State Sen. Michael McLachlan has decided not to keep his second job as Danbury's economic development director.

Good move.

In the process of vacating the job, however, McLachlan trashed those who properly questioned the obvious conflicts of a state senator holding the job.

Bad move.

"Given the politically driven opposition to my appointment, I feel it is in the best interest of the city to allow you to go in a different direction," McLachlan wrote Friday in a letter to Mayor Mark Boughton.

Politically driven? Come on, senator. Fess up.

The controversy over your new job was created by you. During the fall campaign, you said you would give up your job in City Hall as Boughton's chief of staff to avoid any conflicts or even the appearance of a conflict.

There was no fine print attached to that promise that you would take another job from Boughton.

[...]

Hmmm. Could he mean that criticism of his job arrangement by The News-Times Editorial Board was politically driven? Guess he doesn't remember that this page endorsed him for election last fall.

News-Times editorials have insisted that McLachlan keep his promise to the people of the 24th Senate District that if elected he would not be working in Danbury City Hall. The district includes Bethel, Danbury, New Fairfield and Sherman.

Those editorials also have insisted that Boughton keep his promise that McLachlan would not be on his staff because of, as the mayor said, the obvious conflicts that would develop between their different constituencies.

"Given the politically driven opposition to my appointment I feel it is in the best interest of the city to allow you to go in a different direction,"

1. I'd like to thank Minority Leader Tom Saadi and Councilman Paul Rotello for coming on the show.

2. Thanks to Marty and the Ideas at Work and Beyond crew for making this show happen.

3. I apologize for the video screw-up.

3. Thanks the emails from my readership who watched the show.

4. Through the magic of video editing, I'll going to post highlights of the show (which will also be available for viewing over at the Ideas at Work and Beyond website) as well as re-edit and post the show in it's entirety in the way it was suppose to be shown last night (i.e., without my video screw-ups, video that was not broadcasted, graphics that were not shown, etc).

A Texas judge has ordered an online news site to unveil identifying details about 178 anonymous commenters on the site. The order came after a couple, Mark and Rhonda Lesher, sued the numerous anonymous commenters posting to Topix.com for making what they considered to be "perverted, sick, vile, inhumane accusations" about them.

The Leshers were originally thrust into the Texas spotlight in 2008 after being accused of sexually assaulting an unidentified former client of Mark Lesher. That's when thousands of comments began piling up on the community news aggregator Topix to discuss the sexual assault charges. As with most things on the Internet, many Topix users felt free to let loose with nasty comments about the Leshers.

The Leshers were found not guilty of the charges after a criminal trial. That, however, wasn't the end of the 70-some individual threads posted to Topix about them. "It just... basically made us both feel like common criminals," the Leshers told the Dallas Morning News (via TechDirt). "It's like someone had basically raped us of our reputation and our standing in the community over and over and over again."

That's when the Leshers chose to sue a number of Topix's anonymous commenters (but, interestingly, not Topix itself). The law firm representing the couple, Connor & Demond PLLC in Austin, told Computerworld that the lawsuit was limited specifically to the posters whose statements were considered defamatory under Texas law.

The complaint filed by the Leshers details many of the comments made by the anonymous defendants. Some are certainly lower blows than others—insinuating that Mark drugs women and that Rhonda is the "Herpies Queen," and that the couple may have AIDS, among other things—but not all of the comments are as bad. Some merely accuse the Leshers of being liars, and others even say to wait for confirmation of some of the accusations.

[...]

Topix, for its part, appears to be doing its best to ensure that it only hands over exactly what is required, and not a bit more. Topix CEO Chris Tolles told Computerworld that the company takes privacy very seriously, and that the company would not "simply hand over all of our records" without reviewing the subpoena in detail. "We prefer to make sure requests are clear and specific and not overly broad," he said. According to the order, Topix has until March 6 to give up the information.

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.

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...