Author: Kent

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.

Oh, I know…. some do not like the word, “aliens”, but this is a word directly from federal law. Sugar coating to some other word does not change facts.
The news is reporting the United States southern border (the one with MEXICO) is being inundated with minors trying to cross into the United States illegally. Already, thousands have been rounded up and taken to camps in the United States. I don’t know whether to call them detention centers, refuge camps, or first step camps to being free in the United States. It depends upon whom is talking. Whatever they are called, it is clear that citizens in the states most affected are getting pretty angry; and rightly so.
This situation cannot continue. The United States cannot become the repository of the world’s people who do not like living in their home country for whatever reason. It seems to me it is the responsibility of home countries to fix themselves rather than be launching pads for people headed for the United States. About all other countries of the developed world have no problem with securing their borders. The problematic one for the United States is the MEXICAN border. Always has been. We now have over an estimated 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States, mostly from MEXICO. The current flood includes MEXICANS and people from countries south of MEXICO in Central America. Mexico has become the highway from Central America to the United States border.
Now it is being reported that about 3/4th of the children crossing the border have a phone number in their pocket. Upon “processing”, the phone number is being used to call people to pick up one or more of the children. No questions are being ask as to the legal status of those called. What!
The simple answer to all of this is to secure our southern border. Slam it tightly shut with whatever it takes. Then let through only those we determine have legitimate reasons to be in the United States under the law…… and it should not take several years to determine this.
In the work that I do, I am in many smaller communities in Indiana. I would have to be blind not to notice that the percentage of the population in most of those communities that is Hispanic has increased significantly. As I drive through those cities and towns, I often wonder how many of the folks I see are United States citizens and how many are illegal aliens. Just wondering. I have a hunch that once in the United States, many illegal aliens will seek out smaller communities in which to reside fully knowing that the chance of being apprehended there is much lower than in more populated places.
So, shut the border, require employers to verify citizenship or legal status (E-Verify), and empower local law enforcement to help identify people in the United States illegally. Simple and effective remedies to a ridiculous problem. Those known to be in the US illegally must be required to depart. The only rights they should have are to return to their home country and seek US entry legally. Period. And, again, it should not take years to make a determination of legal status.
As to the “children” flooding the border, they should be promptly returned to their countries of origin. No questions asked and no consideration given. Humanely treated while here and en route home; that is it. We cannot fix the world.

Last evening there was a program on MSNBC that really caught my attention. I have to say up front that I am not a fan of MSNBC. I believe that network to be a mouthpiece of the far political left; a member of which I sure am not. However, when channel hopping, a program stopped me.
The program was called, “Hubris — Selling the Iraq War”. It was based upon a book by the same name. I will be purchasing this book.
If even half of what was presented during the program and attributed to the book was true; George Bush II, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell should all be in jail. They were traitors to the United States. They took this country into a war through lies and deception. The cost was billions of dollars and the lives of thousands. Many of our warriors were killed and others maimed so badly that their quality of life will be forever damaged. And this says nothing about the over 100,000 Iraqis who lost their lives and the over 6 billion dollars that was “lost” and has never been accounted for.
Now the results of our intrusion into the Middle East are coming home to roost. Iraq is in total chaos. Islamic radicals gained stature and power in the Middle East pushing against Western ways. This goes back a long time into colonial days when European powers carved up territory in the Middle East at whim. It did not and does not work. The United States cannot now fix what we went a long way to break.
Our only real interest in the Middle East has been and is OIL. If there was zero oil there, we would have about as much interest as we did in Rwanda or now have in parts of Africa or Asia. If there are no resources to exploit, we have no interest, really. Always been that way and always will be. We are not the world’s policeman. It is up to others to manage their own countries. Oh, we may posture like we are the superior ones in power and ideals but it is smoke and mirrors. That may not have been at one time in history, but it has proven to be so now.
It is time for us to come home. We have enough problems in this country. We are broke. We finance everything we do on debt. We have our own to feed and clothe. Yes, we must do what is necessary to keep our nation safe, but it is time for other countries to step up to the plate for their own security. Where is India or China or Russia or the European Union or Japan or Australia….. forget about Africa who has no really stable country except for South Africa with limited armed forces.
The slope down is a slippery one… and we seem to be headed down it.

The Kokomo Tribune today reported that Indiana has filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals in Chicago to stop same-sex marriage in Indiana. The Indiana law banning same-sex marriage had been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge several days before. Many same-sex couples were married on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week following the unconstitutional declaration from federal court.
The appeal is smoke and mirrors…. and a gross waste of taxpayer money. It has become crystal clear that the opposition to same-sex marriage has become impotent. A United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver which consists of a 3-judge panel earlier last week declared same-sex couples have a fundamental right to wed. This upheld a lower court ruling that had nullified law in Utah that banned same-sex marriage.
The whole issue will wind up in the hands of the United States Supreme Court. Several states have said they will continue appeals until that happens. There is no doubt where this will end. Marriage for each person will be declared a right whether one wishes to marry a person of the opposite or same gender. The only folks that will gain from this whole fiasco will be the attorneys. The end point is inevitable.
Certainly, it is the right of any religious faith not to allow “marriage” ceremonies within their own denomination or faith. No one would question that. However, for those who choose to ban same-sex marriage, it is not the right of religions to dictate to others what they permit or don’t. The biggest issue in this country seems to come from the more fundamentalist religious Christian right. Several Christian denominations other than those already marry persons of the same gender. It is time for all to recognize that religious belief of one does not mean belief for all. In the United States, there is separation of church (dogma) and state. All persons are to be treated equally under the law.

The secrecy agents are at it again. Senator Travis Holdman, a Republican from over around Wells County has introduced at the Indiana General Assembly Senate Bill 101. This bill is also known as the “AG-GAG” bill. Its purpose is to keep secret all of the questionable practices of farmers in raising animals or crops, many of which wind up on the tables of Indiana families. It is known that some of the practices of confinement feeding of pigs, cattle and chickens are abominable. It is just that the farmers who engage in such practices want them kept secret. They want the public to be kept ignorant.
This type of legislation was introduced in the last session of the Indiana General Assembly and did not make it through to the governor’s desk. Hopefully, this will be the fate of this attempt at censorship. Hiding only confirms wrong doing. Think about it. If you are doing things you think would be judged wrong by the public, the only way to keep doing them is to hide them, keep them secret. Otherwise, an informed public may require change. Those that support this bill are proposing secrecy. Those supporters do not belong in positions of public trust because they betray that trust.
Several other states have passed such legislation. The bills are aimed directly at whistleblowers. It criminalizes whistleblowing. Whistleblowing employees have played a vital role in exposing animal abuse, unsafe working conditions, and environmental problems in industrial style farming operations. There are already adequate laws on the books to prevent or penalize misbehavior around private property. No more laws are needed particularly if hiding acts and practices the public needs to know about are what they do. The “AG-GAG” bill needs to die a not-so-quiet death.
States having AG-GAG laws already on the books include Iowa, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, and Kansas. Guess where the most livestock is raised. Shame on them.

Is it any surprise that we have political leaders that conduct wars for political gain as Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense, says in his new book! This is not exclusive to one political party or another. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty. The last war to really save our freedoms was World War II. Since then, none.

Korea in the 1950’s. That was one for the books. Thousands of lives later, we have a “truce” at the 48th parallel. During the fighting, our political leaders would not let the military fight for a win. Their hands were tied. We were afraid of China coming into the conflict. One wonders why we were there in the first place and what, ultimately, was accomplished. There was nothing there that threatened our national security.

Then came Viet Nam. Another one for the books. The “Domino Theory” at work. Our wise political leaders concluded that if we let Viet Nam go to communism, there would be a march of communism on across the globe. The French got out. We were there for years and years with great loss of life and no win. Ultimately, our country decided it was not worth it and left. I can see photos of the last helicopters leaving the US Embassy in my mind. Again, nothing there that really threatened our national security.

Then 9/11 and the Twin Towers came down. This gave George H.W. Bush the excuse to attack Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Admittedly, Hussein was a tyrant over the country and the people therein, but Iraq had nothing to do with the attack on the twin towers. Bush and Cheney used that tragedy as an excuse. The reason is contained in one word, “oil”. Otherwise, we had and have no interest in that country. And Hussein sure was no threat to our national security. He had no “weapons of mass destruction” and even if he did, no means to deliver them. We lost or maimed hundreds of troops in Iraq. Look what is happening there now: civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. Was the cost to us in lives and money worth it? Our focus should have been on the capturing or killing of Osama Bin Laden who was no where near Iraq. Shame on Bush and Cheney.

Now we are still bogged down in Afghanistan. The Russians were there for ten years before us. They went home with some help to the Afgans from us. Then we decided to “save” the country from the Taliban. We have been there now for over ten years with no end in sight. Again, nothing to gain and only to lose or maim hundreds of our troops. Afghanistan is no threat to our national security. They have no air force and no navy capable of reaching North America. What are we doing there? Afghanistan issues should be the concern of and cost for Pakistan and India and maybe even Japan, not us. Shame on Bush, Cheney, and now President Barack Obama.

I have adopted the attitude of Pat Buchanan, a political conservative. He thinks we stick our nose into way too many places around the globe. We act like the global “policeman” and “savior”. We are neither. Buchanan believes more in a fortress America philosophy. Yes, attack our enemies world wide when they are identified and are true threats, but stay out of local conflicts and do not get engaged in lengthy ground wars or conflicts. Makes perfect sense to me. We need to tend to business at home.

Our position should be to have a military so superior in capability that no other nation on earth would ever challenge it. It is to carry the biggest sword and not have to use it. Beyond that, to mind our own business and let other nations work out their own destinies. In case no one has noticed, we are broke. We need to concentrate on getting this country back to health monetarily, economically, scientifically, and politically. Nothing short of this will do. Otherwise, our time in the sun is limited.

It took only 40,000 Facebook posts on General Mills Facebook page to get them to respond. Cheerios, the top selling cereal in the United States, is GMO free. The company says that original Cheerios are made using only non-GMO corn and that the sugar is from pure, non-GMO cane sugar. The primary grain in Cherrios is oats and there are no GMO oats being grown. What corn involved has been corn starch.

The big deal here is that this giant food company responded publicly to calls from consumers for non-GMO products. The voices in the market are getting louder. People first want to know if GMO’s are in foods they buy and, secondly, when they know foods are GMO free, they prefer them.
The dam has, indeed, been broken with this announcement from General Mills. Watch, there will be movement toward other foods being touted as “GMO-Free”. Ultimately, the big chemical/seed companies will not win this battle.

Is it any surprise that we have political leaders that conduct wars for political gain as Robert Gates, former Secretary of Defense, says in his new book! This is not exclusive to one political party or another. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty. The last war to really save our freedoms was World War II. Since then, none.
Korea in the 1950’s. That was one for the books. Thousands of lives later, we have a “truce” at the 48th parallel. During the fighting, our political leaders would not let the military fight for a win. Their hands were tied. We were afraid of China coming into the conflict. One wonders why we were there in the first place and what, ultimately, was accomplished. There was nothing there that threatened our national security.
Then came Viet Nam. Another one for the books. The “Domino Theory” at work. Our wise political leaders concluded that if we let Viet Nam go to communism, there would be a march of communism on across the globe. The French got out. We were there for years and years with great loss of life and no win. Ultimately, our country decided it was not worth it and left. I can see photos of the last helicopters leaving the US Embassy in my mind. Again, nothing there that really threatened our national security.
Then 9/11 and the Twin Towers came down. This gave George H.W. Bush the excuse to attack Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Admittedly, Hussein was a tyrant over the country and the people therein, but Iraq had nothing to do with the attack on the twin towers. Bush and Cheney used that tragedy as an excuse. The reason is contained in one word, “oil”. Otherwise, we had and have no interest in that country. And Hussein sure was no threat to our national security. He had no “weapons of mass destruction” and even if he did, no means to deliver them. We lost or maimed hundreds of troops in Iraq. Look what is happening there now: civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. Was the cost to us in lives and money worth it? Our focus should have been on the capturing or killing of Osama Bin Laden who was no where near Iraq. Shame on Bush and Cheney.
Now we are still bogged down in Afghanistan. The Russians were there for ten years before us. They went home with some help to the Afgans from us. Then we decided to “save” the country from the Taliban. We have been there now for over ten years with no end in sight. Again, nothing to gain and only to lose or maim hundreds of our troops. Afghanistan is no threat to our national security. They have no air force and no navy capable of reaching North America. What are we doing there? Afghanistan issues should be the concern of and cost for Pakistan and India and maybe even Japan, not us. Shame on Bush, Cheney, and now President Barack Obama.
I have adopted the attitude of Pat Buchanan, a political conservative. He thinks we stick our nose into way too many places around the globe. We act like the global “policeman” and “savior”. We are neither. Buchanan believes more in a fortress America philosophy. Yes, attack our enemies world wide when they are identified and are true threats, but stay out of local conflicts and do not get engaged in lengthy ground wars or conflicts. Makes perfect sense to me. We need to tend to business at home.
Our position should be to have a military so superior in capability that no other nation on earth would ever challenge it. It is to carry the biggest sword and not have to use it. Beyond that, to mind our own business and let other nations work out their own destinies. In case no one has noticed, we are broke. We need to concentrate on getting this country back to health monetarily, economically, scientifically, and politically. Nothing short of this will do. Otherwise, our time in the sun is limited.