Ol' Buffalo Soapbox

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran.

Index to the Ol' Buffalo Soapbox

Environment and Global Warming

Approximately 15% of National Park properties allow at least some hunting. Most do not. Few National Parks are large enough or remote enough to be truly independent and self-sufficient ecosystems. Consequently, natural wildlife balances are usually disrupted. Overpopulation is a frequent result with subsequent destruction of habitat. In at least one case, the balance between predators (which are also protected from hunting) and their prey is out of balance. The excess of predators is taking a larger than optimum toll on elk calves and other young wildlife. Although the affected herds have overpopulated, they consist largely of older animals who have passed their prime. Without human intervention to control predators and to harvest the elderly elk, these herds may soon reach a point where they will be unable to recover once they begin to starve from overpopulation and habitat damage. I am told that employees (or contractors) of Rocky Mountain National Park, because of the anti-hunting rules under which it operates, plans to shoot some 700 elk per year and allow the meat to rot in the field -- at a cost of nearly a million dollars a year. This is unconscionable! Clearly, some National Parks are not suitable for hunting due to man-made park characteristics such as proximity to homes or extremely small park boundaries. However, most National Parks will be improved by properly managed hunting. Congress and the Whitehouse must immediately intervene and direct the National Park Service to employ hunting as a means of managing wildlife. This may entail modifying anti-hunting wording of legislation that established some of the parks. (29 Jul 2006)

Everyone's favorite sourpuss, Al Gore, is staring this year in his own dramatic home movie entitled "Inconvenient Truth." Perhaps it would better entitled "Exaggerated Truth." Gore has long contended that modern inventions of mankind are responsible for the imminent destruction of our globe. He is particularly fond of "global warming." (Remember that just a couple of decades ago, the same human activity was allegedly causing global cooling.) Over the past 30-40 years, industry in the western world has made unimaginable progress in reversing pollution -- a feat which Gore and his "scientists" seem unaware of. Our water, sky, and soil are cleaner than they have been for more than a hundred years. Gore and his "scientists" need to take a closer look at the science of climatology. In doing so, he will learn that throughout millions of years of geological history, the climate has made untold numbers of quite dramatic shifts in climate. In fact, just a few thousand years ago, Seattle was buried under thousands of feet of ice! Yes, global warming really does happen -- but it wasn't Gore's internal combustion engine that melted the ice that buried Seattle. I wonder if fear-mongering Gore and his "scientists" are aware that Earth was warmer during the Viking era (1000 years ago) than it is today. Gore's presumption that man is even capable of significantly affecting Earth's climate is the epitome of arrogance when you compare our effect to that of the sun. Consider the effect that just one day of heating by the sun has on Earth. Just a few minutes in the sun on a July afternoon in Las Vegas or an hour in the dark on a January afternoon in Barrow lets one know that that's a mighty powerful sphere up there. Our current warming cycle can best be explained, both logically and scientifically, by our relationship to the sun and the sun's own cycles. As Gore's "scientists" must surely know, the sun has dramatic variations in its sunspot cycle resulting in a brighter, hotter sun at times and a cooler sun at others. Perhaps Gore's "scientists" would like to blame that phenomenon on the internal combustion engine, too. Add to that Earth's precession and variations in our distance to from the sun and one has a much more valid explanation for climatological variations than the exhaust from my lawn mower. Having no desire to live in filth, I also naturally oppose any unnecessary pollution of our soil, air and water (even including the mucus and cigarette butts cads spit onto the streets and sidewalks). What Gore apparently really wants is the total dismantling of US industry and a return to the stone age. (Even the bronze and iron ages would surely be unacceptable to Gore, since such manufacturing requires the use of fire.) To abandon the technical advances of modern society to calm Gore's fears is irresponsible, unacceptable, unwise, and unscientific. Al Gore, please go away. (18 Jun 2006)

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Health and Welfare

The Global Poverty Act (HR.1302 - S.2433) would demand that the president develop "and implement" a policy to "cut extreme global poverty in half by 2015. This is expected to cost the American taxpayer $845 billion! This bill passed the House by a voice vote last year because most members didn’t realize what was in this "feel-good" legislation. This is not surprising, because few congressmen are wise enough and responsible enough to read the bills they vote on. (See the badly-needed "Read The Bills Act".) As a former military officer and as a current international airline pilot, I have traveled to over 120 nations. I've seen the profound poverty that this legislation pretends to address. I can say with great confidence that the greatest poverty is generally in nations with corrupt and/or oppressive and/or ineffective governments. Congress has no constitutional authority to remedy this situation. Any aid would only line the pockets of those corrupt government officials. The way to combat poverty is education. Education and the will to overcome poverty needs from within each individual and his nation. The missionary efforts of the various Christian churches is perhaps the best way to accomplish this. The Christian message is more than religious, it motivates and gives hope and ideals to believers. It includes a message of personal responsibility, service to others, and teaches leadership skills to its adherents. In their wake, missionaries leave schools and various projects to improve living conditions and to create jobs. It's a slow process, but it's lasting. Having the US government simply throw money at the problem is historically extremely temporary, wasteful, and ineffective. These people need to learn how to fish. If we keep throwing them fish, the fish will rot. And, they don't even like the kind of fish we give them! Again, I remind Congress that it's not our nation's job to cut global poverty nor does Congress have any constitutional authority whatsoever to attempt to do so. I urge the Senate to aggressively oppose the Global Poverty Act (HR.1302 - S.2433). (24 Mar 2008)

I support the President's veto of SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) and I applaud this week's House vote to uphold his veto of HR-976 a bill that would have unnecessarily expanded SCHIP to "children" aged 25. Now, I urge Congress to work with the Whitehouse to work out a compromise SCHIP bill that will downsize and phase out the SCHIP program as well as all other socialist programs (ie Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, food stamps, etc) that have been imposed upon workers and taxpayers over the past 70 years or so. There is no Constitutional authority for Congress to have ever legislated any of them. (19 Oct 2007)

I oppose HR-3162, S-1893 and any socialist copycat bills that would raise taxes to expand the State Children's Health Insurance (SCHIP) program. This bill relies on tapping more from a dwindling source of revenue and opens the door to a bigger, more dangerous federal role in healthcare. Congress ought not to be raising taxes on anything at this crucial point in our economic growth, but hitting tobacco products to fatten SCHIP is simply a scam. Using this revenue source, we would actually need to recruit millions of new smokers just to be able to meet the funding liabilities of this bill. Taxpayers have had enough of these budget-busting games. Additionally, Congress and the federal Government have NO Constitutional authority whatsoever in the socialist issues of children's health and health care in general. Congress and the Whitehouse must reject this massive expansion of SCHIP and the tax increase attached to it. (31 Jul 2007)

A coworker today observed, "It should be up to every individual to decide for themselves, not the government, what they want to do with their lives." There once was a country whose leaders and citizens honored such an ideal and established a constitution and government to make it happen. Sadly, later generations of citizens abandoned that ideal, elected leaders who would take care of them from cradle to grave, and all citizens of that nation are now wards of the state at some level at great expense to those who work hardest. (12 Nov 2006)

As if we don't have enough laws controlling our every act, there is now a bill in Congress (HR-503) to prohibit the sale of horse meat for human consumption! In my carnivorous opinion, consumption of horse meat is no more of a problem than eating pork or beef or chicken. In fact, horse meat was not uncommon in the US until about 60 years ago. The consumption of horse meat should be regulated only by appropriate health standards and a free market. Nevertheless, I oppose any commercial use of mustangs. (9 Sep 2006)

A year after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, the news media and certain politicians are still pointing fingers with glee at those they consider culpable for the lack of, and delay in, disaster relief. Unfortunately, not enough finger-pointing is directed at the people who should have born the majority of responsibility for relief: the victims (and the families of victims) who were unprepared or who chose to disregard warnings. All problems are best and most efficiently solved at the lowest possible level. The personal problems caused by personal choices in the hours prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans must not be a burden on those who made better choices (such as to never live in a coastal below-sea-level city or to leave that city when advised). When the people choose to not take responsibility for their own welfare as far as they are able, and expect government to take that responsibility, we all lose the individual freedom our nation's founders fought for and become a burden on the ever shrinking body of responsible people. The Federal government must not respond to Katrina by rebuilding New Orleans nor by expanding the size or role of FEMA. (29 Aug 2006)

Illegal drugs are stealing the souls of our people. The so-called "war on drugs" is a failure. It has tried to stem the illicit drug trade primarily by attacking supply. The results are more drugs on the street and a few press conferences to brag about the tiny portion of drugs that are interdicted and the handful of smugglers and distributors that get caught. The "war on drugs" has made the illegal drug trade a highly lucrative business for gangs with a consequent increase in violent crime. The most logical way to deal with the drug abuse problem is to stop the demand. How? Require frequent random drug tests of everyone receiving government aid such as welfare, long-term unemployment compensation, student financial aid, etc. While we're at it, reduce that aid by a percentage equal to the percentage by which the intended recipient exceeds normal body weight. (8 Aug 2006)

We need legislation that will ban direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. I agree that consumers should have adequate information about medical options, but direct-to-consumer advertising cannot feasibly provide that information. Instead, such advertising may result in patients shopping around for a doctor who is willing prescribe a drug which the patient saw advertised, but which may not be the best option for that patient. By banning direct-to-consumer advertising, patients will be more likely to get the information they need from the appropriate professionals: physicians and pharmacists. A ban on direct-to-consumer advertising would force drug manufacturers and distributors to concentrate their advertising where it belongs -- on physicians. This brings up a related issue which should be included in this legislation. Physicians should be required to attend semi-annual refresher training conferences to stay on top of new treatments, including drugs. This would be a good time for drug manufacturers to "advertise" to the appropriate audience. (6 Jun 2006)

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