Healthcare for Kids - A Doctor's View

This , on the morning of President Obama's most important speech for his bill, seemed more approriate than trying to convince you that our farm was worth buying fruit from. This is about the future of a nation, not passion fruit.

It was sent to me by my cousin, who is ret. Airforce, Ret. MD and he is passing along something from a physician who he as worked with along the way.

Please copy and paste for you own email list.

Thought this was very informative for my Republican and Democrat friends. Many of you that work at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, know and have worked with Dr. Pollard. You’ll see he is quite passionate about this subject. I think we all need to be better informed about this. Please feel free to pass along.

HE PRACTICES AT ST. JOSEPHS HOSPITAL , ATLANTA , GA.

If we have doubts, the email below should help clear them. It comes from an Atlanta doctor who just could not sit back and be quiet any longer. If the below lines which are in the body of the letter concerns you, the letter will too.

"What I am driving at is, those with money will NOT be able to go to the head of the line - under this new healthcare plan - just because you have money, as no physician will be willing to go against the [new] law to treat you."

Friends:

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table and as your friend by explaining many of the problems from the aspect of a doctor.

First off the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate.While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta , Georgia that accepts Medicaid.Why is this. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list. Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back tome which was mailed in immediately via fax and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye. Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point-rationing of care.

Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time. Again extreme rationing. Solution- I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again waiting for the government would be disastrous.

Last week I had a lady bring her child to me.They are Americans but live in Sweden as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the on set of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden . Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that correct for farsightedness) and responded to glasses within 4 days , no surgery was needed. Again rationing of care.

Last month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark. I have been told - but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet that these 2 people because of their age would have been denied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

I spent two years in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care and we were told specificially what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While in Viet Nam , my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the Naval Hospital in Oakland , California . She went home and went to her family's private internist in Beverly Hills . While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.

For those of you who are over 65, this bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stents for their coronary arteries. The government wants to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.

While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love of medicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees goes up 2% each year. Twenty years ago ophthalmologists were paid $1800 for a cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this lowering of fees.

But there is more to the story than lower fees. When I came to Atlanta there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2500 for cataract surgery as he felt he was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact I had my mother's bilateral cataracts done by him with wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his $2500 fee. However then the government came in and said that any doctor that does medicare work can not accept more than the going rate ( now $500) or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to him charging $2500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the “government allowed” rate. What I am driving at is, those with money will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new healthcare plan just because you have money as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat you.

I am a pediatric ophthalmologist, trained 10 years post college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist ( add two years of service in the Navy.. 12 years). A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post college and if he or she has to do the military, that equals 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can't stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on medicaid so he felt he just could not stand working with the beaurocracy anymore. We have been misled about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate on at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay nothing to me orthe children's hospital in which I operate...This is true not only of Atlanta, but of every community in America.

The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.

Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these draconian conditions? They essentially work for the state!.

One last thing, with this new healthcare plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that approximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of decreased men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools .That means that for the past 15 years that somewhere between 49 and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also because all private schools receive federal fundings. The average career of a woman in medicne now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the best was a female that I trained 4 years ago. She was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.

Zane Pollard, MD

Are The Nation's Farmworkers Getting Medical

By John

I had forgotten about this issue but I though it important for today’s speech by the President and I had already posted last night. I hope no one thinks I'm trying to take up too much space.

________________________

We live in the heart of Lemon, Avocado and Strawberry production for the nation. We have a large population from south of the border that picks your fruit.

People often wonder - because of the media hype about "...the 47 million uninsured... are they being taken care of" - who is paying the bills.

I will give you my two experiences with health care that set, in my mine, that the immigrant population, legal or illegal, are not suffering without health insurance.

About a year and a half ago I though I was having a heart attack because I was suffocating - I could not breath. We went to emergency at our community hospital at about 2 in the morning. Ahead of me was a farm worker in a straw cowboy hat, bleeding, that could not speak english (I speak spanish) who was inebriated and looked as if he had been beaten, and a female Indios, also who could not speak English who was about to give birth. She pretty much lost her water on the spot so it was definitely an emergency. I was, I though, having a heart attack, couldn’t breath, but I could wait. Its wasn’t a long wait.

Fast forward to the doc giving me my big fat sedative and making life peaceful for a fellow just having a panic attack (I have no idea why - I have a nice life). I asked the doctor about the two patients before me - this was a young doctor, of Asian descent - if this (the obviously uninsured using resources) is pretty common, and he said, “It goes on all night long”.

I don't think he was real happy from the way he looked around to see if anyone was listening. Perhaps this young Asian doctor who spoke better english than I, sees, day to day, something all of us don't from our ivory towers. And the Administration knows that.

I should mention that one homeless man, obviously well aquainted with the security guard, walked in with some ailment, too. White dude, acted like he owned the place, sat down, ate a Twinkie from his pocket.

Emergency care ain’t cheap. And someone took care of us. Me with my faux heart attack, a pregnat person, an indigent eating a Twinkie, and the bloodied up drunk farm hand with the straw cowboy hat. So don’t let people try to convince you that people aren’t being cared for if they don't have insurance. We had insurance and the other three likely did not. All in the same place, all received immediate attention.

People go to emergeny service all the time when they don't have insurance. That's how its done. No appointments and they don't care if you don't have insurance - only if you do.

And we, you and I, are bearing the burden of that already.

What Nationalizing public health might do is have us all going in the dark of night to emergency so we can get that excellent care and not have to wait in the new lines. But will the doctor's be allowed to be so nice to us all? There will be rules, lots of rules.

The second example is that our hospitals are taking care of pregnant uninsured as I spent some time in the maternity ward this past year as our family was having one baby of its own (yeah!). Rest assured, the uninsured pregnant immigrant legals or illegals are being cared for here too. I know that sounds like I might have a grudge on having to pick up the cost of this - and you do also - but I fail to see how Nationalizing Health Care will change any of this. Can you? Will the newly "insured" go to a better hospital? If so, we will have to build it because we already were at the best hospital and it's rated as excellent. Written by John

Green Czars Resume

By John

They say he's gone but don't believe it. It makes me upset - what the White House said after they let him go (oh, that's right, "he resigned").

I'm upset for a couple of reason and the first is that Van Jones matriculated into the White House through the back door - or at least SOMEBODY requested they skip the vetting process. That he was in charge of such a wonderful word - Green - which is now being corrupted by association if the Administration and Big Business interest isn't more careful. That he made such racist remarks about white people (farmers) spraying chemicals specifically on minorities upsets me because I am a farmer and he implies that all (only?) white farmers do this (none do this or they have a lawsuit waiting at their door when they get home at night). So he selected/sidelined and besmirched my way of life, and he made a racist remark in one fell swoop. And let me add that if he even had one clue, he would realize that my way of life, from dawn till dusk, is regulated by state and federal laws much more than he.

That he is-was a avowed anarchist, nationalist, and Marxist-Communist? True. He said so. How did this happen to Obama?

Quote from a newspaper:

"Jones' second mea culpa comes after a Wednesday apology in which Jones said he uttered "offensive words" in February (2009) when he called Republicans "assholes." He (Obama) said the remarks "do not reflect the views of this administration" and its bipartisan aims".

Yet, the Obama Administration states, even after Van Jones admitted to all, that Van Jones (all of the above), will continue to work with the White House.

Can you believe it?? The audacity? Would you hire Jones to manage your small business?

This only tells me that we have an Elitist group in the White House that will not listen to a Nation. They, elitist, INSIST, over common sensibilities, that their thoughts and desires about a new way of life are never wrong. And it's GOOD CHANGE. That's elitist. That's why we are SUPPOSE TO HAVE a debate and the three branches of government. So government cannot become elite. They are our public servants, for gods sake.

This isn't a religion being hijacked, this is an entire country. Your America. Ours, not theirs to experiment with - with our lives.

So keep Van Jones' resume in the back of your mind and put it alongside the various Czars as they start to pop up. Not all are this inflammatory for the Administration, just some. But when you place Van Jones past and present along side the fact that he also sat in a church with Rev. Wright who spewed hate toward America and known for his racist remarks for 20 years "and he never noticed", and was associated with a radical that BOMBED the Pentagon and served time for it (so you know a jury convicted him, not the press), and that he emerged from the most corrupt (remember Bologovich and Chicago?) political machinery - WHOOPS - I made a mistake! That's not Van Jones! It's some other guy. Well, anyway, you get what I mean.

Keep it in mind also when you're standing in line at a walk-in clinic because Nationalized Health policies were enacted, "...swiftly to save the nation's poor" and those new laws put your private health insurance company out of business because it was no longer competitive.

On Monday I am going to post comments from the left and right I received concerning the fact that the National Endowment for the Arts is being used by Washington to have pro-Obama artwork that support his policies produced. The NEA doles out money for art - it's suppose to be non-partisan.

I sent about 100 emails to artists in my area about this issue - propaganda art, and posted on Craigslist specifically under "Artists" and received 5 replies, 3 left, 2 right. You will be shocked - as I was - of what thoughts are inside the heads left-thinking artists. Or, as you will likely find out, the lack of true reality or rational thought.

Jumping Blind Off Cliffs

As much as I dislike mentioning it, it really is government and consumer demand driving much of the destruction of our plant and animal life in the eco systems on land and in our precious oceans.

I am a farmer with knowledge of it . Because I know, and because I have no power to change this relationship, I feel terrible. And I'd like to talk about it and create a future with you personally. So we can help each other get out of this Catch 22.

Will this farm lose a customer if they read this? I don't think so because most are recognizing that ignorance about our planet is catching up to us at the speed of two coal-burning power plants per week via China.

Consumers have every right to be selective - ask for sound, healthy and good-looking food but to prove my point briefly, our nation has a weight problem. What caused it was good-looking and good-tasting food, high in additives and trans-fats and has nice photography and salesmanship/marketing behind it. I have, twice a month, a big mac attack myself. And I satisfy it and nothing stands it that journey's way.

I need to explain this from a farmer’s perspective - this entire issue of food vs. the environment.

It wasn’t but a few generations ago that America was a nation of farmers - 70 percent of the population was farming and supplied the city folk. It is reversed now and in Ventura County we represent only 2 percent of the population trying to supply for 98 percent - the city folk. We also supply much of the nations avocados and lemons.

That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on each farm to do its duty to supply the 98 percent of the people around them. The pressure comes from all sides: the government regs, imports, trying to satisfy the farmers own needs, water conservation, people raiding her orchards -theft by individuals and organized rings - the need for fencing, rodent control, nutrition for the food, weed control, requirements for crews to pick the fruit, insurance such as workman's compensation - even for the fake claims, fear of lawsuits from all sides, and a host of tiny things farms contend with - just like people in other professions have their job-related issues. What drives the pollution the most is the consumer demand for perfect looking fruit and the goverment trying to protect the consumer from farmers trying to give the consumer perfect looking fruit. It really is that simple. You, me, the goverment. Well, almost that simple.

Now imagine the manufacturing that sits under each of the issues like a lurking, submerged iceberg - it is the sub-structures - the work force and their cars and trucks and forklifts, a packing house, land for the packing house, parking lots covered with asphalt to park the cars for the people who drive them to the packing house, ditto the pesticide and herbicide plant, the mining and smelting and transportation required to create an infrastructure just to get fruit from the farm and across the nation.

Lets use one example - fences - as at one time, they weren’t required too much. You need fence posts, either wood or steel/ anodize aluminum. If its wood it needs to be treated, and up until a few years ago, almost all the wood was treated with Arsenic to keep the rot away. It takes a mining operation and kilns to make arsenic, and explosives and trucking and dozers (all with their own mining operation and manufacturing to make those trucks and dozers). Up until a few years most farmers around here didn't feel the need for fencing but the theft because its now “organized” and people are losing sometimes up to $30,000 at a whack from their avocado orchards when on vacation, now are fencing off orchards. Some orchards are on hills and fill canyons so it is not hard to imagine how to get in and out when there is a canopy of leaves hiding this. This isn’t consumer driven yet but it will - to fence and hire security if needed, take up the sheriff's time (tax dollars and jail crowing) and in fact a special unit was hired until the state (calif) ran out of funds for it. So theft increases and fencing off orchards does also. Fencing off 40 acres takes tens of thousands of dollars. When a crew cuts through it it takes another crew to repair it. How is this a consumers' issue? Good-Looking Fruit for the Retailer.

Now you have a fence and a fence keeps out predators like coyotes and protects its prey - and locally its coyote and bobcat verses for critter control. Now we are into more more issues that doesn’t do well for oceans. Enter the consumer demand for perfect-looking fruit vs. the predator/prey relationship.

As this topic is going to be long, I will post the local predator - prey issue tomorrow and when most of the topics are addressed one by one, day by day, I think you will see that much of the eco-issues are consumer and government driven. And yes, we have our fair share of the burden too. And there will be a final recommendation that will go to Washington

Thank you for you time and effort and hopefully we will see you next time for the predator- prey relationship we have here at White Dove.

How To Save the Ocean

Written by John

As much as I dislike mentioning it, it really is government and consumer demand driving much of the destruction of our plant and animal life in the eco systems on land and in our precious oceans.

I am a farmer with knowledge of it . Because I know, and because I have no power to change this relationship, I feel terrible. And I'd like to talk about it and create a future with you personally. So we can help each other get out of this Catch 22.

Will this farm lose a customer if they read this? I don't think so because most are recognizing that ignorance about our planet is catching up to us at the speed of two coal-burning power plants per week via China.

Consumers have every right to be selective - ask for sound, healthy and good-looking food but to prove my point briefly, our nation has a weight problem. What caused it was good-looking and good-tasting food, high in additives and trans-fats and has nice photography and salesmanship/marketing behind it. I have, twice a month, a big mac attack myself. And I satisfy it and nothing stands it that journey's way.

I need to explain this from a farmer’s perspective - this entire issue of food vs. the environment.

It wasn’t but a few generations ago that America was a nation of farmers - 70 percent of the population was farming and supplied the city folk. It is reversed now and in Ventura County we represent only 2 percent of the population trying to supply for 98 percent - the city folk. We also supply much of the nations avocados and lemons.

That puts a tremendous amount of pressure on each farm to do its duty to supply the 98 percent of the people around them. The pressure comes from all sides: the government regs, imports, trying to satisfy the farmers own needs, water conservation, people raiding her orchards -theft by individuals and organized rings - the need for fencing, rodent control, nutrition for the food, weed control, requirements for crews to pick the fruit, insurance such as workman's compensation - even for the fake claims, fear of lawsuits from all sides, and a host of tiny things farms contend with - just like people in other professions have their job-related issues. What drives the pollution the most is the consumer demand for perfect looking fruit and the goverment trying to protect the consumer from farmers trying to give the consumer perfect looking fruit. It really is that simple. You, me, the goverment. Well, almost that simple.

Now imagine the manufacturing that sits under each of the issues like a lurking, submerged iceberg - it is the sub-structures - the work force and their cars and trucks and forklifts, a packing house, land for the packing house, parking lots covered with asphalt to park the cars for the people who drive them to the packing house, ditto the pesticide and herbicide plant, the mining and smelting and transportation required to create an infrastructure just to get fruit from the farm and across the nation.

Lets use one example - fences - as at one time, they weren’t required too much. You need fence posts, either wood or steel/ anodize aluminum. If its wood it needs to be treated, and up until a few years ago, almost all the wood was treated with Arsenic to keep the rot away. It takes a mining operation and kilns to make arsenic, and explosives and trucking and dozers (all with their own mining operation and manufacturing to make those trucks and dozers). Up until a few years most farmers around here didn't feel the need for fencing but the theft because its now “organized” and people are losing sometimes up to $30,000 at a whack from their avocado orchards when on vacation, now are fencing off orchards. Some orchards are on hills and fill canyons so it is not hard to imagine how to get in and out when there is a canopy of leaves hiding this. This isn’t consumer driven yet but it will - to fence and hire security if needed, take up the sheriff's time (tax dollars and jail crowing) and in fact a special unit was hired until the state (calif) ran out of funds for it. So theft increases and fencing off orchards does also. Fencing off 40 acres takes tens of thousands of dollars. When a crew cuts through it it takes another crew to repair it. How is this a consumers' issue? Good-Looking Fruit for the Retailer.

Now you have a fence and a fence keeps out predators like coyotes and protects its prey - and locally its coyote and bobcat verses for critter control. Now we are into more more issues that doesn’t do well for oceans. Enter the consumer demand for perfect-looking fruit vs. the predator/prey relationship.

As this topic is going to be long, I will post the local predator - prey issue tomorrow and when most of the topics are addressed one by one, day by day, I think you will see that much of the eco-issues are consumer and government driven. And yes, we have our fair share of the burden too. And there will be a final recommendation that will go to Washington

Thank you for you time and effort and hopefully we will see you next time for the predator- prey relationship we have here at White Dove.

Epiphany on Water Boarding

I was sitting at the boob tube watching news and I had an incredible epiphany: The reason President Obama now says water boarding is torture, oh, sheesh, I am so excited I can’t put two words together - it make so much sense...made me laugh out loud as I came out of my seat! One big Ha!

You see, globally, if water boarding is torture and water boarding’s merely a hazing plus a little, then we (He), couldn’t possibly want to hurt (hurt?) civilians on purpose, in a war. After all, our new philosophy says. "... pushing someone’s head under water or dribbling it on them twice a month under a doctor’s supervision, EVEN IF THE SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES IS AT STAKE, is unconscionable " - so how could anyone think we could do something like hurt (hurt?) civilians even if they were harboring terrorist? Even if we have to?

Do you see the genius? Gosh, almighty. Sheer genius! It's teflon. Nothing sticks. Total exoneration. Except for the guy in the jet who dropped the bomb on his command. He gets all the sticky.

(As mentioned elsewhere, it is likely more journalist have been water boarded than enemy combatants. It is also known that more U.S. Servicemen have been water boarded in defense of their country than “enemy combatants”.)

So what’s going on on the farm? Nothing. It’s hot. And dry and we had to empty all the fountains because the bees inundated us as all the natural water sources are gone. And they tried to come down two chimneys because of the cool air inside and we can't buy a decent dampener as California has regulations against the old ones that kept bees out. And the whiny contractor would lose his license - according to the permit for the dampener - if he fixed the old ones.

But everything’s OK because of the bailout. Even if we had to start fires in two fireplaces to keep the bees out - on a 90 degree afternoon. We had to burn wood chips off the front yard because who the hell has wood for May? And it was a pretty big emergency. You simply cannot make things like this up. It's life. Any farmer will tell you so.

North of us, Santa Barbara is burning down (no, really, it's burning), the day temps in Santa Barbara hit over a hundred degrees and broke an old record made a long time ago. That record was 86 degrees. This new record isn't one or two degrees like most records get broke, folks, its 14 (that's fourteen) degrees more. Now if that’s not change, I don’t know what is. :) And if you try to pass this off on Bush, just keep reminding yourself that Americans have been the world's (as in globally, as in "on the face of that blue marble hanging in space") largest consumer of the earth's precious natural resources for many, many, MANY decades and they still can't get enough cheap "Made in China" or Hecho en Mexico. Or cell phones. Hey, don't kill the messenger, I'm a friendly guy! Go yell at:

http://atlas.aaas.org/index.php?part=2

Illegal Immigrants and Healthcare

Eighty three (83%) percent of America is happy with their health care. One does not change an entire system with bad policy just to support about 15-18 percent of people, of which most are illegal immigrants. That’s just lousy fiscal policy and creates bigger government. The government cannot make money, only spend it and creating a huge government means huge spending with no source of income except taxation. And they always underestimate, don't they? It gets the votes and then come their excuses. You do get a two-fer they don't talk about: The actual bills from overindulgence of health care benefits and the mega buildings and office space (rents required) and new government jobs to oversee the pillaging of the system. If government could do a good job, they already would have. Simple.

Short and sweet - illegal immigration is costing California health care a huge percent of the budget (what budget - it is nearly bankrupt or is bankrupt). California usually leads the way and as you can see, leading the way is not a good thing. Your state is next if not already there.

One huge issue is the anchor babies illegals have which gives them immediate citizenship. This anchor baby can support an entire family of illegal immigrants via "the system" so please do not be dismayed that our illegal aliens are not being covered. It is your state and federal dollars that support these families and some goes back to Mexico to support another family. It creates a burden on the emergency care in our hospitals as they use the system of the hospitals for minor issues also and therefore stay under the radar. They stand in lines at clinics that legal immigrants use and nobody bothers to check their status. It is a common compliant so this is not new news to anyone. Just a reminder.

As I mentioned in another spot, if you are an elderly illegal immigrant you do not have to show citizenship, you just have to show that you are not a citizen of another country by merely by saying, "I don't remember where I was born" and you can have a bed in an old folks home next to a Veteran of any of our wars. It's a great country we have - that we can do this - but what about that verses the so called Death Counselling that has to take place for our legal elderly now that the system was brought down by this massive spending on illegal immigrants in California? All if the Obama healthcare policies are realized? Steal from Peter who built this nation - our folks - and give it to those who are here criminally? Not my folks. No way.

Am I racially insensitive - no - (its about illegal immigrants) - financially astute and astute to the gaming the American system of mercy? More than most because I am a farmer, and we have family in the medical proffessions - from M.D.s to RN’s and union contacts (retired and high up in the food chain)

Please write your friends and political leaders and help get us back on the right track instead of this self-cannabalism America is undertaking. You can't make money by printing it. The cycle will collapse. FDR extended the depression by doing what the current administration is doing, and other countries are abandoning their own socialism ideals because it became a lofty but bad experiment.

Take a chance and send this to people who might need it, not those who already think this way! That is where the real change will come.

Green Czars and American Farms and Food

The Future of Your Foods and Green and Ag Czars - written by John

It’s nice to have food. That’s where everybody agrees. There are people who don’t eat meat and some that do, some, like myself, who don’t like Lima beans or certain generic brands of vegetables tasting like paper. And I like chocolate. A lot. But it’s not a necessity, and I can afford peanut butter cups and I think its a downright luxury to have a “cold one” (peanut butter cup) waiting for me in the refrigerator any time, night or day. Even if it eats up a blip of a watt of electricity.

I previously discussed a Czar who was given an OK to leave his post.

The following is purely fiction because Czars are not beholding to the US citizen so there would be no public record, so we have to guess:

Setting - White House, some room, a quorum is present.

Other Person

Guy? You called millions upon millions of Republican’s the A-hole word - in public. It's on video. Captured. By more than one person. It's googleable.

Guy -

Yes, yes I did. Yes. Yes it is googleable.

Other Person clears his throat. Heads of the quorum look at the floor.

Other Person -

You also singled out white farmers here in America not just as racists but also as polluters of the environment, and that White American Farmers were intentionally spraying poisons on minorities as they toiled in the fields.

Guy -

Un huh?

Other Person -

Guy, you accused people that grow America’s food racists and polluters and since you said they intended to spray poisons on minorities, you are calling these white people potential murderers, too.

You do have a Harvard Law degree, don’t you?

Guy -

Yes.

Other Person -

These tapes and videos are getting plastered all over the news and Face book and blogs, even the stations that we sway - on our side - are feeling the pressure now to run it finally. I mean, you don’t have a twin out there you’re not telling us about because right now he could be very helpful.

Guy -

No. No twin. Look. You know me. You hired me for a certain job. Czar!

Other Person -

No high fives, Guy. This is serious business.

Everybody in the room is staring at him.

Guy -

“I screwed up?”

Yes, you did, Guy.

Silence in the room.

Other Person

Guy, everybody here knows your level of competence and that is why we chose you.

Guy -

Thanks.

Other Person -

Too much heat. Right now we are trying to jam this Health Care bill down, I mean, present our concerns for the downtrodden and their health insurance because that 47 million, who mostly don’t vote or vote the other way, would certainly feel compelled to do so in 2012 and that would pretty much sow up the next election for us.

Guy waits for him to finish. An inordinate amount of time goes by.

Guy -

“And?”

End of Short Fictional vignette.

So back to farming and my reality, This farm. This attack on white farmers was pretty vicious and I am sure that if the shoe were on the other foot, the ACLU would be all over this one and American Farmers would have a huge class action suit and win it hands down.

I wrote the above in response to one fellow who wanted to know what my previous “blog” on LHarvest had to do with food and then he DIRECTED me to get my own blog. Directed? Are we all getting the flavor of what it would be like to live surrounded by this sort of attitude to free speech? A little scary for a so-called free country. And I certainly would like the American public to know that, too.

One more thing - Green Jobs. They are a good thing. If you knew, like we know, with boots on the ground 24/7 the issues in having “green” things like wind power generators, you would be shocked to find out some of it is hype for a short lived event for two, and it is so difficult that it’s not worth it for at least a ten acre farm to have even one.

Short lived event - there is just so much land and room for wind generators, or it requires special placement and it is possible that you could FORCE someone to put towers up - but PLEASE RECALL that a Kennedy KEPT AN ENTIRE WIND MACHINES FARM OUT of his line of sight and off the map because they would ruin his view of the ocean - or something like that. The fact remains, still, that this generator farm...

"...would be the first major offshore wind installation in the U.S., and one of the largest wind farms in the world. It would produce enough electricity to meet nearly 75 percent of demand on Cape Cod and nearby islands Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, with peak output of 420 megawatts."

We, our farm, wanted to get a wind generator back in 1997 but a plethora of BIG issues stood in the way, too -

1. It takes a permit for a wind generator and that permit would take many dollars to buy, and then it would have to be just so high, and it would have any number of issues attached to it. And those issues would take meetings and lawyers and more money for us.

2. Assuming it would go through, and was up and running, you now find out, that the hype you heard, about selling the excess power back to the Utility company was wrong. They would not do that when we started. Therefore the hyped break-even point for buying a wind generator, about 15 years - would make us dead - or signing papers with the Death Panel at the time if you go with the stats and everybody has their way. No satisfaction there, either. And not only are we still in the hole, we are IN THE HOLE. Pointless, even for couple of local yokel paradigm shifters.

3. There already is an infrastructure (buildings, salaries, vehicles) in place in Utility companies that requires a certain amount of revenue and profit to stay in business.

4. What all this selling of power back to the power companies has meant is that their profits will go down, they will be compelled to keep their shareholders at bay, required to raise the rate for electricity - to keep in business. That's higher rates for everyone. With wind power generators. But the green job to build it is there. And unless you have that green job, your realized profit after paying more for electricity, is now less. But you saved the globe for the Chinese to plunder with impunity (they are now creating two coal power electrical plants a week).

5. If you ever heard one of those wind generators, you wouldn’t want to live next to one. We would have lawsuits all over us, probably by the city we were giving power to. And then the environmentalists would lawsuit us for killing birds that flew into the blades. And if some graffiti artist should, heaven forbid, hurt themselves on it, stub a toe, another lawyer would pop out the earth and sue us for creating an Attractive Nuisance.

Example: You leave a tractor parked out in the middle of your property and if a kid can see it from the road and wants to play on it and hurts themselves - that is an attractive nuisance. Fence or no fence.

Obama's Vision Has.....

I hope he's right, but it sounds like trickle down "therapy" only because all the big guys are getting the immediate bailout/breaks - and the hope is this will save jobs - eventually (eventual = trickle down).

Obama admits they are not sure it's going to work and WILL need more $$$$ - already.

On the other hand, the banks are getting recapitalized to save housing for those who were overextended. And as long as banks do what they are suppose to do, that part should work - and reward those who should not have overextended. Reward lousy businessmanship. Running a family is a business unless you didn't get the heads up. It's warm and fuzzy, but it's still a business. Oh? You say we made them victims of greedy brokers? VICTIMS?? Sheesh.

I hope it works. Can't say I see anything in there for those who have done a good job. Like you and me. Don't need it, do we.

Although I think he thinks he's right, he reminds me of a person who buys land (the presidency) with almost no knowledge of agriculture then a saleman says that he needs a tractor to be a good farmer. You get to tear up the land but you need to plant something. Need to know the lay of the land and climate and a few other things. Instead of going out and buying a tractor to stimulate your land with its good looks. The tractor - the shiny paint looks great sitting out there on the land. But it needs a knowledgeable driver. Then you need water and someone to buy your product and transportation and all the things that an independent businessman and woman KNOW through economic battery already - they know failures - that eventually led them to success.

A nation living on handouts is not one swelling with pride (the little train that could) it is one of begging, one with their tail between their legs - and I don't necessarily want to see that - us go to China (who knowingly poisions us, the ocean, its people, its everything) begging to get economic traction. How soon are we going to lose all pride and be subjugated by another nation(s) way of life. We are already so tied up and intestinally bound by political correctness - hey, wait - that's what led to the housing crisis! Letting people have what they think they are entitled to. We were so politically correct in that thinking....that everybody deserves a home. We let some organization with its own agenda push lenders around - like China will do us if we go there. Catch 22. And if you think China is going to lend us money - or back our paper - and ALSO encourage us to build our own manufacturing plants so we can buy American, I have a coupon to a shrink for whoever buys that picture.

Its the same reason we don't have a wall between us and Mexico - we need their oil and they need to send their population here to "farm" dollars back to them (money from USA to Mexico is Mexico's second largest industry - oil is the first). This is why we don't have a disciplined farm worker program - which is needed.

That's where this is leading - if we're not there already. Catch 22.

President Obama can blame Bush for everything up to the days the stock market plummeted thousands of points: - when the stimulus package began to be viewed with a jaundiced eye by the nation and Wall Street. It is the people with money - people like you - that helps create jobs - not the people on welfare (God bless them but right now our asses are on fire and we need to get them off welfare or if they don’t belong here put them where they do belong. The state of California, with its 47 billion dollar deficit, can immediately lose 20 percent (that's twenty percent) of it by doing something with its illegal aliens - that is just one example and like everyone who watches the news knows, California leads the nation in just about everything . Want that in your state? Twenty percent drained away? TWENTY PERCENT!!! For California that’s about 9 Billion dollars every year.

Please recall that although Bush “inherited” the terrorist mess from Clinton, like a man and a gentleman warrior, Bush never said ONE WORD about what he inherited from President Clinton. He didn’t Blame Clinton for 9-11. He didn't say one word about inheriting a CRISIS and a small pack of terrorist that grew their ideals into a global war. NOT ONE WORD!! Yet all the new administration can say is, Crisis and Blame and Inherited. Crisis, Blame, Inherited. Crisis, Blame Inherited. That is what a scared bureaucracy sounds like. That is how this one is beginning to function.

The Obama administration is setting up the American people to accept their failure (if it should fail) via "the previous administration’s fault". How unbelievably nonadult:. And put this one in the pipe, too: buracrates are not particularly good at making money for us. Only spending it. That equals taxation no matter how you try to over-exercise it. Or you can go the other route and print money. So buy stock in an ink factory if you believe it. And you think inflation is great.

I really hope I'm so completely wrong. I really do. I want this President to be so, so so (really, I do) successful but not by making us beg from the world market to feed ourselves. Shame on us if we do.

And one more thing, President Obama: It's easy to say you are no longer going to have a "no bid" situation for military contracts in Iraq - especially when the conflict has been solved for you. The last thing we wanted to do there was go through a lengthy bidding process with the Senate and Congress taking vacations, weekends off, fillibustering, lobbying - and having American men and women get shot to death all the while. While each state fought over which state was going to get the bid.

Wall Street Collasped

By John

The collapse of Wall Street was predicted in March of 2008 by Dick Morris (Ex-Democrat) in his book "Fleeced", indicating that if Senator Obama were nominated and gained popularity as the election approached, the Stock Market would fall thousands of points due to his anticipated tax policies (because people with money are invested in the stock market - people without money don’t care about the stock market and people with money create jobs). And when and if elected it would plummet , which it has. I am neither for nor against President Obama and certainly would like to see him succeed. 110%.

But if one man, Ex-Democrat Dick Morris (ex-Clinton advisor), can figure this out, it would seem an entire party and a slew of economic advisors might get a clue - at least not to go there.

Foreclosure Rate

Did we just let the poorest of the Americans (god bless 'em but....) buy homes because they couldn’t afford them (which is nice, I guess, but counter-intuitive) and did they single-handedly bring down the global (that's GLOBAL as in earth, the world, all the continents) economy down with the help of a few greedy institutions who parlayed it to confetti?

Always Hammering On Mexican Imports

Over 5,000 pounds of marajuana - heck, I can't even spell lit anymore - were discovered in a truckload of bell peppers - the truck was Mexican, the plates were false, the load undocumented.

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/Nogales-news-050809-pot-bust-bell-peppers.7e2e23d.html

What more can we say?

A Rainy Morn, Dreams, Soldiers and Their Families

Written by John

Now that the good old days have vanished, we have a future to make for grandkids. So let’s roll up our sleeves....apply all that wisdom we are so fond of ‘splaining we’ve got and get to it while our educated, direct progeny are “Crackbooking” and Istnt msgng.

Do you realize that if we created a dot.org or a corporation and each grandparent donated a dollar to a fund, we could build anything? A privately funded educational institution. That is how many there are of us. I don’t know why it’s so impossible sounding. Everyone can spare one dollar. It’s an idea. That’s all.

I went down Main Street in Ventura, unshaven and in my farm clothes as I had forgotten as I often do in my “spirit walks” and a man gave me a dollar after he asked me if I was OK and kept forcing it on me. I was just window-shopping second-hand stores for antiques or something to paint that looked antique. Minding my own business. Looking longingly at junk. Wearing Carhartts and tennis shoes.

It was that homeless guy who gave me the vision of the Ghengis Khan horde of Grandparents swarming to unify. Do you realize how much we all know - at our age? We could actually show the world we don't have to wait around for government. We could fill it - a steel building with truth - not old farm equipment - about earth sciences to create scientists. With a beautiful telescope that tracked the universe for the internet to see. It could be a place where people in wheel chairs, with canes, and limps, and Veterans could visit and say,

I, I alone, I, a beat up old person, built this. My kids pissed away, and are continuing to piss away hundreds of dollars a month on junk food, wifi andGodknowswhat off the internet. And we, the states people of America didn’t wait around for government to bail us out - did this thing - DURING A DEPRESSION. Without me, and people such as myself, this would never have been done. My grand kids could seek truth because it was there, I put it there. I decided to find fellowship with those of wisdom - and did it. It wasn’t....oops.

A dream. Patti just woke me up.

It’s Monday morning. Rain outside. Lots of it. I hope that hole in my boot somehow sealed during the night.

I’m going to write this because I am a dreamer like all farmers - which is reason to believe that dreams do come true if you work and rework them. Rarely is the first run perfect. No piece of good ground is weedless.

Sometimes, no, OFTEN _____ happens, as it has done in my life and yours, too, I assume. But I have no room to talk.

I had jury duty the other day and sat next to a lady in her mid-sixties, refined, educated, who basically told me, humbly, the story of a life of travel with her husband - worldwide fixing children’s maladies. Then she got to the the moral of her life, her story: She told me that her son-in-law survived a roadside IED (in a Humvee) - Iraq; that he was going back for a second tour this week; that her daughter, married to that fellow, was having a first baby - but doctors found a brain tumor in her daughter; that they had lost a house full of memories in a fire this year. She cried openly over it all. At jury duty. You know this person too, sort of, if you saw the movie, “Mask”. They were part of the team that worked on the young man with the mask.

Little things bother me even less now .

I hope she invites her family to our farm because they, of all people, deserve this place.

Remarkable country we live in, isn’t it? Remarkable people - outside of the exceptions that seem to make the news. God, bless our soldiers. Protect that young Captain, who has already been blow up once, and his men, too - and save his wife for him. So he and she can smell and taste bacon and eggs, know the warmth of a country kitchen on a rainy day like I'm so fortunate to experience. So he can experience, someday, the things he protects for us. That is what I want today. Nothing for me - for that soldier and his wife to both live to dream, too.