Bloomberg jumps in.

The Sunday Nov 24th online edition of the Washington Times reports that Michael Bloomberg officially announced his bid for U.S.president. The report quotes Mr Bloomberg:

"“I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America. We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement."

 What reckless and unethical actions? No answer.

 Again the report quotes:

 "“If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage. The stakes could not be higher,” he said. “We must win this election. And we must begin rebuilding America.”"

What damage? Still no answer. I've got news for Mr Bloomberg, he'll be four years behind the rebuilding of America president Trump has already started. He's no different than the other candidates who speak in very vague, fuzzy, general terms without mentioning anything specific.

He is the former Mayor of NY City that wanted to ban Big Gulps because he thought they were unhealthy for us, channeling Bernie Sanders who saw no reason why citizens should have 23 choices of deodorant. Both men are statists through and through and do not believe we should be allowed to have such choices. Make no mistake, neither of these candidates are for your freedom to choose.

I urge my readers not to fall for Bloomberg's alleged move to the Democrat Party's moderate middle. It's a calculated political smoke screen.

More climate hysteria.

Looking at today's editorial page of the Detroit Free press I see a guest editorial by Debbie Dingel titled "A zero-emissions econoy by 2050."In it Ms Dingel asserts:

"Look at the world: devastating hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, melting glaciers, rising sea levels - and we see it directly in Michigan with "Once Every 100 Year Storms' that seem to be nearly yearly events now. Climate change is changing the world around us causing mass displacement and global health cries, the Great Lakes are at historic high levels, and many countries are experiencing increasing temperatures."

It's true that some of these things like wildfires and storms are happening but it is certainly not clear  that man made climate change is causing it. In fact there is strong evidence to the contrary, that what man is contributing to the atmosphere is in no way threatening catastrophic climate change.


But these things are not new. As for wildfires, it's been known for awhile that the California government's forestry policies have foolishly allowed years of underbrush to accumulate. This underbrush is fuel for massive uncontrollable wildfires.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are not increasing in either frequency or intensity.

If you're looking for good solid evidence against the notion that man is destroying the planet via CO2 I recommend these websites:

Watts up with that by Anthony Watts.

And,

 Climate Depot 

 I highly recommend scrolling down to their blogroll for many more websites. 

Stopping the growth of communism

The Detroit News of Nov 7th editorial page carried an oped by Marion Smith, the executive director of the congressionally authorized Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. The oped title is "How to stop the communist comeback." He writes:

"Confronted with communist aggression, moral clarity is precisely what's needed. This is where Michigan can step up."

I couldn't agree more. About his organization he writes:

"Our organization is urging state lawmakers and city leaders to designate an annual day of commemoration on Nov.7. Three states have already established a Victims of Communism Memorial Day. As we mark this anniversary (of the fall of the Berlin wall), we should recognize the 100 million people killed by communism, and the 1.5 billion people who still live it its thrall."

I support this goal especially since our schools and universities have failed miserably in their responsibility to teach students about the horrors and evils of communism. He concludes with:

"The Berlin Wall fell, but communism didn't. The sooner we acknowledge this, the sooner we can stop this evil ideology from capturing more American hearts."

Again, I agree completely. But we need to look further into why so many people still think communism is an ideal even in light of its horrendous history of human slaughter and starvation. First, we have to see that Communism as a political system is just the most consistent form of collectivism. Whether it's socialism, democratic or otherwise, fascism or a mixture of them, all are forms of collectivism.

As a social philosophy, collectivism says that the sovereign power resides in the collective which means the group, the society, the public, and so on. It says the individual has no rights and can be sacrificed to the collective whenever it thinks such is in its interest.

 It is opposite of the philosophy of individualism upon which the founders tried to erect a free society where the sovereign power resides in the individual and the state exists to protect him by recognizing his rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of his happiness. Its moral code is one of rational self interest, not sacrifice.

However all political systems are founded on some moral code. Up to and including the Enlightenment most societies were built on the morality of sacrifice and there is a lot of confusion today of what that concept means.

Most people today think that sacrifice is giving up something of value to get something else. But that is a trade not a sacrifice.

In her essay "Racism" in her book "The Virtue of Selfishness" she wrote:
"Collectivism holds that the individual has no rights, that his life and work belong to the group...and the group may sacrifice him at its own whim to its own interests. The only way to implement such a doctrine is by means of brute force--and statism has always been the political corollary of collectivism."

And this means the only sure way to stop the comeback of communism is to challenge its morality of sacrifice. All other efforts will only slow down its growth but not stop it.