What we want to hear.
1. Surplus! Talk of the notion of surplus, rather than mere budget-balancing. Deficits, and national and foreign debt, are matters of more than statistics. They are barometers of a nation’s self-confidence, its mood and self-image. Percentages of GDP may be the real indicator of debt, but in practical terms Americans think in terms of dollars owed. So we need a candidate not only to outline a balanced budget, but one of surplus that will pay down the debt as well, and by spending cuts rather than tax increases. Do that and much of the American malaise will disappear. Economists might shudder, but imagine no annual deficit, a national surplus of $1 trillion or so, the Social Security Trust Fund in Al Gore’s lockbox, $10 trillion in foreign bonds held by US interests, a dollar at a Euro (yes, we know the trade difficulties that would accrue), and gold at about $300 an ounce.
2. Close the borders. No need now to fight about amnesty, guest workers, deportation, assimilation, etc. All these key issues loom in the future. For now simply reduce the number of illegal arrivals to zero—through border fencing, more patrolling and manpower, employer sanctions, and stern negotiations with Mexico. Then as we squabble and fight, the number of foreign nationals or those not assimilated will begin to shrink in a variety of ways—once it is not growing. We need to take step one, rather than bicker over steps five and six. Who knows—we might just see many state treasuries miraculously recover, and thereby be spared the mantra that illegal aliens ‘really’ are a budget plus for states?
3. Iraq. Explain Iraq in blunt terms—that the first war against Saddam was won, but the second, more important one against radical Islam is still being won in the heart of the caliphate. Here Americans wish to know how many of the enemy we’ve killed, the degree to which other nations have stopped nuclear proliferation (cf. Libya or Dr. Khan), and the degree to which bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing have lost popularity. We need to explain to the American people how the tactical success of the surge translates to strategic victory, in the way stabilizing Korea, for example, allowed the powers of capitalism and constitutional government to be unleashed in the south and eventually to make a mockery of the fossilized north. If we can stabilize Iraq, its government and economy might do the same vis a vis Iran or Syria. In any case, we need some strategic vision of what Iraq is supposed to look like in five years and our role in it. A viable prosperous free Iraq is the worst nightmare of al Qaeda—but why and how needs to articulated daily.
4. Race. No more “conversations on race” but simply an end to identity politics. Americans are worn out with racial tribalism. The post-racial candidate Obama recently posed with Bill Richardson to gain a “Latino” endorsement, on the hope apparently that just as African-Americans are supposedly voting 90% for Obama, Hispanics might do likewise on Richardson’s prompt. But the scene was Orwellian. Both Obama and Richardson are elites of mixed ancestry and they just as well might have argued that they were “white” candidates. When either one claims fides to one side of their heritage, they implicitly reject the other. I can’t believe that a naturalized citizen from Oaxaca would vote for the grandee Obama because the grandee Richardson claimed that as an authentic Latino of similar background and perspective he should. And if he were to do that, then we are simply a tribal nation after all.
5. Taxes. Some simplification of the tax code. Americans can’t figure out their taxes. When in their 50s some of them finally make good money, more than 50% go to taxes while they are demonized as “the wealthy”—even as the mega-wealthy either pay on “income” as capital gains at 20%, or are so embedded in corporations that their expenses are taken care of as business deductions. In America, the couple that makes between $150,000-500,000 carries the country and gets less relief than the really well-to-do, but just as much grief and envy from the less well off. Some sort of flat-tax, simple-form is critical to our survival as a nation (I confess I just filled out my taxes and found it much harder than reading the choruses of Aeschylus).
6. Fuel. We don’t need to be “energy independent”—as opposed to cutting our appetite for imported oil by 5-6 million barrels per day. We have the world’s largest coal reserves. There are still a million or two barrels a day to be captured off our coasts and in Alaska. If every other family were to have a second electric commute car plugged into a nuclear-powered electric grid, we could easily accomplish all that rather quickly—until we arrive in 20 years at the so-called big rock candy mountain of hydrogen, flex-fuels, sustainable ethanols, etc. At $108 a barrel Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez and the Middle East kleptocracies have the cash to cause us great trouble abroad, at $40 they are merely thugs. Would it help if someone said, “Ok, either drill in Anwar, or cut sales of SUVs by 10% per year,” or “Drill off the coast and build nuclear power plants, or have gas at over $5 a gallon—your choice”?
7. Colleges. We need more transparency in our universities. Why do tax-exempt private institutions use their funds largely to enrich an elite rather than to subsidize student tuitions? Universities avoid taxes, but as non-profits don’t use that saving to help those for whom they exist, but rather spend their fortunes more often subsidizing faculty and administrators. They are no different than those scandalous charities who exist for their apparat. How universities have been able to up their tuitions consistently above the rate of inflation, while exploiting part-time, poorly paid contractual faculty, and masquerading all the while as liberal institutions are among the great mysteries of the modern age. Yet any inquiry into the labyrinth of identity politics, racial quotas, the absence of intellectual diversity or the problems with tenure are met by charges of “McCarthyism” or worse. American universities are rated the world’s best only because of our sciences and engineering—and thus despite, not because of, our failed liberal arts curriculum
8. Health Care. Simply mandate, as in the case of car insurance, that everyone buy catastrophic health care plans, and use health saving accounts for everything else. When we go to K-Mart and see a sign that says “Strep Diagnosis and antibiotics—$50” or ”Check our rates for heart exam and medication” and expect to pay cash up-front out of our saving accounts, while reserving insurance for emergencies and major illnesses, the price of health care will plunge and the patient will become an adult again—rather than rushing to the emergency room at 3AM with the “flu” and no insurance, and less ability or willingness to pay. As someone who has been in emergency rooms four times the last five years for either kidney stones or broken bones, two facts I discovered: more than half don’t have health insurance, and 100% had cell phones, the costs of which per month would nearly pay for catastrophic medical plans. Americans for some reason are outraged that they might pay $3000 in health or drug uninsured costs per year, but hardly object to an extra $2000 in moon roof, rims, or GPS on their new cars. We are Hillary’s proverbial “nation uninsured” with plasma TVs and 4×4 trucks.
9. Infrastructure. The objections to government spending revolve around redistribution, not construction. We need a slash in entitlements and more investment in bigger, better, and more roads, rails, and airports. A highway 101 (note I don’t call it a freeway yet after a half-century, given its suicidal cross-traffic breaks) is a cruel joke. In California, there are still only two major winter routes in and out of the state on an east-west axis. Driving a highway 152 or 41 east-west is circa 1955. Most of our Sierra roadways are wonderful up to the crest, where they suddenly stop in their tracks or devolve into pot-holed paved cattle trails—on the apparent assumption there is not ecological damage driving up the western slope, but would be plenty descending the eastern (or that our forefathers were scoundrels that gave us these beautiful roads to the summit, but we are saints for using them and offering nothing of improvement to our children to get over the other side).
10. National Security. Talk honesty about terror and national security. Why can’t a candidate say—“We will monitor what we think are terrorist calls routed through the US. So do you think this is right, or an abject violation of your privacy?” And instead of “Close Down Gitmo!”, one might say, “We prefer to have about 400 Padilla-like trials instead”. Or we could say, “No water boarding and we will take our chances that what damage a terrorist might do is overshadowed by the damage we will do to our reputation.” I don’t think Americans quite know what they want, but they are very tired of being told the question is black/white, win/lose rather than a mess where each answer poses another question. Treat us like adults, and let the public back a candidate who apprises them of the costs and benefits and risks, instead of either mouthing “police state!” or “a nuke will go off!”
Digg This
del.icio.us
PJM Home
Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
Mexifornia : A State of a Becoming
Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq
The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece (Paperback)
Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Smithsonian History of Warfare) (Paperback)
Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom
Fields Without Dreams : Defending the Agrarian Ideal (Paperback)
The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny
The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Paperback)
27 Comments
Trudy B. Taylor:all very good points. eight of which are of immediate importance. mccain has been given a goodly amount of talking space, due to the feud between obama and clinton, in which to begin to convince the american populace he understands the big picture.
i wish mccain was a better orator, as the sheer number of problems may overwhelm us. his trip to iraq was the right start. now we need a couple of hard hitting policy speeches. his campaign wizards need to get crackin’!
Mar 26, 2008 - 4:44 pm Ron Kean:Dear Professor,
Hillary, Barry, and John (sounds like a 70’s song) must be nuts not to have you on the payroll.
Mar 26, 2008 - 7:32 pm Consul-At-Arms:I’ve quoted you and linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2008/03/re-ten-things-candidate-might-promise.html
Mar 26, 2008 - 11:22 pm jdg:Government spending is a systemic problem. Even with a GOP majority in both the house and senate and in the presidency, spending increased. Plus, the government is forcing much of the private sector to perform government by proxy. Consider the functions of the HR department for example or the role of CPA’s. The vast bureaucracy in the private sector required to deal with the vast bureaucracy in the public sector has a very real cost, too, including creating powerful barriers to entry for small businesses.
Perhaps we need a Constitutional amendment that constrains government spending as a percentage of GDP, unless two thirds of the congress and the president agree for temporary increases (say in time of war).
Mar 27, 2008 - 1:13 am JDW:Well done, Dr. Hanson. One through eight are great, 9-10 are spot on, but the arguments are weak. The difficulties stem from the fact that government and politicians see themselves as the solutions to the problems, rather than trusting in our free-market, capitalist/entrepreneurial system. Remove government regulation, tax incentives/penalties, and government programs/spending from the equation and all of these problems will solve themselves in a profit versus cost solution. Reagan was right, government is the problem, not the solution!
Mar 27, 2008 - 8:26 am Greg Turner:I find myself thinking, our country will never slip into tyranny because we have too many right-thinking patriots that would never let it happen. And then I snap back to the reality of the insidious, slow creep of liberal socialism, the entitlement mentality it puts forth, political double-speak and the insatiable lust for political power. Dr. Hanson, your candidates top ten outlined here should become the solemn promise of the candidate who desires measurable, deliverable change for the good of our great land. I would call it “The Candidates Ten Commandments - Not Suggestions”
I would add one small caveat to “The Healthcare Commandment.” We don’t have a healthcare crisis in America, we have a disease prevention crisis in America. Over 4000 published studies in the medical literature outline the clinically significant benefits of eating 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. We’ve known for some time that eating your fruits and vegetables was a good idea but we didn’t know why. Just in the past 15 years has the medical community published a vast amount of findings that show a 40-70% reduction in risk for heart disease, stroke, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, DNA damage, immune system damage, macular degeneration and the list goes on and on due to the diseass prevention power of fruits and vegetables. The answer to our so called healthcare crisis really must include this simple solution. The USDA’s “5 a Day” campaign is a dismal failure increasing daily consumption from 1 to 2 servings in the past 5 years. The science of nutrition with fruits and vegetables is clear; Eat 5 to 9 servings per day or suffer (preventable) sickness and disease.
Hillary and Obama propose a tax based entitlement to give govt. health insurance to millions of Americans that simply don’t take care of themselves at the most basic level… disease prevention. The beauracracy and tax burden this would create will rival the Dept. of Defense budget and Dept. of Education budget in expenditures and waste. Just look at how the American education system is currently performing with our tax dollars. I’ll vote for the “The Candidates Ten Commandments - Not Suggestions” and advocate that they stay just this simple.
Mar 27, 2008 - 11:01 am Teri Pittman:I would like to see one more: stop calling for more education. We really don’t need to spend more time sitting on our asses in college. We need to find a way to encourage business to train their own workers. If you need training for a job, do you want it from some teacher who’s never worked in private industry or do you want it from the folks who need you to be able to do the work? Look at apprenticeships. Those are training classes that really prepare you to do a job right. Community colleges are slow to respond to develop programs that businesses need.
Mar 27, 2008 - 11:12 am Ken:Since you agree that dept to GDP ratio is a better indicator of dept, why would you want to sacrifice revenue that could be spent on growing the economy to achieve what is basically a national pat on the back? Especially if it means hurting our manufacturing sector. And why would cheap gold be a a benefit to anyone?
Also, how could the border be closed in such a way as to reduce immigration to zero? I mean, people manage to move in and out of North Korea illegally, and their border is pretty well defended. Lets talk in realistic terms, shall we?
While we are at it, I’m all for a simples tax code, but saying that Americans cant figure out their taxes is disingenuous. We’ve all heard of TurboTax.
Mar 27, 2008 - 12:39 pm Mike Lion:Every time the government runs a surplus over a period of years, it’s followed by a recession. This goes back to 1837. Check it out.
Mar 27, 2008 - 12:58 pm Dave Begley -Omaha:3. I disagree. The smartest thing the DOD did was not to release enemy body counts. That falls into a media trap.
6. The CEO of Andarko Petro. said that 66% of our Gulf Coast is off-limits for drilling. That’s nuts.
7. Cf. Harvard’s $35B endowment vs. Creighton’s puny (but hard-earned) $350-500M.
I know for a fact that at least Creighton University spends a great amount of its endowment on student financial aid. Creighton, and other Jesuit schools, exist for the education of students and the students are the number one focus.
Also, compare Creighton’s cost - both before and after grants - to that of the “elite” private schools and the local public universities.
8. People have been conditioned to have third parties pay for their health care and therefore they don’t value their most impt asset: their own health.
10. Sen. Obama taught constitutional law at the elite Univ. of Chicago. But his position is that the Commander-in-Chief doesn’t have the constitutional authority to intercept enemy signals.
He’s no Lincoln.
Mar 27, 2008 - 1:46 pm Jack Brennan:I almost totally agree with all your “common sense” opinions on Politacal matters backed up by very fine Histoical examples. You are an American Treasure.
I would like you to think about adding one other category.
The COST of CRIME.
My nephew is a Sergeant on the Phoenix Police Dep. He had to scramble a Hostage Crises force to a call in the desert outside Phoenix. A drunken illegal alien was going to kill his wife, his three children and his mother with a shotgun. Helicopters, Ambulance and specially trained police responded. The drunken man gave up his gun after an Officer talked him into surrendering.
I asked my nephew what the 1 hour Hostage Crises might cost.
He said that a study had been made of this incident; it had cost $65,000.00.
Crime, Legal & Court Costs and Incarceration Costs must be a tremendous drag on our Economy; it is a tremendous cost to the Taxpayer.
What realistically can be done to make a permanent cut in Crime Rates?
Mar 27, 2008 - 5:08 pm Anonymous:Of course, I don’t ALWAYS agree with VDH. On health insurance, for example, I disagree that everyone should be required to purchase catastrophic coverage insurance. The analogy to car insurance is invalid: you don’t have to buy insurance unless you own a car. The pretext for mandating that everyone buy catastrophic health insurance would be — what? Having a pulse?
And this will be enforced how? Younger drivers are much more cavalier about keeping their car insurance up than older drivers. Sure, most younger drivers pay their premiums, but if you’re going to find lapsed insurance, it will be among the young. Surprise — it’s that way with health insurance too. Merely mandating its purchase won’t result in everyone being insured; and it’s the same people who aren’t insured now who won’t be insured under a mandate.
The real reform needed in health care is reducing the regulation that plagues it today, and is responsible for its high cost. Part of that regulation is not allowing people to buy insurance out of state, but the biggest part by far is the cost-sharing forced on the system by state regulations and public insurance programs. Procedures cost so much for the privately insured because the unrecouped costs of treating the government “insured” are effectively being recouped in the prices for the paying patients.
We are already paying for our neighbors’ health care today. That’s why it costs so much for each of us who carry private insurance. Until the cost-sharing regulated into the system is eliminated, costs will not go down.
Mar 27, 2008 - 7:07 pm Jimmy J.:I like your ideas. They are concrete and provide a start toward action that can lead to solutions.
As for a conversation on race, how can we have one when the followers of Reverend Wright and others of the same bent do not want to integrate and join our culture. We’ve turned this country upside down and inside out trying to make things fair and level the playing field. (Equal Rights, affirmative action, busing, equal housing, etc.)
But if a caucasian mentions that the African Americans are not taking advantage of all that is offered, ala Bill Cosby or Thomas Sowell, that person is immediately branded a racist and told to shut up.
As you say, we can build nuclear plants, clean coal plants, drill where we still have oil (ANWR, offshore), and liquefy coal for diesel and jet fuel. In ten years we could be in control of our energy destiny. The transition car between now and the future (hydrogen or ??) is likely to be the high mpg diesel. Just saw results of a test run between a high mpg diesel BMW and a Prius. The BMW bested the Prius by 1 mpg. The BMW is off the shelf technology and there is no battery to replace or dispose of.
I hope McCain and company or whoever is elected take advantage of your ideas.
Mar 27, 2008 - 9:51 pm J.E. Dyer:Hey, my bad. I’m the “Anonymous” with the comments from the 27th on health care insurance. Forgot to fill in the blanks. Wasn’t trying to make anonymous comments.
Mar 28, 2008 - 2:08 pm Gerald Arcuri:Great start to the list. Let’s add a few more: 11. Eliminate farm subsidies for growing corn destined for ethanol production. 12. Eliminate earmarks. Period. 13. Eliminate the tax-exempt status of churches whose pastors use the pulpit primarily for political campaigning 14. Eliminate ethnic studies departments at all state-funded universities. 15. Require all trucks and SUVs to use the slow lane on all multi-lane roads. The slower speeds would reduce their fuel consumption, allow others to actually see the road in front of them, and perhaps frustrate SUV owners to the point that they make somewhat more rational vehicle choices in the future. 16. Reinstitute the draft. 17. - 50. ENFORCE THE BORDERS OF THIS COUNTRY.
Mar 28, 2008 - 3:49 pm William:All the arguments are cogent and reasonable. That, of course, is the problem. Reason has as little to do with how politicians think and vote as it does in Wonderland. Politicians at every level have a propensity to mouth slogans, think money and how to get more, and are in an “off with their heads” mindset. If there were accountability (and the vote has lost that ability) then these arguments and solutions would be carefully considered and implemented.
Here, in California, the politicians have not even a shred of concern for reckless spending and what it is doing to those of us who watch and marvel at the inanity that is so willingly displayed by those who sit in comfort and security at the Capitol. The speaker, finding his scheme to remain in office trashed, is now handing out platinum parachutes to his sycophants. What is so befuddling is how these slicksters can be elected and re-elected. Perhaps the adage that the populace gets the government it deserves is both accurate and immutable.
If one could see improvements in the legislative process both in how problems are prioritized and solved then cynicism might dissolve instead of hardening into the breccia that our ancestor’s bones lie in.
Mar 28, 2008 - 5:58 pm DD:On the Close the Borders section, have you considered that up to 40% of undocumented immigrants overstay their visas? What do you suggest? Closing the airports as well?
Mar 28, 2008 - 6:02 pm Trudy B. Taylor:On Mexican migrants, maybe you should consider that the rate of undocumented migration shot up after Mexican officials signed NAFTA, which provides for the “freest trade” terms in the globe. Hmm, stern negotiations don’t look like the way out. Besides, are you prepared to pay $25 for a head of American-picked lettuce?
ken: cheaper gold is an indicator that the dollar is stronger. aside from the old guys who tend to think that a weaker dollar is a good thing across the board because it boosts our exports and tamps down rampant importing, there are plenty of reasons why we dont want the dollar to fall precipitously.
anonymous-j.e. dyer: the idea behind carrying catastrophic health insurance( along with having a health savings account), at least while in one’s 20’s and 30’s is this; if one doesnt smoke and eats and moves around relatively heathtily then any med problems can probably be covered with savings set aside by a working person just for that purpose (health savings account). but a really big event, like an accident or a diagnosis of,say, hodgkin’s disease, would entail having a catastrophic policy. it is indeed like our states requirements that one may or may not carry ins for their own vehicle but must carry ins to cover damage they do to another’s vehicle.
many of the entry level jobs that gen x’ers and milleneum babies need are strapped down with costly med ins programs that impede the numbers of employees a small to mid size business can hire. the catastrophic policies are much cheaper, im told, because of their lower occurrence resulting in less overall cost.
the original “cost sharing” inherent in any kind of ins is why it is possible to be covered by ins. one cant do away with it.
hey, it’s worth a try.
Mar 29, 2008 - 7:38 am Sue:I agree with your 10 points. However,I for one want to see American politicians held to a budget just like the average American. BUT NO overdraft protection. Actually, No overdrafts permitted at all! No more earmarks; no more keeping the campaign money for your own use; no more special treatment for the politician, their family, friends, neighbors, business associates,lobbyist pals and girl/boy friends,etc. Strictly a cash pay as you go system. Watch all hell break loose.
Mar 29, 2008 - 8:26 am David K.:Let me get this straight. The leftish view is that blacks, Islamic terrorists, and others can be excused for crude, barbaric, or morally offensive behavior because they have special and unique circumstances– a “context”–yet whites, Christendom, the West must follow high norms of rationality, sympathy, tolerance…that is, conventional civilized behavior because it is the “right thing” to do. They get a kind of pass or indulgence for past ill treatment.
But, if norms are not universal, if all is relative and there is no commonality of shared mutual obligation, then why can’t “we” assert that we have the power to do and feel as we want which may include ignoring them, squashing them, or pursuing total self-interest or even aggressive exploitation?
Can and should they have it both ways? Seems to me that the left’s logic is only suitable for your average 4th grader.
Mar 29, 2008 - 8:41 am A.W. Murphy, MSgt,USAF (Ret):Excellent list – the only thing I would add is Global Warming. We have spent the past 10 to 15 years hearing activist largely unopposed tell us the world is in crisis and it’s our fault. Well-meaning people who held opposition viewpoints are shunned as heretics and knaves.
The key argument made in support of global warming theory is the measured rise in CO2 emissions resulting from our dependence on carbon based fuels. Even humans and animals contribute to the sum so everything is suddenly evil.
The counter-argument is difficult to make because alarmism is always more fun than common sense. Scientist who actually have degrees in and study the weather for a living don’t seem to be panicking like the activist and their political mentors.
One helpful point; Back in the 70’s during the Watergate era one of the players called Deep Throat told reporters Woodward and Bernstein to, “follow the money.” Graft that advice onto both sides of the global warming debate and you’ll suddenly see that most, if not all, of the pro-GW activist receive incredible sums of money from government grants and companies with a financial interest in proving that GW is in fact true.
This dovetails into your point about nuclear power. The cleanest and most abundant source of electricity and yet the earth-first crowd says NO. Indeed, years ago one of their bright lights was quoted as saying that unlimited, cheap and easily produced energy was an awful thing because people are largely children and would abuse it.
It is telling when you realize just how contemptuous the elitist in our society are of us ordinary people – anyone doubting the roots of fascism need only remember that such progressive thinking is the prevue of the chosen few.
These self-same elitist are largely anti-American, anti-capitalist and they feel compelled to apologize for America’s success – and, won’t be happy until we’re gone.
Mar 29, 2008 - 9:16 am Birt:“Besides, are you prepared to pay $25 for a head of American-picked lettuce?”
If that scenario means the restriction of billions of funds from America to Mexico via Mexicans with dual citizenships or transnational interests, and keeping those funds in the US to benefit our economic interests, I call that a fair trade-off. Or I could just choose to buy my lettuce locally…..
Mar 29, 2008 - 12:13 pm Minerva:Please keep it up. Your unwillingness to genuflect to Obama is getting the unquestioning Andrew Sullivan excitable!
Mar 29, 2008 - 3:14 pm Bowden Russell:DD:
If we can’t track the huge number of aliens who overstay their visas then we’re letting in too many of them.
We need to take a 10 year break on ALL immmigration till we sort out this mess.
A few should LEGALLY be allowed in, but they should agree to be micro-chipped and must abide by our laws, JUST LIKE I HAVE TO DO WHEN I VISIT ANOTHER NATION LIKE MEXICO.
Mar 29, 2008 - 5:13 pm gs:If the list were offered to me on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, I’d take it. Even better, it is a robust basis for discussion.
IMO we are in decline. Although the decline is neither inevitable nor irreversible, the country may deteriorate further before, heaven willing, there is a prospect of a turnaround. In the meantime, it is important to keep speaking out about what’s wrong and why–but perhaps it’s even more important to keep putting forth constructive proposals (and refute the demagogy and charlatanry that speak of ’solving problems’ and ‘meeting needs’).
Mar 30, 2008 - 7:25 pm Katherine Friend:Sgt. Murphy, you are SO right about the financial underpinnings of the global warming “racket.” If global warming did not exist, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, National Geographic Society and the other environmental groups would have to invent it. Otherwise, where would the grant money come from? Remember Zero Population Growth? The Coming Ice Age? “Earth Day?” Just when we think we have dodged an environmental bullet, another is ginned up!
Which brings to mind: I consider myself a much better environmentalist than Al Gore - the last time I flew, it was Coach, not Gulfstream. I drive a 10 year old car that gets more than 27 MPG and I no longer burden landfills with billions of water bottles, because I filter my own.
Sgt. Murphy is absolutely right. I have had it up to my eyebrows with hypocritical elitists who live like Oriental potentates and expect us working stiffs to carry the environmental load for the entire globe!
Mar 31, 2008 - 9:03 pm Jerry Brown:Forex article about AUD exchange rate
Apr 3, 2008 - 3:06 amhttp://audexchangerate.outblogger.com/note/13310/volatility-of-the-australian-dollar-aud.html
[URL=http://audexchangerate.outblogger.com/note/13310/volatility-of-the-australian-dollar-aud.html]AUD exchange rate[/URL]