Author: Kent

Past Publsher/CEO of the old Kokomo Tribune and Kokomo Dispatch. As one of a newspaper family who owned a 34,000 daily newspaper in the heart of the Midwest for 85 years, I have a deep belief in a strong “Fourth Estate”, the press. Without a diligent, truthful, and assertive free press, the power would be taken from the people. People have the absolute right to know. After earning a degree in Industrial Management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue, I spent over 20 years in newspaper management with several as publisher. I also hold three graduate science degrees including a Ph.D.. I have a passionate interest in science, the environment, government, and politics. I have very little tolerance for ignorance and stupidity.
Posted on

Massive Solar Projects

[This piece was sent to the Kokomo Tribune. Not known if it will be published]

Are you paying attention?

In the name of clean energy, tax revenue, and landowner income; we are on the verge of losing 1,800 acres of prime farmland in eastern Howard County. If the Board of Zoning Appeals approves the project next Tuesday, a French energy company, ENGIE, will cover those acres with sterile solar panels for electricity. The area will be designated the “Emerald Green Solar Project”.

The catch is this is not for the short term. It will be for the next 30 or more years! That land will not be able to produce soy beans or corn or anything else for that matter for decades. Those are beans and corn that did go into the food supply directly or indirectly or into ethanol fuel for our vehicles. No more.

Could you guess where the solar panels are manufactured? You would be right if you guessed Communist China. The IAE (International Energy Agency) reports Communist China is the source of 75% of all solar modules, 85% of solar cells, 97% of solar wafers, and 79% of polysilicon used. Other countries than Communist China, like Viet Nam in the case of ENGIE, may do some of the assembly; but not make or supply the primary components.

And the kicker is there is yet another solar energy project coming right behind ENGIE/Emerald. This one is for 1,700 more Howard County farm acres. It is called “Locomotive Solar” by Ranger Power. It is being alleged that company is offering to pay $1,000 to people to support this project which does not yet have Board of Zoning Appeals approval either.

What is the point? All over the country massive solar field projects are popping up. The goal is to use solar panels to capture sun energy and convert it to electric power for electric utilities. The problem is these solar companies have tunnel vision. They want to gobble up massive acreages of flat, fertile farmland and take it out of production for agriculture for decades when the world is facing food shortages and hunger.

For example, due to war, Ukraine, called the “Bread Basket of the World”, will likely not harvest anything this growing season and for years to come. Europe and Africa depended heavily upon Ukraine crops for food. The United States will be called upon more and more for food supplies; not less.

This madness cannot continue. Technology moves fast. Today’s solar panel technology will be outdated very quickly. The frenzy to cover the world with today’s panels will cease. Then what? And if today’s panels are useful, put them on brownfields or on building roof tops, or on non-tillable lands; not on some of the richest, most fertile farmland in the world.

Posted on

Wise Words

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” — Jane Goodall, Biologist

Posted on

Solar Insanity

To the Howard County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA):

Mike Imbler, Dick Byrum, Mike Schroeder, Greg Tipton, Russ Hopkins

RE: ENGIE Emerald 1,800 Acre Solar Field Proposal on Prime Farmland

Board Members:

Kokomo, “City of Firsts”: a phrase that has defined this community and this county for more years than any of us alive today can count. From Elwood Haynes to the production lines to our farmers, the people of Howard County have made livings using their hands, hard work, and ingenuity. Occasionally, leaders of Howard County have been called upon to make decisions that will chart the course of the lives of those who have chosen to make this their home now and for many years to come.

In recent years, the responsibility of preserving the quality and integrity of the land upon which we walk and grow crops has entered into the hearts and minds of people everywhere. That we care about these things is not at issue. What we do about them is.  

ENGIE is a very ambitious French (not USA) multi-national energy company with tentacles everywhere on the planet. It reportedly operates in 27 European countries and 48 countries worldwide. The tentacles of this company have now found Howard County, Indiana. The BZA Board has been struggling with this intrusion for some time. To date they have denied the Emerald 1,800 acre solar project twice.

Why Howard County? ENGIE has a slick answer repeated verbatim in every agri-acquistion they seek. “ENGIE is looking to be the best local business and neighbor that we can in (Blank County, Blank State.)” “Beyond Clean, renewable energy, the project will create positive economic and quality of life impacts in the region with short and long term employment opportunities as well as tax benefits…”

In truth, ENGIE has locked into a tunnel vision solar strategy called, “utility-scalar solar.” This means ENGIE is converting flat, tillable US acreage into fields of solar panels. Cleverly, ENGIE targets rural communities they know are struggling in these challenging times. Howard County and its rich farmland make ENGIE developers salivate.

However, ENGIE doesn’t live up to its hype. Short term employment is typically outsourced and long term job creation commonly translates to 2 per project.

Howard County residents don’t have direct experience with these solar fields. Ohio residents do. They now live with the 30 year sentence consequences imposed by ENGIE contracts. These include loss of farmland, buzz of solar panels, and an increase in temperature by 5 degrees in the region.

ENGIE doesn’t like to be told “NO.” They are fighting right now to get Miami County judge David Grund to overturn prior denial of its project by the Howard County Board of Zoning Appeals and rule in ENGIE’s favor. And despite their friendly spin, ENGIE CEO of North America, Gwenaelle Avice-Hue, boldly states how ENGIE really views us “…we want to be big in the U.S.. This is a huge playground and a core geography for us strategically”.

Howard County, like many other places in this country and around the world, is faced with two issues: sustainable energy production and food production. If you isolate those concepts and make decisions from an isolated viewpoint, they wind up as competitors. ENGIE is focused on finding places to install sustainable energy and they have selected agriculture land as a target not only here but elsewhere. What they ignore is the competing needs of the world to be fed from the land upon which food is produced.

Do these ideas have to be enemies; do they have to be at war? No. Is there a third way? Yes. Howard County has acreage (brownfields) that has been rendered useless from decisions made in the past or land not suitable for tillage. Perhaps a third way is to build on the non-tillable land and brownfields and to turn them into fields of light energy… and preserve the highly valuable, tillable agriculture land.

The proposed Emerald solar project would remove over 1,800 acres of land from agriculture use for 30 years or even more. By the grace of God, Howard County is blessed with some of the most fertile soils anywhere in the world. This fertility, with its ability to produce abundant crops, would be traded for acres of sterile electric generating solar panels. Capturing land for 30 years is a huge committment given how fast technology and conditions change. That, itself, does not seem wise.  

It appears all associated ENGIE resources with justification analysis (cost/benefit analysis) for the Emerald solar project are economists – dollars folks. That is telling.  Nowhere is it stated any have a science or agriculture background. The project is viewed for dollars from widgets in and widgets out similar to a manufacturing operation; period. There is no regard for the loss of the biological potential of the soil over many decades. The pitch is for more money now into the pockets of landowners and the county. There may be a time in those 30 or more years when all available tillable land will be needed for food production. There are already food shortages in many countries around the world.

The analysis by the Certified General Appraiser, Richard C. Kirkland, concerning property values is voluminous. He could have easily summarized his findings on one page in one sentence by stating his opinion is there is no negative impact of solar panel fields on the value of any adjacent or nearby property anywhere forever. That’s it. His report is an exercise in extrapolating conclusions from data from the past and places far and wide into the uncertain distant future and into Howard County. This defies common sense.  

Another extremely important point is about the solar panels themselves. Communist China is involved in manufacturing more than 80% of solar components worldwide according to the IEA (International Energy Agency-Paris) and reported by Mamun Rashid, CEO of California-based Auxin Solar; one of the few US manufacturers of solar panels. Ask yourself, do we want to support economically the Communist Chinese: enemies of our nation?

Again, if solar electric generation using US manufactured solar panels without Chinese components is something our county and city wants, there are many locations for possible solar generation development as mentioned earlier. There may be more. I ask you consider other locations and continue to deny the proposed 1,800 acre ENGIE Emerald solar panel project in eastern Howard County on productive agriculture land.

Sincerely,

Kent H Blacklidge MS Ph.D.

BS Industrial Management
M S Conservation of Natural Resources and Public Policy         
MS Aquatic Toxicology and Fish Biology              
PhD Genetics — Purdue

Posted on

Hummmm…..

Biden Fan

I pass this home in Howard County, Indiana, pretty frequently. Seems to represent my sentiments exactly.

Posted on

Sham Debate

[Marcia Blacklidge wrote and posted on Gettr:]

More about that sham debate (supposed to be between McDaniel, Dhillon, and Lindell) — the purpose of a political debate is 4 candidates — not their surrogates — to show why they deserve to be elected. We all know this! And Bannon and Fredericks have rightly & often criticized the Dems 4 avoiding debates. Yesterday, Fredericks had the nerve to pretend in that sham a real debate was taking place! Can you see how the thirst 4 power has corrupted the ethics of Bannon, Fredericks and Harmeet? Wren (the surrogate for Dhillon) even suggested we beat the Dems at cheating until WE can win and change things. People clapped 4 that. Only Mike said, “No, that’s not the way, you’ll never get there doing that.” I call on Kent, Lake & all others who have endorsed Harmeet to withdraw their support now! Winning cannot be so dear we sell r souls 4 it!

Posted on

RNC Coming Election

Those who will vote soon for Chairperson of the Republican National Committee (The Republican Party) have one chance to get it right. There are three candidates on the ballot: Ronna McDaniel (current Chairwoman), Harmeet Dhillon, and Mike Lindell. There is one and only one who deserves to lead the Republican Party. That person is Mike Lindell. And why, you ask?

Ronna McDaniel has failed as Party leader. She has been great at fund raising, but look at the results of the 2022 General Election. This was supposed to be a Republican sweep of the House of Representatives and the gaining of a majority in the Senate. Neither happened. Yes, Republicans now have a narrow majority in the House, but are in the minority in the Senate. Many of us believe it happened in large part because McDaniel chose not to support several MAGA (Make America Great Again) candidates in the Republican primaries causing them to lose. She withheld financial support. She went with Republican Establishment candidates instead or chose not to be involved at all.

And there have been allegations that McDaniel spent donor money unwisely on frivolous items for her staff….. tens of thousands of dollars. This charge was the icing on the cake. McDaniel, Senator Mitt Romney’s (RINO) niece, does not deserve re-election. She failed.

And how about Harmeet Dhillon. Dhillon is a west coast California based attorney who was educated at Dartmouth and the University of Virginia on the East Coast. She is a respected, competent attorney who has been involved as legal counsel in many Republican fights against corruption and fraudulent elections. She is a former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, but cannot point at anything she has accomplished herself as part of the California Republican leadership. Her promises, if elected as Chairwoman of Republican Party, include “planning” for the next two years, encouraging better ballot harvesting than the Democrats, and more voting by mail and early voting. In other words, out cheat the cheaters. As Chairwoman, she would be out of her lane. She needs to stay as legal counsel and fight in courts in which she has had mixed results.

Then we have Mike Lindell. Lindell has devoted his life and his fortune to seeing the United States get healthy again. He knows more about election fraud than about anyone. He financed a Computer Symposium that exposed the fraud of the 2020 and 2022 elections. Hard evidence. Lindell does not want fraud to benefit either the Democrats or the Republicans. He wants elections to be fair and honest; period. He knows how to make them so. His biggest push is to ditch all machines and go back to paper hand counted ballots.

Further, Lindell is a man of the people and frankly, a genius. He has been through rough times in his life, turned it around, and built a multi-million dollar business, My Pillow. His company employs thousands. Lindell knows how to get things done and, like President Donald Trump, he does not owe allegiance to any special interest group, lobbyist, big donors, or to the Washington Establishment. He is an independent businessman and devoted patriot. Just what the Republican National Party needs; not more Establishment.

Getting Lindell elected is somewhat of a long shot, but he is the only qualified candidate on the ballot…. And is he qualified!

Posted on

The Grandfather

[From the Internet with a bit of modification by me}

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandfather about current events. The grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general.

The grandfather replied……

Well, let me think a minute. I was born before television, Penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees, Hula Hoops, and the pill. There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball point pens. Man had not invented panty hose, air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and space travel was only in Flash Gordon books.

Almost every family had a father and a mother. I called every woman older than me, “Mam” and every man, “Sir”. Still do for that matter, even though I am older than most.

We were before gay-rights, transgender anything, computer dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.

Our lives were governed by the Christian principles, good judgment, and common sense. We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.

Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege… We thought fast food was eating half a biscuit while running to catch the school bus…. If there even was one to catch. Mostly, we either walked or rode our bikes to school.

Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins and other family members.

Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors (and even locked them) as the evening breeze started. Front doors were commonly not locked and keys were left in cars.

Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends — not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CDs, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings. We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President’s speeches on our radios. We rushed home from school to listen to Hop Along Cassidy, the Green Hornet, Inner Sanctum, Captain Marvel, and Tennessee Jed on the radio.

We loved Comic books and Yo-Yos. We loved Saturday movies of Roy Rodgers, Buck Rogers, and Tarzan. Those were 25 cents.

It you saw anything with “Made in Japan” on it, it was junk. Chinese stuff did not exist. The term ‘making out’ referred to how you did on your school exam… or necking.

Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and instant coffee were unheard of. We had 5 & 10 cent stores, Woolworths and Kresge’s, where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice cream cones, phone calls, rides on the city bus, and Pepsi were all a nickel or at most a dime. And if you didn’t want to splurge, you could spend your nickle on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.

You could buy a new Ford Coupe fo $600, …. But who could afford one? Too bad, because gasoline was 11 cents a gallon.

In MY day:
“Grass” was mowed.
“Coke” was a Coca Cola drink.
“Pot” was something your mother cooked in.
“Rock Music” was your mother’s lullaby.
“Aids” were helpers in the Principal’s office.
“Chip” meant a piece of wood.
“Hardware” was found in a hardware store.
“Software” was not even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a woman needed a husband to have a baby…. or even a woman was the only gender that could have a baby. No wonder people call us “old and confused” and say there is a generation gap.

How old do you think I am? I bet you have this old man in mind…. You are in for a shock!

Read on to see — pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad. This old man would be 72 years old today. Gives you something to think about. Oh, and one more thing: our phone number was 4339.

ADDENDUM: Auto tires had inner tubes, most cars had manual (not automatic) transmissions, no power brakes or power steering. Necker’s knobs were the thing on steering wheels. And about everyone had a Victory Garden and/or ate food grown by local farmers without pesticides. There were slide rules, not desk or handheld calculators. No Internet and even no computers, really….. let alone cell phones and before them, beepers. This from an 84 year old man.

Posted on

Search for a Speaker

We have been watching the US House of Representatives struggle to elect a Speaker of the House. The Speaker has incredible power over House procedures, the movement of legislation, the appointment of Committees and Committee Chairs, and more. Nothing happens in the House without the approval of the Speaker. We know that clearly from the past reign of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat in a Democrat House majority.

The big question is whether Kevin McCarthy, who has been the minority leader and leader of the Republican Caucus, is the person to be Speaker. To become Speaker, one must garner a favorable vote from the majority of Representatives. In times past, this has been almost automatic for the winner to be the existing leader of the political party in the majority. Not now.

The majority held by the Republican Party in the new Congress is slim; only a few votes. McCarthy has managed to alienate several Representatives who now have taken a stand against him becoming Speaker. The number now is about 20 who oppose him.

Representative Warren Davidson rose for one of the Congressional votes for Speaker to nominate McCarthy. As part of his nomination speech, he read a long list of changes in Republican Caucus and House procedures and rules McCarthy had agreed to make. Davidson must have thought this to be a positive move, but it came across as an indictment of McCarthy’s inaction in the time he has been minority leader. Why haven’t changes already been made or promised without the pressure from the now opponents of him. Frankly, McCarthy cannot now be trusted.

It is time to move on. McCarthy needs to step aside. His opponents are entrenched in opposition to him. As long as they are, there will be no Speaker. Unless!!!!

It is not beyond possibility that McCarthy will begin to negotiate with Democrats for votes. Not many votes from Democrats would be needed to take McCarthy into a majority of the House vote and the Speaker office. Democrats do not have any possibility of electing one of their own as Speaker even if they stick together 100%. Democrats may conclude it better to support a Speaker that has made concessions to them, which he would have to do to get their votes. What concessions: committee appointments, agreement about specific legislation, and more. This would be a disaster for conservative Republicans and a win for Democrats.

McCarthy made the arrogant decision to physically move into the Speaker’s office before being chosen as Speaker. I think this says it all. Do we want another dictator Pelosi as Speaker of the House? I don’t think so.

Posted on

Biden 2024

[This was an observation early on in the 2020 Biden presidency. Now ole Joe has announced he will be running for President again in 2024. God Help Us!]

In February 1988, Biden sustained the rupture of the cerebral (brain)aneurysm and almost died, except for the heroic efforts of his neurosurgeon. Three months later, a second aneurysm had to be clipped. After the second procedure his neurosurgeon gave him less than a 50% chance of a full recovery. With that history one would think that the media would have questioned him during his presidential campaign about whether any diagnostic studies had been done in the interim, but they did not. His health status was never seriously questioned.

On his most recent published physical exam it was noted that he has persistent atrial fibrillation. This diagnosis alone would not qualify him for standard life insurance because of a 5-fold increase for a stroke. The treatment for this condition is chronic anti coagulation, which in a feeble, unsteady 78 year old male, who falls three times while ascending the stairs of Air Force One is extremely risky. A severe fall with a head injury could result in a fatal cerebral hemorrhage.

His mental and cognitive status has obviously deteriorated as is apparent to anyone who watches him speak, despite his handlers ‘attempts to protect him as much as possible. Speaking in short sentences with frequent pauses, the need for notes to answer questions, using jumbled words without meaning short term memory lapses (forgets the name of General Austin, and two female generals he is honoring) are all definite signs of brain damage. It surprises me that his wife, (Jill) who knew his shortcomings better than anyone else, could not have talked him out of taking the most difficult job in the world.

Of interest also is the fact that since 9/11 it has been the United States Government policy to have the president and vice president travel separately, NOT ANYMORE. Kamala Harris is only a few steps behind him whether by air, land or sea. This is obviously because he may say the wrong thing, fall or have a medical emergency. He would also be the first president to have the nuclear button removed from his sole use.

So, where does this lead us? It tells me that Kamala Harris will be our President sooner rather than later. This alone sends shivers up my spine.

The Democratic party, directed of course by Barack, knew this would be the case despite the fact that she received the fewest votes of any candidate for President in the crowded Democratic primaries. Harris was second only to Bernie Sanders on the Socialist/Marxist scorecard and this resonates very well with Obama’s ideology, nurtured by the Saul Alinsky playbook.

So what can we do about this? First of all, I recommend that you PRAY FERVENTLY, because divine intervention may be necessary. Secondly, I recommend that you pay very close attention to the midterm elections next year and vote for the people who love America and our Democracy.

Leonard J. Hertko, M.D. Orland Park

Posted on

Billion or Trillion

I read something recently that caught my eye. It said people really do not have a strong intuitive sense of how much bigger 1 Billion is than 1 Million. Or for that matter how much 1 Trillion is.

Let’s put this in terms of seconds. If you do the math for 1 Million seconds, then convert this number to days, it comes to about 5.5 days. Then for 1 Billion seconds, the answer is 31.7 YEARS. If we go on to 1 Trillion seconds, the answer is 3,171 YEARS!

Got it. And we just had a $1.7 TRILLION Omnibus bill passed by Congress with one of our lovely Indiana Senators, Todd Young, voting for it along with 17 other Republican Senators. To pay that back at the rate of $1 per second, it would take 5,391 YEARS.

Personally, I think Young and other RINO Republicans don’t give a damn about the common folks in the country. That’s my opinion.