We frequently read about sustainability. We hear about a sustainable economy or unsustainable situation. After reading numerous letters and articles, I think I can tell what the banksters and executives connected with Wall Street find sustainable and unsustainable.
So lets list unsustainable first: Manufacturing, mining or farming done so that we still have clean air, water and fertile, nontoxic soil. A transportation system that doesn't consume huge quantities of petroleum. Peaceful conduct toward other oil producing countries. A medical care system that isn't the most expensive in the world while delivering drug dependent average results. A banking system that is prudent in extending credit. Having Social Security funds out of Wall Street's grasp, and thus safe from their thievery. A school system that provides useful skills, instead of chasing the latest high cost education fad. Any employment that pays a living wage. Indeed anything that doesn't "maximize their profits" is unsustainable.
Therefore, anything that allows them to legalize piracy is sustainable. So shipping jobs to foreign slave operations, limiting transportation to petroleum wasting machines, fighting continuous warfare, requiring folks to pay $1,000 to have a Bandaid applied to their finger, looting 401k plans, fracking town water supplies, creating disaster zones around mines and factories, loaning huge amounts to con men to turn the economy into a large crap shoot, and keeping students in school until they're 40, then working them at a minimum-wage job to pay off $100,000 in student loans are all sustainable.
Perhaps we need to outsource all these banksters and executives to the Cayman Islands, where they store their loot. Then maybe we can have an economy that sustains folks with living wage employment producing safe, clean food, clothing, housing, tools, appliances, furniture, transportation, medical care and schooling. It's Wall Street that's not sustainable.
Traps and poison
HB579, a bill introduced by Representative Roberto 'Bobby' Gonzales (Taos) to restrict certain types of wildlife traps and poisons, was heard before the House Energy and Natural Resource Committee. I was present to support the bill.
A very small number of ranchers claimed that if trapping were restricted, "predation" would force them out of business and were equally concerned (maybe more) that deer populations would suffer. Other ranchers supporting the bill agreed with biologists who testified that predation has minimal effect on livestock compared to other causes of death.
Trappers attempted to assure legislators that trapping is not barbaric and that "animals do not feel pain like humans do" despite many eyewitness accounts to the contrary. One trapper said if wild animals were not controlled by trapping, they would multiply so fast that they would spill out into our cities and front yards, biting, killing and spreading diseases all over the land. I wondered if he was aware that two neighboring states, Arizona and Colorado have banned or restricted trapping and both states are still inhabited by a healthy population of humans and their pets.
A trapper father and son stood together as the boy read his testimony which included a story about his family who live in coyote country and lost their dog to a coyote attack. I think it must have crossed the minds of all the animal lovers in the room as to why this small dog was left outside in "coyote country" when the family left and why the coyote is the only one held accountable for the dog's death.
Countless numbers of New Mexicans live in peace and harmony in coyote, bobcat and mountain lion country with small children, pets and livestock without the use of cruel traps and poisons. Please support HB579.