"Heroes": The Devaluation of Standards

There's a kerfuffle over some guy on MSNBC voicing reservations over calling people "heroes", thinks it encourages war..  And Mitt Romney  has a video in which he says: " “But every woman and every man who has or now defends American liberty share in their heritage of greatness. Every veteran is the greatest of his generation.”

To all of which, I say b.s.  We're now living in Lake Woebegon, where all the women are good-looking, all the children above average, and all the veterans/military are heroes and the greatest.  It's also the country where the "gentleman's C" has become everyone's B.

In fact, some served, some did not. Some did their jobs, some did not.  Some were very brave on some days, some were not.  Some received medals, some did not.  Some were Americans, some were not. Some were Germans, Japanese, Russians, Vietnamese, some were not.  Draw a Venn diagram and the sets will overlap.  All were human. Read "The Red Badge of Courage", then read Audie Murphy's memoir.

[Update: Tom Ricks provides some backup to my position here. Conor Friedersdorf has a long post on the original MSNBC program and the reaction thereto.]

Props to Jimmy Carter

Obituaries this week for Wesley Brown, who graduated from Annapolis in 1949 as the first black to make it through.  From the obits his time was not easy, being hazed continuously for four years.  Both the Times and Post obits observe a handful of whites were friendly, including a young Jimmy Carter who was a teammate on the track team.

Congress: No Negative Earmarks

One of the things Congress likes to do is the "negative earmark", by which I mean sticking a provision in an appropriation act stating that no money shall be spent for such and such purpose as authorized in an existing statute.  It's like an earmark, because it scratches some specific itch, and it's done through the appropriation process which means, usually, there's no up and down vote, but because it bans spending of money it's negative, not positive.

Well, the gun nuts have used the negative earmark to make it impossible for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to review any application for relief from provisions of the law, including the complete ban on ex-felons possessing firearms.  This provision has now bitten former Representative Randy Cunningham, who is nearing release from  prison (for bribery) and would like to be able to hunt. The link is from a TPM post, containing the letter written by the federal judge back to Cunningham.

It's so funny, I could cry. 

[Updated: changed title and added clause to last sentence of first paragraph.]

I Lost My Wallet: USDA

This post on Govloop describes an approach the Portugese government had set up:

Essentially, it was a place you went when... you lost your wallet. What the government had done was bring together all the agencies that controlled a document or card that was likely to have been in your wallet. As a result, rather than running around from agency to agency filling out your name and address over and over again on dozens of different forms, you went to a single desk, filled out one set of forms to get new copies of say, your social insurance card, your drivers license, healthcare card and library card.

It reminds me of an episode back in my career, perhaps in connection with USDA's InfoShare project.  Someone's parent had died, leaving her some farmland, I think in the Shenandoah valley.  She had tried going to the USDA offices to get help with what to do, but found the whole process confusing and very frustrating. 

There should be a simple process for such cases, although it's much more important (and equally as unlikely) for there to be an "I lost my wallet" office sponsored by any government at any level in the US.

Everything Is Owned, Except Feral Hogs

If you had asked me, I say everything in the US has an owner but not so.  Feral hogs in Texas are unowned, and you need no license to hunt them.

Extension has been having a lot of posts on feral hogs--just another thing to worry about.

Eat Your Lettuce

This Ann Althouse post seems to say that. 

Of course, the photo catches the lettuce at just the right moment; another week and the rows will be invading each other and starting to look scraggly.

End the USDA: So Say IA Republicans (150 Years Is Too Much?)

The first point in their party platform is:

Agriculture

1. We call for the abolition of the Federal Department of Agriculture, returning control to the state and local governments. 
   
   
    

To be fair, this is only the draft platform, not the final one, and it reflects the Paulites vision of government.  The Post blog is more interested in "birther" nonsense.

[Updated title]

Raising the Debt Limit: What Happens to Plain Folks?

When the Dems and Reps get into a fight over raising the debt limit, as they did last year and look to be heading for this year, what happens to the plain folks?

According to this extension post, at least one soldier got confused by the games.

Those Great Third Grade Teachers

Freakonomics has a post thanking a third grade teacher, and the Post reports on a Wall Street type memorializing his third grade teacher.  My third grade teacher was Charlotte Kenyon, who had, in today's language, had gravitas, both literally and figuratively.  Back in the day the obese were a rarity in the land, but Mrs. Kenyon was fat.  But she was also determined and dedicated.  The student grapevine told stories about her, usually exaggerated.  But having stories told about one means the teacher was significant, and she was.  She was the teacher alumni would use as a reference point, a shared experience, a force of nature: "you went to the Forks, did you have Mrs. Kenyon?"

Unlike the two posts I link to, I can't recall any particular anecdotes or inspiration she gave me, except for the time she  called me to the blackboard for a spelling quiz.  My memory is likely wrong, but I'm thinking I thought I was hot stuff then, smart, reading ahead of classmates.  But the blackboard exercise somehow revealed my shortcomings in spelling, something I needed.

Anyhow, she ended up with a school named after her.

A Totally Partisan Congress? No

One aspect of the progress of the new farm bill is the existence of bi-partisanship.  Here's a Politico story on the problems in the Senate with rice and peanuts.  While there's tension in both Houses, the tension now is among the "Aggies", as Sen. Chambliss calls them.  The Senators and Representatives with allegiances to different commodity groups are sparring, but I expect them to come together in the end.

There are the outliers who are moved by policy ideas, which can correlate to partisanship.  A few Republican members oppose federal expenditures on agriculture, reflecting their general positions (and the lack, I suspect being cynical, of significant agriculture in their district.