26 September—I am White with a capital W. But I am not Caucasian. When questionnaires ask whether I’m White/Caucasian or something else, I never answer because it’s none of their business.
People we once were allowed to call Indians because Columbus was a lousy navigator now must be called Native Americans. Similarly, I don’t want to be called Caucasian because some delusional eighteenth-century German historians thought the human species originated in the Caucasus Mountains.
The Caucasus region, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprises Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, parts of Southern Russia; and three disputed breakaway territories, Nagorny-Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia. As far as I know, none of my ancestors came from any of those places.
Why did the alleged scholars think that Homo sapiens sprung out of the Caucasus? Simple. Because the Caucasus was—and for many still is—the place where Noah’s Ark was supposed to have landed after the great flood; and humanity, as we all know, is descended from Noah because the Bible tells us so.
So give me a break. And don’t call me Caucasian . . .
25 September—Are Connecticut’s school bus drivers crazy or just plain stupid? It seems they resent having to get their COVID-19 shots or weekly tests for the novel coronavirus, as mandated by Governor/King Ned Lamont, and are threatening not to drive kids to school to prove it.
Evidently the recalcitrant drivers don’t belong to a union, because no unions have commented on the threatened walkout as yet. And if there weren’t an existing shortage of school bus drivers, it’s doubtful the working drivers would be so brazen in their refusal to submit to common sense, among other things.
Getting past the political expedience—or even the necessity—of most of King Ned’s fiats, when he’s right, he’s right. You’d think that school bus drivers of all people would want to get vaccinated or at least be tested regularly. Because most of the kids they drive—those under 12 and those whose parents are crazy or just plain stupid—won’t have been vaccinated; and even though everybody on a school bus is supposed to be wearing a mask, most masks are probably useless. And kids and drivers alike doubtless wear their masks under their noses anyway.
Evidently, various contractors are being lined up to drive the kids to school if the regular drivers don’t do their jobs. But the Connecticut National Guard is not expected to be called in.
Any bets?
Editor’s extraneous note: I have never but never been on a school bus as pupil, passenger, tourist, or anything else. And from what I’ve seen, I haven’t missed much . . .
24 September—My illimitable contempt for the irredeemable scumbag Donald Trump—dating from even before he was elected POTUS over that irredeemable scumbaggess he was running against—is no secret to readers of the Republican-American and other print newspapers, as well as Litchfield.bz. I haven’t had occasion to excoriate Trump in The Monitor, however, and there’s no reason for me to do it here and now. One of the these days, though.
Rather, I’ll ask Jim Stedronsky, the Litchfield Board of Finance member who resigned that board’s chairmanship in order to feel free to broadcast his political views, who the hell cares what candidates for local municipal office think about Donald Trump and all the muck associated with him?
Those Monitor readers who don’t subscribe to Litchfield.bz won’t have read Jim’s incredibly inappropriate taunt to Litchfield’s Republican candidates to “be open and explicit” about supporting Trump, if in fact they do, so that voters “can determine the propriety of [their] holding local, municipal office.” For God’s sake! Is he serious?
Nor will non-subscribers to Litchfield.bz have read Mitch Garden’s pithy retort and corrective to Brother Stedronsky’s totally irrelevant provocation. Mitch’s bottom line, of course, is right on point: national issues have nothing to do with local politics because “we are electing locally.” And Mitch reminds Jim that Litchfield people are smarter than Jim appears to think.
If my memory serves me, back in 2016 the Trump-support question was raised by the Democratic candidates hoping to gain some traction against Republicans Craig Miner and David Wilson for the Connecticut General Assembly 30th District Senate and 66th District House of Representative seats they won. For all the good it did the Democrats. Craig and David ignored the silly question, while I had some fun with it. Because we don’t care how they feel about Donald Trump as long as they represent us effectively. And that they do.
Nah, Jim Stedronsky isn’t helping his fellow Democrats or anyone else by dragging Donald Trump into a local election. How would he like it if Republicans dragged the harpy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or the scumbag Charles Schumer into our local politics?
Not that it matters, but if Charles Schumer were to run against Donald Trump, I’d vote for Trump . . .
23 September—For (those few?) Litchfield Monitor readers who don’t read the Republican-American on real newsprint or online, this is the unedited text of my monthly effort to improve that august newspaper’s literacy while correcting misstatements or amplifying affirmations made by ego-driven correspondents (like me) as well as the newspaper’s own staff writers and other paid contributors, including syndicated columnists. And, as everybody knows, I write nothing but the truth.
This little gem was published 21 September. No further explanation is necessary. So enjoy and digest the read:
It’s understandable that Robert M. Goodrich should want to convince us that the Transportation & Climate Initiative Program (TCI-P) is anything but a tax. Because that’s what the state tells him and we always trust our government and that’s what he wants to believe. But even the state’s own incredibly nonsensical hype doesn’t tout TCI-P as anything like the “tool to advance racial justice” Mr. Goodrich would like it to be. And racial justice advances far more effectively without the state’s interference, in all events.
So let’s stick with the non-tax myth. While all the official codswallop on TCI-P strategically pussyfoots around any specific reference to taxes or taxation, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s lengthy excuse—or cleverly veiled apology—for the program and exposition of what’s to be done with the state’s carbonogenic [sic] windfall clearly indicate it’s a tax by another name. No two ways about it.
So let’s call the ludicrous carbon tax by another name: just another nefarious, politically motivated, inexcusable state money-grab. Because another money-grab to bankroll Connecticut’s chronically irresponsible, profligate spending spree is precisely what it is, pure and simple. QED . . .