Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Friday October 17, 2008

What could be scarier than a pumpkin carved into the likeness of Gov. Jodi Rell?
Well, frankly, if it isn’t wearing one of those doily scarves that the governor seems to be weaning away from, alot of things, her predecessor, John “Why Should I Resign if I’ve Done Nothing Wrong” Rowland, for starters. He presents a cautionary tale for any adults and children alike.
John McCain laughing would be another.
Anyway, the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk is promoting its imminent “Jack-O’-Lantern Spectacular” and have a pumpkin with her image.
From October 23 through November 2, the aquarium will expand its usual 10-to-6 hours by reopening from 6 to 11. Tickets are available on their web site: www.MaritimeAquarium.org.
Too bad the Rell pumpkin artist, Kim Reckner, used a photo provided by Rell’s office. The Blogster would prefer an artist’s vision that struck the look of distaste that Rell could have displayed upon first realizing that she is more articulate than Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
There’s no word in the news release on whether the pumpkins are destined to become pies.
The Aquarium expects 20,000 people coming through and recommends you buy tickets in advance.You can also get them over the phone by calling the Aquarium’s reservations desk: 203-852-0700, ext. 2206.
Show times are 6 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 10:30 p.m.
If you like your politics printed rather than carved, consider CafePress’s political T-shirt contest. The Blogster failed to post the rules of the challenge before the deadline last week, so you can’t design a shirt yourself, but you can still vote for your favorite entry and have a say in who gets the Gibson SG guitar and who goes to Washington for the inauguration of the next president, who at this point appears to be Barack Obama, barring more of those long lines at the polls in Cincinnati or the Democrats’ ability to self destruct.
Check the entries at:

http://shop.cafepress.com/sportyoursupportcontest

If I had it together to meet the deadline, I would have entered “Dow 7,500 Vote McCain,” or depending on your persuasion “Dow 7,500 Vote Obama.”

Thursday October 16, 2008

About 10 p.m. last night, the Blogster wondered who had the scarier smile. Was it the self-destructive mask Brian Dennehy wore as “Erie” Smith, the riveting, fading gambler in the Long Wharf Theatre’s great revival of Eugene O’Neill one-act “Hughie?” Or was it the eerie, forced grin/grimace that Sen. John McCain seemed to sprout every time he wanted to refute Barack Obama during the final presidential debate?
The play, which has already been extended for a week, according to Gordon Edelstein, the artistic director, opened last night.
The brisk, 50-minute show includes Joe Grifasi as the night clerk in the fleabag New York hotel who has been hired to replace Erie’s pal, Hughie, whose death sent Erie on what they called in 1928 was a “toot” of several days. Erie’s bluster nearly covers the pain and the piper that must be paid in several days. It reminded me of the coming Election Day, around the corner, when we’ll find out who’s the next president.
After the performance, just before the Blogster fled to hear and see the presidential debate, Edelstein offered a toast to a crowded hallway in the little theater, calling O’Neill, who died in 1953, a still-iconic presence in American theater. He praised Dennehy and Grifasi for working for a pittance. Dennehy, standing with Grifasi, then chimed that unemployment might be lucrative.
“We’d make more money if we WEREN’T working,” Dennehy quipped.

Monday October 13, 2008

The Capitol and state government are shut up tighter than clams today, it being Columbus Day and all. But the Blogster is gauging the fallout of Friday historic ruling from the Supreme Court that declared same-sex civil unions unconstituional.
As reluctant as Gov. Jodi Rell is to accept Associate Justice Richard Palmer’s historic majority ruling, the governor should embrace the possibilities.
She’s been promoting this semi-lame “Staycation,” so think of the economic spillover when committed gays and lesbians start getting hitched next month. Garry Stack of Woodbridge, the retired Stratford educatior, joked that he and his partner John Anderson are all set to register at Home Depot.
Well, the statewide Justice of the Peace Association, who’ll be performing the majority of the new civil marriages, are ready to make more money.
Here’s an excerpt from their emergency newsletter.
“Revised licenses for marriage will be available at Town
Clerks’ offices beginning on October 28, when the law takes
effect…
“Thousands of civil unions have been performed in
Connecticut since 2005. Now that they have been declared
unconstitutional, it’s likely that a majority of couples
affected by the decision will take the step of getting married.
Furthermore, since NY Governor Paterson recently declared that
NY will recognize legal marriages from other jurisdictions
(despite their not being offered in NY), gay couples residing in
NY will likely head for CT in the near future. That’s a lot of
new business for Connecticut JPs. (Of course many religious
leaders will also be willing to officiate at gay ceremonies, but
most Catholic priests and officiants from other denominations
will probably refuse.)
“The JP Association has revised the home page of both
[http://www.jpUS.org] and [http://www.findaJP.com] hailing the
Supreme Court ruling and promoting member Justices of the Peace
as ready, willing and enthusiastic about performing marriages
for gay couples.
Upcoming Fall Conferences Will Address Gay Marriage
Civil unions had been on the agenda for all three
morning conferences scheduled for Oct. 25 (Durham), Nov. 8
(Bristol) and 15 (Norwalk), so we are indeed prepared to help JPs
get ready to marry couples of the same gender. Three different
speakers will share their unique experiences performing civil
unions to help conference attendees find the right words and get
comfortable pronouncing gay couples MARRIED. (By the way, which
term do you prefer: same-sex, same gender, gay or something else?….
How YOU Can Help
This is a great opportunity to publicize the important role that
JPs play as wedding officiants. Newspapers, TV and radio
stations will be seeking out JPs to interview. The JP
Association has prepared a news release and we welcome your
assistance in submitting it to media. You know your local
resources better than we do and a local contact is always
appreciated to provide further information or for interviews. If
you let us know which outlets you will submit to…”

October 10, 2008

After 17 months of waiting, gay activists are celebrating this morning’s state Supreme Court decision that calls the 2005 civil-union law unconstitutional and says same-sex couples should have the right to marry.
“It’s a clear-cut victory,” Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, a lawyer and University of New Haven professor. He’s also gay.
Now it’s clear why it took since May of 2007 to crank out the case. The 4-3 ruling includes three lengthy dissents.
The bottom line is the case will go back to New Haven Superior Court for a possible evidentiary hearing and the General Assembly will be under the gun to create a gay-marriage statute.

Wednesday October 8, 2008

And it’s the morning after Presidential Debate Round Two.
The race seems to be growing in urgency now as the economy tanks and the stakes rise in the campaign’s vector to November 4. But the nation the winner gets to lead may become a booby prize.
That’s what the Blogster was thinking last night, watching the tube for the 90-minute throwdown in Nashville.
I was relieved to see that McCain finally looked Obama in the face upon their greeting each other at the start of the fourm, which Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader said on WNPR, the Hartford Public Radio affiliate, this morning was bought and paid for by the corporate interests who have run the country into the ground and shut him out of the national debate.
Anyway, a 90-minute televised pressure cooker is probably not a good way to foster the national discussion, but it’s all we have, so little things had larger importance. I mean, who really cares that Joe Biden, Obama’s running mate, said “Bosniaks” when he meant Bosnians, in the face-to-face with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin?
Voters at least got to see how the candidates react under pressure.And later, the New York Times, which first reported the phrase as a slip, said that “Bosniaks” is the correct term for Bosnian Muslims.
So was it merely humorous when Obama, toward the end of the forum last night, said Sen. McCain likes to portray Obama as “green behind the ears,” or was it a subliminal attempt to proclaim that he transcends color? Or are those cabbage leaves on the side of his head?

Monday October 6, 2008

The Blogster appreciates and enjoys the Auditors of Public Accounts. Amid all the political spinsters and put-on-a-happy-face types in state government, the auditors always call it the way it’s most likely to have been.
That brings us to their recent rerport on the Joint Committee on Legislative Management for the fiscal years ending June 2006 and 2007.
The auditors found that the 30-member legislative committee, which operates the Capitol complex and controls several other appointed commissions, took action in three meetings with less than a majority being present.
That’s no big deal, since illegal votes are highly overrated.
But there it is, in the paragraph directly under the voting revelation:
“The Law Revision Commission did not submit annual reports as required and the Commission on Innovation and Productivity, it appears, HAS NEVER MET OR FILED ANNUAL REPORTS SINCE B EING ESTABLISHED IN 1993.”
A 15-year record of perfection by the Commission on Innovation and Productivity. If more state agencies were that efficient, think of the tax dollars that would be saved. What’s more innovative than doing nothing? And today, with the financial markets still tanking, what’s more productive than the status quo?

Friday October 3, 2008

The stretch run for the Fourth Congressional District should be very interesting.
Prepare yourself for a lot more of those fuzzy, slightly doctored pictures of U.S. Rep. Chris Shays on those overpriced TV commercials that Jim Himes, the former banker from Greenwich, is throwing into the airwaves.
On the other side, anticipate some more smiling photos of Shays shaking hands with people from through the district and promoting his experience in bringing people together.
Shays, the last Republican congressman from New England, has raised about $750,000 this quarter, his people told Connecticut Post Washington reporter Peter Urban earlier this afternoon.
Himes has collected about $800,000. The deadline for filing the full reports is October 15, That’s when the true tale of the tape will occur, when we find out how much cash they have left in the final four weeks.
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Thursday October 2, 2008

It hasn’t been a great couple of days for Comptroller Nancy Wyman.
First, Democrats and Republicans both said she was wrong yesterday to include a half-billion-dollar “structural deficit” along with the current $300-million deficit facing lawmakers.They said it won’t figure into state finances until the next budget begins in July 2009.
And now, Mike Starkowski, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services, said her plan to use an existing state contractor to run a $100,000 audit of DSS would be tainted because the contractor, UHY Advisers, is affiliated with a company representing two service providers that are appealing DSS rates.
“Given that UHY would be looking at DSS records, logs, financial statements and other documents as part of your audit, it is highly inappropriate and, in fact, a gross conflict of interest for this organization to have access to such information while repersenting and attempting to ‘deliver’ for private clients,” Starkowski wrote in a letter to Wyman that was just made available to Capitol reporters.
At the time Wyman announced the audit last month, she was appearing in cooperation with legislative Democrats, who seemed to be using the audit, which was not the result of competitive bidding, as a means to hold off on a special session to address the growing deficit in the $18.4-billion budget.
Wyman said in a late-afternoon statement that she’s “confident” that UHY can conduct an audit “with the utmost integrity and objectivity.”
Here’s the rest of her statement:

“I am aware that UHY does extensive business in the health care industry in Connecticut, and I view that expertise as a benefit to our goal of tracking exactly how DSS is spending more than $5 billion of the state budget every year.
We had anticipated that there may be some areas of the audit that might require us to employ a UHY subcontractor that would report directly to me and be completely independent of UHY.
That arrangement would ensure that all appropriate safeguards are in place to protect any information that might be considered sensitive.
I believe Commissioner Starkowski’s letter is premature because we have not yet discussed the scope of the audit with him.
There is an element of urgency here because the legislature needs this audit to be completed in time for them to begin formulating a budget in January.”