A visit from Rudy Marconi - Ridgefield's First Selectman and exploratory candidate for Connecticut's Governor

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/gov-2010-one-on-one-with-first.html

Here is Rudy Marconi's visit to Progressive Soup. Rudy has served as Ridgefield's First Selectman for 10 years and is an exploratory candidate for Governor of Connecticut on the Democratic Party line.

Dan Malloy's Gubenatorial Vision

Here is Progressive Soup's visit from Dan Malloy - the mayor of Stamford for 14 years and a potential candidate for Connecticut's Governor.

He and I discuss Mayor Malloy's roots, his accomplishments as Mayor of Stamford and his vision for Connecticut's future.


http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009_11_15_archive.html

Public Campaign Financing in Connecticut - Part 2

Here is a spirited discussion about public campaign financing in Connecticut - with a return visit from Mike DeRosa and Richard Duffee from the Green Party, plus John Hartwell from Connecticut's Norwalk chapter of Democracy for America.

We find a strong level of agreement that Connecticut's campaign financing laws need to be amended - to create a level playing field for third party candidates.

We also find points of strong disagreements about the Green Party's and the Working Families Party's status within Connecticut.

Get ready for some LOUD exchanges toward the end of the show !


http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/local-access-video-progressive-soup.html

Public Campaign Financing Reform - Reform

Here is the Progressive Soup interview with Mike DeRosa and Richard Duffee - two Connecticut Green Party members - about their successful suit re: Connecticut's Public Finance Law. The law was ruled not equitable to minor party candidates.

As an example, a minor party candidate for Governor would have to gain 225,000 signatures to achieve full public financing for the 2010 Governor's race. That is one fifth of the total number of votes cast in the Governor's race in 2006. With the possibility that Democratic and Republican party town clerks would determine some signatures invalid, the number of needed signatures might be even higher.

A note about the lawsuit - former Governor Lowell Weicker, who won as a minor party candidate (it was named "A Connecticut Party") testified at the trial that under the current law he would have had no chance of successfully competing for the office.

Here is the interview :

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/local-access-video-progresive-soup.html

Progressive Soup interview with 2009 Danbury Democratic Mayoral candidate

Before proceeding further, it should be noted that the current Mayor of Danbury Connecticut, Mark Boughton, only agreed to one single debate with Democratic Party challenger Gary Goncalves. That debate was sponsored by the Danbury Chamber of Commerce - at a $45. per attendee luncheon event at a local restaurant. The event was covered by the local newspaper - The Danbury News-Times - which has a very solid relationship with the incumbent and cherry-picked moments favorable to the incumbent in reporting the event.

No mention was made of the incumbent's refusal to engage in any debates which would be open to the public for no charge. This stands in stark contrast to the current Mayor's ability to have five opportunities to debate the previous Mayor.

Additionally, the current Mayor declined to be interviewed on Progressive Soup - although he did appear on another public access show hosted by someone who shares Mayor Boughton's vision of the I.C.E. program recently implemented in Danbury.

As you might expect - he faced a barrage of softball questions on that show.

Here is Progressive Soup's interview with Mayoral challenger Gary Goncalves :

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/local-access-video-progressive-soup.html

Management / Labor Relations in Danbury Connecticut

Here is the Progressive Soup interview with a maintenance worker at the former Union Carbide property in Danbury and his SEIU union representative.

Before the property was purchased, SEIU and employee representatives traveled many times to the anticipated new owner's headquarters on Long Island to discuss how the transfer of ownership might affect the employees. They state that they were unable to communicate with the new owner - in person, via letter or via e-mail correspondence.

After the property was purchased, every union member was fired without notice and replaced with a non-union replacement. It is well noted that the employees who were fired earned an average $11.00 per hour ( many working there for 20 years ) plus benefits ( very average by American standards - health insurance, paid sick leave, holidays and vacation time earned ). All of the employees are American citizens - some of them first generation Americans.

Here is the interview :

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/local-access-video-progressive-soup.html

Minority Party Politics in Connecticut - of a most serious nature.

Here is a Progressive Soup interview with Ernie Nepomuceno - the Brookfield First candidate for First Selectman in Brookfield.

The candidate from the Brookfield First party was successful in winning the election two years ago - due partly to the Brookfield Democratic Party not running a candidate for the seat. The Brookfield First party generally holds the belief that Brookfield suffers from a Democratic and Republican duopoly - two major parties different in name only.

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/local-access-video-progressive-soup_18.html

Health Care Reform Rally

Here is the Health Care Reform rally at the Danbury Library - which was discussed in the aforementioned Progressive Soup discussion with Mike Toto, James Root and David Stevenson :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6m8JHaCdZk&feature=channel_page

Health Care Reform - recent town hall meetings and rallies

Here is Progressive Soup's discussion between James Root, Mike Toto and David Stevenson about recent Health Care rallies and town hall meetings in Connecticut's 4th and 5th Congressional Districts :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-sccDBUMq0&feature=channel_page

Global Climate Change specialist for the Connecticut League of Women Voters

Here is "Progressive Soup's" visit with Lynn Taborsak - the League of Women Voters' specialist on Climate Change and Global Warming :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRLY0xXyPSs&feature=channel_page

Global Climate Change specialist for the Connecticut League of Women Voters

Let's try that one again.

Here is Progressive Soup's interview with Lynn Taborsak :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRLY0xXyPSs&feature=channel_page

CT League of Women Voters specialist on Climate Change

Here is Progressive Soup's interview with Lynn Taborsak -the Connecticut League of Women Voters specialist on Global Climate Change. She addresses climate change issues - both specific to Connecticut and worldwide :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRLY0xXyPSs&feature=channel_page

Here is the "Progressive Soup" program on The Peace Alliance :

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/progressive-soup-july-29-2009-broadcast.html

The Peace Alliance - idealistic and practical perspectives

This is an interview with Neci Marr - the Fifth District (CT) team leader for the Peace Alliance. She discusses both the idealistic and practical reasons why a Cabinet level Department of Peace is a good idea.

A Department of Peace within the Executive Branch would monitor international peace matters. However, the majority of its efforts would be within America's borders, focusing on the following national issues :

1. Domestic Violence. Violence within American households is currently monitored by local police departments. Police officers receive training on dealing with domestic violence, but their specialty remains apprehending criminals who rob or assault strangers - less complex crimes with a less complicated set of motives. Many Americans - most often women and children - die as a result of understaffed and undertrained local police intervening in family disturbances. Allowing violence to fester within a household could be better handled by interveners trained in the complexities of family dynamics.

2. Prison Rehabilitation. Studies in prisoners and prison guards skill-building in conflict avoidance show the value of this important skill learning within even the most maximum secuity facilities. These learning opportunities have been proven to lead to a large reduction in violence in prisons - and a reduction in violence after parole and recidivism. Conflict avoidance training becomes a means of reducing prison populations long-term. America has more people in prisons and jails per capita than any other nation in the world. The cost of incarceration in America exceeds 700 Billion dollars per year. Each person who leaves prison with conflict avoidance skills has a much better chance of not returning to prison, and every reduction in America's prison population saves tens of thousands of tax dollars per year - dollars much better used in areas other than incarceration.

Here is the program :

http://hatcityblog.blogspot.com/2009_07_26_archive.html

Welcome to Progressive Soup-Connecticut !

Welcome to Progressive Soup !

"Progressive Soup" is exactly as it sounds - a show which seeks the progressive, rather than the regressive voice in people. Regardless of political affiliation or religeous background, nearly everyone is looking to make the world a better place and build bridges to the future rather than regress to the past. I say "nearly everyone" with the full understanding that there will always be scattered loud voices of unreason which find their way onto media outlets simply because they are loud, rambunctious and want their 15 minutes of fame. Loud voices have no place anywhere - and will never be given the stage on Progressive Soup. Progressive Soup is a forum for people with diverse opinions on some subjects to find common ground on other subjects. If we waste our time rehashing our differences about issues which we might never find agreement on - then we will miss a great opportunity to find common ground and surprisingly find out how much we have in common with each other.