Ironic? Concord bans sale of bottled water

I wonder if, back on April 19th, 1775, those patriots would have been so willing to expend their lives had they known they’d be spawning a group of meddlesome, officious idiots who would go on to punish anyone who consumed soda, or cigarettes or now, bottled water.

Motorcyclists injured but don’t worry – responding cops had time to grab free coffees

Check out the guy in the middle.

John Robben photo

What’s a Greenwich cop doing moonlighting at a Phillie’s game?

Idiot teen tasered for running onto baseball field. Serves him right, but does Chief Ridberg know where his officers are?

Blumenthal: the gift that keeps on giving

I can't swim, but I can be Senator - I deserve it!

Reader Diva4ever sends along this profile of our creepy senatorial candidate, and former Harvard swim team captain (ha ha) Dickie Blumenthal, from American Spectator.

Excerpts:

Unfortunately, Dodd’s replacement as the Democratic standard-bearer, state attorney general Richard Blumenthal, is no walk along the Connecticut River either. Blumenthal is an overzealous Eliot Spitzer imitator with a duller social life [so far as we know now - Ed] but a no less acute sense of his office’s activist potential. The Hartford Courant once editorialized that Blumenthal “has elevated activism to an art form, figuratively beating the ambulance to the accident almost every time.” The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) labeled him the nation’s worst state attorney general.

One might assume that the voters would be repulsed at the sight of a Greenwich limousine liberal chasing ambulances, but the key to successful crusading — Blumenthal has been in office for five four-year terms — is to convince people you are really looking out for the little guy. Blumenthal picks unpopular targets and says he is wielding his considerable power on behalf of the downtrodden. He entered the race with a 40-point net favorable rating and led his nearest Republican rival by a two to one margin in the most recent Quinnipiac poll. His job approval rating hovered near 80 percent.

Blumenthal built his popularity on the backs of such easy prey as tobacco companies. In the 1990s, he negotiated the Master Settlement Agreement by which state attorneys general agreed to drop their litigation against cigarette manufacturers if the coffin nail-makers were willing to pony up. Nobody likes Big Tobacco and everybody loves the anti-smoking efforts the national tobacco deal was supposed to fund. But the end result was a transfer of $14 billion from disproportionately low-income smokers to the bank accounts of wealthy trial lawyers.

WHY IS SOMEONE AS ADEPT at self-promotion as Blumenthal still attorney general after nearly 20 years? State Democrats complain that he has looked out for his own self-preservation first rather than the needs of their party. He has repeatedly taken a pass on races for Senate and governor. “He’s intelligent. He’s a decent guy. He just doesn’t have the fire for a tough run,” New Haven Advocate political columnist Paul Bass memorably observed.

“He wants it to be handed to him, and it never was.”

We’re emulating India

Over there, priests are blocking hydro-electric power and setting the stage for a return to pre-industrial days. Over here, earth warriors are blocking nuclear power, natural gas and all practical sources of energy, setting the stage for a return to pre-industrial days. In both instances, the priests and the earth warriors are delighted with that prospect.

At some price, almost anything in Greenwich will sell

32 Cassidy St

 

This two-family was listed for sale in 2008 for $925,00, a pretty steep price considering it was fit only for condemnation by the building department. It’s on a spit of land behind the hospital and has, at best, a maximum FAR of 2600 feet. Yet someone has just paid $595,000. That still seems steep to me, but …

If they ban propane, the terrorists will have won

Just a thought.

Communist News Network- was bomber stressed because his house was in foreclosure?

Idiots. Pure idiots.

Multiple arrests of bomb suspects in Pakistan. Mayor Bloomberg amazed

Pakistan has arrested a number of accomplices of the Times Square bomber. Reached for comment Bloomberg expressed surprise: “who knew there were so many people over there concerned about health care?”

Oooh, I just HATE ObamaCare!

Four contracts

13 Ivanhoe, asked $3.4 million in April and must have gotten something close to that because it’s under contract today.

24 Hendrie Drive also sold quickly. Also listed in April, at $2.350 and already has a contract.

So there are two houses priced properly, or close enough that they didn’t scare away bidders. On the other hand,

4 Nimitz place asked $1.875 in May, 2009, dropped to $1.775 and now has a contract, I’ll bet for less than that.

65 Buckfield asked $3.995 in 2008, finally dropped to $2.9 and has found a buyer.

Three reported sales – sellers, read and learn

34 Sheffield Way, purchased for $3.474 in 2004 and relisted a year later for $5.395, sold for $3.070 after five years on the market. Assessment is $2.721

4 Janet Court, purchased for $785,000 in 2004, came back on a year ago (June, 2009) asking $799,000. Sold for $720,000. Assessment is $534,000.

19 Knoll Street, in Riverside, sold for $1.170 in 2002, was put on the market in 2008 asking $1.795 and two years later, sold yesterday for $1.390. Assessment, $1.175.

Missed again

44 Hunting Ridge

 

The owners of this Hunting Ridge house first listed it for $7.795 back in 2006 and, when that failed, tried again last year at $6.9 (ish) and, later, $5.795. It expired unsold once again today. I’m sure it will be back, but at what price?

I blame Bush

My earlier link to the story that NSA data bases were used to identify, track down and capture the Times Square bomber got me thinking: what’s in those data bases? Almost certainly phone numbers of fellow terrorists, probably obtained via those warrantless phone taps that the Demmerkrats and the ACLU howled about during the entire Bush administration.

I hold out no hope for the ACLU, but perhaps the Dems will be impressed that this guy was captured within 48 hours. Either that, or that it was accomplished during Obama’s rather than Bush’s watch.

A near miss on the Paki

Pakistani news and CNN both report that the Times Square bomber was actually on the plane to Dubai and had left the gate when authorities figured out he was onboard and stopped the flight.

UPDATE: The WSJ adds this intriguing detail:

DUBAI—Dubai-based Emirates Airline said Tuesday that flight EK202 bound for Dubai was called back before taking off from New York and that three passengers were removed from the aircraft as part of an investigation into a failed bomb attempt in Times Square.

These guys do seem dumb enough to all use the same getaway jet.

UPDATE II: According to Politico, they identified the terrorist from the number of a disposable cellphone he used to contact the Craiglist advertiser who sold him the car.

“They were able to basically get one phone number and by running it through a number of databases, figure out who they thought the guy was,” the official said.

The man had offered the vehicle on Craigslist, and FBI agents were able to recover the number from a disposable cellphone that had been used by the buyer.

The suspect didn’t still have the phone. But using a lot of technology and access to database, agents located the suspect.

It do make you wonder what’s in those “databases”, eh?

UPDATE III: After identifying the guy, the feds had hoped to follow him around but there were so many leaks about the investigation that he got nervous and tried to flee. While I certainly enjoyed following the hunt almost-live, it does seem that almost every news outlet had a separate leaker/source – there wasn’t much security in this case, which strikes me as a bad thing.