ned lamont

i didn't get a chance to see ned lamont speak at 2:00 in hartford yesterday. BUT when i returned home yesterday at about 6 or 7, he was on the steps of my neighbor's house across the street, speaking!!! i believe he was then going to head to the irish festival in glastonbury.

i came across this article in the nation on ned and da liebs. great article with a bit of background on ned's family.

i am so very happy ned is running. it's so important to me to have someone speak out on this horrible war. of course ned is MORE, MUCH MORE than a one note singer. every day more and more people realize this. yes, ned doesn't have much political experience but that isn't important to me. what is important to me is getting ned elected. the experience will come after.

A Fight for the Party's Soul

Never mind the internecine Democratic politics of Connecticut and the role that ethnic, labor and local sentiments will play in deciding the primary contest between centrist Senator Joe Lieberman and liberal challenger Ned Lamont. Never mind that the contest has made Connecticut the front line in an increasingly bitter brawl involving MoveOn.org and the liberal blogosphere on one side and the Democratic Leadership Council and a substantial contingent of the party's Washington elite on the other. Never mind that both sides spend inordinate amounts of time debating whether George W. Bush thanked Lieberman for the senator's unwavering support of the Iraq War with a slobbering kiss or merely a peck on the cheek when the two embraced at a State of the Union address.
When the votes are counted on August 8, the whole of the Connecticut primary, and much of the national debate over the direction of the Democratic Party, will be boiled down to a one-line pronouncement. It will either be "Antiwar challenger trounces Lieberman" or "Lieberman prevails over war foes." The reduction of this complex contest to a headline may not be entirely fair, or entirely accurate. Yet it will be understandable, because to the surprise of just about everyone, the man Democrats nominated for Vice President in 2000 is in a fight for his political life with a previously unknown candidate who decided a few months ago to surf the wave of anger stirred by Lieberman's emergence as the loudest Democratic defender of the occupation of Iraq. ................

............When Lamont offers his critique of "George Bush and Joe Lieberman's" foreign policies to the business owners who have gathered at the Indian restaurant in Stamford, several of whom make favorable references to "the House of Morgan," every head in the room nods. And when he quotes former Connecticut Senator Abe Ribicoff's Vietnam-era suggestion that America is strongest not when it brandishes arms but when it earns the respect of the world, the nodding heads are smiling............

ned will be in hartford today at 2:00

i talked to my sister yesterday (she lives with my pops). they have both decided to vote for ned. i'm WICKED HAPPY about that! only a few more days until august 8th.................VOTE

Join Ned for a press conference tomorrow (it's TODAY, this was sent to me yesterday)at at 2 p.m.
Michael Schiavo, whose wife Terry's death shocked and galvanized the nation, will travel to Hartford tomorrow to endorse Ned for the US Senate.
The press conference will be on the steps of the Connecticut Supreme Court Building at 231 Capitol Avenue in Hartford.
"Politicians in Washington DC and Florida abused their public trust by forcing the government in the middle of my family tragedy," says Schiavo, who has formed a political action committee.
Schiavo and Lamont will both attend the press conference.

ned lamont

i'm personally FOR banning foie gras

and for that matter veal. most people aren't going to be eating foie gras, but most people will eat veal. i'm not sure they know WHAT veal is or how a veal calf is raised. i don't think people know where gelatin comes from or what rennet is (it's in cheese) either.

Cruelty Claims May Foil Foie Gras
July 25, 2006 By WILLIAM WEIR, Courant Staff Writer

In the kitchen of Grants in West Hartford Center, chef Eric Sass holds up a couple of pounds of foie gras. Before it gets fancied up for customers, this delicacy isn't much more than a plastic-wrapped shapeless lump. It's so underwhelming that it's surprising that it would be the center of the latest food controversy. In fact, this shapeless lump would be banned from restaurants and stores in Connecticut under a bill to be offered in the General Assembly next year.
The way to bring attention to this is to ban the sale," says Rep. Diana Urban, R-North Stonington, who plans to introduce legislation in January. "I know that that's going out on a limb, but what I want to do is generate discussion - and I'm sure we will."By January, it may seem less of a long shot. Chicago's city council has already passed a ban on selling foie gras (pronounced "fwah grah"), and California will restrict its production starting in 2012. Regulations are also being considered in Philadelphia, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois...........

the avon mountain crash

i have posted on this before but i wanted to post on this subject again for a few reasons.

i used to drive over avon mountain to go to work daily for MANY years (our office moved into the main hartford office so i no longer drive over avon mountain daily. my doctor and some of my friends live in avon, so i still frequent the town).

my boss is the cousin of one of the people who perished in the horrible crash.

mark robinson is a friend of mine (he's writing a book on the subject)

EMERGENCY PERSONNEL gather at the accident scene on the morning of July 29, 2005. At the bottom right is Mike Cummings’ dark-colored minivan, crumpled and shoved against the side of a commuter bus, near the bus’s open front door. The runaway dump truck is on its side at the top of the photo. The vehicles hit by the truck and its load were waiting at a red light at the Route 44-Route 10 intersection, just beyond the lower right corner of the photo. (BOB CHILD)

A Horrific Crash That Changed Lives

A dump truck plows into commuters one Friday morning. The death toll is four. But the emotional toll is inestimable. Survivors wonder why they lived. Rescuers wish they could've done more.
BY DANIEL P. JONESJuly 23 2006Mike Cummings can't get the sickening sound of metal on pavement out of his head. If a truck pulls up alongside him in traffic, he quivers with fear.His broken ribs, punctured lung, broken collarbone, and torn knee and ankle have healed. But he still has 6-inch scars on both sides of his lower right arm from surgery to repair a compound fracture, and he still suffers stinging pain in the chest where his seat belt tore cartilage around his sternum. Just days ago, he had dental work done on several broken teeth.Despite all that, Cummings, 36, considers himself lucky to be alive.A year ago, he survived the catastrophic 20-vehicle crash at the foot of Avon Mountain, when an American Crushing & Recycling dump truck hurtled out of control down the hill and smashed into cars and a commuter bus waiting at a traffic light, killing four people and injuring 11.Other survivors also feel the same profound sense of gratitude. And, like Cummings, they don't want to dwell on their suffering."I should be dead," said Mark Robinson, who barely missed being crushed by slabs of concrete from the dump truck's load that crashed through the windshield and sunroof of his black 2001 Cougar.Those who survive catastrophes in which others die often deal with guilt, remorse and post-traumatic stress. The Avon Mountain crash last July 29 has caused its share of such anguish...........

i can't wait to see the completed mural

i haven't been out winsted way in a few years. i used to take many a drive up rt 44 and just keep going. i think it may be time again

Ellen Griesedieck, a professional photographer and artist, stands on a ladder in front of a her painting that will be but a part of mural that, when finished will measure about five stories tall and be 120 feet in length. She is coordinating a massive art project The American Mural Project (formerly Wall of America.) (RICHARD MESSINA)


American Tapestry Gigantic Winsted Mural To Portray Country At Work
Story By JESSE LEAVENWORTH The Hartford Courant July 23 2006

The planned mural - about 1,000 square feet bigger than a basketball court - includes a 47-foot-long section of blown-glass ocean waves and rocket flames, human figures more than 20 feet tall, soaring cuts of marble and metal, and one of the largest collections of sports autographs anywhere.Central to this Mount Rushmore of interior art is a tiny woman who says her grand vision is inspired by the American worker's energy and creativity.From her Sharon studio, Ellen Griesedieck is coordinating the American Mural Project, a three-dimensional work to be placed on permanent exhibit in a former textile mill in Winsted. Before she started the project, Griesedieck, 58, spent years photographing and painting pictures of steel and foundry workers, miners and oil riggers, football coaches, surgical teams, jet airliner assemblers and many others who make the engine of America run."This is really a portrait of this country," Griesedieck said of the mural. "Before this is over, there's one thing I can guarantee: You walk into this thing and you will find yourself."Eight years into the effort and still several years from completion of what is estimated to be a $4 million project, Griesedieck said she's about to launch a major fundraising push. About $400,000 is in hand, she said.The project has attracted some prominent benefactors, including actor and philanthropist Paul Newman, artist Frank Stella and cardiovascular surgeon and frequent Oprah guest, Dr. Mehmet Oz...