Kokomo Population

The Kokomo Tribune July 27th page one headline: “Brainstorming ways to boost population”. I read that and thought, “Why?”.

The article said we are in for tough days ahead if our population does not grow. It said we are making less babies and then not keeping them. It said more people mean more income going to local retailers and services, and more tax revenue to fund local government. More… more… more!

I am wondering if anyone or any group has taken a step back to think about what an optimum population size for Kokomo and Howard County is? Or is the goal to grow population, housing, concrete, roads, sewers, schools, shopping centers, restaurants and more without any upper limit? Do we want Kokomo and Howard County to eventually be wall-to-wall people, concrete, and bricks and mortar? Has anyone thought about this?

I, for one, think Kokomo is just fine at its present number of people. I don’t want there to be more and more and more. I don’t want there to be loss of more and more of the richest farmland on the planet. I don’t want there to be loss of open space and country side. I don’t want there to be more and more traffic on roads.

What I do want is for Kokomo and Howard County to concentrate on improving the quality of life for people who do live here. I want higher paying jobs and education opportunities for Kokomo residents. I do want parks and open spaces and recreation opportunities and all the perks of life that are icing on the cake. I want no one to go hungry or be without a home. I want all our people to have access to good health care.

So, there are many worthwhile goals for our community without never ending population growth being one of them. Think about it.

Sixth Mass Extinction

[Reprint of article by Dr. Paul R Ehrlich; 11 July 2017]

It’s simple. It’s us. The more people there are, the more habitats we destroy. Human civilization can only survive if the population begins to shrink. One should not need to be a scientist to know that human population growth and the accompanying increase in human consumption are the root cause of the sixth mass extinction we’re currently seeing. All you need to know is that every living being has evolved to have a set of habitat requirements.


The human population has grown so large that roughly 40% of the Earth’s land surface is now farmed to feed people — and none too well at that. Largely due to persistent problems with distribution, almost 800 million people to to bed hungry, and between one and two billion suffer from malnutrition. As a consequence of its booming population, Homo sapiens has taken much of the most fertile land to grow plants suitable for its own consumption. But guess what? That cropland is generally not rich in food plants suitable fo rthe caterpillars of the 15,000 butterfly species with which we share the planet. Few butterflies require the wheat, corn or rice on which humans largely depend. From the viewpoint of most of the Earth’s wildlife, farming can be viewed as “habitat destruction”. And, unsurprisingly, few species of wildlife have evolved to live on highways, or in strip malls, office buildings, kitchens or sewers — unless you count Norway rats, house mice, European starlings and German roaches. Virtually everything humanity constructs provides an example of habitat destruction.

The more people there are, the more products of nature they demand to meet their needs and wants: timber, seafood, meat, gas, oil, metal ores, rare earths and rare animals to eat or to use for medicinal purposes. Human demands cause both habitat destruction and outright extermination of wildlife. So when you watch the expansion of the human enterprise; when you see buildings springing up; when you settle down to dinner at home or in a restaurant; you are observing (and often participating in) the sixth mass extinction.

The expanding human population not only outright destroys habitats, it also alters them to the detriment of wildlife (and often of people themselves). The more people there are, the more greenhouse gases flow into the atmosphere, and the greater the impacts on wildlife that require specific temperature ranges.

And the more people there are, the more cities, roads, farm fields, fences and other barriers preventing wildlife from moving to areas of more favorable temperature or humidity in a rapidly changing climate. Less recognized, but perhaps even more dangerous to both people and wildlife, is the increasing toxification of the entire planet with synthetic chemicals. Growing populations want myriad more items of plastic that often leak toxic chemicals: more cosmetics, cleansing compounds, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives and industrial chemicals. Many of these novel chemicals mimic natural hormones, and in tiny quantities can alter the development of animals or human children, with potentially catastrophic consequences. As with climate disruption, this is one more case of human overpopulation threatening civilization.

So we don’t really need the evidence meticulously gathered and analyzed by the scientific community showing the unusual and accelerating extermination of wildlife populations — and ultimately, species — to know that human population growth is a major and growing driver of the sixth mass extinction, just as it is with the related accelerating climate disruption. It will take a long time to humanely stop that growth and start the gradual shrinkage of the human population that is required if civilization is to persist. All the more reason we should have started a half a century ago, when the problem first came to public attention.

Obama's Travels

News Flash to B.H. Obama: you are no longer President. You are an ordinary citizen!

Citizen Obama should follow the lead of former President George H. Bush and other US Presidents before him. But, no, he is paddling around the globe, shadowing President Trump, with his nose in where it does not belong. This following a statement by Obama himself months ago saying, “There is only one President at a time.”, when he thought then nominee Donald Trump might meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.


That is the Logan Act language passed by Congress in 1799; an act intended to stop any except official representatives of the President of the United States government from conducting foreign affairs with foreign governments.

In the Supreme Court case of the United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp in 1936, the Court observed the following: “The President alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. He makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate; but he alone negotiates. Into the field of negotiation the Senate cannot intrude; and Congress itself is powerless to invade it. As Marshall said in his great argument of March 7, 1800, in the House of Representatives, ‘The President is the sole organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with foreign nations.’”

Barack Obama; how guilty can you get? For example, one day after President Trump met with the leader of South Korea, President Moon Jae-in, Obama arranged a meeting with the Korean leader. If Obama discussed any topics related to US policy which do not agree with President Tump’s policies, Obama broke the law.

Then there was the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama met with Merkel on the same day she later encountered President Donald Trump at the NATO summit meeting. What did Merkel and Obama talk about? Cannot imagine, but if anything about the relationship between Germany and the United States was discussed, it was in violation of the Logan Act.

One more: in early June, Obama met in Canada and had dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. News reports have it they discussed policy goals. If so, another violation of the Logan Act.

Obama said, “I try to make it a rule not to meddle in other people’s politics” before reeling off a dripping tribute to Merkel. “If I were here and I were German, and I had a vote, I might support her. But I don’t know whether that hurts or helps.” Meddling? You decide.

Obama does not understand he is now an ordinary citizen of the United States; not the President or a representative of the President. He is a “has been”, not an “is”. If he does not stop his meddling with foreign affairs, he should be prosecuted. Maybe he should be even now.