Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Open Forum

People seem to favor user registration over comment moderation, as do I. I will make the switch to requiring user registration on Friday.

To register, go to www.blogger.com and click on "Create a Blog Now." You won't be creating a blog (unless you want to!), just a username. Fill out the form that pops up. You will be able to choose a login name, and a "display" name. Click on "continue." Make sure that you get to the next page, and then close that browser window. You can sign in at www.blogger.com, or in the comments section of this blog.

It's pretty simple, really, and you won't have to make information public. If you have questions or concerns, post them here or email me.

As for the news... Bush is in state, no pictures or real stories yet.

Jim Amman is opposing a Democratic plan to withhold some state funds from Catholic hospitals which refuse to provide emergency contraception.

Lastly, a Homeland Security Academy? In New London? Sounds good to me. I hope they get to take classes over at Connecticut College, like the Coast Guard cadets can.

When I was there, I was once in a poetry writing class with large, loud Coasties. It was really... odd. It would be much more fun with paranoid Homeland Security types.

What else is happening today?

63 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a pictur for you GC. I'll be using my current handle until you cut 'other' off since bloger didn't accept it and if I don't go to the sidelines for good, I'll come back with something new.

And the Homeland Security academy is a possibility. Groton was named the counter terrorism center for the Navy a few weks ago but the significance of it gained scant attention.

Genghis Conn said...

I hope you don't go to the sidelines for good, bluecoat. I encourage everyone to at least give Blogger registration a shot.

Hey, he brought one of those backgrounds! Man, those look silly. Historians are going to be able to pinpoint to the year when an early 21st century speech was given just from the backdrops...

Anonymous said...

GC: if I go to the sidelines it won't be because I have to register with blogger. I've enjoyed the participation, learning, etc. You do a fantastic job with CT related issues - far superior to any other I have checked out even if you do lean a little to far to the left for me personally. And I think you can tell I've spent some time on research but temporary retirement from my consulting business needs to come to an end. And I looking forward to the beach time as the weather clears before that retirement ends.

Clinton started those backgrounds reminiscent of some national sales meetings I used to go to with a big behemoth company. I thought they cheapened the Presidency and I still feel that way.

Genghis Conn said...

You know, that's exactly it. The backgrounds remind me of infomercials. He could be selling half-baked miracle cleaning solutions instead of half-baked health savings accounts.

But that's the modern presidency... they've taken the Permanent Campaign and turned it into the Permanent Ad Campaign.

Anonymous said...

Anybody have a link to Nancy Johnson's "Chris Murphy Almost Sort of Called me Hitler Except He Didn't" ad?

Anonymous said...

this came in off the AP WIre

Candidate Staffer Arrested for Foul Play

Newly appointed field manager of the Lamont Campign Rick ( 3 chins) Melita was arrested yesterday by the Meriden Police...while in the midst of his duties and after eatting 30 cheeseburgs...20 donuts...24 cokes..13 cheesewiz's and 10 twinkies... he let out such foul flatulence that Homeland Security had to clear the building...

Mr Melita will be in arrignment court for the charge of nuisance and bad air enviornment and will be represented by Attorney Jeffrey Garfield...who has already contacted Atty Kevin Daneen to seek his advise...

We will keep you all advised of this smelly development.

Anonymous said...

Enrico actually looks pretty good these days. He's lost weight, and I almost didn't recognize him the other day.

If you want fat, ugly and not funny, try Ken Daglierre of the Lieberman camp. I think you can find a picture of him in the dictionary under "toady".

Anonymous said...

Is there any truth to the rumor that in case of a Lamont/Lieberman tie...rick melita will summa mud wrestle Ken Daglierre, the winner will select the new Senator?

Anonymous said...

If anyone here is unfortunate enough to be in attendence at an event where Ken Daglierre is "Pinch hitting" for Senator Fuddy-duddy please be advised that the first 3 rows should be avoided,
Between the sweat,food particles and saliva it's more disgusting than a Gallahger show.

If you can get past the flying debri though the comedy of Kenny Boy trying to sell Lieberman as "in agreement with Lamont on almost every issue except the war" usually does bring down the house with laughter

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for those of you making fun of Melita and Ken Dagliere because fo their weight because you obviously dont have the privilege of knowing them. Disagree with their politics all you want, but both of them are good men who truly believe in what they do. I know them both personally and am proud to call both of them friends.

Anyone here could make fun of any number of R's, D's, U's, (there are even enough G's out there to find one to poke fun of) out there for their looks - it's particularly easy when you are hiding behind a computer screen.

Making fun of someone else's appearance or weight problem is simply childish and makes obvious the fact that you have nothing intelligent to say. Grow up or grow some balls.

Anonymous said...

Dan Malloy is going after Rell and her car tax ads.

The Governor is being pretty disingenuous here. Both her campaign and the Republican Party are paying for different ads regarding the car tax, so really... what’s the difference? It's left hand/right hand.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anon 2:58

The room just sent me an email that you have a large hampster up your rectum and in a foul mood for political humor of the Don Rickles type.

Do try to loosen up and them maybe someone will take you seriously...

BTW i know them both as well...and neither would mind the jokes.....grow up and get buy a sense of humor..i hear Target has a few on sale for half price.

Anonymous said...

middletowner -

can you believe Nancy is complainig about moveon running an ad against her that mentions Abramoff, but then she runs an ad where the first picture is Murphy and the next one is Hitler??

I don't know if Nancy's ad is available on line but I bet the moveon ad is at their site.

I seem to remember that some of these DC groups (not moveon of course but conservative groups) ran ads for Nancy when she had that race against Moloney - anyone else remember that?

Anonymous said...

Very Strong Governor= Big trouble for Democrats in state legislative races.

Very Weak President= Big trouble for the CT Republicans in congress.

Anonymous said...

George Pundit: I think you have it right. Is your last name Stephanopolous by any chance?

Anon 3:25 p.m.: I don't know if Johnson had third-party ads run for her in 2002 (I was out of the state then) but I am positive she knows that Murphy isn't behind the MoveOn.org ads. She's no rookie. But it is certainly a convenient for her to have an excuse to run a negative TV spot very early in the game and I don't blame her for taking the opportunity. She has real problems this year (thanks in part as George points out to Bush) and I am sure she's been dying to spend some of that hard-earned PAC money attacking this upstart!

Genghis Conn: I have recently started watching your blog and it is impressive. When I can think of something good to call myself I will definitely register for the new system.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Kiner serving in a leadership position years ago gives him any real advantage. If he gets elected, it's not like he's going to leapfrog over current members into an important position. He'll be Chairman of Housing. Besides, Kissel votes with the D's on most of the big issues anyways.
Kiner had his chance last time in a Presidential year and couldn't get the job done. He'll lose by a bigger margin this fall.

Anonymous said...

And showing what a great leader he will be, Malloy is railing against eliminating the car tax eventhough his own city's tax collector has been saying why it is bad for forty years. They all (guberantorial candidiates) suck the big wazoo.

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:21

Unbelievable! Its Rell's voice in the ad, its being done to help her policically - and she is hiding behind a technicality that its not paid for by her campaign! And besides, that's the POINT: she's letting the party pay for things to help her after saying she wouldn't "period".

Oddly enough, I couldnt find the Courant article where she said it but google led me to an entry on this very site about it! Here it is from, well, here!

Anonymous said...

Capt. Obvious / Anonymous 3:21 p.m.

Not to confuse you with facts, but ...

(1) The campaign has not paid for ads regarding the car tax, just for some bumperstickers

(2) The radio ads deal with a legislative issue, not a campaign issue. The distinction seems rather, well, obvious.

Malloy and Roy O. must be scraping the bottom of the press release barrel this week.

Anonymous said...

You've got to be kidding me. I'm no big Rell supporter, but it's no like every word she says now has to be paid for by her campaign. It's not like JDS and DM have stopped being mayors. They'll take whatever they can from their cities to promote themselves. I heard the ad, all Rell does is ask for support for her budget. Is she supposed to stop being Governor?

Aldon Hynes said...

Check out Chris Dodd for a Better America. It appears to have been set up this morning by Scott J. Baclawski this morning, and so far only has one post, which is the AP story.

Looking around, it appears as if Scott is former treasurer for the New Haven police union, Local 530.

I don't know anything more about it than that.

Anonymous said...

oh fine dodd opens a PAC..its another race that ALDON will try to whore himself upon. Others do politics for issues and change...aldon gets paid for the folks he works for.

Anonymous said...

Aldon, you little vixen.

C'mon, give Aldon a break. Who wouldn't like to get paid to opine? Anybody wants to send me a check, just let me know.

Especially if I can get, say, Lieberman to pay me while I write that Lamont is, ya know, not all that bad a guy, and definitely would make a fine Senator. That'd be suhweeet.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Hey have you guys seen the website end car tax website www.endcartax.com , it would appear the GOP has their crap together, the dems are fighting over their budget...this is going to be a very intresting cycle

Anonymous said...

Obscure candidate alert:

Closing out what may be the shortest U.S. Senate campaign in history, Joe Lieberman's most fearsome opponent (no, not that one) has dropped out of the race the day after announcing his interest. This despite the potential of a major celebrity endorsement.

The first dog nominee also expressed his disappointment, but Joe is celebrating his good fortune.

Anonymous said...

There's a kind of shush all over the world tonight.

Anonymous said...

I've been doing some thinking about the consequences of the Lamont/Lieberman primary, and to my mind, I don't think there will be any real fall-out, if this stays a Dem Primary battle.

However, what happens if Joe were to pull out and run as an Independent? To my thinking this would result in a ton of carnage. Not only would it destroy the Big Three's (Farrell, Courtney and Murphy) chances of getting their message out, it also might cost us seats in Hartford...

Party leadership needs to settle this now. My feeling is that Lieberman shouldn't get a single delegate until he rules out an Independent run in November.

P.S. The worst case scenario is that Joe, (fearful of his internal polls), goes non-partisan on us in June, AFTER winning the Dem endorsement. Is Joe selfish enough to do something like that? You bet!

Anonymous said...

Chris MC--

Are you implying that Aldon is a Lieberman mole??? (forgive me if that's not what you wrote).

I've got to say that Aldon's secret meeting with Joe, a year ago last February, made me very uncomfortable....

Anonymous said...

aldon isnt a mole for Joe...unless he gets money for it..or there is a committment for his wife to be state rep.

Anonymous said...

whoever can guess how many cheeseburgers Rick MeLita can eat at a sitting gets 2 tickets to Lamonts next event at the Bristol Nursing Home.

Anonymous said...

Daily Update from the Streitz Campaign:

Not to be outdone by Lieberman's and LaMont's 300lb "big guns," Streitz has committed to locking down the obese vote by going on a strict 'Cheeseburgs Only' diet. He won't, however, buy McDonalds burgers because he's convinced their employees are all illegals.

Anonymous said...

turfgrrl,

I saw a recent Malloy/DeStefano debate, and what Malloy said about the car tax was basically that none of us like it but it makes no sense to cut a tax and not create a single job. I have to agree with this... CT has bigger problems than the damn car tax, let's go after them!

I also searched his site and found a couple of press releases where he mentioned it. The sentiment is pretty much the same as when I saw him speak:

"To add insult to injury, Governor Rell has proposed $500 million to eliminate a car tax that will hurt municipal budgets and create zero jobs," said Malloy. "But Governor Rell's spokesperson on Southeastern diversification says, 'There is little room to breathe within the state budget,' so we can't make investments in Southeastern Connecticut. What's more, Governor Rell's 21st Century Jobs proposal consists of only $1.5 million for customized training, $250,000 for apprenticeship program, and a $500,000 cut to CONNSTEP -- a non-profit state-federal partner that helps small business improve their production processes. Governor Rell is saying one thing and doing another, to the detriment of the people she serves. She's chosen an election-year gimmick over real investment in Connecticut's future, and acts as if she had no choice."

Anonymous said...

Yeah. I saw the End Cart Ax website. If that's what the Republican's think having their crap together is, DeStefano or Malloy have a pretty good chance.

I guess the Republican's can't afford someone like as good as ALDON

Anonymous said...

FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMMMMMMM

Anonymous said...

Huh, A6:49?

The remark was "Is there a Lieberman mole in the WTNH operation"?

Sounds like you smeared your pixels. Or something.

Anonymous said...

ct-05 admin-
you look like you have lost your credibility... our man genghis erased your post. its too bad. it takes a lot for genghis to erase a post but he did for you.
ct-05 admin has a site that no one visits and has not been updated in months.
maybe ct-05 admin is just a washington, dc operative hired by moveon.org to smear our gramma nancy?
murphy is running scared, real scared. i wonder how much moolah he raised in the 1st quarter?

Anonymous said...

anon 11:33-
word is that murphy raised $400k for the first quarter and he will report almost outraising nancy. if our guy murphy raises $400k, the national dems might really pour resources into this race. nancy better watch out if murphy shows a big number like $400k or $450k raised inthe first quarter.

Anonymous said...

a good friend of mine knows murphy's campaign manager very well and ms merriam confirmed that their goal for the quarter was $450k raised and she says they came short but did get over $400k.
she said that they raised well over $100k at the rahm emanuel fundraiser.

Anonymous said...

is chris mc also ct-05 admin?

Anonymous said...

is chrismc also ct-05 admin?

Anonymous said...

yeah, not a secret. But Aldon didn't tell anyone about it till way after the fact.

Why did Joe visit the Hynes in their own home? Who was offering whom what? Certainly Lieberman didn't go there wanting nothing...

Anyway, a week or two later Aldon comes out with this post, The Scream and The Kiss and Decency chastizing DumpJoe for their use of "The Kiss" as a symbol of all that's wrong with Lieberman.

Read it yourself:
"In the current political climate it is very popular to trash Senator Lieberman. Many people cite ‘The Kiss’ as the perfect symbol or what is wrong with Joe Lieberman. He is too cozy with the right wing extremists that have taken over the Republican Party. Let me propose a radical idea. Perhaps, The Kiss is another fraud, another instance, not quite as clear, of media assassination." -AH 4/4/05

Anonymous said...

the fact is aldon is into politics for money...destefano and lamont...and for political advancement of his wife...she ran for state rep and is a staffer( paid of course) for Lamont....he whores for any race where he can make a buck.

McCardle is a nut ..the folks in newtown hate him..he wanted to be town chair...but got nothing...

Anonymous said...

Damn it! Can we make this about politics, without the personal attacks against people who aren't necessarily public figures?

I'm concerned about people's politics. And their actions, etc. Smearing people like Chris Mc is just plain wrong, and who is perfect anyway?

Please, the politicians are fair game for any vitriol one might hurl. It comes with the territory. Otherwise, let's talk about each other's politics, and not their weight. It's particulary wrong when applied to people, (unlike many), who post under their real names.

Anonymous said...

The last post sounded like Ann Coulter seeking sympathy for poor old Tom DeLay

Anonymous said...

Great news if true, but chris needs to spend some of that immediately to counter johnsons ad linking him to moveon.org You don't get a second chance to make a first impression and this spot is defining chris in a very negative way that could be impossible to erase later on. He's getting KILLED on tv. DO Something!!!

Anonymous said...

The moveon ad was not a smart move. they should have spent that money positively defining murphy. this seems very similar to what the afl-cio did in the maloney race which backfired. i have said it once and will say it again, you cant let hate of a candidate blur your vision of the ultimate goal. moveon does some good things, however i think that in this case money would have been better spent defining our very credible candidate before nancy does with her millions.

Anonymous said...

ending the car tax doesn't create a sinlge state or municiple job True (that is a good thing)

Endingthe car tax puts money back in the hands of Connecticut citizens also true and more important

Anonymous said...

The deal with groups like moveon.org and probably sometimes-obno Chis MC's web is that they can't by law, and apparently don't, coordinate with any candidiate campaign. The same thing was true of the Swift Boat dudes. That doesn't mean the campaigns can't denounce the 527's actions when inaprortiate.

and the statement by anon10:54 is absolute bull Ending the car tax puts money back in the hands of Connecticut citizens also true and more important because no spending on the state laevel has been reduced to compensate for the redistribution of the state income to the municipalities. I still support getting rid of the tax because it simplifies things but I don't support the delusional statements by Jodi and her sycophants..

Anonymous said...

I just heard the same thing about Murphy's first quarter. He has been bragging at the capitol that he has raised over $400k this quarter and that he is seriously considering going on the air in a few weeks to combat nancy's ads. He knows that nancy is defining him throughout the district and he needs to somehow combat it. This moveon.org ad is the best thing going for Nancy. In a horrible GOP year like this, it would be criminal for us not to knock off Nancy but if moveon stays on the air for 3 months like they say they are, it is going to hurt Chris a lot more than it helps him

Anonymous said...

WOW. last quarter Nancy only raised a little over $300,000, and that was one of her best quarters thus far. If Murphy comes in above Nancy this quarter he will get huge national attention and the money flow will stream in.
I also agree that he needs to put some tv advertisements up soon. He needs a nice bio piece that tells voters who he is and what he is about instead of them hearing who he is by his (false) association with moveon.org. Sure he is a member of moveon.org (who isn't) but it is illegal for his campaign to be in kahoots with them.
He defniitely needs to spend some of his war-chest on some TV quick.

Anonymous said...

Any scuttlebut on JDS or DM's numbers? I've heard Rell's numbers are down significantly after grabbing the 'low fruit' in the last quarter.

Anonymous said...

If he is a member of Moveon and does not comment on the ads, he starts to look like he was on board with the ads. Just say something one way or another.

Anonymous said...

no word on JDS, I heard REll did the same as last quarter

Anonymous said...

Oh my! "aldon gets paid for the folks he works for." That's down right capitalistic and unamerican. People shouldn't get paid for the work they do. They should live in their parents' basements and make comments that only they think are witty about how fat campaign workers are. They shouldn't hustle to find jobs that they love. They might actually find one and have to stop living off of their parents.

Anonymous said...

chris, you have a typo. The secret meetings that aldon had was with me, not with satan. People often make that mistake.

Anonymous said...

The facts of the case, which caused a jury of six men and six women to find McDonald's coffee was unreasonably dangerous and had caused enough human misery and suffering that no one should be made to suffer exposure to such excessively hot coffee again, will shock and amaze you:

McFact No. 1: For years, McDonald's had known they had a problem with the way they make their coffee - that their coffee was served much hotter (at least 20 degrees more so) than at other restaurants.

McFact No. 2: McDonald's knew its coffee sometimes caused serious injuries - more than 700 incidents of scalding coffee burns in the past decade have been settled by the Corporation - and yet they never so much as consulted a burn expert regarding the issue.

McFact No. 3: The woman involved in this infamous case suffered very serious injuries - third degree burns on her groin, thighs and buttocks that required skin grafts and a seven-day hospital stay.

McFact No. 4: The woman, an 81-year old former department store clerk who had never before filed suit against anyone, said she wouldn't have brought the lawsuit against McDonald's had the Corporation not dismissed her request for compensation for medical bills.

McFact No. 5: A McDonald's quality assurance manager testified in the case that the Corporation was aware of the risk of serving dangerously hot coffee and had no plans to either turn down the heat or to post warning about the possibility of severe burns, even though most customers wouldn't think it was possible.

McFact No. 6: After careful deliberation, the jury found McDonald's was liable because the facts were overwhelmingly against the company. When it came to the punitive damages, the jury found that McDonald's had engaged in willful, reckless, malicious, or wanton conduct, and rendered a punitive damage award of 2.7 million dollars. (The equivalent of just two days of coffee sales, McDonalds Corporation generates revenues in excess of 1.3 million dollars daily from the sale of its coffee, selling 1 billion cups each year.)

McFact No. 7: On appeal, a judge lowered the award to $480,000, a fact not widely publicized in the media.

McFact No. 8: A report in Liability Week, September 29, 1997, indicated that Kathleen Gilliam, 73, suffered first degree burns when a cup of coffee spilled onto her lap. Reports also indicate that McDonald's consistently keeps its coffee at 185 degrees, still approximately 20 degrees hotter than at other restaurants. Third degree burns occur at this temperature in just two to seven seconds, requiring skin grafting, debridement and whirlpool treatments that cost tens of thousands of dollars and result in permanent disfigurement, extreme pain and disability to the victims for many months, and in some cases, years.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if it's true, but heard that DeStefano's numbers aren't great. He supposedly has been calling the same people 3 or 4 times for money and those who said said they couldn't give, he hung up on them. Haven't heard anything about Malloy.

Anonymous said...

I heard Molloy had a fundraiser this afternoon (lunch) in Hartford. Perez put the squeeze on anyone doing business with his city. Got to love being a 'big' city mayor. Must be testing the waters for LG.

Anonymous said...

Murphy "sure he's a member of 'MoveON', but who isn't"

My God, what echo chamber do you guys live in....

If a GOP candidate was a member of the Minutemen or the Christian Coalition who guys would be screming from the rooftops how the guy was an ideologue out of step with a moderate district.

and you'd be pretty much right

The 5th CD is a DLC type district and now that you;ve outed Murphy as hanging with the tinfoil hat crowd you've cooked his goose.

Oops

Anonymous said...

Right-O!

The anti-Clinton impeachment, anti-Iraq occupation is "tinfoil"?

You are so out of touch. Fact is the majoroty of America is disgusted by the radical Republicans, their rogue partisanship, and the Iraq Experiment.

MoveOn's progressive membership was built upon Ken Starr, and the Neo-Cons insanity.

Anonymous said...

4th place in an Iowa Dem caucus was not proof of mainstream appeal

Anonymous said...

I can't agree more about Proud Mod. Dem and Disgruntled Rep's comments about Murphy. Despite the rule about working with those groups, he can certainly say in public- gee thanks guys. Knock it off. But so far it makes him look like he's simply enjoying the swelter.

I don't like Murphy's beliefs and wouldn't dare think about voting for him, but I WOULD like to see a decent race here. Don't like Nancy either, but she did what she had to do. Its Chris's move.

Anonymous said...

Oh, and why on earth does every politician have to be affiliated with so many groups? Who has time for that!

let's see... gotta read MoveOn's publication, send money to the Sierra Club, go to this meeting, oh yeah- and run my campaign... hmm..