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
My view of the world through personal experience, 30 years of teaching Economics and Foreign Languages, travel in Europe and North America, research, and living 20 years under communism.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
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
http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/16928.mp3
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
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 20th 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.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
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
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/09/14/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh
Thursday, September 13, 2012
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
http://host1.cyberears.com//17399.mp3
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
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:
-
Ford Community
Green Grant
(http://www.greenfestivals.org/national/ford-community-green-grant-2012-nyc-chicago)
-
Ford Motors.
“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.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
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
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.
-
Make
more objective decisions
- Slow down the process
- Infringe on the President’s authority
- discontinue all assistance for snow removal.
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:
- 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.
Friday, September 7, 2012
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 Dayhttp://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