plan b at one way fare

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

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



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



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



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

anyway, here's some words from the courant

New Owners Offer Blended Plan B

By LORETTA WALDMAN, Courant Staff Writer

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

yet another stupid

connecticut (alleged) criminal

Conn. Woman Tried To Rob Bank In Limo

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

is anyone else getting two phone bills

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

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

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

only one more step

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

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

YOU elected him

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

Lieberman Helps Collect Cash for Collins

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

there HAS to be a better way

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

Man who claimed wife died in Iraq pleads to sex assault

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

perhaps da liebs

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

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

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

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

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

the last of the 102nd are home

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

National Guard members return to Connecticut

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

mother's day for peace

blossoms in the morning

chris and matt

a couple of weeks ago - in front of the half door

the start of my

chevron scarf from last minute knitted gifts

tweedy cotton classic #476 (the pinkish purplish yarn)

cotton classic color #109 (the blue/green/purple)

both by tahki-stacy charles

(from sit-n-knit in west hartford center)

bear!

takin' a stroll in hamden

i'm not one to go to concerts (any more)

i don't like large venues (although i DID enjoy the allman brothers at whatever it's called now. before it was called what it is now mind you, the dodge theater or ford or yugo)

i DID see many a fine act at toad's though and i sure do hope to see many in the future (anyone remember the sting in new britain? i enjoyed the hell out of THAT place too. while we're at it, and i'm dating myself. how about the shaboo??? damn some GOOD GOOD GOOD times)

Famous night club ordered closed for three months

NEW HAVEN, Conn. --There will be no beers poured, no dancing, no screaming guitars, no gigs at Toad's Place for the next three months.
The famous nightclub, where stars from Count Basie to the Rolling Stones and Johnny Cash to U2 have all performed, shut its doors Friday for three months by order of the state Liquor Control Division.
Liquor control agents and police officers raided Toad's Place in November 2005 as the club was holding a "College Night."
The club was charged with selling of alcohol to minors and negotiated a settlement with the state. It agreed to close its doors for 90 days and pay a $90,000 fine. None of the underage drinkers was arrested.
"What's done is done," Toads General Manager Ed Dingus of Hamden told the New Haven Register. "We've got to play by the rules."..............

please say a few kind words or a prayer or two for the 405th

combat support hospital. they're out of my hood, west hartford, but are from all over the northeast. let's all keep a good thought out for them

Medical unit deploys to Iraq

by News Channel 8's Jamie Muro

(West Hartford-WTNH) _ It was a special send-off Sunday in West Hartford for 95-men and women of the 405th Combat Support Hospital.
The unit is stationed in West Hartford, but these medical professionals bound for Iraq came from all over the northeast. Some family members and friends traveled great lengths to see off their loved ones from the United States Armed Forces Reserve Center.
Doctors, nurses and dentists make up this group of people who are often unseen in the media spotlight of this war, but some say their contribution is immeasurable. .........

Back To The Desert For New Face Of War Reservists Making Second Trip Over

By JESSE HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer

For the first time in the Iraq war, one of Connecticut's units of Army reservists is returning for a second lengthy deployment to the Middle East. It's just the first of what will likely be a series of local units sent back to the war, military officials say. The 405th Combat Support Hospital, a U.S. Army Reserve unit based in West Hartford, had already served in Kuwait in the buildup to the Iraq War, and about a hundred of its members will return soon to a very different situation....
..............The 405th had deployed to Kuwait in 2002, as U.S. forces were readying for a possible military confrontation with Iraq. They staffed a combat hospital for several months, but it had few trauma patients. An October 2002 attack on some Marines in Kuwait provided their main experience with combat wounds and with a dead American. But the 405th came home before the real shooting war began in March 2003............

the west end

i spend a lot of time in the west end. it's a great area. diverse, lovely, wonderful restaurants, bodegas, shops (try De Vars-Phillips Florist out. they have great gifts too, not just flowers) all sorts of people from college kids to elderly (there is an elderly housing complex on sisson by the fire house). oxford street is full of big beautiful homes (as are a lot of other streets in that hood. many historic buildings not just the mark twain home and harriet beecher stowe's house). of course my beloved half door is in the hood too. that doesn't hurt

CHRISTIAN AND KATE WINKLEY play with their daughter, Anna, outside their home on Oxford Street in Hartford, their first of several renovation projects on the block in the West End. They live on the first floor of the house above and rent out the other two floors. (ROSS TAYLOR)

Young City Homeowners Make Modern History
By NANCY SCHOEFFLER, At Home Editor
The house had asbestos siding, and all the architectural details were covered up. The porch was rotted, and the ceiling was caving in.But, says Kate Winkley, "the bones were there Christian and Kate Winkley transformed their three-family home on Oxford Street in Hartford's West End, and then they started to transform the neighborhood: They now own three other houses on the block and another just around the corner, all renovated or in the works."Multifamily houses are so often neglected; often they're non-owner-occupied," says Christian Winkley, noting that all but one of the houses on the block are multifamily dwellings. "This was a perfect block to bring back," Winkley says. "It just needed a little TLC," adds his wife.................

is anyone taking a look at the waterbury police department?

i have been following the billy smolinski case (thanks to andy thibault at the cool justice report). seems the waterbury police department* ROYALLY screwed things up. seems like the did it on PURPOSE, not as an oversight. seems like they were protecting people they should have been investigating.

to the smolinskis, i really do hope you find the answers you seek. i'm sorry for your loss and your pain. i'm sorry the people who were supposed to help, serve and protect (as in the waterbury police department) DID NOT do so.

thanks to the cool justice report for forwarding this article to me

oh and a shout out to all of the OTHER journalists who have not let the smolinski case fade away. the family deserves the truth
Buried Secrets

By John Murray
She couldn't go.
Janice Smolinski knew that if she drove to Shelton she'd be on her knees clawing at the earth to uncover Billy. No, she couldn't go, Janice and her husband Bill had to first process the devastating information they had just read in the Waterbury police report. After three years of searching for their 31 year old son, the Smolinskis now believed they knew what happened to Billy when he vanished from his life in August 2004. The moment that Bill and Janice Smolinski had long sought was here, but it wasn't playing out the way they'd imagined..........

............The Observer visited Waterbury Police Chief Neil O'Leary's office and he was direct in saying he suspected foul play. O'Leary was not involved with the investigation and hooked the Observer up with deputy chief Jimmy Egan and told him to share information with the newspaper. Egan began by calling Billy Smolinski a mixed up kid who is probably in Europe having a cold beer. Egan challenged the credibility of Janice Smolinski by inferring she was a bit daffy because she had talked with psychics. After several minutes of smearing the Smolinskis, Egan asked if we had any other questions. When we asked about the love triangle he began to squirm. When we specifically asked about Chris Sorensen the deputy chief asked if we were going to publish his name.
When we said we might, Egan said we'd ruin the guy's life. Egan paced back and forth across the room and appeared to be more concerned with protecting Sorensen and Gleason than finding out what happened to Billy Smolinski. A second meeting with Egan three days later was in stark contrast. He was subdued and concerned about the Smolinski family and their search for Billy. He stated he had lots of empathy for the Smolinskis and had never said a bad word about them.
That was a lie..............

ah, but that's NOT all. i happened to be watching nbc (dateline) the other day. to my amazement what do i see? a story about how the waterbury police department MESSED UP AGAIN (earlier, in 1993, but this along with the smolinski case certainly would be sending up red flags to me)

a woman was raped (her children sleeping in rooms next to her), reported it to the waterbury police department and they turn around and threaten HER with arrest because they didn't believe her????

Former ‘Jane Doe’ fights for other rape victims
Police ignored Donna Palomba's case, now she's helping others seek justice


By John Springer
TODAYShow.com contributor
Updated: 9:24 a.m. ET April 27, 2007
Donna Palomba was alone in bed on a September night in 1993, when she heard the distinct sound of footsteps approaching closer and closer.
Then she saw him. The man in the mask.
With her husband away on business and her children asleep down the hall, the Waterbury, Conn., woman was no match for the shadowy figure in her bedroom. Armed with a knife and a handgun, he cut Palomba's bed clothes and raped her.
When it was over, the man menaced Palomba with the gun and threatened to return and kill her if she told anyone about the assault. Although she did run to the home of a neighbor and called 911, for some time afterward Palomba wondered if calling police was a mistake.
They didn't believe her.
The lead investigator for the Waterbury Police Department accused Palomba of making up the story, and threatened to charge her with making a false police report...............

(*in all fairness chief neil o'leary appears to at the very least be willing to listen.)

update on ryan riddle

(and yet ANOTHER shout out to news channel 8)

a soldier SHOT in iraq and denied benefits here, given the run around yet one of the men responsible for the run around is given a $33,000 BONUS? shite, that just is NOT right

why did wtnh channel 8 have to go out to find proof ryan riddle was wounded in iraq? why didn't
ronald aument find proof? isn't that part of HIS job?
shouldn't our veterans, ESPECIALLY the wounded ones be taken care of?


Soldier denied benefits, cutting through the red tape

(Southington-WTNH)_An Iraq War veteran and Southington resident is a living example of the red tape that is bogging down the Veterans Administration.
While soldiers like Ryan Riddle struggle to get medical coverage for war wounds there is word that some VA officials in charge of their paperwork are getting huge cash performance bonuses. Team 8 Investigator Alan Cohn recently confronted, Ronald Aument, one of the bureaucrats who received one of those bonuses.
"The question is, how could a TV station from Connecticut reach out to people in Baghdad and confirm that this private was shot and the VA can't?""Frankly, I don't know the facts, but I'll be happy to look into it," Aument said............

t.r. rowe (r-trumbull) you're WRONG

you CANNOT have love or compassion to or for a woman UNLESS you allow her the RIGHT to choose plan b IF she seeks medical treatment after a rape. once again, PLAN B DOES NOT CAUSE AN ABORTION. it is a contraceptive (yes, i know the catholic church prohibits the use of contraceptives. by the way almost every catholic i know of child bearing age USES CONTRACEPTION).

it is indeed a victory for connecticut and especially it's women

House Passes Bill Requiring Hospitals To Dispense Plan B

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a bill that requires all hospitals in the state, including Catholic ones, to offer rape victims emergency contraception.
The bill passed on a 113-36 vote, following a three-hour debate.
The legislation, which passed the Senate last week, now moves to Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell's desk. The governor suggested she's inclined to sign the bill into law.......

............."I know I may be spitting against the wind here," said Rep. T.R. Rowe, R-Trumbull, a Catholic, pleading with his colleagues. "I ask each of you to think again before you cast your vote this afternoon. You can still have great love, care and compassion for victimized women. You can still do right by them and vote against the underlying bill."
The emergency contraception, known as Plan B, helps prevent a pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of sex.
Last year, Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell directed Connecticut's four Catholic hospitals not to prescribe the drug if a rape victim is ovulating or an egg has been fertilized. Roman Catholics believe life begins at conception.
Barry Feldman, a lawyer for the Connecticut Catholic Hospitals Council, said Mansell is very disappointed. He said the state's bishops must now consider their options, including possible legal action.............

this is how we treat our war wounded: ryan riddle a connecticut horror story

they (the va) says there is NO proof of a wound? ryan riddle WAS SHOT in iraq (friendly fire, but shot none the less). why should he have to do a whole dog and pony show to get the benefits HE DESERVES?

and a GIANT shout out to wtnh, news channel 8 for attempting to do what SHOULD have been done all along.

this is bull shite

Injured Connecticut soldier denied service benefits

Southington-WTNH)_A presidential task force has announced new measures to improve what it describes as unacceptably poor coordination between the veterans administration and the defense department when it comes to helping wounded veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan prove their disability claims.
Just last week veterans affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said "these heroes should not have to fight bureaucratic red tape for benefits earned by their courageous service." Ryan Riddle is a Connecticut veteran who has been fighting through that red tape ever since he was wounded in Iraq............

.............It was an accidental shooting which left very real scars from shrapnel wounds to Riddle's wrist and legs. Doctors were unable to remove part of the bullet in his leg because it was too close to an artery.
Riddle received a commendation for his service at the checkpoint; the soldier who shot him got a reprimand. Riddle was discharged and moved home to Southington. He filed for service related benefits for the gun shot wound, and doctors at the Newington Veterans hospital told him there is no proof of his injury..............

...........That was almost a month ago. News Channel 8 turned over a letter written on Army stationary by Riddle's sergeant who was with him when he was shot. We even offered to give the VA the x-rays that show the bullet lodged in his thigh, but as of right now, Riddle's claim is still denied.
The VA said the documents help but it is still trying to get a hold of the soldiers that we had no trouble contacting to corroborate their story.
Rep. John Larson, (D, who has been following the case said it's ridiculous.........

stop here and say hello to

sugar

princess was eighteen years old - and she was found stuffed in a box

naked, bleach poured all over her and beaten so badly they didn't know what gender she was at first.

she was found on laurel street. i work VERY near laurel street. who knows, i may have passed her or one of the four who are accused of murdering her.

the following isn't a story about her death - it's a story of her tragic life. someone (colin poitras) took the time to find out
(it ain't easy being mentally ill)

It Was `Chaos All The Time' Slain `Princess' Often Rebelled Against Treatment, Ran Away

By COLIN POITRAS, Courant Staff Writer

When state officials sent Alexandria Clouse-Desmond to a special school in Bennington, Vt., last year, she jumped out of a window and ran away, only to be found hours later lying face down in a ditch on the side of the road.When Clouse-Desmond was receiving treatment at the state-run Riverview psychiatric hospital for children in Middletown the year before that, she ran from staff and plunged into the nearby Connecticut River in an apparent drowning attempt.
Last May, while again at Riverview, Clouse-Desmond was among a trio of young women who ran away during an outing to the movies. The girls were later found, all claiming to have been raped while they were out on the streets of Hartford.........

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............