Friday, December 08, 2006

briefly met up

with maureen and hannah yesterday. it was a pleasure to make their acquaintance!!! it's always so nice to meet new friends. due to my odd hours, i did have to dash rather quickly and i'm sorry about that part

Thursday, December 07, 2006

going back

the hartford courant is still doing one hell of a job on this story, mentally unfit, forced to fight. i am so very impressed.

last the armed forces said was, they were handling this. well this story sure doesn't sound like they are handling this

it's absolutely absurd AND MORE of a recipe for DISASTER

Broken By War, And Ordered Back
By LISA CHEDEKEL Courant Staff Writer December 10 2006
Nothing was stranger for Mary Jane Fernandez than the events of last Christmas, which had her 24-year-old son, newly returned from the war in Iraq, downing sedatives, ranting about how rich people were allowed to sit in recliners in church, and summoning the Waterbury police to come arrest him.This Christmas may top that.Despite being diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and rated 70 percent disabled by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Damian Fernandez has been called back to duty and told to prepare for another deployment to Iraq.Two weeks ago, Fernandez, who was discharged from active duty in the Army last year and was working to settle back into civilian life, abruptly received orders to report to Fort Benning, Ga., on Jan. 14.When the FedEx letter from the Army arrived Nov. 28, he calmly told his mother and girlfriend, "I got my orders," staring hard at them with vacant eyes.That night, he snapped. He told his girlfriend, Riella Darko, that he wanted to die and asked her to take him to the emergency room of St. Mary's Hospital, where he was placed on a suicide watch. He has since been transferred to a locked ward in the Northampton VA Medical Center in Massachusetts.His callback orders have not yet been rescinded. Even if they are, his mother said, simply being told he must go back into combat has set back his recovery."I don't understand why the military would put him through this," Mary Jane Fernandez said. "He was just starting to come back to reality a little, and now he's lost again."Fernandez is one of 8,262 soldiers who have left active duty but have been ordered back under a policy that allows the military to recall troops who have completed their service but have time remaining on their contracts. About 5,700 of those called up have already been mobilized, with Fernandez among about 2,500 ordered to report in the coming weeks.The practice of recalling inactive soldiers involuntarily is itself controversial, with some members of Congress and veterans' advocates calling it a backdoor draft................


ok, what the heck is up with this???


it's a billboard i saw yesterday walking to my car when i left work. i had to stop and snap it

welcome back!!!

to all of the sailors on the uss albuquerque

Family members cheer for the USS Albuquerque's return


(Groton-WTNH, Dec. 6, 2006 5:20 PM) _ After 6 months in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom sailors aboard the USS Albuquerque are back in Connecticut.
The submarine made its way back to the harbor.
by News Channel 8's Sara Welch
It's a beautiful thing to see these families reunited after being away for so long. It was windy and cold out at the subbase this afternoon.
This holiday homecoming warmed the heart.
"When is he going to be here?" asks a little boy in the crowd.
He was among the crowd waiting anxiously for the return of the their loved ones aboard the USS Albuquerque, as it made it way back to Groton..............


Happy anti-bush Holidays!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

a shout out to the west hartford police

i liked what chief james strillacci had to say!


Sex offender warning in West Hartford


(West Hartford-WTNH, Dec. 5, 2006 9:28 pm) _ Words of warning and not just it's not just neighborhood chatter. Letters from one school were sent to parents to warn them of a high-risk sex offender living a short distance away. Tuesday evening those residents spoke out and it seems their voices have been heard.
by News Channel 8's Bob Wilson
Parents and students at Whiting Lane School have been warned, along with all of the other parents in West Hartford about 72 year old Barkentin Walker. Police say he is a sex offender who preys on children..........


..............The chief compared the sexual predator problem to the wild coyotes they have been dealing.
"If they act bold, call the police. If they are hanging around your house or school, call police, and don't get close enough to touch them, those are the things that apply to wild animals and sex offenders."
..............


uh oh OUR very own senator dodd

has pissed off king george! dang

we all KNOW bolton never should have been in at OR around the u.n. he had an agenda from DAY ONE. he had ISSUES from DAY ONE. when you are at the u.n. you're supposed to be an ambassador (of sorts) for your country. THAT MAN DOES NOT REPRESENT MY COUNTRY. i'm GLAD he got the boot

Dodd Key In Bolton's Departure U.N. Ambassador Leaving Post Despite President's Efforts

By DAVID LIGHTMAN Washington Bureau Chief December 5 2006 WASHINGTON -- Sen. Christopher J. Dodd on Monday won his long, unusually passionate battle to deny John R. Bolton confirmation as United Nations ambassador - but both he and President Bush remained unforgiving warriors as each continued to insist he was absolutely right about the outspoken diplomat.A miffed Bush did not name the Connecticut senator, but said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up-or-down vote he deserved in the Senate."Bush lambasted senators who, he said, "chose to obstruct his confirmation, even though he enjoys majority support in the Senate, and even though their tactics will disrupt our diplomatic work at a sensitive and important time."Dodd fired back. He recalled how he had reservations about Bolton "from day one," and added, "I don't understand how someone who disdains the U.N. as much as Mr. Bolton did and does, can be an effective representative for U.S. interests in that international organization."Although Bush did not name Dodd, analysts said it was clear who bested the president."Sen. Dodd played the defining role," said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. "Bolton's profile of being a wacko had diminished, but Dodd was the one person who had not forgotten the past."..............

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

YOU elected him

not me. this is I N S A N E. insane. it's ok that almost 3,000 of our men and women are DEAD. countless are wounded and maimed (mentally and physically) and grandmothers and grandfathers are being called up for military duty?

show weakness? my big fat ass! so tell me da liebs, it's ok to send MORE men and women to their deaths so YOU are NOT embarrassed? is that the deal?

Lieberman Opposes Iraq Pullout Leaving Now Would Show `Weakness,' He Says

By DAVID LIGHTMAN Washington Bureau Chief December 4 2006WASHINGTON -- Despite mounting pressure from both parties for a change in direction in Iraq, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., said Sunday that withdrawing American forces would be a "statement of weakness.""In the end, there has to be an Iraqi political settlement," Lieberman told CBS' "Face the Nation," "but they can't do it without security. And they can't achieve security if we begin to withdraw."Lieberman's comments came on a day when most lawmakers were talking in more conciliatory tones. The Iraq Study Commission report, to be issued Wednesday, is expected to suggest alternatives to current U.S. policy in Iraq.National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley defended administration policy Sunday, appearing on talk shows and saying that "we have not failed in Iraq." "We will fail in Iraq if we pull out our troops before we're in a position to help the Iraqis succeed," Hadley said.At the same time, he said, "The president understands that we need to have a way forward in Iraq that is more successful."Lieberman was tougher, saying that if the U.S. pulls out, "That's the signal to everybody I've talked to that the sectarian violence will get worse and the government will collapse."The senator, who won re-election last month as an independent, also criticized American lawmakers who talk about Iraq as a failed mission.There is "too little talk about the consequences of failure, which I believe would be disastrous to us," he said. "I mean, this is a war on terrorism we're involved in. Iraq is a battlefield. It's a conflict between freedom and totalitarianism, between moderation and extremism.".............

i guess it's really NOT a good idea

to go into bushnell park any more. the state capital is just a stone's throw away. this just isn't right

Third Attack Reported In 3 Months At Hartford's Bushnell Park

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A woman said she was robbed at gunpoint in Hartford's Bushnell Park Monday night.
Police were out searching Monday with searchlights for a man described to be wearing a red sweat suit.
The woman reported that the man approached her, pointed a gun and demanded she hand over her purse

The man was seen running toward Jewel Street.
It was the third reported attack at Bushnell Park in the past three months.........


Sunday, December 03, 2006

copperheads in connecticut

i saw a copperhead once (a young one) in west hartford reservoir. that was years ago. i'm scared of MANY things (like bugs. ALL bugs except lady bugs) but i've never been afraid of snakes. funny, huh

Snakes On The Brain Chuck Smith Traveled More Than 1,800 Miles In The State Tracking Copperheads

By STEVE GRANT Courant Staff Writer December 3 2006
Venturing off a hiking trail in Meriden, Chuck Smith scrambled up a steep hillside of fallen, craggy rocks known as talus. Beside a slab of rock about 3 feet long by 3 feet wide, he stopped."Somewhere under that rock, in this jumble of talus, there are a lot of copperheads," he said. Dozens of them, hibernating for the winter.Smith was part way up the side of one of the state's most distinctive geologic features, the Metacomet Ridge that runs north-south through the center of the state, a ridge that is lapped on both sides by ever-developing suburbia.That ridge is also the epicenter of the Connecticut range of the copperhead, a poisonous snake that tends to run 30 inches long in these woods. And when it comes to the copperheads of Connecticut, nobody knows them like Smith, a University of Connecticut graduate student finishing work on a doctorate degree.The Willington resident hiked more than 1,800 miles in central Connecticut for three years studying the copperheads, visiting the ridge an average of five days a week for eight months each of those years. Virtually every moment he monitored the movements of copperheads, after implanting radio transmitters in 35 males and females.Not only has Smith advanced scientific knowledge of the species, said Kurt Schwenk, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UConn who is Smith's adviser, but more important it was carried out long-term, involved a large number of animals and therefore yielded insights that a less ambitious study couldn't produce.........









A MALE COPPERHEAD basks in early fall before moving several hundred yards to the same location used the past two winters. He’s one of dozens of study subjects that UConn doctoral candidate Chuck Smith monitored for three years. (CHUCK SMITH)



CHUCK SMITH walks along a trap rock ridge in Meriden where copperhead snakes hibernate during the winter. Smith has been studying Connecticut copperhead snake populations for three years, using radio transmitters to monitor their movements. (RICK HARTFORD)














a lovely article on jason hamill

he really DOES sound like everyone's best bud, someone you could both depend on AND have fun with. i know i would have liked to have a beverage with him (and yup, i'm crying again)

Family grieves for soldier killed days before his Iraq tour ended

By John Christoffersen, Associated Press Writer December 2, 2006
SALEM, Conn. --Sharon Hamill was home alone, sitting at the table eating lunch when she was startled by a noise around the garage. Then the doorbell rang.
She looked through the tinted window and spotted a green uniform. It must be her son Jason, an Army captain due home any day from Iraq who had a reputation for pulling pranks.
"I went to the door to let him in," Sharon Hamill said. "When I saw two men in uniform, I knew what it was. They looked at me and shook their head."
Jason was dead. He and two other soldiers were killed Nov. 26 in Baghdad by a roadside bomb while riding in an armored vehicle.
"In our eyes, he was a hero," his mother said Wednesday, fighting back tears.
Hamill's family is among the latest to grieve in a war that has taken the lives of nearly 3,000 U.S. service members and lasted longer than America's participation in World War II.
Hamill, 31, had spent a year in Iraq clearing the type of bomb that killed him and many other American troops.
"The hard part is finding the bombs," he wrote in an e-mail to his family in January. "They're very creative at hiding them but we have tons of technology and techniques to find them."
Hamill, a triplet, grew up in Salem, a tiny rural town in eastern Connecticut still sprinkled with farms. He wrestled in high school and played the drums in the band.
That's when Jon Stadler met Hamill and quickly became friends. When Hamill was around, everyone knew something funny would happen.
On a dare Hamill jumped in a frigid lake on New Year's Eve. He and Stadler took the wheels off a friend's car and plastered it with bumper stickers. Another time Hamill's father caught him tipping cows.........


ok i'm crying

i'm so happy ms wynn got her christmas wish (i'd like to think of it as a christmas wish). thanks and a shout out to you mystic seaport

(every year a very dear (ex) friend and i used to take our winter pilgrimage to mystic. not the seaport but old mystic. i loved the shops. my favorite was called the emporium. it was an old house just FULL of wonderful stuff. i'd stock up on my mick rock christmas cards (everyone just couldn't wait to get their card from me). but those days are past i'm sorry to say. i don't even know if the emporium is still around. i sure hope it is. i LOVED the men running it. they were a BLAST)


Dying wish granted by Mystic Seaport for Texas woman


(Mystic-WTNH, Dec. 2, 2006 6:15 PM) _ A trip to Connecticut is a dream come true for a Texas woman.
The 64-year-old grandmother has stage four cancer and only has months to live. One of her last wishes was a trip to Mystic Seaport.
by News Channel 8's Tricia Taskey
It's a dream come true for Sharon Wynn. She wished for a visit to Mystic Seaport.
The Texas grandmother and great grandmother is losing her battle with breast cancer and only has 5 to 8-months left to live.
Today one of her dying wishes is coming true.
"This is awesome. I can't even tell you, I have chills standing here on this ship. It's unbelievable," says Wynn. .........


i think....
the emporium IS STILL OPEN ............... whooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooo

and of course rockshots (adult content)

and as firesign theater says, 'and there's hamburger all over the highway in mystic connecticut'

more new england christmas beer problems (uh oh)


i'm not a beer drinker (although over the past few weeks shawn has shared a couple i actually WOULD drink. the two i loved are actually from italy. he got them from yup, some italian dudes who were at the half door talking at the beer and game dinner the other weekend. no, i didn't go. i'm VEGAN silly). however, over the years, i have seen some rather questionable names of beers as well as labels. yes santa is a draw to children BUT i also wouldn't have a problem with this label. i think it's rather cute





In this image released by Shelton Brothers, the design for a beer bottle label is shown. In a complaint filed in U.S. District, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine. The episode is reminiscent of last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale. (AP Photo/Shelton Brothers)
Copyright 2006 Associated Press.

Ho? Ho? Ho? Maine Says No to Santa Label
By CLARKE CANFIELD
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A beer distributor says Maine is being a Scrooge by barring it from selling a beer with a label depicting Santa Claus enjoying a pint of brew.
In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine.
The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale.
"Last year it was elves. This year it's Santa. Maybe next year it'll be reindeer," said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Mass.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contends the state's action violates the First Amendment by censoring artistic expression.
But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming. The other two labels are considered inappropriate because they show bare-breasted women........