The Debaser

A Message from the DEBASER staff

2010-10-18T00:24:00.000-04:00

After much deliberation and a round of drinks in the bottomless pit that is West Hartford Center, we decided to move our operation to Tumblr, because it makes us look more professional and increasingly shameless at the same time. And also because Blogger is absolutely terrible. Our new home is here.

- Much Love

Ken Lipshitz, Ph.D

P.S. - This blog is now officially sponsored by Chipolte Mexican Grill.

The Do Drugs and Listen to WTIC News Talk 1080 Tally Game!

2010-10-14T12:58:00.006-04:00

______________________

Hey Kids,

Here is a quick social experiment that readers can try at home, but ask mom and dad first. What you'll need to get started is a pen, paper, patience, and possibly some sort of heavy drug usage so you don't get panic attacks listening to the conservative talk radio hate agenda.

But don't worry, if your parents don't have any fun drugs in their medicine cabinet, you can go to any street corner in Hartford, or substitute with alcohol. First, write "Dick" and "Linda" on a piece of paper separated by a line going vertically down the page. Then find a radio and turn that dial to WTIC News Talk 1080 AM, and prepare to have your patience tested! As you make your way through the long pauses and libel, pay closer attention to the commercials. Now, here is where you get to be involved: Every time you hear a commercial supporting Richard Blumenthal, tally a mark on his side of the line. Just as well, do the same for for any ads backing Linda McMahon. You might be surprised as to who you are marking off more tallies for.

Send us your results and opinions at: thedebaseronline@gmail.com. Feel free to go nuts with repeating this experiment with Tom Foley and Dan Malloy ads as well, you may (but probably) won't be surprised by the outcome.

Until next time!

Disclaimer:

The DEBASER will not be held responsible if this experiment leads to the following:
Suicide or suicidal tendencies, insanity, self-loathing, crippling depression, scurvy, homicidal tendencies, boredom, loss of hope, mental retardation, conversion to any major religion, fear, cynicism, sexual repression, heavy drinking or drug use.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

2010-10-13T13:35:00.000-04:00

Thoughts on the Poll-Addicted Press and News Aggregation Whore CT Capitol Report

2010-10-12T17:21:00.004-04:00

_________________

You don't have to look further than the homepage of CT Capitol Report to get a sense of the conventional wisdom eating away at the Connecticut press corps. The Drudge Report-wannabe of local political aggregation reinforces this line of thinking, where something complex like politics is being falsely presented through the prism of Right versus Left and up-to-the-minute poll results.

Reporters are more drawn to polls than when a candidate actually says something that is interesting, like when Larson said he was in favor of Glass-Steagall but couldn't come up with a reason as to why he was absent to vote against an act that deregulated Wall Street.

Larson's comments came out the same day a poll sanctioned by CT Capitol Report and done by Merriman River Group said that his Republican opponent Ann Brickley was behind just seven points in the First Congressional District race. Media outlets in Connecticut jumped all over it, drowning out Larson's side-stepping of his voting record that ran the same day as the new poll came out. Of course, Larson could never step foot in this state except to make occasional fundraising appearances to bailout his Democratic colleagues and still win by a landslide.

Reading polls and believing what they say is sticky business. There are polls to virtually support any position or world view available. I am sure you can find a company that is sleezy enough to produce a poll that says nutball child molesters make great babysitters. Campaigns hire political consulting firms to provide a particular poll that is obviously slanted to a candidate's favor. So when a campaign says their "internal"polls are showing a particular favorable rating, that probably means it is a bunch of BS.

Dick Blumenthal's Day in Court

2010-10-12T13:11:00.000-04:00

___________

By Ken Lipshitz

All rise, court is now in order. The honorable Andre the Giant towers over his court of law, in front of him the plaintiff Dick Blumenthal and the defendant WWE Incorporated.

What's wrong with this picture? Well, one would assume Andre the Giant is nothing more than a massive zombie sent back from the grave for serious litigation matters.Wait, let's be honest -- that's all he is here for, Brett Hart is next to him as well. But I digress. This Senate race has been hyped up by the mainstream media as a no-holes barred slobberknocker between World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon and overall clown/jibroni Dick Blumenthal, where in reality it has been the people, i.e. Dick (because he knows what is best for Connecticut!) versus Linda's corporation.

Countless attack ads and interviews on the policy stance that Blumenthal has on basic national political issues have come up time and time again, focusing on WWE and it's business practices instead of the REAL issues.

Take their first head-to-head debate. The McMahon campaign baited Dick into making himself look like he'd just been stone cold stunnered because he couldn't respond to the question, "How do you create a job?" He sounded more dumbfounded than Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants; his brain consisting of one building with thousands of workers inside all dressed the same with slicked back dirtbag hair sitting in rows upon rows of cubicles. When this question was asked that building blew up as if it was attacked by a group of Mujahideen strung out on crystal meth, and every worker scrambling for cover as these metaphorical brain cells ripped off their liberal control collars and flipped their desks and began to inject PCP while running from the ruins.

Plainly put, he sounded like a goddamn idiot. Now all I hear from him is his stance on WWE as a company, federal inquries, layoffs, etc. Well, news for you, Dick. It's hard to build a multi-national company. Linda found a niche and did it successfully and now provides entertainment and jobs to people across the world. What have you done? Oh, wait, I forgot that suing creates jobs through all the unnecessary legal expenses. But seeing giant men play fight on television is horrible for our society?

Give me a break. On November 2 everyone needs to head to the polls and wrap their hands around Dick, shake uncontrollably and deliver a chokeslam.

Grave Disappointment: The Unfortunate Meeting with Richard Blumenthal

2010-10-08T09:40:00.012-04:00

"Hi, I'm Dick Blumenthal. I sue things."

By Peter W. Gacek

The whole affair commenced the only way it could have. Justin Kloczko, all-around nice guy, picked me up for a hopeful morning of debauchery and local politics at the Park Road parade in West Hartford.

"We need to get two black coffees."

My mind, still dark from a previous night of beer-swilling nonsense, was unable or unwilling to understand. However, we arrived at a local Dunkin' Donuts, where Justin proceeded to pull out a bottle of Bailey's as big as his head, and I understood immediately. Surviving the morning depended on our ability to overindulge and not to take this too seriously. We were two committed hacks ready to fire a few honest and possibly bastardized questions at Linda McMahon or anyone of her stature willing to talk.

We reached our destination early with time to give the place a decent run through. The scene was West Hartford's Park Road parade, a celebration of West Hartford having more money than any other town in the area. Aside from it being like any other horrific display of floats, balloons, and red-white-and-blue confetti, its purpose was to provide an opportunity to catch a communal freak show of local politics, including the U.S. Senatorial candidates. So as we arrived, tainted coffees in hand, we parked and were ready to begin the hunt.

It was a sad state of affairs, things just barely beginning and no sign of anything coming together. I considered what we were up against and asked myself: Will Linda bother? What sort of time do we have with her? Why am I here?

Either way we began our walk in search of answers. We set out, scouting a possible place that might seem like the setup for the Republican Party. Richard Patrissi, president of the Park Road Association, had passed us a few times on the deserted road, strapped to a golf cart. Mr. Patrissi had alerted Justin to Linda's possible appearance at the parade earlier in the week. We remained skeptical and began to compose some questions for her opponent Richard Blumenthal, who was to make his usual appearance. Trying not to pose questions that would make the sham of a candidate flee under pressure to his aides, we prepared ourselves another coffee and Bailey's. After a few walks up and down the block, and inquiries to the poor bastards with clipboards, we finally got a word in with Mr. Patrissi, who told us Linda had canceled.

In his words, he was supremely "pissed off" at the no-show. Linda must have been too busy, we imagined, with her son in law the pro-wrestler, HHH's appearance in Fairfield. It was time to change gears, compile new questions. We had suffered a loss, and ultimately it took the wind out of our sails, but it wouldn't take us out, not yet. We still had some hope; we were certain Dick Blumenthal would keep his word and show up for the event.

A beer was in order.

We made our way to Plan B and downed a quick pre-noon PBR. The parade had started and it was terribly apparent that there were more dressed up freaks in the parade than actually watching it. One specific cry from the sideline, "Yeah Dick! Sue AT&T!" told us it was time to follow the momentum of the parade, where Dick, among others, would eventually be emptying out.

We made a quick exit to the sidewalk and began to stalk our target. Dick, with his pants up to his shoulders, was slowly making his feeble way through the parade. He waved to nobody, mouthed voiceless pleasantries, and continued to jet his frail arm into the fall breeze, waving like a child pageant contestant. Dick Blumenthal is a Crispin Glover look-alike, seems like he hasn't had a sandwich in a year, and, up close, appears to be the victim of a failed facelift procedure. We began to pick up our stride a little only to be stopped by a blue eyed and comely Larson staffer, who recognized my colleague. She and Justin exchanged a quick chat and contact information. Watching this, I knew Justin's intentions were less than political and he began to grin. I thought to myself, 'where did this amount of casual bullshitting fit in?' Was her interest just a terrible feigned one because Justin was attached to a press pass? Or, in Justin's best interest, one that is a general one of people trying to make an honest connection? One could not tell a suave political move from a sloppy come-on in this terrible mess of confusion.

We continued down the route, watching a terrifying spectacle of horrid bands and a candidate who looked like the wind may knock him over at any minute. This noisy scene was no place to get a decent recording in, but we soldiered on. Half a mile up the road we had found the head of the snake. We crossed the street and staked out for a chance at catching Dick for an interview. We remained patient in our approach and watched the small circus of supporters hunting for photo opportunities. I was approached by a blonde square with glasses looking for directions. I gave him the means to make a clean escape from this zoo. Meanwhile my colleague was starting to make some casual conversation with John Larson while a tracker was filming Dick's every interaction not five feet away.

(For those of you who don't know what a tracker is, it's a term for a cretin who gets paid by an opposing candidacy to film the opponent. A tracker waits like a dog for scraps to capture any sort of slip up, or weapon they can bring back, in this case, to Linda McMahon's headquarters.)

John Larson, CT's incumbent Congressman, didn't have to commit too much in this election period, except providing support to other Democratic candidates. On this weekend, his run for re-election appeared to be in the bag, he could enjoy the ride... still he was there and although he wasn't our focus, not now, we had a quick chat.

Justin asked if Larson was worried about the state of things with this race, and Larson, like a champ, said he wasn't at all. I soon introduced myself and the topic went quickly into negative advertising.

"I’ve never run negative ads,” Larson said, somewhat defensively. “The atmosphere is so saturated, so poisoned. What I think the problem is that people aren’t looking through the informed citizen’s point of view. They’re looking to incite negativity."

Justin retorted: “Why do you think people respond to negative ads?”

"They work unfortunately. I've never run a negative ad, but I've responded to them,” Larson said.

The whole parade affair behind us got louder, and it was hard to get everything in. Larson said he was looking forward to the debates with his fellow candidates in West Hartford, Republican Ann Brickley and Green Party candidate Ken Krayeske. I realized two things about Larson. First, it is understandable why John Larson has been a successful congressman with little competition. He is like an older regular at a bar you frequent. He is always there, recognizes you, and will talk the shit out of your ear. Secondly, which became painfully apparent is as we talked, Larson slowly moved his body in front of the tracker standing opposite of him, completely eclipsing the view of Blumenthal, presumably out of Democratic solidarity. This technique lasted for only a moment before tracker became frustrated and moved around us to get his shot.

We talked a bit of sports. He likes the prospect of Shaq joining the Celtics. I remarked how we need a good season to make of for the disillusionment of the Sox season. He put his hand up with disgust and muttered about Matsuzaka. While this conversation was casual and easy it wasn't what we were after. We sort of dispersed and Justin began to ask the tracker questions to get a rise out of him. "How much do they pay you to do this?" Justin asked, to which the unarmed man responded, "enough." Justin tried for a name, number, get a card but the bastard wouldn't budge, his eyes barely lifting off the screen. This was becoming too much of a distraction and my patience was running dangerously low.

The blonde square (and direction-seeker from earlier) had arrived back in the scene and began to talk with Justin. Turns out he was one, Jeff Long, Special Assistant to the candidate Richard Blumenthal. He shook my hand again and asked if we knew each other. We played dumb and I told him I was an independent voter who had no idea which way I'd be voting (mimicking the confused CT demographic). As well, I shamelessly plugged the Debaser so as to make my intentions a bit more obvious. He asked about Justin's credentials as well and they exchanged business cards. Mr. Long said we would get our chance soon and we waited and spat some more casual bullshit in meantime.

Our chance with Blumenthal came. The frail, once beloved man-child was slowly approaching us and Justin took the lead on the approach. We knew time was going to be short and we couldn't waste time waiting for him to slink over on his own.

Blumenthal: Good afternoon. How are ya? Good to be here.

Justin threw him a preliminary puff question, about whether he was enjoying the parade and inquired if he came every year.

Blumenthal: I try to come every year. This, ugh, ya know, ugh, is a beautiful day. This has a community feel to it. A feeling of togetherness.

(Blumenthal then turned to wave some more at a passing float of senile musicians who couldn't be bothered to wave back to the brittle Democratic candidate. Justin looks visibly annoyed)

Kloczko: I saw your ad this morning. How do you think the campaign has gone for you?

Blumenthal: Ugh, you know. I’m very satisfied... (distracted and clapping daintily to the music.)

Kloczko: What do you think is the biggest difference between you and McMahon?

Blumenthal: You know, I have fought for people..." (Inaudible in the music of the parade)

Kloczko: To what do you attribute losing a 40-point lead in the polls? And what are Democrats going to do to toughen up and win the election?

Blumenthal: We said from the start, that this was going to be difficult...(yadda yadda loud noises yadda yadda)

Gacek: How do you feel about Linda not showing up today?

Blumenthal: I’m not going to comment on that.

Gacek: (A bit taken back) Aright, no? That’s fine, I’m just asking.

Blumenthal: Take care. (another wave to nobody)

That was it. That was our brush with our accessible future leaders. "No comment." Like most politicians the most he could provide was hallow babble that lead nowhere. I gave the tracker a pat on the back and said, "Hope you get some good footage," and we made our way back to the car. Our plan was to head to Linda's campaign office next but we would eventually be disappointed and come up with nothing.

Events and candidates like these really make you feel burned out and depressed, but it sums up the coming election: we are presented with candidates who leave us feeling fatigued for the not too distant future. It's hard to face the reality that either of these creeps are going to represent us come November. Through this whole campaign in Connecticut (much like the rest of the country) I feel like we're in the back seat of a car, with child locks on, flying off a cliff. Any two-party election ultimately comes up short on true representation of the people, but I find it especially easy to get cynical with freaks like Blumenthal or McMahon running around. We'll see what it all comes down to soon enough.

My prediction? Linda will take this thing because Richard doesn't have the money or, like most Democrats, the balls to capitalize against the shit storm of the Republican party. Regardless of which way this wave crashes, good luck.

Check Out One of The DEBASER'S Own Getting Shameless Plugs For Holding the Fire to Larson

2010-10-07T13:43:00.001-04:00

________

Green Party candidate Krayeske appeared on Ray Ray Dunaway's WTIC Newstalk 1080 this morning to talk about the First District Congressional race. We all know Krayeske is going to lose, but it's seeing John Larson completely stumble when trying to recollect if he showed up to vote for one of the most important pieces of legislation to go through Congress in years. Larson said he was for keeping Glass-Steagall, but didn't even bother to show up for a vote. Of course, Ray Ray wasn't interested, he was just happy to let Krayeske get a polite word or two in.

Ann Brickley, his opponent, must be loving this, except that her party has been in the psych ward for the past 30 years. More on her campaign to come...

Here's the link to the talk this morning.

John Larson Says He Was for Keeping Glass-Steagall, But Didn't Show Up for the Crucial Vote that Would Have Saved Millions of American Lives from Being Ruined; Went to Snap Photos with Clinton Instead

2010-10-07T00:41:00.008-04:00

_______________

Representative John Larson, a former history teacher representing the First District in the United States House of Representatives, says he was for supporting a Depression-era law that would have helped deter the economic collapse of 2008. Only problem is he didn't show up for the vote. "If I missed it, there was a good reason for it," Larson said.

The reason was sweet photo time with Bill Clinton in the Hispanic Hood of Park Street in Hartford.

Larson is up for re-election Nov. 2. He represents the towns of Berlin, Barkhamsted, Bloomfield, Bristol, Colebrook, East Granby, East Hartford, East Windsor, Gastonbury, Granby, Hartford, Mancheter, Middletown, New Hartford, Newington, Portland, Rocky Hill, Southington, South Windsor, Torrington, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Winchester, Windsor and Windsor Locks.

Oh, and, the story itself is about some guy who has no chance of beating him.

UPDATE: CT Captiol Report has released a poll that says Larson's Republican opponent, Ann Brickley, is within seven points.

A Correspondence, Part III: From Texas with Disgust

2010-09-24T13:33:00.004-04:00

This hopefully concludes the exchanges between our faithful correspondents at the Debaser and John W. So far, no one has gotten hurt. Below is John's response to Pat, followed by a note from Justin, who fled the state in horror.

From: John Wilkinson <blackcombs@live.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Subject: RE:
To: patwreckgee@gmail.com

Pat, You MUST be "playing" with me!!!!!! I'll take your letter and break that down later. I see that you have invested "time" into it even if you are being 'silly!' --Maybe I shouldn't have said anything about the volgarity one time, or say it differently-- But, I ride the public trn system and you have these Hood types who know only bad words and it gets to me that the "SYSTEM" DOESN'T FIGHT IT. I READ A GREAT ARTICLE By ONE MARTHA RANDOLPH CARR PG 9 IN THE HERALD, today ABOUT our USA history. TRY TO READ THAT IF YOU CAN. I'LL BE MAKING COPY.

Pat, I am --back at you-- You put a lot forward in that letter. Iraq: You are best sequating that 'thought' and taking it seperately. I pick up "1" "good sourse" for "Iraq" just -today- but, it will take development.

-------------------------------------
Thanks for the 'compliments'/ "probably" ("I imagine") more-the-case is, with -myself- "probably" i have a bad reputaition, not good! But I'm smiling saying that/ "I don't care". Or, I will...but..."I don't know". I can tell you this: I have 'fields' that I -know- one of them is the field of: boxing/ but, that doesn't much help the 'general public'. But, if one is an 'expert' in one field, it will give them 'cross hairs' sensitivity, so-to-say when one is 'talking generally'. Anyhow, what i know with the -boxing- some of it can be discerned, then some of it "won't" be discerned. Basically, fighters "names" is a -language, and I: am "expert reader", there [One "Hip" -slot- FOR YOUR READERS: "RATE them" the 'greater' between: Ernie Shavers, Ken Norton and Ron Lyle three hvywts. from "by-gone-years" -"Living Legends", too!]. My second -field- of expertice is: INNER CITY MAINTENANCE THEORY and this goes into a "branch" of Police Science; and -that- takes me into MY POLITICS, of which I have been attempting to 'get in' some-way, ever since I 'write-in' ran for mayor of New Britain, in 1997. [and I can tell you: "Discovery" came on my 2nd field -because- I was so 'deep' on my 1st field/ and my "2nd field" is -easy- to -understand-] My "third" field is the Pizza restaurant Industry only "sales" and -basic set up ("zoneing")- and, other things, like, I COULD -talk- about 'race' most probably [I have a good 'understanding' there....]. But, i have many "hobbys" and, we-are-yet "growing". Politics: I have a "really dynamic" vision. But, I -attack- certain "Hot Button" matters for instance: Gay Marriage? "Give me a break". The govtmt can no longer 'preach' Character when something so "God Awful Gone" as Gay Marriage enters the picture.
DON'T EVEN MENTION -ANY- store i would "work" for by name. Also: you are "joking" saying a anonumous call came in from "Dominos".
Believe you me, my boss has more than said to me that "Politics" and the business are forbidden. And, that is "very reasonable".
About John McCain: I have made -attempt- to "communicate" with him -as we 'communicate'- but, it is very very very difficult to reach him singly. I suppose that can be understood. He's a "good man". I have what he sends but at this time I haven't been spending ANY TIME going thru it. I was thinking how I aught to -try- to get a 'beed' on some of it.
I'll have to look at your letter -again- next time. have a good day, Pat. Write to me at-any-time. thank You. My best for Justin! He strikes me as good/ and decent person! Your newspaper is "Hot!" & I -like- -all Newspapers- ps: My Facebook is at: John_Wilkinson-History@live.com -for you- -for Justin ("no pottie mouth, please!" -ha, ha!- SWEARING SHOULDN'T BE COMMON and by the way, I am -born- at FALMOUTH, MASS.) Add: "100 %/ 90 %" Population/ Iraq? What are you talking about/ Or: you are "testing" if I am reading you, right?

John,

Howdy Patna!

Reckgee forwarded me your email, as your last letter prompted me to leave Connecticut for a few days. He told you I was in Pennsylvania, denouncing my line of work and seeking God. He's wrong. I am writing to you from Texas, about two hours east of Houston in an undisclosed location while I prepare to repatriate back into the state. I couldn't even tell him where I really went, because I straight up don't trust the douchebag.

Everything is bigger here in Texas; the trucks, the beer, the amount of fast food chains, the women, people and all their misplaced ambition. I think everyone drives big trucks and stays strapped to hide the fact they all have no balls. We dressed up like cowboys, douggied for free pickle-juice vodka shots, did summersaults in a lake house, danced like fools, and got weird looks everywhere we went. I played around with a snub-nosed pistol last night, and am preparing paperwork for a gun permit for when I return. But don't worry, I have no urge to actually use it. It's all for the show.

So I am glad you are wishing me luck. I read your letter about seven times, and with each read come more questions. I find it odd that you refer to me as a "good and decent person" after pretty much making a threat against my life. But what I find even more odd is your stance opposing gay marriage, while also writing to me with fondness about Ralph Nader, who strongly supports it.

Why shouldn't we let gays have the same legal rights as straight people? And why don't we even allow gay people, who voluntarily serve in the military, to disclose their homosexuality without being discharged just for the opportunity to walk across a field and get their faces blown off by a roadside IED?

Talk like yours would actually make you fit right in down here in Texas. But at this point, I don't know what's funnier: People here in Texas or your letters. That's why I want to make a truce and offer you a weekly column for the Debaser. I have a few stipulations first. One, do yourself a favor and proof read your letters, or just have the common decency to run a spell check. Two, go easy on the caps lock. I feel like you are screaming at me sometimes. Three, try and stay on topic for more than ten words. I know people have short attention spans nowadays, but let's try and stay focused. We're all professionals at the Debaser.

Your first assignment is to go back to the McMahon campaign and ask for an Ed Patru, her campaign spokesman. He's a short, box-faced looking fella who suffers from a Napoleon complex. Prolly hates gay marriage, humor and sex. Talk to him for a bit. He'll give you plenty of material to write about.

Good luck,

Justin

Democratic Shill Colleen Flanagan Back in CT; Reportedly More Annoying Than Ever

2010-09-12T20:36:00.001-04:00

Sure reporters across the state will be happy to know that Colleen Flanagan, most recently communication/PR flack for Chris Dodd's aborted run for re-election, is back to help out the state Democratic party in the remaining weeks leading up to the elections.

Flanagan has a penchant for calling up reporters and basically straight up dissing anyone to pretty silly degrees. She once called me up and berated me over a passing interjection I had in an interview with Linda McMahon that mentioned Dodd, talking down to me like a mother who had just discovered an ounce of weed on their kid along with a 12-foot triple-percolator water bong. I tried to end the conversation as soon as possible, but she proceeded to yap my ear off with talking point after talking point. I think I hung up the phone on her, and the next thing you know she is going all hyena on the phone with my editor.

Anyway, she'll be helping out the party's communications director. If you're kind of into shameless, partisan one-liners for the entertainment value alone, stay tuned.

A Correspondence Part: II NO OBLIGATION

2010-09-07T19:57:00.007-04:00

Another correspondence has surfaced from our friend John W. in response to this recent post here at The Debaser. As before, his letter is marred by insufficient grammar and poor punctuation. Following the letter is a response with the utmost satire and ridicule.

NO OBLIGATION

"MESSAGING."

I do not have

any consistancy

w/ your person

(you use vulgarity w/ me

again and i'll close

you permanently. That's

how it is, yes! :)

Justin, "swearer" (People who use vulgarity in public they come from a stage in life that is, simply put, steps below a helpful level of maturity. It's what you've got when adults "proficiency level" drop by feet, and yards over time, "socially."

A moron is an adult w/ intelligence of 7 to 12 years old. "Vulgarity" in public is it's own signal and a "relationship point" within that same "moron" structure, or determine.

Anon. Yes quote me!:))

Iraq: I MAYBE HAVE TO REMAKE THIS SAME TO JOHN MCCAIN THOUGH I SOMEHOW DOUBT THAT HE SENDS ME EMAILS.

I've replied finally and look next time and see if it gets "filed" under NO NET:))

Friend of mine from SUDAN speaks with me Wednesday night (I traveled w/ *his work* through NY state around Albany area). He tells me of Iraq.

Sunni 70%? (65%?)

Shiite 20%

Kurd and all others 10%

The PM NOW is Shiite.

Elections/ Shiite are all given demand they do not participate in a "vote". Blue inked finger persons have had their fingers cut off.

A Shiite PM assures failure in Iraq

Do you think my friend has his information mixed up? All 3 groups have one another accordingly.

You have my email sorry this is so "rough" but it's the middle of the day.

-John W.

The Response:

Mr. Wilkinson,
This email is in response to your letter addressed to Justin Kloczko (Klah-sko) sent the 3rd of September 2010.

I wanted first to apologize on his behalf and on the behalf of The Debaser. My name is Pat W. Reckgee and I am a main correspondent for The Debaser online. As you may or may not know, this is a hyper-local blog in which the correspondence between yourself and Mr. Kloczko has been posted.

Please accept my sincerest regret if you were unaware of this action; however it was with Mr. Kloczko's best intention to feature the thoughts of a local and highly regarded source such as yourself. Anon, I wanted to inform you that your more recent letter to Justin has caused quite a stir.

Justin had quite a bad reaction to your latest letter. He has since denounced journalism as his profession just from your words. To be more precise, "you use vulgarity w/ me again and i'll close you permanently", has troubled him greatly. He has since left the "blogosphere" and last I heard is converting to Judaism and has taken up residence in rural Pennsylvania. This sudden act came after I received an anonymous phone call from a Domino's pizza, your place of employment. When I mentioned this call to Justin, his face went white and he ran out of the room. Although this all may come as a bit of a shock, I wanted to assure you that what you did was a necessity in weeding out such a cretin as Mr. Kloczko.

Originally upon receiving your letter, he immediately was ready to contact the police. It would seem you struck the fear of God into his heathen heart. We even consulted our team of lawyers to find the best course of action in response, although the problem has seemed to have brought about an unlikely blessing in getting rid of this hack.

Mr. Kloczko is the type of man who would commit treason against his own self, and his slander (and use of "potty mouth" vernacular) is unacceptable! And, for heaven's sake, I will not allow anyone to use their libel to put down Oscar De La Hoya! Justin is just using our respected site as an outlet for his liberal agenda, as you may have gathered. While I find poor grammar and death threats as immature, the fact that Justin would use such vicious language to hurt the journalistic integrity of my site is unacceptable. He is just what is plaguing this great country.

Not to mention that Barb's Pizza is rubbish when compared to the cardboard-like constancy of Sisson Ave Pizza.

Now in response to your letter, if I may be so blunt, I wanted to acknowledge some of your concerns. How is it you have maintained email correspondence with John McCain? I would certainly like to hear some of his ideas on my Tea Party protests scheduled for when Obama comes to Connecticut next week.

As well, I am not clear about your friend's facts. According to his math, Iraq has an either 95% or 100% total population. I am not certain this qualifies as a real country. The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has shown some resistance in cracking down on Shiites. A sort of hesitance that shouldn't be tolerated for any leader, it shows weakness. We certainly don't need some fundamentalist chopping off peoples hands as you so horridly put it (for other reasons aside from the gruesome picture).

Either way, I understand and no need to apologize about writing a "rough" copy. Generally I write my worst through normal hours of the day. That is why I am responding at 10 p.m. and not some unreasonable hour like 12 a.m.

I hope I was able to adequately address your concerns, and from now if you would like to continue this correspondence, please do not hesitate to email me.

Yours most sincerely,
Pat W Reckgee
http://thedebaseronline.blogspot.com/
P.S. In the best interests to our readers, as well as our legal obligation to the truth, this response will be posted on our blog. Thank you.

A Correspondence

2010-09-01T23:02:00.005-04:00

The following is a letter I received in the mail a couple months ago at work. The writer is an avid boxing fan, a lover of pizzas, and a self-proclaimed Ralph Nader freak. I am sorry to say that I can't show you guys the original letter, because the penmanship borders a fine line between childlike illegibility and insane Riddler-esque stick figure drawings. Any emphasis here was all his. A response follows his letter.

To Justin Kloczko
West Hartford News/Middletown Press
347 Main St., Middletown

July 2, 2010

Hello!

Enjoy your WEST HARTF. NEWS Notice the Justin Kloczko article pg1 on Noam Sturm. I'm huge fan of boxing one of our "1st Eschelon" (WBC/WBP/IBF/WBO) world Middlebout champions there always is a Sturm out of Germany, Felix Sturm. He is a interesting commodity began at the "being noticed" level when he lost a "close one" against Oscar de la Hoya Middlebout belt on the line & prior big one fight to del la Hoya bold (SIC) at Bernard Hopkins unified Middlebout championship. (Just note that! : )

John (censored) w/ mail to you folks I've been crusading to bring Ralph Nader to Gov. job this fall a idea I'll fit in at LtG. I have a "dynamic" "vision" for our state (& USA), I feel & I enjoy to expound on my "theories!"

If you will like to talk over electronic where I'll have time & atmosphere to expound I will make time for the West Hartford News. My facebook just to :look-up" is (Censored) & if I can look-up there message me but do not request join/please (probably) then I'll take you into my blackcombs domain which is "personal" & I'll put some forward ideas at you. if that'll work.

My three (3) exepertises are 1) boxing I'm a "expert reader." Some persons speak multiple languages. I pour that into "boxing" which is a name game. [The Enclosed] is a GOLDtag I have printed and distributed 19,000+ times to date. | You all Could pitch same @ fame State boxer (& ex-op) "Iceman " John Scully for his BoxRec.com rates all "active" & all retired boxers all time...while it is a "major work" also, they do rather only "toss it" together! :) (Scully a much higher "calibered" fighter than I was even is highly raised in Light hvywt div. he fought for the world in June/14 years ago. I'm rated inside Top 1600 of 4000 Supermiddlewt div. boxers). I could lead you into a domain where "iceman" is (illegible). analysis here is expertly laid out and if at any point then could be "any switch" it would be between Leroy? Middleton & Henry Clark. That's quite clear.

2) I have "self invented" 1 Field: Immencity maintenence Theory" & this has developed into a branch of Police Science & here is where I enter [POLITICS].

3) My work field the pizza industry I am "expert" only w/ sales & also basic delivery set up (inelligible) & (NOTE: author says to go to page 3, which has already been transcribed, included here is the "last" page) that field is a bit "personal" w/ me. "Policy" comes into play. a person make-up is important. the field is a field of "banks"/believe me! :). What I know in that "field" (22 years) it's unique. But, I do not even know how to make a pizza, myself. I think that the future of that industry will be for the Gluton free Pizza houses. (Hartford's "Sisson Ave" Pizza is the store, "inside industry" that I have the word on is "The best" & I have never even met or worked for those folks/There/ever yet).

- John W.

...

Dear John,

How dare you fire off a letter talking about boxing and not even reference bare-knuckle prize fighting. I received your letter Friday afternoon and it promptly ruined my entire weekend, because if Oscar De La Hoya or Felix Sturm is your idea of a good boxer, then I’m Batman.

Have you ever heard of bare-knuckle prize fighting? Those people fought without gloves and basically did it out of sheer boredom because drinking was illegal and there was nothing to do but smash each other’s faces in for a bit of respect from the upper class. It is too bad the game got completely gutted by greedy shysters like Don King.

Boxing was held in such low regard during that time that editors apologized to their readers for covering it. Everything goes, even eye-gouging. Go read about “Yankee” Sullivan, the Irish-born immigrant who came to New York during the mid-19th century and settled all of his personal disputes with his fists. If Sturm of De La Hoya ever got into a ring with Sullivan, it would be like witnessing a horny mule trample a little baby penguin.

But this Sturm guy seems like quite the decorated boxer, and I would definitely put my money on him over some overly-pampered superstar like De La Hoya. Germans do not fuck around. Did you see what happened in World War II? You don’t happen to be Klaus Vargus, do you? I sense some deep seeded hatred here, because De La Hoya knocked out a Fernando Vargas in September 2002. Could it be that you folks are related?

I also noticed you suggesting Ralph Nader as a potential pick for governor or lieutenant governor. No way in hell. The Green Party lobbied the man hard last fall to run for Connecticut’s senate seat. I was in the Noah Webster Library in West Hartford when Nader was there to give a talk and do a book signing. Reporters asked him if he was going to run against Chris Dodd, who at the time had not dropped out of the race yet. Many of the reporters did not take his candidacy seriously, but were desperate to get him to say that he was interested for the sake of scoring some cheap story for the day. Nader had no such interest in running for senate or any other high office. And I think the reporters pretty much destroyed any potential just by asking, “Do you really want to run for Senate?” and “What would Ralph Nader lose if he were to run?”

Nader has some good ideas, especially about passing a real Financial Reform bill that doesn’t rape the taxpayers and automatically guarantee government funded bailouts in the future. I highly urge you to follow the stages of this bill if you think you’re about due for a good cry. Connecticut has no place for Nader in government. The man speaks the truth and people don’t want to hear that in politics. Plus, he’s one of the queerest looking people on the planet, and Americans just can’t stand to vote for someone who has a face for radio.

You seem like you have a lot to say, and as a man of letters, I think you should disclose your identity and immediately run for high office. I’ll give you top-notch consulting advice. You could be the late-entry insurgent candidate and blow that yo-yo Ned Lamont and Republican Tom Foley right out of the water for the governor’s seat. We could make calls to registered voters and pose the question: “Would you be more or less likely to vote for Tom Foley if you found out that he took money from the Serbian mob and planned to reinstitute stoning as an option for the death penalty?”

I see that your line of work is the pizza industry, particularly sales. I am sure it carries way more dignity than being a reporter. I’m actually thinking about making the switch myself. I used to work in restaurants, where this crazy Yugoslavian chef, a “holder” for the mob who will remain nameless, once asked me to “make a run for him.” The situation involved picking up a package containing thousands of dollars in dirty money in New York City from a bunch of crazy Albanians. I would take his BMW. Upon retrieving the money and bringing it back to him, I would receive a cut. I turned the offer down once he said I could take his a gun with obliterated serial numbers.

Your prediction that the pizza industry is moving toward gluten-free pizzas seems spot on. Do you have any predictions for the future of journalism? We need some serious help over here. You say Sisson Avenue pizza is the best around based on somebody’s word from inside the industry? Never rely on somebody's word, go check it out for yourself. So I’m telling you, my friend, that Barb’s Pizza on Park Road in West Hartford is the best in the industry – but just don’t take my word for it. I could be completely wrong.

Best,

Justin “Just glad to be here” Kloczko

Letter to the Editor: CCSU Professor of All Things Historical and Alleged Notorious Classroom Nazi Preps New Book on Civil War

2010-09-01T01:06:00.015-04:00

-

To Mark Warren McLaughlin
Editor of Central Focus
Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Central Connecticut State University

Mark,

Got the Summer 2010 issue of Central Focus today, and was expecting some kind of polite request to donate money as an alumni. I'm gonna try and be brief here. I actually thought about it, and was thinking about my time at Central with unusual sentimentality, until I saw your shameless plug of History Professor Matthew Warshauer's upcoming book about the Civil War on the front cover.

I see no byline for this story, but do see an "editor's note" at the beginning of the article. I want to know right away if you are responsible for PR-ing this piece of revisionist historical propaganda by a guy who looks like Wolverine.

Is this what all academic circles nationwide have been waiting for: the next book by Matthew Warshauer, CCSU's distinguished professor of history, called "Connecticut in the American Civil War, Sacrifice, and Survival," coming to YOUR depressed bookstore right in time for the 2011 Armageddon?

I think Matthew Warshauer is absolutely hilarious -- and for all the wrong reasons. You might think so too, but not for the same reasons as me. Maybe you know he's a funny dude with a short temper. I never even had the pleasure of getting to sit in on one of his classes at CCSU, but we've had some comical exchanges, like when he told me he wasn't interested in commenting to "racist, sexist, and homophobic publications."

We started calling him out in petty college editorials, until he engaged us with an open letter concerning a no-confidence vote of CCSU President Jack Miller. He basically asked us to make him look like a tool, so we opined with a "No Confidence in Matthew Warshauer" editorial calling him a cheap hypocrite who wanted a raise in exchange for supporting Miller back in 2006. We also pointed out that he had been punishing students for plagiarizing -- acting like the top cop on campus by re-writing the school's misconduct code -- all while he supported former president Dick Judd when he resigned due to allegations of lifting lines from a New York Times article for a column in the Hartford Courant.

He certainly didn't want to hold the same standards to his boss-president that he was holding to his students. So I'm asking you, why the promotion, bro? A real charmer, that Warshauer, 1990 alumni of CCSU. Maybe that has something to do with it. You guys are so freakin' proud that he's one of your babies!

I also just turned a few pages forward and saw my comments about what alums have to say about journalism at CCSU. I'm embarrassed to have my name share the pages with Warshauer. I probably should have chosen my words a bit more carefully, because I see no mention of when I said journalism can really only be learned by doing. The classroom helps, but that's like saying watching porn automatically makes you awesome at having sex. You gotta actually do it first.

Best,

Justin Kloczko
CCSU '08

To Voters This Fall: Go Get Em Guys!

2010-08-29T21:18:00.008-04:00

A little background info on a story I wrote that ran in the Middletown edition of the Sunday New Haven Register today. This story was especially painful to cover but fun to write because I was provided with shameless one-liners from people who willingly gave me their names to attribute for the story. Phrases like "our crack-smoking, illegal alien president" is sheer comic gold, except these people were dead serious. They hate Obama, which is fine, 'cause there are legitimate reasons to, but the reasons these people gave had no rationality behind them.

From afar, I immediately thought the IMPEACH OBAMA stand was a bunch of Tea Party people, and didn't feel like repeating in print what a gang of government-hating white Republicans who were probably collecting unemployment checks had to say. This stand, run by two dudes who have been traveling around the country setting up shop on UPS properties, was inline with one-time presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche, an economist who remained politically active even while serving six years in jail for conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax code violations.

Defenders of LaRouche say he was victimized by the government. He's been a part of the Labor Party and the Democratic Party, and has been criticized for being too far left and too far right, which is pretty strange and cool. Chris, the guy who was taking donations for the LaRouche Pact and getting people to sign up, said he does not side with any political party. We had a good conversation, though he seemed to think the Tea Party movement is a legit grass-roots phenomenon, and not the Koch Industries-funded, trickle-down fakery that it is.

He was able to talk about the issues, but when you post up a picture of Obama looking like Hitler with a sign that says IMPEACH OBAMA, you're gonna get a lot of disgruntled people who will agree, but can't talk about any issues of substance if their life depended on it.

Like the Tea Partiers, these people really think Obama is a coked-up asshole-socialist who was bred in an Indonesian terrorist cell and then given a Maserati convertible as a cover to run for political office here in the states. But Chris was bringing up some legitimate issues that the people who I saw while standing there didn't care to talk about: the Wall Street bailout and the recent passing of the pathetic Financial Reform Bill.

This is why some people who actually choose to exercise their right to vote make me want to try shooting heroin sometimes. When there is a real problem, we can't talk about it. We vote out of hate. The unprecedented taxpayer bailout of the banks and the Obama Administration's un-willingfullness to really put strict regulations on them is something everyone -- not just Republicans or Democrats -- should be concerned about. And anyone who calls Obama a socialist for overseeing something so pro-corporate/bank happy as this weak reform might be mentally retarded.

Instead, the guy I talked to, really thought Obama was an illegal alien. He did not think he was an American citizen. Same with another guy who thought he was born in Indonesia. We should be worried that a quarter of Americans really believe this. They hate Obama cause they hated him from the start. It didn't matter what the man was gonna do.

I had no shame putting those quotes in the story because I wanted people to see how stupid and funny people are. Two woman who approached the stand out of curiosity couldn't really articulate why they disliked Obama, even though there is a whole screed of legit reasons one can point to.

The bank bailout, how stupid it is that the Mosque situation by Ground Zero is even an issue right now, are real grievances for voters to talk about. But the people who came to sign up couldn't hold a conversation about real issues if they were reading it right off a script -- they just came for the hate fest.

---------

ALERT! Someone Please Sue Blumenthal and McMahon for Running Terribly Boring Campaigns

2010-05-19T22:38:00.011-04:00

"I'm going to sue the shit out of the Times. That'll help my poll numbers."

We're now seeing a whole lot of media backspin after the New York Times' front page drive-by revealed Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal saying that he served in Vietnam, when in fact he served as a reserve in the Marine Corps.

This is a very weird story because Blumenthal, an attorney and well scripted media parasite who chooses his words very carefully, has been caught on camera saying that he served in the Vietnam War to a group of Norwalk veterans in 2008.

In a press conference flanked by veterans in West Hartford, Blumethal tried to deflect the media storm by saying that he "misspoke" on a few occasions. While the national press has been viciously attacking him, the hometown media here in CT have basically said they never heard him say that he served in Vietnam in all their years in covering him.

Today, the Associated Press ran this story, a sort of hometown rebuttal to the Times story. Emphasis mine.

HARTFORD, Conn. – In the same 2008 speech in which he misstated his military service, Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal also correctly said that he "served in the military, during the Vietnam era."

This has been causing a shift in the story because the clip of the speech the Times' used, which was spoon fed by Linda McMahon's campaign, didn't include the above quote. Blumenthal's campaign has been using this as a defense from all the negative publicity.

But this is complete BS because that line doesn't correct anything. Blumethal still never specifies that he served in the military during the Vietnam era AS A RESERVE. Saying that he "served in the military during the Vietnam era" is still vague.

This whole thing is pretty silly because McMahon, another overly handled candidate who can throw money at anything to make things go her way, had to go to the New York Times with the "gotcha" footage, a newspaper that normally wouldn't give a shit about a Connecticut politician.

The Times said it independently researched the Blumenthal story, but McMahon herself said her campaign has had a role in the research. The Times doesn't have the reporters or the time to comb through endless amounts of footage to catch someone who looks like Crispin Glover's character from Back to the Future misspeaking on occasion. But if your opponent is Linda McMahon, millions and millions of bucks will give you access to top notch research departments to do this kind of work for you. I've been inside her campaign office, and it is such a slick and guarded operation that I was told I couldn't even mention in my story what was inside her headquarters - not even the color of her walls.

Maybe in the end she will end up buying our state's Senate seat.

Chris Dodd and Jim Himes Love Taking Wall Street Dough

2009-11-18T00:29:00.003-05:00

The Huffington Post published a list of "The 15 Biggest Congressional Recipients of Wall Street Campaign Cash" and coming in at a not-so-surprising 4th is Chris Dodd, with first-year Rep. Jim Himes at #11. Himes was elected just a year ago and has already taken over $430, 000 from Wall Street firms, the biggest donors being Credit Suisse and Citigroup. But Dodd blows the rookie out of the water, taking in $752, 698 in campaign donations. According to the Post, "He's received more from the mortgage banking and brokerage industry than any other congressperson, and Citigroup, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley have been among his biggest donors."

The list is split pretty evenly between Republicans and Democrats, showing us that Wall Street has so much doughlow that they'll throw money to both parties. It doesn't even matter who wins -- Wall Street will be sitting pretty either way -- even if they mess up, go bankrupt and get the government to have us taxpayers bail them out with 700 billion dollars. Oh wait, that already happened.

Rell's Not Running in 2010

2009-11-09T17:33:00.001-05:00

This just in.

Rell will step aside and not run for governor next year. Last week Ned Lamont announced the formation of his exploratory committee to run for governor. Others in the race include current Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz and Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy.

Stewart's Re-election Speech

2009-11-05T01:21:00.002-05:00

End Game

2009-11-04T15:35:00.002-05:00

Last night was a close one in New Britain. You could gauge how close the race was by feeling the reaction of the crowd as results from each district poured in on a large and bright projection screen. For a while Stewart was down until numbers from Vance school were delivered and put him over O'Brien. There was a block of about 25 minutes where Stewart was up by just 88 votes and the entire place was a jungle of people pacing back and forth and making phone calls while about 400 absentee ballots were counted across the street in City Hall. When numbers came back, Stewart was notified that he won the election.

The count is 4,548 votes for Stewart to O'Brien's 4,377. About 27 percent of the city voted.

Two More Years

2009-11-03T21:46:00.001-05:00

Here in New Britain incumbent Mayor Timothy Stewart wins a close re-election by a margin of a couple hundred votes against Rep. Tim O'Brien.

Total results to come later, or after I make it out of this roaring party alive...

Stewart Up 86 Votes Before Absentee Count

2009-11-03T21:13:00.001-05:00

Incumbent Mayor Tim Stewart of New Britain is up by 86 votes on challenger Tim O'Brien as of this writing. All there is left to count is absentee ballots...

The Election Day Trail...

2009-11-03T15:31:00.001-05:00

Just got back from making the rounds through various polling spots in New Britain. Looks like voter turnout is lower than it was in the 2005 election, but higher than 2007's. Polls close at 8 p.m. I'll string over results as soon as they come in.

Politics, Mergers and McMahon: The End of Campaign Season in New Britain

2009-11-03T00:25:00.005-05:00

Newborn candidate for U.S. Senate and former WWE CEO Linda McMahon stops

by the campaign office of New Britain Mayor Timothy Stewart, Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

Gazillionaire Linda McMahon rolled up in a silver GMC Denali Monday night to support the re-election of New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart at his campaign headquarters on Washington St. Since declaring her run for Chris Dodd's U.S. Senate seat on Sept. 16, she has obliterated her opponent's fundraising by throwing in several million of her own dollars toward a heavy media blitz around the state.

McMahon, who ran World Wrestling Entertainment for years before recently giving up her role to run in politics, stopped by for about twenty minutes and made the rounds for various photo opportunities and urged everyone to go out and vote. Around the time she arrived, news hit that Connecticut Democrats filed an election grievance claiming she got corporate help from the WWE when the company removed video on YouTube that Dems see as an in-kind contribution, the Associated Press reports.

Right before her entrance, Mayor Stewart talked to a crowd of about 45 people who came out to see him on the eve of New Britain's municipal elections. He thanked his fellow running mates and said this was the best ticket he's ever run with, voicing hope that Republicans will pick up seats on the Common Council after Nov. 3 is all said and done.

He made good on his promise to run a clean campaign -- something he first mentioned on the day he declared his re-election back in July, saying the Democrats chose the negative route, like posting childish attacks online about his family.

Meanwhile, just as Stewart finished speaking, it was reported that New Britain's own venerable Stanley Works bought out Black and Decker in a merge to consolidate and cut costs for the two struggling tool companies. Corporate headquarters will remain in New Britain under Stanley. Here is the report by the New York Times. The full press release can be read here.

I'll be at the polls tomorrow and will live blog results here as they come in.

The Case for New Britain is the Case Against Tim O'Brien

2009-11-01T15:02:00.001-05:00

Rep. Tim O'Brien, ripped.

There is nothing more shameless, awkward and downright pathetic than watching a career politician operate during election season. The candidate, who is usually dead to the world during all other times, suddenly starts walking around with a weird twinkle in his or her eyes and an incessant urge to be your best friend.

In New Britain we are seeing something that happens after almost every election cycle: party members will try and piggy-back off of their party's success and use it to coast into a position of power in the following election. Hence the Democrats' sweeping mandate of change that brought them to capture the Presidency, House and Senate last year. People like Rep. Tim O'Brien see it as their meal ticket to get elected. Just say the word change and people think you are Barack Obama. That's a lot of what Tim O'Brien has been doing lately, and New Britain voters should be puking their guts out.

It's one thing when you're a handsome, articulate black man like Barack Obama flirting with the word change, but when you're a disproportioned, Revenge-of-the-Nerds-type pushover there is no reason for people to even want to look at you, let alone hear what you're trying to sell them.

Here's one clip from the New Britain mayoral debates (from Dwight Blint) where the moderator asks "What are your character strengths?" It takes a whole five seconds before O'Brien says change and completely avoids giving a straight answer.

The problem with O'Brien is that he didn't get the memo. As much as I hate hearing the word change anymore, it came to New Britain six years ago when Timothy Stewart ousted former Mayor of New Britain Lucian Pawlek. Back then the mill rate was disastrous and New Britain was at a severe low point. Crime and poverty was worse. Development was non-existent. He managed to get elected as a Republican in a city that is 4-1 favored by Democrats. Since then he has kept the mill rate down while initiating a much needed tune-up for the city.

One thing people must understand is that New Britain will never again be the Hardware City capital of the world. This is a post-industrial town that has an identity crisis. It's clinging onto a venerable history of factory jobs while trying to find a new identity and become a more business friendly environment. And in order for business owners to want to open up shop they don't want a high tax burden. Since 2003, Big Sky Gym, Hardware City Tavern, Celebration Foods and the demolition and rebuilding of Pinnacle Heights have occurred. In the works is the downtown redevelopment process where a new police station will sit along with newly erected condos.

O'Brien has a history of passing legislation that calls for increased taxes. The things he is calling for now in New Britain don't make sense when looking at his record up at the Capitol. New businesses are not going to open up because of a tax burden. The more he says the word "change" the more and more convinced voters should be of the exact opposite. There is only so much room to maneuver in modern day politics, especially from the seat of a local mayor.

A calculated politician like O'Brien isn't what New Britain needs. Mayor Tim Stewart has been successful because he just acts like a normal person. He'll tell you straight up how something is and doesn't bullshit with a Holier-than-Thou approach like so many people in this field of work do.

This is an important election that will decide what type of city New Britain is going to be. Go out and vote on Tuesday.

New Britain Mayoral Debates Tomorrow

2009-10-19T14:58:00.000-04:00

Just a quick word that the League of Women Voters along with the New Britain Herald are sponsoring the municipal debates tomorrow, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Common Council Chamber in New Britain City Hall. Alderman candidates will debate first followed by Mayor Tim Stewart and Rep. Tim O'Brien.

More Money, More Problems: What do Rep. O'Brien's Donors Want out of New Britain?

2009-10-15T02:57:00.003-04:00

...And why raising boatloads of money isn't always the best thing for an elected official

Tuesday marked the end of a filing period for the New Britain mayoral race and according to campaign finance records and a report from the New Britain Herald, challenger Rep. Tim O'Brien rakes in nearly $40,000 while Mayor Timothy Stewart has a little over $17,000 on hand.

Looking at sheer numbers you are left with the impression that this election is O'Brien's for the buying. In most cases this is true, but just because one candidate is able to raise more money doesn't mean anything. In fact, I'll argue that the more money a candidate takes from certain groups, the more that candidate is shackled to the interests of the people writing his or her checks. This produces a severely manipulated and whipped political creature.

Case in point: O'Brien took money from 151 different sources, 11 of which are registered lobbyists. Stewart hasn't taken any lobbyist money. Much of O'Brien's money is coming from larger organizations, such as unions and PAC money, all of which have more specific agendas, thus the reason for reaching out to a candidate and contributing money in the first place. They see the politician as the perfect receptor for getting things they want done. The more money a political candidate takes from organizations with special interests -- and as many as 16 of them for O'Brien are from outside the city of New Britain -- the more favors are expected to be returned.

This is what donating to a campaign is all about. Money is donated so certain legislation, laws, variances or "favors" are enacted so that they appease the person or organization who donated the money during the campaign. It's like, "Hey, here's $1,000, remember us next time when we need something done or when this thing comes up for vote."

An example of things like this on a much larger scale can be attributed to what we saw (or didn't see, for that matter) during Barack Obama's campaign for president. Obama's largest private contributor was Wall Street, more specifically, Goldman Sachs, which we all all know completely ate shit and collapsed during the financial crisis but was still rewarded ridiculous amounts of money by his administration to stay in business. It's the classic example of 'You scratch my back, I scratch yours.' If someone gives you money, you will remember them and be more pressured to make them happy when serving in office.

Back on the local level and in money terms, O'Brien is at a natural advantage because he is a state representative. He works for the state. Dude's had special interest money being funneled up his ass since he started running for his position up at the Capitol.

According to some browsing I did on FollowtheMoney.org, a fun nonpartisan web site for people like me with no life, about half the money O'Brien raised at his successful bid for state representative in 2004 was money from these larger organizations -- special interests, such as lobbyists, lawyers, unions and PACs. About $7,187 dollars came from such industries, while in total he raised a little over $14,000. We see these same donors popping up during his runs in 2002, 2006 and 2008.

Now we see this type of money showing up at his run for mayor, and we have to ask ourselves, how much of an importance to these outsiders really have to the city of New Britain? Should they have an influence? And most importantly, how is O'Brien going to satisfy the people who write his checks if by some batshit crazy chance he get elected?

Rep. Tim O'Brien Eats Up the Slumlord Vote

2009-10-11T04:55:00.006-04:00

blight
noun
• an ugly, neglected, or rundown condition of an urban area : the depressing urban blight that lies to the south of the city.

Rep. Tim O'Brien's shit-green lawn sign on blighted property.

“When I become mayor we will crack down on blight."

- New Britain mayoral candidate Rep. Tim O’Brien quoted at a recent debate regarding rundown and malfunctioning properties around New Britain.

In politics we often see behavior characterized as being "purely political." The picture above is a lawn sign on a blighted property in the ghetto of New Britain. Tim O'Brien has spoken out against blight, proposing legislation to put an end to it. But recently his own party members voted against his own plan to crack down in favor of Mayor Timothy Stewart's proposal to put an end to these decaying and unused properties in the city. Despite this, we still see him soliciting lawn signs on blighted properties, as seen in this photo.

This is an example of why many people are disgusted by career politicians. They will stop at nothing to get support from as many people as possible, even if that support comes from people who they actually oppose and publically speak out against. O'Brien has made it clear that he doesn't care for New Britain slumlords, but he also doesn't have a problem humping them for their support and tacking his lawn signs on their properties.

Thanks to David E. Talvoces and the Bizy Bee for pointing this out.

Blogs Are People Too

2009-10-10T01:51:00.005-04:00

People who have read this site from the beginning have probably noticed that it has devoted much space to the city of New Britain in the past few months. One reason for this is that there is a mayoral race going on worth following, and two, I have had the opportunity to get up close and take advantage of it. My only intention has been to follow Mayor Timothy Stewart's campaign and just write about it, not in any objective sense, because that is a whole other discussion for another time. I just tried to walk in the shoes of local political junkies and project it all back here.

Because local newspapers have diminished resources and their own boundaries with regards to where they can go "journalistically" are limited, this blog has a reason to live and prosper and be read. The same can be said of other blogs that have proliferated as a means of showing the public that cookie-cutter newspapers just aren't getting the job done anymore.

Which brings me to another point, and that's the word "blog." It reeks of a derogatory connotation whenever uttered. The word just looks terrible in print and sounds even worse when spoken. I can't help but cringe and curse whoever coined the term whenever I hear it. When we think of blogs we think of lazy people who spend most of their time pounding Doritos and filling the world in on all of their personal problems, like a teenager publishing his or her diary.

It is true that many blogs are like this. They have nothing to add to any meaningful public discussion and they pollute the World Wide Web. But there are many blogs that provide a critical service where other media coverage fails. And that is providing insight to local happenings, which have become dead to much of the public with the slashing of newspaper staffs across the country.

The Debaser is propped up by Blogger.com, so right away there is going to be a certain identity that comes with having this platform. "Oh, it's just a blog." But the host doesn't matter -- it is the content. Just like it doesn't matter if words are coming off paper or a computer screen, "bloggers," or just people who write news and vet their views on current events, are on equal plane and deserve the same respect, like journalists. If anything, bloggers, or citizen journalists, have more freedom and don't have to succumb to the fear of being Edited.

For readers who have been critical of this site, especially New Britain readers who have made comments here, I've gone out of my way to register the Debaser as an LLC and recruit advertising and writers. I've put together two print editions to give it the feeling of legitimacy. I've tried to make it something.

If you think about it, for all the free speech that is associated with the press and reporting, journalism in and of itself is one of the biggest forms of censorship. Newspapers don't tell the truth because it is impossible. What is possible is allowing people to say what they want. It's my firm belief that one can't write about a subject truly and honestly until he or she develops an educated opinion first. It's not what anymore, but why. Most newspaper columnists won't write how they really feel, even if they refer to their local leader as an "incompetent and degenerate poser" during private conversation. But you'll never see that honesty in mainstream journalism. This is something I learned working at a newspaper. Offending people ultimately means offending advertisers. And advertisers don't want to lose readers. Piss those people off and you are done.

The Debaser is on Blogger mostly because I lack the time or skilled resources to translate it onto a normal web site. Hopefully that will end soon. But that shouldn't make a person judge this differently because the content wouldn't change from being on Blogger to an actual web site. It's also here because of the freedom. During this time I have watched with interest as to how the site has been received by the New Britain community since I started filing posts about the local political scene. During all of this I have had one rule: don't lie, work off facts. With those basic rules I felt it was okay to write about whatever flew into my mind from then on.

Maybe all of this is why Internet sites like Huffington Post and blogs are ultimately stealing the show from newspaper people: There is more free speech to be had on the Internet than in most newspapers today. Maybe papers aren't dying because the content is free online or because advertising has been sucked dry by Craigslist. Maybe it is because people these days are more honest on the Internet than on newspapers and television.

How I Met Your Governor

2009-10-09T01:25:00.002-04:00

It's a brisk October night at a New Britain fundraiser for Mayor Timothy Stewart, and Gov. M. Jodi Rell is here flashing her 80-watt smile to fellow Republican supporters on the eve of our municipal elections. The governor works the room with each handshake and photo-op -- a pro, like a cheetah at the height of mating season -- as people congregate around her for the close-up. Before you know it I'm getting sucked into Rell's general direction, just snapping photos for the sake of posterity, when I'm suddenly introduced to her.

"Hi! It's nice to meet you. I've been to your house. You have a very nice home," I blurt out, automatically hating the words that just came out of my mouth. Rell smiles, probably hiding the fact that she has no idea what I'm talking about. She shakes my hand and nods her head in some sort of agreement. I start noticing her security detail everywhere I look.

By home I meant her home up at the Capitol building. I've never been to Rell's actual house, but for some reason the exchange came out very personal and wrong. She might have thought I was some creep-stalker that followed her around from event to event, waiting for that fantastic chance to finally meet her in the flesh and bone.

Which wasn't the case at all. I had no intention of actually coming within any personal contact with the governor at all. But shit happens, and you have to make the best of any awkward situation, so I walked right over to the bar for a refill and started filming Stewart thanking supporters for coming out to the event.

Rell offered up advice to campaigning and admitted that she has been "too nice" as a politician, in regards to her battles against a Democratically controlled House and Senate, which compares to the position Stewart is in with the Democratically led Common Council in New Britain.

"As Republicans we gotta stop being nice. I'm too nice. I've heard it before. I'm done being nice," she said to much laughter.

"Those of you that know me know that I'm not usually this partisan, but if we don't elect some Republicans this year our state is in real trouble. We need to remember that as we go to the polls on election day," said Rell.

Rell noted that local elections such as the one coming up in New Britain is where a grass roots movement can begin. She said that the people who turned out for last year's election for "hope and change" have become "disgruntled," and the up and coming local elections are a chance to capitalize on this moment.

Additional 1199 Gangbang Footage

2009-10-04T01:50:00.001-04:00

Courtesy of Dwight Blint:

Mayor Stewart's Slate Gets Shut Out From 'Candidates' Meeting

2009-10-02T02:52:00.002-04:00

1199 Fails at Making a Simple Flier

The above flier was sent out to certain residents of New Britain asking "Who should be the next mayor of New Britain?" and invited people to "Come meet and interview candidates" on Thursday evening at the New Britain Public Library.

Problem being, this thing was really only about one candidate -- Rep. Tim O'Brien, who is running against incumbent Mayor Timothy Stewart. Stewart or anyone from his slate did not get invited to take part in the event. Instead, it was a meeting held exclusively by O'Brien and union people.

Any literate person who reads this flier gets the impression that there will be more than one candidate there to meet and greet, since the flier specifically says "candidates" in the plural form. When members of Stewart's camp got ahold of the flier and tried to enter the meeting to become part of the discussion they were flat-out rejected from even entering the room.

This all made for a hilarious and awkward confrontation, as the union lady heading the meeting, Jennifer Smith, started freaking out and asked the party crashers what they were doing. She said this is a union meeting seeking an endorsement, even though people in Stewart's camp were never notified as to who to even seek the endorsement from.

Below is the video I shot of the confrontation. Pardon the shaky zooming in the middle, I was trying to film the other lady inside the room trying to kick out Alderman-at-large candidate Dwight Blint from video taping inside a public place. Also, look for O'Brien inside the room with his back to the whole situation towards the end of the clip. He's avoiding to acknowledge the scene happening behind him, perhaps out of fear for any confrontation with The Opposition.

The problem with all of this is not that the candidates got kicked out or didn't get invited. It's the way the flier failed to be presented as an honest event to meet with mayoral candidates. I doubt more than seven people showed up to this, but if residents of New Britain thought they were going to walk into that room with options as to who to vote for, then they were ill-informed because of it.

New Britain Loses it's Downtown Fixer-Upper

2009-10-01T13:39:00.000-04:00

The man who has been responsible for cleaning up downtown New Britain since 2000 is leaving the city, The Hartford Business Journal is reporting. Donald Courtemache is leaving his post as director of the New Britain Downtown District and is going to try and help clean up Springfield, Mass., a much more problematic post-industrial shit-show that is still learning how to pick up trash.

During his tenure, Courtemache has made the area more business friendly and oversaw the opening of the Downtown Visitors Center and Downtown Gallery.

Breaking: NB Republicans Cross-Endorse Denuzze

2009-09-24T19:50:00.000-04:00

New Britain -- The Republican Town Committee held a shotgun meeting this evening to fill a slot in their ticket left vacant by Cindy Faienza-Hodkevics, nominee for Town Clerk. As a replacement, Republicans are endorsing Democrat Peter J. Denuzze, New Britain's Town Clerk for the past 15 years.

“We are pleased to welcome Peter Denuzze to our bi-partisan slate. Peter’s endorsement reinforces Mayor Stewart’s bi-partisan approach to municipal government by choosing people for office who will put New Britain, rather than politics, first,” said Chairman Paul Carver.

Last week the New Britian Democratic Town Committee decided to endorse Suzanne Bielinski over Denuzze in a primary for Town Clerk, but Democratic voters sided with Denuzze on Sept. 15th's election.

If the same fate holds true for the municipal election as for the primary, then Stewart's team has a lock for the Town Clerk position with Denuzze's candidacy.

Denuzze has been Town and City Clerk for the past 15 years and is joining a ticket that includes Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated candidates. This mash-up of different affiliates covers the “experience and integrity that we feel is necessary to continue the progress being made here in New Britain,” said Mayor Stewart.

A Conversation Concerning the Race for the Mayor of New Britain

2009-09-23T22:52:00.001-04:00

At some point during the past couple of weeks, a conversation had to have taken place between New Britain mayoral candidate Rep. Tim O'Brien, campaign manager Richard Lopes and legislative aide Greg Gerratana, concerning how they were going to handle the accusations of online attacks against the mayor of New Britain, Timothy Stewart. Gerratana recently admitted to the attacks and resigned from the Democratic ticket. A prior exchange might have gone something like this...

Location: Rep. Tim O'Brien's campaign office on Broad St., New Britain:

Lopes: OK guys, we're completely fucked here. The New Britain Herald has traced the online attacks on their web site to computers at the state Capitol. We all work there. Everyone is pointing fingers at me, you and Greg as the ones behind this. We have to get our stories straight. I think Greg should just take the fall for all of it.

Gerratana: (Looking like a deer caught in headlights) But I told the Herald during a recorded interview that I wasn't guilty of any of those comments and--

Lopes: Goddammit Greg, you gotta take one for the team! I'll admit that I may have I've spent the better part of this past year sitting on my ass, eating Ho Hos and making cheap-shot posts trashing the mayor and his family, but that can't leave this room. I've already been in trouble once with Capitol police. I decided to mess up a Republican assistant's desk in 2007 because the inner twelve-year-old in me couldn't contain itself. If I get in trouble for these comments, my political career is over. You're young and we need to save our asses for the sake of getting Rep. O'Brien elected as mayor. Take the fall for this and the most that could happen is you'll get a slap on the wrist.

Gerratana: I made some of the posts and so did you, but don't you think I'll look like a raging liar if one day I deny it and the next day admit to it? New Britain voters are only going to become more and more suspicious of us.

O'Brien: Also, on Sept. 11 I told the Herald that I knew Greg took the heat, but I chose not to say anything. Then, on Sept. 14 I sent a press release in response to this whole fiasco saying all Republicans use fear and bigotry. This was my way to try and lump them in with Stewart, even though it is completely vague and a blatant attempt at guilt by association. It is going to look really dumb saying such a thing and then suddenly asking Greg to resign. I'll get nailed on the whole flip flopping thing.

Lopes: Who cares, hopefully people will forget about that.

O'Brien: But Sen. Defronzo made a statement saying that no Senate Democratic employee is responsible for the attacks.

Lopes: The keyword here is Senate, and Greg works for you in the House, remember? There's a difference. Voters are too dumb to really notice these things. It was a calculated PR move. Technically, we're in the clear. And besides, that audit was not credible. You need to put forth an FOI request to find out things like that. The process takes months.

O'Brien: So, tell me again, why is Greg going to change his story and admit to all of this. I mean, there's no evidence specifically linking him or any of us as individuals to the comments. The only substantial thing out there is that these comments were traced back to a computer somewhere in the Capitol. Why even come out and admit to anything?

Lopes: Because we don't have to make any sense. We're privileged employees at the state Capitol. Just do what I say, I'm the campaign manager. Greg is going to take the fall.

O'Brien: OK, whatever you say, Rick. But our stories are going to look bad. I just hope that if Greg gets suspended that I don't say that I would reinstate him and then a few days later ask for him to resign from the ticket. That would be terrible!

At this moment, John McNamara, chairman of the New Britain Democrats, suddenly storms into the office.

McNamara: YARRARHlkoiIBAT-SHIT-CRAZYdwjowcomments;isqh!!!!

O'Brien: Ah, screw it, I really don't want to be mayor anyway.

Notes on the Campaign...

2009-09-22T22:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday evening I attended the Mayor of New Britain's second fundraiser, which took place in an arcadian backyard of a local resident's home. It was one of those comfortable September nights that can only be fully appreciated within a seasonal environment such as New England. The mayor's supporters, many Democrats and Republicans, mingled over drinks and talked city politics. I spent most of my time jabbing the ice in my gin and tonic while floating from crowd to crowd to try and get a sense of the General Mood.

Conversation was heavy on the small talk, bullshitting and comparing notes. One lifelong resident of New Britain started to reminisce about how the downtown streets used to be pouring with people, many years ago. The Hardware City moniker rang loud and clear, as many of the people who lived and worked in the city took up brassy jobs in factories. It was "a place where the American Dream was actually happening," says a quote from one book on the city's history.

The mayor said a few words and thanked people for showing up. He reaffirmed to supporters that he'll keep working to make New Britain a better place despite obstacles. Stewart also highlighted the fact that the mayoral race has gotten a lot of attention, but for the wrong reasons.

"It's amazing that this (campaign) hasn't been about the issues," he said.

The past two week's worth of stories about the online comments and the blame game that ensued from Rep. O'Brien's side have distracted people from serious issues that effect the entire city. O'Brien first took the offensive and tried to pull the cliche guilt-by-association card on Stewart by saying that since he is a 'Republican' he is just like all the other evil Republicans down in Washington.

Which is unfair, but a calculated and text book political move...Try and vaguely group the guy in with with a set of politicians that are far away on a different playing field to try and make him look bad too. Local politics is a lot different than national politics. But more on that later.

"Besides anti-blight, education and economic development should be the issues," Stewart said.

There's five weeks left. Let's see where all this goes.

Admitted Serial Poster Greg Gerratana Pulls Nomination as New Britain Tax Collector, But is He Just the Fallboy?

2009-09-20T23:57:00.000-04:00

Swine in New Britski...Assistant to Mayoral Candidate Tim O'Brien is Out...Was He the Pawn for Campaign Elders?

The New Britain Herald will be reporting in tomorrow's edition (Sept. 21) that Greg Gerratana, the person who admitted to posting below-the-belt comments on the Herald's web site about Mayor Tim Stewart, is pulling his candidacy as the city's Democratic nominee for Tax Collector.

This comes after a story by CTNewsJunkie.com saying Rep. Tim O'Brien, candidate for mayor of New Britain, called for Gerratana to resign from his ticket:

“I am personally disappointed in Greg Gerratana’s action in writing personal attacks against another official, and I’m sorry that he did,” O’Brien said. “It was inexcusable."

O'Brien also asked Speaker of the House Chris Donovan to see that Gerratana would be reassigned as his legislative assistant up at the Capitol. Last week Gerratana was serving a one week suspension from his aide duties after finally choosing to say he was responsible. An examination by the Herald found that computers from the state Capitol where breeding grounds for the online vitriol. It was soon speculated by blogs that the people responsible were either Gerratana or Richard Lopes, an aide to Sen. Don Defronzo, D-New Britain, and campaign manager for O'Brien's run at NB mayor. Lopes already has a history of trying to pull stupid fourth-grade pranks like messing up a Capitol employee's desk back in 2007.

But I don't think the story ends here, and neither do other people I've talked to who have kept close to the New Britain political scene. According to one person, right before the comment-gate thing broke, Greg Gerratana sat down with a Herald reporter for a recorded 53 minute interview and denied over and over that he was the one who made the comments. The next day, Gerratana weirdly admitted to the House Democratic Caucus that he was in fact behind the online postings.

This begs some speculation: Was Gerratana asked to take the fall for perhaps Lopes, O'Brien's campaign manager? Did John McNamara, party chair of the New Britain Democrats force the kid to take one for the team? Why else would he change his story after denying it on the record? Did a meeting take place between the party elders and Gerratana to discuss how they should handle the mess? There was no single individual officially pinned in this comment-gate thing, just Gerratana's own "admission." Maybe the O'Brien team wanted to find someone expendable since it was already general wisdom that someone from their camp was going to get screwed anyway. Why not it be the rookie? My inclination is that the party wanted to ultimately protect Lopes, who has a track record of doing shiesty things for the sake of maintaining a political life.

Finally, what did O'Brien know and what are the implications?

How Not to Run a Political Campaign

2009-09-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

Exhibit A: The New Britain Democrats

The race for mayor of New Britain between Timothy Stewart and Rep. Tim O'Brien maintained it's dormancy until about last week, when a viral swarm of news articles and blog entries about online attacks toward Stewart and his family were linked back to the state Capitol, livening up the election storyline.

The New Britain Herald traced IP addresses to computers inside the Capitol building where challenger O'Brien and two constituents, campaign manager Richard Lopes and legislative aide Greg Gerratana, all work. Though the Herald made no specific references as to who personally posted these online attacks on the Herald's comments section at the time, accusations came flying out on the Internet that it was Lopes and Gerratana. It soon led to Gerratana admitting he was the one spewing the online vitriol.

It is to my best knowledge that Gerratana vehemently denied over and over again to Herald reporter James Craven that he was in no way responsible for the comments. Gerratana reportedly denied this for about 53 minutes during a recorded interview. But the next day he was suspended from his duties at the state Capitol for admitting he posted those online comments. This concession came in the same edition of the Herald that quoted Sen. Don Defronzo, D-New Britain, saying "no Senate Democratic staff member was responsible for posting this material,” according to the House Assembly's Information Technology's office.

Did the ITS department Defronzo is citing do a poor job, or even really audited at all, these online attacks? Why didn't Gerratana's name or anyone from O'Brien's camp show up despite Gerratana admitting to it. One person from the Capitol's IT department told me it takes a Freedom of Information complaint to find out which computers were specifically linked to the comments. This isn't a simple process and takes months and a hearing until they can be found out.

From Gerratana's point of view, and for the sake of trying to get elected, he is an absolute moron for admitting to doing something when there is no substantial evidence pinning him down as the person who specifically posted these comments about the mayor. I'm talking about something besides his own confession, leading me to believe the whole ITS audit was bullshit and a cheap and quick way for Defronzo to cover his camp's ass.

My take on this whole thing is that Gerratana is the golden fall boy, being an aide to O'Brien, he was put out there as flack. The New Britain Democrats didn't get their stories straight. Why else would Gerratana deny, on record to a reporter, that he wasn't the one posting the comments in the first place, but then come out and suddenly say it was him the next day? He is protecting O'Brien and Lopes, who's name has also been circulated around as being the type of person to make comments like that about the mayor. Lopes has been in trouble at the Capitol before, and if something else were to happen to him he would be a goner, along with O'Brien's mayoral campaign.

Looking at it purely from the New Britain's Democrats perspective, you have to make sure your camp is clean before committing a run at office. Hiring people who rape information from the desk of Capitol employees (Lopes) and making cowardice remarks under a fake name is a no-no. But there is also more chances of that letting get slipped by, since newspapers today can't shine the lite on local politics as much as they use to. Guess that's where the blogosphere comes into play.

The Internet is Framing the Debate in New Britain's Mayoral Race

2009-09-16T01:04:00.001-04:00

Stories about the mayoral race for the city of New Britain have been gaining momentum in the Herald, but the source of these stories have been originating from a different animal -- the Internet and blogosphere.

Tuesday's New Britain Herald ran a story tracing employees from the state Capitol posting personal attacks against Mayor Tim Stewart and his family on the Herald's online comment section. House member calls for probe in Web comments goes onto report that Greg Gerratana, legislative aid to challenger Rep. Tim O'Brien and candidate for the Tax Collector in New Britain, admitted to making such posts under an alias on the Herald's web site.

"Like father, like son" was one remark posted after a story about his son's DUI arrest. Another wrote “Thanks Tim Stewart, I hope you run can run (sic) the city better then (sic) you can run your family.”

An investigation into where the comments were coming from yielded an IP address to computers owned by the state Capitol. One local blog, the Bizy Bee,was first to point out that these low-blows were specifically linked to Gerratana and Richard Lopes, campaign manager of O'Brien's candidacy for mayor of New Britain. The Herald vagley referred to "Local Internet blog contributors have been quick to point to Gerratana and Rick Lopes, aid to state Sen. Don DeFronzo and O’Brien’s campaign manager" as people potentially responsible for the comments.

Then, today's Herald ran a story citing the Bizy Bee as the source of talk amongst politicos in the city and ran this story saying Gerratana admitted to making the attacks. He was shortly after suspended for one week without pay.

The Herald went further in today's story, "Dems point finger at Republicans, media" and quoted O'Brien:

“I’m calling on the mayor to expose who is responsible for blogs like the Bizy Bee,” he said. “He needs to find out who is behind it.”

The Bizy Bee is a local blog that appears to be Republican oriented and has come under attack by John McNamara, Democratic Town Chairman, for having “a heavy sprinkling of lies and character assassination.”

This is a great example of the Internet and bloggers getting information out and framing the debate for the newspapers to follow. The Bizy Bee, along with this site, has had our names tossed around as subjects of criticism by people like Gerratana. But make no mistake about it, the things being written here will always be based around fact first. None the less, it proves that the blogosphere has an influence on elections and the news cycle.

UPDATE ---

According to the Herald: "DeFronzo said in a statement Tuesday that Lopes had been cleared after a review by the General Assembly’s Information Technology Services office."

In today's report about comments by DeFronzo on the whole issue, the Herald writes: "DeFronzo said the General Assembly’s Information Technology Services office has “concluded that no Senate Democratic staff member was responsible for posting this material.”

This conflicts with the report of Gerratana admitting he was guilty of posting the vitriol online in an article in the same edition of the paper, yet this so called Information Technology Service didn't report any Senate Democrat staff member, let alone Gerratana, making these comments. Is this "service" something we can trust to independently find out who was behind the online attacks? Is there more to it? Is Richard Lopes guilty as well and Gerratana just took the fall for his bosses?

'Person of Interest' in Yale Murder Lives in Middletown, FOX 61 Cites Dispute Over 'Lab Animals' as What Led to Death

2009-09-15T22:12:00.000-04:00

24-year-old Yale student Annie Le in her last documented appearance on Earth (right), Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009, a few days before her wedding and right before entering the school's lab building on Amistad Street. (Yale Police Department)

I've been trying my best not to post anything here about the murder of Yale grad student Annie Le because the entire body of the National Press Corps has already descended upon New Haven to cover this story, but the latest developments brings it closer to home (Central Connecticut).

Raymond Clark, a 24-year-old lab technician who worked in the same Yale lab building where Le 's body was found stuffed in a chase, has become a "person of interest" in the case. Police are stressing that he is not a suspect as of right now. Clark lives on 40 Ferry Street in Middletown and his apartment has been frequented by investigators and the media.

This past spring Middletown was shaken by Wesleyan killer Stephen Morgan for the murder of a student inside a campus bookstore.

Cops have yet to officially arrest Clark in connection with Le's murder and have him detained while officials sweep his Middletown apartment for any further clues. According to media reports, he failed an FBI-administered polygraph test and featured defensive wounds on his person.

But if Clark is released by authorities and remains innocent his reputation is pretty much shattered anyway, since the media have already made him the poster boy for Le's murder. There is no going back. Once's your face is on television and associated with grizzly things like this, you can basically kiss your reputation goodbye. The New Haven Independent has refrained from using Clark's name, perhaps out of fear that he might not be the one.

New Haven Chief of Police said he is currently in custody "for the purpose of gathering evidence." He has not been charged with the murder yet.

FOX 61 reported at 11 p.m. that Le's murder might have been the brutal end result of a dispute over lab animals, since she and Clark both worked at the same Yale medical lab on Amistad Street.

Any murder is an instant headline maker, but one such as this is absolute gold for the news, particularly tabloid mongerers and television people. It is magnified 100 times more because the victim was a smart and pretty girl who attended the uber-elitist Yale, the best school in the world. This is sure to make anyone uncomfortable and glued to television screens.

Hartford's Mayor Eddie Perez is Our Fault

2009-09-15T18:16:00.000-04:00

After the swarm of corruption and bribery charges attributed to Mayor Eddie Perez this past year, one has to wonder how this man was able to get into office in the first place. A BS Detector should have gone off in every voter's head before they pulled the lever for this ex-gang member. Seems like Perez has been making the same moves he would as a thug, but this time swapping a bandanna and brass knuckles for a suit and undeserved access to high office. Nothing's changed. The voting population in our country has short memories and are quick to forgive (I put my money on raging prostitute-mauler Eliot Spitzer to hold some high office by the time the 2012 election cycle is over).

It's the voting public along with another link in this hopeless information chain, and that is our illustrious press people. They have the duty of educating the voters so decent decisions in the booth are made. The Hartford Courant recently ran a series of opinion pieces calling for Perez to resign. Where were they back a couple years ago when this was all on the horizon?

Despite of that, the Courant wrote this glowing editorial in 2007 endorsing Perez for re-election, dated Oct. 28, months after Perez was under investigation for bribery. They kicked off the lead by saying, "Despite a close-to-the-vest management style and a sometimes self-destructive stubbornness, Eddie A. Perez has been a good mayor of Hartford."

In other words:

HARTFORD -- Despite once being a dirty gang leader and having the reputation for using baseball bats to conduct day-to-day business, Eddie A. Perez has been a fabulous mayor for Hartford. Perez, who possess the squished face of a filthy battered pig, has let businesses flee the city, done nothing about Hartford's stupid rise of foreclosures and left rows and rows of abandoned homes and warehouses sit vacant and decrepit. People are left to starve and die on the streets while our mayor gets a few hot-shot renovations done on his home. We are all completely fucked for a city budget next year, but the Mayor has a great handshake and smile, reports confirm. Mr. Perez, age 52, has done an awesome job of making Hartford a place where people do not want to go to on the weekends. We urge everyone to vote Mayor Eddie Perez on Nov. 3rd!

The Courant basically wrote in simple plain English that Perez had no good credentials, but went on to say he was a "good" mayor for it.

In Sunday's Courant, they published an editorial titled "Mayor Perez's Publicity Circus," completely bending over for him. "We hope for Hartford's sake, and for his, that Mr. Perez isn't proved a crook," comparing him to another Connecticut politician who pleaded guilty to bribery charges and served five years in prison,
Sen. Ernest Newton.

The ascendancy of this man seems to be a two-fold gig, with our main news organ having a history of backing a man who is standing trial for corruption. It's the press and the public's fault for not being more aggressive toward him. Perez often blames the media for creating this "circus" of too much attention, but it seems pretty clear they've been in the tank for him anyway.

Working Families Party: Biggest Media Whores in Connecticut

2009-09-15T18:15:00.001-04:00

Those who follow New Britain news somewhat closely will recall when CT Working Families, the bitch-spawn of ACORN, set up a rally to try and draw attention to Rep. Tim O'Brien's run for mayor of New Britain a couple weeks ago. I refer those to check out the Bizy Bee or Frank Smith's blog for further background.

In short, Working Families, this partisan interest group that stays alive by pretending to advocate for the middle class, publically endorsed Democratic candidate O'Brien in an effort to create news and momentum for his run at mayor this November. The New Britain Herald was there to cover the shit out of it of course, and plastered it on its front page, inclining readers to believe that this endorsement means a lot in the grand scheme of the mayoral race. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Working Families exists to endorse Democrats, hence the event being transformed from a large and empty news hole to an instant headline maker. Wow, a group of people gathered downtown. Not a big deal. It was a manufactured event and should go unsaid that Working Families are on O'Brien's side anyway, since he is a Democrat. No secret that they've always been on his side since tagging along to sponsored rallies at the closing of New Britain's Wal-Mart (see earlier post from August).

I've seen people from Working Families everywhere. They dominate press conferences, parade around bright, colorful posters and try their best to make as many 5 O'clock news cycles as possible. They are the most cost-effective and best tools for getting a small enough rally going so that the entire news arm of Connecticut will be there to show up and take notes. They won't leave you alone and shove meaningless literature into your face at any chance they get. They don't like to listen and make their employees work like dogs for little pay. I personally know someone who quit working for them after a couple days because they are a poorly run organization. Worse, they claim to be progressive.

Their endorsement of O'Brien was a non-event, but the O'Brien team will try and manufacture these little press gatherings to give their campaign presence in New Britain. Look for more staged events in the future, since O'Brien is going to try and make some noise in order to get noticed.

Mark this one right up there with Rich Lopes being hired to manage O'Brien's campaign, something else the local news missed to point out.

Coping with Addiction

2009-09-15T18:14:00.017-04:00

By Justin Kloczko

I'll admit it: I’ve relapsed -- hard. And there's no one else to blame but myself. Just last week, I caved and started using the Internet again.

I’ve since gotten the Internet back in my apartment after going a month without it. A month might not seem like a lot, but it was for me. During those 30 days I had no contact whatsoever with the endless galaxy known as the World Wide Web. I found myself in a fake state of satisfaction and used my time normally spent on the Net organizing my apartment, reading more books, exercising, becoming a functioning member of society and comfortably staying a step behind our information super highway. But I still felt like there was a gaping hole in my life. I grew totally disconnected with the lightening quick speed of our culture, and for a little while, I was okay with it. I stopped reading the news online, stopped checking Facebook, my email, and refrained from any serial Tweeting. I wanted to see how far I could push it without the Internet. I wanted to remember my childhood; try and feel what life was like before the Internet was invented.

It was a brutal month, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. If you can go cold turkey without the Internet, then good for you. But extended periods of time without the Internet will leave a man feeling stupid and alone, which is hysterical, because 90 percent of what’s out there is total trash. I started getting asked if I was going to honor that event confirmation on Facebook to my friend's going away party. I was in the dark more ways than one. I tried to play it off like I knew what was going on socially when I really didn't. To make matters worse, I decided to stop drinking during that same month and abstain from any real social interaction. It was one of the worst periods of my life. I couldn't sleep, so I always had way too much time on my hands. A computer without the Internet is useless.

Then, early one morning, my roommate started pacing around in our apartment, talking about "buying board games" and doing other things to pass the time. Anything to keep Internet off our minds. It freaked me out. I could tell he was going through withdrawal. So many missed Facebook status updates. Precious time away from watching silly YouTube videos and clips on Collegehumour.com were making him pre-maturely nostalgic. After a while, I stopped seeing him around. There was a period where he stopped living in our apartment because there wasn't anything to do. Instead, I found him down the street at a friend's house one day. I opened the door to a room and saw him in front of a computer.

"Eric, the fuck are you doing?" I said, noticing him quickly X out a web page. "I thought we were in this together!"

"Oh, nothing man. Just wanted to remember what it was like, that's all," he said, shuffling in his chair, a blank look in his eyes.

It was looking like I had to do this myself.

But I couldn’t take it anymore either. A month was enough. The next day Eric picked up the phone and called AT&T, his hand shaking as he dialed the number. We put in an order for service, and then let off a collective "AHHHHHHHH," like we had just bumped a line of some fine Bolivian chach. In four days, we would be plugged back into reality, no longer clueless.

Then the day came for our Internet to be hooked up, and it just never happened. This ignited a painful series of phone calls that ended in desperation to some tech support far away in India. And anyone who’s dealt with these outsourced robo-tools knows they are the most emotionally-absent people in the world. They knew we were pissed, but couldn't sympathize with us. There was urgency in our voices, but none in their's. No one could understand the pain and detachment we were going through, and it really hurt. For some reason, AT&T said they couldn't provide the Internet we wanted, even though they previously provided it for us when we first moved in. At this point we called Comcast and harassed a customer service representative into getting us Internet ASAP.

Eric: Hi, I just got off the phone with AT&T and they made me want to put a gun to my head. I want to order service right away.

Comcast Rep: Yes sir, thank you for choosing Com––

Eric: JUST TELL ME WHAT THE NEXT STEP IS.

Comcast Rep: Very well, sir...

Eric told them we needed it as soon as possible or else we'd boycott. Before you knew it, we got what we wanted.

I drove home from work like a fanatical NASCAR racer the next day to catch up with the world I'd missed. Having no online access for a month felt as if I had been missing out on some global party one could only find out through a Facebook event invitation. When I got to see that first web page bubble up on my screen, I contemplated calling out of work to make up for Lost Internet Time.

My roommate and I would often come home from work and surf the web on our computers for hours, not acknowledging each other's existence even though we were in the same room. We needed our fixes separately. He's over there getting his life sucked away at "Civilization" while I'm well on my way to refreshing my email for the 300th time in an hour. I have multiple tabs open, with video clips, five albums on download, my Tweet Deck buzzing and baseball replays going on at once. I just can’t get enough. My hard drive is already packed to capacity with porn.

By this time I’m in my 6th consecutive hour playing Chat Roulette, desperate for any conversation with strangers. As I’m trying to negotiate a plan to meet a recently divorced 36-year-old woman with kids, Eric slowly spins around in his chair. He’s still wearing the same bathrobe since we got the Internet three days ago. On his head, an XBox headset.

"Bro, it's like four in the morning. You have a problem."

"You know what? Fuck you, Eric, fuck you!" I said. "This was all your idea. You wanted the Internet so bad! Now look at you, you barely move from your bed. I wake up every night to you cursing out little kids on “Call of Duty” at four in the morning. Don’t tell me I have a problem!”

But my web surfing habits became more and more mindless. I exhausted my time keeping up with my normal routine of sites, and started to read consumer reviews on vacationing spots I had no intention of ever going to. In fact, they were vacationing reviews of completely made up places. I signed up for Match.com, something I always viewed as absurdly depressing and sad, and joined obnoxious message boards, where I resurrected a terrible habit of being an avid poster on this West Coast gangsta rap forum that I used to frequent. No one could tell me shit. I was Internet ego-tripping balls.

One of the few things I was thankful for while staying clean from the Internet was that I didn’t have an iPhone or a Blackberry. This would have made weening off the Net that much worse. If I had to deal with the consequences of not having the pocket portability of the Internet on me, I would have probably off’d myself after day three. So right now, I'm sort of thankful that I have a 2005 Motorola Razor. The thing could barely tell time, let alone surf the web.

But here I am. The Internet is everywhere. This is what happens after not having it for a month: you fall twice as hard back into it. I read a study somewhere that people who surf the web a lot are depressed. Or maybe this is where depressed people go now: nowhere, just out into the ethers of the Internet. The Siberian World Wide Web. If that’s the case, this whole planet is depressed.

New Britain Mayoral Candidate Tim O'Brien Shoots Himself in the Foot

2009-09-15T18:08:00.001-04:00

New Britain mayoral candidate Tim O'Brien has reportedly hired former Alderman and Capitol employee Richard Lopes as his campaign manager. A position such as this usually holds no significant weight in the public's eyes, unless you know anything about Lopes, who has the awesome reputation of being the Capitol's "Desk Rifler" after a criminal investigation caught Lopes sneaking through a Republican assistant's desk. Dude was caught red-handed on camera going through the personal stuff of the assistant while he was working as a legislative aid, according to a report by the New Britain Herald in January 2007. Lopes was on tape for about six minutes shuffling through the other person's shit, examining papers and removing other things. Pretty desperate and scummy maneuvering, even by political standards. Many legislators called for Lopes's firing.

If O'Brien's camp is serious about trying to beat an incumbent mayor, then I have no clue as to why they would hire a sketchy creeper such as Lopes, but then again, as one person told me today about O'Brien's crew, "They keep showing up to a gunfight with knives."

September 5, 2009:

2009-09-06T03:02:00.000-04:00

I got out of work late last night and stopped at a gas station on my way home in New Britain. While pumping gas, a girl and her boyfriend pulled up behind me on a bike. I was wearing my black and white outfit for the restaurant I work at part time, which comprises of a shameless bow tie. I usually make a point to take it off for fear of being seen with it on in a public setting, but tonight I forgot. The girl asked where I worked and I said I strip for Chip N Dales on the weekends just to pull her tail. I quickly shot back telling her I had to wear this uniform for the restaurant I waiter at, Portofino's. I proceeded to pump my gas and overheard the girl tell her man that I worked at Portofino's, like it was a huge deal.

"Oh yea? He's prolly a fucking nobody anyway," he said to her.

It pissed me off for a minute, and I wanted to ask him what made him any different from me. Maybe he was some celebrity or big shot I didn't know, but I doubt it. Then I thought to myself while driving home. He was right. I am a nobody. Just like him. He couldn't be any more right.

Solitaire, Anyone?

2009-09-03T02:46:00.000-04:00

The photo above was taken by an Associated Press photographer while our legislators convened to vote on Connecticut's budget this past week. It shows two Democratic representatives, Barbara Lambert of Milford and Jack Hennessy of Bridgeport, playing solitaire on their computers while House Minority Leader Lawrence Cafero is addressing the assembly.

The photo has been picked up in the blogosphere and web sites such as the Drudge Report, more so because we are three months overdue for a budget and the photo just adds insult to injury. But this photo is child's play compared to the pictures I took on the night of June 3, when the official end to the legislative season came and went. If I didn't have a go-phone and knew someway to transfer the pictures I managed to take, I'd be rich right now.

I've got one photo that is absolutely gold of House Speaker Chris Donovan. He's perching a beer in the lap of a statue on the first floor of the Capitol building on the night of the annual whammer lawmakers throw at the end of each legislative season. Donovan's got a big shit-eating grin on his face, like he just made it through his first fraternity initiation, and all his colleagues around him are cheering and laughing, beer in their hands. A headline saying something like "Screw the Budget, Let's Get Drunk!" would go great with the photo.

I'm going to try and take out my SIM card and see if I can send the photo to someone who can get it up on the Internet for me. It's not great quality, but it will do the job.

The Hartford Courant is Decadent and Depraved

2009-08-24T22:09:00.000-04:00

“One vision, one management team, one goal - to maintain and grow profitability...Leverage our products and content to optimize results for advertisers.”

- Hartford Courant publisher Richard Graziano in an email sent out to employees when he took over the position earlier this year.

The recent firing of the Courant's consumer columnist George Gombassy should come as no surprise to anyone who knows what this paper has gone through in the past year. It's owner, Sam Zell and his Tribune Co. (the company I also worked for) put a chainsaw to the paper, to the point where it had to ax most of its employees and merge with Fox 61 News, under the control of Graziano, who's specialty is sales, not journalism. His job was to quickly put advertising revenue first, while laying off reporters and other staff to try and stop the bleeding. That is why when Gombossy wrote a couple of columns critical of big advertisers for the Courant, he was dropped at the drop of a hat after 40 years.

This has gotten much attention, from an interview on CNN with Gombossy to a letter to the editor written by Barbara Roessner in the New York Times, who resigned a few months ago as the Courant's managing editor. Roessner backed up her former columnist and Gombossy himself said he was given a large list of advertising clients not to write about critically in his column.

There are efforts to get owner Zell pushed out of his stake at the paper since it went bankrupt last year. This is a guy so old and disconnected that he barely looks up at the camera when he is on live television and has viciously said "Fuck you" to his own reporters before. He has no business in news gathering because his interests don't coincide with journalism. He cares about appeasing advertisers, even if they deserved to be questioned in the news.

This is a great example of the conflict between editorial and advertising. The Courant made a mistake and sided with their advertisers despite Gombossy imploring about consumer complaints with Sleepy's, the mattress company and one of the paper's big advertisers. They disregarded the right for the public to know about these problems because they have other priorities, and being honest isn't one of them.

Ugly Season is Here to Stay

2009-08-22T11:18:00.001-04:00

The state Capitol is starting to creep into national news, and we all know how the old saying goes: No news is good news. When Sunday, Aug. 23 comes and goes, our state will still be without a budget. Instead we get to go into the record books for surpassing our previous mark without having a budget, Aug. 22, 1991.

At this point, one has to wonder what it is going to take for Democrats and Republicans to get something so fundamentally passed as a budget. The Democrats need to stop living up to the image of making huge promises but then caving at the 11th hour. They have the numbers in the House and Senate to override Rell's veto power over the budget, but don't have the go-nads. They showcased it when they overrode seven bills in July, so it is doable.

Really, it's up to us to get so pissed off that we have no choice but to act on our misery. To give you a little snapshot of what it is like around these types of people when the cameras aren't rolling, check out the story we have up about the Capitol on June 3, during the end of the legislative season and into the early morning hours of June 4. The story can be read here.

Blast Gear...and Tool Borrowing Etiquette

2009-08-01T08:39:00.000-04:00

Safety is job one, though unless you're an electrician there's no reason to run out and buy high voltage fashion gear. Blast gear. Wear it for Halloween, maybe late at night and pretend you're a lineman. Well, it can't turn you into a lineman, but you’re supposed to wear when working on live gear. (A rarity)

$360 buys this low end 11 cal/sq cm kit .
Ok for lower energy levels; remember to have gloves tested twice a year. If you read up on electrical accidents you’ll find many if not most injuries involve or are exacerbated by improper or lack of personal protective gear. You’re at risk removing covers and taking contact measurements, in addition to actual live work. Don’t leave home without it!

Tool Borrowing. Don’t do it! The occasional neighbor-garden tool thing is fine, but stay away from my tool set. Does a rescue squad lend out their defibrillator? I make my living with my tools, while you are borrowing them what am I supposed to use…harsh language? Maybe I’ll get paid to watch you using my tools. Can you borrow my tools? Sure, no problem. Just let me borrow your wife… I’ll just use her for the really nasty jobs, like painting or sucking the septic.
Tools are actually more valuable than a wife…

Capitol Reporters are Surprised Rell is Raising Taxes

2009-07-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

"After months of avoiding talk of any tax increases, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Wednesday that she will be offering tax hikes in her newest, updated budget that will be unveiled today.

'I will be looking at revenue after I have exhausted as much in cuts as I can do, but they will be part of it,' Rell told reporters at the state Capitol when asked about tax increases.

When several surprised reporters asked again whether her plan would include tax increases, Rell responded, 'It will be part of it.' "

- The Hartford Courant, 7.30.2009

The funny part about this article is that reporters were "surprised" that Rell is increasing our taxes. Anyone out there who thinks the state's taxes won't get increased after being over 8.5 billion dollars in debt deserves to get punished by a raving herd of goats in some Third World country for ignoring that basic premise. With still no budget in sight for Connecticut, Democrats and Republicans have been playing games over spending. Rell's stance was we need to be fiscally restrained on spending instead of going with the Democratic budget, which she sees as blindly spending our way through our problems by raising taxes. The only problem is Rell was going to increase taxes the whole time anyway!

Are we all dumb and don't know it?

'Tis the Season: New Britain Democrats and Republicans Make it Official

2009-07-29T12:13:00.000-04:00

New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart before his nomination speech, July 28, 2009. (Erin Stewart photo).

Last night I sat in on Republican endorsements for the city of New Britain, where Mayor Timothy Stewart asked for his party's support for one more term. He lauded members of his staff for helping run a difficult city, and choked up after his daughter, Erin Stewart, gave the nominating speech. Hunched over a table and in a moment of silence before collecting his thoughts, it seemed like six years worth of memories with the city suddenly rushed back to Stewart. He looked up. "Damn, I think I need a drink," he said.

The mayor talked about bringing in businesses like Big Sky and initiating the downtown redevelopment plan which is underway now. Last week, the New Britain Herald moved out of its building across from the courthouse to make way for new condominiums to be erected. The police station will also be moving to Main St., hoping to quell any downtown disturbance and create an immediate presence.

“Finally I can see that vision becoming a reality, but I’m not finished yet,” said the mayor, who wants to stick around and finally see New Britain become a place where people want to go.

The mayor spoke of electing “educated, honorable, taxpaying people” to office who put the city above their personal interests. His campaign rhetoric was clear: "Elect us and we'll get things done."

“For six years now I’ve held the line on taxes in this city,” he said before a crowd of 50 people.

Seven Democrats are running for positions on the Republican council.

Meanwhile, across the city, Rep. Tim O'Brien received the support of the local Democrats for his run at mayor.

Wal-Mart Protest Hook, Line and Sinkers the Media

2009-07-23T17:31:00.001-04:00

Attorney General Dick Blumenthal (from left), some dude, and Rep. Tim O'Brien, who is running for Mayor of New Britain. Thursday, July 22, 2009.

I was so bored the other day in my apartment that I decided to check out the Wal-Mart protest in New Britain, which is closing on Aug. 31. A bunch of workers were saying their severance packages won't be paid out because they got other job offers somewhere else. In some cases only part-time. If they get any offers like this, they don't get their severance. The problem is these workers don't have adequate transportation to work anywhere else and can't hold down these jobs.

Sure enough, a few people crying with colorful posters and you've got CT Working Families on your ass, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal waving his finger and more media than protesters to catch it all in time for the 5 o'clock news.

There were about ten employees disputing their pay. But no reporter went to the heart of the thing and asked a fundamental question: Why was Wal-Mart closing in the first place? Turns out it sits in New Britain, where a lot of employees have been stealing from the store. And now they want to turn around and cry about it shutting down and not getting paid? No doubt Wal-Mart isn't a saint, but if our future lies in getting everything we could ever want under one roof, then we're all doomed.

Christ, reminds me a lot of Crispin Glover, Marty McFly's Dad in 'Back to the Future.'

"Wal-Mart is a big company, but they are not bigger than the law," Blumenthal says.

New Britain's Hardware City Tavern in Financial Trouble

2009-07-23T17:19:00.000-04:00

Just talked to a few people high up in the city of New Britain if the rumors surrounding Hardware City Tavern’s closing are true. Apparently, the Tavern’s owner, Raj Patel, is due in court on Monday, the 27th, because he allegedly owes Jasko Development, the company that owns the building where the Tavern sits, $20,000 or more.

The Tavern was refurnished and opened only a little over a year ago and symbolized, to many people in the city, the starting point for a new revitalization effort downtown. The building was originally built in 1903. The Tavern is currently one of very few places in New Britain where one can eat, grab a drink and play some pool late night.

Avner Krohn, who has invested money and real estate into New Britain and heads Jasko, is potentially looking at a few buyers for the Tavern.

Meanwhile, the Hartford Courant is reporting that Stanley Works, the company that made this city the Tool Making Capital of the World, is cutting 200 jobs from worldwide operations. This past December, the company slashed 1o percent of its workforce.

Where's the bottom?

Stewart Begins Campaign For Fourth Term

2009-07-23T12:36:00.001-04:00

Asks supporters to help him see through New Britain revival.

Mayor Tim Stewart talks with supporters on Wednesday, July 22, 2009.

By JUSTIN KLOCZKO

New Britain -- In a filthy economic environment with unprecedented job losses across the state and nation not seen since the Great Depression, Timothy Stewart launched his re-election campaign in front of over 220 supporters Wednesday night at Stanley Golf Course's Whinstone Tavern, pledging to see through the revival of the city of New Britain.

Stewart, who previously hadn't planned on reprising a fourth term as mayor, asked people for his support one more time.

"I am proposing to change the way we do politics in this city and ignore the party labels along with the stereotypes that go with them. It's time to elect qualified, honest, taxpaying, educated citizens and get rid of the politics as usual game that gets played every two years," he said.

"People should be elected to want to put the city above self and put the politics aside for the good of the community," he said.

The private fundraiser ushered in a steady stream of supporters, friends and family who aggregated around the Tavern banquet hall shoulder to shoulder, listening to Stewart speak. Other supporters present were U.S. Senate candidate Rob Foley, local mayors and even New Britain Democrats such as Tom Bozek.

Stewart was blunt and to the point, saying the realities of being a Mayor often leaves a person feeling "thankless."

"I can tell all of you from experience that the job is much more complex than you think. You have to be a clever negotiator, an engineer, a parliamentarian, a lawyer, a teacher, accountant and a cheerleader all at the same time in order to be successful," he said.

"We should not care whether you have a D or a U or an R next to your name," he said.

Stewart noted that the political game is what is keeping people from going out and taking part in the Democratic process, because it has become "more about playing the game than serving the public," he said.

Stewart pledged to keep his promise as mayor by being fiscally restrained during these tough times, and "as our residents are losing jobs and homes, I refuse to add to that burden by raising their already high property taxes," Stewart said.

Avner Krohn, owner of Jasko Development in downtown New Britain, which houses Hardware City Tavern, said Mayor Stewart has "brought in a tremendous amount of interest from other businesses." But, meanwhile, the Tavern is reportedly in financial trouble and may be in danger of shutting down its doors in the near future, according to one of Stewart's people. Krohn denied any claims and said the Tavern was staying busy with people.

The mayor also pointed to the state of Connecticut and its inability to help local governments, which depend very much on funding from them. The Capitol has yet to pass a budget that Gov. Rell and the Democratically controlled House can agree on.

"Some people think it is time to bring all this talk and no action down here from Hartford, but I know that the people from New Britain are too street smart to fall for that."

Stewart's opponent, Rep. Tim O'Brien, D-24th District, declared his running last Friday.

"Positive things are happening in New Britain," Stewart said. Outlining a picture for “a cleaner, greener city where people are proud to say they're from New Britain, and better roads, parks and schools" will populate the town in the near future.

Stewart won his first term as mayor six years ago, where he put himself up as an ex-Democrat tired of union bickering and high taxes. He was elected as a Republican candidate in a city that is heavily favored 5-1 for the Democrats.

July 28 is when parties will nominate official candidates.

Mayor Tim Stewart to Seek Re-election Wednesday Night

2009-07-21T13:26:00.000-04:00

New Britain -- Incumbent Mayor Timothy Stewart will host a fundraiser at the Whinstone Tavern on Stanley Golf Course Wednesday night (July 22), where he is expected to announce his re-election for the city of New Britain. The night is set to begin at 7 p.m. Everyone is welcome.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tim O'Brien, Democrat, has formed an exploratory committee and raised a reported $6,000 to campaign. Despite already having a secured seat as a Rep. out of the 24th District, O'Brien will go onto challenge Stewart in the Fall.

Connecticut's Capitol Building WHAMMER

2009-06-26T20:00:00.010-04:00

________________________

Democrats and Republicans had months to pass our budget on time. Instead they failed miserably and still celebrated with a huge party.

By Wally Slotz

It’s already early Thursday morning inside the state's Capitol building in Hartford on June 4, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of drunk politicians and journalists who seem to be coordinating this wild hula-hoop throwing contest from atop the fourth floor. The object of the game is to lasso the hoop over a statue on the bottom floor, a sort of hallowed tradition here at the Capitol. Chris Keating, the Hartford Courant’s prime Capitol reporter, is organizing the event and shouting names off a clip board like it's gym class for a bunch of SPEDS.

Earlier in the night, our legislature missed the midnight deadline to pass Connecticut’s budget after working on it for six months, and I sunk a game-winning solo cup to beat a state representative in beer pong in the hall of the first floor. A random person observing the scene would get the impression that all these state senators, reps, interns, secretaries, connected persons, lobbyists and friends and family have something to celebrate at the end of this momentous legislative season. But that isn’t the case at all tonight, where Democrats and Republicans dropped the ball and are popping the champagne early, like college kids celebrating failing five out of six classes during the semester because there is free beer everywhere.

Not exactly the tone I expected to kick off here in the state’s Capitol as just a generally curious citizen-- but I’ll take it, just as any man would accept free drinks in a public place. And this is a public gathering indeed, packed with a pong section where rookie politicians are schmoozing, open bar with no tip necessary (my $10 tip was too generous), a buffet, and a DJ who played Prince and baby-booming songs well past 3 a.m.

At around 10:30 p.m. I got through the bracketed off section on the House of Representatives floor that was exclusive to staff and properly credentialed people. Nudged between the stairs to the next floor and the perimeter of the hallway was a nesting hole for politicians who were looking to get “educated” from a swarm of well-read lobbyists on various bills that would soon come up to vote on the floor, at any moment now. I walked up to an encounter with three lobbyists for the United Bankers Association grilling a dull-eyed representative about bank loans using a whole cannon of vocabulary indicating the exchange was very important. At first I thought the lobbyists were reporters because they were asking lots of questions -- and they looked convincing -- but I noticed their tags and suddenly perked up with curiosity. A minute or two into my time there, the confronted representative starting shooting me looks like “Why was I here?" When I asked one of the lobbyists what they were “pulling for tonight,” he replied with a simple “I don’t know” and walked away from me.

I walked around the area and started to realize the politician/lobbyist ratio was abysmal. There were about 35-45 people in the area during any given time I was there and 80 percent of them were lobbyists of some sort: AARP, energy, banking, health, etc. You name it. People were there to influence public policy through specific bills, and they did their homework. They almost seemed to know more about an issue than the politicians did -- made them sweat uncomfortably and jerk from side to side. They were never alone and came in pairs or more, and usually would be waiting for a legislator to come up to them in this special section. The lobbyists would then “inform” these reps. on the bill and its circumstances -- whatever they were swaying for, because most of the time our politicians don’t do the legwork themselves on all sides of a bill they will be voting on. They are essentially being influenced by these special interest groups right before they go up to vote on the floor. The lobbyists are an unnecessary buffer between the public and our lawmakers. They were technically supposed to stay in the sectioned-off part of the House floor, which was actually right by the entrance to the voting floor, and let the politicians come to them like horny dogs. But they were everywhere tonight, and it scared the hell out of me.

Throughout the night various bills went up for vote. One on inland wetlands and state policy was temporarily passed (which is basically a death sentence for a bill), and a bill that made it illegal to own chimpanzees privately. Really brassy stuff, apparently. A lot of these seemed to be from the bottom of the pot, and a number of more high-profile bills, such as the decriminalization of marijuana and banning smoking in Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods failed to get passed.

As these bills came up to vote over the intercom system, a stream of representatives quickly hustled into line from some room with beer in their hands ready to vote for a pending bill. Women were shoving cell phones into their bras, people were sweating, pacing and talking too loud outside the chamber. I was expecting strippers and cocaine to be rolled out at any minute. A man with a solo cup in his mouth headed up the stairs somewhere. One women almost completely ate shit and stumbled when she tried to escape the House floor. Elsewhere, a ticker tape of our state debt flashed in loud red numbers throughout the whole night, like a ticking time bomb.

Reporters on the other hand were mostly to the right of Speaker of the House Chris Donovan, D-Meriden, in the House floor, waiting to capture sound bites from people walking out. There were only three that I recognized, and they didn’t seem to be roaming up and down the lobbyist section for quotes. The local TV news crews were packing up, and I saw some leave as I entered the building. A blogger I exchanged some words with said he was here from Wolcott because local town coverage has shrunk severely in recent years.

As the clock approached midnight, the House adjourned for the season. The budget didn’t pass, but there was immediate hustle out into the halls for celebration. Paul Hughes of the Waterbury Republican-American and Christine Stuart of CTNewsJunkie.com began to ask Donovan questions, but his answers were vague. Then, Hughes cut to the chase:

“Let me put it this way: Do you think you can do in two weeks what in six months you couldn’t do?” referring to the special session starting the next day and hopes of getting the budget done.

“We did a lot of difficult things that we are very proud of,” said Donovan, looking off into the distance as he answered the question.

And from there it was to the after party. Later on I saw Donovan place an empty beer cup on the lap of a statue on the first floor while everyone around him was cheering and laughing. (I have a picture of it saved on the phone, and will sell it for good money). I felt like a panic attack was about to set in, so I high tailed outside for a cigarette.

Outside I met a young man who has been working for the Democratic Caucus for about four years. I asked him what he thought were the main reasons we can’t get a budget passed, even though our country seems to be caught up in Obama fever.

“People are drawing a line in the sand. They don’t want to waiver,” he said.

He said the money from this party was leftover Caucus money, which is public money on our tab. All this celebration seemed queer. Granted it is a tradition here, but usually people throw a party because there is something to celebrate, or there is a sense of accomplishment of some sort. At this point our leaders just seemed to be obliviously celebrating their failure.

Back inside a truly weird and off-beat moment came when the Senate approved a slavery apology, about 130 years too late. I went for a walk and noticed a note on the press room: “Please keep door closed to conserve air conditioning.” I guess this is one of the luxuries of being a reporter. You're pampered with free food and AC in exchange for some blowjob coverage of the Capitol. I turned around and looked down a couple levels where a bunch of people where congregating. I headed downstairs, slipped past a few "security" and went right to the open bar. I did my absolute best in milking the bar and helping myself to as many wings and pigs-in-a-blanket as I could throw down. Right when I got to the beer pong table, people were asking for paper and a pen to start a list, so I surrendered my notepad and pen for the spirit of the game and tried to ignore my conscience for the next few hours.

At some point in the night I was back outside and noticed a man with an ear-piece followed by Gov. Jodi Rell, who was greeted warmly as she made her way to her car. She jokingly asked the crowd for a cigar and everyone began scrambling to give her one. After a few laughs, she quickly got into the back seat of the car and was driven away.

The state of Connecticut needs to focus on a few pressing issues right now. Democrats and Republicans must not think of politics like a game, where you’re loyal to your team no matter what and always hate the person on the other side. We need to move fast to chip away at our debt, create jobs, start making good on a mass-railway system connecting Hartford to Boston and New York City, and get a professional sports team to get people back into the downtown area. Our state is losing jobs, people are pissed off and tired, and our legislative leaders can’t put aside political partisanship to pass a fucking budget. McDonald's isn't even hiring it's so bad these days. Instead, our leadership was making sure their beer cups were full to the brim at all times and smiled at the right moments when a couple of reporters asked them questions. Ask people who are remotely aware of what is going on these days and they are not happy with our state government. They are disgusted. But they are unsurprised and feel helpless.

This tug-of-war is nothing more than partisan showmanship. Rell is raising taxes anyway, even though she criticizes the Democrats for wanting to spend their way out of the recession and raise them too. Most people simply don't want to see existing programs, funding or schools shut down.

If there was anyone in there that wasn’t really familiar with politics, the average person would have fallen out of their chair seeing what happened tonight. We are $8 billion in debt as a state, still represented by sold-off creeps like Chris Dodd and Joe Lieberman and have some of the saddest post-industrial cities on the East Coast. Hartford has been one of the most violent cities in the country, a place where a Latino can get decked by a hit-run driver and be made famous only because it is caught on television for the whole country to watch in horror. Just because there’s a bright and happy banner that says “New England’s Rising Star,” that apparently means we are doing something about it. People have to understand this is a bi-partisan problem.

The free booze took my mind off the three-lobbyists-for-every-politician ratio plastered all over the building, but I feel like garbage because I had a blast. It was the guiltiest drunk I've ever had, but at least I didn't pay for it. It’s like those frat kids from college kept climbing the social ladder, and here they are: They're obnoxious, they're gross, they all look the same, and they're our leaders, shot-gunning beer through life.

Hallelujah, God Bless Connecticut.

Bonnaroo Gallery

2009-06-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

This is what some people looked like on acid.

Uncle Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.

Band of Horses, Sunday, June 14.

A cloud of pot smoke somewhere over Snoop Dogg's set.

Even gay space invaders felt normal at Bonnaroo.

Dillinger's Escape Plan.

Goin' nuts for Springsteen.

Bon Iver performing on Saturday, June 13.

Alive and Well

2009-06-17T10:16:00.000-04:00

All,

Just got back from Bonnaroo down in TN and am about to lock my self in my room and bang out the next issue. The DEBASER managed to somehow Twitter the whole thing, so check that out on the right side of this site or @Twitter. Look for pictures of the festival and other fun things in the very near future as well. We are also about to interview New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart, and if you have any questions that you would like me to ask, shoot us a message.

Capitol Building Whammer

2009-06-04T19:10:00.000-04:00

Hi all,

For those checking in, take a run through our Twitter feed to see how the night at the Capitol went for the end of the legislative season. The budget didn't pass, even though they've been on it for six months. The 25 tweets come in strange gaps and bursts, but I did my best to keep twittering while everyone was pounding beer and dancing to Prince around me.

More on this soon...

Terminator Salvation: Too Much Shit Blowing Up

2009-05-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

By JUSTIN KLOCZKO

This is what happens to a respected film franchise when you try to follow up the originals with a director that calls himself McG. Take the ADD-inducing blockbusters of 300 and Cloverfield and a guy who can only direct music videos and you’ve got Terminator Salvation. Reduce the ego-massaging role of Christian Bale to just yelling and there’s a movie that does the impossible for American audiences: It gives them too much action.

It is hard to believe that in an interview McG said Bale didn’t even want the role in the first place because the storyline was too soft. He had the script revised and that is the version that is in the movie. Imagine how bad the movie could of been. The film has a weak script that is just dressed up with loud bombs, guns and more terminators to make us forget cheesy lines by Reese’s character and Bale’s soft delivery of “I’ll be back.”

Sam Worthington’s story had a foundation and came out as the best role for the film. Rise of the Machines is only a bit more cheesier than this one, only because of the great cinematography and starbursts of scenes where the Terminators looks great. CGI Arnold looked bad ass for the brief moment it got screen time and saved the movie from completely bombing.

We’ll see if the next two will develop the story better. Rumor has it that the follow up may be set in the present. Terminator 1 remake perhaps?

Iron and Wine, "Around the Well"

2009-05-19T12:17:00.000-04:00

Ever since Sam Beam's alter-ego, Iron and Wine, accidentally got signed to Sub Pop and became a success, he has executed a progressive musical path. His first album was the gritty but newborn "The Creek Drank the Cradle," a glimpse into a man and his guitar recording to tape in his living room. "Our Endless Numbered Days" was decorated with minor percussion and slide guitar, while "The Shepherd's Dog" upped the ante by bringing in a full on band, including multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach, formerly of Wilco.

This steady progression will have us guessing where he'll go next, but until then we have all the rarities and b-sides that didn't make these three albums on "Around the Well," released today. Most of the 2-disc album scrounges up songs that were left off his first two albums, including some that sound like other Iron and Wine songs, and other recordings that sound of blurry-eyed mornings and long sessions just looking out of a window.

But Beam makes it sound good and easy. This album pulls no surprises, but is a present to fans. If you get a chance to check out his "Norfolk" album -- do that. Iron and Wine is much better live.

Wilco (the Album) Review

2009-05-17T12:09:00.000-04:00

Wilco has had problems sustaining a stable lineup until the release of this -- their ninth album, and only the second in a row where the cast of musicians hasn't changed. "Wilco (the album)" seems to be cut from the same cloth as "A Ghost is Born," with it's tight, experimental and pastoral studio sound. There is less Nels Cline improvisations on the guitar like in "Sky Blue Sky," but his presence is here, and Michael Jorgensen lights it up on the keys with tracks like the heady "Bull Black Nova," a song that sounds like a Dr. Dre beat and and from the point of view of a guy who is just realizing that he’s actually a murderer. The title song seems almost like a lame gimmick on its first listen, but it is sharp and reassuring, especially when all is lost in the world and you've got Jeff Tweedy singing, "Wilco will always love you baby."

The buoyant and Springsteen-esque "You Never Know" sums it up in the first line, "Come on children, you're acting like children, every generation thinks it's the end of the world." And then there is the duet between Tweedy and Feist, which is like eating a warm cupcake on a Sunday morning in the summer. I don't think Wilco has ever had guest vocals on any of their albums besides their Woody Guthrie collaborations with Billy Bragg.

Hail to the Chiefs: Wilco is the most versatile and exhilarating live act in America.

Interview with New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart

2009-05-17T12:02:00.000-04:00

All,

I'll be interviewing New Britain Mayor Tim Stewart sometime this coming week. Feel free to post which questions you would like me to ask him.

WHORE-0-SCOPES

2009-05-15T00:06:00.000-04:00

By MISS WENDY

Capricorn
Your friends would rather hang out with your online personality.

Aquarius
Take a long look at yourself in the mirror listening to Annie Lennox’s “Why” and try not to cry.

Pisces
Love will come in mysterious shapes this month. Examples: donuts, sliced deli meats, bejeweled jean jackets, and Sham-Wows.

Aries
Watch out for ex-KGB operatives hiding in broom closets, sans-brooms, holding AK-47s and a wallet-sized photo of you in 2nd grade in front of a laser light show.

Taurus
The last person to play beer pong before you had oral herpes. Get that checked out.

Gemini
Aww, your boyfriend dumped you and ice cream is your coping mechanism? You should have started working on your beach bod two years ago. Maybe that’s why he left.

Cancer
Go back three spaces, do not collect $200 if you pass GO.

Libra
Stepping in dog shit is a rare, embarrassing occasion. Do not go outside on the 14th, 19th and 24th of the month. Heed this advice: BEWARE MASSIVE GREAT DANE TURDS.

Scorpio
If you got laid at UCONN’s Spring Weekend you will be an ashamed parent in 9 months.

Sagittarius
That was not mayonnaise on your sandwich.

Leo
You will find $20 in the cut-off shorts you put away for the winter, along with your favorite lip balm and dignity.

Virgo
Youtube “Breast Williams.”

CCSU Bomb Threat, or Just Some Frat Kid's Artwork?

2009-05-14T18:16:00.000-04:00

This according to CCSU's PR guy:

CCSU Police are reporting the discovery of an unspecified bomb threat in graffiti in a men’s room in Vance Academic Center. While the threat may be bogus, precautions are being taken, and CCSU Police are conducting a thorough investigation of Vance. The State Police bomb squad has been notified, and will be called in if further investigation is warranted. This message is being sent as a precaution and to explain the additional police activity. If more information is discovered and further campus action is recommended, the Emergency Notification System as well as notices on the web and via email will be implemented. At this time, the police do not believe an evacuation is warranted. Vance is closed and will remain closed tomorrow. All other campus buildings will remain open and operational as usual.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

2009-05-14T02:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Justin,
I came across a copy of the DEBASER in Hartford and picked it up, always intrigued by first issues and start-ups in general. I’ve been involved with some myself, and always had a lot of fun doing them — and felt good building something from the ground up. Especially in this economy, and with this kind of market for journalists, starting your own publication is probably a wise way to go. I hope it goes well for you, and the ads in the first issue suggest you’re off to a good start.

Still, it’s always interesting to see people evolve in a profession, and I expect you (and the DEBASER) will evolve over time. I’m sure you’ve already been experiencing some of the difficulties of putting out a publication.

I sense you’ve got some anger toward me, so I suspect you’ll read that last paragraph as being snide and passive-aggressive. It’s not.

I would like to suggest you let go of some of that anger, though. Either way, the item about me in the DEBASER indicates there are some things about me you misunderstand.

For starters, I am no longer executive editor of The Herald and haven’t been for awhile. And even when I was, Journal Register Co. is gone, having sold The Herald and other papers to something called Central Connecticut Communications LLC.

I honestly don’t know what story you’re referring to when you write about “a kid who shit his pants,” so I can’t speak to that — if you write back for some reason, perhaps you could remind me — but I can tell you, for what it’s worth, that the “Shot over the dough” headline was written on one of my rare days off; was written by a copy editor who was not that much older than you; and helped win second place for that copy editor in a state SPJ contest. Here’s the link: http://www.ctspj.org/2008ContestWinners.pdf.

Take away from any of these facts (or factoids) what you will, but keep in mind that I took what seemed like a pretty good job at a time I needed one with a
company that gets some pretty mixed reviews. (In fact, mostly bad reviews.) But you should consider whether you need to separate slams of people who work at the paper from the company that owns it, in all circumstances, from Taco Bell to the White House. Sometimes people need jobs and to follow orders from above, and to change things from within if they can.

I am writing generally, by the way, but certainly while I was the top person in the newsroom, I had a publisher, an executive editorial director and a whole bunch of corporate executives above me, and I inherited a newspaper that had been turned into a tabloid. My orders were to run a tabloid, and I did my best to slowly turn that paper into something that was at least less New York Post, more New York Daily News. My newspaper of choice is The New York Times, and if I’d made more aggressive or at least different choices in my career, that’s where I would want to be. And the Times largely defines my way of thinking about the news and design sensibility.

I also proposed to both owners of the company a stronger focus on arts and culture, because I think that’s a good way to start getting a younger demographic to pick up the paper regularly, increasing circulation and providing a starting point for evolving the content. I was the guy who heard Capone-N-Noreaga were coming to Club Pleasures and tried to negotiate for access. Believe me, I had no interest in producing a local section “for old people.”

But you also have to be aware that the old people are the paper’s most loyal, and dominant, subscribers. It would be foolhardy for The Herald to ignore them, and anger them, in sole pursuit of younger readers. As in all things related to those newspapers, I had to be patient in trying to change things, as the companies I worked for and the people I worked with were not always ready or able to change with me.

There was also simply a lot to do. Most of
my time with the central Connecticut papers meant seven-day weeks — say 72 to 80 hours a week. It could all get pretty frustrating.

So that’s some background for you, if you’ve chosen to slog through this all. It turned out to be a bit longer than expected.

Good luck with the DEBASER.

- Marc Levy, former executive editor of the New Britain Herald.

- Mr. Levy,
No, we cannot give you a job, sir.

Weed Decriminalization Bill Burns Out Because of Dumbfucker's Email to Senator

2009-05-12T16:23:00.000-04:00

Pot smokers can thank 28-year-old Dominic Vita for the defeat of the weed decriminalization bill in Connecticut on Tuesday, May 12. If the bill were to pass, possession of under an ounce of weed would be penalized as an infraction in the state of Connecticut.

Vita, who was Vice President of NORML, the Connecticut chapter to push for the decriminalization of marijuana, "accidentally" sent out an email that said, “David, not sure if you have seen what these douche bags are up to at the capitol, but I’m getting ready to go postal. Sen. Boucher is about to get my foot in his/her fucking face. My tolerance for these fucking worthless pieces of shit is rapidly eroding. Things are going to get really ugly soon,” according to an affidavit reported on by CTnewsjunkie.com.

When the bill went up for vote Tuesday at the State's Legislature, Sen. Toni Boucher (R) Wilton, "fought back tears" in opposition to the bill. A filibuster also helped defeat the bill from being passed.

Thank you Dominic Vita, for probably smoking too many blunts while trying your half-baked attempt to communicate via email with impaired motor skills. You are the quintessential slacker-stoner who shouldn't be allowed to smoke pot more than three times a week.

- Tori Saulnier and Justin Kloczko

DEATH OF THE ALTERNATIVE WEEKLY

2009-05-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

By JUSTIN KLOCZKO

While newspapers across the country are burning out like the disco ball, there is also a niche-death going on: the death of the alternative weekly. Pick up any alt. weekly and they are reading more and more like mainstream newspapers, their advertising exceeding the number of articles, and weak coverage because they are too afraid to upset readers and advertisers.

The problem with most alternative weeklies today is that they are stuck in 1969. When the Hartford Advocate was founded in 1973 by disgruntled Hartford Courant reporters, they struck an immediate chord with the 1960s generation. Today, those people have grown up, which means so has the writing and readership. The Advocate writes stories that mostly 50-year-old people read. There is nothing wrong with that, but that is why they are slipping and struggling to be noticed by the youth: No one has the attention of 18 to 35-year-olds.

Part of the reason of the deterioration is that the Advocate papers are now owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Courant and other major publication across the country.
The general trend by owner Sam Zell was to cut costs. In a recent interview, he said “I made a mistake,” and now he realizes the news is no longer a profitable business because of greedy ownership.

Mega-distractions like the Internet and television have spoiled people by cutting the news down into short, nondescript blurbs, causing people to read less. Corporate ownership and consolidation have also crippled local papers into their current state of failure. But the biggest reason is the content.

Editors at these dying alt. weeklies must understand the struggle today isn’t the same as it was in the ‘60s. It’s 2009 and the reporting needs to change to reflect the times. The struggle is no longer flag-burning hippies against ‘Them,” Bob Dylan holdovers, or Nam. It is more complex and less black and white. There needs to be more attention to the failing occupation in the Middle East, which is more of a free-for-all for private contractors, the gay marriage movement starting to sweep across conservative states, the failure of the War on Drugs, how our corporations are acting more and more like governments, and a wider acknowledgment that more people are splintering away from Republican and Democratic lines to more Ron Paulian and independent sects. Young people are increasingly unclassifiable in their social and political needs, and they can’t find help in today’s newspapers.

It was the alternative media who should have made us think twice about Iraq, or wiretapping, or keeping us from shitting our pants when someone said the word “Muslim” in public. They were supposed to protect us, and they botched it. The problem with reporters today is that they are mostly a gang of pussies, afraid of doing anything beyond picking up a phone.

The point is “alt.” publications today aren’t really liberal. Papers like the Advocate have become stuck in the middle of the road because they have ceased to be progressive. Real journalists are progressives because they help move time along. Alternative publications need to have more exciting writing with more personal and in your face reporting, we need to go and live in the shoes of the people we want to write about, spend a day in the hood or where people are being pushed around, lie to get The Story if that’s what it takes, not be afraid to go talk to people in person and write more investigative stories, because as journalists, we have to go that much further today to capture the reader’s attention.

BORDERLINE DISGUSTING:

2009-05-11T00:20:00.000-04:00

By TORI SAULNIER

Walk into Elbow Room in West Hartford Center and instantly the roll of cash in your pocket is set ablaze. All that disposable cash is begging like your poodle-Maltese hybrid puppy whining to be spent on a faux-gourmet meal washed down with a sticky, syrup-filled martini. Elbow Room is a nice place, if you’re the kind of person that walks around with your head and a thorn laden stick simultaneously shoved up your rectum.

After eating at Elbow Room for both lunch and dinner on three separate occasions, I can attest that I might have been better eating roast kibble with a dollop of Dave Thomas’ secret sauce. Why did I go back to Elbow Room for a third try? For their amazing view of West Hartford on their super-sweet rooftop dining room, of course! Thanks Hartford Advocate Best Of 2009, best advice ever…
I’d love to give myself some credit and say that I’m the kind of person that forgives and forgets, but I was raised by an Irish woman, forgiveness ain’t happening. Never shall I forget the Kobe beef burger with cheese and caramelized onions that I tried to choke down.

My burger came out after a very long wait. The ice in my water glass had already melted and the effect of my flamboyant watermelon martini had already worn off. I was starving and ready to glom down my burger and give it the news, like a pimp crackin’ his cane on a disobedient biddy.

I sized up the burger, unhinged my jaw, sunk my teeth in and was blasted with grease, cold grease! My burger was cold, almost grey, and was mooing to be reconnected to the rest of the cow bleeding in the kitchen. I asked for rare, but I thought I was clear on holding the salmonella.
Of course, I put my bitch hat on and sent the burger back after waving down the nearest breathing Elbow Room employee (our server went MIA after the slop was set in front of me). The helpless bus-girl that I flagged down asked if I wanted it heated up, but before I could respond she ran away.

The burger then came back, warm, and no longer mooing, but I couldn’t manage to eat it. I decided that I would just ask for the burger to be removed from the bill and retreat to a second burger at Plan B (best advertising scheme ever).

Needless to say, I will probably never return to Elbow Room. If you want a decent burger that is rare, but doesn’t moo in your face while it drips grease, go to Plan B. But if you’re really hell bent on spending a lot of cash for a lot of crap food, be my guest and go to Elbow Room.

###

End Game on The Recorder's Editor Firing

2009-05-08T16:04:00.002-04:00

_____________________

BY JUSTIN KLOCZKO

The story of Central Connecticut State University’s The Recorder is more than running terrible 11th-hour articles, twenty minute blocks on CNN, or getting a rush from petty protesters. It is more so about a media-generated soap opera that scrapes the surface and reveals a college house party gone wrong, complete with boring, immature editors who have no sense of humor. It is about college students who have gross reporting ambitions, thinking someday they will write for the New York Times. Most importantly, it is about people putting their anger out on the front page, and about seeing who could bend over the most for the attention. Former editor-in-chief Mark Rowan and current editor Melissa Traynor are great at that.

Just ask a few people who have been in the middle of it, like ex-editor Karyn Danforth, who was on the staff for almost four years and was fired for sticking up for ex-Opinion Editor Marissa Blaszko, or any contributor who they’ve ticked off, or me, who had the pleasure of working with these types of people on a daily basis as editor-in-chief in 2008.

“It’s just a bunch of people who are far less mature than they think, and they’re just running their mouths,” says one person close to the paper. “You can almost tangibly feel the Rowan influence.”

And it is there, from the moment Rowan graduated and still tried to get his articles published in the paper, too afraid to move onto the real world that hated him. He didn’t want to be forgotten. And as journalist Ken Krayeske cited on his web site, Traynor still “talks daily to her good friend Mark Rowan” for advice. Traynor has had Napoleonic tendencies ever since she began thinking her and the former chief were practically going out, and was sure she would be the heiress to the editor throne after his departure. After she lost the election to be the next editor, she has held secret grudges that have driven people away from the paper.

“It was obvious, and became more apparent that if you did not fit the mold of the core group of editors, you did not have a chance in achieving a higher position,” says former News Editor Amanda Ciccatelli.

But the real story here is not about the firing, it is how the firing was covered. Local TV news, the New Britain Herald, Hartford Courant, Democracy Now! and every other news-challenged editor ran stories that basically said Blaszko was fired for being a socialist. Democracy Now! has a blurb on their web site that reads: “At Central Connecticut State University, the opinion editor at the school’s newspaper has been dismissed because she is a member of a socialist club on campus.”

“I don’t think Marissa was dropped because she is a socialist; I opposed her from the start due to her inexperience and the activism, which increased as things went on,” said Dr. Vivian Martin, adviser to the newspaper and a professor of Journalism at CCSU.

There were many people involved with the paper who were in some sort of picket line or in some campus group while simultaneously writing for the paper. In fact, it should be known that Traynor knew Blaszko was very active in various organizations, like Connecticut Students Against the War in Iraq before she signed on the dotted line to become an editor. Before Blaszko was hired in August of 2008, Traynor was advised “not to give Marissa the job, from day one,” said Dr. Martin, because she had “not taken one single journalism class. “

Her activism became more chronic while she had the megaphone as opinion editor. People at editorial positions at newspapers cannot be apart of other political organizations most of the time. It’s like if Vice President Dick Cheney was also the editorial page editor for the Washington Times during his time in office. Things like that should never happen.

In an article written by Blaszko last September, she somehow tried to link an unrelated student uprising in France to an article about an author who wrote “100 Things to Do Before You Die.” A typical op-ed piece by her might consist of the words “union,” “China” and “corporations” in the span of five words.

When I pitched an op-ed piece to Courant Opinion Editor Peter Pach about the media coverage on The Recorder, I got the typical white-hot-rage editor response saying that the Courant’s coverage was spot on, even though they ran a poor, one-sided story along with a lo-fi video rehashing the same things every other media outlet had before. Pach had to actually pull up the story that I was referring to, and it seemed like he didn’t know much about the subject at hand.

When the brush fire started, Traynor’s general feeling was that “things would blow over,” according to one person close to the paper. But another element of the firing stems from the ultra-clique-y atmosphere inside the offices of the newspaper. Blaszko was also fired because she wasn’t cool and conforming enough for some of the editors. This isn’t only about a couple of attendances to a rally where maybe 100 people showed up.

“A major factor was the fact that Blaszko did not fit in the clique within those office walls. If it was someone who fit their ideals, or frankly was more likable, they would have been given far more leeway,” said a source close to the paper.

“The outrage Blaszko was seeking simply isn’t there. Marissa is just looking for a fight for the sake of rebellion at this point, and uses whatever is convenient, whether it is specific groups, campus organizations, or other people.”

Shortly after her firing on March 10, a petition circulated protesting the firing of her as editor because of her activism in Youth Socialists for Action and various protest movements around Connecticut. Blaszko contends that the reason she was ousted was because she “actively opposes the Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestinian wars and occupations.” This may be somewhat misleading. Yes, The Recorder’s code of ethics, which is not binding and does not have to be enforced by the editor, states that a member of the paper cannot be apart of other organizations while with the newspaper.

“(Blaszko) signed a petition supporting an anti-war rally as the opinion editor. That’s not tolerated in any professional journalism outlet, so why should we be any different?” said the source.

The code of ethics, which Rowan created to make appease critics after 2007’s controversy, was ultimately an excuse to fire Blaszko, according to some people, because it has not been enforced at every step. The code was just the final reason to justify her firing, and it was convenient.

“Melissa was just completely going off about how she was ‘so excited to get home and fire Marissa.’ And then she was like, ‘I’m going to do it like Mark Rowan: “You are outta here!”’ said Danforth, who was let go by Traynor just after Blaszko.

Opinion editors at The Recorder have come and gone, and for the most part, those pages have been littered with either hard Right of hard Left views. It is a shuffle practically every semester. Blaszko’s attempt to try and draw parallels between the code and CCSU’s mission statement has nothing to do with anything. The Recorder can do what the hell it wants. It is an arm of a public university that brings in its own revenue.

Fox 61 news ran with the firing story, making it seem like The Recorder was infringing upon Blaszko’s freedom of speech, even though the same people wanting her free speech were against The Recorder’s during the 2007 controversies. Their segment talked about the firing for about 30 seconds, upon which the rest of the segment was all about the publishing of the satirical rape article and comic strip in 2007. If it wasn’t for that controversy, news arms wouldn’t even bother with a scrawny little college newspaper.

And from there it was on. Blaszko managed to con everyone into listening to her wine about getting fired from her $34 a week job to write out of her ass. She was on 88.1, practically crying on television and getting quoted in the Herald that she was fired for being some sort of Freedom of Speech martyr. And on top of that, no one is complaining that former Lifestyles Editor and Editor-at-Large contributor, Karyn Danforth, was fired as well, after being on the staff for four years and basically sticking up for Blaszko.

“As for Danforth’s dismissal, she attempted to start a coup. It failed miserably almost instantly. She clung frantically to some mid-western ideal that we should all be one big happy family, pee sunshine, and poop rainbows,” said the source.

No one is a winner here, if anything The Recorder and Blaszko are both victims of a miserable and bored local media.

“The Recorder has made a couple missteps in the handling of this situation, and a major factor was the fact that Blaszko did not fit in the clique within those office walls,” said the source.
Blaszko was probably fired because every time she sent in an article they knew it was going to be a soapbox for socialism, and what is the point of reading someone if you know what they are going to say about a certain topic anyway?

The question now is what do Blaszko and the petitioners ultimately want from The Recorder?

“Marissa wants (The Recorder’s) bylaws changed so an editor does not have as much power, so there is more democratic choice. She submitted amendments to the media board, and envisions rules changing to come back and write as an editor,” said Dr. Martin.
###

TUITION TEABAGGING

2009-05-07T19:24:00.001-04:00

By PETER DECOTEAU
& TORI SAULNIER

The CSU system is relied on for affordable college. Now that enrollment is going up during the recession, so is the bill.

A rally took place weeks ago on the streets of Paris. Children sat on the shoulders of their parents, drums snapped and groups chanted in sing-song dissent. This was not a protest against great political injustice, nor was it a rally against war or to fight the rampant corruption that has seen the world’s economic downfall. The teachers of France had gone on strike because of reduced union influence, poor working conditions and budget cuts. Protestors brandished pins that said, “University is not a business; Education is not a commodity,” and even though the pins were printed in French, that tagline reflects feelings towards American higher education as well.

Locally, the weakened economy has caused the state of Connecticut to slash funding for public institutions of higher education. While enrollment has been booming at Central, Eastern, Western and Southern Connecticut State Universities, all four have had to make severe cutbacks. For Eastern Connecticut State University’s budget alone, “state funding accounts for 40 percent,” according to Eastern’s president Dr. Elsa Nuñez.

The Connecticut State University System (CSUS) saw a $11.7 million reduction in funding from the CT General Fund for 2009, according to a tuition and fees resolution issued by the CSUS Board of Trustees April 8. The resolution also included a statement anticipating funding shortfalls for fiscal years 2010 and 2011 adding that “extremely modest increases are recommended.” These “modest increases” will be reflected in tuition, fees for housing and courses, as well as food services and other miscellaneous university fees according to the CSUS Board of Trustees.

At Western Connecticut State University, students feared that cuts in funding for Connecticut State Universities would cause the system to shut down a school, possibly Western. In a March 2009 budget update, Western’s president James W. Schmotter talked student’s rumors down and said, “I stress emphatically that this is not going to happen. We have been educating students for 105 years and we will continue to educate students for another 105 years, at least.”

The Board of Trustees has also announced a tuition increase of 5.4 percent for the fall 2009 semester, while expecting across-the board budget cuts and changes in hiring practices for professors. Despite these fiscal facts, Central has already reached its max capacity number of incoming student admissions by mid-April, the earliest the university has seen.

Dr. Gilbert Gigliotti, Chairman of Central’s English department, admits that, while hard-numbers and facts are still up in the air, the school’s faculty has been warned to plan on working with general budget cuts of 5 to 10 percent. Under-enrolled classes (classes with twelve enrolled students), he provided as an example, will see massive cuts. Central has reportedly changed the minimum students in under-enrolled classes from nine to twelve.

The CSUS Board of Trustees has also issued a freeze on the salaries of the university’s employees. Those affected are management and non-union unclassified staff, not tenured professors. Along with the salary freeze the trustees also issued a reduction in university personnel by 10 percent, which will take effect no later than summer 2010.As the Connecticut State University System scrambles to crunch numbers to eliminate costs, these reductions may lead to headaches for students.

Robert Mims, a junior at Central recognizes the role that the economy plays in his education, but also has concerns regarding where and how the available budget is spent. When considering capacity enrollment and higher tuition rates, Mims asks simply “where is all the money going?”

Already, pre-recession, Central’s student-teacher interaction dipped to a severe low, according to an Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs study that is conducted every five years for CSUS. This, matched with a freeze on faculty hiring as well as decreased numbers of classes, point to a faculty that will be less available and more apathetic to the needs of students in a school which is cutting down their salaries and statuses.

Matthew Pitson, a freshman at Central, admits to feeling “cheated” by the prospect of paying a higher tuition and receiving less in return.

Eastern’s Strategic Plan for 2008-2013 outlines areas in which the university needs improvement. In the plan it is stated that “Eastern relies on part-time faculty more than the average when compared to the top third of the nation’s public liberal arts schools.” Part-time faculty do no receive the same benefits as full-time faculty do, many part-time professors are under contract with the school to only work for a year. As the cost to go to a university increases, and the school relies on more part-timers than before are students really going to get a prime education?

The Strategic Plan also admits that “Eastern’s costs are growing at a faster rate than its revenues,” and “Limited growth in state support is not keeping up with University requirements in all areas of university operations, including faculty and staff hiring support.”

If Eastern is an example of the four CSUS schools what does all of this mean for the 36,000 students that attend them? Despite the fact that they’ll be paying more than ever for a public education, students can look forward to having less class, program, and club options, while simultaneously expecting decreasing availability and interaction with professors. Of course, it would be alarmist to suggest that such changes will be anything but subtle, but make no mistake, they’ll be there.

Most students in the CSU system leave their university before graduating, with Southern Connecticut State University holding onto a dismal 37.6 percent graduation rate. But for the students hanging on trying to meet program requirements many may find that the classes they need simply aren’t available, or even that courses they enrolled in months ago have been cut, leaving them with little or no replacement options, possibly pushing back graduation dates.

CSUS students don’t need rallies, or a minor in microeconomics to figure out what’s really going on they simply need to start asking questions and demanding answers. Connecticut needs to realize that “University is not a business; Education is not a commodity.”

Wesleyan Jew Killer, or Nerdy Pushover Sick of Being Overshadowed by Hot Girlfiend?

2009-05-07T11:11:00.000-04:00

ISSUE TWO

2009-05-07T10:59:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

We just drove around the center of the state like maniacs to deliver the DEBASER. You can pick up a copy in these places before they run out:

West Hartford Center
Downtown Hartford
Asylum Cafe
Bocca Rossa
Pig's Eye
Tisane's
Half Door
Wood N Tap
Sisson Pub
Sully's
Plan B
Hardware City Tavern
Another Bookstore
CCSU's student center
ECSU
Wesleyan
Various location on Main Street in Middletown
Portofino's
Campagna
Klekolo's Coffee
Javapalooza
Tangiers
Somewhere in Manchester
Trinity
UHart
Tunxis
and NB Herald stacks.

The Beginning of My Horrible Journalism Career...

2009-05-05T18:30:00.000-04:00

Here's an archaic piece of writing from 1994 or 1995, sometime around the fourth grade, launching my journalism career as a PR-hack from the start:

Magnificent Math

Mrs. Visile's class has finished adding and subtracting. We also finished tables and graphs for collecting data.

We just started multiplication & division. To help us we got flashcards to study. We also have math pencils that have the times table on them. When the pencil runs out, you will know the times tables.

Radical Reading

In reading Mrs. Vasile's class has finished their mystery boxes and a mystery magazine. We finished the mystery unit. We also finished Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (All underlines) by Judy Blume. We enjoyed reading it just before Christmas vacation.
Our last unit was called The Dreamers. In this unit, we read and wrote biographies. We have studied the life of Walk Disney. We learned that he was an animator and responsible for creating a spectacular world of fantasy.
Now we are enjoying a new unit called They Walked the Earth. This non-fiction unit is all about prehistoric life. We are working on a dinosaur simulation as we search for fossils.

Our Special Guest

For this month we had a special guest Mr. D'Allbis a writer that goes around the country assisting kids. For one of the homework assignments we had to write paragraphs about someone's feelings like confused or sad. We also had to write who we are inside us. We enjoyed him a lot.

Bulletin Board Success

As you have seen, our December bulletin board was a huge success. We have heard a tremendous amount of compliments. Thank you parents and family members!

Solar Science

In science we had finished the electricity unit. We have partners to work together to make a travel bouchure on a planet. We also made papermache planets. We will be putting our brochures on the computer for the computer fair at the end of the year. Now we are beginning a new unit on rocks and minerals. We have pet rocks !

This issue written by: Michael Bird and Justin Kloczko

The Red Mouth: Bocca Rossa Preview

2009-05-04T19:04:00.000-04:00

By ARIL GRAIN

During a recent marathon adventure through Hartford’s downtown, the comfortable night air led us to a new den of iniquity. Past City Steam’s vibrant purple awning, Bocca Rossa is small and dark enough to get lost in the background. A red velvet curtain hangs in the entrance window, blocking the view to the inside. I’ve only a second to wonder, “What the hell are we walking into?” before we fling ourselves through the door.

More dark velvet, black wood and shimmering Gothic wallpaper that you can’t help but run your fingers across. The space is narrow and deep and I feel like I’m on an old parlor movie set, in an underground New York club, in the bastard child of Koji and The Emperor where I actually enjoy the music.

So many things had happened already that by the time we arrive, I am no longer all there and my mind keeps wandering off. Yet instead of our conversation deteriorating, it ramps up, erratically, excitedly. Maybe it’s the espresso martinis that go down so smooth and easy that loosens our tongues. Maybe this is just the kind of place that inspires talks about the end of the world. We talk of politics, aliens and other things that have all blended together.

I think dreamily of old horror movies, of Alice in Wonderland and all the things that might slip in or out of the large, perfectly clear mirror behind the bar. I watch the man at the end of the bar, the one in the white shirt with his back to the door, chat up the girls on either side of him. He thinks he’s somebody. Maybe he is. Maybe this is his bar. Against this backdrop he looks as if he might take me in the back and suck my blood.

The bartender with the pink streak in her hair dims the faux crystal chandeliers until they are weaker than the candles lining the bar; still I find I’m incredibly awake. We order shots and I muse that the man to my right probably knows a lot about conspiracy theories. He mutters to himself and watches the girl with the pink hair.

I wonder what’s behind the slatted window in the back of the room. Most places in Hartford feel like they’re in Hartford. This bar isn’t even the same planet. I could stay all night without realizing any time lost, but eventually the late hour pushes us once again out into the street and the warm night air.

The DEBASER’S 411 ON TWITTER

2009-05-03T22:58:00.000-04:00

Twitter is a great way to make friends, especially if you are unemployed, live in your parent’s basement and cry yourself to sleep.

Prior to signing up for a Twitter account think about your family, friends, significant other and potential employers. What would @Jesus_Christ do?

Even Yanni is tweeting, come on seriously.

Take our advice for once and do not follow @Seth_Rogan. His online personality is about as abysmal as his career.

Before committing to Tweeting from your phone, ask yourself the following questions: 1. Am I funny? 2. Do people like me? 3. Is this a plea for help and a sign that my life is now falling apart and I now only want to communicate in short cryptic sentences? 4. Will I be using this feature to primarily update about bodily functions in public restrooms?

After tweeting for a month you’ll realize a few things about yourself. You’ve become a flaming asshole and are just about as funny as @Seth_Rogan.

If you notice blatant differences between your real boring life and your Twitter life, terminate your account immediately.

If you think Twitter should go one step ahead of the curve and start limiting users to only being able to communicate with smiley faces, just end it.

March for Marijuana

2009-05-01T16:21:00.000-04:00

A cluster of protesters are planning to erect a large marijuana leaf and rally for the passing of a bill that would decriminalize pot tomorrow. Granted it would be better to do it while a senator is in session or something so important people notice, but I guess this will do.

Protest starts tomorrow (Saturday) at 2:00 p.m. in Bushnell Park in Hartford, and runs until 6 p.m. I'll be there to check it out for a couple hours in the beginning.

This American Life Live Encore: May 7th

2009-04-29T15:23:00.001-04:00

Imagining public radio as exciting is probably uncommon to most of the 'New Silent Generation.' While most find themselves sliding their thumb along the circular pad of an iPod, many would admit to not bothering with skimming through radio frequencies anymore; it's just a sign of the times.

In comes two radio gurus, Ira Glass and Seth Lind with the generational across-the-board favorite, This American Life, a radio show with a certain flavor all ages can attest to enjoying.

Glass, a host and producer of TAL, spoke at Yale University recently of the need for aesthetics and witticisms in the media to keep our audiences tuned in and plugged what Lind, a production manager for TAL, is currently working on day and night: creating a live stage adaptation of the show to take place on Thursday, April 23rd in New York City. Being transmitted over satellite to 450 movie theaters and performing art centers, this will mark the second time that Lind has attempted such a production.

“Producers have struggled with describing the content since the beginning of the show,” said Lind over the phone of the perplexing mission of explaining This American Life, which has been on the airwaves since 1995. “They're amazing stories about people who wouldn't otherwise be in the news.”

Making an example of how a general public radio newscast would simply focus on the political and institutional aspects of education, Lind spoke of what made TAL different. “We would do a story specifically on what notes were passed in class and what the kids in the hallway were talking about,” he said. “That's what we care about, the under story.” This American Life validates a certain part of storytelling that people are interested in; something most other programs lack.

Just how popular could a public radio show be in the era of newfangled technology? Ever since TAL became available in podcast format a couple years ago, there are 500,000 more listeners thumbing through their Ipod for an hour filled with curiosity and wonder instead of a Top 40 pop ditty. “The average age of the podcast audience is 15 years younger than the radio [audience],” said Lind. “It's insane.” Admittedly, the show as a whole draws in a younger crowd compared to other public radio.

And just like that, the listeners respond back in a frenzy, giving kudos to the TAL crew and requesting appearances; the fans are the driving force behind the creation of the live shows. “We did it last year for the first time, and didn't know how it would go,” Lind explained. “No other radio show had ever done it. We showcased stories from our upcoming season of television (on Showtime) because we wanted to take advantage of the fact that it would be in high definition and had all these pretty stories to show, and some radio content. It was incredibly expensive and a big risk.”

The event paid off: as 32,000 showed in attendance, TAL were flooded with even more messages post-event, asking when 'this wonderful event' would happen again. Lind and senior producer Julie Snyder rolled up their sleeves, and began to plan the next live endeavor.

“So the stage show, is like an actual radio show,” said Lind. “It's an extended, inflated two hour long one with a theme.” The theme for April 23rd's show is set to be 'Return to the Scene of a Crime.'

Other than that, Lind was cryptic and would not divulge any secrets, including one about a 'top secret special investigation.' “It's totally top secret, but I can tell you I was just working on it,” he laughed.

Drawing back a breath, Lind admits to the constant back and forth, everyday labor put into the show set to take place in NYU's Skirball Center. “It's a huge effort, and it's still happening, and it will be until the minute it hits screens,” he said. Almost 100 stations nationwide that broadcast TAL will be promoting movie tickets ($20) and pledge drives to have listeners become members of their stations.

Stating simply that the audience will get to see people rather than just hear their voices, Lind was not able to tell what the performers would be specifically talking about. Instead, he gave comical anecdotes about some of his first encounters with them as a college student.

Having missed a speech of Glass' at Lind's college in 1997, Lind ran into Glass again when applying for a radio internship in NYC in 2007. “Ira was there hanging out, and was like, 'Hi, I'm Ira Glass,' and I was like, 'I'm Seth Lind.' My first impression was that he looked really normal, kind of how I pictured him to be by just hearing him on the radio.” he said.

Another performer for the show, Dan Savage, has a syndicated relationship and sex advice column called Savage Love, and as a young adult in college, Lind used to procrastinate and read it. After he had read Dan's response to a reader saying that there was no such thing as a platonic massage, Lind wanted to be a smart ass and wrote back saying there was. “He [Savage] wrote me back instantly and was like, 'Bullshit.' I was amazed at how fast he responded. Now that I work with him, I can't get him to. He'll respond to some random college student but won't sign his contract,” recalled Lind.

This American Life Live's seating at the Skirball Center sold out in one day at $50 bucks each, but Lind contests to the movie theater experience being much cooler. “There's six cameras with a live director cutting in between them, swooping and moving around,” he said. “Everyone should sit two-third's of the way back in the middle (of the theater). That's where everyone should sit.”

“This is a big surprise and I shouldn't say it, but,” paused Lind. “We found a way to transmit beer over satellite; it's going to be coming out of a certain part of the screen,” he joked. “If you bring a cup, you'll be all set.”

The encore performance will be on May 7th 8p.m EDT, and shown at three locations in Connecticut: Branford, Fairfield, and Manchester. Check www.thislife.org for details.

Anderson "A-Sexual" Cooper

2009-04-28T23:59:00.000-04:00

Anderson Cooper is Central Connecticut State University's Distinguished Lecturer this year. He will be giving a speech this Friday, May 1st at Welte Auditorium. The DEBASER kids will be there to cover it and ask how hot CNN anchor Campbell Brown really is in person.

March To The Pentagon: 3/21/09

2009-04-24T23:35:00.000-04:00

“No justice, no peace. End the war in the Middle East!” rang the voices marching in unison. Looking around the chaotic cluster of people while snapping photos, my morning ran through my head like a running dialogue.

Passing by the homeless shelter as we arrived in Washington D.C, a line snaked its way up and down the sidewalk; residents with backpacks in tow waited patiently for the doors to open. It was eight in the morning, and I sat inside the bus, rubbed my eyes, and continued to stare out of the window.

After our bus driver stopped for breakfast, I boarded the bus again, sipping my burnt coffee in hopes that it would make up for the tossing and turning night of cramped sleep in that window seat; the Progressive Student Alliance trip to Washington had left Central Connecticut State University's campus at one in the morning, having drove all night long with just a couple pit-stops.

As fliers were handed out to students, voices filled the air about socialism and unions. Looking down at the piece of paper, it mapped the streets and locations where the march to the Pentagon began and ended; the march was an anti-war demonstration marking the 6th anniversary of the occupation of Iraq.

While everyone chattered around me, I had nothing to speak about; I felt uninformed, invisible. It wasn't long though until Marissa Blaszko, a fellow Central student, introduced me to the entire clan. Lamens terms didn't really seem to apply to the subjects that Blaszko and other students were rapidly firing at me; I felt as if I needed an Activism for Dummies handbook at my side to thumb through the definitions.

From a completely novice view, all I could really comprehend was the fight for unions to be recognized, and the general distaste for the government. Some students were socialists, like Jeremy Radabaugh, a Kent State graduate whom worked for unions in Ohio and Connecticut. Jeff Bartos, a medic from the Iraq War, was a veteran against occupation, while others were either from Youth for Socialist Action, or unaffiliated; merely going to enjoy an activist movement.

A few slight detours later due to cycling marathon, we shuffled off of the bus; one individual was handing each person picket signs that read different slogans: “Stop U.S Wars,” “Occupation Is A Crime,” and “Fund Jobs and Human Needs.”

Taking a long winding walk towards the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial, we passed the Federal Reserve, and the Washington Monument began to appear. The cherry blossoms framed the old architecture.

Arriving earlier than anticipated, a few of us decided to wander in and give Mr. Lincoln a visit. The reflecting pool didn't look in tip-top shape, but then again, the dead grass surrounding it was typical during the month of March.

Gathering information cards on the monuments from the information desk, we chatted with the older lady at the booth for a while as we watched robotic runners fly by in their striped running shorts, and looked above to see planes overpass every few minutes.

People from all over the country began flooding the Mall; booths filled with literature about socialism, anti-occupation and going vegan were lined up in rows. Specific groups were in attendance: from the Pink Ladies to Veterans of War, interesting signs and demonstrations were happening at once. One accessory that adorned many necks of protesters was the kaffiyeh, a Palestinian scarf consisting of black and white stitching.

Groups approached us and handed out pamphlets, there was also a massive stock pile of different picket signs for anyone to grab. As a small army of individuals moved a giant banner displaying the words “Stop All Wars: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted,” a petite, older African-American woman sang into a megaphone, “What are we fighting for? This is a rich man's war.”

Among the other sights was an older man with a beret and sunglasses in a motorized chair, holding a sign saying “The Pentagon Pillar Pillage Horror,” in heavy red marker, a group of artists with abstract drawings symbolizing some of Picasso's work, and fake coffins draped in flags representing those civilians or soldiers who have died.

Thousands were clustered, listening to an array of protest speakers: bereaved parents of deceased soldiers, rappers and preachers, and even foreigners protesting the building of U.S military bases in their countries. Around 30 speakers and two hours later, the crowd was growing impatient; they were ready to march.

Aligned a few feet away from the mall were seven horse mounted police officers. Ignoring them, the crowd passed the Lincoln Memorial and over the bridge en route to the Pentagon. Empowered fists pumped signs into the air, many helped carry the coffins together, and megaphones lead vocal testaments to the grief and frustration fueled alliance of bodies.

“Who's streets?” questioned the loud amplified voice. “Our streets!” replied the crowd.

Adrenaline took over as I snapped photos of these twisted faces of defiance. Stepping to the side to glance back as we walked further, a massive serpent-like line of bodies twisted back as far as I could see. Media helicopters flew above our heads, and then we found ourselves running up a hill to a highway overpass to get the ultimate view of the event.

Running back down and continuing further, Blaszko began to yell into the megaphone. This caught the interest of a Palestinian woman and her three small boys. Looking over at the woman, Blaszko held out the walkie-talkie device attached to the megaphone up to her and said, “Go ahead, say anything you want.”

“Free Palestine!” declared the woman. Offering it to the boys, one of them took it and piped up, “Stop killing children!” A chill went down my spine.

The march wasn't actually to the Pentagon, but it was passed by. Instead, they continued towards the headquarters of a building that manufactured guns and artillery to protest outside and lay the coffins beside it. Passing through Arlington, Virginia and into the downtown streets, people peered out of their apartments and skyscrapers to catch the commotion.

Riot police were everywhere lined up on the streets in full combat protective suits; even a cop in a tank made an appearance. Nabbing some free bread from a group of anarchists, we arrived at our destination. People swamped the entrance of the building, or as much as they could, for the riot police convened and began attempting to push everyone away.

The coffins were placed, but not even moments later the police began walking over, even kicking them. Threats were surfacing about the potential threat of tear gassing, to which my phone rang. “Get out of there,” said Blaszko. “Head back towards the street!”

Fortunately enough, this did not occur; the march was finished. Sunburned and sore, the group reconvened at a restaurant to regain some strength in the form of noodle cuisines. After eating and regaling our individual experiences, we sluggishly boarded the bus to return home.

Conversing and playing word games with everyone on the bus, we all participated and laughed at absurd jokes; albeit once intimidating to me, they were a thought-provoking group who included me and treated me kindly. Pre-departure, it was a mystery, but now it was an enlightenment.

Prescription ABCs

2009-04-22T15:53:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week the Supreme Court heard the case of Savannah Redding, the Arizona student who was strip-searched by school officials for the suspected possession of prescription strength ibuprofen back in 2003. Whether or not the court decides to continue giving school administrators greater discretion to control students than police have over adults in the general public, all I'd really like to know is has anyone ever gotten a serious high from xtra-strength ibuprofen? Ever? What are they teaching these kids out there in Arizona? Nowadays any 13-year-old raiding their parents' medicine cabinet should know that benzodiazepines are where it's at. I can understand being strip-searched for some alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam or lorazepam, at least they're a good time. But ibuprofen? Sigh. I'll stick with carisoprodol, thank you.

BHS's Class of 2004 Disco Signs...

2009-04-20T01:23:00.000-04:00

According to a confidential source, the town of Berlin will be holding an emergency meeting Tuesday to discuss the placement of a gift by the high school's class of 2004. Apparently, it is a pretty loud and bright sign that says, "WELCOME TO BERLIN HIGH," and I guess, from what I understand, is that the sign has got competition from the other 65 Welcome To signs that are already up. I'll be there to cover that, since I graduated that year, and will ask Mayor Adam Salina how he still stays so incredibly jacked.

Record Store Day Letdown

2009-04-18T14:40:00.000-04:00

So I went to Wallingford to check out a shop for Record Store Day. BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. The owner told me that a lot of exclusives, like the new Modest Mouse EP, the new Wilco DVD, Springsteen and Whiskeytown, weren't even pressed in time for the holiday. I didn't buy a thing, just went through crates and reminded myself of all the music I can just download on the Internet when I get home.

On a better note, Wesleyan University will be holding a "Community Record Fair" tomorrow, Sunday, April 19 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m at the Fayerweather Building on Wyllys Ave.

The Recorder's Editor Firing: According to One of Their Own

2009-04-17T02:48:00.000-04:00

I was going to try and write a story on this, but it just isn't worth it, because we're all adults and not in high school. So here is the take from someone who works at the Recorder, and how they see and feel about the whole thing:

Nobody is a saint when it comes to this issue. The Recorder has made a couple missteps in the handling of this situation, and a major factor was the fact that Blaszko did not fit in the clique within those office walls. If it was someone who fit their ideals, or frankly was more likable, they would have been given far more leeway.

With that said, I still stand behind the decision to fire her. She would not write on the topics that were expected of her, and she was abusing her title in regards to rallies and petitions. She signed a petition supporting an anti-war rally as the Opinion Editor. That's not tolerated in any professional journalism outlet, so why should we be any different?

As for Danforth's dismissal, she attempted to start a coup. It failed miserably almost instantly. People were also quite put off by her. She was just a giant vortex of negative energy. Her production was poor as of late, at best. She clung frantically to some mid-western ideal that we should all be one big happy family, pee sunshine, and poop rainbows.

It's just starting to get absurd on both sides. It's become a joke to us on the paper, and the protesters make themselves look like a joke on a daily basis. Channel 30 and the Courant producing awful video on it doesn't help our cause, but I think she's running out of options. The outrage Blaszko was seeking simply isn't there. Marissa is just looking for a fight for the sake of rebellion at this point, and uses whatever is convenient, whether it is specific groups, campus organizations, or other people. She used Danforth as a pawn, but realized Karyn didn't have the guts to stick up for herself in a vocal manner, so she was tossed aside.

Both former editors are still more than welcome to write for the paper. Why they would want to, who knows. Even if it was Pulitzer-caliber, I honestly don't think we'd run anything from them. This situation is just annoying more than anything else. It's just a bunch of people who are far less mature than they think and they're just running their mouths. You can almost tangibly feel the Mark Rowan influence.

-Anon

Another Hack Job on What's Going on At CCSU...

2009-04-15T22:36:00.001-04:00

Here's the Courant's brilliant piece on Marissa Blaszko's firing as editor because she is a "socialist."

Let me break it down by steps, so it is easier for everyone:

1. I'll bet my nuts that the Recorder's editor knew Blaszko was an activist in various protest movements when she was hired a year ago, and before that as a staff writer for a few semesters. I mean, you can just take one look at her and it is obvious she has been in a few picket lines.

2. The code of ethics is a non-binding piece of material. I didn't follow it. I didn't have to. The editors are using it as an excuse to let her go.

3. My guess from my experience working with these editors a year ago and talking to people is that she got let go because they were sick and tired of publishing the same type of opinions every week. It was a combination of that and her probably not hanging out with the staff 24/7 and not blowing the editor-in-chief on a daily basis.

It seems Blaszko has really convinced herself that she is being crucified for being a socialist. She has convinced many media outlets, and that just shows us how stupid reporters can really be. This all blew up because of the Recorder's past, just look at how the 10 p.m. news talked about the protest for 30 seconds and then immediately shifted to the rape article and comic. If it wasn't for that, no one would have batted an eye.

The real topic of this debate should be focused on why former Lifestyles Editor and Editor-at-large, Karyn Danforth, was let go as well, for no good reason, after she stood up for Blaszko. No one is talking about that.

Let the Media Humping Begin...

2009-04-15T14:31:00.000-04:00

The Courant is latching onto the bitching of the YSA and the firing of the Recorder's Opinion Editor, even though the Courant probably got a one-sided call from someone in the organization that said the Recorder made another mistake and it probably sounded like a great story for some asshole editor. When are you guys going to realize that she got fired because they got sick of her? The code of ethics DOES NOT HAVE TO BE ENFORCED. Both sides are not being honest. Not the Recorder and not Blaszko.

President Obama Blames the Media for Weakening American Political System

2009-04-14T13:10:00.000-04:00

In his April 14th speech at Georgetown University, President Barack Obama outlined his goals for solving the current economic crisis in America. Admitting that even with the government stepping in President Obama says there will be “more jobs lost, more foreclosures, and more pain” and “2009 will continue to be a difficult year for America's economy.” President Obama closed his speech by stating the fundamental weaknesses in the American political system, saying, “For too long, too many in Washington have put off our decisions.” President Obama stated that because politicians have a “tendency to spend a lot of time scoring political points, instead of rolling up sleeves to solve real problems,” Wall Street greed demolished Main Street and sent the economy tumbling into today’s recession. Obama says impatience created by the media “characterizes” Washington and has lead to irresponsibility throughout the country. Our attention span “has only grown shorter with the 24-hour news cycle,” says Obama, “when a crisis hits there is a lurch for shock to trance, till the furor has died down and the media coverage has moved on.” Obama added that the media has sensationalized the news, “instead of confronting the major challenges that will shape our future in a sustained and focused way.”

The Recorder's Editor Firing: BIG WHOOP, PEOPLE

2009-04-13T16:41:00.000-04:00

As monthly overseers of all things CT, we feel it is necessary to comment on the recent brush fire at Central Connecticut State University's student newspaper, the Recorder, and their letting go of Opinion Editor Marissa Blaszko. A rather lengthy petition has circulated protesting the firing of her as editor because of her activism in Youth Socialist for Action and various protest movements around Connecticut. Blaszko contends that the reason she was ousted was because she "actively opposes the Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestinian wars and occupations." This may be somewhat misleading. Yes, the Recorder's code of ethics, which is not binding and does not have to be enforced by the editor, states that a member of the paper cannot be apart of other organizations while with the newspaper.

We see this as a justifiable course of action for a paper that strives to reach "objectivity" within its news pages, but it is pointless to enforce in regards to opinion pages. The opinion will be there, and someone participating in organizations doesn't have an effect in a section of a paper where the purpose is to expound on opinions. Therefore, we feel that the firing of Blaszko was an easy reason to fall back on getting rid of someone at the paper that didn't fit in with their cool kids on the bus attitude.

Opinion editors at the Recorder have come and gone, and for the most part, those pages have been littered with either hard Right of hard Left views. They have changed with every semester, and it is stupid to think that being a part of a protest has any meaningful effect on the opinion pages and the conduct of one person. We feel that the code of ethics, for one, was created to cave into the controversy following what happened in 2007, and is generally a pointless piece of document that does not have to be enforced. Further, Blaszko's attempt to try and draw parallels between that and CCSU's mission statement has nothing to do with anything. The Recorder can do what the hell it wants. It is an arm of a public university that brings in its own revenue. Trying to make a bigger deal out of this than it already is is silly and a waste of all our time.

And on top of that, no one is complaining that former Lifestyles Editor and Editor-at-Large contributor, Karyn Danforth, was fired as well, after being on the staff for four years and basically sticking up for Blaszko. That is more of the concern.

What is even more disgusting is that Democracy Now has a blurb on their web site that reads: "At Central Connecticut State University, the opinion editor at the school’s newspaper has been dismissed because she is a member of a socialist club on campus."

She didn't get fired because she is a socialist, this isn't America in the 1950s, people. I bet you dozens of people on the Recorder's staff have been parts of rallies or something similar, and people could give a shit at that paper. She got fired because she wasn't cool and conforming enough for that paper's editor. This has nothing really to do with a couple of attendances to a rally, because the paper's editor knows she has been apart of them before she became editor.
Blaszko was probably fired because every time she sent in an article they knew it was going to be a soapbox for socialism, and what is the point of reading someone if you know what they are going to say about a certain topic anyway?

TOOL JUNKIE: The Pullers

2009-04-12T22:20:00.000-04:00

The above are action shots of pullers in action.The top is a "Posilock" sucessfully removing a pulley frozen on a 1" shaft.

Here's the catalog picture of the Posilock. Sweet looking isn't it? Capable of applying 5 tons of force, it's a force to reckon with. I especially like the cage that locks the jaws in, giving the Posilock a clear advantage over a simple gear puller. It is a bit of a pain to set up, all that turning and turning. At $140 it's worth it. It comes in a few sizes, $700 will spread 25", reach 18", and exert 40 tons. Also available in 2 jaw. Collect 'em all!

The lower picture is an OTC 7790 set pulling a 1122 bearing separator. Yeah baby!

The set was modified by extending the supplied bolts with 3/8 threaded rod and couplings in order to reach the demised bearing remnant about 10" down the shaft. The 7790 will set you back about $150, the 1122 another $40. You might also consider additional size bearing separators. Bearing and pulley extraction can turn into prolonged bouts; there are more tools and techniques in my set, for close encounters. These are a few of my favorite things...

20 MOST HATED THINGS IN CONNECTICUT

2009-04-10T09:29:00.003-04:00

1. Chris Dodd:
Third-rate presidential candidate. Still ran while he took a mortgage deal from Countrywide, $300,000 from AIG to fund his campaign while also having the balls to say that Fannie and Freddie were “fundamentally strong” on the eve of our economic collapse. The last guy you would want to head as committee chair. AIG executives were urged to donate to his reelection campaign in 2006. Stands as chair of the all-powerful Senate Banking Committee and failed miserably because he had a raging boner for the Highest Office of the Land. 2010 isn’t looking good for him.

2. Joe Lieberman:
Wrote his own political punch lines every step of the way. He hopped the fence for the Republicans, called us un-American and said Iraq was the right thing to do. An orator with the charisma of a person with terminal cerebral palsy. Supported George Bush hard, after saying, “I’ve spent the last year listening to Americans, and the state of the union that George W. Bush lives in is very different from the state that most hardworking Americans are living in.” Typical politician.

3. WFSB, FOX 61:
You people do a fantastic job of taking simple issues and making them impossible to understand, or taking difficult issues and dumbing them down so they don’t make any sense. Quick edits, busy montages and 10-second starbursts of quotes are your equivalent to a journalistic orgasm. WFSB and Fox 61 talk about current events like it is show and tell for retarded children. Deserve to have all their heads chopped off at the drawing of the midnight lotto. So many “Coming Up” teasers and half- baked attempts to stroke an erection with sexual perverse behavior.

4. The CT Citizen:
You are an oblivious fool because you don’t consume the news, or you consume news that you think is the truth. Channel 3 and Fox 61 dominate your mind and you are completely okay with that. You think Jodi Rell is freakin’ awesome, that Blumenthal looks good on television. Your punishment is a life of ignorance, but you’re cool with that anyway, which makes as even angrier.

5. Eddie Perez:
We all saw this coming. But come on, this guy is an ex-gangster from Hartford. Sure, he pulled the “I’m-a-reformed-thug” for a little bit so he could ooze himself into office and do absolutely nothing for this city, except do what every other asshole has done and get a few renovations on his house. Deserves to be thrown into a Latin Kings gang initiation for being a horrible civic leader.

6. M. Jodi Rell:
A quaintly dressed grandmother who underneath is really just a mean bus driver. While the whole state is tanking, her daily schedule is full of holes. Even Rowland had a busier schedule then her. Afraid to talk on the radio for more than one minute out of fear she’ll be asked a tough question she won’t answer straight.

7. Chris Murphy:
The type of “Aww shucks” guy who you take one look at and want to immediately punch in the face. A cheerleader for the surge in Iraq. One of those really annoying politicians who stands outside Stop & Shop to harass old ladies for votes. Won’t get re-elected in 2010 because he can’t rely completely on Obama-Fever to save his ass.

8. The Hartford:
Voted the Best Place to Work in the Advocate's 2009 reader's poll. A couple of months later the insurance company filed for bankruptcy.

9. Nancy Johnson:
The reason New Britain still sucks. Claims to be an independent voice of Republicans even though she constantly expounds on traditional Republican values. Wanted Giuliani as president. Now is a lobbyist and takes more money from Pfizer than godly possible.

10. Hipsters in CT:
Hey, you’re from Connecticut, not Brooklyn, get over it. Put your PBR down and stop trying to impress us with your petty knowledge of the Vivian Girls. Take your Urban Outfitter’s, American Spirits and shove it. You have no identity accept the reputation for taking the worst trends and wearing them all at once. You have horrible taste in music and think you are better than everyone else, and you’re clearly not. You think just because listening to Ivy League-prick music like Vampire Weekend that no one can tell you anything about life. Think you are so cool and look at the ground when non-whites walk by you in the street. You wear tight jeans, thick, horned-rimmed glasses and carry an iPhone, which you look at and update your miserable status during parties instead of talking to people. You make Connecticut what it is. No thanks.

11. Vivid:
GODDAMN RIGHT THEY’RE A TERRIBLE BAND.

12. Elmer’s Bar:
We’re sorry, but though New Britain is a complete shit-hole, even Elmer’s is too damn dirty for it. Go in on any given night and there will be the towny variety mingling with skanks, students, creeps and pedophiles. But, hey even the soulless need to go somewhere at night.

13. UCONN Spring Weekend:
Stand around in a parking lot and wait till you’re pissing straight Keystone Light. It’s a great idea to light a couch on fire, feel up some Stacy that is passed out on the lawn of Carriage House and then barf your brains out. Last year UConn’s president Hogan graced X-Lot with his presence, worming his way through crowds of underage drinkers.

14. FACEBOOK:
In the year 2009, the Crackbook is showing us how to talk to people without ever confronting them in person. You still check up on your friend’s status update even though you see them every day. Responsible for an excessive amount of retarded pictures, chronic poking, stalking and spank-bank material. Finally coming into its own with massive movements that make sense. 1,000 pictures and 459 friends means nothing when you are a loser. “TAG ME!”

15. People Who Want the Whalers Back:
Let’s face it, Hartford will never be on the map again because we don’t have a professional sports team attracting the city. The Whalers are gone, forever, and they were never even that good. If you are one of the people who still own a jersey, cut it up with scissors and soak it in lighter fluid before setting it on fire.

16. CT Bros:
How many keg stands of Bush can you suck down to feel drunk and dumb enough to rape a girl? These people wear popped collars, look like they only consume beer and protein shakes, and have no clue as to how stupid they look. Nothing matters as long as there is a party going on, not their family or school, because there is plenty of meat to go around for the taking. You are the reason why Dave Matthews Band concerts blow.

17. Dave Matthews Band Concerts:
Every year for two days suffering comes to Connecticut in the form of Dave Matthews Band and their digusting fans. The ripe hippies, drugged out brosephs, and trashed biddies crawl out from their holes and congregate for a night of bad pot and music and sex and public urination. It’s unbelievable that toads wait around all year for this show. The cult-like following of DMB fans should follow suit with the Jonestown crew and drink the Cool Aid.

18. The Progressive Student Alliance and Youth Socialist for Action at CCSU:
Would bitch about their own cause if they had one. Biggest attentionseekers, who think it is so cool to be a communist and pretend they are poor when it is a time in our history where people are really suffering. They have no idea what real communist life is like, and they think it is the solution to all of our problems. Should be transported in time and put through Stalin’s extermination camps to work and die in Siberia. Maybe then they’ll change their minds.

19. Cocaine:
Terrible, terrible drug. Makes a person think they are better than everyone else inside the room, but still feel like being involved in every conversation, no matter if everyone is a complete stranger. Could talk about staring out a window to a bodybuilder forever and the conversation will be interesting if you snort enough of this shit up your nose.

20. New Britain:
Can you believe people used to go out and hang there on Saturday nights, in like, the ‘50s? Sad story. Route 9 destroyed this town and made it into a skeletel, post-industrial city like any other has-been city in the country. Stanley Works was the gem of this place, now it recently cut back 10 percent of it’s workforce. Only highlights are club Arkadia on Broad Street but now it is closed. Thank God for Polaks!

DEBASED

2009-04-09T10:21:00.000-04:00

Hi guys,

Our first issue is out on the streets. You can get it pretty much anywhere in Central CT, especially at any university or coffee shops or bars.

Let us know what you think, and don't read it while eating or standing up.

Ted Turner Takes Credit for Ending Cold War!

2009-04-07T18:38:00.001-04:00

By JUSTIN KLOCZKO

Well, sort of. The eccentric and ambitious sperm donor of the first 24 hours news network, CNN, entertained a host of questions at Central Connecticut State University recently. Among his stories was one about how his answer to the Olympic boycotts, the Goodwill Games, was created to ease tension between America and the Soviet Union in which Turner finished the story with, "and then the Cold War ended," as if he was solely responsible for ending the 40-year conflict by being nice to a few "godless commies."

Turner, who had former 2006 Connecticut Senate candidate Ned Lamont by his side mediating questions, plugged his book, "Call Me Ted" by yelling "TED!" every time someone addressed him as Mr. Turner. Turner kept the room cackling on topics ranging from how rich he is to how he thinks we need to get rid of all our nuclear weapons to stay on this planet for "another 10,000 years." One question he failed to expound upon was the current state of our consolidated media empire, showing no emotional investment in maybe being the reason why we have a never-ending cycle of 24-hour television news. He responded that he is not a fan of Fox News’ Glenn Beck crying on television and that there is no difference to him between the way CNN and Fox News present the news, even though they are products of the same business model and feature loud and obnoxious commentators from both sides of the political spectrum.

Turner: How much did I lose in stocks?

When a second question about media came up he danced around it and said that nuclear proliferation is much worse, showing no emotional investment toward the thought that a severely profit-driven media model might not be the best way to deliver the news. Turner instead turned the question around joking about how loaded he is and how much he has lost in stocks, making it seem like his bank account was more of problem.

Turner also said that we should "stop doing dumb things and start doing smart things," and spoke about how when he got Time's Man of the Year, he was also fired in the same breath.

"It’s time to stop building things we don’t want and don’t need and start building things we do want and do need,” he said.

One woman asked him some regrets he had in life, and he said it was his three failed marriages. Right then and there people almost felt bad for him, but remembered that he was Ted Turner. Guess it takes that much money for a man to be completely full of himself.

Ra Ra Retarded

2009-04-06T20:50:00.000-04:00

Saw Ra Ra Riot play at Webster Hall in NYC over the weekend. It was their biggest show yet and they played some new "mood" songs, according to them. I was able to enjoy the show even though I got a ticket for urinating in public and had the cops holding me for like a half-hour at a NYC toll booth. Cut Off Your Hands, the opener, sounded like Tim Kashner of Cursive backed by the All Americans Rejects. Don't really have an opinion beyond that, but the show all in all was fantastic.

Carved Out

2009-03-30T11:43:00.000-04:00

Stephen D. Carver, Now Former Publisher of the Hartford Courant

Stephen D. Carver has been axed by Tribune's Same Zell, the owner of the Courant and other major dailies, as well as the Advocate newspapers, in a move this morning to make more money. The reason why? Rich Graziano, who will assume his new role as publisher for the Courant, was the former Vice President of sales for FOX 61 News. Not exactly a smart editorial move, but they are going to try and make their bank by boosting revenue at the expense of news content.

I'll give it six months and the Courant will be online only.

De Priis o luv

2009-03-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

Yo Yo! Dis Tyrone! At de momen, Tyrone be ‘ho-less. I be dat way ‘cause o’ a shortaj o’ capitol. I be wait’n for fed’l assistense. So I fin a ass rag call Hafor Curran from de kofy shop afor dey ejekt me. (Say I bodderen de cusomers cause I smok an ajusin my creem bastr too much…imajin dat!) I be reed’n ‘bout som ho git divors from Georj David. Bich say 43 milion not ‘nuff…need mo kash!

Yo! Ho! Ain’ no wite bich on da fas o Gods erth can do nuthin wurt 43 milion. My main ho fat Shniqua forget mo nasty dan dat pail skarykrow ever kno! A man can onli feel so much. 20 dolla bj, 50 strait up, 100 buks ‘round da world. May be de kink cost mo…Tyrone stai away from dat stuf…hurts my dik an mak me pee funi. Lolita don git mor dan 2 hunret, an dat wen she was a wirjin. But 43 milion? Dats 3 loads a day fo ova 5000 yeers.

Davy boy, u ova pay’n! Heer Tyrone! Upgraid a ten dolla ho to fify if’n u keep ur iis clozd. In da hood de bich disapeer for unda 1 larj…I tel u mor, but need 1 million firs. ‘Til den, heer won mo tip. I taik de pichur of ur ex bich in dis heer payper, wax up a Tyrone Bone spooj on her fas, den wip my resees fesees all ovur her liikness. U fin ‘dis masta peas in da library, unda T for Tyrone!

The 10 in 1 Screwdriver

2009-03-16T21:38:00.000-04:00

It's a screwdriver. Just a screwdriver. Yet, it is one of the most utilized and evolved tools in any kit. I have tried selections of 4 inch square shaft 1/4 flat bit and 4" #2 phillips, in combination with longer, smaller tips. Soon, you are carrying 7 or 8 screwdrivers. Weight is a factor, especially when working on ladders or hoofing tools up to a roof. Less is more.

Magnetic bits you say? Those were part of my evolution, at one point with a nice Snap On driver. Alas, I don't like the changing the bits, and they tend to get lost easily. After a long winding journey of 30 years I've settled on the Klein 10 in 1.
1/4, 3/16" flathead, #1,#2 phillips, #1,#2 square, 10 and 15 torx, and 1/4 and 5/16 hex nutdrivers. Most of what you need most of the time.

The detractors? The bits can pop out and get lost. Not good when working over a pile of cookie dough...or they can rust in and get stuck. The nutdrivers are not hardened and will not turn bolts off ocean liner props. If you use this tool as a chisel or to tighten coduit locknuts you can jam the shaft into the handle permanently, or the bits can get stuck. The shaft is too thick to fit in tight spaces.

5 of these live on the truck in various places, including the primary tool kit. So far, they are the best thing going. I see Klein has an 11 in 1. I'll be checking that out soon...

U2's No Line on the Horizon

2009-03-16T00:37:00.000-04:00

BY Justin Kloczko

U2's 68th album might just be 100 percent un-listenable.

CURSIVE'S Mama I'm Swollen

2009-03-13T20:39:00.000-04:00

BY Tori Saulnier

Cursive’s new release Mama, I’m Swollen sticks like a bad dream, both macabre and unforgettable. Mama is a collection of front man Tim Kasher’s confessions of inadequacy and addiction over daunting, at times incredibly haunting, sallow melodies. Kasher’s beautifully repulsive lyrics in “Donkeys” teeter like a ballerina in a broken music box as the rest of the album follows a vaudevillian vibe with eerie strings and the telltale Cursive freak show sounds. “What Have I Done” echoes the intensity of The Ugly Organ’s “Staying Alive” with Kasher endlessly spilling his guts over grueling organs. Mama is definitely an album to keep away from razors, pills and pictures of your ex.

WATCHMEN

2009-03-09T15:46:00.000-04:00

BY Matt Guy

Last night, I, along with a few fine staff members of the Debaser, screened the ultra-hyped film "The Watchmen." The movie is based on the 1986 to 1987 limited edition comic book series written by Alan Moore and David Gibbons. This film adaption stars many not so familiar faces besides Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman and Billy Crudup. The film brought to life by Zach Snyder, who was the visionary behind the hit "300," takes place in 1985 amongst the heightening tension between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The premise follows a group a vigilantes tied together by the fighting force known as the "Watchmen," which had been dismantled by a third-term occupying Richard Nixon. The plot is intertwined with government conspiracy, the wars of the 20th century, and character study. These masked heroes are far from your Tobey McGuire Spiderman types. The film, being rated R, is not for little kids in Watchmen pajamas. Just not that type of superhero flick. Much like "300," and the similar graphic novel adaption "Sin City," the film is laced with narratives and flash backs. It seems to be a underlying theme for Mr. Snyder, as "300" and "Sin City" were both narrated through several point of views.

The plot was great and fit perfect in the realities of our year 2009, due to fear and bitterness through out the United States. Like in the other movies directed by Snyder, the colors pop behind dim and dull backgrounds. As you can see from the trailer, yellow is the central color scheme. Second there is great action scenes as in his previous films, so expect many fights with extremely quick then slow, drawn-out shots much like in "300." The film covered much of American history in the late 20th century, which made the sound track to the movie choice! Expect Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix songs to lace the silver screen, tome the music played like a dark, kick-ass version of "Forrest Gump." All in all the movie was excellent, well worth the $10 or whatever ridiculous price movies are these days. "The Watchmen" opened in all theaters March 4th.

For trailers and synopsis check out watchmenmovie.warnerbros.com

Recipe (episode 422)

2009-03-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

Using a washed highball glass:

1 and 1/2 ration anxiety

1 ration obsessive compulsive

1/2 ration self-conscience

1/8 ration weed (per week)

1/16 ration ambition

1 ration gin and or alcoholic beverage

pour on the rocks

pinch of decency

stir strongly

sip slow due to slight bitter after taste

The Check-Up

2009-03-04T12:06:00.000-05:00

A Work of Fiction OR, Truths From the Heart of One Donna Vogul

BY Donna Vogul

“And you’re not currently sexually active,” he asked to his clipboard. Grace sat, shoulders slumped, at the edge of the check-up table. Her legs swung, hitting the dangling hygienic paper that was now stained with the temporary imprint of her bare ass.

“Wh-what do you mean by sexually active?” Grace asked. The doctor turned away from his clipboard and stared at Grace’s sock-less feet.

“I mean have you previously or are you,” the doctor yawned and then apologized, “currently having sexual intercourse?”

“Yes,” Grace said in the definitive tone she had rehearsed. The doctor scanned his clipboard and made two check marks. “Well, actually, I don’t know,” Grace said to her swollen ankles. When Grace looked up, she was staring into the doctor’s eyes. He squint and put his index finger in the middle of his deeply cleft chin.

“Well why don’t…” he began.

“I’ve never seen a penis!” Grace yelled. The words tumbled out of her mouth like watery gravy out of a gravy boat. It was the fourth time in her life Grace had ever said the word penis. She immediately dropped her head and resumed inspecting her shapeless ankles. The doctor stepped closer to the table. Now she could smell his musk cologne emanating from his Woodstock-Snoopy Christmas tie. She silently burped and pushed the acidic bile back down her throat before it could leave her mouth.

The doctor leaned closer. “Okay. Well. It is possible to have intercourse without seeing the flaccid or erect penis. Do you know what I’m talking about when I say “flaccid” and “erect?” He said the words as if he was prepping Grace for a spelling bee. She gripped her thin doctor’s scrubs tightly around her mid section, suddenly realizing the paper cloth was all that stood between her and the doctor’s ever hardening penis.

“I know what that means,” she said.

“What what means?” he asked. Grace leaned back on her hands trying to push her body further up the table. “You know,” the doctor said smoothly, “if you press this button right here,” he pointed to the very tip of his tie, “it plays 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.' ” She had watched a scene in a movie like this before, but Grace couldn’t remember what the protagonist did next. She felt the coolness on her bare freckled skin as she held the scrubs in place just below her shoulders.

“You know, it’s only two days before Christmas, and I’ve already got a merry little celebration in my pants. Maybe we can answer a few of your earlier questions,” he groomed either side of his pencil mustache with his thumb and pinkie. When the doctor dropped his mistletoe boxers, Grace yelped “P-E-N-I-S!” for the fifth time in her life.