gdp's Comments

YourCT.com : Common Council Meeting of 9/8/2009

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 13:17:51 +0000

From the answers she got, it is a wonder they didn't table and tell him to come back when he had more information. It sounds like nobody knows, and the plan is to build an inventory to replace computers that break or disappear. It doesn't sound like anybody knows how many they own now or how many of them don't work. I hope there is a plan to collect the old ones as new ones are requested and recycle them properly.

YourCT.com : Health Care Reform, Because The System Is Broken

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 02:13:04 +0000

Our present system is capable of the best health care in the world. People come from all over the world for treatment not available anywhere else. Most of them have money. People with money and/or good insurance get excellent health care . What makes the numbers look so bad is the level of health care available, or not, to poor people. Our present system is very much driven by capitalism. The folks with the money get the finest care in the world, the rest of us don't.. Our doctors are the highest paid in the world. That is a fact, and that is why people like our president, the late senator Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and others, have fought so hard through the years to get the system reformed so poor people also get excellent health care.

YourCT.com : BOE Spends Money Filing Complaint Against NFT

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 00:50:40 +0000

The BOE can send out press releases direct to certain reporters, about negotiations, but the NFT can't talk to their membership ? The lawyer, William Cannon, is apparently also the BOE's chief negotiator. The action he has filed is a prohibited practice claim with the state labor board, not a lawsuit. It is a wonder the NFT doesn't file one against the BOE for the press release he put out. They have the better case, in my opinion, and better evidence. I will be amazed if the labor board even hears this complaint. They can put off scheduling a hearing until after the contract is settled and the issue is moot.

YourCT.com : Labor Day Musings, America's Long Civil War Against Fun

Tue, 8 Sep 2009 00:35:42 +0000

Where are you getting the information about clove cigarettes ? The link didn't work. The FDA website doesn't show any new ban on clove cigarettes. There are references to a ban on flavored cigarettes of all kinds, except menthol, on google, and stories, but nowhere is there anything that looks like a new law or regulation. One of the stories makes it sound like FDA is now responsible for "regulating" cigarettes, but cannot ban them. ? The price they get for any kind of cigarettes should scare off most people.

YourCT.com : Health Care Reform, Because The System Is Broken

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 15:13:12 +0000

No argument, Docotors should do well, over a million a year may be a bit much, but they need to stop complaining and they need to stop overbilling. The good ones are worth every penny, but, unfortunately, there are some very greedy doctors who do a lot of "defensive" procedures because they make a lot of money on them, then tell us they need them to protect against possible malpractice claims. If you have ever been involved in a claim against a doctor, good luck finding another who will give you an appointment. How do you propose "opening" the insurance market ? There is already competition and the insurance companies are doing very well, making it a practice to only insure very healthy people.

YourCT.com : BOE Spends Money Filing Complaint Against NFT

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 14:27:46 +0000

You don't see an ethics problem with an attorney who files a frivolous lawsuit like this, knowing it will accomplish nothing but earn a fee ? It is a clear violation of section 3.1 of the code of professional conduct. No wonder so many people are afraid to make decisions of any kind for fear of frivolous lawsuits. There are penalties for lawyers who file these kinds of suits, but they are seldom imposed. You are right about us being used, every other City department has to get approval from the City's corporation counsel before hiring outside counsel and filing a lawsuit. Bloomberg has the right idea, the mayor needs more control over the BOE.

YourCT.com : BOE Spends Money Filing Complaint Against NFT

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 20:17:51 +0000

Where do you look to find an attorney willing to be used like this.? Filing this lawsuit is beyond stupid and it will probably get dismissed before any evidence is taken. I'm betting the attorney is getting paid by the hour, plus all expenses. No court in CT will side with the BOE that the NFT negotiating team holding a meeting with the teachers violates anything. Inviting the press might violate some agreement, but until there is a contract, is any agreement enforeceable ? Proving who invited the press will be difficult, if not impossible.

YourCT.com : Health Care Reform, Because The System Is Broken

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 20:06:16 +0000

Doctors do very well, generally, with surgeons averaging over $500,000 a year, and some twice that. Many hold a financial interest in some of the testing that we talk about as being done to protect against possible lawsuits. They also own most of the doctor's liablity insurance companies which pay only a very small percentage of claims. The number of claims is steadily decreasing over the last few years. Expensive procedures on TG's broken arm example don't do much for the broken arm, but occassionally reveal other serious undiscovered problems and lead to early treatment. Too many doctos now overbill medicare and private insurance and that will only get worse until a system is in place to keep them honest. They make it sound like lawsuits are killing their business, when in fact, that is not happening, and only a tiny number of malpractice suits ever result in big judgements.

YourCT.com : Himes' Political Pickle

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:36:32 +0000

It was not my intent to condemn or besmirch anyone. The story is an urban myth, with no basis in fact. You and your source were both taken in by it and repeated it as if it were true. I apologise for hurting your feelings, but I stick to my point that the story is just a story as the statistics are not available to the public. It would be interesting to know if there is any place that leads the nation in medical malpractice claims. I suspect the malpractice insurance companies have the ability to determine that, but they do not share with the public.

YourCT.com : Latest On State Budget

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 14:02:32 +0000

Hartford Photographer Jessica Hill took the picture. Nobody should be surprized that someone is shooting pictures over your shoulder. Her stock just went way up. It is an excellent picture. From her website, this quote; "I am the Photo Editor at the Journal Inquirer, a 40k afternoon daily newspaper in Connecticut and I have been a regular stringer for the AP in Hartford for the past six years." Sessions of the legislature are "public meetings" and fair game for self-employed "stringers" for AP or MAD magazine. It was a mistake to presume news photgraphers would be strictly focused on the speaker

YourCT.com : Himes' Political Pickle

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:57:39 +0000

I was logged in OK, but my comment/reply was too long. When I finally figured that out and clipped off about five lines, it accepted the shorter comment immediately.

YourCT.com : Himes' Political Pickle

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:19:24 +0000

Your "reliable source" probably makes up lots of stories.. Nobody keeps statistics, by City, that support such a claim.. Medical malpractice (liability) insurance, as a percentage of gross business, is less for doctors than it is for many other businesses. The biggest malpractice insurance comapanies are owned by doctors. Malpractice suits have gone down in recent years. Premiums have not kept up with inflation. Doctors make it sound like the cost of insurance is an enormous burden. It amounts to about 2% of gross income, with rebates for doctors who don't get sued.. __New York City is probably where the highest number of medical malpractice lawsuits are filed because there are a large number of medical professionals, a large number of lawyers, and mistakes happen.

YourCT.com : Himes' Political Pickle

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:15:06 +0000

I tried to reply to Nwlk Spectator and it doesn't take my comment. Nothin happens when I hit "submit comment"

YourCT.com : Tom Delay To Join Dancing With The Stars

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:21:31 +0000

Hate This Very little, just responding to TGs comments. DeLay was a prime mover in the failed impeachment of Clinton and then later he was charged, and convicted, of criminal money-laundering and election law violations. His phony moral outrage when Clinton was being attacked was right up there with Newt Gingrich holier-than-thou posturing in public while he was doing a female assistant in private. You are correct, none of this has much of anything to do with DeLay dancing on television. I don't expect he will do much for that show's ratings.

YourCT.com : Tom Delay To Join Dancing With The Stars

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:58:14 +0000

Funny thing about Clinton. We paid 70 million for Ken Starr to look for evidence of federal crime in a failed real estate development and all he came up with was evidence of sexual misconduct with Lewinsky, not a federal crime. Clinton was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation and both the house and senate found him not guilty. He later pled quilty to a contempt of court charge in Arkansas, lost his license to practice law for five years, and paid a fine. There was considerable evidence he lied about Lewinsky, but a lot of people felt a special federal prosecutor had no business asking about Lewinsky when there was no federal crime. If an investigation about Lewinsky was justified, it was not what Starr was appointed for.

YourCT.com : Bon Voyage

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:03:50 +0000

TG: Discussions about nursing home care for elderly relatives are never easy and it may be a good thing you were not fluent enough to say in French exactly what you would have said in English. I am quite surpized is much easier for them to accept than the English statement you were trying to say in French. Crazy or not, it was not easy for them.

YourCT.com : FEMA Releases New Westport Flood Maps

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:25:26 +0000

That link to the town website should read www.westport.gov

YourCT.com : Rell Cuts Bonding, Norwalk Loses

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:24:44 +0000

There are several neighborhoods where flooding is a problem. Some because developers were allowed to connect to storm drains designed for small areas with new systems for other areas much further away without making the original old systems bigger. Too much rain water trying to go through too small a pipe causes flooding. It is only a problem a couple of times a year when a lot of rain falls in a short time. There is an old system in lockwood lane that now gets rain water from as far away as Stew Leonards. It works well until a real heavy rain. The City didn't always have engineers designing systems. They have known about some of these problems for years but have not been able to get the money to fix them.

YourCT.com : Rell Cuts Bonding, Norwalk Loses

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:54:18 +0000

Rose: The City is responsible for maintaining storm drain systems. The flooded basements in question are largely because of inadequate, poorly maintained storm drains. If one basement on a street leaks water everytime it rains, that is the homeowner's problem. When the street fllods and every house on the street is flooded, then the City needs to fix the system. There isn't much a homeowner can do when the water is coming in from the the street.. The City, in years past , was pretty casual about storm drain systems put in by developers. Some of them were never adequate and have gotten worse.

YourCT.com : The Brain Drain Example Number 1,632

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:56:29 +0000

Do you think Mass. really made better choices, or just did a much better job marketing their choices ?