Very OT [at-l] What's Wrong with This Picture?

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 07:43 PM 8/19/2004 -0400, joe miele wrote:
>How about the reason that says that it is ludicrous to believe that one can
>"own" land?  How about the pragmatic reason that the land belongs to those
>who were there before we arrived on the scene?  Yes, we need somewhere to
>live, but if we stop creating more people we won't need as much space.  Your
>argument is most likely correct in that there are other cultures that value
>having large numbers of kids, but it is undeniable fact that by not
>procreating, we're not adding to the population crisis, regardless of what
>others do or do not do.

Did anyone watch the Colonial House mini-series? Most of the native 
population loss in the Eastern US was not due to natives being displaced 
(yes, I know it did happen) but rather to disease. The Europeans brought 
diseases that the natives had no immunity for. The same thing happened in 
Hawaii. As much as 90% of some tribes died from diseases they couldn't deal 
with.

In order to be economically viable the colonies had to have lots of cheap 
labor. To get cheap labor they had to have lots of children and indentured 
servants, then eventually, slaves. This country was founded and became what 
it is today on a 'endless growth' economic model. Today we turn abroad for 
cheap labor, whether via out-sourcing or illegal immigrants. We kid 
ourselves that we "create" wealth in this country but all we really do is 
convert resources to 'stuff'.

Jim O is right in his assessment of the situation because there is 
virtually no political will to change "the American Way". As Pogo said "We 
have met the enemy and he is us".