You're Sitting On A Fortune

Remember these chairs from this post? Reader Wolfie and the Sneak kindly referred me to this site and pointed out that those chairs could be worth a fair bit of cashola. Well, we kept the chairs in the family and they went to HandyMan's cousin (we simply have no more room here with Chloe's swing and bouncy chair and playmat and toys strewn about!) so I guess we'll never find out what they could have sold for. Too bad...we could have used the funds for another room renovation, haha!

Moments

I've spent the better part of the last three hours with a baby in my arms, rocking her to sleep. I needed it today just as much as she did. She, fighting an eye infection, forced to feed from a bottle when all she's known was the warmth of her mother's busom, missing her mommy...maybe...hopefully. Me, leaving my little one in the care of her Grandma, while I dive in the waters and start my new consulting business that will hopefully enable me to be a work-from-home mom when my maternity leave is up. I hate the thought of leaving her home when she's so young. I mean, just yesterday we had our first conversation, her and I taking turns speaking, neither one understanding the other, but connecting somewhere in the middle in a way that only mother's and baby's voices can. What other small miracles did I miss today? My heart breaks just a little.

My life is measured now in these brief moments... the months between her doctor's appointments when I can see how much she's gained and grown... the weeks that pass by, where the frenzy and unpredictability is replaced by calmness and routine... the days and nights of sleeplessness gracefully giving way to sleep and play ...the hours of laying beside her, feeding her, changing her, dancing singing reading to her, wondering what else I can do to keep this little creature happy and help her thrive... and the minutes where I hold her in my arms, waiting for her eyes to softly close and sleep to take hold, wanting those minutes to come quickly but wishing I could hold her like that forever.

Sleep baby, sleep.

Do you really want this guy in charge of signing checks

It seems like the Treasurer for the town of Brookfield has failed to pay his local taxes, in trouble with the IRS AND has a lien against his house.

...oh, did I mention that he's also a State Representative for the town of Brookfield and Bethel?

State Rep. David Scribner, who also serves as Brookfield's town treasurer, has a federal tax lien filed against his home for more than $75,000.

Scribner on Tuesday confirmed that a tax lien for $76,253 was filed against his property on Obtuse Hill Road in Brookfield in August 2006 by the Internal Revenue Service.

[...]

A federal tax lien has also been filed against Pamela Scribner, his wife, for $13,841 that the state legislator said was from the same audit because the couple files jointly.

According to the Brookfield tax collector's office, the couple also owe a total of about $394 in motor vehicle taxes on two cars from the 2007 grand list.

Scribner said that while there may be a legitimate balance owed to the town on the cars, there is also a paperwork issue resulting from one of the vehicles being leased that he is in the process of resolving.

So lets recap:

The TREASURER FOR THE TOWN OF BROOKFIELD and current STATE REP (who's quick to criticize the Democraitc budget proposal) did the following:

• failed to properly file taxes with the IRS


• has a lien placed on his house by the IRS


• failed to pay property taxes to the town of Brookfield

Okay, can someone please expalin to me why this person is signing checks for the town of Brookfield?

I found a video that best describes Scribner's political future...



UPDATE: Word of Scribner's tax nightmare is spreading across the country. The USA Today and MSNBC picked up the story...

UPDATE 2: For some reason, the News-Times disabled the comments from their story on Scribner. If you want to view what people are saying about Brookfield's treasurer/tax cheater, you can still access the topix comment thread by clicking here.

UPDATE 3: Now comes word that Scribner's problems were well known in Brookfield for quite some time...and people are pretty pissed off at him.

Pounding the pavement

Democratic mayoral candidate Gary Goncalves gives his final instructions
to his volunteers before the start of his door-knocking campaign.
Gary Goncalves campaign headquarters. 06.28.09

You know the city's in campaign mode when the candidates start knocking doors and that's exactly what happened this weekend.

Democratic mayoral candidate Gary Goncalves has been very busy hitting the streets with his army of volunteers and introducing himself with the public.

Before pounding the pavement Sunday, I caught up with the man who wants to give Mark Boughton his pink slip in order to get an update on his campaign activities...

Coming attractions

Here's a small sample of some topics I'm going to tackle over the next week here at HatCityBLOG as well as on my site at the News-Times

• Hark! Just in time for the municipal elections, the mayor gets the downtown development task force into gear. Well, I crashed the party and I'll show you what was talked about as well as expose the hypocrisy of the very people who were doing the most complaining about the state of affairs on Main Street. Fucking unreal...


• Speaking of hypocrisy, you're not going to believe the load of crap the mayor and Common Council are trying to pull on the public. Trust me, you're going to laugh at this one...




• You're not going to believe who the police said is at fault in this accident...I'll explain later




• I attended an ad-hoc committee on the purchase of city owned land on the corner of Locust Ave and White Street. Not withstanding the fact that the chairman of the committee allowed the entire meeting to turn into a circus with people talking over each other, the outcome of the meeting only reinforced my belief that certain members of the Common Council have NO BUSINESS being on the Common Council.
  
  ...and oh yeah, after attending this meeting, it's fair to say that the mayor's stance on open space and irresponsible development is a load of B.S.
  
  I'll explain why this committee's recommendation MAKES NO SENSE whatsoever as well as why the entire meeting would have lasted no longer than 5 minutes (if common sense, which was only shown by John Esposito, prevailed).


• Oh boy, here we go again. I have to call bullshit on another rant from self-described community "watchdog" (and her co-host/mayor's xenophobic mouthpiece) who's told yet another in a long list of lies...when will they ever learn?


• The DHS principal site search trip to Arizona story won't die as new details emerge (as well as a serious rift among Democrats on the board of education).


• Finally, City Hall has a VERY dirty dark secret that the media (which has full knowledge of the situation in question) is not reporting about. Since you have a right to know what not being told to you, I will be published my report here very soon. It's just a matter of dotting my 'I" and crossing my "T" now as this information is rather sensitive.

Make sure you take a moment and participate in the my new poll...

Going mobile

Recently, I purchased an Apple iPhone 3G-S (which is by far the BEST phone EVA!) and noticed that this site is rather difficult to read on a smart phone...and that got me thinking, why don't I just re-design a copy of this site for mobile users.

Now, I'm rather new to the whole mobile thing so it might take me a while but I'll alert everyone when I have the mobile version of this site ready.

...now where's that CSS book at?

HatCityBLOG VIDEO: Amid criticism over search process, Board of Ed approves Rossi as principal of DHS

Members of the Board of Education discuss the appointment of Dr. Robert Rossi as Principal of Danbury High School
June 24 Board of Education meeting. Photo by ctblogger

I was on the interviewing committee...and this has nothing to do with the candidate, it has a lot to do with the process.

I think as leaders, at time point when the flaws came in this particular situation, that we should have stopped the process and started again.

-Comment from Board of Education member Gladys Cooper regarding
flaws in the principal search process

I sat on the interviewing committee and my overall impression was that frankly, I felt pressured. I felt that it moved very quickly and it's such a critical position and I had hoped that we would go out again and continue the search. However, this has nothing to do with the candidate, I'm just talking about process.

...the board of education does have the option to interview the finalists candidates, and I really wished we [the board] had this opportunity to interview Mr. Rossi...I know it's impossible to go out again at this time, but I do wish we had more opportunity to interview Mr. Rossi.

-Board of education member Joan Hodge

Last night, although members of the Board of Education voted to approve the appointment of Dr. Robert Rossi as Principal of Danbury High School, the fallout over the principal search process was still paramount on the minds of many in attendance.

Although the News-Times did a write-up on last night's vote, as one who made the trek to last night's meeting, when it comes to providing a full account of the comments made by board members during the vote for Rossi, I felt the article failed short. This lack of complete analysis is most aparent when it comes to comments from board members who were critical of the handling of the search process (with the most critical comments coming from interview committee members Joan Hodge and Gladys Cooper).

In an effort to provide more information on what transpired last night, I videotaped the entire meeting for the public...and here's what actually happened.



As you can see in the clip, the controversy regarding the search process extends beyond the critical comments made by the Mayor, Minority Leader Tom Saadi, Common council members, and the News-Times editorial board staff as members of the board made also made their feelings known to the public.

Will the criticism translate into change in the way the board searches for administrative candidates in the future...well, that remains to be seen.

Shelved

With the new baby, not much renovating has been going on around Rambling Renovators. And the projects we do get to are taking soooo much longer to finish. I'm sure you parents out there can relate! So I'm really happy reveal something we managed to complete - the shelf in Chloe's room.

When I designed the whole built-in wardrobe / window seat area, I knew I wanted a shelf above the window. You can always use more storage in a kid's room and plus we didn't have anywhere to put the toys and books that Chloe would accumulate. HandyMan started by cutting a piece of plywood to fit the length of the window. By resting and screwing it into the top of the window frame, we'd have enough support along the length of the shelf for the baskets. The shelf was made 13" deep, deep enough for the baskets but not so deep that it would create a dark hole above the window and block off some of the sunlight. The variety in depth against the adjoining wardrobes also created a much more interesting design.


HandyMan added a 3" strip of plywood across the front to mimic the shaker details in the window seat. A small one inch strip was added underneath the left and right ends of the shelf to provide additional support. We found a nice chrome curtain rod at West Elm and mounted that directly to the face of the window frame. The curtains our seamstress made looked great hanging off the shiny rings. Now its the perfect inviting space. I can picture Chloe sitting there when she's older, reading her favourite book.


One little faux pas though... the curtains were made before we knew where the curtain rod would be hung and our measurements were wrong. Not a big deal, we'll just have to get them shortened. Just one more thing to add to the project list!

Polling

Recently, something happened to me that reaffirmed that the political parties are entering campaign mode.

I received a phone call from a pollster...

As with most polling calls, there is really no way to determine who was behind the call since the questions asked didn't really lean Democratic or Republican. One thing is for certain, the silly season is in full swing...and this election could be interesting.

...and speaking of polls, make sure you take a moment and check out the new poll I just posted on this site. I'll have more to say regarding the topic raised in the poll later.

I'm back

Well, I'm back from my little vacation in Newport R.I. and I'm ready to get back into things.

I'm a little behind in posts so it will take me a little time to get things back up to speed here so be patient.

BTW: I got an iPhone 3G-S for Daddy's Day and I must say that it's the BEST PHONE EVA!!! Once UStreamTV updates their software, I'll be able to do live video feeds from anywhere in Danbury thtough the phone (pretty cool). I can also upload videos directly from the phone to YouTube...which will become really handy as the election season gets underway.

Anyway, I'll be back to full speed soon...lots to talk about.

Happy Father's Day

The Top 10 things that tell me Chloe is lucky to have HandyMan as her dad:

1. He won't hesitate to change her diaper - no matter how messy it may get
2. He rushes home every day just to see Chloe's smiling face
3. He saved all his Dr. Seuss books knowing someday he would get to read them to his own little one - and now he does just that!
4. He always puts mommy and baby first and makes sure we are healthy, loved, and safe.
5. When mommy is breastfeeding, HandyMan will take care of whatever else needs to be done like cooking dinner, doing laundry, cleaning the house.
6. He doesn't mind carrying Chloe up on his shoulder when she doesn't want to lie in her stroller.
7. HandyMan put Chloe's nursery together, doing the painting, building the window seat, and assembling the wardrobes all by himself because mommy couldn't help with anything
8. HandyMan is the "Chloe Whisperer". He can rock and shush Chloe to sleep in no time!
9. When Chloe wakes for her 5am feed, HandyMan gets up too because he knows that's when Chloe's best giggles happen and he doesn't want to miss any of them
10. Chloe is the first baby that HandyMan ever held in his arms. And now, that is Chloe's favourite place to fall asleep.

Happy Father's Day Sean!

Caught My Eye

See that Caught My Eye widget on the left? It's where I share some of my favourite posts from other blogs with you folks. Here's some I've shared recently.

Kitchen Love via a life's design by megan on 6/10/09

My Daughters' Bedrooms — by Guest Mom Lara Fishman via Design Mom by Design Mom on 5/28/09

I admit it ... I'm addicted via desiretoinspire.net by midcenturyjo on 5/17/09

DC Designer Series: Sally Steponkus via My Notting Hill by My Notting Hill on 5/3/09

The great thing is I can easily look through the archives of all the items I've shared for my favourites - no need to download all these inspirational pics to my computer!


___________________________________________

Speaking of favourites, if you like the nursery we designed for Chloe, we'd appreciate your vote in the Benjamin Moore Share Your Style contest- click HERE. Thanks for your support!

Democratic candidate for mayor attacks Boughton's economic failures

Calling out the mayor on his drastic increases in taxes (talk to anyone in commercial real estate) and uncontrolled debt, while equally hitting Boughton on a lack of economic vision for the downtown area, on Wednesday edtiton of Community Forum, Democraitc candidate for Mayor, Gary Goncalves, went on the attacked and sharply criticized Mayor Boughton's failed economic policies.




For more information on the man who wants to give Boughton his pink slip, visit Goncalves' website.

Giggles

Danbury Live 06.13.09 broadcast

TOPIC: Ann Drive Ad-hoc committee



Remember, you can now watch all the episodes of Danbury live at the show's official blog.

Minuteman leader accused in double homicide has ties to FAIR

Hark!

Accused double murderer Shawna Forde has ties to one of John Tanton's anti-immigrant organizations!?! Wow, I'm shocked that a member of an anti-immigrant group can have so much hate in her heart for Latinos...

Those upstanding nativists and xenophobes employed by the John Tanton Network -- and particularly the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which was designated a hate group by the SPLC awhile back -- have been complaining vigorously about how unfairly they are being treated. Why, they have nothing to do with the manifest racism swirling around the immigration debate -- so they claim.

But the recent arrest of Minuteman offshoot leader Shawna Forde for the murder of an Arizona man and his 9-year-old daughter -- part of a broader plan to rob drug dealers and use the money to finance their Minuteman operations -- has ripped the veneer off the fake walls these nativists use to pretend that they have nothing to do with the racists who seem to swell their ranks as though they belonged there naturally. (Funny thing, that.)

Back in 2006, you see, Forde appeared at a public "town hall" forum on immigration in Yakima, Wash., a central-Washington city whose main economy is agricultural, particularly apple orchards. As Jackie Mahendra at America's Voice notes, she was presented as a "spokesperson for FAIR" as well as the Minutemen.

As you can see from the video above, Forde was outrageously incendiary, accusing immigrants of bringing crime and disease to the state and costing taxpayers in health-care costs, particularly for their "anchor babies."

At one point, host Enrique Cerna asked Forde:

Cerna: Shawna, let me ask you about the issue of economics. You've heard constraints from growers, you know, that the apple harvest is very important in this state, particularly in this region. What do you say to the growers?

Forde: We've got a prison system. Let's utilize it.

She later wrapped up with this:

Forde: I'd like to see two things on there. Not just about the people who came here legally, and are here legally, but how about the Americans who have been affected and died because of the illegal invasion in our country? How about our sovereignty?

And securing our borders and protecting our nation is extremely important. And I know the Minutemen and many organizations will not stop -- we will start at the local level and work our way up -- we will not stop until we get the results that we need to have.

Anyone who has followed the insanity of Forde are not surprised with her being involved with a vicious double murder of two Latinos...if anything, this horrible event just reinforces what I've been saying about the xenophobic movement in this area.

...what happened in Arizona could happen in Danbury.

Right-wing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Department of Homeland Security report on the rise of right-wing extremism, April 2009.

Group claims Danbury high school graduation rate are overstated

As we come to the end of the school year, today, The Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN) released its third annual comparison of official high school graduation for the area.

The analysis, based on a comparison of graduation figures by the Connecticut State Department of Education and Education Week’s Diplomas Count project (an independent group), shows a gaps of up to 39 percent between the two reports.

ConnCAN's press release explains things...

The most accurate way to determine graduation rates is to track students on an individual level over a four-year period using a longitudinal database system to assess how many students actually receive a standard high school diploma. The Connecticut State Department of Education bases graduation rates on an older, less accurate methodology that relies on students to declare that they are dropping out and on districts to fully report these dropouts. The Diplomas Count methodology is the closest estimation possible without a longitudinal data system.

The Diplomas Count project provides the most accurate rates possible today by capturing the four steps to graduation: three grade‐to‐grade promotions (9th to 10th, 10th to 11th, and 11th to 12th) and receiving a diploma. However, because Diplomas Count does not have access to longitudinal data for individual students, this method is limited because it cannot distinguish between students who drop out and those who transfer to a private or out-of-district school. This study is based on 2006 data, the most recent year available for this project.

[...]

In 2007, the state legislature allocated $6.4 million over two years for the Connecticut State Department of Education to build a longitudinal data system with the capability to develop graduation rates on a cohort basis – such as used in the Diplomas Count study. In the past, the department has indicated that its goal is to have such a system up and running by 2010, five years after Governor Rell first committed the state to implementing this system in July 2005 when she signed a compact with the National Governors Association.

“Our hope is that this analysis boosts the effort to more accurately measure Connecticut’s graduation rates,” said ConnCAN Chief Executive Officer Alex Johnston. “We can’t fix Connecticut public education until we know what is broken, and we won’t know what’s broken until we measure it correctly.”

I know what you're asking...how did Danbury High School rate in the report. Well, the results aren't that great.



As you can see, the graduation figures from the State Dept of Ed's less accurate methodology shows Danbury with a graduation rate of 89.5 percent while the report from the independent Education Week’s Diplomas Count project has the rate at 68.5 percent.

With Danbury having such a large graduation gap between the two reports, you can see ConnCAN's point when it comes to the need for the state to implement a longitudinal database system so we can track graduation rates more accurately.

HatCityBLOG VIDEO: Board of Education meeting highlights

...bumped to the top with additional video



Here's some highlights from Wednesday night's meeting of the Board of Education. This will be an developing post which will eventually include video of the entire meeting...I'm still processing the video.

During Wednesday night's Board of Education meeting, it became crystal clear that the controversy regarding the trip to Arizona, as well as the deteriorating relationship between the board and the Common Council, was paramount on people's minds...both those on the board and some in attendance.

With that in mind, here's a recap of some of the noteworthy items that happened (in public) at the meeting.

---

Principal search advances

Since there was no mention or the Arizona fiasco during the portion of the meeting which was public, it was fairly logical to assume that discussion on the controversy would happen behind closed doors. Myself and Danbury Live's John Neumiller hung around while the board debated behind closed doors for over 2 hours...and once the meeting was open to the public again, a couple of surprising developments happened.

1. The Board added to the agenda a motion to allow the school superintendent to begin negotiating a contract with the prospective candidates(s) selected to fill the principal position at the high school. The one person who voted in opposition to the motion was Democrat Joan Hodge.

2. The second vote was "a motion to approve the individuals as identified by Superintendent Pascarella for administrative positions," which was approved unanimously.

Here's the video clip of the votes (portion of the reading of the first vote was missed.



Voicing displeasure with the principal search process

One item that really got on the nerve of members of the board was the criticism over the principal search.

As I stated in an earlier post, the board has in place a policy where "expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about the Board of Education personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Danbury Public School System." With that in mind, when the individual in the video clip stated her displeasure with the search process, although not seen in the video BUT clearly noticed by those in attendance was the look of displeasure on the faces of Chairwoman Susan Podhajski and School Superintendent Sal Pascarella.

It's unclear why the individual was allowed to make this statement and as myself and others who were videotaping the meeting viewed, at one point, it did seem like she was going to be asked to refrain from making further criticism. Based on her initial comment, it did seem like she was a member of the school system (I'll get more info on her later).




Public speak out against budget cuts

While people are still fuming over the school board's site visit to Arizona, lost in the translation is another topic that's on the minds of many parents in Danbury; The city's budget.

With talk of staff reductions at various schools, during the public speaking portion of the Board of Education meeting, a concerned King Street School parent voice her displeasure with the proposed cuts to her children's school.



You can be sure the topic of education and the city's budget will be a big campaign issue as Danbury's municipal election season gets underway.

In Full Bloom

Chloe isn't the only thing growing around the HandyLuster household. Our garden you could say, needs some attention. While HandyMan has been focused on clearing out all the boxes of hand-me-downs from Mama HandyMan, I've been trying to get dishes, laundry, and some blogging done in those brief moments when Chloe isn't asking to be fed/changed/held/rocked/played with.



So we've let Mother Nature do her thing. Apart from cutting the lawn, we haven't touched the garden since last fall! No weeds have been pulled nor bushes trimmed. And luckily, the garden hasn't died despite our black thumbs. You'll have to thank the previous owner Kiki for that. She was a master gardener so we a beautiful variety of flowers sprouting all summer long. Here's what's in bloom right now. I won't name names because beyond the roses and peonies, I have no clue what these lovely flowers are :-o




Yes, the giant rose bush is threatening to eat our car!

Another shameless plug

For those who want to see the real dark side of poltiics, this show is for you.

Bethel Watch is a local access show on Comcast which is the equivalent of Danbury Live...for the exception that it catches local officials doing the strangest things.

Case in point, watch this episode that came on last week regarding so-called changes to the Library Board's by-laws:



After watching that episode, I wonder why people weren't videotaping the meetings in Bethel earlier...

Watch Bethel Watch Monday's at 8PM on Comcast 23.

Two Months

Chloe is two months old today. She's a fun little girl right now, full of smiles and bright-eyed wonder. Every day is a challenge and a surprise - I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Here is the birth announcement I created and gave out to friends and family. Just one of a million photos I've taken of her :)

Minuteman group leader arrested for double homicide

Surprise, surprise. Shawna Forde [pictured at top right], leader of the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.), a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" was arrested for home invasion and the double homicide of a 29 year old male and 9 year old girl.

An act of unspeakable violence from a leader of a xenophobic group? Why am I not surprised

Three people have been arrested in connection with last months deadly double homicide in Arivaca that left a nine-year-old and her father dead. One of the people arrested for the homicide is the National Executive Director of the Minuteman American Defense group (M.A.D.), a group known for patrolling the border, and is dedicated to "Defending America's Borders" according to their website - http://minutemenamericandefense.org/
Jason Eugene Bush, 38, Shawna Forde, 42 and Albert Robert Gaxiola, 43, were all taken into custody and charged in connection with the murders of 29-year-old Raul Flores and 8-year-old Brisenia Flores. Both were killed during an alleged home invasion.
According to authorities, Bush, Forde, and Gaxiola broke into the home of the Flores family just after midnight on May 30th. At the time, the mother, father and daughter were home. The invaders reportedly shot the three members of the Flores family, killing the father, Raul, and the daughter, Brisenia. The invaders then left the scene.

The mother survived the shooting, called police, and found a gun. Sheriff Dupnik says the three returned moments later to make sure everyone was dead. At that point, the mother shot and injured Bush, and the three fled the scene.

The trio has been charged with two counts of First Degree Murder, one count of First Degree Burglary, and one count of Aggravated Assault.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik says, "Jason Bush was in fact the shooter of all three of these people under orders from Ms. Forde."

[...]

Sheriff Dupnik adds, "To just kill a 9-year old girl because she could be a potential witness, to me, is one of the most despicable acts I have ever heard of."

[...]

"If you look at her history closely, and you know what we know, she is at best a pyschopath," says Sheriff Dupnik referring to Forde during a press conference Friday.

UPDATE: From Arizona, here's local news coverage of the horrible crime.

The website Raw Story also states:

The group's Web site, which does not appear to bear any mention of Jason Bush, places the group as actively involved in the "tea parties" which swept right-wing media around tax day.

Hmm, an anti-immigrant xenophobic, described by police as a pyschopath, was involved in a despicable act of violence AND is a leader of a anti-immigrant group that's actively involved in tea-parties?

Hmm, let me think...didn't an anti-immigrant/hate gorup just hold a "teabagging" party in Danbury this weekend. Well, yeah BUT "those folks" would NEVER EVER advocate any form of violence around here...I mean Elise Marciano, her deranged ilk/supporters are such peace-loving people and all...

HatCityBLOG MUSIC CLUB: A change is gonna come

Here's a little Sam Cooke (HatCity style) for your weekend pleasure...

See how the governor's budget proposal will effect you!

As Gov. Rowland-Rell and the Republicans continue to spin their ridiculous rhetoric regarding their unlabanced budgets that target the middle-class, today, the Senate Democrats launched a new interactive Google budget map, which highlights how the governor's proposed budget will impact every municipality in the state.

Since MOST people haven't taken the time to actually READ the governor's UNBALANCED proposal, maybe this map will serve as a wake-up call.

Senate President Don Williams had this to say about the new feature:

We need to make cuts, as Democrats already have, but we must also make investments in health care, education, public safety, transportation, and other critical needs for our families,” said Senator Williams. “We are committed to using a balanced approach to balance the budget and we will continue to work with legislative colleague and Gov. Rell to reach a budget agreement.”
Democrats in the legislature have proposed more than $2 billion of spending cuts. Governor Rell is also proposing significant cuts — but a large proportion of these will directly impact children, small businesses, education and public health.

For those who think the governor's plan is so "wonderful" for the city, go to the map, click on Danbury and see what Jodi has in plan for us.

Better yet, I'll just cut to the chase:

Governor Rell's budget cuts would:

• Reduce many state education grants by 10% from their current funding level


• Reduce special education service grants by 10% in all municipalities


• Eliminate state funding for internet access, and filtering of "adult" content in all public libraries and K-12 schools in Connecticut


• Eliminate or reduce by 40% the amount of state funding given to local health departments and health districts

These cuts would come on top of other cuts in municipal aid or flat-funding of programs that our cities and towns rely on. The Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grant, which is the largest portion of state aid for local education in Connecticut, would be flat-funded for the two year budget. In addition, other programs such as the PILOT (Payment-In-Lieu-of-Taxes) Grant, which helps cities and towns make up for tax losses for tax exempt properties such as state property, hospitals and universities, have been reduced as well. These cuts, along with elimination of funding for our libraries, will put a strain on our municipalities.

When you hear the Republicans in the legislature (and the conservative talking-heads in the local media) LIE to your face about how GREAT their budget proposals are while chastizing Democrats, just keep this in the back of your mind.

HatCityBLOG EXCLUSIVE: Board of Ed chairwoman, school superintendent respond to accusations

It's been over a week since the News-Times' Dirk Perrefort published this astonishing quote from Mayor Boughton in which he states that individuals were "discouraged" from applying for the position of principal at Danbury High School.

Boughton, who was a social studies teacher at the high school for nearly 14 years before entering politics, said he knows for a fact there were “internal candidates who were discouraged from applying” for the job. “That’s a problem,” he said. “I know these individuals and I know they are capable of leading that school.”

As I stated in my initial post, I felt it was irresponsible for any member of the media to allow an elected official to make such an accusation without:

• peppering that individual with a series of follow-up questions and/or,


• allowing the person accused to the quote, an opportunity to respond to the charges.

Since it seemed that Perrefort was not going to publish a follow-up to his initial article, I decided to take things into my own hands.

Last night, I attended the Danbury Board of Education meeting and interviewed chairwoman Susan Podhajski and School Superintendent Sal Pascarella. In the following audio clip, I gave Podhajski and Pascarella an opportunity to respond to the mayor's accusation.

---

Board of Education chairwoman Susan Padhajski::



School Superintendent Sal Pascarella:

HatCityBLOG MUSIC CLUB: Neil Boys Beach Diamond

For those who say there isn't any good musical talent in Danbury, this new festure of HatCityBLOG is for you.

From time to time, I'll do shameless plug on local musical acts in the area. First up to bat is the group Neil Boys Beach Diamond.

I videotaped these guys at last week's Multiple Sclerosis benefit at Cousin Larry's...

Board of Ed restricts free speech?

In advance of tonight's Board of Education meeting, I decided to take a look at the agenda and noticed this small blurb.

The Board welcomes Public Participation and asks that speakers please limit their comments to 3 minutes. Speakers may offer objective comments of school operations and programs that concern them. The Board will not permit any expression of personal complaints or defamatory comments about the Board of Education personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Danbury Public School System.

This can't be for real. The Board of Ed will NOT allow any form of criticism about the Board of Ed a member(s) of the Board of Ed and/or a member(s) of the school system?

Based on this bizzare wording, I guess any expressions of praise about board personnel, personnel and students, nor against any person connected with the Danbury Public School System WILL be allowed.

In light of recent questionable decisions by the school board, this restriction on free speech doesn't seem right...or legal.

UPDATE: Post has been updated to more accurately reflect my position that the BOE is restricting members of the public from criticizing members of the Board of Ed or anyone connected with the Danbury School system.

Doily Dilemma No More

The Stamford Wife posted the pic above on her blog the other day. I almost jumped for joy because it helped me solve a little problem I've been having.


See this? Yes, this is a garbage bag full of crocheted goodness. Its another hidden treasure I've inherited from Mama HandyMan. All the items were handmade by Mama's grandmother so I wanted to keep them for sentimental reasons. I haven't gone through everything yet but now I have an idea of what to do with the most stylish pieces. Now I just to find some picture frames and matte board.


This piece has me wondering though. Anyone have an idea what it was used for? The piece is about 2 feet long, folded in half and stitched at the ends.

Shameless plug

If you're not doing anything on Tuesday nights, check out the local access show "Spotlight On" at 9 PM.

Hosted by Bob Brought Jr., most of the episodes focuses on historical video footage ranging from the 1940-70s. When it comes to HOW Brought gets his hands on this footage...well, I'm not going to give away his secret. Lets just say that watching his archive of historical stuff as pretty cool.

Here's an episode from 5.13.09 where he shows footage of pre and post flood Danbury.



Once Bob sets up a website, I'll provide everyone with a link where you can watch his past shows...

Reminder...

I'm also blogging for the News-Times/Hearst Media Group. Although I'm only posting one or two write-ups a week there, trust me when I say that the postings will be VERY informative.

Make sure to check out my piece of real estate on the News-Times website!

Exposing the incompetence...and a call to action!

Exposing the incompetence of City Clerk Jean Natale continues.

As a stated earlier, City Clerk Natale has VIOLATED STATE LAW (as well as WASTED 5,000 of taxpyaer's dollars) by placing a TWO PAGE ad in the May 3rd edition of the News-Times outlining the proposed changes to the city charter...an ad which, according to state statue, was published 30 DAYS LATE. Disregarding state law is nothing new to Natale...which has been well documented on this site in the past...the difference here is that in this case, Natale's incompetence has cost the taxpayers of Danbury thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, to the anger of many, this latest screw-up from the city clerk has yet to be reported by the News-Times...and trust me, they are well aware of Natale's latest fiasco.

During last month's Democratic Town Committee meeting, Minority Leader Tom Saadi addressed this situation, the News-Times failure to report on the topic, and why the latest act of incompetence from the City Clerk further underscores the fact that the position should be eliminated.



To add to the mix, last Thursday, I addressed this topic on the local access show Ideas at Work and Beyond

NOTE: Here's a copy of the state statue I'm talking about in the video clip (note the portion in BOLD):

Connecticut State Statue Sec 7-191(D): Charters, charter amendments and home rule ordinance amendments: Hearings; draft and final report; public notice; referendum; effective date; filing of copies with Secretary of the State; file maintained by State Library.

Not later than fifteen days after receiving the final report, the appointing authority, by a majority vote of its entire membership, shall either approve the proposed charter, charter amendments or home rule ordinance amendments or reject the same or separate provisions thereof. Not later than forty-five days after a vote of the appointing authority to reject such matter, a petition for a referendum thereon, signed by not less than ten per cent of the electors of such municipality, as determined by the last-completed registry list thereof, and filed and certified in accordance with the provisions of section 7-188, may be presented to the appointing authority. Not later than thirty days after approval by the appointing authority or the certification of such a petition (1) the proposed charter shall be published in full at least once in a newspaper having a general circulation in the municipality, or (2) the portion of the charter or home rule ordinance being amended shall be published at least once in a newspaper having a general circulation in the municipality with a notice that a complete copy of the charter or home rule ordinance and amendment is available in the town clerk's office and that a copy shall be mailed to any person who requests a copy. The town clerk shall mail or otherwise provide such copy to any person who requests a copy.

In closing, the News-Times has a responsiblity to report on topics such as this. If everyone is so outraged over the school board's 3,000 dollar trip to Arizona, then people should be just as outraged over the city clerk's screw-up which cost taxpayer's of this city 5,000.

...oh, did I mention that Natale's screw-up violated state law?

The public has a right to know about this subject so TELL THE NEWS-TIMES to stop sitting on this story and INFORM THE PUBLIC.

---

• Art Cummings Editor (203) 731-3351 acummings@newstimes.com
• Jacqueline Smith Managing Editor (203) 731-3369 jsmith@newstimes.com
• Brian Koonz Columnist/Opinion Editor (203) 731-3379 bkoonz@newstimes.com

Dirk Perrefort Danbury Political/General (203) 731-3358 (860) 548-9888 dperrefort@newstimes.com


...and think before you vote this November.

Judge ruled ICE violated immigrants rights

Today New Haven, tomorrow Danbury?

A judge has dismissed a case against four immigrants caught up in a controversial Fair Haven raid, saying the feds trampled on their rights.

Judge Michael W. Straus of U.S. Immigration Court in Hartford threw out the cases against four immigrants swept up in the June 2007 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid. He ruled that government agents were in “egregious violation” of the immigrants’ Fourth Amendment rights.

For four individuals, the judge’s decisions marks an end to a two-year legal battle that began when Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents swept into Fair Haven, arresting 30 immigrants on charges of allegedly being in the country illegally. The raids prompted rallies and accusations from New Haven’s mayor on down that the feds were terrorizing the immigrant community and retaliating against the city for its immigrant-friendly policies, a charged the feds denied.

Attorneys from Yale Law School have been representing 17 of those 30 immigrants. The attorneys have argued that ICE agents violated their clients’ rights by entering their homes without permission and questioning them illegally. ICE has denied the allegations.

But Judge Straus agreed.

“In considering all the evidence in the record, this Court finds that the Respondent’s Fourth Amendment rights were egregiously violated,” he wrote.

And for those who say that ICE aren't liars...

In one decision, Straus wrote, “Here, the raid was conducted in the early morning hours while some of the occupants, including a young girl, were sleeping. Agents forcibly entered, without warrant or consent, into a private home and then into a private bedroom. The agents failed to ask preliminary questions that might demonstrate probable cause or at least reasonable suspicion. “

ICE agents told a different story of what had happened. They claimed that they had asked consent to enter, and followed appropriate procedures.

However, the agents submitted their testimony by affidavit only. Government lawyers refused to call them to the stand or make them available for cross-examination.

The government’s decision may have worked against ICE in the end, since Judge Straus found a number of “evidentiary omissions” in the affidavits.

The holes in the affidavits were ultimately less damning than the refusal to put the agents on the stand. “The deficiencies in the Government’s threadbare submission are exacerbated by their categorical and unexplained refusal to offer or make available agents to testify in open court.” wrote Straus.

The respondents were thus unable to confront and cross-examine their accusers. “This due process requires,” Straus wrote. “Functionally, the upshot is that the Court can give but scant, if any, weight to these [affidavit] submissions.”

Straus wrote that the “scant evidence” presented by the government amounted to “unsubstantianted hearsay, and, at points, hearsay upon hearsay.”

“We’re all very happy with the ruling,” Anant Saraswat, a recent Yale Law graduate who has been working on the case, said Sunday.

Yale pursued a difficult strategy in seeking to suppress evidence on the grounds that it was collected in violation of Constitutional rights. This is the first time that Judge Straus has issued a favorable ruling on such an argument, Saraswat said. “It’s pretty rare.”

Hmm, lets see. Yale law students claim the ICE violated immigrants constitutional rights...AND WIN.

Food for thought as the Danbury 11 case continues...

Phallic Phallacies

AMpakistanis who have lived abroad, or more likely studied abroad, always carry a hang up of having been there. they love making endless comparisons, using it perpetually in arguments, talking about the best quiche they ever had, the most stunning concert they heard, the most fun they had, the best drink they ever tasted - while they were abroad.
i should know - i am one of them.

my stories inevitably begin with "when i was in america..."

so this is one of them stories. *these*

when i was in america, at my college, we would have a weekly assembly, where people from various countries would mark their country's independence day with a presentation about their country, they would play their music and dress in their native clothes, and talk about their country in general.

now firstly 14th august fell during the summer vacations, so i didn't have an option for that. but in my second year me and my first year country mate did do something for 23rd march.

back in 2002, pakistan was a country not many people knew about, and almost no one gave a shit about. in essence, the good old days.we forsook the talking about our country for a two minute video. the first slide began with the claim that pakistan was a country that was the bomb.

that was followed by a montage of pictures of beautiful pakistani women, and those of our nuclear missiles, played over salman ahmed's version of the national anthem.

as i recalled that incident now, the first thing that struck me was how incredibly misogynist it was. but i also recalled it as a deliberate attempt by us about making people know where and what pakistan was by making obvious the two most shocking things about our country - that we had women who were not wearing burkhas, and that we had a far more naked nuclear obsession.

my friends were genuinely surprised, perhaps because at age 16-18 kids are not as politically inclined.

regardless, the prinicpal was aghast - she summoned us and lectured us about the inappropriateness of the message we were putting out about our country. she was almost weeping when she spoke about how much she would hate someone portraying her native Colombia in such a manner.

thinking about it now, i wonder why i decided to present pakistan in such a manner. instinctively, the first response i recall was wanting people to realise what and where pakistan was - i mean before the epicenter of terrorism stuff most people thought of us as somewhere between saddam and apu.i also remember that at that time i found our nuclear pride a bit hilarious - i didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the people of our bum fucked nation were distributing sweets in public to celebrate the nuclear tests.yet, i am still not sure if my eventual message was as genuinely satirical as i recall. because eventually, i was projecting the two things pakistan the nation, the construct and the state love doing - brandying off our nuclear power, and exploiting our women.


essentially, both impulses arise out of the strenuously patriarchal nature of our society. the phallic missiles aside, the nuclear bomb is a blatant display of geopolitical machismo.
it is perhaps the IR equivalent of wearing one of these.
as for women, i don't know if i really need to qualify anything here. women in pakistan exist in a surreal reality.
they are upheld as the barometer of our morality and values, and are hence punished barbarically if they stray even in the slightest from the standards we uphold for ourselves...
...yet at the same time, it is a national pastime to ogle at women, to fantasize about women, to poke women's private parts in public places, to fornicate with women with or without their consent.

for many young pakistani males, getting together to bang a hooker is an acceptable weekend activity. if my former driver is to be believed, in rural areas getting together to gang bang any woman is acceptable weekend activity.
we have found ways to make sleeping with nine year olds religiously acceptable, and if we feel that we must protect their honor, we have found justifications for marrying them off to the Holy Book.

essentially then, the interplay between women and nukes was so vital in my presentation (even though i didn't realise it) because it represents the pakistani psyche, with both elements representing integral parts of our masculinity - with the nukes being the national penis, and the women being the national penis receptacle.

put in such a context one can understand why just about every problem in pakistan is inevitably attributed to a foreign ploy designed to steal our nukes. in essence, we are afraid of being castrated by the big white man. we are afraid they will take away our penises.
so even though we are largely poor and illiterate as a nation, and remarkably fucking corrupt and lest we forget, in the eye of the global shitstorm, our primary obsession is the nukes and their planned theft.
because, as i just said, without the nukes we would be chakkay, heejray, na-mard.
so imagine the delightful irony of this delightful situation, described here in the words of my colleague

"The entire national security doctrine is based on the revenge of a lover..."

it appears that a couple of pakistani nuke scientists - oh those epitomes of our nation's valor - were willing to fucking sell out the nation's grassy diet for a little bit of cash. if we extend our analogy here in, some pakistani males were willing to castrate our national lun to buy some rolexes or what not. to make these guys even more scum of the earth, one of these fuckers had an office romance (which i find abhorrent) and then decided to jilt his lover.

motha-fucka.

in essence, the pakistani male is willing to chop off his own cock for the sake of some money, which he would probably spend on getting a hooker upon which he would realise that he no longer has a dick and thus the money and his penis would both go to waste.
now, as my fiance reminded me, it was a woman however, who helped us retain our luns, and thus through perverted pakistani logic, our murdangi.
and what makes this woman, who was also a nuclear scientist by the way, even more impressive, is that she did not do it for the national cock, but rather out of the fury generated by a love betrayed.
now if there is one thing we can do right, it's love. love is a good enough reason to do anything, and if someone fucks with your love, being delivered to the ISI is a pretty easy let off.

so next time you bitch and moan about the fact that the foreigners are looking to castrate the nation and run off with the nukes, remind yourself that those who rule, those who obsess about their phalluses the most, are the ones that are most willing to sell them off for some money.

like every other problem in pakistan, it seems that only those who are getting fucked will be around to save the country (and it's penis) when it needs them.