Connecticut Local Politics

Back when Rep. Chris Shay’s (CT-4) crush, Erik “Helluva Job!” Prince, the CEO of Blackwater USA testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he refused to answer Rep. Chris Murphy’s (CT-5) questions regarding how much profit Blackwater makes off of government contracts. Upon discovering that the government often has no idea how [...]

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David Yepsen,the dean of the Iowa press corps and an influential journalist in Iowa isn’t counting Chris Dodd out. In his Des Moines Register Column Yepson points out the front runners timidity on Iraq, and how that could create an opening for Dodd in Iowa.
From the Column, emphasis mine:

“I was stunned, literally stunned” to [...]

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Yesterday Chris Dodd had a conference call with reporters and bloggers to discuss Iraq. As I posted earlier, Dodd questioned the relevance of the Patraeus testimony to the overall debate on Iraq saying:”But even more fundamentally, I question the relevance of a report on the merits of a particular tactic when the underlying strategy [...]

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From Chris Dodd’s blog at Huffpo:

Yet for me, the anticipation surrounding the testimony rings hollow given the abject failure of the “surge” tactic to achieve political reconciliation or even a reduction in overall violence. But even more fundamentally, I question the relevance of a report on the merits of a particular tactic when the underlying [...]

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“The fact that there are questions about General Petraeus’ report is not surprising given that it was brought to you by this White House. In contrast, independent report after report indicates that the whack-a-mole strategy has made this the bloodiest summer of the war. And by the General’s admission, the so-called surge has not achieved [...]

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Joe Lieberman stated today that… well, he stated the same damn thing he always states. I feel like we’ve all been writing the same Lieberman story for the past year. Here it is in capsule form:
WASHINGTON — Joe Lieberman said today that the war is going well, that troop levels are perfectly fine where they [...]

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U.S.M.C. Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich will go before a hearing officer at Camp Pendleton today. The hearing will determine if SSG Wuterich will face criminal charges in the deaths of 24 Iraqis during a much-publicized incident in Haditha on November 19, 2005.
SSG Wuterich was serving as a squad leader when his convoy was struck [...]

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From The Horse’s Mouth:
This morning Lieberman and his chief flack Marshall Wittmann put out a press release containing Lieberman’s usual attacks on Democrats over Iraq. The duo faulted “Congressional critics” of Iraq’s Maliki government and slammed Dems who have criticized Maliki as basically helping our “enemies.”
But in a case of comically awful timing, Lieberman and [...]

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Apparently, we’re a bunch of pill-poppers. Use of oxycodone, morphine and other drugs that ease the pain is way, way up, with Greater New Haven seeing the biggest increase.
One Greater New Haven resident who seems to be off his meds is Sen. Joe Lieberman, who is looking to expand the war in the Middle East [...]

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According to a report released by the Connecticut Citizen Action Group CT taxpayers have spent $11.1 billion of the $456 billion in total funding for the Iraq war.
From the press release:

The report, titled “Getting U.S. Back on Track” and authored by the USAction Education Fund, illustrates, how CT’s cost of war could have provided health [...]

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Chris Shays is moving ever leftward on Iraq. Now, he’s specified a date:
Rep. Christopher Shays has called on Congress to approve withdrawing virtually all American troops from Iraq by December 2008, a blow to Bush administration efforts to fight the mounting support in Congress for a sharp change in strategy.
“I believe we need a timeline. [...]

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Congress can’t stop the war.  Call the Pope!
Congresswoman Rosa DeLaura was part of a small group of legislators that called on the Conference of Catholic Bishops to help end the war, as reported by the New Haven Register yesterday.  Is this proper?  Seems she is being selective about the dictates of that church that she [...]

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First, I would like to thank the people of Connecticut Local Politics for giving me the opportunity to write to you today.
The war in Iraq has made us less secure, more vulnerable and even more isolated. It is time for a new course in Iraq, and we have to be honest and acknowledge that [...]

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Here’s the Press Release in Full:
Senator and Presidential candidate Chris Dodd announced that he will join Senator Russ Feingold as a cosponsor of an amendment to the Iraq Supplemental Spending bill next week that would allow Congress to stand up to the President’s failed policy in Iraq. The amendment would utilize the Congressional power of [...]

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Democrat Joe Courtney, who defeated three term Republican incumbent Rob Simmons by a razor-thin 91 votes in November, was back in Connecticut for the Easter recess after a busy start to the session down in Washington. Courtney and I sat down at his new Enfield office (for more on that office, including a picture of [...]

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Although this bill was introduced Thursday, there’s an interesting story in the Courant about it today:
[Larson] was getting ready to introduce some of the toughest anti-war legislation yet – a plan that would repeal the 2002 measure that gave President Bush broad authority to wage war in Iraq and fight terrorism.
Larson’s effort was already going [...]

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Last night the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee passed an anti-surge resolution to be delivered to the White House, both CT Senators, and Congressman Shays.
The Greenwich Citizen has details:
To the full extent possible, the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee
(DTC) Thursday during its monthly session in the Town Hall Meeting
Room held President George W. Bush’s feet to the [...]

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Here it is:
I understand the frustration, anger and exhaustion so many Americans feel about Iraq, the desire to throw up our hands and simply say, “Enough.” And I am painfully aware of the enormous toll of this war in human life, and of the infuriating mistakes that have been made in the war’s conduct.
But we [...]

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From the AP:
Rep. Christopher Shays’ Iraq war support nearly cost him his seat last fall, but Connecticut’s lone GOP congressman said Wednesday he’s standing firm against a House resolution publicly rebuking President Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.
“I don’t decide an issue of war and peace based on how it impacts me in [...]

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Sen. Lieberman is leading a Congressional delegation in Kosovo:
“This is a critical period now,” Lieberman told reporters. “We’re looking forward to the implementation of those recommendations as Kosovo moves on to achieve its rightful status as an independent nation.”(AP)
Here’s a question. If Kosovo’s rightful status is that of an independent nation, why isn’t Kurdistan’s? Why [...]

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