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	<title>leversandpulleys.com Blog &#187; media</title>
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	<description>Machinations from the Radical Middle</description>
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		<title>The Cheshire Herald Continues to Run Broken Poll</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-cheshire-herald-continues-to-run-broken-poll/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-cheshire-herald-continues-to-run-broken-poll/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jul 2007 15:46:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[cheshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-cheshire-herald-continues-to-run-broken-poll/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Note: This is cross-posted over at the Cheshire Town Post.
On July 19th it was demonstrated that the Cheshire Herald web poll allows participants to vote repeatedly without detection. Two days later a staff member acknowledged the problem. 
Unfortunately, The broken poll continues to run without modification, and the disclaimer printed in the recent issue remains [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Note: This is cross-posted over at the <a href="http://cheshiretownpost.com">Cheshire Town Post.</a></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">On July 19th it was demonstrated that <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/19/the-cheshire-herald-web-poll-is-broken/">the Cheshire Herald web poll allows participants to vote repeatedly without detection</a>. Two days later a staff member <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/21/conversation-with-the-herald/">acknowledged the problem. </a></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.cheshireherald.com/">The broken poll continues to run without modification</a>, and the disclaimer printed in the recent issue remains untouched.  </p>
<p><a class="imagelink" title="heraldpoll2.jpg" href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/heraldpoll2.jpg"><img id="image82" alt=heraldpoll2.jpg src="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/heraldpoll2.thumbnail.jpg" class="imageframe" /></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I trust that the Herald means well, and I am thankful to have an independent paper in town. However, I think the current poll question adds insult to injury. How we respond as a community to the recent tragedy should not be influenced by <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/19/the-cheshire-herald-web-poll-is-broken/">a broken poll</a>. I think the question is a good one, but it does a disservice to the town to ask it using bad polling software. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">When the results of this current poll are printed, I hope the Herald includes a more accurate disclaimer. We have seen poll results misused by commission members in the past. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">from <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/21/conversation-with-the-herald/">A conversation with the Cheshire Herald</a></p>
<blockquote><p>The poll results are published in our local paper, and the staff member I spoke to noted how popular the poll has been. Is it any surprise that a <strong>Sean Strollo, a Planning and Zoning commission member, referred to the poll during one of the hearings as proof that the majority of Cheshire residents supported the mall</strong>?</p></blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Please call the Cheshire Herald to advocate for new polling software and a revised disclaimer. There are many free choices (their existing poll software is free) available on the web that guard against ballot stuffing. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Tell them that we deserve better. <strong>The main number for the Cheshire Herald is (203) 272-5316. </strong></p>
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		<title>A Conversation With The Cheshire Herald About Their Misleading Poll</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/cheshire-herald-poll/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/cheshire-herald-poll/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:16:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[connecticut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free-speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/cheshire-herald-poll/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Note: This is cross-posted over at the Cheshire Town Post. I&#8217;ll often be doing that. This is still my primary blog for local or political issues. The CTP is an open forum for everyone, and over there I&#8217;m just another poster (or, I will be once people get used to writing their own posts).
Two days [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Note: This is cross-posted over at the <a href="http://www.cheshiretownpost.com">Cheshire Town Post.</a> I&#8217;ll often be doing that. This is still my primary blog for local or political issues. The CTP is an open forum for everyone, and over there I&#8217;m just another poster (or, I will be once people get used to writing their own posts).</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Two days ago I posted a piece on the <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/19/the-cheshire-herald-web-poll-is-broken/">Cheshire Town Post </a>where I presented evidence that the informal Cheshire Herald web poll, which is then published in print, <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/19/the-cheshire-herald-web-poll-is-broken/">allows participants to vote repeatedly without detection</a>. No one expects the poll to be accurate &#8212; you have to actively visit the site to participate. However, considering the amount of discussion the poll generates, few realize that anyone can vote again and again. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I just spoke to the advertising director at the <a href="http://www.cheshireherald.com/">Cheshire Herald</a>. She was already aware of the problem and does not feel the current disclaimer should change. She’s expressed concern that to do so would be to invite abuse. I consider the current state of the poll to be an abuse of the community’s trust. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">She told me that she realizes people will likely take the poll out of context, but it’s wrong to think of this in terms of a potential for abuse. After all, it’s just a web poll. She argued that people will take absolutely anything and run with it. She compared it to the &#8216;pass a message around the room whisper game&#8217; &#8212; in the end a garbled message circles back around and everyone has a good laugh. I think that the message is certain to fail when the information going in is unclear or misleading.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The poll results are published in our local paper, and the staff member I spoke to noted how popular the poll has been. <strong>Is it any surprise that a Sean Strollo, a Planning and Zoning commission member, referred to the poll during one of the hearings as proof that the majority of Cheshire residents supported the mall?</strong></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The fact is, decision makers in our town government do discuss the polls. Much of that discussion happens on the blog <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/">Tim White Listens.</a> The staff member I spoke with acknowledged that some people at <a href="http://www.cheshireherald.com/">the Cheshire Herald </a>actually visit, just to have a laugh. I can only assume that she does not represent the paper in this, but she went on to laugh aloud about blogs in general, stressing that it&#8217;s all just opinion. Few bloggers are familiar with, or even <i>attempt</i> to uphold, journalistic standards for reporting, but I do not consider discussion among residents to be worth a good laugh. You don’t need to own a stylebook to speak the truth.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Thankfully, she said that the poll will be changing. She noted that the poll is &#8220;very rudimentary,&#8221; as it generated ballots via email submission. That is exactly <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/19/the-cheshire-herald-web-poll-is-broken/">what I pointed out in my post</a>. Regarding my suggestion to change the disclaimer in anticipation of an upcoming change in polling software, she said she would, &#8220;pass that by the publisher.&#8221;</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The main number for <a href="http://www.cheshireherald.com/">the Cheshire Herald </a>is (203) 272-5316.</p>
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		<title>The Cheshire Town Post is now open.</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-cheshire-town-post-is-now-open/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-cheshire-town-post-is-now-open/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[connecticut]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free-speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Please drop by to visit, and register for, The Cheshire Town Post . It&#8217;s an open forum where residents provide all the content. Councilman Tim White’s blog, Tim White Listens, has done a great job of bringing Cheshire together for discussion. In that tradition, I am hosting the Cheshire Town Post in order to provide [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Please drop by to visit, and register for, <a href="http://www.cheshiretownpost.com">The Cheshire Town Post</a> . It&#8217;s an open forum where residents provide all the content. Councilman Tim White’s blog, <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/">Tim White Listens</a>, has done a great job of bringing Cheshire together for discussion. In that tradition, I am hosting the Cheshire Town Post in order to provide a substantively different forum where any member can easily set the topic of discussion. Post pictures from your local event or bring the town together to address an issue. The CTP is your show.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Why am I hosting this? My goal is to build up the town&#8217;s online community and encourage communication. The Cheshire Town Post is completely non-partisan and open to all points of view. If you think the discussion is coming down more on one side of an issue, get posting!</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Oh, and if you&#8217;re worried about the technical aspects of how to register and contribute, read <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/cheshiretownpost/2007/07/16/how-to-register-write-and-comment/">the tutorial post </a>.</p>
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		<title>When You Talk About the Iraq War, Think about &#8216;What will we talk about today you and I?&#8217;</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/when-you-talk-about-the-war/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/when-you-talk-about-the-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 Jun 2007 05:35:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[iraq]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/when-you-talk-about-the-war/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last night, I read a post over at Crooks and Liars that linked to a piece written by a young Iraqi blogger. I broke down before I finished reading. I&#8217;m not forwarding you there to push guilt or to convince you that re-deployment out of Iraq is the only sane or moral choice left (although [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Last night, I read a post over at <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/21/what-shall-we-talk-about-you-and-i/">Crooks and Liars</a> that linked to a piece written by a young Iraqi blogger. I broke down before I finished reading. I&#8217;m not forwarding you there to push guilt or to convince you that re-deployment out of Iraq is the only sane or moral choice left (although that&#8217;s true). I&#8217;m recommending you read it because it&#8217;s so unmistakably real, and you can&#8217;t talk about something real in abstract terms <i>and get it right</i> unless you hang on tight to all the living breathing directly observable details to which the abstractions refer. When you talk about &#8216;the war,&#8217; think about, &#8220;<strong><a href="http://gorillasguides.com/2007/02/10/what-will-we-talk-about-today-you-and-i">What will we talk about today you and I?</a></strong>” <font face="Times New Roman" size="2">Read it through to the end &#8212; it won&#8217;t take too long.</p>
<p><img src="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/in_harms_way.jpg" " align="left" hspace ="20" alt="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/in_harms_way.jpg" /><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Mohammed Ibn Laith, 16 years old, wrote the post after the death of his brother, a month before <a href="http://www.appletreeblog.com/?p=2103#comment-22868">the death of his parents</a>, and prior to surviving a recent bombing, alongside his brother and sister, that <a href="http://gorillasguides.com/2007/06/19/caught-in-a-whirlwind-with-fire-baghdad-june-19th-2007/">claimed the lives of his fellow bloggers</a>.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I know that in a couple of days your (mine too?) memory of the piece will have faded. You might forget that <a href="http://fametastic.co.uk/archive/20070502/6281/ft-blog-fake-paris-hilton-or-real-paris-hilton/">Paris Hilton is a fictional character</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_i_0/103-4083728-3917406?ie=UTF8&#038;rs=&#038;keywords=american%20idol&#038;rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aamerican%20idol%2Ci%3Astripbooks">American Idol is irrelevant</a>. Once again, it will matter to you that <a href="http://aldoblog.com/blog/426">your favorite Starbucks recipe could be just a bit better with a little tweaking</a>. But, when you talk about the war, let it remind you of the piece:</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><strong>&#8220;<a href="http://gorillasguides.com/2007/02/10/what-will-we-talk-about-today-you-and-i">What will we talk about today you and I?</a>&#8221; </strong></p>
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		<title>Cheshire Developers are Bending the Rules and Selling-Out the Town</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/cheshire-interchange-zone-mall-scheme/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/cheshire-interchange-zone-mall-scheme/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 Jun 2007 05:57:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cheshire]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free-speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Cheshire, we&#8217;re getting screwed.
A handful of local developers have stitched themselves into the political fabric of this town. For years they&#8217;ve used their pull to shape Cheshire as one might design a product or grow a brand. People have come for the schools, the very visible and very charming pockets of farmland, the tree-lined low-crime [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cheshire, we&#8217;re getting screwed.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A handful of local developers have stitched themselves into the political fabric of this town. For years they&#8217;ve used their pull to shape Cheshire as one might design a product or grow a brand. People have come for the schools, the very visible and very charming pockets of farmland, the tree-lined low-crime streets, and a departure from the paved sprawl conveniently located a few minutes to the north, south, east, and west of us. It&#8217;s <a href="http://realestate.yahoo.com/Connecticut/Cheshire/Homes_for_sale/result.html;_ylt=Ah5xqaWwAQXw.3TgtqeknQ3nMrQs?cc=realestate&#038;p=Cheshire,%20CT&#038;priceHigh=&#038;priceLow=&#038;nodeId=750007014&#038;bedrooms=&#038;bathrooms=&#038;type=&#038;sortBy=price+2">an attractive package</a>. And, if they weren&#8217;t selling us a product with a tampered expiration date, we&#8217;d all benefit from their actions.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Unfortunately, the insiders that crafted this product have been spending an increasingly disproportionate amount of time tugging the political threads to push their special projects through planning and zoning. They bought property low as undeveloped and unattractively zoned land, and now they&#8217;re selling high as planning and zoning bends the rules so they can subdivide and watch the zeros fly. <strong>They build up the product, bend the rules, and cash in.</strong></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/commentary/hc-plcbisbort0527.artmay27,0,7211622.story">This fantastic piece in the Hartford Courant</a> says it well:</p>
<blockquote><p>For one thing, the only industry besides bedding plants (flora, not sheets and pillows) seemed to be real estate &#8211; the buying and selling of homes, the subdividing of land parcels that had been in ancestral farm families&#8217; hands until the great-grandchildren got greedy, and the legal haggling over the outcomes of these proposed developments.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">For another thing, the same lawyers and representatives from the same families seemed to always show up at Planning and Zoning Commission hearings, proposing one project after another, in-filling what were once comforting zones of undeveloped pasture or farmland.</p></blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The usual suspects are cashing in across town, but the interchange zone provides an exceptionally large take. So big, that the mall is going to tarnish their product a bit faster than their usual residential chop-job, but that&#8217;s OK by them. It&#8217;ll take a few years for the real damage to surface. So, they&#8217;re about to &#8216;flip&#8217; 400 acres. In order to do so, they have to get planning and zoning to bend the rules (<a href="http://www.cheshirect.org/planningzoning/files/095CCFE9C74C42BB969E2F53D23B58D1.pdf">here(pdf)</a> and <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2007/06/proposed-changes-to-plan-of-c.html">here</a>) &#8212; <strong>it&#8217;s the same game they&#8217;ve played all along</strong>. If you thought you settled down in a small town committed to keeping it that way, you&#8217;re wrong. Any long-timer can tell you high-tales of what his or her neighborhood looked like a mere fifteen, ten, or five years ago. We&#8217;re changing fast. The local real-estate moguls are cashing in. The only thing that&#8217;s different about the W/S Shoppes at Cheshire project is the scope.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">However, I think they&#8217;re counting on you to keep quiet. Actually, they&#8217;re hoping you never notice. The police are <a href="http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/8/2/94352728.html">patrolling the telephone poles</a>. They take down <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2007/06/posting-on-poles.html">the &#8216;No Mall&#8217; signs</a>, but they haven&#8217;t bothered with the year old missing dog signs near my place (or <a href="http://www.undergroundtownhall.com/media/">elsewhere</a>) or the ancient tag-sale marker down the road. <a href="http://www.undergroundtownhall.com/archives/truth-or-consequences">They&#8217;re busy.</a> The same goes for the Planning and Zoning site where one just cannot seem find any <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2007/06/pzc-may-21-meeting-minutes.html">meeting minutes that matter</a>. Although, they do a great job of getting more-recent and less relevant minutes <a href="http://www.cheshirect.org/planningzoning/default.html">up and linked</a>. Only the most recent minutes are posted there. I guess server space is very, very limited. All the while, the Cheshire Herald tells you not to worry, that the complaints you hear are just from a vocal minority that spend their time huffing and puffing about everything. Who benefits from <a href="http://www.cheshireherald.com/">their half-assed coverage?</a> Well, new shops mean increased ad revenue for the paper. Judging by their commitment to obfuscation, they want that revenue pretty badly.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">You bought into the town. Now, act to preserve it before they sell it out from underneath you. Familiarize yourself with the proposed zoning changes. Get to know <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/the-shoppes-at-cheshire/">the interchange area</a>, learn about <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/north-end-photos/">the rich history of the property</a>, and take part in the discussion over at <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/">councilman Tim White’s blog</a>.  Whatever you do, don&#8217;t fall for <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/2007/05/ws-asks-for-public-support.html">the W/S time-elapsed photo essay</a>. Think about what effect the shops will have on the rest of Rt. 10 to the south. Stores attract stores &#8212; would you rather put a new shop along a pass-through with sporadic traffic or next to a strip mall where the traffic never dies down. Even if they don&#8217;t expand beyond the proposed changes to the charter, the property owners up and down the road are going make out like bandits. I don’t mind local officials and their friends capitalizing, so long as they don’t misuse the power of their votes to get there (i.e. vote against Cheshire for their own sake). </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">So, what can you do? To start with, make some calls. You don&#8217;t have to be an expert or well-connected. You just have to care about your town. Go through the whole damned list if you have time. Tell them you&#8217;re a voting resident and you don&#8217;t want the mall. If they tell you they’re not on the right committee tell them to get out there and convince their friends. It often only takes a few calls to place real pressure on local officials. Or, participate on <a href="http://timwhitelistens.blogspot.com/">TWL</a>. Someof them appear to post there. They share the whacky screen name, &#8216;anonymous.&#8217;</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Contact info (from the <a href="http://www.cheshirect.org/towngovernment/council.html">CheshireCT.org site</a>) so you can get active! Be polite (they’re your neighbors), but tell them how you feel. </p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><strong>Town Council</strong><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Matt Hall, Chairman, D	272-5717<br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Michael G. Ecke, D		272-1351	<A HREF="mailto:michaele584@aol.com">michaele584@aol.com</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">David E. Orsini, R		250-0331	<A HREF="mailto:david.orsini@cox.net">david.orsini@cox.net</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Matt Altieri, D			272-1935 	<A HREF="mailto:maltieri@cox.net">maltieri@cox.net</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">David C. Schrumm, R 	272-2689	<A HREF="mailto:dsschrumm@cox.net	">dsschrumm@cox.net</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Elizabeth Esty, D		271-3248 	<A HREF="mailto:elizabeth.esty@yale.edu">elizabeth.esty@yale.edu</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Thomas Ruocco, R		272-8135 	<A HREF="mailto:tomruocco@snet.net">tomruocco@snet.net</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Diane D. Visconti, D		272-7719	<A HREF="mailto:Vis1795@aol.com">Vis1795@aol.com</A><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Tim White, R			439-4394	<A HREF="mailto:timwhite98@yahoo.com">timwhite98@yahoo.com</A></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><strong>Town Manager</strong><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Milone, Michael		271-6660	<A HREF="mailto:mmilone@cheshirect.org">mmilone@cheshirect.org</A></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Please realize that we&#8217;re not going to get a Main-St-USA promenade, we&#8217;re going to get taken for a ride, just like the good people of Canton did:</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">from a very relevant story in <a href="http://www.ctnow.com/custom/nmm/hartfordadvocate/hce-hta-0607-ht24nc1canton24.artjun07,0,3956282.story">the Hartford Advocate</a></p>
<blockquote><p>There are plenty of Cantonites unhappy about the Shoppes, especially since they morphed into something quite different from what the developers first proposed.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“It was originally going to be a ‘Main Street’ with little shops, maybe some office and residential space,” Sevigny said. After beginning the project, the scope changed. “Then they said they needed big-box stores like Kohl’s and Shaw’s [because] the market wouldn’t support the little shops.” Furthermore, they also “threatened to pull stakes and leave if they didn’t get their changes approved.”</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Being left with a half-finished project would have been an expensive white elephant for the town&#8230;</p></blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The <strike>Strip-Mall</strike> Shoppes at Farmington Valley<br />
<img src="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/beautiful.jpg" alt="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/beautiful.jpg" /></p>
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		<title>U.S. Planning to Attack Iran on April 6th says Russians</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/operation-bite/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/operation-bite/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:21:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[bush]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fascism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hartmann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/operation-bite/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s always dicey to point to a date, but that&#8217;s what the Russian media has done. Foreign papers are carrying this story along with a handful of bloggers, but I haven&#8217;t heard a peep from the corporate media here. We&#8217;re in the middle of a show of force as we begin our war games in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">It&#8217;s always dicey to point to a date, but that&#8217;s what the Russian media has done. Foreign papers are carrying this story along with a handful of bloggers, but I haven&#8217;t heard a peep from the corporate media here. We&#8217;re in the middle of a show of force as we begin <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6499605.stm">our war games in the gulf</a>, but is this just a last minute cram before an April 6th attack?</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">from <a href="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1888.shtml">Online Journal</a> and <a href="http://inteldaily.com/?c=166&#038;a=1478">Intel Daily</a><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><br />
<blockquote>WASHINGTON DC &#8212; The long awaited US military attack on Iran is now on track for the first week of April, specifically for 4 AM on April 6, the Good Friday opening of Easter weekend, writes the well-known Russian journalist Andrei Uglanov in the Moscow weekly &#8220;Argumenty Nedeli.&#8221; Uglanov cites Russian military experts close to the Russian General Staff for his account.</p></blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">and</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.indiaenews.com/europe/20070327/44952.htm">India E-News</a><br />
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><br />
<blockquote>Moscow, March 27 (RIA Novosti) Russian military intelligence services are reporting a flurry of activity by US Armed Forces near Iran&#8217;s borders, a high-ranking security source said Tuesday.</p></blockquote>
<p><img align="right" src="http://www.oldamericancentury.org/war_prez_prima.jpg" alt="from http://www.oldamericancentury.org/" /></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Europe&#8217;s abuzz now. Where&#8217;s the U.S. msm?</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I realize this could just be another threat by proxy. It&#8217;s odd that it&#8217;s coming from Uglanov and friends, but I suppose good psychops would want to get the info into the hands of an unlikely source like that. Either way, that&#8217;s all speculation at this point. I&#8217;d just like to see the big names pick up on the fact that russian sources are leaking this. I think there&#8217;s a story in that (at least).</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Additional Sources</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Russian News &#038; Information Agency <a href="http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070319/62260006.html">here</a> and <a href="http://fr.rian.ru/world/20070321/62387717.html">here.</a> And, <a href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070327/62697703.html">in english.</a></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Note: Thom Hartmann reported on this all yesterday morning. Anyone have anything new? I&#8217;m hoping this is bogus, but the actions of the Bush administration are far stranger than fiction.</p>
<p><a align="left" href="http://www.oldamericancentury.org/"> (image from http://www.oldamericancentury.org)</a></p>
<p>
<br />
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		<title>Newsweek Refers to a Generation of Women as &#8220;Prosti-Tots&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsweek-ignores-the-issues-and-insults-women/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsweek-ignores-the-issues-and-insults-women/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:56:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[free-speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[women]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsweek-ignores-the-issues-and-insults-women/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m sick of consolidated corporate media bowing to the dollar while the country goes to hell for a lack of information. For hours MSNBC ran this headline (It&#8217;s also the current cover of Newsweek (in the U.S. at least)):

I ranted about this already on my art blog, but I think there&#8217;s reason enough to repeat:
Right [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m sick of consolidated corporate media bowing to the dollar while the country goes to hell for a lack of information. For hours MSNBC ran <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16961761/site/newsweek/">this headline (It&#8217;s also the current cover of Newsweek (in the U.S. at least))</a>:</p>
<p><img src="http://leversandpulleys.com/artblog/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/girls_gone_bad_headline.jpg" alt="MSNBC bad girls headline" /></p>
<p>I <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/artblog/archive/newsweek-insults-women/">ranted about this already on my art blog</a>, but I think there&#8217;s reason enough to repeat:</p>
<blockquote><p>Right now, <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070205/ritter">the U.S. is preparing to knock down the already tottering Jenga tower of international stability </a>in order to score <a href="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/fighting_for_saudi_arabia/">strategy points and barrels of oil in the Middle East </a>as the collective jaw of the scientific community drops before <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/03/science/earth/03climate.html">the staggering evidence that man made climate change is going to radically transform our planet</a>. Right now, <a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/013107Z.shtml">damning evidence in the Libby trial seems to implicate both the vice-president and the president</a>. But, right now, Newsweek thought it would be great to instead keep alive <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901385.html">the age-old premise that failing to meet some standard of purity makes one a &#8220;bad-girl.&#8221; </a></p></blockquote>
<p>If they market it the right way, shouldn&#8217;t the climate crisis and the rise of fascism in the United States make for some decent cover stories? I just don&#8217;t get it. </p>
<p><img src="http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/newsweek_hilton_cover.thumbnail.jpg" alt="Newsweek Insults Women" /></p>
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		<title>Newsies. Mediocre Musical, Worthy Message</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsies/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Jan 2007 05:23:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[activism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[democracy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/newsies/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The accents are a joke and I&#8217;m not quite sure if the overacting was intentional, but Disney&#8217;s 1992 box office failure Newsies warrants some renewed attention. It&#8217;s very loudly pro-labor. The movie was inspired by the NYC Newsboys strike of 1899 when homeless newsboys organized to take on media giants Pulitzer and Hearst over a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The accents are a joke and I&#8217;m not quite sure if the overacting was intentional, but <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104990/">Disney&#8217;s 1992 box office failure <em>Newsies</em></a> warrants some renewed attention. It&#8217;s very loudly pro-labor. The movie was inspired by the <a href="http://www.peachtree-online.com/printer/newsboys.htm">NYC Newsboys strike of 1899</a> when homeless newsboys organized to take on media giants Pulitzer and Hearst over a ten-cent per bundle price hike. In the musical, the kids unite, gather members, print an underground paper, battle scabbers, and <strong>win</strong>. </p>
<p><img src="http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2351/newsiesposterc10126263ej9.jpg"></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Apparently, my girlfriend has had a crush on this film for years &#8212; the last time she had it on I happened to pay attention. As a film, I hated it. As pro-union propaganda wrapped up in a moderate musical, it&#8217;s rather effective. Any progressive parent looking for a movie with a message would do well to rent this.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><br />
<blockquote>Even though we ain&#8217;t got hats or badges<br />
We&#8217;re a union just by saying so<br />
And the world will know!</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">&#8230;</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">And the World will know <br />
And the Journal too, <br />
Mister Hearst and Pulitzer <br />
Have we got news for you. <br />
Now the world will hear <br />
What we got to say. <br />
We been hawkin&#8217; headlines, <br />
But we&#8217;re makin&#8217; &#8216;em today <br />
And our ranks will grow.</p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://fan.starsprinkles.net/world/song.php">Read more lyrics here.</a>
</p></blockquote>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Newsboys_Strike">the Wikipedia entry</a>, one of the real-life strikers asked, <strong>&#8220;Ain&#8217;t ten cents worth as much to us as it is to Pulitzer and Hearst who are millionaires? Well, I guess it is. If they can&#8217;t spare it, how can we?&#8221;</strong> &nbsp;Well said. </p>
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		<title>Breaking Through Bush’s Media Barricade</title>
		<link>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/bush-media-barricade/</link>
		<comments>http://leversandpulleys.com/blog/archive/bush-media-barricade/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Sep 2006 04:33:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Craig Houghton</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[bush]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fascism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[free-speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[impeachment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[media]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[

&#160;

On the day US District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that George W. Bush and Michael Hayden violated the constitution with their warrantless wiretapping the press was in a frenzy. Unfortunately, the hysteria was over the arrest of the suspected killer of JonBenet Ramsey, an operation performed with an assist from, oddly enough, Homeland [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><font>
<div style="text-align: center"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html"><img src="http://www.leversandpulleys.com/uploads/free_speech.JPG" border="0" width="500" height="78" /></a></div>
<p>&nbsp;</font></p>
<div style="text-align: center"></div>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">On the day <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081700650.html">US District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that George W. Bush and Michael Hayden violated the constitution with their warrantless wiretapping</a> the press was in a frenzy. Unfortunately, the hysteria was over the arrest of the suspected killer of JonBenet Ramsey, an operation performed with an assist from, oddly enough, Homeland Security. Am I suggesting that the release of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor&#39;s decision was a known entity and that the Bush administration let loose an explosive story as a smokescreen? Yes! Read Thom Hartmann&#39;s article <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0829-21.htm">JonBenet Died &#8211; And Bush Lied? over at Common Dreams.</a> for more.&nbsp;</font>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Be it chance or orchestrated coincidence, this incredible quote from a Washington Post <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/17/AR2006081700650.html">article</a> was buried by a cover-up story:</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><strong><em>&quot;It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,&quot; </strong>Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion. <strong>&quot;. . . There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution. So all &#39;inherent powers&#39; must derive from that Constitution.&quot;</em></strong>&nbsp;</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">If isolated and unexamined, this specific example may sound a bit paranoid &#8212; that&#8217;s why I&#8217;m leading with it. If one places this alleged abuse of the media in its proper and damning context, as part of a long string of &#8216;coincidences,&#8217; it&#8217;s obvious that it&#8217;s not a stretch, it&#8217;s business as usual. I recommend you <a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/posts/2006/08/14/olbermann-the-nexus-of-politics-and-terror/">watch Olbermann walk through a long series of these coincidences from 2002 to the near-present over at Crooks and Liars</a> and read <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11598509/national_affairs_president_bushs_phony_war_on_terror/1">this week&#39;s Rolling Stone Article, The Phony War, from Robert Dreyfuss.</a>&nbsp;<br />
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Rolling Stone article includes a timeline that breaks down the administration&#39;s past use of terror to divert attention from the real danger, right-wing control of our government. Click below for the charts.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://podcast.rbn.com/rstone/rstone/download/photo/na1.pdf"><img src="http://www.leversandpulleys.com/uploads/dreyfuss1.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="217" /></a>&nbsp;<a href="http://podcast.rbn.com/rstone/rstone/download/photo/na2.pdf"><img src="http://www.leversandpulleys.com/uploads/dreyfuss2.jpg" border="0" width="300" height="168" /></a></font>
<p>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="3">It&rsquo;s a simple formula, but, like so many corrupt regimes of the past, they are terrifyingly good at it.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"><br />
<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060818-1.html">August 18<sup>th</sup> from whitehouse.gov</a></font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><em>Q Mr. President, the federal ruling yesterday that declared your terrorist surveillance program unconstitutional &#8212; the judge wrote that it was never the intent of the framers to give the President unfettered control. How do you respond, sir, to opponents who say that this ruling is really the first nail in the coffin of your administration&#39;s legal strategy in the war on terror? </em><br />
</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><em>THE PRESIDENT: I would say that those who herald this decision simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live. <strong>You might remember last week working with the &#8212; with people in </strong></em><strong><em>Great Britain, we disrupted a plot. People were trying to come and kill people.</em></strong><em> </em><br />
</font></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The Bush administration has <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0329-12.htm">hijacked the media</a> and people are dying. Using terror to advance a monstrous agenda that diverts attention away from legitimate security concerns, dismantles our constitutionally protected rights, and locks us into a never-ending war where everyone loses except the criminals in charge is incomprehensibly monstrous. The Democratic Party needs to run on the war and expose this Republican-controlled administration&#39;s failure to keep us safe. <a href="http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/03/real_security_t.php#flash">The Democratic party has no shortage of plans</a>, they just need to scream so loudly that they break through the right-wing corporate media barricade.<br />
</font></p>
<p>&nbsp;
<div style="text-align: center"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><strong>America this is quite serious.</strong><br /><strong>America this is the impression I get from<br />looking in<br />the television set.<br />America is this correct?</p>
<p></strong><br />
	<font size="2">&nbsp;&#8211;Allen Ginsberg, from <em><a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6613&amp;poem=30487">America</a></em><br />
	</font></font></div>
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