Muslim Obama Wants to Socialize America

Where there is smoke, there is fire. Facts make it seem clear that Obama is a Muslim. He claims to be Christian, but not according to facts. His American citizenship has been questioned for good reason, but according to the Constitution [http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1401], he can retain American citizenship, remaining a Muslim.

FACT #1:

‘Dhimmitude’ is defined as the Muslim system of controlling any non-Muslim populations acquired by the taxing of non-Muslims in exchange for toleration. Although not specifically mentioned on p.107 of Obamacare, ‘dhimmitude’ seems to be what it describes.  Numerous sources have complained this is true, with no avail.

-The mixture smolders.

FACT #2:

In Zoning the ocean – HUMAN EVENTS , Audrey Hudson describes Obama’s ultimate power grab to zone the seas. In an “under the radar” move authorizing himself to control all activities in our ocean borders, he will control much of the nation’s energy sites, and fisheries. Rep. Bill Flores (R/Tx): “The order says they shall develop a scheme for oversight of oceans and all the sources thereof,” Flores said. “So you could have a snowflake land on Pikes Peak and ultimately it’s going to wind up in the water, so as a result they could regulate on every square inch of US soil.” Obama initiated the National Ocean Policy without specifically requesting funding. Jack Belcher (Managing Director/Ocean Policy Coalition) says Obama is already blocking new production “on a policy that hasn’t even been developed yet.”

FACT#3:

Per CNS News Obamacare ‘waivers’ are up to 1,400. But that was on 6/16/2011. Together, waivers now excuse ~4 million people, or ~3% of the population from participating (HHS). Lots of Unions Are on the ‘Hidden’ List to Receive ObamaCare … waivers. So far, at least 111 companies are on the waiver list.

-The kindling has caught fire.

Fact #4:

Whenever Obama physically states the word ‘sharia’ as the Islamic law, he uses a ‘specific’ accent to say it. That accent sounds like perfect Arabic. Few Americans can speak perfect Arabic. In Aaron Klein’s (WMD) column on Obama in 2008, Obama was ‘quite religious in Islam’ , he cites Obama’s uncanny mastery of Arabic.

FACT #5:

The Ft. Hood (Killeen, Tx) shooting (11/5/09) resulted in 29 wounded and 13 killed. The shooter was Nidal Malik Hasan, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent.  A complete account is supplied by [israelnationalnews.com].

Obama’s initial response to the Ft. Hood shooting during a scheduled speech was criticized by a Wall Street Journal reporter ["Obama Delivers Largely Unemotional Speech at Fort Hood"], while a National Review columnist blamed Obama for refusing to acknowledge Islamic terrorism being involved ["Still Willfully Blind"].  The shootings were classified as ‘workplace violence’, not terrorism. Not once did the ensuing 24-page report ever mention radical Islam.

-The combustion is increasing.

FACT #6:

In 1952 Truman established the National Day of Prayer. In 1988 Reagan designated it for the First Thursday each May. Candidate Obama stated (2007) we are no longer a Christian nation. He cancelled the 21st annual National Day of Prayer ceremony at the White House. But on 9/25/09, a National Day of Prayer for the MUSLIM religion was held. That day, over 50,000 Muslims were in DC.

FACT #7:

Wayne Allen Root [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Allyn_Root], the 2008 VP candidate, went to Columbia University with Obama (Class of ‘83). His commentary Obama was “overwhelming the system” was even verified by the left-leaning snopes.com [http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/overwhelm.asp]. Obama is following the Cloward-Piven Strategy (two Columbia professors), who outlined a plan to socialize America with massive government spending, entitlement demands, and turning the US into a socialist state with a permanent majority. Per Root, by creating a rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government, you’ve got the perfect Marxist plot.

-The fire is almost beyond control.

As outlined in the 2009 The Emergence of President Obama’s Muslim Roots – ABC News , even the liberal mainstream media began hinting about Obama’s love of the Muslim religion. In 2008,Jon Christian Ryter — Obama’s Muslim Connection , deftly describes Obama’s Muslim past. [Obama Assists Sharia ], [Obama: Sharia Enforcer ], and [Barack Obama -- Muslim Appointees - The Obama File ] are but a sampling of the millions convinced of Obama’s “Muslimhood”. The vast majority of American Muslims do not espouse Obama’s views, however.

It seems obvious Obama is not really truly Christian. He envisions–and is in route to making America socialistic–huge government spending and entitlements, and a Marxist society having bills too big to be paid back. It should be remembered Muslim ‘true believers’ think if Christians cannot be converted, they should be annihilated.

Sources now reveal the 54% of the electorate that voted for Obama in 2008, are now down to 34%. Kudos to those Americans who have admitted a mistake, and are on the mend. That means ~24 million voters will vote for bigger government, and more socialist control in our next presidential election.

All of a sudden it seems to be getting a lot hotter standing here…

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Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

Can Ryan’s budget be a light in the forest fire? The Obama Administration has generated so much debt, we are at a make-or-break point this election. A prime example of a possible remedy can be shown in Paul Ryan’s budget, and specifically in the FNS Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) –-formerly called the Food Stamp Program. It seems few remember the saying: Feed a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.

The above truism sheds light on every negative statement made about the Ryan Budget. Albeit, quite a few were made. The amount of food assistance each family needs is directly related to the priorities by the family on feeding their own children. That priority supersedes having 3 TV’s instead of two, normal vehicles instead of fancy ones, fewer CD’s, I-Pods, and toys to propel one through the day.

First, a couple of specifics to be aware of. SNAP grew from 16.9 million in 2000, to 46.5 million in 2012, mostly on Obama’s watch. The Ryan Budget Would Slash SNAP Funding by $134 Billion Over Ten … years, but that puts the SNAP total 10-year budget at $785.3 billion.  But even with the reductions, the truly needy will still get $652 billion.

Growing at a rate of 40 million users every 10 years, SNAP will cost at least at $1.6 trillion by 2020. Remember, SNAP makes up 70% of USDA’s budget. With the current debt over $1.5 trillion, it’s estimated every American owes >$5000 to the debt, which will never be paid back.

Obama will continue to tax to reduce the deficit which will hurt poor families even more. More people will claim SNAP assistance, and will only get a ‘fish for the day’, provided by the government (which is really taxes obtained from Americans). With the Ryan Budget, people are weaned from getting a ‘fish’ from the government. They get lower taxes (more take-home pay), ways to learn to ‘fish’ (more job opportunities), less dependence on government handouts (less socialism), and less dependence on outside countries (oil independency).

How singularly focused to believe people will only take what they’re given by the government? They will only come back tomorrow begging for more.  For a truly unbiased view of the Ryan budget, one can get actual info from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation (pgpf.org).

Comparison of Chairman Ryan’s budget deficits to other budget projections
Percent of GDP

SOURCE: Data from the House Budget Committee, The Path to Prosperity: A Blueprint for American Renewal, March 2012; Congressional Budget Office, Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2012 to 2022, March 2012; and the Congressional Budget Office, An Analysis of the President’s 2013 Budget, March 2012. Compiled by PGPF.

How can a group of people be closed-minded enough to think the USCCB restricts Catholic moral teaching to giving the poor only what they need to barely survive? It’s obvious survival to the next day is always necessary, but survival for the rest of your life is paramount, and there is instruction to get there. 

It seems so many people (including Cafeteria-Catholics) love to misinterpret the gospels {Mt 25:31-46}. If someone really needs food, clothing, shelter, etc…, you provide it. But if there’s a better way to provide that assistance, that’s the proper way you go. 

Why do so many have the impression God had no knowledge of what people would do to get free food without working? They seem to forget the passage {II Thes 3:10} “…if anyone was unwilling to work, neither should that one eat.” They won’t admit it but even some Catholics “in-name” must think God a fool at times.

Bottom line, under Obama Administration guidelines, the deficit will balloon over the next few years. The huge expansion of SNAP is only a microcosm of what will happen to the economy as a whole. Socialism is the next step, because the Obama administration has made no attempts to even provide a budget for the last 20 months. It’s as if it knows taxation and socialism will not lift this country out of its likely death throes. 

Ryan’s budget is a valuable first step in curing an economy that has yet to hit rock-bottom. Federal debt is reduced in his proposal drastically. His spending cuts will shrink the size of government. SNAP is one place to cut expenditures.

It’s time to start letting the rich know they’re not necessarily evil, that corporate taxes either go and feed the behemoth called ‘government’, or get invested to provide more jobs. That the rich don’t hoard their money, but use it to grow the economy by creating more jobs.

It seems as though those who support(ed) Santorum, Romney, Ryan, and other conservative leaders are already doing what God commanded. They all had the forethought of what giving a ‘fish’ to someone really meant.

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Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

If you listen to the political pundits, Romney almost has the GOP primary sewn up for this year’s presidential elections. Romney’s now focusing on Obama. Obama’s focusing on Romney. And they’d tell you Obama will win again. But Santorum seems to have the momentum, despite being massively outspent by Romney.

What the media doesn’t say, is “dark horse” Rick Santorum is still in the GOP race with Romney, and may provide a truly exciting finish. Recent delegate totals for the four Republican candidates are (1144 for nomination): Romney-654, Santorum-270, Gingrich-137, and Paul-71.

Several items point to this ‘dark horse’ winning everything:

1) When Santorum lost the Iowa caucuses by only 8 votes to Romney, Bachman immediately pulled out of the race. Considering her political stance, her absence would likely have given her votes to Santorum, easily putting him over the top. And Secretary of State voter registration numbers recently show, for the first time in years, the Republicans in Iowa outnumber the Democrats.

2) The media is convinced Romney will be Obama’s opponent, and that Santorum’s alleged ‘religiosity’ is his downfall. They seem scared of Santorum’s ethical outlook, simply because their outlook is not ethical.

3) The Massachusetts’ health care program Romney instituted as governor was shown to be ineffective as well, and has been labeled ‘Obamacare-Lite’.

4) Most polls have recent shifts of many Democrats going Independent because of Obama’s socialist tendencies, and more Independents going Republican because of the same.

5) Romney has big pockets, and has outspent every Republican candidate by far. But Santorum has been the only candidate to repeatedly call for a Balanced Budget Constitutional amendment. His aggressiveness towards more drilling for oil and gas on continental US territories, and deep cuts in spending and regulations, have been mirrored by his party nominees.                                      

6) The “grand mal” of Romney’s ill-fated Michigan campaign lies in Santorum’s near-tie in Michigan’s recent electoral vote. Romney knows his 1% lead was achieved mostly by votes cast by absentees, weeks before the actual primary. But polls after the election show Santorum actually won by 380,000 votes to Romney’s 300,000 ["Vortex with Michael Voris"]. You won’t hear this from Romney.

Only two weeks before the primary Santorum caught ‘fire’, and began to surge when moral issues were raised. Interestingly, his near-tie with Romney delegates really shouldn’t have happened, and Santorum should have taken Michigan. 

7) Santorum doesn’t actually rule the “Catholic” vote. He seems to be the overwhelming favorite of “evangelical” Protestants. Of the three prongs of Catholics—the Mass-goers, the ‘cultural’, and the ‘walk-away-from-the-church’ Catholics—Santorum got his most support from the first group.

Overall conservative support is 42%, compared with Romney’s ever-constant 24%. For frequent church attendees, support for Santorum is 44%. Romney is at 22%. In the South and Midwest, Santorum leads by 8 and 19 points respectively. The more liberal East and West coasts has the two tied.       

Bottom line, many Republicans that have voted for Romney in the primaries, believe only he can save the day and snatch the presidency from Obama. Many conservatives are convinced Santorum wields a good game, but is too ‘religious’ to be elected president.

Santorum is truly Catholic in his personal life, but has made it perfectly clear that he will never force any American to accept any law that imposes a specific religious moral ethic. 

The strange thing is, the public can be very fickle.

Santorum stressed to a crowd before a primary: “Trust is a big issue in this election. Who are you going to trust when the pressure is on, when we’re in that debate? It’s great to be glib, but it’s better to be principled.”

Santorum is clearer on this message than any other candidate. He has withstood hundreds of attacks because of his opinions, but it’s likely this message will resonate with conservative voters. They seem to highly respect Santorum for his unapproachable strength on faith and values.

Perhaps ABCs Jake Tapper laid out Santorum’s ideological stance best when he said: “His is an unapologetic, in-your-face conservatism.”

Bottom line—are you willing to accept moderate conservatism in this election, or you want to go full bore with your beliefs?

It sounds like another Reagan to me…

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Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

It’s come down to four Republican candidates. They have survived the rigors of a presidential campaign–and there are many. It’s gotten nasty at times, with candidates attacking candidates of the same party. Something that Reagan warned ominously against. But that was when party was sacred, and the person to beat wasn’t Obama.

It wasn’t that Obama was a good president. After presiding over the biggest deficit in US history, he has the US teetering on the closest approach a country founded with a democratic-republic ever came to pure socialism.

But the remaining “four” Republicans have refused to bow to the minor option of ‘green energy’. More importantly, all are committed to reduce taxes, cut government spending, and cut ‘Big Government’ as a whole.

One is particularly good at business dealings, and money handling. One is a specifically good cost-cutter, spendthrift, and bean counter. The other is a specialized orator, who understands all the ins and outs of daily politics.

One candidate is different, though. He is good at all the aforementioned items, but has special claims to many of them.  Most understood Reagan conservatism was a three-legged stool with economic, social and national defense legs.

This candidate’s repeated calls for a Balanced Budget Amendment, unleashing America’s vast domestic energy, and eliminating restrictive regulations, has put forward more concrete proposals to create middle-income jobs than any other presidential possibility.

He stated the way to stop today’s runaway government is to realize it reflects the collapse of core values, and lacks any glue to keep families together. There is no candidate today clearer on this.

With his increase in popularity, many had anxiety attacks about his perceived spirituality. While trying to discuss his economic plans, the media seems only obsessed with his personal religious opinions.

Typically he always has to confront anti-Catholic prejudice, and accused of being too “far right” to win. He has a reverence for all life, heterosexual marriage, and devotion to a strong family life. He considers amniocentesis as a ‘Death Panel’ on deciding who lives and who dies.

He knows the words “separation of church and state” are not contained in the Constitution, and the phrase from Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists had a much different meaning than what’s construed.

The media hates him for it, and has launched an all-out attack against him. CNN’s John King told him he was a Democrat’s dream. “A lot of Democrats were celebrating, … last night, saying, in their view, you’re on the extreme right on many of these social issues and they think, for them, it’s a good thing that these issues will be front and center.”

Shockingly, ABC’s “GMA” sycophantically promoted “polyamory” (practice of having more than one open romantic relationship at a time) the morning after his electoral tie in Michigan.

Infuriatingly frustrating to the media, most of his campaigning was done with handshakes, gatherings, and door-to-door discussions. ‘Big bucks’ were never affordable for his campaign. 

Previous Obama campaigning shows Romney as the opponent Obama and the liberal machine wanted nominated. It seems that the difference in social issues alone, is what scares them the most.

When you think about it, one other person was typically chastised for His beliefs, and the elite hated Him as well.

As one realizes by now, the only non-named Republican in this race is Rick Santorum. He, and his wife Karen, have seven living children, and leave behind Gabriel who died prematurely after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Their eighth child, Isabella, was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome (Trisomy 18). She was recommended for abortion, having a 10% chance of survival to one year. The Santorums ignored that advice, and now live with their daughter.

What may be the most telling point of all, is one of the least publicized statements by Santorum that has rarely, if ever, been uttered by a politician running for the highest office in the land: “You may not like what I say and you may not like how I say it, but you can always know I will tell Americans the truth.”

Santorum meant what he said on 1/24/12 to that crowd >1000 people at the First Baptist Church (Naples, Fl). The question is, can the people of Naples, and the US, survive knowing that a politician will tell them the truth?

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Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

Asteroid Eros Reconstructed :Credit: NEAR Project, NLR, JHUAPL, Goddard SVS, NASA Explanation: Orbiting the Sun between Mars and Earth, asteroid 433 Eros was visited by the robot spacecraft NEAR-Shoemaker in 2000 February. 

One certainty–earth is a ‘closed system’. There can be energy exchange, but there is no matter exchange. In other words, there can be no accumulation or elimination of a particular element or compound. It has, and will remain, the same for millenia. There are temperature variances for periods, but all matter remains equal in a ‘closed system’. Any carbon dioxide [CO2] generated will be converted to glucose.

AGW followers believe all the [CO2] from burning fossil fuels (e.g., oils, gas, etc…) artificially raises global temperatures.

There’s a huge quantity of [CO2] generated when oil is consumed, but all [CO2] gets consumed with the natural production of [glucose] by photosynthesis (addition of light). Breathing by animals reverses the process, and releases [CO2]. This process has remained static and ‘closed’ for eons on earth.

There can be surges of either [CO2], or [glucose], but they always have equaled out in 600 million years of history. Planetary Temperature and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) gives detailed [CO2] concentrations and temperatures over past few eons. Even as recently as the Jurassic Period (when dinosaurs roamed), [CO2] averaged 1800 ppm (>3x higher) than today’s paltry 390 ppm. Likely, no fossil fuel was burned at that time.

Earth might be a ‘closed system’ for matter, but it is not for energy. The major energy source for the earth is obviously    the sun. The sun is known to have over 30 cycles that have large effects on its climate. That’s besides all earth’s cycles (e.g.,orbit eccentricity, tilt, etc..). All these are the antithesis of anything anthropogenic (human caused) occurring. 

Recent warm temperatures in North America have been a direct result of The Arctic Oscillation and Arctic Weather Patterns  (AO), while at the same time giving frigid cold to locations in the eastern hemisphere. The resultant “AO” was produced by sun variations. No carbon or oxygen was changed in this ‘closed system’.

Just lately, we have been on the upside of an 11-year Schwabe Cycle (Solar cycle – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). After a major lull, there has been a major increase in sunspot activity. Just a week ago, a major solar storm hit earth. It involved coronal mass ejection, and ejecting a massive plasma cloud.

This plasma cloud hit earth at 4 million mph. This time, any technology disruptions were helped by a favorable northern orientation. Had that orientation been southern, technological disruption would have been quite severe. It should be remembered in 1989, when a similar solar outburst struck the power grid in Quebec, Canada, depriving 6 million of power.

Sunspots typically produce additional cosmic radiation, which produce clouds, which affect climate. Cosmic rays usually affect cloud formation through cloud condensation nuclei. Solar Geomagnetic Activity at all-time Low shows how solar activity has dramatically decreased in the last 165 years. Changes of 3–4% in cloudiness have been correlated to the 11-year solar (sunspot) cycles.

One cycle, the Grand Solar Minimum, is when total radiation from the Sun predicted to last a century precedes a new ice age. We are at the end of a interglacial period (warm), since the period between ice ages is generally 11,500 years. But it has nothing to do with anthropogenic changes.

The highly AGW-biased Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) acknowledges their report contains very little scientific understanding of solar variation, or what all the natural sun cycles can do depending on which cycle is dominant at the time. At least they are willing to admit different cycles, with different time periods, and different solar activities.

Dennis Avery (Scientist/Hudson Institute) notes: “Humans have known for 400 years—since Galileo—that sunspots correlate with climate changes on earth…” Significantly fewer sunspots have predicted the coldest periods of the Little Ice Age (1300), the Sporer Minimum (1460), the Maunder Minimum (1645), and the recent Dalton Minimum (early 1800s). All of which was due to the Sun—not [CO2] concentration.

What is it about AGW that makes it so exciting? Maybe it’s actually thinking that man controls his eventual outcome. Possibly someone forgot to tell God he made earth a ‘closed system’…

 “The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance.” —Albert Einstein

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

 

An 8-week old fetal embryo.

 

Has anyone ever really said what the total number of abortions have been throughout history?

Even some Christians who consider themselves ‘pro-life’, believe there can be a ‘caveat’ (justification) for killing a human baby (e.g., rape, incest, retardation, wrong sex, Down Syndrome, etc…).

In [How Long Does Sperm Live - Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on ...] , we know a woman is only born with ~400,000 mature eggs. A mans’ ejaculation contains 100-600 million sperms.  But he has to deal with recent reduced sperm counts, and sperm life of only 5 hours before, and 5-7 days if they make the long journey to the fallopian tubes.

Realistically, there are only 375 total eggs [How many eggs does a woman produce in her lifetime?], or 375 possible shots at fertilization.

More succinctly, abortion, or the termination of a fertilized embryo, can be done early in the pregnancy. As soon as fertilization and a new life starts, it can be killed.

Contragestion is a normal occurrence in humans. Estimates of contragestion (the natural prevention of the implantation) varies 30-70%, with actual testing showing a 36% rate. But artificially caused, contragestion can expel a living embryo. The Pill, Norplant,and Depo-Provera are typical  “contragestive” agents.

Most women are unaware they may be having breakthrough ovulations during, and conceiving children that are killed very early (e.g., Norplant breakthrough 50-65%; Depo-Provera 40-60%; IUD 100%). One can see in Birth Control Pill Causes Abortions — Pro-Life America, Celebs … , how life is easily snuffed out using those three.

It is believed presently in the US 7-12 million newly conceived children are killed by all chemical abortions each year (link above). So, according to those figures, in 24 years, 168-288 million deaths in the US have resulted from chemical abortions.                       

Each year 20 million US citizens use chemical abortions (the ‘Pill’, Depo-Provera, Norplant, IUD, RU-486, ‘MAP’, Ella, Plan “B”, etc…), rape, incest, ESCR, and IVF which usually result in the artificial elimination of life. Actually, obstetricians have used RU-486 since 1988, to terminate ectopic pregnancies [Non-Surgical, Chemical Abortions ]. Add the 1.2 million surgical abortions, and one sees the purposely killed lives each year.

Conservatively, even reducing yearly world numbers by 50% (US 0.05% world population), world lives eliminated is 1848-3168 million/yr (~2.5 billion/yr) from earthly existence by chemical abortion. 

When the dust settles, and adding at least 50 million/yr surgically-aborted souls worldwide [World Abortion Estimates - National Right to Life ], and just from known physical operations to remove and kill a young infant, one gets [2.5 billion + (50 million x 24 years) = 1.2 trillion] = total deaths/last 24 years. That’s over 1 TRILLION souls that had their mortal lives extinguished.

Credit God in His unlimited mercifulness, to spare the world of immediate and total annihilation, after a billion abortions.

Alan Sears, [CEO/ Alliance Defense Fund], specifies that human prodigies are born maybe once or twice in a generation. Hence, the few mentioned here—Einstein, Michelangelo, (George)Washington, Pavarotti, (Neal)Armstrong, Copernicus, Pascal, Galileo, Avogadro, Mozart, Laplace, Fleming, Mendel, Newton, MLKJr, Bohr, DaVinci, Hubble, Baryshnikov, Reagan, John Paul II—are but a drop in the barrel for others who lived, but were eliminated early by purposeful abortion.

Perhaps Washington was more omniscient than we thought, after several statements about “…the millions yet unborn.”

Sears put it best when he said: “…what heroic explorations and athletic accomplishments have never transpired because the unique imaginations and wills and endurances that would have achieved them were vacuumed from a woman’s womb?’”

What about human advances that still haven’t come? The accomplishment of “free” energy—fusion—seems just beyond our grasp. The cure for AIDS/HIV, world peace, prediction of earthquakes, ability to approach the speed of light (C)–are only on the distant horizon. Now, there could be proof that other dimensions co-exist with the current 4.

It’s likely any early abortion done in the pregnancy (e.g., the pill, other abortifacient, etc…) without real knowledge of the human destruction is likely God-forgiven. But now, we know we will kill the baby.

Many don’t believe a human actually exists “yet” in an early fertilized embryo. Their disbelief should be eradicated by the simple oath most hunters in the wood always follow: never shoot until you know its a deer. Too bad most of the human population doesn’t follow that rule…

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.

Lately, the writer’s hometown of Asheville, NC., has attracted various environmental ‘wanabes’ into its environment. Chemophobia, the “fear of chemicals“, usually goes with the assumption that “chemicals” are harmful, but “natural” things are good. Chemophobia normally originates from incomplete knowledge, or a misunderstanding of science. Every substance in the universe is a chemical.

A major factor of chemophobia is increasing sensitivity of analytical techniques that can now detect extremely low levels. Typically, media only reports a chemical has been detected, not that it has exceeded harmful levels.

In 1997, “dihydrogen monoxide” [DHMO] was feared among the populace. The “DHMO Hoax” was nothing but water, if called by its common name. But “chemophobes” thought this sounded dangerous. 

Just within the past two weeks, Greenpeace broke into the local Progress Energy Plant. Sixteen people entered, and 5 climbed a 300ft smokestack and unfurled their banner: “Duke and Progress Energy, Stop Destroying Mountains”.

CEO Jim Rogers, the lead fundraiser for the Democrat National Convention (Charlotte), lent the Democrats $10 million for that convention. Greenpeace actually claimed Duke Energy is responsible for 951 premature deaths, 1,447 heat attacks, and 15,714 asthma attacks caused by his power plants every year.

One wonders how Greenpeace came up with such exact numbers. If one looks at the typical ‘pollutants’ from coal-fired plants, one sees [CO2], [SO2], [NOx], [CO], and methyl mercury  ["monomethylmercuric cation"].

[CO2] is a non-pollutant, and is necessary for life on earth. Concentrations of the others are negligible compared with their Threshold Limit Value [TLV]. Methyl mercury can be dangerous in high concentrations, but volcanoes are responsible for half of all mercury emissions. Eruptions usually result in a 4-6x increase in atmospheric mercury.^[77]

The EPA TLV for mercury is 0.02 mg/m3 (~0.02ppm), but it also lists mercury as a Class A4-Not classifiable as a human carcinogen.

In the last few weeks, EPA has leveled the local CTS Plant in Arden, NC, at a cost of millions. This  Superfund Site spread fear through South Asheville. The main chemical was trichloroethylene (e.g., TCE, ‘Trilene’, ‘Trike’), and chemophobes came out of the woodwork. Bulldozing the now ‘flat’ CTS plant by the EPA, did not improve TCE in the groundwater.

An EPA-sanctioned soil-vapor extraction system has been operating there since 2006. In that system, any TCE-laden groundwater is aerated, where TCE is removed from the water.

Why do so many forget TCE was used extensively in the 50’s and 60’s for extracting vegetable oils from palm, soy, and coconut? Typically used in coffee decaffeination? Worst of all, most forget it was used as a gas anesthetic. Millions have breathed 1% TCE through self-administered analgesia (i.e., childbirth difficulties).

It’s TLV stands at 50 ppm. The ACGIH lists it as: ‘”Not suspected to be a human carcinogen”. In California alone, there are over 73 facilities that have used TCE. Of the millions that have used it, there is no known case of a human getting cancer because of TCE.

 In the most noted ‘chemophobe’ case in history, “dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane” became viewed as the most feared synthetic chemical ever made. Most remember it simply as “DDT’”. DDT FAQ shows many countries were pressured to eliminate DDT.

Silent Spring (1962) caused a technical uproar, and a ban of US DDT manufacture (1972). Even DDT – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , now admits although DDT use had almost completely stopped, eggshell thickness remained 10–12% thinner before DDT was first used.

John Stossel accused USAID of not funding DDT, because it wasn’t “politically correct,” Anne Peterson (USAID) replied “I believe that the strategies we are using are as effective as spraying with DDT …”

In 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated almost 1,000,000 deaths due to lack of DDT not killing malarial-infected mosquitoes. 

Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Africa, India, Brazil, and Mexico, where 69% of all reported cases of malaria occur.  DDT has been called a “miracle weapon like Kryptonite to the mosquitoes, and serves as one indicator that repellency is very important in preventing indoor transmission of malaria.”

In the most absurd posturing of chemophobia in the 1960s, population control advocates blamed DDT for increasing third world population. WHO actually believed the only alternative to overpopulation was to assure that up to 40% of children in 3rd world countries would die of malaria. [Desowitz, RS. 1992. Malaria Capers, W.W. Norton & Company]

DDT has a current Permitted Exposure Level (PEL/OSHA) of 1 mg/m³ (or, ~1 ppm). In the billion or so DDT-exposed people, there is no confirmed case of cancer—ever.

As a Chemical Engineer, the writer knows some chemicals can be dangerous in certain amounts. Being cognizant of that fact should alleviate any unwarranted fears.

There are over 250 known phobias, and chemophobia seems to be the most common fear. Wasn’t it FDR who said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself?”

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Kevin Roeten can be reached at roetenks@charter.net.