update on the sunflowers

they have to be 8 or 9 feet tall. they are the biggest i have ever grown. UNFORTUNATELY THEY STILL HAVE NOT FLOWERED. it's killing me!

amy on the left and kristina on the right (sorry about the sun's position and lousy photos)

f**ked up. the annual giant asswipe award goes to

THE TORRINGTON BOARD OF APPROVED BASEBALL UMPIRES

wicked effed up
if i lived in torrington and if these people are elected to the board, i'd kick EACH AND EVERY F**KING ONE OFF OF THE BOARD IMMEDIATELY
Torrington sex offender gets community award

Torrington (AP) -- Members of a Torrington baseball umpires' organization are defending the lifetime achievement award they have presented to a convicted child sex offender.

Fifty-eighty-year-old Tom Barbero received the award earlier this month from the Torrington Board of Approved Baseball Umpires. He umpired for the association at area baseball games from 1970 to 1998.

Board members say they knew about Barbero's criminal record and chose to honor him because his service and work as an umpire deserved recognition......

Residents Outraged After Sex Offender Awarded

TORRINGTON, Conn. -- An umpire, who is a convicted sex offender, was rewarded for his longtime contributions to the Torrington Little League, and some parents are outraged.Members of a Torrington Umpires Group are defending Tom Barbero, who was given the award. Some parents said the recognition was a "bad call."“I couldn’t imagine having my son around that kind of a person at all and then to give him an award… it’s just disgusting,” one resident said............
............Although calls to several board members were not returned, the board president is on record saying Barbero paid for what happened and still deserved the award for his service and work as an umpire, NBC 30 News reported..............

note: neither article lists the names of the board members. if they did, i would write each and every member a letter. i would also put them in touch the the sexual assault crisis unit. i'd want them to hear just ONE of the horror stories

this is going in my connecticut blog

because part of the torture occurred in hartford. how can we allow this to happen? it is one of THE most vile things i have ever read. this is america. things like this just aren't supposed to happen. not only do we allow torture to our prisoners, we allow torture to our 'detained immigrants'. this man was in the process of applying for his GREEN CARD. he wanted to do the right thing. his wife is a citizen. his children were born in the united states so they are citizens. we allowed this man not just to die but to die in AGONY. we are savages and i'm sure half of us don't care

if you read this article and are not sickened, there is something very wrong with you indeed. how mr ng was treated is inexcusable. he wasn't a terrorist. (and even if he was, the treatment is indeed inexcusable). how can people claim to believe in whatever god they believe in and do things like this?

Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands

By NINA BERNSTEIN
He was 17 when he came to New York from Hong Kong in 1992 with his parents and younger sister, eyeing the skyline like any newcomer. Fifteen years later, Hiu Lui Ng was a New Yorker: a computer engineer with a job in the Empire State Building, a house in Queens, a wife who is a United States citizen and two American-born sons.

But when Mr. Ng, who had overstayed a visa years earlier, went to immigration headquarters in Manhattan last summer for his final interview for a green card, he was swept into immigration detention and shuttled through jails and detention centers in three New England states.

In April, Mr. Ng began complaining of excruciating back pain. By mid-July, he could no longer walk or stand. And last Wednesday, two days after his 34th birthday, he died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Rhode Island hospital, his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.........

the BEST thing i got when i went to northampton

(with matt) on monday is:


i totally forgot to post the picture along with the other ones. anyway, i got it at modern myths a comic book store

from the steamin' pile o' shite

formerly know as da liebs we get this spit in the face to his (former) party's candidate

Lieberman: Obama Has Not Always Put Country First

By Michael Cooper

YORK, Pa. – One of the McCain campaign’s new themes, that Senator John McCain has always put his country first, has been seen by some analysts as a subtle suggestion that his opponent, Senator Barack Obama, has not.

But as he introduced Mr. McCain at a campaign event here on Tuesday, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut made the attack a lot more explicit, calling the election a choice “between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not.’’

Mr. Lieberman, the Connecticut Independent who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, made the remark as he used his introduction of Mr. McCain to deliver a harsh assessment of Mr. Obama without mentioning his name..........

matt and i spent the day in northampton yesterday

we had fun and walked A LOT. we ate at a little tiny mexican joint (you could tell it was authentic. and it was VERY good). i can't for the life of me remember the name. i wish i could. i'd highly recommend it. you walked up to the counter to order then you sat down and waited for them to yell for you to pick it up. i even drank a presidente (from the dominican republic). then we went to a yarn store right in town (i never made it to webs). i picked up cherry tree hill oceania in spanish moss. 1440 yards of delight! (yarn picture is from the cherry tree hill website. all other pictures are mine). then we went to the record store downstairs. i picked up zap mama, sly and the family stone, cyndi lauper and cry cry cry by dar williams, lucy kaplansky and richard shindell.


we stopped at modern myths, a comic book and game store. surprisingly, i found a couple of things i wanted AND I'M NOT A COMIC BOOK READER. it was a nice store and matt was wicked happy.
we hit a couple of book stores as well. then we

we had a drink or two at tully o'reilly's and ended up at packards for dinner. it was pub food and it was fine. i liked the bar. it was comfy and the service was very good.

the sunflowers have to be 8 feet tall

the flowers are formed, NOT bloomed yet. patience patience

(you can't tell how big they are, BUT THEY ARE BIG)

more from work

shrooms in my pop's yard

the rock garden is coming along nicely

anyone know what these are?

they're bigger than they look in the pictures. they're planted in the little islands on west boulevard in hartford

here is what that steamin' pile

that is known as da liebs has to say.

he makes my skin crawl. he is so out of touch with reality. where are we coming up with this money to fight an unjust, immoral and illegal war?

Lieberman would speak against 'partisan mudslingers' at GOP convention
David Edwards

NBC's Tom Brokaw asked Sen. Joe Lieberman if he has planned to speak at the Republican convention.

Lieberman said, "Am i going to speak at the convention? It's not -- that decision hasn't been made. If Senator mcCain feels I can help his candidacy which I think is so important to elect him our next president, I will do it. But I assure you this. I'm not going to go to the convention, the Republican convention and spend my time attacking Barack Obama. I'm going to go there really talking about why I support John McCain and why I hope a lot of other independents and Democrats will do that. Frankly, I'm going to go to a partisan convention and tell them if I go, why it's so important that we start to act like Americans and not as partisan mud slingers."......

amy, eddie and their lil' henry

still NO flowers

but look at the size of my sunflowers!!! (i give them another 2 weeks, I HOPE, for les fleurs de mal)

by one of the ponds at work

dave and shamus

after golf

at the half door

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: this is pretty scary

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: this is pretty scary

they're getting bigger every day

my sunflowers at one week

and here they are at 6 to 7 weeks! soon we'll see the flowers and i can't wait.

hmmmmmmmmm 35 burglaries in the past 4 months

and we're hearing about it now? what up? i'm not the most well informed person out there, so this info MAY have been released prior to now. but i sure didn't hear or read about it until today

the picture looks like it's from the apartments on the corner of farmington and quaker.

Police: West Hartford Apartments Target Of Burglars

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- West Hartford police, investigating a rash of at least 35 burglaries in apartment buildings over the last four months, said Wednesday residents should take precautions, stay alert, and report any suspicious activity.
"They should lock their apartment doors, keep valuables out of sight, if you see someone suspicious, immediately call the police department," Sgt. Jeff Rose said. "Sometimes with apartments, if you don't know your neighbors that well, get to know them."
Many of the thefts -- in which jewelry, computers, even large televisions have been pilfered -- have occurred during the day when the residents are not at home, police said.,,,,,,,,,,,,

ferns

taken yesterday at work

it's been a while

but i'm glad to know they are STILL out there......

(the none-too-bright connecticut criminal that is)

Man robbed buying drugs calls cops, is arrested

HARTFORD, Conn.—Prosecutors have dropped charges filed against an East Hartford man who called police to report he had been robbed during a drug deal.

Max Minnefield called police Monday to report that he had paid a man and a woman $8 for some crack cocaine that he never received.

Police charged him with criminal attempt to commit possession of narcotics.

During his arraignment Tuesday, Judge Bradford Ward asked Minnefield, "Did you really think the police were going to go after the people?" He added that his question was rhetorical.........