Connecticut
Post posts about what is happening in the State of Connecticut.
Updates: Anthony Maio, Anthem, Marriage Equality, Sheraton Hotel Racism, and other stuff
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 08/13/2009 - 13:04Here are updates on some of the stories that I've been following.
Anthony Maio
I've written several blog posts about the Anthony Maio case including ones on jury selection and attending the trial.
On Tuesday, the New Haven Independent which has had great coverage of this trial reported that the jury cleared Maio. From all that I've read as well as my one day at court during the hearing, if I had ended up on the jury, I would have concurred with the jury. It has been fascinating to watch not only the trial, and the news coverage, but follow some of the discussions online about the case.
Anthem
About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Anthem's request for a rate increase. In my blog post, I noted a list of notable politicians that came out in opposition to the rate increase. In spite of the numerous objections, the state insurance commissioner approved the rate hike.
Yesterday, the Attorney General's office issued a press release announcing that the Attorney General, the Healthcare Advocate, and the Insurance Committee Co-Chairs are proposing sweeping reforms of the health insurance rate hike approval process. One of the co-chairs is State Sen. Joe Crisco representing my state senate district. I have written him applauding his efforts. There is a great need for health care reform in our country. We can argue about whether the current public option plan is a good reform, whether we need a single payer method, what should be done to change aspects of interstate health insurance and so on. However, it does seem clear that there is not currently enough oversight of the health insurance industry. This proposal appears to be an important step in getting better oversight of that industry.
Marriage Equality
Some people have claimed that if we allow gay people to marry, it will destroy traditional marriages. Perhaps there is some truth to this. Now that people who have been in long term committed relationships with their same sex partners are marrying in Connecticut and other States, it seems like there are more and more high profile conservative politicians whose mixed-sex marriages are failing. While I don't believe there is any causality here, there is correlation.
Others have suggested that if you give gay people civil rights, everyone will start wanting civil rights.
I like reframing the discussion about marriage equaltiy to talking about those of use who are in mixed sex marriages. Recently, over on Communications Exchange, there was a discussion about mixed marriages. The blogger was talking about marriages between PC users and Mac users. I hopped in and talked about mixed marriages between men and women.
Public Relations and Alleged Racism at the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex?
Another story I've been following closely is the allegations of racism in the when the Dixwell Drill Team was evicted from the Sheraton Kansas City Sports Complex. Like the Maio case, this has stirred a lot of comments. What I thought would be most interesting would be to find the response by Starwood Hotels, which owns the Sheraton chain. Last Friday, I sent an email to their public relations department asking for additional information. I wanted to get both sides of the story. I received a brief phone call back letting me know that they had not seen the news stories that I cited but that they had been contacted by another news organization asking for details about the same time that I contacted them. They said they were investigating the incident and would get back to me. That was nearly a week ago, and I have not heard any additional information, although I have sent a followup email asking for details.
It may well be that they are simply being quiet and hoping the whole thing passes over.
Other stuff
I was in New York yesterday for Digiday: APPS. I hope to have some followup blog posts about this shortly. It was a great conference and I have much that I hope to write. My laptop is still crippled and I have too many things going on at the same time. Meanwhile, I've been playing Mr. Mom today and dealing with quite a few random other issues.
Sadie's Dream
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 08/10/2009 - 09:16
The young pup romped along with other young strays weaving in and out of the silent procession of venerable old dogs and cats. In the distance was a magnificent edifice. It was a gleaming bridge of every color. Sadie had heard that on the other side of this rainbow bridge was a land where humans were always kind and there was always enough food to eat.
After her life on the streets of Hartford, she longed for such a place. Yet one of the wise old dogs pulled her aside. “It is not your time yet,” he said. “There are kind humans on this side of the rainbow bridge that will care for you and make sure you are well fed.”
Sadie didn’t believe it. More often than not, humans threw sticks and stones at her as they chased her away from the few garbage cans where she could find any food. “You have an important mission,” the old guard continued. “You must help humans understand the joy of saving and caring for your fellow dogs.”
At the steps of the rainbow bridge, Sadie paused. She smelled the scent of so many great dogs that had gone before. She heard voices talking about home, saying the words “forever”. She marked the corner of the bridge as the voices became louder.
Then, she awoke. She was in a cage in a new kennel. The thin blanket and her even thinner skin provided little comfort for her weary aching bones. Two new humans had entered the kennel and the other dogs were all barking, “Take ME to a forever home! Take Me! Take Me!”
Two weeks ago, she had been captured by a human in Hartford and taken to the pound. She had been there ten days; as long as any pup ever had been known to stay at the Hartford pound. She had no idea how close she had come to being forced across the rainbow bridge. Then, a male human came to the pound and picked her up. He was a kind man, and although she was excited about sitting in the front seat of a car and catching many new scents as she stuck her nose out of the passenger side window, she soon fell asleep with her head on his lap.
The pound had not been a bad place. Sure, she did not get as much attention as she craved. There was no human pups to take her romping in the fields, but for the first time in her life she had had a decent meal ten days in a row. Could this kind man be taking her to her forever home?
She was disappointed when he left her at a kennel. It was small and the humans there were very kind. The other dogs said that this was a place where people came to take you to your forever home and you could stay for longer than ten days if you had to.
The two new humans, a grown male with hair on his muzzle and a young female pup walked past the dogs that had been waiting so long at the kennel and came to Sadie’s cage. They talked with a human that had been at the kennel all day and had fed Sadie earlier in the day. They put a collar on Sadie and walked her outside on a leash. The humans seemed kind, but cautious. Would these be the humans that would take her to her forever home?
They lead her to their car. It smelled wonderful; the smell of food that young human pups often spill in their cars or on the floors of their homes. Sadie managed to score a few crumbs here and there before settling into the passenger seat. Again, her nose worked overtime as the car started rolling and she encountered a new set of smells.
The car rolled and rolled and rolled. Soon Sadie was asleep. At times she awoke, was lead out of the car where she sniffed around for a little bit before the humans got back in the car and resumed the trip. The human pup spoke kind words to Sadie and told her to dream of a home more beautiful that she ever imagined. Sadie’s dream of the rainbow bridge came back to her, as did the words of the wise old dog. Yes, there were kind humans in the world, and Sadie wondered where this adventure would take her.
After what seemed like forever, they stopped again. This time they met another human, a young female, who put a new collar and leash on her. Again, Sadie was in a car with a kind human. Again, she sniffed at the air and then fell back a sleep.
When the car stopped the next time, the human lead Sadie out of the car. They were in a land with more trees than Sadie had ever seen. The trees were not all marked or surrounded by trash and metal. The smells were wonderful and the human walked for a long time with Sadie.
Sadie felt the stress of living on the streets of Hartford disappear. She felt the stress of long car rides fade. Yes, the car rides were fun, but they were also stressful, since Sadie had no idea where they lead, and they always seemed to end up somewhere different. Her dream about the rainbow bridge came back to her. Perhaps the wise old dog was right. Perhaps she was on an important mission to help humans understand how to be kinder to dogs.
After the wonderful romp in the woods, she was lead back to the car, and this time went for a short ride where she met another kind human. The house had all the smells of a kennel, as if many dogs had come and gone. She was given a wonderful dinner, a great place to sleep and more sweet attention that she had ever been given by a human. Yes, this was the way life should be.
Note from the human with the hairy muzzle: This is my fanciful recounting of the story of rescue #54 whom my daughter and I called Sweetie as we took her from the Sadie Mae Foundation kennel in Bolton, CT up to Maine where another friend took her to a foster home.
Note: Please vote for Rescue #55, Sweetie, Sadie, or whatever her forever family ends up calling her in the Cutest Dog Ever Contest.
And Justice for All – Kenneth Ireland, Andrew Maio, and Sonia Sotomayer
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 11:49Today, Sonia Sotomayer was be sworn in as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice in the United States. I have expressed concern about her support of civil rights based on her concurrence on the Doniger case. However, one ruling is not sufficient grounds to oppose a nomination. However, it is much better than most of the reasons to support or oppose her nomination that have been discussed so far.
Some have gone so far as to suggest it would have been reasonable to block Judge Sotomayer’s nomination because in 2003 Democrats successfully filibustered the appellate court nomination of Miguel Estrada, the first time a filibuster was used against an appellate court nomination.
Yet our justice system is too important to be mired in petty tit for tat politics. The case of Kenneth Ireland is a good example. In 1989, he was convicted of the gruesome rape and murder of a Wallingford, CT woman. This week, based on DNA evidence which showed he could not have committed the crime, he has been freed.
Chris Powell, managing editor of the Journal Inquirer has written a column suggesting that this puts juries in question. Jury trials may be the worst method of determining guilt, except for all the others. So, what can be done to improve the way justice is dispensed?
One starting point is to get better coverage of trials. This includes talking about how Voir Dire done. People need a better understanding of the how juries work and what really happens during trials. I’ve tried to do a little bit of this in my blog posts about the Andrew Maio case.
In that blog post, I noted that Judge William Holden said that electronic devices, including laptops, would not be allowed in his courtroom. Based on information obtained from State Rep Mike Lawlor, chair of the judiciary committee, it appears that Judge Holden does not know the rules from the Practice Book which governs rules of court:
Sec. 1-10. Possession of Electronic Devices in Court Facilities (Amended June 29, 2007, to take effect Jan. 1, 2008.)
(a) Personal computers may be used for note taking in a courtroom. If the judicial authority finds that the use of computers is disruptive of the court proceeding, it may limit such use. No other electronic devices shall be used in a courtroom unless authorized by a judicial authority or permitted by these rules.
In the Maio case there was no such finding, or basis for such a finding. Yet even this is not the worst case of courts acting in ways that limit reporting about the courts. In 2006, a sign in New Haven Geographical Area Court 23 was modified to remove the prohibition against writing in court after a complaint was filed. The Connecticut News Junkie article, Courthouse Paints Over Ban on Writing states that “Judicial Marshal Luther Cuffee prevented a member of the public from taking notes during hearings in the courthouse.”
It isn’t just the judges that need to be looked at much more closely than is done in so many confirmation hearings. The New Haven Independent has a report about the director of operations at the State Marshall Commission asking New Haven to suspend a new city plan to save taxpayer money by lowering hefty marshal fees.. On top of this, a report in the Hartford Courant from June talked about efforts by State Representative Robert W. Megna to address what he considers illegal double billing by State Marshalls. The article talks about how well connected State Marshalls are noting,
the roster of marshals includes many with prominent, political positions or strong, political connections. The marshal who served Megna the foreclosure papers, who made $131,000 after expenses last year, is also the chairman of the North Haven Democratic Town Committee.
All of this illustrates the need for much better oversight of the Judicial branch by members of the fourth estate, both the professionals and the citizen journalists.
It Takes a Village: The Rescue of #54 - The Journey Home on the Doggie Railroad
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 15:21
#54, currently called Sweetie, not her real name, isn’t home yet. When she reaches her forever home, her new humans will give her a name to cement their relationship. For today, myself and friends on the doggie railroad will call her Sweetie.
I’m not sure how I ever got tied into the doggie railroad. I know that last December, I received an email from Sherry, and animal control officer in Hartford. It has a picture of a puppy in urgent need of a home. I posted it as a Wordless Wednesday post and received a bunch of comments. I spoke with Sherry and discovered that the pup had found a new home. Sherry kept sending me information about other dogs in urgent need of rescue.
This week, I received a few different emails about dogs needing rescue. It seems like there are a lot of them this summer. One of them was Sweetie. A woman in Maine found a potential foster home for Sweetie. Her sister would be driving from New York to Rhode Island, and could go out of the way to get Sweetie to Rhode Island on Monday. This presented a couple of problems.
First, Sweetie would need to find a place to stay for the weekend. I spoke with a friend who has a farm and has helped rescue several dogs. She said that Sweetie could stay on the farm, if we could get her from Hartford down to Woodbridge. Then, at the last minute, the Sadie Mae Foundation found room for Sweetie at their facility in Bolton, CT. Another person involved with doggie rescue said he could take the dog from the pound to the Sadie Mae Foundation. From there, she could get a ride to Rhode Island, and the person from Maine could drive down to Rhode Island and pick her up.
However, the person from Maine has been driving all over the northeast rescuing dogs and was hoping to find someone that would be willing to drive Sweetie up to Maine. I have volunteered and on Sunday will stop at the Sadie Mae foundation, pick up Sweetie and drive her up to Maine. I’m slowly gathering details for the trip and the person who is transporting Sweetie from the pound to the kennel welcomed me to the doggie railroad.
I don’t know when I’ll be next asked to help with the doggie railroad. Some people will note that there are close to ten million animals that get euthanized each year in the United States. Until we get more people to spay or neuter their pets and get people to stop buying pets from puppy mills, this problem will continue. Some may say that the effort to save Sweetie won’t make any difference.
When I hear this, the story of the starfish comes to mind.
While walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.
He came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”
The old man smiled, and said, “I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”
Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young man listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it into the back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”
Next year, another ten million animals are likely to be euthanized. My new found friends on the doggie railroad will continue to make efforts to save whichever ones we can, one at a time. Perhaps, by talking about our efforts, we will get a few more people to spay or neuter their pets. Perhaps, by talking about our efforts, we will get others to adopt rescued pets or even help with the doggie railroad.
Yet one thing I do know: We will have made a difference to #54, Sweetie, or whatever her name ends up being when she reaches her forever home.
#NANOWRIMO – Subtle Differences, The Silent Serian, To The Clubhouse and Liza’s Party
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 02:21National Novel Writing Month, commonly referred to as NaNoWriMo, is still a few months away but ideas are fighting in my mind for their chance to be written.
I’ve been interested in NaNoWriMo for several years. Back in 2006, my daughter Miranda Hynes wrote her first novel as part of NaNoWriMo. Subtle Differences explores discrimination in a young adult fantasy. She published the novel on Lulu press.
Then, in 2007, I wrote my first novel, Family Markets, as part of NaNoWriMo. It was a story about fraud and market manipulation in stock markets in a virtual world. It sits on a hard disk waiting further editing. It was Miranda’s first year of college and she attempted NaNoWriMo, but it was too close to finals and she couldn’t write a novel at during final weeks of classes.
In 2008, I set out to write another novel as part of NaNoWriMo. I started off with a story about foreclosure and bankruptcy, but it was a little too close to home and I had problems separating the novel from real life. I set the idea a side, and started over with a science fiction work about human genetic modifications and the problems with monocultures. It is a good story, but changing course in the middle of the month left me too far behind to catch up and after a few days, I set aside the effort. Five chapters and various notes sit out on my hard disk in case waiting for me to get a chance and a desire to restart the effort.
I am not sure if Miranda wrote her second novel,The Silent Serian, as part of NaNoWriMo 2008 or if it was part of a different effort, perhaps from 2007. She has published this on Lulu as well. It dives deeper into exploring human relationships as another young adult fantasy book. I strongly encourage people to buy and read a copy of this book.
Now, a few months before NaNoWriMo 2009, ideas are fighting in my mind for their chance to be this year’s novel attempt. Leading the list is “Liza’s Party”. On a mailing list of group psychotherapists some friends of mine got into a discussion about Pygmalion. The ancient Greek myth is about a sculptor named Pygmalion who creates a sculpture so beautiful that he falls in love with it and the gods bring it to life out of pity for him. It is a great theme to explore both in literature and in therapy. In literature, it is perhaps best known for the play, Pygmalion which was later turned into the musical My Fair Lady. In therapy, it may be interesting for people to explore their roles in the Pygmalion myth, either as the creator, the created, or perhaps even the gods granting the wish of the creator.
For me, I’ve been kicking around a twenty first century remake of Pygmalion. Riffing off the names from My Fair Lady, Liza is the created. Hank, meets Liza through an online personal and with the encouragement of his friend Pickles, tries to form Liza into his idea of a proper twenty first century lady. Beyond this, I’m likely to vary from the original story as I introduce a female friend of Liza’s, an online therapist for the female friend, and any other characters that fight their way into my thoughts.
Yet today, another idea was emerged, fighting for its place. It takes Virginia Woolf’s novel, To The Lighthouse, and twists it around the story of bankruptcy and foreclosure that I couldn’t write last year. Instead of the lighthouse, it becomes the clubhouse.
The Woodbridge Country Club went bankrupt and is in the process of selling its property to the town of Woodbridge. The town, through a manager, is trying to put the club back together as the Country Club of Woodbridge. We’ve joined the club with a swim and tennis membership. We’ve been in the pool just about every day since it has opened. We’ve chatted with the lifeguards who used to work for the private club. We’ve gotten to know the golf pro, who is really spearheading this effort, even though we, ourselves, are not golfers. Yesterday, we had dinner in the clubhouse.
Instead of the Ramseys at their summer house planning a trip to the lighthouse, we will have some Yale professor, perhaps one whose area of expertise is the work of Virginia Woolf, arranging a trip to the club to go swimming. When we return to the club, years later, as it emerges from bankruptcy, we find the character based on Mrs. Ramsey has died of cancer. The character of Andrew replaced by a young man from Woodbridge killed by an IED. “What does it mean then, what can it all mean?” a modern day Lily Briscoe must ask herself as she walks around the once bustling country club.
But it isn’t November yet. It is two in the morning on a clear, cool, full moon lit August night. I should be sleeping. It is time to send Lily and Liza back to their rooms in the corners of my mind where they can plot with other potential characters about how to tell their stories when the time comes.
What about you? Will you write a novel this year?
