Friday Radio Chat with Silvio Canto from Dallas

One hour radio chat with Silvio Canto on Blog Talk Radio, 9-21-12.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/09/21/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh

Butler on Business WAFS 1190 Atlanta - 9-19-12

My 10 minute weekly segment on Butler on Business WAFS 1190 Atlanta's Premier Radio station. Topic: The Green Festival in D.C., an orgy of green environuts. I come on at the 30 minute mark.
http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/16928.mp3

Preface to My Upcoming Book "UN Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy"

                             

I am not sure when subsequent generations, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will no longer be permitted access in zones marked off-limits to human habitation and trespassing in accordance with the dictates of UN Agenda 21 and the now infamous Wildlands Project map.

The map was produced by Dr. Michael Coffman, editor of Discerning the Times Digest and NewsBytes and CEO of Sovereignty International, to stop the ratification of the international treaty on Convention on Biological Diversity one hour before the scheduled cloture and ratification vote. (Congressional Record S13790)

The mandate of the Convention of Biological Diversity draws buffer zones, core reserves and corridors to protect biodiversity. Areas in green will allow housing. Areas in yellow will be buffer zones, highly regulated with no homes and possible hiking. Red areas will be core reserves and corridors off-limits to human access and human habitation. There is already limited use of red areas via no management or resource harvesting through Wilderness, Critical Habitat, and Roadless Areas.

Dr. Coffman’s map also includes the Border 21/La Paz Sidebar Agreement of NAFTA, 120 mile wide international zone of cooperation, and Indian and military reservations.

The idea of a One World Government/Order and Agenda 21 has been around since the turn of the 20^th century. To see written evidence, just look at back of a one-dollar bill. Featured prominently under the Masonic pyramid are the Latin words, Novus Ordo Seclorum, the New World Order.

It was not until 1992, after numerous United Nations conferences around the globe spanning decades and a concerted effort by third world governments lead by individuals like Maurice Strong and Gro Harlem Brundtland that the UN Agenda 21 became reality at the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

This conference produced three documents: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (an international treaty), the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (an international treaty), and UN Agenda 21 (not a treaty but a “soft law”).

President Herbert Walker Bush signed along with 178 countries but refused to sign the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity because it required transfer of technology without recognition of proprietary rights. However, President Bush said, “It is the sacred principles enshrined in the UN Charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance.” I am sure the American people were very surprised or perhaps totally unaware that a U.S. President would pledge allegiance to a foreign body instead of the U.S. Constitution.

UN Agenda 21 is a “soft law” document, not ratified by Congress. Parts of it have been incorporated into other laws passed because Congressmen do not read the bills they pass or do not understand the full scope of the UN Agenda 21. The 40 chapter document limits the behavior and freedoms of individuals and firms, involving every facet of human life.

A video dated October 2, 1992 and taken from C-SPAN archives shows discussions on the House floor about Agenda 21 in which both Democrats and Republicans are in favor of conforming fully to the recommendations of UN Agenda 21 in spite of the oath they took to defend the U.S. Constitution and the sovereignty of our country. A much younger and stuttering Nancy Pelosi introduced a bill to follow the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to conform to UN Agenda 21, its local sustainable community practices, and to follow international law.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XUBwIJWH7ew#)

UN Agenda 21 makes suggestions and recommendations that are adapted into law at the state and local levels through comprehensive land use plans which are voted on and included by the board of supervisors into local zoning codes. Citizens do not understand its damaging ramifications to their private property, the ability to make a living, to use their land, grow food in their gardens, sell their produce freely, and engage in agriculture. Local land owners do not have the opportunity to provide their input into the decision-making process, they are at the mercy of “visioning committees” and the board of supervisors, often plants or paid subscribers to the One World Government’s UN Agenda 21 document.

UN Agenda 21 goals include but are not limited to:

-         Redistribution of population according to resources

-         Government control of land use in order to achieve equitable distribution of resources

-         Land use control through zoning and planning

-         Government control of excessive profits from land use

-         Urban and rural land control through public land ownership

-         Developing rights must be held by public authorities via “regionalist” authorities

President Bill Clinton facilitated President Herbert Walker Bush’s initial commitment by signing an executive order which created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development to translate UN Agenda 21 into U.S. public policy under the guise of ecosystem management.

One World Governance in the name of protecting the environment, racial justice, and social justice/equity is a communist system that redistributes wealth and promotes universal health care as a human right.

Harvey Rubin, the Vice Chair of ICLEI, proclaimed his vision of a communistic sustainable world in which “Individual rights must take a back seat to the collective.”

One World Governance will control:

-         Energy production, delivery, distribution, and consumption via Smart Grid, Smart Meters, and Renewable/Clean/Green resources

-         Food growth and production via FDA regulations, and Codex Alimentarius

-         Education control via a curriculum centered on environment and Mother Earth and global citizenship (i.e., No Child Left Inside Act in Maryland)

-         Water through irrigation denial in agriculture, home use, recreation activities; destruction of dams and reservoirs; abolishing hydroelectric generation use of water as a contributor to the now discredited theory that greenhouse gases cause global warming

-         Land control through abolishing of private property

-         Finances (one world currency to replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency)

-         De-population (restructuring the family unit and reducing population to “manageable levels” through sterilization and eugenics)

-         No borders/no sovereignty

-         No national language and culture (a multi-cultural hodgepodge devoid of a nation’s history, and shameless promotion of global citizenship)

-         Mobility restriction to 5 minutes-walk/bike from work, school, shopping

-         Longer distance travel through rail use

-         Homestead by stacking people in high-rise tenements in order to designated formerly privately owned land for wildlife habitat

The One World Governance of the UN Agenda 21 requires that every societal decision be based on the environmental impact on global land use, global education, and global population control and reduction. They have deemed “not sustainable” most human activities that form our modern civilization: private property, fossil fuels, consumerism, farming, irrigation, commercial agriculture, pesticides, herbicides, farmlands, grazing of livestock, paved roads, golf courses, ski lodges, logging, dams, reservoirs, fences, power lines, suburban living, and the family unit.

“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.” (Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit, 1992)

“We must make this place an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects – we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres of presently settled land.” (Dave Foreman, Earth First)

Public Private Partnerships and ICLEI have enabled the spread and encroachment of UN Agenda 21. Public Private Partnerships, programs between the federal government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have implemented with tax dollars Sustainable Development policies at the local level such as Smart Growth, Green Growth, Green Building Codes, Going Green, and many others.

The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) now called Local Governments for Sustainability has channeled grants with the help of the American Planning Association to the municipalities around the country. These grants were badly needed by struggling communities and came with strings attached such as “visioning consensus,” the vision of a third, unelected government tier coming from the United Nations and non-profit foundations who promote the interest of wild animals over those of humans.

There is never a shortage of new converts – the educational system is deliberately dumbing down our students in order to accept the Sustainable Development goals. “Generally, more highly educated people, who have higher incomes, consume more resources than poorly educated people, who tend to have lower incomes. In this case, more education increases the threat to sustainability.”

In some states, the curriculum includes “constructivism,” a teaching method by which “students construct [their own] understandings of reality and [realize] that objective reality is not knowable.”

“The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.” Whose values will educate our children? Will it be the atheist, Gaia-centric values of government indoctrination?

The New World Order teachers recommend Connected Mathematics because “Mathematics is man-made, is arbitrary, and good solutions are arrived at by consensus among those who are considered expert.” With the right consensus of experts, two plus two may not be four but five.

“The curriculum does not emphasize arithmetic and some students may not do well on tests assessing computational skills… We believe such a trade-off in favor of Connected Mathematics is very much to students’ advantage in… the world of work.”

According to Henry Lamb, UNESCO, another tentacle of the United Nations, had taught seminars to teachers and disseminated curriculum materials that promoted the idea that nationalism was bad and had to be replaced with global citizenship. The textbooks of the International Baccalaureate plant the seeds of prejudice against national pride and support the idea that world/global citizenship and world governance are viable solutions to the future of a socially, racially, and economically unjust planet.

As I described in my essays the countless places where I had encountered Sustainable Development, I came to the realization that, because United Nations Agenda 21 is so insidious and so much part of every facet of our society, it will take a miracle to dismantle it.

Friday Chat on Silvio Canto Blog Talk Radio

September 14, 2012 - One hour discussion on the economy, QE 3, the Middle East, European Union bailout through eurobonds, gas prices, food prices
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/09/14/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh

Butler on Business WAFS 1190 Atlanta, 9-12-12

My 10 minute radio commentary on sequestration of disaster relief. I come on at the 30 minute mark.
http://host1.cyberears.com//17399.mp3

Green, Rotten, and Red Sustainability Indoctrination

Every day I step outside my house I am reminded that every person born in this country is an American but not every American is a patriot. A patriot contributes to America’s exceptionalism, making it a better place for all. Americans rebuild what others have destroyed without propaganda and grants from the government.

Real Americans defend freedom around the world and do not apologize for their kindness, generosity of time, treasure, sweat, and blood. Real Americans love their country and wish to protect and preserve the land and waters they have inherited from Americans before us so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy it free of any interference from government, foreign powers, or United Nations.

Then there are those Americans who think our society is an “unjust” society. They are usually the brain washed, trust fund beneficiaries, who have never had to live under the “socially-just” utopian societies they so desire. They’ve never had to be subjected to the indignities of communism in Cuba, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and other dictatorships they consider “paradise.” With every breath they take, these Americans want to fundamentally change our society to their desires and their terribly misplaced dreams that the rest of America loathes and despises. These are the “green environmentalists,” the “non-profits” who want to shape, influence, and change your consumer choices via “green options.”

You don’t have to take my word, just visit the upcoming Green Festival in Washington, D.C., September 29-30, 2012, a project of Green America: Economic Action for a Just Planet (http://www.greenamerica.org/) and Global Exchange (http://www.globalexchange.org/).  

The sponsors are:

-         Sierra Club (http://www.sierraclub.org/)  

-         Earth Balance (http://www.earthbalance.com/)    

-         Bright Green, Sustainu (http://www.sustainuclothing.com/) - maker of sustainable clothing

-         Democracy Now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Now!)  

-         Ford Community Green Grant (http://www.greenfestivals.org/national/ford-community-green-grant-2012-nyc-chicago)

-         Ford Motors.

 “Green America is a national nonprofit consumer organization, promoting environmental sustainability, social justice, and economic justice through marketplace.” Sustainability, social justice, environmental justice, and economic justice are code words for UN Agenda 21, global communism.

“Global Exchange is an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world.”

No American objects to cleaning and protecting the environment in which we live, and we do not purposefully pollute it, but we must admit that the “greening” of America agenda is really the “reding” of America, turning us finally into a communist country. We are already so socialist, we can only recognize a smidgen of the former capitalist glory.

The Green Festival in D.C. is a “non-profit event, dedicated to celebrating social justice and sharing a vision of a healthier and more just future for us all.” I already live in a socially just society with equal opportunity for all citizens. What individual citizens choose to do with their time and the choices they make determine their future. It is not society’s responsibility to see that sloth and laziness are rewarded equally to those who work hard to achieve.

Who knew that social justice and a just future involved bicycle maintenance, container gardening, home brewing, recycled crafts, yoga classes, NAACP, Washington Peace Center, 350.org (http://www.350.org/) (350.org is building a global grassroots movement to solve the non-existent and manufactured climate crisis.), local non-profits, and national initiatives to speed up the transformation of America into the UN Agenda 21’s idea of one-world communist governance?

Recognizable speakers include consumer advocate Ralph Nader, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and Medea Benjamin, cofounder of the infamous Code Pink. The 125 progressive speakers tackle topics of sustainable economy, social justice, the expensive and so far often bankrupt green energy, community organizing (where did I hear that term before), Fair Trade, green business, ecological balance, urban farming, healthy home, environmental advocacy, green building, and toxic free living.

Urban farming sounds interesting. The EPA and the federal government are taking more and more land away from agriculture, either confiscating it or paying farmers not to farm, and giving land back to the wilderness but we are supposed to feed 313 million Americans via urban farming from high rise, densely populated tenements in the city?

The orgy of sustainability celebration includes green office, green pets, eco-travel (it must be paddling your own canoe to Europe with a bicycle attached to it), green media, the phantom green jobs that never materialized, eco-arts and crafts, organic food, green building and renovation, and “unbelievable green shopping.”

Ford Motors is promoting test driving its new Ford Focus Electric and C-MAX Hybrid. At the same time, Ford is awarding a $5,000 grant for “sustainable, forward-thinking ideas for improving the environment in local communities.”

A bike valet is provided if you are still alive after biking for miles to get to D.C. and the traffic did not kill you before exhaustion. Plant-based diet, raw food, raw fruit pie, raising urban chickens (that should be quite smelly and unsanitary), vegan sushi, brew your own “sustainable beer” (you will need to get drunk on that after all the weirdness in your daily life), and vegetarian food demonstrations will teach how to build a vegan pantry. (Do vegans live longer than the rest of us?) Sustainable cats, raw pet diet, how pets can help heal the planet (that is rich), and fashion for 4-paw friends should be interesting.

The festival teaches “how to break up with your bank,” changing a flat bike tire, how to be a responsible tourist, and about “electric bikes and the sustainable transportation revolution.” Electric bikes must be designed for those who are fat or handicapped and cannot traditionally bike or walk miles to work, grocery store, and school.

It appears that “sustainability can save humanity from itself,” create clean energy for all, provide “no stink indoor composting with worms,” and help humans to “find fullness: mindful eating.” We are so fat and such pigs that we must have the federal government tell us what to eat and when to stop eating.

If you are not that much into having your life changed into sustainable everything, there are other topics at the Green Festival on political agitation, Occupiers, community organizing, AIDS, and voter fraud:

-         Billionaires and the Ballot Bandits: the Theft of 2012 (wishful thinking)

-         How the 99% can occupy peace (Medea Benjamin)

-         Alternatives to Neo-Liberalism: Latin American Leadership (this one is rich; I did not know the term neo-liberalism; tin pot dictators as leaders – that is laughable)

-         We can save the world while we are young (Chicken Little, the Sky is Falling)

-         Vibrant living: From healthy choices to political action

-         Global collapse, prophecies, the future, and you

-         One Earth, one people, one nation, one chance (we are global citizens now under one world government, no more pesky borders, sovereignty, language, nationality, culture)

-         The silenced majority: Stories of uprisings, occupations, resistance, and hope

-         AIDS activism from DC to Durban

If the festival attendance was free of charge, I would love to go for the spectacle component of it. But I refuse to spend $49 for green schools, green kids, and red Marxist environmental green indoctrination sold as two days of fun.

 

 

 

Friday's Radio Chat on Blogtalk Radio, 9-7-12

My hour radio chat with Silvio Canto of Dallas on various topics of the week in our country and EU.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/09/07/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh

Sequestration in Disaster Relief

The upcoming 2013 budgetary fiscal cliff has prompted some in Congress to consider sequestration in disaster relief in order to save money. Sequestration is simply defined as automatic spending cuts.

The Congressional Research Service has published a report, “Stafford Act Declarations 1953-2011: Trends and Analyses, and Implications for Congress.”(Bruce R. Lindsey and Francis X. McCarthy, August 31, 2012)

The Stafford Act gives the president the authority to issue declarations for federal assistance to states and towns in the event of natural and man-made disasters.

Suddenly, there is skepticism that declarations are not issued just to provide disaster relief. Some believe that declarations are political instruments before and during election years. There is also heightened worry about the spending associated with such disasters. In 2011 99 major disasters were declared, with an average of 56 per year since 2000. Between 1953 and 2011 the average was 35 per year.

Under the Stafford Act grants can be given for fire management, emergencies, and major disasters. In the case of disaster declarations, floods, storms, hurricanes, and winter storms are included. According to CRS," most emergency declarations are for snow related events, followed by hurricanes, droughts, and fires.

A group in Congress wants to shift some financial responsibility to the states while another group argues that limiting federal help would impede speedy recovery.

FEMA, upon request from a governor, makes a damage report and a recommendation to the president if a declaration is needed. The president can approve or deny any request.

Congressmen are worried about the federal cost. 75% is paid by the federal government and 25% by the state and local governments. Congressmen are interested in" offsetting some portion of disaster assistance spending by implementing budgetary mechanisms that might trigger a sequestration." (CRS, p. 1)

Some contend that disaster relief is given to" marginal incidents" and that the federal government is too generous in its interpretation criteria of disaster or emergency. Because the federal government is so “open in describing factors considered for declarations has led a formerly discretionary program evolving into a form of entitlement.”

A governor cannot request a declaration unless the state is overwhelmed by a disaster. If the governor’s request is denied federal assistance, it is called a" turndown." The first disaster declaration was issued by President Eisenhower on May 2, 1953, for damages caused by a tornado in Georgia.

The qualification formula for a fire threshold for any state is the greater of $100,000 or 5% multiplied by $1.30, multiplied by the state population. Cumulative fire cost threshold is $500,000 or 3x5% x $1.3, multiplied by the state population.

CRS reported that16 states qualified for the minimum $100,000 while California has a minimum for a single fire of over $2.2 million. (FEMA, Fire Management Assistance Grant, September 2011, p. 24)

According to CRS analysis based on data provided by FEMA, Texas has received the most fire management grants (234), California (120), Oklahoma (78), Florida (57), and Washington (53). (CRS, p. 4)

The state of New York has benefitted from the most emergency declarations (18), Maine and Massachusetts (14 each), and New Hampshire and Texas (11). Emergency declarations are for winter storms, hurricanes, and drought." FEMA does not use specific categories to classify disaster types." (CRS, p. 8)

Major disasters beneficiaries can be state and local governments and nonprofit organizations. Grants are given to repair and/or restore public infrastructure such as roads and buildings, for temporary housing, unemployment assistance, crisis counseling, recovery programs, such as disaster loans for a specific community.

"The states that have received the most major disaster declarations are Texas (86), California (78), Oklahoma (69), New York (65), and Florida (63). (CRS, p. 10)

Presidential denials for major disaster declarations have averaged almost 11 per year during the last decade. (CRS, p. 9)

Increases in disastrous weather events and changes in federal policies may explain the perceived increase in major disaster declarations. It may appear that more weather events occur, when in reality we have better tracking technology. To validate this hypothesis, a well-researched link between historical weather patterns and major disaster declarations should be established.

Recovering from a disaster is much more expensive due to increased population size and increased standard of living. In the period1953-2011 the US population has doubled in size. Population density pushed habitation into areas previously uninhabited which may have been affected by severe weather previously but nobody recorded it or needed help. (CRS, p. 12)

Some members of Congress complained that political motivations are reflected in the number of disaster declarations. Around the clock news bias the president to issue increased disaster declarations in the year prior and during an election. Public scrutiny may have major consequences on how the president handles a disaster. He may appear uncaring if he does not intervene.

Policy changes include federal legislation and various FEMA declaration policies. Because states are cash strapped, they may be eager to apply for disaster aid. The $1 per capita formula for preliminary assessment had been used by FEMA since 1986. The number was changed in 1999, adjusting for inflation. The Inspector General said, in the 13 years, adjusting for inflation would have resulted in 36% fewer disaster claims, saving federal government money. (CRS, p. 23)

The Disaster Recovery Act of 2011, if passed, would amend the Stafford Act and authorize the president to declare a catastrophic incident if a panel of experts would determine that federal assistance is needed. An expert panel may:

 

      -          Make more objective decisions
      -          Slow down the process
      -          Infringe on the President’s authority

The President may still declare a disaster in spite of the panel’s recommendations. (CRS, p. 25) Could this panel become another Obamacare style recovery death-panel if their expert opinion becomes politicized?

Suggestions have been made to offer low interest recovery loans. In such a case a state could resolve a disaster without federal assistance.

-          By repealing section 320 of the Stafford Act, states would have to meet certain levels to qualify for assistance.

-          Section 404 of the Stafford Act gives the President the power to contribute 75% of the cost of a disaster. Section 404 could be amended to give only 50% if a state does not meet certain “mitigation standards.” Would that not dictate to states how they should govern?

Several other amendments to the Stafford Act have been suggested in order to limit the number of declarations issued or the amount of help provided to the states by the federal government:

-          no administrative adjustment of the cost-share

      -          no federal assistance to states without programs such as housing assistance
      -          discontinue all assistance for snow removal.

The federal government wants to pay less and less for the increased declarations of natural disasters. It appears less willing to help American disaster victims while it is more willing to help disaster victims and causes in other parts of the world. Lindsey and McCarthy state,” it is unclear whether the fiscal responsibility for victims in time of need resides primarily with the federal or the state government.” No matter how much taxes we pay to the state or the federal government, we are ultimately on our own.

Historical Paradise in Virginia

Virginia is a paradise of history and gardens. Lush forests and gardens worthy of the Garden of Eden are found in every direction. Even the congested northern part of Virginia, so close to Washington, D.C., is covered in natural parks and dense woods populated by critters and vermin.

I often wondered how liberals have captured the most beautiful places in the country and turned them into bastions of progressivism. There is little trace of the former America-loving glory, save for the historical sites that draw thousands of conservative visitors who come to pay their respects to the forefathers who established America, fought for its existence and its freedom, making it an exceptional place for two and half centuries.

My brief journey started on the first highway going south. As the congested and metropolitan northern part of Virginia faded into my rear-view mirror, the landscape became hillier and rural. Corn, soy beans, and dairy producing farms dotted the countryside, mixed with the occasional gentrified, multi-million dollar, well-manicured horse farms with mansions on the hill. Acres and acres of land with expertly mowed grass and few horses in sight were surrounded by white picket fences. No actual agricultural activity was visible, nothing to spoil the picturesque view, worthy of a town and country magazine cover. These were the “penny loafer” farmers who use and rent horses for exercise and pleasure. Closer to Charlottesville, beautiful vineyards with grapes ripening on the vines, advertised wine tours.

South of Fredericksburg, I encountered the first historical sign commemorating the Campaign of 1781 of the Revolutionary War. The Marquise de Lafayette marched through the Wilderness Run to meet with Brigadier General “Mad Anthony” Wayne. They camped south of Wilderness Bridge on June 3, 1781 not far from Ellwood. He reconnoitered the area the next day before marching south, across the Rapidan river. During his Grand American Tour, Lafayette retraced his campaign and visited the Wilderness twice. In November 1824 Lafayette attended a reception at the Wilderness Tavern and in August 1825 had breakfast in Ellwood. 

From highway 3 turning left to VA 20 south, dubbed the Constitution Highway, several markers and historical places from the Civil War stood out: the Wilderness Battlefield in Orange County and Chancellorsville Battlefield. Tall grasses and weeds slowed my steps across the field.

In spite of the thick woods that offered good cover, Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was wounded on May 2, 1863 by three musket balls that destroyed his left arm. Treated at a field hospital at Wilderness Tavern, five miles back, the general did not fare too well. Doctors had to amputate his arm the next day. Transported 26 miles to Guinea station, Gen. Stonewall Jackson never made it to the train to Richmond. He died of pneumonia on May 10, 1863 on a plantation. He is buried in Lexington, VA. As General Robert E. Lee said, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm.” A granite marker on the Ellwood plantation memorializes simply, “Arm of Stonewall Jackson, May 3, 1863.” A boulder and a granite column remind visitors of the Chancellorsville Battlefield where Stonewall was wounded. Another marker was erected near the building where he had died. Although bugs are biting me viciously, I walk gingerly on the hallow ground soaked with the blood of many soldiers. There is no rain that can ever wash away their ultimate sacrifice.

Half a mile west of Roger’s Farm on Middle Hill, Gen. Robert E. Lee kept his headquarters from Dec. 1863-May 1864. His army guarded the south side of the Rapidan River. In Culpeper County, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Major Gen. Gorge G. Mead trained the Army of the Potomac for Spring Camp. I tried to picture the encampment, the tents, and their daily lives.

Luisa County formed in 1742 and named for the Queen of Denmark was residence to Patrick Henry for several years. The cavalry battle of Trevilians was fought in this county in 1864.

In a thick corn field, a sign reminds travelers who care to stop, of Maury’s School, a classical school led by Rev. Maury, rector of Fredericksville Parish from 1754-1769. Thomas Jefferson was one his students. Maury’s grandson was Matthew Fontaine Maury, “The Pathfinder of the Seas.”  

Matthew Fontaine Maury devised a system of recording data from naval vessels and merchant marine ships which was adopted worldwide. He published in 1855 the first textbook of modern oceanography in 1855, The Physical Geography of the Sea.

Close to a rural airport there was a sign indicating the location of the Bloomsbury estate of the pioneer James Taylor, ancestor of Presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor. James Taylor was a member of Spotswood’s Expedition over the mountains in 1716.

General Sumter, born in this region on August 4, 1734, was a member of the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War, and served as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army (1776-1778) during the Revolutionary War. He was associated with the Civil War because Fort Sumter was named after him. As a Brigadier General, he helped defeat the British in the Carolinas. He served as a Congressman and as Senator.

A stately road flanked by very old trees leads to Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of James Monroe, fifth president of the United States. James Monroe and his wife Elizabeth purchased in 1793 1,000 acres adjoining Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. The plantation was called Highland and eventually grew to 3,500 acres. Highland was the main residence for James Monroe and his family from 1799-1823; it was enlarged and renamed Ash Lawn-Highland by subsequent owners. The estate is now owned by Monroe’s alma mater, the College of William and Mary.

A highly accomplished American, James Monroe is best known for the foreign affairs “Monroe doctrine.” He was also Governor of Virginia for four one-year terms, U.S. minister to England, France, Spain, U.S. senator, and secretary of state and war.

Not far from Monticello, the residence of Thomas Jefferson, our third president, is the Montpelier estate of James Madison, our fourth president, and his wife Dolley. President Madison and his wife were frequent visitors at the Monticello plantation. Because their home was twenty miles from Monticello, they often spent the night in one bedroom reserved especially for them in the Jefferson’s mansion.

Thomas Jefferson and his beloved Monticello deserve a separate description. On the day I retraced history and his genial imprint on America, a two-hour thunderstorm prevented visitors from reaching the top of the hill. Fear of lightning strikes and insurance policies forbade access to the estate and plantation.

Not far from our capital is another historical wonder, Mount Vernon, the estate of George Washington, our first president, an architectural jewel overlooking the Potomac River. I wrote a column about my visit to Mount Vernon in the spring. (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/45854)

I walk through history often (http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/42829)

It is a source of comfort, happiness, and pride to learn and discover new things about my adopted country, retracing steps of great men and women.

I am an American by choice and I never consider patriotism an inconvenience. I do not take for granted our wonderful nation and the freedom and opportunities that it provided me. I owe a debt of gratitude that I cannot possibly repay to all Americans that came before me. I can try to make America a better place for our children.

I feel blessed and am in absolute awe that in an area of approximately 100 miles from my home, there is so much history of our country. Virginia’s soil was literally soaked with the blood and sweat of so many famous and ordinary Americans who have shaped who we are as a nation.

Smart Meter - The Drone Attached to Your House

Once a week I check with bated breath my conventional meter attached to the side of my house. I want to make sure no smart meter had been installed in my absence and without my permission. I have written to my utility company that I do not wish to have a smart meter installed, I mailed the letter return receipt requested to make sure that they cannot claim non-receipt. I called the utility office and again, voiced my desire to keep my conventional meter. I received a form letter, telling me that there are no plans yet, smart meters are safe, and there is no opt out, please check the website, etc. I posted a large sign by my conventional meter that they do not have my permission to install a smart meter. When the meter is read, the sign disappears or I find it in the grass. I gave up replacing it. I seem to fight the monopolistic goliath who is the only provider of power.

More and more people who had been harmed by electromagnetic pulses are taking action against their utility company across the nation. Texans Against Smart Meters are considering a class action lawsuit in reference to Fourth Amendment rights violation and health issues commenced or exacerbated by the installation of the Advance Metering System, better known as smart meters.

Smart meter removal from one’s home is not enough. Within a five square mile area there is a collecting point of information from all meters and a transmitter receives information from all the collecting points within 125 miles of its location. This transmitter sends all the collected data to a master location, the “mother ship” where everyone’s information is stored, analyzed, and sold to a third party who is interested in the household’s pattern of usage, consumption of electricity, or possibly “illegal” activity in that home.

During peak usage, the utility company can turn off the power, adjust the thermostat from afar, or turn off entire grid in an “emergency” such as the catastrophic failure of power during the 2012 D.C/Maryland/Virginia straight line winds.

Cyber-attacks and solar flares can also take down an entire section of the smart grid with its smart meters. A person, who wishes to know when the homeowner is at work or on vacation in order to rob the place, can steal the streaming data from the smart meter (which pulses information several times a minute) by standing outside the home with a handheld device.

I have listed issues and negative health effects from smart meters in my previous articles. Links to four of my columns are found at the end of this article.  

Louis Donovan of Carson, CA talks about his heart and pacemaker disruptions from electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted by his smart meter which stopped his heart 4 times. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRDhogkdxW4&list=UUklG6ilxW_PeYeDSpKSRGZQ)

Abstracts of articles describe the link of low-level microwave radiation and other frequency ranges of radiation exposure to the development of tumors, to DNA (genotoxicity), to production of stress proteins, to heart disturbances, to general brain effects, to blood brain barrier and nerve effects, to immune reactions, and to general functional impairment.  (http://articlesofhealth.blogspot.ca/2012/01/adverse-health-effects-from.html)

De-Kun Li, senior researcher at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA, has shown that EMF exposure in the womb is linked to increased risk in childhood obesity.  (http://microwavenews.com/news-center/emf-exposures-womb-can-lead-childhood-obesity)

In Hawaii, an electrical contractor in Kauai “recorded a smart meter pulse at a business with emissions more than 1300% than KIUC’s claim.” Josh de Sol said, “emissions over a 24 hour period, amount to 3.2 hours of exposure to modulated microwave frequency radiation at over 2 milliwatts per square meter which is 240 times greater than what the utility company claims.” (http://stopkiuc.com/2012/06/actual-smart-meter-microwave-exposure-video-taped-kapaa-kauai/)

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled on July 12, 2012 that Maine Public Utilities Commission has failed to resolve health and safety issues resulting from the installation of smart meters by Central Maine Power Co. According to Josh Del Sol, opponents to smart meters “argued that utility regulators ignored their legal mandate to ensure the delivery of safe and reasonable utility services.” Sadly, the $200 million project, which replaced 615,000 analog meters with smart meters, is complete. Federal stimulus money provided half the cost. The court’s decision appears ineffectual since the smart meters are already installed.

(http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/Law-Court-sides-with-smart-meter-health-issues.html)

Josh Del Sol, producer and director of the movie, Take Back Your Power, writes that “PECO suspended installations of smart meters after local fire officials in Philadelphia attributed them to the cause of several recent home fires.”  (http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/peco-energy-suspends-installations-of-smart-meters/article_77a2f97c-2e21-590a-b9bb-5468b487b008.html)

To make matters worse, it was discovered that smart meters lack UL and CSA approval and safety testing. “UL has developed a standardized set of safety requirements for utility meters, including smart meters. Even though there are standards, and UL says utilities need to ensure testing, no utility to date (that we know of) has been able to provide evidence of any UL or CSA certification, or accredited safety testing.” (Josh del Sol)

UL, according to their website, is a global independent safety science company offering expertise across five areas: product safety, environment, life and health, verification services, and knowledge services.

CSA is a global provider of product testing and certification services for US, Canada and countries worldwide for many products and components.

People should be gravely concerned that utilities have installed and are installing at a rapid pace the untested, unapproved device called smart meter which controls all electrical usage, causes fires, and serious health effects. On my recent trip to Europe, I photographed banks of smart meters everywhere, installed with European Union funds.

Josh del Sol described the interview with John Horgan, New Democrat Party Energy Critic in British Columbia. Del Sol asked him why British Columbia Hydro is installing unapproved devices. His answer was, “I don’t know… I don’t know. It’s mind-numbing, isn’t it?”

We do know why utilities are installing smart meters in the U.S. – it is a convenient way to control our energy use and thus our independence by using the ruse of convenience, modernization, cheaper energy, expedience, and better service. Nothing can be further from the truth. Smart meters are convenient ways to spy on the populace, charge them more per kilowatt hour of consumption, reduce consumption by cutting power delivery, control the population and its health, reduce costs for utilities who no longer have to worry about storage capacity and building additional storage plants which are expensive, reducing costs of wire maintenance under and above ground, and eliminating meter readers for conventional meters.

Additional links to earlier articles:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44757 Smart Meter Big Brother of Our Day
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43248 Smart Meter Battle in Nevada
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/41988 Smart Meters Removal Has Begun
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/40922 Smart Meters and Your Health