Our technology is shameful. In full view it is immoral. We have harnessed space travel to abandon Earth, but, we have not harnessed the wind and sun to make Earth a place we would rather stay than leave. The USA should be ashamed of it's ambitions without investing in the well being of our children and their Earth. 

I am not concerned about the EPA under the leadership of Secretary Gina McCarthy. However, Gina McCarthy, like most of the Obama Cabinet is far to polite and doesn't come forward to blame Congress for the neglect of decades. Congress has neglected not only the dangerous of the mines in the western USA, it has neglected the needs and environmental safety of future generations. She needs to make it clear the EPA has worked diligently to be sure the USA was providing much overdue demands for lower pollution of greenhouse gases. 

Morality.

It gets lost in our political dialogue. The Republicans define morality as the age of a fetus and not the fact the world it will be born into will be one of heat, suffering and droughts. This with a threat to drinking water and sustainable agriculture that is absent of dangerous GMO manipulation. The Republicans stop at religion to define morality. Pope Francis has made it clear morality defines the assets left to the next three generations to come. 

Morality is an investment in more than one's soul, it is an investment to insure all Americans will inherit a world better than the one left by aging Americans. It isn't just jobs that insure each generation of Americans will do better than the one before it, it is also the world in which we live that has to be better for each subsequent generations of Americans. 

We need to start measuring the improvements left to the next generation of Americans. We need to measure it each year, each month, each President, each Congress and each political leader.

How much closer has each day put us closer to moral and sustaining goals?

Pope Francis clearly states the responsibility of each generation is to the next. He clearly states morality exceeds the simple birth of a child, but, the world in which that child is born into.

If the USA is to expect the global community to clean up the troposphere and stop pollution of greenhouse gases, then it has to set the example and demand others to match our expectations. And for other countries already moving into the 'safe zone' environmentally, it would be appropriate to remind the USA of it's responsibilities as well.

The global community of people have to set the expectations for their governments and demand people to lead in the way a moral world would take it.

I. DIALOGUE ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

164. Beginning in the middle of the last century and overcoming many difficulties, there has been a growing conviction that our planet is a homeland and that humanity is one people living in a common home. An interdependent world not only makes us more conscious of the negative effects of certain lifestyles and models of production and consumption which affect us all; more importantly, it motivates us to ensure that solutions are proposed from a global perspective, and not simply to defend the interests of a few countries. Interdependence obliges us to think of one world with a common plan. Yet the same ingenuity which has brought about enormous technological progress has so far proved incapable of finding effective ways of dealing with grave environmental and social problems worldwide. A global consensus is essential for confronting the deeper problems, which cannot be resolved by unilateral actions on the part of individual countries. Such a consensus could lead, for example, to planning a sustainable and diversified agriculture, developing renewable and less polluting forms of energy, encouraging a more efficient use of energy, promoting a better management of marine and forest resources, and ensuring universal access to drinking water.

165. We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay. Until greater progress is made in developing widely accessible sources of renewable energy, it is legitimate to choose the less harmful alternative or to find short-term solutions. But the international community has still not reached adequate agreements about the responsibility for paying the costs of this energy transition. In recent decades, environmental issues have given rise to considerable public debate and have elicited a variety of committed and generous civic responses. Politics and business have been slow to react in a way commensurate with the urgency of the challenges facing our world. Although the post-industrial period may well be remembered as one of the most irresponsible in history, nonetheless there is reason to hope that humanity at the dawn of the twenty-first century will be remembered for having generously shouldered its grave responsibilities.

From the Denver Post

This is not about the EPA, it is however about a lax Congress and their neglect of our land. What are we leaving generations to come? What is the legacy of Congress and it's protections? It isn't good. I rather clean up the country's water supply and dangers to it then bail out banks.

August 16, 2015
By Bruce Finley

The opening of the Kohler Mine that has been bulkheaded August 13, 2015. Although bulkheaded, the mine is slowly leaking water that is making it's way into the Animas River....

Nobody tracks total discharge, (click here) likely equal to at least one Gold King disaster every two days — impairing rivers and streams

After the 3 million gallon Gold King Mine blowout, Colorado officials began scrambling to create a map of a problem they've known about for years: 230 other old mines statewide leaking heavy metals-laced muck into headwaters of the nation's rivers.

These old mines have leaked so much for so long, thousands of gallons a minute, that state agencies don't track the combined toxic flow. But by the estimates at sites where the Environmental Protection Agency has stepped in, the overall discharge equals at least one Gold King disaster every two days — spreading cadmium, copper, lead, arsenic, manganese, zinc and other contaminants.

"We're not OK with any of this. We're not OK with contaminated water running into waterways," said Ginny Brannon, director of reclamation, mining and safety for the state.

"It is beyond our control. We inherited what we inherited. We took that, all those sites, and every year we steadily move forward with the goal of cleaning it up. We do as much as we can every year. We would love to do more. If we had the money."

The EPA has calculated that 40 percent of river headwaters in the West are impaired by acid mine drainage. In Colorado, state health officials Thursday determined that discharges from the 230 old mines have contaminated 1,645 miles of rivers and streams....

V. JUSTICE BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS

159. The notion of the common good also extends to future generations. The global economic crises have made painfully obvious the detrimental effects of disregarding our common destiny, which cannot exclude those who come after us. We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity. Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others. Since the world has been given to us, we can no longer view reality in a purely utilitarian way, in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit. Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. The Portuguese bishops have called upon us to acknowledge this obligation of justice: “The environment is part of a logic of receptivity. It is on loan to each generation, which must then hand it on to the next”.[124] An integral ecology is marked by this broader vision.

160. What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? This question not only concerns the environment in isolation; the issue cannot be approached piecemeal. When we ask ourselves what kind of world we want to leave behind, we think in the first place of its general direction, its meaning and its values. Unless we struggle with these deeper issues, I do not believe that our concern for ecology will produce significant results. But if these issues are courageously faced, we are led inexorably to ask other pointed questions: What is the purpose of our life in this world? Why are we here? What is the goal of our work and all our efforts? What need does the earth have of us? It is no longer enough, then, simply to state that we should be concerned for future generations. We need to see that what is at stake is our own dignity. Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is, first and foremost, up to us. The issue is one which dramatically affects us, for it has to do with the ultimate meaning of our earthly sojourn.

161. Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain. We may well be leaving to coming generations debris, desolation and filth. The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet’s capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world. The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now. We need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

162. Our difficulty in taking up this challenge seriously has much to do with an ethical and cultural decline which has accompanied the deterioration of the environment. Men and women of our postmodern world run the risk of rampant individualism, and many problems of society are connected with today’s self-centred culture of instant gratification. We see this in the crisis of family and social ties and the difficulties of recognizing the other. Parents can be prone to impulsive and wasteful consumption, which then affects their children who find it increasingly difficult to acquire a home of their own and build a family. Furthermore, our inability to think seriously about future generations is linked to our inability to broaden the scope of our present interests and to give consideration to those who remain excluded from development. Let us not only keep the poor of the future in mind, but also today’s poor, whose life on this earth is brief and who cannot keep on waiting. Hence, “in addition to a fairer sense of intergenerational solidarity there is also an urgent moral need for a renewed sense of intragenerational solidarity”.[125]

The Sunnyside Mine

The mines in this region contained more than gold. The rocks were highly profitable. The mines were emptied of their wealth. The mines left already unstable geology more so. Then add to that water and there enormous hydrostatic pressure throughout the region.

Au is Gold (click here).

Pb is Lead (click here)

Mn is Manganese (click here) 

Ag is Silver (click here)

Zn is Zinc (click here) 

Cu is Copper (click here)

Secretary McCarthy did not cause the problem. She is the most qualified to bring expertise to correct all that has gone wrong, including any input from USGS. The region is complicated, mined into instability, contains enormous amounts of water to provide hydrostatic pressure to the entire mining area. 

While Secretary McCarthy carries out the clean up, she needs to relieve the private contractor and/or employees of their responsibility and bring in other departments including USGS to evaluate the entire region. I have to say the past owners are correct. The region is dangerous. The hydrostatic pressures will ultimately cause the same result if left to negligence. So, the continued clean up of these mines have to go forward. I am thinking USGS will be able to determine the best place to start to try to pump the water out and if there will be instability anyway. 

The mines cannot be entered they are far to dangerous. So the work has to proceed with caution. 

It is a mess. A complete mess that has gotten worse with time. This clean up should have been conducted a long time ago.

The difference between past administrations and President Obama's administration is that when the mines finally collapsed and poisoned the rivers anyway, Republicans would have said it was from too much rain or some other lame excuse. This clean up needs to be done and it has to proceed with caution to protect workers as well.

IV. THE PRINCIPLE OF THE COMMON GOOD

156. An integral ecology is inseparable from the notion of the common good, a central and unifying principle of social ethics. The common good is “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfilment”.[122]

157. Underlying the principle of the common good is respect for the human person as such, endowed with basic and inalienable rights ordered to his or her integral development. It has also to do with the overall welfare of society and the development of a variety of intermediate groups, applying the principle of subsidiarity. Outstanding among those groups is the family, as the basic cell of society. Finally, the common good calls for social peace, the stability and security provided by a certain order which cannot be achieved without particular concern for distributive justice; whenever this is violated, violence always ensues. Society as a whole, and the state in particular, are obliged to defend and promote the common good.

158. In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived of basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters. This option entails recognizing the implications of the universal destination of the world’s goods, but, as I mentioned in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium,[123] it demands before all else an appreciation of the immense dignity of the poor in the light of our deepest convictions as believers. We need only look around us to see that, today, this option is in fact an ethical imperative essential for effectively attaining the common good. 

The entire region has been degrading for decades. The problem started with Lake Emma and the Sunnyside Mine.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily call it bad luck. There was profound lack of geological data in the case of this mine.

...It was just (click here)
such a case of bad luck that happened in the Sunnyside mine at Silverton,Colorado’s mining disaster. The mine had worked its way under Lake Emma and the miners complained about the safety of the situation.

Mining engineers are not geologists.

The complaints were researched by the mining engineers and it was determined that the mine was well within the margin of safety. At a depth of 90 feet below the lake, the margin of safety was well within the limits. With the safety concerns addressed the mining company managers decided to go forward with removing the last pillar under the lake. This pillar was so rich in gold, a 4” seam of bright shiny gold ran the entire length of the pillar. 

This pillar was the last structure remaining between safety and disaster. Now, someone is going to tell me the miners were wrong and the owners were right. Sure. And, of course, the pillar of rock was worthless, too.

This is where the bad luck comes in. The lake bottom sediment had filled and concealed a crevice that came out at the gold laden pillar underground. When the pillar was removed the miners discovered a “soft pocket” of was made of glacial rock flour. Glacial rock flour is just what it sounds like; rocks that have been ground by glaciers into flour. 

Now. GLACIERS from the ice aqe dominated this area and created geological deposits. This instability is a very real issue. Engineers are not the folks to evaluate geological formations. The geology was known and one might ask, how did the lake get there in the first place. Well, could it be because the glaciers ground the land into pulverized sediment and the glacier was melting and retreating and a 'watershed' developed from glacier weight and erosion. Hm. Sounds interesting. Basically, this region of Colorado had gold. But, it also had unstable geological structure.

It was worked a little to find its limits. It ended up being about twenty feet long and four feet wide, but more scary was that the top could not be found and this spooked the miners, who refused to re-enter the area. The new plan was to drain the lake the following summer so the gold ore could be retrieved. This was sort of the calm of good luck before the outpouring of bad luck. Sometime after the last workers clocked out on Saturday, the flour plug gave way to the force of water above it. This deluge of water filled the mine and emptied through the lower mine portals completely emptying the lake in only a couple of hours. The lake covered a couple of acres of land. Rocks, glacier till, and flour plugged every nook and cranny of all the mine workings with natural clay-like cement.

152. Lack of housing is a grave problem in many parts of the world, both in rural areas and in large cities, since state budgets usually cover only a small portion of the demand. Not only the poor, but many other members of society as well, find it difficult to own a home. Having a home has much to do with a sense of personal dignity and the growth of families. This is a major issue for human ecology. In some places, where makeshift shanty towns have sprung up, this will mean developing those neighbourhoods rather than razing or displacing them. When the poor live in unsanitary slums or in dangerous tenements, “in cases where it is necessary to relocate them, in order not to heap suffering upon suffering, adequate information needs to be given beforehand, with choices of decent housing offered, and the people directly involved must be part of the process”.[118] At the same time, creativity should be shown in integrating rundown neighbourhoods into a welcoming city: “How beautiful those cities which overcome paralyzing mistrust, integrate those who are different and make this very integration a new factor of development! How attractive are those cities which, even in their architectural design, are full of spaces which connect, relate and favour the recognition of others!”[119]

153. The quality of life in cities has much to do with systems of transport, which are often a source of much suffering for those who use them. Many cars, used by one or more people, circulate in cities, causing traffic congestion, raising the level of pollution, and consuming enormous quantities of non-renewable energy. This makes it necessary to build more roads and parking areas which spoil the urban landscape. Many specialists agree on the need to give priority to public transportation. Yet some measures needed will not prove easily acceptable to society unless substantial improvements are made in the systems themselves, which in many cities force people to put up with undignified conditions due to crowding, inconvenience, infrequent service and lack of safety.

154. Respect for our dignity as human beings often jars with the chaotic realities that people have to endure in city life. Yet this should not make us overlook the abandonment and neglect also experienced by some rural populations which lack access to essential services and where some workers are reduced to conditions of servitude, without rights or even the hope of a more dignified life.

155. Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of an “ecology of man”, based on the fact that “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will”.[120] It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek “to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it”.[121]

It isn't the EPA that is the problem, it is the LACK of infrastructure spending to end these dangers.

I am quite confident I don't have to enter a defense of the EPA, it's Secretary is more than capable of speaking to this LONG STANDING problem ACROSS the entire country. So, why open still yet another mine in Wisconsin?

August 14, 2015
By Steve Staeger

DENVER – The owner (click here) of the gold mine that blew out last week sending toxic water down the Animas River is blaming a neighboring mine for contributing to the problem.

EPA crews accidentally caused the blowout earlier this month while excavating the entrance to the vacant Gold King Mine. As much as three million gallons of contaminated water ended up flowing down the river.

"This has been a very slow motion trainwreck – a disaster waiting to happen," said Todd Hennis who owns the Gold King Mine.

Hennis says he has been warning the public for more than a decade about what he felt were hazardous conditions at a neighboring mine.

In the 1990s the Sunnyside mine closed down and the ownership at the time negotiated with the state to install bulkheads in the mine, essentially damming it up and keeping any contaminated water inside....

The Gold King Mine incident is not about carbon dioxide or the competency of the EPA regardless of what the petroleum industry says, it is about the complete NEGLECT by the US Congress to provide funds to clean up what really are SUPERFUND sites.

The Gold King Mine did not happen over night, it was simply waiting to happen. There are reasons environmental groups fight very hard to prevent such enterprises such as open pit mining, or coal ash dumps or mining, because, they are toxic spheres that endanger human health and the beauty of our land.

III. ECOLOGY OF DAILY LIFE

147. Authentic development includes efforts to bring about an integral improvement in the quality of human life, and this entails considering the setting in which people live their lives. These settings influence the way we think, feel and act. In our rooms, our homes, our workplaces and neighbourhoods, we use our environment as a way of expressing our identity. We make every effort to adapt to our environment, but when it is disorderly, chaotic or saturated with noise and ugliness, such over stimulation makes it difficult to find ourselves integrated and happy.

148. An admirable creativity and generosity is shown by persons and groups who respond to environmental limitations by alleviating the adverse effects of their surroundings and learning to orient their lives amid disorder and uncertainty. For example, in some places, where the façades of buildings are derelict, people show great care for the interior of their homes, or find contentment in the kindness and friendliness of others. A wholesome social life can light up a seemingly undesirable environment. At times a commendable human ecology is practised by the poor despite numerous hardships. The feeling of asphyxiation brought on by densely populated residential areas is countered if close and warm relationships develop, if communities are created, if the limitations of the environment are compensated for in the interior of each person who feels held within a network of solidarity and belonging. In this way, any place can turn from being a hell on earth into the setting for a dignified life.

149. The extreme poverty experienced in areas lacking harmony, open spaces or potential for integration, can lead to incidents of brutality and to exploitation by criminal organizations. In the unstable neighbourhoods of mega-cities, the daily experience of overcrowding and social anonymity can create a sense of uprootedness which spawns antisocial behaviour and violence. Nonetheless, I wish to insist that love always proves more powerful. Many people in these conditions are able to weave bonds of belonging and togetherness which convert overcrowding into an experience of community in which the walls of the ego are torn down and the barriers of selfishness overcome. This experience of a communitarian salvation often generates creative ideas for the improvement of a building or a neighbourhood.[117]

150. Given the interrelationship between living space and human behaviour, those who design buildings, neighbourhoods, public spaces and cities, ought to draw on the various disciplines which help us to understand people’s thought processes, symbolic language and ways of acting. It is not enough to seek the beauty of design. More precious still is the service we offer to another kind of beauty: people’s quality of life, their adaptation to the environment, encounter and mutual assistance. Here too, we see how important it is that urban planning always take into consideration the views of those who will live in these areas.

151. There is also a need to protect those common areas, visual landmarks and urban landscapes which increase our sense of belonging, of rootedness, of “feeling at home” within a city which includes us and brings us together. It is important that the different parts of a city be well integrated and that those who live there have a sense of the whole, rather than being confined to one neighbourhood and failing to see the larger city as space which they share with others. Interventions which affect the urban or rural landscape should take into account how various elements combine to form a whole which is perceived by its inhabitants as a coherent and meaningful framework for their lives. Others will then no longer be seen as strangers, but as part of a “we” which all of us are working to create. For this same reason, in both urban and rural settings, it is helpful to set aside some places which can be preserved and protected from constant changes brought by human intervention.

Just a word about Em Drive and running away from Earth

Some time ago I was in a presentation of the physics department at UNCW regarding deep space travel. It was presented by a scientist from the Goddard Space Labs. He stated there is far too much radiation outside of Earth's influence to expect to make it into deep space alive in the first place.

I have a 'thing' about Earth, it's home to us, our dedication to that home and it's uniqueness to the entire galaxy and the void of space where galaxies live.

The idea there is another habitable place to live that is Earth-like has it's detractor in me. Earth is unique and while astrophysicists naively or not so naively seek a new home for human beings they do so with anticipation and not caution. 

So, if I may.

This is an illustration of the "Milky Way Galaxy." The Hipparcos Region is one explored by astronomers with a project of the same name. The name is Greek and is the name of a man that applied trigonometry to astronomy.

But, Earth is a minuscule part of the Milky Way. The disk shape of the Milky Way is important. It proves the organization of molecules and their spin actually have an effect on natural world movement. This spiral shape is repeated in many places in nature.

This image is also the Milky Way and where Earth is found.

Carol Rosin, (click here) who will introduce Mitchell at the event on May 5^th and has worked for decades on our peaceful emergence into space says,” “It is time for us to acknowledge our place in the cosmos as sovereign Earth citizens and begin a new era of peace and prosperity for our planet,” states Rosin, who has been on a relentless life-long campaign to avoid the weaponization of space.  “When we become a unified planet of fully conscious citizens, we will understand our place within the cosmos begins with peace here on Earth which means not just disclosure of other races, but of establishing a foundation for permanent peace.” More on the Treaty to Ban space-based weapons can be found at http://www.peaceinspace.com/ 

Kindly keep in mind Earth is unique. Astronomers like to think of Earth as an average planet that is in the habitable zone around an average sun. I can live with that. Literally. Average for a sun and planet seems right to me. Sort of like the Three Bears and Goldilocks. "Not to hot" and "not to cold," but, "just right.

On February 14, 1990 (Valentine's Day) Voyager 1 completed what is called the "Family Portrait" of the Solar System. Voyager 1 has left the Solar System and has gone into deep space. I don't hear much talk about either Voyagers these day, but, they are an incredible collection of data.

Why do I bring up the Voyager space probes? Because they sent back data that describes our Heliosphere.

Components of the Heliosphere (click here)

The Heliosphere is the outer atmosphere of the Sun and marks the edge of the Sun’s magnetic influence in space. The solar wind that streams out in all directions from the rotating Sun is a magnetic plasma, and it fills the vast space between the planets in our solar system. The magnetic plasma from the Sun doesn’t mix with the magnetic plasma between the stars in our galaxy, so the solar wind carves out a bubble-like atmosphere that shields our solar system from the majority of galactic cosmic rays.

I like being average and to venture out of our solar system in search of a new home requires the idea there is danger between Earth and what is on the other side of the Heliosphere. I am just not convinced there is another planet as average and benevolent anywhere else than right here on Earth. Regardless of whether one believes in creation or evolution, this is the planet where we happened and it happened for a reason. Kindly get your minds around that FACT.

II. CULTURAL ECOLOGY

143. Together with the patrimony of nature, there is also an historic, artistic and cultural patrimony which is likewise under threat. This patrimony is a part of the shared identity of each place and a foundation upon which to build a habitable city. It is not a matter of tearing down and building new cities, supposedly more respectful of the environment yet not always more attractive to live in. Rather, there is a need to incorporate the history, culture and architecture of each place, thus preserving its original identity. Ecology, then, also involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense. More specifically, it calls for greater attention to local cultures when studying environmental problems, favouring a dialogue between scientific-technical language and the language of the people. Culture is more than what we have inherited from the past; it is also, and above all, a living, dynamic and participatory present reality, which cannot be excluded as we rethink the relationship between human beings and the environment.

144. A consumerist vision of human beings, encouraged by the mechanisms of today’s globalized economy, has a levelling effect on cultures, diminishing the immense variety which is the heritage of all humanity. Attempts to resolve all problems through uniform regulations or technical interventions can lead to overlooking the complexities of local problems which demand the active participation of all members of the community. New processes taking shape cannot always fit into frameworks imported from outside; they need to be based in the local culture itself. As life and the world are dynamic realities, so our care for the world must also be flexible and dynamic. Merely technical solutions run the risk of addressing symptoms and not the more serious underlying problems. There is a need to respect the rights of peoples and cultures, and to appreciate that the development of a social group presupposes an historical process which takes place within a cultural context and demands the constant and active involvement of local people from within their proper culture. Nor can the notion of the quality of life be imposed from without, for quality of life must be understood within the world of symbols and customs proper to each human group.

145. Many intensive forms of environmental exploitation and degradation not only exhaust the resources which provide local communities with their livelihood, but also undo the social structures which, for a long time, shaped cultural identity and their sense of the meaning of life and community. The disappearance of a culture can be just as serious, or even more serious, than the disappearance of a species of plant or animal. The imposition of a dominant lifestyle linked to a single form of production can be just as harmful as the altering of ecosystems.

146. In this sense, it is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed. For them, land is not a commodity but rather a gift from God and from their ancestors who rest there, a sacred space with which they need to interact if they are to maintain their identity and values. When they remain on their land, they themselves care for it best. Nevertheless, in various parts of the world, pressure is being put on them to abandon their homelands to make room for agricultural or mining projects which are undertaken without regard for the degradation of nature and culture.

It's Sunday Night

"Godlovesugly" by Atmopshere (click here)

I wear my scars like the rings on a pimp
I live life like the captain of a sinking ship
The one thing that i can guarantee
I'm like a stepping razor, i suggest you stay fair with me
Been payin dues for a decade plus,
Before that i was just another face on the bus
Tappin my foot, to the beat on the radio
Dreamin 'bout the mic and the money and the ladies
Oh mom, i promise im gonna be large
Someday im gonna stop tryin to borrow your car
Gonna go far, with charisma and skill
Until they put my face on a million dollar bill
Atmosphere, its just a ten letter word
Discretion is the name of my cement-feathered bird
And if you didnt hear, fuck whatevers heard
I think you got the sickness i suggest you get it cured
Caught up in the mix, of a bottle full of fix
Im gonna hobble down the street 'til i reach knob creek
Its not that i dont like you, i just dont wanna speak
You fuckin freak
Now keep your days out my week
The world keeps a balance, through mathematics
Defined by whatever youve added and subtracted
Im pushin on the hammer, to trigger the brain
Embrace how i live it, god loves ugly


God loves ugly...

Once upon a time in minneapolis, yo
I damn near had to steal the show
I stepped on the stage, who is it?
My names slug ive come to kill a couple minutes
Whats up with the way, that everybody gathers around each other
So they can steal each others sound
If its all about gettin down with the get down
How long i gotta wait for these fools to sit down?
Appears more clear in its simplest form
Nobody sees tears when youre standing in a storm
Abandoning the norm, and handling the harvest
Measuring the worth by the depth of the hardships
I welcome all the hatred you can aim at my name
I held on to the sacred ways of how to play the game
When the soldiers started runnin short on rations
I began tappin the egg, to spark the hatchin
Make it happen
And take this captain to the gallows
I keep steerin us into an area thats shallow
Talkin to my shadow, he advised me not to worry
He said i should plant my tree and let it rise out of the fury
So give me some light, a little love and some liquid
Im gonna creep through the night
And put a plug in the spigot
And when the water grows
And the dam starts to overflow
Ill float atop the flood, holding on to my ugly



Why scream, when you can lose yourself inside the wide-screen
Let life be a bowl of melted ice cream
Or be the deer thats caught in my high beams
Im rollin with the lights on, scared stiff
Reality is just too much to bear with
Paranoid, walkin around careless
No wonder youre in love with your therapist
Go to sleep my little time bomb

The Benghazi Committee

US Rep. Trey Goudy is playing politics on the American dollar he earns. There needs to be an ethics investigation to his activity and that of his committee.

I refer to the interview Mr. Goudy had today on FOX News Sunday. He stated even when the October committee hearing concludes there will be more questions and there will be further investigation.

"Hillary, you already know there is no there there, it is time to end this charade for the sake of politics."

The fact of the matter is Mr. Goudy is stating all the skepticism Mrs. Clinton is FRUSTRATED with is his doing in asking for emails. So, Mr. Goudy is carving out an agenda to further his political goals in hopes will defeat Hillary Clinton's bid for President of the USA simply by skepticism alone.

Mr. Goudy has stated he expects Hillary Clinton to sit and answer questions for as long as it takes. That is harassment and not good governance or legal practice. Hillary Clinton is being harassed by the Benghazi Committee. There aren't any more questions to answer and it is up to Hillary Clinton to end this Republican Charade.

The issue of any emails, classified or otherwise, does not belong to the Benghazi committee. The email concerns is now in the hands of the US Justice Department and that is where the story ends for Mr. Goudy.

Mr. Goudy stated the Obama Administration is covering up for Hillary Clinton because the Government Accountability Office or some other General within the civil branch of government is not going to have access to evaluate exactly what is missing from the Clinton server. That is a lie. Mr. Goudy is a member of Congress and has access to any branch of government he fills necessary to bring forward concerns of the American people. THEREFORE, it is not President Obama obstructing any investigation, but, Mr. Goudy himself.

Questions?

I didn't think so. The one I have is "How competent is Goudy anyway?"

Basically, "What difference does it make?"

The Sunday Shows are practicing typical journalism.

The problem with folks that want to run independently is that they assume they will draw votes from both sides of the aisle. That is a fatal mistake. 

The fact of the matter is a candidate is running independently because they find the party environment restrictive to their moral content. 

In reflecting on the increase in interested viewers for the first Republican debate; the increase was over 3.5 million which are the number of people that viewed the first Republican debate last year. So, for the sake of argument, lets just say there is another 3.5 million that are not American voters for whatever reason they are not. But, also keep in mind within the new number are the 3.5 million that tuned in last year. So, if we discount those not voting in the American elections and assuming the viewers last year are traditional establishment voters (which is a big assumption) that leave 24 million - 7 million and a total of 17 million new viewers to the first Republican debate. They tuned in to see the master of celebrity do his thing. 

Let's call that 17 million Donald Trump supporters. As supports that might be coming to a new venue for elections in the USA they probably aren't registered voters. Knowing that should provide a venue for the Trump Campaign to ask for voter registration from their new supporters. While parents and children were flying in a helicopter around the fairgrounds, the Trump staff should have the next set of parents filling out voter registrations for the upcoming elections.

Registering voters is a bipartisan issue and should provide no controversy. 

Now. For whatever reason Donald Trump believes he is not being treated fairly he can leave confident his new supporters will follow him. If the 17 million is an indication of the people prepared to vote for him, he should win handily as an independent.

However.

There is another hurdle to Donald Trump that was brought out by FOX News Sunday. While he is at the top of the polls today, the question was asked who these same people (GOP voters no supporters) would find qualified for the presidency. The person at the top of that poll was Jeb Bush followed by Marco Rubio and then by Hillary Clinton (Hillary has some work to do to remove all the skepticism for the love of her country and dedication to preserving national security). That means the polls Donald Trump is enjoying today is about his celebrity with a willingness to hear what he has to say to steal the ideas that seem to work for the RNC.

The FOX News polls basically shows Donald Trump ahead, but, unelectable. The ability to be elected is a real commodity and when the voters go to the polls in primaries the question is while they like Donald Trump will they vote for him to be their nominee. That is the question only the Trump staff can answer for Donald Trump when they conduct their own inside polls.