Yesterday, I saw a quote from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that leaped out. Missouri Governor Mike Parson was talking about opening up schools and said, “These kids have got to get back to school.... And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals.... They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” When I read that, I was trying to figure out how to best respond -- but then I realized, oh, no, there's something far better.
I've mentioned my friend Bart Baker here a few times in the past, for his work as a screenwriter, producer and novelist, notably his wonderful book Honeymoon with Harry. But I've also noted one of his other fine and rare skills, that as a professional ranter. Few people can rant as thoughtfully, eloquently and over-the-top bluntly in a rant like Bart. Because of that, every once in a while I feel the need to hear a good BartRant (tm) -- and haven't had one in far too long. I realized I had an opening when coming across that quote from the governor of Missouri where. Not just for what he governor said on general principle, but because, as it fortuitously happens, Bart lives in Missouri and has two school-age children. This was like perfectly setting up the table with a smorgasbord for Bart. This was throwing red meat to a lion who hasn't eaten in days. The came from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and was “These kids have got to get back to school.... And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals.... They’re going to go home and they’re going to get over it.” I saw that and though, oh, my, that's like setting up the table with a smorgasbord for Bart. O, what to do? Well, it turns out that I have a finely-honed talent I developed over the few years on how to...well, noodge Bart into a rant. And so I put on my protective gear and wrote a Facebook post about the quote and simply brought it politely to Bart's attention. And then sat back and waited. Sort of like when you light a box of firecrackers and race off to safety and wait. The wait lasted about 40 minutes. We bring you the most recent BartRant (tm). He wrote back -- * * * This is what happens when the governor is caught in a sex scandal and resigns and the Barney Fife of Lt. Governors becomes governor. I want the option to sue him personally if my kids or husband (a school teacher) gets sick. I want to be able to sue the state school board, the school itself. The plan for dealing with this pandemic has been the plan coming from the White House: Who Cares If You Get Sick. That's it, that's the plan. And this drawling box of rocks ADMITTING that they are putting kids in harms way, and will get sick, is like someone opening the beach at Amity and saying "swim, one of you might get eaten but what the fuck, we're making money!" WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SUE FOR DAMAGES. And I want Parsons and his administration to be in schools, unmasked and greeting kids through the first month back. Every day, pick a school and be there. High five, take pics, talk, laugh, get up close and personal. Think he'd do it? We have school districts just 10 miles from my house opening up, no masks, no social distancing. Are these fucking nitwits living on the same planet as the rest of us? Forget city or state...PLANET. They keep saying that kids haven't gotten sick at the rate of adults...uhm, hey Sleepy and Dopey, THEY HAVE BEEN HOME, NOT IN SCHOOL which is a petri dish on a good fucking day. How do you social distance kindergarteners? And what about the teachers, the parents of kids, grandparents. Fuck them too? They're going to get sick and go home and get better? Really? Maybe he should ask Florida how that's worked out for them (another nitwit governor who is killing people by inaction.) It's as if they are utterly blind. Fucking it, go all the way. No more helmets on motorcycles, no more seat belts. Fuck traffic lights. Yeah people will get hurt, some will die. Who cares? We have become a nation of remedial government. It's like the dumbest kid in the class with the biggest mouth now goes into politics and gets elected because, hell, what other kind of job can they get? When did we become a nation of complete and utter sociopaths? Missouri will never vote this guy out (he's pro-life...even though he admits he doesn't give a shit if people live or die, try figuring that out...) so this state is doomed to watch kids get sick, some die, some adults get infected through the kids coming home from school with the virus, some will die, some will have lasting effects the rest of their lives. SUE THESE IDIOTS INTO OBLIVION. When you knowingly put people in harms way, you are accepting responsibility for their well-being and health. No one has explained to me the sentence I keep hearing uttered, "We have to get these kids back in school." Why? Exactly what makes putting them in school and at risk so much better than on-line or making real and substantial changes to how kids are taught to mitigate or erase the chance they will get sick or worse? Some explain to me, why we MUST get them back in a building? This will be a enormous clusterfuck and there will be many sick kids, many schools closing down (probably distracts, because if one kid in the house gets it, then siblings and all their classmates at other schools or grades have been possibly exposed. And when the parents get sick, what then? Yeah, no answers... * * * I knew it. I knew Bart had a great rant in him. Sometimes it just needs a small prompting... For what it it's worth, I had posted two comments yesterday on social between writing to Bart, yet which overlap a couple of his subsequent points. One was in response to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who had written a thoughtless and very-GOP tweet about how when dealing with coronavirus public solutions we be sure to should protect against an "epidemic" of lawsuits.
I replied similarly to what Bart would later write. I said that the very opposite of what McConnell wanted is true, that actually if any official or business is responsible for an epidemic of deaths of Americans, the very thing we need are lawsuits to hold them responsible. And the threat of lawsuits may keep some of them responsible.
The other comment was in reply to Governor Parson's quote that started it all. And like what Bart suggested later, also said that the governor should go to the schools when they open and welcome the children to support his proposal -- while wondering if he'd be wearing a face mask when he goes. It is, after all, the Show Me State. But in the end, all that pales to a good BartRant (tm). One needs to hear them every once in a while. A lot more often than hearing from the governor of Missouri
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
Categories
All
|
© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2024
|