For once he appears to be defending the United States’ position on using its strength to IMPOSE peace.

What he fails to understand is that peace, or a lack of dissension, is not utopia. Peace through repression is not a worthy objective.

The US government, in decades past, was willing to embrace dictators in order to combat the threat of communism. We soon learned that incrementalism did not satisfy the people nor achieve our national objectives.

Today, the US government itself is willing to impose their strength on the American people in order to achieve the government’s view of a higher goal. Peace without hope is not a worthy goal. Peace without freedom is not a worthy goal. Peace without opportunity is not a worthy goal.

The founders of our nation prepared a set of guidelines in the Constitution that were directed at maintaining individual dignity while ensuring equal opportunity. They did not guarantee equal success, only equal opportunity.

The federal government needs to focus on ensuring FREEDOM internally as well as externally. Peace and Freedom are not synonymous. At least THIS American embraces Freedom.

I’m sure that there are many young Americans that aren’t too anxious to listen to someone talk about the “good old days”. It is important, however, for this generation to realize what is slowly happening to their Country.

It is important to understand that the concept of “income tax” did not exist in this country less than one hundred years ago.

Fifty years ago there was no “welfare” program. No “Great Society”.

Seventy years ago, there was no Social Security.

Life in this country was different. Some would say it was much simpler. Americans were responsible for their own welfare. We have slowly been evolving to a society that holds no one accountable for their actions or their condition in life. The government is assuming the role of our parents; Some would say they are forcibly insisting on this role.

The government KNOWS what is good for us.

When I was a child, I remember having a discussion with my father on taxes.  “Why do we have to pay taxes?”, I asked.  My father responded that we paid taxes for the army, the police force, and schools. Today, I own a gun to defend myself and my family, and I send my children to private school because the public schools are a travesty. At least we still have a proud and strong military… for the time being.

I catch myself complaining about the government to anyone that will listen. My children are constantly reminding me that I am ranting and raving.

I am very disappointed in myself.

I am disappointed because I haven’t done anything to correct the problem. I just sit and complain.

In my lifetime I have been witness to at least two successful popular movements; dedicated people successfully persuading the “government” to correct injustices. Martin Luther King and Mohandas Gandhi both led peaceful, yet disruptive, movements that ultimately changed their world. They were committed, and they inspired followers in the millions. In the end, they succeeded.

Meanwhile I, and many others like me, are sitting back and watching as the greatest nation on this planet slowly eats away its own soul.

This Country was founded on clear principles. The people that immigrated to this continent were all willing to risk their lives for opportunity: Opportunity to be free, Opportunity to be in control of their destiny, Opportunity to succeed. None of them had any guarantees. They were prepared to place themselves and their families at risk in order to have a chance to better their station in life.

These people prospered and thrived without any guarantees for over two hundred and fifty year. They remained loyal to their government until they felt the burden they were being asked to carry was too much.  They then successfully declared independence.

These people continued to grow and prosper for another one hundred and fifty years before the powerful amongst us decided that we needed to “temper” our exuberance. For the last one hundred years, this Country’s leadership has attempted to use the government as a vehicle to modify the world around us.  The government was no longer only responsible for defending us from invaders, they assumed the responsibility to defend us from … ourselves.  From poverty, from sickness, from unscrupulous businesses.

Starting with the Great Depression, our government assumed responsibility to shelter the people from the harsh realities of an unfettered economic engine. This attempt at “modifying” our economic environment expanded, over time, to modifying our social environment.

The United States has evolved from the Land of OPPORTUNITY to the Land of EQUALITY – Equality regardless of effort, ability, or desire.

Over the last forty years, the objectives of those that would change our country have slowly slipped out from the cover of secrecy. Those in charge appear intent on overseeing a grand redistribution. The goals have expanded from redistributing “opportunity” in the name of equality, to blatantly redistributing the potential results of opportunity – redistributing wealth.

The concept of equal opportunity has morphed into equal income. Work hard so others, less willing than you, can share in your success.

The vehicle for this change has been our elected Representatives.

These politicians no longer feel responsible for representing their electorate; they need only ensure their personal and political coffers are enriched by special interest and lobbyist groups. The politicians are busy building their own wealth, expanding their influence, and looking out for those who reward them the most. The risk of the electorate punishing them is remote. For those that ultimately are removed from office, they can barter their influence for handsome rewards as lobbyists or leaders of private industry. They can retire into luxury based on their power, or their ability to influence those in power.

The People appear powerless to control thier Representatives.

It is well past time to return this Land to the Rule of Law and Justice instead of the Rule of Corruption. For those who believe the U.S. Constitution is a “living” document that must be interpreted within the context of society’s needs, I suggest that they pursue amending it to clearly address this issue.

In the meantime, however, I have a few suggestions for amendments to the Constitution of my own. As the first ten amendments are often referred to as the Bill of Rights, I would suggest that these Amendments might be considered the Bill of Wrongs.

These Amendments address specific loopholes in our present method of government that has allowed those greedy for power and influence to strangle our National will.

Bill of Wrongs

1. By the People: In order to allow the people to circumvent their representatives and address injustice directly, this Amendment to the Constitution will allow for the Constitution of the United States to be amended through a referendum vote in each of the States. Honoring the intentions of the Founding Fathers, the act of amending the Constitution should be difficult BUT there should be a path for the People to DIRECTLY institute these changes if their Representatives are unwilling.  The referendum will require a petition of the electorate to be placed on the State ballots.  The referendum must pass each individual State by a two-thirds majority of those voting. Additionally, three-fourths of the States must pass the referendum. This allows the People of the United States a direct vehicle to Right the Wrongs without depending on their Representatives to act in their interest.
2. Of the People: English shall be the national language of the United States. In the name of equality, the government has placed an unfair burden on our commerce and our ability to communicate. It is not unreasonable for this Country to demand of its citizenry a common language. 
3. For the People – Term Limits: No person elected to the House of Representatives shall be elected to the office more than five times. No person elected to the Senate shall be elected to the office more than three times. This Country has developed a new “class” of citizens called professional politicians. These people rely on holding public office, or influencing those that hold public office, as a career. They have even managed to hand down public office from generation to generation.  A dynasty.  This was not the intent of the Founding Fathers nor does it serve the citizenry. These politicians make decisions based on survival and their own best interests instead of reflecting the desires of their electorate. They bribe their electorate with “earmarks” in return for continued representation with the implied threat that failure to re-elect them will result in less seniority in the government and hence less “earmarks”.   Time to end the Career Politician.  Make them get a job!
4. Serve your Country: No elected or appointed official of Federal, State or local government shall be entitled to, nor provided, a retirement program upon completion of their term of service. The principle should always be that a representative of the people is willing to sacrifice a brief part of his career, to serve his constituency. The practice of providing retirement funds provides an incentive for these “Public Servants” to pursue this service as a career. It should not be.
5. Equality: No federal, state or local employees shall be provided retirement programs other than employee contribution type retirement funds (401K) and social security. Federal employees, employees of the tax payers, should not be entitled to greater retirement security than the bulk of the citizenry. The free enterprise system has clearly demonstrated through example that guaranteed retirement programs funded by the corporation or the State are unsustainable. Why should the employees of the tax payers have a greater opportunity for retirement security that the citizenry?
6. Equality: No federal employees shall be exempt from participating in the Social Security Program. Probably not worthy of an Amendment to the Constitution but this appears to be the only way that the People can clearly set a standard that cannot be loopholed. Why should a federal employee have his own retirement fund more lucrative than that provided for the remainder of the citizenry? If Social Security is good for the People, it’s good for the People’s employees.
7. Fiscal Responsibility: At no time can the Federal Annual Expenditures (regardless of Budget) exceed 80 percent of the Federal income. In any given year if the expenditures exceed 80% of the income, the federal income must be increased the following year with a “shortfall tax” designed to recover the shortfall over a five year period. This shortfall tax will be EQUALLY shared by every citizen of the country regardless of income. The intent of this AMENDMENT is to ensure that our Representatives are ultimately held ACCOUNTABLE for their inability to balance income with expenses. This amendment could also require a nationwide election for ALL representatives at any time this tax is imposed. Let’s see how hard it would be to balance the budget then!
8. Fiscal Responsibility: The Annual Federal Budget cannot exceed 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in any given year. Any such budget must be adjusted by a percentage reduction of each line item to meet the maximum requirements defined. Simply stated the Government is limited in size.
9. Government Accountability: All federal, state, and local elected officials are subject to recall election initiated by 20 percent of the registered voters. This ability to demand a recall election shall apply to Federal Judiciary include Supreme Court Justices.

Of course, there are a lot of additional thoughts that could be included in Amendments to the Constitution. One obvious one that I have not included addresses income tax and the allowable methods of distributing this tax. Although this is a volatile subject, I believe that if half of the amendments proposed above could be implemented, the issues over income tax may well diminish as our Representatives are held more accountable on a DAILY basis for their actions. Similarly, one could address campaign financing, lobbyists, the legal profession and any number of additional national fiascos. I believe, however, if our Representatives learn to be more respectful of their constituents, and the “Profession” of politics becomes less financially attractive, many of our present injustices will quickly vanish.

OK, I’ve said my piece. I haven’t decided on how I will ACT on these issues but I owe it to my family and my grandchildren to do something. If anyone is reading this, please give me input. I’m interested in setting a path forward. We have no one to blame but ourselves if we just keep talking and not acting.

These revolutions have a common theme: violent overthrow of the existing governing authority.  Two of the three have additional common themes.  The French Revolution and the Russian Revolution were initiated by the general population that was predominantly poor.  The leaders and instigators were academics.  Both revolutions were violent with atrocities and venomous retribution imposed by the victors.

The American Revolution, however, is UNIQUE in history.  Although it shares a common theme with the other two, overthrow of the existing government, this is where the similarity ends.

The American Revolution was a revolt of small businessmen and farmers.  The population was not starving.  They were not “oppressed” in the same context as the other Revolutions.

The Americans were a people who generations before had, for the most part, left the Old World in search of opportunities.  They had emigrated from their native lands in search of freedom.  They had grown to be independent and mostly unaffected by the impositions of governing body.

They had control of their own destiny.  The generations that followed tasted a unique type of freedom.  They had independence not available anywhere else in the known world.

The American Revolution was in response to ever growing restrictions on this independence and freedom.  These people were not starving.  They were not envious of an upper class.  They simply wanted to be left alone!

THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAS BEEN BASED ON THIS SAME INDEPENDENCE AND SELF RELIANCE.

This SPIRIT has slowly been eroded away by the Government over the last century.  Self Reliance has been replaced with “for the good of society”.  As the industrial revolution allowed large masses of the population to reside in cities, the self reliance of the American people has been eroded.  The urban American has become used to more and more “public” services.  The weight of these public services has resulted in higher and higher taxation.  The urban centers have been unable to support their needs without an ever increasing reliance on the rural population.

The original “rights” declared In the Bill of Rights has been placed under scrutiny and “modified” to reflect the “good of society” (General Welfare).  Additional rights have been fabricated.  These rights, in some cases, have imposed limitations on the original rights.

We have accepted a government that continues to force itself into our families and our homes.  We have grown to accept the ever increasing insistence that “we the people” cannot continue to exist without an ever growing government.  When rules and laws are found to be lacking, we add new laws instead or removing the ineffectual ones.

The concept of independence and freedom is slowly being eroded.  The first effort was to “protect” those among us who were “incapable” of sustaining themselves without help from others.  Now we are asked to “protect” those who are unwilling to accept responsibility for their own lives or demand support from “society” (General Welfare).

The concept of “all men are created equal” has been replaced with a perverse interpretation that ensures equality regardless of one’s willingness to earn it.

The concept of EQUAL OPPORTUNITY is slowly being replaced by Government-granted RIGHTS.

The founding fathers envisioned a Republic.  They envisioned a group of diverse States with a common federal government tasked with ensuring these States worked together.  They allowed the federal government to control interstate commerce and to raise an army to protect the nation’s shores.  They allowed each individual State to govern independently as long as the principles of the overriding U.S. Constitution were not violated.

These States continue to be subservient to a Federal Government that chooses to impose regulations far beyond the original constitutional concept.

The American Revolution is unique in modern history.  It was a revolution focused on minimizing the day-to-day influence of Government in their lives. 

Today, we are at the precipice.  We are preparing to discard the principles that created this unique Nation.  We are abdicating the concepts that offered the previous citizenry with the opportunities that resulted in unparalleled success.  We are no longer going to be allowed to be the “Masters of our own Destiny”.  We are silently trading the OPPORTUNITY for success for the comfort of MEDIOCRITY.

A new perverse sense of EQUALITY is demanding that all of us are reduced to our lowest common denominator.  If ALL can’t seize the opportunity to succeed, then none of us should be allowed to achieve more than the others.  Today we interpret a family income of $250,000 per year as perverse.  Clearly this is a reasonable limit to wealth in this Country.  Clearly those that earn or desire more should be penalized by ever increasing taxation.

History’s unique experiment, the world’s singular revolution for individual freedoms, is failing.  The American Revolution is being replaced by the French and Russian Revolution.  The rabble, special interests, and power players are carving up our liberties and molding our culture into one that serves their need to control.  This Nation of unique Individuals is being hammered into a large cadre of followers with a few, self appointed, dictatorial leaders.

Our democracy is destroying us.  The concept of MAJORITY rule is slowly eroding away the concept of individual states with a constitution as a common foundation.  The “checks and balances” artfully conceived by the Founding Fathers has been circumvented.  The Senate that is intended to balance the “democracy” of the House with the Republic of the States has become the seat of political corruption.  The Senate stands with little concern for popular opinion.  Senators often are elected for LIFE; They rarely lose their seat from the election process.  The length of their term is such that they have little concern that the short-minded electorate will remember their actions over the last six years.

America was NOT intended to be a pure democracy.  It was a Republic of individual States.  At the foundation of each state was individual governing authorities founded in democracy.  But the balance between the voice of the people, constitutional rights, and individual States was intended to dampen the “will of the people”.

A pure democracy is simply the rule of the masses.  It allows the Majority to dictate to the Minority.  In the United States today, the majority of people are employed by the Government or a pseudo-governmental agency.  As such, the GOVERNING body is prepared, through a purely democratic process, to impose their will on the minority.

If government healthcare is so attractive, WHY do the federal employees have their own healthcare program?

If Social Security is the proper solution for ensuring retirement with dignity, why are Federal Employees exempt from this program?

How many Americans have a retirement program that is funded exclusively by their employers?  How many Americans have a retirement program that ensures them a set percentage of their income after retirement?  How many Americans have this retirement income incremented every year for inflation?

Why, then, is every public employee, Federal, State, and Local, provided with this benefit?  Are they not employees of us?

How many Americans get every national holiday off with pay?  How many Americans get the vacation benefits of government employees?

Why do we continue to bear this burden without question?

The world renowned American SPIRIT, the independent, self-reliant SPIRIT is being extinguished by those that DEMAND that we conform to the rest of the world’s mediocrity.

The American Dream that has served this young country to excel in every measure of success is about to be extinguished by those that want more than they are willing to labor for.

May God help America.

Clearly the objective is to increase the number of “carbon dioxide absorbers” on the planet and reduce the levels of carbon dioxide. 

Noble thought if, indeed, Carbon Dioxide is truly a problem.

But the first thought that I had was “How much more carbon dioxide does an acre of trees absorb as compared to an acre of corn, soybean, tomatoes, eggplant, or other edible food source?”

Leave it to the government to regulate first, and think later. 

I honestly don’t know the answer to whether an acre of trees absorb more carbon dioxide than rice does.  But I would rather MANDATE that 10 more acres of corn be planted than one more acre of trees.  Really.  At least the food would have a nobler byproduct.

When were we reduced to rabble?  When were the American People denigrated to Lemmings?

This Nation, and the world, has been blindly led down a path that has finally reached its culmination.  The Supreme Court has ruled that Carbon Dioxide is a pollutant, and the Environmental Protection Agency has grabbed that opportunity, and declared Carbon Dioxide as a threat to health and safety.  The table has been set; the vultures are about to feast.  We, the People, are about to be regulated by unelected idealists in every facet of our life.

Does anyone know how many construction permits for new power generating facilities have recently be rescinded by the EPA or the Utility Companies?  Are we all planning on freezing in the dark when there is no electricity available to heat or light our houses?

For those of us who are “scientifically-challenged”, I should remind you that every living organism on this planet is composed of Hydrogen, Carbon, and Oxygen.  Every living organism discharges carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (at least some of the time).  As these organisms decompose, they emit many compounds of Hydrogen and Carbon including methane.  Hence, every living organism is potentially a threat to the health and safety of our society and may be “regulated” at the discretion of an appointed group of bureaucrats and environmental zealots.

But how did this fiasco start?  How did we allow our life styles and freedoms to ultimately be dictated by “the government”?  It was “Global Warming”, STUPID!  The images of baby seals and polar bears tragically awaiting a horrible death has numbed our ability to think.  WE HAVE BEEN DUPED!

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body set up by the United Nations, prepares voluminous reports on a regular basis.  They ensure us that there is such a thing as climate change.  However, we are constantly inundated with reports that suggest that we are both the cause and cure for “global warming”.

Who best to provide us irrefutable evidence that ends the debate over global warming?  I offer Figure 2-22, from the “IPCC Third Assessment Report on Climate Change”.

Don’t be intimidated by the multiple colors.  The information that is truly of VALUE stands right before you.  Any individual with a middle school education can grasp the FOUR important FACTS that can be derived from this graph.  Step back and simply look at the pattern.

1. FIRST, look at the time scale at the bottom of the graph.  Each tick mark represents 25,000 years! To put that into perspective, the birth of Jesus Christ is only one tenth of one tick mark away from today.  The FACT to be learned from this is that this graph extends back almost 450,000 years from “now”.  That’s a long time.  Neanderthal man is believed to have walked this planet a mere 130,000 years ago.
2. SECOND, look at the shape of the curve.  It is clearly cyclical (if this word is foreign to you, ask your middle-schooler for a definition).  The temperature (and the carbon dioxide and methane concentrations), move up and down.  This appears to have happened FOUR TIMES over the last 450,000 years.  It also appears to occur every 100,000 to 150,000 years. 
3. THIRD, look at the peaks and valleys.  Each cycle tends to stop dropping and rising at about the same temperature.  The actual temperature is not important, however, the time necessary to reach the peak or valley is.  The cycle we are in presently, although close to the top, has quite some time to go before it should be expected to turn.  Remember the time scale:  we are talking in increments of 25,000 years!
4. FOURTH, although there are many who would like to argue whether carbon dioxide concentration or temperature leads the way, it is pretty evident they are in lockstep with each other.  It is NOT IMPORTANT which came first when it is evident that it has happened over and over throughout the life of the planet! 

Don’t get wrapped up in arguing whether the warming caused higher levels of carbon dioxide or visa versa!  It really doesn’t matter!  What does matter is that it has happened multiple times in the history of the planet.  It has happened well BEFORE man walked erect on this planet!

If this cycle PRECEDES the presence of man, WHO caused it before we were here?!

From the graph above, it is OBVIOUS that man is NOT the cause of “Global Warming”!!!!

If man was the culprit, who created the previous three peaks?!  If science is the answer to all of our problems, then we can’t be selective about which answers we want to believe.  Man was not even on the planet when many of these climate cycles occurred.  Our belching smoke stacks and gas-guzzling cars do not appear to be changing the natural RHYTHM of the planet.

Lastly, when did the American people shed our belief in an Almighty Creator and grasp the new religion of Science?  When did we get so arrogant, so supercilious, and so egotistical that we believe we can control ANYTHING?  When did Man become the irrefutable salvation of Man?

YES, there is GLOBAL WARMING (and cooling).

NO, we are not the cause!

NO, we are not smart enough, or wise enough, to STOP the natural rhythm that GOD created.

YES, we are uniquely adaptable as compared to God’s other creatures.  This ability to ADAPT, not to CREATE, will allow man to survive and flourish on God’s creation, the earth.  The Government is utterly incapable of regulating God or Nature.

Hydrogen does not exist in nature as a pure gas.  Although it is one of the most common chemical elements on the planet, it always is combined with other chemical elements.  Water is hydrogen and oxygen.  Gasoline is water, hydrogen and carbon.

The most obvious source of  Hydrogen in the world is in water.  Two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen.

The way hydrogen is produced is either by electrical separation of the molecules in water (electrolysis) or chemical separation of components containing hydrogen.  The most common method of chemically separating hydrogen is steam reforming, typically with natural gas as the feedstock.

Physics tells us that one cannot create energy.  Hence, the energy required to separate hydrogen from water is 30% greater than the energy available in Hydrogen. 

If for every one part of hydrogen energy I need to invest 1.3 parts of energy, and the energy is electricity, where do I get this electricity?

If we rely on a power generating facility that burns coal, oil, or gas, then we are investing 30% MORE fossil fuel to get a clean fuel.

Are you getting the point?

If we are using electricity to generate the Hydrogen, we might as well use electricity directly in battery powered cars.

But we can also generate hydrogen by breaking down hydrogen-based compounds.

When Natural Gas is passed through a steam reformer, it creates Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide.  This process can be more efficient than electrolysis (only 10 percent more energy invested than the energy of Hydrogen), but it now produces Carbon Dioxide and we are still consuming a non-renewable energy source, Natural Gas!

It should be noted that the hydrogen produced by either method described above is not in your automobile yet.  It needs to be compressed, liquefied, and transported.  It then needs to be “burned” in your engine to produce power.  The net energy efficiency of this process is, optimistically, about 25 percent BEFORE IT GETS TO YOUR ENGINE.

There are other schemes being considered other than steam reformers to separate the hydrogen from the compound but they all have a common weakness:  They have a byproduct waste stream that must be disposed of or exhausted.

IN SUMMARY:

It costs energy to create Hydrogen and you get less energy from the hydrogen than you invested!

Hydrogen is NOT a viable, long term solution nor is it a short term option.  It is a boondoggle invented by some very self-centered, greedy individuals.  It represents a “wrong turn” in the path towards an intelligent energy strategy.

The main focus of this business is to supply clients with an engineered design for a project.  The project may be a new building, a house, a manufacturing facility, or a chemical process.

The engineering business services many sectors of our economy whether it be commercial office space or power generating facilities and chemical manufacturing.

I consider the engineering business to be divided into two major categories: the Architect-led business and the Engineer-led business.

The Architect-led business I would facetiously refer to as “Engineer-Lite”.  These business serve the commercial business arena.  They are typically employed to design office buildings.  The architect will create a facility concept and the engineer is employed to find a way to safely make is “real”.

For instance, the Architect may draw a sketch of the way the building should look.  It is now the job of engineers to support the “facade” in a fashion that it will stand up.  In addition to structural engineers that must find a way to “hide” the concrete and steel behind the Architects concept, there are mechanical engineers employed to provide air conditioning, plumbing, and other utilities to the space, and Electrical engineers that must provide lighiting and power to the space.

In this type of engineering business, the Architect leads the effort because he has the “vision” of what the facility should look like.  The engineer must work inside the confines of the Architects vision to provide the neccessary support systems.

Over the years, the Architect-led Engineering companies have expanded thier client base beyond designing simply houses and office buildings.  The most notable areas that they have grown into are the pharmeceutical, hospital, and electronic manufacturing businesses.

In the writer’s opinion these are outside the training and credentials that an Architect truly possesses.  However, over the years, the Architect-led engineering companies have trained themselves and acquired expertise in these arenas.

The engineer-led engineering businesses are typically employed by the Industrial business sector.  There are few, if any, architects on the staff of these businesses.  These engineering businesses serve the heavy industrial sector to include steel, mining, chemical manufacturing, oil & gas, and other heavy industrial businesses.

These businesses typically have only select needs for office space.  They produce products that require complicated processes that are typically customized for each client, and require detailed design analysis to ensure all of the engineered components function together to produce a desired result.

My experience has been almost exclusively associated with this Engineer-led business.