August 2019 Archives

Burn Baby Burn

            The rain forest in South America's Amazon is burning and suddenly world nations have become alarmed because this rain forest supplies 20 percent of the world's oxygen.

            There wasn't a noticeable alarm raised when Africa reduced its rain forest to assist farming interests and no one is discussing the reduction of large forests areas in the United States during the past two hundred years to accommodate a massive increase in population.  Where was all this concern when California fires, during the last four years, devastated several hundred-thousand acres of forest land?

            The world is facing, according to environmentalists, a ruinous "Greenhouse Gas" phenomenon with various carbon reducing techniques being suggested that might save the planet from total destruction.

            The lingering question arises: "Do the occupants of South America, or any country on our planet, have the right to cut down and burn oxygen producing forests?"

            If the answer is "yes," what then?  California has decided to outlaw single use plastic and have put in place several carbon reducing laws regarding everything from automobile emissions to industrial pollution.  But, is this a viable and long term solution?  The answer can be revealed by asking another question:  "Who can we blame for polluting our ocean with plastic or filling the air with carbon dioxide and methane gas?"  The manufacturer or industrialist merely provides the product, it takes a human to actually commit the crime.  A few thousand cars on the world's highways are of little consequence, but millions and billions of autos provide all the pollution necessary for a world crisis.

            The real problem, and one that these brilliant world leaders are reluctant to identify, is over-population.  Planet Earth is burdened with too many two-legged, upright homo-sapiens.  When it comes to feeding a starving community, trees will be sacrificed to provide food - this is common sense.

Can nature control population?  The estimated U.S. fertility rate for 2014 was 1.86 children per woman which is below the replacement approximate fertility rate of 2.1.  In 2012, US fertility rate was lower than that of France (2.01), Australia (1.93) and the United Kingdom (1.92).

The fact that U.S. population growth is the highest of any industrialized nation is due to immigration which more than offsets the declining fertility rate. 

There is little doubt that population control is a matter to be solved by human planning and intelligence.  A declining fertility rate will not solve over-population if other areas engage in unlimited child birth and migrate to less populated areas. 

            California is currently faced with an affordable housing crisis, but is engaged in increasing its homeless population by welcoming thousands of illegal migrants.

            When the nations of the world finally decide its time to bring their population in line with some sort of balance of nature, the solution to Green House Gases will be finally realized.

Piper's Papers

Politicians bearing gifts

 "Beware the Greeks bearing gifts" was a phrase coined after the Greeks gave a wooden horse to the victorious Trojans.  This phrase may apply today if the word "politicians" is substituted for the word "Greeks."

Possibly, you might wonder why anyone should be concerned about political gifts since that seems to be what politicians do - but consider this:

A Scary Obituary:  In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

            Referring to a "loose fiscal policy," our nation's national debt is more than $22-trillion.  Who is going to pay for that?

Piper's Papers

Politicians bearing gifts

 "Beware the Greeks bearing gifts" was a phrase coined after the Greeks gave a wooden horse to the victorious Trojans.  This phrase may apply today if the word "politicians" is substituted for the word "Greeks."

Possibly, you might wonder why anyone should be concerned about political gifts since that seems to be what politicians do - but consider this:

A Scary Obituary:  In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship."

            Referring to a "loose fiscal policy," our nation's national debt is more than $22-trillion.  Who is going to pay for that?

Piper's Papers