Say Anything Blog

I’m sure you have seen the picture of a man in Washington state who hung a stuffed Santa on a cross as a Christmas decoration.  He was protesting the commercialization of Christmas and the excesses of the season.

I’m with him.  SORTA.

There are excesses. People spending money they don’t have on people they don’t care that much about.

But there’s always Dancing Santa. The Jolly Old Elf 10” high weaving back and forth to that holiest of carols, Jingle Bells.  What makes it all really special is that Santa in that iteration is made in China.  He sings in English however.  I can almost smell the Figgie Pudding.

I heard a “Christmas round the world” report on NPR this morning.  Christmas is being celebrated, trees, ornaments, Santa hats AND dancing Santa all around the world.  Particularly in Muslim and Hindu countries.

This story about Christmas in Turkey and in India was heard by yours truly on NPR this morning.  You can hear it too.  The essence of the story is that Christmas in it’s most commercial and most crass form is invading these countries bringing the worst and best of western civilization to people.

I know that Christmas is big in China .  Believe me, I’m not a big fan of Christmas in it’s pagan roots, in it’s non birth of Christ foundation, in it’s excess.  But there is a witness in it all. Place your cursor over the dancing Santas.

Last night after Church Pastor Byrd and I were praying for a woman and a little girl who, if it were a Christmas story of salvation of a person under the Christmas tree, you would have thought we made it up.  I don’t know what will happen, but I have hope.  I hope to see her hopeful, filled with joy, escaping fear and confident in her future.  That’s what the Christmas Carol Story was all about.  Ghosts that haunt us and Spirits that give us Hope.

Maybe the common thread even in a commercial Christmas celebration has a worldwide bridge building effect of giving us a common foundation to dialogue from.  And one dialogue I would like to have is, Why is there Christmas at all?

I think I might just be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within me.

Have A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Last night I watched Ron Paul on Glen Beck’s program.  I watched without an open mind and was looking for the tinfoil hat and a reason to hate him..

He seemed rational and libertarian which is a good thing.

Could he be for real?  Have I been suckered in? 

Should I feel guilty for liking him as a seemingly reasonable human being?

Somebody stop me.

The Republicans who worship at the church of cut-taxes-no-matter-what are running around having heart attacks about Mike Huckabee. They don’t understand this guy. They’re generally secular people. They don’t go to church.

Read the whole thing here.

This is pitiful and the actions of a true loser:

Two former Republican legislators from Mike Huckabee ‘s home state are in Iowa this week criticizing Huckabee’s record on immigration and taxes on trips paid for by Ron Paul, Huckabee’s Republican presidential rival.

Paul’s campaign said Thursday it was paying former Sen. Jim Holt and former Rep. Randy Minton about $5,000 each to go to Iowa for a series of radio interviews criticizing Huckabee’s 10 1/2 years as Arkansas governor.

“We just want to make sure Iowans get the full picture of what Governor Huckabee did when he was in office,” said Paul’s campaign spokesman, Jesse Benton. “There hasn’t been a whole lot of information going out to Iowans and we want to make sure they get the full picture.”

To counter the criticism, Huckabee brought in a group of longtime Arkansas supporters to defend his record.

Holt, who ran unsuccessfully for Arkansas lieutenant governor last year, has tangled publicly with Huckabee over immigration. Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher, spoke out against Holt’s proposal in 2005 to ban state services to illegal immigrants and said “I drink a different kind of Jesus juice.”

That same year, Holt opposed Huckabee’s unsuccessful effort to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for state-funded scholarships and in-state tuition to Arkansas colleges.

Holt, who said he hasn’t settled on a candidate for president, said he was called by Paul’s Iowa field director last week. He’ll be in Iowa through Saturday.

Asked why he was contacted, Holt said in a telephone interview, “If you do a Google search, you can see the Jesus juice quote anywhere.”

Holt has been talking about Huckabee’s stances on immigration, and his record on taxes and spending.

“He campaigned in Arkansas to the right and governed to the left,” Holt said.

Huckabee singled out Minton by name last month in a letter to Arkansas Republicans asking for their support and their help advocating on his behalf.

Huckabee has vaulted to the top of the Republican presidential field in Iowa, but still faces some skepticism among Republican lawmakers in his home state.

On Thursday, he relied on a group of longtime supporters to tout his conservative credentials in Iowa.

“We want to let you know that he is a strong, solid conservative and he has not changed,” said Anne Britton, who heads the Arkansas chapter of the National Rifle Association. She argued that Huckabee has long backed gun rights.

Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart said the supporters were brought in in anticipation of Holt and Minton’s visit.

“It’s unfortunate that people are resorting to those types of tactics,” she said. “We’re focusing on getting a positive Huckabee message out there and making sure people know about his record.”

Benton said Paul does not plan to bring in additional surrogates to campaign against Huckabee or any other candidate.

As he’s gained in the polls in Iowa and nationally, Huckabee has faced criticism from rivals Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson but not from Paul. In a debate in September, Huckabee and Paul sparred over U.S. involvement in Iraq. Paul has made a pullout of troops the centerpiece of his campaign.

“Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor,” Huckabee told Paul during that debate in New Hampshire. “And that is more important than the Republican Party.”

From Newsmax

Cross posted from my blog because it has to do with some of the arguments we all engage in here. On the other hand if we did this there would be no blogoshere.

Years ago when I traveled about teaching the Dale Carnegie Course in Human Relations and Public Speaking (I was better at one of those two attributes than the other) there was a concept we taught people that I am relearning all over again.

Mr. Carnegie said, “The Chinese are superior to you in that they speak Chinese and you don’t”.

It’s the Biblical principle that we should not think better of ourselves than we ought. That we are no better than others, equal at the foot of the cross.

Now the reality is NONE of us can reach that standard. We all believe we are better than the other guy in some way. It’s a human failing and no matter how much theological lipstick we put on that pig we all are convinced that whatever we are, who we are, what we believe is superior to everyone else.

I learned that most keenly living overseas. No matter what country I lived in I was assured by the residents there that they were superior to the USA.

Certainly true in Germany and Japan. They see themselves as far superior to you and me.

Brazil, Taiwan, Great Britain, France, people here see themselves as above you in many ways.

I have a friend in Nigeria who believes Nigerians are superior to Americans in many ways (Particularly Spiritually).

But the big shock was when I was working in Mexico City, the people there, even those in dire poverty would say to me, “Yes America has great wealth but we have freedom here. We’re better than you are”.

Every country’s populace believes themselves superior the the USA.

This is most certainly true not only in the realm of nationalism but is true of our theologies.

The latest Mormon flap regarding Romney and Huckabee is illustrative as is the speech Romney gave where he talked of faith but not about his faith. He in essence inferred all faiths are important and equal but Mormonism is a little more equal than others.

Here is the dirty rotten truth, every religious expression considers itself the true faith and therefore superior to every other. If you think about it for half a second, of course they do. If I considered for a moment that some other expression was superior to the one I practice (in the words of Pricilla and Aquila to Apollos, A BETTER WAY) wouldn’t I run towards that faith expression in a heartbeat? It would be hypocrisy for me to not if I were a seeker after God.

In that vein:

Lutherans consider themselves superior to Mormons

Mormons consider themselves superior to Lutherans

Catholics to Methodists

Methodists to Catholics

Pentecostals to Dutch Reformed

Dutch Reformed to Pentecostals

Bahia to Muslims

Muslims to Bahia

Atheists and Agnostics to Christians

Christians to Atheists and Agnostics

So whatever you are, whatever theological or a-theological base you operate from you can fill in these blanks:

_______________ are superior to_____________

No matter what you write in those two spaces it’s true for you.

To be clear, this is not about tolerance or allowance for a difference of opinion in a civil way. This is about the natural attitude of superiority in a person’s opinion or theology over another’s. I say again, if you thought your theology, politics or opinion was not superior you would change it. That’s why we proselytize.

If we didn’t believe Christianity was superior as Christians we are awfully stupid sending millions of dollars overseas to missions. So we do.

I was in a recent flap with a man I respect that drives this post. I accused him of this natural proclivity and did it with all the Gentleness I am capable of, that being nearly none.

Both of us are convinced in our hearts of the Biblical correctness and superiority of our religious convictions and practices. We can both quote bushels of Chapter and Verse as Bible Bullets to hammer the other one into submission or anger. At the end of that confrontation it would be as Mr Carnegie said, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”. I actually have that hanging on a plaque on the wall. I think I’ll read it again.

This is a problem. One I won’t solve here. This is true of all beliefs, political, philosophical, religious:

Democrats consider themselves superior to Republicans

Republicans to Democrats

Liberals to Conservatives

Conservatives to Liberals

Communists to Fascists

Fascists to Communists

Women to Men

Men to Women

So, if you think you are superior in theology, politics, National Origin, worldview or gender to others guess what,

YOU’RE NORMAL

So, what to do? Treat one another with respect and honor. That’s the Biblical thing to do. Don’t use arrogant pontification to trumpet the superiority you feel. Be careful of others opinions even if you think they are absolutely wrong, blind, misled, etc. I often find myself thinking of people who have a differing opinion from mine, “HOW IN THE WORLD CAN THEY EVEN THINK THAT’S TRUE”.

I do this worse than almost any one else I know.

Except for you.

OOPS, there I go again.

Two weeks before the Cuban Missie Crisis the NIE said:

“The USSR could derive considerable military advantage from the establishment of Soviet medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba, or from the establishment of a submarine base there. . . . Either development, however, would be incompatible with Soviet practice to date and with Soviet policy as we presently estimate it.”

Special National Intelligence Estimate 85-3-62, Sept. 19, 1962

They were wrong then, and they are wrong now. In fact the NIE reports have been wrong a great deal. 

You can read all about it here.

And the left rejoiced when they read this NIE. The right looked at it with suspicion. The left had a party. You can put away the paper hats now, Left. It’s all male bovine excrement.

I have been in a conversation with some people regarding the whole thing about the 6 ministries who are being asked to provide records.

If I were in charge I would in my best Christianese tell them to take a flying leap.

But, that wouldn’t be like Jesus now would it.

I’m not all that much like Jesus as I would like to be.

SO, in any case, if you are interested in the discussion from some Christian people arguing intramurally, look at this. 

Integration of Church and State

The Senate is meddling in religious affairs. Or is it? It is investigating six Christian “ministries” for allegations of opulent spending. When will we ever learn? Whenever you incorporate into the state, the state is your master. The state creates the corporate entity by its Word, very similar to God creating the world by His Word, and rules over its creation. These folks should tell the Senate to stick it up their legislature. But they had to register as non-profit corporations, so such an idea isn’t much help. Oh, well.

I tried to access the previous post of this and got an error message, URL not found.

Sorry, I wanted to do all this in a comment but for those of you who think the Christian ministries in question are a bunch of crooks, not all of them are (IMO).

I have bemoaned the drumbeat from the right against Mike Huckabee in this blog.  It has been noted by Danny Glover.
It’s bad enough that the left hammers him for what he did or didn’t say about Homosexuals and Aids, but when the right out of fear does it, isn’t that eating our young?  From Glover’s piece:

The anti-Huckabee blog swarm isn’t limited to the left, though. Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot, a blog at National Review Online, has been spreading the negative news about Huckabee and taking subtle jabs of his own. And The Club For Growth uses its blog, in addition to television ads, to deride Huckabee as “Tax Hike Mike.”

He’s my candidate and for one I’m looking forward to the Huckabee - Obama Debate.  One will wipe the floor with the other one.  I’m betting on Mike.

I love my wife and we are happily married. Now, you must know, despite all rumors to the contrary she isn’t perfect. Oh, in my eyes she is but I am also aware she has flaws that others might see.

I’m guessing that’s the same with me. I’m not perfect, I have flaws, but she loves me in spite of my gross imperfections.

Marriage is like that. Some would say she “Settled” for me. Others might say I “Settled” for her. The reality is neither of us did. We just understood that perfection is the enemy of Good and even excellence. There was an interesting “This I Believe” regarding the idea of settling. It was pretty good. I may not agree in full with the thesis, I do agree with the concept.

That’s true in a job, that’s true in a church, that’s true in friends. If you want perfection you will get neither excellent nor good. You’ll just keep lurching from place to place wishing and hoping and always disappointed.

That’s how I feel about political candidates. I will ultimately (as will all of us) have to settle for what the primary system (as flawed as it is) will provide to us to vote for in the general election.

If I could out of whole cloth create a perfect candidate he or she would:

Understand and believe in confronting evil embodied in terrorists worldwide.

Not think that government and politics are the answer to everything, or even very much.

Not be moved about by every wind that blows like global warming, energy Independence, trust the market more than man’s politics.

Not give a rip what our "allies" around the world think. We are the free world's leaders, LET'S ACT LIKE IT! If Norway objects, OH WELL. We have the right, privilege and responsibility to maintain the Pax Americana as we see it until it's handed off to someone else. Who else is there globally who will take this on? I particularly don't care what people in countries who benefit from our Pax Americana who snipe at the USA. If you don't like it move to Russia. They don't like it either. I'm just a little ticked at people who live under the shelter of peace we bought and paid for with American Blood and Tears crying about the fact that we continue to do our best to preserve the peace we purchased for them.

Understand we live in a world made up of people moving around for economic purposes (Immigrants, legal and otherwise) and get a control on their presence among us by implementing a strong Guest card program sanctioning employers who go against the grain on this, George Bush had this one right and I wish people understood this.

Forget building a fence, it’s stupid, expensive and ineffective. Let’s choke off the jobs and get people registered. Jobs will be filled, we’ll just know who is filling them.

Have a strong military, make military a good option as a career. How can we have 30% unemployment in the inner city black community among males between the ages of 18-32 and have a military begging for recruits. Where’s the disconnect?

Get guns back in the populace. A society that refuses to understand that a well armed populace makes guys like the shooter invading a “Gun Free Zone” like the Omaha mall invincible for a little while. If he hadn’t taken his own life how many could or would he have killed before anyone got to him. Or Virginia Tech. I guess those two nutcases didn’t read the signs that proclaimed these places to be a gun free zone. I want any potential shooter to think that mall employee or that little old lady standing in line or as in Virginia every teacher has a loaded firearm and knows how to use it. I think it might just slow things down. At least in yesterday’s shooting in Colorado Springs at New Life the guards were armed. That’s more than the security at the mall in Omaha or Virginia. My candidate would see to it more people had guns.

The same thing goes for water boarding and other forms of “Interrogation”. Even if we never actually used it I want out enemies to fear being captured and questioned by our military or intelligence agencies. I want them to fear what we might do. It’s the same reason we have nuclear weapons. I want our enemies to think we might just use them (again) on them. And hoping we might not if they behave and work with us. Big Stick and Speaking Softly. Nuclear disarmament’s and military ineptitude which before the surge we demonstrated in Iraq only emboldens international mall and Virginia tech shooters. When we declare the USA a “GUN FREE ZONE” we are toast.

On health care I want a candidate that understands the free enterprise system and recognizes that the mess Health care is in this country is because we do NOT have a free enterprise system. It’s government, lawyerized and insurance controlled. I think we can do better by getting the government out of the health care business. If we must have a safety net, make it for those who need it. Need means we no longer rely on others to make decisions about the level of care we get. Insurance companies and the government does that now. In both cases both are usually wrong. Forcing me to buy overpriced insufficient insurance is no plan at all. We can have both but it must be at the local level. Nationalized health care is a politician impossibility and in the long run only serves the politics of nannystateism.

On personal freedom. I want a candidate who leaves me alone. Smoking bans are dumb. Gun bans are dumb. Music bans are dumb. Religious bans are dumb. Seat belt laws are dumb. CAFE Standards for gas mileage are dumb. Formulations for gasoline in 20 types are dumb. Let me live my life. I’ll make the decisions I want to . Nannyism is a slippery slope. Leave me alone. Don’t tread on me. I’ll figure it out.

On Life. I want a candidate who believes all life is precious. Who will not endorse or support the killing of innocent life. That is abortion and euthanasia. Life that took life must be dealt with, that’s not innocent life, so support of a death penalty is in order. I’m uncompromising in my antithesis for abortion and euthanasia and I want a candidate that feels as I do.

On Taxes. I want a candidate who’s goal it is to eliminate the need for taxes. Here George Bush has failed. We spent too much. Eliminate whole government departments. The IRS, The education department, the USDA (we need a USDA like we need a USDCSA). That would be a department dedicated to the furtherance and preservation of convenience store operators. How silly can you get. I want a candidate who starts with a clean slate and says let’s quit spending money and let’s figure out another way to collect taxes we will need. Flat or fair tax, I don’t care, let’s just abolish the IRS and start over.

On Government. Less is more. I am drawn to candidates that believe that less government is better. Smaller. Simpler. Local. Regional. I’m against “Revenue Sharing”. I’m against matching funds. I’m against the federal government sending money to anyone anywhere.

On education. Get government out of education. Not even a no child left behind. No public educational system at all. Sell all the schools to private enterprise. I want a candidate that supports and endorses vouchers for education, money the government pays direct to providers for educating kids. I want that if your school stinks you have options. Even home schoolers would be supported in this. If we could take our kids out of bad schools and put them supported in good schools at our choice we would have better schools. No mother of any child I have ever seen wants their kid to be a failure in life. If they have a chance to see their kid “Make it” they will. Support the kids in education who continue to prosper up thru the 14th grade. That’s graduation day and cost free IF YOU STUDY. If you don’t you can be flunked out by 10th grade and should be.

On Homosexuals in our society, I want a candidate that sees things in this regard as God sees it. Sin is sin. Homosexuality is an aberration. It is not an aberration that should be supported or endorsed any more than an aberration to commit adultery, an aberration to steal, an aberration to lie, an aberration to murder. Those are aberrations people are born with and we don’t endorse or support it. Why do we support it in our society at large? The person who is born with propensities to steal, kill, commit adultery or lie stays out of jail or difficulty by avoiding the behavior that would lead them into trouble. That’s not true of Homosexuality. And, to be clear, this means no homosexual marriage either. If a person wants to enter into a contract with another we can’t stop them. Let’s just not call it marriage. Marriage is a woman and a man. One of each. I want my candidate to believe that.

On Religion. I want a wise candidate. Therefore I want a candidate who believes and acts upon the foundational spiritual truths in the Bible. There are plenty. I want a candidate who prays. They all will. I want a candidate who fears God because, “The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom”. Proverbs 1:7 And Job 28:28 ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’ “

A candidate of my choosing would have a clear understanding that he in himself has no strength or wisdom whatsoever. He would know that all the education and knowledge in the world cannot substitute for wisdom that comes from God. Solomon needed it. Our next President will need it . I need it.

I do not equate moral purity with Godliness. If that were the case no one is Godly. If a person says he is without sin he’s deceived. Any righteousness we have is filthy rags before God and phony. When I see accusation of unrighteousness in either party I recall who the accuser is. When the voice of accusation comes as it did against Jesus I see it as so much Devil inspired blah blah blah.

I am not a perfect Christian, I am not a perfect man, and I recognize that in getting a candidate to vote for I won’t get the man or woman I wish I could have gotten. I then have to take my screen of qualifications and see which candidate most fits thru the screen. Those that fit pretty well I will vote for and might I say so should you. I’m also not a cookie cutter conservative but I’m pretty conservative.

Now, looking at all that, which of the candidates most fit my profile.

I’ll let you answer that for yourself.

I’m bothered. There is a divide I don’t like to see between right wing religionists and a right wing secular humanist (atheism) wing.That divide is deep and it is driven by fear of a “Christian” becoming president and leading by the principles of Faith and the word of God. Horrors.

To the secular atheists Romney and Huckabee are as frightening as they are reassuring to people like me.That only leaves Thompson McCain and Giuliani.

Here’s the handicap on the horse race as I see it:

Clinton beats Thompson, Giuliani and Romney but loses to Huckabee or McCain
Edwards Beats Thompson and McCain but loses to Giuliani, Romney and Huckabee, therefore he’s dead meat.
Obama Beats Huckabee, McCain, Thompson, toss up with Romney and loses to Giuliani.

It has to do with the center vote. Who gets the center and attracts the attention of the middle on the other side will win.

The polarization against Hillary is so powerful on the right and some of the middle and even some of the left, Huckabee wins as a moderate when you count the “hold your nose vote”.

The Edwards fiasco is such that we can only thank him for the barrel he provided in which to shoot the fish he really is. He has zero chance of winning, his negatives in the middle and right are huge and tepid support from the left except for the fringe left which reaches for him out of desperation. He can join Fred Thompson in the Toaster.

OBAMA is the wild card. He gets all the left, Much of the middle and some of the value voter right wing therefore beating everyone handily; except Giuliani. Giuliani can beat him on national defense and terrorism. Particularly if there is a rising threat somewhere. Or one can be created. Obama’s weakness on defense is a huge heel of Achilles for his winning outright. On the other hand Giuliani is cursing that darn surge thingy that worked in Iraq. I know you on the left haven’t noticed that it worked because as soon as reports started coming in that it did the MSM went silent.

Troops can come home, Iraq becomes peaceful, maybe Iran calms down and oil prices drop like they have already begun precipitously to do. Bad news for Rudy, good for Obama. “Darn That GWB”, I can hear Rudy clear over here.

The circus has only begun, I just hate that as a primary voter I get no primary vote in Illinois. Rumor has it Illinois is an actual state with actual voters who actually have opinions. Except when it comes to Presidential Nominee Choice. The whole dog and pony show is all over by the time they get to us. Oh, to be from Iowa and New Hampshire. Well, not really.

So, with cigar firmly clenched in teeth and gray fedora on my head I’m here to sell my “Tip Sheet” on the horse race as I see it at this point.

What think ye?

IF you are a good handicapper, how do you handicap this race?

My list from as an apolitical viewpoint as I know how to be are:
Clinton, Huckabee, Gulliani, Romney, Obama and no one else. I think any ONE of those 5 would do OK for different reasons as President of the USA. It’s going to be one of them. Not the same reasons why but they all have compelling reasons for the American people to elect them.

I think there are compelling reasons NOT to elect the others: Ron Paul (crazy tinfoil hat type), McCain (beginning to dodder and doesn’t own a political compass), Edwards (the slimeball factor), Thompson (who is doddering already).

And there are a couple who might have made a good president but have zero chance.
Biden, Hunter

You goes with what you gets. We ain’t getting what I hoped.

All bets are off however if from the left or the right any sort of 3rd party challenge is made. Either way it’s a guarantee of victory for the other side. Think Nader and Perot. We wouldn’t have had Clinton or GWB as Presidents without them. That would be variously good/bad news for all and some of us as it was in the past.

From the Naval Historical Center:
The 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy’s battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire’s southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.
The September 11, 2001 attack on the New York City World Trade Center was one of the great defining moments of history, a unified carefully planned attack murdered thousands of people, non combatants, without warning, without mercy.  America unaware and weakened by a failed intelligence community, a soft military and a body politic who’s head in the sand didn’t stop the attack on 9-11.  This has brought a reluctant America into the war against western civilization as a full combatant.

The war against the Japanese was won after the Nuclear Bomb was dropped.  We have peace and democracy in Japan and it stands as a beacon in the far east.

The war against the terrorists and the support network that keeps them afloat is not yet won.  If those who died at Pearl Harbor had not been vindicated by Victory over Japan our country would be a 3rd rate power today and the world would be a much more dangerous place.  In fact it could be said we would be facing a hostile nuclear Japan as an adversary who’s imperialistic tendencies would have conquered China, the Philippines and Korea as well as Taiwan.  That greater untamed Japan would be a threat today still.

Yes hundreds of Thousands died to bring this essential victory to pass.  They still would be if we had not persevered.

I’m not as optimistic about the future in our war on Terror.  Those without vision keep harping on the war as a failed policy.  They ignore the successes we have had in Iraq.  Some in Afghanistan.  And we are seeing a world wake up to the magnitude of disaster that losing this onslaught against western civilization could and will bring.

Remember Pearl Harbor. We did.

Remember 9-11.  Do we?

66 Years ago today.

PS:  The day after 9-11 I was despondent about the advent of war about to begin.  I received a note from someone who was a 20 something during Pearl Harbor.  Her Husband went to war.  He came back.  She made the comment that this would pass.

I’m not convinced.  May it never leave our mind how horrible the threat really is.

Cross Posted From Northern Gleaner,

The end of farm subsidies.

What would happen then? The common belief is it would be the death of the American farmer. That scare tactic insures the farm bill will return and be approved and signed. But is that really what would happen? Do you honestly believe that the fields in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa would be fallow, year after year? Neither do I.

Some farms might go under. That is true. The farms that cannot produce a crop for a profit will fold, but they will be bought up by other farmers and they will produce a crop and a profit. There are plenty of crops produced each year without the help of subsidies. The farms would not lie empty. They would just be run differently. Businesses need to stand or fall on their own. Government intervention, as usual, has done more harm than good.

Going Green Isn’t Always Good

A negative effect of farm subsidies that I have not touched on yet is the damage it has done to the environment. One great example is the huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2006, the area overgrown with algae covered 6,662 square miles. This is one case of going green that isn’t anything to be happy about. That is a lot of ocean without enough oxygen to support life. And in 2007, it was expected to be even bigger. What does this have to do with farm subsidies? Farmers get paid for the amount of crop produced, so that encourages them to plant as much land as they can, even right up against rivers. I have witnessed farmers clearing timber right next to a river so they could get a few more acres. Run-off from pesticides and fertilizers get into the rivers and end up in the Gulf. Reason Magazine notes:

A study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that 72 percent of U.S. rivers and 56 percent of lakes it surveyed suffer from agriculture-related pollution.

Here is that study.

One would be lead to believe that without subsidies, farmers would be forced to plant less in order to keep the market from bottoming out. This would also lower the price of farmland. As we noted before, the price of farmland is estimated to be 30% higher due to subsidies. This land could then return to timber along the rivers, limiting the exposure to chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Another environmental problem created by farm subsidies is the wasteful use of water. Were you aware that we are paying taxes to grow cotton in the Arizona desert? In 2003, we paid $103,125,972 in cotton subsidies to Arizona “farmers.” I put farmers in quotes because the top three recipients of the subsidies were Indian tribes that operate very successful casinos. They are not your struggling family farmer.

And the farmers in Arizona use over 60% of the state’s water, subsidized of course:

Cotton farmers, for example, receive massive government subsidies for growing their crops, and water their plants with subsidized artificially low-priced water. If the distortive government subsidies went away, and water prices were allowed to float up to where supply met demand (and we were not draining down aquifers and Lake Powell) then my guess is that a lot of desert agriculture would disappear.

My guess is he’s right. It’s the market at work and it corrects itself by the invisible hand. Another benefit of ending subsidies is an end to wasteful water uses.

Lower Prices to American Consumers

Why are our sodas sweetened with corn syrup? Target has a section in its stores that feature “premium sodas.” They are a little higher in price, but they use…real sugar. Americans pay over 200% more for sugar than the rest of the world. This has been going on since the War of 1812.  And, like the other subsidies we have shown, it doesn’t go to the struggling family farmer:

Less than one percent (17 cane sugar growers) of the nation’s sugar growers gobble up 58 percent of the program benefits. In fact, one grower alone received $65 million. Contrary to popular rhetoric, these are not small family farmers. Rather, they are wealthy members of the sugar cartel, which pumps millions of dollars into congressional campaigns to protect their precious subsidy.

The high cost of sugar hurts America workers also, some of whom saw their jobs moved to another country in search of cheap sugar:

• Employment in food companies that use substantial amounts of sugar is declining. Imports of food products that contain sugar are growing because it is not competitive to make those products in the U.S.
• Numerous companies have relocated to Canada and Mexico, where sugar prices are much lower.
• Chicago, once the nation’s candy manufacturing capital, has lost thousands of jobs. In 2004, candy maker Fannie May closed its Chicago factory and Brach’s moved its Chicago candy production to Mexico.
• Michigan took a hit in 2002, when Kraft moved its 600-worker LifeSavers factory to Canada in search of low-cost sugar.
• Hershey Foods closed plants in Pennsylvania, Colorado and California and relocated them to Canada as well.

These folks paid the taxes that paid the subsidies that pushed their jobs to another country. And then they have to pay higher food prices for those same subsidies. High food prices as a result of farm programs took $16.2 billion from American taxpayers in 2004. That’s a annual food tax of $146 per house. Ending subsidies would end that tax.

What Happened in New Zealand

In 1984, New Zealand ended all farm subsidies.  So what happened?  They survived, and thrive today:

A report last year from the country’s main farmers’ group, the Federated Farmers of New Zealand, documents what happened:

• While land prices initially fell after reform, by 1994 they had rebounded and remain high today.
• The predicted farm bankruptcies never materialized — with just 1 percent of farmers going out of business.
• The value of farm output soared 40 percent in constant dollar terms since the mid-1980s and agriculture’s share of national output rose from 14 percent to 17 percent today.
• Since subsidies were removed, productivity in the sector has risen 6 percent annually — compared with just 1 percent before reform.

New Zealand’s farmers have competed successfully in world markets against subsidized producers in much of the rest of the world.

Other reports suggest that the removal of farm subsidies in New Zealand have been a benefit to Kiwi farmers:

• Today New Zealand has around 80,000 farm holdings on 15.5 million hectares (38.3 million acres). The number of farms has held steady since subsidies were removed; land area has fallen slightly as marginal land has been turned over to forestry or allowed to revert to native bush.
• Since subsidy removal the agricultural sector has grown faster than the rest of the economy. Agriculture’s contribution to the New Zealand gross domestic product (GDP) has risen from 14.2% in 1986-87 to 16.6% in 1999-2000. Agriculture accounts for 11.4% of the total workforce.
• Rural population has kept pace with national population since 1986. Employment on farms has fallen somewhat, but these losses have been balanced by increased rural employment in tourism-related businesses.
• The number of forced farm sales directly resulting from the removal of subsidies is estimated at 800, or 1% of the total number of farms
• Agricultural productivity has gone up 5.9% a year on average since 1986. Prior to 1986 agricultural productivity gains were about 1% a year.
• The total number of stock units on New Zealand farms has fallen by 9% since 1987. Sheep numbers are down by 29%, but cattle numbers are up by 35%. Sheep farming was the most heavily subsidized sector within agriculture.
• In 2001 governmental assistance to agriculture was equal to just 1% of the value of agricultural output, compared to an average value for developed countries of 31%. Remaining assistance in New Zealand is primarily in the form of funding for agricultural research.
• Around 90% of New Zealand’s total farm output is exported. These exports account for over 55% of total merchandise exports. Most food consumed in the country is domestically produced.

If the farmers in New Zealand can do it, so can we. We need to return to the times of rugged individualism, where a man was left to his own devices to succeed or fail. The government is there to insure the farmers right to try, not his right to success. His success is up to him. Or at least it used to be. Today, we seem to be caught in the mindset that America’s farmers can’t compete on the world stage without the protection of the federal government. It’s as insulting as it is false. Remove the subsidies and watch the spirit of individualism take over.

On the heels of a nut who kills 8 people in Omaha and who is undeniably a white boy this post will come as an oxymoron.

The fact is something is culturally wrong in Black America.  Hip Hop, Rap, Gangsta Culture, I don’t know.

But a woman is beaten to a pulp on a public bus in Baltimore by black kids, Middle School Kids.

And a boy scout troop selling Christmas trees in Cincinnati and are robbed at the point of a Sawed Off Shotgun by 3 black thugs.

Black is too nice for them.  They are the lowest scum there is.

But I won’t sink to the level I could.  Yes, there are lots of bad white folks and they do lots of dumb things, but these kind of continued assaults on the common peace in our country by black gangsters has got to come to an end.

What’s really hard to grasp is that nearly all the news stories you can find on the net like in Google news never mention the race or color of the thugs that did this on the bus or at the Christmas tree lot.

I want to see concealed carry made legal. If there was I don’t think this kind of brazen lawlessness would be nearly as common.  A few dead school kids and a couple dead Boy Scout tree lot robbers might just give some of these thugs a second thought.

We must get our country back from the gangsters and thugs no matter who they are or where they are.

Of course, it’ll never happen.  Too many Sharptons and Jacksons making sure the thugs have all the rights and those who just want to make a living and have a life never have any.

Watching the candidates traipse across Iowa with the promise of two pickups in every garage to anyone who might vote for them is how we got here.

The whole farm program has destroyed the American middle.

Like all well intentioned programs it started out good. Like busing, like equal opportunity employment, like fair housing, like ADA for the handicapped, like food stamps and section eight, like all sorts of well meaning programs that have unintended consequences we have a farm policy that has become surreal.

This is one program that needs to be full stopped. No more money. Halt. The others need revisiting in implementation. I can think of no compelling reason why any farm program at all should be continued for another day.

It won’t kill off the farmers who shouldn’t be killed off and will kill off the ones who should. Business wise.

A group of think tank types have published a long thoughtful piece regarding this whole issue. It’s worth reading if you care. Even if the whole issue doesn’t matter to you, what should matter is the rebirth of the central plains. That will only come with pain. A great deal of pain. All births do, ask my wife.

Read This

Tomorrow
What would happen if all farm programs and subsidies were cut off NOW. NO Option. Sink or Swim. It’s painful but good. We must do this and stop spending billions on this folly.

Iran is just kidding. Like the imitation tanks and planes the British deployed on the ground to confuse German intelligence, Iran has been faking it to make it all along.

That’s what the NYT and all the intelligence agencies in the world are saying.

The same NYT that makes stories up.  The same intelligence agencies that swore up and down 5 years ago that Saddam had the nuke.  The same intelligence agencies that knew Saudi Suicide bombers were floating around the USA and did nothing.

Common sense people. That’s all that’s needed.

Common sense to say, They look like they have nukes.  They act like they have nukes.  They are refining away like they have nukes.  They threaten Israel like they have nukes.  And the other day they said they have a missile that flies 1200 miles to what, deliver Persian rugs?

AND, Abinanutjob, the Iranian prez flaunts all this knowing nuclear Israel is a sortie away.  Putting good men and women at risk.  Blowing up all the nuke plants Iran wide would be an easy mark.  Or at least a message mark.

Is that what the real game is?  Verbally drawing a huge bullseye on Iran to draw and attack and then cry wolf because, “see, we never did have any nukes”.

I’m not convinced.  When you deal with a snake you are likely to get bit.  Abinanutjob is a snake.

This news doesn’t make me feel one bit better about anything.  NOTHING.

And, the fact that the MSM is fawning all over it like it’s a good reason to keep whistling past the nuclear graveyard is no reason to suspend vigilance.

Neville Chamberlain is alive and well in the MSM.