"Yeah, baby!"

"Shall we shag now, or shall we shag later, baby? Yeah!"

Revelations about Rudy Giuliani possibly using public funds to arrange a bit o' surreptitious shagging have put the candidate in the unenviable position of having to admit his tawdry extra-marital affair wasn't on the taxpayer's tab.

Which still makes him an adulterous lying sleazebag.

At the very least.

And further allegations have surfaced that may indicate Giuliani used the City's Emergency Control Center for the occasional quickie. Hey, it was the safest place in New York before 9/11, and a two-minute ride from City Hall.

"Hey baby, how'd you like to see my secret lair? Yeah! I can control the entire city from there! Does that make you randy? Do I make you horny, baby, yeah, do I?"

Ew.

The Republican "Youtube" debate

I can't believe I watched the whole thing!

Actually, I was over on FDL, live commenting with the rest of the FireDogs, and had a great time. "Great" in the manner of watching a really awful yet horrifying movie, like "The Ring", except where the ghoulish little girl is played by Fred Thompson.

...and making cynical, yet snarky comments about it. Fun.

Here's a list of conclusions I've deduced about the Republicans:

* There's no tiny bit of the Constitution that's more important than the 2nd Amendment

* It's entirely possible to be positioned as both Pro-Life and Pro-Death

* These guys spend a lot of time reading the Holy Bible...like, a LOT

* Republican You-Tubers are possibly the scariest collection of NASCAR rednecks to ever see the inside of a drunken barn dance

* Brown people are the biggest threat to this nation and they must be stopped, even though nobody else is going to pick our lettuce

* Anderson Cooper asked a good question about Rudy's illicit hotel expenses, then meekly accept a lame-assed answer rather than following up with anything interesting

* Taxes will never be increased to pay for this ridiculous war as long as there are countries still dumb enough to lend us money

* I have no doubt that these awful white men are convinced they'll win based solely on their appeal to the batshit crazy segment of the voters

My conclusion to the entire evening is this: as a nation, we will be well and truly fucked if ANY one of these guys manages to slither their way into the White House next year! I have no doubt about that whatsoever. Whatever it will take to get a Democrat into the Oval Office, we've got to be prepared to do.

And by that, I mean we have to make sure we win by a large enough margin that there's no way possible the Republicans can steal it from us again. Because if we don't win by a landslide, we'll lose.

Again.

"Honk For Peace" screening this Friday

(Photo Copyright 2007 Angela J. Cranford - used by permission)
If you missed the world premiere of Honk For Peace early this month, here's another chance to see it on the big screen, the way it was meant to be seen!

This Friday, Nov. 30th 7:00PM at the Bethel Cinema (269 Greenwood Ave., Bethel, CT) HFP will be shown as an official entry in the Connecticut Film Festival.

(Photo Copyright 2007 Angela J. Cranford - used by permission)
Photos by Angela Cranford. She does freelance photography of all sorts - events, fashion, sports, still life. Angela kicks ass (photographically speaking). Hire her. She can be contacted through her website. Great photos there, too.

TRex has his own blog!

Finally!

Fellow FireDogLake alumnus TRex (short for "Thesaurus Rex") has taken a giant step out on his own with the creation of his new blog, "I Am TRex", located at http://www.iamtrex.com/

Many who were on the campaign trail last year during the exciting senate Primary and General Election will remember TRex, who spent considerable time in Connecticut covering the campaign for FireDogLake. TRex's biting wit (what other type of wit could a giant dinosaur possible have?) and satirical posts have been a mainstay at FDL for a long time. His "Late Night" and "Late Late Night" posts were often a final stop on my blogging rounds.

In his own words, here's why he's starting the blog:

I was finding that my tendency to speak my mind and damn the consequences was running counter to the goals of a high-traffic group blog. FDL is going to be heading into an exciting new phase of its existence and I wish them nothing but the best.

Holy shit! Having read many of his posts over the last several years, I can only imagine the stuff he's going to put up on his new blog now that he has complete free rein.

...and I'm looking forward to it!

Go over to I Am TRex and see his new home!

Hastert is History

Woohoo! They're dropping like flies!

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert officially resigns as of 10:59PM CST tonight.

Why the strange time? Does Jupiter enter Virgo exactly at that moment, which apparently bodes well for washed-up politicians who are skulking out of office well before their term expires? Somebody who knows astrology, please comment.

More to the point, this gives me an excuse to repost this classic video of Senator Lieberman lying like a moth-eaten rug about his statements regarding the Hastert-Foley sex scandal.

Watch how he starts lying even BEFORE I manage to get the question fully out of my mouth! He sees me, and his rotten little brain starts chugging away at the lies so quickly that he can't even contain them! It's impressive how he manages to lie so many times in a single sentence! If there was a liar's hall of fame, they'd have to build an entire wing dedicated to Joe Lieberman's Lies. "Nobody wants to get us out of Iraq more than me!" LIES, I TELLS YA, ALL LIES!!!

Ahem...

...sorry about that little outburst.

Here's the video.

Public Enemy #1

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'd bet God would forgive him if he'd fumbled the paddles long enough for Nature to take its course.*

Oh, well...

Cheney's heart restored to normal rhythm

(* = relax, this is satire)

Dodd submits a Youtube question for GOP debate

In anticipation of this week's Youtube-sponsored Republican debate, Sen. Chris Dodd asked his own question. Nice move. Hopefully they'll include the question and we'll see how awful the GOP handles questions about Constitutional protections. (h/t Scarce via My Left Nutmeg)

Thanks a "Lott"

I just wanted to use that headline before anyone else thought of it!

Oh, and in case you haven't heard, Trent Lott (R-MS) will resign his senate seat by the end of 2007 so he can become a highly paid lobbyist in only one year instead of two years as the new law specifies which takes effect January 1st 2008. It's nice to know he cares about the important stuff!

The War on Paultards

I'm not a frequent reader of Wonkette, but occasionally something comes to my attention that's just too interesting to ignore. It seems that the editorial staff over there has appointed one of their commenters as the "Angry Commenter General" in the "War on Paultards".

We've all heard bits and pieces of Ron Paul's fabled internet candidacy, and how there are many seemingly intelligent people lining up to support him. His ubiquitous, handmade signs are popping up all over, and plenty is being made on his recent online fund raising "success". I think Paul is being cleverly marketed as a "rogue" Republican, who is more of a third-party kind of guy. Kinda like Nader, without the liberal leanings.

Collector's Item?
Before he is forever consigned to the "dustbin of doomed candidates", I think it would be worthwhile to see his policies deconstructed in a particularly forceful (and foul-mouthed) manner.

From Wonkette:

An Open Letter to Paultards: Check Your Motherfucking “Facts” or Shut the Fuck Up.

by NICK FARR, Wonkette Commenter General, Anti-Paultard Alliance (an unpaid position… in case that wasn’t clear, Nick! - Ed.)

There are three things that supporters of Ron Paul seem to have in common:

1) Fundamental mistrust of the government and peripheral institutions.
2) Lack of willingness to understand history, basic economics, government finance, accounting and monetary policy.
3) A pathological belief that Ron Paul will fix everything if/when he is elected President.

What do these three things add up to? An absolute fucking inability to engage with reality.

To some degree, every politician claims they’ll change things. They’ll overlook some inconvenient facts while promising supporters how fucking great it’ll be when they’re elected. They don’t just make shit up, pander to conspiracy theorists and somehow pull a few million dollars out of stoner zombies and gun-nut paranoids on a goddamned pseudo-holiday from another fucking country....

Read the rest here.

Why Australia matters

In a significant upset during the Australian elections, Labor-candidate Kevin Rudd became the new Prime Minister after longtime Bush-ally John Howard's Conservative-coalition party was stunningly defeated.

Rudd has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq. This would mean the United States will be the final industrialized nation to have NOT signed the global warming treaty.

And it makes things very lonely for President Bush and his US-led Coalition loose grouping of a couple countries in the fraudulent War on Terror.

Rudd is 50, a former diplomat who speaks fluent Chinese, and apparently listens to the Australian people when they say they want to stop global warming and get out of George Bush's bogus war.

In contrast, President Bush is 60, a former drunk who speaks with a phony Texas twang, and laughs at Americans who are against global warming and the bogus war in Iraq.

You know what? It must be nice having a leader who listens!

Being American, I tended to know very little about the outside world; but I've made great strides in recent years. For instance, I now know that Australia isn't just "Men At Work", Vegemite and Steve Irwin (R.I.P.).

So, in honor of the fine and outstanding Australian people who chose to be represented by a progressive party, here's a strip from my favorite online comic from The Land Down Under, a somewhat twisted and politically incorrect weekly geekfest known as "Bigger Than Cheeses" (as in, "bigger than Jesus", but different, get it?):

click to enlarge
Kind of sick, I know. But funny. You gotta hand it to those Aussies...they never let political correctness get in the way of having a laugh!

Milford Inauguration Night

This is the video of the inauguration of Milford's elected officials, on November 19th. The Democrats won majorities in all the elected town boards, although the voters didn't seem willing to abandon their "nice guy" candidate, Mayor Jim Richetelli.

Which is OK, since nothing gets done in this town without approval by the now Democratically-dominated Board of Aldermen. This week's Aldermanic organizational meeting may shed a little light on a local Republican party in disarray, since they couldn't decide on a Minority Leader, necessitating several hours of discussion that would have been avoided had they been unified in their leadership. They claim to want the position shared between two(!) aldermen, which makes very little sense to me. But I guess it's very difficult to give up the power they've enjoyed for so many years, so this may be a way to show the Democrats that they'll be difficult to work with.

So much for all the "good feelings" and the promise to work together that they gave immediately after the election!



All the winning candidates are listed in the video and sworn in, even if I couldn't capture everyone's face (those stupid poinsettias on the stage blocked some of my view!) City Clerk Alan Jepson's entire speech is included, because he discussed a lot of things that are notable before he swore in the elected officials.

Public Campaign Financing in Connecticut

We've all heard bits and pieces about this program, which provides public funding for candidates for state office. The official name of the program is "The Citizens' Election Program", and I decided to learn more about it.

On Tuesday I attended one of the (free and open to the public) Citizen’s Election Program public training seminars at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. The seminar is one of many that are being scheduled to teach citizens about how public funding for state elections works. It was run by the SEEC (State Election Enforcement Commission) and hosted by SEEC Executive Director Jeff Garfield.

Approximately 80 people attended the seminar, including quite a few legislators who will be using the funding for their reelection campaigns. But the main purpose of the training is to educate regular citizens about the program and to encourage them to run for office. Helpful hint: if it's held in an LOB hearing room, get there early enough to secure a seat at the center hearing tables, rather than in the gallery areas. Those chairs are really comfortable!

Public funding boils down to this: any citizen who declares their intent to run for state office can qualify for state funding by raising a minimum dollar amount and number of small-dollar donations from their district.

For example, if you want to run for the State Representative, you need to collect a minimum of 150 contributors of amounts between $5 and $100 from your district, along with a total of $5000 in maximum $100 donations from citizen donors anywhere, even if they live outside your district. The donations are limited to citizens only, no PACs or lobbyists allowed. If you meet this criteria by the specified date and you have all your paperwork submitted, you'll then receive $25,000 in state election funds.

The minimums for State Senator are 300 small-dollar contributors and $15,000 total, which would then make you eligible for $85,000 in funding.

Here’s the cool part – if your opponent opts out of public funding and relies only on his own fundraising for his money, once he exceeds the amount you received from the state you’ll be eligible for additional matching funds. This has an effect of “leveling the playing field” as far as money goes, and helps keep well-funded candidates from out-spending their opponent.

Of course, keep in mind that this is a very simplified description of the program, and there are many little regulations and details that must be addressed, so don't think that this is an exhaustive outline of the program by any means! Primaries, special elections, minor party and petitioning candidates all have varying funding opportunities. Click on the links included here to get detailed info.

The program is financed by the Citizen's Election Fund, which receives funds from the sale of abandoned property in the state's custody, along with private donations. So there's no additional tax burden for this program. I think they said that presently the fund is around $15 million.

Before the seminar I met briefly with Tom Swan, Ned Lamont's 2006 campaign manager and director of CT Citizen Action Group (CCAG), and he gave me a very informative brochure put out by Common Cause Connecticut. The brochure spells out the basics of the program in a few pages, and is available online as an Adobe pdf file HERE.

I've heard that there's a lawsuit that was brought against this program, most likely by special interest groups and incumbents who think it unfairly challenges their seats. Especially those seats that were paid for by special interest contributors and PACs.

But I can't help but believe that this will only help ensure cleaner elections and encourage citizen participation in state government. This is a good thing. Be sure to let your legislators know that you support the Citizen's Election Program, and that you expect them to fight for it!

Maybe there's enough oxygen after all

Several months ago Chris Dodd famously stated that he didn't support impeachment of the President because "...impeachment proceedings suck all the oxygen out of the room".

That position, coupled with Nancy Pelosi's apparent lack of motivation to seek accountability from the current regime, frustrated me to the point that I had to create this video:


Yesterday, after hearing from former Bush mouthpiece Scotty McClellan about how he was intentionally misled in his statements to the public by the President and his henchmen, Sen. Dodd may have finally seen the light.

From the article in Editor & Publisher:

(McClellan said) "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration "were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."

So now, Chris Dodd apparently has come to the conclusion that Bush may have lied to us after all! I'm sure the Senator needed to clutch at the curtains to prevent himself from keeling over from the sheer enormity of the realization!

In response to this revelation, Chris Dodd is now calling for an investigation of the President. I know that nothing good ever happens quickly in Washington, but this took even longer than any of us expected.

Of course, Dodd is starting with a polite request to the brand new Attorney General (and Bush appointee), the Most Honorable Michael Mukasey (or as I like to refer to him, "The Abu Gonzales Mark II"), whom I'm totally convinced will respond by immediately launching an exhaustive and thorough investigation that will require all the principals involved to answer all the tough questions honestly.

Just look at adorable li'l Judge Mukasey, shown here with the man Sen. Dodd wants him to investigate. Look at how Mukasey's eyes glow with the burning ambition to see that the letter of the law is upheld! See how his American flag pin is displayed at a jaunty angle on his lapel! That tells me in no uncertain terms that THIS is the man we can all count on to get to the bottom of this inquiry, no matter WHAT the president tells him to do!

If THAT doesn't make you feel better, you're probably a COMMIE or something!

My love letter to Google

I love you, Google.

I'm usually not the type of blogger who falls so easily for a ginormous online corporate entity, especially when I didn't possess the foresight to purchase large amounts of your stock during the IPO, which would have pretty much made it unnecessary for me to continue working for a living...but that's beside the point.

You've always been a good friend to me, Google. That's what counts! There are other search engines out there, but they always seem to let me down. I know I can always count on you, Google, for lots of traffic to my website.

I appreciate all those little things you do for me.

When I look at the referring pages on my site meter, eight or nine times out of ten people are visiting directly from a Google search page. Sometimes as the result of very odd and occasionally disturbing search inquiries.

Simple things, like "CT Bob", or "Ned Lamont", or "dump Lieberman". But also really bizarre things like "Don't taze me, bro", or "Larry Craig sex", or "short ride", or "douchebag" (hey, I can't be responsible for the things that people search for!)

But you do so much more than that. Like making me the number one result when people search for the phrase "primary schedule". For that, you're the tops in my book! These days, people LOVE searching for the primary schedule.

And the result is an article I posted wayyyy back in November of 2006! Shortly after the election I found information on the 2008 presidential primaries and posted it. Months later I realized that a large percentage of my hits were the result of that one post. So I started updating it as the primaries began being shifted around in their states' efforts to "front load" the schedule.

The primary schedule began to take on the characteristics of a weather map. I needed to update the information almost weekly in order to keep it current. Nowadays I simply post the latest update date on the top of the post to let people know there have been changes. People are confused about the ever shifting primary dates, so they look to Google for answers.

And Google sends them here.

The article was a post from a year ago, and it's still generating over 1,000 hits a week. You know us bloggers...we LOVE hits!

So anyway, that's why I love you Google.

Just one thing...please don't ever break my heart.

I'd hate to have to take up with Yahoo!

What d'ya think of my new logo?

Yesterday I was Googling around the Internet, looking for examples of signs that are unique to Connecticut. You know, something that I could modify to make a logo that indisputably says "Connecticut Bob". Sort of like the famous road sign image on My Left Nutmeg below:



So I came across this lovely image of an original Connecticut Turnpike sign, which longtime Nutmeggers will remember from years gone by:

Which was in use here during the late 1950's until the 1980's, when the last of the highway tolls were removed and the turnpike became a freeway called I-95 and I-395.

I took the image and did some crude photoshopping (actually, it was crude "LViewing", my crappy 16-bit image editor that is much simpler to learn and use) and viola! The trick, she is done!

UPDATE: Commenter John Blossom improved upon my original stolen design, and I edited it slightly more, to get this:

I think the "BOB" needs to be rotated slightly to align it vertically, but I haven't figured out how to do that in PS7. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Who knows? Perhaps I'll set up a "Connecticut Bob" store, and T-shirts, baseball caps, and refrigerator magnets will be available in time for Christmas!

Eh, probably not.

But I still like the new logo.

It's official: I'm sick of Facebook

When Facebook first swept the local blogosphere, I rushed to join the crowd and create an account. "Ooh, ooh, look, there's a shiny new thing on the internets, and I absolutely MUST be a part of it!"

In the months since, my email has been deluged by "friend requests", "group invites", and similar things of admittedly minute importance like "so-and-so has written a message on your wall" or "a caption was added to a photo".

Every single time, I'm forced to login to Facebook immediately to address whatever pressing need is at hand. Facebook apparently thinks it's equally as important as my online banking account, which makes perfect sense. I mean, it's just as critical to protect my list of five favorite movies or secure my uploaded photos as it is all my money and personal identity information. How silly of me.

Somebody just sent me a "friend request", what should I do? Quick, I gotta login and see who it is! Oh, it's somebody I don't know. Not in the least. But I don't want to be rude and give this person the brush off. What if they're a total psycho looking for reasons to find new victims for their serial killing spree? I don't want to be the asshole who triggers a wave of violence through my thoughtless actions! I better "accept" the request.

Great. Now I've got a "friend's list" full of psycho killers! Just what I frickin' needed!

OK, that might be a little harsh. I just took a closer look at my friend's list, and can see there's a lot of people on it that I know from real life, not just strangers. I'm sure very few of them are psycho killers; and besides, if they're on my friends list they probably won't be incandescent with rage at being rejected and plot to murder me.

Trust me, I give my real friends plenty of valid reasons for that!

Anyway, I think I'm done with the whole Facebook thing. I've always considered it more of a waste of time than anything really useful. I've got email and cell phones and messages on my blogs (and others) and a million other ways to be "social". I simply don't need to "social network" on Facebook to remain that way.

(And don't even get me started on MySpace!)

They call me an "Angry Liberal Blogger"

From CNN.com:

WASHINGTON, Illinois (CNN) -- Ty Ziegel peers from beneath his Marine Corps baseball cap, his once boyish face burned beyond recognition by a suicide bomber's attack in Iraq just three days before Christmas 2004.

He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand.

Ziegel, a 25-year-old Marine sergeant, knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq.

But he didn't expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior: a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"Sometimes, you get lost in the system," he told CNN. "I feel like a Social Security number. I don't feel like Tyler Ziegel."

[...]

In Ziegel's case, he spent nearly two years recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Once he got out of the hospital, he was unable to hold a job. He anticipated receiving a monthly VA disability check sufficient to cover his small-town lifestyle in Washington, Illinois.

Instead, he got a check for far less than expected. After pressing for answers, Ziegel finally received a letter from the VA that rated his injuries: 80 percent for facial disfigurement, 60 percent for left arm amputation, a mere 10 percent for head trauma and nothing for his left lobe brain injury, right eye blindness and jaw fracture...

(read the rest by clicking on the CNN link above)

"Angry"?

You bet I'm angry!
Almost beyond words.

"Liberal Blogger"?

Yeah, I tend to be, but in this case who GIVES a fat rat's ass?

THIS is what our nation is doing to our brave and honorable military personnel. Anyone who ISN'T angry about this has no humanity whatsoever.

As a nation, we seem to have ALL the money in the world to wage an immoral war, but not even close to enough to properly care for these horrifically wounded veterans.

Will we EVER be able to fix our nation in the wake of such wanton recklessness?

Election audit slated for Milford precinct

Among the 10% of statewide precincts to undergo a manual audit of election results is one in Milford. This is NOT a recount; the results of the election have been certified and will stand. This is an audit for the express purpose of verifying the accuracy of the new machines and the entire voting process.

The District 2-1 precinct, at John F. Kennedy School, 515 Pope's Island Rd. in Milford has been selected for the audit. There are 695 total voting precincts in Connecticut, and by law 10% must be audited, or 70 in this case.

I spoke to City Clerk Alan Jepson today, and while he's aware of the audit, he said he hasn't been notified in writing yet by the Secretary of State's office. I also called Secretary Bysiewicz's office and learned that the audit must take place no earlier than two weeks after the election and be completed no later than the end of the month, which means it must be run between Nov. 21st and 30th.

This is open to the public and will be announced by either the City Clerk or the Registrar's office when it's scheduled. I hope to be able to attend and document the process for publication on the Internet.

Additional information: The Secretary of State's office has published this Recanvass Manual (in Word format) (h/t to BlastFromGlast from My Left Nutmeg) which is a guide to procedures for recounts. It doesn't seem to discuss the audit procedure though, so I'll keep looking. The manual is linked from a helpful blog filled with all sorts of election info, so visit CTVotersCount.org.

Kucinich TV launch; Chris Murphy live blog on MLN

Live blog Postponed. See update below.

Today (Wednesday) Rep. Chris Murphy (D-4) will be live blogging at My Left Nutmeg (click here) at approx. 6:30PM, or possibly may be later depending on an important Iraq vote in the House.

And tonight at 9PM ET, Dennis Kucinich launches Kucinich TV (click here), an online TV network which will deal with the issue of the Cheney impeachment (House Res. 333). The first broadcast will be a LIVE "town-hall style" discussion of the reasons why this is so critical going into the final 14 months of Bush/Cheney.

There's a writer's strike, so regular TV stinks. Tune in to Kucinich TV!

UPDATE: Sorry, folks, it seems the debate on the Iraq bill just started and likely won't end until 9pmish or later.

So the liveblog is being postponed, probably will happen tomorrow but I'll let you know for sure on timing when I confirm.

DeLuca to resign

Former Senate Minority Leader Lou DeLuca is going to resign his state senate seat, apparently because of charges that he tried to hire an alleged mobster to rough up his granddaughter's husband. To discover what penalty DeLuca received for his guilty plea, watch this video:

GOPfather
Uploaded by CTBob

A look back

In all the excitement of the last week or so, what with the municipal elections and the Honk For Peace premiere, I forgot to post anything marking the first anniversary of the dramatic 2006 Connecticut Senate election.

I know it didn't end up like we wanted, but there's a real sense of accomplishment for what Ned Lamont did, and how his courageous run made a huge difference in the overall senate results across the nation. I can honestly say that Ned Lamont's campaign was a significant factor in how other close senate races turned out for the Democrats.

We might not have won outright, but we can all be proud of fighting The Good Fight



(...and we ALL miss Kirby, and hope she returns to blogging sometime soon!)

Coming Attraction?

With Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell set to launch television ads tomorrow to try and lift his sagging approval rating, the DSCC today launched a new advertisement exposing McConnell's connections to defeated and scandal-plagued Governor Ernie Fletcher. The ad shows McConnell saying, "I have never met a finer man than our Governor, Ernie Fletcher," even after Fletcher was indicted, pled the fifth amendment, and handed out pardons to members of his own staff. Fletcher lost to Steve Beshear on Tuesday by more than 17 points.

(via http://www.dscc.org/)

Inside the War Room

Here's an inside look at the drama and excitement of Election Night, from the "war room" of the Milford Democratic HQ. Kerri led a strong ticket, and while we didn't earn a clean sweep, we came damn close, and in the process we took back control of the budget from the Republicans for the first time in twenty years.

(Youtube has been acting a little funny since last night, so if the image doesn't appear below, try again later. They're probably upgrading their software.)

Democrats with videos win!

This year's race was unique in that for the first time we took advantage of the power of the internet to bring the local candidates and the voters together. While we didn't have a clean sweep, we certainly did everything we could to get the message out there, and I'm pretty sure it helped.

Here's the list of winning Milford Democrats who made videos:

Board of Aldermen:
Ben Blake
Martin Hardiman
Phil Vetro
Bob Nunno
Suzanne Manning
Barbara Lambert
Jessica Blacketter

Planning & Zoning:
Susan Shaw
Victor Ferrante

Board of Education:
Greta Stanford
Tracey Casey
David W. Steinlauf
Jim Quish
David Hourigan
James M. Santa Barbara

And of course, the venerable City Clerk Alan Jepson, who was cross endorsed by both parties anyways, but he did make a video and he received exposure across the region.

To paraphrase CTKeith

"Isn't is nice that we made the SOB earn it?"

Milford has two more years of Republican Jim Richetelli to contend with. Congratulations are in order.

It wasn't easy for him, though.

From being unopposed two years ago, Richetelli had to really work every angle he knew to hang on for one more term. He had to suck up to "World's Worst Senator" Joe Lieberman to be on the receiving end of all the fundraising capabilities a longtime DC insider can muster. And in the process, Milford Democrats swept nearly every underticket seat that was up for grabs, apparently because Mayor Jim didn't see fit to work all that hard for his board.

Meaning, the overwhelming Republican majorities on every major city board are a thing of the past. The Democrats now control ALL of them, and in two years time, they'll be in the driver's seat for winning the mayor's job. Right now we have the opportunity to gain control of the tax situation with a majority in the Board of Aldermen.

From the New Haven Register Wednesday morning:

Republican Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. may have been re-elected to a fourth-term Tuesday night, but it was Democrats who were partying after regaining control of a large swathe of city government for the first time in two decades.

While Richetelli defeated his Democratic challenger, Kerri Rowland, by a vote of 7,794 to 5,808, the night ended with Republicans losing majorities on the boards of Aldermen, Education and Planning and Zoning.

The most striking reversal came with the Board of Education moving from an 8-to-2 Republican majority to a 7-to-3 Democratic majority. The Democrats also won a 9-to-6 majority on the Board of Aldermen, and all five Democratic PZB candidates rolled to victory, giving the Democrats a 6-to-4 majority. Previously, Republicans held a 9-to-1 majority on the zoning board.

The atmosphere at HQ was subdued when the mayoral results came in, but was ecstatic when each alderman's, board of ed member's, and planning and zoning member's results were posted on the big screen. It was a bittersweet victory, but most definitely a victory for the Democrats none the less.

Kerri ran a really great campaign, and for a one-term alderman to make it a tough race against a firmly entrenched incumbent is quite an achievement. I'm very proud to have worked with Kerri and all the Milford Democrats, and I hope that we'll see further gains in two years time.

Tessa Marquis, Mike Brown, Rich Smith and all the Milford Democrats really made this a fun race, and they deserve our thanks.

Video from the "war room" coming later this week...I need a day or two to decompress.

Video from the Red Carpet

This is the first quick video from the event, featuring "guess who?" I hope to get other videos put together from the evening, but that's going to have to wait until after election day for me to edit. This one was just FUN to do!



UPDATE: Tessa reminded me to mention the swell after-party at the Bruce Museum, to benefit Paul Newman's Hole In The Wall Gang Camp charity. Click on the link to donate to an exceedingly worthy cause!

Scenes from the premiere

Here's a few quick photos from the big "Honk For Peace" red carpet gala tonight. More soon, but I'm exhausted from all the fun!

UPDATE: A new image from Spazeboy (and his review HERE) at the bottom of this post!

Filmmaker Mr. Corey Boutilier is interviewed on the red carpet by video bloggers (L to R: Caffeinated Geek Girl, Spazeboy, and special guest vlogger MBair).

"Ladies of the Evening" Kim Hynes and Tessa Marquis are human traffic cones, helpfully trying to save the space right in front of the theater for Ned and Annie's car.

Annie and Ned grace the red carpet and talk to the media.

A very dapper "Hollywood Bob" appears with last year's senate candidates Ned Lamont and Alan Schlesinger.

Sue from MLN (with Lorenzo, of course!), MBair, me, and Spazeboy enjoy the party. You can tell we're having fun, because we're all holding drinks. And smiling. Drinks + smiling = FUN!

Spazeboy, in his eye-punishing iridescent striped shirt, is flanked by our two favorite senate candidates.

Now, I think this is funny as hell, but did Beau have to make my ego so much TALLER than me?!? I mean, jeeeez!

Of course, you can click on any of the photos to see their true largeness. Or not. I don't care what you do, because I'm going to sleep now.

Just know that the video is going to be a lot of fun when I finally edit it! Special thanks go to Spazeboy and CGG for filming everyone on the red carpet, including me!

"Honk For Peace" premieres this Saturday!

CT Joyce and John Hartwell watch a special pre-screening of the film two weeks ago.

Mr. Corey Boutilier

(Bumped up from earlier this week)

Saturday, November 3rd at the Connecticut Film Festival will be the gala premiere of the new political documentary "Honk For Peace".

For anyone who was around during last year's exciting Senate race, this film will enlighten you with a lot of behind the scenes footage and previously unseen interviews with a host of political and media figures. And if you weren't, then you'll witness an entertaining and intriguing view of big-time politics from the inside.

myspace.com/honkforpeacemovie

The filmmaker (Mr. Corey Boutilier) held a blogger's screening last week in advance of the premiere. Sadly, we got about three inches of rain that night, and several bloggers who were going to attend were swept away by raging floodwaters never to be heard from again, but we still had a decent turnout.

"Honk For Peace" (IMDB listing) examines the anti-war movement in the days leading up to the 2003 decision to invade Iraq. Then the movie shifts to a detailed examination of last year's CT Senate race. The film includes never-before-seen interviews with Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Ralph Nader, Wes Clark, and many others.

Last year's BBC/Sundance Channel documentary "Blog Wars" looked at the blogger's influence on the lead-up to the Democratic Primary, and "Honk For Peace" picks up the campaigns after the Primary and into the General Election. As such, it helps fill in many of the blanks that "Blog Wars" left out. In my opinion, seeing both these films will give the viewer a very good overview of the entire 2006 battle for Joe Lieberman's Senate seat.

(BTW, "Blog Wars" will be broadcast again
on Sundance Channel Thur. Nov. 1st 11:00 AM)

Footage from events such as Lieberman's staffers attacking and shouting down Ned Lamont's appearance at a senior citizen housing complex will enrage you, and show just how nasty the Lieberman campaign got towards the end. But later in the film, Ned's hopeful optimism for the future if we all take part in the process is very encouraging.

The world premiere is extra special because following the showing, there will be a Q&A session with Ned Lamont, 2006 Republican candidate for Senate Alan Schlesinger, and the film's creator Corey Boutilier. This will be a good opportunity to ask those questions about what the candidates REALLY think went on last year behind the scenes. There will also be notables in attendance, such as 4th Congressional District Democratic candidate Jim Himes and others.

The red carpet arrival (yes, I'm told there will actually be a red carpet) and pre-screening reception in the lobby begins at 6PM, with the film starting at 7PM, and the Q&A session going from 8:30 to 9PM. There will also be an afterparty nearby from 9-11PM.

So make a night of it and come join the fun at the premiere!

Here's the info:

"Honk For Peace" has been officially selected to world premiere at this years Connecticut Film Festival.

Greenwich Criterion Theater Plaza 3
2 Railroad Ave. Greenwich, CT
(203) 869-4030
(Exit 3 off I-95, go under railroad, then right on Railroad Ave)

Buy Tickets at at this link: MovieTickets.com
Price: $10 each (plus $1 service charge)

Saturday
November 3rd, 2007
6pm-7pm Red Carpet Arrivals
7pm-9pm Film Screening and Q/A with Ned Lamont and Alan Schlesinger

9pm-11pm Gala After Party at the Bruce Museum
One Museum Drive (off Arch St.) Greenwich
Party for "Honk for Peace" and Charity Event
for Mr. Paul Newman's "Hole In The Wall Gang".
Suggested donation of $20-100 please (and dress like grown-ups!)

Please RSVP for the Bruce Museum after party to:
rsvp@independentfilm.com