NORTHERN FAIRFIELD-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN- WESTERN PASSAIC-ORANGE- PUTNAM- ROCKLAND-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER- 416 PM EDT THU MAR 15 2007

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 5 AM FRIDAY TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY... ... WINTER STORM WATCH NO LONGER IN EFFECT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 5 AM FRIDAY TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

RAIN WILL CHANGE TO A MIXTURE OF SLEET AND SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT... EVENTUALLY TURNING TO ALL SNOW LATE. ONLY LIGHT SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED BY FRIDAY MORNING...BUT HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP FOR THE EARLY FRIDAY MORNING COMMUTE AS TEMPERATURES FALL BELOW FREEZING. A MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO FRIDAY NIGHT. THE SNOW MAY MIX WITH SLEET FRIDAY NIGHT. TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW AND SLEET WILL RANGE FROM 8 TO 14 INCHES BEFORE ACCUMULATING SNOW ENDS SATURDAY MORNING.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

As for the budget, presentations sound great but as with anything, the proof is in th details. Democratic minority leader Tom Saadi was quick to touch on this point last night.

Democratic caucus leader Tom Saadi said he and fellow Democrats will evaluate the budget in detail over the next month, but he fears the final numbers will change if the Gov. M. Jodi Rell's proposed budget is not passed.

"This budget relies on the governor's funds. While that reliance may be 80 or 90 percent right, we are going to have to make up the difference," Saadi said.

The Senate Democrats called for a wholesale rewriting of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's $17.5 billion budget proposal Wednesday, saying they oppose virtually all of her tax proposals and significant parts of her spending plan.

Following their first detailed caucus since Rell announced her proposal last month, the Democrats emerged Wednesday afternoon to say that closer scrutiny of the governor's budget has revealed a series of flaws.

"It turns out that there's a lot less than what meets the eye," said Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, the highest-ranking senator. "This is going to be a very difficult budget year. ... This budget has a lot of flaws that did not reveal themselves immediately."

Standing next to Williams at a press conference at the state Capitol, the co-chairwoman of the legislature's tax-writing committee, Sen. Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, said Rell's tax plans are "a real gut-punch to the middle class and to the poor."

The Democrats "just couldn't sanction" Rell's 10 percent, across-the-board increase in the state income tax, the repeal of the estate tax, and the phase-out of the popular $500 property tax credit, Daily said. She also cited opposition to the elimination of the personal property tax on cars, and using annual revenues from the casinos to help pay for the car-tax elimination.

From the March 8 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: In the "Unresolved Problem" segment tonight, a new tactic by the pro-amnesty, open-border crowd: using children to demand sanctuary for illegal aliens.

In New York City, eight children were killed last night after a fire broke out in the Bronx. Twenty-two people were living in just two apartments, 17 of them children.

Those involved are from the West African nation of Mali and may be illegal aliens. The city of New York is a sanctuary city and does not give out that information.

Four New York City firefighters were hurt trying to save people in the blaze.

From the March 9 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: And then there is that terrible fire here in New York City, where eight children were killed, children of parents born in Mali, West Africa. Because New York is a sanctuary city that protects illegal aliens, The Factor cannot confirm whether or not all these children were in the USA legally.

What we can confirm is that 17 children were living in a rowhouse, along with five adults, that one of the men in the house had two wives -- one upstairs, one downstairs -- and that living conditions were chaotic and dangerous.

After our report last night, I received this letter from [viewer] in Houston. "O'Reilly, it was despicable to hear you question the status of those children. I was a big fan of yours but I'll never watch you again and urge others who feel compassion for immigrants not to watch you as well."

OK, [viewer], but here's the no-spin truth, so listen up. Your so-called compassion helped kill those children. They should have never been in that circumstance. If the authorities had investigated as they should have, those kids might be alive right now, legal or not.

It is against the law to overcrowd a dwelling. It is against the law to have two wives. If any one of those people were here illegally, that is another infraction. But New York City looks the other way. It doesn't want to know.

It is people like you, [viewer], who promote that kind of chaos in the name of compassion, who look the other way while poor workers and children are exploited by greedy landlords and businesses because you don't like the immigration laws.

Yeah, it's great to be compassionate sitting at home watching the tube. But for decades, our government has allowed people from all over the world to walk in here without supervision. That's why these children are dead -- because their chaotic situation was ignored by New York City authorities.

[...]

O'REILLY: I'm basically saying that we must get this situation of illegal immigration under control. The chaos is killing children. Go.

RIVERA: I think to draw -- to make the connection between illegal immigration and that horrific fire in the Bronx two days ago is an injustice to the victims of that fire. Why did they die?

There's no code violations that they found. There were no required, you know -- everything in the building so far --

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in the house.

RIVERA: There were two batteries missing in the fire alarm.

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in a house.

RIVERA: But, Bill, the status of the immigration is not relevant.

My legal nanny has children in school with three of those victims. It is the human cause. And if you --

O'REILLY: This is what you missed. I'm going to give you the last word. But this is what you missed. This is a sanctuary city. That means the authorities do not ask any questions about anybody's status or anybody's condition.

RIVERA: Bill, they're dead children, for God's sake, they're dead children.

O'REILLY: If they had been American children --

RIVERA: They'd still be dead children. It would still be heartbreaking.

O'REILLY: No, the authorities would have gone in and checked them out.

RIVERA: No, please. That's not so.

O'REILLY: Yes, it is.

RIVERA: You don't know that to be a fact.

O'REILLY: Yes, I do.

RIVERA: You don't --

O'REILLY: You know it is.

RIVERA: -- there are little babies dead. There are people -- mothers throwing babies out the window. They're dying. Falling onto the -- you've got to be compassionate, brother. You've got to be compassionate.

O'REILLY: Twenty-two people in a rowhouse. They don't let people do that.

RIVERA: You gotta take a step back and say, "Wait a second, this isn't about illegal immigration. This is about the human cost of a terrible tragedy."

O'REILLY: This is about a system --

RIVERA: Those firemen were crying. They were crying because the babies died.

O'REILLY: Four of the firemen were almost killed.

RIVERA: That's right.

O'REILLY: And that situation never should have existed. Never.

RIVERA: Please, I've covered poverty in this country for 35 years. I've seen legal poor people living under conditions far more squalid than that. That was a working family at a good school. You've gotta divorce their status from their victimization.

O'REILLY: They have to be supervised. And they weren't.

Opponents of the ordinance, including the ALCU and Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund are challenging the city of Hazleton's illegal immigrant crackdown, which if found constitutional, will definitely set a precedent across the nation.

What does the Hazelton case have to do with Connecticut?

Quite simply, it's logical to assume that Danbury Republican Mayor Mark Boughton would consider adopting a similar ordinance (probably in late 2007-early 2008) since this is the same mayor who requested the Gov. Rell to allow Danbury to enter a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that would deputize the state and local police offices to enforce federal immigration laws. Anti-immigrant supporters in Danbury are aggressively lobbying city hall to adopt the ordinance if Hazelton prevails in their challenge. Trust me, the anti-immigration crowd are watching this case very closely which is why everyone should keep an eye on this case.

Recently at the Stop the Raids immigration forum, John Garcia, communications director for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, who are part of the lawsuit, criticized the Hazelton ordinance. Garcia also challenged the anti-immigrant critics who shockingly didn't attend the forum opting instead to pull a phony photo-op for the press outside White Hall (although anti-immigrant xenophobe leader Elise Marciano was promised all the time she needed to challenge the facts presented by the members of the panel during the discussion portion of the forum).

We'll address the whole anti-immigrant cop-out at the forum later, for now, here's a video highlight of Garcia addressing the audience about the case.

(Note: I had to change tapes in the middle of Garcia's speech).
(Note 2: Although the video window is black, the file works so just hit play)

HI-RES Format: (click here).

From last year's rally at the Old State House, here's The Hartbeat Ensemble playing their special version of Jeopardy featuring Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, Preseident Bush and his favorite Democratic senator, Joe Lieberman.

If you feel that this needless, idiotic war needs to come to an end, come to the rally on the 17th and add you voice to the thousands who share your opinion.