Saturday, May 29, 2010

i haven't been there in years

but all of my friends go all the time. they run, they hike, they bike. it's lovely and peaceful (well not so much any more, it's rather crowded and that's why i stopped going. when i was in high school, that was THE place to go. plus it was always almost deserted).

i don't know anything about the lawsuit. i don't know where the barrier was (but hell, i KNOW there are barriers and gates all over that reservoir) and i don't know what injuries were sustained. i cannot speak to that (although i CAN say when one 'mountain' bikes one expects a bit more than smooth sailing

i just don't ever want them to close the west hartford reservoir to the public. it IS a jewel

One of CT's Jewels May Soon Be Off Limits

By AMANDA RAUS


Cyclists both young and old use the 80 miles of trails along the West Hartford Reservoir to ride through nature.

"This is a wonderful place that offers a lot of variety of trails for different skill levels, different people and it's a very nice setting, it's peaceful, and it just has a lot to offer," said Ron Bonofiglio of Tolland.
The trails could soon be off limits. The Metropolitan District (MDC) was ordered to shell out $2.9 million to Maribeth Blonski, because she slammed into a barrier while riding. Now, the company is worried about other liability lawsuits.
"I feel somewhat upset that someone would have to find a reason to bring a lawsuit against it, because I think the organization has done a fine job sharing the facilities with everybody and making sure it's a safe area," said Rick Picard of West Hartford............

Friday, May 28, 2010

some VERY good news



again, i'm not going to get too excited because i know what happened between lamont and da LIEbs

but i sure am OVERJOYED to see blumenthal trouncing that steamin' pile o' (VERY RICH) shite known as linder 'lets show stripper-type women getting beaten up on tv because that's a good way to educate young people' mcmahon

Buoyed by a poll, Blumenthal still steps carefully toward Memorial Day


By Mark Pazniokas


..............Earlier, Quinnipiac University gave Blumenthal good news: Its latest poll found that a majority of residents believed he misspoke, not lied, when referring to service in Vietnam. He leads Republican Linda McMahon by 19 percentage points among military households and 25 points overall..............


(i couldn't find picture credits)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

stupid connecticut crime

you just CANNOT make this shite up

and dang, what's a grrrl gotta do to get a picture?

Man In Diaper Charged With Breach Of Peace

TRATFORD — A 41-year old man in a diaper was arrested Tuesday after he asked a grandmother to wipe him, police said.

Thomas Wellington of Vought Place got out of his Ford Bronco at the C-Town Plaza, at 360 Boston Ave., around 4:30 p.m. wearing only diaper and sucking on pacifier, Capt. Kenneth Bakalar said. He approached a woman with three grandchildren and asked her for baby wipes, Bakalar said..........

Stratford man seen wanderin in a diaper charged

Stratford, Conn. (WTNH) - A 41-year old Stratford man is facing charges after he was seen allegedly wandering around a parking lot wearing only a diaper and sucking a pacifier.

Click here to read the police report

An officer reports finding Thomas Wellington parked in the lot sitting in his SUV and seeing baby pacifiers all over the vehicle. "When he questioned him about what happened he really didn't answer," said Capt. Kenneth Bakalar of the Stratford Police Department. "When he asked why he was wearing a diaper he said he had problems with his intestines."................

to the family and friends of sgt edwin rivera

i am so very sorry for your loss. he sounded like one hell of a special soldier and special man.

my thoughts are with you

 

Connecticut Soldier Dies From Injuries Suffered In Afghanistan

Last summer, six months before he was deployed to Afghanistan for the second time, infantry Sgt. Edwin Rivera sat in his car in the driveway of his parents' house in Waterford and explained to his mother why he was returning to war.

It was the sad faces of the children that he had seen in Afghanistan during his first tour there in 2006, he told his mother, faces that still reminded him of why American soldiers were there.

"When the U.S. soldiers drive by," Rivera told his mother Gladys that night, "the children will scramble like mad in the dust just to get thrown a simple pencil from us. They don't even have pencils. I was born for this, it's my duty, to protect those families over there."

Now there is chilling immediacy to her memories, for Rivera has paid a high price for returning to those Afghan faces.................

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

how wonderful IS this?


i read about this the other day and wanted to post something. so of course the courant had a piece a few days later (why are we ALWAYS behind?)


Mark Twain Autobiography To Be Released In November



pic: Mark Twain, seen in 1903, lived in Hartford for two decades and wrote most of his major works here. He spent the last years of his life in Redding. (File)


here's something from boing boing:



Mark Twain's autobiography to be finally published, 100 years after his death

Cory Doctorow

.................The creator of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and some of the most frequently misquoted catchphrases in the English language left behind 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs when he died in 1910, together with handwritten notes saying that he did not want them to hit bookshops for at least a century.

That milestone has now been reached, and in November the University of California, Berkeley, where the manuscript is in a vault, will release the first volume of Mark Twain's autobiography. The eventual trilogy will run to half a million words, and shed new light on the quintessentially American novelist...

"He had doubts about God, and in the autobiography, he questions the imperial mission of the US in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. He's also critical of [Theodore] Roosevelt, and takes the view that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel. Twain also disliked sending Christian missionaries to Africa. He said they had enough business to be getting on with at home: with lynching going on in the South, he thought they should try to convert the heathens down there."

In other sections of the autobiography, Twain makes cruel observations about his supposed friends, acquaintances and one of his landladies.......................

Monday, May 24, 2010

a very interesting piece on that piece o' steamin' shite

known as linda mcmahon. he has a few other postings on her as well. i didn't have time to go through his blog like i should have (to be better informed is what i mean) BUT let's just say the king and i are diametrically opposed on almost everything EXCEPT it appears, linda!


from
the king's view

Connecticut Convention Hell - Republicans should hang their heads low

The Republican Party boasts of being the party of principle and open process. Yet on Friday night at the 2010 Connecticut Republican Party Convention, I and many others witnessed behavior that brought shame on the party, its officials, and its Chairman - Chris Healy. The Linda McMahon campaign along side of State Central officials worked endlessly to threaten, intimidate, and force delegates to switch sides and support Linda McMahon over Rob Simmons. Many of these delegates switched from Peter Schiff to Linda McMahon after it was clear that Schiff was unable to barely get to a quarter of the support needed for a win.................