Earth Day Predictions from 1970....

Polls show that the number of people who believe in 'man-made' global warming (nowadays being referred to as "Climate Change" since its actually getting colder instead of warmer, go figure) is dropping dramatically. Reading these dire predictions from the first Earth Day in 1970 kind of helps put in perspective the dire predictions we're hearing today, despite all observable evidence to the contrary. Enjoy!

Some of my personal favorites:

“Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”
• Paul Ehrlich, Stanford University biologist

“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”
• Life Magazine, January 1970

“Dr. S. Dillon Ripley, secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, believes that in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.”
• Sen. Gaylord Nelson

I've come to the conclusion that the people (politicians) making important decisions -- decisions that will cost us billions if not trillions of dollars -- have no real clue what they are even doing. Take lightbulbs, for examples. Incandescent lightbulbs are made in Kentucky, but apparently they are not "green" enough, so legislation has been passed requiring us to use fluorescent bulbs, which contain toxic mercury and are so dangerous that they cannot be disposed of, but must be recycled. Not only that, these lightbulbs are not made in the United States, so they have to be shipped as freight from *China*. Can someone explain to me how it is somehow more green to have lightbulbs shipped from China than to buy ones made in the U.S.? It also turns out that in colder climates, households using fluorescent bulbs require more energy to heat homes, so you don't really get any benefit at all. Things that make you go 'Hmmmmm....?'

Obama to Cut Budget?

In the news today is that President Obama asked the Cabinet to cut $100 million dollars from the budget within 90 days. (Admit it, you've been so blinded by the not just billions, but trillions of dollar figures they are throwing around these days that $100 million initially sounds like a rather small amount, doesn't it? Unless its the lottery, and then it sounds a lot bigger!) This proposed cut represents only .0029% of the entire budget.

Its a good start, but it doesn't go far enough, and it doesn't begin to address the damage that has already been done by the stimulus bill (called 'porkulus bill' by many), that could yet be repealed. Its kind of like saying you are going to seriously diet, and then when you are finished wolfing down your super-size McDonald's french fries and you get to the bottom of the container, deciding not to eat the last little crumb of a fry that is left and feeling good about your self-control. News flash: denying oneself a french fry crumb doesn't change the fact that you may be a glutton. Our federal government has definitely become a glutton, and the Tea Party movement brings attention to that and calls for much-needed fiscal discipline. Obama has recognized that his rhetoric (the 'Fiscal Responsibility' summit held recently) alone isn't going to cut it, and so will attempt to appease people with the smallest amount of action conceivable.

Before you argue, lets put this in perspective of the typical American family, who has been "cutting back" and "living within their means" in both word *and* deed. If your family of four earns $50,000 a year, and you magnanimously cut .0029% of your annual budget, you will only have spent $145 a year less than you would have otherwise. Or $36.25 per person. Thats *before* federal, state, and local taxes are taken out, so its a generous example indeed. Don't get me wrong -- I'm a believer in "every little bit counts", but somehow, I have trouble looking at this Obama pronouncement as anything more than a very pitiful attempt to appease an American people who are rightfully indignant about the profligate spending of the federal government and haven't been satisfied with his rhetoric. Get out the scalpel and go to it for real!

UPDATE: Saw a funny video last night where Press Secretary Gibbs tried to say that $100 million was a lot of money where he comes from, but he couldn't pull it off because Jake Tapper immediately reminded him that Gibbs himself said that $8 billion in earmarks was a miniscule amount in the appropriations bill. He was unable to formulate a response to that. Whoops. Nice try, Gibbs.

What are the Tea Parties About?

We went to our first tea-party on Saturday, and it rocked! I've had people asking me for the past few days, "what are the tea parties about?" One Pittsburgh news site (to remain nameless) posted an article about the Tea Party on April 11 saying that it was to protest higher cigarette taxes; they took the article off the web site within 24 hours, thankfully, because the Tea Parties are about SO much more than that.

The Tea Parties reflect a growing movement among Americans (both Republicans *and* Democrats as well as Libertarians and Independents) who are concerned about wasteful government spending and excessive public debt that will (inevitably) lead to higher taxation. We are people who claim both education *and* common sense saying, "hey, the government has run out of our money", "you can't spend your way to prosperity", "printing money at a record pace will lead to inflation, which will devalue everything we have" and "surely more debt isn't the solution to a debt problem any more than more drugs would be the solution to a drug addiction." Or, as one sign I read said, "Its about the spending, stupid!"

Its all of that and more. Its concern about continuing government growth, because we recognize that the founding fathers wrote the constitution to protect us from a big government (hence the "limited, enumerated powers" that the federal government is *supposed* to have, with all other powers going to the state and the "people"); we know that (to quote Thomas Jefferson) "a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government that is big enough to take everything you have." We are no longer blind to the possibility that that can happen here, and are coming to see that it has been in the process of happening here for quite some time.

We see that growing government bureaucracy has never solved any problems or created anything that could sustain itself (for all the evidence you need there, see Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid which are entirely unsustainable programs and will no longer be there when our generation retires). Doesn't a "thinking person" have to wonder how we can afford government-run health care when we can't even come up with a plan to keep Social Security solvent? We see the prosperity that capitalism has created in this country, and we see also that raising taxes actually leads to *less* revenue because it takes money out of the private sector (where it buys goods and creates jobs) and gives it to the government where it is wasted and funneled into corrupt campaign schemes or pet pork projects that have no business being funded by taxpayer dollars.

And yes, its about taxes. We are looking ahead with the understanding that you *have to pay for* what you spend, and when you spend on credit (or DEBT), that is future tax dollars already spent. Besides the fact that it is morally reprehensible to spend the tax dollars of future generations, we are disgusted at the waste and the inability of our Congress to show fiscal restraint and responsibility. If you think there is no cause for concern, just look at the past and projected deficits chart:



Think taxes aren't going up, since Obama "promised" not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year (a promise already broken in several ways)? Think again. Tax Freedom Day this year (2009) was yesterday, April 13. That means that Americans who pay taxes have had to work every day so far this year up until yesterday just to cover their taxes. Guess what Tax Freedom Day will be next year? From the Tax Foundation web site: "In 2009, an unprecedented budget deficit over $1.5 trillion produces a date of May 29. This is the latest date in the year this deficit-inclusive measure has ever fallen. The only previous years when taxes and deficit spending comprised a similarly large share of national income were 1944 and 1945, at the peak of World War II. In the postwar era, this date had never fallen later than May 9 (in 1992)."

The Tea Parties are about all this and more. There is also the spirit of Americans coming together, like we did after the attacks on 9/11. You can really sense "we the people", like Americans all across the country are finally waking up and saying, "OK, this political nonsense has been going on for a long time, but its got to stop." We've had enough -- enough out-of-control spending, enough corruption, and enough big government control over our lives. We're ready to be the people that the founding fathers wrote the constitution for instead of just zoning out in front of our big screen tvs (the modern-day equivalent of burying your head in the sand) and hoping it all works out OK.

Go to a Tea Party, and you'll see what I mean! Talk to the people next to you, and you'll see that they are just regular people, like you and your family, with shared concerns. People who are willing to make "tough choices" in the short-run so that we can hand down a *better* country (rather than a bankrupt country) to our children and their children. People who would undoubtedly produce more sensible legislation than the career politicians we seem to have permanently installed in Washington. People who want to see real change, and not just hear charismatic politicians "talk" about it. We, the people.

Funniest thing I've Read All Week...

From Exurban League blog titled 'Obama Reaches Out to "Moderate" Pirate Community':

"After maintaining his silence for two days, President Obama will soon make his first public statement about the pirate attack upon an U.S.-flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa. After several inquiries and a few well-placed bribes, Exurban League has received an early transcript of the President's remarks: "

Read on (well worth the read, and brought tears to my eyes -- the good kind!) at

http://exurbanleague.com/2009/04/09/obama-issues-statement-on-the-pirate-attack.aspx

Pirate Ransom: $2 million
A sense of humor: Priceless!

Also entertaining reading, check out this article about the trend started by Obama's new terminology. Even the Taliban is getting in on the fun. ;)

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism?

According to a new Rasmussen poll, only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. Have we not learned *anything* from history? Do Americans today have even the faintest idea of the principles upon which this country was founded? As Richard N. Weltz says in an American Thinker article:

Most of us understand that state control of a nation's economy, whether under a socialist or communist régime has proven repeatedly to be a sure way not to prosper and progress in either wealth or liberty of the general citizenship. This lesson has been amply taught in the USSR, Eastern Europe, Cuba, China, and elsewhere.

Not only has there never been a socialist regime that *prospered*, there has never been a state-controlled regime that exists for the well-being of the people, which is the only ideological appeal of socialism, I imagine; they have only ever existed to benefit those in power (and assure that they have the power and the resources to stay in power). Unbelievable that Americans would prefer to give up their freedom to be ruled over by their government when we are blessed to live in a country where "we the people" *are* the government. Have I woken up in a different country? Has everyone (or at least 47% of us) gone completely mad?

Milton Friedman, Nobel-prize winning economist, explains why all people -- especially those in need -- are better off in countries that are capitalist than in countries that are socialist or countries that *depart* from capitalism:



I'd really like to find those 47% of people who think socialism is better (or aren't sure) and invite them to go live in a socialist country for a period of time, then come back and let us know if their perspective changed at all from the experience. Look at Eldridge Cleaver, who was an intellectual black radical communist in the 1960s -- he ended up fleeing America after a bout of violence and living in communist and socialist countries for several years before coming back to America. And this is what he had to say:

"It's one thing to study Marxism on paper, living in a capitalistic country where you have individual freedoms and so forth—you don't really see the relationship between the ideology and the form of government that comes out of that ideology. Now, when I had a chance to go and live in communist countries this individualism came into conflict with the state apparatus, and that's when I recoiled against it. But when I was here I was looking at Marxism-Leninism as a weapon, as a tool, to fight against the status quo, and you know, it's just a quality of human beings that when they are trying to tear something down they don't pay enough attention." (Source)

He also said, upon his return to America:

"Pig power in America was infuriating. But pig power in the communist framework was awesome and unaccountable."

My hope and my prayer is that Americans will pay enough attention to realize that its really stupid to create something significantly worse when you are trying to make minor corrections to something that seems broken. Classic 'out of the frying pan, into the fire', unfortunately.

Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus made a trip to Cuba to visit Fidel Castro and came back gushing with praise and full of respect. But look at what Eldridge Cleaver had to say when asked (in 1975!) a question about "visitors" from America being smitten with Castro:

Question: A lot of American intellectuals have gone, say, to the Soviet Union or China and come back full of praises. What you saw in Cuba, Algeria, China, or the Soviet Union, somehow they just overlooked. Do you think it's because usually these things are short, they just scurry right through? Or what was it that made you able to perceive...

Cleaver: It was exactly that—the shortness of it, the duration of their experience and the depth and quality of it. See, I lived in those kinds of places and I got to know people and made friends. I got to know the governments, the people in the military, people in the Communist Party or whatever they called it. That gives you a different perspective.

When I first went to those countries boy was I impressed. If you would read some of the things I wrote then! I was full of praise, because I got that standard tour that they give people to impress them. I took the same tour that Barbara Walters took in Cuba, and Senator [George] McGovern, but after the tour I had a chance to meet other people and have a different experience. If I had gone only on the basis of how the governments treated me, I would have continued praising them, because really they did treat me well. They gave me a red-carpet treatment in those countries. But when you get off the red carpet and step down in the mud where the people are, you get a chance to talk to them and hear the stories that they have to tell, over and over again.

Wow. Would somebody please send this to Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Ca.), Rep. Barbara Lee. (D-CA), Emanuel Cleaver(D-Mo), and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), as they have been "raving about a regime that jailed political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin, and executed more people (out of a population of 6.4 million) in its first three years in power than Hitler executed (out of a population of 70 million) in the Reich's first six years" (Humberto Fontova).

Clearly, we need to get educated in this country.

Goin' South

I'm frustrated with the limitations of choosing between two corrupt and entirely inept party systems (big government - Republican, or ENORMOUS government - Democrat), but I think the alternative budget proposed by the Republicans makes a great deal more sense than the massive Obama budget, which would increase government spending and growth in unprecendented ways. Paul Ryan lays it out in the Wall Street Journal article for those who might be interested in the details (the chart comparing the two budgets is especially revealing).

I believe that Americans want and need real fiscal responsibility, and that we aren't naive enough to think that holding a summit on fiscal responsibility is equivalent to actual fiscal resonsibility. (Oh please, let us not be that naive.) Especially when we're spending hand over fist before, during, and after the afore-mentioned summit. I keep hoping that Americans are smart enough to see the difference between words and actions.

And, for a little levity since my last so many posts have been primarily about the 's' word (spending), I'll leave you with this fun clip from South Park, explaining how the bailouts work. Priceless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxIM88_MOL8

Here's to You, Mr. Jefferson

Or if that's not up your alley, check out some jazz instead: http://kathleensings.com/

From Hot Air.

Tea Bag DC TODAY!

TODAY is the day we 'tea bag DC' by sending tea bags to our elected representatives. However, since an actual tea bag won't make it to their office but would be stopped at the post office, please download this word document and personalize it for your representative, then print and mail: http://www.reteaparty.com/doc/dear_rep.doc

Step 1: Find the addresses for your senators and representatives: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt

Step 2; Download and personalize this form: http://www.reteaparty.com/doc/dear_rep.doc

Step 3: Print and mail it!

Lets show those bums in Washington that we mean business and bury them in tea bag mail. Americans across the country are participating in this; see http://www.reteaparty.com/2009/03/rick-santelli-is-as-mad-as-hell-chicago-tea-party/ for more information!