Terry Cowgill

And the Lime ‘Rock’et’s Red Glare …

Miss the fireworks last night at Lime Rock Park? Jenny has captured them for you in a slide show and an amusing story. Thanks for being there for those who couldn’t!

SCOTUS & Race

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about yesterday’s SCOTUS ruling on behalf of those challenging desegregation plans in Seattle and Louisville. I was quite busy on Thursday and didn’t get a chance to gauge the reaction thoroughly until last night’s Democratic presidential candidates debate, which I blogged on in real time in the post below.

Check out Hillary’s comments yesterday afternoon before the debate:

Today, the Court turned its back on the promise of Brown vs. Board of Education that students of different racial backgrounds deserve an opportunity to attend school together … Once again, the Roberts Court has shown its willingness to erode core constitutional guarantees. It is a set back for all of us who are on the long march toward racial equality and the building of a stronger more unified America. As President, I will fight to restore Brown’s promise and create an education system where all children have an equal chance to learn and excel together.”

Hillary was no doubt greasing the skids for her solid performance last night at historically black Howard University. But even so, her hyperventilating reminded me of a phrase coined by one of my favorite public officials, the late Paul Tsongas, to describe Hillary’s husband during the 1992 presidential campaign: Pander Bear.

Continue reading SCOTUS & Race…

Dems Debate: Live Blogging

Update 10:45 p.m. Here’a quick take on the debate from Chuck Todd. I agree the format was awful. And consider this: if the Dems would not attend a debate sponsored by Fox, would the GOP candidates come to one sponsored by PBS and with this crowd at Howard tonight? They would be as justified as the Dems were in boycotting Fox.

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8:50 p.m. There has been some predebate discussion as to whether a recent SCOTUS decision about desergation plans in Kentucky and Seattle will come up, especially since the site of the debate, Howard University, is historically black, and journalists asking the questions will all be people of color. Right way, Hillary came out against the decision big time. Red meat …

9:05 p.m. Very gracious introductions all around. I like the guy before Tavis Smiley emphasizing that “black Americans’ votes cannot be taken for granted.”

9:10 p.m. I will now put my remarks in the comments section for sake of convenience.

Reilly Case Is Ever-Maddening

[Photo of Reilly at Noble Horizons in 2005 courtesy of yours truly.]

As promised, here is my news article on the death of Judge Maurice Sponzo, one of the heroes in the disgraceful Peter Reilly/Barbara Gibbons case.

[BTW: For a helpful chronology of the case, click here.]

You know, when writing news articles about this nearly 35-year-old case, it is all I can do to be fair to everyone involved. For in researching and writing about such breathless incompetence, such unfathomable injustice, it’s easy to lose one’s journalistic detachment.

When we bought our first house and moved to Canaan in 1990, I got ahold of a copy of Joan Barthel’s fine book on the travesty, “A Death In Canaan,” which was later made into a movie of the same name. I stayed up all night reading it. Soon, I plan to do the same with Don Connery’s book on Reilly, “Guilty Until Proven Innocent.”

Until that time, like the police, I could not fathom how anyone could admit to a murder s/he did not commit. But as I read the transcripts of Reilly’s interrogation at the hands of Lt. James Shay, the commander of the Troop B barracks, I’m now sure there were little wisps of smoke coming out of my ears.

Continue reading Reilly Case Is Ever-Maddening…

Those Big Spending Skinflints?

While listening to his show last night over the Internet on KGO, I was alerted by radio host Gene Burns to a intriguing editorial in the famously middle-of-the-road Christian Science Monitor about the charitable giving habits of Americans.

The U.S. remains a philanthropic powerhouse, according to a study by the GivingUSA Foundation. Americans gave away a record $300 billion in 2006, 75% of which came from individuals, not corporations. As a percentage of its economy, the US remains first in philanthropy at 1.7% – way ahead of runner-up Britain with 0.73 percent, or France at 0.14 percent.

To those of us who work (or, in my case, used to work) as fund-raising professionals, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. But here’s the interesting part. There appears to a correlation between political orientation and the generosity of the donor.

According to the Monitor, “those who don’t think it is government’s role to redistribute wealth are four times more likely to donate than those who do want higher taxes for social spending.”

Continue reading Those Big Spending Skinflints?…

Live Blogging During Dems Debate Tonight

I plan to do a little live blogging tonight during the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate at Howard University in Washington. The debate will begin at 9 p.m. and will be televised on PBS (channel 5 locally on Comcast). Join me and chime with comments of your own if you feel so inclined.

Judge Sponzo, A NWC Hero, Is Dead

Judge Maurice J. Sponzo, a hero to the many NWC residents who followed (or were involved in) the Peter Reilly case, died last week in Simsbury We’ll have complete coverage in Thursday’s LJ print edition.

Unfair!!!

Update 1:45 p.m. Sunday: Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) claims he overheard a conversation between Hillary and Barbara Boxer in which the two complained about talk radio and spoke of a “legislative fix.” They deny it.

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When my son was going through the terrible twos and was frustrated by one of my many mandates, he would stand his ground, double up his fist and shout, “Unfair!” Then, naked in his guilt, he would look around for someone to intercede on his behalf and preserve his dignity.

I was reminded of those tantrums when I saw a whining report on the state of talk radio in the U.S. by the Center For American Progress. The 40-page document spends several pages telling us what we already know. News flash: talk radio is overwhelmingly conservative in its political orientation.

Citing a lack of “ownership diversity” and “multiple structural problems in the U.S. regulatory system,” the CFAP report notes that talk radio’s idealogical split is about 76% conservative and 24% “progressive.”

BTW: What is the difference between liberal and a progressive? If there is no difference, why do they avoid the L word? And it looks like CFAP could use a little more “diversity” itself. Only 2 out of 10 people on its masthead are women (and neither of them drive policy, as both are designers). Perhaps, taking a page from the estimable Al Gore, they purchased a “diversity offset.” But I digress …

Continue reading Unfair!!!…

A ‘Bloom’ on the Rose of Insanity

Update 8:30 p.m.: Good piece in today’s WSJ editorial page on Mike. I often hear candidates for office (even on the local level) say we need to “put aside partisan politics” and get things done. As the WSJ piece correctly points out, that usually means the candidate thinks people need to come around to his way of thinking and work together with him.

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The race for craziest person in the world (i.e. the campaign for president) has taken some interesting turns while I was away. BTW, I call the campaign that because it’s so grueling, so excruciatingly time consuming and so intrusive that anyone who runs would have to be certifiably insane (which, of course, disqualifies them from the job immediately!).

First we learn that NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been laying the groundwork for a presidential bid for at least two years. Mayor Mike, who made an estimated $5 billion fortune in the financial information business, saw an opportunity to fill a void when he started Bloomberg LP in 1981. He is nothing if not an opportunist.

Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat who became a Republican in 2001 when he wanted to become mayor but knew he could never beat Mark Green in a primary. Now he knows he could never get the presidential nomination of either major party and so he has moved away from the GOP and become unaffiliated.

I like some of Mike’s positions on the issues except that I think he has been something of a nanny-in-chief as mayor, with his anti-smoking crusades and strong gun control advocacy.

But I like his pragmatic style and his tendency to appoint staffers for their expertise and not for their ideology or presumed loyalty to him personally. Such an approach would be a welcome departure from the current president, who has hired too many less-than-competent partisans who owe their careers to him.

Continue reading A ‘Bloom’ on the Rose of Insanity…

Blogging Lapse

Sorry for the lack of blogging the last few days. I have been on vacation since Saturday with my kids on the Cape. I am back but they remain there with their grandparents until Sunday. So my wife and I have few days to ourselves. I will be back in the saddle tomorrow with another post. Cheers …