even though we've never actually met

i like to think of andy thibault as a friend of mine.
i read his blog the cool justic report daily (well i was 'off' a few weeks when my old laptop was dying)


here's a GREAT article on him in the waterbury republican
(i've told andy this and i will tell YOU this as well. i'd NEVER want to cross him. he's a pitbull. and unlike the story's author, i don't think that is an insult). i've seen him get (figuratively) in the face of some folk that i too would want to biotch-slap and i've seen him (figuratively) take in people under his wing - that needed taking in.

here's to you andy!

and hey, i happen to LIKE pit bulls!

He'll get in your face Litchfield blogger always eager for a cause

BY GEORGE KRIMSKY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Andy Thibault spends a lot of time in shorts and sandals watching rabbits nibble in his Litchfield backyard. When he feels up to it, he climbs the steep stairs of his Victorian home on a quiet, tree shaded street, turns on the computer and takes on the world.Muckraking may seem misplaced in such a bucolic setting, but it works just fine for a 55-year-old man trying to recover from stage 3 colon cancer while waging a feisty campaign that could have national significance in the free-speech arena.Through his news blog, "The Cool Justice Report," Thibault is the prime mover in an effort to challenge the punishment of Avery Doninger, a Lewis S. Mills High School student from Burlington, for critical remarks she made last year on her blog about school administrators.............

free speech (especially for avery doninger)

this wrong MUST be righted

via cool justice report

Ten Poets & Writers For Avery Doninger At Free Speech Festival With Five Live Bands; Wally Lamb Tops Bill

FLYER ATTACHED; plz FORWARD at will
The Bistro East, Litchfield Inn1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007
Novelist Wally Lamb will be among 10 poets and writers reading from their works in a celebration honoring free speech freedom fighter Avery Doninger Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007 at the Litchfield Inn's Bistro East Ballroom. Also, other special guests might show up at the last moment.The event begins at 1 p.m. and includes live music by four high school bands. Hors d'oeuvres, cheese and fruit will be served and there will be a cash bar.Doninger, a senior at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington, has civil rights actions pending in the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City and U.S. District Court in New Haven. She and her mother, Lauren Doninger, sued Principal Karissa Niehoff and Superintendent Paula Schwartz after they removed Avery from the ballot for Class of 2008 secretary.Avery Doninger was among a group of four students who lobbied the community for support of an annual battle of the bands sponsored by the Student Council. Schwartz became very upset after taxpayers called her and she cancelled the event known as Jamfest. Doninger subsequently referred to administrators in a live journal blog as central office douchebags, and Schwartz's son found the posting a couple weeks later. While Avery Doninger was banned from school office, another student who called Schwartz a dirty whore was given an award and lauded for citizenship.School officials suppressed the write-in vote in which Doninger was elected by a plurality. Schwartz refused to accept Doninger's apology for her choice of words. During an assembly, Niehoff banned free-speech and Team Avery t-shirts and seized at least one shirt.The Doningers are seeking -- among other remedies -- an apology for civil rights violations, recognition of the write-in victory and sharing of the secretary position with the administration-backed candidate.U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz denied a motion for a preliminary injunction and his ruling is being appealed to the Second Circuit...............

(more if you click the link above)