Central Minnesota Political

If you read J.R.R. Tolkein’s work you may recall the eye of Sauron, the Chief Lieutenant of the Dark Lord Morgoth. As I recall, Sauron’s gaze swept the landscape and if it fell on you your chances of uncorrupted survival were minimal. Well, during the month of July the gaze of Sauron, a.k.a. the Trump administration, swept across the agricultural landscape and the results are not pretty. Thanks to Wikipedia Since Rep. Collin Peterson is the powerful Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, we here in Central Minnesota are in a unique position to lessen the impacts of that noxious gaze. We can, and must, lobby Rep. Peterson. Early in the month the United States Department of Agriculture announced that it was discontinuing data collection for its annual honeybee survey. Now, if you’re a farmer like me that could make you celebrate. USDA can be utterly obnoxious and tyrannical about their data collection. About ten years ago they discovered that we produced a few ...

The U.S. Congress and Senate are arguing over whether to give the U.S. military $750 billion or $725 billion in its upcoming spending bill. With either of the figures the U.S. military will continue to grow unchecked, will continue to be the world’s largest military, and will continue to suck resources from other important American projects like diplomacy, environmental restoration, and caring for the unfortunate of the world.  Because of its aggressiveness, because of its revered status in the American mind, and because of its obscene cost, the United States military is the greatest threat to national security that our nation faces. In June Brown University’s Cost of War Project released a report pointing out that the U.S. threatens national and global security in another way.  The U.S. Department of Defense poses a grave threat to the planets climate because of its huge fossil fuel usage. The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest institutional consumer o...

The column below was published in the Long Prairie Leader this week. We also handed a few copies of it out at the Todd County Fair booth last weekend. While I was writing this New York State adapted a very strong 100% renewables goal ( https://tinyurl.com/yyx49msp ) as did Maine. At the same time The Sierra Club reports that well over 100 cities, towns, and counties have adapted 100% renewable energy plans and a number of communities have accomplished  their goals already ( https://www.sierraclub.org/ready-for-100/commitments ). As I think about how much progress has been made in the face of the bull headed opposition of politicians such as Paul Gazelka and Donald Trump I am also thinking about my, and our, responsibility to be imaginative. Why could not band together a form a strong 100% renewable plan for our township, town, school district, or County.  Indeed, we want to dis-elect Gazelka and Trump and their cronies but meanwhile we should get together and be i...