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Monthly Archives: March 2009

A good idea for Groton

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Today’s Mystic River Press (which is not on-line, so no links), has an article about a local residential designer named Michael Sullo, who has come up with a design to turn what he aptly describes as a “big hole” in downtown Mystic into a public space. For those not from the area, a little background. […]

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What’s in a word?

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

I highly recommend this column in today’s Times, by David Leonhardt, in which he argues that today’s financial crisis was caused by people who knew they were free to ruin the economy, making big bucks for themselves in the process, because they knew the government would step in and bail them out. In a word, […]

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Browser Review

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I had an English teacher in high school who was fond of quoting this line from Alexander Pope: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, nor yet the last to lay the old aside She was an old biddy, and perhaps because I disliked her intensely, I have ignored Alexander’s advice, sometimes […]

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All in One Place

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Scott Bates writes to say that Susan Bysiewicz has now agreed to appear at a gubernatorial candidate’s forum here in Groton on Saturday, joining Dan Malloy, Jim Amann and Nancy Wyman, all of whom had previously committed. Scott says that means all the potential candidates will be there, but unfortunately Scott is shooting at a […]

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Courtney a “New Democrat”

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hmmm. From an email from Joe Courtney’s office: Today at the White House, Congressman Joe Courtney and other members of the New Democrat Coalition met with President Obama to discuss critical issues facing our nation. The New Democrat Coalition is a group of like-minded moderate Democrats who have joined to seek solutions on issues such […]

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Thorny issue

Monday, March 9, 2009

Charlie Savage of the Times, who has earned his stripes on this issue, examines Obama’s instructions to the Justice Department that it consult with the Justice Department before relying on any signing statement issued by any of his predecessors. Apparently, Obama felt it was impolitic to pick on Bush alone, so he has required his […]

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John Larson on cramdowns

Monday, March 9, 2009

A while back I mentioned that, according to Firedoglake, John Larson had lined up behind a “New Democrat” push to water down Obama’s bankruptcy cramdown proposal. I got an email from one his staff people, and we had a brief email exchange. According to the staffer: I wanted to inform you that Congressman Larson is […]

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Yet more on credit default swaps

Sunday, March 8, 2009

It is becoming crystal clear that, as Gretchen Morgenstern reports in today’s Times, the AIG bailout is in fact a backdoor bailout of the folks who purchased credit default swaps from AIG. The government has refused to disclose the names of these counterparties, but word is leaking out, and suffice it to say, the list […]

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Earmarks

Sunday, March 8, 2009

The earmark debate is a distraction of major proportions. It is also an example of hypocrisy of major proportions, as Taxpayer for Common Sense documents. You can download there data at this location. The data demonstrate quite conclusively that earmarks are largely, though not solely, the domain of those states and of that party that […]

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Leave Rush alone

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have no doubt seen the Chris Crocker “Leave Britney alone” video, one of the most viewed youtube videos ever. If you have been living under a rock you can view it here. I am still not sure if he (she?) is serious or pulling our legs Here’s […]

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