Add hawk

I’m a regular citizen. I love my town, I love my town’s school system. I hate arbitrarily high taxes, and I hate wasting time and money. Like most people, I have ideas on how things in my town could be improved. But I’m not an elected official, or a personal friend of the mayor, and I don’t have access to giant billboards I can place all over town in the dead of night. How can my voice be heard?

Well, according to Town Councilman Pete Bass, I can be part of an ad-hoc committee!

What’s that? It’s unclear if anyone knows for sure. (I didn’t even know what “ad hoc” meant. It’s latin for "For this". It means (according to the online dictionary) “a solution designed for a specific problem or task, non-generalizable, and which cannot be adapted to other purposes. Common examples are organizations, committees, and commissions created …. for a specific task.” This committee is tasked with saving the town and school – and tax-paying citizens – money.)

Here is what the Housatonic Times reported back in May of this year:

http://www.housatonictimes.com/articles/2010/05/01/news/new_milford/doc4bda0d7371508046908865.txt

• Town Councilman Pete Bass says the committee would “study issues related to short- and long-terspending and revenue and to try to identify potential savings.”
• New Milford attorney Randall DiBella… said such an ad-hoc committee could make “suggestions” but could “not have a binding edict” for various boards and commissions in town.
• Town Council member Ray O’Brien said that, in addition to long-range goals, the ad-hoc committee should look at the short term, indicating that it would help if, by the next budget cycle, the school board could provide more detailed information to the Town Council on “how much electricity they are using by building and how much oil they are using by building.”
• (This is disturbing: will the focus of the committee be to scrutinize the Board of Education? “I think we’re trying to micro-manage the Board of Education,” [Councilwoman Mary Jane] Lundgren said.)
• Not so! “My motivation has nothing to with micro-managing the Board of Education,” Mr. Bass countered. “We all need to communicate together and come up with ideas and solutions,” he said. “It brings everyone together to study things in a think-tank manner.”
• Mr. Bass and some of his colleagues indicated the committee should consist of members of the Town Council, the Board of Finance, the Board of Education, financial officials for the town and the school district and members of the public, particularly those who work in finance-related areas…. Mr. Esposito and Town Council member Cecilia Buck-Taylor said the committee would benefit from having members who work as financial professionals.

Intriguing.

Here is what has been decided since then:

• The official name of the committee is the Advisory Committee for Efficiency and Cost Savings Ad Hoc.
• Input from the public is welcome, as is out-of-the-box thinking. Fresh ideas. New perspectives. In fact, even though the committee consists of 6 elected officials and one appointee, the mayor could “just as easily” have picked you, or me, or any other budget-minded citizen. Or someone with financial expertise. (But she didn’t.) (But the public is welcome and encouraged to think outside the box.) (And I’m just glad no one said “ruffle some feathers.”)
• The committee membership consists of members of the Board of Education (chairwoman Wendy Faulenbach, Thomas McSherry, Alexandra Thomas), the Town Council (Peter Bass, Cecelia Buck-Taylor, MaryJane Lundgren), and 1 hand-picked mayoral BFF – newly-minted Board of Finance member (Beth Falder). (So much for all that financial expertise.)
• The official political affiliation of these members is: 3 Republicans (Bass, Buck-Taylor, Faulenbach), 2 Democrats (Lundgren, McSherry), 1 New Milford First-er (Thomas), and 1 unaffiliated New Milford citizen (Falder).
• (I could also say, the committee is made up of 2 men and 5 women, or look up everyone’s birth dates or astrological signs, but I think I’ve digressed enough).
• The committee will disband on New Year’s Eve, before the spring budget smack-down begins. (Which, I am told, is the beauty part of it, because no one has “territory” staked out before budget season. Honest…)

Is this making sense to anyone yet? 7 people, 4 months, 0 boxes. 1 transforming set of ideas. Leading to … peace and harmony? An economic miracle? (Or more of the same “town council is good, board of education is bad!” nonsense?) I’m a bit confused. And, frankly, skeptical.

Here’s what I don’t get:

• How transparent will these meetings be? (Hint: posting the meeting minutes in the town Clerk’s office will not meet my definition of “transparent.” How about a special section in the Spectrum, or a web page linked to the town website?)
• How much public participation will actually be allowed? (Please, please, please let it be more than a “public participation” moment between the pledge of allegiance and the real business, where the public is admonished for breathing too loudly). Are members of the public going to actually serve on the committee? (Doubtful. Especially if they’re not deficit hawks. Maybe I should brush up my power point skills and come wearing a suit)
• Will members of the public be allowed to vote on committee proposals? (Good God, let’s hope so! Otherwise, what’s the point?)
• How will ideas be presented, discussed, decided upon? (“Save us money!” is a tall order when faced with a $90m budget servicing 30,000 people. And there are many legal and contractual considerations that must be abided, even if they may appear “costly.”)
• What is the scope of these meetings? (Will everyone sit down with a copy of the town and school budget and reenact that wonderful budget meeting scene from “Dave”? Or will people spend an hour or two bashing tax-and-spend liberalism and tisk-tisk the wastrel youth of today?) I assume the committee will break down into several sub-committees, who will conduct research and present findings to the group. Maybe this is where Joe Citizen can get involved more directly.
• How will ideas be evaluated? (Because I’m pretty sure we’ll here “Get rid of the libraries!” and “Don’t let people take their pensions and retire out of state!”, neither of which is legal, practical, or even desirable.) It’s tough to be both “inclusive” and “realistic.” (And “non-partisan.” But I digress again.)
• What will the committee do with these ideas? (Beyond writing up a report and presenting it to … actually, I don’t even know to whom, exactly.) Will any governing body (say, the Board of Ed or the Town Council) have to implement any of these ideas?
• What, exactly, is the point of this committee? Councilman Bass suggested at the July 12^th Town Council meeting, that the committee would serve as a liaison between the BoE and the TC (and perhaps the BoF too). But the mayor corrected that statement, saying the committee to provide advice and assistance to the BoE (and other committees!), but that the BoE and the TC are not required to take their advice.
• When will this committee actually meet? The inaugural meeting has been rescheduled twice. It’s currently slated to happen August 12, 7pm, in the Loretta Brickley Room of the Town Hall. (Will it change again? Will it be prominently displayed on the town website?)
• Will this really be anything more than a “let’s slap the Board of Education around and ignore anything troubling about the Town side of the budget”? I’m hoping so, but I have my doubts. (Are you a betting reader?)

In any case, I am intrigued. I’ve thrown away my box (the better to think outside of it) and shook myself up and gathered my brain clouds for a storm of ideas. I’m ready to share them at the maiden meeting, August 12^th (or not, if they reschedule it again). I’m hopeful that we will all transcend party and bureaucratic standing and turf wars and petty grudges and do something meaningful. I’m hopeful that the (reasonably sane) public will actually be welcomed and heeded. And I’m hopeful that, come January, the committee will have a positive impact on the budget process. (It could happen.)

But, just in case, I’ll also start a billboard fund.

Is Walter Bayer a DINO?

Walter Bayer was at the Republican fundraiser for Probate Judge Martin Landgrebe last night. He appeared to be meeting and greeting like a member of the "R" crowd. And you can sometimes find him tipping back a beverage with Roger Szendy and other "R's" at local watering holes.

Considering how easily he has rolled over for town council business from "R" Mayor Murphy, is he just a lap dog for the RTC? Seems like a DINO (Democrat In Name Only) to me.

Hey Bayer: Start Drinking Liberally.

Simmons Running Senate Ads

Considering Simmons is running neck and neck with Linda McMahon in the primaries even after he dropped out of the race. Why not? From The Day:

Rob Simmons, who halted his campaign for the Republican Senate nomination after losing the party endorsement to former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, will begin airing TV ads urging voters to "look at the issues" before voting in the Aug. 10 primary.

In a press release on Wednesday, Simmons said he would spend some of his remaining campaign funds on the TV spots.

"For the past two months, I have been travelling the state supporting my fellow Republican candidates," Simmons said. "Everywhere I go people ask me if I am still running for the U.S. Senate. My response has been 'I'm still on the ballot.'"

But his numbers are still as dismal as McMahon's are up when stacked up against any of the Democratic party candidates.  You would think, for that reason alone, that Linda McMahon would be happy to have a reason to argue issues with someone during the primary season? But no... She's as pissed as a wrestler after too many steroid shots.

The Breitbart version of this story featured a badly edited video of disgruntled former WWE wrestlers calling McMahon a racist steroid pusher and photos of Simmons in a headlock while teabagging her.

I don't have that video... But I do have this one:

No Big Surprises In the Latest CT Gov Race Q-Poll

The latest KWIN-uh-pe-ack© numbers are out for the CT-Gov race of 2010 and ctblogger looks at the data overall and the questions a bit, while Ct Bob looks at the inside game of the likely voter numbers.

Needless to say, the numbers look good for the Democratic party candidates no matter how it goes down.

Democrats lead in any possible general election matchups among registered voters:

• Lamont over Foley 45 - 33 percent;
• Lamont over Fedele 49 - 27 percent;
• Lamont over Griebel 49 - 25 percent;
• Malloy over Foley 44 - 33 percent;
• Malloy over Fedele 49 - 26 percent;
• Malloy over Griebel 51 - 25 percent.

"The Democrats haven't won a race for Governor in Connecticut in 24 years. Could this be their year?

"Could this be their year?" Considering the numbers show that the only hope the GOP has is if the Dem candidates start tossing live grenades at each other while simultaneously carrying out Sepukku? Both the Lamont campaign, IMHO the leader in the primary, and the Malloy campaign can point to some good news in it with both improving their favorabilities among their base a lot and in both being able to trounce the GOP opposition.

As far as the GOP side of this? The second paragraph in this snippet from connpolitics.tv pretty much sums it up:

Foley leads Republicans with 48 percent of the vote. Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele garners 13 percent and business advocate Oz Griebel 7 percent.

“The governor’s race is overshadowed by the Senate battle between Linda McMahon and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the controversy over Foley’s arrests is not having much impact,” Schwartz said. “So Foley has been unharmed and voters still don’t know much about Fedele or Griebel.”

Fedele who? Grieber what? As far as Foley? If it were not for the recent news about vehicular assaults and a circus like divorce I think I might be asking who he is, as well.

Checking the ct.gop site, given the latest poll you'd think they would have something up...

But, apparently even Chris Healy hasn't found anything good to write about this poll, either. (Not yet nor as of the time I am writing this, anyways.) Just some mumbling to himself and trying to get mileage out of a relative non-story about an Attorney General going to a meeting of evil American trial lawyers.

In Connecticut, the GOP dusted off their strike at Dick Blumenthal’s character and integrity, asking whether the attorney general would come clean about his weekend jaunt.

“No more lies. Dick Blumenthal owes the voters of Connecticut a straight answer: Did he travel to Canada yesterday to raise money from his fellow liberal trial lawyers, or did he send his bag man Harry Reid to collect his share instead?” asked NRSC spokeswoman Amber Marchand.

Blumenthal spokeswoman Maura Downes would only confirm he attended the event, as did New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes.

Aside from Healy's obvious reasoning (and even more obvious conflict of interests in the GOP candidate race) ranting and raving about Blumenfeld 24/7 over at the GOP site...

Let us look at who Healy is happy to take donations from, OK?

Thank you for supporting the Connecticut Republicans-Federal account. These funds are used exclusively for the purpose of supporting Federal candidates and federal election activities. Contributions from state lobbyists and Connecticut state contractors are accepted and allowed in this account.

So Chris Healy, a former lobbyist himself, accepts lobby money for his party activities, complaining that a candidate on the other side MAY actually be doing the same and taking money from a PAC that wants to lobby him? Hypocrisy much?

Christopher C. Healy is a lobbyist in Hartford at the law firm Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, has worked on political campaigns at the local, state and national level and has served on the Republican State Central Committee.

Should I even bother to check his CT GOP and their candidates for any lobbying interests and their PAC donations? Too obvious to even waste the effort.

As far as the national level equivalent of Christopher Healy? Michael Steele had this to say about the Senate race when he was in town:

Asked about Peter Schiff, the Weston money manager who will primary McMahon on Aug. 10, Healy and Steele said they would support the party’s nominee.

“If he wins we’re behind him just as much as we’re behind Linda McMahon, but your questions were more focused on her,” said Healy, whose wife works for the McMahon campaign.

Steele said he expects Republicans to be competitive in 44 states this election season.

“The people of Connecticut are no different than people anywhere else around the country. They’re sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Steele said. “We’re winning again in the northeast. How crazy is that.”

It is real clear that the GOP isn't winning anything big in CT this year, so it is safe to say that both Healy and Steele are off the charts crazy.

Smoking Out Nutmeg Astroturf Of "Glenn Beck For President"

Maybe? I am not saying for certain that she is fronting another in a long line of AstroTurf groups for the GOP and corporate interests... But take a look and decide for yourself. For all I know, she may just be as crazy as her movement implies?

Via Gawker we get this little bit of giggle:

The Time Has Come to Make Glenn Beck President, Says Clown Lady

Most Americans want Glenn Beck to be our next president and return us to prosperity. The only hiccup? Getting him to run! Fortunately, the clown lady in this video is circulating a petition to change all that.



Her name is Robin Potwora, and the website for her "grassroots organization," Main Street Bites Back, features a number of terrifying robot-voiced videos of illustrated political figures, including the hated Barack Obama.

Aside from this "grassroots" clown gig? Well, given the Torrington, Connecticut address on "Main Street Bites Back" contact page and the name to go with it... I think it is safe to say that she may just be tied to some  very right wing and typical "grasstroots" lobbying money...

The Tobacco Industry to be precise:

"Robin Potwora (left), Executive Director of Smoke Signals Coalition, leads a protest of Connecticut's ban on smoking in bars at Sports Rock USA in Bristol on Saturday. The group is supporting Bill 5138 to amend Connecticut's smoking ban." 

 Curious about the "Smoke Signals Coalition"? I pulled this out of a cache:

Tobacco giant aids smoke ban repeal bill
Waterbury (CT) Republican-American, 2005-02-02
Trip Jennings

Rep. Leonard Greene, R-Beacon Falls, wants to repeal the statewide ban of smoking in restaurants and bars a year after identical legislation died in the General Assembly.
But this time Greene has help from a powerful ally.

Tobacco giant RJ Reynolds has bankrolled a Torrington nonprofit with $10,000 to run radio spots in Hartford, New London, New Haven and Fairfield counties and to pay for direct mailing to every liquor license holder in the state to mobilize support for Greene's bill, said Robin Potwora, executive director of the nonprofit, Smoke Signals Coalition.

"There are more than half a million adult smokers in Connecticut. They understand this is a fairness issue," Potwora said of the statewide ban that outlawed smoking in restaurants in October 2003 and in bars in April 2004, but allows it in private clubs and Connecticut's two gambling casinos.

The 30-second and 60-second advertisements, running on a classic rock station in Brookfield, a hard-rock station in Hartford and country music station in New London, ask Connecticut smokers to boycott buying cigarettes until the smoking ban is repealed.

Just thought you might find this typically funny of nearly every "grassroots" GOP Inc. campaign - like the Dick Armey GOP inc. sponsored side of the Tea party. Typical of these corporate astroturf types, she was anti cigarette taxes too. (I'm shocked, I tell you!)

Anyways... There is smoke. Dare I say fire?


[update] Put this in your pipe and smoke it:

Tobaccoup Road

In 1999, speaking to physicians, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a Reagan appointee, decried the hold of Big Tobacco on health care legislation.

He called tobacco “the sleaziest, slimiest, most devious industry in the world,” whose members “also are the smartest and the richest," and then added. "...that’s a bad combination.”*

Koop remarked:

The biggest scandal in Washington was the Republican Senate selling out to the tobacco industry.

Always prescient, Koop was drawing attention to a coup d'etat: a bloodless takeover of government by big business...one that would drastically effect us for over a decade and is still derailing healthcare reform efforts today.

Koop warned, "We have lost control of medicine to the business world."

Read on... 

Just between Bluegal and me...

I'd still say Bluegal and her own blogging Wonder Woman personae wins hands down regardless of her twitter note and in almost any photoshop contest up.

My effort, a much deserved kick at The Economist can be found at ePluribus Media (+++ a bit more) while Bluegal's vastly superior effort can be found here...

For those who argued against Catholic Parishioners having more oversight over their donations

to the Catholic Church... Is it more than just political donations and actions that the church is trying to hide?

A Roman Catholic priest in Connecticut has been arrested on charges he stole $1.3 million in church money over seven years to use for male escorts, expensive clothing, and luxury hotels and restaurants.

Waterbury police say the 64-year-old Rev. Kevin J. Gray was charged Tuesday with first-degree larceny. Gray is the former pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury.

It seems to me that local parishioners, had they had a little more oversight over where their money goes to, would have caught this one long ago.

Would you not worry about what they were doing with your money, both politically and non-politically, given their recent and previous actions?

Catholic Church role in killing sex-abuse bill downplayed
Published: 08:27 p.m., Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Legislature's Judiciary Committee introduces a controversial bill the Catholic Church finds discriminatory, Connecticut's bishops issue an urgent call to parishioners to protest, and the proposal goes away.

Sound familiar?

On its face, the Catholic Church's recent defeat of legislation extending the statute of limitations for sex abuse echoes the organization's 2009 quashing of a highly controversial Judiciary Committee proposal giving the laity greater oversight of parish finances.

In an April 10 letter distributed at weekend Mass the bishops, including William E. Lori of the Bridgeport diocese, invoked that comparison to again rally the faithful.

"You will remember the now infamous Senate Bill 1098 last year, which was an attempt to restructure the governance of the Catholic Church," they wrote.

Did 1098 cross the line between church and state? A bit.

But it did so a lot less than the Catholic Church, and other churches to be fair as well, have constantly crossed the line into being non-stop political action groups funding policy and issues and they could probably be regulated that way (which isn't saying much given Citizen United and the activist right wing SCOTUS). Never mind the criminal activities that get covered up under the veil of their "religious rules".

Forcing them to be a bit more accountable to their parishioners is a minor blur in the line compared to how they have proven to have misused the churches funds for political actions, sexual indiscretions and cover-ups for other deeply disturbing illegal actions against children.

Hopefully the members of the Catholic churches that fund these actions will take the reigns away from these financial abusers themselves.

Because I would prefer the government keep on its side of the line. On it's side of that famous "Wall of Separation".

But if the Catholic church expects the government to stay on their side of the line than the Church had better get the fuck back on their side of the line. And maybe, just maybe, stop doing so many horrid and criminal things?

[update] PZ Myers at Pharyngula "celebrates" this news with some dark humor:

"Hooray for the Catholic Church! It's a priest who wasn't raping children!"

Father Kevin Gray had better things to do with his time.

Apparently for the past seven years Gray has been spending church money to fund trips to New York and pay for sessions with male escorts, and he also racked up $200,000 in restaurant bills including a large tab at Tavern on the Green.

It is a step up for the church, from child molesters to hedonistic embezzlers. Progress!

Conflict Minerals and the "Ore on Terror"

Steven D at the BooMan Tribune pointed out this interesting video on a campaign to raise awareness concerning the grave situation in the Congo:

Profiting from the worst war on the planet that no one in America knows anything about by purchasing "conflicts minerals" from the Congo for their products:

Also from Steven D, and after some nudging from readers, an added a diary covering what you can do about it.


One of the things I have always loved about Blogging is the fact that not only can we start to look at things that are wrong, pick apart stories, facts and ideas... But we can work together on solutions for them when we see these problems for what they are.

Below is the same story unfolding with a different name to the region affected, IMHO, as Jon Stewart and the Daily Show crew give us the "Ore on Terror":

Ore on Terror
Afghanistan will never not know war after tons of incredibly valuable natural resources are found underneath its surface.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Ore on Terror
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Dem Dems are Dumb Dumbs

Yep - the local New Milford Democrats are lead by dumb dumbs. Their entire leadership team is continually outmaneuvered and outsmarted by the Republican Town Committee (RTC). Why they seek leadership positions year after year - and why they're re-elected by the membership - is beyond me.

John Lillis and Liba Furhman are so pathetic they claim they couldn't find anyone to take a seat on the Board of Finance. Really? You couldn't find ONE person, among a few thousand registered Dems, who would take a seat on the BOF?

Let's take a look at the record of recent failures to see what the real story is for these dumb dumbs.

The Park and Rec Board has ZERO Dems. 5 R's and 2 U's, but no Dems. The last time an appointment was open, the wife of a Dem elected official asked repeatedly to serve. Because the leadership did nothing, the Mayor put forth another "R." Is this just being lazy - or dumb?

The Board of Ed had an opening in February '10, due to the resignation of Dr. Lisa Diamond. She gave the Dems ample time to find and put up a qualified nominee. In a stroke of unethical genius, the RTC Mayor put up a registered Dem to fill the void. The Dem, Rodney Weinberg, had asked da Dems repeatedly to serve on the BOE or other commission, but his name - or that of any other Dem - was never put up. As usual, Lillis showed up late to the party, and the right-leaning Weinberg was confirmed. Is this just lazy - or dumb?

After months and months of a Dem seat being open on the BOF, the Mayor could wait no more. She put up a "U," Beth Falder, at the last TC meeting (6/28/10). Mrs. Falder might as well be an "R," or a "T" for Tea Party, as she lead the public charge of the anti-school crowd this year. According to a party insider, Liba Furhman claimed there was not one person's name they could bring forward for that seat. Again - lazy or dumb?

If da Dems could lift a finger and type out an email to their membership, maybe they'd get a response from "one or more" volunteers. Or, if da Dems put a two paragraph note in the local papers (just like the RTC does all the time), asking for volunteers for boards and commissions, maybe they'd get a response. Or, if they asked their members to ask their friends and neighbors, I bet dem Dems could get one, sole, single, solitary person to volunteer.

Am I way off base here? Would any of you reading this be willing to step up and take a seat on the BOF, BOE, Park and Rec, or any of the other boards and commissions in town? Let me know.

We don't need to remind everyone of da Dems recent general election success to take a shot at the leadership. They lost control of every board in town, and only by the grace of the Town Charter were they able to cling to a few paltry seats of importance. But, when you run a campaign consisting of nothing, that's what you get. Nice leadership Lillis and Liba!

What do I think is the real problem? Lillis and Furhman are overly controlling, and unwilling to give new people an opportunity. If they don't know you - forget it. If they don't like you - forget it even more. If you have any new ideas... I think you get the point.

If you want a leadership position, then lead. Do something - ANYTHING - to show New Milford da Dems aren't dead.

Let's Take a Shot at the Media

How can I possibly top that introduction? I'm so happy - I'm tearing up! Actually, if I can add just a dash of local flavor to this bubbling cauldron of intellectual give and take, Connecticut Man1 can add a micro-brew to his menu of libations. Cheers!

Let's Take a Shot at the Media

While I'd love to start off with the usual suspects (Town Council, Mayor, Republicans, Democrats, Board of Ed), today an editorial appeared in the Danbury News-Times that deserves attention. After multiple editorials calling for support of education, that education was the most important responsibility of a community, they rip the New Milford BOE for instituting Pay-to-Play instead of cutting more teaching positions. Can you say hypocritical? Worse than flip-flopping, however, is the "fact" they use regarding the fees. Does each student have to pay $150 for each sport? NO. Each family would pay one time - only $150 - to play sports at the high school. If you play 3 sports, your fee is only $150 for the entire year. Didn't your reporters pass this up to the corner office? Or do you trust Roger Szendy to do your reporting?

The News-Times also forgot to mention that the BOE voted 8-0 to accept Pay-to-Play. 5 Republicans, 3 Democrats. Unanimous. Bipartisan. Buh-bye now...

Why doesn't the News-Times mention their disdain for other districts that have Pay-to-Play? How about a comparison?

Did you notice the editorial called the Town Council's $1.8 million cut unreasonable? Let's face it: the TC is the real problem.

We are not losing out in the world economy because of lack of atheltic opportunities. We could play Singapore in any sport (other than ping pong) and crush them - but will that get these kids jobs in the future? Will that pay for Grandma's social security? Will we have to pay to incarcerate these kids for a lot more $$ in the future?

Stop the flip-floping, News-Times. Take your responsibility seriously.

Read the editorial, and let me know what you think. Was I fair and balanced?


ANSWER THE QUESTION!

Connecticut Man1 asked: Is this now a movement or a drinking game? LOL! I loved quarters in college, and playing "Bob" was always fun. But, sadly, some of the locals view our lives as part of a game, and they'll screw any of us in order to win. So, I hope it's a movement (but I'll be sipping on a cold one in the back yard tonight, enjoying the sunset over the hills of New Milford).

Welcome News on Ramping up Blog Production in New Milford

As the next big election season starts to heat up... I just wanted to note that this place will start getting a little more interesting. There a lot of great races on the radar, with the Governor's race, a Senate seat and the endless campaign campaigns on the House side, of course.

But, even better, IMHO, is that if you look over at the sidebar in the drunk tank you might notice that there are now two authors for this Blog.

CT Fair and Balanced is local to New Milford and I believe has an even better handle on the local politics than I do. I've always been so busy on national politics that I've never had the time to focus on it, myself, and with any of the depth that it probably should be explored. But CT Fair and Balanced will be posting on whomever or whatever is at the tips of the typing fingers.

I will still be brewing up my regular stuff here but now you may even find some breaks from the monotony of my own personal opinions on subjects and campaigns of local and national importance.

Now there remains but one question to be answered:

With two people on this Blog, does this officially make it a movement or a drinking game?



I may be slightly nuts but since I can't dance I know I have my own opinion on that... Cheers! :)

What subversive literature is that?

My daughter is up to something today.... First step to conquering the world?

Premature Ejaculatory Praise Of Tiny Comical Release

I think TPM's Megan Carpentier may have captured the essence of this funny and tiny problem for teabagger redux - "Microman" - in her last paragraph:

Wurzelbacher describes Microman as "frustrated" and "one of us" in the same press release. One wonders how many other Tea Party members, already frustrated with being called teabaggers, would get behind a movement to rebrand them as "Micromen" with as much enthusiasm as Wurzelbacher.

And so their own witless self-parody continues needing very little help from the opposition...

Two Polls and Two Really Bad Jokes

Poll 1.


Research 2000 just pretty much confirmed the state of the Connecticut Senate race between Blumenthal and McMahon:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 5/24-26. Likely voters. MoE 4% (1/11-13 results)

Dick Blumenthal (D) 52 (56)
Linda McMahon (R) 33 (34)

It'd been a while since we polled Connecticut, and quite frankly, I didn't expect to ever come back to this Senate race (the governor's race is another story, and a race for another day to poll).

Poll 2.

These numbers are pretty darn close to where Quinnipiac had them yesterday:

May 27, 2010 - Blumenthal Pins McMahon By 25 Points In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Most Voters Say Vietnam Issue Doesn't Impact Vote


Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal leads former wrestling executive Linda McMahon 56 - 31 percent in the U.S. Senate race and tops the Republican candidate by large margins on every character measure, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Joke 1.

I blogged about that Vietnam issue being a pile of hooey, having been planted in the media by McMahon and hopelessly being flung around like poop in the right wing blogosphere and media in a desperate attempt to make a non-story into anything they can over at Connecticut Political Reporter. Probably because the joke of a corporatist media would really love to turn this smackdown of a Senate race into a horse race that they want and need to sell papers:

Despite "supposedly" putting his own foot in his mouth last week, Dick Blumenthal still manages to put a good old fashioned WWE Smackdown on Linda McMahon, where Blumenthal keeps a formidable lead, 56-31, over McMahon in the most recent Quinnipiac polling.

Proving that this was the non-story that it really should have been from the start, regardless of the GOP's McMahon planting it, the NY Times doing a bang up job of corporatist stenography for the GOP and right wing Bloggers desperately trying to make more of it than was ever going to be worth.

When McMahon tries to float one we will flush it...

 In the media you will find that they repeat the same thing about this story yet is a taken from a video that is purposely taken out of context by McMahon and the media can't even bother to fact check it a bit before they go with it....

Joke 2. (And this is a long running joke)

Rasmussen does its nuttiest best to give the right wing something to latch onto:

18 MAY 2010
CT-SEN
Blumenthal D 48.0%, McMahon R 45.0%
Sample:
MoE: 500
4.5
Population: Likely Voters

What planet are they polling likely voters on? Is there some hidden Republican Connecticut on a propaganda producing Perelandra that we don't know about?

This is expected of Rasmussen as they are purely a propaganda arm of the GOP and they always produce polls that are so far out of whack with reality for months leading up to primaries and elections, which the corporate media slurps up like a Jeff Gannon kneeling in front of George W Bush passing this disease (and others) off to readers as "news",  and then suddenly, magically, weeks before an election their numbers start to reflect the real numbers of a race.

Rasmussen followed their typical propaganda pattern when they were constatntly predicting that there would be a "President McCain" coupled with a "GOP gaining in the House"... Right up until a few weeks before the election when it became clear they would be so far out of touch with reality at the end of it. And it is like they don't think people will notice this?

For example, from February to April of 2008, Rasmussen showed John McCain leading by an average of 2.6%. Meanwhile, every other poll of likely voters during that time period showed Barack Obama with a 2.6% lead. So from February to April, there was a 5.2% gap between Rasmussen and everybody else.


From September through election day, however, the gap was significantly smaller. The average Rasmussen poll taken during that time showed Obama leading by 3.8% while the average of all other polls of likely voters showed Obama leading by 5.8%, resulting in a gap of 2%.

So in the early months of 2008, the gap between Rasmussen and everybody else was 5.6% compared with 2% late in the cycle. Another important point here is that early in the cycle, Rasmussen's polling accounted for a far larger share of overall polling, meaning that their results played a more important role in shaping horse race narratives in the early stages of the campaign than they did in the latter stages of the campaign.

They are clearly trying to drive a republican narrative and it shows. Some earlier Rasmussen jokes being compiled by Nate Silver:

Here are the results of statewide polling in the 2000 Presidential Election. Although the pollster ratings will eventually involve some fancier math, the numbers you see below are as simple as it gets: I've simply looked at the average error of the last poll issued by each pollster in each state in terms of projecting the margin between Bush and Gore. (A cut-off is established 21 days prior to the election.)





While 2000 was generally a fairly rough year for pollsters, who had to deal with an unenthusiastic electorate, some third-party challengers, and some late-breaking developments like Bush's DUI charge, Rasmussen was the worst of the lot, missing by an average of 5.7 points. They also called 7 states wrong.** Some of this was the result of bias, as they were 3.5 points too high on Bush's margin in the states they surveyed, on average.

If I were a betting man, and I am not, I could see setting up a pool picking the date when Rasmussen starts to reflect reality in the CT-SEN race OR any other race for that matter. They really are that predictable.

An old empty bottle brewed in New Milford showing how out of touch Rasmussen was (looks like pure propaganda to me) during the healthcare reform debate. Just look at the pic to see clearly how out of whack their numbers are:

All you need to know about healthcare polls:

For now...

The right wing keeps trying to push a Rasmussen poll with bad numbers in it for Obama, the public option and for single payer. I dealt with the single payer numbers and public option numbers a little bit (and other interesting things, to me, at least?) at ePluribus Media a couple of days ago and most of the Blogosphere has seen the numbers for Obama start to rise again. Much of these numbers have all been noted to follow the start of of pressure from teabagging. Briefly numbers across the board dropped... But as people began to realize all of the things the birthers/.deathers/teabaggers were saying were as crazy as the things many of them were doing the numbers for those issues and Obama re-solidified. While pollster.com dealt with many of the numbers in a different way, I just want to show you the picture they put together of what I am talking about:


Yes, this one picture deals with the public option but is easily applicable across the board on almost any issue. And I am not even going to get in to the well known right wing bias of Rasmussen, nor their incredibly ridiculous outlier numbers in previous polls. Just remember that they are the one polling outfit that was predicting major leads for the GOP House early into the last election cycle and have, over time, taken a serious beating from many poll savvy people over many of their crazy outliers and polls bordering on the edge of push polls.

Anyways... Some in the media and the right wing are ignoring recent polls and quoting old stuff and even taking stuff out way out of context in order to fit their talking points and narratives. How the heck can any person call Obama and his policies in trouble when he has approval ratings over 50% in 48 of the 50 states? And an Obama 63% approval rate across the entire country?

6 months in we are talking uber popular, both in Obama's leadership and in many of his policies. If anything, the numbers inside the polls, overall and IMHO, show that the solutions they are seeing are not liberal enough for them.
And we can thank the raging, lying loonies on the right wing for helping to solidify those numbers.

While I am certain that many of the people with more experience in reading into polls will have more important things to say about it all, people like the number crunchers at dKos or Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com, but really, and let us be honest here: If a picture is worth a thousand words, that one up there speaks volumes.

Movin' On!

Just to the other side of town. :)

I am at the point where I can choose to live in a half empty house with only a computer and a lot of furniture (minus the drawers of "stuff" that are already moved) or live in a house with a TV and no furniture inside (though we do have our patio furniture moved so we can sit outside). We load up the van and take it over every night and so far we have moved most of the small things we have. We rented a small moving truck to move the big things figuring on doing it in two loads but with so much already done we may just get everything left to fit in that one small truck for one last load.

McMahon Gushes Over Deregulating Oil

McMahon Campaign Literature
From TheDay.com

According to The Day and at the same time that we are witnessing the results of the typical Republican deregulation-run-amok of anything that moves money to these Multinational Oil Corporations wash in ashore as tar balls and dead dolphins on American shorelines, GOP Senate candidate wannabe Linda McMahon spews about further deregulation of the oil industry?

I can think of better ways to solve our energy problems than coating the country from coast to coast along with our food sources with more oil slicks.

The Root Of The Problem: Education

From former New Milford raised a glass and brewed Todd Umbarger and without further comment since it says enough on its own (and I could add an essay to this BUT...) :

click on this for larger

With previous permission from Todd Umbarger.

Todd is a New York-based illustrator and draws the political cartoon "National Concern."

Image of a word bomb

If a picture is worth a thousand words than this one speaks volumes about where a pretty darn liberal America is right now:

Though I embrace many of the progressive ideas that those who have embraced the name "progressive" espouse, I have always preferred to stick to the name liberal. For the most part liberal is progressive and progressive is liberal. Somebody can correct me if I am wrong on this but about the only difference between them is those that embrace the name progressive tend to be more closely associated with the Democratic party and those that have stuck with liberal tend to be more independent of a political party affiliation. Not always, but for the most part.

I can not see tossing out the word liberal simply because a synonym has shown some level of popularity across the board in American's eyes. The fact is that it is the ideas that count regardless of what you want to call it.

Besides that? DLinNM sounds pretty safe and if I take on the popular word and change my Blog's name to Drinking Progressively in New Milford shortening it in comments, etc., would sound too much like an adult sex classified ad:  "DPinNM"

- Uh, no thanks. :)

Not that we should Wonder about McMahon's 5$ bounty...

But it kind of has to make ya wonder what McMahons' real intentions were when she put a bounty on college students' registration:

DA to team with Secretary of State on voter registration probe

A Register investigation published Friday online and in Sunday’s newspaper exposed how signature gatherers circulating petitions had tricked young Orange County voters into registering to vote as Republicans. Since mid-March, at least 99 written complaints have been submitted to state elections officials by Orange County residents who say they were registered to vote Republican without their consent.

An independent Register investigation found an additional 74 voters who say they were tricked or coerced into registering to vote as Republican by signature gatherers who initially asked them to sign petitions to legalize marijuana, fight cancer or clean up beaches.

All of the voters identified by the Register are listed as under 28 years old and live in the 34th State Senate District, where the Republicans hope to oust incumbent Democrat Lou Correa in the fall. Unlike the Democrats, the California Republican Party has a policy of paying signature gatherers who send them new GOP voter registration cards and the Republicans are offering as much as $8 for each new GOP registration in that district.

Many believe this $8 bounty creates an incentive for signature gatherers to commit fraud.

 HMMMM?

When we have a fire...

The flames are going about twenty five feet in the air right now. If there is one thing every Boy Scout knows how to do? Start a really BIG FIRE.

The view from here

My perspective as we wrap up the Bloggers meet up with Rep. Rosa DeLauro. Video coming soon.

Boston Tea Party Punked

Buzzfeed has a whole bunch of signs from the Boston Common Tea Party getting punked but here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

Support The Troops - Pay Your Taxes

Connecticut Man1

It is the tax deadline and this stuff is pretty self explanatory.

You pay taxes and they get beans, bullets and valuable training that might just save their lives. When you want tax cut after tax cut? The active duty soldiers serving overseas, in training here or elsewhere and the veterans that have served are the ones that pay the price. You may not want to believe that but it is true.

Connecticut State Capitol Police Dumps Cold Water On Radical Tea Party

The Connecticut State Capitol Police reverses their previous decision and revokes the Tea Party's flag raising ceremony when they figured out it was nothing more than a political pity party stunt from a bunch of fringe wingnuts:

Tea Party activists won't be permitted to fly the Gadsden Flag over the state Capitol after all.

State Capitol police today reversed an earlier decision to allow the bright yellow "Don't Tread On Me" banner to flutter from the highly visible flagpole after learning that activists had planned a political rally following the flag-raising ceremony.

"It went from being a flag-raising ceremony to a political event,'' Acting Capitol police Chief Walter Lee said. "They are using it as a launching pad for [candidates for] public office."

Tea Party activists view the flag as a historic symbol of American defiance, but critics say the familiar flag with the image of a coiled rattlesnake is now associated with the controversial political movement.

Why they would consider allowing a political stunt from a bunch of far right wing radical retreads of the John Birch Society ilk with no more political weight than socialists in the United States of America have is beyond reason in the first place?

It would be funny if Socialism was as popular as the Tea Party

Bwahahahaha!

The numbers don’t lie.


The Percentage of Americans viewing “The Tea Party movement” favorably: 37 percent. The Percentage of Americans with a positive image of “socialism”: 36 percent. (Both sources, Gallup).

Yes... The thing the far right wingnut Teabaggers mock as being radical and fringe in America is just as popular as they are.

Kudos to the Connecticut State Capitol Police for recognizing this political stunt for what it is before it happened.

[update] Connecticut Bob and My Left Nutmeg are all over this, as well. Too much serious funny and reality hilariousness not to notice this story.

Dudchik: News Aggregator or the Big CON?

Most "news aggregators" are meant to misinform. This is even truer when they are run by ideologues and propagandists more interested in hyper-partisan talking points than reality.

In order to be shocked by this I would need to be licking the inside of a light-bulb socket. If anyone else is shocked by this perhaps they should be licking the inside of light-bulb socket? This kind of stupid should hurt. Might just realign their synapses in a functioning manner so they can begin using the basic skill of critical thinking.

Sadly, aggregators like that are the first bastion of the lazy journalists as evidenced by the fact that too many of them seem to think Drudge is a legitimate source, as well, and repeat the same mistake of leaving their browser open on it all day long waiting for their next big news story and expecting a different result than the last time they did that.

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Rachel Maddow's piece continues on and expands on the brigade of right wing GOP talking pointy heads concerning their fake "ACORN" and "Climategate" scandals and a litany of stupid regardless of the issues below.

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