Wednesday, April 25, 2012

The population solution to every thing


If you want to complain about too few jobs, global warming, the price of gas, whatever, go ahead and complain but there is little chance anything will be done and what is done will not solve anything unless something is done to stop the population growth of humans.
We have painted ourselves into a corner with our dependence on growth.
There is absolutely no way energy conservation will work to solve any of our problems if population growth continues.
Sure, there are a few areas such as the Adirondacks where I live that could use some population growth because of the life styles we demand. But the Adirondacks is not the world. Evens so, we are being affected by the growth in the world population and the resulting demands for more and more energy. We see it in the price of gas, fuel oil and food.
You could chop all of trees down in the Adirondacks and it would solve nothing. You could put up windmills to generate electricity on every mountain and ridge line and it would solve nothing. We can drill for oil anywhere world and get coal by every and any method and it would solve nothing. Nothing will be solved unless the population in every part of the world stops growing and, preferably, goes down.
I get the feeling there are those who don't care because they believe they can live high on the hog and will die before the bells toll. There are others who want to see the end of the world because they hate it and can hardly wait for their wished for Armageddon. What the two have in common is selfishness.
Oh, and let's not forget jobs. With automation and computerization, we should not expect to see anything approaching pre 2008 employment levels. Business simply does not need as many workers as it once did. People have become worth less than a dime a dozen.
Compared to the balance of the world, we have it great in terms of jobs available. The balance of the world, especially its young, look at us and see the enemy because we consume more and make more. We are not loved. We are dreaming if we think we have any allies.
For more learn from Albert Allen Bartlett, an emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder by going to his web page where you can watch his lectures on the subject of uncontrolled population growth.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day
And let's not forget it was the Republican President Richard Nixon who created the EPA.
We have made some progress but one area seems off limits.
Poverty continues to grow world wide and what you see going on are two freight trains speeding down the track at each other. On train is the growing population. The other train is carrying all the jobs lost due to automation and computerization. This means more products can be produced and more services can be provided using fewer and fewer people.
Have a nice Earth Day.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

So you think you belong to the Middle Class?

The other day I was listening to the NPR program On Point and heard a discussion about poverty with Cornel West and Travis Smiley. You can read more by checking out the below link.
Cornel West, Tavis Smiley Talk About New Poverty Book - Georgetown University
The statistics and facts are a real eye-opener and may cause many to get their heads out of the sand.
Everyone is talking about the economy and it is sure to be a big topic during the Presidential vote getting season. Vote for me and I'll turn the economy around will be heard all day, every day until the votes are tabulated. But will anything really change? I think not.
Folks, I think we are on our own, no matter who wins. And maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's time to stop expecting anything from any of our leaders in government, business and religion. After all, all of them are doing very well and they have us to thank - even though they don't.
None of our leaders in government, business or even religion ever worry about where their next meal is coming from, who will pay their medical bills or any of the other things most people worry about. Why should they when we pay for it?
Have a nice day!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Pete Klein Vampires - Pete Klein's Vampire Fiction

Pete Klein Vampires - Pete Klein's Vampire Fiction

Morality - good for what?

It is supposed to be a given. You are supposed to believe in morality. You are supposed to be a "good, moral person." You are not supposed to ask, "why?"
But before anyone can begin to answer why, there needs to be some agreement on what morality is. It is here the problems begin.
Every religion has its basics and its exceptions to the basics. Murder is universally regarded as bad moral behavior but the problem here is in the definition of murder. Exceptions include war, state executions and self defense to name but a few.
"Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" seems to be a safe standard of morality but is often violated, not only by individuals but also by business and governments. You are considered a fool if you don't charge as much as possible and pay as little as possible in business. Many governments consider preemptive strikes wrong if done to them but okay if they do it.
Sex! Here we are consistently inconsistent. It is a minefield of yes-yes and no-no. So much variation from one religion to another and one culture to another that to come up with one standard is probably impossible at this point in time.
Considering the variety of interpretations on what morality consists of, it may seem pointless to ask what morality is good for. But if you think about it, I think there is an answer.
What I suggest is this. Morality, however the particulars might be defined, is simply a way for a society to function with a minimum of conflict. Generally speaking, instinctively we know we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us. The problem comes when the survival instinct overrides all other instincts and we end up doing unto others before they can do unto us. What we fail to remember when we do this is we lose all rights to expect the other person not to do the same. It comes down to who is the bigger bully, who shoots first and who has the better lawyer. And we end up with the mess we all complain about, certain we are the moral person while the other is morally depraved.
In an odd twist of fate, we use our version of morality to commit immoral acts upon those with a different set of morality. People of one faith feel justified in oppressing and even killing people of another faith.
Meanwhile, in our heart of hearts, we know we don't want to be killed, raped or robbed and realize, in our heart of hearts, neither does the other person want to be killed, raped or robbed?
Simple? Yes, if only we could control our fears and thus keep self preservation in check.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Ban books by Pete Klein

Ban books by me, Pete Klein

? No, not really. I am not suggesting my books be banned nor am I suggesting any books, movies or records be banned.
But I was reading this morning in a local Sunday paper where "The Hunger Games" and other books have come under attack and attempts to ban them because of, and I quote, "nudity, sexually explicit, violent, offensive language, occult/satanic, etc."
Based on those objection, my books, except for the hiking guide, could face a day when some people would want them banned.
Being a parent and a grandfather, I totally agree my works of fiction are not suitable for all ages. But this is a job for parents, not book sellers or libraries. Certainly, it is not the job for anyone in government.
Maybe there are two questions that should be asked. One, why write or produce anything that someone might find offensive? Two, why buy, read, watch of listen to what you might find offensive? And if you do, why complain about it?
Freedom is the right to say both yes and no. But only for yourself unless we are talking about actual real life murder, rape and robbery. Then the answer is no, no, no!
So why write or read a story that contains nudity, sexually explicit, violent, offensive language, occult/satanic or any material some will find offensive?
I think the answer is the same for both the reader and the writer. It is simply to enter situations where you would not go or would be fearful of going in real life. It is a safe way to experience what you would be afraid to experience if you were any of the characters in the story. In some cases it is what you might imagine you would like to experience but due to your morals and or the situation of your life, you don't expect to ever experience. In some cases it is plain old curiosity.
But whatever your reasons, stories some would ban are stories that can expand your view of the world if only in your imagination.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Evil Apple sued

Evil Empire sued

According to many recent stories in the news, Apple Inc. and five major book publishers were
recently sued by the Department of Justice (:DOJ), for conspiring and manipulating e-book
prices.
The civil antitrust lawsuit filed in the District Court for the Southern District in New York
accused Apple, HarperCollins Publishers Inc, Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group,
Macmillan and Penguin Group of htching a secret plot to inflate e-book prices aimed at curbing
Amazon’s dominance in the e-book market.
The plan by Apple and others probably began when Amazon launched its e-book reader Kindle.
Amazon began to offer e-books at a lower discounted price ($9.99) much to the ire of publishers,
whose retail businesses suffered significant market share loss. The move paid off for Amazon, as
the company grabbed 90% of the e-book market within a couple of years since the launch of
Kindle.
Poor Apple! I really feel sorry for this company that has had so much bad press recently - Not!
I guess I’m one of the few but maybe growing group who view Apple as the modern day version
of the Evil Empire.
Every few months it comes out with the new and improved version of its iPad or its cell phone or
its tablet. From its computers on down, everything it sells is expensive and produced with cheap
foreign labor, and made old within less than a year.
I don’t own anything made by Apple, primarily because of what they charge for their products
and I am not one to throw away perfectly good electronics just because there is something newer
with a few more bells and whistles.
But this ebook pricing scandal really gets my goat because I know what it costs to create and sell an ebook - next to nothing after the author completes the text.
Take my books for an example.
My vampire novels and my outdoor hiking guide retail on Amazon and many other locations for
$15.99 in print. As an ebook, they retail for $4.99. On the print books I earn on average about
$6.82 and in the ebooks I earn about $3.47.
Yes, I make less on the ebooks but I sell more than twice as many ebooks than I sell print.
This seems fair and I really don’t understand the greed of major publishers and authors who are
already making a fortune.
Speaking of major authors, I won’t buy anything from them and haven’t since buying Potter
books for my granddaughters.
As a reviewer for Allbooks Review, I have read many good books by authors who are not famous
and don’t feel the need to line the pockets of those who are living high on the hog.
I say, support the small fry and screw the big fish.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Silent Scream

The silent scream
Although this is written with Hamilton County, NY, in mind and thus as a list of "who to call" for more information or help for those who live in Hamilton County, the problem is nationwide and worldwide too, and there are organizations in your area that can provide help.

There is a famous painting by Edvard Munch. You have probably seen it in a magazine or elsewhere. It is titled "The Scream" and shows a person with their hands covering their ears and their mouth wide open. Try to visualize this terrified person as you read ahead.
We who live in or visit Hamilton County like to think of the place as someplace far removed from many of the horrors of the world. That old Blue Line defining the borders of the Adirondack Park is often viewed as a wall that keeps economic development out but is often also seen as a wall that filters out much of the crime we see reported in newspapers and on TV. But think of this. Bad things do happen here and some of these bad things go unreported and never make the news.
SEXUAL ASSAULT
Believe it or not, sexual assault, sexually bullying, sexual violence, call it what you will, does happen right here in Hamilton County.
Broadly speaking, Sexual Violence (SV) refers to sexual activity where consent is not obtained or freely given. Any man, woman or child can experience SV The perpetrators are usually someone known to the victim such as a friend, acquaintance, coworker, neighbor, caretaker, or family member.
SV may involve activities that don’t include physical contact between the victim and the perpetrator to those that are brutally violent. SV usually involves some kind of power differential, coercion, threat and/or outright force.
Some examples of the range of SV without physical contact are a sexual form of bullying and include verbal or visual sexual harassment, threats, intimidation and peeping to name only a few. These may occur in school, at work, in the street and online.
SV with physical contact can include unwanted touching, physical force, threat of death by a weapon, drugging, restraints, rape, torture and even murder.
Sexual Harassment is any repeated, unwelcome physical or verbal advance that is sexual in nature. It is a series of on-going, often daily, events that create a hostile environment for the victim. It can also be a one-time event that makes the victim feel threatened or demeaned sexually.
Any of the following behavior may be sexual harassment: leering, wedgies, pressure for dates, pressing or rubbing against a person, obscene phone calls, bra or towel snapping, wolf whistles, lip-smacking, indecent exposure, calling someone "gay" or "lezzie", displaying sexual materials, sexually explicit gestures, animal noises, sexist jokes, grabbing breasts or buttocks, comments about a person's body, flipping skirts or "pantsing" and soliciting sexual services.
Sexual harassment is not flirting. Flirting makes the recipient feel attractive, happy and flattered. Sexual Harassment makes the victim feel unattractive, demeaned, and scared. It is unwanted, one-sided, and illegal.
These are some of the hard, cold facts. Sexual violence and sexual harassment can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone at home, at work and at the beach. The opportunities to become a victim or become a perpetrator are endless.
THE SILENT SCREAM
All forms of sexual assault and violence can be seen as the silent scream for both the victim and the perpetrator. Silent for both because neither really wants to talk about it.
For the victim, they are embarrassed. They are afraid of what people might say about them. They are afraid they might have done something wrong. Maybe they might fear they will get someone in trouble, someone they don’t want to hurt.
If you think you or anyone can simply suck it up or laugh it off after becoming a victim of sexual abuse, you are only kidding yourself. This is what the perpetrator probably tried to do when they were the victim. Many perpetrators were victims one or more times themselves before they became a perpetrator.
WHAT TO DO
Sexual harassment can be confusing. It helps to talk to someone. If you are being sexually harassed or you want to help someone who is experiencing sexual harassment, contact the Sexual Assault Support Services in your county.
In Hamilton County you can go to Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson (PPMH) at http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ppmh/ PPMH offers free and confidential help for sexual assault victims and their families. The Hotline number in Hamilton County is 1.866.307.4086.
Another source of online information is the Greater Adirondack Perinital Network at http://www.gap-net.org/hamilton.asp They provide links to Relationship/Partner Violence web pages such as the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault at www.nyscasa.org/
Whatever you do, don’t silently scream! Call someone. Talk. You are not alone.
peterklein@hamiltoncountyexpress.com