| MAY 1, 2025 -- As I write this article, it is tax day. I hope everyone gets a generous refund. As a kid I remember that phrase “Liar, liar pants on fire, nose as long as a telephone wire.” Wouldn’t it be grand if we all wished this phrase together and it came true, what excitement we would have that every politician, department head, new agencies, leaders, religious, educational, police and people responding to the events of flaming pants. We need to stop the bullying, hate, and violence against us, we the people.
With the tariffs on one day and off the next, the stock market has dropped and gained in wide swings. Old days would call this a correction, which means the stock is adjusting to its true value. Old days, the CEO would invest in plant upgrades and reward workers for their contributions to the successful profits of the industry. Nowadays the CEO’s give dividend checks to department heads and investors. We need to invest in manpower and plant equipment. If we want manufacturing back in the USA, this will help achieve it.
The tariff problem we are seeing is higher prices on items in the stores. The issue that we need to focus on is that the US Bond Market is being cashed in on by foreign countries that over the year bought these as an investment in the USA. In the 80s, farmers and local golf courses offered cheap, or even free municipal sludge for use as fertilizer. Many farmers and golf courses took the deal, yet later found heavy metals and contaminants in forage and ground surfaces. This program was abandoned and many people were angry by what happened to them. Today many states are offering municipal sewer sludge for farmers and ranchers for their fields for low cost. With PFAs, the forever plastic, from firefighting foam and plastic products. The PFAs have been found in the sludge and has contaminated the water supplies and organic farmland. Some sludge has contaminated neighbors with e-coli from raw sewage being spread on fields. With the EPA being scaled back by DOGE, safety standards are being removed and testing is not available. The last cartoon article of “Pogo” ended with “We have met the enemy! The enemy is us”.
April 18, 2025 is the 250th Anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, which started the American Revolution. These patriots of the New England colonies began the fight against the rule of the King, we know how it ends. Let’s hope what we have now is not a repeat. Stand up and speak up.
Connecticut has witnessed the movement of bears, due to springtime. Remember to removed bird feeders, secure trash barrels, remove food items from your cars, and lock them. There is no hunting season, and relocation is not the option for DEEP. With development of housing in bear habitats, its making bears more mobile and seeking new habitats. We have already seen bears at West Farms Mall in West Hartford. Remember, they are wild and give them space.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in our Grange Family.
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