Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

A Contrarian Credo Below are a few questions from various people I had not had time to answer. You complain in print a great deal about the state of the state. If you are uncomfortable in Connecticut, why don’t you move? That would be an abject surrender to the people who, in my opinion, have ruined my state. Then too, I’m too old to move. As you get older, your future shrinks. Your use of the word “uncomfortable” discomforts me. Some people – contrarians for instance – are uncomfortable with comfort. The oyster that produces the pearl is uncomfortable with the grain of sand around which the pearl is formed. People outside the news business find it difficult to imagine the joy struggle may bring in its train. But what’s wrong with Connecticut? Oh dear… too many lawyers in the General Assembly, too few electricians and plumbers; too many politicians, too few statesmen; too many pedagogical “facilitators” in schools, too few teachers; too many news analysts, too few reporters;

Blumenthal, abortion According to the Letter of Barnabas, A.D. 74, “Thou shalt not slay the child by procuring abortion; nor, again, shalt thou destroy it after it is born.” The position of Governor Ned Lamont and Connecticut’s Democrat dominated General Assembly on abortion is much the same as that of the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood: Abortion should be available to pregnant women at any state of the birth process; all regulations on abortion should be stoutly resisted or repealed. According to this view, uncommon only a few decades ago, abortion is simply another mode of birth control. What, the reader may ask, is the problem with birth control? Well, there are problems, not all of them related directly to abortion. We all remember The Population Bomb , a 1968 book co-authored by former Stanford University professor Paul R. Ehrlich and former Stanford senior researcher in conservation biology Anne H. Ehrlich. The book, intentionally alarmist and fore

Do political debates any longer matter? That would depend on the nature of the debate. The debate Americans most often think of when the word “debate” is mentioned is the famous Lincoln/Douglas debates in 1858. Note the plural; the debates were held in seven Illinois towns. The remarks of the debaters were transcribed by stenographers and printed nearly in full in various newspapers. Since her elevation to a possible presidency, Kamala Harris has sedulously avoided a public exposure she could not easily manipulate. Media interrogations have been few, and only one debate has been scheduled. The Lincoln/Douglas debates occurred when American journalism was just hitting its stride.   There were at the time Republican and Democrat papers – and, helpfully, no Facebook or Twitter eruptions. Journalistic partisanship was shameless and unabashed. Nowadays, partisanship is tucked away into the dark recesses of media stories. Consistent views of media bias show that a preponderance of re

Hamas -- Chris McGrath/Getty Images The Assassination of six abducted Israelis by Hamas over the weekend was intended to be provocative. Those provoked were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli army, the so called “friends of Israel,” presumably including the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, silent friends of Israel and, if not in every circumstance, a sizable portion of US reporters and commentators. Immediately following the assassinations, Time reported, “Abu Obaida, a spokesperson for Hamas’ Al-Qassem Brigade’, said that the new instructions came into place after Israel conducted a rescue operation in June that freed four hostages but resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians, including women and children. “‘Netanyahu's insistence to free prisoners through military pressure, instead of sealing a deal, means they will be returned to their families in shrouds. Their families must choose whether they want them dead or alive,’ he said.” The n

Netanyahu and Biden -- Avi Ohayon, Israeli Government, via Associated Press Consider the following brief news story from The Hill, a publication most would consider either non-partisan or discreetly partisan: “ Biden says Netanyahu isn’t doing enough to get hostage deal .” According to the lede, “President Biden on Monday said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to secure a hostage deal, adding pressure on the Israeli leader to reach a cease-fire agreement after six more hostages were found dead in Gaza over the weekend.’ There is no argument here. The Hill notes, “Biden was asked by reporters outside the White House on Monday if Netanyahu was doing enough to reach a hostage release agreement, to which he said, ‘No.’” Well then, are those mediating the so called “two state solution” to the war in Gaza, and Lebanon, and Yemen, and, derivatively, Iran satisfied that they have put together an agreement that will appease both Israel and assorted terrorists,

  SOMEWHERE BIRDS ARE SINGING. WHERE IS THE AMERICAN FEMINIST MOVEMENT? The Last Torch: The sisters defying the Taliban by singing - 100 Women, BBC World Service (youtube.com)

Harris -- Getty Images CNN host Dana Bash interviewed prospective Democrat Party president Kamala Harris and her vice presidential choice Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Thursday, August 29. Unlike Harris, Bash is not a former California District Attorney and Attorney General. A prosecutor might have avoided packing her interrogatory with leading questions, easily handled by Harris, and she most certainly would have peppered her subject with sharp, entangling follow up questions. Prior to the rare interview, about 16-20 minutes in length, some Harris critics supposed much of the time would be sopped up by Walz, severely shortening Harris’ 20 minute camera time. The event was unusual – “an historic first” as the Harris friendly media might say – the only time Harris has been interrogated by the nation’s media since she was anointed to fill her slot as a presidential candidate who had received no delegate votes in the aborted Democrat presidential primary. The man she displaced, sti