Vane Lashua

Vaccines cause autism

2019-02-08T12:21:00.001-08:00

Re: "Vaccines cause autism":
US population: 1960, 183million; 2015, 316million. World population: 1960, 3billion; 2012, 7billion!! Is it appropriate to say vaccines are responsible for radical population growth?! Drug companies had no autism drugs to sell in 1960 ... now they have dozens!! Inflate The Rate, Bayer, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Novartis ... and sell more drugs!! More Autism! More Anxiety! More Depression! ... more drugs, more profit!! PS: every living entity on earth is a GMO. (Do us breeders select mates or go random?) (Do the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike select the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike? or not?)
We are the products of our lineage and choices, whether evolutionary, educational, locational, environmental or dietary--including consumption of food encouraged to change by "genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology". (Is food from a garden, a pasture or a cultivated farm field--as opposed to that hunted & gathered--considered GMO?)

Let's all stop this "blame the other guy" crap.

2019-01-28T06:11:00.001-08:00

Four of my parents were WWII veterans for whom I have enormous respect. Like all others, they responded to an emergency. One was a combat paratrooper, a trainer and jumped into northern Japan; one was 2nd Armored Division across both N. Africa and Europe; one was a Navy nurse treating wounded from the Pacific theater at Mare Island; and one was ambulance, first aid support and parachute maintenance training and support as a WAC. All four supported me in my choice of alternative service during the Vietnam disaster where our leaders sent 58,000 American military to their deaths with 100,000+ wounded (not including PTSD!) or MIA -- along with hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians. Vets who were drafted or volunteered support their country, as do most, before or since.
Many vets -- Democrat, Republican, liberal and conservative -- have since devoted their lives to trying to prevent war and establish peace. They're not "liberals" or conservatives. If many of our "leaders" were to focus on that instead of being corporate slaves to the "defense" industry, our country could much better focus on its own people AND border security. We might even try establishing a year or two of required national service for everyone, offering a choice of domestic, security or military service. Switzerland and Israel are examples.
Let's all stop this "blame the other guy" crap.

(shared from my comment on another's "blast".)

Welfare

2018-03-28T10:00:00.001-07:00

The government's requiring me to pay for health care insurance I don't want is no different from requiring me to pay for "defense", "intelligence" and foreign wars I don't want or need; highways where I don't drive; schools where I have no children; federal forests, parks, offshore waters and lands where I never go (often "leased" to oil companies I have to pay for oil and gas); and a Congress that serves only persons who are corporate.

Or should I participate in a "single payer" system for healthcare like all the rest of these welfare programs?

Money Raising in the Political Age

2018-02-26T11:51:00.001-08:00

The effort required to find or even to consider the facts behind issues and positions that we want to believe and those we oppose is beyond most of us most of the time. One of the most interesting to me, recently is the Trayvon Martin case. I was on 125th Street wearing my Trayvon hoodie with a few others right after the incident yet I had no more to go on than what I had seen on CNN, PBS Newshour, Rachel Maddow, WAMC (NEVER FOX for god's sake!). I still don't know and have no way of knowing (and I don't think many do) what "the facts" are. We watch the videos, we listen to the recordings of phone calls and police interviews, we acknowledge the circumstances, we listen to the trial testimony, AND we ignore what our American religion asks of us: presumption of innocence, trial by jury.

Likewise, the American religion tells us that we must protect our interests overseas. We have no "facts", no understanding of what our interests are or who creates and prioritizes the interests in the first place. Rarely do I, or, in my opinion of course, do most of us remember that most of our interests overseas have to do with the profit-driven rape of the planet, exploitation of power hungry and helpless populations and the financial interests of the 1% and the pitifully small, but highly touted trickle down effects on our economy. Why do American interests take priority over any other state's? (Because I AM AN AMERICAN, dammit!)

And I guess we'll continue to ignore another of our American religious proclamations (smile, pat heart): The Four Freedoms*. And I quote, ".... That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb." Congressional Record, 1941.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.

72 years and still counting tyrannical interventions, sniper teams and drones supporting our interests overseas ... I guess if we pay for them, we deserve them.

May the wonder of existence, its precious web of life and our fragile humanity abide amongst, radiate from and bring us peace.

Just in from dear friend, Lois:

"Carl --Facing another critical end of month budget deadline and Kristin just called to say we are still short of what we need to compete. Favor? Can you please visit http://act.loisfrankelforcongress.com/deadlinemay and donate before the big deadline tonight? Always, LJF

Sent from my AT&T Blackberry

Paid for by Lois Frankel for Congress

This message was sent to: vlashua@thnktnk.net | We believe that emails are a

crucial way for our campaign to stay in touch with supporters.

Click here if you'd like to unsubscribe from these messages.

info@loisfrankelforcongress.com

Dearest Lois(for one), You send messages whose tone is intimate, yet you don't use or know my "intimate" name. It's not Carl, though Carl is my first name. That "sent from my blackberry" is ridiculous. Kristen? Who is my other dear friend, Kristen? Whose deadline? Critical?

I hope you vote for campaign finance reform if you're elected. Always, CVL

Friendship is kind and mindful knowing another; knowing how to share, to be critical and to take criticism with the desire to understand and be understood, not necessarily without hurt but without the intent to create change in the other for one's own benefit.

Love is an unmeasured, unfettered, physically and emotionally unselfish affective bond with another. Desire and selfish needs may cloud but not break the bond

Every word is too shallow.

40 people every day are murdered in the US. Two young men with crude weapons focused the entire US on them and their activity. What about the other 37 people who were killed that day? Why are there centers of murder? The New York Times today pointed out that Chicago is still one of those centers. The motivation for the violence – whether a homicide with no "drama" or a "terrorist act"– is the real question.

As Peggy Noonan pointed out this morning on Meet the Press, the media creates the hysteria that allows the media to reflect on the hysteria. What the media might better focus on are the root causes of these acts and their perpetrators. Poverty, hunger, lack of connection, educational disability and a tendency to ignore these root causes and react with "enforcement"or "defense" should be the real focus. "Combatting terrorism" is impossible.

Out of 7 Billion of us on Earth, there are still only a few who are crazy enough to drive violence and war. If only one-tenth of one percent of us (1 of 1000) is crazy, there are 7 million crazies out there. In the US alone, that would be 300,000. The US has put over 2 million in jail ... lot of good that has done! And by the way, it's not "these days". It's been bred into you and me and is a Natural part of humanity. It's why and how we survived. We just have to learn how to cool it and use our intelligence intelligently or we'll just go extinct -- Naturally. The Earth and the universe don't care. They just keep on keepin' on, with us or without us.

One issue with battery operated vehicles that sorely needs to be addressed is standardization. It will be a great day when a standard form-factor for auto batteries, their interconnection and their sockets, like A, AA, AAA, AAAA batteries, bbq propane tanks, Edison bulb sockets. Local "gas stations" might become battery recharge & interchange stations. Stop, take out the old, measure "maturity" (capacity to hold charge), measure maturity of new, insert, pay, and go. In addition, the oil companies might be able to develop a new revenue stream to replace oil/gas. The fill up would come from the power grid rather than the EIC.

Research Project Proposal -- Geothermal ANYWHERE

2017-10-27T14:10:00.000-07:00

Research Project Proposal
Geothermal Electricity Generation … Anywhere

Over the last 10 years, I have become an enthusiastic advocate for geothermal energy (http://thnktnk.net/drill.html). I’m a member of the GEA, have visited working geothermal plants (Calpine in California), attended conferences, lobbied DOE and legislators and bored my friends and colleagues to death describing the huge, strategic benefits of geothermal energy, especially for generation of electricity.

Having moved back to my home state (Indiana) a year ago, I am more and more convinced of the long term need for projects to develop and realize geo anywhere. January Scientific American included an article, “Top Air Polluters” (p72) whose accompanying chart draws a circle around southern Indiana, southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. Although they provide their owners with steady profits from oil, gas, coal and coke as commodities, and, by the way, electricity, these fossil fuel plants are the top 10 environmental villains.

The deep geo industry (including exploration, drilling, provision of regional electricity) is very healthy. The industry itself sponsors advanced technical & engineering innovation, but of course it goes where proved resources are and where the work is. Many countries and locations with obvious natural circumstances (Iceland, Northern California, Hawaii, Nevada, Philippines, Kenya, Turkey, Peru, Chile) are exploiting it. Meanwhile, advanced technology – perhaps to generate electricity and heat from within the well itself, perhaps at depth, perhaps within advanced pipe structures themselves – is needed to go deeper. “U-pipe, two-pipe or pipe-in-pipe” could be developed to deliver heat and generator mass/velocity perhaps from air in, air out in addition to water in, steam out and to provide advanced structural integrity for extreme depths and heat.

The market based on this new technology might provide storage and supply regional electricity ANYWHERE/ALL THE TIME instead of just where it is convenient to the surface. Perhaps creatively drilling 10K deep x 2-3 meters could be made “normal”. (Tunnelistas everywhere know it can be done.) Insert the proper pipe structure, attach/embed “windmill”, pump electricity and/or heat in addition to steam – and replace a fossil fueled plant on-site. It has been done with current technology.

As we know, a key economic and environmental benefit of geothermal is that it has none of the fossil and nuclear fuel “externalities” – mining, refining, storage, transport, site storage/delivery, and waste disposal – with all their own costs and enormous environmental impacts. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal supply is constant, 24/7/365, and produces more energy from a smaller footprint than conventional or other renewables. Deep geothermal can even be executed on the sites of existing fossil-fuel plants or military sites. Infrastructure! Defense!

The Hoover Dam, TVA, …, and Project Apollo were impossible till Federal funds were provided and research was applied. The spin-off rewards (scientific innovation, technology, infrastructure, jobs) from those projects continue to accumulate. Project Apollo reached to the heavens, and we continue to harvest its benefits. How about harvesting even more with Project “Pluto”, right here beneath our feet.

Indiana offers a wonderful experimental center for this research in addition to the opportunity to directly replace fossil fuel generation. Purdue engineering, Indiana geology, Ball State’s development experience and, of course, the talent and business experience involved in Indiana manufacturing and IT offer an enviable laboratory setting for such development. Let’s get started.

Credit: Tiffany Farrant-Gonzalez; Sources: “America’s Super Polluters,” By Jamie Smith Hopkins. Published online by Center for Public Integrity, September 29, 2016 www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/29/20248/america-s-super-polluters

===========

C. Vane Lashua vlashua@thnktnk.net 845-337-9435

1504 West 7^th Street

Connersville, IN 47331

A new, Earth-like planet!!!

2016-08-24T14:06:00.001-07:00

One of the weirdest phenomena today is the focus on the discovery of an "earth-like" planet circling a star 5 light years away. Or, occupying Mars! We -- humans for the next 1000 years or so -- won't be able to jump aboard an escape ship and go anywhere more beautiful and suited to our species than Earth. We evolved HERE, on Earth and are so overly successful that we're ruining it for the future. Now, "ruining it" just means for our species and thousands more. Life on Earth will evolve as it has for a few billion years with or without us. If we keep multiplying and creating unabsorbable Stuff at the rate we are, our future as a species won't last long enough to get to another millenium. Sooner or later "we"'ll only be living in "survival suits". Again, it's no "emergency" today -- only for those in the future (our children's children?). Who cares?

Coast Guard Hudson River docking proposal ... how to comment.

2016-07-20T10:21:00.001-07:00

Tracking number: 1k0-8qtq-v0fk https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=USCG-2016-0132-0001&p=1

The proposed Newburgh docking area across from Dennings Point State Park and bird sanctuary is directly intrusive in the culture of the area.

Dennings Point and the hiking trails connecting it to the surrounding natural areas use the whole aspect of the last 40 years of Hudson River cleanup to educate visitors and friends in natural water management. Yes, the Hudson is a commercial highway, but it is also a treasured natural resource.

Why not put the anchorages near the fossil fuel plants upriver? Yes, the oil storage facility at Newburgh is commercially important, but it is "deliver and go". The Beacon-Newburgh "bay" is a frequently used area for environmental education, pleasure boating, entertainment and scenic views.

I am a member of the Beacon Sloop Club and Clearwater both of which use these waters for environmental education, sailing skills training and public enjoyment. Their work and that of their founder, Pete Seeger, have been instrumental in the implementation of the Clean Water Act and the clean up of the Hudson. Today, River Pool at Beacon floats in the Hudson where the water has become clean enough to swim. I return on August 6th for my eleventh Newburgh to Beacon Swim in support of that effort.

Deep Geo Proposal Proposal

2016-07-07T12:09:00.002-07:00

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Grant & development opportunity: Geothermal
Date:	Wed, 6 Jul 2016 16:59:18 -0400
From:	Vane Lashua
To:	Mitchell Daniels
CC:	Chip Orben , Dan Parker

The Office of Purdue University President Mitchell Daniels

I would like to meet with President Daniels to discuss the potential role of Purdue in a project to engineer, make available and use geothermal energy for electricity generation virtually anywhere in the US. Among "renewable", fossil and nuclear sources of energy, geothermal is the cleanest and least expensive -- and it is unlimited and uninterruptible. Such a project would be on the scale of the Ball State geothermal project, BUT would explore and define a more extended role of geothermal energy.

Having moved back to my hometown in January after 45 years, I am interested in championing both the immediate economic opportunity for the state and the long-term benefits for the environment. Over the last eight years, I have worked with Geothermal Energy Assn. staff and members, met with Department of Energy leaders and staff and lobbied in Congress to educate myself on the possibilities.

To borrow part of an email I sent last week after a meeting with Duke Energy (Chip Orben) & head of the Fayette County Economic Development Group (Dan Parker),

... proving the universal environmental and economic benefits of geothermal electricity generation would also have dramatic positive impacts. Doing "good" that brings economic, environmental and social benefits, multiplies the benefits to its contributors. That, I believe, can be part of the "ask" to Duke Energy Indiana, Purdue, IU, the State and the DOE: "Let us explore and demonstrate a proven sound, strategic and economical means of clean energy generation that will benefit the Earth, our economy and your bottom line -- right here in Indiana."

Looking forward to discussing geothermal research possibilities,
C. Vane Lashua
1504 West 7th Street, Connersville, IN 47331
http://thnktnk.net/drill.html

2015-12-22T07:56:00.004-08:00

Praise Geo.

Subject:Re: April 26 Briefing - Renewable Gas, Hydropower, and Geothermal:
What is the role of these often overlooked renewable resources?
Date:Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:39:36 -0400
From:Vane Lashua
To:ccooper@eesi.org

Ms. Cooper,
Your announcement arrived on the 18th, and I overlooked it. I could not have a ended the briefing anyway. I am a ending a conference (http://www.energy21symposium.org/ ) in Syracuse, NY, the evening of the 26th and all day the 27th.

Will the EESI program be streamed or recorded? I would very much appreciate a link.

Meanwhile ...

Often, as in the conference I am attending and below, the generic "renewables" is supposed to include bio-fuels, solar, wind, Geo and hydro! "Renewable" only works with library books.

What I'm most concerned about is that Geothermal power generation (Geo) is seldom recognized as the most cost-effective, least polluting, least resource-intensive AND most endurable alternative to nuclear, coal, gas, petroleum, wind and solar for base/regional power generation. Except for the negative environmental impacts of artificial reservoirs and its dependence on a continuous water resource, hydro is the only competitor to Geothermal.

That probably sounds like a baseless proposition if one were to base judgment on the truly baseless and dismissive assertion, "... the hot temperatures required for power generation are found primarily in the West", contained in your description of it and in most other summary assessments. Please don't take offense. The President, the Administration, Congress and most of the rest of us ignore or are innocently ignoring. Absurd coal, gas and oil commercials don't help: "America's Fuel: Clean Coal" or "Clean Gas" or "fulfilling the promise of energy independence" or "energy for the next 80 years".

Unfortunately there are no commercials for "unlimited power less than ten miles from everywhere on Earth" or "no GHGs, particulate free!" or "energy for the next billion years".

Once a Geo plant is established, everything except the wires are on-site. All generating equipment and processes are conventional and virtually identical with any other plant that boils water and turns a turbine.

"Fuel" is underfoot. Ownership can be private or public, self-supported authorities -- like water and sewage plants, toll roads, bridges or the Hoover Dam. Production of Geo is not based on direct or services-oriented income and profits from mining, drilling, refining, storage, transportation, re-storage, processing, burning, and trading commodities simply to boil water. The cost of the electricity produced through Geo is not based on markets.

Energy Independence? Every airport and every domestic military base could produce its own power and power its neighbors. Plants situated on public lands (even Interstate rights-of-way) could provide most of our needs. And don't let Halliburton, Exxon, BP or any of the others to tell you, "It's too deep" ... they drill to the required depths regularly. Can't the drilling cause earthquakes? Think about highway and subway tunnels, aqueducts and ... oil and gas wells all over the world.

There is no, one alternative for our energy needs, but for regional/base electrical power supply, there is none better than Geo.

Please pass along my comments, if you would, and see http://thnktnk.net/drill.html (for references) and/or http://thnktnk.net/RachelMaddow.html (policy).

Praise Geo,

50 Years Ago

2015-07-11T14:24:00.003-07:00

Reflecting on my 50- & 49-year-ago rides, 1968 graduation and those gathered yesterday to watch this year's Little 500 bike race (:-(postponed), I was the oldest person in the bar. The second oldest graduated in 1978. Everyone else was from 2005 or later.

Then I tried to think what "50 years ago" meant to me when I rode in that race ... 50 years ago was 1915! Pre-WW ONE! OMG! THAT, then (and now!) was really OLD! It's humbling to imagine what the 2014 grad thought of 1965!

An aspect of "perception of age" I hadn't considered much -- that continually changes it dramatically -- is the spectacular increase in communications tools. How has perception of history -- and age -- changed because of electricity (widespread use, of course), cameras = photographs, movies, airplanes, transportation (cars, manufacturing tech., diesel, trucks, paved highways, interstates ...), tertiary education, records, radio, printing technology (magazines, newspapers with pictures), television, computers, copiers, satellite communications, magnetic tape, email, internet, cable, gps .... ?

DCCC: Outraged yet?

2015-07-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

I'm outraged that the DCCC would consider this as a marketing ploy. The pay of professional athletes is ENTIRELY marketing-related. The Yankees pay based on the draw an athlete creates. Period. The women's soccer team was extraordinary ... so were the performances of our Olympic athletes. Meanwhile, world soccer is very much like baseball in the US. Players get paid for their ability to draw an audience, the corporation to receive the benefit and to write a paycheck. Nothing to do with equal pay for equal effort.

Democrats 2016 wrote on 7/10/2015 11:06 AM:
> Politico: Women's World Cup team paid nearly 40 times less than men
>
> Outraged yet?
>
> If you believe women across America should get equal pay for equal work, sign your name to demand Congress close the pay gap.
>
> NAME: Carl Lashua
> Petition Signature: SIGN ON >>
>

Post Millenial Dictionary

2015-06-22T07:15:00.002-07:00

caught pron. caw as in "fish caw along the river"
didn't pron did'ent' as in "he did'ent' see me"
that pron tha' as in "tha' he caw... "

Note to nrg

2015-06-09T15:01:00.003-07:00

In the long run .. where you imply nrg is interested ... I hope you have investigated and invest in geothermal electricity production. Geothermal electricity production is the most reliable, has the least environmental impact and produces the least CO2 and methane compared to any fossil fuel production system and the so-called "alternatives" -- including solar electric. Over its production lifetime, it is also the least costly (!). see http://thnktnk.net/drill.html references.

Commodities trading and using production facilities in place -- regardless of their environmental impact -- is much more profitable today than investing in environmentally "friendly" electricity facilities. As long as there is no fair cost penalty for polluting the atmosphere, using commodities makes economic sense. So did slavery.

What's missing? Research. Yeah, you can find heat enough along the earth's faults and its volcanic resources. But, the missing link is investment in research into deep drilling and generation. "There is unlimited energy less than 10 miles from everywhere on earth." Now, go get it. You want a 30-year investment with millennial returns? Figure out how to put the generation where the heat is and pump electrons to the grid ... free for life. I do go on.
vlashua@thinktnk.ne

When are we going to get it?

2015-04-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

It infuriates me to see 60 minutes making every other nation's space efforts, including satellite and rendezvous launches to create an atmosphere of threat. Why are our space telecommunications and gps systems run by the military rather than NASA? We're creating as much a threat as any other nation.

Why can't we or won't we create a cooperative agreement on the use of space? We had one in 1967 ... sort of and supposedly. Just like all our other international agreements. OMG, it's THEM ... THEY'RE the problem! We continue to be our own worst enemy ... and an excuse to create more havoc so we can "fight" it.

When are we going to get it? The Earth is a limited resource. And human activity is its worst enemy. We CAN do something -- together. Let's get started instead of "protecting ourselves" against THEM. THEY are US.

A Neglected Piece of the Answer

2015-04-14T20:03:00.003-07:00

As many environmental leaders have said, there is no silver bullet to eliminate human civilization-sourced carbon emission -- but there are silver buckshot. Besides saving birds and environmentalism, solar rooftops and ugly windmills, one overlooked, underplayed and misunderstood silver buckshot is the heat of the earth itself.

Electricity, by its nature, is "non-polluting". Electricity can power practically all civilization's power-needy tasks for food production and preparation, manufacturing, heating, cooling, light, transport and transportation -- at virtually any scale.

Creating steam and spinning a turbine generator is how we produce most electricity. Fossil- and nuclear-fueled regional power plants as well as deep geothermal ones use the same conceptual plant design. Unlike the others, however, geothermal depends on a non-polluting & unlimited "commodity" -- constant & uninterruptible heat -- that lies within 10 miles of everywhere on Earth.

After it's built, a geothermal plant sits directly above its source of power (and in some design models, at its depth). Geothermal electricity production requires no negative externalities -- commodity mining, refining, storage, transport, carbon pollution and waste and the infrastructure to support them. None! Geothermal already works beautifully where the heat's close to the surface.

The biggest barrier to developing geothermal in a market economy, of course, is blind acceptance of pricing, trading and using commodities without consideration for their negative impacts on the climate. Returns from fair pricing and elimination of subsidies to the commodities industries themselves could easily finance required research & engineering. Over the next 30 years, sourcing and applying geothermal -- would eliminate dramatically more carbon than most other silver buckshot.

Carbon Capture, Jonathan Franzen

2015-04-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

AAlready, a day after my 4/6 NYer print issue arrived, some of the self-promoting, climate progressives are spewing their usual, egotistical right words -- and mocking Franzen's. As Andy Revkin has said, and Franzen echoes, there is no silver bullet -- but maybe some silver buckshot. Besides saving birds and environmentalism, solar rooftops and ugly windmills, one overlooked, underplayed and misunderstood silver bb is the heat of the earth itself. My passion focuses especially on geothermal electricity generation.

See next post ...

"Vaccines cause autism" ??

2015-02-08T10:17:00.001-08:00

US population: 1960, 183million; 2015, 316million.
World population: 1960, 3billion; 2012, 7billion!!

Is it appropriate to say vaccines are responsible for radical population growth?! Drug companies had no autism drugs to sell in 1960 ... now they have dozens!!
Inflate The Rate, Bayer, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Novartis ... and sell more drugs!! More Autism! More Anxiety! More Depression! ... more drugs, more profit!!

PS: while we're on the subject, every living entity on earth is a GMO. (Do us breeders select mates or go random?) (Do the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike select the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike? or not?)

We are the products of our lineage and choices, whether evolutionary, educational, locational, environmental or dietary--including consumption of food encouraged to change by "genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology". (Is food from a garden, a pasture or a cultivated farm field--as opposed to that hunted & gathered--considered GMO?)

Faith-inspired Murder ... Where do we go from here?

2015-01-15T05:57:00.000-08:00

Thanks for ***this***, Andrew. It seems very thorough, raises many interesting issues and inevitably invites some questioning and discussion.

The most difficult problem is bringing people of religion together to discuss, reflect and make positive change based on the issues raised. As with political, nationalistic and all other believers, those who are most willing to discuss are not those who must (in my humble opinion) reflect, compromise and/or change the nature of their beliefs to the benefit of all humanity. Maybe the UN should take it up with the central authority of each religion ... who's that?!.

Why, it's God, of course, and a subcommittee of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Mother Nature.

Who Votes & Why?

2015-01-13T11:15:00.003-08:00

The ***Pew study*** is yet another statement in the case for laws requiring citizens to vote.

We share the cost of elections and the price of ignorance only so that the candidate with the most money can win. Isn't it about time we made voting mandatory -- and imposed restrictions on candidate financing?

Laws should mandate that all citizens vote in federal, state(?) and local(?) elections with some sort of penalty, tax and/or reward*. All citizens should be required to go to the polls in order to create an accurate vote distribution. Not showing up shows only ignorance or laziness of the voter. A blank ballot or no vote in a particular race says something.

A 51% vote with 48% turnout (the last election) is 24% -- less than half a majority. We should report the reality.

____
*that could be a tax rebate or cancellation, eg, you're taxed. If you vote, it's cancelled. Or if you miss voting three elections in a row, you become an illegal alien.

Margaret Yonco-Haines wrote on 1/10/2015 1:38 PM:

> The result of this Pew study isn’t surprising but the data speaks volumes.
> I don’t know how to solve this one but we’ve got to try to push it back at > the edges.

> > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/08/financial-security-poll_n_6436938.html

> > Margaret

Undertaken, Sadya Lashua, 2003

2015-01-02T13:22:00.001-08:00

Undertaken

God, An Essay ...

2014-12-22T13:33:00.001-08:00

.... [from a facebook message]

"... God of the Old Testament picked His chosen people jealously and chastised them with a one track mind, so to speak, to respond obediently to His commandments. He chastised them brutally sometimes always preserving His remnant. I think the heathen who were to suffer by "rod and prod" had no knowledge of the "One God" God and thus had opportunity to have that awareness imparted to them when they had come to the utter limits of their spiritual resources and have the opportunity to relate to a God above all of their gods."

It simply illustrates the arrogance and egotistical nature of any religion. "Mine is the One". God and gods are simply myth objects that are used to communicate principles of the tribe -- and often to benefit its promulgators & leaders. Humanity are all "God"'s chosen people. A jealous god would seem to be a pitiful god. The laws of the universe are "God", way beyond our control or comprehension. Our beautiful species, like any other, simply exists because of those laws. Because of our extraordinary ability to use our environment, use tools and intelligence to communicate, convince and control others, some of us have taken advantage at the expense of others. [to be continued]

Young voices ... come visit

2014-10-11T09:13:00.001-07:00

World Peace? Carbon Reduction? End slavery.

2014-09-22T15:22:00.003-07:00

Women are slaves to an old model, men are convinced that the model still works and who'd wanna change it anyway? Men hunt, gather & provide sperm and women are their slaves ... cook the food, tend the garden, have the kids, make the home where we can provide the sperm. We've created a wonderful world, eh?

When we first became human, our model was our ancestors'. Males hunted & gathered and protected the food and females from other males -- because we couldn't have children and didn't carry the burden. We came home, lived in tribes and made up myth and religion to reinforce the model, part of which is "we're better than the other guys" whoever that happens to be, and "we'll show them if they don't believe it."

We invented weapons & money, so our success could be measured and enforced somewhere besides at home. Once in a while a Cleopatra or Elizabeth came along, filled a male role but didn't change a thing. Where are the medicine women? The chiefs?

Today in our more open world, we just put (or let) a few women in combat to show how inclusive we guys are, and the women come along. ("combat" being MBAs, soldiers, pilots, a few legislators, governors, cabinet ministers and workers in the street department.)

World Peace? Carbon reduction? Nah, the profit's too good in the Warmongers Industrial Complex (formerly the Defense ...). We can't let down our defenses. We're better than they are. We deserve to profit. After all aren't we a democracy?

Fossil fuels are not "energy". They are produced for profit by the Commodities Industrial Complex. They're not going to stop being sold for profit unless the slaves revolt. But don't they provide defense, helping to eliminate ISIS, ending disease, poverty and starvation?. No ... they create profit.

We guys aren't going to change. How about a slave revolt and a change in the model? Who makes the weapons? Who uses them? Who decides "on what"? Who profits from them? Us guys.

So who's gonna change it? Certainly not King CONG (coal, oil, nukes, gas). It's those of us who want to take advantage of our slaves and end slavery. Wait a minute. Doesn't that mean we guys have to do something, too? OMG.

Socialist disaster, France ... response to email from a friend

2014-09-02T06:54:00.001-07:00

Check out A Short History of Progress for a great perspective on the inevitable failure of humans throughout the ages to organize into societies. Seems to me we've got maybe a couple of decades to figure out how our population, our egotistical organizational skills and our impacts on the earth enable "human society". Religion certainly hasn't helped! (except "ours", of course).

Yes, France is in fiscal crisis like everywhere else except Canada (according to the attached video), perhaps. I was in France last year, and it was wonderful ... I guess I wasn't watching the right news. If only the media spent more time illustrating the good that is/could be done instead of whipping up advertising dollars by blaming "those people" via sensational, misleading and self-serving yak! Seems like we like cage-match fighting better than Nature.

"... critics of federal social programs sound an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather than work. ... more than 90 percent of the benefit dollars that entitlement and other mandatory programs spend go to assist people who are elderly, seriously disabled, or members of working households — NOT TO able-bodied, working-age Americans who choose not to work. This figure has changed little in the past few years."[source]

National Defense, now 20% of our federal spending, would be best spent on healthcare, education, infrastructure (including heavy research into geothermal power, of course), ... empowering families, making friends instead of enemies.

20% of the US budget goes to "Defense"
34% of the US budget goes to Entitlement Spending
90% of that goes to Elederly, Disabled, or Working Households
30% of that includes Social Security, supposedly a self-financed program
3.5% of the US budget goes to veterans' benefits.

PS: don't forget that American population has gone from 191 to 316 million since 1964. US tax rates are the lowest today since then.

The above was written BY AN AMERICAN! ... ME!

========================================
Vane Lashua, 369 Main Street #65, Beacon, NY 12508
845-337-9435 | http://thnktnk.net | vlashua@thnktnk.net

a distant cousin, classmate & friend wrote:

> Having just returned from France, it is sad to see what is happening there. Even sadder is the similar trajectory of our country.. Until the last five years, I always believed that the European socialist welfare states would go broke in time for us to wake up and reverse course to prevent our economic demise; however, we have caught up at astonishing speed and may beat them over the fiscal cliff.

>
> Subject: The French way - Every American needs to see this (WRITTEN BY A FRENCHMAN!!!!!!!)
> From: Bernd
> This is a very educational video.
>
> A teachable moment. Please listen to this and share with your friends. Trouble is, 60% of our population won't know anything is wrong until a bomb
>
> goes of in their back yard.
>
> Every American should review this video on France.
>
> http://www.cbn.com/tv/3255110732001

Defense = $600,000,000,000. Peace = $10,000,000,000

2014-08-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

perhaps investment is a better response to violence than violence. Offer the first 100,000 fighters to surrender their arms and themselves a bond worth $10,000. (or ?) Much less costly than flying an f-22 at $15-40,000 per hour. Where are our capitalist friends when we need them? Just selling bombs and planes and bribing our Congress? original, now edited, to roundtable@wamc.org