How Government (Congress) Doesn't Work

Politico has an article on unauthorized agencies.  The books say Congress sets policy and authorizes an agency to carry it out in legislation developed by the legislative committees.  Then the appropriations committees allocate the money in yearly appropriations bills.  The reality is the policy committees may shirk their duty.  Why?  It's explained in the text.

Times on Cover Crops and Finance Industry Logic

NY Times has an article on increased use of cover crops by farmers to build soil, increase water retention, and reduce erosion.  Author cites big farms--3K to 10K acres.  The cover crops seem to be a mixture.  And spring planting is really no-till, though that's not clear in the article, where no-till is rather dismissed.

I remember in Nash County, NC, I think it was during my fall visit to get oriented to ASCS field operations, the CED went out to a sawmill.  They were shaving logs to make the thin wood strips used in making baskets (this was before plastics).  The CED signed up a couple of the workers to cover crop practices which were cost-shared under the old Agricultural Conservation Program.  Under cost-sharing ASCS would pay a part of the per-acre cost for installing the practice  while the farmer paid the rest. Nixon and Earl Butz tried to kill the ACP, but eventually settled for eliminating some practices, They focused on the one which increased production, which included cover crops.  Their logic was similar to Greenspan's logic in supporting deregulation in the finance industry:  rational financiers wouldn't take irrational risks; Butz said rational farmers would spend their own money to install cover crops. 

Globalization--LED Lamps

Ordered two LED lamps from Amazon along with some other things.  Specified free delivery as we weren't in any hurry for any of the items.  All but the lamps have arrived so I just checked Amazon to see where they were.  They're in transit from China with a 3-5 week travel time.  That amazes me, just seeing globalization and automation working in practice.  (Why it's more amazing to see an order delivered directly from China than the same order delivered from a warehouse in the US which originally came from China, I don't know.)

Why the Left Dominates the Humanities?

Consider this excerpt from the conservative Republican get-together, as transcribed byMichelle Cottle in the Atlantic:

" During the Freedom Caucus Q&A, a young man stood up—prompting moderator Fred Barnes to crack, “You’re the only one under 60 who’s going to ask” a question—to say he would soon be graduating with his master’s degree and wanted the panelists’ thoughts on how to improve job prospects for his generation.Mulvaney responded by asking the guy what he’d studied. “U.S. history,” the young man replied. Solid, patriotic, non-multi-culti degree to make the likes of conservative icon and history professor Newt Gingrich proud, right? Not any more. Representative Mark Meadows promptly teased, “That’s the problem!” Everybody laughed. Mulvaney then launched into a lecture about how, back in his day, banks wouldn’t give a guy a student loan unless the applicant offered assurances that he would be able to pay it back some day. But now that the federal government just hands over the money, nobody bothers worrying about whether or not they’re pursuing a worthless degree. “This is not to denigrate or demean folks who want to study philosophy or U.S. history or anything,” Mulvaney assured the young scholar. “But you need to sort of consider job prospects when making those decisions.” It’s all well and good to go study “sub-Saharan African basket weaving,” quipped Mulvaney, but afterward “don’t come looking to us and say, ‘Where are the jobs for sub-Saharan basket-weavers?’”

  Discriminattion against conservatives in the academy is one theory offered to account for a perceived dominance by liberals.  This response is an anecdote pointing to two other explanations: conservatives disdain academics and put money first.  Of course what makes the anecdote special is a conservative calling US history a worthless degree.

McGovernism Is Not Progressive?

A piece on the definitions of "progressive" in Slate.  I'm bemused by what the movement from Clinton's work for McGovern in 1972 to the current state of the party says about our politics and our society.

McGovern, for those too young to remember, ran on a platform of, among other things, ending the war in Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income.  He also got defeated in a landslide, losing his own state IIRC.  Hillary and Bill Clinton were Texas organizers for McGovern, may even have been the state chairs but memory fogs.  Also for "amnesty [for draft dodgers], abortion, and legalization of pot|".

I'd forgotten, but McGovern beat Eugene McCarthy, Shirley Chisolm, the first black presidential candidate, and Patsy Mink, the first Asian-American candidate.

Cottonseed Revisited

Chris Clayton reports on the cottonseed/oilseed question--Vilsack says OGC says he doesn't have authority to decide that cottonseed is an oilseed eligible for farm programs.  Chris quotes some of the law which he reads as supporting the cotton position.  In my experience, whenever politicians exert enough pressure, the lawyers find a way to justify what they want done; that's what they learn in law school.

How Do You Remember the 1990's?

A discussion over on this site about teaching the history of the 1990's.  I'll copy my answer here:

FWIW: The long decade perhaps goes from the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11, from the rise of the personal computer into 50 percent of households to the start of Google and the release of the iPod, the decade in which Walmart went nationwide. In my memory it wasn’t a difficult decade, it was a hopeful decade (for straight white males), something like I imagine the 1920’s to have been, with lots of froth (the tech boom). AIDS was the big cloud.

  Beloit College does a yearly list of what college freshmen know and don't know.  Here's the 2016 list.

I don't know how you categorize the 2000's-- from 9/11 to 2016 maybe, or a short 9/11 to 1/20/2009?

Prediction

I predict the tickets will be Hillary Clinton/Julian Castro versus Marco Rubio/John Kasich.

[Update 1--that was Feb 2.  New prediction:

Clinton/Castro versus Kasich/Rubio.   :-) ]

How Much Does a Professor Earn?

Find out here, for at least one professor.  I agree with the theory, salaries for public employees should be available.

Historical Landmark: End of White Male Tickets

Looking back I think we can say that 2004 marked the last time that the two major parties will present white male tickets to the voters.  They didn't in 2008 or 2012, and I'm sure they won't in 2016. I'm comfortable they won't in future years.  I'd even suggest it will take a big change in our politics for even one of the parties to present an all-white-male ticket in 2020 or beyond.