litchfield, land of the free

costly and home of the brave rich effing snobs.

now i'm not one for using ribbons. i certainly support cures for cancer and aids and rights of people and our military. i just happen to not understand how a piece of fabric is going to bring our men and women home or find a cure for cancer. HOWEVER, the ribbons in general don't offend me. if it brings someone comfort to put a ribbon on their door or a TREE, even a tree on a town (or borough) green, well then, fine.

the town of litchfield famous for saying NO NO AND HELL NO to jews is now saying NO NO AND HELL NO to town residents who wish to put (for the sixth year in a row mind you) ribbons around trees on the town green

seems like the town outright lied whoops, i mean misspoke about a botanist saying the ribbons were causing trees to be damaged.

Borough Of Litchfield Board: Get Those Yellow Ribbons Off Our Town Green Trees

By RINKER BUCK |
ITCHFIELD — - For the past six years several military mothers here and their supporters have decorated the trees on the town green with yellow ribbons to express their support for local residents who serve in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But on Tuesday the Borough of Litchfield's governing body, the board of warden and burgesses, voted to prohibit expression that involves ribbons on trees, and that has thrown this attractive tourist mecca in Litchfield County into an uproar.

At its December meeting, the board said its ban was motivated by concerns about the health of the trees on the historic green, and the fear that other groups would demand the same right to hang ribbons. Ribbons would be banned on the green except for holiday purposes.
...

..............First, the board members said, Norfolk forester Starling Childs had inspected the trees on the green and concluded that the ribbons were hurting their health, encouraging the growth of fungus under the ribbons. Second, the presence of yellow ribbons on the green might encourage other groups to apply for permission to hang ribbons there.

Childs, who maintains the 6,000-acre Great Mountain Forest in Norfolk, is one of Connecticut's best-known tree experts. Reached on Friday, Childs said that he was asked by the Borough of Litchfield in October to conduct an inventory of its trees on the green as part of a plan for preserving the space. But Childs says that he was not asked to examine the question of the yellow ribbons and in fact did not even mention them in his report.

"They must be confusing me with some other botanist, because I don't remember even noticing the ribbons at all and I certainly didn't comment on them," says Childs............

pic LAURIE PARMENTIER, whose son Liam Dwyer served in Iraq as a Marine till 2007, stands with a yellow ribbon tied around a tree on the Litchfield Green. The boroughÂ’s board has voted to ban the ribbons, which have been on the trees for years. (MARK MIRKO/Hartford Courant / December 4, 2009)

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here's what aetna is up to

and believe me 600,000 is A LOT of people to drop coverage on. that is almost unheard of in the biz

my company had aetna coverage for YEARS and YEARS. next year we're going with another insurer. i'm not sure if it was MY company's decision or aetnas. i'm guessing it was my company and they did it because they found someone cheaper.

companies like mine will never have a problem insuring their employees. we have several thousand people. companies like mine make up 300,000 of the aetna dumps. the other 300,000 are smaller companies. now THEY WILL have a hard time. you get one employee with a significant health problem and that's all she wrote.

(and THAT'S EXACTLY WHY WE NEED HEALTH CARE REFORM by the way.)

Aetna Forcing 600,000-Plus To Lose Coverage In Effort To Raise Profits

Sam Stein

Health insurance giant Aetna is planning to force up to 650,000 clients to drop their coverage next year as it seeks to raise additional revenue to meet profit expectations.

In a third-quarter earnings conference call in late October, officials at Aetna announced that in an effort to improve on a less-than-anticipated profit margin in 2009, they would be raising prices on their consumers in 2010. The insurance giant predicted that the company would subsequently lose between 300,000 and 350,000 members next year from its national account as well as another 300,000 from smaller group accounts............

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just saw some pics

of snow in huston today. well it was in the 50s in the greater hartford connecticut area today. hmmmmmm what's wrong with that picture ON DECEMBER 4TH?

i'm still in a total state of disbelief and shock

oh i knew this happened (and i'm guessing is STILL happening). i am sickened by the ATTITUDES of some. molesting children is ok UNTIL someone makes a big ol' stink out of it. molesting children is ok because it's ONLY SPORADIC. molesting children is ok because we have to worry about keeping the faggots out of the church instead. yeah, that's how THIS evil monster felt i'm here to tell you (and if you need telling YOU'RE an evil monster too). i am only sorry there is no hell because if there was egan would burn in it for eternity.


MOLESTING CHILDREN IS NOT ALL RIGHT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, UNDER ANY CONDITION. i know this for a fact. i know it because it is and always will be with ME. you can't "cure" it. oh i don't believe you can at all. so catholic church while you worry about not giving communion to a kennedy (just because he happens to support a woman's right to choose) and you're worried about keeping gay priests out, you let our children be marred for life because f**king a kid isn't any big deal, but a man f**king another man is. yup, there's nothing wrong with that thought process at all

note: the courant has extensive coverage of this. timelines and pictures and transcripts too. really DO click on the article link below

pic: New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan, while serving as bishop of the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese from 1988 to 2000, allowed several priests facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse to continue working for years. (SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES / June 16, 2005)

Documents Shed Light On Church's Treatment Of Allegations Against Priests

By DAVE ALTIMARI, EDMUND H. MAHONY, MATTHEW KAUFFMAN and ALAINE GRIFFIN

Even as a young seminary student, Raymond Pcolka's psychiatric problems caused doctors to question whether he should be a priest. Early in his studies, seminary officials sent Pcolka home for a year to "recover control of his nerves." But after returning to school, a Bridgeport psychiatrist deemed Pcolka to be suffering an "obsessive compulsive type neurosis." Another doctor diagnosed a neurotic reaction and "adjustment problems of late adolescence." Still another recommended further psychiatric examination for the "uncommunicative" Pcolka. >> Transcript of Oct. 7, 1997 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan >> Transcript of Sept. 23, 1999 Videotaped Deposition of Bishop Edward Egan "If there is any question of this man's stability or ability," one doctor wrote, "I would recommend psychological testing before final vows." Despite his odd behavior, Pcolka was ordained in 1965 by then-Bridgeport Bishop Walter Curtis and assigned to St. Benedict's Parish in Stamford. Within months, he allegedly fondled an altar boy at the church...............
and this is the MOST shocking right here:

.............Over the course of five depositions, which were among the documents released Tuesday, Curtis testified that he kept "secret archives" from whichhe regularly purged "antiquated" complaints of sexual abuse. Curtis also said he viewed pedophilia as "an occasional thing" and not a serious psychological problem, and indicated that he was more concerned with weeding out potential gays among clergy applicants. In one deposition, Curtis claimed that there had been no complaints of children being sexually abused by a priest between 1961 and 1988 — even though multiple complaints had been filed. Although a dozen people eventually said they were abused by Pcolka, Curtis testified that he didn't remember any complaints against the priest, while Egan admitted that he dismissed many of the claims, simply saying in a deposition, "The 12 have never been proved to be telling the truth."...........

............."These things [sexual abuse complaints] happen in such small numbers. It's marvelous when you think of the hundreds and hundreds of priests and how very few have ever been accused, and how very few have even come close to having anyone prove anything," Egan said in a deposition.............

here's some nyt coverage as well:

In Egan’s Depositions, a New View of a Sex Scandal

By PAUL VITELLO

.................

Then the lawyer sprang his big question: You could have prevented someone from hurting people and you decided not to. Why?

The witness was Edward M. Egan, then the Roman Catholic bishop of Bridgeport, Conn. The question was about a priest who had been accused of sexually molesting children.

“I didn’t make a decision one way or the other,” said Bishop Egan, whom the lawyer suggested had failed to act quickly against the cleric. “I kept working on it until I resolved the decision.”

The exchange is one of hundreds recorded in a vast trove of documents the Diocese of Bridgeport made public on Tuesday after battling in court for seven years to keep them sealed. The archive — more than 12,000 pages of memos, church records and testimony — was gathered for 23 lawsuits, alleging sexual abuse of children by seven priests, that the diocese settled in 2002.............

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shocking, shocking!!!

food carts (even from 'established restaurants') in OUR west hartford? oh hell, what is this, HARTFORD? in all seriousness, i really AM surprised about this. i know some of the 'rules' one has to adhere to when one has a restaurant in west hartford (some are incrediblly SILLY and/or STUPID) mmmmmmmmmm i could dig a falafel right about now.
Special Permit Would Allow Restaurants To Use Food Carts Outside In West Hartford
By BILL LEUKHARDT

WEST HARTFORD — - Next summer, folks should be able to buy takeout gelato or other food from local restaurants if a proposal to allow sidewalk sales of food by established restaurants wins town approval. The proposal, sparked by a request earlier this year from several business owners, would allow a small number of already licensed restaurants to sell food from their restaurants in sidewalk carts in front of their addresses. The plan is still being refined. It seeks to amend zoning rules to create strict, first-ever regulations for food carts. Restaurants seeking a food cart would first need to apply to the town for a special use permit and attend a hearing before getting permission. "We're trying to avoid a Bushnell Park situation," Town Manager Ronald Van Winkle said Monday, referring to the numerous outdoor food vendors whose trucks and carts lined the street weekdays, catering to hungry pedestrians in a restaurant-poor stretch of Hartford.........
(in other words, we're trying to avoid ETHNIC foods or foods OF COLOR. well, that's MY interpretation at any rate)

pic from here

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