Developing a Constitution

When we consider Egypt coming up with a Constitution we need to remember our process. The Constitution developed over a period of 100 days and was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ratified by conventions in eleven states. It went into effect on March 4, 1789. The first ten amendments ratified by three-fourths of the states in 1791 are known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution has been amended seventeen additional times (for a total of 27 amendments) and its principles are applied in courts of law by judicial review. The process is not an overnight process and we need to be patient with all countries.

 

What Sex and Killing Have in Common

In 1974 there was a movie "Death Wish." Eventually there were four sequels over a period of twenty years. At the time I was taking some psychology courses at a local university and I was subscribing to a magazine Psychology Today. In one issue there was an article on the reaction of audiences across the country when the hero killed his first bad guy, they stood and cheered.

 

The film was disliked by many critics due to it advocating vigilantism and unlimited punishment to criminals. The book upon which the movie was loosely based denounced vigilantism, whereas the film embraced the notion. It was seen as echoing a growing mood in the United States as crime rose during that time.

 

Hollywood is great at making war and killing seem simple and strait forward. It makes the watcher believe that people kill each other because they are told, because it is kill or be killed, the enemy is hated or whatever. Hollywood tries to make us believe that all soldiers shoot at each other, attempting to hit and kill each other. While in some situations there may be some truth in the matter, it is mostly wrong.

 

A book to read on the subject is :On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society" by Dave Grossman.

 

When most people talk about killing, they are like virgins talking about sex. You can talk about it all day, you can fully understand the mechanics involved but when the time comes there is so much more involved than the person thought. As with sex until you kill you have no clue as to how you will react. I find the number of Christians who claim they are ready to kill to protect their property curious. I find them odd and far from being Christian. We have at least a couple of elders in waiting in that category.  

 

A look at history may shed some light on the subject. In World War Two, studies have shown that only 15-20 percent of the soldiers fired at the enemy. That is one in five soldiers actually shooting at a Nazi when he saw one. While this rate may have increased in desperate situations, in most combat situations soldiers were reluctant to kill each other.

In Korea, the rate of soldiers unwilling to fire on the enemy decreased and fifty five percent of the soldiers fired at the enemy. In Vietnam, this rate increased to about ninety five percent but this doesn't mean they were trying to hit the target. In fact it usually took around fifty-two thousand bullets to score one kill in regular infantry units!

If one studies history one will find that man is often unwilling to kill his fellow man and the fighter finds it very traumatic when he has to do so.

The solution is not to control weapons we need to understand why people are willing to kill. Millions if not billions of dollars are spent each year on advertising to influence the way consumers think but no one believes watching violent movies and television programs as well as playing violent video games influences us or our children.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

---Steve Jobs

Re: Update from Senator Bob Corker - December 15, 2012

The president has an advantage, he does not have to prepare for re-election where as members of congress must. Remember the Republican convention where the speakers said Obama had his chance but failed so the voters should give Romney a chance.

 

The Fiscal Cliff appears to be an artifical disaster caused by Congress' failure to do their job. It appears you all agreed to pass laws that if implemented would have such a negative affect on the country you were hoping the members of the other party would never let happen. You have reached the point where you expected your opponents to fold as they expected you to fold. One thing you must do is to elect new leaders in the next congress. Failure to do that will show the voters you are stuck in the past.

 

Congress succeeds together and fails together. We voters have long memories.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."

---Steve Jobs

On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 12:48 PM, Senator Bob Corker <Senator_Bob_Corker@corker.enews.senate.gov> wrote:

If you are having trouble viewing this message or would like to share it on a social network, you can view the message online.

December 15, 2012 Unsubscribe Update My Profile Website | About Bob Corker | News | Services | Issues & Legislation | Contact E-MAIL UPDATES Yes, please periodically send me e-mail updates.* Click Here *By subscribing to my e-mail updates, you are authorizing me to send regular e-mail updates from my office to your e-mail account. Please select the areas of interest to you. Agriculture Budget/Economy Defense Education Energy Environment/Air Quality Foreign Affairs Guns/ 2nd Amendment Health Care Immigration Judiciary/Crime Protecting Life Social Security Taxes Transportation Veterans Affairs War On Terrorism *By answering this survey, you are subscribing to my newsletter. If you are having trouble, click here. Please Feel Free to Tell a Friend E-mail: E-mail: E-mail: Update from Senator Bob Corker December 15, 2012 Senator Corker made the following statement yesterday in response to the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. "Like any parent, I am heartbroken to hear what has happened, and like other Tennesseans, I am saddened for all the victims and families and have them in my thoughts and prayers," said Corker. Meeting Our Obligation to Older and Younger Americans Anticipating the possibility that an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff might not adequately reduce the nation's long-term deficits, Senator Corker introduced "dollar-for-dollar" legislation on Wednesday to raise the debt ceiling by roughly $1 trillion in exchange for roughly $1 trillion in reforms to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. "I continue to hope Speaker Boehner and President Obama will negotiate a deal north of $4 trillion before year-end, but I think we should also prepare now for the possibility that they do not. The next opportunity we have to make the structural, transformative reforms to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that will save these programs and put our country on a path to fiscal solvency is the debt ceiling debate," said Corker. "I've introduced dollar-for-dollar legislation that will raise the debt ceiling by roughly $1 trillion in exchange for roughly $1 trillion in reforms to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This bill incorporates many of the recommendations made in the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles and Domenici-Rivlin proposals. This bill meets our obligations to older and younger Americans. Young Americans expect us to solve our fiscal issues so they aren't saddled with debt and robbed of their opportunity for the American dream. And seniors expect us to honor the commitments we have made to them." Read more about Senator Corker's "Dollar-for-Dollar Act" here. Corker on CNBC's Squawk Box: Time to Discuss Social Security and Medicare Reform Knoxville News Sentinel: Corker ties debt ceiling to entitlement reform To Help Community Banks, We Should Fix Dodd-Frank Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal editorial page reported on the Senate's vote "to end a 2008 rescue program for banks," crediting Senator Corker for doing "as much as anyone to protect taxpayers in this debate." On Thursday, proposed legislation to extend the TAG (Transaction Account Guarantee) Program failed when a budget point of order raised by Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) was upheld. The proposed TAG legislation violated the Budget Control Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last year. TAG was a temporary measure established during the 2008 financial crisis to provide unlimited federal insurance for noninterest-bearing business accounts. With banks now holding sufficient deposits to support their outstanding loans and data showing that large institutions are by far the largest holders of TAG deposits, the program's benefit to the community banking system is, at best, unclear. Prior to the vote, Senator Corker delivered remarks on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to uphold the budget point of order. "I [had] amendments that would have fixed this bill, made it work for community bankers… The only reason we are voting on this amendment is that my friends on the other side of the aisle know Dodd-Frank has hurt community bankers throughout this country." Earlier in the week, Senator Corker expressed his opposition to further extension of TAG. "Some of what we passed in Dodd-Frank makes a great deal of sense, but much of it does not. And it's time for us to devote energy to fixing and improving the law where there are flaws. If we really want to help community banks, that is where we should focus our energy. Giving out limitless deposit insurance is what some people have decided is a consolation prize. That's too bad. We should fix Dodd-Frank if we want to help our community banks. Liquidity to make loans is not the problem. Slow economic growth is the problem. Extending insurance to keep these deposits around, then, fixes a problem that simply does not exist… [I]f we really want to help community banks thrive and succeed, our focus should be on dialing back Washington's desire to micromanage our banking institutions," Corker said on the Senate floor Tuesday. Wall Street Journal: Put a Corker in It "Senator Bob Corker (R, Tenn.), who did as much as anyone to protect taxpayers in this debate, helped fill in the blanks on Thursday. 'The only reason that we're voting on this measure is that the Members on the other side know that Dodd-Frank has hurt community banks,' he said. By then it was clear that Mr. Corker had started a conversation that Democrats really did not want to have. Pro-bailout lawmakers became suddenly silent on Thursday when the program's fate hung in the balance. In the final debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill to extend the TAG, not a single Senator rose to defend the program's merits. Mark down a victory for taxpayers, but there is more to do. Next year's priorities should be to end too big to fail for the biggest banks, while easing Dodd-Frank's regulatory burdens on community banks so they have greater freedom to succeed." Read more: http://on.wsj.com/TS7zU1.   CONTACT INFORMATION Washington, D.C. 185 Dirksen Senate Office Building | United States Senate | Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: 202-224-3344 | Fax: 202-228-0566 Chattanooga 10 West MLK Blvd., 6th Floor Chattanooga, TN 37402 Phone: 423-756-2757 Fax: 423-756-5313 Jackson Ed Jones Federal Building 109 South Highland Ave., Ste. B8 Jackson, TN 38301 Phone: 731-424-9655 Fax: 731-424-8322 Knoxville 800 Market Street, Ste. 121 Knoxville, TN 37902 Phone: 865-637-4180 Fax: 865-637-9886 Memphis 100 Peabody Place, Ste. 1125 Memphis, TN 38103 Phone: 901-683-1910 Fax: 901-575-3528 Tri-Cities Tri-Cities Regional Airport 2525 Hwy 75, Ste. 126 Blountville, TN 37617 Phone: 423-323-1252 Fax: 423-323-0358 Nashville 3322 West End Ave., Ste. 610 Nashville, TN 37203 Phone: 615-279-8125 Fax: 615-279-9488 You can also Click Here to contact Senator Bob Corker using an online form Update My Profile - Unsubscribe - Privacy Policy

United Nations Convention on People with disabilities

Will this convention create obligations for states?

 

Yes. States will be obligated to introduce measures that promote the human rights of persons with disabilities without discrimination. These measures would include anti-discrimination legislation, eliminate laws and practices that discriminate against persons with disabilities, and consider persons with disabilities when adopting new policies and programmes. Other measures include making services, goods, and facilities accessible to persons with disabilities.

 

http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/questions.shtml#ten

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

“That is why you develop a brain, so you can think about more than one thing at a time.”
―    Bill Clinton

Senator Alexander Failure

Senator Alexander recently sent a news letter to his email list. What follows is my response.

 

Awards given to politicians are payment for something. Whenever a group wants recognition they give someone an award. Means nothing. You as well as your fellow senators have been an embarassment to the United States for the past four years. As a group you have failed the citizens of this country. You succeed as a team you fail as a team. Your record is nothing you or anyone can be proud of. Get about the country's business, not your own.

 

Pro-Life is a Non Issue

Being Pro-Life is to be on the losing side of the discussion. If you do not like abortion, do not have one but do not try to interject government into a decision that is not yours.

In 2002 Patrick Buchanan wrote “The Death of the West

In 2002 Patrick Buchanan wrote "The Death of the West." In it he wrote:

 

for a quarter century (1968-1992) Democrats were unable to pick the GOP lock on the presidency, because they could not shake loose the Republican grip on the white vote. With the exception of Johnson in 1964 and Truman in 1948 no Democrat won the white vote. What broke the GOP lock on the presidency was the Immigration Act of 1965.

 

During the years 1970 through 2000 we imported a new electorate, as Republicans cheerfully backed an immigration policy tilted to the Third World that enlarged the Democratic base and loosened the grip that Nixon and Reagan had given them on the presidency of the United States.

 

In 1996, the GOP was rewarded. Six of the 7 states with the largest numbers of immigrants---California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, and Texas---went to Clinton. In 2000 5 went to Gore, and Florida was a dead heat. Of the 15 states with the most foreign-born, Bush lost 10. But of the 10 states with the smallest shares of foreign-born, Montana, Mississippi, Wyoming, West Virginia, South Dakota, North Dakota, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas---Bush swept all 10.

 

Among the states with the most immigrants, only Texas has been reliably Republican but now is going the way of California.  In the 1990s, Texas took in 3.2 million new residents as the Hispanic share of Texas's population shot from 25 percent to 33 percent. The day when whites are a minority in Texas for the first time since before the Alamo is coming soon. In 2002 the Dallas Morning News thought that by 2005 fewer than half of Texans would be white.

 

In 1960 the U.S. population was 88.6 percent white; in 1990, it was 75.6 percent; by 2020 the proportion of whites could fall as low as 61 percent.  By 2050, Euro-Americans, the largest and most loyal share of the electorate the GOP has, will be a minority due to an immigration policy that is championed by Republicans.

 

The Republicans can ignore the Latinos no more.

TeaParty and Health Care

Do you suppose the TeaParty knows: the origin of Obamacare and Romneycare goes back to President Richard Nixon, who saw that many people did not have adequate health care and wanted a solution, albeit a Republican solution. His plan had an employer mandate, forcing every business to buy health care for its employees, not unlike ObamaCare, that forces individuals to do the same. Later, the very conservative Heritage Foundation modified Nixon's plan and proposed that individuals, rather than businesses, be forced to buy insurance from private companies. For decades, this was the Republican response to Democratic attempts to expand Medicare to cover everyone. Only after Obama pushed it through did the Republicans begin objecting to what was, in reality, their own plan.

 

When Obama was elected president, I have to believe in response to all the prayers, the Senate Minority Leader said that the sole job of the Republican Party was to ensure that Obama was a one term president.  If Obama was for it the Republicans were against it. My guess is if Romney wins the Democrats will do the same thing.

 

Day After the Election

Confrontations abroad. A divided Congress at home. A budget stalemate on the horizon that threatens another recession. Don't forget the Middle East.

Come Nov. 7, President Obama or President-elect Mitt Romney might be forgiven if he pines for the good old days of campaign rallies and negative ads.

The world won't wait for either man to enjoy his victory celebration. The bad blood and battle lines between Democrats and Republicans are likely to spill over rather swiftly from politics to policy matters. And only 55 days will remain before a convergence of tax increases and spending cuts threatens to throw the slowly healing U.S. economy back into recession.

On November 7th all you're going to hear is "countdown to the fiscal cliff."

On Novenber 7th who will happier?

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

''Being an executive requires a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules.''

 —Nassim Nichols Taleb

Christian, Newsom Baumgartner

Doesn't "double jeopardy" prohibit retrials for Judge Baumgartner's bad behavior? It was government misdeeds. Why should the government get a second bite at the apple?

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

''Being an executive requires a combination of charisma, a capacity to sustain boredom, and the ability to shallowly perform on harrying schedules.''

 —Nassim Nichols Taleb

No Hitter

Is the story really A-Rod or is it the entire team could not hit the ball?

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

''I'm running for office for Pete's sake, we can't have illegals.''

—Mitt Romney, recalling his reaction when he learned that there were illegal aliens working the ground on his property, employed by a firm that he subsequently fired (October 2011)

Google Stock

The stock market is no longer the measure of the financial strength of the country. Anyone who would sell their Google stock beause Google missed a number is a moron. It used to be this could happen and no one would notice and the price would not move. Today most if not all investors in the stock market are morons.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

''I'm running for office for Pete's sake, we can't have illegals.''

—Mitt Romney, recalling his reaction when he learned that there were illegal aliens working the ground on his property, employed by a firm that he subsequently fired (October 2011)

Cuba

The Cuban government is relaxing, a little, and permitting their citizens to leave Cuba for up to two years. Imagine for a minute when Fidel dies or his brother dies they permit their citizens to leave Cuba with no strings attached. Imagine the affect on the United States. If you were a Castro wouldn't you like to get even with the United States? for years of embargoes?

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems."

 

 —President Barack Obama, attempting to make the case for government-run health care, while simultaneously undercutting his own argument.

It Only Takes the Will

As part of the colonies' effort to win their independence from England they boycotted imports from England. As part of the India's effort to win their independence from England they boycotted products imported from England. Purchasing products from England was a primary source of the lack of work resulting in poverty for citizens of India. Today the United States has the same problems India experienced. Purchasing products made in other countries results in the lack of employment resulting in poverty for the citizens of the United States. To free ourselves we must boycott products imported from other countries. We must make due with what we can produce ourselves. For a while the cost will be higher but in the not too distant future those costs will reduce resulting in increased employment within the United States. For a while our life style may be lowered but in the not too distant future it will return and increase.

It only takes the will to succeed.

Freedom of Individuals Leads to Destruction

Freedom of individuals leads to destruction. Here is why: Picture a pasture---a commons---on which all herdsmen are free to graze their herds. Such an arrangement works reasonably satisfactorily for centuries because tribal wars, poaching, and disease keep the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. But during an era of peace and prosperity the herds multiply, the inherent logic of the commons generates tragedy. Each herdsman acting rationally in his own self-interest will add to his herd. He alone will profit from an additional animal, whereas the environmental impact will be shared by all. What's one more cow? Overgrazed, grass eventually gives way to dust. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit. In a world that is limited, freedom in a commons brings ruin too all.

There are resources we share with each other and with the world, air and water being examples and so the tragedy of the commons still obtains. It explains the depletion of fisheries and aquifers. It explains the pollution of skies and seas. Technology may delay the tragedy---by increasing crop yields or fuel efficiency---but so long as the human population continues to grow it cannot in the long run avert it. Which do we want more environmental health or economic growth. Long term we cannot have both. In a world that is limited, freedom in a commons brings ruin too all.

Executive Orders and You

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money. Alexis de Tocqueville

In a book ---Washington, A Life--- the author writes about the debate by the Constitution Convention on the subject of the executive branch. Delegates had difficulty conceiving a strong presidency that did not look suspiciously like a monarchy. The idea of a separate executive branch with a president independent of the legislature and able to veto its laws was regarded as heretical, in some quarters. Benjamin Franklin pushed for a small executive council instead of a president. When you look at the constitution remember that discussions of the executive branch assumed George Washington was going to be the first president and therefore benevolent. His successors were feared.

GW voted for requiring a three-fourths majority in Congress to override a presidential veto. The convention was not as concerned so it approved a two-thirds majority to forestall executive powers. You may rue that day.

US presidents have issued executive orders since 1789, GW being president. Although there is no Constitutional provision or statute that explicitly permits executive orders, there is a vague grant of "executive power" given in Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution, and furthered by the declaration "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" made in Article II, Section 3, Clause 5. Most Executive Orders use these Constitutional reasonings as the authorization allowing for their issuance to be justified as part of the President's sworn duties, the intent being to help direct officers of the US Executive carry out their delegated duties as well as the normal operations of the federal government: the consequence of failing to comply possibly being the removal from office.

If Congress does not like what the executive branch is doing, it has two main options. It may rewrite or amend a previous law, or spell it out in greater detail how the Executive Branch must act. The President has the right to veto the bill if he disagrees with it, so, in practice; a two-thirds majority is often required to override an Executive Order.

In addition to congressional recourse, Executive Orders can be challenged in court, usually on the grounds that the Order deviates from "congressional intent" or exceeds the President's constitutional powers.

As I have often said the president is not the problem, Congress is the problem. The president can do nothing with which two thirds of congress and/or court does not agree.

Congress: Bingo with billions. --- Red Skelton

OverPopulation

Worldwide, every four days human population increases by 1 million. The world cannot absorb that increase. The intelligent solution would require limiting every human female capable of bearing children to one.

Why Does Anyone Want to be In Government

Why does anyone want to be in government, other than to increase their personal wealth? To do what is required takes character, ethics, morality, integrity and courage which in the political world are rare.

 

We love growth. It frames the political and economic strategy of every government in the world, democratic or not. It frames the strategy of every company and even determines the longevity of board directors, CEOs and corporate executives. It is, for most people, one of the key measurements of progress through life. We consider our success over time in the context of whether we see growth in our assets, income and financial security along with material manifestations as in our homes, cars, and lifestyles.

 

The end of growth is not going to be a smooth process. As population grows, we need more jobs, and that requires growth. That will continue to be more difficult because technological efficiency and productivity improvements drive down the number of people needed to create the goods we produce. If the economy doesn't grow fast enough to overcome these efficiency improvements and deal with population growth, unemployment goes up, spending goes down, fewer products are produced, and fewer jobs are created.

 

Growth has effectively ended.

 

When five hundred million people lose their livelihoods and one billion people their protein because fisheries collapse growth for them will be a fading dream. If we have to eliminate the fossil-fuel industry to cut CO2 emissions, we will lose $3 trillion of economic activity. If we don't eliminate them we will face runaway climate change with the potential loss of the insurance industry, the collapse of food supply, and political crises and instability over water and refugees. If we get growth back we will face peak oil and food shortages with prices moving to new highs that stop growth again.

 

Why does anyone want to be in government?

 

If we are not willing to do the right thing what will cause other countries to do the right thing?

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 
"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything." 
 
---Joseph Stalin

Girls Playing Football with Boys?

Interesting. . . HLN had a story about a girl playing quarterback. This proves girls are not as athletic as boys. Can you imagine a boy playing on a girl's soccer team? The opponents would cry foul, that is what not fair. Why? Because boys are more athletic than girls even the lesbians.

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 
"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything." 
 
---Joseph Stalin

In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring concerning the environmental
impact of pesticide use. She was attacked by corporations such as Monsanto
and other chemical giants as well as the Department of Agriculture. It took
a while but in 1980 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
due to the accuracy of the book. The book corporations and the
Department of Agriculture had attacked. Not liking something does not
make it untrue.

In 1969 the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio caught fire when a
potent mix of oil and chemicals that had been discharged in the river
spontaneously and spectacularly burst into flame. It was not the first
time. I remember that. It was said you did not drown in the Cuyahoga
you decayed. In 1972 the United Nations held a conference in
Stockholm and a book entitled Limits of Growth was published. What the
book argued in 1972 is pretty much obvious to people today, 40 years
later. At the time it was published it was attacked, similar to Silent
Spring. In 2008 a paper was written "A Comparison of 'The Limits to
Growth' with Thirty Years of Reality and found that changes in
industrial production, food production, and pollution up to 2000
compared well with the book's business as usual scenario.

Point is the United Nations as well as the United States government
has been interested in the subjects included in UN Agenda 21 and no
one has complained. Some of our favorite presidents have been involved
as well as some of our not so favorite presidents. As I mentioned
Clinton felt so strongly for it he bypassed congress.

For years studies have projected economic and societal collapse around
the middle of the twenty-first century.

Obama has nothing to do the mess but as president he is in the
crosshairs. If Romney wins in November he will step into the
crosshairs. Ann Romney said he will not fail. The problem is it is not
up to him to fail or succeed it is up to congress. Those attacking
Agenda 21 may want to tread softly at least for a while lest they find
themselves in the same place those who attacked Silent Spring and
Limits of Growth found themselves, on the wrong side.



Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179 cell
Gatlinburg, TN


Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
http://alumcave.blogspot.com/


"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the
vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything."

---Joseph Stalin

Maybe the Church Needs a Tea-Party

 

 

 

Do you, as I do, wonder why we are just hearing about Agenda 21 and how Obama is turning the United States over to the United Nations? I suspect the Tea-Party.

The term Sustainable Development was first introduced to the world in the 1987 (25 years ago) and was first offered as official UN policy in 1992 (20 years ago) at the Earth Summit.

More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 as official policy at the Earth Summit. President George H.W. Bush signed the document for the United States. In signing, each nation pledge to adopt the goals of Agenda 21. In 1995 (17 years ago), President Bill Clinton, in compliance with Agenda 21, signed Executive Order #12858 to create the President's Council on Sustainable Development in order to "harmonize" US environmental policy with UN directives as outlined in Agenda 21. Clinton didn't even go through congress but no complaints? The Executive Order directed all agencies of the Federal Government to work with state and local community governments in a joint effort "reinvent" government using the guidelines outlined in Agenda 21. No reporting by the media and no complaining by Republicans? As a result, Sustainable Development is now emerging as government policy in every town, county and state in the nation. Clinton is more responsible than Obama.

Warnings concerning the fact that the path the world is on is not sustainable have been ignored since the 1950s. Unsustainable and across borders means a higher authority has to be involved to work out compromises. Our way of life is not sustainable. We cannot blame it on Obama. He did not cause the mess. Fair chance republicans and their unfettered support of corporations allowed those corporations to pollute and destroy the environment leaving the taxpayers to clean up their mess. Time to stop pointing fingers and work together and that will require compromises and that is something the Tea-Party cannot do. That makes them part of the problem.

People do not like being told what they are doing will lead to mutual destruction. Like the church. What the church is doing is not working, it is unsustainable. Things have to change. Church people don't like that. Maybe the church needs a Tea-Party movement.

 

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/ 
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything."  

 

---Joseph Stalin

UN Agenda 21 Alternatives?

You have mentioned having concerns with what is referred to as United Nations Agenda 21. I understand the Tea-Party also has problems with it. From what I have read I do not see reason to be concerned. I understand it makes points that people do not like but not liking them does not make them untrue. It appears more a statement of common values than an "agenda" at least in my use of the word and suggests some ideas for public policy to support those values. The wording has to be innocuous if you expect countries as diverse as the United States, Russia, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Laos, and let's not forget Cuba and Venezuela to get on board. No country likes it although enemies of the United States may.

 

The United States, will soon find ourselves exposed to a world we have never before experienced.

 

Recently I read that due to the drought and projected worldwide food shortages the United Nations has asked the United States to stop production of fuels based on corn. Imagine the United Nations telling the United States what to do. When you look at the carbon footprint of what it takes to produce ethanol it is not that different than its oil counterpart but friends of government are having a great pay day so stopping is out of the question. In the not so far future we will have to decide if we want water, food or fuel. We might be able to have two but not three.

 

Within the United States water is becoming scarce. Rivers are being siphoned off for irrigation i.e. water for Los Angeles or farms and ranches in states neighboring California? The Colorado River does not reach Mexico in the same volume it once did. Atlanta is under a perpetual water rationing. Remember when Georgia wanted to annex a part of Tennessee allegedly for the water it contained? If you want a sample of what we can expect from the world watch the states as we begin to fight for water. Idaho owns the top 34 feet of a water source in Wyoming. If that source drops below 34 feet is will be interesting. I can think of several things local militias could do to destroy water sources of its neighboring hindrances. 

 

From what I have read:

 

The population of the world has exceeded its ability to provide food, water, shelter for its people;

There are a fair number of failing states, meaning countries that cannot provide for their citizens some of which will soon be on world welfare or all of its citizens die or they can attack their neighbors. You choose;

Water tables are falling and farmers are losing water to cities. The Nile River will not flood as it has for centuries resulting in loss of food production in Egypt. Wait till Egypt goes after Ethiopia to stop them from taking water from the Nile;

Temperatures are rising; glaciers are shrinking; water levels are rising either cyclical or manmade it makes no difference.

Oil reserves are shrinking and in some places will run out this century; might be time to give Texas back to Mexico. While coal is abundant stabilizing climate will require phasing out its use. Kentucky and West Virginia will like that one;

Some countries have run out of usable farm land and are obtaining land in other countries to grow food for themselves. I believe the United States already bars the export of grain from such arrangements.

 

The berated point is problems of other countries will soon be our problems. On April 18, 2001, Arizona to Canada was blanketed with dust from a huge dust storm originating in China and Mongolia on April 5. 1,200 miles across when it left China the storm carried millions of tons of topsoil that will take centuries to replace. A year later on April 12, 2002, South Korea was covered by a huge dust storm from China that had the people in Seoul gasping for breath, airline flights were cancelled, and clinics were overrun with people with breathing problems and retail sales dropped. Either one of those could cause nations to go to war.

 

I do not trust the UN to save the world or the United States I do not trust the Tea-Party nor do I trust our government that cannot pass a budget.

 

Any suggestions? Suggestions have to be workable and acceptable to the majority of the citizens of the United States and their representatives and senators. I have none but make me dictator and stand back I will take care of it.

 

If you know any Tea-Party folks I would be interested in evaluating their suggestions.

The UN Agenda 21 or What?

 If you are one of the billion or so people at the top of the global economic then how good is this? We get a good meal whenever we want it. We have housing that prevents us from being exposed to the elements. We rarely experience violence in our day-to-day lives and if we do we get a response that pretty much reduces the threat to a manageable level. We generally get basic health care needs met, with even poor-quality care light-years ahead of what the average person received a few generations ago.

This quality of life is no longer just for those in Western countries, as it largely was a few decades ago. Today, millions of people in China, India, South America and other developing countries live this relatively luxurious life.

We, the lucky billion, spend most of our lives seeking ever greater and subtler refinements in what we perceive to be our quality of life: nicer clothes, better music, more comfortable furniture, more interesting holidays, more convenient technology, more unusual variations of food, a more secure retirement. It doesn't get much better than this.

Our grandparents would see us living like kings with every convenience dealt with, every basic human need met, and our arguments on what needs to improve going to ever-greater refinements to all of this. They would hear us complain about interest rates, not being able to afford a larger house or a renovation, and having a degree of uncertainty that we will be able to live this lifestyle when we stopped working. As near as one or two generations ago, no one stopped working unless they were dead, let alone spent their latter years in physical comfort with decent health care.

Left behind are many more billions, many of whom live in grinding, soul-destroying poverty.  While we strive for larger televisions, DVD screens in our cars, and the perfectly grilled tender steak, they die for a glass of clean water or a bowl of rice.

Our needs are met. We have the capacity not just to make our lives comfortable, but to explore space, to develop extraordinary scientific knowledge, to cure diseases, to invent amazing technologies that will help us and future generations live even better lives. We can connect to one another instantaneously and globally to share our hopes, our dreams and what we have for breakfast.

The path we are on is completely unsustainable. We have too many people, not enough clean water; we cannot grow enough food nor build the required shelter. On top of that we have environmental issues that exacerbate the lack of those necessities and the prevent the continuance of those necessities.

We can be against the United Nations Agenda 21 but what alternative does the world have than to cooperate. Those that have will either lose everything or they will give up some, maybe up to half of what they have.

When resources are limited freedom leads to destruction.

I hope the Tea-Party has practical workable alternatives. When they cannot work with Republicans or Democrats getting China, the United States, Somalia, Argentina, and Cambodia to work together will not be easy if possible at all.   The Tea-Party appears to think they know what needs to be done but they have no clue as to how to go about it.

We need alternatives to UN Agenda 21 but what are they?

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/ 
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything."  

 

---Joseph Stalin

Time for the commissioner to go.

Is the NFL Commissioner's job to ensure a quality product be delivered to the customers? He has failed. He should have had this referee snafu corrected months ago. Time for the commissioner to go.

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/ 
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"It is enough the people know there was an election. Those who cast the vote decide nothing, those who count the vote decide everything."  

 

---Joseph Stalin

It was not always the way it is today

In the first stage of industrialism animals were used as machines as also were children. In the latter stages of industrialism poor children who escaped the factory took to the street where they formed "child societies" gangs of urchins who like feral cats invented a social order all their own.  Partly in fear of child societies middle class parents of the Gilded Age began treating their children like pets. Nurseries and playrooms became common and toy chests began to overflow.

 

In the early 1900s came the crib, which unlike the cradle, isolated infants in rooms of their own. Playthings served as antidotes for loneliness; substitutes for the free play of the "child society." Lonely little middle-class girls were encouraged to keep company of dolls, little boys had stuffed animals.  By 1906 zoos were selling souvenirs and thanks to Teddy Roosevelt, the teddy bear fad hit.

 

Stuffed animals and dolls were appealing to parents who were trying to facilitate new sleeping arrangements for babies to guard against unduly fervent emotional attachments to mothers. The decline in paid help for young children also opened the door to the use of toys as surrogate entertainment.

Freedom Brings Destruction

 

Freedom of individuals leads to destruction. Here is why: Picture a pasture---a commons---on which all herdsmen are free to graze their herds. Such an arrangement works reasonably satisfactorily for centuries because tribal wars, poaching, and disease keep the numbers of both man and beast well below the carrying capacity of the land. But during an era of peace and prosperity the herds multiply, the inherent logic of the commons generates tragedy. Each herdsman acting rationally in his own self-interest will add to his herd. He alone will profit from an additional animal, whereas the environmental impact will be shared by all. What's one more cow? Overgrazed, grass eventually gives way to dust. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit. In a world that is limited, freedom in a commons brings ruin too all.

 

There are resources we share with each other and with the world, air and water being examples and so the tragedy of the commons still obtains. It explains the depletion of fisheries and aquifers. It explains the pollution of skies and seas. Technology may delay the tragedy---by increasing crop yields or fuel efficiency---but so long as the human population continues to grow it cannot in the long run avert it.  Which do we want more environmental health or economic growth. Long term we cannot have both. In a world that is limited, freedom in a commons brings ruin too all.

Coach K

Of course coaches do not get medals. What moron thought they did? If Coach K thinks he had anything to do with the gold medal his ego is getting out of hand.

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/ 
          http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

  "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"  

 

---Mike Tyson

A story about IBM chairman John Aker.

 

The story is he went into his bank dressed in blue jeans to finalize a business transaction. The teller told him the officer he needed was not in and Aker would have to come back the next day. John told him that was fine and asked the teller to validate his parking ticket. The teller told him she could not validate the ticket because he had not completed a financial transaction. He asked for an exception since he had come to the bank intending to do business but was not able due to the appropriate officer not being in. The teller refused and said that was the bank's policy.   So Aker decided to make a business transaction. He closed his account which had one-and-a-half million dollars in it. That qualified for a business transaction and the teller was able to validate his ticket. 

Casual

You wrote we have accepted ... casual efforts at … service, …."

 

As a body our primary group activity is assembling to listen. Groups need to be involved in group activities which offer encouragement for individuals to engage in individual activities.

 

You talk about preaching when you were a young teenager. You were given opportunities to grow. We should provide opportunities for the members to grow.

 

Several years ago officers at the New York City Department found an anonymous note posted on the bulletin board, "We're not report takers we're the police."  At the time the focus was on arrests made, reports taken, cases closes, budgets met but were changed to an output of double-digit annual declines in felony crime rates.

 

What is our focus?