funny thing happened on my way home from work today

i just have a regular old car radio/cd player. i don't subscribe to any satellite music channels. HOWEVER, when i was seeking channels i heard arte lange's voice. i stopped and yup, it was him. i then heard a few other of howard's pals (not howard). all of a sudden, i hear the "f" word left and right. "f" this and "f" that and mother "f" er and on and on. i definitely was receiving sirius radio signals. it lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. then it got all static again. it was around the college channels. around 88 or 89 point something.

well it was just ODD

i love crows and ravens

ravens are VERY intelligent. i don't say that lightly either.

i do see them in giant flocks (or murders) especially later in the afternoon, just before the sun goes down. i see them in west hartford and hartford. flying. hanging out in trees. calling out to each other.

Capitol Crows
Abandoning Flatbush For More Regal Roost, Do Black Birds Bode Ill For Budget?

By STEVE GRANT | The Hartford Courant
Those thousands of crows that roost in Hartford's West End trees on winter nights?

They've moved again — almost downtown.

After spending several years roosting near Flatbush Avenue by I-84, a colony of crows that sometimes numbers 15,000 or more birds has moved east, spending some nights in trees on the grounds of the State Capitol and of the Supreme Court and State Library complex across the street.

"They've been bopping around to different locations in Hartford," said Sylvia L. Halkin, a biology professor at Central Connecticut State University. Other nights they have been seen near Trinity College or the Mark Twain House or Putnam Street.
........................


picture: Thousands of crows gather near Riverside Park at dusk in a communal roosting habit. The crows have been gathering in various locations around Hartford during the winter for years. (BOB MACDONNELL / HARTFORD COURANT / January 29, 2009)

dick, i'd vote for you

in a hot minute. i'd vote for almost anyone EXCEPT for da liebs as it so happens.

however, i do like many of the things richard blumenthal has done for our fair state (of course i don't like ALL of the things he's done).

i hope da LIEbs is shaking in his shoes

Connecticut attorney general eyes Lieberman challenge
By Reid Wilson
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who announced Monday he will seek a sixth term, is mulling a challenge against Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) in 2012.

Multiple Connecticut Democrats, speaking on condition of anonymity, say Blumenthal has begun informing influential members of the state's political class that he will prepare for a run against Lieberman............

hey you asses

it's HEAVILY SNOWING OUT. turn your effing headlights on. it's not only a law, IT MAKES SENSE AND IS INFINITELY SAFER (for me and all of the others that can't see you assholes driving down the street)

i met paul a LONGGGGGGGGGGG time ago

and haven't seen him in forever. i used to hang in bushnell park for the 'be ins' and the fiddle contest/festival. i loved the peace train. paul was special to hartford. he will be misse
thank you paul for the good times you gave me and THOUSANDS of others

Fiddle Contest Organizer Paul LeMay Dies
By WILLIAM WEIR | The Hartford Courant
With little more than charisma and force of will, Paul LeMay managed to turn an improbable idea into a Hartford phenomenon, bringing tens of thousands to the city for an annual fiddle contest.

LeMay died Friday of heart failure from complications of other illnesses. He was 65.

He started the New England Fiddle Contest in 1974, the same year he founded the grassroots arts organization, Peace Train Foundation. The first year featured a few dozen amateur fiddlers at Bushnell Park and an audience of about 1,000. Within a few years, the event would attract tens of thousands to the city; at the height of its popularity, 70,000 came for the fiddle contest.

"He really wanted Hartford to be a viable and happy place to be," said Cheryl Daniels, his partner of 30 years. "People would be able to see each other and be with each other and he would bring people together."..........

picture 2)Paul LeMay is photographed at the Riverfront Plaza dock, site of the 2002 New England Fiddle Contest. LeMay is the founder of the Peace Train Foundation and is the integral leader in bringing the fiddle contest to Hartford. (THOMAS CORDY / HARTFORD COURANT / August 13, 2002)

picture 1) Paul LeMay
(COURANT FILE PHOTO / May 13, 1974)
Paul LeMay of South Windsor stands by his renovated bus called "Peacetrain" in 1974.

hey rosa delauro

gets to watch the stupid superbowl with president obama! cool rosa! (cool except for the part where you actually have to watch a football game. well i AM a steelers fan BUT i HATE football. they're my favorite team, then the saints then the giants. that's in case you were wondering)


Obama hosts bipartisan Super Bowl party
..........

Obama’s list of invited guests is as follows:

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL)
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA)
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ)
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Rep. Paul Hodes (D-NH)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)..............

andy thibault

at the cool justice report has done numerous postings on avery doninger. more than anyone else (probably more than EVERYONE else put together).

the rulings in that case were insane. they were unjust. they were WRONG

this too is VERY wrong (and i'll tell you this much, if one of those boys was MY son, i'd be out for someone's heart on a stick - and i'm NOT a violent woman. NO ONE, NO ONE in a school, makes a child STRIP for ANY reason, unless it's life and death. oh and one more thing. i don't even like kids that much. i just think kids have rights and protections. oh, if they're assholes and troublemakers sure, punish them BUT DON'T STRIP SEARCH THEM UNLESS YOU ARE ALMOST 100% CERTAIN THEY HAVE A WEAPON ON THEM)

Police: school strip searches not criminal
Compiled from news service reports

Shelton police and state prosecutors say no crime was committed when teachers at the Pine Academy school strip-searched four students. A lawyer for the teens, Robert Berke, says he won’t challenge the findings, but plans to sue, alleging an unreasonable search. Berke says Principal Patricia Nicolari ordered the searches Dec. 2 after a teacher reported $70 missing. He says two male teachers searched the students, making them strip down to their underwear, but the cash wasn’t found. The principal and two teachers were put on administrative leave afterward. It’s unclear if they’re back on the job.

i begged y'all to come breed with me

here

i am known as 'rose bush' so look for me
or breed with me on facebook (same handle)
and i'm still begging you. i DID reach my goal state. i got assigned a NEW goal state now though. some COME BREED WITH ME

via the routes game
here's some info from the site (see it's NOT about sex at all, it's about genetics and dna and the like)
..............

Genetic testing scans DNA for genetic variants related to, eg, disease, ancestry and looks. The decision to be tested is a biggie. Could you take being told you have an above average chance of, say, getting Alzheimer’s or going blind?

It’s thought that Melanoma skin cancer is caused by an inherited faulty gene in only a few cases. But still you’re more likely to contract it if, like Katherine, you have the genetic trait of pale skin that burns easily.

Lupus is an incurable disease where the immune system attacks normal tissue. You’re up to 12% more likely to get it if there’s a family history, so Katherine might carry an inherited ‘Lupus gene’.

Cancer may run in your family if, eg, there are several cancers of the same type or several cases of rare cancers. But don't panic: only 5-10 percent of cancers are thought to be caused by faulty inherited genes.

Genetics Development December 2008: Britain’s first baby screened to be ‘breast cancer gene’-free is due.

Genetics Development June 08: Scientists find evidence of an association between Lupus and certain gene mutations.

Katherine Ryan: who she? She's an award winning comedian. If only she had some kind of, y'know, website. Hang on a minute................

this happened in springfield in november

i didn't hear or read about it until right now. it's VERY disturbing in more ways than one.

the first of course being these men (allegedly) burned a predominantly african american church to the ground INJURING FIREFIGHTERS for good measure

the second is they are out on 100,000 bail. that seems VERYYYYYYYYYYYYY low to me., there was over 2,000,000 in damages done

the third being - the MAXIMUM they could get (if found guilty of course) is 10 years. that's the MAX. it is rare for anyone to get maximum sentences especially if you're a whiteboy

all because they were afraid when barack obama got elected to be OUR president. cowards. they are cowards

Three men indicted for burning black church on election night
Jeremy Gantz
Just hours after Barack Obama was elected president last November, three men set ablaze a predominantly African-American church in Massachusetts to "interfere" with the civil rights of its congregants, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.

Benjamin Haskell, 22, Michael Jacques, 24, and Thomas Gleason, 21, all of Springfield, Mass., burned Macedonia Church of God in Christ to the ground in the early hours of Nov. 5th as payback for the election of the country’s first African-American president, the department's indictment alleges.

The three men were released Monday on $100,000 bail each, the Springfield Republican reported, after spending 11 days in federal custody..........

the following article IS from november...
Black church in Springfield burns
Fire began hours after vote, prompting fears it was arson
By Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staf
A predominantly black church under construction in Springfield was destroyed by fire early yesterday, just hours after Barack Obama's landmark victory, triggering concerns that the building was purposely set ablaze in a possible hate crime. The blaze started at Macedonia Church of God in Christ at 3:10 and caused an estimated $2 million in damage.

Church officials pledged to rebuild, but the concerns that their building was targeted dampened a mood that had been so uplifted in the night of Obama's historic win to become the nation's first black president-elect.

"This was a special time in our nation's history, but I also know not everybody was happy and celebrating," said Bishop Bryant J. Robinson Jr., head of the church. "After 71 years of being an African-American, you know these things happen."

Located on King Street, the church was moving to the site at 215 Tinkham Road, where the fire occurred..........

pic: Firefighters worked to prevent the blaze in Springfield from spreading to houses. (Mark M. Murray/Springfield Republican)

stupid west hartford criminals

hint to all the criminals committing (or thinking about committing a crime in west hartford) DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT do it in the kane street or elmwood area. shite, even i know (and i'm not a criminal) the police are ALWAYS busting people in those areas. read the papers, that's where a TON of busts in west hartford occur. mostly drugs. some weapsons too.

i do go to kane street every once in a while when i go to stop and shop and that's the route i take. i love stupid connecticut criminals. they're great!

West Hartford Police Street Crime Unit Looking For Trouble

By JOSH KOVNER |The Hartford Courant
WEST HARTFORD - In mid-sentence, Sgt. Jeremy Clark swings his unmarked cruiser into the rear lot of the Burger King at Kane Street and Prospect Avenue.

Fifteen seconds earlier, he was talking about what he learns from the people he arrests. Now he's rolling past a nondescript blue Nissan parked a short distance from a smattering of other cars, facing a stockade fence. He taps the license number into the computer, checks the information on the screen and looks back at the Nissan.

A visitor, sitting in the passenger seat of the cruiser, is only just now realizing Clark is keyed in on the Nissan. The visitor has no idea why.

It's late on a December morning. The sun is bright but offers little warmth. In the Elmwood section of West Hartford, a checkerboard of shopping plazas and industrial buildings, traffic is already thick, relentless............

the cool justice report

hooks us up with some avery doninger video from fox & friends (yeah, i know, of ALL the networks, but it's a start)

andy also has a bunch of other avery links too. check it out, he's done some exhaustive reporting on this

please come breed with me

via routes game
discover the secrets in YOUR genes
(and i'm telling you breeding is addicting)

my breeder is at the bottom of this web page OR you can befriend me on facebook (i'm actually trying to get MORE friends than stink bomb who is a stuffed animal i might add) where i am known as rose bush (yes, i am)

found via wonderland

here's the press release

Routes is an eight week cross-platform game that debuts online from Channel 4 Education. Routes, produced in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, takes players on an immersive journey into the world of genetics, evolution and the human genome, in a bid to find out what makes us human.

Embedded in the game, award-winning comedian Katherine Ryan explores her own genetic make-up, and tests her DNA to find out whether it is her genes or her environment that define who she is. Can genes make you fat? Do they hide critical information about disease? Can Katherine blame her genetic make-up for the fact that she gets drunk on two beers?

As players delve deeper they are forced to explore these questions by solving puzzles, playing mini games, trading tips and collaborating on challenges, and as the broader game unravels the players will uncover a compelling mystery that lies at the heart of Routes itself. Who owns your genes? What are the pros and cons of exploring your genetic make-up? Do your genes determine who you are, or does our environment play a greater role?

The Routes website goes live in January 2009 at www.routesgame.com

a shout out to

the goshen volunteer fire department AND dr katherine skiff kane!

Harrowing Horse Rescue
By LAUREN PETTY
Kim Garcia snuggles the horse she used to call Smoky. Now she's nicknamed him Frosty, after a nearly fatal fall through the ice.
"I could just see his nose and eyes," her husband, Bob Garcia said.

It was Bob who found the horse Tuesday night nearly submerged in a pond on their property. The horse had fallen through a beaver hole. "I just ran over and grabbed him and started screaming for my wife," Garcia said.

Kim called 911 and Bob held on until Goshen Volunteer Firefighters arrived and helped pull the horse out of the water.

They put the 450-pound horse on a big red tarp and dragged the horse 150 yards to the barn.
"My wife and firefighters started rubbing him down with dry comforters off the beds in the houses," Garcia said.

The rescuers tried to warm the horse by covering him with blankets until the veterinarian, Dr. Katherine Skiff Kane, arrived. ...........











picture:

Goshen Fire Department
A six-month-old horse, pictured here, was rescued from an icy pond in Goshen on Tuesday.

it's blog for choice day

it's also the anniversary of roe v wade.

the topic this year is:
What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress?

i'll tell you what mine is, if you tell me what yours is!

first off, i'm going to start by saying (as i always start off by saying.....) i am NOT pro-abortion. what i AM is; PRO-CHOICE. my body and my sisters' bodies are our own. it's OUR decision.

as we used to say back in the day, KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF OF MY BODY

here we go

my hope for president obama and the congress (and everyone else) is: (and this is THE most important thing regarding choice. when one is WELL informed and WELL education about ALL OF THE CHOICES, one can make THE BEST decision possible)

STOP WASTING MONEY ON ABSTINENCE ONLY EDUCATION. not only does it NOT work (how many times do studies have to prove that i ask you?) it also stops our children and our teens from learning about birth control and safer sex practices. both are absolutely essential for a healthy society and culture. since abstinence does NOT work, would you rather have your sons and daughters practicing birth control and safer sex than getting pregnant and/or contracting stds? i know what my choice is: teach our children well. teach our children thoroughly. teach our children ALL of the options NOT just the ONE THAT DOESN'T WORK.

comprehensive sex education for all (and yes, this includes all the nations we help with this. hiv/aids funding. when we dish out that dough we make ABSTINENCE ONLY preaching a condition. that is RIDICULOUS)

blog for choice 2009
pro choice america

aha!

thanks to truthout we have another copy! yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh

wow

i can't IMAGINE sending home a permission slip on this one.

like helen outlines, we used to watch that crappy tv that was rolled into our classroom(s) for important events. space launches, perhaps an important figure coming to america and absolutely FOR SURE A PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION. this IS america NO? (this is america YES). what bullshite about some religions don't 'believe' in elections. fine don't vote BUT AS A STUDENT IN AN AMERICAN SCHOOL ONE MUST LEARN ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENTAL PROCESSES. of course i'm NOT buying the religions reason 'excuse' by one bit. i'm also with helen on this one, even if it was ANOTHER bush in the white house, it is IMPERATIVE our children watch the inauguration. period

don't they have civics? hmmmmmmm
do we need permission slips to teach our children american history? wtf??????????????

Schools Don't Need Permission To Let Kids Witness History
Helen Ubiñas
Erin Scafe has signed so many permission slips for her kids it's become almost automatic. Yes, they can go on that field trip. How much? Sure, they're in for a bag lunch.

But the slip she recently got from Windsor's Clover Street School was different.

After some information about Tuesday's bag lunches, there was a question about fourth- and fifth-graders watching the presidential inauguration.

The school offered two options: I give my child permission. I don't.
Scafe was confused. Permission?

Shouldn't children be expected to be interested in American politics?

She scribbled her disappointment on the slip and suggested that it was a horrible mistake and very disturbing. It's not that she thinks it's racially or politically motivated, she later told me. She just can't imagine what the motivation could be. It's not a districtwide policy or anything.

"This is not a choice. This is what I expect from my educators. This is a public school."

Scafe's an unabashed Obama supporter. But, she said, she would have expected her children to watch the inauguration at school even if John McCain had won.

After we spoke, I was equally puzzled. Have we gotten so PC or partisan that we've completely lost our perspective?...........

i've seen the promised land

MLK: Why I Cannot Be Silent

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us............

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: some GOOD news???????????

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: some GOOD news???????????

i'm posting this because it's interesting

not because i agree with it. i'm of the belief a dog (or cat) should sleep INSIDE with the family. i'm not a believer in keeping dogs outside in doghouses. it is not within me to do such a thing.


it's a tough call though. i know these types of dogs LOVE the snow. i don't know if they love to pull sleds or not, but i'm guessing they do. i just don't know if they love to pull them for 100 miles or so.

but like i said, it's an interesting story

A Rare Connecticut Musher Marshals the Dogs

By GAIL BRACCIDIFERRO
AS she begins her fifth season of competitive sled dog racing, Kathy Lesinski said her family has finally accepted that mushing is her prime pursuit.

Not that she can blame them for not taking her racing of Siberian huskies seriously at first — it’s hardly a burgeoning occupation in Connecticut, where dense development and a dearth of snow pose major training challenges.

She and her husband, Bill, have found ways to overcome those challenges — hustling their 15 dogs out for 3 a.m. training sessions when the weather will be too warm for the thick-coated dogs during the day, using an all-terrain vehicle instead of a sled when there is no snow and heading to New Hampshire for long periods during the racing season from November through March to find colder temperatures and more predictable snowfalls for 30-mile training runs...........

picture: Three Pairs Photography/Barry Millman

GO! Kathy Lesinski and some of her huskies in a 60-mile race last year in New Hampshire. She placed first.

here is some feedback i just left

nbc connecticut's website (formerly nbc30)

why do we need hef's 'smoking hot' girlfriend on the first page of your website? i really want to know
really

(the following was NOT a part of my feedback)

talk about objectifying women...........

also, tell me HOW this is news?

if i wanted this crap, i'd go to the playboy website OR tmz OR entertainment weekly OR some other site. really now