Who are those guys?

I keep thinking about the 2004 Presidential election that pitted the incumbent, George W. Bush, against John Kerry. The mantra in those days was "Which devil do you want? The one you know or the one you don't..." Well we took the one we knew and although I admit that I was happy at the time, it certainly didn't work out well, but that’s something we’re dealing with today in terms of a terrible economy and a new President that seemingly is intent on making things worse instead of better. But back to the subject at hand…
Today we are faced with a similar scenario when considering all the ruckus emanating from the Arab world in particular and the Muslim world in general. For many years our country’s foreign policy in the Arab and South Asia regions has supported monarchies, military governments and out and out dictators as they strong armed their people and maintained some semblance of normalcy in those volatile areas.

Egypt is in the midst of a basically non-violent change in its leadership and now we are witnessing the bloody overthrow of yet another Arab despot in Libya only a few years removed from our country's military taking down two separate governments and here, while our economy struggles along, we are once again taking an active role. In addition, Yemen appears to be going through a change as well and there have been violent government reactions to demonstrators wanting leadership change in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Syria. We are hearing rumblings out of Iran that there have been demonstrations against their government too, but reliable news is being suppressed. Pakistan’s general population seems intent on opposing their military government and there’s always the chance of conflict between Pakistan and India. So if you count Iraq and Afghanistan, the whole region is facing upheaval… Just who are these people attempting to overthrow their governments? Our government is downplaying the likelihood that the terrorist organizations have anything to do with it, but I have to say this is the sort of thing they seem geared toward. Will Taliban type ruling bodies soon take over all these countries?

One look at a map of the Muslim World yields a sobering look at where Israel fits into the scheme of things. Five million Jews surrounded by 300 million Muslims that may suddenly be united in one common cause…

If you’re familiar with the Bible Code then you should know that in the third volume published last October, the code tells us Al Qaeda not only has nuclear weapons, it also tells us where they are stored and yet for some reason the site hasn’t been looked at, almost as if nobody believes the code even though it has correctly told us of all the major world events and leaders since the Jewish Old Testaments were written. If the code is correct, before the end of this year we may be faced with the ultimate act of terrorism, a nuclear weapon being set off most likely within Israel’s borders, an act that could send the world into another world war; a war that will change everything.

So while the demonstrators go about changing Arab governments, who exactly are we supporting?

Is Going Green The Right Thing To Do?

Using 15% ethanol fuel in NASCAR certainly appears to be the thing to do in this day and age. The initial thought being “Anything we can do to be proactive in the public’s eye concerning ending our country’s dependency on foreign oil.” And yes, up front, NASCAR has scored some points with the “Go Green” crowd, but is this really the right way to go? This line of reasoning can run in many directions and I don’t want to get too political here so I’ll look at one angle in particular. As many of you know, I was a farmer most of my life. Here are a couple of facts concerning America’s growing reliance on corn based ethanol as a fuel additive:

1. Growing a good corn crop takes lots of nutrients from the soil. Good farmers are concerned about the make-up of their soil. They want a soil that features a balanced range of elements, both of the macro variety like nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, and of the micro variety like calcium, zinc, sulfur and so on and they know growing corn depletes their property’s soil of nutrients. For this reason, Midwest corn farmers have rotated crops from year to year to sustain the soil on their farms. They would grow the soil deleting corn one year and a legume crop such as soy beans the next since legumes actually add to the soil’s nutrients rather than depleting them. With the cost of foreign oil moving upward at an alarming rate due to political unrest in the Middle East, our country’s reliance on American ethanol is steadily rising. Estimates in 2007 pegged 30% of our nation’s corn crop to be used for ethanol five years later in 2012 while we are already surpassing 40% in 2011. Suddenly our farmers are feeling pressure to grow corn year after year on the same ground, and with a bullish corn market the temptation to neglect good farming practices has gone up.

2. So, by potentially being forced to grow corn year in and year out on the same piece of ground, farmers will now be faced with adding more fertilizer to maintain a vigorous corn planting that produces many bushels per acre. The problem here is that it takes around 125 pounds of nitrogen per acre to grow that vigorous corn crop and cost conscious farmers know the cost of nitrogen is significantly less when products such as Ammonium Nitrate or Urea are used instead of the mixed nutrient fertilizers that may be better for the soil. These cheaper (per pound of nitrogen) high nitrogen fertilizers contain nitrate nitrogen that is easily leached (moved by water and gravity) through the soil. This process can taint groundwater. Today we’re finding farmers in areas that have grown other types of crops, specifically the cotton growing region of the Mississippi River Valley, now growing corn to take advantage of the excellent price. Cotton, the crop traditionally grown in the south, has a much lower need for nitrogen fertilizer. Fertilizing corn in this region will result in large amounts of nitrate nitrogen being leached into the ground water. This could be a deadly combination for the Gulf of Mexico. Over time, the nitrate nitrogen will eventually find its way into the Gulf creating an anaerobic environment that will kill sea life. I wonder what the environmentalists will think of this… Problems with nitrate nitrogen tainted ground water already exist in California’s Horns of Plenty: the San Joaquin, Salinas and Imperial Valleys.

Beyond these concerns, the higher price of oil is now being felt in everyone’s costs for food. Have you thought how much of that is directly attributable to the higher corn price due to its use in ethanol production? Corn is used in so many of our foods, everything from cereal and sugar to meat prices come into play…

So I ask you, which is worse, limiting our use of foreign oil by continuing this new reliance on corn ethanol or finding other means of fueling our nation’s economy? It’s said that our country sits on some of the largest untapped oil and natural gas reserves in the world up in North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming and yet the environmentalists fight every attempt to extract those resources in an effort to put an end to our use of fossil fuels when our most precious natural resource, fresh, clean water is being threatened.

And suddenly, here is NASCAR trying to shine their star in the eyes of the nation by using 15% ethanol…

The Day of Reckoning

The Republican majority in the state senate of Wisconsin finally pulled together their collective courage and took care of some long overdue business today. This while fourteen Democratic senators weren’t taking care of the jobs they were elected to perform; in fact they were residing beyond the Wisconsin state border in neighboring Illinois in what was nothing but a contemptuous grandstanding maneuver designed to win the approval of their union bosses. After almost three weeks of absence, all in an effort to thwart Wisconsin’s senate from voting on their Republican Governor’s “Budget Repair” bill that addresses Wisconsin’s growing mountain of red ink, the senate Republicans separated out the portion of the bill that would strip the state government employees' of their collective bargaining rights and voted on it. That portion of the legislation didn’t concern state spending and consequently didn’t require a quorum for a vote. The anti-state employee union bill was passed on an 18-1 vote.

The "Wisconsin Fourteen"

The Democrat’s move was simply their means of delaying the inevitable. Now that the union backed liberal’s worst fears have been realized it’s time for the good people of Wisconsin to batten down the hatches and hunker down while they are served an overwhelming helping of Liberal vitriol.

This is a test of will and I’m happy to say that reality has set in, at least in Wisconsin. Next up, what do the state elected officials in California, New York, Illinois, and on and on, plan to do about their states' debt crises?