Agency Consolidation--Even in Maine

We once said: "As Maine goes, so goes the nation." That was in the days when Maine's election day was earlier than the rest, so they served as an advance indicator.

These days, Maine is just one of the crowd. This piece outlines problems the governor is having in streamlining his natural resource agencies. It sounds familiar.

Better Than Pollan and Kingsolver?

No, I haven't read the book (The Fattening of America) but no two people are going to be better writers than Michael Pollan and Barbara Kingsolver. That said, this interview
makes me think the analysis is better.

Alzheimer's and Total Weirdness

Long ago, Cornell's School of Agriculture had a cow whose stomach (one of them) was visible--I think they'd opened her up and installed a plastic window--allowed them to observe the process of digestion. That struck me as gross.

But then I started worrying about Alzheimer's. So this report of mice with glassed brains (so scientists can watch amyloid plaque form in the brain) strikes me as marvelous ingenuity, totally tasteful.

Our Up-to-date Government: OMB

This may be unfair, but I linked to this Government Executive article touting Bush's e-government:

President Bush's electronic government initiatives saved agencies $508 million in costs during the 2007 fiscal year, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

The goal of e-government is to "improve services to citizens, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the government and to provide savings to the taxpayer," according to OMB's memorandum. To achieve those goals, the Bush administration is developing governmentwide IT services provided by one agency or service provider to manage cross-agency functions such as payroll, training and travel management.

But when I clicked through to the OMB memo, I found an August 2006 memo.

Pollan Again

Two additional thoughts on Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food:

• One raised by my better half--people need to start smoking again. Increased obesity correlates strongly with decreased smoking.
• The other is all mine, though suggested by this abstract of scholarly research--people need to go back to old-time parenting--it's all this permissive, lovey-dovey parenting of boomers and the x generation that leads to obesity.
  

Senator Grassley and Payment Limits

Farm Policy has a summary, including this from Sen. Grassley:

“Earlier on Tuesday, Grassley sent a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees, saying more reform was needed on payment limits.

“He said landlords could evade income tests, such as the administration’s $200,000 cut-off, by renting their land for cash, rather than for a share of the crop, by reorganizing operations to spread payments among more recipients or manipulating their income, such as buying land.”

I'm not sure how he would change the rules to prevent such changes.

Us Old Fogies--Ruth Marcus on the Budget

Marcus has a column this morning bemoaning the change from paper to electronic publication of the President's budget. She collects a fair amount of scorn in the comments.

I sympathize with both sides. But one advantage of paper that she didn't mention which I found invaluable--you can stack it up on your desk and let everyone know you're overwhelmed.

Immigration, Housing--Am I a Traitor?

Here's my opinion, again. And here's the comments on my letter.

How To Handle Rules

I totally missed the fact that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman conducted a 15-minute discussion of rule interpretation during the Super Bowl, including references to Wittgenstein. But Michael Berube at Crooked Timber gets it.

Earl Butz and His Legacy

Timothy Noah in Slate celebrates the Butz contribution to racial harmony and justice. Hopefully it's a permanent one, unlike his contributions to farm policy.