Tag: Connecticut

Bridgeport PD eyes driving simulators

by Brian Lockhart, CT Post February 1, 2015

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Police Chief Joseph Gaudett is hoping a roughly $125,000 investment in a driving simulator can reduce those costs and the risks the men and women under his command face when on the road.

“If it helps prevent one serious accident that injures an officer or member of the community, then it is money well spent,” Gaudett said.

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The day after he mentioned the idea to council members earlier this month, the chief appeared in court. He is being sued by a Bridgeport couple who claim that in 2010 Gaudett crashed his city-owned Cadillac Escalade into their car while he was on his cellphone.

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Tomorrow, the Connecticut Judiciary Committee will vote on HB 6599:  An Act Concerning Discrimination.  The act adds the words “gender identity or expression” to this list of traits which cannot be the legal basis of discrimination:  race, color, religious creed, age, marital status, national origin, ancestry, sex, mental retardation, mental disability or physical disability, including, but not limited to, blindness.  “Gender identity or expression” would come right after “sex”.

If you live in Connecticut and have a legislator on the Judiciary Committee, now is the time to call.

As Lieberman deliberated, the new chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), told HuffPost that the party would consider supporting Lieberman if he returned to the fold.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

Joe & George the President

The feeling of ill will is mutual: Lieberman said during the health care debate that one reason he opposed a Medicare buy-in compromise was that progressives were embracing it.

Joe & John the Presidential Candidate

March 20, 2003

” What we are doing here is not only in the interest of the safety of the American people. Believe me, Saddam Hussein would have used these weapons against us eventually or given them to terrorists who would have. But what we are doing here, in overthrowing Saddam and removing those weapons of mass destruction and taking them into our control, is good for the security of people all over the world, including the Iraqi people themselves.”

http://www.lobelog.com/lieberm…

Joe and John in Iraq

September 29, 2011.    10 years and 18 days after 9-11 attacks on NYC



” It is time for us to take steps that make clear that if diplomatic and economic strategies continue to fail to change Iran’s nuclear policies, a military strike is not just a remote possibility in the abstract, but a real and credible alternative policy that we and our allies are ready to exercise.

It is time to retire our ambiguous mantra about all options remaining on the table. It is time for our message to our friends and enemies in the region to become clearer: namely, that we will prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability — by peaceful means if we possibly can, but with military force if we absolutely must. A military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities entails risks and costs, but I am convinced that the risks and costs of allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapons capability are much greater.

Some have suggested that we should simply learn to live with a nuclear Iran and pledge to contain it. In my judgment, that would be a grave mistake. As one Arab leader I recently spoke with pointed out, how could anyone count on the United States to go to war to defend them against a nuclear-armed Iran, if we were unwilling to go to war to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran? Having tried and failed to stop Iran’s nuclear breakout, our country would be a poor position to contain its consequences.

I also believe it would be a failure of U.S. leadership if this situation reaches the point where the Israelis decide to attempt a unilateral strike on Iran. If military action must come, the United States is in the strongest position to confront Iran and manage the regional consequences. This is not a responsibility we should outsource. We can and should coordinate with our many allies who share our interest in stopping a nuclear Iran, but we cannot delegate our global responsibilities to them.”

http://www.lobelog.com/lieberm…

http://lieberman.senate.gov/in…

Raese says Minimum Wage is Unconstitutional

by Alison Knezevich, The Charleston Gazette — Oct 14, 2010

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Republican candidate for U.S. Senate John Raese doesn’t just want to abolish the minimum wage.  He also calls it possibly unconstitutional.

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Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin’s campaign seized on Raese’s remarks as a sign that Raese, a multimillionaire, is out of touch with West Virginians.

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West Virginia is one of the nation’s poorest and oldest states. Nearly 18 percent of West Virginians live in poverty, compared to 14 percent of Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Rachel Maddow has some sage advice, on how to turn “out of touch” rhetoric like this, into Electoral Gold …

Senator Lindsey Graham(R, SC) has dutifully assumed his cloak and dagger as the Village Villain du Jour, thrown a last minute hissyfit on the Saturday before Sen. John Kerry was to reveal the long anticipated Climate and Energy Bill on Monday, and is holding his breath and threatening to turn beet red unless the Senate ignores the immigration issue this year.   http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wi…

The support of Graham was sought because it was assumed that of Senators Ben Nelson(D, Mutual of Omaha) and Blanche Lincoln(D, Walmart of Bentonville) would not automatically be forthcoming, after their performances during the health insurance bailout bill which was passed earlier this spring.

Now Graham is petulant, on cue, after the Arizona state legislature went neo Nazi on the Hispanic and Latino voter demographic, and the Arizona governor signed the law yesterday mandating proof of residency be shown on demand to police.  Graham says his confidence is “destroyed” that the Senate would be able to multi task on 2 topics during the rest of the year.

Hurrah!

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An Independent Senator From a Northeast State Expresses Joy at the news that the Democratic President and Party is less Popular in the Polls Because The Independents Who Voted For Him….  Don’t Feel “Cared About.”

The Hill, April 14, 2010

Minutes 9 thru 11:15 on video

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-…

“There were a lot of people, particularly Democrats, who were declaring after the 2008 election that we were beginning a period of Democratic dominance that would go on for decades,” Lieberman said during an interview with the conservative Newsmax magazine.

“Now, all of a sudden, the momentum is with the Republicans. And that’s –  thank God –  that’s the way people have spoken, you know? That’s our democracy.”

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Q. The Obama administration is saying to the world, If you attack us with biological or chemical weapons, we will not attack you with nuclear weapons first if you don’t have them. What does that say to our enemies who might want to wipe us out ?

Appropriate ambiguity up to now….    We reserve the right to use nuclear weapons …. if the attack was bad enough.

I prefer that ambiguity.  I don’t support the change the Obama administration has made.  Like swiss cheese, full of holes.  There are plenty of reasons the US could find a reason to respond.

Bottom line,  I want any nation thinking of doing anything as extreme as to attack America  to fear we would respond with a nuclear attack.  I hope we never get to that point.  I want our enemies to be uncertain and afraid.  

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Q. Should President Obama have dropped the term “Islamic Extremism ?” What do you make of that ?

I don’t like that change.  I don’t understand it.  I think it’s fundamentally dishonest.  I don’t think it gains anything I think it loses us some support in the Muslim world.  The fact is, we’re not in a war with some nebulous group of violent extremists, ah

we not in a war with environmental extremists,  white supremist extremists,  we’re in a war with Violent Islamist Extremists and Terrorists.

the people who attacked us on 9 – 11 were not just violent and extreme,  they were motivated by an ideology of Islamic extremism,  which took the religion of Islam and essentially transformed it into a radical political ideology.

(video minute 4)

and if we don’t call it what it is, first up, we are violating the first rule of war for thousands of years:  Know Your Enemy.

Secondly, how do you defeat your enemy unless you describe what it is , and 3rd, in many ways it is an ideological conflict between one set of values and this violent Islamic extremist ideology.  Most people in the Muslim world reject this, but if we don’t say there’s a difference, between most Muslims in the world, and the violent Muslim extremists and terrorists,  we disrespect most Muslims, and I don’t think we gain any favors from that .  I think that our enemies …  must be laughing at the word game, and our friends can’t be encouraged by it.

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Time to use military force in Iran?

time to have plans ….. when we say it’s unacceptable for Iran to go nuclear.  

next step is tough sanctions… to hurt.   …. last chance before using force.  This is a turning point in history. If we allow Iran to go nuclear the world becomes unsafe for everybody ….  all the work, it’s over. The chance of peace between Israel and Palestinians is over.    

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Oh, and the former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin?

You underestimate her at your peril, says the Independent Senator.

“Everybody should listen.”

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http://www.mercurynews.com/top…

4/13/2010  Contra Costa Times

Palin’s speaker’s contract found in dumpster with other shredded documents at Cal State, Senator Yee had sought them in public disclosure request

” In addition to the bendable straw and Learjet that Palin required, the contract also stipulated that she be picked up at the airport by SUV or black towncar; that her name be registered at (an upscale) hotel under an alias; that autographs not be allowed; that all photographs be taken by a professional photographer; and that personal cameras, cell-phone cameras and any other recording devices are to be turned off wherever she is.

…. A representative of WSB (Washington Speakers Bureau) or the Speaker”s party will open the water at an appropriate time….   ”

“It is truly shocking and a gross violation of the public trust that such documents would be thrown away and destroyed during a pending investigation.”

The students, Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs, submitted the documents to the attorney general”s office Tuesday to buttress an investigation already underway into whether Cal State Stanislaus violated the California Public Records Act.

“The linkage is absolutely intertwined,” he (Yee) said. “It”s like having a fundraising operation in my Capitol office.”

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Sarah Palin Raises Over 12 Million Dollars Over 9 Months Since Leaving Office Last July- Whoopie !  

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seat…   Seattle PI  4/13/2010

It was at the logging conference that Palin denounced as “a bunch of snake oil science” scientists’ studies linking climate change to emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. She also denounced California’s Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has taken efforts to curb emissions.

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“Since we all wear clothes …. and women wear most of them, I thought I could use my love of fine apparel to promote a fashion line which real Americans would find uplifting, something that would strengthen America’s foundations. ”  

– Sarah Palin, April 2010, source, Huffington Post  

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what the handlers must be thinking:

Thanks, Joe, for the referral !  Those kids didn’t need cheaper college tuition anyway.