Undercurrents

Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever

jerimarie liesegang — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:13:56 +0000

To quote the eloquent Gomer Pyle: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

As the Senate (and let’s not forget Ms. Pelosi and many of her fellow House colleagues in this realm) is likely to hand Bush another victory in the pending FISA vote (today); the Rasmussen report yesterday reveals that the percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. The report notes that this month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. This is down from a whopping 11% last month! Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category. Of course it should be noted that the four Connecticut House Dems voted against against both the war supplemental and against retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies included in the FISA bill.

The full report is pasted below or can be found at this link.

Congressional Performance Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever Tuesday, July 08, 2008 The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category. Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008. The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13% this month. The number of Democrats who give Congress a poor rating remained unchanged. Among Republicans, 8% give Congress good or excellent ratings, up just a point from last month. Sixty-five percent (65%) of GOP voters say Congress is doing a poor job, down a single point from last month. Voters not affiliated with either party are the most critical of Congressional performance. Just 3% of those voters give Congress positive ratings, down from 6% last month. Sixty-three percent (63%) believe Congress is doing a poor job, up from 57% last month. Just 12% of voters think Congress has passed any legislation to improve life in this country over the past six months. That number has ranged from 11% to 13% throughout 2008. The majority of voters (62%) say Congress has not passed any legislation to improve life in America. Voters hold little positive sentiment about the future. Just 41% find it at least somewhat likely that Congress will address important problems facing our nation in the near future, while 55% find this unlikely. Despite these negative attitudes towards Congress, Democrats continue to enjoy a double digit lead on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Most voters (72%) think most members of Congress are more interested in furthering their own political careers. Just 14% believe members are genuinely interested in helping people.

A separate Rasmussen survey found that half of all voters believe America’s best days are in the past. However, another survey found that 64% of voters also believe that the world would be a better place if more countries were similar to the United States.

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Nashawn Williams Press Conference

jerimarie liesegang — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:02:22 +0000

Nashawn Williams was brutally attacked by racist whites in Plainfield while waiting for a school bus in Oct 2007. Minister Cornell Lewis will bring the family to Hartford for a Press Conference on Saturday July 12th at 11 AM. This is the first time Nashawn Williams will publicly speak about the attack and having a group of whites taunt the family while inside their home. Police are trying to close the case; no witnesses or arrests.

Place: Charter Oak Cultural Center

Address: 21 Charter Oak Avenue, Hartford

Date/Time: Saturday, July 12 at 11 AM

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Riverfest

kerri — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:15:16 +0000

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More than Violent Acts

kerri — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:24:55 +0000

Hartford cares. Hundreds from Hartford and surrounding towns showed up to prove this. Under canopies, a dozen community groups set up to hand out literature, candy, magnets, and let people know what they offered. Knox Parks Foundation, Rebuilding Hartford, My Sister’s Place, CREC, Community Renewal Team, and Hartford Public Access were among these organizations.

A “Wall of Commitment” (giant posterboard) was set up for attendees to write on. Many used this as a place to publicly promise to make changes in their actions as related to Hartford; others used it to say what they are already doing (what organizations they are affiliated with) or what they think about the city.

The two-hour long program moved rapidly, lagging only during the extended candlelight vigil toward the end. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra performed several times during the night– a pleasant surprise for me, since I’m not the type to seek out orchestra music.

Ted Carroll, President of Leadership Greater Hartford (organizers of the event) gave the greeting, which also moved along. I don’t want to be the person to point this out, but there is some irony in thanking the Hartford Courant and WTIC radio for being media sponsors of this event, since the Hartford Courant along with other local media are part of why the national media picked up on recent incidents, causing damage the Hartford’s reputation. Some on the Courant staff have written meaningful columns after this, but we should remain critical of any outlet that would post video without any context. We live in the age of the internet, when material is quickly picked up and dispersed. Few bother to investigate their sources, as Christine, Heather, and I were discussing. False information gets spread nearly instantly, and is difficult to rectify later. It’s fine to be diplomatic if a company is giving money, but let’s not forget their own role in why the event has to happen at all– even with such a great showing of people from Hartford who do care about our community, I have to wonder how much damage this will undo.

MIRA and Mind Evolution, both spoken word artists, earned robust applause from the audience. MIRA performed “I Wish We All Had Daughters,” and Mind Evolution, “When I Grow Up.” There was dance, drumming, a puppet of what I believe was a Phoenix (it was a bird of some kind, I think), and a series of “conversations” (interviews and speeches).

Rabbi Donna Berman announced that there would be a second Hartford Cares gathering held at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in July. That one will allow the community more of an opportunity to be active in the conversation.

From my chats with people, there was a lot of surprise about the number of people in attendance and the racial diversity. A few thought that the “cheese factor” would have been way higher than it was. Actually, until the grand finale of dozens of adults and children crammed on the bandshell stage, singing and swaying, it really was not corny. And for those who must know, there was absolutely no singing of Kumbaya.
extended version of this post can be found at Real Hartford

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Immigrant workers sue Rocco’s Bakery in New Haven

Peter G — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:01:45 +0000

People who know me know that I am not by nature a secretive person. Nor am I known for keeping my opinions to myself.

So it is with a great sense of relief that I can now disclose that for almost nine months I’ve been working with lawyers from New Haven Legal Assistance on a case involving allegations of involuntary servitude, assault and abuse and violations of wage and hour laws at a bakery in New Haven. The twist is this: because the conditions to which our clients (six of the employees) were subjected were so bad, we were actually able to get *help* for them from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In fact, when the employer found out that the employees were planning to sue, ICE swooped in, removed our clients, and turned them over to social workers from the International Institute in Bridgeport. The In’tl. Inst. folks are presently housing our clients in an undisclosed location, and we are hopeful that in addition to bringing this civil lawsuit we will also be able to help them obtain work authorizations and visas.

Here’s the story as reported by the New Haven Independent online and here’s the Courant article.

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