i'm glad the judge in this case is taking time to think

BEFORE sentencing.

and once again i'd like to take the opportunity to apologize to mr hoy (whom i never outright said was guilty but i did say IF he did this............. i jumped the gun. now i'm going to say i hope yajaira and jose, who DID commit this heinous crime DO PAY and pay dearly). so i'm praying judge miano thinks long and hard and gives these two exactly what they deserve (of course he really can't do that - BUT he can give them what they deserve INSIDE of the law)

Sentencing postponed after judge sees victim's pictures
(Hartford-AP) _ Photos of a young victim of child abuse have prompted a Hartford judge to put off sentencing of her mother and the mother's boyfriend.
The judge says he wants to think about the lower sentences he planned. His decision came yesterday after seeing, for the first time, pictures of the six-year-old girl who had been beaten so badly, her arm had to be amputated.
Judge Thomas Miano halted the sentencing after viewing the photos and hearing child welfare officials describe what they called the "torture" of Natasha Santiago......


Judge Rethinks Sentence For Abuse He Delays Ruling After Seeing Photos Of Child

By TINA A. BROWN, Courant Staff Writer

A judge in Hartford was prepared to send an abusive mother and her boyfriend to prison Monday for beating her handicapped daughter so badly that the girl's arm had to be amputated.But in a rare move, Superior Court Judge Thomas Miano halted the sentencing after viewing gruesome photographs of the battered girl's injuries for the first time and hearing child welfare officials describe the "torture" of 6-year-old Natasha Santiago.Miano had been prepared to sentence Yajaira Rodriguez of Hartford to 10 years in prison and her boyfriend, Jose Graciani of New Britain, to 12 years behind bars. But after seeing and hearing more evidence, he postponed the sentencings to next week, he said, so that he had time "to think."..........

...........But the photographs - a significant record of the child's injuries - offered a more gruesome perspective than the mountains of paperwork that doctors from Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Yale-New Haven Hospital had forwarded to the prosecution and the defense.They showed Natasha sitting in a car seat. She had a black and blue knot on her head. Her legs and back had older wounds. But those injuries paled compared with her left arm, which was burned, swollen and purple. Doctors later amputated it..............

Mom, Friend Convicted Of Child Abuse 6-Year-Old Lost Her Arm, Had Many Broken Bones
By TINA A. BROWN, Courant Staff Writer

A Hartford mother and her boyfriend pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from the severe beating of her disabled, 6-year-old daughter that resulted in amputation of the girl's left arm.Though Yajaira Rodriguez, 25, of Hartford, and Jose Graciani, 24, of New Britain, pleaded guilty to assault and risk of injury charges at separate hearings in Superior Court in Hartford, neither openly admitted inflicting the injuries sustained by Natasha Santiago in December 2005.
Initially, Rodriguez had blamed the girl's injuries on a former boyfriend.At their combined sentencing on Monday, Rodriguez will receive a 20-year-prison term, suspended after she serves 10 years in prison and five years of probation. Graciani will receive a 20-year-prison term, suspended after he serves 12 years in prison and five years of probation, said Judge Thomas Miano...........



apologies to mr hoy

a shout out to mary ann klecker

THIS is supporting us troops. NOT sending them into harm's way OVER lies

Helping injured soldiers

by News Channel 8's Sara Welch

WTNH) _ A Milford woman has made it her mission to help injured service members and their families.
Inside a Florida motel, Mary Ann Klecker runs Haley House, a place for families to stay while their loved ones undergo rehabilitation at the James Haley VA Hospital in Tampa.
For one family, Iraq changed everything. Three months ago, Sergeant John Jones a 16-year Army veteran, was hit by an improvised explosive device. The blast shattered part of his skull causing a traumatic brain injury.
"He's my world and just to touch him and know that he's going to be OK is wonderful," said his wife Laura.
"They were there the whole time, first thing when I woke up I remember seeing my family and my wife," said John..................

da liebs...methinks thou doth protest TOO MUCH

no interest in running indeed!!!

well da liebs, not to worry. you ain't runnin' but i ain't votin' for yee

Lieberman: 'No-party' fastest growing political movement

Nick Juliano

Warning the two major parties to "watch out" for a third-party presidential candidate to storm into the 2008 presidential race, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday that independent voters were the most explosive force in American politics.
"The fastest-growing political party in America today is no party," Lieberman, I-Conn., told a panel discussion sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute.
The discussion, where Lieberman appeared alongside House Minority Leader John Boehner, stressed the importance of civility in what is becoming an increasing hostile partisan environment within the Capitol...................

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: speaking of 'take back the blog day'

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: speaking of 'take back the blog day'

today is take back the blog day!

Take Back the Blog!

what is this you may ask (in case you don't know)

it's to remind everyone - women have a right to do whatever they want (you know what i mean. not murder and the like) WITHOUT threats or scorn or stalking or harassment or intimidation or violence. yes, that even includes blogging or otherwise working on the internet.

we are EQUAL citizens of the world. we are your mothers, wives, partners, employers, employees, aunts, teachers, nurturers AND friends.

(don't piss us off please)

if you're not busy sunday night

how about stopping in at the bee and thistle inn to hear andy thibault?


Bee And Thistle Storytellers

Litchfield author Andy Thibault is among six writers featured during the Sunday Night Storytellers series this spring at the Bee And Thistle Inn in Old Lyme. The series of dinner parties runs March 18 through April 29.Thibault's appearance is scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 29."We're quashing the winter doldrums," innkeeper Linnea Rufo said.Thibault, author of Law &Justice in Everyday Life, published the award-winning Cool Justice column in The Connecticut Law Tribune from 2000-06. He currently publishes a blog on cops, courts, general news and the arts at www.cooljustice.blogpsot.com.F. Lee Bailey described Thibault as "a gunslinger from the Old West, ready to fire at anything that moves -- especially if he doesn't take kindly to the movement ... He is in a way a corollary of Robin Hood; he takes from the powerful and gives to the weak."Thibault's reporting on the Smolinski missing person / love triangle case last fall coincided with a request by the Waterbury police department to seek FBI assistance. Documents disclosed by order of the state Freedom of Information Commission revealed Waterbury police did virtually nothing to follow up a tip that Smolinski was strangled in Woodbridge and buried under concrete in Shelton.A series he co-authored about a shady land deal and an attempt to shut down a Montessori school in Enfield has drawn the attention of corruption investigators. An extensive interview with Thibault about blogs was published in the Fall 2006 edition of Readings, the quarterly publication of The Connecticut Center for the Book.He is an adjunct lecturer in English and a mentor in the MFA writing program at Western Connecticut State University. He is a consulting editor for the literary journal Connecticut Review and the author of several other books including The History of the Connecticut State Police and The 12-Minute MBA for Lawyers. Thibault chairs a non-profit foundation that awards $1,000 prizes annually to young poets and writers in Connecticut -- The IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust. He is also a licensed professional boxing judge and a private investigator.As chief investigator for the Washington, D.C. public interest law firm Judicial Watch, Thibault brought in from the cold two girlfriends of the late U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown as the firm probed cash for trade mission placements and other corruption in that agency.Thibault delivered the 2004 Pew Memorial Lecture in Journalism at Widener University, Chester, Pa. His speech was reprinted in The Executive Speaker newsletter.Other authors in the Bee and Thistle Inn series have included: Robert Holland, The Voice of the Tree; and Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. Girls of a Tender Age.The Bee and Thistle Inn sits on five acres by the Lieutenant River in Old Lyme. It has 11 guest rooms. The inn was built in 1756 as a private home. Patrons can reserve for the storytelling series and a three-course dinner at 860-434-1667 or by email at innkeeper@beeandthistleinn.com Thibault has been an editor at publications including The Hartford Courant, The Commercial Record and The Times Leader, Wilkes Barre, Pa. His writing also has appeared in Connecticut Magazine and on "Page Six" of The New York Post. He is a former commissioner of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, a former vice chairman of the Litchfield Board of Education and a former board member of the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. He has also served as vice president of the Litchfield-Morris Rotary.Thibault's work as an investigative reporter and feature writer hasearned numerous state and national awards, including a series that won first place prizes from the National Newspaper Association for investigative reporting, the New England Press Association for community service and the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists for in-depth reporting.Thibault is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. He also serves on the advisory board of the Connecticut Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress.

cool justice report

i am NOT jumping to any conculsions here

i don't know if in fact these four active and one retired officers were/are being discriminated against by the town of greenwich. i don't know if they are good officers or bad officers. what i DO know is they all did time in iraq. they ALL served their country.

they're not movie stars of millionaires (i don't think). they're cops. if in fact they WERE/ARE being discriminated against, i sure do hope they nail greenwich's ass to a board!

Officers sue over military leave

By Neil Vigdor Staff WriterApril 26, 2007
Four current members of the police department and one former officer are suing the town for alleged discrimination against them because of their military service, which they claim has cost them promotions, choice assignments and pay.All five officers behind the federal lawsuit, which the town was served on Monday, have done tours of duty in Iraq during the first and second Gulf wars as members of the Army Reserve and Army National Guard.Sgt. Robert Berry, Patrolman Sean O'Donnell, Sgt. Kraig Gray, Lt. James Heavey and retired Detective Terry McCue filed the seven-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport on April 13."These guys are just trying to make sure that their rights and their privileges are protected the same way that they protect the rights of everybody in the United States as citizen soldiers and the way they protect the citizens of Greenwich as police officers," said Richard Gudis, the Old Saybrook lawyer for the officers and a fellow Army reservist........

..........."These issues are not new," said Sgt. James Bonney, president of the Silver Shield Association. "They didn't get any respect. These are guys who are out there defending the country, putting their lives on the line for the country."........

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

how LOW do you have to be to do this Waterbury Man Charged In Thefts From Graves

WATERBURY, Conn. -- A city man, who lived next to a historic Waterbury cemetery, was arrested Thursday for allegedly stealing jewelry and gold dental work from its graves.Joseph Vecchiarelli, 28, was charged with six counts of interfering with a cemetery or burial ground, a class C felony, and one count of larceny...................

yet ANOTHER example of stupidity in our fair state

stupidity AND balls - BIG uns

Alleged Car Thief Tried To Trade In Jeep To Dealer

NORWALK, Conn. -- A Bridgeport, Conn., man has been arrested after he tried to trade in a Jeep to a car dealer, a month after allegedly stealing the same Jeep from that same dealer, a police representative said.
Jazrahel King, 29, was arrested Saturday after a sales manager at Wholesalers of America recognized King's 2003 black Jeep Liberty as a vehicle that was reported stolen from his lot in early March.
The sales manager, Diego Coleman, said King brought the sport utility vehicle in, hoping to trade up for a larger vehicle.....................

i'm not sure i quite understand this

well i understand the separation of church and state. i don't understand if this is a post office OR a private company. is mailboxes, etc a private company? i thought it was

i didn't know the postal service contracted out. i DO know i don't want to watch evangelical movies when i go to mail a package

Post Offices Can't Promote Religion

HARTFORD -- A federal judge has ruled that post offices nationwide run by churches and other contractors cannot promote religion through pamphlets, displays or any other materials.U.S. District Judge Dominic J. Squatrito, in a case involving a church-run post office in Manchester, said such actions violate the separation of church and state clause in the Constitution's First Amendment.
The judge sided with Jewish veteran Bertram Cooper, who in 2003 sued the U.S. Postal Service and the church that has the contract to operate the Sincerely Yours Inc. post office in downtown Manchester.Customers at the post office have been able to buy stamps, ship packages, pick up religious brochures and donate money to Christian ministries. It also had a television that showed religious programming, and photos of the church's mission work in Africa on the walls..............

wednesday 4/25 3:30 - 5:00 Hartford Hospital

For Immediate Release Contact: Justin Goodman
April 24, 2007 860-882-2492/Justin_goodman@sbcglobal.net

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

Hartford -- Local animal rights campaigners are planning a demonstration at Hartford Hospital on Wednesday afternoon to denounce the use of live pigs in surgical training exercises.

Date- Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Time- 3:30pm-5pm
Place- Entrance to Hartford Hospital, 80 Seymour Street, Hartford,CT

Hartford Hospital, in concert with the UConn School of Medicine, administers a program called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners 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. They also use numerous mice, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and sheep in various other forms of experimentation.

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." 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?"

The promising alternatives Goodman cites include the work of Dr. Emad Aboud and his colleagues at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. They have developed a model for conducting surgical training exercises that utilizes donated human cadavers and could completely eliminate the need to use live animals for trauma exercises. His method entails circulating artificial blood through the vessels of the cadaver using a mechanical pump to simulate a live human being.

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."

"In the interest of upholding their duty to practice ethical medicine, doctors and researchers should be abandoning these flawed animal models in favor of pursuing human-relevant, humane alternatives," Goodman said.
--------------
On Wednesday, activists will also be protesting animal experimentation at the UConn Health Center (Farmington) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (Wallingford). Call Justin Goodman at 860 882 2492 or email justin_goodman@sbcglobal.net for more information.

Hartford Hospital is hell for animals AND THEY NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

We recently learned that Hartford Hospital, in concert with the UConn School of Medicine, administers a program called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners manage 14 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, stomach, spleen 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. They also use numerous mice, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits and sheep in various other forms of experimentation.

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. 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?Your can read more detailed info about the Hartford Hospital campaign at:www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/harthosp

Act now!Tell Hartford Hospital to end live pig trauma courses!!
Dr. John Meehan
President and CEO
Hartford Hospital
80 Seymour Street Hartford, CT 06102
Tel: 860 545-2100
Email: meehan [at] harthosp.org

****Sample letter/talking points****Dear Dr. Meehan:Thank you for your time. I am writing as a concerned citizen to express my opposition to a program at Hartford Hospital called the Advanced Trauma Operative Management course (ATOM). ATOM includes a 3-hour lab session during which surgery trainees and practitioners 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 bowel, bladder, kidney, ureter, pancreas, duodenum, stomach, diaphragm, liver, inferior vena cava, spleen and heart. 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. It is a 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. More than 95% of American medical schools have eliminated the use of animals to teach surgery skills and the American College of Surgeons no longer uses animals in its own courses or in its revised surgery curriculum.In the interest of upholding their duty to practice ethical medicine, doctors and researchers at Hartford Hospital should be abandoning these flawed animal models in favor of pursuing human-relevant, humane alternatives.I look forward to hearing from you.Sincerely,(name)(address)


ACTION ALERT!Yes, the cruel monkey experiments being conducted by David Waitzman at the University of Connecticut Health Center have been terminated. However, the school has yet to agree to a permanent ban on the use of nonhuman primates in experimentation. In recognition of World Week for Animals in Labs, and in solidarity with the millions of animals who are suffering as you read this, please take a moment to write, call, or fax the UConn Health Center administration (even if you already have) and let them know you'd like to see this publicly-funded monkey torture ended forever.For more info on our campaign: www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/campaignTo contact UConn now, see below or visit: www.uchckillsmonkeys.com/takeactionBlock of all available email addresses listed below:deckers@nso.uchc.edu, Philip.austin@uconn.edu, dfriend@alvarezandmarsal.com,goldberg@nso1.uchc.edu, rhennessey@oscient.com, gerard.burrow@yale.edu, james.abromaitis@po.state.ct.us, j.robert.galvin@po.state.ct.us, bcarlson@adp.uchc.edu, walter@nso.uchc.edu, lalande@uchc.edu, sarmstrong@uchc.edu, yas@pobox.upenn.edu, paplauskas@adp.uchc.edu, jlorenzo@nso2.uchc.edu, pohl@uchc.edu----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sometimes people ask me why i don't eat meat. i never tell anyone why. well, not the real reason.

i'm not judging anyone. the decisions i've made are my own and are RIGHT FOR ME.

i think there is something VERY wrong with eating (much less wearing and experimenting upon) animals. i've felt this way since i was a child. i always had problems and issues when my plate had a big hunk o' meat on it. if it had a bone too, forget it, that just wasn't going to happen. as with many things i think we can comfortably share our lives with animals (the domesticated ones of course). my feelings on the subject go very much deeper than this. i don't wish to share more of them, at least at this time.

if you're really feeling that urge to fight

the testosterone is just oozing out of your pores and ya gotta rumble, there are BETTER PLACES to throw down than the lobby of a police station

(he should be suspended from the team-on stupidity ALONE)

UConn Football Player Sidelined After Two Arrests In One Week
Wide Receiver Also Banned From Team Activities Through May 29

STORRS, Conn. -- A UConn football player is sidelined after being arrested during Spring Weekend, and it wasn't the wide receiver's only run-in with police in the past week, NBC 30 reports.
One of Brandon Mclean's arrests occurred after a fight at police headquarters. Police said the other occurred at a campus dorm days earlier. .....

........UConn police said Mclean was one of several people involved in a fight in the lobby of the police department early Saturday morning, during which Mace was sprayed and fists flew. Mclean was charged with breach of peace.
He had already been arrested and charged with breach of peace for another incident earlier in the week. It was at the Hilltop Suites that UConn police said they arrested Mclean on Wednesday after he angrily refused to leave a dorm room. He also faces threatening and criminal trespass charges in the incident..........
Head coach Randy Edsall suspended the senior for the first three games of the season for conduct unbecoming a player. The first three games are at Duke, then home against Maine and Temple

and people wonder why i hang

here

(my new friend eric after a softball game)

CHECK OUT THE TEAM NAME

strawberry hat

for "n"

(ann norling pattern)

as a coincidence

i posted a welcome home to the 102nd yesterday. well i was mindin' my own bid-nez (as everyone knows i do).....

i saw someone with a 102nd infantry tee on. i asked him if he had just gotten home and he was shocked and surprised and said yes, and asked how i knew. (well i knew because i read it in the papers and saw it on the news).

anyway, ANOTHER welcome home and one big one to my new friend dave!

may you all slide right back into your former lives.

how can tim ngo only be considered 10% disabled?

his skull was blown up by a grenade in iraq while he was serving his country. part of it had to be removed.

yet the military didn't disable him enough so he could get disability benefits and WORSE, he is not eligible for military insurance coverage.

why aren't we making the king and his court account for tim ngo? the king SENT him to iraq to 'fight the war on terror'. then the king just kicks tim ngo to the curb when he returns?

Injured Troops Struggle to Get Health Care

by Joseph Shapiro

All Things Considered, April 20, 2007 · When service members are forced to leave the military by war injuries or illness, they face a complex system for getting health and disability benefits. Sometimes, health care gets cut off when new veterans find they need it most. Some retired soldiers and their families say they are worried that the Pentagon won't spend enough money to give the injured the care they deserve.

'10 Percent Disabled'

Tim Ngo almost died in a grenade attack in Iraq. He sustained a serious head injury; surgeons had to cut out part of his skull. At Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he learned to walk and talk again..........

............But here is the part that is in dispute: The Army says Tim Ngo is only 10 percent disabled............

..........When a service member is retired for medical reasons, the military's disability rating makes a difference. If Ngo had been rated 30 percent disabled or higher, he would have gotten a monthly disability check instead of a small severance check. He also would have stayed in the military's health-care system.

Instead, Ngo enrolled with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Typically, there's a waiting period for the VA.

In October, while he was uninsured, Ngo had a seizure, caused by his war injury.
...............

do NOT get an iguana (or for that matter any pet) if you cannot care for it

otherwise people like aj gutman have to care for them. i think what she is doing is noble. it costs a great deal for her to house and feed the unwanted, sick or unruly lizards. SOMEONE has to care for unwanted iguanas. again, do NOT get a pet if you cannot handle one. THINK first.
(oh and i went to school on steele road. the school isn't there any longer. the building is though. it was tiny. beach park elementary)

The Plight Of The Iguanas

By DANIEL P. JONES, Courant Staff Writer

WEST HARTFORD -- From the curb, AJ Gutman's chalet-style home on Steele Road looks like it could have been a set from "The Sound of Music." You're almost waiting for Julie Andrews to throw open the shutters and sing.But step closer to the front door and there's a clue that something different might await: a little white metal sign with black letters that says "Beware of Lizard." Once inside, the scene could easily pass for a back room of the reptile house at the Bronx Zoo.
About 30 iguanas share the Gutman home with the people who pay the mortgage. About half the reptiles - a foot long or shorter - live in terrariums. The larger ones - up to 20 pounds and 5 feet long - are free to scamper along the wood floors.........

..............The Gutman house is a sort of foundling home for unwanted iguanas.Although she knows how to rehabilitate and care for the tropical reptiles, Gutman, 50, freely admits she's inept at raising money or trying to organize and establish a nonprofit organization to keep her home-based Connecticut Iguana Sanctuary going..............

welcome back to the 102nd infantry out of new haven

we're all happy you're home! of course our thoughts were (and are) with the family and friends of sgt phaenuf

Warm welcome home for Conn. troops

by News Channel 8's Jamie Muro

(Windsor Locks-WTNH) _ Members of the 102nd Infantry Battalion of New Haven returned home Saturday after a one-year tour in Afghanistan.
Grandmother Lenor Rodriguez was waiting for her son and her grandson, Luis and Joshua Amaro. They are possibly the first father to follow son into service since the Civil War.
"I'm just thankful to God that they're here. They had a victory," said Lenor............

................One father is absent to hug his son and the rest of his family. Staff Sergeant Joseph Phaenuf was killed in action in December.
"His efforts did not go forgotten, he paid the ultimate sacrifice. The reason why they are here today, he's part of it," said Lt. Col. John Whitford..............

save a sato

(spay and neuter ALL pets. just do it)

if you're up for a new cat or dog, why not think of adopting a SHELTER ANIMAL. they can give you just as much love and pleasure (if not more) than any dog or cat from a breeder (or goddess knows elsewhere)

New Life For Strays Rescuing Puerto Rico's Street Dogs From Unspeakable Cruelty

By ANN MARIE SOMMA Courant Staff Writer

The dogs arrive into Bradley International Airport on an American Airlines flight in the dark of night. They've endured a long journey in crates in the belly of the plane, but their search for food, water, shelter and love is over.
They were rescued from the streets of Puerto Rico by volunteers, and having landed in the United States mainland, they are headed to an animal shelter in Danbury where they will be put up for adoption. The San Juan-based Save A Sato organization (sato means mixed breed in Puerto Rican slang; it is pronounced saw-toe) has been rescuing homeless and abused dogs on the tropical island, a commonwealth of the United States, and giving them a second chance at a good life on the mainland. ................

what data is da liebs looking at?

certainly NOT what everyone else is looking at. hundreds of iraqis dead every day. our troops NOT safe, even in the green zone. story after story of dispair and gloom and death and other tragedy.

reid is right, we lost. we lost a LONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG time ago. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED. yet da liebs is living in candyland
(i do NOT want ONE more of our men and women to be injured or killed)

Lieberman Scolds Reid For 'War Lost' Remark

By DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman rebuked Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid on Friday, saying he strongly disagreed with Reid's assessment that the Iraq war is "lost.""This is exactly the wrong time to question our strategy in Iraq," said Lieberman, "or that our new strategy has failed."
Reid Thursday triggered an avalanche of Republican protest when he said that "the secretary of state, secretary of defense and -- you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows -- [know] this war is lost and the surge is not accompolishing anything…"Friday, after Lieberman made his remarks, Reid struck again..............

on april 28th

take back the blog
As announced, this page will host the April 28, 2007 Take Back the Blog! Blogswarm in support of the rights of women to participate fully in all aspects of our society, including specifically online in the world of blogging but indeed everywhere and at all times, day and night, without fear of harassment, intimidation, sexual harassment, online stalking and slander, predation or violence of any sort.

our bodies

please be happy with WHO and WHAT you are on the OUTSIDE because that is the part of you that is NOT important at all. be comfortable with yourself and NEVER let anyone tell you differently OR make you feel uncomfortable with how you look.

i will never 'blend'. i do NOT look like anyone else (as a matter of fact, when i was with my little sister last time, little as in big brothers/big sisters, she asked why i made up my eyes in a particular fashion. in addition to the colors i use and 'doe eyes' i draw, i also draw little straight lines under my eyes, rather like a clown but of course NOT that bold. i told her i did it on purpose. i told her i did it so i would be different than everyone else. i told her it was ok to be different. i told her it was ok to be who you were. i told her she should be PROUD of who she was. not to worry though, that kid has NO problem in the self-confidence aisle). i'm not skinny and i came to terms a LONG time ago i was NEVER going to be skinny. i wear funky clothes and i LOVE my clothes. some people look at me like i'm the devil, yet many smile when they see me. not smiling because they think i'm nuts but smiling like there goes a woman who is her OWN damn self and not afraid to show it. the OLDER i get, the MORE comfortable i get with myself. sure, we all have some doubts about ourselves. that's normal. we all have a thing or two we're self-conscious about. that's normal too. i won't let it get to me though. if it's something that is REALLY bothering me i'll attempt to work on it and change it. i do it for ME though. i don't do it for anyone else.

The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body

By Courtney E. Martin, AlterNet. Posted April 18, 2007.

This article is excerpted from "Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters" by Courtney E. Martin. Copyright 2007 by Courtney E. Martin. Reprinted by permission of Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.There is a girl, right now, staring in a mirror in Des Moines, scrutinizing her widening hips. There is a girl, right now, spinning like a hamster on speed in a gym on the fifth floor of a building in Boston, promising herself dinner if she goes two more miles. There is a girl, right now, trying to wedge herself into a dress two sizes too small in a Savannah shopping mall, chastising herself for being so lazy and fat. There is a girl, right now, in a London bathroom, trying not to get any vomit on her aunt's toilet seat. There is a girl, right now, in Berlin, cutting a cube of cheese and an apple into barely visible pieces to eat for her dinner.Our bodies are places where our drive for perfection gets played out. Food is all around us, as are meals and the pressure that goes with them. Well-intentioned after-school specials teach us, from a very young age, how to purge our snacks. We are inundated with information about "good" and "bad" foods, the most effective workout regiments, the latest technological advancements in plastic surgery. We demand flawlessness in our appearance -- the outer manifestation of our inner dictators.....................

bob nappe is going to get his job back

and i personally couldn't be happier. hey, the man left the force to VOLUNTEER to go to iraq to train police. putting aside my feelings for us being in iraq, the man did a wonderful thing. he DESERVES his job back on the east haven force!!! (thanks to the judge). although it does seem like the town may continue to put up a stink. geeze, bob nappe was an officer for 19 years!

Judge Rules East Haven Officer Must Get Job Back

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A judge has ruled that East Haven must give a former police officer, who retired to train police in Iraq, his job back.
The decision supporting former officer Bob Nappe comes three years after the 19-year-veteran retired. He stepped down after the police board refused to grant him a leave of absence to volunteer for a one-year job training Iraqi police in Baghdad.

from our friends at

the cool justice report

a celebration of writers and poets on may 6th at 10:30 am at fiddleheads in litchfield

details at the link above (do click it!!!)

May 6 / Fiddleheads Natural Supermarket
For More Information Contact Fiddleheads Market
55 Village Green Drive
Litchfield, CT 06759
860-567-1900

Presenters* Barbara Parsons, Couldn't Keep It To Myself, Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters, Harper Collins, edited by Wally Lamb; forthcoming: I'll Fly Away; Further Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters, HarperCollins, edited by Wally Lamb.
* Martin Schiller, Bread, Butter And Sugar: A Boy's Journey Through The Holocaust And Postwar Europe, Hamilton Books.* Shouhua Qi, New: Red Guard Fantasies and Other Stories (San Francisco: The Long River Press, 2007); When the Purple Mountain Burns (San Francisco: The Long River Press, 2005). Forthcoming: a novel about American Korean War POWs who chose to go to China at the time of armistice (1953).
* Sharon Charde, Bad Girl at the Altar Rail, Flume Press; Four Trees Down From Ponte Sisto, Dallas Poets Community Press; editor, I Am Not A Juvenile Delinquent, anthology by the creative writing students of Touchstone, a residential treatment facility for female adolescent offenders in Litchfield, Ct.Forthcoming, Branch In His Hand, Backwaters Press.* Oscar De Los Santos, Hard Boiled Egg (Fine Tooth Press, 2004) and Infinite Wonderlands (Fine Tooth Press, 2006).* Jessica Treat, A Robber in the House (Coffee House Press) and Not a Chance, stories and novella (FC2, 2000).* Louis Colavecchio, forthcoming, You Thought It Was More: The Real Providence Brought To Life.* Franz Douskey, Rowing Across The Dark, University of Georgia Press. Forthcoming, The Unknown Sinatra.The readings follow a reception at 10:30 a.m. by the Litchfield High Jazz Combo.

tonight on pbs

two hour long documentaries
(note: most stations are going to edit operation homecoming - thank the threat of fines from the fcc for that)

warriors
Filmed in 2005 in some of the most dangerous areas in and around Baghdad, WARRIORS profiles a handful of Army soldiers: five men and one woman.
They range from a squadron leader just weeks into his first combat command to a seasoned sergeant on a night raid in an insurgent hotspot.
WARRIORS opens a compelling, harrowing, and at times humorous, window on some less familiar sides of a soldier’s life: a look at who they are, what they do and why.
and

operation homecoming
OPERATION HOMECOMING is a unique documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words. The film is built upon a project created by the National Endowment for the Arts to gather the writing of servicemen and women and their families who have participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

cptv in connecticut
and
wgby in western mass

our thoughts and prayers

are with the family and friends of cmdr. philip a murphy-sweet

Former Groton sailor dies in Iraq

(Groton-WTNH) _ Cmdr. Philip A. Murphy-Sweet of Caldwell, Idaho, died April 7th in a vehicle that was struck by a roadside bomb near Baghdad.
Murphy-Sweet, a 16-year veteran with the U.S. Navy, attended the Naval Submarine School in Groton in 1992.
Murphy-Sweet had volunteered for six-month tour in Iraq and was killed with less than a month to go before his return home.

just so you know

traffic is going to be A MESS tomorrow (i think it's tomorrow) on farmington avenue and surrounding areas. guess i'll be taking ANOTHER route home from work

First Lady Laura Bush To Visit Connecticut

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- First lady Laura Bush will be in Connecticut next week, making stops in Bridgeport and Hartford, according to a White House spokeswoman.Bush will be in Bridgeport Monday to join the city's "Big Read" celebration, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts...........

.................Bush will talk about the national program that promotes reading during a stop at the Barnum Museum, then will travel to the Mark Twain House, a national historic landmark in Hartford.................

i wouldn't live there

(people in glass houses............) but i sure as heck want to see it. wicked cool!

Into The Looking Glass A 58-Year-Old Connecticut Masterpiece With A View To Thrill Is About To Open To The Public - And The Rush Is Already On

By STEVE GRANT, Courant Staff Writer

Architects say it is a masterpiece. The public is practically pounding on the door to see it. After 58 years, architect Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, maybe the most iconic modern home in the U.S. and a pioneering residence of the International style, opens to the public for the first time April 30.It is a house that delights both architects and the general public, though until now the public has essentially known it only from photographs...............

image: graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/01/26/magazine/26cnd-johns.2.650.jpg

voices in conflict is indeed going to be performed

OFF-BROADWAY! (so take that you members of the wilton school board)!

i'm so very happy for the students and teacher-advisers who are involved with the play

High School play, canceled in Wilton, heads to off-Broadway

WILTON, Conn. --A high school play about the Iraq war and canceled by the school's principal is headed for an off-Broadway production in New York.
The students are set to perform "Voices in Conflict" at The Public Theater and The Culture Project in June.
The play, a collection of readings that students in an advanced theater class assembled from interviews, letters and blogs from war veterans, was canceled by principal Timothy Canty after a student whose brother is serving in Iraq complained that the production lacked balance.
Canty and Gary Richards, Wilton schools superintendent, have said the students' script did not provide enough context to explore a complicated subject and may hurt families who have lost loved ones in the war.
Oskar Eustis, artistic director of The Public Theater, which was founded by Joseph Papp as a Shakespeare workshop in 1954, said he believed it was important to provide a venue for the students.
"Just the fact that you have high school students who are willing to take this kind of leap and actually engage in the big issues of the world, they have to be supported," he said.
The play fits the theater's mission, Eustis said. The theater is staging a play, "In Darfur," about the conflict in Sudan.
In 1985 it put on Larry Kramer's "The Normal Heart," about AIDS in New York City.
Bonnie Dickinson, who teaches the 15 students who created "Voices in Conflict," said they were honored to be offered a chance to perform in New York............

the thinking blogger awards

cv rick has tagged this blog with a thinking blogger award

(why? i don't know but i AM honored)
i am not going to pick any of the blogs that were already picked even if they WERE in my top five. they've already been chosen so i don't need to.

Here are the rules-
Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.

here are my five (and it WAS a tough choice. there are WAY more than five)

1) ramblings of a lexington parrothead beach bum writes about his life, his family, politics, strange creatures found in his house and on and on. i like him.

2) morning martini pissed off patricia (p o p as i like to call her) writes about politics, the land, fred the cat, mr p o p and has beautiful pictures too. i like her

3) the cool justice report andy thibault writes about many things but he is always seeking the truth. it's mainly a connecticut based blog. i like him

4) drinking liberally in new milford is of course a connecticut based blog by connecticut man 1. politics as well. great sense of humor. i like him

and
5) caffeinated geek girl by c g g. yet another connecticut blog. c g g talks about politics, houses, yoga, animals, familes. the works. i like her

i would have a coffee (or something a bit stronger) with ALL of these people. they're down to earth, HAVE BRAINS but even more importlantly have a heart and soul.

from our buds over at the cool justice report

more on the saga of billy smolinski

Wtby Paper: Police Release File On Missing Man
Thursday, April 12, 2007 BY BRYNN MANDEL Copyright © 2007 Republican-American
The state Freedom of Information commission on Wednesday ordered the release of much of the police investigative file in the case of Billy Smolinski Jr., a Waterbury man who disappeared nearly three years ago.The file included statements from those who had seen Smolinski in the days leading to Aug. 24, 2004, when the then-31-year-old Naugatuck native was last seen. The documents detail leads and tips chased down by Waterbury police, from September 2004 through June of last year.Waterbury police said last August that they had "exhausted all avenues of investigation available to us" and were turning the case over to the FBI.A FBI spokeswoman said Wednesday the agency is investigating the case, and they continue to receive information from Waterbury police. She declined to answer any other questions.Across all 14 of the written reports made public Wednesday, the offense listed was "missing person.".............

and

Shocking Bomb In Smolinski File

By ANDY THIBAULT
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is available for reprint courtesy of The Cool Justice Report, http://cooljustice.blogspot.com

An informant told Waterbury police in June 2006 that Billy Smolinski was murdered in a Woodbridge apartment and buried under concrete in a Shelton development.The informant gave detectives the names of several suspects.Inexplicably, it appears the lead was not followed up except for a drive by the development on Hubbell Lane in the White Hills section of Shelton.Two Waterbury detectives met with the informant. Their report on the meeting was among 17 pages released today by order of the state Freedom of Information Commission...........


why weren't leads followed up? why were the police acting odd? why were ANY of these reports secret? (have you ever heard of secret reports on missing citizens? we're not talking high level spys here. we're talking your neighbor)

another shout out to george christian

connecticut librarian AND a hero. you may not know it but he is
(by the way, i work for an insurance company and i am not even going to tell you what WE have to do because of the patriot act)
Librarian warns against secrecy in terrorism investigation

By Andrew Miga, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON --A Connecticut librarian who fended off an FBI demand for computer records on patrons said Wednesday the government's secret anti-terrorism investigations strip away personal freedoms
"Terrorists win when the fear of them induces us to destroy the rights that make us free," George Christian told a Senate panel.
In prepared testimony, Christian said his experience "should raise a big patriotic American flag of caution" about the strain that the government's pursuit of would-be terrorists puts on civil liberties.
The government uses the Patriot Act and other laws to learn, without proper judicial oversight or any after-the-fact review, what citizens are researching in libraries, Christian said.................

i made mine in cotton

my bainbridge scarf

in peaches and cream (by elmore-pisgah)

i made it in cotton so i could wear it year round. i have chronic neck problems and i thought this might help. i KNOW it will help when the air conditioning starts blowing on me from above at work.

while everyone is chit chatting

and playing nice-nice with catholic hospitals what is happening to the women who are being assaulted and brought to catholic hospitals in the mean time?

(remember plan b is NOT an abortion pill. no matter what people say, what you hear, IT IS NOT AN ABORTION PILL)

Plan B at Connecticut Catholic hospitals

(Hartford-NECN) _ Connecticut lawmakers and the Catholic clergy are struggling with how to treat rape victims brought to emergency rooms at Catholic hospitals.
Victims advocates say emergency contraception is not something women who are raped can do without.
"No woman should be forced to carry the child of a rapist or choose to have an abortion because she was denied a simple course of pills when she needed it," said Laura Cordes of the CT Sexual Assault Crisis Service. "Rape victims can't wait for emergency contraception because emergency contraception is most effective at preventing a pregnancy the sooner it is taken."
Lawmakers know that for Catholic hospitals, this is not only a legal and medical issue.
"We understand and are very sensitive to the fact that there's an issue of faith that's implicated here," said State Senator Jonathan Harris.
Harris says there are enough votes to get a bill requiring all hospitals in the state to provide emergency contraception out of committee, but he does not want to force this on Catholic hospitals. To that end, talks have been ongoing for months. ...........

hey kev

i'm NOT sure i'd take on the new job

U.S. Attorney for Connecticut named Attorney General's chief of staff

by News Channel 8's Annie Rourke

(New Haven-WTNH) _ Kevin O'Connor, Connecticut's top federal prosecutor, has been named chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Attorney Dennis Kerrigan says, he has known O'Connor for 15 years, professionally and politically and says, the announcement did not take him by surprise.
"I think it's a great honor for him and a great honor for the state to have someone that high up in the Justice Department," said Kerrigan. .................

...........O'Connor will start his new role on April 26th, but will remain the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut. After six-months, he and Gonzales will decide whether he will continue doing both jobs. ................

there is also some
flack going on regarding fired us attorney iglesias. they say he was fired for being an 'absentee' us attorney. why was he absent? HE WAS SERVING IN THE NAVAL RESERVES.

so us attorney kevin o'connor is still going to retain being us attorney in connecticut yet NOT serve connecticut? how does THAT work?

Prosecutor Heads Into D.C. Fray O'Connor Named Top Gonzales Aide

By EDMUND H. MAHONY, And DAVID LIGHTMAN Courant Staff Writers
Kevin J. O'Connor, Connecticut's top federal prosecutor, agreed Tuesday to become chief of staff to embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose hold on his office has weakened amid accusations that he was involved in the political dismissals of U.S. attorneys.Colleagues said O'Connor, who since January has spent much of his time in Washington, was offered and agreed to accept the position after a relatively quick process........

(by the way, i DO wish kevin o'connor luck and no ill will. i DO want him to succeed. i'm just not sure i'd follow the same path. hell, i KNOW i wouldn't follow the same path!)

update on the baker's dozen attack

nothing new really. those 'accused' pleaded NOT GUILTY. of course there are tons of witnesses and many scars. we'll see how this all turns out

Two charged in Yale singers attack plead not guilty

(San Franciso-AP) _ The two men charged with a New Year's Day assault on a group of a Yale University a cappella singers have pleaded not guilty.
Richard Aicardi and Brian Dwyer appeared in San Francisco Superior Court Monday, where Dwyer entered his plea. Aicardi pleaded not guilty last month. Aicardi and Dwyer face assault and battery charges stemming from what police said was an attack on an all-male a cappella group called the Baker's Dozen after a New Year's Eve party.
Witnesses at the time said the trouble started after the 16 Ivy League vocalists sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Authorities say one of the singers, Evan Gogel, suffered a concussion after being repeatedly kicked by Aicardi, Dwyer and others while he was on the ground. Aicardi was also charged with punching Yale student William Bailey as he tried to get away. ...........

manslaughter?

you DON'T pound nails into someone and not be charged with MURDER

except of course if you're michael pires junior (sr was indeed convicted of murder though)

Man sentenced to 25 years in prison for Norwich beating death

New London-AP) _ A Norwich man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for his role in the 2004 beating death of 43-year-old William Derose in Norwich.
Michael Pires Junior was originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty in February to reduced charges of first-degree manslaughter and hindering prosecution in the June 2004 beating death.
Last August, a Superior Court jury convicted Pires' father, 51-year-old Michael Pires Senior, of murder in the same incident. The elder Pires was sentenced in October to 60 years in prison. .........

archive of original story

the wild gang of west hartford

turkeys that is.

they ususally DO travel in packs. they can be mean. they ARE huge (bigger than one thinks) and they eat like oinkers.


just about a year ago, a big ol' wild turkey landed on a lower roof at work


Neighborhood In The Grip Of Gobblers

By HILDA MUÑOZ, And DANIEL P. JONES Courant Staff Writers

WEST HARTFORD -- It's more Birds Gone Wild than an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, but some wild turkeys have become the new neighborhood punks in an area off King Philip Drive.In the past month, the increasingly brazen birds have surrounded cars on driveways, torn up gardens, chased pedestrians and postal workers and even attacked a cop, pecking the officer's hand and drawing blood."They pick the bulbs from my flowers. I have to chase them away," said Maria Rodrigues, a Brewster Road resident for nine years. "They chase cars, too."..........

sol lewitt

academics.triton.edu/faculty/fheitzman/sol%20...

artlex.com/.../images/linocut_lewit.lg.jpg

unlike a lot of 'minimalists' work, i liked sol's work. i didn't know him, never met him but it sure seems like he was very well respected. not just for his art though, for his character.

Hartford Artist Sol LeWitt Dead At 78

By DEBORAH HORNBLOW, The Hartford Courant

Sol LeWitt, a Hartford-born artist known as one of America's most significant visual artists of the past four decades, died this morning in New York City at the age of 78.The modest artist, an innovator in minimalism and conceptual art, eschewed fame and celebrity.

"He never felt that art has to do with the personality of the person who made it," says Andrea Miller-Keller, former curator of contemporary art at Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum and a longtime friend and collaborator who is regarded as a foremost interpreter of his work. "It's not about the star power but about the art."...............

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: the nomination was (suspiciously) withdrawn

ravings of a semi-sane madwoman: the nomination was (suspiciously) withdrawn


ah and a bit more from the hartford courant

By DAVID LIGHTMAN, Washington Bureau Chief, The Hartford Courant

................Connecticut's senators became active on opposite sides of the controversy.Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, took the extraordinary step in February of testifying on behalf of Fox, praising his civic work and calling him a man who "represents what America is all about."The day after the 2006 election, Fox and his wife each contributed $10,500 to Lieberman's Senate re-election campaign.Last week, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the second-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took a very different view.``His unwillingness to denounce the reprehensible activities of the Swift Boat organization, and express regret for providing $50,000 to bankroll the organization, convinced me that he would not be an acceptable candidate to represent the United States abroad," said Dodd, who usually goes along with presidential nominees...................

blue state coffee - check it out!

wow, an 18 year old with a heart and soul and conscience. andrew, i'm going to check out your website AND i wish you much luck in your venture.



blue state coffee

Liberal Causes Suit Start-Up Coffee Company's Tastes

By JANICE PODSADA, Courant Staff Writer

The average American drinks an estimated 23 gallons of coffee a year - about 400 cups, according to a recent study.Add a dollop of foam or flavor, and a cup of designer joe at a coffee shop can cost more than $4.
Those high prices didn't escape 16-year-old Andrew Ruben's notice as he and his father stood in line at a Wallingford coffee shop two years ago."It made me wonder, where is the money going?" said Ruben, who is now 18 and one of the founders of Blue State Coffee LLC, a Hartford-based coffee company.............

.............With everyone downing so much java, they reasoned, why not start a coffee company that donates a portion of its profits to worthwhile causes and organizations?In September 2006, they launched Blue State Coffee, a for-profit company. Right now, the company has only a website, but this June it's planning to open its first coffee shop in Providence................

you go boy!

a connecticut unit, keeping the peace

a rather nice story out of afghanistan. hurry home 102nd! we miss you and WE THANK YOU for your service.
(and thanks to the students of ms troy's and other classes at mathewson elementary school for the clothing drive!!! wicked cool)

Trained To Kill, Instead They Give For State Troops Returning From Afghanistan, Helping Children Made All The Difference

By JESSE HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer
When U.S. soldiers settle into a strange land, such as the rocky borderlands of Afghanistan's eastern side, you can bet their best friendships will be with the smallest of the locals: the children.In Iraq and Afghanistan, the outposts and bases become suns in the orbits of area children, hoping for handouts and excitement and maybe an education about the armored strangers living in their neighborhoods

Some troops from Connecticut who have been in Iraq have learned a special wariness of children, who have sometimes been deadly, grenade-carrying pawns of the insurgency. But for a few Connecticut soldiers now in the Jalalabad area of Afghanistan, the bond with Afghan children is what they will take away from their year at war..........

............"You're trained to be aggressive, to fight, to kill. The hardest thing coming here is they're trying to win over the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan, so you have to take your aggression down a couple of notches," Troy said by phone from Afghanistan. His group has only been in a single long firefight, he said, and none of the soldiers was hurt."We came over here expecting to fight a war when what we're actually doing is trying to keep the peace.".........

a horrible shame

i'm sorry to the family and friends of officer burgos. i'm sorry his girlfriend had to witness this.

i heard about this yesterday morning. i stop and get my coffee VERY early. there are always some type of officers there. capital police. state police. hartford police. i heard a state trooper tell someone about this.

Hartford officer kills self

West Hartford-WTNH) _ A Hartford police officer on the job for about four years killed himself Sunday night, Hartford police said.
Officer Freddy Burgos shot himself outside a Walgreen's drug store on Farmington Avenue around 11:00 p.m............

Hartford Officer Commits Suicide

By HILDA MUÑOZ AND TINA BROWN, Courant Staff Writers


A off-duty Hartford police officer committed suicide in his car in West Hartford shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday night, officials said this morning.Officer Freddy Burgos shot himself outside of the Walgreen's on Farmington Avenue near the Hartford town line, officials said. The medical examiner's office has scheduled an autopsy today............

..........West Hartford police were called at 11:03 p.m. about gunshots at 674 Farmington Avenue. When officers arrived the victim was being loaded into an ambulance, West Hartford police said.He was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, police said. A hospital spokeswoman did not confirm that Burgos was at the hospital..............

first flowers

my martini

it's already starting in west hartford because of black and blue square

i KNEW it would. didn't know it would be that soon.

i went to whole foods yesterday afternoon about noon. yes, i know it's usually a bit more crowded at that time. i know not only the regular crew of shoppers is there but some of the construction workers from black and blue also stop off to get lunch. they don't drive though, they walk across the street. there is a new light at the entrance of whole foods. it's jamming up the lot AND raymond road. i know they did build another entrance into whole foods from trout brook too AND there is an entrance from farmington avenue (which i use). the lot was a mess. all of the spots were full (of GIANT UNNEEDED AND UNNECESSARY i might add) SUVs. suvs being driven by ONE person, not entire families. SUVs taking up 1 1/2 parking spots.

the traffic was a nightmare and black and blue square isn't anywhere near open yet. i can only imagine

i'm already saying i told ya so

my thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of private 1st class orlando gonzalez

Soldier born in Bridgeport killed in Iraq

(WTNH) _ A soldier born in Bridgeport and who has family in Shelton died in combat in Iraq.
Army Private 1st Class Orlando Gonzalez, 21, was killed in combat on Sunday in Baqubah, Iraq.
Pfc. Gonzalez was assigned to the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division out of Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.
According to the Pentagon, Gonzalez and three others in his unit were killed when an IED, or improvised explosive device, went off near their vehicle.
Gonzalez was born and lived in Bridgeport until he was six. His father currently lives in Shelton..........

da liebs is living in the SAME world as mccain is

remember the other day mccain said it was SAFE to take walks through some iraqi neighborhoods? well i wanna see johnny and joey hand in hand strolling on a breezy summer's eve right down an iraqi main street or two! oh, WITHOUT armed security protective forces of course

every day you pick up the paper and read about the horrors. the people fleeing their homes for other countries. the retaliation killings, the bodies found.

i don't know WHAT soldiers they talked to that said it's getting better. i say put the crack pipe down, back away slowly AND COME BACK TO REALITY

Lieberman: Soldiers 'more confident' in Iraq

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut, told CNN Thursday he thinks the president's changed policy in Iraq has successfully decreased the violence in Baghdad and increased the confidence of U.S. forces there."Our soldiers told [Ret. Gen. Jack Keane] they feel more confident than ever as they go on patrol in Baghdad in the neighborhoods we've settled into with their Iraqi colleagues," Lieberman told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "The Iraqi people are coming out and protecting them because they have chased out the fanatics on both sides, those who were carrying out sectarian killings." (Watch video: CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviews Sen. Lieberman)"The American soldier is more confident walking the streets of Baghdad today and that's a very important change," he added.........

(one of the soldiers i correspond with was especially wary about 'walking the streets'. he told me they all have to bring their gas masks with them now. lots of chlorine attacks)

justice for billy