Vaccines cause autism

Re: "Vaccines cause autism":
US population: 1960, 183million; 2015, 316million. World population: 1960, 3billion; 2012, 7billion!! Is it appropriate to say vaccines are responsible for radical population growth?! Drug companies had no autism drugs to sell in 1960 ... now they have dozens!! Inflate The Rate, Bayer, Lilly, Pfizer, Roche, Novartis ... and sell more drugs!! More Autism! More Anxiety! More Depression! ... more drugs, more profit!! PS: every living entity on earth is a GMO. (Do us breeders select mates or go random?) (Do the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike select the strongest, most attractive, wealthiest, best educated, most alike? or not?)
We are the products of our lineage and choices, whether evolutionary, educational, locational, environmental or dietary--including consumption of food encouraged to change by "genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology". (Is food from a garden, a pasture or a cultivated farm field--as opposed to that hunted & gathered--considered GMO?)

Let's all stop this "blame the other guy" crap.

Four of my parents were WWII veterans for whom I have enormous respect. Like all others, they responded to an emergency. One was a combat paratrooper, a trainer and jumped into northern Japan; one was 2nd Armored Division across both N. Africa and Europe; one was a Navy nurse treating wounded from the Pacific theater at Mare Island; and one was ambulance, first aid support and parachute maintenance training and support as a WAC. All four supported me in my choice of alternative service during the Vietnam disaster where our leaders sent 58,000 American military to their deaths with 100,000+ wounded (not including PTSD!) or MIA -- along with hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers and civilians. Vets who were drafted or volunteered support their country, as do most, before or since.
Many vets -- Democrat, Republican, liberal and conservative -- have since devoted their lives to trying to prevent war and establish peace. They're not "liberals" or conservatives. If many of our "leaders" were to focus on that instead of being corporate slaves to the "defense" industry, our country could much better focus on its own people AND border security. We might even try establishing a year or two of required national service for everyone, offering a choice of domestic, security or military service. Switzerland and Israel are examples.
Let's all stop this "blame the other guy" crap.

(shared from my comment on another's "blast".)

Welfare

The government's requiring me to pay for health care insurance I don't want is no different from requiring me to pay for "defense", "intelligence" and foreign wars I don't want or need; highways where I don't drive; schools where I have no children; federal forests, parks, offshore waters and lands where I never go (often "leased" to oil companies I have to pay for oil and gas); and a Congress that serves only persons who are corporate.

Or should I participate in a "single payer" system for healthcare like all the rest of these welfare programs?

Money Raising in the Political Age

The effort required to find or even to consider the facts behind issues and positions that we want to believe and those we oppose is beyond most of us most of the time. One of the most interesting to me, recently is the Trayvon Martin case. I was on 125th Street wearing my Trayvon hoodie with a few others right after the incident yet I had no more to go on than what I had seen on CNN, PBS Newshour, Rachel Maddow, WAMC (NEVER FOX for god's sake!). I still don't know and have no way of knowing (and I don't think many do) what "the facts" are. We watch the videos, we listen to the recordings of phone calls and police interviews, we acknowledge the circumstances, we listen to the trial testimony, AND we ignore what our American religion asks of us: presumption of innocence, trial by jury.

Likewise, the American religion tells us that we must protect our interests overseas. We have no "facts", no understanding of what our interests are or who creates and prioritizes the interests in the first place. Rarely do I, or, in my opinion of course, do most of us remember that most of our interests overseas have to do with the profit-driven rape of the planet, exploitation of power hungry and helpless populations and the financial interests of the 1% and the pitifully small, but highly touted  trickle down effects on our economy. Why do American interests take priority over any other state's? (Because I AM AN AMERICAN, dammit!)

And I guess we'll continue to ignore another of our American religious proclamations (smile, pat heart): The Four Freedoms*. And I quote, ".... That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb." Congressional Record, 1941.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.

72 years and still counting tyrannical interventions, sniper teams and drones supporting our interests overseas ... I guess if we pay for them, we deserve them.

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May the wonder of existence, its precious web of life and our fragile humanity abide amongst, radiate from and bring us peace.

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Just in from dear friend, Lois:

"Carl --Facing another critical end of month budget deadline and Kristin just called to say we are still short of what we need to compete. Favor? Can you please visit http://act.loisfrankelforcongress.com/deadlinemay and donate before the big deadline tonight? Always, LJF

Sent from my AT&T Blackberry

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info@loisfrankelforcongress.com

Dearest Lois(for one), You send messages whose tone is intimate, yet you don't use or know my "intimate" name. It's not Carl, though Carl is my first name. That "sent from my blackberry" is ridiculous. Kristen? Who is my other dear friend, Kristen? Whose deadline? Critical?

I hope you vote for campaign finance reform if you're elected. Always, CVL

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Friendship is kind and mindful knowing another; knowing how to share, to be critical and to take criticism with the desire to understand and be understood, not necessarily without hurt but without the intent to create change in the other for one's own benefit.

Love is an unmeasured, unfettered, physically and emotionally unselfish affective bond with another. Desire and selfish needs may cloud but not break the bond

Every word is too shallow.

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40 people every day are murdered in the US. Two young men with crude weapons focused the entire US on them and their activity. What about the other 37 people who were killed that day? Why are there centers of murder? The New York Times today pointed out that Chicago is still one of those centers. The motivation for the violence – whether a homicide with no "drama" or a "terrorist act"– is the real question.

As Peggy Noonan pointed out this morning on Meet the Press, the media creates the hysteria that allows the media to reflect on the hysteria. What the media might better focus on are the root causes of these acts and their perpetrators. Poverty, hunger, lack of connection, educational disability and a tendency to ignore these root causes and react with "enforcement"or "defense" should be the real focus. "Combatting terrorism" is impossible.

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Out of 7 Billion of us on Earth, there are still only a few who are crazy enough to drive violence and war. If only one-tenth of one percent of us (1 of 1000) is crazy, there are 7 million crazies out there. In the US alone, that would be 300,000. The US has put over 2 million in jail ... lot of good that has done! And by the way, it's not "these days". It's been bred into you and me and is a Natural part of humanity. It's why and how we survived. We just have to learn how to cool it and use our intelligence intelligently or we'll just go extinct -- Naturally. The Earth and the universe don't care. They just keep on keepin' on, with us or without us.

One issue with battery operated vehicles that sorely needs to be addressed is standardization. It will be a great day when a standard form-factor for auto batteries, their interconnection and their sockets, like A, AA, AAA, AAAA batteries, bbq propane tanks, Edison bulb sockets. Local "gas stations" might become battery recharge & interchange stations. Stop, take out the old, measure "maturity" (capacity to hold charge), measure maturity of new, insert, pay, and go. In addition, the oil companies might be able to develop a new revenue stream to replace oil/gas. The fill up would come from the power grid rather than the EIC.

Research Project Proposal -- Geothermal ANYWHERE

Research Project Proposal
 Geothermal Electricity Generation … Anywhere

Over the last 10 years, I have become an enthusiastic advocate for geothermal energy (http://thnktnk.net/drill.html). I’m a member of the GEA, have visited working geothermal plants (Calpine in California), attended conferences, lobbied DOE and legislators and bored my friends and colleagues to death describing the huge, strategic benefits of geothermal energy, especially for generation of electricity.

Having moved back to my home state (Indiana) a year ago, I am more and more convinced of the long term need for projects to develop and realize geo anywhere. January Scientific American included an article, “Top Air Polluters” (p72) whose accompanying chart draws a circle around southern Indiana, southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. Although they provide their owners with steady profits from oil, gas, coal and coke as commodities, and, by the way, electricity, these fossil fuel plants are the top 10 environmental villains.

The deep geo industry (including exploration, drilling, provision of regional electricity) is very healthy. The industry itself sponsors advanced technical & engineering innovation, but of course it goes where proved resources are and where the work is. Many countries and locations with obvious natural circumstances (Iceland, Northern California, Hawaii, Nevada, Philippines, Kenya, Turkey, Peru, Chile) are exploiting it. Meanwhile, advanced technology – perhaps to generate electricity and heat from within the well itself, perhaps at depth, perhaps within advanced pipe structures themselves – is needed to go deeper. “U-pipe, two-pipe or pipe-in-pipe” could be developed to deliver heat and generator mass/velocity perhaps from air in, air out in addition to water in, steam out and to provide advanced structural integrity for extreme depths and heat.

The market based on this new technology might provide storage and supply regional electricity ANYWHERE/ALL THE TIME instead of just where it is convenient to the surface. Perhaps creatively drilling 10K deep x 2-3 meters could be made “normal”. (Tunnelistas everywhere know it can be done.) Insert the proper pipe structure, attach/embed “windmill”, pump electricity and/or heat in addition to steam – and  replace a fossil fueled plant on-site. It has been done with current technology.

As we know, a key economic and environmental benefit of geothermal is that it has none of the fossil and nuclear fuel “externalities” – mining, refining, storage, transport, site storage/delivery, and waste disposal – with all their own costs and enormous environmental impacts. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal supply is constant, 24/7/365, and produces more energy from a smaller footprint than conventional or other renewables. Deep geothermal can even be executed on the sites of existing fossil-fuel plants or military sites. Infrastructure! Defense!

The Hoover Dam, TVA, …, and Project Apollo were impossible till Federal funds were provided and research was applied. The spin-off rewards (scientific innovation, technology, infrastructure, jobs) from those projects continue to accumulate. Project Apollo reached to the heavens, and we continue to harvest its benefits. How about harvesting even more with Project “Pluto”, right here beneath our feet.

Indiana offers a wonderful experimental center for this research in addition to the opportunity to directly replace fossil fuel generation. Purdue engineering, Indiana geology, Ball State’s development experience and, of course, the talent and business experience involved in Indiana manufacturing and IT offer an enviable laboratory setting for such development. Let’s get started.

Credit: Tiffany Farrant-Gonzalez; Sources: “America’s Super Polluters,” By Jamie Smith Hopkins. Published online by Center for Public Integrity, September 29, 2016 www.publicintegrity.org/2016/09/29/20248/america-s-super-polluters

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C. Vane Lashua                             vlashua@thnktnk.net   845-337-9435

1504 West 7^th Street

Connersville, IN 47331

A new, Earth-like planet!!!

One of the weirdest phenomena today is the focus on the discovery of an "earth-like" planet circling a star 5 light years away. Or, occupying Mars!  We -- humans for the next 1000 years or so -- won't be able to jump aboard an escape ship and go anywhere more beautiful and suited to our species than Earth. We evolved HERE, on Earth and are so overly successful that we're ruining it for the future. Now, "ruining it" just means for our species and thousands more. Life on Earth will evolve as it has for a few billion years with or without us. If we keep multiplying and creating unabsorbable Stuff at the rate we are, our future as a species won't last long enough to get to another millenium. Sooner or later "we"'ll only be living in "survival suits". Again, it's no "emergency" today -- only for those in the future (our children's children?). Who cares?

Coast Guard Hudson River docking proposal ... how to comment.

Tracking number: 1k0-8qtq-v0fk https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=USCG-2016-0132-0001&p=1

The proposed Newburgh docking area across from Dennings Point State Park and bird sanctuary is directly intrusive in the culture of the area.

Dennings Point and the hiking trails connecting it to the surrounding natural areas use the whole aspect of the last 40 years of Hudson River cleanup to educate visitors and friends in natural water management. Yes, the Hudson is a commercial highway, but it is also a treasured natural resource.

Why not put the anchorages near the fossil fuel plants upriver? Yes, the oil storage facility at Newburgh is commercially important, but it is "deliver and go". The Beacon-Newburgh "bay" is a frequently used area for environmental education, pleasure boating, entertainment and scenic views.

I am a member of the Beacon Sloop Club and Clearwater both of which use these waters for environmental education, sailing skills training and public enjoyment. Their work and that of their founder, Pete Seeger, have been instrumental in the implementation of the Clean Water Act and the clean up of the Hudson. Today, River Pool at Beacon floats in the Hudson where the water has become clean enough to swim. I return on August 6th for my eleventh Newburgh to Beacon Swim in support of that effort.