Hundreds of people came out to attend Senator Chris Dodd's town hall meeting on health care.
WCSU 02.07.09

The second stop on Senator Chris Dodd's town hall meeting on health care reform made it's way to Western Connecticut State University last Saturday.

As a person who attend several meetings in the area, by the number of people who were attendance for a Saturday event (aprox 300 to 400), it was pretty obvious that the topic of affordable health care is a serious concern for many families in the state as well as the country.

Senator Dodd, Congressman Chris Murphy, and a panel consisting of health care advocate Kevin Lembo, Johnna Torsone, human resources manager for Pitney Bowes, Atena CEO Ron Williams, Jeanette DeJesus, Hispanic Health Council fielded questions from those in attendance where weren't shy when it came to expressing their viewpoint.

You can read and view highlights from Senator Dodd's event (including footage of the entire 90 minute meeting) below...

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As someone with a two-year old, childhood obesity and the lack of physical education in our school system is a serious concern for me as well as a lot of parents. I had a chance to question Senator Dodd and Congressman Murphy about this problem and got their take on the subject.

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The CCAG asked Senator Dodd where he stood on the topic of public health care options...

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Here's a comment from a member of the audience, Jim Mellett, that appeared in Eugene Driscoll's News-Times article.

When Jim Mellett was a kid, people would go to their town doc and complain about things like bum knees.

The doc would see you, take a look at the knee and charge you a fee, said the 72-year-old New Fairfield resident.

Today, Mellett walks into a doctor's office and "there's a gorilla at the desk."

You talk to the doctor about the knee and the doctor tells you to go see the gorilla.

Eventually the doctor says he can fix you for $50, but the gorilla gets half.

The gorilla is the insurance industry, which Mellett says has hijacked health care in the United States.

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...and of course, a political event wouldn't be complete without the likes of Watertown's embarrassment Barbara Kidel, Patrica Kadet, and the rest of Elise Marciano's dwindling group of anti-immigrant xenophobes.





While chuckling over the fact that the anti-immigrant whack-packers were a five member group, since they attempted to demonstrate along side members of the WCSU College Republicans who were there to "protest" Senator Dodd, I decided to ask a couple of questions out of one of the Republicans (you know who you are) about their apparent solidarity with members of a local hate-group:

HCB: Hey, are you guys are you standing with the local bigots in solidarity?

WCSU Republican: No, no NO! (shaking his head quickly).

HCB: You know they're considered are bigots.

WCSU Republican: Hey, we have nothing to do with them...we're not with them.

HCB: I'll be keeping an eye on you.

WCSU Republican: Al, I know...

Taking a cue from the mayor's success in using illegal immigration for political purposes, to Marciano's whack-pack pleasure, the college Republicans attempted to play the illegal immigration card when it came to health care...and lets just say that they didn't expect the reaction they received by just about everyone in attendance.

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Notwithstanding the anti-immigrant and anti-Dodd nonsense, which was promptly put in it's place, overall the event was very informative as it demonstrated how important the topic of health care reform is for many in the area.

Here's footage of the event in it's entirety (aprox 90 min).