One can't scream for the government to "enforce the law" and then stubbornly refuses to follow the rules and regulations of Comcast. Instead of doing the right thing and adhere to Comcast's policy, you and your cohorts abused the privilege of being on local access...a privilege I gave you as a subscriber of Comcast Cable as a portion of MY cable bill goes towards the local access television.
• I don't care about how many people you trained who went on to do their own shows.
• I don't care about how long you've been on the air.
• I don't care how you feel about immigration.
• I don't care how you feel about homosexuality.
• I don't care how you feel about Jewish people.
• I don't care about you reading scripture.
• I don't care about your crusade to prove that people don't have to pay taxes.
• I don't care how you feel about me.
What I DO care about are individuals who are on public access (during the time when children and young adults can be watching) that think that they're above the rules and policy of Comcast, repeatedly advocate on air that residents kill members of the immigrant community, can't control themselves from using indecent and profane language on a show that's broadcast outside the border of the "safe harbor" zone, then have the audacity to claim that the entire episode was a set up from people who want to censor his viewpoint.
Unbelievable.
You, McGowan, Bones, "Frank from Bethel, James Yorks, and the rest of your whack-pack can cry and scream about free speech all you want...this had nothing to do with free speech BUT with an individual who thought HE was above the law.
You can't scream fire in a movie theater and you sure as hell can't state repeatedly that members of the immigrant community be SHOT on the air. It was YOU who broke the rules and regulations of Comcast, which resulted in correctly labeling your program as "adult programming" and ultimately sealed your fate. If you would have simply followed the very rules which with agreed to adhere to in your contract, none of this would have happened.
In short, you, McGowan, and "Bones" made your beds, so sleep well.
YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME
I'll get everyone up to date on everything that happened, including my reaction to Bennett's defenders (James "the so-called host with the most" Yorks, McGowan, and...Lynn Waller) who repeatedly LIED on last night's show, as well as the poetic ending to the Big T's run on Comcast.
A Danbury native with nearly two dozen arrests on his record will serve 20 years in prison for raping a Fairfield County woman at gunpoint last year as her two children watched.
Gary Fricker, 54, a transient carpenter who has used more than 30 aliases, pleaded guilty yesterday to attacking the 40-year-old woman as she loaded her children into her minivan at the Marriott Hotel & Spa parking garage on Tresser Boulevard.
He faced up to 140 years in prison when police arrested him after a car chase on Interstate 684 in Ardsley, N.Y., on Oct. 13, three days after the assault.
"She will never be the same," Fricker told officers as they detained him. "I ruined her life."
The victim has not ruled out a civil suit against the Marriott, which did not have video of the assault, said her attorney, Ernest Teitell.
Marriott representatives said they had not been notified of a lawsuit.
Police said they are glad the guilty plea spared the woman from testifying about the attack, which she was prepared to do if Fricker took the case to trial.
"No amount of prison time could ever be enough for a crime like this," Sgt. Paul Guzda said.
State Senator David Cappiello (R-Danbury), Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Connecticut’s Fifth Congressional District, will embark on a 41-day tour Wednesday to meet with thousands of residents at summer events in each of the district’s 41-towns.
“This is the beginning of a campaign that will truly belong to the people of the Fifth Congressional District,” said Senator Cappiello. “The purpose of 41 Towns-in-41 Days is to give the people of our district a voice in the 2008 congressional election.”
Welcome those who arrived here after reading the article on this blog in this week's Fairfield Weekly. You can find all of Tom "BigT(o)d" Bennett's greatest hits in my special report section on the right hand side of this site. After watching the clips, please feel free to send Comcast your thoughts about removing Bennett on the airwaves.
Dave King: Comcast Head Coordinator: Phone: 203-792-1265 Email: Dave_King@cable.comcast.com
Remember when I stated that HatCityBLOG was going to the mainstream...well, that time is NOW.
This week's Fairfield Weekly, reporter Nick Keppler examines the crusade to remove hate-speech from television and pretty much rips Bennett to shreds.
"I am only so happy that I only got one son left that needs to find himself a woman, and you bet your ass he better not come home with a Mexican; he better not come home with one of these gwats. Because I'll tell you what, I'll kick his ass and along with that, they'll find her in the river somewhere." —Tom "Big T" Bennett, Feb. 23, 2007
This is some of the late-night chatter Comcast subscribers in and around Danbury can take in Friday nights when Big T's Talk and Variety Show airs on public access Channel 23. The burly Tom Bennett, his stone-faced sidekick John McGowan and an off-camera cohort known as "Bones" have made comments insinuating that they support mob violence against illegal immigrants, among other questionable, to say the very least, remarks.
Those outside the viewing area can log onto HatCityBLOG and see a few greatest hits packages put together by Danbury's Al Robinson, aka, ctblogger. Armed with a Tivo, video-editing software and a YouTube account, Robinson is putting pressure on Comcast to send Big T packing.
"I can't sit here in good conscience when someone in Danbury is calling for immigrants to be shot in the street, using racial slurs and explicit language towards a 15-year-old girl," says Robinson, who began blogging to cover Ned Lamont's senate run. "They are abusing the very right that I am giving them as a subscriber to Comcast."
As the article continues, we revisit the infamous "firebomb the HISPANIC CENTER" episode and former executive director of the Danbury Hispanic Center Maria Cinta-Lowe is quoted as stating the obvious...
On the same Feb. 23 broadcast, Bennett said, "We got to get this Cinta-Lowe"—Maria Cinta-Lowe, then executive director of the Danbury Hispanic Center—"out of that job, out of Danbury." Bones then chimed in, "People are going to start fire-bombing that center! Oh, I've heard it on the streets; it's not my idea."
"I don't know what word I would find for him," says Cinta-Lowe, now retired. "It's difficult to describe a man full of hate." After a brief deliberation, she declares, "He's a terrible bigot."
According to several people, Bennett and his whack-pack went into freak-out mode once contacted by the Weekly. Vice President of Elise Marciano's anti-immigration group, John McGowan pathetically attempted to backtrack from his call for residents to kill members of the immigrant community, THEN after babbling to the reporter, attempted to threaten the paper with a lawsuit if his words were used in the story. On the other hand, our favorite hate-monger tough guy ran under his bed with his thumb in his mouth and refused to be interviewed (after repeated calls from the paper).
We contacted Big T sidekick John McGowan, vice president of the Danbury chapter of Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control, to ask him about the following: On a May 18 show, as Bennett screamed "Shoot 'em!" referring to undocumented immigrants, McGowan said, "Everybody should do exactly what they would do if somebody broke into their own house."
McGowan didn't want to talk—or at least he didn't have much to say.
"You should protect your country because it's what you call home just as you protect your apartment because it's what you call home," McGowan explained. "Now, when someone breaks into your house, it may be different than when someone breaks into someone else's house; the scenarios are always different." But he refused to say whether or not it would warrant violence.
Don't worry John, the video doesn't lie and anyone who watches the footage KNOWS exactly what you were talking about.
McGowan then demanded that someone from the Weekly go on the show and said we couldn't use anything he said in the interview (a request we obviously ignored). Bennett left one voice message with the Weekly responding to an interview request but stopped calling after we talked to McGowan.
As a special treat, the Fairfield Weekly took things up a notch and examined Bennett's YouTube(YT) video classics that has made him the laughing stock among YT subscribers.
Bennett and McGowan have accused Robinson of twisting their words, but Bennett doesn't need a blogger to make him look bad. He himself posted a clip from the show on his YouTube account (bigtprd) in which he blames the influx of Ecuadorian workers into Danbury on "Jewish slave-owners" and, in a rant exclusive to his YouTube account, ponders "Now, what's wrong with taking a nice long needle and shoving it through the skull, into the brain, inserting some kind of a chemical to activate something in that disgusting little brain of homosexuals to bring them to being right in this amazing world?" Abba's "Dancing Queen" plays in the background as he makes this outburst. In more subdued clips that Bennett uploaded, he banters about whether or not a bandana is a hat and reads Bible verses.
Now, what did Bennett and his whack-pack have to say about being called up by the Weekly...well, you have to see the lies to believe it.
Ah, so now BigT is being picked up by the LA Times, the Globe, and all over Massachusetts? Hmm, lets do a Google search and check for ourselves.
Wow, that's strange...I couldn't find the local hate-monger in ANY of the newspapers he proclaimed on his show.
Oh, it isn't like the BigTurd to lie on camera...is it (Grey Wolves, suing me, accusing me of lying about the words that come out of his mouth, going live on the internet, denying that he didn't advocate residents shoot immigrants, denying that he used an sexually explicit remark with a fifteen year-old girl on camera, stating that he's going to make citizens arrests and capture illegal immigrants in Danbury, etc, etc, etc, etc).
Keep digging that hole for yourself Turd Blossom.
ANYWAY...
Overall, it's a pretty good article that further exposes the xenophobia and bigotry behind those who claim to be only against "illegal" immigrants.
As time goes forward, we here at HatCityBLOG will continue our quest to remove this "individual", and his goons, from the airwaves for good. Bennett, McGowan, and the coward named "Bones" are prime examples of the real intent of those in the anti-immigrant movement. They're about one thing, and one thing only...hatred.
In recent shows, Bennett has said he'd soften his approach, but Robinson isn't backing down. "I just want Comcast to enforce its rules," he said, adding that he had a meeting with a "very receptive" cable advisory board. Bennett has also mentioned Robinson, who is black, on his show.
"Let me tell you something," he said. "The spook is not going to take me out without me going out in glory."
Although there is no law against being a bigot BUT there are laws against using inciteful, sexually explicit, and profane language on the airwaves. As Americans, we can not, and should not, tolerate individuals that use the airwaves to promote their violent agenda against another race of people.
As a final note, again I want to thank you the reader for making this all possible. without you voicing your complaints to Comcast, Bennett would probably still be up to his old tricks. Now, the foul-mouth bigot is neutered and his show is being examined closely by Comcast execs who probably would mind getting rid of this headache for good. In due time, Bennett, McGowan, and "Bones" will regret the day they decided to abuse the rules and regulations of Comcast and we will continue every effort to being attention to Bennett, McGowan, and Bone's unlawful remarks against members of the immigrant community.
As a preview of tomorrow's full report on Sunday's prayer vigil from Kennedy Park, here's remarks from Rev. Gail Keeney-Mulligan of St. John's Episcopal Church.
I'll have more details on what happened at the prayer vigil, including my rather intense confrontation with one of Elise Marciano's wackos who disrupted the event.
Recently, Danbury has been the center of attention in the mainstream media. With the spotlight on Hat City, a brief list of two Danbury-related stories that's gaining state-wide attention.
WEST NILE VIRUS
Last night, FOX 61 continued their story on the West Nile virus case. For those who don't know, last week, health officials confirmed that two female individuals, one from the New London area and the other from Danbury, contracted the virus. According to news reports, both were admitted to the hospital for treatment and are currently recovering at home.
The Danbury woman is between 20 and 29 and was admitted in hospital for encephalitis with a fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, weakness and memory loss two w3eeks ago. The New London resident, who is in her 30’s, was hospitalized around the same time with symptoms of meningitis with headache, a stiff neck, joint and muscle pain and weakness.
West Nile virus, which turned up in the U.S. in the fall of 1999, is the most common mosquito-born illness in the country.
While many people infected with the disease suffer no symptoms — or little more than a three-day headache — others can suffer a prolonged, flu-like illness with fever, head and joint aches, and fatigue.
The virus has been especially hard on the elderly, causing encephalitis (swelling of the brain), chronic fatigue, a polio-like paralysis and, in some cases, death.
Since 1999, the virus has killed 902 Americans, including three in Connecticut.
Last night, FOX-61 filed this brief report on the case.
In short, the West Nile virus is a disease that people should take seriously. The CDC has detailed outline on ways one can reduce your risk of becoming infected with virus. TUBERCULOSIS SCARE
The other news story of the day is the recent detection of students with tuberculosis at Danbury High School. News-Times education beat reporter Eileen FitzGerald and staff reporter Robert Miller have been all over this story and have a detailed write-up in today's paper.
A student at Danbury High School has active tuberculosis, prompting the city to notify at least 150 people at the school and at Danbury Library – where she works as a volunteer – to be tested for the disease.
"We want to be as conservative as possible," city health director Scott Leroy said. By conservative, he means opening the circle of people to be tested to include the girl’s casual contacts, to make sure no one has been infected with the disease.
Dr. John Gundy, the school’s medical adviser, said the girl ran a fever last winter while school was in session, then recovered. This summer, she developed active TB and is now being treated for the disease.
Gundy said because the disease in its early stage can manifest itself with a fever, health officials in the city can’t be sure she did not have the first signs of active TB last winter.
The city learned last week from state laboratories that the girl had active TB. On Monday, the school system sent out letters to students and staff informing them of the situation. The high school will have an informational session and TB skin tests for them Aug. 27 at 1 p.m. at the high school.
Mark Hasskarl, Danbury Library director, said his staff has been notified. They will be tested Monday, he said.
Dr. Thomas Draper, the city’s associate health director, said there is no need to test people who simply entered the library or the school when the girl was there.
WTNH were on the scene at Danbury High and filed this report during their noon news broadcast.
If you noticed, I haven't posted anything on the site in a little while. Well, I'm taking a small break to hammer out some computer problems that's interfering with my video production as well as fixing some annoying glitches on this site.
In other words, it's time for a pause.
For those still waiting on the video from the vigil, or those who are waiting on footage on the Cotswold land battle, I'll do everything I can to get the videos completed by tomorrow.
Maintenance is an ugly job put when your dealing with video and audio production, it's very important to do disk management and when your dealing with hundreds or gigs of video, management becomes VERY important.
I attended the prayer vigil at Kennedy Park on Sunday afternoon and I'm in the process of producing the video.
Hopefully, I'll be able to file my video report and bring you everything that happened later today, including what happened when a buffoon of Elise Marciano's whack-pack disrupted the event, as well as other disturbing moments from the usual anti-immigrant suspects this weekend.
The News-Times did a nice write-up of the event, which you can read here.
UPDATE: I'm sorry for the delay. Many of you have emailed me about the vigil and I'm working on the video as fast as I can. It's just that the video footage is taking up a great deal of space so I have to move files around in order to complete the video.
Hello to all who are new to the site who arrived here from grabbing one of my cards from around town. I notice that several new readers are using the language translation tool, which is also a really good sign of encouragement.
Feel free to check out the video links on the right-hand side of this blog or catch up on things by reading the archives. Things will be back to normal on this site very soon.
Congressman Chris Murphy made an appearance on WFSB's Face the State and talked about his time in office, his stance on several major issues, the state of the Democratic controlled Congress, and his support of Chris Dodd for President.
04.25.22 (RADIO): WSHU Latino group call on Connecticut lawmakers to open a Danbury charter school
06.03.22 (OP-ED): KUSHNER: "Career Academy ‘a great deal for Danbury"
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
The amended complaint states that plaintiffs sought to remedy the continued discriminatory and unauthorized enforcement of federal immigration laws against the Latino residents of the City of Danbury by Danbury's mayor and its police department.
Plaintiffs allege that the arrests violated their Fourth Amendment rights and the Connecticut Constitution because defendants conducted the arrests without valid warrants, in the absence of exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to believe that plaintiffs were engaged in unlawful activity. In addition, plaintiffs allege that defendants improperly stopped, detained, investigated, searched and arrested plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that defendants violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights when they intentionally targeted plaintiffs, and arrested and detained them on the basis of their race, ethnicity and perceived national origin. Plaintiffs raise First Amendment, Due Process and tort claims.
Plaintiffs request declaratory relief, damages and attorneys fees.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
