to the War Street Journal…about an article detailing all the taxes and regulations that go along with the so-called freedom to do what we want:

Regarding “Washington State Sets Pot-Sales Rules” (10/17/13), I wonder if Washingtonians had any idea what they were in for when they voted to “legalize” marijuana.

Anyone who believes this is a win for liberty would also believe slavery with the proper documents, is freedom. It will drive decent people underground and the criminals, as usual, will be in government.

And… this to Farm News about federal help in Dakotas and New Jersey…

Mr. Kruse proposes we finance his compassion, rather than he do it himself in his Heartless Tea Party column (Nov.8 Farm News). Kruse is certainly correct to call out Kristi Noem as a hypocrite when she calls for federal help in South Dakota but not New Jersey. But “Christian duty” can never be forced because in so doing we are justifying the evil means to an end..

It has been proven time and again, once help is available from sources with no personal stake in the results, people will choose to shift their costs to someone else. An industry, such as insurance (as opposed to the socialism that is called insurance today) regulates risk through prices to limit unsound practices.

It has become well known that many ranchers in the Dakota snow disaster had no insurance to cover such a loss. Obviously they were relying on federal disaster relief and opting not to buy insurance.

The same would be true for building houses next to the ocean. If we are expecting our “family,” as brother Kruse calls everyone in the U.S.A., to bail us out when a hurricane comes, we are more likely to risk building in a dangerous location to enjoy those days at the beach. But if there were no federal disaster program and the insurance company charged premiums to reflect the actual risk, we might choose to live inland and visit the beach in fair weather.

In creating an environment that increases hidden costs for everyone through unnecessary risk taking, it is people like David Kruse who are the heartless ones. And as far as being an ideologue, it really only means I have standards that can’t be compromised, such as “Thou shalt not steal.” I prefer to help those in need without going through the most wasteful bureaucracy on earth; the federal government.

And this….to Iowa Farmer today about farmers raping the land…

How ironic Jay T. Mar (NRCS State Conservationist , November 9 IFT) talks of the soil as an “elegant, symbiotic ecosystem” on one page while the previous page and following page highlight cellulosic ethanol production.

The process to make ethanol from corn stover murders the soil life Mr. Mar is touting as the basis for agricultural production in Iowa. I can’t think of a better way to insult The Lord who gave Iowa its greatest resource, than to remove that protective layer of stover from that soil teaming with life.

And…these two to the War Street Journal…

I too am skeptical of China’s so-called reforms (China’s Potemkin Reforms, Nov. 18 Journal). But now that I see The Journal’s editors think a “livelihood, housing (and) education” are “rights,” as stated in that editorial, I have a whole different perspective on every editorial I read there.

and…

Gordon Crovitz refers to John F. Kennedy’s image as “a government loving peacenik.”

It is about time we do away with this ridiculous oxymoron. We simply can’t love government and favor peace. Any leftist would have to admit, redistribution (defining leftist ideology) requires force and force is not peace. Any conservative would have to admit war is a function of big government.

We better love government for a darn good reason, otherwise being a peacenik is the patriotic choice.

Nick Pedley wrote in this paper last week about farming. So as a farmer, I feel justified to stray from my usual economic rants into my bread and butter.

Nick wrote about how climate change has led to erratic weather that results in drought as well as soil erosion. Experts are apparently urging a change in outdated farming practices. My bs sensors always perk up when I hear the terms “experts, researchers and professors” because they are usually distant and objective, but with no stake in their conclusions aside from justifying their jobs. Every farmer has heard that an expert is defined by his being from 100 miles away.

When we grew wildflower seeds as an enterprise to replace hogs, our seed-stock came from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). The sideoats grama (an upright growing grass) was contaminated with crabgrass seed (a plant that creeps on the ground). The professor in charge at UNI suggested we keep the plot mowed and wait. Expert advice from a professor; ha! So we sprayed a preemergent herbicide the next spring to combat the annual crabgrass and the perennial sideoats flourished.

Nick goes on to point out the many benefits of cover crops such as sequestering fertilizer and stopping erosion. I look at cover crops as a way to mimic God’s creation the best we can while still producing food and making a living at it. I would have been miserable outside yesterday with no clothes on. Soil life is the same. It thrives in a sheltered environment and dies when environmental effects are not tempered by vegetative matter on the surface. Soil life, worms, bacteria, fungus, ect. is what creates an environment that best utilizes whatever weather extremes come our way. The environment of porous, living soil puts moisture in the bank for later use and it slows runoff.

How any panel of 150 experts could address farming’s impact on the environment without mentioning no-till is exasperating. Beeds Lake, mentioned in Nick’s article, would not be full of fertilizer and soil if its watershed were no-tilled. You don’t have to be an expert to realize that and if those acres were planted to cover crops with an airplane prior to harvest, there could be no disputing it at all.

Scientists have come to understand the importance of soil structure to yields and environmental impacts. Tillage destroys soil structure. Iowa soils were not built by steel cutting off the lifeline to microbes and worms. It was built with thousands of years of grass growing and then laying on the surface each year with soil life doing the field work. Farmers mixing residue into the soil does not speed decomposition, it slows it. Look at where a fencepost rots off, then look below that. At ground level the post is rotten, above and below, it is preserved.

Tillage puts seeds in contact with residue instead of soil, which causes an alliopathic (stunting) effect on the seedlings. To alleviate that effect in no-till, a narrow strip can be cleared in the next year’s row, exposing only a tiny fraction of the soil and eliminating seed to residue contact. This is commonly known as strip-till.

So do we really want a solution to the sad state of Beeds Lake? Quit ignoring the obvious: Back to my usual rantings, privatize it. With Beeds Lake held in common, no one in particular is impacted by the farming practices of its neighbors. Pollutants washing into the lake are a violation of property rights only if property is owned by someone. The popularity of the lake, even in its sad state, makes it evident a private venture there could succeed, especially if it is cleaned up, using private property rights as the basis for that clean-up.

Finally, a bad cold prevented us from attending the funeral of Richard Flickinger. As a tribute to this beautiful man, a story:

On a cold day we had tried for over an hour to pull a calf from a heifer. The shoulders were too wide. When Flick showed up he made quick work of it but the entire uterus came out into a mud puddle after the dead calf was pulled. Dr. Flickinger meticulously washed every nook and cranny of that 100-pound uterus while putting it back where it belonged. Soon the heifer was up and walking around with a few stitches to keep things in place. She went into the fat lot and later, with a group of five, topped the Waverly Sale out of hundreds of other heifers. I was shocked to read in Iowa Farmer Today that Iowa State University recommends euthanizing heifers who’ve prolapsed. Flickinger was all about life; his life enhanced the lives of everything he touched. Let’s carry on his work with a fervor.

Fritz gladly welcomes any input at 4selfgovernment@gmail.com. His website is http://www.alternativebyfritz.com