Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And another thing, this Santa Claus comes from a long tradition of Saints in the Christian Church. He is real and he is mythical. He is a symbol of the application of reward and charity. He is latter day manifestation of the visiting Magi from the East, who are also real as well as mythic bearers of gifts to someone important. Virginia, you are 9 years old now. Life is going to come at you quickly, very soon. You will have to learn what is mythic, what is real, what is true, what is legend. You will have to sort it out for yourself. I cannot tell you what to believe, only what I myself believe. Finally, you will have to learn to detect malicious lies and deceptive reasoning disguised as truth.
Beware, the baby polar bear, doomed on a free floating piece of ice, soon to drown or starve to death, separated from his mother. The picture lies a thousand words. There is no man-caused global warming. The picture was presented as a polar bear during his/her last moments, but it was a false picture meant to colour and cloud the minds of children. There are five times more polar bears on Earth now than in 1970. There may well be more polar bears on Earth now than at any time in recorded history.
The teacher tells you that your parents are stupid because they use incandescent light bulbs. In order to save the planet you are told that you have to use a funny looking flourescent light bulb that is made in Red China. The incandescent bulbs use too much electricity and electricity production is bad because it produces carbon dioxide which make the Earth heat up and kill children. The new style bulbs pay for themselve by producing more light with less electricity, your teacher tells you.
But no, it does not quite work out that way. Being judicious, turning of lights not in use, scaling back wattage only slightly can be effective at reducing consumption of electricity. The incandescent bulbs are still made in the USA, Mexico, Malaysia, and Singapore.....cost less....and cast a light that can be used for seeing print in a book or newspaper. And....when their life is done, they can go into the dump and become part of the methane production process....But!!! Not the piggy-tail bulbs....because they have mercury and mercury is not what we want in the landfills or anywhere else. The same people who tell you we cannot have mercury in our tuna fish are the same ones who tell us that mercury in a light bulb is the best thing since the invention of political correctness.
Then, your teacher tells you that your parents are bad because they do not have a hybrid electric automobile. Bad parents! You are told that autos are bad because they use fossil fuel and everybody and the baby polar bears are going to die because your parents are using fossil fuel. Burning melted dinosaurs causes carbon dioxide emissions. Your parents will not have evolved to the correct level of human development until they plug their automobile into the electrical outlet for free energy. That way they don't have to used dirty old melted dinosaurs and kill polar bears like George Bush. And since it is free, it will only cost about $140 a month extra on the home electricity bill. And since it is cleaner it will only burn about twice as much melted dinosaurs to make the electricity out of coal. And, you will still have to use gasoline in the Chevy Volt to drive on the highway. So, it pollutes more, it costs more to operate, it cannot be junked because of the batteries, and it was produced by a company that had to be taken over by the government due to incompetence. Welcome to Al Gore's Aliceinwonderland Theatre. Al saves the Earth by having one mansion for his ex-wife, 30 rooms, 50,000 dollars a year electricity bill, and one mansion in California with a beach view for his lady friend.....utility bills unknown.
What brought all of this on is this morning's early news report from a Monterrey television station we follow, about a child bringing a live, juvenile bear to the house out on the northwest edge of the Monterrey metroplex, where San Pedro de Garza Garcia, Santa Catarina, and Monterrey more or less come together. That report was followed by the effort to get a large adult male out of a Dempster Dumpster after he was tranquilized by Monterrey's Animal Authority. The older Yogi was taken back out to the forests to the west of the metroplex. The younger one is a problem because it seems that he has bonded already with the young lad who brought him home, and that might limit his ability to adapt in the wild. Some rancher-tree hugger type told the Animal Authority people that he might be able to give the little bear a "sheltered transition" place up around Laguna de Sanchez. We'll see. The fact, in any regard, is that even with all the abuse wild animals have suffered in Mexico over the years....useless killing, poaching, and other bad things....there is a better social concientiousness about these matters now. So, with that comes more bears in Monterrey. There were over 400 "bear encounters" within the incorporated limits of the Metroplex last year.
Virginia needs to weigh the facts instead of just listening to Captain Planet and Al Gore. Christianity teaches stewardship of God's creation. The dirtiest countries in the world seem to be the most socialist. The property of everyone soon becomes the property of no one.
More later.
The Old Gringo
