The West Penn Power Company in Pennsylvania has notified its customers that it is seeking to pay Mon Valley Energy Limited Partnership $31 million to not build an 80-megawatt power plant. West Penn says that this $31 million, which it plans to add to customer power bills, will avoid a $665 million dollar future loss by purchase of power from the Mon Partnership at higher than market rates. West Penn would be forced to purchase this power under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act and its implementing bureaucracy.
Therefore, our government will force the citizens of Pennsylvania to pay the Mon Valley Project to not produce electricity.
"The Dumbing Down of Higher Education'' by William E. Si-mon in The Wall Street Journal, March 19, p A14, reports that 15 million students attend American colleges and universities at an annual cost of $170 billion. Of 50 leading undergraduate institutions in 1993: 34% required courses in natural sciences - down from 90% in 1964; 12% required math courses - down from 36% in 1964; and an average of 156 classroom days were required - down from 191 in 1964.
"Multicultural'' and "politically correct and relevant'' courses are replacing traditional education in history, literature, economics, and the other humanities. For example, the "liberal arts'' requirement for all students at Oregon State University must be met by taking one course each from seven lists including "Western Culture,'' "Cultural Diversity,'' Literature and the Arts,'' "Social Processes and Institutions,'' "Difference, Power, and Discrimination,'' "Contemporary Global Issues,'' and "Science, Technology, and Society.'' These lists include about 60 courses that teach the new rages in social engineering. Ore-gon State still requires science by nonscience majors - one course each in physical science and biology - about 4% of total class hours.
The New American, April 1, 1996, p 40, reports that an estimated 30% of CFC sales in the United States are now on the black market. It is reported elsewhere that freon smuggling is so lucrative and extensive that it is beginning to interfere with the smuggling of illicit drugs. Our government may finally have found a way to win the war on drug smuggling - just make lots of other substances illegal, too.