Joel's Blogging Along

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can be expected to run off at the mouth anytime and say some really stupid things. He is brainless, however, the remark he made this past week that the world could expect a surprise from Iran on February 11...that's Thursday, should put a dread on all people's mind and I'll explain why.

Ahmadinejad is nothing but a puppet. The man who runs him and Iran is the radical cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader and Commander in Chief of the military, today said:

I'm not sure what either of them have in mind, but regardless of how horrible or how little it is, it can be nothing short of extremely bothersome. The worst scenario I can imagine would be some type of terrorist attack of the magnitude of the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11/01. Or perhaps worse would be to strike a horrific blow to Israel, causing an immediate war. But it is doubtful that it will be any such thing. More than likely it will be something like testing some type of ballistic missile, or even a test explosion of a nuclear apparatus. I do wonder if our intelligence network has any clue as to what it is. If they do, they should prepare the public with what to expect.

But regardless of what it is, it can only mean a deepening of the present threat and a show that negotiations and/or sanctions will not work with these radicals. There are numerous Iranians who are opposed to the present regime and would gladly accept a more moderate take over of the government. This faction should have been assisted and shown how to depose them. It may have gone too far now to accomplish any such.

If, for instance, they should explode a nuclear device, there would be no way anyone could restrain Israel any longer, nor should they try. Israel is a tiny nation and would not bother anyone if they were left alone and were not threatened. But they cannot afford to allow a man who has threatened to eradicate them from the face of the earth, to gain the ability to do so.

But it is highly unlikely that a strong defensive retaliatory move from Israel would end the problem. It is more likely that other powers would enter the fray in some manner, and there is no telling what it could lead to. The U.N., as usual would chastise Israel and anyone else who assisted them.

It is not difficult to imagine how terribly hard life could be when entering a new land with only a couple of hundred people, trying to prepare some means of shelter from the elements and wild animals. Trying to provide food for the families and figuring out how to preserve and protect it for the harsh winters. The earliest of the settlers often lost half of their people during the long cold winters either from starvation, exposure to the cold, pneumonia and a number of other diseases. And these factors combined were deadly.

But all the 13 original colonies were settled and prospering by the beginning of the eighteenth century with the exception of Georgia. Virtually none of the original settlers of the first nine colonies lived until the year 1700. But even though almost all had built protective shelter, mostly cabins built from logs, and many life sustaining provisions had been made, it was far from being a modern New York City Upper East Side.

But the colonies were growing rapidly, many more people were arriving regularly as well as the natural growth in families. Estimated statistics show a growth from approximately 500 in 1620 to 250,900 in1700, the beginning of the eighteenth century. From here to the forming of the union in 1776, the population would explode to roughly 2,700,000.

Businesses selling such as household goods brought in from England, weapons, gun powder, etc had been set up. Small village schools were started for the young. There were no advanced education establishments yet, no medical school. Any knowledgeable person could hang out a medical Doctor's shingle. There were no requirements established and one's success depended more on his demeanor than his ability to heal.

It would be over half a century before the King's College Medical School was founded in the New York Colony in 1767. It issued it's first doctorates in medicine to Robert Tucker in May 1770 and Samuel Kissarn in May 1771.

An accurate figure of life expectancy during the colonial days is not available. There are widely varying estimates and understandably so. No accurate records were kept, of childbirths, deaths and especially the fact that so many Europeans were arriving well up in age. Some have ventured to remark that those colonials lived longer than they did in Europe. But this is absolutely impossible. Many of the original pilgrims died within one or two years after their arrival. It is estimated that, for a number of years 30-40% of infants died at birth or within weeks afterward, many women died giving birth, plus many died from exposure, malaria, pneumonia and other diseases which would lower the average lifespan tremendously. Some who have studied this problem have made an estimate (more of a guess) that the true average of life for those born then would be around 45 years.

Nevertheless, the colonies were established and progressing. These strong, determined and rugged people were here to stay in a country where they were free to worship as they wished, free to enter what ever vocation they desired and select the type government they preferred.

Our nations expenditures are now running over a trillion dollars annually more than our projected income and is expected to continue to do so for as long as they can foresee. This does not include catastrophic disasters, either man caused or not. Any additional expenses or lessening of Gross Domestic Product will simply widen that chasm we are falling into. Every member of the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches of our government, knows of dozens of ways to cut our wasteful spending. But it is like putting iodine on a child's sore...it smarts!

We want to consider just a few of the things we need eliminated to help balance our budget. And this is not simply applicable to this present administration, but is actually the normal processes of our government, year after year but seem to grow bigger and costlier each year.

Perhaps "pork" is the most ridiculous of all or illegitimate expenses. All of our legislators and the White House decry these unnecessary expenses yet let any bill which has any reasonable chance of passing, and just about each legislator will plug in a "gift" for his district or constituents. Then he/she will go home and arrange an interview with his local paper to tell what has been accomplished. The Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) organization keeps tab on these things and have shown them. Now you talk about bi-partisanship, you've got it in the pork barrel. The CAGW has determined that pork spending increased from $17.2 billion in 2008 to $19.6 billion in 2009.

Now, it is not to say that many of these pork-chops are poor projects. Most are worthwhile, BUT, in almost all cases they should be the state's responsibility and not the federal government's. We're trying to climb out of a hole here. And each of those expenditures is simply like the dirt caving in on us as we climb. Here are a few which the CAGW lists:

$3.8 million dollars for conservancy of the Old Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

$1.9 million for Pleasure Beach water taxi service in Connecticut.

$1.8 million for swine odor and manure management research in Ames, Iowa.

$380 thousand for a recreation and fairgrounds area in Kotzebue, Alaska.

These are Federal Government responsibilities? And there are enough of these sorts of things to amount to $19.6 billion.

Pork is neither the only waste, nor the largest. Pet projects of congress such as AMTRAK are adding senseless billions to our deficit. Regardless of our childhood nostalgia and the love of hearing a steam engine huffing and puffing and accentuated by an occasional shrill whoooooo-whoooo, their gone. So are the passengers for the later model diesels. Congress has allocated $10 billion dollars to subsidize AMTRAK for the next five years. Plus they received $1.3 billion from the stimulus fund for "deferred maintenance" over the past decade. Yet this still is not enough. AMTRAK had requested $20 billion to take care of a backlog of projects. Maintenance of this service where it is unprofitable, is indefensible. Wherever any of it's routes do not pay their way, they should be dropped. And the administration now has plans to invest billions more into high speed rail travel. This should never be done without first determining that adequate patronage will be there to make it self supporting.

The reason this is so unprofitable is that one can travel, say from Washington D.C. to Orlando and back on AMTRAK, a 34 hour ride for about $220, but he can make the round trip by plane in about 4 hours and for $180. We can't afford the luxury at this point, of subsidizing empty trains.

Although Christopher Columbus received credit for discovering America, it has now been determined that a Norse named Leif Ericson, actually established a temporary colony on our shores some 500 years before Columbus' time. This was in Newfoundland and actually it is not known why it failed. The winters were so harsh, it probably discouraged those who tried. By the time Columbus set foot on the American soil, the oceans were abuzz with explorers from Portugal, Spain, England, France and The Netherlands.

For America, the beginning was definitely credited to Christopher Columbus, who was a Genoese (Genoa), now a part of Italy. Yet, the exploration of land, the four trips, made by Columbus and much else expired from the time of his landing. His first voyage did not bring him to what is now the United States, but to one of the Bahamas. He made four trips in all and explored many of the Caribbean islands and even to Panama. This all occurred in the latter part of the 15^th century into the early years of the 16^th century.. The actual settling and real exploration of what is now the United States would not begin for almost another hundred years.

During this hundred years various explorers came to this land and spent considerable time in exploration and sizing up the land. As far back as 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a colony at Jamestown. But the group failed and were picked up by Sir Francis Drake who arrived just in time to save them from their situation. Another group was left there in 1587 but no additional supplies arrived until 1590 and the ship found no trace of the group. Their fate has never been known and thus they are remembered as the "Lost Colony".

Another group came with 214 British pilgrims who officially received the first charter for the Colony of Virginia on April 10, 1606. They successfully kept the colony together and survived even though the were attacked by some groups of native Arapahos. Thus the first of the thirteen colonies was established. The first winter was devastating and only 32 colonists survived. But with additional supplies, and other colonists arrival in the spring, they began to prosper and grow.

The reasons for the settlers who came to this land were varied. Some found life difficult in England because land was scarce and expensive and were seeking opportunity for wealth or at least a decent living. They found the prospects to be good in choosing land, farming, hunting and/or starting a business. Some who had very little resources to begin with, voluntarily became indentured servants of others.

Some countries encouraged colonization because it helped them militarily, politically and economically. The English, Dutch, Portuguese, French and Spanish were especially active in this respect.

But many of the settlers were seeking a land where they would be free to worship God according to their understanding of His word. Many were being persecuted for their sincere efforts to live lives as they deemed to be necessary by biblical doctrines. There were Puritans, Quakers, Huguenots and other protestant groups who were unable to worship and teach their doctrines openly without fear.

About the same time as the Virginia Colony's beginning, other settlers were attempting to start a colony in the area that is now Maine. But this group became discouraged and returned to England.

Settling the new land was very difficult. Many died from illnesses and starvation, some were killed by native groups. Their first and second years here were their worst and those who survived were strong and determined.

From the establishment of Virginia on April 1, 1606, the other 12 colonies were settled and chartered as follows:

Massachusetts 1620

New Hampshire 1623

New Jersey 1623

New York 1624

Maryland 1633

Rhode Island 1636

Connecticut 1636

Delaware 1638

North Carolina 1653

South Carolina 1663

Pennsylvania 1682

Georgia 1732

So you can see, that approximately 125 years expired before all of the original 13 colonies were fully established. And during this time, the population grew enormously simply by family's growth combined with new arrivals from various nations, mostly from England but some also from Spain and other lands. The Spanish attempted to settle Florida but failed and it was finally settled by the French in 1564, but was never chartered by them. It is estimated that the British shipped 50,000 convicts to the new land during the entire colonial period, from the time of Columbus to the time of our independence.