yesterday (5/18/06) at about 5:30 p m

6:30 am thursday may 18th

the courant story on the mental health of our troops appeared to kick some butts into action

one of which was our OWN liebs. hey liebs instead of just asking for a federal investigation of the screening of our troop's mental health, how about BRINGING THEM ALL HOME FROM IRAQ? how about asking your good bud, your peep, king george why he LIED? huh? how about it? you serve the people of connecticut - let me speak for the people of connecticut BRING OUR MEN AND WOMEN HOME NOW

Use Of Unfit Troops Blasted Senators Criticize Military Practices
By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN And LISA CHEDEKEL Courant Staff Writers May 18 2006
U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman called Wednesday for a federal investigation of mental health screening for troops deploying to Iraq, after The Courant reported in a series that mentally ill service members are being sent to war and kept there, sometimes with tragic consequences.Also Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressing "disgust" at a revelation in the series that the military was sending troops with post-traumatic stress disorder back into combat."You cannot simply have doctors prescribe psychiatric drugs such as Zoloft and send these men and women back to a combat zone," Boxer wrote. "No matter what the Defense Department's recruiting shortfalls, it is absolutely immoral to send soldiers who have been diagnosed as suffering from PTSD back into a combat zone."Lieberman, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent letters Wednesday to the Government Accountability Office and the inspector general of the Defense Department, asking each agency to investigate the military's pre-deployment screening practices. Lieberman said he was particularly concerned by The Courant's finding that among troops who indicated a possible mental health problem, only 6.5 percent were referred to a mental health specialist before they were deemed deployable."Clearly, our soldiers are experiencing unusually high levels of stress," Lieberman wrote in his letter to the inspector general, "but if the military is doing an inadequate job of assessing the severity of mental health problems in those deploying, and then placing them in further danger, their lives are [at] greater risk." Lieberman, D-Conn., said Wednesday that he was also "exploring legislative options" to improve mental health screening for troops, which consists of one question on a self-reported questionnaire. "We put our faith in the men and women of our armed services to protect us every day; they should expect and deserve to have the same faith in us," Lieberman said. The Courant's investigation, he added, "reveals that the deployment system's faulty implementation of mental health screening has betrayed the trust of our soldiers and their families. This is unacceptable and inexcusable.".........

(oh and once again, i must congratulate the courant and the reporters who covered this story. VERY well done and i personally thank you)

ned lamont is gaining

and liebs is running scared (as he should be). ned lamont IS MY CHOICE TOO

Lamont wins women's group backing in race against Lieberman
By Stephen Singer, Associated Press Writer May 16, 2006
HARTFORD, Conn. --A women's political action group on Tuesday endorsed Democrat Ned Lamont in his bid to seize the Democratic Party's Senate nomination from Sen. Joe Lieberman.
The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee said the Greenwich businessman would go farther than the three-term incumbent to keep President Bush's nominees off the U.S. Supreme Court. NOW also rapped Lieberman for what it said was his failure to do more to help rape victims get immediate access to emergency contraception.
"There were a number of reasons they endorsed my candidacy today and I appreciate it," Lamont said.
Melody Drnach, a vice president of NOW, said her group believed Lieberman should have backed a threatened filibuster against the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito earlier this year.
Lieberman voted against the nomination and the filibuster. He is a member of the so-called "Gang of 14," a bipartisan group of senators who oppose filibusters unless there are "extraordinary" circumstances.
"We certainly feel that Ned Lamont's approach to the full range of women's rights.........

the last part of the courant's story on the mental health of our troops

5-YEAR-OLD Alexis McCabe in April holds flags planted at the gravesite of her mother. Army Pfc. Melissa Hobart, an East Haven native, who collapsed and died in June 2004 while on guard duty in Iraq. Hobart had been prescribed Celexa to ease the anxiety of being separated from her young daughter while in Baghdad. Her cause of death, the military says, is still undetermined.
(Mark Mirko)
May. 16, 2006

once again, cudos to the courant and the reporters who investigated this story. amazing! thank you for bringing it to our attention

Still Suffering, But Redeployed They have post-traumatic stress and other combat-related disorders. So what are they doing back in battle?

Story By LISA CHEDEKEL PHOTOS By Mark Mirko The Hartford Courant May 17 2006

Eight months ago, Staff Sgt. Bryce Syverson was damaged goods, so unsteady that doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center wouldn't let him wear socks or a belt.Syverson, 27, had landed in the psychiatric unit at Walter Reed after a breakdown that doctors traced to his 15-month tour in Iraq as a gunner on a Bradley tank. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, and was put on a suicide watch and antidepressants, according to his family.Today, Syverson is back in the combat zone, part of a quick-reaction force in Kuwait that could be summoned to Iraq at any time. He got his deployment orders after being told he wasn't fit for duty.He got his gun back after being told he was too unstable to carry a weapon.But he hasn't quite managed to get his bearings."Nearly died on a PT test out here on a nice and really mild night because of the medication that I am taking," he wrote in a recent e-mail to his parents and brothers. "Head about to explode from the blood swelling inside, the [lightning] storm that happened in my head, the blurred vision, confusion, dizziness and a whole lot more. Not the best feeling in the entire world to have after being here for two days ... "And I ask myself what the F*** am I doing here?".....

that's what i want to know, WHAT THE EFF IS he doing with a gun and being deployed????????

ANN AND JAMES GUY visit the grave in Arlington National Cemetery of their son, Marine Pfc. Bobby Guy, on the first anniversary of the Marine's death, on April 21. The Guys did not find out until two months after his death, in a telephone conversation Ann had with a Marine official, that Bobby had committed suicide.
(Mark Mirko)
May. 16, 2006

part iii of the hartford courant story on mental health in the military

there will be one more day of reports on this subject from the courant. i think they did an incredible AND excellent job on this story (stories actually). bravo to the reporters who worked on this!

Health Chief Responds
Assistant Secretary Of Defense: `Comprehensive Process' Determines Fitness

Assistant Secretary Of Defense: `Comprehensive Process' Determines Fitness

By LISA CHEDEKEL
And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN Courant Staff Writers

May 16 2006

The Defense Department's top health official and the Army Surgeon General on Monday defended the military's screening and treatment of mentally troubled troops, saying the mental health of service members is a top priority for the Armed Forces.

Responding to a series of articles in The Courant, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said he was satisfied that troops with serious mental illnesses are not being deployed to Iraq, and service members who develop mental problems in the war zone are receiving appropriate care.

"Our policy and our practice is to ensure that every deploying service member is fit, both physically and mentally," he said. "We have a very comprehensive process to do this.".........

Amid Patriotism, Anger And Questions

By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN
The Hartford Courant

May 16 2006

WILLARDS, Md. -- Just off the two-lane main street of this southern Maryland town, a couple doors shy of the big lumber mill that rumbles all day like thunder, Ann and Jim Guy's modest dwelling is the picture of a patriotic American home.

Out front, atop a tall white pole that dominates the postage-stamp yard, a scarlet and gold Marine Corps flag flutters in the wind, bearing the essence of the elite fighting force: eagle, globe, anchor and the venerable motto "Semper Fidelis."

Inside the house, that iconic emblem is stitched into quilts and pillows, engraved into picture frames, and printed on the only coffee mug Ann will put her lips to. "My son," the mug proclaims. "One of the few, the proud." The same Marine emblem adorns the gold ring on Jim's finger, the buckle on his belt, the watch on his wrist, the cap on his head.

And in the small living room, just above the piano laden with yet more Marine mementos, is the emotional epicenter of this home - an oversize portrait of Pfc. Robert Allen Guy in his Marine dress blues - his jaw rigid, his eyes determined.

It is a recruiting brochure fantasy of a proud, faithful military family.

But that family doesn't live here anymore.

They began to vanish at 4:15 p.m. on April 22, 2005, the precise moment Ann pulled open her front door, looked up from her wheelchair and found a somber trio of men in uniform staring back at her............

Potent Mixture: Zoloft & A Rifle

The military told Congress that medications aren't used to keep soldiers with serious mental illness in combat. But a Courant investigation reveals that drugs are increasingly being handed out.

STORY By LISA CHEDEKEL And MATTHEW KAUFFMAN
The Hartford Courant

May 16 2006

When Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark C. Warren was diagnosed with depression soon after his deployment to Iraq, a military doctor handed him a supply of the mood-altering drug Effexor.

Marine Pfc. Robert Allen Guy was given Zoloft to relieve the depression he developed in Iraq.

And Army Pfc. Melissa Hobart was dutifully taking the Celexa she was prescribed to ease the anxiety of being separated from her young daughter while in Baghdad.

All three were given antidepressants to help them make it through their tours of duty in Iraq - and all came home in coffins.

Warren, 44, and Guy, 26, committed suicide last year, according to the military; Hobart, 22, collapsed in June 2004, of a still-undetermined cause.

The three are among a growing number of mentally troubled service members who are being kept in combat and treated with potent psychotropic medications - a little-examined practice driven in part by a need to maintain troop strength.

Interviews with troops, families and medical experts, as well as autopsy and investigative reports obtained by The Courant, reveal that the emphasis on retention has had dangerous, and sometimes tragic, consequences............

part ii in the courant story about the mental health of our service people

COURANT INVESTIGATION: MENTALLY UNFIT, FORCED TO FIGHT Slipping Through The System

A Courant investigation has found that less than 1 percent of deploying troops receive an evaluation from a mental health professional, even though the military admits that more than 9 percent have a serious psychological illness.
By MATTHEW KAUFFMAN And LISA CHEDEKEL
The Hartford CourantMay 15 2006
In the 17 months after their son, Eddie, announced he was heading off to fight the war on terror, Margaret and Edward Brabazon of Bensalem, Pa., had held their breath.They were accustomed to holding their breath with the boy they had taken in as a foster child at age 3 and adopted at 12 - the boy who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and attention-deficit disorder by the time he was 10, and who had spent his early teenage years in a psychiatric hospital and group homes for the emotionally disturbed.They watched with bewildered pride as the young man they had affectionately nicknamed "Crazy Eddie" was handed a uniform and an M-4 rifle and accepted into an elite fraternity - the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Although Margaret protested, the 18-year-old soldier also had informed his parents that he had stopped taking his psychotropic medications because he "wanted to be like everyone else," Margaret recalled."We were surprised they took him, with the kind of mental problems he had, but we figured the Army must know what they're doing," Margaret said. "We didn't think they'd send him into combat."Today, the Brabazons regret those assumptions..........

some GOOD news about a connecticut marine in iraq

on this mother's day, (well EVERY DAY) let's send our thoughts and prayers out to all of the men and women who are deployed in the middle east (and everywhere else too, what the heck!)

Hard Hat, Hard Head, Marine Saved Sniper Bullet Pierces Helmet Of Local Man Fighting In Iraq

By RACHANA RATHI, Courant Staff Writer

WESTBROOK -- A helmet was all that stood between a sniper's bullet and Marine Pfc. Fred Mitchell Linck's forehead. As it turned out, it was all he needed.
The armored helmet took the brunt of the May 5 shot, enabling Linck to casually mention the shooting in an e-mail from Iraq last week to friends and family."Things here are going decently," the e-mail read. "But I have some news for you all. I was shot in the head about two days ago..."I got some stitches, but will have a pretty big scar and a Purple Heart. ... Thank you for your love and prayers. Mitch."..............

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: this from the hartford courant

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: this from the hartford courant#links

in connecticut let's breathe a little easier!

Holding EPA's Feet To The Fire
May 12, 2006

Once again, Connecticut is joining other jurisdictions in taking up the banner of environmental responsibility, filling a vacuum created by the federal government's failed leadership.Connecticut recently joined nine states and three environmental groups, as well as Washington and New York City, in suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency over the agency's steadfast refusal to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions and other pollutants, the primary cause of global warming. The central question in the lawsuit - one the plaintiffs hope the court will answer with a "yes" - is whether carbon dioxide meets the definition of a pollutant under the Clean Air Act..........

...........Yet as the world burns the Bush administration fiddles, wasting precious time by arguing that the science on global warming isn't conclusive and that the solution lies in voluntary initiatives, research and development rather than regulation - or, in this case, that the EPA can't regulate carbon dioxide because it's not a pollutant..............

this sounds wicked cool!

i'm all for ANYTHING that will help me at the dentist's office (i am PHOBIC about going)

Video device helps patient overcome fear
By Jesse D. Smolin, Record-Journal May 11, 2006
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. --As soon as Darian Dube walked into the dentists office, Bashar Betros was ready for her.
After she slid into the dentists chair, Betros, the primary dentist at Family Dental Practice of Southington, slipped what looked like a black visor and goggles onto her head before the tears started rolling.
As he predicted, as soon as Darian, 9, saw the dentist's chair she became upset. Before Betros put one instrument into her mouth, tears streamed down the child's face.
The goggles Betros put on her were connected to a VCR, which allows patients to watch movies in virtual reality. The four three-dimensional movies are intended to relax patients, including one on hot air balloon rides, traveling to Guatemala, an action movie about skiing, riding a motorcycle and scuba diving near Santa Barbara, Calif. Patients also may bring their own movies.
Betros has offered the movies to his patients since opening his practice five years ago. He bought the goggles after stumbling upon them in a dental supply catalog. The movie allows him to perform 10- to 15-minute procedures he would not otherwise be able to do.
"There are a lot of people who are scared and it helps them," he said. "It helps us, but it really helps them."...............

what's missing

i'll tell you what's missing

NO ONE FROM CONNECTICUT SIGNED THIS

Seventy two in Congress join battle against wiretaps

Filed by John Byrne
Seventy two members of Congress filed papers late Wednesday seeking to end President George W. Bush's warrantless NSA eavesdropping program, RAW STORY has learned.
The filing came just before a report Thursday in USA Today which revealed that the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program had collected call records on tens of millions of Americans through agreements with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.
It also comes a day after lawyers looking into the NSA program abruptly closed their probe after the Bush Administration refused to grant them clearances.
The 71 Democrats and one independent filed an amicus brief in two federal courts reviewing challenges to the warrantless wiretapping program in Detroit and New York, joining the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights. Both suits demand the program be stopped.............

just a reminder

NEVER EVER give personal information out over the phone. EVER

Jury Duty Scam Warning

News Channel 8 May 10 2006, 1:30 PM EDTNEW HAVEN --
The U.S. Attorney has issued a warning about a jury duty scam affecting people across the state. Someone is making calls pretending to work for the court system, telling people they failed to show up for jury duty.When the person on the other end denies getting a letter, the caller attempts to verify personal information, such as Social Security number and date of birth........

scammers are getting better and better at it. making it more believable. i've seen some GREAT emailed ones that you would SWEAR were real. if there is EVER ANY QUESTION, just forward that email (NEVER CLICK ON THE LINK(S) to the company that allegedly sent it to you and they will verify if it's legitimate or not. loads of ebay and paypal type emails look so real and the links look real too BUT THEY ARE NOT. just be careful out there!~

a bible in one had and a pellet gun in the other???

the tragic shooting of a 23 year old the other day MAY NOT be murder........we shall see

Eyewitness claims religion a motive in New Haven shooting

(New Haven-WTNH, May 9, 2006 6:00 PM) _ A disagreement over religious beliefs may have sparked the deadly shooting of a student from Southern Connecticut State University.
Now, a woman has come forward saying the shooters' actions were in self defense.
by News Channel 8's Erin Cox
This witness, who didn't want to be identified, says religious differences were at the root of the deadly shooting in the plaza parking lot just a mile from the Southern Connecticut University campus.
The witness says 23-year-old Mark Stetson, a junior from New Hampshire, was holding up a Bible - arguing with an older man.
New haven police have not recovered a bible - but don't rule out what this witness says happened and school officials confirm last week stetson had to be removed from campus for creating a disturbance during a discusson of Christianity and Islam......

my left nutmeg gets a shout out in the courant!!!

my left nutmeg a favorite blog o' mine!

`Dump Joe,' Cry Liberal Bloggers Lieberman Foes Connect On Net

By ADRIAN BRUNE SPECIAL TO THE COURANT May 8 2006
As with prophets and leaders before him, U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's fall from grace, in the eyes of state Democratic Party activist Keith Crane, began with a kiss. Crane had stood by the senator, if only grudgingly, through his vice-presidential and presidential campaigns, his speeches supporting the Iraq War and even his appearances on Fox News Channel. But the peck on Lieberman's cheek from President George W. Bush after the 2005 State of the Union Address left him feeling betrayed.With the help of his brother, Crane (also known online as ctkeith) launched www.dumpjoe.com, putting the image of "The Kiss" on Page 1 of the website he hopes will help bring about Lieberman's political demise. With it, the Branford resident, who proudly wears a button bearing the photograph and passes out buttons everywhere he goes, joined what might have been a passing storm but has become a political Nor'easter threatening to tear down the house of Joe..

............Myleftnutmeg.com is not strictly an anti-Lieberman target, its slogan being: "Where Connecticut Dems Scratch That Progressive Itch." But it's packed with postings complaining about Lieberman. "My site reflects the zeitgeist as opposed to leading it," said My Left Nutmeg's founder, Kelly, who goes by first-name only. "To me, Joe Lieberman's political career is a tragedy. He started out as a hero of democratic liberalism. Now he's fallen from grace. That's a personal feeling shared by a lot of people."Unlike the other sites, My Left Nutmeg (which displays a doctored road sign reading "Connecticut Welcomes You: Birthplace of George W. Bush. We apologize.") is almost entirely for blogging. Anyone who has a beef with Lieberman, including his acceptance of money from the Hilary Clinton campaign, can sign up and make it known.................

i'm not surprised a bush MAY have been involved

(if in fact this incident happened. if it did it's DISGUSTING and EVIL. then again, i believe what goes around comes around.)

Yale's Tale Of Skull Gets New Backing

By KIM MARTINEAU
Courant Staff WriterMay 9 2006
NEW HAVEN -- A journalist has uncovered evidence that members of Yale's secretive Skull and Bones society may have robbed Geronimo's grave during World War I and brought the Apache warrior's skull and other remains back to New Haven.The plundering of Geronimo's grave in Fort Sill, Okla., has long been rumored, but now a 1918 letter, found deep in Yale University's archives, suggests there may be some validity to the story. Both Bush presidents belonged to the elite Skull and Bones society as did their father and grandfather, Prescott Bush, who by one account participated in the alleged raid on Geronimo's grave. Marc Wortman, a writer in New Haven, discovered the letter last fall while researching a book about pioneering World War I aviators from Yale. He immediately shared his find with the Yale Alumni Magazine where he had been an editor. The new details are published in the magazine's May/June issue.In the letter, Skull and Bones member Winter Mead wrote that Geronimo's skull had been unearthed and spirited away to their brownstone clubhouse on High Street in New Haven nicknamed "The Tomb." Mead's report was addressed to his fellow "Bonesman" F. Trubee Davison, who helped select new followers during the war. Charles Haffner, a new initiate, or "knight," was among a small group of military officers who allegedly joined the Fort Sill raid.........

(picture: www.straightdope.com/ art/2005/051111.gif)

let's wish coach brandon good luck, health, comfort and safety!

for his THIRD tour in iraq! please note, if you read the story you'll see he was previously wounded in iraq. he lost part of a kidney YET, he's got to go back..........

Players Say Goodbye To Coach Headed For Iraq
May 7, 2006 By Natasha Lee, Staff Writer

STAMFORD -- When Julian Bosch found out one of his favorite football coaches, Ryan Brandon, was bound for Iraq, the Stamford High School sophomore knew he couldn't leave without a proper send-off."I thought he should be recognized for his bravery and courage. Our buddy should be appreciated," said Julian, 15. "He's a phenomenal coach, but really a better friend."

More than 20 varsity football players gathered at an barbecue yesterday afternoon at Boyle Stadium to wish Brandon a safe journey as he prepares for a 10-month tour of duty with the Marine Corps as a staff sergeant.Brandon, 29, will head to Iraq on May 14 -- Mother's Day -- for his third tour."It's always a little nerve-wracking. When you're a little younger, you feel like you're invincible. Now that you get a little bit older, you realize how things can happen," he said. "But the country called on me to do a job, so I'm going to go do it.".........

should i start my own landscaping bid-nez?

my pops is 79 and still kicks ass. well up until a little while ago he did. in a week or so, he's going in for hip replacement surgery. after that it's off to rehab for a bit (we don't know how long yet). he'll be incapacitated for a while though. he can barely stand up. it hurts me to see him like this. he has always been a very active person. he walks daily (he knows EVERYONE in the hood and then some). this operation is a good thing. i am looking forward to him NOT being in constant pain. he never complains though. i remember when i was young, he went to work (he was a teamster at that time) with two broken ribs. SOOOOOOOOOOO someone has to mow his lawn! well, i already TOLD my brother in law, big bubba, HE was going to come over every weekend and mow that lawn. oh i forgot to say my pops is obsessive about his yard. he doesn't have the greenest grass or prettiest flowers BUT he is always the first one out to mow or snow blow or sand and salt or whatever. i'm not exaggerating; he IS the first one out there. friday, i stopped by his house and left him a note NOT to mow the lawn the next morning. i'd be over between 9 and 10 on saturday morning and i'd mow the lawn (well the front. we'd let the back go for another week). i arrived at 8:45 and of course as expected he was already outside doing something or other. i was barely out of the car and the FIRST thing he said to me was, 'you could have worn better shoes'. i had a pair of flip flops on. 'one can't mow the lawn in flip flops?' i thought to myself but let it go. i dragged him back in and made him a tea and myself a coffee. i needed a moment or two to collect my thoughts before the big morning of yard work. oh, there were lawn chairs he kept on his screened in porch for the winter he wanted to bring outside. i told him I WOULD DO IT. of course they were already outside when i arrived saturday. and one wonders where i got my stubbornness (and if you can imagine my mother was the stubborn one!). now i'm ready to start, we go outside and i take one of those chairs from the back yard and bring it to the front so he can supervise me mowing his lawn. he started the mower for me and showed me something about pulling this bar back that made it keep running. he showed me how to prime it and he showed me this lever to push down that made the wheels turn automatically (after i engaged those wow, what a difference. of course i didn't do it right away though, dope that i am). so i mow the front lawn going in concentric squares. i didn't do the spots around his bushes good enough of course, so he had to get up and do them himself. i had to keep glancing over at him (while he WAS in the chair) and every time i did, i just burst out laughing. you sort of had to be there, to see ME mowing a lawn with an actual lawn mower. i got specific explicit instructions on how far to mow on either side. to the edge of the neighbor's house on the left and to the line of the big tree in back for the house on the right. the mower stalled a few times and some type of height adjustment had to be made and then it was smooth sailing. i stopped the mower and looked over to the chair. he was NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. he was back in the garage bringing out his leaf blower. he blew every speck of grass off of the sidewalks and driveway. then he blew it off of tapparentlyer. apparantly that job was too complicated for me to handle or understand. hell as it turns out it got WICKED WINDY later in the day and the damn grass shards or whatever the hell they are called WOULD have blown away any damn way. just as i was about to go back in the house, he looked at my feet and said, 'see!!!'. i looked down and not only were my pink fuzzy flip flops all green (don't be sad, they were last years and on their last legs. i'll make new fuzzy ones this year) but MY FEET AND TOENAILS WERE ALL STAINED GREEN. damn the geezer was right about the shoes! we have one more weekend before he goes in for surgery. i'm calling big bubba up and telling him it's HIS turn next! i'm done, i've had it, finis!!!

(pictures: my dad's lawn that I DID SUCH A BEAUTIFUL JOB MOWING. his cat, frog and turtle and his azalea bush)

a second marine with connecticut ties has lost his life

in iraq this past week. my thoughts and prayers are with capt brian s. letendre's family and friends.

and from a couple of posts back, dealing with cpl bixler's death: the father of cpl bixler has a simple request; remember our deployed men and women and SEND A CARE PACKAGE. do it! it will make you feel SO good (not even thinking about how it will make THEM feel). i send four soldiers and airmen care packages (and this reminds me, i'm due to send the next ones). i know they share what is in those packages with their fellow mates. you don't have to spend tons of money. ANYTHING is appreciated. candy, or books or magazines. socks and tee shirts. dvds, music, puzzles, little games, batteries, hot chocolate or powdered drink mixes. you can no longer just send a package to general delivery you MUST have a soldiers (or sailors or airmens or marines) name and address. i got mine from a wonderful organization called soldier's angels


Second Marine with Connecticut ties killed in Iraq this week

By Shelley K. Wong, Associated Press Writer May 5, 2006

...........Capt. Brian S. Letendre, 27, of Woodbridge, Va., was stationed in Plainville with the 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. He died Wednesday in combat operations against enemy forces in Al Anbar province, military officials said.
Letendre was assigned to the Marine Forces Reserves inspector and instructor staff, the Defense Department said................
............Letendre was killed when a suicide vehicle exploded near him, his family in Virginia said Friday. It was his second tour of duty in Iraq.
"He wasn't ordered to go back to Iraq for another combat tour, and his unit was not going to deploy there, but he selflessly and courageously volunteered to go help train the Iraqi forces," his family said in a prepared statement.
"Brian just didn't feel right being back here in the U.S. while other Marines were serving overseas, and wanted to get back to the front lines as soon as he could," the statement read.
Letendre was born in California and raised in Woodbridge, Va., where he graduated from Potomac High School in 1996............

the town of windsor has it RIGHT

and i want lieberman OUT OUT OUT as well!!!

Windsor Democrats want Lieberman out
By:Kym Soper , Journal Inquirer
WINDSOR - Dissatisfied with Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's support for the Iraq war, the Democratic Town Committee voted 16-14 Thursday to endorse cable television executive Edward "Ned" Lamont for the party's U.S. Senate nomination over the incumbent Democrat.Democratic Town Chairman Leo C. Canty said the 17 delegates being sent to the party's nominating convention on May 19 and 20 aren't bound by the vote.
About 10 are leaning to or support Lamont, of Greenwich, while four are undecided and three are leaning to or committed to Lieberman, Canty said.A "spirited and thoughtful" discussion took place before the vote, Canty said. Regardless of who they supported, all those who spoke were opposed to Lieberman's position on the Iraq War, he said.Those who supported Lieberman felt that because of his tenure in the Senate he had the ability to deliver on other issues, citing his role in keeping the Groton submarine base open.Leonard Swade, a 20-year committee member, spearheaded the Lamont movement on the committee in reaction to Lieberman's unwavering support for President Bush and his policy on Iraq."There are a number of issues, but the primary concern is Joe Lieberman's stance on the war and his support of Bush in that framework," said Canty, who is personally undecided on the Senate race..........

i am sorry for your loss

the loss of stephen bixler, aged 20. my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends

(and of course with everyone deployed in the middle east). if you read the second article below, the father of cpl bixler has a simple request; remember our deployed men and women and SEND A CARE PACKAGE. do it! it will make you feel SO good (not even thinking about how it will make THEM feel). i send four soldiers and airmen care packages (and this reminds me, i'm due to send the next ones). i know they share what is in those packages with their fellow mates. you don't have to spend tons of money. ANYTHING is appreciated. candy, or books or magazines. socks and tee shirts. dvds, music, puzzles, little games, batteries, hot chocolate or powdered drink mixes. you can no longer just send a package to general delivery you MUST have a soldiers (or sailors or airmens or marines) name and address. i got mine from a wonderful organization called soldier's angels




Marine from Connecticut killed in Iraq, father says
By Shelley K. Wong, Associated Press Writer May 4, 2006

SUFFIELD, Conn. --A U.S. Marine killed in Iraq this week was remembered in his hometown Thursday as an admired young man who excelled at academics and athletics in high school and enjoyed helping others.
Stephen Bixler, 20, was killed Wednesday while on his second tour of duty in Iraq, said his father, Richard. He served both tours in the insurgency hotbed of Fallujah, his father said.
"He was on a foot patrol, that's all we know right now," Bixler said. "We were very proud of what he was doing. He would say a lot of positive things. He was totally committed to his mission."
An Eagle Scout, Bixler joined the Marines shortly after graduating from Suffield High School in 2003, his father said.
Bixler is the 30th person from Connecticut who has died since March 2002 in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two of those killed were civilian workers........

Marine made family proud


By:Jennifer Hoyt , Journal Inquirer
SUFFIELD - An electric candle still glows at the home of Cpl. Stephen Bixler, 20, a Marine who was killed in Iraq on Wednesday.Bixler's mother, Linda Bixler, turned on the candle when her son was deployed, and it was meant to stay lit until he returned.
But early Thursday morning, two Marines walked past trees wrapped in yellow ribbons, and knocked on the door below the red Marine Corps flag to deliver the news all military families dread:Bixler, they said, was killed while on foot patrol in Al Anbar province. No further information was available; the family would be getting a call with more details, the Marines said. Hours later, Linda's candle glowed, because, she said, her son still hasn't come home.The yellow ribbons, the Marine Corps flag, and the candle were still there Thursday, reflecting the family's strong pride in their son."He was doing what he wanted to do," said Bixler's father, Richard Bixler, dressed in a Marine Corps T-shirt. "He was very proud of what he was doing, we are very proud of what he was doing."And then the grieving father, who was sitting below a picture of his son and Stephen's twin sister, Sandra Bixler, when they were toddlers, offered a request to those who are concerned about the family."At the same time you think of Steve, remember all the other men and women who are serving our country," Richard said. "Send them a package, tell them thank you."The Bixlers are experts at sending care packages - they sent one to Stephen every week...........

i'm NOT going to be politically correct on this one

nor am i apologizing for how i feel. ONCE a taliban ALWAYS a taliban and no one can shake that belief from me. i don't trust this man as far as i can throw him. please understand i am NOT speaking against islam or the people of the middle east. i am ONLY speaking against the taliban (here and now). not only do i think he shouldn't be allowed at yale (at all) but i think he should have NEVER been allowed to enter this country at all. i don't care to or want to better understand THOSE kinds of beliefs. i don't care if he understands 'ours' either because i don't think it possible. some people ARE capable of change. no members, current or prior or future of the taliban are in that group

Request Stokes Debate Over Yale Student With a Taliban Past

By ALAN FINDER
A student at Yale University who was once a roving ambassador for the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has applied for admission to a degree-granting program, putting new pressure on university officials in an emotionally charged political debate over his presence at Yale.
The student, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, 27, began taking courses at Yale last summer in a nondegree program for untraditional students. After an article about his experience appeared in The New York Times Magazine on Feb. 26, Yale was fiercely criticized in opinion articles in The Wall Street Journal and in other newspapers and magazines, as well as on cable news shows and Web sites.
Four alumni began a blog, Nail Yale, that questioned why someone they described as "an apologist for a brutal, misogynistic, terrorist-abetting tyranny" was being allowed to attend one of the country's most selective universities. And some families of victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and of American servicemen and women in Afghanistan accused the university of harboring a representative of a regime that had committed myriad crimes and repeatedly violated human rights........

this is for YOU mr shilliday

over at left of center

Hamden bakery featured in The Sopranos

(Hamden-WTNH, May 3, 2006 12:20 PM) _ A little bit of Hollywood is shining on DiSorbo's Italian Bakery in Hamden. Their prized cannolis are going to get a little prime time exposure with Tony Soprano.
by News Channel 8's Jodi Latina
If you're a fan of The Sopranos you may have already seen DiSorbo brothers Joe and Steve in a highlight promoting the next episode. Why are they hanging with the Soprano's? It's all about the holy cannoli.
DiSorbo's Italian Bakery has been whipping up delicious pastries for nearly 40 years.
"Everyone loves cannoli's ... also pronounced ga-noli which is incorrect," says Joe DiSorbo.....

the lovely and talented pissed off patricia (or as WE like to call her p o p)

has a GREAT posting Could you leave him behind as a hurricane approached?

PLEASE HELP Ask your legislators to support the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act today......


go on over and give her a howdy! (oh and read the posting of course)

this isn't funny anymore - lewis does NOT have to be put down!

damn, if she keeps him inside, everything will be fine! why kill the pusspuss? damn damn damn that's just not right
Fairfield's Lewis The Cat Case Going To Trial
POSTED: 8:18 am EDT May 3, 2006
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- The case involving a Fairfield, Conn., cat that's accused of viciously attacking several neighbors is going to trial.
Faced with getting probation on the condition she have Lewis the cat euthanized, Ruth Cisero has opted to go to trial to keep her cat alive.
The case of Lewis, who was ordered confined to Cisero's High Street home after he attacked several women, including an Avon lady, has attracted international attention. More than 500 "Save Lewis" T-shirts have been sold to raise funds for a defense fund for Cisero.........

the connecticut post first broke the lewis story and they have a LOT of lewis articles. here is one of them Another day in court for Lewis
there are links to others in the upper right hand corner. it's worth the read

if i was the judge, i would have made mr bracone do the time

and when mrs gets sentenced at a later date, made HER do the time as well. i'm not one of these snooty mothers who join an organization and act all hoitey toitey BUT i take seriously parents who CONDONE underage KIDS drinking in their home. i'm glad mr bracone is going to get counceling for 'alcohol abuse' BUT if he doesn't think he has a problem we all know that counceling won't do ONE DAMN BIT OF GOOD (in all fairness i don't know if he thinks he has a problem or not)

Father Avoids Prison For Teen Drinking Party
By GREGORY SEAY Courant Staff Writer May 3 2006
A Farmington father arrested with his wife after a Jan. 13 underage drinking party inside the family's million-dollar home avoided prison Tuesday by pleading to a lesser charge, but not before the prosecutor rebuked him for behavior that outraged residents."What you did went beyond bad judgment," Assistant State's Attorney Tom O'Brien, father of a teen daughter, said in Superior Court in Hartford as Paul J. Bracone stood impassively as his co-defendant, his wife, Dawn Bracone, sat behind him. "It was illegal."Prosecution of the Bracones focused attention locally and at the state level on the problem of parents allowing so-called house parties at which minors consume alcohol. The state House of Representatives passed legislation criminalizing such acts, and the Senate unanimously approved the bill Tuesday night.Bracone, 50, the owner of a Southington metal finishing company, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of first-degree reckless endangerment. Judge Wendy W. Susco sentenced him to a suspended one-year prison term and two years' probation.Bracone at first faced at least 10 years in jail. He and his wife had been charged with risk of injury to a minor and delivery of alcohol to a minor - felonies - in connection with the keg party that authorities said attracted about 150 people, including dozens of teens, to their 10,000-square-foot home in the posh Devonwood subdivision.The father of three also must undergo counseling for alcohol abuse, which, the prosecution said, is a problem in the Bracone household. He also was ordered to pay $1,000 by Sept. 15 in each year of his probation to fund underage drinking awareness education at Farmington High School........

here's my original posting on the story

i went to see my friends b & e yesterday

the FIRST time i've been in their home believe it or not, and i've known b FOREVER. it was THE most charming home i have ever seen! it was a place i would love to live. beautiful gardens as well. lots of ravens in pictures, on rugs, hanging over a frame in the living room. i got the brilliant idea of taking some pictures JUST as i was about to leave. i shall take more when i return (i KNOW i will be back. e lent me his most prized possession; his dvd collection of xena; warrior princess. of course we're BOTH fans. b just doesn't understand). they have some wonderful mose t works on their stairwell wall. LOVELY! the seven little white heads are the seven deadly sins (of course) and they are hanging over the kitchen door. b collects all sorts of scary old dolls she finds at antique shops or tag sales. lots of WICKED clowns. creepy yet they just fit in at the same time.

(please don't forget b is the one who gave me a MILLION severed doll heads so i could decorate my area at work. i USED to have a stunning area, pinata and all!)

i was number 20,183

thank y ou stephen colbert

happy may day

may flowers, azalea and single wild violet for may day

i'm STUNNED too state senator mcdonald!

i sure don't understand what possible GOOD defeating this bill is doing. is the nra so deep up your asses you can't pass a bill that would help to get ILLEGAL GUNS OFF OF THE STREETS? damn damn and damn

House rejects stolen gun penalties

Greenwich Time By Tobin A. Coleman April 29, 2006
The state House of Representatives last night defeated an amendment that would have required gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons within 72 hours or face criminal charges.
By a vote of 79 to 66, the House rejected the amendment backed by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and law enforcement officials across the state.
Shooting deaths and gun crimes this past year in Stamford and Norwalk were among those cited by Connecticut Against Gun Violence, a group that lobbied for the amendment.
Supporters, including police chiefs, rank-and- file officers and the head of the state police, said the bill closes a legal loophole that has allowed the flow of guns to increase.
The Senate last week passed the amendment 28 to 5 with bipartisan support, including 22 co-sponsors.
State Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, the main sponsor of the measure, said he was 'stunned' by the outcome in the House.
'Wow,' McDonald said when told about the outcome. 'That's too bad. I'm very surprised and disappointed. The bill came out of the Senate on an extraordinarily strong bipartisan vote and I had high hopes for it. . . . I'm also very surprised because we've had a rash of gun violence in major cities across the state and even in some small towns.'
McDonald said he will bring the bill up again next year if he is re-elected.

check out brandfordboy's

posting about ned lamont (being in today's washington post) on my leftnutmeg. it's a DAMN fine blog

ANOTHER cool thing done by a g richard blumenthal

and our great state of connecticut

MAKE THE EPA into what it's name stands for! we demand it! it's OUR earth. let's take good care of it NOW so it's still here for a good long while

10 states sue EPA over global warming
By Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer April 27, 2006
WASHINGTON --Connecticut and nine other states fired a new legal salvo at the federal government Thursday in a long-running court battle over global warming and pollution from power plants.
The states, joined by environmental groups, sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its decision not to regulate carbon dioxide pollution as a contributor to global warming.
"The EPA has once again sided with industry over the public," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "The Bush administration continues its destructive and delusional denial of global warming, refusing to act responsibily, even as scientific evidence of climate change becomes indisputable."
New York, California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The states, led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, want the government to require tighter pollution controls on the newest generation of power plants.
"We feel it's incumbent on EPA to regulate carbon emissions from those power plants now in order to help us get our arms around global warming," said Spitzer spokesman Marc Violette.
EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said the agency "will review all options and make an informed decision on how to proceed. EPA's climate protection programs continue to exceed the agency's greenhouse gas emissions goals and are on target to meet the president's 18 percent goal to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 2012."......

ned lamont interview

from truthdig


Ned Lamont: The Truthdig Interview


By Blair Golson
During a speech at a Connecticut state fundraising dinner last month, Sen. Joseph Lieberman had to “shhh” the crowd three times—not because they were cheering him, but because they were ignoring him in favor of their own conversations.
According to the New York Times:
The inattentiveness—as well as the scattered boos amid the supportive calls of “Joe” that welcomed Mr. Lieberman to the podium—convinced some that the three-term senator, criticized for months because of his continued support for the war in Iraq, may be vulnerable in the primary challenge he faces.
That primary challenge comes in the unlikely form of Ned Lamont, a 52-year-old cable television entrepreneur from Greenwich, Conn., who has never held more than local office and who stepped forward only when no other Democrat in the state appeared poised to do so.
“All the political leaders in the state” told him, according to Lamont, “ ‘Ned, if you feel so strongly about it, you do it.’ ”
Although Lamont is not waging a one-issue campaign, even he acknowledges that he probably would not be running were it not to offer Connecticut voters an up-or-down referendum on the Iraq war. Lamont favors pulling U.S. troops off the front-lines of the Iraqi battlefields immediately, whereas Lieberman is perhaps President’s Bush’s most reliable war apologist in the Democratic Party.
As a result, Lamont’s bid to unseat Lieberman in the August Democratic primary has become perhaps the most-watched senate race in the nation. If a political neophyte with scant name recognition and little party backing can use his opposition to the war to wrest power away from a three-term senator who began the race with a 55-point lead in the polls, the upset will embolden every antiwar challenger who is eyeing a seat in the 2006 mid-term elections, or even the White House in 2008.
Despite his anti-establishment pretensions, Lamont was the fifth (yep, fifth) generation of Lamont men to attend the elite Phillips Exeter Academy and then Harvard. He went on to graduate from Yale’s School of Management, and soon after founded Lamont Digital, which builds cable television systems for universities and gated communities across the country.
Before throwing his hat into the ring last March, however, the only elective office he ever held was as a selectman for the town of Greenwich in the 1980s, and later on a town finance board. He ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 1990. Lamont said the desire to spend time with his wife (an investment banker) and children kept him from seeking higher office.
Starting in 1992, he began working for and holding fundraisers on behalf of a succession of presidential candidates—first Clinton in 1992, then Bill Bradley in 2000, and John Kerry during the last cycle. Post-2004 disillusionment with the lack of fresh ideas in the Democratic Party led him to seek out a more intimate form of public service—teaching high school courses on entrepreneurship in the low-income city of Bridgeport—in addition to getting involved with policy debates at the Brookings Institution, a center-left think tank in Washington.
Though observers of Connecticut politics are still calling Lamont’s candidacy a long-shot, Lieberman is taking the challenge seriously—hiring top-gun media consultant Carter Eskew to shake up his campaign; spending money on TV spots for the first time in a decade; and saying publicly that he would consider running as an independent if he lost the Democratic primary.
Indeed, in the progressive blogosphere, disgust with Lieberman for his perceived role as a lapdog for the Bush administration is rife, whereas Lamont is often portrayed as the best thing to hit the Democratic Party since Barack Obama (who is supporting Lieberman, incidentally). In addition to Lamont’s opposition to the war, his support of progressive bread-and-butter issues like gay marriage rights, universal healthcare, a progressive tax code and energy independence have quickly endeared him to many of the kinds of so-called netroots organizers who helped propel Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid. According to his latest fundraising filing, Lamont has collected $341,111 from 4,337 donors, more than 90% giving through the Internet. He added $371,500 of his own money to that kitty. Of course, Lieberman has almost $5 million in his campaign account.
Lamont has until May to gather 15,000 petition signatures or 15% of the state’s voting delegates to qualify as a candidate. The formal primary will be held in August.
Truthdig managing editor Blair Golson caught up with Lamont in Los Angeles at the Brentwood home of legendary television producer Norman Lear, where Lear and Internet icon Arianna Huffington were hosting a party to celebrate the book “Crashing the Gate” by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos.com and Jerome Armstrong of MyDD.com. When Lamont was introduced as Lieberman’s challenger, more than one person in the room shouted obscenities at the mention of the senator’s name.
Lamont later called Truthdig to talk about his insurgent campaign; about what would have kept him out of the race; and how the law of supply and demand has informed his stance on America’s war on drugs.
Blair Golson: How do you reconcile your relative lack of political experience with your ambition to be a U.S. senator?
Ned Lamont: The Senate should not be a sinecure for career politicians. Somebody who started up a business from scratch and someone who knows how hard it is to be a small businessman in this country, who works with employees over a period of years and knows the trials and tribulations of families, and how healthcare and pensions weigh on them--those are important experiences that are underrepresented in Congress. We have plenty of former attorneys general............

i was digging around in the courant (online of course)

and found this column by colin mcenroe. i do read his blog but rarely read the columns (of anyone) in the courant. i especially liked this one because one of the things it has to with is one of MY favorite places (in addition to mr mcenroe's mother's favorite place) elizabeth park. i grew up near it. my popi still lives near it. i learned to ice skate there (thank you queeno family). i remember the pond house when it WAS a pond house and NOT a restaurant. i remember summers bringing my dogs and my guitar and sitting down and singing and playing with the animals and my friends. i remember the wild onions in a patch of the park not many ever went to (or know about). i remember the path to the park from fern street that i think of as a secret entrance. after my sister's VERY small wedding we took pictures in the park as so many do. that was YEARS and YEARS ago and you know, i don't think i've been actually IN the park since. i LOVE that park.


anyway, here is mr mcenroe's lovely column. i sure do like what he has to say about his mom, his son AND the people in the park
Sunday In The Park With Jorge

(pictures from the elizabeth park website)

this is for you erin

(she's a big mets fan). i thought this column was very funny (and right on)

The Real Story About `Macho Doofus'
April 26, 2006 By JIM SHEA, Courant Staff Writer

April 26 2006
Is New York Mets baseball announcer Keith Hernandez a clueless male chauvinist or just a guy who got caught up in his own yada-yada-yada?Opinions are varied in the wake of comments Hernandez made during a game Saturday after noticing team massage therapist Kelly Calabrese in the San Diego Padres dugout."I won't say women belong in the kitchen," Hernandez said, "but they don't belong in the dugout." A short while later, he added, "I stand by those comments. I think this is a man's game, and I feel very strongly about it.""Keith Hernandez is nothing but a macho doofus," said Elaine Benes, a New York City-based catalog copywriter who dated the former MVP several years ago on "Seinfeld.""You know, I always told people the reason I stopped dating him was because he was a smoker," Benes said. "But the real reason was because his bat needed corking, if you catch my drift."..............

i'd like to buy margaret a drink (and her crab cakes too)

sounds like one cool woman! i've never been to pastis but have heard good things about it. seems like this is an incentive to go some thursday.

Margaritas, Margaret's Crab Cakes Keep Her Going To Pastis At 104
By PAT SEREMET

Courant Staff Writer April 26 2006

Every Thursday evening around 5:30, the staff at Pastis restaurant sets the same three places at the bar, with three neatly folded cloth napkins and a brass-plated "Reserved" sign. The Cuervo 1800 and the Grand Marnier are at the ready, the cocktail shaker within reach, the margarita salt poised to circle the rim of a glass.Enter the guest of honor. It's Margaret White of Hartford, who for four years has made this visit a Thursday habit, coming with her longtime friends and next-door neighbors, John and Clara Glynn. White has lovely coiffed white hair, radiant skin, dancing blue eyes that match her dangling earrings, which also pick up the blue in her yellow-and-blue plaid jacket."Sometimes she walks up to the bar so fast, I can't keep up with her," says Debbie Rossitto, Pastis general manager.White is 104 years old.When she grew up in the city, graduating from Hartford Public High School, she recalls, "Hartford was a beautiful place. They had an opera house. You could go downtown to a show, and nobody would bother you. I remember men would go downtown to get their growler of beer. We used to walk 3 miles to work because the trolley would take too long."Her parents, who had five other children, were born in Hartford; her grandparents came from Ireland."Hello, Margaret, I'm Tracy," a bartender says to White as she shakes up her margarita."They know how to make a good one," White says.Most of the staffers know her well and come over to give her a hug or an impromptu back massage.She usually enjoys a couple of margaritas and, of course, has to have the crab cakes that bear her name on the menu - "Margaret's Favorite Seared Crab Cakes." She occasionally tops off the night with a sombrero.White still maintains a house in the city's West End, the same house where she has lived for more than 70 years. She does her own housework. On Monday, John Glynn saw her cleaning around her rose bushes. Three months every summer, she's down at her cottage in Old Lyme.Rossitto describes the beautiful floor in a floral design that White painted on her porch when she was 100. Then there were the Raggedy Ann dolls she made last Christmas from a pattern she hadn't used for 50 years............

of course this reminds me of a story........

(this is NOT giovanna and saturnino but ti IS at the aqua turf)

(cross posted from my other blog)

Official arrested for chewing gum at ceremony

Apr 25, 8:24 AM (ET)
ANKARA (Reuters) - An official in Turkey's ruling party has been arrested for chewing gum while laying a wreath at a monument to the country's revered founder Kemal Ataturk, the state Anatolian news agency said Monday.
Veysel Dalci, head of the local branch of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Black Sea town of Fatsa, was charged with insulting Ataturk's memory during Sunday's ceremony marking Turkey's National Sovereignty Day.
CNN Turk television quoted Dalci, a 38-year-old pharmacist and father of two, as saying he chewed gum to hide the smell of garlic which he had eaten the previous evening.
"After laying a wreath at the monument, I noticed I had gum in my mouth. I am very sorry," CNN Turk quoted him as saying.
Anatolian said Dalci was arrested after a local army garrison commander complained to state prosecutors. It was not immediately clear what kind of penalty Dalci would face........


a few years ago i went to my dear friend saturnino's wedding (he married the MOST lovely giovanna). the church was somewhere down new haven way and the reception was at the aqua turf in plantsville (hey, i don't know where plantsville is either). a few of us went together and to be on the safe side, we decided to rent motel rooms for the night. it rained and thundered and lightening like i have never seen it rain while on the way to the church but it suddenly (and i must say miraculously stopped JUST as the wedding started). we took our seats and a friend, tom, turned to me and said 'i wish i was italian. i have NEVER seen so much kissing and hugging in my whole life. we didn't do this in our family'. i just smiled and shook my head. of course there is LOTS of that going on but what he didn't know is; when it's good it's good BUT WHEN IT'S BAD IT'S WICKED UGLY. no one can hold a grudge or be as stubborn as an italian (in my most humble opinion). oh but i digress. i begged saturnino to be his best man for MONTHS prior to the wedding. i WOULD have worn a tux, cumberbund AND a bow tie. NO SHIRT of course (gotta dig that cleavage) but i WOULD have worn that tux. he just said to me 'a rose is a rose, you KNOW my parents and giovanna's parents and the rest of our families just wouldn't understand so i've asked my ONLY sibling, my ONLY brother, crescenzo to be my best man'. can you feel the dejection i felt? i still reel when i think of the hurt this brought me (although i never forget the words 'NEVER go against the family fredo'). so the wedding ceremony starts. giovanna is the loveliest bride i have ever seen. saturnino starts welling up as she is being escorted down the aisle by her father. i am getting a warm fuzzy feeling deep inside (even though everyone has moved away from me at this point. something about them being afraid to sit next to me in a church). my attention then turns to crescenzo who's up on the alter lighting a candle or something or other. HE'S EFFING CHEWING GUM. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. the best man was ON THE ALTER OF GOD CHEWING GUM. i got through the service (how, i'll never understand) and exited the church to the receiving line. when i got to saturnino i bent over and whispered in his ear, 'you chose crescenzo over ME to be best man. he has disgraced you AND your family by chewing gum. YOU SHOULD HAVE CHOSEN ME ME ME to be your best man. i would NEVER chew gum. of course i would have had a lit cigarette in one hand and a cocktail in the other but GUM....NEVER NEVER NEVER'.

giovanna and saturnino are now the proud parents of little serafina born 16 months ago. she IS beautiful and i'm not just saying that and every word of this story is true except of course for the names

(look for my next wedding story soon. it involves me (of course) vittorino and tiziana PLUS objects from outer space)

and who exactly ARE these 24% i wonder?

President's Rating Drops To 24 Percent In Connecticut

grate

tuesday april 25th 6:00 am part ii

tuesday april 25th 6:00 am

why would ANYONE in their right mind (operative words there)

try to defeat or stop a bill proposing to help keep ILLEGAL guns off of the streets? please notice ALL those opposing this bill were REPUBS. coincidence?

why would the NRA send a lobby here to try to stop the bill?

please also note, the bill HAD the support of (some at least) police chiefs including that of my town, chief strillacci (shout out to him!!!)

Lost and Stolen Gun Law Passes the Senate

by Christine Stuart 09:50:21 pm, Categories: State Capitol, 450 words
A bill that law enforcement officials say will help keep illegal guns off Connecticut's streets received bipartisan support late Friday evening from the Senate.
Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, said the bill makes it illegal for gun owners not to report their guns lost or stolen within 72-hours. Any person who fails to report their gun lost or stolen will face a $500 fine, except if they intentionally failed to make the report within 72-hours it becomes a class A misdemeanor, the amendment to the bill says.
McDonald and other senators saw the House bill 5818 that included this language was stalled in the House so they attached it to Senate bill 105 that prohibits the sale and delivery of “electronic defense weapons,” such as Tasers. .........

and

NRA Dispatches The Troops

by Paul Bass April 24, 2006 09:59 AM Permalink
The National Rifle Association has sent its lobbying militia to the state Capitol to try to stop the House of Representatives this week from passing a bipartisan bill to help keep illegal guns off Connecticut's streets. The State Senate passed the bill. Click here to read Christine Stuart's report.........

i've traveled route 4 in farmington many a time

and it IS nasty congested. why they decided to allow an entrance/exit ramp to i-84 in farmington when they were NOT going to allow for widening of route 4 is beyond me. it's a mess to get through there. i understand it's an historic district. you should have PUT THE EXIT/ENTRANCE RAMP ELSEWHERE then you bunch o' mokes. DAMN it's just stupid

Route 4: Going Nowhere Fast In Farmington, Traffic Congestion Clogs A Key Commuting Artery
By GREGORY SEAY
Courant Staff WriterApril 24 2006
About sunrise every weekday, eastbound Route 4 becomes glutted with commuter traffic that lasts until mid-morning. Each evening, the slow procession reverses, snarling westbound Route 4 for several hours.The thousands of vehicles using Route 4 come from Farmington, Burlington, Barkhamsted, Canton, New Hartford and other western points. Traffic is so thick that the Capitol Region Council of Governments lists the 4.2-mile stretch between Route 177 and Route 10 as the most congested arterial road in metropolitan Hartford.According to John Carey, the state's top traffic engineer, as many vehicles traverse the two-lane intersection of Routes 4 and 10 in morning and evening as cross the four-lane intersection of Route 44 and Route 10 in Avon, the scene of a deadly multi-vehicle crash last July.When traffic is light, the Route 4 drive is maybe eight minutes, even with stops for some red lights. During peak times, the journey can take a half-hour.The state transportation department is preparing to spend $10.6 million on a series of improvements along a ¾-mile stretch of Route 4. One includes widening the bridge over the Farmington River to accommodate two continuous traffic lanes from Town Farm Road eastbound to the Route 10 intersection. Work is to begin in 2008, with completion set for 2010.Most of the commuting vehicles on Route 4 have only a driver, each with his or her own ritual for managing the trek - listening to the radio, shaving, putting on makeup, sipping coffee, among other things..........

more on da liebs front

(and i saw my FIRST liebs commercial this weekend. boy he sure must be scared is all i thought)

Connecticut senator too close to Bush
By Susan Haigh, Associated Press Writer April 24, 2006
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. --Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman, who once occupied the lofty No. 2 spot on his party's presidential ticket, is too Republican for some Democrats.
The three-term lawmaker, a strong advocate of the Iraq War, proponent of some GOP policies and recipient of a kiss from President Bush, has frustrated several national Democrats and angered enough in his home state to draw a primary challenger.
"I think it's a challenge for Lieberman to reconnect to the rank-and-file of the party and prove he is an authentic Democrat," said John McNamara, chairman of the New Britain Democratic Town Committee.
Bumper stickers spotted in Connecticut read, "Anybody but Joe -- I want a real Democrat in '06." Campaign buttons show Bush and Lieberman in an embrace, with the words, "The Kiss: Too Close for Comfort."
In February 2005, after Bush's State of the Union speech, the president hugged Lieberman and planted a kiss on his right cheek.
Call it the buss that launched a challenge......


(dump joe

i had THE BEST corn chips i have ever had

this morning.

i purchased a bag of jalapeno chips at whole foods the other day. i bought them because they had a big display and i picked up a bag without even thinking. i sure am glad i did. as it turns out they're made in hartford to boot! the taste is incredible. there's a burst of jalapeno flavor that has a kick YET isn't too strong. it's a clean and light taste leaving you wanting MORE MORE MORE.

they are made by food should taste good

they also make a whole grain chip which i shall soon taste as well (i'm sure NOT going shopping today. i need to relax)