Fraud Follows Program--Biomass Problems

The Biomass program, fresh from a Wash Post article, now has a notice out warning about scams and abuse.

This is all part of the bureaucratic learning curve. Of course, it's a little embarassing when the FSA state director is featured in a story that starts: "Forget gold—the biomass rush is on in California."

And never underestimate the evil that lurks in the hearts of men--here's a Snopes post on a scam on aid to Haiti.

A Good Bureaucrat: Ink

See this writeup on Dwight Ink.

John Phipps Will Like Stenholm's Views

Former Representative Charlie Stenholm told the Farm Bureau convention expenditures on farm programs will be challenged, according to Farm Policy.

IMO that's not exactly earthshaking news.  One could write "expenditures on [any and every discretionary program and most entitlements] will be challenged in the coming years" and be safe in your prediction.

Farm state Senators who wish to protect their farm programs will fight any idea for a special committee to come up with answers to the budget deficit problem because farm programs would inevitably take a hit.

Want to Stay Married--Rise High in the Military

Obamafoodorama has a post on Obama's dinner for the military big shots tonight. The guest list is only about 21 or 22 couples, but only one general is unaccompanied, one couple has different last names, and the rest are married.  Not sure whether it's very hard to get promoted if you aren't married, or whether the military life is good for marriages.

Vertical Farming in Time

The people at Time have made the vertical farming system of Valcent the 16th best invention of 2009.

Now the writeup says: "pioneering a hydroponic-farming system that grows plants in rotating rows, one on top of another. The rotation gives the plants the precise amount of light and nutrients they need, while the vertical stacking enables the use of far less water than conventional farming."

The picture seems to show 6 racks of lettuce growing, though I don't see the mechanism to rotate them.  But assume it's there--then if you rotate the 6 racks through the 24 hours of the day, each rack gets 4 hours of direct sunlight.  I find it conceivable that lettuce could grow with that much sun--greens usually require less than vegetables.  What I do find inconceivable is that there's any place on this green earth where the sun shines overhead for 24 hours in the day.

Now I may be misunderstanding, instead of a vertical rotation they may be talking about a horizontal rotation. Again, I don't see the mechanism in the photo, but if you rotated the whole stand then each plant would get 1/4th of the available sunlight.  Again, I've my doubts.

Looking at the data on the company, I observe the stock price of Valcent, which is publicly traded, is much lower than in the past--not the profile of a promising company. Nor do the various releases cite any real concrete achievements, just a bunch of golden futures to come.

A Surprising Sentence

From Dirk Beauregarde's post on French introspection, a site to debate what it means to be French (the values Liverty, Equality, Fraternaity) in the context of winter snow and burqa wearing:

"However, contrary to popular belief, the Republican Trinity was not coined on the barricades during the French Revolution of 1789 – the idea of brotherhood (fraternité) was not added until 1880."

Is the Air Force Unconstitutional?

Inasmuch as the Constitution only provides for an army and a navy, it would seem anyone who is an originalist in constitutional interpretation would have to say that Truman should have initiated an amendment to legalize the Air Force.  (Comment triggered by a NYTimes review of two books annotating the Constitution).

Whither the Food Crisis?

From the FAO's Food Outlook:

The agricultural market situation today is different from that of 2007/08. World cereal stocks are at far more comfortable levels than they were two years ago, with the stock-to-use ratio at almost 23 percent, 4 percentage points more than at the time. Evidently, the balance of world supply and demand is not even across all commodities, with some markets facing tighter conditions than others. But, in general, supplies held by exporters are far more adequate to respond to rising demand than they were during the price surge period. For example, the wheat stocks-to-use ratio in major exporting countries has risen from 12 percent in 2007/08 to 20 percent this season.

A reminder things can change quickly and the conventional wisdom of today is often like the winter's snow, vanishing with the brighter sun and the longer days.

Transparency in Government--State and Local

Do you know that building codes and fire safety codes and similar material are not available for free?  I'd like to see that changed.

The Past Persists

A couple factoids--the Presbyterians around 1900 were still dealing with "Freedmen", some 30 odd years after the 13th Amendment was ratified.

And it seems the U.S. didn't require passports for women until well into the 20th century.