Earth Day Done Right

This ought to crank off the old eco-wind bags, eh? Brilliant! Click here to learn more.

For your further edification, please peruse our past slanders of this Marxist sham of a holiday and the wretched movement that spawned it:

• Earth Day - The New Religions Holy Day of Obligation
• Earth Day - At Least Marx Had Integrity
• Reading by the Light of Perverted Science
• The Rationale of Madness

Cheers,

Charlie

Polar bears, the Uninsured, and the Marxists Who Love Them

“Perhaps the most visible sign of the need for health care reform is the 46 million Americans currently without health insurance. CEA projections suggest that this number will rise to about 72 million in 2040 in the absence of reform.”
- The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), June 2, 2009

Despite the fact that, at roughly 25,000, there are more polar bears alive today in the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain then at any point in recorded history, global-warming pimps continue to peddle their tale of doom regarding these creatures as proof positive of the evils of man made climate change. Why? Because it works.

Similarly, another tale of doom is being spread far and wide to emotionally bludgeon the American people into accepting that a good portion of their liberty and income must be sacrificed as penance for the excesses of their free-market wantonness: the tale of the uninsured.

“We’ve got to admit that the free market has not worked perfectly when it comes to health care, because you've got a lot of people who are really getting hurt: 46 million uninsured,” declared President Barack Obama in Green Bay, Wisconsin this past 11 June.

You’ve simply “got to admit” it. Otherwise folks might suppose your capitalistic zeal has blinded you to the sufferings of your fellow man, and you wouldn’t want that would you? Golly, no.

The canard of the “46 million uninsured in America” is the well-choreographed stage-craft of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Heavily invested in, and thus deeply disappointed by, the colossal failure of the Clinton administration’s go at establishing a taxpayer-funded, government-run health care system; RWJF realized they’d need to pursue a different strategy in order to sell their poison to the American people. So they borrowed a page from their friends in Hollywood and put a “human” face on the otherwise dismal tedium of health care financing: “The Uninsured.” Like the climate-change pushers and their cute, fuzzy, drowning polar bears, government run health care advocates now had their mascots by which to yank the heart strings of otherwise common sense Americans and guilt them into forsaking not only their liberties but the best health care system in the world.

For seven years now RWJF has funded and orchestrated Cover the Uninsured Week campaigns through health institutions across the country. The intent of the campaign has been to rivet into the head of every single American that there are 44-50 million people in the United States who simply cannot afford health insurance and that something must be done NOW. As their lack of insurance is due to the fact that private insurance and private-sector health care are utterly unaffordable, a tax-payer funded public option and government enforced price controls are the only real path to the panacea of “universal coverage.” Genuinely compassionate Americans, baffled and bored by the complexities of the issue, find the logic hard to argue and increasingly go along with the show.

There is a bit of a sticky wicket in all this, however, in that the entire 46 million uninsured statistic so universally bandied about these days is a damnable lie. A bit of analysis, if you will.
As the United States’ Congressional Budget Office (CBO) explains,

“Far from being a static group, the uninsured population is constantly changing. Some people are uninsured for long periods, but more are without coverage for shorter times, such as between jobs.”

The U.S. Census Bureau, who’s Current Population Survey (CPS) data has traditionally been used for estimating the number of uninsured in America, has acknowledged the CPS’s failure to take into account this fluidity of the uninsured population. Buried in the back (page 59) of the bureau’s 2007 report you will find this:

“Health insurance coverage is likely to be underreported on the Current Population Survey (CPS). While underreporting affects most, if not all, surveys, underreporting of health insurance coverage on the Annual Social and Economic Supplement appears to be a larger problem than in other national surveys that ask about insurance. … Compared with other national surveys, the CPS estimate of the number of people without health insurance more closely approximates the number of people who are uninsured at a specific point in time during the year than the number of people uninsured for the entire year.”

So why does this matter? Well one would think activists sincerely concerned with addressing a problem, let alone a “crisis”, would want to take great pains to accurately assess it. Or, to quote the CBO once again, “Policies aimed at increasing coverage are most likely to be effective if they consider the distinction between the short term and long term uninsured.” And yet health care reform crusaders seem not at all concerned with this distinction. Curious.

Now of course, the United States Census Bureau is not entirely inept (at least not until ACORN takes over.) They do produce surveys which make the distinction between those deemed “chronically” uninsured and those just enduring a bit of nasty weather. In particular, the bureau’s National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) takes measurements of the uninsured over time, i.e. those uninsured at the time of the interview, those uninsured at least part of the year prior to the interview, and those uninsured for more than a year at the time of the interview. Not surprisingly, the 2008 NHIS produced results that paint rather a different picture of the uninsured in America:

· 42.8 reported being uninsured at the time of the NHIS survey, only 30.8 million reported being uninsured for more than a year. (Whoopsie daisy, bit of a drop off there, eh?)

· Men are more likely than women to be uninsured. (Why is that do you suppose? Could it be that men, as a group, tend not to give a tinker’s damn about their health as compared to women?)

· 18 to 24-year olds are most likely of all age groups to be uninsured. (Why is that do you suppose? Could it be that 18 to 24 year olds, as a group, tend not to give a tinker’s damn about health care– and why should they- as compared to everyone older than they?)

· Those without a high school diploma are far more likely to be uninsured. (Just another in a litany of misfortunes destined to befall those who fail to complete high school in the United States.)

· The percentage of uninsured poor children has decreased since 1997 (How can this be? Don’t tell the S-CHIP pushers!)

· The percentage of uninsured poor adults has remained relatively stable since 1997 (How can this be? Don’t tell the Medicaid pushers!)

· Spells of uninsurance average 5.6 months in duration

· Only 1 in 9 of the uninsured go without coverage for more than two years.

· 9.7 million of the uninsured are not citizens of the United States (Véase la página 21.)

· 18 million of the uninsured earn more than $50,000 a year (See page 21.)

· 14 million of the uninsured are eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP but have not enrolled (See page 21.)

How often have these caveats accompanied the utterance of the “46 million uninsured” factoid when e’er you’ve heard it? We’re guessing never. For doing so reduces the issue to what it is: a problem, not a “crisis” symptomatic of the dire need for massive reform of the American health care industry and its financing.

There are individuals genuinely experiencing hardship through no fault of their own owing to medical expenses and insufficient insurance. And the current pathetic state of the economy has forced many who have never before sought nor needed government assistance to become wards of the state (kudos Messrs. Cloward and Piven). For both the chronic and the acute aspects of this problem, however, there exists numerous free market proposals on the table; the most tidy and comprehensible proposed by one Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) known as the Patients’ Choice Act. You’ll likely never hear a wit about any of these unless you do the digging yourself. As they say, the fix is in.

As for those insisting that “only government” can provide relief for the nation’s uninsured, they care no more about people who lack health insurance than the global warming scammers do their polar bears. They are mere pawns, a new category of “victims” the Marxists can use to emotionally blackmail the American people into relinquishing still more of their hard won liberty and prosperity. Why? Because it works.

Cheers,

Charlie

For additional reading on this complete and utter farce:

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12691196

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=50288

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49986

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=479724

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49586

http://www.epionline.org/study_detail.cfm?sid=122

Milking the Cow Dry

“Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is - the strong horse that pulls the whole cart.” – Sir Winston Churchill

While virtually all eyes are on the spectacular plane-crash-in-progress that is California, the nauseating reality is that the same cataclysm is playing out in states throughout the land of the decreasingly free. Case in point: the State of Wisconsin.

The background is depressingly familiar. Under the meticulous financial mismanagement of Democratic Governor Jim Doyle since 2003, Wisconsin has ascended through the ranks to become the fifth highest taxed state in the Union. This has resulted, of course, in a vigorous flow of business and brains out of the state to greener pastures. Consequently, with the tax base ever-diminishing and the tax rate ever-increasing, we have Wisconsin face-to-face with its present nightmare: an unprecedented $6.6 billion deficit. Granted other states boast more breathtaking deficit numbers, but when population is factored in – Wisconsin is rather more sparse at roughly six million - she is perhaps the worst off of the fifty United States.

And if she isn’t yet, she soon will be.

Enter the state legislature; majority Democrat as of the Obamanon of November 2008. Full of hope and change and New Left (we’re not Socialists wink, wink) vigor, the Democrats on the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee last week approved – literally in the dead of night - not a spending decrease in light of the leviathan deficit, but an increase of overall spending of roughly 7%. Somewhere Lord John Maynard Keynes is giggling like a school girl.

Mind you, Democratic assemblyman assuaged any fears of recklessness on their part by assuring Wisconsinites that the increase in spending is made possible by federal dollars from the economic stimulus package. Then, in order to regain the mantel of fiscal conservatism, they explained that spending of state tax dollars will actually decrease about 3.4% should this proposed budget pass. As the entire state government of Wisconsin is Democrat, there is no reason to believe it will not pass.

We witness here in a very real and intimate way American government transmuting from Keynesian folly to Marxist tragedy. For State representatives to so gleefully exclaim that they have transferred funding authority from local government to central government is to reveal the degree to which they are indeed Marxists. If this reversal of Federalism doesn’t convince you of such a charge, perhaps a quick look at the rest of the proposed budget will.

(Compliments of The MacIver Institute)

* A new income tax bracket for those despicable Wisconsinites earning over $300,000 per year.

*An increase on the capital gains tax.

*An “oil franchise fee” to stick it to those miserable oil companies (which will result in higher prices at the petrol pump).

*Eliminating welfare reforms designed to put welfare recipients to work. The latest proposal expands the benefit eligibility window from two to five years and relaxes education requirements. Welfare queens, pimps, drug dealers, ne’er-do-wells, and gangstas – Wisconsin welcomes you!

*Increasing the brand new tax on Wisconsin hospitals in order to draw down still more federal dollars to fund the ever-swelling Medicaid roles and various state plans which provide health care to pretty much anyone for “free.” In a wholly unrelated development, Wisconsin hospitals are raising their rates. (Think “oil franchise fee.”) Note: If you have insurance and believe in paying your bills, don’t get sick in Wisconsin.

*New mandates on health and auto insurance which will increase premiums and force many to drop coverage altogether.

*Early release for felons to reduce the expense of incarceration of hardened criminals. Brilliant!

*Elimination of moderately expensive GPS monitoring of sex offenders. Again brilliant.

*Relaxing restrictions on teacher’s union benefits (which just may account for 6.3 of the $6.6 billion deficit already.)

*A new cell phone tax. OMG!

*A school district transportation mandate for pregnant students who live within a few blocks from school.

*The ability to sue pretty much any business any time for anything (this only affects those businesses and individuals participating in activities which involve some modicum of risk such as sky-diving, hunting, skiing, horseback riding, camping, fishing, walking on slippery surfaces, or occasionally sitting back a bit too far in folding chairs.)

*Curtailment on the use of private contractors during hiring freeze. In other words, look for the Union Label. If you don’t see it, it doesn’t get done.

*Fees on mutual funds – A tripling of the registration filing fee and increased the annual filing fee by over $5 million dollars over 2 years. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to file mutual fund registrations!

*Increasing spending to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

*Providing tax-payer funded insurance benefits for domestic partners of state employees.

*Doubling the garbage tax from $5.90 per ton to $13.00 per ton; which will cost municipalities $63 million, and likely result in higher property taxes.

There is much, much more. Why not read it for yourself?. And did we mention the millions of dollars of pork-barrel projects in Democratic districts figured into the budget; the icing on the cake, or the insult to the injury depending on your perspective.

“One, sweeping, secretly-negotiated omnibus motion, on which no public hearing was held,” says the MacIver Institute of this proposal. “New taxes. New fees. New fund transfers. New mandates. New policies.” We would summarize it by another quote, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” That’s the American way in 2009.

When California implodes under the strain of its own Leftist asininity it provokes little more than a roll of the eyes and a chortle. But when states in the purported heartland of America demonstrate such unabashed commitment to Marxist economic policy, how is one to react? After all, the people voted for this.

One by one American politicians, business leaders, and individual citizens line up to suck at the teat of private enterprise, despite her ever increasing burden and suffocating environment. When she finally is sucked dry and collapses under the strain, they will point and say, “You see, the free market does not work. Only government can provide for the needs of the people.” And the people will nod passively in agreement and shuffle along to their holding pens to await their next feeding.

Cheers,

Charlie

Dereliction of duty: The Catholic Health Association

UPDATE: An amendment to protect the conscience of patients and health care providers was defeated on April 2 by a vote of 56-41. At long last the Catholic Health Association opts to get in the game. Too little, too late?

One thing that can be said for President Obama, he certainly is making it difficult for the American Catholic Left to maintain its charade of being actually Catholic.

From the battle of Notre Dame, to the Bishop’s being exposed for directing millions in congregational contributions to ACORN, to the dirty little realization that 54% of Catholics voted for a pro-infanticide presidential candidate because social justice peddlers assured them he was “the real pro-life candidate”, the fact that the Church in America is lousy with Marxists using Christianity as a tool to con the unwitting and unsuspecting into buying their Leftist anti-Christianity is becoming plain for all to see.

The latest case in point.

In early March the Obama Administration announced its intentions to rescind the Department of Health and Human Services Provider Conscience Rule. In short, this rule, enacted in December 2008, was an attempt to bolster and clarify laws created in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision. Forecasting the coming perfect storm of a Democrat majority congress; a recklessly disinterested electorate; and the most pro-abortion president-elect in American history hell bent on health care reform about to take office; the outgoing Bush administration issued the Provider Conscience Rule as a last ditch effort to preserve something of the sovereignty of faith-based health care in America.

Not surprisingly numerous organizations are expressing outrage over Obama’s call to rescind the rule. The Catholic Medical Association , the Heritage Foundation , even the more-often-Lefty-than-not United States Council of Catholic Bishops are aggressively mobilizing grassroots opposition to the move, encouraging one and all to make their objections known via websites such as The Catholic Medical Association’s Freedom 2 Care.org and Heritage’s A Doctor’s Right.com. They note with great urgency the period for public commentary on this decision ends April 9. We certainly join them in their invitation for your participation.

And yet, thus far, one key player remains curiously absent in this battle: the Catholic Health Association (CHA). CHA is, according to its website, the nation's largest group of not-for-profit health care sponsors, systems, and facilities. But, despite CHA’s previous support for passage of the Conscience Rule, little to nothing about its rescission appears on their website other than a dismissive three paragraph statement assuring member health care facilities that it’s nothing at all to worry about and that CHA will handle all commentary to HHS, thank you, no need for you little people to bother yourselves about all this.

Strange. Why the relative lack of concern? Why the distinctly different tone? Many seem to believe that Catholic health care– a reality in America since 1727 – is entering the fight for it’s very survival; not an unreasonable presumption given the Obama administration’s aggressive action and rhetoric regarding abortion legislation, embryonic stem cell research, charitable giving, and increased federal power in health care governance. Now this. And yet the leading advocacy arm of the Church’s health care ministry in America pooh-poohs the issue with a brief dismissive statement?

One reason, perhaps, is that CHA is simply too busy with far more important advocacy efforts such as Climate Change, Islamic Perspectives on addressing cultural and religious diversity in physician relationships, and, of course, government run health care.

Alas, the sticky wicket! The Conscience Rule rescission decision was announced literally during President Obama’s sham forum on health reform. Yet, Sister Carol Keehan, president and chief executive officer of CHA who attended the event, mentions not a word of the issue in her review of the forum. There is instead only glowing appraisal of Mr. Obama’s commitment to making Clintonian health care reform the law of the land.

It would seem objecting to Mr. Obama’s aggressive pro-abortion agenda at this juncture would prove injurious to the progress CHA has made in advancing its primary advocacy objective: government run health care.

What does government run health care have to do with Catholicism? As much as climate change, social justice and multi-culturalism; which is to say, nothing. In fact, each of these courses necessarily lead to the antithesis of compassion and the protection of the dignity and well-being of each individual created in the image and likeness of God: the stated mission of Catholic health care.

It is the unstated mission of CHA and other Catholic Left organizations, however, which are at last coming to light.

So long as there remained in Washington a Conservative foothold ensuring authentic Judeo-Christian values were at play in the brawl of policy-making, the Catholic Left could safely indulge in its social justice fantasies and Marxist vagaries, knowing it would never be held publicly accountable for reconciling its rhetoric with Church doctrine and the teachings of Christ. But that foothold has broken loose. The fantasies and vagaries are being signed into law. It is time for the Catholic Left to reveal where its true allegiances lie.

And at this crucial moment, in the very battle one would presume it was created to lead, the Catholic Health Association has courageously opted to avoid the issue altogether. Most revealing indeed.


Cheers,

Charlie

Coup Coup Kachoo 2

Obama SHALL win; Brunner and the Buckeye court declare it so.

Manufactured economic crises, unapologetic advocacy of Marxist principles, blatant and now legally sanctioned voter fraud …. Ladies and gentlemen of the United States of America, your nation is being stolen out from under your feet.

Cheers,

Charlie

Barry and the Plumber

“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
- Karl Marx, Obama tax advisor.

Cheers,

Charlie

UPDATE: The Obama and McCain Tax Plans: How Do They Compare? - The Heritage Foundation.

At Least Marx Had Integrity

Granted Karl Marx was a bitter, self-loathing, misanthrope, half-crazed with envy and his own depraved world view, but at least he had integrity. When advocating the implementation of his beloved communism, for instance, he made no attempt to sugar coat what would be required:

“The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.e., of the proletariat organized as the ruling class; and to increase the total productive forces as rapidly as possible. Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property…”

While not quite promising the mass imprisonment, terror, and murder this process would necessitate, one can pretty much surmise as much from this and other such statements in Marx’s Communist Manifesto.

Today’s communists, however, are far more image savvy, realizing that having brought about the slaughter and ruin of millions upon millions of innocent human beings, collectivist ideologies can prove a tough sell. So a bit of Madison Avenue re-packaging has been done.

The sinister moniker of “communism” and the slightly less ominous “socialism” have been replaced with the sunny, “Progressivism.” Instead of wild-eyed ravings about the bourgeoisie, the proletariat, and oppressive class antagonisms, they opt for more lyrical terms such as “social justice”, and “multiculturalism.” Instead of Marx’ chilling but unmistakably clear rhetoric: “The theory of the communist can be summed up in the single sentence: abolition of private property”, Progressive’s prefer less confrontational terminology like “sustainable global community” and “promote the equitable distribution of wealth within and among nations.” And instead of presenting their collectivist demands to the world via a bellicose “Manifesto”, the Progressives are soft peddling theirs surreptitiously with the aid of the United Nations by means of a poetic and enchanting “Earth Charter.”

A masterpiece of abstruse, feel-good, New Age, leftist pappery, the seemingly innocuous Earth Charter is truly a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or more accurately a Bear in dove’s feathers. In short, the Earth Charter is nothing less than a call for the establishment of a supranational governing authority to dictate the production and distribution of wealth according to ill-defined and arbitrary “principles of sustainability.” Indeed, at its crescendo, the charter declares:

“In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.”

Beyond this obedience, the nations of the world (but mostly the United States) are also to disarm themselves to the satisfaction of these same arbitrary principles:

* Avoid military activities damaging to the environment.
* Demilitarize national security systems to the level of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert military resources to peaceful purposes, including ecological restoration.
*Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
*Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection and peace.

Anyone possessing the slightest knowledge of human liberty, the brutal state-sponsored assaults upon it throughout the twentieth century, and the threats it faces in the twenty-first ought be chilled to the bone at such a statement. Yet, despite the best efforts of Conservative watchdogs and pundits (see excellent analyses here, here, here, and here) the Earth Charter continues to grow in both influence and endorsement. Numerous groups and organizations, from The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization UNESCO; to the U.S Conference of Mayors; to sweet little nuns across North America have thrown their hats and habits into the ring in support of this insidious fraud.

This is due largely to the standard pathologies of contemporary society: “Go-Green” bandwagonism, mindless pacifism, lack of serious consideration of what implementation of the Earth Charter would actually require, and – of course – ignorance of history. But more than all this, the Earth Charter’s advance is due primarily to the shrewd advocacy and network building of its weighty founders.

The Earth Charter is the brainchild (i.e. Frankenstein) of he-of-the-unfortunate-birthmark: former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. He is not alone. Joining Gorby in creating and infusing this doctrine is Canadian billionaire socialist Maurice Strong , and American socialist billionaire Steven Rockefeller of the inimitable Rockefeller Brothers Fund, (Mr. Rockefeller also serves on the Board of billionaire socialist, George Soros’, the Soros Economic Development Fund. It is difficult to imagine Mr. Soros does not have his slimy hands all over this initiative as well.)

But unfortunate bed fellows and ominous warnings from wingnut neo-con reactionaries such as ourselves are insufficient to counter the somnambulistic effects of the Earth Charter’s Phil Collins-meets-Walt Disney language. Very well then. We encourage one and all to read the essays of the Earth Charter’s founders and supporters themselves, for no more damning evidence can be found that this movement is a very real threat to human dignity, liberty, and well-being. (Well actually it can. But this is a good place to start.)

For our own part, we provide the following analysis, which brings us back to our friend Karl Marx.

Echoes of Marx

In the Marxist tradition, we have taken it upon ourselves to confiscate the intellectual property of the Earth Charter and reorganize it as we bloody well please; in this case according to Marx’s "Ten Measures" by which the communists will “wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie” and “centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state.” We believe, even a brief perusal of the following will make clear the chilling degree to which the Earth Charter “principles” resonate with Marx’s vision and his prescription for implementing it. .

MARX MEASURE #1: ABOLITION OF PROPERTY IN LAND AND APPLICATION OF ALL RENTS OF LAND TO PUBLIC PURPOSES.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

· Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more.

· We affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.


MARX MEASURE #2: A HEAVY PROGRESSIVE OR GRADUATED INCOME TAX.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.

· Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.

· Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.

· Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.

· Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.

· Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

· Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm

· This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility.

· we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals

· Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

· We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more.

· To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world.

· it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

· The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening.

· we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

· Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and ecological communities.

· provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

MARX MEASURE #3: ABOLITION OF ALL RIGHTS OF INHERITANCE.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

· Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world.

· Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.

· Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Our cultural diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures will find their own distinctive ways to realize the vision.

MARX MEASURE #4: CONFISCATION OF THE PROPERTY OF ALL EMIGRANTS AND REBELS.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations.

· Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

· To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world.

· a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

· Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.

· Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

· Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.

· Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.
· Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.

· Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.

· Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

· Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of sustainable livelihoods.

· Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.

· Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and independent judicial procedures, including remedies and redress for environmental harm and the threat of such harm.

· Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

· Protect wild animals from methods of hunting, trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged, or avoidable suffering.

· Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the taking or destruction of non-targeted species.

· This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.

· This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play.

· In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.

MARX MEASURE #5: CENTRALIZATION OF CREDIT IN THE BANKS OF THE STATE, BY MEANS OF A NATIONAL BANK WITH STATE CAPITAL AND AN EXCLUSIVE MONOPOLY.
Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards

· Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and social resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.

· Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

· To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

· The global environment with its finite resources is a common concern of all peoples. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.

· The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

· The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life.

· Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living.

· We must realize that when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

· To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities.

· We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world.

· we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

· Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

· Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.

· Promote the development, adoption, and equitable transfer of environmentally sound technologies.

· Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.

· Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.

· Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.

· Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.

· Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.

· This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.

· Life often involves tensions between important values. This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play.

MARX MEASURE #6: CENTRALIZATION OF THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORT IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.

· Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and ecological communities.

· Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.

· Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.

· Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.

· Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.

· Support international scientific and technical cooperation on sustainability, with special attention to the needs of developing nations.

· Recognize and preserve the traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all cultures that contribute to environmental protection and human well-being.

· Ensure that information of vital importance to human health and environmental protection, including genetic information, remains available in the public domain.

· Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

· Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.

· Uphold the right of everyone to receive clear and timely information on environmental matters and all development plans and activities which are likely to affect them or in which they have an interest.

· Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.

· Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.

· Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities as well as the sciences in sustainability education.

· Enhance the role of the mass media in raising awareness of ecological and social challenges.

· Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.

· Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space supports environmental protection and peace.

· We must deepen and expand the global dialogue that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.

MARX MEASURE #7: EXTENSION OF FACTORIES AND INSTRUMENTS OF PRODUCTION OWNED BY THE STATE; THE BRINGING INTO CULTIVATION OF WASTE LANDS, AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL GENERALLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMMON PLAN.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

(See entire Earth Charter!)

· Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.

· Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

· Internalize the full environmental and social costs of goods and services in the selling price, and enable consumers to identify products that meet the highest social and environmental standards.

· We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.

· To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

· We have the knowledge and technology to provide for all and to reduce our impacts on the environment.

· Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.

· Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations

· Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.

· Require multinational corporations and international financial organizations to act transparently in the public good, and hold them accountable for the consequences of their activities.

· Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.

· Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

· Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.

· Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

· To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities.

· Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of ecosystems.

· Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental damage.

· Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.

· Take action to avoid the possibility of serious or irreversible environmental harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or inconclusive.

· Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and make the responsible parties liable for environmental harm.

· Ensure that decision making addresses the cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and global consequences of human activities.

· Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.

· As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise, we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values and objectives of the Charter.

MARX MEASURE #8: EQUAL OBLIGATION OF ALL TO WORK. ESTABLISHMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ARMIES, ESPECIALLY FOR AGRICULTURE.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

· Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.

· Guarantee the right to potable water, clean air, food security, uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation, allocating the national and international resources required.

· Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource use, environmental protection, and progressive labor standards.

· Promote the active participation of women in all aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and cultural life as full and equal partners, decision makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.

· Honor and support the young people of our communities, enabling them to fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable societies.

· Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.

· Support local, regional and global civil society, and promote the meaningful participation of all interested individuals and organizations in decision making.

· Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

· We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

· The resilience of the community of life and the well-being of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and clean air.

· The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living.

· The emergence of a global civil society is creating new opportunities to build a democratic and humane world. Our environmental, economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges are interconnected, and together we can forge inclusive solutions.

· To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life is strengthened when we live with reverence for the mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in nature.

· We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we affirm the following interdependent principles for a sustainable way of life as a common standard by which the conduct of all individuals, organizations, businesses, governments, and transnational institutions is to be guided and assessed.

· We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.

· Every individual, family, organization, and community has a vital role to play. The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.

· In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.

· We must imaginatively develop and apply the vision of a sustainable way of life locally, nationally, regionally, and globally.

· In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.

MARX MEASURE #9: COMBINATION OF AGRICULTURE WITH MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES; GRADUAL ABOLITION OF ALL THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN TOWN AND COUNTRY BY A MORE EQUABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULACE OVER THE COUNTRY.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living.

· Adopt at all levels sustainable development plans and regulations that make environmental conservation and rehabilitation integral to all development initiatives.

· Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to protect Earth's life support systems, maintain biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.

· Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.

· Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of ecosystems.

· Prevent pollution of any part of the environment and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other hazardous substances.

· Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life and material sufficiency in a finite world.

· Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.

· Protect and restore outstanding places of cultural and spiritual significance.

· Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care for their environments, and assign environmental responsibilities to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

· To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

· The dominant patterns of production and consumption are causing environmental devastation, the depletion of resources, and a massive extinction of species. Communities are being undermined. The benefits of development are not shared equitably and the gap between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in human population has overburdened ecological and social systems. The foundations of global security are threatened. These trends are perilous—but not inevitable.

· Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by right relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part.

MARX MEASURE #10: FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL CHILDREN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. ABOLITION OF CHILDREN'S FACTORY LABOR IN ITS PRESENT FORM. COMBINATION OF EDUCATION WITH INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, ETC.

Corresponding Earth Charter Happy-Speak

· Provide all, especially children and youth, with educational opportunities that empower them to contribute actively to sustainable development.

· Empower every human being with the education and resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and provide social security and safety nets for those who are unable to support themselves.

· Eliminate discrimination in all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, language, and national, ethnic or social origin.

· The arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions, media, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and governments are all called to offer creative leadership. The partnership of government, civil society, and business is essential for effective governance.

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In conclusion, we call to your attention one particular Earth Charter “principle” - under Section II. Ecological Integrity – which, for its deliberate lack of specificity, we find especially distressing:

Control and eradicate non-native or genetically modified organisms harmful to native species and the environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful organisms.

Given the tone and rhetoric of so many of this warmed-over manifesto’s chief advocates, is it preposterous to question whether or not this dictum might be applied to human organisms? Were the Europeans, after all, not a “harmful non-native organism” to the native Americans and to the Australian Aborigines? Is human population itself not a “non-native organism” in so many corners of the Earth to which it ventures and seeks to live?

Such questions will, of course, be laughed off as rabid paranoia. That is until such time as no one is laughing at all.

Cheers,

Charlie