The Beast got served a subpoena!

From Bloomberg's Scott Lanman:

The Federal Reserve was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee for e-mails and documents related to Bank of America Corp.’s purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. after the panel was unable to obtain them through a request last week.

Yee-haa!

Needless to say, Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd had absolutely nothing to do with this. He continues to oppose transparency and oppose good government... when it comes to The Masters of the Universe his friends at the banks. (Anyone have the link to the 2007 WaPo article that described Dodd as the Bankers' best friend?)

And in related news, the Campaign for Liberty is reporting that Ron Paul's HR 1207 - Audit the Fed now has 207 cosponsors! And as usual, Congressman Chris Murphy continues to play stupid about this bill.

Murph ran against Nancy Johnson as a reformer. But what does he do when he gets into office? He ignores the crooks and liars - Geithner and Bernanke. For the life of me, I can't understand why he remains silent on the need to have a real audit of the Fed.

Tim White

Rasmussen's latest on voter preferences

From Rasmussen Reports:

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of 10 key issues, including the top issue of the economy...

Republicans also now hold a six-point lead on the issue of government ethics and corruption, the second most important issue to all voters and the top issue among unaffiliated voters.

I wonder if this translates to a local level?

Tim White

Roads to be improved in 2009

The list of roads to be improved this year has finally been announced. See the lists here:If you watched the meeting, you may have noticed me ask about who crafted this list. I thought I heard the TM mention that the list was prepared by the DPW Director. And while that would have been fine a year ago... I don't see why staff would be involved in crafting this list in the least bit... not after we invested wasted $50,000 on yet another consultant.

Regardless, while these reports aren't exactly the easiest things to understand... you can now see which roads will be improved this year.

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 19

The 19th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

June 2

The Party elders approve the decision to put down the "counterrevolutionary riot" and clear the square with military force. Most hope it can be done without casualties. Unaware of what was about to happen, Hou Dejian, a Chinese rock star, and three prominent intellectuals start a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. Demonstrators continue their sit-in and their calls for democratic reforms.

Tim White

The Beast is starting to feel the heat!

Between Congressman Ron Paul's H.R. 1207 and Senator Bernie Sanders' S.604, it seems The Beast The Federal Reserve is getting nervous. Heck, this blog had several visitors this morning from the U.S. Senate checking out my weekend post calling out Senator Dodd for his lip service on good government.

Robert Schmidt at Bloomberg News shows the Fed is scared:

The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.

My guess is that Bernanke and his cronies are getting concerned about stuff like this:

One YouTube clip, of Florida Democratic Representative Alan Grayson’s grilling of Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman, has garnered almost 500,000 views in about a month.



Helicopter Ben doesn't like people to know he's the clown running this three-ring circus.

Tim White

My reception yesterday

I had a great time yesterday. While I was out knocking on doors, not only was my visit welcomed by everyone I met (even the people who told me they'd never vote for me!), but one resident clipped a pink peony for me (for my girlfriend, really)... I also had several residents offer me some water (it was pretty hot)... including one lady who then asked "cold or room temperature?" Only to have her return to the front door with several bottles of chilled, flavored water! It was really nice.

I also got invited in by one lady who told me that she had just returned from the Seven Angels Theater in Waterbury. She loved the rock'n'roll performance she had seen and highly recommended it for others... I may check it out this summer.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself yesterday. It was a lot of fun.

As for issues... Mixville was the hot topic. Many people are not particularly happy. Frankly, I agree. For years, the Town Hall has a made conscious decision to ignore Mixville... while trying to push people toward the pool. And of course, my friends behind the dais happily ignore this willful disrespecting of west Cheshire. But hey... at least the Council is honest about it.

Tim White

Further explanation on the FOI request

With regard to yesterday's post about FOI, I got some more information today. I now understand that this is being driven by a couple things, not any Council members.

First, the state Freedom of Information Commission has been getting more forceful in their expectations - fair enough in my opinion. But not in this case which I believe would have a chilling effect on communication between Council members and town residents.

Second, this was suggested to the Town Hall as a result of ongoing legal issues.

Regardless, I have no intention of complying with the direction detailed in the memo. Sorry. Ain't gonna do it.

Tim White

Geithner's attempt to buy toxic assets failed

First, recall back to March when wonderboy Tim Geithner was hailed as The Man to save the world from the end of civilization as we know it!.

Now, fast forward to June. Over at the HuffPo, Robert Kuttner is reporting that Geithner's plan to subsidize 94% of the banking industry's worthless assets has crumbled:

Last Wednesday, the FDIC quietly folded a program that was the centerpiece of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's effort to get toxic assets off the books of banks.

The program, whose details were unveiled in late March after six awkward weeks of delay while the administration worked out the details, included special incentives for what Geithner delicately termed "legacy assets." These are the junk securities on banks' balance sheets, mostly backed by sub-prime loans, for which ordinary buyers cannot be found.

I said it then and I say it now... just say NO to Geithner's schemes!

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 18

The 18th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

May 25 - June 1

Over the next week, the demonstrations continue, and Beijing operates with no real police presence and with a virtually free press. In Tiananmen Square, the atmosphere is jubilant, but at government headquarters, Deng Xiaoping is devising a new offensive to end the protest. Armed troops will be sent in from every military district in the country.

"I think the leaders felt that they had been thwarted in the most obvious and humiliating manner,"says Orville Schell. "[A]nd the second time around they brought in troops from far away who didn't have connections to Beijing, whose kids weren't in the square. And they decided they would brook no obstacle."

Tim White

Hall wants all Council / constituent contacts controlled by Town Hall

Chairman Hall apparently wants all contacts by town residents to be controlled by Town Hall and retained under the Freedom of Information Act. It seems a bit much to me. As well, I'm curious when and who further defined the FOI Act. Over the past few years, I've been repeatedly told that FOI is unclear with regard to email.Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 17

The 17th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

The troops finally are able to leave, but the government views the whole episode as another humiliation and challenge to its power. "The party leaders feared that the whole edifice of communism was going to collapse," says journalist John Pomfret. "They needed to make a stand, and a bloody stand, to show their population, and in effect, to cow their population, back into submission."

Tim White

One month anniversary of Dodd's lip service

Jane Hamsher of the liberal blog FireDogLake made this video on May 6. In the video, Dodd promised to ask for the names of the banks that received the Federal Reserve's recently printed $2.2 trillion.



Since a month has passed, does anyone happen to know if Dodd has even asked for the names yet? And if by chance he fulfilled his promise... has he gotten an answer? Don't forget... he's the Senate Banking Chairman. So he could simply subpoena the information... if he really wanted it. But then, I'm guessing that in large part the Fed's printing press was being run for the benefit of Chris Dodd's large campaign donors... such as Goldman Sachs. So would Dodd really want that information revealed?

I conclude that Chris Dodd was paying lip service to Jane Hamsher. I further conclude that Chris Dodd opposes transparency and good government.

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 16

The 16th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

May 20

For the first time in 40 years of Communist rule, the PLA troops attempt to occupy Beijing. A huge number of civilian protestors block their convoys on the streets. Beijingers begin a dialogue with the soldiers, trying to explain to them why they shouldn't be there. "You had these … touching moments of the people appealing to the army to join them, and feeding them, and giving them water, and saying, you know, 'Could be your son. Could be your daughter,'" says Orville Schell, who was in Beijing at the time. "And [you have] these sort of doe-eyed, puzzled soldiers, who were mostly country people, weren't experienced with big city life, just wondering what was going on here. And not wanting to hurt anybody."

The soldiers have been ordered not to fire on civilians, even if provoked. They are stuck -- unable to reach the protestors in Tiananmen Square and unable to withdraw from the city -- for almost three days.

Tim White

Council meeting - June 9, 2009

The Council agenda for Tuesday's meeting:I'll post it later, but I'm guessing you'll find item 10 (Chairman's report) unusually interesting this month.

Tim White

Ordinance Review discusses fees at Mixville

From the NHRs Luther Turmelle:

Efforts to implement a two-tiered fee structure for using Mixville Park was unanimously approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission Wednesday night, but stalled before the Town Council’s Ordinance Committee during a joint meeting of the groups.

Parks and Recreation officials wanted to put the fees in place immediately, but the council’s Ordinance Committee wants to study the issue for a month.

As a result, tempers flared:

(P&R Commision Chairman Jim) Nankin said he is frustrated by the council’s unwillingness to act because members of that body originally approached the Parks and Recreation Commission about implementing fees.

“This was your (the council’s) idea,” Nankin snapped at Democratic Councilman Sheldon Dill. “We would have left things alone.”

And ultimately, the Council's so-called leadership decided to whitewash the issue and punt:

“I would suggest we take this up again during the start of the next budget season,” said Ecke, who chair’s the council’s Budget Committee.

Tim White

WRA opines on the need for honest government

The WRA editorializes:

Two Democratic senators, Joseph Crisco of Woodbridge and Thomas Gaffey of Meriden, recently admitted to felonies. Yet leaders of your Democratic legislative supermajority can't even bring themselves to condemn the conduct, let alone remove the offenders from their leadership posts, censure them or fulfill their promise to create an ethics committee. And since they have the numbers, they have the power to let everything drop until the next wayward Republican senator comes along...

Rather than giving the Democrats a tool to torment and persecute them, Republicans should field upstanding, credible candidates to oppose the lawless Democratic incumbents in 2010, continue to pound the honest-government drum from now until Election Day, and follow the advice of Sen. Andrew Roraback, R-Goshen: Lead by example and disabuse "the public of the widespread misapprehension that most of us are here for the wrong reasons."

As has been reported, a return to good government is a concern for voters. I agree... at all levels of government. Not just in Hartford and Washington.

Tim White

Cheshire Tea Party - June 8 @ 5pm

Someone is planning a Cheshire Tea Party for this Monday, June 8 at 5pm. For more details, click here.

Tim White

Tiananmen Square - 1989 revisited - part 15

The 15th part in a PBS piece published in 2001 by Andrew J. Nathan and Perry Link:

May 19

Student leaders learn of the plan to declare martial law and call off their hunger strike. Instead, they stage a mass sit-in in Tiananmen Square that draws about 1.2 million supporters, including members of the police and military and industrial workers. Zhao Ziyang appears in Tiananmen Square in a final, unsuccessful effort to appeal for compromise. It is his last public appearance. He is soon removed from office and replaced by Jiang Zemin.

That evening, Li Peng appears on state television to declare martial law. "We must adopt firm and resolute measures to end the turmoil swiftly, to maintain the leadership of the party as well as the socialist system." (Read a translation of his speech.)

June 5



Tim White

The April 22, 2008 vote to raise pool fees

A trip down memory lane... here's the April 22, 2008 discussion and vote on revising the pool fees:





I'm sure glad we hired that pool consultant. We got such useful information from them.

Tim White

Rasmussen Reports: voters' concerns

From a Rasmussen Report released yesterday:

As usual, the economy remains at the top of the list of issues among voters, with 81% who say the issue is very important. That number has changed very little over the past year. Government ethics and corruption comes in second on the list, with 76% of voters who believe it is a very important issue.

While both Democrats and Republicans see economic issues as the most important, GOP voters now rank government ethics and corruption as second over national security issues. Voters not affiliated with either party see government ethics as the most important issue, with the economy close behind.

It's too bad for Cheshire's Political Class Washington's Political Class that they oblivious to the concerns of voters.

Tim White