a follow up on the racist anti-semitic graffiti at a west hartford middle school

two GIRLS were responsible. i am of course more shocked at this. girls are capable of hate and violence of course. i shouldn't have made assumptions otherwise. what goes through someone's mind to make them spew hate AND at such a young age? when i was in middle school (well there were NO middle schools in my day, there were elementary then junior highs) i was an idiot. i was a know it all, i shot my mouth off but i KNEW the difference between right and wrong. i knew what was unjust and hateful. these girls should have as well

Girls Admit Drawing Offensive Graffiti Racial Slurs, Swastikas Were Found At Middle School In West Hartford
By CAROLYN MOREAU Courant Staff Writer February 11 2006
WEST HARTFORD -- Two eighth-grade girls confessed that they scrawled about 100 swastikas, anti-Semitic comments and racial slurs on walls inside Sedgwick Middle School, school officials said Friday.The two - not identified by police because of their age - were charged with third-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, second-degree criminal mischief and second-degree breach of peace.The two were referred to juvenile court in Hartford. Police said their investigation determined this was an isolated incident and did not target any specific students. No other arrests are expected, police said.The vandalism occurred sometime after the school day ended Feb. 6. The girls used purple, blue and black markers to draw the swastikas and other offensive comments on doors, windows and walls inside a bathroom and down the interior hallways of the school.Custodians worked late into the night cleaning the school, after police collected evidence.Board of education Chairman Jack Darcey said the incident appears to have been the girls' own idea and not the work of any organized group. "They thought they would do a little graffiti," Darcey said. "But this is very serious, even though the girls may not have thought it was. They are in very serious trouble."..........

connecticut does indeed have some COOL religious leaders!

Churches Exploring How We Got Here
By FRANCES GRANDY TAYLOR Courant Staff Writer February 11 2006

The Rev. Woody Eddins of Bristol is one of more than 10,000 Protestant pastors who have signed a letter calling for clergy members to speak out against the anti-evolution movement that portrays science as a threat to religious faith. This weekend is "Evolution Sunday" for more than 400 churches across the country, including six in Connecticut. Ministers plan to address the subject of evolution in their sermons and other activities to bring home the message that science and religious faith are not in conflict."The real tragedy of the creationist movement is what it does to religion," said Eddins, pastor of the Asbury United Methodist Church. "To reduce the Bible to the status of a textbook is destructive to our relationship to God."Many clergy members have allowed the loudest anti-science proponents to become the most dominant Christian voices on the subject, Eddins said. "We the clergy are at fault for this, by not speaking about it enough. Science books can't tell us why God created the world, or why God cares about the world. For me, this is an effort to reclaim the creation story for what it is supposed to be for all of us.""Evolution Sunday" grew out of The Clergy Letter Project, which started about nine months ago as several evolution vs. intelligent design cases were headed to court around the country. Approximately 120 Connecticut pastors from a range of denominations have signed the letter. Creationism is the belief that life on earth was created by God or a supreme being in the literal way it is described in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. "The ultraconservative branch of the church has hijacked the discussion by being overrepresentative of what the church teaches. It's what a segment of the church teaches, [but] that's not all of us," said the Rev. William Seiburg, pastor of St. Mark Lutheran Church in Norwich. "Theology is the mother of the sciences. Far from being separated, [science and theology] are mutually complementary. If there is truth, how can it be in conflict with other truth?"The clergy letter endorses the teaching of evolution science in public schools. "Christian clergy from many different traditions believe that the timeless truths of the Bible and the discoveries of modern science may comfortably coexist. We believe that the theory of evolution is a foundational scientific truth, one that has stood up to rigorous scrutiny and upon which much of human knowledge and achievement rests," the letter says. "To reject this truth or to treat it as `one theory among others' is to deliberately embrace scientific ignorance and transmit such ignorance to our children."..........

call to action

i'll cross post this with my other blog as well

over at act for change you can send an email to your congress person (it's an auto email, you just have to fill in your name, address and email, it's VERY easy) asking them to support congress person heather wilson's REQUEST FOR A FULL CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY into this ILLEGAL wiretapping program

oh by the way, congresswoman wilson is a REPUBLICAN

the parental units

i have been informed by several sources ned lamont's site is up and running

and ready to take CONTRIBUTIONS

ned lamont

remember

anti-war
anti-joe

donna does the sistettes

years ago i had a dear friend named donna. we worked together but her real calling was as an artist. we drifted apart and i've not seen or heard from her in years. a local paper did publish a story on her a while back though. i hope she's happy and doing well.

the drawing is of me and my sistettes. i had it done by donna for my parents a LONG time ago. it still sits upon a wall in my popi's house.

this happened in MY town

and it is frightening. i don't care that it was most likely children. kids in middle school DO know right from wrong. swastikas are BEYOND wrong

Vandalism At School: 100 Swastikas On Walls
By TOM PULEO
Courant Staff Writer February 8 2006 WEST HARTFORD --
Police were looking Tuesday for whoever drew about one hundred swastikas on walls inside Sedgwick Middle School. Police said likely one or more Sedgwick students vandalized the building after the school day ended Monday, using purple and black markers to draw the swastikas and anti-Semitic comments.In a letter sent home to parents Tuesday, Principal Benjamin J. Skaught said someone "wrote all over a bathroom and down the interior hallways of the school, marking on doors, windows and walls.".............

more thoughts and prayers

for these 320 men and women

320 more Connecticut soldiers to head to Iraq
February 8, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. --Another 320 members of the Connecticut National Guard will be deployed in Iraq to help with transportation and security, Maj. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, the state Guard commander, said Wednesday.
About 170 soldiers with the 1,048th Transportation Company of Stratford and 150 soldiers from the 134th Military Police Company of Norwich have been ordered to mobilize in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Both units will be deployed for up to 18 months......

dried rose and baby's tears

taken at work on february 7th

metal sunflower

i found this burried in the middle of a bush. why it's there, i cannot say

taken tuesday february 7th

a VERY dangerous game

in the D/s - bdsm communities it's called 'breath control', in any community it IS dangerous - no children should even KNOW about this much less participate in it. what i don't understand is why are people calling it 'a game'? BAD BAD BAD choice of words there. ask michael hutchence of inxs. oh that's right you can't, BECAUSE HE IS DEAD..........

parents TALK TO YOUR BABIES.........

'Choking Game' Could Be To Blame For 12-Year-Old's Death
Parents Should Look For Unexplained Marks On Neck
POSTED: 10:45 pm EST February 6, 2006
UPDATED: 12:14 am EST February 7, 2006
STAMFORD, Conn. -- A 7th grade boy at Scofield Magnet Middle School died over the weekend, and a letter to parents said the 12-year-old may have died while playing a dangerous choking game.
"I've never heard of it," said Laurie Tobin, a Stamford parent. "I've never heard of it around here. None of my kids have ever played it."
Experts said, however, that the game is popular with children from 9 to 15 years old. Kids stop the flow of oxygen to their brain, then get a rush when the blood flow resumes. Julie Rosenbluth is a certified health education specialist who has written a number of articles on the choking game, said children don't understand the risks of the game........

vote for ned!!!

according to wapo there are 33 senate races this year. click to see the demographic

please vote for ned lamont

NO WAR
NO JOE

Lamont rallying support for Senate campaign

By Neil Vigdor Staff Writer February 6, 2006
On the wall of an office in Republican Greenwich hangs a sign: Ned Lamont for U.S. Senate. It might as well be a collector's item because it's the only one. But it's a start, says Lamont, a local businessman and former town selectman who fueled the Internet blogosphere last month when he revealed that he was considering a challenge of Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lamont is no Republican, however. That's a label he says is more fitting for his would-be opponent."Joe is clearly the most popular Democrat for all Republicans," said Lamont, who called the entrenched incumbent out of touch with state Democrats such as himself. A recent Quinnipiac University poll supports that theory, with 75 percent of Republicans surveyed saying they would support Lieberman for re-election this year, compared to 59 percent of Democrats.....

and from the boston globe

Businessman makes moves toward challenging Lieberman
February 7, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. --Wealthy Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont took steps Monday toward becoming an official challenger to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, naming a campaign manager and forming a candidate committee.
Lamont, 52, also began searching for a headquarters for a possible Democratic primary contest against Lieberman, a three-term incumbent and the 2000 Democratic nominee for vice president.
"It is a significant step forward," said Tom Swan, who is managing what he calls an exploratory campaign. "I am happy that Ned asked me to play a role within this campaign."
Lamont is president and founder of Lamont Digital Systems, a cable television company. He expressed interest last month in a possible challenge of Lieberman, who has been criticized by fellow Democrats for his support of the war in Iraq.
Lamont has also created a Web site and gone on an informal speaking tour. He has said he wants 1,000 volunteers to sign up on his Web site, http://www.nedlamont.com, before taking his exploratory campaign to the next level........................

more on the sexual assault at uconn (that 'wasn't' a sexual assault)

from the daily campus

Case Sparks Sex Assault Debate
By: Andy Silva
Issue date: 2/6/06 Section: News

An incident in which three men, who were at the time UConn students but have since left the university, allegedly ejaculated onto a woman in a UConn dormitory last fall has caused a local stir and has led some to call for a change in the state's sexual assault statutes.According to a story first reported last Friday in the Hartford Courant, Jared Skvirsky, 20, of Brookline, Mass., Martin Piscottano, 19, of Somers and Zak Brohinsky, 19, of Simsbury, were charged with disorderly conduct and public indecency in connection to a Sept. 24 incident. UConn Police Maj. Ronald Blicher told The Daily Campus Friday that the incident occurred on Sept. 24, and that the woman reported the incident on Sept. 27. According to arrest warrant affidavits cited in the Courant story, Skvirsky brought the woman back to his dorm room in Watson Hall after meeting her at a party at the Carriage House Apartments complex. The two started kissing, but the woman stopped and decided to stay in the room on a futon because she did not feel safe walking home by herself, according to the Courant story. According to the affidavit cited in the Courant story, both had been drinking but neither was drunk. According to an affidavit cited in the Courant story, Brohinsky and Piscottano returned to the room a short time later and tried to wake the woman up, but could not. The three men then proceeded - according to an affidavit cited in the Courant story - to watch pornography on a computer and take turns ejaculating onto the woman. The affidavit cited by the Courant stated that when she woke up the next day, she felt something and initially thought she drooled on herself. The woman asked Skvirsky what was on her face, and he claimed he didn't know, according to the affidavit cited in the Courant story. However, the next day Skvirsky sent an instant message to the woman telling her that she had been ejaculated on and that the men had been "really drunk," according to the affidavit cited in the Courant story. Brohinsky and Piscottano got together and Piscottano wrote a story they all planned on memorizing in case the woman went to the police and they were questioned, and e-mailed the story to the woman hoping that she would believe it and not come forward to the police, according to an affidavit cited in the Courant story. Blicher told The Daily Campus that Skvirsky and Piscottano were arrested on Nov. 12 and Brohinksy, who is the son of University Communications director Scott Brohinky, was arrested on Nov. 18. Scott Brohinsky was out of the University Communications office Friday afternoon, and thus was unavailable for comment. He had declined comment in the Courant story. ..........

i do so love (real) maple syrup

not just on pancakes and waffles either. it can be used in recipes as a sugar replacement (make sure you compensate for the extra liquid if it's a BAKING recipe) or even in your coffee or tea or lemon/limeade. pour it over a warm freshly homebaked muffin. ok ENOUGH, i'm starving now

Sap Running At Sugar Shack
By SUSAN CAMPBELL Courant Staff Writer February 6 2006
In the Burlington hills, Lamothe Sugar House has been tapping trees and making syrup for more than a week now. That's roughly two weeks earlier than they ever have before, says Robert Lamothe, who started tapping trees in the late '70s.If the Washington, D.C., cherry trees can bud during this freakish January thaw, can amber maple syrup be far behind?Elsewhere in the state, several other syrup manufacturers say they are holding off. But even north in Vermont, a few sugar houses have started production early, says Larry Myott, executive secretary of the International Maple Syrup Institute. Mostly, though, people in Vermont are still preparing for the sap, which generally runs a few weeks later than in Connecticut, Myott said."This period of warm weather is not uncommon," Myott said. On Sunday, the temperature in Connecticut reached a high of 49 degrees."If this would continue, that would be drastic, but it's never done that," Myott said. Craig Cyr, of Hope Valley Sugar House in Hebron, agreed. He's waiting to tap closer to his town's 16th annual maple syrup festival, March 11-12.........

from compassion over killing a vegan pecan pie recipe using maple syrup:

Pecan Pie Makes one 9-inch pie
9-inch vegan pie shell, unbaked
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
dissolved cornstarch (mix 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/4 cup water plus 1/2 tablespoon cold water)
2 tablespoons soy margarine
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups toasted, unsalted pecan halves
Non-dairy ice cream, if desired

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Poke the pie shell several times with a fork and pre-bake for 3 minutes. Remove pie shell from the oven and place on a rack. In a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup water and maple syrup. Boil for 5 minutes, then add the salt and dissolved cornstarch, whisking vigorously. Keep stirring and cook over high heat just until the mixture thickens and is clear. Remove from heat and add the margarine and vanilla, stirring until the margarine is melted. Pour mixture into the pre-baked pie shell. Arrange the pecan halves on top, pressing one cup into the mixture and the remaining cup along the top of the mixture. Place the pie in the middle of the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350oF. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool on a rack for about 11 hours, then refrigerate until thoroughly cooled. Add non-dairy ice cream, if desired.

let's send our thoughts and prayers out to jay strobino

Connecticut soldier shot, injured in Iraq
February 5, 2006
KENT, Conn. --A Connecticut soldier is recovering in a Baghdad hospital after being wounded in a firefight this week.
Jay Christopher Strobino, 21, of Kent suffered two bullet wounds when his 101st Airborne unit was hit with enemy fire southwest of Baghdad on Tuesday
His father told the Sunday Republican of Waterbury that Strobino will likely be airlifted back to the United States for more surgery. He said his son suffered a broken leg and a collapsed lung....

tree

(taken february 3rd)

winter thorns and irene

(taken february 3rd)

bench, chairs, chain

(taken february 3rd)

nero, waiting for mark

(taken february 3rd)