Godspeed, Chris

Senator Chris Dodd has announced he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This is imminently treatable and should not interfere with his ability to represent us in the Senate and lead the fight on health care reform after the August recess. Our thoughts and prayers are with him.

And, gentlemen, here is info on this very treatable cancer. Talk to your doctor -- early detection is key to a cure.

CTBob here: I'm adding to Kirby's post to say that it's very important to get the exam during your regular checkups, especially for the over-40s in the crowd. It ain't a hell of a lot of fun, but the way I look at it, neither is cancer.

Me, I just turned fifty, so in addition to the yearly prostate exams, I'm also scheduled for my very first colonoscopy in September. (My doctor wanted to do it in June, but I told him I wanted to have something to look forward to all summer. LOL!)

Milford Democratic Convention

This video highlights the democratic process of choosing candidates for local office. Featured are Mayoral candidate Genevieve Salvatore and City Clerk candidate Richard Roy, whose speeches are included in their entirety.

Visit Salvatore09.com for Genevieve's website, and MilfordDemocrats.com for the Milford Democrats (obviously).

Gov. Rell to raise taxes

(Kathleen Cei/New Haven Advocate photo)
After six months of stalling and waffling, Jodi Rell has finally admitted that in order to balance her budget she will have to raise some taxes.

The history of this year's budget battle has been interesting. When Gov. Rell first introduced her own budget, she wasn't even very sure of whether it contained a six billion or an eight billion dollar shortfall. It seems that someone with so loose a grip on her own numbers right from the get-go is probably going to have a tough time coping with the rest of the budgetary process.

Finally, after six months of painful program and service cuts, made while promising not to raise taxes, Gov. Rell has taken an abrupt U-turn and decided that raising taxes is a good and necessary idea.

The take over on My Left Nutmeg is that this displays a stunning lack of leadership by Rell, and Mayor Dan Malloy, who is exploring a run for governor, has a quote in the article:

The day the Governor presented her budget, I said it was out of balance. She said it was balanced, despite knowing it wasn't, for one reason only: to maintain the illusion that she could somehow balance the budget without looking at the revenue side of the equation. Today, 174 days later, she's finally willing to acknowledge that revenue has to be part of the solution. But look at what's happened. We've wasted taxpayer dollars -- $10,000 a day. Important programs - life-altering programs - are now being handpicked for survival by the Governor as she governs by executive order. None of this was necessary. All of it was avoidable. And we still don't have a budget.

Had the Governor done her job in February - which was to propose a balance budget - all of this could've been avoided.

What a waste of time, money, and effort. What a shame.

As of late yesterday the only tax that Rell publicly stated she would support is a 75 cent increase in the cigarette tax, but it's expected that when the latest version of her budget appears today as required, it will contain some kind of income-based increase.

From the ConnPost:

Democrats have proposed raising the $2 tax on packs of cigarettes to $2.75 to raise $196 million over the biennium. Rell confirmed that the higher cigarette tax is in the mix. "That's one tax," she said. "No one wants taxes, but that's part of it..."

It's a start, but I expect the real fireworks to go off later today.

Feinberg: he said, he (maybe) said

Yesterday the Associated Press ran a story about the secret Senate Ethics Committee testimony of creepy loan officer Robert Feinberg, where he alleged that Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Kent Conrad knew that they were receiving preferential treatment in their mortgage loans from Countrywide.

Sen. Dodd has repeatedly claimed that he believed he received the kind of treatment under Countrywide's VIP program that was given to any current customer with an excellent credit history.

At a Feb. 2 news conference, Dodd said he knew he was in a VIP program but insisted he was told by Countrywide, "It was nothing more than enhanced customer service ... being able to get a person on the phone instead of an automated operator."

Never mind that nowhere is it documented that either senator acknowledged that they were aware of Feinberg's illegal loans. Which, if it was as he says, is exactly what those loans were intended for; to buy influence with the senators. That is obviously an illegal action on Feinberg's part.

So now he's testifying about his role in the somewhat ambiguous deals, and there's no better way to avoid criminal prosecution than to implicate someone of a much higher profile than yourself. Which is precisely the motivation for Feinberg to do what he's doing.

I refer to the deals as "ambiguous" because there is more than ample proof that Dodd didn't receive any special treatment that was unavailable from other lenders at the time of the loans. Feinberg's "zero point" statements are null and void when you consider that many banks offered no-point loans during the period in 2003 when the loans were made:

Majority Of Borrowers In June And July 2003 Had “No-Point” Mortgages. The majority of mortgage loans in both June and July of 2003 were “no-point” mortgages, according to the Federal Housing Finance Board. The FHFB reported that 65 percent of mortgages had no points in June 2003, and 58 percent of mortgages had no points in July, 2003. [Federal Housing Finance Board, 8/26/03]

Feinberg also talked about interests rates that were supposedly reserved for so-called "Friends of Angelo" Mozilo, Countrywide's soon-to-be-convicted CEO and Feinberg's boss. The rates on Dodd's loan were higher than available rates from other banks, per the Wall Street Journal:

2003: Wall Street Journal Published Mortgage Rates Weekly That Showed Dodd Mortgage Was At Or Above Average Rates. The Wall Street Journal published in its “Dow Jones Real-Estate Index” the average daily rate for Jumbo 5/1 ARMs, listed by bankrate.com (Dodd’s DC mortgage was a 5/1 Jumbo ARM with an initial rate of 4.25%, closed on June 10, 2003).

o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of May 22, 2003: 4.27%
o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of May 28, 2003: 4.22%
o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of June 4, 2003: 4.17%
o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of June 11, 2003: 4.08%
o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of June 18, 2003: 4.03%
o 5/1 Jumbo ARM as of June 25, 2003: 3.99%

[Wall Street Journal, 5/23/03; 5/29/03; 6/6/03; 6/13/03; 6/20/03; 6/27/03]

Based on those average rates it appears that Sen. Dodd was overcharged somewhat. You can assume that the lowest available consumer rates were even more of a bargain than those averages. Maybe Sen. Dodd should go after Countrywide for "rate gouging"!

Feinberg seems desperate to tie a couple of sitting senators into a scandal in which he himself likely played a major role. Former CEO Angelo Mozilo is probably going to jail, and Feinberg is doing everything he can to avoid a similar fate, even hiring a slick lawyer to be his mouthpiece.

"The simple fact that Angelo Mozilo and other high-ranking executives at Countrywide were personally making sure Mr. Feinberg handled their loans right is proof in itself that the senators knew they were getting sweetheart deals," said Feinberg's principal attorney, Anthony Salerno.

Gee, if Feinberg isn't in deep trouble, why does he have a "principal attorney"? Whom, I'd hazard to guess, is probably heading up an entire team of lawyers designed to save Mr. Feinberg's ass!

Sen. Dodd's website just posted a page with verifiable citations that would easily put this story to rest, if only the MSM would bother to read the goddamned thing! Each and every link clearly refutes the allegations against Sen. Dodd, but they need to actually read it to understand it. The link is here: http://dodd.senate.gov/?q=node/5119

The sad part of this is that the MSM is allowing the story to continue as if there's a "there" there. And the rabid wingnuts along with the teabaggers here in Connecticut are burning up the comments sections of all the local newspaper's websites; which always seemed to me the perfect medium for the idiots and morons to anonymously post their cowardly venom. They obviously lack the balls to put their name on anything they spew. If I was going to write a book about the phenomenon, I'd probably call it "Blogging For Retards"!

In retrospect, the sheer magnitude of the howling insanity being displayed by the wingers is probably a good thing, because much like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, I expect they'll eventually get tired of their childish screaming and take a much needed nap.

If they behave, we'll give them milk and cookies for snack time.

(Cazart! How's THAT for pushback?)

Canary fighting! WTF?

Are people that desperate for entertainment that they need to do something like this?

From CNN.com:

Police seized approximately 150 birds and arrested 19 people in a Connecticut home Sunday in an investigation of alleged finch and canary fighting, the Shelton Police Department said.

[..]

"This is new to us," Kozlowsky told CNN. "Finches are much easier to keep under the radar than roosters because they make less noise and they wouldn't arouse suspicions if someone had a lot of them."

OK, I can sort of understand the logic of that, but the whole thing makes me sick. I mean, finches? C'mon!

And canaries; those are those cute little guys, right? How the hell do you get them to fight? What do you do, show them Tweety cartoons on a continuous loop until they go berserk?

(Wanted for questioning)
And if that's not bad enough, now the NFL is talking about allowing dog-strangler Michael Vick back onto the gridiron. Jesus, when will the insanity end?

I Couldn't Have Said it Better

Two thumbs up -- way up for the piece by Sarah Darer Littman in the Greenwich Time with a look back on the two-faced Joe LIEberman on health care reform:

"What I'm saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance."

Caveat emptor. That was Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on July 7, 2006, when he was a Democrat engaged in a primary struggle with Ned Lamont for the Senate.

Fast forward to June 2009, when we actually have a chance to achieve universal health insurance and Lieberman tells Bloomberg News: "I don't favor a public option because I think there's plenty of competition in the private market."

Do yourself a favor and go read the whole piece -- I think you'll particularly like to learn how much Joey has gotten from the health care industry over the years and how it computes per day of being a Senator.

Sarah -- you go, girl!

Milford: Salvatore wins Dem nod for Mayor

At Wednesday's Democratic nominating convention, the Town Committee selected Genevieve Salvatore for Mayor. Genevieve will campaign to replace 4-term GOP mayor Jim Richetelli.

Milford icon and living treasure Alan Jepson has decided to step down from the City Clerk seat at the end of this term after a long and illustrious career serving the city, including two terms as Mayor in the 1960s. 119th District State Rep. Richard Roy received the nomination in a relatively close vote over Planning & Zoning Board member Kim Rose.

And most of the candidates for various boards (Aldermen, Education, and P&Z) are shown in the two photos below. A full roster will be available on MilfordDemocrats.com soon. And videos from the evening will be online sometime next week.

The Doctor is In

I just got off the phone from a conference call with Howard Dean for nurses. He emphasized three key points:

• We need to bypass the traditional power structure and do it ourselves -- just like we elected Barack Obama
• One thing politicians care about more than money -- is votes.
  
• This is not Republican v. Democrat or Conservative v. Liberal -- it's very simply the American people v. the big insurance companies.
  

It's time to find out who's on our side and who isn't. Chris Dodd? Our side. Joe LIEberman? Insurance companies.

Call 1-877-264-4226 this week and tell your Congressional representatives and Senators you expect them to be on our side -- and all the money in the world from the health industry lobby can't buy our votes. Get us access to healthcare, and you may just have our votes for as long as you run.

WTNH Blog fumbles, then recovers

Yesterday there was a minor local media controversy when the WTNH (Channel 8) blog posted erroneous data in a story about Sen. Chris Dodd's fundraising.

BTW, is "fundraising" a real word? Because my auto spellchecker always tags it, yet it allows "fundraiser".

Hmmm....can we get Noah Webster on the phone, please?

Anyhoo, here's a screen cap of the article as it appeared yesterday:

Two things really bother me about this.

First, I can't believe nobody told me "The Full Monty" was at the Ivoryton Playhouse! It better not sell out before I can get tickets! (el oh el)

Second, we had a big problem with the fact that this article used old numbers and repeated old Republican talking points about the alleged "five Conn. donors".

Well, the lovely and talented Tparty over on My Left Nutmeg posted this article examining the error below.

And who doesn't love the title "Anonymous WTNH Blogger Reaches Stratospheric Levels of Dumb"? My, we bloggers DO get a bit testy at times!:

"There are so many things completely wrong with this blog post by "ConnPolitics.tv Editor" at WTNH (the one that on first glance looks like the 100 other articles a week written about Chris Dodd's fundraising) that it's hard to know where to start. How about with the first sentence:

Of the 465 itemized individual contributions given to Sen. Chris Dodd's re-election campaign this year, only five Connecticut residents gave a donation to the senator, according to records posted online by the Federal Election Commission.

Wrong, and wrong. There have been many more than 465 itemized individual donations to Dodd this year, including over 100 itemized individual donors from CT in Dodd's second quarter FEC report alone. And 491 donors from CT in the 2Q, if you count donations both above and below the FEC reporting threshold of $200.

On to the second sentence:

The FEC lists Dodd receiving $608,995 in itemized individual contributions between Jan. 1, 2009 and June 30, 2009.

Wrong. The FEC lists Dodd receiving $664k in itemized individual donations in the second quarter alone, in addition to the $608k in itemized individual donations in the first quarter."

Now, the thing that rankled the lefty blogosphere, not to mention Democratic State Central, are the conclusions that are made in the article, and the way comments were turned off only after many Dodd-trashing posts were allowed, giving people who know the real story no obvious way to dispute the article.

I can easily imagine how the author, WTNH Executive Producer Jeff Bailey, felt when he'd realized he screwed the pooch. As a political blogger, I know well that feeling of having made a very public mistake. It sucks on a level that's difficult for the non-blogging public to understand.

First, your scalp tingles with embarrassment (is it possible to feel your scalp blush? 'cause that's what it feels like!) Then you feel a warm rush of heat throughout your body, often accompanied by a clammy flop-sweat. It's exactly what stage fright must feel like, except you're sitting in front of a hidden and probably much smaller than you imagine audience, who will enthusiastically boo you on the goddamned Internet, where the echoes of their catcalls will likely remain for years!

Believe me, it's never fun to screw up, nor is it pleasant to have to make the correction and publicly acknowledge your error. I've made one or two little errors in all my years of blogging (stop laughing, you idiots!) so I speak from experience.

So this morning, Jeff posted the following comment on MLN, where he owned up to his error and addressed specific complaints from the others who posted comments (you can see what I mean when I say we can get a bit testy at times):

From WTNH (4.00 / 4)
(CTBob: he's getting some nice ratings for this)

My name is Jeff Bailey. I work at WTNH and have been there since 1993. I am responsible for the "Stratospheric Levels of Dumb' posted on ConnPolitics.tv cited above.

Yep, I made an incorrect assumption that a link marked "itemized individual contributions" available on Sen. Dodd's FEC page was up to date. It was not. I should have looked more closely at the dates on the FEC query. I didn't. And I should have left comments open. There should also have been a 'Contact' link. I'll rectify that when I'm done typing here.

In all, a pretty fair criticism here.

ctkeith, while I am blonde, I'm a he, I have little hair left, no "assets" so to speak, and I have no desire to move to another TV station/paper/web site.

notcho, I recall seeing one donation record for East Haddam, and one for Chester in the second quarter document. Remember, donations under a certain amount don't have to be reported with names and towns.

Bob Adams, you're absolutely right. I blew it in this case. Bad research on my part, not a bad cut-and-paste job. I'm much better than this example would indicate.

Thank you for your time.

That is exactly the way to handle something like this. While my comment was certainly harsh (who knew anyone would read it?) it contained a valid complaint and Jeff addressed it in a sincere and forthright manner. That takes guts, and I posted as much both in reply to his comment and over on the WTNH blog, where commenting was recently turned back on for that article.

There were some changes to the article that helps clarify the situation, but I'm not altogether happy that it didn't go far enough. The first paragraph is a bit confusing because it still refers to the first quarter contributions, and after that lede, it then goes on to say it's picked up in the second:

Of the 465 itemized individual contributions given to Sen. Chris Dodd’s re-election campaign in the first quarter of this year, only five Connecticut residents gave a donation to the senator, according to records posted online by the Federal Election Commission. Donations from state residents have picked up substantially since then.

OK, it sort of clarifies things a little, but the other numbers in the article are still a bit shaky in that they reflect 1st quarter figures for the other candidates.

But I'm not going to split hairs on this, because it's pretty much over as far as I can see, and because Bailey did the right thing and owned his mistake. I usually take great pleasure in knocking the MSM because there are all too often instances when a reporter isn't fair-minded or evenhanded, either because of a personal or corporate agenda, or simply sheer laziness and ineptitude (boy I saw a lot of that sort of reporting during Ned Lamont's challenge!)

I'm sure Jeff Bailey isn't any of these things; he simply made a mistake and then owned up to it.

Which is a good thing to do in those circumstances. We applaud that.

(Clarification: we applaud the owning-up part, not the making-a-mistake part, which we still kind of frown upon)

So, there ya are. Oh, I finally heard back from Noah Webster:

(How does he do that with his arm? That looks painful!)

First Steps on a Long Road

Congratulations to the Dems in the state legislature for bucking up and overriding the governor's veto of the SustiNet bill yesterday. While this is a great thing, it doesn't mean we'll have universal health care coverage by the end of the year or anything.

What this does mean is that a nine-member board is empowered to begin work crafting a plan for the legislature. As a nurse, I can tell you this is a well thought out plan that addresses healthcare from many sides: prevention, risk reduction, increasing efficiency, maintaining high quality and accessibility. It is unusual to see an approach that is this comprehensive. And, that's why the plan is to take a year to map this out and to present recommendations to the General Assembly. That takes us to July 1, 2010.

By January 1, 2011, SustiNet will submit a bill to the legislature detailing implementation plans (PDF):

• Improve health, quality of care, and access, while slowing growth of health care spending
• Effective management of chronic illnesses, preventive care and addressing ethnic and racial disparities in care
• Establish provider networks and set payment methods
• Design a range of options under the plan
• Provide coverage to all -- including those with pre-existing conditions
• Examine revenue sources and maximize Federal reimbursement dollars

The plan is to begin enrollment July 1, 2012. There is a long way to go, but there is no doubt this is an important first step. Key to moving SustiNet forward is to not let up on the push for a national health care bill in this Congress. Chris Dodd is leading the charge. Joe LIEberman is trying to stop it. You know what to do.

This quote is particularly meaningful, given this veto override occurred on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing:

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
-John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962

We are committed to health care reform, not because it is easy but because it is hard and because it is the right thing to do.