Tue 15 Apr 2008
Angela Davis will be speaking at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain on Thursday, April 24th. She will be taking part in two panel discussions, the first at 2:00 titled “Are Prisons Obsolete?” and the second at 5:30 titled “Race, Class and Gender Issues in American Society.” The talks are in Torp Theatre in Davidson Hall.
Mon 17 Mar 2008
I’m trying to decide whether I’m in favor of putting up billions in public assets to rescue insolvent investment bankers. (more…)
Tue 12 Feb 2008
The Expo Center got kicked to the curb in favor of the Titanic Convention Center. It still hosts events, but having opened in 1998, it’s an outdated model. The Connecticut Convention Center is situated in a brighter building in a part of the city that does not have the lingering odor of the city dump or painful memory of DMB fans run amok. How is the Expo Center supposed to compete with that?
In the style of Gov. Rell, Eddie Perez has made it his mission to push an expensive and pointless agenda. He wants to essentially replace the Civic Center with a brand new arena, one that would cost between $285-315 million if constructed literally in place of the Civic Center. And his evidence for why this scheme would work? (more…)
Thu 31 Jan 2008
For the last four years, my law practice has consisted mainly of home mortgage closings for people refinancing their debts. (more…)
Thu 13 Dec 2007
Hard times lie ahead. We blew everything we had on diversions, including two wars, and now the tab is coming due.
Sat 1 Dec 2007
Here’s a yacht club we can all get behind, and you don’t need to own a boat. Taking on the bottled water industry with a taste test that proves the obvious: tap water, bottled water, it’s all H2O, baby. And you gotta love the yacht club vice commodore’s sign off:
“It seems people buy things they don’t need, with money they don’t have, to impress people they don’t like,”
writes Aurora Nowak, Hog River Yacht Club, University of Hartford
Thu 29 Nov 2007
My window looks out on a church parking lot, and I was gazing in that direction yesterday while the Foodshare truck was parked there. The line for provisions was alarmingly long, with quite a few children waiting alongside their parents. I don’t know how people shop in such a line, whether they get to ask for what they need or just take what’s offered, but they weren’t walking away with much, a bag or two. (more…)
Thu 15 Nov 2007
Did anyone read the article in the Courant about the dairy farmer in Ellington who had to sell his cows earlier this year in order to keep his farm? According to the article, a quarter of the 210 dairy farms in Connecticut have closed in just in the last 4 years!
If you are interested in learning more about agriculture’s precarious situation from the farmers themselves there is a viewing of the documentary The Farmer’s Voice at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church (814 Asylum) on Friday night from 6 to 8. This film is specifically about CT farms. Knox Parks is hosting the potluck event.
Thu 15 Nov 2007
John Perkins is the author of two books that expose the raping and pillaging of developing countries by economic assassins sent by the multi-national corporations to privatize national industries and degrade living standards. The books are entitled Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals and the Truth about Global Corruption. He was employed by the World Bank and IMF(International Monetary Fund). His job was simple. He would meet with the dictators and wealthy elite bribe them and promise their children access to the best schools in America while they would hand over national resources and industries to the multi-national corporations. This resulted in privatization of factories and natural resources, depressing wages and earnings of workers and allowing environmental pollution because there was no enforcement or recognition of health or environmental protection laws. People in Indonesia try to live on $2 dollars a day as a direct result of the economic assassins.
The economic hit men have appeared in Hartford. The out sourcing and hiring of consultants by the city is economic assassination. (more…)
Fri 28 Sep 2007
This weekend Hartford loses its only music instrument shop. New England Music was the only full service musical instrument, recording, live audio and DJ supply shop in the city. And as of September 29, it belongs to West Hartford. When I visited last week, Mike Simonetta, one of the four guys that run the shop, told me that part of the reason for the move was the desire for more space - for workshops, private lessons and events. He also mentioned that Hartford is not exactly the most small business-friendly place on Earth. Sound like a broken record?