You can send a check to the Charter Oak chapter of the Red Cross, said the Governor to morning deejay today, urging citizens to contribute to the relief fund for the home fire that knocked 150 people out of 120 apartments in Norwich this weekend.

 

Can't somebody do something about this traffic, gasped the Congressman trapped on the Merritt Parkway to the morning jock about the price of gas and the situation on the highways.

 

Ain't nothing we can't handle, said the man pushing the broom to his friend as they stood under the grocery store awning, under the raining gray sky.

 

Of all the conversations I heard today, I like the man pushing the broom the best.

 

I was ready to pull out my hair by the time I was done listening to Chaz and AJ and Billy and Megan Dahl hang out with Governor M. Jodi Rell and Congressman Chris Murphy this morning on WPLR.

 

And that was after I missed the beginning of their conversation while channel surfing down I-91, on my way to a property law exam from Hartford to Hamden, by car, of course.

 

What little I heard, though, at first sounded like Governor Rell being extremely gracious and patient to the seventh graders at PLR's PeeWee's playhouse. As she seriously tried to tell the listening audience how to help those made homeless by the fire, Chaz and AJ made bad jokes.

Link...

 

What are we to make of a chief executive officer of the state who sends out conflicting messages? This issue isn't going away as Gov. Jodi Rell's presses forward on her idea to eliminate billboards from state lands at the same one of her department's has purchased billboard space to promote energy efficiency.

 

I happened to come across a One Thing billboard in Stamford last week. It's funny. It was last Sunday afternoon, and I couldn't believe that laborers were hanging out on a chilly March weekend evening trying to find jobs. Who needs laborers on Sunday afternoon?

 

So I was concentrating on pulling onto the on-ramp and capturing an image of the labor pool men, probably not a safe driving move, but no less than texting while driving. When I downloaded the image, I saw it contained the bonus of Jodi Rell's Snow White mug.

Link...

 

The third act of the tragedy of John Rowland – a short act of revenge - played itself out in the stage of American politics this week.

 

As the curtain rises, the audience sees a barren economic landscape. Our hero, a down on his luck politician with a federal corruption conviction on his record, sits in his easy chair reading a newspaper. He is trying to get his mind off the fact that his post-prison career as a motivational speaker isn't paying for his expensive tastes.

 

The headlines scream "Stock Market Plunge." It seems as if the Federal Reserve Bank can't utter a peep without sending stock markets across the globe into a tizzy.

 

Below that story, he scans another story about Congress and the President, a man who used to call him Johnny Boy, talking about an economic stimulus package that must be "timely, targeted and temporary."

 

Our tragic hero frowns when he gets to the third graf in the story and understands that the stimulus package hailed by the Bush administration – tax refunds to the citizen body - is stealing a page out of Johnny Boy's democratic laboratory book.

Link...

 

Gov. M. Jodi Rell expressed legitimate concern about the medicinal marijuana bill's lack of a distribution apparatus, yet her veto demonstrated her inability to lead, considering that in some polls, 83 percent of the people hold that certain types of ill persons should be able to use marijuana.

 

Rather than suggest a solution that people obviously want, Gov. Rell went against the will of the people, and those who suffer from AIDS wasting syndrome, cancer or a host of other illness remain criminals as they attempt to appropriate their medicine, which is better than most pharmaceuticals.

 

Now if a high school student brings the above two paragraphs to school and distributes them, that child may now be punished by school authorities, thanks to the ruling handed down by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts Monday afternoon in the Frederick v. Morse student free speech case from Alaska.

 

"We hold that schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use," Roberts wrote.

Link...

 

Frown at the cowardly spectacle of elected officials protecting their own. Only two legislators have called for the resignation of Republican Senator Lou DeLuca of Woodbury. Self-preservation has overcome public service as the motive for holding elective office.

Upon the arrest of Sen. DeLuca, past experience taught me to wait for justice to take its course to demand his resignation. But once a man is convicted of conspiring to threaten, of seeking to use violence to solve a dispute, he is not fit to govern himself, you, me, or anyone else.

DeLuca must resign for our state government to maintain any credibility with the voting public whatsoever. All three branches of government failed to apply the law fairly and honestly to DeLuca.

DeLuca, a member of the Governor’s party, cultivated a long-term relationship with a known organized crime figure that featured an unreported bribery attempt, a $100,000 donation from the Mafioso to the Senator’s favorite charity and, of course, a promise from the Senator to do political favors for the mobster.

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The Cool Justice Report has been following the slimy trail of Enfield's Democrat Mayor Patrick Tallarita, who is currently under investigation by the State's Attorney's Office for potential political corruption.

 

Just moments ago, Andy Thibault and Jim Brewer sent this one out:

BREAKING NEWS: Enfield Witness Intimidated

Tallarita Goes Berserk
At Shaw’s Supermarket;

Mayor Screams In Checkout Line
And Flips The Bird In Front Of Children
As He Threatens Witness
In Political Corruption Probe

The craziest part of the story is not the fact that Mayor Tallarita issued fighting words in front of children, or that the grocery store manager has it all on surveillance tape - no, the loopiest sentence to me is that Tallarita won't be running for re-election because he may be up for a job in Congressman Joe Courtney's office.

 

Tallarita was Courtney's campaign treasurer, which was probably in title only, as it is unlikely that Tallarita did anything more than sign off on the complex campign finance reports that detail the $2.45 million Courtney raised. In March of 2006, Tallarita gave $200 to Courtney's campaign, according to Opensecrets.org.

 

In this aspect, it seems the Democrats are no different from the Republicans in protecting their own. Tallarita is also a long time state employee.

 

He is the Director of Facilities Operations for the Connecticut Department of Labor. The job pays about $99,000 annually, and according to the job description, Tallarita needs "Two (2) years' experience in a managerial capacity in leasing, acquisition or management of property."

 

Aside from knowledge about land use agreements, the job also requires "considerable interpersonal skills; considerable oral and written communication skills."

 

One wonders which of those skills were on display when Tallarita went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs at the grocery store checkout.

Link...

 

No story today. I've got a huge exam tonite, and I don't have time for anything, even from the archives.

 

Just a few notes, from this morning's crop of news:

 

Jon Lender over at the Courant has Kevin Deneen on the record saying that the Arts and Tourism lists came from Connecticut's own Karl Rove, M. Lisa Moody.

 

The comments thread is a trip. The first post challenges the Democrats in the house who went after Moody and Rell to look at Mike Lawlor and his call to a prosecutor about me.

 

And for everyone on the thread who said Rell is corrupt, people, you voted her in in a landslide. It's a little late to realize this now. There was a candidate out there who was talking about her corruption, but no one heard us, because Deneen and DeStefano silenced us. But that's old news.

 

The story here: all of us have ethical shortcomings. Admit when you've made a mistake. It's good for democracy.

 

"Any time people are forced to acknowledge publicly that they're wrong, it's really good for the commonweal," so said Stewart Brand back in February in the New York Times.

 

Will someone, somewhere in elected office have the guts to say they f*&*^d up? Woops, sorry. And please forgive me.

 

Maybe I'm dreaming. Back to civil procedure.

 

My attorney Norman Pattis pulls no punches, (and I love it). Even with people on my side, Norm has held up a mirror and said, hey, there's a wart. He pissed off SPJ, and this time, he is swinging at the legislature, in particular, Mike Lawlor and the Judiciary Committee, who has been on top of what happened to me. From Norm's blog:

I just don't get it. The judiciary has all but rolled over and died. Lawmakers are now aching to call the shots on court rulemaking, as though we need more hooplah from the part-timers over in the legislature. Have we not already learned that the legislature is the most dangerous branch of government?

 

Perhaps former Supreme Court Chief Justice William "Taco" Sullivan was right, lawmakers really can't be trusted to use judgment. They are prone to overreact and seek political advantage over trifles.

 

Sullivan's decision to delay publication of a controversial Supreme Court decision is by now the stuff of legend. He wanted to help along the nomination of Associate Justice Peter Zarella. Both Sullivan and Zarella had taken a position in the decision Sullivan thought might offend lawmakers. So he sat on the case for awhile.Then the law of unintended consequences kicked in.

Link to Pattis' Blog...

 

If just 5,000 committed people in each one of the 535 Congressional districts nationwide mobilized behind universal health care, America could have a single payer system, consumer advocate Ralph Nader said Friday night.

 

Nader appeared at Real Art Ways Friday night, March 30, in support of the Connecticut Premiere of An Unreasonable Man, the new documentary about his life. (Disclosure - the Nader folks paid me to promote the movie.) Click here to hear Colin McEnroe interview Ralph Thursday, which has similar talking points to what he said Friday night.

 

About 400 people showed up at Real Art Ways to see the movie - from former gubernatorial candidate Bill Curry to CCAG executive director Tom Swann to Manchester Journal-Inquirer managing editor Chris Powell.

 

It was a record-breaking crowd according to RAW staff, as no film in RAW history had ever drawn that many people for an opening.

 

The RAW theatre only seats 153 people (not including standing room). So while 50 people went away, 175 stayed in the main gallery to listen to Nader speak while the two hour, two minute long documentary rolled. An Unreasonable Man shows at RAW through April 5.

Link...

 

This look at the struggle between the executive and legislative branches in Connecticut over the control of the State Bond Commission agenda I wrote for the New Haven Advocate this week.

Dr. Ted Andreadis took the first pictures of the West Nile Virus in 1999 with a 13-year-old electron microscope in a small basement room at the New Haven Agricultural Experiment Station.

 

Last year, a pipe burst in the 75-year-old building, sending water cascading onto the sensitive microscope and ending its working life.

 

Luckily for Andreadis, the University of Florida has pledged to donate a similar microscope, provided the station pays the $16,000 shipping cost. But the new microscope will sit in the same aging basement room. While the pipe has been fixed, Andreadis and station director Louis Magnarelli worry that other maladies afflicting the hall—faulty wiring, exterior brick problems, other leaky pipes—could cause further trouble. A new microscope would set the station back $600,000.

Continue Reading in the New Haven Advocate...

 

Kelvin Roldán, the 28-year-old Democratic state representative from Hartford's Fourth district, is on this meteoric career path:

He started out five years ago as an aide to Mayor Eddie Perez. In the fall of 2006, he sacrificed that $74,000 a year salary to run for Evelyn Mantilla's seat, which he won. Then Monday, March 5, he landed an $89,000 job in the Hartford Public School System.

Roldán is now acting Director of Strategic Partnerships, Superintendent Steven J. Adamowski said Tuesday, March 6.

Link...

 

The concept of non-binding resolutions opposing the war in Iraq anger Sen. Chris Dodd.

"We need to get away from the non-binding proposals. They are infuriating," Dodd said this afternoon during a short conference call with Ned Lamont and Congressman John Larson.

"The House did better than the Senate in this regard," Dodd said during his three minute call. The call between Dodd, Larson and Lamont was piped into about 30 organizing meetings attended by around 1,000 people.

CTNewsjunkie.com covered more of the meetings held simultaneously across the state to help plan the March 17 anti-war rally at the Old State House in Hartford sponsored by COW - Connecticut Opposes War.

Link...

 

State Sen. Eric Coleman (D-Hartford-2) has proposed or co-sponsored 33 bills so far this session. His mass mail piece, aka franking,sent out at our taxpayer expense this week, focuses on two main issues: Health Care and Energy.

Now, when isn't a photo of a stethoscope in a trusting hand with the headline "Increasing Access to Affordable, Quality Healthcare" a sure vote getter? He wants to "promote preventive care" and "Expand HUSKY coverage." Who doesn't? Tell me how we pay for it, Senator.

And it's a safe bet to talk to inform constituents about "Smart, Affordable Energy for Today and Tomorrow." Sadly, Sen. Coleman avoids any talk about reducing our reliance on fossil fuels or what he is doing as a representative to work towards a solution.

But, hey, it's a free campaign ad. I prefer instead to go straight to the source, and look at the 31 other measures he is involved in.

Link...