our newspaper.........(it's ABOUT TIME dontcha know)

i don't follow who (or is that whom) papers endorse. connecticut is a notoriously democratic state. it's rather shocking they've only endorsed TWO democrats in 244 years. (wow, our paper is 244 years old!)

'Hartford Courant' To Endorse Obama, Only 2nd Democrat Ever
By Dexter Hill
NEW YORK The Hartford Courant will endorse Sen. Obama this weekend, making it the newspaper’s second endorsement of a Democratic presidential candidate in its 244-year history. The pro-Obama editorial will appear on the newspaper’s Web site late Saturday afternoon and in the print edition on Sunday, E&P has learned.

The St. Petersburg Times in key swing state Florida also endorsed Obama in an online posting today (see excerpt below).

The Hartford endorsement selects the Democratic candidate because of his leadership qualities. It calls America “starved for a leader who can restore pride and once again make the nation a beacon for the world,” and argues that Obama is the candidate who could do it. The editorial projects that the Illinois senator would govern from the middle and maintain a calm temperament if elected president.
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da liebs

backpeddlin'. i'm not buying it. he's a load. too late to make nice nice with our next president, barack obama! a bit too little a bit too late

Lieberman Says He Keeps Campaign Comments Within Bounds

By MARK PAZNIOKAS |The Hartford Courant
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, one of John McCain's closest political allies, said Friday he does not believe that Barack Obama is unprepared to be president.

"I'm saying he is less prepared than McCain," Lieberman said.

But what about Sarah Palin?

Is she ready?................

lock your cars!

oh and just so you know, i was trying to avoid one of those medians (for traffic calming MY BIG FAT ASS) on asylum the other morning - ON MY WAY TO WORK - sober, at 3 am AND I HIT A CURB. i did some damage to my car. i'm NOT happy. i can't wait till winter..........

Items Stolen From Unlocked Cars In West Hartford

By JOSH KOVNER |The Hartford Courant

WEST HARTFORD — - Police are investigating five thefts from unlocked cars that occurred late Tuesday and early Wednesday on Shady Lane, Whetton Road, Westborough Drive and Uplands Drive.

Among the stolen items were GPS devices, an iPod, a laptop computer and satellite radios.

"All the cars were unlocked," said Capt. Paul Melanson, head of detectives. "Smashing windows makes noise and attracts attention."

Drug users trade stolen electronic items for narcotics, Melanson said. Town police urge residents to lock their cars, leave nothing in plain sight and bring equipment inside.

Shady Lane is off Asylum Avenue; Whetton runs between Asylum and Albany avenues; Uplands and Westborough are off Mountain Road...........

i don't know anything about

the 'reverend' rapid cabot freeman. i DO know people who practice wicca do NOT worship the devil. most people you ask wouldn't know this. they automatically associate wicca with devil worship. i'm telling you, please don't. one has NOTHING to do with another. in wicca, PEOPLE DO NOT WORSHIP THE DEVIL. just know that

Sprague witchcraft controversy
By News Channel 8's Tina Detelj

Sprague (WTNH) -- A Norwich priest says he is a victim of religious discrimination and retaliation because he's a Wiccan priest.

Rusty Freeman, also known as Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman, says he's being discriminated against because of his religion -- he's a witch.

"It's about the whole older mentality of 'we don't want none of that witchcraft in our town,'" Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman said.

The Grist Mill community room above the Sprague Library is where Freeman wants to perform a Samhain ceremony celebrating the Celtic New Year when witches believe the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest.

"It's basically saying to the people, we lost in our life, that we miss and we love you," Rev. Freeman said.

But, his Halloween plans were halted. The First Selectman says he didn't follow proper procedures.

"It's about following the process," First Selectman Catherine Osten said. "We are a process oriented town and we expect people to follow the process and he has not.".........

You Call It Hallowe'en... We Call It Samhain Author: Peg Aloi

or just read ANY article over at witchvox

more on the devil that was george reardon

love your children and always know where they are and what they are doing and WHO they are doing it with. BELIEVE your children when they tell you stories about evil like this. it happened years ago with reardon, but it STILL happens today.

keep them safe

Questions Haunt Two Of Reardon's Earliest Victims

By HILARY WALDMAN
ALBANY, N.Y. - By the time she reached her mid-30s, Ellen Manning had a degree in English and a respectable job with the state of New York. She had a large group of friends, a supportive family, a nice house and a cat she loved.

Still, she had always felt somewhat adrift.

She had dated, but never fallen in love. She didn't have a family of her own. She wondered if, perhaps, she might have been able to accomplish more.

Those aren't especially unusual thoughts for someone moving into the early throes of middle age. But there was something else lurking in the back of Manning's mind. And, in 1987, as she watched and read stories about child sexual abuse and its emotional consequences, the memories of her own past came bubbling forward.
Manning couldn't help but wonder if her own melancholy might have something to do with a man who lived next door when she was growing up, a young medical student named George Reardon.

Manning is among the first known victims of the late Dr. George Reardon, former chief of endocrinology at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center who has been accused of sexually molesting an untold number of children during his 30-year career in Hartford. For her it is too late to join more than 100 other victims who are now suing St. Francis, saying the hospital was negligent in its supervision of him.

And while it was two decades ago that Manning began asking herself how Reardon's abuse affected her, and trying to get officials in Connecticut to stop him, she never spoke publicly about it — until now.......

i never under stood this

phenomenon. as usual, Helen Ubiñas writes a spot on piece.

i want to add, this is just NOT happening in the black community. it happens in all communities. look at whitey bulger. look at the ey-talians

Telling The Cops Isn't An Easy Call

Helen Ubiñas
The second time, she was frantic.

We'd met years earlier, when I'd written a column about mothers trying to protect one of society's biggest long shots: black sons. She was unluckier than most; she was trying to raise four boys and had already lost one when he was shot and killed in Hartford.

And now here she was, calling me years later about another son, hoping I could somehow better her odds.
Just a few weeks earlier, he'd come home holding his mouth, blood gushing through his fingers. He'd been pistol-whipped by another boy who was after a mutual friend but turned on her son instead.

Call the police, she demanded.

No way, he said. He was no snitch.

She could barely contain herself; that insipid snitching code was why her son's murder remains unsolved. As a cruel sidebar, one of the young men rumored responsible is buried in the same cemetery.
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