Friday, July 31, 2015

Barbara Green defines irony

The route of the UGI-PennEast pipeline was altered by about a mile and a half west of the original route to deliver gas to Blue Mountain Resort.  

According to an article in today’s Morning Call, the Blue Mountain Resort is getting some help in the form of a $500,000 grant to build an electric generating plant.  The grant is from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.  

The article stated that the proposed water park would include heated pools that can be used in winter and a spa, wave pool, and children’s areas.  The second phase may include a “lazy river” where people can float down a man-made stream.


Ms. Green, Blue Mountain Resort President, was quoted in the article as saying, “I like being outside.  That’s my business, to help people have a lot of fun enjoying the outdoors. 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Monarch butterflies

Tonight Mari Gruber, owner-operator of the Butterfly Sanctuary on Route 903 in Carbon County, spoke to a group of about 40 people at the Kibler one-room school.  She pointed out that last year the Monarch butterfly population experienced a slight uptick.

She attributed this to thousands of people across the U.S. and Canada planting milkweed seeds or not pulling out or spraying milkweeds, the only plant utilized by Monarch butterfly caterpillars.  


This example shows what education and awareness can do.  I believe that people want to do the right thing.  The problem in today’s world is that so many don’t know what the right thing is.  So spread the word.  Let the milkweeds grow and bloom.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Profiles in cowardice

Yesterday I learned that in 1936 U.S. Olympic officials removed Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller from the 400-meter relay team to avoid offending Hitler.  Glickman and Stoller were Jews.  Evidently the relay team was very good, and the U.S. officials thought Hitler wouldn’t like a team that was half Jewish winning the race.



Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Clinton's tax proposal

While the Republicans are trying to distract the voters about Clinton’s emails, she is out making serious proposals to reform the way corporations behave.

In a recent speech, Clinton said she would like to end “quarterly capitalism.”  She would extend the definition of the long-term holding period for the lower capital gains rate to two years instead of the current one year.  In an article in today’s Times, Andrew Ross Sorkin quotes Clinton as saying one year “may count as long-term for my baby granddaughter, but not for the American economy.”

Even more radical, Clinton proposes to enact a six-year sliding scale for capital gains taxes.  Individuals in the top bracket would pay ordinary income tax on the sale of investments for the first two years.  By the sixth year, the tax would be at the current capital gains rate of 20%.

This means shareholders would take a longer view, and companies would look at long-term growth rather than quarterly figures.


So while Rand Paul is sucking up to that guy Bundy who wants to graze his cattle on our public land, and Huckabee is comparing President Obama to a Nazi, and Cruz is calling Mitch McConnell a liar, Hillary Clinton is making serious proposals about serious issues. 

Monday, July 27, 2015

Apology to local borough council members

On July 24 in a post on the Sestak-McGinty race, I made a passing remark that Sen. Toomey was fit only to be local council member.  A number of hardworking local council members took offense.  They feel that Toomey would be no better or more effective on a borough council than he is in the U.S. Senate.


Point taken.  So to Kris and Billy and Helen and Jesse and Chris and all the other borough council members out there, I would not wish Toomey on any of your councils.  Not even Parryville.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Light Show

Just to make this political, I will tell you what I like about Donald Trump.  When Scott Walker was doing his big announcement, nobody paid any attention because Trump was dominating the news.  Anything that hurts Scott Walker, aka “the little weasel,” is a good thing.

But enough about unimportant stuff. At 10 p.m. Linda and I sat on the front porch to watch the lightning and hear the thunder.  She drank pinot grigio; I had Amstel light.  What a show–better than any fireworks.


Now the rain is blowing across the whole porch, and the Weather Channel is talking about local flooding.  I’m amazed that I still have any electricity to post this.  I probably should hurry.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Greens and Libertarians win in Pennsylvania

In an opinion released on Friday, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel ruled that minor parties were restricted in their ability to organize and speak out by the Pennsylvania elections code.

An article on page 6 of today’s Morning Call that discussed the decision noted that third party candidates were required to gather as many as 10 times the number of signatures as Democrats and Republicans.  If the petitions are challenged, the third party candidates must pay the legal fees.

Richard Winger, editor of the Ballot Access News (and a personal friend of mine) was quoted in the article.  He said that Pennsylvania was just one of four states that had no independents or third-party candidates on the ballot in the last statewide election.  

Perhaps the legislature will now take the next steps with early voting, election day registration, easier absentee applications, and a voting system with a paper trail.  Maybe the legislators will even end gerrymandering.


I’m pretty sure Rep. Heffley, a great believer in fairness, would support all of those measures.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Katie McGinty and Joe Sestak

When Admiral Joe Sestak ran against Toomey six years ago, I was happy to vote for him.  He is intelligent, progressive, and a man who should have been in the Senate, as opposed to Toomey, who should have been a city council member in a small town.

I also voted for Katie McGinty in the 2014 primary when she ran against Tom Wolf.  She is an environmentalist, was an experienced executive, and would have made a great governor.

Now McGinty and Sestak are running for the nomination to take on Toomey in the race for the U.S. Senate seat.

I’m supporting McGinty.  If Sestak could not beat Toomey in the initial contest, he will do even worse when Toomey is the incumbent with all the advantages that go with incumbency.

McGinty will be a fresh face, and she will give Toomey a run for his money, which Toomey has lots of.


(By the way, I really like being a Democrat.  You have to choose between the two best candidates as opposed to choosing between the least worst candidate, i.e., Trump vs. Cruz vs. Walker.)

Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Organizer

Marcello Mastrioanni starred in “The Organizer,” a 1963 gritty black and white film centered on an Italian labor organizer.  Mastrioanni does his best to help workers push back against the factory owners who keep them in appalling conditions.  Mastrioanni’s idealism keeps him going in the face of powerful opponents and little reward.

I thought about that movie today.  I testified in a press conference held in Jim Thorpe to protest the UGI-PennEast pipeline.  Two other land owners, an expert from the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, and I talked about the problems the proposed pipeline will cause for the environment and the farms it will pass through.

The press conference was organized by Linda Christman of Save Carbon County, a recently formed group that is working to preserve the natural environment and the economic well-being of the residents of Carbon.


I don’t think a movie will ever be made about Linda, but I have never known anyone who works as hard and keeps plugging away to ensure that a multi-billion dollar energy behaves in a reasonable and responsible way.  She is truly amazing.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Press conference testimony

I'll be testifying at a press conference tomorrow in the County Annex in Jim Thorpe.  A representative from the Sierra Club will be there along with two property owners from Towamensing Township.  Here is a copy of my testimony:

My name is Roy Christman.  I live at 6495 Pohopoco Drive, Lehighton, PA 18235.  My phone number is 610-377-0235.

When the UGI-PennEast pipeline representatives held a meeting some weeks ago at the Flagstaff with affected Carbon County landowners, they had maps of our farm on their computer.  My wife Linda wasn’t quite oriented, and I pointed to a spot and said, ‘Here’s the place where we pick blackberries.”

I later realized how pathetic that sounded.  The old man talking about where he picked blackberries to some young hotshot from the pipeline company who really doesn’t care about blackberries, but does care about getting a multi-million dollar pipeline built as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

A colleague of mine at San Jose State once told me I had a peasant’s attachment to a small piece of land.  I suppose I do.  I grew up on a 460 acre farm, with pigs, chickens, horses, steers, cows, an apple orchard, a peach orchard, a pear orchard, a bank barn, a spring, a farm pond, a truck patch, a woodland, a swimming hole, and an amazingly lovely falls.

This was property bought by my great-grandfather, cleared by him and his sons, and farmed by my father and my uncles.  The Bethlehem Water Authority ran a water main through the property and took a few acres, but that was a minor inconvenience.  Then, in the Sixties, the Army Corps of Engineers, using eminent domain proceedings, took the bulk of the farm for the Beltzville Dam project, leaving Elwood, Marvin, and Leon Christman 29 of the 460 acres, not enough for three families to live on.  

My solace at the time was that the woodland would never be developed.  The Wild Creek Falls would remain pristine, for public enjoyment.  While much of the Wild Creek itself would be part of a lake, the adjoining woodland would be preserved.  

I’m actually not all that upset that the pipeline will cut through our fields.  What bothers me far more is that UGI-Penn East will cut a swath through Hickory Run State Park, Lehigh Gorge State Park, and Beltzville State Park.  

Evidently Pennsylvania State Parks are to be preserved for future generations unless some private energy company decides it needs to use the land.  Woodland that I thought would be preserved will be lumbered off, dug up, scarred.  


I taught Political Science at San Jose Staten University for 29 years, but I never realized that a company could use eminent domain to seize private property for its own profit.  I never realized that preserved farmland could be used as a route for a pipeline.  I never realized that forest land in state parks would be preserved until a pipeline company wanted to cross it.  I never realized how little power I had in the face of a multi-million dollar energy company.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Jeb Bush

One way to tell when a politician is clueless or desperate is when he or she proposes “across the board” cuts.  Any thinking person knows that some government agencies need more money, some need less, and some should be eliminated entirely.

At the federal level, the National Park Service needs more help.  The I.R.S. is unable to do as may audits as it should and needs more agents.  The Border Patrol could probably use an infusion of funding.

On the other hand, the Department of Agriculture could probably be cut with little downside.  (I’m guessing here.)  The Defense Department is probably bloated.  (Again I’m guessing.)  

My point is that government is not a monolithic enterprise where one size fits all.  So when Jeb Bush proposes an across-the-board 10% cut in the federal bureaucracy, two conclusions leap out.

One, he’s an idiot who doesn’t really understand government, even though he served as governor of Florida.

Two, he is pandering to voters, taking the easy way out.

Whether it is #1 or #2, the man does not deserve to be president.  We can do better.  A number of the 15 other Republicans running for President would be far better.  (Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Scott Walker are not among them.)

Monday, July 20, 2015

Occupation forces

I’ll admit it might be a stretch, but I feel like an inhabitant of a country that has been occupied by a foreign force.  Last week the UGI-PennEast pipeline consortium had six survey crews in our area.  An immense piece of equipment was in the woods on the trail west of the Wild Creek Falls in Beltzville State Park taking core samples, and other crews were in other parts of the Towamensing Township.

Last week a pickup was parked on Sei Park Road.in the area.  The crews are usually very close-mouthed, but I asked the driver, “Are you guys with PennDot or UGI?” and the he told me that they were with UGI, and that they had six crews in the area.  

None of these employees were from our area.  None of them know 90 -year-old Albertine Anthony, or have visited the Wild Creek Falls, or know about the history of local bank barns.  Not one of them know about sedges in the wetlands.  Probably none of them have seen a bog turtle.  

I’m sure some of them have nice families, and they are just doing their jobs, what the company tells them to do.  They probably believe that the work they are doing is benefiting the national interest.


So why do I feel powerless?  Why do I feel like an inhabitant of a country that has been occupied by a foreign army?

Bill O'Gurek fries up some bleenies

Tonight Linda, Edie, and I drove to Summit Hill for a church event to partake of a type of potato pancakes better known as bleenies.  (There are alternate spellings.)

Carbon County Commissioner Bill O’Gurek was standing over the hot griddle cooking the bleenies when we got there.  Were the bleenies worth the drive to Summit Hill?  You best believe they were.  


I’m copying in a recipe.  I have no idea if it is anywhere close to the recipe used by the church in Summit Hill, but it is worth a try.  Here is the link.  <http://www.coalregion.com/recipes/bleenies.php>.

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Plastic bottles at Chickamauga

When we visited the Civil War battlefield at Chickamauga in Georgia this past May, I was pleased to see that the National Park Service was no longer selling plastic water bottles at that location.  A sign explained the effort to cut down on trash and pointed to a fountain where people could refill their containers.  

Now House Republicans, in the pocket of water bottling companies, have called such actions “intrusive government overreach” and recently passed an amendment to prevent any government money from being used to enforce the ban at any national parks.


By the way, a major way to help the environment is to quit buying water in plastic bottles in the first place.  Believe it or not, 50 years ago very few people carried canteens around, and I can’t remember anyone who felt the need for constant rehydration.

Friday, July 17, 2015

Would I vote for Obama again?

This week President Obama designated sites in California, Texas, and Nevada as National Monuments.  His administration, under the guidance of John Kerry, negotiated an agreement to limit Iran’s production of nuclear weapons.  He visited a federal prison in Oklahoma and, referring to his youthful indiscretions, said “There but for the grace of God, go I.”


Would I vote for him again?  You are damn right I would.  I have had my disappointments with some of his policies, but can you imagine this country under President McCain or President Romney?  If you are a religious person, on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, get down on your knees and give thanks.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Mrs. Andrews


Tonight I heard a talk by former one-room school teacher Mrs. Andrews, who began her teaching career in September 1936 in a one-room school at a time when all eight grades were taught in that one room.  Mrs. Andrews spoke at Kibler School as part of a summer educational series.

Mrs. Andrews noted the paucity of materials when she started to teach--crayons for art, no musical instruments, no playground equipment, no reference books or encyclopedias.  While some classes might have only one or two students, up to 40 kids might be in that one room, and they had to be quiet when other students were reciting their lessons.

The students learned reading, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, history, and a bit of science and health.

Mrs. Andrews was resourceful.  She described how she had the students make up a geography book with each student writing a different chapter based on a country of his or her choice.  She had the students make paper mache masks.  She led them in games, one of which she admitted was rather “rough.”  She also read letters from former students whose lives she affected in positive ways.


I spoke to her after the program to ask if she ever had a medical emergency.  She said she was lucky she had not--her medical supplies were some antiseptic and bandaids.  She had no aides and no janitorial help.  She was amazing.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Iran's nuclear weapons

We have two ways to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons.  One path is to convince Iran to sign on to an international agreement to forego the production of nuclear weapon in return for lifting international economic sanctions.  This is the path of the Obama administration.

The second path is to go to war against Iran, launching an invasion, occupying the country, costing thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of American lives, and alienating both Muslims and most of our allies, except maybe Israel.  This is the path chosen by the Republican candidates for the presidency.


I prefer the first alternative.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Burning fossil fuels

The Atlantic magazine has been asking thought-provoking questions and publishing the answers on the last page lot each issue.  In the June issue the question was “Which current behavior will be most unthinkable 100 years hence?”

Among the responses was one by Michael Pollan, who said, “Having a lawn.”  Philosopher David Dennett said “Unsupervised home-schooling,” and gave some cogent reasons.  

Environmental activist Bill McKibben’s answer was this:  “People will be amazed that we went on burning fossil fuels long past the point when renewables were available and working.  They won’t understand, dealing with the wreckage of climate change, our need for a slow, measured transition to keep the oil companies happy.”


Incidentally, the Science Section of today’s Times reported that Canadians are now getting Lyme disease as ticks move north because of global warming.  Someone please inform Congressman Barletta, who recently said the earth was getting cooler. 

Monday, July 13, 2015

The CIA and the APA

A 542 page report, commissioned by the American Psychological Association and released last week, states that some of the medical personnel at the CIA were concerned about the torture used by the Agency.  The CIA employees questioned both the effectiveness and the ethics of the torture, and consulted with the APA.

In 2005 the APA concluded that psychiatrists could continue to assist in the torture.

Last Friday the Vice Chairman of the Physicians for Human Rights, Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, said “The APA’s  collusion with the government’s national security apparatus is one of the greatest scandals in U.S. medical history.”


It is interesting that the APA. was less concerned with ethics than the employees of the CIA. 

Sunday, July 12, 2015

Being Mortal

I’m recommending a book by Dr. Atul Gawande entitled Being Mortal:  Medicine and What Matters in the End.  Dr. Gawande’s thesis is that many people in the U.S. spend their last few weeks undergoing expensive and ultimately futile medical procedures when what they really want is to be surrounded by family and friends, enjoying what they can of their last days on earth.  

Few of us want to end up in a “nursing home,” where the main goal seems to be to prolong life with little concern about the quality of life being prolonged.


Ever since I had a pacemaker installed last December, I’ve thought a good deal about death.  What Being Mortal suggests is that the end time, while not easy, doesn’t haves to be something experienced in a sterile room with tubes and machines and fluorescent lights.  There are better ways of dying.

Saturday, July 11, 2015

Building coalitions

We are building a coalition against the UGI-PennEast Pipeline.  (I say we, but most of the credit goes to Linda.)  The coalition includes homeschooling conservatives and labor union activists, atheists and born agains, Republicans and Democrats, people who feel passionately about bog turtles and people who want to protect their investments, hunters and vegans, gays and straights, old Pennsylvania Dutch farmers and recent arrivals from New Jersey.  

The coalition is united by one thing only, and that is opposition to the proposed pipeline.  

This morning I read a letter in the Times-News from a man angry about the proposed $21 million expenditure proposed by the Palmerton School Board.  I was agreeing with the guy.  I was saying to myself, “That’s right, that’s right,” and then I get to the second last paragraph, where the letter writer takes a gratuitous swipe at President Obama, and he loses me.  Not only does he lose me, but I’m thinking that I want nothing to do with this guy.  


Some people know how to build strong coalitions.  Others are clueless.

Friday, July 10, 2015

Shop CVS

A few days ago I blogged about CVS and other corporations being upset about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pushing cigarettes in overseas markets.  

The Chamber of Commerce has defended its efforts around the globe, saying it is safeguarding its members’ business interests.  I guess that includes pushing cancer-causing products.


CVS has announced that it will quit the Chamber over the pro-smoking policy.  Good for CVS, which earlier announced it will no longer sell cigarettes.  Shop at a drugstore that does the right thing.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Germany and Greece

Germany is taking a hard line of the Greek debt crisis.  Make the Greeks pay.  Put them through austerity.  

Today I read an article by Eduardo Porter in the Business section of the Times accompanied by a picture of Herman Josef Abs, head of the German delegation to London on Feb. 27, 1953, signing an agreement that cut Germany’s debts to its foreign creditors in half.  


It’s amazing what people are willing to forget.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Fireworks shot from one's head

I will try to be gentle here.  Obviously a mother is in emotional pain because of her son’s death.  I would not want to add to her sadness.  

But....  On July 4 a 22-year-old Maine resident, Davon Staples, had been drinking and decided to launch a firework from the top of his head.  He was killed instantly.


His mother is now advocating for stricter controls over who can set off fireworks.  She thinks the state should require safety training courses for people to use fireworks.  While I can understand her emotions, I don’t think you can outlaw stupidity.  

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

The Tigris ran black with ink

In 1258 after a siege the Mongols captured Baghdad.  At that time the city was a center of Muslim culture and learning.  The Mongols destroyed mosques, palaces and hospitals and burned grand buildings to the ground.  

The Baghdad library contained thousands of books on such topics as medicine, astronomy, and history.  Observers said the Tigris River ran red with blood (it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of inhabitants were slaughtered) and black with ink from all the books from the Baghdad library that were destroyed 

Now we have a new Mongol horde, purportedly to be Muslim, but obviously knowing nothing of Muslim history or culture.  ISIS executes people, but as bad as that is, people can be replaced.  I know that sounds very cold, but it’s true.  What can’t be replaced are the cultural artifacts that ISIS is willfully destroying in areas it captures.  


I am certain that destroying the heritage of our world is not part of the Muslim religion.  

Monday, July 6, 2015

N.S.A. bulk data collection is back


Article III of the Constitution sets up the Judicial branch.  The very first sentence in that article says, “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” [The punctuation and capitalization is that of the Founding Fathers, not mine.]

One such very inferior court is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, , also known as FISA.  (The A stands for Act).  It’s supposed to oversee our government’s efforts to collect information on us.  FISA is a joke--a rubber stamp for the N.S.A.  

A week ago it ruled that N.S.A. may resume its bulk phone data collection.  The ACLU, however, has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which had ruled the program was illegal, to issue an injunction halting the collection of data.  The Circuit Court has not yet acted.


Incidentally, if you want to mess with their heads, in every phone conversation randomly throw in the either the word “bomb” or “Snowden.”

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Stupidity award of the year

Last week a letter writer to the Morning Call criticized President Obama for singing “Amazing Grace” during his South Carolina eulogy.  The writer said she was ashamed that Obama would sing a song written by a slave trader.

That’s the whole point, you idiot.  
“I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see.”


If ignorance ever goes for $40 a barrel, I want drilling rights to that woman’s head.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Jim Webb

I can’t name all of the Republican presidential candidates, and I don’t feel bad about that.  What is amazing to me is the number of Democratic candidates.  There’s Clinton, of course, and Sanders.  And now Jim Webb.  And the guy from Maryland whose name slips my mind.  And Lincoln Chafee, whom I didn’t even know was a Democrat.  Did I leave one out?


I’ve always wondered why people who have no chance to win run for President.  Jim Webb was an excellent senator, and I like his politics, but he has no chance whatsoever.  On the other hand, Clinton could mess up badly, Sanders could say something stupid, and a path open up.  Maybe that is Webb’s hope.

Friday, July 3, 2015

The No Fly List

One of my ESU students wrote a very good paper on the “No Fly list” maintained by the Transportation Safety Agency.  I was amazed at the arbitrariness of the list, the impossibility to find out why a person was on the list, and the lack of procedures for getting off the list.

Now, thanks to an American Civil Liberties Union’s five-year-long lawsuit, a federal court has recognized that the freedom to travel by air is a fundamental right.  

Last October the government notified seven ACLU clients that they were no longer on the list.  Previously the government would neither confirm nor deny an individual’s presence on the list.  

Unfortunately, my ACLU magazine did not say which federal court made the ruling.  The article also noted that the government has not followed the court’s instructions for contesting inclusion in the list, and the lawsuit is continuing.  


Happy Independence Day.

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Print journalism

Last night I posted an item about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing cigarette smoking in the rest of the world, going so far as to invoke trade agreements to overturn national laws that discourage smoking.  

Today a number of major health-related companies, including the Health Care Service Corporation, the Steward Health Care System of Boston, the Indiana University Health System, and Anthem, one of the biggies, were upset to learn what the Chamber of Commerce is doing to promote smoking, a habit all of them are fighting.  Today’s article in the business section indicated that changes are coming in response to that article.

Obviously officials from those companies didn’t read my blog.  They read the article in the New York Times, same as me.  They did not see it on Fox News, or MSNBC, or the Huffington Post, or Slate.  They did not see it in a video onYou-Tube. 

The information in that Times article took time to research, involved funding, needed support.  Even regional newspapers devote reporter resources to in-depth stories.  The Allentown Morning Call explained the Wolf veto the the Republican “Corbett” budget.  The Lehighton Times News has done a good job on the Homanko case in which a police officer, acting like a cowboy, caused the death of a friend of mine.


I get so tired of people who announce:  “I get my news from the internet.  I don’t subscribe to a newspaper.”  When newspapers are gone, and they do seem to be going, the American public will be even dumber than it is now.  A lot dumber, if that’s possible. 

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Please smoke

One of the reasons I opposed the recent fast track Trans-Pacific Partnership was because it allows countries to challenge national laws if those laws “restrain trade.”  For example, let’s say Australia passes a law to discourage cigarette smoking.  

A Ukrainian, Taras Kachka, could then argue that cigarette companies in the Ukraine were losing business because they couldn’t sell as many cigarettes and bring suit against Australia.

Oh, wait, that is really happening.  Even worse, Mr. Kachka was representing the United States Chamber of Commerce, which is using international trade agreements as a way to fight anti-smoking laws all across the globe.  Americans are working to ensure that Chinese, Jamaicans, and Indonesians have a right to lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease, as long as it sells cigarettes.


I get tired of people praising capitalism.  Capitalism has no morals.  It has no conscience.  If something makes money (fracking, coal-fired plants, automatic weapons), then it is a good thing.  After all, the Gross National Product depends on goods bought and sold.  If those goods cause cancer, hurt people, wreck the environment, so be it.