Really speechless. We were fortunate to see Leon Russell at The Surf 3 times. Once when he had his amazing soul singing daughter with him. This ain’t classical music but it’s alive, not meaning any particular thing but, if invited, becoming a part of the body chemistry.
Hello Moderator,
Today we got notice of another subscription rate increase. Then there’s this article promoting more socialist government involvement in our private affairs (Remember those? Like buying insurance?)This topic would have sparked some lively discussion in the comments section, especially in a paper named for a street where we used to participate in a free economy. I mention the rate increase because anyone interested in economics can see the correlation between rising prices and the exit of willing participants in a free economy. Exit or expulsion?
Love,
Fritz Groszkruger, Dumont, IA
Here at home, we got 4 1/2″ of rain and the cows are eating grass soup, swimming from one part of the pasture to the next. I saw a 3 day old calf swim 200 feet following its mom to higher ground.We’ve learned to trust these stupid animals as they continually teach us 1) they are smarter than we are, 2) leaving things alone works really well.
A Setback for Civil Rights
I’ve always thought it was just Rhode Island. But the news says that they are now changing the state’s name to Rhode Island from “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (as on state documents).” The word “plantations” is offensive.
I have a pound of Land o’ Lakes butter in the freezer. They are taking the Indian lady off the label. I think I’ll go buy some Aunt Jemima syrup and some Uncle Ben’s rice too. I always thought those labels were used to indicate quality.
My wife and fantastic proofreader Dawn, has a distant relation who fought for The Union in the Civil War. In San Francisco a mob tore his statue down and defaced the pedestal. Ulysses S. Grant had owned a slave briefly who he acquired through his marriage, but fought on the side the protesters are claiming.
Are these protesters actually for equalizing opportunities for Blacks, or is it something else?
Have you ever seen a young child kicking and screaming on the floor having a tantrum and he doesn’t even know why anymore?
In Minneapolis 1,500 businesses were destroyed or looted following the death of George Floyd. These businesses served the community. I watched a video that a Black lady made while perusing the damage to the local grocery store. She was just sick at the waste created by people (?) supposedly concerned about police brutality and racism. She noted that the fruits and vegetables were not taken, which should be an indicator of these peoples’ (?) concern for their own health, a natural result of their Marxist Utopian ideology.
Fifteen hundred businesses across the Twin Cities now have owners who have decisions to make; rebuild, expand? Why? Many of these businesses were owned by immigrants who had scrimped and saved for years to make a dream come true.
These business owners had a different view of the world than most people today. Corn farmers want government rules to guarantee them a profit through ethanol sales. The 1964 Civil Rights Act took away a business owners’ right to choose customers. There is widespread acceptance that government can manage the economy better than personal choices. Did these protesters think the government could wave a magic wand and have the Peruvian restaurant and grocery store poof into existence again?
Apparently that belief is alive and well. In Seattle, the city council voted for a law that requires food delivery businesses to give “premium pay” to gig workers without raising fees, and the businesses are prohibited from closing or moving away.
We’ve come full circle. One hundred fifty years ago we had legal slavery in this country, not that we had anything to do with it. Now the Seattle City Council has brought it back. Where are the protesters? What monuments will be torn down 150 years from now to erase the history being made today?
All this turmoil has been triggered by a lie. George Floyd’s blood tests indicated a Fentanyl concentration three times the fatal dose. A knee on the side of the neck does not restrict breathing.
Sensational and untrustworthy news coverage has set back the civil rights movement and promoted polarization, not equal opportunity.
Just a great album that says It’s a Beautiful Day! The full album is on YouTube BTW so… turn up the sound!
Pay Attention to the Teacher
The Covid-19 crisis has given us an opportunity to discuss the health care system from an unemotional and objective viewpoint.
Such new developments as the four different analyses that show the overblown expectations for shutdowns and the childlike tearing down of statues because a criminal cop murdered a criminal black man, should caution us on knee jerk reactions. It is a pity that the costs of the shutdowns and riots will be felt by everyone and recognized by few as direct costs from these mistakes.
George P. Shultz has been a government bureaucrat so long that his foolish opinions in office can cause me to dismiss anything he says. But a column he co-wrote with Vidar Jorgensen in the Wall Street Journal comparing Singapore’s medical care to that of our own, should be an important element if we wish to improve our miserable record here.
Of our gross domestic product, 18% is dedicated to health care. In Singapore, 5% goes to a system that produces a life expectancy of 85.2 years compared to 78.7 here. Singapore’s maternal and infant mortality rates are less than half of ours.
Here are some of the differences:
Transparency and competition have led to costs that are 75% lower in Singapore than they are here. Heart valve replacement is $12,500 compared to $160,000. Knee replacement is $13,000 compared to $40,000 here. Here at home, Lasik and cosmetic surgery both have falling prices because they are not covered by insurance.
Encouraging signs are everywhere that show we are on a path toward diverting cash from heath care to other things. That does not mean health care will suffer as a result as we might think in a world where cost is falsely associated with quality, such as in public school budgets.
Walmart has instituted financial incentives for employees who shop around with second opinions and alternative courses of action. These employees have found that 50% of spine operations and 30% of hip and knee replacements can be eliminated with alternative therapies.
Our brilliant, yet ignored Constitution was written years after the British citizens here threw out their government. It gave the authors time to understand what was wrong with the system they rejected. The limitations imposed by that Constitution are largely ignored today resulting in the excessive waste incurred today and calls for, ironically, escalations in the same old socialist system.
Since starting farming 40 years ago without previous experience, the most important thing we’ve learned was to learn from others. Here’s our chance.
All white guys aren’t like this:
alternativebyfritz 