Outrages!

On this page I'm going to be posting FACTS about some things that you might find interesting, disturbing, informative, or outrageous, and in many cases, they will directly contradict conventional wisdom - in other words, what you know that JUST AIN'T SO!

Every outrage will have at least one link to a page elsewhere on the web that verifies the fact. I'll provide links to sites or organizations with opposing viewpoints, so you can see both sides. I hope, after reading some of these statements and checking the facts, that you might find your own beliefs and long-held assumptions challenged enough to do even more thinking.

Animal Research

Ingrid Newkirk, national director of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has stated "Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughter houses." (Interview, Washington Post, 1983). PETA doesn't love animals - they HATE humans. There's a big difference. She equates the Holocaust with Colonel Sanders. She and her fellow animal rights activists would have all scientific research involving animals ended and every animal from earthworm to chimpanzee, afforded equal recognition and protection under the law as that to human beings. Animal rights activists have threatened, terrorized, disrupted, and in many other ways interfered with necessary, life-supporting and life-saving medical research. This is OUTRAGEOUS. I urge you to resist any fundraising, political or social movement that attempts to equate the lives of rats and mice with human beings. People quoted FOR and AGAINST animal research. You just have to decide whether Alec Baldwin and Bill Maher carry more weight than Drs. Michael DeBakey, C. Everett Koop, Jocelyn Elders and others. PETA was recently in the news when they sponsored billboards across the nation, picturing New York Mayor Guiliani and inferring a link between drinking milk and prostate cancer. They later apologized for the misleading advertisements.

NewsFlash : Now we find that Newkirk WISHES that Foot and Mouth disease would strike America -

"I openly hope that it comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence. It would be good for animals, good for human health and good for the environment."

Agricultural Subsidies and "Farm Aid"

You'd like to help Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young help out the poor, struggling farmer, wouldn't you? You believe the gradual decline of the "family farm" is a bad thing, don't you? You believe America's farmers are a poor, downtrodden, economically-strapped socio-economic group, don't you? Well, sorry to burst the bubble, but all the above is untrue. America's farmers, for the most part, are the most highly subsidized, overly protected, taxpayer funded special interest group in the country. Farm family income has exceeded that of non-farm family income for over 30 years. There are approximately 2 million "farms" in this country, going by the Census Bureau definition of a farm being any place with over $1000 per year of annual GROSS sales of "farm products". They receive over 30 BILLION dollars a year in government aid of all types.

About 18% of all farms account for over 75% of all 'farm and commodity' output - everything from peas and corn to honey, milk, mohair (!!) and hamburger. These 18% of farms collect over 2/3rds of the annual farm subsidies, payouts, loans and direct grants of the USDA. In 1999, the US Government paid "farmers" 22.7 BILLION dollars in crop subsidies and payments, e.g. directly to farmers, primarily to keep food prices high. We also paid over 14 BILLON dollars to poor people through the food stamp program to buy food. This is OUTRAGEOUS! We as tax payers are paying farmers to keep prices high, and poor people (through food stamps) to buy food cheaply.

The fallacy of overpopulation - "Just enough of me, way too much of you."

We all remember Dr. Paul Ehrlich's famous gloom and doom book - he so accurately predicted the terrible famines in India and Egypt (NOT!), the riots and mass suicides in China (NOT!), food rationing and the crumbling of the American economy (NOT!) and the price of wheat at $1000 a bushel (NOT! Try $2.00). By the way, Ehrlich is an entomologist by training, an insect biologist.

Candidate Al Gore: "Malthus was right in predicting that the population would grow geometrically." As the father of FOUR children, Al should know. Note how he didn't start "curbing growth" in his house - he wants YOU to start curbing growth instead...

Overcrowding and overpopulation are at the root of the world's "problems", right? If a country is "overcrowded", that is the reason for its "poverty", and thus "something should be done about overcrowding" , right?

Wrong!

Bangladesh has about 2100 people per square mile. It's poor and poverty stricken. Must be the population density. Hong Kong has about 14000 people per square mile. It's not so poor. It's not so poverty stricken. Maybe it's not the population...

The earth is NOT overpopulated. There is NO population bomb about to go off. Ehrlich is a fruitcake and Al Gore is a boob. Look at the numbers - There are about 6 billion people on the planet. If you exclude Antarctica, that gives you a population density of about 105 people per square mile, approximately that of Tennessee. Of course, a lot of the earth's surface is not habitable so let's for the sake of argument double the density, and round up to 250 people per habitable square mile.

At that density, you could fit every man woman and child on the planet, in the state of Pennsylvania with room left over. If you take the population density of the United States, the entire world could live in Europe - in other words, a two story colonial apiece on a half acre lot, with attached garage. Every Man , Woman, and Child on the planet.

So why all the fuss about "overpopulation" and "crowding" and the coming population crisis? Well, to put it bluntly, it's racist. Fretting about overpopulation is a perfectly valid way for liberals and progressives to be racist.

One of the main consequences (of a drop in total fertility rates) will be a shift in where the world's population lives. Eighty-eight percent of population growth from 1990-1995 occurred in Asia and Africa, and this trend will only continue. By 2050 Africa's population is expected to triple while Europe's is expected to decline by 7 percent by 2050 (United Nations 1995, pp.5-6).

When was the last time someone complained about the crowded conditions at the Super Bowl or Kentucky Derby, or Race Day at Oxford? No, only cities with predominantly Brown or Yellow populations seem to be "teeming", "packed", "masses of humanity", "frighteningly overcrowded" - Ehrlich stated in The Population Bomb that India was a lost cause, that it would never be self sufficient, that the US should stop all food aid and literally let the poor (brown) beggars die off. Twenty five years and a lot of population later, India is a NET EXPORTER of food.

If you examine every argument in favor of curbing "overpopulation", none hold up to logical evaluation. While the Earth is indeed getting more populated, we're also getting "richer" (in terms of per capita income) and living longer. AS A WHOLE, on the planet, we live longer, eat better, get better medical care, have more "luxuries" and in general enjoy a higher standard of living then ever before. All the overpopulation people cry about is the "overpopulation" in the "less developed" countries - not in Monaco or Paris or London, mind you. Racism, pure and simple. Think about that next time someone complains about "overpopulation" - see where they think it's "overpopulated"..

Erin Brockovich vs. Pacific Gas & Electric - Big boobs in court or just the same old titillation?

Upfront Confession: I HAVE NOT seen the movie "Erin Brockovich". I base the following on commonly available information, reviews, and other news articles that I've collected

The basic EB story: Foul-mouthed, unemployed single mother takes on California's huge Pacific Gas & Electric utility company, accusing them of poisoning the drinking water of poor little Hinkley, CA. PG&E denies allegations, both sides take case to PRIVATE arbitration, PG&E coughs up record $333 million dollars, Brockovich hailed as "hero of the little people", appears on Oprah, etc and everything's ok now, right?

Well. not quite. Herewith the facts:

1) Because the arbitration was private, there is no public record of the proceedings.

2) The law firm of Masry & Vititoe, primary litigants, claimed a tidy 40% ($133 million) plus another $10 million for "expenses". Erin herself got $2 million dollars plus a nice bonus. To put it in perspective, SHE received more than 10 times the amount ANY Hinkley resident did...

3) The payouts to the 650 townspeople who formally entered the suit depended mainly on how friendly you were to the trial lawyers. Some got as little as $25,000, rather than the proportional $300,000 apiece they'd have gotten had the settlement been paid out fairly. The payouts were supposed to be based on documented medical claims or injuries, but many townspeople claim they were never contacted for medical records or other information. Some residents are now suing Erin and her lawyer buddies. Among the claims - Masry and the others held the settlement amount for over six months before beginning payouts. Why?...

4) The alleged "culprit" chemical in the case, chromium-6, ( Cr-VI, as the EPA calls it) has NEVER been shown to be toxic in water, and has NEVER been cited by the EPA as a dangerous chemical when ingested in trace amounts in drinking water. In fact, the EPA itself, hardly a friend of large conglomerates or power companies, DECLINED to sue PG&E several times, and advised Brockovich and her legal pals that "there is no scientific evidence that the amounts of Chromium-6 in question caused any demonstrable harm to the residents of Hinkley". In fact, the PG&E workers at the plant, who presumably had far greater exposure to Chromium-6 and in larger amounts, had a life expectancy EXCEEDING the California state average. There is no doubt that airborne CrVI has carcinogenic qualities, but there was never any question of AIRBORNE contaminants - only that PG&E had been putting CrVI in groundwater (as a byproduct of their natural gas transmission plant in question).

5) Two hot-shot personal injury lawyers who joined with Brockovich's firm, Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack, were on very friendly terms with the three retired judges who heard the case in arbitration. One had officiated at Girardi's wedding, another had been Girardi's guest (via Gulfstream private jet) at the World Series. After the case was heard, the three judges were guests of Girardi and Lack on a week-long Mediterranean cruise for over 90 guests, including 11 other public and private judges. One judge was quoted as saying "This gives decadence a bad name".

So why did PG&E settle the case privately instead of going to trial? Well, we can never be sure completely, since the case and most of the arbitration proceedings are sealed, but there is evidence that they considered the case a nuisance more than anything else. There is also some evidence that the first set of attorneys hired by PG&E to defend them in turn hired some "private investigators" whose dealings with the townspeople were, shall we say, a bit on the "unsavory" side. This probably would have been unpleasant and embarrassing in a public trial. PG&E is an over $9 BILLION dollar company. Their insurance carriers covered most of the settlements. $300 million dollars might seem like a lot of money to you and me, but it may not be so bad to a $9.4 BILLION company. Besides which PG&E was allowed to pass on the settlement costs to ratepayers. In effect, it didn't cost PG&E anything.