Day One of CPAC 2013

As novice to the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) media pool, I was excited to attend. As we approached the venue in Maryland, the Gaylord hotel, the multitude of buses were discharging throngs of young people dressed in their best, happy and excited to be there. Security was tight everywhere and nobody could sneak in without a pass.

I was pleasantly surprised that the majority of attendees were young people under the age of 30. The theme was a perfect fit: “America’s Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives.”

In the Potomac Ballroom, the American Conservative Union chairman, Al Cardenas, introduced the first speaker of note, the Virginia Attorney General, the Honorable Ken Cuccinelli. Running for Governor of Virginia, Cuccinelli emphasized his pride of our American exceptionalism, of the sacrifices made by many Americans who have built the greatest nation in the “history of the world,” a nation in which “hard work is rewarded and success is a good thing.” We are a nation that “defends our freedoms and our God-given rights.” Our history must be shared aggressively and articulately with our fellow Americans because we have a duty to preserve our Constitutional Republic.

The Honorable Allen West, former U.S. Representative and 22-year Army veteran, LTC Allen West took the podium under thunderous applause. He recognized all the veterans in the house, the defenders of our freedom. As conservatives, we must not change our message to fit the times, it is “malarkey,” he said. “A bended knee never was and shall never be a conservative tradition.”

The power that binds poor and rich alike is the power of compassion, freedom, and the opportunity of poor and rich alike to grow. Nobody believes that America, with its opportunity to succeed for all, was built by rich men “dipping their hands in the pockets of the poor.” We believe in humility, independence, “the magnificence of freedom,” compassion, integrity, and “are bound together under God.” We have a Constitution that was written “to control and regulate the government, not the people.”

We should not ask what “freebies” our country can give to us but what we can do for our country. LTC West uses California as an example of depression, from which citizens flee to escape confiscatory taxation that enslaves them to the state.  We were told that “Compassion comes not from generosity but from compliance.” “We are tired of these insufferable lessons from progressivism – compassion comes from a choice, not the liberal definition of choice.”

“We are tired of liberals dividing this country into little groups,” setting them up at odds with the majority, and “accusing conservatives of hate.” Conservatives give more to charity than liberals although their paychecks may be smaller. Conservatives volunteer their time to churches, hospitals, organizations, and other groups, while liberals whine about their “fair share.”

“I am a conservative because I believe in peace, real peace, and not peace of mind. I am a conservative because I believe and understand that real peace comes from the Marine Corps not the Peace Corps.”

We are a nation of builders that needs future conservative leaders to pick up the torch of freedom and carry it with pride. “Freedom comes from God, not the White House.” “We will persevere” but we must understand what our duties and responsibilities are to our country. Endless entitlements cannot continue if our country is to survive economically. We want America to shine and be the shining city on the hill. “Deeds not words will paint this country grand.”

LTC West speech was interrupted by thunderous applause and ended in a standing ovation.

Between movie screenings, book signings, media interviews, special invitation receptions, and smaller groups breakout sessions, a panel of experts composed of Dr. Whit Ayers, Dan Garza, Helen Krieble, Jenny Korn, the Honorable Raul Labrador, and the moderator Helen Aguirre Ferre, discussed immigration issues based on the theme, “Respecting Families and the Rule of Law: A Lasting Immigration Policy.”

Smaller group discussions included military voting, challenges and solutions, business in America, small business: the economic engine of America, expanding the conservative movement with the Hispanic community, saving America from Congress with a federal balanced budget amendment.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, Honorable John Hannah, Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute, Honorable Buck McKeon, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Honorable Otto Reich, Otto Reich Associates, LLC, and moderator Cliff May, President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies discussed “Iran and the Islamist Threat to America and the West: What is – What Should Be – Our Strategy.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, Honorable Roger Noriega, Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Joel Pollak, Editor-in-Chief, Breitbart.com, John Solomon, Editor, Washington Guardian, and moderator Honorable Ernest Istook, Distinguished Fellow, the Heritage Foundation, discussed “Benghazi and Its Aftermath: U.S. Middle East and Southwest Asia Policy.”

Moderator Alexander Skouras, former Washington State Director of Ron Paul 2012 led a panel discussion of Derk Jan Eppink, member of European Parliament, His Excellency Vytautas Landsbergis, member of the European Parliament, Iain Murray, Vice President of Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Honorable Mike Pompeo, U.S. Representative, Honorable Tom Price, U.S. Representative on “Lessons They Have Learned and We Haven’t: The Europeanization of America.”

Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch led a discussion on “Are We Back on the Road to Serfdom.”

Interesting discussion panel by Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, Ben Shapiro, Editor-at-Large of Breitbart News Network, Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and moderator Cleta Mitchell, Partner at Foley and Lardner on the topic “Stop THIS: Threats, Harassment, Intimidation, Slander & Bullying from the Obama Administration.”

Dr. Michael Farris, Chancellor of Patrick Henry College presided over an interesting discussion on the topic of “The United Nations vs. the United States: The End Run Around the American Way of Life.”

Senator Marco Rubio took the stage early in the afternoon. He energized the packed room of young attendees. His speech recounted the events of three years ago when he had as much chance of winning the Senate seat as a “papal conclave.” He talked about the global economy which impacts our hard working people. He criticized the banking crisis, the bubble that burst and left people who paid their mortgages on time holding the bag.

Sen. Rubio described how Washington creates every week some man-made crisis that keeps the population in turmoil. Who is fighting for free enterprise and the hard-working middle class? They are what made this country great. Few countries in the world have the large middle class that we do. Limited government and constitutional principles should be our guiding light.

“Just because I believe that states should have the right to define traditional marriage, does not make me a bigot.” Rubio believes that “life, all life, all human life is worthy of protection at every stage of its development.”  Closed-minded people “love to preach about the certainty of science in regards to our climate, but ignore the absolute fact that science has proven that life begins at conception.” 

Sen. Rubio continued that the government has the responsibility to create jobs, a real growth energy policy, a monetary policy that does not distort our economy, a tax structure that does not take from producers and give to takers, and to solve our $16 trillion national debt which hurts job creation.

Government should allow “citizens to help themselves” and every parent should have the option to send their children to the school of their choice. Career education is important, not everyone should go to a four-year liberal arts college.

The breakdown of the American family should not be underestimated. Government should not be surrogate parent to every child born out-of-wedlock. Communities, churches, and voluntary organization can help save our families.

“The cost of living is real” and so is the next bubble to burst, college loan debt. That is why we need a healthcare reform. But not a healthcare reform that injects the federal government in a takeover of the world’s highest quality health care industry.” Sen. Rubio wants Americans to be “empowered to purchase healthcare from any company in America that is willing to sell it to them.”

Sen. Rubio talks about a family who struggles economically and why they may believe that their only salvation is the promised Democrat cradle to grave welfare. “They are not free loaders, they are not liberals.” They are a family who needs help to better themselves educationally and professionally in order to be able to better themselves economically without the expectation of government welfare.

The “China dream” is the goal to race to become the champion of the world. China is going to supplant us in this century. Some Americans may be agreeable to our demise from the top because “We are tired of solving the world’s problems.”

The Chinese government uses forced labor, forced abortions, forbids access to the Internet, keeps prisoners without any rights, tortures people, coerces them, forbid them to assemble, and forcibly returns people who flee. If they do this to their own people, what would they do to the rest of the world if they become number one?

In spite of our problems, millions of people around the world are still inspired by America, by its freedom; “they may hate us, but they sure want to be us.” Rubio received a long ovation from the standing room only crowd.

Rand Paul took the podium next and delivered a stellar speech. Since he was allowed only ten minutes to the podium, Senator Paul joked that he prepared 13 hours-worth of material to the delight of the roaring audience. He explained why he filibustered the President’s pick for Defense Secretary – giving $250 million to Egypt in foreign aid, a country whose mobs attacked our Embassy, burn American flags while chanting “death to America,” while closing the oh, so expensive White House tours to school children, the cost of which is less than the cost of one White House dinner honoring the President of Mexico.

He had a message for the President, “No one person gets to decide the law, no one person gets to decide your guilt or innocence.”  Referring to the killing of Americans on American soil with drones, Senator Paul asked the question, “Does the President’s power have limits?” Quoting Lincoln, Sen. Paul recounted that respect for civil liberties is supreme. Having good intentions to respect them, or saying that he will respect them, is not enough. “If you want to test a man, give him power.” We want to know, Mr. President, will you or won’t you respect the Constitution?”

Sen. Paul explained that his filibuster was more than just about drones; it was about the Bill of Rights, about the Constitution and about our right to defend it. If our God-given rights are denied, freedom shrinks. “Our Bill of Rights defines us; it is what makes us exceptional.” Our soldiers who have sacrificed to protect our Bill of Rights want to know that their sacrifice was not in vain. http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2013/03/14/rand-paul-at-cpac-this-government-is-totally-out-of-control-n1534538

The right to bear arms (the 2^nd Amendment), means nothing if Americans are not secure in their homes and papers (the 4^th Amendment). We must “jealously guard all our liberties.”

Appealing to the Facebook Generation, Sen. Paul criticized the wasteful solar panel industry loans and crony capitalism, the Wall Street bailouts, and other bailout schemes. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Sen. Paul offered examples of his proposed five year budget, eliminating the Department of Education and giving money back to the states, cutting corporate income tax in half, a 17 percent flat income tax, and cutting regulations that strangle American businesses. The only stimulus is leaving more money in the hands of those who earned it, using the Constitution as our guide. “We are the party of jobs and opportunity, the ticket to the middle class.” The GOP of old “has grown stale and moss covered.” The new GOP must have a “broad message.”

The Tea Party, citizen action groups, the media, the legacy of Andrew Breitbart, the NRA, the Heartland Institute, Newsmax, two presidential dinners, receptions, and other events concluded the first day’s activities.

 

Education Gone Berserk

During my 30 years of teaching, I have experienced plenty of irrational teaching methods and behaviors coming from liberal teachers and administrators bent on controlling every move that students or faculty members made.

Every year administrators added extra pages to the official code of conduct. These were deliberate steps to restrict freedom and to punish real or potential bad behaviors. Needless to say, lawyers were busy defending ridiculous claims and actions that a person with common sense would have known to avoid or ignore. But liberals like to micromanage everything and everybody.

It was refreshing to see that a judge had the common sense to throw out Mayor Bloomberg’s ridiculous ban on large sodas. For every victory for common sense, more irrational progressive cases emerge.

A grade school in Michigan banned plastic soldiers decorating cupcakes. A seven year old was punished for biting his pop tart in the shape of a gun. I suppose there will be a ban on wooden toy guns next. Boys will no longer be able to play Cowboys and Indians. On second thought, the game may have been outlawed already as racist and insulting to Indians.

But it’s perfectly fine to mock the Bible by replaying the Genesis with “Adam and Steve” in South Hadley, Massachusetts at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School (PVPA), “A public school dedicated to academic and artistic excellence," grades 7-12. http://www.pvpa.org/

As Caitlin Canty was quoted, “It’d be good for business, why not; maybe they’ll have a full audience. I really don’t see why it could be a problem and who would be offended. I’m surprised around here too, such a strong pretty liberal leaning community.”

The play, touted as a comedy, “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,” is insulting to millions of Christians who do not like their religion disrespected.  It is a hateful school play mocking the Bible and Christianity with blatant homosexual themes. http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/High-school-preforms-controversial-play

Why can’t schools provide reading, writing, and mathematics instead of engaging in propaganda and pandering to various liberal agendas? It is shameful to use children as pawns to destroy the fabric of our society and its traditions.

There are so many examples of micromanaging and driving progressive agendas in schools.

-         Hugging and hand holding are banned in some schools.

-         Teachers are banned to grade papers with red ink because it stigmatizes those who do not study for tests. Red is too “confrontational” in some countries.

-         Dodge ball is too dangerous and aggressive.

-         Backpacks are apparently not safe in some Michigan classrooms.

-         Bake sales are too dangerous, the sweets may have been baked in unsanitary conditions and have no nutritional value.

-         Best friends make others feel uncomfortable and excluded.

-         Milk will be pushed out as “high in sugar, high in fat, high in protein, harmful to bone health,” if a vegan and physician group has its way.

-         Words like dinosaur, poverty, birthdays, Halloween, dancing, will be phased out because they “might elicit unpleasant emotions” in some children.

-         Competitive games during recess and winning stir emotions of worthlessness in students and should be banned.

-         Balls are banned in some schools because they may cause concussions when students fall.

-         Anything having to do with Christmas is already banned in many schools. We now have the holiday tree. We do not want to offend people of other religions who complain vociferously with the help of very deep-pocketed lobbies. I wonder why they did not stay in their countries if American traditions are so offensive. Why migrate to this country and expect the hosts to change their way of life in order to suit the guests’ traditions?

According to the Portland Tribune, one principal in Portland argued that a sandwich has “broader implications about race.” In a lesson plan last year, Verenice Gutierrez from Harvey Scott K-8 school explained that “the word sandwich is a subtle form of racism in language.” A peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be racist and socially unjust.

“What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” Gutierrez said, according to the Tribune. “Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?’ Let them tell you. Maybe they eat torta. Or pita.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/is-peanut-butter-and-jelly-racist_n_1874905.html

It is absurd to consider a sandwich racist but schools across the nation are training teachers to indoctrinate students into “white privilege” social injustice, using racially-charged educational initiatives. Are the rest of us racists for disagreeing with progressives? It is shameful for any teacher to use propaganda methods to teach our children reverse racism.

Pacific Educational Group developed the “Courageous Conversations” program adopted in Portland to help minority students through initiatives that address educational disparities “intentionally, explicitly, and comprehensively,” through a “culturally proficient curriculum.” http://www.pacificeducationalgroup.com/pages/about

During my teaching career I have never encountered or used a “culturally proficient curriculum.” Based on evidence, I can assume the “culturally proficient curriculum” to be based on the failed multi-culturalism of Western Europe. Apparently there is a national association of multicultural education. A quick search revealed one such class in which teachers were told to “make a list of cultural groups in their classroom or school to include gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, exceptionalities, language, country of origin, and many more.” I can only imagine the caliber of instruction in mathematics and science, based on someone’s sexual orientation, gender, religion, and ethnicity.

How about teaching students how to think logically, how to read and write well, teach them grammar, how to spell, how to do math and percentages without the help of a calculator?

Proficiency in education should be based on a curriculum that emphasizes American exceptionalism, non-revisionist history, personal merit, performance, interest, and achievement. Howard Gardner of Harvard wrote his theory of “multiple intelligences” (visual, spatial, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, linguistic, naturalistic, musical, logical-mathematical) as a guide to help learners understand how to use their dominant method of learning to their advantage because we are all born with strengths and weaknesses.

There is no race or “racial disparities” in education except those manufactured by educators with an agenda. We have left racial strife behind long time ago; there is no need to revisit it because everybody in America has the opportunity to excel and succeed if they have a burning desire to learn and are willing to work hard.

It is not surprising that more and more parents turn to home-schooling and private schools of their choice. As Rand Paul said in a recent speech, the federal government could save a lot of money ($70 billion a year) by closing the Department of Education and returning education spending and decisions to the states. (Rand Paul, CPAC speech, March 13, 2013)

"Let's Exercise, So We Can Die Healthy"

When the university adopted a wellness program seven years ago, Maribel rallied the faculty with a humorous phrase that always brought laughter and smiles, even on the gloomiest days, “Let’s exercise, so we can die healthy.” Like a bundle of pent-up energy, Maribel walked really fast. I could barely keep up with her on our walks around the campus between classes. In spite of my pain, she always managed to make me laugh.

My colleague and friend of ten years loved making people happy with her cooking, a “joie de vivre.” With a master’s degree in Food Science, she knew the precise art of making cheese. As a teenager, she attended school in France with her mom, learned to speak French fluently, and studied the many varieties of French cheese. She never dreamed that someday she would teach French and Spanish to gifted students instead.

A native Venezuelan, Maribel prepared her famous paella for outdoor parties around the campus gazebo. There was always an excuse for another fiesta or a celebration that necessitated a party, cooking for a large crowd, and Maribel’s talent of bringing everybody together on a short notice and on a tight budget. The introduction of a new faculty member was a party with Maribel’s ham as the center piece, cooked slowly with Bourbon.

Maribel loved life and her students. She taught them to pursue their dreams, never give up, and to enjoy life to its fullest. A mentor and motivator, Maribel would give time, money, clothes, and advice to students who were less fortunate and had a strained family life. She made them comfortable enough that they confessed their problems and she offered solutions.

Speeding in her old white Toyota like a woman with a divine purpose and a ticket plastered to her windshield, Maribel would always arrive a few minutes late but always left long after all the faculty had cleared out, talking to students in hushed, soothing tones, probing to see how she could help them. In Venezuela, she used to say, you were not on time unless you were fifteen minutes late.

In her first teaching year, Maribel put up a beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby, without consulting the powers that be. After a letter of reprimand was put in her file and a verbal dress down, she happily continued to add decorations and secret Santa gifts under the tree, helped by students of various religions who enjoyed the Christmas tree as much as she did.

Every year, Maribel voluntarily raised thousands of dollars to help students have a memorable prom. She gave endless hours of her time in preparation for the fundraiser, the planning, and the execution.

The mother of three children and a devoted wife, Maribel found time to be a substitute mom to other people’s children who were not as lucky as hers. Her genuine care put students at ease and gave them comfort.

Always in pursuit of excellence, Maribel set out to become a nationally certified Spanish teacher. She did not give up after failing twice. On the first attempt, after building a year-long portfolio, she flew to San Antonio to deliver the project in person because she would have missed the deadline otherwise. She succeeded on the third try. Sadly, she did not get to earn much of the merit pay that came with the national certification.

Although a picture of health and seldom sick, Maribel was stricken by a rare form of cancer. She passed away last year in her beloved Venezuela, in the prime of her life, surrounded by friends and family, and mourned by hundreds of former students.

As her March 14 birthday approaches, I found a favorite picture that captures perfectly her wonderful spirit, her contagious smile, and her zest for life. Maribel’s generosity, love of children, of dancing, teaching, and cooking has touched so many along the way.

Because Maribel had never met a stranger, I imagine my friend with beautiful curly tresses and a sunny face, rolling up her sleeves and teaching angels in Heaven how to properly plan a fiesta and cook arepas.

 

Butler on Business, WAFS 1190, 3-6-13, Atlanta's Premier Station

Butler on Business, WAFS 1190
My weekly ten minute commentary on topics of my choice. March 6, 2013 topic: American work ethic v. socialist work ethic. Some discussion on Agenda 21. I come on at the 32 minute mark.
http://host1.cyberears.com//18712.mp3

Week in Review with Silvio Canto, National Blogtalk Radio

Radio chat with Silvio Canto Jr., National Blogtalk Radio, March 8, 2013
Topics: This day in history, economy, unemployment, EU, and some of my articles at Canada Free Press, status of my book, U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Policy
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2013/03/08/the-us-economy-in-review-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh

Green Scam, I Am

More and more liberal MSM outlets and environmental groups with deep bank accounts and lavish support from Hollywood celebrities are expanding their propaganda and indoctrination of GREEN to the low information Americans who only hear sound bites delivered with such assurance and expensively made videos that the information seems true. But I see the scam of GREEN, the Green Growth of wealth being redistributed by Uncle Sam, with the help of environmentalists with an agenda that coincides with U.N.’s Agenda 21.

USA Today dedicated on March 1, 2013 a special report and a video to the indoctrination of the masses that had little basis in fact. It enumerated how climate change is responsible for a host of problems in America: “More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes. Food and utility prices are rising. Flooding is overrunning bridges, swamping subways and closing airport runways.  People are losing jobs in drought-related factory closings. Cataclysmic storms are wiping out sprawling neighborhoods. Towns are sinking.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/28/climate-change-remaking-america/1917169/

My question is, if this is true, and flooding will swallow beaches, islands, and any state with an opening to the sea, why do Hollywood celebrities and political elites build lavish homes on the water front, beaches, and tropical islands? If it is not sustainable for us to use fossil fuels, build where we want, and emit CO2, why is it sustainable for them to live in a McMansion, fly in personal jets, own numerous cars, and leave behind a huge carbon foot print? Why not ride bikes, five minutes from home and work like the rest of us are supposed to do?

Do sound principles of Economics explain that the price of food, utilities, and the unemployment rate are caused by global warming? One only needs an elementary knowledge of economics to know that such statements are false. Where do current government regulatory, monetary, and fiscal policies come into place as a cause of the above ills?

The fear mongering does not stop there. The glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park are going to melt, the sea levels are rising and the oceans are becoming more acidified. Climate change, heat waves, downpours, drought, wildfires, flooding are the result of burning fossil fuels and are likely to increase. It is so bad that “a remaking of America is likely in our lifetimes – a flicker in geological time. This will transform how and where we live, work, and play.”

I happen to agree that there is a remaking of America in our lifetime, affecting every facet of economic activity, where we live, work, and play, but it is accomplished by U.N. Agenda 21 which has been implemented across the world since 1992. I have discussed this in great detail in my book, “U.N. Agenda 21: Environmental Piracy.” http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3AUN+Agenda+21%3A+Environmental+Piracy&keywords=UN+Agenda+21%3A+Environmental+Piracy&ie=UTF8

The author of the USA Today article, a self-described “reformed luddite,” who built an eco-friendly home in 2011, defines the planet as being affected this year by the highest concentration of “heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions in at least 800,000 years.”

According to real science, not political consensus, the planet has actually cooled in the last 17 years. Climate change does occur all the time and should not be confused with catastrophic weather events which may come in a cyclical pattern. No mention is made of the Little Ice Age which affected Europe from 1350-1850.

Sebastian Luning and Fritz Vahrenhold wrote in The Cold Sun about the impact of sun on the earth’s climate. The Maunder Minimum of 1645-1715, with only 50 sunspots during a 30 year period (normal sunspots 40,000-50,000), coincided with the Little Ice Age. During this period, agricultural production was seriously reduced and the widespread human suffering was painfully evident in the historical records of that time.

The tomes published by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Climate Change Reconsidered, are a strong scientific rebuttal to United Nation’s International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The recorded temperatures in the 1900s do not form an up and down slope that follows the industrial revolution’s spikes in carbon dioxide (CO2). Instead, the temperatures follow the up and down pattern of naturally caused climate cycles. “Temperatures dropped steadily from the late 1940s to the late 1970s.”

From late 1970s to late 1990s, the natural cycle turned warm and the global warming alarmists used it to their advantage. However, “satellite measured global atmospheric temperatures show less warming during this period than the heavily manipulated land surface temperatures.”

How are land surface temperatures manipulated? According to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), every 25-30 years the oceans undergo the natural cycle of colder water from below roils to replace the warmer water at the surface, affecting global temperatures by fractions of a degree. PDO was cold 1940s-1970s and warm 1970s-1990s. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) was similar. (Peter Ferrera)

United Nations’ IPCC made in 2000 the prediction that global temperatures would rise by 1 percent by 2010 which was obviously wrong. Don Easterbrook, Professor Emeritus of Geology at Western Washington University, predicted that temperatures would cool and he was right because he knew PDO had turned cold in 1999.

Peter Ferrera explained that “natural climate cycles have already turned from warming to cooling, global temperatures have already been declining for more than 10 years, and global temperatures will continue to decline for another two decades or more.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/05/31/sorry-global-warming-alarmists-the-earth-is-cooling/

The International Climate Change Conference sponsored by the Heartland Institute held a conference in Chicago, May 21-23, 2012, discussing the economic implications of high cost energy as a result of unnecessary regulatory schemes, carbon taxes, carbon swaps, and the push to replace fossil fuels with renewables. http://climateconferences.heartland.org/iccc7/

Real scientists can explain with irrefutable data what causes weather events and temporary changes in temperature. Political scientists and journalist alarmists who promote climate Armageddon cannot defend in a public debate how humans are the cause of “global warming.” Yet based on their alarmist theory, world governments are expanding regulation and taxation in lock step with the dictates of U.N. Agenda 21.

Thinking Americans are skeptics – we do not believe in the “human-induced climate change” environmentalist consensus. The following examples given in the USA Today article do not constitute irrefutable scientific evidence of global warming:

-         “My windows and doors are rotted away and the village is sinking” (Stanley Tom on flooding risk in Alaska)

-         "My house isn't straight anymore. It's tilted." (Jeff Miskill on repeat flooding in Norfolk, Va)

-         "Who's going to hire me now?" (Barbara Roberts on beef processing plant closing its doors in Texas)

Could it be that floods in coastal cities occur because they are built below sea level like New Orleans? Is it not possible that land is naturally sinking? Could it be that some homes are built on unsteady terrain? Is it not possible that oceanic air currents, cold/hot air mass collisions, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes are contributors to catastrophic weather events? Could it be that solar flares are contributors to unusual high temperatures? Is it not possible that sink holes and sinking in general develop naturally in certain prone areas regardless of human activity?

Dr. Heinz Hug, citing peer reviewed sources said, “IPCC assertion that increased global greenhouse gas water vapor causes global warming is wrong.”

Dr. Kaiser said, “The reality also is that all the models used by the IPCC and their followers make untenable assumptions, contain internal inconsistencies and totally disregard the physical basis necessary.”

Science is exact; it does not work by “consensus” as declared by United Nations or activist environmentalists. “Consensus is a societal or judicial term which has no place in science.”

In the same article, Dr. Klaus Kaiser gives a very good explanation why the tropospheric CO2 causes a net cooling effect on our planet, not a greenhouse “blanket.”

“Look at planet Mars. Its atmosphere contains 950,000 parts per million (ppm) CO2 versus 400 ppm on Earth. Yet, on the side of Mars facing the sun, the temperature is about 30 °C like on Earth, but on the opposite (night) side it is well below MINUS-100 °C (approximately MINUS-200 °F). The thick layer of CO2 on Mars does not at all provide a “warm blanket” on its night side – au contraire – all that CO2 in the Martian atmosphere produces a cooling effect through outward radiation of IR energy its molecules.”

Al Gore’s global warming predictions that the sea levels will rise, flood, and swallow islands and lands opening to the ocean are wrong. Nils-Axel Mörner, sea level expert, has recently criticized main stream media alarmists, including the United Nations IPCC, for claiming that Bangladeshi floods are caused by man-made global warming. Independent scientists have proven that floods in Bangladesh are caused by rain over the Himalayas and cyclones that push water inland. “This has nothing to do with the sea,” said Mörner.

We are transforming our way of life fundamentally, our cities, in the name of “greening” them or “smart-growing” them, at great expense and pain to all, based on environmental lies, scientific misinterpretation of data, faux “consensus,” and U.N. Agenda 21’s schemes to redistribute wealth and to control every facet of life. Would it not be easier if the U.N. and its ardent supporters just came in and confiscated our “ill-gotten wealth” overnight instead of stealthily stealing from us in the name of saving the planet?

No matter how much logical and scientific explanation we bring to shed light on the global warming/climate change hoax, and the deliberate misinformation of our population, coupled with the brainwashing in school into the scam of GREEN, we are losing ground to the powerful progressive media that controls the irrational and hypocritical debate.

 

Socialist Work Ethic

One of the first things that pleasantly surprised me about Americans upon my arrival in 1978 was the strong work ethic, “the belief in work as a moral good.” The Webster’s Dictionary claims that the word “work ethic” was first used in 1951. I was contrasting it with the socialist workers’ paradise work ethic I saw in my twenty years of life under the communist party regime – “we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us.”

Dad used to tell us stories about his young team of misfit apprentices who hid as soon as they arrived at work to continue their morning sleep. Dad had to look for them in new nooks and hideouts every day. It was a challenge and an irritation to get people to work because they could never be fired, no matter how bad they were. The communist party dictated that, in order to keep the masses quiet, everybody had to have a job and a meager salary. In their pursuit of a better hiding place, some hapless greenhorns crawled into dangerous areas with toxic fumes and liquids. Dad worked in a large refinery that had supplied oil to the German Army during World War II under another misguided regime.

The employment card each worker carried only showed a stamp with the place and time of employment – no room for work performance evaluation or any such capitalist “exploitation.”

I was in awe at the long hours Americans worked, their dedication to the work place, productivity, personal responsibility for errors, much better remuneration based on merit, and pride in a job well done. I soon understood why – people could get fired for non-performance and inability to do the job in a timely manner. This is something that socialist countries like France, Italy, and Greece are not allowed to do by law.

Unfortunately, things have changed in the 35 years since I arrived in the United States. Half of the population subscribes to socialist welfare, work ethic long forgotten. Why try so hard to work when welfare, food stamps (EBT cards), disability, out of wedlock babies, and 99 weeks unemployment are so much more lucrative? Let the other 50 percent idiots go to work and earn distributive welfare income for the rest. Government taxation and income redistribution are very generous. All welfare recipients have to do is keep voting Democrat and the bonanza follows.

I am not sure if Americans arrived at this attitude because of our government largesse, with the help of the Democrats who promise more social justice, or because they have followed the lead of the European socialists. Surely they cannot believe that it is morally and socially just to steal from the labor of those who work and give it to those who prefer sloth.

The Greeks, for example, have exercised for years their political options based on self-interest. In codependent complicity with the political class, the welfare class changes their votes to the party that offers most goodies. If statistics are to be believed, 70 percent of the population receives some sort of benefit payment for partial or total handicap.

An old man lamented that “Greeks have forgotten how to work.” Therefore a new mantra emerged, “Politicians pretend to govern and Greeks pretend to protest.” Anarchy stoked from the far right and the far left gains more converts by using the mantra of pretend, nobody puts forth any real effort. Greeks seem to love anarchy because it is so financially profitable.

Tax cheats abound at the local and government levels. People don’t like taxation and some successfully avoid paying taxes. The railroad borrows 700 million euros for daily operations and winds up with a 600 million deficit. The sink hole of the Greek economy is caused by collective duplicity, politicians, society, citizens without a work ethic, unions, business owners, and the European Union who turns a blind eye to all the corruption.

Greece is a good example of the deliberate demise of a country caused by the depreciating work ethic. Greece, once famous for its art, architecture, and military genius, is now infamous for its social, political, and economic bankruptcy.

The French work ethic was at the center of a recent spat between Titan International and the left-wing minister of industry, Arnaud Montebourg. Maurice Taylor, the CEO of Titan, sent a letter on February 8, which was made public in the Parisian press, to Montebourg, in which he told him why Titan had no interest in buying a doomed Goodyear’s Amiens Nord tire factory. “The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three.”

Industry minister Montebourg replied that Taylor’s comments were “extremist and insulting,” particularly since French products are superior. “Mr. Taylor, saying he will pay a euro an hour to Chinese workers to give us crappy products, excuse my language, is unacceptable to our French farmers.”

The chief of the French employers’ union MEDEF, Laurence Parisot, injected his opinion in the debacle; Mr. Taylor’s letter was “unacceptable.” He admitted that there “were some irregularities in the French way of working, but generalizing it to the whole of France was ‘shocking.’”

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. of Amiens Nord faces closure because of disagreements between the union representing 1,250 workers and the management - employees must work more shifts or accept layoffs. http://wtvr.com/2013/02/28/good-year-ceos-letter-about-french-work-ethic-sparks-fury/

The case of Fiat illustrates the work ethic of Italians, at least those in the southern part of Italy. After having “rescued” Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne of Fiat was hoping to convince workers to be more devoted to their jobs, to cut down on bad working habits such as calling in sick while working on another job in order to double their pay, or skip work with a fake doctor’s excuse on the day a favorite soccer team plays a game.

Pormigliano d’Arco is the lowest performing plant of the Fiat Empire – it has operated at 32 percent capacity 2008-2010. The 5,200 employees produce Alpha Romeos. Fiat did not close the plant because it would have destroyed almost 50 percent of the region’s economy and the livelihood of 15,000 families in a very poor area with the highest unemployment in Italy, 20 percent less productivity, and prominent organized crime. “As Fiat goes, so goes Italy,” and Italians like their “humane working life.”

Nello Niglio, a factory worker, was quoted in the New York Times, criticizing Mr. Marchionne’s requirements for longer work hours and less absenteeism. “He wants to impose American-style standards. But too much work is going to kill our workers.” (Liz Alderman, Fiat Pushes Work Ethic at Italian Plant, July 22, 2010)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/business/global/23fiat.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

The socialist workers of Italy, Greece, or France are not giving up their life-long secured employment perks in order to adopt an American work ethic of responsibility, accountability, and decency. God forbid, they may die from overwork. Instead, Americans are adopting by the millions the socialist work ethic.

“A 57-year old well-educated alcoholic receives Social Security, free rent, free utilities, and free healthcare. He refuses to work. As soon as his check comes in, he goes straight to the liquor store.”

“A share-cropper from Georgia, retired from Ford, still works at 77 and has a tremendous work ethic. His son, a strong, healthy young man of 44 only takes odd jobs for cash in the underground economy. He does not want an official paycheck because he has amassed a $75,000 college loan debt which he has no intention of paying back.”

Men with welfare-mom girlfriends are well financed – they wear expensive clothes and drive nice cars. The “bread winner” in the family is often the young woman who keeps getting pregnant and having babies by different men who disappear into society, leaving the taxpayer-supported welfare system to care for their offspring. “This is the Democrat-voting constituency whose entitlement spending the current administration refuses to cut.”

But then we should not call them entitlements, they are welfare, taxpayer-funded handouts. Social Security and Veterans benefits are entitlements because they were “earned and paid for by the recipients” or their immediate families.

I have worked 12- hour days my entire adult life and still do. I have not gotten sick from hard work, on the contrary, there was a sense of pride and accomplishment for a job well done, and I felt good to be able to pay my bills and take care of my family.

My friend David, a scientist and Ph.D., has worked since he was six years old, delivering papers on a five mile long route, crossing the busy Lincoln Highway two times. He also worked at the corner gas station during high school. The quintessential entrepreneur, David started his own lab at age 55 and made it a resounding success through hard work; he still labors 80 hours a week, including some bookkeeping, and has not been sick a day in 45 years. His European friends tell him that he could not start such a business in Europe because of regulations, bureaucracy, and the European mindset. Europeans do not want to work more than eight hours per day, no weekend work, prefer five-week vacations, national holidays off, a thirteenth salary, and other deserved and undeserved perks. Many EU countries have switched to a 30-hour workweek.

American work ethic based on values of hard work and diligence has enhanced the moral character of millions. Americans with a strong work ethic are reliable, entrepreneurial, take initiative, and always pursue new skills and ventures. Traditionally, Americans with a good work ethic have been selected for better positions of responsibility and promoted more often.

In the last decades, however, a degradation of the moral character has resulted in a diminished work ethic. Promotions not based on merit but on ethnic, racial, and gender quotas further exacerbate the problem. The entitlement mentality that is now promoted by the MSM and the government is pervasive in the country, has driven more nails into the work ethic coffin, promoting the European socialism mindset and a dubious work ethic, alien to our American values. Our anemic economic recovery is the result of this mentality.