tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-211238532024-03-12T21:40:33.094-04:00Tim White Listens<p>Blogging on Cheshire, Connecticut USA<p>To see a particular topic, click on the categories to the left.</p></p>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.comBlogger4242125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-44483013599863513262017-01-28T22:58:00.003-05:002017-01-28T23:09:01.646-05:00Tesla coming to Cheshire?In our ongoing efforts to save the Town of Cheshire money, reduce our energy footprint, and expedite our transition to a cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy future, Tesla recently visited Cheshire's Energy Commission. The discussion topic was Cheshire's demand charges and Tesla's ability to manage and reduce our demand charges with their energy storage products. One specific topic was Cheshire's RFP for behind-the-meter solar at our sewer treatment plant and the possibility of adding storage that could leverage the 30% federal income tax credit to improve the project's economics. Hopefully, more to come....
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o6WwJqitpZY/WI1oSYxT_kI/AAAAAAAAEjU/fI1eto7QA6cJuGvRR5KWSgwPTw6UAgp9gCLcB/s1600/IMG_1182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o6WwJqitpZY/WI1oSYxT_kI/AAAAAAAAEjU/fI1eto7QA6cJuGvRR5KWSgwPTw6UAgp9gCLcB/s320/IMG_1182.JPG" width="320" /></a>
Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-14863580007947162012014-08-03T22:48:00.003-04:002014-08-03T22:48:59.306-04:00My dad in 1963<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A picture of my dad, Lt. J.G. John White in 1963.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y1tDDEl-848/U970ZAcKLmI/AAAAAAAAEh0/aXKamJUOu7s/s1600/JW-1963.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-y1tDDEl-848/U970ZAcKLmI/AAAAAAAAEh0/aXKamJUOu7s/s1600/JW-1963.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></div>
<br />Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-28206415841376998392013-11-22T19:33:00.004-05:002013-11-23T08:00:28.187-05:00Cheshire's solar homesIn case you were curious, as of October 2013, Cheshire had about 30 homes with rooftop solar electric panels. Here's a map:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bnCIv4gd_6c/Uo_3Fm56zKI/AAAAAAAAEhg/RP5xR5ofRCM/s1600/Chehsire+Map+of+Solar+Homes+11-22-13.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="576" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bnCIv4gd_6c/Uo_3Fm56zKI/AAAAAAAAEhg/RP5xR5ofRCM/s640/Chehsire+Map+of+Solar+Homes+11-22-13.png" width="443" /></a>
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I'm hoping to organize a couple "solar home tours" in the next month or two to help people visualize and understand what it means to "go solar!" And keep in mind, you can now go solar with no-money-down and have a net savings on your CL&P bill from the beginning.Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-49217960352965122092013-09-09T00:57:00.001-04:002013-09-09T00:57:27.288-04:00Lying to start a war: What's new?Although President Obama is beginning to tacitly acknowledge the lies on which he predicated his call for war on Syria... and <a href="http://presspass.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/08/20386023-mcdonough-says-attack-on-assad-regime-would-send-message-to-iran?lite">now admitting that he just wants to show Iran that he's the toughest kid on the block</a>... I think it's worth reminding ourselves of history... and the lies that were told to involve the USA in other wars.<br />
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Due to my father, I'm fairly knowledgeable about the Vietnam War. Here's a copy of the letter he sent to the New Haven Register on December 7, 1967. His letter got him called by Senator Fulbright to testify about the truth of how we were dragged into that war.
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More to come to explain the immediate consequences and long-term results of my dad speaking truth to power.<br />
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<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-75064336288787171572013-09-05T23:05:00.000-04:002013-09-05T23:12:26.488-04:00The Gulf of Tonkin and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Personal Note<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>By John White, </i></b><br />
<b><i>Cheshire, Connecticut</i></b><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The U.S. war in
Vietnam essentially began in August 1964 in response to what our government
claimed was an unprovoked attack upon two naval ships, the destroyers <u>Maddox</u><i>
</i>and<i> </i><u>Turner Joy</u>, while they were steaming peacefully on the
high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin. Although there was a U.S. military
presence in Vietnam prior to that, the Tonkin events led to congressional
action which allowed President Lyndon Johnson (and, later, President Richard
Nixon) to escalate our military presence enormously and to wage war not only in
Vietnam but also covertly in Southeast Asia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Among the many
books written about the Vietnam War, half a dozen note a 1967 letter to a
Connecticut newspaper which was instrumental in pressing the Johnson
administration to tell the truth about how the war was started. The
letter was mine. It became, in the words of one book about the Tonkin
Gulf events, "a national sensation." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I wrote the letter
to my local newspaper, the <u>New Haven Register</u> in December 1967, accusing
President Johnson, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and the Joint Chiefs of
Staff of giving false information to Congress in their report about American
destroyers being attacked in the Gulf on August 4, 1964. I identified
myself as a former naval officer and said I based my charge on two sources of
information: (1) reading the classified radio messages sent at that time
by the two allegedly attacked destroyers, USS <u>Maddox</u> and USS <u>Turner
Joy</u>, and (2) talking, a few months later, with the chief sonarman (whose
name I did not recall) of the <u>Maddox</u>. (It became clear later that
I was mistaken about him being on the <u>Maddox</u>. He was on the <u>Turner
Joy</u>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My letter got
international attention. I was covered by everything from the wire
services, <u>The New York Times</u>, <u>The Washington Post</u>, CBS Evening
News and TV crews from Japan and the Netherlands to local media, radio
interviews across the country and a documentary film, <u>In the Year of the Pig</u>.
Even the <u>Soviet Military Review</u> got into the act, saying I had
"confessed" to a frame-up in Vietnam. Change “national
sensation” to “international.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My letter helped
Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Arkansas) to launch the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee into a full-scale investigation of the Tonkin events.
He brought me to Washington to testify, and was soon locking horns with the
Administration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">My intention in
going public was to help end the war. It was a matter of conscience for
me. While I was in Vietnam, I'd felt the U.S. was right to be there
defending democracy against Communism. But after leaving naval service in
June 1965, I began to have doubts as I learned things contrary to the military
mindset and to what my fellow officers and I had been told by a Vietnamese
general who briefed us in Danang, where my ship, the USS <u>Pine Island</u>
(AV-12), had gone in response to the Tonkin events to set up a seaplane base
immediately after the alleged attack. The <u>Pine Island</u>, which had
been in Japan at the time, was the first ship to enter the war zone from
outside, although several other U.S. naval ships were already there. I
was the <u>Pine Island</u>'s nuclear weapons officer. The ship’s nuclear
weapons storage area held 40 Mark-101 nuclear depth bombs, each with a
10-kiloton payload. That is what we would have loaded aboard P5M
seaplanes to be dropped on enemy submarines, if so ordered. Thankfully,
no such order was given, and after two weeks in Danang we went back to normal
peacetime steaming around the Pacific.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In time, I came to
feel I'd been conned and that America had no moral right to be in Vietnam.
I saw the U.S. policy not as making the world safe for democracy, but as
making the world safe for hypocrisy. Moreover, the war itself looked
increasingly unwinnable by America. As the body count mounted in an
action I regarded as militarily and morally wrong, I became active in the
antiwar movement as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I
didn’t march in the streets carrying a placard, but I did sign on to an ad by
VVAW which was published in <u>The New Republic</u> over the names of several
hundred Vietnam vets, including mine. (I left the VVAW about 1969, after
two years’ membership, because my inclination toward that sort of political
action waned. I recognized that the antiwar movement was not the same
thing as the peace movement. The former was political, the latter was
spiritual. The former was based on anger, the latter was based on “the
peace which passeth all understanding.” Moreover, the peace movement—the
process of developing inner peace or enlightenment as the basis for outer peace
or world unity—applied to all aspects of society and culture, not just the
political. Cessation of hostilities is a necessary step but it is not the
final step. The peace movement, as slow, difficult and uncertain as it
may be, is senior to the antiwar movement because it has a more fundamental
aim. Inner peace is world peace.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Although I felt
that an ad wouldn’t be enough to end the war, I was unsure of what else I might
do. Then in November 1967, I heard Senator Wayne Morse (D-Oregon) say on
the evening news that President Johnson was replacing the Constitution with the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Morse’s remark dissolved my perplexity and
crystallized something deep within me. Because of his comment, I thought
I could help the antiwar effort and my country by undercutting the basis on which
the war was conducted, namely, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I knew the
resolution was based on false information. Johnson had a draft of it in
his back pocket, so to speak, when he addressed Congress on August 5, 1964; his
staff had written it six weeks earlier. He called for Congress to rally
‘round the flag and then stampeded it into authorizing a legal instrument which
allowed him to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack
against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression."
So, after several weeks’ anxious reflection on the situation—”Am I sure about
this?” “Will I get fired from my job?” “Will I hear a knock on the door from
the FBI?”—I wrote my letter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Twenty Years Later</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">There was social
uproar, but there was no knock on the door, so I got on with my life. In
1987 the radio messages were declassified and confirmed my story. Twenty
years after I'd come forward, with more than a bit of apprehension about the
possibility of being charged with treason for revealing secret information, I
was pleased to have my story completed and to feel "cleared" of the
"crime" of speaking out against what I saw as government
deception. That deception was real and, as we now know, ultimately led to
the tragic loss of more than 58,000 Americans, billions of dollars of materiel,
and a clear sense of national unity and purpose. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It was far worse
for Vietnam and Southeast Asia, of course, where the destruction was enormous
and the death toll ran into the millions. (But note that many of those
deaths were committed by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong against their own
people. Note also that China and the Soviet Union were the main weapon
suppliers to the North. There is plenty of blame to go all around.)
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">In his 1995 book <u>In
Retrospect</u>, Robert McNamara acknowledged that the Vietnam war was a
mistake, but he only admitted errors of judgment, not deception and
coverup. Furthermore, in the 2003 documentary <u>The Fog of War</u>,
McNamara admitted that the August 4 attack never happened. (<i>For more on
this, see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident"><span style="color: #1f48c0; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident” Wikipedia page</span></a>.</i>)
Shame on him! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As for me, I never
felt unpatriotic about what I did, although I was considered so by some
people. I was antiwar but not antimilitary. I supported our troops
but not our foreign policy which put them there. I separated the war from
the warriors, some of whom were my friends and comrades-in-arms. I
opposed the former but honored the latter. I respected their service and
sacrifice. I didn't want to see them come home in body bags because of an
unconstitutional and just-plain-wrong conflict. At a time when the debate
was between the hawks and the doves, I sought to be an eagle. Eagles
spread their wings and soar on an updraft of the American Spirit. (But
note well: it’s hard to soar like an eagle when you’re surrounded by
turkeys and thinking like one!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">True America or False
America?</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">I believe
America's freedom must be defended from all enemies, foreign or domestic.
I also believe there are more than a few of the latter kind in positions of
social, commercial, industrial, financial and political power who use their
influence and resources in what can be called conspiratorial fashion—i.e., the
New World Order—to extend their power and to increase their wealth through
manufactured situations such as the Vietnam debacle. (Three of the
current phrases for such phony ventures are "nation-building,"
“pacification” and “stability mission”.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Therefore I
challenged a government policy because I felt it was unconstitutional and
contrary to the best interests of our nation, our armed forces and the world
itself. Defense of the homeland is noble; offensive tactics beyond our
borders is not. Our internal enemies are destroying the American Republic
and American freedom—True America—to advance their objective of an American
Empire ruled by them—False America. Make no mistake about it: if
they are successful, America will become a totalitarian tyranny run by an
oligarchy. For an insider look at the origins of the Vietnam War, see
Laurence H. Shoup and William Minter’s 1977 <u>Imperial Brain Trust: The
Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy</u>. <span style="mso-text-raise: 4.0pt; position: relative; top: -4.0pt;">1</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">It is the duty of
soldiers to follow orders, not to question the mission they’re sent on by their
government. However, in a self-governing republic such as ours, it is the
duty of citizens to inspect, question and, if need be, challenge the missions
on which government sends soldiers into action. Patriotism requires close
citizen scrutiny of government policy and practice, especially where the
commitment of American lives is involved. Being a serving soldier does
not mean being nonpolitical. As George Washington put it, “When we
assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">We the People are
the owners of the country and the masters of the government—including, through
the right to vote, those in uniform—and if you have to take some heat for
asserting that against scoundrels who wrap themselves in the flag to justify
their illegal, immoral actions, so be it. As Americans have learned the
hard way, the U.S. government sometimes sacrifices American GIs for worthless causes
such as “nation-building” in Haiti and Serbia, and “pacification” in Mogadishu
and Kosovo, where there is no threat to our national security, but a lot of
power and wealth to be gained by what President Eisenhower called the
military-industrial complex. In his Farewell Address of January 17, 1961, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUXtyIQjubU">he said</a>: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="color: blue;">In
the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial
complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and
will persist.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Today it’s more
accurate to call it the military-industrial-financial-intelligence complex
because so much of our foreign policy gets generated by intelligence agencies
and think tanks advising the State Department and the President, who themselves
are in the hands of Wall Street. Saddam Hussein was a U.S. ally before
Gulf War One. So was Osama bin Laden. America armed them both in an
effort to secure the Middle East for ourselves—that is, our commercial and
industrial corporations and banks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Civil War General
William T. Sherman famously said, “War is hell.” Marine Corps Major
General Smedley Butler expanded on that in his 1935 book <u>War Is a Racket</u>,
which condemned U. S. adventurism and the profit motive behind warfare.
It could be summed up like this: “War is sell.” To quote
Butler: “The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6
percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100
percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the
flag.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">National Interest vs.
Personal Agendas</span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">When I’m
overwhelmed by grief in remembrance of the gallant men and women who gave their
lives in military service to America—more than one million of them since
1775—only part of that grief is for those who didn’t return and for their loved
ones who lost them. The other part of my grief is for the sheer
foolishness of nations, governments and factions which think they have to go to
war to settle differences, and for the sheer evil of those in command, both
civilian and military, who generate wars to advance a personal agenda under the
guise of patriotism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">America must never
start or generate a war. We should have a strong military to defend our
nation—that can include preemptive strikes if a threat is clear and
imminent—and we should thank God for the courageous men and women who volunteer
to serve. But war must never be an instrument of foreign policy or
commercial interests. Offensive war is rightly condemned by a soldier's
conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">The only sensible
and honorable foreign policy for America is strict neutrality. That means
nonalliance, nonintervention, and no meddling in the internal affairs of other
nations. It means free and fair trade with all who want it, friendly relations
with all who want that, and a strong national defense, including properly
supervised intelligence operations, against those who do not want friendly
relations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Our nation also
should stop acting as policeman of the world and withdraw from all military
treaties so we are not drawn into war by proxy. George Washington warned
us in his Farewell Address (1797) to avoid all entangling alliances. “Tis
our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the
foreign world,” he said. Thomas Jefferson agreed; in 1799 he wrote,
“Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our motto.”
Two decades earlier, Benjamin Franklin put it succinctly: “The system of
America is to have commerce with all, and war with none.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">Their advice is
still sound, especially since NATO is being turned into the standing army of
the United Nations. Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General of the UN,
has stated publicly that NATO forces will be sent anywhere in the world to
impose “stability missions.” Ban Ki-moon, Annan’s successor, has said the
same thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">As for our country policing the world, I have a question.
America has 200,000 troops stationed at 800 bases in 140 countries around the
world, but we can’t control our own borders, especially the U.S.-Mexican
border, where illegal aliens and narcoterrorists come and go freely.
What’s wrong with this picture?</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">FOOTNOTES</span></b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="position: relative; top: -4pt;">1</span> According to the description given on its
Amazon.com web page, <u>Imperial Brain Trust</u> is “the classic study of the
Council on Foreign Relations, an organization that has, for decades, played a
central behind the scenes role in shaping…foreign policy choices. This private
club and think tank, bringing together the New York establishment and the Washington
foreign policy elite as well as other powerful forces, took the lead in laying
out the plans for post-World War Two international order. The Council also
traced the key guidelines for Cold War intervention and vetted and advised
generations of White House officials… [The] Council on Foreign Relations
continues to mark the boundaries of what insiders consider to be respectable
foreign policy discussion, helping aspirants to policy influence test out their
schemes for establishment approval.” Accompanying reviews of the book
say:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">...A
thoroughly researched expose of the discreet workings of the powerful Council
on Foreign Relations...an influential oligarchy which not only studies but
forms U.S. policy. With keen insight, the authors trace the origins of the
increased power of the organization... <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">—<u> American Library
Association Booklist</u><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
</span>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">...the
first in-depth analysis of the activities and influence of the most important
private institution in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy...Shoup and Minter's
work is based on detailed research, including examination of material hitherto
unavailable to the public...this work will stand as a milestone." <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica;">
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">—<u>Library Journal</u><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Foreword to
the book says it reveals how “monopoly capitalists in the Council on Foreign
Relations carefully and secretively planned the policies of modern-day
imperialism and then introduced them into government.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With regard to
Vietnam and Southeast Asia, Shoup and Minter say, the CFR decided in the 1950s
that Southeast Asia must remain under U.S. influence in order to serve as a
market for trade and natural resources needed by U.S. businesses.
Military force was recommended as early as the 1950s for maintaining U.S.
hegemony in the area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><u><br />
The Pentagon Papers</u> “leaked” by Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg gave dramatic proof
of the devious and dishonest way our government, under five presidents (Truman,
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon), maneuvered our nation into the war and
escalated it. For a video summary of the 7,000 pages of top secret
documents and the history of their release, see <u>The Most Dangerous Man in
America</u>, a documentary film available on DVD.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For more
information on the Council on Foreign Relations, see James Perloff’s 1988 <u>The
Shadows of Power: The Council on Foreign Relations and the American
Decline</u>. A history of the CFR, Amazon.com describes it as exposing
“the subversive roots and global designs of the CFR.” It adds, “Passed
off as a think-tank, this group is a key ‘power behind the throne,’ with
hundreds of top-appointed government officials drawn from its ranks. Traces
activity from the Wilson to Reagan administrations.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Council,
Perloff writes, while remaining largely unknown to the public, has exercised
decisive impact on U.S. policy, especially foreign policy, for several
decades. It has achieved this primarily in two ways. The first is
by directly supplying personnel for upper echelon government jobs. The
second major way in which the Council affects policy is in formulating and
marketing recommendations. (See the chapter on the Vietnam War.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">A
earlier and longer version of this essay was published in The Barnes Review in
September-October 1999.</span></span></i><!--EndFragment-->
</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-25985423775551431152013-07-09T18:46:00.000-04:002013-07-09T18:46:10.487-04:00Solar electric panels... by the numbersAs <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/07/increasing-use-of-solar-energy-in.html">I've been explaining</a>, I'm advocating that Cheshire respond to the <a href="http://www.ctcleanenergy.com/Portals/0/Solarize03Communities.pdf">state's RFP</a> for the third phase of a program called <a href="http://solarizect.com/">Solarize CT</a>. And now, the Town Council Chairman, Tim Slocum, has placed it on <a href="http://www.cheshirect.org/media/40549/agnda%207-13.pdf">their agenda</a> for Tuesday, July 9th @ 7:30pm in Town Hall. Needless to say, I plan to be there and offer as much explanation as possible. But numbers can be easier to understand in writing, so I'm explaining the economics here. And you probably want to know...<br />
<br />
<b>How much does it cost for a typical home to get solar panels?</b><br />
<br />
Without this program, it might be normal for a 2000 sq ft home in Cheshire to pay about $32,000 for solar panels. That's based on a typical home using 700 kWh / month. For your own understanding, check one of your CL&P bills to see if you use 700 kWh / month. But in the meantime...<br />
<br />
700kWh x 12mos = 8400 kWh / yr<br />
<br />
So you need to generate 8400 kWh / yr. And here in CT, we're lucky that we have a law allowing for <i>net metering</i>. Net metering means that although you use electricity at night, if your solar panels generate more electricity during the day, the two get netted and you do not need to pay for generation or delivery services.<br />
<br />
<b>How many solar panels does a typical home need to generate 8400 kWh / yr?</b><br />
<br />
A house normally gets about 7 kW of generation capacity installed. And kW is how solar electric panels are normally described by manufacturers and installers. But of course, the panels are not generating electricity all the time, such as at night. In fact, the CT DEEP suggests that the typical generation capacity of solar electric in CT is 13%. In other words, on average, panels work 13% of the time. So here's the calculation to to get you to 8400 kWh / yr:<br />
<br />
(7.1 kW) x (24 hrs / day) x (365 days / yr) x 13% = 8100 kWh / yr<br />
<br />
<b>So much does it cost to install 7.1 kW of solar panels?</b><br />
<br />
Results from <u>Phase 1</u> of Solarize CT (occurred from Sept 2012 to Jan 2013... and <u>Phase 2</u> is ongoing) showed that homes in Solarize towns* installed an average of 7.1 kW at a cost of $27,000 before rebates & tax credits. Among the other 165 and during the same period, homes paid an average of $35,000 for a similar installation.<br />
<br />
Those numbers are typically discussed in terms of $ / W or $ / kW. So the Solarize towns were paying about $3800 / kW and non-Solarize towns were paying about $4900 / kW. And those costs are typically broken down into <i>hard costs</i> (hardware) and <i>soft costs</i> (labor).<br />
<br />
The hardware comes from China and those costs are not dropping dramatically. They were probably about $2000 / kW in 2011 and about $2000 / kW today. Not stable like hard costs, the soft costs are dropping. They were about $4000 / kW in 2011 and are now in the range of $1800 to $2900 / kW.<br />
<br />
It's the soft costs where this program hopes to help homeowners save money, as well as do right for the environment. Here are some ways where economies of scale can be achieved quickly with this program:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">1) CT has 1.4 million homes. We also have about 70 to 80 solar electric installers. With 169 towns, we have about 13,000 initial contacts to be made between solar installers and town building inspectors. Yet CT now has only about 5000 solar electric installations, including <a href="https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=204281579904317235538.0004dcea1c1877716b47a">about 30 to 40 in Cheshire</a>. The initial contacts between installers and building inspectors takes time. By participating in this program and suggesting a preferred installer, the goal is to reduce time costs, such as this.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">2) Ten installations in ten towns will require more travel time than ten installations in one town.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">3) The <i>cost of customer acquisition</i> for solar installers is quite high. This program hopes to leverage existing social networks in town to spread the word about the opportunity. It's similar to Cheshire's Neighbor-to-Neighbor program for which we just got a letter in the mail this weekend. N2N demonstrated that this approach can be successful in increasing awareness.</span><br />
<br />
Anyway, these are some of the ways in which this program can help reduce the high cost of solar electric. And while history cannot predict the future, it does suggest that the program itself may help reduce the cost of solar electric in Solarize towns. And while solar electric panels probably now cost around $4500 / kW statewide, I suspect this program could help reduce those costs even further. <br />
<br />
It's entirely possible that Cheshire could average $3750 / kW. That would place the cost of 7.1 kW of solar panels at $26,600. And then there's the state rebate of $1750 / kW, reducing the cost to $2000 / kW. And depending on your income, there's also a 30% federal tax credit. That would reduce the cost to $1325 / kW.<br />
<br />
At $1325 / kW for 7.1 kW, you'd pay $9400 for your solar electric installation.<br />
<br />
Now, let's break down your electric bill. You probably have three parts:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">1) generation services... this is the relatively new program where you choose your supplier.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">2) delivery services... this is CL&Ps business. They buy the electricity. It may come from the nuke in Waterford, a gas plant in Middletown, a hydro plant in Quebec or somewhere else. But it doesn't matter where the generator is located, CL&P handles the delivery.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">3) interconnection services... this also gets paid to CL&P.</span><br />
<br />
For all of the solar electricity that your panels generate, you pay neither generation nor delivery services. However, as long as you are connected to the grid, you'll pay the CL&P fee which is currently $16 / month.<br />
<br />
Assuming that you stay grid-connected, you can only avoid the generation and delivery services. An example rate for these two services is $0.07 / kWh for generation and $0.05 / kWh for delivery, but check your bill to see exact numbers.<br />
<br />
At $0.12 / kWh for 700 kWh / mo, you pay $85 per month for your electric bill. That means you pay $1000 / yr for electricity.<br />
<br />
$9400 / $1000 per year = 9.4 years payback<br />
<br />
And with an estimated useful life of 20 to 25 years, this means that after ten years your electricity is free!<br />
<br />
Ok, ok... it's a bit more complicated than that. But this story is already really long. And I imagine you're already bored. :) So I'll end it here and say... don't be shy about questioning me. I'm trying to give you the basics, while giving the most pertinent details. And when it comes to energy, this stuff tends to require lots of explanation.<br />
<br />
Hope this was helpful. Please be in touch! If the Council approves the RFP response, I understand the State will be announcing their decision by July 31 with the program to occur from September 2013 to January 2014. So things could start moving fast.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b><br />
<br />
<i><b>p.s.</b> In the interest of full disclosure, although I'm currently a full-time student at Yale's Environmental School, I'm interning this summer at CTs Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA). CEFIA is the quasi-public agency that is running the Solarize program.</i><br />
<br />
* Four of the 169 towns participated in SolarizeTim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-16008539197969552482013-07-06T09:23:00.000-04:002013-07-06T09:23:24.732-04:00Cheshire properties - some GIS mapsHave you ever wondered about the owner of a particular property in Cheshire? <br />
<br />
Or perhaps you've been curious where the new (post-2011) voting district lines have been drawn?<br />
<br />
Or a variety of details about Cheshire properties, such as:<br />
<br />
- Aquifer Protection Area<br />
- Prime Farmland Soil<br />
- FEMA Flood Zone<br />
- Open Space<br />
- Cheshire Zoning<br />
<br />
If so, you can find <a href="http://cheshire.mapxpress.net/">details here</a>. And you should also be able to navigate to find other towns in the greater Waterbury area.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-59545868227308752782013-07-03T08:04:00.003-04:002013-07-03T08:04:57.692-04:00Increasing the use of solar energy in Cheshire (2 of 3)As I mentioned in <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/05/increasing-use-of-solar-energy-in.html">my previous post</a>, Connecticut faces some serious electricity problems. This is due to our reliance on <i>centralized generation </i>(CG). An alternative to the CG -- typically provided by nuclear, natural gas and coal-fired power plants -- is <i>distributed generation (</i>DG).<br />
<br />
Probably the most common existing form of DG is a household generator. (I quickly found a 4 kW generator online for $400, while a 7 kW generator is listed at $900. Installation by an electrician may run the cost up to $2,000.)<br />
<br />
Another -- and increasingly popular -- form of DG is solar electricity. It's also known as a photovoltaic array or PV. Solar electric is the cause of the Solarize CT campaign. And it's the Solarize CT campaign that I hope to bring to Cheshire as <i>Solarize Cheshire</i>!<br />
<br />
<b>Why undertake a campaign? Why bother?</b><br />
<br />
The Solarize campaign concept began in Massachusetts and had demonstrable results. So the State of CT decided to undertake a similar campaign to increase the use of solar electric in <i>The Land of Steady Habits</i>. <br />
<br />
Thus far, the campaign has existed in three outreach phases:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;">- Phase 1 occurred from Sept 2012 to Jan 2013.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">- Phase 2 is ongoing, beginning around April 2013 with a scheduled completion of July 2013.</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">- Phase 3 has not yet begun, though the State's RFP was issued about three weeks ago with a July 12th deadline... and the campaign to be undertaken from Sept 2013 to Jan 2014.</span><br />
<br />
It's the current RFP of Phase 3 that has my interest because the program has shown clear results.<br />
<br />
Not only has the program <i>reduced the cost of solar by about $8,000 / home</i>, it's also increased the number of homes getting solar electric installed by ten-fold. That means more local jobs, rather than jobs in CG plants that will probably be both distant and have negative impacts on the environment.<br />
<br />
<b>$8,000 is a lot of money. How do I get that savings?</b><br />
<br />
A typical CT home buys about 7.1kW of solar electric. Of CT's 169 towns, four participated in Solarize Phase 1. Within those four towns, the average cost of one kW was about $3,800. Within the other 165 towns, the average cost of one kW was about $4,900.<br />
<br />
So instead of paying about $35,000 for your solar electric installation, you pay about $27,000. And yes, at $27,000, the economics make sense. Just consider what you pay for your monthly electric bill.<br />
<br />
<b>$27,000 is a lot of money. How does that help me?</b><br />
<br />
You probably pay around $100/mo to CL&P. That translates to about $1200/yr. And with an estimated 25 year life for solar electric panels, you'd get a payback at around 22 years. But that's not accounting for benefits like the 30% federal income tax credit that you can take.<br />
<br />
More on the numbers later. I'll leave it here for now and try to elaborate further this weekend.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-554688409401126202013-05-19T23:18:00.000-04:002013-05-19T23:20:13.427-04:00Increasing the use of solar energy in Cheshire (1 of 3)The State of Connecticut has major electricity difficulties in our future. It's true that <a href="http://www.eia.gov/electricity/state/">CT produces (~33million MWh) more electricity than we consume (~30million MWh)</a> annually, but <i>peaking issues</i> complicate the matter. In other words, we consume a lot more energy on July afternoons than we consume at 3am in mid-May.<br />
<br />
Peaking issues lead to our current <i>transmission</i> need for importing electricity from other places, such as Quebec's hydro power, via the <a href="http://www.northernpass.us/">Northern Pass</a> that cuts south through New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Obviously, this leads to <a href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/esty_pitches_new_renewable_energy_portfolio_but_not_everyone_is_on_board/">environmental concerns</a>. But the transmission issues are not the only delivery problem we face.<br />
<br />
We have delivery service problems with both transmission and <i>distribution</i>. While transmission services bring electricity across great distances at high voltage, distribution services bring low voltage electricity from the "step down" transformers to your house. And it's with the power lines on your street that we face another problem: old infrastructure.<br />
<br />
So our electricity problems face both transmission and distribution issues, along with other issues, such as the emissions from fossil fuels plants. One way to address these issues is to generate electricity in CT.<br />
<br />
Solar photovoltaic arrays (PV) are one way to do this. Although current PV technology is not a panacea, it would mitigate the problems we face in the Constitution State. That's why we're trying to take action in Cheshire.<br />
<br />
The idea started with the state program <a href="http://solarizect.com/">Solarize CT</a>. I'll explain that in an upcoming post, but I need to sign off for the night.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-18960348257624603062013-03-31T09:43:00.001-04:002013-03-31T09:48:31.293-04:00Sequester closure date for Connecticut airportsFor all the bluster over the dire consequences of <i>sequestration</i>, the only thing that's caught my attention has been airport closings. I've used Tweed New Haven in the past and could use it again. But when March 1st came and went and nothing changed, I finished my yawn... having had my views of government officials reinforced. (That is, they knowingly lie or are too clueless to ask the right questions and get real answers.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, for the Nutmeggers who are interested in when the sequestration is supposed to impact CT airports, I found the <a href="http://blogs.ajc.com/jamie-dupree-washington-insider/2013/03/28/faa-sets-end-of-funding-for-air-traffic-control-towers/?cxntfid=blogs_jamie_dupree_washington_insider">airport closing list here</a>. CTs airports are listed as follows:<br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Stratford (BDR) -- 5 May 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Danbury (DXR) -- 5 May 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Groton (GON) -- 21 April 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Hartford (HFD) -- 5 May 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">New Haven (HVN) -- 5 May 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><i style="background-color: #fff2cc;">Oxford (OXC) -- 5 May 2013</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fff2cc;"><br /></span>
Just outside of CTs borders is Westchester Airport. I don't see it on the closure list. As well, news reports seem to say that Hartford's Bradley (BDL) isn't impacted. And I'm guessing that small airports, such as Meriden, don't have towers? Regardless, I was curious about Tweed. And I got my answer: <i>May 5th</i> is the targeted date for closure.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-87284802085158916632013-03-06T09:42:00.002-05:002013-03-06T09:42:25.759-05:00Summer-only pool?At the February Council meeting I voiced my opposition to spending more money to fix the bubble damage that occurred during Nemo. I've been tired of the pool spending for years... as I think a majority of town residents have been too. But for years the Council had supported the never-ending spending that had been predicated on <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2008/04/pool-referendum.html">the 1996 <i>fallacy</i></a> that the pool would be:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">1) open all year; and</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br />
2) self-supporting.</span><br />
<br />
But is the never-ending supporting coming to an end? <br />
<br />
Is the Town Council's view of the "need" for a year-round pool -- <i>broken from the attached promise of self-sufficiency</i> -- moving?<br />
<br />
The MRJ is reporting on that two Council members, Tom Ruocco and David Schrumm, are also voicing spending concerns. And while Tom has fought the unnecessary pool spending for years, David's shift is significant in the movement toward ending the wasteful pool spending. While there have been many such pool spending votes, one of the more memorable that comes to mind is <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2006/12/open-forum-1201.html">the $20,000 that got thrown away on a pool consultant</a>.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.myrecordjournal.com/cheshirecitizen/article_f45fec18-860f-11e2-8900-0019bb2963f4.html">MRJs Eve Britton reports</a>:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">Town Council Budget Committee Chairman David Schrumm agreed that a permanent solution has to be found, and if it can’t be, making it a summer-only pool is the only viable option.</span></i><br />
<br />
If David is serious about moving beyond the bubble, then the Council may finally be moving toward a real solution -- summer only. As a member of the Council <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2010/05/vote-to-send-pool-structure-to.html">I voted</a> to send the failed $7,000,000 permanent structure to the voters for consideration. We've already gone down the path of a permanent structure and the voters rejected it 61% to 39%. And considering the costs involved, I find it hard to believe a not-for-profit will want to take on the pool.<br />
<br />
The logical option is summer-only. Particularly if the cost to fix the bubble -- less insurance reimbursements -- is significant, I hope the Council seriously considers moving to a summer-only pool.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-56898764570736355312013-02-12T16:54:00.000-05:002013-02-12T16:54:13.970-05:00Cheshire's census data: mapping incomeWhile the US Constitution calls for an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_3:_Apportionment_of_Representatives_and_taxes">actual enumeration</a> of Americans, the enumeration (basically the US Census) no longer includes income data. It's now conducted via the <a href="http://www.census.gov/acs/www/">American Community Survey</a>. <br />
<br />
If you're interested in learning more about Cheshire's income, you can <a href="http://www.richblockspoorblocks.com/">click here</a>. It's a map that shows Cheshire as five neighborhoods: northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest & east (central). The "neighborhoods" generally mirror Cheshire's four Council districts and have median household incomes as follows:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Northeast: $124,000</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">Northwest: $112,000</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">Southeast: $98,000</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">Southwest: $112,000</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">East (central): $99,000</span><br />
<br />
So I guess I live in Cheshire's "poor neighborhood." j/k. There certainly are some people in need, but I don't think any 20% segment of Cheshire can be considered poor.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-82523538251596052832013-02-06T14:33:00.001-05:002013-02-06T14:44:00.372-05:00Cheshire election history (1979-2012): CEO turnoutIn the continuing series on Cheshire's election history, here you can see three data points for Cheshire's elections for POTUS:
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">1 - voter registration
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">2 - voter turnout (total # of voters who cast a ballot); and
</span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: red;">3 - votes for President (total # of voters who cast a ballot <i>for President</i>.
</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-swUdDpgu1JI/UQqfZbjKPKI/AAAAAAAAEe0/bnW8CyvWbEE/s1600/Scan%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-swUdDpgu1JI/UQqfZbjKPKI/AAAAAAAAEe0/bnW8CyvWbEE/s400/Scan%2B2.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
<br />
Here are the equivalent data for Gubernatorial races:
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FoLa1NAPlK0/UQqfZ1nTb8I/AAAAAAAAEfA/h2sRBeRTj5Q/s1600/Scan%2B6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FoLa1NAPlK0/UQqfZ1nTb8I/AAAAAAAAEfA/h2sRBeRTj5Q/s400/Scan%2B6.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
<br />
Due to my inability to manipulate excel, I separated the two trends into two different graphs. Furthermore, I matched the <i>voter registrations</i> to the year of the election. As a result, the <i>voter registration</i> trends for POTUS and Governor are different.
<br />
<br />
And here's the graph that I thought may be of most interest to you, <i>% turnout</i> by year. Again though, I faced system constraints with excel. So I coupled two successive elections together for each point on the horizontal axis. Anyway, you can see here that about 80% to 90% of Cheshire voters typically turnout for a Presidential election... while 60% to 70% turnout for Gubernatorial elections.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ygT38rYrLFY/UQqfag2PQ2I/AAAAAAAAEfM/MWxKrzzPbII/s1600/Scan%2B7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ygT38rYrLFY/UQqfag2PQ2I/AAAAAAAAEfM/MWxKrzzPbII/s400/Scan%2B7.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
<br />
And of course, you can find <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuuHW_THt58udDlNVi12YkVSQWtRTldVM05XUjhfM1E#gid=11">my source data here</a>.
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-27282736030042119622013-02-05T18:44:00.000-05:002013-02-05T18:47:18.531-05:00CCM vote: Forget R vs. D, think Authoritarians vs. PopulistsAs I noted in a recent post, some Council members were surprised by -- <i>and concerned about</i> -- a recent TM vote at a CCM meeting. And the concern <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/02/council-views-on-town-managers-ccm-vote.html">did not fall along party lines</a>.
<br />
<br />
Council members David Schrumm (R) and Peter Talbot (D) were<i> quite comfortable</i> with the TMs vote. Some Council members -- including Patti Flynn Harris (D), Tom Ruocco (R), Jimmy Sima (R) and Chairman Tim Slocum (R) -- were<i> not happy</i> with the TMs vote because he spoke for the Council without ever having received any Council guidance. One Council member, Mike Ecke (D), saw "<i>both sides</i>" of the issue.
<br />
<br />
This non-party line view reminded me of a little discussed concern that was addressed in 1824 by <a href="http://www.revolutionary-war-and-beyond.com/thomas-jefferson-famous-quotes.html#ixzz2K4RJxFeT">Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Henry Lee</a>:
<br />
<style="color: blue;">
<i><br /></i>
<style="color: blue;">
<i>Men by their constitutions are naturally divided into two parties:
</i><br />
<style="color: blue;">
<i><br /></i>
<style="color: blue;">
<i>1. Those that fear and distrust people, and wish to draw all powers from them into the hands of the higher classes.
</i><br />
<style="color: blue;">
<i><br /></i>
<i style="color: blue;">2. Those who identify themselves with the people, have confidence in them, cherish and consider them as the most honest and safe, although not the most wise depository of the public interests. In every country these two parties exist; and in every one where they are free to think, speak, and write, they will declare themselves.</i>
<br />
<br />
Far too often the public discourse focuses on Republicans vs. Democrats. But much of the time, I feel that the less discussed issue -- <i>authoritarianism vs. populism </i>or<i> aristocrats vs. republicans / democrats</i> -- is the more important issue.
<br />
<br />
In this situation of the TMs vote, it seems likely to me that you have a possible window into the authoritarian / populist tendencies of Council members.
<br />
<br />
And as Jefferson wrote that I would... I declare myself as an aspirant for belonging to the second group.
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-36972041939604830792013-02-04T00:36:00.003-05:002013-02-04T00:37:02.674-05:00Cheshire election history (1979-2012): The power of incumbencyFrom 1979 to 2012, we've had 17 local elections. We've also had four Council districts (<a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheshire-election-history-1979-2011.html">1st District</a>, <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheshire-election-history-1979-2011_10.html">2nd District</a>, <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheshire-election-history-1979-2011_12.html">3rd District</a>, and <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheshire-election-history-1979-2011_13.html">4th District</a>) since Cheshire got a Charter with elections beginning in November 1971. So since 1979, we've had 68 Council district elections.<br />
<br />
Of those 68 elections, only four elections have seen elected incumbents defeated:<br />
<br />
<i>1991 -- 3rd District, George Bowman (D) defeated Gil Leslie (R)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1995 -- 2nd District, Tom Stretton (D) defeated John Perotti (R)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>2003 -- 4th District, Tim White (R) defeated Lynn Salzer (D)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>2009 -- 3rd District, Andy Falvey (R) defeated Laura Dicaprio (D)</i><br />
<br />
There have been a number of appointed incumbents defeated at the polls. But my point here is about the power of incumbency for elected Council members.<br />
<br />
So only four times in 68 elections<span style="color: red;">*</span> have elected incumbents lost reelection. Elected incumbents normally win. And two times, elected incumbents were not even challenged:<br />
<br />
<i>2001 -- 1st District, Sheldon Dill (R)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>2011 -- 1st District, David Schrumm (R)</i><br />
<br />
Before I began this study of Cheshire's election history, I knew that the federal and state levels reelected incumbents about 95% of the time. Now we know that the same holds true for local elections in the Council districts.<br />
<br />
And one last tidbit... of the four challengers who won, three of them won on their first time out. Who was the stupid one who thought he could beat the odds even after losing once? <b><i>Me!</i></b> :)<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<i><span style="color: red;">*</span> Of the 68 elections, I'm not really certain that it was all elected incumbents who ran in the 1979 contest. And I did find the 1971 to 1977 election records in the Town Clerk's Office, but they're not a high priority for me. So that data collection will wait.</i>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-40515541705917785222013-02-02T08:37:00.002-05:002013-02-02T08:37:42.098-05:00Council views on Town Manager's CCM voteIn <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/town-of-cheshire-advocates-gun-control.html">a January 17th post</a> I raised an issue related to the <i>unelected</i> Town Manager who, during the prior week, went beyond his authority at a <a href="http://ccm-ct.org/Plugs/home.aspx">CCM</a> meeting in which <a href="http://advocacy.ccm-ct.org/Resources.ashx?id=f975caf0-7d6e-4e2d-83d1-43540e1703f7">a vote was taken</a> on gun control.
<br />
<br />
Following the vote, on January 16, the MRJ printed <a href="http://www.myrecordjournal.com/local/article_f3591198-601f-11e2-b38f-0019bb2963f4.html">this article</a> in which the <i>unelected</i> TM opines on the measures:
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i>I think that they were very reasonable</i></span>
<br />
<br />
This caught my attention because the <i>elected</i> Council had not deliberated gun control during a public meeting. So I posted the following question intended for <i>elected</i> Council members:
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i>Did you publicly, or privately, either individually or collectively, direct the TM to advocate for this?</i></span>
<br />
<br />
And thanks to the press, we're beginning to understand the views of <i>elected</i> Council members, particularly on the extent to which the <i>unelected</i> TM has authority to speak as a representative of Cheshire. The MRJ kicked off our understanding with <a href="http://www.myrecordjournal.com/cheshirecitizen/article_5cad855c-62b4-11e2-a03e-0019bb2963f4.html">this January 17 piece</a>:
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Ruocco (R)</b> - “It’s frustrating when you get emails from people who are upset. They feel like they’ve gotten sidestepped"
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Flynn-Harris (D)</b> - said Milone shouldn’t have cast the vote if it was viewed as representing town government’s position on gun policy.
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Talbot (D)</b> - had no issue with Milone’s vote, saying the town manager is asked to represent the town at CCM.
</i><br />
<br />
The Cheshire Patch largely <a href="http://cheshire.patch.com/articles/council-members-not-all-in-agreement-with-town-manager-on-gun-control">rehashed the MRJ talking points</a>, but the WRA added <a href="http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2013/01/31/news/local/700907.txt#blogcomments">some new insights on the <i>unelected</i> TMs authority</a> to use his office to advocate his own personal political agenda without any guidance or direction from <i>elected</i> Council members:
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Ecke (D)</b> - sees "both sides"
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Slocum (R)</b> - the Councilman named in the WRA piece "Manager chided for vote"
</i><br />
<br />
Separate and apart from the above news pieces:
<br />
<br />
<i><b>Sima (R)</b> - agrees with Ruocco and Slocum that the TM overstepped his authority
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Schrumm (R)</b> - agrees with Talbot that this vote represented the personal view of the TM, not the view of the Town
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Falvey (R)</b> - unknown
</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><b>Nichols (R)</b> - unknown
</i><br />
<br />
Interesting to me is that these responses regarding the TM's vote do not fall along party lines.
<br />
<br />
But perhaps the most telling comment so far came from our northern border via the MRJ:
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: blue;"><i>Southington Town Manager Garry Brumback was present at the meeting but abstained from voting. “My job is not to participate in policy discussions,” he said. “My job is to implement.”</i></span>
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>
Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-49102046373145677472013-01-30T23:54:00.000-05:002013-01-31T00:11:31.742-05:00Cheshire election history (1979 - 2012): US HouseContinuing with Cheshire's election history since 1979, I offer the history of our Congressional elections. For all of this time, we've been a part of the US House's 5th Congressional district or CT-5.
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gs8N7Hd0E1g/UQbwblA5xnI/AAAAAAAAEeI/KLiI0425rQA/s1600/Scan%2B5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gs8N7Hd0E1g/UQbwblA5xnI/AAAAAAAAEeI/KLiI0425rQA/s400/Scan%2B5.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
You'll notice that for the CT-5 I've included both non-major parties and "blank" votes. And I feel it's worth noting that a good amount of non-major party votes include cross-endorsements for major party candidates, such as 900 votes for Chris Murphy in 2008 on the Working Families party line.<br />
<br />
And as we write the history books on Cheshire politics, as <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2013/01/cheshire-election-history-1979-2011_28.html">I've mentioned before</a>, in 2005 Chris Murphy went to Rahm Emanuel and asked for money to run against then-incumbent Congressman Nancy Johnson. When Rahm asked for evidence that the CT-5 was winnable, Murphy pointed to electoral trends in Cheshire, such as party affiliation.
<br />
<br />
Murphy got the money and it appears to me that recent history has proved Chris Murphy's assertions to be true.
<br />
<br />
For the source data on this graph, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuuHW_THt58udDlNVi12YkVSQWtRTldVM05XUjhfM1E#gid=8">click here</a>.
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-22313603181577372462013-01-29T19:05:00.001-05:002013-01-29T19:06:47.600-05:00A day in the life: The doors of Cap HaitienHaiti's main city is Port-au-Prince. PAP is the capitol and the heart of Haiti. It can seem like an entirely different world from the rest of Haiti. Sometimes PAP is even called the "Republic of Port-au-Prince." :)
<br />
<br />
There are other cities in Haiti though. The second biggest city in Haiti is Cap Haitien. I had the chance to visit in August 2011. Although my main draw to Cap Haitien was the <a href="http://cindysisland.wordpress.com/tag/citadel/">awe-inspiring Citadelle</a>, what I found was... in its own way... enchanting. I give you...
<br />
<br />
<i>The doors of Cap Haitien!
</i><br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K6xJWFBV7g8/T4c6CoKFMVI/AAAAAAAAEPY/In7z-T83a1s/s1600/DSC00717.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730612867666096466" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K6xJWFBV7g8/T4c6CoKFMVI/AAAAAAAAEPY/In7z-T83a1s/s400/DSC00717.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dLtclA3tCXs/T4chNPCyeOI/AAAAAAAAEPM/XuvelpnKuw0/s1600/DSC00719.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730585562112489698" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dLtclA3tCXs/T4chNPCyeOI/AAAAAAAAEPM/XuvelpnKuw0/s400/DSC00719.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pijAVGrRtUY/T4cTLSfBElI/AAAAAAAAEPA/VJ8kET_Ich0/s1600/DSC00724.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730570135513666130" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pijAVGrRtUY/T4cTLSfBElI/AAAAAAAAEPA/VJ8kET_Ich0/s400/DSC00724.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
I love the colors...
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<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcCJ9h6igjI/T4b8CKTX-II/AAAAAAAAEO0/tRD_Z-VQMNQ/s1600/DSC00725.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730544689931090050" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jcCJ9h6igjI/T4b8CKTX-II/AAAAAAAAEO0/tRD_Z-VQMNQ/s400/DSC00725.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
especially the pastels...
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yw_fUW8MbvQ/T4b1yg9F6aI/AAAAAAAAEOo/O_jqDBLdJhs/s1600/DSC00726.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730537824063973794" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yw_fUW8MbvQ/T4b1yg9F6aI/AAAAAAAAEOo/O_jqDBLdJhs/s400/DSC00726.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-cqeVCRyfM/T4b03r_7GrI/AAAAAAAAEOc/1OB6KX49VsQ/s1600/DSC00728.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730536813416356530" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5-cqeVCRyfM/T4b03r_7GrI/AAAAAAAAEOc/1OB6KX49VsQ/s400/DSC00728.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
Look... Donald and Mickey are everywhere!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XoOwDcRkriM/T4bvEdrIpBI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/OKjaez2nczs/s1600/DSC00731.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730530435839599634" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XoOwDcRkriM/T4bvEdrIpBI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/OKjaez2nczs/s400/DSC00731.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
This is a lottery stall of sorts. It's one of thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of such gambling halls across Haiti.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dvQ210y_fgk/T4bp-7sg1XI/AAAAAAAAEOE/MDxHx9923wo/s1600/DSC00732.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730524843261089138" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dvQ210y_fgk/T4bp-7sg1XI/AAAAAAAAEOE/MDxHx9923wo/s400/DSC00732.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
And again... those beautiful Caribbean pastels.
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NecDxBW7Jm0/T4bpN20kUoI/AAAAAAAAEN4/siDQucCpQjw/s1600/DSC00735.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730524000139104898" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NecDxBW7Jm0/T4bpN20kUoI/AAAAAAAAEN4/siDQucCpQjw/s400/DSC00735.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CuHa2mT00lM/T4bnZDuKEWI/AAAAAAAAENs/1bMtJcLVVrw/s1600/DSC00736.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730521993557184866" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CuHa2mT00lM/T4bnZDuKEWI/AAAAAAAAENs/1bMtJcLVVrw/s400/DSC00736.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>
Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-6828887231939592032013-01-28T16:58:00.002-05:002013-01-31T00:11:52.207-05:00Cheshire election history (1974 - 2011): Party affiliationI'm guessing that this trend line is imperfect. The dip in unaffiliated voters around 1987 is probably too big. But as I've said, while this data is a fair representation of the election trends over the past few decades, it's also imperfect. Anyway, the large margin of registered Rs over registered Ds is correct for thirty years ago. And that voter registration margin did shrink until around 2006 when the Dems pulled even with the GOP in registration and soon pulled ahead.
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CgJMt1hT7Y/UPNogp3CGkI/AAAAAAAAEag/0NUsZUdVesU/s1600/d3%2Bd4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8CgJMt1hT7Y/UPNogp3CGkI/AAAAAAAAEag/0NUsZUdVesU/s400/d3%2Bd4.jpeg" width="322" /></a><br />
I looked at graphing the four Council districts, as well as the seven precincts, but have decided against publishing them. They just don't make much sense because the year-on-year data is inconsistent. And that became evident in several ways, including the decennial redistricting.<br />
<br />
So you should be able to see <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuuHW_THt58udDlNVi12YkVSQWtRTldVM05XUjhfM1E#gid=9">my source data
</a> (by year, by precinct) by clicking here, but I'm not convinced that you'll see anything particularly interesting in the trends. Also, the <i>date of measurement</i> was inconsistent from year to year. The date of measurement for most years happened in January, but that's not the case for every year.<br />
<br />
One note of interest for me is a story I heard back in early 2006. As then-state Senator Chris Murphy was looking build his campaign warchest, he went to Rahm Emanuel and asked for funding. When The Godfather asked for evidence that then-Congressman Nancy Johnson was beatable and the CT-5 was winnable, Murphy used Cheshire as the prime example of how the CT-5 was trending Democratic. Based on this trend, it appears Chris Murphy was correct.<br />
<br />
Also, the election records for party affiliation happen to date back to 1974, not 1979. So we have a bit more data for this trend. And going back to 1974 was of interest to me. It was the most recent year in which I found a precinct in which the plurality of voters was affiliated with a major party. In the 6th District in 1974, there were 279 Rs, 276 Us and 123 Ds. Since then, I believe unaffiliated voters have represented either a plurality or majority of the voters in every precinct.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-55242400408801269232013-01-26T21:09:00.000-05:002013-01-31T00:12:14.451-05:00Cheshire election history (1979 - 2011): CEO totalsSince the President and Governor are only elected quadrenially, I'm posting their Cheshire election trends together. Although I graphed them separately, I found them to have a very interesting relationship.<br />
<br />
<i>Can you guess what that relationship is?
</i><br />
<br />
Anyway, here are the election results for POTUS. As you can see, for the past few Presidential elections, both the D and the R have received votes in the range of 7000 to 8000:
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEa-xloUDMc/UPN3K5eYzdI/AAAAAAAAEbM/A2a6XL0-1Es/s1600/d3%2Bd4%2B2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mEa-xloUDMc/UPN3K5eYzdI/AAAAAAAAEbM/A2a6XL0-1Es/s400/d3%2Bd4%2B2.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
With regard to the "other" votes, the lion's share of those Presidential votes belonged to John Anderson in 1980, Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, and Pat Buchanan in 2000.<br />
<br />
And here are the election results for Governor. What I find fascinating is that for the past few elections, the GOP candidate for Governor has received about 7000 to 8000 votes. Yet the Democratic candidate for Governor has received 3000 to 5000 votes:
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-djhNvAZ02k8/UPN3LQDYVKI/AAAAAAAAEbY/MqvAlxrZdXI/s1600/d3%2Bd4%2B3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-djhNvAZ02k8/UPN3LQDYVKI/AAAAAAAAEbY/MqvAlxrZdXI/s400/d3%2Bd4%2B3.jpeg" width="400" /></a>
<br />
Similar to the elections for POTUS, most of the "other" votes in the Gubernatorial elections went to a small number of candidates. And both of the two major Gubernatorial vote recipients belonged to <i>A Connecticut Party</i>, represented by Lowell Weicker in 1990 and Eunice Groark in 1994.
<br />
<br />
Now to recap:
<br />
<br />
<u>President</u><br />
<span style="color: red;">Republican -- 7000 to 8000 votes</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Democrat -- 7000 to 8000 votes
</span><br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Governor</u><br />
<span style="color: red;">Republican -- 7000 to 8000 votes </span><br />
<span style="color: blue;">Democrat -- 3000 to 5000 votes
</span><br />
<br />
In other words, this suggests that low turnout elections favor Republicans... while high turnout elections favor Democrats. So in a way, this suggests that there was a logic to the 2012 Democratic argument that Republicans were trying to suppress the vote. And this just happens to be Cheshire. We haven't been central to any Presidential general election in decades. Yet the logic holds true.<br />
<br />
WRT "blank votes" I did not include them here. For the most part, there are generally very few blank votes for Governor or President. And for my source data on the Presidential and Gubernatorial elections, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuuHW_THt58udDlNVi12YkVSQWtRTldVM05XUjhfM1E#gid=7">click here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-60793226073351154572013-01-26T20:39:00.000-05:002013-01-26T21:26:10.129-05:00A day in the life: The kids at St. Pierre SchoolHere are some pix of the kids at a school that is sponsored by HHF.
<br />
<br />
Me with the kids:
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSlNmMCZO3Q/T4bj_m4O_hI/AAAAAAAAENg/gqCQSfuON40/s1600/DSC00569.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730518257783209490" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSlNmMCZO3Q/T4bj_m4O_hI/AAAAAAAAENg/gqCQSfuON40/s400/DSC00569.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Here's a result of the poverty. Injuries may not get treated:
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RHVMF9Q7xGA/T4bh1Z9pgpI/AAAAAAAAENU/1nXXn_Vd6RU/s1600/DSC00568.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730515883494310546" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RHVMF9Q7xGA/T4bh1Z9pgpI/AAAAAAAAENU/1nXXn_Vd6RU/s400/DSC00568.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
Eating candy that I had bought for the kids:<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t9sqLF-gVL0/T4bhHixd1lI/AAAAAAAAENI/VTaskdtB5fc/s1600/DSC00567.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730515095585150546" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t9sqLF-gVL0/T4bhHixd1lI/AAAAAAAAENI/VTaskdtB5fc/s400/DSC00567.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2HM91B5mJo/T4bdHRKpXjI/AAAAAAAAEM8/TkvoKRlm_5U/s1600/DSC00566.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730510692812414514" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--2HM91B5mJo/T4bdHRKpXjI/AAAAAAAAEM8/TkvoKRlm_5U/s400/DSC00566.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a><br />
And here are some of the kids playing just outside the school. I don't recall with certainty, but I'm guessing I probably took these pix on a Saturday or Sunday when I often went for a walk around town:<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13-BUAfAyck/T4a8fkh-27I/AAAAAAAAEMM/iwytbOb7ck8/s1600/DSC00571.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730474826443709362" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-13-BUAfAyck/T4a8fkh-27I/AAAAAAAAEMM/iwytbOb7ck8/s400/DSC00571.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0MNzvrS-ig/T4a659fFVhI/AAAAAAAAEMA/OLWF739CQOM/s1600/DSC00565.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730473080795780626" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z0MNzvrS-ig/T4a659fFVhI/AAAAAAAAEMA/OLWF739CQOM/s400/DSC00565.JPG" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 300px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-23092962984536812282013-01-25T18:49:00.002-05:002013-01-31T00:12:42.200-05:00Cheshire election history: ballot placement mattersOne election issue I had pondered in the past:<br />
<br />
<i>Does ballot placement matter?</i><br />
<br />
In particular, I wondered if it mattered for <i>at-large Council candidates</i>. So I analyzed this question by summing the votes for each of the Council at-large candidates for each of the past 17 elections. My sum totals for each column included Ds and Rs, but excluded other parties, that would probably appear in the 1st column.<br />
<br />
The total votes for all 17 elections for each column, including the D and the R:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">1 - 114,626 </span><br />
<span style="color: red;">2 - 108,608 </span><br />
<span style="color: red;">3 - 109,602 </span><br />
<span style="color: red;">4 - 111,590 </span><br />
<span style="color: red;">5 - 83,638
</span><br />
<br />
And for the 17 elections, both Ds & Rs ran at least four candidates each. However, five of the elections did not have a fifth candidate in one or two parties. Of those 34 slots, 27 slots were filled with at-large candidates. Five times the Dems ran four AL candidates. Two times the GOP ran four AL candidates. I used these two values (34 & 27) to calculate the average number of votes per "<i>candidate column</i>."<br />
<br />
To review my data, you can see <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AuuHW_THt58udDlNVi12YkVSQWtRTldVM05XUjhfM1E#gid=2">my source data here</a>.
<br />
<br />
The average number of votes for each at-large candidate in each column was:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">1 - 3,371</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">2 - 3,194</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">3 - 3,224</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">4 - 3,282</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">5 - 3,098 </span><br />
<br />
Nowadays, the ballot placement occurs by a drawing in the Registrar's Office. Back in the 1980s, the ballot placement was alphabetical. If we assume that a random drawing and alphabetical placement are similar, then I would think that the votes received by each column would be close to similar. But that's not the case.<br />
<br />
My conclusion is that <i>ballot placement matters</i>. If you get placed in the 1st column, you are <i>almost certain</i> to draw additional votes -- perhaps 100 to 300 votes -- that you would not have received if you appeared in a later column as an at-large Council candidate.<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-37333683937181551892013-01-25T00:15:00.001-05:002013-01-25T00:15:21.226-05:00Federal investigation of legislature demonstrates need for LCO 304 (subpoena power)Daily Ructions is continuing their reporting on the federal investigation into corruption in the Legislature's administrative arm:
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">A federal investigation of corruption at the state legislature had bureaucrats scrambling last fall to obtain legal representation for the Legislative Commissioner’s Office (LCO) and, weeks later, the Executive Director of the Office of Legislative Management (OLM) after Attorney General George Jepsen “declined to represent” the legislative offices...
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">Documents obtained by Daily Ructions reveal that those bureaucrats have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep information from taxpayers about the actions they are taking to protect the interests of their agencies and themselves at significant public expense.
</span></i><br />
<br />
You can read the rest of <a href="http://www.dailyructions.com/federal-criminal-investigation-at-legislature-confidential-and-politically-sensitive-extremely-urgent-in-nature/">Kevin Rennie's story here</a>.
<br />
<br />
I'm glad Rennie is following this, but I'm also glad that Rep. Al Adinolfi and Sen. Joe Markley introduced this session's legislation -- <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/TOB/H/2013HB-05079-R00-HB.htm">LCO No. 304</a>:
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<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">AN ACT CONCERNING INVESTIGATIVE SUBPOENAS.
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">That the general statutes be amended to authorize a state's attorney to issue a subpoena compelling a person to appear and testify or produce property necessary and relevant to an investigation into the possible commission of a crime.
</span></i><br />
<br />
Even if this legislation only applied to legislators, I'd be thrilled. Following the Donovan scandal, the legislature has demonstrated the need for someone to police them. Why leave the policing to only federal investigators? State investigators should also have the tools to go after corrupt politicians.
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-4674996589562696232013-01-21T21:59:00.002-05:002013-01-21T21:59:27.333-05:00Adinolfi and Markley introduce "subpoena power" legislationAs I mentioned <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2012/12/restoring-subpoena-power-to-states.html">last month</a>, State Rep. Al Adinolfi and State Sen. Joe Markley have <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/2013/TOB/H/2013HB-05079-R00-HB.htm">introduced legislation</a> to restore subpoena power to Connecticut's State's Attorneys.
<br />
<br />
The crux of my concern is that Connecticut has a significant amount of corruption that gets investigated by federal authorities, rather than state authorities. (<i><b>Think:</b> Rowland, Newton, Giordano, Deluca, Ganim, etc.</i>) And the reason it's typically the feds is that state investigators lack certain authorities, such as subpoena power, that are generally granted to federal investigators.
<br />
<br />
This lack of investigative ability first came to my attention in 2007 when I read <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/opinion/nyregionopinions/CT-Corrupt.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&">this NYTimes editorial</a>. And nothing has changed since then, as indicated in <a href="http://articles.courant.com/2012-12-28/news/hc-ed-agenda-good-government-20121228_1_government-contracts-union-contract-dannel-p-malloy">this December 28, 2012 Courant editorial</a>:
<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: blue;">We support any new effort to grant investigative subpoena power to state prosecutors.
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">Why do federal prosecutors crack most high-profile white-collar-crime cases in Connecticut — such as the Rowland scandal and the ongoing investigation into Chris Donovan's congressional campaign committee? Because they can compel testimony.
</span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="color: blue;">Give state prosecutors the tools to do the job.
</span></i><br />
<br />
And if you want to track the progress of this bill, <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/CGAbillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB5079">click here</a>.
<br />
<br />
<b>Tim White</b>Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21123853.post-42184640503990774912013-01-17T21:18:00.000-05:002013-01-17T21:18:15.158-05:00Happy 7th birthday to TWL!Happy birthday TWL! You were born <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2006/01/elderly-tax-relief.html">seven years ago today</a>.Tim Whitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16588518063096822071noreply@blogger.com1