thanks senator dodd!

Senator Dodd Votes Against Iraq Supplemental, Rejects President's War Plan

(i sent a thank you to him through his website as well. wouldn't hurt if YOU did the same. after all he was only one of FOURTEEN that had the courage to stand up to his convictions)

justin, your protest worked (well it worked so far as being brought to peoples attention)

you got coverage in the courant

perhaps someday, when we all decide to not practice violence and torture each other we can decide at the VERY same time, to NOT practice violence or torture animals as well

Pigs As `Patients' Draws Protest Animal Rights Activists Decry Surgical Training Program



By WILLIAM HATHAWAY, And HILARY WALDMAN Courant Staff Writers

Surgical trainees at Hartford Hospital on Thursday took a course that called for them to plunge their hands into a gory mess on an operating table and try to repair injuries designed to simulate gunshot or stab wounds. Outside the hospital's front entrance, fewer than 10 protesters held placards assailing the damage inflicted upon the "patients" - five, anesthetized, 100-pound pigs used in the regularly scheduled training course."When we tell them they cut open and stab pigs, people gasp," said Justin Goodman, an animal-rights activist who organized Thursday's protest. "They ask for our literature."Although Goodman said his ultimate goal is to stop the use of all animals in research and medical education, the pig protest sheds light on a medical dilemma - how best to prepare doctors to deal with a situation few in the United States will ever face - the need to repair someone severely damaged by trauma..........

.....However, Dr. John J. Pippin, a Dallas cardiologist and research adviser for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, says the great majority of courses to train surgeons do not use live animals.Most surgical training programs, Pippin said, use a combination of simulators, closely supervised practice on human patients and practice on dead human bodies. "The momentum and the trend in modern medical education is not to use live animals because it is not necessary to do so," Pippin said.........

from maura

at my left nutmeg

InauguRELLgate: Krayeske Files Lawsuit, Reveals Details on Bond

Ken Krayeske filed a lawsuit on Thursday in federal court against the Hartford Police Department, three named officers, and one unnamed officer.
The grounds of his lawsuit are "false arrest, unreasonable bond and the denial of rights to freedom of expression, freedom of the press and due process of law arising under the First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution."
A few new details on the story are revealed in the text of the filing (pdf). Many of us here at MLN were as concerned about the outrageous $75,000 bond that appeared to have been used to unlawfully keep Ken in lockup so that he would be unable to attend Jodi Rell's inaugural ball. Ken had been tight-lipped about exactly what happened to him in custody, but his filing reveals some of the details that he had been unable to discuss earlier:
Prior to his arrest, Mr. Krayeske had written about the inauguration in an ironic tone, informing readers that "[T]ickets to see the Fairy Godmother turn herself into Cinderella are only $150." Mr. Krayeske expressed dissent about the governor's priorities......

..........And in a remarkably ironic and disturbing twist, Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie reports that Krayeske was hassled by law enforcement just this week when he came to the Capitol:...........

yeah, watch your phone bills

i'm just saying - my phone bills (and my pops) have been a bit 'iffy' of late. there are always charges on there i don't understand (never big ones but a buck here and there) but of late, we've been getting TWO bills

FTC Warns Customers To Check Phone Bills For Cramming



There are complaints across the country and in Connecticut about a practice called cramming.
Customers are being charged on their phone bills for services they never wanted.
Jane Bolton noticed two company names she didn't recognize on her AT&T bill. One was Enhanced Services Billing Incorporated, or ESBI, and the other was Residential E-mail

She noticed they had been charging her $15.85 a month for six months but said she didn't know what for.
NBC 30 found out that ESBI is something called a billing aggregator that collects charges for other companies. In this case, it was for Residential E-mail, a company that offers online discounts if you pay for their email service.
Bolton said she never signed up for this service.
She called customer service and spoke to a representative, who told her that she requested it and had a three-month trial that she never canceled.
NBC 30 found out that the Federal Trade Commission accused ESBI of cramming in 2001, which is when companies illegally cram unauthorized charges onto a person's phone bill............

i so think this is THE RIGHT thing to do

when one is going through something such as chemo. why the hell wouldn't it be ok to grow a plant or two? why not allow someone who is VERY ill to smoke a j instead of taking some sort of narcotic? just because one can write a prescription for the narcotic doesn't make it any safer or better than a splif.

i'm not talking legalizing marijuana for the masses here. i'm talking for the terminally ill or very heavy duty chronicly ill

State House Passes Medical Marijuana Bill



By COLIN POITRAS, The Hartford Courant




The state House of Representatives Wednesday passed a measure allowing seriously ill individuals to grow marijuana at home to ease their pain.The bill passed by a 89-58 bipartisan vote that was comprised of a unique coalition of supportive lawmakers, who appeared to be bonded by their own experiences with family members and friends suffering with chronic or terminal illnesses.

Bill opponents said it sends the wrong message to young people that it is OK to use illegal drugs and that illegal drugs can be good for you.But Rep. Russell Morin, D-Wethersfield and a father of three, spoke of another message he wanted to send to his children by passing the bill...........

king george says..........

President addresses Coast Guard Academy cadets



(New London-WTNH)_President Bush spoke to cadets at the Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremony in New London Wednesday, congratulating them on their achievement and making his case for continuing the war effort in Iraq. The commander in chief gave the commencement address for the second time in recent memory.
In addition to the cadets themselves the arrival of the keynote speaker was also greatly anticipated.
President Bush wasted no time in reaffirming the mission of the 228 graduates who will serve under the Department of Homeland Security...........



'Victory In Iraq Is Vital' Bush Speaks In New London



By JESSE HAMILTON, The Hartford Courant




NEW LONDON -- Much may have changed in the four years since he last delivered a graduation speech here, but in an address to today's U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduates, President George W. Bush again delivered his belief that progress is being made in the war against terrorism.In an effort to defend his war strategy, Bush on Tuesday declassified intelligence asserting that Osama bin Laden in 2005 ordered a top lieutenant to form a terrorist cell to conduct attacks outside Iraq, and said the U.S. should be a top target.

Today Bush, standing under a cloudless blue sky in front of the Thames River, spoke at length about al-Qaeda and said "We must defeat al-Qaeda in Iraq.""Victory in Iraq is important for Osama bin Laden, and victory in Iraq is vital for the United States of America," he said............

Bush Cites Report On Bin Laden During Coast Guard Graduation

NEW LONDON, Conn. -- President George W. Bush, stressing that Americans face an ongoing threat from terrorists, shared intelligence on Wednesday asserting that Osama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.
Much of the information Bush cited in a commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy described terrorism plots already revealed, but he fleshed out details and highlighted U.S. successes in foiling planned attacks.
Bush said that intelligence showed that in January 2005, bin Laden tasked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his senior operative in Iraq, to set up the cell to use Iraq as a staging ground for attacks in the United States. Al-Zarqawi was killed in Iraq in June 2006 by a U.S. airstrike......

his 'intelligence'? do you think i for ONE SECOND believe his 'intelligence' (yeah, it could have more than one meaning)? did king george get his 'intelligence' about osama from the same peeps he got the weapons of mass destruction 'intelligence' from? we ALL know saddam (who was wickedly evil and was soul-less) was NEVER going to allow osama (who is also wickedly evil and soul-less) in his country. they were certainly never buds. yes there ARE terrorists out there. many in iraq now. there WERE VERY FEW (if any) TERRORISTS in iraq BEFORE WE ATTACKED AND INVADED THEIR COUNTRY. WE are responsible for creating whatever happens in THAT country now and forever and ever.

hartford hospital thursday 5/24 4:15 to 6:15

Medical professionals, activists decry live animal trauma lab at Hartford Hospital

Hartford – Local animal rights campaigners will lead a demonstration at Hartford Hospital on Thursday afternoon to denounce the use of live pigs in surgical training exercises.

Date: Thursday, May 24, 2007
Time: 4:15-6:15pm
Place: Main entrance to Hartford Hospital, 80 Seymour Street, Hartford, CT

Hartford Hospital, in concert with the UConn School of Medicine, administers a monthly program called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners pay $1,500 each to manage fourteen different traumatic injuries that are intentionally inflicted in live adult pigs. The animals must suffer through penetrating injuries such as stab wounds to numerous organs in the abdomen and chest, including the kidney, pancreas, stomach, diaphragm, and heart.

Hartford Hospital uses five pigs per month in this series of highly invasive surgical procedures. Those pigs who survive the traumas and surgeries are killed at the end of the exercises. According to documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the facility regularly confines over 100 pigs for use in this program.

Justin Goodman, a local animal rights campaigner, stated, "Pigs are highly intelligent, sensitive individuals who are very easily stressed. Studies at US and UK universities show pigs to be more intelligent than three-year-old children. And confining, mutilating and killing them for these kinds of exercises is not only morally wrong, but scientifically unjustifiable. We want these exercises ended immediately."

He continued, "Regardless of how many pigs these doctors operate on, some human patient in the ER is still going to have to be their first. Why waste the state's resources and the lives of these animals training surgeons on anatomically incorrect models, especially when there are so many promising ethical alternatives that could be used instead?"

Added John Pippin, M.D., Senior Medical and Research Adviser for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine: "The surgery training paradigm has moved beyond the use of live animals. More than 95 percent of American medical schools have eliminated the use of animals to teach surgery skills, the majority of Advanced Trauma Life Support courses do not use animals, and the American College of Surgeons no longer uses animals in its own courses or in its revised surgery curriculum."

Goodman added, “An overwhelming majority of trauma surgeons worldwide have never conducted such barbaric exercises on nonhuman animals of any kind and the available research suggests that surgical knowledge and competency are not improved by doing so. In the interest of upholding their duty to practice ethical medicine, these doctors and researchers should be abandoning these superfluous animal studies in favor of pursuing human-relevant, humane alternatives," Goodman said.

a shout out to dr mohammad dbeisi

a waterbury doctor home from iraq

Casualties of war

by News Channel 8's Annie Rourke

Waterbury-WTNH) _ An army reservist doctor recently home from Iraq, shared his experience with other doctors at Waterbury Hospital Tuesday night.
The army is in need of surgeons in Iraq and one doctor from Waterbury comes from a long line of soldiers. Dr. Mohammad Dbeisi's father and uncles all served and he figured it was a good fit for him, so he headed to Iraq with the Army National Guard.
"Being out there with the guys and looking at the IED's and the bombs going off, it really hits home," said Dr. Dbeisi.
And the injuries suffered as a result are absolutely devastating, but with limited supplies, the job is tough...............

i got my new car registration

i wasn't expecting a sticker that goes on the INSIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD. i've been trying to peel off the old emissions sticker that was ALREADY on my windshield, for days. no go. so now when someone wants to steal your registration instead of cutting out the sticker on your license plate, they'll just BREAK YOUR WINDOWS

DMV changes sticker rules

Priya Raman

To combat an increase in the theft of registration stickers from automobiles, the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles will begin requiring the stickers to be placed on the inside of windshields next month, following an initiative first proposed by city officials in New Haven.The new registration stickers, commissioned by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, will be placed inside the front windshield of vehicles rather than on license plates. The new regulations were initially proposed by New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and New Haven Police Chief Francisco Ortiz last January as a way to reduce sticker theft -- also known as insert theft -- DeStefano spokesman Derek Slap said................

the king is giving the commencement address

at the coast guard academy

seems like he may run into one or two protesters

Presidential visit a magnet for demonstrators

NEW LONDON, Conn. --National peace groups and those supporting the president's policies in Iraq are planning to converge on New London Wednesday to demonstrate as President Bush delivers his commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
The peace groups, organized by sponsors Veterans for Peace and Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.), plan an all-night vigil Tuesday at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument downtown.
The groups then plan to march from downtown to a rally at the academy gates Wednesday that is expected to include speeches by parents who have lost children in Iraq.
They will be joined by scientists from colleges in Connecticut, who plan to wear academic robes and carry signs protesting the Bush Administration's science policies.
The Raging Grannies and Code Pink, women war protesters known for their pink feather boas, also plan to demonstrate.
A national pro-war group, Gathering of Eagles, also plans a demonstration.............

(a PRO war group? who is PRO war? think about it)

plan b at one way fare

UPDATE (click link to the right for pictures) - july 13 2007 : opening july 13 2007

i never stop talking about the half door. i even have a permanent link in my sidebar. i love that joint. there is only one day a year i wouldn't even consider going in. that's st patrick's day. WAY too crowded for me. as of yesterday, i just added another day (i've been through the day multiple times, it just slips my mind). it's the uconn law school end of the year (the last tests) day. i believe it's always on a friday but i could be wrong there. they crowd the half door. most are inconsiderate, RUDE, obnoxious, ill mannered asses. i look at them and shake my head. if this is who we have becomming our lawyers and politicians we're in a more sorry state than ever i imagined. i'd tell some stories but i don't want to involve any innocents. so now, it's TWO days of the year to stay away.



al and shawn own the half door. they also own tisane a block and half down farmington avenue. the food is good but it's just too TRENDY for me in there. the latest venture is plan b on park road in west hartford. they (al and shaw did LOTS of the work themselves mind you along with k c the chef) worked very hard to get that in the shape they wanted it. if you had ever been to the old cypress arms you'd never recognize it now. i like the food and i'm friends with some of the staff. i just don't like to hang there either BECAUSE IT'S TRENDY.



now shawn and al have bought the old one way fare in simsbury (i knew the previous owner paula THAT'S PAULA the courant article called her paul. i worked with her for many years). they're again doing a lot of the work themselves. i've not stopped down yet but i plan on doing so before they open. i want to see what they've done. they take pride in their establishments.



i remember how i felt when i first walked in the half door. i felt at home. the MOST impressive part? i remembered HOW CLEAN the bathroom was. it's a small bar, it's an OLD bar but it was CLEAN. that means the world to me. shawn can't ever just sit. he's washing windows or straightening something or my favorite, he mops a portion of the floor. i've rarely ever seen him NOT do it if he's in the half door. the day of their christmas party (way AFTER christmas mind you) we all met there on a sunday afternoon to drive over to dinner at peppercorn's grill downtown (once again thanks shawn and jen and al). we were ALL dressed up. what does shawn do while we're waiting to leave? gets out a mop and starts doing the floor!

anyway, here's some words from the courant

New Owners Offer Blended Plan B

By LORETTA WALDMAN, Courant Staff Writer

SIMSBURY -- Creating a new restaurant in what used to be One-Way Fare is a lot like turning a church into a house. Anyone attempting either project knows they are treading on sacred ground. And so it is with that sense of reverence that Shawn Skehan and Al Gamble are approaching the transformation of a beloved eatery that, after 32 years, had become an institution in town. The two restaurateurs - owners of Hartford's Half Door and Tisane and Plan B in West Hartford - say their latest venture will be modeled after Plan B but will feature elements of the old One-Way Fare that folks know and love. Even the name of the new restaurant - Plan B at One-Way Fare - melds the two. "We're walking a fine line between the modern and old," Skehan explained. "We want to see if we can blend the two and have some fun with it." The new restaurant is slated to open in early June. Skehan and Gamble have been hard at work re-creating the interior of the old Pennsylvania Rail Road depot, which was first turned into a restaurant in 1976.....................

yet another stupid

connecticut (alleged) criminal

Conn. Woman Tried To Rob Bank In Limo

The Associated Press PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Evonne D. Maurice apparently wanted to get away in style.The Connecticut woman pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to trying to rob a bank at a drive-up window while traveling in a hired limousine.The attempted robbery occurred Dec. 1, 2005, at a Citizens Bank branch in Cranston. Prosecutors said Maurice, 22, had a limousine take her to the bank, told the driver she needed to withdraw cash to pay for the ride, then walked up to the window and handed the teller an envelope with a note demanding money and saying there were two bombs in the bank.The teller triggered an alarm, and Maurice got back in the limo and was driven away. The driver was unaware of the robbery attempt, prosecutors said...................

is anyone else getting two phone bills

from at&t? i thought it was just me, but it's my pops as well. one is nowhere near being due, AND i just got another one (NO overdue amounts on mine OR his)

just asking..........

(and yeah yeah, i'll call. i can feel my heart palpitating already)

only one more step

the governor has to approve it and it PASSES!
House approves bill on helping pets in family violence cases

(Hartford-AP)_A bill that would protect pets in family violence cases has cleared the state House of Representatives and now moves to Governor Rell for final approval. The proposed law would allow a judge to issue protective and restraining orders for animals owned or kept by victims of domestic violence, stalking and harassment. North Stonington Representative Diana Urban told fellow lawmakers about an abused woman who went to a safe house to escape her abuser. While she was there, the abuser cut off the ears of the woman's dog and mailed them to her family...............

YOU elected him

now you have to live with not only him, BUT his choices as well. i can live with him fundraising for a republican MORE than i can live with him sending our men and women into an unjust, illegal AND immoral war

Lieberman Helps Collect Cash for Collins

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) is never going to win any popularity contests among his party's liberal base -- a fact he seems decidedly unconcerned about despite his 2006 Democratic primary loss to Ned Lamont.
Not only has Lieberman endorsed Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) -- one of Democrats' biggest targets in the 2008 cycle -- but he's planning to co-host a fundraiser for her on June 21 in Washington, D.C..............

there HAS to be a better way

this sub human (who had claimed his wife was killed in iraq) pleaded guilty to assaulting a 13 year old girl. he most likely will get PROBATION for THAT offense (he got actual time for the lie about his wife being killed in iraq). i understand not wanting the girl to testify because it will cause her pain. i really DO understand that. but to let this piece of steamin' you know what slide is just NOT right. we have to come up with a BETTER way to protect our children yet punish the guilty

Man who claimed wife died in Iraq pleads to sex assault

WATERBURY, Conn. --A 46-year-old man, already serving time for telling police that his wife had died in Iraq, has pleaded guilty to charges that he sexually abused a 13-year-old girl.
Edward Valentin had faced sexual assault charges, but under a deal with prosecutors, pleaded guilty Friday to risk of injury to a minor. He is expected to be sentence to probation.
Assistant State's Attorney Gail Hardy said she agreed to the deal because she believed that testifying during the trial would have been detrimental to the mental health of the girl, who is now 17.
"The victim was actually happy she doesn't have to go through the exercise of testifying," Hardy said. "But she was willing to do it if she needed to."
Valentin is currently serving an 87-day sentence for fabricating a story in 2004 that his then-wife, U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Betsy Heelan, had been killed in Iraq.
Valentin received national attention in February 2004 when he claimed he received a phone call from the U.S. Department of Defense informing him that his wife had been among 101 soldiers killed in an explosion in Baghdad.
After it became clear the Army did not call him, Valentin claimed to be the victim of a cruel hoax. He later admitted he made up the story and said it was because he thought it would get his wife home.
Prosecutors said he made up the story because he was wanted to date a woman who had told him she did not want to get involved with a married man..............

perhaps da liebs

can backfill (with the cost coming out of his OWN pockets) connecticut with:
more than two-hundred high-mobility multipurpose vehicles, a Chinook CH-47D cargo helicopter, fifteen-hundred pairs of night-vision goggles and twenty-one large support vehicles such as tankers, wreckers and heavy cargo vehicles.

cause that's what we're missing (due to king george, his court and da liebs insistance to send our men and women into harm's way in an illegal, unjust and immoral war)

Governors worry about depleted National Guard with equipment left in Iraq and Afghanistan

(Hartford-AP)_Some governors are questioning whether they will be able to handle the next hurricane, wildfire or terrorist attack at home. That's because repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan are leaving state National Guards without nearly half of their required equipment. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius complained this week that shortages of equipment and well-trained personnel slowed Guard response to the killer tornadoes that ravaged her state. .............

..............The Pentagon acknowledged this week that Army National Guard units had only 56 percent of their required equipment, the lowest levels since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ...............

the last of the 102nd are home

and i welcome you and i thank you (we all do)

National Guard members return to Connecticut

(Windsor Locks-WTNH)_It was a third and final homecoming today for the New Haven based 102nd Infantry Battalion. Fifty unit members arrived at Bradley International Airport this afternoon to the loving arms of wives, husbands, children and parents.
After a year in Afghanistan and almost a year and a half away from home, the members of the 102nd were recognized while they were in Afghanistan for holding off Taliban forces, so that Afghan security forces could arrive. During their stay, they participated in search and seizure operations, working with the Afghan security forces and the Afghan National Army. They spent the past month taking warrior leader courses at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, but today it was all about just being with family.
Jessica Koeler of Meriden said her husband has been away since January of last year. .............

mother's day for peace

blossoms in the morning