Typical night for team Joememtum

Oh boy, you almost feel sorry for those Lieberman volunteers. I mean, Joe's sending out these volunteers to get slaughtered by the Lamont challenge and it's getting tough to watch. BrandfordBoy gives the scoop on the latest stumble by team Joementum (and it's not pretty):

I attended a campaign kick-off event for my great State Senator, Ed Meyer, yesterday. My Lamont button drew a lot of interest and several people asked for buttons of their own.

[...]

Ed Meyer graciously invited a dumpy young man, who was apparently serving as a Lieberman surrogate, and Ned to say a few words. The Lieberman guy was stumbling, so politicially tone deaf State Rep Pat Widlitz tried to help (I guess) by pointing out that the picturesque lighthouse that can be seen from Ed's house was brought to Long Island Sound by Joe Lieberman.

When Ned spoke (briefly and well) he pointed out that thanks to Joe's whoring for the energy lobby (my words, not his), we may soon be thanking Joe for a floating eyesore in Long Island Sound, an ugly and unnecessary natural gas facility from Broadwater, which will be a prime terrorist target.

After that, I had to jog to the car to replenish my supply of Lamont buttons and Ned Lamont buttons started popping up on chests throughout the party.

To coin a phrase, "This is what a movement looks like."

NOTE: The DINO boat is sinking fast. You poor volenteers should jump off while you still have time. Trust me, I'll telling this for your own good.

Gay bashing amendment fails

Hey, the image might be harsh but that is what this stupid attempt to amend the Constitution boiled down to...discrimination, hatred, and bigotry. It's that simple and don't be fooled, the Republican party is pandering to the scum of their party purely for political gain.

With everything that's happening in this country and around the world, the powers that be are more interested in securing their base than fixing the problems they created for everyone.

Shameless indeed.

John Aravosis at AMERICAblog brings up an very interesting point.

This vote was better than expected. The gay bashers were claiming that they would have a majority. Our side picked up two GOP votes, Specter and Judd Gregg. Chris Dodd and Jay Rockefeller, who would have voted with us, were absent. Chuck Hagel, who would have voted against us, is in Omaha with the President. If everyone was present, the vote would have been 50-50. That means the Vice President would have had to break the tie. Now, that would have been interesting.

Next up on this list...flag burning.

Ah, this is your Republican leadership at work. Hey, you get what you voted for.

Lamont does Democracy Now!

Oh, this is good TV (Ned even mentions my blog, how cool is that).

Huge hat-tip goes out to Spazeboy and Scarce for the hookup!

Billy Preston

A great one has passed away.

Flashback video: Lieberman rumor from the Democratic State Convention

Here's an oldie but goodie from the Democratic State Convention (taped 5/19/06). I originally posted this on My Left Nutmeg but since two weeks have pass, I felt that it was a good time to post it on this site now.
Time's up Joe!

Two weeks have passed and it's time for you to put up or shut up. Or you going to run as an independent or will you support the winner of the Democratic primary.

You see Joe, I've been saying since day that you're going to bolt the party as you never were a Democrat in the first place.

Lets recap:

1. You sounded like a scared man each time I heard you speak at your private town meetings you had across the state (I'm sure you remember one so-called "no-press allowed" meeting I recorded you stating that you wouldn't rule out an independent run (I guess you weren't too happy about that audio getting out to the press).

2. You received no love when your name was mentioned at the State JJB dinner (remember the boos, well I do).

3. Your campaign looked demoralized (if not pathetic) when Ned shocked the world and received 33 percent of the delegate vote and I stated in several interviews in the run-up to the convention that you would jump ship if Ned had a strong showing at the convention.

I could go on and on but you get the point.

Look DINOboy, it's simple. Prove me and my man wrong and go on camera and state that you'll never leave the Democratic party. You had no problem jumping in front of any camera ripping into Democrats over the years so I'm sure you can get a press conference together in a sec.

Prove me wrong. I dare you.

UPDATE:Opps, I forgot. Click here, sign the petition and force Joe's hand.

The hits keep coming for Lieberman in the press

Oh boy, what a bad week for George Bush's favorite Democrat (and it's only MONDAY).

After years of ardent support for the Iraq war, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman could become that conflict's first big political casualty in a Democratic primary race fueled by rising anti-war anger.

Lieberman, the party's vice presidential nominee in 2000, faces a growing challenge from a political neophyte who has rallied Democrats angered by the senator's enthusiastic backing of the war and willingness to support Republican President George W. Bush on other issues.

Challenger Ned Lamont's underdog bid to unseat Lieberman in Democratic-leaning Connecticut could offer an early gauge of the intensity of anti-war sentiment ahead of November's midterm elections, along with a measure of the influence of the Internet activists and bloggers who have flocked to his cause.

"Senator Lieberman has cheered on the president every step of the way when it comes to the invasion of Iraq, and he is too quick to compromise on core Democratic principles," Lamont, a businessman and former Greenwich town selectman, told Reuters.

"He's wrong on the big issues of the day and he is not challenging the Bush administration," added Lamont, who qualified for the August 8 primary ballot by winning 33 percent of the delegates at the state party convention last month.


[...]

Lieberman has frustrated Democrats for years on issues beyond Iraq, from his early condemnation of President Bill Clinton during the 1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal to his recent refusal to support a filibuster against conservative Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

CRITICISM BUILDS

His 2004 presidential candidacy fell flat and criticism from the left has intensified, particularly after he published a Wall Street Journal article last year headlined "Our Troops Must Stay" that chided Democrats for criticizing Bush on the war.

"There is a very sizable contingent of liberal Democrats in this state who want a change," said Gary Rose, a political analyst at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. "Anything could happen in this primary. Turnout will be low."

Joe's in deep doo-doo right now which is why this part last paragragh of this article tell the whole story.

Lieberman has refused to rule out an independent bid if he loses the primary, giving rise to Democratic fears he could split their vote and give the seat to Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger, a state legislator.

Skip Schlesinger for a sec (hint: he doesn't stand a chance in hell of winning), why are Democrats letting Joe Lieberman get away with not ruling out an independent run if he loses the primary (I personally don't think going to be a primary because he's going to bail before August). How can any Democrat support a man who doesn't support the winner of the primary?

Ned Lamont said he'll support whoever wins the primary. Isn't that the type of character trait you want in a senator who represents you in Washington?

You're doing a heck of a job Eddie

Plan on walking over to Gov. Rell's office again today?

Hartford police tallied three more shootings in a matter of hours, including a double killing early Monday, hours before local legislators were to unveil a plan aimed at making the streets safer.

The latest shootings occurred about 3:30 a.m. Monday. Police found two men lying on the sidewalk on Addison Street, near the intersection with Tower Avenue. Both had been shot. Both were taken to an area hospital where they died, police said.

"Anytime there's a shooting I'm very frustrated because there's a loss of life. Anytime you lose someone it is always a bad situation," Asst. Police Chief Daryl Roberts told WVIT-TV Monday morning at the scene of the double shooting.

Late Sunday night, a man was wounded in the neck in an apparent drive-by shooting on Capitol Avenue, police said.

More killings in Hartford+more bullshit politics from Mayor Perez and Gov Rell=more people dying in the North End.

Street violence in Hartford: 20 years in the making, 20 years of inaction.

The day after

Man, I don't know what to post about. I could post my piece on the situation in Hartford but people across the state are still in awe of Paul Bass' stinking article on George Bush's favorite Democrat.

Check out the comments at My Left Nutmeg, the official campaign blog, and Lamontblog and you'll see what I mean.

If you haven't read the op-ed yet, go and check it out. I babbled enough about it yesterday and all I can say about the piece is WOW.

I think I'm going to read it again.

Moment of clarity for Shays...

...or is he just scared shitless about the prospect of Diane Farrell beating him in November?

You read, you decide.

More than three years into the Iraq war, Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, regrets that he did not provide aggressive enough oversight of the Pentagon's war plan as he now believes was needed.

[...]

In the leadup to the war, Shays says, he should have demanded more accountability from the Pentagon on cost estimates, which seemed low. The United States will have spent more than $320 billion by the end of the year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I fault myself," Shays says. "I was hearing voices in my own head that this was going to cost more and I accepted the Pentagon numbers that were too low," he says. "I should have had hearings early on."

[...]

Shays spoke candidly about his eight-year tenure as subcommittee chairman during an interview at his Capitol Hill office. He was asked to respond to criticism against him by his Democratic opponent, Diane Farrell.

Farrell, a former Westport first selectwoman, claims that Shays has failed to oversee the Iraq war effort.

Farrell criticizes Shays for stubbornly supporting President Bush's Iraq policy rather than demanding a sensible plan to win the peace. "If people like Chris Shays — President Bush's most loyal supporter of the war in Iraq — would demand a workable plan to win the peace in Iraq, maybe we could accomplish the mission," Farrell says. "Instead, Chris and his allies in this Republican-controlled Congress continue to pat the president on the back and tell him he's doing the right thing in Iraq."

Don't forget to add Joe Lieberman to that list.

Paul Bass rips into Lieberman in Courant Op-Ed

WOW Paul, tell us how you really feel about DINO Joe.

Medical researchers have identified a host of causes for amnesia, from encephalitis to traumatic brain injury.

I've discovered another cause: political campaigns.

Exhibit A: The current campaign in Connecticut for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination.

In the wake of challenger Ned Lamont's surprisingly strong showing at last month's Democratic convention, the race has begun to take shape. Both candidates are trying to define the race - and each other - early. Lamont seeks to cast incumbent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman as an out-of-touch apologist and crucial helper of President Bush's Iraq war and environmental, economic and health-care policies. Lieberman seeks to identify his opponent as an out-of-touch plutocrat. (Lamont, a tech entrepreneur, is worth between $90 million and $300 million.)

Meanwhile, in ads and public statements, Lieberman portrays himself as Regular Joe, a fighter for the little guy, in touch with blue-state Connecticut and mainstream Democrats on all issues except Iraq.

NOTE: When I read the above statement that I highlighted in bold, I spilled my coffee on myself and freaked my wife out. I mean really, Joe LIEberman being a "regular" guy is like saying Paris Hilton is a good role model for kids.

Now back to the program...

And somehow we - not just Lieberman - keep a straight face, as if he hadn't just spent 18 years helping Republicans hijack the Constitution and pick on little guy after little guy.

[...]

The Bush administration values Joe Lieberman because he has been a crucial ally in efforts to free Enron-style corporate crooks from regulation, transfer wealth to the wealthy, hound gays, trample on the rights of government critics and sacrifice the lives of thousands of Americans and Iraqis to dishonest, dangerous military adventurism.

Lieberman understands how, in campaigns, you can make people forget all that. You can change the subject by making fun of your opponent for being rich. Then, with millions of dollars from wealthy donors, you can reinvent your record.

Watching Lieberman and Lamont these past few weeks, I had to wonder: Am I the one with amnesia?

So I went up to the attic and pulled out my Lieberman file, with clippings and documents collected from covering him during his three terms in Washington.

It's always a bad sign when Bass goes for the news clippings...this guy is good as you'll see.

It was true. My memory was faulty. I had remembered that, out of the eye of voters back home, Lieberman developed working alliances with the most hypocritical and dangerous right-wingnuts like Ralph Reed and Charles Murray and Bill Bennett. But I had forgotten just how extensive a record he had accumulated.

Now hold on folks, this is where Bass does his magic...

I had forgotten how he played the leading role in 1993 to thwart Democrats who tried to close loopholes allowing companies to cook the books on millions of dollars of stock options. Thus began the regulatory abandonment that spawned Enron and its sibling rip-offs.

I had forgotten how that same year, Lieberman joined with Republican Sen. Alphonse M. D'Amato of New York and against Democrats to "work the cloakrooms" of the Senate, in the words of a news account, to "line up unanimous support so that a tax break eagerly sought by the real estate industry could be passed without senators having to vote on the record."

How many Connecticut Democrats remember that their senator was one of only two Democrats who voted with Republicans in 1995 to kill a lobbyist-gift ban? Or that he called affirmative action "un-American?" Or that in August 1994 he voted in favor of a proposal by Republican Jesse Helms to cut off all federal money from schools that offer counseling to suicidal gay teens by referring them to gay support groups or in any way suggesting it's OK to be gay?

Ahem, Human Rights Campaign, did you catch that? Joe's anti-GAY!!!!

Or that Gov. John Rowland and Lieberman had the same fundraiser, Michael Lewan, raising the same campaign cash from the same fat cats, because, as Lewan told the Courant, "they're two like-minded guys?"

Did most Connecticut Democrats even know that Lieberman helped Lynne Cheney found a McCarthy-style group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which hounded liberal university professors for criticizing American foreign policy, including the president of Wesleyan University?

No wonder Lieberman could vote to confirm an attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, who wrote the legal opinion excusing torture. Most recently, Gonzalez threatened to start prosecuting journalists for publishing classified information in order to silence government critics. But that was weeks ago. The new Fightin' Joe is on our side. A real Democrat.

Now it's true that Lieberman earns high marks on Democratic interest group "report cards." That's because he plays a shell game in which liberal interest groups are complicit. He gets the "right" mark for voting against Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination, for instance. But he gives the Bush administration the vote it needs to make Alito a judge, by voting to stop a filibuster.

Similarly, he held back on voting for Clarence Thomas's nomination until the first Bush administration saw it had the votes. Then Lieberman could safely vote against Thomas and earn the "right" grade.

Oh, I can't take it any longer. Bass is ripped DINO Joe apart and believe me, he just got started. Go give his op-ed a full read to get the full effect. While you're at it, go to his website and show him some love as he's pushing online media into the mainstream with the New Haven Independent.

...and for goodness sakes, whatever you do, don't give this guy a hard time on the phone. You've been warned.

Public policy professor explains why Lieberman is in serious trouble

You have to love good college professors. They have this ability to break complex things down in a way that you clearly understand.

Case in point, this morning on WVIT's Connecticut Newsmakers, Professor Kenneth Dautrich of the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut explains why Joe Lieberman is in the fight of his life and why Ned Lamont has a real chance in beating President Bush's favorite Democrat in the primary.

You see, hard-core Democrats in Connecticut really don't like Lieberman but unfortunately, he never had to face a real challenge to his senate seat...not until now.

At first Ned Lamont was a unknown, a person who seemed to come out of nowhere. Hell, I shook my head in disbelief when I first heard his name. I can remember saying to myself "who the f- is a Ned Lamont" and "we're going to be screwed with Lieberman in the senate for another six years" but, a little voice in my head said "hey, Weicker is giving this guy the thumbs up so give this guy a chance before writing him off. I jumped in my car and saw Ned speak in New Haven and after seeing and hearing him only one time, not only was I sold, I've been following his campaign as he traveled across the state ever since. Now, it took some time but now people were getting the message that this guy is the real deal and actually has a chance against DINO Joe.

Now, no one (except for Joe campaign who were high-balling the numbers) expected Ned Lamont to receive such a high percentage of the delegate vote at the state convention. When Ned received over 30 percent of the delegte vote, people across the state and nation took notice and his campaign REALLY took off which brings up to where we are today.

Now back to the professor. When you add that the majority of people who come out to vote in the primary are your hard-core Democrats, you begin to see understand why one should take Ned Lamont's campaign seriously as Professor Dautrich explains in this following video clip.

Joe, I'm hope your taking notes as there will be an exam in August made just for you.

Howie Klien's vision of a Blue America

This is a very good post and is worth a full read. Klien's vision seems to be the same as mine as it includes getting rid of Joe Lieberman.

And, of course, the most important and high profile way to send a message to Democrats who ask for our campaign contributions and our votes and then act like Republicans is to defeat Bush's favorite Democrat, Joe Lieberman, August 8th and replace him with a real and honest Democrat, Ned Lamont. In fact I leave you with another quote from Sirota's book to think about:

Never to be outshone by fellow senators in stiffing average Americans, Senator Joe Lieberman (D) joined in the fun. The Connecticut lawmaker, who has taken $267,000 from the banking industry in his career, sent out a press release trumpeting himself as a great defender of the middle class, pointing to his vote against final passage of the bankruptcy legislation. Yet Lieberman's press release conveniently omitted the face that just hours before his "no" vote, he cast a key "yes" vote that undermined courageous lawmakers who were blocking the bill. This procedural vote (called "cloture"), which Lieberman supported, was widely acknowledged to be the vote that actually passed the bill.

OK-- that made me think of a contest. Lieberman has liked this tactic of deception-- making sure to support his Republican allies where it really counts and then claiming to vote with Democrats when it doesn't. The 10 best essays or paragraphs with examples of Lieberman's duplicity along these lines will get a rare and valuable CD that can't be purchased in any stores and has music on it by a variety of ultra cool artists like The Ramones, Green Day, Body Count, Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths, Enya, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Depeche Mode, Wilco, Neil Young, Lou Reed and John Cale, Talking Heads, Armageddon Dildos and more (including some songs that are otherwise unavailable). Send your answers to downwithtyranny@aol.com

The truth comes out today

Please go and watch this film. You can find out where this movie is playing in your area by clicking here.

UPDATE: Just came back from viewing the movie in Bethel and all I can say is "Wake up people" (please). Oh, it hurts to think about what Al Gore winning the presidency in 2000 (although, having Joe Lieberman as our VP would of sucked).

Bookmark this site, www.climatecrisis.net. Visit it often.
BTW: Al Gore has my vote in 2008.

UPDATE: 06.04.06 The results are in and the movie is a HUGE HIT!

In its second weekend, the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" went into wider release and broke into the top 10 with $1.33 million, even though it was playing in just 77 theaters.

Released by Paramount Classics, the film averaged an impressive $17,292 a theater, compared to $12,410 in 3,070 cinemas for "The Break-Up."

Timetogojoe.com gets a makeover

I don't think Joe's going to be happy with this.

Go and check it out.

Rell and Perez bring shame to our state

This is just ridiculous.

Mayor Perez’s over-the-top antics is making my blood boil and I don’t know how much more I can take.

While I'm still writing my piece on the history of violence in Hartford, I just had to comment on the latest actions of Mayor Perez and Gov. Rell which in my opinion, is simply disgraceful.

These two political heavyweights have been acting like two spoiled brats in front of the cameras for the last few days with their "made for the media" fight over the violence in Hartford. Neither of these politicians gave a damn about what's happening in the Capital City (when's the last time you heard of either of these politicians visiting the North-End section of Hartford) or else they would of worked together to find a solution to the problem a very long time ago as drug-related violence in the North-End section of Hartford is nothing new.

Are these two politicians the best Connecticut have to offer in terms of leadership? If the answer is "yes" then we're all screwed.

Saying he wanted to end the public sniping and to focus on solving violence in the city, Mayor Eddie A. Perez picked up his cellphone at 8:12 a.m. Thursday and dialed the office of Gov. M. Jodi Rell.

Two hours later, Perez walked through the front doors of city hall and into the day's humid air. An aide asked if he wanted to take off his jacket. Casually slinging the coat over his shoulder, with television cameras and reporters in tow, Perez started to walk to Rell's office at the Capitol.

"I'm going over to visit my neighbor at the Capitol," he said. "Hopefully she can see me sometime today."

But there was a problem: Perez's morning call had not been returned. The governor was not in, and Perez had no appointment.

An aide to Perez said the governor's published schedule indicated she was not busy Thursday morning. When no one from Rell's office returned the mayor's call, Perez went to see if she was available.

Yeah, right. He just happened to have the entire media behind him on his walk to and from Rell's office (notice the smile of Eddie's face). COME ON, give me a break...does this DLC Democrat have any shame?

"I'm the one that gets the phone call when a kid gets shot," Perez said as he walked to the Capitol. "I'm the one who has to go to the hospital and mourn with the victims' families. I'm the one who has to go to the funerals and to the local schools to bring grief counselors to those children. I'm the one who has to deal with this 24/7."

[...]

Perez's walk followed Wednesday's high-profile clash of public letters and press statements between the mayor and Rell, with each accusing the other of not cooperating in the fight to stop gun violence on the city's streets, where 16 people were shot in a five-day span that ended Sunday. One, a 15-year-old boy, died.

Here's the deal, politicians are using the deaths of people in Hartford for their own political gain and it's disgusting. As a person who was raised in the Bloomfield/North-End section of Hartford, it breaks my heart to read how some kid was shot and/or killed and it burns me up when these fake politicians jump in front of a camera and work their political spin.

As I promised, I'll dig deeper into this issue later but for now, neither of these shameless politicians have my respect (and don't think African-Americans in Hartford are fooled by this political freak show).

Lamont campaign site new features

I'm a huge fan of the new features at Ned Lamont's campaign website. First came the blog, and now they've added a new resource section loaded with video and pdf files.

Now don't get me wrong, you can't beat the original but it's nice to see that the campaign is stepping up their game online.

The picture tells the story

The incredible shrinking President.

The problem in Hartford

I just posted a message on Connecticut Local Politics regarding the hissy fit between Gov. Rell and Mayor Perez and the state of affairs in Hartford.

Under most circumstances, I try to leave race out of a majority of my posts but since I was raised in the North-End section of Hartford, I feel compelled to speak out on this issue. I'm going to give this some real hard thought and try my best to explain the real situation facing Hartford from an African-American perspective.

Hopefully, you'll learn something.

Worst President ever

Okay, tell me something I don't know already...

A Quinnipiac Poll released today gives President Bush one more reason to be concerned about his approval numbers: Lots of voters not only think he's doing a lousy job, but they rate him as the worst president since World War II.

[...]

Bush was cited as the worst of the 11 post-war presidents by 34 percent of those surveyed between May 23 to 30, far outdistancing runner-up Richard Nixon, at 17 percent--and Clinton, at 16 percent.

The poll offered what has become routine public criticism of Bush's presidency -- a 35 percent approval rating and only 38 percent saying they are very or somewhat satisfied with the way things are going in this country.

"Bush's job approval numbers remain in the cellar," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, "but he might finally have hit bottom."

Oh, I disagree...Bush approval numbers can go lower. Remember, it's hurricane season.