Timothy Lawton

     This is the first year that I have started to clear out my greenhouses so early. Usually in northern New Jersey our target date of the last frost is between May 10th and 20th. This year I took a calculated risk and brought all of my trays of seedlings out around the last week of April and the first week of May. Hopefully any truly cold weather will hold off and this will not be a mistake on my part. The next few days will be a little iffy between wind and possible frost, but it was a chance I had to take.

PS I’ll be trying to design fences of fishing line to protect some of my gardens from the EVIL deer. I’ll try to post about how it works out.

     Why is our President following failed economic models? Socialized medicine, Cap and Trade, and higher taxes are all PROVEN disasters. Yet, Obama continues to take us further down the red brick road. His penchant for Marxist professors not withstanding, does he really believe that what he is doing is best for the country? Or does he have some ulterior agenda? His policies are so detrimental to the nation that it is necessary to ask these questions. The socialist economies of Europe are on the verge of economic collapse. Every state in the Union that has similar policies are on the verge of collapse as well. New York, California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are just the most salient examples. If it hasn’t worked it seems that this President is willing to try it.

     Rather than cut spending he has dramatically increased it. The deficits he is running are 300% over the worst deficit of the Bush years. On top of that he, and his liberal cohorts, managed to ram through a 2700+ page health care bill that no one read in its entirety. According to Nancy Pelosi, Democratic leader of the House, we needed to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it. That sounds like genius to me. So, maybe we should pass other legislation on blank paper and the dictatorship could just fill in whatever they want whenever they want. Then we could at least stop calling ourselves a Republic. What exactly will be the Democrats crossing of the Rubicon? When will we actually see that we are no longer citizens in a democratic society, but slaves in a liberal fascist totalitarian state?

     As it stands now we can be personally regulated by the federal government at any point. This is due to the fact that CO2 has been designated a pollutant by the Supreme Court. This essentially means that the EPA can, without Congressional consent, devise any scheme it wants to reduce emissions of this “dangerous” greenhouse gas. Mind you that water vapor is the most prominent heat trapping gas and we breathe that out as well. We now live at the whim of whoever heads the EPA and under this President that is a truly frightening prospect.

     This imminent decline into socialism is further evidenced by the fact that the public sector is hiring more employees than the private sector. Our GDP is now over 40% federal government spending. What does this say about the future if we do not change the course that we are on? When will the pensions of these public employees become so onerous that we will have to enact austerity measures to curb their exhorbitant cost? Will our federal dependents act like the leftist hooligans in Greece and riot? I marvel at the fact that so many people in this country do not see the coming disaster if all of this is left unchecked. We are now not only spending the money of our children, but the money of our grandchildren as well. This is unsustainable!!!

     Mr. Obama continually does anything he can to sabotage the long running well being of this nation. Every economic policy he has enacted, or proposed, will lead us to financial ruin. Yet, we still have financial reform and cap and trade on the horizon. Who will invest money when the capital gains tax goes over 40%? We’d be better off avoiding the risks of investment and hiding our hard earned dollars under our mattresses. With taxes going through the roof, investment hindered, and businesses regulated out of profitability what will we do to survive? The economic recovery we see right now is only a mirage. When the full actions of this President, and his socialist allies, are realized we will descend into an economic abyss. Take a look at the healthcare bill that we supposedly needed so urgently that no one had time to read it. If we were so pressed for time why are so many of it’s provisions not enacted until 2013? Could it be that the leftists who pushed for the bill knew how unpopular many of these new laws and taxes would be and that this could cost Obama the 2012 Presidential election?

Europe is crumbling under the weight of entitlement. Numerous “blue” states are facing tremendous budgetary problems. Our Federal debt is nearly 100% of our GDP and it is forecast to become almost twice that in the next ten years. Now is the time to stop wasteful spending. Now is the time to reign in this runaway train. If we do not stop this profligate spending we will become Greece, Portugal, and Spain. It is time to stop the bailouts and let this house of cards fall. Every day that we continue this unsustainable path only increases the economic pain that it will take to correct the situation. True leaders have to explain this to the majority of the masses that still do not understand. All this spending has to stop and today is the day to begin.

The passage of this health care bill is a crime and those who voted for it are criminals. This assault on our Constitution is unconscionable. President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid are the equivalent of King George III. They are tyrants and this legislation is the most naked attempt in our nation’s history by the government to control our everyday lives. This socialist agenda must be stopped. These politicians are trying to destroy the system that this nation has enjoyed for over 200 years. We were not made the greatest country on earth with government handouts. This legislation is not about health care it is about changing the principles that this nation was founded upon.

Not only is the bill itself utterly flawed the manner in which it was passed was a travesty of justice as well. The bill is around 2700 pages long. It is filled with out and out bribes for specific legislators. And many of the people who voted for the bill never even read it. It is quite possible that the methods used to pass this monstrosity will be found unconstitutional as may many of the provisions in it. At least ten states have already announced intentions to challenge its legality. We do need health care reform, but this move towards socialism will only make things worse. If the Democrats were actually serious about bringing down costs then why are tort reform and allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines not included? Because this legislation is a means to enslave the American people to government entitlements.

The health care reform passed yesterday will have exactly the opposite effect that its proponents contend that it was supposed to accomplish. It will raise costs and diminish the quality of care. We will add tens of millions of people to our system and most likely lose many health care professionals. How many doctors will quit their jobs and go into other fields? How many young people will now decide to make their livings in other careers?  Medical specialists will become a thing of the past. How many new medicines and treatments will be pioneered when there is no money to be made? This bill will also kill jobs and further burden our economy with unnecessary taxes. When has the government ever given us a reason to believe they will do anything other than increase costs and complicate the day to day operations of what they put their filthy hands into? Ever been to the motor vehicle bureaucracies across the country? Ever deal with the IRS?

Further more this bill will be completely unaffordable. It will drive private insurance out of business and that is exactly what the socialist Democrats want. We already have a Federal deficit that runs about $40,000 per person. That is not including existing entitlements in the future. How much more so will this add to that incredible burden we have already? Why are we following the failed socialist models of western Europe and states like California? They are all going bankrupt. The Europeans and Canadians health care has been propped up by higher costs here. There is no other country upon which to piggy-back our system. We were the last bastion of capitalist health care unless this bill is found unconstitutional or it is repealed in the future. Yet, by then it may be too late to undo what has been done.

I intend to study the provisions of this legislation to figure out exactly what I will do on a personal basis. Can I opt out of my health insurance plan pay the fine and make money? If insurers can’t turn away customers for pre-existing conditions should I just wait until I get sick and then buy health insurance? How many millions of Americans are thinking of the same things? The unintended, and covertly intended, consequences of this legislation will be myriad. This bill could very well be the death knell of the once great U.S.A.

I have been an avid weather watcher for my whole life. Over the years my personal observations, of what has been around me and from reports around the world, have lead me to conclude that the climate will only continue to spiral out of control. The generally subdued weather and climate of the period from 1850 to 1990 is not the norm. The more extreme events that we have seen over the last two decades are far more likely to be typical earth climate. Since our societies have largely developed into the state that they are currently in during this tranquill episode we are not prepared to deal with the variability that our future climate presents. Regardless if mankind has an influence on this current uptick in extremes I believe it to be a natural occurrence.

Massive blizzards, extreme winds, and now flooding have been a hallmark of the 2009-2010 winter season over much of the eastern United States. Conversely much of the northwest of North America has had a rather warm and relatively snowless season. All over the world this is being repeated and it is occurring year after year. Whether it be droughts or floods, hot or cold, or prolonged periods of calm or extreme storms the climate is becoming far more erratic. Desert floods, fires in the rainforest, the European heat wave of 2003, and countless other events are showing us a world in transition. It seems that no place on this planet is being spared from these freakish examples of nature’s fury.

Yet, we must look at what this means for people as a whole. What does this foretell of the future? Can mankind adequately respond to a climate that challenges us on a nearly continuous basis? It is easy to sit in the industrialized world and simply dismiss what a more turbulent climate may mean for us, but that is very short sighted. First off the effects that will be visited upon us will eventually become an impediment to our every day existence, but before that the trials and tribulations that decimate the third world will visit their results upon our nations. Europe, the United States, Japan, and the rest of the first and second world will be overrun with the refugees from nature’s devastations. Thirsty and hungry people will not go quietly into that dark night while an arrogant, lazy, and spoiled people hold all that they need at their finger tips to stave off their impending doom.

The third world will be hit first, but the more technologically developed societies will not be far behind. The crops that we have cultivated are mostly hybrids bred for the traits that made them suitable to the climate of the past. Clean and reliable water will quickly disappear from much of the world. Massive crop failures will make it to the farm belts of the Northern hemisphere and probably to those of the south as well. Wars over the most basic materials such as water and food will naturally ensue. Malnutrition will lead to epidemics and pandemics and no corner of this globe will be immune. This applies to our livestock as well. Our precarious and comfortable position on this earth is about to take a turn for the worse. All of these natural disasters will only further stress the institutional problems that have been exposed over these last few years. On top of all of this the eco-systems upon which we depend will thrown into complete disarray. Forests will disappear, marine life will evaporate, and the cost of the most basic necessities will skyrocket.

What does all of this mean? What can we do? My primary concern is that we now have no leaders, for the most part, across this world. There are virtually no people who will stand up and take the tough measures which we need to address this coming series of crises. Planning for alternative means to generate agricultural and natural resources is paramount. Again, I must stress the impact that this will have on the populations of the third world. They will be first to endure these hardships, but they will quickly spread to the rest of the world. What are now weather anamolies and inconvieniences will become increasingly meaningful challenges to our very existence. We ignore them at our own peril!!!!

7/30/1997

The ocean lapping against the shore in rhythmic thunder and spray
But for the unfathomable aeons…..timeless
Ebbing and flowing with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man, but not the thought
The stars pin prick holes puncturing the fabric of darkness
But for the unfathomable aeons…..timeless
Traversing the heavens with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man, but not the thought
The moon that nether world of the night
Full faced, profile, or out of sight
But for the unfahomable aeons…..timeless
Waning and waxing with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man, but not the thought
The sun bathing the earth in the glow of its nurturing light
But for the unfathomable aeons…..timeless
Rising and setting with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man , but not the thought
The creation teeming with life in dependent unison all according to plan
But for the unfathomable aeons…..timeless
Growing and dying with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man, but not the thought
God the shaper of all forms and mind of all thought
Even against the unfathomable aeons…..timeless
Steady and unchanging with the years
Before and beyond any breath of man, only the being of the thought