Multiculturalism Kills, But What Is Left?

The British have officially celebrated St George’s Day since 1222. Their flag, the Union Jack, is the cross of St George and the cross of St Andrew which represents Scotland. But this holiday is now in suspended animation due to multiculturalism. This is very different than the diversity common in America where we all assimilate into the dominant culture but also preserve and honor our respective heritages. In fact, we even celebrate them, as a nation, in observations such as St Patrick’s Day or Columbus Day.

Many years ago I attended a lecture at Occidental College in Los Angeles (known for its former students Jack Kemp and Barack Obama). It started at 8:05 because in prior years a nearby railroad made too much noise at 8 pm. But when that train ended they decided to keep the 8:05 time because they felt that tradition has value in and of itself. I’ve spent years thinking about that statement as I have observed America deteriorate and feel strongly that they were right. Tradition has value in and of itself, and it binds us together and to our history.

Note: During a trip to the UK and due to its historical importance I went and stood on the spot where according to tradition St George slew the dragon. While most historians believe the dead dragon wasn’t literal but rather symbolic of the ending of Britain’s pagan past, the traditional story holds meaning and provides unity.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/663922/Anger-as-council-officials-say-UK-city-is-too-multicultural-to-celebrate-St-George-s-Day

Copyright 2016, Mark L. Bennett

Earth Day is Lenin’s Birthday

Today is Lenin’s birthday aka Earth Day. This is not a coincidence. Vaclav Klaus, former president of the Czech Republic, states it very clearly: “I see the current danger in environmentalism and especially in its strongest version, climate alarmism. My deep frustration has been exponentially growing in recent years by witnessing the fact that almost everything has already been said, that all rational arguments have been used, and that global-warming alarmism is still marching on…The largest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy, and prosperity at the end of the 20th and at the beginning of the 21st   century is no longer socialism…It is, instead, the ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous ideology of environmentalism.”

“In the past 150 years(at least since Marx), the socialists have been very effectively destroying human freedom under humane and compassionate slogans, such as caring for man, ensuring social equity, and fostering social welfare. The environmentalists are doing the same under equally noble-minded slogans, expressing concern about nature more than people. In both cases, the slogans have been (and still are) just a smokescreen. In both cases, the movements were (and are) completely about power, about the hegemony of the ‘chosen ones’ (as they see themselves) over the rest of us, about the imposition of the only correct worldview (their own), about the remodeling of the world.”

You need to understand your enemy to defeat them. Happy Lenin’s birthday!

Copyright 2016, Mark L. Bennett

Dead Trees Equal Exportable Wood Pellets

Wood pellets can be made from dead trees, limbs and sawdust. Wood pelleting machines come in all shapes and sizes including even portable ones for home use.

Global wood pellet production has grown from 2 million tonnes in 2000 to 25 million tonnes in 2014. Two million tonnes of that goes to Korea and Japan alone. Post Fukushima demand has soared, with South Korean demand planned to go from 0% of their power mix in 2012 to 10% by 2024. The Asian demand has prompted vast pellet production investments in British Columbia including even the conversion of a particle board factory into more profitable pellet production.

There’s no need to repeat our near daily conversations about the dying trees and those felled and lying on the ground for forest fire fuel. So I am asking everyone in our community to consider pellet production and get a process moving to make it happen. While I don’t want to sound vain I suggested this in my 11/16/15 Residential Waste Burning and in my 11/13/13 A Pioneer Biomass Plant. I believe that it’s an idea whose time has come.

Copyright 2016, Mark L. Bennett

Whose Economic Plan?

With the closure of the Buena Vista Biomass Plant coinciding with the supervisorial election, economic development is now a hotter topic than usual. Some in our community have gone as far as to blame the protracted General Plan approval process and implicating some our County Supervisors for the delay. At a recent candidate’s forum reported in the 4/15/16 Ledger Dispatch, Amber Rose Hoiska stated: “…there is no analysis of job creation…We need jobs… (and to attract) the right kind of businesses…” Frank Axe stated: “The current supervisors have a very narrow view of what is beneficial to the county…The big concern is for jobs…there is no long-term economic development plan…there is a…lack of planning.”

Either the article’s author, Marilyn Nutter, failed to mention or the candidates did not discuss the importance of keeping our freight railroad for which the Newman Ridge project or some other is essential. And while both candidates noted the need for more employment, they both had the attitude that economic development is like choosing between chocolate or vanilla ice cream. But Amador County already has timber, gold and other mineral resources. We have been blessed by a power higher than the economic development experts. Starting with what you have, rather than what you don’t have, contains common sense that this discussion seemed to lack. Try to explain to a starving Bangladeshi that we ignore our available resources and then decide to spend limited tax money (Frank Axe noted government grants) on economic development studies.

We all depend upon resources and products from elsewhere. And despite the sophistication of our economy we still basically trade for those goods with what we produce. But Amador isn’t producing, and that’s reflected in the anticipated one million dollar county budget shortfall. What if Texas turned its oil fields and refineries into bird sanctuaries, or Minnesota turned its iron ore mines into conservation easements? There’s an unwritten social contract here that shouldn’t be ignored.

As in all human endeavors, trend and fashion rule. I know of people in damp London, England who installed ceramic tile floors because that’s what the beautiful people in Los Angeles were doing. And I know of people in Los Angeles with new lathe and plaster walls because that has more prestige than drywall that doesn’t crack with every earthquake. So I ask: What does the term natural living really mean beside its politically expeditious usage?

Copyright 2016, Mark L. Bennett