Equal Rights to Marriage: Far Right Wingnut Editon

This is a bit about Equal Rights, Civil Rights and, more importantly, knowing your wingnut opposition, and who they chose to associate and share political tactics with. (Please bear with me if it seems to meander a little! CM1)

Via tparty at My Left Nutmeg:

"The Courant's editorial page endorses marriage equality

The debate over legalizing gay marriage is as raucous as the reaction to civil unions has been quiet. The recent Judiciary Committee hearing overflowed even the overflow room at the Legislative Office Building. Bloggers and protesters are loudly weighing in on the rights and wrongs of same-sex marriage.

Why push the question? Connecticut has lived with civil unions for a year and a half in utter peace and quiet. Many couples are happy and secure, with virtually all the rights of traditional marriage that the state can confer.

But not happy enough. Gay couples want the real thing. They deserve marriage and the full panoply of legal privileges that accompany it.."

If you want to see what CT politicians and concerned citizens had to say about all of this, ctblogger has a pretty complete look at the hearing they had last week.

Marriage Equality video highlights

And ctblogger has an important sidenote reminding us all what we are up against on almost every issue:

Sidenote

Question: How are [Maggie] Gallagher and conservative lapdog Armstrong Williams related?

Answer: They were both bought and paid for by the Bush Administration.

Maggie Gallagher is actually notorious. Back in the 2005, her and Armstrong Williams (and others) were found to have received money from the Bush administration while claiming to be independent reporters.

It really doesn't matter what the issue is. The incompetent and lying bush administration has no problems with buying propaganda to slip into our News Media everywhere. Add to that, they couple this bought'n'paid-for media PROPAGANDA pressure with co-ordianted efforts at portraying "ground swell support" with front groups in local areas.

The biggest naysayer, bordering on gay bashing, concerning Equal Rights in Marriage in Connecticut is the small and little read FIC Blog, that is associated with the far right wingnut Heritage think tank, which is little more than a bush cheerleading squad, and where any criticism of bush and his policies is a firing offense:

Last month (ed note: First posted on August 7, 2006. CM1) the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, fired John Hulsman. Heritage refuses to say exactly why they let him go, but the New Republic reports the “reasons for Hulsman’s departure” are “perfectly evident”; he criticized the Bush administration’s foreign policy. Hulsman previously had kept his dissent to himself, but “years of insurgency, civil war, and general chaos” in Iraq led him to speak out.

In an essay last year for The National Interest, Hulsman took issue with Bush’s policy in Iraq:

[N]eoconservatives, through their policies of expending blood and treasure for problematic gains such as Iraq, are significantly retarding America’s ability to act against the true barbarians at the gate - Al-Qaeda and Islamist extremists.

And Hulsman criticized the Bush administration’s refusal to talk to regimes it dislikes, specifically Iran:

America, on the other hand, having determined the mullahs in Iran were evil, disdained to engage them. But we cannot only conduct diplomatic relations with Canada; I have always naively thought a major reason for diplomacy was talking to those one didn’t agree with, in an effort to modify their behavior to suit one’s own national interests.

These critiques may seem mild, but as Chris Preble of the Cato Institute explains: “At Heritage, anything that smacks of criticism of Bush will not be tolerated.”

Have a thought that is counterproductive to the neocon agenda and you lose your job at Heritage. That is some quality thinking that Brian and the FIC Blog choses to associate themselves with. Low quality thinking, and kool-aide drinking. The far right skewered Heritage Foundation lists Brian and the FIC as a resource for their far tight wingnut agenda on a couple of issues: Education (much like right wing fanatics across the country, FIC wants to kill the public education system in favor of privatization... See Iraq and Katrina for inevitable results of privatization of our school systems) and, of course, Marriage.

Some of FIC's funding seems to come from sources that finance Heritage and a littany of other far right wingnut organizations. (You can research that one on your own, just know that it is true and would likely take another whole post to dig.) I wonder what would happen to bush poodles like Brian if they actually turned on bush policies? Would the funding for FIC Blog dry up?

FIC's sitemeter proves that his Blog is not read very much by Connecticut residents, so I doubt they are paying his bills. And unless the CT's left Blogosphere links to him, which is why, likely, he tries to pick little arguments with us all the time, he gets little traffic from nutmeggers. (You can see his traffic at sitemeter, and we have already proven this point, much to Brian and the FIC's chagrin)

So... Whomelse is the FIC associated with? People like this:

Jeffrey Satinover:

In cooperation with the Heritage Foundation and under the auspices of the ICQA, Dr. Satinover is overseeing the development of a fully crooss-linked international database of medical, social science and legal citations with associated metanalyses and aggegrated data tables. The purpose of the database is assist concerned scholars, attorneys, social scientists, policy analysts and citizens worldwide in addressing the nearly-universal problem of the embedding in legal documents of gross distortions (or even wholesale inventions) of social science conclusions to make ideologically-driven alterations in public policy appear rationally based.

He speaks widely to both public and professional audiences and is the author of numerous articles, chapters and books on topics ranging from brain neurophysiology to the psychology of narcissism to the breakdown of modern society. Dr. Satinover is a trustee of the Family Institute of Connecticut and on the Board of Directors of Toward Tradition. He serves on the scientific advisory board to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality and is a former medical advisor to Focus on the Family,

and:

Kenneth Von Kohorn

Kenneth Von Kohorn is the founder and president of Von Kohorn Research and Advisory, an investment advisory firm located in Westport. He is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. In addition to serving on the Yankee board, Kenneth also serves as chairman of the board of the Family Institute of Connecticut and as a board member of the Institute for American Values and of Toward Tradition.

Now, we all know pretty much about Focus on the Family, and we are also familiar with the Heritage Foundation's fanatacism, but it seems that FIC has a link to "Toward Tradition" as well as Heritage:

Toward Tradition is a non-profit (501.c.3), educational organization working to advance our nation toward the traditional Judeo-Christian values that defined America’s creation and became the blueprint for her greatness. We believe that only a new alliance of concerned citizens can re-identify and dramatically strengthen the core values necessary for America to maintain that greatness and moral leadership. These values are: faith-based American principles of constitutional and limited government; the rule of law; representative democracy; free markets; a strong military; and, a moral public culture.

Objectives:
Using both classic and contemporary tools of persuasion, Toward Tradition promotes these positive traditional values while opposing the negative forces of “secular fundamentalism” and anti-religion bigotry. In his best-selling book of the same name, Rabbi Lapin labeled this mission “America’s Real War”

Concerned Jews share this objective with many evangelical and conservative Christians. Working together, they focus on our common cultural, moral, and political goals. The corollary benefit of this alliance is that the majority gentile culture sees that American Jews are not monolithically liberal, and that many of the “progressive” forces in this country are advocating positions that are in fact abhorrent to traditional Judaism.

Just another group hellbent on portraying bush policies as the rightous way and Liberalism as "abhorrent to traditional Judaism." Sounds like he is soft peddling the "anti-semite" label on us, doesn't it? And obviously, against Jews as well:

Why So Many Jews Are Liberal
As a visible, politically conservative rabbi, whose conservatism flows inevitably and directly from his Judaism, I endure a never-ending barrage of attacks. I don’t much mind them as they remind me of my mission—standing astride America’s secular path to decline, decadence, and depravity, but I do feel sorry for the pain these assaults cause my family. Especially so since most of these attacks come from other Jews; indignant Jews outraged by a rabbi who does not subscribe to the principles of liberalism.

Yes... The Liberals, and especially the Jewish Liberals that attack you the most, the one's that are "standing astride America’s secular path to decline, decadence, and depravity" are the cause of all your problems and you are the victim, constantly being attacked by everyone.

Do any of you wingnuts ever stop to think that this barrage comes at you from everywhere because of the load of crap that you spew daily?

In the same way that the rabbi is couching "anti-semitism" (IMHO) in his soft peddling of radical views, the FIC is soft peddling their bigotry against gay and lesbians in their war against Equal Rights in Marriage and couching it in their extremist views of religion and politics. We aren't buying. None of us in CT are buying it.

In other words: If you don't want your FIC Blog to remain in the miniscule minority of the Connecticut Blogosphere Brian:

Stop being such fringe-thinking far right wingnuts. OK? And stop soft peddling a bigoted agenda against Marriage Equality.

I said you would have problems with the Marines CPL Matt Sanchez

I just never thought it would be this much trouble...

Just a little refresher on CPL Matt Sanchez from an earlier post of mine for those of you that don't remember:

----------

What's the problem CPL Matt Sanchez?

"Wow, who knew a little award and a couple of pictures would get me all this attention? Death threats, hate mail and plenty of people who want to be my "friend"--and it's not even 4 pm!!!" - CPL Matt Sanchez, CPAC honoree

What is the problem?

Is it Matt's service in the Marines?




Nope. He can still be proud of that, regardless of what the right wing will now say about him (and until the military gives him the boot, AND THEY WILL. Even from the Reserves.)(ed note: I told ya so...CM1)

Is it because both Hannity and O'Reilly championed Matt's cause at Columbia Universtiy?




Nope. But this is partly why CPAC made him a TOP honoree last week.

Is it Matt's association with GOP candidates?




Nope. GOP politicians love guys like Matt. Lots of guys like Matt...

Is it because of Matt's short-lived enamoured support from radical right wing pundit-wannabees like Malkin?




Well, not really...

Is it Matt's show of support from noted gay-basher and all-around-hater Ann Coulter?




UMMMM? Ya, that and the fact that Matt is a gay porn star known as Rod Majors:




And... Matt is a male escort as well. <<<(WARNING!!! Nudity in that link.) The Jeff Gannon story all over again.

Michelle Malkin is on top of the story after learning the truth about her former hero, and even answers her own question before asking it:

It's only a matter of time before the MSM goes nuts with the story. Report on the everyday progress in Iraq? Forget it. Sex, homosexuals, and the GOP? Get ready for wall-to-wall coverage a la Foley, Gannon, and Haggard.

Should CPAC organizers be embarrassed if the rumors about his alleged porn star past are true? Well, yes. Next time, they should do more extensive background research before handing out an honor with Jeane Kirkpatrick's name on it.

snip

I guess we'll see who the real bigots--on both sides of the aisle--are now.
(You can find the link for the bigot Malkin here...)

Here is the problem Matt Sanchez:
It doesn't take her more than a few paragraphs to say something really, really stupid and hypocritical. Malkin has Matt going from hero to zero, and all because Malkin and most of her, and Coulter's, CPAC ilk are bigots.

As for Malkin's reports on progress in Iraq?

Here it is: More bombs are going off, more bullets are flying, and more Americans and Iraqis are needlessly dying today because of what semi-epsilon-moron-minuses like Malkin call progress.

H/T to Matt Browner-Hamlin at Emboldened.

----------

But that is just the begining of the tale as the Marine Corps is investigating charges that CPL Matt Sanchez “solicited more than $12,000 from private organizations by asking them to fund a deployment to Iraq he never made.”

Ann Coulter’s favorite ex-gay porn performer may be in big trouble.

From Marine Corps Times:

The Corps on Friday was slated to wrap up an investigation into allegations that a corporal in the Individual Ready Reserve who appeared in gay porn films before enlisting solicited more than $12,000 from private organizations by asking them to fund a deployment to Iraq he never made, according to e-mails from the investigating officer forwarded to Marine Corps Times.

Reserve Col. Charles Jones, a staff judge advocate called to Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City, Mo., on temporary orders that expire Saturday, informed Reserve Cpl. Matt Sanchez of the allegations against him in a March 22 e-mail that advised Sanchez of his rights.

Jones wrote that Sanchez’s participation in porn films was part of the investigation, but that two of the three allegations against him involved lying “to various people, including but not limited to, representatives of the New York City United War Veterans Council and U-Haul Corporation” about deploying to Iraq at the commandant’s request.

CPAC sure is an interesting group when you consider bigots like Malkin, noted vote fraudster and hatemonger Ann Coulter, as well as "male escorts/gay porn stars" and (possibly) con men like Matt Sanchez.

Not like I didn't warn you the Marines would have a problem with you Matt. I suppose CPAC, and their ilk, could chalk this up to the famous Liberal Media Bias that the Marine Corps Times is well known to exhibit. If by "Liberal" you mean they report the facts?

White House Provides 3 Good Reasons to Discredit Dowd

Think Progress notes the White House's counteroffensive reaction to criticism concerning bush's continued failures in Iraq:

Dowd “said he hoped in part that by coming forward he would be able to get a message through to a presidential inner sanctum that he views as increasingly isolated.” This morning on CBS, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett crushed any such hopes that Bush’s inner circle would heed the advice of a once-trusted aide. Instead, as it has done frequently in the past, the White House engaged in a counteroffensive, assailing the character of the person sounding the alarms.

The New York Times noted Dowd’s distancing from Bush came at the same time one of his “premature twin daughters died, he was divorced, and he watched his oldest son prepare for deployment to Iraq.” Bartlett latched onto these difficulties in Dowd’s personal life in an effort to undermine his substantive concerns about Bush’s Iraq policy.

Bartlett said Dowd has been on a “long personal journey…in his private life” and that he had become too emotional over the war. CBS host Bob Schieffer interrupted to ask: “Are you suggesting he’s having some kind of personal problems and this is just what has resulted?” Bartlett denied that’s what he was doing, but then returned to his talking point, suggesting Dowd’s views should be evaluated in light of the fact the he was going through “personal turmoil.”

In reality, the White House does offer a few good arguments for why Dowd might really be concerned:

1. His son is preparing for deployment to Iraq.
2. His son is preparing for deployment to Iraq.
3. His son is preparing for deployment to Iraq.

Of course, there is no legitimate reason to be concerned about those facts, is there?

According to John McCain it is all just a walk in the park anyways. What he doesn't mention is that he needs a Flak vest, about 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks, and 2 Apache gunships providing security for him while takes his little hypocritical walk... And if he needed to go outside of “the very, very, very heavily secured Green Zone,” he needed to travel in armored military vehicles under heavy guard.”

No Dowd... You have absolutely no insane reason to be concerned. Not according to those White House talking pointy heads using offensive reasoning to smear you.

More Right Wing Partisan Politics

Remember this extremely hypocritical and partisan post from JimK, a Connecticut Blogger at "far right wingnuts thoughts," last December?

As you listen to JimK talk about Kerry and Dodd's planned visits to the Middle East:

Right Thoughts - Dodd Plans Trip To Middle East:
"I’m far more concerned with the idea of two Senators from an opposing party blatantly and openly undermining the sitting President in matters of foreign policy. This kind of behavior has consequences that go well beyond the next two years of Bush’s term.

It’s time to get past this cheerleading for the Dems or the GOP and start thinking about how this dirty political pool is affecting the way we can govern this nation going forward."

Well JimK, when are you going to get past the partisan political cheerleading? You are real quick to paint Kerry and Dodd as having undermined the president and even suggested they are breaking laws, even though the fact is they have not and will not break any laws on their trips.

But if you were really being honest about the paritsan cheerleading your diary would have mentioned the treacherous and traitorous Republican Specter:

Nelson said he reported the information to embassy officials and will brief his congressional committees on the trip. Also expected to visit Syria is Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa..

"We don't think that members of Congress ought to be going there," White House press secretary Tony Snow said, adding that the United States continues to denounce Syria's meddling in Lebanon and its ties to terrorist groups.

It is highly appropriate that Tony Snow starts off the sentence there with "We don't think...",

Well... The little GOP talking pointy head footballs just can't seem to get kicked around enough these days as more Hotair expells from the partisan dung heap side of the Blogosphere:

This makes three prominent Democrats who have gone abroad to undermine our foreign policy in the past three months. Kerry’s done it twice, Dean-o’s boasted of having done it repeatedly, and now, by far and away the most high profile of the lot, Madam Speaker herself’s going to Damascus to meet with the proprietor of the launching pad for 85-90% of the suicide bombers in Iraq, according to the State Department’s estimation.

ABC News has learned Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi plans to visit Syria next week to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The visit will make Pelosi the most senior U.S. official ever to meet with President Assad…

Pelosi’s visit to Syria would come as the United States has severed high-level contacts with Assad’s government…

Traveling with Pelosi will be Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN), Nick Rahall (D-WV), Tom Lantos (D-CA), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and David Hobson (R-OH).

Mind you, Assad and his terror apparatus are also the prime suspects in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, whose pro-western political heirs are currently deadlocked with Hezbollah in Lebanon. If she’s not loyal enough to her own country to refrain from handing one of its biggest enemies a propaganda windfall, you’d think she’d at least be decent enough not to legitimize a suspected killer under UN investigation by doing meet and greets with him.

Repulsive. As usual.

Yep... Repulsive as usual. And as per usual they ignore the fact that the State Department has to OK travel like this. This has become another right wingnut blowhards sudden story of the day BUT where was all of this Hotair when this happened?

Pelosi's outreach to a state sponsor of terrorism is a ``really bad idea,'' White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said at a briefing in Washington. ``Someone should take a step back and think about the message that it sends and the message that it sends to our allies.''

Perino's remarks come as a group of Republican lawmakers has embarked on their own trip to Syria. Michael Lowry, a spokesman for Representative Robert Aderholt, said that the Alabama lawmaker will visit Syria as part of a Republican delegation led by Representative Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican. Wolf is the top Republican on the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the State Department.

Perino wasn't available to comment about that trip.

Another embarrasing chapter in the far-right-wingnut's archive of shameless GOP talking points.

One day partisan right wingnuts might "get past this cheerleading for [...] the GOP and start thinking about how this dirty political pool is affecting the way we can govern this nation going forward." But if that day ever comes listen for a loud POP as they all pull their heads out of their asses.

Republican Cronies Were Scanning OR Reading?

Josh Marshall over at TPM digs this up:

If you're a Cunningham case afficionado, you know that in early 2002 Mitchell Wade was still acting as a cut out for his corruption mentor Brent Wilkes -- who's now awaiting trial in the Cunningham case. And around the same time Wilkes was greasing palms in DC trying to get into the Anthrax mail screening racket himself.

He got some help from Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) who got money from Wilkes. We pick up that part of the story from the San Diego Union-Tribune from March 19th, 2006 ...

Julie Doolittle was working at Buckham's offices in 2002 when Buckham introduced Brent Wilkes to her husband. Federal contracts for his flagship company, ADCS Inc., were drying up, partly because the Pentagon had been telling Congress it had little need for the company's document-scanning technology. So Wilkes was trying to get funding for two new businesses.

One was tied to the 2002 anthrax scare, when tainted letters were sent to Capitol Hill. Wilkes' idea was to have all Capitol Hill mail rerouted to a site in the Midwest, where ADCS employees wearing protective suits would scan it into computers and then e-mail it back to Washington.

He called his proposed solution MailSafe – similar to the names of several anti-anthrax companies launched at that time – and began vying for federal contracts, even though the company had little to its name other than a rudimentary Web site.

The House Administration Committee, on which Doolittle sat, oversees the congressional mail system. Doolittle told his colleagues about MailSafe and introduced them to Wilkes, but the project never got off the ground.

Note the reference to the House Administration Committee. That was the committee then chaired by another Abramoff buddy -- the now-imprisoned Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH). And Ney, as he'd earlier done for Abramoff associate Adam Kidan, actually read into the House record an encomium to Wilkes.

So it all comes back to the same question. Why did a company like Wade's, which had no track record whatsoever and had only been approved to receive federal government contracts two months earlier, get a contract from the White House to screen the mail of the President of the United States?

Are you sure it was only the Presidents mail they were screening?

Note the Tribune story:

Wilkes' idea was to have all Capitol Hill mail rerouted to a site in the Midwest, where ADCS employees wearing protective suits would scan it into computers and then e-mail it back to Washington.

All Capitol Hill mail? Wouldn't that mean that these Republican cronies were also "scanning" sensitive mail from the Democratic party side of the aisle (and to and from God knows who else inside the Hill?) as well?

To me, this seems to give these Republican cronies the ability to spy on people's mail if they were unethical enough to abuse this contract for their corrupted GOP's advantage... Does anyone think these guys weren't reading what they were scanning? "Oooh, here's a hot one! Send it to Karl..." It's not like the GOP has ever been known to be ethical when given the opportunity.

Joe neocon Lieberman surrounding himself with Republicans

Joe neocon Lieberman knows who he is in bed with, as he surrounds himself with Republicans. Via ctblogger at MLN:

Even those who didn't vote for Lieberman in November have higher expectations for him than this. Pouting about the last election? Proposing a war tax without any plans to pursue it?

Then there's his fixation with seating charts.

As chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Lieberman should be focusing on the many security issues facing the nation. But this month, the big news from the committee was that Lieberman had rearranged the seating chart.

From now on, he announced, the senators will sit Democrat, Republican, Democrat, Republican, instead of one party on one side of the room and the other party on the other side.

[...]

Instead of focussing on seating charts, instead of proposing a war tax that's dead on arrival, instead of reveling in his hurt feelings, Lieberman should do what he said he would do while running for re-election last year " focus on representing Connecticut, focus on holding the Bush administration accountable for its war policies.

Yep! His biggest boldest action since winning the 2006 election with the support of Republicans' money and the Connecticut Republican vote is to surronund himself with Republicans.

Does anyone on the Democratic side of the Senate think this is a good thing?

Short Circuiting Labor

Ever see a great reason for the resurgence of unions? The Hartford Courant shows you one:

courant.com | Circuit City Step Risks Backlash:

"A new plan for layoffs at Circuit City is openly targeting better-paid workers, risking a public backlash by implying that its wages are as subject to discounts as its flat-screen TVs

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers - immediately - and replace them with lower-paid new hires as soon as possible"

Risking a public Backlash??? They have got to be kidding?

They are kicking 3400 employees to the curb and then replacing them with even lower paid workers.

A nice little extra thought to warm the hearts of those recently unemployed curb dwellers via Vassmer at dKos:

And of course, Circuit City's CEOs' salaries will not be cut for being overpaid:

Circuit City Chief Executive Officer Philip Schoonover was paid $8.52 million in fiscal 2006, including a $975,000 salary. Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson received $3.85 million, including a $1.17 million salary.

Mmmm, what do you expect from a company who donates 90% of its political contributions to Republicans, according to BuyBlue?

Figure the odds? Well... I guess I am not shopping at Circuit City ever again.

This is the epitome of the bush economy. Someone should unionize those workers just to fuck with these unethical bums.

[update]
The Onion does an intersting parody of blaming immigration for these kinds of problems. An issue that republicans will try to push, hopefully with the same laughable results, in the next election cycle:

Immigration: The Human Cost


It is obvious that, in the case of Circuit City's fiscal abuse of employees to continue the enrichment of incompetent Management like their CEO, it has little to do with immigration and everything to do with the deterioration of workers rights in the USA under the Corporate owned Republican party.

The Flip Flop Express

The Flip Flop express flies off the never-ending GOP deepend:

The McCain peace train in 1993 on Somalia:

MCCAIN: …this resolution establishes, in effect, a date certain for a vote on the commitment of United States forces to Somalia…I think we all realize that we have drifted from the use of force to secure humanitarian relief to an open-ended effort at peace enforcement and nation building. …the orderly way to stop it is for the President to present a plan for shaping U.S. withdrawal, set a date for that plan, and have the congress of the United States either endorse or reject such a proposal. [Senate floor speech, 9/9/93]

In that 1993 vote McCain and his other peaceniks - Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sens. Bennett, Bond, Cochran, Domenici, Hatch, Hutchison, Lugar, Specter, Stevens and Warner — ALL voted in favor of cutting funds and setting a timetable for withdrawal.

The McCain Flip Flop Express today:

MCCAIN: These same provisions were rejected by the Senate two weeks ago by a 48-50 vote. Now here we are debating the same provisions that we have — that have the same serious problems. I hope they’ll be rejected again by the same, if not a larger margin. Supporters of this provision say they want a date certain for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But what they have offered us is more accurately described as a date certain for surrender — a date certain for surrender — with grave consequences for the future of Iraq, the stability of the Middle East and the security of Americans at home and abroad. And they offer it just as the situation in Iraq, though fraught with difficult challenges, is beginning to improve.

The Flip Flop Express is rolling, and smoking some pretty strong drugs to manage live in these two seperate realities.

What about the Fifth?

Denis Horgan gives you a peek at the latest bush league maneuver:

DenisHorgan.com:

"It is a vital piece of our freedoms. It protects Americans from the goverment:

'No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.'

Neither is it a Get Out of Jail Free card for Bush administration types who rather simply do not choose to have be asked thunderously important questions by the trifling, insignificant legislative branch of the American people's government."

I read the Fifth Amendment and the only thing I can see by Monica Goodling taking the Fifth is precisely what everyone else can see:

Effectively conceding that there is criminal activity involved which could trigger a "criminal case" Monica Goodling turns to the Fifth.

The key here is that you can't take the Fifth (by my layman's reading of it) unless there is criminal activity involved. This not some political ploy to be trifled with.

Either she is admitting there is criminal activity that she knows about and/or is involved in OR she is attempting to abuse a law that doesn't apply to her for political purposes. Either way, it is a telling sign of how the corrupt bush administration and GOP operates.

Iraq Good News Explosion

Lewis Black brings us the good news from Iraq:



I like the new video service The Daily Show is providing but I hope they change it to make the video feeds permanent archives of this shows high quality news and comedy format. Otherwise they will, likely, go the way of the dinosaurs in the wake of the YouTube evolution. Expiring in a month is not good enough for what the Blogs are trying to do.

Not 60... It is a 50 Vote Hurdle for Withdrawal Timetable

BooMan takes a look at a common misperception concerning current legislation on the timetable for withdrawl:

THE DUDE: Yeah, my thinking about the case, man, it had become uptight.

All the time I have been thinking about this supplemental bill for funding the war in Iraq I have been working on the assumption that the Senate would need 60 votes to pass the legislation. I thought, briefly, that Reid could invoke reconcilation because the bill would affect the budget, but that only pertains to regular budget legislation, not supplemental funding. Nonetheless, it looks like I've had my head up my ass.

Proponents of the troop withdrawal deadline face a lower hurdle than in earlier Senate votes. Earlier efforts to win approval for a withdrawal timetable needed 60 votes to overcome a filibuster; this time, opponents will be trying to strip a withdrawal plan that's already in legislation. That means it will require a simple 50-vote majority to keep it in.

So, okay, I'm still learning Senate procedure.

WALTER: Dude, nothing is fucked. Come on. You're being very unDude.

This changes things substantially. There was literally no chance that the House version would pass the Senate if it required 60 votes.

But at 50 votes... The hurdles don't seem quite so insurmountable, eh?

It even renders Joe neocon Lieberman's vote and positions as a moot point. There will be enough moderate Republicans that will, likely, make the 50 vote mark an easy one to surpass in this political climate. Ya gotta love that! heh Poor ol' obsolete Joe...

Daily Show: Viacom vs YouTube

I don't know how well this Comedy Central embed works...



Just testing it out here. I won't know if there are comercials or anything like that until I post this and check it out myself.(update: Nope! No commercials, YET, and the video quality is A1 primo)

The BIG problem with these videos?

They expire in a month.

How are we supposed to keep a record of The Daily Show's comedic and politically insiteful genius if it expires? And does their genius expire with this link?

Don't Tread on the 9-11 Dead

Via Nicole Belle at Crooks & Liars:

Kansas City Star: (h/t Sisyphus Shrugged)

The pulverized remains of bodies from the World Trade Center disaster site were used by city workers to fill ruts and potholes, a city contractor says in a sworn affidavit filed Friday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Eric Beck says debris powders - known as fines - were put in a pothole-fill mixture by crews at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, N.Y., where more than 1.65 million tons of World Trade Center debris were deposited after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts," Eric Beck said.

Beck was the senior supervisor for Taylor Recycling, a private contractor hired to sift through debris trucked to Fresh Kills after the trade center attacks. Before the arrival of Taylor's equipment at Fresh Kills in October 2001, the debris was sifted manually by workers using rakes and shovels.

Beck's affidavit was filed by lawyers for the families of Sept. 11 victims who are suing the city in hopes of creating a formal burial place for debris that they say contains human remains.

"It's devastating," Norman Siegel, an attorney representing the families, said of Beck's statement. "When the 9/11 families found about this, they were wiped out."

No wonder the FDNY wasn't too happy with Giuliani. What a way to honor our fallen heroes.

WTF were they thinking?

Have they no decency?

Kucinich: IMPEACH? Yes or No

Watch it, think about it, and respond to it.





Impeach for Peace wants you to tell him what you think:

Respond to this video question from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) via comments, e-mails, letters and most importantly a DIY Impeachment petition of memorial.

Call Rep. Dennis Kucinich at 202-225-5871 or E-MAIL REP. KUCINICH.

We report... You decide. No spin on this one.

UPDATE:
Chuck Hagel talks impeachment via Saramerica:

“Any president who says, I don’t care, or I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else, or I don’t care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed — if a president really believes that, then there are — what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that,” said Sen Chuck Hagel R - Nebraska.

Oooh! Tell me more Chuckie!! I love it when Senators actually speak as if they have (gasp) balls. Or a scrotum, to use the word a certain subsector of librarians loves to hate.

"He’s not accountable anymore, which isn’t totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don’t know. It depends on how this goes,” Hagel says in an interview in the April edition of Esquire magazine.

A far-right-wingnut (and make no mistake on this, he is a wingnuton ALMOST every other issue) talking impeachment.

amnesty day marches on

As Blogtopias' (Y! YCTP!) one and only skippy carries the banner forward with his John Swift inspired Blog amnesty day:

amnesty day marches on:

"amnesty day marches on
one bitchin' bottom line of our blog bump business from the big box blogs' blogrolls brou-ha-ha, if we may be alliterative, is all the new cyber-friends we have made thanks to our subsequent whining about the whole fiasco.

we have not only found a literal plethora of wider scopes and broader swaths in analysis, ideas and opinions, we've made long-lasting acquaintenances with a variety of interesting thinkers and writers"

I want to encourage everyone in the left to take a few minutes every week visiting Blogrolls on other people's Blogs... You never know what gems you might find just by clicking around aimlessly from Blog to Blog. :)

Minutemen Violence Gets Exposure in Court

Battles for control. Defamation of character. Trashing peoples' personal belongings. Stolen money. Beating on women.



The Minutemen Project, founded by ctblogger's favorite Danbury no-show and noted bigot Jim Gilchrist, has it it all and is getting exsposed for what it really is as the battle over control of this freakshow of "armed vigelantes" run amok starts to heat up in the public domain and, more importantly, in the courtrooms.

Man Eegee - Latino Político:

"I can't help but smile. There's a lot going on with the vigilantes this week. Their multi-faceted leadership spat is being battled out in the courts, along with some concrete action by law enforcement to ferret out the ways these nativist movements are fertile ground for hate crimes and human rights violations.

San Diego Police served the leader of the San Diego Minutemen, Jeff Schwilk, and another prominent member of the group with search warrants on Wednesday. The warrants were granted in connection with vandalism at a Rancho Penasquitos migrant camp. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has details.

Last January, six people sliced up migrant workers’ belongings in the camps. Police say the vandals cut up blankets, clothes and even workers' shoes.

It's important to understand the context of this investigation. The Minutemen are actually two separate groups that underwent a schism between founder Jim Gilchrist and prominent leader Chris Simcox. This formed the Minutemen Project and Minutemen Civil Defense Corps."

Click on for more on this as Man Eegee fills out the rest of this story.

Major Change at MLN: "The torch; be yours to hold it high."

Branford Boy at MLN announces a passing of the torch:

My Left Nutmeg :: Where Connecticut Dems Scratch That Progressive Itch:

"From the get-go, MyLeftNutmeg was envisioned as a community site, not a vehicle for any one person. However, the real world demands that every blog must have an 'owner,' someone who controls the domain registration, pays the hosting bills, responds to media inquiries, and so forth. Since August 2005 that person has been me.

But no more. I am moving on to other things and have passed the baton, as it were, to younger, more capable hands. The new 'owner' of My Left Nutmeg is ctblogger of ConnecticutBLOG fame."

Thanks for what you have helped to do in and for Connecticut and good luck to you, Branny, and a little note to ctblogger:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

These simple words that spurred champions on:

To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.

Ct Bob takes a hit From CNN

Kudos to Ct Bob on making CNN's hit list for his past efforts:

"Gee, they make a big deal about the fact that I picked up a lousy 1,000 hits, and the other one got like 2 million. Oh, well."

Go check out some of the things that rebel is noted for.

Bilmon, Elizabeth Edwards, and Doing Something About It

Renee over at HowardEmpowerd digs up a nice litlle nugget from Billmon explaining what is happening to supposed "A-list Bloggers":

I wanted to make sure I pointed out this essay by Nonpartisan at My Left Wing. It, in turn, refers to an op-ed piece written by former ("A-list") blogger Billmon way back in September of 2004. It ends with this...

To be sure, there are still plenty of bloggers out there putting the 1st Amendment through its paces, their only compensation the satisfaction of speaking the truth to power. But it’s going to become more difficult for those voices to reach a broad audience. If the mainstream media are true to past form, they will treat the A-list blogs — commercialized, domesticated — as if they are the entire blogosphere, while studiously ignoring the more eccentric, subversive currents swirling deeper down. Not the most glorious ending for a would-be revolution, but also not a surprising one. Bloggers aren’t the first, and won’t be the last, rebellious critics to try to storm the castle, only to be invited to come inside and make themselves at home.

Billmon was a real A-list Blogger... He saw it coming, and spelled it out like very few Bloggers ever could. No matter what the subject was. Some "other" A-list wannabe Bloggers are living the commercialized and domesticated dream now.

Good for them.

They don't represent my "more eccentric, subversive" views, nor what the bulk of the Blogtopia (y! skippy ctp!) is really about. They can continue to try and corner the market on that all they want, and to the exclusion of those that will continue to work for REAL changes.

But that isn't what I wanted to talk about. I pointed to that post by Renee because of Elizabeth Edwards recent announcements:

elizabeth edwards said she was "incredibly optimistic" and said her expectations about the future were unchanged.

We all wish her, and her family well on her road to recovery. And while her post has nothing to do with Elizabeth Edwards directly, a comment in Renee's diary does in a roundabout way.

The Breast Cancer site is having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on "donating a mammogram" for free (pink window in the middle).

This doesn't cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors /advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate mammogram in exchange for advertising.

Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/

A free Mamogram for someone that may need one. I rarely ever ask for anyone to pay anything to anyone on this website. I have no adds here to make money. I am no A-list Blogger (by a longshot... heh) and you should note that all I do is toil away on a regular basis trying to make a difference in this town, state and country. Not for money, not for noterioty, and Lord knows not for "access to the powers that be.

All I am asking you to do here is to click a couple of times with your ever-clicking-mouse-finger to make a difference, yourselves, for a stranger. Maybe even for someone you do know? No money, no buying anything from anyone. Just a few clicks. If you won't do it for me: Do it for Elizabeth Edwards and every other woman that has had to deal with Breast cancer.

Much like Elizabeth Edwards, I think we should all remain "incredibly optimistic" and and our expectations about the future should remain unchanged. Whether we are talking about storming the castle, speaking truth to power, toiling away and doing the little things that make a difference, or trying to cure cancers in our society.

It is the little things that we all do everyday that add up to the big changes in the world around us. Most of these things won't make you rich or powerful, but they might make you feel a little better about yourselves, at the end of the day, thinking you might have made a difference.

And it does, all of it, make a difference.

Oregon: Portland Police Gone Wild

Janet from Peace Gone Wild:

Portland, my home, was terrorized Sunday several times. Not by foreign "terrorists". Not by drugged out hippies.

But by the police force.

snip

An eye witness account speaks to the "peacekeepers":

"Towards the end of the march a group marched towards Burnside and were stopped infront of Carl Greve's by the police. There was massive use of pepper spray initially. However, once things had calmed down and the police were in their alignments it continued to happen. A woman was standing 4 feet away from the police line of for officers chanting "This is what a police state looks like" she was not flipping the police the finger and she was not using any profanity. She was not asked to move, and she never made any attempt to get closer to the police line. She made no gesture of violence, or of any other kind. She just stood there chanting "This is what a police state looks like" when an officer randomly sprayed pepper spray in her face. After the prick police assholes payed out $300,000 for excessive pepper spray force for another protest and promised it wouldn't happen again, guess what, IT DID. To the organizers of the protest YOU CAN NOT TRUST THE POLICE. They lie, they manipulate, and deceit is one of their main character traits. I keep hearing from the organizers of these marches that they are cooperating with the police, but this cooperation is still harming the people protesting. This woman was on the sidewalk, chanting, standing still, she was acting in a non violent fashion, and it didn't matter. You wore t-shirts saying peacekeeper, you failed to do so, and a citizen who was abiding by the law and excising her constitutinal rights had to pay the price."

She has some Videos and a bunch of pictures up from the Portland peace march. Here is one of the YouTubes she has up on march:





Go on and check out the rest of her story, pics, and videos on what happened...

Virtual Trip to Vegas... Good for Your HEALTHcare

Some Emails are well worth Passing on:

Dear Stephen,

We hope you're ready for tomorrow's presidential candidates forum on health care. We're making last minute arrangements now and excitement is building.

Sign up for an email reminder and we'll let you know when the event's about to start.

Saturday, March 24, 2007
12:15 p.m. EST (9:15 a.m. PST)

If you'd like to watch the live webcast and submit a question online, visit ThinkProgress.org tomorrow at 12:00 pm EST (9:00 am PST).

Here's how it will work:

1. During the forum, ThinkProgress.org will offer you the chance to submit questions to the candidates in real time.

2. Submissions will be reviewed immediately by a panel of health care experts who will select the best entries.

3. Karen Tumulty, the forum's moderator, could ask your question live on the air!

The webcast and live blogging start promptly at 12:15 pm EST (9:15 am PST). Don't forget to sign up for a reminder!

Thanks and enjoy the forum,

Faiz Shakir
Research Director, ThinkProgress.org
Center for American Progress Action Fund

Sounds like a great opportunity to flood the candidates with demands for TRUE Universal Healthcare... You know? The single payer kind that they never seem to be talking about when they abuse the words "Universal Healthcare".

Enough with "reforming" the broken "for profit" system. We need single payer, government funded, true Universal Healthcare.

As a side note: Thinkprogress said in a seperate Email that they invited all of the Preidential candidates to participate in this...

The Progress Report is traveling to Las Vegas today to participate in Saturday's New Leadership on Health Care presidential forum, featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), Sen. Mike Gravel (D-AK), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM). (All the presidential candidates were invited to attend.) The Center for American Progress Action Fund and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are co-hosting the forum. Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent for Time magazine, will moderate the forum and ask the candidates about their plans to address our nation's health care crisis. If you happen to be in Las Vegas this weekend and would like to attend the presidential forum in person, we have some seats for you. RSVP here.

I wonder if that invitation included the republican neocon-wet-set? heh

Let Sibel Edmonds Speak

Via Lukery:

Let Sibel Edmonds Speak:

"Today is the final day of our Let Sibel Edmonds Speak campaign where we have been asking people to call Henry Waxman's office (202-225-3976, Capitol switchboard 800-828-0498) to demand *public* hearings into the case of former FBI translator and whistleblower, Sibel Edmonds.

Sibel guarantees that if we have public hearings, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Marc Grossman, and Dennis Hastert will go to prison for a long time. If any of that appeals to you, for any reason, call Waxman today. Please."

Check out his site and maybe, JUST MAYBE, you'll want to give Waxman a call?

It would put a nice dent in the neocon agenda...

Ken Krayeske's Day in Court UPDATE: Kenny is FREE!

I know this story has grown quite a bit since this was originally posted... But today is the day that Ken Krayeske (and freedom of speech, political association, THE LIST, FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, and other privacy issues) gets a day in court.

The Big Book on Krayeske

(h/t to the CTnewsjunkie that broke all of this first and x-posted at Drinking Liberally in NM)

OK. He has worked on the Green party campaign for the Governor, the Lamont campaign for Senate, and does a lot of Blogging and work as an indie Journalist. Apparently he is perceived as a serious enough threat to our paranoid Governor Jodi Rell that he was arrested at her innaugural prade.

Activist Arrested At Inauguration Parade:

"HARTFORD, Conn. -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell's security detail only watched when a woman left the sidewalk and quickly walked toward Rell during the inaugural parade Wednesday. The woman shook Rell's hand and melted into the crowd.

But a slightly built man who jumped off a mountain bike and ran into the parade route ahead of Rell was intercepted by a state trooper and arrested by a Hartford police officer.

One difference in the way the two incursions were handled: A state police intelligence unit had previously identified the man, Ken Krayeske, as a political activist and potential threat.

A potential threat? What was so threatening about Krayeske that the Trooper had to step in and grab him? And why, and how, had they identified him?(MUCH more below)

Hartford Det. Jeff Antuna wrote in his report that Krayeske hp/2007/01/0drew his attention by rapidly riding up to the parade route near Bushnell Park, dumping his bike and running to a position in front of Rell.

"I immediately recognized the accused as Kenneth Krayeske from the photograph provided by the state police," Antuna wrote.

A state police detective intercepted Krayeske. When Antuna grabbed his arm, police said, Krayeske pulled away.

Photograph provided by State Police? Huh??? According to the Hartford police officers report the State had given the local Hartford police photographs of activists that might be considered threats to "Her Excellency" Governor Jodi Rell.

His lawyer says Krayeske apparently came to the attention of state police by heckling Rell during a campaign stop in Glastonbury last year over her refusal to debate his candidate, Clifford Thornton.

"Are there little circles of law-enforcement officers who have lists of who is naughty and who is nice?" asked Krayeske's lawyer, Norm Pattis. "What is the criteria for inclusion?"

Speaking on behalf of the state police, Lt. J. Paul Vance had nothing to say about how Kreyeske came to the State Police intelligence unit's OR the Connecticut Intelligence Centers attention. He did admit that these unit's do share information and intelligence. Speaking on behalf of Nutmeggers... I knew they shared information, but I had no clue so many agencies were watching all of us?

As for the list:

Nancy Mulroy, a Hartford police spokeswoman, played down the list, saying Krayeske was arrested for his actions.

Pay no attention to the McCarthy inspired list! Just move along to the dangerous actions of Krayeske... OK, Let's do that for the moment. Situation, according to the Hartford police:

"List or no list, if you rush off a bike and start charging toward the governor during a processional parade, you are going to be arrested," Mulroy said. "In this day and age, when security is a very serious matter, you cannot expect to act like that and not have to face the consequences. Our job was to protect the governor, and we took it seriously."

Whoa! He was charging at our Governor? This seems to match the arrest report filed by the officer on the scene dug up and posted at The Courant website. (h/t to Journalist, radio host, and Blogger Colin McEnroe)

According to The Courant article there was a witness to back up the police version of the arrest. Eliot Streim:

Streim, a Hartford lawyer who was watching the parade with a colleague, said police did not intercept Krayeske as he ran into the parade route. On the contrary, Krayeske photographed the governor without incident and was detained by police only after Rell had passed by, Streim said.

Well? He did back them up against the wall. Straim's version seems to leave a lot of doubt about the police version of the arrest.

OK... Someone is lying, and the only one I can see with nothing to gain or lose here is the Lawyer/witness. Can Krayeske shed any light on what he was doing at the parade? Take a look:

Photo by Ken Krayeske (photo h/t ct bob)

He was taking pictures! That was a photo taken by Krayeske shortly before he was arrested. Does that look like a photo that someone charging at Granny Paranoia might be able to take? Half of my pictures come out blurry even when I am standing as still as I can. That is a damned good picture considering the subject. (FYI: Krayeske is having a caption contest for the photo to poke fun at inauguRellgate, and celebrate the glorious circumstances of his arrest and 13 hours in jail)

It is bad enough that this guy got arrested for taking pictures, but what is a really scary thought is that Connecticut now has a "LIST" of potential dangegerously threatening people that seems to include peaceful activists like Bloggers, Journalists, campaign volunteers, and obviously photographers.

So now we have a "List", an apparently ginned up arrest, spying on peaceful political activists... And yes he is your typical peaceful activist. Ctnewsjunkie fills in some of Kreyeske's info:

Krayeske was working as a freelance photojournalist at the time of the arrest Wednesday. He also runs a Web site The 40 Year Plan. He was previously arrested in 2003 for demonstrating against the war. In 2004 Krayeske worked on Ralph Nader's presidential campaign and in 2005 he traveled to Syria to report on the war. He has also contributed stories and photos to ctnewsjunkie.com

Atalbot at MLN can give you a little more background on Krayeske.

Now to the last little part in this story: What helped to get all of Connectucut's various secret and not so secret policing efforts and attention and put him on the "LIST". According to Maura at MLN:

Paz makes note in his article of this comment that Ken wrote at Connecticut Local Politics:

Whose going to protest the inaugural ball Jan. 3 with me? No need to make nice after watching this documentary about CJTS

Paz hasn't yet connected this comment to the aspect of this whole outrage that I think is nearly as interesting as the revelation that CTIC has a list of political activists deemed troublesome to Rell -- the fact that the bond for Krayeske was set at the absurdly high level of $75,000.

Since Ken couldn't make this bond, he was kept in lockup all afternoon and night...and then mysteriously sprung without having to make bond at all, simply on promise to appear, at 1:00 AM.

Rell's inaugural ball, which Ken commented at CLP that he'd like to protest, ended at 1:00 AM.

Krayeske is a freelance writer and photographer and his only intention was to photograph "Her Excellency" Governor Jodi Rell. They arrested him on ginned up charges, and held him until after that Rell's ball ended. You have seen most of the the evidence. Do I raelly need to tell you what to make of this?

The Day has a bit more on this from Krayeske's lawyer today:

Pattis called the police department's version "ridiculous," accusing them of "lying and making it up as they go along."

Equally important, he said, is the question of the surveillance and whether Krayeske and other political activists and freelance journalists are being investigated and monitored.

The number of other people on the list and their identities were not available Friday.

"It's not a crime in this country to be a political activist, at least not yet," Pattis said. "It's not apparent that Mr. Krayeske broke any law, it's not apparent that he did anything that any of the rest of us are not allowed to do. This is sort of, police state run riot."

A spokesman for the governor's office declined to comment Friday.

CT police and not so secret police (not secret anymore) have stepped in it big time, and all for the benefit of our paranoid GOP Governor Jodi Rell. They have crossed way over the line of what their stated purposes are. Just check Colin McEnroe's site to see the proof of that:

I am trying to stay with this story as I do the show. I now have the police report on the arrest of Ken Krayeske. The information about him seems to have come, at least partly, from the Connecticut Intelligence Center, a creature of Homeland Security.

Here is its stated purpose. I fail to see how it includes monitoring members of the Green Party:

* Connecticut Intelligence Center

The DEMHS Statewide Anti-Terrorism Task Force is now co-located with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, in an effort to streamline investigations and response to terrorism-related allegations and incidents. A key component of this investigative and law enforcement asset created in 2005 is the Connecticut Intelligence Center ("CTIC"), a multi-agency collaborative operation that includes representatives of the FBI, DEMHS, Connecticut State Police, municipal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard.

CTIC collects, analyzes and disseminates both criminal and terrorism related intelligence to all law enforcement agencies in Connecticut. Serving as a statewide central resource to affect intelligence sharing, CTIC also acts to identify emerging threats and trends. CTIC produces a number of intelligence reports and bulletins, including the CTIC Weekly Briefing and has conducted three seminars for state and local law enforcement professionals. The seminars have helped increase the knowledge of local law enforcement professionals in dealing with terrorist prevention and incidents.

And like the typical GOP low-life she personifies Jodi Rell will likely do nothing and say nothing about this until everyone dogpiles on her. She would prefer to just try and sweep it under the rug. What she didn't count on was that not only has the Blogosphere latched on to this, BUT the MSM has grabbed this one early and has done a lot of digging as well.

Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven) and CO-Chair of the Judiciary Committee had this to say (Courtesy of Spazeboy.net) at a Capitol briefing:
Part 1 (Length 09:00):




Lawlor is correct:

"This type of conduct, which I guess you could categorize as "bushist" for a want of a better expression in this day and age will not be tolerated in this state."

Part 2 (Length (09:54):

"That, to me, reeks of secret police..."

Part 3 (Length (08:50):

"This is clearly an attempt to intimidate a journalist"..."This is the result of the emergence Bloggers on the political scene"..."This not traditional journalism, its different, slightly more in your face, and appropriately so, because a lot of people can't get away with what they used to in the good old days, not the politicians, not the police, and a lot of other people, and I think this is healthy for the process."..."I think this motivated more by politics than law enforcement"

"It begs the question: "Who else is on that list?"" And also a reference to this snippet from a post as supposed reasoning for Krayeske's outrageous treatment:

I scoped the area because I hoped to snap some photos of Rell during the inaug. I want file shots so when I report on her governance, I can have fresh images for the loyal viewing audience. Unfortunately, according to Mr. Harris, I won't have much access:

Shocking! He was planning to take Photographs!

Part 4 (Length 09:12):

Q: "Are you going to ask for copies of thet list and are you going to make it public?"

A: "Absolutely. We will get to the bottom of this and we will do it publicly."

Also, there is a reference to The letter (Via ctblogger) from Jodi Rell that is about a dollar short and a few days too late for me to believe that she is doing anything but spinning:

Colin McEnroe just posted this on his blog. Seems like the events surrounding the arrest of Ken Krayeske is going to turn into a full-scale investigation. McEnroe just posted this letter Gov. Rell sent to

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle.

January 8, 2007

Commissioner Leonard Boyle

Department of Public Safety

1111 Country Club Road
Middletown, Connecticut 06457

Dear Commissioner Boyle:

I am writing with regard to the incident last week involving Kenneth Krayeske which led to his arrest by the Hartford Police Department.

I recognize that security assessments are by necessity comprehensive, and I understand that our State and local law enforcement agencies must work together and share information. Law enforcement agencies also have the difficult job of assessing the information they receive. Nonetheless, I was disturbed to read in media reports allegations regarding the existence of a “list� of individuals.

It is my expectation that all State Police information is maintained in strict compliance with federal law. In this environment of heightened security, the use of information must be balanced with the individual rights of our citizens. In providing security and protection, we cannot permit the rights of individuals to be trampled.

The parade was a public event, and moreover an event at which public participation was invited. People also have a right to protest â€" and that right is one of the fundamental freedoms of our state and nation.

Most importantly, security procedures must be uniform and consistent in order to safeguard both the people and places of Connecticut as well as our basic freedoms.

Accordingly, I am requesting that you review the circumstances of this incident. Specifically, I would like to know how this individual came to the attention of State Police and the circumstances under which his name and photo were provided to the Hartford Police Department.

In addition, I am requesting that you evaluate existing procedures to ensure that information gathered by the State Police is reliable and reported to other law enforcement agencies in a responsible manner.

Sincerely,

M Jodi Rell

GOVERNOR

The events surrounding freelance journalist Ken Krayeske's arrest is getting stranger by the second as the outrage mounts.

The letter came out shortly before the planned press conference by Lawlor. Can you get any more "spin reactionary" than that?

As you can see... Lawlor and the other members of the press conference are truly shocked about this and are taking this all very seriously as far as it being a serious abuse of Krayeske's rights and the rights of any other "innocent victims" of the list.

I'll close this out with a humoorous interview by Ct Bob (with Maura) of Krayeske at the Branford BRRRoadwater "polar bear swim":
(length 05:18)

You don't know who I am BUT you are welcome! :) There are many people that will do what we can to support you.

There is an appeal for funds to help cover his legal costs if you want to help a fellow Blogger/Activist/Journalist/Photographer/Citizen!

There is an appeal for funds to help cover his legal costs if you want to help a fellow Blogger/Activist/Journalist/Photographer/Citizen!

Damn!! We were both taken in!

Spazeboy offers an updated link to donate:

Update II: This one's major. It turns out that Krayeske's application for a grant from the SPJ's Legal Defense Fund was published without his knowledge or consent. I feel like a rube for re-posting an excerpt, but I did so only because I know that many of us are interested in contributing toward the payment of his legal bills. All that's left of this post is the info below, which is the only legit way to contribute to Ken Krayeske's legal defense.

Update: Ken Krayeske posted a link to his site in the comments, which now has info on the legal defense fund that's been set up for him by his attorney Norman Pattis:

if you wish to promote liberty, protect freedom of speech and stop false arrests of journalists and/or political activists, please help me out. You can make out checks to "Law Offices of Norman A. Pattis," and in the memo line write "Ken Krayeske Legal Defense Fund." Send the checks to

Ken Krayeske Legal Defense Fund
c/o Law Offices of Norman Pattis
649 Amity Road
Bethany, CT 06524

I repeat that this is the one and only certified way to contribute to my legal defense at this point and time. Thank you all in advance for your assistance, and I am humbled by the amount of emotional support I have received to this point.

I am glad I checked his site before I went out!

[UPDATE]
Via Maura at MLN:

This morning brought good news for Ken Krayeske, reports Jon Lender at the Courant:

Prosecutors at first offered only to nolle the charges of breach of peace and interfering with police -- that is, to not prosecute them but reserve the right to reopen the case for about a year -- on the grounds that Hartford police were in a "no-win" situation because they would have been strongly criticized if something happened to Rell.

But Krayeske's lawyer, Norman Pattis, pushed for an outright dismissal, saying it was Krayeske who was in the "no-win" situation because he was a nonviolent citizen exercising his First Amendment right by taking pictures of Rell for his website, www.the40yearplan.com.

[...]

Prosecutors then agreed to the dismissal, which did not involve any waiving by Krayeske of his right to bring a wrongful arrest suit in federal court.

Norm Pattis did a tremendous job with this case. Congratulations, Ken!

Scooter & Cheney: "Pardon me? Am I loony or what?"

The local public has spoken in a resounding chorus of "HELL NO!"

Should President Bush pardon "Scooter" Libby?
	No	66.34 % (808)
	Yes	33.66 % (410)
Total votes: 1218

It is, very likely, only the minority of loony far-right-wingnuts that still support incompetent-extraordinaire bush that would want their neocon traitor given the IOKIYAR treatment.

As for the rest of the USA? They agree with most of us locals...

Americans 3-to-1 Against a Libby Pardon

As you may know, a jury found Libby guilty on four out of five criminal counts. Do you think George W. Bush should or should not issue a presidential pardon for Lewis "Scooter" Libby?

Yes, should 21%

No, should not 67%

No opinion 12%

There is just no wiggle-room left for right-wing-nuttyness on this issue. If you lie, mislead, obfuscate, etc., and all in an effort to throw sand in the eyes of the umpire, err, prosecutor, you go to jail.

About that cloud over cheney? You know? The one that Fitzgerald was talking about when he discussed why he nailed Scooter. I hear he has suddenly taken ill... I wonder if there will be a resignation in cheney's near future?

"What is wrong with Dick Cheney?" asks Michelle Cottle in the inaugural issue of the newly relaunched New Republic. She then spends the next 2,000 words marshaling evidence suggesting that his cardiac disease has left him demented and mentally disordered.

The charming part of this not-to-be-missed article (titled "Heart of Darkness," no less) is that it is framed as an exercise in compassion. Since she knows that the only way for her New Republic readers to understand Cheney is that he is evil--"next time you see Cheney behaving oddly, don't automatically assume that he's a bad man," she advises--surely the generous thing for a liberal to do is write him off as simply nuts. In the wonderland of liberalism, Cottle is trying to make the case for Cheney by offering him the insanity defense.

She doesn't seem to understand that showing how circulatory problems can affect the brain proves nothing unless you first show the existence of a psychiatric disorder. Yet Cottle offers nothing in Cheney's presenting symptoms or behavior to justify a psychiatric diagnosis of any kind, let alone dementia.

What behavior does she cite as evidence of Cheney's looniness?

Those loony republicans. They just can't seem to recognize the symptoms of GUILT... "I am too sick from scooterliedus fitzmas to finish out my term..."

Yup... Or what.

Life's like that...

Sorry for the lack of posts... We had to get to Tennessee in a hurry for a funeral and I didn't really have time to follow anything political in the last ten days anyways.

We got back last night, tired, and I think a couple of us even picked up a bug while down there. The worst week an'a'half we have had in a long while for our family. :(