As a follow-up to my post that exposed City Hall's abusing of the local government channel, here's more nonsense from Channel 24 that further highlights the incompetence of Ted Consumptus (the person in charge of the channel), and the gross abuse the the people's trust when it comes to the City REALLY providing programming of ALL meetings.



Yes, this was broadcasted on channel 24. After everything people went through in convincing City Hall to utilize the local government channel, this type of nonsense should outrage everyone.

This will all be make more sense once I post my special comment on Mayor Boughton and the arrogance of City Hall.

In wake of the Secretary of State's announcement of a Democratic primary for the 24th State Senate seat, members of the Danbury's Democratic leadership came out in support of the candidacy of Duane Perkins.

From Danbury City Hall, here's video footage of Perkins' presser.

Let the Democratic primary for the 24th state senate race begin!

Coming on the heels of the announcement that he received the necessary signatures to force a primary for the 24th state senate seat against Duane Perkins, yesterday Terry Tierney's campaign issued this following release:

Danbury Democrat, Terry Tierney has succeeded in collecting the 615 Democrat signatures required to primary Duane Perkins, the Democrat nominated candidate for the 24th District State Senate seat which consists of the towns of Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman and a portion of Bethel.

“When I decided to seek the Democrat nomination for the 24th State Senate seat, I knew it would be an uphill battle because I announced my intention to seek the democrat nomination with very little time for the Democrat delegates to get to know me and my platform”, said Terry Tierney. Mr. Tierney’s petition effort has been quite an experience and eye opener for him and throughout the petitioning process he has gained a lot of support and insight into the needs of the residents of the 24th Senate district. His many conversations with the voters has reinforced the positions he presented in his platform at the nominating convention. “What the voters said to me is that they’re worried that their quality of life is being threatened and they want responsive political leadership that will listen and act to protect their jobs, their homes, their families and the quality of their lives from the growing economic uncertainties that they’re experiencing everyday.” Mr. Tierney reinterated.

Mr. Tierney is vowed and determined to be a strong advocate for the 24th district residents. Expressing his humble gratitude to the Democrat voters who were gracious enough to sign his primary petitions, Mr. Tierney promises to return their support ten-fold when elected this fall. Anyone that knows Terry Tierney, recognizes how passionate he is when it comes to tackling the tough issues that our State Legislature faces today and in the future as well.

Mr. Tierney has from the very beginning, believed that he is the right choice for the voters in the 24th State Senate district. He is very confident that he will win the upcoming Democrat Primary on August 12th and the general election this fall against his republican opponent. “No one has worked harder than myself to earn the privilege to represent the good people of the 24th State Senate district than I have in the last 3 weeks and I earned it the old fashioned way – one signature at a time”. Mr. Tierney stressed that he’s proud and elated to give the Democrats in the 24th district an opportunity to make a choice between two Democrat candidates. “Democracy isn’t served well unless people have choices and now that I’ve qualified to primary my Democrat opponent, the Democrat party can truly say to the voters that it’s a party of inclusion and not a political party of exclusion”, stated Mr. Tierney, who mentioned that inclusion is one of the core values that makes him proud to be a life-long Democrat.

“I’m ready to debate the issues with my Democrat opponent at any venue as many times as possible to afford the voters the chance to hear my message”, Mr. Tierney states in closing.

I'm in the process of setting up an interview with Tierney and should have something posted soon.

Last night, I made another appearance on Ideas at Work and Beyond to talk about the outlandish statements Our lovely City Clerk Jean Natale made when she spoke in front of the Charter Revision Commission.

Due to video production problems, I was unable to highlight EVERYONE of Natale's disgraceful lies. Here's a real small list of the most embarrassing moments (and lies) from Natale's appearance:

* So-called "prepared remarks" (that were most likely prepared for her by you know who),

* Her slap in the face of such people as Betty Crudgington and George Massoud (who are deceased) when she stated that she's the FIRST City Clerk who is actually doing the job of City Clerk,

* Her horrific statement about the city finding a way around publishing the ordinances (which might I add, is a STATE STATUE)

* Her laughable proudest accomplishment in her three terms as City Clerk is of "binding" the Common Council agenda (you're on your THIRD term, and THAT'S your biggest accomplishment?

* Her FAT LIE that she was the one who started posting minutes on the city website (although the website started in 2002),

* Her repeating the same thing over and over again when asked questions

* AND her lack of explaining the NUMEROUS errors she made under her watch (FOI violation, lack of answering requests for information from council members, not getting the information on the city's website in a timely manner, the stupidity behind her refusal to hand over a Common Council agenda to a reporter for the News-Times, her disgraceful role in the whole Hispanic Center "racially motivated" screw-up, etc.

I'm going to hold off until I record the repeat of last night's show before I really go into detail and highlight EVERY SINGE LIE and MISSTATEMENT Natale made. Again, due to video production problems, we weren't really able to go into great detail about Natale's nonsense BUT trust me, we're REALLY going to go into detail and shed light on one of the worst elected officials in the history of Danbury AND explain why it's critical that this position (that pays 48,000 per year) should be eliminated from the city's charter.

This post will be dedicated to the mainstream media's coverage of tonight's meeting between Chief Baker and the Danbury Alliance.

I was in attendance at tonight's meeting and will post the event in it's entirety later this week.

To start things off, the News-Times came out with a blistering editorial that highlights Mayor Boughton's and the Republican-controlled "racially motivated" Common Council's use of illegal immigration for political purposes.

Danbury Police Chief Al Baker continues to carry the burden of what happened last winter when the Common Council voted to authorize the police department to work with federal immigration agents.

There was no need for a council vote -- since the police work with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies on a daily basis.

There was no need for the spectacle caused when competing activists converged on Danbury City Hall for the council vote -- which was a vote on nothing.

All these months later, there still is no written agreement between Danbury and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Baker has been regularly meeting with local groups -- some involved in the immigration issue, some not -- to explain the role of the department and what a partnership with ICE would mean.

"I'm always willing to meet with people on issues of concern to the public and the Danbury Police Department," the chief said.

One of those meetings is scheduled for tonight at the Brazilian Catholic Community Center on Liberty Street. It was arranged by the Danbury Alliance and will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Baker is doing a good job cleaning up the mess created by politicians who decided to get involved in what should be a purely law enforcement decision.

The extremes on both sides of the debate envisioned ICE agents sweeping into Danbury neighborhoods for mass roundups of those suspected of being illegal immigrants.

Naturally, there were fears of racial profiling against legal immigrants and citizens.

[...]

The lack of a written agreement with ICE points out the needless rush by the council. The city hasn't even been told by ICE whether it will be accepted into the ICE program for local police. The city also has not been told if any Danbury police officers will be offered training spots in ICE programs.

ICE will probably say yes. But just as ICE is taking its time to make decisions, the Danbury Police Department should have been given time to decide how best to approach a partnership with ICE -- without the posturing and interference of the Common Council.

Here's Fox61's report.



WTNH report



After the meeting with Chief Baker, the Danbury Alliance issued the following statement:

Danbury Chief of Police, Alan Baker, at a meeting yesterday with representatives of Latino/Hispanic communities and representatives of the Danbury Alliance, Would not commit to several modifications proposed by the Danbury Alliance to the agreement with ICE pursuant to the authorization given to him by the Danbury Common Council on February 6.

Between 80 and 100 members of the Latino/Hispanic communities and the Danbury Alliance voiced concerns with some of the clauses they say are common to all the existing Memorandum of Agreements (MOA) with ICE but are vague and inconsistent in nature. They sought assurances from the Chief of Police that these clauses would be modified in the agreement which the Chief of Police is expected to sign with ICE.

Chief Alan Baker did not agree to put a specific clause in the MOA that would forbid officers from asking crime victims their immigration status or sharing their status with ICE. In addition, Chief Baker said there would be times that immigration status would be asked and shared with ICE, such as the U Visa program which grants crime victims a temporary visa during the time they cooperate with the prosecution of a criminal.

Chief Baker would not commit to include language in the MOA prohibiting racial profiling. He noted that the police force does not engage in racial profiling yet, several members of the public stated that they had received multiple complaints from persons who said that they had been racially profiled by the Danbury police but were afraid to report it.

The financial costs associated with participation in this program were also addressed by the public however; Chief Alan Baker was unable to provide any details associated with this and stated the city council had not done a cost analysis, to his knowledge, but that it was something that he and the city could do.

Mr. Wilson Hernandez asked Chief Baker if he would limit the number of detectives who receive ICE training to the original number of two detectives he proposed to the common council in January. Chief Baker's response was "I don't want to tie our hands to that number" adding that the number could eventually be increased.

When asked by the public, "what constitutes the definition of a criminal alien" Chief Baker said that there were specific types of criminals they were looking for but could not provide a definition of the term. Chief Baker would not commit to including the definition of criminal alien provided by the Alliance in the wording of the MOA.

Finally, Chief Baker would not agree to allow members of the Alliance to review the final MOA before it is signed.

Despite the reluctance of Chief Baker to commit to the modifications that had been proposed, members of the Alliance issued the following statement: "We consider tonight's event a success in many ways. One of the primary missions of our group is to facilitate dialogue and inform the public. We believe that information is gleaned as much by the question as by their answers. Tonight was a perfect example of that."

Here's a link to the News-Times write-up.

Who didn't see this one coming...

New Haven does not have to give up the names and addresses of immigrants who signed up for the city’s immigrant-friendly ID, according to a proposed decision issued Wednesday.

The ruling, by a hearing officer of the state Freedom of Information Commission, came in response to a request to reveal the names and addresses of the 5,000-plus people who have signed up for New Haven’s immigrant-friendly municipal ID card since its launch last July.

Journalist Chris Powell and the Community Watchdog Project, a group opposed to illegal immigration led by Dustin Gold (pictured above), originally requested the city to release the names and addresses.

In a decision issued Wednesday, FOIC hearing officer Sherman D. London wrote that the city was right to refuse Gold and Powell’s request, because releasing the names would have created a safety risk. His decision is a proposed ruling; it will be voted on at a hearing on July 9 before the Freedom of Information Commission.

Click here to read the decision. Click here and here to read articles about the FOI battle.

“I’d like to thank the FOI Commission for recognizing the safety threat that would be posed by releasing the information of individuals involved,” wrote Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. in a press statement Wednesday.

London found that “the ID Card program unleashed a level of vitriol and venom aimed at City officials and illegal immigrants that was far beyond mere political disagreement or healthy civic engagement, according to testimony.”

New Haven's Elise Marciano (a.k.a. Dustin Gold) true nature was also exposed in the ruling.

Dustin Gold claimed that [the Freedom of Information Commission] "misconstrued the statute" that allows for an exemption due to safety risk. He also took issue with the way [they] cited excerpts from hateful emails and radio clips to show that officials and immigrants' lives were in danger -- quotes such as "I have my Automatic Rifle ready to go an[d] won't hesitate to use it to kill these Rodents."

"Most of the quotes were taken out of context," Gold argued.

Hmm...where have I heard this type of open threats against immigrants before?

Oh man, if what is alleged is true, these bullies are a bunch of jerks and their punishment should be videotaped and placed on YouTube for all to see.

A sixth teenager has been charged in connection with the alleged February assault of a 16-year-old Newtown High School student, which police said was recorded by the assailants and posted on YouTube.

The latest suspect, 16-year-old male who wasn't identified because of his age, surrendered at police headquarters Tuesday after being informed investigators had obtained a Superior Court warrant for his arrest.

He was charged with third-degree assault, first-degree unlawful restraint, first-degree reckless endangerment and threatening, according to Sgt. Aaron Balamonde.

Police are also seeking a warrant for the seventh suspect, a 15-year-old girl, who will be charged as a juvenile, Balamonde said.

The incident that sparked the investigation occurred Feb. 9, a Saturday, during a cleanup at the school attended by students who were being disciplined for various rules infractions.

Balamonde said the suspects used plastic packing tape to bind the victim to a chair, then placed the chair on a dolly and rolled him down a hallway. The chair fell over and the victim sustained a minor head injury, which didn't require hospital treatment, as well as "emotional and mental" distress, police said.

"It was a typical bully situation," Balamonde said.

The suspects subsequently posted a photo from the video on Facebook.com and posted the video on YouTube. Police were tipped off by anonymous person who dropped off a CD containing the Facebook photo at the police station.

The video has since been removed from the Web site.

Three 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy were previously charged in the case, along with 19-year-old Matthew Cluff, the only suspect in the case old enough to be publicly identified. Cluff is due in Danbury Superior Court on July 8.

Fox 61 covered this story and did an exclusive interview with the victim.

The drumbeat against our lovely City Clerk Jean Natale continues.

Before I took off to Newport R.I., I made an appearance (along with former City Clerk Helena Abrantes) on Ivon Alcime's local access show Ideas at Work and Beyond to talk about the City Clerk and why the incompetence of Jean Natale is EXACTLY the reason that elected position (that pays a staggering 48,000 of our taxpayer's dollars per year) should be eliminated.



Let's just say that my appearance on the show and giving Natale her LONG OVERDUE blasting was quite the hit over at 155 Deer Hill Ave and I'll do a follow-up on what happened afterwards (including feedback from the City Clerk's absolutely pathetic appearance in front of the Charter Revision Board after the airing of the show) later.

Last night I received word from a number of sources that there will be a Democratic primary race for the 24 State Senate seat. Today I called the Secretary of State office and confirmed that long time Democratic activist Terry Tierney has collected the necessary signatures to force a primary challenge against the fellow Democrat, and Danbury Common Council member, Duane Perkins.

For those who don't know, at the state senate convention, Tierney came within one vote from forcing a primary forcing him to run out and collect the necessary signatures to challenge Perkins before the deadline. Now that it's official, and seeing the Democratic Party's desire to capture this particular senate seat (being vacated by David Cappiello), this primary might turn out to be one of the more interesting races to watch this summer.

Let the games begin!

NOTE: Post updated

The ZBA actually denying a petition OR the fact that their decision will definitely lead to a lawsuit that the city is guaranteed to lose in court.

...gotta love our land-use commissions.

While vacationing in Newport R.I., I filed this post for My Left Nutmeg earlier this week.

Although I'm not his biggest fan, it's encouraging to see an elected official take a stance against the rise in hate speech and racist remarks that appear in the comment sections newspapers online.

Mayor Eddie Perez ratcheted up his campaign against "racist comments and hate speech" posted by readers on Courant.com Friday by holding a protest outside the newspaper's Broad Street headquarters.

Surrounded by a few dozen state and municipal elected officials, members of community organizations and city employees, Hartford's mayor stood in front of The Courant to take it to task.

"Let me begin by making it clear that this is not, this is not about free speech," Perez said. "This is about asking the corporate citizen in our community not to provide a platform for hate and racist material in our community."

"Enough is enough," Perez said to applause. "Enough is enough."

The rally comes at the end of a week in which Perez issued two press releases targeting the reader comments, and wrote a letter to the newspaper's publisher demanding that The Courant stop the anonymous postings.

In a letter circulated at the rally, Perez said he wants the newspaper to "recognize its role in facilitating hate speech through its website and make an appropriate apology to the community;" to require people commenting online to register their names; to commit to assign a "community manager" to "facilitate dialogue and prevent racist and violent posts from dominating the comments sections;" and to convene a citizen advisory group.

Although some question the timing of Perez stance, the mayor does brings much needed attention a serious concern that's been an ongoing problem. Feedback to newspapers articles online laced with bigotry, threats of violence, and libelous material stretches far beyond the Hartford Courant . As a resident of what many now describe as the most divisive city in Connecticut (Danbury), I've seen my fair share of racism and bigotry (including threats against my own life) various forms of the media (primarily directed towards immigrants) up close and personal.

While bringing to the public's attention how a vice president of a anti-immigrant hate group and his supporters used the media (local access television) spewed hate-speech towards immigrants (including issuing death threats and calls to firebomb organization that support immigrants), I've routinely documented the alarming level of hatred directed to immigrants that appears regularly in the comments section of the online version of the Danbury News-Times.

For those who are unaware of the level of racism and anti-immigrant hatred in Danbury, here's a recap of the small fraction of offensive remarks hate-speech on the News-Times site that I've documented in the last year alone (WARNING: CONTENT BELOW THE FOLD CONTAINS VERY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE).

03.10.08:These comments were left on the News-Times' article on the case of Tereza Pereira, an who recently won a court case that blocked her deportation due to the circumstances in her particular situation.

This cockroach judge needs to be tossed off the bench and the illegals need to get the boot without hesitation sans their anchor larvae. This case may set a precedent that could devastate this country. Somebody needs to find out who appointed this imbecile judge.

[...]

Illegals who squirt out "anchor babies" should not be rewarded with citizenship. This should be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. We need to revise the laws so that these illegals who breeds like rodents don't get their offspring made US Citizens. This judge should be removed from the bench. He obviously has no respect for the law.

07.27.07: Threats against immigrant rights supporters and politicians:

DisNoir36, your statements and attitude make it quite obvious that you have not felt any of the repercussions/effects of the unmitigated flow of Illegals into the American work force. You must be very well insulated in your career and not need to compete against these cutthroats. Many of us on the other hand have been severely affected.

[...]

If as you say “Rell just perpetuated the existence of an underclass by denying them an opportunity to get quality higher education and move up…” is true; then I say good! Good let them be relegated to mowing our lawns, serving and cleaning our tables at restaurants. Why should we educate them so that they can further debase our way of life? The children of those who have come here Legally receive the benefits as they should. These others should do what it takes to become residents the right way not expect to be excepted into our society simple because they were adept at scurrying across our borders like rats or took advantage of being allowed to enter the country on a Visitors Visa to become a squatter.

And, before anybody make a crack about not choosing where they were born. Very Very Few of these kids were born there the majority of them were spirited across the border in the same manor as their parents arrived there and are just as Illegal as they are!

“I seriously wonder what will happen with all you haters if this immigration bill does pass. Somehow I doubt the hatred will simply dissipate once the question of 'legality' is removed from the equation.”

I predict violence, lots of well deserved violence. Violence; toward the Illegals and unfortunately violence toward some Legal citizens who are mistaken for Illegals. And I sincerely hope, violence against “our legislators”/government for selling out The People to the interests of the uber-capitalists and lining their pockets with the ill-gotten gains of it all.

07.16.07: News-Times article on Ridgefield's plan for a dog park.

They should make parks for other animals to play in, too: Brazilians, Ecuadorans, Dominicans- pretty much anyone of negroid ancestry. Keep the public safe!!

Jun 11 2007: Comment posted in response to editorial:

Danbury would be a nice place to live if there weren't so many niggers and spics.

August 11 2007: Comment to the Santos family immigration case article in which someone impersonates 17 year old female Rayany Santos (one of the family members who didn't face deportation):

Hi everyone - thanks for all the support. It's really not as bad as the newspaper makes it out. I just go along with them because they said they needed a real "sob" story. They said people would probably send me money and stuff.

Anyhow, I'm having a great time on my own. I can stay out and party and have all my boyfriends over! It's the coolest! I don't miss my brothers at all. They were lame. They would always put boogers in my hair and fart and stuff - yuck!

Well, now that I'm on my own I'm looking for an older guy to take care of me. If there are any guys out there who want to get together give me a call! (17 is legal in CT ya know!) I love to party and I'm totally easy!

Love - XOXOXO

April 29 2007: Comment regarding anti-immigration forum held at Western. TAKE NOTE OF THE NAME (hint, spell it backwards).

Posted by: Reggi_Nytrid Sat, Apr 28 2007
I have to admit that I'm surprised by the levels of hatred and racism displayed on these boards. I thought people in CT were a little bit more enlightened than that.
Also, who is this boredwithbs character? Is he nuts or what? And what kind of a name is aidsfromatoiletseat? I find that very offensive.

March 25 2007: Comments in response to sex offender notification article:

They should also insert a side note warning how the city can't keep the spics out. These animals care about following laws about as much as sex offenders.

04.27.07, here's my post on the murder of Vanderli Augusto Rodrigues and the family's reaction to the News-Times comments regarding his death.

Although people received their information about the stabbing of Vanderli Augusto Rodrigues from the News-Times, you really realize how limited the mainstream media is when it comes to reporting on issues in the immigrant community (as well as how insensitive they are when it comes to allowing hate-mongers to post racist comments) once you read the Emanuela Lima's write-up on the murder in this week's Tribuna newspaper.

Her piece chronicles the impact the murder had on everyone effected by this tragedy as well as the outrage from the community over the disgusting, hate-filled, racist comments that were posted on the News-Times website. The paper has been widely criticized for doing a horrible job in monitoring their comments section and many in the media who I know are astonished that the paper hasn't apologized for the unfortunate incident).

All Vanderli Augusto Rodrigues wanted to do in United States was to work hard and save enough money to buy his own house and give his parents a more comfortable life Brazil.

In the early morning hours of April 15, Rodrigues’ plans were cut short, literally – he was murdered with a single stab wound to the chest in the kitchen of the one-bedroom apartment he shared with other five men. Only one of the roommates was not at the apartment when the murder occurred, shortly before 2:11am; the other four told Danbury police they were asleep.

They were awakened by the sound of a thud when Rodrigues’s body hit the floor and realized soon after, that Laudimilson Teixeira, one of the roommates, was gone.

[...]

“THIS IS ABOUT A HUMAN BEING”

On April 16, the medical examiner’s office in Farmington asked that a family member identify the victim’s body. Adriana said her mother had been in a state of complete emotional shock and was unable to do so, “I had to go – it was the worst experience of my life.”

When Adriana returned home and logged on to her computer to check for news on the arraignment, she was shocked by the comments posted by on-line readers at the News-Times website in response to articles about the murder, “How can people not see that this is about a human being? How can they be so disrespectful?”

She was referring to the nature of the comments related to her uncle’s undocumented status, such as “The bottom line here is that if these illegals were not here this death would not have occurred” or “They should have the funeral in front of the INS building and see if anyone comes.”

Elke Probst, is the owner of the Belmont Circle property where Graças resides, was also taken back by some of the comments. “I just hope people are able to place themselves in this family’s shoes and give them the support they need by rallying together as a community” said Probst.

At this point, the editors of the News-Times should contact the members of Rodrigues' family and apologize to them as they had to endure the disgusting comments that weren't deleted from their site. To allow the bottom-feeding racists to spout their hatred freely is a disgrace and brings shame to the city as a whole. The News-Times has a responsibility to remove hate-speech from their site and it's apparent that they have a serious problem monitoring themselves. They should get rid of the comments altogether and keep the chatter from readers in the forums.

January 21 2008: Here's a post I did on a comment left on the News-Times regarding the death of Rene Perez. An immigrant who was allegedly beaten and left on a desolate road to die by the hands of a police officer.

An outraged reader forwarded me this truly disgusting comment from the News-Times board. The comment was in response to the story on a homeless immigrant who was allegedly beaten and dumped on the road for dead by a police officer.

Now lets break down this "comment" and expose the ugly.

1. The username of the comment is "el ilegal borracho." Now, we'll just assume that the person who made this remark isn't the brightest person on his street so we'll give him/her a pass on the incorrect spelling of the word illegal. The Urban Dictionary defines the word "borracho" as the following:

Mexican or Chicano slang for a drunkard.

2. The address of the user is "Bedford/Mount Kisco/Guatland." For those who don't know, the term "guat" is defined as the following:

A racist name for any individual of Guatemalan heritage.

Basically, calling someone a "guat" is the same as the term "nigger" or "spic".

3. The comment speaks for itself:

Dirty racial police men hate us immigrunts. we just come to U.S. for better licor. Lazy americans have too much licor so we come to help drink. drity selfish americans need to help us when we drunk.

4. The photo used by the jerk who made this comment is Rene Perez, THE PERSON AT THE CENTER OF THE ARTICLE WHO WAS ALLEGEDLY BEATEN AND DUMPED ON THE STREET FOR DEAD BY THE POLICE.

5. Finally, the IP address is from Danbury so it's safe to assume that the person who made this comment is indeed from Danbury.

• This comment has been on the News-Times board since Saturday.

• This comment has probably been read by the Perez family who are still in a state of mourning.

• This comment should have been removed instantly.

• Comments like this reinforce the belief among many in this state that Danbury is the armpit of Connecticut.


• Local embarrassments such as Joel Urice and Pauline Basso probably think this is a joke.

• Thank the News-Times for not monitoring their message boards good enough. At some point they should consider removing the comment feature all together and save the "comments" for their forum section.

• Thank the mayor for creating an racially insensitive environment where this type of nonsense goes on openly a daily basis and idiots like Elise Marciano can give the impression that she has common sense (with or without the sheet).

Jan 05 2008:

Ray Sissum ALL THE TIME: This is what you get when you let Niggers run around free. They wouldn't be stealing so much if they were where they belong- in the fields, PICKING OUR COTTON!!

[...]

OLD COGGER: Back in the good old days, when a varmint stole the transportation aka horse; we'd hang 'em. Time for that again I say. Darn Tootin'

As in Hartford, the existence of these anonymous offensive remarks sparked outrage in Danbury area towards the local newspaper.

Clearly the News-Times condones these comments by allowing them to continue...just another reason I will NEVER again subscribe to that paper.
bg | 01.05.08 - 3:31 pm

My God, what's wrong with people in Danbury?

Nigger? Spics? Guatland?

I thought people in that city were against illegal imsponsiblemigrants?

You said that the News-Times used to have a forums section? Why did they move to the comments format? Better yet, why can't they ban the IP addresses or only allow a person to post one comment per article which really seems to be the problem here.

It seems like you have a great deal of material on the racists in your city including a huge video collection. You should really forward everything you have to the SPLC and have them do a report on the anti-immigrant vemon in Danbury.
Nothing has changed | 03.10.08 - 4:07 pm

'current online editor Keith Whamond can only do so much '

I disagree.. more can and should be done. This is the same paper that wrote a story about some neo nazi group coming to Danbury, something that turned out to be completely bogus.

they're probably not even keeping track of the ip addresses of the people that post this inflammatory trash.

it's never been a great paper but it is reallly just a piece of virtual garbage and a waste of disk space.
fuzzy_turtle | 03.10.08 - 7:20 pm

The IQ of those boards is incredibly low. By and large it's a small group of people making all the trouble. They even know who they are behind the phony names. You can literally pretend to be hundreds of different people simply by changing your handle.

The blatant racism and stupidity is off the wall. I sometimes wonder if I'm in Connecticut or somewhere deep in the hillbilly south. It has nothing to do with illegality or laws and everything to do with skin color and heritage. They don't even pretend anymore. That's the scary part. I predicted violence would escalate and it is across the country. These people are seriously mentally deranged.
DisNoir36 | 03.11.08 - 6:07 am

The News-Times seems more interested in their web traffic than dealing with this problem.

Maybe if you can get the Southern Poverty Law Center to do a complete report on Danbury. With Elise Marciano's ties to political leaders, the comments in the News-Times, the entire BigT episode, and the email scandal, you have more than enough material to share with them.

Labeling Danbury as a new breeding ground for anti-immigrant hatred is long overdue.
Susan | 03.11.08 - 9:11 am

As with the situation with the Hartford Courant, newspapers that allow anonymous racist, libelous, threatening comments to be published on their website is simply unprofessional and irresponsible. On this site, in order to publish a comment, you need to sign up for an account and this should be the same for newspapers that allow their readers to publish comments online.

In the case of Danbury, the allowance of anonymous posting added gas to the fire that's primarily directed towards members of the immigrant community, contributes to the racial hostility in the area, and reinforces the notion that Danbury is the armpit of Connecticut. The increase web traffic anonymous comments generate does not justify these offensive remarks appearing on their sites for even a second and newspapers such as the News-Times and the Hartford Courant should take better steps to regulate the content from readers on their site (i.e. ban anonymous comments) and take the necessary steps to ensure that hate-speech (which is NOT free speech) does not appear on their site...or else do the right thing and get rid of the comment section altogether.

I'm on vacation in Newport R.I. right now so posts will be somewhat slow.

Saying that, it saddened me to hear this news.

George Carlin, the dean of counterculture comedians whose biting insights on life and language were immortalized in his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine, died of heart failure Sunday. He was 71.

We've lost a great, GREAT comic and I hope our younger generation will take the time and see some of Carlin's earlier work as it still applies to today culture.

From Keith Olbermann's show Countdown, here's a clip of one of Carlin's last interviews...