The Global Economy

Thirty years ago this did not exist to the extent it does today. Two things have driven it, government policy and communicatons such as the Internet. As regards government policy, as in all foreign policy initiatives, there is a mixture of altruism and self interest. The altruism is in the sense that global markets and free trade can potentially benefit everybody and the self interest is in that, with the US being one of the best places to do business, it would benefit more than most. Jobs and investment would flow more to the US. However the self interest part is a double edged sword, it only works to the extent that the US is one of the best places to do business. If other countries up their game, which they have, we could find the jobs and investment flowing away. What in effect has happened is the world is more slippery and well lubricated, jobs and investment flow easily and quickly to where best business climate is to be found. What this means is that impediments to business, that we got away with in the past, will now lead to jobs and money fleeing the state. Taxes without services is an impediment to business like no other. Taxes that result in services are fine. Services include education, infrastructure improvements, research and development assistance, all things that make a state attractive to business. However Connecticut has a good line in taxes withour services. Prison is not a service that business or the general public can use. Chasing drug dealers also is not a service. That is why these policies must be reformed now, whereas in the good old days we could have and did get away with it.

Portugal 3, Italy 1

What does Portugal do pretty well, the Italians sort of do and the Dutch no more than also rans. Its not soccer, but drug policy.
Since 2001 in Portugal has had a policy where drug users are never put in jail, but are put in front of a tribunal whose purpose is to dissuade the user from drug use and get into treatment if necessary
Time Magazine Article

Some will say that that might work in a small country like Portugal, but not in the US. But we are not talking about the US, we are talking about Connecticut, population 3.5 million compared with Portugal population 11.5 million. It was the intent of the Founding Fathers that each state should be able to become a laboratory to try out ideas, which if successful could be subsequently spread to the whole country. However in Connecticut we have to go further. In Porugal as in most of Europe, gun crime is much lower and so is the violence associated with the drug trade.
The violence associated with the drug trade in this country has a huge economic impact.For this reason alone we must consider providing heroin and cocaine to addicts to avoid them getting it on the street. This is pragmatism. They are going to get it anyway and cost the rest of us money in the process. The drug trade is a millstone around our necks and we do not need millstones right now.

The Rebecca Payne Memorial Tennis Tournament

This event will take place at the Rebecca Payne Memorial Tennis Courts at Youngs Field October 9th 10th and 11th, the Columbus Day weekend. It will consist of Mens and Womens Singles and Doubles, for serious players, a fun Round Robin for those who cannot remember the last time they picked up a racket (if ever) and a Kids Tournament on the Monday. It will benefit the National Athletic Trainers Association Rebecca Payne Scholarship Fund which when fully endowed will give $2,000 annually to a student from the New England area studying Athletic Training. To be clear this is NOT a fundraiser for the Green Party or my candidacy, but I just wanted to let you know about it. Information at Rebecca Payne Tennis Tournament
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Debate Wednesday 6th October, Library

There will be a debate between Clark Chapin and myself at 7pm in the upstairs room at the Library. This is your opportunity to get your questions answered. The debate is being sponsored by the Housatonic Times

Is Prison a Drug?

In some neighborhouds one in 9 men is in prison. Let me put this simply. This means that there are 9 women to 8 men and human nature takes over, leading to unstable fanilies and children likely to grow up to be offenders themselves. So imprisoning people now means that we will have plenty of hoodlums to imprison in 2030 and imprisoning people next year means that we will have plenty more in 2031. Now there is no choice but to imprison violent crimainals, but in doing so we ensure that we must continue to do so. Just like a drug we must take it to feel good now, but in doing so we continue to feed our addiction. And we are getting more addicted, the prison population was 3,500 in 1980, but 19,000+ now. Some modest efforts have been made which have perhaps reduced the population by a 1,000 or so. However after the Cheshire home invasion, Governor Rell, and you have to sympathize with her, put a hold on the parole system, that left 300 people in prison who would have otherwise been out. Just like an addict having a bad day, we had a relapse. What we need is a "circuit breaker" to stop this endless cycle. Reforming drug policy is a big part of that. It does not fit neatly into a "sound bite", but the Green Party emphasizes sound thinking, not sound bites.

Veterans

We all know how at times Washington short changes our veterans, the brave men and women who fight for our freedom and the State of Connecticut does to some extent make up the slack, but more should be done.
Let's talk a little about modern warfare, particularly IED's. Actually these so called "shaped charges" were first developed by the Navy over 120 years ago. They work by creating an intense pressure wave that drives a slug of metal thtough the thickest armor. But this same pressure wave can travel through the human brain tearing apart neurons that took decades to connect themselves throughout the victim's life. The victim might show no outward sign of injury, but will never be the same again. These and more obvious injuries might need a lifetime of care and that we must do and if we do not, we should hang out heads in shame. I am not in favor of raising taxes, but if the only way to take proper care of our veterans was to raise taxes, I would vote for it in a heartbeat.

Guns

The shooting in Manchester today was another awful tragedy and our prayers go out to the victims families. I wasn't going to say much about guns. The reason is no matter what gun laws are in place in Connecticut, as long as you can buy a gun from a flea market in New Hampshire or a Gun Show in Maine with no checks whatever, the Connecticut laws don't matter that much. In this particular case we do not know if the gun was legal or not.
However the question keeps on coming up and I am talking to people in order to come up with a considered and researched position.