John’s Blog

     The other evening I was riding with the top down. The outside temperature as shown on the instruments was 74 degrees. It was very comfortable.

   I then felt a slight chill and noticed that the temperature had dropped to 72 degrees. In a minute or two the air felt comfortable again.

   A few minutes later I felt the chill again and noticed that the temperature had dropped to 70 degrees. Shortly after the air felt comfortable again and it stayed that way for the remainder of the trip.

   The point of this is that we become accustomed to change. It is about “feeling” a difference initially.

   A couple of months back I felt very angry when I filled the gas tank and the charge was over $60. Now when I fill up I feel nothing different because I have gotten used to the change. The price is expected and accepted.

  The loss of freedom must have been an absolutely devastating change to the slaves who were brought from Africa to work in plantations in the ‘Colonies’ around the world.

   To the first generation born into slavery they saw no change and suffered no shock. That is the life that they had always known so they accepted it even though they were aware of better circumstances, that is, the freedom to choose their own work or travel where and when they wished.

   So it is with societies and political structures. If you are born into a Communist or Fascist society you experience no change in feeling because there was no change to affect you.

   No matter what society my great grandchildren will be raised in, they will accept it as the normal society.

   My point in writing this is that change is coming, for better or worse. It will have the maximum impact on those who have lived in the present system the longest and those who come after us will not know any differently.

   If the US is to remain a relatively free Capitalistic society, I will be happy because that is what I am used to but it appears to be sliding toward Socialism and once there, Communism or a Dictatorship becomes a possibility.

   That will be for my great grandchildren to deal with.

   It appears that even with the freedom that I have to vote I cannot change the course of events.

    We know with certainty that the Earth’s atmosphere has gone through significant changes in temperature and composition over the millennia.

   We also know with certainty that land which was deep under the oceans is now the tops of some of the highest mountains.

   The planet and life on the planet are in constant flux. Species that had existed in the past are no longer here and their absence is not because of man but because they either could not adapt in their present form or they adapted by changing their physiology to conform to the new conditions.

   A couple of days ago it was reported that more than usual dead baby penguins were washing up on the shores of Brazil. The article stated that biologist Erli Costa of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University feels that this is the result of changing weather patterns around Antarctica caused by global warming which is causing rougher seas and stronger currents than the baby penguins are able to cope with.

    A food scarcity caused by over-fishing may be forcing the young penguins to swim further from shore and they are unable to out-swim the currents.

   What will be the consequences of this situation?

The stronger young penguins will survive and contribute to the gene pool of the remaining penguins. Antarctic penguins will evolve into a stronger breed.

   There is historical evidence of this rapid evolution as is seen in the Hawaiian people. The indigenous Hawaiian was a very powerful and large person of great endurance and very acute eyesight.

   Those were the characteristics necessary for survival by paddling a canoe across great distances of open ocean. To get to Hawaii these people had to paddle against the Pacific North Equatorial Current, had to travel long distances without food and had to be able to see the tiny specks of clouds in the distance that formed over islands.

   The open ocean traveler without those characteristics perished just as the weaker Antarctic penguin of today.

   That is the way of life. If the Earth warms, those people who can survive the climate change will survive and reproduce. When the Earth cools again, the process will reverse itself. This has always been the pattern and will continue to be so in the future.

   Humanity will not simply disappear.

   There is one cold hard fact that alters the natural selection of those who contribute to the gene pool. Today, through emotion, humanity is interfering with the process.

   We are promoting “survival of the weakest” by spending millions of dollars keeping babies alive who are too weak to survive on their own.

   That may sound like a cruel and insensitive statement but it is nevertheless true.

   These infants, who are too unsuited for life on the planet, will be contributing to the gene pool and eventually we may be the cause of our own extinction rather than climate change.

   I know that this is a cold statement but it is true.

   Remember, that is the reason why I write these articles.

Truth– rather than emotion, politics or prejudice–will ensure our economic, cultural and physical survival.

    It appears history is starting to go backwards. We are returning to the village structure that existed before the automobile became so common.

   With automobiles came the freedom to go anywhere one wanted at anytime. Gasoline was cheap and people started ranging much farther away from home than they had in the past. It took a lot of effort to hitch a horse up to a buggy or to saddle a horse and go shopping or visiting someone many miles away.

   I can’t imagine that many people would have bothered to ride a horse several hundred miles just to go ‘sight-seeing’ either.

   Now that the price of fuel and gasoline have risen to such high levels, people are becoming more conscious of the cost of that freedom.

   We are returning to the village of structure. That is, we are willing to pay more money to buy a product that is closer to home than we have been in the past. I am now willing to spend a $1.79 for a package of screws at the local hardware store rather than driving the extra miles to buy them for fifty cents less.

   The return of the village grocery store is now assured. The supermarkets may find sales decreasing. When the supermarkets began in the late 40’s and were able to buy products at a much lower price because of the quantity they were buying they were able to charge less money than the village stores. They may find that they will have to reduce their prices even more because people will consider the cost of gasoline to get to their stores.

  We have arrived at an unusual and unexpected event in our economic structure.

 I want to remind every person living in the United States, legally or illegally, the following truth:

A ‘Veteran’ — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve — is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to, and including his life.’ That is honor, and there are way too many people in this country today, who no longer understand that fact.

I am including in this posting the complete letter that appeared in The Day, our New London, Connecticut newspaper, on July23rd 2008. It was written by Michael Lewis of New London.

“The stars and stripes. What image do those words conjure up? For me it is the image of two tours of duty in Iraq fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom. My first tour was seven months. The second lasted three. That’s when the car bomb exploded. I am still full of shrapnel and have more scars than you can count in a day. To see the U.S. flag flying fills me with an enormous sense of pride and accomplishment.

I recently noticed a home improvement store in our area does not display the American flag. I approached the store manager to see what I could do to facilitate a change and was told, rudely, that this company is not interested in securing the necessary permits.

Where has our sense of pride gone? An American-owned store, in America, refuses to fly the flag. I am deeply offended - for me, other veterans and the six men in my platoon who died fighting to provide freedom for others. I am tired of Americans taking this country for granted.

I challenge all American businesses to fly the American flag and fly it proudly. It will be a poignant reminder to all.”

“Michael Lewis.”

This is MY opinion: This is, after all, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Why is it even necessary that anyone who wishes to fly the flag of this country is required to get a permit to do so?

If you live under the protection of the United States and you feel that your neighbor or the super market or the gas station does not have the right to fly the flag of this country then you don’t have the right to live here.

 Fiscal Irresponsibility

“Do I need it?”

“Will I use it?”

“Can I afford it?”

That is how I have managed my life’s finances.

There are obviously times during one’s life when we buy things that we don’t really need but those are what makes life fun. These are the frivolous items that we buy or the trips that we take simply for pleasure.

However, before I spend the money I always ask myself, “Can I afford it?”

I answer that question honestly every time and often forego the pleasure out of a sense of fiscal responsibility.

In my previous post, “Black Plastic”, I questioned the necessity of the plastic sheet at construction sites.

To date, one person has agreed with me and one has misunderstood my article.

I did not blame Saudi Arabia for our misguided use of polyethylene.

If readers go back to the beginning of my articles they will find that my entire purpose in writing these articles is to question actions based on emotion rather than reason.

I assume the intended purpose of the plastic is to protect the environment. However, it does not and its use amounts to “Fiscal Irresponsibility”.

In short, we don’t need it and we can’t afford it.

The US has been in a continuously increasing trade deficit and purchasing polyethylene from a foreign country worsens the situation.

Polyethylene is a petroleum-based product. It is my opinion that crude oil, which we are told is a limited resource, is being diverted to the production of a product that we don’t need and can’t afford.