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">America</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">’s sanity. Whether the Rally to Restore Sanity/Keep Fear Alive attracts 50,000 or 500,000 attendees, whether it changes the midterm election results, or simply hastens sunset the misguided TEA Bagger experiment, it will have a positive impact on political discourse in this country. And for that, they deserve a medal.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-33027694142706413802010-09-15T23:12:00.005-04:002010-09-15T23:26:35.418-04:00Warren FTW<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">I have been geeking out over yesterday’s big primaries, and the ensuing act of Republican cannibalism that really, really belongs in one of Linda McMahon’s WWE Smackdowns. (I mean seriously: who doesn’t want to see Sarah Palin kick Karl Rove in the crotch, followed up by Rush Limbaugh taking a bite out of Rove’s ear? Meanwhile, Christine Crazy-pants O’Donnell enters wearing nothing by a floor-length cape made of tea-bags, shrieking, “Stop masturbating and put on your man-pants!”) I’ll go pop more popcorn.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But then I heard even more exciting news: President Obama has tapped Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And he did it with all the panache of Wesley as the Dread Pirate Roberts in </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The Princess Bride</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/business/16consumer.html?src=busln"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/business/16consumer.html?src=busln</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.veoh.com/collection/s274425/watch/e107370y6p2Dpwx"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.veoh.com/collection/s274425/watch/e107370y6p2Dpwx</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Can you see the connection? No? Let me explain. No, there is no time. Let me sum up.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here’s the deal: everyone sane and to the left of Richard Nixon wanted the brilliant, the steely-spined, the unflappable, and unimpeachable Elizabeth Warren, in this job. (Except Chris Dodd. WTF, Dodd?) Obama wanted </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Warren</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> in this job. But …. The 40 Republicans (plus Dodd) in the Senate - and their evil, economy-torpedoing, bank-executive soul keepers - did </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> want </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Warren</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> in this job. So, Obama had a few crappy choices:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Nominate Elizabeth Warren, and watch an ugly, protracted confirmation hearing process, which could very well end in her </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">not</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> getting confirmed. (And, as the lovely and talented Rachel Maddow just pointed out, </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Warren</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> would have to provide vapid non-answers to her congressional questioners, which would make her appear to be other than the ass-kicking, name-taking, populist paladin that she is.) Even if the GOP weren’t beholden to their bank-exec orc overlords, they couldn’t be seen to compromise with Obama this close to an election. Because they must appease the tea-bagger fringe. Who don’t like getting ripped off, or big government, and really, really don’t like a government agency that would prevent them form getting ripped off. Oh, Tea-baggers. You are a riddle wrapped in crazy, drowned in a teabag.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> Not nominate Elizabeth Warren, and have his entire base (you know, the Progressives, who got him this President gig) break up with him and write mean facebook posts about him for the next two years.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Name Warren in a recess appointment, like this summer, when no one sane is paying attention, but everyone crazy seizes on the tiniest morsel of news and twists it out of shape. (Cue the Elizabeth Warren Hitler posters). And give the GOP another thing to complain about: “Obama’s doing things behind our back! And it’s probably socialist! And fascist! And French and gay!”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But, no. Obama chose the jedi ju-jiitsu move instead: wait until congress is back in session. Wait until the last big primary day passes, when a few GOP-establishment candidates are ousted by wild-eyed fringe candidates (have you met Mr. Paladino?</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:7.0pt;color:black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20016461-503544.html</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">), and the entire news cycle realizes that the GOP might be in disarray (ya think?!). Then.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Name </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Warren</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> to a temporary “Assistant to the President” post, where her duties will include creating and running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">“But, that’s not the same as a real appointment! That’s just a symbolic gesture!” Oh, no, my dears.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Here’s the beauty of it:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The “Special Assistant” position is no Miss Congeniality prize. You know who else is a “Special Assistant” in the White House? (Hint: it’s not Bo.) Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel. </span></span><st1:city><st1:place><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Warren</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> answers directly to the President and to the Treasury Secretary. And everyone else answers to her.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">She can start immediately, without waiting for Congress make an ass of themselves. I’m going to assume, since the whole agency was her idea, and she’s been talking about it since the financial debacle of 2008, she’s got a rough outline of what she wants to do with her time. Which means she can start </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">doing things</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> between now and the election.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This will make the left base very, very, happy. Which might make them less inclined to stay home on the first Tuesday in November.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Oh. We might get some meaningful banking regulation in our lifetime.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Obama can (and likely will) make her appointment the old-fashioned way, with the ridiculous confirmation hearings, at a later time of his choosing. Like, after the midterms. And after she’s kicked some ass. Which should make her confirmation hearings go more smoothly (and make them more fun to watch.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">But wait, there’s more!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">It seems that this bit of Venusian Akido (hmmm. Is that spelled right? My spell-check is about to implode.) isn’t the only bone President Obama is throwing to his base (you know, the sane people in the country).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">No! Look at what Obama has been saying about the Bush-era tax-breaks!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/06/obama-promotes-job-creati_n_706652.html</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/15/obama.economic.relief/</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39203810/ns/politics-decision_2010</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Look what’s been happening with immigration reform!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Obama-slams-Republican-blockade-on-immigration/articleshow/6563535.cms"><span style="color:yellow;">http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/Obama-slams-Republican-blockade-on-immigration/articleshow/6563535.cms</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/09/gutierrez_meeting_with_obama_t.html"><span style="color:yellow;">http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/09/gutierrez_meeting_with_obama_t.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.poder360.com/dailynews_detail.php?blurbid=9044"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.poder360.com/dailynews_detail.php?blurbid=9044</span></a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:7.0pt;color:yellow;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">People!</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">This is three-dimensional chess!</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">A three-dimensional chess hat trick!</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">At the galactic championship of three-dimensional chess!</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">(Look, I watched a lot of movies and sci-fi this summer.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Sue me.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Finally, Pre</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">sident Obama is doing something! I mean, besides the landmark health care reform, the watershed banking reform, the fair-pay acts, the pants-ing of BP for peeing in our Gulf, and the nomination of 2 terrific Supreme Court Justices. And, oh yeah, lowering your federal taxes last year, plus winding a senseless 8-year war in Iraq, and pulling the economy back from the abyss, preventing a second Great Depression. All of this with an obstructionist opposition so hell-bent on doing nothing helpful whatsoever, they voted against bills they themselves had written.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Somewhere over the summer, President Obama found his progressive self, gave him some Red Bull, and sent him out to fight. He put Mr. Bipartisan Compromise in deep storage. And he’s insisting that the Democratic congresspersons (as a certain tea-party candidate would say) “put on their man pants” with him and pass some serious legislation before the midterms. (For other awesome things this certain tea-partier has said, here: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFF00;">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/15/christine-odonnell-craziest-quotes_n_718328.html</span>)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">There's even some movement on (ok, ok, I admit, Obama is still dragging his feet on this one, but the Democratic congress seems to be finding its spine) finally repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;font-size:7.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/national-news/2102-big-victory-judge-strikes-down-dadt.html"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/national-news/2102-big-victory-judge-strikes-down-dadt.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:yellow;"><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/10/advocates-of-dadt-say-ruling-should-spur-senate-to-act.html"><span style="color:yellow;">http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/10/advocates-of-dadt-say-ruling-should-spur-senate-to-act.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The next few weeks should be telling. Watch how the Republicans, who currently gave their man-pants to a bunch of fruit loops wearing powdered wigs and knee-breeches, react to these issues. And ask yourself: should we cede more ground to these jack-holes?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Democratic base (and sane independents): consider this your wake-up call. Elizabeth Warren isn’t a bone thrown to the liberal fringe. She’s a warning shot across the Tea-Bagger’s and GOP’s bow.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">The polling booths await.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;">Fire up. Get ready to go.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FFFFFF;"> </span></o:p></span></p>gimlet eyeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09438847240799973741noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12355458.post-80138408961246570502010-08-27T12:15:00.002-04:002010-08-27T12:15:00.051-04:00Choosing a New Police Chief: No Local Ties, Please.Do you want your town to look like <em>The Dukes of Hazzard</em>? Then again, maybe New Milford has been run by Boss Hogg and Roscoe P. Coltrane for a while. If that's not your idea of how a quaint New England town should be run, then help make sure the next police chief has no local ties - political or familial.<br /><br />The next police chief should be the most qualified candidate, period. <strong>Local knowledge and local ties should factor zero into this hiring decision.</strong> Promoting from within the department is fine, but with 57 people applying for the job, I'd bet some highly qualified out-of-town candidates were on that list.<br /><br />The recent rash of retirements have significantly affected the leadership of the New Milford Police Department. Seven (7) officers left the force, including the chief and three in the administrative ranks. Without going into the details as to "why" (i.e. retirement benefits will be reduced with the new union contract), the retirements now bring the politicos into the arena of police power. And that's where the trouble can begin.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRX4mlFi06A">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRX4mlFi06A</a><br /><br />According to the Town Charter, the Mayor appoints (with TC approval) a chief for a term "not to exceed four years." They can then reappoint the chief for successive terms. Then it's the Chief that can pick the rest of his leadership team.<br /><br />Some politicos in town are already whispering about those losing connections to the top brass of the NMPD. Here's why Roscoe and Boss Hogg comparisons have started popping up:<br /><ul><li>A key member of the retiring top brass has a "long term relationship" with a family member of a leading local businessman/politico</li><li>This local businessman/politico is often seen with "R" town council members</li><li>One of these "R" town council members is the only TC member to ask for a committee to search for the next police chief. Even though the Mayor had already started a search process (using an outside consultant), this TC member remained obstinate about wanting a committee</li></ul><p>Why would this TC member be so insistent about a committee - unless he and his politico pal didn't want an outside consultant to bring in an outsider? Is all of this a coincidence? I'll let you decide - place a comment below.</p>Can you guess who the TC member is? Put your guess in a comment (if you do your homework, you can find the answer in less time than it takes a politico to drive home from Milano's).<br /><br />With all of the current co-mingling of business, political, and personal lives, it's almost like <em>The Dukes of Hazzard</em>. In fact, there is a replica of the General Lee in New Milford - it even has the confederate flag painted on the roof. But I've never seen Bo or Luke Duke behind the wheel. Break out the moonshine, boys!<br /><br />To ensure "NM politics as usual" don't become part of the future police department leadership, tell the Mayor and TC members that the new chief should not be connected to anyone in New Milford. Not connected to a politico, a builder, a blogger, Grandma or Uncle Jesse. If a candidate is chosen who has local ties, ask the tough question: <strong>WHY is this the BEST person for the job?</strong> If the politicos can't tell you, then you know they've picked Roscoe P. Coltrane.<br /><br />If you don't think hiring a new chief is significant, then you've never been pulled over for a traffic ticket, arrested, or helped from a dangerous situation by a police officer. In other words, the powers of the police are very significant. These powers shouldn't be granted to a friend or relative of the local cabal.CT Fair and Balancedhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08647556236252348070noreply@blogger.com2