Author Archives: Commentary about the Blue Marble

Gun Violence and the Constitution

15 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Assault Weapons, Gun Control

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The “Chance for Sanity” Party will wade into the second amendment morass by pushing the legal limits farther than previously. Just within our country over 15,600 non-suicidal deaths occurred in 2017 out of over 61,800 non-suicide incidents. During 2017, 346 mass-shootings occurred. A mass shooting means four or more were shot in a single event. The vast majority of Americans want something done and the “Chance for Sanity” Party will push for a sane second amendment.

Thanks to the leadership at the National Rifle Association, America is awash with guns. Initially the organization involved hunter gun safety which everyone supported. It did not bring huge monetary wealth into their cheap suit pockets. By spending tens of millions of gun manufacturers’ and members’ money to create fear and a patriotic fervor, the NRA has persuaded Americans they need to have many guns. They have convinced people their safety is carrying a gun everywhere. Over 2,000 people found having a gun around was dangerous in 2017. That’s over 10,000 since January 2014. During the same period over 3,500 children and 15,000 teenagers were shot. Many of the teenagers were shot due to their gang and drug activity. This was a result of the ease of getting guns. Gun running has become a major source of revenue for gangs.

The Party’s platform will be to combat the gun lobby propaganda by constantly telling the truth about gun violence. People need to be de-programmed from the gun culture manufactured by the gun lobby and their sponsors. Standing up to the gullible and weak minded is critical to restore real safety.

We will also define the parameters of the second amendment as to what weapons and accessories are legal and which are not. Assault type weapons, large capacity magazines, and non-personal defense or abnormal hunting accessories will become illegal to make, sell, or own. Less of these things make us safer and saner.

The gun lobby and manufacturers have kept a gun safety system from being marketed. It works off a finger print identification system. The only person who can fire it is the one finger printed. All handguns will be required to have it.

Just as in most states the Federal Government will issue gun owners permits to lawful gun owners. Those with mental problems and drug dependency and certain ex-cons will be denied the cards. We must reduce unlicensed sale or exchange of guns by and to those people without a federal card. This will end most gun shows where guns are bought in a lax state and smuggled into a stricter state and to most mass shooters.

The vast majority of Americans want these controls. It is a tough but winnable battle.

A Real War on Illegal Drugs

11 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Illegal Drugs

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A Real War on Illegal Drugs

The “Chance for Sanity” Party’s plank on Illegal Drugs will be one of enforcement and not kowtowing to the liberals, addicts, corporate leaders, and criminals. Instead of taking one slip after another down the well-greased slope to a drug infused culture like some sci-fi movie, I will greatly reduce our addiction.

The drug usage in the 1950’s was a minor problem because growing, importing, wholesaling, retailing, and usage were illegal and imprisonable. We have caved to the point where the federal government has reduced actual funding for drug intervention and enforcement while allowing states to supersede federal drug laws by enacting laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana use. Allowing users to buy a $5.00 ticket if caught means it is okay to break the law and become addicted.

My policy on drug use will be to arrest users and put them into low security work camps for a minimum of fourteen days for first offense and adding an additional two weeks for each successive arrest. In addition to the fencing, drug dogs will be on patrol to ensure no drugs are smuggled to the detainees. Counselors will be used to aid in detoxifying heavy users. Those who retail the drugs — kids or adults — will be imprisoned in more secure and less pleasant camps. The many camps will not allow any electronic or personal communications. Those people in the higher positions of sales will have their possessions confiscated even if they are co-owned by their families and sold to pay for enforcement and detention.

Those in the wholesaling, transportation, manufacturing, importing, involvement, and financing will be locked up in a medium security prison and lose all their possessions. A special division will search for the cash kept offshore or invested. Financial institutions will be accountable and the CEO’s and down will be held as those who deposited the money.

States will participate in the local crackdown and getting the confiscated possessions for their use or sale. Any state or community which does not fully participate will lose federal funding for all law enforcement funding and other funds that they depend on in their budget. Federal offices will be moved out of that state to a surrounding state. This is a necessary and drastic action

The manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical drugs and knowing or suspecting of overuse will be considered as a criminal activity. The private or corporate entity will be confiscated for sale. The officers, some employees, and investors gained from the sales, so they will be penalized. Previous investors may have their profits clawed back. Banks and other financers will lose their investment.

The federal government has the power and authority to do most of this battle to end our addiction. Congress will only need to fund another 30,000 federal agents. The war will not be won in a few years but could be in ten years.

Solving Our Immigrant Problem

10 Friday May 2019

Posted by in Immigration

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My “Chance for Sanity Party” is an independent party and will not have a leader in the Congress or Senate. Hopefully this means both parties can step out of their far right and far left philosophies on immigration. Because of America’s past policies and actions and the future effects of climate change, movement of people around the world must be considered an American priority.

When I was young the illegal immigration was mainly men and families crossing the border to work in the agricultural industry during the growing season and then go back to Mexico. In spite of technology, we still need tens of thousands each year to plant our vegetables and fruit in the spring and harvest them later. Alabama passed a very strict law against illegals and vegetables and fruit rotted in the fields. Two years later they quietly rescinded it. We need English speakers in hundreds of thousands of tourist type jobs during the summers, without them business can’t operate. These are usually young Europeans. The U.S. Farms employ hundreds of them each summer. In addition tens of thousands of businesses need people for landscaping and construction.

We need these people for our country to survive. Most would be happy to have a work permit to come up, work, and go back home. Passing the necessary laws that both parties have wanted for years should be easy.

The flood of families and parentless kids from Honduras, Guatemala, and Costa Rica is vastly different because those people are fleeing conditions we are largely responsible for. Our policies over the last 150 years have created an unlivable condition. We have deported our Los Angeles originated gangs to those countries and now they are almost as powerful as the national governments. They terrorize the people by kidnapping, extorting, and murdering the poor and the rich.

We have played one country against the other for years. The NRA has facilitated the gunrunners while we have pushed the governments to buy weapons and to have us train their military and para-militaries in our failed methods used in “pacification” in Viet Nam. Both sides randomly kill the civilians to keep control. We have actively allowed marijuana and cocaine to be moved through them so the Feds can track it.

These policies have made life untenable so they must use the last of their money and risk their life in hopes of a safer, better life. If we can stop their countries’ collapse and start rebuilding their countries, then not only will they stop moving here, they will go back home. We can provide hundreds of thousands of jobs by moving manufacturers from Asia to Latin American. Tax incentives can make that happen. If we support people with the integrity to run their countries, then we can start to end the immigration problem.

Medicare Confusion

05 Sunday May 2019

Posted by in Medicare

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The May 2nd article in the Tribune by AP Reporters Richard Alonso-Zaldivar and Alan Fram showed the confusion about Medicare-For-All and Single Payer Systems. They are not the same thing but were used interchangeably in their writing. A Single Payer pays for everything not specifically covered such as an unnecessary cosmetic or hair transplant. Medicare-For-All pays a certain part but not all so insurance or the patient picks up the rest. The purpose of a Medicare Advantage insurance policy is to reduce the patient’s cost.

The critics that say such programs would delay non-emergency surgery is ridiculous because appointments quite often take two or three months with our current system. Critics cite some Canadians coming to American for surgery when they can’t get it in Canada. It’s almost always being done in Florida in January (Duh) or elective that the patient doesn’t want to wait their turn.

I think the Medicare plan is the least disruptive and still covers everyone. Employer insurance costs would be lessened and cover employee costs even with minimal plans. Medicaid would not be needed and healthcare costs would be reduced because we would not need thousands of people figuring out how to deal with so many different plans and companies. We currently spend almost a trillion on health insurance policies so most would not be needed. Both would mean no loss of coverage at 27 years old. The only doctors not involved would be those who do 100% concierge. Few people would go that way since it would be expensive. No person would go uncovered or have to declare bankruptcy because of medical care. It’s the number one reason for bankruptcy.

Why has stupidity and pride overruled commonsense for poor but costly medical care in the United States?

Real Cowboys Didn’t Wear Guns

05 Sunday May 2019

Posted by in Gun Control, Uncategorized

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When I was a pre-teen Mom and Dad got me the Paladin gun set. It had the belt, .45 with bullets I could put caps in, and a derringer. It was the envy of my fourth grade class. Most of the boys wore our “side arms” in class until the principal decided that was enough. During that time few adults had a handgun. Most had a long gun for sport. I had a 20 gauge shotgun. Most of us matured, but millions haven’t.

The movies and TV were filled with westerns showing every man either carrying a gun or having one under the counter. Every bartender had a double barrel shot gun he pulled out to intimidate trouble makers. The image of every “real man” carrying a gun has created the need for today’s rush to carry a gun. In reality very few “real men” carried a gun on their hip. My toy gun was light but heavy for my skinny body. A real .45 gun, belt, and holster weigh several unnecessary pounds. That extra weight is why the movies were theatrical and not realistic.

So why is it so important today for the average citizen to wear a concealed gun. Why are the gun lobbies (there is more than one) pushing for open carry like the Texan nutcases. Is it because the gun manufacturers pump millions into those lobbies to promote sales and fear? The underlying message is the more guns we own the safer we are. To get women to buy the manufacturers will sell them a pink gun. The NRA hired a media consulting company for millions of dollars each year to promote gun ownership. They hired Charlton Heston at a huge salary to be their front man. They have flooded the internet (Russian, too) with propaganda that is misleading and often completely false.

Why isn’t the escalating violence with guns being attributable to the greater number of guns being bought? Why is it the occasional “hero with a legal weapon” played up by the gun lobby and not the hundreds of others where the drunk went back into the bar and emptied the magazine? The lobbies are pushing a reciprocal allowance of concealed carry. This would allow those states where being a warm body is all that is needed to get a license. Some of them allow internet sign-ups from other states and countries. Everyone would be upset if somebody got a driver’s license by taking a test on an internet game.

Imagine what our country would look like if some limits are put on what weapon can be carried in the “right to bear arms” line in the second amendment. Could an arm be that weapon with a rotating drum of explosive charges or a real automatic rifle? Why is a 30 round magazine needed? Why is it the majority of the NRA members want sensible laws but the leadership promotes more extreme laws? Money, money, and more money to the organization. That’s why the NRA is pushing greater gun rights in over 50 other countries.

Energy Plank

27 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in Energy, Oil Industry

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Energy Plank

As I continue my consideration of running for President in the “Chance for Sanity Party”, I am explaining my stance on certain critical issues.

This release of my views concerns the energy we need to run a modern and an evolving green economy and society. In the past we depended almost entirely on fossil fuels for power. Almost all our electricity was generated with coal or oil. Now we are 19% coal, 24% oil, 40% natural gas, 10% nuclear, 3% water, 3% wind, and 1% solar. In the immediate future we will be far less dependent on coal and oil and farther out, natural gas. I would support new generation nuclear which is less dangerous and leaves less used fuel to store. The new generation is sodium cooled and unlike one cooled with water, won’t melt down in case of some mishap. Water power is not only unlikely to increase it will probably decrease as dams are torn down. The green aspect of our rapidly increasing demands for electricity means we will be growing wind and solar plants as fast as possible while replacing fossil generation. Geothermal plants will need to be built to supply 20%. These will be in the volcanic areas in the West.

The increased demand will mainly come from electric and hybrid vehicles. Within 20 years over half of vehicles sold will be electric. Much of the increased vehicular electrical demand will be at night when the local wind power may not be available and no solar power. To overcome this shortage we will need to have a better grid to make use of where the sun is shining in the morning or evening and where the wind is blowing. Various electrical storage technologies will need to be developed for use at night. Natural gas units will be needed at peak times and when generation and storage are insufficient to meet demand.

We will need nuclear units for the next several decades to provide a green base load for a dependable and constant capacity. We must build a dependable direct current grid to move electricity around the country. Much of our current grid needs to be updated and new lines added to areas which are not sufficiently covered or lack redundancy.

We will need some petroleum for fuel and chemical uses for a few more decades but it is a finite resource and we should be starting to conserve it instead of selling it to other countries. The new methods we use to produce petroleum should be the least sensitive areas. Off-shore production has been shown to be disastrous and permanently damaging to the environment. A two percent revenue increase will be necessary for subsidies and guaranteed loans.

More planks will be coming to fill out the platform.

Climate Change Plank

27 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in Climate Change

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As I continue to explore running for President, I am putting forth parts of the “Chance for Sanity Party” platform. This time the plank concerns the most dangerous threat to Americans and all humanity. Although we humans have evolved to live on all parts of the Earth, we are mainly adapted to our regional conditions. The upcoming changes caused by the warming of the planet will cause great social upheaval and this plank explains my plans to reduce and compensate for it.

The most obvious change will be a general warming with the final rise unknown because it will not occur in this century or possibly the next depending on when we are able to start reducing the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Very likely warming will continue for a few decades after the reduction starts.
We are already over a third of the three degree’s target limit by 2100. How much higher it will go depends on us now.

The countries contributing the most gases from burning fossil fuels are United States, China, and India. China and India are slowing their release by building nuclear plants, wind farms and solar arrays. They are reducing consumption with energy efficient lights, appliances, and electric cars. China is the leader in designing and producing wind and solar generating equipment. India is starting to build green generation, too.

My plan is to continue to subsidize wind turbines and solar arrays, and to fund needed new technologies and equipment. Current wasteful technologies will be replaced. We have new safe designs for nuclear plants which may need to be either funded or guaranteed by the federal government. Yucca Flats storage facility will be opened to store used fuel and bomb materials for eternity.

Another source which is not yet in great use is geothermal. Power from massive geothermal projects can be moved to states east of the Mississippi River using more efficient direct current transmission lines.

Continuing to subsidize more efficient technology and utilization of it will cut the power need for existing uses such as lighting and appliances. The cost will be a three percent increase in revenue.

Rapid growth of electric vehicles will greatly reduce carbon emissions if we have other sources for generating green power to replace gasoline and diesel engines.

As the world’s population grows more power will be needed and reducing carbon emissions will be increasingly difficult and require dedicated leadership because of the massive disruptions in economies. The change will have as great an impact as horses to cars and create millions of new jobs while costing millions. We must quit subsidizing fossil fuels and jump into the future where we develop the technology instead of buying it from Europe and China as we do now.

Let There Be Light in a Bang

27 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in Religion, Science, Uncategorized

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A few years ago, I had a telescope and enjoyed watching the lunarscape, Jupiter and its moons, Saturn’s Rings, and many galaxies. I took an interest in Astronomy when I was a kid in Southern Illinois when the Milky Way could be seen. I read books and subscribed to Astronomy for years. I have discussed it with astronomers and so I could be considered as much a cosmologist as some of those Mr. Lemke cited. In the past he has cited “scientists” who knew global warming is baseless. Most of them had no scientific knowledge and those who have cannot get their names off the site.

Mr. Lemke claims to believe in a God so why can’t he blend his supernatural belief with science. If he believes the Bible is based on fact and not a book of fables and folk stories as Christian and Jewish funded archeologists have proven, then the Big Bang and everything after could be construed to be in the Bible. The Bible is full of metaphors and should not be taken as factual history but if Bob wants to think it is factual then he should use science to back up his belief.

Bob the light started when the Jews were allowed to go back home after being held by the highly advanced Babylonians. The returnees were smart and cultured hence the light to their tribe.

Lost Toddlers

27 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in Immigration, Uncategorized

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When the administration’s separating kids from parents was exposed, I remembered the disaster of 1940s England sending little kids to Canada and elsewhere during the Blitz. They sent thousands but got back a lot less. Some parents died, a couple of ships were sunk, and records were lost. Little kids didn’t know who they were or the name of their parents. It was years before the scope was discovered but hundreds were never returned.

All that sounds like excuses for losing immigrant kids in 2017 and 2018. Data was lost or not entered. Parents were deported without kids and vice-versa. Kids were sent to foster care and distant relatives around the country, but who went where is often unknown. How many are in limbo is really unknown. The administration said today the number could be more than six thousand! A judge says to give him the complete information within six months but the administration said it may take over two years to figure it out. Incompetence rises to the highest level of the administration.

Infrastructure Plank

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Politics

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As I said previously, should I decide to follow the urging of people to voice my opinions as a nominee of the “Chance for Sanity” Party for President of the United States of America, I will continue to put forth sane ideas on many issues.

The current administration talks about making America Great Again, but it is merely a facade. Our country’s infrastructure is literally falling apart and empty words are of no help. Our country and others destroyed Europe and Japan during World War II. Since then, they have built anew while we have water and sewer systems that were built a century ago or earlier.

Our streets and highways are beginning to resemble a lunar landscape. Our interstate highway system was supposed to have the German autobahn as its model but instead of building for longevity, Eisenhower decided speed and cost necessitated building cheaper roads. That trade off is why we keep repairing them every few years then repairing the repairs. We need to change our existing specifications to one of longevity and put the burden of repairs for shoddy work on the contractors.

We cannot expect this critical problem to be fixed in a few years. The rebuilding will take decades. We must fix the most dangerous situations first. Hundreds of our bridges may fall today, so rebuilding bridges must be first in line. Sewer and water systems must start to be repaired at the same time but in conjunction with the towns and cities. Much of those repairs are going to be under city streets so those repairs must be in concert with the city’s street repair program.

Both of these problems are critical and solving them will be costly. Gasoline taxes have been used in the past for funding America’s transportation system. The problem with that tax is we are in the early stage of an electric car revolution. Electric cars will use the roads but pay no taxes to repair them. Heavy electric big rigs are a future goal so we must find another way to fund the repairs. As cities became more congested and residents own fewer cars, public transportation will become even more critical to moving people around.

Currently public transportation is funded by gasoline taxes and rider fees. When those fees get too high people go to car ownership and it is now likely to be electric. We all need an excellent transportation system whether we get on a road or not. Our food and materials is road bound so eliminating the gasoline tax and instituting a five percent increase in the corporate and individual income tax would pay for all our infrastructure needs. States and local taxing bodies may still tax by the gallon.

More plans concerning critical issues will be forthcoming.