Chris Murphy your Representative in Congress ran a forum to think about ideas for how the state will look like in 2050. Ironically most of the attendees, myself included are unlikely to be around in 2050, but doing their civic duty to discuss what kind of state our children will inherit. Three subjects were under discussion Preservation of Open Space, Water and Transportation. All are important to a livable state. Connecticut is losing young professionals faster than any other state because our cities dont match up to New York and Boston. Too much violence has a much greater negative effect in a smaller city than a larger one. I've talked about that elsewhere. We need these people to head up the job-creating businesses of the future. Also people like a place they can walk around, don't always have to use the car. Connecticut is ahead of the game in this respect since most of our towns and cities came into being before the car was invented.
One further thing I would like to mention was the Tea Party protesters standing outside, clearly furious at Chris Murphy and everything he represents. You may feel as if the country is going to the dogs and no one cares. A lot of people have lost their jobs and it seems as if no one cares. The Green Party cares. The Green Party will not sell you a bill of goods, but real solutions to the problems facing us today
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Martha Dean wants gun training in every school
Martha Dean is a lawyer from Avon running as a Republican for Attorney General. So it seems she would like another unfunded mandate, apparently so that everyone can enjoy their Second Amendment rights to the fullest. However, as it happens, gun training is quite simple
Start Gun Training:
"Never point a gun at anyone unless you intend to kill them"
End Gun Training.
So thats all you need to know about guns. If you want to know more, there are numerous sources of information.
Start Gun Training:
"Never point a gun at anyone unless you intend to kill them"
End Gun Training.
So thats all you need to know about guns. If you want to know more, there are numerous sources of information.
Monday, June 14, 2010
The math just doesnt work
Why the Drug War cannot work.
There are about 110,000 people in Connecticut, who have used an illegal drug besides marijuana in the last month, mostly cocaine, Some are addicts and some casual users. Let us say that are serviced by about 2- 5000 drug dealers. The government with great hoo hah does a big drug bust and rounds up 20 of them for 2 years in prison each. This works out to be $50,000 per year for 40 yeas total =$2 million +$1 million odd in investigation and court costs. Total $3,000,000 Now there are around 200,000 unemployed in Connecticut, so tell me how long it takes to find 20 drug dealer wannabes among 200,000, 3 days?, a week?. The bottom line is no matter how much we would like to eliminate drugs by banning them, the math just doesn't work. It is like going to a car dealer, wanting to buy a new car, but telling the salesman that you can only afford $10 a month in payments. No matter how much you would like a new car and no matter how much the salesman would like to sell you one, the math just doesn't work.
There are about 110,000 people in Connecticut, who have used an illegal drug besides marijuana in the last month, mostly cocaine, Some are addicts and some casual users. Let us say that are serviced by about 2- 5000 drug dealers. The government with great hoo hah does a big drug bust and rounds up 20 of them for 2 years in prison each. This works out to be $50,000 per year for 40 yeas total =$2 million +$1 million odd in investigation and court costs. Total $3,000,000 Now there are around 200,000 unemployed in Connecticut, so tell me how long it takes to find 20 drug dealer wannabes among 200,000, 3 days?, a week?. The bottom line is no matter how much we would like to eliminate drugs by banning them, the math just doesn't work. It is like going to a car dealer, wanting to buy a new car, but telling the salesman that you can only afford $10 a month in payments. No matter how much you would like a new car and no matter how much the salesman would like to sell you one, the math just doesn't work.
Instant Runoff Voting Explained
The whole idea is that you can have your cake and eat it. You can vote with your heart for the candidate you like best and then vote with your head to keep the candidate you dislike out of office. In a recent example of the 2000 Presidential Race you could have voted for Ralph Nader without the fear of letting George Bush in, which is of course exactly what happened
In the voting booth you get to list the candidates in order of preference. You would have given Ralph Nader #1, and recognising that he was unlikely to win, you would have given your #2 preference to Al Gore. Neither candidate has a majority, Ralph Nader is eliminated along with your #1 preference and so your number #2 preference is turned into a vote for Al Gore who probably would have had enough to win. Note you still only get one vote.
In the voting booth you get to list the candidates in order of preference. You would have given Ralph Nader #1, and recognising that he was unlikely to win, you would have given your #2 preference to Al Gore. Neither candidate has a majority, Ralph Nader is eliminated along with your #1 preference and so your number #2 preference is turned into a vote for Al Gore who probably would have had enough to win. Note you still only get one vote.
My Platform
I am running for State Represetative in Hartford for the Connecticut 67th District which is roughly the eastern and southern parts of New Milford. Here is what I want to achieve as your Representative
Connecticut Budget Hole
The state faces unprecedented budget difficulties, difficulties in maintaining services while not raising taxes so that even more jobs are not chased away.
I propose measures to bring peace and tranquility to our cities, the current epidemic of crime and violence is in truth a very heavy burden on our depleted pockets. Apart from the obvious costs of prosecuting and locking up offenders, there are the much greater costs engendered by widespread poverty and hopelessness caused by violence. Connecticut while one of the wealthiest states in the union has some of the poorest cities. Bringing peace and tranquility will also cause a surge in economic activity and a renewed flow of taxes to fill the Budget Hole.
To do this I propose to wind down the so called War on Drugs and replace it with more effective policies, since illegal drug dealing is responsible for so much of the violence and crime in our cities. This I propose should be done in stages, since while many of the policies I propose are legislated or de facto in other parts of the country and the world, we have no way of knowing how they will work in Connecticut until they are tried. Thankfully the State of Connecticut sponsors a highly regarded Drug Policy Unit at Central Connecticut State University, whose recommendations I will largely follow.
1. Legalize marijuana for medical use, as in Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey and 11 other states. Extend it to all use subsequently. California has a referendum on this in November, we may be able to follow their lead.
2. Experiment with providing heroin under medical supervision to heroin addicts. This is a better option for them than buying it on the street. There at least 700 other drugs available, so I propose that we extend this type of experiment to most of the main ones in order to knock the stuffing out of the illegal drugs trade with all its direct and knock on costs
Jamie Oliver !
I will vigorously support at the State Level efforts to bring healthier school lunches to all our school children
Get Connecticut back to work!
Stop Tax Giveaways that create jobs at $100,000 per job and support new and innovative industries that play to Connecticut's strengths, particualar in the Green Economy (renewable energy etc) which will be huge in the years ahead.
Better Democracy
There is no idea which is more dangerous to a Democracy than the idea that we have achieved it.
Public financing of elections as in Maine and Arizona. Keep the money out the picture. Connecticut tried, but the law needs fixing to be fairer to small parties.
Election Day registration as permitted in Maine, New Hampshire and 7 other states.
Allow prisoners to vote in the last five years of their term as in Vermont and Maine. These prisoners will soon be among us. Civic responsibility is an essential part of a prisoners rehabilitation.
Instant Runoff Voting. A little complicated this, allows you to vote with your heart as well as your head, read my blog entry for an explanation
Health
Pay for stop smoking programs using money from tobacco taxes. Connecticut is one of only five states that does not do this for Medicaid patients or require insurance companies to pay for it.
America loves socialist healthcare, so much so, that we have four systems and we spend more on it per head than many countries famous for their socialist healthcare.
The systems are Medicare, Medicaid, the VA System and the uninsured. The uninsured system is socialist because if you are uninsured, you wait until your situation is dire, go to the emergency room and the costs are passed on to everyone in a very socialist way. Given this love, I propose moving towards a single unified system that covers everybody, while of course everyone who wants private health care can still have it.
Education Equality
Provide more state funding for education, which will save on property taxes which mainly pays for it now. The will reduce the difference between rich and poor schools and reduce pockets of poverty which we pay for in other ways now.
Environment
I endorse the agenda of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.
Bicycles
Make Connecticut more bicycle friendly (within reason). The hills of New Milford are not bicycle friendly, but think how a dedicated bicycle lane on the fast section of Rte 7 from Lanesville Road to the Brookfield border would help.
Pass enabling legislation to allow towns to tax land and buildings at different rates, this discourages sprawl and the need to expensively provide municipal services over a wide area.
Connecticut Budget Hole
The state faces unprecedented budget difficulties, difficulties in maintaining services while not raising taxes so that even more jobs are not chased away.
I propose measures to bring peace and tranquility to our cities, the current epidemic of crime and violence is in truth a very heavy burden on our depleted pockets. Apart from the obvious costs of prosecuting and locking up offenders, there are the much greater costs engendered by widespread poverty and hopelessness caused by violence. Connecticut while one of the wealthiest states in the union has some of the poorest cities. Bringing peace and tranquility will also cause a surge in economic activity and a renewed flow of taxes to fill the Budget Hole.
To do this I propose to wind down the so called War on Drugs and replace it with more effective policies, since illegal drug dealing is responsible for so much of the violence and crime in our cities. This I propose should be done in stages, since while many of the policies I propose are legislated or de facto in other parts of the country and the world, we have no way of knowing how they will work in Connecticut until they are tried. Thankfully the State of Connecticut sponsors a highly regarded Drug Policy Unit at Central Connecticut State University, whose recommendations I will largely follow.
1. Legalize marijuana for medical use, as in Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey and 11 other states. Extend it to all use subsequently. California has a referendum on this in November, we may be able to follow their lead.
2. Experiment with providing heroin under medical supervision to heroin addicts. This is a better option for them than buying it on the street. There at least 700 other drugs available, so I propose that we extend this type of experiment to most of the main ones in order to knock the stuffing out of the illegal drugs trade with all its direct and knock on costs
Jamie Oliver !
I will vigorously support at the State Level efforts to bring healthier school lunches to all our school children
Get Connecticut back to work!
Stop Tax Giveaways that create jobs at $100,000 per job and support new and innovative industries that play to Connecticut's strengths, particualar in the Green Economy (renewable energy etc) which will be huge in the years ahead.
Better Democracy
There is no idea which is more dangerous to a Democracy than the idea that we have achieved it.
Public financing of elections as in Maine and Arizona. Keep the money out the picture. Connecticut tried, but the law needs fixing to be fairer to small parties.
Election Day registration as permitted in Maine, New Hampshire and 7 other states.
Allow prisoners to vote in the last five years of their term as in Vermont and Maine. These prisoners will soon be among us. Civic responsibility is an essential part of a prisoners rehabilitation.
Instant Runoff Voting. A little complicated this, allows you to vote with your heart as well as your head, read my blog entry for an explanation
Health
Pay for stop smoking programs using money from tobacco taxes. Connecticut is one of only five states that does not do this for Medicaid patients or require insurance companies to pay for it.
America loves socialist healthcare, so much so, that we have four systems and we spend more on it per head than many countries famous for their socialist healthcare.
The systems are Medicare, Medicaid, the VA System and the uninsured. The uninsured system is socialist because if you are uninsured, you wait until your situation is dire, go to the emergency room and the costs are passed on to everyone in a very socialist way. Given this love, I propose moving towards a single unified system that covers everybody, while of course everyone who wants private health care can still have it.
Education Equality
Provide more state funding for education, which will save on property taxes which mainly pays for it now. The will reduce the difference between rich and poor schools and reduce pockets of poverty which we pay for in other ways now.
Environment
I endorse the agenda of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.
Bicycles
Make Connecticut more bicycle friendly (within reason). The hills of New Milford are not bicycle friendly, but think how a dedicated bicycle lane on the fast section of Rte 7 from Lanesville Road to the Brookfield border would help.
Pass enabling legislation to allow towns to tax land and buildings at different rates, this discourages sprawl and the need to expensively provide municipal services over a wide area.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Register to vote!
Following a political blog when you haven't registered to vote is a bit like watching the rev counter on a car with automatic transmission. Register at the Town Clerk's office which is at the back of the Town Hall (that great big red brick building on the Green). Talking of Green you can register for any party as your "'political affiliation" or simply be "Independent", It makes no difference, you can vote for any party you want in a General Election.... which is Tuesday Nov 2nd this year.
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