Scandal of choice

Which scandal are you following? There's so much delightful filth.

Here's my list:

Plame, Wilson/Rove, Cheney
Tom Delay
Bill Frist
Iraq
Ted Stevens A bridge too far


The list in order of my highest fascination first. If you're not into news much, there's a federal investigation underway concerning the public "outing" of undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

This scandal is on my list first because it involves spies, treason, lies, deception, cover ups and war. Spies have always interested me. The interest is based probably in the fact that my life is so mundane while the life of a spy seems so dangerous and glamorous like James Bond.

My travels have taken me to a few places in the world but I see spies traveling to all of the top hot spots with unlimited funds and getting into tight places with only their wits to get them out. Oh, and of course a trick watch maybe and a tricked out car.

I've read Helen MacInnes, John le Carré, Len Deighton, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Ian Fleming and possibly a few more that escape me now. Speaking of spy books, I think The Tailor of Panama by John le Carré is a plausible account of how lies and delusion can get you into a war.

In my spy world, all the spies are heroes who do the right things and it's all about truth and justice and freedom. That's pretty silly, I know, and it's even sick. I've actually met a CIA *representative* once and it wasn't all that cool.

Anyway, that's why when it hit the news about two years ago that a CIA agent's cover was blown, my interest was piqued. I've followed the investigation on and off ever since. The whole sordid mess is in the new more because the federal grand jury looking into the case is drawing to a close.

Indictments could get handed out any day now. The facination is in the detail for me but a lot of people are giddy about what may happen. Some of the top people in Washington D.C. may well end up in the slammer for their treason.

Real life is more unfortunate than my spy world. If evil has been done to make certain people even richer and more powerful, I want simple justice. So for now, I wait and watch as this drama unfolds.

Hurricane Wilma

This morning I see Hurricane Wilma is hitting southwest Florida as a Cat. 3 storm. All I can do right now is wait and hope my family there pulls through.

War mom

The opportunity came along to visit with a woman whose daughter and son-in-law are in the armed forces and both have done two tours of duty in Iraq. I didn't ask her what they did or which branch of the service they are in.

She is an old friend, someone I have known since early childhood. Back when Bush invaded Iraq, she was one of the vocal supporters going as far as to participate in pro-war demonstrations opposite the anti-war demonstrations that cropped up in our hometown. The anti-war group was on the one side of the Main Street bridge and the pro-war group formed on the other side.

The two groups chanted and shouted back and forth at each other. I remember driving down Main Street one afternoon after work and having the two sides shouting at me. I remember looking left and right and seeing so many familiar faces on both sides, including hers.

Small town America split and me driving down the middle. Most people were driving down the middle. The whole thing remains a powerful literal metaphor.

We visited today at length. Both of kids are back in the states right now and are fine. I asked if they'd have to do another tour and she said she didn't know. It looked like a two year rotation thing to her and if that's the case the kids could return to Iraq next year.

I told her I hoped we had the mess wrapped up by next year. She thoughtfully, and sadly, shook her head in the negative. "I hope so, too," she said quietly. She said the kid's attitudes are good. We agreed a positive attitude was for the best and that in reality, you have little choice but to have a positive attitude.

Her demeanor was somber and reflective. There was none of the fire and passion in her affect I had seen that day years ago on the Main Street bridge. Her kids are okay. Their attitudes are good. They're career military and knew war was a part of the deal.

There's no conclusion here. And I have too much respect for my friend and her kids to ask obvious and rude questions. While we visited, she was cradling her first grandchild from another of her offspring. Mostly the three month old slept in her arms waking once in a while to grasp at her grandmother's breast and stretch.

Troubling it is

Never one to revel in the disgrace of a public figure, I took the whole business with Tom DeLay (R-TX) this week with some mixed feelings. It's good to put the crooks on notice and hopefully in jail but it's really sad a powerful public figure gets to this spot.

That's my natural moderate side speaking. Basically, the guy is rotten to the core and finally lost track of all the fixes he put in. There's the senate majority leader, too, up to his eyeballs in some stock sale insider trade scandal.

It doesn't get any better than this. Public servants? They have chain gangs in Texas don't they? Let him serve the public there.

I think the whole sad state of affairs is deliberate. Republicans are so rotten, that actually getting caught in your rotten-ness is a badge on honor. For years now, people will whisper about how they got set up by a bunch of godless, baby-killing faggots and that the country is clearly going to hell for it.

The whole thing becomes a self-fulfilled prophecy. Government is bad, see. See? It's bad, it's so bad that we'll cut it and curb it and control it and you know, you shouldn't worry about it much 'cause we're the republicans and we're going to give your money back 'cause government is so awful that we can't have taxes. Forget about public schools, they're rotten government-run so get 'em off our backs. Get rid of that stinking social security thing because it's a tax and a government program and government is rotten, see. See?

Oh, don't you worry. Watch TV, go to church, work at minimum wage, have some kids. Yeah, teach 'em at home 'cause we don't want no stinking public school taking our precious tax money. It'll be okay. Say your kid is sick? No problem, man. Just pull your sorry ass up by the boot straps. You're tough, you're proud, you're American damn it and no governments needs to be wiping your nose for you. Sick kid? Buy some drugs, man. Over the counter shit, it'll work 'cause we removed that stinking bad government regulation stuff on medicine.

What, you sorry bastard, no money for medicine 'cause your job is shit and you're late on the rent? What kind of wuss are you? Quit bitching, man and sell your blood. Everything is good now 'cause we took care of that stinking government thing and you know it 'cause that's what I'm saying and you have to believe it.

What? You don't believe it? Man, in the act of ending rotten government we passed some laws for dealing with stupid whiners like you, see. See? You gotta be a terrorist saying you don't believe what we say. So we got laws for you, man. You'll be hearing from the law about those things your saying, man. You're headed to jail.

We got the best damn jails in the world now that we got the things away from that stinking rotten government. Private-paid cops and jails, man. They ain't gonna worry about your sorry whining, see. See? Straight to jail, man 'cause we passed some laws, see. See? No judges, either. Just swift ass justice according to the laws we passed. Right on into the private jail.

You'll be sorry for complaining and lying about us. That private jail ain't worryin' about criminal rights, man. And you're a terrorist to boot 'cause you said you don't believe. Oh yeah, that jail is gonna reform you with a cattle prod. We passed some laws, man. No government needed for terrorist criminals like you daring to disagree with us.

All Around Numbness

My relative in Florida comments there's a certain numbness setting in about hurricanes. That was his response when I mentioned they were lucky to have missed the Rita train.

I can see that. Everyone is getting a little worn down by the barrage. It's wearying and it's not just hurricanes. Many of us are busy trying to hold onto jobs and take care of kids and a lot more of us are now taking care of kids and parents. Then you add the extra stress of these huge events that are totally out of anyone's control.

And you keep adding them and keep adding them and at each new horror you wonder how it's all going to affect you and yours. After a while you begin to assimilate the barrage by just getting numb. Numb is a good word. Not really depression, certainly no longer excitement, not exactly indifference either.

Numb like you've been hit repeatedly until sensation fades. You know you're still taking the hit and you know you have to respond in some way but now there's an auto player on and you're just slugging along. It's a sad state.

Never say never

When I started this blog, I had no intention nor desire to write about presidential politics. Not that I didn't have my opinions. I just felt I'd be more comfortable sticking with issues more directly related to agriculture.

But Chimpy pisses me off. And he alarms me. He's not a man but a spoiled, cowardly, little boy bully. If he was my kid I'd slap him hard up side the head for his insolent, snotty attitude.

Then I'd turn him over to the cops for criminal prosecution. New Orleans is quickly going to become the same opportunity for the war profiteers as Iraq. The slop is headed into the troth and the swine will wallow in the swill of taxpayer money.

It's full-feed time folks. The slop hopper has busted open like a levee and the criminals are gorging. It's big time bragging gluttony. Unabashed. There's is nothing to stop it.

And the pathetic little boy/man will spin to the nation tonight in a pretend game. I can hear the kid's coaches: "That's all right Georgie, oh yes, I know it's so hard but it's all really just a little make believe. You can do it and we'll have milk and cookies afterward. Oooo! How about a little extra time on the trike? Yeah, that's a good little boy."

Sick little bastard. Heh, even if he did get turned into the cops for corruption, they'd have to prosecute Chimpy as a child.

Shallow man

I've never bought into the notion President Bush was dumb. There's something wrong with the man but it isn't stupidity. Something is missing but not the brain.

Am I the only one in the world offended by his behavior? Truthfully, I think he could have acted quicker or sooner in helping move rescue and relief operations. But on that alone I'd be willing to cut Bush a little slack.

It's the way he acts that causes me to worry. Why would a grown man in his position of authority have firemen flown in to have as a prop? How can a grown man in his position of authority say the things he says about "Brownie" and be eating cake and strumming guitars in the face of such a disaster?

How does he do it? And I haven't even brought up the lies. People just keep taking it and it goes on like nothing is the matter. I know 14 year old boys with far more maturity than President Bush.

He needs help from someone other than Karl Rove.

The Presidential Oath of Office

The oath to be taken by the president on first entering office is specified in Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution:


"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

That's it.

Worse & worse

The situation in New Orleans is so beyond belief. I've been in the city a few times and don't pretend to understand the lay of the land very well. But I've been watching reporting from the Convention Center and just can't believe it.

Water drops are finally getting there now? Or are they? A convention center seems like a natural place for people to move toward. So why aren't there concerted efforts by officials to be there in force to help people and start moving them to safer places? Day after day, I've watched this obvious point with increasing concern.

And what of the hospitals? In any catastrophe shouldn't hospitals get secured immediately? I know the Coast Guard had to be stunned by the scale of the mess they flew into but shouldn't someone have directed them to the hospitals to provide security and as evacuation points?

What the hell. Hospitals. Hospitals are another logical place for people to go seeking help and so is it obvious only to me that the early, first response is to secure hospitals?

You're not going to evacuate the population of a major city by helicopter anyway. Even big ones only hold a few people at a time.

Agghhhhhaaa. Just nuts.

Help the South

What passed through the neighborhood here is a mini-disaster compared to what has happened and is happening in the deep middle south. New Orleans, much of Mississippi and Alabama all hammered by Hurricane Katrina now struggle to get through another day.

I can't begin to visualize the scale of this wreak. Our tornado savaged an area about 12 miles long and two miles wide. Inside that zone are places completely leveled and places left untouched. In contrast, Katrina ravaged an area hundreds of miles square. With the flooding, the hurricane's ugly menace remains for weeks, months and maybe years.

Give generously. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army are my recommendations. I've had the honor of seeing both in operation in different contexts including our local tornado relief. Outstanding work and dedicated people.

When it comes to helping people in crisis, both agencies are top shelf. And top shelf help is what is needed in the south right now.

Tornado

The warnings were up by mid-afternoon and it was one of those days you could tell someone was going to get it. As I left work there were tornados to the west and north of us but nothing close. By the time we made it home more places were getting the take cover warning.

We went about our routines only keeping a watch on the sky and radar. I was messing around outside and watching the clouds when Jan came out on the deck to tell me there was a tornado sighted in Oregon and it was headed east. When I turned my head west and looked, the whole field near us seemed like it was lifting and the sky above was starting to turn.

I joined Cory, Jan and the dogs in the basement. At first there was little to notice but in a few seconds the roar began and the house started to rattle and shake. The power went out. We sat there until it got quiet and then I went back out on the deck to see what had happened.

To my immediate east the nasty beast was right there ripping, shredding and tearing. It was huge and then it calved into two before merging back into one in a few seconds.. Things were still flying around and the sky was savage so I headed back into the basement.

After a few more minutes of quiet, we went back out. Neighbors were also coming out to calls of, "are you alright? You okay?" Everyone was taking stock. There was a roof gone from a house behind us and there was other roof damage to see. Trees and limbs were down, windows blown out. Everyone was safe.

Our house was intact. Maybe some single damage. The yard and the trees were covered in shredded insulation from when the roof blew off the house behind us. But again, we were okay.

Now came the sirens, a sound we'd hear most of the night. Then came the med-flight helicopters which kept up until dark. At first light in the morning, the news helicopters poured in like a bunch of angry hornets. Helicopters gradually gave way to airplanes.

On the ground, heavy equipment and emergency service vehicles took to the streets. Many streets were closed off. Volunteer efforts began right away. Several days later we now have the steady sounds of construction and the "yeep, yeep, yeep" of machinery moving debris.

A few photos here...>

No news is cow news

When I pick up the Sunday paper and see a large color photo of a dairy farm covering the upper left corner above the fold, I think, "oh, now what?" That's what I saw when I pulled the paper out of the mailbox this morning.

On further inspection, the article was about the day in the life of a large animal veterinarian. The article had nothing. On the online version in the Wisconsin State Journal, the article was also featured prominently and cued up under the "news" section.

News? It was a human interest feature. What the heck was it doing pasted into the hot news part of the paper and what was it doing under the news section of the online version? There's nothing wrong with human interest stories and in fact the piece was pleasant and complementary to its source.

After reading a couple of paragraphs I moved on to the "news" I was looking for in the paper. Call me nuts, but I first look for news, then comics, then business, then sports. If I'm looking for human interest I expect to find it in the section of the paper (typically) given over to warm and fuzzy.

Later, I returned to the front page article and read it because I was worried I was missing some news buried down in the story. Nope. Still nothing. There are a few other really soft articles on the front page, too.

Talk about your slow news days.

$58,000 project

It's hard to think that a youth project with a $58,000 payoff is amateur. Fifty thousand is a professional level sum. Yet, 16-year-old Kellon Whitley Sturtevant, Wis., took home $58,000 from the Governor's Blue Ribbon Sale at the Wisconsin State Fair, Aug. 10.

The winning bid for Kellon's state champion steer came from Metcalf's Sentry, a grocery store with outlets in Madison and in the Milwaukee area. Kenosha Beef International and Smithfield Packerland were there to drive the bidding with Metcalf.

That kind of money can influence behavior. State fair auction scandals have hit several states. When the steaks get high, the steak often gets questionable. A $58,000 payoff at a livestock auction buys a kid a bachelors degree at a good university.

Sums like $58,000 cause people to try things perhaps they wouldn't. Sometimes these efforts get outside the boundaries of right and wrong, good and bad. Big money puts big temptations on the table.

As long as we're aware of the temptations, aware of what is right and wrong, know the difference between good and bad, these kinds of high profile youth livestock projects are great. Tending animals is demanding and risky.

Congratulations, Kellon. I wouldn't know you if I ran into you at a sale barn. I'm just hoping that if I do, that you're the kind of person I can look up to and trust doing business with.

Milwaukee Journal article

Cow Gas

The Los Angeles Times carried an article today about air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley. The gist of the piece was that cows, dairy cows, are causing pollution on par with cars.



Dairy has grown in the valley. According to the article there are 2.5 million cows there and the numbers are increasing. All these cows are creating organic gasses that mix with the atmosphere into a polluted cocktail.

Okay. The local air quality district is attributed with saying, "...dairy farms are the biggest single source of smog-forming gases." There is citizen outrage and the dairy business community is predictably reactive. Of note is reference to "fart science."

I think a second of humor is warranted.

It's always too bad when one thing gets singled out as the sole cause of the problem in the San Joaquin Valley. You bet there are a lot of dairy cows there and I have to believe those cows do produce some gasses. But the San Joaquin has a rapidly expanding human population that also altered the environment by building houses, businesses, malls, roads and yes, driving more cars, eating more food and well, having gas too.

If everybody could take some personal responsibility for their activities, it'd be more defensible to talk about solving the greater problem when addressing specific spots. That's pretty idealistic. I guess it's easier to get mad and start ripping the other guy.

And there's a practical side to things as well. How do you get a cow to stop or reduce its gas emissions? Is there a converter available? An accusation of this sort causes dairy producers to conclude someone is out to get them and the weapon is the environment.

Then you get an equally predictable reaction that dairy producers are a bunch of greedy eco-wreckers because they take exception to the charges.

What we need are some bridge builders willing to start working on both ends of the situation. I do hope, in this case and thousands of others, bridge builders will step forward and start doing some of the hard work and making some of the sacrifices it'll take to clean up the environment and keep food moving into our cities and towns.

Right at the fair

Our county fair concluded Sunday on one of the hottest days of the year. There were 110 degree heat indices. Fair officials decided mercifully to let the livestock go home early Sunday morning before the day had heated up.

Livestock suffers big time in heat and to have them struggling with hot weather plus the stress of being away from home, well, getting them off the grounds during the cool of the morning was the best thing.

As far as I know, everybody made it safely home or to market. People were dunking their chickens, soaking their hogs, aiming big fans at the cows and keeping the horses well watered. It's good to see people who know animals working to keep the critters safe and alive.

Water now

Okay, so the whole drought thing I was talking about earlier is subsiding. At least on the surface it's much better. But, like I said, droughts are funny things and you can have a rainy spell and still be in trouble.

Locally at least, our crops are going to turn out. Well, the growing season isn't over yet, but the crops are in good shape now. We've had substantial rain and the heat has broken. That'll make the season a pretty good one if we're favored from here on out.

Hot goes on and on

Yesterday, the Wisconsin State Journal carried a story about the drought. That makes it official. Governor Doyle is declaring a drought emergency which sets up the process by which the state can get federal aid and help farmers and others affected by the weather.

According to the map in the paper, Illinois is in much worse shape than is Wisconsin. People from Illinois buying sweet corn from my daughter's produce stand are telling her how wonderful things look here compared to there. There's a big high pressure ridge built in over Canada and it isn't moving.

People are wondering out loud if hurricane Emily might carry inland far enough to either bring rain to the Midwest or dislodge the stagnant high pressure dome. We'll see. Right now it looks like Emily is going to hit Mexico. It's a long way from Mexico to Wisconsin. Places farther south may benefit.

It's odd to be thinking about getting help from something as destructive as a hurricane.

All about the weather

We're in a drought. Contrary to popular myth, it will rain during a drought. It just won't rain everywhere and it won't rain very much. And oddly enough, you can even get a flood or two in the middle of a drought. That makes no sense on the surface, but it's true.

About the floods and rain in a drought; dry ground gets very hard and cracked. Along comes an isolated downpour and the water falls so fast it can't soak into the soil so it starts flowing. The result is a flood. A flood in the middle of a drought. In fact, the worse the drought gets, the more likely it is to flood.

And rain does fall during a drought. It just isn't distributed very well. Locally, we had more than an inch of rain the other day. Our crops responded to the drink with a flush of new growth. A few miles away, the crops are shriveled and pointed still searching the sky for relief.

I once interviewed a old Oklahoma farmer. The topic of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl came up and I asked him how he was able to stay and keep his farm when so many others had fled. He explained that "God just favored us, son. Each season we'd get a couple of those showers other places didn't get. It was just enough to make a part of a crop and we had just enough to keep the bills paid."

To compound the situation here, we've had high temps and some days of very low humidity. It's conditions just like this that makes me think about the nature of God. What caused the rain to fall over our little patch of earth the other day? We'll get crops. Without more rain, the yields are going to be cut. But we'll have a crop.

"God just favored us, son." I'll never forget it.

Food Terror

There are people in the world looking to harm us. That much I know and believe. Invading Iraq was a dumb idea with nothing to do with protecting our nation's people. That's all I care to say about that.

For those seeking to do us harm, you have to take a look at our food production, processing and distribution systems. Mass production, mass processing and mass distribution channels are bound to have some weak spots.

I'm not sure how to go about protecting it or even sure how to assess the risk potential. You have to think like a terrorist and look for places to inflict the most damage. A recent government report about food chain vulnerabilities was suppressed apparently because it was "an instruction manual for terrorists."

I don't know. You also have to add mass media to the equation. Terror works on the collective head of a population. An attack needn't reach the proportions of the World Trade Center attack to inflict panic and create instability. Just the thought that something bad was in the food or affecting the food might be enough.

The agricultural business community needs to keep its head up. There are efforts underway to better assess and track animal movement, for example. Response procedures are crucial and need careful definition and understood command chains.

We all live under a thin veneer of protective technology. It probably wouldn't take a lot to punch a hole in that veneer.

raw trouble

You can put anything in your mouth and swallow and I don't care. Really, just go for it. That's not to say I think you *should* put certain things in your mouth and swallow. Raw milk comes to mind.

If you're adult and making choices for yourself about drinking raw milk, then I respectfully advise you it's a risky idea. Bacteria live everywhere and a complete menu of bacteria is found on all kinds of farms and bacteria love their milk. Even the short list is pretty impressive: e.coli, salmonella, listeria.

You can get a home pasteurizer for about $300 or pasteurize milk with things you have around the house. Pasteurization is heating the milk to 145 degrees and keeping it at 145 degrees for at least 30 minutes.

The argument that raw milk is somehow better for you is spectacularly stupid. Calculating probabilities isn't my strong suit but it's fair to compare drinking raw milk with gambling. The odds are unknown to me, but if you're drinking raw milk you're living on the edge.

People have also told me raw milk tastes better. Pasteurization does affect taste. But milk harvested right from the cow and pasteurized is as fresh a taste treat as there is and you get to enjoy it without thinking about invisible nasties working over your guts.

Finally, if you're pushing raw milk out the back door of your farm to families with kids, you're risking their lives, too, not to mention exploiting ignorance for your gain.