Principled leadership

Quote for the day

2010-01-30T03:37:00.000-08:00

"The President [Obama] could wait months before deciding to give a general the troops he asked for to fight the war in Afghanistan, but there was never to be enough time for the health care bill to be exposed in the light of day to the usual Congressional hearings and debate. Moreover, despite all the haste, the health care program would not actually go into effect until after the 2012 presidential election. In other words, the public was not supposed to find out whether the government's takeover of medical care actually made things better or worse until after it was too late.

"Dr. Thomas Sowell ~~

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

As many malls were swamped and internet sites were jammed with deal seekers I find myself enjoying the simpler things in life like friends and family. I find myself being thankful for so many things, many are often taken for granted.

Health: I am thankful that I have my father who has fought two battles with cancer and is doing just fine. Thankful that my uncle is doing well and was able to reminisce with him about fishing, boating and his time in the Coast Guard stationed five mile from where I now live. I met a cancer survivor who did not expect to live and now has two children at a birthday party for my son. Thankful for the digital meters that check the blood sugar level so my son Sean won’t collapse from low blood sugar. Thankful to have all of my family and relatives except two for the past 22 years. We lost two, one in 1987 and one in 2006, they are truly missed but we are thankful for the ones we still have.

Family: Spending moments in time with the ones who have cared for you in your earlier years – now turning the tables and caring for them. We find ourselves now telling them to put on sweaters, eat more vegetables, not to smoke and to get some rest. We tell our parents to drive carefully and to call us when they arrive at their house.

Food: While many people go hungry in this world we have plenty to eat. I am thankful everyday that my children don’t go hungry, thankful that I never experienced hunger for more than a day or two, thankful that for so little change I can help others feed those with less.

Our men and women in uniform: I am thankful for my time in uniform. Thankful that the majority of my buddies are still with us and saddened that many are left behind. I am thankful for those who serve now protecting our freedom so we can all sit down and enjoy our meals, speak our mind and sleep well at night.

Children: I am thankful for the children I have. I never fail to learn something from them or enjoy a moment in time when I wish I was their age again. I could not ask for more.

I am so thankful for these and many more things that were once taken for granted. As I stay at home playing with the kids and watching football this weekend I will continue to be thankful for all the gifts I have – none of them bought at the store.

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Op-Ed Piece by LtCol Allen B West (US Army. Ret)

2009-11-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

Op-Ed Piece

Afghanistan Strategy

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Ret)

10 November 2009

“To know your enemy, know yourself, and know the terrain, in countless battles you will be victorious”.
Art of War, Sun Tzu

On Saturday, 31 October I attended the farewell services for a fallen Comrade, Army Specialist Daniel Courtney Lawson a Son, Husband, and Father of three. SPC Lawson’s life was cut short due to an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Arghandab Valley, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It just happens that is an area of which I am quite familiar because of a 2 ½ year assignment I spent based out of Kandahar as an advisor to the Afghan National Army from June 2005-November 2007.

As I drove back down I-95 from Daniel’s final resting place I pondered, “How do we defeat this enemy”? My immediate answer went to Sun Tzu’s prescient strategic maxim.

First we must understand the enemy against whom we are engaged in truly a global conflagration. We continue to think of Afghanistan as a “war” within itself, which it is not. Afghanistan is a theater of operations within a greater engagement, War, against radical Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.

It is a War which extends to every area of the world, and right here in our America. We have to stop trying to define this enemy in comfortable, politically correct definitions. It is not just about Taliban or Al Qaeda, should they change their name can we declare victory?

When we clearly understand the enemy and their strategic perspective we can then delineate the goals and objectives to defeat them.

It requires the leaders of this Country to study and understand Islamic culture and recognize that no Islamic Republic can be “democratized”. The Koran does not support recognition of secular government, only the supposed word of Allah as a means of governance. We must understand what Sharia Law is and what does it promote.

What has been our major failure?

We have gone away from, what we call in military lexicon, being oriented on the enemy to a terrain orientation. This has resulted in “nation building” which dilutes your focus and drains your resources. Having been in both theaters of operation, Iraq and Afghanistan, I absolutely detest the words, “winning hearts and minds”. That is an extremely nebulous goal which can change in meaning from one day to the next in a counter-insurgent operation.
Furthermore, you must realize that in the culture that is Iraq, Afghanistan, and indeed the Islamic world, strength is respected, regarded, and yes, feared. Offerings of goodwill are often associated with weakness and truly disregarded.

Now, there are those who are saying “typical dumb military talk”, no, I am saying that before schools can be built, clinics established, and governing institutions advocated there must be security. My experiences have been that during the day we enter a village or area and offer assistance, funding, infrastructure support. However, at night the enemy enters and threatens leaders.

Therefore, here are the goals and objectives I offer as a strategy for Afghanistan:

1. Deny the enemy sanctuary; become enemy oriented and get out into the areas and reduce the bases of operation of the enemy. This also means separating him from resources he needs to survive. In Vietnam we did that with the “Strategic Hamlet” program and when we pulled back into large bases we surrendered the countryside to the Vietcong. In Iraq we went into the areas and proved to the tribal leaders, Sheiks that we would fight and stay.

2. Interdict the flow of supplies, manpower, materiel, and financial resources; no enemy can survive without resources. We must recognize that the opium production is a key part of the resourcing of this enemy. The local farmer does not care who buys the product, he just wants to survive. Separate the enemy from this resource, however destroying the crop only forces the farmer to the enemy.

3. Influence the populace; this relates to winning the Information War which we are losing. The enemy is getting their propaganda out far better than we are. In Afghanistan you have a huge illiteracy issue, over 70%. However, they listen to the radio like crazy. We don’t we establish radio stations on the secured bases and broadcast across the Country against the radical terrorist enemy. Get our message out so that we stop losing to their deliberate jihadist message.

4. Cordon off the Theaters of Operation; we have to understand that the surrounding countries have an effect. In 2006 the decision to pull the Pakistan Army out of the NW Federated Tribal Areas, North and South Waziristan, resulted in the creation of a huge enemy sanctuary. We need to create a security zone that extends beyond our operating areas; the same applies to Iraq as well.

In concert with these strategic/operational objectives we must do several other things:

1. Revise our Rules of Engagement (ROE); about two months ago a remote Army outpost became engaged in a horrific attack. The enemy staged from a local mosque, which is on a protected list. It took 21 minutes for close air support (CAS) to come on station because of the stringent ROE on precluding civilian casualties. The enemy knows the game, the rules have to change to support our troops in contact.

2. Institute a “Strike Operation” tactic; we must use our greatest asset, operational maneuverability to strike the enemy wherever he presents himself. We must regain the initiative, especially now as he seeks to “go to ground” for the winter. The tactical focus has to be on finding the enemy, fixing him in place denying his movement, engaging him with all available weapon systems, destroying him, and pursuing him. It has to be about maintaining pressure.

3. Breakdown the large operations bases; having been on Kandahar Airfield and Bagram I have seen the burgeoning “military cities” we have created. This results in an excessive need for resources and internal security that could be focused elsewhere.

4. Encourage our NATO allies; if it still remains in Kabul there was the renowned “book of caveats” which specified what NATO contributing forces could and could not do in support of the mission. I recall such heinous restrictions such as not being able to conduct night operations, not being able to leave the roads to fight the enemy, and not being allowed to participate in any combat operations, unless attacked.

No, I am not a nation-building advocate. The future of countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan has to be determined by them. I do support our setting the conditions, security, in order for them to truly choose the best course of action for their Nation.

Our leaders must articulate their strategic goals and match the right resources to their accomplishment. That has been severely missing over the past 16+ years. We must leverage every technological advantage we have in order to defeat this enemy.

Most importantly, we must have civilian leadership with a will, conviction, and a commitment to Victory.

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (USA, Ret) is a 22 year active duty veteran. He holds a Bachelors degree from University of Tennessee and a Masters degree from Kansas State University both in Political Science and a Masters of Military Arts and Science from the US Army Command and General Staff Officers College in Political theory and Military Operations. LTC(R) West is the Republican party candidate for US Congressional district 22.

The New Colossus

2009-11-10T02:47:00.000-08:00

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus

On the 234th birthday of the United States Marines I can’t help but wonder where the message has gone astray. American was built on the foundation of immigrants of long ago. They came from Europe, Asia, Africa and beyond to build a better life. America offered a promise of opportunity for them and their family, an opportunity that would enable them to build a future.

Today we are becoming a nation of persons who demand entitlement, hand outs are often sought and those who provide the handouts are treasured. This weekend the US House of Representatives passed their version of healthcare reform 220 - 215. This bill is estimated to cost 1.2 Trillion dollars over 10 years paid for in large part with cuts to Medicare, a promise made and now broken to our Seniors who have paid into the system and now cannot expect to fully be covered. We do need reform just not his type of reform.

Our elected officials are writing checks we cannot afford to cash. We must reach out to the people who represent us and tell them enough is enough. No more waste, no more fraud, no more handouts , no more illegal immigration, secure our boarders and aggressively root out those who seek to do us harm.

Millions of dollars each year are wasted on pet projects for our elected officials. Pork projects are a cancer and need to be aggressively cut from the budget. Urge a Line item Veto for our Presidents to use to protect us. The line item veto will empower the presidents to cut out the pork spending without slowing down legislation. I wonder how many pork projects are in the 2,000 page healthcare reform bill? I’m certain our elected officials don’t know, after all they did not read the stimulus bill, why should they read the healthcare bill?

Reduce the Fraud in medical care and in government programs designed to help those in need. More money is wasted due to fraud and misuse in government run programs – the Office of the inspector General is the preverbal “boy with his finger in the dike”. Fraud is rampant in all areas, housing aid, education, welfare, Medicare. Reform these programs and you will save millions of dollars – use the resulting savings to cover those in need.

End the entitlement mentality of the citizens. The government created the sense of entitlement and is now responsible to wean those who are addicted to the support structure. Life is tough however we all can’t be the CEO just as we all can’t hit the baseball like Jeter, or come from behind like Woods. We each have a role in society, success comes with happiness, happiness breads success. We need to live within our means – embrace the joy of ownership however pursue only that which you can afford.

Secure our boarders – rid our shores of the toxic filth that is infecting our country. Criminal illegal’s should be pursued and removed from our country. Allow for the immigration of educated productive persons from all countries. End the quota system its proven to be unfair and unjust. Millions of South Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians dream of coming to our country and building a future. Ensure entry is with a cost – a debt to be paid by hard work.

Contact your elected officials – tell them enough is enough. We elected them therefore we are responsible for them.

John Lineweaver
Nemo me impune lacessit!

A tale of two immigrants.

2009-09-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Let me clarify I am not against immigration, I am against illegal immigration. We should welcome people from other nations as long as they are fully vetted and can contribute to our society.

Couple A: The first immigrant came to the United States on a tourist visa to visit her uncle and enjoy the South Florida beaches and rest and relax. While the immigrant was in the United States she met a young American Veteran who happened to live next door to her uncle. After a few days the French immigrant and the American man started to date, only one small problem the immigrant had to return to France as she had a job, apartment and her family. The young man and the immigrant kept writing and calling each other and soon the immigrant had made plans to come back to the States for another vacation. Once the two were reunited their relationship resumed and flourished.

At the end of the vacation the American asked the young lady to marry him, she agreed and without delay they eloped the very next day. 13 years later the marriage is as strong as ever and the two have four children they are raising. The couple now underwent the LEGAL immigration process and the immigrant became a Permanent Resident Alien. The immigrant has never been unemployed until recently so she could raise the youngest of the couple’s children. The couple have never been on welfare or without work, have stood on their own two feet and are active in their community. The couple and their children are proud of their dual nationalities and teach their children strong family values. The two pay their taxes on time and live within their means.

Couple B: The second immigrant came to the United States illegaly. The second immigrant worked for ten years “off the books” and while the immigrant worked hard, he did not pay taxes nor did he pay into the Social Security or medicare/medicad system. The immigrant then brought his wife to the United states illegaly and their four children. The two illegal aliens loved each other and their children and teach them strong family values but are only connected to the illegal community. The illegals while raising four children still do not pay taxes nor into the medicare/medicad system even though the two have had four children. The illegals don’t pay state or local taxes and their children are being educated in the local school system.

Why should couple A be forced to pay for couple B’s benefits?

Couple A did the right thing and have worked hard for everything they have. The couple have not received hand outs, welfare or preferential program assistance.

Couple B did not follow the rules and regulations and “jumped the line” on legal immigrants from other nations. Couple B takes food stands, educational tutoring assistance and various other social welfare programs while not contributing any of their income to the sytstem that they take so much from.

Why do we, who follow the rules and regulations, have to pay for those who do not? It is insantity at the very least! Immagine illegaly immigrating to another country and trying to do the same thing?

Senators, Congressmen, Mr. President, secure our boarders, stop illegal immigration, take care of our elderly and our veterans before you try to ram a socialistic program down our throats! Not one dime should go to illegals. Take care of our legal immigrants and our citizens before you take care of the illegals.

By the way, the first story is my own. My wife and I had to wait nine months for her to get here legaly. We don’t take a dime from the government and take care of our family on our own. I served six years, nine months and eleven days in the service of our Great Nation. If the legal immigrant wife of a United States Veteran has to wait in line – so should everyone else!

Molan Labe.

The story of Stuff

2009-09-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

The story of stuff reeks with propaganda and Is clearly a Marxist attempt at indoctrinating our children.

Annie Leonard take us on a journey through her version of the manufacturing process she describes as Extraction, Production, Distribution, Consumption, and Disposal. Annie then thoughtfully provides us with her utopian ideas of how things should really be. The only real problem is the world does not function as Annie dreams it should. Let’s see without industry we would be stuck in the 18th and 19th centuries – joyful times!

I urge you to view the fairytale as you will certainly be shocked that such a film is allowed in schools. http://www.storyofstuff.com/ I won’t dissect Annie’s fairy tale as Glenn Beck has thoroughly investigated this issue and you can find his information on http://www.glennbeck.com/splash.php

What we need to do is engage our schools through the PTA’s, SAC’s and on every opportunity to address the curriculum that our children will be exposed to. The school boards and schools are saturated with Liberals who want to emasculate and indoctrinate our children.

Engage your child, teach your children that they will be exposed to opinions by their teachers on subjects that could very well be the opposite of the family values that we teach. Speak with your children every day and query them on the subjects they are studying in school. Encourage them to question with respect the ideas that are brought to them by adults outside of my family circle.

The socialistic elements of our society has had 40 years to infiltrate the very fabric of our society, we must confront them with truth at every chance.

Molan Labe

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

2009-09-24T19:04:00.001-07:00

While the United Nations welcomed dictators and despots – one speaker had the courage to stand up and tell it like it is. Thank you Prime Minister Netanyahu!

Thank you for showing the world the courage that the Jewish people have to face terror every day

Thank you for reminding us of the Holocaust as our schools no longer teach the horrors to our children so we won’t allow history to repeat itself.

Thank you for being a voice of reason in a sea of idiotic third world dictators that want to erase you from the face of the earth.

Thank you for your brother Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu – may God keep him in his right hand until you meet again.

What is the rush?

2009-09-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

625 Billion dollars? “We don’t have time to read this bill?” Who are they trying to kid?

First they were too busy to read the stimulus bill and now they are too busy to read the Healthcare bill, just what are they willing to read?

I applaud the bipartisan efforts of Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash to require all legislation to be posted on the internet 72 hours prior to a vote. Today, Rep. Olympia J. Snowe R-ME voted in support of the very same amendment and was quoted as saying “The American people are rightly entitled to see what we are legislating and we should not be afraid of having a better and more complete understanding of exactly what we are doing,” Snowe a member of the “Gang of six” has also publicly expressed her objection to the so called public option.

Lets lighten the reading for our Representatives – let’s take out the following;

Public option – we don’t need it nor can we afford it.
Coverage for Illegal’s – OK there is no guarantee to illegal’s but without a way to check the legal status how can we determine if they are legal or not?
Proposed cuts to Medicare 500 Billon and Medicaid 125 Billion – remember we were told there would not be cuts to these programs.

I could just imagine myself telling my employer “sorry, I did not read the contract before I signed it – we can’t afford it but don’t worry we can just raise our prices to cover the difference”.

The next sound would be my shoes on the tile floor while I was being escorted out of the building.

Molan Labe.

The increasingly irrelevant President Jimmy Carter, Peanut farmer and village idiot.

2009-09-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

Let’s look back at some of Carters most memorable achievements.

Gas shortages
Double digit inflation
High interest rates (prime interest rate of 21.5%)
The Iran Hostage crisis
Unconditional amnesty for draft dodgers during the Vietnam war
Return of the US built Panama canal to Panama.

Why would anyone take what he now says worth a grain of salt?

The definition of a racist by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racist is;
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination.

Disagreeing with ones political goals or agendas based on one’s personal beliefs does not equal racism. I take offence at what our village idiot has said about our fellow country men and women that disagree with the politics of President Obama.

Don’t allow the attempts by some to dilute the truth of the matter. Health care is not our biggest threat to the economy spending 900 billion over 10 years is http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-to-a-Joint-Session-of-Congress-on-Health-Care/

The cost of the program will far exceed 900 billion, it will eventually turn into 2 or three trillion dollars, have you ever seen a government run program cost less than what it starts out to be? Let’s fix the systems we have today Medicare and Medicaid.

Why bring racism into the mix? With an estimated 43% of whites, 54% or Roman Catholics, 66% of Hispanics, and 68% of first time voters electing President Obama (source http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Rahul_Majumdar ) you can’t deny that is an awful lot of non-racist voters.

Jimmy, keep focusing on things that you know about the Guinea worm project in West Africa and Habitat for humanity, leave the real politics to people who actually know what they are doing.

Pork and Insurance

2009-09-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

How is the Federal Government supposed to handle the insurance of 30 million people when it can’t ride itself of pork?

Wood utilization 100 million
Shrimp aquaculture (Arizona and Texas) 76 million since 1985
Tree snake prevention in Hawaii 15 million
Ireland 14 million
Wine in NY 2 million and CA 7.6 million

If these programs are important make them a line item in the budget. If they can’t trim waste in their budget why should we give them more money to spend?

OK – it’s a little more complicated than this however why don’t we try it my way? 30 million people = 30 million budgeted. Lets competitively bid the coverage of 30 million people to Cigna, United healthcare, Blue Cross, Blue shield. The best plan for the lowest dollar wins – make the term a ten year policy.

Corporation competitively bid project every day – why don’t we require the government to do the same? For 30 million I’ll start my own insurance company – I know I can do better that the Federal government.

Let’s keep private insurance private.

Senator Bob Smith

2009-09-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

See where Senator Bob Smith stands on Tax Policy.

Tax policy

It is the American taxpayer who needs relief, not companies and CEO's that ran their businesses into the ground. Chief Justice Marshall‘s statement, “The power to tax is the power to destroy” holds true today.

The Obama “stimulus” policies are on the verge of destroying our economy through hyper-inflation which President Reagan described as the “cruelest tax of all“. As a student of History, I learned that the major economic expansions in our country’s history have followed major tax cuts. The time has come for a major overhaul of the U.S. tax code that eliminates the current burdens on producing businesses and individual incomes. I wholeheartedly support the fair tax concept which would eliminate federal income, business and other excise taxes, and replace them with a flat tax on the consumption of new goods and services. I will not however, pander by blindly signing on to any bill that does not also repeal the 16th Amendment that made individual income taxes constitutional in the first place. Although I support the concept of the Fair Tax, abolishing the federal income tax merely by passing a law, would leave the door wide open to easily bring it back under a so called “emergency”, making the fair tax just one more business-killing tax.

Friends of Senator Bob Smith

www.friendsofsenatorbobsmith.com

A Heroic Death, Without the Headlines

2009-09-12T15:09:00.001-07:00

By Scene And Heard
Sunday, August 30, 2009

Marine Capt. Matthew Freeman made his last trip across the U.S. Naval Academy in the company of friends the other day. Yes, there were admirals and generals, colonels and majors, captains of the Navy and the Marines among the hundreds who joined him. But there are moments when the strictures of rank are loosened by the greater bond of brotherhood. This was one of them.

Four thousand and seventy-four days had passed since Matt arrived here as a kid, had his head shaved and was sworn in as a Navy midshipman. Two thousand six hundred and fifty-one days had gone by since he hurled his hat into the air at graduation and became a Marine. It had been 47 days since he married Theresa, his high school sweetheart, and 34 days since he headed to Afghanistan.

And it was just 19 days after he led his men onto a rooftop that provided the only high ground in a nasty firefight with the Taliban in a hamlet in a rugged, desolate northeastern province.

The morning he came back to the Naval Academy was a Wednesday, but it will stick in your memory as the day you heard that Ted Kennedy had died and the week when you learned that someone might have killed Michael Jackson. The politician and the entertainer of their generations, they were lionized by many and scorned by some. One pleaded guilty, the other was found innocent. But they each died with an indelible asterisk, a footnote to their legacies that time will not erase.

Matt Freeman died clean.

His life and death played out that sunny morning in the chapel at the Academy and as the long cortege made its way on foot across the Yard to what would be his final resting place. The words they found for him were devotion to his Maker, loyalty beyond what most men possess and grim courage in the end. Marine sentries in dress blue snapped into salute as he passed. There was a band. Flags flew.

Nine days earlier, when his body came home to a small town in Georgia, three creeks south of Savannah, people lined the route, waving paper flags. Children drew signs of tribute on cardboard. Mothers cried. You can find it all on the Internet, of course. All that, and a lot more about how he lived and how he died. You will discover, most of all, why people loved him.

It is the business of generals to calibrate the magnitude of a man's courage. They are not to be envied the task, and many of them learned its measure by testing their own guts on the battlefield.

Theresa rose from her pew in the chapel to accept Matt's Bronze Star, the fifth in the hierarchy of combat medals awarded Marines. He died on a mission for which he volunteered, in a province far from home, leading men into battle. Pinned down and receiving a "heavy volume" of enemy fire, the medal citation says, he rose up and led his men into a mud-brick house, cleared it of the enemy, "was the first to reach the rooftop" where he "spotted an enemy rocket-propelled grenade gunman and immediately killed him . . . and began to engage while under fire."

His best friend told the mourners, "He would want you to know that he went down swinging."

There were a dozen Marine captains in dress blue in the overflowing pews of the chapel. Marines may blink hard a few times, but they don't cry. Their mothers and widows cry for them.

In the week when they laid a young Marine captain to rest, the news was dominated by the death of a politician and the echo from an entertainer's death. The flag-draped coffin on the front page was not his, but if you look carefully in the paper this week you will see a small picture of Matt Freeman among the faces of those who have fallen recently in battle.

He did not live long enough to become an the icon of Kennedy or Jackson, but he died the greater hero.

-- Ashley Halsey III, staff writer

Sustainable development

2009-02-14T19:09:00.000-08:00

In our effort to remake the towns image as a business friendly town we need to also encourage a green agenda where possible. Small steps over time will help us to leave less of a carbon footprint for future generations of Lake Park residents. I will push a green agenda to help us gain regional and national recognition and to drive a sustainable growth program.

Project "Green".

Push to provide tax incentives for business that are Eco friendly “go green”.
Use of Green chemicals/pesticides for our community.
Increase the use of recycled paper products in the town.
Elimination of oil-based paints in town projects.

Project conservation:

Explore the use of solar power for government buildings.
Water reduction – increase water retention areas where possible, encourage the use of water reduction plumbing fixtures in new construction.
Transform town buildings to water free urinals, sensory faucets in public bathrooms.
Conversion to CFL (compact fluorescent lighting) in town buildings room light sensors in offices - reducing energy consumption and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
Purchase Hybrid vehicle for the towns vehicles when possible to help reduce emissions on the road.
Reduction in non-recyclables - Increase public awareness by advocating existing programs.

Email to johnlwpb@gmail.com