Today is Pearl Harbor Day. It's been 65 years.
The Iraq Study Group report is here--very interesting reading.
Commuters are using trains more, at least on the New Haven line.
Rob Simmons is being considered for GOP state chair. The Republicans could do a lot worse, and Simmons would stay visible in state for a possible 2008 or 2010 run.
Colin McEnroe says that Rell ought to "some heads on her desk by the end of January" over the state police scandal.
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz will announce the results of the audits of optical scan voting machines later this morning (11:30am). I'm very curious to find out how they performed.
Some of the best suggestions from commenters for a Dodd presidential book title:
Wigging Out with Chris Dodd
Why Senators are Better than Ordinary People
How To Do Nothing in the Senate
Give Dodd the Nod. His head's better than sod
Eyebrows of Inspiration
What else is happening today?
35 comments:
Simmons would not be taking the job for party building purposes but only to keep his name in the media for another run. Isn't that a little self serving?
On the other hand, maybe the CTGOP can't find anybody else willing to take orders from Lisa Moody but a Simmons Chairmanship makes a very weak party even weaker if not laughable.
65 years since Pearl Harbor.
It's been 65 years since Pearl Harbor, actually. Not 55. Don't mean to be a jerk - just saying.
:-)
Thanks for acknowledging the anniversary tho. Very good of you to do. Always remember.
Oops. Of course, you're right. Math is not my strong suit. I'll fix that.
What would a chairman of the Republican Party do, other than to boost the prospects of a dwindling Republican minority? The position, in both parties, has become largely irrelevant. Chairmen are entirely the creatures of either governors or party leaders in the legislature. In the case of Republicans, that would be the coattailless Rell. Other than cooperating with the prevailing regime, Republicans have no program at all; and a chairman who developed a program that just might be able to draw some interest would likely be cashiered by the governor. The Republican Party can only be reformed from the outside, not from the inside.
you could almost hear Foley licking his chops over the prospect of getting his boy chris healy into the leadership of the ctgop.
i think this is a pretty sad commentary--healy's been after the chairmanship for eons, and now he gets to be de facto executive director (though I'm sure he'll call himself chairman).
Simmons should go out a make some money, do some volunteer work in the district, and then run again.
Since Nancy Johnson has pretty much ruled out a future run, wouldn't she be a better choice for GOP chair than a guy who will use his position just to keep his name in the spotlight?
Since Nancy Johnson has pretty much ruled out a future run
Her name is MUD. Actually no dirt is useful. She's so over it's not funny. And the world is a better place without her in office.
Fuzzy turtle, why dont you keep your hate to yourself. Congresswoman Johnson was one of the finest members to ever serve in Congress. No member of Congress cares more about the people of their district than Nancy. She is also one of the smartest people in Congress. From now on Turtle try to show some respect.
MacEnroe seems to be the one of the few people who understand the real effect of the rot of the rowland administration. The recent revelations of the degeneration of ethics at the most basic level in Connecticut's law enforcement agencies - both judicial and police are startling as well as the fact that these patterns are only coming out AFTER the recent election. There is too much empahasis by those of us interesed in Connecticut on "who is going to be the GOP chairman" and recent voting patterns rather than the core of the real issue - Ethics and the resultant base line of trust in government. On both a national and local level, there has been a acceptance of extremist rhetoric permiting rash and dishonest behavior in the guise of advancing social and security issues. This is exactly how the communist and fascist parties seized control and brought their countries to repeated devastaion.
It's winter. Fuzzy turtle should go hiberate somewhere.
If fuzzy turtle is anti-GOP, and feels NJ is so bad, s/he should WANT NJ to head the party so it would continue to implode. Fact is, word is out that NJ got caught up in the anti-Bush, anti-war sentiment and neither Smurph nor any of the other democrats know how to fix the mess they accused NJ of not fixing.
I like the idea of co-chairs, Simmons for East CT and NJ for West CT. It would keep both in the public eye.
Both Simmons and NJ deserve a rest, but both are the best available for the CT top GOP job. By sharing the workload, they would be able to reach out to every Town Committee and start helping local candidates.
Taking on police corruption is a VERY tough job. It is easy to complain about corruption and lack of accountability. It is tough to root out corruption. NYC suffers from a major police scandal just about every 20 years, going back to 1900. You can't blame everything on Rowland. Some of it is human nature. Get over Rowland.
both NJ and Rob would be fund-raising MONSTERS. plus, take a look at the geographical size of both of their districts combined...that's a good two-thirds to three-quarters of the entire state: because the two of them were so driven by constituent service and always had a pulse on the goings-on in their districts, anyone employing their knowlege and expertise would be an absolute force to be reckoned with.
The unfunded liabilty of the state Teachers' Pension Fund rose to $6.9 Billion from $5.2 Billion during the two years ending June 30, 2006. Despite the promise to "keep the promise" last session, unfunded liabilities continue to spin out of control.
I believe that $5.2billion is the low end of the range that was determined by actuarial assumptions. The high end was $9billion, right?
It was 5-9billion. Now it's
7-???billion?
regarding the unfunded liabilities, most legislators probably don't even realize how irresponsible they are.
Anon 1:29
The unfunded liability as of 6/30/06 is, to be exact, $6,922,454,893.
Go to the Teachers' Retirement Board's website, click on "Statistics & Research" and it's the first report.
Page 1 of the report summarizes the basic information.
Unless Simmons is willing to rule out a future run the CTGOP would be wise to get Nancy Johnson to take over as Chair. If Simmons takes over the party with his own politcal agenda it would not bode well for Republicans. Naturally, Governor Moody will make the final decision.
i don't question that $6.9billion is the number per the teachers' website. However, future liabilities are always based on assumptions. When the assumptions change, that $7B changes.
The $7B is the low estimate.
Regardless... it's still too much money. The legislature is hurting CT by not fully addressing the problem.
Regardless, unfunded and underfunded liabilities should be the first priority for the "surplus." Let's get our fiscal house in order before we spend more money.
And why does the idea of co-chairs (one for the East, one for the West) bring to mind the end of the Roman Empire? Will Nancy Johnson's half be overwhelmed by New Yorkers (a.k.a. Yonkersgoths), leaving a Byzantine remnant to struggle on?
Nutmeg politics being reshaped before our very eyes...
Yonkersgoths? Berkshirehuns?
I fear the coming of the Great Genghis Conn!
Got to start getting that horde together...
Turtle may be a little harsh, but he's about right. A long time incumbent who was historically and decisively ousted for running a nasty campaign is not going to help the state party. Rob Simmons ran a good campaign, lost gracefully, and didn't end with the negative coverage Johnson had.
Simmons would be fantastic. Which is why I strongly endorse Nancy Johnson for Republican State Central Chair.
I agree with Fuzzy Turtle. Nancy Johnson's Political career is over. She should get over it and enjoy her retirement.
You all are failing to understand that Rowland and ALL the republicans established a culture of corruption and privilege that people like Simmons, et al tolerated and acutually flourished in, without once taking a stand. I failed to mention that even the state prosecutor's office was affected - Marano's ouster was bizarre. I could not care less if dumicrates or rinos get into a position to make decisions for the rest of us. I do care that those decisions do are not based on personal agenda's and personal profit. I am not unique.
Mirror... what's the connection between Rob Simmons (in DC) and corruption in Hartford?
Mirror, culture of corruption huh? You like reading DCCC talking points? Anon 4:06 The problem with Fuzzy Turtle's post is the tone of it. If you agree with Congresswoman Johnson or not she was a member of Congress for 24 years and should be shown some respect. It makes me sick to see how some of you write about Congresswoman Johnson and Congressman Simmons, I don't agree with many members of Congress but I try to keep it civil, some of you just want to rant and rave becuase you don't agree with them. Sometimes I wonder why GC allows some of these posts.
"Prosecutors have very little accountability to the people" is a little understood fact. They do their own thing and are very political which leads to the cops feeding them cases so they can look good to the public but have their origins in dirty politics. Little known, also, is the role prosecutors have in "rating" judges for performance and reappointment. Essentially we are talking about a self sustaining wheel of self interest. Marano and his predecessor, Bailey, played a polical game with their office and Kane is showing the same pattern. "Public Servants" soon learn to survive by not disturbing the "system" of backscratching between regulatory agencies while scrambling to present a false front to the voting public. Elected officials are particularly trapped by the system since they cannot "blow a whistle" without being ostracized by their sponsoring parties and other politicians. Ever wonder what happened to the little boy who pointed out the emperor was naked?
I'd love to see a guest blog by bluecoat/mirror. If what they say is true, maybe a newspaper will pick it up?
I am abashed by the spelling errors in my posts - believe it to be a function of bad vision, old age and lack of proofreading. Is there any way to use a spellcheck herein???
"ALL the republicans established a culture of corruption and privilege "
Ahh yes...
Like William Jefferson with $90,000 in his freezer... Harry Ried failing to report millions in shady real estate deals... Harry keeping dirty money from Abramoff... Schumer obtaining and using Michael Steeles S.S. number... Robert Menendez of NJ... Barbra Boxer funneling over $1000 to her PAC headed by her son... John(ABSCAM)Murtha...
Oh I'm sorry, these are DEMOCRATS.
As Yoda said to Obi Wan: "There is another." Well there is another Stratford Democrat who can take on
Republicans in upcoming elections.
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