Sprawl of the Slums

Author's Note:  This is months old, but just now getting around to releasing it.  Hope it was worth the wait.

If you have ever visited FerFAL's blog (old or new), he has many times talked about the plight that is a socioeconomic collapse of society due to government mismanagement and rampant inflation.  With this, comes things like urban slums, shanty towns, squatting and other forms of communal ownership of property that may or may not be through purchase or legal transfer. 

From Business Insider comes an article that highlights slums from around the world via sat photos.  (A USA version of this article can be found here). 

At any rate, FerFal is always talking about slums and the disease, filth, and crime that comes with them.  These sat photos certainly put the towns into perspective from a geographical stand point.  Any person with common sense an a basic understanding of demographics would quickly assume that crime is a problem, but so too there would be an environmental impact as well.  When population densities hit multi-thousands of people in put a few square miles (or kilometers), no wonder FerFAL often writes about trash, poor drinking water, and waste water and sewage problems.

These pictures have to call into question the claims of environmental-wackos that economic growth is what contributes to pollution and green house gases.  Just looking at the population densities and to know what countries these slums are in, it isn't hard to see that there is a negative environmental impact associated with recessions or depressions.  Which, if we extrapolate our common sense thinking, means that economic growth and sound private sector business profits fund the tax coffers which help governments to pay for environmental "mitigation" projects as a way to find balance between business and planet.

I'd say that these type of slum cities are worse from an ecological health stand point.  I can only imagine that when you have population densities this high in cities that are marginally 1st world countries, the lack of  running water and the waste water control are probably BIG problem.  Not to mention the amount of physical refuse that is generated and probably just piled around without collection and safe disposal.  I would also venture to guess that since these kind of places don't have much in the way of central planning and zoning, meaning that none of these cities manages their storm water runoff to account for erosion and sediment (thus impacting downstream health).

While environmentalism push groups like to clamor that the USA and it's consumption is the problem, in reality, first world countries that have economic might, can do some good for the environment through conservation projects.  Obviously, we can sit here and debate about tax revenues and proper use thereof, but the point being, economic growth allows a population to take into account some projects of nobility to preserve open space and the environment.  That is something of a contradiction to my limited government stance, but there is no reason that the government and business can't co-op to be able to achieve a mutually beneficial society.  The problem is, as is exampled here, unchecked growth is a negative to eco-health, but unchecked government intervention (and crony capitalism) can cause an economic decline that allows for a degradation of society into the cheapest means of living, often resulting in the most egregious, negative environmental impact. 

As an avid hunter and sport fishermen, no one understands more the balance that is necessary to the survival of the human populace and the planet as we know it.  The problem that is generated by those on the left is there outright assault on economic and human progress in the "name" of the planet.  After all, the unintended consequences of protectionist environmental practices and ineffective monetary policy can be and are, quite catastrophic. 

MD Gov Subsidizing Failed H2O Heaters

I guess the state of Maryland has not learned the consequences of subsidizing environmental policy.

That said, I do think there is some merit to alternative energy at the end user level if only to get "off the grid" and be more self sufficient.  Additionally, it would mean that the end user / individual would be less reliant upon the .gov, so I wonder if they see the unintended consequences in their actions?  Probably not, they are legislators after all. 

Is the Ocean's Colour Keeping You Up Nights? ME TOO!

Phew!  I'm glad someone is finally going to figure out what colour the Atlantic Ocean is!

Perhaps they can figure out who shot JFK while they are at it?

Full of WIN! Goreacle Designs Stink Making Devices for City of San Fran

While most of us here understand the law of unintended consequences, politicians, green-warriors, and environmental-wackos, don't. 

Thus, it is with great amusement I draw your attention to this article which reports that there is a stench wafting above the streets of San Fransisco during the summer months.  The ode to odor is apparently owed to that of an improperly functioning sewer system.  Somewhere in that statement there is a great story of irony.  Oh, wait, there is!

Yes, it would appear that in their attempt to "conserve" water (a naturally renewable, and harmless resource), the City of San Fran has decided to subsidize the purchase of low flow toilets.  Obviously, if the government subsidizes something that means that it has stopped moving, but for this instance it's really the shit that has stopped moving.  Without the lack of flow, raw, physical sewage is building up in the gravity and flow fed sewer systems where the waste is decomposing instead making its preferred final destination at treatment plants.  While the citizens of the city suffer from the skunky smell, the environmentally forward thinking (read ass backwards leftists) have found it is an easy problem to fix.  The solution?  Bleach.  Yep, you guessed it, BLEACH!

So, let me get this straight?  A city tries to "conserve" the "scarce" resource of water only to have now created a crisis of sewage stench?  (Of course this is a multiplied self created crisis that only California could achieve).  Instead of reversing the policy and undoing the cause of problem, those in charge of the sewer system thought it was more appropriate to dump about 8.5 million pounds of bleach into a system which ultimately discharges back to the resource that feeds it?  Que the Guinness Guys!

I'm sure you could imagine my laughter today as I read this along with the comments which were very amusing (your author going by a familiar name of WheresPatton).  Unfortunately for the citizens of USA, the diseases of California tend to spread to other parts of the country, which make for a double irony of sorts.  Let us hope that these failed policies will not traverse to my city of Baltimore.  Although, considering we get abundant spring rains that purge the system into the inner harbor every once in a while, I guess we shouldn't be to concerned over the smell.  The toilets and politicians on the other hand, well, that's still up in the air. 

Kudos to the Hackers!

Not that their actions are exactly legal, but...when it comes to carbon scheme credit trading, I have to give them mad props for "hitting the man" up for a theft.  I mean, really, they are just stealing from highly educated, and more sophisticated (and thus more pompous) criminals. 

Somewhere, The Goreacle is weeping. 

Where Has the Goreacle Gone? Embarasing Facts During Cancun Climate Orgy

Still believe in Goreacle Warming?  Well, sorry to say, but the Goreacle won't save you now.  Seems that your numbers are dwindling in nature according to a new Rasmussen report.  Fourty-one percent of people surveyed still think climate change is due to humans while 47% say, "nun huh" and believe that changes in the climate are just natural phenomena.  In other words, Enviro-Wackos are still out there screaming the "ice caps are melting because of you driving a non-hybrid car or a gas guzzling SUV!" 

Ah, well, not so much  there Al Goreacle.  Seems that glaciers are increasing in size despite climate change.  "Well, I'll be damned!  Ain't never seen articles like that before!"  If that is your reaction, then you better hold on to your hats, because it gets better!  In the ultimate irony, the global warming summit has been wrapped around record lows in the host Mexican city.  See, and these people are the types that probably say God doesn't have a sense of humor.  "Showed you!"   

While there is a moral duty to conserve and protect the environment from pollution and overuse, being scared to live our lives makes global warming cultists no different that your average jihadist.  Using fear to alter people's habits is nothing short of terrorism.  So, to those of you out there still believe climate change global warming is real, perhaps you can invent a way to put up a bunch of mirrors to block the sun and stop the warming.  While you're busy doing that, I'll be over there ------>, drinking a bunch of beer, watching football while leaving my house windows and doors open and the heat on.  I'm sure that makes Al Gore get massages and cry at nights. 

Latest Trend in Enviro-Wackos: Done with Tree Huging, Now Glacier Huging?

Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has this one today for humor (or seriousness, depending upon which school of thought to which you subscribe).  

It seems that instead of hugging trees (that's old school apparently), Enviro-Wackos have taken to hugging Glaciers.  The mere fact that A) Someone has made a "hugging" suit for hugging glaciers is not only batshit nuts, but B) there are people whom actually go out to express, physically, their emotions to trees, rain forests and glaciers?

Herm.  Sorry folks.  Environmentalism is worse than I thought.  I've heard it called a religion, but it appears to be on par with that of the radical islamo-fasicsts.  If they aren't busy with their "jihad" against "non-believers" and their quest for a "purge of the infidels," they are busy having perverted sexual relations with non-reciprocating trees, rain forests, and glaciers.  (I wonder if the jihadists have anything in their Koran pertaining to sex with geological formations?)

For the ultimate in liberalisation, I wonder if anyone consulted the glaciers for consensual sex contracts prior to dawning of the suits?  I mean, we're all about glacier rights here, can I get an amen? 

Blogging is Activism UPDATE: Assateague Island Letter

Yesterday, I posted a letter written to the refuge manager of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge regarding the beach parking that has been there for decades.  This morning the Eastern Shore Post's coverage wound up in my inbox.  (Hat tip to my mother). 

From the Shore Post's story, it appears that I am not the only one who does not want to see the beach parking and access be moved from it's traditional place on Assateague Island.  Magically, the unintended consequences that bureaucrats and politicians don't foresee, are very easy for the non-elite public to contemplate. 

I will let the Shore Post's coverage speak for itself, but the general consensus amongst community members and visitors is that the shore and beach access provided by the parking on Assateague island is important to the local economies and traditions of the park and Chincoteague Island.  Hopefully, it won't be forgotten in the name of environmentalism. 

Blogging is Activism: Assateague Island Letter

As mentioned in previous posts, I've been enjoying the use of the Virginia shore this summer.  A lovely place and certainly a slower pace of life, but with a good thing, it seems that it is never meant to last.  This is especially true when it comes to accessing our public lands and parks where the environment always seems to be the battle cry for proposing limitations.  Thus it comes as no major shock that a change has been proposed that would ultimately limit access to the Virginia portion of Assateague Island's National Seashore.

It has been proposed that instead of allowing for visitors to park near the beach, a practice that has been done without many problems for decades, the parking will be vacated from the beach and moved to neighboring Chincoteague Island, where patrons will be bussed to the national park.  As a user of the park, I certainly have no issues paying the $30 a year fee to access the natural beauty of the park but damnit, why change something that works?  Yes, the near beach parking has erosion problems, but that's natural.  Yes, they monitor the number of vehicles and people that enter the area so as not to have too much detrimental impact.  So, why is that where man and nature have been able to coexist for decades, a change is needed?  Certainly it can't be a cost savings to construct and maintain new parking lots, maintain buses, pay bus drivers, and increase the liability insurance? 

Needless to say, the only way to make your voice heard is to offer input during the public comment period and I did just that on Friday.  I have yet to receive any reply from the refuge manager, the Congressman for the Congressional area of Virginia, or even my Congressman.  We shall see what they say and if the public outcry out weights the lunacy of what will surly have unintended consequences. 

September 10, 2009


Mr. Lou Hinds, Refuge Manager:
Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge  
P.O. Box 62
Chincoteague Island, VA  23336 


Mr. Hinds: 

I hope this letter finds you well this day proceeding Patriots Day.  I am writing to you to discuss the proposed changes to Assateague Island's Virginia beach and refuge access. 

It is my understanding that a study is being conducted that would potentially change the way that refuge patrons access the park.  Instead of providing parking for personal vehicles, patrons will be bused to the shore areas and allowed to roam about the park on foot.  While I understand that this might decrease the environmental impact that personal vehicles have on the refuge itself, I have to question whether the unintended consequences have been considered. 

Presently, my family and I use the park for a variety of reasons including summer ocean access, fall surf fishing, and of course, year round photography.  All of these activities involve moving a significant amount of personal belongings to take full advantage of the environment and our hobbies.  Additionally, these outdoor activity items are heavy at best and bulky at worst.  We are able to use the refuge during it's convenient operating hours and we rarely have to wait for a parking spot to access our favorite spot on the beach.  Nor have we been inconvenienced by your maintenance staff's ability to repair the parking lots after events such as Earl.  (Many kudos and thanks to their timely and efficient operations as were witnessed this past weekend). 

I am concerned that with a public transportation system to access the refuge and shore, personal items such as surfboards, coolers, surf fishing rods, and umbrellas will be prohibited from buses.  If these items are prohibited from being transported on the public transportation system, it would effectively limit my reasons from coming to Assateague Island and enjoying the investments made in outdoor adventure gear.  Should a policy be implemented that still allows for the use and carry of these items, it will most certainly cut down on the number of people per transport and directly limit public usability.  As the Commissioners of Accomack County have also expressed, moving vast amounts of people and personal effects posses a great risk in any adverse weather event.  I would certainly hope that such a condition would not ultimately limit public access to the refuge as a mitigation for liability. 

Finally, I believe this policy will discourage pack in pack out doctrine.  I am aware that the refuge does provide some trash service, but my family and I do our best to minimize our footprint and environmental impact but packing in our food, and more importantly, packing out all of our refuse.  Being conservationist minded, I can foresee a higher amount of litter because people will not want to carry the weight back to bus lines after a long day on the beach or to the refuse containers near by.

Assateague Island and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge are a great asset to the community of the Virginia shore.  Considering my parents just finished a house local to the area, I have immensely enjoyed reacquainting myself with the natural beauty found here.  While I have fond memories of the refuge as a child, I hope to develop fonder memories with my wife and future children.  I hope that you find these comments helpful in weighting upon the decision to be made with regards to the change in parking.  Should you wish to discuss my concerns personally, I welcome the opportunity and maybe reached via mail above or in email reply.  Additionally, I may be reached any time via cellular phone.

Thank you again for the consideration of this input.



Sincerely,

FightinBluHen51

US Gov Enviro Policy Based Off Haywire Sat?

All while Discovery Channel Gunmen James J. Lee was creating his manifesto to save the tress, save the bees, save the whales, save that snail, it seems that he had bought into the false data set provided to his enviro-wacko heroes that is now reported to be completely inaccurate. 

In a little published article, the US Government has admitted that global warming data may be "too high" by some 10 to 15 degrees.  "NOAA-16," a weather sat, has been on the fritz for the better part of the last decade and just so happens to correspond to the lunacy period that is defined by the Gorecale, his film, and his eco-ilk and their hockey-stick of DOOM!  Maybe Lee decided he would get out of the game himself before the political movement was completely exposed for it's Sham-wow status.  Eco-Jihad?  Why not!

How bad is the data set?  Besides the aforementioned 10-15  degree average differences measured by Sat-16, the revolutionbroadcasting.com article states that some of the temps measured in Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region hit highs of some 600+ degrees Fahrenheit!  Pure lunacy!  Those temperatures would place earth surface temps at a ratio of 3/4 of Mercury's.  Talk about hockey stick screwing (not skewing, screwing)!  These are the same statistics that the EPA, the Goreacle, Congressional leaders, and the President himself have used to hamstring American economic might at every chance they can get.  Instead of checking the calibration on a sensitive temperature sat, these numskulls have been claiming that carbon emissions are to blame.  No one questioned the validity of the science?!  Oh that's right consensus equals science in the eyes of the Ruling Class, especially when it is politically expedient to ruin the civil society. 

Does this mean that Federal Government and UN IPCC have used horrendous data to push for environmental change, or just more control over the citizens of the earth?  Well, perhaps Lee had one thing right, we should stop breeding complete morons that don't see the truth for what it is; green is after all the new red.  Perhaps we can convince our elected officials to stop reproducing hand-me-down life long politicians that run on past names to further hockey stick-it to our country. 

Who Needs Oscar When the Trash Cans Snitch Themselves

Here come the Green Police!

Michelle Malkin has recently be reporting on Obama's FedGov land and ocean grabs, but now she is also reporting that your stimulus dollars are hard at work snitching on you for the sake of environmentalism! 

Seems that $500,000 of your tax dollars have gone towards funding trashcans embedded with RFID tags and bar codes aimed at turning Cleveland trash collectors into tax collectors.  If you don't move your recycling bin to the curb in three weeks of collection, the RFID's tell the collectors to sort through your trash to make sure that you aren't throwing away recyclable materials.  Your penalty?  A fairly hefty $100, which will no doubt NOT go to saving the planet. 

I don't know about you, but I certainly don't sort every piece of junk mail for "recycling" and nor do I clean out items like mayonnaise or peanut butter jars that are messy and time consuming to get to a recyclable state.  So, if I have an infraction like that for one item, would I be subject to a $100 fine?

Perhaps the green police can recycle some cherry bombs while they melt down their cans and bottles for reprocessing!

Now They Come for Our Lead Based Ammo

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has an Action Alert that the EPA is looking to ban ALL lead based ammunition. 

If you follow the Firearms Blog, they have had SEVERAL reports (here, here, and here, and a few others too), that this green ammo is MORE toxic than it's lead counterparts.  Wired Blog also has a story dated 20 April 2009, detailing a study that "green" training ammo has been linked to cancer causing agents.  Funny, seems that cheap lead based projectiles has been used by generations of patriots, sportsmen, and target shooters for centuries without any ill-effects.  Green ammo after, at most, a decade can't claim that. 

Follow the NSSF Action Alert for information on how to contact the EPA to voice your strong descent to this  needless regulation and backdoor ammo tax.