12 Connecticut Towns Get Foreclosure Money

From the NewsTimes, 12 towns, including New Milford, will get some money to help fix up and fill many of the empty foreclosed homes:

NEW MILFORD -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell has identified New Milford as one of 12 cities and towns in the state eligible for $3.6 million in federal stimulus money to buy and upgrade foreclosure properties.

The intent is for towns, through their agencies or local nonprofit groups, to make the improved homes available as affordable housing to low- and middle-income families, officials said Friday.

State Department of Economic and Community Development spokesman Jim Watson said Friday it is uncertain how much money any of the towns will receive, but they can make applications based on need and capacity.

This will be in addition to $25 million in mortgage assistance funding Connecticut was given under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. While even I view this as a great thing that we need to see done across the country, I just wish that actions like this had been taken early before many of these families had lost their homes. (And yes! I know I am biased in that department because of our experience with Countrywide...)

If you are on the edge of losing your home, HUD has some information that may help you while you wait to find out what sort of help may or may not come down from the State of Connecticut:

Guide To Avoiding Foreclosure

Whether you're in foreclosure now or worried
about it in the future, we have information that can help.

Get Help Now!

	Talk to a foreclosure avoidance counselor
	Talk to your lender
	Find state and local foreclosure resources
	Contact HOPE NOW

Keep Your Home

	Are you at risk of foreclosure?
	Tips for avoiding foreclosure
	Foreclosure scams

Refinance Options

	Learn about HOPE for Homeowners
	Who to call when a lender won’t work with you

If You Can't Keep Your Home

	Redemption period - your last chance to save your home
	Local renting resources
	Rental assistance
	Relocation resources
	U.S. Postal Service Movers Guide

Before you even consider trying to buy a home anywhere or anytime you might need some of this information:

Predatory lending - beware if you're buying or refinancing your home; don't become a victim of unfair lending practices

Stuff that I wish we had known about before we got stuck in the financial death spiral of our mortgage with Countrywide...

The Failing Media Ain't My Cup of Zell, er, Joe

Over at the Danbury NewsTimes they have a story on Joe being the typical warmongering neocon stooge that he is in his support for McCain the endless war candidate... But they don't have the balls to actually write the truth about that. Anyways. I get down to the comments and find a comment from the insane GOP side of the aisle trying to pose a Democratic party type:

"It is too bad that few if any of the members of my party ever mention the firefighters and others who died on 9/11. All that Pelosi, Reed, Murphy, Biden and the others seemed to be concerned about are the civil liberties of the terrorists."

Sure FDR... Funny - because it is the republican side of the aisle that tries to turn any remembrance of 9/11 into a military parade. Why, in New Milford, do they even bother to have Veterans show up in uniform to talk at the 9/11 remembrance ceremonies every year that I have seen it? The right has tried to do this to all of the September 11th memorial ceremonies everywhere across the country and it is pure frickin' propaganda.

It is the GOP trying to inject the military and politics into a ceremony where they have no reason to be. If you don't recognize this then I truly pity your ignorance on what has happened in America, and particularly to the the far right GOP. The party of endless failed wars.

McCain has so little respect for soldiers that he lies about his own service.

And meanwhile you had the left fighting to get real medical issues recognized and treated for everyone that survived working on the scene of ground zero. Ya know... Fighting for the firemen, the police and their families to be treated in a manner respectful of their heroism on that day. Sadly we have to fight tooth and nail against the same warmongering GOP roadblocks every single day to get them to treat Veterans coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq with the health care that they deserve for their service.

Over the years neocon warmongering, lies and utter and complete failure to be fiscally and morally competent , responsible or even, simply, humane has resulted in boatloads of traditional and sane conservatives like Susan Eisenhower walking away from the GOP and their insane policies. They know for certain that they can no longer beat the idiot neocons in their own party.

I have decided I can no longer be a registered Republican. For the first time in my life I announced my support for a Democratic candidate for the presidency, in February of this year. This was not an endorsement of the Democratic platform, nor was it a slap in the face to the Republican Party. It was an expression of support specifically for Senator Barack Obama.

I had always intended to go back to party ranks after the election and work with my many dedicated friends and colleagues to help reshape the GOP, especially in the foreign-policy arena. But I now know I will be more effective focusing on our national and international problems than I will be in trying to reinvigorate a political organization that has already consumed nearly all of its moderate "seed corn."

And now, as the party threatens to trivialize what promised to be a serious debate on our future direction, it will alienate many young people who might have come into party ranks.

The disgruntled republican voter? Shock! Awe! They are real. They are better off becoming indies, like Eisenhower did, and supporting more sane candidates that they can pick and chose from any party but the GOP.

And still, to this day, the far right wing in control of the GOP continues to be stupid and the media refuses to call them on it.

We told you that Joe Lieberman was a neocon and a supporter of bush's failed policies to his core. We told you that long before it became politically popular to tell the truth about Joe. McCain is no different in his support of endless wars and fiscal insanity.

This from the NewsTimes article:

In 2006, Greenwich Democrat Ned Lamont -- backed by a youthful group of Internet-savvy anti-war Democrats -- took on Lieberman for his support of Bush's Iraq war. Lieberman lost the Democratic primary but got a reprieve through a loophole in Connecticut election law that allowed him to form his own party and petition his way onto the November ballot.

Those of you who talk about the internet savvy of Ned Lamont supporters would do well to realize that we are also politically savvy, as well as being well informed in our policy opinions. We are always well ahead of the media in recognizing the failures of policies and politicians.

And, more often than the media or the right wing echo chamber ever is, we are proven correct.

Relegating us to a notion of only being "internet savvy" and simply "anti-war" (a bold faced lie) is a pitiful attempt to diminish that which we do so much better than 99% of you failures in the media these days.

Tell your readers the truth: Sure... some of us are anti-war. A reasonable position if you are really pro-life. BUT we are, for the most part, anti-ILLEGAL INVASION AND OCCUPATION. We are anti-ILLEGAL SPYING ON AMERICANS. We are anti-NEOCON-REPUBLICAN... Yep. Even the conservative and libertarian republicans that walk among us now.

But that doesn't fit your media agenda, does it? That would be the truth. And that would not belittle our position. I know it pains you to actually have to admit we exist, but do you have to be so oblivious as to why dead tree media is dying and Blogging is on the rise? It is your fucking job on the line you hack journalists.

While I was at the NewsTimes I decided to go take a look at Eugene's Driscoll's movie Blog because I was drawn to a post title on the front page:

"OBAMA BIDEN MILEY CYRUS SCANDAL"

Yep... The media pushing the "Black man coming after your white women!" meme straight out Rove and Luntz's playbook. Absolutely nothing in there that has anything to do with the title.

Just a Blaring title to catch people's roving eyes.

Being somewhat more responsible, timely and ethical in my writings, here, I take the time to point out the obvious in his first part of the story over there as well as question his misleading choice of title.

Anyone with half a brain didn't have to wait for the text message to find out Biden was the VP choice since the Secret Service were dispatched to protect Biden the night before.

And if you really wanted to get the internet's attention, Eugene, you would simply start posting the truth about gigolo McCain's (the guy with the sugar mama Cindy...) warmongering campaign to continue corrupt bush administration failures instead of misleading titles to insinuate scandals on the left side when there aren't any and raising the bigot factor up a notch.

While the rest of America is busy trying to figure out how many homes McCain can't remember he owns OR if he paid his taxes on all of them... Feel free to continue to be well behind the curve. It only continues to make real Bloggers look more competent and you, well, not so much.

Here is Eugene's underwhelming response to my comment:

Uh, this is blog about movies . . . but thanks for the wacky rant!

Wow! He sure told me... He writes something that is linked prominently on the front page of a news paper site that is a blatant fabrication and my rant is wacky.

Nice try Eugene but:

"OBAMA BIDEN MILEY CYRUS SCANDAL"
"Fox 61’s Rick Hancock says he received the Obama text at 3:28 a.m. He posted the news on his blog at 3:33 a.m., according to CTWeblogs.

Just before his head hit the pillow (I assume) Rick raised an interesting point:

“Media coverage of all of these people getting the text would have been a great PR move. Essentially, Obama made a 3:30 a.m. booty call to his supporters.”"

This post is a pitiful attempt to plant misleading BS in the media in the hopes of tainting Obama with innuendo in the public mind. And even if this was done unintentionally, then you have still failed the public.

He even took the time to add the "booty call" comment for extra effect in the "black man coming for the white women" BS. Pure Willie Horton there. Not the fake stuff the media distracts with, but real McCain campaign Willie Horton material.

What he really told me, yet again, was why the media is failing. He may not know it, but we do. This is right up there with Fox or CNN tactics:

"Is Obama the Antichrist?"

If someone in the media has to even ask this or uses it as the blaring title of their piece... Fire them. They are pumping pure propaganda as every part of any investigated story on this would show the real truth:

"Insane McCain Tries to Paint Obama as the Antichrist!"

That is a factual and supportable storyline. McCain and his surrogates played that ad to the lunatic fringe. The CNN fox like title was the one that ran. Fuckin' pitiful. They deserve to be scorned.

A disgrace to journalism.

The other day I wrote a quick note on the NY Times idiocy. Really, it was a question that readers everywhere deserve an honest answer to:

When will the NY Times arrive?

Because Bloggers weren't around at previous conventions, weren't there in the trenches for countless elections, primaries and issues. No, Bloggers haven't been doing what we have been doing and coalescing into one of the largest activist and information sharing networks, shaping the narrative of the news cycles in an effort to counterbalance failures in the older and compromised traditional media long before any of the more recent credentialed things started to happen...

The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived - NYTimes.com

Nope. According to the NY Times Bloggers have only arrived now. My question for the NY Times:

When do they plan on catching up to us?

Because we are still far ahead of the NY Times and other proven corporate and government media propaganda outlets in speaking truth to power, integrity and honesty in our coverage of the news. At least, the left side of the Blogosphere is.

Journalists are so far out of the mainstream that we really want to know. A couple of comments that underscore the perception of readers out there. First a comment from BeachBum (another Vet that Blogs about his life in South Carolina) on it:

I don't think they can catch up. Some of their mistakes lately seems to suggest they do worse than some of dedicated bloggers.

I think he is right... They seem to willfully remain mired in their dead tree ways while most people have long since moved on to better reading. They have moved on to Blogs. Another comment from someone that has fully embraced the reality of the new and obviously better media:

I have a degree in Communications and I am amazed at how slow the MSM has been in catching onto the incredible power of the internet. I wonder sometimes if they are in denial.

Part of the dead tree media problem is that they are so invested in the business model they created for ad revenue they have a hard time trying to keep up with those of us that have absolutely no budget beyond Google type ads and relatively no overhead beyond buying a digital camera or video cam and, if even, some bandwidth and domain name if we want to bother.

They are in denial.

They have a failed business model and refuse to give it up. Eventually smart advertisers will give up the dead tree media model as well. Most of them just haven't quite figured out they should. And the advertisers sure as hell don't want to support the Blogosphere (not the left side of it) because we have integrity and hold them accountable.

And the media tries to mock us as they fall further and further behind. Perhaps they are just acting out because they are ashamed of their own failings... More likely, they are hoping they won't lose that next fed up reader to the Blogs that are writing about the truth.

Then they make matters worse for themselves when they cut local content down to nil and wonder "why do more and more people turn to the internet?" And then you have the media take preposterous positions (like the Hartford Courant did) and ask Bloggers to provide them with free content after laying off many of their local staff.

Aside from Letters to the Editor, the Courant pays for every other word of editorial copy it prints. Shouldn't the paper at least pay a nominal fee to bloggers whose words they excerpt? The blogger who wants to remain pure can give permission to print without a fee, but the very idea that the Courant hasn't made the offer is exploitative.

They've been in the business for a long time, and they must surely understand that while the web is extraordinarily freewheeling when it comes to sharing and borrowing information, if you are a major media outlet, who makes money for your newspaper/website, then "borrowing" without pay is impolite, if not immoral.

Is the Courant frigin' nuts?

They will be the first to push the "FREE MARKET RULES AND ALL HAIL DEREGULATION!" talking points for the GOP corporate interests, like all of the ones that led to the housing crash, but they want Bloggers to dig them out of the hole they made for free?

I don't begrudge the few Bloggers that took them up on it and wanting to get at least some sane views in their news papers. In fact, I believe the few that are in there from the reality based community are ones that were there before the layoffs happened. If they don't continue those pages will be left to only the right wing nuts that we have already had to suffer from for years.

If we had a thriving and healthy local media they would still be making money. They are the cause of their own downfall through failed business decisions and failed editorial decisions.

Any media manager that would hire the likes of Judy propaganda Miller, Billy “I’m not right about anything, but I still get my regular TV gig to screw over the national discourse” Kristol, Karl Rove, or pay the AP services for Ron Fournier's GOP talking points, or present a dunderhead like Fred Lucas as a non-partisan contributor without any real opposing views is begging for failure.

I would like nothing more than to see the media succeed.

But they need to provide real hard news and investigative reporting that is fact checked and reality based, and they have do this both locally and nationally in order to succeed. At this point in time, more then ever before, they need to stand up for the little guys.

They don't and the citizens that used to rely on them for the truth suffer. And even more of them head to our Blogs. But Bloggers suffer too. Because now we have to not only fact check the media and political failures but we have to create content for ourselves in their absence.

What did you think? That I was doing this for my own pleasure? Fuck that!

I used to enjoy reading the news paper to keep up on everything. They used to provide a valuable service to their customers. Now they are just a marketing tool for corporations and partisan politics. Very few exceptions to that rule.

Frankly, I would like nothing more than to have more time to Blog about and do things that actually interest me - like hockey, gardening or sex... Anything but politics - So I am begging the intellectually lazy and incompetent media to do their job, to fire the liars, to cut the stenography and to start fact check again, to start doing your job the way you are supposed to so I don't have to anymore.

Danbury NewsTimes and New Milford Spectrum Bought Up by Hearst

ctblogger at HatCityBLOG catches a blurb on the sale of pretty much the only source of dead-tree media in the Danbury/New Milford area:

The game of musical chairs is being played again.

Bridgeport (AP) -- Hearst Corp. has purchased the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport and seven weekly newspapers in the state from MediaNews Group Inc.

[...]

The weeklies that Hearst acquired are the Darien News-Review, Greenwich Citizen, Fairfield Citizen-News, New Canaan News-Review, New Milford Spectrum, Norwalk Citizen-News and Westport News.

With the acquisition, Hearst also assumes management of three daily newspapers in Fairfield County: The Advocate of Stamford, Greenwich Time and The News-Times of Danbury.

What will this mean for the News-Times? Hearst is a totally different outfit from MediaNews Group so expect to see some changes. As for their on-line content, all the newspapers in the MediaNews family basically had the same format and look so you might see changes in the layout of the News-Times online edition as well.

Whatever the case, lets just say that there's no love lost between bloggers and the shameless MediaNews Group for obvious reasons and I'll take anything other than that company in Connecticut.

To say there is no love lost is certainly no misrepresentation of the truth. The people - left, right and center - have given up on the media. These papers systemic failures grounded in their ideology of putting corporations' needs over the needs and rights of the readers these papers are supposed to be protecting as a crucial and fundamental aspect Democracy in a free nation have allowed a continued corruption of the political system they should be holding in check.

To the great benefit of corporations - and incompetent, criminal and failed politicians and their continued radical policies - these papers have enabled and cheered on failures like: the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq based on a pack of lies; the deterioration of privacy rights in a nation that used to be a model of freedom to be emulated worldwide; the destruction of civil dialog on a myriad of important issues facing this nation - only to be buried by trivial aspects of celebrity pop culture; even further destruction of civil dialog by lending what little space they devote to news - as opposed to the vast quantities of space devoted to advertising, infotainment and further advertisements camouflaged as news - to extremist views that are so far removed from the public interest and meant only to divide the nation further for political purposes.

In the long run, I don't see there being any great benefit for the local area. Perhaps with a new layout online they might incorporate a better system of controlling the constant flow of local bigoted hate-mongers that flood their comment sections? But in the end, it is just one homogenized and sanitized corporate view being replaced by another homogenized and sanitized corporate view.

Unless they seriously invest in local assets to actually cover the local and national news with real, hard-nosed journalism that truly, realistically and faithfully benefits the people they are supposed to serve... The medias' shameful and merited decline into extinction will continue regardless of who owns these papers.

West of the Border Bigot

A storyline that has come to typify republican hate is going on just west of the border from North-Western Connecticut:

During a July 2nd meeting of the Pawling, NY town board. Republican town supervisor Beth Coursen called town republican chairman Glenn Carey a "faggot" and said "everybody knows it". The town of Pawling sits about 70 miles North of New York City. This wouldn't be the first time Ms. Coursen has used such language against Mr. Carey.

Lucy Watson, wife of Democratic Councilman David Watson, said, while she did not hear the July 2 exchange, it was familiar to her.

Watson said she was present in late 2007 at a restaurant and in May 2008 in town hall after a board meeting when Coursen referred to Carey in the same manner.

Cross Posted at Political Newsline

Of course, ctblogger is still being kept busy documenting the worst that Connecticut has to offer:

Would you like some death threats with that racism?

Danbury News-Times=all the comments that's fit to print.

And ctblogger is right... It does sound familiar.

CT State Rep. Comes Out of the Closet

Via the Danbury NewsTimes:

State Rep. Jason Bartlett put rumors to rest Tuesday when he announced publicly that he's gay.

Bartlett, a Democrat who represents portions of Bethel, Redding and Danbury, said he has been open about his sexual orientation with relatives and decided now was the time to speak publicly.

Video: Click here to watch Bartlett talk about his decision.

"For me the decision came down to why not now," said Bartlett, 41, during a meeting with The News-Times Tuesday. "To me this is about having a conversation with my larger family - the people of Greater Danbury who voted for me."

Via GayPolitics.com:

The announcement makes Bartlett the nation’s first and only openly LGBT African American state legislator.

I am glad for him that he feels comfortable enough to come out. This should be a non-issue but some close minded individuals may try to make it one. It is not likely that he has the hypocrisy baggage of your typical republican on this issue.

[update] Connecticut Bob digs into his extensive video archives:

At last year's JJB Dinner, I spoke with Jason about the important issues. Here's the video of our discussion:

ctblogger has more video of an extensive interview Jason Bartlett here...

[update deux] Via the Hartford Courant:

Bartlett said he never misled voters about his sexual orientation, either
in how he described his domestic life or by positions he has taken on gay
issues. He said he always has supported gay rights, including same-sex civil
unions and gay marriage.

[update trois] Welcome to Buzzflash readers. A cool place that I highly recommend if you want to keep up with progressive/liberal news as it's breaking. If you like their front page news section... You might like some of these places too:

BuzzFlash.Org | BuzzFlash.Net | Last Chance Democracy Cafe | Wings of Justice.Com
GOP Hypocrites.Com | Media PUTZ.Com | BE-ELECTED.com | Libby Defense Fund.Com
BuzzFlash MarketPlace.Com

Lou Rell Has Cancer

According to the Danbury NewsTimes Governor Jodi Rell's husband has cancer:

Lou Rell, husband of Gov. M. Jodi Rell, will undergo surgery Tuesday for removal of a small cancerous growht on his esophagus. He is expected to be hospitalized for a week to 10 days.

I wish him the best and good luck in his recovery because he will very likely have a battle on his hands. According to the American Cancer Society:

The American Cancer Society estimates during 2007, 13,940 deaths from esophageal cancer will occur. Because esophageal cancer is usually diagnosed at a late stage, most people with esophageal cancer eventually die of this disease. However, survival rates have been improving. During the early 1960s, only 4% of all white patients and 1% of all African-American patients survived at least 5 years after diagnosis. Now, 17% of white patients and 12% of African-American patients survive at least 5 years after diagnosis. These figures refer to patients with all stages of disease, so survival rates in earlier stage disease will be higher.

These survival rates are called relative survival rates. The 5-year survival rate refers to the percent of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. This includes people who die of other causes. Five-year relative survival rates assume that some people will die of other causes and compares the observed survival with that expected for people without the cancer. That means that relative survival only talks about deaths from the cancer in question. This is a more accurate way to describe the prognosis for patients with a particular type and stage of cancer. Five-year rates are used to produce a standard way to discuss prognosis, or outlook for survival.

Helping Blogs Help the Candidates

Many of the old school candidates in politics have been quick to kick the Blogosphere whenever given the chance. Todays' more savvy candidates are embracing the activism of the Blogosphere, and some are actually picking up their keyboards and becoming a part of the new media themselves.

But then there are other candidates that are taking it in a different direction and are helping the Blogs to help themselves.

I was flipping through the Danbury NewsTimes today and came across a particularly eye-catching quarter page add just below the weather forecast (Page B4, October 31st) for a Danbury candidate. I thought I would share it with you all:

I enlarged that little part at the bottom so you wouldn't have to squint to read it. Anyways, it seems that all of ctbloggers hard work for local Democratic party candidates is paying off in a way that can help him help all of the candidates that he vigorously supports even more in the long run. This little bit of a tack-on add for HatCityBLOG will likely help him reach even more local readers in the long run. Readers that have a tendency to come back again and again after they finally find his place. Readers that ctblogger has generously sent your way, and my way, time and time again over the last couple of years.

The recognition that ctblogger has received over the last couple of years is well deserved and he has been noted by some of the biggest and the best Bloggers for his ambitious efforts to kickstart the local Blogging philosophy:

Now I know how Sally felt.

I'm a big fan of Steve Gilliard's popular national blog The News Blog, so it came to a pleasant surprise that he picked little ol' me as one of his favorite state/local bloggers for 2006.

Juan Melli and CT Blogger-They do the dirty work of local and state politics, which will never lead to glory or riches, but is needed because if you think federal government has problems.....these guys are heroes to me

"blush"

Seriously, thanks to Steve for the recognition. To be placed along side award winners You Tube , Stephen Colbert, Keith Olbermann, Matt Stoller, Howard Dean, Sasha Baron Cohen, Morgan Spurlock, Amanda Marcotte, and Ned Lamont is quite a honor.

I really have to give props to all the other Connecticut bloggers as we all worked our tails off trying to stay one step ahead of the mainstream media (PPM baby) as well as keeping people informed on what's happening in the nutmeg state. I wonder what would have happened if I didn't ask Connecticut Bob to help me set the white balance on my camcorder and shoved my digital camera into Spazeboy's hand back during the memorable Lamont event at Naples in New Haven...

Hopefully, political campaigns will take notice of the great reporting we did on the Connecticut races and understand the importance of blogs.

They have noticed. And so have we.

Small gestures like this one from Cotter will only help all of the left Blogosphere in Connecticut and the nation. Kudos to Cotter for recognizing the value of supporting his allies, and kudos to ctblogger for all he has done and will continue to do for Connecticut's thriving and ever growing left presence in and out of the Blogosphere. We can only hope that more candidates will recognize the advantages of helping this new People Powered Media - As ctblogger would say "PPM Baby" - to help themselves.

For more information on Brian Cotter's campaign, here is a snippet to get you pointed in the right direction:

In an attempt to inform the public about the various candidates running for office this year, HatCityBLOG is kicking off a new feature entitled "CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHT." Using a combination of text, audio and video, the HatCityBLOG crew are going give readers a different look at the candidates.

For my first interview, I sat down with the Brian Cotter, candidate for Treasurer and talked about his background, why he's running for office, his "Welcome Back Cotter" theme of bringing back fiscal integrity to Danbury, and why he feels he's the best qualified for the job.

You can catch the rest of the interview here, where you will find a lot more information on many of Danbury's other local candidates.

Jay Lewin's premature ejaculations

Jay Lewin, the juice box republican, always one to miss the mark when he spews:

Kostes, Kane Fail to Vote In Ambulance Barn Referendum

I guess it just wasn't important enough for them. Kostes, the wannabe Mayor, was probably too busy looking at himself in the mirror, looking for his socks or looking at his money. As for Council wannabe Kane, well, I don't want to go there.

It's always interesting to see who has the biggest mouth and then's a no-show. At the Rotary, Kostes went on and on about how the press has failed to help get out the vote. How the Town should use the internet to get out the vote. How there's too much voter apathy. And then what does he do?

The problem with these charges? According to the NewsTimes Kostes did vote:

"If I didn't vote, that would be an issue, but it clearly wasn't," said Kostes, who is challenging Republican incumbent Mayor Patricia Murphy and Democrat Larry Stillman.

Murphy and Stillman both voted in the referendum, according to the town's voting record.

When Kostes was alerted to the Web site report, he soon learned that when he voted, his brother John's name was marked off rather than his, Helen Cherney, registrar of voters, confirmed Monday.

Lewin did not mention that 17 other people among 57 currently running for office are listed as not participating in the referendum. They include two New Milford First candidates, six Republicans and nine Democrats.

Needless to say, Kostes ain't too happy about Jay running off at the mouth with typically GOP talking points... Being a GOP talking pointy head, Jay feels no shame in his premature ejaculatory claims:

As for how he selected the other non-voters he criticized, Lewin said his Web page "doesn't have to be fair and balanced."

Jay... You need to learn a basic fundamental of Blogging, and journalism in general, if you want people to take what you write seriously. Try contacting the people first for a comment on your assertions. Two minutes of phone calls could have easily kept you from looking silly AGAIN.

Mess, Disaster, Bring'em Home, Impeach

Just a quick glance at titles of recent LTTEs in the Danbury NewsTimes:

• Bush presidency creates big mess
  
  
• Bush presidency a total disaster
  
  
• Support the troops, bring them home
  
  
• It's time to discuss Bush impeachment

Pretty much says it all...

Bus Drivers: Vote on Decertifying Union Fails

Previously reported in the NewsTimes on June 8th:

School bus drivers voted today on decertifying Teamsters Local 677, but the outcome of the vote might not be known for weeks.

A number of the votes cast today have been challenged, according to a press release from All-Star Transportation.

snip

The vote would nullify the contract they voted 48-11 to ratify two weeks ago.

All-Star Transportation offers the moon, but as I said previously, this looks more like classic union busting techniques:

NEW MILFORD -- In the wake of a stalemate Friday over efforts to decertify Teamsters Local 677, it may be weeks before local school bus drivers learn the fate of their pay-enhancement contract with All-Star Transportation.

snip

Mary Boland, a non-union bus driver from New Milford, said "36 voted to put the union out, 40 voted for the union. Two votes were challenged by the petitioner and NLRB, and another seven were challenged by the union."

snip

Non-union drivers said they are hoping they will receive a 5 percent increase next year, with new drivers to earn $12.40 an hour and senior drivers $16.

I say "union busting" because it becoming clearly apparent that some people are doing everything they can to get rid of the union, and stalling the ratification of the contract that the union agreed to with All-Star.

I heard a rumour that All-Star is offering a 401k plan to them if they decertify the union.

First things first: Don't these drivers realize that they will be the ones funding the 401k, and not the company? What a great offer!

And second thing: Considering how the negotiations have gone so far it doesn't look there is much reason to trust All-Star to follow through on any offers, even offers that are meaningless.

And a third thing: Isn't it illegal for All-Star Transportation to be making offers to anyone but the union? (unless this rumoured 401k offer was sent through the union?)

And a last note: The drivers better not put too much hope in getting a fair shake at the NLRB. The bush administration has been stacking the NLRB with flunkies guaranteed to deliver to "corporate interests" time and time again.

Nathan Newman writing at TPM Cafe's labor issues arm, House of Labor, pretty much sums up how I feel about statements and actions from companies that are blatantly illegal:

If you wonder why I get angry when folks say nice things about corporate criminal union busters like Wal-Mart, maybe you should read the new report by American Rights at Work which details the extent and severity of that corporate crime wave, a crime wave where tens of thousands of workers are victimized each year with stolen jobs and crushed lives.

As this study highlights, a typical union organizing drive starts with a majority of workers signing cards in support of having a union. Yet in the course of the elections, corporations embark on full-scale illegal assault on their workforce:

• 30% of employers fire pro-union workers.
  
• 49% of employers threaten to close a worksite when workers try to form a union.
  
• 51% of employers coerce workers into opposing unions with selective bribery or favoritism.

The end result is that despite starting almost every union drive with majority support, by the time the corporate wave of crime is over, only 31% of union elections end with a vote in support of the union.

I am pretty certain that the same can be said about companies interference in labor contracts after a union has been legally formed and represents employees in contract negotiations. Today's companies will say and do whatever they can to get what they want, and the NLRB has been quite generous in supporting anti-union activities since bush took power. Some people might even think it has been corrupted to the same degree as the Department of Justice has.

Good News From the NewsTimes Live!

Via HatCity BLOG:

It's about time...

Our reader comment section has and will continue to draw controversy about what readers post and what we choose not to remove from the site.

But to monitor what’s there, we are asking you, the posters, to help us out.

We now have a new feature that will allow posters to notify us of any inappropriate comments. To flag a comment as inappropriate, you must be a registered poster. You then can click on the red Flag as Inappropriate text posted in the comment section. An e-mail is then immediately sent to me, alerting me of a possible inappropriate comment.

Smart move...the quicker the News-Times remove the scum from their comment section, the better.

We will always be watching and hopefully it will work. I have no problems with people that put up differing views but some of the commenters, in the past, have crossed over the line from spouting not just views or lies BUT outright "hate" literature. Freedom of speech is a long toss from "freedom to hate." Some of the comments looked like the "Hail Mary pass of hate" there.

Kudos to the Danbury NewsTimes if its new mechanism works as it is hoped it will. We know they didn't write those comments, but the sooner hate is confronted head on for what it is, the better the comments sections there will become.

Also, kudos to HatCity BLOG for covering this issue time and time again, which probably helped make a difference here.

As a side note: If the NewsTimes had let us know in advance that they were planning on making these changes they might have avoided a few scathing LTTEs and Blog posts on this subject. WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMIES, contrary to what idiots like Joe Klein would have you believe. We just want to help you get better at what you are supposed to do. We also understand that writing code to change features on an internet website takes time to test and implement. Bloggers do that all the time. Maybe some advance notice would be in order next time? Just a minor suggestion, because I hate to nitpick on your doing the right thing.

More Anti-Iranian Propaganda via ABC?

Is this just more anti-Iranian propaganda:

Iran Caught Red-Handed shipping Arms to Taliban

The April convoy was tracked from Iran into Helmand province and led a fierce firefight that destroyed one vehicle, according to the official analysis. A second vehicle was reportedly found to contain small arms ammunition, mortar rounds and more than 650 pounds of C4 demolition charges.

A second convoy of two vehicles was spotted on May 3 and led to the capture of five occupants and the seizure of RPG-7mm rockets and more than 1,000 pounds of C4, the analysis says.

It strikes me as odd that Afghanistan's Helmand Province is along the Pakistani border, where you would be more likely to find "Taliban allies," yet they are saying it is arms shipments from Iran. It strikes me twice as odd given previous claims like this that have been discredited in the past.

The previous evidence discussed in these new reports by ABC, and previously debunked by your local liberal brewery:

Perpetuating The PowerPoint Lies

The White House was told twice to redo the PowerPoint presentation purporting Iranian ties to American deaths. According to The National Journal the intelligence community demanded that the presentation be rewritten and washed of overstated claims:

At least twice in the past month, the White House has delayed a PowerPoint presentation initially prepared by the military to detail evidence of suspected Iranian materiel and financial support for militants in Iraq. The presentation was to have been made at a press conference in Baghdad in the first week of February. Officials have set no new date, but they say it could be any day.

Even as U.S. officials in Baghdad were ready to make the case, administration principals in Washington who were charged with vetting the PowerPoint dossier bowed to pressure from the intelligence community and ordered that it be scrubbed again.

This still wasn't enough scrubbing top get the facts straight and so some of the misinformation still persists. The NewsTimes provides one of the many arguments to support Murtha's plan to require fully trained and EQUIPPED American soldiers before they can be deployed in theater:

News Times Live Editorial:
"Almost four years later, the armor problems remain. It's not a matter of money; it's a matter of planning.

This week, the Pentagon admitted that there is a shortage of armor to protect troops involved in the president's so-called 'surge' that will add more than 20,000 American military personnel to the Iraq war.

The president spent part of Wednesday's news conference alleging that Iran is supplying new deadly weapons to Iraqi insurgents. But what is he doing to require that American troops have the armor they need to protect themselves against these new weapons?

Known as 'explosively formed penetrators,' these weapons are now inflicting 70 percent of the American casualties in Iraq."

Yes the armor problems still remain, but so does the misinformation campaign that the lying Bush administartion intended to seed in the news. There are two major problems with the "evidence" supplied by the military and the Bush administration.

1. About 170 out of the over 3000 American deaths are POSSIBLY attributable to the Iranian supported Shia militias. Why? Because that is the total number killed by all shite in that time. A drop in the bucket. And certainly not all of the US forces killed by Shia insurgents are not all linked to Iran. A drop in the bucket. The vast MAJORITYof the IED's and other weapons used to kill Americans are planted or used by the Sunnis. A group that Iran does not support. However, Saudi Arabia sends truckloads full of money to the Sunnis is Iraq, the Sunnis that are largely responsible for the most deaths and injuries of American soldiers in Iraq. I don't think the Sunnis are buying cakes and cookies with that Saudi money.

2. Some of the weapons that the military showed as evidence of being supplied by Iran had markings written in English. Iranians mark weapons they manufacture in Farsi, although, Pakistan manufactures the same/similar weapons and marks them in English. Other weapons, like EFPs, that are purported to be too sophisticated to have been made by the Shia or the Sunnis, and therefore "must be coming from Iran", are similar to weapons that many other groups like Hezbollah and the IRA have made in the past, according to Middle East expert Juan Cole. (Scroll down, click on the Juan Cole video)

The Danbury NewsTimes bit on the EFPs lie, and blaming Iran. As noble as the real thrust of the Editorial may be, it is still perpetuating Bush propaganda.

The evidence clearly points to countries that are known supporters and financiers of the Sunnis (IE: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc.) and/or just the easy spreading of information on typically used weapons amongst terrorism groups everywhere. And just whose name pops up to reenforce this manipulation of inteligence?

U.S. military commanders in Iraq have shown members of Congress explosive devices that bear Iranian markings as evidence Tehran is supplying Iraqi militants with bombs, a senior U.S. government official said Saturday.

One of the lawmakers, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, said he has seen some of the evidence, though he would not be specific. “I’m convinced from what I’ve seen that the Iranians are supplying and are giving assistance to the people in Iraq who are killing American soldiers,” said Lieberman, who was attending an international security conference in Munich.

Republican Neocon extremist and propagandist Joe Lieberman. And pushing a lie that was already laid to rest over year ago:

Against the inference that this all comes from Iran is the concept that Iraqis themselves would be capable of copying a design and therefore do not need to get bombs from Iran.

And there have been a number of news reports over the last year expressing scepticism, even among military personnel, about the link to Iran.

The Washington Post reported last October that British troops in the south doubted the claim.

A year ago, the London Times said that British officers in Basra had stopped making any such claim, saying only that the technology matched bomb-making found elsewhere in the Middle East, including Lebanon and Syria.

While reporters and news agencies across the country are starting to catch whiffs of Bush Neocon propaganda, and pointing out some of the stinkers, they are still missing some of the really BIG lies. And most of them relate to the Drumbeat for War with Iran that is just a repeat of Iraq lies all over again:

Much of the intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities provided to UN inspectors by US spy agencies has turned out to be unfounded, diplomatic sources in Vienna said today.

The claims, reminiscent of the intelligence fiasco surrounding the Iraq war, coincided with a sharp increase in international tension as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran was defying a UN security council ultimatum to freeze its nuclear programme.

That report, delivered to the security council by the IAEA director general, Mohammed ElBaradei, sets the stage for a fierce international debate on the imposition of stricter sanctions on Iran and raises the possibility that the US could resort to military action against Iranian nuclear sites.

I'm just waiting for the fictitious mushroom clouds to start to reappear...

Obviously, there is good reason to doubt the veracity of the ABC reports of Iranian ties to a Sunni group that is well known to be their enemy. The interesting spin here is this little quote from the ABC junk:

"These clearly have the hallmarks of the Iranian Revolution Guards' Quds force," said Jones.

The coalition diplomatic message says the demolition charges "contained the same fake U.S. markings found on explosives recovered from insurgents operating in the Baghdad area."

Now they are saying that what used to prove that it more likely came from Pakistan (markings on the weapons English), is just a trick by the Iranian Revolution Guards. But please ignore the fact that Helmand province is right along Pakistan's border, not Iran's border, and most certainly ignore evidence like this from StevenD at the Booman Tribune:

Here's where it gets confusing for me. One day the top US general in Afghanistan says one thing about Iran supplying their former enemy, the Taliban with weapons ...

No Proof Iran Supplying Weapons to Taliban, US General Says

By Katherine Poythress
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 06, 2007

... [General Dan] McNeill, the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), spoke live from Afghanistan at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday. He said it is not uncommon in Afghanistan to encounter weapons that originate in other countries. However, "I haven't seen conclusive evidence there's anything in the way of formal sanctioning by the Iranian government to provide weapons to the Taliban," he said.

Mortar rounds of Iranian origin were found in one of the convoys, and plastic explosives similar to the U.S.-made C-4 were uncovered in the other. "Beyond that, there's not much significant to report on these two convoys," McNeill said.

... and President Karzai is, like all buddy-buddy with Teheran.

snip

Why doesn't the President of Afghanistan and the senior American general in that country simply support the administration's line that Iran is arming it's former enemy the Taliban? An enemy, by the way, Iranian politicians claimed to have helped the US military depose back in 2001:

Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards fought alongside and advised the Afghan rebels who helped U.S. forces topple Afghanistan's Taliban regime in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the guards' former leader says.

In an interview by e-mail, Mohsen Rezaie, a candidate in Iran's presidential elections next week, says the United States has not given Iran enough credit. He says Iran played an "important role in the overthrow of the Taliban" in 2001 ...

Current and former U.S. troops and officials confirm Iranians were present with the Northern Alliance as U.S. forces organized the rebels in 2001. ...

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says he has "no knowledge of (Iranian) assistance." The CIA refused to comment.

Former CIA Afghan team leader Gary Schroen says there were two Iranian guard colonels attached to a Northern Alliance commander, Bismullah Khan, outside Kabul when U.S. Special Forces arrived in September 2001.

Makes you wonder how valid is this "evidence" of Iran's clear involvement with the Taliban when our own top general in the area refuses to confirm it. And our own man in Afghanistan says Iran is his country's BFF. And when past efforts to show Iran is a primary supplier of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq didn't exactly pan out. Not that Bush and the Pentagon would ever lie to us about the danger Iran poses to America -- would they?

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

Propaganda and disinformation? Things that make you go -- Hmmmm. Well, so to speak, that is.

Hmmmmm. I'm thinkin' about it. I'm thinkin' it is all more propaganda aimed at us to stir up a war that would never happen under a more ethical administration.

The Bus Strike is Over

Yesterday, the drivers went back to work but I didn't write anything on it as there were no details available on what bargaining results ended the New Milford bus strike. Today, the NewsTimes had this report up:

On Saturday, the school bus drivers voted 48-11 to accept a five-year contract with All-Star Transportation, which the drivers said is a compromise between what they wanted and what the company is willing to pay.

The offer increased the starting pay from $11.40 to $12.33 and top pay for those with at least 10 years of experience from $14.75 to $15.95.

The contract provides drivers a first-year increase of 4 percent and as much as 5.25 percent in the final year.

At the school district office, Thomas Corbett, director of operations, was relieved to report the resumption of bus service at all six schools Monday went smoothly.

Judging by the previous numbers discussed, the drivers and All Star Transportation met pretty much in the middle on this. Thankfully we will not have to worry about this for the next 5 years.

The traffic on the roads was pretty crazy during drop-off and pick-up times and made a mighty strong case for the usefulness of Mass Transit for those of us that had to drive through it everyday.

Judge Tells All Star to Get the Buses Rolling

The NewsTimes is reporting that the Judge John Pickard has told All Star to get the buses back on the road:

The Board of Education won the first round of its legal battle to end the bus drivers' strike Wednesday, when a judge told All-Star Transportation to immediately restore full service to the town's six schools.

Litchfield Superior Court Judge John Pickard's ruling is a hollow victory, however, because there are not enough licensed and certified drivers available to cover all the routes.

If you go to the story the comments section is pretty funny. I don't know if those of you wanting to sue the union realize how silly that idea is. They didn't sign a contract with the city, All Star did. And since there are no real health or safety issues involved there is very little the judge can say to the union to force them back to work. This isn't like an ambulance, police, or nurse strike where basic services are deemed a necessity for the public good. This is an inconvenience, not a hazard, to the community. I may not be a lawyer, but this seems like common sense to me.

I am starting to think that All Star, judging by their behaviour, is purposely trying to get this contract canned by the city.

Did they stupidly negotiate a bad contract with a ridiculously low cost of fuel figured in or something? (There is a war AND an occupation going on right now... Figure the odds that fuel prices would go up? D'oh!)

If the contract gets tossed who is there left for the town to renegotiate a new and more lucrative contract with? (All Star is the only game in town at the moment... And they know it.)

Or maybe the company will close up and sell off to another company OR resurface incorporated under another name in order to avoid dealing with the union at all... (Classic union busting techniques, yes?)

With the way politics works these days I would not be surprised to see the BOE fire them, only to sign a new contract with the same company (under a new name or not) that is more profitable to the company. There has to be more to this than just the 50 cent difference between what the company is offering and the drivers want. It should be interesting when the judge orders arbitration, which is the only likely legal recourse available at this point in time.

A Little More on the Bus Strike

According to the Danbury NewsTimes All Star Transportation released a statement today:

"Over the past year, the company has met continually with the union to iron out a fair economical contract that both sides could live with. Both sides have bargained in good faith and have a respectable relationship with each other. The company and the union understand that this is a new contract with several obstacles. A final proposed contract was offered to the union negotiating team on Friday. The union refused to recommend the contract, so it was withdrawn. All-Star Transportation urges the drivers to return to their job, which is servicing the students, parents and the Board of Education of the community of New Milford."

Here I thought it was All-Star's job, "servicing the students, parents and the Board of Education of the community of New Milford", since they were the company that signed the contracts with the city's school system. The drivers job is to drive a bus for All Star. Anyways...

The schools were handing out flyers directing everyone in town to their website for updated information on "how and when" to drop off and pick up your kiddies at the schools.

I stopped by and talked to the drivers that are picketing out front of All-Star and asked them about the situation from their POV. Their complaints stem from the fact that they are paid about $2 per hour less than bus drivers in nearby communities. All they were asking for was a $1 raise.

All-Star has, in recent times, had a hard time keeping on drivers over the long term because as soon as they get an opportunity to work for one of the higher paying companies the drivers leave All Star. They must be wasting a lot of money on constantly training new drivers and could, likely, save quite a bit of money on that just by raising the salaries to something a little more competitive. They might even save more than the 60 cent difference between the raise they were offering the drivers and what the drivers wanted. Penny wise and pound foolish, I guess?

I transcribed a flyer that the drivers were giving out to parents at schools. I figure if the newspapers will print out the corporate side of it verbatim from their press release... Maybe someone ought to give the drivers the same benefit for the sake of "BALANCE IN THE NEWS":

We are sorry for the inconvenience this strike is causing all of our families. The purpose of this leaflet is to give you the facts concerning the current unfair labor practice strike.

• Each day, you entrust us with the safety of your children and we take this responsibility very seriously.



• We are all professional drivers who have undergone extensive safety training and possess Commercial drivers' Licenses.



• We are paid $11.40 per hour, which is $2,00 per hour less than surrounding communities.



• We receive NO FRINGE BENEFITS.



• New Milford bus drivers voted to join Teamster Local 677 in May 2006.



• For the past year we have attempted, without success, to negotiate a fair collective bargaining agreement.



• On Monday, May 7th, 2007 All Star withdrew its offer of a 3.5% wage increase, which equals 40 cents per hour.



THIS STRIKE COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF
ALL STAR WOULD BARGAIN IN GOOD FAITH




• Most of us drivers are New Milford residents

Our Children attend New Milford schools and ride New Milford Buses.
We are New Milford taxpayers.
We deserve a fair contract.
We appreciate your support.

They also ask that you call All Star and tell them you support the drivers.

All Star Transportation can be reached at (860) 354-2705

Not only are these drivers required to get driving and safety training, but they must pass a background check through the police to get the job to begin with. A safety precaution that has been put in place in the last few years for the benefit of your children's safety.

As a side note, I did a quick check on the math (assuming the pay they make and the % raise offered is correct in this leaflet?) and the raise is really only 39.999 cents per hour raise. Can you say cheap?

Again, the video that ctblogger uploaded for our benefit:



[updtae] It appears that today the NewsTimes put up a story that is, at least, a little more than just a press release from All Star Transportation. Some might even call it news... heh
(h/t to Ghengis Conn at CLP)