Outside the Ivory Tower: Global Warming, Environmental Extremism & God

Many environmental extremists are hysterical about global warming to the point of calling insane those opposed to their dogma. They blame industrialization’s greenhouse gases for an allegedly warmer earth.

Their reasoning appears to be some sort of collective secular guilt for which they propose mass suffering by destroying our present way of life. But in reality the very environmental extremism policies they have implemented are a significantly larger contributor to greenhouse gases than industrialization.

Desertification, the process by which grasslands become deserts, reduces potential food supply and increases greenhouse gases more than industrialization. Grasslands, in the US, were normally full of buffalos and other herd animals. When they traveled through, even if there was little too eat, they fertilized as they walked and more importantly they trammeled the ground. Without the soil breaking under their hoofs the soil cannot retain moisture from the rainy season and bakes hard in the summer.

The next rainy season the water runs off the hardened soil and a desert begins. Prior to environmental extremism the wild animals were replaced with sheep and cattle herds grazing our Western “public lands”. The land was healthy, as Range Magazine has repeatedly shown, but environmental “science” said that the sheep and cattle were destroying the land.

Biologist Allan Savory was responsible for killing 40,000 African elephants to save the land before he realized that he was actually creating the deserts he was trying to prevent. Science often makes the presumption that they know better than what has been natural for countless millennia. To my mind this is humans thinking they are God. In this very scientific National Geographic video, Allan Savory makes a public confession. I found it straight forward and haunting.

I urge everyone to watch: http://

newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/06/how-cows-could-repair-the-world-allan-savory-at-ted/

Copyright 2013, Mark L. Bennett

Outside the Ivory Tower: 42 Roads Continued

Outside the Ivory Tower: 42 Roads Continued

At the end of October “42 Roads and the New Forest” was posted. It asked people to attend a Forest Service open house. Their plans have moved along and on 3/6/2013 another open house was held. I submitted the following:

Comments on the El Dorado National Forest Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Travel Management Project dated February, 2013

Firstly, I wish to thank all those responsible for this detailed analysis of the National Forests’ roads. And I want to especially thank those responsible for the very productive efforts that produced alternatives exhibiting common sense enforcement of the existing environmental laws. Some of these alternatives significantly modify a court order of extreme environmental ideology. However, I am not satisfied with any of them. No routes, except for rare exceptions, should have been closed. Given our population growth and the growing need of outdoor experience for urban people, the Forest Service should be expanding, not reducing, use of the National Forests. “Cross country travel” roads, which are now prohibited, are essential for emergency services and for logging. They also allow people to enjoy the forest while going to other destinations.

Forest roads should not be reserved only for those with the time to explore dead end roads. But dead end roads should also not be closed because they provide access to more private locations. People have the right to experience a forest, not a more crowded park like situation. None of what I’ve said, however, is meant to preclude improvements or changes in a probably small number of very destructive road situations. I would prefer the Forest Service to devote itself to fixing those very few situations and expanding, not restricting, forest use.

Mark L. Bennett, Pine Grove

Outside the Ivory Tower: F-16’s to Egypt

With news stories such as “innocent civilians crushed and shot to death, and their only crime was participating in a peaceful march to reject the destruction of their church” many Americans have understandably objected to our recent gift of F-16’s and other state of the art weapons to the current Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt. Those in favor have stated that we made an agreement with the prior Egyptian government and therefore we must honor it.

After the French Revolution occurred the new French government attempted to get us into war with England based upon our alliance during the American Revolution. But we said no. A new and different French government in power made that agreement with a prior government invalid and we proclaimed our neutrality. We avoided a calamitous war with England and prospered from trade while France became a bloodbath ended only by Napoleon’s dictatorship.

It appears to be that ignorance of American history and precedence is a perquisite to being in power in today’s Washington.

Copyright 2013, Mark L. Bennett

Pine Grove Roundabouts

I attended the public meetings about traffic improvements and roundabouts in Pine Grove and submitted the following comment: The roundabouts give a beginning and end definition to Pine Grove, which is clearly intended by many of the proponents. The idea of clear boundaries to a settlement is European, born in Feudalism and carried forward into Socialism. The American pattern where a community has greater population density and/or land use intensity at its center and then fades into the countryside with generally larger and larger lots is born of freedom and private property. I like and want to preserve the American pattern and the values behind it. Americans who favor European land use amaze me, since the vast majority of Americans are descended from Europeans who voted with their feet to reject the European style.

Copyright 2012, Mark L. Bennett

Taking Back our Freedoms, Resources and Prosperity

Who really has jurisdiction over so-called Federal Lands in our counties? What is a constitutional county? Do we have rights, in some cases going back to the Magna Carta, that allow us to take back our county –our freedoms, resources, prosperity? Learn about this and many other topics from people who not only have “new” ideas, but from those who are doing it now in several Western counties. This is the winning strategy. It’s called Defend Rural America and its coming to Amador County this Saturday, November 3th at the Sutter Creek Auditorium at 2 pm. Check them out at: (http://
www.defendruralamerica.com/DRA/Home.html)

How bad is the current situation and how strongly do I think that we need to move and to move immediately? Since the financial crisis of 2008 we have had a slow recovery of about 1.5 to 2% economic growth (GDP). But 83% of that increase in economic growth has been inflation. Actually, less goods have been sold but at higher prices. Translating from Washingtonspeak, there is not only no economic growth, but we are all being further squeezed with higher prices. Since Obama took office the amount of Federal government debt owned by the Federal Reserve Bank has increased 452%. It now buys 61% of all Treasury debt. So it is printing money that is essentially worthless except for the belief in “the full faith and credit of the US Government”. If that belief ever falters, our money becomes truly worthless. An event overseas, perhaps with a trading partner like China, could become the catalyst for questioning the value of the US dollar.

The rating agencies, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, tell us that municipal bonds are safe, despite the recently publicized bankruptcies. Yet a current study by the New York Fed “found between 35 and 50 times more municipal defaults over the past few decades than rating agencies have reported.” About 51% of municipal bonds are purchased by middle class Americans because of their income tax exemptions. Nearly one third of the $10 billion one year bills California sold, the largest municipal debt deal of the year, were bought by individual investors. Collateral for those bonds is the taxing power of California. Even in our current state budget, for whatever value you assign its tricks and realities, projected sales tax revenue is down 33 %. Several major municipal defaults could further weaken the middle class with an unknown affect on the balance of political power.

Many media report that the economy is getting better because consumer debt is now a lower percent of personal income. However, the total amount of consumer debt is unchanged. The other personal income is going to basics, like gasoline and food, at inflated prices as noted earlier. It is only artificially low interest rates that are allowing us to make our debt payments. Low interest rates benefit borrowers, the largest being the US government. A 1% increase in interest rates would add $100 billion to the federal deficit and cause the Federal Reserve to have a $150 billion capital deficit because of its holding of Federal and related debt.

We have 1.1 law enforcement officers and firefighters and over 1.2 tax preparers according to the FacetheFactsUSA website. After reading that statistic I realized that my income tax preparation expense was equal to over 25% of my property tax bill! This is just one of the endless examples of what economists call “misappropriated resources”. We have 5 % of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners at an annual taxpayer cost of over $63 billion a year. While this is due to a variety of reasons, including the general decline of society, many people are incarcerated for simply standing up for freedom. Presently serving time is someone who violated the zoning code with bible study classes in their home and another who collected rainwater on his property. Please remember that our pending General Plan asserts that the water falling on our properties belongs to the Valley Aquifer and that we should all convert to surface water (rivers) and construct expensive new systems.

Despite all this doom and gloom, we in Amador County are truly blessed. Sutter Gold Mining recently announced the discovery of two new gold bearing veins. Reading between the lines of their press release, it seems very little of the Mother Lode has been explored and almost none with modern technology. Underground miners make $17 to $26 an hour depending upon their skill level. The industry’s mean annual wage, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is $46,980. Will we have to wait through another eight years of environmental delays for mine expansion? Or can environmental review be approved, as in Canada, in a year and a half?

Be there this Saturday, November 3th, at the Sutter Creek Auditorium at 2 pm. Your future and that of our county and nation are in danger. And while the economy is critical, it is the soul of America that is at stake.

Copyright 2012, Mark L. Bennett

42 Roads and the New Forest

In 1066 the Norman French conquered England. William the Conqueror seized an area of land for his private preserve known as the New Forest. Despite having been inhibited since pre-historic times, most of the residents were evicted. They now lived under a European import called Forest Law, contrary to the Common Law tradition of the Celtic and Saxon citizens. “Forest Law imposed a kingdom within a kingdom, where the few inhabitants were subjected to draconian laws to preserve, increase and protect game of all species . . . a Forest is land subject to special laws.” William’s son “William Rufus is supposed to haveincreased the severity of penalties for flouting Forest Law - death and mutilation apparently the penalties for interference with the King's deer…Rufus was killed in the Forest by an arrow; he was probably murdered.” Rufus was followed by Henry I who, at his coronation “issued a Charter promising to modify or abolish the excesses of Forest Law. In fact he maintained the system and increased its efficiency. He used it to his pecuniary advantage by extracting financial penalties for misdemeanors.” (All the above quotes are from http://www.newforest.hampshire.org.uk/history1.html)

Many people say history repeats itself, while others say it merely rhymes. But you can see for yourself if the imposition of European land use upon the British almost a thousand years ago seems like the current policies in our National Forests on Monday, October 29th at the Jackson Civic Center from 3 to 8 pm. They will be discussing the status of 42 travel routes in the El Dorado National Forest.

The website of the Forest Service abounds with information about their activity, however, older material seems to vanish or is hard to find. Despite road closures and other policies to keep us ordinary folks out, the National Forest abounds in human activity. I have read about 10 or so projects in the El Dorado National Forest over the past year. While their site gives details of the projects, the price tag is conspicuously missing. I decided to find out for myself and emailed the Forest Service about just one project. Their prompt and courteous reply informed me that the Indian Valley Restoration Project “is estimated at about $200,000.” So this summer’s local environmental extravagances with our tax dollars (or borrowings from the Chinese) probably total at least a million dollars.

The Indian Valley Restoration Project involves “ three quarters of a mile of a tributary stream of Indian Creek using a series of plug and ponds to enhance habitat for yellow- legged frogs, Yosemite toad, willow fly catcher” and others. Note that plugging meets bringing in boulders from the Silver Lake area, presumably by sufficient capacity vehicles. And note the word enhance. Many within the Forest Service and in the proposal’s public comments stated that the project was unnecessary. But given the current thrust of the Forest Service and the pressure of various environmental groups, projects such as this proceed. (The above information and quote were taken from the Forest Service website)

So next time you struggle to meet your bills and wonder why your taxes are so high, please remember how cute the yellow-legged frog is and how much you love them. Some people apparently love them because they could become an important new constituency in our land use decisions. Don’t miss this opportunity to talk to our Forest Service on Monday, October 29th from 3 to 8 pm at the Jackson Civic Center

Copyright 2012, Mark L. Bennett

Bain Capital

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been criticized, and scandalously so, for his participation in the venture capital/private equity firm of Bain Capital. Yet Federico Pena, Obama’s 2008 campaign co- chair and Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Transportation and later Energy, did the very same things with the firm of Vestar Capital Partners. Hundreds lost their jobs when he reconfigured companies such as Del Monte, Birdseye and Solo Cups. This same process, called industrial reorganization in Western Europe, is sometimes orchestrated by left wing governments. It all these instances it happens for the same reason: common sense.

Once an organization comes into being and begins to work well, it also tends to stagnate and resist change as the world around changes. This can breed a cumbersome operation. But efficiency is profitable and it leads to a bigger pie for everyone, even in the muted European version. From the 1930’s to the 1950’s it was generally more efficient to produce as close to your market as possible. The auto assembly plants in California closed when changes in the market made it more efficient to manufacture at a central location and ship the final product. A few decades ago food companies found it cheaper to make their own packaging. When independent packaging companies achieved much larger volumes of production and lowered prices, the food processors sold off their packaging divisions. Warehousing has also changed. Regional warehouses have given way to a few mega warehouses for most companies. Many once thought that FedEx using a single Memphis hub was crazy.

What if we maintained employment for covered wagon manufacturers? Had the government still training pole boat operators for the Mississippi River? The black and white TV factory workers are gone. Where are they? In the early 1960’s it was feared that the layoff of over 10,000 manual elevator operators would lead to massive poverty among Manhattan’s low wage workers. But there was no more than a ripple of hardship as people found new occupations within the free market for labor. Change can hurt at times, but it is a constant and far preferable to stagnation financed by government debt and usually accompanied by higher prices for everyday goods.

Copyright 2012, Mark L. Bennett