Pub Quiz Blograiser photos

Just got home, here's some snaps from tonight (sorry, too tired for putting names on each of 'em).

And be sure to contribute HERE!

Enjoy!

Caruso to challenge Bpt. Primary results in court

Early this afternoon, State Representative Chris Caruso made a dramatic announcement stating that he intends to file suit in Superior Court to overturn the results of the Sept. 11th mayoral primary, according to the Connecticut Post.

The 270 vote margin in Bill Finch's favor exceeds the maximum percentage required to initiate a mandatory recount threshold, which must be within 1/2 a percentage point, or roughly 45 votes out of the roughly 9,000 cast in the primary.

Caruso and City Council candidate Toyka Simmons-Cook filed nearly identical suits alleging that Santa Ayala, the city's Democratic Registrar of Voters, violated numerous laws and worked to sway the election in favor of the Democratic Town Committee's endorsed candidates. According to the ConnPost's article (linked above) the lawsuits include signed statements from numerous voters who allege poll workers advised voters to cast their ballots for the top line of the ballot, listing the party-endorsed candidates.

Here is my interview with Chris Caruso from late Primary night:

End of Quarter Blograiser and Pub Quiz for Jim Himes

End of Quarter Blograiser and Pub Quiz for Jim Himes (+)
by: CGG
Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 11:49:10 AM EDT
(Via My Left Nutmeg = Thanks to Melissa and Maura for helping to put this together on such short notice - it should be a lot of fun. - promoted by tparty)

What: Test your knowledge of political trivia in a fun competition.  Join your favorite blogger or politician's quiz team, or form your own and compete for the right to call yourself Jim Himes' geekiest supporter.

Donate: Act Blue

RSVP Here

When:Saturday September 29 from 7 to 9PM

Where: Bradford's Grill and Tavern
83 Bedford Street
Stamford, CT
(203) 961 9999
http://bradfordsgril...

CT Democratic Co-Hosts:
Jim Himes

State Rep. Gerry Fox
State Rep. Jim Shapiro

Blogger Co-Hosts:

DavidNYC:: DailyKos & Swing State Project
James Lambert:: Swing State Project
Charles Monaco:: LamontBlog & MyLeftNutmeg
Maura Keaney:: MyLeftNutmeg
aka Maura in VA at DailyKos
Melissa Ryan:: CT Local Politics & MyDD
Gabe:: CT Local Politics & The Left Coaster
Connecticut Bob:: Connecticut Bob
CTBlogger:: Hat City Blog, CT Blog & MyLeftNutmeg
Spazeboy:: Spazeboy
Saramerica:: Saramerica & My Left Nutmeg
CaptCT:: MyLeftNutmeg
Aldon Hynes: Orient Lodge & Greater Democracy

**Suggested Minimum Donation $25**
RSVP Above

Open bar and pizza from 7 to 8. Pub Quiz will begin promptly at 7:30 and will consist of four rounds of questions.

Can't attend? Be a virtual participant! We'll have a live Ustream feed of the event, and a liveblog thread on MLN as well.

Kerri Rowland's "Talking Sense" videos

Here's four videos of Kerri discussing the issues facing Milford. Take a look, and see if you don't agree that it's refreshing to hear a candidate simply talking sense:

www.youtube.com/milforddem

That's where you can see a bunch of videos I've helped create for our local Milford (CT) candidates over the last several weeks, with more to come.

www.youtube.com/milforddem

In addition to four videos of Kerri Rowland outlining her ideas on running the town, we've produced videos of most of the under ticket candidates, who are running for Alderman, Board of Education, and Planning & Zoning.

I was a little surprised at how quickly 3rd District BOA candidate Suzanne Manning's video started gettting viewed. Apparently, there's a famous Brit singer named Susanne Manning, who in fact isn't running for ANY political office as far as I know.

But the Youtube search engine apparently returns fuzzy results, so our own Ms. Manning is now the first Milford candidate to reach an International audience!

Kerri Rowland for Mayor: Lights! Camera! Action!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
Thursday, September 20, 2007 Kerri Rowland 203-878-6882

Kerri Rowland for Mayor: Lights! Camera! Action!

MILFORD - Kerri Rowland, Candidate for Mayor in Milford, took time out from her campaign schedule this week to sit down for the cameras. Filmed in her office in the center of Milford, Rowland spoke directly into the camera, expressing her thoughts on several issues.

“I have spent months speaking directly to voters at their homes, around town and on the phone. I want to share with as many people as possible, my thoughts on these most critical issues facing Milford.

The first four general topics covered are: taxes; the environment; education; and senior and veterans’ tax relief.

Citing the need to hold down taxes so families and seniors are not taxed out of their homes, Rowland reminded voters that it was she and the other Democratic Aldermen that proposed cost-cutting measures in the budget and that their plan for lower taxes was rejected by the current administration.

The additional three spots continued to elaborate on her goals and vision for the community, while encouraging citizens to use their right to vote to elicit change in Government.

The spots were directed by local Milford filmmaker Bob Adams and will be released over the next few weeks. The clips will be in rotation on the candidate’s website kerrirowland.com
# # #
About the Candidate:
Kerri Rowland has served as Milford’s 4th District Alderman and is the Milford Democratic Town Committee’s endorsed candidate for Mayor. Rowland is known city-wide for her honesty, accessibility, and work ethic.

About the Director (excerpted from IMDB.com):
Bob Adams’ work with public access TV was recognized when he was nominated for a "Tommy" award for his public service announcement about voting. He created a documentary in 2005 combining elements of live footage with historical film and images with music and voice-over entitled "The Air Line Rail Trail". In 2006 he became involved in video blogging and has over 100 political videos on Youtube. He is also prominently featured in the BBC/Sundance Channel documentary "Blog Wars".
.
Authorized by Kerri Rowland. Paid for by Kerri Rowland For Mayor, Gerald C. Pia, Jr., Treasurer.

"Don't taze me, bro!"

Via WHDH-TV.

UPDATE: A blogger named Bob McCarty has taken the initiative and is marketing these shirts:



OK, as you all know, I'm a big "free-speech" advocate...

...but damn, if four or five cops have grabbed you, maybe it's a good idea to stop struggling and go along with them for a couple minutes. You've already lost the battle; your ass is gonna get zapped; and you'll look like a crazy person to everybody.

There are ways to fight overzealous law enforcement, but trying to argue with them during the heat of the moment isn't going to buy you much, except maybe a 50,000 volt wake-up call.

However, I really do admire this kid's bravado and his commitment to his cause.

Even if he IS crazy.

A Very Reasonable Man

Recently I viewed the documentary "An Unreasonable Man", detailing the life and accomplishments of Ralph Nader. Like many people who voted for the Democrats in the 2000 Presidential election, I was somewhat pissed off at Nader for possibly tilting a very close election towards the Republicans by taking votes away from Gore/Lieberman.

Of course, the REAL culprit in the loss was a poorly run campaign and a suicidal failure to capitalize on the insane popularity of the Clinton administration, even AFTER being impeached and nearly convicted. Gore's campaign advisers simply missed the obvious, and so they let the Presidency...and the country...fall into the hands of the worst people to ever run our government.

Here's an account of Nader giving a speech last week, where he chastised the "spineless, gutless" Democrats in Congress for failing to impeach Bush and Cheney.

Unreasonable? Not in the slightest.

What's unreasonable is the ridiculous failure of our Democratic leadership to hold the Bush/Cheney regime accountable, allowing them to further erode our nation and edge us closer to economic collapse. Apparently, our cautious leaders are concerned with positioning and politicking themselves into continued incumbency, while happily allowing our country to slide further into the abyss.

From The Raw Story:

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who mounted failed bids for the White House in 2000 and 2004, excoriated the Bush administration for its post-9/11 policies that critics say trample on civil liberties and for its pursuit of war in Iraq, which he said distracts from fighting Osama bin Laden.

The onetime Green Party candidate appeared at an anti-war rally in Washington Saturday, where he chastised "spineless, gutless" Democrats in Congress for failing to boot Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney from office.

"The impeachable offenses of Bush outnumber any other list of impeachable offenses of any US president," Nader said. "Not only did he and Cheney violate their oath of office to uphold the constitution and the laws of the land, but they proceeded to impose a practice of torture, to arrest thousands of Americans without charges and throw them in prisons without lawyers.... They spied on millions of Americans randomly without judicial approval. How many more impeachable offenses do those spineless, gutless, hapless Democrats need in the Congress."

[...]

Because Democrats control Congress -- after a power shift following the 2006 midterm elections -- they can cut off funding for the war, hold hearings on Bush administration policies and begin impeachment proceedings. Beyond failing to do any of that, though, there have not been vocal calls for Bush's resignation, Nader said, which makes Democrats now weaker than those in Congress when former-President Richard Nixon was forced to resign in the wake of Watergate.

[...]

I dunno about anyone else, but the guy sounds completely reasonable to me.

Caruso challenges Finch victory claim

The hotly contested Bridgeport primary didn't end with Bill Finch's victory speech tonight. Maura from My Left Nutmeg and your humble narrator spent time at both candidate's primary night HQs.

Bill Finch graciously spoke to me on video mere moments after claiming victory in the primary with a celebratory speech, although he did so without hearing any word of Caruso's conceding the election.

I interviewed Chris Caruso tonight just before midnight and asked him about the primary. Caruso discussed possible voting irregularities, and the likelihood that he'll pursue an investigation of the election with the Secretary of State's office.

Here's the full interview, fresh and toasty via Youtube:

Post Bridgeport Debate wrap up

What a night! Tonight was a grand example of how "People Powered Media" can really work!

The debate, sponsored by MyLeftNutmeg.Com and Fairfield County Weekly went amazingly well. CT Blogger ran the videos, which were questions from regular people in Bridgeport. This Youtube-inspired debate broke new ground in the Connecticut political scene.

This is the view from CT Blogger's control center.

Here's CT Blogger, Maura, me, and Josh and Tom from FCW who did a great job tonight.

Maura helped me get video of the candidates at a local restaurant afterwards. Here's the video:

Jim Himes "Talking Sense"

This video shows Jim's remarks at Caffeinated Geek Girl's gathering last week. He spoke of the opportunities that our nation's leadership has squandered in the months and years following 9/11. As we approach the sixth anniversary of this national tragedy, Chris Shays seems determined to support the ruinous policies of George Bush.

It's time for a change. If you like what you hear, please visit HimesForCongress.Com and support Jim's campaign for sane leadership.

And listen to the very end...Jim has a great line mocking Chris Shays's reluctance to take questions from Democrats.

Sen. Dodd proposes mortgage reform bill

Senator Dodd put forward this desperately needed legislation. It'll be very interesting to see how it's received:

Via Yahoo News - By Patrick Rucker Wed Sep 5, 4:27 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would prohibit mortgage brokers and lenders from steering borrowers to high-cost loans.

The reform measure is meant to curb some of the excesses of the recent housing boom, which has caused a spike of loan delinquencies and foreclosures, according to Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.

The legislation "will put an end to the practices that have forced thousands of Americans into foreclosure and put thousands more in danger of losing their homes," Dodd, a contender for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election in November 2008, said in a statement.

In recent weeks, financial markets have been rocked by fears that weakness in the home lending sector will spread to other parts of the economy.

On Wednesday, leaders of the home building industry met with senior officials at the Federal Reserve to discuss the crisis. In mid-August, the Fed made an emergency cut to its discount lending rate to calm markets fearful that credit standards were tightening.

[...]

The plan would create new standards for mortgage servicers by eliminating some of the costs and fees they impose for tardy payments. Mortgage servicers are often hired by the lender to make collections on a loan.

The legislation would also put a greater number of costly loans under regulations of the Homeownership and Equity Protection Act, which protects borrowers from predatory lenders. Dodd has previously chastised banking regulators for being unwilling to fully enforce HOEPA as many unsafe subprime loans were being offered.

Dodd's legislation would hold lenders responsible when home appraisers give a faulty value of the property or when mortgage brokers push borrowers into costly loans.

Several consumer and community groups on Wednesday endorsed Dodd's legislation as a good step to protect borrowers who are due to see their payments climb as the early, teaser interest rates expire.

[...]

Read the entire article at Yahoo News