Happy 4th!

It's the 4th of July, a day to bask in the sun, grill, eat macaroni salad and watermelon, drink a few cold ones, relax with family and friends and blast some low level explosives off (a tradition Hartfordites solemnly observe nightly from Memorial Day to Labor Day.) And while these days being in America might not be what it has been at times, it's still not all that bad of a proposition. Seriously, have you ever tried to keep up with a fantasy baseball league while living on Greenwich Mean Time?

Another great feature about being American is everyone is so sure that their political party has the only right ideas and that only their parties policies will be able to achieve those goals. Many are so sure of it and wrap their identity so deeply in it that any deviation of thought is met with venom. How many times have you seen self-identified "liberal people lovers" turn and spew visceral hate lest anyone question any part of their agenda.

Recently we were reading The Passage of Power, Volume IV in Robert E. Caro's stunning work on Lyndon Johnson. It's about as good and as thorough of a biography that's ever been written. In late 1963 Johnson, having just ascended to the Presidency after SPOILER ALERT.....

Sad City Comic Strip: The Bus To New Britain

Segarra vs. Vargas: Let's Rumble!

The Hartford Mayoral race is down to three candidates; the incumbent Pedro Segarra, and challengers Edwin Vargas and J.Stan McCauley. The fourth challenger, Shawn Wooden, made a sudden turn and joined forces with the Mayor, his former opponent. As is often the case in professional wrestling and politics, the former challenger seems to have forgotten the insults hurled at his new tag team partner. But that's another topic for another time.

Labor Rally In Bushnell Park

Sunday we came upon a large crowd gathered at Bushnell Park. Upon investigation we had stumbled upon a rally of union workers.  It was a pretty large crowd with energetic speakers. While most of the messages seemed pretty reasonable, asking for fair wages, health care, and paid sick time, there was one bizarre part where one speaker started ranting about how we needed to get yet another Kennedy elected to something, somewhere. Call it a generational thing but the fascination over one family is pretty bizarre; hero worship is not the answer to your problems. Plus the Kennedys really seem.....so 1960's.

Video from the rally after the jump.