to the family and friends of cpl. Xhacob LaTorre

my thoughts and prayers are with you. i am so very sorry for your loss. i thank cpl latorre and everyone else who is serving their country. their service is much appreciated



Waterbury Marine Dies Four Months After Bomb Blast

By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY

On Monday, in his Texas hospital room, the gravely ill Cpl. Xhacob LaTorre of Waterbury received a Purple Heart for the wounds he suffered in August from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, he died of his injuries.

The Marine leaves behind his wife, Frances, and a 1½-year-old son, Javier. A 2005 graduate of Crosby High School in Waterbury, LaTorre was in the ROTC program. He would have turned 21 Saturday.

LaTorre's legs were severely injured when an improvised, explosive device detonated in the Helmand province of Afghanistan on Aug. 10. The bomb instantly killed a fellow Marine who had been on foot patrol with LaTorre, said his aunt, Carmen LaSalle.

His legs had to be amputated, LaSalle said. LaTorre had made progress, though, and was talking and eating at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio within weeks of his injury, she said.

Then infection set in, and his condition worsened, LaSalle said. When he was conscious, he screamed in pain, she said..................

as always the courant has a link to the war dead from connecticut

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coyote on fern street in west hartford

on my way to work yesterday about 2:30 or 3:00 am, i saw a coyote on FERN STREET RIGHT NEAR MORLEY SCHOOL. really. so if you have a cat, i'd NOT let it stay outdoors overnight. REALLY

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i WAS gonna post this but forgot

until i just saw it in boing boing

plus this is WAY WAY WAY better than that woman who found a stupid arse egg with a 'cross' on it (it was just a wonky misshapen egg). this is a COW with a cross!!! (no, i don't think it's a divine symbol my peeps. i think it's a darn cute calf)


Calf with a cross on its head

David Pescovitz

Praise be, this holy calf was born a week ago on a Sterling, Connecticut farm owned by Brad Davis. From WFSB:

Davis said, "Well, I think it's maybe a message from up above. I'm not sure. We're still trying to figure that out."

Megan Johnson of Sterling said, "Well I wasn't surprised. I wasn't surprised at all because the dairy industry has needed a miracle for a long time and this is it. I think it's divine intervention, personally. I'm in the breeding business and I know about reproduction and genetics and I don't think this could happen again in a million cows."

"Cow Born With Divine Symbol" (via Fortean Times)

here's the wfsb link

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look at me, look at me, look at me

no one was paying attention to me for the last five minutes so i had to open my big ugly trap and start spewing garbage again

i never forgave da liebs for his running as an independent and stealing the vote (from a bunch of either stupid connecticuters or ignorant ones or just plain uninformed ones).

da liebs HAS to go. no forgiveness, boot his ass to the curb. he's playing with y'all right now BUT when you take his toys away, he's going to start crying like that baby he always turns into

Health Care: Lieberman Puts Himself In The Spotlight, Again
By LOIS ROMANO and ALEC MacGILLIS Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., has once again inserted himself into the middle of an inflamed partisan debate, raising questions about his motives, his ego and his fickle allegiance to the Democratic Party, which forgave him after he supported Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for president.

Lieberman says he is feeling "relevant" as he threatens to withhold his vote — potentially the decisive 60th — on health care reform legislation if it includes a government-run insurance plan. And it is hard to dispute Lieberman's assertion as Capitol Hill moves farther from the "public option," to the consternation of liberals.

"There is no question he's taken pleasure in this role," said Jacob Hacker, a Yale University political scientist who helped write the initial public option proposal..............

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if you're free 10 am thursday morning

or near a pc/laptop (it looks like it is going to stream live as well) why don't you listen to

Binnie Klein's WPKN Radio Show To Preview CT Young Writers Event

WPKN Newsletter December 7, 2009


89.5 FM Bridgeport,
New Haven — 88.7 FM Montauk,
Westerly, New London
— wpkn.org online

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Binnie Klein hosts a special show on boxing and writing. Guests include Andy Thibault, author, blogger, and teacher, John "Iceman" Scully, boxer, trainer, and ESPN commentator, Felicity Sheehy, student and prize-winning poet, Bruce Coffin, her teacher at Westover School, and Gaby Calvocoressi, acclaimed poet. We'll be discussing the upcoming CT Young Writers Triple Knockout Event: Prose, Poetry And Pugilism, Hartford Club, January 15 to benefit young writers.

Show Airs Thursday, December 10 at 10:00 AM.

Host Profile: Binnie Klein

WPKN Home Page

Prospect Magazine Features Poet Gaby Calvocoressi, CT Young Writers Triple Knockout Event Jan. 15, 2010 & Hartford Boxers Past & Present

the above from the cool justice report

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the bridge in west hartford

has been around forever (since 1969). if you CAN, help them out this holiday season (of course, you don't have to WAIT for the holidays to help them out you know)

they're quite a worthy AND more importantly TRUSTWORTHY organization

Bridge Family Center In West Hartford Seeks Aid

Needs Coats, Basketballs, Other Gifts For Youth

By KATE FARRISH Special To The Courant

WEST HARTFORD — - Because The Bridge Family Center in West Hartford serves 10,000 children, youth and families a year, it's understandable that its holiday wish list includes items that kids and teens love.

Executive director Margaret Hann says gift cards lead the list of donations that the agency is seeking this holiday season.

"Gift cards, those are huge," she said.

The list includes cards for Marshalls, Walmart, Kohl's, BJ's Wholesale Club, Best Buy, Bob's Stores, Target, Old Navy, A.J. Wright, TJ Maxx, Burlington Coat Factory, CVS, Showcase Cinemas, Bow-Tie Cinemas, nail salons, supermarkets and restaurants such as Chili's Grill & Bar, Ruby Tuesday, Olive Garden and Friendly's.

The agency is also seeking phone cards; new official-sized basketballs; new winter coats for teenagers; new raincoats for children aged 3 to 6; Sony PlayStation games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band; picture books for children from birth to age 8; stamps and stationery..........


the bridge family center

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welcome home jameson!

and of course, thank you for serving. now we just have to get the REST of our men and women back (WITHOUT wounds, mental or physical)

Marine Returns Home To Wallingford With Purple Heart

By STEVEN GOODE The Hartford Courant

WALLINGFORD — - They came from next door and they came from Maine. Some brought flags and others brought homemade chocolate chip cookies. But they all had a common purpose: Thanking Marine Cpl. Jameson Charest for his service to this country. Charest, 20, returned home to Wallingford Saturday evening to an enthusiastic, snow-covered crowd of friends, family and total strangers. "We have to let them know that their sacrifice has not gone without notice," said Chet Miller , a local U.S. Navy veteran who never met Charest, but came from his other home in Maine for the event. Charest, a 2007 graduate of Lyman Hall High School, enlisted on his 18th birthday. But he had been talking of joining the military since he was a young boy, his mother, Karen Charest, said. .................

pic: Marine Jameson Charest, who received a Purple Heart for injuries he sustained in Iraq while serving as commander of a mine roller, is welcomed home by throngs of flag-waving neighbors and friends outside his home in Wallingford. At right is friend Alyssa Funaro of Durham. (TIA ANN CHAPMAN / HARTFORD COURANT / December 5, 2009)

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