Ink on the Finger

Josh Marshall says (Talking Points Memo) applying ink to a finger of a voter could eliminate multiple voting, which seems to be the worst problem voter ID might solve.  Works for me, as I've said before, though maybe only in comments elsewhere.

Conservatives Don't Like Crop Insurance: Texas and Cruz

Ted Cruz just won the Republican primary in Texas, meaning he's the next US Senator from there.  His reputation is: very smart, very conservative.  But I wonder--Texas agriculture is often beset by disaster, as witness the drought last year.  Not sure what its status is this year, but I'd be willing to bet during his 6 year term in office Texas will have some agricultural disasters.  And of course Texas ranching/farming is part of the self-image of Texas (all hat, no cattle, etc. etc.)

The Washington Times is a conservative newspaper, so I was struck this morning by a piece from a Heritage thinker, who picks up EWG's  populist viewpoint on crop insurance.  Big corporations profit at taxpayer expense.

So my prediction: at some point down the line Sen. Cruz will have to decide between his principles, as represented in the Heritage piece, and his constituents, who will need either crop insurance or a livestock disaster program.

Eagle Scouts

Ann Althouse quotes from a Wall Street Journal piece on Eagle Scouts.

"there are other, perhaps less obvious, Eagles as well: sexologist Alfred Kinsley, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and Washington's disgraced ex-mayor Marion Barry...."

[Updated:  the Barry reference is surprising to me, because he would have been an Eagle Scout in the 1950's in the segregated South and I wouldn't have expected a thriving black Eagle Scout troop.]

Farm Bill Status and MIDAS

As of now, I don't have a clear picture of what will happen on the farm bill, mainly because the House Republicans don't seem to have a clear picture of what they want. Will we have a disaster bill only, or an extension, or a process leading to a 5 year bill?  Who knows.

I want to point out the problem I suspect MIDAS planners are having.  At some point they had to decide whether to support the livestock programs contained in the 2008 bill, which carried through 2011.  I've no idea which way they went: one alternative would be to say we need software to implement everything in the law as of right now, which presumably was sometime last year; another alternative would be to plan for what was in the law for 2012;  a third would be to plan to be flexible, to support whatever cockamanie ideas innovative policy designs Congress came up with.

Now the last alternative is the most difficult and most expensive; sticking to the 2008 language at some point is likely to mean wasting some money assuming Congress changes provisions for 2013.  Either way the managers are likely to be screwed, at least in being vulnerable to criticism.

[Updated: added link to the extension now pending in the House--Hat tip Farm Policy]

Our Weak Government

Via Ezra Klein, an article on the refusal by the overseer of Fanny and Freddy to okay a plan to offer forgiveness of housing debts.  I know very little about the pros and cons of the policy which Mr. DeMarco is rejecting, other than a number of liberal economists think it's a good idea.  DeMarco seems to argue it would be bad in the long run, which as a bureaucrat he doesn't like.

Instead of worrying about the policy, I just want to point out another instance of our weak government.  Whereas in a parliamentary system there'd be no problem in the prime minister getting such a policy executed, in our system there's a hurdle.  DeMarco has an independent source of power, making it difficult for the President to make a policy change.  This isn't a case of federalism, which is what I usually point to when I write about weak government, but structure at the national level.  But  both federalism and structure reflect our suspicion of governmental power, typical of the American society.

Permaculture as a Solution?

There's an outfit in the Midwest which is pushing "permaculture"--the idea if we could convert from annual crops to perennials we'd save on expenses for fuel, etc. and be more friendly to the environment.   I mention this because this Extension post on cotton includes this:

"A defining characteristic of cotton growth and development is that it is a perennial plant. Being a perennial plant means that it flowers and sets fruit over a long period of time. In its native habitat, or with adequate warmth, cotton would not die in the fall. Perennial plants also flower and produce seed as a secondary mechanism, as opposed to vegetative growth. Because cotton lint is produced from the seed coat, it is the essential challenge of cotton production to overcome the perennial nature of the plant. Nearly everything we do to manage a cotton crop is in response to its perennial nature in an attempt to produce seed and lint in an annual row crop environment."

 I've expressed my doubts about permaculture before, but with global warming the frost line will move north and we won't have to plant cotton every year. (In the Rio Grande valley they speak of "stub cotton", cotton which is growing from previous year plantings.)

I Was Wrong About Pearlie Reed

I posted about Mr. Reed's retirement, speculating that the Republicans "would be all over this".  Maybe the Republicans got lazy, or maybe they did due diligence and found there was nothing there, but Google doesn't show any new news pieces on him.   Good news for him. 

Grow Teff

That's what Idaho is doing, according to this Post article.  It's a grain used for Ethiopian fermented bread.  See this wikipedia article.

[Updated: A quote from the Post:

A combination of factors has spurred the growth of the U.S. teff market. One is scarcity: The Ethiopian government routinely bans its export to protect prices from rising inside the country during lean seasons. Another is a shift in American dietary habits. The rise in Ethio­pian immigrants and the concomitant rise in the popularity of Ethio­pian food have increased demand, as has the surge in vegetarianism (a two-ounce serving of teff has as much protein as an extra-large egg). Yet another is the increased awareness of gluten allergies; gluten-free teff is a welcome alternative to wheat.]

Drought and Land Prices

We were going through a boom in prices for farmland recently, but this farmgate post on how to pay the cash rent causes me to think the boom must be over.  Of course the EWG posts on how some farmers will make out because of revenue protection and the higher prices for the corn they do produce suggest the end of the boom doesn't mean the beginning of a bust.   It does, I suspect, mean more churn in production agriculture as some people get caught out and some people come through.

Condolences: Kevin and Inkblot

Kevin Drum is my favorite political blogger, because he mostly agrees with me. 

He suffered a loss, and I express my condolences.