Category Archives: Uncategorized

By Chris Powell Liberal Democratic members of the General Assembly again are pursuing what they call fairness in taxation, their euphemism for state government’s raising and spending a lot more money. Governor Lamont, a Democrat, opposes increasing taxes while state government has a lot of emergency federal cash on hand. But the governor may beContinue reading “With taxation in Connecticut, ‘fair’ is a disguise for ‘more’”

By Chris Powell Most people seem to like Governor Lamont’s proposal to reduce from 45 to 29 mills the state’s limit on municipal property taxes on cars and to have state government reimburse the revenue lost by municipalities that have car tax rates above 29 mills. The proposal supposedly would save people a lot ofContinue reading “Putting a cap on car taxes won’t really save any money”

By Chris Powell Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has rocketed the United States into a whirlwind of pious but ineffectual posturing. In his State of the Union address the other night President Biden told Congress that the United States would make Russian President Vladimir Putin pay heavily. Members of Congress and ordinary people keep goingContinue reading “Oil, not vodka, pays for Russia’s war; and Sen. Cassano gets relevant”

By Chris Powell Are things getting so bad for the Democrats that even Connecticut’s senior U.S. senator, Richard Blumenthal, is worried about winning re-election this year? That might have been construed from the senator’s silly pandering last week about gas taxes. Blumenthal — for 20 years the “eternal general” who now, at age 76, isContinue reading “Blumenthal plans his escape as inflation threatens Democrats”

By Chris Powell While the redrawing of congressional districts in other states has become more partisan, anti-democratic, and disgraceful — as shown by Democrats in New York and Republicans in North Carolina — Connecticut’s mechanisms for redistricting avoid the racket. In Connecticut redistricting of both congressional and state legislative districts is assigned to a bipartisanContinue reading “Boost political competition: Dissolve congressional districts”

By Chris Powell Whatever one thinks about guns, this month’s $73 million lawsuit settlement paid by the insurers of the former Remington gun manufacturing company to the families of victims of the 2012 school massacre in Newtown is based on a false premise pursuing an unconstitutional objective. Federal law exempts firearms manufacturers from liability forContinue reading “Newtown dumps democracy; and Lamont worsens scandal”

By Chris Powell Republican state legislators around the country are proposing to require public schools to post all curriculum materials on the internet as an accountability measure, and the other day they got powerful if inadvertent support from Enfield’s school system. Enfield’s school administration acknowledged that an eighth-grade class had been given an assignment inContinue reading “Enfield’s lesson in pizza sex shows schools lack scrutiny”

By Chris Powell From Connecticut’s congressional delegation last week the watchwords of pious posturing were: “Stand with Ukraine.” Of course no one was proposing to stand with Ukraine enough to join the overmatched Ukrainian army in fighting the Russian invaders. The congressmen meant: Stand with Ukraine at a safe distance. Indeed, while President Biden stroveContinue reading “‘Stand with Ukraine’? That’s funny! And Lamont’s befuddlement”

By Chris Powell Nobody needs the federal investigation that is under way to grasp the basics of the racket that was being run from the state budget office — the Office of Policy and Management — by its deputy secretary, Konstantinos Diamantis, who a few weeks ago was fired by Governor Lamont, not by OPMContinue reading “State budget office scandal isn’t racism but corruption”

By Chris Powell Addressing the General Assembly last week, Governor Lamont touted state government’s comfortable financial position, a reversal of the position he inherited when he took office three years ago. As this is an election year, he proposed to spend a lot more money without raising taxes. Some of the extra spending may makeContinue reading “Governor needn’t raise taxes since inflation did it for him”