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Happy New Year. Now Get To Work Buddy.
2008-01-02 22:22:00
Alright, my life as a public policy advocate is about to begin. I just got an e-mail containing my preliminary schedule. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun, and will certainly keep me very busy. Here's what it looks like.January 10th: I'll be in Waterbury, Connecticut for a sentencing in a DUI case. I'll be checking out the procedure and learning a bit about the process. This will give me some more background knowledge for some of the policy work I'll be doing and for my communication with the press.January 14th: Another big day in court. I'll be meeting a victim advocate and reviewing a new case along with him and the Executive Director of MADD CT. We'll then spend the greater part of the day monitoring the various DUI hearings at the New Haven Court.January 18th: Tentatively my first day in the capitol. I'll be getting acquainted with the building, the people, etc. so that I know what I'm doing once the legislative session begins.From what I gather, it seems lik...
More About: New Year , Work , Happy , Happy New Year , Buddy

New Year's Eve: Helping Those In Need Is So Much More Than Child's Play
2007-12-31 08:54:00
This was my first Christmas as a legal adult. A Christmas where images of my childhood and adulthood faced off against one another on the front line, battling a miserable, bloody battle for prominence. I feel like the further I get from my childhood, the more I want it back. The story of our lives. Anyway, the high volume of thought that this process seems to entail naturally led me to mentally reliving Christmas mornings of old.It was 4:30 am, and I woke up with a start. Bad dream. I turned over in bed, hoping to shake it off and go back to sleep. And then it hit me like a brick. Christmas morning. Christmas morning! I bolted out of bed and dashed down the dark hall. Into my parents' room and with a bang I jumped on their bed with all 90 pounds of my 8 year old self. "Wake up, wake up, it's Christmas! It's Christmas!" My parents both groaned. My mother slowly turned over and looked at the clock. "It's 4:30 in the morning," she protested, "Come back in 2 hours." "Noooo! It's Ch...
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Images of Christmas: My Favorite Photos From This Holiday Season
2007-12-30 05:47:00
One of my favorite parts of Christmas is that each moment has the enormous potential to be a Kodak moment. In years past I have used websites such as Photobucket and Webshots to view holiday pictures from around the world, but this year I have found that Flickr is by far the best site because it attracts people who approach photography as a form of therapeutic art. It is an online community that goes to great lengths to procure phenomenal shots, and that supports its users with lots of comments and feedback.I am a firm believer that a photograph captures more than just a moment in time. It also preserves the emotion and soul that prompted the picture in the first place. Those are the key ingredients that make up nostalgia. They are also the things that make a photograph not only worthy of taking and keeping, but worthy of sharing with others so as to convey that nostalgia to a large, worldwide audience. When used correctly, it can be a very enriching cycle.And with that said, enjo...
More About: Holiday , Photos , Images , Season

I'm At Home. Is Everyone Else? Everyone?
2007-12-28 06:16:00
The holiday season is a time when we congregate, for the most part worry free, with family and friends to exchange expensive gifts, to eat delicious food, and to immerse ourselves in love. It is a time of year when we take time out of our lives simply to appreciate. Yet often times we take the basics for granted, and don't appreciate enough. During festivities, at least four walls surround us, a sturdy, functional roof arches over our heads, natural gas or oil heat pumps from the vents in the floor or from the radiators, and fresh water coupled with ample food are but steps away.On Christmas Eve's eve, I was driving through the city of New Haven, Connecticut and passed beneath the Interstate 91 overpass. In the eaves of the bridge, a woman in tattered clothes was settling in for the night with her sleeping bag. At the time it was warmer than usual for this part of the year, but it wasn't too long after I saw the woman that there was torrential rain, and unbearably cold tempe...
More About: Home

New Voice Recognition Software Makes Blogging Easier
2007-12-27 06:13:00
I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas. I noticed that during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day most of the blogosphere was pretty quiet, which made me pretty happy that people would be spending their time with their families instead of surfing the Internet. But here we are back again, people are going to work once more, and life has resumed its course, regardless of the heartburn and regardless of the bloating.My favorite Christmas present this year was the Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software, a high quality gaming headset to use with it, and MixCraft sound editing software. Altogether these things will make it very easy for me to do my daily blogging and for me to possibly start a Podcast in the future.On Christmas Eve, one of my updates via Twitter was that I was reading from Wil Wheaton's book, Just A Geek, where I found a lot of really excellent blogging tips. The most interesting part of the book so far is how much Wheaton's writing style has prog...
More About: Software , Voice , Blogging , Recognition

A Bigger, Better, Consumer Oriented Christmas Eve Post: Campaign Commercial
2007-12-24 09:24:00
Part 1: A Warm Foggy NightMerry Christmas Eve to all of you out there in the blogosphere. Since this blog post is going to be so dreadfully long (though hopefully entertaining), it will have to suffice until the day after Christmas. I want to spend this holiday with my family, as I am certain all of you will want to as well. We'll be free to talk again during the nation-wide food hangover on the 26th. Bloated and blogging!Anyway, this epic post started with a walk that I took tonight. It was December 23rd yesterday. Christmas Eve's Eve. It is the dead of winter here in New England, which means that most of the time it is unbearably nasty and frigid outside. Anyway, I went out on that walk wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt, fully expecting that within a minute or so I'd whimp out and run back inside to the heat. But when I got outside it was absolutely beautiful. It must have been above 50 degrees. The snow on the ground had melted from three inches deep to a patchy...
More About: Democrats , Commercial , Post , Consumer

Obama Says He'd Consider "The Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger As Potentia
2007-12-22 21:16:00
I know I'm beating the Barack Obama horse to a pulp, but this guy continues to impress me. Only last night I was talking to someone about Abraham Lincoln. He took the principle of "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer" to a whole new level by seating all of his Republican opponents for the nomination as members of his cabinet. William Seward became the Secretary of State, Salmon Chase as Secretary of the Treasury, and Edward Bates as Attorney General.It seems like Barack Obama may be using history's lessons to better himself as a candidate, and perhaps even building on those lessons to achieve even greater results. According to ABC, Obama has previously said that as President, he would work closely with Republican Senators Richard Lugar (Indiana), John Warner (Virginia), and Tom Coburn (Oklahoma). On Thursday, ABC also reported that Barack Obama may be considering Arnold Schwarzenegger for a cabinet post should he be elected President.?What (he?s) doing on climate...
More About: Democrats , Arnold Schwarzenegger

Reflections on Washington, DC
2007-12-21 21:05:00
Since I am currently in bed with a nasty little virus, I don't expect to get much done in the way writing, but I dug up a couple of my favorite pictures from one of my trips to DC this summer. The first was taken by me against the Vietnam Memorial and the second was taken by a photographer named Dub Allen at the top of the Lincoln Memorial. Enjoy, and hopefully I'll be able to recover soon and give you some of the good stuff once again.
More About: Washington , Reflections , Photographs

Wil Wheaton Rocks The Vote, Applauds Dodd
2007-12-19 09:46:00
Writer/actor/blogger Wil Wheaton popped the political bubble on his website, WWdN:iX yesterday with the following post.Thank you, Chris Dodd When the Democrats -- who I thought were the good (or at least the anti-Bush, and pro-Constitution) guys -- took back Congress in the last election, I was overjoyed. I thought we'd see an end -- finally -- to the Bush administration's recklessness and lawlessness that's made me feel ashamed to be American. Of course, the Democratic leadership has been a pathetic, embarrassing, contemptible, miserable failure, and now we see that not only have they enabled Bush's insanity, they've been willing participants, helping him and Dick Cheney feed our constitution into the shredder. Yesterday, for the first time in ages, I felt my faith in our government begin to return, and I have Chris Dodd to thank for it. It's been depressing to watch our Democratic congressmen -- the very ones we all worked so hard to put into the majority -- do no...
More About: Vote , Rocks

Political Bashery Between Democrat Frontrunners.. It's Almost Comical
2007-12-18 22:52:00
a.k.a. Political Cartoon of the Day: Part 3I found a really funny cartoon on the Googles today drawn by a very talented artist named Terry Wise. Unfortunately due to copyright laws, I can't give you a nice big picture like you're used to, even if Terry Wise would have approved. Man, does it make me mad that copyright laws are even necessary. Damn you internet pirates!!!! Argh!! Anyway, enjoy the cartoonish political humor of Terry Wise. Clicking the little orange link will do the trick. (click here to view)Terry WiseRatland Ink PressDec 18, 2007EditorialCartoonists.com
More About: Democrats , Democrat

Alan Keyes Appears At Iowa Debate, Not Afraid To Disagree, Well, With Anybo
2007-12-18 01:04:00
a.k.a. Reader Questions: Volume 3Since I chose to cover the CNN/Youtube Debate for the Republicans, I chose to cover the Des Moines Register Iowa Debate for the Democrats. But I received a reader question over the weekend that gave me a bona fide reason to at least touch on it."Anthony, I missed Wednesday's Republican Debate, but I was excited to hear that Alan Keyes participated in the event. I'm curious if you saw it, and how you felt he did. Further, do you think he's campaigning in hopes of actually winning the presidency, or trying to angle himself into the VP slot?" -Daniel G.Man did Alan Keyes ever participate! What a show! Throughout the beginning of the debate I noticed that, much like Barack Obama in the Democrat debate, the moderator was almost completely leaving Keyes out of the questioning. But Keyes didn't take that napping. He jumped in and told the moderator that he wanted to address her last question. When she quickly responded that she was getting to Keyes, and...

Democrats Jockey For Position In Des Moines Register Debate: I Rank Them
2007-12-17 06:31:00
In the Des Moines Register Iowa Debate amongst Democrats , I didn't sense a real winner. In the end, I fashioned my rankings based more upon what I think Democrats are looking for and how they might perceive the candidates. Since the debate was based on the idea that it was primarily directed towards the voters in the Iowa caucuses, the pandering was abundant. I was very impressed by the moderator; Carolyn Washburn, Editor for the Des Moines Register did a great job keeping candidates to their times and came up with one of the best debate formats I have seen yet. I would love to see your rankings to, if you decide to post them. So without further adieu, my rankings of the Democrats in the latest debate.First Place: Barack Obama- Obama is a huge confidence builder for Democrats. His invocation of Dr. Martin Luther King's insistence of "the fierce urgency of now," was downright inspiring. I noticed that during the first segment of the debate, Obama got very little speaking time, whic...
More About: Rank , Jockey

Preview For Democrat Rankings: Obama Lays The Smackdown On Clinton
2007-12-16 18:21:00
It has been a very difficult weekend here in the blogosphere. I apologize for my lack of posts, and lack of the Democrat rankings that were set to be on here Friday yesterday today. Please don't hurt me forgive me. I'll do better. I promise. While you're waiting for those rankings from the Democrat debate, take a look at this video. This is one of the major reasons that Obama did so well in the debate and Clinton did so poorly. And my God is it entertaining. Until then, I'll see you folks soon tomorrow. **I promise**
More About: Democrats , Preview , Lays

Reverend Al Sharpton In Hot Water Over Campaign Funds: Don't Say I Didn't T
2007-12-14 17:31:00
Read Daily News Story | Digg StoryIn Monday, November 26th's post, I reported about the money trail behind a run for President. Once a candidate garners a certain amount of money he is matched by the federal government using taxpayer money. I also discussed what they can do with that money once they drop out, and how unethical the process of running for President has become. And here we are not two weeks later, and the Reverend Al Sharpton is suddenly in hot water for his 2004 run for President and has effectively proved me right about this whole running for President scam.Now the FBI and the IRS are conducing a dual investigation as to whether or not Al Sharpton deliberately misstated his fundraising amount so as to have it doubled by the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Sharpton is also being investigated for tax fraud, and mixing up funds between his various for-profit and not-for-profit ventures. He is being investigated for allegati...
More About: Democrats , Water , Funds

To Do Lists: From Buying Milk To Finding A Soulmate- What Our Lists Reveal
2007-12-14 02:49:00
I was fooling around on the Googles today when I came upon probably one of the most awesome blogs on the internets, previously linked in my question session about blogging. A woman named Sasha Cagen collects to-do lists from people around the world and features them on her site. She also talks a lot about what lists mean to people, etc. I really enjoyed her Wednesday's post about Christmas lists."Yet, a feeling of selfishness, guilt and pressure permeates my Christmas list wish writing. The feeling that I have to get my list of desires done first, on the list of things to do, before I start the more angelic and true-spirit-of-Christmas-y task of finding the perfect present for each person on my list. It's hard to come up with the perfect list of appropriately priced things without sounding too terribly demanding. Increasingly, too, it feels absurd to be an adult writing a Santa list."Sasha has the uncanny ability to convert a private, self-serving human ritual into something that ...
More About: Buying , Milk , Lists , Soulmate

Snow Storm Drops Nostalgia In Abundance
2007-12-13 16:11:00
My nine year old self would be freakin' pumped if he were still around today. The snowfall that is happening right now here in Connecticut is what he might refer to as the perfect storm. Originally school was slated to be delayed, but given the sheer speed of the storm, they were forced to cancel school. So little Anthony would have been up for school, watching News Channel 8 for the up-to-the-minute delays, throughly furious that he was so narrowly missing out on a snow day. I would have been totally consumed with the injustice of the situation. And then the delay would magically switch to a cancellation and all bedlam would break loose in my house.The coat closet would be ripped open, gloves, boots, snow pants, winter coat ripped out and thrown on the armchair in the front foyer, and just like that I'd be back at the television, waiting for the accumulation forecast. 7-10 inches. Perfect! I'd run to the window in the dining room, look out on to Hartley Street back in North Have...
More About: Abundance , Storm , Nostalgia , Snow

Blogging for Dummies Or: How I Learned To Stop Ranting And Love The Blog
2007-12-12 13:26:00
a.k.a. Reader Questions: Volume 2I've received a ton of questions from people who read Living On Anon, like the material, appreciate the author's boyish charm, etc. But many do not seem to understand the concept of blogging, and a lot of other little tech toys on this site. So once again, I am answering your questions. Thanks for sending them as always. Please direct any questions, comments, rants, jokes, and furious tirades to: (my last name dot my first name at gmail dot com)."I enjoy your daily posts, but I'm not certain exactly what a blog is. Can you explain?" - Elle P.Well Elle, to put it simply, a blog is an online journal. Many people use it as just that. Websites like Xanga and Live Journal make a living on marketing free blogging software to people who want to keep an electronic journal, either for private purposes, or to share with friends. Many have used blogs to speak to a wider audience and get their name known; some notables include Michelle Malkin, NBA Star Gilbe...
More About: Love , Dummies , Blogging , Blog , Stop

Oprah And Obama Hit The Campaign Trail
2007-12-11 19:51:00
a.k.a. Political Comic of the Day: Volume 1Today they are working on the foundation for the house being built next door to me. Unfortunately for my concentration on anything, this means they are blasting with dynamite and shaking the neighborhood. So, I'm taking a day off from writing and giving you the Comic of the Day, from Dana Summers of the Orlando Sentinel in Florida. And in the meantime I'll be drinking coffee constantly to calm my nerves.
More About: Democrats , Oprah , Obama , Campaign , Trail

Candidate Infighting Dates Back To 1984- Kind Of Orwellian, Eh? Wait, What?
2007-12-10 20:37:00
Most of us have seen the 1984 Super Bowl Commercial for the launch of Mac. We remember identical skinheads clad in identical coveralls, marching in sync through a futuristic tube hallway into a massive hall. We can recall them sitting down, bolt upright, staring straight ahead at a massive big screen, donning the image of Big Brother, zoomed in grotesquely on his mysterious face. And these harrowing words project powerfully from his mouth: "Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives. We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology, where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thought is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause. Our enemies shall talk themselves to death and we will bury them with their own confusion. We shall prevail!" And as we watch this commercial, moved ...
More About: Democrats , Dates , Back , Orwellian , Wait

A Look Into Huckabee's Fiscal Record
2007-12-08 15:26:00
a.k.a. Reader Questions: Volume 1"IS Huckabee's state agenda spending an issue for you?" - Jill M. First of all Jill, thank you very much for your question. Anyone who would like to submit questions can do so by e-mail, which, in secret spy code, is (my last name dot my first name at gmail dot com).I'm not convinced that Huckabee's state agenda spending is an issue for me. My research of Huckabee's spending record is that during his tenure, he cut spending in areas where it seemed possible and increased only for inflation in areas where is wasn't. His two major spending increases were in children's healthcare and natural resources. The healthcare was funded by a major settlement from the tobacco industry and the natural resource work was funded by a Constitutional Amendment that allocated one-eighth of each cent collected by sales tax in Arkansas. He was responsible for cutting 90 different sweeping taxes for a net savings of $378 million. On the other hand, he was responsibl...
More About: Record , Fiscal , Cord

CPTV Political Panel Discusses Illegal Immigration Issues With Public Audie
2007-12-07 21:14:00
Last night, I had the privilege of attending an open panel immigration debate at CPTV's town meeting forum, which was held in the basement atrium of the Wilson Branch Library in New Haven, Connecticut. Among the players represented on the panel (from left to right) were Republican State Representative Vincent Candelora, Democrat State Senator Edward Meyer, New Haven City Alderman (Ward 23) Yusef Shah, and Danbury's Republican Mayor Mark Boughton.Boughton has become known throughout the state for his city's strict enforcement of federal immigration laws. He has talked about working with national ICE units to identify illegal immigrants. On the other hand, Alderman Shah is a signer of the measure that started the infamous Elm City ID Card Program in New Haven.Representative Candelora and Senator Meyer sparred over a piece of legislation that would allow the children of illegal immigrants to be eligible for in state tuition to college. Candelora was against the measure, and Meyer wa...
More About: Illegal Immigration , Democrats , Political , Public , Issues

Should I Make A Podcast?
2007-12-06 11:12:00
I've always been intrigued by the possibility of authoring a podcast. Given the excellent ratings that Living On Anon has been getting through Google Analytics, the major search engines, blog lists, etc. I'm wondering from you, my readers, if there is any interest in a weekly or monthly podcast. I won't do it unless I get significant interest, as it would be very time consuming.For those of you who do not know what a podcast is, it's kind of like a radio show that is available free of charge to download and listen to from my webpage or from iTunes. It is fully compatible with any mp3 player or iPod. If you are interested, tell me what you'd like to hear as well. I was thinking about doing a mixture of politics, pop culture, interesting not-so-well-known music, viewer questions, and anything else of interest.Give me some feedback!
More About: Podcast , Make

Greedy Executives Grub For Money-- Even If It Costs Them More Than They're
2007-12-05 17:12:00
Has the day finally come when corporations will go broke to make money? The Hollywood Reporter quoted Wall Street firm Natixis Bleichroeder as saying:"Assuming the strike costs ABC, CBS and Fox each $100 million of revenue and income off of their $5 billion-$6 billion of TV network and station businesses, the impact would be 9 cents off of our 2008 CBS estimate of $1.95 (earnings per share), 3 cents per share off of our (Disney) estimate of $2.30 and 2 cents per share off of our (News Corp.) estimate of $1.20."United Hollywood, or the Writers Guild of America, is quick to underline the first part of that quote. "Assuming the strike costs ABC, CBS and Fox each $100 million of revenue and income." That $100 million dollar loss per corporation is, as United Hollywood points out, only $50 million less than the $150 million that they are asking for over a three year period. Or in plainer English, the writers are asking for about $50 million more per year than what they were getting as a ...
More About: Money , Executives , Costs

How Did They Do? A Comprehensive Review of the CNN/Youtube Republican Debat
2007-12-03 14:46:00
Alright. The long awaited rankings for the Republican debate are finally here. My apologies for taking an extra day on these- it took forever to schlep through that entire debate a second time for accuracy. Feel free to send me your rankings or to comment on mine. Remember, this is just how I viewed the debate. I went in being a major Rudy Giuliani supporter who has been considering the merits of switching to the Huckabee camp. And if you notice the new Huckabee widget on my left sidebar, I have now made the official switch.First Place: Mike Huckabee- This guy continues to impress me. He separated himself from the field by talking directly to the audience that was there rather than to the moderator or the camera. He established a unique, popular campaign position by promising to destroy the IRS and the income tax in favor of the new "fair tax code." He landed a very successful joke that will be quoted for years. It was something along the lines of supporting space funding and that H...
More About: Youtube , Review , Comprehensive

MOST Republican Candidates Behave Like Playground Brats At CNN/Youtube Deba
2007-12-01 23:24:00
In the interest of coming up for air today, I'll leave you with this excellent cartoon as a little preview for tomorrow's review on the Republican debate. The frontrunners acted like whiny little kids, and I was not at all pleased.
More About: Youtube , Republican Candidates , Candidates , Candidate

Huckabee Continues To Stand Out
2007-11-30 23:05:00
In the spirit of the new weekend, I'm going to leave your Friday/Saturday post short, simple, and sweet. Mike Huckabee was hugely impressive in the CNN/Youtube Republican Debate. He continues to stand firm behind excellent promises-- the destruction of the IRS, the levying of a "fair" or sales tax, strong border security that protects our nation's sovereignty and allows immigrants to come in more frequently on a legal basis. And he has guts. He is not afraid to burn a new path. He is not afraid to be funny. He is not afraid to reach out to the American people in a way that they have not experienced in a very long time. And let me say: he is this close to ripping my Team Rudy '08 membership card to shreds and making me a supporter. Take a look for yourself. I have a complete breakdown of this debate coming over the weekend including detailed rankings. Send in your thoughts and questions on the debate to (my last name dot my first name at gmail dot com) and you might find you...
More About: Stand Out , Stand

The Hollywood Writers Strike: What's Behind It And Why You Should Support T
2007-11-29 23:34:00
In doing my daily blog browsing today and I came across an excellent post by my favorite author/blogger/actor Wil Wheaton about the writers strike going on in Hollywood . In researching the issue a bit further, I found out the following facts that everyone should know about why the writers are striking:Every time an episode of the show they've written airs on television, they are paid 2.5% of the amount that the studio makes. So for every dollar the corporation gets, the person who wrote the material gets less than 3 cents.When the VHS came out, writers were asked by the studio to take an 80% pay cut on sales from that medium to help promote sales from that new market. 20 years have gone by, VHS has become DVD's, and sales have soared almost infinitely. Yet when you buy a DVD for $19.99, the writers get 4 cents. Ouch.On sites like NBC.com and Hulu, you can watch recently aired episodes for free any time. Corporations use this new medium to generate hundreds of millions of dollars i...
More About: Support , Writers , Strike , Olly