the thinking blogger awards

cv rick has tagged this blog with a thinking blogger award

(why? i don't know but i AM honored)
i am not going to pick any of the blogs that were already picked even if they WERE in my top five. they've already been chosen so i don't need to.

Here are the rules-
Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

here are my five (and it WAS a tough choice. there are WAY more than five)

1) ramblings of a lexington parrothead beach bum writes about his life, his family, politics, strange creatures found in his house and on and on. i like him.

2) morning martini pissed off patricia (p o p as i like to call her) writes about politics, the land, fred the cat, mr p o p and has beautiful pictures too. i like her

3) the cool justice report andy thibault writes about many things but he is always seeking the truth. it's mainly a connecticut based blog. i like him

4) drinking liberally in new milford is of course a connecticut based blog by connecticut man 1. politics as well. great sense of humor. i like him

and
5) caffeinated geek girl by c g g. yet another connecticut blog. c g g talks about politics, houses, yoga, animals, familes. the works. i like her

i would have a coffee (or something a bit stronger) with ALL of these people. they're down to earth, HAVE BRAINS but even more importlantly have a heart and soul.

from our buds over at the cool justice report

more on the saga of billy smolinski

Wtby Paper: Police Release File On Missing Man
Thursday, April 12, 2007 BY BRYNN MANDEL Copyright © 2007 Republican-American
The state Freedom of Information commission on Wednesday ordered the release of much of the police investigative file in the case of Billy Smolinski Jr., a Waterbury man who disappeared nearly three years ago.The file included statements from those who had seen Smolinski in the days leading to Aug. 24, 2004, when the then-31-year-old Naugatuck native was last seen. The documents detail leads and tips chased down by Waterbury police, from September 2004 through June of last year.Waterbury police said last August that they had "exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us" and were turning the case over to the FBI.A FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday the agency is investigating the case, and they continue to receive information from Waterbury police. She declined to answer any other questions.Across all 14 of the written reports made public Wednesday, the offense listed was "missing person.".............

and

Shocking Bomb In Smolinski File

By ANDY THIBAULT
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com

An informant told Waterbury police in June 2006 that Billy Smolinski was murdered in a Woodbridge apartment and buried under concrete in a Shelton development.The informant gave detectives the names of several suspects.Inexplicably, it appears the lead was not followed up except for a drive by the development on Hubbell Lane in the White Hills section of Shelton.Two Waterbury detectives met with the informant. Their report on the meeting was among 17 pages released today by order of the state Freedom of Information Commission...........


why weren't leads followed up? why were the police acting odd? why were ANY of these reports secret? (have you ever heard of secret reports on missing citizens? we're not talking high level spys here. we're talking your neighbor)

another shout out to george christian

connecticut librarian AND a hero. you may not know it but he is
(by the way, i work for an insurance company and i am not even going to tell you what WE have to do because of the patriot act)
Librarian warns against secrecy in terrorism investigation

By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON --A Connecticut librarian who fended off an FBI demand for computer records on patrons said Wednesday the government's secret anti-terrorism investigations strip away personal freedoms
"Terrorists win when the fear of them induces us to destroy the rights that make us free," George Christian told a Senate panel.
In prepared testimony, Christian said his experience "should raise a big patriotic American flag of caution" about the strain that the government's pursuit of would-be terrorists puts on civil liberties.
The government uses the Patriot Act and other laws to learn, without proper judicial oversight or any after-the-fact review, what citizens are researching in libraries, Christian said.................

i made mine in cotton

my bainbridge scarf

in peaches and cream (by elmore-pisgah)

i made it in cotton so i could wear it year round. i have chronic neck problems and i thought this might help. i KNOW it will help when the air conditioning starts blowing on me from above at work.

while everyone is chit chatting

and playing nice-nice with catholic hospitals what is happening to the women who are being assaulted and brought to catholic hospitals in the mean time?

(remember plan b is NOT an abortion pill. no matter what people say, what you hear, IT IS NOT AN ABORTION PILL)

Plan B at Connecticut Catholic hospitals

(Hartford-NECN) _ Connecticut lawmakers and the Catholic clergy are struggling with how to treat rape victims brought to emergency rooms at Catholic hospitals.
Victims advocates say emergency contraception is not something women who are raped can do without.
"No woman should be forced to carry the child of a rapist or choose to have an abortion because she was denied a simple course of pills when she needed it," said Laura Cordes of the CT Sexual Assault Crisis Service. "Rape victims can't wait for emergency contraception because emergency contraception is most effective at preventing a pregnancy the sooner it is taken."
Lawmakers know that for Catholic hospitals, this is not only a legal and medical issue.
"We understand and are very sensitive to the fact that there's an issue of faith that's implicated here," said State Senator Jonathan Harris.
Harris says there are enough votes to get a bill requiring all hospitals in the state to provide emergency contraception out of committee, but he does not want to force this on Catholic hospitals. To that end, talks have been ongoing for months. ...........

hey kev

i'm NOT sure i'd take on the new job

U.S. Attorney for Connecticut named Attorney General's chief of staff

by News Channel 8's Annie Rourke

(New Haven-WTNH) _ Kevin O'Connor, Connecticut's top federal prosecutor, has been named chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Attorney Dennis Kerrigan says, he has known O'Connor for 15 years, professionally and politically and says, the announcement did not take him by surprise.
"I think it's a great honor for him and a great honor for the state to have someone that high up in the Justice Department," said Kerrigan. .................

...........O'Connor will start his new role on April 26th, but will remain the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. After six-months, he and Gonzales will decide whether he will continue doing both jobs. ................

there is also some
flack going on regarding fired us attorney iglesias. they say he was fired for being an 'absentee' us attorney. why was he absent? HE WAS SERVING IN THE NAVAL RESERVES.

so us attorney kevin o'connor is still going to retain being us attorney in connecticut yet NOT serve connecticut? how does THAT work?

Prosecutor Heads Into D.C. Fray O'Connor Named Top Gonzales Aide

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, And DAVID LIGHTMAN Courant Staff Writers
Kevin J. O'Connor, Connecticut's top federal prosecutor, agreed Tuesday to become chief of staff to embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose hold on his office has weakened amid accusations that he was involved in the political dismissals of U.S. attorneys.Colleagues said O'Connor, who since January has spent much of his time in Washington, was offered and agreed to accept the position after a relatively quick process........

(by the way, i DO wish kevin o'connor luck and no ill will. i DO want him to succeed. i'm just not sure i'd follow the same path. hell, i KNOW i wouldn't follow the same path!)

update on the baker's dozen attack

nothing new really. those 'accused' pleaded NOT GUILTY. of course there are tons of witnesses and many scars. we'll see how this all turns out

Two charged in Yale singers attack plead not guilty

(San Franciso-AP) _ The two men charged with a New Year's Day assault on a group of a Yale University a cappella singers have pleaded not guilty.
Richard Aicardi and Brian Dwyer appeared in San Francisco Superior Court Monday, where Dwyer entered his plea. Aicardi pleaded not guilty last month. Aicardi and Dwyer face assault and battery charges stemming from what police said was an attack on an all-male a cappella group called the Baker's Dozen after a New Year's Eve party.
Witnesses at the time said the trouble started after the 16 Ivy League vocalists sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Authorities say one of the singers, Evan Gogel, suffered a concussion after being repeatedly kicked by Aicardi, Dwyer and others while he was on the ground. Aicardi was also charged with punching Yale student William Bailey as he tried to get away. ...........

manslaughter?

you DON'T pound nails into someone and not be charged with MURDER

except of course if you're michael pires junior (sr was indeed convicted of murder though)

Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for Norwich beating death

New London-AP) _ A Norwich man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for his role in the 2004 beating death of 43-year-old William Derose in Norwich.
Michael Pires Junior was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty in February to reduced charges of first-degree manslaughter and hindering prosecution in the June 2004 beating death.
Last August, a Superior Court jury convicted Pires' father, 51-year-old Michael Pires Senior, of murder in the same incident. The elder Pires was sentenced in October to 60 years in prison. .........

archive of original story

the wild gang of west hartford

turkeys that is.

they ususally DO travel in packs. they can be mean. they ARE huge (bigger than one thinks) and they eat like oinkers.


just about a year ago, a big ol' wild turkey landed on a lower roof at work


Neighborhood In The Grip Of Gobblers

By HILDA MUÑOZ, And DANIEL P. JONES Courant Staff Writers

WEST HARTFORD -- It's more Birds Gone Wild than an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but some wild turkeys have become the new neighborhood punks in an area off King Philip Drive.In the past month, the increasingly brazen birds have surrounded cars on driveways, torn up gardens, chased pedestrians and postal workers and even attacked a cop, pecking the officer's hand and drawing blood."They pick the bulbs from my flowers. I have to chase them away," said Maria Rodrigues, a Brewster Road resident for nine years. "They chase cars, too."..........

sol lewitt

academics.triton.edu/faculty/fheitzman/sol%20...

artlex.com/.../images/linocut_lewit.lg.jpg

unlike a lot of 'minimalists' work, i liked sol's work. i didn't know him, never met him but it sure seems like he was very well respected. not just for his art though, for his character.

Hartford Artist Sol LeWitt Dead At 78

By DEBORAH HORNBLOW, The Hartford Courant

Sol LeWitt, a Hartford-born artist known as one of America's most significant visual artists of the past four decades, died this morning in New York City at the age of 78.The modest artist, an innovator in minimalism and conceptual art, eschewed fame and celebrity.

"He never felt that art has to do with the personality of the person who made it," says Andrea Miller-Keller, former curator of contemporary art at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum and a longtime friend and collaborator who is regarded as a foremost interpreter of his work. "It's not about the star power but about the art."...............