Connecticut
updated
3:00 a.m.
As we get close to labor day you need to know that while Obama says "Yes you can!" McCain says "No you can't!" to American workers, telling them that they can't do the job. In McCain's fragile mind the real problem isn't about paying a man or woman fair wages for an honest day's work... McCain thinks the problem is that Americans just aren't good enough - hard working enough - to do these...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Wed 10:26 p.m.
Don't know much about the science behind poll numbers but these numbers look pretty good for the Obama Campaign considering they are a pre-VP selection poll which would put them around the time the McCain's multiple housing hypocrisy started to break : Obama holds a 47%-43% edge over McCain among registered voters and a 48%-45% edge among likely voters. Both leads are within the margin of e...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Wed 10:26 p.m.
From Bur at Weston Policy : As you may have seen on television, John McCain has said repeatedly that his energy policy is an “all of the above” program that includes “ drill here, drill now” for off-shore oil. McCain has not acknowledged that there is a huge area of the Gulf of Mexico already available and authorized for off-shore oil exploration, and oil companies have shown little interes...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Wed 10:26 p.m.
As Mike Moore's new book "Mike's Election Guide" goes on sale today , he does a little marketing of his own: The early reviews are in. The New York Daily News declares that "Mike's Election Guide" "takes no prisoners." The Associated Press calls it "a manual of mockery for the 2008 presidential election." And the St. Petersburg Times says that "Mike's Election Guide" is a "mix of outrageous h...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Wed 10:26 p.m.
By DAN MALLOY The past few days have been a whirlwind. Since Sunday, our time in Denver has been packed with meetings, press conferences, parties, and of course, some of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard. Throughout this week, convention participants were able to take advantage of a unique opportunity to share a dialogue on the most critical issues of [...]...
DanMalloy.com - Wed 10:26 p.m. - 3 clicks 
There were times during the primary season where I thought Bill Clinton was losing his marbles. But the guy was right on tonight. Great speech, delivered with the old Clinton magic. Time to make some history and elect the first African-American President of the United States of America come November....
Saramerica - Wed 9:01 p.m.
Nashawn Williams was brutally attacked by racist whites in Plainfield while waiting for a school bus in Oct. 2007; yet there has been NO progress to date by the Plainfield Police department nor actions by the State of Connecticut speaking in outrage to such a racist act. Date: Saturday, September 6th Time: 11 am Place: Charter Oak Cultural [...]...
Undercurrents - Wed 7:09 p.m. - 4 clicks
For those of you who know me, you know that my wife (I will call her Susan) is a Dominican U.S. citizen. You also know we have an 8 year old son (whom I will call Jeffrey), though technically he’s my stepson. Our son’s biological dad is an African American man whom my wife met [...]...
Undercurrents - Wed 6:02 p.m.
My daughter, who hates politics, liked her speech. "She's a good speaker. I didn't even want to turn off the TV." Given daughter's antipathy for all things political, this is high praise indeed! She also commented, "I wish she could be president." Yes. I believe I've made that observation in the past....
Saramerica - Wed 4:09 p.m.
At last the drama of fake text messages is over and Delaware Senator Joe Biden is the VP running mate choice of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Not the worst choice. Biden brings foreign policy chops and he can certainly hold his own in a debate: his "Noun+Verb+9/11" line about Guiliani was the best of the entire primary season. What remains to be seen is how the disgruntled ...
Saramerica - Wed 4:09 p.m.
The Himes campaign held a press conference at the Congress Street Bridge in Bridgeport earlier today. The bridge has been stuck upright for over a decade, a symbol, Himes said, of the wrong priorities of our current Congressman. "For years, just like this bridge, Chris Shays has been stuck in the wrong position on the issues that matter to our families," said Himes. "The choice in this election...
Saramerica - Wed 4:09 p.m. - 4 clicks
Seems like Mr. Springsteen won't be in Denver, but Mr. Bon Jovi will be. Maybe if Mr. Bon Jovi weren't there, Mr. Springsteen would be. Maybe Mr. Obama didn't want to be upstaged by The Boss, and being upstaged by Mr. Bon Jovi is not possible. After all, what would you rather hear, You Give Love A Bad Name , or Born to Run . ...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
I'll admit a good deal of ignorance on the relationship between Russia, and the now independent states which used to be part of the Soviet Union. But this I know, a country which has preemptively invaded a sovereign nation has no right to criticize a country which had done the same. The US no longer has moral ground to stand upon to criticize Russia for invading Georgia, when we invaded Iraq...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
I read last week that the great voice of Ronnie Drew was silenced last week when he died of cancer in Dublin. Drew, and his band The Dubliners, were a huge inspiration to Shane MacGowan, and the Pogues. The Dubliners and The Pogues had a top ten British hit in the 90's with The Irish Rover . ...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
Glenn Greenwald was out front of the party AT&T threw for Blue Dog (conservative) Democrats prior to the DNC. He conjectures that AT&T is providing party payback for all of those who helped pitch retroactive immunity in the FISA bill. Seems like he might be right. Oh, but damn, Glenn has balls, but he could use a few lessons in basic video production. ...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
Seems like Chris Shays picked up something for those Lieberman goons who continued to show up at Lamont campaign stops. ConnecticutBob features video of Shays crashing a Jim Himes presser. Seems like Shays may have a memory as faulty as the ironically-named, Congress Street bridge. We wonder if Shays will spend the next two months stalking Himes' campaign events....
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m. - 5 clicks
She's brilliant. She's spunky. She doesn't take shit from Pat Buchanan, or Keith Olbermann. And she just might be the future of liberal television. Jennifer, can you get me an autograph? ...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
(Huoppi - New London Day) While spending most of his days turncoat campaigning in states other than Connecticut, Creepy Joe™ Lieberman, spoke at one of his regular Chamber of Commerce appearances in New London yesterday and refused to talk politics, except to say that: ”I've never expected to be selected for vice president,” the senator said. “I've worked real hard, as people here know...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m. - 7 clicks
Robert Novak throws Creepy Joe™ Lieberman under the bus in a column today. Novak, who has retired from his regular writing duties after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, thought the topic important enough to step out of retirement to vanquish our favorite "liberal" senator. I guess I've been wrong about Lieberman's ability to achieve bipartisan agreement. Seems like both parties agree h...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m. - 8 clicks
Since the deserved and needed attacks on the McCain campaign have not materialized in the first day of the Democratic National Convention, I offer this splendid dismemberment offered by Keith Olbermann . I missed it last week when I was vacationing in Maine, but it's classic Keith. BTW, when was the last time you heard a TV talking head use the words, "calumny" or "persiflage" or "dyspeptic." ...
Caterwauled - Wed 4:09 p.m.
Creepy Joe™ Lieberman is profiled, er, skewered in a New York Magazine piece which tries to understand his journey from liberal Democrat to hawkish indy-Republicrat. The piece is entitled Joe Vengence. One of the most telling quotes is about race. When asked about Obama as a candidate, he doesn't mention his education, his experience, his charisma or his amazing rise to prominence. No,...
Caterwauled - Mon 4:28 a.m. - 13 clicks
Some Fox reporter tried to mix it up with protestors in Denver recentlty. But, as far as I can remember, Fox News wasn't around in 68, so their chants of "fuck Fox News," is a creative innovation. ...
Caterwauled - Mon 12:52 a.m.
Over at the Danbury NewsTimes they have a story on Joe being the typical warmongering neocon stooge that he is in his support for McCain the endless war candidate... But they don't have the balls to actually write the truth about that. Anyways. I get down to the comments and find a comment from the insane GOP side of the aisle trying to pose a Democratic party type: "It is too bad that few if ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Sun 10:40 p.m. - 10 clicks
By DAN MALLOY I’ve officially arrived in Denver and I’m looking forward to an exciting convention. Throughout the week, I will be posting updates and pictures from the convention. Check here often and participate with me as I join Democrats from around the country to make history as we nominate Barack Obama and Joe Biden as [...]...
DanMalloy.com - Sun 3:45 p.m. - 8 clicks
I haven't watched a minute of the Olympics. It wasn't an official protest, though I have to say part of my motivation from staying away was the thought of somehow supporting a repressive Chinese culture, but actually, I'm just not that interested. However, I've been following news reports and found two stories which are reprehensible. One is the repressive nature of the Chinese government ...
Caterwauled - Sun 8:21 a.m.
ctblogger had some material stolen from him and misused and abused by Republican candidate David Cappiello: Then it dawned upon me why the image caught my attention...because I shot the photograph. Seeing that the budget for this ad was rather low, and most (if not all the images) in this so-called "ad" were a result of a google image search, it's no surprise that the top-notch Ca...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Sun 6:24 a.m.
Because Bloggers weren't around at previous conventions, weren't there in the trenches for countless elections, primaries and issues. No, Bloggers haven't been doing what we have been doing and coalescing into one of the largest activist and information sharing networks, shaping the narrative of the news cycles in an effort to counterbalance failures in the older and compromised traditional media...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Sat 3:52 p.m. - 4 clicks
Via idredit at the Booman Tribune : Susan Eisenhower has given up on the GOP. In an essay posted at The National Interest she has aired her disgust with the GOP's direction and the McCain campaign on foreign and domestic issues ..... the "party has lost its way." ...snip... - "The GOP [is] a political organization that has already consumed nearly all of its moderate "seed corn." ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Fri 10:28 p.m. - 5 clicks
Looks like it may very well be Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate. Via ABC's Political Punch: U.S. Secret Service on Way to Biden's House; Kaine and Bayh Told Nope on Veep August 22, 2008 10:50 PM The United States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a source tells ABC News, indicating in all likelihood th...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Fri 10:28 p.m. - 3 clicks
"Even though I voted for everything that is ruining this country right now , I am the candidate of hope AND straight talk ... After 20 years in the House, vote for me for real change! I am candidate Chris Shays and I desperately approve of this message!" Are you buying this? Scarce has the video up at MLN and isn't buying a word of it: Christopher Shays is Wrong For America Shays,...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Fri 10:48 a.m. - 15 clicks
DemFromCT provides a pundit roundup : Special Edition of John McCain and his seven eight houses. Do not swim with sharks while you cut your own jugular. See what happens when you do: White House Contenders Trade Economic Attacks After McCain Home Gaffe (ABC) McCain said that he wasn't sure of how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own Obama doesn't let up on McCain's homes ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Fri 8:07 a.m. - 4 clicks
Christopher Shays, who has spent the last seven years shilling for Bush on the Iraq war, and ignoring his constituents concerns on the matter, now sees himself as a latter day Barack Obama. He may call himself a moderate Republican, but he's not Abe Lincoln, and he's not even Lincoln Chaffee. To think that he thinks he's like Barack Obama is not only ludicrous, it's shameful. He may as well com...
Caterwauled - Fri 4:22 a.m. - 12 clicks
According to the Washington Post, the Bush administration has announced that it intends to push for a federal regulation that “empowers federal health officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics, health plans, doctors’ offices and other entities if they do not accommodate employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable [...]...
Undercurrents - Thu 7:46 p.m. - 3 clicks
I can hear the bigoted right wingnuts already... "Them damned foreigners coming here and stealing our jobs! Stealing our gold too! " Olympic Gold and The Taste of Bittersweet Irony Henry Cejudo, son of undocumented Mexican immigrants , wins Olympic freestyle wrestling title at 121 pounds. ...snip... Oh what bittersweet irony it is. Congratulations Henry Cejudo, you deserve to bask in ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Thu 2:52 p.m. - 4 clicks
Really Chris, you're kidding right? Chris Shays: an independent or a Congressman who's lock in step with George Bush? Unlike Shay's laughable ad, his voting record doesn't lie... (h/t to the great Scarce) UPDATE: Even Chris Matthews is laughing over the ad. ...again, props to Scarce ...
ConnecticutBlog - Thu 2:07 p.m. - 16 clicks
I regret not being able to attend the meeting with Colonel Keith Landry and the Army Corps of Engineers held Tuesday night, but from reading news accounts here , and here , and on this site, it seems like more of the same to me. To begin with, the public was not allowed to speak. Most of us don't need to be reminded that it was the PUBLIC, and not any of the elected officials who were allowed...
Caterwauled - Thu 8:48 a.m. - 3 clicks
By MICHAEL K. NORRIS Now that the media has convinced us with polling data that the presidential race is “close” enough to keep their ratings and site traffic up, I thought it would be a nice time for all 300 million of us to wonder who may not pick up the phone when a pollster calls: 1) [...]...
DanMalloy.com - Thu 6:04 a.m. - 5 clicks
We have firmly established that John McCain lied over and over again at the Forum on Faith , But now news comes out that The McCain campaign has been caught lying concerning meeting with Mother Theresa : The Christian Science Monitor reports that Cindy McCain was caught lying about meeting Mother Teresa: The latest embellishments come from the McCain camp. Cindy McCain has repeat...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 21 - 4 clicks
Questions from September 10th, 2001 that nobody ever got around to answering: How did the Pentagon lose 2.3 TRILLION dollars? Those 911 truthers out there sometimes make some really good points beyond just conspiracy theories. Think about it: $2,300,000,000,000.00 lost by the Pentagon in 1 year alone and neither Donald Rumsfeld nor George Bush have ever accounted for th...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 20 - 2 clicks
Via the Hartford Courant: State Official Involved In Middletown Hit-And-Run Investigation Law enforcement sources said that a witness has identified a vehicle traced back to Thomas F. White, director of operations for the department's Court Support Services Division, as being involved in Saturday afternoon's accident. The boy was hit while walking his bicycle across an intersection at Cross S...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 20 - 9 clicks
#3 story on Countdown's Blog the Newshole : The Maddow Show: A website called "The Progressive Puppy" calls it the quote, " single smartest move ever made by a television network ." 'The Nation' already identified her in these terms: " Everything about her radiates competence and a deft, bright careerism ." And at the website Daily Kos, there was, upon the news late this afternoon...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 20
The New Haven Independent is - for those who don’t know - a great online “newspaper” combining their own news coverage with links to other online independent news sources and blogs. I just read an excellent interview with Judge Anthony DeMayo, who provides his observations on what it is like to preside over a weekly [...]...
Undercurrents - Aug 20 - 14 clicks
With the TV news channels filled largely with air-filled talking heads, the fact that MSNBC is ditching the irritating Dan Abrams for the bright, funny, tenacious, beautiful Rachel Maddow is wonderful news . And MSNBC is realizing there's a market for an alternative to the conservative "MSM" drivel....
Caterwauled - Aug 20 - 2 clicks
It wasn't until Tuesday that I got around to reading Frank Rich's dissembling of John McCain , who it appears has dissembled himself frequently. Pair that up with a Democrat who turns Republicrat as soon as the rules of getting elected work against him, and you get a pair of Washington veterans who care less about the people who elected them then they do about their own sense of what's rig...
Caterwauled - Aug 20 - 2 clicks
This is a great analysis of the government and media responses to the current crisis in Georgia, Russia, etc. It’s from the Guardian UK: Click here for the full story. Share This ...
Undercurrents - Aug 20 - 2 clicks
On a rainy morning, I'm "stealing" wifi from the motel next to the laundromat I'm sitting in, on Rte. 1 in Ogunquit, ME. The Portland Herald Press had a few interesting letters on the hypocritical response from the Bush administration to the invasion of Georgia by Russia. Both are interesting but Ursula Slavick's comparison to the Bush administration's bolstering of revolt in Haiti, is c...
Caterwauled - Aug 20
I canceled my subscription to the Greenwich Time when they canceled my column. So I didn't see this astonishing piece of drivel from Managing Editor Jim Zebora until the link was forwarded to me by several irate people. Here's some of Zebora's defensive crap verbatim: Supporters of Himes questioned why the media, this newspaper in particular, would give Whitnum a forum to speak her mind an...
Saramerica - Aug 19 - 6 clicks
Politics in the Zero's catches some interesting work in Virginia where a break off group from the Greens have put together a Rep. Ron Paul and New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg ticket: Important. This is not the national Green Party but a splinter group that left the Green Party and allied themselves with the Independence Party in what no doubt was a spectacular frenzy of bad feelings and ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 19
I would've predicted that the combination of downsizing at the Courant, and a newly-gained sense of her talent and worth in a larger world, would have meant that Helen Ubiñas would not return to California from a fellowship at a California university. But she's back , and she isn't happy. And that makes for some great writing, right out of the blocks, and some fascinating reading....
Caterwauled - Aug 19 - 2 clicks
I've called him lots of things, but never what the AP did inadvertently, here. His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now i...
Caterwauled - Aug 19 - 7 clicks
Another George Bush puppet theater closed down as Musharrageorf is given the bum's rush in Pakistan. The New York Times has thoughts on what's next....
Caterwauled - Aug 19
The exposure of another likely plagiarism , this time originally pegged to plagiarizing Solzhenitsyn , by the McCain Campaign has them and their surrogates hypocritically attacking the patriotism of a Navy Veteran : First of all, I would like to thank the people who have sent their encouragement and kind messages to me. I have been complimented on my "good citizen journalism" and have ...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 19
... Takes a well deserved bow. Litchfield author and Blogger Andy Thibault gets a little love from the Republican American : He'll get in your face Litchfield blogger always eager for a cause Andy Thibault spends a lot of time in shorts and sandals watching rabbits nibble in his Litchfield backyard. When he feels up to it, he climbs the steep stairs of his Victorian home on a quiet, tree s...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 18 - 9 clicks
(h/t Crooks and Liars ) Nothing to add to this Barack Obama campaign ad showing the differences between Barack Obama and John McCain since it is factual and relatively straight forward and to the point: Nothing to add, except for the fact that many of McCain's huge mistakes are the same ones that Chris Shays has made over and over again... BTW, if you're the type who ski...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 18 - 6 clicks
From Robert Greenwald's BraveNewFilms : Most working families today do not have homes that have anywhere near 10 rooms. John McCain has 10 houses. Many working people in America have to work two and three jobs to provide for their families and pay their car loans. John McCain hops on a private jet. Is it any wonder why McCain champions a George Bus...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 18
Who are you going to believe? You read. You watch. You Decide: Here is a story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his times in the Soviet Gulags. Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His life appeared to be nothing more than backbreaking labor and slow starvation. The intense suffering reduced him to a state of...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 18
From Mediacrashers and h/t to Blue Gal at Crooks and Liars : This ad is proof positive that the internet can, and will, change the entire dynamic of the campaign battles while giving the failed traditional media a rightfully earned kick in the crotch for failing to do their jobs. The John McCain campaign and the neocon smear machine are up and running saying all kinds of nasty th...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 17
([update] Welcome to CNN readers that found this through their sphere links . Feel free to agree or disagree in comments!) The NRO's misguided take on last night's Forum on Faith : Team McCain needn’t have worried. This was not your usual political TV show. Warren — Pastor Rick, around here — asked big questions, about big subjects; he wasn’t concerned about what appeared on the front pag...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 17
When the Army comes back to Middletown on Tuesday, it will be with a show of scrambled eggs and epaulets of some of the Army's top brass. Bringing a war hero to town to plea the pathetic case the Army has made so far is a typical Pentagon public relations move. I've heard unconfirmed reports, which I tried to confirm with Congresswoman Rosa Delauro's office yesterday (my call was not returne...
Caterwauled - Aug 17 - 10 clicks
One of the nice things about vacation is that you read newspapers you don't normally read....
Caterwauled - Aug 17
I am going to give this pastor the benefit of the doubt on all of this before tonight's debate between Obama and McCain since his background seems to show a little more enlightenment than most of the religious types we have seen spoon-fed to the masses on TV news in the last couple of decades: "As a pastor, I believe in the separation of church and state, but I don't believe we can separate reli...
Drinking Liberally in New Milford - Aug 17
Creepy Joe™ Lieberman will travel to Georgia in a show of solidarity with the beleagured defenseless and tiny democracy. Since their expecting the US Army, Lieberman's appearance will probably be disappointing. One can only imagine how he'll insult Barack Obama while he's there acting as Secretary Of State in Waiting....
Caterwauled - Aug 15 - 7 clicks
The Swiftboaters are at it again, and despite the fact that their word and their work against John Kerry has been discredited time and again, Jerome Corsi, one of the prime slimers, is out with an anti-Obama book. The book, filled with inaccuracies and innuendo, is at the top of the New York Times best seller list, but as Media Matters points out, sales are spurred by bulk sales to right wing o...
Caterwauled - Aug 15
Before considering a curfew to stem violence on Hartford’s streets, Eddie Perez should beg our people, our leaders, our industry, our media to end the sanctioned violence we do in these senseless wars we’re having. Does anybody think that the lessons of war and tyranny are lost on the criminals who walk among us? It stands [...]...
Undercurrents - Aug 14 - 7 clicks
By MICHAEL K. NORRIS An August 7th Hartford Courant headline read: Shays Joins GOP’s Odd Protest On Dimly Lit House Floor. I guessed the editors must have settled on word “odd” because “embarrassing” would have made the headline too long to fit on one line. Still, the article by Jesse A. Hamilton, painted a great picture. “Dimly Lit?” The House [...]...
DanMalloy.com - Aug 13 - 10 clicks
For the first time, the Green Party has submitted enough signatures to qualify candidates in each of Connecticut’s five Congressional races. “This is the largest filing in Connecticut’s history for a ‘third party’ and Greens would like to thank dozens and dozens of people who volunteered in the heat of the summer.” Mike DeRosa, Green [...]...
Undercurrents - Aug 12 - 8 clicks
Not that there was any doubt that he would, but with about a third of the precincts reporting and Jim Himes having over 90% of the vote, I think it's fair to say that he's delivered a convincing victory over his reality- challenged opponent. Hopefully Ms. Whitnum will now disappear from the radar. Well, until she thinks of another way to exploit politics to promote her self-published semi-porn....
Saramerica - Aug 12