Author: Kent

Hang on to your farm land and your homes. The Chinese are on the move. In China, pollution has created an asthma epidemic, food safety scares are commonplace, and China’s economic pace ebbs. The country’s wealthiest are on the move and want a better life for themselves or their children. Over 9.3 million have immigrated in recent years.
The United States is the preferred destination. U.S. real estate has become the safe haven for wealth. In August, the largest real estate for sale database, Zillow, will begin publishing its information in Mandarin. Already, in 2013 Chinese buyers purchased about $11 billion of US properties.
In Manhattan, about half of all new condos are being purchased by Chinese nationals. They are purchasing businesses and agriculture land as well. One of the largest recent purchases was the snap up of Smithfield Foods, a giant US pork producer, by a Chinese company for $4.7 billion. Let’s face it, we owe the Chinese the company store. They are financing a huge amount of our country’s debt and climbing. There will come a day when they want their money back or will collect assets. Land is something they need for their overflowing population.

You likely have never heard of the Hellbender salamander and just as likely don’t care. This critter is about as ugly as one could imagine. They grow to two or more feet long, are slimy looking, and live in swift-flowing streams, rocky rivers and streams. They live up to 30 years and are harmless to humans. And guess what….. they have more DNA than about anything else on the planet.
And they are a canary in the coal mine. Their populations are diminishing at alarming rates. The reasons are habitat degradation and water quality. The likely candidates for water quality problems are agriculture chemicals including fertilizers and toxic pesticides.
So, we have a heads up on what we are doing to nature. It is time to reverse course.

There has been much criticism around the world of what the Israel Defense Force is doing in Gaza. Our Secretary of Defense, John Kerry, is one of those critics. In two words, the critics should “ZIP IT!”
I cannot imagine what we would be doing in this country if thousands of rockets were being launched from Mexico into the United States. I think it would take about 5 minutes before our military would attack whomever and where ever launching would be happening. Israel has every right to seek out tunnels, people, rockets, and anything else that poses a threat to the people of that nation. They should not stop until all of the threat is destroyed. We wouldn’t.
No one wants innocents to perish. The problem is that Hamas is in control of that. All that would have happen is for the rockets to stop, the kidnappings to end, the tunneling to be collapsed, and the weapons to be melted down. Hamas has one goal: the destruction of Isreal. That is not going to happen.
The United States of America needs to quit mealy mouthing the situation and stand clearly and firmly with Israel. Period.

There was a panel of talking heads on Fox News discussing the Mexican border mess. To a person, they severely criticized our vacationing “President” for lack of leadership. Obama is becoming so non-presidential it is cause for deep concern among people who do care about the United States of America and its government of, by, and for the people (allegedly).
The flood of people crossing the border must stop. We are told most are from south of Mexico and that they ride trains from the southern Mexican border north to the United States border where they easily cross. How about sending a couple of drones down the rail lines into southern Mexico and taking a couple of pot shots at the tracks the trains run on. This would put a quick and serious halt to train traffic. Of course, Mexico would not like this much, but at this point they are doing nothing but facilitating transit of people; so who cares what they might think or do. Are they going to invade us? Hardly.
One of these days, people who are terrorists in disguise will be among the crowd making it into the United States. It may take another catastrophe like 9/11 to get action.
Now we hear that in addition to the people crossing, they bring all sorts of diseases along with them like tuberculosis, scabies, chicken pox, and who knows what else; maybe even Ebola. And we are scattering people all over the country without health checks. If the illegal had a phone number with them, we are making the call for pickup. We do not even check the identity or legality of those doing the picking up.
Honestly, I think we may have gone insane. We are on a very self destructive path. If we don’t secure the border — and that means slam it shut — soon, it will be too late.

In the days following 9/11, the world paused in grief and in honoring those who died in the collapse of the twin towers, at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. Now grief flowing from the blowing out of the sky of the Malaysian plane is palpable. The world grieves. There were people from many countries on that flight. Almost 200 were from the Netherlands. Bodies are now gradually being brought back to their homelands.
The passengers on that tragic flight included several from the United States of America. There are many in our country that feel the grief of the families of those who died from not only the USA but from around the world. That is, all but our President. He does not even have the decency to stop business as usual. He, today, is off to California for several fund raisers for the Democratic Party. He and the Party should be ashamed. Our country is better than that. It is too bad that our one most important leader is not.
I cannot wait for the time when he no longer holds the office of the Presidency. It cannot come soon enough.

I just took a hard look at a World Atlas. Allegedly, the flood of illegal alien “children” is coming from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. In looking at the Atlas, it is crystal clear that the distance to Costa Rica (right next door), Panama, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and even Peru is less than to the United States. And all of these countries speak Spanish, the native language of most of the illegal aliens crossing the southern United States border. If the claim that poverty and crime are the driving forces for emigration from the four countries mentioned, one has to wonder why the flood is not going south as well as north. I think the belief is the United States is the land of  milk and honey. And everything is free. Otherwise why not “flee” to other countries as well. The closest country north is MEXICO. What are they doing to care for the “children” or stop them from coming north? 

It seems to me that MEXICO is a giant problem. They are acting as a highway north. It is time for that to stop. We do have leverage on MEXICO. Use it. The stopping should be at the southern MEXICAN border, not the southern US border.

And, by the way, time for the US Marine in jail in MEXICO to come home, too. Obama seems to have done nothing about this either. He is busy on Martha’s Vineyard playing golf.

This is a good one. The Supreme Court has spoken!

If you watched the news in the past couple of days, you have seen hundreds of mostly young men on top of train cars. The trains are carrying the young men from Central American countries through Mexico to the United States border by the thousands. The only response from President Barack Obama is to ask for $3.7 billion dollars to hire more judges and create more “detention” centers. We don’t hear anything about using the money to move military to the border to stop the flow of people.
One story showed Governor Rick Perry (Texas) on a gun boat on the Rio Grande river. The United States does know how to use gun boats. We used them by the hundreds in Viet Nam to patrol rivers. More are needed along with the manpower to run them. We also learned that the Border Patrol usually operates some 40-50 miles inside the United States from the border. What????? They have engaged in apprehension rather than prevention of crossing in the first place. So, more fence, drones, gun boats, airplanes, and boots on the ground are needed to stop what is happening. Perry has remained calm and reasonable. I don’t know why he is not angry as hell about what is happening to Texas.
We have enough problems in the United States without thousands of uneducated, illegal aliens flooding into the country. We have our own to feed, clothe, and find employment for. We need to get our own house in order.
The pressure for more and more immigration into countries less populated and better off economically will only continue to get greater and greater as the world’s population increases. If we do not control our borders and reduce rather than increase allowed immigration, it will be another race to the bottom.
 
 

Representative Todd Rokita, Indiana’s 4^th District Congressman, is opposed to mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs). The safety of the food on your table may be at stake.

Rep. Rokita became a co-sponsor of House Bill 4432 on June 24^th, 2014. This bill is titled, “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014”, by those who oppose labeling and titled, “Denying Americans the Right-to-Know Act (DARK)” by those who favor labeling. Mandatory labeling of GMO foods is required in over 60 countries worldwide, but not in the United States. Mandatory labeling is and has been aggressively opposed by such as Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Bayer Crop Science, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association. The Grocery Manufacturers Association includes nearly all of the companies that supply food products for the middle aisles of your grocery store, except those labeled “Non-GMO” or “Organic”.

Vermont recently passed mandatory GMO labeling legislation. The Grocery Manufacturers Association, with others, has filed a law suit against Vermont to block implementation of their labeling law. Vermont plans to fight.

BUT, if House Bill 4432 is passed and eventually becomes law, no state will be permitted to require GMO food labeling. That authority would be only in the hands of the federal government. This is just where big chemical/seed and food manufacturers want the authority. The federal government has not, so far, acted in favor of labeling which is why efforts in a multitude of states to require labeling have been so numerous. People are concerned about the food they put on their tables.

There are two arguments. The first is whether the public has the right to know how food is produced and what is in it or on it. This should be a no brainer. The public should know everything. No secrets.

The second argument is whether GMO foods are different from non-GMO foods. Current federal regulations say not, but there are many in the scientific community that do not agree. There are remaining disturbing questions about the long term safety of genetically engineered foods and the pesticides typically used with them.

Again, there are over 60 countries worldwide that require labeling of GMO foods. Why should we be the only ones in the dark? The answer is that big chemical/seed and big food want us to be. Representative Todd Rokita sides with them.