Not necessarily bliss

Ignorance is seemingly the new smarts in Iowa.  During an NPR interview this morning various and sundry residents of a rural town in the western part of the state opined they were very worried about terrorism.  Most of these benighted souls have more of a chance of being struck by a meteorite or drowned in a tidal wave than being killed by terrorists.  It is a tribute to the republican noise machine and its chief trumpeter, Faux News, that 99% white Iowa feels it is on the front lines of the fight against ISIS.  Comparing the relative virtues of the Donald and Ted Cruz brought out the very worst and most ignorant comments although some of them were so far around the bend, they almost reached a level of "truthiness".   Trump, the egotistical reality TV star and Cruz, a first term senator whose claim to fame is a campaign to shut down the federal government are touted as wise men, while Hillary Clinton, "has no clue" about how to keep these fools safe.  She will, they opine continue the policies of the dread Obama and try to take away their guns... Please, tell me these people are from another planet, rather than what they apparently are, frightened, ignorant people who are evidently about to answer Trump's question, "How stupid are the people of Iowa".

Farming in the future

Between the twin perils of drought and deluge, farmers around the world are facing more challenges than ever before.  The El Nino we are presently experiencing is decimating crops in South Florida with non-stop rain.  Rain in California is simultaneously welcome and worrying as it prevents timely planting for the spring and summer crops.   Areas in Australia are reeling from weeks of triple digit temperatures and no rain.  What this means for agriculture is not clear, but some growers are exploring indoor growing as a possible cure for climate disruptions.  In temperature controlled and artificially lighted warehouses spinach and lettuce crops are now being grown.  While the economics are not yet competitive with outdoor growing, as the climate disruptions grow, we may see more and more growers, especially in urban areas turn to man made growing environments.  The ramifications for our future are huge and so far unexamined. 

Watering he tree of parasitism

The latest iteration of the Bundy Show looks to be near its conclusion after the arrest of Cliven's offspring by the FBI when they ventured off the wildlife refuge they had occupied in Malheur, Oregon, yesterday.  A 74 year old fellow traveler was killed in the confrontation.  This will probably redound to the Bundy's reputation as stand up critics of government overreach.  At the previous standoff, the Bundy patriarch managed to rally a motley collection of militia extremists, gun nuts and so called "sovereign citizens" to defend him from government seizure of his cattle due to failure to pay grazing fees.  It is easy to dismiss this whole fiasco as the actions of a bunch of parasites who would like to use government land free of charge.  Of course their argument is they are patriots who are being oppressed by government tyranny.  Between these extremes the truth resides.  A government bureaucracy based  in Washington cannot be responsive to local needs and concerns 3000 miles from their office.  Meanwhile, the Bundys represent the fringe of a movement of appropriators of land which belongs to all citizens for their own interests.  Plenty of ranchers pay the grazing fees without protest.  That even one of these parasite patriots had to die is an unnecessary distraction which will delay a solution to this problem.

Hillary or Bernie

Kevin Drum, who blogs at Mother Jones said it way better than I can.  Basically, if I believed Bernie Sanders could get his agenda enacted after winning the Presidency, I would vote for him in a heartbeat.  While Hillary is to my right on many policies, I believe it is partly because she has been in the arena for 40 years, fighting for the possible, not the pie in the sky.  I think she could possibly do more business with a republican congress than Bernie and besides, she is the best shot at having a woman president in my lifetime.   Bernie's supporters will be disillusioned after his first legislative defeat or compromise.  His "revolution" will crash and burn shortly thereafter.  Meanwhile, if Hillary is able to mobilize the majority of the electorate (women) along with a few progressive men, she will have more influence than any president in recent memory.   I vacillated in 2008 and finally supported Obama, but this time I think Hillary is the best choice for the Democrats and the country.

First they came...

If robotics enthusiasts are even mildly successful in their latest endeavor, strawberry pickers will soon be out of a job.  A company is testing prototypes of a robotic picker which uses cameras and GPS technology to locate each strawberry on a plant, assess its ripeness and defects and decide to pick it in a matter of microseconds.  Until now, strawberries were the poster child for manual labor.  Human beings were the ultimate arbiter of ripeness and no machine could be as gentle...until now!  I was a strawberry picker during many a summer morning in my misspent youth.  Trying to move the leaves aside, gently picking the berries and not getting dirt on them was the mantra from dawn til noon.  I'm sure there are many small farms where child labor and migrants will continue to pick berries until the mechanisms are scaled to smaller acreage.  But the majority of supermarket fruit will soon be picked by robots.  When even illegal immigrants lose their jobs to mechanization, the future is looking bleak.  When will the robots come for your job?

Basic incivility

In a rather weird op-ed piece in the NYT this morning, former McCain-Palin spokesperson, Nicole Wallace simultaneously celebrates and mourns the phenomenon of Sarah Palin and its reincarnation in the person of The Donald.  While admitting Palin has managed to channel the rage felt by the base of the republican party, she laments that political discourse has been coarsened by this type of pandering to the ignorant.  She celebrates McCain's finest moment in the campaign, when he confronted a woman who called Obama "an Ayraab" and assured her he was a loyal American with whom someone may disagree without denying his patriotism.  This contrasts with rallies where Palin actively encouraged her followers to indulge their inner bigotry.  I agree with Wallace that the Palin phenomenon led to the success Trump has had so far in his campaign, but I take issue with her easy acceptance of the politics of hate and what it is doing to democracy.  Our form of governance depends on an informed citizenry who are prepared to participate in political discourse.  By pandering to ignorance and prejudice, Palin and Trump are opening the door to mob rule and the death of constitutional government. 

Snowpocalypse and the aftermath

As people continue to dig out of the great storm of 2016, life is slowly returning to normal.   The web of transportation and delivery schedules along with airline flights will be the last things to straighten out.   Most people take easy availability of life's necessities  for granted, but that roll of toilet paper or head of cauliflower you picked up was delivered to the store after a complex series of maneuvers on several different trucks.   The produce at this time of year generally is loaded in California or Arizona, then delivered to a central supermarket warehouse, then parceled out on local delivery vans to your neighborhood store.  The weather occurring between our area and the west coast does not usually impact deliveries, but the weekend storm has delayed many trucks and closed some businesses.  With the return of more clement weather, most people will notice only minor inconveniences, but the potential for a much more serious interruption remains possible.  Our civilization rests on many factors we take for granted and the timely delivery of life's necessities is one of them.  The difference between civility and savagery is an empty stomach in many cases.