Mixville FINALLY on the agenda

In case you hadn't noticed, despite numerous promises (from a number of people) to improve Mixville... other than addressing the geese, the park has continued to be largely ignored by Cheshire's Political Class. Thankfully though, the Council changed a wee bit a few months ago. So if you read this email from Town Hall, you'll be able to see that things may change:

Sheldon Dill would like to have an Ordinance Review Committee meeting for consideration and recommendation on the Mixville fees 2-tiered proposal. In addition, since the full Council doesn’t meet until July 14th, and it would therefore be five weeks before any fees (if approved) could go into effect, Chairman Hall has agreed to hold a joint Special Council Meeting with this ORC meeting to enable Council to act on these fees as soon as possible. Could you please let us know your availability on Thursday, June 18th at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, June 22nd at 7:30 p.m.? We will confirm the meeting date as soon as we hear back from everyone. Thank you!

As you can see, any improvements that happen at Mixville should be credited to Sheldon Dill. IMO, any other explanations are simply damage control for the continued neglect (see here and here) of the park by Cheshire's Political Class... of which Sheldon is not a member.

Tim White

Chasing the energy stimulus funds

Continuing to followup on an issue I began raising a few months ago, the Town is investigating the possibility of getting energy-related stimulus funds.

Tim White

MRJ on Dodd's prospective opponents

The MRJ has this rundown on the Ds and Rs lining up to challenge Dodd. Sammy gets a mention, but nothing for my guy on monetary policy - Peter Schiff.

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 24

The 24th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 4 (4 of 4)

No one knows for certain how many people died over the two days. The Chinese Red Cross initially reported 2,600, then quickly retracted that figure under intense pressure from the government. The official Chinese government figure is 241 dead, including soldiers, and 7,000 wounded.

Our bankers.

Gotta love those bipartisan policies emanating from Washington that have made America beholden to these guys.

Tim White

BL Companies lays off 25, Council leadership prefers to pay for "bells'n'whistles"

From the MRJs Mary Ellen Godin:

MERIDEN - Architectural firm BL Cos. is at the fore of planning and permitting activity and as such, among the first to feel the downturn.

Last week, the employee-owned company was forced to lay off 25 workers in its seven offices in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Thirteen of the affected workers were in the Research Parkway headquarters.

FWIW, BL Companies was the second choice for the building assessment project. BL would charge about $120,000 to do the same job as the likely winner. But the winner of the RFP wants $150,000. One of the people knowledgable on the selection process told me the main difference was that while BL was quite competent, they didn't offer the "bells'n'whistles."

So there you have it. This Council leadership takes direction from staff and, as a result, the taxpayers get shafted for $30,000... while the local economy loses jobs.

I wonder how far $30,000 would go in showing some respect to Mixville? Oh wait...



Tim White

Ideas, not personalities, are what matters

As I've been mentioning with more frequency lately, the Federal Reserve needs to be given a real audit. Just this week, Ron Paul's bill - HR 1207, Audit the Fed! - surpassed the critical 218 cosponsor mark in the House. And it was done in a bipartisan support - 150 or so Rs and 50 or so Ds, as well as 36 of the 71 members of Barney Frank's House Financial Services Committee. (Frank is not a cosponsor.)

Perhaps the most senior member on the Democratic side is the far left Presidential candidate, Dennis Kucinich. I've mentioned Dennis' opposition to the Federal Reserve in the past. So in a sense, Republican Ron Paul and Democrat Dennis Kucinich are leading the charge to demand accountability from the Beast the Fed.

And even the HuffPo has taken notice (by Ryan Grim):

The twin leaders of the movement personify the right-left coalition pressing for Fed reform. Kucinich ran for president representing the Democratic left flank, while Paul ran representing the libertarian wing of his party. The GOP embrace of Paul's Fed skepticism is a signal of its movement in his direction.

Anyway... my point with this post is simply... neither Ron Paul nor I would have ever cried over his GOP primary loss. That's because personalities don't matter. Ideas do. And the r3VOLution begun by Ron Paul in 2007 is just beginning to build steam.

Viva la revolucion! Let's take back our country!

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 23

The 23rd part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 4 (3 of 4)

"[A]fter a little while, like 40 minutes, people would gather up their nerve again and would crawl back to the corner and start screaming at the soldiers, and then the commander would eventually give another signal … and they'd shoot more in the backs," remembers journalist Jan Wong, who watched it all from her hotel room above the boulevard. "And this went on more than half a dozen times in the day." When rescue workers try to approach the street to remove the wounded, they, too, are shot.

Tim White

Mixville resident shares his thoughts on Mixville

An unedited guest post written to a group of Mixville supporters by Cheshire resident and Mixville neighbor, Terry Terzakis:

Hi,

I am writing to all of you who were on Laura's e mail list from the Mixville Park meetings. I want everyone to know that tonight someone from "out of town" decided to drive their Hummer SUV into the back pond at Mixville Park. This resulted in several fire trucks and several police having to answer the call to rescue. I hope all of you are as fed up as my family and as many of us in the neighborhood are. I am urging you all to take tonight's event as fuel for our fire and contact each and every member of a town authority as needed. The Town Manager, Head of Park and Rec, Police Chief, Council members... This would not have happened if the gates were closed and locked like we have been asking for since last year. The inner gate to the pavilion is not even being closed anymore. This is unacceptable and all of us need to voice this and do so loudly. And regardless of who these idiots were that decided to joy ride through the pond, someone could have been hurt or possibly killed. Is that what it's going to take for our town to wake up and do something about our park? Please pass the word to your families and neighbors whom you know are also passionate about saving our park. Now is the time to speak up. Make the calls, write the letters. Make a trip to town hall. If any of you have spent any weekend time at Mixville this summer know how bad it has become. If all of this were going on at Bartlem Park around the precious new playground there or around the pool, that park would be gated up faster than you can blink. Why is the town ignoring Mixville? Please make your voice heard.

Thanks,

Terry T. Terzakis

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 22

The 22nd part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 4 (2 of 4)

Later that morning, some people -- believed to be the parents of the student protestors -- try to re-enter Tiananmen Square via Chang'an Boulevard. The soldiers order them to leave, and when they don't, open fire, taking down dozens of people at a time. According to eyewitness accounts, the citizens seem not to believe the army is firing on them with real ammunition.

Tim White

HR 1207 hits 222; S 604 hits 2 !!!

Ron Paul's quest to kill the Fed is gaining steam!

HR 1207 - Audit the Fed has garnered 222 cosponsors... more than the 218 required to pass a bill in the House.

I love it!

Furthermore, Senator Bernie Sanders' sister bill - S 604 The Federal Reserve Sunshine Act - has gotten its first cosponsor!

Probably my favorite US Senator, Jim Demint, has signed onto Bernie's bill.

We're gaining momentum.

I intend to do my part to keep the pressure on Washington's two most famous crooks and liars - Geithner & Bernanke. And of course I need to keep the heat on Senator Ground Zero - a.k.a. Chris Dodd.

If we're ever going to reclaim America from the rich and powerful, we need to stop the Fed from their unprecedented actions.

Money doesn't grow on trees.

Tim White

Call 911 - There's a Hummer in Mixville pond!

I received an email tonight about Mixville. According to the email, someone drove a Hummer right through the upper pond tonight.

People are not happy... nor should they be. The pool's ugly stepsister continues to be ignored by the town. And what does the Budget Chair, Mike Ecke, propose?

We should ignore the problems, while pretending that we'll discuss them in the future.

The level of disrespect is unbelievable.

Tim White

p.s. I asked the resident if it would be alright to post his email. If he agrees, I'll put it up.

Peter Schiff nearing a Senate bid

Peter Schiff appears poised to announce a bid for the US Senate.

From Reuters' Joseph A. Giannone:

(Schiff) was not available for comment on Wednesday, but his brother Andrew told Reuters Schiff was traveling to Washington to meet with Senator John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The visit is the latest in a series of steps that show Schiff is seriously considering a jump from the fringes of Wall Street to Capitol Hill.

I think my favorite line though...

"He thinks he's in the House of Lords," Schiff said of Dodd, who is nearing the end of his fifth six-year term in the Senate.

Haha... that cracked me up. I'd be quite happy if the voters give both Dodd and Lieberman the boot asap.

Tim White

Credit rating agency upgrades town

One of the credit rating agencies visited Cheshire and just gave us an upgrade. And now the emails are starting... talking about how wonderful the upgrade is.

From a certain perspective I understand why some people think this is a good thing. But by the same token, I also feel there is a certain degree of intellectual dishonesty here.

As I've explained before, the ratings agencies were at the heart of the current economic meltdown. And other people agree:

“Ratings agencies just abjectly failed in serving the interests of investors,” SEC Commissioner Kathleen Casey says.

To speak of the benefits of a rating upgrade, while ignoring the fact that the ratings agencies said the MBS' and CDS' were good... and Lehman was an A company on September 15, 2008... is to say people love the pool.

Sure, some people do love the pool. But it's also got some pretty big problems associated with it.

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 21

The 21st part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 4 (1 of 4)

At about 1:00 a.m., the People's Liberation Army finally reaches Tiananmen Square and waits for orders from the government. The soldiers have been told not to open fire, but they have also been told that they must clear the square by 6:00 a.m. -- with no exceptions or delays. They make a final offer of amnesty if the few thousand remaining students will leave. About 4:00 a.m., student leaders put the matter to a vote: Leave the square, or stay and face the consequences. "It was clear to me that they stay votes were much, much, much stronger," recalls eyewitness John Pomfret, who was near the students. "But Feng Congde, who was a student leader at the time, said, 'The go's have it.'" The students vacate the square under the gaze of thousands of soldiers.

Tim White

Freedom of Information Commission does not require emails to be stored by Town Hall

With regard to Chairman Hall's request that all constituent contacts be filed with Town Hall, I spoke with the Freedom of Information Commission.

I explained the call to forward all constituent contacts to Town Hall and said I opposed this on principle. It's an invasion of privacy, IMHO.

Furthermore, I believe this would be an administrative nightmare when you consider that we have 20+ boards and commissions. And the memo's self-serving comment that "we receive few documents that do not come through Town staff" is beyond my comprehension. How could the writer* of this memo have any idea how often I am contacted by constituents? That makes absolutely no sense... unless we have the Oracle of Delphi on staff in Town Hall.

Regardless, the FOIC informed me that they have issued no directive for public officials to store all records with Town Hall. The FOIC simply wants records to be maintained. And it's perfectly acceptable for me to retain them.

Tim White

* Hall signed it, but he said he did not write it.

CNBC highlights a death threat to the Federal Reserve

Check out the front page, above-the-fold headline of the CNBC homepage today:Sweet!

People are saying that Ron Paul's HR 1207 could lead to the death of the unconstitutional Federal Reserve. I love it!

Read the CNBC story here

Tim White

Chamber golf tournament on July 27 at The Farms

The Cheshire Chamber of Commerce announced:

Our 25th Annual Golf Tounament will be on Monday, July 27th at The Farms Country Club. It promises to be a landmark event. Please click here to be connected to the Tournament registration and sponsorship.

Tim White

Barone on a new GOP strategy... go Ron Paul!

I noticed a Michael Barone piece cross-posted by Ironman. It's a fascinating read to me. While he ignores the middle east wars, he offers his suggestion for a winning GOP strategy. He says Republicans should run against the power center of Washington:

This center includes the Treasury, with its $700 billion of TARP funds voted last fall to purchase toxic assets from financial institutions and used instead to quasi-nationalize banks and preserve union benefits for employees and retirees of bankrupt auto companies. It includes the Federal Reserve, which has been vastly increasing the money supply. It includes a federal government whose $787 billion economic stimulus has so far failed to lower the unemployment rate from where the government projected it would be without the stimulus package.

What I love is that he's offering Ron Paul's agenda.

My guy didn't come anywhere near winning in 2008. But it's the victory of ideas that matters.

Tim White

Schools: new science classroom and special ed director

The schools have hired a special ed director. And the schools will also be opening their second science classroom courtesy of the Cheshire Education Foundation.



Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 20

The 20th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 3

As word spreads that hundreds of thousands of troops are approaching from all four corners of the city, Beijingers flood the streets to block them, as they had done two weeks earlier. People set up barricades at every major interstion. At about 10:30 p.m., near the Muxidi apartment buildings -- home to high-level Party officials and their families -- the citizens become aggressive as the army tries to break through their barricades. They yell at the soldiers and some throw rocks; someone sets a bus on fire. The soldiers start firing on the unarmed civilians with AK-47s loaded with battlefield ammunition.

"The first rounds of fire catch everybody by surprise," recalls human rights observer Timothy Brook. "The people in the streets don't expect this to happen." The wounded are taken to nearby hospitals on bicycles and pull-carts, but the hospital staff are unequipped to deal with the severe wounds. Muxidi sees the highest casualties of the night; an untold number of people are killed.

Tim White