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Health Bill Money For Hospital Sought By Dodd The Associated Press December 20, 2009 WASHINGTON -- A $100 million item for construction of a university hospital was inserted in the Senate health care bill at the request of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election campaign, his office said Sunday night. The legislation leaves it up to the Health and Human Services Department to decide where the money should be spent, although spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said Dodd hopes to claim it for the University of Connecticut. The provision is included in a 383-page series of changes to the...

You can follow Richard Nixon's prescription on how to win a Republican nomination for high office. You can even heap praise on Jimmy Carter. You cannot, however, do both. Nixon, the disgraced 37th president, reduced his formula for victory to this: Run to the right to get nominated, then dash to the middle to get elected. Many Republican candidates find it still works. Former Congressman Rob Simmons, the front-runner in the 2010 contest for the U.S. Senate seat held by beleaguered Democratic incumbent Christopher Dodd, won three terms in the House of Representatives as a moderate Republican. Ambitious Republicans, even...

A $100 million item for construction of a university hospital was inserted in the Senate health care bill at the request of Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who faces a difficult re-election campaign, his office said Sunday night. The legislation leaves it up to the Health and Human Services Department to decide where the money should be spent, although spokesman Bryan DeAngelis said Dodd hopes to claim it for the University of Connecticut. The provision is included in a 383-page series of changes to the health care bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., outlined Saturday. Scattered throughout are numerous...

Senator Joe Lieberman is snowed in up in Connecticut--which means no vote on Øbama "Care" until he can make it back to DC! In honor of this fortuitous blizzard Oh the healthcare reform is frightful Status quo is so delightful And since there’s no vote sans Joe Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! The Dems don’t show signs of stopping Our tax rates will soon be popping Cancer screens will be cut real low Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! If Joe finally leaves tonight How he'll hate going out in the storm! But...

Supposedly he’s in Connecticut for the Jewish sabbath, but come on. We all know he’s in Barbados. Laughing his ass off. Already, they’ve wheeled in the cots for members and staff who choose to slumber party the night away in the Capitol, or Senate offices. But tomorrow, bright and early, all of them could need to be on hand for procedural reasons. For instance, Democrats expect to have to waive a budget point of order they expect Republicans to raise against the defense appropriations bill. That requires 60 votes… “After being assured by Democratic and Republican leaders that his vote...

WASHINGTON – Democratic Sen. Al Franken has taken the unusual step of shutting down Sen. Joe Lieberman on the Senate floor. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, currently is the target of liberal wrath over his opposition to a government-run insurance plan in the health care bill. Franken was presiding over the Senate Thursday afternoon as Lieberman spoke about amendments he planned to offer to the bill. Lieberman asked for an additional 30 seconds to finish — a routine request — but Franken refused to grant the time.

Lieberman Criticized For Health Care Reform Opposition HARTFORD, Conn. -- Filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore threatened to boycott Connecticut if Sen. Joe Lieberman is not recalled. Moore made the threat on Twitter Wednesday. In his Tweet, Moore said, "People of Connecticut: What have u done 2 this country? We hold u responsible. Start recall of Lieberman 2day or we'll boycott your state." Politico reported Tuesday that Rep. Rosa DeLauro called for the recall of Lieberman. DeLauro said, "No one should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be...

Extremist elements of the party railed and rioted against the alleged moderation of their candidate. The result was an overthrow of the local party establishment and an exciting three-way election in which the extremists were ultimately defeated. This is not about events in 2009 when liberal upstate New York Republican Dede Scozzafava was handed her party's nomination and faced a conservative opponent in what has become an infamous congressional special election. It refers, rather, to the 2006 race in which the angry Left tried to end Connecticut Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman's career. The episode is especially relevant now that Lieberman...

Politics: If the Democrats' stitched-together Frankenstein monster of health care reform gets the 60 votes to get through the Senate, it will have been done through an assortment of bribes and brass knuckles. (snip) Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, has also been critical of the buy-in and public option, but he has an additional issue about whatever comes out of the Senate not involving public funding of abortion in any way. Michael Goldfarb on the Weekly Standard blog quotes a Senate aide as saying the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the...

Liberal anger at Sen. Joe Lieberman spread across Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with a House Democrat from Connecticut calling for his recall and Lieberman himself acknowledging the angst he has caused. “No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I’ll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO. Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress, since each house has the authority to police its own members. DeLauro acknowledged that she didn’t know if it was...

The mask has fallen off the left in regards to Sen.Joe Lieberman.OK, she’s upset that a fellow Democrat is helping derail a bill that Americans don’t want, and is being pushed only by lefty ideologues because they can see total control of American life within their reach. But this is too much. A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill. “No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I’ll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled,”...

WESTBROOK,CT - Some local business owners Tuesday presented a novel idea that they say could get the Patchogue River dredged at a reasonably low cost, or at least for far less than the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it will take. The Corps has estimated that the job would cost $1.7 million. The town received a $689,000 appropriation this year from the federal government, which goes to the Corps. But the Corps cannot go out to bid until money for the entire estimated cost is available. Part one of the novel idea would have the town bond out for...

Sen. Joe Lieberman has threatened to join a Republican filibuster over the health care public option. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who sits with Democratic caucus, said Tuesday that he would not rule out running for re-election in 2012 as a Republican. Lieberman angered his colleagues in the Democratic caucus this week by threatening to torpedo health care legislation if it contains a government-run public health insurance or an expansion of Medicare. Lieberman said he wasn't sure which party, if any, he would represent in his next election. "I like being an independent, so that's...

A year after the decimation of 2008, Republicans are newly confident about their election prospects in the Senate. Then again, they have almost nowhere to go but up: The GOP occupies only 40 seats, compared to 58 for the Democrats (plus a pair of “independent” allies, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont). As always, many races are foregone conclusions, such as the special election in Massachusetts next month to choose a successor to the late Ted Kennedy. But at least 20 of the 2010 Senate races are worth watching. Herewith, a state-by-state summary. ARIZONA: Could Republican senator...

WASHINGTON – Independent Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman says he expects to support the Democrats' health care legislation as long as any government-run insurance plan stays out of the bill. Lieberman has been a question mark on the health care legislation for months. To win him over, Senate leaders said late Monday they were backing away from a Medicare expansion Lieberman opposed. They already had dropped a full-blown government insurance program. Lieberman told reporters Tuesday that if the Medicare expansion and government insurance plan are gone, "I'm going to be in a position where I can say what I've wanted to...

His voice mail in DC is FULL. But I got right through on his local line 1-860-549-8463Ask how he can vote to cut Medicare for seniors, VA benefits for Veterans and INCREASE fees for retired Military under Tri-Care for Life....pound on the three issues as effecting the ENTIRE country. Ask it of your OWN senators too.

A House Democrat from Connecticut said Tuesday that Sen. Joe Lieberman should be recalled from office over his opposition to the Senate health care bill. "No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I'll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO. Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress since each house has the authority to police its own members. But DeLauro’s comments speak to concerns running through Democratic circles in Connecticut and in Washington...

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman said Tuesday he is prepared to back a comprehensive health care reform...

For Immediate Release Thursday, December 10, 2009 Contact: Contact: Kaelan Richards 202-225-3661 DeLauro Calls for Equality for Women Farmers Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) today introduced the Equality for Women Farmers Act. She was joined by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-14), an original co-sponsor of the bill, and by six women farmers who shared their stories of discrimination by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) simply because of their gender. This legislation will seek to change the USDA’s history of discrimination towards women farmers, by addressing past transgressions and working to prevent future problems. For those who have been...

More than 80 percent of Democrats say they believe Sen. Joe Lieberman should be stripped of his chairmanship in the Senate if he ends up supporting a Republican filibuster of health care reform. According to the Huffington Post, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America ordered a study a few days ago, in which they polled over 800 voters. The main question in the poll was whether Lieberman - an Independent who usually caucuses with the Democrats - should lose his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 81 percent of Democrats responded that they...

Thwarted in his bid for the vice presidency in 2000 and thwarted again in his campaign for the presidency in 2004, Sen. Joe Lieberman (?-Conn.) nevertheless retains one awesome power: the capacity to make some liberals lose their minds. How else to explain the outrageous smear of Lieberman, posted earlier today by youthful policy wonk Ezra Klein on The Post's Web site? Apropos of Lieberman's opposition to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's proposed Medicare buy-in for uninsured people between the ages of 55 and 64, Klein had this to say: "At this point, Lieberman seems primarily motivated by torturing liberals....

Liberals are so incensed at Connecticut Senator Joe Liberman's refusal to vote for ObamaCare, that they have taken to attacking his wife, who works for a prominent breast cancer organization. Their ad hominem assaults and wild speculation about the Senator's supposedly evil motives reveal their hypocrisy when it comes to political centrists, and their desperation concerning health care legislation. At Huffington Post, FireDogLake founder and breast cancer survivor Jane Hamsher revealed that her request to the Susan G. Komen foundation that money raised to find a cure not be used to pay Mrs. Lieberman's salary went unheeded. Hamsher went on...

This week, while global attention is focused on the climate change summit in Copenhagen, a small Connecticut bird is a reminder that the potential harm of a changing world environment is never far away. About half of the world's population of the elusive saltmarsh sparrows nests every spring on Connecticut's shoreline. But rising water levels due to global warming and other habitat damage are endangering the species, making the bird a critical indicator of the health of Connecticut's coastal flats. For the past seven years, University of Connecticut ornithologist Chris Elphick has been working with a team of biologists studying...

In a surprise setback for Democratic leaders, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, said on Sunday that he would vote against the health care legislation in its current form. The bill’s supporters had said earlier that they thought they had secured Mr. Lieberman’s agreement to go along with a compromise they worked out to overcome an impasse within the party. But on Sunday, Mr. Lieberman told the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, to scrap the idea of expanding Medicare and to abandon the idea of a new government insurance plan, known as a public option.

Struggling Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) is "getting the living hell beat out of him" in his campaign for re-election, Joe Biden said yesterday. Speaking at a fundraiser for Dodd in Connecticut, Biden urged supporters to rally behind Dodd, whom he called "the single most gifted legislator in Congress." "Chris is getting the living hell beat out of him, the living bejesus beat out of him,'' Biden said, according to a pool report. "Why? Because he's being a leader." Dodd has put himself front and center on both healthcare reform and financial regulation. He's also come under fire for taking a...

HARTFORD — - The state's congressional delegation is pressuring Gov. M. Jodi Rell to get financing back on schedule for the Hartford-to-Springfield high-speed train system. Sens. Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd advised Rell late Friday to quickly push through funding for engineering and surveying. Unless that work is done soon, they said, Connecticut might lose its shot at $80 million in federal funding this winter — and perhaps hundreds of millions later. "Put simply, a failure to authorize state funding for this preliminary work will jeopardize the state's ability to receive federal funding for this critical project," said a letter...

Link to video only. Comments still welcome though.

Biden: Dodd is 'getting the living hell beat out of him' Posted: December 11th, 2009 05:17 PM ET From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser Washington (CNN) – Joe Biden praised Sen. Chris Dodd Friday, but conceded his good friend - one of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats - is "getting the living hell beat of him." The vice president made his comments at a fundraiser for Dodd Friday in Hartford, Connecticut. Dodd had been scheduled to accompany Biden at the fundraiser and at event earlier in the day to announce nearly $4 million in federal stimulus funding to replace...

Chris Dodd (D-Conn) has been in the Senate for five terms, rising through the ranks to become one of the most powerful lawmakers in Congress. Yet it seems he may have an uphill battle in trying to secure a sixth. "It is increasingly clear to both independent analysts and Democratic leaders that Dodd is just too badly damaged to have a decent shot at getting re-elected, almost regardless of who wins the Republican nomination," writes Jennifer Duffy, a Senate race analyst at the Cook Political Report, which is now predicting a Dodd loss. For much of the past year, Dodd,...

A hiring lawyer from Greenwich, Conn., wrote to The Ethicist of the New York Times with this question: Is it ethical to recommend rejection of members of the Federalist Society simply because you disagree with their conservative politics? The Ethicist, Randy Cohen, said politics should not be a factor.... The lawyer, who made recommendations on summer and full-time associates, had noted the review was intended to take account of judgment and personality. The Ethicist countered that reasonable people differ over politics. “I am tempted to believe that those whose politics differ from mine lack ‘judgment and personality’ and taste in...

HARTFORD, Conn.—Hartford Police Chief Daryl Roberts says the city is a bit safer after citizens turned in 78 unwanted firearms during a gun buy-back program last weekend. Police say people turned in handguns, rifles, numerous rounds of ammunition and gun magazines. All the weapons will be destroyed, unless forensic tests show they were used in crimes. The program offered a $75 gift card for a semiautomatic weapon, $50 gift card for a revolver and a $25 gift card for a shotgun or rifle. It was a joint effort by police, Hartford Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Connecticut Children's...

Speaking of the Connecticut primary, past positions may come back to haunt Rob Simmons in the Republican primary against Linda McMahon. Mr. Simmons has modeled himself as a movement conservative, even brandishing tea bags and a copy of his pocket Constitution during stump speeches, but his voting record as a member of Congress will give the 'tea party' crowd pause. As a member of Congress, Mr. Simmons was a co-sponsor of the House's "cap and trade" bill and the Employee Free Choice Act, called "card check" by its opponents. These two pieces of legislation are vehemently opposed by the free-marketeers...

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Connecticut now finds Dodd attracting just 35% to 40% of the vote against three possible Republican challengers. Former GOP Congressman Rob Simmons is still his toughest opponent, leading Dodd 48% to 35%. Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate in this contest, and 11% are undecided. Those figures are a slight improvement for Simmons since September. The newest Republican in the race, Linda McMahon, the ex-CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, earns 44% of the vote to Dodd’s 38%. Eight percent (8%) opt for another candidate, with nine percent (9%) not sure. Long-shot candidate...

NEW HAVEN — Attorneys for a group of black city firefighters Monday filed a motion asking a federal court to halt the promotion of 10 other firefighters (including four minorities) who scored well enough on 2003 exams to be promoted. The 10 firefighters’ advancements were approved Friday by the Board of Fire Commissioners, just three days after the board ratified the promotions of 14 other firefighters (all but one of them white) mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Ricci v. DeStefano. The 10 in question scored high enough on the test to be promoted, but weren’t plaintiffs with...

The 2010 election is still almost a year away, and as they say, a lot could happen. But if the Stupid Party doesn't mess up the "Dump Dodd" movement, Connecticut will have a new U.S. senator come January 2011. But even in defeat, corrupt Democrat Christopher Dodd would be a big winner because he voted many times to make it so. Besides a career's worth of dirty wealth he has amassed — the Irish cottage, the real-estate equity enhanced by sweetheart mortgages, the money he saved touring the globe in special-interest and taxpayer-funded junkets and God know what else —...

Although housing subdivisions have overtaken much of the surrounding area, there's still a stretch of land along the Farmington River stretching from Avon into Farmington that evokes Connecticut's agrarian past. On one side of the road, expansive fields dotted with grazing cows run down to the river. On the other is a modest, white house with red barns and a silo, all part of a 400-acre spread straddling the two towns known locally as Fisher Farm. The property has been a farm for generations. For years it was owned by Theodate Pope Riddle, the pioneering woman architect and founder of...

Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

The 8th Virginia Class nuclear attack submarine is getting commissioned today.

West Haven (WTNH) - A West Haven landlord is on probation and will have to pay a fine after he changed the locks on a tenant who was on active duty overseas with the U.S. Marine Corps. Lawrence Manware, 42, of West Haven was sentenced Wednesday afternoon to one year of probation. Manware was found guilty in November after being accused of changing the locks and placing a new tenant in the apartment he had been currently renting to the Marine. When the Marine returned home from overseas he found out that his landlord was moving a new tenant into...

Eminent Domain: Four years after the Supreme Court told a Connecticut homeowner that no one's house is safe from developers, Brooklyn homeowners may lose their homes to a pro basketball team. On June 3, 2005, by a 5-4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively repealed the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, deciding that your constitutional right to be secure in your home didn't matter if your state or community decided your property could produce more revenue as a shopping mall or condominium development. Pfizer coveted Susette Kelo's working-class neighborhood for an office park and condominium complex. The city fathers...

NEW BRITAIN (CT) — City educators and social service providers are battling an onslaught of frightening statics — only 10 percent of kindergarteners were considered fully ready by their teachers, roughly 60 percent of households don’t speak English as its primary language, 26 percent of adults are functionally illiterate. But two solid years of hard work have given birth to a blueprint that its drafters hope will address those ills and impact the lives of the city’s young children for the better. A coalition of city leaders, educators, health care providers and community organizers spearheaded by the New Britain Discovery...

If you are fed up with Barack Obama and Eric Holder’s constant attacks on what is good and right about America come to New York City’s Foley Square Federal Courthouse on this Saturday December 5, 2009 at 12 noon and let your voice be heard. The “Stop The Terror Trial in NYC Rally” is being sponsored by TEA Party 365 and the 9/11 Never Forget Coalition. Those on hand beside the 9/11 Families will be brother and sister New York City Firefighters and Police Officers representing the 343 Firefighters and 40 Police Officers who died that day. Moreover there will...

CVS Caremark Corp., operator of more than 7,000 drugstores nationwide, is being sued by Connecticut over claims it sold expired products less than a month after the company settled a similar lawsuit with New York. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said an investigation found 20 or more stores in the state — including locations in Cheshire, Waterbury and Winsted — selling items past their expiration dates. The items included baby formula, energy drinks, cough and allergy medicines, and dairy products such as milk, eggs and yogurt. A survey in the summer of 2008 showed 10 of about 40 stores visited selling...

Medical identity theft is on the rise and expected to worsen. The problem has grown during the recession as more uninsured people use the coverage of a friend, relative or even a stranger to get care. Of particular concern is the fact that most of the fraud is committed by people who pay medical workers for patients' information. In one case, a front-desk clerk at a medical clinic in Weston, Fla., downloaded the personal information of more than 1,100 Medicare patients and gave it to a cousin, who made $2.8 million in false Medicare claims.

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. -- The state Green Party is hoping to enlist a new candidate to run against Sen. Chris Dodd in 2010. Friday, the party urged Winsted-native Ralph Nader, the 76-year-old frequent presidential candidate, to jump into the race. Nader has experience running in national elections, having run for president three times. Nader was in West Hartford on Friday for a book signing. At the same time, supporters are urging him to get into what they called one of the hottest political races in the country. “If enough people, hundreds and hundreds of people urge Ralph Nader to run,...

Physicist Howard Hayden, a staunch advocate of sound energy policy, sent me a copy of his letter to the EPA about global warming. The text is also appended below, with permission. As noted in my post Access to Energy, Hayden helped the late, great Petr Beckmann found the dissident physics journal Galilean Electrodynamics (brochures and further Beckmann info here; further dissident physics links). Hayden later began to publish his own pro-energy newsletter, The Energy Advocate, following in the footsteps of Beckmann's own journal Access to EnergyI love Hayden's email sign-off, "People will do anything to save the world ... except...

With Pfizer Leaving, City Has Nothing But Weedy Acres To Show For Grandiose Development Scheme That Uprooted Homeowners And Razed A Neighborhood I'm often asked if I'd consider writing a novel. My answer is always no, truth is better than fiction ... and often harder to swallow. Consider the bitter pill that Pfizer Inc. slipped New London this week. Barely a decade after constructing a $300 million research and development headquarters in the city, the pharmaceutical giant announced it was shutting down the facility. Just like that, New London will lose 1,400 jobs and become home to a gigantic, vacant...

Supreme Court Decision to Be Implemented "As Soon As Practicable," City Says Five months after winning a landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, 14 white and Hispanic firefighters in New Haven, Conn., will soon receive the promotions they were denied on the basis of their race. Federal Judge Janet Bond Arterton -- the same judge who threw out the firefighters' lawsuit in 2006 -- issued an unambiguous ruling Tuesday, ordering Connecticut officials to promote the men. "The New Haven Civil Service Board shall certify the results of the 2003 promotional examinations for the positions of Lieutenant and Captain in...

Men Stole From Wounded Veterans by Jodie Mozdzer | Nov 23, 2009 1:48 pm Two Shelton men were arrested Sunday for allegedly stealing money meant for wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Ron Orszag, a Vietnam veteran from Fairfield who served in the U.S. Navy, was outside the Stop & Shop on Bridgeport Avenue Sunday collecting donations for Operation Gift Card. The program purchases gift cards for severely injured Marines and soldiers. At about 5:15 p.m., Orszag, 62, had just sat down at the table when a young-looking man ran up from behind, grabbed a wooden collection box stuffed with about...

HARTFORD Edward Casares Jr. rode his 10-speed bicycle to the Hartford Fire Department's training facility on Jennings Road in 1980, two thoughts came to mind. "The first was, 'What am I doing here?'" Casares, 51, said Friday as he recalled the day he joined the department. "The second was, 'Someday I'm going to be chief.'" Casares' long-held dream came true Friday as he was named the 36th chief of the Hartford Fire Department. His promotion will take effect in April when Chief Charles A. Teale's retirement takes effect. Casares, a 28-year veteran of the department, has been fire marshal since...