Thought from Jane Goodall

“Here we are, arguably the most intelligent being that’s ever walked planet Earth, with this extraordinary brain, yet we’re destroying the only home we have” Jane Goodall

The beat goes on. We get caught up in the crisis of the day and lose sight of the big picture. All over the planet we have mass migration of people going on. Why? There was a time when people stayed close to where they were born for generations. The natural resources were there to nurture them. Now we see those resources being used up rather than conserved. What happens then. In the past when there was what was perceived as unlimited resources elsewhere, populations just moved to other more resource rich areas. That is no longer possible. Planet wide natural resources are now limited and being used up at alarming rates. We are seeing exactly what happens when a species overshoots what supports it, but in the case of humankind, it is the entire planet. I believe you can conclude what happens eventually.

The biggest issue now seems to be “climate change”. I prefer to call it what it once was: “global warming”, which is a more accurate description of what is happening. The evidence of warming is overwhelming. The questions arise over whether this is part of a natural Earth cycle or is being caused by human activity; specifically the burning of fossil fuels and the creation and release of chemicals that contribute to the capture of solar energy on the planet. My conclusion is that the argument does not matter. We have passed the point of any effective action. The planet is warming and will continue to warm for an indefinite future. Nothing human beings can do will make any difference at this point and certainly the USA alone cannot do anything effective. The hysterical move to electric vehicles is absurd and counter productive. More waste will be created. And where is the electricity going to come from? I do not see any significant moves to modernize the electric grid in the USA and to increase electric generation by some means to replace generation by coal or natural gas. Certainly, solar panels and windmills cannot possibly do the job and they both have significant downsides including environmental damages. So, we are really stuck with global warming and the continued use of fossil fuels to power modern civilization. Hang on.

Jane Goodall is right.

Victoria

In Indiana Congressional District 5, we have one tough woman, Victoria Spartz. Spartz in an immigrant to the United States in 2000 from Ukraine. She is a full US citizen, a business woman, and a very strong conservative in the Republican Caucus. We are extremely lucky to have her as our Representative. She is currently with the few who are trying to change the House of Representatives back to a routine that would require voting on separate funding bills rather than on one big bill to fund the entire US government. That is the way it used to be…. it put people on the record and allowed for close examination of what is being funded. Kevin McCarthy, the Speaker of the House has turned traitor and liar. He must go. Spartz is with those who believe new Congressional leadership is required. She is one of the few strong now.

The Climate Pandemic [Open Letter]

7-17-2023

Senator Mike Braun
Senator Todd Young
Representative Victoria Spartz

To all:

I am in the midst of reading a book all of you must read. It is “The Climate Pandemic” by Dennis Meredith, a long time and very reputable science writer. He details where we are and how we got there as humans who populate our planet home, Earth. The content is highly referenced.  

The message of the book is devastating. The conclusion is that we, human beings, may have already passed the point of no return regarding the climate and the viability of the natural life support systems that have made living possible for our species. He notes that on Earth, species have come and gone over the millennia. Earth will survive, but the human species may not.   

I hope you or a key person on your staff will take the time to consider the message in “The Climate Change”. I believe it will change your perspective on future decisions and actions.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Kent H Blacklidge Ph.D.

Deaf Kokomo City Council

Seems we have a City Council in Kokomo that is deaf. They just approved a tax payer subsidized housing development for 3109 W Sycamore St in Kokomo over the objections of large numbers of remonstrators who have shown up at more than one meeting to voice opinions. But did the Council listen? Nope. They voted to charge on to establish more and more subsidized housing in our community in areas where folks simply to not want it…..or maybe do not want more and more tax payer subsidized housing in any of Kokomo; period.

Earlier I wrote the Tribune a letter to say it is time to stop. It is time to stop at least long enough to take inventory of how many total rental units exist within Kokomo city limits. Then how many are subsidized housing units. The final piece of information needed to make a wise decision is how many units are currently occupied and how many are vacant for each full market and subsidized units. This should be reported to the public openly and completely. There should be no movement until then.

I have the uneasy feeling Kokomo has many vacant housing units; both apartment style and houses. I have the uneasy feeling that some of the powers-that-be want to create a magnet of housing to encourage movement into Kokomo from outside of our area. This is particularly true for subsidized housing. There are already rampant rumors that the draw is for folks from far and wide.

Kokomo’s goal should be to have minimal subsidized housing. Yes, there needs to be an adequate availability for Kokomo citizens who really need that type of support. But, the truth is Kokomo should spend its resources on building jobs for citizens so they can afford market rate housing; not subsidized housing. That is where resources should be focused.

All of the citizens of Kokomo need the answers to the questions. All of the citizens of Kokomo need to have a say in the direction our community is taking. Clearly, the City Council thinks otherwise. It seems to have become community dictators rather than community listeners and leaders following the will of the people. What a shame.

We The People

We The People“….. we are two days from the 247th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yet, we are at a time, if not vigilant and courageous, we will loose what our ancestors declared and of many who gave their lives to gain.

The United States of America is on a the very edge of a cliff that, if gone over, leads to Communism and slavery. Our current US Senate and Executive Branch of our federal government are in the hands of those who want to destroy, not build. Our President, Joe Biden, is as corrupt as one could possibly find. He and his family have sold the country down the river. They have taken millions of dollars in personal wealth unto themselves. They have cozied up to the Communist Chinese Party.

And, since the President has the authority and power over the Executive Branch; the FBI, CIA, State Department, Department of Justice, and more are in the hands of those I believe are traitors to the United States. Biden needs to be jailed with all of his family who have benefitted from Joe and Hunter Biden’s actions.

And there needs to be a political bloodbath to remove all who have supported government corruption and criminal activity. This includes about all at the top of all major federal government agencies.

The only answer is to return the country to “We The People“. It may be a fight, but I believe there are enough of us to win. MAGA.

The Messiness of Life

by Marcia Blacklidge MS

We all want to create a past that benefits us and our fantasies of who we are and the families and family members we came from. But the truth is different than that.

The truth of us and who we are is buried in the messiness of youth, mistakes, ambitions, ego, love, sex and the biggest mess of all: relationships.

No matter how deeply buried that messiness is, truth has a way of niggling it’s way to the surface and confronting us.

We all like stories that elevate us. But to find the fullness of who we are, we must find the courage to process the messiness of that truth that is concealed behind the lovely stories we cling to.

There is an inconvenient truth that none of us can escape.  Life is messy. All lives are messy. All lives are filled with it. No one escapes. Most of us will glibly declare no one is perfect. Few of us are willing to do the work that will bring us to a place of freedom from that truth. Most of us hold our mistakes and the mistakes of others against ourselves and against them.

Sadly, that only makes things worse. At best we only have a partial picture of our lives and of the people that surround us

There is one more inconvenient truth. If one believes in an after life, some kind of life review is included in that belief system. That includes having to watch every step of the life we have just completed, and how we reacted to the messiness we were confronted with and how we dealt with our own messes.

The pain that comes from that review will not be rendered from some unforgiving God judging us. It will come from ourselves to ourselves as the fog of all that messiness is lifted. And it will come from the realization of how much power we had but failed to use it in a way that prospers all. The most pain will come as we are reduced to watching the moments of our lives unfold without the power to effect a positive change now removed. Those that have had near death experiences tell us that pain is beyond words, 

We will come to see a final inconvenient truth. The only thing that really matters in all that mess is the love we gave to ourselves and others and the forgiveness we always had an opportunity to render. That is the sum total of all that matters.

Starting today, I wish for each one of us to do the work of processing the messiness in our lives. I wish the fog of our lives to lift and we discover the love and forgiveness waiting to grace  the world.  

I wish for each of us to find the place where truth can free us. I wish for each of us to process the messiness of life with compassion and forgiveness. I wish for all trails messiness, hurt and pain to be diminished.

The Ole Tribune

Times change and life moves on. I spent over 20 years as part of the Kokomo Tribune family during the time it was one of the most recognized leaders of medium sized daily newspapers in the world. It was awarded recognition as “First In The Nation” penetration of its market for eight of a ten year period and only second in the remaining two years. It kept its position as one of the top medium papers in all of the 20 year period I was there.

The Tribune was owned by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kautz, from 1897 until his death in 1938; the year I was born. It was sold by his owner descendants in 1982 at a time when there were almost 30 part owners. This was at the height of the value of newspapers across the country. Consolidation into newspaper groups had begun a few years earlier. Newspapers were king when it came to keeping the public informed. There was at one time about 1,800 independently owned newspapers across this country. It was a time when newspapers were truly the “Fourth Estate” that kept government honest by keeping the public aware of what was going on inside and outside of government. It was the watchdog.

During the period from about 1960 to 1980, there was a revolution in newspaper technology. The old way from the 1800s to then was production by Mergenthaler Linotype machines and rotary letterpresses to print. The technological change was to photocomposition, use of computers, and offset printing. The Tribune was a leader in developing this technology even to the development of one of the very first computer typesetting systems, the Delco Justifier of which I did all of the programming. Key personnel like Dick Isham, Alan Harnish, Ron Frye, John Hoffman, Richard Pickering, and Dow Richardson and me led the revolution at the newspaper under the overall guidance and encouragement of our Publisher, my father. The entire Tribune family included about 185 employees and over 300 newspaper carriers. All played an important part in Tribune success.

The Publisher and CEO of the Tribune who followed J.A. Kautz , Richard H Blacklidge, became President of the American Newspaper Publisher Association. This position before had always been held by a Publisher of a large metropolitan newspaper; never from a medium sized paper. He went on to become Vice-President of FIEJ: the International Newspaper Association. While he was engaged in those national and international responsibilities, the Tribune family in Kokomo continued to lead in technology and news/editorial/feature content envied by all. The readers of the Tribune trusted the newspaper to tell all and to tell truth; things gone by the wayside in current major media.

As Business Manager, Associate Publisher, and eventually Publisher when my father developed health issues and then retired, I am proud of our two decades of accomplishment. We led the industry that informed and protected the public.

Ironically, in retrospect I believe my father saw the handwriting on the wall. The consolidation of newspapers into newspaper ownership groups, then to major media groups was coming. Technology was coming fast. And many of the original owners of newspapers were dying off. The nation has suffered from the loss of honest, tough, and wise leaders in media; specifically in newspapers.

Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, said, “Where the press is free and every man (and woman) able to read, all is safe”. He said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Today, we have a captured press whether it be in print or electronic form. We particularly have a national media that lies, distorts, and covers up corruption. We do not have a free and honest press any longer. Whether we will make it now as a Constitutional Republic with a free people remains to be seen.

-30-

Episcopal Church and Pride

[Open letter to Bishop Curry]

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
The Episcopal Church
815 Second Avenue
New York NY 10017

Bishop Curry:

I just don’t get it. I cannot understand all of the hoopla over Pride Month and the celebration of LGBTQ+. It all seems pretty perverted to me.

Among other things, I am a scientist. I hold a doctorate in genetics. I know with certainty there are only two human genders: male and female. The male has an X and Y chromosome and the female has two X chromosomes. That’s it. These combinations of chromosomes are in every cell in the human body. Period. And yes, there are anomalies now and then, but those are considered abnormal.

So, what is LGBTQ+….. Lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, and whatever else there may be under “+”.

Let’s deal with “transgender” first. Even the word is an oxymoron. There is no such thing as a transgender person. One cannot switch genders from male to female or the reverse. Biologically, that is impossible. One can do surgeries until the cows come home and administer hormone therapy by the gallon, but none of this changes basic biology: XY and XX.

What about LGBQ+? So, lesbians are women who have romantic attraction to other women. Gays are men who have romantic attraction to other men. Bisexuals are attracted to both and Queer and “+” …… I have no idea what attracts them. In all cases, however, no human reproduction is possible, so it all has to do with romance and sexual pleasuring of one another. Right.

That is all fine in private, but why is there the overwhelming need to make sexual and romantic preferences public. Heterosexual folks don’t feel the same need to parade around and even have a flag to celebrate their preferences.

Now we even have the President of the United States celebrating “Pride” on the Whitehouse lawn with the rainbow flag taking the central place of the Stars and Stripes – in total violation of US flag protocol. And celebrants baring their breasts and shaking their rear ends around publically. Sick.

I have been an Episcopalian for nearly 50 years. I left the local parish some years ago over what I concluded was insensitive racial issues. Now I am leaving the Episcopal Church totally over the conclusion you all have lost your way.

Supreme Court and EPA Rulings

[Written in response to an editorial in the Kokomo Tribune 6/16/2023]

It is interesting the editorial writer from the Anderson Herald Bulletin does not know basic US law under the Constitution. In the recent editorial in the Kokomo Tribune titled, “Court attacks EPA authority”, the writer clearly makes the assumption the Court has the authority to make law. It does not.

The writer in the first paragraph says, “The US Supreme Court seems to be implementing military tactics in its offensive against the natural environment, attacking first from the air and now from the water”. What? The Supreme Court’s job is to hold the government and us all to within the bounds of legislation passed by the Congress. Nothing more, nothing less.

If there are muddy issues with what current law covers, it is up to Congress to clarify or correct it as an expression of the people. The authority granted the EPA is mostly from the Clean Air and Clean Water acts passed under President Nixon and Republicans long ago.

As one who considers himself an environmentalist from Rachael Carson “Silent Spring” days, I am fully on board with regulations that result in clean air, clean water, and uncontaminated soil. And we have a long, long way to go for those.

The main complaint voiced in the editorial involves the definition of a wetland. Many believed the EPA had itself extended its authority to even mud puddles. The Court did not agree, but limited EPA authority to areas connected to federally protected waterways; an authority granted under law.

The earlier complaint about air quality asked whether the EPA could place state-level caps on carbon emissions. The Court said no under current law. Again, the Court does not make law, it only sets the boundaries of authority under the law. If changes are needed, Congress is the body to make the changes; not the Supreme Court.

So, the editorial writer needs to freshen up on the Constitution before attacking the actions of the US Supreme Court.

Let me repeat… I am an environmentalist or conservationist of decades. I strongly believe in tight, effective laws that correct or prevent environmental degradation. At the same time, I believe such laws must come from the US Congress or State Legislatures and not from regulatory agency proclamation.