CT Blue

I am pleased to pass on the word that Mrs. CTBlue will be among the Ella Grasso Women’s Leadership Honorees honored at an awards breakfast on the 27th at the Aqua Turf restaurant in Plantville. (Why, do the folks from the interior think it’s appropriate to make us hicks get up at an ungodly hour to attend these things?). Those who know us know that, while I bloviate freely, my wife is the member of the pair that actually gets things accomplished. She, along with a number of other dedicated women (and they are all women) have transformed the Groton Democrats into a dynamic organization. I can take some small amount of credit for the award, however, since I drafted the submission to state central in support of her nomination. As the poet almost said, “They also serve who only sit and blog”.

If you can’t make it to Plantville (or don’t want to shell out the fifty dollar “donation”), consider coming to Drinking Liberally (which she co-founded) tomorrow to congratulate her, and drink a toast to her and the other honorees. Early indications are that turnout will be good. 6:30 PM at the Bulkeley House, Bank Street in New London.

UPDATE: Seems I’ve been misunderstood by some. I didn’t nominate my wife for the award. I simply volunteered to put together a narrative of her activities. Sorry if I didn’t convey that, though I thought I did.

A reminder that the storied SE CT chapter of Drinking Liberally will meet again tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Bulkeley House, Bank Street, New London.

So far as I know, there will be no top drawer special guests tomorrow, although there is a slight chance that Denise Merrill might stop by. If she does, she gets extra points for coming round even after she no longer has to suck up to the delegates among us. Some of the folks in charge of Ned Lamont’s efforts in the locality will be there as well.

All good liberals are invited.

By the way, this blog may be shut down for a few days. Tomorrow I’ll be out imbibing and talking, and on Friday my wife and I are heading to Swarthmore, PA for her college reunion. I will restrain myself from divulging the number of years it has been since she graduated from that storied institution. By way of experiment, I’m leaving the computer home and just taking my Ipad and a bluetooth keyboard, but regardless, I doubt I’ll have much time to blog, and even less inclination.

Having lost my ill fated bid to replace the last Pope (and look what’s come of that!) I feel some trepidation in announcing my candidacy for the next Supreme Court appointment. Nonetheless, for the good of the country, I must put personal considerations aside, throw my hat in the ring, and place my name in contention. After all, if I don’t, who will? I’m confident that Obama won’t repeat the mistake that the cardinals in conclave must surely now regret.

In all modesty I believe I have the three traits necessary to enable the spineless Democrats to overcome the expected Republican filbuster. I am:

• White
• Male
• Christian.

Now, some faithful readers of this blog might question the last assertion, but I must remind them that I was baptized into the Catholic Church by a fully accredited priest. At least I must trust the word of my mother that it is so, as my own memory is somewhat hazy. As everyone who took catechism knows, baptism leaves an indelible mark on the soul, so for better or for worse, whether they like it or not, I’m a Catholic, and that means I’m a Christian (we Catholics invented Christianity, after all), so I have all the qualifications the Republicans think you need to be a Supreme Court Justice. Also, not that it matters, but I’m a lawyer.

As a candidate for this exalted office, I promise to honor the time honored tradition established by those nominated by Republican presidents. I promise to say nothing about my legal positions, and if cornered, I promise to lie about them. I pledge to affirm that there is no reason to believe that my legal positions will be consistent with, or affected by, the legal and political positions I have espoused in the past. I trust and expect that the Republicans will swallow those assurances just as the Democrats did in like circumstances.

But I have even more to offer. Last year we learned that empathy is an undesirable quality in a judge. Well, I am totally lacking in empathy! Just ask my wife, or anyone who knows me. I’m perfectly capable of judging, while holding the absolute conviction that I myself should not be judged. I have a deep and abiding respect, almost to the point of worship, for those legal precedents with which I, and by extension, the Founders agree (or would have agreed in their case). I am possessed of a preternatural ability to discern the inmost thoughts of those long dead sages, and will thus be able to discern precisely what they all would have wanted the court to do on any given issue (because they all agreed completely on all issues). Notwithstanding the pledges contained in the preceding paragraph, let me hasten to assure the Republicans of the following: I believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception straight through to the moment of birth. I believe that the Founders would have wanted even the insane to carry submachine guns with them at all times, in all places, but that they would have been appalled at the idea of restricting the government’s right to read everyone’s email. I believe that the First Amendment gives us freedom of religion, not freedom from religion, and I know that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison would have agreed. I believe that Amendments Four through Eight were only intended to apply to white male Christians, and that the same should hold true today, when convenient.

I know these positions put me slightly to the left of the court’s present majority, but, after all, Obama is a Democrat, and you can’t expect him to go with an out and out conservative. Still, on balance, I believe that I am more than nominally qualified, holding as I do, views far closer to the mainstream than do those potential nominees that are more often mentioned. I stand ready to answer my nation’s call, plus, the job pays well.

This post written on my new Ipad, which I’ve been playing with for the past few hours. Back to serious business tomorrow.

Some might say we are fools every month, but lets put that aside. Tomorrow we’ll have a special guest: Kevin Lembo, candidate for Lieutenant Governor. As usual, the festivities are at the Bulkeley House, Bank Street, New London, starting at 6:30. Everyone and anyone who tilts left is invited.

The Groton Democratic Town Committee unanimously endorsed Richard Blumenthal for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate. The endorsement was widely perceived as a blow to former GTDC member Merrick Alpert, in whose support no voice was raised.

The committee also endorsed Joe Courtney for Congress, Nancy Wyman for State Comptroller, Andy Maynard for State Senate, Fred Palm for Judge of Probate, Ted Moukawsher for State Representative from the 40th District, and Elissa Wright for State Representative from the 41st District. All of these candidates are running unopposed for their nominations. The committee also endorsed Kevin Lembo for Lieutenant Governor, with the understanding that it would support the eventual gubernatorial candidate’s choice, should he or she want someone else.

Getting back to Merrick, he has been labeling Blumenthal a “chicken” for not agreeing to more debates. Why is politics the only profession in which schoolyard taunts are considered anything other than bizarre behavior?

Scott Bates, our State Central Committee member from this District, has organized a “Meet the Candidates” event in Stonington on the 13th from 2:00 to 3:30 PM. It will be held at the Lagrua Center. In attendance will be:

Governor:

Ned Lamont
Mary Glassman
Rudy Marconi
Dan Malloy

Attorney General:

George Jepsen
Susan Bysiewicz

Secretary of State:

Denise Merrill
Jonathan Harris
James Spallone
Gerry Garcia

Nancy Wyman will be the guest speaker. I understand that Kevin Lembo may also be there. In case you hadn’t heard, he is running for Lieutenant Governor. He came to our Town Committee meeting last night and I think he impressed a lot of people. Currently, the job is worth even less than a bucket of warm piss, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and Lembo appears to have the tools to be an effective assistant to our next governor. He’ll get my vote at the convention, providing, of course, that he makes the obligatory pilgrimage to one of our Drinking Liberally meetings.

The Norwich chapter of the NAACP is celebrating the 100th anniversary of that organization on Tuesday. The event will be held at the Kelly Middle School, 25 Mahan Drive, in Norwich. From the group’s flyer:

The Guest Speaker for the event will be United States Congressman and Chairman of the Judiciary, John Conyers Jr. Other invited panelists include: U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd; CT Representative Kenneth Green; U.S. Congressman Joseph Courtney, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal; William Carbone, Executive Director, CSSD; Attorney Lonnie Braxton; Terell Wilson, CT State NAACP Youth & College President, David Whitehead, Backus President and CEO; Tom Swan, Director of CCAG; and Abby Dolliver, Interim Superintendent of Norwich Schools

The Informational Forum starts at 7:00 PM, and is free. There will be a Pre-Program Social event starting at 5:30, which costs $20.00.

There is a new addition to my blogroll, to which I want to direct the attention of my hordes of faithful readers. It’s called WCubedBlog, the “WCubed” being derived from the fact that the three contributors all have last names beginning with “W”. It’s a very recent addition to the blogosphere.

One of them is my last born, the fruit of my loins, so to speak. All three of them are students of history, studying diligently for their advanced degrees at NYU, so they bring an interesting perspective to their writing. See if you can figure out which one’s my son.

Check it out, but make sure you come back here.

On an entirely different subject, my wife and I, along with a neighbor, are about to leave for Drinking Liberally. If you read this before 6:30, February 4th, and you are in the New London area, come join us and our very special guest, Ned Lamont, at the Bulkeley House on Bank Street.

Due to technical difficulties, my wife’s monthly email reminder failed to go out in a timely fashion. So to all Southeastern Connecticut liberal drinker: the meeting is on. Given the events of the past few days, we should have plenty to talk about.

Tomorrow night, 6:30 at the Bulkeley House in New London