Crop spraying. Courtesy Wikipedia. I recently watched  The Eugenic Crusade,  a  PBS  documentary on “improving” human evolution. Sir Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, took two Greek words,  well  and  born , and coined Eugenics. He reasoned natural evolution was a messy, violent, and lengthy process that could use some human ingenuity and science for the benefit of the ruling classes. Eugenics in America American scientists and philanthropists grasped on Eugenics as a saving valve from the  reality of too many poor whites, blacks and immigrants in America in early twentieth century. Eugenics, and the fake science behind it, led to the sterilization and imprisonment of thousands of undesirable: immigrants, Jews, the poor, the mentally and physically disabled, and the “morally delinquent.” The Nazis in Germany learned from the eugenics experience of America. They exterminated millions of Jews and other “unfit.” The defeat of Germany in WWII saved humanity from t

Radio interview, 5 October 2018 I talk about my experience at the EPA, focusing on what I learned about the politics and dangers of pesticides and the regulatory system in America:

Man using a gasoline-powered leaf blower. Ban leaf blowers: Courtesy Davis Wiki. The gasoline-powered leaf blower is a careless technology. It arose from a political environment that has been welcoming almost everything for profit.  Cars, Airplanes and Tractors  I have been a critic of technology for a long time. By technology I mean machines designed supposedly for the benefit of humanity, but, in time, turn out to be a menace. Such machines like airplanes, automobiles, tractors and most of the machinery employed by the industrialized farmer came into being for making human life easier. However, in about a century these technologies threaten human life and life on the planet. Airplanes and automobiles use petroleum, which is a major cause for global warming.  The industrialization of agriculture has been an unmitigated disaster. It brings back the dark ages in the name of efficiency and science.  How does it do that? It forces small family farmers out of agri

A friend and I went recently to a Greek festival at San Juan Capistrano in southern California. The day was sunny and hot, the traffic from Claremont to Capistrano heavy. The festival unfolded in the buildings and open green space of the Capistrano Community Center. There were several hundred people at the festival: some of them were probably non-Greek or Greeks who no longer spoke Greek. With a plate full of food in my hands, I had a difficult time finding people who spoke Greek. Finally, I joined a couple when the man said he spoke Greek. However, this second generation Greek probably understood some Greek but he could not speak Greek. He was born in Utah and his wife was a Mormon from Utah. He said he was Eastern Orthodox Christian and had no trouble being married to a Mormon. In fact, I liked his wife because, in contrast to his pro-Trump nonsense, she expressed uneasiness with the trashing of the environment by Trump.   The Greek festival at San Juan Capistrano was a typ