One of the few things I learned in my brief (3 semesters) tour of law school was "Ignorance of the Law" is no defense.
So what do you say when those charged with enforcing the law don't even take the time or the trouble to learn what the new laws are????
Yesterday, a neighbor's grandson was given a ticket by an Indiana DNR officer for "...driving an ATV on the Roadway." The youngster was 16 years old, the Honda ATV was equipped with a fold-away front hitch and he was moving from one farm to the other as he worked for his grandfather. So what's the problem?
The problem is the public servant charged with enforcing our state statutes had no clue about Public Law 150 which specifically allows those engaged in farming and "...moving from field to field..." if the vehicle in question is equipped with a fold-away hitch and the driver is at least 15 years of age to drive on county and rural roads. IT'S A NEW LAW! And a major change from the old one, I know, because I worked for over two years to get this change through the legislature for the farmers in Indiana.
My neighbor, the grandfather, had a copy of Public Law 150 at home because I gave it to him. This law took effect 30 days ago and the grandfather tried to explain all this to the badge heavy Raccoon Ranger, but he was completely ignorant....(I'm seriously biting my tongue right now and won't elaborate with any further comments).
I'm not trying to pick on law enforcement officers this morning because generally speaking I'm pretty darn sympathetic to their situation (for a very, very brief period I worked as a police officer, but I was still farming at the time and it became a 'chose one' situation), but one of the prime criteria for any officer's employment is to know the law and you would think that after 30 days an officer charged with enforcement of these laws would take the time to familiarize himself with the new changes signed into law by the legislature and the governor that take effect July 1st of every year in our state.
It's sad, just nothing less than SAD.
That's it for today because I have to mow the green stuff and that will take a number of hours.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
QUESTION FOR OTHER BLOGGERS...
Got a question for others in the Blogosphere.
Do you get solicitations to submit posts to other blogs?
It seems in the past week or so I've been hit with at least three of these things from people I've never heard of before and my response in each case has been; "WHY WOULD I WANT TO? WHAT IS THE INCENTIVE?"
Over the years as a professional writer I've been contacted by a publisher or two (Granted there weren't many) and asked if I would submit a piece to them on a specific subject. That's cool because in almost every case if I did a halfway decent job of stringing all the words in a coherent manner and somewhat logical progressive they threw money at me in return.
That's cool, but nothing was mentioned in any of these inquiries? And all of them sound like scams because my first clue is THEY DON'T RESPOND IN A REASONABLE MANNER TO MY RESPONSES. (My experience is Editors of most anything, harried as they are, will respond to emails, especially when they initiated the first contact.)
If I'm the only one this is occurring to, then forget the whole thing and go back to what you were doing. Carry On. Forget I ever asked, but on first impressions it looks like the opening move on some sort of scam.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Do you get solicitations to submit posts to other blogs?
It seems in the past week or so I've been hit with at least three of these things from people I've never heard of before and my response in each case has been; "WHY WOULD I WANT TO? WHAT IS THE INCENTIVE?"
Over the years as a professional writer I've been contacted by a publisher or two (Granted there weren't many) and asked if I would submit a piece to them on a specific subject. That's cool because in almost every case if I did a halfway decent job of stringing all the words in a coherent manner and somewhat logical progressive they threw money at me in return.
That's cool, but nothing was mentioned in any of these inquiries? And all of them sound like scams because my first clue is THEY DON'T RESPOND IN A REASONABLE MANNER TO MY RESPONSES. (My experience is Editors of most anything, harried as they are, will respond to emails, especially when they initiated the first contact.)
If I'm the only one this is occurring to, then forget the whole thing and go back to what you were doing. Carry On. Forget I ever asked, but on first impressions it looks like the opening move on some sort of scam.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
EXPECT A LATE HARVEST...
Okay, we have pretty much survived the month of July here in the eastern edges of the Corn Belt Midwest and by all appearances we ARE going to HAVE a corn crop this fall. That's the good news. The bad news is the fear of an Early Frost and even if we don't suffer an Early Frost the fact is the maturity of our corn and soybean crops has been significantly delayed.........judging by the sweet corn.
Normally, by this time of year my wife and I are working like beavers getting the corn put up for freezing, but even the early stuff I planted is running late. It will be next week before we really start getting full kernel depth in most of it. Some people like their sweet corn 'hard', but we don't as we prefer it just as it matures. That way it's really 'tender'.
Yet, using the sweet corn maturity and development as a guideline it's obvious this year's harvest is going to be a late one. And that's without the onset of an early frost in September!
Why the concern over an early frost, you ask? Because if the still immature corn plant is hit with an early frost, even a just few weeks prior to normal harvest, and 'killed' prematurely it will not, as in NEVER, dry down.
Normally we like to harvest dent-corn in the 17% to 19% moisture range. Some operators want it drier, while others will start when it is 23% moisture and hope it dries down quickly as they progress through their acreages. Corn has to be dried down to 15% moisture for long term storage, or it spoils, germinates and generally goes out of 'condition'. You just don't want to go there because it's ugly, smells bad and is an overall loss of money for everyone involved when this happens inside a 25,000 bu. grain bin.
Drying corn is the reason why many small towns in rural America during the fall smell like someone has been roasting a giant batch of popcorn or 'parched' corn. (It also is extremely expensive as anyone who has dried a big batch of clothes in a Laundromat can realize.) For some reason these smells are usually strongest during the early evening. It is also why every car in a small town during this same period is coated with that red 'dust'. They are called "Bee's Wings" and they cover just about everything with a thick coat within a few blocks of every grain handling system in the country. Bee's Wings are the red thin shells that come off the kernel as each corn kernel dries and they are blown free of the grain by the powerful fans blowing the hot air through the driers. They coat everything.
The problem this summer is we have not had the heat-degree days necessary to mature the crop in the field. The wet Spring delayed planting for just about everyone from Ohio to Iowa and started us all off on the wrong foot to begin with this planting season. Plus, the fact is with July ending we aren't likely to get that many more good heat-degree days in the remaining months before harvest should start in October. (How is this summer's temperatures working for you, Al Gore?.......You Dumb Ass!)
Many of us corn producers have been spoiled over the past few years because the corn has matured relatively early (due to sufficient heat-degree days for each variety's specific maturity range and our relative 'early' planting practices) and we've been able to harvest a comparatively 'dry' corn crop.
It's obvious to me, at least, it ain't going to happen this year.
I figure this is going to be a harvest and fall where every corn dryer in the country will be plugged full of wet corn by 2:00PM every day it's fit to harvest in the fields.
Normally working by myself I can harvest and deliver about 7,000 bu./a day; essentially seven semi-truck loads. This year I'll probably be doing great if I can get 4,000 bu. a day before the elevator shuts me off for the day.....because it will take all of the remaining hours to dry the wet corn they've received during their morning hours of operation. The boys with their own dryers and grain leg set-ups will be okay if they have improved and maintained their own dryer capacity to match their rate of harvest capacity. Of course if they haven't, they too will be spending their afternoons twiddling their thumbs as they wait for the grain to dry and they scan the horizon and the radar for the next approaching thunder storm.
We haven't had a harvest like that in some time and for the young guys it will prove to be a lesson in "Patience"...and that's without the onset of 'wet' weather like we had this Spring.
Dad always said we could harvest corn when the snow flies and many may very well be finishing up in the white stuff this year.
I just hope I'm not one of them.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Normally, by this time of year my wife and I are working like beavers getting the corn put up for freezing, but even the early stuff I planted is running late. It will be next week before we really start getting full kernel depth in most of it. Some people like their sweet corn 'hard', but we don't as we prefer it just as it matures. That way it's really 'tender'.
Yet, using the sweet corn maturity and development as a guideline it's obvious this year's harvest is going to be a late one. And that's without the onset of an early frost in September!
Why the concern over an early frost, you ask? Because if the still immature corn plant is hit with an early frost, even a just few weeks prior to normal harvest, and 'killed' prematurely it will not, as in NEVER, dry down.
Normally we like to harvest dent-corn in the 17% to 19% moisture range. Some operators want it drier, while others will start when it is 23% moisture and hope it dries down quickly as they progress through their acreages. Corn has to be dried down to 15% moisture for long term storage, or it spoils, germinates and generally goes out of 'condition'. You just don't want to go there because it's ugly, smells bad and is an overall loss of money for everyone involved when this happens inside a 25,000 bu. grain bin.
Drying corn is the reason why many small towns in rural America during the fall smell like someone has been roasting a giant batch of popcorn or 'parched' corn. (It also is extremely expensive as anyone who has dried a big batch of clothes in a Laundromat can realize.) For some reason these smells are usually strongest during the early evening. It is also why every car in a small town during this same period is coated with that red 'dust'. They are called "Bee's Wings" and they cover just about everything with a thick coat within a few blocks of every grain handling system in the country. Bee's Wings are the red thin shells that come off the kernel as each corn kernel dries and they are blown free of the grain by the powerful fans blowing the hot air through the driers. They coat everything.
The problem this summer is we have not had the heat-degree days necessary to mature the crop in the field. The wet Spring delayed planting for just about everyone from Ohio to Iowa and started us all off on the wrong foot to begin with this planting season. Plus, the fact is with July ending we aren't likely to get that many more good heat-degree days in the remaining months before harvest should start in October. (How is this summer's temperatures working for you, Al Gore?.......You Dumb Ass!)
Many of us corn producers have been spoiled over the past few years because the corn has matured relatively early (due to sufficient heat-degree days for each variety's specific maturity range and our relative 'early' planting practices) and we've been able to harvest a comparatively 'dry' corn crop.
It's obvious to me, at least, it ain't going to happen this year.
I figure this is going to be a harvest and fall where every corn dryer in the country will be plugged full of wet corn by 2:00PM every day it's fit to harvest in the fields.
Normally working by myself I can harvest and deliver about 7,000 bu./a day; essentially seven semi-truck loads. This year I'll probably be doing great if I can get 4,000 bu. a day before the elevator shuts me off for the day.....because it will take all of the remaining hours to dry the wet corn they've received during their morning hours of operation. The boys with their own dryers and grain leg set-ups will be okay if they have improved and maintained their own dryer capacity to match their rate of harvest capacity. Of course if they haven't, they too will be spending their afternoons twiddling their thumbs as they wait for the grain to dry and they scan the horizon and the radar for the next approaching thunder storm.
We haven't had a harvest like that in some time and for the young guys it will prove to be a lesson in "Patience"...and that's without the onset of 'wet' weather like we had this Spring.
Dad always said we could harvest corn when the snow flies and many may very well be finishing up in the white stuff this year.
I just hope I'm not one of them.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
JUNK SCIENCE ORGANIC FOOD HEALTH BENEFITS...
Slept in this morning so I'm running a little behind, but found this on the BBC website this AM about Organic Food.
You can file this under: STUFF THAT MAKES ME LAUGH!!
It seems the Food Standards Agency studied the alleged benefits of organic food and found according to Gill Fine, FSA director of consumer choice and dietary health, "What it shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced and there is no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food."
That is other than making your pocketbook lighter as you pay more for the same thing you could have purchased for far less from a 'conventional' food store.
The study which has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no difference in the nutrient levels of organically grown food versus conventionally grown produce in terms of calcium, iron, and vitamin C. Neither could they detect any differences between the two methods for meat, diary or egg products.
Differences were detected in the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, but that was attributed to fertilizer usage levels and crop maturity at harvest; neither of which would have any significance on possible health benefits.
In short, Organic Food could NOT be proven in this UK examination to have ANY health benefits whatsoever.
Speaking as one who has seen it first hand at the production level, I will say again Organic Farming is one of the best Consumer Fleecing Money Scams ongoing in agriculture and the finest example of 'Junk' Science being sold on a broad basis to an unknowing and certainly 'unthinking' population the world over.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
You can file this under: STUFF THAT MAKES ME LAUGH!!
It seems the Food Standards Agency studied the alleged benefits of organic food and found according to Gill Fine, FSA director of consumer choice and dietary health, "What it shows is that there is little, if any, nutritional difference between organic and conventionally produced and there is no evidence of additional health benefits from eating organic food."
That is other than making your pocketbook lighter as you pay more for the same thing you could have purchased for far less from a 'conventional' food store.
The study which has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no difference in the nutrient levels of organically grown food versus conventionally grown produce in terms of calcium, iron, and vitamin C. Neither could they detect any differences between the two methods for meat, diary or egg products.
Differences were detected in the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, but that was attributed to fertilizer usage levels and crop maturity at harvest; neither of which would have any significance on possible health benefits.
In short, Organic Food could NOT be proven in this UK examination to have ANY health benefits whatsoever.
Speaking as one who has seen it first hand at the production level, I will say again Organic Farming is one of the best Consumer Fleecing Money Scams ongoing in agriculture and the finest example of 'Junk' Science being sold on a broad basis to an unknowing and certainly 'unthinking' population the world over.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
MAYBE I SHOULD WEAR AN EYEPATCH?...
Okay, I've been dealing with this eye thing for more than two months and the 'progress' is not what I expected. I've always been a terrible patient, but my wife keeps close track on me just to make sure I do what I'm supposed to and follow instructions. While I've had both eyes lasered, the left eye just ain't getting there.
I had the right eye lasered a little over two weeks ago and it's fine. Still 20/20 in terms of overall vision, but I require reading glasses like I have for the past decade or so, but the left eye is starting to bug me. I can't read with it with glasses on and I can't see with it at distance. I can only see things close up clearly and even then there are not in clear focus with the left eye. Once something is past 18".......forget it! It's totally out of focus and I'm left dealing with a slight double vision problem.
The real difficulty is the disparity between the visual acuity of the two eyes and it's leaving me with headaches that would routinely stop steam trains by the dark hours of the evening.
I've got an emergency appointment with the eye surgeon in a few hours, but if he can't come up with something to help this situation, I'm going to start wearing a black eyepatch just so I don't have to try and use my left eye. I figure that will cut down on the headaches.
File this under: GETTING OLD AIN'T FOR WUSSIES!
AN UPDATE: On the 23rd of July I posted about the lawsuit over the Florida hospital that 'deported' an illegal alien in their care for more than three years who had no insurance. They simply went to court and got permission from an appellate court, no less, to charter a private plane and fly this guy back to where he came from. Yes, he was brain damaged and was injured terribly through no fault of his own by the criminal behavior of a drunk driver driving a stolen vehicle, but the hospital simply couldn't continue caring for him without compensation. They got sued by his legal guardians. (Talk about ingratitude; the hospital spent over $1.5 million on this guy out of its own pocket.)
Well, according to this morning's NEW YORK TIMES, the jury in the trial case has decided in favor of the hospital. They decided it had not committed false imprisonment and it was not liable for damages.
Maybe this will become a precedent for others to follow; when you have an illegal alien who can't pay for his care make arrangements to return them to their home country.
Just a thought...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
I had the right eye lasered a little over two weeks ago and it's fine. Still 20/20 in terms of overall vision, but I require reading glasses like I have for the past decade or so, but the left eye is starting to bug me. I can't read with it with glasses on and I can't see with it at distance. I can only see things close up clearly and even then there are not in clear focus with the left eye. Once something is past 18".......forget it! It's totally out of focus and I'm left dealing with a slight double vision problem.
The real difficulty is the disparity between the visual acuity of the two eyes and it's leaving me with headaches that would routinely stop steam trains by the dark hours of the evening.
I've got an emergency appointment with the eye surgeon in a few hours, but if he can't come up with something to help this situation, I'm going to start wearing a black eyepatch just so I don't have to try and use my left eye. I figure that will cut down on the headaches.
File this under: GETTING OLD AIN'T FOR WUSSIES!
AN UPDATE: On the 23rd of July I posted about the lawsuit over the Florida hospital that 'deported' an illegal alien in their care for more than three years who had no insurance. They simply went to court and got permission from an appellate court, no less, to charter a private plane and fly this guy back to where he came from. Yes, he was brain damaged and was injured terribly through no fault of his own by the criminal behavior of a drunk driver driving a stolen vehicle, but the hospital simply couldn't continue caring for him without compensation. They got sued by his legal guardians. (Talk about ingratitude; the hospital spent over $1.5 million on this guy out of its own pocket.)
Well, according to this morning's NEW YORK TIMES, the jury in the trial case has decided in favor of the hospital. They decided it had not committed false imprisonment and it was not liable for damages.
Maybe this will become a precedent for others to follow; when you have an illegal alien who can't pay for his care make arrangements to return them to their home country.
Just a thought...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Monday, July 27, 2009
LAWMAN LEATHER IS BACK...
Due to a variety of reasons I've been somewhat lax in my monthly purchases of popular gun-press-'zines'. I know there is much to criticize about gunwriting, often for legitimate reasons, but still I enjoy the medium and use it to see what others are waxing high and low over in the world of the popular gun press.
More importantly I study the advertisements as they often tell me more than the articles do. Who is buying full page ads, and who isn't? I also find news in things not previously seen, or the return of things somewhat forgotten.
Such is the case with LAWMAN LEATHER GOODS as they have returned to the world of mass marketing of leather holsters. For those who came in late they have been the producers of the original 'Clark' patented shoulder holster, later the Bucheimer-Clark holster and then the Lawman Leather holster as worn by Clint Eastwood in the film "DIRTY HARRY".
This is why they advertise themselves as the makers of the "Original Dirty Harry" holster. The company is owned by Jerry Ardolino, a retired Chicago police officer. I've been collecting these holsters for a number of years and what I appreciate more than anything else is the historical information listed on his website: http://www.lawmanleathergoods.com/. He details the true history of this design and where it originated. Just about everything he's written on his website corresponds perfectly with the information I've gathered from multiple other sources, so he's not embellishing anything out of context.
(The only area where I would disagree with anything he's written on his website is on his explanation and reasons for the elimination of the retention screw that was on the original design. I've used these holsters long enough to believe it is worthwhile, while he feels it isn't needed.)
No prices are listed, but I can tell you from years of personal experience of bidding on these things on an internet auction site, his prices just have to be cheaper! Additionally, you will be getting a new manufactured product that stays true to the original design. I know for a fact I lost one auction a few years back to a bidder from Japan who won with a final bid for over $600, so I welcome the return of this product and this company to the market place.
The design itself is one of the most comfortable ever designed for carrying a large frame, relatively long barrel revolver. (A.E. Nelson is the only other company with a shoulder holster design that is as comfortable, if not a touch more so.) The only shortcoming to the Original Dirty Harry shoulder holster design is the fact that IF the tied junction knots securing the side straps, the holster and the cross-the-back-straps are not done correctly they 'knot' up and print badly under a 'thin' covering garment at the top of the shoulders and back.
It is, however, a timeless design. (I think the Clark Holster Co. of Los Angeles first patented the design back in 1920, or at least that's what I remember when I did a patent search a couple of years back.) It is an extremely good one and it is a hard design to manufacture due to the shape of the enclosed retention spring. It also is a hard design to 'knock-off' because all too often the pretenders don't get the two holster halves symmetrical or matching at their edges.
So, if you've always wanted a true "Dirty Harry" shoulder holster go to their website and look 'em over. I'm glad to see their return. It sure beats trying to outbid some foreigner over a picture on the internet.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
More importantly I study the advertisements as they often tell me more than the articles do. Who is buying full page ads, and who isn't? I also find news in things not previously seen, or the return of things somewhat forgotten.
Such is the case with LAWMAN LEATHER GOODS as they have returned to the world of mass marketing of leather holsters. For those who came in late they have been the producers of the original 'Clark' patented shoulder holster, later the Bucheimer-Clark holster and then the Lawman Leather holster as worn by Clint Eastwood in the film "DIRTY HARRY".
This is why they advertise themselves as the makers of the "Original Dirty Harry" holster. The company is owned by Jerry Ardolino, a retired Chicago police officer. I've been collecting these holsters for a number of years and what I appreciate more than anything else is the historical information listed on his website: http://www.lawmanleathergoods.com/. He details the true history of this design and where it originated. Just about everything he's written on his website corresponds perfectly with the information I've gathered from multiple other sources, so he's not embellishing anything out of context.
(The only area where I would disagree with anything he's written on his website is on his explanation and reasons for the elimination of the retention screw that was on the original design. I've used these holsters long enough to believe it is worthwhile, while he feels it isn't needed.)
No prices are listed, but I can tell you from years of personal experience of bidding on these things on an internet auction site, his prices just have to be cheaper! Additionally, you will be getting a new manufactured product that stays true to the original design. I know for a fact I lost one auction a few years back to a bidder from Japan who won with a final bid for over $600, so I welcome the return of this product and this company to the market place.
The design itself is one of the most comfortable ever designed for carrying a large frame, relatively long barrel revolver. (A.E. Nelson is the only other company with a shoulder holster design that is as comfortable, if not a touch more so.) The only shortcoming to the Original Dirty Harry shoulder holster design is the fact that IF the tied junction knots securing the side straps, the holster and the cross-the-back-straps are not done correctly they 'knot' up and print badly under a 'thin' covering garment at the top of the shoulders and back.
It is, however, a timeless design. (I think the Clark Holster Co. of Los Angeles first patented the design back in 1920, or at least that's what I remember when I did a patent search a couple of years back.) It is an extremely good one and it is a hard design to manufacture due to the shape of the enclosed retention spring. It also is a hard design to 'knock-off' because all too often the pretenders don't get the two holster halves symmetrical or matching at their edges.
So, if you've always wanted a true "Dirty Harry" shoulder holster go to their website and look 'em over. I'm glad to see their return. It sure beats trying to outbid some foreigner over a picture on the internet.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, July 24, 2009
CARBINE FORE-END RAILS?...
One quick comment of a non-gun nature and it has to do with people "...acting stupidly..." If you want a better perspective on the confrontation between the Harvard professor (who was black) and the Cambridge Police Officer (who was white), who responded to a burglary in progress call, go to TheSmokingGun.com or SecondCityCop.com as both sites have copies of the actual police report posted. It's obvious from the report there were plenty of witnesses to verify the subject was, in fact, disorderly (the crime for which he was arrested) and the officer involved acted in a very professional manner. The dumbasses involved in this fiasco were the college professor who was "...acting stupidly..." and President Unicorn who shot his mouth off before he had the facts.
*****
But then considering how he has performed over this proposed legislative healthcare reform, that isn't surprising...
*****
Back to gunstuff, it seems all the rage in carbine design is to have a 'four-rail' fore-end. Yeah, they are nice, but I'm NOT a soldier stationed in the 'sand-box' and I really have no need to mount a 7 cup coffee maker on the end of my rifle or carbine. I tend to view these items as somewhat overblown 'necessities'.
*****
I do believe in lights or 'tactical lamps' as they are now described because they are useful and I've used one already in a 'shooting', but the shootee, as it were, was not human. He was a coyote. Again it's something of a long story, but it was in the dead of winter and we, the two of us, wound up at a flood tube in the ditchbank on one of my fields. I initially got down on the ice on the bottom of the ditch and peered in to see if I could see where he had gone. Nothing, it was as dark as the inside of a cow, so I raised my rifle and shined the light in. I was immediately rewarded with the startled facial expression of said coyote who was not more than four feet from the muzzle of my rifle. End of Coyote.
*****
I really think one of the better fore-arm designs out there at present is the VLTOR "CASV-EL" which is a free floating 'handguard' (their term) or replaceable fore-end. It is what is mounted on my 'FrankenStein' Suppressed .300 Whisper pictured at the top of this post. What I like about it is you can position the mounting rails where you specifically need them as opposed to having to deal with four rails positioned 90 degrees from each other all the way around the front of the gun...whether you want them or not.
*****
*****
I really only need some sort of mounting point for a tactical lamp. I don't use laser designators, grenade launchers or other items the military feels their troops should have on their carbines. I mount a bipod on the .300 Whisper carbine because of the extra weight of the SSK suppressor makes the gun so muzzle-heavy and the bipod helps steady the whole thing.
*****
Another feature I like about the VLTOR unit is the length of the top-rail and how it helped convert a standard upper receiver into one that approximated the best of the 'flattop' receivers without having to buy another upper receiver and .300 Whisper barrel assembly.
*****
In the final analysis however it all comes to what you can get for what you feel is most cost effective for your needs, sometimes the four rail carbines are easier on the pocket book than what it takes to convert an older gun.
*****
Like the expression says...'Your mileage may vary"
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Thursday, July 23, 2009
WHO SHOULD GET 'RATIONED' HEALTHCARE?...
I was going to try and post all this week about firearms, but the ongoing charade in Washington DC is more than I can handle, so I have to spout off my views on this whole 'ObamaCare' fiasco.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, is attempting to identify the root cause of escalating healthcare in this country. It can be traced back directly to two problems:
1. The first is physicians practicing "Defensive Medicine" and
2. The second are patients who have no insurance and have NEVER contributed to any type of social or government network program like Social Security, Medicare or whatever.
First of all, let's start off by establishing some ground rules before arguing "Who should get 'Rationed' Healthcare?" President Unicorn has repeatedly said there are "...45 Million..." uninsured in terms of healthcare coverage in this country. S.E. Cupp is a syndicated columnist who writes for a number of news organizations and she (redacted) tried to verify that number. Long story, short, she feels it's bogus.....as in completely! She had a terrible time verifying anything this President said so she wound up going to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Census Bureau for possible answers.
Using the information they provided 253.4 million Americans have health insurance coverage, which it turns out is 83% of our current population. But, there is more! This 83% of the population have this coverage through private insurers, employer plans and government programs like Medicaid/Medicare, but most of them, 202 million, pay for private insurance.
She broke the President's 45 million down further by noticing that 10 million of them aren't even citizens. (Her estimate is low by all accounts; most peg the number somewhere between 12 million and 20 million....truth is no one knows for sure.) The estimate is 17 million can afford insurance but chose not to have any and under ObamaCare (the House version as it is presently written) they will be taxed an equivalent proportion of what they would have paid for health insurance, but receive absolutely NO healthcare benefits. They will pay this tax as a penalty fine!
Cupp's final figure she comes to is 11 million folks in this country don't have healthcare coverage but would like something. That's a far cry from 45 million.
As for doctors over-ordering medical tests the only way to get doctors to stop 'over-ordering' as they Cover Their Ass in terms of possible malpractice suits is to totally over-haul our current Tort Law/Personal Liability law in this country. But considering that most of Congress in both houses is filled with lawyers, snowballs stand a better chance on a July afternoon of surviving a barbecue than we do of ever seeing serious Tort Reform in this country.
The other issue are those who have no coverage, no ability to pay for healthcare and no possible hope in the future of EV'AR paying their hospital, doctor or medical bills. This is where the concept of "Rationed Healthcare" bites me in the butt and makes it incredibly sore.
THE MORAL QUESTION FACING THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW IS: WHO SHOULD RECEIVE "RATIONED HEALTHCARE"? THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO IT IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER OVER MANY YEARS, IF NOT DECADES, THROUGH TAX CONTRIBUTIONS, EMPLOYER PLANS OR PRIVATE INSURANCE OR THOSE WHO ARE NOT CITIZENS AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF BECOMING CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY, HAVE NEVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY OF OUR COUNTRY AND COME HERE ONLY TO SEND MONEY BACK TO THEIR 'HOME' COUNTRY?
Is the ultimate goal of this 'ObamaCare' to establish a healthcare mechanism for all of North and Central America?
The interesting thing is there is a court case ongoing presently in Florida that directly addresses these questions. In Stuart, Florida during the early morning hours of July, 2003 Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and flew a patient of theirs, Luis Jimenez, back to his native Guatemala. The hospital had spent more than $1.5 million dollars on his care over the previous three years. He was an illegal alien in this country and he never contributed one red cent toward payment of all this care. The hospital and its staff went to court and after a difficult struggle (he had a court appointed guardian) was able to move him to his native country and OUT of their facility.
Jimenez was a day laborer in the area who was critically injured in an automobile accident as the result of a drunk driver. He was in a vegetative state for more than a year and presently has the cognitive level of a 4th grader. The hospital sought and got a letter from his native country that it could care for him, so after an appellate court ruled in its favor, they flew him home and out of their responsibility.
His guardian is now suing them because he argues they didn't have the authority to 'deport' an undocumented worker.
Okay, here's where the rubber meets the road under Obamacare as its presently written. Mr Jimenez would continue to get preferential treatment over those who have paid into the system. In fact Michelle Malkin points out (in an article in the July 22nd New York Post) that under ObamaCare law-abiding, uninsured Americans would be fined if they don't submit to it, but illegal aliens are specifically exempted!
If you think the system is over-burdened now wait until every person outside the borders of this country gets wind of this healthcare bonanza. It's better than a Lottery! It will draw the injured, the lame and the chronically ill illegal aliens to this country like sugar water draws flies.
Well, actually we're talking about that other substance that draws flies.
This whole thing is nothing less.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
POSTSCRIPT: It is more than revealing that this past Tuesday the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two page amendment put forward by Republican Tom Coburn that would have required all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. We will see if it survives for very long in either the Senate or the House/Senate conference committe because every Democrat on the Senate committee, but Chris Dodd, Barbara Mikulski and Ted Kennedy (via a proxy vote) voted against this amendment. hat/tip to http://www.greenmnts.blogspot.com/
No one, and I mean NO ONE, is attempting to identify the root cause of escalating healthcare in this country. It can be traced back directly to two problems:
1. The first is physicians practicing "Defensive Medicine" and
2. The second are patients who have no insurance and have NEVER contributed to any type of social or government network program like Social Security, Medicare or whatever.
First of all, let's start off by establishing some ground rules before arguing "Who should get 'Rationed' Healthcare?" President Unicorn has repeatedly said there are "...45 Million..." uninsured in terms of healthcare coverage in this country. S.E. Cupp is a syndicated columnist who writes for a number of news organizations and she (redacted) tried to verify that number. Long story, short, she feels it's bogus.....as in completely! She had a terrible time verifying anything this President said so she wound up going to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as the U.S. Census Bureau for possible answers.
Using the information they provided 253.4 million Americans have health insurance coverage, which it turns out is 83% of our current population. But, there is more! This 83% of the population have this coverage through private insurers, employer plans and government programs like Medicaid/Medicare, but most of them, 202 million, pay for private insurance.
She broke the President's 45 million down further by noticing that 10 million of them aren't even citizens. (Her estimate is low by all accounts; most peg the number somewhere between 12 million and 20 million....truth is no one knows for sure.) The estimate is 17 million can afford insurance but chose not to have any and under ObamaCare (the House version as it is presently written) they will be taxed an equivalent proportion of what they would have paid for health insurance, but receive absolutely NO healthcare benefits. They will pay this tax as a penalty fine!
Cupp's final figure she comes to is 11 million folks in this country don't have healthcare coverage but would like something. That's a far cry from 45 million.
As for doctors over-ordering medical tests the only way to get doctors to stop 'over-ordering' as they Cover Their Ass in terms of possible malpractice suits is to totally over-haul our current Tort Law/Personal Liability law in this country. But considering that most of Congress in both houses is filled with lawyers, snowballs stand a better chance on a July afternoon of surviving a barbecue than we do of ever seeing serious Tort Reform in this country.
The other issue are those who have no coverage, no ability to pay for healthcare and no possible hope in the future of EV'AR paying their hospital, doctor or medical bills. This is where the concept of "Rationed Healthcare" bites me in the butt and makes it incredibly sore.
THE MORAL QUESTION FACING THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW IS: WHO SHOULD RECEIVE "RATIONED HEALTHCARE"? THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO IT IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER OVER MANY YEARS, IF NOT DECADES, THROUGH TAX CONTRIBUTIONS, EMPLOYER PLANS OR PRIVATE INSURANCE OR THOSE WHO ARE NOT CITIZENS AND HAVE NO INTENTION OF BECOMING CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY, HAVE NEVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY OF OUR COUNTRY AND COME HERE ONLY TO SEND MONEY BACK TO THEIR 'HOME' COUNTRY?
Is the ultimate goal of this 'ObamaCare' to establish a healthcare mechanism for all of North and Central America?
The interesting thing is there is a court case ongoing presently in Florida that directly addresses these questions. In Stuart, Florida during the early morning hours of July, 2003 Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and flew a patient of theirs, Luis Jimenez, back to his native Guatemala. The hospital had spent more than $1.5 million dollars on his care over the previous three years. He was an illegal alien in this country and he never contributed one red cent toward payment of all this care. The hospital and its staff went to court and after a difficult struggle (he had a court appointed guardian) was able to move him to his native country and OUT of their facility.
Jimenez was a day laborer in the area who was critically injured in an automobile accident as the result of a drunk driver. He was in a vegetative state for more than a year and presently has the cognitive level of a 4th grader. The hospital sought and got a letter from his native country that it could care for him, so after an appellate court ruled in its favor, they flew him home and out of their responsibility.
His guardian is now suing them because he argues they didn't have the authority to 'deport' an undocumented worker.
Okay, here's where the rubber meets the road under Obamacare as its presently written. Mr Jimenez would continue to get preferential treatment over those who have paid into the system. In fact Michelle Malkin points out (in an article in the July 22nd New York Post) that under ObamaCare law-abiding, uninsured Americans would be fined if they don't submit to it, but illegal aliens are specifically exempted!
If you think the system is over-burdened now wait until every person outside the borders of this country gets wind of this healthcare bonanza. It's better than a Lottery! It will draw the injured, the lame and the chronically ill illegal aliens to this country like sugar water draws flies.
Well, actually we're talking about that other substance that draws flies.
This whole thing is nothing less.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
POSTSCRIPT: It is more than revealing that this past Tuesday the Senate health committee voted 12-11 in favor of a two page amendment put forward by Republican Tom Coburn that would have required all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan. We will see if it survives for very long in either the Senate or the House/Senate conference committe because every Democrat on the Senate committee, but Chris Dodd, Barbara Mikulski and Ted Kennedy (via a proxy vote) voted against this amendment. hat/tip to http://www.greenmnts.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
NEW FAVORITE RIFLE...
Having just completed three long articles for a magazine publisher in New York, all of them on AR-style rifles, it finally dawned on me I really have a new favorite rifle. It's my Lewis Machine & Tool "Monolithic Rail Platform" rifle as seen above and laying atop one of the Texas corn field pests I was asked to help 'control' this past March. (My kind of 'control' is somewhat 'rural' oriented and different, as opposed to say, what an urban dweller would imagine. It's certainly more final.)Light rifles and carbines seem to be all the rage this summer as FNH is starting to dribble out semi-auto, civilian legal examples of their SCAR-'Light' rifle and Remingon has just announced their own "ACR" rifle, which some feel is nothing more than the 'Masada' from Magpul that we had seen previously, but now with a different manufacturer's label on it. Add into this mix is the fact I've just received for testing Ruger's new SR-556 rifle and you can understand why I'm focused on semi-auto, magazine fed light rifles this morning. (Bill Ruger just has to be spinning in his grave with this thing from Ruger, and I think that's how I'm going to orient my review of it.)
I've always been a fan of the AR-15 style rifle for agricultural pest control applications, mainly because of their accuracy. I've owned multiple examples -- I think I presently own five different guns of this design -- and I have used them for many years; decades even. I always thought if I could only own just one rifle/carbine (a terrible thought, but a great brain teaser) it would have been a Colt made example of one form or another. I no longer think that way. Nothing against Colt, but the fact remains we have to recognize the world has changed and progress has been made in terms of these rifles. Plus, there are so many firms making these things in the current market they are almost a commodity like #2 yellow corn.
It's my thought that in the 21st Century, a modern example just about has to have the ability to change calibers -- and this is NOT accomplished by changing upper receivers, either. (Although I do have reservations about the increasing use of polymer in firearms construction. Both the SCAR series of rifles and the ACR employ major polymer components, so that remains a concern or possible reservation on my part.) The LMT 'MRP', the FNH SCAR-L, and the Remington ACR are all capable of caliber change -- providing of course you have the requisite barrel, bolt head and magazines for the different caliber you're changing to. I've shot enough 5.56x45m, or its slightly lower pressure civilian equivalent .223 Rem., to have an understanding of what it will do and what it won't.
I personally don't think it's much good for feral hog control and I've had some experiences in hunting coyotes where it's performance was not everything that was needed, but then a counter-point could be made neither was my marksmanship. (Just about any caliber will work with head shots.)
I know there is a big debate among square range shooters the 6.5 Grendel is a far better round than the 6.8mm SPC and in terms of square range accuracy everything I've seen so far substantiates that position. Supposedly the 6.5 Grendel was tried and found wanting in the terminal ballistics end of things back in the beginning and that's why the 6.8mm SPC was created and chosen by the originators -- Steve Holland and some of the guys at the 5th Special Forces at Fort Campbell, KY. (They had some objections to the past performance of the military green tip 5.56mm ammo vis-a-vis their personal experience in parts of the world that didn't appreciate Americans in uniform.)
All I will say is with good ammunition like the Hornady TAP round, my LMT 'MRP' with the 3.5x ACOG sight is providing terminal ballistic performance on this farm and others like nothing I've ever witnessed out of an AR-style rifle. This thing works!
No, I won't take it elk hunting, nor would I use it for 400 yard antelope hunting, but for what I've been using it for here and elsewhere this gun, sighting system and caliber are quickly becoming my heart's first choice.
However, it should be noted I have always had a weakness for odd caliber firearms because I prefer 16 gauge shotguns most of the time, a .41 Magnum S&W is my favorite revolver and a 10mm 1911 style pistol is my favorite semi-automatic handgun. It just naturally follows I would fall in love with an oddball like the 6.8mm SPC in a rifle like the Lewis Machine & Tool 'MRP'.
When it comes to firearms calibers, I always seem to fall in love with an oddball orphan.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
CCW's, AWARENESS AND 'BAIT'...
Once it becomes known you carry a handgun on a regular basis as a civilian the more cynical or socially obtuse among your acquaintances (Notice: I didn't say 'Friends') will sometimes ridicule you with the question, "What are you afraid of?"
My answer has been, "I'm afraid of a lot of things. Losing our surviving child is my greatest fear, then losing my wife and being alone would probably be my next greatest fear other than perhaps losing my health or ability to live on my own, but one thing I'm not afraid are those creatures -- animal or human -- who think they can attack me. My Bite Is As Bad Or Worse Than Theirs!"
I'm certainly no expert but I've spent a good deal of time studying and listening to those who have closely examined kidnappings, home invasions and other violent acts that were not in the 'random' category. You could call them 'targeted' individuals even if the criminals never really knew the target subjects. All of us can become subject to random violence like road rage (The "Look! I'm truly sorry I was inattentive and cut you off as you were merging into traffic" type of thing.), or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tam and others have commented this week on their respective blogs about being able to avoid trouble by simply being home when you should and minding your own business and NOT going to places where trouble is routine and part of the landscape.
Getting your license or permit to carry a concealed weapon is just one step toward protecting yourself in all of these situations and certainly part of the reason why I have exercised these rights in my home state of Indiana for multiple decades, but it is not the main purpose for my being armed most of the time presently. I carry a pistol for two specific reasons: the first is my home and the second is the farm. I'll address the second one first.
I carry a handgun when I'm farming simply because there are a number of 'varmits' that need eliminating throughout the year around our farms and accuracy with a handgun is a whole lot easier than trying to run 'em down and kill 'em with a club, or a hoe, a scoop shovel, or a pitchfork or whatever is handy. 'Nuff said on that one.
As for the home, this situation is a little more complex and comes from my having attended a number of 'executive protection' courses and after having talked to a number of professionals in this particular field. All of 'em I've talked to always start off with a threat assessment and where in their client's daily routine is he or she the 'weakest' in terms of personal security?
It differs according to whom you talk to, but many believe their clients are especially vulnerable whenever they are 'entering' or 'leaving' their homes and/or places of employment. Often they are pre-occupied and thinking of things that need to be done once they arrive at their destination and although they are usually keenly aware of their surroundings while traveling, they are often too concerned about 'getting things' accomplished to look for 'clues' as to the security of home or workplace upon arrival.
And therein lies the reason why they are so vulnerable.
As someone who ran a professional trapline years ago I believe in the concept of "BAIT". Humans are susceptible to bait. In the military most booby-traps are based around the concept of 'bait'. (After all a military booby-trap is nothing more than 'trapping' the human animal at a deadlier level.) Using bait however does not mean you are trying to capture something. It can be used to simply indicate a change or the presence of someone or something that is completely out of place. Bait when it comes to humans doesn't necessarily have to be something expensive or elaborate. Sometimes like the little tinfoil fish used to trap raccoons in a streambed all it has to be is 'shiney'.
Our home has an attached car garage and while I won't explain what it is I use I keep 'bait' in plain view when the garage door goes up. It's possible if someone were to enter our home while we were gone, they might ignore the bait in the garage by not entering it. I find that hard to believe because if they are in the home when we return they are sure to be in that garage waiting for us in ambush. I also find it hard to believe they would ignore the 'bait' I've left out for such rats after they enter the garage. Once the garage door comes up and I'm driving in, the 'bait' is the second thing I look for. The first being the presence of the little family dachshund who always comes out to greet us upon our return. He has always appeared, but even then I visually check my 'bait'. If it were ever disturbed I already have a counter-measure in mind.
In my mind, this is when you really need the concealed carry handgun. When you are entering your own home and you think there may be something wrong. My counter-measure would be to get my wife out of the area of risk (there are more foot-pounds of energy in either bumper of our car than there is in any of my firearms) and have her call the authorities. Whether I would investigate further or wait for them would depend upon the circumstances and the perceived danger.
If you are one who as a matter of course walks into their home from the street or a hallway, you can still place some 'bait' out on an entryway table for the human predator that becomes immediately visible even if the door is only partially open. A $5 bill, a pocket knife, or a piece of jewelry can be placed on a table close to your entry way and it is always left there -- Undisturbed. (Just tell your friends to leave it alone and its one of your personality quirks, if you will.) If your pets routinely meet you, but suddenly don't appear that too is an indicator something isn't 'right'.
These moments are the alarm bells for when you need to at least position your CCW handgun for quick access, if not actually, grasp it. Places of employment are more difficult, but because I own my business and I'm its only employee I have placed 'bait' at various locations where valuable items are stored as well.
Is this too much trouble and too complex for your lifestyle? Maybe, but like properly preparing for the worst while sleeping in a motel room all of these things help each of us live the lives we want and in the manner we choose.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
My answer has been, "I'm afraid of a lot of things. Losing our surviving child is my greatest fear, then losing my wife and being alone would probably be my next greatest fear other than perhaps losing my health or ability to live on my own, but one thing I'm not afraid are those creatures -- animal or human -- who think they can attack me. My Bite Is As Bad Or Worse Than Theirs!"
I'm certainly no expert but I've spent a good deal of time studying and listening to those who have closely examined kidnappings, home invasions and other violent acts that were not in the 'random' category. You could call them 'targeted' individuals even if the criminals never really knew the target subjects. All of us can become subject to random violence like road rage (The "Look! I'm truly sorry I was inattentive and cut you off as you were merging into traffic" type of thing.), or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Tam and others have commented this week on their respective blogs about being able to avoid trouble by simply being home when you should and minding your own business and NOT going to places where trouble is routine and part of the landscape.
Getting your license or permit to carry a concealed weapon is just one step toward protecting yourself in all of these situations and certainly part of the reason why I have exercised these rights in my home state of Indiana for multiple decades, but it is not the main purpose for my being armed most of the time presently. I carry a pistol for two specific reasons: the first is my home and the second is the farm. I'll address the second one first.
I carry a handgun when I'm farming simply because there are a number of 'varmits' that need eliminating throughout the year around our farms and accuracy with a handgun is a whole lot easier than trying to run 'em down and kill 'em with a club, or a hoe, a scoop shovel, or a pitchfork or whatever is handy. 'Nuff said on that one.
As for the home, this situation is a little more complex and comes from my having attended a number of 'executive protection' courses and after having talked to a number of professionals in this particular field. All of 'em I've talked to always start off with a threat assessment and where in their client's daily routine is he or she the 'weakest' in terms of personal security?
It differs according to whom you talk to, but many believe their clients are especially vulnerable whenever they are 'entering' or 'leaving' their homes and/or places of employment. Often they are pre-occupied and thinking of things that need to be done once they arrive at their destination and although they are usually keenly aware of their surroundings while traveling, they are often too concerned about 'getting things' accomplished to look for 'clues' as to the security of home or workplace upon arrival.
And therein lies the reason why they are so vulnerable.
As someone who ran a professional trapline years ago I believe in the concept of "BAIT". Humans are susceptible to bait. In the military most booby-traps are based around the concept of 'bait'. (After all a military booby-trap is nothing more than 'trapping' the human animal at a deadlier level.) Using bait however does not mean you are trying to capture something. It can be used to simply indicate a change or the presence of someone or something that is completely out of place. Bait when it comes to humans doesn't necessarily have to be something expensive or elaborate. Sometimes like the little tinfoil fish used to trap raccoons in a streambed all it has to be is 'shiney'.
Our home has an attached car garage and while I won't explain what it is I use I keep 'bait' in plain view when the garage door goes up. It's possible if someone were to enter our home while we were gone, they might ignore the bait in the garage by not entering it. I find that hard to believe because if they are in the home when we return they are sure to be in that garage waiting for us in ambush. I also find it hard to believe they would ignore the 'bait' I've left out for such rats after they enter the garage. Once the garage door comes up and I'm driving in, the 'bait' is the second thing I look for. The first being the presence of the little family dachshund who always comes out to greet us upon our return. He has always appeared, but even then I visually check my 'bait'. If it were ever disturbed I already have a counter-measure in mind.
In my mind, this is when you really need the concealed carry handgun. When you are entering your own home and you think there may be something wrong. My counter-measure would be to get my wife out of the area of risk (there are more foot-pounds of energy in either bumper of our car than there is in any of my firearms) and have her call the authorities. Whether I would investigate further or wait for them would depend upon the circumstances and the perceived danger.
If you are one who as a matter of course walks into their home from the street or a hallway, you can still place some 'bait' out on an entryway table for the human predator that becomes immediately visible even if the door is only partially open. A $5 bill, a pocket knife, or a piece of jewelry can be placed on a table close to your entry way and it is always left there -- Undisturbed. (Just tell your friends to leave it alone and its one of your personality quirks, if you will.) If your pets routinely meet you, but suddenly don't appear that too is an indicator something isn't 'right'.
These moments are the alarm bells for when you need to at least position your CCW handgun for quick access, if not actually, grasp it. Places of employment are more difficult, but because I own my business and I'm its only employee I have placed 'bait' at various locations where valuable items are stored as well.
Is this too much trouble and too complex for your lifestyle? Maybe, but like properly preparing for the worst while sleeping in a motel room all of these things help each of us live the lives we want and in the manner we choose.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Monday, July 20, 2009
HOW FAR DO YOU ROUTINELY SHOOT A PISTOL?...
I'll start the week off with a personal gun question; "How far do you routinely and regularly shoot a pistol?"
I ask this because the answer has a big, as in 'BIG', influence on what kind of pistol you work with on a regular basis or is considered among your harem of favorites? (I don't know what women call a collection of male paramours; hence the 'harem' reference, but I think you get the idea.)
Most folks shoot on the weekend either in a competition of some sort or as part of their personal recreational activity. I have always enjoyed IDPA (I was the Section Coordinator for Indiana and Michigan the first 3 years of its existence. Notice I didn't say I was a good Section Coordinator), but it seems like anymore I just don't have the time to par-take, if you will. The gun club of which I'm a member has a monthly match, but its always on a Saturday and so far this summer that's proven to be a problem. I really like the guys and the organization at the Porter Co. gun club in the northern part of the state where they hold a match once a month on Sundays, but that's still an hour away by motor-vehicle for me and then you have this stupid Mitch Daniels time thing between here and there, so I haven't done that one yet this year. And I wish I had.
People who routinely shoot handguns on square ranges have a tendency, I've noticed, to think in terms of 25 yards or less when discussing target distances. I'm still shooting on a semi-irregular basis, but it's in my back yard. In the mid to early 1980's I built my own personal range just behind the house. (It has now been 'grandfathered' by Indiana law, which I think is neat. I've used it on several occasions to train police officers and agencies.) It is a 100 yard range and comprises an area of 8/10th of an acre. (There are advantages to being in the country, owning your own land and having a farm.) Over a period of approximately three years I build an impact berm to 'catch' everything safely....as opposed to just using eastern Indiana and western Ohio. The dirt making the berm came from the county as they cleaned the roadside ditches in our area and I spoke for all of it I could get, due to the fact the lay of the land around my house more or less resembles that of a pool table. Yes, it's flat. Glaciers do that you know.
I have steel targets at intervals of 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards and the advantage to having steel already in place is time and convenience. Seldom do I shoot handguns......any handgun.....at a distance shorter than 25 yards on my home range. It always starts out a humbling experience if I lay off for awhile because handgun shooting is definitely a 'perishable' skill. Use it regularly, or LOSE IT! The advantage to this 'long range' handgun shooting on steel is if you do it regularly and as part of a training routine you will be surprised how quickly your 'accuracy' skills return or develop. You also have a tendency to lean toward the more powerful of calibers simply because they do a better job of getting the bullet from point "A" to point "B". I think you also tend to appreciate those calibers that have less of a 'rainbow' trajectory and are 'flatter' shooting; hence my appreciation of the 10mm Auto over the .45 Auto and in revolvers the .41 Magnum over most everything else. (Although I do enjoy working with the .357 Magnum on steel at 75 and 100 yards.)
So if you shoot indoors at 15 yards or less, I would highly recommend you find someplace where you can shoot some steel at far longer ranges during the warm weather months of this summer and autumn. It will broaden your shooting experience and if done on a regular basis has a big tendency to sharpen your hand/eye coordination skills.
As for me I usually catch up on my short-range indoor shooting once the temperature drops below 20 degrees F because the wind does make the eyes water when I'm shooting out doors in January.
Have A Good Week...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
I ask this because the answer has a big, as in 'BIG', influence on what kind of pistol you work with on a regular basis or is considered among your harem of favorites? (I don't know what women call a collection of male paramours; hence the 'harem' reference, but I think you get the idea.)
Most folks shoot on the weekend either in a competition of some sort or as part of their personal recreational activity. I have always enjoyed IDPA (I was the Section Coordinator for Indiana and Michigan the first 3 years of its existence. Notice I didn't say I was a good Section Coordinator), but it seems like anymore I just don't have the time to par-take, if you will. The gun club of which I'm a member has a monthly match, but its always on a Saturday and so far this summer that's proven to be a problem. I really like the guys and the organization at the Porter Co. gun club in the northern part of the state where they hold a match once a month on Sundays, but that's still an hour away by motor-vehicle for me and then you have this stupid Mitch Daniels time thing between here and there, so I haven't done that one yet this year. And I wish I had.
People who routinely shoot handguns on square ranges have a tendency, I've noticed, to think in terms of 25 yards or less when discussing target distances. I'm still shooting on a semi-irregular basis, but it's in my back yard. In the mid to early 1980's I built my own personal range just behind the house. (It has now been 'grandfathered' by Indiana law, which I think is neat. I've used it on several occasions to train police officers and agencies.) It is a 100 yard range and comprises an area of 8/10th of an acre. (There are advantages to being in the country, owning your own land and having a farm.) Over a period of approximately three years I build an impact berm to 'catch' everything safely....as opposed to just using eastern Indiana and western Ohio. The dirt making the berm came from the county as they cleaned the roadside ditches in our area and I spoke for all of it I could get, due to the fact the lay of the land around my house more or less resembles that of a pool table. Yes, it's flat. Glaciers do that you know.
I have steel targets at intervals of 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards and the advantage to having steel already in place is time and convenience. Seldom do I shoot handguns......any handgun.....at a distance shorter than 25 yards on my home range. It always starts out a humbling experience if I lay off for awhile because handgun shooting is definitely a 'perishable' skill. Use it regularly, or LOSE IT! The advantage to this 'long range' handgun shooting on steel is if you do it regularly and as part of a training routine you will be surprised how quickly your 'accuracy' skills return or develop. You also have a tendency to lean toward the more powerful of calibers simply because they do a better job of getting the bullet from point "A" to point "B". I think you also tend to appreciate those calibers that have less of a 'rainbow' trajectory and are 'flatter' shooting; hence my appreciation of the 10mm Auto over the .45 Auto and in revolvers the .41 Magnum over most everything else. (Although I do enjoy working with the .357 Magnum on steel at 75 and 100 yards.)
So if you shoot indoors at 15 yards or less, I would highly recommend you find someplace where you can shoot some steel at far longer ranges during the warm weather months of this summer and autumn. It will broaden your shooting experience and if done on a regular basis has a big tendency to sharpen your hand/eye coordination skills.
As for me I usually catch up on my short-range indoor shooting once the temperature drops below 20 degrees F because the wind does make the eyes water when I'm shooting out doors in January.
Have A Good Week...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Saturday, July 18, 2009
MOWER BROKE...
I was going to spend most of the day, today, mowing, but that came to a screeching halt when the highly valued 'GrassHopper' mower broke! The right control arm don't work no mo. Took it down the road and had to leave at the shop. Bummer.
It's a Bummer of a day any way because tonight the county fair starts and my wife and I will be giving away a scholarship in Valerie's name. Memory wise it's a tough place to go. I wanted to be doing something physical today, all day, instead being back here in the office.
So for right now I'm going to finish the last of three articles I promised New York. They are supposed to be in New York on Monday.
Later...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
It's a Bummer of a day any way because tonight the county fair starts and my wife and I will be giving away a scholarship in Valerie's name. Memory wise it's a tough place to go. I wanted to be doing something physical today, all day, instead being back here in the office.
So for right now I'm going to finish the last of three articles I promised New York. They are supposed to be in New York on Monday.
Later...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, July 17, 2009
IS IT REALLY A 'HEALTHCARE' CRISIS OR A 'MEDICAL MALPRACTICE' CRISIS?...
President Unicorn is really, really, pushing his version and conversely the Democratic's party vision of Healthcare reform through Congress. In my opinion, it will be nothing short of a disaster for our economy and our country, but Hey, What Do I Know?
Acknowledging that I'm not a Doctor, nor do I portray one on TeeVee, I decided to do a little research on Al Gore's Internet. Considering that I'm working on a deadline for three AR-15 gun articles, I couldn't spare much time for this but it didn't matter because if you goggle "Tort Reform Medical Malpractice" you find enough information to fill the rest of your afternoon, day, week,.........er, the rest of your life.
I found two pieces that were especially informative; one was published yesterday in "AMERICAN THINKER" and it was written by Jeffrey Folks. It's short, so it's easy to recommend. Whether you agree with his position or not, he makes a reasoned appeal for medical malpractice reform. Further research found an article at the CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS, and while it came to a different set of conclusions it still laid bare many of the problems afflicting our health care system.
The most important information I found however was in the 'Comments' section to the Folks' article in American Thinker many of which were written by people who identified themselves as physicians and they can be summarized as follows:
* Over 90% of the malpractice lawsuits filed in this country are found to be in favor of the defendant physician. (The American Progress piece reported that of all the suits filed only 5% go to trial, and of these 80% are found in favor of the defense. "A mere 0.9 percent end in a jury verdict for the plaintiff...")
If this information is correct, then capping the amount awarded to a plaintiff would have little effect on the overall national situation.
* Physicians, however, argue it is the effect of a malpractice lawsuit that is driving up the cost of healthcare in this country because once a lawsuit is started the doctor starts practicing "defensive medicine". In plain language, he orders every conceivable test for the patient to simply 'cover his ass' for the possibility of a lawsuit and this in turn raises the patient's bill by a factor three or four times the needed cost.
* In my view, the best solution to this perceived tort reform/medical malpractice problem would be a "LOSER PAYS ALL" situation, where in any lawsuit the party who loses the lawsuit would be responsible for ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAWSUIT and if the plaintiff wasn't capable of paying these costs, then the responsibility for payment would transfer to their attorney of record....this would apply even to out of court settlements!
Many brought out the fact that with the present system; the lawyers and the medical malpractice insurance companies win regardless of the outcome because if they lose they just raise the doctor's premiums and if they win, they still raise the premiums.
Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies are certainly part of the healthcare problem in this country and of all the active participants they have probably suffered the least. One could even argue they have profited the most.
Obviously, trial lawyers absolutely refuse to entertain any kind of "Loser Pays All" tort reform, but tort reform is a key factor in the overall healthcare problem and to ignore it as President Unicorn and the Congress is, is to ignore a basic underlying cause to this situation. Lawyers always like to brag "They are Hired Guns..." Well, in real life 'Hired Guns' get killed when they aren't good enough, this would be the financial equivalent of such an end and equitable in my view.
* Another big factor in skyrocketing healthcare costs is the coverage provided to those without any coverage what-so-ever; specifically the illegal alien population throughout the United States, but primarily in the southern border states and California. One doctor commented these ER patients have learned to complain of "...abdominal pain..." which guarantees they get a 'Cover Your Ass' CT scan of the abdomen which in most cases is absolutely unnecessary and adds significantly to the overall bill.........which they don't pay!
What does this country do with patients who are seriously ill, but can't pay the bill? Should coverage be extended to those who are not citizens of this country?
At some point in this discussion, we as a country have to balance the realistic ability to pay for these services against the altruistic notion that everyone should have good medical services provided to them. In a Perfect World, YES, but we don't live in a Perfect World.
I personally don't believe that non-citizens have a 'RIGHT' to guaranteed healthcare coverage of any kind in this country, whether even citizens do is arguable in the extreme in my view.
One suggestion to solve part of this problem would be a "COMPLETELY HOLD HARMLESS" provision protecting any healthcare provider at any level against any kind of malpractice lawsuit when the patient is unable to provide insurance coverage or pay for his bill, which is an option I think makes sense but is sure to be ignored by our lawyer heavy Congress.
* Finally, a good percentage (perhaps the vast majority) of the population doesn't understand that we all are going to die at some point in time and regardless of what the doctor does, we still die. A good part of the medical malpractice problem seems to be the attitude if my loved one died it has to be someone's fault and the first place they look is the attending physician and the hospital. Nope, it was their TIME.
The thing I find most objectionable about the present debate in Congress is absolutely NONE of the above is even being hinted at in the committee testimonies or public debates. All of which makes my skin crawl when I imagine what we taxpayers are going to get hung with in the final Bill, both metaphorically and literally.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Acknowledging that I'm not a Doctor, nor do I portray one on TeeVee, I decided to do a little research on Al Gore's Internet. Considering that I'm working on a deadline for three AR-15 gun articles, I couldn't spare much time for this but it didn't matter because if you goggle "Tort Reform Medical Malpractice" you find enough information to fill the rest of your afternoon, day, week,.........er, the rest of your life.
I found two pieces that were especially informative; one was published yesterday in "AMERICAN THINKER" and it was written by Jeffrey Folks. It's short, so it's easy to recommend. Whether you agree with his position or not, he makes a reasoned appeal for medical malpractice reform. Further research found an article at the CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS, and while it came to a different set of conclusions it still laid bare many of the problems afflicting our health care system.
The most important information I found however was in the 'Comments' section to the Folks' article in American Thinker many of which were written by people who identified themselves as physicians and they can be summarized as follows:
* Over 90% of the malpractice lawsuits filed in this country are found to be in favor of the defendant physician. (The American Progress piece reported that of all the suits filed only 5% go to trial, and of these 80% are found in favor of the defense. "A mere 0.9 percent end in a jury verdict for the plaintiff...")
If this information is correct, then capping the amount awarded to a plaintiff would have little effect on the overall national situation.
* Physicians, however, argue it is the effect of a malpractice lawsuit that is driving up the cost of healthcare in this country because once a lawsuit is started the doctor starts practicing "defensive medicine". In plain language, he orders every conceivable test for the patient to simply 'cover his ass' for the possibility of a lawsuit and this in turn raises the patient's bill by a factor three or four times the needed cost.
* In my view, the best solution to this perceived tort reform/medical malpractice problem would be a "LOSER PAYS ALL" situation, where in any lawsuit the party who loses the lawsuit would be responsible for ALL COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAWSUIT and if the plaintiff wasn't capable of paying these costs, then the responsibility for payment would transfer to their attorney of record....this would apply even to out of court settlements!
Many brought out the fact that with the present system; the lawyers and the medical malpractice insurance companies win regardless of the outcome because if they lose they just raise the doctor's premiums and if they win, they still raise the premiums.
Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies are certainly part of the healthcare problem in this country and of all the active participants they have probably suffered the least. One could even argue they have profited the most.
Obviously, trial lawyers absolutely refuse to entertain any kind of "Loser Pays All" tort reform, but tort reform is a key factor in the overall healthcare problem and to ignore it as President Unicorn and the Congress is, is to ignore a basic underlying cause to this situation. Lawyers always like to brag "They are Hired Guns..." Well, in real life 'Hired Guns' get killed when they aren't good enough, this would be the financial equivalent of such an end and equitable in my view.
* Another big factor in skyrocketing healthcare costs is the coverage provided to those without any coverage what-so-ever; specifically the illegal alien population throughout the United States, but primarily in the southern border states and California. One doctor commented these ER patients have learned to complain of "...abdominal pain..." which guarantees they get a 'Cover Your Ass' CT scan of the abdomen which in most cases is absolutely unnecessary and adds significantly to the overall bill.........which they don't pay!
What does this country do with patients who are seriously ill, but can't pay the bill? Should coverage be extended to those who are not citizens of this country?
At some point in this discussion, we as a country have to balance the realistic ability to pay for these services against the altruistic notion that everyone should have good medical services provided to them. In a Perfect World, YES, but we don't live in a Perfect World.
I personally don't believe that non-citizens have a 'RIGHT' to guaranteed healthcare coverage of any kind in this country, whether even citizens do is arguable in the extreme in my view.
One suggestion to solve part of this problem would be a "COMPLETELY HOLD HARMLESS" provision protecting any healthcare provider at any level against any kind of malpractice lawsuit when the patient is unable to provide insurance coverage or pay for his bill, which is an option I think makes sense but is sure to be ignored by our lawyer heavy Congress.
* Finally, a good percentage (perhaps the vast majority) of the population doesn't understand that we all are going to die at some point in time and regardless of what the doctor does, we still die. A good part of the medical malpractice problem seems to be the attitude if my loved one died it has to be someone's fault and the first place they look is the attending physician and the hospital. Nope, it was their TIME.
The thing I find most objectionable about the present debate in Congress is absolutely NONE of the above is even being hinted at in the committee testimonies or public debates. All of which makes my skin crawl when I imagine what we taxpayers are going to get hung with in the final Bill, both metaphorically and literally.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Thursday, July 16, 2009
IRANIAN 'DRUMBEAT' INCREASES IN TEMPO...
The Times of London reports that two Israeli missile class warships sailed through the Suez Canal, ten days after an Israeli submarine which is capable of launching a nuclear missile strike.
This now means that Israel has at least three ships capable of striking Iran (only 800 miles away) in the Red Sea. It should be noted that Israel will conduct a test of a missile defence shield at a U.S. missile range in the Pacific later this summer.
What is really interesting in all these news reports are the attitude of many Arab countries and their cooperation with Israel with regard to the potential threat from Iran. Ahmed About Gheif, the Egyptian Foreign Minister said his Government explicitly allowed passage of the Israeli vessels and an Israeli admiral said the drills were "...run regularly with the full co-operation of the Egyptians."
An Israeli defense official said, "This is preparation that should be taken seriously. Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran. These maneuvers are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats."
An increase in this drumbeat tempo can be seen in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remark made yesterday in New York when she issued an ultimatum to Iran to accept this administration offer of 'engagement'.
Clinton said, "Direct talks provide the best vehicle for presenting and explaining that choice (meaning this administratrion's attempts to engage in talks with Iran and others like Syria)." "That is why we offered Iran's leaders an unmistakable opportunity. Iran does not have a right to nuclear military capacity, and we're determined to prevent that (emphasis added). But it does have a right to civil nuclear power if it reestablishes the confidence of the international community that it will use its programs exclusively for peaceful purposes."
What all of this signals to me is Israel is growing extremely tired of the threats of annihilation from the Dwarf to the East. You don't go around threatening a people, the majority of whom, lost parents, grandparents and many other relatives in ovens. It's not even good policy to go around denying their loved ones ever died in those ovens and death camps. The history of the country of Israel is one of serious military action when they 'get in the game'.
Let's just say they are MOTIVATED.
I'd say sometime in the next 60 days there is going to be some additional excitement north of the Indian Ocean and it won't involve Americans.........at least initially.
Just saying.....
All The Best,
Frank W. James
This now means that Israel has at least three ships capable of striking Iran (only 800 miles away) in the Red Sea. It should be noted that Israel will conduct a test of a missile defence shield at a U.S. missile range in the Pacific later this summer.
What is really interesting in all these news reports are the attitude of many Arab countries and their cooperation with Israel with regard to the potential threat from Iran. Ahmed About Gheif, the Egyptian Foreign Minister said his Government explicitly allowed passage of the Israeli vessels and an Israeli admiral said the drills were "...run regularly with the full co-operation of the Egyptians."
An Israeli defense official said, "This is preparation that should be taken seriously. Israel is investing time in preparing itself for the complexity of an attack on Iran. These maneuvers are a message to Iran that Israel will follow up on its threats."
An increase in this drumbeat tempo can be seen in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's remark made yesterday in New York when she issued an ultimatum to Iran to accept this administration offer of 'engagement'.
Clinton said, "Direct talks provide the best vehicle for presenting and explaining that choice (meaning this administratrion's attempts to engage in talks with Iran and others like Syria)." "That is why we offered Iran's leaders an unmistakable opportunity. Iran does not have a right to nuclear military capacity, and we're determined to prevent that (emphasis added). But it does have a right to civil nuclear power if it reestablishes the confidence of the international community that it will use its programs exclusively for peaceful purposes."
What all of this signals to me is Israel is growing extremely tired of the threats of annihilation from the Dwarf to the East. You don't go around threatening a people, the majority of whom, lost parents, grandparents and many other relatives in ovens. It's not even good policy to go around denying their loved ones ever died in those ovens and death camps. The history of the country of Israel is one of serious military action when they 'get in the game'.
Let's just say they are MOTIVATED.
I'd say sometime in the next 60 days there is going to be some additional excitement north of the Indian Ocean and it won't involve Americans.........at least initially.
Just saying.....
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
MY TAKE ON PALIN'S RESIGNATION...
(Long Post Warning)
I was asked this morning at coffee by a friend, who is far more 'liberal' than I (but then many feel that Genghis Khan was more 'liberal' than I am) why I haven't commented on this blog about Sarah Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska?
I haven't mentioned it up to now primarily because I view it as something of a 'non-event'.
Many within the traditional 'Conservative' side of politics look to her as a future hope and beacon of light, but I view this move on her part as something of a forfeiture of her political future. After reading everything I can, that pertains to Mrs. Palin, I feel she believed the problems that her national posture and political stance had caused was beginning to become more trouble that it was worth. I'm sure as the mother of a very young 'special needs' child she felt that many of the attacks on her children were well 'below the belt' and on this point I agree emphatically.
But then many have recently criticized one of the Obama girls for wearing a peace symbol shirt in Moscow last week. My view is they are kids, and teenagers to boot, so it comes with the territory. They are going to make mistakes and occasionally stupid moves, but they are still kids. Comments about children whether they are Sarah Palin's or Barack Obama's, if negative in any way, should be "Off Limits" and 'Out Of Bounds'. Kids do stupid stuff. They make mistakes....like get pregnant, for instance, and to criticize them or their parents for these mistakes simply illustrates the fact the person making these dumbass and inappropriate comments has never tried to raise a teenager, or if they did they were probably just flat lucky their girls didn't get pregnant or their sons didn't wear some stupid t-shirt in the glare of the international media.
I feel Palin probably resigned more for financial reasons than anything else. It is rumored she can get $40,000 for a speaking engagement and it is also rumored she has legal bills totaling more than $500,000 from all the nuisance lawsuits that have been brought against her. It should be noted that none of them have proved a damn thing against her. Still, she had to defend herself and when you coupled these legal difficulties, together with the attacks on her family, it is understandable she felt the 'cost' of her political career was greater than the 'reward'.
But with everything in life there is a price. I think it was Harry Truman who said, "If you can't stand the Heat, Git Out of the Kitchen!" Sarah has left the kitchen and thereby in my opinion she has forfeited her right for a guaranteed political office on the national stage. Yes, she is more qualified than Caroline Kennedy for a Senate seat, but both of them MUST campaign for it and each shall have to suffer through the slings and arrows that comes with such an election and eventual political office.
Another reason I haven't commented on Palin is because of my earlier post where I no longer define myself as a 'Conservative'. I know I'm NOT a 'Liberal', nor am I a 'Libertarian'.
I'm not a 'Libertarian' because of their positions on illicit narcotics and recreational drug use. I'm convinced there is NO solution to our national drug problem; criminal or otherwise. Nothing we can do will erase it or correct this terrible plague affecting our society. And I certainly don't believe that 'liberalizing' current criminal statues is going to improve the situation and for those who think such things would make our country better....I ask you a simple question,
"Show me one country in the world, NOT even the western world, but the entire world where liberalizing criminal penalties for drug possession lowered the overall crime rate, raised tax revenues, improved property values and made their Gross National Product index improve?"
And don't give me this crap about the Netherlands and their Pot laws. Show me something where liberalizing the possession of cocaine, heroin, crystal meth and other hard narcotics made even one of the previous mentioned indicators improve for the country in general over the long haul?
Don't think for a second, however, I endorse the present policy of 'asset forfeiture' that many police agencies and prosecutors use in their personal wars on illicit narcotics. My view is Law Enforcement should not be a 'For Profit' Enterprise.
Law enforcement should always be viewed by the public and government officials as a "loss leader". Just like the soda pop that is sold in the grocery store at well below cost in order to get people to walk in their store. Law enforcement when effective should make the community safer, a better place to transact legitimate businesses and raise families, but it should always be an acknowledged government 'loss leader' in terms of profit, not one where specific agencies hoard the financial windfalls from asset confiscation involved in a criminal drug transaction.
I know I'm not a 'Liberal' because I know enough about economics to understand you can't tax yourself back into prosperity. You can't spend more than you take in whether you are a private individual or a governmental entity, despite all the references to FDR and his economic policies. What everyone who mentions FDR and his borrowing conveniently forgets or fails to mention is the rationing (of just about everything) and forced savings (through war bonds) this country endured during World War Two. It was these two things combined together that made FDR and his Democratic Congress economic policies break the Great Depression and work in the long run.
Four years without consumer goods like electric stoves, refrigerators, even radios, not to mention things like automobiles (fuel efficient or otherwise), Ipods, computers or big screen TVs is what made the policy of the government borrowing and spending money (it didn't have) work. (My dad needed a truck for the farm, but it wasn't allowed, so he bought the 'bed' for it in 1943. He didn't get the truck itself until 1946 when the government permitted Detroit to sell such things to private citizens. I still have it. It sits on the 1957 model that he traded the 1946 for years ago.) Additionally, the pent-up demand for all those consumer goods that were denied during WWII drove the domestic economy so far forward during the late 1940's and early 1950's that it made firms like General Motors look absolutely invincible. (My dad once told me his federal income tax in 1950 or '51 was only 3% of his total income. It was so low because the economy was SO STRONG.) Was GM's management any better back then than it is today? I don't think so, but forcing the nation to conserve through rationing and buying government bonds is an essential part of the economic policies of the past that many 'Liberals' today like to ignore with the current 'tax and spend' Congress and President. I know I'm NOT a 'Liberal'.
I don't think history in terms of conventional 'Conservative' definitions will be kind to George W. Bush. He wrapped himself in the cloak of a 'Conservative'. He maintained their position on low taxes to stimulate the economy, but he so totally mismanaged the fiscal side of the house that he made inebriated sea-farers leaving a whorehouse look like seasoned and successful investment managers. In my opinion, he damaged the 'Conservative' label so badly the hangover continues still.
This is where I feel Sarah Palin's future may lie. She needs to redefine the standards and definitions of a 'Conservative' because she is good at attracting attention and getting people to discuss, if not ridicule, her talking points, but the important point for future reference is she is seldom ignored.
I was asked this morning at coffee by a friend, who is far more 'liberal' than I (but then many feel that Genghis Khan was more 'liberal' than I am) why I haven't commented on this blog about Sarah Palin's resignation as governor of Alaska?
I haven't mentioned it up to now primarily because I view it as something of a 'non-event'.
Many within the traditional 'Conservative' side of politics look to her as a future hope and beacon of light, but I view this move on her part as something of a forfeiture of her political future. After reading everything I can, that pertains to Mrs. Palin, I feel she believed the problems that her national posture and political stance had caused was beginning to become more trouble that it was worth. I'm sure as the mother of a very young 'special needs' child she felt that many of the attacks on her children were well 'below the belt' and on this point I agree emphatically.
But then many have recently criticized one of the Obama girls for wearing a peace symbol shirt in Moscow last week. My view is they are kids, and teenagers to boot, so it comes with the territory. They are going to make mistakes and occasionally stupid moves, but they are still kids. Comments about children whether they are Sarah Palin's or Barack Obama's, if negative in any way, should be "Off Limits" and 'Out Of Bounds'. Kids do stupid stuff. They make mistakes....like get pregnant, for instance, and to criticize them or their parents for these mistakes simply illustrates the fact the person making these dumbass and inappropriate comments has never tried to raise a teenager, or if they did they were probably just flat lucky their girls didn't get pregnant or their sons didn't wear some stupid t-shirt in the glare of the international media.
I feel Palin probably resigned more for financial reasons than anything else. It is rumored she can get $40,000 for a speaking engagement and it is also rumored she has legal bills totaling more than $500,000 from all the nuisance lawsuits that have been brought against her. It should be noted that none of them have proved a damn thing against her. Still, she had to defend herself and when you coupled these legal difficulties, together with the attacks on her family, it is understandable she felt the 'cost' of her political career was greater than the 'reward'.
But with everything in life there is a price. I think it was Harry Truman who said, "If you can't stand the Heat, Git Out of the Kitchen!" Sarah has left the kitchen and thereby in my opinion she has forfeited her right for a guaranteed political office on the national stage. Yes, she is more qualified than Caroline Kennedy for a Senate seat, but both of them MUST campaign for it and each shall have to suffer through the slings and arrows that comes with such an election and eventual political office.
Another reason I haven't commented on Palin is because of my earlier post where I no longer define myself as a 'Conservative'. I know I'm NOT a 'Liberal', nor am I a 'Libertarian'.
I'm not a 'Libertarian' because of their positions on illicit narcotics and recreational drug use. I'm convinced there is NO solution to our national drug problem; criminal or otherwise. Nothing we can do will erase it or correct this terrible plague affecting our society. And I certainly don't believe that 'liberalizing' current criminal statues is going to improve the situation and for those who think such things would make our country better....I ask you a simple question,
"Show me one country in the world, NOT even the western world, but the entire world where liberalizing criminal penalties for drug possession lowered the overall crime rate, raised tax revenues, improved property values and made their Gross National Product index improve?"
And don't give me this crap about the Netherlands and their Pot laws. Show me something where liberalizing the possession of cocaine, heroin, crystal meth and other hard narcotics made even one of the previous mentioned indicators improve for the country in general over the long haul?
Don't think for a second, however, I endorse the present policy of 'asset forfeiture' that many police agencies and prosecutors use in their personal wars on illicit narcotics. My view is Law Enforcement should not be a 'For Profit' Enterprise.
Law enforcement should always be viewed by the public and government officials as a "loss leader". Just like the soda pop that is sold in the grocery store at well below cost in order to get people to walk in their store. Law enforcement when effective should make the community safer, a better place to transact legitimate businesses and raise families, but it should always be an acknowledged government 'loss leader' in terms of profit, not one where specific agencies hoard the financial windfalls from asset confiscation involved in a criminal drug transaction.
I know I'm not a 'Liberal' because I know enough about economics to understand you can't tax yourself back into prosperity. You can't spend more than you take in whether you are a private individual or a governmental entity, despite all the references to FDR and his economic policies. What everyone who mentions FDR and his borrowing conveniently forgets or fails to mention is the rationing (of just about everything) and forced savings (through war bonds) this country endured during World War Two. It was these two things combined together that made FDR and his Democratic Congress economic policies break the Great Depression and work in the long run.
Four years without consumer goods like electric stoves, refrigerators, even radios, not to mention things like automobiles (fuel efficient or otherwise), Ipods, computers or big screen TVs is what made the policy of the government borrowing and spending money (it didn't have) work. (My dad needed a truck for the farm, but it wasn't allowed, so he bought the 'bed' for it in 1943. He didn't get the truck itself until 1946 when the government permitted Detroit to sell such things to private citizens. I still have it. It sits on the 1957 model that he traded the 1946 for years ago.) Additionally, the pent-up demand for all those consumer goods that were denied during WWII drove the domestic economy so far forward during the late 1940's and early 1950's that it made firms like General Motors look absolutely invincible. (My dad once told me his federal income tax in 1950 or '51 was only 3% of his total income. It was so low because the economy was SO STRONG.) Was GM's management any better back then than it is today? I don't think so, but forcing the nation to conserve through rationing and buying government bonds is an essential part of the economic policies of the past that many 'Liberals' today like to ignore with the current 'tax and spend' Congress and President. I know I'm NOT a 'Liberal'.
I don't think history in terms of conventional 'Conservative' definitions will be kind to George W. Bush. He wrapped himself in the cloak of a 'Conservative'. He maintained their position on low taxes to stimulate the economy, but he so totally mismanaged the fiscal side of the house that he made inebriated sea-farers leaving a whorehouse look like seasoned and successful investment managers. In my opinion, he damaged the 'Conservative' label so badly the hangover continues still.
This is where I feel Sarah Palin's future may lie. She needs to redefine the standards and definitions of a 'Conservative' because she is good at attracting attention and getting people to discuss, if not ridicule, her talking points, but the important point for future reference is she is seldom ignored.
She can bring attention to subjects like fiscal responsibility, a national policy on energy (something I feel she is knowledgeable on because of her experiences in Alaska) as well as a number of other issues. What she needs to avoid are social issues like gay marriage (it's nobody's business what two consenting adults agree to do behind closed doors. Children, however, are another issue altogether.) and the previous 'Conservative' engagement of marriage between church and state. There has always been a separation and for good reason, I feel if it is not firmly re-established by those calling themselves 'Conservatives', it will come back and bite many of us (who consider ourselves Christians) enormously in the posterior.
Right now I considered myself a political J-Walker, but Palin could help return 'Conservatives' to something I respect, if she realizes she has forfeited some of her creditability. Yet, she remains someone I would prefer to listen to, as opposed to say.....Rush Limbaugh.
Currently I still view her resignation as a 'non-event'. What she does in terms of orchestrating those like me who used to think of themselves as 'Conservatives' will really prove to be the pivotal event.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
PETS ARE INHERITED FROM YOUR KIDS...
Today is the day our household Persian gets her routine 'grooming & bath'. She is actually our daughter's kitty as I gave her to Valerie when she was 13. She is a pure-bred and you would think from living with her in our home all these years that she knows it and uses that background as a standard of comparison for everyone and everything else in her life. The cat is now 16-1/2 years old and more or less interaction on a daily basis with her is akin to dealing with a 90 plus year old Socialite from Blue Blood Old Money!
She is also the smartest cat I've ever encountered. No, she's not real good at math or quantum mechanics, but she can read my moods and emotions better than any human, including my wife and son. She knows immediately when I'm suffering from bouts of melancholy and works her level best to let me know she loves me and 'encourages' me to take a nap with her in the middle of my lap. Aside from that, she also lets me know when her food dish is 'low' or she thinks the water level needs to be raised on her water dish. She also disapproves of me 'sleeping in' on a summer's morning. She is extremely fussy about our home.....well, actually it's HER home, we are just the staff who takes care of it for her. She gets terribly out of sorts whenever the wife does the re-arranging routine or a thorough deep cleaning of the family room or front sitting room. "Why wasn't I consulted about this?" seems to be her universal reaction. Whereupon she disappears up the stairs only to return when all 'activity' has ceased.
She won't be happy about the bath today and if they trim her long hair too closely, she reminds me of my wife's grandmother who used to complain terribly when they didn't get her blue hairdo just so-so. Yet, the funniest thing is she has gradually come to accept the presence of our son's miniature dachshund, even if she gives him a look each and every time that more or less says "...that DAMN dog!" And something to the effect "....the neighborhood is just going to Hell."
Yet, through it all she has been a lovely creature and one of the most soft-spoken felines I've ever been around. After her grooming and bath she will come home and then do her 'pretty kitty' routine where she will lay and roll on her back in the middle of the family room, stretching all the while to get our attention.
The cat is a vital member of our family and while I don't have the pleasure, the wonder or the love of our daughter on a daily basis I still enjoy the love of her kitty.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
She is also the smartest cat I've ever encountered. No, she's not real good at math or quantum mechanics, but she can read my moods and emotions better than any human, including my wife and son. She knows immediately when I'm suffering from bouts of melancholy and works her level best to let me know she loves me and 'encourages' me to take a nap with her in the middle of my lap. Aside from that, she also lets me know when her food dish is 'low' or she thinks the water level needs to be raised on her water dish. She also disapproves of me 'sleeping in' on a summer's morning. She is extremely fussy about our home.....well, actually it's HER home, we are just the staff who takes care of it for her. She gets terribly out of sorts whenever the wife does the re-arranging routine or a thorough deep cleaning of the family room or front sitting room. "Why wasn't I consulted about this?" seems to be her universal reaction. Whereupon she disappears up the stairs only to return when all 'activity' has ceased.
She won't be happy about the bath today and if they trim her long hair too closely, she reminds me of my wife's grandmother who used to complain terribly when they didn't get her blue hairdo just so-so. Yet, the funniest thing is she has gradually come to accept the presence of our son's miniature dachshund, even if she gives him a look each and every time that more or less says "...that DAMN dog!" And something to the effect "....the neighborhood is just going to Hell."
Yet, through it all she has been a lovely creature and one of the most soft-spoken felines I've ever been around. After her grooming and bath she will come home and then do her 'pretty kitty' routine where she will lay and roll on her back in the middle of the family room, stretching all the while to get our attention.
The cat is a vital member of our family and while I don't have the pleasure, the wonder or the love of our daughter on a daily basis I still enjoy the love of her kitty.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Monday, July 13, 2009
SCREWED UP BLACKBERRYS, ASBOs, AND OTHER NONSENSE...
Not quite a year ago I 'upgraded' to a Blackberry STORM and I've learned to appreciate many of its benefits, although I think it is loaded with far too many extra features. I really don't need 'games' or some dingbat music channel and the only time I need the 'camera' feature is after an auto-accident so there is some sort of physical evidence as to who did what to whom.
However, it seems the Blackberry STORM has had a troubled birth so to speak and therefore my version desperately needed a software upgrade. I tried to do it with the wireless features of the phone and after an entire day of downloading I finally got a message that it had to delete 2.5 megs of 'personal data'. To which I replied solid "NO!!" From that moment on, the life expectancy of my Blackberry was being measured in minutes.
Okay, so the whole thing last Wednesday evening went Tango Uniform. I could get calls coming in and some email messages, but because something reconfigured the control panel into something no one could recognize my ability to call out flat disappeared. I spent over two hours on Friday at my Verizon dealer trying to fix it....to no avail and over four hours on Saturday talking to a Verizon IT guy in South Carolina trying to correct its problem, but again all for nothing. I'm supposed to be getting a new phone sometime this week, but if you are someone who routinely calls me on my cell phone.....FORGET IT! All you can do is leave a message and hope it gets transferred on the memory card when we boot up the replacement Blackberry. Otherwise, call me back in a week......that is, if the replacement Blackberry works better than this one.
After dealing with this bout of mis-performing technology, I found an item on FoxNews.com interesting where it seems some guy with a "...Matrics..." antenna and a Motorola reader drove around San Francisco 'reading' the identity characteristics and serial numbers of the new electronic passports belonging to complete strangers.
As many are aware the government is embedding an identity chip in the new United States passport coming out now and several states are doing the same thing with latest driver's licenses. This new chip supposedly enables them to process people faster and more conveniently than the old system through border control because they can read the chip when it gets within 20 or 30 feet of the scanner. Chris Paget in San Fransico, however, was able to download all the vital information on the chip simply by driving near the individuals and then subsequently downloading their info onto his notebook computer....all without leaving his automobile or picking their pockets.
See the government does make things more convenient......for those who want to steal your identity!
And finally, under the category of "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP", it seems a woman in Jolly Ole England has been put in jail for violating an "Asbo". When I first read this, I thought "What the Hell is an Asbo?" It turns out 'Asbo' stands for "Anti-Social Behavior Order". Okay, what did she do?
Well, it seems Caroline Cartwright, 48, was too loud during sex with her husband and the neighbors complained about all the '...groaning and bed banging...'
You know when you put too many pigs in a small space they will often begin to eat each other's tails. For humans, I think they degenerate into the lowest forms of 'whiners' and abuse the legal system to the point if we still had 'tails' most of us would willingly chew them off.
What a bunch of petty nonsense...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
However, it seems the Blackberry STORM has had a troubled birth so to speak and therefore my version desperately needed a software upgrade. I tried to do it with the wireless features of the phone and after an entire day of downloading I finally got a message that it had to delete 2.5 megs of 'personal data'. To which I replied solid "NO!!" From that moment on, the life expectancy of my Blackberry was being measured in minutes.
Okay, so the whole thing last Wednesday evening went Tango Uniform. I could get calls coming in and some email messages, but because something reconfigured the control panel into something no one could recognize my ability to call out flat disappeared. I spent over two hours on Friday at my Verizon dealer trying to fix it....to no avail and over four hours on Saturday talking to a Verizon IT guy in South Carolina trying to correct its problem, but again all for nothing. I'm supposed to be getting a new phone sometime this week, but if you are someone who routinely calls me on my cell phone.....FORGET IT! All you can do is leave a message and hope it gets transferred on the memory card when we boot up the replacement Blackberry. Otherwise, call me back in a week......that is, if the replacement Blackberry works better than this one.
After dealing with this bout of mis-performing technology, I found an item on FoxNews.com interesting where it seems some guy with a "...Matrics..." antenna and a Motorola reader drove around San Francisco 'reading' the identity characteristics and serial numbers of the new electronic passports belonging to complete strangers.
As many are aware the government is embedding an identity chip in the new United States passport coming out now and several states are doing the same thing with latest driver's licenses. This new chip supposedly enables them to process people faster and more conveniently than the old system through border control because they can read the chip when it gets within 20 or 30 feet of the scanner. Chris Paget in San Fransico, however, was able to download all the vital information on the chip simply by driving near the individuals and then subsequently downloading their info onto his notebook computer....all without leaving his automobile or picking their pockets.
See the government does make things more convenient......for those who want to steal your identity!
And finally, under the category of "YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP", it seems a woman in Jolly Ole England has been put in jail for violating an "Asbo". When I first read this, I thought "What the Hell is an Asbo?" It turns out 'Asbo' stands for "Anti-Social Behavior Order". Okay, what did she do?
Well, it seems Caroline Cartwright, 48, was too loud during sex with her husband and the neighbors complained about all the '...groaning and bed banging...'
You know when you put too many pigs in a small space they will often begin to eat each other's tails. For humans, I think they degenerate into the lowest forms of 'whiners' and abuse the legal system to the point if we still had 'tails' most of us would willingly chew them off.
What a bunch of petty nonsense...
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Saturday, July 11, 2009
PABLO'S PETS STILL ON THE RUN...
It seems that Columbia is still having to deal with Pablo Escobar or at least the escapees of his former private Zoo. Pablo liked animals and as such he had his own private Zoo, which he named 'Napoles', and it came complete with big cats and a number of other exotic animals.
Included in this latter category were 22 hippopotamuses! Three of whom recently escaped.
Okay, so the authorities took a dim view of wandering large animals, especially those from a quite extinct drug-lord and they put a bounty on their heads. (That's a piece of irony if ever there was any.) The first animal, a 1-1/2 ton male, was killed by bounty hunters near a river in Antioquia province.
It seems the hippos have found they can survive quite well in the lush jungle of Columbia, but they are raising havoc with the local agriculture and livestock. Naturally, the farmers and the river fisherman are complaining. Small Wonder.
The remaining two are still at large, but like their former owner, they now have a price on their heads and it's only a matter of time before someone brings a conclusion to this situation.
I know what damage feral pigs can do to crops, but I hate to think what a pair of hippos weighing over three tons between them could do.
But isn't it strange how someone can claim to 'like' animals and then even years later when these creatures get loose the devastation and turmoil they can create for others?
Sure glad 'Jurassic Park' was only fiction.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Included in this latter category were 22 hippopotamuses! Three of whom recently escaped.
Okay, so the authorities took a dim view of wandering large animals, especially those from a quite extinct drug-lord and they put a bounty on their heads. (That's a piece of irony if ever there was any.) The first animal, a 1-1/2 ton male, was killed by bounty hunters near a river in Antioquia province.
It seems the hippos have found they can survive quite well in the lush jungle of Columbia, but they are raising havoc with the local agriculture and livestock. Naturally, the farmers and the river fisherman are complaining. Small Wonder.
The remaining two are still at large, but like their former owner, they now have a price on their heads and it's only a matter of time before someone brings a conclusion to this situation.
I know what damage feral pigs can do to crops, but I hate to think what a pair of hippos weighing over three tons between them could do.
But isn't it strange how someone can claim to 'like' animals and then even years later when these creatures get loose the devastation and turmoil they can create for others?
Sure glad 'Jurassic Park' was only fiction.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, July 10, 2009
MY DAMN GRIZZLEY 450...
I've found that in the routine course of events the use of a 4x4 ATV has become pretty essential to the daily operation of James Family Farms. I've owned at least one ATV for probably close to 15 years now and truthfully I simply couldn't farm alone without my cell phone (well, actually its a Blackberry) and an ATV of some sort.
16 months ago I treated myself and purchased a brand new Yamaha Grizzly 450 4x4 ATV after trading in my 20 year old Ole-Reliable. It has proven to be one of the worst machinery purchases I've ever made in 30 years of farming. The damn thing has tried to KILL me on three separate occasions!
I've taken this Yamaha back and complained and the dealership where I purchased it has tried to rectify what's wrong but most of the problems are designed into the damn thing. I used to run Honda ATV's and we had two of 'em (Had to have one for the boy besides my own) and they were as reliable as an iron skillet and as predictable as the calender. This Yamaha has been an altogether different experience.
My biggest complaint is the suspension is WAY TOO SOFT!!! If you're at speed and you're applying the brakes to slow down, you better not turn until it is almost at a stop, because if you do it will PITCH you over the handlebars just as if it were a green bronc coming out of the chute. The whole front end dives like a submarine and with the wheels in a turn, the rider follows the outward tangent of the curve. Then the machine tries to run over you! Even before you hit the ground!
I've known horses that flat out hated me more, yet treated me better than this damn thing does.
This was never a problem with my old Hondas because their suspensions were as stiff as an oak plank and you could do all kinds of silly shenanigans with them and still remain completely in place.
This Grizzly also has one of the most cold blooded gas engines that I've had the misfortune to own. Unless it's 90 degrees or better, you have to choke it to start it. That's fine, but when the choke is engaged the transmission won't go in gear. Close the choke to put it in gear and the damn thing dies each and every frickin' time. You wind up doing this "Yes I Will, No I Won't" dance for about five minutes each time, before it decides to run and go in gear simultaneously.
I bring all this up because I just got a letter today from the dealer asking if my opinion of this machine had improved any since our last discussion. Believe me, it hasn't.
I would not have traded my Honda 350 4x4 off, but it was a 1988 model and many of the much needed parts were no longer available from either the factory or after-market suppliers. It had literally outlived its usefulness, so I traded for this brand new abortion.
I was originally going to trade for a new Honda, but they all now have governors on them to limit their high-end speed. (Honda is really 'anal' about high-end speed with their ATVs.) I bought this Yamaha because it will go about 10mph faster. (That's the only thing it does well.) Believe me, if I have any kind of a year at all this fall with the harvest, this son-of-a-bitch is going to find a new home.
Sometimes lemons come in a variety of colors.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
16 months ago I treated myself and purchased a brand new Yamaha Grizzly 450 4x4 ATV after trading in my 20 year old Ole-Reliable. It has proven to be one of the worst machinery purchases I've ever made in 30 years of farming. The damn thing has tried to KILL me on three separate occasions!
I've taken this Yamaha back and complained and the dealership where I purchased it has tried to rectify what's wrong but most of the problems are designed into the damn thing. I used to run Honda ATV's and we had two of 'em (Had to have one for the boy besides my own) and they were as reliable as an iron skillet and as predictable as the calender. This Yamaha has been an altogether different experience.
My biggest complaint is the suspension is WAY TOO SOFT!!! If you're at speed and you're applying the brakes to slow down, you better not turn until it is almost at a stop, because if you do it will PITCH you over the handlebars just as if it were a green bronc coming out of the chute. The whole front end dives like a submarine and with the wheels in a turn, the rider follows the outward tangent of the curve. Then the machine tries to run over you! Even before you hit the ground!
I've known horses that flat out hated me more, yet treated me better than this damn thing does.
This was never a problem with my old Hondas because their suspensions were as stiff as an oak plank and you could do all kinds of silly shenanigans with them and still remain completely in place.
This Grizzly also has one of the most cold blooded gas engines that I've had the misfortune to own. Unless it's 90 degrees or better, you have to choke it to start it. That's fine, but when the choke is engaged the transmission won't go in gear. Close the choke to put it in gear and the damn thing dies each and every frickin' time. You wind up doing this "Yes I Will, No I Won't" dance for about five minutes each time, before it decides to run and go in gear simultaneously.
I bring all this up because I just got a letter today from the dealer asking if my opinion of this machine had improved any since our last discussion. Believe me, it hasn't.
I would not have traded my Honda 350 4x4 off, but it was a 1988 model and many of the much needed parts were no longer available from either the factory or after-market suppliers. It had literally outlived its usefulness, so I traded for this brand new abortion.
I was originally going to trade for a new Honda, but they all now have governors on them to limit their high-end speed. (Honda is really 'anal' about high-end speed with their ATVs.) I bought this Yamaha because it will go about 10mph faster. (That's the only thing it does well.) Believe me, if I have any kind of a year at all this fall with the harvest, this son-of-a-bitch is going to find a new home.
Sometimes lemons come in a variety of colors.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Thursday, July 9, 2009
AND WE WERE AFRAID OF THESE GUYS DURING THE 'COLD WAR'?...
Sometimes insomnia has its benefits. I went to bed then I woke up and started cruising the web only to find out on the BBC website this little tidbit of info:
It seems the Russians during their five day armed excursion into Georgia of last August lost six aircraft. They of course only admitted to four being shot down, but here' s the punchline.....
They shot half of them down themselves!
All of which has left many analysts wondering how these clowns would do against someone who really had their act together....like say the 6th Panzer Army?
It seems there was a complete lack of communication between the Russian Army and the Russian Air Force and I thought our State Department and this Administration was bad.
At least President Unicorn hasn't physically shot Hillary down yet...
Of course, we still have better than three years to go.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
It seems the Russians during their five day armed excursion into Georgia of last August lost six aircraft. They of course only admitted to four being shot down, but here' s the punchline.....
They shot half of them down themselves!
All of which has left many analysts wondering how these clowns would do against someone who really had their act together....like say the 6th Panzer Army?
It seems there was a complete lack of communication between the Russian Army and the Russian Air Force and I thought our State Department and this Administration was bad.
At least President Unicorn hasn't physically shot Hillary down yet...
Of course, we still have better than three years to go.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
HAS CORN 'BOTTOMED OUT'?...
(I'm posting tomorrow's post early, simply because I'm both tired and bored tonight.)
Just about everyone in agriculture is aware of what has happened to soybeans and, most especially, corn commodity prices in the last 30 days. They have dropped farther and faster than even President Unicorn's alleged 'economic stimulus' results.
I didn't check the local new crop price at Fall delivery for corn today, but yesterday it was around $3.10/bu. Most everyone in our area agrees the break-even cost for corn yielding 150 bu./a. is somewhere between $3.50/bu. to $3.60/bu. with the cost of last year's inputs.
That means if you raise 150 bu. corn and sell it for this price you will only lose $75/acre after all the expenses are paid! Did you say you had 2,000 acres planted this year? (Of course, no one factors in cost of living increases, health insurance, equipment replacement -- they do figure estimated repairs -- but not equipment replacement, or simple living expenses into these 'input' cost figures, so you can see where this situation could leave the 'asleep at the switch' operator, don't you?)
The problem seems to be those professional gamblers in Chicago called 'traders' at the CBOT and their perception that if there is a Billion bushels of corn still somewhere in the pipeline, so as far as they are concerned all is well and good. Right now the estimate is somewhere around 1.6 Billion bu., but the truth is it's only a guess. Kinda like last week's Crop Report. (No, that's not true, last week's Crop Report was a fraud or at least some of us think so. Another comment on that in a moment.) Last year commodity prices went nuts when the traders realized that usage was up significantly and there could only be 900 Million bu. available in privately held storage. (The government has more or less got out of the grain storage business and these price swings are the natural result. I know, I know, you didn't want another AG ECONOMICS lesson, did you?)
Our hope, obviously, is this IS THE BOTTOM of the cycle and it will start coming back at some time before this Fall's harvest. Everyone is watching the weather in the Corn Belt Midwest for this specific reason. July is the month that MAKES our nation's corn crop, while August is the month that MAKES our nation's soybean crop.
Many traders are figuring this year's crop has overcome our lousy start and is on its way to another good year. Those in the 'trenches', like myself, so to speak think differently. If we are right, then someone will wake up once harvest starts, realize we are going to have a 'short' crop and prices will return to profitable levels. As it is, if a livestock operation can find someone willing to sell at these prices right now they would be wise to book, borrow and contract a year's worth of feed in advance right now.
I learned yesterday that many of the commercial, private entities that do crop estimates for investors and grain traders have pegged this year's corn acreage at 84.5 million acres or somewhere in that vicinity. (IF they're right, then the market is REALLY ACTING FUNNY.) That is a big difference from the government report last week that pegged it at 87 million acres and was a million acres more than anyone, anyone even close to the subject, ever envisioned. This administration wouldn't 'fudge' these numbers would they, so they could keep the consumer price index low? Naw, they wouldn't do that, now would they?
The truth will soon come out because all farmers in the Midwest have to certify their acres with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) by July 15th.
As for James Family Farms, I'm just glad I pre-sold a small bit of this year's crop last January for a price significantly higher than $3.10/bu. At least I have some breathing room for the time being.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
POSTSCRIPT: I have just returned from paying my season ending fertilizer and chemical bill at my local fertilizer dealer and learned something I hadn't thought about vis-a-vis the last Crop Report.
(My fertilizer dealer should sleep well tonight as far as my outstanding debt is concerned! We are officially even. Well, actually he may owe me a small bit after a return is figured in later this week.)
However, he had a viewpoint on last week's crop report that I found interesting. It seems it has been subject of discussion among all the BIG players in the national fertilizer business and according to the conversations he's had with some of them someone totaled up the amount of nitrogen used last fall and this spring for this year's national corn crop and divided it by the reported corn acres.
If the corn acreage is 84.5 million acres, the average rate of nitrogen per planted acre of corn is within expectations, but if the planted corn acreage is 87 million acres then the used nitrogen rate is too low for a normal corn yield.
My guess is the surprise and realization this thing was a fraud will be around late October and November. Watch out for inflation to go nuts when it does.
Just about everyone in agriculture is aware of what has happened to soybeans and, most especially, corn commodity prices in the last 30 days. They have dropped farther and faster than even President Unicorn's alleged 'economic stimulus' results.
I didn't check the local new crop price at Fall delivery for corn today, but yesterday it was around $3.10/bu. Most everyone in our area agrees the break-even cost for corn yielding 150 bu./a. is somewhere between $3.50/bu. to $3.60/bu. with the cost of last year's inputs.
That means if you raise 150 bu. corn and sell it for this price you will only lose $75/acre after all the expenses are paid! Did you say you had 2,000 acres planted this year? (Of course, no one factors in cost of living increases, health insurance, equipment replacement -- they do figure estimated repairs -- but not equipment replacement, or simple living expenses into these 'input' cost figures, so you can see where this situation could leave the 'asleep at the switch' operator, don't you?)
The problem seems to be those professional gamblers in Chicago called 'traders' at the CBOT and their perception that if there is a Billion bushels of corn still somewhere in the pipeline, so as far as they are concerned all is well and good. Right now the estimate is somewhere around 1.6 Billion bu., but the truth is it's only a guess. Kinda like last week's Crop Report. (No, that's not true, last week's Crop Report was a fraud or at least some of us think so. Another comment on that in a moment.) Last year commodity prices went nuts when the traders realized that usage was up significantly and there could only be 900 Million bu. available in privately held storage. (The government has more or less got out of the grain storage business and these price swings are the natural result. I know, I know, you didn't want another AG ECONOMICS lesson, did you?)
Our hope, obviously, is this IS THE BOTTOM of the cycle and it will start coming back at some time before this Fall's harvest. Everyone is watching the weather in the Corn Belt Midwest for this specific reason. July is the month that MAKES our nation's corn crop, while August is the month that MAKES our nation's soybean crop.
Many traders are figuring this year's crop has overcome our lousy start and is on its way to another good year. Those in the 'trenches', like myself, so to speak think differently. If we are right, then someone will wake up once harvest starts, realize we are going to have a 'short' crop and prices will return to profitable levels. As it is, if a livestock operation can find someone willing to sell at these prices right now they would be wise to book, borrow and contract a year's worth of feed in advance right now.
I learned yesterday that many of the commercial, private entities that do crop estimates for investors and grain traders have pegged this year's corn acreage at 84.5 million acres or somewhere in that vicinity. (IF they're right, then the market is REALLY ACTING FUNNY.) That is a big difference from the government report last week that pegged it at 87 million acres and was a million acres more than anyone, anyone even close to the subject, ever envisioned. This administration wouldn't 'fudge' these numbers would they, so they could keep the consumer price index low? Naw, they wouldn't do that, now would they?
The truth will soon come out because all farmers in the Midwest have to certify their acres with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) by July 15th.
As for James Family Farms, I'm just glad I pre-sold a small bit of this year's crop last January for a price significantly higher than $3.10/bu. At least I have some breathing room for the time being.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
POSTSCRIPT: I have just returned from paying my season ending fertilizer and chemical bill at my local fertilizer dealer and learned something I hadn't thought about vis-a-vis the last Crop Report.
(My fertilizer dealer should sleep well tonight as far as my outstanding debt is concerned! We are officially even. Well, actually he may owe me a small bit after a return is figured in later this week.)
However, he had a viewpoint on last week's crop report that I found interesting. It seems it has been subject of discussion among all the BIG players in the national fertilizer business and according to the conversations he's had with some of them someone totaled up the amount of nitrogen used last fall and this spring for this year's national corn crop and divided it by the reported corn acres.
If the corn acreage is 84.5 million acres, the average rate of nitrogen per planted acre of corn is within expectations, but if the planted corn acreage is 87 million acres then the used nitrogen rate is too low for a normal corn yield.
My guess is the surprise and realization this thing was a fraud will be around late October and November. Watch out for inflation to go nuts when it does.
IS THIS ADMINISTRATION 'BIPOLAR'?....
Okay, the other day I noticed the 'drumbeats' were being increased about Iran, what with all the 'news' items being carried by CNN and all the other pro-administration propaganda outlets. Of course, the most noticeable item was the allegation that the Saudis were willing to look the other way should the Israelis want to use their airspace on an overflight east toward Iran, when their aircraft were loaded with a bunch of bunker-buster bombs.
Even Biden added to the chorus by stating publicly on ABC's "This Week" that Israel could decide for itself if Iran's nuclear facilities needed to be taken out or words to that effect. They are after all a sovereign nation he reminded everyone.
Well, it seems the Vice-President didn't get Hillary's permission because she had her mouthpiece at the State Department, Ian Kelly, state for the record the other day, the State Department "...would not want to give a Green Light to any kind of military action." Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had 'read' all these signs and came to the same conclusion, but one is forced to ask:
Do these people even talk to each other?
It's as plain as the nose on your face, they aren't playing from the same page of music. This outfit makes so many previous administrations look so competent in retrospect.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Even Biden added to the chorus by stating publicly on ABC's "This Week" that Israel could decide for itself if Iran's nuclear facilities needed to be taken out or words to that effect. They are after all a sovereign nation he reminded everyone.
Well, it seems the Vice-President didn't get Hillary's permission because she had her mouthpiece at the State Department, Ian Kelly, state for the record the other day, the State Department "...would not want to give a Green Light to any kind of military action." Obviously, I wasn't the only one who had 'read' all these signs and came to the same conclusion, but one is forced to ask:
Do these people even talk to each other?
It's as plain as the nose on your face, they aren't playing from the same page of music. This outfit makes so many previous administrations look so competent in retrospect.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
CAN IT GET ANY 'LOWER' THAN THIS?...
I was going to post a general overview of 'My Farm Report', you know how the crops look at present and how they are going, but something caught my eye this morning from one of the various internet news feeds I read daily.
It seems the Taliban is now training children (ages 11 or 12) to be suicide bombers (voluntary or involuntary???) and there is this guy in charge of the training who is selling these human biped cruise missiles to the various Taliban factions within Afghanistan for between $5,000 to $6,000 each.
Whether or not you believe in a Supreme Being, God -- Christian, Jewish, or Mohammad; there has to be a special place in Hell for individuals this evil.
And it would take a truly twisted individual to defend such insanity.
I know I'm an old fat white guy, who believes that Jesus Christ is the Risen Savior, the Son of God and that He Died for Our Sins, but there is no way I can even imagine or visualize any kind of negotiation or compromise with anyone this evil or demented or truly perverse.
And I would hold anyone who would even attempt such things to be as morally bankrupt as these criminals.
I have no more words or thoughts for such monsters. They simply don't merit the time or consideration from me or any other morally conscious world citizen.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
It seems the Taliban is now training children (ages 11 or 12) to be suicide bombers (voluntary or involuntary???) and there is this guy in charge of the training who is selling these human biped cruise missiles to the various Taliban factions within Afghanistan for between $5,000 to $6,000 each.
Whether or not you believe in a Supreme Being, God -- Christian, Jewish, or Mohammad; there has to be a special place in Hell for individuals this evil.
And it would take a truly twisted individual to defend such insanity.
I know I'm an old fat white guy, who believes that Jesus Christ is the Risen Savior, the Son of God and that He Died for Our Sins, but there is no way I can even imagine or visualize any kind of negotiation or compromise with anyone this evil or demented or truly perverse.
And I would hold anyone who would even attempt such things to be as morally bankrupt as these criminals.
I have no more words or thoughts for such monsters. They simply don't merit the time or consideration from me or any other morally conscious world citizen.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Monday, July 6, 2009
STOP & LISTEN TO THE DRUM BEATS ABOUT 'IRAN'...
Okay, the 4th of July has come and gone and most of us can settle down to planning the remainder of our summer and whatever tasks (as in 'Honey Do' projects and/or home repairs) still needed to get done before the onset of 'Fall', the kids going back to school or late summer vacations before returning to the boredom 90.5% of the population calls "full employment or work".
What I found interesting this morning is the increase in 'Iran' related articles on all the wire services and regular news outlets. If one were of a cynical nature or a suspicious mind, it would be easy to think all this is a prelude to something actually happening to or in the country of Iran in the foreseeable future....like before the end of the summer.
For instance:
Item: A London newspaper has an article on the allegation that Saudi Arabia has already agreed to look the other way if Israeli warplanes fly over their country and through their airspace on the way to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. (Distance is the big problem for Israel. They can get there and do the job, but unless they are given some shortcuts they can't get their planes and pilots BACK! However, if the Saudis kinda look the other way and whistle while they fly past, then things might actually come together for some air warriors taking off near Tel Aviv and headed East.)
Why would this article appear now? Makes you wonder doesn't it?
Item: CNN.com this morning has it that "IRANIAN CLERICS DISPUTE ELECTION RESULTS". Oh, Really? Here all along we've been told the Clerics running Iran are solidly behind the maniacal dwarf Ahmadinejad who claims to have won the recent Iranian election 'fair & square'. Well, it seems the news has got out the top clerics and seminary students in the Holy City of Qom are now protesting the results of said election. Also in the same article is the fact that former President Rafsanjani is quoted as saying "...he doubted any informed conscience would be satisfied with the resulting election..."
Strange stuff, that.
Item: Also from CNN.com this morning is a report the big loser in the recent election, Moussavi, is planning on creating a new political party in Iran whose sole aim is to lessen the political power of the reigning Islamic Republic's leadership.
That is, I might add, if he remains free and alive.
Item: And finally another item from CNN.com that reports: "IRAN TO PROSECUTE SATELLITE TV CONTRIBUTORS". This is yet another attempt to stifle news of what's really happening over there from getting outside the country. This piece adds depth to the public perception that those Iranian Clerics running that country are really bad guys. I mean after all they won't let liberal western news types report from their country.
If one were of a suspicious nature, you could easily imagine all these 'drum beats' (as I call 'em) are leading up to a crescendo of some sort and my guess is it's going to involve the Israelis, while everyone who would normally condemn them.....intentionally looks the other way. Or it could be a campaign to convince the Iranian leadership, that many in the West are seriously tiring of their antics and rather than do the ole "BAD AMERICAN" thing of bombing or invading them, President Unicorn is willing to let someone else haul the coals on this one.
Which in the long run could be a far more serious threat for everyone than a bunch of planes flying off the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.
Or maybe I have an over-active imagination and I'm conjuring up something out of thin air.... What do you think?
All The Best,
Frank W. James
What I found interesting this morning is the increase in 'Iran' related articles on all the wire services and regular news outlets. If one were of a cynical nature or a suspicious mind, it would be easy to think all this is a prelude to something actually happening to or in the country of Iran in the foreseeable future....like before the end of the summer.
For instance:
Item: A London newspaper has an article on the allegation that Saudi Arabia has already agreed to look the other way if Israeli warplanes fly over their country and through their airspace on the way to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. (Distance is the big problem for Israel. They can get there and do the job, but unless they are given some shortcuts they can't get their planes and pilots BACK! However, if the Saudis kinda look the other way and whistle while they fly past, then things might actually come together for some air warriors taking off near Tel Aviv and headed East.)
Why would this article appear now? Makes you wonder doesn't it?
Item: CNN.com this morning has it that "IRANIAN CLERICS DISPUTE ELECTION RESULTS". Oh, Really? Here all along we've been told the Clerics running Iran are solidly behind the maniacal dwarf Ahmadinejad who claims to have won the recent Iranian election 'fair & square'. Well, it seems the news has got out the top clerics and seminary students in the Holy City of Qom are now protesting the results of said election. Also in the same article is the fact that former President Rafsanjani is quoted as saying "...he doubted any informed conscience would be satisfied with the resulting election..."
Strange stuff, that.
Item: Also from CNN.com this morning is a report the big loser in the recent election, Moussavi, is planning on creating a new political party in Iran whose sole aim is to lessen the political power of the reigning Islamic Republic's leadership.
That is, I might add, if he remains free and alive.
Item: And finally another item from CNN.com that reports: "IRAN TO PROSECUTE SATELLITE TV CONTRIBUTORS". This is yet another attempt to stifle news of what's really happening over there from getting outside the country. This piece adds depth to the public perception that those Iranian Clerics running that country are really bad guys. I mean after all they won't let liberal western news types report from their country.
If one were of a suspicious nature, you could easily imagine all these 'drum beats' (as I call 'em) are leading up to a crescendo of some sort and my guess is it's going to involve the Israelis, while everyone who would normally condemn them.....intentionally looks the other way. Or it could be a campaign to convince the Iranian leadership, that many in the West are seriously tiring of their antics and rather than do the ole "BAD AMERICAN" thing of bombing or invading them, President Unicorn is willing to let someone else haul the coals on this one.
Which in the long run could be a far more serious threat for everyone than a bunch of planes flying off the deck of the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan.
Or maybe I have an over-active imagination and I'm conjuring up something out of thin air.... What do you think?
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Saturday, July 4, 2009
FREEDOM, ECONOMICS AND "MORALITY"...
Today being the 4th of July most of us bloggers are posting something about "Freedom" and our rights and privileges as Americans. I will as well and in the process do something very unusual for me; I will post twice on a weekend day. The movie review below was my first for the day.
The Great Thing about America is the recognition our Constitution acknowledges of Our Rights as a Free People, but all too often I think many of us forget what a Privilege it is to be born in this country or to be a citizen here....as opposed to say whatever 'toilet' on the remainder of the face of the planet you care to identify.
As many regular readers have surmised something that really rubs my ass raw is the concept that using something that can be made into food for fuel is immoral. The sad thing is this garbage is being promoted by many whom I would have initially believed were of the same general political persuasion as myself (that is, if I have a political persuasion of any particular magnitude). Maybe it's because of my basic 'cheap' nature or maybe it's because of whatever training I absorbed as a college student, which was economics oriented, that I tend to look at things from a standpoint of economics.
It is my basic belief there is no morality associated in any way with the way economics function.
There may be gross immorality associated with the conditions that create certain economic conditions, but to categorize an economic result or function as 'immoral' is simply a political maneuver from those on the far left and the far right of the political spectrum to twist the perception of the situation to their advantage.
A good example is the current situation in diary farming. The world currently is experiencing a world wide glut in milk. Milk producers across this great land are suffering economic hardship of an untold scale like nothing that hasn't been seen in decades. Diary farmers are currently getting anywhere from 35% to 45% less than what they were paid last fall. Yet, their 'input' costs are as high, or higher, than ever. These producers are in a real jam because they produce a perishable product with a limited life, but the cows just keep producing it in ever greater quantities.
The answer for many has been to simply pour the milk on the ground.
There is too much of it already. Their only hope is to diminish the supply. (That's a rule of economics for those who slept through the previous class.) But here's the question I have for all those moralists who argue it is immoral to use food for fuel, Is it immoral for these diary farmers who are losing their butts economically to pour their milk on the ground when so many children around the world are starving to death?
And if it is, what do YOU propose to do about it?
Many diary farmers are getting paid less for a gallon of milk than what their fathers did over 30 years ago. Of course it goes without saying that the processors and the marketing firms (grocery stores) are not losing money on milk, only the producers. Yet, the moralists in all these scenarios always concentrate on the producer/farmer and not the people responsible for much of the price increases. Many estimate that approximately 25% of the diary operations currently in the United States will go out of business within the short term and who knows what will happen long term if this administration doesn't do something intelligent to help the situation.
Another group in agriculture that is suffering today are the pork producers. Whomever the idiot was that named the H1N1 virus "Swine Flu" better remain anonymous and if his name ever does come out for the sake of his life insurance company, he better stay far away from the Midwest. Hog farmers today are losing, on average, $30 per head for every hog they ship to market because the demand (another economic element) is down so severely for pork products.
When you work with livestock you just can't stop the presses, shut the lathes down, lay off the workers and wait for better market conditions to bring back profitable prices. These animals need to be cared for and fed every day. Additionally, a certain level of herd population has to be maintained in order to keep the enterprise viable should profitable prices ever return.
What has all this got to do with Morality? NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but it has everything to do with Economics and that's my point.
Believe me a lot more diary and swine farmers today would be enjoying their 'Freedom' this day if they could burn milk, bacon or pork loins in their tractors, combines, pick-up trucks or automobiles.....and they would be promoting such use to the rooftops to create more economic demand for these perishable products.
So do an American Farmer a favor this week, drink more milk and eat a port tenderloin or two for lunch.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
The Great Thing about America is the recognition our Constitution acknowledges of Our Rights as a Free People, but all too often I think many of us forget what a Privilege it is to be born in this country or to be a citizen here....as opposed to say whatever 'toilet' on the remainder of the face of the planet you care to identify.
As many regular readers have surmised something that really rubs my ass raw is the concept that using something that can be made into food for fuel is immoral. The sad thing is this garbage is being promoted by many whom I would have initially believed were of the same general political persuasion as myself (that is, if I have a political persuasion of any particular magnitude). Maybe it's because of my basic 'cheap' nature or maybe it's because of whatever training I absorbed as a college student, which was economics oriented, that I tend to look at things from a standpoint of economics.
It is my basic belief there is no morality associated in any way with the way economics function.
There may be gross immorality associated with the conditions that create certain economic conditions, but to categorize an economic result or function as 'immoral' is simply a political maneuver from those on the far left and the far right of the political spectrum to twist the perception of the situation to their advantage.
A good example is the current situation in diary farming. The world currently is experiencing a world wide glut in milk. Milk producers across this great land are suffering economic hardship of an untold scale like nothing that hasn't been seen in decades. Diary farmers are currently getting anywhere from 35% to 45% less than what they were paid last fall. Yet, their 'input' costs are as high, or higher, than ever. These producers are in a real jam because they produce a perishable product with a limited life, but the cows just keep producing it in ever greater quantities.
The answer for many has been to simply pour the milk on the ground.
There is too much of it already. Their only hope is to diminish the supply. (That's a rule of economics for those who slept through the previous class.) But here's the question I have for all those moralists who argue it is immoral to use food for fuel, Is it immoral for these diary farmers who are losing their butts economically to pour their milk on the ground when so many children around the world are starving to death?
And if it is, what do YOU propose to do about it?
Many diary farmers are getting paid less for a gallon of milk than what their fathers did over 30 years ago. Of course it goes without saying that the processors and the marketing firms (grocery stores) are not losing money on milk, only the producers. Yet, the moralists in all these scenarios always concentrate on the producer/farmer and not the people responsible for much of the price increases. Many estimate that approximately 25% of the diary operations currently in the United States will go out of business within the short term and who knows what will happen long term if this administration doesn't do something intelligent to help the situation.
Another group in agriculture that is suffering today are the pork producers. Whomever the idiot was that named the H1N1 virus "Swine Flu" better remain anonymous and if his name ever does come out for the sake of his life insurance company, he better stay far away from the Midwest. Hog farmers today are losing, on average, $30 per head for every hog they ship to market because the demand (another economic element) is down so severely for pork products.
When you work with livestock you just can't stop the presses, shut the lathes down, lay off the workers and wait for better market conditions to bring back profitable prices. These animals need to be cared for and fed every day. Additionally, a certain level of herd population has to be maintained in order to keep the enterprise viable should profitable prices ever return.
What has all this got to do with Morality? NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but it has everything to do with Economics and that's my point.
Believe me a lot more diary and swine farmers today would be enjoying their 'Freedom' this day if they could burn milk, bacon or pork loins in their tractors, combines, pick-up trucks or automobiles.....and they would be promoting such use to the rooftops to create more economic demand for these perishable products.
So do an American Farmer a favor this week, drink more milk and eat a port tenderloin or two for lunch.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Movie Review: PUBLIC ENEMIES...
PUBLIC ENEMIES, (2009), directed by Michael Mann, written by Ronan Bennett, Michael Mann, Ann Bidermann, from the book by Bryan Burrough, starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard...
Let me start off by saying I have always been a big fan of Michael Mann's films. Obviously "HEAT" is an all time favorite, but I have also watched repeatedly "THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS" and "COLLATERAL", although I tire of Tom Cruise rather easily. All three of these previous movies carry a story and character interaction that sucks you in. If there is a single characteristic I would classify about a Michael Mann it is the attention paid to the smallest detail. It's almost like he is the Roger Penske of 'action-oriented' movie making. This film is visually impressive and the attention paid to even the smallest detail is mind boggling, but alas the characters of this well known story simply don't engage you.
I felt like I was watching an extremely well done re-enactment production for most of the film. Johnny Depp is John Dillinger and I feel he missed the essential element in Dillinger's character. Yes, Dillinger was a dangerous criminal, but he was a gregarious one. Depp needed the swagger he had as a pirate to make this thing work, but instead he is simply cold. Dillinger tried to disarm people through a sense of humor and a wide smile, but when that didn't work he used a .45 and a 1928 Thompson submachine gun.
Mann has certainly got the guns right in this film and for a 'gun-degenerate' like myself that in itself is a big positive, but you aren't drawn into the character's lives because there is so little emotion. Toward the end Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette captures your attention and your interest, but by then the play is nearing the end of the third act.
One character and portrayal I would like to have seen develop much further and in far greater depth was that played by Stephen Lang as Charles Winstead. He is the agent Melvin Purvis has brought in because the agents he has in place simply can't do the job. Lang captures, in his all too brief screen appearances, the essence of the tough, no-nonsense lawman prior to World War Two. His presence should have been exploited, the film for me would have better for it.
Christian Bale portrays Melvin Purvis and all I can say is I felt he was 'channeling' George W. Bush whenever he spoke. 'Nuff said about that performance.
Years ago there was a little half-ass museum down in southern Indiana dedicated to John Dillinger. It has since been closed or moved or whatever and it didn't have much in terms of real historical artifacts. It did have a display illustrating what the posted copy of his autopsy report said, whether it was a true copy is unknown. According to it, Dillinger was struck several times by gun shots as he tried to escape down the alley beside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, but the fatal wound was one that came from a .45 caliber weapon with the bullet entering behind the left ear, traversing both lobes of the brain and exiting just above his right eye. That's the wound illustrated in the movie, but they have him being shot on the sidewalk next to the street. According to all accounts that's NOT the way it really happened.
I guess this film is a reminder that even the best sometimes fail to achieve their own level and standard of perfection. Roger Penske's cars failed to qualify for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and this film "PUBLIC ENEMIES" fails to draw the audience to its heart because I question if it even has a heart.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Let me start off by saying I have always been a big fan of Michael Mann's films. Obviously "HEAT" is an all time favorite, but I have also watched repeatedly "THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS" and "COLLATERAL", although I tire of Tom Cruise rather easily. All three of these previous movies carry a story and character interaction that sucks you in. If there is a single characteristic I would classify about a Michael Mann it is the attention paid to the smallest detail. It's almost like he is the Roger Penske of 'action-oriented' movie making. This film is visually impressive and the attention paid to even the smallest detail is mind boggling, but alas the characters of this well known story simply don't engage you.
I felt like I was watching an extremely well done re-enactment production for most of the film. Johnny Depp is John Dillinger and I feel he missed the essential element in Dillinger's character. Yes, Dillinger was a dangerous criminal, but he was a gregarious one. Depp needed the swagger he had as a pirate to make this thing work, but instead he is simply cold. Dillinger tried to disarm people through a sense of humor and a wide smile, but when that didn't work he used a .45 and a 1928 Thompson submachine gun.
Mann has certainly got the guns right in this film and for a 'gun-degenerate' like myself that in itself is a big positive, but you aren't drawn into the character's lives because there is so little emotion. Toward the end Marion Cotillard as Billie Frechette captures your attention and your interest, but by then the play is nearing the end of the third act.
One character and portrayal I would like to have seen develop much further and in far greater depth was that played by Stephen Lang as Charles Winstead. He is the agent Melvin Purvis has brought in because the agents he has in place simply can't do the job. Lang captures, in his all too brief screen appearances, the essence of the tough, no-nonsense lawman prior to World War Two. His presence should have been exploited, the film for me would have better for it.
Christian Bale portrays Melvin Purvis and all I can say is I felt he was 'channeling' George W. Bush whenever he spoke. 'Nuff said about that performance.
Years ago there was a little half-ass museum down in southern Indiana dedicated to John Dillinger. It has since been closed or moved or whatever and it didn't have much in terms of real historical artifacts. It did have a display illustrating what the posted copy of his autopsy report said, whether it was a true copy is unknown. According to it, Dillinger was struck several times by gun shots as he tried to escape down the alley beside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, but the fatal wound was one that came from a .45 caliber weapon with the bullet entering behind the left ear, traversing both lobes of the brain and exiting just above his right eye. That's the wound illustrated in the movie, but they have him being shot on the sidewalk next to the street. According to all accounts that's NOT the way it really happened.
I guess this film is a reminder that even the best sometimes fail to achieve their own level and standard of perfection. Roger Penske's cars failed to qualify for the 1995 Indianapolis 500 and this film "PUBLIC ENEMIES" fails to draw the audience to its heart because I question if it even has a heart.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Friday, July 3, 2009
THE LATEST CROP REPORT AND OTHER FAIRY TALES...
The big news this week in the farmer oriented coffee shops I frequent, besides the dumbass Indiana state budget, is the latest USDA crop report and the fact that many of us grain farmers here in the Midwest think it has an odor about it.....as in something is rotten within the damn thing.
The USDA surprised everyone within agriculture this past Monday, both the grain traders/gamblers in the CBOT and farmers, by finding an extra million acres of corn no one knew existed!!!!
Everyone I know and converse with thinks it is 100% bovine scalentology. With the spring we've had across the Midwest and with the Illinois crops in the shape they are, where in the Hell did the USDA find an extra million acres of corn? (No matter what you think of Illinois politics, the honesty or lack thereof of their governors and the Mistake By The Lake, Illinois and Iowa are the two biggest factors in corn production in the US and when their farmers have trouble on a wide basis, the country can expect a decrease in corn production. It's just the way it is.)
The USDA in this latest crop report also found more acres of soybeans than were earlier predicted but that makes sense if rain kept a good number of corn farmers out of the field till late in the season and we all know it did. Many of them converted those corn acres into soybean acres, but its the boys who had chemicals down that are not compatible with soybeans that are really in trouble. I was talking to my district manager for the seed corn company I principally rely upon and he said his company has customers in south-central Illinois that have filed for "Prevented Planting" for corn under their federal crop insurance and this was the first time in history for one farm that had been in operation for over 40 years. The farmer grapevine is picking up all kinds of horror stories about big operators over in central Illinois not being able to get their corn in and we still haven't seen the repercussions yet.
But for the Department of Agriculture to state there are a million more acres of corn out there than previously expected defies logic and common sense under these conditions. (In case you're new to the intricacies of agriculture and crop prices these USDA crop reports heavily, and I DO MEAN heavily, influence the direction of future trades in the corn and soybean 'pits' at the CBOT and thereby all of our overall economic health.)
Another item of interest for those who like to watch economic trends, is it seems the price of anhydrous ammonia has dropped.......as in right through the floor!
Rumor has it that during this past week farmers in Iowa were starting to pre-pay for ammonia for this fall at $400/ton. May I remind my loyal readers that I '...squealed like a pig...' last fall when I had to pay for ammonia for the present corn crop at the rate of $975/ton, but even that was better than this Spring's $1,175/ton. I've already checked with my local dealer and he told me he had just recently heard the same rumor, but he wasn't jumping yet because he was still unsure where the 'bottom' was and he got slapped last year pretty hard by the big boys. He lost a bunch of money even at the $975 price; so once bit, twice shy.
However, it seems the price of potash (Potassium) and phosphate for the Fall are holding at the present levels; which are record highs by the way.
Another rumor that's making the rounds is all the seed technology companies (everyone, not just Monsanto, but Dow, Sygenta and everyone else who develops seed technology) are going to require new signed technology agreements before next Spring if any farmer wants to plant any kind of patented seed. (And a fact of life in agriculture today is ALL the seed today is patented.) I don't agree with this, but I appreciate the fact a good source fed me this information as I will probably spend the winter searching out alternatives to these Fortune 500 companies attempts to exert even more control over individuals like myself.
Believe me I'm not alone in terms of my attitude toward these bullies so we will see if the Al Gore's internet helps foster a non-technology agreement black market in the seed business for the year 2010?
All The Best,
Frank W. James
The USDA surprised everyone within agriculture this past Monday, both the grain traders/gamblers in the CBOT and farmers, by finding an extra million acres of corn no one knew existed!!!!
Everyone I know and converse with thinks it is 100% bovine scalentology. With the spring we've had across the Midwest and with the Illinois crops in the shape they are, where in the Hell did the USDA find an extra million acres of corn? (No matter what you think of Illinois politics, the honesty or lack thereof of their governors and the Mistake By The Lake, Illinois and Iowa are the two biggest factors in corn production in the US and when their farmers have trouble on a wide basis, the country can expect a decrease in corn production. It's just the way it is.)
The USDA in this latest crop report also found more acres of soybeans than were earlier predicted but that makes sense if rain kept a good number of corn farmers out of the field till late in the season and we all know it did. Many of them converted those corn acres into soybean acres, but its the boys who had chemicals down that are not compatible with soybeans that are really in trouble. I was talking to my district manager for the seed corn company I principally rely upon and he said his company has customers in south-central Illinois that have filed for "Prevented Planting" for corn under their federal crop insurance and this was the first time in history for one farm that had been in operation for over 40 years. The farmer grapevine is picking up all kinds of horror stories about big operators over in central Illinois not being able to get their corn in and we still haven't seen the repercussions yet.
But for the Department of Agriculture to state there are a million more acres of corn out there than previously expected defies logic and common sense under these conditions. (In case you're new to the intricacies of agriculture and crop prices these USDA crop reports heavily, and I DO MEAN heavily, influence the direction of future trades in the corn and soybean 'pits' at the CBOT and thereby all of our overall economic health.)
Another item of interest for those who like to watch economic trends, is it seems the price of anhydrous ammonia has dropped.......as in right through the floor!
Rumor has it that during this past week farmers in Iowa were starting to pre-pay for ammonia for this fall at $400/ton. May I remind my loyal readers that I '...squealed like a pig...' last fall when I had to pay for ammonia for the present corn crop at the rate of $975/ton, but even that was better than this Spring's $1,175/ton. I've already checked with my local dealer and he told me he had just recently heard the same rumor, but he wasn't jumping yet because he was still unsure where the 'bottom' was and he got slapped last year pretty hard by the big boys. He lost a bunch of money even at the $975 price; so once bit, twice shy.
However, it seems the price of potash (Potassium) and phosphate for the Fall are holding at the present levels; which are record highs by the way.
Another rumor that's making the rounds is all the seed technology companies (everyone, not just Monsanto, but Dow, Sygenta and everyone else who develops seed technology) are going to require new signed technology agreements before next Spring if any farmer wants to plant any kind of patented seed. (And a fact of life in agriculture today is ALL the seed today is patented.) I don't agree with this, but I appreciate the fact a good source fed me this information as I will probably spend the winter searching out alternatives to these Fortune 500 companies attempts to exert even more control over individuals like myself.
Believe me I'm not alone in terms of my attitude toward these bullies so we will see if the Al Gore's internet helps foster a non-technology agreement black market in the seed business for the year 2010?
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Thursday, July 2, 2009
EYE STATUS AND OTHER THINGS...
This afternoon I'm going to have laser surgery on my 'good' eye. I have the same condition in it that caused the degeneration and deterioration in the other one, but to the best of our knowledge there are no 'rips' in its retina. However, I can't say I'm looking forward to the process. I realize it must be done to protect my remaining vision, but I just don't need any mistakes or screw-ups.
As for my 'bad' eye it is still in the recovery stage. We (the doctor and I) won't know its true status for another two months. I can see close up items fairly well and distinctly, but everything is blurry beyond 4 or 5 yards. However because the same conditions exists in my right eye I can't shoot heavy recoiling long guns (think 12 gauge shotguns or serious centerfire rifles) until I get it attended to.
So I will be out of action this afternoon for the remainder of the day, but the doctor assures us it won't be long. I hope he's right!
I'm still upset about how our local rural representatives voted on the recent Indiana state budget. The future of small, rural communities revolves around their school systems. You can have all the jobs you want, but if the school system is poor, or worse, there is NO local elementary or middle school no one will build a new home in that community. Despite what anyone says it is the typical young family that buys or builds the average new home in most small towns, not the older about-to-retire folks or farmers that represent the majority of the residents in most small, rural communities today. The lack of a good school is a BIG disincentive for young families NOT to locate in that community and almost guarantees the community in question has a very limited future lifespan.
To me, any rural politician who would vote for such a package that decreases funding for the small community schools in his rural district is beyond the definition of 'brain-dead'.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
As for my 'bad' eye it is still in the recovery stage. We (the doctor and I) won't know its true status for another two months. I can see close up items fairly well and distinctly, but everything is blurry beyond 4 or 5 yards. However because the same conditions exists in my right eye I can't shoot heavy recoiling long guns (think 12 gauge shotguns or serious centerfire rifles) until I get it attended to.
So I will be out of action this afternoon for the remainder of the day, but the doctor assures us it won't be long. I hope he's right!
I'm still upset about how our local rural representatives voted on the recent Indiana state budget. The future of small, rural communities revolves around their school systems. You can have all the jobs you want, but if the school system is poor, or worse, there is NO local elementary or middle school no one will build a new home in that community. Despite what anyone says it is the typical young family that buys or builds the average new home in most small towns, not the older about-to-retire folks or farmers that represent the majority of the residents in most small, rural communities today. The lack of a good school is a BIG disincentive for young families NOT to locate in that community and almost guarantees the community in question has a very limited future lifespan.
To me, any rural politician who would vote for such a package that decreases funding for the small community schools in his rural district is beyond the definition of 'brain-dead'.
All The Best,
Frank W. James
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
DROP DEAD and GO TO HELL!!...
That's pretty much what both sides in the state legislature and our wonderful governor have said to rural schools and communities in the state of Indiana after the conclusion of the ongoing budget debacle saga.
In case you're not a Hoosier or you are but you've been marooned on the planet Neptune, the organized stupidity, commonly known as Indiana statehouse politics, has been involved in a rhubarb over our state budget. Since Indiana does not have a full time legislature, they work only a few months every year. (At least this portion of the whole scheme is Honest and Straight forward, as opposed to say those in Congress who claim to work all year.) The governor, who is Republican, and the leaders in the legislature, who are Democrats, butted heads all year long over the exact budget for our fair state. Finally, the regular session ran out of time and they had to call a special session.
With hours to go before the old budget ran out, they agreed on a new one and in the process they sold rural schools, and thereby their communities, right down the river. "Nice knife you've got there Mitch Daniels. Now would you please pull it out of our backs?"
Overall public schools over the next two years in Indiana will see their funding increase by 1%, but rural schools with declining populations could see their funding decrease by as much as 4% or 5% annually due to the specific language of this budget. It takes funding away from schools whose student population drops...even slightly. That is a death-knell for rural communities and here is the reason why:
Years ago I participated quite actively in a community organized effort to attract jobs and businesses to our rural community. The conclusion I came to was pretty dismal because even when you are successful you still only attract 'the lower elements on the socio-economic scale' to your small town.
If you are successful in attracting a new employer with plenty of jobs, the jobs are always low-pay and non-union. That's a given and the principle attraction for our area to any employer milking the tax-abatement/economic development grant system. Okay, I'm good with that because the management in these new firms represents various education levels and educated families always add to the overall improvement of the community if you can get their kids involved in your local school system and their families in the community; i.e. civic programs, churches, etc.
EXCEPT THEY REFUSE TO LIVE IN OUR RURAL 'BACKWARD' COMMUNITIES and you want to know why? BECAUSE OUR SCHOOLS AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEIR LITTLE DARLINGS!!!! This budget from this governor and legislature is only going to acerbate this dire situation.
I've seen enough to know its the husbands who earn the promotion and transfer when a company opens a manufacturing/warehouse distribution facility with many new jobs in a rural community like ours, but IT'S THEIR WIVES WHO PICKS OUT WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO LIVE and THE FIRST CONCERN OF THESE PRINCESSES OF INDUSTRY IS THE QUALITY OF THE AVAILABLE SCHOOLS AND WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO SHOP. Obviously we have little to offer on the latter count and now we will have even less to offer on the First.
Thank you Once Again, Mitch Daniels and all the Indiana State Legislature politicians for taking our money and then telling us where to go!
All The Best,
Frank W. James
In case you're not a Hoosier or you are but you've been marooned on the planet Neptune, the organized stupidity, commonly known as Indiana statehouse politics, has been involved in a rhubarb over our state budget. Since Indiana does not have a full time legislature, they work only a few months every year. (At least this portion of the whole scheme is Honest and Straight forward, as opposed to say those in Congress who claim to work all year.) The governor, who is Republican, and the leaders in the legislature, who are Democrats, butted heads all year long over the exact budget for our fair state. Finally, the regular session ran out of time and they had to call a special session.
With hours to go before the old budget ran out, they agreed on a new one and in the process they sold rural schools, and thereby their communities, right down the river. "Nice knife you've got there Mitch Daniels. Now would you please pull it out of our backs?"
Overall public schools over the next two years in Indiana will see their funding increase by 1%, but rural schools with declining populations could see their funding decrease by as much as 4% or 5% annually due to the specific language of this budget. It takes funding away from schools whose student population drops...even slightly. That is a death-knell for rural communities and here is the reason why:
Years ago I participated quite actively in a community organized effort to attract jobs and businesses to our rural community. The conclusion I came to was pretty dismal because even when you are successful you still only attract 'the lower elements on the socio-economic scale' to your small town.
If you are successful in attracting a new employer with plenty of jobs, the jobs are always low-pay and non-union. That's a given and the principle attraction for our area to any employer milking the tax-abatement/economic development grant system. Okay, I'm good with that because the management in these new firms represents various education levels and educated families always add to the overall improvement of the community if you can get their kids involved in your local school system and their families in the community; i.e. civic programs, churches, etc.
EXCEPT THEY REFUSE TO LIVE IN OUR RURAL 'BACKWARD' COMMUNITIES and you want to know why? BECAUSE OUR SCHOOLS AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR THEIR LITTLE DARLINGS!!!! This budget from this governor and legislature is only going to acerbate this dire situation.
I've seen enough to know its the husbands who earn the promotion and transfer when a company opens a manufacturing/warehouse distribution facility with many new jobs in a rural community like ours, but IT'S THEIR WIVES WHO PICKS OUT WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO LIVE and THE FIRST CONCERN OF THESE PRINCESSES OF INDUSTRY IS THE QUALITY OF THE AVAILABLE SCHOOLS AND WHERE THEY ARE GOING TO SHOP. Obviously we have little to offer on the latter count and now we will have even less to offer on the First.
Thank you Once Again, Mitch Daniels and all the Indiana State Legislature politicians for taking our money and then telling us where to go!
All The Best,
Frank W. James
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