Inequality and Trust

A Chinese millionaire recently took out a full page add in the NYT announcing he would feed a selection of homeless people and then give them $300.00 in cash.  The somewhat paternalistic rescue mission chosen as the vehicle for this charity told the homeless on the day of the transaction they would accept the money on behalf of the poor.  Meanwhile, many studies across the world have shown that giving the poor cash more often than not leads to permanent gains in their socio-economic status.  It works all over the world, so why not here.  Somehow, our mixture of crony capitalism and paternalistic attitude toward the poor has made us more than cautious in our welfare policies.  Meanwhile, we have no problem showering the rich with tax cuts and subsidies.  Kansas is the perfect example of this phenomenon.  The governor there signed off on the largest tax cuts ever, mostly for the wealthy and proclaimed it as the new model for state growth.  Instead, the state is doing worse than the US average and has gutted its school system to pay for the cuts.  It is a case of the ideology dictating policy and results be damned as long as the 1% get their subsidy. WTF...

Conservative Fail

As Paul Krugman points out in today's NYT, most conservative media outlets have dropped coverage of Obamacare as it continues to succeed.   However, predictions of failure continue among conservative commenters.   Before the Limbaughs and the Fox news drumbeat of conservative (read bigoted) commentary on the day's news, right wing pundits were honest about their opposition to progressive ideas.  Their take on health care reform under Clinton was to stop it at all costs. The success of even moderate reforms would woo a generation of voters to the Democratic side and the bandwagon for limited government and tax cuts for the rich would suffer flat tires.   These men may have been cynical in their opposition, but at least they realized the reforms would work.  Today's tea party activists start from the viewpoint that nothing government does is good or competent, therefore healthcare cannot succeed no matter what the evidence to the contrary.  So the nightmare of conservatives will come true as the millennial generation realizes that indeed, government of the people, by the people and for the people can work.

Wet and wetter

Although not quite as bad as last season, conditions in the garden are rapidly reaching a tipping point.  After another 1 1/4 inches of rain yesterday, the heavier soils are basically a muddy mix of soil and water.  It will take several days of clear weather to dry out enough to work.  That is about what we have before the next system moves in.  It would be nice to just go away for a couple of weeks and hopefully return to a dried out garden.  However, that is not the way it works, so I'll have to keep playing the hand Mother Nature has dealt.

And it came

We dodged it yesterday, but this morning the rain is here and it will be a mess when it is over.  An inch of rain on heavy, saturated soil will take another week to dry and we don't have a week before the next system is due.  Meanwhile, on the food front, Marc Bittman would like to redefine the word foodie to mean someone who is committed to real, unprocessed, sustainably grown food as opposed to the current meaning.  Watching cooking shows, patronizing trendy restaurants and pursuing exotic foods brings to mind a certain type of obnoxious jerk.  A real "foodie" as defined by Bittman is interested in food justice, including paying all those in the chain from the farm to the fork a living wage.  If more of us demand this kind of food and wages, the system will have to take note.  However, the powers of agribusiness, many of whom make their living pushing junk food will not sit idly by as their business model is destroyed. 

Holidays and rain

Today is Quebec National Day, formerly known as St. John Baptiste Day.  It is one of the biggest holidays of the year in Quebec province. With the rain forecast today, it will be a slow sales day for veggies leaving the area.   It has been an up and down season so far.  The downs have significantly outnumbered the ups.  The chief culprit is the system which has kept the weather in a cool, wet pattern almost from the start of the growing season.  This is the second consecutive year of this regime.  The heavy soils of the Champlain valley need warm, dry weather to dry out enough to work in the spring.  Many growers waited as long as possible to plant, but had to work the soil in wet conditions.  When the soil dries afterward, it is much like concrete and only the freeze, thaw cycle of winter will unlock it.   Corn planted in traditionally wet areas is stunted and sickly with many skips.  Even no till beans are late germinating.  At home, my garden faces many of the same challenges.  The wetter areas have just about dried out, but 2 days of rain and thundershowers will put them back in swampy condition again.  Even the mosquitoes are not thriving despite the wet conditions.  It is too cool for them.

Reality vs. hope

The weekend was everything I anticipated on Friday.  Non stop harvesting, planting, weeding and mowing interrupted by short breaks to eat and sleep.  Not the way a beautiful summer weekend on the NCR should be enjoyed, but as Ned Stark famously observed, Winter is coming.  We reached peak sunlight over the weekend, but the days will remain freakishly long for several weeks and we will continue to gain heat units.  With a fair amount of rain expected tomorrow and Wednesday, the soil remains too wet for optimum growth (except for weeds).  As always at this time of year, I am running out of places to plant.  If we dodge this bullet, the remaining open space will be plantable this weekend, but otherwise the schedule will be thrown off once again.

Weekend garden wars

I could probably do a reality show on gardening this weekend and title it "How not to enjoy a perfectly beautiful weekend on the NCR".   We are looking forward to 4 days of sunshine and all manner of delights beckon, but all I can think is how many weeds I can kill and how much planting can I do before the inevitable rain interrupts the party.  The garlic has begun to throw up scapes, the strawberries are starting to ripen, the asparagus continues to need picking and everything needs weeding, mowing or trimming.  I need to keep the succession planting of corn, lettuce, cabbage and broccoli going, etc.  It's a good thing we have 16 hours of daylight. 

Dick Cheney, please STFU

That hateful, draft dodging chickenhawk was given a pulpit by the Wall St. Journal, and because he obviously thinks the average American either suffers from amnesia or is terminally stupid, he decided to rewrite history to his liking.  The irony of accusing the current president of being wrong more often than the administration he helped lead us into a disaster of a war would be hilarious is we hadn't wasted 2 trillion dollars and 4500 American and 100,000 plus Iraqi lives.  That anyone would waste the ink and or the air time to let this turd bloviate about Iraq is almost beyond belief.  But it is of a kind with all the other pariahs of the shrub administration now appearing on a TV channel near you to tell us how to get it right this time.  As one commentator said, at least Bush has the class or the humility to keep his mouth shut on the subject.   If there was any respectable right wing voice in this country, he or she would do us all a favor to point out the statute of limitation on war crimes will not expire and it might be smart to say as little as possible on your involvement in the Iraq war.  Barring that, a hearty STFU would be the next best rejoinder to Cheney, his daughter and anyone else from the  shrub era who thinks they have anything intelligent to impart to the rest of us.

More on foodlike substances and those who push them

My favorite food gadfly, Marc Bittman, in today's NYT skewers the food industry and demands more regulation by the government as an alternative to a future of frankenfood induced chronic disease.  As he points out and any fruit and vegetable broker can tell you, there is precious little profit in unprocessed, natural foods.  Even the stores selling lettuce, oranges, and other healthy items rarely get rich on the proceeds.  Potato chips on the other hand create much more value (unfortunately not for the farmer) and have the added virtue of much greater shelf life.  As Bittman points out, the food industry is like a parasite, but an exceedingly dumb one.  It is killing the host on which it feeds.  If the population develops too many food related diseases, the drumbeat for penalties and regulation will kill the corporations involved.  What to do?  Bittman is all in for government regulation.  The opposite view would be to educate people and hope they will make good choices.  Check out the shopping cart in front of you at the local supermarket.  Heavily sugared cereal, processed frozen entrees and other foodlike substances argue heavily for Bittman's solution.   Education can only go so far when salt, sugar and fat sing their siren song.

More media stupidity

Despite, or maybe because of the expenditure of trillions of dollars and thousands of American lives, the media and many of the discredited hacks from the shrub administration are calling for renewed involvement in Iraq.  The corrupt Shiite administration installed by the Bushies is rapidly disintegrating as the American trained Iraqi army wilts in the face of a few thousand determined jihadis.  If that is all it takes to topple this Franensteinian monster we created, I think it is time to pull the life support plug and let nature take its course.  Let the Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites figure out how to make the government work.  Trying to pick a winner out of that mess is like spending your lotto winnings after buying that $2.00 ticket.  What makes me crazy is the gravitas the media bestows on idiots like Paul Wolfowitz and the various hacks working for the Washington Post.  I'm surprised Dick Cheney has not been front and center on the Sunday morning shows telling us how losing Iraq is all Obama's fault.  If only we had left 30,000 troops in perpetuity things would be swell right now.  I think I hear the sound of helicopter rotors atop the US embassy.  Sound familiar?

Rain and room

Too much and not enough, respectively.   The 2 plus inches of liquid sunshine that fell last week is narrowing options for planting and transplanting.   The remaining unplanted ground in the gardens is mostly heavier clay soils which are ideal for summer plantings as they retain moisture and provide slow release of nutrients.  Unfortunately, too much precipitation turns the area into a potential mudhole which can swallow a small tractor with ease.  Now begins the game of waiting til the last second and hoping things will get dry enough to plant before the next rain.   The farmers' market was successful last Saturday.  The first lettuce of the season brought rave reviews.   In the garden, most crops are making good progress, as are the weeds.  Father's day was a blur of weeding, seeding and mowing.  Hoping for a rain-free week, but not planning on it.

The polarization of America

According to surveys of ordinary Americans, it seems we are increasingly sorting ourselves into groups who share the same ideology.  This causes an "us against them" syndrome which over time could lead to an unbridgeable gulf.   While I see signs of this, I don't think the situation is quite as dire as the results of the surveys would have you believe.  As a confirmed liberal/progressive, I count some very conservative republicans as friends.  We tend to laugh at each other's closely held beliefs, although if push came to shove I'm not so sure either side would back down if challenged.  However, most of us are just trying to get through each day.  We don't have time to debate the fine points of domestic and foreign policy.  I doubt 10% of the population are politically active.  Certainly the audiences for Fox news and MSNBC are just a tiny fraction of the population.  If anything, most people are too passive.  The quadrennial presidential sweepstakes are about the only contest which many people pay attention to.   If indeed we are more polarized, we are also becoming more apathetic.   Not a good combination.

Understanding tea party rage

I wish I could.   I would guess that the voters who kicked Eric Cantor to the curb on Tuesday were fueled by rage and disappointment.  I wonder how many of them would like the kind of government they would get if enough of their darlings get elected.  Smaller government in the era of mega corporations means government by the corporations, for the corporations, etc.  Many of these rugged individualists can barely get off their scooters to vote and consistently state they expect all the benefits they feel entitled to.  This hardly gibes with the Paul Ryan school of less benefits for the average voter and more relief for the 1%.    What causes these people to vote against their own interest?   The idea that the undeserving are getting government largesse is a big factor.  The current President helps to focus their anger on the "other".   But what are the other reasons?  The economic desperation many feel is powerful.  The feeling they are being elbowed away from the trough by the surging minorities, especially the "illegals" they are constantly being reminded are taking their jobs.  There are probably many more factors at play, but until we understand them all, we will be doomed to a deadlocked government which will slide into irrelevance as the corporations take over its function.

Eating real food

In today's edition of the paper of record, Mark Bittman makes the point the solution to the obesity crisis in America is to eat real food, not the hyper processed junk or foodlike substances so often passed off as edible.  Like most people, the lure of junk food occasionally overcomes me.   A juicy cheeseburger, fries and a coke are a guilty pleasure.  But not every day.   A diet heavy in fruits and vegetables as well as unprocessed grains and lean meat is a good foundation for lifetime health.  My newest son-in-law is into the "paleo" diet which touts what the originators fancy was the diet our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate in the supposedly Eden like conditions before the advent of agriculture.  He claims the heavy emphasis on meat and vegetables has given him much more energy.  Whether or not it does, he is avoiding processed foods.   In that at least, he is in agreement with Bittman and others who write about food and diet.  The problem for the majority of Americans is the power of the processed food industry.  With billions of advertising dollars to spend, the merchants of ersatz food bombard us with propaganda designed to entice us to eat empty calories.  The solution is not easy.  Banning advertising would be a start, but under present conditions a non-starter.  A soda tax is likewise a sensible alternative, but also not likely.  Education is the best alternative we have at this time.  Will it be enough to avoid the coming crisis of obesity and diabetes?

Regulations and other insanities

Reading about the difference between eggs in the US and in the UK is a cautionary tale of regulations run amok.  Having grown up on a chicken farm in the 1950s, I remember grading eggs in a cool basement under one of the coops.  We gently washed the eggs and stored them at room temperature until they were picked up or we delivered them.  An occasional spot of chicken poop was removed with a thumbnail wash and I don't recall many people complaining.   The chickens, while mostly kept indoors had plenty of room to roam and the handmade laying nests were checked morning and evening for new additions.  As far as I know, there was little regulation.  Fast forward to today.  Chickens in the US basically live and die in a cage they can barely turn around in.  They have become egg laying machines.  The eggs are washed and sanitized in 90 degree water and refrigerated from that point on.  The shells are scrubbed and the cuticle which defends the egg from contamination is removed.  The Brits still do their eggs mostly the way we did 50 years ago.  According to taste tests, anyone can tell the difference.  The big problem is price.  To do what we did when I was a kid, the price of eggs would have to be $6.00-$8.00 per dozen.  Would anyone pay that price for good eggs?

Catching up, falling behind

It would seem like a contradiction, but in the extreme gardening world of early to mid June, it is very possible to both catch up with planting and fall behind on everything else.  I spent most of Saturday helping a friend, so Sunday was planting day for peppers, eggplant, winter squash, summer squash, cucumbers, melons, corn, lettuce, etc.  Still not finished.  Meanwhile, the weeds refuse to take any vacations and early plantings of beets and carrots and onions need attention.  The yard has taken a backseat up til now, but it needs plenty of work also.  Between family events and the copious amounts of rain which have disrupted work until now, I am starting to feel more like the nail than the hammer.

Tiresome Fauxtrage

I think the country is finally getting its fill of stupidity that Fox news, Rush Limbaugh et al are peddling 24/7.   The hand wringing over the EPA's new emission standards for power plants and the macabre dance over the prisoner swap which returned Bowe Bergdahl after 5 years of captivity has, I think, finally gone over the top.  The spectacle of republicans begging off taking responsibility for opposing the science of climate change; "I'm not a scientist" being the new talking point is almost like Dorothy sweeping aside the curtain and exposing the great and powerful Oz as a meek snake oil salesman.  If that is the best Boehner and his merry men can do, I think the fight is over and the grown ups can finally start cleaning up the mess.  Likewise, the revulsion many feel as they see the right wing stagger in circles as they try to justify opposition to recovering a serviceman from enemy captivity is another wake up call to the vast majority of Americans.  As the mid term elections approach I hope this whiff of sanity extends to the ballot box.  Let's retire the crazies in favor of people who believer in science and are not blinded old prejudices.

The Hypocritic Oath

Obviously, that is what most Repubs swear when they take office these days.  If Obama says the sky is blue, they will say it is red.  Two months ago, the most famous POW in congress, John McCain told Charlie Rose he would approve a prisoner swap to get our last POW out of Afghanistan.  So the President negotiated a swap and now McCain says it was a terrible idea.  The only thing he would probably approve would be Obama's resignation, followed by the delayed acknowledgement of his own election to the presidency.  The rest of the GOP quickly walked back any approval of the Bergdahl exchange.  They either scrubbed any congratulatory messages from their websites or twitter accounts or changed them to second guessing of the president.   As pointed out by several legal experts,  most of the Taliban prisoners at Gitmo would have to be released when the US withdraws from Afghanistan anyway, so their release could not have been delayed much longer.  It is like a sports team trading a potential free agent in the last year of his contract.  Better to get something for him than nothing at the end. 

This and that

We got about .6" of rain in about 20 minutes yesterday.  Rainfall at this time of year is a mixed blessing.  The heavier soils in some of the gardens still need to dry out, but the frenzied plantings from the last couple of weeks need some water to establish and grow.  If we don't get any between now and next Monday things will be on track.  Meanwhile, the somber mood in Quebec has lifted somewhat now that the Canadiens have been out of the playoffs for almost a week and the Stanley Cup finals are beginning.  The Habs are no longer the powerhouse team that dominated the NHL for decades, but they are still the closest thing to a religion in La Belle Province.  The Rangers are in the finals for the first time in 20 years.  Time to break their fans' hearts again.   There is no Mark Messier to bail them out this time.  Finally, the Republicans have found another scandal.  I guess the President can't even get a soldier back from the enemy without being questioned.   Obviously there are questions regarding Sgt. Bergdahl's disappearance from his unit.  Some even imply he deserted.  However, the armed forces make every effort to recover their own.  Republicans would not question this policy if carried out under Bush. 

Puncturing the 1% balloon

From new regulations on coal burning power plants to Seattle's raising the minimum wage to $15.00/hr., the new gilded age is under attack on several fronts.   Since the possibility of raising taxes on the richest among us is a near impossibility in the short term, raising the wages of the 99% is probably the best way to combat growing economic inequality.   Thomas Piketty's new book examining and documenting the rise of  the richest since the 1980s is drawing fire from the usual suspects, but so far he is defending his conclusions.  The trouble is there is no road map to fix this mess.  Barring a great depression and a world war such as we had in the 1930s and 40s, there will be no New Deal and G.I. bill to counteract the growing concentration of wealth.   This concentration will only become worse as the scions of the wealthy  inherit the fortunes their fathers built.  With millions invested in relatively safe instruments, these offspring will be able to perpetuate their status without the work and skill their parents exhibited.  The estate tax was supposed to be the great leveler which put each generation on a level playing field, but it has not kept up with the fantastic amounts of money being passed down.  Even taking 50% of 20 billion dollars still leaves plenty for future generations of the wealthy.  That's one reason the list of richest Americans is being dominated by the likes of the Waltons and Kochs.  So, in the short term, we need to pump up the income of everyone else at the expense of the rent seeking upper class. 

A beautiful wedding and a beautiful weekend.  It would be hard to top the weather and events.  Our middle daughter was a beaming bride and the weather cooperated nicely after a few rolling thunderstorms which made things look dire.  The sun came out gloriously in time for the ceremony and Mr. and Mrs. Rock greeted the world brightly.  Saturday and Sunday were a blur of planting, weeding and mowing.  Lots more remains to be done, but with a little help from Mom Nature and some diligent weeding, things will be looking up as the season progresses.