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Saturday afternoon with Fiona Apple

Here's a Beatles cover for a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

"He went to a mobster, so who has the credibility issue"

I think the comments from the Waterbury Chief of Police Chief Neil O’Leary regarding State Senator Louis Deluca's press conference yesterday speaks for itself.

Loony DeLuca: the gift that keeps on giving...

So much for the supermajority...

All that power with a supermajority and in the end, we get nothing in terms of a budget and a long list of things that fell through the cracks.

Go over to TPraty's post on MLN and join in the disappointment.

Louis DeLuca: The Godfather

In honor of today's News-Times editorial regarding Republican State Senate Minority Leader "Loony" Louis DeLuca and his ties to Danbury trash kingpin James Galante, MikeCT from My Left Nutmeg presents this feature video clip for your viewing pleasure.

Check out MikeCT's post and see what else he has to say.

PPM.

Although DeLuca plead guilty, he should be investigated for possible wrongdoing

Here's the latest on the Minority Leader Louis DeLuca's case.

Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor threat charge for asking a businessman with suspected mob ties to threaten someone he believed was hurting a relative.

DeLuca, 73, was sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence, a $2,000 fine and ordered to donate $1,500 to charity as part of the plea deal.

[...]

The judge also ordered DeLuca not to have further contact with Danbury trash hauler James Galante, who is awaiting trial on 72 counts of tax fraud, racketeering, threatening and extortion following a federal probe of organized crime in southwestern Connecticut's trash industry.

Authorities arrested DeLuca on Friday, saying he struck a deal in 2005 with Galante to threaten someone who DeLuca believed was having an abusive domestic relationship with one of his relatives.

Authorities said the men discussed the situation at a Woodbury diner and Galante passed DeLuca a note that asked, "Do you want me to have someone pay him a visit?"

Authorities said DeLuca told Galante "yes" and gave Galante the name and address of the alleged abuser.

Hopefully, those at the Capitol will look further into any wrongdoing on behalf of DeLuca because of this key portion of the article.

DeLuca and Galante met in 2001 when Galante made a large contribution to a charitable cause sponsored by DeLuca. DeLuca had Galante named Italian-American of the year by the Italian-American legislative caucus.

Authorities also said DeLuca promised an undercover agent that he would use his influence to discover anything that could hurt Galante, and "blunt it as best I can." However, he rejected the agent's offered $5,000 bribe, according a law enforcement arrest affidavit.

Using the office of Minority Leader to "discover anything that could hurt Galante and 'blunt it as best I can'" is very troubling and needs to be investigated sooner rather than later.

Democrats and Republicans take the gloves off over the state budget

With the session at the Capitol coming to a close, and the state budget in limbo, House Speaker James Amann and Minority Leader Pro Tempore Senator John McKinney had a spirited debate on the issues facing Connecticut on Sunday's Face the State.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Post-debate remarks from Senator Dodd

Here's footage of Senator Chris Dodd remarks regarding tonight's presidential debate.

Dodd debate coverage

Here's a cool feature being offered by the Dodd campaign.

Grab your popcorn and enjoy the show.

Senator Dodd live video chat on MLN at 2:45 TODAY

Senator Dodd will be doing a live video chat in advance of tonight's debate in NH.

~~Please go over to My Left Nutmeg today at 2:45 P.M. and join in this one of a kind discussion.~~

Here's the video from today's chat.

The Dodd campaign is providing in-depth coverage of today's debate on their website. Here's the schedule:

*630PM - Live web chat with senior Dodd campaign staff.
*7PM - Live web cam broadcast of Dodd campaign war room throughout the
debate (sorry, no sound).
*8PM - Live intermission update from Matt Browner-Hamlin.
*9PM - Live Post debate report from Senior Dodd staff.

For your viewing pleasure, here's video highlights of Senator Dodd's New Hampshire canvass kick-off from today.