Dodd utilizes live video stream for FDL chat

Sen. Chris Dodd is making an effort to connect with the voters via the latest technology. Yesterday, Dodd used a live video stream for a live blogging session with Fire Dog Lake.



The Senator answered questions submitted by blogging in a "live" format, meaning you get to see and hear him react and answer the questions in real time. This is an outstanding concept, where the voters get to virtually meet and ask questions of the candidate. The questions were posed by the disembodied voice of Dodd staffer and MLN's own Matt Browner-Hamlin.

My only criticism was that Matt's voice was off-mic and nearly inaudible, which could cause some confusion about what the question was that the senator was answering. Chris was mic'd nicely and his audio level was fine; next time, I'd recommend they invest in a simple $40 mixer box (I've got one) and run a second mic into it for Matt's questions.

Nicely done FDL and Senator Dodd!

If the Bizzaro World really exists...

MLN host live-blog with Sec. of State Bysiewicz

(Reposted via Spazeboy, which was reposted from My Left Nutmeg, I think...MLN is down this morning; I hope they fix it soon!)

CTBlogger has lined up a guest-post and live-blog with Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz for tonight:

The Secretary of State Bysiewicz will also be online to answer your questions on any topic so make sure to have your list of items ready, stop by [today] between 5 and 6 P.M. and help welcome Secretary of State Bysiewicz to the MLN community

Photo by Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie

CTBlogger also mentions that her guest post will be on the topics of election day registration, 17-year-olds voting, and the sore loser law.

When it comes to signing up to participate in the My Left Nutmeg community, there is no time like the present.

The 1000th Post

In just over a year. Wow!

And, to take it back where I first started political blogging, here is a repost from FireDogLake. Thanks Jane, for helping to get me into this crazy political business!

Dodd to Vlog Tomorrow on FDL at 5pm ET

By Jane Hamsher @ 7:00 pm

Presidential candidate Chris Dodd will be with us tomorrow starting at 5pm ET/2pm PT for a live video vlogging session where he will answer questions left by the FDL community in the comment section.

Our first live vlogging session with John Laesch last Saturday was a huge success.  Howie Klein went to Illinois and live streamed the interview for Blue America.  Tomorrow, we're going to do things a little differently.  This time Senator Dodd will be talking about the supplemental vote last week as well as new legislation he plans to be introducing on Iraq.  A video of the event will then be available for viewing and downloading.

Another bad day in Iraq

The endless stream of bad news just keeps coming out of Iraq.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, ten more American soldiers were killed in Iraq.

Ten more good people, in the prime of their lives, struck down for George Bush's war.

That's ten more families who are suffering right now from a completely devastating loss.

All because Goddamned George Bush refuses to give an inch when it might be construed as admitting to a mistake.

From CNN.Com:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Ten U.S. troops died in Iraq on Monday, including eight killed in a deadly chain of events that began when a U.S. helicopter was shot down, according to a U.S. military official.

Both helicopter pilots were killed.

Two Bradley fighting vehicles rushing to the helicopter crash site were hit by exploding roadside bombs, killing six soldiers and injuring three, the official said.

In a separate attack on Memorial Day, two other U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb while conducting a "combat security patrol" in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The eight deaths related to the chopper crash occurred in volatile Diyala province between Baquba and Muqdadiya, the U.S. military announced on Tuesday.

The pilots were flying an observation mission over a major supply route when their wingman -- on a Kiowa flying nearby -- reported heavy machine-gun fire in the area.

After the helicopter went down, a quick-reaction force was called in to recover it, the official said, and the two Bradleys were blown up by roadside bombs.

Air assault forces came in by helicopter, recovered the bodies of the two pilots and destroyed the downed chopper.

The U.S. military statement said all of those killed were from Task Force Lightning, the force that patrols northern stretches of Iraq, including Diyala.

More of this story is available at CNN.Com.

Courant features Dodd's "tech squad"

In this morning's Hartford Courant, DC Bureau Chief David Lightman explores the Presidential Candidate's use of some of the best internet talent available to get his message out:

WASHINGTON -- Chris Dodd was one of the first prominent Senate Democrats last week to decide he would vote against the Iraq funding bill.

His next step: to sit down at a plain brown desk at his campaign headquarters and speak for 39 seconds in front of a digital video camera. Just Dodd and the camera. No American flag in the background. No crawl across the screen. No gimmicks, not even a script.

An hour later, the clip was on YouTube. "I cannot and will not simply give this president another blank check," Dodd said - and within a day, about 9,000 people who had visited YouTube had watched and heard him say it.

The Connecticut senator's presidential campaign has gone high-tech, an unlikely marriage, perhaps, between a 63-year-old master of the grip-and-grin school of stumping and a group of Internet experts young enough to be his children.

[...]

Dodd's tech staff comprises Tim Tagaris, 30, a veteran of the Democratic National Committee and last year's Senate campaign by Ned Lamont; Tim Cullen, 33, a former software developer who did similar online work in Dodd's Senate office; Matt Browner-Hamlin, 25, known in the blogosphere for his myleftnutmeg.com site (wow, great plug, even if Lightman didn't realize it isn't necessarily his site); and Brett Schenker, 28, a political consultant who is considered an expert on discovering new technologies and making them work for campaigns.

Dodd's efforts win points from the wired world, particularly his ability to react quickly and forcefully, as he did the other day.

"Dodd's people were very smart to get this video out there on the eve of the vote," said Jane Hamsher, founder of firedoglake.com, a liberal blog.

How many more by next Memorial Day?

As we approach Memorial Day 2007, I can't help but feel terribly let down by our Democratic majority in Congress. They had an historic opportunity to scale back our involvement in Iraq's bloody civil war, but (as I expected) they lost their nerve, and eventually gave Bush everything he wanted.

I know our direct involvement in the war will end eventually, but does it have to be later rather than sooner?

I wonder how many more grieving families there will be on Memorial Day, 2008?


(video by Scarce)

U.S. Deaths Near Grim Memorial Day Mark

By STEVEN R. HURST
Associated Press Writer
Published May 27, 2007, 1:41 PM CDT

BAGHDAD -- Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling -- and expected to rise in coming months.

In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3 1/2 months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.

"It could be a bloody -- it could be a very difficult August," he said last week.

U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus on Saturday acknowledged the increase in casualties as a result of the American surge in forces to regain control of Baghdad.

"We're doing heavy fighting. This is a fight. There's a war on out there," he told reporters at al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq.

Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst with the Brookings Institution and a consultant to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, said the increased casualties were a result of the security operation.

Thousands more American soldiers are patrolling the streets and living in isolated outposts across Baghdad, leaving them more vulnerable to attack. He also said the increase in raids on extremist Shiite militiamen had brought a wave of retaliatory attacks.

"We're out there on the streets a lot more. There are more patrols going on every day, so we're more open to attacks," O'Hanlon said.

Stephen Biddle, a military expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of a group that spent weeks in Iraq assessing the situation for Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, agreed that more American deaths were likely.

"The biggest change in their (insurgent and militia) tactics is that they've changed to exploit the vulnerabilities we've opened ourselves up to. They see a new, small American base in their neighborhood, three blocks away, and they're going to car bomb it," said Biddle.

"We're going to see a spike in the short term," said Biddle. "But the likelihood is that in six months we'll see a drop in casualties as these areas become more secure. The problem is, what about the rest of the country?"

By the end of Saturday at least 100 American troops had died in the first 26 days of May, an average of 3.85 deaths a day. At that pace, 119 troops will have died by the end of the month, the most since 137 soldiers were killed in November 2004, when U.S. troops were fighting insurgents in Fallujah.

As of Saturday, May 26, 2007, at least 3,451 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,817 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military.

Kucinich debate trip planned

UPDATED BY POPULAR DEMAND! See below:

(Sal Liccione, with closed eyes at the JJB Dinner)

By the magic of image editing, Sal opens his eyes!

(Full disclosure: those are actually Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy's eyes, from a photo I snapped the same evening, in what may be the creepiest display of Photoshopping that I've ever done! Sorry about the nightmares you'll have later...)

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has appointed Sal Liccione as the Connecticut Coordinator for the Kucinich 2008 Campaign.

Sal is organizing a van trip to New Hampshire to support the Congressman during the June 3rd debate. For information on how you can attend the group headed up north to cheer on the only candidate who has consistently voted against the war from DAY ONE, contact Sal Liccione at salliccione2001@yahoo.com or call him at (203) 434-6348 for more info.

And check out some of my videos of Dennis Kucinich:

Dennis Kucinich speaks at UConn
Accountability for the War
The Rolling Kucinich Interview
My Exclusive Interview with Elizabeth Kucinich

Krayeske sues Hartford P.D.

(My interview with Ken Krayeske)
I'm not sure, but I think the phrase "an open and shut case" probably applies to this situation (via CT News Junkie):

Ken Krayeske, a freelance journalist, photographer, and law student who was arrested while taking photographs during Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s inaugural parade in January, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Thursday against the City of Hartford and its police officers involved in his “false arrest.”

[...]

Krayeske made a state police hit list for his political activities, including his role as campaign manager for Green Party candidate Cliff Thornton who ran against Rell in the Nov. 2006 election.

The federal lawsuit claims that prior to the inaugural parade a member of the Connecticut State Police informed Hartford Police that Krayeske “was among a group of political activists who posed a possible threat to the governor.” But the state dropped the charges in March when it discovered there wasn’t enough probable cause to prosecute Krayeske.

[...]

(There's more at CT News Junkie)

Win a free trip to New Hampshire!

To win this fabulous trip, simply enter by responding to the contact person below. (Hint: Everyone's a winner!)

Join us for the second debate of the 2008 Presidential campaign!

The second debate among the Democratic candidates for President will be held on June 3 in New Hampshire. Our own Senator, Chris Dodd, will be taking part in the debate, and you can help to cheer him on!

Sunday, June 3
St. Anselm's College, Manchester, N. H.

Make the trip to New Hampshire with us!

Join us in Manchester on Sunday, June 3, to cheer for Senator Dodd and show everyone that Senator Dodd has the loudest, proudest supporters in the country! We will gather outside the debate hall to show our support for Senator Dodd in the hours before the debate. You’ll get a Dodd for President t-shirt and a sign and you’ll help us make a great showing for our candidate!

Please note that we will not have tickets to enter the debate hall, as quantities are extremely limited and generally reserved for New Hampshire residents. We will be hosting a debate-watching party at a nearby restaurant, where we’ll provide dinner for all of our great volunteers while we watch the debate live on TV together. After the debate, Senator Dodd will join us at the restaurant to thank all of you for making the trip, and to share his thoughts about the debate.

Buses will be leaving from Connecticut on Sunday morning as follows:

New Haven area pickups at 8am and 11am at commuter lot in Orange, at exit 58 off Route 15 (at Route 34). Map available HERE

Hartford area pickups at 9am and 12 noon at commuter lot in Manchester (CT), at exit 1 off Route 384. Map available HERE

Space on the buses is limited so please let us know if you plan to attend! If you would like to drive yourself, or organize a local car pool, give us a call and we’ll tell you where and when to meet up with the rest of the Dodd crowd in New Hampshire!

For more info or to reserve your seat on the bus, please contact us at 860-244-2008 or Connecticut@ChrisDodd.com

Dodd explains why he'll vote NO

Senator Dodd is joined by Connecticut Congressman Chris Murphy in his opposition to the bill. We're waiting for definite word from our other Congressmen.

We can all guess how Joe Lieberman will vote. Anything that keeps the war going forever is A-OK in his book.

Also, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), will hold a press conference tomorrow in Washington to discuss the supplemental funding bill, and WHY Bush will be so willing to sign this one; the privatization will benefit many oil companies, including those in the United States:

Kucinich News Conference Will Reveal Consequences

of Iraqi Oil Privatization in Supplemental Bill

Who: Congressman Dennis Kucinich
Ms. Antonia Juhasz, Institute for Policy Studies
Ms. Denice Lombard, U.S. Labor Against the War
When: Thursday, May 24, 2007
Time: 12 p.m.
Where: Cannon Terrace Corner of New Jersey Avenue and Independence Avenue

What: Congressman Kucinich, along with Iraqi oil expert Antonia Juhasz and National Tour Coordinator for the Voices of Iraqi Workers Solidarity Tour Denice Lombard will be discussing the implications of Congress insisting on benchmarks in the Iraq supplemental that include passage of the Iraqi “hydrocarbon act,” which forces the Iraqis to privatize their oil.

***Following the news conference, there will be a Congressional briefing to expose the crucial issue of Congress passing a measure that pressures Iraq to pass a “Hydrocarbon Act.” This act would allow multinational oil corporations — many based in the United States — to exercise control over Iraqi oil resources.

The Iraqi oil privatization briefing will be from 2 p.m.-3 p.m., in room 402 Cannon.

Democratic Convention - one year later

Here's a look back from an historical perspective:

The Connecticut State Democratic Convention, held May 19-20, 2006, was my first major opportunity to cover a big political event. I went in knowing very little about the process, and emerged with a better understanding of what goes on there.

This video is my diary of the two days, starting with Friday's memorable Senate nominating vote with Ned Lamont gaining a sizeable portion and forcing a primary, and ending with the contentious governor's contest between Dan Malloy and John DeStefano.

The Sunday Night Music Club IV

Steely Dan has a prominant place in my all-time Top Ten Bands list. And to further solidify their position, Donald Fagen (1/2 of Steely Dan) released two solo albums that are definitely in my Top 100 Albums list.

And boy, it ain't easy keeping all these lists straight!

Fagen's Nightfly and Kamakiriad are a nicely matched pair of records, with that very recognizable Steely Dan sound taken a step further. This video, "Tomorrow's Girls", is one of several from Kamakiriad I like (another, "Snowbound", is directed by the same Michel Gondry who created the "Lucas with the Lid Off" video I showcased in the first "Sunday Night Music Club").

Here's "Tomorrow's Girls", with a very familiar Rick Moranis starring; pure fun!

Kerri Rowland's website

I'm sorry about the slow posting here lately; things have been very busy with work and with getting my boat ready for the season. The boat was launched Thursday, but work is going to be hectic for the foreseeable future. I'll try to post whenever I can, or if something really important (or cool) is going on.

Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, please support our mayoral candidate:

Milford has a great Democratic candidate for Mayor in Kerri Rowland. She's an alderman from the 4th district (or is it "alderwoman"? I think I've seen Kerri call herself an "alderman", so I'll guess I'll stick with that, until somebody complains...) who is very involved in making our great city even better!

Bookmark Kerri's website for news about both the city and the campaign. Visit kerrirowland.com.

"Voices in Conflict" to be performed

At the Fairfield Theatre Company (http://fairfieldtheatre.org/). This is a huge victory for free speech. (via My Left Nutmeg)

Voices in Conflict
A play from the students of Wilton High School

Wednesday, June 6th and Friday, June 8th, 7:30pm
Buy Tickets: $12

Doors Open at 7:00pm

The play, Voices in Conflict, put together by students in Bonnie Dickinson's advanced theatre class at Wilton High School, is a series of monologues, mainly by soldiers in Iraq. It uses actual words of actual soldiers, as taken from the book "In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss and the Fight to Stay Alive" and the documentary "The Ground Truth," plus blogs and other sources (though names are changed). Dickinson will direct the work.

According to The New York Times, the school's principal, Timothy H. Canty, canceled the play citing problems of political balance and context, saying "he was worried the play might hurt Wilton families 'who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving as we speak,' and that there was not enough classroom and rehearsal time to ensure it would provide 'a legitimate instructional experience for our students.'"

Sen. Dodd's new commercial

Nicely done (via ConnecticutBLOG)

Still working on the boat

This can't be good for me!

What you don't see in this picture is the probably lethal amount of bottom paint dust that the mask didn't prevent me from inhaling. Sanding the bottom of a racing sailboat is much more than cosmetic...it's an art form. If you want your boat to gain that crucial tenth of a knot advantage in a close race, you have to basically burnish the hard, copper-based anti-fouling paint on the hull to a mirror sheen.

I'm not that obsessive about it (yet), but I did make sure I put a nice finish on the wetted surface. When I invariably do poorly in races this season, at least I won't be able to blame the condition of the hull on it!

We'll finally be launching the boat later this week, and when the water warms up a bit and the weather gets nice and hot, I'll be welcoming a bunch of you nutty bloggers to sail with us.

To keep tabs on how the sailboat racing goes this season, please check out my sailing blog, "Team Full Tilt".

LW: Joe betrays the Democrats - again

Lieberman Watch: The junior senator from Connecticut has gone and done it...again.

Not happy with doing his best to cause division in the Senate by supporting Bush's failed Iraq War policy, now Joe Lieberman is doing what he can to destroy the Democratic majority in the Senate by raising money for the Republican senator from Maine, Sue Collins.

Lieberman fingers Collins (Getty Images)In fact, Lieberman is SO frickin' bi-partisan that he went and endorsed Collins for reelection even before any Democrat officially announced a challenge to Collins!

Why, that's as bi-partisan as you can GET! Joe Lieberman refused to even CONSIDER any Democrat as being worthy to challenge his Republican ally in the Senate. Much like his own personal philosophy, Joe is unwilling to even think about anyone with the audacity to challenge Collins.

The Washington Post blog has details (and inaccuracies, but we've become used to that from the Post), via The Raw Story:

Lieberman Helps Collect Cash for Collins

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) (no, it's "I-Conn.", stupid!) is never going to win any popularity contests among his party's liberal base -- a fact he seems decidedly unconcerned about despite his 2006 Democratic primary loss to Ned Lamont.

Democrats' 2000 vice-presidential nominee Joe Lieberman, left, is helping raise money for Republican Susan Collins of Maine.

Not only has Lieberman endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) -- one of Democrats' biggest targets in the 2008 cycle -- but he's planning to co-host a fundraiser for her on June 21 in Washington, D.C.

The event, which will be held in a Capitol Hill location still to be determined, will feature Lieberman and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) -- a very rare bipartisan (yeah, "bipartisan" in the form of Republicans working with Independents who caucus with them!) fundraiser. Attendees are being asked to raise $3,000; $2,000 would come in the form of a political action committee donation while the other $1,000 would be a personal contribution, according to an electronic invite for the fundraiser obtained today by The Fix.

"Let's try to make this a bi-partisan tour de force," reads the invite. (again, how can it be "bi-partisan" if there are NO Democrats involved?)

"Senator Specter approached Senator Collins with the idea of doing a joint fundraising event with Senator Lieberman," said Collins spokeswoman Jen Burita. "Both senators are colleagues with whom she works well and good friends, so we thought it was a great idea."

Lieberman's willingness to work openly for Collins's reelection will surely not sit well with Democratic strategists who want Rep. Tom Allen (D) to oust the two-term incumbent. For Lieberman, his support of Collins is payback. She was one of a handful of senators who campaigned for him in the general election following his loss in the Democratic primary to Lamont. (He ran for and won reelection as an independent.) Lieberman and Collins also serve together as the chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the Senate. (not after 2008, when Collins is history and Lieberman gets stripped of any seniority by the Dems)

Two events coming next Saturday

From the Wilton Bulletin: Wilton Democrats host candidates at spring breakfast May 19
By Justin Reynolds

Former U.S. Senate candidate Ned Lamont, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, congressional candidate Jim Himes, and State Rep. Jim Shapiro are coming to town.

The Wilton Democratic Town Committee will be holding its annual breakfast fund-raiser on Saturday, May 19. The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Trackside and should last about two hours.

“We’re lucky to have these people commit,” said Ted Hoffstatter, the Wilton DTC chair. “This is a great chance for people to meet Jim Himes, who’s going to run against Chris Shays in two years.” Mr. Hoffstatter said there might be some other guests, too, who have yet to confirm.

“We want to invite a wider variety of people, not just hard-core Dems, but also those not affiliated with either party. Even Repubs who aren’t happy with the status quo,” Mr. Hoffstatter said. “We want to get some new Democrats in there, too, some new, younger blood.”

The event will be catered with poached eggs, fruit salad, muffins and juice. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for high school and college students. Information: Ted Hoffstatter at 451-5049.

Universal Health Care forum

Presented by the Fairfield Young Democrats and CT Working Families
http://www.ct-workingfamilies.org/

Norwalk City Hall
Saturday May 19th
Room 203
9:30 breakfast
10-11AM forum
Free
For more info, contact Sal Liccione 203-434-6348

We're becoming a society of hall monitors

Things are getting a little out of control with talk radio these days. On Friday the radio duo of Opie and Anthony, shock talkers out of NYC, were compelled to publicly apologize for a comic riff they did on satellite radio network XM Radio.

Yeah, that's right. Now you can't say anything shocking even on a pay-service, non-FCC regulated network without incurring the frenzied wrath of this world of busy-bodies that we're living in.

Sure, Opie & Anthony were party to some horrific comments apparently made by their guest, an outspoken homeless man, about the terrible things he'd do to women such as Condi Rice, Laura Bush and Queen Elizabeth. I didn't hear the remarks, but knowing O&A's show, they were probably delivered in the same manner of a bunch of construction workers on a break, crudely joking around. That kind of thing can get real disgusting real fast, especially when they're trying to top each other by being even more ridiculously outrageous.

In other words, the comments weren't supposed to be taken seriously.

Or taken out of context, which is exactly what happened with the witch-hunt piling on that the media tends to indulge in these days. Can you imagine if the creator of "The Sopranos" was held publicly responsible for the lines he had written for his characters? When Paulie Walnuts calls a stripper the "c-word", should David Chase then be hounded out of Hollywood?

While O&A aren't necessarily fictional characters, their on-air "personas" tend to be. Like Howard Stern. In fact, Opie occasionally breaks character and makes a statement starting with "I'm Greg Hughes, the actor who plays Opie..."

This latest tempest seems to be largely the creation of Matt Drudge, who broke the "story" on his website and made sure to quote the most heinous lines from the show. It almost seems to be payback for Imus, who was a darling of the right, even though they will deny that fact. And the non-questioning media jumped right on board, mostly glossing over the fact that the show is on a pay service and has as much business being compared to the Imus situation as "The Sopranos" would have being compared to a network TV show like "CSI: Miami". Different standards apply.

The one thing that O&A have going for them is the fact that they have very few advertisers on their show, whereas Imus was killed by all his advertisers bowing to public pressure and pulling out of his show. XM Corp so far has decided to stick with O&A. That could change if the FCC decides to pressure XM to drop them before signing off on the proposed XM/Sirius merger.

And that would absolutely be de facto censorship. We've apparently gone right back to where we were when Lenny Bruce was hounded to death for supposed "obscenity".

So now, every single day there's a cadre of people "monitoring" talk radio, both broadcast and satellite, hoping and waiting to hear somebody say something they can "tattle" upon. Meanwhile, every single day Americans are losing their lives in a pointless war; but THAT'S not important enough to get people riled up, apparently.

Here's a write-up on the situation in the RecordOnline.Com, which gives a more balanced treatment of the facts than I've seen elsewhere in the media.

And here's Elvis Costello singing about how "the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools tryin' to anaesthetise the way that you feel!"

Kerri Rowland video announcement

Kerri Rowland announces candidacy for mayor

(Kerri Rowland with Sen. Gayle Slossberg)
Milford Democratic Alderman from the 4th district Kerri Rowland announced her intention to become the next mayor of our small shoreline city.

Kerri spoke to a crowd of well over 100 people, which is significant when you realize it was only 6PM on a fine May evening. Representatives from local media including Cablevision 12 was on hand to cover the event, along with yours truly, of course; video will be online tomorrow (Friday).

Milford Democratic Chairman Rich Smith introduced the various dignitaries on hand for the announcement, including State Senator Gayle Slossberg, State Rep. Richard Roy, and Milford's venerable Town Clerk and former Mayor Alan Jepson.

Kerri took to the steps of City Hall and spoke about being born and raised in Milford and her love for the city. She briefly touched upon the issues that face Milford, such as the tax revaluation and the condition of our schools' infrastructure. Then she described her optimism for the future and her committment to making Milford a better place.

Visit Kerri's website (KerriRowland.com) for news and to find out how you can help. And check back tomorrow for video of the event!



UPDATE: Here's the video!

Bush 'would veto new Iraq bill'

Once again, George W. Bush has earned the world's scorn, this time by threatening to veto the new war funding bill that ties in a requirement that Bush appear before Congress later this summer to report on any "progress" in the war and get the remaining funds.

Of course, Bush has promised to veto the bill.

Apparently, our President is much too used to having had Carte Blanche for his entire presidency to change now.

It's become blatantly obvious that the President won't compromise even a tiny bit after the Democrats have offered a new proposal...the time is here for us to shut down this war.

From BBC News online:

US President George W Bush would veto a second congressional bill on the war in Iraq that links funding to progress there, his spokesman has said.

The bill, currently being drafted by Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives, funds operations in Iraq until the end of July.

But it would then give Congress the option of cutting off money if the security situation did not improve.

[...]

White House spokesman Tony Snow said that Mr Bush would veto the new bill in its current form.

"There are restrictions on funding and there are also some of the spending items that were mentioned in the first veto message that are still in the bill," he said.

Lawmakers would then vote in July on whether to release this money on the basis of a report from Mr Bush on progress towards political, economic and security targets.

[...]

The bill could come to a vote in the House of Representatives as early as Thursday.

Coming Thursday: Milford Mayor's race takes the stage!

At 6PM this Thursday, on the steps of historic Milford's City Hall, the Democratic challenger to the 18-year Republican hold on the Mayor's office will be announced!

Try to get to Milford for this big event, with a party to follow. The city's Democrats are very optimistic about our chances in this November's election.

Attend the announcement, and you'll be able to say that you were THERE from the very beginning!

More details soon!

A bit of creative dubbing

This post doesn't really have much to do with anything, except as an observation...

Tonight I was watching the movie "Sideways" on the FX channel. They dubbed the naughty words out because even though they're a cable channel, I guess they want to be kid friendly.

...at least during early evening hours; I've seen "Rescue Me" late night on FX, and then, hoo-boy! they really kick out the stops!

So there's this one scene where Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) are on a golf course. Apparently they're playing a little slowly, because the group behind them hit a ball right past them, yelling at them to hurry up.

I've seen the film previously, and Jack and Miles are outraged, and Jack (in the original, unedited version) had hollered "That's not cool, asshole!"

Well, that sort of language isn't acceptable on FX before 10PM, so the line in the movie was dubbed with a startling bit of editorial originality:

Jack yelled, "That's not cool, Ashcroft!"

I'm not sure why...but that line made me very happy.

Is the Republican-American really that stupid?

(uncredited photo from the Waterbury Republican-American)
I'm astounded at the awful, one-sided coverage the Waterbury Republican-American is giving the Plan B "protest" that occurred this weekend outside St. Mary's hospital in Waterbury.

Their reporter Lauresha Xhihani obviously based her entire story on the words of Bill O'Brien, the president of Connecticut Right to Life.

Rather than let the facts get in the way of a fairly boring story, Xhihani completely neglected to mention how Plan B actually works, and the Catholic organization's reluctance to issue the medication is more about raising funds through religious hysteria than medical science. Why let the truth get in the way of a good fundraising opportunity?

And that same hysteria works for the media, too. Anytime a newspaper can splash the word ABORTION all over it's pages, they'll definitely sell some papers.

Yet, a reporter is theoretically supposed to present both sides of an issue. Apparently, not this one. Or more likely, not the editors, who make the decisions as to what goes in the paper. Unless they're completely brain dead, they know perfectly well the facts of the issue, and they chose to ignore them.

Here's some random quotes from the article:

O'Brien said "the state has no business" telling Catholic hospitals to do something that goes against the church's teachings....

"We can't kill a person that was conceived of rape," O'Brien said....

Archbishop Henry J. Mansell declaring that the legislation goes beyond emergency contraception in demanding that Catholic hospitals "provide for abortion...."

"Catholic morality says you can't kill a human being..."

"It's a religious freedom issue," said Michael Augros...

So there ya go! We've got "kill a person", "abortion", "kill a human being", and "religious freedom" in a single story.

And not one single sentence that questions their false "abortion" claim.

Good job, Rep-Am, good job! William Randolph Hearst would be quite proud of you.

The 28-percent Man!

According to a story in Newsweek (via the Raw Story), George W. Bush's approval rating has slipped to an all-time low of 28%. That means roughly three out of every four Americans think Bush is doing a job they don't approve of. In other words, he's doing a bad job.

Like, criminally bad.

To put this in perspective, let's look at Richard Nixon's approval ratings over the 6-1/2 years of his presidency - via Drew Thaler's Recording Artist blog:

Nixon, who was a shrewd career politician and feared by most everyone, suffered a spell of dismal approval ratings in the mid-to-upper 20's during the infamous "summer of Watergate".

That was the three months of almost daily televised Watergate hearings that ended with the House passing all three articles of impeachment and Nixon resigning before his Senate trial could begin.

George Bush has attained these low ratings almost without even trying. Much like Nixon, he's involved in a war that seemingly has no purpose or direction. God only knows what Bush's "approval" rating would be had he gone through what Nixon experienced in those seemingly endless lazy summer days in 1974.

I think we'd have to invent a whole new branch of mathematics to describe his awfulness.

Boat time!

The weather has finally turned nice enough for me to start working on my boat, so that's what I'll be doing all weekend. I've got about 2-1/2 weeks of work to get to before we can launch "Full Tilt" for the season, but I enjoy doing it.

You should treat yourself by going outside and enjoying this fabulous spring weather!

UPDATE: By special request from the Comments section - this is for you, Spazeboy.

Westport "disses" Shays

That is, if wanting to talk about the war can be considered disrespectful.

A dour and grumpy Chris Shays lectures the assembled crowd in Westport about how every other town in his district is "nice". And he's peevish and cantankerous, also. You can't forget cantankerous.

What a tool!

(video by MattW via MLN - Welcome to video blogging, Matt!)

Norespect
Uploaded by mlnmatt

A study in mediocrity: The Republican Debate

I'm watching the debate right now. Hearing all these cheap politicians invoking the name of Ronald Reagan as if he were Jesus Christ is making me ill.

I guess the Iran-Contra affair, "Reaganomics", the Beruit debacle, increasing the national debt nearly 50-fold ($94 billion to $4.3 TRILLION), the support of dictators like Marcos, Rios-Montt, Duarte, Duvalier, and Saddam Hussein, firing all the air-traffic controllers, and setting up the savings and loan disaster are ALL solid Republican values.

God help us if any of these guys move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January, 2009.

Iraq won't stand UP until we stand DOWN!

I can't imagine a more telling indication of Iraq's criminal lack of initiative than today's latest news from Baghdad. From CNN.com:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers divided over whether to keep U.S. troops in Iraq are finding common ground on at least one topic: They are furious that Iraqi politicians are considering a lengthy break this summer.

"If they go off on vacation for two months while our troops fight -- that would be the outrage of outrages," said Rep. Chris Shays, R-Connecticut.

Might it actually be dawning on our very-soon-to-be lame duck Representative in the 4th CD that our military's continued occupation of Iraq might never end if we wait until the leaders there actually take control of their own destiny?

[...]

Democrats contend that initiating troop withdrawals will pressure Iraqis into making the necessary political compromises. Republicans say the Iraqis could still refuse to work together and the consequence would be a blood bath.

The only area of agreement between the two sides is that the Iraqis are testing their patience.

"That is not acceptable," Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, said of a two-month recess. "An action of that consequence would send a very bad signal to the world that they don't have the resolve that matches the resolve of the brave troops that are fighting in the battle today."

Two months off will certainly give those fine Iraqi leaders time to practice waterskiing and work on their tans, while our brave troops continue to be killed.

In recognition of the Iraqi Parliment's relentless committment to leisure, I give you The Go-Go's:

Pizza and Politics at Blog Wars screening

Spazeboy was the star at tonight's Blog Wars screening. About 30 students and teachers attended the event, held in the Tunxis College cafeteria. The student activities fund paid for the pizza.

Folloing the screening we answered questions for maybe 10 minutes. We discussed the impact of blogging on the senate race, and about how blogging gives everyone a voice.

And finally, Beau answered the question that was on everyone's mind:

"What was the deal with your hair changing colors?

Do we need a calendar here?

Enough events seem to be happening to justify putting one on this blog...but I'm going to be too busy getting my boat ready for the sailing season, so it'll have to wait.

Here's a few things for this week:

Wednesday - Blog Wars screening at Tunxis College - FREE, just show up - 6:30-8:30PM - Film at 7PM - Spazeboy and Connecticut Hollywood Bob will be answering questions and signing autographs!

Wednesday - Jim Himes at DFA in Norwalk - 7:00-9:00PM - Silver Star Diner, 210 Connecticut Ave. Come and meet the next Congressman from the 4th CD!

Friday - Black 47 at Toad's Place - Show up and support a great Irish band that supported Ned Lamont last year! They'll take the stage around 10PM for Irish Fest; other bands start around 7PM.

Check out the official calendar at My Left Nutmeg for more local goings-on.

HEY! That's the ticket! I'll just link to MLN's events schedule!

(Problem solved)

What will actually happen if the money runs out?

Our brave soldiers will come home. That's all.

Does anyone really think that George Bush will insist our forces to stay in Iraq beyond the date when supplies run out? At the cost of their lives? Not likely. They'll come home.

However, I fear our Democratic leaders will fail us and cave to Bush. We're in Vietnam again and nobody seems to care.

Watch me turn on Pelosi and Reid if they drop the deadline from any further bills.

In their remarks following the President's statement, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi seem to want to find compromise with Bush. Pelosi especially looked nervous in her words.

I'm getting nervous, too.

The key to George Bush

It is this:

Whenever there is a decision to be made between two paths of action, Bush will invariably select the most damaging and least logical one.

It's simple, and he's proven it again and again.

And the former "rubber stamp" Congress is no more, so he's been forced to use his veto power a total of TWO TIMES! (The other was to block stem cell research) George Bush has signed his name so few times that I'm astonished that he still knows how to spell it!

No surprises today. Just sadness.

George Bush has effectively signed the death warrant of more brave American soldiers today. I'm sure Joe Lieberman is happy.