ConnecticutBLOG

Saturday afternoon with Peal Jam

I was at this show and it was truly an amazing experience.

I highly recommend that everyone go see at least one show at Jones Beach.

James Tillman: Paid in full

Five million is the least Connecticut can give this individual who spent 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

The Connecticut House Of Representatives agreed unanimously on Wednesday to pay James Calvin Tillman $5 million as compensation for his wrongful conviction in 1988 and incarceration for more than 18 years. Tillman had been sentenced to 45 years in prison on charges of rape and beating of a Hartford woman. He was exonerated last summer after DNA evidence showed he didn't commit the crime.

"I think we all wonder, could we be so kind and gentle and humble as we find this person," Rep. Kenneth Green, D-Hartford, said of Tillman, who said he was still trying to acclimate himself to the environment outside the jail.

"He did not deserve to be incarcerated for 18 1/2 years. Five million dollars is the least that we can do," Green said, according to AP reports.

The bill now goes to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who has already indicated her willingness to sign it.

Nancy DiNardo to Patsy Papandrea: Get lost!

From the AP:

State Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo has joined a growing number of party members asking one of their own to resign, citing a "Proud to be White" e-mail that he forwarded to more than a dozen friends.

Patsy Papandrea of Meriden, a Democratic State Central Committee member for 27 years, has apologized for forwarding the message to 16 people in March. He said he did not read all of it before sending it, believing it was a joke.

DiNardo asked Papandrea, 66, on Wednesday to resign his post and chastised him for sending a message she described as a "severe affront to our families, friends and neighbors."

The anonymous e-mail, titled "Proud to be White," includes offensive terms for blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Asians and Arabs. It is written from the perspective of a white person addressing minorities, and raises perceived contradictions and double standards surrounding race.

Papandrea, who has been a Meriden Democrat for 47 years, said he did not mean to offend anyone, has issued a sincere apology, and believes those pushing him to resign are engaging in "gutter politics."

Gutter politics? Lets take a look at the email this dim-witted Libercrat didn't fully read...

Proud To Be White

Someone finally said it.

How many are actually paying attention to this?

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Native Americans, etc.

And then there are just Americans.

You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You Call me "White boy," "Cracker," "Honkey," "Whitey," "Caveman" .. And that's OK.

But when I call you, Nigger, Kike, Towel head, Sand-nigger, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink . You call me a racist.

You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, So why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day. You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You have Yom Hashoah You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP.

You have BET. If we had WET (White Entertainment Television) .. We'd be racists.

If we had a White Pride Day .. You would call us racists. If we had White History Month We'd be racists.

If we had any organization for only whites to "advance" OUR lives ...

We'd be racists.

We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that?

If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships

... You know we'd be racists. There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the US , yet if there were "White colleges" ..

THAT would be a racist college.

In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, You would call us racists.

You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're Not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride ... You call us racists.

You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society .. You call him a racist.

I am proud. But, you call me a racist.

Why is it that only whites can be racists?

There is nothing improper about this e-mail. Let's see which of you are proud enough to send it on.

Hmm, seems to me that you could tell that this is a racist message by the second line.

Thankfully, State Democrats who see the writing on the wall, want Papandrea gone and I couldn't agree more.

Here's the latest on this story from WTNH.

Senator Dodd launches first T.V. ad

Member of the Bridgeport "Three Amigos" enters mayoral race

Disgraced State Senator Ernest Newton, disgraced Bridgeport Mayor John Fabrizi, and
State Senator (and Libercrat) Bill Finch

With one Libercrat resigning as mayor of Bridgeport, another one (who doesn't have a problem smearing bloggers) rises to fill the vacancy.

State Sen. William Finch, D-Bridgeport, made it official Monday: He is a candidate for mayor.

Confirming what had been widely anticipated for weeks, Finch said he is in the running for this year's Democratic mayoral nomination race a week after incumbent John M. Fabrizi bowed out.

Finch, who has represented a legislative district that includes parts of Bridgeport, Trumbull and Monroe for seven years, previously was a member of the City Council.

As Fabrizi's support crumbled among Democratic Party leaders after his admission of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as speaking in support of a convicted sex offender, Finch's name surfaced as the likely recipient of support from the powerful party machine.

With that backing, he is seen as the establishment candidate for the nomination against state Rep. Christopher Caruso, D-Bridgeport, who has long been at odds with party leaders. Caruso, who lost the nomination to Fabrizi in a primary four years ago, vows to run an outsider campaign again this year.

Katrina aid short by 3 billion.

From the Wash. Post:

The massive federally funded program for rebuilding Louisiana homes is short nearly $3 billion, administrators told a state legislative panel here today, leaving uncertain for now how the owners of roughly 100,000 flood-wrecked houses here will be compensated.

The report represented the latest crisis for the aid effort initially created to distribute $6.9 billion in federal money to the owners of homes destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina who lacked enough insurance money to rebuild.

More than 20 months after the Katrina catastrophe, tens of thousands of houses remain vacant, in part because of administrative delays in the aid program, the largest single source of direct federal help for homeowners. To date, only 16,000 of 130,000 applicants have received money.

Cue Kanye.