Cleaning Up our Environment

The environment has been an issue of mine for quite a while, but with limited local, state and federal resources to actually accomplish such a herculean task I believe it is important to focus on the removal of the most toxic compounds first.

One such compound that is of greatest concern to me and is considered a big problem for the entire Northeast is Mercury in our environment. Being in the Electronics industry, and soon after I learned of the mercury problem I instituted a Computer Recycling program to dispose of computer parts containing Mercury in an Eco-friendly way. But the computer industry is only a small part of the problem.

Coal burning power plants, like the one here in Milford, are also a big problem, because when coal is burned residual mercury contained in the coal itself is actually spewed into the environment through the plants smoke stacks. Energy companies, who also have excessive electric costs also compound the mercury problem by causing a surge in the sales of compact fluorescent bulbs that save energy, but also contain mercury.
Mercury is a major health hazard and is directly connected to a pandemic neurological and brain disorders, that can induce Autism, Muscular Sclerosis, Attention Deficit Disorder, memory loss, and many other devastating diseases. With record sales of compact fluorescent bulbs due to record spikes in electricity mercury in the Northeast needs to be addressed as the number one health hazard to the general public. Signs such as this one in Ohio may become more commonplace if we do not adress this problem right away.

Anyone who has any products containing mercury, including T.V.'s, old thermostats, neon, monitors or compact fluorescent bulbs, should not break them, trash them, or put them in a place where they can come in contact with the ground water. Mercury if ingested, can and does cause neurological damage. Other sources of mercury can be found in dental fillings from years back, but the most recent positive change on the mercury front is that all modern batteries no longer contain mercury after the year 2000.

Today's post is a renewed call to our local legislators that the high cost of electricity is elevating the introduction of mercury in our environment at an alarming rate and a remediation plan needs to addressed immediately for the safety of children who may be at risk of exposure.

H.B. No. 7432 Amann Introduces a Bill Rewarding UI

H.B. No. 7432 Was introduced by My opponent and Speaker of the House Jim Amann. This bill is a Dream Bill for UI our electricity nightmare company now soaking us again and again with rate hikes that defy understanding or explanation. UI's profits soared and our Speaker Amann who also opposed the "windfall Profits Tax" that Blumenthal so passionately wanted to protect Ct's consumers, also voted to soak us again on electricity.

So many of us cut down on our usage of electricity because the rates were so high. Just today my friend at the local gas station was telling me how his wife and children all sleep in one bedroom of their house to battle the unaffordable high cost of electric heat. Do our politicians care? Apparently not because House Bill 7432 punishes you the consumer for conserving electricity. It makes the little electric you do use even more ridiculously expensive by kicking back the lost profits to the Big UI energy company.

How does this outrageous practice work? Well to explain I will quote a note from the house critic of it State Rep. Robert Megna who said "customers of CL&P and UI who are conserving energy will have to pay both the $5 million annual conservation fund bonus and the additional profits section 107 provides. Needless to say" he "voted against the bill."

Representative Megna represents the 97Th district in New Haven he is a member of the Environment, Insurance and Real Estate and General Law Committees."

This is once again another slap in the face by our House Speaker and State Representatives who continues to plunder Milford's residents of their diminishing cash. Of every person I spoke to in Hartford about this bill, no one, not one representative could give me a financially beneficial reason to us the consumer. The fact remains that this bill does not help a single CT resident, it instead punishes us the consumers and rewards UI and CL&P investors with more Wall Street profit.

Ref. [Reference Article]

Magnet School is a Great Opportunity for Milford Children

Last night I attended a meeting where John J. Curtis the Director of the Bridgeport Regional Vocational Aquaculture School addressed students from Fairfield and New Haven County. The scope of this meeting was a public open house to discuss the schools programs, and opportunities afforded children of public schools.

Many local schools have information available to students who wish to attend this program as integrated into their regular schooling. The Aqua Culture school will accept any student applying now from 8Th grade on. Information on enrolling your child can be obtained by contacting the school at (203) 337-0168.

The school is located right at Captains Cove in Bridgeport, and is building a very impressive national and international position in educational opportunity. I found the school to be technologically impressive with scores of computers used to teach children Computer Automated design of boats, and related parts. They offer mechanical courses on outboard boat engine repair and service, as well all farming of marine life such as fish and lobsters.

The students also have a full pathology lab where they can study adverse environmental health effects of animals that may have died or got sick from farming or environmental problems. The advanced labs are fully equipped with every type of scientific apparatus a child could need. Some of these include gas, microwave and light spectroscopy devices all of which are used to determine chemical composition of materials.

The school also has a 57 foot yacht to navigate around the Long Island Sound as part of scientific and exploratory adventures. This school provides ECE or early college experiences of which can be used for university credit. The school operates in conjunction with major universities in CT and beyond and has college professors who teach many of the accredited courses. The school also just recieved new grant money to complete a major expansion in the coming years.

This entire experience was a very positive and as such I highly recommend this school to parents who have qualifying children.

A Bad Day on Wall Street

The Dow plunged today 360 points, with after hours trading poised to drop another 400 points by morning. This horrific news arrived on the heels of a battery of dismal events. General Motors posted a write down loss of 39 Billion, Morgan Stanley took a 3.7 Billion Dollar loss., Merrill Lynch took a 10 Billion Dollar Hit, Oil continues its climb to $100.00 a barrel.

There is some good news and that is a small minority of companies did post some modest gains and U.S. productivity is up, meaning Americans are working harder just to survive.

But the all encompassing bad news is that the Federal Reserve is failing in doing its job in maintaining the value of the Dollar. Actually they are doing a better job of sinking it than they are raising it back to a safe level. America still has not done its job in regulating our regulators. America needs some better days, because our land and businesses have gotten so cheap on the world markets that foreign companies are ravaging our despair like vultures picking at a dying carcass.

For all the locals here in Milford who think this does not affect you, think again. Southern CT Gas, and Energy East company has just been sold to Spain, meaning your home is now heated by a foreign company. There is a "Global Fire Sale" going on in America due to our failing Dollar on world markets. With the rate America is being sold off, the only jobs left may be foreign companies in the United States. We may be entering an era where Un-American Globalist companies rule in Washington.

Congratulations Jim Richetelly

Although only 80% of the actual vote has been tallied I feel it is safe to say that Jim Richetelli has won the election for Mayor of our town. Voter turnout was pretty low but when compared to the rest of the elections our town is pretty consistent as an overall percentage.

According to news 12 this is where it stands with the 80% of the count reported:

James Richetelli (GOP) 7,238 57%
Kerri Rowland (D) 5,439 43%

It is my opinion that Mr. Richetelli's lead of nearly 14% makes hin the undisputed winner. The likely hood of Rowland winning is slim as it would require the remaining 20% of uncounted voters to be 80% in her favor. This would be absolutely impossible, incredible and suspect given the 80% spread of 57% to 43%.

Tonight we can rest easy that our incumbent mayor has prevailed. Perhaps next election the Democrats will present a more qualified and charismatic leader to dethrone our incumbent. In a perfect world city leaders should not be dethroned on the basis of outlandish endorsements, or crazed advertising and spin, but instead defeated on the basis of greater Intelligence, competence, and qualifications.

To quote the Romans:

"What is popular is not always right, and what is Right is not always popular."

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Today is the day to vote, If you do not know where to vote. Refer to the link below to get the latest information on polling locations. Every eligible voter is required to present I.D. at the voting booth. This usually a Drivers licence, military I.D. or U.S. Passport. If you arrive with no I.D. you will not be able to vote.

For a complete list of approved I.D's Contact the Voter Registrar office in Milford, CT. for information: (203) 783-3240

This is also the last day allowed to change your party affiliation to vote in the Presidential Primary. Anyone planning to vote for either a Republican or Presidential candidate, will only be permitted to vote by party affiliation. To vote Republican you must be a registered Republican, Democrats must be registered Democrats. Independents must affiliate with a party. Anyone concerned about changing party affiliations, will be happy to know that you can switch back to your original party affiliation after you vote in the Presidential primary.

Link to: Milford Registrar of Voters.

Milford's New Voting Gizmo's Suspect.

About two months ago I was on the phone speaking with the voter registrars office regarding the new voting gizmo's coming to Milford. These were a particular concern of mine because Moveon.org all but has condemned electronic voting all together.

Quite happily I felt very comfortable to know that our authorities at the voter registrars office have the up most confidence in these new voting machines. Not only are they electronic calculators, but they are backed with a paper receipt making the system pretty much a two tier fail safe unit. So that is what I, and you have been all told.

Just last week, in my mailbox came a little postcard with instructions on how to use this new little voting wonder, and for the first time I learned its name. The unit aptly dubbed the "Diebold optical scan" (see photo) requires us, the voters, to mark a card that we feed through a scanner that then reads our card and records our vote into memory. Eventually, after we have all voted and the polls close, the gizmo publishes the electronic results announcing the winners.


This is the part that gets a bit slippery, because it entails my skepticism and distrust of technology all together. Also, being that I am the CEO of Computerfox Inc., I can expertly speak to the fact that these Diebold machines are not only prone to error, but are about as reliable as your basic home computer. Computers that my company fixes by the thousands in CT.

My paranoia of these "diabolical" machines, as of yesterday became a grim reality. What I suspected of them is appallingly true they do not work reliably. The Daytona beach news journal in Fla. the "capitol state" of voting disasters, all but condemned these machines exposing defects in their memory cards, and unacceptable failure rates that cannot be checked unless the proper manpower is used to supervise these units. This too is difficult because, its designers refuse to give up the computer code. Diabold alleges that despite the integrity of the electoral system, election auditors or computer programmers have no right to look at the computer code. This code is the computer language that is written inside the unit. There is already evidence (see the video below) that this programming language can be tampered with to throw an election.



Diebold indicated, however, that they are committed to examining any problems, but to do so with reticence, in other words someone would have to force them into action. Immediately after learning about this problem I placed a "Diary" at dailykos.com. This is what 17 people said: SEE THE COMMENTS

The overwhelming majority response was shocking and not what I expected, and now once again I find myself challenging the Voter Registrar, and election commission here in our state as should you. Please help voice your opinion to local leaders, to restore trust in our electoral process.

This is the news link to the Daytona Paper. Daytona News on Diebold Fiasco