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  • Dodd redux

    Seems that I’m mentioned in a front page article in the Courant today.

    The reporter, Daniela Altimari, sent me an email asking to talk to me about an “open letter” to Chris Dodd that I posted a few weeks ago. In that letter I bemoaned Dodd’s statement to the effect that [...]

    Posted: November 22, 2009, 12:13pm EST
    by JCW
  • Where the truth lies

    Always in the middle it seems. From this morning’s Times:

    Now that unemployment has topped 10 percent, some liberal-leaning economists see confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion stimulus package[...]

    Posted: November 21, 2009, 4:58pm EST
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Music-Them

    A very young Van Morrison leads his then band mates in what I believe was their first state side hit. No doubt about this being a live performance. Sorry about the long intro.


    [...]
    Posted: November 20, 2009, 8:44pm EST
    by JCW
  • God under attack in Enfield

    An obviously communistic, fascist, socialist (and, by way of a bonus-godless) organization has invaded our fair state to try to impose its will on our citizenry. I speak of the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, an organization whose very name tells you all you need to [...]

    Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:04pm EST
    by JCW
  • Save the date

    Ned Lamont is coming to our area in a few weeks. He’ll be at the home of Camille and Nick Burlingham (Camille happens to be his sister) 9 High Ridge Drive, Pawcatuck, on Monday, Dec 7, from 6-8. I hope we can get a good turnout for Ned. Right at [...]

    Posted: November 16, 2009, 9:35pm EST
    by JCW
  • Pundits agree: Bring Back Stupid

    Those Beltway types sure miss them some George Bush.

    First it was David Broder:

    The more President Obama examines our options in Afghanistan, the less he likes the choices he sees. But, as the old saying goes, to govern is to choose — and he has stretched the internal debate to [...]

    Posted: November 16, 2009, 6:58pm EST
    by JCW
  • Probably a meaningless observation

    Number of comments: 1

    I am sitting on my patio, in the dark, pecking away at my computer. The temperature is perfectly pleasant. It is November 15th. The only problem is the insects that are being attracted to my computer screen.

    Here’s my question: What business do these insects have being alive and active on [...]

    Posted: November 15, 2009, 5:02pm EST
    by JCW
  • Rational decision makers

    Via Firedoglake, the right has apparently found an academic prepared to give intellectual respectability to its opposition to the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a George Mason University professor named Todd Zywicki:

    Zywicki and his fellow Randians think that the FCPA wouldn’t have made the slightest difference in the conditions [...]

    Posted: November 15, 2009, 4:39pm EST
    by JCW
  • America for the Americans

    Number of comments: 1

    Via Jesus General. Stay with it. It sounds like the teabagger crowd never realizes it’s been played.


    [...]
    Posted: November 15, 2009, 4:09pm EST
    by JCW
  • Escalation of committment

    As he contemplates trudging off into the Big Muddy, Afghanistan style, Obama might profit from perusing this article in today’s Times:

    If a business school professor is running short on cash, there is a sure-fire solution: run a dollar auction game in class.

    To start, the professor offers to sell [...]

    Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:10pm EST
    by JCW
  • Utopia East-even further East, that is

    There must be something about Hollywood that brings out the dupes in people. In today’s Globe we read that yet another small time Hollywood huckster has deluded yet another small New England town into believing a lot of hype that a little bit of due diligence would have exposed [...]

    Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:00pm EST
    by JCW
  • It was 40 years ago today

    Number of comments: 1

    On November 15, 1969 half a million people descended on Washington D.C. to protest the Vietnam War, not a single one of them directly or indirectly subsidized by a TV network or an astroturfing group of lobbyists.

    I made the trip to DC with some college friends. There were [...]

    Posted: November 15, 2009, 10:19am EST
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Music-James Brown

    Number of comments: 1

    Fairly sure I haven’t done James Brown yet.

    I’m starting with this clip as much in tribute to Ed Sullivan as James Brown. Everyone loved making fun of Ed Sullivan, but the truth was that he was great at spotting talent. Even more important, he was an equal opportunity employer before [...]

    Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:26pm EST
    by JCW
  • Drawing lines

    Number of comments: 2

    The Catholic Church would have us believe that it simply cannot support any health care bill that might result in a single person getting an abortion, no matter how removed the cause might be from the effect. It’s a matter of principle, don’t you see. Just as millions of Africans [...]

    Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:18pm EST
    by JCW
  • The Supreme Challenge

    Via Think Progress:

    Business groups are worried by the potential effects of provisions banning the import of all goods made with convict labor, forced labor, or forced or indentured child labor that were included in a customs bill sponsored by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Charles [...]

    Posted: November 12, 2009, 8:17pm EST
    by JCW
  • Scalia, a hypocrite for all seasons

    Antonin Scalia has a problem. His intellectual dishonesty is showing:

    If there is a topic Justice Antonin Scalia does not relish discussing, it is how he would have voted in Brown v. Board of Education had he been on the [...]

    Posted: November 10, 2009, 9:30pm EST
    by JCW
  • Comments

    Number of comments: 2

    I get very few comments, and my basic philosophy has been to approve any comment I get, provided it’s not spam. I believe in free speech and I also think that I should be able to take my lumps if the comments are critical.

    Today, for the first time, I got [...]

    Posted: November 09, 2009, 6:42pm EST
    by JCW
  • Rell chooses not to run

    Number of comments: 1

    Some time ago Jim Amann stopped by our Town Committee. He received a lukewarm to frosty reception. In the course of his presentation he opined that Jodi Rell would not run again, and that the Republicans will nominate Lieutenant Governor Mike (who?) Fedele. Well, Jodi has dropped out and Fedele [...]

    Posted: November 09, 2009, 6:35pm EST
    by JCW
  • Sunday School

    Via Pharyngula. A debate on the BBC, the motion being: The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.

    You can watch it here. It’s long, consisting of 5 you tube videos which, at least when viewed in full screen, will play one after the other.

    The fascinating [...]

    Posted: November 08, 2009, 4:26pm EST
    by JCW
  • Only in Massachusetts

    Could this happen anywhere else, even in the context of a Democratic primary:

    US Representative Michael E. Capuano yesterday blasted Attorney General Martha Coakley’s decision to get involved in an Alabama death penalty case, saying the man they are vying to succeed in the Senate, Edward M. Kennedy, “would have [...]

    Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:00pm EST
    by JCW
  • Truly Bad Editing

    This got my lawyer’s hackles raised.

    In Today’s New London Day I noticed an article titled as follows:

    Bankruptcy court: Lighthouse Inn filing invalid

    The clear implication–nay, not implication, but the explicit statement- is that the Bankruptcy Court has ruled that the Lighthouse Inn’s bankruptcy filing was invalid. It’s made [...]

    Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:08am EST
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Music-Another Twofer

    Primarily, I wanted to do a girl group this week. I actually found a good live version of the Shirelles (one of the best of breed-girl group wise) singing Will You Still Love Me, Tomorrow? I have no idea why the sides of the video are squoshed together (and yes, [...]

    Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:53pm EST
    by JCW
  • Required reading

    Last night at Drinking Liberally (back to great attendance, as various attendees licked their election day wounds), so no posts, and tonight off to see Atul Shah (one of the wound lickers) and his band at Burke’s Tavern, so not much free time.

    Other than putting up some music (post pending) [...]

    Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:45pm EST
    by JCW
  • Wrenching defeat from the jaws of (possible) victory-and other election day reflections

    If there was a common theme locally yesterday, it was the victory of the crazies over-not necessarily the rational, but at least the less crazy. In New London the Democratic clowns that have run the town for some 20 odd years were replaced by a mixture of Republican and “green” [...]

    Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:06pm EST
    by JCW
  • Urgent Reminder!

    C’mon people, attendance was dismal at last months Drinking Liberally. Let’s not let that happen again.

    Thursday we’ll have the chance to celebrate or commiserate, depending on the outcome of today’s elections. Several of our members are running for office, and we’ll be there for all, winners and losers.

    Here’s hoping for [...]

    Posted: November 03, 2009, 4:40pm EST
    by JCW
  • You just can’t please some people

    Al Gore is being criticized for investing in green technology by the very people who tell the rest of us that conservation will lead us to economic ruin.


    [...]
    Posted: November 03, 2009, 4:36pm EST
    by JCW
  • Time for them to go…. to jail

    No editorial comment needed:

    In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities [...]

    Posted: November 02, 2009, 7:07pm EST
    by JCW
  • Tragedy Strikes

    Via the Onion:


    [...]
    Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:59pm EST
    by JCW
  • Autumn colors

    Fading fast, but not quite gone.

    These are from our backyard, a Japanese Maple, with bright red leaves, and a Redbud with a variety of more muted colors.


    [...]
    Posted: November 01, 2009, 5:18pm EST
    by JCW
  • Dismal Science on a Dismal Sunday

    This morning, Gregory Mankiw, one of the economists who got us into this mess and a shill for conservative economic theories, pens a New York Times op-ed piece in which he laments the tax disincetives to work supposedly embedded in the Obama Health Plan. (We are supposed to ignore [...]

    Posted: November 01, 2009, 11:28am EST
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Music-I Shall be Released

    One of my rules for Friday Night Music (and all rules are for breaking) is non-repetition. I’ve tried not to repeat the same artists twice, even the sacred Beatles. Another rule is that the video has to actually be a video-no still pictures with the music in the background. Today [...]

    Posted: October 30, 2009, 9:28pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Colbert takes on Joe Lieberman

    In case you missed it.

    Sorry about the commercial.


    [...]
    Posted: October 29, 2009, 7:08pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Some steps forward, giant step back

    Number of comments: 1

    An Open letter:

    Dear Senator Dodd:

    I really wish you all the best. That’s why I wrote that resolution for which you thanked me so warmly at the event in Groton this past July.

    But you make it so hard. The knock is that you’ve lost touch; that you’ve been in Washington too [...]

    Posted: October 28, 2009, 6:06pm EDT
    by JCW
  • What a shock

    Number of comments: 2

    So Joe Lieberman is threatening to filibuster the public option. Some might wonder why he is taking this position, since as recently as 2006 he campaigned on a promise to give us a public option, when he promised:

    MediChoice to allow anybody in our country to buy into a [...]

    Posted: October 27, 2009, 7:30pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Opt out

    Number of comments: 1

    Just as a matter of public policy, I think the “opt out” idea is pretty stupid.

    But from a political perspective, it has some interesting possibilities.

    If the public option is a strong one, with reasonable premiums and good coverage, it will be extremely difficult for Republicans to opt out, particularly [...]

    Posted: October 26, 2009, 8:14pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Good News, Bad News

    The only thing keeping the inept Democratic Party afloat is the even more inept, and far more politically tone deaf Republican Party. Case in point, is the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, made possible by Obama’s strategic elevation of its former Republican Congressman to a federal post. [...]

    Posted: October 26, 2009, 8:05pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Guest Post: Obama’s Connecticut visit

    As I mentioned Friday evening, Groton Democrat Liz Duarte, was Ned Lamont’s guest at the Obama appearance in Stamford. I asked Liz to write something about the event, and I am pleased to present, live and unedited, Liz’s account of the night. I was pleased she could do this, as [...]

    Posted: October 25, 2009, 11:56am EDT
    by JCW
  • Scott Bates says we should get out of Iraq. Remember Iraq?

    If you didn’t notice it at the time, check out Scott Bates recent column in the Day. Scott points out that we have actually achieved all the goals (bullshit that they were) we set for the war in Iraq when we started it, and that it is therefore time [...]

    Posted: October 24, 2009, 3:41pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Fruit Loops, a Smart Choice no more

    When we (and that includes me, for sure) whine about Obama’s shortcomings, it’s useful to remember all of the important things that have changed somewhat below the surface, at least below the surface of everyday conversation or bloviating. A case in point is the fact that the corporate “nutritionist” front [...]

    Posted: October 24, 2009, 3:27pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Groton Girl Hits the Big Time

    Number of comments: 1

    Our own Liz Duarte sent this picture from Stamford, where she was the guest of Ned Lamont at tonight’s fundraiser for Chris Dodd. Seems she also shook the hand of a recent Nobel Prize winner.


    [...]
    Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:32pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Triple Feature

    First, for the quality, Stevie Wonder singing Superstitious, Live on Sesame Street. I’ve been putting up these videos for several years,trying not to repeat artists, and I’m fairly sure I haven’t gotten around to Stevie Wonder, which just goes to show how deep the bench is when it comes to [...]

    Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:46pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Better late than never

    Number of comments: 1

    From the Hill, via Washington Monthly:

    Say hello to “Medicare Part E” — as in, “Medicare for Everyone.”

    House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option.

    The strategy could benefit Democrats [...]

    Posted: October 21, 2009, 7:00pm EDT
    by JCW
  • I hate to admit it, but

    I was only a bit surprised to see that the Obama Defense Department opposed Al Franken’s amendment to forbid government contractors from forcing the victims of sexual assault into arbitration, which is the equivalent of guaranteeing them no redress. The Obama Administration has been better than Bush on civil [...]

    Posted: October 20, 2009, 7:45pm EDT
    by JCW
  • What Dems need

    Posted: October 19, 2009, 8:09pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Democrats find a sort of a spine

    The Republicans and the Media, with Harry Reid giving a large assist, have just about talked everyone into believing that you need 60 votes to pass anything in the Senate. In fact, it only takes 51. You can look it up. That’s why the Constitution lets the Vice President break [...]

    Posted: October 19, 2009, 7:00pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Pre-Primary Strategy

    I’ve mentioned before that I’m in a mailgroup (in which I lurk only), the subject of which is the Dodd re-election campaign. Lately there’s been a bit of debate about whether it was wise for the Connecticut Democrats to go after Linda McMahon for her rank hypocrisy (hey, she’s [...]

    Posted: October 18, 2009, 8:47pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Pictures from today’s Groton Shindig

    This was a busy day for me, too busy for thinking, so no serious writing. We here in Groton had a little fundraiser. An excellent turnout with lots of money raised and virtually no money spent. Maybe the theme was the big draw. Who can argue with wine and chocolate?

    Some [...]

    Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:22pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Friday Night Music

    I have posted less frequently than usual this week. For this the world owes a debt of gratitude to The Office. I’ve spent a good chunk of my free time watching Season 3.

    I noticed that a fellow named Creed Bratton was billed as a guest star at the end [...]

    Posted: October 16, 2009, 8:19pm EDT
    by JCW
  • High Journalistic Standards

    I’m a big fan of Talking Points Memo, so I was quite surprised to read about this in an email thread.

    You may have heard that the Connecticut Democrats have gone after Linda McMahon, who constantly refers to her Wrestling company as a promoter of PG entertainment. And it is PG, [...]

    Posted: October 16, 2009, 8:04pm EDT
    by JCW
  • Defending rapists

    Republicans would vote against apple pie if Democrats were for it.

    I got a few comments from my right wing friends when I criticized the Congressional action against Acorn. I’d sure like to hear from those same people now. Maybe they can enlighten us about why defending rape is okay.


    [...]
    Posted: October 15, 2009, 9:29pm EDT
    by JCW

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