Friday, September 09, 2005

Open Forum

For non-Bysiewicz related chatter!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Following up on New Haven Alderwoman Joyce Chen's earlier fit of idiocy (changing her party affiliation from Green to Democrat without telling either party, then leaving the country), both Chen and her Democratic primary opponent Gina Calder were eager to publicly embarrass themselves in an interview with the New Haven Advocate.

Chen, who had voted against a domestic partnership bill, requested the meeting to discuss her position on gay rights, but insisted that Calder be present. Both then refused to state their positions after repeated questions. Here's a typical excerpt:

Trying to reign in the conversation, I asked them point-blank where they stand on civil unions and gay marriage.

"I'm not going to discuss that," said Chen. And yet, amazingly, she insisted, "I'm not trying to dodge the issue."

Calder was equally evasive.

"Before we get into this," she said, tapping at her watch, "it's knocking on 8:30."

The eavesdropper had heard enough. He got up, walked over, and said, "You're both lousy candidates. You're gutless."

I pushed the stunned candidates one more time, asking for a simple yes or no answer. Calder smiled and rolled her eyes around in thought. She was silent for at least 10 seconds before saying, "I'm in support of equal rights across the board, and making sure there is a level playing field."

She refused to elaborate, then left.

In Calder's absence, Chen said, "I believe that all couples should have all the benefits to live wholesome lives."

I asked her if that means she supports civil unions or gay marriage.

"I want to call somebody to get some advice on whether I should answer this question," Chen said.

She rushed outside, cell phone in hand. When she returned a minute later, she had plenty to saybut never answered the question.


I have no involvement or agenda in New Haven politics, but it doesn't take a native to recognize political cowardice and bigotry. If they oppose civil unions and gay marriage, they should just acquire spines and say it.

If you support marriage equality and want to encourage these knuckleheads to stop running away from their gay constituents, here's how to contact them:
votejoycechen@yahoo.com
gina@ginacalder.com

Genghis Conn said...

Wow. That is pretty gutless.

I remember when Joyce Chen was the hero of the Greens. I can't imagine that what's left of them are very happy with her now.

Anonymous said...

ghengis -

are you getting on the podcast tonight?

Anonymous said...

The Hope Out Loud Peace and Music Festival is going on this Sunday afternoon at Bushnell Park in Hartford.

Anonymous said...

Gina Calder is a less than stellar candidate...

Miss Calder graduated from Yale in May 2003. Yet despite living and working in New Haven, (for a year and a half past graduation), Gina's November 2004 was cast in New Jersey, via an illegal absentee ballot!

The sad reality is that despite six plus years in New Haven, Gina's first New Haven vote at the Goffe Street firehouse, will be,incredibly, -- for herself!

Couple this with the fact her car is illegally registered in New Jersey, and also that Gina still doesn't have a CT Driver's License, and you have a good picture of what doesn't matter to the status quo in New Haven.

Integrity is a joke. Loyalty is everything.

Calder is another rubber stamp for the Mayor. Joyce Chen stands dangerously against the machine.

ctblogger said...

Oh, say it ain't so Joe.

Anonymous said...

I've just stumbled across this here blog and thought I would stick my tuppenceworth in

Now that's what I call entertainment
we're witnessing history in the making
written by the winners and the
people who say wherever there
is money to be made it's
all there for the taking

You may have read about it in
the papers
there's kids trained on arcade
games and space invaders
who get target practice at home
aiming pistols at their
playstations, and now they're
taking all their orders from
George Walker Texas Ranger

knowing that if they don't do
as they're told they'll get
called traitors, even if it means
they'll be hated by their neighbours

but why on earth should they care
they're laughing in the face of danger
doing what they do best just to
make the world a little safer

So when they get killed crippled
or decorated and some of the soldiers
start to wonder where the
hell the parade is, they'll have to
learn the hard way that it's been
going on for ages, that there's
lots of money to be made in a war
that rages

So who pays the price?
Who's the hole in their pocket?
Because someone's loss is always
someone else's profit

It happens right in front of us
but we don't watch it
whilst the shit Bruce Willis films
make a killing at the box office

I don't mind preaching to the choir
when freedom fries in friendly
fire, time after time it's no
surprise, it's an eye for an eye
until we all go blind

This summer's biggest blockbusters
don't have big name stars or much
of a budget, just a bunch of bandits
with camcorders and swords and
some heads to chop off on the
cutting room floor

We never give in to kidnappers'
demands, if we don't pay them
ransom we won't look that bad
because we know that the rest of
the world understands and together
we can all wash the blood from our hands

But as for the arabs we have other
plans, they'll be smoked out of
every right hole in the land
till we're sure that they're all dead and buried in sand

where one day our big business
skyscrapers will stand
it's hard not to seperate fact
from fiction when faced with a
monkey like man on a mission

a leader who learned all about
his religion from Mel Gibson
films with his evengalism
whose not capable of
taking his own decisions
whether it's abortion or killing
people in prisons

He's about the right size and
daddy's shoes fit him
if he's going down he's taking
all of us with him

I don't mind preaching to the choir
when freedom fries in friendly
fire, time after time it's no
surprise, it's an eye for an eye
till we all go blind

Cameras can shoot nothing worse
than the truth, it's a tooth for
a tooth, we've the pictures for
proof, and it's coming home to
roost, so that's all left to do
is dig up Bob Hope for a morale
boost

Yeah GI Joe is gonna have to do
some explaining, coz photos of
abuse by troops sold a load of
newspapers and caused a sensation
across all of the stations

Just think what a third world war
would do for the ratings
you may have read about it in the
newspapers, there's kids trained
on arcade games in space invader
who get target practice at home aiming pistols at their
playstations, and now they're
taking orders from George Walker
Texas Ranger

Leo Crawley

Aldon Hynes said...

I'm not sure if people saw this article in the New York Times today about the Patriot Act Lawsuit:

"BRIDGEPORT, Conn., Sept. 9 - A federal judge ruled on Friday that the government cannot continue to bar the representatives of a nonprofit organization from speaking out about the sweeping powers that the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act gives investigators seeking library records."

...

"The judge, however, granted a stay along with her ruling giving the United States attorney's office until Sept. 20 to persuade the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn her decision. If that court fails to act quickly, she wrote, then the plaintiffs would be free to identify themselves and comment on some aspects of the case."

Anonymous said...

Saw Paul Vance yesterday at the Bethlehem Fair with some volunteers handing out pins and flyers.

ctkeith said...

A hint of leadership from a Dem ?
You decide.


Dear Friends,

This weekend the Hartford Courant published an op-ed I wrote regarding our failed policies in Iraq and the unwillingness of the Republican controlled Congress to enforce any real accountability. It is copied below.

As always, please continue to visit our website at www.joecourtney.com for the latest campaign news and information!

All the Best,


Joe Courtney


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Disastrous Mismanagement
By: Joe Courtney

On Oct. 3, 1993, a team of U.S. Army Special Forces executed a daring and dangerous operation in the heart of the war-torn Mogadishu district in the country of Somalia. Their mission was to capture leaders of a local warlord's militia that had been the source of violent insurgency. As the best-seller-turned-movie "Black Hawk Down" chronicled, this mission turned deadly for the 160 men who made up the assault force. Two helicopters were shot down and three others were damaged by rocket-propelled grenades fired by the militia. The ensuing battle that followed resulted in the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers and the wounding of 73.

In the wake of this disaster, a congressional investigation swung into action, and then-Secretary of Defense Les Aspin was grilled about the planning and execution of military policy in Somalia. The hearings uncovered the fact that Aspin had rejected a request by Gen. Colin Powell in September 1993 for tanks and armored equipment, leaving American troops with inadequate weapons and protection to face a lethal environment. Aspin made it clear that it was his decision, and not the White House's, to refuse armor reinforcements. Shortly thereafter, Aspin resigned.

Given the recent history of events in Iraq - one disastrous policy miscalculation after another by the Department of Defense - the example of governmental accountability in 1993 should be instructive. Before the invasion of Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, made it clear that an occupation would require "several hundred thousand" troops. He was exiled from the Pentagon.

Since the invasion of Iraq, our troops have been forced to fashion "hillbilly armor" (a term used by the troops) from junk piles. There has been no accounting for the inadequate protection of our men and women in uniform, nor the rank profiteering that contractors have cashed in on. This shameful lack of planning reoccurred Aug. 3 when an antiquated, slow-moving amphibious vehicle built for beach landings ended up as a death trap for 14 Marines from Ohio in the desert area of Haditha.

The Defense Department's bunker mentality was on display again last month, when the Army Corps of Engineers demoted Bunnatine Greenhouse, a career civil servant who had the courage to testify to Congress that a five-year, no-bid, sole-source contract for work in Iraq was awarded to Halliburton Corp. in violation of the Pentagon's normal contract process.

For the American people trying to understand what the administration's plans are, and what the time frame for our involvement is, the best we get are contradictory statements from commanders in the field: One day they state we will be sending tens of thousands of troops home by next spring; the next day, that our troop levels will increase to 160,000 by January.

Despite tragic, deadly and costly mistakes over the past four years, Congress has not risen to its duty, as it did in 1993, to demand answers from the decision-makers responsible. The Bush administration only speaks to the American people in carefully controlled political and media environments where its policies are never seriously challenged.

The need to change direction and leadership from the stay-the-course treadmill is obvious. One common denominator of the string of failures is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose blunders make Les Aspin's transgressions pale. The time has long since come and gone for the Rumsfeld reign of errors to end.

Anonymous said...

Does Joe Courtney say whether he opposed invading Iraq in the first place, or is his opposition only (in Kerry-like fashion) to the manner in which the invasion and occupation was implemented? I don't see anything on in his issues page that would suggest an answer.

Genghis Conn said...

Ebpie,

Interesting. Can you locate/post the quote? I'm not surprised: that was the tenor of the times.

Nate,

Saw about Orman. Joe-haters need to find another candidate... but I don't think Mr. Blumenthal is interested.

Anonymous said...

Following up on Chen and Calder's non-explanations of their positions on gay rights, the New Haven Independent has also tried to smoke them out, to no avail.

Genghis Conn said...

Perhaps it's time to start including "None of the Above" on ballots.

Genghis Conn said...

Good research, Ebpie.

It's worth noting for those who don't have LexisNexis that all Connecticut residents with a library card have access to the Courant's archives going back to 1990. Simply go to ICONN.org and type in your library barcode. Click on "Login." On the next screen, click on "Link to Individual Databases." The Courant's archives will be on the list that pops up.

This is a useful archive because LexisNexis does not archive the Courant this far back. The watered-down academic version of LN that I have only archives six months' worth of it.