Even the poor people are fat

In an interview years ago a malnourished East African said to a reporter, "I want to go to America where even the poor people are fat." Think about what that statement says about our country. Most of recorded history the poor have starved, and still today that is the case in most of the world, but not in America. It is not because of social programs, the reason is Capitalism.

A farmer does not go into the fields at sunrise, and return to his home at night fall because he wants to grow food. He does that because he wants to generate income to support his family, and better his lot in life. The farmer knows the harder he works, the more food he generates, the higher quality his product, the more people will buy it, and the more his lot will improve. It is the self interest in bettering ones lot in life that created an abundance of high quality cheap food, that unlike much of history allows the poor here to get fat.

Capitalism has succeeded to the point that obesity is a problem primarily among the poor. This twist of irony flies in the face of thousands of years of human history, where the rich were obese ones. We are not so removed from our past that the term "fat cats" is still used to denote the rich. While early social programs primary function was to make sure the poor were fed, now West Virginia is offering Weight Watchers as a social program to reduce obesity among the poor.

Socialist try to pretend that Capitalism hurts the poor, but as you read above the poor benefit most from Capitalism. In 1968 the University of Michigan began a study among 50,000 individual families. Of the 20% at the bottom in 1975, 70% of those had climbed out of the bottom by 1991, and 25% of those made it to the top 20% in income. Capitalism gave the people the opportunity to improve their lot in life. The results will never be equal, because people vary in skill, eduction, work ethic, and a host of other factors. Winston Churchill said it best, " The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries. "

Radio down 50%

Listening to the radio yesterday I heard that WKLP and WQZK are moving to Cumberland, MD from Keyser. That leaves the great radio stations of WELD AM and FM the only radio stations in the Potomac Highlands. Some of you are probably wondering why I'm even commenting on this, simple it shows a loss of confidence in the local economy.

This is just the latest job loss in Mineral County continuing a trend that has been happening for sometime now. JAK in Keyser closed costing 60 jobs this past year, New Page cut 150, Bayliner closed one of their plants. Many of these jobs were held by Mineral County residents. The radio station is leaving because it is harder for them to sell advertising, because of the loss of business in the area.

Mineral County's stratagy for Economic Development needs to change. The Keyser industrial park has many empty buildings and the Fort Ashby park is still empty after 14 years. The county government needs to wake up and realize we are on a downward economic slide. We need a Economic Development team that will not only try to seek new businesses to locate here, but to try to retain those that are still here.

All our eggs in one basket

I read that Bird Flu has been detected in Pendleton County and farms in the whole the Potomac Highlands are to be tested. Fortunately the strain of Bird Flu is not one that effects humans, but I have to disagree with Buddy Davidson of the WV Department of Agriculture when he said, "This should not effect the average person at all." If this is a major outbreak it could very well effect the average person economically.

The current treatment is to destroy the infected birds, and in the Potomac Highlands a large chunk of our economy is made up of the poultry industry. 25,000 turkeys are being destroyed now in Pendleton county as a result of contacting bird flu. That is going to have an impact on that farmer. If more bird flu is found, then the impact will spread to other farms, the workers at the processing plants, the trucking companies, and many businesses that depend on the on the industry for its livelihood.

A wise man once said plan for the worst, and hope for the best. I would like to know that the WV Department of Agriculture has a plan in effect if the outbreak is more wide spread. Can the state help decontaminate quickly and help get these farms up and running, so the economic impact is minimal to our area.

An outbreak like this emphasizes the need for a diverse economy, so all our eggs are not in one basket.

Warriors are the Peacemakers

Times-News had a letter to the editor in the Monday addition by Dave Crockett. In the letter he is complaining that we honor the warriors that keep us free with memorials. He states by doing this we glorify war and its profits, and ignore the peacemakers. This couldn't be further from the truth. I come from a family that served in our nations armed forces from the beginning; the Revolution, the Civil War, World War I & II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and conflicts unnamed. They did not fight for glory, they fought for freedom and peace.

Ronald Reagan on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day at Omaha Beach said, " We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free." Through memorials we do not honor war, we honor the warrior peacemaker. We honor the sacrifices that our young men and women make to insure we have peace.

Crockett spoke of Ellen McDaniel-Weissler, and Craig Etchison. These people do not advocate peace, they rail against war. They offer no solution to the dictator that wants to take away peace and freedom through force of arms. Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak, or the timid."

These memorials we erect honor the real peacemakers the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that defend this nation in times of war and peace. Mr. Crockett is free to speak his mind because a solider stood his ground at Bunkerhill. He is free to speak his mind because another solider made a charge a Gettysburg. He is free because a Marine went over the top at Belleau Wood, because a sailor stayed at his gun at Pearl Harbor, and because an airman flew his B-17 to Berlin.

Nobody longs for peace more than the soldier, and nobody will secure peace but the solider. When you sleep safe in your bed tonight, thank.. no... honor the soldier that is thousands of miles away from his family in a place he doesn't want to be, for he is the true peacemaker.

We are not Appalachian Serfs that need controlled

SERF (sûrf) A member of the lowest feudal class, attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights. A person in bondage or servitude.

My family came to the area on a land grant in 1782 for services in the Continental Army. Since my roots are about 225 years old I believe I'm about as local as it gets. Appalachia has a unique and rich culture. Part of that culture is a right of self determination over ones property and life. It is the most dear principle of liberty, and one my ancestor helped secure by fighting against King George III some 200 years ago. I believe now that liberty again needs defending. This time not by force of arms, but by the voice of the people.

I read something this past weekend in one of the local publications in which the author couldn't understand why "Zoning" was a dirty word in our area. Simple, Zoning flies in the face of freedom itself. It stops self determination and it damages the economy by restricting it. Zoning is a Socialist concept that destroys the a free market in land, and removes its value without compensation to the owner. Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman said it best, "Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself."

These believers in Zoning, tend to be affluent and from the suburbs of a major city or at least lived there for a time. They falsely believe they are gaining some security by giving up some freedom. Ben Franklin saw right through this argument when he said, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." These same people talk about how great living in Prince George's, Loudon, or Fairfax Counties was. My question is; If it was so great then why did you leave? The answer is they wanted to gain back that liberty they gave up. Despite all their rules and regulations that take away some of the liberty, they have much higher taxes, higher crime rates, etc and are less secure than we are here. Bad thing is many don't even realize that is why they left. Old Ben had it right, he knew the danger of this type of thinking.

In the article I read, it revealed that in Loudon County, Mobile Homes are not considered homes. That you can't put a mobile home on anything less than 5 acres. Wow! I have friends that are very proud to own their own home and some of those are mobile homes. This is wrong in so many ways. The only purpose of a zoning ordinance like that is to give power to the affluent in the community over the common man. It makes it harder for struggling families, low income wage earners, some middle class, or persons on a fixed income to own their own home. That is the thought process of the Socialist. The socialist pretends that a mobile home is not a home. That way when they deny your ability to own a home you can afford through zoning, they see it as not really taking away your right to own a home in their mind. It is a way for them to justify taking away the liberty of others.

Zoning tries to regulate bulk of the population into nothing more than Serfs of the rich land owners. In essence a Zoning Board will become the Feudal Lords, and the Taxpayers become the Serfs. (You don't really think the guy living in a trailer park, and working at the chicken plant will ever be appointed to the zoning board, do you?) We are not Appalachian Serfs that need controlled. We are free men and women that enjoy self determination over lives and property. If you try take away our liberty, then "Serfs Up Dude!"