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AG Gonzales is a definite goner

Because you KNOW that Senator Joe Lieberman wouldn't dare criticize one of Bush's cronies unless the Boss let it be known that Alberto is fair game.

Take my word for it...Gonzo will be gone-zo by this time next week!

From the Hartford Courant:

HARTFORD -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman had some tough words today for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who is involved in an uproar over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

Lieberman, I-Conn., said Gonzales' case was hurt by testimony from his former chief of staff, who on Thursday contradicted Gonzales' earlier accounts of not being involved in the decision-making about which prosecutors should be fired.

"This is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States," Lieberman said during a taping WFSB-TV's "Face the State," which will air Sunday. "I think it's time for Attorney General Gonzales to really look into his own heart and soul, as tough as it is, and ask whether he should continue in this job."

Bush has obviously abandoned his Attorney General now that he's become a liability, and he figures he'll toss Lieberman some fresh meat in the process.

As if that'll help Joe's image.

More video from the Capitol tour & talk

Here's a photo of nearly the entire group of bloggers who attended the tour last week, taken from the Speaker's lecturn in the House chamber. BTW, it's wonderful how the Capitol has wifi installed throughout; this week I got an email from Rep. John Geragosian that ended with "... emailed from the House Chamber." That's SO cool!

The photo (courtesy CT Blogger) shows (L to R) Spazeboy (holding the Speaker's gavel), CT Blogger, Maura, Caffeinated Geek Girl (CGG), TrueBlueCT, Sarah, Me (holding my video camera), CT Keith, and Genghis Conn. Missing was Christine Stuart from CT News Junkie (I think she was the one who took the photo).

Below is one of CT Blogger's videos, showing Rep. Andrew Fleischmann (D-West Hartford) discussing education with us. There will be more video from CT Blogger when he gets to it (which ain't easy when you're working on maintaining blog postings and digging up topics to discuss; sometimes we can't get everything edited and put online immediatly).

Two DTC meetings this week

Monday was my DTC's local district meeting, and tonight was the main Democratic Town Committee meeting. But here's something from BoingBoing that Tessa showed me during a slow spot in the meeting tonight:

1984 copyright holders threaten over anti-Hillary Clinton ad

The company that licensed the US rights to Orwell's 1984 doesn't really understand copyright, so they're threatening the people who made the now-infamous Hillary Clinton/Apple 1984-ad mashup. Apparently, these people weren't paying attention when the carpetbaggers who bought out the Woody Guthrie estate tried to shut down Jib-Jab's "This Land" parody, and got their asses handed to them.

"The political ad copies a prior commercial infringement of our copyright," said Gina Rosenblum, president of Rosenblum Productions Inc. "We recognize the legal issues inherent under the First Amendment and the copyright law as to political expression of opinion, but we want the world at large to know that we take our copyright ownership of one of the world's great novels very seriously."

Rosenblum purchased rights to "1984" from the Orwell Estate and Sonia Orwell in 1981 and the Orwell novel is still under copyright, at least until the year 2044. The company has utilized these exclusive rights to produce a number of products based on the novel. "We produced Richard Burton's last film, '1984', which opened that year to great critical acclaim," Gina Rosenblum said. "We also authorized a number of related products such as videos and soundtracks, and later released the film for television viewing and an '1984' Opera. Currently, we are in discussions with major Hollywood companies to make a new motion picture of the classic novel."

Link

(Thanks, Micah!)

Gee, now I seem pretty goddamned smart for making such a crappy version of the video last July that it didn't get enough views to be noticed by the copyright holder! My strategy of stealth propaganda snuck in below everybody's radar!

Ha Ha Ha! Who's the genius NOW, Mr. Phil de Vellis?

Blogger's tour video

I've edited and uploaded a few videos from the informal blogger's meeting in the State Capitol, featuring Reps. Mike Lawlor, Jim Shapiro and John Geragosian. There's more video coming soon!

Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-East Haven) discusses blogging, tasers, and the Krayeske case in a fast-paced 10-minute video. Rep. Diana Urban is also featured.



Rep. Jim Shapiro (D-Stamford) speaks on the impact of blogging on the political landscape. Jim is considering a run for Congress in the 4th CD, where the Democrats hope to pick up a seat.

Shapiro
Uploaded by CTBob

Rep. John Geragosian (D-New Britain) wraps up the blogger's tour with a few remarks. We're all grateful that John helped arrange this tour and talk; we learned a lot, and look forward to continuing the dialogue with our state legislators.

We're SO grateful, we even went back and fixed his mis-spelled name!

OH, SHIT! I spelled it wrong AGAIN!!! I re-edited the video, re-rendered it, re-uploaded it, waited for it to go online, linked to it, and realized that I made ANOTHER FRICKIN' MISTAKE!!! I put an "O" in his name that should be an "A"!

Well, I give up. The mistake only shows on the video for three seconds. Don't worry, everyone knows who you are, John Geragosian! Even if we don't always spell it properly.

You can call me "Connecticut Boob" if you want. I've earned it.

Geragosian
Uploaded by CTBob

How George W. Bush might save his legacy

He can do it by simply signing the bill into law!

The Republican bid to remove the withdrawal deadline from the bill failed today. This is a clear message that the Senate wants to see our troops get home safely. The clause requiring our involvement in the Iraqi Civil War to end is staying in.

Sadly, the President has said publicly that he's going to veto it. This will almost guarantee him a spot in the "Hall of Worst Presidents Evar"!

But there IS one way he can surprise us and maybe rehabilitate his image somewhat...

When the bill appears on your desk Mr. Bush, you can simply pick up one of your pens and sign the fucking thing into law!

Then there's at least a decent chance you won't be remembered as the worst president this nation has ever had.

And if you do that, Mr. President, boy oh boy! You'll be able to knock over the entire lefty blogosphere with a goddamened feather!

Of course, I'm not holding my breath or anything.

Oh, and Senator Lieberman acted true to form today. There isn't a single shred of decency left in that sad and pathetic little man.

"No, no, no!"

My Left Nutmeg's outstanding coverage today

Today Maura and CGG intended to live-blog from the Capitol, but both had to cancel last-minute. That didn't stop them from bringing the event to us via the Internet.

Maura from My Left Nutmeg was joined by CT Blogger, Caffeinated Geek Girl from CT Local Politics and a slew of others to do some virtual live-blogging of the Judiciary Committee Hearings on the issue of same-sex marriage rights (Marriage Equality).

While watching the live televised proceedings, Maura and the MLN community has provided a great play-by-play transcript of the action with commentary. CT Blogger has put up video of some of the testimony.

It's becoming clear to me that we're being treated to a new kind of immediate journalism that's being perfected while we watch.

CT/N streaming video coverage is available HERE. And go to My Left Nutmeg to follow the blogging.

It's still going on RIGHT NOW! (7:15PM)

UPDATE: 9:11PM still going strong!

Great work, Maura and MLN!

UPPER-DATE: coming up on 11:00PM and the march of speakers continues...I can't help but feel that this is an historic moment in CT politics. New MLN poster "Gems" is live-blogging from the hearing room and doing an awesome job!

UPP-EST DATE: It's finally over, at 11:43PM tonight! Carmen "The Firecracker" Saez jumped in for a final comment just before they closed the hearing, which was a perfect way to end this marathon session. Thanks to Maura, Gems, Mike Lawlor, and everyone at MLN who made this a really amazing experience!

Shit, I gotta go to work in six hours! G'night!

The Sunday Night Music Club

I don't know if I'll make this a regular feature, but I guess I'll give it a go and see what happens.

Sundays are generally slow news days, and it's the day of the week that everyone sort of catches up on their rest and regroups for the coming week. So it seems to me like the evening is the perfect time to post obscure, overlooked, or forgotten yet much-loved music videos. I'll try it for a month or so, and decide whether or not to continue it based on your comments.

So, I'd like to kick this thing off with a brilliant little video that played on MTV back in 1994, but for some reason was never given the recognition it deserved, and it subsequently disappeared from rotation without much notice. I think I've only seen this video once, but it stuck with me, and when I came across it recently I was overjoyed.

"Lucas With the Lid Off" is the creation of Lucas, a fairly obscure rapper, and director Michel Gondry, who later helmed "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". The song is a fusion of rap, early jazz, and ragtime that blend into a unique sound.

But the video is what's outstanding here. Gondry uses a single camera and one continuous shot to capture the entire nearly 4-minute video. The camera's motion, along with the adjoining sets and use of Lucas and the actors rushing from scene to scene are at first a little disorienting, but then the rhythm of the visuals starts to make sense and enhances the experience.

Watch it and enjoy it; then watch it again and take note of the amazing production that went into this video.

And if you enjoyed the visual style of the video, go out and get the DVD of Gondry's odd 2006 film "The Science of Sleep" although it should be "Dreams" ("La Science des rêves").

From the "Never thought we'd see that!" files

This guy just can't seem to keep himself away from parades! Visit "Jailhouse" Ken Krayeske's website "The 40 Year Plan".

Ned Lamont on Jim Himes

During the interview Spazeboy and me did with Ned earlier this month, we asked him about the upcoming battle for the 4th district seat currently occupied by Chris Shays. Ned had some nice things to say about Jim Himes, as you'll see from this short video:

Lamont-Jim Himes
Uploaded by CTBob

Miami journalist gets "Krayeske'd"

The Raw Story is reporting that a former contributor was arrested for taking pictures in a situation that mirrors Ken Krayeske's recent arrest.

Granted, as far as anyone knows, the Miami P.D. didn't have a "hit list" with journalist Carlos Miller's name on it, but his lawful right to do his job in a peaceful manner was denied him and he was arrested on eerily familiar trumped-up charges of "resisting arrest". The police affidavit lists the charges as five counts of failure to obey a police officer, and one count each of obstructing justice, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest without violence.

The entire story is located on the blog "Category 305" and is very detailed. Having read the account, I gotta admit that Miller's definitely a troublemaker, but in the GOOD sense of the word! Here's a quote from the article that says it all:

Miller then made the decision that probably got him thrown in jail. He reached up with one arm and snapped a photo of (arresting officer Sgt.) Rahming. “I knew it pissed him off,“ Miller admitted, “But it’s not illegal.”

A famous Lamont supporter's movie opens

My close personal friend and committed activist Danny Glover happens to also work as a Hollywood actor. His new movie, Shooter, opens today nationally. The movie also stars Mark Walhberg.

This is me talking to my good friend Mr. Glover. He flew in from filming "Shooter" last July to campaign for Ned Lamont, and he took the red-eye from Vancouver and flew back later that day.

That's the very definition of being committed to helping progressive candidates!

Here's Mr. Glover generously giving me a few minutes to ask my stuttering, star-struck questions. Every so often I look at the camera while listening to his statements. There's two reasons for this; one, I'm looking at the LCD display to see that we're in the field of view, and second, I'm thinking "Wow, I'm interviewing freakin' MURTAUGH!"

("Lethal Weapon" is one of my top five favorite action movies!)



In the interest of full disclosure, I think Mr. Glover might not agree that I'm a close personal friend of his (or even be aware of me), but that's OK. He's a very nice man anyway, who always speaks for the good guy's side and is a welcome voice for important social causes.

And besides, maybe he was watching CNN yesterday when the "1984" story came on, and suddenly leapt out of his chair and pointed at the TV, yelling, "Hey, I KNOW that guy!"

CNN reports on the Youtube video

Here's the video of the most important part of the report on the "1984/Vote Different" ad controversy...

...the part where they mention my name TWICE!

It's kind of neat to be watching CNN with your wife sitting next to you and they mention your name.

Unless it's in a story about a manhunt for you as a suspect in an horrific crime or something.

Then it would kind of suck.

CNN on CTBob
Uploaded by CTBob

Gee, they make a big deal about the fact that I picked up a lousy 1,000 hits, and the other one got like 2 million. Oh, well.

Being the master of irony that I am, notice how my video about a Youtube story is posted on Daily Motion!

Yeah...I'm a rebel.

More on the Hillary/Obama ads

(image created by Spazeboy)
Apparently, on this afternoon's "Situation Room", CNN has mentioned the controversial Obama online ad, and the fact that it may have been unoriginal. Tim Tagaris saw the report, and they said the ad was a ripoff of the one I created last summer. (...and if anyone Tivo'd it, I'd really like to get a copy of it)

...if I had only known it was going to be this big of a deal, I would have spent a lot more time making the original video look and sound better!

Plus, Tparty points out some other sources that are looking into the issue of where credit for the idea is due. This is from the Cleveland Plain Dealer's blog:

De Vellis intrigue grows (or, where have we seen this ad before?)
Posted by Stephen Koff March 22, 2007 12:57PM

Could the intrigue over Phil de Vellis' controversial anti-Hillary video become more a question of some copy-cat work? Former Plain Dealer Cincinnati bureau chief Bill Sloat presents the goods in his Daily Bellwether blog.

It seems that the anti-Clinton video created by de Vellis, a political operative who once worked in Sherrod Brown's Senate campaign, is pretty much a carbon copy of a video that Ned Lamont supporters (specifically, ME) put out last year in their unsuccessful attempt to take down Sen. Joe Lieberman. Check out that video here.

Now compare it with de Vellis' work here.

Most of the content is lifted from an Apple Computers ad. But de Vellis was not the first guy to use it for political purposes (though perhaps he was the first to lose his job over it). "Such amazing creativity," notes Sloat's site. "Or is it plagiarism?"

I tend to lean towards plagiarism myself, but I'll wait and see what develops before I make any definitive judgement.

And here's the passage from The Daily Bellwether:

1984 Redux: Same 'Big Brother' Ad Was Used Against Lieberman

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Apparently, Big Brother wasn't watching. The YouTube ad that is being hailed/denounced as creating a Brave New World of Internet viral political campaigning was a complete rip-off. Check out Connecticut for Joe. It was hardly noticed and got less than 1,000 hits.

Newly-elected Democratic Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown's former blog guru Phil de Vellis claims he concocted the Hillary Clinton as Big Sister version that has had the 'sphere atwitter. If so, he polished an apple that somebody previously had bitten. Such amazing creativity. Or is it plagiarism?

Watch the Connecticut version. Turns out that Ned Lamont's supporters floated nearly the same ad last year in his showdown with Lieberman.

[UPDATE: Blue State Digital where de Vellis worked until his reputed responsibility for the anti-Hillary ad became known, did Lamont's Web work last year. And a Blue State wheel has moved on to Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Inquiring minds might be wondering: Pure coincidence? Blue State, however, insists it has absolutely no connection to the 1984 video and de Vellis was terminated; de Vellis says he quit.]
[UPDATE 2: Bob Adams made the Lamont ad last July. When he saw the Hillary version earlier this month he mused about copycats. Another veteran of Ohio Democratic politics, Tim Tagaris, worked for the Lamont campaign in 2006 and pointed out the existence of Adams' work. And there's more from Bob. It looks like Ohio really is the heart of it all.]

Blogger's tour at the State Capitol

Spazeboy arranged a tour of the Capitol for the bloggers last night, courtesy of Rep. John Geragosian (D-New Britain), and here's some quick pics I took. We had a good turnout, including Maura, CGG, Genghis Conn, TrueBlueCT, CT Keith, CT Blogger, CT me, CT Joyce, Spazeboy and Spazegirl, Sarah, and Christine Stuart (did I miss anyone?)

I shot a lot of video and will have more details later (much later, I'm exhausted), but for now here's a couple pictures that aren't too blurry...I think I need to give CT Joyce a tutorial on how to use the digital camera; most of her pictures look like impressionistic paintings!


We met in a committee room in the Legislative Office Building.

The House of Representatives chamber, where we were given a detailed overview of the legislative process.

CT Joyce and Christine Stuart (from CT News Junkie) observe the proceedings.

Speaker of the House CT Blogger? I can see it happening!

CT Blogger, TrueBlueCT (in his James Amann hat) and yours truly (in an Orange "Crush" hat that TrueBlue insisted I wear) after the informal meeting with the Representatives.

After the tour, Genghis and Rep. Geragosian kick back for a post-tour happy hour with us bloggers.

I'm planning to edit the video in the next few days; deciding what to leave out is going to be the tough part, since we had a lot of quality discussion during the course of the evening.

Thanks to Rep. Geragosian and the rest of the Reps. who took part, and to Spazeboy for helping to put this together!

The "1984/Vote Different" video debate continues

This time, Tim Tagaris discusses the original Youtube candidate, Ned Lamont, and all the video work that was done by both the campaign, and interested amateurs (such as me). In this article in techPresident, Joshua Levy discusses some of the history of online political videos and where it's going today.

They also mention my earlier "1984/Lieberman" video in this passage:

Tagaris even finds an earlier, lower-quality version of the Hillary/1984 video that’s gotten everyone excited, except that this one stars Joe Lieberman. It was created last summer during the Lieberman/Lamont race by Bob Adams, who blogs at Connecticut Bob.

CT Bob's recent post shows the two videos back-to-back, and while the Hillary version is of a much higher-quality — Adams simply superimposes Lieberman’s face over Big Brother, and the audio is the same as the original — the guiding idea is almost identical.

Even though the two videos are a little too similar to be random, Adams is graceful about the similarities. “Now, maybe they didn’t get the idea from my video, but I’m just sayin’…,” he wrote.

And once again, my original video is viewable here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1O63aHyqDQ.

My version uses the original Super Bowl ad broadcast in 1984, not the updated version released in 2004 showing the female wearing an iPod and earbuds that the "Obama" video used.

Rep. Mike Lawlor is one brave S.O.B.

From Spazeboy.net:

Last Friday, New Britain State Rep. Tim O’Brien reported on his blog that Rep. Mike Lawlor was voluntarily TASERed:

A representative of a company that manufactures tasers was testifying about these devices, when Rep. Micheal Lawlor, House Chair of the Committee, asked if the gentleman would use a taser on Lawlor, himself, to demonstrate their safety. The gentleman agreed.

It certainly did not look or sound like a pleasant experience, but Lawlor went through with it. I do not think I have ever heard of this happening at the Capitol.

Mike Lawlor has a reputation has a very intelligent and fair legislator. This kind of thing earns him a lot of respect. Whatever position he takes on how legal these devices should be, he will not be advocating for it without putting himself on the business end of one of them.

The video just surfaced, and I’ve put the above clip together for easy sharing and viewing on YouTube and DailyMotion. For those of you who want to see everything as it was, check out this post at CT Local Politics where you can download the two 59-second long source clips as well as the codec to play them.

It happened on Friday, March 16, around 4:50 PM in the Judiciary Committee public hearing while they were testifying about two bills dealing with tasers (HB 7211 & HB 7212)

Taser
Uploaded by connct

CT Bob here: I just want to give Rep. Lawlor credit for demonstrating how much fun it isn't to be tazed. But I'd also like to let him know that the next time he pulls a stunt like that and DOESN'T contact us videobloggers in advance so we can tape the event, we'll be extremely miffed.

But damn!, Mike is one brave S.O.B.! Just look at what a tazer can do to a half-ton bull with a bad attitude:

Rally to mark the 4th anniversary of Iraq war

About 30 people stood in the freezing sleet and snow tonight on the Milford Green to mark the beginning of our nation's fifth year of the occupation of Iraq. Here's a short video to mark the event.

Anti-War Rally
Uploaded by CTBob

I wonder where they got the idea?

(UPDATED: see below)

An unathorized Barack Obama online commercial features the legendary "1984" ad by Apple Computers. The ad shows a futuristic world where mindless citizens are lectured by a huge visage of Hillary Clinton.

Here's the ad:



And here's a much crappier version of the ad using the same concept...

...that I made back in July, 2006.



Now, maybe they didn't get the idea from my video, but I'm just sayin'...

Oh, and judging from how high up on the page at The Drudge Report this story is, it wouldn't surprise me if pro-Republican Youtubers were responsible for the ad. They'd love to stir up trouble among the Democratic party contenders. I have a feeling we're going to see a lot of nasty politics playing out on Youtube and other streaming video services. I remember a couple instances of something like that happening during the Lamont campaign from mysterious anonymous sources.

Hmmm...now that I mention it, I wonder if some of that missing $387,000 could have gone for non-authorized political ads?

UPDATE: Whew, I was right that Drudge is loving this video! It's been up on the top of the left column for 24 hours now (6PM EDT MONDAY), and that makes perfect sense to me. The denizens of Wingnuttia love nothing better than a good game of "let's you and him fight" between the Democratic frontrunners.

Of course, when the time comes for the Republicans to duke it out, something tells me there's gonna be a shitload of nasty sniping among them that will make Barack and Hillary look like bestest buddies!

Courant covers Anti-war rally in Hartford

Yesterday at least 1,000 and possibly 1,500 people showed up on a freezing, snow-covered day to express their support for getting our troops out of Iraq and ending our involvedment in the civil war there.

The Hartford Courant Associated Press (apparently the Courant was busy Saturday, so they used an AP story to cover the event) has a detailed account about the rally, linked in it's entirety below. The lack of a counter-demonstration shows how unified Connecticut is in its opposition to the war.

People often ask me how the hell Joe Lieberman managed to get reelected.

I'll never understand it, myself.

1,500 Rally In City To Oppose Iraq War
Local Event Part Of National Effort To Pressure For Troop Withdrawals
March 18, 2007 - By STEPHANIE REITZ, Associated Press

More than 1,000 anti-war demonstrators rallied Saturday at Hartford's Old State House, adding their voices to nationwide protests as the Iraq war enters its fifth year.

The demonstration, organized by the Connecticut Opposes the War coalition, drew buses full of college students and suburban activists into downtown Hartford despite the day's brisk temperatures and sloppy post-storm conditions.

(MICHAEL MCANDREWS photo)"That is why we are here in the cold and snow - because we care," said state Rep. Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, who held up a letter signed by 177 Connecticut legislators urging an end to the Iraq conflict.

[...]

At Hartford's Old State House, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd-District, vowed to the cheering crowd that she would "work my heart out" to push for legislation to curtail war spending and start bringing troops home.

The war, she said, is "a mistake of gigantic proportions."

Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democratic presidential candidate, was campaigning in New Hampshire, but sent a letter of support that DeLauro read aloud to the approximately 1,500 people in attendance.

[...]

Although people held opposing rallies to support the administration at some other events nationwide, no counter-protesters came forward or made their presence known at Saturday's event in Hartford.

Gregory Spear, a member of the coalition that organized the rally, said they hope to convince U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent, and U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, to reconsider their support of the Bush administration on the war.

Boos rang out from the demonstrators when both lawmakers' names were mentioned. The loudest were reserved for Lieberman, who won re-election to his seat as an independent candidate over anti-war Democratic candidate Ned Lamont.

U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, encouraged people who attended Saturday's rally to continue to make their opinions known.

"America has found its voice, in large part because of you," he told the crowd. "Now let's have Congress find its voice."

Great coverage of the rally by Tessa is now online at My Left Nutmeg, and I'm sure we'll see additional local blogs reporting as the day goes on.

Enough already!

OK, I'll admit that I was wanting to see a little snow this season. That's what living in New England is all about.

But after struggling this morning with hours of chipping through the solid inch of frozen sleet that capped the remaining five inches of wet snow, and then shoveling several tons of it, I'm ready to call it quits on winter.

It was fun, but I'm officially done now.

Our house this fine St. Paddy's Day morning.

Joyce takes a moment to yell at me to "stop taking pictures and get back to work!"

Uh-oh, the plow just went by again and deposited another two-foot wall of slush at the bottom of the driveway. Dang!

If this is what it'll take...

...then I'll be willing to do it!

Our current Congress is faced with a huge dilemma. The majority of our legislature wants to end our involvement in the war, but are afraid to do so. They can vote to stop funding the war in Iraq, thereby forcing the President to withdraw the troops.

But the Bush administration is harping on the spurious claim that cutting funding will somehow strand our brave troops in a hostile nation during a civil war. As if cutting the money for the war will force the President to have to simply abandon our troops because there's no way to get them home.

Apparently we won't be able to scrape up enough dough to pay their way home or something.

We all know this is utter bullshit, but for some reason, many politicians are scared to death of appearing to not be supporting the troops. Even though their approval of additional funding will ultimately ensure the deaths and injuries of perhaps thousands more American soldiers.

Which, to me, isn't supporting them at all.

So, the Conservative chickenhawks are capitalizing on this conundrum.

Well, I've figured out a solution.

I did some research on what it would cost to get a single, one-way, coach-class seat on a plane home for a soldier. Here's what I found:

The nearest commercial airport I could locate is in Kuwait City. I'll use that as a starting point; I'm sure Baghdad International will have commercial flights soon, judging by how much confidence the President has in the current surge.

A one-way flight from Kuwait City to New York is $856, which I located on Kayak.com...you'd be surprised how many of the big airline search engines don't include Kuwait!

So here's what I'm willing to do...if Congress decides to cut funding for the war which will result in the necessity of pulling our troops out of Iraq, and if the President doesn't provide transportation for them to get home, I solemnly pledge to personally buy a seat for One (1) U.S. Soldier to fly home!

Just think, if we can get enough people to pledge to pitch in if necessary, we can end the war and bring all our troops home safely, even without George Bush's help! How great would THAT be?

That would be the BEST $856 I've ever spent!

And we'll also relieve our (mostly gutless) elected representatives of the crushing burden of worry about whether or not they're properly supporting the troops.

Because...we'll have it covered!

Kucinich discusses Bush impeachment in Congress

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has brought the "I-word" to the debate about a potential war with Iran. From an article in The Raw Story:

During a speech on the House floor on Thursday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) declared that "impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran." The 2004 presidential candidate, who is running again in 2008, told RAW STORY that his House floor statement "speaks for itself."

"This House cannot avoid its constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain the abuse of Executive power," Kucinich said on the floor today. "The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran. There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies."

Kucinich noted that since the US "is a signatory to the U.N. Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world," and Article II states that "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," then "even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal."

Read the entire article at The Raw Story

Changing the 2008 Primary landscape

(click to enlarge map showing voting systems in CA)
Today California's movie star/governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that significantly changes the impact of their Presidential Primary.

Traditionally the California primary is held in June (previously scheduled for June 10, 2008), usually long after a candidate has locked up enough delegates to ensure his nomination at the party convention. Following the lead of other states who've choosen to move the date of their primary earlier in the schedule so their voters have a say in who gets chosen, CA has legislated that their primary will be held on February 5, 2008.

This year, many U.S. states are considering moving their primaries to February 5th, including other big states such as New Jersey, Florida, Missouri, Michigan and Texas. This is going to significantly impact the way candidates will campaign; I fully expect to see presidential hopefuls making frequent trips to the Golden State in the coming months.

Here's a look at the revised schedule for the early Democratic primaries and see how important California will be:

* January 14, 2008 - Iowa (caucus)
* January 19, 2008 - Nevada (caucus)
* January 22, 2008 - New Hampshire (primary)
* January 29, 2008 - South Carolina, Florida
* February 5, 2008 - Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Utah

UPDATE: Florida is threatening to move THEIR primary up even earlier than CA's. Something tells me the trend will be all the big states will move their primaries up to early January so they get the jump on New Hampshire.

Amann supports Plan B care

Article reposted from CT News Junkie:

If it wasn’t clear before, it is now. Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, said Wednesday with a resounding “Yes” that he supports the distribution of Plan B for rape victims.

At a press conference with the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence Amann said, ”I support a woman who has been brutally raped receiving the services she needs.”

Christine Stuart photo
He said he takes offense to this being framed as a religious debate because it’s not only Catholic hospitals that have denied women access to Plan B, an emergency contraception that prevents fertilization. He said he hopes “we can find common ground on this issue when I am asked.”

He said at the moment he’s waiting to see what happens to the legislation which is in the Human Services Committee. The public hearing on the bill was Tuesday and a vote is anticipated in the next few weeks.

In addition to his support of Plan B for rape victims, Amann said he supports increasing funds for the state’s 18 domestic violence programs by $2.25 million.

Advocates against domestic violence including Ms. Connecticut Heidi Voight (pictured with Amann) said the funding would allow the programs to offer services 24/7.

Voight, a certified rape crisis counselor, said “We must ensure that domestic violence victims have 24/7 access to emergency services because in many cases, a missed opportunity may have been a last opportunity.”

Over the past fiscal year the 18 domestic violence programs in the state served 54,641 victims and provided shelter for 2,031 battered women and their children.

"Blog Wars" on Sundance again

I posted this on my alter-ego blog Hollywood Bob, and decided to post it here. I found that Blog Wars will be rerun on Sundance Channel over the next several days. I guess today's broadcast is over, but it's going to be replayed twice on Monday, so you get two chances to see it.

Specifically:

Wed. Mar. 14 9:45 AM SUNDANCE (too late)
Mon. Mar. 19 6:50 AM SUNDANCE
Mon. Mar. 19 6:30 PM SUNDANCE

Taking a stand on Plan B

Today, the state legislature's Human Services Committee Tuesday heard testimony on a bill that would require ALL hospitals to provide emergency contraception. Last year, a similar measure died in the final days of the legislative session amid strong opposition from the Catholic Church.

Church opponents to Plan B say use of the pill amounts to abortion. This is complete bullshit, in spite of what Catholic lobbyists insist. They are against birth control in ANY form by anyone, apparently, not just Catholics.

From today's Hartford Courant:

It seemed that Tuesday at the state Capitol would offer yet more back and forth on whether hospitals should be required to offer emergency birth control pills to rape victims.

Then state Rep. Deborah W. Heinrich, D-Madison, stepped to the microphone. She stunned a crowd of state officials, reporters and rape-victim advocates at a press conference when she announced that 20 years ago, she had been raped.

In a voice sometimes shaking but often strong, she recounted the details of a horrible night when she was a freshman at an out-of-state college and somebody she knew tore out clumps of her hair in his pursuit of her.

After the numbness, she said, "The most terrifying thought was, 'My God, what if I'm pregnant.'"

It makes you wonder how many women who have had similar experiences are understandably frightened about making such a public statement. Rep. Heinrich showed amazing strength and courage today, and she deserves our thanks for speaking out in support of complete availability of Plan B.

Speaker Amann requests ethics opinion

(Image from the New Haven Independent)
In today's Hartford Courant, Mark Pazniokas reports on concerns about Jim Amann's fundraising activities:

Under fire for soliciting lobbyists, House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, asked the Office of State Ethics on Monday to review his $67,500-a-year job as a fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Amann's role as a fundraiser came under renewed scrutiny last week when Republican State Chairman Chris Healy questioned Amann's solicitation of lobbyists to buy tickets to a $350-per-person benefit concert for multiple sclerosis at the Mohegan Sun.

In a letter hand-delivered Monday afternoon to the Office of State Ethics, Amann did not directly ask if his soliciting lobbyists poses a conflict of interest.

Instead, he asked Barbara Housen, the general counsel for the new ethics office, if he still can rely on an advisory opinion issued in April 2005 by Brenda Bergeron, then an attorney with the now-defunct State Ethics Commission.

[...]

It was not immediately clear if Amann's request would prompt the Office of State Ethics to comment directly on his solicitation of lobbyists.

Meredith Trimble, a spokeswoman for the ethics office, said its lawyers generally answer only the questions raised by the person requesting an advisory opinion.

Amann's aides said the speaker considered Bergeron's opinion to address the broad question of any solicitation he made on behalf of the society.

Write your own caption

(h/t to Peter Jung)
Say what you will about the President, but he's comedy gold. When Bush finally leaves office, I'm sure the writers for The Daily Show will weep.

Sharpton scolds Obama

Reverand Al Sharpton served Barack Obama with a hefty dose of JOE LIEBERMAN today, when he responded to a published report that he is trying to hurt Obama's campaign because he's jealous.

From the WCBS-TV website (with video):

With the race for the Democratic presidential nomination already in high gear, the Reverend Al Sharpton jumped into the fray today with some tough criticism for Senator Barack Obama. The outspoken reverend offered the harsh comments to Obama just as he looked to build support for his candidacy in the black community.

"Why shouldn't the black community ask questions? Are we now being told, 'You all just shut up?'" Sharpton told CBS 2's Marcia Kramer Monday. "Senator Obama and I agree that the war is wrong, but then I want to know why he went to Connecticut and helped [Sen. Joseph] Lieberman, the biggest supporter of the war."

This may become a recurrent theme in the campaign for Democratic candidates who supported Joe Lieberman or were late in becoming vocal in their opposition to the war.

Having a Lieberman-campaign endorsement in your past may be the political equivalent of sipping tea with a bit of Polonium-210 in it; it will definitely make you ill, and might leave you with no future.

An open invitation to Mike Richter

Seeing as how the blogging community (Maura in particular) reached out to potential 4th Dist. candidate Jim Himes for a "meet & greet" yesterday, I'd like to extend the same courtesy to former NHL goalie Mike Richter, who recently also expressed an interest in running for Chris Shays' seat in 2008.

I resposted an article from Swing State Project via (I think) CTLP about Mike's possible run. There hasn't been much more discussion online that I've been able to find, so if anyone has more info on his potential candidacy, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

In the meantime, I'm sure I can speak for most of the bloggers who were in attendance at Jim's house last night that we'd be delighted for the opportunity to sit down and chat with Mike Richter sometime soon. Feel free to contact me or any of the bloggers about setting something up.

A visit with Jim Himes

This afternoon I was among several local bloggers who were invited into the home of Greenwich DTC Chairman and (self-described) "so-so" soccer player Jim Himes.

Maura wanted to introduce the potential 4th District Congressional candidate to us, so she arranged this very informal talk to allow us to meet him. Jim is in the early stages of deciding whether to challenge Chris Shays for his seat in the 4th, and he is interested in sharing his views with the blogosphere.

So Greenpeas, MattW, Thomas Hooker and JonK from My Left Nutmeg joined Caffeinated Geek Girl from Connecticut Local Politics and myself in meeting with Jim. CT Blogger and Spazeboy (among others) wanted to attend but sadly couldn't make it.

My impression of Jim is that he is an intelligent and articulate person, interested in the public good and willing to make an effort towards improving society. He's written passionately about the importance of economic growth and private charity, and he feels that education and solving the problems with health insurance are crucial to ensuring a prosperous state. Jim is also involved in providing affordable housing.

I'm sure there will be more details of the meeting on Connecticut Local Politics and My Left Nutmeg, but I just wanted to post a quick overview of the meeting. It was a pleasure to meet Jim, and I look forward to us seeing more of him in the future.

ADDENDUM: I remembered that Jim was the spokesman for the Greenwich delegation to the State Democratic Convention last year. I checked my convention video (viewable HERE at about the 6:00 mark), and this is what he said when announcing the votes for Senate nomination:

"Madam Chairwoman: Greenwich - Gateway to New England, hometown to Ned Lamont...and not really accustomed to leading the battle for the soul of the Democratic Party...casts three votes for Joe Lieberman and nineteen votes for Ned Lamont."

Plan B hearing on Tuesday

(excerpted from Tessa's article at My Left Nutmeg)
The Human Services Committee is holding hearings on Tuesday March 13th on SB 1343 - An Act Concerning Compassionate Care For Victims of Sexual Assault.

It is not just a matter of going there and hanging around the hallways, since the "Family" Institute is planning a very active resistance to this Bill. This time we need people, lots of people, to go to Hartford.

As a reminder, this is to try to get the hospitals, and the employees of the hospitals, to offer the option of the Plan B contraceptive to female rape victims. Peculiarly, the hospitals and some nursing professionals are refusing to provide the pill, or the information that the pill exists, to their patients.

Tuesday (March 13th), 1pm in Room 1C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford

If anyone feels like they would like to testify - medical professionals, religious people, mothers and fathers of victims, or the beloved among us who have faced this form of torture and violation - please contact Gretchen at organizing@ppct.org

For those who would rather not speak out, your very presence will speak volumes.

From our fellow Americans at the "Family" Institute - and remember that they provide a lot of money to our legislators during the election season. Emphasis added by moi.

On Tuesday, March 13 at 1:00 p.m. in Room 1C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, the Human Services Committee will hold a public hearing on one of the most outrageous pro-abortion attacks on religious liberty ever attempted in Connecticut.

SB 1343, "An Act Concerning Compassionate Care For Victims of Sexual Assault," would force Christian hospitals to provide the "Plan B" drug even if it would induce an abortion! [This is a LIE]

Christian hospitals already provide compassionate care to victims of sexual assault--but there is nothing compassionate about abortion. [Wrong!]

Make no mistake: this is not about rape victims, it's about abortion. [More lies]

The media rarely mentions the role of pro-abortion groups NARAL and Planned Parenthood in pushing this bill. And even one of the bill's front groups, CT Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc. is a member of the pro-abortion CT Coalition for Choice.

CT Bob here: The rest of Tessa's article is at My Left Nutmeg; please read it!

This is a critical issue which affects women's reproductive rights. If organizations like FIC had their way, sexual assault victims in Catholic hospital emergency rooms would be denied the fully legal (and non-prescription) treatment that could PREVENT an unwanted pregnancy.

What FIC doesn't appear to understand is that despite their lies about the possibility that Plan B can trigger an abortion in an already pregnant victim, their policy would lead to INCREASED abortions by women who are DENIED this legal treatment at publicly-funded Catholic hospitals and become victims of unwanted pregnancies.

Don't you people get it?

This will result in MORE abortions, not fewer.

Because they are bound by the chains of dogmatic religious reasoning, the FICers seem to be utterly incapable of understanding this. And if they get their way in this issue, they will be directly responsible for those additional abortions.

Milford's St. Paddy's parade

Today was a warm (sort of) day, so we decided to go to the parade. I shot video with my digital camera, and posted it below, along with some parade pictures.

Nothing political here, just us and some friends enjoying the day, along with a few pints of Guinness Stout afterward.



Our friend Sheila with Joyce.

Parade
Uploaded by CTBob

Fox "hounded" out of debate

Yes, I know what you're thinking.

And you're right...I really should get a job writing headlines for the New York Post!

It's obvious that I have a rare gift for witty yet ironic wordcraft.

Anyway, good news in that the Dems figured out that letting Fox News run a Democratic debate would be like letting (all together now) "the fox watch the hen house"!

So today Harry Reid and the Nevada Dems decided they'd had enough of Fox after Fox-president Roger Ailes made some jokes that at best belittle the Democratic party candidates, and at worst play into the hands of staunch right wingers.

From Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films email:

Today, Senator Harry Reid and the Nevada Democratic Party announced they would drop a FOX-sponsored debate scheduled for August - citing FOX President Roger Ailes remarks last night that compared Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden as the final straw.

"We hope this sets a precedent for all Democrats - that FOX should be treated as a right-wing misinformation network, not legitimized as a neutral source of news," said Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn.org Civic Action. "John Edwards, Harry Reid, the Nevada Democratic Party, and grassroots progressives across the nation deserve credit for standing up to Fox's right-wing agenda."

Rumblings in the 4th District

Yeah, I already did a quite lame "earthquake" joke when I posted an article about Mike Richter just over a week ago (click to see it).

But I think "rumblings" in this case simply alludes to the fact that people are very interested in going after Rep. Chris Shays' seat in the 2008 election, and I'm going to have a lot of fun covering the action!

Jim Himes, the Greenwich DTC chair, is apparently interested in getting involved in the race. He's quoted in My Left Nutmeg discussing Chris Shays' record, and Chris gets blasted so badly I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

And if that's not good enough, Himes is also fluent in Spanish.

Eso es impresionante!

Visit MLN and read the entire post.

More Conservative hypocrisy

Does this sort of thing surprise anyone anymore? Conservative family values apparently apply to everyone OTHER than Conservatives.

In an interview with a Christian publication, ultra-right poster boy Newt Gingrich admitted he sullied the sacred bonds of holy matrimony by boning a woman other than his wife.

(((HURRRRK!!!)))

I'll give you a minute to cleanse your mouth of the vomitus that splashed up involuntarily from your stomach...

"I did not have sex with that
woman...oh, wait a minute; yes I did!"
From the Raw Story:

Potential Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich admitted in an interview with conservative Christian group Focus on the Family that he had an extramarital affair even while leading the charge to have President Clinton impeached.

"The honest answer is yes," he said according to the Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."

"Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity," writes the AP.

Clinton was punished for perjury, says Gingrich, who claims that he was not "rendering judgment" on a "personal level" against Clinton.

Gingrich still remains very popular among Republicans, and finished fourth in the unscientific straw poll at last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, despite having not yet entered the race.

Colin smacks the Speaker

I'm a huge fan of Colin McEnroe's blog on the Hartford Courant website, called "To Wit". Colin blends equal measures of plain facts and deadly snark to brew up a firey concoction.

Here's Colin's observations about Jim Amann's "fundraising" efforts, titled Josh Groban sings the "I Will Crush You" aria from Il Schizophreno:

"...House Speaker Jim Amann has proved himself a swineish hack, using his powerful post to leverage money for the Connectiut chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which would be a lovely gesture were Amann not a $60K per annum paid fund-rasier for the society.

The latest outrage is this Josh Groban concert, although in 2005 it was Michael Bolton. What is this, the Medellin cartel of easy listening? Amann tries to wrap himself in the mantle of charity. Fine. Let him raise money for somebody who is not paying him. That's charity. This is more like being a bought-and-paid-for pol who actually dragged the MS Society into territory typically occupied by greasy construction companies and highway contractors..."

I don't know what's scarier; the blatent obviousness of Amann's "charity" shakedown, or the remote chance of me ever accidently doing something to get on Colin's bad side?

I can do something about the latter; the former is up to the Speaker.

LW: Joe Lieberman - Conservative Stooge

Senator Lieberman consoles Dick Cheney
after the Libby verdict was announced
Lieberman Watch: Joe Lieberman recently spoke on the behalf of a Bush nominee for an ambassadorship to Belgium.

"Sam Fox represents what America is all about," he said, "and that's why he will be, when confirmed, an extraordinary ambassador."

Sam Fox is also an extreme right-wing supporter who financed the "Swift-Boat Veterans For Truth", the 527-group that slandered John Kerry's heroic military record, while simultaneously ignoring President Chimpy's equally heroic service in the Champagne Squadron of the Texas Air-National Guard, where he bravely ingested gallons of Jack Daniels and snorted mounds of Peruvian Flake while not showing up for his one weekend a month.

Sam Fox is obviously a generous man who deserves to be ambassador. Why, he even selflessly gave $10,500 to Senator Lieberman the day AFTER the November election. Sam's equally generous wife ALSO donated $10,500 to Joe on the same day.

Wow, what a terrific couple of Americans.

No wonder Joe gave Mr. Fox such a glowing endorsement. He recognizes the man's generosity.

(Note: The excellent Joe Lieberman watchdog blog "LieberWatch" has been fairly quiet lately, so I've decided to reactivate my periodic "Lieberman Watch" series. Hopefully we'll see LieberWatch continue its good work in the future.)

Jane & Marcy wrap up the Libby trial

The video blogging provided by PoliticsTV.Com has been nothing short of phenomenal; and Fire Dog Lake's coverage of the trial, especially the videos by Jane Hamsher and Marcy Wheeler, have been detailed yet understandable. Plus, the videos have really brought out the drama from the trial; the lack of cameras in the courtroom has provided an opportunity for vbloggers to become part of the must-read coverage of the trial.

All things must end, and the "Plame House" gang will be heading back to their various home bases. Well done!

Professors urge indie investigation in Amero case

Outraged over the apparent railroading of Julie Amero in the classroom porn case, a group of computer science professors are stating their support of an independent investigation in the case. From WTNH.com:

(Hartford-AP) _ Nearly 30 Connecticut computer science professors have signed a letter urging an independent investigation in the case of a Norwich substitute teacher convicted of exposing her students to pornography on a classroom computer.

The professors from eight Connecticut colleges and universities took out an ad in Tuesday's Hartford Courant. They wrote on behalf of Julie Amero, a 40-year-old Windham resident with no prior criminal record convicted in January of four counts of risk of injury to a minor.

[...]

While prosecutors insist she is guilty, some experts believe that the lewd images were caused by unseen spyware and adware programs, which critics call one of the top scourges of the Internet.

The 28 professors who signed the letter want an independent investigator brought in to look at the case, and they want Amero's sentencing delayed until that investigation is complete. Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane won't say whether that's a possibility.

Did I ever mention how much Fox News sucks?

Screen cap from Fox News via News Corpse Blog.

Why does Rupert Murdoch hate America so goddamned much?

Whatever it is we did to make him so angry, can we just apologize and maybe make him Queen of Australia or something?

Joe Courtney on the Libby verdict

Rep. Courtney Statement on I. 'Scooter' Libby Verdict

WASHINGTON, DC - Representative Joe Courtney released today the following statement in response to the I. 'Scooter' Libby verdict:

"The jury verdict today emphatically confirms and condemns the pattern of deception and misinformation that has characterized the Bush-Cheney Administration over the last six years - particularly its handling of the war in Iraq. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald deserves the gratitude of all Americans for his fearless pursuit of the facts and justice -even into the inner workings of the highest offices in the land."

The former aide to Vice-President Dick Cheney was found guilty today on four out of five counts of obstruction of justice and perjury relating to testimony Libby provided to a grand jury during the investigation of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Guilty Guilty Not Guilty Guilty Guilty

Four outta five ain't too bad, eh?

The wheels of justice don't always turn quickly, and sometimes they don't turn at all; but today Dick Cheney's number one co-conspirator I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was found guilty of obstruction, false statement, and perjury charges.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald stated after the verdict, "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official, a person who worked in the office of vice president, obstructed justice and lied under oath, and we wish that had not happened but it did."

Fire Dog Lake has been closely following the developing situation. Jane, Marcy, Christy, and the entire FDL community has maintained a high level of journalistic quality and delivered the facts with humor and consistancy. I'm sure there's gonna be a huge party at the DC headquarters of Fire Dog Lake called "Plame House" tonight!

Well done, and congratulations!

The Complete Ned Lamont Interview

Here's the entire in-depth interview with Ned from last Friday. Spazeboy and I ask questions about the campaign, about the current administration, and about the future. The interview runs about 33 minutes, and concludes with a unique "free association" session.

Ned interview online Monday

I promise.

The interview came out great, but it runs about 35 minutes. And with me being the artiste I am, there was no way I couldn't inflict my own inimitable style upon the finished video. So it took a while to complete.

But now it's just about done. I'll upload it when it's ready.

Thanks for being patient.