"The reason there's pollution in the world is because the Bible says 'Subdue the earth.'" – UW-Madison landscaping professor on the first day of class in 1970 (something was lost in his translation, like "Dress and keep it").

IN 1960 (I was at the Kremlin-on-Mendota two times) an economics professor at the UW urged me to stay in college, but many of the professors were already too liberal for my taste (climbing trees was more to my taste). Parents, you have "got" to prepare your kids for the attempted brainwashing before it's too late! Common sense is deemed too common to suit the taste of the Ivory-tower elitists.

Speaking of economics, one of the things people who have really WORKED understand about economics is the difference between "equity" and "equality."

EQUITY IS ASSETS YOU'VE WORKED FOR, AND "EQUALITY" IS THE EQUITY THAT'S BEEN STOLEN FROM SOMEONE ELSE WHO WORKED FOR IT.

Not to "divide" the country, but that last sentence just about sums up the "Two Americas." Never the twain shall meet, I guess. It's like the difference between Green Acres and green-with-envy. "Get a job" versus the Green New "Deal" (it's a great deal for the higher classes). There are BIG bucks to be made in carbon taxes and carbon credits trading. An excerpt from my 10/23/09 column and the July-August issue of "Fast Company" magazine ("Tree Huggers Corner a Trillion Dollar Market"); the sub-titles say:

"Legal limits on greenhouse-gas emissions are coming fast, with a $1 Trillion carbon market emerging. At the core: a cadre of young, idealistic Yale forestry grads. But will carbon offsets do anything to slow global warming? . . Yale forestry-school grads and professors dominate the emerging carbon market from finance firms to the World Bank."

The idea, in theory, is to plant trees with some of the money to save the Planet (this one, they think). But private business has planted so many trees we have more trees than when Columbus discovered America (thanks to the lumber companies, the paper industry, nursery companies, Christmas tree farms, etc.). I've personally saved more trees as an arborist than most "Deep Ecologists" ever will save. And that in private business, without a Yale forestry degree!

"SAVE THE PLANET," MY BUTT (the following is a one-of-a-kind analysis of the "Green" movement):

One thing I do know is that the very same people who want "separation of church and State" are using their OWN religion to cram stupid ideas down your throat. It's the religion once known in ancient times for the worship of the goddess Cybele or Gaia. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition (1910), says:

"She was also known under many other names, some of which were derived from famous places of worship: as Dindymene from Mt. Dindymon, Mater Idaea from Mt. Ida, Sipylene from Mt. Sipylus, Agdistis from Mt. Agdistis or Agdus, Mater Phrygia from the greatest stronghold of her cult; while others were reflections of her character as a great nature goddess; e.g. Mountain Mother, Great Mother of the Gods, Mother of all Gods and all Men" [as in "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature"].

Now if you're not accustomed to reading past-tense history (as opposed to "social" science), hang with me a few more minutes. The Britannica goes on:

"As the great Mother Deity whose worship extended throughout Asia Minor she was known as Ma or Ammas. Cybele is her favourite name in ancient and modern literature, while Great Mother of the Gods, or Great Idaen Mother of the Gods, the most frequently recurring epigraphical title, was her ordinary official designation. . .

"Her best-known early seats of worship were Mt. Ida, Mt. Sipylus, Cyzicus, Sardis and Pessinus, the last-named city, in Galatia near the borders of Roman Phyrgia, finally becoming the strongest centre of the cult. She was known to the Romans and Greeks as essentially Phrygian, and all Phrygia was spoken of as sacred to her.

"It is probable, however, that the Phrygian race, which invaded Asia Minor from the north in the 9th century B.C., found a great nature goddess already universally worshipped there, and blended her with a deity of their own. The Asiatic-Phrygian worship thus evolved was further modified by contact with the Syrians and Phoenicians, so that it acquired strong Semitic characteristics.

"The Great Mother known to the Greeks and Romans was thus merely the Phrygian form of the nature deity of all Asia Minor. From Asia Minor the cult of the Great Mother spread first to Greek territory. It found its way into Thrace at an early date, was known in Boeotia by Pindar in the 6th century, and entered Attica near the beginning of the 4th century."

[Quoted by the Britannica from Grant Showerman's The Great Mother of the Gods (Bulletin of the University of WISCONSIN (!), No. 43, Madison, 1901)]

Here are some more pithy excerpts from the Britannica:

During the brief revival of paganism under [Caesar] Eugenius in A.D. 394, occured the last appearance of the cult in history [the last open one at least] . . . She was known as the All-begetter, the All-nourisher, the Mother of all the Blest. She was the great, fruitful, kindly EARTH itself . . Especial emphasis was placed upon her maternity over WILD nature . . . Her universal POWER over the natural world finds beautiful expression in Apollonius Rhodius . . .

Her especial affinity with wild nature was manifested by the orgiastic character of her worship. Her attendants, the Corybantes, were wild, half demonic beings. Her priests, the Galli, were eunuchs attired in female garb, with long hair fragrant with ointment . . Together with priestesses, they celebrated her rites with flutes [etc] . . and tambourines, madly yelling and dancing until their frenzied excitement found its culmination in self-scourging, self-laceration or exhaustion. Self-emasculation sometimes accompanied this delirium of worship on the part of candidates for the priesthood.

THE BRITANNICA GOES ON:

At Rome the immediate direction of the cult of the Great Mother devolved upon the high priest, Archigallus, called Attis, a high priestess, Sacerdos Maxima [etc] . . "Besides other priests, priestesses and minor officials, such as musicians, curator, etc, there were certain colleges connected with the administration of the cult . . . .

[Oh, that reminds me, the "art museum" at Harvard right now (2009) has an exhibit celebrating ActUp, pagan "eunuchs," and other strange things.]

Environmentalism in the extreme, or "Deep Ecology," by any other name is a CULT WITH DEEP ANCIENT ROOTS. That this cult-movement now has near control over our nation (think mainstream media) means in a very real sense, that Christians are battling wicked spirits in "High" places (and I don't mean Mt. Ida). The Britannica concludes the Great Mother of the Gods article thusly:

Together with Isis and Mithras, she was a great enemy, and yet a great aid to [professing] Christianity. The gorgeous rites of her worship, its mystic doctrine of communion with the divine through enthusiasm, its promise of regeneration through baptism of blood in the taurobolium, were features which attracted the masses of the people and made it a strong rival of Christianity; and its resemblance to the new religion, however superficial, made it, in spite of the scandalous practices which grew up around it, a stepping stone to Christianity when the tide set in against paganism. [my emphasis throughout]

P.S. Our modern nature-worshippers claim to have power over the natural world – they can control "the climate" – not to mention your life! Do NOT fall for it.