No business has ever saved its way to prosperity.
Anonymous
Codger Divers go to Bonaire
These are a selection of my land pictures. Some underwater shots will be added if any of the highly skilled underwater photographers in the group ever send them to me to post.
This was the group that went to Bonaire in February and March of 2006. As you can see we had a very good time and also did some diving.
We happened to be in Bonaire for Carnival and stood outside of the Mona Lisa Bar for a while and observed the customs of the locals. Some of the Codgers were more into it than others.
Two cruise ships came in during the week and moored near the hotel. These things are big. More than 2,000 people visiting an island with about 12,000 residents.
Mike visiting the open air fruit and vegetable market. It is a beautiful building but the produce was lousy.
Sunsets from the hotel bar were often spectacular. Tom, Howard, Frank, Andy and kind diver from another group who took a picture for us that didn’t turn out that well. “What a great country: you order one beer and they give you two.”
Simon with Pepe one of our two dive masters for the week. Laurel was the other one. Pepe was from Venezuela and competes at motocross. The dive facilities were excellent and very well run. All of the dive sites we went to were within a 15 minute boat ride and the ocean on the leeward side were the diving was very calm.
Howard, Gene, Mike (the driver) and Simon rented a car and toured the island which is pretty much overrun by donkeys and goats. Mike is examining the odd constructions above the town of Rincon and of course looking for birds.
Flyng the kite on the windy and extremely barren part of the island.
The pink haze is some flamingos. Amazing!
More photos later after I solve some technical problems.
How Free People Vote
The freedom to cast a secret ballot in a fair election is one of the most cherished rights of free people everywhere. It allows the people to influence the acts of their government and hopefully increases the chances that the government will act in the best interests of a majority of its constituents. But it turns out the freedom to vote at the ballot box is not the only requirement for a society to be considered to be free.
To have real freedom people must also be able to vote with their money. Choosing where to spend money is a way of continuously voting for some products and services and against others. Every time a person chooses to buy celery instead of peanuts she is voting for all of the people in the celery production chain and against the people involved in peanuts. The marketplace is a huge and at its best a very democratic institution. In a free market economy buyers can direct their money towards products and services that give them the most satisfaction. In the 20th century we experimented with controlled economies but without the freedom of what can be called “dollar democracy” they became horribly inefficient and collapsed.
There are however two other requirements for real freedom. First we need the freedom to use our time as we choose. We should be able to watch what we want to on television or not watch at all. We should be able to work for whoever we want to and to hire whoever we want to work for us. This freedom encompasses free association and free speech. Finally we must be free to move away from tyranny and toward freedom. This new freedom, The Right to Migrate, gives oppressed people a power over their governments that they did not previously have. In the United States we recognize this freedom between states but not yet at our borders.
In conclusion there are four types of votes necessary for people to be free. To be truly free people must be able to vote with their ballots, their dollars, their time and their feet.
For more information on the Right to Migrate visit radicalmigration.com
It is a Right
The immigrant trails into the United States from Mexico are this generation’s underground railroad.
For more information on the Right to Migrate visit radicalmigration.com
Objections Number One to the Right to Migrate
“If we allow open immigration we will be overrun. The new immigrants will swamp our schools and our welfare system. We can’t allow it to happen.”
This is the most common argument against the right to migrate. The big fallacy is that it presumes that the State has obligations and that the migrant has none. However in a world where we are reducing the power of the state over people by allowing them to leave one country and join another they also have obligations. The first is that they cannot be an unreasonable economic burden on the current residents. Second they must assimilate as rapidly as possible to the existing culture. It is the new culture that attracted them in the first place so they need to acculturate. This means learn the language and the traditions of the new culture. In Israel new immigrants are required to attend ulpan which is combination of language and culture immersion classes.
One way to meet the cost of new immigrants is to bring them into the system so they pay taxes. People who have to operate in the cash economy are not paying taxes or subject to other regulations. Another way is to require that all new immigrants have a sponsor who will post a bond such that if the immigrant goes on welfare in their first 5 years in the USA they will cover the cost. Immigrants who went on welfare would be subject to deportation.
The right to migrate is a right, like freedom of speech, that transcends national boundries. Nations that hide behind economic arguements to restrict migration are wrong ethically and economically.
For more information on the Right to Migrate visit radicalmigration.com
Maxim of the Week for March 5, 2006
Ignorance is not innocence it is sin.
Robert Browning
Maxim of the Week for February 26, 2006
There comes a time in the life of any project when it is time to shoot the engineers and begin production.
Maxim of the Week for February 19, 2006
There is a time in the life of every problem when it is big enough to see, yet small enough to solve.
Mike Leavitt
Why do We Restrict Immigration?
Government’s policies are in general a reflection of the best interest of the people who run the government. In democracies where the rulers have to get reelected the policy advocated by the elected officials is therefore something of a reflection of the hopes and fears of the voting population. People who vote don’t like change and they don’t like strangers. These two “don’t like” statements are the cause xenophobic anti-immigrant laws.
Historically there was a good reason for sovereign states to restrict migration. Ethics are not as absolute over time as we are often led to believe. Societies create and adjust their ethics to maximize the survival of the group. The old rules were written to maximize the number of new members that survived childhood since this was the critical issue in the groups survival. During times of shortage, which includes most of recorded history, not letting new people into the group was one of the ways to maximize the probability of children surviving. Less people to share with meant more for the people in the group and a probability of healthier offspring. This explains the historic rational root of xenophobia.
Fortunately this old reality is changing. We are, although it is sometimes hard to see, entering a period of worldwide surplus caused by decreasing birthrates and improved technologies and we are adjusting our ethics to this new reality. Test this thesis by applying it to women’s rights, gays and societies changing rules regarding birth control and reproductive rights. For instance two hundred years ago it was illegal to sell birth control of any type in most countries now condoms are handed out as government policy in much of the world. Even though many religions still oppose their use. This change happened because people wanted a better life and they saw that less babies was one path to that better life. They changed their ethics about birth control.
Societies that survive and thrive in the future will be those that attract and welcome immigrants. New immigrants create growth they bring new ideas and introduce variety into everything from food to architecture. But in the same way that groups have resisted changing the other ethics mentioned above they resist immigration. Many people in our society are stuck with the old shortage mentality. The mentality that says that more people in our group means less for each of us. It is our task to help change this out dated mindset so that the good life we live can be shared by all of the world’s people.
For more information on the Right to Migrate visit radicalmigration.com
The Essence of Stone and Water (1)
These are some pictures from the first step we took toward building a granite water element in our back yard. First we found a stone (boulder?) with the right proportions. Thanks to Rainbow Canyon Ranch for allowing us to scour their river bank.
The rock is selected. This is a great piece of river smoothed banded gneiss that has been tumbling down the San Gabriel River for tens of thousands of years.
The first move. We were experimenting with a variety of methods to move this 437 pound beauty without damaging it or the enviroment.
Up the bank with help. We enlisted the help of some local workers and soon had the prize in our grasp.
On the way in “The Howard’s” pickup. The truck is perfect for moving river rounded stones up to 500 pounds.
The next stop is the cutting and drilling operation in Ventura.