In February of 2014, Dan Haar of the Hartford Courant wrote an article, "Untold Thousands Flout Gun Registration Law". This article highlights the futility of such registration schemes, which serve only to inconvenience law abiding citizens, waste the resources of law enforcement and create felons out of otherwise law abiding people.
Photo by Bill Boylan, Rally at the capital, 20Apr13
Due to the recent calls for more of the same, and worse, outright bans, across the country, Mr. Haar's article bears repeating. Also worth considering, is how such laws would be enforced, if even they are enforceable; as we know, criminals do not obey the law, and as the article points out, even otherwise law abiding citizens will engage in civil disobedience toward unjust, unconstitutional laws.
It is greatly feared by many gun owners, and non-gun owners alike, that that needless bloodshed could occur if and when the government attempts to forcibly uphold such laws. Not just the blood of the gun owners, but the blood of law enforcement personnel and that of innocent spouses and their children! Should it come to that, blood will lie on the hands of
In an article published yesterday in the Hartford Courantthree term Councilman seeking re-election this November, David Bauer elaborated on his decision to decline the endorsement from the Realistic Party of Middletown. Bauer was nominated to the Middletown Republican slate as a Council candidate, and in the Courant article, he discusses his wishes to focus on being part of the GOP slate. The Courant quotes Bauer as follows: "I am pleased and confident that the Republican slate has such a commitment, and they are the team I wish to associate with."
Republican Town committee executive board members party Chairman Ken McClellan and vice Chair William Wilson, have said in various public forums that they, and the nominating committee for 2013 GOP candidates, no longer agreed with views held by Pessina and Bibisi.
Bauer gave a letter to decline the Realistic Balance nomination to the Town Clerk earlier this week to have his name removed from the RB line on the ballot, the letter reads:
"I was pleased to run on the Realistic Balance Party ticket in 2011 when there was a bipartisan selection of candidates. Sadly, the character of this year's Realistic Balance candidates is dominated by the inclusion of candidates Joseph Bibisi and Philip Pessina.
I was part of the Middletown Republican Town Committee selection process that rejected both Phil and Joe's application to the GOP slate. My personal reason to reject their applications was my disappointment in their performance in the current term of the Common Council.
Philip Pessina and Joseph Bibisi hold the minority leadership positions, so they must take responsibility that the council minority did not advance a single resolution to the council agenda in the entire term, and rarely, if ever, even met in caucus. They let the council majority do all the work of the council, and simply postured their opinions on the majority's legislative resolutions.
An entire third of the council was rendered ineffective, and I consider that unacceptable. The council minority did show up at meetings, but they showed up empty-handed.
If our local government is to work its best, all our elected officials have to work. I am pleased and confident that the Republican slate has made such a commitment, and they are the team I wish to associate with, and they are the team I hope the Middletown Voters will support on November 5th.
We will reward your trust with hard work and innovative legislation to improve Middletown's services and financial stability in a sustainable manner, insuring that the 'checks and balances' that make our democracy so great, are consistently there the entire term."
An article in the Middletown Patch also elaborates on Bauer's position to run solely as part of the GOP team.
Dumb Decisions Made By the Middletown Common Council * (Aka things we bet you didn't know about the folks that run the city.)
Note: In order for things to get down in the city, it is the Common Council (Democrat controlled since 1991) that votes on proposed ordinances and not the Mayor. (I.e. A city mayor can propose a tax decrease in his./her budget, but the common council by virtue of 2/3 majority, can override that budget and replace it with their own plan.) According to the town charter, the mayor of Middletown can only vote in the event that there is a 6-6 tie on the floor.
1. Remington Rand- In 1999 the city took ownership of the 184,000 square-foot industrial building at 180 Johnson Street through a foreclosure settlement. According to a 2010 Middletown Press article: "Eighteen tenants, including a landscaper and a mail sorting business, currently rent space in the building from the city, bringing in between $60,000-$100,000 annually for the city's economic development fund." The problem one may ask: the Democratic controlled common council was projecting the sale of the property and putting that amount into the budget. Confused? It’s like this, imagine that you want to sell your car and use the money to pay for a new roof. Sounds good on paper and it seems pragmatic, but if you don’t sell the car and the roof bill shows up. That is exactly what happened with the Rand property, the sale never happened and the Dem approved budget had monies (sale of Remington Rand) in their budget that didn’t exist. Translation: The property didn’t sell and the Dems spent the money that they didn’t have. 2. $25,000 (Was it more?) to It's Only Natural- If you are the owners of Middletown's Natural Health Store, It's Only Natural (ION) then in your soy/tofu soaked mind it's a great decision: free money. This really happened folks, the ION owners decided to ask Middletown's Common Council for money to help their business; they claimed that due to the construction of the Arrigoni Bridge, their business was becoming dry and the owners were losing monies. Did anybody from the council ask to see data or evidence (their books!) that supported this claim of lost funds due to bridge construction? Nope, and the council quickly voted 10-2 in favor of giving ION the $25,000 they sought. The two dissenting votes: Two female Republicans named Linda Salafia and Debbie Kleckowski.
3. 1,000,000$ in Union Concessions rejected in 2009- In 2009, the MMPA offered to concede a $1,000,000 in concessions to the city of Middletown to help with the budget deficit? What happened? The mayor and his staff warmly worked with John Milardo and Local 6092/ MMPA to take advantage of the generosity offered by the union to help the city. Results: The common council in all their wisdom voted not to take this one time gift of a million dollars. Reminds one of the Jedi council rejecting Anakin Skywalker membership into their guild- worked well for them did it not?
4. The New MHS High School- Where does one begin? From wetlands to the indicated Tomasso LLC the project was a mess from the very beginning. The finished product: No locker rooms, a cracked pool, lack of fire lanes and a budget that ballooned approximately $15 million over budget. (source H. Courant July 16, 2005) According to other town and newspapers sources the school has been plagued with the following issues as well: the immobility of the grandstands in the gym, the minimal size of the pool deck, the collapsing retaining wall at the truncated Cynthia Lane and more all given to us by a Democrat controlled common council and architects hand picked by then Mayor Dominique Thornton.
Administrative Assistant or Chief of Staff..Mmmm?
5.Appointing Dan Drew to Vinny Lofreddo's slot- Here is how it went down: Vinny Lofreddo the once and future Middletown Councilman (and Mayor for a day in 1965) decided it was time to take his leave from the council due to a new job appointment in Hartford or wherever. The Dems in classic Dem fashion, appointed the town's 'savior' Daniel T. Drew to Vinny's old job making him a councilman by appointment not election. What does this mean? This means that you, the public electoral body of Middletown, did not choose the one time defender of a UCONN student show entitled "I Did Your Mother" to the role of councilman. Yes, we know he was elected Mayor all buy himself (with the help of Wesleyan students), but one needs to ask themselves: What would women’s right activist and Rush Limbaugh nemesis Sandra Fluke say about Dan’s defense of a show entitled, “I Did Your Mother?” When she showed up in Middletown in late October 2012 to help the cause, was she aware of Dan’s involvement with the UCONN show, “I Did your Mother?” What would she say to Dan about his abuse of females in meetings, most notably Councilwoman Deborah Kleckowski who asked a very innocent question about proper time with regard to vetting the new Deputy Police Chief? One can guess that Fluke would ignore Dan’s digressions with regard to women in this case because of the politics involved.
We can all agree racial and religious discrimination is wrong, but how are we taught to treat others with differing political views?
A few months ago, the Insider published some right wing and left wing propaganda that had been circulating around facebook to generate discussion. As a result- one of our anti-fans published a essay in the local Patch blog telling the world the Insider advocated hate in an exaggerated essay titled "Local Blog Advocates Ignorance & Hate". At the Insider, we are in fact fans of the Middletown Patch and Editor Cassandra Day. Day does a fairly good job of covering both sides of the local political spectrum; a lesson the local print papers won't ever seem to learn. The fore mentioned piece pretty much didn't phase us one bit- after all its free speech (albeit nonsensical); in fact it helped spike our readership! The issue continues in the media. When right-leaning folks offer a critical view point of opposing views in a analytical comparison or comical way, as done on this blog for example, it's almost always considered mean spirited & mud slinging. On the contrary, a piece slamming a GOP politician or believe system it is accepted as fact so much so that readers rarely raise an eye brow- a double standard clearly exists that most readers aren't even aware of.Read the piece below. After you are done substitute in the names of President Obama and VP Biden. Now what is the tone and your general reaction?If doing this exercise you are disturbed you may be prejudice towards conservatives and not even be aware.
After the primary the Insider made a joke (ok, not a great joke) about losing Democratic candidate Susan Bysiewicz's platform which was based on the "every woman" tactic to liken herself to the middle class. The reaction to this comment on our facebook page from friends was astounding.From the reaction one would think we attacked a patron saint or tripped Mother Teresa, clubbed a baby seal or something. In actuality, a intelligent discussion thread resulted. The above article makes a MASS generalization about conservative citizens as inferior HUMAN beings. Most comments thus far listed below it condone this. Cue the crickets. In grade school, American students are all taught racial, religious, gender, cultural etc etc discrimination is wrong. But what about discrimination based on how one perceives authority and government - how one believes society should function- ie political beliefs. What does this say about what we are teaching our children about tolerance of others with different thought processes? Should we all behave and not be critical? Or, should be all grow a thicker skin? Many conclusions can be drawn.
On August 17, 2012 cartoonist Bob Englehart of Middletown published a cartoon in the Hartford Courant calling GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan "Mitt & Twitt." He also writes: "The
great thing about moderates and liberals is that they can change their
minds after learning new information, or understanding justice and
fairness.Conservatives
cannot, under any circumstance, change their minds. The old way is the
best way, every man for himself, I got mine and nobody helped me, now
you get yours the same way; you failed, it's your own damn fault. What a
wonderful world it would be."
Englehart is a talented, clever guy and we would never deny him his right to free speech. Maybe he will do a guest cartoon for the Insider some day? Doubtful . But there is a point: Englehart basically eludes to, and says with out saying that the reader should conclude Conservative minded people are stupid and inferior- conservatives cannot process simple thoughts such as drawing different conclusions- ie changing of ones mind. If the Insider say, said this about liberals would there be no reaction? Would a cartoon of a parody of the Obama name with a certain like sounding middle-eastern name be as funny and acceptable?
Though D's and R's have different view points as far as government structure- and really when you get down to it the driving force behind this is how money should be spent-( it is what makes the world go round) are we that different to be so divided? The Insider concludes that both groups love their families, value community, and are charitable- just in different ways. We checked to find research done by a credible academic group on whether 'mud slinging' campaign tactics used by candidates has produced any relevant general conclusions The only conclusion we could find was that it is a case by case situation without any general rules being discovered. There is a phrase "mud slinging is as American as apple pie." There is also the phrase "two wrongs don't make a right." Most voters have said they do not like candidates who mud slinging, however, the average person, we think can't tell the difference when facts are skewed in subtle ways by the main stream media; especially when in local media a clear practice of prejudice against conservatives in Middletown has been a common practice for years.
The question is - should we all behave or is there room for the mud to fly?
