While environmentalists push for electric cars and wind turbines to help the environment, they ignore the environmental problems they cause. The batteries for electric cars and turbine blades for wind turbines have a very short lifespan but cannot be recycled. Many are being buried. Lithium for batteries is also very environmentally destructive to mine. In addition, solar and wind energy are undependable and depend on weather while gas and oil are not. In addition, wind turbines and electric cars are very expensive. The battery for an electric car now costs more than we used to pay for the whole car. In addition, solar fields are destroying large areas of environment and wind turbines endanger birds who are killed by the spinning blades. We are being forced into a program which is undependable and very expensive with very little thought to the problems involved and are not waiting for the problems to be solved. In addition, the changeover is benefiting those who produce the energy. Many of these programs are subsidized with federal money but benefit private companies. There has been a big push to help companies create wind and solar fields but little to help individuals. California produced a solar field covering 150,000 acres in the desert. That energy has to be transmitted over a long distance to faraway cities. Energy is lost in the transmission and there is the possibility of disruption by weather and other factors. Yet, individuals and businesses have large areas of roof and parking lots that could be used to produce electricity and would not have to be transmitted over long distances. While California claims to be trying to help the environment, they reduced the payback for excess energy produced by individual solar panels and wind turbines which hurts individuals by making it more difficult to recoup the costs of installing them, discouraging individuals from purchasing them. As a result, companies are buying cheap electricity from individuals and selling it for a profit.
Environment-J
While we should seek to protect the environment, we should research what we do to make sure it actually helps. Ethanol was promoted by environmentalists as the answer to global warming. It was supposedly clean burning, would produce less pollution, and was renewable. Unlike our petroleum supply, which is not renewable, Ethanol is produced from grain and is therefore in infinite supply. Those are lofty goals and worth pursuing. However, like many liberal promotions, truth is in short supply. In fact, it corroded the engines so engines had to be redesigned to accommodate it. While I would like to help the environment when I can, I could not afford a car that took it for a long time. However, it didn’t go far with the public and today few stations carry it. When I got a car that could use it, I looked for a local station that carried it. I finally found a station that sold it and was glad to find that it cost about one fourth of the cost of regular gas, which I estimated would save me about $9.00 a week, so I started using it. After using it for a few months, I found that my gas mileage had dropped. Apparently, it produces less energy and takes more gas to get the same power. In fact, it cost me $3.00 more per week. Needless to say, I no longer use it. In addition, it was supposed to be cleaner burning but produced so much pollution in my engine that I was not able to get normal gas mileage until months after I returned to using regular fuel.
Politics-AB-AB
The FBI has just declared a list of conservative organizations to be terrorist groups because they are investigating crimes committed by the administration, the FBI, the IRS, and the Justice Dept. American citizens should not have to continue to sue the government to get information. These are matters the FBI should be investigating. The FBI was quick to investigate Donald Trump and released the information to the media for a smear job, to keep him from being elected in spite of the fact they knew the information was false, yet they have not investigated the evidence of criminal activity contained on Hunter Biden’s laptop, which they originally claimed was fake but later admitted was true, in order to prevent it from hurting Joe Bidens chances of winning the election. Government agencies paid with public funds should not be influencing the elections to enable one candidate to win, over another. While President Biden claims to be openly transparent, he has stonewalled every attempt to investigate it. Recently, he fired those who were investigating it to prevent the truth from coming out. In addition, they continue to prosecute those who pray in front of abortion clinics while they have not investigated the daily vandalizing and fire bombing of pro-life pregnancy centers and churches that support them. They indicate a disturbing overreach of government power and are tactics one would expect in Russia or China but not in the United States.
Health Care=B
If the goal of health care for everyone is allowed to be fully implemented, the cost will be unthinkable. Before Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid were already straining the federal budget. As a result of the increased cost of insurance, far more people could not afford insurance, so it ended up covering far more people than they originally stated it would. Yet, there are still many on private plans. If they are added, it will greatly increase costs. In addition, without competition, there will be no reason to keep health care costs down. The drain on our health care system will force it to become selective in who they help, just as it has in Canada and in Europe, who already have universal health care. Medical care must be approved by a government panel which determines if it is cost effective. The elderly and disabled would be the first to suffer because they don’t have economic value in our society. We are already seeing cuts in Medicare and Social Security payments. Government programs like Medicare and Medicaid already limit what services are available, because they are not considered cost effective. Yet, many of the disabled could work and support themselves if they could get help, but they are being shuttled into disability programs, which limit what work they can do. A great deal of the technology available to us today could help the disabled and enable them to work but is too costly for them because they can’t work without it. By providing them with a little help now, they could work and repay the expenditure many times over in their life time. Since companies charge the government far more than they charge private pay, many of the elderly could be helped far cheaper through private means then through government programs.
Health Care-A
People cry about how many people don’t have health insurance and can’t get medical care. They think that all you have to do is mandate that everyone has to buy insurance and everyone will have insurance and get health care. That sounds simple but it ignores reality. It doesn’t say anything about where these people are going to get the money to pay for health insurance. Before people had to choose between having a roof over their head or medical insurance, but since medical insurance was mandated, many have been forced to give up a roof over their head in order to purchase medical insurance. President Obama claimed his health care plan would make insurance affordable but he ignored the law of supply and demand. Previously, insurance companies had to hold down costs to try to get the most people to buy it but once it became mandatory to have insurance, there was no reason to keep costs low because people had to buy it regardless of how expensive it got. As a result, many people saw their insurance premiums more than double. Health care costs doubled when Obamacare extended the health care plan to large numbers of those struggling to cover health care costs, due to benefits insurance companies were forced to add in compliance with federal mandates. Previously, imdividuals only purchased coverage they needed. There are far less expensive ways to provide everyone with affordable health care. (see Truly In The World But Not Of It-Part A under Health Care)
Ascension Sunday-May 21
The seventh Sunday of Eastertide is Ascension Sunday when we celebrate Christ’s return to heaven. When Christ finished giving His disciples their assignment, He ascended into heaven, leaving them to carry on the work until He returns (Acts1:7-11). Many think that Jesus gave the command to make disciples just to the original twelve disciples. However, Jesus makes it clear in the parable of the talents (Math. 25:14-30) that He is talking about all who serve Him. He does not say the master gave his possessions to the head steward or to some of his servants, He says the master gave his possessions to his servants. Apparently, he distributed his possessions among all of them. Jesus was leaving His disciples and entrusted them to carry on His work. He has given everyone talents to help build His kingdom. Some have many talents, some have very few. One day those who are in Christ will stand before Him to give an account of how we used the talents He gave us. How we use those talents will determine our eventual reward. If we use those talents abundantly, He will reward us abundantly but if we squander them, we will receive little or no reward when He returns.
Sanctity of Life-GB-A
Canada is not expanding its program of assisted suicide while doing nothing to repair its failing healthcare system. Canada reported that 10,000 people died there by assisted suicide in 2021. It is only another stop on the slippery slope. Once you declare that life in the womb is expendable, it begins a slide that can only lead downward. When Canada created a universal health care system, a government agency took over supervision of the health care system. If the patient was critically ill or critically injured and the treatment was too expensive and the outcome was uncertain, the panel would simply deny treatment. Effectively condemning the person to suffer until they died. However, since many did not die right away, it became expensive caring for them until they died and so Canada opened the door to Euthanasia to relieve pressure on its health care system. While at first, it was at the patient’s request, the government panel was eventually allowed to order it to save the cost of treatment which would only maintain them but could not cure them. Eventually, they expanded the definition to include mental illness or stress. That would include those who lost hope of getting treated by the failing health care system or of getting housing or other necessities who would request termination. Many nations in Europe are following the same path. That is the path that the United States will follow if we do not reassert the value of life. After over 45 years of legalized abortion, many people have lost the sense of the value of life. While a majority still oppose abortion, liberal politicians have been forcing it on us through the courts and through legislation. Now they are pushing to allow killing unwanted children up to 28 days after birth. California has now legalized that and other States are considering it, however many abortionists have been secretly practicing it already while liberal prosecutors turn a blind eye to it. Liberal politicians have also been pushing for a universal health care system similar to Canada which would place the decision to offer or withhold treatment into the hands of a government committee.
Sanctity of Life-A-1-G
Democrats in Oregon are pushing a law that would allow girls of any age to get abortions without notifying their parents, but Republicans are boycotting the legislative session to prevent it being voted on.. The girl would have to approve in writing before her parents would be notified. It means girls only 10 years old could get an abortion and their parents would not know it. That is a resipe for disaster. That means a rapist or sex trafficker could get a girl pregnant and then take her for an abortion to cover it up. There are already numerous instances where rapists and sex traffickers are taking girls to get abortions and the girls are going through repeated abortions because Planned Parenthood has not notified the parents or child protective services. Sex with underage girls is illegal in all 50 States and laws require child protective services be notified when girls request an abortion. However, Planned Parenthood and other abortionists openly ignore the law because of Roe vs Wade, however parental notification has nothing to do with whether the baby is protected by the law. Abortionists would still be guilty of failing to notify child protective services, even if they repeal the laws about notifying parents. The law protects children from sexual exploitation and the child is a person protected by the Constitution and State laws. Roe vs Wade did not change that, nor does the fact that Roe vs Wade has been overturned. They tell the girl to list her age as eighteen or over so they can avoid the requirements of the law, even though it is easy to tell that most ten year olds are not eighteen years old. That is a deliberate act to get around the law.