LIVE VIDEO BLOG with Senator Chris Dodd

How long before it is legally (0.00 / 0)

too late to prosecute the Bush administration for illegally spying on us?

And the various telcoms and internet providers?

Looking back at the Ken Krayeske case, will we ever see "the list" as promised?

The Big Book on Krayeske

Photograph provided by State Police? Huh??? According to the Hartford police officers report the State had given the local Hartford police photographs of activists that might be considered threats to "Her Excellency" Governor Jodi Rell.

   His lawyer says Krayeske apparently came to the attention of state police by heckling Rell during a campaign stop in Glastonbury last year over her refusal to debate his candidate, Clifford Thornton.

   "Are there little circles of law-enforcement officers who have lists of who is naughty and who is nice?" asked Krayeske's lawyer, Norm Pattis. "What is the criteria for inclusion?"

Speaking on behalf of the state police, Lt. J. Paul Vance had nothing to say about how Kreyeske came to the State Police intelligence unit's OR the Connecticut Intelligence Centers attention. He did admit that these unit's do share information and intelligence. Speaking on behalf of Nutmeggers... I knew they shared information, but I had no clue so many agencies were watching all of us?

As for the list:

   Nancy Mulroy, a Hartford police spokeswoman, played down the list, saying Krayeske was arrested for his actions.

Pay no attention to the McCarthy inspired list! Just move along to the dangerous actions of Krayeske... OK, Let's do that for the moment. Situation, according to the Hartford police: [READ ON...]

Quotes from Connecticut politicians on the arrest and "the list":

Mike Lawlor:

1. "This type of conduct, which I guess you could categorize as "bushist" for a want of a better expression in this day and age will not be tolerated in this state."

2. "This is clearly an attempt to intimidate a journalist"..."This is the result of the emergence Bloggers on the political scene"..."This not traditional journalism, its different, slightly more in your face, and appropriately so, because a lot of people can't get away with what they used to in the good old days, not the politicians, not the police, and a lot of other people, and I think this is healthy for the process."..."I think this motivated more by politics than law enforcement"

3. "It begs the question: "Who else is on that list?""

Reporter Q: "Are you going to ask for copies of that list and are you going to make it public?"

Denise Merrill A: "Absolutely. We will get to the bottom of this and we will do it publicly."

We still don't know how many of us Nutmeggers are/were on the lists kept by the local police, FBI, Connecticut state Homeland Security representatives and numerous other government agencies entrusted with the task of spying on Americans.

And there are all kinds of operations, lists and spying we need to know about.

Google Earth and Privacy Issues On Trial
CIA enlists Google's help for spy work
US intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help its agents share information about their suspects

Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

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by: Connecticut Man1 @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 01:01:50 AM UTC

Who else is on the list? (0.00 / 0)

Check out CNN tomorrow morning, Wednesday, September 30 at either 725 or 825 am to see a story about my arrest.

Hopefully, we will capture it and post video shortly after it airs. But it should be two interesting minutes on national tv.

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by: ken_krayeske @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:43:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, or S. 604 (0.00 / 0)

Will he co-sponsor it? ( the bill to audit "the" Federal Reserve company - i repeat, company, not a Federal government agency)

"If those in charge of our society...can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." ~~Howard Zinn

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by: lakezoarian @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 02:23:12 AM UTC

Amy Goodman (0.00 / 0)

Reported a week ago Monday (8 days ago) that he said something about wanting to combine "the" Fed (private central bank) with the Treasury Dept. and one other agency I don't remember. I was floored. Never heard anything else about that here or anywhere else since, and he wouldn't touch my question today.

"If those in charge of our society...can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." ~~Howard Zinn

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by: lakezoarian @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:36:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sen. Dodd (0.00 / 0)

I believe a huge portion of our  Democratic Party base is very close to being convinced,just like they were in 2000,that "there is no difference between the 2 major Parties" and the "Public Option",for a huge chunk of that group,will be the tipping point.

Do you ,your fellow Senators and the President  fully understand the consequences of passing a health care reform bill without a Public Option?

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by: ctkeith @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 12:13:23 PM UTC

Trust (0.00 / 0)

Senator Dodd,

You've played a key role in deregulating the banking industry, which has led to the current economic crisis. For instance:

- You pushed the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act through Congress, making it harder for shareholders to hold executives accountable for fraud.

- You and Joe Liebermen led the effort to change FASB accounting standards on stock options, enabling companies like Enron to easily hide losses from its shareholders.

- You voted in favor of repealing Glass-Steagall, which led to the creation of banks that are "too big to fail."

- You stood by and watched as Congress made it illegal for the SEC to regulate derivatives.

- We still don't know what happened to the trillions of dollars the Fed gave or lent to banks around the world.

- The bailout money that you and Congress approved was supposed to go to help prevent mass foreclosures, but it hasn't.

Given all this, why should voters trust you with another six-year term as Senator?  

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by: CaptCT @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 14:30:49 PM UTC

Thanks ... (4.00 / 1)

 ... for answering my question. Good luck with the public option, banking reform, FISA, and the other legislation you're proposing.

Success in those areas, particularly health care and banking reform, will certainly help restore trust.  

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by: CaptCT @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:48:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

FISA (0.00 / 0)

Regarding the attempt to repeal retroactive immunity: why bring this bill up now? What are its real chances for passage?

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by: tparty @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 15:25:28 PM UTC

Actually, skip this (0.00 / 0)

MBH posted some better questions on restoring the constitution below.

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by: tparty @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 16:38:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Heh. He mistook you for the (0.00 / 0)

"Teaparty"


Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

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by: Connecticut Man1 @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 22:43:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Restoring the Constitution (4.00 / 2)

Hi Senator,

First, thanks for stepping up and introducing legislation to repeal retroactive immunity for telecoms that illegally spied on Americans at the Bush administration's request. I know you worked hard to stop this from passing into law between 2007-2008 and I'm glad that you're keeping your word to not stop working on this.

Three questions:

1. Will you also sign on to the JUSTICE Act (Sen Res 164), offered by Senators Feingold and Durbin, which seeks to provide greater oversight of intelligence gathering and domestic surveillance -- specifically related to parts of the PATRIOT Act and latest FISA reauthorization?

2. It's my understanding that many parts of the PATRIOT Act will be up for re-authorization this winter. What can be done to repeal this legislation, beyond the JUSTICE Act?

3. An AT&T whistleblower named Mark Klein came forward in 2007 and revealed a tremendous amount of information about the NSA's massive, illegal domestic surveillance program. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, Klein has never been invited to give testimony before the Senate. Will you ask Klein  before Congress to give perspective on the need to repeal retroactive immunity?

Thanks for all your hard work for Connecticut and the US Constitution.

Regards,
Matt Browner Hamlin

Disclosure: I'm proud to work for the Service Employees International Union

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by: Matt Browner Hamlin @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 15:36:43 PM UTC

Public option (4.00 / 1)

Senator,

Today, Senator Tom Harkin is quoted as saying that they're enough votes in the senate to pass a health care reform bill with a public option.

"I have polled senators, and the vast majority of Democrats - maybe approaching 50 - support a public option," Harkin said told the liberal "Bill Press Radio Show." "So why shouldn't we have a public option? We have the votes.

"I believe we'll have the 60 votes, now that we have the new senator from Massachusetts, to at least get it on the Senate floor," Harkin later added. "But once we cross that hurdle, we only need 51 votes for the public option. And I believe there are, comfortably, 51 votes for a public option."

Do you agree with Harkin's statement?

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by: ctblogger @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 20:53:43 PM UTC

Racism (0.00 / 0)

Recently, President Carter made the following statement:

"When a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have buried Obama with Kennedy, those kinds of things are beyond the bounds,"

Do you think a percentage of criticism/attacks directed towards President Obama is due to race?

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by: ctblogger @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 20:57:31 PM UTC

question (0.00 / 0)

Will Senator Dodd vote against any health care bill that does not include a strong public option?

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by: RCK @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:13:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Senator - we discussed idea of naming public option in HELP bill (0.00 / 0)

for Sen Kennedy - have you had an opportunity to discuss this as yet with Sen Harkin, or do you plan to?

Thanks.

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by: catchlightning @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:17:13 PM UTC

missed early comments (0.00 / 0)

Is it possible to post a recording of this video?

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by: CaptCT @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:26:33 PM UTC

Plug Pulled On Him Mid Sentence (0.00 / 0)

Just like last time. He never gets to say goodbye...

"If those in charge of our society...can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves." ~~Howard Zinn

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by: lakezoarian @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:28:22 PM UTC

Thanks everyone (4.00 / 2)

Sorry for the video issues. We had a few issues with UStream. The Senator had to run to catch a vote on defense funding for CT, but he wanted to pass along his thanks for hosting him here today. We hope to do this again soon.

An archive of the video is available at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/225114

Thanks again everyone.

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by: Adam Wells @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:38:13 PM UTC

BBB (Banks Behaving Badly) (0.00 / 0)

I'm just signing on now, so apologies if you mentioned this earlier.

It appears our financial institutions are still stuck in a dangerous pattern of risky behavior in trading derivatives. What can Congress do to get actual regulation of derivatives markets, which to my understanding are still pretty much the wild west? And in the long run, do any regulations passed have any chance of actually changing behavior? I'm also interested to hear what safeguards you think might be built into such regulations to prevent them being dismantled in the future, say, during an economic boom when everyone's happy.  

"There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." - Warren Buffet

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by: joesaho @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:38:42 PM UTC

too late! (0.00 / 0)

Oh well...

"There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning." - Warren Buffet

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by: joesaho @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 21:41:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]